What have you recently finished reading?
I got an ARC of Sally Smith’s newest Gabriel Ward novel, A Case of Fear and Favour, and fairly leapt upon it. I didn’t get to dig in much until yesterday because I was finishing other books, but then I sped through it. I do love Gabriel and his fussy ways, and his slow opening up to the world. He is so fundamentally decent, and works so hard when he has a duty, even if he’s also kind of stuffy and privileged and shut away from the world.
Before that, the last thing I finished was Suzanne Palmer’s Ode to the Half-Broken, which I also liked a lot; I thought it maybe could’ve been a liiiiittle bit tighter, because with all the chasing here and there the page count really stretched out. But I enjoyed how hopeful it was, and how the protagonist grows.
What are you currently reading?
You know the drill: a number of books all at once! Most actively, Peter Parsons’ City of the Sharp-Nosed Fish, which is about papyri found in the rubbish heaps of Oxyrhynchos. I wish it would focus a little more on the papyri themselves, rather than reporting information we know because of them without explaining exactly where the info came from, but it’s interesting all the same.
Other than that, I’m still working on Jon Cannon’s The Stones of Britain, and I’ve just barely started Fonda Lee’s The Last Contract of Isako.
What will you be reading next?
I just got a bunch of advance/complimentary copies from Hachette, including H.G. Parry’s The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood, which I’ve been super curious about, so chances are high I’ll dig into one of those. I did also get volume three of Lv Ye Qian He’s The Wife Comes First, which finishes the story, so I’ll probably dive straight on that tonight.
Plus… although the fourth volume of the Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint novel doesn’t seem to be out in paperback in the UK, it is available on Kobo. I’m not sure if I want to snag the ebook to read it sooner, because there’s something about the physical format that I like — can’t put my finger on it, maybe it’s the font or the way things are laid out… so I guess we’ll see how impatient I get, on that front!
Enjoy your books!
#WWWWednesday #parisinjuly2026
Last #book I finished: Madame Chrysanthème, by #PierreLoti
#Amreading: Une unique lueur, by #FredVargas
#Amlistening to: Quand les murs tremblent, by #VictoireSentenac
#TBR Reading next: Galette au miel, by #HarukiMurakami
Ooh, enjoy!
Can’t wait to see what you think of The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood, I thought it was a great twist on Arthurian lore, though I do love all of Parry’s works. I hope you enjoy all these
It’ll be my first by Parry, but I’ve been eyeing The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door for a while… here’s hoping I enjoy The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood, though I can be kinda picky about Arthurian stories!
I’m looking forward to hearing more about Ode to the Half Broken. For some reason I’m not seeing many readers talking about it.
Other than thinking it could maybe have been a bit tighter here and there, I really loved it — very nearly 5/5 stars for me!
Seeing the Peter Parsons book reminded me of my “Ancient Egypt phase” that I had as a kid haha. That being said, I’m always on the lookout for media on the topic. Do you have any nonfic recommendations?
I remember really liking Chris Naunton’s Searching for the Lost Tombs of Egypt and finding it very light and readable, for a start! Heavier but really satisfying in detail are John Romer’s histories, though I’ve only read vols 1 and 2 so far. Joyce Tyldesley is usually a good choice for readability, too; I recently liked her book on the pyramids!
Ooh, I’ve been seeing so many positive reviews of Parry’s book recently. I still haven’t read any of her books, even though I’ve got one on my TBR. I’ve heard great things about all of them though. I hope you enjoy this one 🙂 And if you continue with The Last Contract of Isako, I hope you love it too! I recently got a copy and I’m excited to give it a go.
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I’m the same, I hope I’ll get started on Parry’s work finally with this one!
So far I’m intrigued by The Last Contract of Iskao but reaaally not far into it, haha.