stacking the shelves

Stacking the Shelves #12

I am a very excited wee llama – yesterday I managed to get second-row seats to see Six: The Musical in Plymouth in September. I have been wanting to see the show for YEARS and kept missing it because of the fucking agoraphobia. This year, I’m really working on fighting back, and Li and I are apparently turning into cultured old queers because this is now two shows we’ve got booked – we’re also off to Barnstaple in July to see Rent for my birthday!

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Reading Reality all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

You’ll be absolutely shocked I’m sure to learn I had some reservations come n at the library:

Judi Dench – Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent
Alice Roberts – Don’t Die Young: An Anatomist’s Guide to Your Organs and Your Health

I bought myself a new book:

Ben Aaronovitch – The October Man
I finished reading Rivers of London #7 Lies Sleeping in the week and this novella comes next

And my Amazon First Reads choice was:

Sarah Beth Durst – The Lies Among Us

I’m looking forward to reading all of them. Do I have any clue when I’ll get round to them? No, of course I don’t but that’s not the point LOL

A less exciting turn of events is that I’m having some issues with Luna my laptop’s keyboard. The I is only working intermittently which makes writing fun. I do have a new wireless keyboard that work provided and part of my to-do list this weekend is building the new desk and getting it all set up with monitor and stuff. Li’s going to take a look at the keyboard when I go down there in April and, if need be, I can get a new one for like £20 and she’s got the tech-know-how to fit it.

stacking the shelves

Stacking The Shelves #9

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Reading Reality all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

My Amazon first read selection was:

Susannah Nix – The Love Code

I picked up one Kindle book:

Matthew Reilly – Scarecrow

I checked 8 books out of the library:


Jeremy Clarkson – What Could Possibly Go Wrong
Sarah Gibbs – Drama Queen
Hannah Gold – Finding Bear
Philippa Gregory – Normal Women
Matt Haig – The Midnight Library
Prince Harry – Spare
Katherine May – Wintering
Jennette McCurdy – I’m Glad My Mom Died
(all my reservations came in at the same time, because of course they bloody did! (and yes, I know I’m supposed to be focusing on my physical TBR – don’t look at me in that tone of voice LOL))

My reading goals for the coming week look something a little like:
Finish Grace Dent – Comfort Eating
Finish Ben Aaronovitch – Lies Sleeping
Start RF Kuang – Babel
Keep reading Sarah Maas – A Court of Wings and Ruin

book blogger hop

2024 Anticipated Reads

The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer from Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended on December 31, 2012. With Jennifer’s permission, Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer relaunched the meme on February 15, 2013. Check out the hop here!

Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end on Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt featuring a book related question. The hop’s purpose is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

The Question of the week is: Do you anticipate any upcoming 2024 reads? If so, what are they?

I’m sure there are many many exciting books coming out in 2024 but I genuinely don’t know what they are. I also don’t even know where to look to find out! I know that Goodreads has an upcoming releases section but other than that? I got nothing

Part of me doesn’t want to know. I have enough of a TBR without getting excited about things that haven’t come out yet, y’know?

But then I do know that Andrea Penrose has TWO books out this year – The Diamond of London (a historical) is coming out later in January and the 8th Wrexford & Sloane is coming out in September (and that one I’m super excited about – I’ve almost finished Murder at the Merton Library, and having read all the books back to back over the last couple of months was feeling quite sad that I didn’t have another one).

I’m also really looking forward to my library reservation of Raynor Winn’s Landlines finally being ready. I’m first in the queue and it’s due back in 13 days!

And, of course, there’s lots of books on my TBR I’m looking forward to actually reading

www wednesday

What I’m Reading Wednesday

WWW Wednesday was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?

Queer: A Graphic History by Meg-John Barker & Jules Scheele I’m at 68% should probably finish it this week – I just had a couple of library books that were due back, and had wait lists on them so I wanted to get them finished first.
The Witches of St Petersburg by Imogen Edwards-Jones I’ve only started reading this in the last couple of days, and it’s due back to the library on Monday. I’m 25% of the way through and hoping I’ll finish it. I picked this for the Russia prompt on an Around The World reading challenge
Temple by Matthew Reilly I haven’t read any more of this one this week for the same reason.
The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking is absolutely DELIGHTFUL. It’s as cozy to read as it’s subject matter, and I’m actually quite tempted to buy a copy for my own collection.

What did you recently finish reading?

Thanátou by Natalie J Case which I gave 2.5 stars to in the end. It was enjoyable enough but wasn’t really my thing and I’m not finding I care enough about the characters to pick up the rest of the series which is a shame
Murder at Kensington Palace by Andrea Penrose, the third of the Wrexford & Sloane regency mystery series and just as enjoyable as the first two. I’m loving learning more about Charlotte and her real identity, and hoping we see more of her Aunt. I’m getting frustrated with how the relationship between Wrexford & Sloane is going because I’m here for the murder, not for the UST. A solid 4 stars, I really enjoyed it.

What do you think you’ll read next?

Ben Aaronovitch – Lies Sleeping I’m about half-way through, and I did bring it to Devon with me but it’s still sitting in my bag.
Terry Deary – Dangerous Days in Elizabethan England came home from the library with me because Tudor history by the guy who wrote Horrible Histories? NEED TO READ!
K.E. O’Connor – Spells & Spooks a Kindle Unlimited choice because I can’t borrow any more and I have a huge list I want to read!

stacking the shelves

Stacking The Shelves #8

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Reading Reality all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

I picked up two Kindle books this week:

Ilona Andrews – Magic Bites
Kerrigan Byrne & Cynthia St. Aubin – Nevermore Bookstore

I checked 6 books out of the library:

Cecilia Ahern – Freckles
Susanna Clarke – Piranesi
Terry Deary – Dangerous Days in Elizabethan England
Paula Hawkins – The Girl On The Train
James Lovegrove – The Age Of Ra
Meik Wiking – The Little Book of Hygge

I borrowed one book from Li:

Susanna Clarke – Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

My reading goals for the coming week look something a little like:
Finish Andrea Penrose – Murder At Kensington Palace (currently at 60%)
Finish Natalie J Case – Thanátou (currently at 68%)
Finish Meg-John Barker – Queer: A Graphic History (currently at 51%)
Continue Matthew Reilly – Temple (currently at 29%)
Start Meik Wiking – The Little Book Of Hygge

www wednesday

What I’m Reading Wednesday

WWW Wednesday was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?

Queer: A Graphic History by Meg-John Barker& Jules Scheele has already taught me more Queer History in 20 pages than a lifetime of being queer. Another one of those books I wish I’d had as a wee queer teen.
Thanátou by Natalie J Case isn’t really my thing, a little too fantasy for my liking, but the author is one of my best friends. A witch who’s powers had been hidden from her to protect her is being hunted by a cult who are dedicated to wiping her kind out. She’s currently in an alternate universe learning how to use and control her powers.
Murder at Kensington Palace is the third of the Wrexford & Sloane series of historical mysteries and so far is just as wonderful as the first two. We have a young man who’s been accused of murdering his twin brother, Sloane knows them and is adamant he didn’t do it and so the investigation begins.
Temple by Matthew Reilly is fucking terrible and I absolutely ADORE it. It’s like a bad SyFy monster movie. Military & scientists go to retrieve a lost Aztec idol made of checks notes material from an asteroid that has the power to destroy the world. The Germans are also after it and currently, everyone is being attacked by uh giant jaguars. It’s chef’s kiss beautiful and exactly what I was hoping for!

What did you recently finish reading?

The Scenic Route by Christina Baker Kline which was my Amazon First Reads, a short story about a woman who starts van life after a tragedy. I gave it 2/5, I just found it very unsatisfactory – I found the narrative flat and emotionless, and the story predictable.

I also DNFed The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester. I was struggling with the narrative style, and kept not picking it up… I didn’t like any of the characters and found I just didn’t care what happened

What do you think you’ll read next?

Lies Sleeping I’m about half-way through, and I did bring it to Devon with me.
I’ve just checked The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well out of the library – I’ve been wanting to read it for a while

stacking the shelves

Stacking The Shelves #7

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Reading Reality all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

I picked up three Kindle books this week:

Renée Dahlia – Driven to Distraction (Gamble Racing #1) – this was my wee reward for not missing any meds for 2 weeks. I also picked up some book-themed stickers from Etsy
Thora Bluestone – The Tea Shop Witch
Joanne Paul – The House of Dudley: A New History of Tudor England

I checked one book out of the library:

Alfred Bester – The Demolished Man

My Gently Used Bookclub book was:

Melissa Albert – The Hazel Wood

And my Amazon First reads choice is:

Christina Baker Kline – The Scenic Route

My reading goals for the coming week look something a little like:
Finish The Demolished Man (currently at 36%)
Finish Thanátou (currently at 34%)
Continue Temple (currently at 16%)

monthly wrap up

June 2023 Reading Wrap-Up

I had quite the good reading month in June and finished 9 books

Kaleb Cooper – The World According To Kaleb
I am honestly not sure what the point of this book was. Other than to make money.

Like most fans of Clarkson’s Farm, I utterly adored Kaleb but this book was… well, it was exactly what you’d expect of a sheltered young man who’s never left the village he’s grown up in or experienced any kind of life outside of his circle.

There were a couple of points that were really interesting, and the bits of the book where he was talking about farming, the tone totally changed and you could feel his love. But as an overall reading experience, it fell flat

A 1.25 star read

Andrea Penrose – Murder at Half Moon Gate (Wrexford & Sloane #2)
The second of the Wrexford & Sloane regency mysteries and another excellent read. All the characters felt more fleshed out and real, even the secondary ones, and I’m not even hating the flirting between Wrexford & and Sloane, which I normally HATE. The mystery kept me guessing, and the story kept the pages turning

Now to wait ~patiently for the next 15 weeks for the next one to be available at my library

A 4 star read

Tim Marshall – Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics
Not my usual topic of choice when reading non-fiction, but it had been on my radar as something I thought I’d like to read for years. Goodreads kept recommending it, and I’ve picked it up in the bookshop a couple of times but it never made it home. I spotted it on the Libby app and it was checked straight out. Annoyingly, neither of the library services I’m a member of have the rest of the series electronically, but Devon libraries does have them physically.

The book was absolutely fascinating and very information. I swear I learned more about the conflicts in the Middle East in 1o pages than I’ve ever learned in my entire life. I’ve also never been more ashamed to be a white British person – like, I knew colonialism caused a whole bunch of shit and we were responsible for it, but not quite to this extent.

I was also blissfully unaware of quite how close the world is to devolving into entire chaos, and how many different countries either Russia or China have a hand in. It now feels like the slightest hair-trigger could cause what now feels like the entire world to spiral into war – because no matter where it happens, either China, Russia or the US is involved and then India or Japan or the UK would get involved

It actually started to trigger my main agoraphobia symptoms – the one I’ve spent the last two years working on of ‘the world outside isn’t safe – so I had to put it down for a while, which is why it’s lost a half point.

I will, however, still be picking up and reading the next book – but with the proviso it’s going to be alternating read with something a little light and fluffy for the sake of my mental health

A 3.5 star read

Ransom Riggs – Library of Souls (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children #3)
I’m really liking the mythology Riggs is building and weaving into the world of Peculiardom he’s created, but the stories themselves are getting repetitive. And I found the ending of this one to be particularly unsatisfying.

A 3.75 star read

Neil Gaiman – The Ocean At The End Of the Lane
My first reaction was ‘well that was bloody weird’, but it’s Neil Gaiman, so you kind of expect it. I’m not usually a fan of Gaiman’s style, which is a shame because I think he’s a fantastic storyteller and this was a wonderful, whimsical, fantastical tale which I thoroughly enjoyed. I think magical realism might have to be a genre I investigate a little more!

A 4.25 star read

Peter Ackroyd – Foundation (History Of England #1)
I have taken my time savouring this book because it is utterly fantastic! Also, hi, special interest, anyone? It covers everything from the neolithic through to the Wars Of The Roses and the death of Henry VII. I was filled with complete and utter glee for most of the reading and loved that even though he covered a HUGE amount of info, he didn’t get bogged down in the details. Straight-forward, to the point and a really good overview of the history of England. Ackroyd has this ability to bring the past to life in his narrative and I loved reading about the bits I didn’t know – and falling back in love with the Plantagenets and the Wars all over again (which, y’know, I always do!)

A 4.25 star read

Wendy Jago – How to Manage Your Mammoth: The Procrastinator’s Guide to Getting Things Done and Bringing Ambitions to Life
I picked this up from the library purely based on the title because it kind of intrigued me – I’m a terrible procrastinator, although how much of that is ADHD I don’t know. Also the cover made me laugh. I found a few useful pointers about figuring out what kind of worker you are, and how to use it to your advantage, and it didn’t feel particularly like it was talking down on me so it was definitely worth picking up

A 3 star read

Susan Cooper – Over Sea Under Stone (The Dark Is Rising #1)
Even though I’ve never read it before, this books reminded me of my childhood. I grew up in the West County, and played a lot of make believe/mystery-solving games, based a lot on Enid Blyton, and this had those same vibes. I also adore Arthurian mythology and the Grail.. so it was a no brainer really. I’m really glad Li recommended the series to me

A 3 star read

Alexis Caught – Queer Up: An Uplifting Guide to LGBTQ+ Love, Life and Mental Health
With the world rapidly turning back against not-straight and not-cis people like myself, it’s nice to actually read a really positive, uplifting, book about being queer. While it was definitely aimed at a younger audience, it’s a book that teen me would have been over the rainbow to read so I indulged. I couldn’t not pick it up from the library, I mean really!

A 3 star read

Looking more at the stats side of things:
9 books, 2608 pages – 56% between 300 & 499 pages long, 44% <300 pages
The main moods were mysterious & informative
78% medium paced, 22% face paced
56% non-fiction, 44% fiction
My most read genres were fantasy, young adult, and history
My average rating was 3.33

stacking the shelves

Stacking The Shelves #6

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Reading Reality all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Now, I’m not going to list everything I picked up during this week’s Stuff Your Kindle day, or we’ll be here for the rest of forever LMAO

I checked four books out of the library this week:

Charlotte Booth – The Boy Behind the Mask: Meeting the Real Tutankhamun
Susan Cooper – The Dark Is Rising
Imogen Edwards-Jones – The Witches of St Petersburg
Howard Hughes – Lady of Misrule

My Gently Used Bookclub book was:

Afia Atakora – Conjure Women

I bought myself a used copy of

Peter Ackroyd – The History Of England: Tudors

And my Amazon First reads choice is:

Lisa Gray – To Die For

My reading goals for the coming week look something a little like:
Finish Nomadland (currently at 75%)
Finish The Horse and His Boy (currently at 63%)
Finish The Once and Future Witches (currently at 63%)
Finish Love Heart Lane (currently at 52%)
Finish Lies Sleeping (currently at 50%)
Finish Thanatou (currently at 30%)
Finish The Shallows (currently at 17%)
Wish me luck?

books · music monday

My route around the library + Music Monday

I’ve been told that the way I choose books in the library – and in the Libby app – other than collecting reservations is a little bit… well.. odd. So I thought I’d write about it and see what y’all think!

My first stop in the library is the ‘quick choice’ or recommended reads section. There’s usually a good selection and I can usually pick up a chick lit there. Though lately there’s been some good historical there too.

Then, I’ll have a look at the returns cart, I find it interesting to see what other people have been reading and it’s a good way of finding something I wouldn’t necessarily normally pick up.

From then, a lot of it depends on the book/s I’m returning – if I’m returning non-fiction, I’ll pick up another non-fiction on the same topic, plus a fiction book by an author whose surname is alphabetically similar.
So, for example, when I return David Attenborough’s Adventures Of A Young Naturalist, I’ll pick up:
– another auto/biography
– another nature book
– and a fiction book by someone whose surname starts ‘Att’.

If I’m only returning fiction, it’ll be another book by someone’s who name starts with the same letters

I then pick up fiction from the start of the fiction section, one horror or sci-fi, and one history or science non-fiction.

With the Libby app, I’m more likely to have placed a reservation but I also work through the newly added titles, I’ll pick a book from one of the advertised curated collections, and I’ll choose one of the categories that have the lowest number of books available and pick something from there.

Like I said, kind of odd but I find it works and it keeps me reading a wide variety of books.

I’ve been listening to a lot of music while I study again this last week, and on my old blog always used to post a Music Monday where I basically share something I’m really love right now. It’s usually my most-played song of last week and I’ve been listening to a LOT of Peyton Parrish recently – his voice gives me ASMR like fucking crazy, my entire scalp is tingling and it feels like someone’s just taken my brain out of my skull and given it a good massage. I’m purring

For those of you who use the library – do you have a particular route around it or way of choosing the books you’re going to check out? And what music have you been loving lately?