Life Digest 2026 Weeks 9-10
23 February - 8 March 2026
Books Read
Sword Catcher - Cassandra Clare (2023)
It's been a while since I read a thick book (600+ pages), and I am happy to find reading Sword Catcher to be an immersive experience. The ball that was the story was rolling from page 1, which immediately got me hooked and curious. I usually don't like a first book that's mostly about setting up ~the big conflict~, but this book was really good at weaving the worldbuilding into the narrative and leaving breadcrumbs about the lore and conspiracies. Tension was kept high throughout the entire length of the book, as though something bad could happen at any time. When I finished, I felt like I got to know so much about the world and characters, but I'd barely scratched the surface of everything. I still don't have the full picture of what's going on (in a good way), but I am invested. It's also set in a queernormative world, and it's just a personal favourite in a setting. I probably have one or two things that bother me in this book (the map could've been better), but honestly, they are negligible.
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1877)
Finished the first story and … okay? It was like a moralizing thought exercise. Not a fan of The Meek One either.
Palm Oil: The Grease of Empire - Max Haiven (2022)
Not gonna lie, I thought it would be more cohesive than this. I feel that some of the connections pursued in this book were quite tenuous. But as a person who knows next to nothing about palm oil, I found this short book to be a good primer to the topic.
The Ragpicker King - Cassandra Clare (2025)
I know I asked for a world map but now that it’s here it looked as bad as the Castellane map from the previous book. Overall I was just as invested and immersed in the story as I had been with Sword Catcher. I will definitely get the third book on publication date, even though some side characters were still as flat as ever.
Added to TBR
- Skipshock - Caroline O’Donoghue (2025)
- Too Like the Lightning - Ada Palmer (2016)
- Lucky Jim - Kingsley Amis (1954)
- The Poet Empress - Shen Tao (2026)
Movies/Series Watched
Bridgerton Season 4 (2026)
Benedict has always been my favorite Bridgerton brother unfortunately Luke Thompson’s acting was not good enough to lead the series and the main couple’s drama lacked ups and downs. Hannah Dodd as Francesca stole the show.
Games played
Highwater (ongoing)
It’s a turn-based RPG with a post-apocalyptic drowned world setting (very much J.G. Ballard’s The Drowned World). I very much like that I can restart/retry the battles any time I wish to.
Crochet projects
Lace filet crochet quote (ongoing)
🧶 Aunt Lydia’s classic 10 crochet thread (mercerized cotton, size 10)
🪡 1.75 mm hook