The three ‘W’s are what are you reading now, what have you recently finished reading, and what are you going to read next, and you can find this week’s post at the host’s blog here if you want to check out other posts.

What are you currently reading?

The Crucible of Creation, by Simon Conway Morris. He did a lot of work on the Burgess Shale, so he’s got an interesting perspective on evolution, and he’s pretty sharply critical of Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Dawkins’ perspectives, so I’m pretty fascinated. I’m onto the middle chapters where he’s doing an imaginative reconstruction of the Burgess Shale lifeforms when alive, which is a bit weird, though. (Interesting thought experiment, I guess, but I’m not sure what it adds?)

What have you recently finished reading?

The Mycenaeans by Rodney Castleden. I need to read around a bit to decide how in or out of date the book is, though it’s obviously a step-up from Kitto’s book on the Greeks. He weirdly manages to talk about Alexander and Achilles, and the affinity Alexander felt for Achilles, without mentioning Hephaestion once. Patroclus is mentioned, but only in passing (Achilles organises his funeral games, Achilles seeks revenge, etc) — it’s not an important point in the context, but it feels so weird to just ignore that aspect of Alexander and Achilles. Instead he talks about Alexander’s fascination with Roxane as being like Achilles’ with Briseis…!

What will you be reading next?

I’m not sure. I have rather weirdly and for no apparent reason been told that I’m not to use one of my local libraries anymore, without explanation, so I need to finish the books I have out from that one. So possibly The Traitor God, by Cameron Johnston. Or maybe the book on the Sumerians… Who knows!

This week this post goes live without cover thumbnails, because WordPress is being super weird and suddenly no longer letting me add images. 🙁

What about you? What’re you reading?

The three ‘W’s are what are you reading now, what have you recently finished reading, and what are you going to read next, and you can find this week’s post at the host’s blog here if you want to check out other posts.

What are you currently reading?

The Secret of Chimneys, by Agatha Christie. I’m trying to whittle down my library pile and Christie’s a good quick read, so, tada. I’m not a little confused at this point, partly because I read the first two chapters a couple of weeks ago and then tried to pick up where I left off, but hopefully I’ll get up to speed soon…

Also, The Roman Forum, by David Watkin, which takes a view less archaeological (and less focused on the Romans exclusively) than a lot of other writers. He talks about the afterlife of the forum too, the way its been used over time — something I honestly find more interesting, especially for being a rare approach, though I think he’s too down on archaeology.

What have you recently finished reading?

The Greeks, by H.D.F. Kitto. Out of date in information and decidedly so in attitude, and yet his enthusiasm is boundless and kind of worth reading anyway, if you can handle him being very much of his moment re: issues like enfranchisement of women. (He’s not anti, but he’s so condescending about it that you almost wish he’d straight up say that women are too stupid for the vote, so you could be properly fully annoyed at him.)

What will you be reading next?

Goodness only knows. There’s the next Murderbot, there’s a whole range of library books… Oh, I do know I need to start on The Division Bell Mystery, because I’m buddy reading that with someone on Litsy. Better grab that off the shelf!

What are you reading at the moment?

The three ‘W’s are what are you reading now, what have you recently finished reading, and what are you going to read next, and you can find this week’s post at the host’s blog here if you want to check out other posts.

What are you currently reading?

Various things, as ever, but most actively I’m getting stuck in to reading The Lord of the Rings again. I’m at the sign of the Prancing Pony, so things are about to kick off, and Strider’s just joined the party. I can never not remember the feel of the scenery from Lord of the Rings Online, and I always hear the voices of the BBC Radio adaptation. So I get to imagine it in much higher detail than I normally manage! It’s totally added something to my reading of the books, given my lack of visual imagination when left to my own devices.

What have you recently finished reading?

Rogue Protocol was the most recent book I finished, I think! Oh my goodness, Miki! I don’t want Exit Strategy to be the last book — it feels like so little space for everything to come together. I haven’t been reading other people’s reviews… I really hope it does all come together wonderfully.

What will you read next?

One possibility is Exit Strategy, or I might try and save it. The next thing I’ll focus on finishing is probably Requiem for a Mezzo, maybe if I have a nice relaxing bath after going to the gym tomorrow night… Then there’s a book on the history of science that I’ve had out of the library rather too long now, which I think I might focus on as my next non-fiction read.

What are you currently reading?

The three ‘W’s are what are you reading now, what have you recently finished reading, and what are you going to read next, and you can find this week’s post at the host’s blog here if you want to check out other posts.

What are you currently reading?

I’m mostly engaged in rereading The Hobbit, because I felt the need for something cosy, and our Sunday afternoon walk in the local country park feels a little like walking through Hobbiton. I’m also reading Pax Romana, by Adrian Goldsworthy, because it’s due back at the library and I can’t renew it (someone’s reserved it). Other than that, of course, there’s a whole assortment of things I’m partway through — but those are the two I’m focused on.

What have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was In the Vanishers’ Palace, which… despite all my hopes and excitement, I did not love. I think I’d better let my review speak for me on that one, but it’s a few days before that one goes live. It just didn’t work for me, in sum.

Daughter of Mystery was the book I read before that, and that did work for me, for the most part. I’m eager to get the second book and follow other characters as well. It’s like… it’s a solid enough world, and a solid enough romance, but alone they wouldn’t really be anything I’d want to shout about. Yet together they make something rather satisfying.

What will you be reading next?

Well, probably The Lord of the Rings will be one thing, but I have a couple of John Man’s non-fiction books out of the library that are due back soonish. I should get back to reading Ashley Weaver’s detective books, and various other library books like A Talent for Murder (AKA what “really” happened that time when Agatha Christie went missing)… In summary, lots of library books.

Then of course there’s finishing books I’m partway through; Carola Dunn’s Requiem for a Mezzo, for instance, and my reread of Vandermeer’s Authority…

What about you? What are you reading?

The three ‘W’s are what are you reading now, what have you recently finished reading, and what are you going to read next, and you can find this week’s post at the host’s blog here if you want to check out other posts.

What are you currently reading?

I’ve picked The Lost Plot back up, so hopefully I’ll be finishing that up soon. I’ve just got to the bit in Boston/New York, so it’s a whole new setting for Irene and Kai. Mobsters! Awesome. I’m also still partway through Endless Forms Most Beautiful (really something I could have done with reading before any Evo Devo came up in my degree), and I’m also partway through rereading Alwyn Hamilton’s Rebel of the Sands (time to finish the series!).

What have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was David Starkey’s book on the Magna Carta. It was okay, but not really anything I didn’t already vaguely know. Before that, I reread Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, which was a delight as always, though the ending is not nearly so happy as the movie’s in many ways (though I like both in their own ways).

What will you be reading next?

Roses and Rot, by Kat Howard, in theory! I’ve selected that as my book club choice on Habitica, so that’s the idea anyway. In practice, I do have a ton of very tempting library books, and I’ve been dying to reread Ann Leckie’s Provenance…

So what’re you reading?

The three ‘W’s are what are you reading now, what have you recently finished reading, and what are you going to read next, and you can find this week’s post at the host’s blog here if you want to check out other posts.

What are you currently reading?

Too much at once, as ever! Most actively, I’ve just got started on Endless Forms Most Beautiful, by Sean Carroll — it’s alll about Evo Devo, i.e. what embryology and development tells us about evolution. I bought it as a sort of knowledge top-up back before I actually read a bunch of papers on Evo Devo for my degree. It’s still interesting, but not surprising or as necessary to top up my knowledge anymore!

What have you recently finished reading?

I just finished reading the whole collected Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds. I’m still digesting that ending, and I’m not sure it’s what I wanted, but it sure is a fascinating concept and Sanderson is a great writer. Before that, I think the last thing I finished was Christie’s And Then There Were None, which I just gulped down, rather to my own surprise. Christie’s a better writer than I remember, every time.

What will you be reading next?

I should focus on something I’ve got on the go, so probably I’ll reread more of Under Heaven, or really dig into John Bude’s The Lake District Murder. Or maybe Bernard Capes’ The Mystery of the Skeleton Key, since I do seem to be in the mood for Golden Age crime fiction! Or there’s always some library books, like Cameron Johnson’s The Traitor God.

What are you currently reading?

The three ‘W’s are what are you reading now, what have you recently finished reading, and what are you going to read next, and you can find this week’s post at the host’s blog here if you want to check out other posts.

What are you currently reading?

A bit of a variety. I’m actually back to reading fiction as well as non-fic as the stress from the move settles down; I’m halfway through rereading Under Heaven, for one — not my favourite of Guy Gavriel Kay’s novels (though the opening chapter has always stuck with me), but I had a craving after the books on Genghis Khan and the origins of paper I was reading. I’m also reading One Way by S.J. Morden, which is pretty compulsive reading although not striking me as anything special, and Death of a Clone, by Alex Thompson — the Agatha Christie references in the latter are endearing, at least!

Non-fiction wise, I’ve started on Spying On Whales, since it’s due back at the library. One of those random picks of something I’m not constantly fascinated by, but which is nonetheless an interesting topic.

What have you recently finished reading?

I’m… not doing so good at actually finishing books. I think the last thing was Men Explain Things To Me, by Rebecca Solnit. Less inflammatory than people would have you think, and while the title essay is good, the others are more uneven — they seem thrown together just to make a book.

What will you be reading next? 

Who knows? But I did promise a buddy read of The Division Bell Mystery to someone on Litsy, so maybe it’ll be that. Then I have a bunch of books on the Mayans and Incas that I’d like to get stuck into, a book on feathered dinosaurs… plenty to be getting on with.

What are you reading?

The three ‘W’s are what are you reading now, what have you recently finished reading, and what are you going to read next, and you can find this week’s post at the host’s blog here if you want to check out other posts.

What are you currently reading?

Mostly non-fiction, as is my habit during stressful times. So at the moment it’s John Man’s book on Genghis Khan, and Alexander Monro’s The Paper Trail, about the invention and spread of paper as a technology. The latter surprised me in how very heavy it was on the linkages between the origins of paper and the popularisation by Daoism and Buddhism, through its use for sutras. Did not know anything about that before, despite knowing that China was the origin of paper made from mulberry trees.

What have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was Mark Lynas’ Seeds of Science. It’s pro-genetic modification, pointing out that there’s no reputable science to suggest there’s any harm being caused by the production of GM crops. He was once a major critic and protestor of GMOs, so it’s interesting from that perspective as well. Sadly, I doubt he’ll change anyone’s mind, but it was interesting to read up on it from the point of view of someone who was once a sceptic.

(I’m pro GMOs, obviously; science says they’re safe, I don’t believe that science should be guided by religious taboos, and I think — as Lynas points out — they can help ameliorate food insecurity.)

What will you be reading next?

I have a massive craving to reread Guy Gavriel Kay’s Under Heaven — and finally get round to River of Stars! — probably due to the Genghis Khan book and The Paper Trail. So maybe I’ll pick those up — I just got them out of their boxes today! The unpacking has begun, and nearly all the bookcases are in place.

How about you? What are you reading?