Just about to start this one. I hope you CAN tell a book by its cover. PRETTY.

I enjoyed this story overall. It‘s a pick, with a few caveats: the ending doesn‘t quite deliver, swapping some of the carefully described pseudo-science for unnecessary & unexplained ‘magical‘ devices; and I‘m not sure about the handling of racism & racial stereotyping (sometimes felt like there was weird blurring between character inner monologues and the authorial voice). Curious to know what others think...

Made a little pilgrimage to the Central Park carousel when we were in NYC - where Holden Caulfield takes his little sister Phoebe at the end of Catcher in the Rye.

“I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, if you want to know the truth. I don‘t know why. It was just she looked so damn *nice*, the way she kept going around and around in her blue coat and all. God, I wish you could‘ve been there.”

LOVE 😭❤️📕🎠

It‘s like someone has looked into my soul 😄 “Grace rubbed her hair and felt like a Philistine for wanting rain. Throughout the winter she always believed that she was a summery sort of person. Unfortunately, this was not true... she was sick of being too hot. The sky showed no sign of greying, so she had resolved to spend the day in the cool of the library”.

Started this one now and enjoying it so far. Character and setting grabbed me straightaway & there are already several ~strange goings-on~ at the Home Office... I‘m basically happy! I think it will be a good holiday read.

Enjoying this so far... period settings, mysterious painting, what‘s not to love! Will be rewarding myself with a couple of pages every few hours, in between writing a conference paper... #phdlife

Next one! 👀

Ready to go back on the shelf! As you‘d expect from a novella, the plot is straightforward; but it‘s a good taster for the other books, with the same eye for historical / political detail. Did the trick of getting me back into good reading habits after a lapse!

I love this section from ‘Culhwch ac Olwen‘:
“He had a battle-axe in his hand... it would draw blood from the wind. His steed‘s four hoofs would cut out four clods, like four swallows in the air above him. Not even a tip of a hair on him stirred, so light was his steed‘s canter beneath him on his way to the gate of Arthur‘s court”. 💕🤓📜📝 #phdlife

Feels like an undersell to call well-researched historical thrillers #cosycrime but when you‘ll happily read about dismemberment over a bowl of cocopops...

Turning to Giordano Bruno to get me out of my recent reading malaise... And to Chloe‘s recommendation of the app 🤓🤓 Let‘s seeeee