Good morning, all! I hope you had a good festive season, whatever you celebrate — or a nice week, if you don’t celebrate! I certainly did, and I’ve got a heck of a haul to share with you guys.
New fiction
I’ve been looking forward to some of these for quite a while, so I’m excited!
New non-fiction
Quite a stack, on all kinds of topics — but that’s me all over.
Comics
I’m interested to see what the new run of Captain Marvel is like! I did not like the direction they went with her for Civil War II etc, but this is a new volume one…
Books read this week:
Yeesh, I need to fit in some more fiction sometime soon!
It’s nearly Christmas! I’m so excited to give my family their presents, I might explode! I’ve done a better job of keeping secrets than I normally do, at least… How’s everyone doing? Are you celebrating Christmas or an equivalent holiday, or is it just an ordinary day/week/month for you? Whatever it is, I wish you safe, happy and warm.
Like our bunnies, safely at the bunny hotel without us. But since we’re apart, here’s a picture of the two of them cuddling, last week.
New books
Perhaps a slightly odd combination… but I’m looking forward to all three.
Hello everyone! It’s been a long week, but it’s better than last week. I have my money back from Paypal, for one… Busy week ahead too; I’ve got an assignment due, and me and my wife are travelling to the UK (from Belgium) to spend Christmas with my parents. So much to do!
Received to review
Yay, Ursula Le Guin! I didn’t really expect to be approved for this, so I’m happy. Must read it stat, of course. The other one sounded intriguing from the summary, so we’ll see how that goes…
Books read this week
Not a very productive week, reading-wise! Oops. All of these get four stars, though!
Books reviewed this week:
–Abaddon’s Gate, by James S.A. Corey. If you’re enjoying the series at this point, this is more of the same… with some especially big implications towards the end. 4/5 stars –Swordspoint, by Ellen Kushner. Preferred this on rereading to how I felt about it as a teen — I think I expected more straightforward romance back then. But this time I just found it a delightful melodrama of manners, as advertised. 4/5 stars –The Stars are Legions, by Kameron Hurley. So. Weird. I think I prefer Hurley’s non-fiction, even though I think she’s very inventive and her writing is good. 3/5 stars –What On Earth Evolved… In Brief, by Christopher Lloyd. Interesting to dip into, though not terribly surprising for me. 3/5 stars –The Horns of Ruin, by Tim Akers. There’s some fun stuff going on with the worldbuilding, but it feels like reading an action videogame — it’s all go! 3/5 stars –Strange Practice, by Vivian Shaw. I didn’t see this around much, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I actually found it a lot of fun, and I’m excited for the next book. 4/5 stars –The Godless, by Ben Peek. I found the world really interesting, again, but I didn’t get into the characters or plot, somehow. I’m not sure I’ll bother reading the sequels. 3/5 stars
Good morning, folks! It hasn’t been the greatest week for me, since a scammer of some sort took over my Ebay account and spent most of my money. But I’ve tried to keep my mood up by finally spending a couple of Amazon vouchers I’d been saving, and reading whatever I felt like instead of sticking to a firm rule.
Books bought:
A bit of a random assemblage, I know!
Books read this week:
Four stars: Herding Cats, Suspicious Minds, Three Stones Make A Wall, The Statues that Walked. Three stars: Dark Sky.
Reviews posted this week:
–Camelot’s Sword, by Sarah Zettel. Not my favourite of the series, but still a great trip into the Arthurian world. 4/5 stars –The Essex Serpent, by Sarah Perry. There were aspects of this that were really strong, but sometimes the style of the narration just got on my nerves and was way too dry. 3/5 stars –The Hidden Life of Trees, by Peter Wohlleben. A good casual read, but I felt it was very much pitched at the layperson and that sometimes Wohlleben was a little overenthusiastic about how he interpreted facts. 3/5 stars –The Gracekeepers, by Kirsty Logan. I really just wanted more from this — the world just felt bland and one-dimensional. 3/5 stars –The Dragonbone Chair, by Tad Williams. A reread for me, and one which I found surprising in a few ways — sometimes in how frustrated I was with the characters, sometimes in how the plot went because I really didn’t remember it! Overall, still solid epic fantasy, though. 4/5 stars –Cleopatra’s Heir, by Gillian Bradshaw. A fascinating version of Egypt just after Cleopatra’s death, and an interesting character study of a historical figure we don’t know much about. 4/5 stars –Castles: Their History and Evolution in Medieval Britain, by Marc Morris. Highly enjoyable, and informative without being exhaustive. 5/5 stars
Other posts:
–WWW Wednesday. The latest and greatest on my TBR list this week.
Good morning, folks! Yesterday I was at Boekenfestijn in Mechelen, which was fun, though a little disappointing in terms of the English language selection (but you know, I didn’t expect tons). So I have one new book and one to review.
New to the shelves
I’ve been meaning to read The Cold Between for ages, so I’m glad I found it at Boekenfestijn. And I’ve been meaning to try Redick’s work, too, so that works out well too!
Read this week
Four stars: Strange Practice, Raven Stratagem, Wonderful Life. Three stars: The Godless.
Reviews posted this week:
–Provenance, by Ann Leckie. This is quite different to the Imperial Radch books, though set in the same world, and there’s so much I enjoyed about it that I can’t even begin here. 4/5 stars –The Great Influenza, by John M. Barry.Very much enjoyed this one, and if you think you know influenza, well… read on. 5/5 stars –The Silver Wind, by Nina Allan. An interesting novella, though I didn’t like it as much as I liked Spin. 3/5 stars –Summerlong, by Peter S. Beagle. This was not my thing, partly because I loved the couple at the beginning and just Did Not Want that ending. 3/5 stars –Goldilocks and the Water Bears, by Louisa Preston. Should win all the internets for the title alone, but it turned out to be more general than I’d hoped. 3/5 stars –Futureland, by Walter Mosley. Some powerful stories, but it didn’t seem like my thing overall. 3/5 stars –Pantomime, by Laura Lam. I tore through this and enjoyed it a lot… apart from one little quibble. 4/5 stars
Other posts:
–WWW Wednesday.What I’m currently reading, what I might read next, the usual stuff.
What’re you reading? What have you got your hands on this week? Definitely share your links, and I’ll visit back as soon as I can!
Good morning, folks! As I write this, I’m about to take the little mister to the vet for what might be a fungal infection, so you get an adorable picture of him with my ereader — which he somehow turned on while I was out of the room…
“Yes? You are disturbing my reading.”
Update: it is not a fungal infection. He’s just an idiot.
New books
Got these through being a patron of Ursula Vernon’s on Patreon! Woo.
Read this week
Four stars: The Dragonbone Chair, Swordspoint.
Three stars: The Stars are Legion, Locust, The Horns of Ruin, Imagining Head-Smashed-In.
Good morning, folks! It’s been a busy week around here with assignments and such, but I managed to get very good marks in my Infectious Diseases class, so I’m super pleased.
News
You may have noticed, if you’re a follower of this blog, that I now have Amazon and Book Depository affiliate links — general ones in my sidebar, and specific ones on each book. If you’re not in the US or the UK, my affiliate links should redirect to the same book on your local site if you’re in Germany, France, Italy, Spain or Canada. At this point I’m not planning on enabling ads or anything like that, and there’ll be nothing more intrusive or obvious than the affiliate links I’ve just implemented.
I 100% understand anyone who doesn’t want to use Amazon and Amazon-owned companies to buy books, but if you do and you use my affiliate links, I get a 5% commission on whatever you order. I plan to put any money I earn back into this blog, either through buying books to review or just by using it to keep my URL and pay for WordPress plug-ins or whatever. If it doesn’t work out, well, never mind! If it does, I get a little back for the amount of time I put into this blog.
Bunnies
If you sat through that, you deserve a treat, so here’s a bunny picture even though I’m with them at the moment!
Whaddya mean you can see me?
New books
Looking forward to reading more of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s work! And I couldn’t resist the cover of Blood Binds the Pack, though I still need to read the first book…
Books read this week
Five stars: Castles. Four stars: Pantomime, Abaddon’s Gate, Cleopatra’s Heir and Camelot’s Sword. Three stars: The Viral Storm, The Essex Serpent.
I have all of one book to feature this week, and it’s not even one I bought! Yep, I passed through London and did not buy a book ‘for the road’ (for the Eurostar), and now I’m back in Belgium where the chocolate is good and the books are expensive.
Received to review:
I quite enjoyed The Darkest Part of the Forest, as I recall, so I’m interested to follow Holly Black’s new foray into Faerie.
Read this week:
Four stars: Zika: The Emerging Epidemic. Three stars: Goldilocks and the Water Bears, The Earth After Us, Summerlong and Futureland.
Absolutely no new books this week, which means this is officially an UNstacking the Shelves week! For those who haven’t been around for that before, it’s a week where I showcase the books I’ve cleared from my shelves — I’ve just read ’em all, so please don’t tell me to enjoy them or I’ll know you haven’t read my post at all, and I’ll be sad!
First, this is my last weekend away from the bunnies for a while, so have two photos to celebrate!
Cuddle time!
Reading the paper over dinner
Books read this week:
Four stars to: Provenance,Friday’sChild and The Gracekeepers. Three stars to: What On Earth Evolved? … In Brief? and The Silver Wind. Two stars to: The Other Log of Phileas Fogg and The Rabbit Back Literature Society.
Reviews posted this week:
–Caliban’s War, by James S.A. Corey.I enjoyed several of the new characters for this installment, while also getting a bit frustrated with the main character of the series and his crew. I’m still intrigued. 4/5 stars –Snowdrift and Other Stories, by Georgette Heyer.Probably not where I’d start with Heyer, but an enjoyable set of stories with her usual comic touches. 4/5 stars –Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, by Carlo Rovelli.Rovelli’s really good at getting across big ideas in simple language and a short space, though of course he doesn’t go into depth. 3/5 stars –Kitty and the Midnight Hour, by Carrie Vaughn.There was some stuff I wanted to enjoy about this, but it was overshadowed by the character interactions. Probably a personal reaction, though. 2/5 stars –The Bonobo and the Atheist, by Frans de Waal.Fascinating stuff about the species most closely related to humans. 4/5 stars –A is for Arsenic, by Kathryn Harkup.Fascinating stuff about the chemistry of poisons as well as how Agatha Christie used poison in her mysteries. 4/5 stars –The Servants, by Michael Marshall Smith.It felt like this didn’t quite know what it wanted to be. I didn’t love it and I don’t know who I’d recommend it to, even though I found it interesting enough to read all the way through. 2/5 stars
Other posts:
–WWW Wednesday:What’s on my currently-reading stack, and what’s coming up next.
Hey all! It’s been a fairly quiet week, seeing my family, playing video games, reading… Hurrah for exactly that kind of week. And here’s Breakfast relaxing to go with it…
Received to review:
Just last week I read the first one and complained I didn’t have the sequel right away. Hurrah, now I do!
Bought:
I probably love reading about diseases a little too much.
I also got a whole suitcase full of books from Bastian’s Book Reviews, but while they’re all awesome, I’m not adding them to my cataloguing right now.
