Oof, busy week! Shoutout to all the tech and tech-adjacent folks who had long days due to the PHP2Shell and TLS certificate security issues this week (including the friend who hosts my blog, who had to spent quite some time on it — thanks, Adam). It’s been a rough week, let’s buy ourselves some new books about it! Uh, I mean… um.
Books acquired this week
Though I joked about buying myself books about it, I thought about doing so and ended up not really able to choose — and I know my reading plate is very full for the upcoming week, if I want to finish my planned TBR for October! I did pick up a book on Kobo, because it filled a reading prompt, and another just for the October vibes:
I had to edit in the latter after posting as I’d forgotten I’d picked that up, oops! I’ve already read Domnall and the Borrowed Child, and was sadly pretty underwhelmed.
I did also learn that Susanna Clarke has a new book… and that my library had an ebook copy. So I snagged that, obviously.
And like the previous book, I’ve already read it (it’s not long), ahaha.
Posts from this week
Though it’s been busy and eventful, I’ve started to get back into my routine, so I’ve got something more like my usual number of reviews posted! As ever, here’s the round-up:
- Horror: Teddy Bears Never Die, by Cho Yeeun (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
- Mystery: Murder in the Maze, by J.J. Connington (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
- Non-fiction: Egypt’s Golden Couple, by John Darnell & Colleen Darnell (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
- Poetry: A Man, a Woman, & A Hippopotamus, by Selima Hill (1/5 stars, “didn’t like it”)
- Manga: Cat + Gamer, vol 8, by Wataru Nadatani (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
- SF mystery: The Double Dorothy, by Olivia Waite (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
As ever, these aren’t the books I’ve been reading this week (see the next section), and a 3/5 star rating does really for real mean I liked the book! It might not’ve knocked my socks off, but I had a good time.
And now for the other posts:
- Discussion: Why Book Bloggers Should Avoid Substack
- Fantasy with Friends: Real Things
- Top Ten Tuesday: Things That Make Up My Perfect Day
- What Are You Reading Wednesday
- Book Blogger Hop: Creepiest Book That Isn’t Horror
A pretty successful week all round, despite how busy it was!
What I’m reading
The October readathon on Litsy, Haunted Shelf, has continued to have me reading so much! So here’s a sneak peek at the books I read this week. Reminder: this isn’t a recommendation, and I don’t advise you to read them just based on this post (in fact, I had a run of bad luck with several one- or two-star reads this week). Reviews will come later!
Click the thumbnails to see the full covers:
As I mentioned above, I have a lot of reading to do if I want to complete my planned Haunted Shelf TBR. I definitely want to finish Caitlin Rozakis’ Startup Hell this weekend, and probably at least one other chunkier book left from this month’s planned TBR… maybe Sara Raasch’s The Nightmare Before Kissmas?
But, as ever, it will be down to my whim in the end; I am really not into turning reading into an obligation, so I’ll only keep to my TBR as long as it’s fun! I am also eyeing some non-TBR books like Auralee Wallace’s The Haunted Librarian and Emmeline Duncan’s Chaos at the Lazy Bones Book Shop, which seem well-suited to the season… and I’d love to read more of the manga The Summer Hikaru Died, which is surprisingly tender and sad for also being horror.
Later in the week I’ll probably be reading Cherie Priest’s The Toll, which I somehow never got to when it came out, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Certain Dark Things, likewise. I also have Deena Helm’s Our Cut of Salt, which I’m fairly determined to get to this month.
Whatever I read, you can be sure it’ll keep me busy, ahaha.
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 remember wanting to read The Toll too and never did. Certain Dark Things is fantastic, if I had time to do rereads, I would pick it up again. Have a great reading week!
I really need to finally get round to both, ahaha.
I like the cover for “Chaos at the Lazy Bones Bookshop.” Great post, thanks for sharing.
Writing Sparkle recently posted…Latte Lines: Weekly Books, Writing & Author Life
It seems like a really fun one!
Thanks for dropping by.
I didn’t notice anything on my Blog
I have had my eye on Chaos at The Lazy Bones Bookshop for ages and The Haunted Librarian (for less time but still!). I have two books left on my 20 Books of Summer list that I really want to get done by the end of the year. Things keep getting in the way though
Have a great rest of the weekend!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2026/10/24/stacking-the-shelves-173/
Yours is WordPress-hosted, so they will have fixed it for you. If you had your own install, though, you’d have had to patch the PHP same as everyone else. You were affected, you just didn’t know!
They both sound super fun, I’m looking forward to them.
I absolutely adored Olivia Waite’s regency romances, but I haven’t dabbled in her science fiction. Play Nice is one I’ve had my eye on, so I’ll be curious to see what you think of it.
S.B. Milne recently posted…Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post
I really liked Play Nice, maybe my favourite of Rachel Harrison’s books (that I’ve read so far).
I am hoping to read The Haunted Librarian this week!
I’d love to fit it in before the end of the month, it’d fit perfectly into my seasonal reads!
Good luck with your reading goals! I hope you have a good week.
Aj @ Read All The Things! recently posted…The Sunday Post #407
Here’s hoping! Thanks for dropping by.
Good luck with all your reading goals! Lots of great books in there!
Steph recently posted…Building the Book Pile #534
Hehe, thank you. So far so good; I’ve been making good progress.
Our Cut of Salt sounds worthwhile, though it might take some determination to get through the horrors.
It does sound like a difficult one, but worth it.
yes the PHP issue would have bothered me more if I had been home all day when I usually pop in and out of the blog doing things but I have been off with election stuff.
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
For me, I had to deal with some of the repercussions for work stuff!
The end of the month has ambushed me, suddenly there is only 5 days left in the month and I still have about that many books to read and review!
Hope you enjoy your second buy after the disappointment of the first.
Thanks for sharing your week, happy reading
Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Paranormal Romance
I can’t believe the month has gone so fast! I need to read 8 more to meet my goals for the month, or 13 if I want to read all my autumn/spooky themed books before the end of the Haunted Shelf readathon. I have a feeling I’ll still have some spooky books in November, hahaha.