October Book List

As promised, I decided to just post my October book list separate due to the overwhelming amount of books I purchased this last month. I know I technically posted it the next day in Nov, but here we are lol. And it's not like the list changed, I didn't finish or buy any books on the last day of my aunts' visit. What's interesting is that I had a week early in the month I was so busy I didn't finish a single book (during SVD) and then I didn't finish any books while my aunts were in town because I was so busy doing family things. So I really read all these books in about 2.5 weeks of the 4 weeks of Oct lol. I'm also about 1/3 of the way through another purse book, but I will include that here after I finish it

  

Books Read:

~Alice Hoffman, The Rules of Magic (367 pgs)

~Alice Hoffman, Practical Magic (299 pgs)

~Alice Hoffman, Practical Magic 2: The Book of Magic (383 pgs) [it has been published under both names, so I used both names to refer to it]

~Luis Jaramillo, The Witches of El Paso (275 pgs)

~Ruth Reichel, Tender at the Bone (289 pgs)

~William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (128 pgs)

~Cassandra Clare, Better in Black: Ten Stories of Shadowhunter Romance (426 pgs)

~Kenneth Atchity (editor), The Classical Greek Reader (442 pgs) [sadly, much of what is in this Oxford Press reader is only small excerpts of the texts, though the background information is good. It's a very wide selection of Greek sources, some I own in entirety (at least in translation) but some I don't own elsewhere. I am going to keep it, I just wish that the exercise from each author were longer sections. It was probably intended for an intro level undergrad course on Greek philosophy and I picked it up used at some point because it has some ancient writers I don't own elsewhere.]

~Silvia Moreno-Garcia, The Bewitching (382 pgs) 

~José Rivera (translated and adapted from a play by Pedro Calderón de la Barca), Sueño (75 pgs)

~Sarah Penner, The London Séance Society (328 pgs)

~Christopher Columbus, The Four Voyages (320 pgs) 

~Brom, Slewfoot (326 pgs) 

 

Books Acquired:

~Melissa Albert, The Hazel Wood 

~Melissa Albert, The Night Country 

~Robert Aspirin, Myth Conceptions

~Robert Aspirin, Hit or Myth

~Robert Aspirin, Little Myth Maker

~Susan Barker, The Incarnations 

~Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists 

~Holly Black, Thief of Night 

~V. L. Bovatino, The Thief and the Traitor Bride

~Alexandra Bracken, Lore

~Alan Brennert, Daughter of Moloka'i

~Jordanna Max Brodsky, The Wolf in the Whale 

 ~Brom, The Child Thief

 ~Brom, Evil in Me

 ~Brom, Lost Gods

~E. A. Wallis Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians Vol. 1 

~E. A. Wallis Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians Vol. 2 

~E. A. Wallis Budge, The Mummy: Funereal Rites & Customs in Ancient Egypt

~M. R. Carey, The Girl With All the Gifts

~Christa Carmen,  Beneath the Poet's House 

~T. H. Carpenter, Art and Myth in Ancient Greece 

~V. Castro, Tales of the Dark Feminine 

~Dee Dee Chainey & Willow Winsham, Treasury of Folklore: Seas & Rivers 

~Dee Dee Chainey & Willow Winsham, Treasury of Folklore: Waterlands, Wooded Worlds, and Starry Skies

~Charles Waddell Chesnutt, Tales of Conjure and the Color Line

~Mona Chollet, In Defense of Witches

~Yangsze Choo, The Fox Wife

~Samantha Cohoe, A Golden Fury

~Kara Cooney, The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt 

~Zoraida Cordova, Illusionary

~Arthur Cotterell, Illustrated Encyclopedia of Classical Mythology 

~Juno Dawson, Her Majesty's Royal Coven 

~Tracy Deonn, Bloodmarked 

~Tracy Deonn, Oathbound

~Charles Dickens, David Copperfield [this is an old family copy that belonged to my great grandfather that my Aunt Kath brought me on her most recent visit] 

~CG Drews, Hazelthorn

~Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States

~Kathleen Duval, Native Nations

~Marina & Sergey Dyachenko, Vita Nostra 

~Andrea Eames, A Tangled Magic

~T. S. Eliot, The Eldest Statesman 

~Hiron Ennes, The Works of Vermin 

~Shea Ernshaw, The Wicked Deep

~Hafsah Faizal, A Steeping of Blood 

~Paula R. Feldman (editor), British Women Poets of the Romantic Era 

~Flametree Publishing (ed.), Viking Folk & Fairy Tales 

~Khalil Gibran, Spirits Rebellious 

~Marion Gibson, Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials

~Tigest Girma, Immortal Dark 

~Adalyn Grace, Foxglove 

~David Grann, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

~Philippa Gregory, The Virgin's Lover 

~Peter Haining (editor), Great Irish Tales of Horror

~Barbara Hambly, Stranger at the Wedding 

~Chet Hardin, The Vampire's Cult

~Amelia Hart, The Sirens 

~Kika Hatzopoulou, Threads That Bind 

~Grady Hendrix, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires 

~Grady Hendrix. Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

~O. Henry, 41 Stories 

~Alice Hoffman, The Foretelling

~Alice Hoffman, Incantation

~Alice Hoffman, The Probably Future 

~John Hollander (editor), Animal Poems 

 ~Tanya Huff, No Quarter

~Isabel Ibañez, What the River Knows 

~Isabel Ibañez, Where the Library Hides

~Albert Jack, Pop Goes the Weasel: The Secret meanings of Nursery Rhymes 

~Jake Jackson, Indian Myths 

~Kosoko Jackson, The Macabre 

~N. K. Jemisin, The City We Became

~N. K. Jemisin, The World We Make

~Kathleen Kaufman, The Entirely True Story of the Fantastical Mesmerist Nora Grey 

~Brigid Kemmerer, A Curse So Dark and Lonely

~Brigid Kemmerer, A Vow So Bold and Deadly

~Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped From the Beginning 

~Rosalind Kerven, Dark Fairy Tales of Fearless Women 

~Sophie Kim, The God and the Gumho 

~Sophie Kim, The God and the Gwisin

~Rachael King, The Grimmelings 

~Stephen King, Fire-Starter

~T. Kingfisher, What Moved the Dead

~David Kinsley, The Goddesses' Mirror

~Mercedes Lackey, The Gates of Sleep 

~Mariely Lares, Dawn of Fate and Fire 

~Hart Larrabee, Haiku Illustrated: Classic Japanese Short Poems 

~Elizabeth Lim, Six Crimson Cranes 

~H. M. Long, Dark Water Daughter

~H. P. Lovecraft, The Poems of H. P. Lovecraft 

~Amanda Lovelace, The Princess Saves Herself in This One [I have been a fan of her poems for ages and follow her on socials and often have wanted these books while book shopping, but I didn't want to pay $15+ each for such thin volumes of poems. Luckily, someone had dumped a whole bunch of modern poetry books at the west side half Price Books when I went to use my birthday coupon so I was FINALLY able to pick up several of them including the one(s) I wanted most]

~Amanda Lovelace, The Witch Doesn't burn in This One

~Amanda Lovelace, The Mermaid's Voice Returns in This One

~Amanda Lovelace, Break your Glass Slippers 

~Amanda Lovelace, Shine Your Icy Crown

~Amanda Lovelace, Unlock Your Storybook Heart 

~Amanda Lovelace, Flower Crowns & Fearsome Things

~Amanda Lovelace, She Followed the Moon Back to Herself

~Amanda Lovelace, You Are Your Own Fairytale

~Sarah J. Maas, Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood

~Sarah J. Maas, Crescent City: House of Sky and Breath

~Sarah J. Maas, Crescent City: House of Flame and Shadow

~Gregory Maguire, Out of Oz

~Shelby Mahurin, Blood & Honey

~Shelby Mahurin, Gods & Monsters

~Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies 

~Hilary Mantel, The Mirror & The Light

~Melissa Marr, A Treason of Magic

~Jasmine Mas, Bonds of Hercules

~Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Acorna's Rebels 

~Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Acorna's Triumph

~Jenn McKinlay, Witches of Dubious Origins 

~Allie Michell, Explorations of a Cosmic Soul

~Madeline Miller, Galatea

~Premee Mohamed, The Butcher of the Forest

~Rona Munro, The James Plays 

~Ryu Murakami, In the Miso Soup

~Katherine Nappington, Medieval Cats: Claws, Paws, and Kitties of Yore

~Natasha Ngan, Girls of Storm and Shadow 

~Natasha Ngan, Girls of Fate and Fury

~Audrey Niffeneger, Ghostly 

~Garth Nix, Frogkisser! 

~Shelley Noble, The Sisters of Book Row

~Anna North, Bog Queen 

~Naomi Novik, Crucible of Gold 

~Molly O'Neill, Nightshade & Oak 

~Margaret Owen, Little Thieves 

~Christopher Paolini, Murtagh 

~Anthony Parr (editor), Three Renaissance Travel Plays

~Cynthia Pelayo (editor), Something Followed me Home

~Natasha Pulley, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street 

~Déjà Rae, Ebb & Flow 

~Janina Ramirez, Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It

~Pierre Riché, Daily Life in the World of Charlemagne 

~Caroline Roberts & Angus Hyland, The Book of the Raven: Corvids in Art & Legend 

~Caskey Russell, The Door on the Sea 

~Morgan Ryan, A Resistance of Witches

~Brandon Sanderson, Shadows of Self 

 ~Brandon Sanderson, Skyward

 ~Brandon Sanderson, Starsight

 ~Brandon Sanderson, Cytonic

 ~Brandon Sanderson, Defiant

 ~V. E. Schwab, Gallant

~V. E. Schwab, A Gathering of Shadows 

~Natasha Siegel, As Many Souls As Stars 

~Sirius (publisher), Victorian Ghost Stories 

~A. G. Slatter, A Forest Darkly 

~Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, The Trickster and the Troll

~K. L. Speer, Bones

~K. L. Speer, Fangs 

~Laura Steven, Our Infinite Fates 

~Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven Boys

~Maggie Stiefvater, The Dream Thieves

~Maggie Stiefvater, Blue Lily, Lily Blue

~Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven King

~Georgia Summers, The Bookshop Below 

~Algernon Charles Swinburne, The Works of Algernon Charles Swinburne

~Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes 

 ~Sabaa Tahir, A Torch Against the Night

 ~Sabaa Tahir, A Reaper at the Gates

 ~Sabaa Tahir, A Sky Beyond the Storm

~Beau Taplin, Here at Dawn 

~J. Ann Thomas, The Spirit Collection of Thorne Hall 

~James Trapp (editor), Chinese Wisdom 

~Jamie Waggoner, Hades: Myth, Magic & Modern Devotion 

~Barbara G. Walker, Feminist Fairy Tales 

~Sarah Waters, Affinity 

~Sarah Waters, Fingersmith 

~Stephanie Woodfield, Priestess of the Morgan: Prayers, Rituals & Devotional Work to the Great Queen

~William Butler Yeats, Selected Poems and Three Plays 

~Jihyun Yun, And The River Drags Her Down 

 

 

I was sitting with a friend of mine, we were clothed in grief. We had lost somebody that we hadn't got to meet. She turned to me and whispered, "you know, it'll be alright. The funny thing with living's no one makes it out alive." You know, I've heard a story that somebody found a cure, I can see a future where we don't die anymore. Fallen seeds to bury with new branches to unfurl. So in the meantime, I think I'll keep on living in the world. There's a kind of hope in singing all the songs that make us cry, And it'll be OK if we don't make it out alive

Heyo! Missing me much? It's been an entire moon cycle, non? Last night/early morning I had sooo many words tumbling about inside me that I wanted to share all at once, like a dam breaking, and I was so very tired that I couldn't figure out how to write it all out organize it and fell asleep instead. 

Isn't the moon lovely this Hunter's full moon in Taurus?! This is from outside the Stoughton Opera House when it was waxing gibbous nearly full on Sat night through the clouds by the clock tower while walking over to the Opera House for the Arcadian Wild show

Lighting was awful for a phone shot because of the street lights being so bright all the way along, but it was so gorgeous with the clouds on Saturday night!

I was really excited and happy to see Arcadian Wild again on Sat night!! I hadn't seen them since last autumn, last time they toured through the area. They have gorgeous harmonies and instrumentation (acoustic guitar, mandolin, fiddle, upright bass) and they have beautiful intelligent philosophical lyrics in their songwriting. So what's not to love? I was asked how long I've been a fan of Arcadian Wild by a random guy who came over started chatting with me during the pre show free live music in the lounge before the actual seated concert with opener (random enough I don't even know/remember his name, he was just another random chatting me up though he was cute and blonde and taller than me in my heels I had on that day.) And I told him, "O I'm bad with time. Um, a little while now, but not since their start, and not as long as I've been a fan of other bands." And then we were discussing drive ably close shows and realized it had been longer than I gave myself credit for and we had been at some of the same shows in the Milwaukee area. The actual answer is a little more complicated in that i discovered their music in 2018 or 2019 on a Pandora playlist built around Nickel Creek music that I was listening to while gardening at my sister's family's house out in Seattle area. So whenever in that time frame I was looking for new music while out there gardening in the Spring. So I think Spring of 2019?... But then, I didn't see them live right away because they didn't tour near me between my first hearing them and covid shutting down all touring for awhile. So it was only within the last several years that I added them to my "bands to catch their live shows any time they are driveably close" list even though it's been at least 7 years now I've been a fan of their songs.

I did pickup their new album at the show, called Make it Out Alive. (New Arcadian Wild album out now AND the new Bailen album AND Skerryvore new album comes out next week AND new Coronas album is coming out soon with them dropping singles!! I'm very excited for new music from so many of my favorites!!)  It's a beautiful album. The title comes from a line from the song named the same and which they put the line on a tee, "The funny thing about life's no one makes it out alive" It's a cute shirt 

 

 

Yeah I know, I can look VERY different moment to moment, some people who have known me since I was little don't recognize me at all depending on which past life I'm closest tied to or when I cut my hair or grow it back out or if it's more curly vs more straight. Probably doesn't help any that my eyes are constantly changing color (typically some shade of green, grey, blue, silver, aquamarine with a hold heterochromia ring at the center; and my eyes flash purple when I get angry, I've only seen it a handful of times in the mirror but everyone has always commented on it when they see m ger angry) and my hair grows in different colors with different amount sof gold and copper stranding through the auburn on about a 7 year cycle -- both making my appearance rather unpredictable changeable even beyond just how fey I am and how much my face can shift moment to moment, lol. It's always interesting to me who recognizes me based on my soul light energy (they can find me anywhere any time no matter what I look like or how big the crowd or how much time has passed) versus those who can't find me or recognize me depending on whether I'm wearing my glasses or contacts or my haircut or just tricks of the light or which past life I'm wearing closest on me.

Also, yeah, my hair has grown out pretty significantly since end of last May when I cut it at the nape of my neck with my kitchen scissors to bury the braid with Spock when he died. (I also buried a braid with Audrey when she passed. I will generally bob my hair in mourning when loved ones pass to mark my mourning in a visible tangible way, but it is only with my beloved fur babies that I can bury my braid, representing the years we spent together, and put it in the grave alongside them.  It's illegal with fellow humans, but not for fur babies. I know that with the curls, it just looks like it's a bit longer than collarbone length, but when you brush or pull it out straight, it's actually past my boobs and back to halfway down my back before the curls spring back up (after chopping it off at the nape of my neck so short it couldn't stay in a ponytail right after I cut it off less than a year and a half ago.)

How fast my hair grows is why even though my hair looks super cute short or with bangs (omg but NOBODY recognizes me with bangs unless they find me by my energy not my physical or they e only ever known me in times I have bangs -- it always makes me feel very Clark Kent, lol) But I ain't got time or money to get my hair trimmed and the layers fixed every week to week and a half.... At least when it's long curls it's not super obvious when it's overdue for a trim to fix up the layers. My hair typically grows anywhere from 2-8" per month (usually in the 4-6" per month range) depending on quite a lot of factors (like what I ate and how much time I spent in the sun and where in its 7 year growth cycle I am) and that's just not feasible for maintenance on a short haircut or bangs. Ain't nobody got time or money for that no matter how cute a pixie cut looks on me.

Tomorrow (today now) Mikaela is going to come over in the morning and then we are going to go to the zoo visit all the animals and bring photos to put on the Dio de los muertos ofrenda the zoo has put up for the animals who have passed in honor of Pelo (our male lion who died in the last few months.) They are inviting community members to bring pictures of zoo animals who have passed and beloved pets who have passed to help build the ofrenda throughout this week and the start of next that they are putting up in the ape house.  I will probably bring Mikaela along with me so I can stop by the library to do my early in person voting on the way to the zoo to bring pictures for the ofrenda and to visit our zoo animals.

And then on Weds my aunts arrive from Charlottesville in the evening. (4 or 4:30?) I'm going to go pick them up at the airport then either bring them to the house to unload bags or bring them with me back to the office (where my parents and the dogs will be) until we go out for combined birthdays dinner at Nonno's. I think this means I will miss Keith's livesttream (he switched from live streaming Sundays to live streaming Weds because he kept having gigs on Sundays) but it's alright if I do because he uses restream to share it across multiple platforms and while he doesn't keep it on his insta/fb, he chooses to keep it up on his youtube so I often watch it late if I miss it. And anyway, getting to see my aunts in person when I see them maybe once a year is much more important to me than anybody's livestream no matter how good a friend they are, lol. We have Aunt Kath for the whole visit but only have Aunt Geeta Weds night, Sat night, and Sun morning but then she will be downtown for the South East Asian Conference on campus for Thurs/Fri/most of Sat. I'm excited to see them get to spend time with them! Especially since most of the time I have no idea if they are in Charlottesville, Edinburgh Scotland, Delhi India, or somewhere in Sri Lanka. (They used to live in Boston, Aunt Kath was a professor at Harvard and Aunt Geeta a professor at Wellesley, but then Aunt Kath got the opportunity to head a department at the university in Charlottesville and there was an opening for Aunt Geeta to teach there so they moved. I really REALLY miss having a place to stay and reasons to visit Boston -- I'm terribly fond of that area and right now I have some friends in Massachusetts, especially Salem area, but none who I'm super close to would be a reason for me to go visit or expect I might stay with them while there.) My rule with the people I love who live far from me is that when I DO get to spend time with them, no matter how short or long it is, I focus all my time and energy on being in the moments we get to share while I have them because who knows how long it will be until the next opportunity I have to see them?

Anyway, that's probably it for now, I've forgotten all the things swirling together so fast as the full moon moved into Gemini before I went to sleep. if I remember and can untangle the threads still want to share them, then I will. If not, Happy Samhain and the various days of the dead festivals while the veil is thin and your ancestors want to hear from you on the other side.

O and before I forget, here are the most recent astro poets horoscopes again.

Astro Poets horoscopes:

"Week of 10/18 in Libra: Make use of every last piece. Because there is nothing that can’t be made use of. There is nothing that shouldn’t be that. Make use of everything. Dream again."

"Week of 10/18 in Pisces: Green stars. Green starts to see. What have you seen? An opening? Go in there." 

 "Week of 10/25 in Libra: Something pink and with yellow lines. And a heart as big as anything. It saw into what love was. Sinking into the best part. Knowing the light that sings."

"Week of 10/25 in Pisces: Feeling as it was. You held it into your own opening of light. Two single things. That went in many directions. That found themselves in flight."

 [Post Title: lyrics to the Arcadian Wild song Make It Out Alive . It's a beautiful song always and it was so heartbreakingly gorgeous live on Sat has been in my head a lot these recent days since the live set, but also as we move across the thinning veil bridge from spooky season into the time to honor our dead loved ones it suits the peace in letting go gracefully of what you can't hold onto while cherishing the beautiful moments you do get to keep during your time in your current body.]

What if I didn’t get the chance to know, All the lovely things about you that you don’t put on show? Well my heart it overflows. And I’m just glad that I get to, Get to end the day with you.

Ok. Right. So. Um. I was not entirely honest when I said my desire to book shop was chilling. Mostly I was lying to myself and thus lying here. I was WANTING to believe that my desire for the acquisition of books was calming down. But. Also. The reality of my truth is that after lunch I definitely decided that I could be trusted to visit the east side Half Price Books (which tends to have a very different stock than the west side location) all by myself without any chaperone -- and that it would be fine because I've been buying so many books I couldn't possibly find that many and I'd just eaten so it's not like I'd be shopping while hungry when you are most likely to grab impulse items you don't even actually want. 

Right. Yeah. After taking this picture. I added 3 or 4 more books and I ended up only removing 2 in my sit down culling through my haul before buying.... 

 

 Hey, the sales clerk was able to fit alllll of them inside my one canvas tote bag (of many currently in my trunk in case of "seemed like a good idea at the time" bookstore visits that are acquired at book stores and book sturdy) I brought in with me. So I mean, maybe the mistake I made was telling myself it would be "only" a one bag book shopping trip -- it's only ever a one bag trip if I preemptively bring in two bags.... And I HAD two large ones in my hand then I put one back certain the one large banned books tote would suffice. I was impressed she fit them all in there AND that the bag did NOT break on me carrying it out.... (All the paper bags they had were torn from the people who had brought buy orders in

In my defense, a LOT of them were actually found in the clearance section meaning they were marked down to $2 or $3 (including several of the books of Amanda Lovelace poems -- I've actually got a lot of them used this month already!!)

But also. yeah. I'm fucking incorrigible. I know. I like what I like and I know what I like and as long as the isness of the thing(s) I love hasn't changed, my love/desire doesn't shift.  Look. The only rule for my self control is that I can resist temptation as long as I don't allow the temptation to cross my path. I don't miss candy and junk food and social media doom scrolling as long as I don't have it at home around me. But as soon as I have bought it? Self control goes out the window and I will binge mindlessly consume until it's gone or bare minimum put away out of sight to tempt me. I can give up just about anything and anyone so long as I make it not exist to me. But the moment I have it right in front of me? Look, then my self control is only as good as my genuine disinterest in whatever it is. If I don't let me go to bookstores or browse online catalogue then I don't binge on book buying sprees. The moment the thing I desire (books) are right in front of me and nobody to limit how much of it I have in my life but myself (and the fact I make me carry all my own books to limit how many I can stack up in a given span of time.) 

 It also means that if you choose to be removed out of existence to me, my type of ADHD time blindness renders you completely out of sight out of mind unless you reach out to me or something reminds me of you. Like, I will never wish anyone ill, always wish them the happiness they seek in a vague sort of way presuming they know it better than me and are pursuing whatever that means for them to the utmost and building their life of that journey even if I'm not part of it don't see it and it doesn't touch my life.... And also if I consciously choose to accept that you don't exist to me and remove the ways/things to remind me of you, then you're like the bags of Halloween candy that don't even tempt me so long as I don't set foot into the places where the temptation of them is directly in front of me. If you want to change the dynamic, you have to make you exist to me again do something that puts the desire/temptation/missing you directly in front of me for me to even consider letting you back in. if you choose to not exist to me or I choose for you to not exist to me or time just passes without us making plans reaching out, it can be years, even literal decades, of you not seeing me or hearing from me. If you miss me, just put yourself directly in front of me and it will solve itself because I can resist any temptation so long as it doesn't exist to me, I can resist absolutely nothing I love and desire and makes me happy when it's right in front of me.

 And that applies to more than just books, lol.

 ALSO!!!! The Coronas have two new songs out today from their upcoming album!!! My Biggest Nightmare sounds like their typical very fun to dance to rock sound built around Connor's driving drums and Knoxy's bass lines and Danny's gorgeous voice resonating power through those lyric hooks. Also, I love the lyrics of it, especially the lines in it when he talks about being called a witch by a person who loves the narrator and precogging/dreaming ahead of time what is going to happen. I've listened to it many times and it will be great in a set in the mix with their other songs (which Danny once self deprecatingly told me all sound the same when we were hanging out with beers after a show.) But I ADORE the video for End The Day With You it is sooooo beautiful (and sad) and I love it so very much!! I just want to give Danny the biggest smile and hug and tell him what a great job he and Knoxy and Connor did with it!!! I mean,  he's in Ireland right now and all so I can't, but that's still how I feel about the song and the video. (He's been playing solo acoustic bits of this song on his socials teasing it the last week or so ahead of the release proper.) The Coronas have been together as a band for 20 years now, and they were school friends even before that, and I've been a huge fan of theirs for 19 of those years, though it took longer to meet in person become genuine friends because they didn't tour the states much early on since they were popular their side of the pond not this side, ever since I became absolutely OBSESSED with Heroes or Ghosts back in uni and literally all I could get of their music stateside was four songs EP and two of the songs were Heroes or Ghosts (the version in English and the version in Irish language.) I always get the biggest grins and hugs from Danny and Knoxy whenever I get to see them (Conor is a rather reserved human but wicked funny one liners) even tiny little club gigs here in the States which is nothing like what they mostly play selling out stadiums in Ireland and UK and EU. Anyway, it's a really beautiful little love song and the video they made for it is a heart string pulling tear jerker of beautiful story telling to go with the song. Also, I can tell already that piano melody from End the Day With You is going to be wandering in my head a lot now I've heard it enough times for it to stick in my head and heart. 

 O and....I "forgot" to mention. On the subject of my ridiculousness of books... THIS is the book haul that was delivered today from my Storiarts order and the parts of my Target buy 2 get 1 free sale book orders that arrived in TODAY. 

 

 

It's...it's still smaller and fewer titles than my Half Price Books haul... I think... Those are in the trunk and will have to wait till I get home to get in a picture lol. (I haven't yet decided if I intend to carry all the books upstairs on my little shoulders in one go up the two flights of stairs from the basement garage or if I want to make two trips because books are heavy....And there's more of the rest of the Target order expected to come in tomorrow and maybe the bookshop.org order.... Actually, I might be able to get a stack taller than me of them all that came into my possession across two days like Megan from sell Sword Arts book crawl haul pic/video... (this is my new "see I have some self restraint, it could be worse" defense. You should look up Book Girlfriend Megan on socials if you want to know the picture I'm referring to, lol. Also, check out Sell Sword Arts, I adore David and Clark and have for many many years since before Megan joined the team though she's a FANTASTIC addition to them -- they are my sort of nerdy, lol.

 Ooh! Maybe, to get back to two month book lists instead of three, I should just give October it's own books list given the lengthy amount of books acquired and then start just a November/December one. I will consider that. It might be the best way. because this is utterly ludicrous the amoutn of books I have let me buy these last 3 weeks but even just this last week and a half.....

 Also, my first ever "bookstore acquired tote bag" casualty has arrived. And it isn't even one I put to heavy usage or over stuff -- it's that blue one from Lake City Books from when they first opened in their old location...

 

 

Not sure how reparable it is since it's the structural support seam that's ripping out.  But I can try before I decide to retire it, lol. I'll ask Denis about it tomorrow when he and Crissy come over for cocktails. 

AND!! Last night Maddie and I were chatting book reccs because she was laughing at me wondering how I can possibly find so many books I want to read AND wondering how I can possibly store them all in my condo AND to help her out of a reading slump. And I told her about whiskey book club as an idea and we both have copies of Katabasis already and Crissy has been wanting to pick that one up anyway. So once we're post spooky season in the drab waning of the light before snow bright, the perfect dark academia time, we're going to whiskey book club it! (well, Alana is going to pair a gin with it as she is allergic to whiskey.)  I'm very excited to have bookish plans and to actually make our fantasy whiskey book club idea (basically, you pair a whiskey/scotch with a book, then you all sip that chosen whiskey to pair the flavors/smells of it while reading the book and then we will drink more of it discuss the whiskey and the book and how they complemented each other) into a reality! We also have a duology Crissy and I have been wanting to read this way (paired with a western Scotch for the first book and an eastern Scotch for the second book) planned for June/July since that is when it will be seasonally right.

Anyway. It's late and I should collect my dog and my books pack up to head home for some sleep and to spend time with my Griffin, cuddle him while I read and drink tea. Because while I don't have SVD til 1 tomorrow, I will be needing to drop the dog off by noon to stop at the city clerk's office pick up the courier bag for SVD then head to the facility be there to start setup by 1.

O and here's two most recent for Libra and Pisces, before I forget and they all just build up again. Not sure I really get the ones from this week tbh.

  

Astro Poets Horoscopes:

"Week of 10/4 in Libra: Some moons are blue. This one is so bright. Pink and green. Upon the steps of in-between the certain course. The now spell."

"Week of 10/4 in Pisces: Nothing this part of everything. Yellow dream. The way it all began again. So let it. So be it." 

"Week of 10/11 in Libra: Every last bit was there. The yellow marigold sunset while finding a part that could be. Pink and orange are the nice part. Rolling forth with it. Seeing it all happen in spite of everything."

"Week of 10/11 in Pisces: The way it moves. It does not move you. Instead you ate a pear. You sang in yellow. You remained." 

   [Post Title: lyrics The Coronas new song End the Day With You. Which only premiered 10 hours ago already has over 1,300 views on Youtube alone. I'm guilty of listening/watching it on repeat quite a bit tonight while working.]

 Good news! My need to buy more and more books for my collection has finally calmed its shit. (kinda. maybe. mostly. I think.)  Bad news, it took a LOT of book buying for me to get there.... A lot of books....Like, it's fucking ridiculous, even for me amount of books I bought over the last 3 weeks.... At least I've already read over 3,000 pgs since Oct started and it's only been like a week and a half... So I AM reading my books not just tsundoku-ing them.... but also, so many books... and the ones from Target's sale on books haven't arrived yet, they've split them up into a LOT of separate shipments so with that and the Storiarts sale and the bookshop.org order (There were several Brom books I wanted though Lost Gods was the one I went looking for there) so I've got a ridiculous amount of packages/books coming into work next week....Like. So far, my ongoing draft for my book list for October/November/December that I log my new acquisitions in as I have them at home own them has over 73 books in hand already in that book list and I'm waiting on 40 more to come in the mail between target order, bookshop.org and the 3 books I threw onto my spooky sale order from storiarts to get some new fingerless glovelets to replace my Poe ones that are well loved an add to my spooky literary fingerless gloves collection lol.

I mean, it's not gone gone because I will always gladly book shop if an opportunity arises and am debating going to the East side Half Price Books on Tues after lunch plans at Great Dane after my morning SVD shift to "reward' me for my patience helping old folks and disabled and stroke recovery people in care facilities who can't drive cast their votes, but it's not as driving urgent feeling inside me like it was.  Maybe I bought the book that i was needing to find. Or maybe I hit the surfeit of book shopping in a given span of time. But also, I'm never going to REALLY be done buying books, even if I had a terrible diagnosis I'd still be trying to cram in as many more stories and knowledge into me as I could... Like, if you want me to stay within a budget, you keep me out of all bookstores or anywhere might sell books or book shopping online find ways to help me focus on reading what I already own.... Because when it comes to book buying, I'd rather have the books and survive on beans and rice and whatever family/friends gift me to help them eat before it goes bad than not own the books. Like I will literally choose to poverty level starve myself to have books and make my budget stretch rather than choose not to have my books... I wouldn't do that to anyone else, especially any dependent or anyone I loved, but I will absolutely make that choice for my own self.

 Guess there's nothing to be done about it now but for me to hermit and spend some quality time with myself and my fur babies and my books and whatever music is making my heart sing and many many cups of tea. (O darn. If I'm not careful, might have to lay a fire in the hearth.... Maybe cook something delicious... Maybe open a bottle of wine or pour myself some whiskey. Life is so terribly hard when you've got stacks of books that won't read themselves.)

 Luckily, hermitting is definitely in my future!

Not much time for being a hermit this week though, I have SVD assignments every day this week and then at the weekend I have tickets for a Madison Forward FC match (League One soccer, named for the statue on top of our state Capitol and our state's motto and also locally called the Mingos or Flamingos since their logo is a stylized flamingo based on a famous senior prank covering Bascom Hill with plastic flamingos which is still repeated annually on a certain Spring Day -- also their team colors are hot pink and blue) and then Sunday is the first symphony of this season. The week after that though, I've only got a condo association meeting during the week and then tickets to see Arcadian Wild on the 24th. The week after that my aunts are in town Weds-Sat (across Samhain this year leave right before Aunt Kath's birthday on Day of the Dead, tho I think we only have Aunt Geeta for a full day on Halloween proper while she's mostly at SEAC.)  And then first week of November, I am working the polls as an election official 6am til close on the Tues, then on Thurs APT tickets to go see the Witch (their late season show) and then on the 8th will be symphony again. Also, I need to schedule some when at the end of the month/early next month vet visits and vaccinations. Also need to schedule soon for me at optometrist so I can order more contacts which I can't do until I get my prescription checked. AND forecast has lots of rain on Thurs then Fri night into Sat morning down to a freeze watch and Sat night into Sun a frost watch though today through Mon was highs in the mid 80s (record breaking for Madison) so I will have to figure out which plants to bring in permanently and do it though I might just do it temporarily for some put them back out on Sun since next week looks warm enough again to let them try to finish their season outside. We will see what I decide....

 I pretty desperately need to figure out buying Christmas gifts for my sister's family since they are stealing me out west again in Dec.

 O and more good news!!! There's no way to be certain certain at this point (ultra sounds don't work on polar bears due to their thick fat layer) BUT Nora has put on over 237lbs between March and September and is denning behavior already. The early days of polar bear cubs are hard AND first time polar bear moms have a higher miscarriage rate AND delayed implantation means they can wait if they choose -- but IF she's pregnant now, the expectation is baby polar bear(s) at our zoo in January maybe!!! No timeline for when they'd be on view for visitors, there's still too many ifs involved before we get there, but it's VERY exciting the signs pointing at Nora potentially being pregnant!

 I'm really hoping we have polar bear cub(s) in town to go visit next year in the late Winter early Spring!!! But we will find out.

I don't have anything else to say right now, I'm actually pretty tired heading to bed soon methinks. 

July/August/September Book List

 APT started up again for the summer and our first tickets of the season were in early July (still during World Cup and curiously both on France match days.) I decided to just suck it up and bought myself copies of all the plays the very first time we went and be done with it. This is why there are so very many new play script acquisition AND what I read so many of them right away. Starting out the season, the only plays I didn't have tickets with Crissy (if not a significantly larger group) were for Casey & Diana and Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea, both of which we didn't know and decided I would read the scripts ahead and if they seemed really good we hoped to pick up rush 50% off or just accept we would not be seeing this year.

Also. I was going to go back to the two months at a time books post schedule, especially since this got long, and then I just forgot and hadn't done it and kept adding books. Also, I let myself go book shopping Labor Day weekend because Half Price Books had an extra 20% off sale. I'd say I'm sorry, but also, I'm not actually. So I won't bother saying it. Especially since I also went shopping at bookshop.org, Arcadia, Ink & Ivy, and Half Price Books again later in September... And I had to stop myself from the further book shopping I was chomping at the bit to get to by telling myself, "No more book shopping until after your birthday girly!" but I DID start organizing my books shopping desires to figure out what I thought I could get cheapest at different places.... Again. Sorry not sorry. 

 

Books Read:

~Rebecca Thorne, A Pirate's Life for Tea (370 pgs) [this one dragged a bit more than the first one for me and I got distracted reading it kept setting it aside. Or it's because I was bored of all my phone games so found a new one to install called Meowdoku and I find it INCREDIBLY addicting.... It's like a freeform sudoku but with cats and colored sections instead of numbers, but the same idea. No two cats in the same row, columns, touching, or within the same color section. I find it highly addicting, even more so than traditional sudoku which I do in nightmare mode.]

~Rebecca Thorne, Tea You At the Altar (326 pgs)

~Rebecca Thorne, Alchemy and a Cup of Tea (310 pgs)

~Edited by Peter Corbin & Douglas Sedge, Three Jacobean Witchcraft Plays: Sophonisba, The Witch, The Witch of Edmonton (259 pgs)

~Paolo Bacugalupi & Tobias A. Buckell, The Tangled Lands (297 pgs)

~Beatrix Potter, The Complete Tales (400 pgs) 

~Nick Green, Casey and Diana (147 pgs) [this is one of two plays at APT, both in Touchstone, that we didn't purchase tickets ahead of the season. I bought the scripts for these plays when I picked up all the others from the season and figured if they seemed phenomenal we could find a way to make them happen if they went on rush or didn't all sell out. This is an incredibly beautiful poignant play that is a snapshot of a harrowing time for many that occurred before I was really old enough to understand it. A child growing up through that era didn't understand the mortality and fear of the disease's death sentence and it is only as an adult I can understand the retrospect of the stories told by those who survived and directly witnessed what the AIDs pandemic was like before the modern medicine advances in recent decades. At the time I had read the play, we hadn't yet gone to see it, but it was absolutely fantastic to see live with this production! You know you have something special when three of your five fellow actors/actresses are still various degrees of crying on your next to closing night after months of the show running!]

~Malinda Lo, A Scatter of Light (324 pgs) 

~Nathan Alan Davis, Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea (76 pgs) [this is the script for the other play we did not buy tickets to ahead of the season. It was fine, but a little weird and the pacing was off. Not sure this is one we really need to go see.]

~Ben Sidran, There Was a Fire: Jews, Music, And The American Dream (372 pgs)

~Lord Alfred Tennyson, Tennyson's Poetry [Norton Critical Edition] (703 pgs) [I love Tennyson poems; this was my poetic reward to myself after finishing the 17th century book of poems, lol. The only thing is, lots of Tennyson's poems are very long, so I didn't read them as mental cleanse first sitting down with my tea to go from doing mode to reading mode but as mental cleanse between books/series/worlds so I took longer to read through it all than with some other poets]

~ Jean Menzies (ed.), Witches, Wizards and Sorcerers Myths and Legends (182 pgs)

~TJ Klune, The House on the Cerulean Sea (398 pgs) [I was iffy on even buying this book then picked it up either cheap or free at some point. There was something about the writing that just felt off didn't engage me no matter how well recommended it was. I don't have the sequel (or know if more are planned beyond the second book) so normally I would wait for the other(s) used then binge read a series all at once. Only, Crissy said she tried to audio book this earlier this summer because it is her niece's favorite and Crissy actually ended up DNF at 70% of the way through the audiobook because she just didn't care about it. So I figured I would try it and decide if I even want to keep it or pick up the others or what. I ended up enjoying it enough to order the sequel from bookshop.org so I could read it as well, lol. But then I had to wait for it to arrive so I focused on finishing my current purse book(s) until it arrived]

 ~Haruki Murakami, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage (314 pgs) 

~T J Klune, Somewhere Beyond the Sea (405 pgs)

~Thornton Wilder, The Matchmaker (121 pgs)

~Rumi (Coleman Barks translator), Rumi: The Book of Love (206 pgs}

~Sarah Perry, Melmoth (271 pgs)

~Anton Chekhov (adapted by Nate Burger), Uncle Vanya (112 pgs)

~Inazo Nitobe, Bushido (145 pgs) [this is the unillustrated version I already had that I decided to read as a nice sized purse book for smaller purses]

~Galway Kinnell, Strong Is Your Hold (69 pgs)

~Leigh Bardugo, The Familiar (385 pgs)

~Joydeep Roy-Bharracharya, The Storyteller of Marrakesh (341 pgs)

~William Shakespeare, As You Like It (143 pgs)

~Alice Hoffman, Magic Lessons (396 pgs) [I had the intention of reading/rereading all four of the Practical Magic books ahead of seeing the new movie. But I didn't start it early enough and so while I finished the first (chronological to the narratives, not order she wrote them in) which I hadn't read before, I'm still only in the second one which is the other prequel to Practical magic and thus to the last book that the new movie is based upon. Will I finish (re)reading them before I go see the movie? On verra.  I really loved Magic Lessons even though there were parts of it that were hard reading but I liked the way that the love and brightness shone through all the dark parts. I did cry at the cruelty of man over the ways the familiars had their fidelity rewarded... But, that said, I cry every time an animal dies or is mistreated in film or book form, especially when the animal did nothing to deserve what happened to them. I don't cry easily and i rarely cry in front of people but animals dying especially in cruel ways are the one thing that can always make me sob, even in a "feel good" movie like Marley and Me.  If I need a cathartic cry but can't let me cry over what is actually grieving my heart I definitely choose to watch animal movies to force me to cry.]

~Kay Chronister, The Bog Wife (317 pgs)  

Books Acquired:

~Tomi Adeyami, Children of Anguish and Anarchy

~Anthony Aveni, Star Stories

~Josiah Bancroft, The Hexologists

~Muriel Barbery, L'élégance du hérisson [I have read this in English and recommended it to many people who love magical realism as a genre, but this is the first I have found it en français]

~Kelly Barnhill, When Women Were Dragons

~Kendare Blake, Queens of Fennbirn

~Kendare Blake, Three Dark Crowns

~Kendare Blake, One Dark Throne

~Kendare Blake, Two Dark Reigns

~Jillian Boehme, Stormrise

~Brom, Slewfoot: a tale of bewitchery

~Gareth Brown, The Book of Doors

~Anna Burns, Milkman

~Octavia E. Butler, Survivor

~Kiri Callaghan, The Hearth Witch's Guide to Magic & Murder

~Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Avatar

~Anne Carson, Men in the Off Hours

~S. A. Chakraborty, Kingdom of Copper

~S. A. Chakraborty, The Empire of Gold

~S. A. Chakraborty, The River of Silver

~Robert Chandler (editor), Russian Magic Tales from Pushkin to Platonov

~Anton Chekhov (adapted by Nate Burger), Uncle Vanya 

~Cinda Williams Chima, The Heir Chronicles 5: The Sorcerer Heir

~Cinda Williams Chima, Seven Realms 1: The Demon King

~Cinda Williams Chima, Seven Realms 2: The Exiled Queen

~Cinda Williams Chima, Seven Realms 3: The Gray Wolf Throne

~Cinda Williams Chima, Seven Realms 4: The Crimson Crown 

~Cassandra Clare, Better In Black: Ten Stories of Shadow Hunter Romance

~Mary Clarke, Shakespeare at the Old Vic

~Beverly Clearly, Runaway Ralph [my niece found this in a little library was excited because she had read the Ramona books, but then she wanted me to keep it. I haven't read this since I was in like the first grade. Surprisingly, I actually don't own any Beverly Clearly, I read too much too fast and reading level surpassed it before anyone introduced me to her writing]

~Melanie Clegg, Japanese Myths Illustrated

~Suzanne Collins, Sunrise on the Reaping

~Padraic Colum, An Anthology of Irish Verse

~Erin A. Craig, The House of Salt and Sorrows

~Nathan Alan Davis, Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea 

~Charles De Lint, The Riddle of the Wren

~Vincent Delecroix (translated by Helen Stevenson), Small Boat

~Miriam Delicado, Blue Star Fulfilling Prophecy [this is a very New Age aliens related "memoir" I found in a free little library. Looks like an absolute trip of a book -- I plan to read it in Aquarius season lol. I will likely not keep it, but may pass it along to my dad and/or Aunt Linda if it seems like they might want it. Or maybe Jeannine. On verra. After I read it. In Aquarius season lol]

~Tracy Deonn, Legendborn

~Robin DiAngelo, White Fragility 

~Philip K. Dickinson, Galactic Pot-Healer

~Emily Dickinson, The Poetry of Emily Dickinson [I have other copies of Emily Dickinson poems, one very thick tome of all her poem and several smaller more portable pretty editions. This was a $5 pretty edition I didn't have and different poems from my other selected poem editions]

~Sara Beth Durst, The Enchanted Greenhouse

~Sara Beth Durst, The Faraway Inn

~Fang Fang, Wuhan Diary [also a free little library find. It's still close enough to the event we are still living through the shockwaves of the pandemic shutdown. But there will come a time we aren't so close in time and memory will grow fallible and frankly, I don't trust the ai infiltrated in everything trained on every increasing slop models before we even consider outright censorship concerns in the future. So I want the text of the early unfolding COVID era blog of someone living at ground zero. It matters and it's important not to forget how many died early on before the vaccines and how bad it initially was and what the world was like in that time period. It was only six or so years ago now, but some day that will be 26 or 60 or 160 and the truth should be held onto for the day the memories of those who lived it start to fade, same as we save memoirs and diaries of more distant pasta that were once someone's present.]

~Virginia Feito, Victorian Psycho

~Yan Ge, Strange Beasts of China

~S. T. Gibson, An Education in Malice

~Nikita Gill, Great Goddesses

~Nikita Gill, Hekate: The Witch

~Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

~Nick Green, Casey and Diana 

~The Green Haven Press Literary Companion to British Literature, William Shakespeare: The Histories

~Robert Gresh, The Skean: The Distinctive Fighting Knife of Gaelic Ireland: 1500-1700

~Jacquelyn Hagen, The Wickwire Watch

~Alix E. Harrow, Starling House

~Emily Hauser, Penelope's Bones

~Edited by Shane Hawk & Theodore C. Van Last Jr., Never Whistle At Night Part I: Back for Blood

~Katy Hays, The Cloisters

~Homer (dual language with the Loeb Library translation by A. T. Murray), The Iliad [I realized that while I studied ancient Greek and even more specifically Homeric Greek, I did not own a copy of it in the Greek just the text books for (re)learning to read Ancient Greek. So I wanted to fix that have an edition with both languages. I aspire to someday own the Loeb Library edition to match the rest of my Loeb Library dual language Greek books, but it splits Homer across multiple volumes with each volume coating $30-35. So I found the thick paperback single volume unabridged dual language so I have something at least for now.]

~Homer (Emily Wilson trans), The Iliad [I own and have read both the Lattimore and Fitzgerald translations many times as the most scholarly and poetically readable translations respectively. I've been meaning to pick up the Emily Wilson more feminist modern translations for a long while since reading some of her changes, but I kept never finding them except new hardcover. So I picked up both her translations when I found them at Lake City Books. Will probably read them simultaneously alongside reading the dual language with the most strictly accurate to the text translation from the early 1900s I just picked up for better analysis. Will not likely reread the Fitzgerald or Lattimore when I do unless I really miss the most poetic or the most scholarly best notated translations, respectively.]

~Homer (dual language with the Loeb Library translation by A. T. Murray), The Odyssey [I realized that while I studied ancient Greek and even more specifically Homeric Greek, I did not own a copy of it in the Greek just the text books for (re)learning to read Ancient Greek. So I wanted to fix that have an edition with both languages. I aspire to someday own the Loeb Library edition to match the rest of my Loeb Library dual language Greek books, but it splits Homer across multiple volumes with each volume coating $30-35. So I found the thick paperback single volume unabridged dual language so I have something at least for now.]

~Homer (Emily Wilson trans), The Odyssey [I own and have read both the Lattimore and Fitzgerald translations many times as the most scholarly and poetically readable translations respectively. I've been meaning to pick up the Emily Wilson more feminist modern translations for a long while since reading some of her changes, but I kept never finding them except new hardcover. So I picked up both her translations when I found them at Lake City Books. Will probably read them simultaneously alongside reading the dual language with the most strictly accurate to the text translation from the early 1900s I just picked up for better analysis. Will not likely reread the Fitzgerald or Lattimore when I do unless I really miss the most poetic or the most scholarly best notated translations, respectively.]

~Alex Howard, The Ghost Cat

~Henrik Ibsen, Four Plays (I realized my Ibsen plays had a gap when I went to reread An Enemy of the People (which I last read in university) and found I didn't own it. This was after Brian Mani brought up An Enemy of the People to me during a talk back for Chekhov's Uncle Vanya after I was asking about if there was anyone else writing about environmentalism that way -- if it was Chekhov or Nate's translating or something I had missed in the time period as qualitatively different and proto Aldo Léopold conservation rather than the beauty of it.  Luckily, Half Price Books had a copy with it for $3.49 so I didn't have to spend a lot on another set of Ibsen translations to bring it into my library, lol]

~Eugene Ionesco, The Bald Soprano & Other Plays 

~Jen Julian, The Winter Folk

~Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead

~TJ Klune, Somewhere Beyond the Sea

~R. F. Kuang, Katabasis

~Pascal Lacelle, Curious Tides 

~Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury [somehow, I have not owned nor have I read, any Sarah J. Maas. It was just such a huge page commitment and monetary investment and my two closest friends didn't like it told me not to bother. And yet. And yet it's become such a touchstone within fantasy that it's like never reading Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter or Dune so I feel I ought to read it regardless where my opinions land. I found 3 of them used in fantastic condition for $6 each which was a fantastic deal. I need the first and fifth of this series then the other two series (which I understand to all be inter related) and then the two as yet unpublished (which I figure I will pay for new in paperback given human nature and if you're committed enough to buy them, you're not going to dnf or get rid of them or the earlier books at this point.) I may hate them, my two best friends who love fantasy have read one or more of them may be right. But.... I want to decide for my own self about that. Not enough to read them before the next two release because I would then have to reread them all and they ARE a huge page commitment. But enough to acquire those of them used that I can and to buy full price the paperbacks of the rest once it's time for me to read them all together.]

~Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Wings and Ruin

~Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Frost and Starlight

~Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Silver Flames

~Shelby Mahurin, Serpent & Dove

~Madeline Martin, A Time of Witches

~Maddie Martinez, The Maiden and Her Monster

~Matthew McGuire (editor), Irish Poems

~Dylan Meconis, Queen of the Sea

~Gabrielle Ní Mheachair, Solitary Fairies: Life or Death [I love that she wandered her own isle collecting the stories firsthand, often as Gaeilge from people living in the Gaeltacht where they grow up learning Irish first and learn English as their second language, especially since so many folktales and fairy lore was collected in Ireland in the 1800s or early 1900s and almost all of it by Victorian men except what was passed down via Lady Wilde. It has a companion book I need to buy online because she sold out of it before I got to the Literary Corner at Irishfest to meet her. Though the ones I order likely won't be signed]

~Gabrielle Ní Mheachair, Misneach I mBeithil [she had two of a children's book series she had written entirely in Irish language and beautifully illustrated, not dual language, just Irish. This is a rare find and I very much wanted them for my collection even if the subject matter is more Christian than I typically would buy. They are about a mouse come to Bethlehem back in the day and while the first is his own misadventures falling asleep in a barn, the second is the mouse attending the birth of baby Jesus observing the whole pageantry of the legend of it. But I wanted both, not just the one, because they are a set of stories and because it is so very hard to find anything in Irish stateside, though I do have a few dual language, and my Irish is rusty but still good enough for reading grade school level, lol. And if it's not, it's a damn good excuse for me to study it again and bust out my Irish Gaelic-English dictionary to learn more vocab]

~Gabrielle Ní Mheachair, Suaimhneas sa Stábla [the second of the two children's books as Gaeilge. Bet you don't have to know much Irish to understand Stábla]

~J. M. Miro, Ordinary Monsters

~Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Signal to Noise

~Lady Morgan (Sydney Owenson), The Wild Irish Girl

~Robin Morgan, The Burning Time

~Dawn Nelson, Tree Lore

~Samantha Newman (retelling), Dragon Myths and Legends

~Inazō Nitobe, The Way of the Samurai [I already have another translation of this, but this one was a pretty hard bound with illustrations from China and Japan in it and it was only $3 at Five Below so I decided I $3 wanted another copy]

~Naomi Novik, His Majesty's Dragon

~Naomi Novik, Throne of Jade

~Naomi Novik, Black Powder War

~Liam O'Brien, The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker

~The Panchatantra

~Sarah Penner, The Amalfi Curse

~Lisa Perrin, The League of Lady Poisoners

~Tamora Pierce, Melting Stones 

~Watty Piper, The Little Engine That Could [found in a little library in fantastic condition except the cover having been bent at some point. Surprisingly, this is a childhood classic I somehow didn't own]

~Nicholas Potter (editor), William Shakespeare: Othello (Essays, Articles, Reviews)

~Jack Prelusky & Paul O. Zelinsky (illustrator), Awful Ogre Running Wild

~James Raquepau, Dàn Cycle 1: Lann Dàn - Blades of Destiny

~James Raquepau, Dàn Cycle 2: Lia Dàn - Stone of Destiny

~James Raquepau, Dàn Cycle 3: Croi Dàn - Heart of Destiny

~José Rivera (translated and adapted from a play by Pedro Calderón de la Barca), Sueño 

~Trina Robbins, Lily Renée, Escape Artist

~Ritchie Robertson, The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness 1680-1790

~Katherine Rundell, The Poisoned King

~Jennifer Saint, Atalanta

~Robert D. San Souci & Sally Wern Comport (illustrator), Brave Margaret

~Guy Sanglerat, A Student and Resistance Fighter in the French Alps During World War II

~V. E. Schwab, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

~William Shakespeare, As You Like It (Pelican Shakespeare Edition) 

~William Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona (Pelican Shakespeare edition) 

~Larry Shue, My Emperor's New Clothes (script for a children's musical found in a little library, don't yet know if it is any good)

~Jen Silverman, Witch

~Savannah Stephens, Witch Queen Rising

~Laura Steven, Every Exquisite Thing

~Serra Swift, Kill the Beast

~Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

~Adrian Tchaikovsky, Children of Time

~Adrian Tchaikovsky, Shards of Earth

~Cadwell Turnbull, We Are the Crisis

~John Updike, The Witches of Eastwick 

~Menna Van Praag, The Sisters Grimm

~Tim Wallace-Murphy & Marilyn Hopkins, Rosslyn: Guardian of the Holy Grail

~Helene Wecker, The Golem and the Jinni

~Chuck Wendigo, The Staircase in the Woods

~Thornton Wilder, The Matchmaker 

~Liz Williams, Compendium of the Occult

~Evie Woods, The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris

~Rebecca Yarros, Threshing Day

 

We are still pre retrograde shadow (Venus is nearly about to start her retrograde on the 3 and Mercury will join her -- but then both of them will end their retrograde the same day which is actually really cool and unusual) and already everything is shifting and changing from the original plans gotta roll with the punches of it, lol. 

Plans that shifted significantly from the original plans today:  

1) This morning we decided that out  monthly Histortea Book Club meeting (we are reading Washington together, three chapters a month) for tonight got cancelled/rescheduled because Debbie wasn't feeling good and Erin is still recovering from losing power with the hurricane on Big Island and apparently Crissy hasn't been sleeping well was looking forward to after work nap given we had movie plans. We haven't yet rescheduled it, but we will

2) My work meeting (which was going to make me late or possibly miss book club if it hadn't been cancelled) is also going to be rescheduled for some point in Oct since a lot of people at work have been sickor are sick or are showing the early symptoms. (So far I have no symptoms or anything, but I also don't get symptomatic covid at all even after known exposures. I mean, it's like a once in 7 year event for me to even get a cold lol. I get stomach flu easily and I get migraines, but I very rarely get sick or even have a schmutzy nose.) 

3) I am not seeing Practical Magic 2 otnight (but that means more time for me to finish my read/re-read of the books. Crissy wasn't able to nap this evening no matter how much she tried so knew she couldn't do a 9:20p movie tonight and the Gadan concert tomorrow. So we both agreed not to go tonight and she refunded the ticket (we chose tonight because on Tuesdays, movies at Point are only $6 so why pay more if you don't have to? But this was the only week Crissy's choir which meets on Tues was off.)  So I suggested since she still wants to see it that we could go over the weekend matinee or she could take off work early on Fri for our birthday (Yes my best friend since university and I are birthday twins, but born half a world apart and very different rising signs which make for very different birth charts even though all the planets are in the same signs/angles, the house placements make a huge difference. Like our Scorpio stellium (including Venus and Pluto) sits in my 8th house because mid degrees Pisces rising while hers are in her 12th house because Sag rising. Almost everything is perfectly balanced for both of us between modalities and elements BUT our rising signs tip us ever so slightly water or fire.)  Anyway, she liked my idea we should go for birthday matinee movie and margaritas and since she currently has the rewards app on her phone, she bought Fri at 3:20p tickets for Practical Magic 2 blocked herself out of her work calendar starting at 2. So now we have birthday plans instead. And while I was very cute today dressed intentionally for the plan to see Practical Magic 2, I need to do laundry this week and I can outfit repeat parts of it for Fri if I so choose.

 It's just funny is all. because yes things do tend to come in threes with me, good and bad and also just shifting into new forms. But also, we're not even into the double retrograde yet, just pre shadowing.

Also. I didn't make the neighbor do the right thing, my ethics code doesn't allow me to use my gifts to proscribe free will. I mostly work with healing and meting out karmic justice and dealing with malevolent unincarnated spirits that prey on living beings for how my gifts manifest in my wanderings.  That and trying to control the power that just constantly breathes through me from breaking out making mischief when my emotions get out of my control. Also, I ADHD fidget with the flow of time...Most people hardly notice it, but it's useful for drives to be able to flex time especially when other drivers make stupid choices or being able to spend extra time in the good bright beautiful moments (though you have to equalize it somewhere else) or to get more songs in a set (or encore) than what the clock says should have fit. But what I don't do is force anyone's choices -- free will is sacrosanct to me as it is the only thing that creates meaning to anything mortal incarnations do in their lives. I won't force someone's free will choices, I won't try to shift or change them, I won't argue with someone over their choices -- and I also won't save them from the consequences of their own choices no matter what I see down the fatelines that choice creates; though I may warn them of the consequences so they can make their choices in greatest knowledge.  So I did not MAKE him bring us our packages, I just asked him if he would please bring them to us when he found them at his door. I just planted the seeds in his head that those packages at his door are ours and I would very much appreciate if they were brought to us. He chose to do the right thing and to do it immediately because he had seen me outside so knew someone was in office even though the doors were locked and it was after hours. It was the neighbor's free will choices that are why I sent him energetic blessings and gratitude -- I just helped him to know where the packages belonged and to make sure he knew people were here after hours. 

 If you want blessings from me to shift the Universe in your favorite, make good choices to earn it karmically. If you make bad choices, I will not lift a finger or do anything to alter your fate of what you've free will chosen. The most you will get is me warning you of the ripples I see from your choice if you continue with it, but I won't force your free will choices or save you from the consequences of your choices and everything they shifted in the fate lines. And if you want me and all my wyrdness and bookishness, you have to free will choose me or I will always slip through your hands disappear on my wandering. I go where I and my gifts are needed -- but if I know that I'm chosen and wanted I'll stick around or at least come back after I finish doing what needs to be done with my gifts.

But also, I'll probably wear the tee and hat and sweater again with a different skirt on Fri. Because tell me this wasn't the right perfect choice for going to see Practical Magic 2 with my bff birthday twin (whose gifts did not awaken til spending time with me -- o yeah, that's another one of my gifts, i tend to catalyze the awakening of dormant gifts when people are around me a lot and ready for the lessons/growth the gifts will bring.) 

 

But also, isn't it just perfect for the movie?! *le sigh*  Also, though, we are moving into spooky season so my skull cardigan gets a lot more wear right now anyway. Not that I can't just embrace my inner witchy goth where skulls whenever I want, but I wear it extra often when the veils are thin at the cross quarters.  Also, these are the Practical Magic 2 special edition lip balms from Poppy & Pout that I mentioned I picked up at Ink & Ivy over the weekend.

 

 I love both of them! I may decide to go back and buy myself another pack of them before they're gone so I can have them unopened for later.

 Anyway, I didn't have anything else to say tonight other than wanting to make it clear that I didn't make the neighbor do anything. I just mentally put the thought there. And, not everyone is that receptive to thoughts. Also, I don't snoop intentionally to see what's inside a person, I only look when invited if they can't words and I project for those who can hear but I also can't help that unshielded people think and feel loudly and that does lead me to reply to thoughts as if they were spoken aloud. Not because I'm snooping, but because unshielded poeple are just very loud in their thoughts/emotions....

Allllll day long, starting just a bit before sunrise, there has been such an intense strong flow of love light down through the bond. All day. More heady and intense then it's been in several weeks. It quieted down to a quiet background steadiness in the afternoon, but then it came crashing back in later in the evening.  It's quite lovely! No idea why it's happening, but it is beautiful and makes me happy while I have it. Even if I don't understand the why of it right now. 

 

Here's another one of my accidental witchery gifts story from today about my casual uses of having  too much power running through me (I don't generally bother with rituals and spells, they're fine as a means of focusing intent for those who need them, but I personally find they're rather like being forced to use training wheels on your 20 speed bike. I have a more elemental intuitive raw will and acquired knowledge based form of witchery gifts.  That said, I've had plenty of other shamans, pagans, witches, energy worker types who tell me that most people can't channel that much raw power on a moment's notice and it doesn't work as well for most people who don't have the constant state of energetic flow and power coursing through them or such ever present spirit guides and unincarnated deities/archangels protecting me. I can't really teach my way, it's like breathing, it's just the flow in and out and through -- those who learn my way have to learn by observing and innate ability to do it once they see how it's done, I can't teach my way by book or ritual. You should see what I can do when I have need of the power or when I'm around those who are able to amplify what I do as naturally as breathing.)

 So earlier today, both Sarah and I had packages arriving at work (mine the two pre-orders from bookshop.org and hers form ebay) and we both got the email notifications at 5pm that our packages were delivered but USPS never came to pick up our mail or deliver anything. So my mum thought maybe the guy saw the lights off decided to leave it in the truck til tomorrow but I was VERY certain they had been dropped off somewhere else. In fact, I was a bit paranoid about it after my issues with DHL misdelivering my France soccer team order to te wrong address and sending me the picture of the door which I sent them my door (with the number) and they didn't know then which of the red doors at the apartment building their driver dropped it off at, the acknowledged their guilt, but said they couldn't refund or re-ship without the complaint originating from the seller (in France.)  I went to every door in that damn apartment complex and looked and knocked and talked to every one of the neighbors I encountered and went to their office management during the hours they were open to try to track down my package and never found it....  Meanwhile, FFF told me it wasn't their problem because they did send the product it was DHL's fault and I could re-order but they would do nothing to help and so I had to submit it all to my credit card company to get my refund and I never did re-order because they only ship to the states using DHL. (It was so frustrating and I will now never order anything to be delivered by DHL ever again after that fiasco and I tell EVERYONE I know about it and warn them off ever using DHL and give them the worst possible word of mouth as a result.)  

Anyway. back to today. So Sarah tried calling our local post office branch (10 minutes before they closed) and they never answered and then called the Struck Street USPS office since they were open til 7p but they said they couldn't help her with it since we were outside their zone. Meanwhile, I made the three of us cocktails (palomas with a yuzu citrus salt rim) before I went outside to water my flowers out front and saw that there was a USPS truck across the street making deliveries. So my mum walked over there and it turned out that it was a guy who often does our route but didn't have it today, said it was a fill in who had it but that he would be sure to tell his manager right away so it could get cleared up in the morning to find our packages. So she came back and while I was watering the last of my petunia planters, the bus stops and two different Latino men start walking along toward me from the bus stop, about 15-20ft apart. Now, the fact they were Latino doesn't actually matter to this story other than the Latine neighbors near my work are all very polite and nice to me because they recognize me as bruja with observing me with my plants and which ones I grow and some of the conversations I've had with the elder abuelas among them about the properties in their culture about my marigolds which are an annual flower I grow every year(several years ago I gifted one of them some cut from my box after she was upset hers died of an early frost and I learned about a death within the family and she cried thanking me.)  So I look up at them and we head nod as I finish watering the last petunias planter and then as I'm winding the hose back up on my arm to bring inside I make eye contact and suddenly have the jolt of certainty from completely illogical intuitive knowing, "You. You are the one whose door our packages were delivered to." Mind you I had no idea where they were only that they were marked delivered (somewhere) at 4:59p and it was now 5:46p. So without saying anything, I looked him in the eyes and thought at him strongly, "Our packages were misdelivered. When you get home to find them, please bring them back here." Didn't say it, just thought it strongly as I could. He gave me another head nod and then just for safety I did the same to the other man walking home a bit slower behind him, though for him I said "if" not "when" and he also gave me the second head nod after I sent my telepathic message to him. 

So then my hose was wound up and I carried it back inside put it away then went out back with the dogs (because I had felt they should come with me not be hanging out at the front door where they might bark at anyone) to water my nightshades and herbs and flowers behind the building. (I have a lot of plants, and I think I may have to make my "what to bring indoors or replant or let die" decision this weekend since Sun night and Mon night are going to get too cold for nightshades and begonias and coleus plants.)  While I'm out back with the dogs and the door slightly open, I hear the front door ding (luckily the dogs didn't hear the knocking as they were sniffing around the back area with me) and Sarah talking to someone happy right before she was leaving.  So I came in with the dogs and my mum was so excited to tell me, "Your packages are here!" And so I asked her after taking a sip of my paloma, "O? Was the fill in post officer just late marked them early?" And she goes, "No. You were right about them being delivered to the wrong address. It was actually a neighbor walked it over. A really nice polite Latino man who said he'd just found them at his door at 345 (we are 353) when he got home so made sure to bring them over right away before we left." So I told her about earlier with the two of them walking back from the bus stop and I was sure it was one of them. She laughed shook her head said, "Only you Dani. So many powerful gifts both sides of the family but this is an only you story. I figured they were still on the truck" I laughed and said, "As long as they arrived here safely is what matters, but I'm grateful he took the time to walk them back over to us since we had no idea what address they were mis-delivered to and try to find them ourselves." And then we cheersed our cocktails. We didn't know his name so I just made sure I sent out blessings and positive energy upon them and those they love in my gratitude for them being good humans and doing the right thing. Would the neighbor have brought it over anyway without me mentally asking him to? I like to think any good person would have, but I don't know. I am grateful he received my message and checked the packages at the door of his apartment building and brought them over.

 So my two books I was expecting today did arrive, just took a little extra energy and work and goodwill for their delivery. I'll let my mum and Sarah handle the phone call in the morning with the post office manager.

Also. I received my SVD (special voting deputy, where I go into permanent care facilities to help those who are residing there to cast their votes) assignments and I have one each day 10/12-10/16. I think they are all courier shifts, that's what it said when I confirmed them and the times are listed with the extra minute and C for courier, but then in modus I'm listed as just SVD not SVD Courier for 2 of them. So I sent a quick email to confirm that I should plan to courier all five days. I think it was just a modus error since the times are listed in the courier format, but better to confirm now then create unnecessary confusion that week, lol. So now that week has more going on it, at least in the daytime hours.I still don't have evening or weekend plans start of October, but I do have have tos (house sitting and not having anyone to stay with my dog if I go away too long and then the week after my svd assignments) that mean I can't really travel anywhere.

I did add it to the other post after they sent them out this morning, but rather than expect to go back to it, I'll just put it here now as well. 

Astro Poets Horoscopes:

"Week of 9/27 in Libra: Love is what remains always. You put the hats within the place they reside. Some water that goes around its opening. Curved and forgotten. And gold."

"Week of 9/27 in Pisces: You found another thing that shone in the light. Bright yellow dreams. And green things that are not remaining. If love is there, then it should be. Be within the love you are." 

 Also, Capricorn (my moon sign) has those damn confusing orange frogs that were in the Libra horoscope a few weeks back that are mentioned in it this week, lol. So I guess my moon sign Capricorn has entered the conversation for this week

 "Week of 9/27 in Capricorn: You didn’t find it out until later. And then you could see the right place. Shaking with heat. Letting into the bright parts a true emotion. Orange frogs and the distance."