Happy Saturday! It’s been a busy week around here, and I should probably be in the digital lab right now, looking at sections of rat tissue. But hey, books!

How’ve you all been?

Received to review:

Yay, thank you, Tor!

Finished this week:

Sneak peek at ratings:

4 stars to… Britain BC and Wicked Wonders.
3 stars to… This Rough Magic.
2 stars to… Britain AD.

Reviews posted this week:

–Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates, by Kerry Greenwood. A reread, again already? Yep. And it remains a lot of fun — I don’t know why I didn’t enjoy it the first time. 4/5 stars
–The Prince of the Moon, by Megan Derr. A sweet queer fairytale, though a little rushed for my taste. 3/5 stars
–The Celtic Revolution, by Simon Young. Interesting history, but where it touched on Arthuriana it rather annoyed me, alas. 3/5 stars
–Monstress, by Marjorie M. Liu and Sana Takeda. Beautiful artwork, but I kept losing track of the story. 3/5 stars
–Flying Too High, by Kerry Greenwood. Gotta love all the references to other detectives which, for some reason, I’m only just picking up now. Hurrah Phryne! 4/5 stars
–Miranda and Caliban, by Jacqueline Carey. As beautiful as you would expect coming from Carey, and as heartbreaking. 4/5 stars

Other posts:

–Why haven’t you read ____ yet? The short answer is: I’m terrible. Sorry.
–Top Ten Tuesday: Couples That Weren’t. Literary couples I was really rooting for, or who I didn’t get enough of.
–What are you reading Wednesday. The usual status update.

Happy Saturday! It’s been a bit of a bad week for me, just cause I haven’t felt very well… but hey, there’s books!

Received to review:

Thank you to Netgalley and Tachyon for these! I read Passing Strange by Ellen Klages last week, and definitely want to read more of her work.

Bought:

My wife bought me Norse Mythology to cheer me up because I’m still not well, and Four Roads Cross was only a couple of quid on the Kindle store. I want the whole set of Gladstone’s books someday in paperback, for those beautiful covers. But for now, I have the ebooks!

Finished this week:

Not as much reading as I’d hoped, really. I’ve been so tired! A sneak peek at my ratings…

Four stars to… Late Eclipses.
Three stars to… Deadly Companions and The Death of Caesar.
Two stars to… Reading Like A Writer.

Reviews posted this week:

–A History of the World in 12 Maps, by Jerry Brotton. Unfortunately not for me; rather dry, and not quite the focus I’d been hoping for. Might be good for someone who is more interested in maps and cartography, though. 2/5 stars
–One Plus One Equals One, by John Archibald. No, he’s not bad at maths — he’s talking about the history of symbiosis which gave animal cells mitochondria (for one example). Not very revolutionary to me as I think my mother excitedly told me about this when I was a teen and it was a newish theory, but interesting stuff. 3/5 stars
–The Silver Chair, by C.S. Lewis. Not a fan of this one at all, sadly. The kids are quarrelsome and Rillian makes a bad first impression. Still, there’s Puddleglum. 2/5 stars
–Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day, by Seanan McGuire. Works very well as a novella — McGuire has the trick of it, I think. Just enough background and such to make the world interesting, while focusing on the plot. 4/5 stars
–Memory of Water, by Emmi Itäranta. Slow, lyrical, a personal and quiet post-apocalypse. I enjoyed it a lot. 4/5 stars
–The Masked City, by Genevieve Cogman. A reread, which of course I enjoyed a lot. 4/5 stars
–Hatchepsut, by Joyce Tyldesley. There isn’t enough information about this pharaoh, but what she has, Tyldesley presents and organises well. 4/5 stars
–The Last Battle, by C.S. Lewis. There are things about this that I like, but mostly… nope, nope, nope. 1/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Can See From My Chair. And my thoughts on them. I didn’t have enough brain cells free this week to do anything more complex!
–What are you reading Wednesday. What it says on the tin — a reading update per what I was reading and thinking about on Wednesday.

Happy Saturday! Not that it’s the end of the work week for me. Big project to be doing, which means a surprising amount of money and hopefully a correspondingly large number of books. Also, class.

But still, I managed quite a bit of reading this week!

Received to review

Hee! I need to reread The Dragonbone Chair, stat — I’ve been meaning to for a while anyway, but now this is extra motivation. I’m not sure if The Heart of What Was Lost stands alone, but it sounds like it comes after the series?

Bought

It’s fine, Mum, it cost £1.49, and besides, it’s always a good thing for me to read about things that scare me. Knowledge is power, etc.

Finished reading this week:

Not a bad week, as you see! And five of them were ARCs. Hurrah me. And the ratings sneak peek:

4 stars… p53: The Gene that Cracked the Cancer Code, Final Girls and Passing Strange.
3 stars… Proust and the Squid and Birthright.
2 stars… Martians Abroad, Binti: Home and Maisie Dobbs.

Reviews posted this week:

–Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas. A reread, which I once again found solidly enjoyable. I don’t expect great literary merit from Maas, just a fun time, which maybe helps. 3/5 stars
–The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers. A lovely space opera adventure, full of characters you get to know and love. Just one criticism: the vaguely episodic feel to each of the events. Everything feels like it gets wrapped up very quickly, with only the bare bones of a larger plot. 4/5 stars
–Weird Dinosaurs: The Strange New Fossils Challenging Everything We Thought We Knew, by John Pickrell. Very enjoyable, and not always just for the dinosaurs but also for the people — almost characters — caught up in their story. 4/5 stars
–The Return of the King, by J.R.R. Tolkien. I still love this, but my review this time poked at some of the flaws. 5/5 stars
–The Sense of Style, by Steven Pinker. If you’ve encountered academic technobabble, and particularly if you’re allergic to it, this makes a good antidote. 4/5 stars
–Gutenberg’s Fingerprint, by Merilyn Simonds. More of a memoir than I’d thought going in. Some interesting stuff, but… meh. 2/5 stars
–Strangers in Company, by Jane Aiken Hodge. Mystery, politics and romance, in the vein of a Mary Stewart novel. Fun, though not mindblowing. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Graphic Novels. A rundown of my favourites!
–What are you reading Wednesday. Another update from my neverending assault on Mount TBR.

Happy Saturday! I’d be glad it’s the weekend, but it doesn’t make too much difference to me. I still have work I should be doing, alas.

Books to review

I might not be a lit student anymore, but King Arthur is still a major interest of mine. Fascinated to see what this is like! And hurrah for all the others, too, though now I have to hurry up and read Luna: New Moon. Oops…

Books bought this week

I know, Mum, I know, but it was £2.39 on Kindle and I’m going to read it at some point anyway, it’s the latest in a series.

Books read this week

Not much reading, I know… I’ll get back to it. Preview of my ratings:

1 star – Mesopotamia.
4 stars – Temeraire (His Majesty’s Dragon) and The Burning Page.

Reviews posted this week:

–The Book, by Keith Houston. This is a beautiful physical object, just on its own, and the story it tells of how books came to be is also fascinating. It’d definitely make a good gift, and I’m keeping my copy for sure. 5/5 stars
–The Litany of Earth, by Ruthanna Emrys. This short story introduces the world of Winter Tide, and I actually preferred it — the shortness gave it something. 4/5 stars
–The Horse and His Boy, by C.S. Lewis. This one has not really aged well in terms of the stereotypes and such. But I still kind of enjoyed it, despite that. 3/5 stars
–Slade House, by David Mitchell. This was a little bit repetitive, but it mostly works. I just wish it wasn’t connected to his other books; I hate feeling like I don’t have the full story. 3/5 stars
–A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Ugh, so preachy. Nope. Without nostalgia or something, I don’t see why this appeals. 2/5 stars
–The Toll-Gate, by Georgette Heyer. A likeable hero and heroine, a fun mystery, and Heyer showing off her research and knowledge. Yes! 4/5 stars
–Armada, by Ernest Cline. Mmm. This didn’t really work for me, because it felt like the same formula as Ready Player One, without the warmth. 2/5 stars
–Prince Caspian, by C.S. Lewis. One of my favourites of the Narnia books — I’m not sure why, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Caspian. 4/5 stars

Other posts: 

–Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books to Nibble. A guest post by my bunny, complete with silly picture.
–What are you reading Wednesday. An update on what I’ve been reading.

G’morning, people! It’s been a quiet week for me, as I got down to work on my second and third assignments. After this third one, though, I get a break again! Not too much of one… but still enough. Also, I’ve started playing Final Fantasy XV, and that’s just eating my free time.

Received to review:

My wish was granted on Netgalley, to my surprise! Looking forward to reading this; I wasn’t totally blown away by Rebel of the Sands, but it was definitely enjoyable.

Read this week:

4 stars to… Miranda and Caliban and Dreadnought.
3 stars to… Natural Histories and The Family Plot.

A light reading week, for me. Alas.

Reviews posted this week:

–The Invisible Library, by Genevieve Cogman. So much fun, and perhaps a little easier to follow having read it once before. I do love the sheer fun of these books. 4/5 stars
–Fair Chance, by Josh Lanyon. The characters continue to be fun and totally non-stereotypical, though the mystery relied a bit too much on coincidence. 4/5 stars
–Camelot’s Shadow, by Sarah Zettel. A reread just for fun, and one I enjoyed very much. Probably my favourite of the four books, this one features Sir Gawain, so, you know. 4/5 stars
–Grey Mask, by Patricia Wentworth. Not a bad read, but a bit too obvious. And oh wow, one of the main characters is just… silly. 3/5 stars
–Invisible Planets, ed. Ken Liu. I wanted to enjoy this more than I did, because it’s a great range of stories. But for me the translation doesn’t quite work. 3/5 stars
–The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis. I still don’t get the appeal of Turkish Delight, but everything else about this book is a delight to me, despite the allegory. 4/5 stars
–A Taste of Honey, by Kai Ashante Wilson. With this one, I think I have to rule Wilson’s work just not to my taste. There is some great worldbuilding and sensual, lyrical language… but it just isn’t for me. 2/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Hidden Gems. Books I wish more other people would read, so we can talk about ’em.

Hey everyone! It’s been a pretty good week, and now I’m back in Belgium with my wife, which is nice. Also a 13.5kg box of books I sent via courier is already here, so hurrah!

Received to review

I still need to catch up on the Copper Cat books, but looks like this stands alone? And I love the cover.

Books bought

Note to Mum: before you lecture me, I got these with the Amazon card I got from Laura, okay?

By which you see, yep, yet more Seanan McGuire, since I finished An Artificial Night this week and loved it.

Books finished:

And a little preview of my opinions…

4 stars to… Hidden Figures, I Contain Multitudes, The Green Mill Murder, Blood and Circuses, An Artificial Night and Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day.
3 stars to… The Prince of the Moon
1 star to… Dead Until Dark

Reviews posted this week:

–The Steerswoman, by Rosemary Kirstein. Slow, but satisfying, with some very good female characters and a fascinating central concept. 4/5 stars
–How to Clone a Mammoth, by Beth Shapiro. Okay, the answer is mostly ‘you can’t’, but the book is still informative about cloning and rewilding. 4/5 stars
–Carry On, by Rainbow Rowell. A reread for the comfort factor, so no surprises I loved it again. 5/5 stars
–Where Am I Now? by Mara Wilson. Entertaining, and also poignant about the road Wilson has taken to get where she is. 4/5 stars
–The Assassin’s Blade, by Sarah J. Maas. Probably not so entertaining/relevant if you’re not a fan already. 3/5 stars
–Ayiti, by Roxane Gay. A collection of stories set in and about Haiti. Fascinating and vivid. 4/5 stars
–The Magician’s Nephew, by C.S. Lewis. A little too preachy, and definitely not my favourite Narnia book. Nor my least favourite, though. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: 2016 Releases I Didn’t Get Round To. Aka, The Guilt Trip.

How’s everyone’s week been? Reading plenty? Let me know in the comments!

Good morning, folks! Or not, if you’re not in the UK/Europe. So, 2017 so far… not bad, from where I’m sitting?

Received to review:

Cherie Priest! I’m looking forward to it even without knowing much about it. I’ve been a lucky pup this week, really.

Non-fiction:

I’ve already read two of these… guess I was in the non-fiction mood.

Fiction:

Because I don’t have enough Seanan McGuire in my backlog…

Finished this week:

Reviews posted this week:

–City of Wolves, by Willow Palacek. A little disappointing — it’s pacy enough, but really light on substance. 2/5 stars
–The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis. I meant to post these reviews in the order I read them, but WordPress had other plans, apparently. Dawn Treader is one of my favourites of the series. 4/5 stars
–The Art of Language Invention, by David J. Peterson. A really in-depth book about creating languages. A bit much if you’re not planning to create one, but very informative! 4/5 stars
–Politics: Between the Extremes, by Nick Clegg. Somewhat self-pitying, but nonetheless an interesting analysis of the ConDem coalition and the need for a more robust liberalism in the future. 3/5 stars
–The Lost City of the Monkey God, by Douglas Preston. An entertaining and, as far as I can tell, not too sensationalised book about an expedition to find an abandoned city in Mosquitia. 4/5 stars
–Spectacles, by Sue Perkins. Entertaining, but sometimes a bit scatterbrained. 3/5 stars
–Dark Tales, by Shirley Jackson. A little collection of some of Jackson’s less well known uncanny stories. I enjoyed them. 4/5 stars
–Winter Tide, by Ruthanna Emrys. Takes the sexism and racism out of Lovecraft, with a whole bunch of strong female characters. Buuut, I did find it slow. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–2016 Wrapup, and Onward 2017! Final stats on my reading, and some upcoming challenges.
–Top Ten Tuesday: Resolutions. I didn’t stick to the given theme this week, and instead did my bookish resolutions for 2017.

Hey everyone! It’s nearly a brand new year, but here’s my last haul for this one first. It’s a pretty epic haul — everyone spoilt me, book-wise. I’m oddly pleased by the fact that I got equal numbers of fiction and non-fiction books!

New Fiction

I had ARCs of a couple of these, but it’s good to have a finished copy. I blame Mogsy @ Bibliosanctum for a whole bunch of these — it was her reviews that made me put them on my wishlist.

New Non-fiction

Tyrannosaurs! The Loch Ness monster! Microbes! It’s a great haul, and I can’t wait to get stuck in.

Finished this week:

Reviews posted this week:

–Predictably Irrational, by Dan Ariely. Rather, well, predictable, if you already know your psychology. Still interesting, and very readable. 3/5 stars
–Death of a Unicorn, by Peter Dickinson. Does not actually contain any unicorns. I knew that, but still found it disappointing. 2/5 stars
–A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness. A little predictable, but nonetheless, really hard-hitting about grief and dealing with it. 4/5 stars
–The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu, trans. Ken Liu. This intrigued me, but I wasn’t totally sucked in. Part of that might be the translation. 3/5 stars
–Genome: the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters, by Matt Ridley. A little dry and a little out of date, but still fun of interesting stuff for the genetics aficionado. 3/5 stars
–The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo. Some of this goes a little too far into, well, ‘woo’. But the central idea was valuable to me. 4/5 stars
–Miniatures, by John Scalzi. More or less what you’d expect if you know Scalzi’s work. Probably great as a collectible, less so for enjoying a solid piece of fiction which goes places. These are fun enough, but they’re all very short (of course) and have the same sort of humour behind them. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: Favourites of 2016. Pretty much what it says on the tin.
–A Game of Books. So next year, I’m going to treat reaching my reading goals like a game. I get points based on book length and how long it’s been on my TBR, for example. There’s a spreadsheet and anyone’s welcome to join in and play!

It’s nearly Christmas! I can’t wait to give my family their presents — and this is my wife’s first Christmas spent with us, too. It’s gonna be awesome. In the meantime, I’ve been reading a ton. Yay!

For those new to the Bibliophibian, Unstacking the Shelves is when I feature the books I’ve read in the past week, because I don’t have any new ones to show off! I know it’s not what people usually do, but I super appreciate it when people leave a relevant comment instead of just copy/pasting a message telling me to enjoy my haul. Thank you!

Finished this week:

The first row of these are rereads, but the others were all new and four were ARCs, so definitely good progress.

Reviews posted this week:
–Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt, by Joyce Tyldesley. Informative about a figure who is honestly mostly myth in general knowledge, and also about the time in which she ruled. 4/5 stars
–Terra, by Mitch Benn. It’s cuuute. And fun. 4/5 stars
–This is Your Brain on Music, by David Levitin. I feel like I don’t really understand music enough for this book, though the neurological stuff is interesting. 3/5 stars
–The Sealed Letter, by Emma Donoghue. Eh. Good on historical details, meh on the characters. 2/5 stars
–The Talisman Ring, by Georgette Heyer. Still a very fun adventure/romance. 5/5 stars
–Natural Causes, by James Oswald. This was a weird genre-crossing one, entertaining enough but not something I’m interested in continuing to read. 2/5 stars

Other posts:
–Top Ten Tuesday: A Very Bookish Christmas. Because of course.

Hope you all have a very good Christmas, if you celebrate, and a warm and safe weekend if you don’t!

Happy Saturday! It was going to be an Unstacking, and then people on Netgalley decided to be generous… Also, I have read a lot this week, and it makes me happy. I might actually end up hitting my yearly goals by accident.

Received to review:

New Scalzi! Kameron Hurley! Excited!

Finished this week:

Quite a few of these (Narnia, Throne of Glass) were rereads, but all the same, what a week! Whew.

Reviews posted this week:
–She-Hulk: The Complete Collection vol 1, by Dan Slott et al. Fun, though I think it lost momentum somewhat. 3/5 stars
–Gut, by Giulia Enders. Irreverent and definitely aimed at the layman, and therefore quite a lot of fun. 3/5 stars
–Emma, by Jane Austen. I hate Emma, as a character. ’nuff said. 2/5 stars
–The Boys from Brazil, by Ira Levin. Not a fan, let’s say. 2/5 stars
–The Man Everybody Was Afraid Of, by Joseph Hansen. There’s a lot of red herrings and such here, but it’s still a solid story. 3/5 stars
–Moon Tiger, by Penelope Lively. This is also a book I wasn’t a fan of. Very consciously literary, and unlikeable characters to boot. 1/5 stars
–Flashback Friday: Cold Night Lullaby, by Colin MacKay. Do you want to make yourself cry in the most undignified way you can imagine? This might help. 5/5 stars

Other posts:
–Top Ten Tuesday: Books in First Half of 2017. Whoa, there’s a lot to look forward to.
–What are you reading Wednesday. The weekly update.

Got something to look forward to in the next week? Share!