#the left handed booksellers of london

[libraryleopard]

Young adult urban fantasy novel set in 80s London

While looking for the father's she's never met, art student Susan Arkshaw stumbles into a hidden magical world in which a secret order of booksellers are trained to protect humans from the legendary creatures of the mythical Old World

With the help of Merlin, a charismatic bookseller on a quest to avenge the murder of his mother, Susan's search for her father becomes more dangerous and magical than she ever could have expected

Genderfluid love interest

#this was really fun! #entertaining world-building and engaging characters #i enjoyed that almost all of the important characters were women and that susan was quite punk and no-nonsense #merlin is also the spiritual successor to howl pendragon we deserver #there's a sequel which i will definitely be reading at some point #the left handed booksellers of london #garth nix #books #lulu speaks #lulu reads #lulu reads the left handed booksellers of london #2023 reads

[thelastofthebookworms]

#polls #london #urban fantasy #neil gaiman #ben aaronovitch #samantha shannon #garth nix #charlie fletcher #benedict jacka #glen duncan #v.e. schwab #rivers of london #adsom #shades of magic #neverwhere #the left handed booksellers of london #stoneheart #the last werewolf #bloodlines #alex verus #fated

[timid-booklover-in-a-corner]

Random ask: what is the latest book that just wowed you and you would most definitely recommend to others (asking for me, I need book recommendations 😄)

I haven't been reading much recommendable fare recently lol. But the most recent good book I read was Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries. It's just a cute, whimsical little book and the main characters are amazing. It's like a cross between Howl's Moving Castle and Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (if you haven't read JSAMN or HMC, I'd recommend both those books as well, although JSAMN is quite long).

I'd also recommend The Left-handed Booksellers of London, which is a bit older (it's about vaguely shape-shiftery booksellers that deal with supernatural incidents in London and the rest of England). There's a sequel to that as well (it's called The Sinister Booksellers of Bath), but I haven't had time to read it yet.

#emily wilde’s encyclopaedia of faeries #emily wilde series #jsamn #jonathan strange and mr. norrell #the left handed booksellers of london #I cannot in good conscience recommend the silmarillion Just Like That but if you want to read (or reread) it I *will* encourage you #books #asks

[the-dust-jacket]

Authorized to kill…and sell books.

#the left handed booksellers of London #the sinister booksellers of bath #garth nix

[gollancz]

If you're on Instagram, be sure to follow us there too - Garth Nix fans will be in for a treat this week as we run him up and down the country to various events! Send good wishes and energy to our incredible publicity team.

#The Sinister Booksellers of Bath #The Left Handed Booksellers of London #Garth Nix #Book events UK #Book tours UK

[nyx-b-log]

it's saturday so time for an update!

would you believe i actually finished children of time oh my god it took so long to read asdfghjkl but! i enjoyed it. i maintain that the spider sections are far and away the best part - the human drama wasn't compelling to me until maybe the last 100 pages or so, and the relationship between holsten and lain is paper-thin and dull (imo). the world-building tho (evolution-building? ig) is fantastic and only gets better as the book goes on. like, ant supercomputers!! what!!! i've honestly only come to appreciate the book more as it gets more time to breathe in my head. i was a bit on the fence on whether i would continue the series, but i'm looking forward to it now!

also finished the martian, which had some bonus material at the end i'd never read before, which was an unexpected delight. was a bit of a strange experience finishing it and then almost immediately the news on titan coming out. ofc the two situations aren't entirely comparable, but i couldn't help thinking about it.

haven't started a new physical book yet, but my next audiobook is the left-handed book sellers of london by garth nix, a young adult fantasy set in an alternate 1980s london. characters are ehhh and plot is glacial but the world-building is clearly where all the passion is. could be a bit info-dumpy for some people, but i'm enjoying it. also the clothes descriptions, the clothes oh my god. surprised it doesn't have a queer tag on goodreads, main character susan is very much bisexual (and punky af, at least aesthetically) while merlin's approach to gender is incredibly loose (and affirmed throughout). i'm roughly halfway through, should have finished it by next week i think.

that's all for now! see you again next week!

#bookblr #books #reading #children of time #the martian #the left handed booksellers of london #japanese reading has now trended towards slightly trashy bl #so uh #nothing new on that front #think i'll read house in the cerulean sea next #i do have a queer textbook but my brain's just not in it #scheduled

[best-childhood-book]

Ohhh me too me too me too

I love you, op.

That being said, could you add the works below to the list, please ? :

The Supernaturalist (Eoin Colfer)

Skylark (Meagan Spooner)

The Once and Future King (T.H. White)

Once & Future (Kieron Gillen)

The Checquy Files (Daniel O'Malley)

Circe (Madeline Miller)

Monk & Robot (Becky Chambers)

Legacy of Orisha (Tomi Adeyemi)

Villains (V.E. Schwab)

Falling Kingdoms (Morgan Rhodes)

Chivalry (Neil Gaiman)

The Sleeper and the Spindle (Neil Gaiman)

The Many Deaths of Laila Starr (Ram V)

The Unwritten (Mike Carey)

The Left-Handed Book Sellers of London (Garth Nyx)

Die (Kieron Gillen)

The Wicked + the Divine (Kieron Gillen)

I added most of these, but like some other Neil Gaiman titles, Chivalry and The Sleeper and the Spindle are short stories, not technically novels (even in graphic format)

#ask #submission #the supernaturalist #skylark #the once and future king #once and future #the checquy files #circe #monk and robot #legacy of orisha #villains #falling kingdoms #the many deaths of laila starr #the unwritten #the left handed booksellers of london #die #the wicked and the divine

[7-11thuniverse]

#i loved drawing this for a book club #i get to talk to awesome author garth nix! #garth nix #the left handed booksellers of london #tlhbsol #did i draw this or was it a fever dream again #art #merlin #susan

[sophiegaladheon]

2023 Writing Wrap-Up

It's been a bit of an off year, writing wise, so I don't have much to share, but here's a compilation of everything I wrote in 2023. It isn't much, but I'm pretty proud of all of it.

Harbor - The Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison (G)

Recently relegated to Edonomee, the young Archduke finds himself ill.

the circumstances must be ordinary - The Left-Handed Booksellers of London - Garth Nix (G)

After Merlin fails to show up for their date, Susan tracks him down.

Diligence and Purpose - The Shadow Campaigns - Django Wexler (G)

You say you feel overwhelmed by these responsibilities, but you only have two options: set to work managing them, or set them down and find someone else to carry them instead. I don’t think the Queen would begrudge you doing so if you need to, but can you accept it from yourself?

#I wrote a solid 2/3 of this in December which was also (unusually) my best month of the year mental health wise #a ringing endorsement for the power of making stuff #the goblin emperor #the left handed booksellers of london #the shadow campaigns #a rare sighting of sophie's writing

[the-nettle-knight]

I've started the Left Handed Booksellers of London, and the main character is born on the first of May, which everyone in the book is saying is a big deal bc it's May Day, but most of the otherworldly stuff is really really old, and May 1st is only may day now bc we changed to the Gregorian Calendar from the Julian Calendar. If you account for the shift, May Day is actually on May 12th. It just bugs me when a well known and really good author gets something like that wrong

#they speak #gareth nix #the left handed booksellers of london

[evenaturtleduck]

I know I gripe about a lot of the new YA fantasy novels (cue old lady grumbling about how back in my day we didn't have multiple love interests in a toxic death match for the protag's affection or a zillion glamorous ball gowns, reading uphill both ways, blah blah blah don't mind me) but I do really appreciate the authors who are taking the mythology and imagery from some of my middle school favorites, like the Dark is Rising sequence or the Chronicles of Prydain and saying yeah, these are cool, but what if instead of defining The Defenders of Britain Against The Forces Of Evil as pastoral, straight, and white, we made them urban, queer, and non-white?

#dark rise #c.s. pacat #the left-handed booksellers of london #garth nix #favorite books #currently reading #if you know of any more in that vein please lmk <3

[lindensea]

Started on The Left-Handed Booksellers of London and it's silly & goofy so far! It's giving Doctor Who vibes, if the writers of doctor who cared more about clothing brands. There are a lot of details about clothing, actually

#the left-handed booksellers of london #garth nix #mr nix is basically an autobuy author for me at this point because even when i don't love his books i usually have fun #will fashion turn out to be important to this plot??? we shall find out! all i know is nothing else I've read by him (a fair amount) #has shown this much detail to clothing

[winter2468]

I really like what Garth Nix did with Merlin's gender.

In Left-Handed Booksellers, Merlin is explicit about the fact that he's thinking about changing his gender. It's an option he's thinking of taking. Throughout the book he wears both masculine and feminine clothing, and is equally comfortable in both.

And he still gets to be attractive and confident - and a love interest. It's so rare in fiction for a person to be explicitly questioning their gender, but they're still portrayed as attractive, confident and desirable.

In Sinister Booksellers, it's revealed that Merlin doesn't want to transition - between the first book and the second, he's figured himself out. But he still enjoys wearing all kinds of clothes, he still rocks a dress just as well as he rocks a suit, and he's still socially gender-nonconforming (referring to himself as both a master and mistress of disguise).

I really like how we have this attractive, confident love interest who

Questions his gender

Figures it out - he doesn't want to transition

Decides that he still wants to wear any type of clothing, not just 'men's' clothing, and then goes on to wear a fancy, pretty dress with his family and girlfriend not even questioning it.

#left handed booksellers of london #left-handed booksellers of london #sinister booksellers of bath #merlin st jacques #garth nix #gnc #gender nonconforming

[reading-cat]

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London

This was so cute oh my god???

It does suffer from the usual YA problems like underdeveloped characters and a predictable plot, but otherwise it’s unexpectedly good.

Yes, Susan, the MC, is very much the "chosen one" with special powers and special parentage but it’s not annoying and they don’t make her overpowered. And she’s punk!

Merlin is a delightful love interest. Loved the approach to his gender and how the fact that he’s questioning it doesn’t make him any less attractive, flirty and self-assured. Again, I would have loved a bit more elaboration on this topic, but maybe we’ll get it in the next book.

I thought at first that the constant clothes descriptions would annoy me, but they ended up being a really fun detail.

The worldbuilding is interesting but sparse. Not developed enough.

Overall, very easy and light read.

#the left-handed booksellers of london #booktumblr

[bibliophilecats]

Currently reading: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix

#the left-handed booksellers of london #garth nix #tbr #currently reading

[nyx-b-log]

phew it's been a busy week! in between life stuff, prepping for an exam on sunday and finishing all these books, i feel like i've been in go mode all week!

i started and finished the house in the cerulean sea by tj klune, about a inspector for state-run orphanages for magical children who gets sent on an assignment to an orphanage with the antichrist and learns what found family means. t only took me a few days to read, it's incredibly easy to sit with and just read for long periods of time, which i think i needed after some dense sci-fi. it's a bit heavy handed in its message in places (the word groupthink was also used at one point), but if you can look past that this is a perfectly pleasant way to spend an afternoon or two. not mind-blowing, but it brought a smile to my face.

worth mentioning is the accusations that the (white) author was using (specifically canadian) residential schools for his own gain. honestly, without knowing that going into it, i'm pretty sure i would never have made the connection (though that might be on me) and i'd bought the book before i found out about this. there's a (positive) discussion of it in this reddit thread (which i'm not linking because i necessarily agree with op, simply that it's comprehensive) and (a negative) one in this one and it's worth looking into on your own before deciding to read the book.

i also finished left-handed booksellers of london which was fine? i enjoyed it enough that i'm interested in reading book two, but i *despise* susan as a character asdfghjkl she spends the entire book going 'what? what?' and doesn't really grow from this. she had so much potential (a shaven headed punk girl in the 80s!) but fell very flat for me. cos of that the romance between her and merlin also felt like an afterthought. the world is great tho, and every time a new character or thing came up i was always interested to see what it was. as a YA book, it was enjoyable. the audiobook performance was occasionally annoying (which maybe contributed to my dislike of susan), but on the whole it's pretty good. she does accents well.

for manga, i read watashi no tadashii oniichan vol 1 again, the manga about a woman looking for her older brother and falling in love with the cute insomniac she works with, but properly this time. still loved it, the building of relationships and reveals is great and i'm really looking forward to finishing the series.

i also read ao haru ride vol 1, which is a classic but i've never actually picked it up before now. it's about a girl who falls in love with a boy in middle school, but then there's a misunderstanding and he moves away, only for them to reunite in high school. it explores their new relationship and how they've changed as people in the intervening years. i *loved* this, i devoured it in one sitting and am very, very sad i don't have the rest of the series. the writing is fantastic, the characters are already amazing, would recommend if you're into character-driven stories and/or romance and haven't picked it up yet.

in terms of stuff i've started, i'm about a third of the way through the traitor baru cormorant and oh my god??? this is amazing???? it's a political fantasy about a girl whose island nation gets colonised by the neighbouring empire and how she's planning to dismantle it from the inside. it's such an angry book, but in the best possible way. deals pretty heavily with colonialism and homophobia (especially in the beginning), with references to sexual assault, so bear that in mind before picking it up, but the writing is exquisite, and it's so cleverly written. also accounting, lots of accounting.

for audiobook i was planning to listen to a guide to imperial china but it wasn't available, so i went with skulduggery pleasant playing with fire (book 2 in the series) which is a nice comforting read. a character will turn up and i'll get hit with a blast of nostalgia, like oh it's you! and i'm enjoying it just like i did the first one.

that's it for me, i'll check in again next week! have a good week everybody!

#bookblr #books #reading #manga #the house in the cerulean sea #the left handed booksellers of london #watashi no tadashii oniichan #ao haru ride #the traitor baru cormorant #skulduggery pleasant #playing with fire #was a good week overall #also i've written this on friday #but queued it for saturday as per #scheduled