I finally get to read something on my new-to-me Kindle, but my ARC doesn‘t have the cover attached so I‘ll still refer to my iPad from time to time. Gotta soak up the cozy bookstore vibes.

I‘m enjoying the book as of 20%, but I haven‘t totally clicked with it yet. Fingers crossed that happens this afternoon, possibly over another salted caramel chai latte. #gaymay

This week‘s library haul, which I picked up just ahead of another big rain. (I like rain, but I like it MORE when it happens outside the times when I wanna go cycling.) I got a bunch of comics for Gay May, plus an experimental novel and the tagged memoir. The Asian Heritage Month display called to me, too, and I chose one cookbook to take away. #gaymay

And now, readerly joy! I loved this YA romance about a trio of queer teenage actors navigating their way through K-drama roles and Seoul adventures and the perils of existing in a society where most of the older generation is actively homophobic. Lyla Lee strikes a good balance between the delight they all take in one another and the very real threats to their careers and their relationships with their parents. #gaymay

And now, some readerly disappointment.

THE BAKER AND THE BARD has extremely cute art. Unfortunately, it doesn‘t match the energy the script puts out. It wants to be a very specific sort of thing, in the same vein as K. O‘Neill‘s work, but it lacks the little details and narrative flow that‘d bring it all together into an affecting package.

There‘s potential here, but the execution could‘ve been much better. #gaymay

Second read of Gay May! I liked this interdimensional novella a lot, but it‘s very much the first part of a serial rather than a full story with a resolution. It‘s always nice to spend time in Dunedin, though, and to meet toast-bunny-monster-pet thingies. #gaymay

THIS BOOK STARTS OUT FRICKIN ADORABLE WITH THE CHARACTERS BOUNCING OFF EACH OTHER ABOUT CHEESE AND FASHION AND DOGS AND FRIENDSHIP, AND THEN IT GETS HEARTBREAKING WITH BRIE PROCESSING FEELINGS AND IDEAS HER SOCIETY HAS TOLD HER ARE IMPOSSIBLE, AND THE ART IS SO GREAT, AND THE WORLD IS SO COOL, AND I LOVED IT SO DAMNED MUCH I WANNA SCREAM ABOUT IT ALL DAY. 5 STARS. #gaymay

Lily Chu juggles a lot with THE TAKEDOWN. Sometimes the balancing act plays off big time, with plot elements like toxic positivity, interfamilial racism, and corporate corruption handled with both the sensitivity they deserve and the panache fiction demands. Sometimes it slows… the pace… right… down.

The story is worth your time, but save it for when you‘re in the mood for a book with something to say & a tendency to spread out while it says it.

THE THIRD MAGIC was a huge deal for me when I was a kid. I paid SERIOUS MONEY for it at the Book Market (we‘re taking $1.75, compared to

I‘m dying to read an ARC on my new (-to-me) Kindle, but THE SINS ON THEIR BONES was only available to me as a PDF through the NetGalley reader and it expires soon, so here we go! It‘s very moreish so far, though there are a couple of issues that‘ve kept me really liking it instead of loving it. We‘ll see how it develops (and if it‘s a full story; at this point, it feels like it could lead to a cliffhanger).

The indie bookstore trading cards I picked up today are so much fun! Each one has a drawing of the owner/main bookseller(s) on the front with a photo of the store and its pertinent info on the back. I didn‘t get one for my local, unfortunately, but I was glad to see some other Canadian stores in my pack. The tagged one is run by a mother/daughter duo who just celebrated their 60th year in business!

Presenting my Indie Bookstore Day haul! They had lots of cool stickers, notebooks, and pins as swag, plus tea and chocolate (not pictured because dogs).

I talked my mum into going with me , and she chose the tagged book to save for Mother‘s Day. On top of that, I bought an RPG book, a brainteaser puzzle, Day of the Dead stickers, and a holographic sticker of Haida artist Ernest Swanson‘s Nuu (octopus), which I also have as a bowl.

I went straight from breakfast to the Children‘s Hospital Book Market, where I knocked four things off my wishlist! Alas, nobody donated anything by Charles Stross or Kay Kenyon (my two big book hunt targets at the mo), but I was glad to give the sick kids some money and fill out my personal Skip Beat! library at the same time.

A Chinese feast yesterday means Hunan-style lotus root for breakfast today! They used a lot of doubangjiang this time for extra deliciousness.

I‘ve seen a lot of people say they loved the first story in this collection but weren‘t nearly as keen on the rest. Me, I‘m loving it all as of 55%. Kim Fu has a lot to say about monstrousness, from a great variety of angles. I like her short fiction much more than her novels.

This week‘s library haul consists of the final volume of FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST and some exciting stuff for Gay May. I‘m amazed the librarians processed A SWEET STING OF SALT so quickly. They normally drag their feet on anything genre, but I guess they‘ve decided this one‘s literary enough to merit better treatment.

Then again, THE BAKER AND THE BARD has been out less than two months, too. Maybe they‘ve checked their genre processing bias. #gaymay

They don‘t advertise it on the box, but Funko‘s enormous enamel Storm pin glows in the dark! I‘ve been enjoying her eerie light since last summer, but she never got bright enough for my phone‘s camera to pick up until a few days ago, when I had the overhead lamp on for a bit longer than usual. Now I get to share this joy with the world.

Yesterday‘s outdoor reading session, with Casey assisting. I tore through the first half of DREAMS MADE FLESH and still loved Lucivar and Marian‘s story very much, with all the usual caveats. The big one: I forgot Karla‘s canonically queer, and I‘m disgusted that Bishop‘s worldbuilding still forces her to bed a man to preserve her jewelled power. Gender essentialist magic is crap. Let her ditch her virginity with a nice lady instead.

I‘ve gone from basically never buying books to snatching up scads of them. 🤷‍♀️ Last night I bought two from Kobo‘s April VIP sale and fell prey to a duology they suggested in the little upsell bar when you go to check out. Gay May‘s coming up fast and I really want more queer fantasy in my stack. #gaymay

It‘s mystery time with Casey! I agree with those who‘ve said this second Bangalore Detectives Club outing doesn‘t have quite the same energy as the first, but I‘m still enjoying my time with Kaveri. She‘s a great sleuth to hang out with.

I‘m now a two-ereader person. My old Kobo was tablet-style, so I could load books from multiple retailers via apps. Ever since it died and I switched to a Clara 2E, I‘ve had to read old Kindle purchases and ARCs on my iPad. (You CAN load ARCs onto Kobos, but the DRM makes it a frustrating process.) I considered thrifting a $15 Kindle this weekend, but when I told my mum about it she offered me her old Paperwhite instead! It‘ll make life easier.

I went back and bought a Three Kingdoms opera doll yesterday, even though I only know the story through references in other things. It was too cool to pass up, and they only had two left (compared to seven on Monday) so I got there just in time!

I also found replacement copies of the first four Vlad Taltos novels, which I gave to a friend and then told her to pass along. Alas, this copy of JHEREG contains zero pressed leaves. Dammit, Past Me.

This week‘s library haul, plus the changing-face opera doll I did indeed go back to buy on Monday. They‘d already sold one, so I‘m glad I stopped in! The current face is Bao-yu; the others are Dai-yu, Bao-chai, Wang Xi-feng, Shi Xiang-yun, and Grandma Liu (with thanks to my phone‘s built-in translation function, since the box is in Mandarin). I‘m kind of obsessed with it, and I was delighted to learn opera dolls are a whole genre of collectible!

I lost some momentum with my 700-page fantasy, so I decided to take a break at 50% and dive into Lily Chu‘s forthcoming book. The story‘s great so far, with tons of complicated family dynamics, toxic positivity, workplace diversity issues, and online treasure hunts. I‘m loving it on that level—but y‘all, Chu is a present tense writer and I don‘t remember her being this dependant on (or this clunky with) the past perfect in her earlier books. Blah.

I made it through a goodly chunk of TELL ME HOW TO BE while I built this tiny crystal windmill. I can‘t say I dislike the book, but it feels very EXPECTED, with a fair few stereotypes in play and without enough of a spark to compensate for any of it. I‘m surprised, given how many Littens adored it. Sparkiness is subjective, though, and at least I can be glad it was there for them, even if it‘s not there for me. #audiopuzzling

Somebody donated a bunch of changing-face opera figures to the thrift store and I maybe got way too excited when I realized some of them were from A DREAM OF THE RED MANSION (also called THE RED CHAMBER, or THE STORY OF THE STONE in English), which is my project book for this year! I didn‘t buy one but now I kinda wish I had. Maybe there‘ll be some left next time.

More outdoor reading with my favourite little dude. I wouldn‘t normally start something this long during the Readathon, but I‘m in a fantasy mood and I can put at least a small dent in it before I fall asleep. #deweysapril2024

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

That‘s another volume of SKIP BEAT! in the bag! This one didn‘t flow quite as well as the last couple, so I regular-loved it instead of being all OMGOMGOMGZZZZOMG, but I still laughed and gasped and had a great time watching the Japanese Route actors practice performing together in English. I can‘t wait until they land in the US and more superdramatic plot stuff comes to fruition. #deweysapril2024

I finished the tagged book during my daily Candy Crush time, and I loved it. It‘s fun, funny, emotional, and perfectly in tune with that state of being where you‘re desperately trying to figure out what it seems like everyone else in your situation has already mastered. #deweysapril2024 #audiogaming

We‘re into Hour 4! I finished THE KAMOGAWA FOOD DETECTIVES, read another essay from LIGHT IN GAZA, and had a shower. Now I plan to read a few X-Men issues before I dive into some manga. My Marvel Unlimited library currently sits at 232 issues and I‘d like to get it down to 220 by the end of the Readathon. #deweysapril2024

Dewey‘s 24-Hour Readathon is about to begin! It‘s my 32nd consecutive ‘thon (which: whoa) and I‘m all set to kick it off with another chapter from THE KAMOGAWA FOOD DETECTIVES. It‘s lovely so far; a little bit like MIDNIGHT DINER in how it uses particular dishes to unravel the mysteries behind people‘s lives, but without the show‘s underlying grit. #deweysapril2024

I finally had enough time with my own spice cabinet to make another recipe from ON THE HIMALAYAN TRAIL happen! Haembe te nadir (or beans with lotus root) was just as good as I hoped it‘d be. My lotus root didn‘t take on as much of the ver masala‘s colour as the stuff in the example photo did, but it sure sucked up the flavour. My tastebuds were happy.

First library haul since I got my bike out of storage! I picked up all my holds, which‘ll also be my stack for this weekend‘s Readathon, and fell victim to a display of books that had never been checked out. I chose the tagged one and a poetry collection in translation.

The book in shadow is LIGHT IN GAZA, an anthology of Palestinian essays.

I hadn‘t heard of BAD SUMMER PEOPLE until it turned up in my library‘s Express section, but I love a book about rich people behaving badly so I jumped on it. I got through the first 50% while I did various hands-on-brain-off stuff earlier, and I feel good about all my choices. It‘s like east coast Jackie Collins on vacation.

One of the things I did while I listened was block this baby shawl. I‘m happy with that result, too. #audiocrafting

Throwback to yesterday, when I didn‘t want to put QUEEN OF THE DARKNESS down long enough to take a proper picture with Casey, let alone post about it. This series is far from flawless, but I love the characters and the vibe so much that I can work past the bits that stick in my teeth (like all the gender essentialism and the alpha male bullshit). This reread has especially confirmed Surreal as my Black Jewels MVP.

Last night‘s supper involved xiao long bao with lots of chili oil, broccoli, and the final volume of HEAVEN OFFICIAL‘S BLESSING. Alas, I‘ve had a lot of trouble sinking back into the story. These Chinese fantasies divided into multiple English volumes could really use Previously On… summaries. Hopefully I‘ll manage to click with it as I move into the final confrontation.

The Vlad Taltos Musical Episode (aka LYORN) is the perfect blend of fun songs, theatrical shenanigans, heavy plot stuff that builds on everything that happened to Vlad in the previous books, criminal endeavours, and commentary on what it means to stand up to tyranny.

I LOVED IT SO DAMNED MUCH.

I want everyone who likes fantasy to read it, but it‘s the penultimate book in the series so I want y‘all to read some of the others first. Okay? Okay.

Still plugging along through THREADNEEDLE. A lot of reviews compare it to THE CRAFT, which I haven‘t seen, but it reminds me of a contemporary take on A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY by Libba Bray—except I like this one better.

BUT—ain‘t there always a but?—it really does feel like a 600-pager that should‘ve been a 400-pager. It‘s lost some of its momentum as Anna whirls around through magic without really approaching her climactic choice.

A new volume of SKIP BEAT! dropped on Tuesday after a gruelling year-long wait, so I‘m doing my traditional partial reread to prepare. This morning I hit the first of the volumes I own through Kobo rather than comiXology and I figured I‘d see how it read on my actual Kobo instead of the iPad app. Turns out, e-ink is great for manga! I‘ll still read all my western comics on the iPad, but I‘m glad I‘ve got a more portable option for Japanese stuff.

First outdoor book & beer session of 2024! I‘m still enjoying THREADNEEDLE, but it‘s started to feel its length. (Litsy says it‘s 400 pages, but Kobo says 591 and that seems more like it.) Hopefully it stays good all the way through.

Also, I‘d definitely call it more mature YA than full on adult fantasy.

The beer was delish; dark and rich in that way that evokes non-sweet molasses, if you know what I mean. Perfect for witchy teenagers, too.

Throwback to yesterday afternoon, when it hit 9° and I got to hang out on the deck with two decidedly not stray dogs and another selection from this strong short fiction collection. We‘re gonna repeat the scene later today.

Ivy is supremely disinterested in my new book, but I very much enjoyed the first 23% of THREADNEEDLE. Looks like this impulse buy paid off! I want things on Anna‘s behalf and I‘m excited to see how this world develops.

The book‘s a bit odd, though, in that I can‘t quite tell if it wants to be an adult fantasy with younger characters, as its publisher suggests it is, or a young adult fantasy with a more adult slant. We‘ll see how it plays out.

To be honest, I‘m more or less dragging myself through this Marauders run (how is all this queer time travel into the distant past so dull?), but I do very much like the idea of all the mutants from maybe-alternate future dystopias betting on which of their timeline‘s crappy things are gonna happen first.

When it‘s 4° in October, you shiver and moan. When it‘s 4° in April, you read on the deck while the dogs play tug-of-war.

(Okay, you shiver and moan a bit too, because it still ain‘t WARM but at least it‘s above freezing.)

I made a good start on this popular time travel romp, and it looks like it‘s gonna be fun! It‘s also, um, the first of my 16 2024 purchases I‘ve actually read. Gotta whittle the list down this month.

I always like to have a hot drink on hand when I start a new Vlad Taltos novel, what with Vlad‘s klava obsession. Someday I‘ll look up the actual klava recipe (surely other fans have worked it out), but for now, Vietnamese coffee will do.

And the book is a DELIGHT. It‘s the Vlad Taltos Musical Episode, complete with theatre jokes! But there‘s also lots of heavy plot stuff! And commentary on Things! And cool continuity bits!

I‘m a happy reader.

This takes place in such a gloriously weird world that I really, really wanted to love it. Alas, I‘m bailing at 45%. Holton clearly aims to rethink women‘s roles in Victorian England, but she‘s done so within a framework where the women in question are more concerned about any sort of skin-darkening than they are sexual assault, and where they gleefully embrace colonial trappings like Pygmy bones as ornaments. No, thank you.

I‘m babysitting sweet Wesley and his brothers tonight, and I‘ve reread a big chunk of HEIR TO THE SHADOWS in between play sessions. It‘s clicked for me that the reason these books are so readable and compelling, despite the dodgy bits, is how well Anne Bishop nails that all-important balance between the mythic and the personal. These characters are PEOPLE first, no matter what dark magics or ancient social orders govern their lives.

I drank my first rice lager tonight, and it was delicious! The rice came through good and strong, with the same character it gives to sake, while the elderflower added a subtle citrus note.

I also read another little chunk of THE STORY OF THE STONE, which I‘ve gotta finish tomorrow morning before I make a library run. I wanted to go the day after tomorrow so I‘d have more time with my loans, but I totally forgot about Good Friday closures. Sigh.

Back to the whole book + SleepyCasey thing. I‘m enjoying DOUBLE EAGLE a lot more than I did DEEP HOUSE, but King‘s mysteries do feel a bit repetitive when you read three of them in pretty quick succession. He repeats a lot of his scene-setting and/or character-defining details, which helps when it‘s been a while and doesn‘t when it hasn‘t. The inconsistencies leap out, too, like how Ivory ages about four years in four months. 🤷‍♀️

I made a Trans Rights Readathon recs grid for Instagram and figured I‘d share it here too. Most of these are by trans and nonbinary (or agender) creators, with a couple of selections by cis people with trans loved ones. Some engage deeply with transness; some are just good stories by trans folks. Individual titles tagged below. #transrightsreadathon

I‘m loving LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY, just like the friend who leant it to me promised I would! It‘s one of those stories I can fall right into and fully inhabit, though I don‘t find it as funny as the jacket copy says it is. I mean, there‘re funny bits here and there, but on the whole I don‘t find sexism gives me a lot to laugh at. 🤷‍♀️

Elizabeth would disapprove of my Spice Tailor supper, but it‘s so tasty I ain‘t even sorry. These kits are delish.