Top Ten Tuesday: Happy Memories About Books. A lovely prompt, and one I had fun with! breathesbooks.com/2026/10/06/top-t… #booksky 💙📚
Eirian
@shanaqui.bsky.social
37-year-old reader, blogger, gamer, self-employed worker, frequent student (BA & MA in English Lit, BSc in Natural Sciences, MSc in Infectious Diseases... for now). Ace, enby, Welsh, reluctant collector of anxiety disorders. They/them.
Fantasy with Friends: Over the Years. This week's prompt is about changes in fantasy as a genre over the year, periods of fantasy writing you really enjoy, etc. breathesbooks.com/2026/10/05/fanta… #booksky 💙📚
Review - Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs To Die, by Greer Stothers: a solid "not for me", in part due to the humour, also various things are handled badly, though possibly in a way that was well intentioned. Rating: 1/5 ("didn't like it"). Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/10/04/revie… #booksky 💙📚
Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post: A quiet week for new books with just two from the library, but as always, there's also a roundup of recent posts and an update on what I've been reading and my plans for the weekend. breathesbooks.com/2026/10/03/stack… #booksky 💙📚
It always feels so aggressive when people use the majority feminine spelling of the nickname based on my legal name instead of the one I preferred for the last six years. Benefit to the name Eirian: there is no misspelling that makes it more masc/femme...
Review - Paper Planes, by Jennie Woods: this feels messy and authentic to how teenagers can be, though that's partly a dampener on my enjoyment because I did NOT enjoy my teens. Rating: 3/5 ("liked it"). Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/10/03/revie… #booksky 💙📚
Book Blogger Hop: Biggest Fear. I responded to this on a couple different levels: a personal fear, a fear as a blogger, a medium-level fear... and a biggie about the impact of AI. breathesbooks.com/2026/10/02/book-… #booksky 💙📚
Review - A Thousand Mornings, by Mary Oliver: this collection didn't entirely work for me and I'm not sure why. Rating: 2/5 ("it was okay"). Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/10/02/revie… #booksky 💙📚
September Reading Wrap-Up: Highlighting my reading and blog stats, chatting about my month and how my reading's been going... along with some games I've enjoyed and other non-reading stuff. breathesbooks.com/2026/10/01/septe… #booksky 💙📚
WWW Wednesday: My usual weekly check-in, discussing some classic mystery stories and an SF mystery, this time. breathesbooks.com/2026/09/30/www-w… #booksky 💙📚
Top Ten Tuesday: Fall Covers. Today's prompt is a freebie themed around autumn, so I decided to look at covers again since it's been a while! breathesbooks.com/2026/09/29/top-t… #booksky 💙📚
This quote was unattributed but you know what, I stand by it.
Ehlyah@ehlyah.bsky.social · last wk.I am told it is "surfing the web".
Bath pillow broke, pouty face. Recommendations? I need it both for comfy position for my neck while reading in the bath, and because I am short and the bath is juuust too long for me. A plump pillow is thus helpful, though any pillow that gives better purchase than "the side of the bath" helps.
Review - Rummage, by Emily Cockayne: a bit weirdly organised, and I wish it'd discussed present recycling etc more, but there were some interesting bits! Rating: 2/5 ("it was okay"). Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/09/28/revie… #booksky 💙📚
This instantly made me think of Pyre, where failing is not a game over -- it just changes who you can save, and ultimately affects how well the ending turns out. I've done runs of Pyre where I deliberately lose, because I want to find out what happens when I do.
Annalee@flowerhorne.com · last wk.🧵. There are a few games that do interesting things with owning your mistakes. But most games actually do not *expect* you to do that. The failure state exists only to make success feel valuable. They don't actually expect anyone to settle for failing.
Fantasy with Friends: Seeing Reality Better. An interesting sort of question that I don't have an interesting answer to: has fantasy helped me see the real world better? Well. Possibly? breathesbooks.com/2026/09/28/fanta… #booksky 💙📚
Review - The Rasp, by Philip MacDonald: reminded me somewhat of Sayers' work, in that the detective is a bit in the Wimsey vein, though I found him less charming for being more charming to other characters. Rating: 3/5 ("liked it"). Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/09/27/revie… #booksky 💙📚
Book Blogger Hop: Best Blog Investment. Today's prompt is about the best investment you've made for your blog, and I have a couple of Wordpress/book blog specific $$$ thoughts... but also discuss time investments. breathesbooks.com/2026/09/25/book-… #booksky 💙📚
A while ago I linked a queer bookshop's fundraiser for getting roller shutters added after they got a window smashed in. They made their goal... but haven't been able to get the shutters fitted yet, and it's happened again. gofundme.com/f/categoryisshut…
Review - The Wife Comes First, vol 3, by Lv Ye Qian He: a pretty good finale with some extras. It's not the best written danmei but I did have fun. Rating: 4/5 ("really liked it"). Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/09/24/revie… #booksky 💙📚
Hi everyone! You fundraised for one of my trans former students leaving Kansas - that helped and they are now safely in Colorado. I'm now asking you to help againnnnn Let's get Siobhán Kirchstein's fundraiser to goal! She is 100% a real person, I know her and just spoke to her today. Threading:
Donate to Protect Siobhán from Discrimination, organized by Siobhan Kirchstein
Hello, everyone, my name is Siobhán, a 41-year-old trans woman who works as a c… Siobhan Kirchstein needs your support for Protect Siobhán from Discrimination
gofundme.com
Review - Cat + Gamer, vol 7, by Wataru Nadatani: this feels very pandemic-coded, with Riko working from home and distracted by the cats -- but there's no overt reference, it stays very cute and silly. Rating: 3/5 ("liked it"). Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/09/23/revie… #booksky 💙📚
WWW Wednesday: The usual weekly check-in about what I've been reading, with my usual weird juxtapositions of genre and tone... breathesbooks.com/2026/09/23/www-w… #booksky 💙📚
Review - A Short History of the World in 50 Lies, by Natasha Tidd: I wasn't impressed with this on several levels. It's fine as a light read, but I have questions about the research. Rating: 2/5 ("it was okay"). Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/09/23/revie… #booksky 💙📚
Top Ten Tuesday: Fall 2026 TBR. What it says on the tin! With some spoopy/seasonal books this time, to theme with a readathon in October. breathesbooks.com/2026/09/22/top-t… #booksky 💙📚
Review - Beyond Belief, by Helen Pearson: a fascinating and readable account of evidence-based practices across a number of fields. Alas, quite unsceptical about LLMs, however. Rating: 4/5 ("really liked it"). Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/09/22/revie… #booksky 💙📚
Just in case this helps smooth a process with getting my virtual address set up with my preferred names, here's a recent photo of me... y'all can just ignore this post.
Fantasy with Friends: Worldbuilding. Discussing Le Guin's method of "imitating Tolkien"! I had some thoughts since I've studied Tolkien's work and love Le Guin's. breathesbooks.com/2026/09/21/fanta… #booksky 💙📚