Category: General

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted August 31, 2024 by Nicky in General / 17 Comments

It’s been a pretty normal week, as things go, which is nice after feeling pretty busy and frazzled of late! It’s been a quieter week reading-wise, but that’s fine.

Books acquired this week

Without further ado, let’s finish off looking at my birthday haul (part one was last week, if folks are curious). As usual, it’s a mixture. Here’s the rest of the fiction…

Cover of Hot Earl Summer by Erica Ridley Cover of The Paper Boys by D.P. Clarence Cover of The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton

Cover of Villainy at Vespers by Joan Cockin Cover of Deadly Earnest by Joan Cockin

A bit of romance, a bit of murder — as you do (at least around here).

And here’s the rest of the non-fic:

Cover of The British Museum by James Hamilton Cover of Around the Ocean in 80 Fish & Other Sea Life by Helen Scales Cover of Space Rover by Stewart Lawrence Sinclair Cover of Valkyrie: The Women of the Viking World by Jóhanna Katrín Friðriksdóttir

As ever, quite the mix. 🙂

Posts from this week

Aaand here’s the roundup of reviews posted:

Other posts:

What I’m reading

As I mentioned, it’s been a quieter week reading-wise, but it’s been nice. I’m deep into Heaven Official’s Blessing, of course, and not taking long between volumes as it’s really designed as one continuous story (it was a webnovel). I also started using an app called Serial Reader again, which means I’ve been reading some Agatha Christie, small segments at a time. I’ve read a lot less Christie than you’d imagine, given my love for Golden Age crime. I’m now onto The Murder on the Links.

In any case, here are the books I’ve read this week which I’ll be reviewing on the blog sooner or later…

Cover of Heaven Official's Blessing vol 2 by MXTX Cover of Universal Basic Income by Karl Widerquist Cover of Heaven Official's Blessing vol 3 by MXTX Cover of The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

And th-th-that’s all folks! I hope everyone’s had a good week.

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: , ,

Divider

Blog Interruption

Posted August 29, 2024 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

Welp, folks! All the reviews I have written and ready to post are saved on The StoryGraph… and according to their X account, they might not be back for “at least a few more hours” from their recent post, after their planned maintenance went wrong.

So… here’s a fun GIF of Hua Cheng from Heaven Official’s Blessing, in lieu of the review of volume two I might’ve posted today.

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to give you a two-fer and post two reviews in one day to make up for it!

ETA: The embed wasn’t working in email or on RSS feeds, so I’m replacing it with hosting the image myself.

 

Tags:

Divider

WWW Wednesday

Posted August 28, 2024 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

Here we go, as usual!

Cover of Universal Basic Income by Karl WiderquistWhat have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was Karl Widerquist’s book from the MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series, Universal Basic Income. I’m personally fairly convinced about the benefits of UBI, but I wanted to read more about its history, studies, etc. It’s a little dissatisfying that there’s so little actual large-scale proof, but that’s not the book’s fault, and I did learn about the Alaska dividend, which is a fascinating concept.

Cover of Heaven Official's Blessing vol 3 by MXTXWhat are you currently reading?

Several things at once, as ever! I’ve picked up the app Serial Reader again, and I’m using it to read Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles — for a fan of the Golden Age of crime fiction, you’d be shocked by how little Christie I’ve read. I’m only a few ‘issues’ into it so far, so not much to say about it yet. It’s very classic for the period, though I’m not a Poirot fan in general.

I’m also in the closing chapters of Heaven Official’s Blessing volume 3. In some ways I’d love to do nothing but read this series, I’m adoring Xie Lian and Hua Cheng… but at the same time, I keep reminding myself that I get fidgety if I try to do that, and it’s good for me to have other books to focus on too. I’m also trying to keep pace with my wife’s reading, and this buddy read system is a lot of fun when we do it.

Cover of Wormwood Abbey by Christina BaehrWhat will you read next?

I should return to reading Christina Baehr’s Wormwood Abbey, which I temporarily stalled on — not because I don’t like it, but just because I was focusing on Heaven Official’s Blessing and kind of busy with work stuff.

I should also start another non-fiction book, because I always like having one on the go; I suspect I’ll pick up my new Object Lessons book, Space Rover.

And what about you?

Tags: ,

Divider

Top Ten Tuesday: Posts That Reveal Me

Posted August 27, 2024 by Nicky in General / 8 Comments

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is for posts that give you the best glimpse of me. Let’s give it a shot…

  1. Guilty Pleasures. To quote this post, “fuck that noise”. I don’t believe in ’em. I went all the way back to 2015 looking at my discussion posts, found this one, and agree with every word of it still. No such thing as a guilty pleasure.
  2. Spoilers! Also an old post, and still true: I like spoilers. I have read all sorts of stuff about the later sections of Heaven Official’s Blessing, and it really adds to the experience for me.
  3. Why reread? This is a topic that’s come up over and over again: I like to reread books I enjoy, and re-experience them. There’s another more recent post, and it’s not even the only one…
  4. On giving up, but positively and Discussion: Putting the Joy Back Into It. Both of these are about reading/blogging habits I wanted to stop in order to stop feeling a sense of obligation around blogging. I can’t say I’ve always stuck to these resolutions, but it is something that’s important to me in reading and blogging: I’m not doing it as a job, I’m doing it for fun.
  5. Discussion: Real Life. How much should you talk about your real life on your blog? I guess that depends on you, but I’m fairly open about mine (while keeping it mostly about the books).
  6. Why haven’t you read ___ yet? And here you will learn that I’m contrary, and if everyone wants me to read something, I… probably won’t.
  7. Review: Return of the Black Death: The World’s Greatest Serial Killer, by Susan Scott & Christopher J. Duncan. The book is arrant nonsense. My reaction to it is probably pretty telling about the kind of person I am.
  8. Top Ten Tuesday: Reading Memories. This is a recent one — but what better way to know me than through my most salient memories of reading?
  9. Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I’ve Read The Most By. You can know me by the books I love…
  10. Top Ten Tuesday: Things I’d Have At My Bookish Party. My idea of a “party” is pretty telling, I think.

That was harder than I thought, because these days I mostly post reviews, Top Ten Tuesday, WWW Wednesday and Stacking the Shelves/Sunday Post. But I think you can still get a solid idea of who I am and who I’ve been!

Tags: ,

Divider

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted August 24, 2024 by Nicky in General / 8 Comments

As ever, I’m a little behind on comments — I swear one of these days I’ll get back on track with my life!

It’s been a somewhat busy week, with my birthday on Tuesday and my exam results on Thursday, but I was spoiled and the results were good, so all is well.

Books acquired this week

My birthday haul is a little ridiculous, so I’m going to split it into two posts, this week and next week. So first up, here’s the new batch of danmei that I grabbed using birthday money and Waterstones stamps:

Cover of Heaven Official's Blessing vol 2 by MXTX Cover of Heaven Official's Blessing vol 3 by MXTX Cover of Heaven Official's Blessing vol 4 by MXTX Cover of Heaven Official's Blessing vol 5 by MXTX

Cover of Heaven Official's Blessing vol 6 by MXTX Cover of Heaven Official's Blessing vol 7 by MXTX Cover of Heaven Official's Blessing vol 8 by MXTX

But of course my wife also spoiled me a lot, so here’s some of the non-fiction I got:

Cover of Universal Basic Income by Karl Widerquist Cover of Cyborg by Laura Forland and Danya Glabau Cover of The Miniature Library of Queen Mary's Dolls' House

The MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series has a fascinating range of books, I foresee a new collection on my part (uhoh).

Aaand finally, here’s some of the non-danmei fiction:

Cover of The Baker and the Bard by Fern Haught Cover of Wormwood Abbey by Christina Baehr Cover of A Sinister Revenge by Deanna Raybourn Cover of A Grave Robbery by Deanna Raybourn

I really hope that I like A Sinister Revenge (and A Grave Robbery) more than the last book — I didn’t like the nature of the conflict between Veronica and Stoker, nor Veronica hiding things from him, so it’s possible things will get straightened out now.

So that’s a heck of a haul, and like I said, that’s not even all of it!

Posts from this week

As usual, here’s a roundup of my reviews and other posts from this week!

Other posts:

What I’m reading

I’ve started my wife on reading Heaven Official’s Blessing as well — which usually means they quickly overtake me and read the whole thing while I’m still on book two, getting distracted by other books. I’m trying not to let that happen this time, so we experience the story at about the same pace, so I’ve been spending time with volume two this weekend.

That said, I’m also reading Universal Basic Income (Karl Widerquist) and Wormwood Abbey (Christina Baehr), and there’s been plenty of other reading going on too. Here’s the preview of the books I finished this week, which I’m due to review on the blog soon/eventually, or which may already have reviews posted:

Cover of Invisible Friends by Jake M. Robinson Cover of Heaven Official's Blessing by MXTX Cover of The Baker and the Bard by Fern Haught Cover of The Miniature Library of Queen Mary's Dolls' House

Cover of Precious by Helen Molesworth Cover of Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker: The Art of Resurrection - Beyond the Veil Cover of Bloom Into You by Nakatani Nio Cover of Cyborg by Laura Forland and Danya Glabau

As you see, a good week for reading, helped by an impromptu day off work for my birthday.

Now all the birthday festivities and exam shenanigans are over, it’s time to settle down with my book… How’s everyone been doing?

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: , ,

Divider

WWW Wednesday

Posted August 21, 2024 by Nicky in General / 2 Comments

WWW Wednesday questions:

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

So as usual, here’s my answers!

Cover of Precious by Helen MolesworthWhat have you recently finished reading?

The last book I finished was Precious: The History and Mystery of Gems Across Time, by Helen Moleworthy. Each chapter discusses a different gem stone, like rubies, diamonds and jade, and tries to weigh up what makes the gem special and give a little of its history. I enjoyed it, for the most part, though I must admit that gemstones don’t do anything special for me — or perhaps I’ve just never handled a particularly beautiful one.

Cover of Wormwood Abbey by Christina BaehrWhat are you currently reading?

As usual, I have a couple of things on the go at once. I’ve started on a new series by MXTX, Heaven Official’s Blessing, and now I’m onto the second book. I’m a little lost with all the lore, to be honest, and a friend suggested I try watching the donghua to get things straightened out. So I’ll probably do that soon! I’m enjoying the relationship between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian, though.

I’ve also just barely started reading Wormwood Abbey, by Christina Baehr. I think someone in the Bookly Discord mentioned reading that, and it caught my attention because there’s a tiny dragon on the cover! I need to settle down and read a bit more.

Cover of Mr Pottermack's Oversight by R. Austin FreemanWhat are you planning on reading next?

I just got a bunch of new books for my birthday, so perhaps more from that stack. There’s a couple of new-to-me mysteries, including two by Joan Cockin — I recently tried Curiosity Killed The Cat, which I enjoyed, so maybe it’s time to read more of those. Or maybe this month’s British Library Crime Classic, Mr Pottermack’s Oversight by R. Austin Freeman, before I start building up a backlog.

I have options, as you see!

What are you reading?

Tags: ,

Divider

Top Ten Tuesday: Characters I’d Like To Be Pals With

Posted August 20, 2024 by Nicky in General / 16 Comments

This week’s theme from That Artsy Reader Girl is a relationship freebie: pick a relationship and then ten characters who you want to have that kind of relationship with, e.g. siblings, found family, etc. I’ve gone with friends — and I’m going to try to pick side characters, rather than the main event, since main characters tend to have a lot of drama (and sometimes danger) coming their way…

Cover of The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System vol 3 by MXTX Cover of System Collapse by Martha Wells Cover of Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie Cover of The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison Cover of Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw

  1. Liu Mingyan, from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System (MXTX). I think Mingyan and I have some things in common — we could definitely talk about books, if nothing else!
  2. Ratthi, from The Murderbot Diaries (Martha Wells). He seems like such a sweetie, and Martha Wells did say in an interview that of all her characters, he’d be a lot of fun to hang out with.
  3. Medic, from Ancillary Sword (Ann Leckie). In part, it’d be just kind of funny to get a Medic’s-eye-view of Breq, Seivarden, and all the trouble they bring with them.
  4. Csevet, from The Goblin Emperor (Katherine Addison). In the same vein as Medic, really, it’d be fun to get a different view of Maia and the court. And Csevet seems pretty fun.
  5. Lord Ruthven, from Strange Practice (Vivian Shaw). He knows so much, and he’s kind, and let’s face it, he’d probably make me cookies if I asked.
  6. Amanda Frisby, from Band Sinister (KJ Charles). I think we could make a pretty neat book club between me, Amanda and Liu Mingyan.
  7. Harriet Vane, from Strong Poison (Dorothy L. Sayers). Here’s another one for the book club. Sure, we’d all need some time to adjust to each others’ cultures and time periods, and I’m not sure if we’d all agree about the merits of each others’ reading matter, but you can bet after that we’d have the most fun.
  8. Lenore, from Shady Hollow (Juneau Black). She owns a bookshop. We’re natural friends. And while we’re talking about that book club idea, Lenore’s a good addition too (though I doubt she and Mingyan would see eye to eye).
  9. Dr Chef, from The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (Becky Chambers). Okay, maybe this is slightly another one where I’d love him to cook for me. But also he has a heck of a perspective on the world from all he’s seen, and tries to be so kind and inclusive.
  10. Natalie Oscott, from The Tropic of Serpents (Marie Brennan). She drops out of the series and pursues her own career, and I’d love to hear more about her efforts at pushing boundaries.

Cover of Band Sinister by K.J. Charles Cover of Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers Cover of Shady Hollow by Juneau Black Cover of The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers Cover of Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan

There we go, I succeeded without any main characters! And I think this book club idea would be really good, if only…

Looking forward to seeing other folks’ posts on this theme — don’t forget to drop your link in the comment if you visit.

Tags: ,

Divider

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted August 17, 2024 by Nicky in General / 24 Comments

Getting this post up bright and early (…compared to usual) because today I’m heading out for a nerdy museum trip to celebrate my birthday (which is on Tuesday). Somehow I’m sure I’ll pass by a bookshop as well…

Books acquired this week

We’re finally on the tail-end of my last haul, just as my birthday hurtles toward us promising yet more books (oh no!). Here’s the last of the non-fiction I haven’t already shown off:

Cover of The Language Puzzle by Steven Mithen Cover of The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters For Social Equality by Kathryn Paige Harden Cover of Precious by Helen Molesworth Cover of Fabric by Victoria Finlay

Huh, makes a kinda pattern with those colours. I didn’t do that intentionally, but kinda cool. As ever, it’s a bit of a random mix; I wonder if Fabric is going to cover pretty much the same ground as Worn, which I read recently. I might backburner it for a while for that reason.

And here’s the remainder of the fiction:

Cover of A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid Cover of Til Death Do Us Bard by Rose Black Cover of A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

I’m excited about A Sorceress Comes to Call, and Til Death Do Us Bard looks fun (if maybe a bit silly).

And of course, I did also receive this month’s British Library Crime Classic. It’s by an author I’ve read before, but I don’t think any of his full-length novels have been republished in this series yet (maybe some short stories):

Cover of Mr Pottermack's Oversight by R. Austin Freeman

And finally, a bit on a whim, a bit because I do like having some shorter fiction on hand, here’s a review copy from Tordotcom, via Netgalley:

Cover of But Not Too Bold by Hache Pueyo

It sounds pretty weird and maybe not my thing, but it’s always worth a try with Tor’s novellas.

Posts from this week

As ever, time for a bit of a recap of this week’s posts. Starting with the reviews:

And the other posts:

What I’m reading

Right now, I’m most actively reading the first volume of Heaven Official’s Blessing (MXTX) and Invisible Friends: How Microbes Shape Our Lives and the World Around Us (Jake M. Robinson). I’m actually going to head to the bookshop surreptiously to get the next two volumes of Heaven Official’s Blessing while I’m out today, because I can tell I’m going to be annoyed if I run out and I don’t have the next volume ready.

It feels like I’ve done a lot of reading this week, but let’s see… here’s a sneak peek at upcoming reviews:

Cover of Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne Cover of The Long History of the Future: Why tomorrow's technology still isn't here by Nicole Kobie Cover of A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid Cover of Moneta: A History of Ancient Rome in Twelve Coins by Gareth Harney Cover of Love Everlasting vol 2 by Tom King et al

Plus a manga I don’t plan to review (because I never have much to say about any individual volume of Fairy Tail).

So not a bad reading week!

How’s everyone else been doing? Got anything fascinating on your ‘next up’ pile?

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: , ,

Divider

WWW Wednesday

Posted August 14, 2024 by Nicky in General / 2 Comments

WWW Wednesday questions:

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

Here goes!

Cover of The Long History of the Future: Why tomorrow's technology still isn't here by Nicole KobieWhat have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was The Long History of the Future, by Nicole Kobie. If you’ve ever wondered “but where’s my flying car?!” then this book is kind of the answer, digging into why things like flying cars (and robot butlers) are proving tricky to actually bring onto the market. It was pretty interesting!

Cover of A Study in Drowning by Ava ReidWhat are you currently reading?

As usual, I’m reading too much at once, but I’m most actively focusing on two: a non-fiction book about the Roman Empire, and a dark academia fantasy, A Study in Drowning. The latter contains a lot of Arthurian references (a character is called Corbenic, and of course there’s a character called Emrys Myrddin, and a legend about making foundations stay put by sacrificing a fatherless child), and it’s not really clear what it intends to do with everything it’s calling up — if anything. It seems much more interested in Faerie, which… is a weird combination.

I guess we’ll see!

The non-fiction is Gareth Harney’s Moneta: A History of Ancient Rome in Twelve Coins, which I’m enjoying greatly. It doesn’t go into too much depth on the individual coins (and really I think it ends up discussing far more than twelve), but it’s written entertainingly.

Cover of Invisible Friends by Jake M. RobinsonWhat are you planning on reading next?

Technically I grabbed Invisible Friends, by Jake M. Robinson, to be next off the pile. But I don’t know for sure, because I might be a tiny bit more in the mood for another fiction read. I guess it depends what I finish first, and what catches my eye in the moment I’m thinking about what to read next.

How about you?

Tags: ,

Divider

Top Ten Tuesday: On The Road

Posted August 13, 2024 by Nicky in General / 25 Comments

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday had me stumped for a bit, but it’s always fun to give it a shot, so let’s see what I can do: “Planes, Trains & Automobiles/Books Featuring Travel (books whose plots involve travel or feature modes of transportation on the cover/title)”.

Cover of The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison Cover of Murder on the Ballarat Train by Kerry Greenwood Cover of The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White Cover of The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers Cover of Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey

  1. The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison. This jumped to mind right away, because it opens with Maia receiving the news that he’s the new emperor — and a swiftly-arranged airship flight to the capital to take up that position, even though an airship crash was precisely the reason for his unexpected ascendance to the throne.
  2. Murder on the Ballarat Train, by Kerry Greenwood. There’s a rich tradition of mysteries involving trains, and Phryne Fisher solves hers so stylishly.
  3. The Wheel Spins, by Ethel Lina White. This leaps to mind for the same reason: it’s set mostly though not entirely on a train, covering the course of one fateful journey in which the protagonist puts herself in danger by refusing to accept someone’s disappearance.
  4. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers. The book follows the crew of the Wayfarer as they travel to a far-off part of space in order to create a wormhole that allows other people to travel faster from point A to point B, so it feels like it fits handily into this prompt!
  5. Kushiel’s Dart, by Jacqueline Carey. While we’re being unconventional, how about this one? Phèdre certainly travels, not just in this first book but throughout the series. This book concerns one of her first journeys, through the snow of Skaldia home to Terre d’Ange.
  6. The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles, by Malka Older. More mysteries and trains, but in a SF setting!
  7. The Kaiju Preservation Society, by John Scalzi. Travel to a different dimension counts, right? Right?! And it’s such a fun book too.
  8. Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells. Murderbot is travelling! It doesn’t like it, but it sure is travelling. (Can you imagine a travelogue by Murderbot? Yikes.)
  9. The Masked City, by Genevieve Cogman. This one features a train — a Fae train, travelling between worlds! I can’t believe it wasn’t one of the first I thought of, because this is in some ways a favourite of mine in the series.
  10. Chalice, by Robin McKinley. I know, another unconventional choice, but hear me out: Mirasol ends up binding her demesne together by travelling around the whole area, doing her magic. And there’s the also the Master’s somewhat more metaphorical journey back from Fire, since he originally left the demesne to become a priest of fire. See? Travel.

Cover of The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by Malka Older Cover of The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi Cover of Artificial Condition by Martha Wells Cover of The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman Cover of Chalice by Robin McKinley

This feels like… a very typical list from me, heh. Somehow it comes down to the same books in many of my posts, somehow. I guess it’s because I feel like I’m supposed to be choosing the ten representatives of whatever the theme is that I like the best, or at least like a lot.

Tags: ,

Divider