Space Station Mir

 I haven't been into spooky stories in years (not since I got in trouble for scaring all the little girls at my sister's sleepover, ahem), but since we won't have traditional trick-or-treating or places to show off costumes, I'm trying to get into the Halloween spirit in other ways. I've made a whole tray of treat bags to mail out to the kiddos in my life, and the other day, I even voluntarily started reading a "scary" story--and I really enjoyed it. I like these kinds of softly haunting stories that get into the supernatural without being gory. So, here are a couple recent stories from Tor.com that helped me get into the Halloween atmosphere. 1. "Hearts in the Hard Ground" by G.V. Anderson Loved this softly haunting story about a house full of more or less harmless ghosts.  2. Placed into Abyss (Mise en Abyse) by Rachel Swirsky I love Rachel Swirsky's writing, though this is actually the least weird story by her that I've read. It's ...

 Okay, this Top Ten Tuesday , I am ready for! I don't intentionally search out books with long titles, but the end of year survey I do every year includes my longest and shortest book titles, so it's something I've thought about. Plus, I do occasionally read academic texts, which tend to have gloriously long titles and/or subtitles. All of the following books are what I could find in my physical library at home! The Jewish Feminist Movement in Germany: The Campaigns of the Judischer Frauenbund, 1904-1938 by Marion A. Kaplan Writing Across Contexts: Transfer, Composition, and Sites of Writing by Kathleen Blake Yancey, Liane Robertson, and Kara Taczak Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies ed. by Linda Adler-Kassner and Elizabeth Wardle Bread & Beauty: A Year in Montgomery County's Agricultural Reserve by Claudia Kousoluas and Ellen Letourneau My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman American Sonnets for My Past and F...

 Happy Top Ten Tuesday over at That Artsy Reader Girl!  I'm not usually big on covers or illustrations,  but I've attempted to find some books on my TBR with covers that evoke fall to me! Book Covers with Fall Vibes 1. Etrog by David Z. Moster Since it's currently the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, this book on the etrog, a citrus fruit that's become a symbol of the holiday, has major fall vibes. 2. A Curse So Dark and Lonely  3. Forest of Souls by Lori M. Lee 4. The Lost Queen by Signe Pike 5. The Ethereal Squadron by Shami Stovall

I finished two books this week...but in two different months! I finished The Bookshop of Yesterdays before Oct. 1, and spent the rest of the week reading My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, which definitely has me on the Fredrik Backman train, even though I just found out he's only a few years older than me, which is intimidating considering the number of books he's had published. Then again, I should have suspected with all the Harry Potter and X-Men references in these books.  Finished Reading  The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman Watching I finally finished watching all of "The West Wing," for the first time. So astonishingly naive in 2020 hindsight, but I hope we move toward that (still flawed) picture of who we wished we were! I'm currently watching "The  Good Place," season 4.  I'm so glad "Sister, Sister" is on Netflix now. Such a comforting...

I didn't initially think this would be a big reading month since I've been so busy with returning to work, which really cut down on my reading in August. It's still maybe nothing to brag about, but not only did I read more than last month, but I'm currently in the middle of a book I'm really enjoying, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman, and that's the best gift this month could give me! I finished FOUR book club reads this month, two for my clubs this month and two for next. T he Bookshop of Yesterdays was my own suggestion, since I loved the author's more recent The Imperfects . The latter book was definitely better as, you know, one would hope for a second book, but The Bookshop of Yesterdays was a fun read. I found the mystery element so predictable that it spoilt my enjoyment of the book, but in the end, who can't love a book with a protagonist Miranda, a Prospero Books, and endless circle of literary references to...