Don’t let me put you off. I’ve not read the Finishing School series. And I DO love the Parasol Protectorate VERY much, just a couple books are a bit weak in my opinion.
I finished the Chess Queen Enigma by Colleen Gleason.It was a fun read and a complete paeon to the old pulp magaizines that the original Sherlock Holmes stories appeared in, the villian is so pulp I giggle every time she/he appears.
One of my favorite non fiction books EVER! 
I finished Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff today. Visually it was stunning and I was excited to see a steampunk book based on Japan, medieval Europe has been done to DEATH, but halfway through the book, Kristoff forgot it was steampunk and started writing a straight up fantasy, which would have worked, perhaps, if the characters had been more engaging. I just couldn’t connect with any of them, even the griffen. 
I finished reading “Life’s Handicap”, a book of short stories by Rudyard Kipling. Most of the stories were quite good, if you could get past the racism; the worst culprit for me was “Without Benefit of the Clergy”, a love story where a white guy buys a 14-year-old Indian girl for sex.
However, there were some truly excellent horror stories in the collection: “At the End of the Passage”, “The Mark of the Beast” and “Bertran and Bimi” genuinely gave me chills.
I picked up Jungle of Stone: The True Story of Two Men, Their Extraordinary Journey, and the Discovery of the Lost Civilization of the Maya, after Malthus mentioned it in one of these threads. The title sums it up – two dudes go on an expedition to Mayan ruins. It was an engrossing read. A bit of a slow start, as there was maybe more information about the political environment of Central America (at the time) than I needed, but once the book got into the meat of the exploring, it was like reading an adventure novel. I wish it had gone into more of the details about the Mayan art and architecture, but it is primarily a book about the the two men.
This was my first disc world book ever. Got the hard cover for $1.99 at B&N. Loved it. Just finished the last Tiffany Aching one. It was bittersweet.
Reading The Circle by Dave Eggers - had it on the shelf for ages but saw that there’s a film of it coming out soon, so thought I’d get it read.
Mixed feelings - It’s a fantastically-well realised (and grim) satire, in the hands of a very mediocre writer. So on balance good, but I wish a really talented writer would take this area on.
He deserves all the praise he got for his vision of the google dystopia - I think it’s actually harder to do this sort of nightmare-round-the-corner scenario than writing something way more imaginative, because it’s so real.
Finished up Nightmares: a new decade of modern horror. I gave it one more star than I thought it warranted over at Goodreads, just because I read a lot of these collections and I thought it was a cut above the usual. Favorite stories: The Clay Party by Steve Duffy and At Night, When the Demons Come by Ray Cluley.
Dark Matter written by Blake Crouch. A bit of a clunker, especially towards the end of the book.
I accidentally bought The Witch’s Vacuum by Terry Pratchett on Kindle. I really hate foot notes on my tablet, but so far the stories are fun.
Had to return Killing Floor to the library unfinished. Started At Home by Bill Bryson.
New thread for February?
February thread here.
Thanks Sam! I got distracted this week and spaced it off.