Wednesday again already? Time is flying by, but as usual, we’re asking:

• What are you currently reading?
• What have you recently finished reading?
• What are you reading next?

And linking up with Taking on a World of Words.

What are you currently reading?

I have a few books on the go at once, as is usual for me: I guess the primary one right now is Big Ben Strikes Eleven, by David Magarshack. I’m not very far into it and I’m finding it kind of slow. I mean, classic mysteries often are, but it feels like it’s being described in a needlessly complicated way. The facts so far are simple enough, but there’s a whole scene with the detective (not the same one as from the opening chapters, of course, sigh) trying to familiarise himself with the case and just tying himself in knots.

So I’m not sure how warm I’m going to feel about this one, but I’m giving it time.

What have you recently finished reading?

I’ve been digging into the Object Lessons books I got last week, so the last thing I finished was Sara Rich’s Mushroom. I liked it a bit more than Spacecraft and Sticker, neither of which really focused on the topic in the way I’m interested in. Mushroom didn’t really either, though, being much more about mushrooms as a metaphor and mushrooms as being involved in various kinds of mysticism and religion. There’s also what seems like some honking great hypocrisy (going on about even the land being alive and how much she respects Native American beliefs about it, and then referring to “my family’s land” in Kansas, which of course was home to Native Americans not long before). Maybe there’s an explanation for that, but, hmmm.

What are you reading next?

I probably shouldn’t start anything else new! According to the Bookly app, I’m partway through seventeen different books. So I’m hoping to focus on finishing some of those! I started The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett, over the weekend, so probably I’ll turn my focus to that next. The Sherlock Holmes parallels are so far very obvious in terms of characterisation (though eccentricities are taken to extreme).

How about you? Anything fascinating open on your ereader or lurking on your desk?

Happy Wednesday! Time for the usual trio of questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What have you recently finished reading?
• What are you reading next?

Linking up with Taking on a World of Words.

What are you currently reading?

Thankfully, after a few days of feeling too stressed to read, I actually found my way into it over my long weekend. Right now I’m reading a new-to-me Object Lessons book, Spacecraft, by Timothy Morton. Sadly, I’m not really a fan: it’s not about real spacecraft, but about the idea of spacecraft, and it’s illustrating all its points by way of the Millenium Falcon. I liked Star Wars when I was a kid but haven’t watched the more recent movies (no, not because of Rey, just because I don’t watch much of anything), so… It’s talking to an audience that’s not me half the time.

What have you recently finished reading?

Last night I finished The Walnut Tree (Kate Morgan), which is a history of how the law has treated women in the UK. Which sounds quite dry, but I loved her book on murder which took a similar tack, and this was just as fascinating. She uses examples and case studies to illustrate the point, and it works really well.

I also finished Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (Heather Fawcett) yesterday, and now I’d like the next book, please. I love Emily and how bad she is at human interaction, and how much she cares about Wendell and Shadow and Ariadne.

What are you reading next?

I don’t know for sure. Chances are my next fiction read will be Robert Jackson Bennett’s The Tainted Cup, because I guiltily bought myself a copy after failing to read my advance copy before publication. I’ll probably start a non-fiction read as well: possibly another Object Lessons book, in which case Sticker (Henry Hoke) is catching my eye, or possibly A Bookshop of One’s Own (Jane Cholmeley), which is a history of the feminist bookshop Silver Moon. (Man, I’m hoping there’s nothing transphobic/enbyphobic in there.)

How about you, dear reader? Anything great on your bedside table or about to drop through your letterbox?

Oh, hey, it’s Wednesday again already and time for the usual questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What have you recently finished reading?
• What are you reading next?

Linking up with Taking on a World of Words.

What are you currently reading?

To be honest, nothing very actively. Each day I’ve been picking something short, usually a manga or a graphic novel, to help me keep up with my reading goals while I’m feeling very snowed under. I’d like to get back to reading Eve: How The Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution, by Cat Bohannon, which I’m finding thoughtful and well-framed.

I’m also still partway through rereading The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, but I’ve stalled even with that at this point!

What have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I read was a manga called Don’t Call Me Dirty, by Gorou Kanbe, which features a young gay man who ends up falling in love with a homeless man, with some comparison between the social consequences of being gay and the consequences of being homeless. I wasn’t expecting a lot from that, and mostly only picked it up because I got access to it free with a subscription I have, but I actually found it surprisingly touching how the two find common ground.

Before that I read A Kiss, For Real, by Fumie Akuta, which was less my thing — the characterisation of the male lead felt really inconsistent.

What will you be reading next?

I don’t know! I’m half-tempted to read one of the other manga that show up in my subscription: they don’t sound that appealing from the summaries, but sometimes it’s interesting to try things that are a bit out of my comfort zone or usual interests. That’s how I fell in love with the series A Side Character’s Love Story (Akane Tamura), after all!

What have you been reading? I’ll admit, this week I’m a bit overwhelmed, so sorry I’m a bit scarce on answering comments! I’ll answer and visit back soon, I promise.

Oh, hey, it’s Wednesday again already and time for the usual questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What have you recently finished reading?
• What are you reading next?

Linking up with Taking on a World of Words.

What are you currently reading?

Somewhat on a whim, I started reading George McGavin’s The Hidden World: How Insects Sustain Life On Earth Today and Will Shape Our Lives Tomorrow. Bit of a mouthful, but it tells you most of what you need to know about the book! It’s a bit random in its organisation, like a jumble of all the things McGavin can think to tell people about insects, but there’s some interesting stuff. I want to finish it today.

I’m also a little way into Seanan McGuire’s Mislaid in Parts Half-Known, which feels very much like a direct continuation of Lost in the Moment and Found. Most of these novellas stand alone a little bit, but this one feels like maybe the two should’ve just been one. Anyway, I hope to finish this today too.

What have you recently finished reading?

I think the last thing I finished was Debbie Tung’s Everything Is OK, which is an autobiographical comic about the artist’s journey with anxiety/depression. I think it also tries to be a bit of a general primer on surviving anxiety and depression, at which it fails dramatically through addressing only a very narrow slice of what struggling with mental health is like.

Before that I finished Gina Perry’s The Lost Boys, a look at the psychologist Muzafer Sherif’s life and his Robbers’ Cave experiment. It was not as illuminating as her book on Stanley Milgram, and didn’t feel like it came together as well, but it was interesting.

What are you reading next?

Not sure! I have a few books that I’m technically already partway through which are kind of on the backburner while I finish The Hidden World and Mislaid in Parts Half-Known, so probably I’ll just pick those back up. I’m partway through Ink Blood Sister Scribe (Emma Törzs), which is taking me some time to get into (perhaps mostly just because it’s a little long and I favour short fiction at the moment), and also The Book of Perilous Dishes (Doina Ruști), which I’d like to get back to as well.

There’s always something. What about you?

It’s time for What Are You Reading Wednesday:

• What are you currently reading?
• What have you recently finished reading?
• What are you reading next?

Linking up with Taking on a World of Words.

What are you currently reading?

I got the latest British Library Crime Classic release from my subscription yesterday, so I’ve dived into that! It’s a new E.C.R. Lorac, Impact of Evidence, written under her other pseudonym, Carol Carnac. It’s set on the Welsh borders and has an intriguing set up of a flood, a car accident, and a mysterious extra corpse no one recognises. I want to finish it today!

I’m still reading Work: A History of How We Spend Our Time, which so far has been all about pre-farming societies, and is only just starting to move onto more modern stuff, even though I’m halfway through it. I need to settle down for a longer reading session on this one, I think, else I lose the thread of it.

What have you recently finished reading?

Last thing I finished up was my reread of the second volume of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System (Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù), which… I only read it in January, but I wanted to reread after finishing the last volume because I felt like I’d missed some details. And I definitely had!

Also, my wife’s started reading the series now, finallyyyy. So I have some company in my new obsession, ha.

What are you reading next?

Well… most likely it’ll be the third volume of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, for a start. But I’m also planning to read Seanan McGuire’s Mislaid in Parts Half-Known. It looks like there are dinosaurs, based on the cover?! I want dinosaurs for sure.

Other than that, I’m not sure. Wherever my whim takes me!

How about you, dear reader? What are you currently reading?

It’s Wednesday, so as ever, it’s time to answer the three Ws:

• What are you currently reading?
• What have you recently finished reading?
• What are you reading next?

And linking up with Taking on a World of Words.

What are you currently reading?

Actually, nothing very actively, after I finished a book last night. I’m partway through a few books at once, but paused due to them not fitting the mood. I’m most likely to get back to The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, by Bettany Hughes, but that’s quite a slow read and one that I’m taking in bits.

The other thing I’ll probably get back to sooner rather than later is Juliet E. McKenna’s The Cleaving, an Arthurian retelling from the point of view of Nimue. I’m very interested in what it’ll do with that, since I studied Arthurian literature back at Cardiff University (and wrote my MA dissertation on it as well as numerous assignments).

What have you recently finished reading?

Last night I finished up reading Margot Bennett’s Someone from the Past which… I really didn’t like. The main character makes the most absurd decisions, and the author spends a lot of time lingering on wannabe-witty dialogue. It’s snappy enough up to a point, but then you realise they’re getting absolutely nowhere and you’ve read three pages of little substance. The main character thinks she’s clever and she really, really isn’t.

Plus, it ends with two characters getting together in a way that just feels as disastrous as everything else the main character has done. I’ll save the in-depth analysis for my review, I guess, but ugh.

What are you reading next?

Excellent question! I’m honestly really tempted to do some rereading — and not even of something I read a while ago, but of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System. I feel like there’s a lot that I missed, and having finished all four volumes (and watched the donghua, via a fan translation) I’d have a better appreciation of some of the stuff that was bewildering at first.

But I’ve only just finished those, so probably I’ll stick to the reading list I set myself at the start of the week. Most likely I’ll read Lost in the Moment and Found (Seanan McGuire), or System Collapse (Martha Wells). I’ve been meaning to catch up with both of those for a while now!

What about you? What are you currently reading? Anything exciting on your upcoming TBR?

It’s Wednesday, so time to address the three Ws:

• What are you currently reading?
• What have you recently finished reading?
• What are you reading next?

And linking up with Taking on a World of Words.

What are you currently reading?

I’m getting back into a book I’d abandoned for a little while, Murder on Milverton Square by G.B. Ralph. It’s a mystery set in New Zealand, and so far it’s not filling me with special enthusiasm, but it’s enjoyable enough light reading, if that makes sense.

What have you recently finished reading?

I finally finished reading Sailor’s Delight by Rose Lerner! I know I’d talked about it several weeks in a row, and now I’ve finally got back into it. I love the way it works out, but mostly I love how careful it is to ground the story in the Jewish year and Jewish ways of thought. I haven’t read a lot of stories with that kind of basis/setting, and I enjoyed learning a little more through story.

Plus, the relationship between Elie and Brine is sweet.

What are you reading next?

Volume four of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System! I’ll be honest, I’ve peeked ahead a little bit: this volume is short stories, and I knew roughly what each one contained, so I’ve peeked at some of them to see how they play out. I’ll be sad to see this world finished: it really sucked me in more than I expected.

What about you? What are you currently reading?

It’s Wednesday, so time to address the three Ws:

• What are you currently reading?
• What have you recently finished reading?
• What are you reading next?

And linking up with Taking on a World of Words.

What are you currently reading?

I’m deep into The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper, by Roland Allen — I think I’ll finish it today. It’s proved to be exactly the kind of microhistory I enjoy, rambling through the years to look at the ways people have started to express themselves on paper, from matter-of-fact accounting to diaries like Pepys and Anne Frank’s. It’s not a quick read, but it’s an absorbing one. I loved the glimpses of Leonardo da Vinci’s methods, including the cranky complaints of modern scholars about his awful handwriting.

What have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was Alastair Reynolds’ Permafrost, a hard SF time travel novella. I’m still not quite sure if the time paradoxes all sorted themselves out — I thought that there was one obvious one that would absolutely mess with the timeline, at the end, but sometimes I think I’m just not clever enough for time travel stories. It was still a fascinating structure, anyway.

What will you read next?

I should turn back to one of the books I’ve started but am currently neglecting — Sailor’s Delight by Rose Lerner, perhaps, or Cat Sebastian’s We Could Be So Good. I really liked both of them so far, my reading journey is just powered by whims, and I wasn’t quite in the mood for so much yearning/such clueless guys.

I do also want to read volume three of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, while the first two are fresh in my mind. I’m terrible sometimes about leaving a series unfinished for so long I have to start over to finish it. I did say I want to finish more book series this year!

How about you? Any reading plans? Just read something amazing?

It’s Wednesday again, somehow, so time to answer the threes Ws:

• What are you currently reading?
• What have you recently finished reading?
• What are you reading next?

And linking up with Taking on a World of Words.

What are you currently reading?

Most actively, it’s Cat Sebastian’s We Could Be So Good. I picked it up and read 100 pages at once almost by accident, quickly fascinated by Nick and Andy and their relationship, or what their relationship could be like if they were having one. (Which, at page 100, they are not.)

I’d love to curl up with it and finish it today.

What have you recently finished reading?

Yesterday I finished up with Digging Up Britain, by Mike Pitts, which I’d been stalled with for a while — not for any reason on the book’s part, just it was a little slower than my brain was looking for at the time. It discusses some fascinating sites in British archaeology; nothing came as too great a surprise to me, having grown up watching Time Team and thus always hooked into this kind of thing in the news etc, but there were a couple of surprises.

I also finished volume two of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System (Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù), which was fun. SQQ is so clueless, though. Very curious how things are gonna get rounded out in volume three (since if I understand correctly, volume four is short stories rather than a continuation of the plot).

What are you reading next?

I’m planning to pick up Rebecca Fraimow’s The Iron Children, which looks like a short read. I’m also very tempted to go right ahead and pick up volume three of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, too!

What are you currently reading?

It’s Wedneday again, so here I go answering the threes Ws:

• What are you currently reading?
• What have you recently finished reading?
• What are you reading next?

And linking up with Taking on a World of Words. I don’t know if I’ll keep participating, though, since both times so far I only got one comment back, even though I visited quite a few blogs and left a comment — I guess no one’s much interested in mine. Which is fine, but I have limited time and energy, and stuff that doesn’t catch anyone’s interest needs to be the first to go.

What are you currently reading?

I’m actually between books, sort of. I mean, I have a lot of books on the go at once, but they’re mostly a little bit stalled, or only just started — I often have a few of those around and one book that I’m really focusing on, and I haven’t picked that latter yet. I guess I’m most interested in finally finishing up Sailor’s Delight, by Rose Lerner: I really like the characters and the setting, it’s just that the yearning by a particular character was a little intense, and I was looking for something lighter at the time.

What have you recently finished reading?

I finished A City on Mars by Zach and Kelly Weinersmith last night, and I loooved it. It’s unfortunately quite pessimistic about the prospects for space settlements, but in a way that’s realistic rather than just trying to naysay or something. They have good reasons, relating to all the things we don’t know about human biology, the technology we don’t have yet, and the legal frameworks that don’t really yet have good safeguards. It’s a fun read, since it doesn’t get too bogged down in detail (it’s definitely for laypeople).

What are you reading next?

I’m not sure! I know that Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire is my #DoubleSpin book for the Litsy #BookSpin challenge, so maybe I’ll read that now and make sure I don’t leave it to the last minute. The new book in the series appears to have dinosaurs in it, so I’d love to catch up with the ones I haven’t read before and get to that!

What about you? What are you reading?