M Reads

Attempted Murder A misty forest thick with oakmoss and the scent of bonfires. Cypress, suede, and osmanthus. I know, shocking; this is how I start my month! Anyway. This smells... biscuitty, but luckily the note fades on the wrist and a strong forest scent dominates. Very nice. I'd give it 2.5 stars of 5, and note that I had to wash it off my right wrist, the skin there being rather sensitive. Cream Tea A warm mug of creamy, frothy, caffeine-injected tea. A blend of chai tea, burnt sugar, white musk, warm milk, and hot scones slathered with raspberry jam and honey. This appealed to my curiosity and... okay, I'm biased in favour of scones. As for the perfume, this is wow on the skin. Raspberry jam (and it smells exactly like JAM, how do they do it?) flares up briefly, and I can smell black tea, but overall this is delightful perfume. Would I 10ml it? Maybe. I wish they still sold drams, because this is the sort of scent I'd wear when I'm in the mood for it, and a 10ml is...

I'm a Delicate Fucking Flower Monoi Tiare, gardenias, freesia, and lily of the valley create a lush floral opening, then step back, and the deep rosewood and copal resin comes forward. This is a supremely rich floral that darkens to a woody, resinous finish. Tested on my birthday! I'm not a huge florals fan, but being a sucker for freesia and copal, decided to give this a try - and I couldn't stop sniffing my wrist! It dried down to a heady jungle of flowers unified by copal and rosewood. I was expecting a more demure, English garden-type scent but this really surprised me with its stronger, more tropical notes. This is a 4 star perfume for me; love it but it's not exactly 'me'. Planning to get a 10ml, though a dram would be a better option. Whispering Black Cedar, a cool stream in a dense forest, a sudden rainstorm, oakmoss, decaying wood. This description is catnip to my senses; you can imagine somewhere beautiful, cool and desolate. The perfume itself is... o...

2025 began with the plan of reading something cheery and light-hearted, to set an upbeat tone for the rest of the year. That, um, did not quite happen... --- Of Mice and Men , John Steinbeck - 5. Many thoughts and many feels; hoping to untangle my brain enough to make a post about this one day. Cheese , Willem Elsschot - 2.5. An entertaining read, but it went a bit long for me, and I can't say that it's stuck in my mind. There were a couple of paragraphs that, as a modern reader, were a bit alarming, but probably harmless for the time. You Don't Belong Where You Don't Belong , Kemi Ashing-Giwa - 3.5. A decent story, but I would really love to see this world and the story's themes examined in a longer work. The Winter Queen , Boris Akunin - see here for thoughts. The Ghost Bride , Yangsze Choo - 4.5/5. Beautifully crafted, and I enjoyed the Malaysian setting: it's refreshing to read something based off a non-European culture and religion, and this one kept me tu...

  The Winter Queen / Boris Akunin / 249 pages Fair warning, this one's a re-read: I wanted to look at the book with fresh eyes before continuing with the rest of the series. My rating is an easy 4 of 5 red herrings. The plot is, of course, simple at first. Erast Fandorin, an earnest and intelligent policeman who at various points really puts the 'blush' in the phrase 'in the blush of youth', is set to investigate a bizarre and theatrical suicide that takes place in the opening scene. Of course, our young detective soon finds himself embroiled in a full-fledged conspiracy that takes him from the streets of Moscow to the watery depths of the Thames, and back to Russia, a journey that involves traitors, murderers, a femme fatale par excellence, an intriguing villain and... however you'd call Zurov. Oh, and let's not forget the brief appearance of the mad(-ish) scientist! We see Fandorin's character deepen over the course of the book, and learn where some of...

  Hosted by Bev Hankins The perfect challenge (found here ) for those with Mount Readmores they want to chisel down a bit! That list includes me, though mine's less an orderly Rushmore and more a few stacks of Mt Wycheproofs scattered around the place... My goal is conquer El Toro, taking it easy with 75 books. We have the option to climb higher, so you never know, there might be a Mount Everest in my future! List updated as I read. 1. 

Rollercoaster. That's my word for this year - because it ends much the same as it began, but the middle, oh boy. This year squished in curveballs good, bad and neutral, and somehow it's managed to be both utterly normal and utterly upended at the same time, for the same reasons. Schrodinger's year? Perhaps. And you know, I'm fine with closing out this year on the note it's at. --- Reading My reading journal got off to a shaky start this year and I did want to post about the good books, or at least the ones that gave me food for thought, by the year's end buuut...  If I had to pick a favourite book for the year, it would easily be  The Age of Skin , by Dubravka Ugresic. This collection of essays took time to get into, but once you get the flow of the narrative, you're hooked. The Age of Skin requires re-reading, with highlighters and thought. I joined Goodreads earlier this month and transferred my library from Storygraph. It... did not work well, but it gav...