Bookish Linda

@bookishlinda

Constant reader, always looking for my next great read. SFF fan for 50+ years, but I read many genres and love to talk about books. Also ridiculously obsessed with birds. 🌲Located in damp, mossy Seattle (upper-left-corner USA)

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Bluesky

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Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· 21d

It's been an awful week at Chez Bookish, with a heat wave, wildfire smoke, and roofers pounding on our heads.😵 But today the heat is gone, the smoke is gone, and the roofers are (mostly) gone—and best of all, there's BOOKMAIL!!🎉 3 titles not published in the US, supplied by lovely Blackwell's UK.

Photo of three books. The titles are:
Russia Starts Here—Real Lives in the Ruins of Empire by Howard Amos.
The Others of Edenwell by Verity M. Holloway.
The Infernal Riddle of Thomas Peach by Jas Treadwell.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Apr 8

Best Star Trek Crew, wrong answers only

Photo of three crewmembers from Fireball XL5, a “Supermarionation” production from Gerry Anderson that was shown on TV in the UK and US in the early 1960s. The characters were all played by electronic puppets. Shown here are (I think) the handsome Commander Steve Zodiac and beautiful Doctor Venus flying the spaceship, with the bespectacled Jock the engineer (who had a Scots accent) standing behind them. All are in futuristic uniforms with plenty of gold braid and stars can be seen through the windows of the spaceship.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Mar 13

Aaaand the first snow of the winter has arrived in Seattle, Washington, USA, on…[checks calendar]…March 13!!!🧐

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Mar 9

I think my favorite (so far) has to be The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan. It's about Oakridge, Tennessee, which was built as part of the Manhattan project. I found it delightful to read, as well as eye-opening!

Book cover: a black and white photo of a crowd of women (and a few men) exiting the fenced-off grounds of the work facilities in Oakridge, Tennessee, presumably at the end of a work shift. They wear clothing and hairstyles of the 1940s. In the background a few buildings of various sizes can be seen spaced across the grounds, with a wooded ridge behind them.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Jan 30

Since I’m up past midnight on Thursday, that means it’s technically #FridayReads time! And I’m just 18 pages into Pagans by James Alistair Henry so I can’t say much about it yet, but they were a very enjoyable 18 pages and I'm going to have a hard time putting the book down to go to sleep.

Photo of the hardcover book. The cover has a somewhat abstract illustration in black, white, and red, but the gist is a cityscape of tall buildings, with a rift down the center and a large red drop (of blood?) about to fall out of it onto two tiny silhouetted human figures. The blood drop contains a fragment of a Celtic knotwork design. Under the title it says “Two cops. One killer. Hundreds of gods.”

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Jan 18

We don't see many cloudless sunsets during a Seattle winter, but the ones we do get, like this one tonight, are worth waiting for!

Photo of sunset with the Olympic Mountains silhouetted on the horizon. Foreground is dark with a few lights showing, the sky is cloudless, and the sunset colors shade upwards from rich orange to deep blue.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Jan 2

Who am I to gainsay the Oracle of the Words? I hear and obey, M-W! (TBH it's what I had planned, anyway.)

A screenshot of a gif from Merriam-Webster Dictionary that flashes many words on the screen very quickly. Taking a screenshot captures one word. The word captured here is “bed rotting”.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Dec 6

🐀For #FridayReads I'm finishing up🐀 the very enjoyable non-fiction🐀 Stowaway: The Disreputable Exploits of the Rat by 🐀Joe Shute. It's a lively and🐀 sympathetic look at rats and how they live 🐀among us and pretty much🐀 always have! 🐀🐀

The book cover features a painting of a busy harbor (probably European) from a time when ships had sails. Workers in small boats are bringing sacks and barrels of goods from a ship to a wharf. Rats are also leaving the small boats and climbing the stairs up to the wharf. In the foreground more rats are coming ashore by climbing the thick mooring rope running between a ship and a bollard on the stone quayside.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Nov 7

So it turns out we really ARE living in a simulation—now what? Well, how about a road trip to view the “glitches”? When We Were Real by Daryl Gregory is a whole busload of fun with a slam-bang ending, and a lot to say about our (real) world. One of my top reads of 2025! #ScifiMonth2025

Book cover: an illustration done in flat colors and very simple cartoony shapes. It depicts a black road winding across a flat salmon-pink plain, to end in a tunnel opening in some brown hills. A yellow sun is sinking behind the hills. The sky is the same pink color as the plain, and is dotted with white clouds. The plain itself is dotted with smaller white cloud shapes, but with four little black legs beneath each one—they look like fluffy sheep without heads or tails.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Nov 5

Just read—The Ukrainian Night: An Intimate History of a Revolution by Marci Shore. A hard book to put down! After a brief recap of the causes, you're right there in the thick of the 2014 Revolution of Dignity, living it through the words of the protesters themselves. Phenomenal!

The book cover is a photograph of Independence Square in Kyiv, at night, during the 2014 revolution. Dimly seen tall buildings loom in the background. In the foreground the edge of large crowd is lit by several large fires burning on the Square. A few figures are in front of the crowd, close to the fires, in animated positions—maybe they're dancing? Large flags of Ukraine, blue over yellow, wave from poles held high over the crowd.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Nov 4

Ten science fiction titles off the top of my TBR. Laid out together this way, they look pretty inviting, don't they? So many spaceships!! 🚀 #ScifiMonth2025

A montage of covers of 10 science fiction books:
Hopeland by Ian McDonald
The Fourth Consort by Edward Ashton
Dark Space by Rob Hart and Alex Segura
Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Wreck of the River of Stars by Michael Flynn
A Pale Light in the Black by K. B. Wagers
The Martian Contingency by Mary Robinette Kowal
Ancient Shores by Jack McDevitt
Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds
Beyond the Hallowed Sky by Ken MacLeod
The Moon and the Other by John Kessel
The City Inside by Samit Basu

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Nov 3

Book mail is the best mail! ✈️📦📚 Three books I really wanted to read that aren't published in the US, so I had to order them from the UK.

Photo of three hardcover books.
On the right is A Little Trickerie by Rosanna Pike. The cover features a shining golden sun against a rich blue background. The sun is made up of dozens of small faces surrounded by large golden halos. The faces are like those of angels or saints in medieval manuscripts, but dimly rendered in blue tones. One face stands out in full color, with golden hair, pale skin, and pink lips, looking off to the side (with a skeptical expression, I'd say).
Center book is Pagans by James Alastair Henry. A somewhat abstract illustration in black, white, and red, but the gist is a cityscape of tall buildings, with a rift down the center and a large red drop (of blood?) about to fall out of it onto two tiny silhouetted human figures. The blood drop contains a fragment of a Celtic knotwork design. Text under the title reads “Two cops. One killer. Hundreds of gods.”
Righthand book is Rainforest by Michelle Paver. Cover illustration is a view into a lush tropical forest, bright and colorful in the foreground but quickly fading into mysterious darkness farther in. The foreground includes ferns and flowers, a frog, a praying mantis, a blue butterfly, a blue, red, and yellow parrot…and a human skull with a green snake slithering out of one eyehole. Text above the title reads “The jungle watches. The dead remember.”

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Oct 26

It's a blustery day in autumnal Seattle, but the wind is still just warming up for an overnight storm. Power lines don't fare well in these conditions, so I'll be keeping my flashlight close this evening...🍁🍃🍂

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Oct 17

For a spooky season #FridayReads I'm enjoying Once Was Willem by M. R. Carey. Dark fantasy set in the Dark Ages.

Book cover: the mood is “spooky Middle Ages”. An all-over ornate background of silhouettes of leaves and flowers in red against black, reminiscent of an illuminated manuscript from medieval Europe. Half hidden in the design are silhouettes of a human skull, a snake, a horned animal skull, a cross, a sword, a pentagram, and a human figure clad in pants or leggings and shapeless upper garment. (There may be other shapes that I didn't spot.) The book title is rendered in mock-medieval letters designed to look like metallic gold ink or gold leaf.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Sep 15

🍂It's fall, which means the publishing industry is pouring out a tidal wave of new releases, which means I had an expensive weekend! Here's my e-book haul. Anything look interesting to you?🍂📚🍁

Screen shot of eight e-book covers. The titles are: Gnomes of Lychford by Paul Cornell; Roots of My Fears—Terrifying Stories of Ancestral Fears edited by Gemma Amor; Space Ships! Ray Guns! Martian Octopods!—Interviews with Science Fiction Legends edited by Richard Wolinsky; Making History by K. J. Parker; Clown Town by Mick Herron; The Dogs of Mariupol—Russia’s Invasion and the Forging of Ukraine’s Iron Generation by Tom Mutch; Homo Criminalis—How Crime Organizes the World by Mark Galeotti; Secret Lives of the Dead by Tim Lebbon.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Sep 13

📚📦Book mail! UK to US—two titles not available here that I couldn’t do without. I love Lorraine Wilson’s work! And reading about the war in Ukraine has become an obsession—this one’s about Ukraine’s Foreign Legion of international volunteers that sprang up in response to the 2022 Russian invasion.

Photo of two hardcover books laid side by side. The cover of We Are All Ghosts in the Forest by Lorraine Wilson shows a misty forest in soft shades of blue-green. Three indistinct figures are dimly silhouetted amid tree trunks. One is very tall and slender, another is barely shoulder-height to the first and broader, sturdier. The third figure is just knee-height, perhaps an animal? But upright, and clutching at the leg of the shorter figure. Amid the tree trunks surrounding them are some odd shapes, maybe bits and pieces of ruined contraptions of some sort.
The cover of The Mad and the Brave: The Untold Story of Ukraine’s Foreign Legion by Colin Freeman is a photo of a group of five soldiers just emerging from smoke or fog which covers the background. The soldiers are in full army kit: camouflage uniforms, helmets, goggles, armored vests, bulky utility belts. They seem tense, slightly crouched and facing in different directions, brandishing assault rifles.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Apr 28

🪶Happy International Crow and Raven Appreciation Day to all who celebrate! My backyard crows are celebrating NOISILY—because I just gave them a big pile of peanuts!🥰 (Old pic, tho, from a few winters ago.)

Photo of a crow sitting in a bare-branched tree, both bird and tree in dark silhouette against a rich blue unclouded winter sky.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Apr 26

In Dorothy Dunnett’s Ringed Castle a golden eagle is used for hunting at the 16th cent. court of Ivan the Terrible: “...a demoniac presence, dark and vengeful as the Stymphalian Bird with wings, beak, and claws of iron...” [Stymphalian birds are from Greek myth, Labors of Heracles] #BookWormSat

A huge golden eagle with wings outstretched seizes the shoulder of a running deer with its talons.
Photo: Milan Krasula

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Apr 7

If you see this, post something pink! Camellia blossom, Seattle WA

Close up photo of a camellia blossom with a gloriously spiral structure.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Feb 21

#FridayReads I just started The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman, “A novel of King Arthur”. I’m only one chapter in so there isn't much I can say about it yet, except that I REALLY want to keep reading! #Booksky

Book cover image: The background is soft blue, speckled randomly with pale golden dots, a bit like a starry sky. In the center there's a simple graphic in black of a sword, vertical, rising point first from the rippled surface of water. A golden crown circles the blade of sword about halfway up its length, and a set of large deer antlers branches out to either side of the crown. A branch of leaves (perhaps laurel leaves?) arcs across each corner of the image.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Feb 14

#FridayReads I’m reading Karla’s Choice, a “le Carré” novel written by his son, Nick Harkaway. The story is complicated, requires careful attention, and is peppered with references to places and events I sometimes need to look up and learn about...in other words, pure reading bliss! #BookSky

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Feb 7

#FridayReads Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford. It's 1922 and there's been an ugly murder in Cahokia, a bustling Native American city in an alternate-history US. I'm loving the setting and characters, the jazz interludes, and the fine, fine writing that makes classic noir elements feel fresh and new!

Book cover, divided roughly in thirds, with the title in the top section as black text on a white background, and the author's name in the bottom section as white text on a black background. The sections are all bordered in red. The center third is filled by a black-and white close-up photograph of two hands poised on a piano keyboard. The back of the keyboard is mirrored, so we also see the reflection of the hands in the mirror. The hands are slender and well-manicured, and look to me like the hands of a man with light-brown skin.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Feb 7

If you see this, post flowers from your gallery.

A close-up photograph looking straight down on a clump of open crocus blossoms. The narrow petals shade from bright lavender at the tips to white in the center, and the bits in the middle of each flower (the pistil and stamens) are a rich orange-yellow.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Feb 1

#FridayReads I'm devouring Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky—or maybe it's devouring me? (In this book there might not be a difference.) If you, like me, love smart sci-fi with weird-as-shit alien ecologies grounded in biological plausibility, this book is a feast!

Book cover: A drawing done in yellow against a bright background that shades from deep pink at the bottom to orange at the top. The drawing depicts a very alien-looking lifeform. It's impossible to tell whether it's a plant or an animal, or how large it might be. At the base there are things a bit like roots, and in the center area are structures a little like cobs of corn, or possibly rows of eyes. Other structures are a little like pineapples or artichokes, or maybe teeth or claws. At several points there are things that could be leaves or petals, or tentacles. A few of these tentacle-petals near the top are beginning to twine themselves around the letters of the title.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Jan 19

My yard every day lately.💙This flock is mostly goldfinches, and I'm also getting flocks of pine siskins. Haven't seen groups this large in several years, maybe because of bird flu. It's great to see this comeback!

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Jan 17

#FridayReads 🫣I'm running out of nails to bite, worrying who's not going to survive in The Last Song of Penelope, the final book of Claire North’s wonderful historical fantasy trilogy about the fascinating, heroic, but entirely unsung women who surely must have peopled Homer's Odyssey! #Booksky

Cover illustration: On the left side there is a line drawing of a woman in ancient Grecian dress standing in a relaxed posture, and at lower right a line drawing of a bearded man sitting on a bench. He is naked except for fabric loosely draped over his waist and across his shoulders. A large, unstrung bow rests on his knees. From one tip of the bow several strings stretch off to the bottom of the page. The background is done in shades of deep green and black, with Greek architectural shapes and decorative motifs at top and bottom.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Jan 4

#FridayReads Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas. In mid-19th century Mexico/Texas, life’s hard for rancheros. Which is scarier: the uncertain economy, the failing government, the thieving Americans...or the strange creatures attacking people in the night? Well, I know which one I’M here for! 🧛🏻‍♂️😍

Cover illustration shows a desert landscape, with big cloudy sky taking up most of the frame. In the near distance saguaro cactus are silhouetted against the sky, and a dramatic lightning bolt is striking the ground. In the foreground a young woman is hurrying somewhere, with her long, red ruffled skirt billowing and her blue shawl slipping from her shoulders in her rush.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Jan 1

Wow!! The dazzling perspective in this illustration, as your eyes move from the skyscrapers at the top into the abyss at the lower right! 👀 Would a cover like this sell books today? I wonder. It would certainly catch MY attention! Artist: Leo Morey, July 1932 issue of Amazing Stories magazine

The illustration shows a futuristic nightime cityscape, with towering 1930's-style Art Deco skyscrapers in the background, and graceful highways curving through the foreground. Egg-shaped vehicles swoop along the highways, hovering several feet above the shining surfaces. At lower right the perspective allows you to glimpse lower levels of the city, down and down past more buildings and elevated streets. The scene is rendered primarily in glowing shades of blue.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Jan 1

Happy New Year, Bluesky! At midnight Seattle's Space Needle tried once again to launch itself off the planet, and honestly who can blame it?

Photo of New Year's Eve fireworks at the Space Needle, a 600-foot-tall observation tower in Seattle, Washington that looks like a flying saucer perched on three very long and somewhat-graceful legs. The fireworks are shooting out from the base of the legs and from the saucer section on top, and surrounding the Needle with smoke not entirely unlike rocket exhaust.

Bookish Linda@bookishlinda· Dec 26

🎄Merry Christmas Bluesky! I had to stop overdosing on sugar long enough to do my Spanish lesson on Duolingo, because today's the day my streak hit 1400 days.😳 I'm not good at daily habits so keeping this one unbroken for nearly 4 years amazes me. And I've learned a lot—I read books in Spanish now!😲