Tag: WWW Wednesday

WWW Wednesday

Posted January 31, 2024 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

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.

Cover of Murder on Milverton Square by G.B. RalphWhat 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.

Cover of Sailor's Delight by Rose LernerWhat 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.

Cover of The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System vol 4 by MXTXWhat 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?

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WWW Wednesday

Posted January 24, 2024 by Nicky in General / 6 Comments

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?

Cover of The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland AllenI’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?

Cover of Permafrost by Alastair ReynoldsThe 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?

Cover of Sailor's Delight by Rose LernerI 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?

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WWW Wednesday

Posted January 17, 2024 by Nicky in General / 10 Comments

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?

Cover of We Could Be So Good by Cat SebastianMost 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?

Cover of Digging Up Britain by Mike PittsYesterday 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).
Cover of The Iron Children by Rebecca Fraimow

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?

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WWW Wednesday

Posted January 10, 2024 by Nicky in General / 8 Comments

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.

Cover of Sailor's Delight by Rose LernerWhat 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.

Cover of A City on Mars by Kelly & Zach WeinersmithWhat 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).

Cover of Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuireWhat 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?

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WWW Wednesday

Posted December 27, 2023 by Nicky in General / 2 Comments

It’s been a long time since I checked in on a Wednesday with what I’ve been reading, but it feels like a good time! So without further ado, 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.

What are you currently reading?

Cover of The Science of Sin by Jack LewisRight now I’ve got started on one of my Christmas presents, The Science of Sin, by Jack Lewis. I was always inclined to raise my eyebrows a bit at the premise, expecting a good amount of discussion of “mismatch theory” (humans evolved under circumstances xyz, to promote survival via behaviours abc, and now those very behaviours cause problems) and possibly some judginess over defining what a “sin” even is.

That’s… pretty much what we’ve got here, with each chapter based on one of the Seven Deadlies. The chapter on gluttony focuses on bodyweight, asserting very firmly that it’s all about behaviour (and ignoring the influence of stuff like PCOS). It seems like a very simplified, pop-science way of going about things. Which isn’t too surprising, but it is frustrating.

What have you recently finished reading?

Cover of The History of Wales in Twelve Poems by M Wynn ThomasThe last book I finished was The History of Wales in Twelve Poems, by M. Wynn Thomas — an inspired choice of Christmas present from my dad, since I love Welsh history (and know sadly little about it), I like poetry, and I love histories that take this format. I enjoyed it a lot, though worryingly a lot of the information dripped back out of my head again. I blame Christmas dinner, and will have to refresh my memory on bits of it before I write my review!

It’s also got some illustrations by Ruth Jên Evans, and has lovely presentation in general, including the poems in Welsh and in translation, etc.

What are you reading next?

Cover of Sailor's Delight by Rose LernerI should really return to one of the other books I have on the go! Most likely I’ll finish up Sailor’s Delight, by Rose Lerner, which I was enjoying a lot but put down because the yearning was really getting to me. The romance promises to be really sweet, but I found it surprisingly intense!

Other than that, I also want to read A Surprise for Christmas before Twelfth Night, so I can get a review out close to Christmas-time. It’s one of the British Library Crime Classics series edited by Martin Edwards, and usually I find those to be pretty quick reads.

What about you? What are you reading?

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WWW Wednesday

Posted January 20, 2022 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

And here we are again, it’s Wednesday!

Cover of The Grey King by Susan CooperWhat are you currently reading?

I’ve just finished the only non-fiction book I had on the go, so now it’s The Councillor (E.J. Beaton), my reread of The Grey King (Susan Cooper), and The Absolute Book (Elizabeth Knox). I’ve been meaning to read the latter for quite a while now. It starts off feeling like a thriller, or maybe like Labyrinth (Kate Mosse), which it namechecks… but then it takes a left turn into fairyland, which feels like a significant shift in tone. I’m not sure yet what I think.

What have you recently finished reading?

Material Lives: Women Makers and Consumer Culture in the 18th Century (Serena Dyer), which feels quite academic — it’s talking to an audience that’s very comfortable with phrases like “while the affective resonance of the wedding doll is explicit”, which just reminds me of my English literature days and how really simple points can be obfuscated behind fancy word choices. Just… say what you mean. You mean it’s obvious that the wedding doll refers to an emotional event.

What will you be reading next?

Don’t know! Maybe I’ll take a look at what I’d have to read to get a second bingo line in the Litsy #BookSpinBingo challenge, or maybe I’ll reread Emily Tesh’s novellas, since my wife’s going to read them soon and I could use some bite-size reading.

How about you?

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WWW Wednesday

Posted January 12, 2022 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

Apparently it’s Wednesday again already? Rude. But here we go!

What are you currently reading?

Non-fiction: I’m still reading Chris Gosden’s The History of Magic, which I continue to have the same caveats and concerns about as before. “Ritual purposes” are doing a lot of work with just about every kind of archaeological find.

Fiction: I’m now reading E.J. Beaton’s The Councillor, and finding it very absorbing. People mentioned it being slow, so I was prepared for that, but it doesn’t feel unduly so to me. I found some of the phrasing awkward at first, the substitutions telling us we’re in a fantasy world felt a biiit too prevalent, but I’m finding that now I’m used to it, it all works. I can just sink in for pages and pages and not notice how time is passing.

Cover of Strange Beasts of China by Yan GeWhat have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was Strange Beasts of China, by Yan Ge, which didn’t quite work for me — partly because it wasn’t what I expected, and partly because I had problems with what was explained and what wasn’t. Probably that’s partly my fault for being slow on the update, but I felt like I needed to make diagrams to understand bits of it…

I also just finished a reread of Susan Cooper’s Greenwitch, which I always like because it gives some space for Jane Drew to shine. Also the gorgeous descriptions in the chapter where Will and Merriman visit Tethys.

What will you be reading next?

I don’t really know for sure, but for #BookSpinBingo on Litsy I know I need to pick up The Absolute Book (Elizabeth Knox) and Money: The True Story of a Made-up Thing (Jacob Goldstein)! So they’ll be my next fiction and non-fiction reads respectively, most likely.

What about you, dear reader?

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WWW Wednesday

Posted January 5, 2022 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

Hey everyone! It’s been a while since I did this… but I missed it, I was just too tired out by life to pop in and say hi. So, how’s the reading going? Here’re my answers:

The Dark is Rising by Susan CooperWhat are you currently reading?

Fiction: a reread of The Dark is Rising, which just missed being perfectly seasonal, and which I’m almost done with, and Eliot Schrefer’s The Darkness Outside Us. The latter’s a little predictable, but I’m curious exactly how they’ll work it all out, and also about the romance.

Non-fiction: I’m reading Chris Gosden’s A History of Magic, but I’m constantly full of objections about the assumptions made about things we can’t possibly know. Like, people don’t need to be exploring a deep spiritual bond with animals to draw them: I do not have a deep spiritual bond with cats. I don’t even particularly like cats, I just have a particular stylised cat doodle I like to do and then label “Jorts”. And people don’t need to be trying to borrow the magic of animals to tattoo said animal onto their skin: few people are actually trying to do a magical spell when they tattoo Belle from Beauty and the Beast on their arm (though if it works to summon that library, I’ll do it). I find the descriptions of the archaeology fascinating, though.

What have you recently finished reading?

Nothing yet in 2022! But I did read quite a bit between Christmas and the New Year, including Murder After Christmas by Rupert Lattimer. It went on slightly too long and tried too hard to be quirky, but it was fun in its way.

Cover of Strange Beasts of China by Yan GeWhat will you read next?

I don’t know. Possibly Serena Dyer’s Material Lives, which is about (as per the subtitle) “Women Makers and Consumer Culture in the 18th Century”, which I’m quite curious about. Also, I should read Yan Ge’s Strange Beasts of China, since it’s a book club read.

How about you?

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WWW Wednesday

Posted August 26, 2021 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

Cover of Magic Bleeds by Ilona AndrewsWhat are you currently reading?

I’ve gone back to my usual habits and I’m reading a couple of books at once: Pen Vogler’s Scoff, for a start, which is slower than I’d maybe expected. It’s all about food and class in Britain, and ye gods, I’d thought my family were snobs but my eyes are getting opened. Then there’s my reread of The Fellowship of the Ring, which feels very slow right now since I only just cleared the Council of Elrond.

Finally, I’m rereading the Kate Daniels series, and I’m now embarked upon book four, Magic Bleeds. I love how Kate and Curran are total idiots and need to communicate properly, yet it doesn’t frustrate me because it doesn’t feel contrived — they’re just that stupid, and carry such a boatload of issues each, that it makes sense things won’t just work between them.

Cover of The Jasmine Throne by Tasha SuriWhat have you recently finished reading?

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri! I really need to sit down and write my review; I’m still sort of digesting it, I think. It felt so chunky and daunting, on the shelf, but it melted away when I sat down for my focused reading sessions each day. Very enjoyable, even though I tooootally called the big secret about Rao’s name.

Cover of Elatsoe by Darcie Little BadgerWhat will you be reading next?

Ooof, no idea. I recently reread The Goblin Emperor so I could start The Witness for the Dead while the details of the world were clear in my mind, so maybe that. Or Elatsoe, which is my next book club read. Or maybe one of the books I got for my birthday — The Chianti Flask looks like a good palate-cleanser in the way most of the British Library Crime Classics are.

How about you?

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WWW Wednesday

Posted August 18, 2021 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

What, me, doing my weekly update in a timely fashion?! Surely you jest.

Cover of The Jasmine Throne by Tasha SuriWhat are you currently reading?

Just two books! I know, it’s a shock — I didn’t intentionally cut down, really, I was just feeling pretty stressed and it happened by itself. So I’m halfway through Tasha Suri’s The Jasmine Throne, for a book club read. It’s a bit chunky-looking on the shelf, but I’ve been speeding through it when I sit myself down and focus.

I’m also now rereading The Fellowship of the Ring. I had a bit of an urge to read it, and I decided to just go with it — whims are good!

Cover of The Bone Wars by Erin EvanWhat have you recently finished reading?

The Hobbit, which is for me always the right place to start a Tolkien reread. It’s as cosy as ever (despite going some very un-cosy places), and I still love the narrative voice.

Before that, I DNF’ed The Bone Wars (Erin S. Evan) too soon to even review it (which I normally would) for being a bit too young-feeling and infodumpy.

Cover of Slippery Creatures by K.J. CharlesWhat will you be reading next?

That’s a bit of a mystery, as usual, but maybe not quite so much as usual. I’m really really hoping to get started on Scoff: a History of Food and Class in Britain by Pen Vogler, from my non-fiction pile, and Slippery Creatures by K.J. Charles from the fiction pile. However, I also want to reread the fourth Kate Daniels book soon, and the next Whyborne and Griffin book, and I’ve so far had 10 new books for my birthday, and(!) I want to work on reading more of the ARCs I’ve neglected.

So, um, probably still plenty of mystery.

Okay, now it’s your turn. What’re you reading?

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