Oh! It‘s time for #TuesdayTunes.

I‘ve been fighting a cold, so I haven‘t felt like listening to anything too energetic or frenetic. Mellow vibes only. Ella Grace brings them. She lists “Sexuality, Identity, Spirituality and Mental Health” as the pillars of her album. I‘m into it.

Vibes here:
https://spotify.link/L28rDDGWEXb

Adorable juv graphic novel about an anxious little garlic bulb who‘s brought to life to help her witch mother in the garden. When a vampire comes to town, the other animate veggies elect her as their defender.

Includes lessons about judging a book by its cover, finding your own path, being brave, & how to be a good (& a bad) friend — & a good (& a bad) parent. Delightful produce puns made me laugh aloud. I‘d willingly read the next in the series!

Tomorrow is the October meeting of my children‘s fantasy book club at the library. As an icebreaker, I like to start with a themed personality quiz and then we all share our results.

I‘m particularly fond of the quiz I found to match the tagged book this month. If you‘re happy to waste a few silly moments, you can take it, too! It‘s…unique. 😅

https://sophie006liu.github.io/vegetal/

#SundayFunday

It feels like I‘ve been trying to get people to read this slow, quiet, rural ghost story with a strong setting for aeons! It floated under the radar when it was published in 2015, which I think is a travesty. I‘ve been chasing this book‘s vibes for years.

“Thinness isn‘t considered beautiful because it‘s objectively good, but because it signals abstemiousness and fragility and a dedication to staying small. The kind of men who have been in a position to influence the culture like these things.”

*Pictured: Me, this morning, as I inhaled maple cookies for breakfast. Abstemiousness is not my strong suit.

A risky move for me, a mood reader, to try to choose 10 books I‘ll definitely read by the end of the year. As Beth Orton would say (in the spirit of number 9 on my list), “can‘t pin this butterfly down.” Yet, here we are!

1. All Fours
2. The Rachel Incident
3. Wild Dark Shore
4. Rapture
5. Mina‘s Matchbox
6. Small Things Like These
7. Normal Rules Don‘t Apply: Stories
8. Lost Evangeline
9. We Oughta Know OR Pretend We‘re Dead
10. On Mysticism

Although this literary family dramedy (with ducks! & llamas!) took a melancholy turn, it‘s VERY funny.

A daughter/stage actress visits her British parents in the French countryside. They are the quintessential old married couple, bickering in a delightfully wordy (though exasperating) way. He‘s a retired philosophy professor. She‘s Mum & has been for 50 years but was once a vivacious student eager to eat up the world.

A favorite novel this year!

Background info: I do my best to not be terminally “online.” And despite my generational placement (elder Millennial), I‘m actually not *that* tech-savvy.

SO. I created a Reddit account largely because threads kept cropping up with answers to questions I‘d googled. I don‘t use it socially.

ANYWAY, apparently a random username was assigned to me? Leather-Payment?! 😅🙈🙈🙈

Had a quick existential online identity crisis but I think I‘ve fixed it!

I…was not expecting that ending. And then I remembered that Bertino totally blindsided me with the ending of the only other book I‘ve ever read by her (2AM at the Cat‘s Pajamas, about a decade ago). So, that‘s on me! Fool me twice. I write that with trepidation not gleeful surprise. I was upset the last time she did it and I think I‘m upset this time, too. I THINK. 👇🏻

A photo of my shadow, who is her shadow‘s twin, for @Hooked_on_books 🖤🐶🤍. He was annoyed that I called his name when he is so clearly TRYING TO SLEEP.

Currently reading Beautyland (tagged). It‘s SUCH a fast read. I‘m tumbling through it at warp speed.

#SundayFunday‘s question is about our favorite fictional witch.

My answer is, unapologetically, not literary. But I‘ll always snag an opportunity to stan Willow. 🔮 I even have a tattoo dedicated to her on my inner thigh! It‘s a cauldron with criss-crossed pussy willow branches directly beneath. It doesn‘t explicitly scream Buffy but it‘s a tender nod (in a tender spot).

I needed a palate cleanser after an upsetting read & this was exactly what I was hoping it would be…only sexier. Hell yeah! 🌶️ I have the same kind of aching wanderlust as the MC & the same sort of residual romantic trauma that I‘m sure so many of us do after being unceremoniously dumped by first loves. This second-chance romance was pure catharsis in an Amsterdam setting. Some of the conflict & resolution felt unrealistic but so it goes.

I knew this was a horror novel. I was roped in by the utter strangeness of the description (woman gives birth to an owl-baby), the combination of mythology and natural science, and its categorization as magical realism. What I didn‘t realize was how much abject pain the book would be infused with.

At its heart, this is a story about what it means to be a mother when you are ill…👇🏻

#TuesdayTunes

I played this song for my husband. He shrugged and said, “Oh, yeah. The toy piano was huge circa 2004.”

But I can‘t dismiss “The Opposite of Hallelujah” so easily! It‘s been stuck in my head for days. I love it, honestly.

https://open.spotify.com/track/2wqRinazaIlYAcoYT65TlG?si=JomZ18xFTAOzMzdDDCBibg

I went into this collection with a deep love for one of Babbitt‘s essays, “Happy Endings? Of Course, and Also Joy.” I came out of this collection with a deep love for one of Babbitt‘s essays, “Happy Endings? Of Course, and Also Joy.” 😅🙈

The rest are fine. A few sparkling sentences and ideas sprinkled throughout. And, a few ideas to which Babbitt dedicates too much time. 👇🏻

A novel to be studied, and pondered over, and theorized about. I often had no idea what I was reading or where things were headed…but I think that‘s by design. The reader is meant to feel as uncertain and as unmoored as possible — because *that‘s* adolescence. Honestly, that‘s being a person at any age if you get too bogged down inside your own head and fail to connect with others long enough to make things feel real. 👇🏻

“Imagine, always pretending to run a world. Always imitating the sort of people they think they might be if the world were the sort of world it isn‘t. Pretending to be words like “normal” and “wholesome” and “honest” and “decent” and “self-respecting” and all the rest, when even the words aren‘t real. Imagine, being people.”

“Why [Natalie] thought almost hysterically, why don‘t I just *scream?* and knew with humor that she did not know how; screaming was in itself an act perfected by few, a sort of coloratura not given to the many; screaming was not something the Natalies might do unprepared.”

“I think a work of fiction, for children especially, needs to present life as it really is: a mixture of joy and sorrow, of the solvable and unsolvable, of the simple and the complicated. I hope my grandchild will be a reader and that he will learn something about the contradictions of life from books before he is thrust out to learn the same thing firsthand.”

It was too difficult to choose between Sleep & Night Swimmers. And I had to do it because there was no way I was about to knock off Hilary Mantel‘s book (which I still think is going to win) to add one of them to the Wild Card space.

Fortunately, I‘d already filled September in as soon as I finished Sleep (long before I picked up Night Swimmers). So, the decision was made for me by Past Me. 😅

#ReadingBracket2025
#2025ReadingBracket

In September, I read a lot of ecru-colored books with waves on the cover. It‘s a vibe.

My favorites this month were Night Swimmers and Sleep (and Tuck, of course, but that‘s old news). I continued my HMRC (Her Majesty‘s Royal Coven) obsession and saw it through to the bitter (or sweet? No spoilers here!) end.

#AWreads2025
#personalreadingtracker

I caved & bought a book. Mother Horror‘s a big proponent of using every free resource available to you. The problem is, I‘m not an e-book gal. And I couldn‘t find a physical copy of this novella anywhere! I wasn‘t about to miss out on a tale centered on the restoration of a 13th c. stained glass church window…and the divine (?) being that‘s unintentionally summoned in the process.

I bought Halloween slippers while I was at it. Go big or go home!

Basically, a big book o‘ horror recs wherein every single text‘s been written by a woman (preferred pronouns listed whenever possible).

I‘m not officially reviewing the book for a few reasons:

1) I didn‘t read the intermittent essays.

2) I read *nearly* every thematic list…but I skipped one. I already know — beyond a shadow of a doubt — that “splattercore” is not for me. NO THANK YOU! 👇🏻

One of my teacher friends chose this for our IRL Book Club. An easy, quick-clip of a book with a full cast of characters and lots of heart. I don‘t think it‘ll inspire any *revelatory* discussions but I‘m sure my group will have plenty to say.

A dedicated sub & retired teacher dies on the couch in the faculty room during his break period. The staff reflects on his passing in earnest ways, with sentimentality and a dash of humor. 👇🏻

Spotify made a new wacky genre playlist for me called “Bubblegrunge” (think: The Pixies).

I discovered an artist (Jens Lekman) who‘s like the Magnetic Fields but Swedish. Turns out, he co-wrote a book with David Levithan based on his album (?!). It‘s tagged!

Here‘s the song that made me want to know more.

https://open.spotify.com/track/4USztpjKZRDx6XQmxWZkDN?si=1AlZe87FTtWnCC1Q_vIXfA

*Note: the way he sings “avocado” gets me every time. 😅🥑

I can't stop adding spooky books to my TBR. Send help!

Also, how excellent is this hat?!

I just finished a book I loved & was afraid to pick up another novel for fear it would suffer in comparison. So, I grabbed this reader's advisory collection by litfluencer Mother Horror instead, full of book rec lists sorted by “vibes“ (e.g. “Don't Go in the Woods“, “Women vs The Cult“, “Gothic Secret Societies“). Exactly what I needed as October approaches.

Overlong? Maybe. Timey-wimey? Definitely. Questionable ending for a couple of the characters? Yeah… about that. 🏝️🍹🧌 Still incredible? Also yes!

Juno Dawson! What a talent! It‘s been a while since I‘ve gotten so invested in a new series.

I fell in love with this cast of characters. Kissing them goodbye felt like a bit like being stabbed — right in the chest. 💔

Pictures from my last beach trip, for @ImperfectCJ .

It could very well be my final trip of the season — or, at least, the last one where I can go barefoot for a while. I didn‘t stick around for the sunset but I had plenty of peace and beauty without it. I‘m trying to save these moments up to get me through the dark winter.

A man grieving the death of his infant daughter & the dissolution of his marriage rents a seaside cottage in Northern Ireland — just for a week, to give his wife some space until she can stand to look at him again. Then, COVID hits. A week becomes much longer. He goes nowhere, which turns out to be exactly what he needs.

Eventually, his 8 year-old son joins him. And nowhere is exactly what Luca — deaf, misunderstood, & lonely — needs, too.👇🏻

I have a new seagull friend. It‘s been hanging out with me for the better part of an hour, just a step away from the edge of my blanket. It slowly circled me and has now snuggled down and gotten cozy. Bud‘s got two different colored eyes.

Do you think it‘s a spirit bird with a message for me or is it sizing me up and I‘m actually in trouble?

…Only time will tell!

I liked this nature-based memoir less than I expected to. Something about the way it hangs together doesn‘t flow (ironic, given the title). I read it slowly, never feeling compelled to pick it back up, but I had no specific complaints whenever I did & enjoyed my time spent within its pages.

Stowe writes of her experience as a young, female sailor in her 20‘s, working largely on research vessels or going it alone, studying marine ecology. 👇🏻

Officiated my sister‘s wedding yesterday. I turned my cellphone off for the ceremony & never turned it on again until this morning, so I have no pictures…other than this one my cousin sent me!

It was a beautiful VT weekend on the cusp of Autumn, & my sister & her new husband are perfect for one another.

I may have had one Maple Old Fashioned too many. But I can‘t be blamed! The relief of being done with my responsibilities required celebration.

In a not-too-distant future, California has seceded from the U.S. A group of bots awakens in the ghost kitchen where they‘d worked to find it abandoned. They decide to quietly open up their own biang biang noodle shop, each pursuing their unique passions in a way that complements the whole.

On the nose but sweet & timely with obvious political parallels of race & gender as the HEEI (Human-Equivalent Embodied Intelligence) fight for their rights.

The first kids‘ book club of the school year is always sparsely attended at the library, and this September was no different. The one 9 year-old girl who attended reviewed Tuck Everlasting, one of my favorite children‘s books ever, thusly: “it wasn‘t horrid.” 😅

For my part, I still love it, warts (Jesse) & all. I‘ll forever be a Natalie Babbitt superfan.

We rambled today: a walk on the beach, a walk in the woods, a brewery hang. We got rained out when we tried to chill in the backyard, so now we‘re inside while my husband plays Expedition 33, a role-playing video game inspired by Belle Epoque France. From what I‘ve gleaned, it seems to be about warring factions of storytellers & illustrators/painters, with one family‘s experience of grief & loss at the center. There are worse background tracks.

“It felt to Elle like they were entering a new era. If their twenties had been about girlish freedom, and their thirties had been about establishing themselves as women, their forties felt like an unknown proposition. Truly grown ups. They knew themselves now. But what to do with that knowledge?”

Did you know that Sylvia Earle, (oceanographer, explorer, diver, ocean advocate) is sometimes referred to as “Her Deepness”?

If that‘s not the coolest title, I don‘t know what is!

The Skunks is about a recent college grad who moves back to her hometown without a plan or any sense of direction. She‘s got a childhood friend, Ellie, and a crush, Eli. Like a lot of new college grads, she has a host of cobbled together jobs: house-sitting for Eli‘s parents, temping as a receptionist at a yoga studio, and babysitting for a precocious kid named Cecilia, who is the mustard-yellow star of the story, as far as I‘m concerned. 👇🏻

I loved Sleep as much as you can love a book about an impossibly hard topic—which is to say, a lot.

In her review in the NY Times, Fiona Maazel writes, “What surprised me was that out of its careful, orderly prose — every word neatly placed as if on a well-set table — grew an exceptionally moving novel.” Jones sets the table but she also performs the magician‘s trick of pulling the tablecloth out from underneath with all the words still set.👇🏻

While I enjoyed this prequel enough to not be mad about it, it‘s got a different vibe from the rest of the series. Set in 1536 in the court of Anne Boleyn, it‘s obviously missing the Millennial pop culture references that are plentiful in the other books. As an elder Millennial, I‘m biased, of course…but those references are doing a lot of work. Without them, the tone felt oddly humorless. I need the levity of a Spice Girls quip, I guess. 🤷‍♀️

I just preordered my friend Liz‘s book and you can, too!

25% off today (through a local indie) & you‘ll get an EXTRA fairytale — in the form of an exclusive zine!

Can you believe she got a deal with Norton?! What a freakin‘ rockstar!

https://heartleafbooks.com/book/9781324106333

*Exactly* what I want from a cozy romantasy. I cried tenderly over the casual reveal of emotional truths more times than I care to count. This is a treasure of a found family story. 👇🏻

August felt weird, temporally.

Glad to be in a new month, though I hope there are still a few beach days left now that we‘ve entered the quieter off-season here in Rhode Island. 🌊

I had a few writing projects this past month, which diverted my focus away from reading. Now, it feels like a slump may be looming. But anything‘s possible! We‘ll see what September brings.

#AWreads2025
#personalreadingtracker

Clam Down was too singular to NOT win August.

The Wedding People also gets high honors…but not high enough to replace Eight Bears as the Wild Card.

…Bears, and clams, and Moomin. Oh my!

#ReadingBracket2025
#2025ReadingBracket

“It was, and there was no other word for it, scary to live under a ruler who wrote the rules as he went…It was unprecedented and unnerving. She understood why the king was so popular; the people saw his blatant disregard of the established order as an opportunity for their meagre, humdrum lives to magically improve. They were fools if they thought that. The king served only himself, always. The empire was an extension of his self.”

A fun premise with an average execution. I appreciate the sensitive topics that the story puts “out there” (emotional abuse, gaslighting, the loneliness the comes with being a caretaker — especially at a young age when caring for an ill or dying parent). The writing, however, is repetitive and lacks subtlety & finesse, e.g. “He pulls me into a kiss. It‘s slow and long-awaited…and tastes of tongue.” WHAT. No, thank you.👇🏻

Celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary today! 🥳

Typically, we jointly forget which day we were even married. Us every year: “Was it the 28th? 29th?” But 10 years is a big one!

I went to a used bookstore with an enabler. 😅🙈

I‘ve read (and loved) everything under “Everything Under.” The rest were on my TBR…and if they weren‘t, they are now!

What service do you use for audiobooks — and why?

I know about/use Audible, Libby, and Hoopla. And I‘m aware of Spotify, to some degree. I‘m sure there‘s a world out there I know nothing about. Meanwhile, I‘m paying a sucker fee to the enemy. BUT! I commute *and* I‘m a mood reader. So, having fast access to a wide array of titles exactly when I feel like reading them is important if I want to stay sane. Sane-ish.

TIA! 🙏🏻

If it didn‘t feel like such an obvious and natural conclusion to this volume (despite the fact that I didn‘t guess the ending, even with all of my doubts & uncertainty in place), I‘d be really mad that this ends on a cliffhanger. I despise cliffhangers. But I love Juno Dawson‘s writing. She‘s smart, & soft, & tough in all the right ways. Her plots feel thoroughly storyboarded. I‘m eager to see where Book 3 takes us!