This has been a less busy week, thankfully, and I’ve got some work done on tackling my backlog — including an epic sweep removing about 70 books from the backlog that I’m no longer interested in, or where I didn’t enjoy the first book of a series, etc. I really should get back to work again, though, because my next deadline is approaching fast…

Oh well, books first!

Received to review:

I’ve been interested in this for a while, particularly since my mother actually writes to Yoon Ha Lee regularly, and I’ve read The Fox’s Tower and enjoyed the stories in it.

Books bought this week:

I wasn’t 100% in love with The Sin-Eater’s Daughter, but I love the covers of these books and I’m curious enough… Kameron Hurley’s The Geek Feminist Revolution is obviously going to be awesome, though I don’t know how much new content it contains (since I’ve read We Have Always Fought). Aaaand the Max Gladstone means I have all the books so far, until the next one is out.

Reading wise, it’s been a relatively light week. The M.C. Beaton books aren’t even that great, but they were just the right brain candy for me at the time.

Books finished this week:

Reviews posted this week:
–Tam Lin, by Pamela Dean. It took me a long time to really get into this, and then suddenly at 85% it made things work. Also, love the setting. 4/5 stars
–Spider-Woman: Spider-Verse, by Dennis Hopeless and Greg Land. Fun enough, and if you didn’t bother with Spider-verse in general, this does give you some info. Involves a lot of the Spider-ladies! 3/5 stars
–The Sudden Appearance of Hope, by Claire North. A very interesting one-sentence idea (“what if nobody could ever remember you?”) combined with a technology thriller type plot. 4/5 stars
–The Queen of Attolia, by Megan Whalen Turner. More complex than the first book, The Thief, this pushes the characters we’ve already been introduced them and develops them beyond the thumbnail sketches we had before. It was a reread, so maybe no surprise I loved it. 5/5 stars
–Hawkeye: Rio Bravo, by Matt Fraction and David Aja. This run of Hawkeye has been fun, and I appreciate a lot about it, but I think the storytelling style wasn’t ideal for me. It relied a lot on the art, and I am not a visual person. 3/5 stars
–Tales from Earthsea, by Ursula Le Guin. My main comment on this one is that you really need to read ‘Dragonfly’ to understand The Other Wind. 4/5 stars
–Flashback Friday: Debatable Space, by Philip Palmer. Fun and compulsive read, even though it didn’t seem like it would be my thing at all. 4/5 stars

Other posts:
–Top Ten Beach Reads. Except I was difficult about the theme, because I don’t do “beach reads”.

How’s everyone been this week? The week has gone both really fast and really slow for me; it’s a little weird. I’m working on my next assignment already, but fortunately I’m not down to the wire on it, so there’s still plenty of time for reading as well as learning about microbes!

New books

After reading Dreamer’s Pool a week or two ago, I got the itch to read more of Marillier’s work again — and I found Raven Flight in the cheap-ish second hand shop in Leuven. Perfect! In Ashes Lie, I had to grab after loving Midnight Never Come (maybe not as much as the Lady Trent books, but a lot all the same). I haven’t got that pretty cover edition — yet — just an ebook, but I will be picking that up to join my paperbacks of the Lady Trent books and Midnight Never Come. The Orphan Queen, I’ve been curious about for a while, and I saw it was £1.99 on Kindle…

As for what I’ve been reading, it’s been a productive week! I still need to get my thoughts down about most of these, but there isn’t a dud among ’em.

Books finished this week:

Reviews posted this week:
–Grave Secrets of the Dinosaurs, by Philip Manning. Solid enough book on the soft-tissue finds from dinosaurs, past and present, featuring one particularly complete mummy. 3/5 stars
–The Movement: Fighting for the Future, by Gail Simone, Freddie Williams II. Love this team, wish we had more of them. Maybe they were a little ahead of their time, with comics-verse not yet ready for a team like this. 4/5 stars
–The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, by Sydney Padua. Cute art, exhaustively researched and sourced, and features Ada Lovelace being badass. What’s not to love? 4/5 stars
–Tehanu, by Ursula Le Guin. Thematically, this one is really important for Earthsea. I could do without it, though; I dislike seeing Ged so helpless. 3/5 stars
–Cruel Beauty, by Rosamund Hodges. Some interesting ideas, and definitely an interesting setting, but some insta-love and asshole alpha male stuff. 2/5 stars
–Silk: The Life and Times of Cindy Moon, by Robbie Thompson, Stacey Lee. Lovely art and a fun enough story, though Silk facing up to the real world and her responsibilities as a hero aren’t really new, especially in the context of the other Spider-characters. 3/5 stars
–Flashback Friday: The Vintner’s Luck, by Elizabeth Knox. A book I found very enchanting at the time, not least for the way it engages with the senses. And the love story. 5/5 stars

Other posts:
–Top Ten Books I Changed My Mind About. Mostly for the better, but sometimes for the worse.
–On Steve Rogers as an Agent of Hydra. I have problems with Marvel’s latest direction for Captain America, clearly.

This week hasn’t been great for reading, but my assignment is finally done, and it was the last one for this module! So maybe I can relax a bit now? I started off the relaxation in style with some new books, of course…

New books:

A mixed bag, which probably surprises no one. I’ve already finished reading The Book of Phoenix; it might be the Nnedi Okorafor book I appreciate the most so far! The other stuff is mostly from my wishlist, except The Horns of Ruin, which was an impulse buy. Oh, and The Tempering of Men, because I finished the first book earlier this week.

Books to review:

I’ve read some of Foz Meadows’ blog posts and such, I think? Anyway, I enjoy how rainbow-y the cover is and the fact that it’s openly queertastic. Tremontaine and The Fireman I’ve been hearing a lot about…

Books finished:

Reviews posted:
–Captain America: Civil War Prelude, by Corona Pilgrim et al. I was not impressed by the lack of new content in this tie-in release. If you’ve seen the other Marvel films, or even just a good selection of them, you’re good to go. 2/5 stars
–The Bread We Eat in Dreams, by Catherynne M. Valente. A varied and typically gorgeous collection. If you’re a fan of Valente, you’ve probably read some of these before — but probably not all… 3/5 stars
–Dead Man’s Chest, by Kerry Greenwood. Another strong outing for Phryne, and it introduces a secondary character who I rather hope will stick around. 3/5 stars
–The Door into Fire, by Diane Duane. A book well-deserving of the nostalgic love people have for it. I love the way it deals with polyamorous relationships, without them being idyllic, but without demonising any of the participants either. 4/5 stars
–The Movement: Class Warfare, by Gail Simone and Freddie Williams III. This is basically like Gotham, if it was policed not by Batman, but by the 99%. I didn’t like the reread as much as the initial read way back in 20…14? But still fun, and really cool and diverse characters. 4/5 stars
–The Sin-Eater’s Daughter, by Melinda Salisbury. I think it’d be hard for a book to match up to that gorgeous cover, and so it proved. But I enjoyed the story well enough, and it caught me by surprise… 3/5 stars
–Flashback Friday: Kalpa Imperial, by Angélica Gorodischer, trans. Ursula Le Guin. An interesting what-if, and I think it’d appeal to fans of Le Guin’s writing and world building. There’s something of the same flavour. 4/5 stars

How’s everyone else been? Good weather where you are? Any reading achievements to share?

Yay, it’s the weekend! How’s everyone been this week? I have not got enough reading done, because assignment hell. It’s nearly done, but… gaah, a few more days.

Books acquired:

Because I read Rosemary & Rue and haaad to get the next lined up.

Books finished this week:

Reviewed this week:
–Bryony and Roses,  by T. Kingfisher. An interesting take on Beauty and the Beast, with an angle I didn’t quite expect. Much more clear about the curse and the hows and whys of it than is often the case. 4/5 stars
–Lady of Mallow, by Dorothy Eden. A potentially good source of new comfort reads for me, Dorothy Eden’s basic plot/writing style reminds me of Mary Stewart’s suspense/romances, except with less of a sense of place. 3/5 stars
–All the Birds in the Sky, by Charlie Jane Anders. Not quite sure what to make of this one; it’s an interesting fantasy vs technology scenario, but I didn’t connect much with the characters. 3/5 stars
–The Farthest Shore, by Ursula Le Guin. A reread of a less-liked book in this series. I can see the beauty in it, but I’m just… not a fan in the same way. 3/5 stars
–Silver on the Tree, by Susan Cooper. Maybe I liked this one a little less than I usually do, because this time I so much wanted more. I do love the books, but… 4/5 stars
–Ink and Bone, by Rachel Caine. Interesting alternate universe: what if the Library of Alexandria was not destroyed, and preserving books and the Library became ever more important? 3/5 stars
–Flashback Friday: The City and the City, by China Miéville. I think I like the idea of some of Miéville’s ideas almost more than the execution sometimes. It’s always worth (for me) hanging on and seeing how it all plays out, but the main draw is the idea. 4/5 stars

Other posts:
–Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Feels. I went off with my own theme this week, rather at random.

Here’s to a good reading week ahead!

Hello, everyone! It’s been both a busy and a quiet week, in weird ways. But hey, now I’m with my partner in Belgium, I have a document that affirms I’ve never been married, and okay, I should be doing my final assignment for my course, but other than that, I can spend a good amount of time just reading and recharging for the next week!

And I have books (new books, and I can bear anything as long as there are books).

New books

I’m a wuss, so Hex might be a bad choice, but I’m intrigued with the buzz about it and the translation stuff. A lot of the other stuff was fairly random, just picked up because it interested me in Brussels’ Sterling Books. I came to Belgium with only 22 books… this makes a start at making up for it!

Books finished this week:

Reviews this week: 
–Rat Queens: Demons, by Kurtis J. Wiebe et al. I think this is my last volume of Rat Queens; it just didn’t come together for me. 2/5 stars
–Murder on a Midsummer Night, by Kerry Greenwood. Fun, though typical of the Phryne books. 3/5 stars
–Bone and Jewel Creatures, by Elizabeth Bear. An interesting novella, with an aged protagonist and some neat magic. 4/5 stars
–The Bullet Catcher’s Daughter, by Rod Duncan. Fun set-up, and I’m intrigued enough to read the other books. 3/5 stars
–Flashback Friday: A History of the World in 100 Objects, by Neil MacGregor. A lovely book which made me really eager to go back to the British Museum. Which I did, not too long ago. 5/5 stars

Other posts:
–ShelfLove Update and May TBR: what it says on the tin, with lots of statistics!

How’s everyone else been? Any exciting news?

As you’re about to see, it’s been a busy week full of reading for me! I’ve been adding books to the “books read this week” section right up to the last minute. It’s always nice when I have plenty of time to read! And despite having an Amazon voucher to spend, so far I haven’t picked a new book — though I did get a couple of books to review.

Received to review: 

I’ve followed Claire North’s work for a long time now, so I’m hopeful about this new one. I’ve heard a lot about Woman on the Edge of Time, so I’m curious about it.

Books read this week:

A whole bunch of these were rereads (The Farthest Shore, Silver on the Three, volume one of The Movement, The Door into Fire), but there were a lot of new-to-me books too. And I enjoyed most of them! An excellent week.

Reviews this week:
–Every Heart A Doorway, by Seanan McGuire. This is probably my favourite story from Tor.com’s novella line. The plot and world are awesome, and so are the characters. 4/5 stars
–Century Rain, by Alastair Reynolds. A reread of a book I loved as a teenager, which I haven’t revisited in a long time; it didn’t disappoint. 4/5 stars
–Death at the Bar, by Ngaio Marsh. Felt a bit too by-the-numbers as a mystery, without the strength of character of Sayers’ Wimsey or even Christie’s Miss Marple. 2/5 stars
–Forensics, by Val McDermid. A good survey of forensic science and how it’s used to catch and indict criminals; well-written, too. 4/5 stars
–Flashback Friday: Blackbirds, by Chuck Wendig. I think this is one of the first Angry Robot books I ever read; I’ve kept on reading both the publisher and the author. Wendig’s work is generally a lot of fun, and Blackbirds does well with an interesting idea. 4/5 stars

Other posts: 
–Readathon progress. The start of my excellent reading week, even though I didn’t stay up the full 24 hours!
–Top Ten Tuesday. This week’s theme was bookworm delights, like the smell of books.
–Bout of Books signup. Aka, another readathon!

How’s everyone else been?

This is a very quickly put together post, as I am on a tiny laptop in the middle of moving house! It hasn’t been a terrible week for reading, even though I had an assignment due as well, and I (gasp) haven’t bought any books!

Books read this week:

Reviews this week:
–Wolves, by Simon Ings. Not a fan of this one, at all. Sometimes I couldn’t even tell what the individual sentences were supposed to mean. 1/5 stars
–Wolfsbane Winter, by Jane Fletcher. This is fairly typical fantasy, except that it features a lesbian romance… and it’s maybe not exactly fantasy. 3/5 stars
–A Civil Contract, by Georgette Heyer. This isn’t the most typical of Heyer’s romances, but I really liked it — it’s more about the process of negotiation and habituation that comes when two people live together and have to make their lives together. 4/5 stars
–Tropic of Serpents, by Marie Brennan. A favourite series reread, so no surprises that I liked this a lot. 5/5 stars
–Dreadful Skin, by Cherie Priest. Intriguing ideas — a nun hunting a werewolf — but sometimes shaky execution. 3/5 stars
–The Stress of Her Regard, by Tim Powers. I’ve tried to read this a few times now, and finally I did finish it. But I’m still not a great fan. It might help if I were more of a fan of the Romantic poets… 2/5 stars
–Flashback Friday: The Hundred and Ninety-nine Steps, by Michel Faber. The most powerful thing about this book — something I remember years after reading it — is the feeling of anxiety. Ughh. 2/5 stars

Other posts:
–Top Ten Tuesday: This week I recommended stories with romance for those who might be reluctant to read romance as a genre.

How’s everyone doing? Anything exciting going on? Any books you just can’t wait to read?

Hello, everyone! How’s your week been? I’ve had quite a good week of reading and finally getting one of my assignments done, so I’m pleased with myself. Just one more assignment to go… for now. Gah.

Books acquired:

Super excited about both of these, since I’ve been anticipating them for, ugh, a year? So hurrah! Butterflies in November is a book I got via a book exchange on Facebook; I’ve never heard of it, so I’m quite intrigued.

Books received to review: 

I’ve been curious about this trilogy for a while, so I dug out the first book — and got the second from the library — the minute I received this review copy.

Library books:

The Iron Ghost is the second book of the series, and I already have The Copper Promise, so let’s have at it! As for the other books, well. I had to make my library trips worth it, right?

Books finished this week:

Reviews:

–Fathom, by Cherie Priest. Ultimately I wanted more from it, especially knowing how much I love a couple of Priest’s other books, but it was enjoyable enough. 3/5 stars
–The Darkest Part of the Forest, by Holly Black. My catchphrase, once more: communicate, damn it! But some clever stuff with fairy tales, and subverting narrative expectations. 3/5 stars
–The Selection, by Kiera Cass. Surprisingly, I quite liked this, and appreciated the main character’s friendships with other girls and determination to figure out what’s best for her. 3/5 stars
–Liars and Thieves, by Karen Maitland. A short story that adds just a little to Company of Liars. 2/5 stars
–Blood and Feathers, by Lou Morgan. Easy and pacey to read, but quite predictable. If you’re a fan of the CW’s Supernatural… 3/5 stars
–The Wicked Day, by Mary Stewart. A whole rant about how Stewart broke her own story in trying to adhere to too many different Arthurian threads. I found this one really frustrating. 2/5 stars
–Flashback Friday: The Owl Killers, by Karen Maitland. Looks like I enjoyed this one a lot, especially because it taught me about an aspect of history I had no idea about. 5/5 stars

Other posts:
–Top Ten Tuesday: People You Should Follow. A non-exhaustive list of blogs I like and regularly read.

Now excuse me, I really must be doing something productive reading more. Happy reading, everyone!

Yes, that’s right! For the first time in a while, I’ve actually avoided acquiring any books this week. I haven’t done much unstacking though, either. I’ve read a couple of books, but I got bogged down in The Stress of Her Regard (Tim Powers), of which I’m not enough of a fan to be getting very far with it. Still, I did some more reading on Friday that I’d done all week…

Books finished this week:

Reviews this week:
–Stormy Petrel, by Mary Stewart. Not my favourite of Stewart’s romance/suspense novels, but a comfort reread for me. 3/5 stars
–A Stranger in Olondria, by Sofia Samatar. Richly written and vivid, though I think I wanted more resolution or… something. 4/5 stars
–A Natural History of Dragons, by Marie Brennan. I reread I loved even more the second time round. Awesome alt-history with study of dragons, what’s not to love? 5/5 stars
–The Black Moth, by Georgette Heyer. Since this was Heyer’s first novel, it’s understandably not as great as some of the later ones. But it was still a lot of fun! 3/5 stars
–Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, by Jenny Lawson. I actually prefer Lawson’s blog as a context for her writing, I think, but there’s no denying she’s funny as hell. 3/5 stars
–Library of Souls, by Ransom Riggs. Pretty good finish for the series, though my enjoyment was somewhat marred by the fact that it’s less a series and more one continuous story. It took me a while to pick the threads back up. 3/5 stars
–Flashback Friday: The Earth Hums in B Flat, by Mari Strachan. Not as whimsical as I expected from descriptions, but enjoyable, though not comfortable. 4/5 stars

Other posts:
–Library closures. The perspective from someone who helped to run a community library on the importance of libraries — and trained librarians.
–Shelf Love Challenge April Update (and TBR list). Also featuring my love letter to my (ex-)local library.