Category: General

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted February 24, 2024 by Nicky in General / 25 Comments

Hurrah, the weekend! I’ve been looking forward to it eagerly, as I’ve put in a load of work on my essays this week, as well as working my usual hours, etc, etc. Not as much reading time as I’d like — hopefully I’ll get plenty over the weekend to make up for it.

As usual, linking up with Reading Reality’s Stacking the Shelves, Caffeinated Reviewer’s The Sunday Post, and the Sunday Salon over at Readerbuzz.

Books acquired this week:

Last weekend, my wife duly went to the bookshop and acquired the book I owed myself as a reward for finishing a draft of my parasitology essay (Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands). Once there, it seems there was another book that couldn’t quite be resisted…

Cover of Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett Cover of volume one of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation is by the same author as The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, so we just had to get it, right?!

Technically, my wife went out last night to grab me a couple of new books, because I’ve been working so hard and really fancied grabbing a copy of Alice Roberts’ Crypt when I saw that Waterstones have them out already… But I haven’t unpacked the bag and added it to my StoryGraph TBR yet, so I’ll include them next week.

Posts from this week:

It’s been a busy week on the blog, as usual, so here’s a roundup in case anyone missed it!

Other posts:

What I’m reading:

This week’s been a bit quiet again — with the graphic novels it still looks like I read a lot, but I mostly read non-fiction, which tends to be a bit slower for me. Over the weekend I’ll be continuing with reading Cat Bohannon’s Eve: How The Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Evolution, which so far is reassuringly inclusive of all kinds of female bodies.

I’ll probably also finish up my reread of the third volume of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, finish reading Seanan McGuire’s Mislaid in Parts Half-Known, and make a start on Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands. So fiction will make a comeback (I think).

Anyway, here are teaser cover images for the books I’ll be reviewing in the coming weeks.

Cover of The Lost Boys by Gina Perry Cover of Book Love by Debbie Tung Cover of Everything is OK by Debbie Tung

Cover of The Hidden World by George McGavin Cover of Oddball by Sarah Andersen Cover of Ten Birds That Changed the World by Stephen Moss

How’s everyone doing? Reading anything amazing?

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WWW Wednesday

Posted February 21, 2024 by Nicky in General / 11 Comments

Oh, hey, it’s Wednesday again already and time for the usual questions:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What have you recently finished reading?
  • What are you reading next?

Linking up with Taking on a World of Words.

Cover of The Hidden World by George McGavinWhat are you currently reading?

Somewhat on a whim, I started reading George McGavin’s The Hidden World: How Insects Sustain Life On Earth Today and Will Shape Our Lives Tomorrow. Bit of a mouthful, but it tells you most of what you need to know about the book! It’s a bit random in its organisation, like a jumble of all the things McGavin can think to tell people about insects, but there’s some interesting stuff. I want to finish it today.

I’m also a little way into Seanan McGuire’s Mislaid in Parts Half-Known, which feels very much like a direct continuation of Lost in the Moment and Found. Most of these novellas stand alone a little bit, but this one feels like maybe the two should’ve just been one. Anyway, I hope to finish this today too.

Cover of The Lost Boys by Gina PerryWhat have you recently finished reading?

I think the last thing I finished was Debbie Tung’s Everything Is OK, which is an autobiographical comic about the artist’s journey with anxiety/depression. I think it also tries to be a bit of a general primer on surviving anxiety and depression, at which it fails dramatically through addressing only a very narrow slice of what struggling with mental health is like.

Before that I finished Gina Perry’s The Lost Boys, a look at the psychologist Muzafer Sherif’s life and his Robbers’ Cave experiment. It was not as illuminating as her book on Stanley Milgram, and didn’t feel like it came together as well, but it was interesting.

Cover of Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma TörzsWhat are you reading next?

Not sure! I have a few books that I’m technically already partway through which are kind of on the backburner while I finish The Hidden World and Mislaid in Parts Half-Known, so probably I’ll just pick those back up. I’m partway through Ink Blood Sister Scribe (Emma Törzs), which is taking me some time to get into (perhaps mostly just because it’s a little long and I favour short fiction at the moment), and also The Book of Perilous Dishes (Doina Ruști), which I’d like to get back to as well.

There’s always something. What about you?

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Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Superpowers

Posted February 20, 2024 by Nicky in General / 22 Comments

This week’s theme from That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday is “bookish superpowers”. I had to have a think about this one…

  1. The ability to persuade people to read books I love. I mean, beyond just the power of nagging and explaining how awesome they are (and giving them a copy). Something that nudges people straight past the inertia into giving it a try. I don’t require people to love the books I love, I just want to share them more and have more people to talk to them about!
  2. The ability to stop or slow down time when I’m reading. If I could just get a little more time in my day, I’d read so much. I’d accept a more limited power that gives me just an hour a day. Anything!
  3. The ability to create infinite space for books. My collection always grows to exceed the space available for it. Back in my bedroom at my parents’ home, my dad even built a shelf over the door to help contain my collection. My coffee table was actually bookshelves. Shelves everywhere. Even though I don’t keep all the books I read, and donate loads of them, over time my collection grows all the same.
  4. The ability to remember the crucial details about everything I read. I’d be so much better at reading series if I could just put them on pause for a bit and not forget the major plot points of the first book!
  5. The ability to fully forget things I read. Sometimes, I wish I could experience something again for the first time, with only the knowledge that I really loved it.
  6. The ability to fix book snobs who sneer at the things other people read. I mean, this sounds like brainwashing, so maybe not seriously, but I wish I had some way to convince people to stop judging what other people read. Sneering at romance novels and looking down on graphic novels doesn’t make you look clever! Not everything is for everyone, but that’s fine. Enjoyment is what matters.
  7. The ability to get hold of a book in the very instant I decide I want it, to the benefit of an indie bookshop. I know, I know, I want the world. But my reading is so whim-based, sometimes books don’t arrive before the mood is lost, unless I use Amazon. And that sucks!
  8. The ability to magically bring a book back into print. I was sadly rather put off second-hand books for reasons I don’t want to discuss (since it’s gross), so sometimes when a book is out of print, it’d be nice to be able to summon it back into print magically, so I can grab a new copy.
  9. The ability to read books that never got written. I’m thinking about Dream’s library from The Sandman — something like that! Sequels that never got written, ideas that never got fleshed out, the things authors would produce if they had world enough and time.
  10. The ability to fix typos in all copies of a book once I spot them. I’d be doing a favour to humankind!

Okay, so some of those are a bit silly, but it’s fun to dream sometimes…

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WWW Wednesday

Posted February 14, 2024 by Nicky in General / 4 Comments

It’s time for What Are You Reading Wednesday:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What have you recently finished reading?
  • What are you reading next?

Linking up with Taking on a World of Words.

Cover of Impact of Evidence by Carol Carnac AKA E.C.R. LoracWhat are you currently reading?

I got the latest British Library Crime Classic release from my subscription yesterday, so I’ve dived into that! It’s a new E.C.R. Lorac, Impact of Evidence, written under her other pseudonym, Carol Carnac. It’s set on the Welsh borders and has an intriguing set up of a flood, a car accident, and a mysterious extra corpse no one recognises. I want to finish it today!

I’m still reading Work: A History of How We Spend Our Time, which so far has been all about pre-farming societies, and is only just starting to move onto more modern stuff, even though I’m halfway through it. I need to settle down for a longer reading session on this one, I think, else I lose the thread of it.

Cover of The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System vol 2What have you recently finished reading?

Last thing I finished up was my reread of the second volume of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System (Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù), which… I only read it in January, but I wanted to reread after finishing the last volume because I felt like I’d missed some details. And I definitely had!

Also, my wife’s started reading the series now, finallyyyy. So I have some company in my new obsession, ha.

Cover of Seanan McGuire's Mislaid in Parts Half-KnownWhat are you reading next?

Well… most likely it’ll be the third volume of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, for a start. But I’m also planning to read Seanan McGuire’s Mislaid in Parts Half-Known. It looks like there are dinosaurs, based on the cover?! I want dinosaurs for sure.

Other than that, I’m not sure. Wherever my whim takes me!

How about you, dear reader? What are you currently reading?

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Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted February 10, 2024 by Nicky in General / 36 Comments

I’ve had a busy busy week with writing an assignment — sometimes I wonder why I like studying so much, ha! I think after this degree I’m going to take a break for a couple of years… but I’ve said that before.

Anyway, time to show what I’ve been up to in the reading realm.

As usual, linking up with Reading Reality’s Stacking the Shelves, Caffeinated Reviewer’s The Sunday Post, and the Sunday Salon over at Readerbuzz.

Books acquired this week:

…Nothing! I know, it’s unusual for me, but I’m really trying to behave myself and read the books I have as well as hungrily acquiring. Plus, I need to build up some buffer on my Beeminder goal so that I can get stacks and stacks of books next time I arrange a meetup with my friend from FFXIV.

(Hey Prof, are you reading this? March sometime maybe?!)

Posts from this week:

As usual, here’s a roundup of the reviews I’ve posted this week:

Other posts:

What I’m reading:

This week I started on a chonker from my backlog, James Suzman’s Work: A History of How We Spend Our Time, which is no doubt going to take up a good amount of time this weekend. I’m also planning to just go ahead and reread The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System from the start, because there are some details I find myself irritatingly forgetting. Reading the first book or two, I didn’t know I was going to love it so much!

And here’s a sneak peek at the books I’ve finished this week that I plan to review on the blog:

Cover of Soonish by Zach & Kelly Weinersmith Cover of Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett Cover of Someone From The Past by Margot Bennett Cover of Magic Stars by Ilona Andrews

Cover of The October Faction by Steve Niles et al Cover of The October Faction vol 2 by Steve Niles et al Cover of The October Faction vol 3 by Steve Niles et al Cover of The October Faction vol 4 by Steve Niles et al Cover of The October Faction vol 5 by Steve Niles et al

And that’s it for this week! How’s everyone else doing? Reading anything good?

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WWW Wednesday

Posted February 7, 2024 by Nicky in General / 2 Comments

It’s Wednesday, so as ever, it’s time to answer the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What have you recently finished reading?
  • What are you reading next?

And linking up with Taking on a World of Words.

Cover of The Cleaving by Juliet E. McKennaWhat are you currently reading?

Actually, nothing very actively, after I finished a book last night. I’m partway through a few books at once, but paused due to them not fitting the mood. I’m most likely to get back to The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, by Bettany Hughes, but that’s quite a slow read and one that I’m taking in bits.

The other thing I’ll probably get back to sooner rather than later is Juliet E. McKenna’s The Cleaving, an Arthurian retelling from the point of view of Nimue. I’m very interested in what it’ll do with that, since I studied Arthurian literature back at Cardiff University (and wrote my MA dissertation on it as well as numerous assignments).

Cover of Someone From The Past by Margot BennettWhat have you recently finished reading?

Last night I finished up reading Margot Bennett’s Someone from the Past which… I really didn’t like. The main character makes the most absurd decisions, and the author spends a lot of time lingering on wannabe-witty dialogue. It’s snappy enough up to a point, but then you realise they’re getting absolutely nowhere and you’ve read three pages of little substance. The main character thinks she’s clever and she really, really isn’t.

Plus, it ends with two characters getting together in a way that just feels as disastrous as everything else the main character has done. I’ll save the in-depth analysis for my review, I guess, but ugh.

Cover of System Collapse by Martha WellsWhat are you reading next?

Excellent question! I’m honestly really tempted to do some rereading — and not even of something I read a while ago, but of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System. I feel like there’s a lot that I missed, and having finished all four volumes (and watched the donghua, via a fan translation) I’d have a better appreciation of some of the stuff that was bewildering at first.

But I’ve only just finished those, so probably I’ll stick to the reading list I set myself at the start of the week. Most likely I’ll read Lost in the Moment and Found (Seanan McGuire), or System Collapse (Martha Wells). I’ve been meaning to catch up with both of those for a while now!

What about you? What are you currently reading? Anything exciting on your upcoming TBR?

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Placeholder Post

Posted February 7, 2024 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

Hey folks!

The Jetpack folks didn’t look at a test post I made a while ago in time, so the logs expired and they weren’t able to actually look into the problem… so I need to make a new scheduled post for them to take a look at, so they can figure out why they’re not sending an email for scheduled posts. I didn’t want to post something I worked on like a review or a linkup post, since then I’d probably not get any replies and the work would be wasted.

Of course, if things are fixed and this goes out to you all in email, I’ll really kick myself, since I have two more posts due to go up today (WWW Wednesday and a review). So many sorrys if that occurs and I spam your email! (And sorry anyways to the folks with RSS feeds.)

This post will hopefully self-destruct once Jetpack people take a look at the situation.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Quick Reads

Posted February 6, 2024 by Nicky in General / 24 Comments

This week’s theme from That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday prompts is “quick reads”. I have to admit that these aren’t in any logical order, and are the usual miscellany that you find around here… which some people think is a good thing, but hey, consider yourself duly warned.

Cover of Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley Cover of All the Horses of Iceland, by Sarah Tolmie Cover of Luke and Billy Finally Get A Clue by Cat Sebastian Cover of The Apple-Tree Throne by Premee Mohamed Cover of Blue Jeans by Carolyn Purnell

  1. Parnassus on Wheels, by Christopher Morley. This book is from 1917, and it’s always surprising to me that more people don’t know about it, because I find it so charming. The main female character is middle-aged and has given up on doing much except taking care of her older brother, until Parnassus on Wheels — a travelling bookshop — arrives on her doorstep and coaxes her out for an adventure. It’s light-hearted and fun. I’m a little surprised I’ve never reviewed it on this blog! (142 pages)
  2. All the Horses of Iceland, by Sarah Tolmie. It took me a little while to decide which of Sarah Tolmie’s novellas to include, but in the end it had to be this one. It feels very much like a Norse saga, so it’s not deep into character and motiviation, and I really loved how Tolmie captured the feel of a saga. (112 pages)
  3. Luke and Billy Finally Get a Clue, by Cat Sebastian. I haven’t read a lot of romance set in the ’50s, and the only sport I know anything about is rugby, but this one about two baseball players really got under my skin. Forget a grumpy/sunshine dynamic, this one’s grumpy/grumpy, but I promise it works! (102 pages)
  4. The Apple-Tree Throne, by Premee Mohamed. It took me a while to pick a novella by Mohamed, too, because she’s brilliant at them, and they’re a varied bunch. In the end, it has to be this ghost story that deals with the aftermath of war and being a survivor, and left me feeling it had been surprisingly tender and bittersweet, despite the setup. It surprised me. (73 pages)
  5. Blue Jeans, by Carolyn Purnell. I know the prompt is mostly for novellas, but I couldn’t resist including at least one non-fiction book. It’s one of the Object Lessons books, which is a great source of bitesize non-fiction, especially for people who have the kind of wide-ranging curiosity that has friends calling me magpie-minded. This one was one of my favourites, digging into an everyday topic and teasing out a surprising wealth of history. (160 pages)
  6. The Changeling Sea, by Patricia A. McKillip. Technically, I don’t think this is intended as a novella, but the page count falls under this list, so there! This one is a beautifully written fantasy that feels like a fairytale. McKillip has a habit of letting the readers do a lot of work to understand why things are the way they are, so it’s one that lingers. Or such was my experience, anyway. (137 pages)
  7. When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain, by Nghi Vo. This is the second book of the Singing Hills cycle, but each more or less stands alone, and it’s the first one that really hooked me and solidified each one into a must-read, though the first is lovely too. The stories can sometimes lack a little urgency because the protagonist, Chih, is gathering up other people’s stories — but in this one, Chih falls into a story of their own. (98 pages)
  8. The Salt Grows Heavy, by Cassandra Khaw. This book is surprisingly tender and romantic for something so gory and weird! It’s more dark fantasy or horror than romance in genre, but the relationship between the main characters is what really stuck with me. (83 pages)
  9. The Governess Affair, by Courtney Milan. This novella deals beautifully with trauma and healing, creating a strong bond between the main characters that makes the sex scene a necessary moment of development and connection for both of them. I suspect it’s a good place to start reading Milan’s work (though it wasn’t the one I started with) — the length does mean that you don’t get as much character development or as slow an unfolding of romance as in a novel, but in my opinion, it sticks the landing. (101 pages)
  10. Even Though I Knew the End, by C.L. Polk. It seems I never posted my review of this on the blog, so I’ll have to fix that soon! It’s a Sapphic love story that deals in demons and deals at the crossroads, and also has an element of detective fiction. If you were ever a fan of the Supernatural TV show, this one has a serious flavour of Dean Winchester’s brand of self-sacrifice, and it’s delicious. (136 pages)

Cover of The Changeling Sea by Patricia McKillip Cover of When the Tiger Came Down The Mountain by Nghi Vo Cover of The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw Cover of The Governess Affair by Courtney Milan Cover of Even Though I Knew The End by C.L. Polk

Because I love novellas and short books, this was a really difficult list to make! I left out so many great novellas, like the Murderbot books and Emily Tesh’s Silver in the Wood… but in the end I tried to choose books I hadn’t seen around as much.

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Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted February 3, 2024 by Nicky in General / 30 Comments

It’s been a long week here. Unfortunately my wife’s grandfather died last weekend (not too unexpectedly), and the funeral had to happen very quickly, so we quickly dropped everything on Monday to sort things out to get my wife there on time. We managed it, which is all that matters, but I’m a little behind on comments and visiting people back thanks to the disruption and being away from home. I’ll catch up this weekend, since I’ll be back on my main PC!

In the meantime, here’s my usual weekly roundup, and I’m linking up with Reading Reality’s Stacking the Shelves, Caffeinated Reviewer’s The Sunday Post, and the Sunday Salon over at Readerbuzz.

Books acquired this week:

Not a lot this week, but my wife caved to my pouting and got me the final volume of the Scum Villain series, which I’ve already devoured:

Cover of The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System vol 4 by MXTX

While the story was already over in the preceding volume, the fourth volume is full of short stories and extras that flesh out the world, the other characters, and what becomes of Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe.

Posts from this week:

I was a bit irregular about my posting schedule, but I think I did post a review every day. I have to, to even start to keep up with my reading speed — to avoid getting an even bigger backlog, I might need to post two in a day sometimes! So here’s this week’s roundup:

And other posts:

What I’m reading:

I’ve made a little project this week of finishing books I was partway through, leading to me finally finishing We Could Be So Good (Cat Sebastian), Sailor’s Delight (Rose Lerner) and Murder on Milverton Square (G.B. Ralph). I’ve also finished reading The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, having fallen rather in love with it.

For the weekend, I’m partway through Kelly and Zach Weinersmith’s Soon-ish, while also being tempted to start on Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Heather Fawcett).

Aaand a peek at the books I’ll be reviewing soon(ish):

Cover of Stone Star Season One by Jim Zub et al Cover of The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System vol 3 by MXTX Cover of Fear Stalks The Village by Ethel Lina White Cover of We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian

Cover of Stone Star Season Two by Jim Zub et al Cover of Sailor's Delight by Rose Lerner Cover of Murder on Milverton Square by G.B. Ralph Cover of The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System vol 4 by MXTX

Not bad going for a week’s reading, I think!

How’s everyone else been doing?

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WWW Wednesday

Posted January 31, 2024 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

It’s Wednesday, so time to address the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What have you recently finished reading?
  • What are you reading next?

And linking up with Taking on a World of Words.

Cover of Murder on Milverton Square by G.B. RalphWhat are you currently reading?

I’m getting back into a book I’d abandoned for a little while, Murder on Milverton Square by G.B. Ralph. It’s a mystery set in New Zealand, and so far it’s not filling me with special enthusiasm, but it’s enjoyable enough light reading, if that makes sense.

Cover of Sailor's Delight by Rose LernerWhat have you recently finished reading?

I finally finished reading Sailor’s Delight by Rose Lerner! I know I’d talked about it several weeks in a row, and now I’ve finally got back into it. I love the way it works out, but mostly I love how careful it is to ground the story in the Jewish year and Jewish ways of thought. I haven’t read a lot of stories with that kind of basis/setting, and I enjoyed learning a little more through story.

Plus, the relationship between Elie and Brine is sweet.

Cover of The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System vol 4 by MXTXWhat are you reading next?

Volume four of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System! I’ll be honest, I’ve peeked ahead a little bit: this volume is short stories, and I knew roughly what each one contained, so I’ve peeked at some of them to see how they play out. I’ll be sad to see this world finished: it really sucked me in more than I expected.

What about you? What are you currently reading?

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