Yay, weekend! My week hasn’t been that busy, but it’s been a lot of time spent not reading, when I’m decidedly in the mood to read.

Hope everyone else has had a good week!

Books acquired this week

This week it’s “just” ARCs — two eARCs, and one book that arrived in the mail a little unexpectedly. Thank you Tor and Hachette.

I was especially excited to see the new Nghi Vo (thank goodness for my autoapproval!), but the highlight was A Letter from the Lonesome Shore, which I hadn’t been expecting though I had tentatively reached out asking for it.

Posts from this week

As usual, here’s a roundup of reviews to start with…

• Fantasy: The Unmaking of June Farrow, by Adrienne Young (2/5 stars)
• Classic mystery: Scarhaven Keep, by J.S. Fletcher (3/5 stars)
• Non-fiction: Who Owns This Sentence? A History of Copyrights and Wrongs, by David Bellos and Alexandre Montagu (4/5 stars)
• Non-fiction: Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist, by Liz Pelly (4/5 stars)

And a couple of non-review posts this week:

• What Are You Reading Wednesday
• Wyrd & Wonder 2025: Setting Sail

What I’m reading

Let’s close as usual with what I’ve recently finished and what I’m planning to read this weekend. First a sneak peek at books I intend to review soon that I finished this week:

I’ve been deep in some chonky books like The Magic Books: A History of Enchantment in 20 Medieval Manuscripts (Anne Lawrence-Mathers) and A Short History of British Architecture (Simon Jenkins), so I’ll read a bit more of those this weekend, but I’m also planning to delve into more classic mystery with Fiona Sinclair’s Scandalize My Name and a short story collection edited by Martin Edwards, Metropolitan Mysteries. Other than that, I’ve also started on T. Kingfisher’s Paladin’s Grace… so I have plenty to keep me busy.

Hope everyone’s having 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!

Greetings! Saturday again, huh? I’ve been trying to have a restorative week, and have been getting back to my reading somewhat — which is a relief to all, since it does wonders for my mood.

As mentioned last week, I had a bit of a spree to celebrate finishing my assignments (the last ones of this degree!) so I’m going to spotlight those now, without any further ado.

Books acquired this week

First up, there are some lovely new editions of T. Kingfisher’s Saint of Steel series. I haven’t read these, but I’ve been meaning to forever. Since they were “buy one, get one half-price” at Waterstones, and Waterstones was having a double stamps event… well. It seemed like the perfect time to splash out.

But that wasn’t all, of course. I picked up a couple of fiction books too: I’d borrowed Greenteeth from the library, but had to return it, and I just loved the idea of a dragon café and thought that one sounded cute. I already owned a copy of Clockwork Boys, but I liked the new UK issue, so I grabbed that too.

Aaand finally, a few non-fiction (you knew it was coming).

A pretty good haul, I’d say… Technically I have a review copy to share as well, but it isn’t in my hands yet (since I’m not staying at the flat while we do moving stuff), so I’ll share that next week!

Posts from this week

As usual, let’s have a quick roundup of reviews:

• Fantasy manga: A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation, by Misaki et al (4/5 stars)
• Fantasy: The Tomb of Dragons, by Katherine Addison (2/5 stars)
• Mystery/horror: Strange Pictures, by Uketsu (4/5 stars)
• History: Sheeplands: How Sheep Shaped Wales and the World, by Alan Marshall (3/5 stars)
• Non-fiction: You Have Not Yet Heard Your Favourite Song: How Streaming Changes Music, by Glenn McDonald (2/5 stars)
• Romance manga: A Side Character’s Love Story, vol 11, by Akane Tamura (4/5 stars)

What I’m reading

With my assignments finally done, I’ve been finding a bit more time for reading… though partly that means I’ve got stuck into some longer/heavier reads, so I don’t have many new reviews added to the upcoming pile. But here’s what I have read!

As for this weekend, I’ll be reading Liz Pelly’s Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Price of the Perfect Playlist, and… not sure what else. We’ll see!

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

Posting much later in the day than usual because I was working on the submissions of my final(!!) assignments for this degree. Exams still to go, but my assignments are in and I am free for a while. Wooo!

So let’s quickly get to talking about books…

Acquired this week

This week was a quiet week until today, where I both got a package of new books (having spent the last of my store credit at Bookshop.org) and went to Waterstones to take advantage of their double Plus stamps offer for this weekend. I haven’t catalogued the Waterstones haul yet, so let’s just stick with my new light novels from Bookshop.org for now!

 

I’ve been having fun with the manga (even if I have some reservations that I’ll discuss when I review them), so I’m looking forward to these!

Posts from this week

Mostly just reviews! So here’s the roundup…

• Non-fiction: Endangered Languages, by Evangelia Adamou (3/5 stars)
• Romance manga: A Side Character’s Love Story, vol 10, by Akane Tamura (4/5 stars)
• Fantasy: The Rainfall Market, by You Yeong-Gwang (3/5 stars)
• Classic mystery: Villainy at Vespers, by Joan Cockin (3/5 stars)
• Non-fiction: Unlikeable Female Characters: The Women Pop Culture Wants You To Hate, by Anna Bogutskaya (1/5 stars)
• Non-fiction: A History of Britain in Ten Enemies, by Terry Deary (2/5 stars)

What I’m reading

Sadly not a lot, this week, though I have been getting through some manga! Here’s my usual peek at the covers of books I’ve finished this week and plan to review…

Which isn’t too bad considering how busy I’ve been!

As for what I’m going to read over the weekend… now I’m free, who knows? Probably my new light novels, but I’m not ruling anything out.

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

Good evening, folks! I’m a little behind today due to shaken-up routines. Looking on the bright side, the nice thing is that currently me and my wife are preparing to move, hopefully to a bigger flat, where I am promised at least two new bookcases. Excitement!

Books acquired this week

Just one — the new British Library Crime Classic, with an author who is new to me!

So I’m looking forward to giving that a shot.

Posts from this week

Let’s do a quick review roundup!

• Non-fiction: Conspiracy Theory: The Story of an Idea, by Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey (3/5 stars)
• Fantasy manga: A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation, vol 5, by Misaki, Momochi & Sando (4/5 stars)
• Fantasy romance: A Pirate’s Life for Tea, by Rebecca Thorne (2/5 stars)
• Mystery: The Sirens Sang of Murder, by Sarah Caudwell (4/5 stars)
• Non-fiction: Now Go: On Grief and Studio Ghibli, by Karl Thomas Smith (2/5 stars)

What I’m reading

Given everything going on, such as my grandmother’s funeral, it’s not too surprising that I haven’t finished a lot this week. Here are the two books I did finish and plan to review, though!

As for this weekend, I’m not quite sure. I finally started reading Necrobane by Daniel M. Ford, which I’ve been meaning to get round to a while, so I might just focus on that.

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

Good morning folks! I’m writing this somewhat in haste as I’m also getting ready for a trip (for my grandmother’s funeral). Luckily (though sadly), there’s not a lot to say reading-wise, but let’s dig in all the same…

Books acquired this week

None! Technically I have a little allowance from my wife to get a couple of new books as a reward for hard work on my assignments, but I keep procrastinating on actually choosing any. And I didn’t have time for a library trip this week.

Posts from this week

As usual, here’s a bit of a roundup of the reviews:

• Historical mystery with some fantasy elements: Seams Like Murder, by Tilly Wallace (2/5 stars)
• Non-fiction: Soda and Fizzy Drinks: A Global History, by Judith Levin (4/5 stars)
• Non-fiction: Black Ops & Beaver Bombing: Adventures with Britain’s Wild Mammals, by Fiona Mathews and Tim Kendall (3/5 stars)
• Fantasy manga: A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation, vol 4, by Misaki, Momochi & Sando (4/5 stars)
• Historical/mystery light novel: The Apothecary Diaries, vol 2, by Natsu Hyuuga (4/5 stars)*
• Classic mystery: The Ten Teacups, by Carter Dickson aka John Dickson Carr (2/5 stars)

* Note: the light novel is completely separate to the manga. It’s the same story/characters, but two totally different formats. Light novels are often illustrated, but are prose fiction, while manga are, well, more like comics. In the case of The Apothecary Diaries, vol 1 of the light novel covers the same events as vols 1-4 of the manga, as I understand it. I am reviewing the light novel here.

I did also post a couple of other features this week!

• Top Ten Tuesday: You’d Be A Fool To Skip…
• What Are You Reading Wednesday

What I’m reading

Well, “not very much” is the summary, but let’s see — maybe I’ve read more than I thought. Here’s the sneak peek at books I’ve read this week which I plan to review on the blog (eventually):

A quiet week, as I thought. Not sure what I’ll be reading this weekend, if anything, given the travel and the circumstances.

Extra feature

To leave you with a more fun note, a friend set up a list of books that “made” them, and that led me to think about my own… I ended up picking a list of 100 books which have influenced me, and live and breathe with me. A lot of them are a bit arbitrary (and I imposed some arbitrary rules, like mostly not duplicating except for four very important authors), and they’re not all books I’d recommend or endorse, but for better or worse, they tell you a lot about me.

Curious? Here’s the list — you can check off the ones you’ve read, if you like! I’d be curious if anyone can beat my mum and wife’s scores.

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

Greetings! It’s been a quiet-ish week for me in most respects, though the new raid tier has been released in FFXIV, and the Savage version releases on Tuesday, so getting ready for that is keeping me busy.

But we’re here to talk about books, so let’s get to that.

Books acquired this week

I didn’t get chance to go to the library this week, and though I technically have some money to buy a couple of books, I haven’t 100% decided which to get, so this week there’s just one book, the latest British Library Crime Classic via my subscription. It’s a bit late this month because of printing issues, and it doesn’t seem to have a matching bookmark, which makes me very sad.

I have mixed feelings; I like reading the novels from this series as an academic interest, but sometimes misogyny etc bleed through, and that’s the case with several of Anthony Berkeley’s books, if not all. Still, I’ll give it a shot.

Posts from this week

Time for a roundup!

• Mystery: The Leavenworth Case, by Anna K. Green (2/5 stars)
• Non-fiction: Book Curses, by Eleanor Baker (4/5 stars)
• Non-fiction: Close Encounters of the Fungal Kind, by Richard Fortey (3/5 stars)
• Graphic novel romance: If You’ll Have Me, by Eunnie (4/5 stars)
• Fantasy novella: The Bloodless Princes, by Charlotte Bond (3/5 stars)

What I’m reading

I’ve fit in quite a bit of reading considering how much I’ve been playing FFXIV, so let’s start with the usual peek at the books I’ve finished this week which I plan to review on the blog:

Not sure what’s next, actually, but I’ll be following my whim as always.

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

Good afternoon, folks! It’s still a weird and busy time around here, but that’s almost the “new normal” for me. It isn’t going to get less busy anytime soon, so I’m just trying my best to do stuff that I enjoy whenever I can.

So, let’s talk about books!

Books acquired this week

First, I got a couple of gifts from my wife, just ’cause:

I’m not a mega-fan of Jane Austen (though I have enjoyed some of her books, sorry Mum), but I’m a sucker for “x in y objects” type books. As for Strange Pictures, I read about it and I’m kinda mesmerised by the idea — and Mood Machine sounds like the perfect way to really understand some of the issues around Spotify. (I’ve been aware of general problems forever, and I always buy the music I like… but it’s hard to resist the convenience of Spotify, so one likes to be at least open-eyed about it.)

And I got a pre-order of a much-awaited book (see below for my review):

Other than that, I also had a quick library trip, partly to pick up my hold of Greenteeth, and partly for a quick browse, in which I picked up a mystery novel I’ve seen around quite a bit, and a non-fiction book that hadn’t been checked out of the library for a few years, on impulse. Here they are:

A random mix, as usual, which is always nice for me.

Posts from this week

First up, a round-up of the reviews I posted:

• Non-fiction: The Other Olympians: A True Story of Gender, Fascism, and the Making of Modern Sport, by Michael Waters (5/5 stars)
• Fantasy manga: A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation, vol 3, by Misaki, Momochi & Sando (4/5 stars)
• Non-fiction: Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection, by John Green (5/5 stars)
• SF novella: Volatile Memory, by Seth Haddon (4/5 stars)

And other posts:

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

What I’m reading

As ever, first let’s have a peek at the books I’ve finished this week that I plan to review!

As for this weekend, I’m not sure yet what I’ll be reading. Maybe The Apothecary Diaries (light novel), vol 3. We’ll see!

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

Hi all! Continues to be a bit of a tough time for me (re: my grandmother’s death as discussed last week), but I do have an extension on my assignments now, which helps a bit. And I got out to the library this week, which is always nice.

Acquired this week

As I said, I got down to the library, so I got a bunch of books out as usual (including my hold).

 

A bit of a weird mix perhaps, but you’re used to that from me.

I did also pop into my local indie bookshop, because indies need our love. I found a couple of options, but picked the first volume of the Solo Levelling manhwa in the end, as someone I know is a big fan.

Posts from this week

Let’s have a bit of a roundup, as usual!

• Fantasy manga: A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation, vol 2, by Misaki, Momochi & Sando (4/5 stars)
• Fantasy novella: Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame, by Neon Yang (4/5 stars)
• Mystery: The Shortest Way to Hades, by Sarah Caudwell (4/5 stars)
• Non-fiction: The End: Surviving the World through Imagined Disasters, by Katie Goh (3/5 stars)
• Classic romance: Wired Love, by Ella Cheever Thayer (3/5 stars)

What I’m reading

I did quite a bit of reading earlier this week, and then stalled out again. Ah well; that’s what my brain does when stressed. Let’s have a look at what I finished:

As for this weekend, I’m trying to settle down with Carter Dickson’s The Ten Teacups, and other than that I’m not sure. Might be some time for some manga/manhwa, if my attention span’s that bad.

As with last week, I might be a little slow to reply/visit back, but I’ll do my best!

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

Well, it’s been a pretty awful week: I went down to Wales in a hurry on Monday to see my grandmother before she died, and stayed at her side until she passed on Tuesday morning. I haven’t been in the mood for reading, really, though I know it does me good so I’ve found time for a chapter or two here and there.

Books acquired this week

None, except that I acquired my own copies of beloved manga I previously borrowed.

Posts from this week

I did manage to get some posts out, in a bid for a bit of normality, so here’s a roundup of the reviews!

• Romance manga: A Side Character’s Love Story, vol 9, by Akane Tamura (4/5 stars)
• Cosy fantasy: The Spellshop, by Sarah Beth Durst (3/5 stars)
• Mystery: Thus Was Adonis Murdered, by Sarah Caudwell (4/5 stars)
• Non-fiction: The New University, by James Coe (2/5 stars)
• Non-fiction: The Light-Eaters: The New Science of Plant Intelligence, by Zoë Schlanger (2/5 stars)

What I’m reading

I’ve only finished one book this week that I plan to review, so here it is:

This weekend, I’m reading a variety of things to try and spark something, so I’m nibbling away at bits of The Rainfall Market, Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales, A Brief History of the Countryside in 100 Objects, and The Virtues of Underwear. (Perhaps an odd mix… but that’s how I am.)

My apologies in advance if I’m slow to respond — I will try to reply and return visits.

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

It’s continued to be a busy week, but my wife’s in an orthopaedic boot now, which helps a lot — now we can share some household tasks again!

I got a couple of new books this week, though my reading has still been disrupted by an abundance of personal stuff going on. But let’s talk books while we can…

Books acquired this week

I got a gift book and spent a voucher this week, which is nice. Here they are!

A quiet week, but I’ve had plenty of books to go on with in the last months!

Posts from this week:

It’s been a quiet week for reviews too, but nonetheless, here are the handful I posted:

• Fantasy: The City in Glass, by Nghi Vo (4/5 stars)
• Classic crime: Murder as a Fine Art, by Carol Carnac (4/5 stars)
• Non-fiction: Around the World in 80 Birds, by Mike Unwin, illustrated by Ryuto Miyake (3/5 stars)

And I did post for What Are You Reading Wednesday, too.

What I’m reading:

This weekend I’m trying to finish off February’s bingo card for BookSpinBingo on Litsy, meaning I’m reading Mortal Follies (Alexis Hall), Villainy at Vespers (Joan Cockin) and Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales (Heather Fawcett). That’s keeping me plenty busy!

And here are the books I’ve finished this week that I plan to review:

And now it’s time to finish reading Villainy at Vespers! Hope everyone’s having 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!