Oof, it’s way too hot here once again! And humid, at least here in my office, despite having had the portable air conditioner on dehumidifier mode for most of the last 24 hours. Still, I’m surviving and very lucky to have the air conditioner option!
Books acquired this week
Last week I forgot to feature a library book, so sneaking that into this week’s post: Murder at the Black Cat Cafe is one I’ve been meaning to try for a while, though I thiiiink I have read a different mystery by the same author and didn’t love it? That said, I wasn’t reading a lot of mysteries in translation at that time, and I think I have my eye in a bit better now, so I’m hoping I’ll enjoy it more. Reading in translation can sometimes be easier like that, when you have a degree of context.
Meanwhile, over at the National Poetry Library they set up a collection of Welsh collections; you can only take out two at a time, and I still had one other collection I haven’t got round to, but I’m looking forward to more of those. For now, I’ve just grabbed Sian Northey and Ness Owen’s Afonydd anthology, which is bilingual and sounds like a fascinating project.
I also got exciting new books to review:
A new Becky Chambers book is always something I eagerly anticipate, so looking forward to digging into this one, and I’ve been meaning since forever to pick up the books by the M.A. Carrick duo, since one of them is Marie Brennan!
Finally, this month’s British Library Crime Classic dropped onto my doormat yesterday:
I’ve grown to appreciate John Dickson Carr’s books quite a bit, though I didn’t love the previous book that’s linked to this one (The Unicorn Murders), so I’m curious what I’ll think of this one.
Posts from this week
Let’s get things rounded up, reviews first, as usual:
- Poetry: Night Sky with Exit Wounds, by Ocean Vuong (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
- Romance manga: Welcome Back, Aureole, by Takatsu (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
- Sci-fi manga: Dinosaur Sanctuary, vol 7, by Itaru Kinoshita (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
- Sci-fi novella: We Burned So Bright, by TJ Klune (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
- Romance: Game Changer, by Rachel Reid (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
- Classic mystery: Sweet Poison, by Mary Fitt (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
And the other posts:
- Fantasy with Friends: Magic Systems
- Top Ten Tuesday: Titles with the Word ‘City’
- What Are You Reading Wednesday
- Let’s Talk Bookish: Discussion Posts
What I’m reading
After a pretty frenzied weekend of reading the week before last, I’ve been positively sedate this week. It’s partly because I’ve been reading a longer book (Jon Cannon’s The Stones of Britain) which just isn’t something you can sit and chug down in one go, and partly because I’ve had other things on my mind.
That said, I did finish a few books, some of which had been lingering on my ‘currently reading’ pile for ages!
My weekend plans involve some crochet, a fair amount of gaming, including trying to get to grips with the puzzle game Gorogoa… and also cogitating on the ‘couch to 5k for reading’ idea that Naomi Alderman posted on Substack (not linking it; please don’t use Substack) and how I’d adapt it to become a bit less, well, elitist-sounding. Buuut I expect to post a 20 Books of Summer update tomorrow, and spend some time reading more of The Stones of Britain, finishing up Helen Pilcher’s pop-science book Life Changing, and probably reading The Magic-Lantern Murders.
I might also start on rereading Jordan L. Hawk’s Widdershins books (so I can finally get back to the new-to-me books and finish the series) or volume two of The Wife Comes First, just to make sure I read and thoroughly enjoy books that… certain commentators… undoubtedly think are, what was her word? “Pap”. (Yeah, you can tell this one’s annoying me. There’s probably a whole blog post on this brewing, if not my very own ‘couch to 5k for reading’ plan.)
Either way, there’s a high likelihood I’ll start something new, because even with so many books already in my on-deck pile, I like to slip in something fresh here and there. We’ll see, though!
Linking up with Reading Reality’s Stacking the Shelves, Caffeinated Reviewer’s The Sunday Post, the Sunday Salon over at Readerbuzz, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? at The Book Date.
I have only read Becky Chambers’ Monk & Robot series, but I really should get to some of her other books. I’m seeing lots of rave reviews for The Eye of Leviathan too. Stay cool! It’s horribly hot here too
I like her other books more than the Monk & Robot series, even! Though I’ve enjoyed pretty much everything of hers.
Hope you and Badger are staying hydrated!
Those crime classics alwyas call out to me!
Have a good week… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Some of them are sooo good, and I’ve enjoyed most of the series to some extent or another!
Okay, now I am curious, what is the couch to 5k for reading? It sounds fascinating. I hope you enjoy the newest books to your stack. Have a great weekend!
Cindy’s Book Corner recently posted…Stacking the Shelves #216 Sunday Post #213 Sunday Salon #207
The idea is to build a reading habit of both reading a certain amount per day and for a certain amount of uninterrupted time, which I can definitely get behind. It just also comes with a bunch of stuff about certain types of books being “pap” and reading stuff that’s hard enough for your level that I found got up my nose.
Great haul! I hope you will enjoy them.
Thanks for dropping by!
So much going on this week! Some really great looking titles here, I will have to get ahold of some of them!
It’s been a busy one! I didn’t expect that, haha.
Ok I clicked your dino manga link and this sounds pretty darn cute: Trom, a blind Deinonychus, who has been trained with a clicker!
Jinjer recently posted…Project Pan, Girl Dinner Box, and Jack’s Reading Wheel
It’s a really fun series, and takes the idea of a dinosaur zoo really seriously and tries to figure out what’s realistic! I love it.
Ugh! I’m sorry you’re having to deal with the what we would have once considered the unusual heat. A lot of interesting books in the queue. I love Becky Chambers!
Olivia recently posted…Weekly Reading Update 7-11-2026
It’s not even just that it’s unusual heat, but also the fact that this isn’t even the first heatwave this year!
It sounds like you have a wonderful mix of books and hobbies planned for the weekend! I always seem to sneak one more book onto my reading pile too. I hope you enjoy whatever you pick up next. Happy reading!
Thanks for dropping by! Sorry your message got trapped in spam at first. It was a pretty good weekend!
Lucky you to have gotten a copy of the new Becky Chambers book! I have that on my list to read when it comes out here this fall. I hate to be pushy, but I’d really like it if you would put that one at the top of your list to read next!
Deb Nance at Readerbuzz recently posted…The Sunday Salon: Reading an Absurd Number of Books for Paris in July
I hope to get around to it soon, though it isn’t my preferred ARC format, which is a bit annoying!
Enjoy your crochet and gaming! I hope you have a good week.
Aj @ Read All The Things! recently posted…The Sunday Post #403
Thanks, here’s hoping!
Most of the books are new to me, but hope you enjoy them all. I didn’t know that about Substack, and I have a few authors that use it. I wonder if they know because they are the type of authors who would be so against it if they knew! Hope you have a good week!
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2026/07/12/weekly-wrap-up-july-12th-2026/
I don’t know, that info about Substack has been pretty frequently disseminated across social media. I think some people just agree that it’s OK to share a platform with Nazis, and some people are too scared to try to move elsewhere for fear of losing subscribers etc.
Becky Chambers is an author I’d like to try
Thanks for sharing your week, happy reading!
Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out recently posted…It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #SundayPost #SundaySalon
I love her work a lot!
The Magic Lantern Murders looks interesting. So does the Black Cat Cafe book. 🙂 I am going to have to read what you posted about Substack!
Erin @ Cracker Crumb Life recently posted…Books, Screens, and In-Betweens
Here’s hoping they’re fun mysteries!
Hope you have a good cool week!
Bree @ Bibliophilebree recently posted…Sunday #50
Here’s hoping, haha.
It’s HOT here too and dry. Stay cool. Enjoy your new reads!
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
Thanks! It’s been super humid here which makes the heat so much harder to cope with, but the grass is all dying because no rain, so technically dry in that sense… ugh.
Welsh Food Stories sounds like it could be an interesting read!
Have a great week!
Marg @ The Intrepid Reader recently posted…This week
It was! I definitely enjoyed it.
Ooo… a new Becky Chambers – and a full-length novel, too. I LOVE her writing, so thank you for the heads-up. I also very much enjoy Marie Brennan’s books, too. Have a great week.
I’m looking forward to it a lot!
I hope your portable air conditionner will bring you relief! It’s too hot but dry here.
Super humid, so it’s been hard to stay cool without air conditioning; I feel very lucky!