Goings-On

We went on holiday! It was great, got to meet some blogging friends, sightsaw till our legs were sore (though we mostly stuck to outdoor sights or less busy times), and book shopped. Oh boy. So it had been a while since I’d been somewhere with lots of English-language book shops, and well, oh boy. Also my bf got really into comic books, which is good cause he probably thought me less strange for getting so many books. I hadn’t had bought more than book club books since winter, so not terribly messing with my yearly plans. According to my stats I have 39 unread print books, surely that is reasonable.

Here’s a photo with the last book I bought, We Cry for Blood by Devin came out just the night before we left and I’d rushed across town to the last open bookshop to get it! And my robot skirt which I made before leaving (it has pockets!) and ended up getting so many compliments for it! And it glows in UV light.

Holiday was only two weeks but I haven’t posted in almost a month and a half, I ended up with a looong pile of unwritten reviews that is daunting me. I’ve been having a bit of a hard time even opening the blog, but I sat down yesterday and did a big draft and decided to just do mini-reviews for everything again and start semi-fresh.

Books read

I’ve been focussing a lot on bookclubs and readalongs, which was lots of fun but also now I feel like a I need a break and some chaotic mood reading.

• The Relentless Moon (Lady Astronaut Universe, #3) by Kowal, Mary Robinette, this was so very good, excellent addition to the series and it’s currently my front runner for the Hugos. Our discussion for the readalong was good too. 
• Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota, #1) by Palmer, Ada, spent most of the book unsure what was going on but really enjoyed in the ride. Everytime I thought I was starting to get the hang of this it took a new twist. Our mod book club discussion
• A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark – loved it, so good to have a full length novel with this amazing setting
• Age of Myth and Age of Swords (The Legends of the First Empire #1 and 2) by Michael J. Sullivan – didn’t quite like these, they miss the magic of the buddy-movie from the Riyria series, and I had some issues with how quickly this bronze age society evolved.
• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke – loved it, not like anything else I’ve read, so much atmosphere and mystery. Our Hugo readalong discussion, which I missed, because I’ve been bad with timing
• Season of the Witch by Sarah Rees Brennan – a prequel novel for the Sabrina Netflix TV show, fun and a breeze to read

Stacking the Shelves

Oh boy, here we go (list below):

Stack on the left if bf’s stuff, middle is Lady Mechanica which is for both of us, and right is mine. This isn’t even all of them we each got another book after taking the picture. I’ve already read Sabrina and Mooncakes (reread) and bf’s read I think 5 or more of the comics, and Nimona.

If I copied everything into goodreads right, that should be:

• Girl, Serpent, Thorn Melissa Bashardoust
• The Hidden Palace (The Golem and the Jinni, #2) Helene Wecker
• These Violent Delights (These Violent Delights, #1) Chloe Gong
• Sailing to Sarantium (The Sarantine Mosaic, #1) Guy Gavriel Kay
• Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World, #1) Rebecca Roanhorse
• Nimona Noelle Stevenson
• Nubia: Real One L.L. McKinney
• Tamamo the Fox Maiden and Other Asian Stories (Cautionary Fables and Fairy-Tales) Kel McDonald
• Elatsoe Darcie Little Badger
• Lost in the Never Woods Aiden Thomas
• Jade City (The Green Bone Saga, #1) Fonda Lee
• Lagoon Nnedi Okorafor
• A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot, #1) Becky Chambers
• The Deep & Dark Blue Niki Smith
• Snapdragon Kat Leyh
• Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern, #1) Anne McCaffrey
• Childhood’s End Arthur C. Clarke
• The Eternal Champion (Eternal Champion, #1) Michael Moorcock
• Lycanthia: or The Children of Wolves Tanith Lee
• 2 Batwoman comics and Fables volume 1

Maybe not so reasonable anymore… hmm … before you ask, we planned ahead and had a spare dufflebag with us from the start.

I’m linking up with The Sunday Post, hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer. and The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz, and Stacking the Shelves hosted Team Tynga’s Reviews and Reading Reality