Manga + Mini Wheats for breakfast.

I‘m not sure how I feel about this opening volume. It wasn‘t BAD, but it also relies on a lot of age-related marriage stuff that I feel we should‘ve moved past by now. Maybe it‘s another of those Japanese vs Canadian mores things.

Also, I‘m perplexed by Higashimura‘s insistence, here and in PRINCESS JELLYFISH, that 30 is middle aged. Is this also a Japanese thing? To me, 45-50 is middle aged.

I finished my PoA reread on an #audiowalk through a cool-looking neighbourhood.

I tried to start WE HUNT THE FLAME afterwards, but my mum called to tell me they might‘ve found a body in the abandoned golf course where I walk all the time. It was a bit hard to concentrate after that. Hopefully the police presence was down to something else.

One of the libraries I visited today was all about cat awareness.

Today I walked 8.5 miles and visited two libraries. It would‘ve been rude to leave without borrowing a bunch of comics and some poetry.

Casey and I went on a longer #audiowalk this morning to take advantage of the relatively decent weather (by which I mean it was 12 instead of 1 or 2). Unfortunately, everything‘s still pretty goopy. We passed by a lot of snowfields—the curve of the ground hides most of a big one on the left of this picture—and navigated a few stretches where the path was still snowed over. Poor Casey got filthy from all the spongy grass, too. Sigh.

Breakfast smoothie + poetry. I‘m so glad my library finally bought some of Gwen Benaway‘s work. I discovered her through an anthology and was mighty disappointed I couldn‘t charge right into her bibliography.

I promised Casey a sunset #audiowalk, and I delivered. He charged all over the neighborhood and sniffed EVERYTHING; I made some solid progress on my Harry Potter reread.

I stopped in at McDonald‘s for a free cappuccino and a chapter of JARAN. The book‘s great so far; immersive and well balanced between its wider science fictional setting and the pre-first-(official)-contact culture the protagonist finds herself in. I‘m excited to read on.

I won a muffin on Monopoly, too! Hurray!

I finished MASTER & APPRENTICE on today‘s #audiowalk! The general setup was fun, as always, and I enjoyed it overall, but I still haven‘t found a Claudia Gray novel that hits me as hard as BLOODLINE did. I shouldn‘t have started there. It‘s made all these other perfectly good books pale in comparison.

ALSO, I‘m disappointed we never learned who Qui-Gon fell in love with. THIS IS IMPORTANT INFORMATION, CLAUDIA GRAY.

Library haul! MR & MRS X is another X-series they snuck through processing when I wasn‘t looking, and I dunno whether I feel cautious or excited. Rogue‘s my current co-fave (with Storm). Gambit was Teenage Me‘s fave, but Adult Me finds him kinda creepy. I was disappointed when they got back together—BUT, I do generally love writer Kelly Thompson, and I‘m keen on the spacefaring angle and some of the supporting characters.

So we‘ll see.

Had a lazy person breakfast with my daily short story. Someday, somehow, I‘ll finish all the magazines I got as bonus rewards for backing Lightspeed‘s various Destroy Science Fiction! projects.

This was one of those weird days when it was easiest to grab some poetry during my little scraps of reading time, but now I‘ve got the time and the headspace to sink into JARAN. I‘ve settled into my nook, ready to enjoy my lights while I read. (I put them up really early to brighten my spirits after the storm. Winter is hell for me and I‘m upset it started so early this year.)

I started QUARTZ by Rabia Gale last night, but it failed the three-chapter test. Sadness.

This morning I went back to my spicy egg roots while I dove into the last book on my October Must-Reads list: JARAN by Kate Elliott. I‘ve got a good feeling about it so far, which I‘d be happier to report if I hadn‘t had the same initial reaction to QUARTZ. Still, I‘ve read and enjoyed Elliott before, so fingers crossed.

If you love vintage horror stories but you wish they included queer folks and women with agency, you‘ve gotta read this. Monette offers up ten unsettling tales set in early- to mid-20th century America, linked by a common protagonist and a brand of menace that blends supernatural terrors with real world anxieties. I‘m so glad I reread it.

Friends, I don‘t wanna get TMI on you, but I‘ve had to miss Thanksgiving due to a MALADY. No turkey gravy for me. 😭

Thank goodness I had Brussels sprouts in the freezer so I could make at least part of a feast. I‘m into another chunk of THE WAY OF KINGS, too, so that‘s one bright spot.

JY Yang‘s second Tensorate novella is about grief and emotional rebirth. In the moment, I found it a little more distanced than I prefer, with less of the juicy worldbuilding that hooked me into THE BLACK TIDES OF HEAVEN; however, I suspect the more I think about it, the more I‘ll like it. I can already feel it happening.

NB: I say second novella, but Yang designed the stories to work in any order. If this one calls to you, you can start here.

Happy Thanksgiving, fellow Canadians! I just partook of the traditional hummus & carrots to fortify myself before supper. Now I‘m hoping to make some progress through THE RED THREADS OF FORTUNE before it‘s time to go.

Yesterday I left the new edition of ASSASSIN‘S APPRENTICE on the shelf because it was just too expensive. Today I discovered the ebook is on for $2.99! Kobo wouldn‘t let me buy it because I own the non-illustrated ebook (which I hoped meant they‘d upgraded me; no dice), but I nabbed it on Kindle and promptly flipped through to look at all the pictures.

I‘m happy. Tbh, I wouldn‘t have actually read the hardcover. This copy, I‘ll read and love.

Lunch involved crumbed cod, cajun-spiced kale, and my daily short story.

I‘ve had an awesome time revisiting this collection. It‘s making me want to reread all her other stuff, stat.

This loose Beauty & the Beast retelling has a serious cozy mystery vibe to it. I liked the characters, I liked their world, and I really, really liked the magic-as-technology angle. More like this, please.

The book does feel a bit longer than necessary and has a few pacing issues that slow the mystery down, but I can‘t mind much since it‘s all due to Gingell‘s clear delight in her characters and their story. You can tell she had FUN writing this.

I went to visit the fancy new edition of ASSASSIN‘S APPRENTICE this morning. Alas, at $47 it‘s a bit outside my price range, but I enjoyed fondling it. Hopefully I‘ll someday find a copy at the thrift store.

Book + rooibos + cheesecake. Yum.

I got a bit frustrated with MASQUE this afternoon. It‘s mostly good, but it felt like the longest 300-page book EVER. I couldn‘t figure out why the percentage read bar was advancing so slowly.

I investigated, and discovered I‘d read the page count wrong. The book‘s 398 pages, not 298 like I thought.

Now I‘m enjoying it again.

#weekendreads time!

1. MASQUE by W.R. Gingell for fiction, DIWALI by Rina Singh for nonfiction, THE BONE KEY on Sarah Monette for short fiction, THE WAY OF KINGS by Brandon Sanderson as my in-between book, and MASTER & APPRENTICE by Claudia Gray on audio.

2. 16 books; 2 albums

3. I usually read comics or revisit something I love. Audiobooks help a lot, too.

I had a serious workout shovelling foot-deep snow this morning. Don‘t romanticize the stuff, people. Yeah, I know you think it‘s pretty, but it‘s crap when you‘ve actually gotta deal with it.

Now I‘m doing the tea-and-cookies thing while I try to decide what to make for Thanksgiving on Monday. I think it‘s finally time to try molasses lace cookies, though butternut squash pie also sounds like a tasty alternative to pumpkin. Hmmm.

I‘m pretty thoroughly snowed in. BLAH.

In a small bid to raise my spirits, I‘m reading MASQUE by holiday light. I‘m about 25% in and I like it quite a bit so far. It‘s rather like a fantasy cozy mystery.

Listen, if the world‘s gonna subject me to snow, I‘m gonna break out the holiday lights.

I also made a couple changes to my new shelves: my red globe in the place of my Rose Tyler Pop!, a couple more wall stickers, and Robin McKinley‘s SUNSHINE beside Harry Potter.

One of my favourite things in the Marvel Universe is when characters who‘ve hung out with Deadpool (and/or bought his villain ID cards) call them Draculas instead of vampires.

I‘m listening to Buffy Sainte-Marie while I draft longhand in my adorable little Spider-Man notebook. Turns out, I DO like her music as much as I like her! Hurray!

Pen update: I still haven‘t drummed up the courage to see how much it‘ll cost to repair my beloved Waterman Carene. In the meantime, I‘ve got a $3 Zebra fountain pen. It writes pretty well, but it‘s totally disposable so I don‘t think I‘d buy another.

I entered this book with a lot of affection for Karamo and I left it the same way—mostly. He‘s open and honest about everything he‘s dealt with, including addiction, life in reality TV in his early 20s, and his role in perpetuating cycles of abuse.

It‘s this last that gives me pause. I like Karamo. I want to believe he HAS changed—but abusers make that claim so often, in such weaponized ways, that I don‘t feel I can fully trust him now. ⬇️

This isn‘t just a biography—it‘s also a Sainte-Marie-focused history of 20th century folk music and Indigenous activism in North America. I gulped it down quick as I could and now feel a lot of love for Sainte-Marie, who I‘m ashamed to admit is one of the weird gaps in my musical knowledge. (I got the book because I like Andrea Warner‘s writing.) You can bet I aim to correct that good and soon. I hope I like the music as much as the woman herself.

This was my view while I read my daily short story. Looks like I‘m gonna hibernate this Thanksgiving weekend.

Breakfast with THE WAY OF KINGS. The mug lies, as always.

My plan for this epic reread is to get through 10% every time I finish another book. We‘ll see if I can keep to that. The last time I read it was part of a buddy thing where I was supposed to do a few chapters a week—and I ended up finishing it in three days. Granted, my grandpa‘d just been diagnosed with cancer and I needed a huge distraction. One hopes nothing similar is on the horizon.

Behold! New floating shelves and vinyl wall stickers!

The framed comic and the plants are placeholders until I acquire more books I want to keep. Applying the stickers made me feel like I was in the first five minutes of a SIX FEET UNDER episode. I had to perch at a weird angle on a stepladder placed on some foam mats on my bed. Balancing was a full body workout, lemme tell you.

Big library haul this week, including three X-Men titles I didn‘t realize they‘d ordered, let alone processed. I hope this is a sign they‘ll get the rest of my huge X-related holds list into my hands nice and soon.

Full disclosure: I love Domino, but I‘m leery of this series because I‘ve never enjoyed a Gail Simone title. I find her scripts disjointed. Here‘s hoping she and artists David Baldeón and Michael Shelfer gel well enough to compensate.

Alisha Rai packs THE RIGHT SWIPE with lots of stuff I love. Business! Sports! Cute texting! Emotional intensity! Family! People who really listen to one another! Relevant issues! (Rhi‘s working through trauma after an emotionally abusive relationship. Samson‘s dad and uncle suffered brain injuries playing football.) I loved it and absolutely want to read more by Alisha Rai now.

I did some #audiobaking while I finished off the June 2019 issue of CLARKESWORLD. I thought I‘d used this gingerbread recipe before with good results, but it isn‘t spiced heavily enough for my palate so I guess not. Poop. At least the cookies are kinda cute (minus the pumpkins; I underestimated how much icing I should tint orange).

Y‘all, I thought this was gonna be one of THE books. Over the first 80 pages or so, Holmes nails my favourite blend of hilarity and heartbreak. I snickered and I cried and I rejoiced.

Unfortunately, the story loses some steam along the way. It‘s still good, but it also struggles to decide what it is. Litfic? Romance? Chick lit? Probably, it‘s General Fiction in the truest sense.

I did cry over the last 20 pages, though, and I rec it overall.

From last night‘s #audiowalk.

SPLIT TOOTH is a strange and glorious fusion of the contemporary and the mythic. It reads like a traditional Inuit story set in the late 20th century, all brutal and beautiful and generous and otherworldly. The audiobook includes throat singing interludes, too, which add a lot to the overall effect.

Major TW for child sex abuse. There‘re some scenes that read like bestiality from a southern perspective, too.

Casey and I took a loooooooong #audiowalk this morning to help with his energy levels. He had kind of a bad night, probably due to some coleus leaves he stole and ate, but it looks like he‘s back to normal now. Whew.

I‘m so, so close to the end of THE RIGHT SWIPE! Unless the last twenty minutes are beyond terrible (a la BOY, SNOW, BIRD), it‘ll definitely put me on the, “Must read more Alisha Rai!!!” side of things. Yay!

I finished my puzzle! Now I want a cupcake. #audiopuzzling

It‘s slightly warmer today (ie, it hit 12 instead of hovering in the 2-8 range), and apparently that‘s made my tastebuds want beer. Okay, then.

I‘m hoping I can sink into this book tonight. It SEEMS like I‘m back in the right mood to enjoy contemporary, provided I alternate between that and secondary world fantasy.

My read-with-my-eyeballs-all-morning plan got nixed when the rain let up and I took Casey for an #audiowalk. Little dude gets antsy without lots of exercise.

I like this book a LOT, y‘all. It‘s all business and sports and emotions. I look forward to some more listening time this afternoon.

I‘ve got some milk to use up, so: latte.

I‘m fifty pages from the end of TALTOS. Gonna see if I can finish it up this morning.

I was all set to binge read some fiction on this rainy morning—until I remembered Karamo‘s book is due in a few days and I‘ve still got a ton of chapters left. I read two just now and I‘m feeling a lot of love for him. #caseyplusbooks

I read the last 40% of THE LUCKY ONES in one sitting, desperate to see where it came out. Allison has major chemistry with her former foster siblings and dad. The banter flies hard and fast, backed up by deep, genuine emotion. I wanted her to get to keep every relationship she rekindled—and, this being a thriller, I knew she couldn‘t. I had to see what was gonna give.

TW for adoptive sibling sex and lots of psychopathy-related atrocities.

Still in that ol‘ sweet omelet mood. This morning‘s was apple-flavoured.

I ate it with books on the side, of course. I‘m 50 pages into TALTOS, and I‘m confident I‘ll like it more than TECKLA. Hurray! I‘ve also started rereading THE BONE KEY by Sarah Monette, fully two years after I decided it was time. The first story was a perfect fit for this dark, rainy day.

I very much enjoyed artist Dave Taylor‘s architectural spreads, but his figural work didn‘t do a lot for me. Ditto Chip Kidd‘s script. He reaches for an early Silver Age style, but can‘t quite manage to pull off a conscious homage that still fits contemporary sensibilities and generates a compelling story. I wasn‘t surprised to learn this OGN marks his first stab at writing for comics.

Second #audiowalk of the day went well. Casey‘s happy he got exercise. I‘m happy I got time with my book, which I AM enjoying as of about 25% in. Yay!

The male narrator still bothers me, though. His dialogue‘s fine, but it‘s like he‘s stage whispering the narration. It‘s audible but annoying. I understand some people seek this type of thing out on YouTube, though; maybe he was cast to appeal to that demographic?

Friends, this series is LOVELY. It‘s all about passionate engagement, personal growth, and friendship. While the characters‘ struggles might be OTT, they‘re rooted in real issues, and working through it all allows everyone to evolve while remaining recognizably themselves. It‘s great.

I love how the romance ends up, too. It fits the characters so, so well, and I appreciate how neither Shu nor Kuranosuke is creepy towards Tsukimi. They see her. 👍

Casey‘s morning #audiowalk was cold and windy. I am NOT on board for the internet‘s autumn fetishism.

It remains to be seen whether I‘m on board for THE RIGHT SWIPE. It‘s my Alisha Rai tie-breaker, and so far my strongest response has been to the narrators. The female narrator pronounced stuff weirdly in the beginning but found her stride eventually. The male‘s segments are all fuzzy—ugh, producer, WHY?—and he does that weird volume drop thing.