Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted June 7, 2025 by Nicky in General / 1 Comment

How’s it been another week already? It started off quite gruelling, as my first exam was a doozy, but hopefully I’m managing to rest and recharge before the final two on Monday and Tuesday. And then I’ll have done all assessed work for my degree!

Last weekend was of course my little trip with my wife and a friend to York to the bookshops there, where I gleefully spent time in Criminally Good Books and Portal Bookshop. Let’s get onto the book haul, shall we?

Books acquired this week

I spent most of my money in Waterstones and Criminally Good Books, this time, because I had some stamp cards full in Waterstones and I wasn’t somehow in much of a mood for fiction. In the end, I only got two novels!

Cover of The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor Cover of The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozakis

I was interested in reviewing The Otherwhere Post for Postcrossing’s blog (where I do a semi-regular feature reviewing books about post/mail/etc), so that was a bit of an impulse buy. I’m not entirely sure if The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association will be for me, but I did see some enthusiastic reviews about it (most recently calypte’s review, though that was posted after I bought it), and I thought… why not? If I don’t like it, then no harm done.

Other than that, it was all non-fiction (and mostly history), some of which I’ve already devoured. Let’s start with the books I snagged in Criminally Good Books!

Cover of Stony Jack and the Lost Jewels of Cheapside: Treasures and Ghosts in the London Clay, by Victoria Shepherd Cover of No Ordinary Deaths: A People's History of Mortality, by Molly Consbee Cover of Most Delicious Poison: From Spices to Vices - The Story of Nature's Toxins by Noah Whiteman Cover of Planting Clues: How Plants Solve Crimes by David J. Gibson

They had a whole shelf on plants and poisons that really I should’ve dragged my friend in to see, since he loves plants, but honestly I figured he’d probably read them (and maybe isn’t as interested in stuff pertaining to crime and crime fiction as I am). I’m quite curious about Stony Jack and the Lost Jewels of Cheapside, which promises to talk about the antiquities trade in Edwardian London, about which I know almost nothing.

More treasures await, though! Here’s the rest of my haul, including two gifts from my wife when I made eyes at highly illustrated and quite expensive books (the first two below).

Cover of Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures and Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs, by Paul Koudounaris Cover of Beneath Our Feet by Michael Lewis, Ian Richardson and Mackenzie Crook Cover of The Buried City by Gabriel Zuchtriegel Cover of Between Two Rivers by Moudhy Al-Rashid

Cover of Medieval Bodies: Life, Death and Art in the Middle Ages by Jack Hartnell Cover of The Postal Paths by Alan Cleaver Cover of Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global by Laura Spinney Cover of The Future of Dinosaurs: What We Don't Know, What We Can, and What We'll Never Know, by David Hone

My usual eclectic mix, as you see! You’ll notice another candidate for review on Postcrossing’s blog, too: The Postal Paths, by Alan Cleaver.

I’ve already dug into some of the new books, as you’ll see in my sneak peek of books I’ve reviewed that will get posted to the blog… eventually. But first, the usual recap of the week!

Posts from this week

I’ve been busy, but not too busy to keep posting reviews — thankfully I write them long in advance, and have a huge backlog, so I even managed to post on my exam day.

And there was quite a chatty What Are You Reading Wednesday post, too.

What I’m reading

As promised, let’s talk about the books I’ve read this week which I’ll be reviewing on the blog (eventually). The reviews are already written, really, but I have such a backlog to actually post!

Cover of Sorcery and Small Magics, by Maiga Doocy Cover of Cat and Mouse by Christianna Brand Cover of Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures and Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs, by Paul Koudounaris

Cover of The Buried City by Gabriel Zuchtriegel Cover of Planting Clues: How Plants Solve Crimes by David J. Gibson Cover of Lost Ark Dreaming by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

There were a couple of rereads, too, so it really wasn’t a bad week as far as reading goes, despite the 13-hour exam on Monday.

Over the weekend, I have ambitious reading plans, as usual. I’m just finishing off with The Medieval Scriptorium (Sara J. Charles), and then I probably want to focus on some fiction for a bit and reading A Case of Mice and Murder (Sally Smith). Other than that, perhaps a little more of my reread of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, and if I finish that… who knows?

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Linking up with Reading Reality’s Stacking the Shelves, Caffeinated Reviewer’s The Sunday Post, and the Sunday Salon over at Readerbuzz, as usual!

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