Category: General

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted December 7, 2024 by Nicky in General / 26 Comments

I’m very much enjoying the advent season so far — as I’ve probably mentioned before, I usually go overboard on creating a custom advent calendar of gifts for my wife, a whole mix of things like craft kits, nerdy phone charms, books, etc. I watch out for people’s reviews of horror books all year (especially from Mogsy at The Bibliosanctum) so I can make some good choices Lisa wouldn’t otherwise hear about, since it’s really not my genre. So that’s a lot of fun, and adds a bright spot to every day.

Hope everyone’s having a good December so far, whether or not you’re celebrating any kind of holiday this month!

Books acquired this week

This week I got a couple of eagerly-awaited books to review via Netgalley: I love the Mossa and Pleiti books, and I’ve been adoring the Emily Wilde series. I also forgot to mention Neon Yang’s new book last week, so here it is!

Cover of The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses by Malka Older Cover of Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales, by Heather Fawcett Cover of Bright than Scale, Swifter than Flame by Neon Yang

I’m really excited to dig into these.

Posts from the last week

First up, the reviews!

And the only other thing I posted was my WWW Wednesday post.

What I’m reading

I have a long way to go to meet my stretch reading goal this year: as I write, I have to read 52 more books to meet my goal, and I haven’t given up yet! I’ve been reading quite a lot this week, finishing 17 things that count as books on StoryGraph (though a couple of them were very short, and there were a lot of graphic novels and manga in the mix). Here’s a sneak peek of the ones I plan to review here!

Cover of Machine Readable Me by Zara Rahman Cover of A Side Character's Love Story vol 4 by Akane Tamura Cover of A Side Character's Love Story vol 5 by Akane Tamura Cover of They Came to Slay by Thom James Carter

Cover of A Side Character's Love Story vol 6 by Akane Tamura Cover of A Side Character's Love Story vol 7 by Akane Tamura Cover of Breaks by Emma Vieceli and Malyn Ryden Cover of Snowflake Kisses by Jordan Greene & Yayira Dzamesi

Cover of Camp Spirit by Axelle Lenoir Cover of Cultish by Amanda Montell Cover of Star Collector vol 1, by Sophie Schonhammer and Anna Backhausen Cover of Star Collector vol 2, by Sophie Schonhammer and Anna Backhausen

I know, I know, it’s a lot!

Over the weekend, I plan to do a bunch more reading — for one thing, I want to dive into The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses, and there’s more manga I want to read, and I’m partway through Murder at the Ashmolean and Black Ops & Beaver Bombing…

Suffice it to say, I’ll be keeping busy!

How’s everyone else 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!

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WWW Wednesday

Posted December 4, 2024 by Nicky in General / 6 Comments

2024 really is ticking to a close at alarming speed, huh? Here we go again, another Wednesday!

What have you recently finished reading?

Mostly comics and short graphic novels, playing with my new colour ereader. The last one I finished was Savage Red Sonja: Queen of the Frozen Wastes. I enjoyed Gail Simone’s run on Red Sonja, so I wanted to see if I was interested enough to read some other collections. Answer… maybe? It remains not 100% my thing, and I think I’d prefer it in the hands of female writers, but there is something enjoyable about just leaning into the tropes and letting Sonja rock her chainmail bikini.

Cover of The Spellshop by Sarah Beth DurstWhat are you currently reading?

I’ve been focused on shorter books for a bit, to match my tired-out attention span. In the background I’m slowly reading The Spellshop, which I’m enjoying well enough, but isn’t blowing me away — possibly due to the aforementioned attention span.

I’ve also started on Murder at the Ashmolean, by Jim Eldridge; the series is kinda shrug, but mysteries tend to work for me even when I’m not getting through books with more world-building and such.

Cover of The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses by Malka OlderWhat will you read next?

I just snagged a review copy of Malka Older’s The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses from Netgalley, so I’m inclined to read that right away — it’s just short enough that I can probably finish it in one go, which is another way to handle my short attention span. I love this series, too.

Other than that, I’m not sure!

How about you?

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Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted November 30, 2024 by Nicky in General / 25 Comments

Hurrah, it’s Saturday! I’ve been spending the day finishing up my wife’s custom “advent calendar”, but it’s time to think about books now!

Books acquired this week

I managed to get down to the library this week, hurrah! It was cold later in the week, but there was one warmer day that was perfect at the start of the week.

Cover of The Scholar & The Last Fairy Door by H.G. Parry Cover of Fated Winds and Promising Seas by Rose Black Cover of Miss Beeton's Murder Agency by Josie Lloyd

I keep meaning to try H.G. Parry’s work, and I’m pretty sure I have a book by Rose Black already on my TBR. As for Miss Beeton’s Murder Agency, it looks like a fun seasonal mystery! I enjoyed reading a bunch of those around Christmas last year, so I thought I’d give this one a shot.

I did get a couple of new books to test out my new ereader with, as well. It’s my first colour one, so I wanted to pick a book with colour, and also a manga to try out on it (since one of the reasons to get a faster ereader was to spend more time reading manga).

Cover of The Apothecary Diaries volume 1, by Natsu Hyuuga Cover of Penguins and Other Sea Birds by Matt Sewell

I actually got a few of Sewell’s books, but I’m not reviewing them all here — it’d be very repetitive.

Posts from the last week

As usual, here’s the round-up!

I didn’t do TTT this week, so the only other post is my What Are You Reading Wednesday post.

What I’m reading

First of all, let’s have a peek at what I’ve finished in the last week which I plan to review here! Here’s a sneak peek:

Cover of Blind Spot by Maud Rowell Cover of Murder in the Bookshop by Carolyn Wells Cover of The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore Cover of Penguins and Other Sea Birds by Matt Sewell

Cover of A Side Character's Love Story vol 1 by Akane Tamura Cover of A Side Character's Love Story vol 2 by Akane Tamura Cover of The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie Cover of A Side Character's Love Story vol 3 by Akane Tamura

I’ll be rereading more of A Side Character’s Love Story this weekend, and I think digging into Murder at the Ashmolean, by Jim Eldridge. I’d like to get round to more of The Spellshop, too.

And that’s me for the week! How’s everyone 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!

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WWW Wednesday

Posted November 27, 2024 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

Aaand it’s Wednesday!

Cover of A Side Character's Love Story vol 1 by Akane TamuraWhat have you recently finished reading?

It’s still a bit of a bad time for reading for me, but I did get provoked into being more enthusiastic by the arrival of a new gadget: my first colour ereader! So I read Penguins and Other Sea Birds, by Matt Sewell, which has colour illustrations — you know, just to test out the capabilities… It was cute, but I found that he exaggerated some of the weird shapes and features of birds, and the results are a bit visually confusing at times compared to looking at an actual photo.

The crested auklet image was shockingly accurate, though.

One of the reasons for me to get a new 7″ ereader was for manga, so I’ve also been indulging in a reread of A Side Character’s Love Story, since I have started to forget some of the characters from earlier volumes now I’m reading the new ones as they come out. I’ve only reread the first volume so far.

Cover of The Secret Adversary by Agatha ChristieWhat are you currently reading?​

Nothing very actively, despite my best intentions. I’m most of the way through Agatha Christie’s The Secret Adversary; I read that a bit a day via Serial Reader, but I might get the last issues delivered all at once and finish that up. It’s cutting me off at odd places at the moment, e.g. right in the middle of a character’s big reveals.

Cover of The Apothecary Diaries volume 1, by Natsu HyuugaWhat will you read next?

More of A Side Character’s Love Story, for sure. Other than that… I’m not sure. I’m tempted to give Natsu Hyuuga’s The Apothecary Diaries a shot, and I’m sure I have some other manga and graphic novels saved to lists to check out at some point.

It might also be a way of catching up a bit with my reading goal for the year. I was probably too ambitious, since I need to read 75 more books by the end of the year to meet it… but still, it’d be nice to get a bit closer.

How’s everyone else doing?

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Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted November 23, 2024 by Nicky in General / 23 Comments

Hurrah for the weekend!

I’m a little behind on comments/blog visits, but I’m finally starting to get back on track with my studies, so I’m calling this week a win. Looking forward to spending time today visiting other blogs, replying to comments, etc, etc.

Books acquired this week

There was no library trip this week owing to the wintery weather: first it was too cold for me to cycle without gloves, and then once the gloves arrived, sadly everything’s covered in ice. It’s supposed to warm up a bit this weekend, so we’ll see how that goes.

Nonetheless, I did get some new books! I discovered the Inklings series, from 404 Ink. They’re on a very random range of topics, in a way that delights me, so I’ve snagged quite a few — they’ll serve as quick reads to maybe start catching up with my reading goal for this year.

Cover of The End by Katie Goh Cover of Now Go by Karl Thomas Smith Cover of Blind Spot by Maud Rowell

Cover of They Came to Slay by Thom James Carter Cover of Machine Readable Me by Zara Rahman Cover of The Loki Variations by Karl Johnson

And I did also get a couple more books from my wife, namely these:

Cover of The New University by James Coe Cover of Stonehenge by Francis Pryor Cover of Breakfast Cereal by Kathryn Cornell Dolan

So as you see, it’s been a bookish week, and I’ve inhaled many of them already! (The Inklings books are quite short.)

Posts from this week

First up, the roundup of reviews posted this week:

And other posts:

What I’m reading

Well, as usual let’s start with a sneak peek at what I’ve finished reading this week…

Cover of All the Violet Tiaras, by Jean Menzies Cover of Breakfast Cereal by Kathryn Cornell Dolan Cover of Stonehenge by Francis Pryor Cover of Agatha Christie, by Lucy Worsley

Cover of The New University by James Coe Cover of The Loki Variations by Karl Johnson Cover of Now Go by Karl Thomas Smith Cover of The End by Katie Goh

As for what I’m reading over the weekend, I’m just finishing up with another of the Inklings books, Blind Spot, and then I want to finish Carolyn Wells’ Murder in the Bookshop and Sarah Beth Durst’s The Spellshop. I also want to get back to Amal El-Mohtar’s The River Has Roots.

I need to read 80 more books by the end of the year to reach my stretch reading goal, and it’s looking very far away and unlikely… but we’ll see how it goes.

How’s everyone else doing? Reading anything good?

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 November 20, 2024 by Nicky in General / 6 Comments

Wednesday again! Here we go.

Cover of The Loki Variations by Karl JohnsonWhat have you recently finished reading?

The Loki Variations, by Karl Johnson, which is a bit of a discussion of the various different portrayals of the Norse god Loki in popular culture (including, but not limited to, the MCU). I quite liked it: Johnson’s enthusiasm for Loki stories and the dissection of Marvel’s influence, treating the whole subject as serious and worthy of discussion (which it is), etc.

Loki stories aren’t entirely my thing, but Johnson makes me want to seek out a couple more just for fun.

Cover of The River has Roots by Amal El-MohtarWhat are you currently reading?

Nothing very actively; I have a few books on the go, but all of them have waited at least a few days since I last interacted with them, except for my current Serial Reader choice, The Secret Adversary. It’s Christie’s first Tommy and Tuppence novel. It’s… okay? I’m really not as much of a Christie fan as some.

Other than that, I’m partway through my e-ARC of Amal El-Mohtar’s The River Has Roots, which I’m enjoying, but needed to charge my ereader to continue with. I’ve actually done that now, so I’ll get back to that soon.

Cover of The Spellshop by Sarah Beth DurstWhat will you be reading next?

I’m just starting The Spellshop, because it’s a book of the month on the Bookly Discord. For the same reason I’m about to start The Pumpkin Spice Café, about which I see fairly mixed reviews. The theme was “cosy fantasy”, and as far as I can tell The Pumpkin Spice Café is a romance (and not romantasy, either), but I enjoy romance in general so I’m giving it a shot anyway.

I’m also likely to read some more of 404 Ink’s Inklings series, which are satisfyingly random in topic. Not sure which one, though.

How about you?

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Top Ten Tuesday: Oldest Books on my TBR

Posted November 19, 2024 by Nicky in General / 18 Comments

This week’s theme from That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday prompts is about the oldest books on your TBR: not the ones you’ve had the longest, but the ones which were published longest ago.

Mine’s not going to be 100% reflective of the oldest books I’m likely to read, because I only put books on my TBR on StoryGraph if I own them, and I’m likely to read old books through Serial Reader/Project Gutenberg and the library, on a whim, rather than add them to my backlog. A few years ago there’d have been a lot of works from, like, the 1500s or something, but that’s not really my field now and I read all the texts I was interested in back then. Sooo given my predilection for classic mysteries, my guess is that this entire list is going to be taken up with those…

Here we go; let’s see if I’m right!

Cover of Mr Pottermack's Oversight by R. Austin Freeman Cover of The Floating Admiral by the Detection Club Cover of Death at Breakfast by John Rhode Cover of Murder in the Bookshop by Carolyn Wells

  1. Mr Pottermack’s Oversight, by R. Austin Freeman (1931). This is a classic mystery, reissued recently by the British Library Crime Classics series. I want to get around to it soon, because I rather liked Freeman’s The Eye of Osiris.
  2. The Floating Admiral, by the Detection Club (1931). Also a classic mystery, this one written collaboratively by fourteen members of the famous Detection Club, a group of classic crime writers (which still exists today). The group includes Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, so I’m definitely curious to read this one. It’s a bit gimmicky, though, so it’s not at the top of my list. I suspect it’ll be a bit of a mix in terms of quality/style.
  3. Malice Aforethought, by Francis Iles (1931). I have a couple of others books by Iles/Anthony Berkeley hanging out among the oldest on my TBR, including Before the Fact (1932) and Jumping Jenny (1933). His books are huge classics of the genre and very influential, and I’ve really enjoyed some of them. That said, Iles/Berkeley could be rather misogynistic, and I haven’t felt like risking it yet with the ones that remain. It requires a certain mood and willingness to put up with it.
  4. Death at Breakfast, by John Rhode (1935). John Rhode’s mysteries are always solid, workmanlike and enjoyable. They don’t generally have characters with huge personalities (even his series detective, Priestley, doesn’t really stand out in the way that, say, Christie’s Poirot does), and you basically know what you’re getting into, making them excellent comfort reading. I’ve been holding onto Death at Breakfast for the right moment for a while.
  5. Murder in the Bookshop, by Carolyn Wells (1936). I really should get to this one, because I do love murder mysteries set in and around bookshops, libraries, museums, etc. I know very little about it or the author, as I don’t think I’ve read any of her other works.
  6. Antidote to Venom, by Freeman Wills Crofts (1938). Crofts was really prolific, but I find his work kind of… unmemorable? And a little slow. Still, this one is in the British Library Crime Classics series, and I do want to get round to it.
  7. Rocket to the Morgue, by Anthony Boucher (1942). This stands out from the group by being an American classic, and thus out of my usual wheelhouse. I spotted it in a local indie bookshop recently, though, and was curious about the title/cover. Once I read that it was based on Boucher’s experience of being a pulp sci-fi writer, the collision of genres I love made it seem like an excellent choice!
  8. Death Knows No Calendar, by John Bude (1942). Bude is another of those classic mystery writers who will generally always write something solid and entertaining, without flair. You know what you’re getting into, and therein lies the pleasure.
  9. The Sunday Pigeon Murders, by Craig Rice (1942). About this author and book I know virtually nothing; I got it as part of an “advent calendar” of classic mysteries, and haven’t got round to it yet.
  10. Dramatic Murder, by Elizabeth Anthony (1948). This one’s a Christmas mystery, so I’m saving it for December — I actually only just got it last month, from my British Library Crime Classics subscription. As far as I know, the author is new to me, so I’m quite curious.

Cover of Antidote to Venom by Freeman Wills Crofts Cover of Rocket to the Morgue by Anthony Boucher Cover of Death in White Pakamas & Death Knows No Calendar by John Bude Cover of The Sunday Pigeon Murders by Craig Rice Cover of Dramatic Murder by Elizabeth Anthony

Aaand as predicted, it’s classic crime all the way down! I hadn’t realised I had so many hanging around unread, I’ll be honest. I tend to hoard them away from myself “for when I need them”, and then forget I have ’em stashed waiting for their moment.

Now might well be their moment, given my reading slump — where’s that copy of Death at Breakfast? When we move, I swear I’m designing the room layouts to include at least two entire floor-to-ceiling bookshelves for my classic crime collection, so I can keep them all in the same place…

Very curious to see everyone else’s lists!

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Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted November 16, 2024 by Nicky in General / 16 Comments

Oh boy, it’s not been a week for reading. I did carve out some catchup time for my classes, though, and I trust I’m on the way back to an even keel.

Books acquired this week

First off, the books I snagged at the library this week:

Cover of Starling House by Alix E. Harrow Cover of Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan Cover of Where the Dead Brides Gather by Nuzo Onoh

I didn’t adore Alix E. Harrow’s work that I’ve read so far, but I did enjoy it well enough, so I thought I’d give Starling House a shot. I’ve been curious about Fathomfolk a while, and I had the idea at the back of my mind that I’d seen someone say good things about Where the Dead Brides Gather, so… another one to give a shot.

I did also get a new book from my wife this week, as well. There’s a couple more coming, but for now it’s just this one:

Cover of All the Violet Tiaras, by Jean Menzies

Looks like a quick read, and I’ve been curious about this series of short books for a while.

Posts from this week

As usual, here’s a roundup of what I’ve been posting this week:

Other posts:

What I’m reading

I’ve really been struggling to read this week, so I only have one book lined up ready for me to review here at some point soon:

Cover of Bitter Waters by Vivian Shaw

Not sure what exactly I’ll read this weekend, but I’ve made a start on All the Violet Tiaras, and I’m partway through Amal El-Mohtar’s The River Has Roots. So those are good guesses for where I’ll start. I’ll probably also try to get back to The Other Olympians, which is a fascinating lookback at the development of sex verification as a concept in sport (and of course all the transphobia that goes with it). I hope to find a bit more time for it this 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!

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WWW Wednesday

Posted November 13, 2024 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

Hello again, Wednesday.

Cover of Bitter Waters by Vivian ShawWhat have you recently finished reading?​

Not much, alas. I haven’t been in the mood to read at all. The last thing I finished was Vivian Shaw’s Bitter Waters, a novella in the world of her Greta Helsing series. It feels like a bit of a coda to the trilogy, with more exploration of the vampires and their culture, background, etc. I liked it, though I don’t think it’d stand alone.

Cover of Agatha Christie, by Lucy WorsleyWhat are you currently reading?

Nominally, Lucy Worsley’s biography of Agatha Christie. It’s fascinating to get a bit more insight on the person behind the stories, and on her troubles, and the things that inspired some of her fiction.

I’ve also made a start on The Other Olympians, by Michael Waters, which digs into the early Olympic games and why sex verification became a thing. I’m not very far into it, but so far I appreciate Waters’ care to do his best in referring to people how they wanted to be referred to, even before their transitions.

Cover of The Spellshop by Sarah Beth DurstWhat will you be reading next?

I really don’t know. I’m feeling less than great still, honestly, so I might turn to something familiar and comforting — or I might start a bunch of different books and just see what sticks. I’d like to read Alexis Hall’s Mortal Follies and Sarah Beth Durst’s The Spellshop, but I’m not sure if I want to start those now.

What are you reading?

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Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted November 9, 2024 by Nicky in General / 19 Comments

Thank goodness for the weekend, huh?

It’s been a tired and discouraged week around here, with work frustrations, interpersonal issues, and of course the result of the election in the US. (It might not be my country, but we have one single world, and it’d be good if we could all take care of it, and of each other.) Personally, I’d really like a dozen new books for comfort…

Books acquired this week

This week I didn’t buy anything new, despite the temptation, though I did have a short trip to the library.

Cover of The Secret Life of the Owl by John Lewis-Stempel Cover of A Mudlarking Year by Lara Maiklem

I’ve already read The Secret Life of the Owl, since it was very quick!

Posts from this week

As usual, let’s have a bit of a roundup.

As a reminder, all my ratings are subjective and personal, about how much I liked the book. So me giving something one star doesn’t mean I think it’s awful, it means it wasn’t for me. Usually my reviews are the best way to dig into why I rated something the way I did!

What I’m reading

I’m having a fair amount of trouble reading at the moment, with being tired and overwhelmed, but I did carve out a little time to read a few books that I’ll be reviewing here at some point.

Cover of The Book Makers by Adam Smyth Cover of Murder at the British Museum by Jim Eldridge Cover of The Secret Life of the Owl by John Lewis-Stempel Cover of The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie Cover of Space Rover by Stewart Lawrence Sinclair

That’s more than I thought I’d been reading, honestly!

As for this weekend, I’ve finally started on Bitter Waters, by Vivian Shaw; other than that, I’m not sure. I’ll probably focus on reading more of the biography of Agatha Christie by Lucy Worsley.

Hope everyone’s doing alright.

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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