What have you recently finished reading?

Other than my ongoing Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation manhua read, the last thing I finished was Nicholas Jubber’s Monsterland, which was not quite my thing. It was much more into the travelogue aspect than I was, and while I understand that it added “authenticity” and “local flavour”, and was genuinely a good way for the author to gather information from the people the customs actually belong to… it’s not something I enjoy for its own sake. I did like the folklore it picked, though, and the fact that it went on to discuss modern monsters.

As far as MDZS goes, we just had the flashback about the destruction of Jiang Cheng’s golden core, and in the present we’re heading to the Burial Mounds. Lan Xichen stubbornly believes in Jin Guangyao, and my heart hurts already, since I know the story now.

What are you currently reading?

I just started on Julie Leong’s The Keeper of Magical Things, which is fun so far, though I’m not very far into it. I really enjoyed The Teller of Small Fortunes, and I’m enjoying that the protagonist of this one also has a magic that seems quite small. I’m wondering how Leong is going to play with that, and hoping that it’s a similarly interesting take.

As ever, I have a few other books on the go at once, including Alice Roberts’ Domination, with which I’m going relatively slowly. I keep losing the thread… I like her work, but the topic just doesn’t interest me, sadly.

I’m also still reading Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter, or more accurately, I still need to get back into reading it. It’s fun! I’m enjoying it! But I put it down for a bit and then life intervened a bit, and now I need to find my way back into it.

What will you be reading next?

I want to keep on with rereading Nghi Vo’s Singing Hills books, since I have an ARC of the new one, so I’ll be rereading The Brides of High Hill next.

Other than that, I need to really get to work on reading the books I lined up for Book Spin Bingo this month. Maybe I’ll finally start on KJ Charles’ How to Fake it in Society, even if I’m already cringing at the idea of the fallout of the characters’ bad choices already laid out in the blurb. I know I’ll enjoy it when I get started, and that Charles likely handles it more subtly than I’m imagining, buuuut seeing the probable third act breakup coming from this far away is a bit of a kicker to me.

What have you recently finished reading?

Several volumes of the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation manhua! I’m quite enjoying it, because having read the light novel recently, it’s helping the plot and characters fall into place, little details I didn’t notice are popping out, and stuff I couldn’t picture (due to having aphantasia) is, well, right there, by the very nature of the medium. I’m on the Yi City arc, having my heart broken all over again.

What are you currently reading?

A couple of things, but most actively it’s Alice Roberts’ Domination: The Fall of the Roman Empire and the Rise of Christianity. So far it’s low on Roman Empire and high on Celtic Christianity, largely using sources like hagiographies and place names, which is a bit slow. The next section says it’s about archaeology, though, and I look forward to that — I’ve loved Roberts’ books like Ancestors and Crypt, and I think the archaeology is likely to be a strong point of the book.

It’s fundamentally not my interest, though — I’m more reading it because I like Roberts’ other books — so I imagine I’ll be working through it for a while.

What will you be reading next?

Needless to say, it’ll be more of the MDZS manhua… but other than that, I hope to get back to Heather Fawcett’s Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter, and maybe Molly O’Neill’s Nightshade & Oak, since both of them are books I received to review.

Excitingly I also have the next Singing Hills novella by Nghi Vo, so that might jump the queue.

What have you recently finished reading?

I’ve mostly only found time for reading poetry at the moment, now I’m back at work and catching up on stuff. So yesterday I fit in reading Chris McCabe’s Hedonism, a collection which I chose to read believing I wouldn’t really like it (based on the blurb). True enough, there were a bunch of poems I didn’t get or didn’t really like, but there were also a number I really liked, and lines in ones I didn’t like that I still thought were superb. I couldn’t entirely tell you what “the self-hauntedness of Tony Blair” means, but it rings true all the same…

What are you currently reading?

I’m working my way through Catherine Clarke’s A History of England in 25 Poems at a pace of a couple of chapters a day, during breaks. I’m really enjoying it, both the chapters on poems I know well (like ‘The Battle of Maldon’, large chunks of which I translated during my undergrad English Lit degree) and ones I know less well, like one written during the war between Stephen and Matilda.

I’ve also started reading Syou Ishida’s We’ll Prescribe You A Cat, which I’m enjoying well enough — so far it feels very of a piece with books like Before the Coffee Gets Cold in style, audience and intent, and thus not quite 100% my thing, but something I can appreciate for what it is all the same.

What will you be reading next?

No idea. I’ve been struggling to devote much time to reading at the moment, during my time off and especially now with more limited time during work. Scheduling breaks for reading time during work seems to help, but it’s a sadly fragmentary way of reading. Not sure where my reading mojo went, but I’m also not going to try to twist my own arm about it.

Most likely I’ll read another collection of poetry by Mimi Khalvati, or something else randomly chosen from the National Poetry Library’s available online loans.

What have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was the first volume of the official English translation of the Heaven Official’s Blessing manhua. STARember’s art is gorgeous, and it’s a really nice edition. Before that, I finished Helen Gordon’s The Meteorites, which was okay but focused more on people’s reaction to meteorites than I was entirely interested in — I’m more into the science side of things (and even then, it’s not really one of my major interests). So not entirely what I was looking for, but a fun enough read.

What are you currently reading?

I have a few books on the go, but I’ve been kinda bouncing around and not super focused. The ones I’d like to sit down and finish today are Lisa Shearin’s The Grendel Affair — the title of which is annoyingly spoilery, and really should’ve been something else to my mind — and volume one of Priest’s Guardian. I’m close to finishing both.

I don’t think I’ll read the sequel to The Grendel Affair, because it just doesn’t stand out against other urban fantasy enough for me, but I’ll continue reading Guardian unless it weirdly jumps the shark in the last 70 pages. I have some theories about what’s happening, and there’s a nice simmering sense of longing going on, so looking forward to finishing it up and getting the next volume.

What will you be reading next?

I don’t really know, because I’ve been finding it hard to settle down to anything. I think I’ll probably focus on finishing up T. Kingfisher’s Snake-eater, which I was enjoying, and then perhaps focus on reading some of the manhwa and manhua I’ve been piling up.

Buuuut, as ever, it’ll be whatever I feel like in the moment.

What have you recently finished reading?

I was kinda struggling to finish anything for a bit, but last night I did finish volume five of the Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint manhwa! It’s juuust getting beyond the bit I read in the light novels so far, so things are heating up; I did expect this plot twist somewhat, but it’s fun to see my theories confirmed.

Before that, the last thing I finished was an ARC of Molly Tanzer’s And Side by Side They Wandered, which I found really interesting, albeit very obviously referencing the antics of the British Museum.

What are you currently reading?

Last night I started a bunch of books at once trying to find something that fit, and I think I found some winners! I’m first going to finish up C.L. Clark’s Fate’s Bane, which is a novella; I’m curious where it’s going, and the shortish chapters are really tugging me through it. I also started T. Kingfisher’s Snake-eater, which is likely to be a quick read for me because I find most of Kingfisher’s work pretty compulsive.

I also started volume one of Priest’s Guardian, though I don’t have a good sense for where that’s going yet, so I need a bit more time to get sucked in, and Nicholas Jubber’s Monsterland, which I’m probably going to read a bit at a time, since it’s non-fiction and structured in a way that lends itself to that, with separate chapters for different kinds of monsters/superstitions/etc.

I’m also slowly working my way through Helen Gordon’s The Meteorites, and would like to finish that soon, and I have a volume of the Solo Leveling novels part-read. Clearly I’ve been a bit flighty lately!

What will you read next?

I’m not entirely sure. I’m likely to read more of the Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint manhwa quite soon, and I picked up the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation manhua as well, which is high on my list. Seamus Sullivan’s Daedalus is Dead is looking tempting too, since it’s a novella and maybe suited to my current attention span.

But as ever, it’ll be wherever my whim takes me in the moment!

What have you recently finished reading?

I haven’t actually been reading a lot, it’s been a pretty bad start to the year on that front — I’ve been busy, preparing for some time off I want to take by working ahead, and cleaning the house for a landlord inspection, and starting the new raid tier in Final Fantasy XIV! But I did make some time last night to read the seventh volume of the Cat + Gamer manga, which was cute as ever.

What are you currently reading?

I have a few books on the go concurrently, but mostly the same as last week because things aren’t really moving. The last in-progress book I actually opened was Helen Gordon’s The Meteorites, which I’m finding interesting but a bit slow, and also kinda anxiety-making just because thinking on the scale of meteorites and deep time makes me feel very, very small.

I do have a volume of Solo Leveling on the go as well, and I suspect that’ll be my best route back into settling into books again, since I find it very soothing. (Despite, you know, all the monsters and battles.)

What will you read next?

My wife got me a few more volumes of the Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint manhwa to keep my brain occupied while awaiting a dental appointment for a broken filling (I have a phobia of dentists), so that’ll probably give me some easy reading while I’m coping with the busy time! Other than that, I don’t know for now what I’m likely to read, though Dungeon Crawler Carl is past due at the library…

(I find it funny how similar the premise is to books like Solo Leveling and Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint. Clearly my reading is themed lately, despite the different cultures the books come from and different formats!)

What have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was the fourth volume of the Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint manhwa. It’s almost caught up to where the light novels are, so I’m kinda looking forward to getting the next couple of volumes and getting a bit deeper into the story. This one featured the start of the Cinema Dungeon, which is a favourite part of the story for me (so far).

What are you currently reading?

I’ve got a few books on the go due to indecisiveness, but I guess the headlines are Cat Tales: A History, by Jerry D. Moore, which looks into the archaeology and anthropology of the bond between cats and humans (which has by no means always been harmonious). I’m not learning anything that surprises me, but it is filling in some of the details and evidence, which is always fun. I started reading Megan C. Reynolds’ Like: A History of the World’s Most Hated (and Misunderstood) Word, but I found her style a bit overly wordy for my taste in the moment, so I’ve laid that aside for now.

Fiction-wise, I’m reading the sixth volume of the Solo Leveling light novel by Chugong, and having a blast as always. I want to read over the last chapter again for some of the explanation of Monarchs vs Rulers, because honestly, half the time in the manhwa I was just going “big fight! Jinwoo strong!”… I’m also reading Death at Breakfast, by John Rhode, which is a classic mystery and very soothingly so.

What will you be reading next?

I don’t really know. Depends whether I get more Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, I guess! Though probably volume seven of Solo Leveling is high on the list. Can’t believe I’m running out of volumes so fast…

What have you recently finished reading?

I’ve been reading some graphic novels/manga to close out the year: the last thing I finished was Our Not-So-Lonely Planet Travel Guide vol 1, by Mone Sorai, which was okay. I didn’t absolutely love the style, and Asahi’s internalised homophobia makes it a bit less quirky and fun than it might be, but the bond between the two leads is cute.

What are you currently reading?

I’m most of the way through the third volume of the Solo Leveling light novel, which is such a fun, fast read. I’m having a whale of a time with the series. It’s kinda lacking in tension since you know that Jinwoo is gonna be able to beat anything (especially since I’ve read the manhwa), and that’s fiiiine. It’s just fun to be along for the ride.

I’m also partway through Algospeak (Adam Aleksic), which is interesting. I try not to be prescriptivist about language, and just approach it with curiosity, so steam isn’t coming out of my ears at the way words are being used “improperly”. (I do dislike “unalive”, though, which is the subject of the first chapter.)

What are you going to read next?

To meet my reading goal of 400 books in 2025, I’m going to finish out the year with the first two volumes of the Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint manhwa. I’ve enjoyed the two volumes of the light novel I’ve read, so I’m looking forward to digging in. Hopefully my parents and sister will be chill and let me read a bit in the run-up to midnight, once dinner (and the lemon drizzle cake baked today by my wife) have been consumed.

What have you recently finished reading?

Looks like the last thing I finished was David Hone and Mark P. Witton’s Spinosaur Tales, which was really interesting. I don’t know that much about spinosaurs; they’re not a dinosaur I’d ever been particularly interested in. I mostly remember Baryonyx because of playing Jurassic World Evolution and having trouble making the habitat comfy for it, ahaha. Hone’s books are usually really clear, and Witton’s drawings added a lot too.

What are you currently reading?

A few things at once, but still kinda struggling with attention span except when something really grabs me. I’m trying to finish Lizzie Collingham’s The Hungry Empire: How Britain’s Quest for Food Shaped the Modern World today; I’ve learned a couple of kinda surprising-to-me things so far, but I’m not blown away by it (sadly — I generally rather enjoy food history).

Still, hopefully I can finish it this evening.

What will you be reading next?

Who knows! It depends on what Santa brings me, probably. Though I’m rather tempted to dig into the Solo Leveling light novel, which is a Christmas present I already received. I love the manhwa, after all.

Still, we’ll see. I doubt I’ll get change to start on anything new this evening, and tomorrow could change eveeeerything.

What have you recently finished reading?

It was a couple of days ago, but I finished E.C.R. Lorac’s Still Waters. It’s interesting to see Lorac’s books with some repeat characters (the Hoggetts), since the others mostly just have Macdonald and Reeve (the detectives) and not really any other recurring characters. Lorac’s love for the area is clear, and there are some really tense scenes — it’s not really “cosy” in that sense!

What are you currently reading?

A few things at once, trying to find something that “sticks”. Mostly, Rowenna Miller’s The Palace of Illusions, since it’s kinda seasonal (as a Nutcracker-inspired fantasy set at Christmas); I was enjoying it, but I’ve just kinda stalled — I think because I’ve been working extra in order to get next week off. Hopefully I’ll find my mojo again soon.

I did also start PJ Ellis’ We Could Be Heroes, but I’ve barely read any of that yet.

What will you read next?

I don’t really know. I might start on Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, since volume one is relatively short, and I’ve been curious about it for a while. Or I might read Spinosaur Tales, because non-fiction might grab my attention a little bit more right now.