What 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).

What 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.

What 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.

What 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.

What 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.

What 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.

What 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.

What 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.

What 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…

What 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.

What 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).

What 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.

What 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.

What 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!

What 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! ♥

What 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.

What 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.

What 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!

What 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.

What 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.

What 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?

It’s a bit late in the day, but it’s still Wednesday!

What have you recently finished reading?

I haven’t finished anything in a few days, which is unusual for me — but I blame moving. Looks like the last thing I finished was Jonn Elledge’s A History of the World in 47 Borders, which was ultimately a bit too flippant and glancing for me, even though I generally like books in this format. I did learn some stuff, but, hm. I’m not sure how well I retained it.

What are you currently reading?

I must confess, I’ve grabbed a book off my shelf solely because I think I’ll probably donate it after I’ve read it, and it avoided me having to shuffle 8 shelves’ worth of books along to fit a different book in. So I’ve finally picked up Gwen and Art Are Not In Love (Lex Croucher). I’m trying not to be a purist about it as far as the links to Arthuriana go, but I’m raising my eyebrows a bit all the same (also about whether it’s supposed to fit in historically, given references to other, real countries) or not.

I’m guessing it’s Not That Deep, but that’s why I don’t read a lot of this kind of light-hearted YA-ish romance. I overthink it!

What will you read next?

I really don’t know. I’m eyeing a couple of other books that I suspect I’ll read and then donate, like Kacen Callender’s Felix Ever After, since I’ve been reminded of them while sorting through my books and getting them onto the new bookcases. We’ll see! With all the turmoil of moving, it’s also “whatever can catch and hold my interest right now”, to be quite honest.

What have you recently finished reading?

I think the last thing I finished was T. Kingfisher’s Clockwork Boys, which I just now finally got round to (oops). I’ve had the ebook for ages, but was finally prompted to get round to it by getting the new UK hardback release, and I had a lot of fun, even if I kinda want to kick Caliban’s shins a bit and tell him not to be an ass. It’s affectionate, I swear.

What are you currently reading?

I actually started right away on the sequel to Clockwork Boys, so I’m most actively reading The Wonder Engine! I got a bit distracted by a new game (The Wandering Village), but I want to spend more time with it tonight. It follows pretty much straight on from Clockwork Boys, which is probably why I actually managed to pick it up straight away. Normally I space out series a bit more.

Other than that, there are a few books on the go at once, as ever. I’m focusing on finishing up John Elledge’s A History of the World in 47 Borders, mostly.

I did also start The Grimoire Grammar School Parent-Teacher Association, but I’m not far into that yet.

What will you read next?

Mostly I intend to focus on some of the books I already have on the go, but I do want to continue reading the Solo Leveling manhua, so I’m eyeing volumes six and seven to read sometime this week. Otherwise, it’ll be stuff like getting back into Laura Spinney’s Proto (which has just started getting into the linguistics stuff I was interested in) and getting back to my reread of Vivian Shaw’s Dreadful Company.

What have you recently finished reading?

I finished up Alan Cleaver’s The Postal Paths last night. It’s part history (about postal workers, mostly rural postal workers) and part memoir about walking, and it’s a bit too much of the latter for me at times. The author gets a bit sanctimonious about the virtues of walking and hand-writing letters at times, which was a bit annoying, too. I’m going to review it for Postcrossing, where I’ll probably be a touch more positive about it — but on a personal level, not a huge fan.

What are you currently reading?

I started Laura Spinney’s Proto yesterday, so that’s the book at the top of the pile! It’s a history of Proto-Indo-European, the ancestor language of many modern languages, and it’s… okay. As usual, I long for numbered footnotes, and it’s less about the language itself than the speakers of the language. It feels like it sometimes goes too long without tying back in to the actual topic, but I’m enjoying it enough to keep reading. I hope it gets a bit more solid and specific about Proto-Indo-European itself, though.

What will you read next?

As ever of late, that’s a bit up in the air. I might just return my attention to something I had already started reading, like Noah Whiteman’s Most Delicious Poison… or I might be tempted to start Sam Leith’s The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading. I picked it up to just read the first page to see if I was tempted to read it, last night, and almost made myself late for bed, so that might be a good sign for my current interest in it! I do try to follow that kind of whim.