#bookspin #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

Almost got bingo this month 🫤😜 #bookspinbingo

Day 1 of my English Tea Shop Advent calendar is Spooky Spice.

A beautiful short story about potential human/alien interaction in the far future, with the alien as narrator. Nnedi is excellent as always.

https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/okorafor_09_23/

@eggs #wondrouswednesday

1. Yes, though most of my ornaments are still with my mom. Someday I'll get her to ship them to me.
2. We are trying to start an annual Christmas “village“ with all our little misc trinkets.
3. I've always had a soft spot for Little Drummer Boy. I also like Rachael Yamagata's cover of “River“ and Jamie Cullum's Christmas album.

@dabbe #tlt

1. Song: Little Drummer Boy
2. Movie: The Bishop's Wife
3. TV Special: Jim Henson's The Christmas Toy

I don't really have any holiday books, aside from the tagged. I might also do a re-read of Christopher Moore's The Stupidest Angel this year :D

#yuleswap is in the hands of USPS 🤞😜
@wanderinglynn @BookwormAHN

Very good, but it didn't pull me in the way I hoped it would. I didn't feel the emotional beats very strongly; the scenes were realistic (i.e. stunned silence instead of “performed“ grief), but it took away a bit from the impact. Still, the writing is beautiful and the story is compelling. A great portrayal of strength and resilience, teen angst and struggles, and youth's desire to learn from elders and preserve culture.

Audio-craft-assisting! ( @WildAlaskaBibliophile is doing the crafting. I'm just cutting the materials 😁)

Just watched "Cyrano," based on the play based on the life of Cyrano de Bergerac. The story, about a man who, believing himself worthy of love because of his looks, writes letters to his love for another man to claim, has been adapted numerous times. I really enjoyed this musical version, though it seemed to lack. It wasn't funny enough to be farcical and there wasn't any dramatic urgency until the third act. Dinklage definitely carried the film.

Back in the day when I put effort into my Facebook profile, this was my profile picture and cover photo 😜
For @dabbe advent #giveaway

This seems to be basically out of print, and that makes me sad. Written by the creator of the Prince of Persia videogame, and inspired by the true story of the fall of the Knights Templar, this seems like an HBO executive's dream; historical setting when violence and sex were commonplace, love triangle, religion vs politics, treasure heist, secretive order, strong females. Very fitting that the GoT showrunners have a blurb on the cover. Excellent!

A delightful sci-fi romance short story. Definitely some Murderbot vibes, but without the murder and less snark. Available free at the link 👇

https://www.tor.com/2023/10/11/not-the-most-romantic-thing-carrie-vaughn/

It was book club day today. Three months in, and we've already gone international! One member brought their housesitter who lives in Australia 🌏 trustedhousesitters.com (we'll check in with her next month and see if she was actually trustworthy 😜). Has anyone else heard of or used this site?

Hindsight is a bitch. It is amazing that events like the recent billionaire space race show that we still haven't learned the futility of phallus measuring contests. I didn't love the art in this graphic novel about the first living creature sent to space, but I was impressed at how the author was able to craft an engaging story out of the tragedy of Laika. A sad story told well. TW: animal abuse and toxic masculinity.

#tlt @dabbe

1. Metal Earth models

2. Jackbox games/video games

3. Nonograms

I feel like Cody should edit a whole series of books for different identities. The language he uses is so accepting and understanding; it was very comforting to read his words. Admittedly, I skipped most of the second half of the book, because I didn't struggle with coming out or finding a relationship, but this is an invaluable resource for anyone who feels that they may be on the ace spectrum or wants a better understanding of asexuality.

I'm having fun researching yule/solstice info for #yuleswap. Here is a wonderful folk tale I discovered about the Deer Mother https://youtu.be/AvzgyYhAY2w?si=x8kPhnhnRxoar8I4 It features a (wait for it...) flying reindeer! 🤔

I've got some reading lined up for today, but in the meantime, one more snowy picture, this from our front door 😁

@dabbe #tlt

1. Orange
2. Vanilla
3. Smokey/campfire

Alaska's got some snow!

This is exactly what the cover says it is: stories about growing up. With 5 brothers, there are plenty of shenanigans to share, but it doesn't make for a very memorable book. Humorous, nostalgic, but not very substantial.

Interesting. Spotify is making audiobooks available for Premium members. 15 hours available each month.

An audio prequel to Ring Shout?! Yes, please. This podcast sounds excellent in general. Has anyone heard of it?

🪴 Hiked Mt. Humboldt @ 14,068 ft
📚 Drove 3,500 miles from Colorado to Alaska in a Uhaul with @WildAlaskaBibliophile and the pets
🌱 Donated over 5 gallons of blood (and counting)
🏺 Running a non-profit volunteer group for 5 years
🌿 Making a kick ass Beef Wellington for NYE dinner 2020

🎆 Finish paying of credit card debt
🎇 Start an exercise routine (a.k.a. get off my now sizable ass)

#wondrouswednesday @eggs

Already so many highlights in this book! Asexuality is the lack or absence of sexual attraction, but it doesn't mean an individual is an emotional blank slate. There are so many other forms of attraction!

This is a complex novel that will certainly require some deeper thinking on. An alternative history noir, Hitler's rose to power is thwarted, and he is living in 1930s London as a private eye, going by Wolf. The literary equivalent of a Tarantino movie, full of violence, sex, and racial slurs, this book is not for the faint of heart. The pulpy revisions scenes are interspersed with chapters of an author in a Concentration camp. It's a wild one.

A surprisingly dark and deep meditation on death, while still being a fun adventure. I was surprised it was still left with an open ending, and kinda back to square one story-wise. I feel like it'd be a stretch to continue the same hero/villain dynamic, if he writes another one, but if not, a disappointing ending to their conflict. Still, it has been a great series, and the follow-up prequel sounds interesting!

A little bit of snow overnight, and a new friend while reading this morning.

1. ✔️
2. Scrambled. Ideally with pork roll.
3. Only two kinds of egg-laying mammals are left on the planet today—the duck-billed platypus and the echidna, or spiny anteater.

#deviledeggday @WildAlaskaBibliophile

#tlt @dabbe

1. Nanograms Katana
2. Untappd
3. WXPN Streaming App

November #bookspinbingo

Basic information about bats dressed up into a simple narrative. The black and white etchings are the highlight. Available to read for free at https://archive.org/details/wufustoryoflit00fres/mode/2up

My November #bookspin @TheAromaofBooks
#bookspin All the Names by Jose Saramago
#doublebookspin Being Heumann by Judith Heumann

Meh. An interesting concept with some great essays in the back of the issues, but it felt rushed. New characters were introduced constantly, with some dropping off for several issues, so it is hard to connect or care about anyone in particular. I'm sure there are industry reasons it is the length it is, but it could have used a few volumes to let the characters and story breathe.

So about 90% of my points came from the first two weeks (and I got distracted with #batweek), but I'm happy with the results of my first #scarathlon, and my first #bookspin / #bookspinbingo. @FlynnDewey #teamwhoyagonnacall

1. Reading
2. Trivia
3. Metal Earth models
4. Listening
5. Event planning
6. Crafts
7. Obsessing over small details
8. Adapting
9. Passive aggressive driving
10. Being a husband (her words, not mine)

#wondrouswednesday @eggs

1. It wasn't the "best" book I read, but Dark Harvest was my favorite.

2. Watching the finale of the new Goosebumps series

#two4tuesday @TheSpineView

Happy Halloween! 🦇🧟🎃🍬🍫

Thanks to everyone for following along or tolerating my batty posts for #batweek. I was at a dinner party in Colorado, and when I brought up bats, the host casually mentioned killing dozens of them because they would roast in his porch, and he didn't like it. Their unearned reputation as pests, dirty, or just scary can have devastating effects on the ecosystems they support. You don't have to love them, but don't hate them. ♥️🦇🖤

Don't you just want to pinch those cheeks?! ? While mega bats like the flying fox are the most "sky puppy"-ish, there are over 1,400 species of bats, which accounts for 20% of all mammal species! They can be found nearly everywhere on earth, aside from the harshest desert or artic. And they are the only mammals capable of true flight (nice try, "gliding" squirrels). #batweek

We were too late to enter the contest, but still made a #scarathlon #hauntedgingerbreadhouse
Featuring Salem the slime mold, Rachel the roof cat, and Ezekiel the spider.

Dark chocolate all the way. I never liked white chocolate, and I don't have much of a taste for milk chocolate anymore.

Mounds is a favorite chocolate Halloween treat, followed closely by raisinets

#nationalchocolateday
Tagging @dabbe @catiewithac and @jdiehr

How do bats spend so much energy gripping with their feet while hibernating? They don't! The tendons of their feet have evolved to lock their toes in a grip, and they actually have to flex to release from their roost. This allowed their leg bones to evolve thin and light to eliminate some weight as they gained flight. Their legs now would not support their weight if they tried standing. #batweek

Bat Poem by Isabelle Busch #batweek #poetrymatters

Like humans, bats only have one or two offspring each year, which increases their susceptibility to major colony damage from disease like white-nose syndrome or habitat loss. Recovery can be very slow. More than 200 bat species around the world are considered threatened. WNS alone has the potential to wipe out 90% of a colony in one winter. #batweek

What a strange little story. I'd love to read some behind-the-scenes info on this. A collection of beings attempt to form a semblance of a society, but greed, pettiness, and jealousy usually win the day. The cruelty of the story is contrasted by the cutesy-ness of the art.

An excellent debut novel from Joe Hill. 30 pages in it kicks into high gear, then takes its time fleshing out characters and details while rarely letting off the petal. So well structured! You think you know where it is going, but there are constant twists, usually picking up breadcrumbs dropped chapters ago. Highly recommended! #scarathlon #buddyread #teamwhoyagonnacall

#tlt @dabbe

1. Coagulate

2. Onomonopia

3. Conshohocken

This little cutie is actually the fearsome vampire bat! You can see its two little fangs. They use the fangs to slice, not puncture, and their saliva has an anti-coagulant to prevent the wound from closing while they feed.
They are only 2-3 inches big with a 7 inch wing span, so the incision is tiny. Found primarily in Latin America, they prefer to feed on sleeping livestock and birds, so human interaction is very rare. #batweek