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?

Aaand it’s Wednesday!

What have you recently finished reading?

It’s still a bit of a bad time for reading for me, but I did get provoked into being more enthusiastic by the arrival of a new gadget: my first colour ereader! So I read Penguins and Other Sea Birds, by Matt Sewell, which has colour illustrations — you know, just to test out the capabilities… It was cute, but I found that he exaggerated some of the weird shapes and features of birds, and the results are a bit visually confusing at times compared to looking at an actual photo.

The crested auklet image was shockingly accurate, though.

One of the reasons for me to get a new 7″ ereader was for manga, so I’ve also been indulging in a reread of A Side Character’s Love Story, since I have started to forget some of the characters from earlier volumes now I’m reading the new ones as they come out. I’ve only reread the first volume so far.

What are you currently reading?​

Nothing very actively, despite my best intentions. I’m most of the way through Agatha Christie’s The Secret Adversary; I read that a bit a day via Serial Reader, but I might get the last issues delivered all at once and finish that up. It’s cutting me off at odd places at the moment, e.g. right in the middle of a character’s big reveals.

What will you read next?

More of A Side Character’s Love Story, for sure. Other than that… I’m not sure. I’m tempted to give Natsu Hyuuga’s The Apothecary Diaries a shot, and I’m sure I have some other manga and graphic novels saved to lists to check out at some point.

It might also be a way of catching up a bit with my reading goal for the year. I was probably too ambitious, since I need to read 75 more books by the end of the year to meet it… but still, it’d be nice to get a bit closer.

How’s everyone else doing?

Wednesday again! Here we go.

What have you recently finished reading?

The Loki Variations, by Karl Johnson, which is a bit of a discussion of the various different portrayals of the Norse god Loki in popular culture (including, but not limited to, the MCU). I quite liked it: Johnson’s enthusiasm for Loki stories and the dissection of Marvel’s influence, treating the whole subject as serious and worthy of discussion (which it is), etc.

Loki stories aren’t entirely my thing, but Johnson makes me want to seek out a couple more just for fun.

What are you currently reading?

Nothing very actively; I have a few books on the go, but all of them have waited at least a few days since I last interacted with them, except for my current Serial Reader choice, The Secret Adversary. It’s Christie’s first Tommy and Tuppence novel. It’s… okay? I’m really not as much of a Christie fan as some.

Other than that, I’m partway through my e-ARC of Amal El-Mohtar’s The River Has Roots, which I’m enjoying, but needed to charge my ereader to continue with. I’ve actually done that now, so I’ll get back to that soon.

What will you be reading next?

I’m just starting The Spellshop, because it’s a book of the month on the Bookly Discord. For the same reason I’m about to start The Pumpkin Spice Café, about which I see fairly mixed reviews. The theme was “cosy fantasy”, and as far as I can tell The Pumpkin Spice Café is a romance (and not romantasy, either), but I enjoy romance in general so I’m giving it a shot anyway.

I’m also likely to read some more of 404 Ink’s Inklings series, which are satisfyingly random in topic. Not sure which one, though.

How about you?

Hello again, Wednesday.

What have you recently finished reading?​

Not much, alas. I haven’t been in the mood to read at all. The last thing I finished was Vivian Shaw’s Bitter Waters, a novella in the world of her Greta Helsing series. It feels like a bit of a coda to the trilogy, with more exploration of the vampires and their culture, background, etc. I liked it, though I don’t think it’d stand alone.

What are you currently reading?

Nominally, Lucy Worsley’s biography of Agatha Christie. It’s fascinating to get a bit more insight on the person behind the stories, and on her troubles, and the things that inspired some of her fiction.

I’ve also made a start on The Other Olympians, by Michael Waters, which digs into the early Olympic games and why sex verification became a thing. I’m not very far into it, but so far I appreciate Waters’ care to do his best in referring to people how they wanted to be referred to, even before their transitions.

What will you be reading next?

I really don’t know. I’m feeling less than great still, honestly, so I might turn to something familiar and comforting — or I might start a bunch of different books and just see what sticks. I’d like to read Alexis Hall’s Mortal Follies and Sarah Beth Durst’s The Spellshop, but I’m not sure if I want to start those now.

What are you reading?

Wednesday, huh? Let’s have a spot of normality ’round here, even if my schedule’s still a mess.

What have you recently finished reading?

John Lewis-Stempel’s The Secret Life of the Owl, which is basically a miscellany with all the facts he could think of or find out about owls in the UK. It’s short, but it was nice, and I did learn a couple of things, like the fact that owls have asymmetrical ears.

I did also read a volume of R.S. Thomas’ poetry, and wasn’t overwhelmed. I once read and enjoyed a biography of him, Byron Rogers’ The Man Who Went into the West, and that left me feeling pretty… fond, I guess? But the poetry wasn’t for me.

What are you currently reading?

I’m not feeling very inspired by anything I have on the go right now, unfortunately. Pretty tired and meh. I’ve made no progress on The Roads to Rome by Catherine Fletcher, after finding it hard going last week. I should pick that up again soon and give it a couple more chapters to see if I want to finish it.

I’m more or less enjoying Lucy Worsley’s biography of Agatha Christie, but I don’t really seem to be in the mood to read, so I’ve tried not to force myself.

Speaking of Agatha Christie: on Serial Reader, I’m most of the way through The Secret of Chimneys. I think I see how things are going to shake out… but I’m quite prepared to be surprised, or at least wrong about some aspects. We’ll see!

What will you read next?

I’m eyeing up The Other Olympians, by Michael Waters, which I’ve had out of the library a couple weeks and not started yet.

Honestly… I’m rather hoping that writing about it will annoy any covert transphobes into going away and never reading my blog again.

How about you?

Just back from a wedding, and just enough time to write a quick reading update!

What have you recently finished reading?

Over the past few days, I haven’t finished much aside from a single volume of the Fairy Tail manga, and the last thing I finished other than that was one of my weekend reads… looks like it was Enchanted Creatures, by Natalie Lawrence, which tries to dig into why humans have come up with certain kinds of stories. I really need to chew over what I thought of this and look up a couple of things that gave me pause (is a phobia of snakes really the most common human fear, for instance?). It was an alright read, but nothing too surprising, in any case.

What are you currently reading?

I started on The Roads to Rome, by Catherine Fletcher. Unfortunately, my mind kept wandering and I’m not sure I’ve retained anything so far, other than the fact that there is actually a place called Narnia (Narni, now, but Narnia in Latin), which is where C.S. Lewis got the name from. I’m not sure if it’s the book or just the fact that there was a lot going on around me, so I’ll give it a bit longer now I’m home… but it might be a write-off for me.

What will you read next?

I keep throwing out ideas and then not adhering to them, so this should always be taken with a pinch of salt — but I’m fairly certain I’m going to read Jim Eldridge’s Murder at the British Museum. The first book was just okay, not wonderful, but I like the idea of mysteries set in museums enough to keep going with the next book, at least for now.

Other than that… who knows? But the biography of Agatha Christie I borrowed is my most-renewed book that’s due back at the library next, so maybe that one, just in case they still have a limit on the number of times you can renew a book.

What about you?