Author: Nicky

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted June 14, 2025 by Nicky in General / 3 Comments

My exams are over! And in fact, the whole of my fourth degree — I won’t get grades until August, but I am pretty certain that I will graduate. I’m not taking any bets on how soon I will be enrolled in a new course, nor what the topic might be…

So let’s talk about books and celebrate!

Books acquired this week

Even though I had a book-buying spree not that long ago, the wishlist is never-ending, so between my wife choosing to indulge me a little to celebrate my last exam being over, and my British Library Crime Classic subscription book for this month, I have some new books lined up!

I also got approved for a book on Netgalley which I’m excited about: I read the first book, A Case of Mice and Murder, just last weekend, and ended up loving it!

I’m looking forward to digging into all of these!

Posts from this week

As usual, here’s the roundup of reviews posted this week…

Poetry: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, trans. Simon Armitage (5/5 stars)
Non-fiction: A Mudlarking Year: Finding Treasure in Every Season, by Lara Maiklem (2/5 stars)
Non-fiction: Planting Clues: How Plants Solve Crimes, by David J. Gibson (3/5 stars)
Romance manga: A Side Character’s Love Story, vol 13, by Akane Tamura (4/5 stars)
SF novella: Lost Ark Dreaming, by Suyi Davies Okungbowa (2/5 stars)
Historical mystery: A Case of Mice and Murder, by Sally Smith (4/5 stars)
Poetry anthology: Poetry Prescriptions: Words for Love, ed. Deborah Alma (3/5 stars)

And a What Are You Reading Wednesday post, as usual, chatting about recent reads.

What I’m reading

As ever, first up let’s do a little peek at the books I’ve been reading this week…

As you might have noticed, I’ve been reading a fair bit of poetry — mostly rereads, exploring the collection I built up when I was an English lit student during my first and second degrees. It’s nice to just read it for pleasure.

Anyway, as for my reading plans this weekend, I can’t really say I’m suddenly reading more now, because I’ve been all about reading in every spare moment for at least the last month — but it’s a little easier to relax with a book when I don’t have exams to think about!

My major targets this weekend are continuing my reread of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, finishing The Book Forger (Joseph Hone), and reading Cull of the Wild (Hugh Warwick). I’ve begun digging into the latter already, and I can sense it’s going to be conflicting…

Oh, and I’m looking forward to hopefully visiting people’s blogs a bit more actively once more! I always try to visit back, of course, but it’ll be good to spend a bit more time proactively visiting, and not just looking up at linkups. Still, forgive me if it takes a few weeks to get up to speed. I’m still quite tired, mentally!

Linking up with Reading Reality’s Stacking the Shelves, Caffeinated Reviewer’s The Sunday Post, and the Sunday Salon over at Readerbuzz, as usual!

Tags: books, Stacking the Shelves, weekly roundup

Review – Poetry Prescription: Words for Love

Posted June 13, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Poetry Prescription: Words for Love

by Deborah Alma (editor)

Genres: Poetry
Pages: 70
Series: Poetry Prescriptions
Rating: three-stars

Synopsis:
This beautiful pocket-sized hardback gift book contains carefully curated prescriptions in verse compiled by Deborah Alma, the founder of the Poetry Pharmacy. Life is lived with feeling - these poems look at all the many manifestations of love.

For All Matters of the Heart -Stimulants for Romantic Love, Panaceas for the Broken-Hearted; for the Appreciation of Fellowship, Family and for the Promotion of Tenderness.

Includes poems by W. B. Yeats, Walt Whitman, William Shakespeare, Edna St Vincent Millay, D. H. Lawrence and many more.

• No bitter pills
• No adverse reactions

The Poetry Prescription series compiled by Deborah Alma is the perfect antidote for life’s ailments. Inspired by the achingly cool Poetry Pharmacy shops in London and Shropshire - social media favourites with a clear focus on promoting wellbeing through the written and spoken word. Each of the eight themed titles offers an array of poems to inspire, heal and comfort. Whether you are looking to find solace for times of ill-health, loss and grief, cope with matters of the heart, need poetic inspiration for courage and confidence, or want to find peace and tranquillity in wild spaces, there is a collection for everyone.

Perfect for reading aloud or for quiet contemplation, these books are a much needed balm for our busy lives.

I love the idea of the “Poetry Prescription” books, selections of poems for given moods and needs which promise no bitter pills, nothing hard to swallow, just poetry suitable for the moment. I don’t know if all of them have the same editor, but Words for Love was edited by Deborah Alma, and it’s an interesting selection.

Many of them are, to me at least, expected inclusions: your Keats, Rosetti and Shakespeare. There are also poets I didn’t know, or poems I didn’t know by poets I did know, and I’d kind of hoped for more of those — but it makes for an accessible volume if you’re not a big poetry reader. I wouldn’t have picked that Duffy poem, of all her options, but at least it was from Rapture, which is my favourite of her collections.

The collection offers a small section for new love, one for grief, one for familial love, that kind of division. It’s all quite nice as a concept, and I might pick up others in the series for the introductions to different poets I might not have known.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Deborah Alma (editor), poetry

Review – A Case of Mice and Murder

Posted June 12, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

A Case of Mice and Murder

by Sally Smith

Genres: Crime, Historical Fiction, Mystery
Pages: 352
Series: The Trials of Gabriel Ward #1
Rating: four-stars

Synopsis:
The first in a delightful new mystery series set in the hidden heart of London's legal world, introducing a wonderfully unwilling sleuth, perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Nita Prose.

When barrister Gabriel Ward steps out of his rooms at exactly two minutes to seven on a sunny May morning in 1901, his mind is so full of his latest case-the disputed authorship of bestselling children's book Millie the Temple Church Mouse-that he scarcely registers the body of the Lord Chief Justice of England on his doorstep.

But even he cannot fail to notice the judge's dusty bare feet, in shocking contrast to his flawless evening dress, nor the silver carving knife sticking out of his chest. In the shaded courtyards and ancient buildings of the Inner Temple, the hidden heart of London's legal world, murder has spent centuries confined firmly to the casebooks. Until now.

The police can enter the Temple only by consent, so who better to investigate this tragic breach of law and order than a man who prizes both above all things? But murder doesn't answer to logic or reasoned argument, and Gabriel soon discovers that the Temple's heavy oak doors are hiding more surprising secrets than he'd ever imagined...

When I started Sally Smith’s A Case of Mice and Murder, I was not really expecting to like Gabriel Ward. He seems at first blush like he’s going to be a persnickety old guy. But he quickly won me over with his love of routine, his little rituals, his love of books, and most especially, his kind and gentlemanly manner to everyone, of all classes, no matter his opinion of them.

The book is set in 1901, and steeped in the traditions of the Inner Temple (which is, to be clear, one of the four “Inns of Court” in London). Gabriel lives almost entirely within the Inner Temple, works there, and is deeply content and happy — until he’s confronted one day by a dead body lying on the steps of his chambers.

I guessed the resolution of both the murder and the other case Gabriel works on, but in a good way where it all made sense and hung together. There was no “oh it’ll be the most unlikely person, so the murder is XXX”; it all makes a good amount of sense. I missed a couple of minor details along the way, but figured out the main thrust of it. I don’t require a fair play mystery, but I can very much appreciate one, and this was fun.

I felt like knowing a bit about law from the Secret Barrister’s writing, and being primed for a legal mystery by Sarah Caudwell’s work, helped quite a bit with settling into the context of the mystery… But mostly it was a surprisingly warm story, and that captured my interest and my heart. There’s a deep affection for the setting and for the traditions of the Inner Temple, the rituals of lawyers, and for the justice lawyers can stand for. I can’t wait to spend more time with Gabriel, and will be getting the second book posthaste, once it’s out!

[Edited to add: And I’ve been approved for the ARC, in fact, and will be plunging straight in!]

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, crime, historical fiction, mystery, Sally Smith

Review – Lost Ark Dreaming

Posted June 12, 2025 by Nicky in Uncategorized / 0 Comments

Lost Ark Dreaming

by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

Genres: Science Fiction
Pages: 178
Rating: two-stars

Synopsis:
The brutally engineered class divisions of Snowpiercer meets Rivers Solomon’s The Deep in this high-octane post-climate disaster novella written by Nommo Award-winning author Suyi Davies Okungbowa.

Off the coast of West Africa, decades after the dangerous rise of the Atlantic Ocean, the region’s survivors live inside five partially submerged, kilometers-high towers originally created as a playground for the wealthy. Now the towers’ most affluent rule from their lofty perch at the top while the rest are crammed into the dark, fetid floors below sea level.

There are also those who were left for dead in the Atlantic, only to be reawakened by an ancient power, and who seek vengeance on those who offered them up to the waves.

Three lives within the towers are pulled to the fore of this conflict: Yekini, an earnest, mid-level rookie analyst; Tuoyo, an undersea mechanic mourning a tremendous loss; and Ngozi, an egotistical bureaucrat from the highest levels of governance. They will need to work together if there is to be any hope of a future that is worth living—for everyone.

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Suyi Davies Okungbowa’s book reminded me so much of Rivers Solomon’s The Deep after a certain point, it started to feel really weird. The setup kind of rang familiar too, or maybe “greedy rapacious billionaires set up unequal societies” is just too obvious. I did enjoy the build-up all the same, the scene-setting, and the sense of unease.

I think it’s a bit like showing the actual monster in horror, though: it fizzled a bit once we actually saw a Child, especially because the horror-ish vibes quickly fell away. I don’t want to say much and spoil the story, but… yeah.

Maybe at a novel length it might have worked better for me? A bit more setup, a bit more of the suspense first, get to know the characters… I think might’ve quite enjoyed it with that. But at novella length, I mostly just noticed the similarities and obviousness of the setup, and didn’t have time to get into the characters. Someone more driven by settings and themes while reading would probably enjoy it more!

Rating: 2/5

Tags: book reviews, books, SF/F, Suyi Davies Okungbowa

WWW Wednesday

Posted June 11, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

What have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was a reread of Carol Ann Duffy’s Standing Female Nude collection of poetry, which was… okay. There are some standouts in it, like “War Photographer”, but there are also some poems that I find impenetrable or just silly.

I wasn’t too surprised, since it wasn’t my favourite of her collections when I originally read it, but it was a nice revisit all the same for the ones I did enjoy.

What are you currently reading?

Oh, way, way too many things at once. I interpreted the impending end of my exams (combined with the stress of the exam period) as licence to dive into a gazillion books at the same time, apparently. So I’ll keep it to my main read, the one I have actually picked up in the last 24 hours: I’m a good chunk of the way into John Bradshaw’s The Animals Among Us, which is a few years old now and discusses the science of human interactions with pets. You know the assertions that having a dog makes you healthier, pets are good co-therapists, and even that having pets as a kid helps guard against allergies? Allll of that stuff.

It’s not really my field except where he discusses microbes, of course, and sometimes there’s no citation where I really want there to be one. Sometimes it doesn’t “obviously follow that”, unless that’s what you already believe. Still, it’s a fun change from my usual topics, and adjacent enough to give me some chance at evaluating some of what he says.

What will you be reading next?

The sky’s the limit, really! But I did join the StoryGraph mirror of Goodreads’ “seasonal challenge”, just for fun, so… probably one of the books I picked for that! Emily Tesh’s The Incandescent, probably, but maybe Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Spare Man.

And of course some danmei, soon, soon: I still have volume one of The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish ready and waiting, a reread of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System in progress, and a copy of the first volume of Guardian on the way…

Tags: books, WWW Wednesday

Review – A Side Character’s Love Story, vol 13

Posted June 10, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

A Side Character's Love Story

by Akane Tamura

Genres: Manga, Romance
Pages: 161
Series: A Side Character's Love Story #13
Rating: four-stars

Synopsis:
Nobuko and Hiroki venture to Kanazawa to celebrate their graduation, and are enjoying every minute of their trip. But as night draws closer, Nobuko struggles with nerves over the possibility that they may do more than just kiss. On top of that, it seems as though Hiroki has something he wants to tell her...

In volume 13 of Akane Tamura’s A Side Character’s Love Story, Hiroki and Nobuko finally go on their graduation trip! That’s the bulk of the volume, and it’s a delight: they spend their usual amount of effort on clear communication and sharing their feelings, and they also follow up on the previous volume’s dilemma by finally deciding that they feel comfortable enough to do more than kissing.

(It’s not explicit, by the way — we see them holding hands and kissing, and we’re told that Hiroki was very gentle, but that’s as much as we know.)

Hiroki does also tell Nobuko that he wants to marry her, and that feels surprisingly-for-them undercommunicated: he kind of springs the idea on her, and later affirms he will propose to her properly when he graduates. I guess they do swing back to it, and it’s clear it makes Nobuko happy, but she was so surprised… I don’t think they talk about it again, either.

Strange to think they’re at least two years into their relationship — the volumes have flown by!

Rating: 4/5

Tags: Akane Tamura, book reviews, books, manga, romance

Review – Planting Clues

Posted June 9, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Planting Clues: How Plants Solve Crimes

by David J. Gibson

Genres: Crime, Non-fiction, Science
Pages: 240
Rating: three-stars

Synopsis:
This fascinating book takes the reader on a journey through the role of plants (including algae and fungi) in legal cases. These legal cases range from forensic applications where botanical evidence can link a suspect to a crime scene or a victim to a suspect to cases when plants themselves can be the subject of crime or misadventure. In the latter cases, plants may be poached, illegally traded and trafficked, used as poisons, or illicitly used (i.e., drugs such as cocaine). Botanical evidence has been important in bringing a number of high-profile murderers such as Ted Bundy, Ian Huntley (the 2002 Shoham Murders), and Bruno Hauptman (1932 Baby Lindbergh kidnapping) to trial. These applications of forensic botany capture the public interest; consider, for example, the fascination with Agatha Christie’s murder mysteries involving real plant poisons such as digitalis from foxgloves. The variety and value of botanical evidence including leaf fragments, woody anatomy, pollen and spores, plant toxins, and DNA, is summarized through 8 chapters. This book appeals to general readers interested in the botany underlying true crime.

At times, David J. Gibson’s Planting Clues felt just a bit too random — a string of anecdotes around forensics and botany, loosely connected at best, organised into chapters that do at least fit into coherent themes. There are some fascinating details on both botany and how botanical experts can be involved in legal cases, which at times got a bit too into the weeds for me.

The cases it discusses illustrate the points well and include some fascinating precedents, as well as discussing some big cases (like the deaths of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, though now I’m unsure whether the author actually named them or their murderer, which in retrospect feels a bit weird), it just… I don’t know, I found it difficult to keep my attention on it.

If you’re interested in the topic, though, it’s a good pick!

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, crime, David J. Gibson, non-fiction, science

Review – A Mudlarking Year

Posted June 9, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

A Mudlarking Year: Finding Treasure In Every Season

by Lara Maiklem

Genres: History, Memoir, Non-fiction
Pages: 358
Rating: two-stars

Synopsis:
For over two decades, Lara Maiklem has been scouring the banks of the tidal Thames looking for objects - lost or discarded - that tell forgotten stories. In this charming sequel to the bestselling Mudlarking, Lara widens her search beyond the river and reflects on life lived post-pandemic, reminding us that it's possible to draw meaning in the most unlikely of places.

As she searches the foreshore through the changing seasons, she is at times aided by the gentle illumination of the falling winter sun or hindered by bright summer skies and lashing rain. Yet, by working in harmony with the unpredictable terrain, she finds solace in aligning with the elements and uncovering the treasures that are bestowed by the tide. From medieval pilgrim badges and Tudor love tokens, to Georgian wig curlers and Victorian pottery, each passing day unearths ordinary and extraordinary objects that tell the rich story of London's past and its inhabitants.

I liked Lara Maiklem’s Mudlarking quite a bit, as I recall, and I was fascinated by the bits and pieces of historical information, the unfiltered nature of it all. Those same aspects felt more irritating here in this book, though — there’s no organisation to it, just the turning of the seasons, so there’s a lot of repetition.

In the end, I think the problem is that it comes out more as autobiography than history or even a discussion of mudlarking, and thus is just generally not my thing. There are still the same fascinating snippets, albeit with some info that I’m certain is repeated from Mudlarking, but… it doesn’t feel like anything new, and I don’t like Maiklem enough as a person (on this level of acquaintance, anyway) to be spending this much time with her. I especially don’t care enough about her kids, their process of going up, and how often she’ll leave them and her wife and just go down to the foreshore because she feels like it.

She’s mostly responsible, as mudlarks go, in relation to protection of the environment and archaeology — at the very least, she’s smarter than to say in print that she breaks the rules — and critical of other mudlarks who are less responsible, but she’s also kinda… exclusive? She seems to feel that parts of the river belong to her, and she won’t tell others where she found something, and that attitude hits wrong.

So… all in all, just not for me.

Rating: 2/5

Tags: book reviews, books, history, Lara Maiklem, memoir, non-fiction

Review – Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Posted June 7, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

by Simon Armitage

Genres: Arthuriana, Classics, Poetry
Pages: 114
Rating: five-stars

Synopsis:
Preserved on a single surviving manuscript dating from around 1400, composed by an anonymous master, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was rediscovered only two hundred years ago, and published for the first time in 1839. One of the earliest great stories of English literature after Beowulf, the poem narrates in crystalline verse the strange tale of a green knight on a green horse, who rudely interrupts the Round Table festivities one Yuletide, casting a pall of unease over the company and challenging one of their number to a wager. The virtuous Gawain accepts and decapitates the intruder with his own axe. Gushing blood, the knight reclaims his head, orders Gawain to seek him out a year hence, and departs. Next Yuletide Gawain dutifully sets forth… His quest for the Green Knight involves a winter journey, a seduction scene in a dream-like castle, a dire challenge answered — and a drama of enigmatic reward disguised as psychic undoing.

Simon Armitage’s new version is meticulously responsive to the tact and sophistication of the original — but equally succeeds in its powerfully persuasive ambition to be read as an original new poem. It is as if, six hundred years apart, two northern poets set out on a journey through the same mesmeric landscapes — acoustic, physical and metaphorical — in the course of which the Gawain poet has finally found his true and long-awaited translator.

Simon Armitage’s translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is not a straightforwardly scholarly one (though if you read his introduction, it’s clear that he’s critically engaged with the poem, its language, and the process of translation). It’s a bit like Seamus Heaney’s take on Beowulf: it’s a translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and it’s also something of its own.

It’s definitely not the version I used when studying the poem, though it is my favourite, and it’s long been the translation I would recommend for pure fun. If you want a version of Sir Gawain that doesn’t have any spin put on it, you’ll be best off leaving this aside and going to find a copy of the Middle English version with glosses, or if you can’t read Middle English, a reasonable scholarly facing-translation.

But this version is an excellent one as far as experiencing the poem goes, playing with the language, genuinely attempting the alliterative form (sometimes to mixed success, in my opinion), and making the poem feel pretty alive. Read it aloud to yourself if you can!

I love it dearly, and I’ve just snagged a copy of the audiobook read by Armitage on Libro.fm, which should also be great. This was a very good reread choice on my part.

Rating: 5/5

Tags: Arthurian, book reviews, books, classics, poetry, Simon Armitage

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted June 7, 2025 by Nicky in General / 18 Comments

How’s it been another week already? It started off quite gruelling, as my first exam was a doozy, but hopefully I’m managing to rest and recharge before the final two on Monday and Tuesday. And then I’ll have done all assessed work for my degree!

Last weekend was of course my little trip with my wife and a friend to York to the bookshops there, where I gleefully spent time in Criminally Good Books and Portal Bookshop. Let’s get onto the book haul, shall we?

Books acquired this week

I spent most of my money in Waterstones and Criminally Good Books, this time, because I had some stamp cards full in Waterstones and I wasn’t somehow in much of a mood for fiction. In the end, I only got two novels!

I was interested in reviewing The Otherwhere Post for Postcrossing’s blog (where I do a semi-regular feature reviewing books about post/mail/etc), so that was a bit of an impulse buy. I’m not entirely sure if The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association will be for me, but I did see some enthusiastic reviews about it (most recently calypte’s review, though that was posted after I bought it), and I thought… why not? If I don’t like it, then no harm done.

Other than that, it was all non-fiction (and mostly history), some of which I’ve already devoured. Let’s start with the books I snagged in Criminally Good Books!

They had a whole shelf on plants and poisons that really I should’ve dragged my friend in to see, since he loves plants, but honestly I figured he’d probably read them (and maybe isn’t as interested in stuff pertaining to crime and crime fiction as I am). I’m quite curious about Stony Jack and the Lost Jewels of Cheapside, which promises to talk about the antiquities trade in Edwardian London, about which I know almost nothing.

More treasures await, though! Here’s the rest of my haul, including two gifts from my wife when I made eyes at highly illustrated and quite expensive books (the first two below).

My usual eclectic mix, as you see! You’ll notice another candidate for review on Postcrossing’s blog, too: The Postal Paths, by Alan Cleaver.

I’ve already dug into some of the new books, as you’ll see in my sneak peek of books I’ve reviewed that will get posted to the blog… eventually. But first, the usual recap of the week!

Posts from this week

I’ve been busy, but not too busy to keep posting reviews — thankfully I write them long in advance, and have a huge backlog, so I even managed to post on my exam day.

Poetry: The World’s Wife, by Carol Ann Duffy (3/5 stars)
Non-fiction: The Graves: Srebenica and Vukovar, by Eric Stover and Gilles Peress (4/5 stars)
Non-fiction: Jane Austen in 41 Objects, by Kathryn Sutherland (4/5 stars)
Fantasy/romance manga: The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter, vol 1, by Kazuki Irodori (3/5 stars)
Fantasy: Hemlock & Silver, by T. Kingfisher (5/5 stars)
Classic crime: Cat and Mouse, by Christianna Brand (1/5 stars)

And there was quite a chatty What Are You Reading Wednesday post, too.

What I’m reading

As promised, let’s talk about the books I’ve read this week which I’ll be reviewing on the blog (eventually). The reviews are already written, really, but I have such a backlog to actually post!

There were a couple of rereads, too, so it really wasn’t a bad week as far as reading goes, despite the 13-hour exam on Monday.

Over the weekend, I have ambitious reading plans, as usual. I’m just finishing off with The Medieval Scriptorium (Sara J. Charles), and then I probably want to focus on some fiction for a bit and reading A Case of Mice and Murder (Sally Smith). Other than that, perhaps a little more of my reread of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, and if I finish that… who knows?

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Linking up with Reading Reality’s Stacking the Shelves, Caffeinated Reviewer’s The Sunday Post, and the Sunday Salon over at Readerbuzz, as usual!

Tags: books, Stacking the Shelves, weekly roundup