Friday Reads 10-16-2026
The days just fly by! Halfway through October. Good thing I already have my costume ready. I am going back to my old standby of the Grim Reader. A black robe and an enormous book. Oh I hope I'm PIC on Halloween.
Anyway, let's talk about books. Here's what is on the docket.
Humble Pi by Matt Parker - I am still enjoying this little book. I keep forgetting to calculate how far I am in the book. Since the pages go backward, it's not as easy as looking at the page number. At least once my math haas been bad and I got it wrong. Oops. Just by eyeballing it, I'd say I'm about 2/3 through it.
As You Wake, Break the Shell by Becky Chambers - I'm at the 70% mark, but this one has been put on hold because I have suddenly felt like listening to music again. I'm sure my mood will swing back the other way eventually and I'll get it finished. It still appears to be a lesbian love story in space.
Circe by Madeline Miller - These pages turn pretty quickly, but I haven't had a lot of reading time this week. I have made it about a quarter through. She has been stuck on her island and Hermes has turned up to tell her the prophecy of Odysseus visiting one day.
One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig - I pulled this off the shelf, but I haven't cracked it open yet. Again with the lack of reading time.
I did some math and realized that I am usually only home 2 evenings a week. Some weeks only 1. No wonder I have no reading time. I'm only home on "weekends" if I don't have a church responsibility or work or an afternoon responsibility on Sundays, and Mondays are appointment days. Weekends are not excluded from those evenings away from home. Sunday evenings are rehearsals and Monday evenings are a different rehearsal. I guess I should be grateful for a full life.
The Bad-ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer - I DNFed this at about 75 pages. I just did not care. This one guy was going around Africa trying to get regular folks to give him their manuscripts of ancient Islamic texts passed down through generations and hidden from the colonizers. Yeah, I wouldn't want to hand those over, either. When they got poor enough, they would accept payment in food and money. Timbuktu was once a renowned center for learning, before the French came in and started removing everything Islam. As they do. It was too slow for me. A lot of telling and no showing. Just not great.
This weekend, we do not have game night, so I might get some reading time in after work. I have things to do Sunday afternoon before rehearsals, and I need to focus on chores. On Monday, I have two appointments, but I don't expect they will go later than 3:00. Then I have bells at 6:30. I might get some reading time in. We'll find out. One of the appointments involves sitting in a waiting room, so hopefully some reading might happen there.
That's the plan, Jan. Happy reading!