Wednesday again! This week is a bit busier, but I’m trying to keep plenty of time for reading…

What have you recently finished reading?

I finished up reading Metropolitan Mysteries yesterday, another anthology of more-or-less classic crime stories in the British Library Crime Classics series, and edited as usual by Martin Edwards. I’ve said quite a few times before that I find these collections to be more than the sum of their parts, really: each story in and of itself might be entertaining, but it’s in being collected together as a survey of a subject that makes them most interesting to me (as someone who studied the development of crime fiction as a genre, albeit only as an undergrad).

What are you currently reading?

Quite a few things at once, no surprises there. I just read a chapter of The Magic Books (Anne Lawrence-Mathers), which is only mildly interesting to me in that “magic” mostly meant semi-religious astrology — so a lot of the discussion around these manuscripts is about acceptability to the church, which gets a bit repetitive. It’s hard to say what else I hoped for, because it certainly focuses on the contents of the manuscripts too, but I think the answer is just that sadly I don’t find these particular manuscripts that interesting.

I’m also reading volume three of The Apothecary Diaries, the light novel version. I’m noticing a lot of confusion about the difference between manga and light novels on my blog, so to be clear, they’re not the same thing. Light novels are prose, though usually with a few illustrations (though my ebook copy of My Happy Marriage didn’t have any), as opposed to manga/manhua/manhwa which are essentially comics. Sometimes a light novel gets adapted into a manga; The Apothecary Diaries has been adapted twice, in fact, and there’s a further spin-off manga as well. The volume numbers don’t match up: the story from the first volume of the light novel is covered in volumes 1-4 of the manga, if I understand correctly.

Anyway, I haven’t read much of the manga, but I’m enjoying the light novels! Maomao is a lot of fun as a character.

Other than that, I’ve just started on The Banquet Ceases, by Mary Fitt, a queer mystery writer based in Wales who as far as I know the British Library Crime Classics series hasn’t seen fit (ha) or haven’t been permitted to republish, but luckily, Moonstone Press have. I’m not very far into it yet, but it seems very “classic” in setup (though that word is getting a bit tired/ill-defined around mystery/crime).

And! I’m also reading Paladin’s Grace, by T. Kingfisher. It slipped onto the backburner a bit, but I’m enjoying it.

What will you be reading next?

I really need to get round to starting A Letter from the Lonesome Shore, by Sylvie Cathrall. I begged for a review copy, so I’d really best get round to it! I’m excited for it, though I sort of feel tempted to reread the first book… but really, I didn’t read it that long ago, I should be able to pick up the threads. We’ll see, I might reread it anyway, just for fun.

Yay, time to talk about books! As if I ever stop, ahaha.

What have you recently finished reading?

Robert Jackson Bennett’s A Drop of Corruption, which I adored. I originally had an ARC, but then life happened (my wife broke an ankle and my grandmother died), so I didn’t get round to it until I bought the finished copy last week — but believe me, I was eager for it, because I really liked the first book. It’s such a rich and inventive world, and does much more than “Sherlock Holmes in a fantasy setting” might make you think.

What are you currently reading?

I’ve actually been finishing books quite quickly, so there’s nothing lingering around that hasn’t been lingering around for a while already. This morning I started on Anne Lawrence-Mathers’ The Magic Books: A History of Enchantment in 20 Medieval Manuscripts, which I expect will take a while (the Bookly app says four more hours, which is a lot for me). So far it’s mostly about works relating to astrology, which isn’t quite what I think of when I think of magic/enchantment, but I’m curious to read more anyway.

What will you read next?

I just got an ARC of A Letter from the Lonesome Shore, by Sylvie Cathrall. I adored the first book and could barely put it down, so this is high on my list. I’m also very tempted by T. Kingfisher’s Paladin’s Grace, though, and The Baby Dragon Café (A.T. Qureshi). I feel like I could do with something lighter before I plunge into A Letter from the Lonesome Shore — I have quite the “book hangover” from A Drop of Corruption. Daniel M. Ford’s Advocate is another ARC I’m late to read, and I just finished the previous book Necrobane, so that’s somewhere on my “next up” list too.

In sum… who knows? I’ll read something, that’s for sure: I’m very much in a reading mood!

Wednesday again! And a lovely day to talk about books (you know me; every day is a lovely day to talk about books).

What have you recently finished reading?

Last night I finished up Not to be Taken, by Anthony Berkeley! It’s an interesting one, because it was intentionally written as a very fair-play mystery, because it was also a competition. The British Library Crime Classic edition includes not only the ending (which wasn’t originally published with it) but a report by Berkeley on the competition, which all made for fascinating reading. It was such a playful and innovative era for mysteries.

What are you currently reading?

I have three books that I’m currently most actively reading: Poet Mystic Widow Wife, by Hetta Howes; Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Cost of the Perfect Playlist, by Liz Pelly; and volume one of The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter, the original light novel by Yatsuki Wakutsu. It’s amazing to me how faithfully the manga version of the latter translates even the details of the narration. I always think I’ll get more out of the light novel version of these stories, and usually it’s only a little bit more insight. A picture’s worth a thousand words, I guess, even to someone as non-visual as me.

As for Mood Machine and Poet Mystic Widow Wife, both are quite slow going; the former is conscientious and detail-oriented in a way that makes it an excellent foil for Glenn McDonald’s You Have Not Yet Heard Your Favourite Song, which I read a couple of weeks ago. The latter is a bit less organised than I’d like, though I’m not far into it and maybe the organisation governing it will make more sense to me soon.

What will you read next?

Excellent question! Well, aside from the obvious (the other volumes of the light novel I’m reading), and finishing Necrobane (Daniel M. Ford), which I’ve been neglecting… I’m not sure. I got a whole treasury of new books by spending up store credit and vouchers, so I might dig into one of those. I am supposed to be reading books I can sell/donate, to help reduce clutter while moving, though. So maybe I’ll read a book from my backlog, Wendy A. Woloson’s Crap: A History of Cheap Stuff in America — though I’m British, it has a certain resonance right now as I sort through my things…

What about you?

Wednesday again, and a little break to talk books! Whew.

What have you recently finished reading?

Mostly just manga. I’m now working my way through The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter (Kazuki Irodori adapting Yatsuki Wakutsu’s light novel), and I’m enjoying it. I’m curious to read the light novels, as well, though I’m not actually sure if either manga or light novels are a finished series. Aresh’s interest in Seiichirou is cute, but I’ll get frustrated if they don’t start to communicate about that soon.

What are you currently reading?

The only thing that’s really close to an active read is Daniel M. Ford’s Necrobane, which I haven’t picked up in a few days. I’m enjoying it, but I just don’t have the attention span while I’m digging deep to get my assignments done. I am still reading something from Serial Reader, at least, which is Baroness Emma Orczy‘s Unravelled Knots at the moment. I’m not a huge fan of her “The Old Man in the Corner” mystery stories, having read a bunch of them in British Library Crime Classic collections, but I’m curious enough about them to keep reading, at least at this bitesize pace!

What will you read next?

I really don’t know. Because it’s on my Litsy Book Spin Bingo card, I’m thinking about Hetta Howes’ Poet Mystic Widow Wife, and I’m also very curious about Liz Pelly’s Mood Machine as a counterpoint to the other book I read about music streaming. But I’m having a bit of trouble settling down to read because of my assignments and moving-related upheaval, so we’ll see.

What about you?

It’s that time again!

What have you recently finished reading?

Anthony Boucher’s Rocket to the Morgue, which is a fascinating meeting of two genres I love: it’s a mystery, but it’s a mystery about the classic pulp era of SF, and a lot of the characters are based on those writers: Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, etc. It feels weirdly like a book that could be written now out of nostalgia, though it was first published in 1942. I enjoyed it, and I’m curious about the other books featuring Sister Ursula.

What are you currently reading?

I started Daniel M. Ford’s Necrobane finally, yesterday — I meant to start it soon after finishing The Warden, but got distracted, as I often do. It took me a minute to pick up some of the threads again, but I’m enjoying it so far, and feel like some of the things that annoyed me have improved (Aelis doesn’t talk to herself so much).

Wish she’d talk to other people more, though… she’s keeping a secret she really ought not keep. As so often, I expect that to soon drive some drama.

I’m also reading Glenn McDonald’s You Have Not Yet Heard Your Favourite Song, which… it’s so not my area, it’s a little hard to evaluate it, to be honest. He’s very pro-streaming and pretty pro-Spotify, but at the same time, shares some of my values about listening diversely and artists getting paid.

What will you read next?

Liz Pelly’s Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist should be an excellent counterpoint to You Have Not Yet Heard Your Favourite Song, so I might go with that. I’m also eyeing up some E.C.R. Lorac books which turn out to be available on Kobo Plus. In terms of the #BookSpin challenge on Litsy, I should read Robert Jackson Bennett’s A Drop of Corruption and Hetta Howe’s Poet Mystic Widow Wife, to get my #BookSpin and work toward a bingo.

But, as ever, who knows?!

What about you?