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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 29/03/2026

Picked this up off a Waterstones display primarily for the Glasgow setting, but I kept reading for Ellen's voice, and her dilemma over choosing an intellectual life or a conventional marriage, in an era where women were rarely allowed both. If you enjoyed […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Cover of The Camomile by Catherine Carswell

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 29/03/2026

Really enjoyed this - a warm hug in book form. The narrative voice is excellent, really funny and witty and warm, and the characters feel like real people. The dialogue can be quite clunky and stilted, but I didn't mind as the rest was so good. Like the […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Cover of Leonard and Hungry Paul by Rónán Hession

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 29/03/2026

My first deep cut Le Guin, and the first Le Guin I've struggled with, which probably isn't a coincidence. It's also the first I've read of hers set, for the most part, in 'our' world, and again I wonder if that's connected. There's elements here that I liked - […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Cover of The Beginning Place by Ursula K Le Guin

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 29/03/2026

Tried another acclaimed collection of short stories which again didn't work for me 😭 I had the opposite problem to the Chiang with these - they were too mysterious and surreal, without enough grounding. I think I'd have enjoyed them more as standalones than […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Cover of Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 05/02/2026

I'm sad that these didn't really work for me, as I've only heard good things about them. They're very much *science* fiction and many were too cerebral for me to follow. I enjoyed the ones based on historical theories like Tower of Babylon and Seventy Two […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Cover of Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 27/01/2026

So IMHO I think this was better than Babel as a novel exploring colonialism via fantasy. The characters are excellent, the magic is cool, the world building is good and the ending felt appropriate and earned. But it still wasn't exactly subtle - if you're […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Cover of Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 19/01/2026

I loved Towles' previous books so was really looking forward to this, but sadly found it quite disappointing. The writing is wonderful - Towles writes prose that feels effortless to read, and he nails the feeling of time and place. But I struggled with the […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Cover of The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 19/01/2026

Glasgow's wildlife enjoying the sun too!

A swan glides along the canal while a fox naps in the sunshine on the bank

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 19/01/2026

Always nice to start the week with the sort of day that reminds you Spring is on the way 😀

The Forth and Clyde Canal under a clear blue sky

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 13/01/2026

Really enjoyed this, even if the execution wasn't quite as good as the premise. An epic story told via the obituaries of 60 people, across several centuries, past and future. It's about legacy, who and what we remember and whether words can capture a life. But […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Cover of Remember You Will Die by Eden Robins

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 10/01/2026

My new smart watch* says I have done 357 intensity minutes this week, despite all this ice, and therefore I think I have earned this. (* Last year's model, £80 off with work discount, replaceable strap. Got caught out when the strap broke on my last one which […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

A cup of tea and a behemoth of a mars brownie with caramel cornflake topping.

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 10/01/2026

Incredible narrative voice, with a really interesting setting. I really enjoyed getting to know Mrs Duzejko and seeing just how underestimated she was by everyone around her. All the Blake went over my head, but I didn't mind the astronomy. I really appreciated […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Cover of Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 04/01/2026

Starting my 2026 book thread with a beautiful cover 😍 And the book behind it is just as beautiful. Just the sort of 'place as character' narrative that I really enjoy, this is a lively and lyrical exploration of a certain landscape and the people, animals and […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Cover of When I Sing, Mountains Dance by Irene Solà

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 01/01/2026

The period in which Glaswegians compete to see who can dump their Christmas tree in the most egregious manner has begun. This one was literally thrown off a bridge into the river. #glasgow

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 01/01/2026

Spoilt for choice for my first 2026 read - this pile includes Christmas and birthday presents, the results of the annual book token and Waterstones points haul, and a couple of Oxfam Books finds from December also. Today shall be spent perusing and selecting […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

A pile of 15 books on a table in front of bookshelves full of other books.

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 01/01/2026

StoryGraph Wrap Ups are available, though I had to wait several hours for mine to generate. Scroll up in this thread to find further details on ALL the books I read this year 🥰 #books #bookstodon #StoryGraph #2025reads #wrapup

Graphic generated from The StoryGraph App showing stats for my 2025 reads such as longest / shortest reads, top 5 genres, top rated books etc

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 31/12/2025

So here ends my 2025 book thread, which I'm happy I kept going all year. A few books less than I managed in 2024, largely because I didn't read for a month after Albert died in June. Very few five star reads this year, all pictured here plus Voices by Le Guin […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

A stack of five books in front of a book shelf. They are

A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit
Great House by Nicole Krause
Engine Summer by John Crowley
Grief is the Thing With Feathers by Max Porter
Arboreality by Rebecca Campbell

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 31/12/2025

Finished up the year and passed my reading goal with the last three Murderbot books. Very grateful to these immensely readable books for helping me get over the line! They really are great - the characters are just so much fun and the world gets more […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

A Kobo ereader showing the cover of Network Effect by Martha Wells

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 27/12/2025

I'm a big Novik fan and these stories didn't disappoint. My favourites all had elements of Le Guin to them - Seven (effortless world building), Seven Years From Home (felt very Hainsih / TWfWiF inspired) and The Long Way Round (pure Earthsea, from a different […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 03/12/2025

It's December. It's Dark. I've had enough. I need a list.

Photo of a notepad with a list headed "things what I must do before Christmas'

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 02/12/2025

A very late comer to this and I only read it because I wanted to know the story before the film. I probably should've just waited for the film. I don't love hard SF anyway and there is So Much science in this, but absolutely zero character work which always […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 30/11/2025

Binged the first four Murderbot novellas in two days - that's one way of catching up with the looming Reading Goal! Hugely enjoyable, very glad I grabbed all these on Humble Bundle a few months back, they're so easy to read and so fun. I'm enjoying the world […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 28/11/2025

I've been enjoying working my way through Lahiri's works since getting Roman Stories in a book subscription. These stories are just as readable, featuring a range of immigrant / emigrant experiences. Lahiri is so good at making you get to know and care about […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Cover of The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 17/11/2025

Quick, beautiful read about Britain and magic and the Camelot stories, from a different perspective than the usual. I don't read a lot of graphic novels but I've always liked Isabel Greenberg's artwork and themes, and this was just as good as One Hundred Nights […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Artwork from Young Hag showing a map of the Other World

Double page spread from Young Hag showing the characters dancing around a bonfire

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 17/11/2025

A still, sunny day means beautiful reflections on the canal. #glasgow

An urban canal under clear skies reflecting the scrappy late autumn trees along the bank

An urban canal reflecting a golden late autumn tree and a block of modern flats in the still water

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 16/11/2025

A satisfying end to this trilogy, which nicely draws together all the themes from the previous books, like using your gifts wisely, trusting the right people, the joy and responsibility of storytelling. Feels like these books contain more of what Le Guin […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

An ereader showing the cover of Powers by Ursula K Le Guin

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 14/11/2025

One of my favourite things to spot on a cold but sunny day 😍

A fox curled up like a cat, sleeping in a sunny spot on the bank of the Forth and Clyde canal

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 13/11/2025

DONE! 20/20! Some truly terrible puns this year, really awful ones. Happy to give hints if anyone wants them! #HiddenBooksGame

Screenshot of the completion graphic of the Hidden Books Game

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 08/11/2025

A beautifully located artwork in the glen at the Kelburn Estate near Largs.

A lively river runs through a glen and on the riverbank above it, a series of wooden letters spell out the words My Beloved. A smaller stream runs down between the letters to join the river.

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 08/11/2025

I loved this. Very similar to The Tombs of Atuan, in that it features a new protagonist in the same world, but also that that protagonist is a clever, driven girl who makes her own future. Full of the importance of literacy and story, and the responsibility […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Ereader showing the cover of Voices by Ursula K Le Guin

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 02/11/2025

Continuing my (deliberately) slow paced Le Guin read. This is a quiet and thoughtful book with not a lot of action, but plenty of wonderful world building and character work. No one can do as much with as few words as Le Guin. There's a lot here about using […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

An eraser displaying the cover of Gifts by Ursula K Le Guin

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 01/11/2025

The first of November, along the Kelvin Walkway #Glasgow #Scotland #poetry

A river bordered with autumnal trees, and a blue sky behind

Golden leaves clinging to a tree, with blue skies behind

A bridge over a river, with a church tower beside it and mostly bare trees, though one still has golden leaves

Text of the poem November by Maggie Dietz, from the Poetry Foundation website

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 31/10/2025

Read this in one wet, windy night, which was atmospherically perfect for this wonderfully woody novella. If you like Green Men and folklore and autumn and forests, then you'll love this, plus it has a lovely queer love story too. If you're in the UK you'll […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Cover of Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 29/10/2025

A seasonally appropriate read, and interesting to read some 'foundational' SFF short stories. My favorites were The Emissary, Scythe, Uncle Einar and The Wind. No one can write nostalgia quite like Bradbury. I was going to whinge about the female characters […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Cover of The October Country by Ray Bradbury

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 19/10/2025

Showed great restraint at the Glasgow School of Yarn. #knitting #yarn

Four skeins of yarn; one dark blue DK from Iolair Yarns, one lavender blue 4 ply from Woollenflower, two vibrant green worsted from Rainbow Heirloom

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 18/10/2025

A wide, slightly shallow, survey of British children's literature - not that it could have been much wider without doubling the length! Really good indepth looks at some authors (Kipling, Nesbit, Hodgson Burnett) not enough on others (Lucy M Boston) and a few […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Cover of The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading by Sam Leith

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 15/10/2025

A short but beautiful and sad read. Loved the way you get such a vivid portrait of the family from so few pages, and how real their grief feels. I've read Porter backwards, as I read both Lanny and Shy before this. I think this and Lanny are my favorites - I […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Cover of Grief is the Thing With Feathers by Max Porter

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 14/10/2025

With buttons and care label 😇 And now in the post! #knitting

Close up of the button band of a green baby cardigan with heart shaped wooden buttons, and a handmade care label with spare yarn and spare buttons

A green hand knitted baby cardigan with heart shaped wooden buttons

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 12/10/2025

I wish I'd read this when I was younger. Loved the endless summer vibes, the adolescent angst, that feeling of escaping an ordinary, humdrum existence and lovely Willmouse. But oh it's so hard in this day and age to read all the fully grown men lusting over […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Cover of The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 12/10/2025

This is why I've been silent for several weeks - still only a baby cardigan but all the K1 P1 has been keeping me very busy. Cast off the second sleeve the very day its recipient was born, so once it's dry and has buttons it will be on its way. Pattern […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

A green, textured, buttonless baby cardigan drying on a pink towel

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 21/09/2025

Autumn sun at Balloch. Love feeling the changing of the seasons.

View up Loch Lomond with colourful buoys on the loch in the foreground and mountains in the distance

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 21/09/2025

The most original novel I've read in a long time, with fantastic world building and language. The magic and mythology is rich and varied. Chandrasekera does a brilliant job of giving us an immigrants POV into a complex, bureaucratic, often violent city / state […] [Original post on mastodon.scot]

Cover of The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 21/09/2025

I was worried I'd missed my chance for these beauties, but found an excellent haul on a wall along the canal yesterday 😍😍😍

A handful of conkers, beautiful shiny wonky conkers.

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Sian @funktious.mastodon.scot.ap.brid.gy · 06/09/2025

Voila! A very satisfying knit. Would’ve been finished ages ago but sleeves are always my nemesis. Look at those adorable little elbow patches though! Pattern and yarn deets in linked post. #knitting

A hand knitted baby jumper, with garter yoke and garter elbow patches

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