Quit reading: The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1) by R.F. Kuang 📚Gave up even though I had put 14 days into it. Too violent, too endless. If I’d felt like I was learning something about Chinese history, I might have kept going.
Currently reading: The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden 📚
Finished reading: A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny 📚My first Louise Penny book! A bit gruesome for my taste, but great characters and a fascinating Quebec setting.
Currently reading: A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst 📚Our December book club pick.
Watched Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues. Me and hubby loved it, but we agree that we are absolutely the target audience for this movie. Even a week later, thinking of certain scenes makes me giggle. 🍿
A band that I love is The Westerlies. Big horn jazz, played with heart and soul. 🎵
New Album Songbook Vol 3 music.apple.com/us/album/…
Finished reading: Air-Borne by Carl Zimmer 📚Good though disturbing non-fiction about the science of airborne diseases and the mind-boggling stubbornness of the CDC to not acknowledge airborne transmission of COVID-19.
Currently reading: A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny 📚So many of my neighbors love this series. I’m not starting at the beginning – this is the one I bought for cheap at the library book sale last summer.
Finished reading: The Ravenmaster by Christopher Skaife 📚Fun little book about the Yeoman Warder who takes care of the ravens at the Tower of London. I was most interested in his life as a soldier who entered the military when he was 16 years old. The ravens were cool, too.
Heading into the end of the year without a lot of work in the pipeline. The Feds were a regular source of work up until last November, so it goes. I’ll coast for a while and work on having a good pipeline with live work by January.
Currently reading: The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1) by R.F. Kuang 📚
Finished reading: Necessity by Jo Walton 📚The last in the Thessaly trilogy, interesting, almost sci-fi, novels about living according to the rules of Plato’s Republic amongst Greek gods. I found most interesting the way the Republic does not use money. People maximize “Excellence” instead of profit.
Finished reading: A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks by David Gibbins 📚Quite good non-fiction, it achieves the aim of its title. From ancient Egypt and Greece, to the Vikings, Tudor England, Dutch East India Company Netherlands, and WW2, it focuses on the people in their sea-going context.
Currently reading: The Ravenmaster by Christopher Skaife 📚November book club pick.
Finished reading: Endling by Maria Reva 📚Excellent novel about Ukraine, snails, family, war, and life in the modern world.
On my way to DC by train
10/16/25 Doing more calling of dances, especially for teens. I’m very interested in ungendered dances, so no more “ladies” and “gents.” In a week, I will attend Pourparler – National Folk Organization and hang out with a bunch of people who are also interested in creating community via folk dance.
Currently reading: The Philosopher Kings by Jo Walton 📚
Finished reading: The Just City (Thessaly, #1) by Jo Walton 📚I’m enjoying this series, not least because I can see the threads that eventually lead to her book Lent, which is a masterpiece.
I’m volunteering at a very cool conference in New Hampshire. Radically Rural helps rural communities discover innovative and practical ways to thrive. radicallyrural.org
My best kitty on an Autumn day
Currently reading: Endling by Maria Reva 📚Very excited to dive into this book that I heard about on the “Write Now with Scrivener” podcast Write Now with Scrivener Episode 55: Maria Reva, Booker Longlisted Author of Endling.
Finished reading: A Home in Percival by Paula Berman 📚A cute romantasy set in Oregon about a world where magic is kind of like software development. In a good way.
Currently reading: Thessaly by Jo Walton 📚
Finished reading: Flight Paths by Rebecca Heisman 📚Timely, since this past weekend saw about a billion birds migrating south across the Americas. Interesting, readable, introduction to bird migration science.