Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted October 5, 2024 by Nicky in General / 30 Comments

Yaaay, it’s the weekend! Here we go again with the usual weekly roundup…

Books acquired this week

Once more, I’ve been raiding the library this week, with my usual (perhaps weird) mix of choices…

Cover of Nothing But The Truth by The Secret Barrister Cover of The Other Olympians by Michael Waters

Cover of Buried Deep And Other Stories by Naomi Novik Cover of Out of the Drowning Deep by A.C. Wise Cover of Confounding Oaths by Alexis Hall

I had one hold to pick up, and then I checked the new acquistions. Oops?

I did also get a new book this month, which I preordered on a whim a little while ago. It looks like the kind of non-fiction that I always find really fascinating, so I’m looking forward to it.

Cover of The Bookshop, the Draper, The Candlestick Maker: A History of the High Street by Annie Gray

Of course I’m not reading nearly fast enough to keep up with the library books I’m snagging! But that’s okay. They can always be renewed, or returned and borrowed again later. The nice thing is having so many books to choose from.

Posts from this week

As usual, here’s a quick roundup! Reviews first:

And just one other post, since I skipped Top Ten Tuesday this week:

What I’m reading

It hasn’t been a bad week for reading, though I did most reading over the weekend last week! I’ve finished reading Heaven Official’s Blessing, which leaves me feeling a bit bereft, really.

I have also been reading a bit of poetry, but I haven’t had a lot to say about the collections I’d read, so I’m probably not going to review them here, so this is just a peek of the books I read this week that I’ll be reviewing sometime soon:

Cover of Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang Cover of Heaven Official's Blessing vol 7 by MXTX Cover of Heaven Official's Blessing vol 8 by MXTX Cover of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Cover of The British Museum by James Hamilton Cover of Out of the Drowning Deep by A.C. Wise Cover of Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite

I juuust finished Murder by Memory before working on this post, and liked it a lot. Here’s hoping the rest of my weekend reading goes so well: mostly I’m working my way through the Secret Barrister’s autobiography, and after that… I’m not sure. I have some other novellas that have been waiting my attention, and after enjoying Out of the Drowning Deep and Murder by Memory, maybe I’m in the mood for smallish, self-contained stories like that.

Important note

I know that people from all walks of life make up the bookish community, and I’d like to get along with everyone regardless of our differences. Every so often, though, there’s inevitably someone who crosses a line, with whom I can’t just “agree to disagree”. Last week, someone visited via a linkup and left a comment (somehow getting through my filter that should bin any future comments from them), after I had previously asked them politely to leave me alone given one of their reviews of a queer book, which used derogatory and degrading language toward trans and non-binary people.

Given that I’m non-binary, as are some of the regulars who comment here, and given how often I review queer stories and books by queer authors, I’m just not comfortable with having that person commenting (and leaving links to their blog) in my space. So this is just a gentle reminder to that person that I did ask you to stop commenting here (twice now), just in case you didn’t get notifications about my replies. It would be much appreciated if we could be adults about this and just agree to leave each other well alone.

I apologise to all my other commenters and visitors here for having to bring this up, but I hope you can all understand how uncomfortable it feels for someone who uses abusive language about people like me to keep commenting on my blog after being politely asked to leave me alone.

Now let’s get back to talking about books!

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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Review – Bloom into You, vol 1

Posted October 4, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Bloom into You, vol 1

Bloom into You

by Nakatani Nio

Genres: Manga, Romance
Pages: 188
Series: Bloom into You #1
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

Yuu has always loved shoujo manga and awaits the day she gets a love confession that sends her heart aflutter with bubbles and hearts, and yet when a junior high classmate confesses his feelings to her…she feels nothing. Disappointed and confused, Yuu enters high school still unsure how to respond. That’s when Yuu sees the beautiful student council president Nanami turn down a suitor with such maturity that she’s inspired to ask her for help. But when the next person to confess to Yuu is Nanami herself, has her shoujo romance finally begun?

I picked up the first volume of Nakatani Nio’s Bloom Into You because my sister had asked me to try to find copies for her, and I was curious. It’s an f/f manga, in which a 2nd year student (Nanami) falls in love (almost instantly) with a 1st year student (Yuu), and tries to get her involved in her election campaign to be school president.

The art is cute enough, fairly typical really. I thought that Yuu’s initial interest in talking to Nanami and understanding her all made sense, but Nanami’s quick response of falling in love with her just felt too fast, and I feel like Nanami was a bit manipulative trying to get her way and keep Yuu close by. The kiss is completely out of the blue as well.

I can see how they could form rather a cute relationship, as Yuu tries to be supportive of Nanami, and doesn’t mind when she’s not the perfect girl others seem to see. It’ll need some serious development right now, though, as Yuu seems to be completely uninterested in anyone (asexual and/or aromantic). I’m not sure if I’ll read more.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – Heaven Official’s Blessing, vol 5

Posted October 3, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Heaven Official’s Blessing, vol 5

Heaven Official's Blessing

by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Romance
Pages: 465
Series: Heaven Official's Blessing / Tian Guan Ci Fu #5
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

LAST GHOST STANDING, FIRST LOVE BLOSSOMS

Ghosts are converging on the cursed Mount Tonglu for a massive battle royale, the sole survivor of which may become a Ghost King, a being of unimaginable power. Xie Lian is sent to secretly infiltrate and try to prevent this--by destroying any ghosts strong enough to stand a chance. His heavenly powers are weakened near the cursed mountain, but he has one trump card on his side--Hua Cheng, who has survived Mount Tonglu before. As they struggle against murderous ghosts and the mountain's strange defenses, Hua Cheng's knowledge of the area may prove invaluable. But can they even begin to unravel the cursed peak's secrets?

There are parts of the fifth volume of Heaven Official’s Blessing that just cry out for the soundtrack to be “Yakety Sax”. It’s amazing that I get along with MXTX’s books so well, given that isn’t an uncommon element, but somehow it just fits (at least, now that I’m used to it).

It’s hard to review each volume separately, to be honest; because they were designed to follow continuously from each other, and I’ve started reading volume six. So many little things are starting to add up, and there’s the whole mystery of Wuyong and why there are so many similarities between the story of its prince and that of Xie Lian.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned the internal art yet, but I do love it — and especially the image of Hua Cheng as a puppetmaster, looking tiny and evil while Xie Lian just smiles.

Of course, there are quite a lot of coincidences here, with certain other characters showing up, and I’m also crying out to know what happened to Shi Qingxuan. I trust that that plotline hasn’t been dropped entirely, but I want to know what’s happened now! So, as ever, I’m impatient to read on, and I don’t suggest you read volume five without volume six to hand.

Rating: 4/5

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WWW Wednesday

Posted October 2, 2024 by Nicky in General / 1 Comment

Wednesday again, huh? That keeps happening, somehow.

Cover of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha ChristieWhat have you recently finished reading?

Yesterday I finished up my reread of Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, via Serial Reader. I still liked it a lot, though once I was in the swing of it I remembered a surprising amount of how things came together. It’s a clever one!

I also read The British Museum: Storehouse of Civilizations, by James Hamilton. It’s not very critical about the British Museum, rather being inclined to laud the whole endeavour, though it does mention some of the controversy around the Elgin Marbles. It’s an interesting history of the institution and particularly of the buildings, though.

Cover of The Mountain in the Sea by Ray NaylerWhat are you currently reading?

I’m still partway through The Book at War, by Andrew Pettegree. It’s slower going than I hoped, though I couldn’t put my finger on why — perhaps because I’m not terribly interested in the history of military education per se, which has been the focus so far. We’ll see how things develop, I suppose!

I’ve also started reading The Mountain in the Sea, by Ray Nayler. I’m enjoying it, though I need to find some more time to sit down and read it; I haven’t been able to pick it up for a few days! So far we’ve only got the most tantalising hints at what’s going on, and no actual contact with octopuses.

Cover of Murder by Memory by Olivia WaiteWhat will you read next?

I’m not sure. I’m probably looking for something familiar and soothing, so I might go with rereading the Cemetaries of Amalo books (by Katherine Addison) and segue into reading the new one (which I have as an e-ARC). I could also use some quick reads to help advance my reading goal for the year, though, and I have some novellas lined up for that, like Olivia Waite’s Murder by Memory (also an e-ARC). It promises a Sayers-like mystery, which is encouraging.

What about you?

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Review – Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker: The Art of Resurrection – Beyond the Veil

Posted October 1, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker: The Art of Resurrection – Beyond the Veil

Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker: The Art of Resurrection - Beyond the Veil

by Square Enix

Genres: Game, Non-fiction
Pages: 336
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

The second volume of a two-volume set of the official art books for the global hit game Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, featuring hundreds of pages of full-color art and an exclusive item code!

Featuring roughly 800 pieces of artwork created during the development of the critically acclaimed Endwalker expansion, The Art of Resurrection -Beyond the Veil- is a visual feast for players and fans of Final Fantasy XIV! This deluxe, large-format volume covers content through Patch 6.5, including Myths of the Realm, Pandæmonium, and Island Sanctuary. It also features detailed illustrations of characters, equipment, dungeons, trials, and more across hundreds of pages. Volume two of a two-volume set with The Art of Resurrection -Among the Stars-.

The Beyond the Veil installment of Final Fantasy XIV’s two artbooks for Endwalker features the patch content, basically everything from 6.01 onwards. It includes the character and location designs for the Myths of the Realm raids and the Pandaemonium raids, along with the main scenario quests from 6.01 onwards.

As usual it also features the art from various events like the Moonfire Faire, all the new gear that’s been added, new minions (the Hythlodaeus minion art is adorable), etc. There’s no commentary really, except for some quick paragraphs from the artists at the back, so it really is just the art — I really liked the one that had some comments included, but they seem to have moved away from that these days.

That said, of course the art is gorgeous.

It comes with the Zodiark Idol minion code. Before anyone asks, yes, I’ve claimed the code and it is not available for giveaway or sale. 

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Poirot Investigates

Posted September 30, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 6 Comments

Review – Poirot Investigates

Poirot Investigates

by Agatha Christie

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Short Stories
Pages: 265
Series: Hercule Poirot #3
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

The very first collection of superb short stories featuring Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings…

First there was the mystery of the film star and the diamond… then came the ‘suicide’ that was murder… the mystery of the absurdly cheap flat… a suspicious death in a locked gun-room… a million dollar bond robbery… the curse of a pharaoh’s tomb… a jewel robbery by the sea… the abduction of a Prime Minister… the disappearance of a banker… a phone call from a dying man… and, finally, the mystery of the missing will.

What links these fascinating cases? Only the brilliant deductive powers of Hercule Poirot!

The unfortunate thing about this collection of short stories (from my perspective at least) is that unfortunately, Poirot’s fairly dense sidekick Hastings is a major player in each. Poirot himself is not so bad in the short stories of Agatha Christie’s Poirot Investigates, and even Hastings doesn’t have much room to make an ass of himself, but I still don’t like the character.

There are some interesting mysteries here, but I can’t say any of them really jumped out at me and stuck in my memory. The one where Poirot recounts a case where he fails and Hastings gently tries to pierce his ego afterwards made me laugh, though.

Another thing to be wary of with Agatha Christie is the casual racism that gets sprinkled around. I noticed it quite a bit in these short stories.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Pharos

Posted September 29, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Pharos

Pharos

by Alice Thompson

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror
Pages: 160
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

Set in the early nineteenth century, Pharos is a dazzling ghost story from an award-winning author.

A young woman is washed up on the shores of Jacob's Rock, a remote lighthouse island off the coast of Scotland. She does not know who she is or how she got there. She has no memory. The keeper of the lighthouse and his assistant take her in and feed and clothe her. But this mysterious woman is not all that she seems, and neither is the remote and wind-swept island.

Eerily reminiscent of Turn of the Screw and The Others, Pharos is a breathless tale of the supernatural.

Alice Thompson’s Pharos is more or less a novella in length, and it’s a ghost story. It’s a bit of a weird one to classify. It creates a sense of unease and wrongness without being exactly creepy, and I’m not sure it entirely works as a whole. The sexual current between two of the characters comes out of nowhere (though it’s unclear if one of them wants it at all), and the narration and lack of proper dialogue just… don’t quite manage to pull things together. There’s not much to care about.

I’m also not sure about the use of voodoo and the history of slavery as a backdrop to the story, which is written by a Scottish author. The use of voodoo and the tragic lives of enslaved people to create a story of a vengeful ghost just feels rather overdone and tired. Many strange things can haunt a lighthouse — why this?

Some of the atmosphere created is admittedly really good, though, the claustrophobic chokingness of a group of four people who are ultimately trapped together, no matter how crazy things get.

Rating: 2/5

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Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted September 28, 2024 by Nicky in General / 34 Comments

Greetings folks! It’s definitely getting autumnal here, and though the sun is bright outside the window, it’s chilly. Probably my favourite sort of weather, really — though if it stays this cold, I’m going to need to acquire some gloves before I next cycle down to the library, ahaha.

Books acquired

Once more, it’s been a busy week for library books, since a couple of holds came in and I found where they keep the recent releases. Here’s the library haul!

Cover of Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang Cover of The Stardust Grail, by Yume Kitasei Cover of The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Cover of Agatha Christie, by Lucy Worsley Cover of Enchanted Creatures: Our Monsters and Their Meanings, by Natalie Lawrence Cover of The Roads to Rome by Catherine Fletcher

I also got some poetry collections, but I’m not sure whether I’ll end up reviewing those here; so far there’s some I’ve wanted to review, and some where I feel I have nothing useful to say. At least, not enough to fill up a review. So I’ll leave those out of the haul for now.

I did also get an e-ARC for review from Tor, which looks fascinating and promises me a twisty plot like Dorothy L. Sayers. We’ll see!

Cover of Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite

Posts from this week

As usual, let’s start with the reviews!

And the other posts:

What I’m reading

This week I spent a lot of time with library books, since I keep overdoing it and getting loads at once (it’s like my brain refuses to accept that they’ll be there next time). I suspect my weekend will be much the same, as I have a hold waiting for me at the library. Here’s the usual peek at the books I’ve finished this week (at least the ones I plan to review on the blog):

Cover of Heaven Official's Blessing vol 6 by MXTX Cover of Plants: From Roots to Riches by Kathy Willis and Carolyn Fry Cover of Pharos by Alice Thompson

Cover of the Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy by Dr Arik Kershenbaum Cover of The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris Cover of Sorcery & Cecilia by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

For right now, I’m reading Yellowface, The Book at War, and of course, volume 7 of Heaven Official’s Blessing. I’ll probably also pick up The Mountain in the Sea in the course of the weekend… or maybe another non-fiction, since The Book at War is rather slow.

Either way, I hope to spend plenty of time reading.

Hope you all have a good weekend too!

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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Review – Universal Basic Income

Posted September 27, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Universal Basic Income

Universal Basic Income

by Karl Widerquist

Genres: Non-fiction
Pages: 272
Series: The MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

An accessible introduction to the simple (yet radical) premise that a small cash income, sufficient for basic needs, ought to be provided regularly and unconditionally to every citizen.

The growing movement for universal basic income (UBI) has been gaining attention from politics and the media with the audacious idea of a regular, unconditional cash grant for everyone as a right of citizenship. This volume in the Essential Knowledge series presents the first short, solid UBI introduction that is neither academic nor polemic. It takes a position in favor of UBI, but its primary goal remains the provision of essential knowledge by answering the fundamental questions about it: What is UBI? How does it work? What are the arguments for and against it? What is the evidence?

Karl Widerquist discusses how UBI functions, showing how it differs from other redistributional approaches. He summarizes the common arguments for and against UBI and presents the reasons for believing it is a tremendously important reform. The book briefly discusses the likely cost of UBI; options for paying for it; the existing evidence on the probable effects of UBI; and the history of UBI from its inception more than two hundred years ago through the two waves of support it received in the twentieth century to the third and largest wave of support it is experiencing now. Now more than ever, conditions in much of the world are ripe for such enthusiasm to keep growing, and there are good reasons to believe that this current wave of support will eventually lead to the adoption of UBI in several countries around the world—making this volume an especially timely and necessary read.

Universal Basic Income is part of a series from the MIT press, the “Essential Knowledge Series”, and this installment is by Karl Widerquist. The point of it is to act as a primer on the subject of Universal Basic Income (UBI), and be a bit of an advocate for it, based on what we know about similar programmes and test cases.

The evidence is (or was at the time of posting) not totally straightforward, because the true test of a UBI would be universality and unconditionality, and most trials have not been universal even within a small area, and may have contained conditions. Widerquist makes a good argument that the results we see are indicative of success, though, and that some aspects of the effects of a UBI might be underreported in such a small study (while acknowledging that some are probably overreported).

There are quite a few acronyms flying around which I didn’t always find easy to remember, but mostly it’s a fairly straightforward explanation and manifesto. However, there were a few editing booboos, including an entire paragraph being repeated verbatim in a list, which was a bit annoying.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – The Baker and the Bard

Posted September 26, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 1 Comment

Review – The Baker and the Bard

The Baker and the Bard

by Fern Haught

Genres: Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Romance
Pages: 160
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

Author-artist Fern Haught weaves an enchanting, gentle fantasy tale of friendship, determination, and respecting nature in their debut graphic novel, The Baker and the Bard. Perfect for fans of The Tea Dragon Society, Legends & Lattes, and Animal Crossing.

Juniper and Hadley have a good thing going in Larkspur, spending their respective days apprenticing at a little bakery and performing at the local inn. But when a stranger makes an unusual order at the bakery, the two friends (and Hadley’s pet snake, Fern) set out on a journey to forage the magical mushrooms needed to make the requested galette pastries.

Along the way, Juniper and Hadley stumble across a mystery too compelling to ignore: Something has been coming out of the woods at night and eating the local farmers' crops, leaving only a trail of glowy goo behind. Intent on finally going on an adventure that could fuel their bardic craft, Hadley tows Juniper into the woods to investigate.

What started as a simple errand to pick mushrooms soon turns into a thrilling quest to save some furry new friends—and their caretaker, a softspoken little fey named Thistle—who are in danger of losing their home.

The Baker and the Bard, by Fern Haught, is a short and sweet graphic novel which has justifiably been compared to the Tea Dragon Society books. The two main characters, Juniper and Hadley, are apprentices who leap at the chance to go on a bit of an adventure to find a particular glowing mushroom to fulfil a big order for a client. In the process, they make a few friends and maybe make things a bit better for some people.

It’s very slight, not going into a lot of depth about anything, but the dynamic between Juniper and Hadley is cute, and the little snake is very cute.

There is a bit of a jarring bit where Hadley asks Thistle about gender stuff; rather than an organic part of the journey, it feels like a bit of a Teaching Moment, because it’s not been clear up to that moment that Hadley had any such questions or was anything other than comfortable with themself. And to be clear, I’m not saying it shouldn’t be included or that the presence of a non-binary character needs to have a reason, but it felt like that specific scene came out of left-field.

Overall, a fun enough short read, probably aiming at middle-grade reading age, I’d guess? The art is pretty cute, with a pastel sort of aesthetic.

Rating: 3/5

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