October, one of my favorite months of the year, actually ended up being pretty busy with both teaching and writing this year. That’s not a criticism by any means, but just an observation of life on campus now.

The weather is getting to be more and more autumnal, although the temperatures are still a little zany: We had almost snow yesterday morning, but it’s forecast to be close to 90 this Friday, so dressing is all in layers to cope with the wide temperature spread. (I call it ski jackets and shorts weather, as you’ll probably need the cold protection in the morning and the shorts for the hot weather in the afternoon.)

The semester is more than halfway done now – about six weeks left, I think – and I think my students have been doing very well for the most part. They’re certainly enjoyable to teach (from my perspective), so it’s still fun.

To the October reading:

• Thunder and Lightning – Laura Redniss (2016)
• Wilderness Tips – Margaret Atwood (1991) (no blog post)
• The Lizard Cage – Karen Connelly (2005)
• Mrs. Robinson’s Disgrace – Kate Summerscale (2012) (no blog post)
• A Kim Jong Il Production – Paul Fischer (2015)
• This is What a Librarian Looks Like – Kyle Cassidy (2017)
• Mary Lavelle – Kate O’Brien (1936) – DNF

The best read by far was the very strange recounting of the North Korean kidnapping of a South Korean film director and his movie star wife. It’s an insane story, but riveting at the same time. Highly recommended for certain.

The others were mostly ok. I really enjoyed the Summerscale book about a Victorian wife who is caught having an affair. The librarian book and the Atwood read were ok. (More broccoli books really, although I had high hopes for the photo-heavy book.)

The Virago O’Brien was confusing and dry as anything (despite it being billed a romantic story), but that’s one of the gambles you run with the Virago imprint. Some are really really good, and some are not. 🙂

So, November is up next. Three weeks until Thanksgiving, six weeks until Finals, and then time for a break. Yahoo!