What have you recently finished reading?

Last night I polished off volume nine of the Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint manhwa in one fell swoop, which is fun. I found the whole thing with the Catastrophe of Questions so frustrating (stop! answering! his questions! how many times do you have to be told!) but I am veeeery intrigued by the ways Junghyeok is surprising Dokja.

What are you currently reading?

I’ve got back to my reread of the light novel version of The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter, hoping to finish volume one today. Boooy, it’s so awkward at first, but I do love Aresh’s obviously growing crush.

Other than that, I actually finished the books I had most “on deck” at the moment, but I still have loads of books I’ve technically started, so I’ll get back to those next. I got the latest British Library Crime Classic this week (Carter Dickson’s The Unicorn Murders), but only read a chapter, so probably I’ll focus on that next. I also got an early copy of Ann Leckie’s Radiant Star, and definitely want to spend more time with that!

What will you be reading next?

I think it’d normally be quite sufficient to focus on the books I’ve already started, but I did just get volume three of the Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint light novel, and volume ten of the manhwa… so you know, probably those.

What have you recently finished reading?

Just earlier I finished TJ Klune’s We Burned So Bright, which… I don’t think it was a good moment for me to read it in general, given the themes, but also I didn’t think it was that well done. A bit info-dumpy in structure, and the black hole swallowing the world did not feel “real”.

What are you currently reading?

You know the drill by now: a lot of things at once. But most actively, Jarod K. Anderson’s Strange Animals, which I wasn’t sure if I would like, but I’m pretty hooked on it — from the point with the rag moth, which I found a fascinating scene. I’m very curious where the whole thing is going.

Other than that, I’m still reading Kate Strasdin’s Dressing the Queen, which I paused last week to try to finish some other reading. I’m not so interested in the royalty part, just the artisans and craftspeople working on the clothes, and it’s giving me that in spades.

Also on pause awaiting a free evening to just mainline it is Ross Montgomery’s The Murder at World’s End, which definitely has classic mystery vibes. Aunt Decima and the protagonist are kinda reminding me of the dynamic between Ana and Din in Robert Jackson Bennett’s series.

What will you be reading next?

Speaking of Ana and Din… possibly my eARC of the new one! However, I also know there are two physical review copies wending their way to me courtesy of Hachette, one of them being Leckie’s Radiant Star, so — maybe that?!

But as ever, really it’ll be down to my whim.

What have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was Joseph Howgego’s The Meteorite Hunters, which was pretty good. I liked it more than Helen Gordon’s The Meteorites, even though at times they were covering the same thing, I think because Howgego stuck to a more popular-science framework while Gordon was a bit more focused on cultural stuff at times.

Before that, I finished Anthony Delaney’s Queer Georgians, which had fewer new-to-me stories that I’d anticipated, actually (though I’m not saying there was nothing new to me, and though I knew of the ladies of Llangollen, I didn’t know about their lives in any detail before they arrived in Llangollen). I thought it was pretty good, though it’s not a pet period/topic of mine, so hard to really judge.

What are you currently reading?

I started Kate Strasdin’s Dressing the Queen on the train back from London yesterday, having picked it up in St Pancras, and got a chunk of the way in. It’s not about any given queen per se, but about the clothes and textile items provided for royalty over the last 200 years or so, and who made them, a bit about how they were made, etc. It’s highlighting fairly ordinary people at times, and I’m finding it fascinating.

Other than that, I’m slowly inching my way through Gareth Russell’s Queen James, which is less focused on the romantic partners of James than I had guessed from the subtitle, blurb, etc. I believe there are some more solidly understood lovers coming up from the chronological point I’ve got to, though.

And finally, I’m deep into S.L. Huang’s The Water Outlaws, and curious where it’s going exactly.

What will you read next?

I’m honestly going to try to focus on books I’ve started already. More of Cecilia Edwards’ An Ancient Witch’s Guide to Modern Dating, for one, and I think I’m not that far from finishing (or DNFing) David Crystal’s William Tyndale and the English Language, which is just… talking to a reader who isn’t me, and I think has made most of the points that are interesting to me already — the rest seems to be detail. But we’ll see, I’ll give it time next, is the main thing.

What have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was, on a total whim based on seeing it in the offering in my library’s Comics Plus subscription, Chiuko Umeshibu’s Yankee & Carameliser. It turned out pretty cute, with a “bad boy” protagonist who loves to bake and a supportive classmate who encourages him, and (of course) ends up falling in love with him. There’s some pretty sad/homophobic backstory for Maki which doesn’t entirely get addressed, keeping the tone mostly light.

What are you currently reading?

A lot of books at once, more than usual still, but I can’t say I’m actually focusing on all of them. I most recently started Cecilia Edward’s An Ancient Witch’s Guide to Modern Dating, which so far feels a bit too rom-com for my tastes… but I’m giving it a chance, especially as I remember seeing some positive reviews of it which led me to add it to my TBR in the first place.

I also recently started Alexa Hagerty’s Still Life with Bones, on a much more serious note: it’s a bit like Sue Black’s books about her work as a forensic anthropologist, but focuses on work in Latin America pursuing the truth about state terror and genocide. I’m not very far into it yet.

What will you be reading next?

I’m trying not to start any new reads, and instead focus on some of the ones I’ve got started but haven’t got far with. That means I need to get back to Gareth Russell’s Queen James, for a start, since that’s the BookSpin choice for me for April’s challenge on Litsy — though I also need to start S.L. Huang’s The Water Outlaws.

Here we are, on Wednesday again somehow…

What have you recently finished reading?

Thanks to a certain friend, the last thing I finished was actually a book called Boring Postcards USA by Martin Parr. It’s… pretty much what it says on the tin: a book full of postcards depicting highways, motel rooms, tools, etc — some of them looking very like tourist postcards, but boring. And sometimes a little horrifying, in terms of the interior decorating. It was very entertaining, all in all, in part because I also know that some Postcrossing members would love to receive and collect things like this. I might review it for Postcrossing’s blog!

Earlier yesterday I also finished Ancient Egypt in 50 Discoveries, which has some excellent choices and images, but feels a bit fragmented due to being written by various different contributors.

What are you currently reading?

I have a lot of books on my currently reading ‘shelf’ (both physical and on StoryGraph), but realistically I’m only focusing on a couple. One of those is Jess Kidd’s Murder at Gulls Nest, which is going… okay. There’s something awkward about the way it’s written sometimes, like maybe someone’s taken out a thesaurus and got things a bit wrong, or used words they don’t quite understand, e.g. Nora refers to someone as “pertaining to be” a given name, implying that it’s a fake name. That’s… not what “pertaining” means.

I actually quite like the present tense for writing short pieces, but I’m also not sure how well it’s working at this length.

The only other book I’ve actually picked up in the last couple days is Leo Bruce’s Jack on the Gallows Tree, this month’s British Library Crime Classics release. I’m enjoying it more than I feared so far, since it features one of Bruce’s other detectives, not Sergeant Beef (a character I don’t enjoy).

What will you read next?

I’m not sure, but I’m hoping something will grab me soon! Realistically, I should probably focus on some of the books I’ve technically started but haven’t made progress with.

This post is being scheduled instead of published immediately, as an experiment! A while ago, Jetpack stopped sending emails when I scheduled posts, despite working fine when I manually published them. Let’s find out if that’s still the case or if they’ve fixed their bug…

What have you recently finished reading?

Kimberly Campanello’s An Interesting Detail, a collection of prose-poems which drove me up the wall. Each one is a handful of scattered imagery linked by non-sequiturs, and I hated finding it perfectly readable and at the same time totally incomprehensible.

Before that, it was Nicola Whyte’s Murder Like Clockwork, which I found serviceable but not compelling. My review is already up here.

What are you currently reading?

I just started qntm’s There is No Antimemetics Division, which I requested from the library more or less on a whim and started today on even more of a whim. I find the idea mindboggling and possibly like it’s going to trigger existential dread, and I’m very curious how it plays out.

I have quite a lot of other books on the go, but the other thing I’m most actively reading is Stephanie Boonstra and Campbell Price’s Ancient Egypt in 50 Discoveries, which I got at the Petrie Museum and is scratching my itch for histories that are X in Y objects.

I also very recently started Gareth Russell’s Queen James, but I’m not far into it.

What will you be reading next?

Nobody knows, particularly not me. I have a bunch of books on the go already, so I’ll probably focus on some of that, like reading more of Queen James. My DoubleSpin choice for the Litsy BookSpin challenge is S.L. Huang’s The Water Outlaws, though, so perhaps that?

What have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was Toby Wilkinson’s Ramesses the Great, which was great fun. I found one of his previous books a bit dry/boring, but this one worked well for me. I’d have expected myself to know a bit more about Ramesses II, but I’ve mostly read fairly general histories of Egypt rather than focused ones, so he’s an important part of those, but they didn’t go into this kind of detail.

What are you currently reading?

Riley Black’s The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs, first and foremost! I’ve enjoyed her previous books, and though I read a lot about dinosaurs, things are ever-changing as we learn more. True to expectations, there are some things that are new to me, so that’s been fun.

Also combining this book and Wilkinson’s, I ended up dreaming about a velociraptor called Ramesses II, wearing the twin crown of Egypt…

What will you read next?

I’ll probably work on finishing up Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature, since it’s probably a relatively quick read and it’d be good to finish some of the (many) books I have started. I’m also keen to get back to Amal El-Mohtar’s Seasons of Glass and Iron.

Greetings from my graduation day! This is very late, but I’ve had a long day. I have successfully added a fourth qualification to my collection (BA Hons, BSc Hons, MA, and now  MSc) — gotta catch ’em all, right? Right…?

What have you recently finished reading?

I snagged a copy of Japanese Dress in Detail from the V&A museum yesterday, and read it that evening! Like the other books in this series I’ve read, it was pretty interesting; maybe my favourite part was reading about firefighters’ dress, which was wadded both for protection and so it could be soaked with water for protection.

Before that, I finished Steve Roud’s Folk Song in England, which was slow and thorough, and an enjoyable survey of both the history of folk song and (necessary to understand it) the history of collecting folk songs.

What are you currently reading?

I just started on Stephanie Boonstra and Campbell Price’s Ancient Egypt in 50 Discoveries, which I picked up at the Petrie Museum. I haven’t got very far in, though!

I have several other books on the go, including Emma Southon’s Servus, R.F. Kuang’s Katabasis and Nicola Whyte’s Murder Like Clockwork. I’m furthest into the latter, and I’d love to finish it this evening, though it’s a PDF only advance copy so I can only read it on my laptop, which is a bit at odds with my desire to become one with the nearest horizontal surface (the hotel bed) after a long day.

What will you be reading next?

It’s a good bet I’ll start on Twentieth-Century Fashion in Detail, another of the books from the V&A soon! Possibly even tonight. That won’t keep me occupied very long, though. I brought a bunch of the books I’m meant to be reading for my BookSpinBingo card with me, so maybe one of those!

What have you recently finished reading?

Volume 13 of the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation manhua adaptation was the last thing I finished, I think! I enjoyed the adaptation quite a bit, it helped cement things in my head a bit more and give me more of an idea how things look (being totally aphantasic, I don’t imagine things in the way other people do). It’s still not my favourite MXTX story, but it was enjoyable in its own way.

What are you currently reading?

Oh boy. Let’s think. The last one I picked up was Steve Roud’s Folk Song in England, which is dense and slow going, but I would like to finish it before my graduation trip — if only so we don’t have to haul such a big book with us! I’m enjoying it, though; the far-away and petty-sounding arguments of the early folk song collectors are mildly entertaining, and the things they wrestled with are useful to understand.

I also started on R.F. Kuang’s Katabasis last night. I don’t feel like I have a good handle on what I’ll think of it yet, but it certainly feels like it has an axe to grind about the postgraduate experience at Cambridge, and abusive/careless advisors.

I’m also slowly easing into Joseph Shearing’s Airing in a Closed Carriage, which is a classic crime novel reissued this month by the British Library Crime Classics series, and definitely the chunkiest book they’ve published. It’s slow going, because it’s setting up a story based heavily on a real murder case, in which Florence Maybrick was accused of killing her husband. I really want to read up more on that case to get the context for this, really.

At the weekend, I started on T. Kingfisher’s Swordheart, and really want to get back to it. It feels like the male protagonist/presumably love interest (given the pattern of these books) maybe isn’t quite such a typical paladin as many of the other male protagonists? But of course I’m not far in and it’s all been from Halla’s perspective so far; we’ll see.

That’s still not quite it, but we’ll stop there, because the rest are pretty much on pause.

What will you be reading next?

An Opinionated Guide to London Museums (Emmy Watts) and An Opinionated Guide to London Bookshops (Sonya Barber and James Manning), somewhat on a whim. I won’t be in London that long for my graduation next week, and we do have some tentative plans already… but that includes a day of bookshopping and potentially some extra time to look at museums, so I thought I’d do a little research.

What have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was Gryffin Murphy’s Twig’s Traveling Tomes, which I got as an ARC via Netgalley. The romance didn’t really work for me, since it felt a bit too much like insta-love and I didn’t feel the chemistry, but the book magic was pretty fun. I’d love to have magic that can tell me the perfect book for someone I don’t even know; that sounds pretty darn cool.

What are you currently reading?

As ever, I have a couple of books on the go. My current non-fiction read is a chonker by Steve Roud, Folk Song in England. I’ve been a fan of folk music since I was a teen, though Roud is using a stricter definition that excludes singers like Seth Lakeman or bands like Bellowhead (who have done modern interpretations of traditional folk songs, often with a decidedly non-traditional sound). He draws a line at the 1950s and declines to discuss modern stuff for the purposes of his work. Still interesting to me, since many of these traditional songs are sources for the modern folk singers I’ve enjoyed.

I also settled into a classic mystery yesterday while feeling sorry for myself about my dentist visit: Michael Gilbert’s Sky High, which enjoyably features a comfortably middle-aged lady who rides a motorbike, manages the choir, and has some clever ideas about amateur detection. After the last book of Gilbert’s I read (Death in Captivity) I was kind of putting this off in case it was similarly grim, but though it’s haunted by war, it doesn’t have the same feel. I’m enjoying it well enough so far!

What will you be reading next?

If I told you, I’d have to kill you…

Nope, as so often, I have no real idea. I’m trying to clear the decks a bit since I’m going to have a few days in London at the end of the month, and undoubtedly that will mean getting some new books. I have a challenge for 2026 (that worked well in 2025) not to have more than 20 books bought in 2026 that I haven’t started yet, plus a goal of generally reading more books than I buy to slowly chip away at the backlog, so I want to create some space there. That means I’ll probably read the rest of the MDZS manhua volumes I have, and maybe start on a couple more ARCs.