What I read: January 2021

LHC #107: "Certain Dark Things" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Audio book. I finished a sweater while listening to it. It's about Mexican vampires. I found Domingo pretty annoying.

LHC #108: "Stranger Magic: Charmed States and the Arabian Nights" by Marina Warner. Hard copy. Worth the effort.

LHC #109: "Wild Milk" by Sabrina Orah Mark. eBook. I had no recollection of requesting this back in 2019, but when it bubbled to the top of the list and I read the description, I was like "yeah, that's my jam." I wish the library's website had a notes field in the Holds interface! Also that it listed the length of the book, because this one is unintimidating, even if the cover is kind of weird. Oh, and it's published by the Dorothy Project, which I'm a fan of.

If I wrote stories like this people would get mad at me.

"The Tower and the Fox" by Tim Susman. Free eBook because book 4 just came out. This is book 1. Kinda Hogwarts in the Colonies (though the backstory has 1776 not having the same outcome) with talking animals. Nice relationship with religion, though.

"Girl, Serpent, Thorn" by Melissa Bashardoust. eBook. I liked the first half, got bogged down a bit in the middle, then enjoyed the end, especially when I ignored the silliness. Quite good.

LHC #109: "Lanny" by Max Porter. eBook. Remarkable; I didn't know you could do that with eBooks.

What I read: September 2025

LHC #295: "The Last to Leave the Room" by Caitlin Starling. Audiobook. Workplace horror? Loved it. "Careless People" by Sarah Wynn-Williams. Hard copy, for office Data Ethics book club. The stories about Sheryl Sandberg really made me like my boss better. LHC #296: "The Fated Sky" by Mary Robinette Kowal. Hard copy. This got moved up the list because Ed had read book 1 in the series and got the rest out of the library. Loved it. He's got the next one in the series upstairs, I suppose I'll read it when he's done. LHC #297: "Bluegrass: A History" by Neil V. Rosenberg. Hard copy. No idea why it was on my list, I don't care that much about bluegrass. Nevertheless, the second half was interesting. I guess the first half was necessary, as it described in great length the way people came and went in Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys band, and also how technology and social pressures affect how music is made and performed. LHC #298: ...

What I read -- October 2025

"The Moomins and the Great Flood" by Tove Jansson. eBook. I read this because Marissa Lingen loves them. It was fine? This was the first one in the series and the only one available online; maybe the later ones are better. Maybe they're better if you read them as a child. "The Relentless Moon" by Mary Robinette Kowal. Hard copy. Read it because Ed had the whole series out of the library. It took a long time to get going, and sometimes I find MRK exhausting. Her white main characters all seem oddly aware of the Black experience. "The Martian Contingency" by Mary Robinette Kowal. Hard copy. Read it because Ed had the whole series out of the library. I don't often read subsequent books in a series in quick succession, and my reaction to this one is a lot of why: I found Alma's voice too similar to Nicole's -- sure, Nicole obsessed about food much more, but they both went on and on about "must support black guy in management" an...

In progress - January 2026

Wind/Water/Salt Chapters 39-51: Nothing Persephone (probably not its real name): NOthing Vinterlys: Worked on Chapter 2 some more. Critted 4 Got back 1 Submissions 0 Out there 0 Rejects 0 Knitting Georgia (Norah Gaughan). Started the month with one sleeve and half a front to go. Finished. Love this sweater. Aberlady (AS Celtic Collection). Did a few rows while listening to podcasts. Summer in Tokyo (Isager): Started. I was looking at the pictures and the charts, and the pattern as written is not what is in the pictures! So odd. I am going to finish up two cones of yarn with this project! Pretty exciting. I hope I don't run out of light blue. I was working along on it, and if you go and look at the sweater, it's knit bottom-up, and I was at the part where I only had two colors, about 5" maybe. And I was thinking, "wow, this is pretty ugly! Maybe I should stop...

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