Platform Decay by Martha Wells

I find Murderbot books cozy even though they have so much tension and action. Murderbot is a funny and relatable character and Wells continues to build their character development through the series. It’s great character writing. I like that most instalments of this series are slightly different than the last one in terms of type of adventure. This one was a long journey to safety through a dangerous and strange landscape. An unpopular opinion but I am not a big fan of ART so I was glad they were barely in this one and it was mostly Murderbot and humans.

June 18-22, 2026 on Kobo Libra 2.

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

DNF at 69 pages (16%). Recently, the topic of perspectives in novels came up in the Reading Glasses podcast and I contemplated and read discussions around it. First person narratives are very hard to do well. Third person gives authors more room and are generally more forgiving. Bad or mediocre first person perspectives often ends being a lot of telling rather than showing. This was the case here. The narratives of the three main characters were dull and 1921 Opaline’s voice was very similar to the modern ones. As a reader, I was told a lot of their circumstances, but I did not feel interested in any of them. If anything, I was a bit irked. There was an insta love romance with the two modern characters who also felt a bit stupid as well. I did not read enough to know more about the magical realism or the actual premise of the book store. That should have come earlier than the shoddy character writing.

June 23-25, 2026.

Black Coffee by Agatha Christie and Charles Osborne, John Moffatt (Narrator)

As we are going through the Poirot novels chronologically, this was #7. Originally written as a play, the Christie estate commissioned Charles Osborne to adapt it into a novel. I read reviews that this was not a great adaptation as a result. It was not that bad. It was a locked room mystery and was a short novel. Hastings appeared to be more bumbling than usual. It was not a bad Poirot story, but not as good as the Blue train that came before it. Narration was quite good.

June 17-26, 206.

Ascendance of a Bookworm (Manga): Part 3 Volume 4 by Miya Kazuki, quof (Translator), Ryo Namino (Illustrator)

I am catching up to the recently released ones. I still have yet to get to the new light novel series or watched the new season of the anime. All in good time. It’s nice to dip in and out of Rozemyne’s world. I liked this one because of the beautiful moments between her and her lower class family.

June 27, 2026.

At Bertram’s Hotel: A BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisation by Agatha Christie, adapted by Michael Bakewell, and narrated by a full cast

This was a radio play instead of the audiobooks we had been listening to. It was abridged as a result. I did not want to listen to the whole novel as I read it 16 years ago but did not remember the ending. We listened to it after watching the ITV Marple of the episode and there were some changes. The ITV episode was better than this radio play which was really heavy on the exposition through dialogue. Marple was even more of a busybody than usual in this version since she was eavesdropping everywhere. At least we now know these radioplays are not great for us and will avoid them.

June 9-16, 2026.

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This was excellent as usual from Taylor Jenkins Reid. Her novels are easy to read but not shallow or insipid. They always offer interesting characters and relationships. I like her lead characters even if I do not relate to them. This was a very well done sapphic love story. I became invested in Joan and Vanessa’s relationship. I liked the space plot. I preferred this protagonist to the one in Project Hail Mary. The ending made me wish I had more time with the characters.

June 14-16, 2026. Partially on Kobo Libra 2.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

I wanted to like this more and there was some very good writing here. I do not think it was as good as the hype let me believe. Then again, it was still better written than most modern day thrillers. I liked the literary focus on the characters and the 1970s camp setting was done well. It was tense which is why I am not a big fan of thrillers and there was lots of sexism. A lot of the characters were sketched out well but I only wish there had been a more emotionally from certain characters like Tracey, Judyta, and Louise. Overall, it was a well written novel and I would consider reading more from the author.

June 17-20, 2026. Partially on Kobo Clara BW.

Turning to Birds: A Memoir in Essays by Lili Taylor (Narrator)

This was a nice birding book to listen to as I walked and gardened. It was reflective of the author’s experience as a birder. I did learn about the controversy about house sparrows from this book which made me really wonder what I would have done in Taylor’s point of view. She actively actually tried to kill them. The world of birding becomes more and more nuanced and complex as I read more about it.

June 12-21, 2026.

Ordeal by innocence by Agatha Christie, Hugh Fraser (Narrator)

This Christie novel was one of the better ones. Maybe since we jumped into a novel written into a 1950s novel, but the quality of the writing here was one step higher than the 1930s Poirots and the 1940s Marples we’ve been reading. This was much more of a psychological thriller. I do not like thrillers, but the way Christie wrote the insights of the characters was well done.

May 27-June 8, 2026.

Moi qui n’ai pas connu les hommes (I have who have never known men) by Jacqueline Harpman, Lola Naymark (Narrator)

I read and listened to this in tandem in the original French. It took me 2.5 weeks to finish it. I am much slower in French than in English and I am not completely fluent. Listening to it tandem with the audiobook helped my French practice. I understood about 80-90% of each page. At first, I was not able to appreciate the prose fully but it got easier around the halfway mark. I do not like reading dystopian novels so the lack of world building details or explanation was fine with me. I am also not a plot reader and the plot here was limited. The book was more reflective and philosophical. It centred on what it is like to be human being and a woman at a base level. It had a lot on isolation and the human condition. There were a lot of meanderings about life. I was neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the ending. I liked the language and the character work especially considering how short it was. It only felt long because it took me awhile to read but it did enough as a novel considering the actual length.

May 23-June 9, 2026 on Kobo Libra 2 and tandem audiobook.

My Perfectly Imperfect Body by Debbie Tung

As a fan of the author, I had to read this one about her journey with body dysmorphia and eating disorder. As usual, the art was well done and the mood uplifting at the end.

June 10, 2026.

Immortal by Sue Lynn Tan

I adored the Daughter of the Moon Goddess series. I grew up with the same mythology and TV dramas. Tan even made me like the love triangle. So I had high expectations going into this one. It was written well in terms of the world building but this book lacked something. The main couple were drawn to each other too quickly and there was a twist that made everything clear later on. I still did not feel like I cared about the romance. In general, it can be difficult for me to invested in romances. I do not have to root for the romance to appreciate a novel especially if it’s fantasy. I wish it had more character work on both of the leads. I wanted more from the non-romantic relationships in the book. It also took me much longer than usual to finish this book because it did not hook me in. It’s too bad because I bought the sprayed edges edition.

May 30-June 14, 2026. Partially on Kobo Libra 2.