I think for the first time ever I’m getting one of these up late. Unfortunate, but not the end of the world. I was on holidays last week, and though I was back home by the end of the week, I didn’t manage to set aside time to get this post in order. July was a hard month for a lot of personal reasons, so that little trip did me some good. Not going to let a post being a little late get me down.

Enough about this, on to the books!

New Books

B.P.RD.: The Devil You Know by Mike Mignola et al. was a surprising purchase because initially I didn’t intend on picking it up after I first saw it. I was excited by the discovery that the last omnibus for this series had been released in trade paperback, however, so I decided to go out and grab it anyway. Hopefully, this will motivate me to start reading this series from the beginning with the volumes I already have. I’ve left it to sit for far too long since finishing the Hellboy series proper.

The Liminal Zone by Junji Ito was an anticipated preorder for July, and I’ve already read through it. Honestly, I’m still not sure if I feel like reviewing this one. It’s not a bad little collection, I liked that each story was a little longer than normal, but I’m inclined to agree with Ito’s afterword, which states that he thinks his best stories are behind him.

Trouble with Lichen by John Wyndham was a random purchase at the bookstore when I went to pick up The Liminal Zone. I just couldn’t resist doing a little browsing, and when I came across this I realized that I didn’t currently own more Wyndham novels to read. I’d been more aware of The Kraken Wakes than this one, but the premise of this book just caught my eye more, which deals with a strange extract from a certain lichen that dramatically slows the aging process and how society might deal with such a prospect.

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware was a book I didn’t really need to buy, since I already own it on my Kindle app. However, I spent maybe a dollar or so on that ebook, and I happened to find this copy at a thrift store last week, which I found to be a decent justification for getting a physical copy. No sense in buying it brand new, but a $5 paperback isn’t too shabby.

Novel Discoveries

After posting about a different T. Kingfisher novel last month, Swordheart was highly recommended to me by Sammie over at The Bookwyrm’s Den. It looks to be a part of a series, so I don’t know if reading those before this one matters or not, but Sammie’s recommendation was enough to get the book onto my to-read shelf so that I don’t forget about it.

Weird Woods: Tales from the Haunted Forests of Britain, edited by John Miller, is a book I came across while browsing in a bookstore. I believe this was the same trip I picked up Trouble with Lichen, in fact. I didn’t want to gamble on a horror anthology, since those can be quite spotty at times, but this piqued my curiosity enough that I wanted to remember it. Maybe I’ll see if there’s a cheaper ebook version though, just in case it doesn’t work out for me.

Closing Thoughts

Not much else to say about this past month. I’m still trying to claw my way out of a reading slump, and as per usual I didn’t read nearly as much as I thought I might while on my trip, though I did manage to read a little bit, which is something. Oftentimes I don’t end up reading at all.

I hope you’re all enjoying your summer and that the heat is being too much for you. Until next time, thank you for reading.