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?

Wednesday came around again, so here goes…

What have you recently finished reading?

Overleaf, by Susan and Richard Ogilvy. It’s a fascinating record of Britain’s trees through a single leaf (or group of leaves in some cases) each, showing both sides of the leaf on either side of a page turn. Susan Ogilvy is the artist, and her brother-in-law Richard is a forester. The detail is fascinating, and each leaf also has a short description with more information, written by Richard Ogilvy.

I’m also still intermittently reading new volumes of Fairy Tail, which I seem to choose when I just want to turn my brain off. I’m not deeply involved with it all, but I enjoy it while I’m reading it.

What are you currently reading?

I’m partway through a reread of The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers. I read it a while after it came out, and now this is my first reread. I don’t love this or the third book as much as the first and second, but I appreciated Record of a Spaceborn Few a bit more second and third time around, so I’m wondering if I’ll have the same experience with this one. So far, I’m not as emotionally involved with it as with the others, though.

In the Serial Reader app, I’m approaching the end of Agatha Christie’s The Man in the Brown Suit, which is very different in tone to her Poirot books. The romance is very abrupt (though it’s very clear it’s coming), but it’s fun to watch the mystery unfold.

What will you read next?

I’ve got a couple of library books I’m interested in getting round to. Since it’s more or less spooky season, Lindy Ryan’s Cold Snap is a strong contender — and since it’s a novella, it’s a nice quick read that should fit in between other stuff I need to get done this evening.

Other than that, I think I’ll soon pick up The Bookshop, the Draper, The Candlestick Maker, by Annie Gray, for my next non-fiction read. Fiction-wise, I think I’m going to finally dig into Alexis Hall’s Mortal Follies, since I have the second book in the series out of the library. It’s a good thing I’m a fast reader, or I’d never read the first one before the second one needs to go back.

What about you?

Wednesday again; that keeps happening, somehow, as does this joke.

What have you recently finished reading?

Last night I read Veronica Roth’s Arch-Conspirator more or less in one go. It’s a sci-fi retelling of Sophocles’ Antigone, and I’m still kind of digesting the ways it adapted that story. I think as an adaptation of Antigone, it doesn’t really use the same themes — more just the plot. Which is fine, but I’ve studied Antigone to death and had kind of expected a slightly different slant. I think I liked it, all the same.

What are you currently reading?

I’m most of the way through The Book at War by Andrew Pettegree, now. I returned the library copy for convenience’s sake, so I need to grab the Kindle copy to finish up. It did get a bit more interesting once it stopped being focused on early military education.

I’m also still reading Ray Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea, but I’ve barely touched that in a week because I was focusing on trying to finish other library books that needed to be returned. I should get back to it.

What are you going to read next?

In theory, there’s a bunch of library books which have been waiting a while, and it should be one of those. Most likely, I’m going to give Feeding the Monster: Why Horror Has a Hold on Us, by Anna Bogutskaya, a shot. I’m not much of a horror fan myself, even novels, but I find the fascination with it an interesting phenomenon.

I’m probably also going to give Richard Stark’s The Hunter a go; noir is not usually my thing, but a wide knowledge of trends in crime fiction (thanks to a course back in university) means I can find most anything in the genre interesting for how it slots into the bigger picture. Plus, I do think Raymond Chandler was a genius, so some noir has worked for me in the past.

How about you?

Wednesday again, huh? That keeps happening, somehow.

What have you recently finished reading?

Yesterday I finished up my reread of Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, via Serial Reader. I still liked it a lot, though once I was in the swing of it I remembered a surprising amount of how things came together. It’s a clever one!

I also read The British Museum: Storehouse of Civilizations, by James Hamilton. It’s not very critical about the British Museum, rather being inclined to laud the whole endeavour, though it does mention some of the controversy around the Elgin Marbles. It’s an interesting history of the institution and particularly of the buildings, though.

What are you currently reading?

I’m still partway through The Book at War, by Andrew Pettegree. It’s slower going than I hoped, though I couldn’t put my finger on why — perhaps because I’m not terribly interested in the history of military education per se, which has been the focus so far. We’ll see how things develop, I suppose!

I’ve also started reading The Mountain in the Sea, by Ray Nayler. I’m enjoying it, though I need to find some more time to sit down and read it; I haven’t been able to pick it up for a few days! So far we’ve only got the most tantalising hints at what’s going on, and no actual contact with octopuses.

What will you read next?

I’m not sure. I’m probably looking for something familiar and soothing, so I might go with rereading the Cemetaries of Amalo books (by Katherine Addison) and segue into reading the new one (which I have as an e-ARC). I could also use some quick reads to help advance my reading goal for the year, though, and I have some novellas lined up for that, like Olivia Waite’s Murder by Memory (also an e-ARC). It promises a Sayers-like mystery, which is encouraging.

What about you?

Yep, time for the usual check-in!

What have you recently finished reading?

I’ve mostly been reading poetry for a few days, because it was on Serial Reader and it’s been a while since I read any poetry. This involved the conclusion that I’m still not a fan of Robert Frost, but I did like Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet”.

Other than that, the last thing I finished was the fifth volume of Heaven Official’s Blessing (MXTX).

What are you currently reading?

Predictably, I’m onto volume six of Heaven Official’s Blessing, which includes a scene I’ve been waiting for ever so long — finally Xie Lian has acknowledged Hua Cheng’s feelings for him, and seems to be reciprocating! (This is hardly a spoiler: it’s danmei, you know they’re headed there.)

On Serial Reader, I’m working my way through Agatha Christie’s Poirot Investigates, which is short stories. They feature an unfortunate amount of Hastings, and I am not a fan.

Other than that, I got back to reading Emily Henry’s Book Lovers, which I am at times reading while peeking through my fingers because of embarrassment squick.

What will you be reading next?

It’s a fair bet that I’ll be reading Heaven Official’s Blessing volume 7 in pretty short order, of course, but after that, I’m not sure. I do know that my next choice on Serial Reader is likely to be a reread of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd — I remember enjoying it very much and thinking it very clever, so I’m not going to skip it even though I know whodunnit. I did read it quite a while ago, so the clues and such will be new to me, even though I remember the conclusion.

And what are you reading?

It’s Wednesday, so it’s time for the usual update!

What have you recently finished reading?

I think the most recent novel I finished was Heaven Official’s Blessing volume 4 (MXTX). I’m loving the series, but I did take a bit of a pause to breathe after volume 4, knowing that the next volume answers some questions about Hua Cheng — at least, I hope it does! And I’m so ready for Xie Lian and Hua Cheng to maybe acknowledge what’s between them a bit more.

I know a lot of spoilers, as well, which gives me the fascinating puzzle of trying to figure out where things fit in.

What are you currently reading?

All That Remains (Sue Black) is the book I’m currently reading most actively, and hoping to finish today. I find it’s a lot more personal than her later book, Written in Bone, and I’ve found myself crying several times. I just read the chapter on her work in Kosovo, which is pretty heavy stuff. She has a very practical approach to death, but coupled with a great respect for grief and for what families need, and what’s owing to a person even when they’re dead.

On Serial Reader, I’m about halfway through The Murder on the Links (Agatha Christie). It’s much of a muchness with other fiction of the period, and I’m maybe liking it a bit less because I do so dislike Hastings as a narrator, and (sorry…) I’m not a huge fan of Poirot. Not that it’s bad, just not entirely to my taste.

What will you read next?

The next volume of Heaven Official’s Blessing is definitely high on my list. Other than that, I’ve been steadily trying to whittle down the number of books I have partway read at any one time, so I’ll probably pick another of those to focus on; Christina Baehr’s Wormwood Abbey, probably, but maybe also Emily Henry’s Book Lovers, since that’s not in a series and I won’t simply want to start the next book in its place.

How about you, readers?