It’s fall y’all! Although, in New England it’s rapidly approaching winter with how fast the leaves are changing. We made what has apparently become our annual trip up to Northern(ish) Maine to spend a quite weekend getting ready for all the holiday travel and to of course see the leaves changing colors. It was well worth the drive even if the house we rented was just past the peak leaf-peeping line. We stayed in Rangeley, Maine in the lakes region and visited UMaine Farmington on one of the days we were up there.
I used our time there to read and learn how to brioche knit (middle photo below). The best I can figure out how to describe it is by saying it’s like knitting two single colored scarves at the same time, but they’re somehow tired together on the off stitch. I’ll add a full picture when I’m fully finished.
Books and Bookish Things
I’ve almost completely cleared my galley pile which is a wonderful relief heading into the end of the year. I have two more on my shelves, The Cost-Benefit Revolution by Cass Sunstein that I’ve been trailing since February and Poorlier Drawn Lines by Reza Farazmand that I received from the publisher earlier this month and is published in November. Of the books I read this month, three of the seven were ARC/galleys (Off the Grid, Law and Addiction and The Children of Harvey Milk, one was a TBR, The Invisible Library and the other three were from the library and/or Kindle Unlimited.
- Off the Grid – Robert McCaw
- Law and Addiction – Mike Papantonio
- Upside Down – N.R. Walker
- The Invisible Library (The Invisible Library #1) – Genevieve Cogman
- Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe – Melissa de la Cruz
- The Children of Harvey Milk – Andrew Reynolds
- The Testaments (The Handmaid’s Tale #2) – Margaret Atwood
I did pretty good about not purchasing/requesting books this month, I spent less than $10 on the three I purchased and only accepted 2 of 36 unsolicited review requests (the Farazmand and West books). I picked up the two Jane Austen inspired books at the Farmington Thrift Shop. I picked up James’ Booker Prize winning novel for $2 from Amazon Kindle daily deals (I love keeping an eye on those for books like this that I know I’ll read at some point.
- Mr. Darcy’s Daughters – Elizabeth Aston
- Pride and Prescience – Carrie Bebris
- Poorlier Drawn Lines – Reza Farazmand
- A Brief History of Seven Killings – Marlon James
- Firewall – Eugenia Lovett West
I also got a new-to-me paperback copy of Wuthering Heights to add to my collection from Twice Sold Tales in Farmington.
Two things stood out on social media/the real world about books this month (aside from the Booker Prize drama). The local library, Boston Public Library system, has gotten rid of teen fines.
@BPLBoston will eliminate youth library card fines beginning 11/1! Also, a one-time amnesty will erase all pending replacement fees and fines for youth. Hit us up in Teen Central if you have questions about your library account. Best!https://t.co/fTE3et0G9u pic.twitter.com/P8d3bb8MNo
— BPLTeenCentral (@BPLTeenCentral) October 26, 2019
I’ve seen this happening more and more and I get it but it’s also like what about learning responsibility? We had to learn the responsibility of returning books back to the library in time and in good condition or pay the fine. And yes, I understand libraries have changed in the decades since I was a kid/teen, not only from their offerings and uses, but also their operations and structures, but every time I see one of these articles I scratch my head. The article it links to said there was nearly $250k in unpaid fines and only 10% of that had been paid in the previous year and I was like WAIT, WHAT?!
The other thing was this fabulous wallpaper in the bathroom where I get my haircut. If I ever decide to do a Jane Austen room in my house, I’ll have to seriously consider doing an accent wall with this wallpaper. I’m specifically referring to the first American edition of Pride and Prejudice with the famous peacock cover (google search results link). I mean I already have enough books and an action figure to put in there, so really I’m on my way.
Culture Corner
I somehow got roped into being on the Party Planning Committee at work (I was voluntold) and for our summer(ish) outing this month we visited the Harvard Natural History Museum. It was cooler than I remembered and I had time to go into the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology as well. It’s really great finally working at an organization that has things such as morale budgets and team building and professional development opportunities, which hasn’t always been the case in previous jobs.
Because it’s been such a great transition from my lacking previous job to my new job, I totally poached (broke free) the last person from my old team to come join me at my new place of employment (10 of us left in less than 18 months. Which YAY, she’s coming to work with me again, but more importantly she did a test run of her new commute earlier this week and I got to meet Rosie!
Although the photo is a little derpy (timing is everything), Rosie is anything but, she was the sweetest littlest pit bull I’ve ever met and just wanted to be pet and loved on. And she was living up the experience with all the new dogs and people saying hello to her while we chatted over coffee.
What’s Next?
Work is picking up as end of year fundraising really kicks off and holiday travel will start kicking into high gear again soon, we’re headed to NC for Thanksgiving and then Las Vegas for Christmas, not to mention the various friends and family visiting off and on through the end of the year. Hopefully I can cap off the year without any galleys going into 2020 (WTF?) and by reading a few books from my excessively growing TBR pile!
Geoff, sounds like you had a wonderful month. Happy November reading! 🙂
It was a good one. And you too!
Thank you 🙂