The perils of book buying… a weekly check-in

So this time Jay Kristoff broke Waterstones. I think retailers need to be made more aware of the risks of doing a special edition of one of his books. Through the highly weird workaround of turning off the wifi I got an order in for Empire of the Vampire. I am not that bothered about it being signed but I did want the sprayed edges if I could get it.

I have a giveaway happening on Twitter. It’s UK only this time but I hope to bring back my monthly international giveaways when retailers sort their stuff out (or if I can work out if I can use Blackwell’s who seem to still be shipping to mainland Europe). I need to keep better track of my pre-orders so I don’t make the same mistake again…

I finished off the Truly Devious trilogy this week and read the shortest book on my TBR for Popsugar, which was In Sea-Salt Tears by Seanan McGuire though it barely counts at 24 pages. Well, they did ask for the shortest! It was lovely yet sad, and has reminded me how far behind I am on October Daye.

I also listened to Don’t Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri for a book from a Black Lives Matter reading list. This was so interesting and enlightening. She talks about the politicisation of black hair, some of the history of black styling products and her experience as a mix-race girl growing up in Ireland, with very few black people around her. I thought the last few sections related to maths would be a great companion to Binti, as something just clicked into place about the relevance of maths and fractals and relevance to African culture.

The weather has been so wet and horrid lately. Fortunately no flooding, but our daily walk has got a bit too muddy even for us. So Scully is sulking a bit at not getting a proper walk. She is trying to entertain herself the best she can: