Tag: weekly roundup

Weekly roundup

Posted August 25, 2018 by Nicky in Reviews / 3 Comments

Well hey, guys! It’s been an eventful week here, but as of right now the bunnies are in Britain and my wife has a job in the UK, and I turned 29 safely. And instead of buying books (well, mostly) I bought us a mattress.

Normally I wouldn’t post a pic of the bunnies when I’m actually in the same place as them, but I thought you all might want to admire their new two-storey condo, with spacious living area and a nice and private bedroom. Welcome to Rose Cottage!

And also, shoutout to my wife for being totally badass and getting a job offer within like… three hours of the interview.

In the meantime, here’s some books that I bought or received sometime in the last couple of months but haven’t featured yet!

Received to review:

Cover of The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker Cover of War Cry by Brian McClellan

Both of these sound fascinating, so hopefully I’ll get chance to dig in soon in between all the moving stuff!

New non-fiction:

Cover of Gods, Graves and Scholars by C.W. Ceram Cover of Seeds of Science by Mark Lynas

Gods, Graves and Scholars looks like exactly the kind of general book on archaeology I like to just soak up and relax with, so I’m looking forward to this, even if it’s not the most up to date resource!

New fiction:

Cover of The Incrementalists by Steven Brust and Skyler White Cover of Austral by Paul McAuley Cover of Places in the Darkness by Chris Brookmyre Cover of At the Table of Wolves by Kay Kenyon

I’ve been meaning to pick up all of these except Austral, and Austral tempted me in a buy-one-get-one-half-price deal in Waterstones. Oops?

Books read this week:

Cover of The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers Cover of Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm by Gil North Cover of Death of a Busybody by George Bellairs Cover of Moral Tribes by Joshua Greene Cover of A History of Ancient Egypt Volume 2 by John Romer

Reviews posted this week:

Think Again: How to Reason and Argue, by Walter Sinnott-Armstrong. I wasn’t totally won over by his opinions on the political divides in the world (the US, mostly), but he does write well about how to understand an argument and put one together. 3/5 stars
Delusions of Gender, by Cordelia Fine. A fascinating read, though not (of course) free of bias in its own direction. 4/5 stars
A Study in Honor, by Claire O’Dell. It’s a retelling of Sherlock Holmes with two black women in the lead roles — two queer black women. There’s something awesome about that, no matter what. Actually, in many ways I think this is more a homage than a retelling. Either way, I found it enjoyable but maybe not quite there. 3/5 stars
The Z Murders, by J. Jefferson Farjeon. Not my favourite of his sets of characters, but fun and an early serial killer novel, so interesting on that front too. 4/5 stars
Circe, by Madeline Miller. I enjoyed this a lot, especially because it made me sympathise with Odysseus while not making him some paragon of virtue. 4/5 stars
Rosemary & Rue, by Seanan McGuire. Hindsight is difficult — as a reread, Toby’s (lack of) judgement about people drove me nuts, but it’s still a fascinating world and I muuust read more. 4/5 stars
Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm, by Gil North. Just… skip this one. Unless you’re titillated by repeated descriptions of sullen women’s breasts — yes, mostly just descriptions of their breasts, including the nipples of a corpse. Gross, thanks. 1/5 stars

Other posts:

Discussion: Half Stars. About how I rate books!
WWW Wednesday. The mid-week update on what I’ve been reading and what I’m going to read. Usually about as accurate as the 10-day weather forecast.

Out and about:

Once Upon A Blue Moon: ‘Opportunity Only Knocks Once (Cats, However…)’. A silly and hopefully funny short story. And yes, it includes a cat.
NEAT science: Human interbreeding. Scientists have analysed the DNA of some ancient human remains to find that the girl was actually the daughter of two different human subspecies, something that scientists have usually thought unlikely to occur. I explain a bit more about what this means in the post!

So how’re you guys? Anything big and exciting going on for you?

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Weekly roundup

Posted August 18, 2018 by Nicky in General / 6 Comments

Good morning, all! It’s been a heck of a week, but hey, since we last spoke I’ve signed a contract on a flat for me and my wife, I’ve started sorting out getting some furniture in so we can actually live there, and I’ve aaaalllllmost finished my dissertation. And then on Monday, it’s my birthday! The last birthday of my 20s, in fact (and yet I still don’t feel like an adult).

Before the books, I’m still away from the bunnies (only for a few more days!), so here’s Breakfast enjoying his castle before it’s gone (we’re not moving it with us; it’d fall apart), and a pic of both Breakfast and Hulk, both demanding grooming from each other at the same time (that’s how bunnies roll).

And now we’re onto the non-fiction section of my recent hauls! Hold on to your hats.

Acquired:

Cover of The Spartans by Paul Cartledge Cover of Alexander the Great by Paul Cartledge cover of Praetorian by Guy de la Bedoyere

To Be a Machine by Mark O'Connell Cover of 4th Rock from the Sun by Nicky Jenner Cover of Swearing is Good For You by Emma Byrne

Cover of The Human Planet by Simon L. Lewis and Mark A. Maslin Cover of Think Again: How To Reason And Argue by Walter Sinnott-Armstrong Cover of Think Like An Anthropologist by Matthew Engelke

Books finished this week:

Cover of The Regional Office is Under Attack Cover of Death of an Airman by Christopher St John Sprigg Cover of Think Like An Anthropologist by Matthew Engelke Cover of Rosemary & Rue by Seanan McGuire

Cover of Think Again: How To Reason And Argue by Walter Sinnott-Armstrong Cover of A Study in Honor by Claire O'Dell Cover of Ancestral Journeys by Jean Manco Cover of Circe by Madeline Miller

Reviews posted this week:

Witchmark, by C.L. Polk. I feel like I should’ve liked this more, but I was left a little bit lukewarm by some aspects, particularly the romance. It’s sweet, but I wanted more substance. 3/5 stars
The Masked City, by Genevieve Cogman. For a second book in a series, I think this is really strong and keeps all the best things about the series going strong. 4/5 stars
Swearing is Good For You, by Emma Byrne. Lots of information — really fucking interesting, actually. 4/5 stars
Dreadful Company, by Vivian Shaw. It lived up to how much I enjoyed the first book, and I found myself really gulping it down. 4/5 stars
The Regional Office is Under Attack! by Manuel Gonzales. I feel like I missed something. What was the point? It feels like it just peters out. It’s a fun enough read, but it doesn’t answer many of the questions you’ll have on finishing it. 2/5 stars
Death of an Airman, by Christopher St John Sprigg. Not my favourite in this series of reissues: there’s something dry and characterless about it, from my point of view. 2/5 stars
Think Like An Anthropologist, by Matthew Engelke. A bit unfocused and not sure of what it’s trying to do, with some interesting bits. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

Discussion: Who are reviews for? Other readers? The authors? Publishers? In the end, I feel like it’s “whoever I damn well say it is”.
WWW Wednesday. The weekly update on what I’m reading, in which I’m reading too much at once (as always).

Out and about:

NEAT science: Do sunbeds cause cancer? I really did see that as a headline in the Daily Mail (sorry, my parents take it). The answer is yes (and I do explain why, if you’ve always wondered!).
Once Upon A Blue Moon: ‘Strange Heroes’. A short story in which a superhero called Flechette saves one woman, which did not go where I expected when I started writing it.

How’s your week been? Any exciting news? Any exciting books?

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Weekly Roundup

Posted August 11, 2018 by Nicky in General / 16 Comments

Good morning! Just a week and a bit until I have the bunnies again — time is flying. In the meantime, here’s the traditional photo of (one of) them…

Breakfast is all about dat bass.

As well as this being my general weekly roundup, I participate in Stacking the Shelves, courtesy of Tynga’s Reviews and Reading Reality, so if you comment here, rest assured I’ll be commenting back!

And here’s this week’s highlights from recent hauls, focusing on the crime/mystery section:

Acquired:

Cover of Weekend at Thrackley by Alan Melville Cover of Quick Curtain by Alan Melville Cover of Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm by Gil North

Cover of The Division Bell Mystery by Ellen Wilkinson Cover of Family Matters by Anthony Rolls Cover of Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon

Cover of Mystery at Olympia by John Rhode Cover of Invisible Weapons by John Rhode Cover of Death at Breakfast by John Rhode

And nope, that’s not the end of my broken-up-into-bits hauls yet. I’ve been lucky lately!

Books finished this week:

Cover of Fury of the Tomb by S.A. Sidor Cover of The Civilization of Angkor by Charles Higham Cover of Swearing is Good For You by Emma Byrne Cover of Dreadful Company by Vivian Shaw

Reviews posted this week:

Have His Carcase, by Dorothy L. Sayers. There are some parts of this which get a little long-winded, but I still can’t help but adore it. 5/5 stars
Subliminal, by Leonard Mlodinow. Nothing new if you’ve been reading around about the brain and the weird ways humans think. 2/5 stars
Strange Practice, by Vivian Shaw. Another beloved reread. I just adore the characters and the way they work together and so much about the world and… yeah. 4/5 stars
The Voices Within, by Charles Fernyhough. A really fascinating discussion of what happens when we think. 4/5 stars
At Amberleaf Fair, by Phyllis Ann Karr. A rather gentle fantasy/mystery/romance with some interesting features in the worldbuilding. 3/5 stars
Fury from the Tomb, by S.A. Sidor. Pulpy fun, but not quite as much fun as I might’ve hoped. 2/5 stars
The Civilization of Angkor, by Charles Higham. A fascinating site, but this is less archaeology and more an extensive study of inscriptions, which comes off a little flat. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

Discussion: The Rites of the Reader. What are your quirky habits surrounding reading?
WWW Wednesday. The weekly update on what I’m reading lately, almost guaranteed to be out of date by the next day at the rate I read and hop around picking up new books!

Out and about:

Once Upon A Blue Moon: ‘Buttercup and Primrose Save The Day’. A short story featuring two determined young women, and a mystery of sorts.
Once Upon A Blue Moon: ‘Take Care’. A creepy short story in second person POV.
NEAT science: Why predators are a good thing. It’s a bit more complicated than the standard story a lot of people know about wolves and Yellowstone, but predators are a key part of food webs.
NEAT science: Blue light danger. There was a somewhat alarming article in the Guardian talking about the damage blue light from screens can do your eyes. I read the source research and dissected things a bit. (Surprise! The newspaper article had some sweeping and so far not fully supported conclusions.)

So how’re you doing? Any good books this week?

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Weekly Roundup

Posted August 4, 2018 by Nicky in General / 12 Comments

G’morning, all! I’m back in the UK. For a few days it was blissfully cool, but the temperatures are climbing again, alas. And in just three weeks (less now), I’ll be bringing our bunnies across the channel with my wife — we’re finally going to be settled here in the UK! Well, me and the bunnies, at least: the wife is following for good a little later.

But for now, of course, there’s the obligatory away-from-bunnies pic. Here’s Breakfast gearing up to come with me, before he was gently evicted, and another pic of him sporting some new bunny fashion… and Hulk, who would really like some banana now, please.

My babies. <3

Anyway, it’s been a busy week, so as I’ve been doing a fair bit lately, I’m going to split this haul into multiple posts. Maybe that will encourage me not to add to it in the meantime. This week’s is the SF/F section (featuring stuff to review from Tor.com as well as books I bought).

(By the way, this weekly post is now the ‘weekly roundup’, though I also participate in Stacking the Shelves, courtesy of Tynga’s Reviews and Reading Reality.)

Acquired:

Cover of Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells Cover of Descent of Monsters by JY Yang Cover of Dreadful Company by Vivian Shaw

Cover of Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse Cover of A Study in Honor by Claire O'Dell Cover of An Unkindness of Ghosts

All of these are pretty exciting, and I’ve been anticipating them for a while, so yay!

Finished reading this week:

 Cover of The Battle of the Sun by Jeanette Winterson Cover of The Z Murders by J. Jefferson Farjeon Cover of Subliminal by Leonard Mlodinow Cover of At Amberleaf Fair by Phyllis Ann Karr

Reviews posted this week:

Crooked Kingdom, by Leigh Bardugo. Found this a bit of a slow starter, but once it picked up the pace — whoa. 4/5 stars
The Battle of the Sun, by Jeanette Winterson. Just really slapdash (at least it felt that way) and disappointing, albeit with some nice turns of phrase. 2/5 stars
The Murder of My Aunt, by Richard Hull. Despicable characters trying to outwit one another. Fun, if not entirely comfortable to spend time with. 3/5 stars
The Zoo, by Isobel Charman. Not totally focused on the founding of the zoo (it gets distracted in a whole chapter about Darwin, who was rather tangential), but mostly interesting stuff. A little too fictionalised for me at times, maybe. 3/5 stars
The Gallows in the Greenwood, by Phyllis Ann Karr. A Robin Hood retelling with a female sheriff, this has a cute if somewhat sudden romance plot and tries to work with the original ballads in an interesting way. 4/5 stars
The Planet Factory, by Elizabeth Tasker. Lots and lots of information, reasonably well presented. Could’ve done with some more diagrams, in my opinion. 3/5 stars
The Invisible Library, by Genevieve Cogman. It’s a madcap mixture of all kinds of things, and that works well for me. There’s mystery, sci-fi, fantasy, folktales, and the kitchen sink as well. It’s incredibly fun. 4/5 stars

Other posts:

Discussion: The Rights of the Reader. Building out of Daniel Pennac’s ten rules, a post about the things that should always be permitted for a reader.
WWW Wednesday. The usual weekly update, in which I’m reading far too much at once.

Out and about: 

Once Upon A Blue Moon: ‘A Mile From The Castle’. A short story set in a fairytale world, but following those outside the story. I’m really proud, actually — Aliette de Bodard tweeted about liking this, Genevieve Cogman liked the tweet where I posted it, and Stephanie Burgis said some really sweet things. (Not to mention the stuff my friends have said, because they’re biased, but also sweet.)
Once Upon A Blue Moon: ‘Message in a Bottle’. Humanity’s been reaching out to the cosmos for a while now. This story is about when someone wants to reach back.
Once Upon a Blue Moon: ‘Mrs Gawain’. If you’ve ever read Carol Ann Duffy’s The World’s Wife collection, this poem was very much inspired by the intent and style of that collection. Dame Ragnelle has her say on the issue of ‘sovereignty’ and what all women really want…
NEAT science: What’s with this heatwave? Answer: global warming. Yes, really, what a shock — but this is one of those longer term effects that we’re now starting to really see.
NEAT science: A crack in creation. What is CRISPR, and why does it look like a good answer to all our gene editing dreams?

As I said, it really has been a busy week! Remember that the titles above are links which will let you jump to a given review (or post, or in the case of the new ‘Out and about’ section, story/poem/etc).

How’s everyone doing?

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted July 28, 2018 by Nicky in General / 10 Comments

Good morning, folks! Here it is mostly far too warm and I am very much hoping that when I travel back to the UK on Tuesday, it’s going to be cooler there. Mind you, I hope it cools down here too, because the bunnies are too warm to even be nuisances, which is always worrying.

Received to review:

Cover of Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley

Read this week:

Cover of Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo Cover of The Zoo by Isobel Charman Cover of The Murder of My Aunt by Richard Hull Cover of The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman

Reviews posted this week:

Hadrian’s Wall, by David Breeze and Brian Dobson. Lots and lots of info, most of which the layperson won’t want to memorise, but interestingly presented. 4/5 stars
Children of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky. A book I enjoyed a great deal, although a good bit of my review is puzzling over the science! 4/5 stars
Human Universe, by Brian Cox and Andrew Cohen. Very much a book by Brian Cox, so it’s quite physics-focused, but more comprehensible to the non-math minded than, say, Universal. 3/5 stars
The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All The Way Home, by Catherynne M. Valente. A lovely end to a lovely series. 4/5 stars
The Henchmen of Zenda, by K.J. Charles. An entertaining rewrite which doesn’t quite rehabilitate the Zenda side of the conflict, but adds some interesting motivations. 3/5 stars
Thirteen Guests, by J. Jefferson Farjeon. I find something really moreish about this author’s books: it’s a shame I only have a couple left to read. Thank goodness the love story in this one is far less creepy, though. 4/5 stars
Gorgon, by Peter D. Ward. Mostly about Ward’s work in the field, rather than actually being about gorgonopsids. Interesting in its way, but not quite what it says it’s going to be. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

Discussion: Rereading. Once more, probably predictably, I argue in favour of reading for fun, whatever that might be, and never letting it turn into work for any reason.
WWW Wednesday. My usual weekly update on what I’m currently reading.
Find me elsewhere. If you feel like checking out my other blogs…

Out and about:

NEAT science: the first giant. Wanna read about one of the earliest giant dinosaurs?
NEAT science: should boys get the HPV vaccine? Spoiler: yes. Obviously.
Once Upon A Blue Moon: ‘How The Story Goes’. A short (very short) story about two men and a woman and a story many of us know very well indeed. If you’re a fan of Arthuriana, this one might just be for you.

So how’s everyone doing? Too warm where you are, or not so bad? Plenty of reading getting done?

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted July 21, 2018 by Nicky in General / 8 Comments

Good morning folks! Today me and the wife are off on a trip to see a friend, but I’ll be dropping by to see people’s weekend posts when I get back. It’s been a quiet week… except, you know, the bit where I got my exam results. A distinction and a grade 2 pass — in other words, I kicked butt.

In the meantime, here’s two new books I got using the credit from a Kobo Price Match (if you use Kobo and didn’t know about Price Match, when Amazon seriously beats Kobo’s prices, definitely consider asking them to price match!).

Books bought:

Cover of Spectred Isle by K.J. Charles Cover of A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White

Books read this week:

Cover of The Voices Within by Charles Fernyhough Cover of Murder of a Lady by Anthony Wynne Cover of The Henchmen of Zenda by KJ Charles Cover of Human Universe by Brian Cox

Cover of The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman  Cover of Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers Cover of The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman

Reviews posted this week:

Hannah Green and Her Unfeasibly Mundane Existence, by Michael Marshall Smith. I wanted a lot more from this, really; there’s just something off about it, like it doesn’t know what it wants to be. 3/5 stars
Scarweather, by Anthony Rolls. Atmospheric and rather creepy, and I think I enjoyed it more just reading it than I do thinking it over afterwards. Then it gets rather threadbare — and also tropey. 2/5 stars
The Boy Who Lost Fairyland, by Catherynne M. Valente. Very clever, if perhaps a little repetitive of the previous books — intentionally so, but nonetheless, when you’ve read the others recently it’s very obvious. Fun, as always, though. 4/5 stars
Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life, by Nick Lane. Good on both mitochondria themselves and what they mean in terms of the origin of life. 5/5 stars
The Deep, by John Crowley. I kind of… don’t get it. I mean, I get the story, but I don’t get why it’s a Masterwork. 2/5 stars
The Notting Hill Mystery, by Charles Warren Adams. Fairly typical, and mostly of interest if you’re interested in the classics of the Golden Age (and before, since this was a first) in a more academic sense, I think. 2/5 stars

Other posts:

Discussion: Book Fandom Friends. Sometimes we’re all so close it’s like we know each other, and then you remember you haven’t a clue about the basics of someone’s life.
WWW Wednesday. The usual update!

So how’re you? How’s your week been? Got any plans for the weekend?

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted July 14, 2018 by Nicky in Reviews / 10 Comments

Time for the other half of my haul from the Hague! Shoutout again to the American Book Center and Stanza Bookshop for being amazing and friendly. This time it’s the SF/F books, so let’s have at it. Note: the bunnies bought me a couple of these.

Books acquired:

Cover of Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky Cover of The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn by Tyler Whitesides Cover of The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal Cover of The Ember Blade by Chris Wooding

Cover of The Genius Plague by David Walton Cover of Medusa Uploaded by Emily Devenport Cover of Noumenon by Marina J. Lostetter

Cover of Circe by Madeline Miller Cover of The Summer Dragon by Todd Lockwood

Extra shoutout to the bookseller who made sure there was a copy of The Calculating Stars for me. <3

Books read this week:

Cover of Gorgon by Peter D Ward Cover of An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows Cover of The Planet Factory by Elizabeth Tasker Cover of Thirteen Guests by J. Jefferson Farjohn Cover of Children of Time by Adrian Tchiakovsky

Reviews posted this week:

Death in the Tunnel, by Miles Burton. A fun and clever mystery; I can’t put my finger on quite why it worked so well for me, but it really did. 4/5 stars
Amazons, by John Man. A bit of a broader book that it sounds just from the main title alone, I found this a fascinating and surprisingly quick read. 4/5 stars
The Castlemaine Murders, by Kerry Greenwood. The usual sort of Phryne book, fun enough but not exceptional. 3/5 stars
The Prisoner of Zenda, by Anthony Hope. A good adventure story, not too hobbled by being a classic. 3/5 stars
The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this, and also which parts of the book I found more interesting. It reads like fiction at times, almost. 5/5 stars
An Accident of Stars, by Foz Meadows. There’s a lot about this that I did enjoy, but… I don’t know. I might rate it higher once I’ve read the second book and I can see it as a whole. 3/5 stars
Rubicon, by Tom Holland. Less about Caesar than you might expect, and more broadly about the end of the Republic. Pretty enjoyable overall. 4/5 stars

Other posts:

Discussion: Diversity. The perennial question in book fandom these days.
Top Ten Tuesday: Best Books So Far This Year. What it says on the tin!
WWW Wednesday. The usual weekly update on what’s on my plate.

So what’s everyone been up to? Good hauls? Quiet week? Horrible warmth and drought like here?

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted July 7, 2018 by Nicky in General / 14 Comments

Hello, folks! Once more, I’m out and about this weekend — time to go spend a day with my grandparents-in-law, but before I go, here’s the haul from last week’s paper (two year) wedding anniversary trip. Shoutout to both the American Book Center and Stanza Bookshop in the Hague for being lovely. <3

Oh, and here’s Breakfast reacting to the full haul (I’m splitting it in two to post!).

And let’s get to it!

Non-fiction:

Cover of Wonderful Things Cover of From Bacteria to Bach and Back by Daniel C Dennett Cover of The Broken Spears Cover of The Planet Factory by Elizabeth Tasker

A bit broad in scope, as ever. I’d been looking for something on the Aztecs especially, so I’m glad I found that!

Misc:

Cover of The Murder of My Aunt by Richard Hull Cover of The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith Cover of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

All a bit classic. I’ve been meaning to reread Rebecca, and my wife picked it up for me mostly because the owner of Stanza Bookshop is so lovely.

Received to review:

Cover of The Dreaming Stars by Tim Pratt Cover of City of Broken Magic by Mirah Bolender Cover of Hidden Sun by Jaine Fenn

Thank you, Angry Robot! And Tor. I need to get to reading my ARCs!

Books read this week:

Cover of Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine Cover of The Deep by John Crowley Cover of The Notting Hill Mystery by Charles Warren Adams

Cover of The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson Cover of The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope 

Reviews posted this week:

Foundryside, by Robert Jackson Bennett. A lot of fun, with a heck of an ending. 5/5 stars
Madam, Will You Talk? by Mary Stewart. I keep coming back to this, and I think part of it is the mature view of love the characters have. It’s just… lovely, even if other parts of the novel are decidedly not. 4/5 stars
Immune, by Catherine Carver. A good rundown of the immune system, at a fairly basic level. 3/5 stars
Sleeping Giants, by Sylvain Neuvel. A reread to get back in the swing of things. So many little things I’d forgotten! 5/5 stars
The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two, by Catherynne Valente. Another lovely entry in the series. 4/5 stars
The Ruby in the Smoke, by Philip Pullman. A fun reread for me, and Sally is still awesome. 3/5 stars
Almost Human, by Lee Berger and John Hawks. A really fascinating account of finding hominin remains and what they might mean. 4/5 stars

Other posts:

Discussion: Deciding What To Read. What it says on the tin. Are you lister, or a random grabber?
WWW Wednesday. The weekly update on what I’m reading.

Whew! That’s that. How’s everyone doing? What’ve you been reading or stacking onto your overflowing shelves?

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted June 30, 2018 by Nicky in General / 12 Comments

Hi all! This would actually be an Unstacking week if I weren’t still highlighting my purchases from when me and my sister went on a post-exam shopping spree. But fear not… today is me and my wife’s trip to the Hague (including a book museum and the excellent American Book Center), so I’m pretty sure I’ll have new books next week. Today’s batch showcases the non-fiction books I grabbed during that shopping trip with my sister, though.

Other than that, it’s been a quiet reading week because a) I’ve decided to write my entire dissertation in a week, no pressure, and b) I have the attention span of a gna

Bought:

Cover of Prehistory by Colin Renfrew Cover of Genghis Khan by John Man Cover of  A Lab of One's Own

Cover of How the Irish Saved Civilisation

Bit of an odd mix, perhaps…

Read this week:

 Cover of Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

Reviewed this week:

Kin, by John Ingraham. Not well edited, moderately interesting, but really I’d rather read Nick Lane’s work. 3/5 stars
The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, by Catherynne M. Valente. Enormous fun, as always, though I missed Ell and Saturday. 4/5 stars
Deadline, by Mira Grant. I don’t 100% love Shaun as the main character/narrator, but there’s still a lot of awesome stuff going on, and I enjoy the greater focus on epidemiology. 4/5 stars
Mystery in the Channel, by Freeman Wills Croft. Solid writing and I did kind of get into the plot — enough to be disappointed that the mystery wasn’t solved the way I wanted. 4/5 stars
Science and the City, by Laurie Winkless. Just… not my thing at all. 2/5 stars
The Black God’s Drums, by P. Djeli Clark. A lot of fun, and there’s badass nuns. 4/5 stars

Other posts:

Discussion: Hugo for Best Series. Pondering on how that award works (and doesn’t).
WWW Wednesday. The usual weekly update on what I’m currently reading and what might be up next.

So how’s your week been? Been doing anything exciting?

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted June 23, 2018 by Nicky in General / 12 Comments

Good morning, folks! It’s time for another installment of my post-exam book binge. This time, it’s the British Library Crime Classics edition. (Yep, I am addicted to these.)

Bought:

Cover of Murder Underground by Mavis Doriel Hay Cover of Death of an Airman by Christopher St John Sprigg Cover of Scarweather by Anthony Rolls 

Cover of Murder of a Lady by Anthony Wynne Cover of The Notting Hill Mystery by Charles Warren Adams

Books read this week:

Cover of The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home by Catherynne Valente Cover of Scarweather by Anthony Rolls  Cover of Deadline by Mira Grant Cover of The Black God's Drums

Reviews posted this week:

The Secret of High Eldersham, by Miles Burton. Okay, the plot is bananas, but it’s a really compulsive read. 4/5 stars
The Templars, by Piers Paul Read. Not just about the Templars, but about the Crusades more broadly. 3/5 stars
Howl’s Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones. A favourite reread. <3 5/5 stars
A Quick and Easy Guide to Using They/Them Pronouns, by Archie Bongiovanni & Tristan Jimerson. Pretty good, but not perfect. 4/5 stars
A Little History of Archaeology, by Brian Fagan. Not quite everything I wanted, but fun enough and informative, if a little scatter-brained. 3/5 stars
Feed, by Mira Grant. A reread to let me get back into the trilogy and finish it this time, and it was great fun. 4/5 stars
Planetfall, by Emma Newman. Another reread, this one because I want to read the new book in the same world. Remains a great read, and I think I liked it more this time. 4/5 stars

Other posts:

Discussion: Interacting with Authors. Advice for both authors and bloggers…
Top Ten Tuesday: Summer TBR. What I might be reading this summer.
WWW Wednesday. The usual update!

So what’ve you been reading? What have you been stacking your shelves with? I want to know!

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