Hello all. Trying to get back to normal after a rough week with a bereavement, so here’s a little pinch of routine for me.

What have you recently finished reading?

Feels like a lifetime ago, but I actually started rereading A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation. I really only just read it, but a reread has already proved useful, reminding me where Lizel found the map that is only finally fully explained in volume 10, and some of the circumstances around meeting Ray (and then Shadow). Odd some of the details my brain didn’t hang onto, but a comforting reread is really just the ticket right now anyway.

What are you currently reading?

Most actively, I’ve started on A Brief History of the Countryside in 100 Objects, by Sally Coulthard. In format and topic, it’s pretty much guaranteed to be soothing to me, and indeed it is. As often happens with non-fiction aimed at a very broad audience, I wanna stick “citation needed” all over it, because there’s no way to track a particular assertion in the text to a source, argh! But it is more or less what I expected it to be, and that’s nice.

I’m also partway through a few other books, including The Rainfall Market (You Yeong-Gwang) and Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales (Heather Fawcett), but I’m not in a fiction mood and never am in this kind of situation, so knowing myself well, I’ve laid those aside for a few days.

What will you be reading next?

I’m probably going to continue my reread of A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation, as a volume of that works well with my bedside light’s sleep timer to put me in a good mood for sleep. But since I’m generally focusing on non-fiction for now, the next non-manga I read will likely be The Virtues of Underwear (Nina Edwards) or Fighting Fit (Laura Dawes).

What are you reading?