archerygirl scales Mount TBR in 2017

Hello! I'm returning for my fifth (or is it sixth?) year of the 75 books group, having smashed the book goal last year and still ended up with a net gain on Mount TBR.

Although if we're only counting physical books sitting on bookshelves...nope, Mount TBR still grew, but only by a couple of books. I mostly kept up with new purchases except for the final flurry of birthday/Christmas gifts at the end of the year. As of today, 29 December, Mount TBR is 206 books high and I hope to end 2017 with only a very marginal increase in that number. A decrease would be even better, but let's be realistic.

My big weakness has been Kindle books, which is why my books acquired list in 2016 was longer than my books read list despite only acquiring 22 new dead tree books. Whoops.

I primarily read SFF and romance, with more fantasy appearing in my SFF reading and more historicals in my romance. I try to keep up with current SFF as well as reading older books, because I'm a Hugo voter, but there still tends to be a mad dash in the middle of the year to read that list as thoroughly as possible.

My romance tastes tend more towards historicals, although I've been on a bit of a fluffy contemporary (ala Jenny Colgan) kick lately. I read all flavours - het, f/f, and m/m - and all heat levels.

Last year, I aimed to read at least one new-to-me classic (Austen and The Moonstone don't count) and I totally failed. So I promise to get that aim filled.

I also aimed to read at least two non-fiction, which I did easily. so this year my goal is upped to at least five non-fiction.

Apart from those two goals, and my Hugo dash, I try to keep my reading unplanned apart from a vague aim to read more than the previous year. Last year's thread is here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/210813

My other vague aim for 2017 is to be better at using my library hold system instead of buying, to keep the overall purchase numbers a bit closer to reasonable.

When I'm not reading, I watch TV (we get a new Doctor Who series! Phew! And a new Star Trek series! Woo hoo!), write novels that will hopefully be published one day, and work as a computer programmer. My reading is regularly hindered by the Reading Prevention Team: Annie and Kate, my ridiculous cats who love to sit on any book I'm trying to read.

Books read list:

January

1. Sparrow Hill Road - Seanan McGuire
2. The Christmas Surprise - Jenny Colgan
3. Black Widow, Volume 1: S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Most Wanted - Mark Waid
4. The Beach Cafe - Lucy Diamond
5. It Happened Under the Mistletoe - Valerie Bowman
6. Brilliant Bread - James Morton
7. The Star-Touched Queen - Roshani Chokshi
8. Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day - Seanan McGuire
9. Stiletto - Daniel O'Malley
10. Wanted, a Gentleman - KJ Charles
11. The Bookshop on the Corner - Jenny Colgan

Feburary

12. A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World? 3500 BC-AD 1603 - Simon Schama
13. The Soldier's Scoundrel - Cat Sebastian
14. Breakfast at Darcy's - Ali McNamara
15. Feedback - Mira Grant
16. Leviathan Wakes - James S. A. Corey
17. A Study in Charlotte - Brittany Cavallaro
18. Breath of Earth - Beth Cato

March
19. Because of Miss Bridgerton - Julia Quinn
20. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers
21. Ninefox Gambit - Yoon Ha Lee
22. From a High Tower - Mercedes Lackey
23. A Study in Sable - Mercedes Lackey
24. Unseen Attraction - KJ Charles

April
25. Binti: Home - Nnedi Okorafor
26. Hidden Figures - Margo Lee Shetterly
27. “The City Born Great” - N. K. Jemisin
28. Ballet Shoes for Anna - Noel Streatfield
29. This Census-Taker - China Mieville
30. One Good Earl Deserves a Lover - Sarah MacLean
31. Letters to the Pumpkin King - Seanan McGuire
32. The Collapsing Empire - John Scalzi
33. Paper Girls Vol 1 - Brian K. Vaughan
34. A Closed and Common Orbit - Becky Chambers

May
35. The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith
36. The Dark Forest - Cixin Liu
37. Midnight Riot - Ben Aaronovitch
38. Captain Marvel, Vol. 2: Civil War II - Christos Gage
39. Hawkeye: Kate Bishop, Vol. 1: Anchor Points - Kelly Thompson
40. Moon Over Soho - Ben Aaronovitch
41. Alanna: The First Adventure - Tamora Pierce

June
42. Whispers Under Ground - Ben Aaronovitch
43. Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet, Book 1 - Ta-Nehisi Coates
44. The Vision, Volume 1: Little Worse Than A Man - Tom King
45. Broken Homes - Ben Aaronovitch
46. In the Hand of the Goddess - Tamora Pierce
47. The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps - Kai Ashante Wilson
48. Do You Want to Start a Scandal? - Tessa Dare
49. The Tomato Thief - Ursula Vernon
50. Down Among the Sticks and Bones - Seanan McGuire
51. The Art of Space Travel - Nina Allan
52. Every Heart a Doorway - Seanan McGuire
53. Penric and the Shaman - Lois McMaster Bujold
54. Wonder Woman Vol 3: The Circle - Gail Simone
55. Summer at the Little Beach Street Bakery - Jenny Colgan
56. Touring with the Alien - Carolyn Ives Gilman

July
57. Wonder Woman: Ends of the Earth - Gail Simone
58. Wonder Woman, Vol. 5: Rise of the Olympian - Gail Simone
59. Three Parts Dead - Max Gladstone
60. The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe - Kij Johnson
61. The Ballad of Black Tom - Victor LaValle
62. Queer: A Graphic History - Meg-John Barker, Julia Scheele
63. Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake - Sarah MacLean
64. Star-Crossed - Barbara Dee
65. To Sir Phillip, With Love - Julia Quinn
66. The Vision, Volume 2: Little Better than a Beast - Tom King
67. Annie on My Mind - Nancy Garden

August
68. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street - Natasha Pulley
69. The Lawrence Browne Affair - Cat Sebastian
70. The House at Baker Street - Michelle Birkby
71. An Unnatural Vice - KJ Charles
72. The Stone Sky - NK Jemisin
73. The Princess Diarist - Carrie Fisher
74. Slightly Tempted - Mary Balogh

September
75. Silent in the Grave - Deanna Raybourn
76. The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn't - Gail Carriger
77. The Devil in Montmartre - Gary Inbinder
78. The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue - Mackenzie Lee
79. A Monstrous Regiment of Women - Laurie R. King
80. The Ruine of a Rake - Cat Sebastian
81. Murder Most Unladylike - Robin Stevens

October
82. Daughter of Mystery - Rose Heather Jones
83. Assassin's Apprentice - Robin Hobb

November
84. Heartstone - CJ Sansom

Books acquired list:

January

1. A Human Stain - Kelly Robson
2. Mistress of the Vatican: The True Story of Olimpia Maidalchini: The Secret Female Pope - Eleanor Herman
3. It Happened Under the Mistletoe - Valerie Bowman
4. Fluency - Jennifer Foehner Wells
5. Wanted, A Gentleman - KJ Charles
6. Dusk or Dawn or Day - Seanan McGuire
7. The Seventh Bride - T. Kingfisher
8. The Little Homo Sapiens Scientist - S. L. Huang
9. Kindred - Octavia Butler
10. Summer at the Comfort Food Cafe - Debbie Johnson

February
11. Binti: Home - Nnedi Okorafor
12. The Trouble with Dukes - Grace Burrows
13. Kingdom of Ashes - Rhiannon Thomas
14. An Unseen Attraction - KJ Charles

March
15. Wicked - Gregory Maguire
16. The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman
17. The Lawrence Browne Affair - Cat Sebastian
18. Friday's Child - Georgette Heyer
19. This Savage song - Victoria Schwab
20. Company Town - Madeline Ashby

April
21. Star Crossed - Emma Barry, Genevieve Turner
22. Dragongirl - Todd McCaffrey
23. Final Girls - Mira Grant
24. Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut

May
25. Six Wakes - Mur Lafferty
26. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers
27. The Wall of Storms - Ken Liu
28. The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps - Kai Ashante Wilson
29. River of Teeth - Sarah Gailey

June
30. An Unnatural Vice - KJ Charles
31. * Provoked - Joanna Chambers
32. Down Among the Sticks and Bones - Seanan McGuire
33. The Day of the Duchess - Sarah MacLean

July
34. The Ruin of a Rake - Cat Sebastian
35. The Secrete Casebook of Simon Feximal - KJ Charles
36. Chimes at Midnight - Seanan McGuire
37. Extraordinary Union - Alyssa Cole
38. Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel
39. Thief's Magic - Trudi Canavan
40. Graceling - Kristin Cashore
41. The Bullet-Catcher's Daughter - Rod Duncan
42. The Fifth Season - NK Jemisin

August
43. The Stone Sky - NK Jemisin
44. Just Henry - Michelle Magorian

September
45. The Brightest Fell - Seanan McGuire

October
46. An Unsuitable Heir - KJ Charles
47. A Scandal in Battersea - Mercedes Lackey
48. The Data Warehouse Toolkit - Ralph Kimball

November
49. All Systems Red - Martha Wells
50. Romancing the Werewolf - Gail Carriger
51. * Musketeer Space - Tansy Rayner Roberts

italics denotes dead tree books
* denotes books that were gifts or free sales

Totals:

47 Kindle books
4 dead tree books
2 free/gift books

Top reads from 2016

In no particular order, they are:

Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen - Lois McMaster Bujold
Karen Memory - Elizabeth Bear
A Gentleman's Position - KJ Charles
Every Heart a Doorway - Seanan McGuire
The Obelisk Gate - N K Jemisin

And the cheating? It's the other five reads that are my "almost top five, honourable mention" list :-)

A Seditious Affair - KJ Charles
Out on Good Behavior - Dahlia Adler
Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit - Jaye Robin Brown
Imprudence - Gail Carriger
The Martian - Andy Weir

Good to see you back for the fifth or even the sixth year, Kathy. xx

>5 PaulCranswick: Thank you! One day, I'll actually dig through and figure out which one it is :-)

Hi Kathy! I have you starred too.

Welcome back! Glad to see you on my thread.

>7 kgodey: Hooray! Looking forward to a fun year of books! And probably way too many book bullets being traded :-)

>8 drneutron: Always a pleasure - love getting space science with the book chatter :-)

I am part of the group.
I love being part of the group.
I love the friendships bestowed upon my by dint of my membership of this wonderful fellowship.
I love that race and creed and gender and age and sexuality and nationality make absolutely no difference to our being a valued member of the group.

Thank you for also being part of the group.

Happy reading in 2017, Kathy!

Happy New Year! (dropping a star)

Happy to see you around again this year, Kathy! Looking forward to keeping up with you. :)

Hi, Kathy. Stopping by to drop a star!

Hello, Robin, Micky, and Roni! Great to see you again this year :-)

Today I'm taking one of my Christmas baking books out for a spin to make bread rolls. The nice thing about bread is getting to do other things while it rises - so reading some books and watching the new Sherlock beckons! Seems like the right way to use my last day of the Christmas hols :-)

If you're a Goodreads user, you can see my 2017 challenge here: https://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/6928576

And here are the results of my baking yesterday. Bread rolls, courtesy of a recipe from James Morton's Brilliant Bread.

>17 archerygirl: Oh, gosh, those look amazing!

>18 scaifea: Thank you! They came out really well and I've got a couple stuffed with yummy brie for lunch today :-) I've made wholemeal bread before and I tried out focaccia from the Brilliant Bread book last week, but nice crusty rolls were a whole new thing to master!

Well don't those look absolutely yummy!

>20 Cmatha: Thank you, they are! The shaping is a little uneven, but practise will make perfect :-)

>17 archerygirl: Yum! I can almost taste them!

I just friended you on GoodReads.

>22 rretzler: And I just accepted! :-) I'm excited to eat more of my lovely baking for lunch today. Possibly I need to update the thread with baking photos regularly :-)

Good morning, archerygirl!

>17 archerygirl: I love bread. I love rolls. Those look delicious.

Happy new year!

>1 archerygirl: My acquisitions problem seems to be the opposite of yours. I am doing pretty well at reading kindle books soon after I buy them but I read very few of the physical books I acquired last year. I am going to try to exercise more control over buying physical books (none so far!)

I'm also looking forward to the new Star Trek series!

>17 archerygirl: Oh, those look good (and are making me feel hungry...)!

Happy new year! Your rolls look delicious.

>24 brodiew2: Thank you! I love bread, too :-) And homemade bread is so good, which is why I'm learning to make it!

>25 souloftherose: Between the two of us, we kind of even out the acquisition problem? Sort of. I'm impatient for the Star Trek series, but I understand why it all got delayed. The casting they've done so far looks really good, though!

Sorry for making you hungry :-) It might be a problem in this year's thread!

It's January 4th and I already have to make acquisition confessions. Whoops.

1. A Human Stain - Kelly Robson
2. Mistress of the Vatican: The True Story of Olimpia Maidalchini: The Secret Female Pope - Eleanor Herman

This may be the earliest in the year that I've fallen down on the "buy fewer books" vow. The first one is a novelette, so it's not *that* bad. And the Olimpia Maidalchini book was in a Kindle sale, so the actual amount of money spent is minimal.

It is still two new books without a finished one yet. WHOOPS.

I solemnly swear that tonight I will finish a book. Probably Sparrow Hill Road, because I'm around 30 pages from the end and I can totally finish that. And it will even be a book off my shelf...from Christmas :-)

Oh, I loved Sparrow Hill Road! I hope you are enjoying it.

>29 ronincats: I am! I'm finding it's not really a "sit down and devour in two hours" book, because some parts of it are pretty intense and need thinking about, which is why it's taking so long (almost a week so far). And the structure as a series of connected stories rather than a straight-through narrative also discourages binge reading, but I think that structure is about the pay off with the way the final parts are ramping up so much.

It's so easy to do "books of your shelf" right after Christmas! I got to count one of my SantaThing books as off my shelf.

>31 kgodey: That's the beauty of Christmas! :-)

I finished a book! First one of the year. I finished it yesterday, so technically it only took me until four days into the year to get here.

1. Sparrow Hill Road - Seanan McGuire

This one is difficult to review. It wasn't a book that I could simply sit down and binge, but I really enjoyed it. The structure of it, as a series of tightly connected stories that weren't always linear, is a big part of why it wasn't a binge read book. There were also places where it got intense and dark, but not frightening. I needed breaks from it to stop myself getting sucked down too deep into places my brain couldn't go. It was also a book that seemed to be set up for a specific ending, but that wasn't what we got. I didn't feel finished with the story when I hit the last page, so I'm hoping McGuire will go back to Rose one day. Despite that, I really enjoyed it and I will probably go back to it because I sense some of the stories have layers I couldn't see the first time through. Definitely recommended.

Today I spent three hours on the phone with the company's helpdesk, trying to get Outlook installed. We're migrating from Lotus Notes and it's not the smoothest transition ever.

I still have no access to old emails, but how often do you need those? *rolls eyes* At least I can send and receive emails now. That's an improvement.

Tonight I intend to curl up with something light and fluffy, as an antidote to the day.

Good morning, archerygirl!

>1 archerygirl: >25 souloftherose: I read you introduction, but I must have missed the last paragraph. I, too, and a Doctor Who fan, but much more so a Star Trek fan. I am wary of the new series, but also starving for new Trek on TV. I don't want Star Trek succumb to pushing language and violence boundaries simply because it will be on a streaming medium. Perhaps, I am being too paranoid. I guess, we'll see.

>33 brodiew2: It's been far too long since we had new Trek on TV! My instinct is that it they won't push the language or violence past what is currently the standard on TV. The episodes are getting a first airing on Canadian telly before transferring to streaming, and I think the pilot is getting a CBS broadcast in the US before going to streaming, so I have hope they won't be Daredevil-ing it up. It's so stressful worrying about what they'll do with our beloved shows when they come back after these kinds of breaks! I remember being incredibly nervous when Doctor Who came back.

I guess all we can do is cross our fingers and tune in!

Popping in to say hello and drop a star. Happy reading!

>35 tapestry100: Hello! :-)

Er, I totally did not buy a book. Except for where I did.

3. It Happened Under the Mistletoe - Valerie Bowman

In my defence, it's a novella and therefore it's short and...yeah, there's no defence for being at three books on January 5th when I'm supposed to be cutting back.

Must read faster to make up for this.

So glad to hear your response to Sparrow Hill Road and yes, she is intending to do a sequel...someday. Honestly, McGuire has so many series on the go it's a wonder she can keep her head on straight. And all so good...

>37 ronincats: She is so good, and how she manages to write so many on-going series at once baffles me. Particularly when she keeps the quality so high and continues to be amazingly inventive! I'm glad there will be a sequel eventually. If she didn't plan to continue, that ending probably would irritate me. Instead, it's a good ending because it left me happy for Rose and Gary (I was surprised by how happy his/their fate left me), relieved Bobby Cross has been warded off for now, and curious about how he can eventually be defeated.

Hey! I'm here to hopefully participate more than usual. ;)

>39 Kassilem: Hello! I'm also trying to participate more, so we're in the same boat :-)

And I finished another book! So I feel a bit more on track against the acquisitions :-)

2. The Christmas Surprise - Jenny Colgan

This was like being wrapped up in a big, wonderful hug. It's the third book featuring Rosie Hopkins, her sweetshop, and the village of Lipton, and I would happily go back for more. The characters are such lovely, fun people to visit with and the "bad guys" are never without the possibility of redemption. I couldn't see how everything could come out right at the end for the longest time, but I knew it had to be cause this is Jenny Colgan. She writes wonderfully satisfying happy endings. The ending she gave, though, was not one I saw coming and it felt earned. I think I'll be coming back to this at Christmas again, just for that wonderful feeling of warmth and love radiating from the book.

Apparently I'm still on my comfort reading kick, because my current reads are:

The Beach Cafe
It Happened Under the Mistletoe

Thankfully Henry VIII by Lucy Wooding should keep my brain from atrophying :-) And I have some weighter SFF books lined up from the library, too.

>41 archerygirl: You make Colgan sound so incredibly appealing during these cold winter days!

>42 foggidawn: I do find her books incredibly comforting in these cold winter months! They're like climbing under a soft warm blanket and visiting with friends for a while.

So, on the one hand, I bought two new books. Gah.

4. Fluency - Jennifer Foehner Wells
5. Wanted, A Gentleman - KJ Charles

Fluency was on sale and I can't resist buying new KJ Charles books the moment they come out, so both popped into my basket over breakfast.

On the up side, I finished two books! That's what a weekend of snow storms will do for you :-)

3. Black Widow, Volume 1: S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Most Wanted - Mark Waid
4. The Beach Cafe - Lucy Diamond

Black Widow is such a fantastic character and I'll always read her books. She's complicated and never does what I expect, which makes her completely absorbing to read. I'm not quite as into this new BW series as the previous one, although that may be in part because I miss Phil Noto's beautiful artwork. However, I am really enjoying the twists and turns and I need to know what happens next, so they've hooked me.

The Beach Cafe was just a gorgeously fun read. Even on the odd times when Evie irritated me, I couldn't put it down because I needed to know how everything would turn out, and there was never a dull moment. Light-hearted fluff, but sometimes that's exactly what you need.

Now I need to decide which library book I read next. Stiletto? Or The Star-Touched Queen?

Happy New Year, Kathy! Or do you prefer Katherine? I try to call people what they prefer to be called, but I've also been known to just pull random names out of a hat on occasion when visiting a blizzard of threads, so apologies in advance if I do that to you at some point!

Good luck on curbing your Kindle buying enthusiasm. I don't have any good tips to offer, as I am just as bad. The problem, I've decided, is they lurk on the e-reader where I can't see them. If they aren't teetering in a pile that threatens to crash down and kill us all, I just forget I have them.

>45 rosalita: I go by either :-) Kathy is shorter, though, so it's what I generally default to when I forget that I'm trying to have a more professional screen name! And it's easier to spell...

I think you've nailed why e-books are so darned easy to buy and hard to curb. They lurk. They hide. They disguise themselves in 0s and 1s. They don't fill up bookshelves and leave me with nowhere to put them. Therefore, new ones just...slip in, with no accountability or consequence.

And I've got one preordered to arrive tomorrow, so my "buy fewer books" motto is so totally shattered before day 10 of the year :-D

The acquisition problem continues, but I can't regret it because it's the new Seanan McGuire!

6. Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day - Seanan McGuire

I...have got to read more books so my books bought stat looks less bad against the books read :-D To that end, I picked out The Star-Touched Queen from the library pile, and the first chapter already has me hooked.

The thing that may get in the way of my bookish ambition is that I just started a four week histology course through FutureLearn. Oh, well. Who needs sleep?

My ebooks do the same thing, just sneak onto my kindle without me noticing at all. Not once do I click the 'buy now' button at all. Never. Nope. They do it all under their own steam. Someone really should try and get a handle on this kind of outrageous behaviour from the ebooks of the world. I don't understand why it is so tolerated!

>48 lunacat: They are sneaky and devious! They act all by themselves, with no input from us, because they're clearly in some kind of conspiracy to run our TBR lists and break our resolutions. We should unionize against them! And prevent them from infecting other innocent kindles by buying...them..first...

Er.

I can see a flaw in my plan. Curse those pesky ebooks and their sneaky ways!

I finished another book!

5. It Happened Under the Mistletoe - Valerie Bowman

This was a fairly entertaining and fluffy historical romance novelette. Not dense literature, but it was lovely to read about characters who fell for each other's minds (not just endless descriptions of strong thighs...) and it made for a nice bit of comfort reading in the cold post-Christmas evenings. I'd probably pick up other books by this writer.

And that was my Kindle read, so I'm now free to start Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day, which arrived yesterday morning. I'm two chapters in and loving it :-)

The Star-Touched Queen is my other fiction read, and it's got me hooked already. It's a 2016 book and Hugo nominations just opened, so I'll be cracking on with it in hopes of expanding my selection of Hugo-eligible books to choose from!

Another book down!

6. Brilliant Bread - James Morton

I don't usually include recipe books in my stats, but when I realised I'd spent several hours reading it cover to cover, it didn't seem like a cheat. This is definitely a book that can be read from start to finish and is more rewarding using it that way, rather than picking through looking for recipes. The book is structured almost as a course in bread baking, taking you from your basic white loaf to complicated laminated dough for croissants and pain au chocolat. I'm a baker who appreciates knowing the science behind what's happening in the bowl or oven - it helps me to understand what I'm doing, why things go wrong, and how I can adjust recipes or use a recipe as the basis for my own creation. This is where the book really shines: James Morton is the GBBO contestant who was a medical student, and he approaches baking the way I do. He has learned about the science and explains the whys of gluten, yeast, sour dough starters and so on in ways that are easy to understand. Even things like the relationship between cooking time and crust are explained! I also really appreciate his discussion of things like long proves in the fridge and why they're great for flavour as well as making bread baking easier to fit into your life.

The recipes are pretty great, too :-) So far, I've made his focaccia and the bread rolls, both of which came out beautifully (the rolls are pictured further up the thread). I have plans to try out a tea loaf today and prove it overnight in the fridge for the first time. Next up, I want to try one of the wholemeal bread recipes and the rye and raisin bread. I'd baked bread before I bought this book, but all I'd really done was fine one recipe and never, ever vary from it because it worked. So I wasn't exactly a bread expert! I'd say this book has something for everyone from novice to experienced baker. The early recipes are achievable by anyone and there are plenty of more advanced recipes later in the book for bakers with ambition. For the first time, I actually think I might be able to achieve some of those complicated recipes one day. I've set myself a goal of trying to master the simplified rough puff croissants by the time I go to England for Christmas in 2018 - to give the family some Christmas morning croissants :-)

So, uh, yeah. From this wall of text I think you can tell I love this book and highly recommend it to anyone with any interest in baking bread. Having read it, I now want his second book - How Baking Works - because I think it will really help me to be a better all-round baker.

Hi found you have a *.

>52 BBGirl55: Hello! Thank you for the star!

There was very little reading over the weekend. So little. I seemed to be busy with everything except reading. I did get a little bit of Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day reading while I sat on the bus forever on Saturday (thank you, construction on the only bridge open across the harbour on weekends) and a little bit of The Star-Touched Queen yesterday evening, but that was it.

My plans on Saturday got totally messed up thanks to the horrendous traffic on the aforementioned bridge, turning what should have been a quick jaunt over to the comic shop into an epic half day marathon of bussing. Thankfully I got back in time to go out to the cinema with a friend to see Hidden Figures, which was excellent.

Must read the book now :-)

And yesterday was busy with writing, histology course work, transatlantic family catch-ups, and Sherlock.

Tonight I really have to finish The Star-Touched Queen before it has to go back to the library. There's a hold on it so I can't renew. Darn!

Excellent review! I shall ask for both James Morton books for my birthday in a month. I've recently started making bread, not so much for me as I'm not overly keen, but for those around me, and this sounds right up my alley.

>54 lunacat: Thank you! It's a book I can babble about for a long time because it's that good. Morton is a good food writer who actually wants you to understand what you're doing instead of blindly following, which is an approach that really works for me. Hope you enjoy them :-)

I spent yesterday evening curled up with a book...after I finished all the work and chores for the day, of course. But at least I finished my book before I have to return it to the library!

7. The Star-Touched Queen - Roshani Chokshi

The imagery in this book is stunning. It's beautifully written and the descriptions painted amazing pictures in my mind. Not all of the images were beautiful - the book has a strong horror element in places - but they were vivid. Chokshi uses Indian mythology and culture beautifully, presenting a fantasy world that feels both completely alien and slightly familiar all at once. The central character, Maya, is easy to like without being overly lovable, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing her journey and transformation through the book. It's one of those books that draws you in and never quite goes in the directions you expect, in a good way. I'll be looking for more by this author.

And if this doesn't sell you, my favourite character was a flesh-eating demon horse. Who can resist that?

Current reads:

Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day
Stiletto

I think I have The Star-Touched Queen on my wishlist (it's hard to keep track, I have at least 600 books on there), I'm glad that you liked it!

Oh, I loved Hidden Figures--the actresses were so marvelous at depicting their characters. And the daily humiliations that came as part of the color of their skins.

I have Dusk or DArk or Dawn or Day on my Kindle, but I need to read another BOMB first, and the nonfiction prize-winning group read, Evicted. (And some library books...)

>57 kgodey: I hope you get to The Star-Touched Queen eventually. It's definitely a good read!

>58 ronincats: There were so many aspects to their lives I hadn't considered before. I know how difficult it can be to be a woman in tech, but I hadn't really appreciated how much harder it would be not being a white woman in tech. And in the 1960s! So many little humiliations every day! It also makes me a little frustrated that my history of computing didn't mention any of these women and the work they did - I hadn't even heard of Katherine Johson before I watched the Timeless ep last year, and I hadn't heard of Dorothy Vaughn or Mary Jackson at all before. Grrr.

I did know that women were computers before electronic computers came along, and I knew that mostly of the early pioneers in electronic computing were women. I hadn't made the connection between computers and *computers* before, but it totally makes sense now that I see it on screen. I just wish their names were as well-known as people like Grace Hopper and Ada Lovelace.

The library book battle, I know that one! Maybe you could make DDDD your reward for finishing a BOMB.

Ah, I have The Star-Touched Queen sitting in a pile in the other room...I think I bought it during release week but didn't manage to get to it. I really should! Ack!! Will you read the sequel right away?

>60 dk_phoenix: It's not out until the end of March, but as soon as it's available at my library, I'll put a hold in :-) I mean, it's about Gauri! I love her!

I got so close to the end of this yesterday over lunch that I had to finish it when I got home from work:

8. Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day - Seanan McGuire

This is a book about ghosts, which is something McGuire has written about before but this is very different. It's not set in the same world as anything else she's written, so the rules are new and different and completely fascinating. The relationship between ghosts and witches is complicated and new. Really, the world building is a part of what makes this book great and it's crucial to the plot. But what drew me in was the main character: Jenna is someone you want to root for, someone you can easily love, even though she's also hard to connect to at times. That difficult of connection is difficult and a big part of who she is, so it's not a negative. McGuire uses this book to meditate on life and death and choices, and it's one of those books you end up thinking about after it's finished. Definitely recommended.

---

After a couple of heavier reads, I think I can't be blamed for picking up Wanted, a Gentleman on my Kindle for a nice bit of light and fun reading :-)

It kind of compliments Stiletto. At least in the sense of being very different with no body horror, so it's a nice break. Not that I'm not loving Stiletto, but with a book like it, you need something less likely to have severed limbs strewn across the page as light relief.

Still reading Stiletto and it's almost impossible to put down now, so I'm getting less sleep than usual because I keep making the mistake of having it as a bedtime read.

The interactions between Felicity and Odette are making this book for me. The only slight problem is that I'm reading it as an F/F rivals-to-lovers romance, and I suspect that's not the author's endgame!

Oh, glad to see you're enjoying Stiletto. I read it last year and thought it was tons of fun.

>64 bell7: I am! I think I like it more than The Rook and I'm not sure why - possibly because I'm enjoying Felicity and Odette so much and we're diving deeper into the world this time.

How did over a week go by so fast? I guess I was reading...

Three books finished, and even though it's Feb 2nd today, I finished the last one on January 31s so that made for 11 books in the month. I don't think I've ever had such a good start to the year!

9. Stiletto - Daniel O'Malley
I liked The Rook, but I *loved* Stiletto. I think it was because I adored the relationship between Felicity and Odette so much. Those kinds of spiky enemies to friends relationships always get me, and this one was particularly good. They both have to overcome a lifetime of indoctrination into hating and fearing each other's people, so watching them slowly work through that barrier was beautiful. By the end, I was almost afraid to finish in case one of them didn't make it out alive.

The story was also terrific. You really need to have read The Rook first to understand who some of these people are and all the nuances of what the Checquy and the Grafters are, because it's the merger of those two groups that is the root of all the plot lines. It was all handled fantastically and I had more than a couple of late nights because I made the mistake of picking this up and being unable to put it down.

Highly recommended, unless you are very squeamish about body horror, and then you might want to read gingerly.

10. Wanted, a Gentleman - KJ Charles
KJ Charles has become my favourite gay historical romance writer and this novella is terrific. She described it as a Georgian road trip with romance, which it is, but as usual there are so many other layers to it. One of the protags is a black man in the years before abolition, and Charles doesn't shy away from showing the way society reacts to him and exploring his own background as a former slave. The romance is properly swoon-worthy, the characters are vivid, and it managed to feel like a full and satisfying book even though it's a novella.

11. The Bookshop on the Corner - Jenny Colgan
This was pure comfort food fiction and I swallowed it in a few sessions, because it was exactly the retreat from the world I needed. The idea of running away to run a mobile bookshop has never felt so appealing. It's an ode to reading and books as much as a romance, and a delightful way to escape from real life for a while.

---

Escaping from real life becomes a more appealing prospect with every passing day right now. That probably explains why my current reads are firmly rooted in the past:

A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World? - Simon Schama
The Soldier's Scoundrel - Cat Sebastian

>44 archerygirl: You've reminded me I never completed the Nathan Edmondson Black Widow trilogy - in fact my Marvel reading has kind of fallen by the wayside and I think it would do me good to get back into that habit....

>51 archerygirl: The James Morton sounds like a really useful recipe book. I'd really like to learn how to bake bread but I find the idea a bit scary. Also I remember liking James Morton from that series of GBBO (still a bit heartbroken about the GBBO/BBC/Channel 4 fiasco - it won't be the same! Wah!)

>62 archerygirl: Glad to hear DDDD was enjoyable - that's on my list of books to purchase.

>66 archerygirl: Also need to read The Rook so I can read Stiletto - too many books!

Excellent reviews! You've got me hooked with Star-Touched Queen. And I'll keep the others in mind too.

The Bookshop on the Corner sounds like a British riff upon and update of Parnassus on Wheels. I may need to look for it when I want a bit of fluff.

>67 souloftherose: I will always encourage people to read more Marvel :-) I'm still a bit heartbroken over the GBBO/BBC/C4 fiasco, too! It won't be the same and I'm in two minds over whether to watch. I like my memories of what we had. The James Morton bread book is great for learning - bread isn't that hard! Honest! In fact, that's kind of the point of his book! :-D

Seriously, a basic loaf of bread is pretty easy to achieve when you've got some good instructions, and it's so satisfying to make a sandwich or butter a roll knowing you made that yourself. I may be a bit of a baking and bread baking advocate :-)

>68 justchris: Thank you! I don't think you'll regret looking for The Star-Touched Queen.

>69 ronincats: If you want some lovely absorbing fluff, I definitely recommend anything by Colgan, but The Bookshop on the Corner was particularly delightful.

Finished book!

12. A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World? 3500 BC-AD 1603 - Simon Schama

I found this book both great and slightly frustrating in places. Great, because it gave a coherent overview of a big chunk of history without ever being dry or dull, so it's probably a good starting point for people who are new to the subject. Schama goes into background details that often get left out of schoolroom history, so his explanation of the run-up to 1066 was much more informative than what I learned at school, for example. And as school history tends to leave out all the bits before 1066 and everything from 1067 to 1487, it fills in lots of details for people who haven't covered the medieval period before. One of the approaches I appreciated is that Schama doesn't linger too much on the personalities we know a lot about, but he does put in more detail on some of the lesser-known ones. For example, he devotes several pages to Richard II (who usually gets dismissed in one paragraphs as "slightly mad, possibly gay") and largely skips over Henry IV and V. Which is appropriate, because it makes Richard II's fate more understandable, do we really need to retread Agincourt again when you've only got 400 pages to cover 3,000 years?

As is usual with any history that goes past the Wars of the Roses, a lot of time is spent on the Tudors, but Schama's history is of Britain, so he covers the events in Scotland (and Ireland and Wales) in a bit more detail than I usually find. It makes the book feel like a more complete book, because the history of each nation is so tightly tangled together.

The reason I found this book a little frustrating is that this is the book covering my period of particular interest, and that affected how I read it. There were places where Schama dotted around in the narrative, mentioning events slightly out of order, which probably wouldn't bother most readers but made me a little confused because I know the general outline of the medieval period. I think this is why a book like this probably isn't targeted at me, but I wanted to read it to get a feel for how Schama covered things before I tackled the other two books in the series. My knowledge of history from 1665 to 1901 is a bit spotty, so I think Schama's approach will suit me really well when I get to them.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who is unfamiliar with medieval history and wants to get an overview, but it's probably not targeted at anyone who already has a good grasp on the period.

---

For any other history buffs, there's a series on BBC4 right now that I'm really enjoying - History's Greatest Fibs. The presenter, Lucy Worsley, is an entertaining and informative historian. The series looks at different events that we think we know about and delves into why our "knowledge" is wrong and how the version we know came to be the accepted truth.

The first episode is that well-know old one about Richard III and whether he was really the dastardly villain of history. Yeah, I know, been there, done that. BUT. Worsley doesn't rehash the debate about whether he killed the princes in the tower. What she does is delve into how the truth got mangled and what the motivations were behind doing it, which pulled out a few things I didn't know and I thought I was pretty up on that part of history!

The most recent episode was about the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and it blew my mind a little. It's right at the end of a period I've covered a couple of times at school and uni, so I had a vague understanding of the popular version of events and no clue there was any other version. Again, Worsley digs into how and why history was tampered with and it's fascinating.

Really, it always comes down to history being written by the victor, but it's interesting to dig into it--both the motivations and the methodology. The last episode is going to be about the Raj in India, and as that's something I know almost nothing about, I can't wait to dig into it.

ETA: Both episodes are currently available on BBC iPlayer and I think the last episode airs tonight.

>71 archerygirl: Great review!

>72 lycomayflower: Thank you! I didn't realise how long it got until after I posted. I just really felt strongly about it :-)

>71 archerygirl: Thanks for the recommendation of the Lucy Worsley series - I've downloaded it on iplayer as I've enjoyed her series before.

>74 souloftherose: I hope you enjoy it. I just watched the last one and it was a real eye-opener!

A couple of finished books to report:

13. The Soldier's Scoundrel - Cat Sebastian
A fun historical m/m romance that didn't really challenge the brain, but was a pleasant diversion for a few hours. I'd buy more books from this author. It's the first m/m historical Avon has published, and apparently it's done well enough for them to buy more so that's good.

14. Breakfast at Darcy's - Ali McNamara
Fluffy fun set on a tiny island off the coast of Ireland. Again, not challenging to the brain, but it was a compelling read and it passed an afternoon nicely.

---

My current reads are definitely not fluffy. So far from fluffy:

Feedback - Mira Grant
Leviathan Wakes - James S. A. Corey

My entire province is currently closed for business due to a monster snow storm. This should be a good day to curl up and read...except my team has been told that as we can work remotely, we don't have a snow day. D'oh!

Cross your fingers my power stays on?

I baked these last night so I have something tasty to munch on if I need comforting: https://smittenkitchen.com/2016/02/belgian-brownie-cakelets/

They amazing. Trust me. AMAZING. Much better than storm chips :-D

>76 archerygirl: Stay cozy and safe, friend. That east coast snowstorm does not look fun.

>77 MickyFine: Doing my best! It's even less fun from inside it. My power was out briefly, but came back. Hoping it doesn't go out again because they're estimating 8pm tomorrow for any restorations :-(

>78 archerygirl: I'll cross some appendages for you that the power stays on. :)

>79 MickyFine: Thank you! I could use all the crossing I can get right now :-)

>81 ronincats: Then I will cross appendages for you as well, Kathy. The library has the Colgan book--I've put a hold on it as all copies are out right now.

>81 ronincats: Thanks! There's a lot of places without power now, so I'm getting nervous about how long my mine will stay on. Good plan on the Colgan. I thoroughly enjoyed it :-)

And apparently NB's worse. They've shut down the roads to all but emergency vehicles.

>83 Deedledee: I saw that! Hard to believe it could be worse. They seem to be getting the clear-up here in the city started well, although the transit is still out because the sidewalks and bus stops are so buried. My street has already had a first cut and they've said they'll be widening later today.

So, this is the mess that was left behind on my drive way after yesterday's storm:



It took me all day just to get my car doors and exhaust free so I could get the car off the driveway for my plough guy! Hopefully the next storm won't be this bad.

My plan to move into an apartment (with underground parking) in spring next year is getting more and more appealing.

*sends large mugs of tea and hot chocolate*

Yikes! Fingers crossed tightly that the storm isn't nearly as bad.

>86 MickyFine: *gulps tea and hot chocolate*

>87 lunacat: The're "only" predicting 15cm of snow, so it shouldn't be as bad. Hopefully. And then there are no storms predicted for at least a week, hooray!

I am at the office today, where we're all exchanging war stories from surviving the blizzard and digging out after. The money I pay to have an underground parking space here is well spent in this weather. My car still has a lot of snow packed up underneath because of the way the snow drifted, so it should melt out and dry off while I work. Phew!

Glad you are getting a respite! The rain is really coming down here (as are a number of trees but not in my area).

>89 ronincats: I saw that California is getting hit by massive storms! I'm glad you're okay so far, hope the trees keep not falling over for you.

>85 archerygirl: Wow.

>91 souloftherose: Yup, although that isn't actually the worst I've had. I've got photos somewhere of a storm a couple of years ago where all you can see of my car is the antenna. It took some digging to get free from that one!

Time to catch up a little on what I've been reading, I think:

15. Feedback - Mira Grant
This is a fourth novel in her Newsflesh series and it's excellent. It takes place at the same time as Feed and focuses on a completely separate group of characters, a blogging team following one of the other presidential candidates. They're a very different mixture of personalities from the After The End Times crew, which means this doesn't feel like a retread of that book. In fact, it was fun to read an outsider's viewpoint on Shaun and Georgia :-) The story itself is compelling and added new nuances to the main tread of the Newsflesh books. It's a book that has a lot of lovely pay-offs for fans of the series, but I think it could easily be read by someone who hasn't read anything else in the series. Highly recommended.

16. Leviathan Wakes - James S. A. Corey
I read this back in 2012, when it was nominated for a Hugo, and I'm questioning now whether I actually finished it because large chunks of the second half felt completely new to me. Of course, it's possible this is because I've watched The Expanse more recently than that so the territory the show covered felt familiar and the rest of the book hadn't stuck around. I'm not sure why, because it's a really good book! Interesting ideas, great world-building, a compelling plot, and characters you feel sympathy for even when you don't like them. Although I'm not sure how anyone wouldn't like Naomi :-) Now that I've reread it, I'll have to pick up the next book in the series--and start season 2 of The Expanse! Recommended.

17. A Study in Charlotte - Brittany Cavallaro
I'm torn on this one. It wasn't a book I loved without reservation, but there were things I liked so it wasn't a book I hated. It was hard to have sympathy for the main characters at times, but I always wanted to find out what happened next. The conceit of the great-great-grandchildren of Holmes and Watson ending up in the same boarding school could have been awful, but there was logic to it. It's YA and the author doesn't always dig into some of the things I wanted to, and I'm not sure how Holmes got away with some of her behaviour, but none of that was ever frustrating enough to pull me out of the narrative. I liked it enough to have the next book on hold at the library, but I'm not sure it's one I can recommend without reservation.

---

I need to get some pre-Hugo nomination reading done, but I've also got some books from the library to finish. Breath of Earth just arrived, so that'll be my first book. I've also got A Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet out, which isn't Hugo-eligible but A Closed and Common Orbit is, and I need to read that one first. All the Birds in the Sky should be arriving for me soon, too, and Ninefox Gambit. That may be all the novel reading I have time for. I've got some short stories downloaded to absorb, too.

Hopefully I'll get some serious reading done this weekend in between rugby matches.

My Kindle fluff read is Because of Miss Bridgerton and it's hugely entertaining, the perfect antidote to the serious reading coming up.

One more book sliding in for February:

18. Breath of Earth - Beth Cato
I loved this. Loved it. It was pretty much catnip for me - steampunk-fantasy setting, EARTHQUAKES, female protagonist who kicks ass, airships. CATNIP. And the author combined all the elements into a really addictive narrative, which was even better. I loved the alternate history setting, particularly the blending of American and Japanese cultures and the political repercussions. The devastation of {spoiler redacted} was horrific, but made sense in the context, which is probably a big part of why it was so horrific. I'm already eager to read the next book and see where this story goes, because there are so many threads I really want to see expanded. Heck, I'd love to read more books set in other parts of this world, too, because there's so much to explore! I think ronincats is responsible for me picking this up, so I have to say thank you and recommend it to anyone who likes alternate history and fantasy, because it's great.

---

I picked up A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet for my next read and I'm already hooked after two chapters. Because of Miss Bridgerton continues to be a wonderfully entertaining historical romance, but I failed to read more than one short story this weekend because I overestimated how much reading time I'd have. Drat.

I read fewer books this month than in January, but it was a shorter month and I didn't have as much time off, so I feel seven books is pretty good. Particularly when one was a hefty historical tome and another was a hefty sci-fi tome! I have no idea what my March reading will look like, but I'm hoping it will include some comics catch-up after I finish my Hugo nomination reading.

Glad you enjoyed Breath of Earth, Kathy. I just finished The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet a day ago and enjoyed it. I did not get to Leviathan Wakes this month after all, but still want to read it this year. I did not particularly care for All the Birds in the Sky so am interested in what you will think of it. Right now, I have several of the Nebula nominees coming in from the library and others on the wait-list for when I have the time.

I really need to get to TLWTASAP. I keep eyeing it up but I haven't taken the plunge quite yet.

>95 ronincats: I loved Breath of Earth! Thanks for the rec - it might not have hit my radar if you hadn't talked about it. I have heard so many mixed reviews of All the Birds in the Sky, so I feel like I really need to read it to find out which side of the divide I fall on. I'm trying to get some 2016 books and short stories read so I feel prepared to nominate for the Hugos, although as I already have nine books on my "short" list for best novel, maybe I'm already mostly there! A couple of the Nebula nominees are on my read-before-Hugos list and I'll probably try to read the rest after that deadline.

Although I may take a nose-dive into my backlog of Elemental Masters Mercedes Lackey books after the deadline, just to have a change of pace. They're always light and fun, and the last two are sitting unread on my bookshelf for reasons I can't fathom. I only realised I was two behind when I went to preorder the next one. I think I keep putting them aside because I feel I should really focus on Serious Literature (TM), which is ridiculous when you look at my romance habit! Or maybe that's why I keep refusing to let myself to read lighter, fluffier SFF - I use romance as my fluff source, so I try to ban myself from also reading less-than-serious SFF. Wow, my reading brain is *weird*.

>96 lunacat: I'm hoping to get it read so I can read A Closed and Common Orbit before the Hugo deadline, but that might be just wishful thinking. I can say that the first two chapters have me hooked :-) I hope you take the plunge soon!

>93 archerygirl: My husband has really enjoyed the firs five books of the Expanse series and we own them all so they are all on my list for one day. We also enjoyed the first season of the TV series although I also found it quite difficult to follow (I can't tell who's who once everyone puts on space suits). And Feedback is also on the list to round off that series. But you did hit me with a book bullet for Breath of Earth.

>97 archerygirl: Not to add to the pressure but ACACO would be top of my list of 2016 books....

>98 souloftherose: I found the Expanse was much easier to follow knowing the book, and Leviathan Wakes was more compelling when I had the TV character faces in my head. It's like there's a symbiotic relationship--they compliment each other and improve each other. I've never experienced that before!

Well, I guess if I'm hemming and hawing between prioritising ACACO or Ninefox Gambit before the Hugo deadline, I know which one to pick!

I can vouch for Ninefox Gambit! Just finished it, added my review a few days ago.

>100 drneutron: Hey, that's not fair! You're making my choices too hard! :-D I need to catch up on your thread...

Jim did write a great review of Ninefox Gambit. It was at the bottom of my choices for the Nebula nominations until I read that review.

>85 archerygirl: That was quite some snow you had last month.

>101 archerygirl: Read both! :-D :-D

>102 ronincats: Maybe we should get Jim a commission on selling it through his reviews :-)

>103 thornton37814: Apparently we had the snowiest February on record, so yup, it was some snow!

>104 souloftherose: So helpful! It's a question of whether I have time for both before the deadline, and if not, which one to prioritise. Obviously I'll be reading both this year :-)

Too many books, not enough hours. I need more time!

>105 archerygirl: Sounds good to me!

I had been doing so well at keeping my acquired books list shorter than my read books list, and then Amazon had really good deals on three books I've been meaning to read for ages and well...

15. Wicked - Gregory Maguire
16. The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman
17. The Lawrence Browne Affair - Cat Sebastian

Drat. Need to read a lot of books to make up for this little accident!

>106 drneutron: Imagine if we really did get commission for every book we sold to people through review! I'd have, like, entire DOLLARS of money by now!

It's been a while since I shared any baking photos, but I've been playing around with bread a fair bit in the kitchen so here's a couple of snaps.



I've made focaccia a couple of times, but I think this is the loaf that's come out best so far. Recipe from Brilliant Bread.



This tea loaf came out looking rather monstrously huge, but it tasted great and the texture was good. Next time, I'll split it into two smaller loaves. Recipe from Brilliant Bread again.



This is not bread - it's the citrus and white chocolate loaf from Crumb. It's very good, but Ruby's note about not needing all the syrup is probably understating it - I'd say it only needs around half the syrup. There's a fine line between moist and soggy, and the excess syrup made it definitely cross that line in places!

I forgot to snap any photos of the honey and walnut loaf I made last weekend (from Brilliant Bread again), but I promise, it was delicious. It may become my staple wholemeal-ish loaf, it was that good.

Wow, that focaccia turned out great! One of my favorite bread types.

>109 drneutron: Thank you! It tasted pretty amazing, too. I love focaccia and I keep getting surprised by how easy it is to make.

Wow, all the bread is looking great around here. I bought some buttermilk last weekend which needs to be used, so I will probably do an irish soda bread tomorrow. Either that, or I'll branch out!

I always end up buying buttermilk for something and then having to find multiple recipes to use it all up in! Irish soda bread would be delicious.

>112 archerygirl: I have the same trouble with buttermilk! Wish they would sell it in pint containers, as I rarely need more than that at a time.

>113 foggidawn: Yes! This is my frequent complaint. They sell it in, at minimum, litre containers and I've never needed more than a pint for any recipe. Usually I don't even need that much, and trying to use up all that buttermilk before it goes back is so annoying. It would be much easier if all I had to use up was the leftovers from a pint! I've actively avoided recipes because they call for buttermilk and I can't face the leftovers.

Good morning, archerygirl!

>108 archerygirl: That foccacia looks so delicious! Now I have to go get some.

On this side of the pond, we only have buttermilk in little 200ml or 300ml pots so there is never the problem of having leftovers, more the issue of not having enough! It's also not always available so I find it equally annoying when it pops up in a recipe that looks good as I'm never sure I can get hold of it.

This discussion just made me read an article entitled 'What happened to all the buttermilk' about the lack of it in the UK. Apparently what I use isn't even proper buttermilk, but is milk that has had lactic acid cultures added. Who knew? (Although maybe this is widely known knowledge and I've never paid attention?)

>115 brodiew2: That's my thread for you, making people hungry for delicious bread :-)

>116 lunacat: My mum has the same problem in the UK! Although what I buy here is 'cultured', so doubt it is the proper real thing, either. I know you can sour some milk with lemon or vinegar as a quick and dirty substitution if you need to, although I think that's more about making the pH right for whatever raising agent you're doing than creating the true buttermilk flavour, so it may not work for all recipes. I've done it when all I needed was a few tablespoons of the stuff and I couldn't cope with trying to use up 950ml of it after.

Mmmmm bread. I miss it so. Gluten free is very rarely as good

>118 eclecticdodo: I am so sorry. Gluten free really can't be as delicous. I would hate to live without bread :-(

I hope Sunday treats you well :)

>120 lunacat: It has - I've almost finished The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet thanks to some Sunday reading time :-)

>108 archerygirl: Oh wow - those look stunning!

>122 souloftherose: Thank you! I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, and they taste pretty great, too :-)

Got my first couple of books for the month read:

19. Because of Miss Bridgerton - Julia Quinn
This was my first Julia Quinn and I loved it! Billie is a wonderful heroine, funny and sparky and intelligent, and I adored her from page one. It was an opposites attract kind of story, or more appropriately, two people who seem opposite in personality and outlook discover they have deeper connections and that their differences are actually complimentary. George seems like such a stick in the mud initially, but he's much more than that and Quinn did a great job of exploring both characters and showing how well-suited they are for each other. It's a fun, witty book and I'll definitely be looking out for more in the series. Recommended.

20. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers
Everyone told me this was a great book, and you were all right. I loved it. I got a feeling from it similar to the one I had from The Goblin Emperor: a book that slowly unfolds without any major shenanigans until the final few chapters, but all those chapters of getting to know the characters and their stories were vital to making the ending work. By the time I got to the small angry planet, I was terrified for my characters--even Corbin!--because I knew them so well and felt so much for them. Without all those beautiful story-within-a-story chapters where we got to know everyone, the ending wouldn't have had any impact. It's an odd book, but I loved every minute and can't wait to get A Closed and Common Orbit in my hands. Highly recommended.

---

Speaking of A Closed and Common Orbit...apparently it only came out here in Canada a short while ago, so my library is still processing it. Thus, I won't have it in my sticky paws for a while. Drat!

In the meantime, I'm picking at Ninefox Gambit as probably my last pre-Hugo nomination novel. It's...weird.

Which is why I've got An Unseen Attraction on my Kindle, for some light and fun relief!

>124 archerygirl: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet sounds good. Darn BB.

>125 BBGirl55: Bwahaha! But it really is good :-)

---

I'm struggling with Ninefox Gambit. I don't know why, but I'm not connecting to it. Each time I think I've found my jumping on point, the place where suddenly I need to read on, I find myself disconnected again when I pick it up. I'm not sure whether it's because Cheris isn't working for me as a view-point character or whether I'm just not in the right space to appreciate it right now. Anyone have any thoughts that might make me more inclined to push on?

Hmm. That's a tough one. I liked Cheris from the beginning, so that helped. Plus the puzzle of figuring out how that universe works and thinking off line about the implications was fun for me. And the whole consensus reality thing got me thinking about the media and politicians and false news and how we in some sense are "creating" a reality by consensus, whether it's real or not.

So guess who just preordered the new Mira Grant novel even thought it's not out until November and Amazon doesn't even have the title available yet?

According to the press release of the cover, it's called Into the Drowning Deep: http://www.orbitbooks.net/2017/03/09/cover-launch-drowning-deep/

I know it's coming out in time for my birthday, but what if nobody buys it for me? Clearly, I have to preorder it.

>127 drneutron: You've reminded me of what intrigued me about it from your review, so I shall persevere! I sense it's one I really need to dedicate time to, rather than picking it up for five minutes at a time, to really get into.

Oh your talk about pre-ordering makes me want to just go buy a book for no good reason. And I've got a newsletter from a local store that lists every mystery and sf book coming out for the next half-year. Talk about something that makes you want to go buy more books!

A long way to a small angry planet has a great title, but it sounds like it takes a certain mood and a certain patience that I don't have right now. I'll keep my eye open for it though because a few more good reviews and it'll be trying to creep into my house.

>129 cammykitty: Gosh, that newsletter would be so dangerous for me! There are only certain authors I jump on preordering that fast, though, and Mira Grant is one of them.

A long journey to a small angry planet is definitely one that needs the right mood ro enjoy. If I'd really needed a big crash-bang-wallop sf romp, it wouldn't have worked at all. I read it at just the right time for me. It's not so much slow-moving as thoughtful. Stuff happens, but it's all on a more personal scale until right at the end. It's far more about people and their complicated peopleness than adventure.

>124 archerygirl: So glad you liked Small Angry Planet and agree on similarities with The Goblin Emperor - also in the sense that kindness is a characteristic that is promoted which I find to be quite rare.

>128 archerygirl: I think I can resist The Drowning Deep (as I have so many McGuire/Grant books I still haven't read) but I have already pre-ordered The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin and The Ruin of Angels by Max Gladstone.....

>131 souloftherose: The way kindness is shown to be so important was a big part of what I loved about The Goblin Emperor so it's no surprise that it's what I also loved about Angry Planet. It feels rare to get books where there is such a strong thread of kindness and where it's a strength rather than a weakness.

I have The Stone Sky pre-ordered, although it comes out while I'm in the UK! Argh! I'll have to wait until I get back!

Unless I plan to buy it while I'm over...

I finished these last week, but I haven't had time to review until now:

21. Ninefox Gambit - Yoon Ha Lee
I won't lie, I struggled with this one a lot, particularly at the beginning. It's not an easy or comfortable read. I did finally hit the point where I was hooked and couldn't stop reading, but it took a long time. However, it was a book I'm glad I read, which is going to make it harder to quit a book I'm not enjoying in the future! drneutron has given a much better review than I ever could, but this is a book that makes you think about belief, and reality, and the way we interpret the world around us, and it's really very good.

22. From a High Tower - Mercedes Lackey
This was my light and fluffy read. I put off reading this for so long and I couldn't work out why, until I picked it up and read the cover flap and remembered. The book description is basically a full narrative of the plot! Gah! It's like someone took Lackey's synopsis and just plunked it down on the book jacket. Thankfully, it's more like someone took her proposal and put it on the book jacket, because the way she actually wrote this story is quite different from that description, even though all the same plot points are hit. But really, editors, DON'T DO THIS. I ended up enjoying the book, but that description put me off for nearly two years, when this is my favourite series by Lackey so normally I'd be reading these books pronto. It's not the best in the series by any stretch, but it was fun and I rather enjoyed the lack of romance for the main character. The main relationship was a growing friendship, which was lovely to read. Don't expect anything deep or insightful, this was just a fun, light read that made a good contrast to the difficult dark stuff I'd been reading at the same time.

---

Having unstuck myself in the Elemental Masters books, I've been tearing through A Study in Sable and I'm just sad I haven't had as much reading time this week. I'm almost through An Unseen Attraction on my Kindle, too, which I'm thoroughly enjoying.

When I'm finished, I think my next read will be Binti: Home. And Hidden Figures just arrived from the library, so that'll be my next read after I finish the Lackey.

Hopefully the library should put The Collapsing Empire in my hands soon, too. Looking at my pre-orders list, 2017 is going to be a really good year for books!

>133 archerygirl: This is why I've taken to not reading book blurbs at all once a book has made it onto my list. So many spoilers.

>134 MickyFine: I think I need to take that approach. If it's just a two or three sentence blurb, it reminds me why I listed it originally and gets me excited to read it. If it's longer, I need to learn to just not read it and plunge right in, because feeling like I've been spoiled for the whole plot kind of removes my motivation to read.

Really, what's needed are better blurbs :-) Brief ones that get the reader intrigued and excited, not giant synopses!

Two more finished books!

23. A Study in Sable - Mercedes Lackey
It's another fun, fluffy read from Lackey, and this one was much better than From a High Tower. Nan and Sarah have always been characters I enjoy in the Elemental Masters series, and now they're grown, Lackey has given them a compelling story that wasn't easy to predict, which is always good. If the title sounds suspiciously Holmesian, that's because Lackey has found a way to bring the great detective into the series. More interestingly, she's brought John and Mary Watson in, and I really enjoyed what she did with them all. I'd been dubious at first, but I'm sold, and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series because it sounds like it'll feature this group again.

24. Unseen Attraction - KJ Charles
KJ Charles is probably the best m/m historical romance writer out there right now, and this one was as good as ever. She really makes you feel what this era of London would have been like, which shows how good her research is and how well she employs it. This isn't your pretty all-white Victorian London, which is why her books are so interesting. The romance between Clem and Rowley is delightful, of course, but there's so much more to this book than a simple romance: family dynamics, racial privilege, taxidermy. (Yes, taxidermy) Now that I've read this one, I'm looking forward to the other books in this series and learning more about the other characters who frequent the Jack and Knave.

---

Each time I read a new historical romance, it occurs to me that the reason I enjoy historicals is that there's so much more going on than just a romance. The really good ones examine so many other aspects of society and they usually have a strong plot that runs in parallel to the romance plot. Sometimes it's a plot that spurs on the romance, sometimes it's a plot that hinders, but there's usually more going on than two people finding each other and living happily ever after. I've never had a huge amount of luck with contemporary romance, and I wonder if that's because I've never found the right ones--the contemporaries I've read have focused on the romance to the exclusion of anything else. If anyone has any suggestions for contemporaries that I might get on with, feel free to throw them at me!

Starting April with a really good finished book:

25. Binti: Home - Nnedi Okorafor
I read Binti last year, for the Hugos, and I loved it, so I've been excited to have this in my hands for a while. And now I'm simultaneously so happy to have read it, and annoyed with myself for not waiting until the third book came out because holy cliffhanger, Batman! It's beautifully written and I loved the exploration of Binti's culture and background, and the ways that the events of the previous book are still affecting Binti and Okwu. Okorafor writes gorgeous prose and creates amazing imagery, but she never does it at the expense of a compelling plot. Highly recommended, although if you're anti-cliffhangers, you might want to hold off until the final part is published.

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The Hugo finalists are being announced in a few hours, which should be interesting. There was relatively minimal Puppy activity this year, so hopefully the finalists are a good, interesting spread this time. I'll post the list here when it's available.

And if you loved the Hidden Figures movie, I highly recommend the book it's based on. I'm around two-thirds of the way through and it's fantastic. My admiration for Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Johnson, and Mary Jackson just keeps increasing with every chapter.

And here we go, Hugo finalists! They're listed on both these links, but the weight of the Internet is big so if one doesn't work, try the other:

http://www.tor.com/2017/04/04/2017-hugo-award-finalists-announced/

http://file770.com/?p=34177

As it's books we're all after, here are the bookish finalists.

Best Novel

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor Books / Titan Books)
A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager US)
Death’s End by Cixin Liu (Tor Books / Head of Zeus)
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris Books)
The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin (Orbit Books)
Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer (Tor Books)

Best Novella

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle (Tor.com Publishing)
The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson (Tor.com Publishing)
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)
Penric and the Shaman by Lois McMaster Bujold (Spectrum Literary Agency)
A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com Publishing)
This Census-Taker by China Miéville (Del Rey / Picador)

Best Novelette

Alien Stripper Boned From Behind By The T-Rex by Stix Hiscock (self-published)
“The Art of Space Travel” by Nina Allan (Tor.com, July 2016)
“The Jewel and Her Lapidary” by Fran Wilde (Tor.com Publishing, May 2016)
“The Tomato Thief” by Ursula Vernon (Apex Magazine, January 2016)
“Touring with the Alien” by Carolyn Ives Gilman (Clarkesworld Magazine, April 2016)
“You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay” by Alyssa Wong (Uncanny Magazine, May 2016)

Best Short Story

“The City Born Great” by N. K. Jemisin (Tor.com, September 2016)
“A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers” by Alyssa Wong (Tor.com, March 2016)
“Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies” by Brooke Bolander (Uncanny Magazine, November 2016)
“Seasons of Glass and Iron” by Amal El-Mohtar (The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales, Saga Press)
“That Game We Played During the War” by Carrie Vaughn (Tor.com, March 2016)
“An Unimaginable Light” by John C. Wright (God, Robot, Castalia House)

Best Related Work

The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley (Tor Books)
The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher (Blue Rider Press)
Traveler of Worlds: Conversations with Robert Silverberg by Robert Silverberg and Alvaro Zinos-Amaro (Fairwood)
The View From the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman (William Morrow / Harper Collins)
“The Women of Harry Potter” posts by Sarah Gailey (Tor.com)
Words Are My Matter: Writings About Life and Books, 2000-2016 by Ursula K. Le Guin (Small Beer)

Best Graphic Story

Black Panther, Volume 1: A Nation Under Our Feet, written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, illustrated by Brian Stelfreeze (Marvel)
Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening, written by Marjorie Liu, illustrated by Sana Takeda (Image)
Ms. Marvel, Volume 5: Super Famous, written by G. Willow Wilson, illustrated by Takeshi Miyazawa (Marvel)
Paper Girls, Volume 1, written by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Cliff Chiang, colored by Matthew Wilson, lettered by Jared Fletcher (Image)
Saga, Volume 6, illustrated by Fiona Staples, written by Brian K. Vaughan, lettered by Fonografiks (Image)
The Vision, Volume 1: Little Worse Than A Man, written by Tom King, illustrated by Gabriel Hernandez Walta (Marvel)

Best Series

The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone (Tor Books)
The Expanse by James S.A. Corey (Orbit US / Orbit UK)
The October Daye Books by Seanan McGuire (DAW / Corsair)
The Peter Grant / Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch (Gollancz / Del Rey / DAW / Subterranean)
The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik (Del Rey / Harper Voyager UK)
The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)

If you're looking at a couple of those in a dog-tilt head fashion, there are indeed a couple of Puppy nominees lurking there*. But they're pretty obvious and easily ignored, and most of the ballot appears to be a fair representation of what was being read, watched, and discussed last year.

I've got some reading to do, though. I've read Ninefox Gambit and Obelisk Gate from the novels (and nominated Obelisk Gate), and Every Heart a Doorway from novellas (nominated that one so hard because it's amazing). "You'll Surely Drown Here if Your Die" was one of my picks for novelette and ditto for "A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers", but all the rest will be new to me.

I haven't read anything on related works yet, but I've had a couple of them on my wishlist, so I'm excited to read that category.

Ms Marvel is wonderful, as are Montress and Saga. I've heard good things about Black Panther and Vision, and Brian K. Vaughan is reliably good so I look forward to Paper Girls.

The best series list way, way better than I expected and I can't see a single dud there. Heck, half of it is what I nominated!

Further down the list, the dramatic long form is excellent. I need to watch Stranger Things, but everything else on that list deserves the nod.

I've got some watching of short form drama to do, but that's doable. And most of those fancasts are either things I nominated or things I've listened to before (Rageaholic is a the Puppy pick), so that list is great.

Really, if you want a list of SFF stuff to check out and try, this year's Hugos is quality and the rare Puppy picks are so easy to ignore (if it's from Castalia House, Vox Day, or John C. Wright it's definitely a Puppy) that it's going to be a pleasure to read my way through it.

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* File 770 is a bit unstable right now, but they have noted all the Puppy picks for easier ignoring if you choose:

http://file770.com/?p=34186

Neil Gaiman and China Mieville are such reliable writers that they might well have made it without Puppy intervention, so I'll be reading those anyway.

I just looked at the nominees over at Locus!

Of the novels, I've read All the Birds and Too Like the Lightning, have The Obelisk Gate on the nightstand still, have Ninefox Gambit on hold from the library from the Nebula nominee list, just read The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet so need to think about the next book, and plan to read Three Body Problem this month so it will be a while before I get to the third book in the triloby.

I've actually read two of the novellas, it being a format I don't often get: Penric and the Shaman and Every Heart a Doorway.

And one of the novelettes, one I won from Tor: The Jewel and her Lapidary. It had very interesting world-building but was terribly depressing, imho.

Best Series (1,393)

The Craft Sequence, Max Gladstone (Tor)
The Expanse, James S.A. Corey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
The October Daye Books, Seanan McGuire (DAW; Corsair)
The Peter Grant/Rivers of London series, Ben Aaronovitch (Gollancz; Del Rey; DAW; Subterranean)
The Temeraire series, Naomi Novik (Del Rey; Harper Voyager UK)
The Vorkosigan Saga, Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)

Isn't that a great list? The only one I haven't read, although the first book is also on my nightstand, is The Expanse. I never finished the Temeraire series, as it dragged in the middle and I gave up on it, but think the Gladstone, McGuire, Aaronovitch, and Bujold series all topnotch!! Hard decisions to make!

ETA I was surprised to see Hidden Figures on the dramatic presentation-long nominees, but I guess because of its focus on the space program? I loved the movie, anyhow, and it's the only one I've seen.

And I just bought Binti and Binti: Home at the local indy bookstore last week. I don't like cliffhangers so I'll wait to read the second, at least, until the next one is published. Thanks for the heads up.

>139 ronincats: That series list is terrific! The Gladstone is the only one I've never read, so I'll be getting on that. I read The Expanse a couple of months ago, so I'll probably try to fit in at least one more in that series before the voting deadline. I agree that Temeraire bogged down in the middle a little, but I loved the last couple of books and really felt the series ended well. This is going to be the category it's hardest for me to make a choice in!

After all the fears that category would end up being a sea of bad epic fantasy, I think the list shows how good and varied it can be. And it gives a chance for authors who might never otherwise see a Hugo nomination. Unless a series debuts with a stunningly amazing novel, or is largely books that can stand alone, they never appear in the main novel list. And a lot of series start a little wobbly, but when they get going and you see the incredible scope and complexity of the work, it feels unfair that they'll never get acknowledged. It's almost impossible to get the middle book of a series on a ballot and some authors work primarily in series rather than stand-alones. Having a Hugo category that celebrates that work is long-overdue, IMO, and I'm excited to see how it evolves when it becomes a permanent thing.

(It's a special category this year, because Worldcons have the discretion to add a one-year-only category if they wish, and should be a permanent category from next year if it's ratified in the business meeting in the summer.)

I've put all the novels I haven't read yet on hold from the library, plus the Mieville novella. I've only read the first Penric novella, so I'm going to use this as an excuse to binge-read all the others. I'll wait to see what is in the voting packet before I buy anything else.

There was some debate on the File 770 site about Hidden Figures, but it gets in because it's science and kind of falls as a 'related work' sort of thing. There's actually no rule that says dramatic presentations have to be fictional! Apollo 13 also got onto a Hugo list one year (I think it might have won?) so there's precedent. I didn't nominate it because it wasn't SFF, even though I adored it, but having read some of the commentary, I'm coming around to why it's there. After all, even now, anything space-y does have a sci-fi feel to it! Anyway, it's making the film category hard for me - I want to put Hidden Figures, Arrival, and Ghostbusters all at the top and I'll have to pick one!

>140 ronincats: I thought I remembered you being someone who doesn't like cliffhangers! You can read Binti safely enough, it's a good stand-alone, but you'll probably want to wait to read Binti: Home. Or you can binge-read the lot :-)

>137 archerygirl: I just received my copy of Binti the other day and Binti: Home is on its way to me too. I am hoping to get them both read this month.

>142 alcottacre: That's wonderful! I hope you enjoy them - I think they're terrific, and I can't wait to read the last part.

>138 archerygirl: It's a good ballot this year, isn't it? I paid no attention to VD's shenanigans this year, figuring that I'd find out soon enough. Without knowing he'd slated it (or ticketed it or whatever he's calling it this year) I nominated the Miéville so I can claim partial credit for that. It's good enough that VD is welcome to like it too -- likewise the Gaiman I expect. I'm not sure how I'll handle the series, since I've started several of them, but am current with none of them, and probably won't be by voting time.

>144 swynn: It's a really good ballot! The kind of ballot we used to get before all the Puppy shenanigans. I knew that VD had done a one-or-two-items-for-some-categories slate, and the Sads had wandered off, so I was hopeful it would be pretty normal. Gaiman and Mieville are such consistent writers and Hugo nominees that I'm confident they got there without VD's help - and your nomination validates that sense! :-) Deadpool doesn't seem out of place, either. The rest of VD's noms can be safely ignored, I feel, because the other things in those categories are all worth exploring and considering. There shouldn't be any "No Awards" issued this year, at least! It's a ballot I'm excited to explore, which is as it should be.

I suspect with series, there will be lists out there soon for recommended selective reading (so people don't have to tackle all 16 Vorkosigan books at once), which will help that feel more manageable. There's no way I'll get through all the Expanse books or all the Craft books, so I'll aim to get a couple of each read by voting time and base my vote on that impression. I'm not current with Toby Daye or Peter Grant, but I've read a few of each (and love them enough to save them for holiday reading), so I think that's enough to judge on.

One more, and this one was fantastic:

26. Hidden Figures - Margo Lee Shetterly
If you enjoyed the movie Hidden Figures and came out wanting to know more about Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson, you need to read this book. It's the true story that inspired the film, and reading the full accounts of what they and the other black computers did is incredible.

The film compressed timescales a lot and, by its nature, had to leave out a lot. This books goes from the mid-WWII period of the NACA, through the birth of NASA, and past the moon landings. I came out of it with a huge admiration for Dorothy Vaughan, who was an incredible, pioneering woman. Without her, women like Katherine Johnson might not have been able to do the work they did.

As a woman in tech (a programmer), I know something about the history of women in STEM, and I knew computers were women mathematicians before electronic computers came about, but I'm a white English girl. I knew almost nothing about black women in STEM and my knowledge of black history in America is sketchy, to say the least. Shetterley does a great job of putting everything into context: she explains the whys and hows of segregation and the civil rights movement as it affected the women, which I needed to know to understand why some of the events she recounts were so signficant.

Shetterley also explains the work they're doing in layman's terms, from the aeronautical concepts to the orbital calculations Johnson worked on. It really makes you understand how brilliant these women were and how much they were overlooked and pushed to the side. Women's work in science has often been erased from the history books, but it's clear that race made that even worse for the black computers in NASA.

I can't recommen this book highly enough. It's engaging, absorbing, well-written, and inspirational.

I definitely want to read this book, but I'm swamped right now.

>147 ronincats: Too many books, not enough time. It's a curse!

My first DNF of the year: The Earl Next Door by Charis Michaels.

If you don't care about either lead character by chapter eight and you're starting to view the book as a chore you "ought" to finish, it's probably time to stop reading and find something you'll like better. It wasn't unreadably bad, just stodgy and people with people I couldn't make myself feel anything for.

Two very contrasting reads:

27. “The City Born Great” - N. K. Jemisin
I know it's a short story, but it's got its own listing on Goodreads so I'm counting it! Hugo nominee and I can see why. Jemisin is a great writer and this was a fascinating concept. Not sure I liked it better than Alyssa Wong's story, but it will probably end up being ranked highly for me. (It's on the Tor.com site, so should be easily Google-able.)

28. Ballet Shoes for Anna - Noel Streatfeild
This is one of her later books, but I don't think it's a patch on Ballet Shoes - the characters in this one don't have the depth of Posy, Pauline, and Petrova, and they all tend to feel far too old for their actual age. I can see what she was trying to do with this, and it's not terrible, but it's probably one that's for Streadfeild's dedicated fan only.

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I'm debating whether to finish my current Kindle read, Star Crossed. It's one I pre-ordered as soon as I saw the blurb, because I thought an f/f romance set in a fictional NASA-counterpart in the 1960s between a lady astronaut and a computer would be right up my street. And the first few chapters have been delightful and lovely, just as promised.

It was released last week and within a couple of days there was some chatter in the romance community about it, because there's a problem. The computer is black, in 1964, and the book is a bit...tone-deaf on racism. There's plenty of focus on the sexism and homophobia of the time, but the authors skimmed over the racism Bev would have experienced.

To the credit of the authors, they withdrew the book a couple of days after release with a promise to revise the book and re-release. From the sounds of things, it will be a much stronger book when they do that.

What I've read so far is sweet and charming and I'm quite enjoying it, but with Hidden Figures still strong in my memory, I'm already noticing inconsistencies in Bev's background and status, and she feels rather 2D right now. On the one hand, it's a rarity to find f/f historical romance and the writing isn't terrible. OTOH, will the issues with Bev's characterisation and the authors' lack of awareness irritate me?

Hmm.

I'm also reading This Census-Taker for my Hugo reading. It's...weird. It's Mieville so of course it's weird, but still. A strange book. Not offputtingly strange, but one where I definitely need something fluffy and fun as a counter, which is partly why I'm torn over Star Crossed. It's fluffy and fun! But I also know it's got problems and they will probably be harder to ignore as I read on.

Maybe I need to do a reread of something I love to counter the effects of possibly having two DNFs in a row.

Or consider Star Crossed as a book to be read later (when the re-release occurs) rather than a DNF.

>152 archerygirl: That may be how I have to view it. I hadn't looked at it that way, thank you!

So thanks to Roni, I made my choice: I'll go back to Star Crossed later (when it's been re-released), and I dug through my backlog of unread Kindle books to start One Good Earl Deserves a Lover.

It's exactly the kind of fun fluff I need, and I already love the heroine after only two chapters.

China Mieville's novella continues to be weird, as expected.

29. This Census-Taker - China Mieville
As I've said before, this is a weird book. I'm not even sure I totally got what it was doing, which is true of a lot of Mieville's work for me. I suspect that a second read will help, because the book shifts around in time and structure so much that it was hard to keep things straight in my head. Despite the oddness, it was compelling and absorbing, so it wasn't a slog. It's not an easy read, but it is a good read and I'll probably reread it before the Hugo deadline to see whether it becomes clearer in my head.

I finished all of these at various points last week, really just shows that sometimes it's worth reading multiple books at once if you want to give the impression of huge progress!

30. One Good Earl Deserves a Lover - Sarah MacLean
At last, a romance that I didn't DNF! After two disappointments in a row, for various reasons, this one was a refreshing change. It's a book that had been recommended to me a couple of times, and thankfully, it turned out to live up to the recommendations. A bluestocking and a rake is always going to be romance catnip for me and I loved this one. Or at least, I did after the first chapter. The opening chapter almost made me back out (because I feared the hero was going to be one of those "all women must want me, I can have anything" arseholes), but I stuck with those few pages and everything else was great. That first chapter was really only there to show how much the hero had moved past his arsehole early days. This was fun, with a heroine I adored and a hero where I could understand why she fell for him, and that's all I really want from a historical romance. Now I'm going to need to read the rest of the books in the series!

31. Letters to the Pumpkin King - Seanan McGuire
This is a collection of non-fiction essays taken from McGuire's blog, which makes it a bit of a mixed bag. Some of them are great and deserve printing, some of them definitely show their origins as a Livejournal blog. Probably one for McGuire fans only, but enjoyable for those fans.

32. The Collapsing Empire - John Scalzi
I've been excited to read this one ever since Scalzi announced the cover and description, and it didn't disappoint. I ate this in two days, because it was just that compelling. Scalzi always entertains, while sneaking in some more thoughtful ideas under the surface, and this is no exception. It's about the beginning of the fall of a galactic empire due to a natural disaster, which is always going to be my thing, and I couldn't put it down. Somehow, he turned a book that's all about the set-up for the later books and the attempts to alert people to the upcoming disaster into a thrilling adventure filled with hope. He also made me care about his characters, even the ones I was sure I wouldn't like. Even ones that were only there for a chapter. One character in particular, Kiva, was someone I was sure I'd dislike...and somehow I found her becoming one of my favourites. Even the bad guys are people you enjoy disliking, because they're so vibrant on the page and their machinations are such fun to witness. There were no characters who bored me or who I didn't want to read more about, which is great. The three lead characters are an interesting mix, both in terms of personality and in terms of gender and position, which is a Scalzi trait and made me very happy. Bad things happen, things go wrong, but you're never left feeling like there's no hope for the future, which is important in the first book of a series. This is a book that cries out for rereading, to get all the nuances, and left me itching for the next in the series. Highly recommended.

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This is a better review than I could give of The Collapsing Empire, if you're looking for something more coherent.

A big batch of library holds landed on me at the weekend because I took my eye off the queue and forgot to re-suspend a couple of things. Whoops. I've had to figure out priorities. Empire was a seven day loan, so it was my first read. A Closed and Common Orbit is my current read, because it's a Hugo nominee. Then I'll tackle Everfair and I'll leave the 700 page history of the Reformation until the end and hope I can renew it at least once, because that one is loooong.

On the Kindle, I've had The Silkworm sitting around for ages, so I decided to try it and got caught up within two pages. It's nice to have a good batch of books after two DNFs in a row.

>155 archerygirl: Punny romance titles might be my favourite thing ever. I actually convinced one of my friends to do a book list for the library that was made up entirely of punny romance titles.

I just finished a super enjoyable historical romance over the weekend myself, which I'm recommending to anyone who likes the genre. Full review over on my thread. :)

Good luck making it through your deluge of holds!

>156 MickyFine: Oooh, I'm heading over to your thread pronto! Punny romance titles are the best. They show the author has a sense of humour, which helps a lot in romance. I mean, the genre can be ridiculous at times, so having some humour about it (and in the book) helps things feel fresh and fun. I'd love to see that list...

>157 archerygirl: I think it was an OverDrive list so it's not really shareable like it would be if it were in the catalogue.

>158 MickyFine: Bother, but I understand! I do appreciate a good book title :-)

It's official. Find the May Martians and Magic Theme Thread here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/256332

Please come aboard. Just share all your reading in the areas of science fiction, fantasy, fairy tales, myth or magical realism with us here on this thread during May. Share your favorite recommendations, talk about the new books you are reading, discuss the classics.

>160 ronincats: Oooh, I'll have to pop over there! Thanks for letting me know :-)

I have a couple of book reviews to catch up on here, too.

>138 archerygirl: Hmmmm - I'm not really crazy about the All the Birds in the Sky pick, but I haven't yet read any of the others. I should have liked All the Birds, but really didn't.

>108 archerygirl: Delicious! Makes me want to run out and get some focaccia right now with a little olive oil!

>162 rretzler: I've heard such mixed reviews of All the Birds in the Sky, but I want to read it - maybe I'll find out why everyone is so divided over it. I'll grab it from the library soonish. I definitely recommend the The Obelisk Gate and A Closed and Common Orbit. The Cixin Liu books arrived at the library today, so I guess I know what I need to tackle next!

>163 rretzler: I am showing my Anglican roots, because every time anyone says that, my automatic reaction is "And also with you". Working in a geeky IT department, that has happened to me a lot today!

>164 archerygirl: LOL, I almost responded with "And also with you" to @rretzler when she posted that graphic over at my thread!

>164 archerygirl: >165 lycomayflower: Too funny!!

Wishing you a great weekend, Kathy.

>51 archerygirl: Darn it! BB.

ETA: Well, I came over to say Hi! as I finally start getting around the threads and you hit me with, of all things, a baking book bullet. I've enjoyed working my way through your thread. I'd never be able to read all the Hugo nominations in time. Of the series, I haven't read the first two, and only the first book of the rest, except for the Vorkosigan saga - of which I'm an avid fan, so I'd be tempted to vote for that. Nice reviews and I may even get around to reading some of them.

(Can't resist) >164 archerygirl: >165 lycomayflower: Amen.

>165 lycomayflower: One of us! :-)

>166 rretzler: A friend once said you can tell who is Anglican or Catholic by their automatic responses to certain phrases :-)

>167 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul! I had a lazy weekend, which was nice.

>168 humouress: Oops? It's a very good baking book! I hope you do get to reading some of them, there's some fantastic books on the list this year.

I really need to catch up on my reviews today.

I managed to squeeze two more books into April, but then I didn't review them here! And I am still at zero for May, but I blame that on a combination of book length and business:

33. Paper Girls Vol 1 - Brian K. Vaughan
One of the Hugo nominated graphic novels, this one is about kids and the 80s and friendship and weird stuff that goes bump in the night. I enjoyed it a lot and the last panel left me on a cliffhanger than means I'll have to read on!

34. A Closed and Common Orbit - Becky Chambers
This is just...I adored this. Even more than A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, which I thoroughly loved. I think it's because this book focuses on two characters and the parallels (and differences) between them, instead of telling short stories about a lot of characters. It's a book about humanity, and choice, and self-determination, and learning about who you are, and what that means and, ultimately, how to live with that. It's not exactly a sequel to Chambers's other book and can definitely be read as a stand-alone, but I think there are elements to this book that are richer if you're familiar with the other book. But it's hard explain why, without giving away the ending to Long Way. What I will say is that this is a book I couldn't put down because the characters became such a part of my heart, and it's made my Hugo decision much harder because I possibly put it equal with The Obelisk Gate for amazingness.

---

I'm in the middle of a 800 page chunkster on the history of the Reformation, which I suspect is going to be a multiple library borrow because it's due back on Saturday (unrenewable due to another hold) and I'm only 110 pages in. It's dense, packed with information, and therefore not an easy or fast read, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it, so I'll be putting it on hold the moment I return it.

I'm also reading The Silkworm on the Kindle, which is another long read but I'm thoroughly enjoying it. The problem is that I haven't had much reading time, so I'm only halfway through. Gah!

When I return the Reformation book, I'll be picking up the two Cixiun Liu books, because I messed up my holds and they arrived way earlier than I wanted them. It might take me a while to get through them, if my memory of The Three-Body Problem is accurate.

Too many books, not enough time.

Which history of the Reformation? Is it the one I read last year?

It's this one: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53946.The_Reformation

By Diarmid MacCulloch. I've forgotten where I got the rec from, but I suspect it was somewhere on LT!

>170 archerygirl:

"This is just...I adored this. Even more than A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, which I thoroughly loved."

Yes! Me too. Also, I cried a lot.

>172 archerygirl: I have the Diarmid MacCulloch on my library list to try this year but I think the size and likely reading time is putting me off. Maybe I'll reserve it once I've finished my current non-fiction chunkster....

>172 archerygirl: Yes, that was the one! Fascinating.

>173 souloftherose: I got a little teary-eyed in places. How did I end up getting so attached to Owl? I have no idea! The Diarmid MacCulloch is long and takes processing, but it's also thorough and he's discussing it in terms of faith as well as politics, which makes it easier to understand why the Reformation was so shattering. I'm definitely going to keep working at it!

>174 ronincats: I have a feeling the rec might have come from you, then! It's been really interesting so far and it's shown me how much got left out of what I learned at school.

So many books to catch up on! So my thoughts are brief.

36. The Dark Forest - Cixin Liu
A Hugo read, because the last book in this trilogy has been nominated and I hadn't read the middle book. I struggled a lot, and not in the same ways as with The Three-Body Problem. It just felt flat and I'm really not sure what the third book can do after the ending for this one. Hmm.

37. Midnight Riot - Ben Aaronovitch
Possibly in reaction to not loving The Dark Forest, I'm engaged in a binge reread of all the Rivers of London books I've already read, with plans to read Foxglove Summer as soon as I'm done with Broken Homes because I haven't read it yet. The series is up for a Hugo, so hey, I have an excuse!

38. Captain Marvel, Vol. 2: Civil War II - Christos Gage
Marvel has been losing me a lot on this event so I can't say I loved this.

39. Hawkeye: Kate Bishop, Vol. 1: Anchor Points - Kelly Thompson
But OMG, I love this series so much. KATE! Is fantastic and I adore her. And Thompson writes her so well.

40. Moon Over Soho - Ben Aaronovitch
The reread continues.

41. Alanna: The First Adventure - Tamora Pierce
I'm in a rereading place and after getting two people hooked this year (with them planning to buy copies for all their girl tweens/teens), I had to dive back in. Still love these books so much.

42. Whispers Under Ground - Ben Aaronovitch
And more rereading!

Yeah, I'm having a major reread binge here. I should really get back to the Hugo reading...soon. I have the Black Panther and Vision trades waiting for me at the library for the graphic novel category, so I'm getting there. And the electronic voting packet is out so I've downloaded all the stuff I haven't read and put it on my Kindle for reading as soon as I finish my Peter Grant deep dive.

>176 archerygirl: The Kate Bishop sounds good - I need to get back to reading graphic novels.

Rereads are always nice. Glad you've been enjoying your recent string of them.

I just went through a reread of the complete King of Attolia series after the new book came out last month, so I know how you feel. I thought The Three-Body Problem was very dry and am considering not continuing, despite the nominations.

>177 souloftherose: You do need to, and I highly recommend the Kate Bishop :-) It's such fun!

>178 MickyFine: Rereads are sometimes exactly what you need :-)

>179 ronincats: Yeah, if you found TPB dry, you're probably not going to love The Dark Forest. It is rather...distance and clinical, is the best way I can describe it. I definitely found it hard going. I will probably leave the last in the trilogy to the end of my Hugo reading, so because I don't want to miss out on other things while I'm slogging through it.

---

43. Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet, Book 1 - Ta-Nehisi Coates
This was one of the Hugo nominated graphic novels and it's terrific. There's such an amazing sense of history and also presence to the story and I found myself completely absorbed. I know very little about Black Panther and I haven't been following Marvel's latest big events, but I was still able to follow this with no problem. I'll definitely be reading more of this as the trades come out.

>179 ronincats: >180 archerygirl: Hmmm. It's looking less and less likely that I will read The Three-Body Problem any time soon!

>181 rretzler: It's definitely not an easy read! I like it, but you're not going to be curling up for a fun escape with it.

So many books to catch up on! So brief thoughts only, to prevent a wall o'text issue.

44. The Vision, Volume 1: Little Worse Than A Man - Tom King
A Hugo nomination read. This was absolutely brilliant and incredibly disturbing. I immediately had to order the next part from the library.

45. Broken Homes - Ben Aaronovitch
Reread. Definitely the weakest in the series, but I'm ready for Foxglove Summer now :-)

46. In the Hand of the Goddess - Tamora Pierce
Reread. Still love it!

47. The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps - Kai Ashante Wilson
I'm conflicted, because I liked some elements of this and I wanted to love the whole, but I found it disjointed and jarring in a way that kept throwing me out of the narrative. I'm hoping the Hugo-nominated sequel works better for me.

48. Do You Want to Start a Scandal? - Tessa Dare
This was so much fun! I adored it. Charlotte was a wonderful heroine, Piers was brilliant, and I shipped them so hard from the opening chapter, which is the point of a romance but doesn't always work. Recommended to any regency romance lovers. I wrote in more detail here: https://stompydragons.wordpress.com/2017/06/16/review-do-you-want-to-start-a-sca...

49. The Tomato Thief - Ursula Vernon
A Hugo nomination read. It's sort of a sequel to Jackalope Wives, but you don't need to have read that to follow. I really liked this--I like the central character, Vernon makes you feel the setting beautifully, and the plot really worked. Vernon's love of gardening also came through, which was a delight.

50. Down Among the Sticks and Bones - Seanan McGuire
I loved this so much. I can't really articulate it. I really liked Every Heart a Doorway, but this story--particularly Jack's story--spoke to my soul and I adored it. Highly, highly recommended. And perfectly comprehensible if you haven't read Every Heart a Doorway, although you probably should read Every Heart first because the events in this lead to events in Every Heart and some of the mystery will be missing if you read them in the wrong order.

51. The Art of Space Travel - Nina Allan
A Hugo nomination read. I was really enjoying this until I hit the end and it just...stopped. Huh. I genuinely don't know what I was supposed to take away from this. Did I miss something?

52. Every Heart a Doorway - Seanan McGuire
Reread, inspired by Down Among the Sticks and Stones. It's a very different read when you know certain things from Sticks and Bones.

>183 archerygirl: I recently discovered Tessa Dare and I was super impressed with her writing. I'll definitely be picking up more of her stuff when I'm on a romance novel kick. :)

>184 MickyFine: Yup, I've read a few of hers now and I really like her writing. She's been consistently good. I particularly like her Castles Ever After books (which Scandal is a part of). She's become one of my go-to authors when I'm on a romance kick :-)

Wow, you've read some pretty good stuff recently!

>186 drneutron: I've been on a bit of a good book roll lately!

I've just looked at my stats for June and...wow. WOW. 15 books so far. Even if a couple were mere novelettes, that's still a ridiculous number of books.

53. Penric and the Shaman - Lois McMaster Bujold
A Hugo read. It's Bujold, so of course it was good. I like Penric and Desdemona even more here than in their first book and the bits of world-building we got mixed with the plot were great. This will definitely be high on my ballot.

54. Wonder Woman Vol 3: The Circle - Gail Simone
I came back from seeing the Wonder Woman movie in love with Diana and in need of some comics. A friend recommended Gail Simone's run and she was not wrong. This was fascinating and fantastic.

55. Summer at the Little Beach Street Bakery - Jenny Colgan
Pure unmitigated fluff, and a much-needed break from the seriousness of the Hugo reading.

56. Touring with the Alien - Carolyn Ives Gilman
Hugo read. This is one of the novelettes and probably my favourite so far. It's hard to describe, but I ended up feeling for all the characters and I didn't see the ending coming at all (in the best way).

---

Current reads:

Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone
Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Duke by Sarah MacLean

I tried to read the Craft sequence last year, but clearly starting with Two Serpents Rise was entirely the wrong tactic because I bounced off it heavily. Three Parts Dead is the first in the sequence and I'm really enjoying it, so lesson learned. Don't read out of order!

The MacLean is my current bedtime read and it's terrific fun. Her historical romance is very feminist, but in a thoroughly enjoyable and hilarious way. Her latest just downloaded to my Kindle and it's going to be my post-Hugo rewards.

I'm going to do a book catch up soon, because I've read a *lot* of stuff, but first I need to squee and run around screaming and squee some more.

Yeah, I'm very, very happy about the new Doctor :-D

Announcement video if you somehow missed it: https://twitter.com/bbcdoctorwho/status/886608420241117185

This Doctor Who fan is over the moon and probably won't stop squeeing until Christmas, when she'll begin vibrating with excitement at getting to actually see the new Doctor and possibly create her own rip in time and space.

>189 archerygirl: It is a pretty exciting announcement! Guess I ought to catch up on all of the episodes I've missed...

Hello archerygirl!

>189 archerygirl: I resisted it for about five minutes and then agreed that Whittaker looks like an excellent choice for the fist female Doctor. She is beautiful and fierce. I hope the Doctor's mania isn't set aside. I love the character of Missy and hope a similar energy is brought by Whittaker.

>189 archerygirl:, >190 foggidawn:, >191 brodiew2: I have mixed feelings...I have been saying all a long that I don't think the producers would ever have a female doctor because of the predominantly male fanbase, but I had a feeling it would happen. (My 16 yo and his friends, my 12 yo and my husband are a little put off, especially after just finishing series 2 of Broadchurch.) I do like Jodie Whittaker as an actress (because she certainly won't be the same character on both shows) and I'm glad it's not Chris Marshall. Of course, after watching for 35+years, with the exception of Colin Baker, I never think I'm going to like the next Doctor, but I always do. I'm probably more concerned by Chris Chibnall than I am Jodie Whittaker at this point. And, of course, the companion is always someone to be nervous about - IMO, the new series has had a fair share of duds. So, I guess I am cautiously optimistic at this point!

>190 foggidawn: You should! This season was very good.

>191 brodiew2: The Doctor still needs to be a mad man in a box, no matter who plays him :-) I loved Missy so much. Whittaker is a fantastic actor, so I'm excited for what she'll bring to the role.

>192 rretzler: I think you'd be surprised by how much the fanbase has changed over the last few years. It's a lot less male dominated these days. The writers have been doing a lot to seed the possibility of a female Doctor in the last couple of seasons, too, so I knew it would happen eventually. I didn't expect it so soon, though! And the majority of people seem very happy, which is better than I would have expected a few years ago. Season 2 of Broadchurch is definitely the weakest - I really liked season 3, particularly the writing for Whittaker's character that season. She's got a good range and has played a lot of different characters, so I'm confident about her. I'm more concerned about Chibnall that the new Doctor. His writing for Broadchurch was largely good (except s2), but I didn't like his Who writing very much. So I'm nervous about that. And about the companion, of course, because that could make a huge difference, particularly now. I'm optimistic about the Doctor, though! So far, they haven't cast anyone in that role I haven't liked :-)

Thank goodness it wasn't Kris Marshall. Nice chap, probably not a bad actor, but it would have been the blandest casting choice ever.

>193 archerygirl: 'The Doctor still needs to be a mad man in a box, no matter who plays him :-)'

Yes! My sentiments exactly. I am hoping Whittaker will bring the Doctor's mania along with her. But she also looks like she will be good at playing the Doctor's dark side. The only new Who Doctor whose dark side I didn't believe was Eleven. Don't get me wrong, I love Eleven, but he wasn't very threatening. I think 13 will be able to deliver threatening.

>194 brodiew2: Matt Smith was lovely, but he could never quite do darkness convincingly as hard as he tried. It's not always a bad thing--the Fifth Doctor couldn't do dark either--but they wrote some darker storylines for him and it didn't always work. Jodie Whittaker has done such a wide range of characters and plots that I think she'll be able to run with anything they give her. I'd love to see her tackle some of the Doctor's darker side, the moments when his anger almost overwhelms him and he has to pull back and remember who he is. It will be fascinating to watch. She's also great at comedy, so hopefully she'll be able to bright humour in the right moments, too :-)

Really, what they need to do is write the Doctor as a mad man in a box, without any deliberate attempt to remember "oh, we're writing a woman now", and let Jodie Whittaker do what she needs to make the role her own. That would be the best approach.

A book catch-up! Because apparently July is Read All The Things month :-)

57. Wonder Woman: Ends of the Earth - Gail Simone
58. Wonder Woman, Vol. 5: Rise of the Olympian - Gail Simone
I really like Simone's version of Diana and her Etta Candy. These were absolutely fantastic and I highly recommend her run on Wonder Woman if you can find it.

59. Three Parts Dead - Max Gladstone
I bounced hard off one of the later Craft books when I tried to read it a few years ago, but I think that's because I started in the wrong place. This is the first book Gladstone wrote in the sequence and I loved it. Fantastic world-building, a plot that pulled me in, and characters I rooted for (even if I sometimes didn't always like some of them). I'll definitely be continuing to read this series.

60. The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe - Kij Johnson
This was absolutely gorgeous. Johnson writes beautiful prose and her ability to craft imagery is amazing. She also wrote a wonderful protagonist in Vellitt and a plot that showcased all her talents and kept me enthralled. Highly recommended.

61. The Ballad of Black Tom - Victor LaValle
The first half of this novella is excellent. Tom wasn't always likeable, but he was sympathetic, and I loved all the historical details Lavalle put in. I was really enjoying this. Then there's a point of view change for the second half and...yeah. Not good. It was probably even more disappointing than it should have been because the first half had such great promise.

62. Queer: A Graphic History - Meg-John Barker, Julia Scheele
Graphic novels can be a great way of easily exploring complicated ideas, and that's what this one does brilliantly. It's a history of queer theory and an explanation of all the different thoughts on queer theory, the controversies, the personalities, and it goes right up to date, so it feels very relevant. I learned a heck of a lot and I think I need to reread it a couple of times to absorb everything.

63. Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake - Sarah MacLean
MacLean writes fun romance with a feminist view. This is one of her earlier books, and so it's a bit rough around the edges compared to her more recent works, but it was entertaining and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

64. Star-Crossed - Barbara Dee
I don't usually read middle-grade fiction, but this article was doing the rounds around the queer book twitter-sphere, so I had to try it: https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2017/03/23/please-dont-talk-about-your-book-...

And wow, I wish this book had been around when I was a tween! It's fun, beautiful, hopeful, and explores the feelings around a first same-sex crush in a way that hopefully would resonate with a lot of kids. Not just kids having that crush, either. It's one of those books you wish could be given to all twelve year-old kids so they can understand their friends and their own feelings. Highly recommended.

65. To Sir Phillip, With Love - Julia Quinn
Another historical romance, by one of the top writers in the field. It's one of her early ones and there were one or two places where I slightly winced, because the conversation around romance and consent has moved on so much, but only slightly. It was charming and lovely, the protagonists were great, and I even enjoyed the children (who managed to be neither too sweet or too awful, a rare feat in romance). I enjoyed Because of Miss Bridgerton far more, but this was still a book I'd recommend to histrom fans.

So, all you Dr. Who fangirls should head over to humblebundle.com where they have put together

The Humble RPG Book Bundle: Doctor Who
Pay what you want for a bundle of Doctor Who RPG
sourcebooks and "companions" published by Cubicle 7!

I'll post the link, but it's long.

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/doctor-who-rpg-books?mcID=102:596e7cd2f4ab4e2...

>189 archerygirl: Squee! I'd forgotten there was a new producer as well as a new Dr and companion - lots of change to come, hopefully it goes well.

>195 archerygirl: I completely agree. The Doctor needs to stay a madman in a box even if he will be a she! :-P

>197 ronincats: Oooh! I'm not an RPG-er, but that does look fantastic :-D

>198 souloftherose: So many changes, but I'm hopeful for them. All the talk is certainly making me optimistic :-)

>199 brodiew2: No matter who plays the Doctor, they'll always be playing a mad man in a box deep down :-D

>189 archerygirl: Foggi sent me this way for the Doctor Who talk. This fan is VERY EXCITED! I hope they do justice to her as a full character and not a caricature but I've enjoyed both Whittaker and Chibnall's work on Broadchurch. I can admit I was rather hoping for Olivia Coleman but I'm not complaining.

I'm most nervous about the companion situation. I really really loved Bill and I felt like they did not use her to the full extent. I hated to see her rushed off after only one season because of the change over. She deserved more and better.

>201 leahbird: I'm so excited! I had really given up on getting a woman this time around, but that's because Chibnall and the BBC did a good job with red herrings and I fell for them hook, line, and sinker. So seeing Jodie Whittaker on my screen as the Doctor was the best possible surprise!

Olivia Coleman had been top of my list at one point. But Whittaker was fantastic in Broadchurch and I trust her to do this well, so I'm thrilled for her. Chibnall's early Torchwood stuff hasn't always been my favourite, but his season two stories are some of my favourites and I've liked a lot of his Doctor Who episodes. His Broadchurch work has been excellent (if you ignore season two) and he's learned a lot. Between the two of them, I don't think we need to worry about caricature problems.

The companion situation is making me nervous, too. I understand why we only got one season of Bill, but I'd really been hoping to get more. She's fantastic. It looks like we might get a little bit more of her in the Christmas episode (from the trailer, it looks promising), but we really needed another season with her.

I'm hoping we get a little TARDIS team this time - I quite like having two companions. A mixed-gender pair might be the way to make the largest number of fans happy, although it does all come down to casting and writing in the end.

Two books finished, and I suspect that will be it for July unless there's a miracle:

66. The Vision, Volume 2: Little Better than a Beast - Tom King
This is the second half of a story and it's heartbreaking. It's also a story we're told from the beginning will be tragic, so the point of the book isn't what happens but how and why, which is why it's such a strong story. Even knowing that everything must end badly, I couldn't look away or put it down. I had to know more and understand it. The intertwining of Shakespeare (Merchant of Venice specifically) and the Vision's history with the unfolding story added layers that I think I'll be considering for a long time. I also suspect I'll go back to it and reread in a few months to pull out all the threads and ideas I didn't catch the first time, which really lifts this story above the usual level for comics. The artwork is beautiful and adds to the story--you couldn't tell this particular story in any other way or for any other character, even though it's a very human story at heart. Highly recommended.

67. Annie on My Mind - Nancy Garden
This is a classic of LGBT lit, one of the first YA f/f romances with an actual happy ending. I really wish it had been available in libraries in the UK when I was growing up, because even though it has its sadness, the ending is beautifully hopeful and joyful. I can see why it's still so heavily recommended thirty years later.

---

I'm flying to the UK tomorrow night for my big trip, going to my sister's wedding and then on to Helsinki for Worldcon. I probably won't be on LT much, but you can follow my adventures on Twitter :-D

https://twitter.com/stompydragons

I need to pack tonight. So far, I've gathered up some stuff and made lists. Many lists. Maybe too many lists?

Is it a bad sign when you've reached the stage of having lists of lists?

Importantly, my Kindle is loaded with books (maybe I don't have enough, though. I should buy more. Um.) and I have been playing around with the Libby app for Overdrive, so I've got a couple of books on my iPad, too. Just in case.

One of them is Unmentionable, for research purposes. The illustrations are highly informative...but not necessarily suitable for reading on a plane :-D

>203 archerygirl: Enjoy your trip!

>204 norabelle414: Thank you, I shall! If I ever get out from under all the "can you just do this before your vacation...?" work :-)

>203 archerygirl: Have a great time! Enjoy all the (scandalous) ebooks. ;)

>206 MickyFine: Thank you, I'm sure I shall ;-)

(Who knew the Victorians were all wearing crotchless undies? A thing to contemplate when reading your next histrom...)

>203 archerygirl: Wholeheartedly agree about the Vision series and enjoy your trip!

>207 archerygirl: I had assumed as much because I'd read about women peeing by just sticking a pot up under their skirts. But it makes you think ... why bother with all those undergarments if they're crotchless?

Very quiet over here Katherine.

Hope that you will come back and update us soon.

Have a great weekend.

Hello, yes, it's been far too long! There are Reasons for my long absence, but I'll do the updates in the next thread. Onwards!