Happy weekend! I must admit, I’m looking forward to it: despite having a day off for my birthday, it’s been a weird and tiring week, in part because I got my exam results. I’m proud to announce that I will soon be graduating with merit for my MSc in Infectious Diseases from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. I just missed a distinction, too, so given everything that’s happened this year, I’m very proud of what I achieved.

But now it’s definitely time to chill.

Books acquired this week

This week was my birthday, so of course I got spoiled! I think I’ll split things into multiple posts, just because oof, there’s quite a bit, and I also had a library haul too. I think for this week, I’ll start by showing off the fiction books my wife got me for my birthday, and my library haul.

So first up, the birthday gifts that were fiction!

Quite the haul, I know! I’ve seen reviews from several blogs I follow about most of these lately, so I’m looking forward to reading them. Peerless was recommended by a fellow danmei lover on Discord, though, and Reignclowd Palace just caught my eye with the pretty cover (and I liked the first chapter), so I added it to my wishlist.

Aaand here’s the library haul, too!

I’d put Strange Houses on hold, since I really liked Strange Pictures (such a weird book, but fascinating), and the others were somewhat random picks that happened to be close together in the non-fiction section. The postal books will probably get reviewed for Postcrossing’s blog.

Next week I’ll show off the books my sister got me for my birthday, the non-fiction my wife got me, and a couple of other books my wife got me to celebrate my exam results!

Posts from this week

First up, the reviews…

• Non-fiction: Underwear: Fashion in Detail, by Eleri Lynn (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
• Classic mystery: The Judas Window, by Carter Dickson AKA John Dickson Carr (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Romance manga: A Side Character’s Love Story, vol 16, by Akane Tamura (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Fantasy mystery: The Undetectables, by Courtney Smyth (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
• Non-fiction: Most Delicious Poison, by Noah Whiteman (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
• Archaeology: Beneath Our Feet, by Michael Lewis & Ian Richardson (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Non-fiction: Monsters: A Bestiary of the Bizarre, by Christopher Dell (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)

And the non-review posts:

• Top Ten Tuesday: Doorstoppers
• What Are You Reading Wednesday

What I’m reading

I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading this week, including unearthing some stuff that’d been hanging around on my TBR for a while. It was a pretty satisfying week for reading! Here’s the usual sneak peek at the books I finished and intend to review on the blog:

For this weekend… well, if I want to finish up my Litsy BookSpin list this month and get a blackout on my bingo card, I need to get back to reading some of the books I’ve got on the go, and start on a couple more! I want to finish Laura Spinney’s Proto, for a start, and maybe start reading Margaret Elphinstone’s The Sea Road.

But as ever, it’s wherever my whim takes me: if it feels like too much pressure, I’ll just read whatever I like. Reading goals aren’t any use if they make you feel like you’re missing out or not having fun.

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!