Category: General

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted July 5, 2025 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

Oop, it’s the weekend! And today the movers are coming, so this post has been prewritten and I just need to remember to push the publish button. (I’d schedule it, but then WordPress wouldn’t send out any emails saying there was a post, because they have some kind of bug.)

Edit before posting: things didn’t work out for me to post this earlier, so wooo, the movers have been! It’s been a busy, busy day.

Books acquired this week

Two books to review this week, both of which are pretty exciting!

Cover of Cinder House by Freya Marske Cover of What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor for both of them. I’m hoping to tuck into them veeeery soon.

Posts from this week

Time for the roundup of reviews posted…

What I’m reading

As usual, let’s start with the roundup of books read since last week…

Cover of The Green Ages by Annette KehnelCover of Cyanide in the Sun and Other Stories of Summertime Crime ed. Martin Edwards Cover of The Future of Dinosaurs: What We Don't Know, What We Can, and What We'll Never Know, by David Hone Cover of R.U.R. by Karel Capek Cover of I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf, by Grant Snider

It wasn’t a huge reading week by my standards — especially because I finished three of those last weekend and then didn’t read much the rest of the week, but it’s not too surprising, what with the move!

I’m not sure if I’ll be reading much this weekend, or what I might be reading. I guess for that we’ll have to wait and see.

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

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WWW Wednesday

Posted July 2, 2025 by Nicky in General / 7 Comments

Cover of R.U.R. by Karel CapekWhat have you recently finished reading?

I reread Karel Čapek’s R.U.R., which I’d forgotten I’d read before. I think I “got” it better this time than previously, judging from my previous reaction. It’s still weird how all the men are in love with Helena, though.

Before that, I finished David Hone’s The Future of Dinosaurs, which… well, I’ve already posted the review; it was interesting, but quite dense to get through. At the same time, I guess it was kind of bitty as well, since it covers a broad range of topics.

Cover of The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective by Sara LodgeWhat are you currently reading?

I’m most actively reading The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective, by Sara Lodge, which I’m finding quite interesting given my interest in the development of crime fiction as a genre. It’s not really about that, but it does discuss fiction alongside the real-life female inquiry agents, etc. It’s funny reading it and thinking about Sayers’ Lord Peter thinking he’s so clever and innovative by recruiting Miss Climpson etc; clearly just a couple of decades before that was a whole well-known thing, based on the evidence of ads in papers and at least one court case so far.

As ever, I have a number of irons on the fire — probably too many — but I’m not making a lot of progress on anything else I’m reading.

What will you read next?

Who knows? The next week or two are gonna be pretty focused on moving into the new house, and then organising and shelving my book collection. Something unexpected might jump out at me! Right now I have no plans except to pick up whatever I feel in the mood for, to be honest. It’s likely to be non-fiction, given the givens.

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Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted June 28, 2025 by Nicky in General / 18 Comments

Good morning! Moving continues apace, but this weekend should actually be fairly chill. Next weekend there are movers, so that’ll be less chill, ahaha.

Books acquired this week

N/a! I haven’t been out much, certainly not anywhere with a bookshop — and my birthday isn’t far off, so I’m trying to leave some books on my wishlist that people might want to buy me.

Posts from this week

As usual, let’s do a bit of a roundup…

That was it for this week!

What I’m reading

I haven’t actually been reading a lot this week, by my standards or… honestly, anyone’s standards, at least among book bloggers. It’s just these two volumes of Solo Leveling:

Cover of Solo Leveling manhwa vol 4 by Dubu Cover of Solo Leveling manhwa vol 5 by Dubu

I’m not sure what I’ll be reading this weekend, if anything, actually. I might try to get some books I’m close to finishing actually wrapped up, so I can pack them or donate them. But we’ll see!

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

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WWW Wednesday

Posted June 25, 2025 by Nicky in General / 4 Comments

Cover of Into the Riverlands by Nghi VoWhat have you recently finished reading?

I think the last thing I finished was my reread of Nghi Vo’s Into the Riverlands — I got tempted to reread the novellas after reading an ARC of the latest, A Mouthful of Dust, and I’m definitely enjoying the revisit, and also spotting little links between the stories. Each can stand alone, but sometimes a little stray detail pops up that I only really notice because I’ve got them all very fresh in my mind.

Cover of The Correspondent by Virginia EvansWhat are you currently reading?

Not very much, I’ll be honest. I have quite a few books part-started, but I’m not finding anything that quite clicks with my brain. I most recently started Wendy A. Woloson’s Crap: A History of Cheap Stuff in America, which I’m finding very interesting. It isn’t always directly relateable to the UK and experiences here, but there are definitely similarities.

I’m also reading Virginia Evans’ The Correspondent, somewhat on a whim; it’s doing a really good job at building a personality through letters, and I look forward to reviewing it for Postcrossing’s blog at some stage.

Cover of volume one of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong XiuWhat will you be reading next?

It’s really hard to say since I’m mostly playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, not reading! But I’m in a danmei book club Discord server, and they’re starting on The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation soon, so maybe that.

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Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted June 21, 2025 by Nicky in General / 26 Comments

Yay, it’s the weekend! It’s too warm here to do much and indeed I’ve deliberately planned a very calm weekend without any scheduled tasks…

Books acquired this week

This week I ended up getting a bunch more volumes of the Solo Leveling manhwa, in part since it was indie bookshop week, and in part because I had some vouchers to use. Plus, on a very different note (and looking a bit funny beside it!) I got an epistolary novel on a whim, as it might be a good one to review for Postcrossing’s blog.

Cover of Solo Leveling manhwa vol 3 by Dubu Cover of Solo Leveling manhwa vol 4 by Dubu Cover of Solo Leveling manhwa vol 5 by Dubu

Cover of Solo Leveling manhwa vol 6 by Dubu Cover of Solo Leveling manhwa vol 7 by Dubu

I’m looking forward to reading more of Solo Leveling!

Posts from this week

Right, time for a quick review roundup!

What I’m reading

It’s been a really quiet week, reading-wise, and that’s okay. I’m still decompressing, I think! And there was plenty of work to catch up on now I’m not mid-exams.

Here’s a sneak peek at the books I did finish!

Cover of Cull of the Wild: Killing in the Name of Conservation, by Hugh Warwick Cover of Selling Manhattan by Carol Ann Duffy Cover of The Book Forger by Joseph Hone Cover of Solo Leveling manhwa vol 3 by Dubu Cover of Payment Deferred by C.S. Forester

Not bad for a week where I often didn’t feel like reading, really! As for this weekend, no plans, I’ll just follow my whim.

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!

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WWW Wednesday

Posted June 18, 2025 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

Cover of The Book Forger by Joseph HoneWhat have you recently finished reading?

After weeks of reading really really voraciously, I’ve calmed down a bit, so it’s been a couple of days since I last finished anything! I thiiiink the last thing I finished was Joseph Hone’s The Book Forger, which digs into the story of the literary forgeries perpetrated by Thomas J. Wise. It frames it as a bit of a detective story, which isn’t wrong. I mostly enjoyed it, except for where it really bizarrely misquoted Dorothy L. Sayers (or rather, correctly quoted but contextualised it completely wrong).

Cover of The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System vol 2What are you currently reading?

I have a lot of books started, but I’m not super actively reading anything at the moment. The closest to the top of my mind are The Future of Dinosaurs, by David Hone, and my reread of volume two of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System. The former is really interesting, though quite dense (and the print is tiny!).

The latter… I’m basically struggling with the part where Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu are completely at cross-purposes and totally failing to understand one another, and I hate that part. There are excellent and funny aspects to that part, but it’s just so painful to see the misunderstanding and not be able to hit Shen Qingqiu around the head shouting, “You’ve changed the story! He doesn’t have the same motivations anymore!”

What will you be reading next?

Not sure! I did get the urge to start Crap: A History of Cheap Stuff in America (Wendy A. Woloson), not at aaaaall inspired by sorting through stuff ready to move. (Not that we’re from the US, and not that the problem is really cheap stuff, but when you’re moving you become very aware of how much stuff you have and how you should’ve sorted through and donated a bunch of it ages ago. Ahem.)

I did also just get volumes 3 and 4 of the Solo Leveling manhwa, so maybe I’ll read those. That will of course lead to wanting volume 5, I’m sure, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it…

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Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted June 14, 2025 by Nicky in General / 20 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!

Cover of Guardian (light novel) vol 1 by Priest Cover of Solo Leveling manhwa vol 2 by Dubu Cover of Cyanide in the Sun and Other Stories of Summertime Crime ed. Martin Edwards

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!

Cover of A Case of Life and Limb by Sally Smith

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…

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…

Cover of The Medieval Scriptorium: Making Books in the Middle Ages, by Sara J. Charles Cover of A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith Cover of A Shropshire Lad by A.E. Housman Cover of Beneath Our Feet by Michael Lewis, Ian Richardson and Mackenzie Crook

Cover of Standing Female Nude by Carol Ann Duffy Cover of No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre Cover of The Animals Among Us by John Bradshaw Cover of Solo Leveling manhwa vol 2 by Dubu

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!

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Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted June 7, 2025 by Nicky in General / 20 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!

Cover of The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor Cover of The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozakis

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!

Cover of Stony Jack and the Lost Jewels of Cheapside: Treasures and Ghosts in the London Clay, by Victoria Shepherd Cover of No Ordinary Deaths: A People's History of Mortality, by Molly Consbee Cover of Most Delicious Poison: From Spices to Vices - The Story of Nature's Toxins by Noah Whiteman Cover of Planting Clues: How Plants Solve Crimes by David J. Gibson

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).

Cover of Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures and Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs, by Paul Koudounaris Cover of Beneath Our Feet by Michael Lewis, Ian Richardson and Mackenzie Crook Cover of The Buried City by Gabriel Zuchtriegel Cover of Between Two Rivers by Moudhy Al-Rashid

Cover of Medieval Bodies: Life, Death and Art in the Middle Ages by Jack Hartnell Cover of The Postal Paths by Alan Cleaver Cover of Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global by Laura Spinney Cover of The Future of Dinosaurs: What We Don't Know, What We Can, and What We'll Never Know, by David Hone

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.

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!

Cover of Sorcery and Small Magics, by Maiga Doocy Cover of Cat and Mouse by Christianna Brand Cover of Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures and Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs, by Paul Koudounaris

Cover of The Buried City by Gabriel Zuchtriegel Cover of Planting Clues: How Plants Solve Crimes by David J. Gibson Cover of Lost Ark Dreaming by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

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!

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WWW Wednesday

Posted June 4, 2025 by Nicky in General / 2 Comments

Cover of Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures and Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs, by Paul Koudounaris What have you recently finished reading?

Last night I stayed up a bit late reading this one, actually: Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures and Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs, by Paul Koudounaris. It’s about the “catacomb saints”, skeletons exhumed from the catacombs of Rome and sent to various European churches as relics. It’s a bit macabre — they are skeletons, after all — but also beautiful. While it’s not a way of worship I agree with, it’s fascinating to read about and see the love and veneration people had for these “saints”, and to learn about their origins.

I initially thought they were from actual Vatican crypts, but seemingly not; they’re actually from a Roman cemetery containing mostly (but not exclusively) Christian inhumations. Anyway, I’ll talk about the book a bit more when I review the book, but it was fascinating, and it’s very beautiful.

Cover of The Buried City by Gabriel ZuchtriegelWhat are you currently reading?

Too many books at once, as ever! I’m still partway through my reread of Vivian Shaw’s Greta Helsing series, being somewhat stalled by exams, exam stress, and the resulting urge to read non-fiction that has nothing to do with my own particular subject. So right now my most active read is a book by the director general of archaeological works at Pompeii, Gabriel Zuchtrigel: The Buried City, which the inside flap of the dust cover says discusses new finds in Pompeii. Thus far, it’s not really the case, but more about the author’s career in archaeology and how it led him to Pompeii and prepared him to interpret the city. Which is interesting, but not what I’d hoped for, and it’s a bit… rambling. I hope there’ll be more about actual finds as the book continues.

I’m also reading David J. Gibson’s Planting Clues, which is about the use of botany in forensics and prosecutions. I was eager to read it, but it really does go into some technical stuff about both botany and law, so I didn’t quite have the focus. I’ll get back to it soon.

Aaaand I’m also reading The Medieval Scriptorium, by Sara J. Charles, which is heavy on the history of Christianity and, again, had my mind wandering a bit for now, and The Library of Ancient Wisdom, by Selena Wisnom, which is perfect for my mood right now, I just haven’t got very far into it yet.

And… you know what, let’s stop there.

Cover of The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System vol 2What will you be reading next?

No idea! I got a bunch of fascinating new books in my exam-distraction book spree at the weekend, so perhaps one of them — I particularly have my eye on David Hone’s The Future of Dinosaurs, because, well, dinosaurs. I also started rereading Nghi Vo’s Singing Hills books, so maybe more of those; they do stand alone, but they build up a world, and it’s been a while since I visited some parts of it, so the refresher seemed timely. Aaaand I was rereading The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, which I might get back to as well: it’s amazing how much more sense it all makes with more knowledge of the genre and related genres. It’s not even my first reread, but each time I have a little more context.

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Stacking the Shelves/The Sunday Post

Posted May 31, 2025 by Nicky in General / 16 Comments

Hello again, folks! This one’s been written in advance since I’ll be out today, so here’s hoping I haven’t missed anything…

Books acquired this week

None… yet! Today I’m off to York to visit Portal Bookshop and Criminally Good Books, so I imagine there’ll be new books to show off next week. Gotta stock up, since my first exam is on Monday — books to help me relax definitely needed!

Posts from this week

As usual, let’s have a bit of a review roundup!

What I’m reading

This week I’ve been focusing on finishing up my books for my Bookspin Bingo card on Litsy. That slowed me up a bit as some of them were slower reads, but here’s what I’ve finished this week and plan to review on the blog at some point:

Cover of Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho Cover of Medieval Graffiti by Matthew Champion Cover of Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher

Cover of Advocate by Daniel M. Ford Cover of The Apothecary Diaries (light novel) volume 4 Cover of The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley Cover of The Undetectables by Courtney Smyth

Today (Saturday) won’t have a lot of time for reading, but I do want to finish Sorcery and Small Magics (Maiga Doocy) today, to get a bingo on my Bookspin Bingo card on Litsy (latest version here!). Sunday I’ll just read whatever strikes me as fun, since my first exam is on Monday (as mentioned above) and I want to be nice and relaxed for it.

In case you were wondering if I ought to be studying, nope: it’s an open book exam, I won’t know the complex material any better for looking at it for two extra days, and because it’s a gruelling experience (8-10 hours of work) I really need to be rested and refreshed.

Hope everyone’s having 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!

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