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:
- Fantasy with Friends: Historical Fantasy
- Top Ten Tuesday: Welsh Books
- What Are You Reading Wednesday
- August Reading Wrap-Up
- Book Blogger Hop: A Book That Deserves More Love
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.
I love your little rating disclaimer – my ratings work really similarly to yours, but I definitely know some people who think 3 stars means you don’t like a book.
I’ll be interested to hear what you think of The Inn at the Foot of Mount Vengeance, as I didn’t finish it myself.
Keira @Keira’s Bookmark recently posted…September 2026 TBR
It makes me a little sad, honestly! I say right there that I liked XYZ book, but people keep concluding that I didn’t?! A three-star book was probably fun, just not something I want to go round making other people read…
I’m very curious about it from the reviews I’ve read; initially they were mostly positive, but I’ve seen some more mixed ones now.
I love your description of the Topping & Company bookstore, I’m sure I could spend hours in there And I like that cover for the Inn at the Foot of Mount Vengeace. Happy reading!
Every single one of their locations that I’ve been to has been enchanting — though I think Edinburgh’s my favourite, and maybe the biggest? Hard to guess. I need to visit the one in York sometime soon!
I hope that you had a lovely birthday. That shop in Bath sounds good. I have read The Inn At The Foot of Mount Vengeance. I really enjoyed it.
Have a great weekend!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2026/09/05/stacking-the-shelves-166/
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog recently posted…Stacking The Shelves
Thank you, I did! I’m looking forward to trying The Inn at the Foot of Mount Vengeance.
Amazing haul! It sounds like yall have some awesome bookstores over there.
All those eARCs and books you got at Love Stories Bookshop look stunning!
Also Castle Arcade sounds like a sick place!
Ashley Kittrell recently posted…The Apothecary on Wattle Lane – Review
Haha, we have some good ones! Castle Arcade’s pretty awesome, there are lots of little shops tucked away in there, and now two bookshops.
I love the memory flash I get every time that you mention Topping & Company in Bath. We were there on something like our third day in England and it was just magical.
All of their shops that we’ve visited have turned out lovely, even one I thought would be kinda small (in Ely). I don’t know how they fit in so many books, but they really have a gift for the atmosphere.
Nicky,
All the covers look so nice and intriguing. I might check a few of them. Thank you so much for sharing. Life always gets in the way of our reading time.
Tracy recently posted…Stacking The Shelves| SEPT 05
Thanks for dropping by! And yup… luckily, one or two factors point to a bit more reading time for me now!
What a wonderful birthday book-shopping spree! Topping & Company sounds like the kind of bookstore I could happily lose a few hours in, and discovering a new indie shop along the way makes it even better. Happy Reading!
Kat @ Forever Book Lover recently posted…Sunday Recap #10: Birthday Week, New Beginnings & One Last Taste of Summer
Topping & Company is really great; I’ve enjoyed visiting all the locations I’ve been to! Funnily enough I haven’t yet visited the one closest to where I live, since it only opened this year.
I really want to read The Reimagining of Thornwood House! It looks like you got some great books!
I don’t think I’ve seen many reviews yet, but it sounds so good.
Interesting assortment of books – especially A Trade of Blood and the Reimagining one. Thanks for sharing – but my TBR is getting a bit crazy going into spooky season! LOL
I need to get to A Trade of Blood; I love that series. Thanks for dropping by!
Love your description of Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights! The cover on Cryptic is beautiful! I’ll be interested to know what you think of it. Clodia of Rome sounds interesting. Nice haul!
Olivia recently posted…Review of Rage by Zygmunt Miłoszewski
I liked Cryptic a lot, it was really interesting and I think the author gave good context for understanding what the Voynich manuscript might be.
I love the sound of Clodia of Rome and I hope you enjoy The Castle and the Cloister as much as I did:). Topping and Company sounds wonderful – who wouldn’t want to spend a morning in a bookshop?? Have a great week, Nicky:).
I’ve seen a couple of books about Roman women lately, there was one about Fulvia that I looked at, as well! I’m looking forward to trying The Castle and the Cloister.
All these books are new to me, I hope you love all of them!
Thank you!
Lots of cute cozies in this haul, I hope you enjoy everything!
Thanks for sharing your week, happy reading.
Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out recently posted…It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #SundayPost #SundaySalon
Here’s hoping, haha. I’ve been looking forward to some of these for a while!
I desperately need to finish the Heartstopper series. Haven’t really picked it up since it got published (used to be a free webcomic) but I remember it being very cute! I don’t really understand why there’s a push (on insta) not to post 3 star books. I feel like most of my reads are 3-3.5 stars. I enjoyed them but they weren’t my favorite. It’s a good review in my book!
I’m a bit late in getting to this last volume, I think? I meant to preorder it and then whoop, time flew by.
People seem to feel like three stars is negative, mostly, and that it’s unfair to do negative reviews. But I personally find negative reviews tell you a lot!
I understand your ratings system, but I only want to read books that wow people. I don’t care about books people merely like! Lol
I don’t really get that, since someone else loving (or not loving) a book isn’t a good gauge of whether I will. Same in reverse: the books I love are a matter of taste. I loved After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine — the most recent volume is a five-star for me. But I don’t see people rushing to read it because of that!
I loved hearing about the book shops and some of your book purchases. I also say 3 hearts means I liked the book. I just didn’t love it. It probably was very realistic or as complex but I did enjoy it.
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
Exactly. Books can be enjoyable without being something I want to shout about!
Heartstopper Vol 6 and Princeweaver are on my TBR! Hope you have a good week.
Bree @ Bibliophilebree recently posted…Sunday #58
I need to get to both soon! Thanks for dropping by.
Also on the heartstopper train. I’ll get to it soon … probably. They’re such quick reads, and so worth the time
Cosmic recently posted…August Reading Wrap Up
Yeah, it’s really cute but not just fluff!
How I wish I had access to a Waterstone!
The range there is always really good, though I do prefer an indie!
All three non-fiction texts look great! Sadly, only The University is in our system – on order, still – and the others I will have to find elsewhere. I’m glad you brought up Emma Southon – I am reading her because of you, and have Agrippina in my little library stack right now.
I’m looking forward to them!
Ooh, have you read A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum? That was the first of hers I read, and I still think it’s my favourite.