Welcome to Litsy!

A fascinating podcast on Roman Saturnalia #wintergames #xmaschacha +5pts

I intended to take just a teensy poke at SHADOW BARON before bed last night, then ended up devouring 17%. The onemorechapterness is real.

Now I‘m gonna dive into another big chunk while wee Geo and I wait for his mom to get home from her vacation. We‘re trying to enjoy this precious snuggle time instead of focusing on how basically everything in this picture is in greyscale. My kingdom for a colour ereader to showcase this vibrant cover.

I started rereading NOTORIOUS SORCERER this afternoon ahead of the third book in the series, and I‘m shocked it doesn‘t have more Litsy love. This is great stuff, people! Grab it if you want a queer fantasy with excellent characters, inventive magic, and tons of genuinely interesting politicking.

I shall read more while I drink this mead, about which I have too many comments for Litsy‘s character limit.

Library Book Sale Haul Part 2:
The Bold New Women (Misc. collection)
Alchemy by E. J. Holmyard
Idylls of the King (and other poems), Tennyson
Women & Fiction 2 (short stories)
The Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Puzzles by David Wells

I really enjoyed this second book in the accidental alchemist series. It centers around a new mystery while continuing a plot line from book 1. I really like the characters and that there‘s a live gargoyle in the story. Pandian infuses the story with the right amount of quirkiness.

I think this had a lot of potential, but it didn‘t quite do it for me. There was a little too much angsty YA romance. More focus on the magical elements and the world building and less on the romance, and this would‘ve been a pick. Still, could be good for someone who wants a romantasy that‘s got a more down to earth plot (i.e. not filled with epic wars/battles, but smaller-scaled conflicts).

July turned out to be a bummer for books! 😭 I had been looking forward to Tidal Creatures by Seanan McGuire for AGES and it was wildly disappointing 😰.

It was no surprise to see my hours listened FAAAR surpassed my pages read. I've been listening to books at work nonstop lately 😬

🖤 Let me know what faves you've read this past July to see if there's anything I should add to my TBR!

🖤 #julyreads #wrapup #monthlyreview

I enjoy this series. Tidal Creatures felt a lot less focused but that could have been by design since one of the points of the book was that rather than there being one very special magic person there can be lots, and that can be a good thing. I do kind of love the concept of an Impossible City and how the yearning for it, as understandable as it is, is used by awful people to justify awful things.

This was just okay for me. I listened on audio and I didn‘t really like the male MCs voice/accent. It kept taking me out of the story. Wes is an alchemist looking for an internship and shows up at Maggie‘s house. Her mother is away but she invites him in anyway where they slowly build a friendship. This a different world where there is a lot of different racisms based on their backgrounds and $75 is more money than they‘ve ever seen.

Just hangin around outside with FMA while we wait for the rice to cook. Casey gets a small portion with every meal (he eats four times a day thanks to a pancreatitis bout a couple years back) and I plan to steal some from his pot to go with my leftover beans & lotus root. #deweysapril2024