Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted September 5, 2026 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

Happy weekend! It’s been a busy week at work, what with getting back from holiday, so the weekend is very welcome.

Books acquired this week

Alright, time for more of my birthday trip book spree! Part one is here and talks about Forbidden Planet (in Bristol) and the indie shop Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights (in Bath), and the first part of this post covers the rest of the day in Bath at the delightful Topping & Company branch there. Their stores always feel magical, with wooden shelving, wooden ladders on rails around the rooms, and somehow more rooms in the spaces than you’d think could be possible.

So let’s take a look at what I picked up there!

I don’t know anything about the three non-fic choices except that they looked intriguing: I love stuff about old and weird manuscripts, and I’ve found the recent books focusing on women of ancient Rome really interesting in how they pick apart inconsistencies and give us much more complicated images of the women in question (like Emma Southon’s Agrippina). And of course, I couldn’t resist a book about the history of universities, given my… proclivities. (I finished my fourth degree last year and there is a literal betting pool about when I will next enroll.)

I did also pick up print copies of a couple of books I’d already received as eARCs:

I haven’t finished any of them yet, so I’m hoping having physical copies will help me get to them, ahaha — plus I do like to support authors by getting their books, of course.

That was it for the Monday. I was intending to drop into Waterstones in Cardiff on Tuesday while we were visiting my aunt and some of my nostagic spots from when I was a student, but I discovered that there’s a lovely new indie bookshop in Castle Arcade: Love Stories Bookshop. So of course, I had to get some books there!

I did also go to Waterstones, both in Cardiff and in Bristol… but that’s a story for next week!

Posts from this week

As ever, I’ve been posting away this week and have had plenty to say, so let’s dig into the roundup. Reviews first:

Classic crime: The Party at No. 5, by Shelley Smith (1/5 stars, “didn’t like it”)
Graphic novel: Fence: Challengers, by C.S. Pacat et al (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
Non-fiction: Lost Voices of the Nile: Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt, by Charlotte Booth (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
Fantasy romance: Mistakenly Saving the Villain, vol 3, by Feng Yu Nie (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
Poetry: The Weather Wheel, by Mimi Khalvati (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
Manga: Cat + Gamer, vol 5, by Wataru Nadatani (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
Fantasy: The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper, by A.J. Fitzwater (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)

As ever, these aren’t books I’ve necessarily read recently; check out the section below for what I’ve been reading this week! I have a big backlog of reviews written and ready to post, and I try to vary what I post in order to avoid spamming people with sixty danmei reviews at once.

Also, 3/5 is not a bad rating, and even 2/5 ratings mean the book had some redeeming qualities. Please do take my definitions literally; when I say 3/5 stars means I liked a book, that means I liked the book, even if you wouldn’t rate a book you liked 3/5 stars. Thanks!

Now for the other, non-review posts:

And that’s all for the wrap-up!

What I’m reading

As I mentioned, it’s been a busy week, so I haven’t been reading as much as I might’ve hoped. Still, I’ve read one of my new books and two classic crime novels, so I’m pretty happy!

For this weekend, I’m not sure what I’ll be reading — hopefully more of Teddy Bears Never Die, The Villain’s White Halo, and my classic crime binge? But we’ll see! It’s always whatever grabs my interest, after all. I’ve also started a non-fic about British medieval manuscripts, after all…

So really, it could be anything. Whatever I read, whatever you read, here’s hoping it’s a good weekend!

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.