Reading July 2025

Gods; it’s been a long time since I last wrote a blog post!
To get me back on the horse – as it were – here’s my reading for July 2025 🙂
I now track my books using StoryGraph ( https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/faitelle ) – which I greatly prefer to Goodreads. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for an independent (non-Amazon-owned) alternative – but also to anyone that loves statistics and graphs, as that’s where this app really shines!
I also prefer the user experience & general vibe – and hope there’s a widget or easy-way-to share to WordPress in the works 🙂

Life Under Construction

I did a terrible job of restarting this blog in 2018, and didn’t touch it at all in 2019!

But, another year is in sight – and I’m slowly piecing a life together.

In 2019 I started, and subsequently left, a terrible job – but found a better one.

I now work for a jeweler, who treats me beyond well, and have realised that what I want from life is happiness & love – not a specific career, no levels of abstraction.

I continue to speak to my CBT therapist – they help me stay on track rebuilding things.  My partner is wonderful, with them I’m learning about equality, what’s really important, and opening my eyes to new things – I like to think that every day I’m growing up – and getting a step closer to moving on.

I move into my new home in 2020 – I can’t wait to start building a nest.  This will be the first time I have my own space here, on the island where my friends and family are.  I want to build somewhere where they feel welcome – where I can serve them food I’ve grown, where we can play D&D, and where we can curl up cosy by the fire.  The house is part of my Nan’s old farm  house, it’s been slowly decaying for the past few years – and I can’t wait to fill it with life again.

Here’s to 2020, for all of us.

D&D 5e Ranger

I wrote a piece on my tumblr about levelling up my 5e Ranger that people might find interesting.

My party has just hit level 4 and I’m debating whether to get the Sharpshooter feat or whether to take a stat increase.

I do a bit of maths to work out what my damage would look like in each case and how a Dex boost would affect my initiative.

You can follow the steps and work it out for your character too, please post below if you have any questions!

Ranger Tumblr post

The Wanderer Returns

Dear Readers,

It’s been a long time since I posted (2016!) and a lot has happened in that time.

My mental health plummeted and I’ve been spending most of the past few years getting better slowly.

I decided to leave my PhD but I’m so thankful for the help I received whilst I was there and for all that I learnt.

I left the UK and returned to Jersey, where I was born. I love being home and it’s doing me so much good. Nothing beats long walks along the coast. In Jersey I’m receiving the medical, practical & emotional support I need & getting better every day.

At the moment I’m volunteering, I volunteer at the animal shelter & a wonderful charity that helps people like me get back on their feet.

I have secured a new job but won’t be starting for several months – it’s a really exciting opportunity & I’m sure I’ll be posting about it when the time comes!

I broke up with my former partner, but eventually met someone new and we make each other really happy.

For now I’ll be posting about my hobbies – books, D&D, crafting – photos from my walks – & hopefully some short pieces of fantasy writing I’ve been working on. I also want to write about LGBT issues, diversity, Mental health and updates on my life.

I hope you enjoy reading this and I’m excited to start reading everyone else’s blogs again!

All the best,

Jen x

My 2016 Year in Books

It’s not *quite* the end of the year yet, but think it’s the right time to review my 2016 year in books!

I started this year with the aim of really, truly, enjoying each book that I read. You can never have a perfect year, but I like to think that I came pretty close to achieving this aim =) most importantly my attitude toward reading moved from the emotional crutch that colored much of 2015, to something much more fun and indulgent.

2016 seems to have been a year of fantasy reading for me, a genre that I once gave up. I haven’t really tackled the tougher issues in my reading this year, but life has thrown plenty of the big stuff my way, so having a literary playground to escape to has been a welcome relief.

Highlight of this year:  My 4-and-a-half read throughs of the Harry Potter series, Ms. Rowling I salute you! This epic repeated marathon got me through the worst parts, & I am forever grateful that this series exists.

My ‘2016 favorites’ shelf has some excellent books on it that I know I will return to again and again.  From ‘A Discovery of Witches’, which felt like it had been written just for me (isn’t it lovely when that happens?); to ‘Slade House’ my first success with reading David Mitchell.

From a social POV I made a lot more friends on Goodreads, especially since joining the ‘Catching Up on Classics’ group, & it’s been so lovely talking about books with you all!  I still haven’t quite got the hang of book club reading, but I’m sure I’ll get there eventually =)

Some books deserve to be read slowly, & make up part of each year despite not quite making it on to the virtual shelves.  ‘Palimpsest’ by Catherynne M. Valente, continues to colour my days with its strange beauty, whilst ‘Moby Dick’, which my partner & I read to one another on the rare days we are together, is a reading experience that I doubt will ever be surpassed, maybe we’ll finish it by 2019, but I wouldn’t complain if we were still reading it in 10 years time.

And finally, in contrast, I think my least favorite book of the year is obvious….’The Cursed Child’, (is it even a book?  I’d say no…but it won the Goodreads fantasy book of the year award…so I guess we’ll let that debate slide).  I’m quite thankful that it had some redeeming points &, unlike my least favorite book of 2015, a book that mentally scarred me to the point where I can’t even name it….The Cursed Child was merely a story that I didn’t enjoy that much, and seems to have brought happiness to a lot of people….even the literary negatives are positive this year =)

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas & looking forward to a lovely, bookish 2017! =)

My 2016 Year in Books can be found here:  https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2016/3033800?utm_source=twitter

Review: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This latest instalment in the Harry Potter franchise lacks the spark & intelligence of the original books. There are certainly moments where Rowling’s influence can be felt, and these were very welcome, but the script largely reads as if it were written by another, far clunkier, hand. This isn’t surprising given the format change and the writing team but I had hoped that this would be an opportunity to showcase some of the original magic (if you’ll pardon the pun) in a new way & unfortunately I felt ‘The Cursed Child’ fell short on this front.

Scorpius Malfoy is a wonderful character & I’m not sure this story gave us enough chance to explore him fully. I’d certainly welcome more writing on him in future.

I’m looking forward to ‘Fantastic Beasts’, the clips released so far look very promising, & I can’t imagine anything will stop my (near constant) rereading of the original Harry Potter series but, alas, ‘The Cursed Child’ will probably not be getting a second read through from me.

View all my reviews

Athene Donald: Embedding the People in our Labs

More and more I’m finding that it’s the people, rather than the equipment that makes a lab, so re-blogging this wonderful piece by Athene Donald:

Scientists are people, they have emotions and they interact with their peers, their students, their professors….and indeed the public. Sometimes, however, scientists are represented as interacting with little more than glassware or white lab coats. We can be perceived as living in a hermetically sealed bubble of our own construction occasionally churning out papers which…

via Embedding the People in our Labs — Athene Donald’s Blog

Growing & changing: Bank holiday PhD thoughts

I haven’t blogged since 2015; partly because workload & health problems left me short on time, but partly because I just couldn’t think of anything I wanted to write about.

I tried writing down a few thoughts today to help with my anxiety and, while I quickly got sidelined thinking about current projects, I thought this section was worth preserving:

It was suggested during my viva that my understanding of biological concepts relating to my project needed to ‘grow up’.  I fully agree with this comment, and note the difference in my personal satisfaction between earlier projects, where I was immersed in developmental biology, and my current PhD project, in which I focus on ‘getting work done’ with my existing physical science & programming skills.  While I feel confident in my element (in this case, physical sciences) I think in order to be truly satisfied with my work I need to be continually gaining new skills and growing as a scientist, only then can I focus on the more difficult & much needed task of growing as a person.

The wisdom of letting my well-being hinge so heavily on my job can, perhaps, be debated another day, but becoming more satisfied, excited & engaged are definitely things to look forward to.

Review: The Eyre Affair

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is fluff; wonderful, witty, alternate reality, time travelling, comic fantasy, mystery fluff.

I loved every minute.

This book isn’t going to appeal to everyone, it’s certainly not fine literature, but if you’re after surreal wit and some serious escapism I’d recommend it wholeheartedly.

If you enjoyed this try: Jodi Taylor, Robert Rankin, Terry Pratchett.

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Review: Night Watch

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My favorite Discworld novel and one of my all time favorite books.

Sam Vimes leads the cast in this Time travelling – Les Mis – Detective – Fantasy mashup.

Prepare for origin stories galore as the children of the revolution head to the streets of Ankh-Morpork. Fight for “Truth, Justice, Freedom, Reasonably Priced Love, and a Hard-Boiled Egg”.

…And finally find out what happens on the glorious 25th of May.

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