Good Morning Blue Sky! Hope you’re well ok? Today for horror I am reading The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones. What are you reading at the moment?
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Hi Womble. Thank you, I'm good. Hope you are, too. I'm listening to Torrent Witches complete cozy mysteries box set by Tess Lake. I chose it, because it was one of the longest items in mysteries, as I go through books fast. But I'm glad I found it. It is cozy for sure. (Could use more diversity).
jul 20, 2025, 12:39 pm • 5 1 • view
The Ones That Got Away by Stephen Graham Jones, as it happens.
jul 20, 2025, 5:02 pm • 2 1 • view
Morning Womble! I have started Annihilation! A mere seven (7) years after buying it, according to the receipt ticked inside 😳
jul 20, 2025, 8:46 am • 14 1 • view
I’m glad to hear I’m not the one one who does this! I just read a book I bought over 10 years ago! (It was a very interesting biography of Bess of Hardwick.)
jul 20, 2025, 9:01 am • 4 0 • view
I am a firm believer of buying the book when you see something interesting. They wait very patiently on the shelf until I'm ready 😁
jul 20, 2025, 12:52 pm • 3 0 • view
Like wine cellars but tastier
jul 20, 2025, 12:56 pm • 4 0 • view
Haha! Yes!
jul 20, 2025, 1:42 pm • 1 0 • view
Very true! Books are so full of joy in many different ways ❤️
jul 20, 2025, 1:42 pm • 2 0 • view
Morning Womble! I'm reading Lucy Holland's Song of the Huntress.
jul 20, 2025, 8:33 am • 5 1 • view
Hiya @runalongwomble.bsky.social I'm out of my slow non-fic reading period and reading A Fire Born of Exile by Aliette de Bodard.
jul 20, 2025, 11:11 am • 6 1 • view
For horror, I just read that day's news.
jul 20, 2025, 1:48 pm • 1 0 • view
Awwyou’re missing out! In terms of books?
jul 20, 2025, 3:58 pm • 1 0 • view
Who Owns England by @guyshrubsole.bsky.social , which is proving to be absorbing and enraging
jul 20, 2025, 12:33 pm • 5 1 • view
I'm almost done with Ai Jiang's A Palace Near the Wind, and next up will be Bujold's new Penric novella, The Adventure of the Demonic Ox.
jul 20, 2025, 5:19 pm • 2 1 • view
morning! I'm reading the excellent Indigenous Futurism book 2 in the "the bees made honey in the rich man’s skull" trilogy from @weyodi.bsky.social the first one is called The Root and The Seed and is absolutely great dystopian adventure with hope and humour
jul 20, 2025, 8:20 am • 7 2 • view
Evening Womble, I'm currently in a 'remembering I have a 2000 AD subscription and reading about 40 issues in a row' phase, but once that's done I intend to read the first Murderbot Diaries novella 'All Systems Red' :D (also I have the Stephen Graham Jones book on my TBR)
jul 20, 2025, 5:23 pm • 5 1 • view
The whole Murderbot series is brilliant
jul 20, 2025, 5:52 pm • 3 0 • view
Good morning! The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is my top contender for my favorite book of the year. What an incredible reading experience. I’m currently rereading The Fisherman by John Langan, and have one story left in Bright Dead Star by Caitlin R Kiernan, which is finishing strong.
jul 20, 2025, 12:03 pm • 7 1 • view
Oh, I loved The Fisherman! And it sent me down a days-long rabbit hole reading about drowned cities.🤯 Hope you're enjoying it!
jul 20, 2025, 9:10 pm • 3 0 • view
I am! Tried to read it a couple of years ago at a time I was kind of burned out on horror, and didn’t really give it a fair shake. Now- I’m loving every page!
jul 20, 2025, 9:29 pm • 3 0 • view
Just starting a book of poetry and essays to review (I’m not sure I’m okayed to share the name) in ebook, and The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune in audio.
jul 20, 2025, 8:35 am • 5 1 • view
Morning Womble! Just finished Stone and Sky by Ben Aaronovitch, lovely as always. Halfway through Karen Lord's Redemption in Indigo, funnier than I thought and captivating. Next is Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky. (Still Murderbot Diaries on audio, I just love them & Kevin R Free's performance 😊)
jul 20, 2025, 10:18 am • 8 1 • view
Good morning! I am reading Hope Island by @timjmajor.bsky.social and @caimhmc.bsky.social's Relight My Fire. In my ears I have Alice Hoffman's The Book of Magic. :)
jul 20, 2025, 12:27 pm • 4 1 • view
Just finishing off some graphic novels so reading volume one of Paper Girls and then hopefully starting Katabasis on Tuesday
jul 20, 2025, 4:32 pm • 3 1 • view
Paper Girls is such a great read! I got the complete collection & could not put it down. A real blast of a book.
jul 20, 2025, 5:00 pm • 2 0 • view
Happily impressed by Margaret Elphinstone's 'The Gathering Night'. Would be enjoyed by fans of the 'Clan of the Cave Bear' series (it's better imho) and even ranks up with Naomi Mitchison's 'Early in Orcadia'.
jul 20, 2025, 10:04 am • 6 1 • view
Hmm. Need to move The Gathering Night way up the TBR pile! Thanks for the reminder!
jul 20, 2025, 11:17 pm • 2 0 • view
Spies on Safari by @oliverdowson.bsky.social
jul 20, 2025, 8:25 am • 2 1 • view
Good evening, Womble! I just started reading Uncovering Dinosaur Behavior by David Hone and Absolutely on Music by Haruki Murakami, as well as rereading some Fantastic Four comics before the movie comes out 😀
jul 21, 2025, 4:19 am • 2 1 • view
I'm midway through Eyes of the Void by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Just as good as the first book in the series.
jul 20, 2025, 5:54 pm • 0 0 • view
Just finished this. It's a dark, sorcerous, moving and somewhat wild ride set in a medieval village during the Anarchy. It reminded me of books I read as a kid and I found the older, "fairy tale" style quite absorbing. Impressive.
jul 20, 2025, 8:23 am • 15 3 • view
This was very different and enjoyable.
jul 20, 2025, 9:52 am • 2 0 • view
Loved that so much!
jul 20, 2025, 8:28 am • 3 0 • view
Yeah, it's a good 'un.
jul 20, 2025, 8:35 am • 2 0 • view
I've been a sucker for Carey's work since before he lost all the letters out of Mike. This one sounds different enough from his usual fare that I'm definitely tempted.
jul 20, 2025, 3:29 pm • 5 0 • view
Good morning! I’m settling in for a Sunday reading new Doctor Who novelisations and watching the Tour de France. I’ve also got bookmarks in Austerity Britain by David Kynaston and Death In The Stocks by Georgette Heyer.
jul 20, 2025, 8:23 am • 7 1 • view
Morning Womble! I've been thoroughly enjoying 'Dead Famous' by Greg Jenner for fun. But the current work project is frying my brain (and cooking my laptop), so I'm taking a break from words in my downtime for the next week or so.
jul 20, 2025, 8:45 am • 3 1 • view
I've started the new Ben Aaronovich book, Stone & Sky - and the first character in it was my old boss. 😆
jul 20, 2025, 11:48 am • 4 1 • view
Evening Womble! I'm halfway through Birds of Paradise by Oliver K Langmead. Really enjoying it - Adam and various animals from the garden of eden recovering scattered pieces of the garden in the modern day
jul 20, 2025, 5:10 pm • 2 1 • view
Good morning Womble from a very wet Dublin. Over the last week I read Murder Under The Cliff by Lesley Cookman (RIP) - sadly the last of the Libby Serjeant books as the author died recently. Then I read Sleeping Beauties by Jo Spain.
jul 20, 2025, 8:58 am • 2 1 • view
Good morning Womble from a very wet Dublin. Over the last week I read Murder Under The Cliff by Lesley Cookman - sadly the last of the Libby Serjeant books as the author died recently. Then I read Sleeping Beauties by Jo Spain.
jul 20, 2025, 8:12 am • 3 0 • view
Now starting Murder in the Meadow by Faith Martin.
jul 20, 2025, 8:36 am • 2 1 • view
Currently rereading “Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea” because life has been stressful😅. But recently finished “Black Water Sister” by Zen Cho and it was SO GOOD!
jul 20, 2025, 1:21 pm • 4 1 • view
Good morning Womble! I’m reading Vampire Films Around The World: essays on the cinematic undead of sixteen cultures, edited by James Aubrey
jul 20, 2025, 8:42 pm • 1 1 • view
Morning Womble, almost finished the Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes. Really enjoyed it just hoping she sticks the landing!
jul 20, 2025, 9:19 am • 6 1 • view
Good morning! I’m reading Wooing the Witch Queen by @stephanieburgis.bsky.social , which is a delight to read 😊
jul 20, 2025, 8:29 am • 17 2 • view
that sounds good!
jul 20, 2025, 8:39 am • 1 0 • view
It is - I’d definitely recommend it!
jul 20, 2025, 5:10 pm • 2 0 • view
I am so glad you're enjoying it!
jul 20, 2025, 8:50 am • 2 0 • view
It was great! My husband is now reading it, and enjoying it too 😊 I also loved the cover art (the Tor hardback) - such as beautiful design!
jul 27, 2025, 8:34 am • 2 0 • view
Oh isn't it so much fun! I LOVED it!
jul 20, 2025, 11:09 am • 1 0 • view
Yes, it’s great! 😊
jul 20, 2025, 5:10 pm • 1 0 • view
Good morning Womble. I'm reading Jane Draycott's "Fulvia: The Woman Who Broke All the Rules in Ancient Rome". Interesting perspective on those times. It's not very complimentary about Cicero, and, as someone who suffered through the "Pro Caelio" for Latin A-level, I'm inclined to agree.
jul 20, 2025, 9:58 am • 5 1 • view
(I got so cross I made myself a badge which said "Caelius is guilty OK".)
jul 20, 2025, 9:58 am • 2 0 • view
Afternoon! I've just started The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
jul 20, 2025, 12:31 pm • 4 1 • view
Good morning Womble! I am reading The Secret Power, by Marie Corelli
jul 20, 2025, 12:48 pm • 5 1 • view
I'm reading Relight My Fire - the fourth in the Stranger Times series by C K McDonnell - thoroughly enjoying it. It features a ghoul named Brian - what's not to love ?!
jul 20, 2025, 11:02 pm • 1 2 • view
Nearly finished Ben Aaaronovitch’s Stone and Sky, the latest Rivers of London, which takes a trip to Aberdeen. Enjoy how the narrative is split between Peter and Abigail. A is developing into a really interesting character too!
jul 20, 2025, 8:35 am • 12 1 • view
It's a nice addition to the series, isn't it? I love the idea of the extended Grant family heading off to somewhere new and each having their own mini-adventure. (I worked on it last year, so I'm slightly ahead of the majority of readers.)
jul 20, 2025, 8:57 am • 3 0 • view
It’s wonderful. Works really well and it’s fun comparing Abigail to Peter in the earlier stages of his career.
jul 20, 2025, 1:55 pm • 3 0 • view
I loved Abigail’s solo novella so much, I'm looking forward to getting to this one.
jul 20, 2025, 9:05 am • 2 0 • view
Finding it really fun!
jul 20, 2025, 1:53 pm • 3 0 • view
Morning Womble! It’s a week off and I am reading The Atlas of Hell by Nathan Ballingrud.
jul 20, 2025, 8:14 am • 6 1 • view
I picked that up from a table in the bookshop the other week. I hope you enjoy it. I'm reading Crypt of the Moon Spider soon; it's on the World Fantasy Award Novella Shortlist.
jul 20, 2025, 9:10 am • 3 0 • view
I really enjoyed Crypt of the Moon Spider, although it took me a while to realise it was the same author.
jul 20, 2025, 9:25 am • 3 0 • view
Oh! I have The Strange by them as well.
jul 20, 2025, 9:31 am • 2 0 • view
I'm hoping to read that soon - it just won the Manly Wade Wellman Award.
jul 20, 2025, 5:54 pm • 1 0 • view
Mark Cocker’s One Midsummer’s Day on the non-fiction side and for fiction RF Kuang’s The Dragon Empire.
jul 20, 2025, 10:18 am • 6 1 • view
Is that birdwatching Mark Cocker? Crow Country is one of my absolute nature non-fiction favourites.
jul 20, 2025, 10:28 am • 4 0 • view
He's brilliant! I'm a fan of all his work but Crow Country is great.
jul 20, 2025, 10:31 am • 3 0 • view
I must try some of his others.
jul 20, 2025, 10:35 am • 2 0 • view
There's massive work called Birds and People that's a fantastic book to dip into.
jul 20, 2025, 10:38 am • 3 0 • view
Sounds interesting.
jul 20, 2025, 12:13 pm • 2 0 • view
Andy what was the Nick Harkaway book you read recently?
jul 20, 2025, 10:21 am • 3 0 • view
Sleeper Beach. It’s the sequel to Titanium Noir.
jul 20, 2025, 1:01 pm • 4 0 • view
Oh, I need to pick that up, I loved Titanium Noir. Gnomon is a *hell* of a book as well
jul 20, 2025, 1:12 pm • 4 0 • view
Gnomon’s one of his I’ve not read. It’s good to have something unread to look forward to.
jul 20, 2025, 1:52 pm • 4 0 • view
I think it might be my favourite of his, actually!
jul 20, 2025, 2:23 pm • 3 0 • view
I have Titanium Noir, so I’ll start with that one, and then tackle Karla’s Choice when I’ve finished the only three of his dad’s novels I haven’t read (The Naive And Sentimental Lover, A Most Wanted Man, and A Delicate Truth).
jul 21, 2025, 6:58 am • 2 0 • view
Good morning! Sat in the garden enjoying the morning sunshine with a mug of tea and Real Tigers (Slough House 3) by Mick Herron. I *really* love these books, so well written, even poetic, peopled by the morally grey. Herron is a worthy le Carré heir
jul 20, 2025, 8:22 am • 10 1 • view
They are so good. I’m on London Rules now.
jul 27, 2025, 12:41 pm • 2 0 • view
Morning Womble. I have very literally just finished The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik. Had a great time with it. So now it's time to pick the next read.
jul 20, 2025, 8:31 am • 6 1 • view
Morning Womble! I am devouring SEA NOW by Eva Meijer, t. Anne Thompson Melo. Really fascinating mix of voice & approach to climate disaster—funny & poetic despite the seriousness.
jul 20, 2025, 4:08 pm • 4 1 • view
Happy Sunday Womble! I'm re-reading Galactic Hellcats, by @reasie.bsky.social – I needed something fun, plus I'm hoping the sequel will arrive next week, so I also needed to refresh my memory. And it's as good and as much fun as I remembered! 💙📚
jul 20, 2025, 5:45 pm • 5 4 • view
I’m so glad! I admit, I like reading it myself!
jul 20, 2025, 7:25 pm • 2 0 • view
Morning Womble hope alls well! I’m running through Victory ‘45 by Al Murray and James Holland - a series of essays about the various surrenders that ended WW2
jul 20, 2025, 9:12 am • 4 1 • view
Good morning, Womble! Reading Human Rites by Juno Dawson and listening to The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce on my travels. Nibbling away at The Count of Monte Cristo over the summer. All enjoyable for different reasons 😊
jul 20, 2025, 10:43 am • 7 1 • view
Read Stone and Sky this week -- it's one of the excellent ones. (The (entirely subjectively) non-excellent ones are still very good; I just don't reread them as much.) Lots of LeCarre foxcraft in this one.
jul 20, 2025, 11:46 am • 7 1 • view
Really very good—especially the Abigail chapters. I listened, and as usual Kobna Holdbrook-Smith and Shvorne Marks were excellent…as long as you pay no attention to their terrible Scottish accents—though those are still entertaining in a way.
jul 20, 2025, 12:27 pm • 2 0 • view
Marks does a better job than Holdbrook-Smith in this book largely because she doesn’t try so hard to sound Scottish. Holbrook-Smith really tries. He’s very good at accents. Just…not Scottish.
jul 20, 2025, 12:35 pm • 2 0 • view
I suppose as it's first person, you could write it off as Peter and Abigail attempting to render Scottish accents, rather than the way the Scottish characters actually sound!
jul 20, 2025, 1:53 pm • 2 0 • view
That’s how I thought of it! “This is them recounting what happened, and doing bad accents.” That made it more funny.
jul 20, 2025, 8:05 pm • 2 0 • view
I need to wait for the paperback release of this one (series books must match on the shelf, right?) but I am delighted to hear there is more foxcraft in my future!
jul 20, 2025, 12:05 pm • 4 0 • view
I track the point at which I reached my idea of financial stability (no longer below the poverty level, I guess it was), by when Pratchett, Elizabeth Peters, and Aaronovitch switch to hardcover on the shelf. (Cherryh was the first, and preceded them.)
jul 20, 2025, 1:57 pm • 2 0 • view
Though since I shelve Discworld by character cluster, it's messy.
jul 20, 2025, 1:57 pm • 3 0 • view
(They are most excellent foxes! How can you endure the wait?)
jul 20, 2025, 1:58 pm • 2 0 • view
I will probably do a reread - MrC bought me a complete set in paperback to shelve, so I'll have to christen them!
jul 20, 2025, 7:12 pm • 2 0 • view
My Pratchett shelf is a mess too. It starts out paperbacks, has 2 book-club editions, a large-format graphic novel (Eric) & the rest in hardcover (all Doubleday but 3 slightly smaller than the rest). To say nothing of various maps, companions, The Compleat Ankh Morpork & Nanny Ogg's Cookbook!
jul 20, 2025, 7:10 pm • 2 0 • view
And The Last Hero would throw off any attempt to shelve by size, too.
jul 21, 2025, 9:24 pm • 2 0 • view
Oops, missed this. The Last Hero is too tall for any of my shelves and has to live in splendid isolation with only my RHS gardening encyclopedias for company.
jul 23, 2025, 8:58 am • 1 0 • view
Noble company!
jul 23, 2025, 10:46 am • 1 0 • view
BTW, Elizabeth Peters was a devoted Pratchett fan.
jul 26, 2025, 2:16 pm • 5 0 • view
Cool! I didn't know that, but it's not surprising. Good humour knows its own.
jul 27, 2025, 11:56 am • 2 0 • view
I’m very well! I’ve just completed book 2 of the Arkship Trilogy by Peter F Hamilton. Feels very much like a YA series, with a storyline from a single main character view, an 18 yo girl. Enjoying it, but the story feels like it’s a single novel split into three rather than a true trilogy.
jul 20, 2025, 11:25 am • 3 1 • view
That’s a surprise. Hamilton has always been a consistently good writer from what I’ve seen. I’ll have to take a shuftie and see if I agree.
jul 20, 2025, 1:42 pm • 2 0 • view
I’ve always loved his books, and I don’t have a problem with the change in style. It feels like he is reaching out to younger readers with it, and I’m here for that!
jul 20, 2025, 1:46 pm • 1 0 • view
Yeah, he uses a few voices. I was more thinking of one book or three. My read pile is like freestyle furniture so it’ll be a while till I get to these!
jul 20, 2025, 1:51 pm • 1 0 • view
Not something unique to YA?
jul 20, 2025, 12:23 pm • 2 0 • view
I think it is the youth of the character and her naive point of view that makes me think of YA. There are other books with a single main character viewpoint that are clearly not YA like the Dresden Files.
jul 20, 2025, 1:17 pm • 0 0 • view
And assassin’s apprentice too! I tend to think Ya as a Market and tone level rather than genre
jul 20, 2025, 4:00 pm • 2 0 • view
Fair enough, though I hadn’t meant to suggest my overall evaluation of it as YA was due to the first person single character perspective alone!
jul 21, 2025, 1:17 am • 0 0 • view
Hi Womble, I'm reading Wearing the Lion by John Wiswell which is fun and strange and not the usual thing I read. So far I'm enjoying it. I'm also reading Sarah Raven's "A Year Full of Pots"
jul 20, 2025, 12:17 pm • 4 1 • view
I'm reading Exile and Pride by Eli Clare for Disability Pride month and an ARC of Arcana Academy by Elise Kova
jul 20, 2025, 11:07 am • 4 1 • view
Morning ToberMoriarty 😆 In the eyes: Our Little Cruelties by Liz Nugent In the ears: Black Chamber by S.M. Stirling
jul 20, 2025, 8:15 am • 3 1 • view
Assassinations are not little but glad you’re back at the workplace
jul 20, 2025, 8:16 am • 2 0 • view
Surely that depends how you define "little"......
jul 20, 2025, 8:17 am • 1 0 • view
'Morning, Womble. I've got 2 on the go: Winter Gifts by Ben Aaronovitch & The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill (a re-read). Winter Gifts is on the kindle & it's raining again so that's this morning's choice!
jul 20, 2025, 8:32 am • 6 2 • view
Raining here too - a lot! I really like the Rivers of London books - looking forward to the new one.
jul 20, 2025, 8:35 am • 2 0 • view
Me too! I've got 1 more in my tbr before I start waiting for the price to come down on the newest one 😀
jul 20, 2025, 8:38 am • 2 0 • view
Yeah, that's always a consideration!
jul 20, 2025, 8:42 am • 2 0 • view
I own most of the 500 books on my tbr already so I'm comfortable waiting for it to be heavily discounted 😊
jul 20, 2025, 8:43 am • 3 0 • view
Morning! I'm still reading Of Blood Descended by Steven Veerapen and also started The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay.
jul 20, 2025, 8:13 am • 5 1 • view
My Folio Society edition of 'Finn Family Moomintroll' by Tove Jansson which one of my besties bought me for my birthday earlier this year.
jul 20, 2025, 8:27 am • 8 1 • view
Oh, that is such a good birthday gift, and clearly the very best sort of friend.
jul 20, 2025, 10:43 am • 2 0 • view
Good morning, Womble! I’m trying to convince Baz the Wonder Pug to walk, so I can listen to Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby. Baz thinks it’s too hot for pugs.
jul 20, 2025, 1:02 pm • 5 1 • view
Barbara Hambly's A Time of the Dark
jul 20, 2025, 6:52 pm • 3 2 • view
(the Rudy POV chapters are a bit rough; otoh, his is a California I’m acquainted with even if it wasn’t the same as mine when I lived there)
jul 20, 2025, 7:39 pm • 2 0 • view
Currently reading Peter Cawdron's The Artifact. I love his First Contact series. It's a huge collection of mostly unrelated books, and I'm steadily working through them.
jul 20, 2025, 12:19 pm • 3 1 • view
Morning Womble! It’s been a busy week so I’ve not had much chance to read. But I’m currently listening to The Shape of Monsters by @clhellisen.bsky.social and really enjoying it.
jul 20, 2025, 9:27 am • 6 3 • view
Good morning and happy Sunday! I don't think I've recovered from that book yet. Might take a few years...Currently reading Phantoms of Kernow from the British Library Tales of the Weird, edited by Joan Passey. Next will be diving into Holly Jackson's Not Quite Dead Yet.
jul 20, 2025, 8:24 am • 4 1 • view
Happy Sunday Womble! It’s a dreich morning here but hoping to get out for a swim in the firth later. In the meantime, I might dive back into NeoG with A Pale Light In The Black by KB Wagers 🚀
jul 20, 2025, 8:14 am • 6 1 • view
Still nice here in Ayrshire but it was biblical last night and I'm sure we haven't seen the last of it
jul 20, 2025, 8:29 am • 2 0 • view
We’ve been drizzling in the Highlands since lunchtime yesterday. No complaints, we sorely need the rain and I secretly love not being able to see past the bottom of the garden. ‘Oh no I guess I will stay in and read’ 📚📚📚
jul 20, 2025, 8:31 am • 1 0 • view
I want to progress more series this year and I converted my cousin to Melissa Caruso while she was staying which means I can’t finish Rooks and Ruin until she gives me The Ivory Tomb back 😄
jul 20, 2025, 8:17 am • 3 1 • view
I read the first three books in The Indranan War last year—a brilliant trilogy with escalating stakes. I need to read the follow-up soon.
jul 20, 2025, 9:12 am • 1 0 • view
I was entertained by the Indranan War but I adored book one of NeoG so excited to revisit and crack on with the series :D
jul 20, 2025, 9:58 am • 2 0 • view
This is a great thread…..
jul 20, 2025, 8:20 pm • 2 0 • view
I do enjoy the weekly replies
jul 20, 2025, 8:31 pm • 3 0 • view
Hail, most fearsome of the book tempting Wombles. I am half way through The Wildeness Of Girls by Madeline Claire Franklin. It’s one of the best YAs I have read in ages - beautifully written and with an is it/isn’t it approach to fantasy about 4 girls found living wild in a forest.
jul 20, 2025, 2:00 pm • 3 1 • view
Re-reading the cruel prince, my Instagram feed convinced me to read it again 😂
jul 20, 2025, 2:12 pm • 2 1 • view
Good morning Womble! Had to revisit All Systems Red, by Martha Wells, for obvious reasons 🙂
jul 20, 2025, 10:08 am • 14 1 • view
Hello Womble, I've just finished Elif Shafak's There Are Rivers in the Sky - a really beautiful and unusual read, I can see why it's so popular. 🌤️
jul 20, 2025, 10:17 am • 10 1 • view
Lots of people have recommended it. I bounced hard off “10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World” (especially the last quarter), but I think I should give her a second chance.
jul 20, 2025, 10:27 am • 3 0 • view
Yes I read something else by her years ago and wasn't hooked, but this definitely has mainstream appeal.
jul 20, 2025, 11:31 am • 2 0 • view
Good Morning Womble Having finished the Hugo Novels and Novellas in plenty of time I then slept on the other categories so I'm just starting Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right by Jordan S. Carroll.
jul 20, 2025, 8:24 am • 8 2 • view
A Marriage At Sea: true story about a British couple who attempted to sail to New Zealand. Their boat was destroyed by a whale so they spent 118 days in a rubber raft in the Pacific Ocean. Mansion Beach: Summer romp set on Block Island off the coast of Rhode Island. Inspired by The Great Gatsby.
jul 20, 2025, 9:50 am • 8 1 • view
Hi Womble! I'm reading The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong. It's charming and cozy without being twee.
jul 20, 2025, 5:52 pm • 3 1 • view
This was so good!
jul 20, 2025, 5:57 pm • 2 0 • view
I'm about 1/3 of the way through, and so far it's just what I've needed.
jul 20, 2025, 6:03 pm • 2 0 • view
I finished The Crows and it did so much inside me, it reaches I'll write a personal thank you note to CM Rosen levels. So of course now I'm reading the second book in the series, Thirteenth. How's Buffalo Hunter? My partner just mentioned it for a possible buddy read.
jul 20, 2025, 9:18 am • 4 1 • view
So far so good should have the review up soon
jul 20, 2025, 9:19 am • 4 0 • view
Morning Womble, I'm good, and hope you are too. I've made progress with the Rivers of London series, now on Foxglove Summer, but got interrupted by wanting to read the Inheritance series by @poopraven.bsky.social which is exactly as promised: very enthralling and also traumatic.
jul 20, 2025, 9:12 am • 5 1 • view
Morning (just!) Womble. I'm reading Latitudes of Longing for this month's Shelterbox book club. And listening to The Man Who Went Up In Smoke, the 2nd in the Martin Beck series.
jul 20, 2025, 11:01 am • 2 1 • view
Just finished Andrew Taylor's A Schooling in Murder. As sublimely well written as all his work, and somewhat outside his usual scope. Can't really say why without spoilers. Definitely one for his fans, and recommended to SFF readers who haven't tried his books before.
jul 20, 2025, 8:34 am • 14 1 • view
This was my first book by him and I really enjoyed it
jul 20, 2025, 11:08 am • 2 0 • view
This sounds intriguing. I read The American Boy many years ago and really enjoyed it, but read nothing else by Taylor. I think I'll pick this one up.
jul 20, 2025, 9:51 am • 2 0 • view
Same author, different book! I'm reading "The Only Good Indians." It's got an interesting rhythm to the writing that took a bit to get into but I'm appreciating more now.
jul 20, 2025, 12:13 pm • 3 1 • view
Happy Sunday! The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a favorite of mine. I've got a bunch of great reads going right now. Physical book: Killer on the Road by Stephen Graham Jones Ebook: Shiny Happy People by Clay McLeod Chapman Audio: The Armor of Light by Ken Follett Short Stories: Minotaur by C.S. Humble
jul 20, 2025, 12:22 pm • 7 1 • view
Hello and good afternoon, Womble. I finished "The curse that binds" by Laura Thalassa last night. So starting "The ashes and the star-cursed king" by Carissa Broadbent now. Two romantasy books after another 💙📚
jul 20, 2025, 12:36 pm • 2 1 • view
The name is ringing a bell, was Thalassa the one with the 4 horsemen series?
jul 20, 2025, 3:39 pm • 2 0 • view
This is my first book I read by her. But she has books called Pestilence, War, Famine and Death
jul 20, 2025, 6:49 pm • 2 1 • view
That'll be her! How was the Curse That Binds?
jul 20, 2025, 7:06 pm • 2 0 • view
I liked it, I realized that it is a prequel to a series. So I guess I started another series 😅
jul 21, 2025, 5:34 am • 2 0 • view
I’m starting this as well! Just finished A Thousand Ships and Cider with Rosie.
jul 23, 2025, 9:33 am • 1 0 • view
Almost finished Sleeper Beach by Nick Harkaway.
jul 20, 2025, 8:40 am • 4 1 • view
Hello Womble. I’m in the second half of John Connolly’s The Killing Kind and about to start on L’Argent by Émile Zola and Legacy of the Dead by Charles Todd.
jul 20, 2025, 10:00 am • 6 1 • view
Hello Womble! I love SGJ's work, so I should get on the ball and read that. I just finished Gemma Amor's wild short piece "Feral" and definitely recommend it, especially to women who are tired of living up to all the expectations placed on them.
jul 20, 2025, 6:34 pm • 1 1 • view
I am reading an arc of Thomas’s Olde Heuvelt new novel and so far it’s 👌🏼
jul 20, 2025, 9:37 am • 6 1 • view
As a resident of Washington myself, I'm really looking forward to this one!
jul 20, 2025, 11:07 pm • 1 0 • view
I just finished Written on the Dark by @guygavrielkay.bsky.social which broke my heart into tiny little pieces,and for a change of pace I’m now devouring The Children of Eve, the latest supernatural thriller from John Connolly.
jul 20, 2025, 10:43 am • 10 2 • view
Good morning! It's not horror, but Maggie Stiefvater's "The Listeners" has a fancy hotel in West Virginia forced to host a bunch of German and other foreign diplomats/nationals a month after Pearl Harbor, and there is *tension*.
jul 20, 2025, 2:28 pm • 3 1 • view
That’s top of my TBR!
jul 20, 2025, 2:48 pm • 1 0 • view
Good morning. I've just finished the wonderful Cursed in the Lost City by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch and I'm going to start The Outcast Mage by Annabel Campbell.
jul 20, 2025, 10:45 am • 5 1 • view
Good afternoon Womble! I am reading the delightful The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by @older.bsky.social
jul 20, 2025, 4:43 pm • 4 2 • view
Just started The Tokyo Zodiac Murders and not in love with it yet. Hoping it will hook me.
jul 20, 2025, 12:43 pm • 3 1 • view
Just finished Star-Begotten by HG Wells and a few pages from the end of Dust Tracks On A Road by Zora Neale Hurston. I'll be back on to A Suitable Boy until the end of the month when I finish it (it's so long that i'm reading it in installments), not sure what will replace Star-Begotten yet.
jul 20, 2025, 6:31 pm • 3 1 • view
I’m currently reading Holly by Stephen King. I do adore the character of Holly Gibney, she very much feels like me, so I’ve been rereading all her books as the latest one just came out.
jul 20, 2025, 9:22 am • 7 1 • view
I just finished Never Flinch the other day, its a good read and Holly is wonderful as always
jul 20, 2025, 11:10 am • 6 1 • view
I loved the Buffalo Hunter Hunter. It is slow at achieving liftoff, but once it does? Oh, man! SGJ is one of my favorites! Just finished Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng. I'd never read Kylie Lee Baker before, so I didn't know what to expect. But this book freaked me the fuck out. 👍
jul 20, 2025, 6:50 pm • 3 1 • view
Morning, Womble. I’m getting over my disappointment in Creation Lake being a journey over destination book. I’ve started reading the first anthology, Nova Scotia 2, of my challenge to read the BFA 25 Best Anthology category. It’s giving me whiplash because, so far, each has a strong, unique voice.
jul 20, 2025, 9:03 am • 6 2 • view
Hello hello! In between scandi adventures I'm wrapping up Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan (good!) and starting The Wings Upon Her Back by Samantha Mills (intense so far!)
jul 20, 2025, 5:31 pm • 2 1 • view
Hello all. Currently reading 'The Many Lives of James Lovelock' by Jonathan Watts. Next up: 'Here and Beyond' by Hal LaCroix, an optimistic take on a generation starship story. Seems to have been a bit of a renaissance in the sub-genre recently.
jul 20, 2025, 9:04 am • 5 1 • view
Morning Womble! I have been transported by The Way Up Is Death by @danhanks.bsky.social and now climbing through the chapters.
jul 20, 2025, 10:37 am • 4 1 • view
I have just finished The Incandescent by Emily Tesh, which is now my joint favourite book of the year and hooked me from the first page.
jul 20, 2025, 10:37 am • 20 4 • view
I was going to offer you a copy when I finish it. On the one hand, my "spot which book a friend might like" roll was a good one, on the other, I wonder who'd benefit...
jul 20, 2025, 12:03 pm • 2 0 • view
Thank you, both for the intention and for correctly identifying my taste in books!
jul 20, 2025, 6:39 pm • 1 0 • view
Morning, hope you're well. I'm currently making my slow way through The Searcher by Tana French. It's even more literary than her previous works, a real slow burn, but I'm loving the writing as always.
jul 20, 2025, 12:26 pm • 5 1 • view
I have just finished The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley and I thoroughly enjoyed its twisting, time-travelling plot, full of quirky and unusual characters. There are moments of dark humour that complement the tension, and a narrator who often gets things wrong. Good stuff!
jul 20, 2025, 8:59 am • 19 1 • view
Sounds interesting. I'll give it a go.
jul 20, 2025, 9:14 am • 2 0 • view
I'm about 70% of the way through and it's brilliant. LOVE the characters, and it's so thorough and detailed on the operations side of things that it feels like it could be real.
jul 25, 2025, 2:59 pm • 3 0 • view
So glad you’re enjoying it! It’s a really good book and I am recommending it to my friends (and anyone else who’ll listen! Haha!)
jul 25, 2025, 3:24 pm • 2 0 • view
Thanks for posting about it - helped make up my mind when it showed up on Kobo for £1! Enjoying it greatly so far.
aug 10, 2025, 10:10 am • 2 0 • view
The black humour is great. I liked it a lot.
jul 20, 2025, 10:30 am • 3 0 • view
I'm enjoying this very much, especially since I think it might be the last discworld book I've not read yet (might have to check to be sure as I've been reading them in the order I've found them in the charity shop).
jul 20, 2025, 11:19 am • 15 1 • view
This was actually the FIRST Discworld book I read! Got me hooked.
jul 20, 2025, 1:24 pm • 2 0 • view
I'm currently reading Disappearance of a Scribe by Dana Stabenow, the second book in her Eye of Isis mystery series set in Alexandria during Cleopatra's reign.
jul 20, 2025, 6:48 pm • 2 1 • view
The Staircase in the Woods by @chuckwendig.bsky.social. It is King-y but in a good way. Weird shit happened to a group of teenagers and returns when they're adults.
jul 20, 2025, 1:17 pm • 5 1 • view
Hey lovely Womble! I'm reading my first T Kingfisher, and chose What Moves the Dead, after having had a break from SFF in my personal reading (need to refresh the palate every now and again!)
jul 20, 2025, 11:55 am • 8 1 • view
Really enjoyed the first Sworn Soldier book - suitably creepy
jul 20, 2025, 8:08 pm • 2 0 • view
jul 20, 2025, 6:54 pm • 3 1 • view
I'm having an absolutely wonderful time reading When We Were Real by Daryl Gregory. It's sci-fi, the humor is working extremely well for me, and some fun, intriguing ideas are emerging as I progress. Sadly, I don't think it's available (yet?) in the UK.😢 But we North Americans are in luck!
jul 20, 2025, 8:37 am • 7 1 • view
Hello Womble! I'm a few chapters in to Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Gripping so far.
jul 20, 2025, 7:36 pm • 6 1 • view
Love that one!
jul 20, 2025, 7:38 pm • 1 0 • view
Loved Shroud!
jul 20, 2025, 7:53 pm • 3 0 • view
An ARC of The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison, Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan and Hicky's Bengal Gazette by Andrew Otis (non-fiction about India's first newspaper).
jul 20, 2025, 8:32 am • 9 1 • view
almost done with Johanna van Veen's Blood on Her Tongue. if she wants to keep writing richly disgusting gothics where bog bodies are very scary but the true evil is matrimony, i will keep reading them forever
jul 20, 2025, 1:11 pm • 2 1 • view
Good morning Womble ☀️☕️ I picked up a book from M. D. Presley - Rites of Passage. A nice Sunday read.
jul 20, 2025, 8:47 am • 4 1 • view
Mostly focusing on THE WILL OF THE MANY by James Islington!
jul 20, 2025, 2:35 pm • 3 1 • view
The Hexologists: A Tangle of Time by Josiah Bancroft
jul 20, 2025, 8:12 am • 8 0 • view
I JUST finished The Incandescent, by Emily Tesh. Fantastic mash-up of Scholomance and Gailey's Magic for Liars (both of which I loved), with the thoughtful character work that Tesh does so well.
jul 20, 2025, 8:43 am • 7 1 • view
Magic for Liars going straight on my TBR as I loved Scholomance, thoroughly enjoyed The Incandescent and also thought Gailey's The Echo Wife was excellent! I'm reading A Beautiful Way To Die by Eleni Kyriacou which is so immersive - Old Hollywood 1950s setting.
jul 20, 2025, 9:26 am • 5 1 • view
I need to bump The Incandescent up the pile. So pleased you liked Magic for Liars
jul 20, 2025, 9:17 am • 2 0 • view
I've also just finished it - I was hooked from the opening scene, and immediately messaged my head-of-department teacher friend telling her to read it, and she also loved it.
jul 20, 2025, 10:41 am • 3 0 • view
Good morning, Womble! Doing well, hope you are, too. Wrapping up The Snow Queen today. While I enjoyed the trip to Tiamat, I'll have to break away from the rest of that series for a bit due to my YT channel's production schedule, and start my Culture experience with Consider Phlebas.
jul 20, 2025, 2:54 pm • 3 1 • view
After trying to savour it, I've finally finished Akira. True, I spent some time saying 'that's not like the movie', but the sheer level of epic storytelling & the blistering, page turning plot soon stopped that. It's always a good thing when a classic turns out to be a classic for a reason. Wow.
jul 20, 2025, 8:28 am • 14 1 • view
I am finishing off Larry Niven's Fleet of Worlds quintet and have Just started William Boyd's Gabriel Moon.
jul 20, 2025, 4:03 pm • 2 1 • view
Just finishing off “Lillian Boxfish Takes A Walk” on audiobook and diving into Flowers For Algernon in real book format.
jul 20, 2025, 10:24 am • 14 1 • view
Flowers for Algernon is such a special book
jul 20, 2025, 12:48 pm • 4 0 • view
Early days but I’m loving it so far.
jul 20, 2025, 12:50 pm • 3 0 • view
Happy Sunday, Womble. I’ve started Future’s Edge by Gareth Powell
jul 21, 2025, 1:17 am • 2 1 • view
I read that recently! Took me a chapter or two to get into it but I absolutely loved it
jul 20, 2025, 11:14 am • 5 1 • view
I find that with all his work, takes a little while to sink into the rhythm of his writing. Definitely worth the effort though.
jul 20, 2025, 12:10 pm • 2 0 • view
Yes! Absolutely
jul 20, 2025, 12:13 pm • 3 0 • view
Afternoon Womble! I've remembered how imminent the closing date for the Hugo ballot is, so I'm doing a rush on Speculative Whiteness, as well as finishing up on all the short fiction I haven't got to yet. But also The Magician's Guild by Trudi Canavan. For terrible nostalgia.
jul 20, 2025, 1:09 pm • 3 1 • view
Hi Womble! On digital I'm rereading the Slough House books by Mick Herron (currently on Real Tigers) and on paper I have finally cracked open the Lily Bard mysteries by Charlaine Harris. Enjoying the second one a bit more than the first: less getting-to-know-you, more mystery & drama. Good fun!
jul 20, 2025, 11:54 am • 9 1 • view
These are great! Listening on audiobook.
jul 20, 2025, 11:55 am • 2 0 • view
Ah, I'm not an audiobook fan, tbh - but I agree, they're difficult to put down!
jul 20, 2025, 11:58 am • 1 0 • view
Slough House books are great audiobooks
jul 20, 2025, 8:09 pm • 2 0 • view
So I'm told, but I don't get on with audio as a story format.
jul 21, 2025, 5:09 am • 2 0 • view
Same, long form really is tricky for me to commit to
jul 21, 2025, 5:12 am • 2 0 • view
Good afternoon Womble! I have started listening to the audiobook of the new Rivers of London book, Stone and Sky
jul 20, 2025, 3:10 pm • 2 1 • view
I’m also still reading: Physical: The Devils by Joe Abercrombie Kindle: The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier
jul 20, 2025, 3:10 pm • 2 1 • view
Ooo how is it? I’m waiting for it from the library.
jul 20, 2025, 8:50 pm • 1 0 • view
Which book of the three I mentioned? I mean, they’re all good so far so you can’t go wrong…
jul 20, 2025, 8:56 pm • 2 0 • view
Stone and Sky - big fan. 😂
jul 20, 2025, 8:58 pm • 1 0 • view
I’m enjoying it! It’s set in Scotland so a bit different from most of the other books in the series, and the twins are now two years old and adding to the fun as only toddlers can
jul 20, 2025, 9:04 pm • 2 0 • view
Thank you!
jul 20, 2025, 10:19 pm • 1 0 • view
Good morning Womble! I’m reading THE DEVIL BY NAME by Keith Rosson. Loved the first book and really enjoying this one too!
jul 20, 2025, 9:43 pm • 3 1 • view
Hello! Sweet Heat by Bolu Babalola, contemporary romance set in London. It's the sequel to the equally excellent Honey and Spice, with the same characters 8ish years later Brilliant writing and lots of heart, plus snark about clueless white people
jul 20, 2025, 8:22 am • 3 1 • view
Good morning from a dreich part of the Highlands. I finished Octavia E. Butler’s extraordinary Parable of the Sower 364 days after I started reading it. IYKYK. Also finished Graeber & Wengrow’s thought-provoking Dawn of Everything. Now reading Winter’s Gifts to catch up, & I’ll Be Gone in the Dark.
jul 20, 2025, 8:47 am • 12 1 • view