Here we are again, huh?

Books acquired this week

N/a! Not even a library trip.

Posts from this week

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

• Fantasy manhwa: Solo Leveling, vol 6, by Dubu (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Fantasy novella: A Magical Girl Retires, by Park Seolyeon (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
• Crime short stories: Blood on the Tracks, ed. Martin Edwards (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Non-fiction: The Hero, by Lee Child (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
• Non-fiction: Valkyrie, by Jóhanna Katrín Friðriksdóttir (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
• Graphic novel: Fence: Redemption, by C.S. Pacat & Johanna the Mad (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Fantasy: Before the Coffee Gets Cold, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)

And of course a What Are You Reading Wednesday post.

What I’m reading

It’s been a fairly busy week reading-wise, though mostly with graphic novels. Let’s take a look at the books I’ve finished which I plan to review on here…

As for what I’m reading this weekend… I reaaaally have to focus on any books left on my Book Spin Bingo card for October, if I want to get a blackout! My first focus is probably volume three of The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish, and then Emily Tesh’s The Incandescent. But, as ever, we’ll see what happens!

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

Hurrah, it’s the weekend!

Books acquired this week

Last weekend was Bookshop Day in the UK, so I made sure to acquire some books — it’s my duty, right?! I didn’t go nuts: I acquired physical copies of the Shady Hollow series (which I had in ebook before, not pictured) and the rest of this series, The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish:

I’ve already read book two, and I’m probably going to steam straight ahead and read the next volumes!

Posts from this week

First up, the reviews:

• Non-fiction: The Butcher, the Baker, the Candlestick Maker: The Story of Britain Through Its Census, since 1801, by Roger Hutchinson (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Fantasy romance manga: The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter, by Kazuki Irodori (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
• Fantasy romance: Paladin’s Strength, by T. Kingfisher (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Classic mystery: Deadly Earnest, by Joan Cockin (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
• Classic: The Man Who Was Thursday, by G.K. Chesteron (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
• Non-fiction: Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History, by Moudhy Al-Rashid (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)

Other posts:

• Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’d Want to Read for the First Time Again
• What Are You Reading Wednesday

What I’m reading

It’s been a bit of a quieter week for me reading-wise, especially since I was off sick on Wednesday/Thursday. Still, I have done some reading!

As for what I’m reading this weekend… probably more of The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish, for a start! But I’d also like to get back to KJ Charles’ All of Us Murderers. We’ll see, though!

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

It’s been a quiet week around here, though I’ve definitely been reading!

Books acquired this week

N/a! A few books I’m interested in are releasing in the coming week, though, so maybe I’ll have more to show next week.

Posts from this week

Mostly just reviews this week, so let’s do a quick roundup!

• Fantasy manhwa: Solo Leveling, vol 5, by Dubu (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
• Fantasy: The Wonder Engine, by T. Kingfisher (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Non-fiction: Infectious: Pathogens and How We Fight Them, by John S. Tregoning (1/5 stars, “didn’t like it”)
• Non-fiction: Queer as Folklore, by Sacha Coward (1/5 stars, “didn’t like it”)
• Comic: Mooncop, by Tom Gauld (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Fantasy: The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association, by Caitlin Rozakis (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Romance: The Love Hypothesis, by Ali Hazelwood (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)

And also the usual What Are You Reading Wednesday post.

What I’m reading

First, as always, a quick sneak peek at the books I’ve read this week that I plan to review on the blog!

I did also do a couple of rereads, like the fourth volume of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, which I don’t plan to review again, so it’s been a busy week!

I’m not sure what I’ll focus on over the weekend. I’ve dug into rereading Jordan L. Hawk’s Outfoxing the Paranormal series, so I might get up to reading the newest of the series. I’ve also started on a real chonker, The Posthumous Papers of the Manuscripts Club, which is long slow reading, and I’ll probably read a chapter or two of that.

But as ever, it’ll be whatever I feel like, in the end!

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

Happy weekend! It’s been a nice short week for me, and I’m still glad to see the weekend. Hope everyone has fun plans — even if “fun plans” means hiding away in a cosy corner with a book, of course.

Books acquired this week

I’m trying not to buy too many books, but a couple of impulse buys here and there can’t hurt when I plan to read them right away, right?

Posts from this week

• Bookish comics: I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf, by Grant Snider (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
• Fantasy: Clockwork Boys, by T. Kingfisher (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Poetry: Eat the World, by Marina Diamandis (1/5 stars, “didn’t like it”)
• Fantasy: Reignclowd Palace, by Philippa Rice (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Non-fiction: First Light: Switching on Stars at the Dawn of Time, by Emma Chapman (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
• Crime: Nine Times Nine, by Anthony Boucher (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
• Non-fiction: Crap: A History of Cheap Stuff in America, by Wendy A. Woloson (3/5 stars, “liked it”)

And the other posts:

• Top Ten Tuesday: Fall TBR
• What Are You Reading Wednesday

What I’m reading

It’s still been a good week for reading, though a lot of these are quite short! Here’s a peek at the books I’ve finished and intend to review on the blog:

I’m planning to play a lot of Final Fantasy XIV this weekend, as I want to work on my weapon relic, so that’s going to be fun! But I do want to finish off the books I need to finish to get a blackout on Book Spin Bingo on Litsy, which means I’ll be doing plenty of reading too, as the end of the month approaches. My first focus is You Should Be So Lucky, by Cat Sebastian, which I’m loving, but… I have quite a bit of reading to do!

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

Welp, I’m back home! And taking a couple of days off to turn this into a long weekend and get some chill time, because oooof.

Books acquired this week

This week featured a quick library trip to grab my hold, and a few impulsive/random choices!

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers was the hold, the others were random choices. Of the poetry, I know I like some of Simon Armitage’s work, but Andrew Motion’s has previously left me cold and I don’t think I’ve read anything by Helen Tookey before, except maaaaybe in an anthology. So we’ll see how I get on with those — I’ve already made a start!

I did also snag a book from Netgalley because I felt like reading a novella, I have auto-approval, and… dinosaurs.

Posts from this week

I kept up posting, mostly, though I skipped Top Ten Tuesday this week due to a combo of circumstances and a prompt that didn’t call to me. So it’s mostly reviews:

• Fantasy manga: The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter manga, vol. 3, by Kazuki Irodori (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
• Classic play: R.U.R., by Karel Čapek (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
• Non-fiction: It’s The End of the World, by Adam Roberts (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
• Romance: Mr Collins in Love, by Lee Welch (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Short mysteries: Resorting to Murder: Holiday Mysteries, ed. Martin Edwards (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
• Non-fiction: Medieval Bodies: Life, Death and Art in the Middle Ages, by Jack Hartnell (3/5 stars, “liked it”)

And I did post a What Are You Reading Wednesday post!

What I’m reading

I’ve been reading a lot again this week, especially with being mostly offline from Saturday through to late night on Tuesday! Here’s the usual sneak peek at what I’ve finished and plan to review on the blog — it doesn’t look quite as impressive as last week, but some of the books were quite long/slow.

 

I’m not sure what I’ll focus on over the weekend, yet. Maybe I’ll finally start on KJ Charles’ The Duke at Hazard, and there’s a good chance I’ll start reading another British Library Crime Classics collection (probably Blood on the Tracks)… but to be honest, I haven’t settled to anything yet!

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

As a head’s up, I’m away over the weekend, down in Wales for the interment of my grandparents’ ashes, and there’s no broadband connection at the house now. I will visit back and reply to comments as usual, but maybe not until Wednesday or so (it depends how long my phone’s data lasts me, and how much time I spend online). That doesn’t mean I’m not enthusiastic to talk books and see what you’ve been reading as usual!

Books acquired this week

I wasn’t expecting to have anything, but then I finished the last volume of Solo Leveling that I owned, and remembered I had a gift voucher… and also, my British Library Crime Classic subscription book arrived. So I ended up having some nice book post after all!

I dived on Solo Leveling right away, while waiting for everyone to be ready for the drive down to Wales. The story comes to a climax, and I was sooo eager to see what happens, and the books were the perfect length to finish up before we left… though I admit I hadn’t expected to have time to finish both of them.

I also grabbed a book from the library to read on the drive, since I’ve been curious about it a while:

I’ve read this already as well!

Posts from this week

A quick roundup of the reviews posted this week:

• Non-fiction: 100 Dresses, by The Costume Institute (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
• Graphic novel: Fence: Rivals, by C.S. Pacat & Johanna the Mad (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Fantasy: Into the Riverlands, by Nghi Vo (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Fantasy romance: Gwen & Art Are Not In Love, by Lex Croucher (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
• Non-fiction: Rebel Bodies: A Guide to the Gender Health Gap Revolution, by Sarah Graham (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Non-fiction: The Postal Paths, by Alan Cleaver (3/5 stars, “liked it”)

Other posts:

• Top Ten Tuesday: Villains
• What Are You Reading Wednesday

What I’m reading

I’ve been reading a lot this week, so hold onto your hats — here’s the preview of the books I finished which I plan to review on the blog!

 

Over the weekend, it’s likely that I’ll read quite a lot because of the lack of broadband. I actually set up a mini-bingo card to keep me occupied, so I guess my next read (and very appropriate too) will be focusing on finishing Tir: The Story of the Welsh Landscape. After that, probably The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry… but we’ll see! As ever, I’ll follow my whims.

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

Woo, Saturday!

The upcoming week is going to be a bit weird for various reasons (with the interment of my grandparents’ ashes coming up next week, travel, etc), but I have lots of reading plans to keep me cheerful and occupied.

Books acquired this week

This week, I haven’t bought or been given anything new, but I did drop by the library, so I do have some interesting finds! First up, fiction/graphic novels:

And then a bunch of non-fiction! Something of an unusual mix, as ever — and that’s the way I like it.

Posts from this week

It was a quieter week on the blog this week, but let’s do a quick roundup of the reviews:

• SF mystery: The Last Murder at the End of the World, by Stuart Turton (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
• Fantasy light novel: The Apothecary Diaries, vol 4, by Natsu Hyuuga (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• History: The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective, by Sara Lodge (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Fantasy manhwa: Solo Leveling, vol 4, by Dubu (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Fantasy romance: Sorcery & Small Magics, by Maiga Doocy (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• History: The Paper Chase: The Printer, The Spymaster & The Hunt for the Rebel Pamphleteers, by Joseph Hone (3/5 stars, “liked it”)

The only other post was my chatter for What Are You Reading Wednesday!

What I’m reading

I feel like I’ve done quite a lot of reading this week, but I haven’t yet counted it up, so let’s see. As usual, here’s the sneak peek of the books I’ve finished off this week (excluding any I don’t intend to review on the blog)…

So… yep, quite a lot of reading! This weekend I’m probably looking to dig into Uketsu’s Strange Houses, since it’s probably due back at the library. I’ll probably also read one of the library books from a couple of weeks ago, Nineteenth-Century Fashion in Detail. Other than that… who knows!

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

Yay, it’s the weekend! I feel the need for the chill time, since I had a horrible headache last night. And I have so many reading plans!

Books acquired this week

Last week I posted part of my birthday haul, but not all, as I was kinda spoiled and it was a lot. So here’s the rest, plus the books my wife got me to celebrate the completion of my degree!

First up, more books from my wife:

And here are the books from my parents and sister!

I’ve been digging into some of these already, and I can’t wait to read more.

Posts from this week

As ever, it’s been busy on the blog! Let’s see what we’ve got — first up, the reviews:

• Classic crime: The Odd Flamingo, by Nina Bawden (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
• Comic: Immortal Red Sonja, vol 2, by Dan Abnett et al (1/5 stars, “didn’t like it”)
• Fantasy romance: The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter: Magic Research Exchange Plan, by Yatsuki Wakutsu (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Historical fiction: The Sea Road, by Margaret Elphinstone (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Science: Preventable: How A Pandemic Changed the World and How To Stop the Next One, by Devi Sridhar (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
• Non-fiction: A Brief Atlas of the Lighthouses at the End of the World, by González Macías (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
• Fantasy manga: A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation, vol 10, by Misaki et al (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)

And a couple of non-review posts:

• Top Ten Tuesday: Reading Spots
• What Are You Reading Wednesday

What I’m reading

As ever, let’s start with a peek at the books I’ve finished this week which I plan to review on the blog!

A pretty good reading week, especially as I also fit in a couple of rereads.

This weekend, I want to finish my Book Spin Bingo reads: Paladin’s Strength (T. Kingfisher) and Stony Jack and the Lost Jewels of Cheapside (Victoria Shepherd) are the last two, and I’m most of the way through both of them. I also want to read more of Cackle (Rachel Harrison) and Rebel Bodies (Sarah Graham), but we’ll see — I’ve also got back to my playthrough of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and might have plans to game with people in Final Fantasy XIV as well. The most important thing is that I spend some time relaxing, regardless.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

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

Happy weekend! I must admit, I’m looking forward to it: despite having a day off for my birthday, it’s been a weird and tiring week, in part because I got my exam results. I’m proud to announce that I will soon be graduating with merit for my MSc in Infectious Diseases from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. I just missed a distinction, too, so given everything that’s happened this year, I’m very proud of what I achieved.

But now it’s definitely time to chill.

Books acquired this week

This week was my birthday, so of course I got spoiled! I think I’ll split things into multiple posts, just because oof, there’s quite a bit, and I also had a library haul too. I think for this week, I’ll start by showing off the fiction books my wife got me for my birthday, and my library haul.

So first up, the birthday gifts that were fiction!

Quite the haul, I know! I’ve seen reviews from several blogs I follow about most of these lately, so I’m looking forward to reading them. Peerless was recommended by a fellow danmei lover on Discord, though, and Reignclowd Palace just caught my eye with the pretty cover (and I liked the first chapter), so I added it to my wishlist.

Aaand here’s the library haul, too!

I’d put Strange Houses on hold, since I really liked Strange Pictures (such a weird book, but fascinating), and the others were somewhat random picks that happened to be close together in the non-fiction section. The postal books will probably get reviewed for Postcrossing’s blog.

Next week I’ll show off the books my sister got me for my birthday, the non-fiction my wife got me, and a couple of other books my wife got me to celebrate my exam results!

Posts from this week

First up, the reviews…

• Non-fiction: Underwear: Fashion in Detail, by Eleri Lynn (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
• Classic mystery: The Judas Window, by Carter Dickson AKA John Dickson Carr (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Romance manga: A Side Character’s Love Story, vol 16, by Akane Tamura (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Fantasy mystery: The Undetectables, by Courtney Smyth (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
• Non-fiction: Most Delicious Poison, by Noah Whiteman (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
• Archaeology: Beneath Our Feet, by Michael Lewis & Ian Richardson (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
• Non-fiction: Monsters: A Bestiary of the Bizarre, by Christopher Dell (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)

And the non-review posts:

• Top Ten Tuesday: Doorstoppers
• What Are You Reading Wednesday

What I’m reading

I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading this week, including unearthing some stuff that’d been hanging around on my TBR for a while. It was a pretty satisfying week for reading! Here’s the usual sneak peek at the books I finished and intend to review on the blog:

For this weekend… well, if I want to finish up my Litsy BookSpin list this month and get a blackout on my bingo card, I need to get back to reading some of the books I’ve got on the go, and start on a couple more! I want to finish Laura Spinney’s Proto, for a start, and maybe start reading Margaret Elphinstone’s The Sea Road.

But as ever, it’s wherever my whim takes me: if it feels like too much pressure, I’ll just read whatever I like. Reading goals aren’t any use if they make you feel like you’re missing out or not having fun.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Linking up with Reading Reality’s Stacking the Shelves, Caffeinated Reviewer’s The Sunday Post, and the Sunday Salon over at Readerbuzz, as usual!