Cover of Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Tag line: "What did they strike and where are they now." The cover image is of a planet where strips have been peeled out to form leaves, apparently leaving the molten core exposed. Pretty, but destructive.

2026-8: Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I am a great fan of Tchaikovsky's Children of Time series and was initially a little disappointed by this novel, especially as it seems to rely on technological suspension of disbelief rather more heavily than his other work.

Cover of a paperback copy of The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks. The cover illustration is a swath of muted colours, perhaps a close up view of a band of a gas giant with a single, small, rocky planet in front of it. A quote from New Scientist reads: "Packed with invention and galaxy-spanning action."

2026-7: The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks. I really enjoy reading Banks. His worlds are creations of the most bewilderingly creative mind: messy, complicated, and just as flawed as the present day. Certainly not utopian. Not quite dystopian.

The cover of The Virgin In The Ice, a mediaeval whodunnit by Ellis Peters. Captioned "The sixth chronicle of Brother Cadfael". The cover is designed like a mediaeval manuscript with a decorative V for virgin, four red knives surrounding the subtitle, and illuminated illustration across the top.

2026-6: The Virgin In The Ice by Ellis Peters. I also enjoy a Cadfael mystery. Despite the murder his Shrewsbury and life always feels wholesome. I can never visit as I'll inevitably be disappointed.

Book: Washington's Gay General. The main image on the cover is a man in 18th century military uniform, his head lowered so his incredibly large hat covers his eyes. He's wearing medals bearing the names of the authors. Behind his right shoulder a soldier waves an early American flag while another soldier brandishes a gun. Behind his left shoulder two young men embrace and kiss under fireworks.

2026-5: Washington's Gay General by Josh Trujillo and Levi Hastings. A rather fanciful graphic novel about American revolutionary hero Baron von Steuben. Well illustrated and a quick read.

Book: Eros by Zoe Terakes. Subtitled "Queer Myths for Lovers". The cover is white with metallic blue text. The cover image shows two youths, bare chested, lying on the ground. Their backs are looking away from us and embracing. One youth looks towards the full moon, partially obscured by a cloud, the other rests his head on the first's shoulder, cupping his neck with his hand.

2026-4: Eros. The first of my holiday purchases, a queer reimagining of Greek myths by Zoe Terakes. I really enjoyed Terakes' creativity and evocative writing style. I felt transported. Immersed. Icarus and Apollo was a particular favourite.

Book: The Arrest by Jonathan Lethem. The cover image depicts a giant vehicle that looks like a tunnel boring machine - not dissimilar to Thunderbird's "The Mole" - looming over a stylised image of a New England coastal town.

2026-3: The Arrest. I almost didn't borrow this from the library as I already have too many books but I am glad I did. Lethem's vision of a post-apocalyptique world really spoke to me. The hyper-short chapter format also worked well for the bite-size reading I often practice when travelling.

A book: The Way Through The Woods by Colin Dexter. The cover image is a faded drawing of a path through some trees. The author's name is obscured by a £1.50 Gift Aid Item price-sticker from a charity shop.

2026-2: The Way Through The Woods. An impulse acquisition from a book-swap. I've never read a Morse book before and it was thoroughly enjoyable. A nice tie-in to last year's Persuasion as there are some scenes on Lyme Regis.

The cover of Heavy Weather: Tempestuous Tales of Stranger Climes, edited by Kevin Manwaring. The cover image is of a lino-cut style in black and blue. A slim figure stands on the corner of a building, their hands raised above their head. They're holding what appears to be a fishing rod, cast into the clouds above them, summoning a tempest of lightning. This is all part of the British Library: Tales of the Weird series.

2026-1: Heavy Weather. Short stories themed around supernatural weather stories, including Du Maurier's The Birds. Each story is delightful but the editor's attempt to frame each in terms of the changing climate is perhaps a little clunky.

Saw #ThePoltergeistArcola at @arcolatheatre.bsky.social last night and was really blown away. The play has an emotional intensity that makes it exhausting to watch but we were very glad to have seen it. Louis Davison's performance is so engaging, effortlessly sparking from tragedy to comedy. 5*!

The same pile from the previous picture, but with even more books on top. A total of 33 books are stacked up all, as yet, unread. New additions include At Swim, Two Boys by James O'Neill and Hot Victorians by Aaron Radford-Wattley.

I should probably stop.

The same stack as in the previous photo, now 27 books high. New additions include The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman, The Turn of Midnight by Minette Walters, and A Different Trek by David K. Seitz. The stack is getting perilously tall but is not, yet, in any danger of collapsing.

I will not stop.

I missed the subtitle from the alt text: Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis, 1918-1957

Queer London by Matt Holbrook. Winner of the Longman-History Today Book of the Year Award. The cover is a black and white image of two men in overcoats and hats look out over a foggy "pea-souper" Piccadilly Circus. The outline of the Eros statue can be just about seen in the background.

It's taken me awhile to get through it but I found Queer London really interesting. It has complemented Some Men In London really nicely and provides context to divergences in queer identity that exist to this day.

A photo of the main door to Westminster Friends Meeting House. The building is marble with a wooden surround. The double doors are open revealing a long corridor into the meeting house. Above the door is a sign reading "Friends Meeting House". The door is decorated with pride flags and a sign saying "Quakers Welcome Transpeople".

"Expensive bit of real estate for a Quaker meeting." - A passer by.

A cheaply produced pink paperback called The Freezer Counter: Stories by Gay Men. A Third House anthology. The authors are listed on the cover: - Keith Adamson - John Barry - Peter Burton - Michael Carson - Patrick Fox - Martin Foreman - Patrick Gale - Ian Hudson - Charles Lambert - Joel Lane - Joe Mills - David Nott - Peter Robins - Dave Royal - Tom Wakefield - Gregory Woods

I really loved this book. While written as contemporary fiction the stories stand up well as period pieces and it is refreshing to see gay stories from the 80s that are not about AIDS. A decent mix of upbeat, sad, and amusing. Some language a little dated, but a strong recommendation from me.

This Is Water Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life David Foster Wallace The book is hardback and off-white. The only cover decoration is orange coloured text for the title and author, and a small photorealistic goldfish in the bottom right corner of the cover.

A curious little book, essentially the transcript of a commencement address, that I read in an evening. I imagine I'll revisit this book more than once.

The case of the missing neutrinos and other curious phenomena of the universe by John Gribbin. The book is a slim paperback with a white cover and an abstract grey scale image that could represent a globe or particles being measured in an experiment.

A collection of scientific essays already old when this book was published in 1999. Generally interesting though, even if they're not necessarily current science.

The book Black on Both Sides, a racial history of trans identity by C. Riley Snorton. The cover image is a partially colourised postcard photograph from 1900. Described as "French transvestites" the image shows a drag king in a dinner jacket, his right hand raising a black fan, possibly to cool the face of the drag queen who is carrying a top hat in her left hand. Both figures are dark skinned and smiling as though out for a summer stroll along the promenade on their Sunday best.

This is number 13, an incredibly densely written (quasi?) academic text. Despite describing itself as a history on the cover the author makes pains to point out that the book is not a history. I lacked the vocab and context necessary to really understand this book and found it difficult to read.

Overall I enjoyed this, although it took me a little while to get into it. I definitely have some concerns about timings within the story but it is a fun bit of escapism.

Red, White & Royal Blue a novel by Casey McQuiston. The book is pink with the title text in the colours described. Two cartoony figures of young men one brun and one blond are leaning against the word "blue".

Rolled a 14. Time for something much lighter.

That's a well written history of a place I knew very little about. It also added some much needed context to some scenes from The Inheritance that I hadn't properly understood before.

The book Fire Island A Queer History by Jack Parlett. A paperback, the cover is a photo of three men embracing on a beach. One is nude, his bare untanned bottom towards his, his left hand is cupping the orange bathing suit clad bottom of one of the other men. There are two reviews on the cover: "Beautiful, beguiling... fascinating" Olivia Laing "[A] richly textured history" New Yorker, Best of Books of 2022

Rolling the die and getting 6. It's time for a very different sort of queer history!

I *really* liked this book. It's a fascinating journey through a bit of history I don't know well and an interesting portrait of my queer predecessors in London. Vol 2. will be obligatory reading later this year.

Some Men In London Vol. 1 Queer Life 1945 - 1959 Edited by Peter Parker

I rolled a 1 and it's time for Some Men In London. This is the weightiest tome on my reading pile and I'm looking forward to it immensely (especially as I gave it as a wedding present just last week) and need to read it before the happy couple do.

I really like this. I'm almost upset I didn't start reading it five years ago, but it definitely captures some of the feeling of being trapped in a pandemic.

I mean, you don't really *need* to sleep do you?

My alt text for The Plague is wrong, the text was 13 years old when this version was published.

A book, The Plague by Albert Camus. The cover is white with a grid of black spots, although all but the central spot are blurred. There's a review quote on the cover attributed to the Mail on Sunday: "Belongs to the heart of modern Eurolit." As this edition was published in 1960 (when the text was only 12 years old) I can't object too much to the description as "modern".

Number 8 is Albert Camus' The Plague. I've never read any of his work and (having already started the book) it's certainly more uncomfortable having lived through 2020.

Yeah, this was an enjoyable and very quick read. Plausible? Maybe. Realistic? Who knows. The description of London is accurate, but it's weird reading Le Carré (who I always consider historical) set in a time I remember.

A copy of John Le Carré's Agent Running in the Field. It has a white cover with two silhouetted men in suits running away from the viewer. There are two discount charity shop stickers covering part of Le Carré's name.

Number 16, a very late Le Carré. I've enjoyed his other work, so expect I'll enjoy this too.