The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

In The Light Between Oceans, by M.L. Stedman, we have a couple who operate a lighthouse in remote Australia. Isabel keeps having late-pregnancy miscarriages and when a boat washes up by the lighthouse with a dead man and a living baby, they raise the baby as their own. The consequences of this decision will haunt more lives than just their own.

I mean, this one is tough because everyone makes such terrible decisions. I mean, just everybody. But once you make a terrible decision, can it be undone? Ugh. Such an ethical quagmire. 

The writing was lovely. But are you ready for this super sad morality mess? 

3.5/5 stars

Lines of note:

Tom isn’t one of the men whose legs trailed by a hank of sinews, or whose guts cascaded from their casing like slithering eels. Nor were his lungs turned to glue or his brains to stodge by the gas. But he’s scarred all the same, having to live in the same skin as the man who did the things that needed to be done back then. (location 151)

Uff-da. 

The old clock on the kitchen wall still clicked its minutes with fussy punctuality. A life had come and gone and nature had not paused a second for it. The machine of time and space grinds on, and people are fed through it like grist through the mill. (location 1198)

Brutal. 

...she wondered whether she was still technically a sister, now that her adored brothers had died. (location 1635)

SO BRUTAL.

Things I looked up:

stoush (location 275) - an informal Australian and New Zealand term that means a fight, brawl, or verbal argument

jarrah (location 295) - a plant in the myrtle family found in the south-west of Western Australia

Lux flakes (location 637) - a classic, gentle washing product originally created by Lever Brothers to clean delicate fabrics like wool and silk

banjine (location 1471) - a slender shrub with large, rather hairy yellow inflorescences - What are inflorescences? I think you have to be a biologist to find out. 

trevally (location 1471) - a diverse group of powerful, fast-swimming marine fish belonging to the jack family

dugite (location 1935) - a species of highly venomous, potentially lethal snake endemic to Western Australia

Wisden (location 2206) - Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, or simply Wisden, colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. This feels mean and a bit niche for readers outside of the UK!

stephanotis (location 2711) - commonly known as Madagascar jasmine or the Hawaiian wedding flower, is an evergreen, vining plant prized for its intensely fragrant, waxy, pure white tubular blooms and glossy green

Hat mentions (why hats?):

hat and coat (location 341)

take your hats (location 346)

brand-new slouch hats (location 1025)

replaced his hat (location 1894)

keep it under your hat (location 1896)

low-brimmed felt hat (location 2035)

swipe Frank’s hat (location 2090)

“Keep it under your hat, all this, could you, mate?” (location 2266)

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Who's in for a sad book like this? Who's out? Who feels like I should know more about the flora and fauna of Western Australia? 

The Reread - Realm of the Elderlings #1: Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

It has been more than five years since I read The Realm of the Elderlings and I am due a reread. 

Several years ago, I dogsat for a friend for an extended time while she was in Europe. Her dogs were adorable, but it was quite a bit of work to go back and forth to her house multiple times a day. She gave me a big gift card to Powell's and told me I had to buy something fun. I bought the ENTIRE Realm of the Elderlings saga. 

Lately I've been in a reading valley. It's not a slump - I've read some very good books - but the books are not exciting me or making me eager to read them. So the advice I've always gotten about these situations is to do a reread. So here I am. First up is The Assassin's Apprentice. 

Fitz is the bastard son of Prince Chivalry. His mother's family abandons him at a royal home and he's raised in the background of court, mostly hanging out with the stableman, Burrich, who is his father's man. Well, King Shrewd realizes that Fitz could be useful, so he convinces Fitz to tutor under Chade, Shrewd's assassin. Along the way, Fitz realizes he has a special bond with animals called the Wit, which is taboo. He's also tutored by a dickwad named Galen to try to be able to Skill, a talent only those with royal blood have, but Fitz is not good at it. Anyway, he has to go on a mission to kill someone and he sort of succeeds, but more by accident than anything else. Meanwhile, Prince Regal, second in line to the throne, hates Fitz, so I'm pretty sure that's going to be important. 

Let's all pour one out for Nosy and Smithy, Fitz's dogs who, sadly, do not make it through the entirety of this novel. 

Look, this book is SO GOOD. Fitz is a traumatized child who immediately clings to any adult who shows him any attention. No one actually teaches him the nuances of the court, so he never has any idea what's really going on. He has no idea why Regal and Galen despise him, even though to the reader, it's crystal clear. Dogs show him real affection, so of course he develops his Wit, even though Burrich tells him it's shameful. It's such a great character study of poor Fitz. And we sort of know, before we're even halfway done with this first book in this entire eighteen book series, that it's always going to be poor Fitz.

I listened to the audiobook and it's so good. If you haven't read this, what are you waiting for? 

5/5 stars

Lines of note:

All events, no matter how earthshaking or bizarre, are diluted within moments of their occurrence by the continuance of the necessary routines of day-to-day living. Men walking a battlefield to search for wounded among the dead will still stop to cough, to blow their noses, still lift their eyes to watch a V of geese in flight. I have seen farmers continue their plowing and planting, heedless of armies clashing but a few miles away.  (Chapter 3)

You guys, I just looked this up. It is the same exact passage I marked when I read this in 2020. 

"...Burrich's shown you both how to work, and how to obey. Two things that Burrich himself excels at. You're not especially strong, or fast, or bright. Don't think you are. But you'll have the stubbornness to wear down anyone stronger, or faster, or brighter than yourself. And that's more of a danger to you than to anyone else." (Chapter 4)

So much foreshadowing in this book, friends. Fitz is so incompetent at everything he does. 

"There isn't much in a man's head," he told me, "that can't be cured by working and taking care of something else." (Chapter 5)

Right? I get out of bed to take care of my girls. 

"Keppet," said the woman at the next mat as I completed my purchase. I glanced at her, thinking she was addressing the woman I had just paid. But she was staring at me. "Keppet," she said, quite insistently, and I wondered what I meant in her language. It seemed a request for something, but the older woman only stared coldly out into the street, so I shrugged at her younger neighbor apologetically and turned away as I stowed the nuts in my basket.

I hadn't gotten more than a dozen steps away when I heard her shriek "Keppet!" yet again. I looked back to see the two women engaged in a struggle. The older one gripped the younger one's wrists and the younger one struggled and thrashed and kicked to get free of her. (Chapter 6)

Click to show spoiler

THIS IS FITZ'S MOM. 

 

The more tolerant Chade was, the more surly I felt. (Chapter 7)

Teenagers, right? Or, alternately, me when I'm hungry. I hate it when my husband is super reasonable when I'm pissed off. 

Men cannot grieve as dogs do. But we grieve for many years. (Chapter 24)

Poor Fitz. 

Hat mentions (why hats?)

so many new garments, hats, and accoutrements for Regal (Chapter 19)

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Do you reread books? How often? What motivates you to do a reread? 

Sea of Charms (Spellshop #3) by Sarah Beth Durst

The Spellshop
The Enchanted Garden

Cozy fantasy is NOT an easy genre to write. It is hard to write about something with actual stakes, but that doesn't seem like TOO many stakes, if you know what I mean? There has to be some conflict, but not enough that the reader is actually worried in the Ned Stark is about to lose his head sort of way. Legends and Lattes was quite good, but the follow-up was a snooze. People recommend the Monk and Robot series for cozy fantasy and, while I do like Becky Chambers a lot, maybe the first book was a little too cozy for me? I think Sarah Beth Durst is actually quite good at it. Sea of Charms is the third book in the Spellshop series and if you're looking for something to distract you from reality, these books are just the thing.

Marin is a sailor. She runs supplies from island to island in an attempt to pay off the debt her parents took on to help pay for her boat after Marin had a broken engagement. Suddenly, she has a crew of a talking plant and this composer named Dax who is fleeing from the war-torn city of Alyssium. She has a pet sea serpent. A PET SEA SERPENT. Can they pay off her parents' debt? Can they safely escape the danger from the war? 

OF COURSE THEY CAN. THIS IS COZY FANTASY.

I don't think Dax is as good a male lead as the grumpy gardener in the second book, but not every book has to be grumpy/sunshine to parallel my own real life. 

I love the world Durst is creating. I love how simple everything is in these books. 

Do I want every book I ever read to be like this? No, of course not. But as a diversion as I'm going to bed, I absolutely do want it. 

4/5 stars

Lines of note:

Sure, the city was lovely, in the same way that a many-tiered cake covered in fondant and spun sugar seemed lovely if you didn’t know it had been baked with fish inside. It soured if you sniffed too hard. (location 182)

“People think pleasure is the source of happiness. I have found that it is not. It is purpose. Purpose and passion.” (location 5627)

Hat mentions (why hats?):

he wore a stiff box-shaped hat on top of slicked-down hair (location 5340)

****************

Are you a cozy fantasy fan? What's your favorite in the genre? What's your favorite mythical creature? 

We Were Forbidden by Jacqueline Harpman, translated by Ros Schwartz

Since I read I Who Have Never Known Men, I've wanted to dig into Harpman's catalog a little bit. We Were Forbidden is a new translation of three short stories written by Harpman.

In the first story, a woman and her fellow survivors wander around a woods after having been conscripted to the military in a war, a war they haven't heard any news about in years. Is the war still ongoing? Can they leave the woods? As their clothing falls apart and their ammunition stores dwindle, what is going to happen to this group?

There's a mini-series on An Old Timey Podcast in which they talk about Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier ordered to lead guerilla warfare missions on Lubang Island in the Philippines. He was told to never surrender, so when he received word that World War II had ended, Hiroo was certain that the message was a trick. He kept fighting until 1974 – nearly 29 years after the war ended.

This short story made me think of Onoda. It's probably the strongest story in the collection.

The second story is based on Harpman's childhood, when she and her family fled to Morocco in light of the invasion of Nazi troops. In this story, the main character is punished severely for ideas she doesn't share with the Moroccans. It was also zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

The last story was confusing, but fascinating. The main character is an author and, as she's going about her daily life, she starts inventing a story and characters in her head. So it's a bit unsettling because you're going from "real" life to the invented life. Honestly, it's one of the best things I've read about the writing process. Most books on writing don't actually touch on how ideas happen - they focus on butt in seat and hours at craft - but this short story really did seem to talk about the creative process in a way that felt real. 

As with most short story collections, I thought the stories varied in strength, but I'm glad I read this. Plus, it's only 90 pages long, so I finished this in an evening after dinner!

4/5 stars

Line of note:

I hadn't understood that there are moments in history when noble sentiments prevail over common sense...I had naivety and reason but no tact. It didn't occur to me that an argument that was well-founded could be controversial. (page 30)

I know this is just because of the anniversary of 9/11 recently, but I remember being so vehemently against the PATRIOT Act and it seemed like everyone around thought I had lost my mind. I was not tactful about what I thought about the government and sort of missed the memo on blind patriotism at that time in history. 

Things I looked up:

humus (page 12) - dark, organic material that forms in soil when plant and animal matter decays

Giorgione's Young Man with Arrow (page 57) -  an Italian Renaissance oil on panel painting created by Giorgione in 1505. It lives at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. 

Gros's Bonaparte at the Pont d'Arcole (page 57) - an oil-on-canvas painting executed in 1796 by the French artist Antoine-Jean Gros. It depicts an episode during the Battle of Arcole in November 1796, with General Napoleon Bonaparte leading his troops to storm the bridge. It is housed at the Palace of Versailles.

the plot of Madame Bovary (page 76) - Emma Bovary marries Charles, a fairly dull doctor. Emma's bored with her staid middle-class life and to escape this life, she has affairs with local men and runs up massive debts buying luxury items. When her lovers refuse to help her pay what she owes and her creditors close in, she kills herself by swallowing arsenic. Her heartbroken husband dies soon after discovering her betrayal, leaving their young daughter to an impoverished life. Oof. Sounds sad. 

Hat mentions (why hats?):

broad-brimmed black hat (page 56, 72, and 73)

****************

How do you feel about short story collections? Have you ever read one where all the stories were a hit? 

Habits of the Sea by Shea Ernshaw

Habits of the Sea by Shea Ernshaw is a weird little story.

Clay Lockhart's wife and son die in childbirth on a stormy night. During this storm, Clay's house and the eight hectares of land surrounding it break off from Scottish coast in the wake of his grief. This island becomes legend, as people very occasionally see it, but no one ever goes to the island itself. Twelve-year-old Ellie Mills finds the island herself one night in a storm and Clay sends her back on her way. But time goes by differently on the island and what was a couple of hours for Ellie was weeks back at Ellie's home in Nova Scotia. 

Thirty-year-old Ellie hears about a sighting of the island and she goes in search of it. What happens next? 

Here's what I learned from this book. If my husband and I were stranded on a floating island in the ocean and we had to somehow survive with what we had in our house and our land, we would die. That's all. 

Clay didn't even have a dog or a cat with him! He's all alone for decades. I like my alone time, but wouldn't you go absolutely crazy? Like...batshit? 

Some people compare this to Wild Dark Shore, but I think it's better than that (I DNFed WDS). I mean, I bought into the magical element of the wandering island and time slowing. I wanted to read it and find out what would happen to these two fools. I wanted to know if Ellie would ever figure out what was right for her life. I  thought the author did a nice job of not making Clay look like a creep since he first met Ellie when she was a tween. 

I liked this one. I didn't LOVE it, but I did want to know how things ended up. 3.5/5 stars

Line of note:

Some part of me knows he's too good, too perfect for me - and it makes me wary. Suspicious. Not of him, but of life. Like I've always known I don't deserve him. (page 22)

But we all feel way, right? Asking for a friend.

Thing I looked up:

snell (page 1) - chiefly Scottish, meaning quick or acute (a snell wind or a snell storm)

Hat mention (why hats?):

thick hats (page 205)

********************

Would you want to be alone on an island by yourself? Without another person, dog, or cat? 

Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser

There was so much love for Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser on the interwebz that I finally caved and got it from the library. 

Etheldreda is a two-time widow. She lives with her daughters and her stepdaughter in a crumbling mansion with only a couple of incredibly loyal servants. Etheldreda believes in keeping up appearances because if her daughters can marry well, their problems will be solved. So when there's a ball to introduce people to the very eligible prince, she's pumped when all three girls get to go. But we soon learn all is not right with the kingdom. 

This is a take on the Cinderella tale from the POV of the stepmother. It was interesting, but really just made me think everyone in the story was terrible. Surely there are good people out there? One of the key features of Cinderella is that Cindy is truly kind and hardworking (I mean, at least in the Disney version I'm familiar with). In this book she's lazy and entitled and it feels like it's truly a different story. I mean, obviously the stepmother would have a different view of Cinderella than Cinderella herself, but the character is completely different. 

So. Hm.

It really is a good look at how, for most of human history, women's fates have been determined by the men in their lives. It's a look at the most genteel of survival. 

But, to be honest, Etheldreda isn't evil enough for me here. 3/5 stars

Lines of note:

One had to have a shell, or at least the projection of one, for protection. For the sake of presentability, all our lives were a performance. (page 7)

I had once heard a sculptor compare his children to marble. He said, like stone, their future shape lingers inside of them, waiting to be revealed. But I believed that children were paintings as much as they were sculptures. You shepherded the along from blank canvas: guiding and cajoling and teaching and begging and reprimanding and instructing and demanding pushing and prodding the finished art into a picture of your own making. A stone is just a stone until someone appears with a chisel. (page 62)

"Of course families are negotiated. We are all in negotiation. A marriage begins with negotiation and continues to be one. And that is if fortune smiles upon you! If you are not viewed as chattel, or property." (page 201)

There are far-fetched stories of headless men that wander, bodies that keep walking without skulls. But I've killed enough chickens to know: Sometimes a torso keeps going. The last pumps of the heart. The legs moving. The final stumble before the collapse. (page 247)

Things I've looked up:

girandole (page 58) - an ornamental branched candle holder, a convex wall mirror fitted with candle arms, or a cluster-style pendant earring featuring three dangling drops

solecism (page 202) -  a grammatical mistake in writing or speech, or a breach of good manners and social etiquette

austringer (page 204) - one who keeps goshawks

Hat mentions (why hats?):

large sun hat (page 47)

ridiculous hat (page 57)

sew a ribbon to a hat (page 119)

it is my hat (page 119)

unbecoming hat (page 119)

new hat (page 119)

ugliest, most regrettable hat (page 119)

do not need to concern yourself with the hat (page 119)

I do not think her hat is ugly (page 120)

the hat and veil and gloves (page 123)

I pulled my hat down (page 139) 

ribbons of her hat (page 151)

complimented your hat (page 152)

tipped his hat (page 154)

*****************

Okay, real talk. Do you think I'm not vibing with any of these books because of the time of year? Do you find yourself being harsher about books during certain seasons/times?

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)

*******************

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)

******************

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)

****************

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? 

Homebound by Portia Elan

I read Homebound by Portia Elan because a guest on Sarah's Bookshelves recommended it. I was swayed to her side when she discussed Yesteryear as a book she didn't love, so that earned her cred in my world. 

In Homebound, we follow multiple timelines: Becks in 1983 as she grapples with her uncle's death; Yesiko in 2586 as she tries to pay off the debt she owes while taking care of the crew of her ship; and Tamar Portman in the 2070s as she opens a lab researching cutting age technology. 

The first part of this novel was immersive and I was all in. Becks is a great character, dealing with her emerging sexuality and the loss of her uncle to AIDS (or GRID as it was known then). Yesiko's storyline was so interesting. She is desperate to get rid of her debt and care for her crew, but she's not sure how to do any of it. 

But then. Hm. There are ENDLESS passages about videogames and robotic technology. ENDLESS. I really really really don't like that.  I was invested in these two characters and suddenly we're taken away from them and thrown into nonsense. I also was not entirely convinced by how the storylines were all connected in the end. 

I have hopes for this author, though. The writing and the character development were strong. I'll go back for more, hopefully with less emphasis on text-based videogames. 3/5 stars 

Lines of note:

Generation on generation of skinny ship cats, but now only Panim, the opinionated tortie who slept curled against Yeshiko's chest, chirruping even in her dreams. (page 9)

I just love it when author's actually give pets personality. Panim is a lovely character. 

I understand that this is the natural order: our teachers, our mentors die, and we become the teachers, the mentors. The mantle passes. But what is "natural" is still painful and heavy, and I sometimes want to stomp my foot and tell time to just go back. (page 66)

I'm really struggling right now with some difficult, non-bloggable things, and this line really resonated. 

Things I looked up:

Pesach plate (page 9) - a special plate containing symbolic foods eaten or displayed at the Passover Seder (seriously, my ignorance of world religions is legion)

Eugene Cernan (page 167) - an American astronaut who traveled into space three times and to the Moon twice: as pilot of Gemini 9A in June 1966, as Lunar Module pilot of Apollo 10 in May 1969, and as commander of Apollo 17 in December 1972, the final Apollo lunar landing. During the Apollo 17 mission, he became the 11th person to walk on the Moon as well as the astronaut with the longest time spent walking on the Moon; he is also the last person to walk on the Moon as of 2026. (Doesn't it feel like I should know this person?)

Hat mentions (why hats?):

matching fur hats (page 114)

*****************

Did you know who Gene Cernan was? Do you like books with multiple timelines told hundreds of years apart? 

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

Shoutout to Diane who recommended The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden when I asked for audiobook recommendations.

It is 1917. Laura Iven is a war nurse who has returned home to Halifax after she was injured. Her mother and father are killed in a terrible explosion in the port. Meanwhile, she has received confusing messages about the death of her brother Freddie at the front in Belgium. She arranges to go back to Europe in order to find out what happened to her brother.

Once there, though, Laura starts to hear rumors of a hotelier who plays violin and creates a space for men to forget about their pain and what happened to Freddie becomes less and less clear. 

Listen, I am not  usually a Great War kind of girl. I actually find most war books too repetitive and dark for me. But this one, with its faint whiff of magical realism, female bonds, and the power of family, both found and natural, hit just the right spot for me. Also, the narrators, Michael Crouch, and January LaVoy, had such lyrical voices that I never found myself drifting off, which has become quite a problem for me with audiobooks recently.

Anyway, this was a great rec. Thanks, Diane! 4/5 stars

Line of note:

"Maybe this is hell," he said, only half joking. He supposed in hell it didn't matter if you were Canadian or German. That put the war in perspective... (chapter 4)

There's a lot of foreshadowing in this line. Super interesting. 

Thing I looked up:

Halifax explosion - I linked to it up above because it's such a crucial plot point. With both of her parents killed in this explosion, Laura had nothing left in Halifax, so heading back to the warfront made sense. Without this explosion, would Laura have stayed in Halifax to recuperate from her war injury and care for her parents?

On December 6, 1917, the French cargo ship SS Mont-Blanc and the Norwegian vessel SS Imo collided in the harbor of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Laden with high explosives, Mont-Blanc caught fire and detonated, devastating the Richmond district of Halifax. At least 1,782 people, largely in Halifax and Dartmouth, were killed by the blast, debris, fires, or collapsed buildings, and an estimated 9,000 others were injured. The blast was the largest human-made explosion at the time. CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE?

WWI pillbox - a type of blockhouse, or concrete dug-in guard-post, often camouflaged, normally equipped with loopholes through which defenders can fire weapons. It is in effect a trench firing step, hardened to protect against small-arms fire and grenades, and raised to improve the field of fire. The modern concrete pillbox originated on the Western Front of World War I by the German army. 

Hat mentions (why hats?):

top hat (chapter 2)

tin hat (chapter 4, chapter 12x2)

larger hat (chapter 7)

pass the hat (chapter 7 x2)

flowered hat (chapter 11)

under her hat (chapter 13)

tipping his hat (chapter 15)

covered his face with his hat (chapter 19)

funny hats (author's note)

Do you read a lot of WWI books? Is there another one I should be reading? 

Pop Sugar Reading Challenge Update

2018
2019
2020
2021

2022 

2023

2024

2025

As many of you know, I have completed the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge every year since 2018 and this year I am making pretty good progress! However, I am now at the point in the year when I have tackled all the "easy" prompts and now I'm left with the ones I don't know exactly what my approach should be. The good news is that I have completed about 80% of the challenge! The bad news is that...well, you know. I haven't done the other 20%. 

Here is what I need help with. Do you have ideas for me?

1) A book that features a book with a platonic relationship between a man and a woman. Honestly, I had two books on my maybe list and I DNFed one and I can't find the other one in my library systems. 

2) A book about postpartum - I honestly can think of nothing less interesting to me personally, so it would have to be pretty compelling.

3) A book with a character who navigates infertility - Okay, maybe this is the something that's less interesting to me. 

4) A book about birding - I have TRIED SO HARD in this category. I have DNFed the Christian Cooper memoir, The Comfort of Crows, and The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love. I need a romance novel where the meet cute is when they run into each other because they're both using binoculars to watch a rare bird (if that's not in a romance novel, I give that idea away for free).  WHAT IS LEFT TO READ?

5) A sapphic graphic novel - Surely there's one out there I haven't already read? The problem with this one is that the ladies on the Books Unbound podcast always recommend these and when I look at the lists of sapphic graphic novels, I've already read so many of them based on their recommendations. I don't count rereads for the challenge unless it's a requirement for a prompt. 

6) A book that will make me want to travel to Italy - Look, if there's a book that makes me even remotely consider international travel, it would have to be pretty great. Do you know any great books set in Italy? 

******************

All right, friends. What are your recommendations for me? 

Cleanup on Aisle Five by Ann Larson

Would it surprise anyone to learn that Sarah and I met up at the pool to discuss Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View from Behind the Supermarket Register by Ann Larson last weekend?

Ann Larson needed a job during the pandemic and she was hired on at a grocery store in Utah during the pandemic as a front end manager. Then she wrote all about it. 

It was interesting and well done. But, let's be honest, Nickel and Dimed already did this (and did it better). The most revealing parts of Nickel and Dimed were the passages in which Ehrenreich talked about how the work she did impacted her life - how she couldn't eat if she had to buy medicine, how her feet and legs hurt after working, how she was existing on non-perishable foods because the only place she could afford to stay didn't have a kitchen, etc. 

I think Larson tried to do that by telling the stories of her fellow workers, but since we never really saw anything outside of the store, it was hard to tell how their working conditions really influence decisions they made in their non-working hours. 

But! This is interesting because she worked through the pandemic, so there are some glimmers about that. Also, the rise in self-checkout and how disastrous that is for the workers. All of that was new to me since I worked in a grocery store in the late 1990s/early 2000s.  There's so much in here about poverty, the precariousness of working a job that relies on a body that isn't insured, and how the lack of training leads to poor outcomes for workers and customers. There's also a weird passage where Larson suggests being a vegetarian is worse for the environment than eating meat, which made me stare in the middle distance and wonder if I was living in an alternate universe. 

This is important and I think you should read it, but I also think you should read Nickel and Dimed. 4/5 stars

Lines of note:

Many grocery workers are food insecure. A 2022 report by the Economic Roundtable showed that about three-quarters of workers at Kroger, the second-largest grocery company in the country, struggled to afford regular meals Kroger could not claim that it didn't know. Years earlier, an internal company report showed that hundred of thousands of its employees relied on food aid and other public benefits. It's not surprising perhaps that federal food aid programs are acting as a subsidy to low-wage employers. The nation's largest retailer, Walmart, for example, took in more than $26 billion in its customers' food aid in 2024 alone. (page 22)

It feels like a scam, doesn't it? Why aren't we paying people living wages? 

Another cashier suffered from a toothache so painful that she could barely eat. "I need a root canal," the twenty-five-year-old told me. Since she did not have dental insurance, she was waiting for a spot to open up a dental school...A week later, I asked her if she had seen a dentist. She was still waiting for an appointment. "The good new is, I eat ice cream for dinner. It's the only food that doesn't hurt." (page 26)

As someone with my own dental woes, I hate this. Why isn't dental insurance just health insurance? Hell, even if someone doesn't have health insurance, shouldn't they have a pain free mouth? (I just sat for a minute and wondered what a pain free mouth would be like.)

In Work, Retire, Repeat, the labor economist [Teresa Ghilarducci] described a "tale of two retirements." While the affluent are living longer, healthier lives, and retiring with a nest egg and their dignity, low-income workers are facing destitution. Since almost half of families have no retirement savings, millions must work until they die. Many would-be retirees are punching clocks in warehouses or toiling as home health aides. (page 61-62)

Is anyone else realllly sad when their cashier is past retirement age? On one hand, maybe they are doing it because they want to stay busy. On the other hand, how are we, as a society, not taking care of our most vulnerable?

Most shoppers took delays in stride and laughed when I joked that "this machine has been grumpy today!" But the few that did not could ruin a shift. (page 96)

I'm preaching to the choir because all my blog readers are awesome, but can we all agree to be nice to service workers?

...wage theft also implicates those of us who do not work in supermarkets. TGS shoppers benefited from Whitney's unpaid labor. Everyone who came into the store had a better experience when she worked off the clock to ensure that employees got their schedules on time or when she worked from home. Customer service was propped up by exploitation. (page 184-185)

I hate this. 

Hat mentions (why hats?):

pull a rabbit out of a hat (page 92)

******************

Have you ever worked in a grocery store? Do you use the self-check machines? Have you read Nickel and Dimed? 

What I Read: July 2026

I didn't have a ton of time for reading this month, but what time I did have I spent with some very good books. 

7/1: The Unseen World by Liz Moore (library, 2016) - Very good. I recommend this one, especially if you want a good cry. 4.5/5 stars 

7/6: The Spellshop (Spellshop #1) by Sarah Beth Durst (library ebook, 2024) - Nice cozy fantasy. 4.5/5 stars

7/11: Kittentits by Holly Wilson (university library, 2024) - What a ride. I don't know if I liked it exactly, but it was not boring. 3.5/5 stars

7/12: Raised by Ghosts by Brianna Loewinsohn (library, 2025) - Graphic novel about a girl growing up with divorced parents in the '90s. Quiet, but powerful. If you know a teen/tween girl going through it, this might be a good addition to their library. 4/5 stars

7/16: The Enchanted Greenhouse (Spellshop #2) by Sarah Beth Durst (library ebook, 2025) - Lovely cozy fantasy. TINY DRAGONS. 4.5/5 stars

7/18: The Phone Book: The Curious History of the Book That Everyone Uses But No One Reads by Ammon Shea (university library, 2010) - Look, sometimes you want to read a book about a book no one still owns. 4/5 stars

7/23: Ella Minnow Pea: A Progressively Lipogramatic Epistolary Fable by Mark Dunn (library, 2001) - Scarily prophetic. 5/5 stars

7/25: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (library, 2009) - Sometimes you read a Newbery Honors book and remember that Newbery likes preachy books. For heaven's sake. There was a dragon, though, so that's a thing a did like. 3/5 stars

Total: 8 books
Average star rating: 4.13/5 stars

******************

Picture book I read:

Bog Myrtle by Sid Sharp - A children's book about sustainability, environmentalism, labor rights, and just being a nice person? Sign me up. What a fun ride. A guest on the Sarah's Bookshelves podcast recommended this book and I am glad she did! (Yes, I'm aware that I called the Grace Lin book preachy, but this one somehow I liked a lot. I'm full of contradictions.)

Did Not Finish:

Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor (The Desert Magician's Duology #1) -  I listened to 80 minutes of this before I gave up. Not quick enough world building for me. DNF at 13%.

The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper (Wolf Den Trilogy #1) - I do not need to read about women being abused and sexually mistreated. Some books are not for some readers.  (DNF at 5.1%)

Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love (Love's Academic #1) by India Holton - My audiobook game is lame. DNF at 12%. 

******************

I desperately need a good audiobook. What recommendations do you have for me? 

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

Quick reminder: The deadline to participate in my giveaway from the Adult Book Fair is Wednesday, August 5. There's an easy-peasy Google form to fill out to participate.  The orange cat package has a lot fewer entries than the purple bookshelf package if that will help you make a decision!

****************

I was reading in a Reddit thread about experimental fiction and Ella Minnow Pea: A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable by Mark Dunn was recommended. The Redditor said it was a fun book. Let's see, shall we?

So far it looks fun.

Ella is a girl living on an island off the coast of the United States that was the home to Nevin Nollop, the man who created the pangram "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog." The memorial to Nollop starts falling apart and as the letters on the memorial fall, the imperialistic town council begins banning the letters in writing and speech. The first time you violate the ban, you receive the warning; the second time, a public punishment; and the third time, you are banished from the island.

The book is told through letters and notes that people on the island are writing to each other and people in the United States, including people who have been banished. 

The back of my copy of this book has Kirkus Reviews calling this book "lighthearted" and Publishers Weekly calls it a "whimsical fable." 

Ummm.

This is a dark dystopian. 

The town council begins by shutting down the town library and destroying all the books. 

When citizens say that the letters falling off the memorial isn't really a sign from Nollop that he is unhappy, but rather is about how the adhesive is just not meant to be holding on for that long, the town council starts denying the truth of the science in favor of superstitious nonsense.

Meanwhile, literacy starts going down and people have to start subbing in letters and sound homophones. Communication starts to fail as people do not have synonyms for words with banned letters in them. 

As people leave town, either because of banishment or because they can no longer make a living on the island, the town council begins taking their land and homes, saying that is has been abandoned. The people who are left struggle to communicate at all. 

I thought this was brilliant in theme and execution. But I found it horrifying and terrifying. I certainly did not find it "whimsical" or "lighthearted." Some of the wordplay was pretty fantastic and the writing was clever, but the reason behind it was so dark that I'd never apply comedy to this. 

Maybe it's hitting differently in 2026 instead of 2001 when this was published. The Trump administration's rapid dismantling of higher education and cultural products is shocking. Maybe in 2001, I wouldn't have worried so much about a dictatorial government. I don't know. 

It's an interesting book. A prophetic book. But maybe not the fun book I thought it was going to be. Or, alternately, I don't have a sense of humor or whimsy. (I don't think that's the case, but maybe!) 5/5 stars

Lines of note:

...with the prohibition, the reading of all books containing the unfortunate letter will have to be outlawed as well. (page 9)

Right. Start by attacking books and education.

They shut the library down today. (page 17)

Librarians are truly protectors of free speech and liberty. Thank a librarian. 

Today The Tribune published the names of fifty-eight of the sixty men, women, and children charged this week with first offense. (Two names were unpublishable due to the presence of a particular letter within.) All were speakers of banned words - words overheard upon the lanes, in schoolyards and church pews, and on the common greens. Neighbor turning in neighbor, perpetuating old grudges and grievances with this new weapon...(page 21)

Hm. Have we seen this playbook before?

Someone is relaying threats to the Council. Each counciliteur has gotten a copy: "Cease the insanity or you will perish." As a result, the - I must now call them what I am only too happy to call them: police goons - the police goons have gone house-to-house in their investigation, yet have yet to turn up anyone except the usual suspects - that is, virtually everyone on in the isle...the Council has put crepuscular-to-auroric house arrest upon all Nollop citizens not in league with the cult. (page 125)

Heavy, heavy sigh. 

Things I looked up:

cenotaph (page 3) -  an empty tomb or a special monument built to honor a person or group whose body is buried in another place

 

bandiford (page 5) -  is a made-up fictional noun from the novel used to describe a architectural base, pedestal, or tier featuring inscription tiles

sarilla geese (page 9) - fictional phrase from the novel. It is used metaphorically by a character to describe unthinking, conformist crowds.

aposiopesis (page 17) - a figure of speech where a sentence is left unfinished, implying unwillingness or inability to continue; suddenly breaking off in speech

partete (page 48) - I don't know this one? It's made of lace, so clothing or home decor? Do  you know?

Hat mentions (why hats?):

orange hat (x2 on page 142, 148)

****************

Do you know what a partete is? Do you want to read a book about a crumbling society in 2026? Have you ever heard of this book? 

The Phone Book by Ammon Shea

The Phone Book: The Curious History of the Book That Everyone Uses But No One Reads by Ammon Shea is definitely the sort of book that you hear about and think it's quirky, but will never read. Well, that sort of book is catnip for me. 

Shea walks us through the history of the phone book (first it was just a list of people who had phones!) and reminisces about watching it decline. I don't actually remember when we got our last yellow pages, but we haven't had one since we moved to our current house. 

I recently saw this question on our town's Facebook page:

An answer: A cohesive directory of all the stores, restaurants, services that already exist. LOLOL. Suggestions were that the Chamber of Commerce collate this. 

Anyway, this is a surprisingly funny book because Shea makes snarky asides in footnotes and he's sort of a weird dude and some of that comes across. I was glad I took the time to read this because it really is true that a good writer can make anything interesting, isn't it? 

4/5 stars

Lines of note:

...I hope we can all agree that it's too bad that another one of the recommendations of the November 1878 telephone directory has not survived to the present day; the book advised that the proper way to end a conversation was with the phrase "That is all."  (page 19)

YES!! Sometimes I don't really mean it when I say good-bye, what I really want to say is that is all. 

You can still send telegraphs in many other countries, such as Telegrams Canada.*

*Its website says, "You'll see why even after 160 years, telegrams never go out of style!" which is a statement that makes me wonder what other things this company is delusional about. (page 49)

That footnote made me cackle. I looked it up, though, and it does appear as if Telegrams Canada is still in business, so maybe the company is on to something. 

When telephone books were in their infancy, there was no need of numbers - all one had to do was give a name to an operator, who would then connect the call. Many of the first telephone books had no numbers at all. (page 54)

Can you even imagine just a list of names? 

One of the first people in the late nineteenth century to recommend using numbers to indicate each and every subscriber was a physician in Massachusetts, Dr. Moses Greeley Parker. During an outbreak of measles in the city of Lowell, Dr. Parker worried about what would happen if more than one of the city's four operators succumbed to the disease. The telephone system would be paralyzed, since there were no surrogate operators who knew all the numbers and connections to replace them.

At first his suggestion was met with incredulity. Most people were of the opinion that subscribers would sooner give up their telephones entirely rather than submit themselves to the dehumanizing indignity of being identified by a number. Eventually, the obvious necessity of anyone being able to find all the subscribers in a telephone exchange won out, and numbers began to be used. (page 54-55)

Crazy. Social security numbers weren't even a thing until the 1930s. 

Since the lettering system in Chinese is ideographic (it represents ideas through pictures rather than through individual letters) it was not an option to have an alphabetized telephone book. So Wong would arrange the names geographically, based on where in Chinatown each phone was located. (page 71-72)

There's a great 99% Invisible episode on alphabetical order. I think about it a lot. 

I have a habit of smelling books before I read them. Perhaps I should call it by some other name than habit, something that denotes a degree of pleasure. It is not a fetish, nor is it a proclivity, as  I draw no illicit pleasure from it. I simply like to smell books before I read them. When presented with a new book (and I count as new any book that I've never held before), the first thing I do is open the pages to some random spot, insert my nose close to the binding, and take a good, hearty sniff. (page 126-127)

This is one of the weirdest things an author has confessed to, I think. 

...occasional visits to Gimbels department store on Eighty-sixth Street with my grandmother...(page 142)

iykyk

I've begun to anthropomorphize these books, and I wonder on occasion if they are curious and apprehensive about their fate...

When I happen across books that have been thrown away, I always feel a touch of despair that these volumes are so unloved that no one wants them...(page 178-179)

YES!! Maybe I'm weird like the author. 

Things I looked up:

cotter pin (page 24) - a simple, unthreaded metal fastener with two tines. It is inserted through a pre-drilled hole in a bolt, shaft, or clevis pin and its legs are bent outward to secure an assembly. It is primarily used to prevent other fasteners from loosening. It looks like a bobby pin. 

Schuylkill River (page 28) - a river in eastern Pennsylvania in the United States. It flows for 135 miles from Pottsville southeast to Philadelphia where it joins the Delaware River as one of its largest tributaries

Karle Hoefle phone book covers (page 83) - From 1959-1971, Karl Hoefle, a commercial artist from Dallas, designed covers for Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages in several cities. 

photo of Thomas Dewey sitting on phone books (page 86) - Oh, man. Life magazine did Dewey wrong here. In 1944, he was the Republican governor of New York state running against FDR in the presidential election. In the March 20 edition of Life, there was a long article about Dewey in the governor's mansion in Albany. The caption reads: The Executive Chamber, rarely used except for clemency hearings, is a cavernous, mahogany-walled relic of past governors and state grandeur. Around window (clockwise) are portraits of Lafayette and Governors Odell, Cleveland, and Seward. The desk in this room is so large, the chair so deep, that Tom Dewey sits on two telephone books when being photographed here. (italics mine) Ouch.

My level of dedication is that I looked up the March 20 edition of Life to see this photo. YOU ARE WELCOME.

Princess phone (page 114) - The Princess telephone was introduced by the Bell System in 1959. It was a compact telephone designed for convenient use in the bedroom, and contained a light-up dial for use as a night-light. It was commonly advertised with the slogan "It's little...It's lovely...It lights"

By User:Mcheath - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25763482

A woman named Jolis Paons created an entire dress out of nothing more than part of a copy of the white pages (Indianapolis, I believe). From a slight distance it looks like a delicate fabric, light gray folded hundreds of times with crisp lines that make it look like a new and special material. On closer inspection, the numbers begin to become apparent, but it still doesn't look like anything like a mass of crumpled and folded paper, which is essentially what it is. (page 186)

I want to wear this dress. 

Hat mentions (why hats?): 

That an instrument as common and simple as the telephone needed instructions may come as a surprise, almost as if it turned out that nineteenth-century Americans needed written assistance to put on their hats. (page 37)

*****************

Do you have a phone book in your house? When is the last time you used it? Would you wear that dress? 

The Enchanted Greenhouse (Spellshop #2) by Sarah Beth Durst

Just earlier this month I read The Spellshop, which is the first book in the Spellshop series by Sarah Beth Durst. It was just cozy enough for me immediately download the second book in the series, The Enchanted Greenhouse, as soon as I finished the first one. 

You may recall that there was an enchanted sentient spider plant named Caz in the first book. Caz was created by Terlu, a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium. She was convicted of illegal magic and sentenced to be turned into a wooden statue who was displayed in the library as a warning to others. Well, you may also remember from the first book that the empire fell. When that happened, the spell holding Terlu stopped working and Terlu wakes up to find herself on a mostly deserted island filled with greenhouses in the freezing cold of winter. 

And then there are more magical plants. And a grumpy gardener who bakes. I am verklempt. These books are so nearly perfect. I just wish Terlu had a bit more of an edge to her. She's kind of too nice and perfect and forgiving, which is a great tone for this type of cozy fantasy, but does sort of annoy me a tiny bit after awhile. 

But! You know what? If you like cats with wings, talking plants, ghosts of sorcerers, and a dream of living on island with just one other person, you'll like this book. 4.5/5 stars

Lines of note:

But Terlu had pushed too hard to be friends and had ended up pushing her away. You’re a lot, Eilia had told her, after she’d asked to meet up for the third time in the same week and baked her a tray of ginger cookies with orange zest. It’s nothing personal, Eilia had said, but at this point in my life, I don’t have the time and energy for a lot. (location 1186)

I think I'm a lot? Probably.

A tiny dragon, about the size of a teacup, shot between the stalks. It breathed a candle-size spurt of fire at Lotti and then soared upward. (location 1989)

TINY DRAGONS! Bestill my heart. I didn't even know this was going to be a dragon book, but here we are.

After Laiken died, my father said his spirit lingered to lecture him about the care of orchids for three hours, before finally falling silent.” “Orchids are fussy,” Lotti said, dismissing the one she’d paused beside. (location 2300)

I knew reading The Orchid Thief would pay off for me eventually.

Thing I looked up:

halophyte (location 3175) - a salt-tolerant plant that grows in soil or waters of high salinity, coming into contact with saline water through its roots or by salt spray

Hat mentions (why hats?):

On top of a pile of watering cans, gloves, hats, pine cones, and various glittering rocks—the dragons’ treasure—was the little resurrection rose. (location 2093)

The child, wearing a new hat and mittens, was skipping through the snow. (location 6354)

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If you could have a tiny dragon the size of a teacup as a pet, would you? Or would you prefer a cat with wings? They don't get along, so you have to choose.