February’s a marathon of studying; I’m having fun with it, but it does put a bit of a damper on reading time. Still, here we go with the usual weekly update!

What have you recently finished reading?

I’m about to (finally) finish The Spellshop. I stalled on reading it at first, mostly just because of mood reasons, but I got back into it in the last week and read it in big chunks. I love Meep and Caz (the sentient plants), and I do enjoy the cosiness of it, though I found Kiela’s relationship with Larran a bit rushed.

Before that, I finished up Around the World in 80 Birds, by Mike Unwin, which I liked — it’s really beautifully illustrated, though a bit less whimsical than some of the illustrations in other books of this series.

What are you currently reading?

The Light Eaters, by Zoë Schlanger, a book about plant intelligence. So far it’s discussing plant senses, not so much intelligence — which is fascinating in its own right, since a lot of people don’t even realise plants have senses, let alone imagine the idea of plant “intelligence”. I’m not sure how we’re going to define intelligence for these purposes, but I look forward to finding out.

What will you be reading next?

Uhhh, good question! I have a few eARCs lined up, and I’ve finished my reread of Katherine Addison’s The Witness for the Dead and The Grief of Stones, so I might start by reading The Tomb of Dragons. After that, I just got approved for T. Kingfisher’s Hemlock & Silver, and Robert Jackson Bennett’s A Drop of Corruption, so I miiiight focus on those. I’m trying not to let a backlog of books acquired in 2025 develop to go with the older backlog of… everything else. We’ll see!

How about you?

Wednesday again! How does that keep happening, and why do I keep making the same semi-joke?

What have you recently finished reading?

Yesterday I finished two books! The first was a book about copyright, Who Owns This Sentence? A History of Copyrights and Wrongs, by Alexandre Montagu and David Bellos. It wasn’t as dry as you might think, though it gets a bit repetitive; it’s fairly anti-copyright, wanting to reduce copyright terms and the ability of companies to own those rights. It seemed fair enough on most points.

I also finally got round to rereading The Witness for the Dead, preparatory to rereading the second book and then finally getting to my ARC of the third. For some reason, even though I’ve read it multiple times, I can never remember the culprit of the main mystery. In a way it’s unimportant, compared to the journey.

I do love Pel-Thenhior so, though.

What are you currently reading?

My most “active” read is Thus Was Adonis Murdered, by Sarah Caudwell, which I started last night. I’m not very far into it yet, so it’s hard to judge, but I’m enjoying the tone — it’s light-hearted and witty without trying too hard to be laugh-out-loud funny.

I’m still reading The Leavenworth Case via Serial Reader, which is an interesting endeavour as someone interested in the development of crime/mystery fiction, but somewhat irritating in terms of all the swooning etc etc.

What will you be reading next?

I don’t know for sure, but I’d like to continue with The Apothecary Diaries light novels soon, before my brain forgets what I know so far, and of course I want to reread The Grief of Stones (Katherine Addison) in order to get on to the third book of the trilogy.

But as ever, it could be almost anything.

How about you? Reading anything good?

Wednesday, huh? Time flies.

What have you recently finished reading?

This morning I just finished up Sing Like Fish, by Amorina Kingdon, which is an exploration of how sound is experienced underwater by creatures actually adapted for it. It was fascinating: because we sometimes think as humans that the world underwater is very quiet (though I think people are more aware of whalesong etc now than when it was dubbed “the silent world”), we’re not aware of a whole panoply of sounds made by fish, marine mammals, etc.

​What are you currently reading?

I’m partway through a couple of things, but I don’t really have a single “main read” now that I’ve finished Sing Like Fish; they’re all kind of on the backburner. I need to return to A Sweet Sting of Salt, by Rose Sutherland, I think — it’s quite… I guess “literary” in tone, and I wasn’t in the mood, but I don’t want to stall on it for too long because I do like it.

I also want to return to my definitely stalled read of The Spellshop. Luckily I brought both of those with me on my trip away from home, so maybe with a bit less going on in terms of video games, etc, I’ll make some real progress.

I’m also partway through reading The Leavenworth Case (Anna Katharine Green) via Serial Reader. It’s such a classic, I’m kinda surprised I never picked it up before. It’s more an interesting read than one I’m enjoying, in that it’s very of-it’s-time in gender roles etc etc, but it’s fun to actually experience a book this influential at first hand.

What will you be reading next?

I don’t know exactly! I brought 15 books with me for a week away, plus my ereader, so I have choices. Right now I’m feeling very called to a reread of The Witness for the Dead and The Grief of Stones (Katherine Addison), ready for the third (final?) book, which I have as an ARC.

Non-fiction-wise, I’m feeling pretty tempted by The Immune Mind (Monty Lyman), since I’m currently studying immunology. I feel a little leery of books where the author’s title of Dr is on the cover, to be honest — I find it sometimes means the author’s throwing around a qualification that has nothing to do with the subject in order to boost their credibility — but this was reviewed positively by a science magazine I read, so… we’ll see.

How’s everyone else doing? Reading anything good?

Here we go as usual!

What have you recently finished reading?

Volume eight of A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation (by Misaki, Momochi & Sando). I love this series so much; it does feel like sometimes I’m losing things in translation, but the relationship between Lizel, Gil and Eleven (whether you read these bonds as platonic or not) is a lot of fun, along with watching Lizel explore and find all the bookshops he can.

Before that, it was A History of Britain in Ten Enemies (Terry Deary), which felt very much like Horrible Histories for grownups. The tone didn’t quite land for me, and I longed for citations or at least a more comprehensive list of sources.

What are you currently reading?

I’m most of the way through Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma (Claire Dederer), which feels… topical (for reasons of very recent revelations about an author that I don’t want to discuss here or, at least for the moment, at all). Dederer doesn’t seem to come even distantly within sight of any kind of conclusion, which is fine; it’s kind of soothing just to follow someone else wrestling with the topic, and admitting that it’s complicated and that there are self-serving reasons to continue to consume art by monstrous people which nonetheless stem from important feelings that are worthy of examination and respect.

I’m also partway through A Sweet Sting of Salt (Rose Sutherland), which feels more historical/literary fiction than fantasy — not a criticism, just, it’s not an out-and-out selkie story where the magic is obvious all along. I’m enjoying it.

What will you read next?

Probably volume nine of A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation, for one thing. Other than that, I’m not sure. I think I might start in on Mr Pottermack’s Oversight (R. Austin Freeman); I liked one of Freeman’s other mysteries significantly more than I’d expected, and I’m a little behind on reading my British Library Crime Classics subscription books, since I think this was October’s book, maybe November’s? Perish the thought, maybe even August or September? (I checked. August. Gah!)

How about you? Whatcha reading? Anything you’d recommend?

Wednesday again already! Well, at least I feel I have more to report this time…

What have you recently finished reading?

I just finished up What an Owl Knows, by Jennifer Ackerman. It’s an investigation of owls and how they do what they do, what exactly they do, and also how humans interact with and impact them. I learned some fascinating stuff, for instance that a particular species of screech owl catches blind snakes (they’re tiny) and carries them to its nest, and the snake then keeps the nest clear of e.g. maggots and so on. Baby owls that grow up with blind snakes in the nest grow 50% faster and healthier.

What are you currently reading?

I’ve plunged into Tea on Sunday, by Lettice Cooper, which I think was December’s book from my British Library Crime Classics subscription (which sends me the most recently published book in the series each month). It’s not actually that old, from the ’70s, but as the introduction says, it has a very classic feel all the same. I’m enjoying it well enough so far; it’s the slow and methodical type, and I feel like the first 100 pages have been mostly giving us character portraits of the suspects. Which is not a complaint!

Via Serial Reader, I’m now finally reading Anna K. Green’s The Leavenworth Case; it’s such a classic that I’ve meant to read it for a long time. I’m not very far into it yet, though.

What will you be reading next?

I’m not sure, to be honest. I’ve been a bit slow and uninspired with my reading, so I want to make sure it’s something that grabs my attention. Perhaps I’ll return to The Spellshop — I only stalled out on that because I switched to some more seasonal reading, and I do want to finish it.

What about you?