Good morning, folks! Here’s the second part of the great Calgary book haul, featuring all the fantasy books I got! Plus some more review copies, of course.

Bought:

 

 

Quite a few from my backlog of wishlist, there! Looks like it’s gonna be fun.

Received to review:

I’ve been meaning to read Annie On My Mind forever, so yay for getting that. Well, yay to all of them (and thank you to the publishers/publicists).

Read this week:

 

It hasn’t been a reading week, really, as you can see — I’ve been focusing on replaying Final Fantasy VIII with my wife, which is a different sort of fun!

Reviews posted this week:

–Harkworth Hall, by L.S. Johnson. I have a couple of minor quibbles, but I was pretty hooked all the same. 4/5 stars
–The Deeper Genome, by John Parrington. It starts off simple, but it does start delving into stuff I wasn’t very familiar with. Definitely worth reading. 4/5 stars
–The Ghoul King, by Guy Haley. Quinn intrigues me, even though he isn’t outwardly the best person. I need moooore. 4/5 stars
–The Button Box, by Lynn Knight. A lovely survey of women’s fashion through the medium of the family button box. 4/5 stars
–Defy, by Sara B. Larson. The main character is a girl disguised as a boy. Everyone seems to know her secret, though. Meh. 2/5 stars
–The Emerald Planet, by David Beerling. I didn’t expect to love this, but I really did — it’s fascinating stuff. 5/5 stars
–Assassin’s Apprentice, by Robin Hobb. This is a reread, and I’m relieved that I still loved it. 4/5 stars

Other posts:

–WWW Wednesday. What I’m reading right now (or as of Wednesday, anyway).

How’s everyone?

Hey everyone! I’m back! And now I have to actually account for my hauls, erk. I’m gonna split it up into two posts, because, um, yeah. So look out next week for my fantasy haul!

Received to review:

 

Quite a bunch, right? I was really excited about most of these, and I’m so glad I got approved for them!

Crime/mystery bought

I’ve been meaning to read these for a while. I have high hopes of the Daisy Dalrymple books being my new Phryne-like fix…

Sci-fi bought

I’ve been meaning to read all three of these entirely different novels for ages, so… here goes?

Non-fiction bought

Bit of a mix, as per usual! I was glad to find something like Imagining Head-Smashed-In when I visited Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, because I would like to read more about First Nations people, and this was at least praised by modern First Nations people.

LGBT bought

I read An Unsuitable Heir while I was away, and decided I really needed to read more by K.J. Charles. Here’s hoping they all match up in quality!

Read this week:

   

 

Reviews posted this week:

–Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris. I enjoy Harris’ work for light reading, but just don’t get along with Sookie. 1/5 stars
–Outer Space, Inner Lands, by Ursula Le Guin. It’s Ursula Le Guin’s SF short fiction. ’nuff said. 5/5 stars
–Camelot’s Honour, by Sarah Zettel. A beloved reread that winds together the Arthurian story and the non-Arthurian bits of the Mabinogion. 4/5 stars
–One Renegade Cell, by Robert Weinberg. At one point, this was the state of the art in describing and understanding cancer. It’s still pretty helpful. 3/5 stars
–Magic Shifts, by Ilona Andrews. As usual, a fun entry to the series. 4/5 stars
–An Unsuitable Heir, by K.J. Charles. A lovely romance/mystery I enjoyed on a lot of levels. 4/5 stars
–Fowl Language: The Struggle is Real, by Brian Gordon. Collection of a fun comic. 4/5 stars

Other posts:

–WWW Wednesday: What I’m reading at the moment!

This is the second of my scheduled way-in-advance posts, so it’s not the most up to date, but next week I’ll be back with your regularly scheduled update. I don’t have a new bunny picture to share, since the buns are off at the babysitter’s, but here’s an older one of Hulk begging to be pet, and one of Breakfast cleaning his face!

How have I deserved such cute buns?

Books bought this week:

Again, just a tiny selection from a rather larger haul. Calgary’s bookshops probably fear me, by now.

Books read this week:

 

Not much reading this week, given roadtrips and such!

Reviews posted this week:

–Acadie, by Dave Hutchinson. I was along for the ride, nodding at the fairly predictable beats — and then wham, the ending jacked it up a star. 4/5 stars
–Why Dinosaurs Matter, by Kenneth Lacovara. Nothing much new if you know your dinosaurs, but interesting all the same. 3/5 stars
–The Shadowy Horses, by Susanna Kearsley. Give me moooore of the archaeology, less of the ghost story! 3/5 stars
–Hengeworld, by Mike Pitts. Fascinating discussion of the mythic landscape of Paleolithic Britain, although I don’t always agree with Pitts’ assessments. Lots of depth on the archaeological digs and so on. 3/5 stars
–The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin. …I don’t get the fuss, sorry. 2/5 stars
–A Closed and Common Orbit, by Becky Chambers. More insular and intimate than the first book, this feels less easily resolved too. I enjoyed it a lot, and it can stand alone if you’re interested. 4/5 stars
–The Making of the Fittest, by Sean B. Carroll. Basically looks at the “forensic record” of evolution encoded in DNA. Interesting enough, especially if you’re looking for examples to cite… 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–WWW Wednesday. The update on what I’m reading and what I might read next.

I know I’ve been away, but I’ll be back soon after this goes up, so let me know how you’re all doing!

Hello from Calgary!

This post was mostly written in advance, so sorry if I don’t manage to comment back to you! Here’s the obligatory away-from-bunnies bunny pic — some cuddles with Breakfast a couple of days before we set off.

Books bought in Calgary:

This is just a taster, because jetlag has hit me hard and I can’t focus beyond the next ten minutes involving my pajamas.

Most of these I’ve had before, but review copies… I felt guilty, okay?

Books read this week:

   

I should come up with ratings for these, but honestly I’m this close to falling asleep in the middle of zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….

Reviews posted this week:

–Buffalo Soldier, by Maurice Broaddus. I feel like I’d have appreciated this more if I knew US history better, but it’s fascinating all the same. 3/5 stars
–A Crack in Creation, by Jennifer Doudna and Sam Sternberg. A timely exploration of the latest in gene editing — something I’d love to work on. 5/5 stars
–15 Million Degrees, by Lucie Green. Solar physics might not be quite my thing, but Green’s sense of wonder definitely came across. 3/5 stars
–Leviathan Wakes, by James S.A. Corey. I enjoyed this a lot, and had to get the next book. It has its flaws (some more female characters, please?), but in general it worked for me. 4/5 stars
–The Trouble with Physics, by Lee Smolin. Understand string theory? It’s okay, Smolin points out that nobody does. This book got me as close as I’ve ever been to understanding it, though. 4/5 stars
–Starborn, by Lucy Hounsom. I found a few aspects of this problematic, and I’m not gonna read the rest of the series. 2/5 stars
–False Colours, by Georgette Heyer. It’s fun — as you’d expect from Heyer. 3/5 stars

I am back with the wife and the bunnies! And soon I’m off to Canada. I don’t know how much I’ll be around there, so there may not be a weekly roundup/STS post, but I have reviews scheduled to go up as usual.

Received to review:

Yay! I only recently read Spellslinger, so I was glad to get this now.

Birthday presents:

 

I actually got almost the full set of Peter Wimsey books in these new editions like Striding Folly, all matching, but I’m not listing them as new books because there’s so many, and because I’ve read most of them many a time!

As you see, it’s quite a mix. I picked all of them myself, so I can’t blame anyone else’s weird taste…

Books I bought:

 

I swear, there were sales.

I’d say this is my last acquisition for a while, but I specifically saved up some money for a little book spree while visiting the in-laws in Calgary…

Books read this week:

 

   

Four stars to… pretty much all of these. Three stars to Mask of Shadows, though.

Reviews posted this week:

–Life on the Edge, by Johnjoe McFadden and Jim Al-Khalili. The idea of quantum biology scares me a little, since I’d rather keep quantum out of biology… but this book makes it seem pretty manageable. 4/5 stars
–The Vaccine Race, by Meredith Wadman. A lot of stuff I didn’t know about the development of vaccines! 4/5 stars
–Just Six Numbers, by Martin Rees. A bit out of date now, but still worth a read and pretty clear for someone not in the field. 3/5 stars
–Mapping the Interior, by Stephen Graham Jones. Creepy stuff, and I’m not entirely sure what to make of it, but it’s definitely effective. 3/5 stars
–Babylon, by Paul Kriwaczek. What is it about books about Mesopotamia that they fall prey to total lack of sourcing…? 1/5 stars
–The Fire’s Stone, by Tanya Huff. A reread, and it’s still fun. 4/5 stars
–A Pocketful of Crows, by Joanne Harris. Weaves together a whole bunch of interesting stories into a whole. 4/5 stars

Other posts:

–WWW Wednesday. The usual update.
–Experiment results: My mood does correlate with how much I read! Nobody who reads my book blog is surprised, but hey, here’s the results of the little study I did on myself over on my science blog. Plus bonus maths! Now doesn’t that sound tempting?

Good morning! Tomorrow is my birthday, so I’m getting a couple more books then… but after that, I swear I’m toning down my hauls for a while.

Since I’m still at my parents’, here’s a bunny pic! Yes, this is Hulk. Yes, that’s her bag of hay — the one we use to replenish her ball of hay, which is the hay she’s actually meant to eat.

Sigh.

Bought:

Ah, Waterstones, I missed you.

Received to review:

Yaaaay! I love Jo Walton’s work, so I am excited for this. I’ve also been eyeing An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors for a while, so I’m excited to get to that, too.

Read this week:

   

    

Five stars to: The Carpet Makers.
Four stars to: The Ghoul King, The Button Box, The Hammer and the Cross, Machiavelli, Assassin’s Apprentice.
Two stars to: Defy, Lamb, The Warrior Princess.

Reviews posted this week:

–The Martian, by Andy Weir. Still a lot of fun on a reread. Such snark! 4/5 stars
–The Spellslinger, by Sebastien de Castell. This is a fun coming of age story that doesn’t go the typical, easy way of fantasy novels that feature misfits who can’t use their magic. 4/5 stars
–Wicked Plants, by Amy Stewart. More for flicking through than reading exhaustively. 3/5 stars
–The Real Lives of Roman Britain, by Guy de la Bedoyere. A good attempt at bringing the Britons of Roman Britain alive. It falls a little short for me, because we have so little information. 3/5 stars
–American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. A reread I thoroughly enjoyed, although aspects seem a bit too… obvious to me now. 4/5 stars
–Clouds of Witness, by Dorothy L. Sayers. Another reread of a favourite. 4/5 stars
–The Glass Magician, by Charlie N. Holmberg. Ceony drives me a bit mad, but overall I still had fun. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday. My last regular Top Ten Tuesday post, this features a top ten of past top ten posts.

How are you doing?

Good morning! I’m in the UK again, visiting my parents for my birthday, so I’d better go with the tradition — here’s a pic of one of the buns which my wife sent me! Here Breakfast is somewhere he shouldn’t be, looking very curious…

So, right, the haul. Here goes…

Received to review:

 

I asked for Harkworth Hall after reading Bob @ Beauty in Ruins’ review, and it was worth it! Swearing Off Stars was a random grab, while I got Fowl Language because I’ve loved the cartoons from Brian Gordon’s series that I’ve seen around.

Fiction books bought:

 

I know, I know, it’s an amazing haul. Woohoo for the American Book Centre in Amsterdam — definitely recommended: great deals on books, a good selection, and friendly staff. 10% off for students, too! A bunch of these were just €6.99, which is amazingly cheap for imported books in Europe.

Non-fiction books bought:

 

 

I was initially going to complain that I wanted more non-fiction books, but I let myself buy a few more as I passed through London, and now I have quite the satisfactory haul!

Books read this week: 

    

Four stars to: Hengeworld, Catching Breath, Harkworth Hall.
Three stars to: Fowl Language.
One star to: The Secret History of the World.

Reviews posted this week:

–Star-shot, by Mary Ann Constantin. This wasn’t quite my thing, but I was still impressed by the way it was written and some of the fascinating images. 3/5 stars
–Machine, by Jennifer Pelland. This left me with pretty mixed feelings. It’s a powerful story, but also disturbing. 3/5 stars
–Ancillary Mercy, by Ann Leckie. I want more, but this is still a great book. 5/5 stars
–The Refrigerator Monologues, by Catherynne Valente. Very fun, although also depressing. 4/5 stars
–Life Unfolding, by Jamie T. Davies. A really fascinating exploration of how the human body develops. 4/5 stars
–The Paper Magician, by Charlie N. Holmberg. This is a bag of cotton candy as far as my brain is concerned. Sweet and some fascinating magic. 3/5 stars
–Incognito, by David Eagleman. Very readable, but it won’t contain any surprises if you’ve read other pop-sci about the brain and its weird ways before. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Was Forced To Read (And Loved).
–WWW Wednesday. The weekly update!
–The Reading Quest. My sign-up for a new readathon.

Good morning, folks! Today I’m off to Amsterdam with my wife to celebrate our paper wedding anniversary in bookshops. Hurrah! To celebrate the one-year anniversary of our wedding (and the 12th anniversary of being together), here are a couple of our wedding pics! Click to embiggen, if you’re so inclined.

And now, back to books.

Bought:

I needed Caliban’s War for a book club read, and A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived was on sale on the Kindle store for 99p!

Received to review:

A lucky week, though I’m still sad I didn’t get approved for Provenance or Into the Drowning Deep on Edelweiss!

Books read this week:

 

 

Reviews posted this week:

–Unnatural, by Philip Ball. This is billed as popular science, but honestly it’s as much lit-crit as it is science. Interesting topic, of course, but… 3/5 stars
–Nova, by Samuel R. Delany. I wasn’t as big a fan as I hoped I was going to be. I feel like a bad SF fan. 3/5 stars
–Personality, by Daniel Nettle. Landmark science this is not, but it is interesting enough. 3/5 stars
–Reality 36, Guy Haley. Not characters I want to hang out with. 1/5 stars
–Caesar’s Last Breath, by Sam Kean. Not as entertaining as his book on neurology, but still interesting. 3/5 stars
–Killing is My Business, by Adam Christopher. Another entertaining entry in this series — and I want to know where it’s going next! 4/5 stars
–Genomes and What To Make of Them, by Barry Barnes and John Dupré. Somewhat out of date now, and probably not worth picking up. 2/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Bookshops I Have Loved. More or less as you’d expect, though you might not expect that bookshops in Dublin, Ireland and Calgary, Canada are on the same list…
–WWW Wednesday. This week’s update on what I’m reading.

Good morning, folks! Today I’m off to spend the day with my grandparents-in-law until evening, so I might not comment (or comment back) until tomorrow. It’s been a quiet week, really; I worked on reading some difficult stuff, so I haven’t finished nearly as many books as I’d like. As for new books, well… just one ARC, and a quiet week ahead too, I think. But next weekend is my paper wedding anniversary, and we’re celebrating in style by going to Amsterdam to browse their bookshops, so that might well be a busy week for books!

Received to review:

I was going to pass on this one, until I realised that the warrior princess in question is Welsh, and this is set in Wales! You have my attention, sir!

Finished reading this week:

   

Four stars: Mapping the Interior, The Trouble With Physics, Life on the Edge, American Gods (reread).

Reviews posted this week:

–Ancillary Sword, by Ann Leckie. I appreciated this one more on a reread, just like the first book. A really great trilogy, and this middle book doesn’t disappoint. 5/5 stars
–Bloodshot, by Cherie Priest. I didn’t love this as much as I remembered, but there’s still so much awesome about it. 4/5 stars
–The City of Dreaming Books, by Walter Moers. So much to love about this, particularly the way it bursts at the seams with inventiveness and love of books. 4/5 stars
–Journey to the Centre of the Earth, by David Whitehouse. Not my favourite area of science, but still an interesting diversion. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Pet Peeves About Blogging. Featuring: why do I get spammed with my own copy?!
–WWW Wednesday. The update on what I’m reading, what I’ve just read, and what I’m going to read.

So how’re you all doing?

Good morning! It’s been a week already?! I got my exam results this week — I’ve passed everything, and I even got a distinction in Human Biology. No books for rewards so far, though my birthday presents have been ordered — I’m getting all the re-issues of the Peter Wimsey books, with the snazzy new covers. There’s only one where I haven’t been able to get the new cover, and I have found one that at least matches. Woo!

Received to review:

Yay! I didn’t think I’d be approved for A Pocketful of Crows. It sounds like it’s something different for Joanne Harris, which will be nice.

Read this week:

   

  

Not as good a reading week as last week, but not too shabby either!

Five stars: A Crack in Creation.
Four stars: Life Unfolding, Spellslinger, The Glass Magician, Clouds of Witness, A Pocketful of Crows.
Three stars: Just Six Numbers, False Colours.
Undecided: Buffalo Soldier.

Reviews posted this week:

–The Worm at the Core, by Sheldon Solomon et al. A fascinating book about the human fear of death. Some might find it morbid, but I found it rather affirming, really. 5/5 stars
–Whose Body?, by Dorothy L. Sayers. A reread, of course, and one I enjoyed greatly, as usual. 4/5 stars
–A Rough Ride to the Future, by James Lovelock. I found this rather incoherent, in comparison to the original Gaia. 2/5 stars
–The House of Binding Thorns, by Aliette de Bodard. I suspect that if the first book didn’t work for you, this wouldn’t either. I found it riveting, though. 4/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Blogs I Follow.
–WWW Wednesday. An update on what I’ve been reading!