october 2024
hello! this month was full of very stressful real life stuff, so I didn’t engage with much that was new to me (although I did spend many hours playing every extra level available for Powerwash Simulator). i will refrain from going over familiar territory beyond to say powerwash sim: still good. especially if your brain is all a-buzz.
read: Starling House by Alix E. Harrow (2023). i learned about this book from my friend Felicia Davin’s very good newsletter Word Suitcase, and i encourage you to follow that link and read her review because it’s great in the way that only reviews that are deeply personal can be. what i’ll say about this book is that it felt very autumnal to me despite no part of it taking place in the autumn, which i liked very much. it follows Opal, who lives in poverty in coal country kentucky and feels very drawn to the town’s resident Haunted House, and Arthur, the owner of the house and the first line of defense against otherworldly forces nobody else knows about. it’s about trauma, and monsters, and learning that you’re maybe not as alone in the world as you assumed.
game: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (2018). i tried to play the first ac game waaaay back and did not like it one bit. after hearing from friends for years that this one was different, i picked up a used copy and gave it a shot. and my pals were right! this game is different. mostly because it’s not really an assassin’s creed game, i think. but i spent over 160 hours playing it, so it’s safe to say i loved it. as the name implies, it’s set in ancient greece, which (as someone who has studied the art of ancient greece as well as visited modern greece) i got a kick out of. it’s the most open world game i’ve ever played, a consequence of which was i’d side-quest my way into the conclusions of some of the game’s mysteries before i got to them in the plot. still very fun!
snaps: i reconnected with a past love (film photography) in september, and got my film back this month. i’m still finding my feet, but overall am enjoying the process. here’s a good one i think:
read: Rough Pages by Lev AC Rosen (2024). the newest book in rosen’s queer noir series is out, and it does not disappoint. what i love about this series is that is doesn’t whitewash history—there was a lot of danger in being queer in the 1950s, and rosen does not disguise that. but he’s also very good at highlighting the joy that comes with letting yourself love and be loved in a way that makes it clear that the risk is worth it. this mystery revolves around a subscription book club for queer literature, which i also loved. sending anything that could be viewed as “obscenity” through the mail was a real issue, as evidenced by the supreme court’s ruling in 1957’s roth v. united states. the book balances fear and joy, fact and fiction in a very satisfying way.
watch: restoration videos. i’ve never really fallen prey to the siren song of youtube. until now. i’ve discovered videos about cleaning and restoring old objects back to usability, and i am obsessed. rescue & restore is my current favourite, but i LOVED this 1930s lamp restoration. when the restorer turned it on at the end, i cheered. might get super into lamp repair as a hobby! we’ll see.
dog:
cat:
