Good morning! I haven’t been doing much reading this week, but I totally blame the new addition to my family for that — welcome Breakfast!

You might remember that we already have one bunny, Hulk, and have been trying to find her a companion for a while now. So far, things are going well with Breakfast, so fingers crossed!

But, right, this is about books…

Books to review:

The Pinks looks fascinating — I didn’t even know Pinkertons had female detectives. And Waking Gods is a sequel to a book I bought a couple of weeks ago, and continually hear good things about. I really should’ve read the first book first, but the sequel was on ‘read now’…

Books bought:

Another batch of non-fiction — I’m getting predictable…

Books finished this week:

I know, it’s pathetic by my usual standards!

Reviews posted: 

–This Rough Magic, by Mary Stewart. A comfort reread, with a delightful heroine who doesn’t go on mere appearances but actually weighs up the characters of her putative lovers, and figures out much of the mystery to boot. 3/5 stars
–Reading Like A Writer, by Francine Prose. I love the idea of close-reading, and advocate it, but this book is much more about reading like Francine Prose, and appreciating the same things she does. 2/5 stars
–Late Eclipses, by Seanan McGuire. In this installment, we get more of a peek into Toby’s parents and her true heritage, as well as a story in which all does not turn out okay at the end. 4/5 stars
–Maisie Dobbs, by Jacqueline Winspear. I was hoping for my new Phryne Fisher, but Daisy feels a lot colder, and the writing is not all that. The structure takes away from any mystery and suspense. 2/5 stars
–Gaia, by James Lovelock. A now-classic theory of the world’s interlocking systems of biological and non-biological cycles, which I really don’t find myself disagreeing with much. 4/5 stars
–The Death of Caesar, by Barry Strauss. Interesting, and went into aspects of Caesar’s assassination I knew nothing about, but not the most riveting of Strauss’ books. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Should Get Round To Soon. You guessed it. It’s a list of books I want to get round to sometime soon.
–What are you reading Wednesday. What was I reading on Wednesday…?

Yep, it’s happened! That rare, rare week where I actually don’t have any new books to show off, and instead show off the books I’ve read this week in pride of place.

Books finished this week:

Not a bad week, though the last day or two have been completely taken up by starting to play the new Mass Effect game! A sneak peek at ratings…

-Four stars to… Medical Frontiers and Urn Burial.
-Three stars to… What is Life?, Relativity: Einstein’s Mind-bending Universe, and Virolution.

Reviews posted this week:

–Mesopotamia, by Gwendolyn Leick. Aspects of this gave me the feeling the author was speculating wildly without really having any proof, so I actually bailed and never finished it. 1/5 stars
–Temeraire, by Naomi Novik. A reread, but I’d forgotten how fun it is! Dragons! Adventure! War! Alternate history! The rest of the series gets less awesome, I hear, but this installment is great. 4/5 stars
–On Basilisk Station, by David Weber. I found myself noticing the flaws more this time, but I still really enjoyed the reread. 4/5 stars
–Rolling in the Deep, by Mira Grant. Fun, but I feel like it was a little underdeveloped and thus predictable. Nice format, though. 3/5 stars
–Natural Histories, by Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss. A little unstructured for my tastes, but some interesting stuff. 3/5 stars
–Final Girls, by Mira Grant. This one got under my skin; interesting concept, and the emotional side worked for me. 4/5 stars
–p53: The Gene that Cracked the Cancer Code, by Sue Armstrong. Fascinating topic, and really readable. If you’re scared of cancer, but curiosity is your antidote, this definitely satisfied mine. 4/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Read In One Sitting. Some of these are pretty long, but they had me hooked.

Remember… no new books were obtained. I resisted! Instead, we’re celebrating what I managed to read. <3

How’s everyone been doing?

Happy Saturday!

The, ah, acquisitive mood of last week prevailed this week too — though I promise, some of these were ordered a while ago and were just waiting for me at my parents’ house. It’s quite the haul though!

New fiction:

Red Sister and The Vorrh are both review copies. I’m thinking Wintersong might be next up on the list to read…

New non-fiction:

Plus a whole bunch of New Scientist collections, which I won’t feature here right now. But there’s eight of them and I counted them all as books on my acquired list, so I’d better get reading!

Books read this week: 

I fit in some good reading time this week, but it’s all non-fiction! Apparently I’m in an odd mood…

Sneak peek at ratings:
Four stars to… Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, The Human Brain, Gaia and Fairweather Eden.
Three stars to… How Long is Now and Mind-Expanding Ideas.

Reviews posted this week:

–Binti: Home, by Nnedi Okorafor. These novellas are mostly proving not to be my thing, and it didn’t help that I felt like I needed to reread the first one. 2/5 stars
–Hidden Figures, by Margot Lee Shetterly. Some really amazing women and a well-told story of where they came from and how they got where they wanted to go. 4/5 stars
–The Burning Page, by Genevieve Cogman. Lots of fun, as with the whole series, but I’m glad there’s going to be more. This didn’t feel like an ending. 4/5 stars
–Blood and Circuses, by Kerry Greenwood. Lively and entertaining, as you’d expect with Phryne, though with a surprisingly dark patch near the end. 4/5 stars
–Martians Abroad, by Carrie Vaughn. This fell somewhat flat for me — I didn’t really believe in the conflict. 2/5 stars
–I Contain Multitudes, by Ed Yong. Entertaining and informative, and perhaps a bit lighter and with more sense-of-wonder than some of the other books on microbes I’ve read. 4/5 stars
–Chalk, by Paul Cornell. Well-written, but not my thing at all. 2/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: TBR. A selection of books that I’ll maybe, possibly, hopefully be reading soon.
–What are you reading Wednesday. An update on what I’ve been reading, and what I might read next. Or soon. Maybe.

How’s your week been?

I might not be commenting much this weekend, as I’m in London attending a genetics event and hopefully learning a ton. But! I do have some new books to show off, and you can bet I’ll comment back after the weekend.

Received to review:

After last week, I’ve been pretty restrained in my requesting…

Bought:

But there were a couple of books on sale I didn’t want to miss, and also I hit the bookshops in London while I could. Grabbed The Poison Eater because I’ve been playing Torment: Tides of Numenera and I wanted more background to the world. And a lot of non-fic from my wishlist, because my non-fic shelf at my wife’s place is looking a bit thin and sad.

Books read this week:

Sneak peek at ratings:
Five stars to… Every Heart a Doorway.
Four stars to… In Calabria, Brisk Money, Standard Hollywood Depravity and Down Among the Sticks and Bones.
Three stars to… Vikings and Touch.

Reviews posted this week:

–Foxglove Summer, by Ben Aaronovitch. A step back from the main action of the series, this takes Peter (gasp) outside of London! It’s lacking in some of the support characters we all love, but there’s a fascinating extra bit of lore, and Peter’s still pretty badass. 4/5 stars
–Birthright, by Missouri Vaun. A fun fantasy with lesbian main characters and a happy end. 3/5 stars
–Agents of Dreamland, by Caitlin R. Kiernan. Another riff on Lovecraft, though a less well-known idea. Creepy and bleak, but very effective. 4/5 stars
–The Green Mill Murder, by Kerry Greenwood. Three words: wombat ex machina. 3/5 stars
–The Tyrannosaur Chronicles, by David Hone. Want to know everything currently known about tyrannosaurs? This has got you covered. 5/5 stars
–Brother’s Ruin, by Emma Newman. Intriguing start, but I’m not quite sold yet. 3/5 stars
–Standard Hollywood Depravity, by Adam Christopher. Like the other related works, this is a fun, Chandler-esque romp… with robot. 4/5 stars
–The Buried Book, by David Damrosch. An excellent accompaniment to reading one of the world’s earliest surviving stories, The Epic of Gilgamesh. Lots of context both for the poem and how it was found again after being lost for so long. 4/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Series I Want to Finish. About what it says on the tin!
–What are you reading Wednesday. My usual update on what I’m reading, what I’ve just read, and what I’m planning to read.

Happy Saturday! Phew. Busy week, as ever, but I have fit in more time to read than I have been doing lately, so that’s something!

Also, I keep meaning to post this! You may not know this, but I’m a moderator over on Habitica, a site that’s all about gamifying good habits. A few weeks ago they did a contributor spotlight about me, and this piece of art happened. <3

That’s me on the left as you look at it — it’s my mod avatar, which is really awesome and done by Leslie from Habitica. The rest of the graphic is by beffymaroo, another staff member.

And hey, if you’re on Habitica, the Legendary Book Club are reading After Atlas by Emma Newman this month.

Received to review:

I’m especially excited about Down Among the Sticks and Bones, but it’s a pretty awesome bunch overall!

Finished this week:

A better week for reading, too, as you can see! Hurrah. Sneak peak at ratings:

4 stars to… Summer in Orcus, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun and Agents of Dreamland.
3 stars to… The Planet in a Pebble, Ruddy Gore and Proof of Concept.
2 stars to… Chalk.

Reviews posted this week: 

–Diamond Dogs, by Alastair Reynolds. A really well put together novella that stuck with me a long time — and yet still had the delights of recognition and understanding the second time round. 4/5 stars
–An Artificial Night, by Seanan McGuire. Remains a super fun urban fantasy, with some clever stuff going on with references to Shakespeare and folklore. I do wish Toby would grow up and let people help her, though. 4/5 stars
–The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman. Not a comfortable read, but very informative about what we’ve done to the world. I do wish there’d been more looking forward, though. 3/5 stars
–What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, by Randall Munroe. I can’t speak for the accuracy of the science, but I do enjoy the humour — and wish I understood how Munroe can make stick figures cute.
–Death at Victoria Dock, by Kerry Greenwood. Very dramatic and full of all the usual elements of a Phryne mystery. 3/5 stars
–The Secret Library, by Oliver Tearle. Beautifully presented, and good to dip in and out of, but not something you’d sit down and just read through. Unless you’re me. 3/5 stars
–The Disappearing Spoon, by Sam Kean. Well explained science, though a bit grasshoppery in terms of the subject matter. If you like chemistry and some physics, this’d be up your street. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Characters I Have A Squish On. A bit like a crush, but not quite.
–What are you reading Wednesday. The Wednesday update about, well, what I’ve been reading.
–ShelfLove/Game of Books Update. How I’ve been doing in this year’s reading challenges!

So how’re you doing?

Hey everyone! It’s been a busy week for me again, and I haven’t done that much reading, but thankfully I should have a bit more time for myself now. Here’s hoping, right?

And oh, hey! Look what I just achieved on Netgalley…

Received to review

Looking forward to the sequel to The Girl from Everywhere, and Frogkisser should be fun. Behind the Mask was an impulsive pick, but hey, we all know I love superheroes.

Bought

I felt like I deserved a treat after the report I just had to turn in! As far as possible from protein assays and statistics, I hope.

Books finished this week:

Not much read, I know. Still, finishing On the Origin of Species was an achievement! Rating preview:

Five stars to… On the Origin of Species.
Three stars to… Brother’s Ruin. 

Reviews posted this week:

–The Family Plot, by Cherie Priest. Priest takes on a haunted house! Solidly entertaining and I enjoyed that those haunted were a salvage crew going over an old house. 3/5 stars
–Dreadnought, by April Daniels. Danny’s dreams come true when she receives superhero powers and the transformation she’s always wanted. Not all the existing superheroes are so great about it. Enjoyable stuff, though Danny does struggle in realistic but upsetting ways. 4/5 stars
–Passing Strange, by Ellen Klages. Wistful, hopeful story set in an incidentally magical sort of world, which is mostly 1940s San Fransisco. Really enjoyed this. 4/5 stars
–Adulthood is a Myth, by Sarah Andersen. It me! 4/5 stars
–Murder on the Ballarat Train, by Kerry Greenwood. Though I’m noticing some inconsistencies as I reread, this series is still so much fun, and this outing brings a few more people into Phryne’s found family. 4/5 stars
–Virus Hunt, by Dorothy H. Crawford. A pretty in-depth look at HIV and how it moved from animals to humans. I enjoyed it a lot, but it is definitely focused on the epidemiological side rather than the social. 4/5 stars
–Scarlet, by A.C. Gaughen. I really wanted to enjoy this take, but the love triangle was weird and the narration didn’t work for me. Alas. 2/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Five Books I Liked Less Than I Hoped & Five I Liked More Than I Expected. That title pretty much says it all.
–What are you reading Wednesday. The weekly update.

How’s everyone else been doing?

Happy Saturday! It’s been a busy week around here, and I should probably be in the digital lab right now, looking at sections of rat tissue. But hey, books!

How’ve you all been?

Received to review:

Yay, thank you, Tor!

Finished this week:

Sneak peek at ratings:

4 stars to… Britain BC and Wicked Wonders.
3 stars to… This Rough Magic.
2 stars to… Britain AD.

Reviews posted this week:

–Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates, by Kerry Greenwood. A reread, again already? Yep. And it remains a lot of fun — I don’t know why I didn’t enjoy it the first time. 4/5 stars
–The Prince of the Moon, by Megan Derr. A sweet queer fairytale, though a little rushed for my taste. 3/5 stars
–The Celtic Revolution, by Simon Young. Interesting history, but where it touched on Arthuriana it rather annoyed me, alas. 3/5 stars
–Monstress, by Marjorie M. Liu and Sana Takeda. Beautiful artwork, but I kept losing track of the story. 3/5 stars
–Flying Too High, by Kerry Greenwood. Gotta love all the references to other detectives which, for some reason, I’m only just picking up now. Hurrah Phryne! 4/5 stars
–Miranda and Caliban, by Jacqueline Carey. As beautiful as you would expect coming from Carey, and as heartbreaking. 4/5 stars

Other posts:

–Why haven’t you read ____ yet? The short answer is: I’m terrible. Sorry.
–Top Ten Tuesday: Couples That Weren’t. Literary couples I was really rooting for, or who I didn’t get enough of.
–What are you reading Wednesday. The usual status update.

Happy Saturday! It’s been a bit of a bad week for me, just cause I haven’t felt very well… but hey, there’s books!

Received to review:

Thank you to Netgalley and Tachyon for these! I read Passing Strange by Ellen Klages last week, and definitely want to read more of her work.

Bought:

My wife bought me Norse Mythology to cheer me up because I’m still not well, and Four Roads Cross was only a couple of quid on the Kindle store. I want the whole set of Gladstone’s books someday in paperback, for those beautiful covers. But for now, I have the ebooks!

Finished this week:

Not as much reading as I’d hoped, really. I’ve been so tired! A sneak peek at my ratings…

Four stars to… Late Eclipses.
Three stars to… Deadly Companions and The Death of Caesar.
Two stars to… Reading Like A Writer.

Reviews posted this week:

–A History of the World in 12 Maps, by Jerry Brotton. Unfortunately not for me; rather dry, and not quite the focus I’d been hoping for. Might be good for someone who is more interested in maps and cartography, though. 2/5 stars
–One Plus One Equals One, by John Archibald. No, he’s not bad at maths — he’s talking about the history of symbiosis which gave animal cells mitochondria (for one example). Not very revolutionary to me as I think my mother excitedly told me about this when I was a teen and it was a newish theory, but interesting stuff. 3/5 stars
–The Silver Chair, by C.S. Lewis. Not a fan of this one at all, sadly. The kids are quarrelsome and Rillian makes a bad first impression. Still, there’s Puddleglum. 2/5 stars
–Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day, by Seanan McGuire. Works very well as a novella — McGuire has the trick of it, I think. Just enough background and such to make the world interesting, while focusing on the plot. 4/5 stars
–Memory of Water, by Emmi Itäranta. Slow, lyrical, a personal and quiet post-apocalypse. I enjoyed it a lot. 4/5 stars
–The Masked City, by Genevieve Cogman. A reread, which of course I enjoyed a lot. 4/5 stars
–Hatchepsut, by Joyce Tyldesley. There isn’t enough information about this pharaoh, but what she has, Tyldesley presents and organises well. 4/5 stars
–The Last Battle, by C.S. Lewis. There are things about this that I like, but mostly… nope, nope, nope. 1/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Can See From My Chair. And my thoughts on them. I didn’t have enough brain cells free this week to do anything more complex!
–What are you reading Wednesday. What it says on the tin — a reading update per what I was reading and thinking about on Wednesday.

Happy Saturday! Not that it’s the end of the work week for me. Big project to be doing, which means a surprising amount of money and hopefully a correspondingly large number of books. Also, class.

But still, I managed quite a bit of reading this week!

Received to review

Hee! I need to reread The Dragonbone Chair, stat — I’ve been meaning to for a while anyway, but now this is extra motivation. I’m not sure if The Heart of What Was Lost stands alone, but it sounds like it comes after the series?

Bought

It’s fine, Mum, it cost £1.49, and besides, it’s always a good thing for me to read about things that scare me. Knowledge is power, etc.

Finished reading this week:

Not a bad week, as you see! And five of them were ARCs. Hurrah me. And the ratings sneak peek:

4 stars… p53: The Gene that Cracked the Cancer Code, Final Girls and Passing Strange.
3 stars… Proust and the Squid and Birthright.
2 stars… Martians Abroad, Binti: Home and Maisie Dobbs.

Reviews posted this week:

–Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas. A reread, which I once again found solidly enjoyable. I don’t expect great literary merit from Maas, just a fun time, which maybe helps. 3/5 stars
–The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers. A lovely space opera adventure, full of characters you get to know and love. Just one criticism: the vaguely episodic feel to each of the events. Everything feels like it gets wrapped up very quickly, with only the bare bones of a larger plot. 4/5 stars
–Weird Dinosaurs: The Strange New Fossils Challenging Everything We Thought We Knew, by John Pickrell. Very enjoyable, and not always just for the dinosaurs but also for the people — almost characters — caught up in their story. 4/5 stars
–The Return of the King, by J.R.R. Tolkien. I still love this, but my review this time poked at some of the flaws. 5/5 stars
–The Sense of Style, by Steven Pinker. If you’ve encountered academic technobabble, and particularly if you’re allergic to it, this makes a good antidote. 4/5 stars
–Gutenberg’s Fingerprint, by Merilyn Simonds. More of a memoir than I’d thought going in. Some interesting stuff, but… meh. 2/5 stars
–Strangers in Company, by Jane Aiken Hodge. Mystery, politics and romance, in the vein of a Mary Stewart novel. Fun, though not mindblowing. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Graphic Novels. A rundown of my favourites!
–What are you reading Wednesday. Another update from my neverending assault on Mount TBR.

Happy Saturday! I’d be glad it’s the weekend, but it doesn’t make too much difference to me. I still have work I should be doing, alas.

Books to review

I might not be a lit student anymore, but King Arthur is still a major interest of mine. Fascinated to see what this is like! And hurrah for all the others, too, though now I have to hurry up and read Luna: New Moon. Oops…

Books bought this week

I know, Mum, I know, but it was £2.39 on Kindle and I’m going to read it at some point anyway, it’s the latest in a series.

Books read this week

Not much reading, I know… I’ll get back to it. Preview of my ratings:

1 star – Mesopotamia.
4 stars – Temeraire (His Majesty’s Dragon) and The Burning Page.

Reviews posted this week:

–The Book, by Keith Houston. This is a beautiful physical object, just on its own, and the story it tells of how books came to be is also fascinating. It’d definitely make a good gift, and I’m keeping my copy for sure. 5/5 stars
–The Litany of Earth, by Ruthanna Emrys. This short story introduces the world of Winter Tide, and I actually preferred it — the shortness gave it something. 4/5 stars
–The Horse and His Boy, by C.S. Lewis. This one has not really aged well in terms of the stereotypes and such. But I still kind of enjoyed it, despite that. 3/5 stars
–Slade House, by David Mitchell. This was a little bit repetitive, but it mostly works. I just wish it wasn’t connected to his other books; I hate feeling like I don’t have the full story. 3/5 stars
–A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Ugh, so preachy. Nope. Without nostalgia or something, I don’t see why this appeals. 2/5 stars
–The Toll-Gate, by Georgette Heyer. A likeable hero and heroine, a fun mystery, and Heyer showing off her research and knowledge. Yes! 4/5 stars
–Armada, by Ernest Cline. Mmm. This didn’t really work for me, because it felt like the same formula as Ready Player One, without the warmth. 2/5 stars
–Prince Caspian, by C.S. Lewis. One of my favourites of the Narnia books — I’m not sure why, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Caspian. 4/5 stars

Other posts: 

–Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books to Nibble. A guest post by my bunny, complete with silly picture.
–What are you reading Wednesday. An update on what I’ve been reading.