Made it to the 4th book of the Temeraire series before needing a break (the 3rd book felt a little slow/less engaging than the first 2, and it probably isn’t, I just need to read something else for a bit), and my new library holds arrived, so I read Murder at Haven’s Rock by Kelley Armstrong last night. It’s a spin-off or sequel series to Rockton, and revisiting the characters was a treat.

I started reading some fantasy by T. Kingfisher (both books of The Clocktaur War and a standalone or two), and I enjoyed the duology enough to request some of her other fantasy books from the library, so I’ll read some more of them next week. I’d only read some of her horror novels previously. (The afterword on Bryony and Roses made me want to reread the two Beauty and the Beast adaptations by Robin McKinley, so I’m briefly detouring there.)

I read through first book and supplement novella of the Captive’s War series by James S. A. Corey, because while I didn’t love every bit of the Expanse novels and short stories, I really enjoyed the series as a whole, and definitely didn’t regret sticking with it. I’d read the next book–I’m intrigued and want to know what happens next!

I also read the first two books in the Mirror Visitor quartet by Christelle Dabos. Apparently they were written in French and translated by Hildegarde Serle, if any fantasy fans are still looking for hard mode for bingo square 1B, give the first book a chance and see if it sparks your interest. It’s called A Winter’s Promise, and it’s listed as both young adult and romance as well, but I wouldn’t have said the first book was either of those (just not what I expect from either of those categories).

Finished 1066 and All That (library books get priority in case someone else is waiting), started Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand but wandered off when the story switched to the 2nd main character being introduced about 75 pages in (but I’m gonna come back to it, I just made base camp), and I picked up As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes with Joe Layden from the library today.

…Hard for me to answer that, as I’m still wrapping my head around it, but I’m going to say yes, as while I haven’t seen the adaptation, you almost certainly get a lot more of the main character’s thoughts and point-of-view, as well as more worldbuilding. The way the city (and the city) work is clearly integral to the plot, but I didn’t feel cheated by it, in any case.

Tearing up the ‘D’ column of my bingo card–I finished The City & the City by China Miéville, Mad Hatters and March Hares ed. by Ellen Datlow, and Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne.

I really liked The City & the City, but it took a good long while before I felt like I was getting a handle on how the society worked, and I’m still not convinced I fully grasped it properly by the end. But it was twisty and turny and enjoyable to read. Also, the first (maybe only) book I’ve read this year that required the Merriam-Webster website on my phone nearby (I learned “encomia”, “rood”, and “machicolation”. Also “grosstopically”, but that was just made up for the book, apparently.)

Mad Hatters and March Hares was easier for me when I read a few stories and then switched to longer works in between to break it up. Some of the stories were pretty creepy, but I enjoyed the theme of the anthology.

Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea would work for either the Cozy Read square or the LGBTQIA+ square, and was very light and quick for me to get through. I had fun with the characters, and would read more by this author as a palate cleanser.

I’ll be starting Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand this evening, and I picked up 1066 and All That from the library on a recommendation from the bingo recs page, just because it sounded neat, so that should be coming up this week.

Just finished Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros because of the cliffhanger of the last book, but this one just didn’t grab me. It took me a lot longer to get through, and I had a break in the middle where I wandered off and read other books instead.

I started Whispering Wood by Sharon Shinn last night (as the 5th and last book in the Elemental Blessings series) and it’s…all right, I guess. Definitely doesn’t feel like the series will conclude with a bang, but that seems to be the case with her other series as well. Having said that, I really enjoyed her stand-alone book Summers at Castle Auburn and have re-read it a few times.

Way to crush hard mode for 4A!

Of course, here was my planned card, happy to share and hope it’ll be useful for someone else if there are any repeat squares next time. Probably my favorite book from the card was Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland. I really didn’t expect it to be as funny as it was, but I laughed out loud quite a bit. I ended up recommending it to all my friends afterward. I used the recommended thread, but I tried to pull as many books as possible from my TBR, to make some additional progress there as well, and almost all of these should qualify for hard mode.

1A - Older Than You Are: Hope Mirrlees - Lud-in-the-Mist 1B - Water, Water Everywhere: J.V. Jones - A Cavern of Black Ice 1C - What’s Yours is Mine: Alexandra Rowland - Running Close to the Wind 1D - Family Drama: John Steinbeck - East of Eden 1E - It Takes Two: Stephen King & Owen King - Sleeping Beauties (not hard mode)

2A - New Release: Heather Fawcett - Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands 2B - Plays with Words: Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange 2C - Independent Author: Michelle West - Hunter’s Redoubt 2D - Bookception: Jasper Fforde - The Eyre Affair 2E - Disability Representation: Lois McMaster Bujold - The Curse of Chalion

3A - Easy, Breezy, Read-zie: T.J. Klune - The Lightning-Struck Heart (not hard mode for me, sadly) 3B - Stranger in a Strange Land: Edgar Rice Burroughs - A Princess of Mars 3C - One Less: Baroness Orczy - The Scarlet Pimpernel (hard mode with 1A) 3D - There Is Another: Adrian Tchaikovsky - Salute the Dark 3E - LGBTQIA+ Lead: K.J. Charles - The Magpie Lord

4A - Now a Major Motion Picture: Mario Puzo - The Godfather 4B - It’s About Time: Rob Grant - Backwards 4C - Award Winner: Larry Niven - Ringworld 4D - Mashup: Aliette de Bodard - The House of Shattered Wings 4E - Local to You: Jonathan Lethem - Gun, with Occasional Music

5A - Debut Work: Ralph Ellison - Invisible Man 5B - It’s a Holiday: Ray Bradbury - The Halloween Tree 5C - Institutional: Victor LaValle - The Devil in Silver 5D - Minority Author: Samuel R. Delany - Trouble on Triton 5E - Among the Stars: Christopher Paolini - To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

I planned out a full card…and then didn’t finish it. Here’s the “C” column books I read to complete my bingo:

1C - What’s Yours is Mine: Alexandra Rowland - Running Close to the Wind

2C - Independent Author: Michelle West - Hunter’s Redoubt

3C - One Less: Baroness Orczy - The Scarlet Pimpernel

4C - Award Winner: Larry Niven - Ringworld

5C - Institutional: Victor LaValle - The Devil in Silver

With a shout out to column “E”, which I almost made it through as well. Thanks so much for putting this together–it was a lot of fun, even if I didn’t meet my goal of reading all the books. I’m looking forward to planning my 2025 card!