Ruth Sadelle Alderson

Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack is a middle grade historical fantasy novel with a Jewish protagonist. I enjoyed the Jewish elements. It was a little bit not my style, but mostly just because it was for a much younger audience.

Ankle recovery update: the PA at the ortho clinic was very reassuringly calm about it. I can keep walking in the boot, and they gave me an ankle brace for when I'm ready for that. (And "ready" is up to me and how it feels.)

I liked it a lot! I also realized late last night that it reminded me of Once More From the Top by Emily Layden, which I also loved.

I really enjoyed The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan. It's an engrossing and queer novel about an author and the history behind her and her pseudonym and the things she's running from. I recommend it!

Ankle recovery update: I left work early because I was done and came home and napped for a bit. My parents came over this evening and did some chores for me, including my laundry. I have paid for Instacart+ since I will be Instacarting many things for at least a couple of months.

What are your best suggestions for vegan or easily veganizable meals that require little to no preparation? (I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to eat while I'm not particularly mobile.)

Shutter by Ramona Emerson is fine. It's a novel about a photographer who sees ghosts. It's more about her history than the case it's supposed to be about. It's not a thriller, even though it claims to be.

a pumpkin carved with horizontal lines forming an image of a face

Happy Halloween! Here is the pumpkin The Great Pumpkin ( aka my dad) left me this year. I did a different thing for virtual trick-or-treating this year and posted some treats in the comments for anyone to enjoy: rsadelle.dreamwidth.org/560001.html

Luckily it was my left ankle, so I can still drive. Also, I had already planned to take tomorrow off, so I will be resting instead of running errands.

I fell while walking this morning (catching the edge of the asphalt in a part of my street that doesn't have sidewalks) and twisted my ankle. I'm glad I went to urgent care because it turns out I managed to fracture the lateral malleolus. They gave me a boot and a referral.

By the way, I have spent all day thinking that there needs to be more fic featuring fleshlights and then cracking up about it. (But, really, if I were a BNF, I would be running some sort of challenge about it. And insisting on a canonical tag.)

Have you ever heard the phrase "alfresco doors"? I am running into it in a piece of fic and I can't tell if this author is doing something weird or if it's a regionalism or translation from another language. They appear to just be regular sliding doors onto a patio.

Friends, semi-regular reminder that this exists if you want to join us! Our next three books are Shutter by Ramona Emerson (November 1), Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant (December 6), and The Change by Kirsten Miller (January 3).

If you need shirts or stickers with (mostly psychedelic) chemistry research puns, here is an Etsy shop for you: www.etsy.com/shop/prafits It includes explanations if you don't get the jokes. If you buy things there, you will be supporting a cool nerd (full disclosure: my brother) and his orange cat.

I made one of the classic blunders (bought Halloween candy too early and have now eaten half the bag).

I will say the one thing I liked better about having a longer commute of mostly freeway driving (as opposed to now when it's in town for as much as a whole ten minutes if there's traffic) is that it did give me more of a transition time to just be in the car and sing along to the radio.

I could use (a) virtual hugs/commiseration, (b) advice on how not to think about work all the time, (c) ideas on how to add enrichment to my life/enclosure in ways that aren't more stressful to implement than they would be good for me.

My boss who was on leave all summer came back briefly and then resigned. Given our hiring timelines, I'm going to be doing at least half of that job at least through the end of the year.

I'm watching a TV show Hugh Dancy is in, and every time I see him, I think he's Burn Gorman. Unanswered question: do they actually look alike or is this my not being able to identify celebrities striking again?

The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins is well-written. I enjoyed it. It also wasn't what I expected given the other books of hers I've read - it wasn't focused on violence against women and it fit more closely into genre conventions.

Sci fi book club read Starter Villain by John Scalzi. It was so fun! It was funny and not too realistic and I enjoyed it a lot. Be sure to read the bonus story at the end, which is also very funny.

Some friends and I watched Doom At Your Service over the last couple of months. It's a Korean show that made me feel a lot of feelings - I laughed, I cried, I clapped with delight. The side characters include a love triangle that really could have been fixed with a threesome.

Nothing like a fire alarm at the end of the day to get your heart rate up. (The childcare people always apologize when we have to evacuate because one of the small children pulled the alarm, but I think it's better than there being an actual fire.)

Favor by Kiki Clark is a perfectly serviceable contemporary m/m novella. It's a fairly basic romance novel, and I did enjoy it, but not as much as some of her other books.

Shana tova, Jewish friends! May you have a sweet new year.

Friends, if you look at winter clothes, let me know if you run into any sort of petite long-sleeve straight silhouetted dresses/tunics that fall somewhere between mid-thigh and knee-length and can go in the washer and dryer. (I live in hope every year that this seemingly simple thing will exist.)

Things Don't Break on Their Own by Sarah Easter Collins is a very good mystery. Queer women, feelings, secrets that become slowly revealed, contrasting families. CN: domestic violence including child abuse, implied murder, pregnancy loss.

Me, continually rereading the same few stories from a long-ago fandom: How is there no mpreg where Danny's the one who gets pregnant?

The funniest thing that happened to me today was that I, in my 2002 Civic, was at a stoplight and then merging onto the freeway behind a Hummer and in front of a Cybertruck.

Book club read The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. I'd read it before and thought it was good, and I enjoyed it this time too. The looping and connecting stories are so well done in a fairy tale way. The people who did audio book found it a bit confusing, but everyone generally liked it.