18th July 2026

A delightful collection of early Pratchett short stories, aimed at kids but perfectly accessible and entertaining for older readers too.

It's almost Pratchett Light. There's less complexity and less subtlety than in his later works, but you can still see the beginnings of what would later emerge.

There's a lot of humour, but also a lot of morals - not heavily, but there just to guide the story and guide the reader.

Many of the stories share a common setting, in a parody of the real world, and that's quite fun to visit multiple times and see how he's used the slight fantasy version to poke fun at society.

A good set of fun tales.

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11th July 2026

The second novella in the Threadneedle universe, this one appears to be a standalone not directly related to the other books.

We meet Miranda, a misunderstood teenager who struggles with relationships, obsesses over rules and perception, and is frustrated by how she's treated. She finds a mystery box in the attic, which starts to upset the delicate balance of her existence in magical ways.

I found it quite an emotional novella to read, with a lot going on, and with a lot of sympathy for the character, despite her also having shortcomings that I can imagine frustrating those around her. There's a lot going on in her head and for a short book it can be quite overwhelming to experience.

A really interesting story, and I enjoyed spending time with it.

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11th July 2026

Raven and Fisher return... surprisingly younger than I thought they were... for another series of unfortunate incidents as someone close to them suffers an untimely death that's in need of delicate investigation.

As always with this series, some of the subject matter is pretty bleak. It's historically accurate and dives into some of the darkest aspects of 18th century society, and doesn't always make for the most pleasant of reading experiences.

Despite that, the plot is captivating, and as a reader I constantly wanted to continue and find out more about what was going on. The characters also continue to be compelling, and it's been fascinating to see them and their relationships grow and change over the series - although as I said, I'm shocked to find their entire adventures have happened over just 7 years of story.

I don't know that I feel comfortable recommending the book, because there are elements that are difficult to read, but it is a good book and highlights aspects of the past that would be easier to forget, and probably shouldn't be, because they do still reflect on things in current society.

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11th July 2026

The Queen is back, but it's fairly early in her reign and she's on the royal train to Scotland when something unexpected is spotted from the window.

It's a great mystery, following the clever spin of the series where the main investigator must never be revealed and must work through intermediates.

Like a classic spy novel, we get to visit exotic locations, and discover plots within plots. There's some classic jokes as well.

A really lovely series that I'm really enjoying collecting.

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29th June 2026

The final episode of the HRMC trilogy sees the various witches of the coven facing their own personal issues, which they'll need to overcome first if they're going to also deal with the big bad...

I enjoyed the book and revisiting the characters and world, but imagine I could have enjoyed it more if the first two novels were fresher in my memory.

I think my main issue with this was that it's not great to be reading apocalyptic fiction during what feels like an actual apocalypse. It wasn't quite the diversion I needed last week.

But I also felt like the story had moved away from where I'd felt it had started - it's become a big epic war, and I wanted more about the characters and their lives. But that is the way of narrative.

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20th June 2026

Ava and Luke's second mystery box from their dad's attic contains a wealth of leftover documents from a deadly 1983 school trip to the Natural History Museum in London.

As usual with Janice Hallett's novels, we're told the story through messages and documents, rather than a prose narrative. And so we learn things naturally as the characters at the time chose to document them.

It's a clever story with lots of threads that gradually unravel and reveal the story to the reader. The only thing that felt a bit weak to me was the wrap up at the end, which felt like it could have been longer and more dramatically presented.

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20th June 2026

Not my usual choice of reading matter, but I've been enjoying listening to John Green's various podcasts, so thought it worth a try.

It's a mix of emotion, history, and a tiny bit of science as Green tells the story of Tuberculosis in humanity, entwined with the story of his Sierra Leonean friend Henry's experience with the disease.

The book is structured into well-sized chapters which fit into a short reading episode, and allow for regular breaks to avoid the nature of the content overwhelming the reader. I found that this meant I could read one chapter at a time and intersperse them with reading something much much lighter.

I've learnt a lot from this about tuberculosis, but also global politics and economics. There's a lot to think about and I think it'll be sitting in my mind for a long time to come.

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