April has been something of a busier month, yet it feels like it just flew by. It’s funny, sometimes I almost forget about a book because I technically bought it online in a previous month, but I don’t count it as acquired until it arrives, so for a minute I thought I bought almost half as many books as I actually did. I think I’m going to have to start restricting my purchases to second-hand only for the near future, however, as I want to tighten the purse strings a little as expenses keep getting worse. If books are my only vice I think I’m doing okay, though.

Let’s see what I’ve picked up this month.

New Books

The Wee Free Men and Monstrous Regiment by Terry Prartchett are the next two Discworld novels that I needed. I like to buy them in twos when I’m caught up with what I already own. I felt a great compulsion to buy these in particular, however, because new covers are coming into print for the series, and goodness forbid the only books available to me be of a style that doesn’t match what I’ve already got. So, I hunted down the former on a used book site and the latter I ordered straight from the Discworld Emporium itself—they actually have an entire page just for “classic covers” such as I need, so I may turn to them for future purchases as well.

Stowaway to Mars by John Wyndham I picked up at one of my favourite used bookstores in Toronto while I was visiting for Easter. I’ve probably heard of this book by him before, but I had virtually no memory of it and I’ve enjoyed three other books of his quite well, so I decided to pick this one up. It’s an overlooked space opera about a race to travel to Mars and a stowaway on board who may actually have more knowledge of Martian life than anybody else. Apparently this is the first in a pair of novels too, so if I really like this one I’ll pick up the next one.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca is a horror novel I’ve been meaning to read for a while, specifically the title story. I believe I recall what the story in question is about at its core, but I don’t know the explicit details and I’ve heard it’s rather messed up, so I’m looking forward to checking it out. I hope I don’t find it distasteful.

I picked up Dictionary of Fine Distinctions by Eli Burnstein at a local bookstore while I was just browsing around waiting for somebody. I didn’t actually mean to pick up a book, but I enjoyed the idea and how this book presents it so much that I just had to pick it up. As the cover succinctly illustrates, it draws distinctions between commonly confused terms and gives greater context to how the words are used, when needed.

Novel Discoveries

Daddy’s Gone A-Hunting by Penelope Mortimer is a book I’m pretty sure I learned about from a TikTok slideshow. I can’t recall much of what it’s about, but my interest continues to be held by the summary’s description of how it shocked critics with its depiction of feminine rage, though this was published in 1958, so maybe it’s not so shocking by today’s standards.

Whispers in the Ear of a Dreaming Ape by Joshua Chaplinsky is a short story collection that caught my attention because it supposedly contains dark and strange stories, hopefully illustrated by the evocative title. I don’t know much more about it than that, but I’ll keep an eye out for it.

Spirals in Time: The Secret Life and Curious Afterlife of Seashells by Helen Scales is a science nonfiction book that caught my eye because of the fondness I have for cephalopods. Though the book appears to be a lot broader, I’m curious to check it out, especially as I don’t often go out of my way to read nonfiction.

Coinciding with this find was Kraken: The Curious, Exciting, and Slightly Disturbing Science of Squid by Wendy Williams. In looking at the page for the previous book I had this one recommended to me as well. I’ve already read a book focused on octopuses, so a closer look at squids should be fun too, especially if it gets into giant squid.

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Until next time, thank you for reading!