What have you recently finished reading?

Kacen Callender’s Felix Ever After, which… I think would’ve meant a lot to me 10-15 years ago. Though it would probably have also been more viscerally upsetting 10-15 years ago, since the main character gets private details exposed in school which is reminiscent to me of someone finding private stuff of mine and outing me to the entire school as a lesbian (not a term I use for myself, but close enough to true to kick off several years of intense bullying). It was very teenage, in a way that doesn’t speak to me much now, but I think I’m glad I gave it a shot. I need to mull over how to properly review it.

What are you currently reading?

A lot of books at once, as I try to finish off my Book Spin Bingo card! Let’s see… the last thing I was reading was Emily Tesh’s The Incandescent, which is pretty fun. I have some theories about where things are going, and I kind of hope I’m wrong, just so it can surprise me.

I’m also still partway through volume three of The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish, which is still cute and silly. I’ve also started on: Anna Bright’s The Hedge Witch of Foxhall, which I’m still kind of dubious about; Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Spare Man, which I’m enjoying but in which the mystery so far is not that mysterious apart from one element; aaand Fonda Lee and Shannon Lee’s Breath of the Dragon, which is enjoyable enough but not totally wowing me right now.

What will you be reading next?

Volume one of Mo Xiang Tong Xiu’s The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, also for my Book Spin Bingo card! I’d wanted to finish Disabled Tyrant first, but I had a couple of days of not reading much, so it won’t work out if I want to finish off the bingo card.

I also want to read a couple of manga and comics I’ve identified for a comics bingo card, but that might have to wait for November. Sadly, there are only so many reading hours in the day, for some weird reason.

What have you recently finished reading?

I’ve been digging into more of the comics offering I can get via my library’s subscription to Comics Plus, so there’s been a lot of graphic novels in the last couple of days! The last thing I finished, just now, was volume one of Iyanu: Child of Wonder, by Roye Okupe. I loved the backstory and notes probably more than the story itself, sadly.

Other than that, I finished Kim M. Watt’s Baking Bad, which is kinda cute and cosy, and didn’t quite work for me — not so badly that I wouldn’t try reading more by Watt, but the mystery felt a bit obvious and… I don’t know, I need to think it over properly before writing my review, but I really wanted to like it because a friend got it for me and they love it, but I never quite got into it.

What are you currently reading?

My non-fiction reads are Eating to Extinction (Dan Saladino) and The Posthumous Papers of the Manuscripts Club (Christopher de Hamel). I’m enjoying both, and they’re both very much by people who love what they’re writing about, which is always pleasing.

I’m also in the midst of volume three of The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish (Xue Shan Fei Hu), and loving Prince Jing’s dedication to his unexpected family, and Li Yu’s usual haplessness.

What will you be reading next?

I’m not sure, but I need to get my skates on with my BookSpinBingo card books if I want to get a blackout again this month! I’m not sure which I want to start on next, though; maybe Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Spare Man, as I’ve let it languish unread faaar too long.

What have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was Simon Sebag Montefiore’s Written in History, which was… okay? It’s a collection of famous letters, and I don’t feel like it quite meets its brief of being “letters that changed the world” in all cases. It’s definitely got letters of interest, and useful context for them, though.

I’ve been meaning to read it forever, so now it’s off my list, too!

What are you currently reading?

Most actively, volume two of The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish (Xue Shan Fei Hu). It’s so silly, it’s pretty cute, and I’m having fun with it. I ended up getting volumes two, three and four all together, to celebrate the UK’s Bookshop Day, so I have the whole series ready to dig into.

I’ve also started on KJ Charles’ All of Us Murderers, though the bullying directed at the character who clearly has ADHD is a bit… not what I’m in the mood for right now (though I was warned about it, and almost all the characters doing it are clearly intended to be being unpleasant). I hope to pick it back up properly soon, though.

What will you be reading next?

As ever, it’s up to my whim, but it’s likely I’ll keep on with The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish. Other than that… I might start on E.C.R. Lorac’s I Could Murder Her, since it’s on my bingo card for October, and a “cosy” (ish) classic mystery sounds like just what the doctor ordered for me right now when I’m feeling a bit bleh. (Right, Dr Mum?)

Otherwise… we’ll see!

What have you recently finished reading?

Yesterday I finished both The Genius Myth (Helen Lewis) and the second volume of Love in the Palm of His Hand (Rinteku). The former was alright, but feels like it went on a bit long after making its point — basically, we crown people as “geniuses” for being good at a narrow subset of things and trust them unduly with other things, and allow them to be assholes as a result.

The latter was very cute; less of the sign language in this one, more about Fujinaga’s acting, and there’s less of him and Keito together… but cute nonetheless, and it’s still fascinating how the sign language etc is portrayed.

What are you currently reading?

The Posthumous Papers of the Manuscript Club (Christopher de Hamel) is the only book I have very actively on the go, and even that I’ve been neglecting! It’s such a chonker, though, I should get back to it before I lose the thread. It’s very pretty, I love that it has in-line colour images rather than just a glossy insert, it makes it a lot easier to remember to take the time to look, and is less disruptive to the narrative. Definitely a good recent trend in non-fiction.

What are you reading next?

Definitely Juneau Black’s Mockingbird Court, out in the US already, out in the UK tomorrow. I love this series, even though the setting actively handwaves the problem of making sense (carnivores and their prey living in the same town side by side, eating in the same restaurants, grabbing pumpkin spice lattes together, etc). I suspect this is going to be the perfect autumn read, too, which is by no means a must for me, but is not unenjoyable.