
I love doilies, and this one is amazing!
Central Illinois book lover, cat lover, CPA

I love doilies, and this one is amazing!


I love Becky Chambers. Psalm for the Wild Built was one of my favorites from 2022.


Dutch House was one of my favorite reads from 2022.


I actually split between reading and listening to the audiobook. It was long either way! I didn’t care for it as much as I thought I would. The first part took me a while to get into, I loved the second part, but after
Maidenhair dies
it was all downhill.


In very roughly descending order:
Auē by Becky Manawatu
Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson
Open Throat by Henry Hoke
Autumn by Ali Smith
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
Home by Toni Morrison
Gnomon by Nick Harkaway
Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente
The Book of M by Peng Shepherd
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
The Overstory by Richard Powers
The Door by Magda Szabó
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin


I had a cat that was maybe 6 or 7 years old when she suddenly started having seizures. After a seizure, she’d be wobbly for a few days, then eventually back to normal… until it happened again. Vet couldn’t figure out what was going on. We decided to try to track when she had the seizures—was it when she ate something out of the ordinary, got exposed to something unusual, on a recurring schedule? That sort of thing. We quickly found out that within a day or two of giving her a dose of Frontline flea treatment (the kind you drip on the back of their neck) she’d have a seizure. We stopped giving her Frontline and she never had another seizure.

It turned out beautifully!

Just want to say that (a) I love the pattern and colors, and (b) it doesn’t look horribly wonky to me. Blocking might improve it, but I don’t think it needs “saving.”


I hadn’t thought about it, but it sounds like a fun idea, so I’ve checked out The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers, a horror classic that’s been on my to-read list for a while: “a collection of spine-tingling horror stories that are woven together by a fictional play called The King in Yellow.”
So cute! And done in plenty of time for Halloween!


American here, but I agree with a traditionally Polish or German gift. I’ve always thought Polish pottery is lovely.


I’m so happy to see “A Song for Lya” on your list. It’s one of my favorite SF stories!


American here, and I’ve never heard anyone seriously answer the phone this way. I did have a co-worker who would answer “Go for Mike” as a joke when he knew the caller. I had the impression it was from silly comedy or sit-com or meme that went around for a while.


I just wanted to add this link to xkcd’s survey results about color names because it’s fun and possibly relevant.
Cute! For the hair, uou could use strands of eyelash yarn or chenille or something super fuzzy, maybe?
Lou Reed - Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal


I left GoodReads because I try to have as little to do with Amazon as possible. I tried StoryGraph but never warmed up to it. I realize LibraryThing has some indirect Amazon ownership, but I found it an acceptable compromise.


I recently read How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu, which I really liked. It is science fictional, though, but maybe not…maybe more surreal. Jorge Luis Borges, Italo Calvino, David Markson. I started Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavić many years ago, got interrupted, and haven’t got back to it, but I definitely need to because it was so intriguing in form.
I made a sweater!