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October 28th: Favourite place to read

I admit, I already posted this picture way back in August. But it still applies.

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Garth Nix - The Left-Handed Booksellers of London

Book 1 in the Left-Handed Booksellers of London series

18 year-old Susan Arkshaw travels to London in an attempt to figure out who her father is from her mother's rather vague clues. Soon after arriving, she gets mixed up in magic and the rather dangerous Booksellers - both the Left-Handed, who use weapons to fight magical beings, and the Right-Handed who are skilled in magic of their own.

It's set in 1980s England, and the magic is of the folklore sort where everything runs on rules, but the rules don't have to make any sense. Merlin, an attractive Left-Handed Bookseller, presents as either male or female depending on his mood, and no-one seems to care, which is more accepting than I expected 1980s England to be, but it might also be down to subcultures or Bookseller magic. Similarly, there is no sexism depicted within the Bookseller hierarchy, with women in all ranks and job descriptions.

I enjoyed this book. It's full of attempted murders and kidnappings and events that are very high stakes to the people trying to survive them, but there are quieter and sillier times to balance them out and give the plot space to breathe. Recommended.

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Cozy Sunday morning.

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Cover Reveal for THE ENCHANTED GREENHOUSE

COVER REVEAL!!! So over-the-moon excited to share with you the cover of my next cozy fantasy, THE ENCHANTED GREENHOUSE! Gorgeous art by Lulu Chen and design by Esther S. Kim. With cool mint sprayed edges!! Coming July 2025 from Bramble!

THE ENCHANTED GREENHOUSE is set in the same world as THE SPELLSHOP. It's about Terlu Perna, the librarian who created Caz and was transformed into a wooden statue as punishment. That should have been the end of her story. Yet one day, Terlu wakes up…

I am so absolutely in love with the cover, and I can't wait for this book to be out in the world!

Now available for pre-order!

http://www.sarahbethdurst.com/EnchantedGreenhouse.htm

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Current read

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Wow, I had forgotten how incredibly good House ep 01-21 "Three stories" is. The construction of the episode, the acting, the twists, the story itself. Loved it!

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I can see it

https://x.com/RentnerdaDz/status/1893760435028938777?t=PbV4dCiw-MVKnGcX9ZiOHw&s=19

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*deep breath* I understand that people are mostly kidding about Carmilla being more explicit about homosexual attraction than Dracula. I do, I promise. I'm not the joke police.

But please also consider two complicating factors:

1. Dracula was published later after Oscar Wilde's trial, where homoerotic literature was used as a way to prove sodomy. The Picture of Dorian Grey is also more explicitly homosexual than Dracula, to Wilde's detriment.

2. There is a complicated discussion to be had about girls having crushes on other girls being more permissable as long as she grows up and marries anyway. Lesbianism was more "unimaginable" in Victorian society because of the presumption that you grow out of it with social pressure. You, hypothetical Victorian woman, don't get that much choice about your sexual partners anyway.

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Isn't that what life is about? Forging forward with the answer you have – stumbling along the way and picking yourself up - only to one day realise that the answer you've held on to for a long time is not the right one. When that happens, it's time to look for the next answer.

Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop, Hwang Bo-Reum

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September 12th: I am reading this next

Sorry, I have no idea what I might be reading next, so just a picture of my bookshelf. And one of my cats.

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Der Lindner schmeißt das Handtuch und zieht sich aus der Politik zurück 🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀

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Fml I guess

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And what do we say to the election in Germany?