Good Morning Blue Sky! Hope you’re all ok? Today I’m currently reading and enjoying The Needfire by M K Hardy for a touch of the gothic. What are you reading at the moment?
Replies
Absolutely immersed in Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. If I tried to describe it, it would sound run of the mill, which it absolutely isn't. Great book.
jul 27, 2025, 11:02 am • 2 1 • view
Loved that book. I’ve got Olive Again waiting on my to be read pile.
jul 27, 2025, 5:34 pm • 1 0 • view
It was recommended to me. So glad it was, I strongly suspect I'm going to be reading more.
jul 27, 2025, 5:37 pm • 2 0 • view
I started with the Lucy Barton books and was hooked, they are all great reads.
jul 27, 2025, 5:48 pm • 2 0 • view
Evening Womble! I just finished Annihilation. Going to need to get the next three very soon!
jul 27, 2025, 5:16 pm • 4 1 • view
It’s gonna get stranger!
jul 27, 2025, 6:03 pm • 0 0 • view
Excellent. Although the mind boggles at *how* it can get stranger 😁
jul 27, 2025, 6:11 pm • 1 0 • view
jul 27, 2025, 6:12 pm • 2 0 • view
Good morning Womble! I’ve just finished Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky — utterly delightful, remarkable how he can craft such an amusing narrative when the world in there is so grim.
jul 27, 2025, 10:56 am • 9 2 • view
I just bought this, and am looking forward to reading it.
jul 27, 2025, 1:03 pm • 2 0 • view
Hi Womble! I have a couple of ARCs in progress for future reviews, but right now I'm rereading Changer's Moon (1985) as I work on a retrospective of Jo Clayton's novels, which generally had female protagonists and addressed a lot of social issues during many adventures. What a great writer she was!
jul 27, 2025, 7:21 pm • 5 1 • view
Good morning, Womble! Last book I read was far from stellar, and I just DNF’d my last read, so I’m turning to an old favorite comic run - Hellblazer : Original Sins by Jamie Delano, to help avoid a reading slump.
jul 27, 2025, 11:55 am • 6 1 • view
Afternoon Womble, I just finished Sunbolt by the brilliant @booksbyintisar.bsky.social and now I'm starting The Witch Roads by @kateelliottsff.bsky.social.
jul 27, 2025, 11:12 am • 2 1 • view
Good morning Womble! I’m reading Sovereign by @aprildaniels.bsky.social and just started listening to Sleeping Giants by @neuvel.net. Really enjoying both!
jul 27, 2025, 1:30 pm • 3 1 • view
Good afternoon, Womble! I’m reading The House in the Cerulean Sea (TJ Klune, audio, and kinda wishing I’d opted for text on this one, actually). And a book to review.
jul 27, 2025, 8:25 am • 10 1 • view
Thought the audio narration for that book was well done.
jul 27, 2025, 10:16 am • 3 0 • view
It’s never too late to switch to text version!
jul 27, 2025, 8:28 am • 2 0 • view
I would have to pay for it!
jul 27, 2025, 8:29 am • 2 0 • view
Aargh, fair enough. Library? If you can hold off continuing for a bit!
jul 27, 2025, 8:30 am • 2 0 • view
Ah, the libraries available to me probably don’t have it in English. I could order it through my uni library, but it would take a few weeks for them to get it.
jul 27, 2025, 8:33 am • 2 0 • view
Yeah I see you’re in Japan, so I’m with you now! I’ve only read the text version myself so I don’t know how it compares (I don’t care for audiobooks unless it’s a performer memoir or similar, read by the person themselves). I hope it improves for you!
jul 27, 2025, 1:44 pm • 2 0 • view
Followup: The narrator grew on me, and I ended up enjoying it very much.
aug 18, 2025, 7:38 pm • 2 0 • view
Oh yay! Thanks for the follow up ❤️
aug 18, 2025, 7:44 pm • 1 0 • view
Morning! Still reading Georgi Gospodinov's international booker winner, Time Shelter. Disturbingly reading a bit too much like nonfiction.
jul 27, 2025, 8:56 am • 2 1 • view
Enjoy. I read it a couple of years ago. Here's my review: bit.ly/3QYgHgi
jul 27, 2025, 10:17 am • 1 0 • view
my unnecessarily complicated book related spreadsheet informs me that i read this on 13 and 14 May 2024 and that I gave it 8 out of 10. It also tells me other things but I've kept to the basics.
jul 27, 2025, 12:33 pm • 1 0 • view
That looks really engrossing; have put it on my TB list
jul 27, 2025, 9:48 am • 2 0 • view
It's good. But tough reading in our current political/social context.
jul 27, 2025, 10:43 am • 2 0 • view
I can believe that. May wait awhile, then.
jul 27, 2025, 1:19 pm • 2 0 • view
Plan to finish Spies on Safari, Oliver Dowson, second of the Repurposed Spies series.
jul 27, 2025, 8:08 am • 3 1 • view
Evening Womble! I am currently reading the 3rd Murderbot, Rogue Protocol. Still listening to Ghost Brigade in the ears. Happy days!
jul 27, 2025, 5:32 pm • 3 1 • view
The Witch Roads by the excellent and vastly under-appreciated Kate Elliot @kateelliottsff.bsky.social. Like many of her books, it draws the reader in to a fascinating and complex world while following a compelling story.
jul 27, 2025, 12:56 pm • 2 1 • view
Hey there Womble! Stayed up late last night finishing Chuck Tingle’s _Bury Your Gays_ and I have to say, that book is a freaking DELIGHT.
jul 27, 2025, 4:54 pm • 3 1 • view
I am reading @jolantru.bsky.social ’s book Star Pattern Traveller. It’s excellent so far.
jul 27, 2025, 5:28 pm • 5 1 • view
G'day Womble! For my sins, I am reading Pride and Prejudice - I read Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal recently, which is a) fun and b) P&P set in Pakistan. Hated, loathed, detested P&P in high school, giving it another go now. Wish me luck...
jul 27, 2025, 9:24 am • 5 1 • view
Hullo, Womble. Very late response, here goes: Reading MONSTERS, ALIENS, AND HOLES IN THE GROUND by Stu Horvath. It is a gorgeous, encyclopaedic work on tabletop roleplaying games published from the medium’s genesis in 1974 all the way to the end of the 2010s.
jul 27, 2025, 10:19 pm • 2 1 • view
Morning! I'm doing a reread of Blindsight by Peter Watts, which I remember liking years ago but I've seen lots of people rave about since so worth a revisit. Straight on to Echopraxia afterwards
jul 27, 2025, 7:54 am • 3 1 • view
Good morning Womble. This week I read Hope Never Dies by Andrew Shaffer. A murder mystery in which the protagonists are Joe Biden & Barack Obama - daft but enjoyable. Now reading Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo.
jul 27, 2025, 8:05 am • 3 1 • view
Good morning! Currently reading “The Swell” by Allie Reynolds. Enjoying it so far, good summer read!
jul 27, 2025, 4:23 pm • 1 1 • view
It’s really good as well as big!
jul 27, 2025, 10:08 am • 1 0 • view
Morning Womble. Still in bed with coffee and scones. Also, still reading If This Is a Woman by Sarah Helm. A very long book and very disturbing.
jul 27, 2025, 9:13 am • 4 1 • view
Morning. I’ll be listening to The Android’s Dream written by John Scalzi and read by Wil Wheaton.
jul 27, 2025, 7:55 am • 6 1 • view
Good morning Womble. I'm reading "The Seven Ages of Death" by Richard Shepherd - stories from a career in forensic pathology. Fascinating, if grim. The good Dr. Shepherd is unfortunately fond of food similes. I may never eat pasta again.
jul 27, 2025, 10:43 am • 2 1 • view
Happy Sunday, Womble! Today I’m reading Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay. I’m especially happy that I’ve acquired a signed copy with sprayed edges. It’s gorgeous. And I love his books.📚
jul 27, 2025, 11:07 pm • 2 1 • view
Hello Womble! I am reading and enjoying THE GRYPHON KING by @omersarae.bsky.social
jul 27, 2025, 1:58 pm • 5 2 • view
Morning Womble. Currently charging into the latest Aaronovitch novel, Stone and Sky. Number 10 in the Peter Grant series. So good 😍
jul 27, 2025, 7:51 am • 14 1 • view
I'm reading this one too and really enjoying it. I think its the first novel with a second character perspective, tagging in Abigail, which is an interesting change for the series.
jul 27, 2025, 8:22 am • 5 1 • view
It does make it interesting. It took a couple of chapters to get used to it but I like it.
jul 27, 2025, 10:56 am • 2 0 • view
I didn’t like the perspective shift at first, and I found it a little annoying to read her internal dialogue, but I appreciated it once I got used to it.
jul 27, 2025, 11:00 am • 2 0 • view
Wasn’t What Abigail Did That Summer from her perspective?
jul 27, 2025, 11:54 am • 1 0 • view
It was but that story was about Abigail. This one being part of the Peter Grant story make you expect to get the narrative just from his perspective. Having Abigail's as well is a little different. Good different though 😊
jul 27, 2025, 11:59 am • 3 0 • view
There are a few novellas now with a different main character telling the tale from their perspective. This book has Peter as in the normal full length novels, but also has chapters from Abigail’s perspective as she tackles another avenue in solving the mystery.
jul 27, 2025, 12:07 pm • 3 0 • view
I’m listening to this right now!Audiobook is great as ever.
jul 27, 2025, 7:53 am • 3 1 • view
Morning Womble- I'm having a re-read of Christopher Fowler's Bryant & May books, reading "the bleeding heart" currently 🙂
jul 27, 2025, 8:49 am • 4 1 • view
Morning Womble! Still on with Atlas of Hell by Nathan Ballingrud.
jul 27, 2025, 8:47 am • 3 1 • view
I recently started The Clementine Complex by the brilliant UK comic actor Bob Mortimer.
jul 27, 2025, 9:46 am • 2 1 • view
Morning! Today I'm finishing Alien Clay by the annoyingly talented Adrian Tchaikovsky. It's very very good, going in a direction I didn't expect. The word genius gets bandied around too much these days, but the man really is. I'd say highly recommended but it's Tchaikovsky so that's a given.
jul 27, 2025, 7:57 am • 9 1 • view
So agree
jul 27, 2025, 8:34 am • 2 0 • view
Heart of the Wyrdwood by RJ Barker.
jul 27, 2025, 3:30 pm • 4 1 • view
Morning Womble. I'm reading Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield. Having a good time so far.
jul 27, 2025, 10:01 am • 6 1 • view
Just picked this up. I can't wait to get deeper into it. Pun intended.
jul 27, 2025, 12:20 pm • 2 0 • view
I'm about a third of the way through. Really like the way Julia writes. Hope you enjoy it.
jul 27, 2025, 12:51 pm • 2 1 • view
Morning Womble! Just finished The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo a few days ago, now catching up on comics for a bit before I start my next one, probably be a Discworld or one of the R.A. Salvatore Drizzt Do'Urden books
jul 27, 2025, 8:49 am • 3 1 • view
Currently reading The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce, as good as her others.
jul 27, 2025, 5:24 pm • 2 1 • view
Starting Lone Wolf, by Andrew Weymouth: a man following the route the wolf Slavc took from Slovenia across the Alps to Italy.
jul 27, 2025, 12:08 pm • 1 1 • view
Reading assorted Mary Stewart thrillers, too, as stress relief, and so is the Spouse, so we're each reading various, plus he's reading Airs Above the Ground, which I read last week, aloud to me, as he hasn't read that one ever. Just beautiful, poetic travel accounts, aside from the adventure!
jul 27, 2025, 12:08 pm • 5 1 • view
Every so often I have to read all the Stewart thrillers again, but the cycle always starts with Madam, Will You Talk, the first I read as a child (startled but not displeased that the author of something that blended Rosemary Sutcliff with strong magic would also write Buchan-like adventures).
jul 27, 2025, 12:08 pm • 3 0 • view
I'm almost half way through Ben Aaronovitch's novel Stone and Sky, which is reliably entertaining. Also started The Eye of The Bedlam Bride, book 6 of Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman on Audible. The narration by Jeff Hays of the entire book series has been next level for me.
jul 27, 2025, 8:26 am • 10 1 • view
Jeff is amazing in everything he does, honestly.
jul 27, 2025, 12:23 pm • 2 0 • view
‘The Case of Cem’ by Vera Mutafchieva (1967) When a pretender to the Ottoman throne seeks refuge in exile, he finds himself a prisoner of European schemes. We learn his tragic story from the testimony of those who used him, those who loved him, and those who did both #booksky #queerlit
jul 27, 2025, 4:23 pm • 2 2 • view
Morning ToberMoriarty 😆 In the eyes: A Song of Legends Lost by M.H. Ayinde In the ears: The Generation by Holly Cave
jul 27, 2025, 8:05 am • 4 1 • view
Ah you’ve started an Assassin Academy
jul 27, 2025, 8:09 am • 1 0 • view
That sounds like far too much work.
jul 27, 2025, 10:26 am • 1 0 • view
Just think of all the ways to frame them for your crimes
jul 27, 2025, 10:34 am • 1 0 • view
See, I don't commit crimes so wouldn't have thought of that. Interesting that you did.....
jul 27, 2025, 10:43 am • 2 0 • view
That you see assassinations as business is equally interesting
jul 27, 2025, 11:26 am • 1 0 • view
I recently finished Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green which was OK but not as interesting as I was hoping it for. Now I'm reading Bless Me Father the autobiography of Dexys frontman Kevin Rowland. It is unflinchingly honest.
jul 27, 2025, 9:08 am • 4 1 • view
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. A masterclass of restrained prose and scene setting. Makes me want to hang up my towel haha
jul 27, 2025, 8:32 am • 4 1 • view
Good afternoon. Interrupting my run of Marcia Muller P.I. novels (a series I heartily recommend) to try out Geraldine Brooks' A Year of Wonders. Really striking prose, thus far. Also continuing my run of vintage Avengers; near the end of Essential Volume 4.
jul 27, 2025, 1:18 pm • 1 1 • view
Good morning! I am currently making my way through The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka. Also listening to The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher and loving it
jul 27, 2025, 8:39 am • 3 1 • view
I listened to the audiobook of Seven Moons. I hope you like it.
jul 27, 2025, 9:03 am • 1 0 • view
Thanks! Halfway through and I’m enjoying it so far
jul 27, 2025, 9:09 am • 2 0 • view
G’morning! Just waking up here in Missouri. I’m currently finishing up “Century of Song: 101 Songs that Shaped American Music” by Noah Levefre.
jul 27, 2025, 12:40 pm • 2 1 • view
Good morning! Today I'm flipping back and forth between Speculative Whiteness and Northern Nights, both of which I'm enjoying in very different ways.
jul 27, 2025, 12:18 pm • 1 1 • view
Morning Womble! I'm currently reading The Secret Life of Insects (Bernardo Esquinca, trans. James Jenkins). Fun collection of literary horror/noir so far!
jul 27, 2025, 8:44 am • 3 1 • view
Morning! My current book is Bram Stoker's Dracula.
jul 27, 2025, 7:53 am • 9 1 • view
First time reading?
jul 27, 2025, 8:16 am • 2 0 • view
Yes
jul 27, 2025, 8:36 am • 3 0 • view
Morning Womble! Katherine Addison / Sarah Monette's Mélusine kept me company on my work trip this week, and I've dived into the next in the four-book seeries, The Virtu.
jul 27, 2025, 9:18 am • 5 1 • view
Good morning, Womble. I'm finishing up the second book in the Dark Lord Davi series, Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me by @djangowexler.bsky.social It's been as much fun as the previous book in the series.
jul 27, 2025, 12:00 pm • 4 1 • view
Good morning & happy Sunday! I'm finishing Allie Therin's Viscounts & Villainy (love Wesley and his aversion to feelings) & also re-reading Dorothy Dunnett's Pawn in Frankincense. As usual I have forgotten most of the plot except the ending but that's making the sense of dread & intensity worse...
jul 27, 2025, 8:06 am • 6 1 • view
The Golden Road by William Dalrymple. "How Ancient India Transformed the World" is absolutely engrossing. Also, man's name is Dalrymple which truly sounds like a fantasy character who always scheming.
jul 27, 2025, 12:41 pm • 3 1 • view
ooo!
jul 27, 2025, 1:57 pm • 2 0 • view
An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears.
jul 27, 2025, 9:09 am • 14 1 • view
Loved this many years ago - I keep meaning to reread it
jul 27, 2025, 1:49 pm • 2 0 • view
Oh, and morning, Womble!
jul 27, 2025, 9:32 am • 1 0 • view
Happy Sunday Womble! I enjoyed The Needfire but lost all my reading notes so my review is going to be all vibes. Which is maybe okay for Gothic? I’m in space with the NeoG this week (rereading A Pale Light In The Black by KB Wagers, and listening to All The Water In The World by Eiren Caffall
jul 27, 2025, 8:45 am • 9 1 • view
Good morning fair Womble! I've just finished reading Naomi Novik's Uprooted which was fantastic.
jul 27, 2025, 9:46 am • 5 1 • view
What a book!
jul 27, 2025, 12:19 pm • 2 0 • view
Eh up, Darth Tobermoriarty. I am half way through OPEN THE CAGE, MURPHY, which is the last of Paul O’Grady’s memoirs. It’s like sitting in a cafe with a mate talking about their life - very sad in places, hilarious in places but unmistakably O’Grady’s voice. Only bad thing is it makes me miss him.
jul 27, 2025, 2:13 pm • 2 1 • view
Hi Womble! I'm currently reading The Dark Forest, book 2 in the Three-Body Problem trilogy, and so far it's just as good as the first one ❤️🌍☀️☀️☀️ (hopefully my pro-ordered copy of The Needfire will be arriving in a few days...)
jul 27, 2025, 8:00 am • 5 1 • view
Hey Womble, I’m currently reading and loving Pagans by James Alister Henry
jul 27, 2025, 8:17 am • 6 1 • view
Samesies 😊
jul 27, 2025, 8:31 am • 2 1 • view
Morning Womble Reading Gogmagog by Jeff Noon & Steve Beard for my monthly SFF book club. Not too far in yet but enjoying the strangeness so far.
jul 27, 2025, 9:36 am • 5 1 • view
Brave New World…. (Read banned books!! 👊)
jul 27, 2025, 1:27 pm • 2 1 • view
This was so good! Called The Vipers in the UK with a completely different cover.
jul 27, 2025, 1:58 pm • 2 0 • view
Hey, Womble! It's crazy-hot here, so I'm staying indoors and reading Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis. It's the right amount of dark and silly for my increasingly jaded heart.
jul 27, 2025, 2:30 pm • 2 1 • view
I'm still on my deep dive into the fantastic Pagham-On-See books by C.M. Rosen. So impressive, it influences all my own outlines, tbh. Now on the last big one, book 3, The Day We Ate Grandad. And 80% done. But I also already bought all the short form entries as well.
jul 27, 2025, 9:26 am • 3 1 • view
The World Transformed by Peter Frankopan. Big picture stuff, tracking climate change and environmental upheavals against historical trends and developments from prehistory onwards. Meticulously referenced, and scrupulous about citing additional factors re causes and effects. Definitely interesting.
jul 27, 2025, 8:58 am • 9 1 • view
Morning, Womble! I'm about to start @marthawells.com's "Witch King" today! Been a long time in coming, but I finally get to read it!
jul 27, 2025, 9:44 am • 12 2 • view
“Unburn the future!”
jul 27, 2025, 5:16 pm • 1 0 • view
Happy Sunday! I will quickly get through this short read from A.J. Stein, and then I'll catch up on some comic books.
jul 27, 2025, 1:30 pm • 2 1 • view
Finally after a couple months I can do this again. Slowly coming out from burn out The New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre by Cho Yeeun (trans. Yewon Jung) is really helping with it. Great body horror so far 👌
jul 27, 2025, 11:21 am • 2 1 • view
Morning Womble ☺️ I just finished "A state of despair" by Trey Stone and what a ride it was. A real page turner. Now to decide what to open next. On audio I listen to "The witchs tree" by Elena Collins
jul 27, 2025, 8:38 am • 1 1 • view
Morning!! In hard copy I’m reading the Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst (and already book tempted my niece with this one ;) ), in E-copy it’s Moonlands by Steven Saville & Audio is The Survivor: A pioneer novel by Bridget Tyler :)
jul 27, 2025, 7:52 am • 5 1 • view
Good morning. I’m reading (slogging through) Passenger to Frankfurt by Agatha Christie. Every so often she throws in a description of a demagogue who could be Donald Trump (if he wasn’t actually Hitler)
jul 27, 2025, 7:59 am • 6 1 • view
An odd book
jul 27, 2025, 8:07 am • 4 0 • view
This week I started The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown. The villain is totally despicable and my fingers are crossed she gets her comeuppance.
jul 27, 2025, 7:48 am • 9 1 • view
I really enjoyed this book, At first I thought it was just like "the lost room" but the story telling is WAY better. He has a new book coming out soon!
aug 5, 2025, 7:39 am • 3 0 • view
His next book does sound a bit like ‘The Lost Room’ though.
aug 5, 2025, 7:44 am • 2 0 • view
I'll give it a chance, if the native style stays the same I'll be happy :) I just need a new fantasy series to lose myself in
aug 5, 2025, 2:53 pm • 1 0 • view
Hello Womble. I’m ending July alternating between Kevin Hearne’s Hounded (Iron Druid 1), Émile Zola’s L’Argent, Michael Connelly’s The Wrong Side of Goodbye, and if I finish one early a reread of Anne Rice’s The Vampire Armand should be next.
jul 27, 2025, 10:45 am • 5 1 • view
Armand was from that interesting phase between Memnoch and her later Lestat stuff, wasn't it?
jul 27, 2025, 12:19 pm • 1 0 • view
Yes. It's the one that starts with Armand, revealed to be recovered from his failed suicide attempt in Memnoch pays a visit to the convent where a catatonic Lestat "sleeps" before he starts a narrative of his life.
jul 27, 2025, 3:33 pm • 2 0 • view
Hi Womble, I’m still ploughing through A Time of Changes by Robert Silverberg, but also read John Scalzi’s Redshirts while I was on holiday. Such a satisfying read 😊
jul 28, 2025, 8:34 am • 1 0 • view
The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses by Malka @older.bsky.social … I’m having so much fun with the language.
jul 28, 2025, 4:32 am • 3 2 • view
Good afternoon, I am currently enjoying All The Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
jul 27, 2025, 1:04 pm • 2 1 • view
Good morning Womble. I just finished The Children of Eve (most excellent) by @jconnollybooks.bsky.social. Current non fiction is Shifting Sands by Judith Scheele and started The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart last night (last read some time in the 80s).
jul 27, 2025, 9:49 am • 5 1 • view
Morning friend Womble, it's a brutal school system in The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw where the narrator has just referenced the film Society which took me back to many nightmares I had as a teen. Happy Sunday reading
jul 27, 2025, 9:56 am • 8 1 • view
Good morning. This week I've finished The Outcast Mage by Annabel Campbell and Three Eight One by Aliya Whitely. Now I'm moving onto Palandin's Grace by T. Kingfisher.
jul 27, 2025, 8:21 am • 6 1 • view
Absolutely loving “Alien Clay.” I’m really busy right now & it sucks because all I want to do is sit & read this book. Being an adult is so annoying!!!!
jul 27, 2025, 5:46 pm • 3 1 • view
Just finishing up a re-read of Ballard's The Kindness Of Women.
jul 27, 2025, 11:14 am • 2 1 • view
I’m reading Lost In The Garden by Adam S Leslie, because I was captivated by the opening pages - atmospheric and enchanting in a dark way and I think it’s folk horror but it seems to drawn from all kinds of traditions and I’m enthralled
jul 27, 2025, 9:33 am • 4 1 • view
Hi Womble, I'm reading The Mad Ship by Robin Hobb and My Good Bright Wolf, a memoire by Sarah Mosse. Both are great reads.
jul 27, 2025, 8:52 am • 2 1 • view
Loved that memoir. Sometimes I wasn't sure if I was reading or remembering my own childhood.
jul 27, 2025, 8:56 am • 2 0 • view
Good morning, Womble! Reading Nova Scotia 2. But I do need to get a wiggle on if I’m going to get through the rest of the anthologies on the shortlist. Currently at 15 out of 26 stories. Some absolute gems in there so far. Just one skip, and one unexpected moment that had me tearing up.
jul 27, 2025, 8:15 am • 4 1 • view
Yay I really enjoyed that collection!
jul 27, 2025, 8:19 am • 2 1 • view
One of life's cruelties (and first-world problems) is that I love audiobooks, but I struggle to multitask while listening. Luckily, I had a long train journey this week and managed to listen to more of The Devils by Joe Abercrombie.
jul 27, 2025, 8:15 am • 1 0 • view
Good morning Skylarks. Currently reading "Dissolution" by Nicholas Binge @bingereadingbooks.bsky.social and enjoy it tremendously.
jul 27, 2025, 8:14 am • 10 3 • view
Morning Womble! I'm on The Bonehunters (6th in Erikson's Malazan series). Epic stuff!
jul 27, 2025, 11:03 am • 3 1 • view
That is commitment.
jul 27, 2025, 12:16 pm • 2 0 • view
Indeed! It feels like all the disparate threads are weaving together, now.
jul 27, 2025, 1:58 pm • 2 0 • view
Morning! Found a copy of Into the Drowning Deep (Grant) in the library, rereading The Baron of Magister Valley (Brust) for sheer entertainment and much enjoying Chanur's Venture (Cherryh) on audio.
jul 27, 2025, 11:13 am • 3 1 • view
Into the drowning deep has been on my tbr for so long, constantly nudged down by all the other mermaid related horror I keep on picking up on a whim. I really need to get to it.
jul 27, 2025, 12:17 pm • 1 0 • view
It's very good so far. I think Rolling in the Deep is worth reading first.
jul 27, 2025, 1:02 pm • 2 1 • view
Adding it to the list now! 😅
jul 27, 2025, 1:41 pm • 1 0 • view
Morning Womble! Rounding off a brace of Manga (Fairy Cat and Promised Neverland) with a book I randomly picked up in the staffroom. 'It's All In Your Head' by Suzanne O'Sullivan is all about psychosomatic illnesses, and how they can be very, very real, and it's fascinating.
jul 27, 2025, 7:59 am • 6 1 • view
I read a brilliant piece about entomologists this week who receive endless samples of invisible bugs from people convinced they are infested with them.
jul 27, 2025, 12:15 pm • 2 0 • view
I’m throughly enjoying my time with book 2 of the Shade the Collector series by the master of the noir urban fantasy mashup @douglaslumsden.bsky.social In Deep Coprolite is out 1st August.
jul 27, 2025, 11:39 am • 4 1 • view
The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier. I have issues with how she's done the timey-wimeyness (and no small amount of surprise that the Rosso glass business is always describing as teetering as a result) but I loved the R4 abridged version and the full book is not in any way disappointing.
jul 27, 2025, 3:45 pm • 1 1 • view
My reading slump continues - haven’t yet finished @rjbarker.bsky.social Bone Ships Wake on account of being too fragile to deal with the likely preponderance of kittens. So reread Joan D Vinge’s the Snow Queen. So many in my TBR as well.
jul 27, 2025, 9:53 am • 4 1 • view
Actually mapping back slump has slightly coincided with my starting ADHD meds so may need some acclimatisation
jul 27, 2025, 9:54 am • 2 0 • view
I know a lot of folks the meds knocked off reading entirely for a good few months. Just try not to get frustrated, it does come back.
jul 27, 2025, 12:22 pm • 3 0 • view
Thank you
jul 27, 2025, 1:06 pm • 2 0 • view
Good morning, Womble! Currently reading THE INCANDESCENT. Never thought I'd read a magical school book again, but this slaps. Pacey, unafraid to ask difficult questions, well-observed teacher and student characters. Tesh has got the juice.
jul 27, 2025, 8:50 am • 21 6 • view
One of the most electric things I’ve read in years! Just outstanding. I finished it last weekend and loved it cover to cover
jul 27, 2025, 2:57 pm • 2 0 • view
It’s one of my holiday read picks for next week I’m intrigued!
jul 27, 2025, 8:55 am • 1 0 • view
I adored it, brilliant book
jul 27, 2025, 9:18 am • 2 0 • view
It's so good! I finished it last week. It's my joint-favourite book of the year, along with Pagans, both of which find entirely new and brilliant things to do with established subgenres.
jul 27, 2025, 3:47 pm • 2 0 • view
Still trucking on with Pagans by James Alistair Henry, still as good. Re-reading Metal From Heaven as I get it ready for publication and reminding myself of its god tier prose. What Feasts At Night for my BFS jury duties. And a couple of secret reads for work 😊😍
jul 27, 2025, 8:34 am • 11 1 • view
Tiger in the Smoke, by Margery Allingham
jul 27, 2025, 10:33 am • 2 1 • view
Hi Womble! I hope you have a great week! I just started Mad Sisters of Esi. The closest comparison I have of it so far would be Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, but that's not v right either. Suffice to say, it's extremely unique.
jul 28, 2025, 1:53 pm • 1 0 • view
Oh I loved that so so unusual and a lot to travel yet!
jul 28, 2025, 1:56 pm • 1 0 • view
I'm not too far in yet, but I am intrigued by the combination of memory, diary, and mythology.
jul 28, 2025, 2:16 pm • 1 0 • view
Good morning Womble! I'm listening to the audiobooks of the Codex Alera series, by Jim Butcher (currently on book four, Captain's Fury) and loving it!
jul 27, 2025, 12:35 pm • 4 1 • view
Continuing my love for books about the Heroic Age of polar exploration, I’m reading ‘The Madhouse at the End of the Earth’, Julian Sancton’s book about the Belgica’s Antarctic expedition. The perfect mid-July read!
jul 27, 2025, 9:09 am • 5 1 • view
Oh, I enjoyed that one. Particularly Amundsen. When it's all going wrong and everyone is fainting from cold and malnutrition, except Amundsen who is like "Good morning people! Today I eat six raw penguins and go for five-mile run on ice field! You come with, yah? Will be fun!"
jul 27, 2025, 11:01 am • 2 0 • view
FABULOUS book
jul 27, 2025, 4:51 pm • 2 0 • view
In the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides, about the USS Jeanette is another book in the same vein that I really enjoyed, if you’re looking for a similarly grim read. Such wild stories!
jul 27, 2025, 5:04 pm • 2 0 • view
Yes! That's one of my favourites too. For some really grim survival horror, try The Ghosts of Cape Sabine by Leonard Guttridge 💀
jul 28, 2025, 7:34 am • 2 0 • view
Oh, thank you!
jul 28, 2025, 8:16 am • 2 0 • view
I share your love for books about the Heroic Age of polar exploration, and somehow had missed knowing about The Madhouse at the End of the Earth.😲 It’s on my shopping list now! Thank you for posting about it!
jul 28, 2025, 1:01 am • 2 0 • view
The 90s by Klosterman and the Library Book by Orlean.
jul 27, 2025, 12:32 pm • 1 1 • view
Good morning Womble ☀️☕️ I’m currently reading - Nectar for the God by Patrick Samphire
jul 27, 2025, 8:18 am • 9 3 • view
I love this series so much! Wish there was more for me to read... / 🏹JKS
jul 27, 2025, 10:18 am • 2 0 • view
That’s good to know. Makes me look forward to the rest of the series 📚🤓
jul 27, 2025, 10:20 am • 3 0 • view
Someone recommended the first one, Shadow of a Dead God yesterday. It sounds great.
jul 27, 2025, 8:20 am • 2 0 • view
Awesome. Give it a try. You might like it. I liked it enough, to continue the series
jul 27, 2025, 8:25 am • 2 0 • view
Winds of War by Mosha Winters
jul 27, 2025, 8:28 pm • 1 1 • view
Good afternoon! I've devoured over 200 pages of Kelly Link's 'The Book of Love', which is fascinating and weird and I have no idea what's going on or what to expect.
jul 27, 2025, 2:31 pm • 3 1 • view
So much more awaits you! A great read!
jul 27, 2025, 3:28 pm • 1 0 • view
Ahhhhh the way I did a double-take at this check-in! 😅 Thank you for reading!! Today I am devouring Carrion Crow by Heather Parry ahead of our launch event with her and Kirsty Logan in Glasgow on Tuesday! I'm enjoying the way it delves into class and expectation with a generous helping of femgore.
jul 27, 2025, 8:42 am • 4 1 • view
I've been reading Max Evry's A Masterpiece in Disarray. It's a brilliantly curated trip though the tangled maze of creative endeavour in a very different era of Hollywood. Seeing the sheer amount of stress & pain Lynch's Dune went through is startling. (And it's a pretty damn gorgeous book too.)
jul 27, 2025, 8:35 am • 6 3 • view
Thank you so much! Glad you’re enjoying it.
jul 28, 2025, 2:30 am • 2 0 • view
Carnival of Lies by DV Bishop. Aldo goes to Venice.
jul 27, 2025, 1:09 pm • 1 1 • view
Fun :)
jul 27, 2025, 2:05 pm • 2 0 • view
Good morning! Just finished The Poppy Fields by Nikki Erlick. Currently in my ears- How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin.
jul 27, 2025, 8:29 am • 3 1 • view
I’m reading Project Hail Mary. Had to bring it forward due to the trailer for the movie and spoilers
jul 27, 2025, 5:50 pm • 3 1 • view
There's gonna be a movie??
jul 27, 2025, 6:09 pm • 1 0 • view
Yes trailer is out
jul 27, 2025, 6:11 pm • 2 0 • view
I hope is as good as the book
jul 27, 2025, 6:35 pm • 1 0 • view
Morning Womble! I'm reading two horror-puzzle-mysteries back to back this week: Uketsu's Strange Pictures and Strange Houses. Both eerily fascinating
jul 27, 2025, 8:49 am • 4 1 • view
Oooh, these look like a lot of fun! Found a short article about the books and the mysterious author in The Guardian, too. And I love puzzles! These are going straight onto the book-shopping list. Thanks!
jul 28, 2025, 12:09 am • 2 0 • view
I've really enjoyed them! They've also sent me off on a Honkaku kick - I've just bought The Decagon House Murders, and now I want to write more locked-room murder mysteries :)
jul 28, 2025, 7:56 am • 1 0 • view
Good evening. I have just started two books. Paladin's Grace by T. Kingfisher and Mike Carey's Once was Willem. Enjoying both.
jul 27, 2025, 8:04 pm • 4 1 • view
Both were great reads
aug 8, 2025, 5:46 pm • 1 0 • view
Good morning, Womble! I’m listening to Babylonia whilst crafting. But I’m also reading in physical form THE BETRAYAL OF THOMAS TRUE and it’s so good!
jul 27, 2025, 10:47 am • 1 1 • view
Just finished first Calculation of Volume, about to start John Connolly's Children of Eve.
jul 27, 2025, 9:34 am • 6 1 • view
Happy Sunday, Womble. It’s been a rough weekend, so I’m thinking of finding a cozy comfort read—maybe Dianna Wynne Jones
jul 27, 2025, 5:51 pm • 2 1 • view
These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs and Among Ghosts by Rachel Hartman.
jul 27, 2025, 1:58 pm • 1 1 • view
Ronald Hutton's The Witch. Academic examination of early modern witch trials, the anthropology and history. Impressive lexical dexterity demonsttated to avoid inadvertently saying that magic is real.
jul 27, 2025, 9:04 am • 3 1 • view
Good morning Womble! I have just this morning started a new book from the library: Graveyard Shift by M L Rio
jul 27, 2025, 8:19 am • 7 1 • view
Also reading: Kindle: nearly finished The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier Audio: about halfway through listening to Stone and Sky by Ben Aaronovitch
jul 27, 2025, 8:22 am • 5 1 • view
Hard like! The Scapegoat is amazing (she's the coldest hearted writer ever to hold a pen!) and have Stone and Sky in my reading pile.
jul 27, 2025, 8:27 am • 2 0 • view
Hello! Just started The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks, which is a historical fantasy set aboard the Great Trans-Siberian Express train
jul 27, 2025, 9:18 am • 4 1 • view
What a fun title
jul 27, 2025, 12:01 pm • 2 0 • view
Morning! I abandoned the book I was reading to start Juno Dawson's Human Rites. I love all her books.
jul 27, 2025, 9:23 am • 4 1 • view