Five for Friday, Edition #49

 1) My husband won a big award. I mean, technically he won two big awards, one at the university level and one at the college level, but the one at the college level was super meaningful. I was there when it was announced and he was so surprised and I was surprised at how quickly I welled up with tears. He's so good at what he does.

2) The first day of classes was Wednesday. There was a "threat to life safety" emergency issued at my campus, but we didn't know at the time was that it was not a true threat to life safety.  It was scary. Fortunately, I was not the adult in the room at the time - our associate deans started telling us what to do in our office space and I just did what I was told to do. I had a student in my office and I shut off the lights, closed and locked the door, and pulled down the blinds. It was terrifying. I mean, in the end, it was nothing, but there was a half hour or so there where I was frantically trying to find my husband. I just. I never want to go through that again.

And, honestly, the rumors going around this are astounding. Someone was acting erratically at the library and someone else thought they had a weapon. This was called in. It turns out that the maybe weapon was an umbrella. That's the end of the story. But the rumor mill is out of control. 

Now we're dealing with a flood of calls for students asking to move to online classes. Classes have started. Classes are at full capacity. This feels like a surreal nightmare. 

3) The dog was sick. Again. This time it was the living room rug. So if you come to my house and it smells like dog shit, YOU HAVE TO LET ME KNOW. We are officially nose blind to it at this point because the involvement in cleanup was real.

4) Labor Day is this weekend. I have been tasked with bringing salads. Let's be clear, I usually bring a lettuce salad, but I'm OUT ON LETTUCE RIGHT NOW. I'm going to bring green bean salad and grape salad and hope for the best. If anyone dares to call me out on the salad game, I will probably not handle it well.

I also added "mani/pedi" to the options of things to do over the weekend and a bunch of us are going to get our nails done on Saturday morning. I've already made the appointment and everything. I WILL BE THE COOL AUNT.

5) Updated on seasonal SAD: It's already bad. I'm walking Hannah in the dark 2/3 daily walks again. I am chronically tired. I am very much liable to start crying if you ask me a single even slightly controversial question. I am looking forward to Labor Day, but as soon as someone asks me how the start of the semester is going, I'm nervous I might just break down. 

I decided on my birthday in mid-August that I was going to reset. It's been a tough couple of years in the old Gimbalsh household and I was determined that things were going to turn around. But the days get shorter, there's unbloggable things happening at work, and then this week happened with the dog and the active threat to life alert and the news of the world. And it has been (counts days) seventeen days since I decided to reset and I think I'm in a worse place than I was before. 

So if all I'm writing about is books and what I ate for dinner, please give me some grace. I am trying to keep it together. 

Happy Labor Day to those who celebrate. For the rest of the world, happy weekend!

What I Read: August 2026

Listen, the reading was happening this month and it was good, but not great.

August 1: Dungeon Crawler Carl (DCC #1) by Matt Dinniman (audiobook narrated by Jeff Hays, 2020) - I relistened to this one because the local bookstore does DCC events regularly and I felt like I had forgotten half of the book. Still 4/5 stars for me. 

August 7: Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson (library ebook, 2023) - Book club pick for the month. Meh. 3/5 stars

August 8: Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View from Behind the Supermarket Register by Ann Larson (book I own, 2026)  - Should be required reading, especially for anyone who has avoided working retail jobs. 4/5 stars

August 13: The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden (library audiobook narrated by Michael Crouch, January LaVoy, author note read by the author, 2024) - Super interesting, although what I really wanted was a book about the Halifax explosion rather than WWI. 4/5 stars

August 15: Homebound by Portia Elan (library, 2026) - Strong start, but the ending left me wanting something more. 3/5 stars

August 16: Carl's Doomsday Scenario (Dungeon Crawler Carl #2) by Matt Dinniman (owned ebook, 2021) - Carl, Donut, and Mongo continue their marauding ways through the dungeon. It's fun. This floor had a circus theme if that entices anyone to read it. 4/5 stars

August 18: Strange Pictures by Uketsu (library, 2022, translated from the Japanese by Jim Rion) - Multi-part mystery you might be able to solve by looking carefully at the pictures! Very clever and fun. Here's a quote that might strike some of you as hysterical.

He felt...nostalgic, rather than nervous. Once, there had been so many blogs like this.

Ah, blogs. The concept now almost seemed quaint. (page 14)

We're all quaint! 4/5 stars

August 24: A Resistance of Witches by Morgan Ryan (library ebook, 2025) - What a delightful debut! 4/5 stars

August 30: Birding with Benefits by Sarah T. Dubb (library, 2024) - Fine. Just fine. 3/5 stars

August 31: Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman (library audiobook narrated by Steve West, 2012) - I don't know, friends. Genre mashup that I don't think I'm smart enough for. 2.5/5 stars

Total:10 books

Average star rating: 3.55/5 stars

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Did you read a 5/5 in August? What was it? I need something REALLY GOOD. (For all you recommending Whistler, I have to admit I'm 10% in to the audiobook and considering DNFing it. Does it get better? It has to get better, right?)

Between Two Fires by Christopher Beuhlman

Someone talked about Between Two Fires on Books Unbound and I got the audiobook, which is narrated by Steve West. 

Hm. Let's talk about this book and work out my feelings on the fly, shall we?

It's 1348. Lucifer and other fallen angels (?) have declared war on Heaven by starting the Black Death on Earth? There are going to be a lot of question marks in this recap. Thomas is an excommunicated knight who stumbles upon a priest and a girl named Delphine who can see angels, dream in premonitions, and whose body is occasionally overtaken by God(?). 

Sometimes I read a book and it makes me think that maybe I'm not a good reader. Maybe I don't truly understand things. This was one of those books. 

Look, this is a genre mashup. I guess I was under the impression it was historical fiction, but it really turned out to be a supernatural/horror/historical fiction combo. I was utterly befuddled by the fallen angel framing because it was whiplash to go from those scenes to ones with Thomas and Delphine trying to find something to eat and stumbling upon dead bodies in barns. 

At about two-thirds of the way through, I literally gave up trying to figure out what was going on and just rolled with it. Oh, there's a demon inhabiting the pope? Sure. There's a demon in the clouds? Fine. Delphine is really Jesus? FINE, IT IS SO. 

I mean. Whatever. Creepy book. Lots of straw hats. 2.5/5 stars

Lines of note:

Hucksters of every stripe had tried to profit from the disease, especially in the early days, before they too sickened or grew afraid. (Chapter 18)

I immediately thought of the people hoarding toilet paper at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. 

Thing I looked up:

...Nearly 200 girls in Picardy to be deflowered by the troubadour [there's a name here, but I am not great with French] who was keeping count, if not naming names, in his verses (Chapter 29)

I can't figure out who this is. If I had a paper copy, I could look at the name. Alas, I have only the audio. 

Hat mentions (why hats?): 

straw hat(s) (Chapter 1 x2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 11, Chapter 14, Chapter 16, Chapter 21, Chapter 22, Chapter 43)

fanning himself with his hat (Chapter 3)

his hat blew off him (Chapter 5)

refined hat (Chapter 9)

hat in his hands (Chapter 9, Chapter 10)

sweating in a hat made from no less than three foxes (Chapter 11)

grumbled from his hat (Chapter 16)

peeked from under the hat (Chapter 16)

replaced the hat (Chapter 16)

took the spoon of ram's horn from his hat (Chapter 20)

mermaid's ribs for a hat (Chapter 22)

wide red hats (Chapter 30)

take his hat (Chapter 30)

not until the hat's off (Chapter 30)

cardinal's hat (Chapter 36)

get your hat (Chapter 37)

cows and mantles and hats of many colors (Chapter 38)

yellow hats (Chapter 38)

removed the hats (Chapter 38)

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Does this sound like something you'd want to read? I'm pretty sure I'm not the audience for this one!

Tress of the Emerald Sea (Hoid's Travails #1) by Brandon Sanderson

This month we read Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson for my IRL book club.

Brandon Sanderson (I listen to a podcast where they call him Brando Sando and I don't know why, but it tickles me in just the right place)  is the author of a lot of books set in his expanded fantasy world of  Cosmere. Tress of the Emerald Sea is a standalone book set in this world. 

Okay, here's the deal. Tress lives on an isolated island. When her beloved, Charlie, the duke's son, is captured by the Sorceress in the Midnight Sea, Tress decides to go after him. The seas in this place are dangerous, though. They are created by spores (not water) that rain down from the twelve different moons of the planet. The spores are unstable, reacting to water in an explosive way.  However, ships sail these seas. 

She befriends a talking rat named Huck and manages to be a perfect sailor who eventually worms her way into the heart of all the crew onboard the pirate ship the Crow's Song, which is naturally captained by Crow, a spore-eater. Can Tress save Charlie? Can Tress save herself?

Look, did some of this backstory bore you? Oh, good, I'm not alone. 

The book is told from the POV of Hoid, the cabin boy who is under a curse placed on him by the Sorceress that makes most of what he says nonsense. And why did Brando Sando need to have a dude intermediary? Because Brando Sando is not a good enough writer to write female characters. It is my big beef with this book. Because Hoid is not reliable (he's under a curse placed on him by the Sorceress), how does he know what Tress is thinking or doing? He doesn't. So Tress becomes one-dimensional and we spend too long trying to figure out if what Hoid is saying is at all important. 

But something happened at the end that I did not expect and I felt REALLY DUMB because it was sort of obvious in retrospect, but it made me reevaluate my stance on Sanderson's writing - that stance being that he's a plodding author whose dialogue is clunky and his sentence structure is a crime against humanity. However, maybe I'm wrong? The ending of this book tells me that I'm wrong. Maybe. Actually, no. He's still not a great writer, but he's great at plot. That's fair, right?

Also, this book has so many preachy moments in it. I don't need that. 

Eh.  This was going to be 2/5 stars, but I bumped it to 3/5 stars because the ENDING. It really got me. 

Lines of note:

Tress didn’t want to act suspicious, so she didn’t execute her plan at first. (location 1532)

Just. How did this make it through editing? SUSPICIOUSLY!!!

Hat mentions (why hats?):

He was wearing a traveling coat and even a hat. The duke considered hats improper wear except during travel. (location 371)

One figure in particular—standing right at the prow of the ship, wearing a hat with a tall black feather—looked ominous. (location 936)

With the black-plumed hat, their face was lost in shadow as the sun shone from near the horizon, silhouetting them. (location 945)

Captain Crow—judging by the plume in her hat—had harsh lines for a face, with tan skin and a scowl deep as the ocean. (location 987)

...wind blowing the black feather in her hat. (location 1269)

Her hat hung on a peg by the door...(location 2608)

She took her hat off the peg, went out the door, then locked it behind her. (location 2621)

the captain in her plumed hat (location 4089)

“Tell me…what is your opinion on tiny pirate hats?” (location 4481)

He’d been sitting there making a list of all the hats she owned. (location 4675)

She pulled on her hat, wavered for a moment, but then decided. (location 4896)

stolen Huck’s tiny pirate hat (location 5303)

Or, if trees won’t fit, maybe some paintings of dogs wearing hats. (location 5317)

The captain soon emerged onto the deck of the Two Cups sporting a long captain’s jacket and a hat with a plume. (location 5484)

Also, the only thing he was wearing was a tiny pirate hat. (location 5502)

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Have you ever read Brando Sando? Do you care about spores reacting to water? Do you even know what that means? 

Birding with Benefits by Sarah T. Dubb

I asked for a birding meet cute in a romance novel to fulfill a Pop Sugar Reading Challenge prompt and Sarah immediately texted me about Birding with Benefits by Sarah T. Dubb. I got it from my library the next day. 

A few things. 

1) The cover is perfection.

2) Stephany left a comment about this book on that post I linked to above.

3) Stephany is right. 

Interesting characters: Celeste's exuberance and chaotic energy made me side-eye Dubb that maybe she has met me. Celeste feels real and maybe reflected back at me a bit too closely for comfort. But the male lead is dull as dishwater. Celeste needs a man with some spice. Fine. It's fine.

Believable conflict: You know what? Sure. Celeste is newly divorced and trying to figure out who she is without a partner dragging her down. John (man, it's even the most boring of names - sorry to all the Johns out there, but you might want to have a talk with your parents about why they couldn't be even the teeniest bit creative) has recently lost his job and isn't sure what to do for work. Celeste is A LOT and I can see why their situations and their personalities would create some classic uncommunication. 

Emotional tension: I think that's what this book was missing most. 

Happily ever after: Real talk. I feel like my husband could probably find a woman more suited to him, but I think he's hilarious and the smartest person in the world and I think he thrives with my enthusiasm and brashness. But I don't think these two (fictional characters - it's okay to talk about fictional characters like this, right?) are going to work out because they are not meant for each other. I think John is going to get frustrated with her real quick. 

Look, the meet cute is FABULOUS. Celeste is FABULOUS. But the book is meh. I look forward to future books from Dubb, though. Maybe she can figure out how to write a man who isn't a door mat. 

3/5 stars

Lines of note:

"We start with discovery, and we go from there." (page 24)

I liked this so much. YES! Let's discover and then ask questions. 

"If I ever need a reminder of why I'm single, I just think about how Andrea won't even make plans without checking Bridgette's calendar." (page 151)

What? Seriously. I look at our shared calendar before I make plans because that's what you do in a healthy relationship? If Dr. BB has plans and I'm going to make plans at the same time, we have to make sure someone is home to walk the dog, feed the cat, etc. This was such a crazy sentence. 

Thing I looked up:

Are birding contests a real thing? Yes. Also, WTF?

Hat mentions (why hats?): 

wide-brimmed straw hat (page 21)

worn baseball hat (page 54)

floppy hat (page 300, 303)

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Can we all agree to listen to Stephany about the quality of romance novels from here on out? Would you do a birding competition? Do you think birding competitions sound crazy? If you have a partner, do you consult their calendar before you make plans? 

A Resistance of Witches by Morgan Ryan

 A Resistance of Witches is Morgan Ryan's debut novel. 

It's World War II. Lydia Polk is the protege to the Head Mistress at the Royal Academy of London when a Nazi coven infiltrates. Lydia must find a terrible magical grimoire before the Nazis get it. Adventures ensue.  

What a truly delightful book. There's magic! Killing Nazis! Found and nuclear family. Characters who are smart, but sometimes do stupid things because it's war! 

I have some quibbles, but you know what? If it sounds like you might enjoy this book, you probably will. 4/5 stars

Lines of note:

“There are Nazis everywhere. They just go by different names.” (location 2125)

Yeah. Just....yeah. 

She curled and pinned her hair, and fixed her makeup, rouging her cheeks and painting her lips a deep claret red. (location 4680)

This line reminds me of the line from the song "Fancy" - Mama washed and combed and curled my hair and then she painted my eyes and lips. 

To my parents, who showed up to every choir concert and school play, who let me major in theater without complaint or reservation, and who always told me that a real job is fine, but please don’t forget about your writing. I love you. (location 5616)

OH MY GOD I WANT HER PARENTS TO BE MY PARENTS. 

This is a story about mothers. I was unbelievably lucky to be raised by a mother who taught me from the beginning that words have power, and who modeled what it meant to live a creative life. Whatever magic I have, I got it from you. (location 5624)

AND THEN I WAS CRYING AT THE END OF THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.

Things I looked up:

Is Clementine Winston Churchill's wife? (location 149) - Yes. That's all. Although this line in her Wikipedia made me snort: her mother Lady Blanche's known infidelity and his suspected infertility makes her paternity uncertain.

Zigeuner (location 1715) - a German word, used by the Nazis to describe Roma, Sinti and Traveller communities. It is thought to derive from a term meaning 'untouchable.' Egads. 

Clearly you don’t mean to include the brujas, or the vedmy, or the ćovaxanǎ. (location 4394) - These are all synonyms for witches in different languages. 

Hat mentions (why hats?):

Stay away from the man in the white hat. (location 2664)

wide-brimmed hat (location 3150)

broad-brimmed hat (location 3174)

He tipped his hat to an auburn-haired woman on the corner, waiting for the bus in her sky-blue coat and matching hat, and she nodded back. (location 3715)

Gentlemen clutched their hats to their heads as they rushed past the chestnut trees and scrubby vegetable allotments, and ladies cried out in frustration as the wind tugged at their hair...(location 3959)

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Who thinks WWII with witches sounds fun? Who thinks it sounds like it's disrespectful to the true story of the war? 

It's Been TEN YEARS

TJC and I last went to a Garth Brooks concert in 2016. That's TEN YEARS AGO. It both does feel like ten years ago and like it was not. What even is time?

Here's a rundown on my weekend. I worked on Friday and left from the parking lot to head to Indianapolis. Note: I have never in my life seen "Debris on the road" pop up on my GPS until I got to Indiana. Items I saw on the road include a tarp, a bucket, a piece of lumber, and unidentified object I will assume was a box of nails, and a cushion from a couch or something. Bizarre. And sort of scary. Anyway, I roll into the hotel, greet TJC, do ten minutes of yoga, and go to bed. 

Now, here's what you need to know about the dynamic duo of NGS and TJC. Neither one of had done a damn bit of research about what we were going to do that weekend except get tickets and book a hotel. For those of you who plan trips, this is probably unfathomable. On Saturday morning I googled "what's happening in Indianapolis this weekend?" and you'll never believe it, but the State Fair was happening! Woot! There were BABY PIGS. I mean, it's definitely a distant third in state fairs I've been to, but I'll take what I can get. 

All fair photos taken by TJC because I accidentally left my phone in the car. 

None of  you are going to be surprised that I am an anxious person who made TJC leave the hotel at 5pm for an 8pm concert, are you? We figured out parking, almost hit some dude in a crosswalk (MY BAD!), and ate sushi before we got to the venue, purchased tshirts, and sat down with half an hour to spare. Here's what you need to know about TJC, though. She didn't complain about any of it. She didn't mind that we were there early. She didn't mind that I wanted to get the merch right away. She is the perfect concertgoing partner. 

Here's the song list, if you care. Does anyone care? Probably just me in another ten years. 

There was a video about his tribute to Queen in his Ireland concert. That was a fun way to start while they were waiting for folks who were running late to come in.

"The Old Stuff"
"Rodeo"
"Two of a Kind, Working on a Full House"
"Beaches of Cheyenne"
"Two Pina Coladas" - I was surprised by this one. I thought it was a deep cut, but everyone around me seemed to know it. 
THEN!!! He played the opening verse and a chorus to "Lonesome Dove." !!!!!!
"The River" - blah
Some Bob Seger song - "Turn the Page," I think? I didn't know it and was bummed because what a waste of Garth Brooks time, right?
"Thunder Rolls"
"Unanswered Prayers" - 17,000 singing a song that was released 36 years ago. Amazing, really.
"If Tomorrow Never Comes"
"That Summer"
He gave away a guitar to some lady in the audience.
"Callin' Baton Rouge"
"Fever"
The backup singer sang "Shout"
"Shameless"
"Blame It All On My Roots" - Electric.
Some dude had a Randy Travis sign, so he sang a Travis medley of "Digging Up Bones," "I Told You So," and "Three Wooden Crosses."
"She's Every Woman"
"Papa Loved Mama"
"Much Too Young to Feel this Damned Old"
"Standing Outside the Fire"

I was a bit bummed that there was no "We Shall Be Free," which seems like such an important song right now, but he played "Lonesome Dove," so how can I complain?

The next morning we went to Newfields, which is a legitimately amazing art museum and garden. It's 100% worth the price of admission. 

Best hat, piece I'd most like in my house, and cutest creature. 

And that was it. Super fun! I can't wait to do it again. Hopefully it won't take ten years this time. 

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What's the last big concert you went to? Do you have a favorite concert attending friend? Have you been to Indianapolis?