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 partway through Sarah Rees Brennan’s In Other Lands. I haven’t enjoyed her work that much before, but this one is working quite well for me. I love the main character’s snark and how he uses it in self-defence, and also the commentaries on the genre (because of course).

What have you recently finished reading?

I haven’t actually been reading very much in the past week or so. Suddenly got all tired and had to focus on just getting work done! The last thing I read was Heroine Complex, by Sarah Kuhn; enjoyable in many ways, but I just didn’t want to stay with the main character given the running joke about her being dead inside.

What will you be reading next?

I don’t know yet! Per my “sell me a book” promise, my next fiction book will be David D. Levine’s Arabella of Mars, but I’m tempted to read Siddhartha Mukherjee’s The Emperor of All Maladies first. I’ve been doing a lot of transcription work involving stuff about cancer, and I feel like knowing more about it — from a less clinical point of view, perhaps, since this has all been about clinical trials and five year survival rates.

So what are you reading, folks?

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 still halfway through Kushiel’s Dart, and I’m most of the way through Brian Fagan’s book on Cro-Magnon peoples. It’s interesting in itself, but a lot of the info isn’t new to me at all, and some of it is a little out of date. Also, it might not be the best choice while in the middle of some species of flu-like virus, though luckily that seems to be pretty much over now.

What have you recently finished reading?

Not much, regrettably. I just finished How the Zebra Got Its Stripes by Léo Grasset, though; it’s entertaining and sometimes informative, but pretty light and very short. And now I know more than I wanted to know about the sex lives of hyenas.

What will you be reading next?

I’m not sure, but I’m tempted to reread The Goblin Emperor to see out the year after my sister bet me that I’d read it at least twice this year and in fact, I proved that I haven’t even read it once in 2017. Oddly though, I’m not sure if I quite feel like it…

What are you reading? Get anything interesting for Christmas that you had to dive straight into?

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?

Actually, I’m not in the middle of anything at all, except Kushiel’s Dart, which I’ve been persistently not feeling like reading. Too much terrible stuff happens to Phèdre and Joscelin, and I’m just not in the mood for their world right now. Hopefully I’ll get it back soon…? I am 50% of the way through, so I don’t want to just stop, though of course it’s a reread so I know what happens.

What have you recently finished reading?

I’ve just finished Priam’s Gold, by Caroline Moorehead. It’s about Heinrich Schliemann, the man who excavated at Troy to prove that Homer’s epics were referring to real historical events. It’s partly a biography of Schliemann, but it does also trace his whole archaeological career and the later movements of the treasure he found. That means there’s a couple of chapters on WWII and the way both sides looted art.

Other than that, I just read Winterwood, by Dorothy Eden. It’s a Gothic-ish mystery/romance, sort of in the vein of Mary Stewart’s work, and it actually gave me a couple of surprises…

What will you read next?

I don’t know. I honestly feel like some very familiar rereads — Carry On, by Rainbow Rowell, maybe, or The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Cat Valente. Maybe even some Mary Stewart, though I’ve been spacing out those rereads a bit. It is the time of year to snuggle down and be cosy around here, after all…

And what about you, o gentle reader?

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 Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language, by John McWhorter, for a challenge. It surprises me how much of this I actually know or already believed to be true; I though I didn’t really know that much about language formation. It is a little boring when it goes into examples, because without being able to pronounce them they just sort of wash over my head, but I expect other people would quite like it. Especially all the pop culture!

What have you recently finished reading?

Everything felt pretty terrible, so I reread the next Phryne book in the series, Murder in Montparnasse. It has some pretty heavy themes, of course — domestic violence and cold-blooded murder — but I still find something about the books so soothing.

What will you read next?

As a reward for doing a ton of adult and sensible things, I’m letting myself read whatever I want through to the end of the year. That said, I’m pretty sure my wife would like me to hurry up and get started on James S.A. Corey’s Cibola Burn, so that might be the next thing. Also, I have some novellas I should really get round to reading for review: The Sisters of the Crescent Empress, Prime Meridian, a couple of others.

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 still got just two books on my currently reading list, and they’re the same as last week. I’m back to reading Dark Sky, at least, and I’m actually getting on with it better now. It still feels very much like Firefly, and like the other books that remind me of Firefly, but I’ve got back into the characters.

What have you recently finished reading?

Last thing I read was Suspicious Minds by Rob Brotherton. It was interesting stuff, even though the psychology of why people believe in conspiracy theories didn’t really surprise me at all. It’s one of the Bloomsbury Sigma series, and they’re usually pretty accessible while also being interesting, so that wasn’t really a surprise!

What will you read next?

I don’t know. I should finish Kushiel’s Dart, really. But who knows what’ll strike my fancy? I keep eyeing one of my books about Egyptology, instead…

What are you reading right now?

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 only have two books left on my currently reading list! Kushiel’s Dart, though I haven’t made any progress since last week, and Dark Sky, though I haven’t touched that in aaaages. I have a new project now where I have to finish two books from my currently reading list before I can start a new one, and that’s been going really well. Once I’ve caught up, it’ll be “two books from a series for one new book”, to make sure I actually make progress with that too!

What have you recently finished reading?

Yoon Ha Lee’s Raven Stratagem and The Godless, by Ben Peek. The former was awesomesauce, even though I stalled on it a while for non-narrative reasons. I finished it and just… daaaaamn. The latter, eh, I do not love it. I enjoyed some of the worldbuilding, but I just didn’t enjoy the characters or feel that everything was necessarily explained properly in terms of the actions people took and why. Pretty important whether people are doing politics on a grand scale or just interpersonal relations.

What will you be reading next?

Probably Wonderful Life, Stephen Jay Gould’s book about the Burgess Shale. That’s what I’ve got queued up as my break from fiction in general and my currently reading list specifically. (It’s not that I don’t want to read them, I’m just fidgety in all things and like having a bit of variation.

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’m most actively reading Kushiel’s Dart at the moment. I’m surprised how long it’s taking me! I’m sure I remember completely devouring the books, but it’s not really happening with this reread. Maybe because I’m a liiiittle too familiar with what’s coming?

Which, yeah. Boo hiss Melisande.

What have you recently finished reading?

I just reread Swordspoint, by Ellen Kushner, for a readalong. I enjoyed it more than I did the first time I read it, actually; I felt like I understood the characters and especially the politics a lot better. Am I growing up, a better reader now, or did I just happen to pick it up at the wrong time for my brain before?

Anyway, lots of fun.

What will you read next?

I think the next target on my list is Dark Sky, by Mike Brooks, or Raven Stratagem. A friend picked up Ninefox Gambit a couple of days ago and loved it, so that’s motivation for me. I’m really narrowing down my currently reading list, hurrah.

Buut in the meantime I might read some non-fiction.

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’m on the last 100 pages of Abaddon’s Gate, finally! I’ve been really good about chipping away at my currently-reading list, and currently Abaddon’s Gate is up.

It’s not that I’m not enjoying the books on my currently-reading list! I just get distracted by a new shiny, and then it’s hard to get back into books I put down… and it gets harder the longer I ignore them, of course. But I got right back into Abaddon’s Gate, even if I remain astonished at how much trouble one man (Jim Holden) can get into.

What have you recently finished reading?

The Essex Serpent — yes, finally! I’m still mulling over what I think of it. I didn’t love the narrative style, that’s for sure. Sometimes it just felt like a litany of x-did-this and y-did-that, framed by some pretty description. But some of the scenes which were actually fully explored were really powerful, and the relationships between the characters too. Ultimately, I don’t think I could be called a fan, but I wouldn’t have wanted to stop halfway through, either.

What will you read next?

You know, I really don’t know? According to my new rule about reading two books from the currently reading list for every one I pick up, I could’ve picked up a new book after The Essex Serpent and before Abaddon’s Gate. But I really can’t decide what to read. Maybe Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint, since that’s a reading group choice for this month.

The next currently-reading book I’ll focus on… I’m very bad at predicting these, but the choice is (finally!) narrowing down, even if I keep finding books I don’t want to start over with a bookmark tucked into them and elongating the list again. I think I’ll focus on finishing The Stars Are Legion at last.

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?

About 15 different books. I know, I’m utterly terrible. However, I am trying to focus on two of them right now: What on Earth Evolved? …in Brief, by Christopher Lloyd is one of them. It’s not very surprising to me, because I do know my biology reasonably well, but there have been one or two titbits I did enjoy (slime moulds can move towards food!) and it is interesting to see what someone else classes as important in its impact on the planet.

Secondly, I’m rereading Camelot’s Sword, the third book of Sarah Zettel’s series of romances about Gawain and his brothers. This one features Gareth and Lynet; not my favourite pairing, but I do adore the supporting characters.

What have you recently finished reading?

Uhh, I think the last thing I finished was The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, by Philip Jose Farmer. It was okay — I liked the idea of taking Verne’s classic and bolting on a true sci-fi story — but the source material limited it, and the narrative voice didn’t always work for me. It stuck fairly close to Verne’s story, except when it didn’t, so it felt rather fragmented.

What will you read next?

I’m trying to alternate finishing two books from my currently reading stack with one new book (whether that be a reread or an actual new-to-me read). At the moment, I’m really tempted to do some rereading and pick up Catherynne Valente’s The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, but I am actually a capricious creature (I know, you’re all shocked), so who knows what will happen.

What are you reading?