Last week, I had grand plans for Frankenstein and False Value, but my brain waved a white flag. Mental health-wise, I just wasn’t in the headspace for Shelley’s heavy storms or Aaronovitch’s magical noir, so I pivoted to something gentler: Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood and A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver. It was the right call – a mix of sharp romcom banter and quiet meditations on nature that felt like letting my mind exhale.

This week, I’m ready to wade back into the stranger currents with False Value (Ben Aaronovitch), where Peter Grant’s undercover in a tech company that’s suspiciously magical, and The Ministry of Time (Kaliane Bradley), a time-travel novel about a government programme that brings people from history into the modern day. One’s all magical servers and dry workplace humour; the other’s part speculative fiction, part culture-clash drama.

The accidental theme this week?
Bureaucracy, but make it weird.

If you’ve read either, I’d love to know – especially if you have favourite “magic meets mundane” books I should add to my list.