REVIEW: Sweet & Simple Needle Felted Animals: A Step-By-Step Visual Guide (nonfiction book) by Sachiko Susa, translated by Leeyong Soo

Sweet & Simple Needle Felted Animals is a crafting book. I bought my copy brand new.

Review:

Of the four needle felting books I now own, this is the one I'd most recommend to beginners. It has an excellent variety of projects and actually talks about things like "how do I know when I'm done poking the wool?" and why it's best to make the parts smaller at first and then build them up gradually. It sticks to the absolute basics of needle felting and, as far as I can tell, doesn't even mention wire armatures or flocking, and none of the designs require either of these things.

Like every other one of these books I've seen, it starts with a section on tools and materials. Finger guards are listed as being optional, and lol no they are not, unless you're extremely careful. This section includes a nice "grams to ounces" chart that's helpful if you're in the US and your scale for wool measuring (which isn't strictly necessary, but is helpful for at least determining if you have enough wool for the project) doesn't have a setting for grams.

REVIEW: The Case of the Left-Handed Lady: An Enola Holmes Mystery (book) by Nancy Springer

The Case of the Left-Handed Lady is the second book in Springer's Enola Holmes mystery series. In terms of its intended audience, I still think it's probably aimed at older Middle Grade or younger YA readers.

Review:

Enola is still in London, and has thus far still managed to stay free of her brothers and the restrictions they'd impose upon her. Granted, only Sherlock is looking for her very hard.

Enola now cycles between three different identities: Ivy Meshle, the secretary of the fictitious Dr. Ragostin, who supposedly specializes in finding missing people; Mrs. Ragostin, the naive child-bride of Dr. Ragostin; and the "Sister of the Streets," a mute nun who walks the poorest parts of London at night, giving out blankets, food, and occasional coins. An encounter with Dr. Watson reveals that Sherlock knows more about her current situation than she expected, so she attempts to contact her mother for advice and tries to find out what else Sherlock might know. In addition, she investigates a case that Sherlock rejected, the disappearance of Lady Cecily, daughter of Sir Eustace Alistair.

REVIEW: Needle Felted Kittens: How to Create Cute and Lifelike Cats From Wool (nonfiction book) by Hinali, translated by Victoria Oyama

Needle Felted Kittens is technically a crafting book, but it could also be viewed as an artbook. I bought my copy brand new.

Review:

This book presents examples of Hinali's needle felting work and provides instructions for creating six different cats (well, five cats and a head).

The initial pages feature gorgeous full-color photos of Hinali's cats, and one hamster. The next sections cover the materials Hinali uses (with mentions of specific brands and products that can only be obtained in Japan), a couple techniques for blending wool, the tools Hinali uses, needle use advice, tips for cutting wool so that it looks more like real cat fur, cat proportions, and the three primary needling techniques Hinali uses. There's also a brief Q&A section.

The first set of instructions, for the little orange and white tabby kitten, are the most detailed (although it should be noted that even the tabby kitten instructions don't say how much wool the project requires, not even a ballpark amount). After that, the instructions mostly stick to body posing advice, how to fill out the wire armature with core wool, and which needling techniques to use on which parts of the body.

REVIEW: Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!, Vol. 2 (book) by FUNA, illustrated by Itsuki Akata, translated by Diana Taylor

Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! is Japanese fantasy, specifically isekai. It's licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment. I bought my copy brand new.

Review:

The beginning of this book reminds readers that the princess Mile (who was then Adele) saved is still looking for her and thinks that she's the avatar of a goddess. The bulk of the story has nothing to do with that, however. Instead, the focus is on Mile's new life as a hunter, taking on jobs with her all-girl party, the Crimson Vow.

The girls decide to start taking on more difficult jobs in order to test their skills and gain more experience. Just figuring out which situations are difficult for them and which are easy is helpful. However, then Reina proposes that they gain experience fighting human opponents - fighting monsters is one thing, but what if they can't bring themselves to go all out against other humans when necessary? And so they find a promising looking merchant escort job.

REVIEW: Enola Holmes: The Case of the Missing Marquess (book) by Nancy Springer

Enola Holmes and the Case of the Missing Marquess is either a YA or Middle Grade historical mystery, depending on where you check. The writing felt Middle Grade to me, but due to some of the content (Enola stumbling across the poor beggar woman whose scalp had been completely taken over with ringworm, for example), I'd say probably the older end of the Middle Grade range or younger end of YA. 

This is the first book in Springer's Enola Holmes series, and the book upon which the new Netflix movie was based. I bought my copy of this brand new.

Review:

On Enola's fourteenth birthday, her mother disappears. Once she realizes what's happened and that her mother is nowhere nearby, Enola contacts her older brothers, Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes, who she hasn't seen since she was four, figuring that they, as brilliant as they are, could help. Instead, they seem more concerned about the condition of the estate and what Enola has been doing for the past ten years. Mycroft had been sending their mother funds for household expenses since their father died ten years ago, and she had apparently been squirreling that money away for her eventual escape. Enola, who is not pleased with Mycroft's plans to send her to boarding school, can understand her motive for what she did, but there is one question she desperately wants answered: why didn't her mother bring her with her when she left?

Using the gifts her mother left for her, Enola sets off to try answer that question but stumbles across a completely different mystery in the process: the missing Viscount Tewksbury, Marquess of Basilwether.

REVIEW: So I'm a Spider, So What?, Vol. 3 (book) by Okina Baba, illustrated by Tsukasa Kiryu, translated by Jenny McKeon

So I'm a Spider, So What? is fantasy, specifically isekai. It's licensed by Yen Press under their Yen On imprint. I bought my copy brand new.

This review includes slight spoilers.

Review:

Spider MC continues her quest to find a way out of the Middle Stratum and hopefully out of the labyrinth entirely. Unfortunately, she has discovered one of the drawbacks of defeating the fire wyrm at the end of the previous book: she's now so powerful and fearsome that weaker monsters avoid her, making it difficult for her to find food. And even then, there are still monsters around who are scarier and much more powerful than she is, namely Mother (the massive spider who gave birth to her) and Earth Dragon Araba.

Shun, meanwhile, has inherited the Hero title after his beloved older brother's death. The Hero title isn't normally passed down to members of the same family, so Shun never expected to become the next one and doesn't feel like he's even close to being as amazing as his brother was. Unfortunately, some shocking developments upend his life even further.

REVIEW: Rookie Historian Goo Hae-Ryung (live action TV series)

Rookie Historian Goo Hae-Ryung is a Korean historical drama with romantic aspects. I watched it on Netflix.

This is set during the Joseon dynasty. Goo Hae-Ryung is an intelligent young woman who, rather than getting married, wants to become one of the first female historians in the royal court. Meanwhile, Prince Dowon, the less beloved younger son of the king, has spent his life confined to the palace, not permitted to take part in politics or life in the royal court. He passes the time by secretly writing wildly popular romance novels and can't stand it when he overhears Hae-Ryung's less-than-positive assessment of them. 

After Hae-Ryung becomes an apprentice historian, her and Prince Dowon's paths become intertwined. Together, they eventually uncover the secrets at the root of both their pasts.

REVIEW: The Twisted Ones (audiobook) by T. Kingfisher, narrated by Hillary Huber

The Twisted Ones is horror/dark fantasy. I first read a paper copy a few months ago, and I recently listened to the audio version via an Overdrive.

Review:

Melissa, called Mouse by everyone who knows her, is asked by her dad to go clean out her dead grandmother's house. What her dad failed to mention was that her grandmother was a hoarder. The house is horrible, but not a biohazard, so Mouse hunkers down and gets to work, with her hound Bongo for company.

One of the things Mouse finds is her stepgrandfather's journal. He showed signs of dementia, and Mouse's grandmother was almost certainly abusing him, preventing him from sleeping and taking things that were important to him. However, there are also signs that he might have known about something strange going on in the area, something connected to the hill that shouldn't exist that Mouse and Bongo accidentally stumble across.

REVIEW: Dewey Decimated (book) by Charles A. Goodrum

Dewey Decimated is the first book in Goodrum's Werner-Bok Library Mysteries series. I checked it out from my library.

Review:

Betty Crighton Jones (called Crighton from here on out) is the press officer for the Werner-Bok Library in Washington, D.C. Some recent developments are making her job particularly stressful. Anonymous letters sent to various members of the media claim that several of the Werner-Bok's rare books are, in fact, fakes, and it's starting to put the Library's reputation at risk. Not only that, but Murchison DeVeer, the Head of the Manuscripts Division, claims he knows that something fishy is going on in the Rare Books Division. 

In a effort to deal with the anonymous note situation as quietly and quickly as possible, the library director, Brooks, invites Dr. George, a respected retired librarian, to look into the situation in the guise of doing research for a book. Brooks assigns Crighton to be George's guide/assistant. Shortly before George arrives, however, DeVeer ends up dead in an apparent accident. Was DeVeer the one responsible for the notes, and is the problem now solved? Or is something more sinister going on?

REVIEW: Zombies: A Record of the Year of Infection (audiobook) by Don Roff, narrated by Stephen R. Thorne (and others)

Zombies: A Record of the Year of Infection is horror, with enough focus on the science of zombies that you could also call it science fiction. I checked my copy out via one of my library Overdrive accounts.

This review includes major spoilers.

Review:

Dr. Robert Twombly is a biologist who attempts to deal with the sudden zombie apocalypse by keeping a record of his experiences, in the hope that it might help others. The audiobook is set up like it's his field recording (we're told that he has several boxes of batteries - somehow he manages to lug these around with him wherever he goes). Although Twombly's account is the primary focus, he occasionally finds traveling companions whose stories he also records. This came across more like an audio drama, with occasional background sounds, than an audiobook (based on its Goodreads page, the print version may be a graphic novel?).

REVIEW: So I'm a Spider, So What? (book, vol. 2) by Okina Baba, illustrated by Tsukasa Kiryu, translated by Jenny McKeon

So I'm a Spider, So What? is a Japanese fantasy novel, specifically isekai (portal fantasy, basically). It's published by Yen On. I bought my copy brand new.

This review includes mild spoilers.

Review:

Spider MC is back, and she's finally made it to the Middle Stratum. Unfortunately for her, it's filled with pools of magma and fire-wielding monsters, and she's incredibly weak against fire. Not only that, but her spider silk burns up in seconds, meaning that her primary weapon is now useless. However, going back to the Lower Stratum doesn't seem like a good option, so she's going to have to focus on leveling up her other skills and get creative in order to survive and eventually make it back to the Upper Stratum.

Meanwhile, Shun, Katia, and Sue are now training at a special academy, and Shun and Katia have met most of the other reincarnated students that Ms. Oka talked about. However, there are two remaining ones that she refuses to say anything about. For some reason, they cannot be brought to the academy. While Shun is training, Julius, Shun's Hero older brother, is off fighting high-level monsters and growing increasingly concerned about the potential for a large-scale war.

REVIEW: Winchester (live action movie)

Winchester is a historical horror movie originally released in 2018. I watched it on Netflix.

This review includes spoilers.

Review:

Dr. Eric Price is a man haunted by the death of his wife. At the behest of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, he agrees to stay at Sarah Winchester's mansion in order to evaluate her mental health. Sarah has been having her mansion renovated nonstop for a while now, and she claims her family is cursed to be haunted by the shadows or ghosts of those killed by her company's firearms. As Dr. Price attempts to investigate what he views as Sarah's delusions, he becomes concerned about Sarah's young nephew.

REVIEW: Kaguya-sama: Love Is War (manga, vol. 1) by Aka Akasaka, translated by Emi Louie-Nishikawa

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War is a romantic comedy series licensed by VIZ. I bought my copy brand new.

Review:

Kaguya Shinomiya is elite Shuchiin Academy's student council vice president. Her family is wealthy and influential, and Kaguya is a highly intelligent girl who is used to viewing every interaction as a potential power struggle. Miyuki Shirogane is the student council president. His family is neither wealthy nor influential, but he's dedicated to his studies and still manages to earn everyone's respect.

There is a rumor going around that Kaguya and Miyuki are going out. In reality, although they're both secretly interested in each other, neither one is willing to admit it. Kaguya views love as a battle in which the first one to confess is the loser, and Miyuki is keenly aware of the difference in their classes and thinks Kaguya is constantly looking down on him. Neither of them wants to lose by being the first to confess to the other.

REVIEW: Twelve Angry Librarians (book) by Miranda James

Twelve Angry Librarians is the 8th book in James' A Cat in the Stacks cozy mystery series. I bought my copy used.

Review:

Due to events in the previous book (which I haven't read and which this book's text was vague about, probably to avoid spoilers for those reading the series out of order), Charlie Harris is now the interim library director at Athena College's library. This year's Southern Academic Libraries Association (SALA) conference is being held at Athena College, so Charlie has that on his plate, as well various personal concerns. His interim position is prompting him to think whether he might want to be library director on a more permanent basis, his daughter and her husband might be moving away shortly after she gives birth, and his son's wife is also pregnant.

Charlie is less than pleased when he learns that one of the conference's keynote speakers is Gavin Fong, a slimeball who hit on his wife back in library school and was generally unpleasant. It doesn't take long to see that Gavin hasn't improved over the years, and he manages to make a few more people angry before dying, apparently of cyanide poisoning.

REVIEW: Enola Holmes (live action movie)

Enola Holmes is a historical mystery movie based on Nancy Springer's Middle Grade book The Case of the Missing Marquess, the first in Springer's Enola Holmes series. The movie is a Netflix Original.

Review:

When Enola Holmes was very young, her father died and her brothers, Mycroft and Sherlock, went off to live their own lives, leaving her and her mother alone together. Enola's mother had very unique ideas about how to raise a young girl, and so instead of having a governess and learning how to be a proper young lady, Enola instead read every book in the family library, learned to fight, and solved cryptograms and word jumbles.

And then, on the morning of her sixteenth birthday, Enola's mother vanishes. She clearly left of her own free will, and Enola is distraught - she had thought she and her mother were happy together, so why did her mother leave her behind? Mycroft and Holmes arrive in order to assess the situation and deal with her. Mycroft intends to send Enola to a finishing school and Holmes clearly intends to stand back and let him. In the nick of time, Enola discovers some messages her mother left for her and escapes to London, hoping to track her mother down herself. While doing this, she becomes embroiled in another mystery, that of the missing young Viscount Tewkesbury.