Good afternoon! I’m writing this in somewhat of a hurry, as I have a date with a bunch of library holds waiting for pickup, but let’s see…

What have you recently finished reading?

I juuust finished the second volume of the light novel The Apothecary Diaries (not the manga). I really liked it, and it really turns out that I shouldn’t have gone to bed last night without spending another 5-10 minutes to finish it, because my brain kept oooon turning over the conclusion of the story, wondering if I’d understood what was going to happen right. (I had.)

I guess I need to order volume four, lest I mainline volume three just as quickly.

What are you currently reading?

I’m a chunk of the way into the third Hilary Tamar book, The Sirens Sang of Murder, by Sarah Caudwell. I’m really enjoying this series and its wit, and this pack of ridiculous lawyers. I have posted jokingly elsewebs that I think it’s very rude of the author to have only written four books in this series, and to have died, and I maintain the joke while feeling compelled to remind everyone firmly that it is, indeed, a joke. (Yes, someone took me seriously and yelled about it.)

The introduction to this one was very tantalising and I’m very curious how Julia’s going to get arrested. Again.

I’m also reading The Unmaking of June Farrow, by Adrienne Young, but it’s not really sticking with me… and Unlikeable Female Characters, by Anna Bogutskaya, which I’m finding frustratingly obvious (which makes me re-evaluate how much I liked her book on horror).

What will you be reading next?

Signs generally point to the next (and last) Hilary Tamar book, honestly. It’s comparatively rare for me to read a series in close sequence, but these books have been suiting my mood beautifully. There are also a number of books I need to get to for the “BookSpin” and “BookSpinBingo” challenges on Litsy, though, so I might pick up one of those.

How about you?!

February’s a marathon of studying; I’m having fun with it, but it does put a bit of a damper on reading time. Still, here we go with the usual weekly update!

What have you recently finished reading?

I’m about to (finally) finish The Spellshop. I stalled on reading it at first, mostly just because of mood reasons, but I got back into it in the last week and read it in big chunks. I love Meep and Caz (the sentient plants), and I do enjoy the cosiness of it, though I found Kiela’s relationship with Larran a bit rushed.

Before that, I finished up Around the World in 80 Birds, by Mike Unwin, which I liked — it’s really beautifully illustrated, though a bit less whimsical than some of the illustrations in other books of this series.

What are you currently reading?

The Light Eaters, by Zoë Schlanger, a book about plant intelligence. So far it’s discussing plant senses, not so much intelligence — which is fascinating in its own right, since a lot of people don’t even realise plants have senses, let alone imagine the idea of plant “intelligence”. I’m not sure how we’re going to define intelligence for these purposes, but I look forward to finding out.

What will you be reading next?

Uhhh, good question! I have a few eARCs lined up, and I’ve finished my reread of Katherine Addison’s The Witness for the Dead and The Grief of Stones, so I might start by reading The Tomb of Dragons. After that, I just got approved for T. Kingfisher’s Hemlock & Silver, and Robert Jackson Bennett’s A Drop of Corruption, so I miiiight focus on those. I’m trying not to let a backlog of books acquired in 2025 develop to go with the older backlog of… everything else. We’ll see!

How about you?

Wednesday again! How does that keep happening, and why do I keep making the same semi-joke?

What have you recently finished reading?

Yesterday I finished two books! The first was a book about copyright, Who Owns This Sentence? A History of Copyrights and Wrongs, by Alexandre Montagu and David Bellos. It wasn’t as dry as you might think, though it gets a bit repetitive; it’s fairly anti-copyright, wanting to reduce copyright terms and the ability of companies to own those rights. It seemed fair enough on most points.

I also finally got round to rereading The Witness for the Dead, preparatory to rereading the second book and then finally getting to my ARC of the third. For some reason, even though I’ve read it multiple times, I can never remember the culprit of the main mystery. In a way it’s unimportant, compared to the journey.

I do love Pel-Thenhior so, though.

What are you currently reading?

My most “active” read is Thus Was Adonis Murdered, by Sarah Caudwell, which I started last night. I’m not very far into it yet, so it’s hard to judge, but I’m enjoying the tone — it’s light-hearted and witty without trying too hard to be laugh-out-loud funny.

I’m still reading The Leavenworth Case via Serial Reader, which is an interesting endeavour as someone interested in the development of crime/mystery fiction, but somewhat irritating in terms of all the swooning etc etc.

What will you be reading next?

I don’t know for sure, but I’d like to continue with The Apothecary Diaries light novels soon, before my brain forgets what I know so far, and of course I want to reread The Grief of Stones (Katherine Addison) in order to get on to the third book of the trilogy.

But as ever, it could be almost anything.

How about you? Reading anything good?

Wednesday, huh? Time flies.

What have you recently finished reading?

This morning I just finished up Sing Like Fish, by Amorina Kingdon, which is an exploration of how sound is experienced underwater by creatures actually adapted for it. It was fascinating: because we sometimes think as humans that the world underwater is very quiet (though I think people are more aware of whalesong etc now than when it was dubbed “the silent world”), we’re not aware of a whole panoply of sounds made by fish, marine mammals, etc.

​What are you currently reading?

I’m partway through a couple of things, but I don’t really have a single “main read” now that I’ve finished Sing Like Fish; they’re all kind of on the backburner. I need to return to A Sweet Sting of Salt, by Rose Sutherland, I think — it’s quite… I guess “literary” in tone, and I wasn’t in the mood, but I don’t want to stall on it for too long because I do like it.

I also want to return to my definitely stalled read of The Spellshop. Luckily I brought both of those with me on my trip away from home, so maybe with a bit less going on in terms of video games, etc, I’ll make some real progress.

I’m also partway through reading The Leavenworth Case (Anna Katharine Green) via Serial Reader. It’s such a classic, I’m kinda surprised I never picked it up before. It’s more an interesting read than one I’m enjoying, in that it’s very of-it’s-time in gender roles etc etc, but it’s fun to actually experience a book this influential at first hand.

What will you be reading next?

I don’t know exactly! I brought 15 books with me for a week away, plus my ereader, so I have choices. Right now I’m feeling very called to a reread of The Witness for the Dead and The Grief of Stones (Katherine Addison), ready for the third (final?) book, which I have as an ARC.

Non-fiction-wise, I’m feeling pretty tempted by The Immune Mind (Monty Lyman), since I’m currently studying immunology. I feel a little leery of books where the author’s title of Dr is on the cover, to be honest — I find it sometimes means the author’s throwing around a qualification that has nothing to do with the subject in order to boost their credibility — but this was reviewed positively by a science magazine I read, so… we’ll see.

How’s everyone else doing? Reading anything good?

Here we go as usual!

What have you recently finished reading?

Volume eight of A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation (by Misaki, Momochi & Sando). I love this series so much; it does feel like sometimes I’m losing things in translation, but the relationship between Lizel, Gil and Eleven (whether you read these bonds as platonic or not) is a lot of fun, along with watching Lizel explore and find all the bookshops he can.

Before that, it was A History of Britain in Ten Enemies (Terry Deary), which felt very much like Horrible Histories for grownups. The tone didn’t quite land for me, and I longed for citations or at least a more comprehensive list of sources.

What are you currently reading?

I’m most of the way through Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma (Claire Dederer), which feels… topical (for reasons of very recent revelations about an author that I don’t want to discuss here or, at least for the moment, at all). Dederer doesn’t seem to come even distantly within sight of any kind of conclusion, which is fine; it’s kind of soothing just to follow someone else wrestling with the topic, and admitting that it’s complicated and that there are self-serving reasons to continue to consume art by monstrous people which nonetheless stem from important feelings that are worthy of examination and respect.

I’m also partway through A Sweet Sting of Salt (Rose Sutherland), which feels more historical/literary fiction than fantasy — not a criticism, just, it’s not an out-and-out selkie story where the magic is obvious all along. I’m enjoying it.

What will you read next?

Probably volume nine of A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation, for one thing. Other than that, I’m not sure. I think I might start in on Mr Pottermack’s Oversight (R. Austin Freeman); I liked one of Freeman’s other mysteries significantly more than I’d expected, and I’m a little behind on reading my British Library Crime Classics subscription books, since I think this was October’s book, maybe November’s? Perish the thought, maybe even August or September? (I checked. August. Gah!)

How about you? Whatcha reading? Anything you’d recommend?

Wednesday again already! Well, at least I feel I have more to report this time…

What have you recently finished reading?

I just finished up What an Owl Knows, by Jennifer Ackerman. It’s an investigation of owls and how they do what they do, what exactly they do, and also how humans interact with and impact them. I learned some fascinating stuff, for instance that a particular species of screech owl catches blind snakes (they’re tiny) and carries them to its nest, and the snake then keeps the nest clear of e.g. maggots and so on. Baby owls that grow up with blind snakes in the nest grow 50% faster and healthier.

What are you currently reading?

I’ve plunged into Tea on Sunday, by Lettice Cooper, which I think was December’s book from my British Library Crime Classics subscription (which sends me the most recently published book in the series each month). It’s not actually that old, from the ’70s, but as the introduction says, it has a very classic feel all the same. I’m enjoying it well enough so far; it’s the slow and methodical type, and I feel like the first 100 pages have been mostly giving us character portraits of the suspects. Which is not a complaint!

Via Serial Reader, I’m now finally reading Anna K. Green’s The Leavenworth Case; it’s such a classic that I’ve meant to read it for a long time. I’m not very far into it yet, though.

What will you be reading next?

I’m not sure, to be honest. I’ve been a bit slow and uninspired with my reading, so I want to make sure it’s something that grabs my attention. Perhaps I’ll return to The Spellshop — I only stalled out on that because I switched to some more seasonal reading, and I do want to finish it.

What about you?

Here we are, first Wednesday of 2025! I’ll admit, it’s not going great for me so far, but maybe talking about books a bit will help.

What have you recently finished reading?

My last book of 2024 was Joseph Jefferson Farjeon’s No. 17, which I read via Serial Reader. I think that the daily bitesize installments were the only reason I stuck with it, because the main character (Ben) really didn’t click with me — cowardly, ineffectual, and talking absolutely constantly in near-impenetrable phonetically rendered dialect. Gaaah.

As a mystery, it was needlessly complicated by Ben’s cowardice, evasion, and repeated interruptions. Like a bad comedy.

What are you currently reading?

Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey’s Conspiracy Theory: The Story of an Idea, which is pretty much what it says on the tin. It purports to dissect the origin of conspiracy theories, both history and psychology, and discuss how we can reduce their impact on modern life and politics. I’m sceptical that it can do all that in 150ish pages, but it’s been interesting so far. I only vaguely knew about the origins of the Illuminati (which was a real organisation that briefly existed).

I’m also partway through Look Up, Handsome, by Jack Strange. It’s a romance set in a queer bookshop in Hay-on-Wye, at Christmas. I need to finish it quickly before the Christmas season is fully over — it already feels a bit late, heh, but I got started, so I want to finish.

What will you read next?

Possibly I’ll tackle Miss Beeton’s Murder Agency, by Josie Lloyd — it’s a seasonal mystery, but set seemingly more around New Year than Christmas per se. If I can get started on it in the next day or so, I might. Otherwise, I’ll probably save it for next year and go for something else, possibly the first light novel in The Apothecary Diaries series (I read the first manga previously and had fun).

How about you?

What have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was apparently Tessa Bailey’s Merry Ever After, which is a short Christmas mystery that was too smut-focused for me. Because of the shortness, the relationship felt very sudden, and also it kinda seemed like the guy was lovebombing the female lead.

What are you currently reading?

Very, very fitfully, A Mudlarking Year, by Lara Maiklem. It’s due back at the library… several days ago, but I’m having trouble getting that into it. I liked her first book about mudlarking, but I guess the format of this isn’t working for me — or maybe one book about mudlarking was enough for me? It’s weird because in a way I’d expect to love the random nature of her finds and the bits of history she pulls out of them, but… yeah.

Maybe I’m just not in a reading mood.

What will you be reading next?​

Most likely more manga, particularly A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation. I’ve not been in the mood for reading much this week, but if I want to meet my yearly reading goal, I’ve got 31 more books to go… so I might settle down and read a couple of volumes soon.

Happy Wednesday! Here we go again.

What have you recently finished reading?

Yesterday I finished reading The Big Four by Agatha Christie — a book of hers that she didn’t think much of, that I actually… kind of liked? I’m still not a huge Poirot fan, nor a Hastings fan, but this one was just so dramatic and over-the-top, while not actually getting too deep into the seaweed to churn out red herrings and misdirections.

It probably helps as well that it was relatively short.

What are you currently reading?

I’m most actively working on The Other Olympians, by Michael Waters; it’s slow going because it’s a period of history I’m not personally fascinated by, and I’m also not that interested in sport history in general. I’m here to understand the Nazi underpinnings of sex testing for athletes, along with anything else they gifted sport with along the way.

What will you be reading next?

That’s a very good question, to which I mostly don’t know the answer. I’m reading a lot of manga at the moment, and I tend to read each volume all in one go, letting my whim guide me.

That said, if I’m going to do any of my seasonal reading, I should get to that soon, so maybe Dramatic Murder by Elizabeth Anthony, this year’s Christmas-themed reprint from the British Library Crime Classics series, or Miss Beeton’s Murder Agency by Josie Lloyd, a random pick from the library.

What about you, dear reader?

2024 really is ticking to a close at alarming speed, huh? Here we go again, another Wednesday!

What have you recently finished reading?

Mostly comics and short graphic novels, playing with my new colour ereader. The last one I finished was Savage Red Sonja: Queen of the Frozen Wastes. I enjoyed Gail Simone’s run on Red Sonja, so I wanted to see if I was interested enough to read some other collections. Answer… maybe? It remains not 100% my thing, and I think I’d prefer it in the hands of female writers, but there is something enjoyable about just leaning into the tropes and letting Sonja rock her chainmail bikini.

What are you currently reading?

I’ve been focused on shorter books for a bit, to match my tired-out attention span. In the background I’m slowly reading The Spellshop, which I’m enjoying well enough, but isn’t blowing me away — possibly due to the aforementioned attention span.

I’ve also started on Murder at the Ashmolean, by Jim Eldridge; the series is kinda shrug, but mysteries tend to work for me even when I’m not getting through books with more world-building and such.

What will you read next?

I just snagged a review copy of Malka Older’s The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses from Netgalley, so I’m inclined to read that right away — it’s just short enough that I can probably finish it in one go, which is another way to handle my short attention span. I love this series, too.

Other than that, I’m not sure!

How about you?