Happy weekend! And happy start of my time off — I won’t go back to work until 2nd February. I don’t often take chunks of time off, so this is nice.
Books acquired this week
This week has been kind of busy, between some review books, some more manhwa from my wife to keep me occupied, and my British Library Crime Classics subscription book! Let’s take a look — first the new manhwa…
Next up, my review copies, thanks to Hachette (who sent me a finished copy of Nightshade & Oak in the post) and Tor (via Netgalley):
 
I’m a little hesitant about both Wolf Worm and The Poet Empress, because I’ve heard the former is genuinely pretty scary, and the latter is pretty dark… but ultimately I was tempted enough to request them anyway.
Finally, here’s the British Library Crime Classic for this month. I’ve enjoyed a couple of Gilbert’s books before, so I’m curious!
Hopefully this should be more than enough to keep me busy during my time off!
Posts from this week
Alright, that’s enough of that! Now for the roundup of what I’ve been posting this week…
- Fantasy manhwa:Â Solo Leveling, vol 11, by Dubu (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
- Fantasy: Greenteeth, by Molly O’Neill (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
- Classic crime:Â Henrietta Who? by Catherine Aird (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
- Non-fiction: Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language, by Adam Aleksic (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
- Non-fiction: Roses for Hedone: On Queer Hedonism and World-making through Pleasure, by Prishita Maheshwari-Aplin (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
- Romance/post-apocalyptic manga: Loving You When the World Ended, by Gene (1/5 stars, “didn’t like it”)
And other posts:
- Recommend Reading Challenges — I’m feeling in the mood to take on some new monthly/yearly challenges, got recs?
- Top Ten Tuesday: 2026 Releases (First Half)
- What Are You Reading Wednesday
What I’m reading
Amongst all that busy work, I haven’t been reading a lot this week, but I did get a couple of things finished and read a few manga. Here’s a peek at what I read this week and intend to review on the blog:
Not sure what I’ll be reading this weekend — maybe I’ll get stuck into the Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint manhwa, or one of the books I’ve received to review.
Linking up with Reading Reality’s Stacking the Shelves, Caffeinated Reviewer’s The Sunday Post, and the Sunday Salon over at Readerbuzz.
The classic crime series is great — I have so many on my list to be read. How nice that you have time off of work.
mae recently posted…Overwhelmed by the Renaissance
I enjoy it, I’ve been really happy with my subscription that gets the new book sent to me each month!
I’m curious about The Poet Empress, and i have heard it’s much darker than readers expected. Also I’d love to see what you think about the Molly Tanzer. I read a book of hers years ago and it was super weird!
Yeah, I was reading reviews and finding myself really unsure whether I wanted to read it — on the other hand, aside from people who had to stop reading it, there are so many really positive reviews!
I’ve always wanted to have a book subscription. Maybe this will be the year I take one out.
I hope you get time to read a bit during your time off.
Deb Nance at Readerbuzz recently posted…The Sunday Salon: Our Hibiscus Blooms!
I’ve been looking at some more unexpected ones (since the British Library Crime Classic subscription is always just the latest book), but I don’t know… could also be a way to end up with a bunch of books I don’t really want.
Your book covers are always interesting. I chose some covers this week on my blog that shows what made me choose the books.
There are definitely some nice cover designs here!
When you say acquired the week, does that mean you buy them or get them from the library? I try really hard to not buy books when I can borrow them. You?
Anne@HeadFullofBooks recently posted…Sunday Salon — Hello 2026
I include library books if I got any, as I do use the library whenever I can. I use Library Extension so that when I look at a new-to-me book because someone’s recommended it or it looked interesting, I can see whether my library or Kobo Plus have it. It doesn’t show Library Pass/Comics Plus, sadly, so I have to check that myself, but it makes for a good start.
In this case, these are all physical books that came through the mail. Our library does have some comics, manga and manhwa via Comics Plus, but I don’t usually count those as acquisitions since they’re just accessed anytime online, but they don’t have Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint in print, on Libby or via Comics Plus. I guess the demand for Korean novels and comics is fairly low, ahaha. My review copies were from the publishers/Netgalley, not the library, as the library doesn’t (so far as I know) get any ARCs for patrons to review, and the British Library Crime Classic subscription is to keep (they send the new book in the series each month), as again, my library doesn’t get the British Library Crime Classics series. Not sure why, as I’m sure there’d be interest — the British Library’s reprints have been very popular. Still, I do like supporting publishers and initiatives that are worthwhile, like the rescue of old out of print classic mysteries.
Here’s hoping your two scary books are just the right amount of scary – if that makes sense. Looks like you’ve got some good reading in your future!
Olivia recently posted…Weekly Reading Update 1-17-2025
Here’s hoping! I’m not normally one for scary novels, but I’ve enjoyed some of Kingfisher’s horror in the past — and The Poet Empress sounds mostly dark in a different way, so it’ll mostly be a mood thing when I pick it up, I think. Thanks for dropping by!
Hope you enjoy your time off!
Thank you! Me too, haha. I tend to get anxious with nothing planned out to do, but I need the rest.
The British Library Classics look so good. I always love the covers!
Yeah, they’re all from travel posters, I believe! They really look good.
Looks like a nice haul, and that you have been getting in a lot of reading, all good things! I am off to check out your reading challenges post.
Cindy’s Book Corner recently posted…Stacking the Shelves #198 Sunday Post #195 Sunday Salon #189
Less than I’d like really — I’ve read a few manga, but not a lot of longer stuff. Manga’s fun too, but I have so much else I want to read. Oh well!
Lovely – how great to have that block of time off. Enjoy!
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
Thank you, I’m looking forward to it!
Absolutely gorgeous review copies.
Yes, I’m really excited to read them!
Nice haul!
I’m curious about Like, it looks interesting
Given the books here I hope you’ll consider my Speccy Fiction Challenge and Nonfiction Reader Challenge
Wishing you a great reading week
Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out recently posted…It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #SundayPost #SundaySalon
I found Like a bit frustrating for a bunch of reasons, and will be rating it very low. There are interesting aspects, but it could’ve been a short essay without losing anything integral, so it feels super padded (plus the author has weird opinions about LLMs, for some reason believing they are impartial and capable of emotional intelligence).