Today’s Top Ten Tuesday is all about upcoming titles, and I must confess, as always I’m not very up on this, aside from the ARCs I get offered by Orbit or happen to see on Netgalley. Honestly, how do you all keep up?!

Still, I did some research and poked around, and checked my wishlist too for books I previously noted wanting, and thus found some books I’m interested in!

1. Mistakenly Saving the Villain, vol 3, by Feng Yu Nie.
   This is supposed to be out today according to Seven Seas, making it technically ineligible for the list. However bookshop.org say it’s out tomorrow, so it counts. I just devoured volume two a couple weeks ago, and I’m very eager to continue the story: Yue Wuhuan is pretty unhinged, but Song Qingshi is pretty fascinated by him too, and weird and over-intense though the relationship might be, I’m very curious about how they end up and what the system intends for Song Qingshi in the wake of his choosing the wrong character to rescue. The fourth volume is also due out in the latter half of the year, hitting shelves in October.
2. The Feywild Job, by C.L. Polk.
   Technically this seems to come out today as well, but I’m highlighting it because I thought it was next month, and no one can stop me, mwahaha. I’ve really enjoyed Polk’s books in the past, and this heist story sounds like a lot of fun. I like the cover, too!
3. The Reimagining of Thornwood House, by Jaleigh Johnson.
   I don’t know a lot about this, but the idea of a house getting grumpy and walking off and needing to be coaxed back sounds like a lot of fun. It comes out 2nd July, so I guess I don’t have long to wait!
4. An Expert Witness, by Sue Black.
   I only just learned about this one, but I’m excited! I’ve really enjoyed Sue Black’s previous works, because she pairs technical detail with a resolve never to lose sight of respect and humanity when handling the dead. It’s coming out on 2nd July.
5. The Wife Comes First, vol 3, by Lv Ye Qian He.
   I haven’t read the second volume yet, so there’s just a chance there’ll be a dealbreaker there… but I flew through the first volume despite its flaws, and I imagine I’ll be keen to find out how all the court intrigue comes to a head in the third, by the time it comes out. I have volume two on my ‘on deck’ pile, after all! I love Jing Shao and his realisation that Mu Hanzhang was loyal to him to the end, and the way he’s seizing his chance to do better. This one’s coming out on 21st July.
6. Dinosaur Sanctuary, vol 8, by Itaru Kinoshita.
   I love this manga so much, it’s just the perfect palate cleanser for anything. My reviews have been going up recently, actually, but I’ve been waiting since just before Christmas when I originally devoured the first seven volumes (I have a huge backlog of graphic novel/manga reviews that I trickle out to avoid overwhelming the blog with those). I love that it’s basically a story about a zoo, only the animals are dinosaurs. I also really enjoy the fact that it has a dinosaur consultant and adds little fact files by him. This one’s due out 28th July, and I think I’ll preorder it on Kobo!
7. A Trade of Blood, by Robert Jackson Bennett.
   This is the third book of the Shadow of the Leviathan series which I’ve been enjoying a lot. I actually have the ARC and need to get back to it, but I have to read it on my other device because (sigh) it couldn’t be sent to Kobo because it’s a PDF. I couldn’t resist requesting it anyway, though, and I’m so glad I’ve been able to dig in. The mystery sounds intriguing, and I imagine we’ll get more details toward a clearer picture of the world/the Empire… It’s due out in August.
8. Our Cut of Salt, by Deena Helm.
   This one is a bit out of my comfort zone, coming out from Tor Nightfire on 22nd September. It’s a horror story, with three generations of a Palestinian family linked with a home in Haifa. It might actually be one that’s more for my wife, but something about it has kinda grabbed me. Maybe the setting? Anyway, I think I’ll be giving it a try!
9. The Scarlet Ball, by Nghi Vo. 
   I love Nghi Vo’s work, so I’m planning to read this even without knowing much about it. The set up (now I’ve actually read the blurb) sounds intriguing, too: the main character can literally take the face of a missing debutante to play her part — in exchange for what? How does that all work out? Well, unless I request the ARC I’ll have to wait until 6th October to find out.
10. As You Wake, Break the Shell, by Becky Chambers.
    I didn’t know this was coming out but I’m definitely excited: I’ve enjoyed Chambers’ work so much in the past. I’m intrigued by the living ship/pilot link, too, as well as Chambers’ normal ability to make me care about the characters and relationships. It’s not due until 22nd October… big pout.

Excited to see what others highlight today! My wishlist is waiting for new finds.

I am late to post today because I had a dentist appointment today (big sadness, but at least I should have a clean bill of dental health again), so I’ll make this quick! I recently posted my 20 Books of Summer list, but there are some others I’d love to get to…

The first five are non-fiction, and the second lot fiction!

It’s a bit of a random selection, but there’s a bunch of library books and recent purchases here, so I really ought to make time!

Every so often, the Top Ten Tuesday theme is all about the books you’re hankering for right now, and sharing your wishlist so that people can get them for you if they feel so moved! So let’s see.

1. Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works, by Helen Pearson.
   This was reviewed recently in New Scientist, and it sounds like an intriguing look at how evidence-based science works!
2. If This Be Magic: The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation, by Daniel Hahn.
   I saw someone mention this (I think Keira?) and it sounds fascinating. Translation is such a knotty problem, and Shakespeare is extra difficult because there’s a double-barrier of time as well as language.
3. A Widow’s Charm, by Caitlyn Paxson.
   I’ve seen some good reviews of this, and it sounds like fun!
4. Murder at the Black Cat Cafe, by Seishi Yokomizo.
   It’s always interesting to broaden my experience of crime/mystery stories and read in translation, so I’m curious about this one.
5. Charlotte Brontë’s Life Through Clothes, by Eleanor Houghton.
   Clothes tell us so much about the period they came from, the person who wore them, and the kind of life they lived. I’m very curious.
6. All Consuming: Why We Eat the Way We Eat Now, by Ruby Tandoh.
   I’ve been curious about this one for a while, as food history is another thing that I enjoy dipping into.
7. The English House: A History in Eight Buildings, by Dan Cruickshank.
   I’m a sucker for histories that are a history of X in Y things… and while I’m not super into architecture, it’s still a field where buildings of the past tell us an awful lot, and I’m capable of being interested!
8. The Apothecary’s Wife: The Hidden History of Medicine and How it Became a Commodity, by Karen Bloom Gevirtz.
   I haven’t heard much about this, but the topic is fascinating!
9. Ode to the Half-Broken, by Suzanne Palmer.
   This doesn’t seem to be out yet in the UK, but Amazon has it, and I’ve been reading some very positive reviews! It sounds right up my street.
10. The Nightmare before Kissmas, by Sara Raasch.
    I’m not sure that Raasch’s books are 100% my thing, but I’m happy to try outside my comfort zone, especially since I’ve been seeing glowing reviews from people I trust! So I’d like to give this one a shot — though I’d have been interested in The Entanglement of Rival Wizards instead if it’d been out in paperback in the UK, so I wouldn’t mind an ebook copy of that if it fell into my ereader, ahaha.

My Amazon wishlist is here, and I’m also game for ebook copies if you’d rather buy a book voucher for me to get an ebook with, in which case I suggest a National Book Token or Kobo voucher, since I prefer not to use Kindle anymore. My email address is bibliophibianbreathesbooks [at] gmail [dot] com.

(Buying me Kindle books and sending them to that email address does work as well, since I do have a Boox ereader and can still access the Kindle app, it’s just not my preference. Kobo deserves more love!)

Excited to peek at other people’s lists and spread a bit of bookish love today!

This week’s prompt from Top Ten Tuesday is another cover-based one, about covers featuring handwriting/fonts that look like handwriting. I don’t actually know what I’ll find, but let’s see!

Aaand the end results are a bit of a mix: mostly I kept finding the same sort of “handwriting-ish” fonts being used, the “I’m based ultimately on handwriting/calligraphy, but everyone’s used to this as a font” ones. But here are some that caught my eye, narrowed down from about twenty…

I didn’t love all these books (and I haven’t finished The Book Eaters yet), but I confess that handwriting fonts do seem to grab my attention, and I definitely like them a lot when I’m making graphics (on the rare occasions that I do). Amsterdam Three, how I love thee.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is all about books you can’t believe you’ve never read… and I’m going to steer away from the classics and 1,001 books to read before you die type choices, and look more at my TBR.

1. Republic of Thieves, by Scott Lynch.
   I loved the first books in this series! I was very eager for Republic of Thieves! But somehow I never got round to it, and then I got sulky about being nagged to get on and read it… and of course, there’s no saying when there will be more in the series. I still technically want to read this, but it is sitting in limbo more than a little.
2. Red Right Hand, by Chris Holm.
   I’ve enjoyed Chris Holm’s work since the Angry Robot days with the Collector trilogy, and enjoyed the book that Red Right Hand follows up, The Killing Kind. Unfortunately, by the time Red Right Hand came out, I’d forgotten too many of the details, meant to reread that one first, and somehow… never got back to it.
3. Malice Aforethought, by Francis Iles.
   This is one of the classic mystery stories, but somehow I’ve never got round to it (in part because I’m not a huge lover of Francis Iles AKA Anthony Berkeley Cox’s work). Still, it’s a really important one in the development of the classic mystery genre, and I do want to read it. Eventually.
4. The Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey.
   I was put off by reading something else by Tey which was just hopelessly racist, but her work is very classic, and I want to get round to this at some point — particularly as people often cite it as a favourite. Plus I am kinda interested in Richard III and the mystery of the Princes in the Tower, which makes the concept interesting to me.
5. Cassandra, by Christa Wolf.
   A copy of this has been following me around for… quite a long time, so long that I’ve actually forgotten who recommended it and why — but they were definitely very enthusiastic. The story of Cassandra is one that interests me a lot, too; the tragic possibilities of knowing what’s going to happen, but being totally powerless to convince anyone else…
6. Level 4: Virus Hunters of the CDC, by Susan Fisher-Hoch & Joseph B. McCormick.
   I did actually start this at some point, so I’m also surprised I never finished it, but I think I may have got it quite early in my interest in infectious diseases and it was maybe a little too anxiety-provoking. I think I’d tolerate it better now, degree in infectious diseases behind me, and maybe appreciate some aspects of it more, too. That said, this will never be my job, even if I do switch into a career in infectious diseases. Yikes on bikes.
7. The Tower at Stony Wood, by Patricia McKillip.
   I’ve enjoyed a lot of McKillip’s work, but there are several I still need to get to that could all take a turn on this list. I find her writing a little opaque at times; beautiful, but sometimes requires a lot of attention to fully extract the meaning. Maybe that’s just me — either way, her style takes work, and so her books always await the exact right mood. I did pick up my copies from my parents’ house semi-recently (well, at least a year ago, possibly two), so they are at least on my shelves here…
8. The Outskirter’s Secret, by Rosemary Kirstein.
   I really like The Steerswoman, so I don’t know why I’ve never got on with it and read the remaining books. Maybe it’s knowing the story is unfinished. Maybe it’s because I know a little too much about the other books and how things work out, so one element of the tantalising mystery at least is a little bit spoiled (though spoilers don’t usually bother me, this is a bit of a special case, I’d say).
9. A Brother’s Price, by Wen Spencer.
   This is one of several books that I got at some point or another for The Alternative World book club on Goodreads, and never got round to. I remember people being so enthusiastic about it, though, and their recommendations were definitely pivotal to quite a few of the SF/F books I loved (including The Steerswoman, actually) at that time… so yeah.
10. Or What You Will, by Jo Walton.
    Somehow I missed when this came out, and only realised a bit later… and somehow still haven’t got round to it, which is just shocking given how much I’ve generally enjoyed Jo Walton’s work. Soon, I hope!

I keep thinking of other potential choices — I can’t believe I still haven’t managed to read anything of Sarah Pinsker’s, for example, given she was a part of The Alternative World group on Goodreads! But this is a reasonable survey, and covers a mostly-satisfying/representative spread of genres, so let’s leave it there…

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday theme is a tricky one: listing not only your top ten favourite authors, but also choosing your favourite book of theirs! I can’t promise that mine’s a definitive list — I’m certain I’m missing out authors I would smack my forehead about if you reminded me. But it is a list of some of my favourite authors, and my favourites among their books.

1. Ursula Le Guin: The Tombs of Atuan.
   The problem with picking a favourite among Le Guin’s stories is the sheer number and range of them, but for me it isn’t really in doubt — there’s a magic in The Tombs of Atuan that got under my skin from the start, right from the beginning with Arha’s beginnings as a priestess. I love A Wizard of Earthsea very much too, don’t get me wrong, and that book informs how I try to approach life and dealing with my anxiety… but I’d still say The Tombs of Atuan beats it out as a favourite.
2. Mo Xiang Tong Xiu: Heaven Official’s Blessing.
   This is a really tough pick, because The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System was my introduction to danmei as a whole, and I’ll probably look back at it as formative to my reading tastes. And there are aspects of Heaven Official’s Blessing that are frustrating (the flashbacks). Still, in terms of the depth of the characters, the different arcs and stories that wind through it, and of course the love between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian, I think it’s probably my favourite.
3. KJ Charles: Band Sinister.
   I love a lot of Charles’ work, and I’m not sure Band Sinister would always be my recommendation for a starting point (though it’s not a bad one, it’s more purely a romance than most of her work). But it’s one I have very fond memories of, including the first time I read it while I couldn’t sleep, giggling and curling my toes in glee at it while trying not to wake up my wife!
4. Marie Brennan: Tropic of Serpents.
   It’s hard to pick one book out of this series, really, because they all build up the story to a heck of an ending. Still, Tropic of Serpents is the one that changed my opinion from liking the series well enough to continue and see where it went to being eager for each new book, and deeply invested in Isabella and her adventures — and the different types of dragon she studies and discovers.
5. E.C.R. Lorac: Death of an Author.
   This is a bit atypical among Lorac’s novels and possibly wouldn’t be the one I’d recommend to others — but it’s the one I’ve rated the highest, and it probably counts as my favourite if I had to name a single one. Mostly what I love about her work is the way she sets up characters who feel like people you can root for (or dislike), rather than cyphers, and the sense of deep connection to places… neither of which are so present here, because this is just a really solid mystery that had me on the hop the whole time. Mostly, her Inspector Macdonald books would be where I’d turn for a satisfying mystery I can care about, but this one is pretty dang good.
6. Dorothy L. Sayers: Strong Poison.
   This one has strong competition from several other books in the series, including Have His Carcase (which has a great opening paragraph)… but ultimately I think I love this one best, as Peter puzzles out the murder method, the motive, and the means while racing against the clock because of Harriet’s trial. The banter between the two of them is amazing, as are the moments when it breaks down and Harriet is just human and scared. For me, it finished the work that Clouds of Witness started in making me care deeply about Peter (who spends that book trying to save his brother from hanging), and introduced a heck of a love interest for him, a fascinating character in her own right.
7. Mary Stewart: Madam, Will You Talk?
   I remember reading The Gabriel Hounds while being in Italy, which was just after I finished my first degree (yeesh, so long ago now). She’s just so good at evoking the sense of a place: brightness, dust, old ruins both cared for and not, dark and smoky rooms, a busy market, a cool drink in the shade… Madam, Will You Talk? is probably my favourite, though I couldn’t tell you why, especially because the love interest starts things off very badly and frightens the main character for way too much of a book. Maybe it’s just that Charity is really cool, with her quick thinking and fast driving.
8. Ann Leckie: Ancillary Mercy.
   It’s hard to pick a favourite from this trilogy, because they are all part of the same story, and it’s the whole that I really love. Maybe this should really just be considered picking the whole trilogy. It’s so inventive, and I love the way that Leckie has thought through the world of the story — events outside Breq’s knowledge or interest are going on simultaneously, a whole sprawling empire is living, dying, struggling, and every so often we get little reminders of that. Still, Mercy might be a favourite, due to the way the cultures on Athoek Station are introduced and inform the plot, and the strategic annoying queueing which speaks to my oh-so-British heart.
9. Cat Sebastian: We Could Be So Good.
   It’s a little hard to choose between this and You Should Be So Lucky, both of which are really, really good. The characters and romances just feel so carefully built, until you can’t help but root for them in their messy glory, and hope that things will turn out well for them and that they can find a way to carve out happiness — which they realistically find, even given the period they live in, without it glossing over the dangers and worries they face as well.
10. Jo Walton: Farthing.
    This was the first book I read by Walton, and combines alternative history with a mystery story that nods to Sayers. Sadly, the rising fascism of the story has only become more relevant, even while the book has slipped out of view a bit. I highly recommend the trilogy, though Farthing is my favourite. Walton’s told a lot of different stories, and I could also be very tempted to give the nod to Among Others (which is a book that felt like it saw me) or My Real Children or the Tir Tanagiri books… and Lifelode is so rich and underappreciated too (and sees me as well, in a different way: my lifelode is learning, it’s pretty clear, and reading Lifelode made me think, y’know what, that’s okay). But ultimately, Farthing was where my experiences with Walton’s books started, and it’s terrifyingly and urgently relevant.

Oof, I’ve been super talkative again — I hope my musings have been of interest, and I would definitely love to hear others’ thoughts if you have the time to stop and chat!

This week’s theme from Top Ten Tuesday is all about secondary/minor characters, and I love it — secondary and minor characters can add so much to a world, help to flesh out the major characters, and bring in interesting themes and ideas that the main character alone can’t support.

Sooo let’s dig into some favourites.

1. Csevet Aisava, from The Goblin Emperor (Katherine Addison).
   He appears early in the story and from that point on, he’s constantly in support of Maia, helping him find his feet in the court and enacting his will in the most efficient way possible. We don’t see a lot of his inner life, but we see enough tantalising glimpses to know that he has one, and his competence and loyalty are very enticing. I’d love to know more about Csevet.
2. Tom Wilker, from The Memoirs of Lady Trent (Marie Brennan).
   Wilker’s start in A Natural History of Dragons isn’t a terribly promising one: he comes across as trying to gatekeep Isabella’s part in her husband’s expedition, and disrespectful of her suggestions and the expertise she can offer. Over time, though, it becomes clear that he’s afraid of losing his own chance: as a lower-class scientist, he’s (at the start of the series) not taken seriously by other naturalists. As the series goes on, he and Isabella begin to support one another and work together to overcome their disadvantages, and watching his character grow is one of the satisfactions of the series for me. He and Isabella are perfect work partners, and complement one another’s strengths.
3. Mu Qing and Feng Xin, from Heaven Official’s Blessing (Mo Xiang Tong Xiu).
   I’m discussing these two together because I don’t want to pick just one: they’re pretty inseparable, even as they seem to hate each other, and their relationship (and their relationship with Xie Lian) adds a lot of spice and complexity to the story, giving us another emotional arc beyond the testing of Xie Lian’s principles or his love story with Hua Cheng. The two generals are both loyal to Xie Lian, but in different ways, with Mu Qing’s practicality offending Feng Xin’s idealism, and Feng Xin’s privilege and lack of subtlety annoying Feng Xin at every turn. Half the time, they just need to communicate, but they’re both completely stubborn. They are complete idiots, Your Honour: I love them.
4. Liu Qingge, from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System (Mo Xiang Tong Xiu).
   I am incredibly fond of Liu Qingge’s character, and I think it’s all in the way he will defend Shen Qingqiu no matter what (loyalty is my catnip; you might have noticed). To Liu Qingge, it doesn’t matter what Shen Qingqiu is accused of, or who exactly he is now that he is very clearly not the original flavour: Shen Qingqiu saved him, they are martial brothers, and so he will defend Shen Qingqiu against all comers. He doesn’t pretend that this isn’t a potential burden or beat around the bush about it: he straight-up tells Shen Qingqiu that yeah, I know, you’re afraid of being a burden to us, but we’re not afraid of that. The fact that he considers Shen Qingqiu worth it no matter what is such a big moment, such a beautiful thing to say, and I haven’t seen enough talk about that moment. He doesn’t lie and tell Shen Qingqiu he’s not a burden, he says so what if you are? I will support you anyway.
5. Jiang Cheng, from Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (Mo Xiang Tong Xiu).
   Jiang Cheng is a bit of an exception on this list because he isn’t loyal to Wei Wuxian, but turns against him, but I enjoy the character a lot (even if I don’t always like him) because he’s very understandable. He grows up being second fiddle to Wei Wuxian, and resentment builds up — assuaged when Wei Wuxian promises that it will always be the two of them against the world, a promise which Wei Wuxian ultimately breaks to save the Jiang clan from being associated with his actions. His resentment turns into hatred when Wei Wuxian’s actions ultimately lead to the death of their sister and her husband. Throughout the story, he is brash, irrational, and nothing like as clever as Wei Wuxian, but he loves his family deeply and in the end he comes through for Wei Wuxian in a critical moment as well, even after everything that comes between them. It’s kind of a sad thing for him that in a world where Wei Wuxian didn’t exist, Jiang Cheng would absolutely be a hero himself.
6. Faramir, from The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien).
   I have to bring up Faramir here because I think reading LotR was one of the first times I latched onto a side-character so firmly. I have such opinions about the movies because of how they presented Faramir! He represents the best of his family’s line, the bravery coupled with the cleverness, the willingness to serve Gondor without the need for self-aggrandisement, and all of that made me love the character immediately. I know why it was changed for the movie, it makes loads of sense, especially for that medium — but I love the Faramir of the books, and the fact that he never sways from his path and his loyalty to Gondor, Gandalf and (ultimately) Aragorn, even as he unquestionably loves his brother and his father and does his best by them.
7. Mervyn Bunter, from the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries (Dorothy L. Sayers).
   To be honest, I don’t actually want more information about Bunter, and I think the character would actually agree with me that it’s not his place! Hideously classist, of course, but Bunter seems to enjoy serving Lord Peter, and putting Peter (and the world) in their proper places, and that provides some moments of comedy amidst it all. He is always loyal to Peter, though the bond between them is forged off-the-page and the reasons for it just briefly referenced, and he acts as the perfect support through the mysteries that Peter tries to unravel (and his courting of Harriet Vane as well). Somehow Bunter always has the right thing at the right moment. He’s a caricature of the perfect servant, but written in a way that I think is aware of that and sometimes gently, quietly poking fun at it: Bunter knows what he’s doing (and Sayers did too).
8. Lord Ruthven, from the Dr Greta Helsing series (Vivian Shaw).
   I was torn between Ruthven and Fastitocalon here, but I think Ruthven’s my favourite, in part because we see a bit more of him and he’s active all throughout the first three books. (I haven’t read the newest yet, and I don’t think he plays a part in Bitter Waters that I can remember, but he’s still a major character in the trilogy.) I love the difficulty he clearly has with his long existence, and the way he’s put that to learning and helping people most of the time… but, very humanly (despite being a vampire), also sometimes just mopes. I love that he gives his unsuitable boyfriend a second chance at life and being a reasonable person, I love that he’s ready to support Greta no matter was, and I love that ultimately he’s happy to get his hands dirty (not to mention risk his unlife) helping people as well as just throwing large quantities of money at problems.
9. Beru, from Solo Leveling (Chugong).
   I never thought I would ever, could ever, find an undead shadow minion based on a giant warrior ant so cute, but his loyalty to Jinwoo (and Jinwoo’s family), his interest in traditional court dramas and his general behaviour (plus his appearance at times in the manhwa) is just adorable. He’s not an especially complex character, so I thought about picking Yoo Jinho or Woo Jinchul instead for their unforced loyalty and support of Jinwoo… but, yeah, sorry, Beru’s cuter.
10. Seivarden, from the Imperial Radch series (Ann Leckie).
    Seivarden is a hot mess. She isn’t a particularly good person, mired in privilege and — once that’s stripped away — self-pity. However, she learns to rely on Breq, and then comes the loyalty (you knew that word was coming, surely). She was never a favourite of Breq’s, she’s still fucking up a lot of things, but she begins to really, really try to drop her addiction, to treat people better, and to help Breq even while Breq is essentially dismantling a lot of the things that gave Seivarden her privilege and her place in the world. Ultimately, betraying Breq would be easier, but Seivarden grows and learns and tries. I love her journey, even though I do not think one would enjoy knowing Seivarden, unless Seivarden recognised one as being of equal or higher status and thus behaved appropriately within the bounds of acceptability. Once you step outside that, she’s more than a little careless.

Okaaaay, that’s enough of the mini-essays! I’m very curious to see the characters that other people choose.

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday theme celebrates flowers, which is another opportunity for me to look at book covers a bit more closely! I’m not a very visual person and often don’t notice/remember covers, so I’ve been enjoying this kind of topic lately. Let’s see what I can do!

Flowers are such a common element of cover design that I had trouble picking favourites — especially when it came to danmei and baihe, where cherry blossoms abound!

I haven’t read all of these books yet (Thistlemarsh is still on my TBR, and I only just started Princeweaver), and some of the books I didn’t love… but the cover designs stood out for one reason or another for all of them. I was surprised by the relatively dark theme in the second row until I added in The Beauty’s Blade there to break it up a bit: you don’t always associate flowers with that kind of dark cover, but here we are.

Curious to see what others have picked today!

I wasn’t feeling inspired by this week’s topic, since the only answers that leaped to mind for deceased authors I wish were still writing were Tolkien and Le Guin, and non-deceased authors… well, you never know, they might be writing something as we speak! I live in hope. I poked around a bit online trying to jog my memory, but nothing felt really authentic, in the end.

So I went and looked at old topics, and picked #294: “Ten books I picked up on a whim.” I do a lot of whim-driven buying when I go to a physical bookshop: honestly, that’s the main reason I go to bookshops: not to buy the books I know I want, but to explore what else is out there.

Here are some that I picked up on a whim and loved! I’ll count library books as well as books I bought, and I’ll link the reviews when they’re already up on my blog. In some cases they

1. Ramesses the Great, by Toby Wilkinson.
   I wasn’t actually sure if I’d like it, since I remembered finding something else by Wilkinson a bit tedious… but I’m glad I gave it the chance, because I found it totally riveting. Despite a lifelong interest in ancient Eygpt, I hadn’t dug very deep into most specific pharoahs, not even Ramesses the Great, and I ended up telling several people aaaaall sorts of things based on this book.
2. Tied to You, by WHAT/Chelliace.
   This was a random borrow from the library via ComicsPlus, because it kept popping up when I was idly browsing for ideas for what to read, and I was curious about the concept (which is basically that every person has a “ring partner”, and if they touch them after they’re both of age, then a bond forms between them so they have to be physically together in order to sleep, and sleep wonderfully when they are together). It should not be mistaken for portraying a healthy romance because oh boy it does not, but I really enjoyed the twists and turns in getting Wooseo to eventually accept the fact that Jigeon is his ring partner for good.
3. Mr Collins in Love, by Lee Welch.
   I am not a huge Austen fan, and I’d seen someone whose taste I trust praise it highly, so I approached this with a pretty open mind, despite the fact that it’s Mr Collins. I found it was very well done, with sympathy for a could-have-been Collins.
4. The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans.
   I almost wasn’t expecting to like this one, because it was a random pick solely because I thought it’d be a good one to review for Postcrossing. I ended up really enjoying it, because it does a good job at giving us characterisation through letters, and drawing out some small mysteries to keep things intriguing while the main character slowly works things through. It’s not a book in which stuff happens, more of a character study.
5. A Boy Named Rose, by Gaëlle Geniller.
   This was another random find via ComicsPlus, and I loved the gentle exploration of Rose’s love of dancing and his slow branching out into the world outside where he grew up. The blurb of the book makes it sound more dramatic than it really is.
6. A History of England in 25 Poems, by Catherine Clarke.
   I keep banging on about this one since it’s a recent read, heh. But it really was an interesting history, selecting unexpected poems and digging into contexts I hadn’t thought of.
7. Moon Cop, by Tom Gauld.
   I love Gauld’s comic strips, but wasn’t sure what I’d make of something longer. I hadn’t expected the melancholy tone of this one, but it worked really well, actually.
8. Eat Me: A Natural and Unnatural History of Cannibalism, by Bill Schutt.
   I know, it doesn’t sound a very appetising subject, but nonetheless I found it really interesting, especially being introduced to alternative ideas about prion diseases and how they might spread.
9. Church Going: A Stonemason’s Guide to the Churches of the British Isles, by Andrew Ziminski.
   Very much a whim for me here, because I’m not interested in churches or architecture per se — but I am always interested in someone enthusing about something, and that’s definitely what I got here. I did have a few critiques of the book, and honestly I don’t remember much of the actual detail, but it was soothingly fascinated in a subject that I didn’t have to agonise about at all, so I could let it wash over me, and that was at the time exactly what I wanted.
10. Feeding the Monster: Why Horror Has a Hold On Us, by Anna Bogutskaya.
    This was a random choice from the library — especially random because I’m not that interested in horror! Especially not horror movies, which this was predominantly about. But it was pretty fascinating, all the same. I didn’t like the author’s other book nearly so much, sadly, but I’m still glad I read this one!

Hope everyone’s having a good week so far!

Late post, as I’m just back from my official University of London graduation! Those reading here regularly might remember I attended a ceremony last month; that was from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, for the same degree. This was the more formal occasion, complete with a bow to and nod of acknowledgement from the deputy vice chancellor of the university, so I have now properly officially fully received my MSc (to add to my BA, MA and BSc).

Please don’t ask me what’s next. The only thing that’s next right now is my TTT post, and after that, bed! I will probably study again, but not soon. I had a rough time last year and need recovery time.

So without further ado, this week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is a freebie, and I decided I’d focus on book covers again: I’d hoped to do that last week, because it was kinda fun when I recently spent time focusing on book covers (which spawned a post about them!)… so here we go!

Let’s take a look at some covers which beautifully showcase the main relationships of the books in question:

In order, these were: Xie Lian and Hua Cheng, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe, Li Yu and Mu Tianchi, Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan, Istvhan and Clara, Kate Daniels and Curran Lennart, Fu Wanqing and Yu Shengyan, Nicolas-Marc, Comte de Valois de La Motte and Titus Pilcrow, and Cassian, the Duke of Severn and Daizell Charnage. I wouldn’t cross any of these characters alone, and certainly not when they’re united!

I could’ve picked a lot more covers to show off, especially because there are a bunch of danmei covers that are just gorgeous (many more than just the five showcased here). Really, there’s an embarrassment of riches out there for covers which show off the strength of relationships — though for my money my favourites here are Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation and The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, for the intimacy and tenderness they convey between the characters.