Sorry for kind of disappearing last week. I didn’t intend on taking a blog break but last week was quite busy at work and just didn’t have a lot of energy to come up with blog posts. Luckily this weekend I was able to rest, work out and just clear my mind a bit.

We’ve definitely had a change in weather which is nice and you can now see we are in the fall season as the trees are losing more leaves. Around the neighborhood we see quite a few homes decorated for Halloween and I’ve seen some creative decorations. One of our neighbors has several skeletons on display and they are all wearing face masks.

This weekend my husband and I attended another virtual concert and this was for New Model Army which has been a favorite band of my husband’s for a long time. We’ve actually seen them live a few times and we were excited because we were planning to see them in Berlin this summer but well, as many things, that didn’t happen thanks to Covid-19. So not quite the same to see them from the comfort of our bedroom as opposed to some cool bar in Berlin but maybe another time.

Then another exciting thing was the arrival of this turquoise Kaweco Sport Skyline pen. It is so pretty and quite affordable when it comes to fountain pens. I have an extra fine nib and it is definitely on the scratchy side but it doesn’t bother me. I’ll say this again, if you do not like your handwriting or maybe find it hard to keep going in your journals, etc. think about using a fountain pen. They are so much fun to use although beware they can be addictive. One day I should post about my collection which has grown significantly in just a couple of years.

Anyway, that’s the latest around here. I hope you are all doing well and staying safe and more bookish talk soon.

I’m back with another post about some new releases for the month. Thank you to Netgalley for the review copies.

The Wrong Kind of Women by Sarah McCraw Crow. A story set in the late 70s and features a woman who didn’t like outspoken, never-married women but now that her husband has died she’s relying on them and maybe changing her attitude about the women’s movement.

A Lover’s Discourse by Xiaolu Guo. A Chinese woman moves from Beijing to London for a doctoral program—and to begin a new life—just as the Brexit campaign reaches a fever pitch. Isolated and lonely in a Britain increasingly hostile to foreigners, she meets a landscape architect and the two begin to build a life together.

Simmer Down by Sarah Smith. A rom-com about two chefs trying to be the best one of the food truck scene at the Maui Food Festival. This sounds like a fun light-hearted read.

The Witch Hunter by Max Seeck, translated by Kristian London. A bestselling author’s wife has been found dead in a gorgeous black evening gown, sitting at the head of an empty dining table. Her most chilling feature—her face is frozen in a ghastly smile. This could be my next R.I.P. XV read.

Little Bones by N V Peacock. My father was Mr Bones – the notorious serial killer of 25 years ago. As a child I witnessed his crimes. Everything is different now. I have a new identity. I’m a mother. I am finally free. Until that podcast. I should never have listened. Wow, maybe this one could be my next R.I.P. XV read.

Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda, translated by Polly Barton.  In this witty and exuberant collection of linked stories, Aoko Matsuda takes the rich, millenia-old tradition of Japanese folktales–shapeshifting wives and foxes, magical trees and wells–and wholly reinvents them, presenting a world in which humans are consoled, guided, challenged, and transformed by the only sometimes visible forces that surround them.

Quite a variety of books. Where would you start?