Hey folks! Regulars around here might have noticed a small change over the last few days: I’ve changed the spelling of my name from “Nikki” to “Nicky”. WordPress won’t allow me to change it for my past comments, so you’ll still see it around in some places. “Nikki” just wasn’t quite me anymore. It’d be great if everyone can try to use the new spelling, but I know it’s not always easy to remember, so I won’t yell at you if you forget!

Also, I’m really sorry, but I’m still behind on comments. I’m still going to post my link to this week’s linkups and keep right on top of replying to comments here, while going back through my backlog to reply and visit folks in return. Thanks for understanding! Weird times we live in, huh?

Aaand yep, my site had some downtime again today. Not sure what happened there, so fingers crossed it’s over.

All that said, here’s some books I got this week!

Linking up with The Sunday Post @ The Caffeinated Reviewer and Stacking the Shelves @ Reading Reality & Tynga’s Reviews.

Books acquired:

Few more than I should have been buying, hahaha. Partly that’s due to gifts and preorders, though! As usual, it’s a biiiit of a mixture.

Books read this week:

Reviews posted this week:

–The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, by Zen Cho. A Wuxia story that just didn’t quite work for me… partly because, though the idea appeals, I don’t actually know that much about the genre. It’s hard to appreciate the cleverness and context that way! 3/5 stars
–Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken, by The Secret Barrister. Rather enlightening (and also frightening) look at how Britain’s legal system is completely fucked up and failing. 4/5 stars
–The Science of Monsters, by Matt Kaplan. Ugh, this was promising but… the author continually pushed his ideas too far and made them ridiculous. 2/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Books from the Backlog. A little collection of books that, for one reason or another, have slipped to the bottom of my TBR.
–WWW Wednesday. Including my thoughts on How to be an Antiracist and Burning Roses.
–Ereader Review: the Onyx Boox Poke2. I thought I’d write up my experiences with my latest gadget — the bottom line being that it’s a really great ereader if you’re prepared to put in the time to get things set up for yourself.

How’s everyone else doing? Get anything good this week? Reading something stunning? Personally I’ve been enjoying the cool rainy days, but I know they can’t last…

Hey folks! I don’t know if anyone noticed my site going down for a day, but that was a whole mess. It’s been a fairly quiet week here: not much reading, at least, though there’s been plenty of other stuff to do. I have spent around three hours today reading, which is nice!

Linking up with The Sunday Post @ The Caffeinated Reviewer and Stacking the Shelves @ Reading Reality & Tynga’s Reviews.

Received to review:

Purchased:

Books finished this week:

Reviews posted this week:

–How to Invent Everything, by Ryan North. Fun gimmick, didn’t always work for me as a reading experience. Think I might know a bit too much to get the best out of it. 3/5 stars
–The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I tore through this… and also thought it could have been a more profound story with less about Evelyn’s love affair, and more about one of her relationships with one of her husbands. 3/5 stars
–Language Myths, ed. Laurie Bauer and Peter Trudgill. Fairly slight but a decent primer. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Books by Black Authors. Some of my four- and five-star reads from Black authors, for no reason and apropos of nothing…
–WWW Wednesday. This week’s update, discussing Evelyn Hugo and Language Myths.

How are you all doing? Times are rough for many people for many reasons, so if chatting about books is the distraction you’re seeking, drop me a comment! <3

Greetings, everybody. It’s been a heck of a week out there, so I hope you’re all okay.

Here in self-imposed self-isolation (for the foreseeable future, though my dad may come over and converse with me from two metres away while pulling up weeds) it’s been quiet, including on the reading front…

Linking up with The Sunday Post @ The Caffeinated Reviewer and Stacking the Shelves @ Reading Reality & Tynga’s Reviews.

Acquired this week:

Books read this week:

Reviews posted this week:

–The Ghosts of Sherwood, by Carrie Vaughn. This review’s been waiting for a while to go up because of Tor’s restrictions on when you can publish — which means the book is due out soon! It’s an enjoyable aftermath of the Robin Hood myth, with some nice characterisation when it comes to Marian and Robin. Not wholly sold, but I do have the sequel to review! 3/5 stars
–Around the World in 80 Words, by Paul Anthony Jones. Not bad, but a bit random at times and more for dipping into than reading in a couple of sittings. 3/5 stars
–The Colour of Murder, by Julian Symons. An interesting psychological take on a potential murderer, with questions left trailing at the end. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite Opening Lines. A real mix here, with mystery, fantasy, SF and historical fiction.
–WWW Wednesday. Discussing… lots of books at once, as usual!

How’re you all doing?

Squeaking in at the end of the weekend, here’s my usual weekly roundup!

Linking up with The Sunday Post @ The Caffeinated Reviewer and Stacking the Shelves @ Reading Reality & Tynga’s Reviews.

Books bought:

A weird mix, as ever! 😀 And this really truly is my last spree for a while; I’m now on a steady diet of one book per week.

Received to review:

I… I still need to read The Fated Sky, I’ll be honest. It’s just that my brain is stupid sometimes.

Books read this week:

Reviews posted this week:

–The Replacement Husband, by Eliot Grayson. This is okay but not stellar; enjoyable in the moment but not something that will linger with me, and with which I had a couple of bones to pick. 3/5 stars
–Finna, by Nino Cipri. This has some fun stuff in the background and mostly was just too slight for me in the end to bear the weight of the complaints about capitalism, which sort of overshadow everything else now I’m thinking about it over a week later. 3/5 stars
–84 Charing Cross Road, by Helene Hanff. This is really sweet and often funny, though there is a rather sad surprise waiting toward the end of the first section for those who didn’t immediately look up Helene Hanff… 4/5 stars
–Princess Princess Ever After, by Kate O’Neill. Really short, but cute. 4/5 stars
–Unfit to Print, by K.J. Charles. As fun as you’d expect from K.J. Charles, and I rather like the two main characters. It all works out a bit quickly, though… 4/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Reasons Why I Love Romance. So many reasons! #10 will surprise you. (Or not, actually, if you know me at all.)
–WWW Wednesday. Featuring me rambling around reading too much at once, as ever.

How’s everyone doing? Been buying anything shiny?

Greetings, folks! How have you been? I’ve had an up-and-down-y week, but next week will be better (because I say so). And I have a lot of books to show off this week!

Linking up with The Sunday Post @ The Caffeinated Reviewer and Stacking the Shelves @ Reading Reality & Tynga’s Reviews.

Bought:

And that’s alllmost the last spree for a while, though I have a pending order with Portal Bookshop to come through still…

Received to review:

Though it seems to be a PDF format, so I’m not positive I’ll read it… maybe if my new ereader is as amazing with PDFs as they claim, whenever it arrives!

Books read this week:

Reviews posted this week:

–The Atlas of Disease, by Sandra Hempel. I just wish I had this in a physical format instead of in PDF via the library. It’d be great to study some of the figures more. 4/5 stars
–Infernal Affairs, by Jordan L. Hawk. Not my thing, alas, though the non-binary protagonist and love interest is cool. 2/5 stars
–The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow. I did not love this one the way I expected, but it was fun. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: The Last 10 Books I Abandoned. I chose to go with books that I’ll probably come back to, rather than list books I didn’t finish and don’t intend to ever finish.
–WWW Wednesday. Featuring quite the array of books I’m currently reading!

Out and about:

–NEAT science: ‘The awesome thing about dinosaurs.‘ I mean, there’s a lot of awesome things about dinosaurs, but I’ve picked out one…

So that’s my week! Have you all been stacking your shelves high?

It’s been a quiet reading week, but the acquisitions have been rolling in. It’s not as bad as it looks, though; some of these were bought a week or two ago and only just arrived. There’ll be another box of books soon, too…

Linking up with The Sunday Post @ The Caffeinated Reviewer and Stacking the Shelves @ Reading Reality & Tynga’s Reviews.

New books acquired:

With special thanks to the friend who got me The Brilliant Death! 😀

Received to review:

Thank you, Tor!

Read this week:

Reviews posted this week:

–Widdershins, by Jordan L. Hawk. A fun mystery/romance, very much in K.J. Charles’ line. 4/5 stars
–Exploring English Castles, by Edd Morris. Neither fish nor fowl, really; not that great despite some pretty photos. 2/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: A Bookish Party. Arranging a party isn’t really my sort of thing, but this one could be fun if I ever did it…
–WWW Wednesday. Mostly Nine Coaches Waiting and a last look back at Grave Importance.

Out and about:

–NEAT science: ‘An internal alarm clock.‘ A bit about hibernation.
–NEAT science: ‘An unexpected bonus.‘ How the BCG vaccination might be repurposed…

How’re you guys doing? Anything new and exciting?

Good afternoon, folks! I hoped to do this yesterday, but I had work and other stuff that needed to be done, boo. So it’s been a quiet week around here, with a lot less reading.

Linking up with The Sunday Post @ The Caffeinated Reviewer and Stacking the Shelves @ Reading Reality & Tynga’s Reviews.

New books:

Thank you to my wife for two of these, and to Moon Dreams for Empire of Sand in her cool giveaway on Twitter! <3

I’m looking forward to a few different book orders (two indie bookshops, one second-hand bookshop) to come in, with great impatience. Feeling the need for some bookish comforts, at the moment!

Read this week:

Reviews posted this week:

–The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis. Still pretty wonderful, to my mind! 4/5 stars
–A Treacherous Curse, by Deanna Raybourn. Bags of fun, as expected; the mystery’s kind of background to the will-they-won’t-they, for me. 4/5 stars
–The Silver Chair, by C.S. Lewis. Never my favourite, so not surprisingly, I still didn’t really jive with it. 2/5 stars
–The Steerswoman, by Rosemary Kirstein. Aarrgghhh so much I still want to know! 4/5 stars
–Grave Importance, by Vivian Shaw. Lovely lovely lovely. Excellent ending to the series, though I didn’t love one specific aspect of it. 4/5 stars

Other posts:

–WWW Wednesday. This week it was mostly about Grave Importance!
–Wyrd and Wonder: A TBR. Ready for May’s fantasy reading event!

Out and about:

–NEAT science: ‘Soap versus virus.‘ Been wondering why soap is the #1 recommendation to avoid catching SARS-CoV-2? A quick explanation of why soap is ideal.

There we go; that’s it for this week! How’s everyone doing?

Good evening, folks! It’s been a busy reading week around here, with the readathon today boosting my read count a little (okay, and short books helped there too). And I haven’t bought any books this week, though I’ve been putting together a preorder or so!

Linking up with The Sunday Post @ The Caffeinated Reviewer and Stacking the Shelves @ Reading Reality & Tynga’s Reviews.

Books read this week:

Almost done with my Narnia reread, as you can see!

Reviews posted this week: 

–The Magician’s Nephew, by C.S. Lewis. I always read them in chronological order, so this is where I always start. Some great bits here, despite it never being a favourite. 4/5 stars
–Love Around the Corner, by Sally Malcolm. Silly stupid boys and silly stupid miscommunication, but it’s cute. 3/5 stars
–The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis. Not as beloved as it was once, perhaps, but I think it is still very moving and worth thinking about. 4/5 stars
–The Horse and His Boy, by C.S. Lewis. I used to love this adventure so much, but I have cooled on it as an adult. 3/5 stars
–Hither, Page, by Cat Sebastian. Both a romance and a mystery, I really enjoyed this one. There are some great moments of non-sexual intimacy that really made me feel for the characters. 4/5 stars
–Prince Caspian, by C.S. Lewis. I always loved Caspian the best of all the main characters… 4/5 stars

Other posts:

–WWW Wednesday. Chatting about Digging Up Armageddon and my Narnia reread!
–24-Hour Readathon. I decided to take part again on a whim. I’ve read 3.3 books so far and there’s a bunny pic at that post… *tempts*

So that’s my week! How’re you doing, folks?

Well, it’s been another whole week. Time is flying! I’m reading a little more, though I’m tending towards short books I can read in one sitting!

Linked up with The Sunday Post @ The Caffeinated Reviewer and Stacking the Shelves @ Reading Reality & Tynga’s Reviews.

Received to review:

Yaaay a new book by Katherine Addison!

Bought:

I had a lot of fun with the Reckoners series by Skrutskie, so looking forward to this one!

Books read this week:

Reviews posted this week:

–Knit One, Girl Two, by Shira Glassman. Sweet and low-stakes romance. 3/5 stars
–The Rules of Contagion, by Adam Kucharski. Not as much about disease as you’d think: it actually applies an understanding of infectious disease to other situations, with some interesting results. 3/5 stars
–Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You, by Scotto Moore. Not quite my thing, despite a fascinating start. 2/5 stars
–Cinnamon Blade, by Shira Glassman. Rather too much sex for my tastes, light on plot or development. 2/5 stars
–Miranda in Milan, by Katharine Duckett. I liked this quite a lot; it’s not a hugely complex sequel to The Tempest, but it worked for me. 4/5 stars

Other posts:

–WWW Wednesday. Talking about The Steerswoman, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, and Digging Up Armageddon. 

How are you guys doing?

Well folks, it’s the weekend again! How’s everyone doing? I’ve had a few more review copies (are publicists going mad with power, just giving everyone books to make them stay home?!) and I’ve done a bit of reading, but not much. Still, feels like I’m getting back to normal a bit.

Linked up with The Sunday Post @ The Caffeinated Reviewer & Stacking the Shelves @ Reading Reality and Tynga’s Reviews.

Books received to review:

Like I said, publicists going mad with power…

Books acquired:

I got some book vouchers to help cheer me up, which both did the trick and flooded my shelves! This is just a selection — I might share the others next week!

Books finished this week:

Reviews posted this week:

–Provenance, by Ann Leckie. Review from my reread last year. Unsurprisingly, I still loved it. 5/5 stars
–The Masked City, by Genevieve Cogman. Another reread review from last year. Probably my favourite of the series so far. 4/5 stars
–Walking to Aldebaran, by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Sort of not my thing, but very satisfying in other ways all the same. 4/5 stars
–Castle Skull, by John Dickson Carr. I… should stop trying to read John Dickson Carr. 1/5 stars
–The Nine Lands, by Marie Brennan. Belated review. It’s a group of well-structured short stories that really work for me, but I maybe had some qualms about some of the borrowings from real history. 4/5 stars

Other posts: 

–WWW Wednesday. In which I circled back to reading The Rules of Contagion, which was a bit too on the nose for me a couple weeks ago.

So that’s it. How’re you guys doing?