Monday Miscellany: An orange and brown, cinnamon-scented day

Notes from October 20 - 26

Oct 27, 2025

Hello from a cold and drizzly afternoon! I am currently wrapped in a hoodie and planted in front of a space heater with a sleepy Louise draped across my lap. This weekend was the most autumnal I’ve felt so far this season (more on that later) and I’m looking forward to finishing out my favorite month strong—tonight is spooky book trivia at our local indie, so I think we’re well on our way. How are things where you are, friends?

Read this week

For whatever reason, I didn’t read as much as usual this week and only finished one book: What a Time to be Alive by Jade Chang. This is a novel about Lola Treasure Gold, a young thirty-something living in Los Angeles who is accidentally launched into internet fame after the death of her best friend Alex. As you might expect, there’s a lot here about social media, influencer culture, and online performance.

I’ve decided to rip my heart open. Conveniently, it happens to be behind my boobs. (221)

This element of the book made me feel pretty cynical and gross, thinking about how false a lot of what we see on our screens is, how manufactured the emotions can be, how calculated the sharing. But Chang is also digging into other topics—family, grief, friendship, authenticity, vulnerability, fear—and I enjoyed following her down those paths.

A few passages in particular stopped me cold with their accuracy. I have mourned before, and it felt just like this.

We never talk about how there’s a corner of grief that feels like pleasure. To feel so much emotion, to know it’s shared with other people you’re bound to, to experience something so overwhelming that there’s no room in your body for a single other thing, to exist wholly in an unfamiliar state, it’s a kind of love. (18)

I’m still teasing out my feelings about this book. I liked parts of it and was completely put off by others, and yet I think by the end there’s a kind of redemption. Maybe it ultimately came around for me? Or maybe appreciation can override the need for enjoyment? Regardless, what I do know is that we had a lot to discuss at book club, and I always love when a novel can start a conversation! If you’ve read this one, I would love to hear what you thought.

Seen and heard this week

I can’t remember where I first came across Companion (2025), but I’d added it to my autumn list of movies to watch and it was fun to check it off this week! It’s a classic “small group of hot young people go to a remote cabin for some time away” situation where absolutely nothing could possibly go wrong… oh wait, why is that character covered in blood, and oops, is everyone dead?? Also there are robots! And it stars Sophie Thatcher (young Natalie from Yellowjackets) and Harvey Guillén (Guillermo from What We Do in the Shadows),1 which was an added bonus for me. Do recommend if you’re into horror comedy, enjoy thinking about the implications and ethical questions surrounding AI, and don’t mind a bit of over-the-top gore.

While I was traipsing around town Saturday on foot, I had the most serendipitous back-to-back podcast experience and must share. After a bit of reading on my strollway bench that morning, I walked to Bookmarks to buy this edition of Frankenstein and also ended up with a couple of stickers, one of which had an illustration of Edgar Allan Poe under a storm cloud and the phrase “when it rains, it Poes.” As I was walking home, what should crop up on my Overcast queue but an episode of the Book Riot podcast all about Edgar! As a Poe myself, new Poe merch in hand, stomping through crunchy leaves on an autumnal-ass October day, this delighted me to no end. If you’ve been struggling to get in the mood of the season like I have, give it a listen. If you’re feeling especially nasty, pair it with a hot toddy or cup of tea and follow it with some of my dude’s poetry or short stories.

Next up, wouldn’t you know it, Jade Chang was on The Stacks talking with Traci about What a Time to be Alive—which I had just finished prior to my walk. What a delight to eavesdrop on their discussion right after reading the book in question and right before attending a book club about it the next day. The timing, the timing! Chef’s kiss.

Cloud reflections spotted on my walk downtown

Haiku round-up

Haiku is a poetic form that originated in Japan, containing seventeen syllables in a five-seven-five pattern. At the beginning of 2024, I started writing one every day, and while traditional examples include thematic reference to the seasons, mine tend to be a bit more all over the place. Here are this week’s efforts—enjoy!