What have you recently finished reading?

I think the last two books I finished were A Pirate’s Life for Tea (Rebecca Thorne) and my advance copy of The Tomb of Dragons (Katherine Addison). The complexity and richness of the worldbuilding in Addison’s work was cruel to A Pirate’s Life for Tea, though also I just found that the tone didn’t suit my mood and it all felt… kind of juvenile.

As for The Tomb of Dragons, I won’t talk in terms of spoilers (unless someone wants to send a private message and ask me something specific), but I was disappointed about a particular development in a way that makes me feel betrayed as a reader. There were lovely things about it, but there was a major thing that just… didn’t make sense to me as a choice.

What are you currently reading?

I’ve started a bunch of hares at once, hoping to get a blackout on my BookSpinBingo card on Litsy. Most notably, I’m diving into Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales (Heather Fawcett), and am honestly impressed with myself for actually starting on it so quickly. So far I can’t really comment on the plot.

I’ve also started Joan Cockin’s Villainy at Vespers, which I’m enjoying — classic crime seemed to be indicated for my current mood. In the same vein, though a very different genre, I picked up some more non-fiction to suit my mood: Close Encounters of the Fungal Kind (Richard Fortey), though I think I prefer his books on palaeontology, actually (his actual subject).

What will you be reading next?

That’s a mystery to everyone, including myself. But I think volume three of The Apothecary Diaries (light novel) might be indicated — or a mass-reread of the manga A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation. It hasn’t been long at all since I read them, but I don’t always feel I understand the characters yet, and reading them again quite quickly might actually help connect some dots.

Plus, the antics of Lizel, Gil and Eleven are just entertaining, even if the author persists in claiming they’re all just friends, despite the hair-stroking, face-touching, nibbling-on-fingers-type behaviour they indulge in.

What about you?