What I read: March 2023

LHC #204: "The once and future witches" by Alix E Harrow. Hard copy because the eBook had like a 7-week wait. Takes place in about the same timeframe as "The Jungle", interesting juxtaposition. Good book, start to end.

LHC #205: "They can't kill us until they kill us" by Hanif Abdurraqib. Hard copy, because the e-book had like a 14-week wait. This one must get stolen a lot, they got brand-new copies in and I got one of those. I did what I do when I read something about music, which is I listen to the artist or work as much as I can as I read. This totally exposes me to things I know nothing about. It was also amusing when people would ask what I was reading, to explain to them.

"Harrow the Ninth" by Tamsyn Muir. I want to read sequels a little closer to the book they're near, where available, rather than putting them on the list and reading them two years after I read the previous. So here we are. Ebook. I spent a lot of time wondering what the heck was going on, but that was by intentional. Already put volume 3 on my list, it would be cool to get to that before volume 4 comes out.

"A Desolation called peace" by Arkady Martine. Another sequel, read in the same year as book1! eBook. I love how the culture that's most similar to mine is on a space station, whereas the ones who live on the planet are somewhat opaque and confusing, and the space aliens are totally opaque. This is everything that's awesome about science fiction.

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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