My exams are over! And in fact, the whole of my fourth degree — I won’t get grades until August, but I am pretty certain that I will graduate. I’m not taking any bets on how soon I will be enrolled in a new course, nor what the topic might be…
So let’s talk about books and celebrate!
Books acquired this week
Even though I had a book-buying spree not that long ago, the wishlist is never-ending, so between my wife choosing to indulge me a little to celebrate my last exam being over, and my British Library Crime Classic subscription book for this month, I have some new books lined up!
I also got approved for a book on Netgalley which I’m excited about: I read the first book, A Case of Mice and Murder, just last weekend, and ended up loving it!
I’m looking forward to digging into all of these!
Posts from this week
As usual, here’s the roundup of reviews posted this week…
- Poetry: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, trans. Simon Armitage (5/5 stars)
- Non-fiction: A Mudlarking Year: Finding Treasure in Every Season, by Lara Maiklem (2/5 stars)
- Non-fiction: Planting Clues: How Plants Solve Crimes, by David J. Gibson (3/5 stars)
- Romance manga: A Side Character’s Love Story, vol 13, by Akane Tamura (4/5 stars)
- SF novella: Lost Ark Dreaming, by Suyi Davies Okungbowa (2/5 stars)
- Historical mystery: A Case of Mice and Murder, by Sally Smith (4/5 stars)
- Poetry anthology: Poetry Prescriptions: Words for Love, ed. Deborah Alma (3/5 stars)
And a What Are You Reading Wednesday post, as usual, chatting about recent reads.
What I’m reading
As ever, first up let’s do a little peek at the books I’ve been reading this week…
As you might have noticed, I’ve been reading a fair bit of poetry — mostly rereads, exploring the collection I built up when I was an English lit student during my first and second degrees. It’s nice to just read it for pleasure.
Anyway, as for my reading plans this weekend, I can’t really say I’m suddenly reading more now, because I’ve been all about reading in every spare moment for at least the last month — but it’s a little easier to relax with a book when I don’t have exams to think about!
My major targets this weekend are continuing my reread of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, finishing The Book Forger (Joseph Hone), and reading Cull of the Wild (Hugh Warwick). I’ve begun digging into the latter already, and I can sense it’s going to be conflicting…
Oh, and I’m looking forward to hopefully visiting people’s blogs a bit more actively once more! I always try to visit back, of course, but it’ll be good to spend a bit more time proactively visiting, and not just looking up at linkups. Still, forgive me if it takes a few weeks to get up to speed. I’m still quite tired, mentally!
Linking up with Reading Reality’s Stacking the Shelves, Caffeinated Reviewer’s The Sunday Post, and the Sunday Salon over at Readerbuzz, as usual!
Congratulations on finishing your last exam! A great looking haul of books. I like the look of A Case of Life and Limb.
Have a great weekend!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2025/06/14/stacking-the-shelves-109/
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog recently posted…Stacking The Shelves
Thank you! I’m so glad to be done. And ahh yes, the first book (A Case of Mice and Murder) is lovely, I’m really hoping A Case of Life and Limb lives up to it.
Yay for your exams being over and being spoiled with books! Have a great weekend and happy reading!
Cindy’s Book Corner recently posted…Stacking the Shelves #172 Sunday Post #169, Sunday Salon #163
Indeeed! I’m reading less this weekend than I hoped, but really I think I keep trying to cram too much into the time, hahaha.
Huge congrats on finishing your exams! Enjoy dinner well deserved fun time 🙂
Calypte recently posted…The Paradox Paradox – Daniel Hardcastle
Thank you! I need to remind myself to take some time to decompress before I heavily commit to doing stuff with the time, ahaha, but it’s so good to have more free time again.
Many congrats on finishing your 4th degree!
Thank you!
How wonderful that your exams are over and that you feel you will graduate! Though it has been forty years since I finished my last degree, I remember the relief I felt at being finished and the exhilaration I felt for those empty spaces on my calendar.
Thanks for sharing your ratings on these books!
Deb Nance at Readerbuzz recently posted…The Sunday Salon: The 41st Classics Club Spin…and the Spinner…Stops…on…Number…
Thank you! This one was probably the most gruelling course I’ve done in many ways (almost entirely self-taught from the course materials; you could technically ask the tutors to clarify something via an online forum, but answers were slow and sometimes rather curt), so it’s extra amazing to be done and realise “I did it!”
Congrats on finishing your exams! That’s definitely a reason to celebrate with books:-) Enjoy!
Tammy @ Books, Bones & Buffy recently posted…Buffy’s Corner 6/15/25 – Looking at the Week Ahead
Thank you! Everything’s a good excuse to celebrate with books, right? 😀
Congrats on being done with those pesky exams! I was excited for the Mudlarking book but after reading your review I don’t think it would be my cup of tea.
Jinjer recently posted…Cleaning and Tidying
Thank you!
If you haven’t read her first book, Mudlarking, I liked that quite a bit more — it was still pretty disorganised, but I found it a good introduction to the things that can be found while mudlarking. Alternatively, the newer one might work equally well if it’s the only one you read, maybe the repetition got to me a bit.
I hope you enjoy a nice break now. Yay for finishing exams and reading more books!
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
I’m trying not to commit to too much, ahaha: I need to catch up on my reading! Though about to move house, so there’s that…
I like the cover of A Case of Mice and Murder, I’ll be looking for your review. I know you’re excited for a break. My daughter and daughter in law are teachers and they’ve been on break for a few weeks.
It was really charming! I actually posted the review this week — here it is.
I’m super glad to be done, it feels like I’ve been working on it non-stop for a couple of years, haha.