My Pelikan m205 is a bit drab. I purchased a taupe-colored pen on sale; in retrospect, it’s nice for it’s understated, non-flashy appeal. And, honestly, I was happy to get the pen for less than its usual cost.

Aside from looks, I have a love-hate relationship with the pen. As my first big-purchase pen, I had high hopes that it would amaze and delight. I enjoyed it’s bouncy nature, and I wanted to love it. But it felt scratchy, as if it were digging into the paper, so I set it aside for a long while.

I’ve come back to it with knowledge on checking tine alignment and performing minor adjustments, and I feel that today it is a decent writer. I enjoy that it has an ink window, that it isn’t ostentatious, and I appreciate its rather understated design. However, I don’t enjoy its small grip. And no matter how much I write with it, I can’t get out of my head that it once was a scratchy writer; I keep waiting for it to dig into my paper again.

As far as pens go, I like how it looks, even if it appears drab. I appreciate that it isn’t flashy, and that if I wanted to, I can find many other colors available in the m205 line. It features a nib and feed that are easy to swap, very similar to bygone Esterbrook model J pens, with a nib and feed unit that you unscrew to remove from the pen.

On the other hand, I admit that I regularly reach for less-expensive pens without bouncy nibs. A first among many lessons, this pen helped me understand that a more expensive pen doesn’t necessarily mean a more enjoyable pen.

Nausicaä uncovers a plot to modify spores that spread incredibly fast. Realizing that a bad situation is about become more dire, Nausicaä makes an escape in an attempt to stave off certain disaster.

Full of intrigue, this series continues to deliver fast-paced action and adventure.

Leon is an engineered cat: highly intelligent, talkative, with opposable thumbs. As an undercover security agent, he must be careful who he speaks around. As a cat, no one suspects that he’s an agent.

I enjoyed the stories in this volume, Leon’s investigative work, and how he gets himself into sticky situations.

I recommend it!

Ten people arrive on an island, and are murdered one by one for past crimes.

An interesting story, as there isn’t an inspector on the island to piece everything together. To some degree, the reader is left to try to figure it out.

Recommended for a different approach to murder mysteries (than what I’m accustomed to).

Miss Gracechurch is painfully shy—or rather, she finds that social settings cause her strong anxiety. To avoid social interactions, and especially marriage, she invents a Scottish captain that she writes letters to.

Except that Captain MacKenzie is both very real and very much alive. He’s intent on marrying Miss Gracechurch, because he’d like her castle and lands to provide his men homes. And he’s received all of her letters.

The two fall in love, but I find that I have a hard time believing it, in large part because of the lies that they must put behind themselves to move forward. I also had a hard time when MacKenzie insists that Gracechurch is ready for her, but that’s likely my own hangup after learning how desire works (this is a recommendation to check out Nagoski’s Come as You Are).

Overall, it is a good book, and I recommend it.

Nausicaä is in with the Touremician, heading toward a large forest. She’s doing as much as she can to save innocent people (and not just her own) at great harm and risk to herself. All the while she’s doing her best to avoid involvement as a particimant in the fighting.

Montell describes how cults rely on language to spread their views. She investigates how charismatic cult leaders used language to gain members and deceive people, offering them a path to a better world that only the leader understands.

She also looks at how multi-level marketers use language to ensnare people, and finally at fitness groups. It’s fascinating at how similar both groups’ language and tactics are similar to cults.

She ends by pointing out that research shows that folks with little education tend to believe in ghosts, but that folks with more education are more likely to follow charlatans. A very sobering conclusion.

Overall, I recommend this book.

Shane explores how large language models and other generative algorithms work, how they don’t work, and problems that they have. It’s a fascinating look into the current technological hype along with the types of attacks that it suffers from.

An excellent book.

Rumors swirl that Catherine Benson lost her virtue. Therefore, her marriage to Andrew Davener is, if nothing else, a marriage of convenience for Andrew. Catherine’s dowry ensures that Andrew can finally rebuild his family’s estate.

However, Catherine longs for love. She knew that her marriage to Andrew wouldn’t provide love. But as her regard for him grows, Catherine can’t help but feel hurt that Andrew doesn’t seem to return her love.

The art is beautiful while subdued. The story leaves the possibility for future titles with other characters.

I enjoyed the book and recommend you give it a read.

Young Esme learns that some words are given more significance than others simply due to who uses them, who writes them, and the esteem that the collectors of words hold for those individuals.

Esme’s dad is a lexicographer working on the Oxford English Dictionary, an undertaking of a lifetime. Esme notices that words used by women or other underclasses aren’t included in the dictionary, and therefore she starts collecting words.

I enjoyed how words shaped and played such an important role in Esme’s life, the power that words have, and the power that academics have in uplifting or silencing people. Recommended.