Last book from the 2025 Canada Reads Longlist! I like THE OTHER VALLEY‘s vibes so far and I appreciate how it digs deep on the philosophy, but I do have questions about how the valleys get stuff like gasoline. Perhaps Howard poured a lot into some bits of the worldbuilding but not so much into others.

Tonight‘s beer is a Music Machine Sour Fruited Gose, and it‘s ACTUALLY A GOSE! Hurray! Most local breweries confuse regular sours with goses.

I wanted Casey to pose with FEARLESS AND FREE, but he was more interested in BEING fearless and free. So here we are.

I finished the book this morning and now I‘m even more sorry I somehow missed Josephine Baker‘s tomb at the Pantheon. She was a remarkable person; not flawless, but deeply committed to her art and the fight for a better world. I admire her so much, and I love how her zest for life comes across in this as-told-to memoir.

I reheated my lemon garlic chicken in the air fryer and now it‘s the same colour as the example photo in DELICIOUS TONIGHT. No filter necessary! It‘s a miracle!

Between cooking, eating, and manual labour, I hit 70% with SEVENTHBLADE. While I appreciate a lot of what Laird does here, the first 25% or so felt like a prologue, and that‘s made it tough for me to click with the book. I‘ll finish it, but I dunno if I‘ll jump on sequels. #audiocooking

I started Guy Gavriel Kay‘s latest this morning. It took me a little while to sink into it, but I‘m there now! I hope I can get some more time with it on this dull, rainy evening.

Casey‘s happy because he enjoyed extensive snuggles during reading time, then found a nice floor to nap on.

Most of my recent manual labour involves cleaning up my parents‘ horrifically messy basement. (It‘s already so much neater, yet a casual observer might think I‘d done nothing.) Today I dug out Jacob, their turtle. He used to have his own bedroom (ie, he lived on the bed in their spare room), which led many, many people to think I had a brother named Jacob.

I also listened to all of another enjoyable Japanese mystery from the 1980s. #audiocleaning

I‘m now two stories away from the end of ANNAPURNA‘S BOUNTY. The recipes all sound good and I appreciate the chance to learn some Indian legends, but I‘m disappointed with how Gokhale has presented them. She preserves the key events, but pays little attention to story structure. Each story is very this-then-this-then-this, with some odd jumps between scenes.

Thursday night comics with Casey. I debated whether to add this series to my X-Men to-read list since Namor, despite being a mutant, is really more x-adjacent. On top of that, he‘s one of the select fictional characters about whom I‘ll always snarl, “Fuck that guy.”

I‘m glad I went ahead with it, because it‘s really good—maybe because so much of it involves Namor reckoning with why he‘s such a colossal asshole. Onward!

A friend recently gave me a bunch of his mom‘s costume jewelry. She had a huge, loud collection that I‘ve started to transform into suncatchers and wrist tethers for phones.

I‘m so, so close to the end of DUST OF DREAMS. While the series has featured rape from the get-go, this instalment feels ESPECIALLY rapey, with plenty of misogynistic overtones even when people aren‘t violating each other. That‘s soured me on the whole thing. #audiocrafting

I‘m soooooo glad Orbit let me have an ARC of HOW TO SURVIVE A FAIRY BARGAIN! I loved the first book in the series and this one‘s already made me giggle quite a bit as of 14%. A Korean production company NEEDS to license these books and make an awesome drama out of them.

Next from the library stack: THE BABY DRAGON CAFE. I sort of expected this one to be a quick bail, but I‘m still here after 75 pages. That said, there‘s a LOT of unnecessary repetition, and the emotions seem a bit surface-level given the characters‘ tragic backstories. THAT said, the dragons are cute and I love how much Saphira loves them. We‘ll see if I finish or not.

I took a break from manual labour to make apple cheddar scones. They‘re not so photogenic, but they sure do taste good. #audiobaking

I‘ve done so much manual labour this weekend that I‘m 36% into DUST OF DREAMS, a 44-hour audiobook, after only two days. Even at 3x, that‘s a LOT.

Also, all my muscles are sore. Like, really, ALL of them.

When I wasn‘t manually labouring, I also managed to finish this book nook I lucked into at the local Amazon returns store. It was only $10, instead of $50-70! Good times. #audiocrafting

I planned to start another ebook after I bailed on my library book yesterday, but I got the WORST Diana Wynne Jones craving and HEXWOOD was right there on my September/October reading list, so I dove on in. It‘s exactly what I feel like.

Even though #serenesaturdays is over, here‘s my penguin mug. There‘s a little penguin tail around the other side.

I‘m 100 pages into AT THE BOTTOM OF THE GARDEN, and I dunno if I‘ll finish it or drift away. Clara‘s an all-too ordinary sort of villain, and it bugs me that Bruce, a Norwegian writer, uses such generic names for characters and places alike. Maybe she wants to make a point about the universality of horror, but to me it reads more like she‘s catered to those American readers who can‘t “relate” to anything set outside their own country. Ugh.

Tried some more Lindsay Buroker alongside Sleepy!Casey, who‘s in the doldrums because his parents went to BC without him. Poor little soul.

The Fallen Empire prequel novella didn‘t really grab me, but I‘ll read at least a couple chapters of the first novel before I mark the omnibus as read. I think I tried it once before, with poor results, but maybe my tastes‘ll have shifted since then. I did mostly like the first three Dragon Blood books.

I started BLOOMING LOVE before bed last night. It‘s my first fantasy by Carla de Guzman, and it took me a little longer to sink into than any of her realistic romances did. Now I‘m at 40%, though, and I‘m totally here for this blend of friendship, family, and new love, all thoroughly steeped in Filipino culture.

I also love how she magically justifies coffee as an invasive plant, given one of her previous books was about a coffee genius.

That thing where you‘re sorting through your photos and you find a poem you saved in 2022 and you‘re just like, “Yes. I shall share this.”

All these years and I‘m still finding new-to-me Nigella recipes in my cookbook collection. Today I baked her coffee walnut cake for my uncle‘s birthday. It was delicious, though I think next time I‘d ice the sides instead of dividing it equally between the middle & top, as per the official instructions. These are some thick icing layers.

At last, I finished my tiny loft! This one took forever because I had a ton of interruptions, but it was still a lot of fun to work on. Of all the kits I‘ve done, it‘s the one I‘ve most customized. I am NOT about the teeny tiny wire work, and the original terrace design was all kinds of boring. Now it‘s vibrant and fun.

I also finished the tagged book. While I liked THE MILL HOUSE MURDERS more, it was still a good homage to classic mysteries.

This is Casey‘s paranoid face. WHY is that pedestrian walking past his house? Do they have a NEFARIOUS PURPOSE?

(They were probably going to the bus stop.)

So, I started BLOOD CHARGED this afternoon, and I dunno if I‘ll finish it or drift away from it. The previous book, DEATHMAKER, began well but lost me as it trundled along. Either way, this omnibus‘ll soon be in the Read column on my Kobo.

I made my first recipe from ANNAPURNA‘S BOUNTY: ash reshteh, or Persian beans & greens stew. It‘s very tasty, but I liked the flavour more before I added the mint, parsley, and fenugreek near the end. Oh well! I‘ve still got good dinners for the next couple days.

Next up from my library stack (digital edition). CRUSHED ICE is really good so far, despite Casey‘s hangdog expression. One of the leads is from Winnipeg, but the scenes set here didn‘t give me the sense either Kane or James knows the city. We‘ll see if some more local colour kicks in on Russ‘s next visit to his family.

Still plugging away at my tiny loft. I made some pretty significant changes to the rooftop terrace, since the official build was dull. It‘s now got a turquoise tile roof, more plants, a salvage table, a fabric rug, and a more dynamic furniture arrangement.

It‘s taken me most of the way through THE HOUSE WITCH. It‘s rather overlong, but still enjoyable. I should finish it today. #audiocrafting

I‘m so close to the end of my Kobo project that I‘ve taken all my library holds off suspension! My plan is to alternate between my ebooks and this lot for the next while.

Once I had my holds in hand, I also grabbed a collection of Indian food legends with recipes off the New Stuff display. I never can resist a tiny, beautiful book about food.

Casey got a haircut, just in time for the temperatures to plummet. We had a high of 11 yesterday and there‘s a wind warning today. 😭 Thank goodness it‘s gonna warm up again next week.

I‘m tucked up inside with a YA fantasy from the Manitoba Young Readers‘ Choice Awards list. 10-Year-Old Me would‘ve adored this. Adult Me wants a bit more oomph to the various relationships, but I still appreciate all the world mythology.

I‘ve been reluctant to try #audiocycling in case my earbuds pop out due to bumpy roads and/or extreme sweat, but I had a 70-minute ride home tonight and I really want to finish TOLL THE HOUNDS, so I gave it a go. My earbuds stayed in and I‘m now at 83% with the book. The end is in sight!

I read the first three chapters of DEATHMAKER while I drank this delicious Stone Cutter Sour from Namesake Brewing. (The promised ginger is pretty subtle, but the tart lemon shines.) The book‘s action-packed so far, with a good hook. I‘ve done a bit of scrambling to remember the wider conflicts introduced in the first book, which I read months ago, but Buroker makes it easy to catch up.

Doing the long weekend thing with Daisy and a vintage mystery. This is my first Mary Roberts Rinehart, plucked from Kobo‘s freebies selection many long years ago. I‘m about a third of the way in and I‘m interested in the story but I strongly dislike the narrator. We‘ll see if I stick with it or if my distaste for this guy drives me away from the book.

I basically suspended everything until I‘d finished THE FIFTH, a polyamorous love story that mostly happens in the intense, reactive moments between the action. Daisy agrees it‘s fabulous stuff.

I read sixty pages of MIGHTY GOOD ROAD before bed last night and I‘m very much here for Melissa Scott‘s vibes. She‘s mighty good at building intricate, fun-to-discover worlds inhabited by intriguing characters. I can‘t wait to read more.

ALSO, I found a Leonardo Hello Kitty and while I‘m sad for the kid who lost it, I‘m super happy for me. Leonardo was my childhood fave because he had TWO SWORDS like a BADASS.

I‘m on to the final Nancy Drew title I found last time I was in this area—and once again, I seem to be reading it right around when the Litsy group preps for their discussion. Huh.

So far, this one‘s proven educational about bells and coastal delicacies like puffed shrimp and fish pudding topped with salmon mousse (…okay?). Lots of unconsciousness, too, thanks to drugs and mysterious caves. We shall see how it unfolds.

I just finished rewatching TED LASSO and it left me in the mood for MORE SPORTS. I‘ve had ON THE ICE lingering on my Kobo for ages since I wasn‘t wild about another of Amy Aislin‘s books, and I figured I might as well give it a try while I‘m in this mood. It‘s much sparklier than the other one! I do find the excessive American college talk grating, as always (and especially from non-American authors), but the character dynamics are great. Yay!

Onward through X-FACTOR, with a reading buddy who finds Sabretooth pretty durned alarming. (Don‘t we all, Ivy.) The mid-late 90s isn‘t my favourite X-period, but it‘s still been good to fill some gaps. I‘ve finally read all of EXCALIBUR, and I‘ll soon achieve WOLVERINE completism! Alas, Marvel Unlimited‘s still missing a fair chunk of X-FACTOR, but I can wait.

I got a day with Casey! Hurray!

He‘s currently helping me tackle the last story in this Korean collection about a skyscraper city. Alas, it‘s the sort of ideas-over-people SF I struggle to click with, so I ain‘t as wowed as the folks who recced it to me. There‘s enough meat here that I‘ll finish it, at least, but it won‘t make my list of stellar short fiction recs.

Got through 14% of TOLL THE HOUNDS while I installed my tiny loft‘s tree, connected the lights, baked Ted Lasso‘s iconic shortbread biscuits, and threw a batch of apple cheddar scones in the oven to boot because hey, it was already warm.

I felt very much like diving into this book at the start of the month, but someone borrowed it just when I was ready, then kept it out a full 21 days. I‘m no longer in quite the right mood, but I persevere.

Did another puzzle while I listened to this great Japanese mystery. Hoopla‘s got two more books by Yukito Ayatsuji and I‘ve already added both to my list for the next time I have a gap in my listening schedule. #audiopuzzling

I only remembered three things about THE LAST LIGHT OF THE SUN:

1. There were vikings.
2. They blood eagled people.
3. I didn‘t enjoy it as much as Kay‘s other books.

Now I‘m rereading it for the first time, eighteen years on, and I‘m loving it. Kay hits me hardest when he‘s PERSONAL, above mythic or political, and this book is very much that. I can‘t wait to plunge onwards.

Also of note: it‘s Allie‘s 8th birthday! She loves it under her tree.

I went to the library to get Josephine Baker‘s memoir, but of course I also had to grab two things from the New Purchases stand. Then I passed by a couple of LFLs, where I was able to tuck my Eric Wilson mystery in for someone else to find and claim a couple of Christopher Pikes for the next time I want late 80s/early 90s YA horror. There were TONS in there, but I didn‘t want to be greedy.

We recently passed the tenth anniversary of my last visit to the US. If more American voters felt like Beast, I might go back someday. With this Genoshan soldier‘s attitude in play, I doubt I‘ll ever cross the border again.

The very nicest thing I have to say to anyone who voted for their own personal Hitler is that I hope they find their way past the hate that governs their hearts. I hope they manage it before they kill everyone like me.

Did a puzzle while I listened to another great Bangalore Detectives Club mystery. My favourite thing about these books is how Nagendra illuminates 1920s India; especially the class divisions Kaveri navigates, the growing push for independence from Britain, and the ways women support each other given the social limits placed on them. #audiopuzzling

Marvel Unlimited‘s got a four-months-for-$4/month deal on now, so it‘s time for me to catch up on a year of additions to their X-books catalogue.

This OGN seems like more of a Ghost Rider book so far, but Wolvie‘s there too so onto the list it went. Only 350 issues to go before I can once again say I‘ve read every single X-Men comic on there.

I check every LFL I come across for the years I‘m still missing for my personal All My Years challenge, and last week I finally found a 1985 publication! I know I read Eric Wilson when I was little, but I don‘t remember if I ever read this particular mystery. It‘s been interesting to approach it as an adult, since I‘ve spent time in the Uclelet area. I even visited the very library where Tom does his pre-internet case research!

Casey was reluctant to pose with this horrible cover, even after I assured him the book is actually great. The current edition is WAY prettier, but we take what we find at the used bookstore.

I‘d love to finish this today, but I‘ve got tons to do so it might not be possible. Still, I‘ll enjoy whatever time I‘m able to scrounge with it.

I finished THE TAINTED CUP with my surprisingly calm new buddy, Stormy, then popped on here and saw it just won the Hugo! Good times.

I had the wind at a frontways angle to me all the way to the park, then straight in my face all the way back, which basically means I cycled uphill both ways. This made me very grumpy. I had no choice but to stop at the library and borrow some diverse YA, even though I‘ve got a bunch of other stuff to read over the next couple weeks. It cheered me up.

At last, a new book! I started THE TAINTED CUP over breakfast and carried on while I ate lunch at this excellent park (following a ride there across the prairie and a hike through the woods). It‘s got a lot of promise so far, with murder and spores and kaiju galore.

We finally had a low-smoke, no-rain day, so I got to have my ride along the Harte Trail! I also stopped off for a couple of reading breaks: one on a bench a little ways past where this photo was taken and one at Ikea with a free coffee.

I‘m now about 160 pages from the end of THE GATHERING STORM and I‘d love to finish it tonight, but I‘ve got other stuff to do this evening so I don‘t think it‘ll be possible. Tomorrow, then.

My latest meal from DELICIOUS TONIGHT was Arabic chicken & potatoes. The potatoes didn‘t take on as much flavour as I‘d hoped, but they still had a great texture and some nicely crisped bits. The chicken was moist and tasty, with a nice tang from the sumac.

Also of note: I only needed a slight filter to make mine the same colour as the example photo.

I planned to do a TON of cycling on my vacation, but so far I‘ve only had one day where it wasn‘t pelting down rain and/or so smokey I couldn‘t safely spend 8+ hours outside. Sigh.

So today I went shopping with my mum instead. I came away with some much-needed new clothes and a couple of books: the tagged, plus an omnibus of three culinary mysteries from the 1980s.

I found myself in a vintage SF mood last night, so I plucked STAR BORN out of my Kobo library. (By the way, my Finish My Ereader project‘s at 98%! Victory is in sight!) It hasn‘t blown me away so far, but it reads up quick and I ain‘t in a place where I NEED to be blown away, so all is well. I shall read a bit more in this park so I‘ve got a picnic shelter to retreat to if those clouds turn into rain.