Better late than never right? October was long and so were the first two weeks of November. I’m finally getting a bit of a chance to breathe but between now and Thanksgiving I have a big event at work and friendsgiving. Add in that I still have TEN items left on my 30×30 list and you can imagine my stress level is a bit high. On the other hand it hasn’t all been work!
I’ve been able to do a lot and see a lot of friends which is always fun. My best friend from childhood and I went as the same character for Halloween, Tina from Bob’s Burgers (obviously because she’s amazing). I was able to see her when we went down to a wedding in Virginia and I was a happy camper! Visiting Aile in VA was on my 30×30 list and I also crossed off singing a song at live-band karaoke and getting out of non-student loan debt!
I’m in the process of four other items: Harry Potter in Spanish, the Lord of the Rings, NaNoWriMo and my Pride and Prejudice fan fiction novel. I also released episode two of Come Read With Me featuring my friend Caitrin and you should DEFINITELY check it out if you haven’t yet! It’s amazing I haven’t passed out from exhaustion on a more regular basis!
Oh and did I mention I’ve been having a VERY New England fall which has so far included a corn maze, a winery, apple picking and lots of apple cider donuts!
Books and Bookish
Although I haven’t had as much time as I would like to read and do bookish things I did a lot more than I thought I did. Unfortunately I dropped my Coursera course about Science Fiction and Fantasy but I will most definitely start it and complete it again in the future!
I read eight books in October! A lot of them were shorter and two were for the Coursera course I dropped, but I really enjoyed most of them. Two were galleys (First Impressions and Outdated); two were library books (The Martian Chronicles and Peaches for Father Frances); one was a re-read (The Hobbit) and one was recommended/loaned to me (Last Summer):
- Peaches for Father Frances – Joanne Harris
- First Imrpessions – Charlie Lovett
- Household Stories – Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
- Outdated – Michael War
- Through the Looking Glass – Lewis Carroll
- Last Summer – Michael Thomas Ford
- The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Martian Chronicles – Ray Bradbury
Lots of other bookish things happened to including getting my Litographs Literary tattoo, being the first person to receive a copy of The Blood of Olympus from my local library, finding yet another typo and seeing a slap-dash but still totally awesome Jane Austen section at the Brookline Public Library randomly one day when I needed a quick break from work:
Recent Acquisitions
It’s funny how whenever I have a month or two where I don’t buy/get any books it’s almost immediately cancelled out less than two months later. I got more than I should this month but I’m of course excited about all of them! I picked up two kindle books Stonewall by Martin Duberman and The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. I’ve read both authors before and I picked up the Wells for the Coursera course. It’ll be nice to re-read it. In addition I picked up two recommended book sand a recommended cookbook from Amazon. My roommate recommended Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander sometime last year from a friend of his who reads, Tex recommended The Bitterweed Path by Thomas Hal Phillips and I’ve always wanted to read Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness or anything by her really. I decided to get the Pestos! cookbook after reading Jennie’s Pesto Presto post on Got My Reservations back in August.
What’s Next?
Hopefully a bit of a break, but I doubt it! There’s so much to do between now and the end of the year, but I’m definitely looking forward to the three days (five including the weekend) I get off around Thanksgiving.
As much as I’m not ready for the super short days mentally, I’m excited about my new rain/snow boots that I’ve already had to wear and I’m excited for the hot apple cider! Hopefully, by the end of the month I’ll have fewer than five items left on my 30×30 as I’ll be down to days left at that point! I also hope I can catch back up on my Now Entering Adulthood blog. I had to give this blog priority when I got really busy, but fingers crossed I can get back on track with a bunch of other stuff too.
Have a great rest of November, even if it is barely only two weeks 😀
Sounds like you’ve been busy! Love all the fall activities–and apple cider doughnuts are THE BEST. Looks like you might get to use those new boots this week… 🙁
I was surprised to hear about it! I’m usually the snow announcer at work but someone told me about it today.
I really need to read an Ursula K. Le Guin novel as well. I have Rocannon’s World sitting on my shelf waiting to be picked up.
I’ve never had apple cider doughnut and now I feel like I’m missing out…
They’re so good! I’m excited fit Le Guinn I’ve got two on my shelf now!
Man you have been busy! I’m tired just reading it. Looks like you are packing in as many fall times as possible. I recently read Outlander and enjoyed it. But she does get a bit wordy in a Dickens kind of way. Not sure how you will like that.
Oh No! Not Dickensian! Hopefully I’ll like it a bit better, less industrial right? And thankfully I’m over the biggest hurdle – all of my work events are officially done until the Spring so now to get through my giant friendsgiving and I’m home free for a bit.
Love the Outlander books! STARZ does the tv show based on the books, I really enjoy it! Can’t wait to hear what you think about them!
My roommate was excited when they announced the show. He was like remember that book? It’s a TV show now. I didnt realize it was a series though.
Oh yeah, i think there are like 7 or 8, and a couple spin offs. (My mom was the one who told me about them) I think they’ve done a good job on the show so far.
Oh. I’ve heard mixed reviews. I’ll definitely read the first before I check out the series.
Yes definitely do that first. They took a few depatures, and it’s been so long since I read the first book I’m embarassed to say I didn’t realize it, but I’ve enjoyed it nonetheless!