Iris

This is ominous... hoping it will be nothing.

A new month and a new week on the same day is a sign.

A screenshot from the game Reverse: 1999, showing Ezio Auditore.

Took much fewer pulls than I thought it would, yay.

Cover of Hummingbird Salamander, by Jeff VanderMeer.

7. Hummingbird Salamander (Jeff VanderMeer). I really should have read this with more focus, rather than being interrupted several times - it all rather dissolves in my mind now and that is unfair to it.

Cover of The Knight of the Swords, by Michael Moorcock.

6. The Knight of the Swords (Michael Moorcock). Comfort reread. One of the fastest-paced books I've ever read; as soon as it has done enough with what's in one part of the book it moves on to the next part without delay (reminds me now of the Mabinogion (and similar) in some ways).

Cover of The Mercy of Gods, by James S. A. Corey.

5. The Mercy of Gods (James S. A. Corey). Felt very setup-y, but I liked the well enough to want to read more of it.

After almost a year the maps I drew for Might and Magic suddenly turn up (I really should keep better order). A sign to get back to where I left off.

I think it is! It's like scratching an itch when you find a high concentration of something. Sometimes I have just sat for a minute watching the planet turn.

Planet scanning is sort of relaxing though.

Much mourning today.

I can't recall the last book I read this way (read one chapter straight through, read same chapter with all footnotes and commentary, read same chapter straight through again).

Right at this moment I'm firmly convinced that Kirby's Adventure is the most beautiful game ever made.

Have fun!!

This is always the solution!

I have now started reading Ulysses again. Last time I stopped indefinitely at about three quarters in, this time I will Definitely finish it. I think.

I hadn't thought of that, that sounds annoying indeed!

A drastic change?

A screenshot from the game Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom, showing a bay full of fishing docks.

The same bay, flooded with water; none of the buildings can be seen anymore.

This is why I keep away from water if I at all possibly can.

I have again started playing Ground Control, and it's so very good, even with the frequent bits of oddness.

The very dim silver lining of train delays is that at least you have time to read.

Cover of Vintage Murder, by Ngaio Marsh.

4. Vintage Murder (Ngaio Marsh). Murder in a touring theatre company in New Zealand. A lot of working out timing and alibis etc, fairly well done, also really nice descriptions of the theatre people and the New Zealand landscape. I rather liked it.

World of aardvarks

Cover of The Black Dahlia, by James Ellroy

3. The Black Dahlia (James Ellroy). Reread, occasioned by a recent rewatch of Los Angeles Plays Itself. Fits with the theme of mythologization of Los Angeles history, sort of. It's also full of awful people, but I knew that (although it feels like they lose touch with reality towards the end).

Cover of Herr Nymans Detektivbragd, by David Nessle.

2. Herr Nymans Detektivbragd [Mister Nyman's Detective Triumph] (David Nessle). Very lighthearted mystery set in 1908 Stockholm (and the arctic). The mystery is there, but less important than the very well-done depiction of place and comic dialogue. A very pleasant read.

("and his knife had a magical attribute: ever since he came here no handle would ever stay on it, and because of that he became sick and weary during his lifetime, and of that he died"; "Cai was clever. He could be as tall as the tallest tree in the forest when it pleased him.")

Cover of the The Mabinogion, A new translation by Sioned Davies (Oxford World's Classics)

1. The Mabinogion (Anonymous, translated by Sioned Davies). Reread. Loved it. So full of things happening, moving briskly from one to the next. My favourite part of it this time was some descriptions in How Culhwch Won Olwen, which, on their own, sound fascinatingly odd

2025 Reading

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It really is.