Tag: WWW Wednesday

WWW Wednesday

Posted October 8, 2025 by Nicky in General / 4 Comments

Cover of The Genius Myth by Helen LewisWhat have you recently finished reading?

Yesterday I finished both The Genius Myth (Helen Lewis) and the second volume of Love in the Palm of His Hand (Rinteku). The former was alright, but feels like it went on a bit long after making its point — basically, we crown people as “geniuses” for being good at a narrow subset of things and trust them unduly with other things, and allow them to be assholes as a result.

The latter was very cute; less of the sign language in this one, more about Fujinaga’s acting, and there’s less of him and Keito together… but cute nonetheless, and it’s still fascinating how the sign language etc is portrayed.

Cover of The Posthumous Papers of the Manuscripts Club by Christopher de HamelWhat are you currently reading?

The Posthumous Papers of the Manuscript Club (Christopher de Hamel) is the only book I have very actively on the go, and even that I’ve been neglecting! It’s such a chonker, though, I should get back to it before I lose the thread. It’s very pretty, I love that it has in-line colour images rather than just a glossy insert, it makes it a lot easier to remember to take the time to look, and is less disruptive to the narrative. Definitely a good recent trend in non-fiction.

Cover of Mockingbird Court by Juneau BlackWhat are you reading next?

Definitely Juneau Black’s Mockingbird Court, out in the US already, out in the UK tomorrow. I love this series, even though the setting actively handwaves the problem of making sense (carnivores and their prey living in the same town side by side, eating in the same restaurants, grabbing pumpkin spice lattes together, etc). I suspect this is going to be the perfect autumn read, too, which is by no means a must for me, but is not unenjoyable.

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WWW Wednesday

Posted October 1, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 10 Comments

Cover of The Bookshop Below by Georgia SummersWhat have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished, approximately five minutes ago, was John William Polidori’s The Vampyre, which was mostly interesting because of its influence and because Lord Ruthven is a major character in the Greta Helsing books. It was interesting to finally read it, and to read it as a diss on Byron, but it is also mercifully short.

Last night I finished off the last of my planned September reads, my ARC of Georgia Summers’ The Bookshop Below, and a reread of volume nine of A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation, so that was nice. The magic in The Bookshop Below reminded me a lot of Ink Blood Sister Scribe, and it felt like it was never fully explained/delimited… but that didn’t bother me too much, I think? I need to sit down and put together my thoughts properly.

Cover of The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System vol 4 by MXTXWhat are you currently reading?

Well, nothing, actually. Not even books on the backburner, really, except ones that have been backburnered so long I “paused” them on StoryGraph. I’m about to start my reread of volume four of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, to wrap that all up before reading some new-to-me danmei in October.

It feels weird not to have anything on the go; I’ll fix that posthaste.

Cover of The Forgotten Dead by Jordan L. HawkWhat will you be reading next?

I’ll probably reread volume ten of A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation, while volume nine is fresh in my mind — I wish I hadn’t left such a gap between volume eight and volume nine, honestly, since they contain one of the only true plot arcs in the manga so far, and one where all the pieces take time to come together.

Other than that, my Book Spin Bingo list for October is ready, although the numbers haven’t been announced yet, so maybe something from that. I want to reread Jordan L. Hawk’s The Forgotten Dead and Rattling Bone before I get onto the latest book in the series, Into the Dark, so perhaps I’ll start with those.

As ever, I’ll be mostly going by whim.

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WWW Wednesday

Posted September 24, 2025 by Nicky in General / 6 Comments

Cover of In Love's Key, Reprised, by Guri NojiroWhat have you recently finished reading?

A couple of manga I picked up rather at random, both by Guri Nojiro: In Love’s Key, Reprised and A Beast’s Love is Like the Moon. I liked In Love’s Key, Reprised the better of the two, though A Beast’s Love is Like the Moon has a surprising bittersweetness at the end. Both made for good light reading, even if they weren’t exceptional.

Cover of You Should Be So Lucky by Cat SebastianWhat are you currently reading?

As ever, I’ve got a few things on the go at once, though I did clear the decks a little bit with my offline weekend earlier in the month, and then my long weekend that ended yesterday. I’m most actively reading Cat Sebastian’s You Should Be So Lucky: I’m not far into it yet, but I’m very sure I’m going to love the dynamic between Mark and Eddie.

Other than that, I’m also partway through Lucy Cooke’s Bitch, which I’m finding really slow going — despite being allegedly myth-busting about female behaviour/evolution across a range of species, I’m not finding it that surprising.

I’m also reading Sydney J. Shields’ The Honey Witch, which is… so far, just “fine”. It’s not really pulling me in, and I’m not a fan of the writing style, though I can’t quite put my finger on why yet. I’m not far into it, though!

Cover of The Duke at Hazard by KJ CharlesWhat will you be reading next?

KJ Charles’ The Duke at Hazard, certainly, and otherwise I need to get back to some of the books I have on hold, like James Alistair Henry’s Pagans. I’ve read 38 books so far in September, and yet I still have a bunch to read for my Book Spin Bingo card.

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WWW Wednesday

Posted September 17, 2025 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

Cover of The Love Hypothesis by Ali HazelwoodWhat have you recently finished reading?

Yesterday I finished up Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis and KJ Charles’ Copper Script. I enjoyed both, though I had a few embarrassment-squick moments with The Love Hypothesis, and thought that Copper Script ended maybe a bit abruptly.

Still, both of them made for fun reading on a long car drive (and in the case of Copper Script, when I didn’t feel like going to bed once I arrived home, heh).

Cover of City of Ravens by Boria SaxWhat are you currently reading?

The only thing I’m very actively reading is a library book, Boria Sax’s City of Ravens. I’m — hm. A touch sceptical about the links between the ravens of the Tower and Bran the Blessed, I must admit. But I’m early in the book, and maybe it’ll get round to discussing more links and research rather than just “Bran was associated with ravens and some people say the location his head was buried was the Tower”. I’d need to see a link between the two in order to feel that the one almost-forgotten tradition influenced the other very new one.

Other than that, I actually focused on finishing a bunch of books over the weekend! I still have a couple that’ve been backburnered for a while, which I want to go back to, e.g. my ARC of Georgia Summers’ The Bookshop Below.

Cover of Blood on the Tracks, ed. Martin EdwardsWhat will you read next?

Excellent question, who knows? I’ll probably focus on some of the books I have already on the go, mostly, though I’ll probably also read the British Library Crime Classic collection Blood on the Tracks soon, since it’s on my bingo card and, being a short story collection, good when I need something bitesize. Some of the books I have on the go — like Lucy Cooke’s Bitch, which is non-fiction about female animals — are quite dense, so that’d break things up nicely.

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WWW Wednesday

Posted September 10, 2025 by Nicky in General / 4 Comments

Cover of Infectious by Dr John S. TregoningWhat have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was John S. Tregoning’s Infectious: Pathogens and How We Fight Them. I didn’t really enjoy it; part of it is the fact that since I bought it, I’ve studied immunology (as part of my MSc), so the first part of the book was boring, leaving plenty of time for me to get annoyed by Tregoning’s sense of humour. The tone really, really grated; Tregoning thinks he’s hilarious, and it’s just cringe.

It might be better for a layperson, though of course, the humour wouldn’t improve.

Cover of Nine Times Nine by Anthony BoucherWhat are you currently reading?

As ever, a few books at once, some of which I’m giving more attention than others. I’m most into Nine Times Nine by Anthony Boucher, at the moment, in the sense that I’m hoping to finish that today. The timing for reading it is maybe a bit stupid, because I read Boucher’s Rocket to the Morgue as we drove down to attend my grandmother’s funeral, and I’ve (totally without planning it) ended up reading this as I’m about to head to Wales again for the interment of my grandparents’ ashes. I can’t imagine I’m going to ever feel like reading Boucher’s work again at this rate, because there’s something about his style in this book that takes me very vividly back to reading Rocket to the Morgue. Oops.

That said, not a huge loss; I find it pleasant enough, but not something I’m wildly excited about.

I’m also reading Queer as Folklore, by Sacha Coward, which I’m finding interesting enough so far. Also The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry (David Musgrove & Michael John Lewis), which I’m enjoying, and Reignclowd Palace (Philippa Rice), which I need to give some more attention.

Cover of The Duke at Hazard by KJ CharlesWhat will you be reading next?

I don’t know. I’d like to say I’ll read KJ Charles’ The Duke at Hazard, because a) I can’t believe I haven’t read it yet, and b) it’s the very centre of this month’s Litsy bingo card, but I don’t know. I’ve been weirdly resistant to starting it, even though I’m pretty sure I’ll enjoy it. I might just start something I have few expectations of, like Sidney J. Shields’ The Honey Witch — or focus on the other books I’m technically currently reading that have slipped onto the back-burner.

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WWW Wednesday

Posted September 3, 2025 by Nicky in General / 6 Comments

Cover of Mr Collins in Love by Lee WelchWhat have you recently finished reading?

I finished up with Mr Collins in Love by Lee Welch last night! And yep, that Mr Collins, from Pride & Prejudice. It’s a retelling that fleshes out Mr Collins and empathises with him, giving us a probably-on-the-spectrum man who’s masking all the time, and has to get married in order to keep up appearances — while his most important bond is actually to a friend of his boyhood, with whom he doesn’t have to pretend. I need to write my full review, but I liked it quite a bit. I don’t know if it helps that I’m not a huge Jane Austen fan, or whether a super-fan would get more out of it, but I had fun, anyway.

Cover of Reignclowd Palace by Philippa RiceWhat are you currently reading?

As ever, I have a few books on the go at once. This morning I started on a new one, Reignclowd Palace, by Philippa Rice. I hadn’t heard anything about this book before, just decided it looked fun when I saw it in the bookshop, so I don’t know a lot about it, but so far I’m enjoying it. A bit of a Howl’s Moving Castle vibe, I guess?

The rest of what I’m reading is mostly non-fiction; I just started John S. Tregoning’s Infectious: Pathogens and How We Fight Them, which is… pretty upbeat and triumphant about how we can beat pretty much all infections, which for me sounds a bit like dangerous overconfidence in a world where we can’t figure out how to prevent or reverse the consequences of various viral infections. I’m not far into it, so I don’t have a great feel for whether there are going to be caveats and cautionary notes. We’ll see, I guess.

I’m also working my way through Emma Chapman’s First Light: astrophysics not being my thing, some of the in-depth explanations of stuff aren’t really holding my attention. Again, I’m not that far into it, though, and it’s possible I’ll settle in a bit more.

Cover of Strange Houses by UketsuWhat will you be reading next?

Uketsu’s Strange Houses would be a good bet. I was lucky to only be second in the holds queue for it, and I suspect there are a few more behind me, so I should get to it sooner rather than later. It’s not a long book, and if it’s anything like Strange Pictures, I’ll fly through it.

Also, I have Molly Knox Ostertag’s The Deep Dark checked out on Libby, but it’s non-renewable with one person in the queue for it, so I should make time for it soon.

Neither of those books are on my Litsy Book Spin Bingo card, though they’d fit in the free spaces, so it’s possible I’ll start something from that first, too…

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WWW Wednesday

Posted August 27, 2025 by Nicky in General / 4 Comments

Cover of To Davy Jones Below by Carola DunnWhat have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was a reread of one of Carola Dunn’s Daisy Dalrymple books, To Davy Jones Below. It kinda made me think that though the series is fun, I probably don’t want to hold onto my copies once I finish rereading and get on with the books I haven’t read yet. The whole series relies way too much on coincidence: a single person can’t possibly stumble across so many murders. It makes sense for Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne because she sets up as a detective — and the crimes she investigates aren’t all murders — but Daisy is supposed to be a journalist, and not even one who covers murders!

I do want to read the rest of the series, but, yeah, also very aware of the frustrating stuff.

Cover of No Ordinary Deaths: A People's History of Mortality, by Molly ConsbeeWhat are you currently reading?

Lots of books at once! I’m trying to finish my bingo card on Litsy, and I’ve ended up with all the remaining books on the go at once, dipping in and out of them as the whim takes me. I’m closest to finishing Molly Conisbee’s No Ordinary Deaths, which… I still have mixed feelings about, since there’s a number of generalisations about how people react to death that make me feel excluded. It’s not the book’s fault, I think; it’s just the fact that I have a recent loss still heavily on my mind.

In the non-fiction department, I’m also reading Victoria Shepherd’s Stony Jack and the Lost Jewels of Cheapside (which I think actually doesn’t have enough material about the hoard itself to make a book out of, so has expanded into discussing a lot of other related stuff). I’m less close to finishing this, but I think I will finish it in time to check it off the bingo card.

As far as fiction goes, I need to finish T. Kingfisher’s Paladin’s Strength, Caitlin Rozakis’ The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association, and Lex Croucher’s Gwen & Art Are Not In Love. I think I’ll manage to finish all three, but I’m struggling a little bit with Gwen & Art, partly just because the Arthurian references feel clunky. Since my MA dissertation was on Arthurian myth, that kind of thing is very distracting for me.

I am also reading a couple of books that aren’t on the bingo card, though you might (justifiably) wonder how I fit it in. Mostly, I reaaally want to finish up Rachel Harrison’s Cackle, which I’m enjoying; it’s a really odd mix of cosy and whoops-that’s-really-freaky, but in an enjoyable way. I’m also enjoying Carwyn Graves’ Tir: The Story of the Welsh Landscape, not least because it refers to the Welsh as an indigenous culture (since people don’t often recognise it).

Cover of The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry by David Musgrove and Michael John LewisWhat will you read next?

The eleventh volume of the Solo Leveling manhwa! Mum just got me it and it arrived yesterday (though I hadn’t realised at first), and volume ten has kind of a cliffhanger. It’s not that I really think anyone’s going to beat Jinwoo, at this point, but I am curious how he’s going to manage.

I also have a few books that I’ve started but backburnered when I decided to gun for a blackout on my bingo card, so I’d like to get back to Pagans (James Alistair Henry), even though I’m feeling a bit uncertain about the worldbuilding, and dig deeper into Michael John Lewis and David Musgrove’s The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry.

…I promise you, this isn’t even nearly the highest number of books I’ve had on the go at one time. This is positively restrained by my standards.

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WWW Wednesday

Posted August 20, 2025 by Nicky in General / 4 Comments

Cover of Preventable by Devi SridharWhat have you recently finished reading?

Devi Sridhar’s Preventable, a book about the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic completed/published in 2022, which makes it off-base on a number of things (e.g. basically commenting that Trump’s hate on for the WHO doesn’t matter at all and was just words). I found it a bit too “yup, let’s get back to normal” at the end, particularly given that she assumes that’s possible because of vaccination… which is no longer widely or freely available in the UK. But mostly it was a pretty good look at the initial situation.

Cover of Paladin's Strength by T. KingfisherWhat are you currently reading?

I just started History in Flames: The Destruction and Survival of Medieval Manuscripts, by Robert Bartlett, which I just got today as a birthday present! Not very far into it yet, but I might finish it today — it’s not very long.

Other than that, I have a few books on the backburner, but nothing else at the forefront of my mind. I do want to finish Lex Croucher’s Gwen and Art are Not in Love, Laura Spinney’s Proto, T. Kingfisher’s Paladin’s Strength, Caitlin Rozakis’ The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association, Victoria Shepherd’s Stony Jack and the Lost Jewels of Cheapside and Molly Conisbee’s No Ordinary Deaths, because they’re all on my August Book Spin list on Litsy, but we’ll see, that’s a lot!

Cover of The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System vol 3 by MXTXWhat will you be reading next?

Probably I’ll start my reread of the third volume of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, as a birthday treat. Since I have the day off, I might finish up with that, in which case I might start one of my new books — Carwyn Graves’ Tir: The Story of the Welsh Landscape is calling to me, or maybe Rachel Harrison’s Cackle — or start on a book that’s been on my backlog for a while, Margaret Elphinstone’s The Sea Road.

 

Quick reminder: I added a captcha to my comment form because of relentless spam. It should be invisible to legit users, and people have been commenting OK as far as I can tell, but if you’re having any difficulty with commenting, shoot me an email at bibliophibianbreathesbooks@gmail.com so I can troubleshoot! ♥

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WWW Wednesday

Posted August 13, 2025 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

Cover of Most Delicious Poison: From Spices to Vices - The Story of Nature's Toxins by Noah WhitemanWhat have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was apparently Noah Whiteman’s Most Delicious Poison, which I have complex feelings about. The discussion of biology and chemistry is fascinating, and I appreciated the pretty in-depth explanations of how certain toxins mimic chemicals in the human body, how things may have evolved, etc. Buuut on the other hand, it’s also an exploration of the death of the author’s father through alcohol abuse, and addiction is clearly a massive preoccupation of Whiteman’s. It wasn’t entirely clear to me from the blurb etc that the book was part memoir and really intended to focus only on addiction.

Cover of The Odd Flamingo by Nina BawdenWhat are you currently reading?

Several books at once, of course! Most actively, I started this month’s British Library Crime Classic almost right away: it’s Nina Bawden’s The Odd Flamingo, and so far it’s just okay. There’s some interesting characterisation stuff going on, but the plot isn’t exactly singing (perhaps because the main character isn’t super on the ball about it).

And the other book I’m most actively reading is Devi Sridhar’s Preventable: How a Pandemic Changed the World and How To Stop the New One. I wish I’d read this when it came out, because it was written pretty early in the pandemic, and is unlikely to talk about the stuff that concerns me most now. Namely, that people now believe it’s “over”, when SARS-CoV-2 is still a dangerous virus we don’t fully understand, and which still poses a serious threat to the vulnerable among us… and yet regular boosters are no longer free and routine in the UK.

I’m considered pretty paranoid — and even mentally ill — for still considering it a disease of concern, despite my academic background (soon to graduate from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine with an MSc in infectious diseases). So I’d love a popular-science book which digs into the remaining legit concerns and publicises them a bit.

I’m also just embarking on T. Kingfisher’s Paladin’s Strength, but I’m not far into it.

Cover of Preventable by Devi SridharWhat will you be reading next?

I’m not really sure. Every time I say some plans, I’m wrong! I do want to read volumes 8 and 9 of Solo Leveling, and in randomly browsing my newly-organised bookshelves I’m tempted by Stuart Turton’s The Last Murder at the End of the World, but who knows. I do have a book out from the library, as well, Sacha Coward’s Queer as Folklore — so maybe that!

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WWW Wednesday

Posted August 6, 2025 by Nicky in General / 4 Comments

Cover of Solo Leveling manhwa vol 7 by DubuWhat have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was the seventh volume of the Solo Leveling manhwa (in English). I picked up the next two volumes on a trip into town yesterday, so I stopped being scared of starting it and not having more of the story to read. Jinwoo is so ridiculously OP at this point.

Before that, I finished John Dickson Carr’s The Judas Window, which is one of his books I actually got on with really well. Lots of courtroom drama, which crops up in some classic crime, but isn’t that common, so that was fun.

Cover of Between Two Rivers by Moudhy Al-RashidWhat are you currently reading?

I’ve got quite a few books on the go at once, as usual, but for right now the book on the arm of the chair next to me is Mouhdy Al-Rashid’s Between Two Rivers, a history of ancient Mesopotamia. I’m enjoying Al-Rashid’s style and structure for telling the story, and not minding too much that there are some personal interjections — it’s very readable.

Other than that, I’ve also got started on Molly Conisbee’s No Ordinary Deaths, which feels a bit more… well, not academic, because it still feels aimed at a non-specialist audience, but I’m just not as into it. It is hitting weirdly right now because it talks about our relationship with death and how most of us are quite distant from it, never see a dead person, etc, and that is not true for me.

Cover of Paladin's Strength by T. KingfisherWhat will you read next?

As so often, I’m not really sure. I might make a start on T. Kingfisher’s Paladin’s Strength, or I might start on my reread of Vivian Shaw’s Grave Importance… or possibly both!

I probably won’t start another non-fiction read for a bit, since I have a few on the go at once, including some I need to get back to (like Laura Spinney’s book on Proto-Indo-European, Proto). Buuut in the end I’m a creature of whim, so who knows?

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