Speaking of putting books in the freezer, I don't know if I'm going to get past the first chapter of Ocean at the End of the Lane. Maybe I should switch to The Night Circus.

That's too bad. I loved The Ocean at the End of the Lane so much that as soon as I finished reading it, I ordered the audiobook so I could "read" it again. I've never finished The Night Circus, and it is for the silliest of the reasons. The end papers make me dizzy and nauseated even when I only catch at little glimpse of them. I may have to buy the kindle edition to be able to read it.

I'm currently reading Doctor Sleep by Stephen King. I read The Shining for the first time last week and then jumped right into this sequel. It's weird because I found The Shining to be completely terrifying, but I'm just finding Doctor Sleep to be very entertaining but not really scary.

Thanks for making me guffaw in my office, Jesse.

I loved The Ocean at the End of the Lane so much that as soon as I finished reading it

The kitten was just so sad! If it's not going to keep pummeling me like that, though, I'll keep going.

-t, sorry. I forgot about that. There are no more animals killed or in peril that I remember. Kids in peril but not animals.

However, I am apparently cold hearted because scenes like that don't really upset me into not reading things/watching things in the same way it does other buffistas.

Thanks! Peril I can handle. I assume anyway.

I don't know why that hit me quite so hard. These things happen sometimes.

I finished Doctor Sleep and now I need to decide what to read next. Maybe the new short story collection by Patricia Briggs or Landline by Rainbow Rowell.

sj, I just finished City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett and loved it. Epic fantasy about a world that killed their gods, where the colonized became colonizers, and now here's a murder mystery in a beatdown city. Smart, clever WoC protagonist with two middle-aged women as supporting characters. It digs into its serious concepts as much as you want it to, but it also has a wonderful sense of fun to it so it never veers into grimdark.

Thanks, Sunil. I'll look into that one, but for now I'm going to try to stick to books I already own. There are plenty to choose from.

I hear you! Figured you were covered, but I did want to drop that rec in here for anyone else.

With working at the library bookstore, I'm definitely buying quicker than I can read, and I bought a few books on vacation last month to support the independent bookstores.