Work has been busy since the new year and it was a struggle getting back into work mode after holiday mode, so I didn’t check in last week. Since my update I have posted two whole reviews; Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy and Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. If you missed it you can also check out my top ten most anticipated releases for the first half of the year.
And I’ve seen a glimmer of sun over the last few days!
I think last time I mentioned trying to walk along Hordle Cliffs we nearly got blown into the sea and aborted. Well since the weather wasn’t terrible at the weekend, we decided to walk to Milford-on-Sea. They have moved the fence, and therefore the path, back from the cliff edge a serious amount, so you no longer feel like you could tumble to your death at any moment. Scully, who is scared of numerous ridiculous things, likes to live life dangerously by standing right on the edge to try and find a way down to the water. I have witnessed dogs going over the edge before and they just scramble back up, so she’d probably be OK. My blood pressure on the other hand…
She looks at us like, “this is good place to go down, come on!”:
Having not fallen off any cliffs, I’ve made a great start on my reading challenges for the year, with A Pho Love Story by Loan Le fitting prompts for all of them. This was a cute YA romance between the children of two rival Vietnamese restaurants. I was totally invested in finding out how their grudge started.
I recommend When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo if you need a tiger book for Popsugar, and don’t worry if you haven’t read the first one as it works fine by itself. Lovely story about storytelling, and tigers!
I finished listening to Nick Offerman’s Where the Deer and Antelope Play which I started last year. While I generally agreed with his points on intensive farming and how crap some Americans have been recently, I was kinda here for him talking about his walks round national parks, which was only a small portion. He fanboys a lot over James Rebanks’ farm in the Lake District and I felt I might have been better off just reading one of James’ books.
Where the Drowned Girls Go must get the award for fastest time from hitting the doormat to being read. I loved this instalment of Wayward Children, which focuses on a different school for wayward children, one which is the exact opposite of Eleanor West’s.
And then I read another review book, The Old Woman With the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo, translated from Korean by Chi-Young Kim, which I really enjoyed. Review will follow closer to publication date. And of course, I scared myself with Echo as previously mentioned.
New books acquired:
Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire
The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater (ebook)
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata (ebook)
There’s No Such Thins as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura (ebook)
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Those cliffs do look rather unstable so probably a good move to re-locate the path.
I’ve just finished The Old Woman With the Knife. It was an odd book – i enjoyed part of it but also got a bit bored towards the end
I quite like odd Asian books, so I think it was what I was expecting.
Great reading! As soon as I saw the tiger on the cover I thought “Popsugar challenge!”
And your walks always bring back such wonderful memories for me of time with family–expansive British beaches, cliff tops, and walking paths.
Wow, that looks beautiful.