Space Station Mir

 Today's Top 10 Tuesday topic is a fall freebie and I missed last week's topic-- top ten books on my fall TBR--so I think this is a fun alternative. I've been looking for ways to take things off of my plate this fall. Therefore, I'm giving myself permission to not read these books this fall, however much I may or may not want to read them in the future. I am actually reading a lot of books right now, but pretty strictly immersive cozy fantasy and other comfort reads. Top Ten Books I'm Not Going to Read This Fall Rewitched by Lucy Jane Wood--It sounded good, it's high on many fall lists, I downloaded it, and I couldn't get into it. Maybe another fall, but not this one. Theo of Golden by Levi Allen-- Super popular, comes highly recommended, and the waiting list at the library is two hundred plus people long. See you another time, Theo of Golden. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke--Everybody was talking about this book this year, and when I read the concept I was ...

 What a cool topic! Like Jana , there was a period of time where I went to a lot of author events and book festivals. I didn't go to a lot for a while after Covid, and lately, there have been other reasons that I haven't felt comfortable going, but I have been lucky enough to meet many of my favorite living authors. Charlie Jane Anders-- I've actually been lucky enough to meet her twice, both times at the Baltimore Book Festival. So glad I got to chat with her, while she added some one-of-a-kind doodles to my books! 😊 Margaret Atwood-- I got to meet her at the National Book Festival one year and got her to sign my copy of MadAddam! Amy Tan-- I met her at the Fall for the Book Festival many years ago! James McBride--I got to listen to him read at the National Book Festival one year from one of my favorite books, The Good Lord Bird, and it was a profound experience. The rain literally stopped for him. Maggie Stiefvater-- I got to meet her at the Baltimore Book Festival last ...

 Hopefully I'll do a better job with the blogging in the fall. I'm hoping for a slower fall than summer this year--usually, fall/beginning of winter is busier but after this summer, I'm doing my best to slow down and breathe.  Books Read in August 2026 The Red Heart by James Alexander Thom (Book club read)--A long, very '90s historical novel about an apparently real-life white woman who was captured as a child from her Quaker family and lived out her life among the Delaware and other Native American tribes. Once I got past the long-winded style (once so familiar to me!), I enjoyed the book and all the research the author put into it, although his commitment to verisimilitude was actually a little jarring to me since I'm both not accustomed to and suspicious of that style of historical fiction these days. However, after reading more about the author, his process, and his other books, I think he's genuinely trying his best for a thorough and detailed depiction of ...

 Here's to me having the energy to do a Top Ten Tuesday this week! Finally! I enjoyed last week's topic, plus I've visited a few of the same bookish places as Jana , so I'm using her list to jumpstart mine. 😊 Me at the State Library of Victoria in 2025 Top Ten Bookish Places I've Visited --and I hope to visit many more in my lifetime! Shakespeare & Company Bookstore in Paris, France--This was one of the highest on my to-do list when I was in Paris. I wasn't able to buy a book as I was a poor student backpacker (space being actually more of an issue than money) but I'm so glad I went! To me, it makes me think of Sylvia Beach, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas plus Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Joyce--all the Lost Generation in Paris, especially back when I idealized that more than I do now. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City--Kid me was not very interested in museums but I always wanted to see the Met because of  From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil...