I started the year very happy and optimistic especially when it comes to my reading and it started quite strongly with some very enjoyable reads and new experiences like manga and the saucy type of manga but in recent weeks my reading has slumped.
For many weeks I have literally read a page a day to maintain my Kindle reading streak but over the past ten days of so I have now gone about 5 or 6 days without opening my Kindle. I just feel a malaise and slump and can’t seem to pull myself out of it.
My last reading was finishing Last Testament in Bologna by Tom Benjamin and I haven’t picked up my Kindle since then. This is highly unusual for me, my reading streak was about 150 consecutive days and over 400 weeks in a row. Its very rare I had a missed day unless something cropped up or a server glitch.
I think personal life has contributed to it, as I am currently grieving still for a shock family bereavement in April. It really affected me and though I never saw the person as much as I used to, since his passing I cannot stop thinking about him and how his act and loss has destroyed and forever changed my family and its future. Reading, games are my forms of escapism and they offer little to no comfort for me currently, especially if there are scenes of abuse and self harm.
I am not depressed or anything, just wanted to write my thoughts and feelings and get it off my chest for myself. It is very cathartic to write it out and it helps. Only I probably will read this so its fine.
Aside from reading, video games and books I have an interest in fountain pens and inks. It is something I have always enjoyed and I still have and use my first fountain pen I bought way back in 2008, a lime green Lamy Safari.
It is only recently, the last year or so, that I have fallen down the rabbit hole of inks. Its not the colours that appeal to me but the properties too. Like a shimmer or sheening ink and the inks that alter, fore example Sailor Dategokoro goes on with a blue hue but dries a nice plummy colour.
This past week I decided to have a tidy up and organise my collection of inks and pens to make them more accessible and visual to me. Usually I kept them in a pencil case but I decided to store them in a pen case to preserve and look after them better. It is nice to appreciate them and their differences.
My pens range from the Lamy and cheaper Chinese models and brand like Jinhao and Asvine to more expensive Esterbrook and Platinum pens. Cost doesn’t necessarily mean better in my experience. I have 15 total pens and need a bigger case, as I have only room for 12, the rest live in my pencil case. My favourite brand seems to be Kaweko and I like their Sport model of pen. I also have two dip pens which I use for ink swatching and for a change of pace. A J Herbin glass dip pen and a Sailor Dipton with a fude nib.
For inks I have few from Diamine and J. Herbin. I quite like the 1670 collection from J. Herbin. I do like the Pilot Iroshizuka inks and thought I have two currently (Kon Peki & Yama Buda) I know I will try to acquire the set – they are pricey but God tier in my opinion. I do like the gold flecks in ink though they are a bit annoying with gunking up the nib, thankfully most if not all my pens can be thoroughly cleaned out
Here are my pens (from left to right).
Asvine C80 (Green Ripple) 1.1 Stub nib
Kaweko Collection (Apricot) Medium nib
Kaweko Sport (Bordeaux) Broad nib
Kaweko Sport (Fox) Medium nib
Kaweko Lunar Sport (Shadow Green) Medium nib
Kaweko Sport Piston Filer (Blue) Medium nib
Platinum Kanazawa-Haku (Changing Autumn Leaves) Medium nib
Esterbrook Niblet (Nouveau Bleu) Fine Flex nib
Opus 88 (Check) Broad nib
TWSBI 580AL (Prussian Blue) Fine nib
TWSBI Go (Clear) Fine nib
Sailor Dipton Fude nib / J. Herbin 21437T dip pen
Not pictured are Jinhao 10 (Gradient Dark Blue) Medium Nib, Lamy Safari (Lime Green) Medium nib, Travellers Company (Factory Green) Fine nib and a vintage Golden Star pen made in a cloisonné style with what I assume to be a Fine nib (hard to find info on this pen).
As you can see from the above I do prefer a Medium nib in my pens, especially the Kaweko. Liking inks with shimmer properties you need a nice chunky nib to show off the best of the ink.
All the pens are inked up with different inks and I do switch between them all. My daily carry pen would be the Kaweko Piston and a Tom’s Studio ‘The Wren’ pen. It dawns on me as I write now that aside from a cartridge in the Travellers Company pen (Herbin Perle Noire) that I do not own a bottle of black ink. I do like Blue Black ink though, and blue inks in general. Below shows what is in each pen.
I quite like all the inks, I may change out the inks in three of the pens (Asvine, Kaweko Apricot & Opus 88) soon though.
This is how my shelf looks and I have cleaning utensils in the white pot including syringes, water bulbs and pipettes. All for use in cleaning and inking (along with a TWSBI Pipe).
I think eventually I will do blogs on each pen, and maybe the inks too.
I dont really have any plan where this is going but seeing as this is New Years Eve I thought I would do a little post about my reading this year, its only really me who reads this anyway.
I did keep my resolution from last year to update this regularly. Mostly it has been book reviews but also some other things too. I think the coming year I may incorporate more things like journalling and pens and ink, and travel updates.
It has been an enjoyable and interesting year for me reading wise. I have discovered new things I have enjoyed in terms of manga (possibly Ecchi haha) and on the whole my reading has been mostly positive. I am looking through my Goodreads and the only book I have sort of disliked is Shifting The Moon From Its Orbit by Andrea Marcolongo. That one I rated 2 Stars and the rest I have read is 3 Stars and above.
Aside from Christmas books and some Yasunari Kawabata novels I haven’t re-read any books. Which I think is great. I did not manage to finish all my Christmas reading that I planned to, the Anthony Trollope book dragged (1800s romances is not my thing and very annoying) so I jettissoned the rest of my festive reads given the year is ending.
According to Goodreads I have read 66 books for the year and 14056 pages which is the most since 2023. Though not quite up there with 2019 and 2020 where I devoured 38000 pages and 31000 pages respectively (discovered the Mairgret series).
For the year ahead I do plan to re-read some old favourites and explore many new books I have yet to come to. Amongst the favoruties I would like to revisit Macondo in One HUndred Years of Solitude and join Edmond in his quest for revenge in The Count of Monte Cristo.
For new books I hope that this year I can read some Rumpole books by John Mortimer and explore more Graham Greene and finally get around to reading Roberto Bolano. I may dip into Ecchi more, I dont find it a sexy but the plots are amusing and fun. Cartoon corny drawings are just that, not in the least bit sexy as I swear the artists have never seen a human before let alone how the body works. Monster Musume is very funny and outlandish.
I have lots of books to get on with and hope this coming year I buy a lot less of them. Stick to the key series I enjoy like Martin Walker’s Bruno series. All in all I will stick to buying books through the Kindle Daily and Monthly Deals.
A Happy New Year to all who read this, may 2026 be healthy and happy for you all.
Since my last post yesterday I have done some thinking and some spontaneous things, I have decided that I will definitely be nore active with this and maybe other social medias too. I have purchased the domain to this blog so that it is now Valleyreading.uk and I was playing with my laptop and created a cute little logo which I like very much.
I feel that if I have an investment and incentive to inspire and encourgae me to regularly use this and post here too. The small financial investment is a reason to not neglect this. I have a few ideas for content and although the address and typical content is bookish I don’t think that would be my only content, I may diversify through my interests of which there is many and I am expecting 2025 to have a few twists too which I will be sure to document.
For content I am thinking of doing the following:
Book Reviews
Anime reviews
Tech reviews
Game Reviews
Shave of The Day/Week posts
General musings and life posts.
Relating to my interests
WordPress Daily Writing Prompt
Those are just some of my ideas and similar to what I already have posted but I will put more effort into it like I used to with my old blog which I grew quite well before I killed it.
From my last post I have began to jot down a rough reading list but I have sooo many books to go through I sort of don’t want to. Being a bit of an anorak I have every single book itemised and numbered on a spreadsheet so I may do a random number generator and see what it falls on for some reads. Could also use CoPilot AI to suggest some reads and see what it comes up with.
I am like a London bus, wait a year to make a post and then two at once, and probably a third to follow imminently….
Valley Reviews 