Fancy noodles + an important book. When you start reading about Indigenous rights in Canada, you run into a LOT of legal cases. Gabriel does a thorough job of discussing how those cases are weighted against Indigenous folks and the role state-sanctioned Indigenous governments play in that process. It‘s another Canada Reads Longlist title I‘d be glad to see jump to the shortlist in a year or two.

I finished catching up on SKIP BEAT! while Ivy and I enjoyed the outdoors together, and oooh! I loved this volume! Great interactions between Kyoko & Ren, intriguing new characters and settings, and some long running plot threads heading for fruition.

Also, a cat named S‘more. I love it when animals have food names.

Looks like this‘s a two-volume year, so I‘ll anxiously await Vol 51 in the autumn.

Turns out, I need to know what happened in the Prince‘s Game series before I can dive into the M.C.A. Hogarth novels I‘m really keen on. I did read and like EVEN THE WINGLESS a few years ago, but it was very long and very slow-paced and it looks like the rest of the books are the same. I just don‘t want to invest that amount of time in them when I might only keep Kobo Plus for another month.

So here I am, reading Hogarth‘s official summary.

Rainy day reading with Ivy. HOWEVER FAR AWAY isn‘t bad so far, but it all feels extremely EXPECTED. I‘m hoping for some surprises now the wedding‘s about to start.

ONE NIGHT IN BOUKOS is really good, but I‘m limping through it at a glacial pace because I can‘t seem to sit down and actually READ it. Blah. I‘m definitely enjoying it less than I should be. Reading slowly is the worst.

Today I figured I‘d give a big chunk of my afternoon to it, but I‘m dealing with one of those energy-sucking hell colds. I had to NAP. Napping is the other worst. Now I‘m gonna make another push, wrapped in tweed for warmth.

My first library haul in a looooong time features a couple more titles from the Canada Reads Longlist, a couple that just looked good, the latest Dublin Driver mystery, another Auld Lang Spine pick, and a couple of sequels.

Short fiction, coffee, and a hot cross bun (made with mixed fruit, of course; I cannot approve of the raisins-only version). My PROPHECIES, LIBELS, & DREAMS reread has brought me at last to “The Lineaments of Gratified Desire,” which is maybe my all-time favourite short story (/novella). I first read it in a YBF&H anthology and immediately knew I had to seek out and devour everything by Ysabeau S. Wilce. This was one of my better resolutions.

I‘m glad to have an A.J. Demas novel to read and a Casey to snuggle. France is great for dog watching but less great for random doggie interactions. They‘re all so well-trained they don‘t even come say hi to you when they‘re on a long leash.

I‘m sad to be back somewhere cold and brown, where most stuff was built in the 1970s or later and I‘ve gotta pay attention to my expensive food‘s country of origin again. 😔

Here I am on the TGV, listening to my audiobook as we barrel towards Paris. I had all sorts of problems with this ticket when they decided to shrink the train, only to discover yesterday that, despite the gymnastics the lady at the station did to get me a downgraded seat, they automatically reassigned me to a fairly decent one right across from the smaller-train equivalent of my original seat. And no one sat in my first seat, so here I am in it.

Leftover dandan for breakfast, alongside the next Dreamhealers novel. I think I‘m just gonna punch through to the end of this series now. It‘s nice to have sustained time with the characters instead of wondering when I‘ll get to see them again. The individual books are expensive and they‘ve never gone on sale the whole time I‘ve had them on my wishlist, maybe because of their inclusion in subscription services.

This particular series has always been a lamentable gap on my Roan Parrish reading list, so I was glad to see IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMEWHERE on Kobo Plus. I hit 26% while I ate supper, and it‘s great; lots of deeply felt emotion, academia, strong friendships, and a dog.

Alas, this delicious dandan defeated me. I don‘t think I even managed half; possibly because of my Happy Hour beer in Place Plumereau. It‘ll be breakfast or an early lunch tomorrow.

Just bobbing around from park to park with my still-delightful book (which also takes a serious look at marital difficulties, in amongst all the fun bits). The Jardin Botanique de France was especially nice.

I absolutely bought this beer because of Jean Cocteau, and it‘s actually delightful. Yay! So is this madcap murder mystery from Alexis Hall. It‘s jam packed with references and oh, how I‘ve GIGGLED at it so far. Gonna read another big chunk while I finish the beer.

I‘ve come across a few Little Free Libraries here in France, but tonight‘s find had the best selection! It‘s located in a little park devoted to Fritz, the iconic elephant of Tours, who I met at the Musée des Beaux-Arts last week.

I made the trip over to the far railway station this morning so I could visit Chenonceau, which was lovely! I spent a good hour tromping around the grounds before I even went into the chateau, and I had a lunch & book break in a whimsical garden dedicated to landscape architect Russell Page, with sculptures by François Xavier Lalanne.

I finished DREAMHEARTH when I got home, and it was another lovely read from Hogarth. Such great characters.

I haven‘t read much since I last posted because I did make it to Villandry along the Loire à Vélo! It was an amazing day. The path itself is beautiful and these gardens were absolutely worth the trip.

This was also my longest bike ride ever—more than 50km! It was my first ride of 2025, too, so we‘ll see if I can move tomorrow.

Now I‘m gonna chill with my book. I‘m excited to dive back in.

I‘m up earlyearlyearly to see if I can rent a bike and explore the Loire à Vélo, but first: coffee and book. I read the first third of DREAMHEARTH while I waited for the rain to back off yesterday, and I‘m excited to read at least a third more today. If the bike rental isn‘t possible, or if there are lots of scenic lookouts to stop at, maybe I‘ll even finish it.

I didn‘t get to do a huge amount of outdoor sit-n-read earlier because it was kinda cold, with impending rain. (Three cheers for my superlight umbrella!) I did start another Jackie Lau novella in front of this ruin, though! The wall was part of a 16th century townhouse that was destroyed in the 1940 bombings. Behind me, a post-war building has incorporated the townhouse‘s chapel, which looks mostly intact.

I‘m still feeling pretty raw about the problems I‘ve faced since I got to Tours (in brief: a railway fire means it‘ll be way harder for me to visit chateaux AND way less comfy for me to return to Paris, since they inexplicably shrunk the TGV and I lost the great seat I chose and paid for weeks ago), and my foot still hurts like a bitch, so I think I‘m just gonna limp between reading spots today.

First up: my couch with this lovely novella.

I woke up to a scary email about changes to my train back to Paris. I rushed over to the station at 10:00 to resolve it, but the office didn‘t open until 10:30 so I killed time in this nice little park.

The staff tell me there‘s no issue with my seat, no matter what the email says, but I‘m still gonna worry until I‘m actually on the TGV.

In other news, THE SHABTI is great! Interesting characters, strong horror elements, solid conflict.

So, it turns out the restaurants of Tours mostly don‘t open until 18:00 or 18:30. I NEEDED food, so I had another half a baguette and some salmon salad someone left in the cupboard.

I also have language fatigue. My written comprehension is great, but my aural stinks, and I‘m tired of always being embarrassed and ashamed because I can‘t understand people. I‘m just gonna hole up inside and be kinda hungry with this historical mystery.

I listened to THE HOUSE OF LIGHT AND SHADOWS in its entirety on the bus ride to Tours, where my view was mostly shrubberies and canola fields and I learned French rest stops are called aires. The book was a good ghost story complete with a creepy house, late 19th/early 20th-century trick photography, and sisterly bonds torn asunder.

The Palais Garnier, where the Phantom lives, has a deal where, on the day of the performance, only at the box office, you can get a limited-view seat for €10.

I had to lean in sometimes, but my €10 view wasn‘t all that limited. (And I took this when photos were allowed again!)

Also, I felt very much like Thara Celehar today, because I searched for graves in a cemetery the size of a small village, then went to the opera and sat in a strange box.

I finally made it to Pere Lachaise today, and Proust was my #1 dead person I had to visit. The map I found online turned out to be wildly unspecific (right quadrant, wrong position for EVERYONE), but I ran into a nice lady who offered me help and steered me right to him.

Alas, I never did find Sarah Bernhardt, but I also said hi to Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison. The latter is so rowdy they‘ve got metal event barriers around him.

And now, a short historical mystery by Elizabeth Bear and Katherine Addison, begun near the Chapelle Expiatoire, where Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette‘s bodies rested after their executions and such revolutionary figures as Manon Roland are interred.

The book‘s great so far, but I completely crashed at about 50% and had to fall asleep immediately. I shall finish it while I wait to see if I can land a (steeply discounted) opera ticket for tonight.

Today‘s tourist site reading. I did the Musée d‘Orsay this morning, then headed to the Musée Rodin for their excellent gardens.

I had a lot of fun with A CAPTURED CAULDRON and it was great to see all the characters again, but it didn‘t sparkle the same way A RIVAL MOST VIAL did. So I‘m in that weird position where I‘m disappointed with something I really liked. Still, I‘ll read any other Side Quest Row books Ashwick throws at me.

Every day I bring home a baguette, and maybe some meat & vegetables if I‘ve run out, and I have a sandwich while I listen to a couple stories from the tagged book. One of today‘s was an intense Warchild-universe story by Karin Lowachee.

Today‘s baguette came from a bakery established in 1889. It was good, but the less established shop around the corner from me does a better one. #audiocooking

I‘m four hours into my Louvre visit and I‘ve still got most of the sculptural gallery to go. Before I tackle it, I need to sit on a red velvet couch (my favourite thing I‘ve found in Paris, seriously) and read my book for half an hour or so. My left foot‘s been in agony for about four and a half hours now and I‘ve just got on with it, because what else can you do, but now I need a BREAK.

I‘ve rather neglected my SKIP BEAT! reread since I got off the plane, but I‘ll dive back into it tonight while I finish this old-style blonde beer courtesy of my cheap grocery store. (Everyone says Parisian food is expensive. Just shop at Carrefour City and you‘ll be fine!) (Unless you want candy. THAT‘s expensive.) NB: I didn‘t have a bottle opener until I found this Eiffel Tower-shaped one hanging outside a kitschy tourist store. It was €0.50.

Today I walked 16.75 km around Versailles, with occasional stops to read bits of THE SITCOM STAR. It‘s cute, and I continue to loooooove how Jackie Lau doesn‘t Americanize her work in the slightest. Y‘all will appreciate that my tolerance for Americanization is currently at an all-time low, which is saying something.

My sandwich was great, too. Honestly, the bread from my cheap grocery store is better, but the filling was SO TASTY.

Flowers and coins for Victor Hugo. He shares a tomb with Alexandre Dumas and Emile Zola, but nobody‘d left anything for them as of early this afternoon. 😔 Hopefully they also receive cool presents and the Pantheon staff just clear them away periodically.

Finished the tagged book while I waited in line for the Sainte-Chapelle security screening. I thought it was gonna be delightful, but it ended up being more heartwrenching with a SIDE of delight. What a great story about learning how to treat people right and accept that you deserve good treatment, too.

And OOF, the CHAPEL. I haven‘t taken tons of photos in Paris because I‘m too busy doing stuff, but I took a ton in here.

Today involved a trip to Shakespeare and Co, as one must do when one is in Paris. I wrote a little in their Reading Room (a very little; someone else got to the convenient desk ahead of me) and bought some postcards since they don‘t allow photography.

My library discarded this third Gethsemane Brown mystery (but not the rest of the series), so I was very glad to see it on Kobo Plus. I read it in transit the other day, including during a long stint by the tin trees at the Calgary airport.

So, I didn‘t sleep on the plane, then I walked all the way to Le Marais, toured the Museé Carnavalet, and walked back. That only left me time for 15% of YIELD UNDER GREAT PERSUASION before I passed out, but that 15% makes me think this is gonna be DELIGHTFUL. I shall make up the time tonight, alongside my excellent (and cheap!) baguette sandwich and the second cheapest wine my new favourite grocery store had. It‘s actually pretty good.

Last morning reading alongside this lopsided cutie before I go to France! I‘d be a lot more excited if my Airbnb host, who insists on meeting guests instead of using a lockbox, would respond to me. As it is, I‘m stressed and angry and very much hoping I don‘t need to call on Airbnb‘s insurance policies to find another place on the quick. We‘ll see if I can concentrate well enough to tackle another chunk of this excellent novella.

Doing the whole “early to bed with book & mood lamp” thing. I read and loved the first 25% of STRONG WINE last night, but today was so busy that this is the first chance I‘ve had to get back to it. Gonna try for 50% before I pass out. #MFMarch

I‘ve officially reached the point in my SKIP BEAT! reread where it‘s all ebooks, all the time. No more hauling around bulky bags of physical copies! Whee!

I also have the volumes on my iPad, but I love how manga looks on e-ink so I‘ll read as many of them as possible on my actual ereaders. #MFMarch

Did a puzzle so I could finish MEMORIES OF ICE a bit quicker. As with the first two, I enjoyed it overall but I think time has softened the edges that made the series groundbreaking back in the day. I do wish everyone would curb their impulse towards bombastic internal monologues, too. There‘s a LOT of that.

I probably won‘t have much listening time in France, so I‘ll get the next one in late April or so. #MFMarch #audiopuzzling

Here I am, biding time with a cute dog and my daily short story while I wait for the snow (UGH) to stop. I keep reminding myself that next week I‘ll be in France, where it‘s supposed to be 20° and I won‘t even need my new tweed jacket.

In the meantime, I‘ll continue to be impressed with Drew Hayden Taylor‘s range. This guy excels at every genre he turns his hand to. His SF is as great as his nonfiction, his theatre, his YA, etc. etc. #MFMarch

Geo helped me read a goodly chunk of BECOMING A MATRIARCH this afternoon. It‘s another Canada Reads longlist title I‘d love to see jump to the shortlist in a year or two. Knott‘s a powerful writer. #MFMarch

I read the first 30% of SALT MAGIC, SKIN MAGIC last night, and I‘m hooked. Lee Welch writes the kind of prose that practically reads itself, with great characters and an intriguing version of 19th century England to boot. Penny‘s promised she‘ll help me devour the rest of it today. #MFMarch

I don‘t buy many knitting books because my library has a great collection, but they don‘t own this one, it‘s full of intriguing patterns (including leaves!), and it was $1.50 at the thrift store.

I also got cherry turnovers from the grocery store on the way home. Between the dogs‘ morning exercise and my trek to the thrift store, I‘ve done 9km so far today. Pastries are necessary.

I dug into SAFFRON ALLEY before bed last night, which was a mistake because I was too tired to read more than 20% and I wanted to devour the whole thing. A.J. Demas is so good at illuminating relationships and digging into the uncertainty that comes when you‘ve had a really intense, interrupted connection with someone and you need to figure out how to build on that within the framework of your everyday life. #MFMarch

I decided to do a Kobo Plus trial because a) they offered me bonus points, b) it‘ll give me a steady supply of digital, due-dateless reading material while I‘m in France, and c) I can finally knock a bunch of stuff off my wishlist. I began with A THIEF IN THE NIGHT, KJ Charles‘s thief/victim romance set in the same world as THE GENTLE ART OF FORTUNE HUNTING. It was great. Penny appreciated the snuggles she got as my reading buddy, too. #MFMarch

I got an iron on my jacket this morning, and now it‘s done! Next up: the trousers. I‘ve mostly finished them, but I want to redo the lining because the stuff I chose is way too loud.

I‘m making good progress through MEMORIES OF ICE, too. It amazes me how very D&D the worldbuilding is, but I guess that‘s all in line with Erikson‘s stated goal to offer a more nuanced take on a particular kind of fantasy. #MFMarch #audiosewing

Saki‘s just chillin‘ by my fireside bookstack. The top book, BAD ENDINGS, is my current short story collection, and it‘s a strong one. Carleigh Baker excels at finding the slices of experience that illuminate a character‘s life. #MFMarch

Supper was tasty Korean fried chicken and kimbap that was SUPPOSED to have kimchi rice instead of plain rice. Booo. I would‘ve gone for shrimp over tuna mayo if the menu hadn‘t lied to me. At least my new Jenni Keer is enjoyable. I hope to log a couple more hours with it tonight.

Also, this was a LOT of chicken, so I‘ve got tomorrow‘s supper sorted too. #MFMarch

Here I am, making my sloooooow way through A MODERN UTOPIA. It‘s more interesting than I expected, and Wells has made a solid attempt to balance different perspectives as he crafts his ideal society. That said, this is still very much an early-1900s-style Utopia, and I expect the next chapter, on the role of women, may leave me somewhat scowly.

ALSO, I‘ve realized I have H.G. Wells & George Orwell tangled up in my head. THEY‘RE DIFFERENT PEOPLE.

The fifth SHAPERS OF WORLDS anthology reminded me a lot of F&SF under Gordon Van Gelder‘s editorial eye; which is to say, it offers up a wide variety of SFF subgenres, balanced well within the TOC. While there were a few humorous notes that didn‘t quite land for me and a few stories that skewed too conservative for my tastes—also reminiscent of Van Gelder‘s F&SF—only two stories out of twenty-four didn‘t work for me at all. Definitely recommended.