False Colours, by Georgette Heyer
First listen/reread. Delightful with some twin hijinks, a satisfying romance, and a darling older couple. Plus very funny.
Trouble, by Lex Croucher
Odd but nice romance set in a sort-of Regency era. Emily takes her sister’s position as a governess in order to provide money for her sick sister and mother. She hates the rich and at first schemes against the brooding Captain Edwards, until she is reluctantly drawn in to their family drama.
The Fox Hunt, by Caitlin Breeze
Emma attends an ancient, prestigious university where she falls for Jasper, the hero of the school. He is also the leader of a secret society who produces the Britain’s top leaders and entertainers. But when she finds herself hunted in a “Fox Hunt” she winds up in a world just underneath the real one. I liked this one, but didn’t love it. It was a book club read and everybody was on the same wavelength for this. If I come across it, I will likely read the second book, but I won’t be in a hurry to get to it.
The Great Shadow, by Susan Wise Bauer
Nonfiction book about how humanity has thought of and interacted with illness from our earliest times. It really put into perspective how recently our modern ideas about illness have developed. Fascinating read.
School Bus Graveyard, by Red
Graphic novel based off a webcomic. A group of misfits get cursed while on a school field trip. From midnight to seven am they are in a dream world with monsters trying to kill them and struggling to figure a way out. Really good. I might have to read the web comic so that I can continue on the story. I don’t want to have to wait for each new GN.
The Devils, by Joe Abercrombie
Hilarious, irreverent, and ghastly, this book takes place in an alternate medieval period where the western Christian church is run by women and sorcery is real. “The Devils” are a group kept by the pope to be wielded on dangerous, important missions. An immortal, an elf, a werewolf, and others must get the heir to the Eastern throne from the Holy City to Troy. Weird, but super enjoyable. I’ll definitely be reading book two.
Arabella, by Georgette Heyer
Another first listen/reread. This one is beloved by a lot of fans, but it doesn’t really do it for me. As with all of her books, Arabella is a delight, but I feel like the titular character’s lack of agency makes it less enjoyable for me.
A Long and Speaking Silence, by Nghi Vo
The latest book in the Singing Hills series of novellas. Newly promoted Cleric Chih is stuck waiting tables during a festival, having lost their money to a thief. Unrest is brewing as the citizens of Lutien balk against the recent influx of immigrants seeking refuge. An introspective look at what it means to be an immigrant having to flee the place they know as home.
Yotsuba, volume 14
It’s weird to think that I’ve been reading this series for more than twenty years now. It is an intermittent series, with issues coming out when the creator feels like it. And, I still love it so much! I recently found out volume 16 had come out, but when I pulled out my copies to see where I left off, I found that I was three behind. Oh darn…
Broken Girls, by Simone St. James
I’m coming to like St. James’s books because they are thrilling and I know they will have a satisfying ending. This one revolves around the disappearance of a girl in 1950 from a boarding school in Vermont and a woman still reckoning with the murder of her sister twenty years before.
A Study in Scarlet, by Arthur Cannon Doyle
Somehow, I have never gotten around to reading the very first Sherlock Holmes book. And I found it weird. Definitely a very early version of Sherlock, though all his characteristics are set up from the beginning. The mystery is somewhat interesting, but the second chapter to the end is another story entirely. It was fine. I could see how people in the 1880s would be caught up with it though.
Spring, by Michael Morpurgo
An ode to the season from Morpurgo’s farm in rural Cornwall, UK. Blending memories and poetry with the present, this is his meditation on the unfolding of Spring from March to June. Quiet, thoughtful and heartwarming. Short and sweet read.
First listen/reread. Delightful with some twin hijinks, a satisfying romance, and a darling older couple. Plus very funny.
Trouble, by Lex Croucher
Odd but nice romance set in a sort-of Regency era. Emily takes her sister’s position as a governess in order to provide money for her sick sister and mother. She hates the rich and at first schemes against the brooding Captain Edwards, until she is reluctantly drawn in to their family drama.
The Fox Hunt, by Caitlin Breeze
Emma attends an ancient, prestigious university where she falls for Jasper, the hero of the school. He is also the leader of a secret society who produces the Britain’s top leaders and entertainers. But when she finds herself hunted in a “Fox Hunt” she winds up in a world just underneath the real one. I liked this one, but didn’t love it. It was a book club read and everybody was on the same wavelength for this. If I come across it, I will likely read the second book, but I won’t be in a hurry to get to it.
The Great Shadow, by Susan Wise Bauer
Nonfiction book about how humanity has thought of and interacted with illness from our earliest times. It really put into perspective how recently our modern ideas about illness have developed. Fascinating read.
School Bus Graveyard, by Red
Graphic novel based off a webcomic. A group of misfits get cursed while on a school field trip. From midnight to seven am they are in a dream world with monsters trying to kill them and struggling to figure a way out. Really good. I might have to read the web comic so that I can continue on the story. I don’t want to have to wait for each new GN.
The Devils, by Joe Abercrombie
Hilarious, irreverent, and ghastly, this book takes place in an alternate medieval period where the western Christian church is run by women and sorcery is real. “The Devils” are a group kept by the pope to be wielded on dangerous, important missions. An immortal, an elf, a werewolf, and others must get the heir to the Eastern throne from the Holy City to Troy. Weird, but super enjoyable. I’ll definitely be reading book two.
Arabella, by Georgette Heyer
Another first listen/reread. This one is beloved by a lot of fans, but it doesn’t really do it for me. As with all of her books, Arabella is a delight, but I feel like the titular character’s lack of agency makes it less enjoyable for me.
A Long and Speaking Silence, by Nghi Vo
The latest book in the Singing Hills series of novellas. Newly promoted Cleric Chih is stuck waiting tables during a festival, having lost their money to a thief. Unrest is brewing as the citizens of Lutien balk against the recent influx of immigrants seeking refuge. An introspective look at what it means to be an immigrant having to flee the place they know as home.
Yotsuba, volume 14
It’s weird to think that I’ve been reading this series for more than twenty years now. It is an intermittent series, with issues coming out when the creator feels like it. And, I still love it so much! I recently found out volume 16 had come out, but when I pulled out my copies to see where I left off, I found that I was three behind. Oh darn…
Broken Girls, by Simone St. James
I’m coming to like St. James’s books because they are thrilling and I know they will have a satisfying ending. This one revolves around the disappearance of a girl in 1950 from a boarding school in Vermont and a woman still reckoning with the murder of her sister twenty years before.
A Study in Scarlet, by Arthur Cannon Doyle
Somehow, I have never gotten around to reading the very first Sherlock Holmes book. And I found it weird. Definitely a very early version of Sherlock, though all his characteristics are set up from the beginning. The mystery is somewhat interesting, but the second chapter to the end is another story entirely. It was fine. I could see how people in the 1880s would be caught up with it though.
Spring, by Michael Morpurgo
An ode to the season from Morpurgo’s farm in rural Cornwall, UK. Blending memories and poetry with the present, this is his meditation on the unfolding of Spring from March to June. Quiet, thoughtful and heartwarming. Short and sweet read.
