Reading List for the past three months or so

I did very little reading in Sept and Oct, so I'm lumping everything together

Read

• The West Passage by Jared Pechacek - this book is weird and delightful. absolutely bonkers stuff, library e-book
• What You Are Looking For is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama - sweet little slice of life book, really nice little read, library e-book
• Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo - don't remember which series this one was now, but really love all these books, library e-book
• Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert - I finished it so I must have thought it was good but I don't remember anything about it. I think it was about prioritizing creative stuff. I have a vague positive feeling towards it., library e-book
• Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo - sequel to Shadow and Bone, still good, library e-book
• Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White - this book still haunts me in a good/scary way. it's an incredibly visceral book and really really good if horrifying at parts. really really recommend it, library e-book
• Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall - if you can get over the crippling anxiety that the POV character has, it's a decent little baking romance book. It took me a bit to get over my irritation with the narrator, library e-book
• The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard - love the world building and the post apocalyptic feel. Pretty meh on the narrators, library e-book
• Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear - really enjoyed the narration and setting of this book, looking forward to the sequals. also appreciated the lack of explicit stuff. physical library book
• Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle - horror but not too horror for me. I took it slow and read a little at a time and by the end I was really into it. really good, if a bit meta about storytelling and the entertainment industry, library e-book
• Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros - incredible story and worldbuilding, amazing and cool, very irritating romance. at least the sex scenes are easily skippable, library e-book
• The Stone in the Skull by Elizabeth Bear - set in the same world as some of her other books that I loved, this is a delight and really interesting. She's so good at writing different voices and cultures and the stories are fun. Physical library book
• Kalyna the Soothsayer by Elijah Kinch Spector - bouncing, funny and amusing narrator. definitely written as a recollection of adventure style, so there is some commentary of places, people and things that are the musings and opinions of the narrator in her later years. really enjoyed this, definitely a different narration style, library e-book
• Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros - much like the first in the series, amazing plot, story and worldbuilding, annoying romance. physical library book

DNF

• The Power of Fun by Catherine Price - this book wasn't that interesting to read. I liked some of the ideas but bleh, it was boring, library e-book
• How to Break Up with Your Phone by Catherine Price - hard to do this when you read it as an e-book, library e-book
• The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang - if you like complex palace intrigue, this is for you. I disliked the explicit sex scenes and I'm not fond of complex palace intrigue, library e-book
• The House of Binding Thorns by Aliette de Bodard - sequel, the narrators got too annoying to me and I disliked how grim everything was, library e-book

I'm back to work and tired

Last week, I did mostly goofing off. Neither boss gave me work to do. Tues afternoon, I helped with some turkey processing at the A farm and then made custard pie on Wed afternoon. Custard pie was renamed chocolate disaster because I used a low % milk chocolate for half of the custard and it didn't set properly, so that layer was liquid. But it was still delicious. 

Thurs, I went over to the farm for thanksgiving and it was a nice time. We all ate so much food, there was naps and looking at trip pictures. Knitting. Dessert. Good stuff. 

Friday, I went to the farm again to help B get her loom finally ready to weave. It's so wonky and hard to work with, I feel a little bad. But she's now weaving and I guess that's what matters

Saturday, I watched hockey and got ready for a trip. Hockey was PWHL which is finally back in action for the season. Fun games. 

Sunday morning, I loaded the truck and headed south. I picked up my sister in NJ at a train station and had a minor crisis where my truck ran low on oil and I couldn't figure out what the problem was, so eventually I just put enough oil in that the check engine light turned off. It's due for an oil change and I guess just ran out. Normally not a problem, but whatever. Oil change is scheduled. 

We headed to Lancaster for my cousin's wedding. I haven't seen anyone from that side of the family in probably 10 years. Every time there was an event, it was far or badly timed. I think all of them were in the summer when I was really busy with work, or it was right after I got Mara, or I moved. And there were only three or four over that time. Some might have been in NC or RI when I was in the furthest place. Whatever. But we got to catch up with about half of the family. My cousin was busy being married and mostly didn't notice us, but the rest of us had a nice time. Mostly we sat around and chatted and once the dancing started, stood around near the bar in the other room and talked because the music was painfully loud and you couldn't actually hold a conversation in that room. Food was mediocre. 

The wedding wrapped up promptly at 9:30, we all headed back to the hotel and proceeded to take over the hotel bar/lobby tables and chatted, the rest of them drank, my aunt brought snacks down from her room to make up for meh dinner. I went to bed at midnight, my sister at 1 and my dad thinks they went to bed at 2. that side of the family parties hard. 

Next morning, I sat in the lobby and read a book until dad, my siblings and L came down and we got breakfast at the hotel bar. Surprisingly tasty food if expensive. We said goodbye to some relatives we saw and then all hit the road. I took Z to a different train station that had faster service and drove north. F, B and I coordinated on ordering chipotle and I picked it up and got home a little after 5. We ate, then crafting. I'm so tired today, couldn't manage to work out this morning, just sat on my mat for 15 mins and gave up. Hoping to catch up on sleep tonight.