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Facets of Fiction 2025 - the 5 Stars

Presented in chronological order as read throughout the year. Conspiracy of Ravens  - Lila Bowen (2nd in The Shadow series). Weird queer Western/horror with dark peeks into how the past treats a mixed-race shapeshifter in the Wild West. The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story. Olga Tokarczuk. So many vibes. Kind of slow and inexorable, which is perfect for horror when I have a patience. My Heart is a Chainsaw - Stephen Graham Jones. Lots of name dropping slasher lore that went over my head, but the way the main character Jade obsessively uses story tropes to shield herself from the world made me sympathize with her. Also, hole full of rotten elk meat and viscera, anyone? The water and swimming in this were way freaky. The ending felt abrupt, but fitting. I'm so curious about the next book given the (massive) death toll in this one. It was all a dream, trope? (And then I messed up and read a completely different book, thinking it was the second in the trilogy, d'oh). I Was ...
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Reading List 2025

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Straight stats (j/k there were barely any straight books on this list)  Total (physical) books: 20  Total audiobooks: 135  Total graphic novels: 10  Total picture books: 3  Altogether now: 168  Hours listened: 1,375 aka 57 days (try that 1.25 speed, you might like it)  Pages read: 7,483  Biggest reading month: March, with 19 books.  Tied for least reading, July and October. July was too hot, and October I had just started a new job.  Big Genres: Mystery (47), Horror (25), Nonfiction (17), LGBTQ (11), Thriller (10) Horror with a bullet, since 13 out of my 23 5-star books (and my fiction honorable mention!) are all horror.  Even though they led with pure numbers only 4 mystery books ended up with 5 star from me, and three were from the same series.  I absolutely love the Karma series by Jonathan Ames, A Man Named Doll, Wheel of Doll, and Karma Doll . The other mysteries were mostly popcorn, crunchy, fun, forgettable. The 4th 5...
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Garden in Spring

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Today I put the indoor plants out in the sun and the wind and let them drink in a little bit of freedom.  The red salvia has a bud, and one of the cosmos has already opened one maroon bloom.  Plants are ready to get this party started.  The tomatoes are looking solid, and the peppers are short and lush.  The soil is still far too cold for them, but we are nearing the day of--probably-outdated--Chicago's last average frost.   Things I love in the garden right now: The mysterious plant pushing up through the patio pavers. It isn't Japanese knotweed since the stems aren't hollow, and it oozes white, milky sap when broken.  It is admirable in its tenacity, looking at the stems I can tell I've cut this plant down multiple times in the past and it just keeps forcing its way towards light. The tallest hops vines were knee height when I got home, now they're well above the tops of those posts and reaching for the roofline.  If I put my ear up close to the...
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And Then... I Came Home

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  Somewhere over Texas at dusk. Home is....Home is...Home is here?  Where I am?  Confusing.   I flew home on April 16th, the longest day of my life since it clocked in at a full 48 hours as I crossed the international dateline.  I had the best kind of air travel: dull, routine, no strange hiccups or interactions or even distressed babies.  I watched Conclave before restlessly sleeping, while the kid in front of me (on the way to an international cheerleading competition in Orlando, FL) watched Peter Rabbit 2. I didn't even know there was a Peter Rabbit 1 movie.  The cassocks and robes of office on one screen, the blue velveteen coat and rabbit ears on the other.  I didn't touch my book (to read or write) and I didn't do any knitting.  Best intentions always lose.  It is like when I make a to do list as I fall asleep, and in the morning I don't even know who that person was.  The Houston customs terminal was stuffy but spacious ...
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A List of Birds (aka Playing with the Merlin App in Australia)

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Did you know that Australia has more than a dozen types of pigeon?  This seems highly unnecessary, but also delightful.   Rock Pigeon White-headed Pigeon Crested Pigeon Spinifex Pigeon Squatter Pigeon Chestnut-quilled Rock-Pigeon White-quilled Rock-Pigeon Wonga Pigeon Christmas Island Imperial-Pigeon Torresian Imperial-Pigeon Topknot Pigeon Aaaaand there's even the Common Bronzewing, which is a gorgeous rainbow bird who is a pigeon in family but for some reason not in name? Bronzewing photograph care of Leo/0ystercatcher on Flickr. Australian animals are in a whole other level of striking.  I got to see some wild koalas sitting in trees at the roadside, and some "wild" grey kangaroos grazing on a golf course, but I was most struck by the incredible variety and incredible onomatopoeia naming conventions of the birdlife.  Yes, Australian marsupials rule, but have you heard of these bad birds? There isn't just a Beach Thick-knee but also a Bush Thick-knee.  Th...
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Tour de Toilet - New Zealand's

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     New Zealand public toilets are plentiful - most often unisex single stalls with strong flushes. A lot of the toilets have water saving two button flush system, but the signage for which is the large amount of water flush vs the small amount is usually obfuscated, incomprehensible, or simply unmarked. Hallelujah, it's labeled! Relatively few places (less than half) have gender-assigned toilets, mainly large institutional bathrooms like schools and airports.  Most toilets are single-stall cubicles with narrow walls and narrower sinks. The long drop toilet is likely what you'll encounter at the more remote trailheads. This is a lovely and succinct way to describe what should go in the toilet, point three really hammers it home. This toilet in my Wellington Airbnb was unhinged, it opened its lid every time the bathroom door opened.  Unnecessarily evoking a real "Feed me, Seymour" vibe.  Look at all those spray pattern options, you could really make art w...
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Akaroa, Originally French, Now Just Fanciful

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Akaroa is a small town on the Banks Peninsula, remnant of a failed attempt of the French to get a toehold into the "Let us Europeans colonize the South Pacific!" game of the1800s.  A French whaler doctored a deed in 1838 saying he owned the Banks Peninsula, and on this flimsy piece of paper he was able to raise enough money back in France to outfit a whaling ship with a few colonists to return.  So in 1840, 57 settlers survived the Pacific passage (some died on the voyage) to found Akaroa, in Akaroa Harbour.  The settlers were mostly French but 12 of them were Germans.  I'm sure there was something Catholic going on with that, and a quick history skim shows there was some crackdown on practicing Catholicism and inter-religion marriages in the 1830s-40s.  Of course as soon as there was a village they built a little Catholic church, and some of the settlers had some specifically to be missionaries, with a plan to proselytize and convert the native Maori, who also ...
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