Wicked is in theaters this weekend: a book that became a Broadway show that is now a movie. Are you excited?!
For #tuesdaytunes today, I'm sharing my favorite stage show adapted into a movie. Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a rock musical about an East German singer who tells the story of her betrayal by a collaborator who used their work to gain fame for himself. Created by John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask.

Did anyone else watch the Penguin on HBO? As much as I'm ready for a more light-hearted take on the Dark Knight, Matt Reeves' Batman universe is very compelling. The Penguin had an amazing cast, and they told a great mob story set in Gotham. I'm excited to see how the story continues.

A direct continuation of book 8, book 9 is a solid quest that starts at Eleanor's school and journeys through several worlds. The dino world is a minor part of the story, but still pretty cool 😁

A middle-aged couple face the horrors of nuclear war in this sweet, but devastating adult picture book. A mis/under informed husband tries to man-splain away his worries while his caring but oblivious wife absent-mindedly goes along with his plans. Feels freshly relevant in our age of misinformation, as this couple could only operate with the information they had available, while so many today operate only with the info they choose to accept.

Reread. It's been a while since I've read Scott Snyder's Batman, but this comic is still amazing. While he would still play in the DC sandbox with Dark Nights, Last Knight is a proper conclusion to Snyder's iconic Batman run. The world has gone to hell, but that's not going to stop Batman from finding the truth, making a plan, and inspiring others to fight one more time.

News to me: Stephen King had authorized a new collection of short stories set in the world of The Stand

https://gizmodo.com/the-stand-stephen-king-anthology-1850948210

#losersclub #constantreader

An android mother writes a letter to her daughter . . .

Originally appearing in Catapult magazine, this short story imagines the process of replication for a future android model, sharing an alien experience through very human terms. Not available in the tagged collection, but available for free at Reactormag.com

https://reactormag.com/become-of-me-veronica-roth/

I enjoyed this. I see what he was going for with the excerpts from news reports and hearings, but I don't think it was very effective, since it didn't really add much to the story and the subplot of trying to bury the story didn't really lead anywhere. I also didn't love the choppy editing to insert these asides. The story was solid, though, and the buildup was very tense. #losersclub @BarkingMadRead

#tuesdaytunes is back! I'm excited for several albums in November, but I wanted to highlight three artists I've been following for over a decade who have all earned their first Grammy nominations! Waxahatchee, Madi Diaz, and Lake Street Dive. So exciting. Full Grammy list below, then a link for a Lake Street Dive music video

https://grammy.com/news/2025-grammys-nominations-full-winners-nominees-list

Click for joy: https://youtu.be/n_h4E0AsaJw

Do you prefer a little bit of creepiness with your holiday season? Whether you keep it light with the Grinch, or go full horror with Black Christmas, this is the swap for you!

Repost from @wildalaskabibliophile https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2803270

Sign ups are open now thru November 19th: https://forms.gle/5ato6KFneqV5McB56

#NaughtyListHolidaySwap #NLHS #LitsySwaps #LitsyEvents

A little late posting my #bookspinbingo board, but here we are!

#bookspin @thearomaofbooks

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii

I found joy in the shows of strength, support, and love for and by those who have legitimate cause to fear the future for themselves and their love ones, and in the kindness of those who have given people time and space to express those emotions, even if your views differ.

In other news, @wildalaskabibliophile are going drinking this weekend, and I got second place in a Halloween photo contest for Metal Earth models 😋

#gridirongab

I'm not a football fan, but I had to share a picture of the available merch in Alaska. Seattle I get, because of the vicinity, but Green Bay and Pittsburgh, with a couple Dallas items thrown in, seems like a pretty random assortment of offerings 😝

Also finished this while hiding from media last night. An excellent continuation of this steampunk saga. A cool twist on the atomic bomb.

Read this while hiding from the news last night. Super cute, though I didn't like it as much as the first, mostly because the plot point about Garlic's hands was not explained and took me half the book to figure it out.

I am a cis heterosexual white male. Aside from being (lower) middle class, I probably won't be too personally affected by the new fascist regime that has been elected. But I have, like, two or three cis heterosexual white male friends. My friends are queer or childless cat/dog people or women or Hispanic. I have nieces, not nephews. There are all at risk, and that is straight from the tangerine mouth. I also have conscience and a soul. This sucks.

This is just about as chaotic and bonkers as it sounds. The Legion of Doom has a plan to take out Superman, but their maniacal egos causes them to break ranks, and the Dreamstone is eventually used to transport the Monsterverse creatures to the DC universe. While completely ridiculous, the writers to a good job of keeping things pretty coherent, and the artists wrangle all the characters into some solid, exciting brawls. Excellent execution.

This is my first read by Grady Hendrix, and he lives up to the hype! This is such a beautiful portrayal of a friendship; the simplicity of the intro, the confusion, betrayal, and determination of the plot, and the heartache of the conclusion. And between all that is a really effective possession story just oozing '80s vibes.

@WildAlaskaBibliophile macramed this delightful hanger to display our cards from #litsylove and #naturalitsy

#bookspin #doublebookspin #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

Big, heavy snow flakes, but the sun is shining. So pretty this morning!

We celebrated Halloween by voting early and enjoying jack o' lantern grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner
#vote

#wickedwhispers @eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Happy Halloween! Thanks for the fun photo challenge!

#wickedwhispers @eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I recently (finally) started watching Dexter: New Blood, which is a solid continuation after a couple supremely disappointing seasons of the original run. I remember enjoying the first book, but having no urge to continue the series.

@Marmie7 #hhs24 #hauntedhollowswap @wanderinglynn

Thank you, Annie! Cady helped supervise the unboxing. The treats and books are perfect. I actually haven't read any Max Brooks yet, and I've heard so much about Needless Street and Cemetery Boys. I think Bloom will be first, though 😜

As #batweek comes to a close, I thought I'd highlight a few of the coolest species of the over 1,300 we know of.
1. Hammerhead bat: Male vocal cords are about 3x larger than female, and they have large resonating chambers on their faces. Females appear more like a typical megabat.
2. Honduran White Bat constructs “tents“ out of understory plant leaves by strategically cutting the leaf ribs with its teeth; it roosts in these tents during the day ↩

One of the things this book did well was build up to the finale. I mean, the main character is obsessed with slasher movies, so it is obviously leading up to a huge massacre, right? Or is her mind twisting things to fit her fantasy? Could the deaths just be coincidences? Is she somehow responsible for what is happening?

#wickedwhispers @eggs @alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Mythical beings have been trapped in human form with their memories buried for years. An event frees their minds and bodies, but what kind of world does it create?

Read for free at https://reactormag.com/dragonkin/

I can't believe I haven't read anything involving bats this month!!! Anywho, 10 bingos for #spookoweenbingo

#spookoween @thespineview

#wickedwhispers @eggs @alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

When Stephen King isn't looking into the evil in the hearts of ordinary men, he is often projecting that evil in the form of Randall Flagg, who often goes by an alias that maintains the “R.F.“ initials.

#wickedwhispers @eggs @alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Dorothy Parker was cremated, but on the memorial plaque where her ashes were laid, she suggested as her final words, “Excuse my dust.“

#wickedwhispers @eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

In a world where superpowers turn individuals evil, regulars have to find the supers' weaknesses and trick them into being killed.

"everyone had gone home but there was still more to be done
If anyone else took the work seriously he wouldn't be alone"

#wickedwhispers @eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

#wickedwhispers @eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

The first snow of the year! There had been some snow in Fairbanks and Anchorage, but today is the first for the peninsula.

Batman so sad! Batman #705-707 from Chuck Dixon sees the Riddler forcing Cluemaster into a team-up, leading Batman and Robin on a wild goose chase while Riddler executes a heist. I love a good Riddler story!

This didn't really do it for me. It has an excellent premise: a group of nomadic laborers are hired by an anonymous client to build a bomb shelter in a remote area, but the land is swarmed by a locust super brood. The bugs interrupt the work, the noise interrupts rational thought, and people start dying. I think this is really close to being a excellent horror novella, but it just falls short for me.

I love the Judge Dee mysteries, and this is one of my favorites of the series. Judge Dee is a vampire judge who travels the land to impart justice on vampires who create problems for the rest of their kind. Super quick reads, all available to read for free at reactormag.com

#wickedwhispers @eggs @alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

My #hhs #hhs24 package arrived!

#hauntedhollowswap @wanderinglynn

In “The Call of Cthulhu“, H. P. Lovecraft describes a statue of Cthulhu as: “A monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind.“

#wickedwhispers @eggs @alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Mx. Justin Vivian Bond is one of the recipients of the 2024 MacArthur Fellowship (i.e. Genius Grant). I first became aware of Bond from the movie Shortbus. The song is slightly NSFW (suggestive lyrics). The movie is extremely NSFW, but beautiful.

https://youtu.be/U4HEVtKvi0M

#tuesdaytunes

#wickedwhispers @eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

This volume combines a comic adaptation of the original movie, and the follow-up comic series. The adaptation is fine. The new stories are pretty good. The New World story “Seeds“ was good and I really liked the indigenous story “Corn Maiden.“ I found the art in “Echoes“ really ugly, but “Monster Mash“ was a good ending. There is so much potential with this property, I hope a proper film sequel eventually materializes.

#wickedwhispers @eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

One of Batman's more cerebral villains, Professor Jonathan Crane often utilizes a aerosol toxin to induce hallucinations of an individual's worst fears.

#wickedwhispers @eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

My favorite Marvel character, the sorcerer supreme protects the human realm from evil forces with the use of magic

I was able to get in two more for #gnreadathon for @JenlovesJT47 / #birthdaybashreadathon for @TheAromaofBooks
Beneath the Trees: Reminded me of Dexter, but with adorable anthropomorphic animals
Garlic and the Vampire: An adorably anxious anthropomorphic vegetable is called upon to investigate a possible vampire

#spookoween @TheSpineView

#birthdaybashreadathon @TheAromaofBooks
#gnreadathon @JenlovesJT47
#spookoween @TheSpineView

Infidel: A horrific story as commentary on racism
Lon Chaney Speaks: A biography without much material to be based on
Lady Mechanika: A gorgeous steampunk story from an independent publisher.

A bat basically screams its head off all night to find its food via echolocation. Luckily, most of it is too high pitched for humans to hear 😉

#wickedwhispers @eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

@wanderinglynn #hhs24 #hhs #hauntedhallowswap #hauntedhollowswap Parcel is in the hands of the postal service. 📦 Estimated delivery Monday 🤞

The Mutter Museum in Philadelphia is absolutely fascinating. One of their featured exhibits is a wall of human skulls. The tagged book is a excellent story of not only Dr. Mutter, but warring physicians at the dawn of modern medicine, the formation of the American medical college, and so much more.

#wickedwhispers @eggs @alwaysbeenaloverofbooks