NickyI want to keep doing this, so for 9th-15th Jan, here's what I read!
In addition to these, there was one ebook, the graphic novel adaptation of The Secret Garden.
Favourite... Blind Tiger.
And 16th-22nd Jan, ignoring the possibility I might finish another book tonight, here's what I read.
In addition to these, there were two ebooks: the very short "The 13th Hex" by Jordan L. Hawk, and Jennifer Howard's Clutter: An Untidy History.
Favourite, hm, the reread of The Tropic of Serpents. Never misses for me.
Books for 23rd-29th! I also read a bunch of ebooks -- Megan Derr's How Not To Marry A Prince, Arden Powell's The Solstice Cabin, Andrew Wheeler's Love and War.
Favourite... A Master of Djinn. So good the way it pulls together the threads from the novellas.
Books for 30th Jan - 5th Feb! I also read some comics digitally (Liebestrasse, Black Ghost Vol 1, Astonishing Times Vol 1, Crema) plus the novella How To Get A Girlfriend When You're A Terrifying Monster (Marie Cardno).
Provenance and Winter's Orbit were rereads. Favourite this week... probably Death on the Down Beat, I found the format fascinating and the musical problem was something a bit different. Really enjoyed Murder: The Biography, too.
Recent reading: these (just the last book in the omnibus, though), plus a couple more comics in digital form (Virtually Yours by Jeremy Holt, and an ableist one that was really disappointing and I won't share).
Favourite, probably the E.C.R. Lorac. I really like her books, but this one really pinged me somehow. Hexmaker was very fun too.
Aaand before bed, recent reading! I also read a couple of graphic novels but nothing super memorable (40 Seconds and two volumes of Kim Reaper; I think that was it).
The Mysterious Mr Badman was my favourite of these. The British Library Crime Classics usually hit the spot for me -- except John Dickson Carr and the creepy Sergeant Cliff books.
Oof, I forgot to add that I finished reading Graeme Macrae Burnet's His Bloody Project. Clever and fascinating but icky too. Paired quite well with having read Murder: The Biography by Kate Morgan a couple weeks ago; the discussion of a plea of insanity added a lot.
Quick update for #MyWeekInBooks project of mine -- a super bad week mental health wise and didn't do a ton of reading overall. I think I read one digital comic (Lost on Planet Earth) in addition to these physical books. I finished both Crook O' Lune and Dead in the Water today, so hopefully that's a sign I'm feeling more like reading again.
Legends & Lattes was a huge highlight for me, and E.C.R. Lorac is always good. Dunn was a reread in hopes of one day finishing the series.
Recent reading pic as usual! Inhaled the top book; I love the Object Lessons series: https://objectsobjectsobjects.com/
Phryne Fisher was a reread; in the mood for some familiarity.
Did enjoy the Toby Wilkinson, predictably: ancient Egypt remains one of my fascinations.
Also read a digital graphic novel, Census, which was okay.
Lots more Object Lessons books in this week's #MyWeekInBooks! Not pictured: the graphic novel I read digitally, Giant Days.
Blue Jeans was my favourite of the Object Lessons books; I also loved Bob Brier's overview of the current state of studies on Tutankhamun.
I didn't post last week because my head exploded with stress, but I'd only read a bunch of volumes of Giant Days anyway, all digital so nothing to take a pic of. This week I've kinda got back to it, so pic incoming soon! #MyWeekInBooks
And here's this week's update! Voyage of the Basilisk is a reread and a favourite. Rattling Bone is the second in a series and I inhaled it.
Green for Danger was a tricky one. More emotional and psychologically sensitive than many of the British Library Crime Classics, and kind of difficult to read when I was feeling fragile, as a result.
Relatively quiet week for reading, but now I have holiday for a week so maybe there'll be more in the next post. Rattle His Bones was a reread; The Museum of the Wood Age... was not for me, despite sounding right up my street.
I used my holiday well and have been reading a lot. Quite a few rereads, as I've been seeking out stuff that's comfortable.
Favourite of the stack (other than the rereads) was Blurb Your Enthusiasm. It's not surprising in any way about how copy is written and the tricks of the trade, but it was beautifully written and a joy to read.
This week's reading! Also several books I haven't finished. I've been spending a lot of time gaming instead of reading, but such are the cycles of my attention.
Twice Round the Clock was pretty melodramatic, but in many ways very much what I expect when I pick up a British Library Crime Classic, and therefore rather comfortable. I enjoyed it!
It was a slow reading week for me until the weekend, when my new Onyx Boox Leaf2 ereader arrived and reminded me that oh, hey, I really like reading. 😅 I've read two ebooks as well as these three pbooks: Under the Smokestrewn Sky (A. Deborah Baker/Seanan McGuire) and A Season of Monstrous Conceptions (Lina Rather). My favourite... Hmm, probably the McGuire: it was nice to finish the quartet, and I'm glad I got an ARC.
Couldn't resist sneaking my ereader into this pic, since I read a few books on that. That was Nghi Vo's Mammoths at the Gates, T. Kingfisher's Thornhedge, Julie Zhuo's The Making of a Manager and Christopher Rowe's The Navigating Fox.
Favourite book this week... hmm, maybe Mammoths at the Gates? I love that series.
It's been a good reading week!
This week feels slow, but only if I forget that I read ebooks too. So my ereader in its lovely case appears again. Other than the pictured books, I read Fonda Lee's Untethered Sky, Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald's Knight's Wyrd, and Radical Candor by Kim Malone Scott.
Favourite that wasn't a reread, definitely Untethered Sky, though Knight's Wyrd is close behind.
Lots of reading this week! Including a lot on my ereader:
- The Keeper's Six (Kate Elliott)
- Multipliers (Liz Wiseman)
- Roots (Tara O'Connor)
- Witch Hat Atelier vol 1
- How to Keep House While Drowning (KC Davies)
- Chronicles of Light (Square Enix)
Including the ereader as usual in the stackup, as a result!
Mostly I plunged into my reread of the Murderbot books, which are always beloved.
Lots of reading again this week, yay! A lot of it on my ereader:
- How to Be A Great Boss (Gino Wickman & René Boer)
- Dare to Lead (Brené Brown)
- The First-Time Manager (Jim McCormick)
- Jurassic Dark (Si Clarke)
- The Lies of the Ajungo (Moses Ose Utomi)
- The Salt Grows Heavy (Cassandra Khaw)
Plus the three books pictured (my ereader snuck into the image as usual). Favourite new-to-me book this week, definitely The Salt Grows Heavy. Gory, but oddly tender.
A productive reading week, but much of it in ebook, so my ereader (in its Infinite Library case) sneaks into the pic again. Books not shown:
- Emergent Properties by Aimee Ogden
- Indistractable by Nir Eyal
- Translation State by Ann Leckie
- The Manager's Path by Camille Fournier
- Nothing but the Rain by Naomi Salman
I really liked Translation State, though maybe not as much as the previous books in that world.
I reread L&L because I have an ARC of the prequel!
Another productive reading week without much to show in terms of a physical stack, so my ereader (in its Infinite Library case) sneaks in again. The ebooks:
- And Put Away Childish Things (Adrian Tchaikovsky)
- The Scourge of Stars (Ness Brown)
- Pulling the Wings Off Angels (K.J. Parker)
- Bookshops & Bonedust (Travis Baldree)
- The Mimicking of Known Successes (Malka Older)
- a boring book on management that I've already forgotten
B&B was my favourite!
A good reading week! Other than the books in the image, the following:
- Flying Witch vol 1 by Chihiro Ishizuka
- A Side Character's Love Story vol 1 & 2, by Akane Tamura
- The Book of Gems by Fran Wilde
- Starter Villain by John Scalzi
- Two management books
Favourite... Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher, by a long way. Loved it.
I expected not to read much this week because of my exams, and it did start slow, but in the end I used my extra free time to good effect. Other than the pictured books, I read five volumes of A Side Character's Love Story by Akane Tamura.
Favourite read... hmm. The KJ Charles, perhaps, but I really enjoyed Hidden Heritage as well.
Okay, I think I've read quite a bit this week; let's take a look... So, the pictured books aaaand:
- A Christmas Hex (Jordan L. Hawk)
- Crucial Conversations (Kerry Patterson)
- Wild Wild Hex (Jordan L. Hawk)
- vols 9-13 of A Side Character's Love Story (Akane Tamura)
I'm still, as you see, deeply hooked on A Side Character's Love Story -- just two more volumes left, though.
This week, I've read the pictured books plus, in ebook form:
- A Side Character's Love Story vols 14-15 (Akane Tamura)
- Remote Control (Nnedi Okorafor)
- Peter Darling (Austin Chant)
- The Bookshop & the Barbarian (Morgan Stang)
- A Glimmer of Silver (Juliet Kemp)
Favourite was definitely The Good Virus; it's the best kind of popular science, I loved it so much. Of course I loved my Murderbot reread, too, but The Good Virus is great.
This week was exclusively pbook reading, for whatever reason. So it's a nice lil' stack.
I liked my #Nimona reread, of course, amazing how much I'd forgotten of it. It's hard to pick a favourite this week, though -- nothing stands out as "yes, THIS".
This week wasn't great for reading, so this is a small stack -- though I read some ebooks too:
- Turtle Bread (Kim-Joy)
- Cells at Work! vol 1 (Akane Shimizu)
- The Corset & the Jellyfish (Nick Bantock)
I really enjoyed the Ali Hazelwood novellas -- seemed like someone who is well aware of their genre tropes and leans right in -- but my favourite was An Immense World, for sure. So many things learned!
This week was OK, reading-wise. I'd kind of thought I'd read more this weekend, but I'm okay with the fact that it didn't happen. My brain needed other stuff, it's fine.
I read the pictured books, plus:
- (reread) Every Heart A Doorway (Seanan McGuire)
- (ARC) The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles (Malka Older)
- Not All Robots (Mark Russell et al)
Favourite was probably the Malka Older. I liked The Wheel Spins more than I expected, too.
Feels like it's been a quiet week for reading... But it hasn't, really! Pictured books, plus:
- (reread) Down Among The Sticks and Bones (Seanan McGuire)
- (reread) Beneath the Sugar Sky (ditto)
I probably enjoyed Bad News the most; I somehow sped through it. I enjoyed rereading the Phryne Fisher books too, of course!
This really was a quiet week for reading for me. I didn't feel like it half the time. Which is fine, so I kept it chill. I did read the two pictured books, plus:
- volume 1 of the In/Spectr manga
- (reread) In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire
Fevered Planet was unsurprising to me, but mostly good. Couple of silly errors (like talking about combining "Ebola cells" with smallpox).
Bit frustrated with another quiet reading week. Managed the pictured books plus volume two of In/Spectre.
I want to be reading more like my usual self, but the stress and sadness about family stuff makes it feel like there isn't enough time in the day.
This week was a bit more successful! I read the pictured books, plus two volumes of the In/Spectre manga, which I'm a bit ambivalent about even still, with volume 4 finished.
To my surprise, a highlight of the week is John Dickson Carr's He Who Whispers -- the first JDC title that I honestly really enjoyed.
I didn't read as much as I'd like during my week off, but I did read the pictured books, plus two volumes of In/Spectre, and two of the short stories from the Amazon Originals Far Reaches collection.
My favourite was the Fairyland reread, not too surprisingly. But the book on pudding gets an honorable mention.
This week I read quite a few "books", though several were very short. I've added my Bookly report to show the covers of the ebooks.
Most notable of the bunch for me this week... Probably Post After Post-Mortem. I can't say I entirely liked it -- it felt too psychologically real, and I couldn't enjoy the unraveling of the puzzle as much -- but it was fine writing; Lorac at her best in many ways.
I only finished the first novella in the Spectr omnibus so far.
Disappointed I didn't read more this week. I did read two volumes of a manga called Breath of Flowers, finished reading the Skyward comic, read an advance copy of Premee Mohamed's The Butcher of the Forest, and the pictured books.
Favourite... probably Around the World in 80 Plants. Lots of interesting titbits there.
Reading this week pictured! Plus three manga of... dubious quality. 😅
Favourite reads... well, Around the World in 80 Plants is beautiful, and has some fascinating titbits. But my favourite is the E.C.R. Lorac: I really do think she was one of the best writers of classic crime, in her own way.
Well. This was a bad reading week. I read a couple of infinitely forgettable manga, plus these two from the Edible Series. Doughnut is by far the better of the two; Sweets and Candy sometimes seems like little more than a list.
That said, the latter did make me crave Rowntree's fruit pastilles, which I have been consuming in inadvisable quantities as a result.
I thought I barely read anything this week, but I did finish three books, actually -- two in hard copy, one ebook. The ebook was volume 16 of A Side Character's Love Story (Akane Tamura).
Both the other books were pretty fascinating, too. I had never thought about the problem of defining the term "pancake".
Slightly belated, here's my usual report of what I've been reading! I also read three manga of indifferent quality, which has been my answer when I want to read but feel fidgety and need something quick.
I continue to like John Dickson Carr's work far more than I did from the first couple of books I read. Makes me wonder what I'd think of those on reread -- maybe it was just the wrong time?!
And here is last week's batch of books! I also read a couple of manga and Christa Faust's graphic novel, Hit Me.
Favourite read of the week definitely Emma Southon's book; not everyone will get on with her flippant tone, but I do. Her book on murder in Ancient Rome is still my favourite though.
I did a looot of reading this weekend, on my new Onyx Boox Palma, so other than the pictured books, I've also read:
- Come Tumbling Down (Seanan McGuire) [reread]
- Luke and Billy Finally Get a Clue (Cat Sebastian)
- Tread of Angels (Rebecca Roanhorse)
- Yellow Jessamine (Caitlin Starling)
- Unto the Godless What Little Remains (Mário Coelho)
- Low (Rick Remender)
- Heads You Lose (Christianna Brand)
Favourite was the Cat Sebastian, I think. Just what I wanted.
This week involved travel, plus I have a new ereader, so I have read mostly ebooks, including:
- The House of Drought (Dennis Mombauer)
- The Ghosts of Sherwood [reread] + The Heirs of Locksley (Carrie Vaughn)
- Accident by Design (E.C.R. Lorac)
- Ogres (Adrian Tchaikovsky)
- Come Tumbling Down [reread] (Seanan McGuire)
- Die volume 1 (Kieron Gillen & Stephanie Hans)
Favourite... hm, probably the Lorac. It broke her formula a bit and surprised me.
The only book that I read in hard copy this week already went to the donation box, so this week there's no photo at all, just a list:
- Rogue Planet (Cullen Bunn et al)
- Across the Green Grass Fields (Seanan McGuire)
- Castles of the Welsh Princes (Paul R. Davis)
And that's it. Too tired to read much by my standards, alas. I hope that will change soon!
Belated update for last week! Once again, I only read books in ebook version, which is less interesting visually for this post, but heyho.
I read:
- Crystal Cadets vol 1 (Anne Toole & K. O'Neill)
- Evidence of the Affair (Taylor Jenkins Reid)
- Eden (Matthew Arnold et al)
- Gideon Falls vol 1 (Jeff Lemire et al)
- A Morbid Taste for Bones (Ellis Peters)
The latter was a reread -- perhaps this time I'll read more of the series. Perhaps!
I was determined this week to read a book or two that I could photograph, and... I didn't.
I read:
- all the Shady Hollow books by Juneau Black
- Freydís Moon's Three Kings and Exodus 20:3
- A couple of short stories
- Cold Iron (Andy Diggle et al)
It was a good reading week, and I really loved the Juneau Black books. It kinda broke my not-quite-wanting-to-read thing where I was forcing myself a bit, which was lovely.
Finally, a week where I have read some physical books I can photograph...!
Other than these I read a couple of short stories, but nothing special. I had more fun than I expected with The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System, but The Waking of Angantyr was my favourite.
Had a nice long weekend off work chillin' in a hotel to read.
A pretty good reading week! Aside from the pictured books, I also read volume one of Gail Simone's Clean Room, and an advance copy of P. Djèlí Clark's The Dead Cat Tail Assassins.
My favourite, hmmm... Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots, I think.
One day I'll get back to doing these on time, when I have a sense of what day it is again. Last week I read the pictured books, plus:
- volume 2 of Gail Simone's Clean Room
- Jordan L. Hawk's The Magician's Angel
- Courtney Milan's The Governess Affair
- KJ Charles' A Queer Trade
I liked Overkill and Rebel Cell a lot, I was riveted with both.
Lots of reading this week, not all of it in hardcopy, but some of it.
Other books:
- Clean Room vol 3 (Gail Simone et al)
- Interviews with Monster Girls vols 1-3 (Petos)
- A Trace of Copper by Anne Renwick
I think my favourite this week was The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes, though it isn't a fast read.
Belatedly, the penultimate roundup of the year... It was a busy reading week! In addition to the pictured books, I've read the following in ebook:
- An Unnatural Life (Erin K. Wagner)
- Blood Moon (M.J. O'Shea)
- Sirius (Ana C. Sánchez)
- Alter Ego (Ana C. Sánchez)
- vol 4 of Interviews with Monster Girls (Petos)
- Gleipnir (Sun Takeda)
I think my favourite read of that lot was probably An Unnatural Life, but to be honest I wasn't bowled over by anything this week.
Aaand finally, a bit extra belated by StoryGraph's downtime, here's the final #MyWeekInBooks for 2023.
Not pictured, I also read How To Make a Vaccine by John Rhodes.
Favourite of the bunch, probably The History of Wales in Twelve Poems.
I don't know if I want to do this in 2024. It was an interesting project, but it also attracted people who thought I was doing it to show off and angered people who thought I couldn't possibly read this much. Did anyone actually like it?
Colorblind Cowboy@shanaqui I always look at your book stacks. I prefer seeing what people actually read vs TBR stacks (and the indulgent self flagellation).
@colorblindcowboy That's useful to hear! I was feeling kind of down about it because the most memorable interactions were about getting yelled at, but it is fun to look back at a year of posts all in one go and think about the stuff I read. 🤔
@shanaqui People are jerks. I don’t have your reading speed, but I don’t begrudge you for it. And people don’t have the right to doubt you.
@colorblindcowboy Thank you. 💙
I always feel kind of sad when people say "oh I only read X books a year, you're probably laughing at me, haha". No! Why would I? Why are people like this to each other? Let's just all enjoy books!
@shanaqui Yeah, and I think that comes with people being so obsessed with numbers. And, weirdly, seeing people post the number of books they read bothers me more than seeing just a stack of recently reads.
Kiesa@shanaqui
I think it's a fun way to show your reading log. Though, I get not wanting to deal with people being annoying about it.
I think it's a fun way to show your reading log. Though, I get not wanting to deal with people being annoying about it.
Alexanderoooh, i missed the news about Southon.
enjoyed her rereading of Tacitus in Agrippina a lot
@A_W_M She definitely has some choice commentary on the sources in this one, too!