What I am reading Wednesday
Wednesday, December 31st, 2025 01:48 pmFirst, last year I had a goal of decreasing the number of unread books I have. I started at 38 and am down to 33. I have achieved my goal! But it still feels like a lot of unread books, especially when all the paper ones are in a box under my sofa which is very heavy to pull out.
But as much as I'd like to get that number down, past experience tells me it's not going to be that easy. Especially as one of the books is 7th in a 7 part series and another is 4th in a 4 part series. But since I managed to reduce that number by six this year, next year my plan is to get it down by seven - so to 26.
What I Just Finished Reading
Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronika Dapunt. I really enjoyed this. It's about Death taking a sabbatical and then ending up getting involved in investigating murders. It's just a little bit silly - there's a character who's clearly Jesus, but prefers being called the Human Communications Director and whenever he dies it only ever lasts for three days.
Lady Rample and the Lady in the Lake by Shea MacLeod. This was on offer and on my wishlist because I'd read the first book in the series and thought the characters were a bit silly. This was the twelfth and they felt a lot less silly. It was all right, but because it's only a short story the murder investigation wasn't that complicated.
What I'm Currently Reading
Roaring Girls by Holly Kyte. This is about eight women in pre-twentieth century Britain who blazed a trail. It is uplifting, what they achieved, but also depressing in the ere they lived in where women were supposed to be wives and mothers and nothing else, and how long change took. It's also full of footnotes, at the back and in tiny writing, which makes it a bit of a pain to read and requires two bookmarks.
Yardsticks for Failure by Ivo Graham. I started this for times when the other one was too hard to read, like when I'm eating. I thought it would be a quick, easy read, but it's actually quite long and a bit hard-going so far.
What I'm Reading Next
The Exploits of Arsene Lupin by Maurice LeBlanc. I borrowed this from my sister, so really ought to get round to reading it.
Mirrored from my blog.
What I am reading Wednesday
Wednesday, December 10th, 2025 07:36 pmWhat I Abandoned Reading
Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer. This is the second book in the series. It had two problems: 1. It assumed you remember everything from the previous book, which I don't, so I was constantly confused about who everyone was and what was going on, and 2. The Apprentice and Villain spent all their time thinking about how much they fancied each other, but the other person couldn't fancy them back. I stopped to read something else and then couldn't bring myself to go back to it.
What I Just Finished Reading
Exit Strategy by Martha Wells. The last Murderbot for a while, while I wait to see if the the library gets the next book in. And finish some non-library books.
Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend by MJ Wassmer. This is about a couple on holiday at a resort when the sun explodes (and they're cut off from the outside world). I'm not generally into apocalyptic stuff, but there was something weird about the sun and them having an astronomer around, so I stuck with it. I did end up getting into it and it was interesting what people did to survive and the truth of what happened with the sun.
Very Bad Company by Emma Rosenblum. This is about the board members at a company who are all earning millions and all absolutely awful people with not a single redeeming quality. It was easy to read and I kept reading to see how it was all going to implode. And then the ending just made me not want to have bothered reading it in the first place.
The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths. A palate cleanser of normality and nice people. This is her latest series, where the main character works in the department investigating cold cases using time travel. Although the story wasn't what I thought it was based on that description, but I still really enjoyed it and the murder mystery was interesting. I see the second book is out soon, so I'll definitely be reading that.
Endurance by Elaine Burnes. This was described as how Star Trek Voyager should have been. So it's about a ship that somehow ends up a long way away. And then I was very glad Voyager wasn't like this because the situation was awful and everything was terrible for much of the book. I had to stop and read other things twice during it. But it both got more uplifting and there was a clear mystery which remains unsolved, but there is a sequel.
What I'm Currently Reading
Nothing - I've literally just finished Endurance.
What I'm Reading Next
Seniors of the Chalet School by Lisa Townsend. This arrived this week and after some long and depressing books I need something short and happy.
Mirrored from my blog.
What I am reading Wednesday
Wednesday, November 12th, 2025 06:10 pmWhat I Just Finished Reading
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells and Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells. The next two Murderbot books. I was about to ring the library to get them to check if Artificial Condition really was in transit when I got an email to say it was there. I picked it up that day. The next day Rogue Protocol was there. I enjoyed them, the only trouble is having to wait for the next book - I've already forgotten the details of what happened in the first one.
What I'm Currently Reading
The Killer Question by Janice Hallett. She writes epistolary mysteries, and it's driving me mad not knowing just what is going on with this pub quiz team. It's a long book and I'm only halfway through, but I need to know! (in other words, I am enjoying this one)
What I'm Reading Next
Hopefully Exit Strategy by Martha Wells. I've been first in the queue on this one for longer than you're allowed to take books out for, so hopefully it'll turn up soon... And then things get more complicated. The next book published in the series is Network Effect, which my county don't have (it's the only one in the series they don't have). It's possible that another county could and I could borrow it from there, but that costs £10! These books are a problem as it looks like they weren't published in this country - the last two books I got I looked at the price printed on them and it was only in US and Canadian dollars. So I need to research cheaper sources for that one (although I've also put in a request for the library to get it). Except Wikipedia is telling me that chronologically Fugitive Telemetry is next, so I might just borrow that one next, which gives the library more time to act on my stock suggestion.
I'm also spending Friday in a pub while I wait for my car to be serviced and MOTd while it pours with rain outside, so I imagine I'll get quite a bit of reading done. I'll just take my Kobo, and a dead tree book in case it runs out of battery, and see what I fancy reading.
Mirrored from my blog.
What I am reading Wednesday
Wednesday, October 29th, 2025 07:16 pmWhat I Just Finished Reading
I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki and I Want to Die but I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Seehee. These are mostly transcripts of this person's discussions with her therapist. They were pretty short, but the second one was a bit hard going because she's really suicidal and self-harming in it.
The Chain of Curiosity by Sandi Toksvig. This is a collection of columns she wrote between 2005 and 2008. They include bits of what she's been up to, thoughts she's had and facts. They're interesting, they're just not the sort of thing you sit down and read a lot of in one go, so it took me a while to get through.
What I'm Currently Reading
The Ghost Fields by Elly Griffiths. The last of the Ruth series! I have four other Elly Griffiths books from second hand bookshops and Kobo sales hanging around that I didn't want to read before I'd finished this. Especially as one is the first of the Brighton series, although at least that only has six books. Now I can read them!
A Beginner's Guide to Breaking and Entering by Andrew Hunter Murray. I started this because I needed something in between the Sandi Toksvig book, but then I finished it, so I'm only a few chapters into this one. So far it seems ok.
What I'm Reading Next
The second Murderbot book, if it ever actually makes it to my local library from the library at the other end of the county it's coming from.
Mirrored from my blog.
What I am reading Wednesday
Wednesday, October 15th, 2025 08:23 pmWhat I Just Finished Reading
Little Wonder by Sasha Abramsky. This is all about Lottie Dod, who won Wimbledon multiple times as a teenager in the late 19th century. And then, because it was boring beating everyone all the time, went on to win in hockey and golf tournaments, followed by an Olympic medal in archery. And that wasn't just other women she was beating at tennis, it was the men too. Who had a big advantage in being able to wear clothes that didn't restrict their movement. I spent the book wondering if she'd been playing a century later it would have been different being able to play people from all over the world. But then in the 1920s she was critical of the players who did nothing but tennis.
That's What She Said by Eleanor Pilcher. I spent half of this book worrying about where it was going. There's two main characters, one of whom is demisexual and she wants to have sex and explores around it. And her best friend is off having one-night stands all over the place. It ended up really being more about their friendship and I really enjoyed it.
All Systems Red by Martha Wells. ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
just-ann-now has been talking about the Murderbot series for ages. I thought it sounded interesting, but never got round to looking for it. I finally reserved the first book at the library. And then had to wait months for it to be my turn to borrow it. I enjoyed it, but given the only thing I knew about it was the name Murderbot, it wasn't at all what I expected.
What I'm Currently Reading
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna. This is a really interesting depiction of witches in modern society. I am really enjoying it, but it was clear really early on that the main character was going to end up with another one, which is dull just waiting for them to get round to it.
What I'm Reading Next
I've reserved the second Murderbot book (which weirdly has no queue - did everyone else stop at the first book?) and the last Elly Griffiths Ruth series book at the library.
Mirrored from my blog.
What I am reading Wednesday
Wednesday, October 1st, 2025 04:14 pmI finally finish all the fanfic on my read later list. And then went to some second hand bookshops and bought six books...
What I Just Finished Reading
Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe. This is a collection of letters the author wrote to her sister when she was Nanny in the 1980s. It's really interesting because everyone in it is a bit mad.
What I gave up on:
The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey. The writing's too small, it's too slow and I just didn't care.
Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo. I felt guilty for giving up because it's not bad it's just that nothing happens. It starts with a mystery but then that's solved a third of the way through and there didn't seem much point reading any more after that.
What I'm Currently Reading
What If? By Randall Monroe. This is a collection of questions either from the website or like the website, not sure which. They are interesting, but it starts with a question about what if the Earth stops spinning and I heard that on the podcast Crowd Science recently.
What I'm Reading Next
Probably What If? 2 by Randall Monroe, unless I need a change.
Also, Arsene Lupin Versus Holmlock Shears by Maurice LeBlanc which I borrowed off my sister. It is a massive book though, so will definitely need to be paired with an ebook or something smaller for times when a massive book is too hard to read.
Mirrored from my blog.
What I am reading Wednesday
Wednesday, September 17th, 2025 06:02 pmWhat I Just Finished Reading
One Minute Away by Mark Watson. I knew he had a new book out and hadn't intended to read it because I couldn't decide if I liked the previous two that I'd read. But then it was (the only one) that was in the library ebooks so I borrowed it. And I think I liked this one.
What I'm Currently Reading
A whole lot of fanfic. This covers all three categories. I've had a lot of stuff on my marked for later list for ages. Sometimes I get it down a bit but by reading the shorter fics. As a result there are some longer ones on there that have been there for over a year. So I put them on my ebook reader and am working through them. Hopefully getting the list down will make it easier to keep it down.
What I'm Reading Next
No idea, but I have a lot of books on my to read list, so whichever of them takes my fancy. I am purposely avoiding the Kobo website because I do not need any more books, even 99p ones.
Mirrored from my blog.
I've Never Seen Star Wars: Escape Room
Sunday, August 31st, 2025 07:47 pmThere was a time when escape rooms were all the rage. I've loved escape rooms games on the computer/phone where you have to solve puzzles to eventually get the key to the room, so I really wanted to do one. But somehow all my friends did one before I even knew they existed and didn't want to do another one. I did an online one during lockdown, but there were so many people it was hard to contribute.
But this summer I finally did an escape room! I did it with my eight year old nephew. It was like the computer games, although I sort of wasn't expecting it to be, I'm not sure why.
We actually had three small rooms and had to get to the last one. A few things:
- It was during a heatwave and although the 'office' had air con, the room didn't. Although considering it was an airless room with no windows it wasn't as hot as you might expect.
- The lighting was low and there were a lot of combination padlocks to open. Which shone off the combinations and I couldn't see them. Fortunately my nephew could, so he had to open all the padlocks.
- There were a couple of things that required you to be above a certain height and I could only just reach. I did consider asking for a step stool...
- At the start we were told to ring the bell to get a clue and we wouldn't be given a clue if we didn't ring the bell. But at the end we got pretty much told what to do. Which was fine because we wouldn't have escaped otherwise - we could have done with another half an hour really.
- When we get out we were told that it was impressive we escaped because that room we did was best for 5-6 people because there was so much to do. Yet it didn't say that on their website.
Overall I enjoyed it, although it felt like the hour went so quickly. I prefer solving puzzles with no time limit, but I can see how that would be hard to run when people could be in there for hours. My nephew also enjoyed it and is up for another one. Next time I'll ask them what's good for two people when the tallest is 5 foot 1.
I'll give it 8/10.
Mirrored from my blog.
What I am reading Wednesday
Wednesday, July 30th, 2025 05:33 pmWhat I Just Finished Reading
The Man in Black & Other Stories by Elly Griffiths. This is a set of short stories, some from her books and some just random things. I liked it, but the problem was the advert at the back about her new series, which is time travelling murder mystery. Which couldn't be more up my street. So I'm clearly going to be reading a lot more of her books.
And with that book I finally finished the book bingo with no substitutions! Although getting these library books is getting my wishlist down, it's not helping with the to read pile...
What I'm Currently Reading
The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths. I am finally getting round to finishing the Ruth and Nelson series. I have two to go after this, I think.
What I'm Reading Next
The Women Who Wouldn't Leave by Victoria Scott, which I just picked up from the library. And because everything comes at once, my ebook hold, More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa, which I've waited ten weeks for, came in.
Mirrored from my blog.