What have you recently finished reading?

I finished up The Keeper of Magical Things the day before yesterday; I didn’t love it as much as I loved Julie Leong’s previous book, because I felt the magic was a little less interesting (or a bit less of a unique angle, anyway). Still, it was cute and fun, and I’m glad I finally settled in and got round to it!

What are you currently reading?

A few books at once, as always. I’ve finally got back to Heather Fawcett’s Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter; I’d actually hoped to finish it yesterday, but I didn’t manage to settle down into quiet reading time early enough to have a chance. I still think it has such Howl’s Moving Castle vibes.

I’m also now reading Selena Wisnom’s The Library of Ancient Wisdom, which I started a while back and then stalled on because it was quite dense and I was in the middle of exams. It’s really interesting, because working from the starting point of discussing the library of Ashurbanipal means the author is able to dig into various aspects of ancient Mesopotamian beliefs and knowledge. I didn’t know (for instance) that they were actually really good on hygiene and quarantining the sick: it might sound a little patronising to be surprised that they washed their hands with soap and had good hygiene around sick people, but when you consider that in the 1800s Ignaz Semmelweis was treated as a literal madman for suggesting washing your hands between doing autopsies and delivering babies… welp.

What will you be reading next?

Definitely Molly O’Neill’s Nightshade and Oak, and probably also Martha Wells’ Platform Decay, since they’re both on my BookSpinBingo list! I’ve been more into reading again in the last couple of days, so I’m still hopeful of finishing most of it.