Angelic Paranoia

What I Just Finished Reading
The Exploits of Arsene Lupin by Maurice LeBlanc. I did enjoy this, but moreso when I sat down and read a whole story in one go (it's a book of short stories). I think it's harder to remember what's going on when you read in bits and this one was particularly tricky because some of it was from Lupin's point of view, but the narrative didn't tell you that.

Don't Laugh, It'll Only Encourage Her by Daisy May Cooper. I only know Daisy May Cooper from Taskmaster, but this was 99p. It was interesting how her family were so poor at one point they'd basically pawned all their possessions.

The Grapples of Wrath by Alice Bell. This was the third in a series. I mostly enjoyed it, but it was about a murder/ghost within the world of wrestling, which I'm really not into at all.

What I'm Currently Reading
Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. Christmas is a good time to read this, and I fancied a re-read. The trouble with trying to pare down my unread books and buying 99p books on Kobo and borrowing library books is that it doesn't leave a lot of space for re-reading books I already own. So I decided it was time to do some re-reading. I have totally forgotten what happens in this one.

What I'm Reading Next
The Book Forger by Joseph Hone. This is a book I borrowed from my sister, purely because I saw it lying around in her house and thought it sounded interesting. But when she lent it to me she said it was hard going. And I noticed it has small text, so I did put it off. But I really need to get round to reading it so I can give it back.

Mirrored from my blog.

First, last year I had a goal of decreasing the number of unread books I have. I started at 38 and am down to 33. I have achieved my goal! But it still feels like a lot of unread books, especially when all the paper ones are in a box under my sofa which is very heavy to pull out.

But as much as I'd like to get that number down, past experience tells me it's not going to be that easy. Especially as one of the books is 7th in a 7 part series and another is 4th in a 4 part series. But since I managed to reduce that number by six this year, next year my plan is to get it down by seven - so to 26.

What I Just Finished Reading
Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronika Dapunt. I really enjoyed this. It's about Death taking a sabbatical and then ending up getting involved in investigating murders. It's just a little bit silly - there's a character who's clearly Jesus, but prefers being called the Human Communications Director and whenever he dies it only ever lasts for three days.

Lady Rample and the Lady in the Lake by Shea MacLeod. This was on offer and on my wishlist because I'd read the first book in the series and thought the characters were a bit silly. This was the twelfth and they felt a lot less silly. It was all right, but because it's only a short story the murder investigation wasn't that complicated.

What I'm Currently Reading
Roaring Girls by Holly Kyte. This is about eight women in pre-twentieth century Britain who blazed a trail. It is uplifting, what they achieved, but also depressing in the ere they lived in where women were supposed to be wives and mothers and nothing else, and how long change took. It's also full of footnotes, at the back and in tiny writing, which makes it a bit of a pain to read and requires two bookmarks.

Yardsticks for Failure by Ivo Graham. I started this for times when the other one was too hard to read, like when I'm eating. I thought it would be a quick, easy read, but it's actually quite long and a bit hard-going so far.

What I'm Reading Next
The Exploits of Arsene Lupin by Maurice LeBlanc. I borrowed this from my sister, so really ought to get round to reading it.

Mirrored from my blog.

What I Just Finished Reading
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells and Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells. The next two Murderbot books. I was about to ring the library to get them to check if Artificial Condition really was in transit when I got an email to say it was there. I picked it up that day. The next day Rogue Protocol was there. I enjoyed them, the only trouble is having to wait for the next book - I've already forgotten the details of what happened in the first one.

What I'm Currently Reading
The Killer Question by Janice Hallett. She writes epistolary mysteries, and it's driving me mad not knowing just what is going on with this pub quiz team. It's a long book and I'm only halfway through, but I need to know! (in other words, I am enjoying this one)

What I'm Reading Next
Hopefully Exit Strategy by Martha Wells. I've been first in the queue on this one for longer than you're allowed to take books out for, so hopefully it'll turn up soon... And then things get more complicated. The next book published in the series is Network Effect, which my county don't have (it's the only one in the series they don't have). It's possible that another county could and I could borrow it from there, but that costs £10! These books are a problem as it looks like they weren't published in this country - the last two books I got I looked at the price printed on them and it was only in US and Canadian dollars. So I need to research cheaper sources for that one (although I've also put in a request for the library to get it). Except Wikipedia is telling me that chronologically Fugitive Telemetry is next, so I might just borrow that one next, which gives the library more time to act on my stock suggestion.

I'm also spending Friday in a pub while I wait for my car to be serviced and MOTd while it pours with rain outside, so I imagine I'll get quite a bit of reading done. I'll just take my Kobo, and a dead tree book in case it runs out of battery, and see what I fancy reading.

Mirrored from my blog.

What I Just Finished Reading
Little Wonder by Sasha Abramsky. This is all about Lottie Dod, who won Wimbledon multiple times as a teenager in the late 19th century. And then, because it was boring beating everyone all the time, went on to win in hockey and golf tournaments, followed by an Olympic medal in archery. And that wasn't just other women she was beating at tennis, it was the men too. Who had a big advantage in being able to wear clothes that didn't restrict their movement. I spent the book wondering if she'd been playing a century later it would have been different being able to play people from all over the world. But then in the 1920s she was critical of the players who did nothing but tennis.

That's What She Said by Eleanor Pilcher. I spent half of this book worrying about where it was going. There's two main characters, one of whom is demisexual and she wants to have sex and explores around it. And her best friend is off having one-night stands all over the place. It ended up really being more about their friendship and I really enjoyed it.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells. just-ann-now has been talking about the Murderbot series for ages. I thought it sounded interesting, but never got round to looking for it. I finally reserved the first book at the library. And then had to wait months for it to be my turn to borrow it. I enjoyed it, but given the only thing I knew about it was the name Murderbot, it wasn't at all what I expected.

What I'm Currently Reading
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna. This is a really interesting depiction of witches in modern society. I am really enjoying it, but it was clear really early on that the main character was going to end up with another one, which is dull just waiting for them to get round to it.

What I'm Reading Next
I've reserved the second Murderbot book (which weirdly has no queue - did everyone else stop at the first book?) and the last Elly Griffiths Ruth series book at the library.

Mirrored from my blog.

What I Just Finished Reading
One Minute Away by Mark Watson. I knew he had a new book out and hadn't intended to read it because I couldn't decide if I liked the previous two that I'd read. But then it was (the only one) that was in the library ebooks so I borrowed it. And I think I liked this one.

What I'm Currently Reading
A whole lot of fanfic. This covers all three categories. I've had a lot of stuff on my marked for later list for ages. Sometimes I get it down a bit but by reading the shorter fics. As a result there are some longer ones on there that have been there for over a year. So I put them on my ebook reader and am working through them. Hopefully getting the list down will make it easier to keep it down.

What I'm Reading Next
No idea, but I have a lot of books on my to read list, so whichever of them takes my fancy. I am purposely avoiding the Kobo website because I do not need any more books, even 99p ones.

Mirrored from my blog.