Then And Now #10 (9/27-10/3)

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted @ Caffeinated Reviewer. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.  It is hosted weekly over at Mailbox Monday and every Friday they do a round-up of some of their favourite, shared reads! 

Last Week

What a week! First of all, it's October, how did that even happen! What's next, November?! Time is flying but thankfully most of that time is being spent on fun things. I had a great meet-up with friends and I continue to really enjoy my lectures at university! There does also seem to be the option of another assistantship with a lecturer of mine on a Medievalism book, which would be great fun. I also know there is a great new show on Netflix which I can't wait to binge this Halloween-month, Midnight Mass, by the creator of The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor. Can't wait to dig into that as the weather turns stormy and the nights turn dark. I also sent of two paper proposals to conferences, so fingers crossed! I'm definitely attending one of them, but the other one would be a great extra experience! 

On the less yay side, as I mentioned last week, our washing machine gave up its ghost. We got a new one through family friends of mine yesterday but now that one also isn't working properly. Basically, I spent most of Saturday, literally from like 10am to 5pm, on removing the old washing machine, calling the landlord for help, installing the new washing machine, running the new washing machine, realizing the new washing machine was not draining, mopping, wringing out wet clothes, mopping some more, etc. I was utterly done by 5pm, as I'm sure you can imagine. Do I ever want to see another washing machine? No. Is this the worst thing to ever happen to anyone? No. Do I really need to wash my clothes? Yes. Laundrette it is! If the weather complies, that's where I'll be spending today. 

What I posted:

• Friday Friyay: Mrs Caliban by Rachel Ingalls
• Review: My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix, narr. by Emily Woo Zeller
• SpoOoOOky October Reading List
• Review: Mrs Caliban (Faber Editions) by Rachel Ingalls

Recommendations

A week or so ago I saw that Audible was releasing another 'Sandman' audio drama and I was so excited! While I'd never read the comics, I completely fell in love with the first "volume", which had an amazing cast! Neil Gaiman is of course a great narrator for his own work, but James McAvoy as Dream, Kat Dennings as Death and Michael Sheen as Satan just elevated it. So the new installment, The Sandman: Act II went straight onto my phone and into my ears. I started listening this week and I'm trying to take it slow so I can continue to enjoy it for as long as possible. Just look at this cast list!

And now, this is not an ad, this is just excitement!

Mailbox Monday

Manifesto by Bernardine Evaristo (Grove Atlantic; 1/18/2022)

Bernardine Evaristo’s 2019 Booker Prize win was an historic and revolutionary occasion, with Evaristo being the first Black woman and first Black British person ever to win the prize in its fifty-year history. Girl, Woman, Other was named a favorite book of the year by President Obama and Roxane Gay, was translated into thirty-five languages, and has now reached more than a million readers.

Evaristo’s astonishing nonfiction debut, Manifesto, is a vibrant and inspirational account of Evaristo’s life and career as she rebelled against the mainstream and fought over several decades to bring her creative work into the world. With her characteristic humor, Evaristo describes her childhood as one of eight siblings, with a Nigerian father and white Catholic mother, tells the story of how she helped set up Britain’s first Black women’s theatre company, remembers the queer relationships of her twenties, and recounts her determination to write books that were absent in the literary world around her. She provides a hugely powerful perspective to contemporary conversations around race, class, feminism, sexuality, and aging. She reminds us of how far we have come, and how far we still have to go. In Manifesto, Evaristo charts her theory of unstoppability, showing creative people how they too can visualize and find success in their work, ignoring the naysayers.

Both unconventional memoir and inspirational text, Manifesto is a unique reminder to us all to persist in doing work we believe in, even when we might feel overlooked or discounted. Evaristo shows us how we too can follow in her footsteps, from first vision, to insistent perseverance, to eventual triumph.

I was absolutely blown away by Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other, so I can't wait to learn more about her, her ideas, what inspires her, etc. This should be a great read!

Crickets by Lee Chappel (BooksGoSocial; 9/13/2021)

Kara Peterson last drove away from Paige, Ohio ten years ago after reporting her rape.

She thought she knew who was responsible. She thought it was over.

But she doesn’t know everything that happened that night.

When her father passes away unexpectedly, Kara’s forced to return to Paige. It should be a safe little town, especially for the daughter of its favorite sheriff, but something’s not right with Kara’s memories. There are times that have gone missing. In fact, there are more and more of them the longer she stays in town.

Maybe it’s her hometown getting to her. Or maybe it’s just him.

I was really drawn in by the cover, but then the blurb completely drew me in with its mystery and suspense.

The Seven Visitations of Sydney Burgess by Andy Marino, narr. Christine Lakin (Hachette Audio; 9/28/2021)

Possession is an addiction.

Sydney's spent years burying her past and building a better life for herself and her young son. A respectable marketing job, a house with reclaimed and sustainable furniture, and a boyfriend who loves her son and accepts her, flaws and all.

But when she opens her front door, and a masked intruder knocks her briefly unconscious, everything begins to unravel.

She wakes in the hospital and tells a harrowing story of escape. Of dashing out a broken window. Of running into her neighbors' yard and calling the police.

The cops tell her a different story. Because the intruder is now lying dead in her guest room—murdered in a way that looks intimately personal.

Sydney can't remember killing the man. No one believes her.

Back home, as horrific memories surface, an unnatural darkness begins whispering in her ear. Urging her back to old addictions and a past she's buried to build a better life for herself and her son.

As Sydney searches for truth among the wreckage of a past that won't stay buried for long, the unquiet darkness begins to grow. To change into something unimaginable.

To reveal terrible cravings of its own.

I kept seeing this on other people's blogs and being super jealous and THEN I realized I had just been given access to the audiobook on NetGalley. Such joy! The moment I finish The Sandman: Act II this is what I'm listening to. 

Voices of the Winds: Native American Legends by Margot Edmonds, Ella Clark (BooksGoSocial; 9/14/2021)

Learn about the rich history of North America through the legends and tales of those who inhabited the land first in Voices of the Winds.

This wonderfully appealing anthology gathers more than 130 Native American legends, many told to the authors by elder storytellers and
tribal historians. The legends feature a broad array of mythical figures, such as Thunderbird, Coyote, and Raven, as well as human-like characters “The
Girl Who Married the Moon” and “Two Brothers Who Became Stars.”

Organized by region—with tales from the Northwest, Southwest, Great Plains, Southeast, and Northeast—the legends are drawn from many tribes, including the Wasco, Aleut, Apache, Yosemite, Cheyenne, Sioux, Hopi, Navajo, Chippewa, Cherokee and others, and are introduced by an informative headnote, accompanied by a variety of evocative line-art drawings. The stories include:

The Bridge of the Gods, WascoRaven’s Great Adventure, AlaskaSong of the Horses, NavahoOrigin of Fire, Jicarilla-ApacheThe Corn Ceremony, HidatsaThe Great Serpent and the Great Flood, Chippewa-OjibwaThe Origin of Earth, TuskegeeThe Legend of the Bear Family, PenobscotThe Origin of the Iroquois Nations, Iroquois

Get to know the first peoples of North America through these stories from their rich oral traditions.

As some of you might know, I absolutely adore myths, legends, and folklore of any type. So when I saw Voices of the Winds I knew I wanted to get into it. I don't know Native American legends as well as the European/Germanic ones, so I'm very intrigued already. 

So that's me! What's new, or old, for you?