Weekly Mews: Welcome November (I think) / My November TBR List Poll (Please Vote!)

I am linking up to the Sunday Post hosted by Kim of Caffeinated Book Reviewer, where participants recap our week, talk about what we are reading, share any new books that have come our way, and whatever else we want to talk about. I am also linking The Sunday Salon hosted by Deb Nance of Readerbuzz where participants discuss what they are reading and other bookish topics. I am linking up to Nicole of Feed Your Addiction's Monthly Wrap-Up Post, where any book bloggers who write monthly wrap-up posts can link up and visit other bloggers to see what they have been reading.   I am linking to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Team Tynga's Reviews and Marlene of Reading Reality a meme in which participants share what new books came their way recently. 

New to the Shelves:

A couple of these were must haves on my wish list but the others were on sale (and also on my wish list), so I could not resist. As you can probably tell, I am continuing to fill out some of my cozy series.  

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow 

The Testaments (The Handmaid's Tale #2) by Margaret Atwood

Daughter of Black Lake by Cathy Marie Buchanan

Body on Baker Street  (Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery #2) by Vicki Delany

A Scandal in Scarlet  (Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery #4) by Vicki Delany

There's a Murder Afoot (Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery #5) by Vicki Delany

Past Due for Murder (A Blue Ridge Library Mystery #3) by Victoria Gilbert

Bound for Murder (A Blue Ridge Library Mystery # 4) by Victoria Gilbert

What I Am Reading: I currently am reading Together, Apart which is a YA short story collection set during the pandemic. I am three stories in and enjoyed them quite a bit. Next up will be Leads and Lynxes by Rebecca Chastain. I have enjoyed many of her previous books and am looking forward to this new one.

What I Am Watching: Season 2 of Mandalorian has gotten off to a good start. My husband and I love the show. We also are continuing with our Buffy the Vampire Slayer re-watch and have made it to season 3. I do not remember Xander being so annoying the first time around. And I was so excited when Anya made her first appearance (I named one of my cats after her; sadly, one who is no longer with us).  

For Halloween Mouse and I had a Halloweentown marathon and followed it up with Hocus Pocus and The Nightmare Before Christmas. My husband joined us for the last two. They have become Halloween traditions for us. 

The following day, we had a Zoom movie date with three of Mouse's friends and their parents to watch The One and Only Ivan, which was our book/movie club pick for the month. The One and Only Ivan is based on a true story and is a bittersweet story. I think us moms had more of a discussion about the movie and book than the children did, but a couple of them had something to say about some of the major changes between the two, wanting to know why they were made. Our next book/movie club selection is Wonder, which just happens to be the book Mouse is reading with her class right now (ever so slowly). Neither Mouse nor I have seen the movie, and so we are looking forward to it.

Mouse recently made me sit through Disney's Zombies 1 and 2. They are cute musicals, and clearly my daughter has watched them more than I realized because she can sing along with all of the songs. We also saw Netflix's animated movie Over the Moon, which we both really liked. 

Off the Blog: October went by fairly fast. Towards the middle of the month, Mouse had a recital for a musical theater class she is taking in addition to her dance classes. We recorded all of her parts from home and the instructor put the final product together on his end. It was a bit of trial and error on our part, but I think we learned some things for next time! 

Our Halloween was a bit different this year. The county I live in is still in the most restrictive tier. We moved up a tier for a short while, only to slide right back to where we were before. The county strongly encouraged people not to trick-or-treat, which some people chose to ignore. We chose not to and made our own fun at home. Besides a movie day/night, we delivered goody bags to a handful of Mouse's friends around town and had had trick-or-treating stations set up for Mouse around the house. We timed the deliveries as best we could in order for us to catch her friends at home for waves and brief chats with them from a safe distance (masked, of course). She came home with as many goodies as she gave, I think! While at first Mouse was disappointed she couldn't go trick-or-treating around our neighborhood, she ended up having a great day. 

The first trimester of school has come to an end, and my husband and I met (remotely) with Mouse's teacher to hear about her progress. There were not too many surprises. The teacher had a lot of positive things to say about her. We learned that he was voluntold he would be teaching virtually this school year, having requested to be in the classroom, but he has come to really like the format. He feels he is getting to know the students more online than he was with them in the classroom. Having talked to some of my teacher friends, I know his experience varies widely from theirs, but I am glad he has taken to it so well. It's better for the students too, in its own way, I'm sure.

My stress and anxiety levels have been sky-rocketing like just about everyone else's, I imagine. Work, schooling, health issues, the rising virus numbers, and now the U.S. Election are all contributing to that. As I write this, the Presidential Election still has not been called, although it seems clear which direction it will go. The current president continues to act the fool. I have seen a lot of people say they are surprised how close the election is, but in all honesty, I am not surprised at all. Disappointed, yes, but not surprised. The divide between us has only gotten bigger continues even now. There will be no quick fix for this. I am cautiously optimistic. 

[edited 8:45 a.m. Saturday to add that the Presidential Election has been called for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Is that hope I feel? What is this strange feeling?! I had forgotten what that was like! These next two and a half months will be difficult no doubt, especially given the current president refuses to accept the results. Even beyond that though, there is still much work to do. For today though, we will enjoy this moment.]

My coworker is napping on the job again. 

What I am grateful for: The cats we meet along our evening stroll who walk part of the way with us. That we survived the first trimester of school. For a short vacation and quality time with my family. And I am grateful for that tiny nugget of hope that good news is on its way.

This Past Week: 

• My Bookish Mewsings: The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
• Waiting to Read Wednesday: Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder & Homer's Odyssey
• Where Is Your Bookmark? (A Gorilla Named Ivan, Last Year's Christmas Romance & TBR Short Story Collections)

Here is what I finished reading in October:

• The Ghost in the Tree House (The Haunted Library #7) by Dori Hillestad Butler & Aurore Damant (il)
• Dr. Snow Has Got to Go! (My Weirder-est School #1) by Dan Gutman
• 15 Minutes of Flame (Nantucket Candle Maker #3) by Christin Brecher
• Magic Team (Unicorn School #6) by Linda Chapman
• The Hide-and-Seek Ghost (The Haunted Library #8) by Dori Hillestad Butler & Aurore Damant (il)
• The Ghosts at the Movie Theater (The Haunted Library #9) by Dori Hillestad Butler & Aurore Damant (il)
• A Deadly Education (Scholomance #1) by Naomi Novik
• The Underground Ghosts (The Haunted Library #10) by Dori Hillestad Butler & Aurore Damant (il)
• Mrs. Morris and the Ghost (Salem B&B Breakfast#1) by Traci Wilton
• The One and Only Ivan (#1) by Katherine Applegate
• In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren
• Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol

Mouse and I finished The Haunted Library series in October. My daughhter really enjoyed the series. As I mentioned earlier, Mouse and I participated in our first book/movie club. I was much more enthusiastic about reading The One and Only Ivan than Mouse was initially. I think she was questioning why we were bothering for the first few chapters, given how sad and "unexciting" it was (her word, not mine). Mouse prefers a bit more action in her books. Just the same, the more we read, the more she got into the story and really came to care for Ivan and his animal friends. Now she wants to read the sequel. I might have had to fight tears back a few times as we read the novel. I enjoyed it, and  it lead to good discussions about the treatment of animals.

Much of my personal reading fit in with the Halloween season, including squeezing in Anya's Ghost, a graphic novel, on Halloween itself. I even managed to fit a Christmas-themed romance in there. It was a good reading month over all!

This Past October In Reading Mews:

• Where Is Your Bookmark? (A Year Ago & Today - A Peek Into 15 Minutes of Flame)
• Weekly Mews: So Long September and Welcome October (Please Vote in My TBR Poll!)
• My Bookish Mewsings: Wolf Gone Wild & Don't Hex and Drive by Juliette Cross
• Waiting to Read Wednesday: Asylum City / Judge's Girls / Among the Beasts & Briars / A Page Marked for Murder
• Weekly Mews: Carpal Tunnel Woes & My October TBR List Winner!
• My Bookish Mewsings: Mexican Gothic / The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires / The Family Next Door
• Waiting to Read Wednesday: The House We Grew Up In / Murder in Old Bombay / Mimi Lee Reads Between the Lines / The Bright and Breaking Sea
• Where Is Your Bookmark? (Then & Now: Witches & Ghosts, Anyone?)
• My Bookish Mewings: 15 Minutes of Flame by Christin Brecher / Mrs. Morris and the Ghost by Traci Wilton
• Waiting to Read Wednesday: The Mermaid from Jeju & Day One
• Where Is Your Bookmark? (I Caved. It's Time for Holiday Romance - Then and Now)

Tell me what you have been up to! What are you reading, listening to and watching? How was your October? Do you have anything planned for this month?

Thank you for helping me decide what book from my TBR collection I should read next:

My TBR List is a meme hosted by the awesome Michelle at Because Reading. It’s a fun way to choose a book from your TBR pile to read. The 1st Saturday of every month, I will list 3 books I am considering reading and take a poll as to which you think I should read. I will read the winner that month, and my review will follow (unfortunately, not likely in the same month, but eventually--that's all I can promise). 

In honor of Science Fiction month, I thought I would get at least one science fiction novel in November with your help. These three have been sitting on my TBR shelf for a bit, and I think it's time I read one. Which one do you think I should read? 

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse (The Thorne Chronicles #1) by K. Eason 

First in a duology that reimagines fairy tale tropes within a space opera—The Princess Bride meets Princess Leia. Rory Thorne is a princess with thirteen fairy blessings, the most important of which is to see through flattery and platitudes. As the eldest daughter, she always imagined she’d inherit her father’s throne and govern the interplanetary Thorne Consortium. 

Then her father is assassinated, her mother gives birth to a son, and Rory is betrothed to the prince of a distant world.

When Rory arrives in her new home, she uncovers a treacherous plot to unseat her newly betrothed and usurp his throne. An unscrupulous minister has conspired to name himself Regent to the minor (and somewhat foolish) prince. With only her wits and a small team of allies, Rory must outmaneuver the Regent and rescue the prince. 

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse is a feminist reimagining of familiar fairytale tropes and a story of resistance and self-determination—how small acts of rebellion can lead a princess to not just save herself, but change the course of history. [Goodreads Summary]

Ignite the Stars (Ignite the Stars #1) by Maura Milan

Everyone in the universe knows his name. Everyone in the universe fears him. But no one realizes that notorious outlaw Ia Cōcha is a seventeen-year-old girl.

A criminal mastermind and unrivaled pilot, Ia has spent her life terrorizing the Olympus Commonwealth, the imperialist nation that destroyed her home. When the Commonwealth captures her and her true identity is exposed, they see Ia’s age and talent as an opportunity: by forcing her to serve them, they will prove that no one is beyond their control.

Soon, Ia is trapped at the Commonwealth’s military academy, desperately plotting her escape. But new acquaintances—including Brinn, a seemingly average student with a closely-held secret, and their charming Flight Master, Knives—cause Ia to question her own alliances. Can she find a way to escape the Commonwealth’s clutches before these bonds deepen? [Goodreads Summary]

Chilling Effect (Chilling Effect #1) by Valerie Valdes

A hilarious, offbeat debut space opera that skewers everything from pop culture to video games and features an irresistible foul-mouthed captain and her motley crew, strange life forms, exciting twists, and a galaxy full of fun and adventure.

Captain Eva Innocente and the crew of La Sirena Negra cruise the galaxy delivering small cargo for even smaller profits. When her sister Mari is kidnapped by The Fridge, a shadowy syndicate that holds people hostage in cryostasis, Eva must undergo a series of unpleasant, dangerous missions to pay the ransom.

But Eva may lose her mind before she can raise the money. The ship’s hold is full of psychic cats, an amorous fish-faced emperor wants her dead after she rejects his advances, and her sweet engineer is giving her a pesky case of feelings. The worse things get, the more she lies, raising suspicions and testing her loyalty to her found family.

To free her sister, Eva will risk everything: her crew, her ship, and the life she’s built on the ashes of her past misdeeds. But when the dominoes start to fall and she finds the real threat is greater than she imagined, she must decide whether to play it cool or burn it all down. [Goodreads Summary]

Thank you for voting! I hope you all have a wonderful week! Happy Reading!

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