I’m about halfway through Malice by Keigo Higashino. It’s unusual in that it’s not a who dunnit, it’s a why dunnit, and that half of the book (this is not a spoiler) is the murderer’s unreliable written account, interspersed with chapters of the detective’s report. The prose is a little dry (not sure if that’s a translation issue, or if it’s that way in the original Japanese), but it’s short and engaging.

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Finished Weak Heart by Ban Gilmartin. Sort of an urban fantasy on a remote Scottish island, dealing with Scottish folklore and a missing friend/ex. There are some monsters and apparitions, but I wouldn’t call it horror (although you might want to check content warnings, as there is some reliving of past traumas). Very much a peek into the two main characters’ heads as they investigate, learn to tolerate each other, and grow over the course of the story. Kind of a YA vibe, but not. Recommended if that sounds like your jam.

Bingo squares: Independent Author, LGBTQIA+ Lead (hard). (Maybe also Family Drama, if you count unrelated-but-raised-together.)

It sounds like this was the receiving party: letters from Orwell to his publisher (and other papers related to publishing his work, like contracts and internal memos). if Orwell had kept copies for his records, I suspect they would already be properly archived, yes.

This is correspondence and such that’s been sitting around in a warehouse for however many years, untouched.

I picked Weak Heart by Ban Gilmartin back up, and am now about 2/3 of the way through. It’s a fast read, and I’m enjoying it, despite my irrational dislike of first person present tense.

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Finally finished On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers. If you like Pirates of the Caribbean or Monkey Island, with a random dude getting caught up in a swashbuckling pirate adventure, this ticks (almost) all the boxes (it’s not humorous). I was pleasantly surprised that the magic system makes reference to actual vodou, rather than just the pop culture version, and that there’s a bits of history in the background you may recognize if you like pirate stuff. The pacing is a series of lulls and swells of action, rather than a steady build to a single climax (although there is a final culmination of events); I was never bored, but I also didn’t find it un-put-downable, and I’m not sure how much of that was the writing, and how much was being too sleepy to read more than a few pages a night.

Bingo squares: Water, Water Everywhere; What’s Yours Is Mine (probably hard mode?); Eazy, Breazy, Read-zie; Stranger in a Strange Land (hard mode); (alt) A Change in Perspective

Had another week of not reading much, so I’m still trying to wrap up On Stranger Tides. It’s still enjoyable, but I’m impatient to move onto something new.

Hellraiser.

I’m fine with articles, but would prefer them to be informative about process or history. It’d also be nice if any posted article included a piece of art in the thumbnail, so everyone still gets something to look at.

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, something not being the kind of sci-fi you were expecting is always rough. I hope you find On Stranger Tides more enjoyable!

I’m liking it pretty well (haven’t read anything by him before). There’s a big, foreshadowed event coming up pretty soon, I think, and then I’m not sure where it’s going to go, beyond “save the girl”.

Did you have issues with Three Days to Never besides the first half being slow? This has been fairly quickly paced so far.

Didn’t get much reading done last week; I’m about 40% of the way through On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers.

🦋

I really enjoyed A Psalm for the Wild Built; hope it hits for you, too.

Finally started On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers, which has been on my TBR for ages, patiently waiting for me to be in the mood for pirates. I can already see how it inspired the Monkey Island games.

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Finished The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré. Solid Cold War espionage plot written during that era, with George Smiley from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy involved in the background. Like To Catch a Thief, it has some slurs and a questionably large age-gap relationship, but that’s not terribly surprising. Worth a look if you like stories about intelligence services playing human chess.

Bingo squares: Older Than You Are (1963), What’s Yours Is Mine (HM), Now a Major Motion Picture, Award Winner, (alt) Pseudonymous Work, (alt) A Change in Perspective

Hackers.

Started The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré, which is fine so far, although I am getting tired of the 1950s/60s women character tropes.

I put Weak Heart on hold last week, but I might pick it back up again.

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Finished Foul Days by Genoveva Dimova. This was a fun, fast read about a witch who tries to regain her lost powers in a fantasy city, complete with creatures from Bulgarian folklore and a handsome detective. Somewhat similar in vibe and content rating as T. Kingfisher’s fairy tale fantasies or early Robin McKinley, but with much thinner characterization. It did leave some loose ends for the sequel coming out in October, but not so many as to be obnoxious, imo. Oh, and sidenote: the informational pamphlet mentioned by the MC during the story was hidden at the end of my copy, so if you find the creature names confusing, hunt it up.

Bingo squares: New Release (HM); Eazy, Breazy, Read-zie; Debut Work; (alt) A Change in Perspective.

Still working on Foul Days by Genoveva Dimova. It’s fun so far.

Also started Weak Heart by Ban Gilmartin. It’s not at all what I thought it was going to be (it’s less horror, more supernatural angst), but the writing is good. Their other book is listed as new adult, and I think that probably describes this, as well.

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Finished Dark Star by Oliver K. Langmead. Review is in last week’s thread.

Bingo squares: Plays With Words, What’s Yours Is Mine (HM), Mashup, Among the Stars (HM) (technically).

Finished it over the weekend. Despite descriptions being just a line or two, I still got a good sense of everything, thanks to other, strongly evocative lines (like you expect from poetry). In that way, I liked it quite a bit, and will happily try other verse novels in future.

However, in terms of story, I don’t think my opinion of Dark Star rises above “fine”. The noir aspect was about what you’d expect, but the worldbuilding (billed as scifi) was too much–or not enough?–dream logic to work for me. Reminded me a fair bit of A Man of Shadows by Jeff Noon, which I also didn’t really jive with.

Interesting idea, I’ll have to try it sometime.

Otherwise broccoli stems are not too versatile.

I just throw them into whatever I’m making that uses the florets (peeled and chopped, ofc), and it’s always been fine. Alternatively, try shredding/julienning them (again, peeling first) and throwing them into a fresh batch of coleslaw.

Fanart of artist rendition:

I have the sound of this stuck in my head now, thanks.

Finished The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson. I had heard this was a good early horror, and an inspiration to Lovecraft, and I definitely glimpsed that in a few places. The rest of it, however, hoo boy, was that a slog to get through. I’d expected the of-the-period prose style/voice, but it really felt like he smooshed several separate stories into one, with excruciating detail in some parts, and a complete lack in others. The only bright spots, for me, were aspects that seemed like proto-versions of things I’m familiar with (namely, the Dark Sign from Dark Souls, Piglins from Minecraft, and the Beach from Death Stranding), although I have no idea if they were actually inspired by this book or not.

Bingo squares: Older Than You Are (HM), It’s About Time, Among the Stars. May count for Bookception and Stranger in a Strange Land, as well, but ehhh.

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I’m a few pages into a couple of books atm, which I started as treats while I tried to get through The House on the Borderland: Foul Days by Genoveva Dimova, and Dark Star by Oliver Langmead. The latter is a verse novel, which I didn’t realize was a thing! Looking forward to seeing how the experience differs from normal prose.