I haven't finished my annotated edition of Shadow-Shapes - there's some scholarly texts I can't get hold of so far. But! I decided not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good, so for this Armistice Day, I've published to Ko-fi for free (later Internet Archive as well) an unannotated e-pub so at least the book is more easily readable. https://ko-fi.com/s/dbc1fae3cc The author is the woman in the middle btw!

Not a great showing for @PuddleJumper 's #PumpkabooHunt but the last few days at least I got back into a reading groove. Delightfully, there are now these little guys in Pokemon Sleep as of this week, and I've caught a decent one there too!

While I read a couple Gothic horrors, some eldritch horror, some horror romance, all on theme, the most horrifying thing I read was a WW1 ambulance driver's diary (which I'm now transcribing).

Well, everyone else has already rec'd my usual favourite, Jordan L. Hawk's The Forgotten Dead, so instead I'll rec this classic. I've mentioned before I think that now that I'm an adult with knowledge of Victorian queer coding and RLS's life, this reads very, very differently.

@PuddleJumper 's #HauntedShelf is nearly here! https://forms.gle/wmcY27wyx6awp3EfA
@BookwormAHN #BlackCatCrew

Been reading this on Twitch. I'm frightened to discover that the original 1909 book got a second edition in 1927 (pictured above) and haven't seen that later edition. It's a throwback cookbook in that most of the recipes have no measurements and I can't tell if some of these recipes were ever actually made. There's a cold mayo and peanut sandwich. It's been great as a focus to study food history though.

I do not have a curated TBR for October. I'm too much of a mood reader, and my TBR has grown to 1059 on StoryGraph alone (I have a different TBR on OpenLibrary...). I've started two long reads for my stream, and I'm pretty sure the two short books are going to end up in October. I'll be re-reading Jordan L Hawk for spooky reads, though!

@PuddleJumper 's #HauntedShelf will be here in only a month! Join us!
https://forms.gle/wmcY27wyx6awp3EfA

This did not survive the re-read. I'm going to read it on stream because my chat voted for it and it's a classic, but wow, Bram sure had ISSUES. He's obviously tormented by his own desires (especially since the man he loved was a jerk), and the anti-Roma racism is distressing, along with the constant re-affirmation of Victorian mores and gender norms. Harker's journal at the beginning is the best part. Skip the rest. Carmilla was so much better.

I haven't done one of these since March, so this is catch-up from that. I only just realised Don Quixote shouldn't be on here, but I'm not fixing it. It's been a rough few months for reading, with migraines and insomnia keeping me off new books for the most part, so the vast majority here is Twitch reading (either actually on stream, or seeing if a book would suit), but I got two SFF m/m romances in!

I emerge from lurk to diss this bibliophilic classic. What the summaries, wikipedia, and most reviewers don't tell you is that Blades was a Caxton-obsessed misogynistic prick, and his book is mostly hearsay and hyperbole. It wasn't a waste of my time because I tracked down some anecdotes that are now presented as verified facts and cleared up some history, but I did spend a long time wanting to slug the man.

•What are your favorite genres?
history, queer romance, classic lit

•What are a few of your desert island reads?
LotR, You Should Be So Lucky, Das Capital (I'd finally have time to read the whole thing!)

•What's your go-to reading snack?
Coffee?

•Weirdest or most interesting place you've read a book?
Sitting on a garbage bag in an empty parking lot

•What do you do when you're not reading?
play video games, hike

#BibliologistBio @monalyisha

March reading! A couple of these I started but didn't finish yet, but less than 9 on here looked terrible. I did complete the entire tome of Don Quixote finally, which makes it 3 reads (once before streaming it, once on stream, and once editing the stream videos...). Invitation to the dance was fun but not as good or well researched as Tamara Allen's other books. And also, the anticapitalist book is very accessible and you should go read it.

February was just not a good month for reading. Tagged and Omelas were both re-reads I let myself put on the card so it would look nicer. Besides, if you haven't read Eco's “Ur Fascism“, you should. Personal highlight was Beck&Call, which is a solid gay romance about working class men. It's not cosy - there's blackmail, job loss, cPTSD, and the relationship is rocky for a long time.

#WhereAreYouMonday I'm in 1790s England in the tagged book, 1670s Netherlands in The Black Tulip, 1600s Spain for Don Quixote, and 1810s Ireland for The Wild Irish Girl. Tragically, only one of these books is gay. Also a rare week when I'm not in WW1...

I've been re-reading a lot of classics for my Twitch streams (in addition to stuff I hadn't read before), so this happens to me a lot. Such as discovering that I actually enjoy Dickens... if I'm reading him aloud for other people! But I tagged my go-to example because I read this as a straight (heh) horror novel as a kid. Now I read it knowing all about Victorian queer coding and it's a completely different novel.

#sundayfunday @BookmarkTavern

My January reading.The tagged was fantastic, and reviews are hilariously divided between trans-mascs giving it a 5/5 and everyone else giving it 1-3. Two trans men be gay and do crime with one brain cell between them. Explicit on-page sex, though completely different from Adversary's. No hate reads this month, though some I definitely bounced off. And I finally finished Balefire! It's good, I just struggled for no reason.

Tagged was my first read this year. It's a difficult book, & unlike Blue's other full books, it's not all ages: it's a graphic novel w/ explicit on-page BDSM sex. Blue's author's note is extremely helpful in understanding the comic, which I think is underdeveloped & too fragmentary, but it also makes sense that it is. I wouldn't suggest it to straight people at all because it's very much written for a queer audience. #SundayFunDay @BookMarkTavern

I didn't add up my word search numbers. It ended up being a very hectic and stressful holiday season, so I didn't post much on Litsy or read half as much as I'd hoped. This is mostly just the ridiculous number of bingo cards (55) I added my 22 books to, as well as getting to include audio editing time to my Twitch read-along books. I only got 2 full bingo boards. 😂

#wintergames #wintergames2024 #xmaschachas #christmaschapterchasers
@StayCurious

The #MRC2025 is finally here! Read 12 books in 2025 using the prompts. Tag me if you read a book for it!

There are more graphics and links to a Google sheet and StoryGraph challenge on my blog https://harpgriffinbooks.wordpress.com/2025/01/01/happy-new-year-2025/

Background image courtesy of Victorian era William Morris & Co.

@LitsyEvents

The #FRC2025 is finally here! Read 25 books in 2025 using the prompts. Tag me if you read a book for it. I review all the books participants read each year when the prompts overlap with the URC.

There are more graphics and links to a Google sheet and StoryGraph challenge on my blog https://harpgriffinbooks.wordpress.com/2025/01/01/happy-new-year-2025/

Background image courtesy of Victorian era William Morris & Co.

@LitsyEvents

The #URC2025 is finally here! Read 52 books in 2025 using the prompts. Tag me if you read a book for it. I review all the books participants read each year!

52 makes for terrible bingo cards, so I don't make those, but there are more graphics and links to a Google sheet and StoryGraph challenge on my blog https://harpgriffinbooks.wordpress.com/2025/01/01/happy-new-year-2025/

Background image courtesy of Victorian era William Morris & Co.

A couple days late posting this. Everything in November was good except, weirdly “Love Is All You Need“. Don't let the cover fool you, it's not queer. Also, I hated half the quotes. Oh well.

The tagged book is the latest pdf-only book I'm transcribing.

What I really wanted to tag is The Oak & the Ash, which is a lovely queer historical romance focusing on working class men and the gentry are sympathetic villains.

I actually made this bingo for a video game scavenger hunt* and then I thought “you know, it would work for Litsy/books too“, so I thought I'd share it. #wintergames2024

*It's an Advent Calendar style item hunt. We need to find items (not UI elements) in video games from fresh save files. Games can only be used once by anyone participating, so it's both cooperative and competitive. We all made bingo boards to try to predict this year's items. 😂

I actually really am super looking forward to reading the Dickens classic on stream again this year. It was so much fun last year and made me realize that I'd been made to read Dickens wrong - read him aloud, to listeners. What was always a slog became a joy. I haven't decided if I'll try reading Dickens' own presentation version. Illustration of Fezziwig's Ball by John Leech.

#wintergames2024 #xmaschacha #earlybirdpoints @StayCurious

I see all these fun “have people pick books for you“ games but other than my obligatory books (stream reading or epubs I'm making), I'm a huge mood reader and also how do you even begin to tackle my monster 1043 books on Storygraph alone? Especially as I find their filters kind of useless (eg pages starts at 300 or less???). And I have 3 or 4 TBRs at this point...

#wintergames2024 #xmaschacha #earlybirdpoints @StayCurious

🌲 We have 4+ trees, so both!
☕ I like both, but egg nog is hard to find here, so hot cocoa it is!
🎊 Eve is traditional, but so is 12 days and we'll have maybe 3?
🍖 None of these! We have tourtière and cipâte.
🏠 We'll be doing dinner parties around the province?
❄ Snow, I'm fairly far North, eh? 😆

#ThisorThat #XmasChaCha #WinterGames2024 #EarlyBirdPoints @StayCurious

This is my WW1 memoir for Twitch this month in honour of Armistice Day. It's not my favorite of non-combatant WW1 memoirs, but it's still interesting to see the perspective of a 56-58 year old gentleman volunteer (his father was a Sir!), with 4 children at home, including his eldest son (17-19, yes, he served). Also, as a francophone, I relate so much to his rants about French “Administration“.

October reading roundup - doesn't include short stories outside of anthologies. Nothing was egregiously bad this time, though a few weren't half as good as they could have been.

The tagged book is easily my favorite, and I had to add it to Litsy. Absolute catnip for me - queer, disabled men in WW1 dealing with their PTSD without sounding like a modern therapist, and talking literature. The cover is not quite right but it could be worse.

Final #HauntedShelf points check in for Team #Flerken

9380 points! I did not read as much as I had hoped, and most of my bingo boards have single lines finished, with only Body Count Bingo getting a blackout, and only after I decided to count short stories individually. I did not, in fact, catch 'em all. I did much better in Pokemon Sleep this month. 😂

@PuddleJumper

Trying to catch up points and posts for #HauntedShelf for team #Flerken!

2 words, R for @texreader's #HalloweenAtoZbingo 22 readathon or bingo squares including #BodyDoubleReadathon and #CozyReads #31by31 plus 1 medium #PumpkabooHunt and a move on the #promptmaze, a book cover...

Book rec: chilly night, paranormal, jump scare, snuggles, series. Read The Forgotten Dead first! It's actually a CHRISTMAS book if you want spooky for December. ;)

A this or that for @Eggs #WondrousWednesday this week!

Coffee, though I do like cocoa, too.
Green! So vibrant!
Spooky - at first I thought funny, but I bounce off so much pure humor.
Tangible book - I listen to audiobooks to make more hours in the day, but physical for enjoyment.
Halloween - we get a whole season out of it!
Gloves - just practical!
Low-key - I like parties but not that often.

Not my first read of #HauntedShelf for team #Flerken, but the first one I've finished figuring out points for. 😂

13 words, D for @texreader's #HalloweenAtoZbingo 21 readathon or bingo squares including #AfterDarkBingo #BodyCountBingo #GottaCatchemAll and #31by31 plus 1 medium PumpkabooHunt and a move on the #promptmaze and a book cover (mist), plus it's a spooky book from my TBR.

Oh, and I absolutely think more people should read this book. 😁

I just wanted to tell all of you that I'm not dead and I'll be back to #hauntedshelf shenanigans after the weekend. Technically, I was up to bookish things, as I've been on literature-focused panels with authors, publishers, and scholars: Gillan Polack, Juliet E McKenna, Nick Hubble, Vanessa MacLaren-Wray, SL Dove Cooper, Cheryl Morgan, and Kat Dodd. Tomorrow I'll be adding AK Faulkner and Theresa Jean Tanenbaum to the list.

September reading! The tagged book has 0 historical accuracy and 10/10 (ace!) vibes and I manually added it.
👍 The Good: Madman's Library, Princess Princess Ever After, Viscount Debacle, Rescue Cats, Snow Fairy, History in Flames, Ducks, Dewdrop

😐 The Meh: Crumbs, Mr. Jones, Skip&Loafer, Mushroom Color Atlas

☠ The Bad: Ink in Water, The Girl Who Drew Butterflies, Heartbreak Diet, Asterios Polyp, Footnotes from the Most Fascinating Museums

1. You think I'm planning anything? There's a whole series of Jordan L Hawk's I haven't read yet, so that? Probably?

2. Naw, not since I was a kid. Now it's just raking season.

3. Pumpkin Spice lattes and cider donuts, neither of which I'm going to find around here, alas. Well, the latte I can fake by spicing my coffee. 😂

4. I'm gonna catch so many pokemon and post so many bingo board blackouts. I hope.

#HauntedShelf #Flerken @PuddleJumper

For my #HauntedShelf #LetsGoPoints book rec, I just HAVE to get folks to read this horror romance by one of my faves Jordan L. Hawk. It's genuinely creepy (and for me, scary because I'm not much for horror) despite knowing there's a HEA. For the bingo boarders, you get: a gay trans man, a former defensive tackle love interest, ghosts, a seance, haunted houses, a taste of dark academia, and the rest is spoilers sorry! @PuddleJumper Team #Flerken

I need to snag some #LetsGoPoints for Team #Flerken for #HauntedShelf so let me promote the sign-up sheet to my tiny followers list, even though I strongly suspect almost all of you are participating already. 😂

Come pick up my slack this October, because the first week is definitely not going to go well for me (I gotta run Dublin Octocon first!).

https://forms.gle/EYiyBXSKoybhkKDX6

@PuddleJumper

I couldn't join any of the mini-TBR games for October because of the state of my TBRs. Storygraph has 1027 books, OpenLibrary has 818, and Libby has 717. There's SOME overlap but not nearly as much as you'd think. If I had any idea how to narrow these down for someone else to pick books from, I'd be making more progress on them haha.

#Flerken #HauntedShelf @PuddleJumper

I was hoping to squeeze in 3 more books to have 20 for August, but insomnia and migraines have not been cooperating.

Didn't like the majority of books here. Sheets was terrible.

Fighting for Yes, Seen, Dice, and Rosie Revere were fine.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built was a way overdue finish that was good. The Mysteries is absolutely not what I expected from Bill Watterson emerging from over 2 decades in retirement or whatever he was doing.

Saw this one via @willaful and decided to pick one of my Twitch reads (I usually have 6 or more books on the go at once!).

🐉 It's nonfiction about fossils - Mantell was a country doctor and a paleontologist. He discovered and named Iguanodon, as well as 4 of the 5 genera of dinosaurs known in his lifetime!

📚 I'm un/self-employed, streaming and making epubs of public domain books for now.

#whatsyourjobmonday @cupcake12

1) Read 📚
2) Laundry ✨
3) Read 📖
4) Chocolate! 🍫
5) Both - pen for writing, pencil for puzzles and drafting 📅
6) Ask questions 🔍
7) Be one - never meet your heroes 😂
8) Fish 🐟
9) Neither - except used book stores! 🏪
10) Snowy ❄

#WondrousWednesday @Eggs

For once I've remembered to post for #Hyggehour which I spent getting increasingly annoyed at the tagged book's errors. Dr. Rip may (hopefully) know his science, but he's an insufferable pedant and he gets history and etymology woefully wrong. Also, victim-blaming the 2004 and 2011 tsunami victims sure is a choice! Don't worry, the hate read was nonetheless cozy haha.

@TheBookHippie @Chrissyreadit @jenniferw88

1. Apparently Yoko had not been listening to the man from the start.
2. Call me Ishmael.
3. Piping down the valleys wild
4. The one thing everyone in Wychcomb St. Mary agreed on was that Mildred Hoggett was up to no good.
5. This is Oscar Fox with Outfoxing the Paranormal!

#firstlines @monalyisha

1) I read daily, anywhere from a single page to hundreds. It's really random and depends both on the book and my health. I once read a 700 page equivalent manuscript in one night.
2) “Sheets“. I knew I wouldn't like it, but I didn't expect to be furious. It's AWFUL.
3) Tagged. I read classics for fun and on my stream so I just picked the most recent full book that I'm not likely to take the time to review.

#wondrouswednesday @Eggs

July reading went better than June. I tagged the book I've been streaming, which is a wild ride from 1755 that I'm transcribing for epub so everyone can enjoy.
Don't read: The Girl from the Other Side, The Witch Boy, and Made in Korea. The latter two the authors mean well but oh boy, no no no.
Everything else on here was okay to good, nothing really amazing though. I disagree with everyone that The Haunted and the Haunters is better unabridged.

1) It was the name of a character that's spoken only once across 9? novels in a web-published series from the early 2000s. I'd been using it for a while as my preferred name as well, but I've got a new one of those that fits better.

2) Puzzles, laundry, minor repair work (eg fixing christmas light strings), rote data entry (like finding word counts for books on my for-stream list)

3) Tagged! Thanks Librivox!

@Eggs #WondrousWednesday

1) No. I'm very unlucky so I think placing bets would be cursing whoever I wanted to win. I don't gamble in any way.

2) This book is so good. I hate baseball and NYC and I don't usually like historicals set this recently, but Sebastian is just that good.

#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView

Yes, I have absolutely been perusing old Regency pamphlets and laughing at credulous bloggers and historians alike. A number of them seem to think this, like the “Description of the Mermaid“ of the same year, was an advertisement. They clearly haven't read it, because it's a classic very dry Regency satire of the former. Both Cruikshank brothers illustrated the mermaid, adding to the confusion.
I'm currently transcribing this for e-pub. 🤘

Didn't read much in June because I've been bouncing between actual migraines and just bad headaches, and reading is one of the things I have a hard time doing with migraines. I hated Abandoned, Killer Fashion, and Ships. The two comic memoirs were not great but I didn't hate them. The Girl from the Sea was fine. But I absolutely LOVED Tramps & Vagabonds. I'll be looking to see if I can get more Gray not on Amazon, because it was so good.

May Reads!

I tagged the Queer History book because I rarely see Canadian queer history featured. It was a great book. Most of these books deserve an entire review of their own. I technically haven't finished A Sense of Shifting as of this post, but it balanced out the image. I hate baseball and Cat Sebastian still delivered.

The Monk and the Mermaid was okay, Star Trek Cats was for Trekkies only, and Ancient Egypt was a surprise disappointment.

49/100 although some I might have forgotten? So many of them I absolutely hate on here. So many. The horror and action films used to be on cable a lot, so I saw them thanks to life on the road staying in hotels.

I guess my top three would be
The Muppet Movie
Fiddler on the Roof
Blazing Saddles

#TLT #ThreeListThursday @dabbe

1. I got to visit the British Library in 2019, which was basically everything I hoped for. But I ALSO visited the Chester Beatty in Dublin 3 times in that same year, and got to view texts I never dreamed of getting to be in the same room with, some of them thousands of years old.
2. Library! I currently have 4 physical library cards I use digitally, as well as 2 virtual libraries.
3. 😅 I have 10 books in progress.

#WondrousWednesday @Eggs