Saturday Reads - 11/4/20

So, that was a bit of an unintended hiatus. It's not actually that I haven't been reading, although the first week of April I finished absolutely nothing and read less. But I just got distracted by all the chaos and never got around to posting. So this is a three week or so wrap up, I think?

What I’ve finished reading since I last posted:

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn - I read this for three reasons: because the Netflix series is coming later this year, because Twitter-friend and now colleague Adele Walsh is doing a podcast about the Bridgerton series, and because my wife asked about them (in re the Netflix series) but reading Regency romance is really not her thing, especially not the cliched stuff. Okay, so holy consent issues, Batman, even if they’re not the ones you might expect. On the other hand, so much of it was so delightful… until I ran into the consent issues and some of the treatment of stuttering-as-disability. I’m really conflicted on this, and I think I gave it three stars on Goodreads because of that. I loved so much of this book, but, but, but…

Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen, by Alison Weir. I think Weir made some really interesting choices in this one, and justified them well in her afterword. She didn’t exactly change my mind on Jane, but I didn’t find this book the chore that I was kind of expecting to. Again, well done to Weir, and I definitely appreciate her current fiction more than her earliest attempts.

Brimstone, by Kelly Gardiner. First book in the Fire Watcher Chronicles. I have the second to go on with straight away (the night I finished Brimstone my wife was powering through the second, Phoenix, so that she could give it to me.) It took me a while to get through this but that wasn’t at all because of the book itself, just the world in which I was trying to read. I’ve found it harder to read the last couple weeks but I’m making a conscious effort to get back into it again. Brimstone was good - although I did find myself yelling at Christopher to stop telling people all about the future and hadn’t he ever read any timeslip books before! (Definitely lack of genre awareness, there, Christopher! This is an in-joke and not a criticism of the book!) Looking forward to the second.

What I’m reading now:
The Countess Conspiracy by Courtenay Milan. Time for some more Milan :-) I need light, fluffy escapism right now, I really do.

What’s catching my eye on the TBR:
Evaristo’s Blonde Roots is still beckoning me, as is the second Fire Watcher Chronicle, Phoenix. I’ve also got that Zen Cho novella, The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo that I really ought to read.

 Also the Hugo Award finalists are now out, so there's a bit of a reading list for me. (I was going to be at WorldCon this year! I'm so upset!)

Saturday Reads - 21/3/20

What I’ve just finished reading:
Nothing. I’ve been reading way too much Twitter this week and not escaping nearly enough into fiction.

What I’m reading now: Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen by Alison Weir. I think I’m close to halfway through at this point. It’s good. I’m actually liking this Jane more than I was expecting to. I really like the explanation for Jane’s meekness that Weir has posited.

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn. Which the cat spilled tea all over on Thursday (it's a library book). I’d love to finish this one off this weekend.

The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo, by Zen Cho. Cho is currently offering this one for free (check her Twitter feed if you’re interested.) It’s a historical novella set in the 1920s.

What’s catching my eye on the TBR:
In the current climate, Blonde Roots by Bernardine Evaristo may end up being a form of escapism, bizarrely enough. Also, I started American Royals, but it’s kind of drifted to the wayside in the last few weeks.

Saturday reads (on Sunday, 15/3/20)

I completely forgot yesterday. Completely.

What I’ve just finished reading:
Anne Boleyn: A King’s Obsession by Alison Weir. Okay, I really liked this. Weir’s fiction has definitely improved since her early attempts (The Lady Elizabeth was dire,) and I don’t just think that’s because I like Weir’s interpretation of Anne better than I liked her interpretation of Anne’s daughter. I mean, I liked The Other Boleyn Girl while disagreeing vehemently with its interpretation of history. … The Author’s Note at the end is also really good, mentioning the reasoning behind some of Weir’s choices, which I really appreciate.

What I’m reading now:
Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen by Alison Weir. I know. I blame Six and the fact that Anne of Cleves and Katherine Parr are my favourites and Six made me more sympathetic towards … well, all of them except Seymour, and I feel like once I’m through this book I’ll be “over the hump” so to speak… and who knows, maybe Weir will make Seymour less of a wimp? Anyway, I’m actually enjoying it so far. The thing with this series is that you can end up seeing the same thing from multiple points of view, and (for example) the panic over the sweating sickness is suddenly reading very differently than it did when I read it the first time long before Novel Coronavirus was a thing...

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn. Because The Bridgertons is turning into a Netflix series, and a friend and colleague is part of a Bridgertons podcast, and because my wife asked about it. So far it’s delightful. I’m just.. Not reading it steadily. It’s not because I don’t like it - honestly I think it’s mostly because, well, the apocalypse.

What’s catching my eye on the TBR: I need to start Blonde Roots (by Bernardine Evaristo). I also just received The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite from the public library (I thought I’d suspended that hold, but apparently not.)

Wednesday Reads 26/2/20

What I’ve just finished reading:
Two Wings to Fly Away by Penny Mickelbury. I have a reflection post (it’s really not a review) in the works and I hope that will be posted soon. But basically a) there is a romance in this story but the book is not a Romance; b) I want the sequel ASAP, and c) I now need to decide which of Mickelbury’s other series to start on sometime soon. Honestly, it will probably come down to which is more readily available.

Mindset, by Carol Dweck. An item on my personal development reading list from last year. I had some time and access to the eBook via the library and so sat down and finished off the final chapter. Really good book; probably need to get my own copy.

What I’m reading now:
My spreadsheet tells me I have four books currently on the go, which feels like a couple too many.

Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms by Anita Heiss. Third of my Black History Month books, this is an historical set during WWII at the time of the Cowra Breakout. One of the Japanese prisoners who escaped in the breakout makes his way to a nearby mission station where Indigenous Australians are forced to live by the government. There was some utter nonsense on Twitter over the weekend where African Americans were saying Indigenous Australians aren’t Black and that made me all the more determined to read this as a Black History Month read.

The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan. I needed something on Kobo to read and I didn’t feel like Anne Boleyn. Also I am trying to keep my Black History Month goal of only finishing fiction by authors of colour (with the exception of Moontangled). So I started the next of the Brothers Sinister books. The two from last week, Craft a life you love by Amy Tangerine and Anne Boleyn: A King’s Obsession, are still there.

What’s catching my eye on the TBR:

I’ve put in an Inter-Library Loan request for Blonde Roots, one of Bernardine Evaristo’s earlier books, and the system tells me it’s on its way. Meanwhile, Kristin Neff’s Self-Compassion is finally back on the shelf in my work library, and I’ve been wanting to read that since early last year and I may need to just snap it up while it’s available.

Wednesday Reads - 19/2/2020

What I’ve just finished reading:
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo. Loved it. Loved it, loved it. I have got to chase down some of Evaristo’s other books, especially Blonde Roots.

What I’m reading now:
Two Wings to Fly Away by Penny Mickelbury which I’d told myself was a romance, when it’s kind of not, but I’m still hoping for the HEA/HFN (there’s a sequel coming). It’s set before the US Civil War, in Philadelphia, and the reason I’m having to rejig my assumptions is that there’s a man getting all in the way of things - Ezra MacKaye is a far more important part of this story than he would be if it had been a straighforward f/f romance. He’s an interesting man, serving an interesting plot, but I’m just hoping he gets well out of the way when the time comes.

Craft a Life You Love by Amy Tangerine. (Pretty sure her actual name is Amy Tan, but then I remembered that there’s another writer by that name, and her decision to go with her crafting brand as pen name made way more sense. And yes, I have read at least one book by other!Amy Tan.) This one is a personal development book, and thus doesn’t violate my “only finishing books by Black authors in February” rule, which I’m sticking to when it comes to fiction. Meanwhile, Tangerine is still an author of colour and I promise I am not making a pun there. Tangerine is well-known in scrapbooking circles and I’ve been wanting to read this one for a while. It’s good. It’s designed with journaling exercises in the book and I have no compunctions about writing, highlighting etc all over this book. And I’m doing exactly that.

Still going with Anne Boleyn, but it’s down the priority list right now (see February rule above).

What’s catching my eye on the TBR:

Part of my Valentine’s Day present from my wife was Murder on the Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey (published in the US as The Widows of Malabar Hill, according to Goodreads). I’ve read Sujata Massey before (never realised she had a Minnesota connection, though!) but this is the beginning of a new series, set in Bombay in the 20s!

I don’t know whether I’ll get to it, but I do still want to start Anita Heiss’ Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms as part of my Black History Month reading. That way I’ll have one author each from the UK, US and Australia...

Wednesday Reads - 12/02/2020

What I’ve just finished reading:
Nothing. I didn’t get as much reading time over the weekend as I’d kind of hoped, and everything I’m reading at the moment is big and chunky.

What I’m reading now:
Still working on Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo and Anne Boleyn: A King’s Obsession by Alison Weir. See last week’s post for details.

What’s catching my eye on the TBR:
I’ve decided to change the title of this section because I don’t like tying myself down the way I feel “what I’ll read next” sometimes does? For this month it’s fine, because I set a fairly concrete reading intention and want to see it through, but in general, I work more fluidly than that, and need the flexibility…

I’ve mentally added the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn, or at least the first of them, to the TBR. I blame my wife. She was asking whether she should read them prior to the Netflix series coming out, and while I know the books won’t be her thing, it did pique my interest enough that I checked whether I’ll be able to get the first one from the library. Which I can. In March. Not before.

Also Melissa De La Cruz’s Something In Between. Which I’ve been meaning to read for ages. I saw a copy of Someone to Love in the bookstore, and that reminded me that I still have Something in Between to read.

Finally, today on Twitter, Tara Scott linked her review of 96 Hours by Georgia Beers, which… f/f romance set in Gander, Newfoundland among the plane people? Yes, PLEASE. (Although it had better be well-researched.)

Wednesday reads. (Yes, I know it's Saturday!)

What I’ve just finished reading:
Arthur: Prince of the Roses by Alison Weir - an odd little short. I’m glad it was free. Again, it’s not convincing me to fork out the amount of money being charged for some of the other “e-shorts” that accompany the Six Tudor Queens series.

Moontangled by Stephanie Burgis - squeeeee! I have been looking forward to this one for ages. It was one of those books that when advance reviews began to drop these past few weeks I was ridiculously jealous that people had already read it. It’s another delightful installment of the Harwood Spellbook (there’d better be more, Stephanie!) and as I suspected, chock full of angst (but a happy ending!) And also too short. But delightful and I loved it and I gave it five stars.

What I’m reading now:
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo. Let me just quote to you what I said last week:

While I’m not sure I’m in the mood for high literature … [I] think it’s important that I read it, and I keep reminding myself that the Evaristo I’ve read, The Emperor’s Babe, was utterly fabulous and not heavy at all.

This book is also utterly fabulous and not heavy at all. I’m reminded exactly how much I adored the authorial voice in The Emperor’s Babe because it’s back here, too. And yet in this book Evaristo has twelve different characters - and the four I’ve read so far have each been quite distinct. Also it’s queer as hell and loud and in your face. So glad that I decided that I really needed to read this. (Also, dear God she seems to have teachers down pat!)

Anne Boleyn: A King’s Obsession by Alison Weir - as I said to someone on Instagram this week, I’m enjoying this one. It’s a slightly different interpretation of Anne from the standard one, but it seems fairly well founded, nevertheless. Much more nuanced, and I like nuance. Only really reading this one in moments where I need something to read but don't have the Evaristo with me.

What I’ll read next As I’m getting through the Evaristo quicker than I thought I might, there should be plenty of time left in Black History Month for more of what I was planning. Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms by Anita Heiss will probably be next - that or the Penny Mickelbury - and I’m really going to try to stick to Black authors for the rest of the month. (No additional Alison Weir books until March, and Burgis was an exception for an f/f new release.)

Wednesday reads (on a Thursday) - 30/1/2020

What I’ve just finished reading:
The Husband Hunters by Anne de Courcy - this was one of the long overdue library books that I was trying to finish. It was really good, and in combination with a remark about the Gilded Age in a recent Doctor Who episode has made me really want to read more about this era. (Maybe I’ll finally finish the Anna Godberson books…)

Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen by Alison Weir. First in the Six Tudor Queens series, four of which have already been published. Howard is due out in May. You may recall that in my “what I’ll read next” last week I mentioned that we were going to see Six: the Musical and I expected that it would get me back into reading this book. I was right :-) While it didn’t send me into paroxysms of anything (joy or rage) it was a perfectly good book, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.

What I’m reading now:
Arthur: Prince of the Roses by Alison Weir. She’s published a bunch of e-only short stories to go along with the main books in the Six Tudor Queens series. Some of them seem a little high priced for short stories, so I may not read them all, but Arthur was free, and the next, The Blackened Heart is .99c, so those two I’ll read.

Anne Boleyn: A King’s Obsession by Alison Weir. Yes, I’ve already started the next one.

What I’ll read next:
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo has arrived for me from the library. While I’m not sure I’m in the mood for high literature (this is last year’s Booker Prize winner) I also think it’s important that I read it, and I keep reminding myself that the Evaristo I’ve read, The Emperor’s Babe, was utterly fabulous and not heavy at all.

Moontangled by Stephanie Burgis is due out on Monday and I can’t wait. The other three books in the Harwood Spellbook series - Snowspelled, Thornbound, and Spellswept have been absolutely delightful, and Moontangled is f/f, to boot! (Angsty f/f, I suspect, but still, f/f.)

Oh, and there’s an Elle Spencer contemporary f/f romance, Casting Lacey, that I keep dipping in and out of. It’s on my iPad rather than my phone, so I don’t have it with me for easy reading at random moments.

Wednesday reads (on a Thursday. Unless you're reading this in the USA.)

I tried to get back to doing Wednesday Reads, but it didn’t quite happen. Next week will definitely be on Thursday, and after that Trivia will be back, so we’ll see. Anyway:

What I’ve just finished reading:

The Girls of Murder City by Douglas Perry - I'll review this one here properly later, but if you click through you'll see I gave it four stars - which honestly would have been 4.5 if the system allowed it. Really good read.

Dead Queen Walking by Tansy Rayner Roberts. YOU HAD ME GOING FOR A MINUTE, TANSY. Three-quarters of the way through this I did NOT know where it was going, or like where I thought it might be going, but it all came out okay at the end and yes, it’s Tansy so I should have trusted her, but OMG. (Seriously, a mostly highly enjoyable roller coaster. Leaving aside the fact that I don’t actually like roller coasters…) A fabulous conclusion to the Castle Charming series. All four novellas are available now, although as a Patreon supporter I got mine a little earlier. I just hadn’t got around to reading it yet because ... I have no idea why. I should have read this earlier.

What I’m currently reading

The Husband Hunters by Anne de Courcy - I love de Courcy’s popular history - I haven’t read all of hers but I’ve read a bunch of them. This one is on a fascinating subject that I’d love to look into even more: the ridiculously rich women from American families who married into titled families in England.

Courted by Celia Cohen - this one may be my first DNF of the year. If it was a fic I would have abandoned it already, but I paid actual money for this book and so I feel obligated to read more of it somehow? But the writing style just doesn’t work for me. Actually, that’s part of the problem perhaps - there’s a Clarke/Lexa tennis AU fic that has recently been completed that I’d probably enjoy reading more than I’m enjoying this one. I may just have talked myself into the DNF. (No link because DNF)

What I'll read next

We're going away for the weekend so I'm thinking eBooks, although there may be a hold waiting for me at the library. I'd like to get back into Alison Weir's Six Wives books - I'm still stuck on the first one. But we're going to see SIX at the Opera House tomorrow night and that's sure to throw me right back into a Tudors obsession. Guaranteed. I also have the first Bollywood Confidential book, Spice and Smoke by Suleikha Snyder, which was another Kobo freebie that I downloaded to test whether I felt like that series. And I've just noticed Hamilton's Battalion is there as well and how have I not read that yet???

Wednesday Reads - 23rd October 2019

After a very long hiatus...

What I've recently finished reading:

Goodbye Picadilly, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

First of the War at Home series, which I've begun mostly because I'd been reading some really great Downton Abbey fic and that reminded me that this existed. I enjoyed it: it's about a family who are comfortable upper-middle class (although the local Earl and Countess do figure!), and their servants and other members of the community. The structure of the series is that each book covers one year of the war (plus 1919 for the beginning of the post-war period), so this one is really only a few months, although plenty happens! There's some parts from the perspective of those on the battlefield, but very little: the series is the war at home, after all. Sadly this was not quite as good as the Downton Abbey fic, but it was perfectly readable, and as you'll see, I've already begun the second in the series.

[fic] Trust and Providence by Rachel Smith Cobleigh (rated M, m/f, Matthew/Mary, Anna/Bates)

This is the Downton Abbey fic mentioned above. It's a WIP, and last updated in 2015, so I don't have my hopes up. However, it ends at a nice enough spot as it is, and there's 400k words "so far". Christianity plays a significant role in the fic, so it's not for everyone. But I really rather liked it.

What I'm reading now:

Keep the Home Fires Burning by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Second in the War at Home series.

The Mystic Marriage by Heather Rose Jones

Second in the Alpennia series. I read the first a few months ago and loved it. The fourth in the series is coming out late this year.

What I'll be reading next:

More Alpennia, more War at Home, and I hope to get back to Alison Weir's "Six Tudor Queens" series.

Wednesday reads - 10 August 2016

It's been a while...

What I've just finished reading:

The Heir/The Crown  - the final two "Selection" books by Keira Cass.  These two were unexpected sequels to the first three "Selection" books, a sort of "The Bachelor" dystopian YA... In The Heir and The Crown, it essentially becomes "the Bachelorette" as Eadlyn Schreave tries to find a husband.  The premise is dodgy, and the writing isn't brilliant, but it says plenty that I came back to this series after having read three books of it already.  I do feel the world building in the final two lacked something from the first three: there simply wasn't as good a sense of the wider world.  But Eadlyn was sympathetic, while flawed, protagonist, and both books hooked me sufficiently.

The White Rose - Amy Ewing, second in the Lone City trilogy.  I believe my summary of the first book in this series, The Jewel, was "Margaret Attwood did it before you, and better than you.'  Needless to say, this is still true. But the story has gripped me sufficiently that I've already put the final book on hold, and I probably wouldn't have done that I hadn't decided that I should follow up The Jewel to see if I liked the continuing story.  It's just that it took a while for me to decide that.

What I'm reading now:

Currently 75% through At All Costs, the next Honor Harrington in the sequence.

I picked up Cadogan Square by Carol Drinkwater today, a two-in-one British My Story compilation of Edwardian stories: it's pedestrian but the time period interests me.

What I'll read next:

I plan to return to Leanda de Lisle's The Tudors, and while I want to get through enough of the Harringtons to finally finish Torch of Freedom in sequence, I'm feeling Harrington fatigue at the moment and may put it off for a while.  I need to go back to the final Netherwood book, Eden Falls, but that will depend whether it's available from the library.

Wednesday Reads - 11th May, 2016

What I just finished reading: 
The Tangled Thread - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles.  Book 10 of the Morland Chronicles.

The Emperor - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles.  Book 11 of the Morland Chronicles


What I'm reading now:
The Victory - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles.  I think this one is heading for Nelson's victory at Trafalgar? On, you know, the HMS Victory.

Red Rose, White Rose -  Joanna Hickson.  About Cicely Neville, wife of Richard of York, and mother of Edward IV and Richard III.

Stormbird - Conn Iggulden.  First historical in a long, long while that I've read written by a male author.  First of his Wars of the Roses quartet.

Cecily's King Richard - Sandra Heath Wilson.  Trainwreck reading.  A horrifyingly bad book about the daughters of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, and their apparent sexual obsession with their uncle, Richard III.  No, I do not know WHY I'm still reading this dreck.

Uneasy lies the head - Jean Plaidy.  Because Harrod-Eagles aside, I'm apparently reading across the entire Wars of the Roses period all at once.

What I'll read next:
The Regency - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles.  Book 12 of the Morland Chronicles

Eden Falls - Jane Sanderson.  Final of the Netherwood series.

Wednesday Reads - 20 April 2016

It's just a tad late, even though I had it started on Monday...  Also, I've been off work sick since last Thursday, which has meant a lot of reading, some of it via Audiobook.

What I've just finished reading:
The Flood-Tide by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles - this was the American War of Independence book, and very interesting I found it.  Still working on the review post, because I keep getting distracted into singing lines from "Hamilton".

Ravenscliffe, by Jane Sanderson - second of the "Netherwood" series, I really enjoyed this.  They're light and relatively undemanding, but the mining elements are fascinating.  Not sure what I'm going to make of the next one, Eden Falls, as I really dislike Eve's brother Silas who would seem to be featuring even more in that book.

The Taming of Marcus Cynster, by Stephanie Laurens - this one has lain fallow beside my bed, almost finished, for while now, but I got back into it rather easily this morning when I picked it up again.  Niniver is a marvellous addition to the Cynster extended family, and the beginning of the book absolutely grabbed me by the throat.

What I'm reading now:
The Tangled Thread by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles - next of the Chronicles, this one focusing on the French Revolution, and the "tangled thread" that is the Annunciata-descended illegitimate line.

The Queen's Choice by Anne O'Brien - Joan of Navarre. I'm probably 75% through this one already.  Really liking Anne O'Brien recently.

Marie Antoinette, by Antonia Fraser, eAudiobook via Bolinda Borrowbox - on Wednesday and, to a lesser extent, today, I had such a bad headache I couldn't read, so I went looking for an audiobook.  Unfortunately this was the best that I could do, but Antoinette is in the background of my current Harrod-Eagles, and the reader is lovely to listen to.

What I'll read next:
The Emperor by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles - assuming that I haven't sickened of the series again yet
By Winter's Light, by Stephanie Laurens - a 'between-the-generations' Cynster that I've had sitting around for a while now.

Wednesday Reads - 13 April 2016

What I just finished reading:

The Maiden -  Cynthia Harrod-Eagles.  And by "just finished", I mean in the last half hour.

What I'm currently reading:

I've started The Flood-Tide already, which is the next book in the Morland Chronicles.

Glittering Images, by Susan Howatch

Still working on Epitaph for Three Women, by Jean Plaidy

What I'll read next:

All the other things I'm still in the middle of.

The Tangled Thread, which is the next Morland after the one I'm reading now. 

Wednesday reads - 6 April 2016

What I've just finished reading...

The Chevalier, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

What I'm reading now...

The Maiden, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Glittering Images, by Susan Howatch (re-read)

Ravenscliffe, by Jane Sanderson

What I'm going to read next...

By Winter's Light, by Stephanie Laurens

The Queen's Choice, by Anne O'Brien (recommence)

Blood Sisters, by Sarah Gristwood (recommence)

Juneblog #5 - Wednesday reads, 10th June

What I've just finished reading:
Galax-Arena by Gillian Rubenstein (re-read)
Ms Marvel vol 2: Generation Why by G Willow Wilson

What I'm reading now:
Buried in the Sky, by Zuckerman and Padoan
Into Thin Air, by Krakauer (re-read)
Cranky Ladies of History, edited by Wessely and Roberts,

What I plan to read next:
The Disappearance of Ember Crow, by Kwaymullina
Mastiff, by Pierce
Downbelow Station, by Cherryh.

... there's a lot more SFF there than historicals, isn't there?

Wednesday reads, 20th May

What I've finished reading:

Nothing this week.

What I'm reading now:

Biggest Brother, by Larry Alexander

The Thistle and the Rose, by Jean Plaidy

What I'll read next:

I've got Tamora Pierce's "Mastiff", final in her Beka Cooper series, to finish off; back to the Wilson 'Cecily' series, and I've let the Cranky Ladies slip this week, too. 

Wednesday reads (on Thursday night) - 14th May

What I've finished reading:

Nothing, this week.

I've been reading lots of blogs - File 770, Whatever (the blog of John Scalzi), and Ask a Manager, mostly.    But sadly not reading books.  Or at least, not finishing them.


What I'm currently reading:

Last night, in need of something to read in the bathtub (thus necessarily a paper book belonging to me, not the library), I began Jean Plaidy's The Thistle and the Rose.  Which is about Margaret Tudor moving to Scotland to marry James IV - and aftermath.  Got through the first 70 pages at a rapid rate, so that's good.

The Bees is still out from the eBook library, and I have had multiple reserves arriving for me to read of late as well.  Must get onto that.

And of course there's Cranky Ladies of History. 

What I'll read next:

Reserves from other libraries:

• Biggest Brother, the Dick Winters bio I mentioned last week
• Mastiff, the final in Tamora Pierce's Beka Cooper series.

The various piles on my Kindle and Kobo apps...

Wednesday Reads

What I've finished reading

I finished Kaleidoscope, which I loved to death, and which I'll review properly soon, I promise.

Lock-In, by John Scalzi, which I really loved.

Redshirts, also by John Scalzi (whose autograph I got at SupaNova back in early April.)  Really enjoyed this one, although I agree with what he said on the Coode St Podcast recently about adjusting his writing style for audiooboks.  I listened to a good proportion of Redshirts in Audiobook, and the dialogue tags were driving me nuts.

Ms Marvel, vol 1.  Love, love, love it.  Volume 2 is now out, and I have to balance having it NOW vs getting the hard copy version when I'm in Sydney next.

What I'm currently reading

Cranky Ladies of History - I'm trying to read one story a night, but last night M vetoed the Elizabeth Bathory story on the basis of potential triggers, and the one after that was too long and complex to get through.

Cicely's King Richard - I'm not entirely sure I'll get through the whole thing.  The author is so VERY Richardian, and on top of that, anti-Woodville in an unavoidable way, and it's driving me nuts.

The Bees, by Laline Paul.  It was on the Locus longlist for 2014, which speaks to its potential.  It's still reminding me very much.  I'll get back to it soon.

What I'll be reading next

Dick Winters: The Band of Brothers' Major has just arrived for me through the library holds system.

A Trifle Dead by Livia Day, first in the Cafe La Femme series, is also waiting for me, on my Kindle app.

Wednesday reads, sort of - 20 August 2014

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth, although I don't blame you for thinking I had.

I'm just snowed under by an adverse roster at work, and various other brain-and-time related issues.

I haven't really been reading much, either.

Poor old Hild is getting sent back to her home library without having been read, and Hugo-winner Mary Robinette Kowal's Glass and Glamor is having the same treatment.  I hope to get them back and actually READ them this time before the end of the year.

I'm working on Plady's Star of Lancaster on my Kobo app on iPad, and Captains of the Soul in tree-book, and I've also picked up (but haven't actually started reading yet) the first book in Cynthia Harrod-Eagles' ridiculously long and yet unfinished Morland Dynasty, The Founding.