We changed our clocks over the weekend and this daylight savings malarky has me all discombobulated! I didn’t sleep all that well last night thanks to the cats not sleeping all that well — they walk on me, lay on me, lick exposed parts like arm, hand, face in the hope that this will somehow induce me be want to pet and cuddle with them in the wee hours and it has not worked yet but they keep trying anyway — and just as I dozed off this morning I jolted awake with the horror that it was getting light outside and my alarm had not gone off and I was going to be late for work. Now this evening while I am eating dinner and it is suddenly full dark I have a panic that it is much later than I thought and how long having I been eating? I was reading while I ate and you know, sometimes time can get away from one, but when I looked at the clock it wasn’t late at all.

I will get used to it all within a few days, but really, this whole thing is unnecessary. I don’t know anyone who says yay daylight savings! My favorite time of year! Except kids who get excited over the illusion of having an extra hour to sleep.

And here it is November already. Does anyone else feel like the year is barreling to a close? Stores have Christmas decorations up already and I am sure in a day or two I will start hearing Christmas songs mixed in with the regular pop music while walking through Macy’s to and from work. It’s sickening really.

There is nothing sickening on the book front though, far from it. There are so many good books to read and so many that I am waiting my turn for ever so patiently at the library. One of those I am waiting for is Ancillary Mercy, the conclusion to Ann Leckie’s Imperial Raadch trilogy. I am number sixteen on the holds list at the moment. It seems like a long wait, but it might not be, you never know. So if I suddenly disappear, it is because the book arrived and I am reading it and can’t be bothered with the rest of the world.

In the meantime I have plenty of other books to occupy myself. The House of Twenty Thousand Books by Sasha Abramsky is so far a wonderful tribute to his grandfather who seemed to know everyone and everything and managed to create one heck of a private library. There is also The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World by Andrea Wulf. If you guessed it is about Humboldt you get a gold star! He was quite an interesting man and brilliant in so many ways, kind of manic too. A manic genius. Good book so far.

I am still reading Republic of Imagination by Azar Nafisi. I am in the final third of the book and enjoying it. I suspect I will be done in the next week or two. Also nearing the end of Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson. It started off slow but it is turning out to be a good book. Not one of those lush with images and description sorts of books, nor is it a plot-driven page turner. Not exactly a character-driven book either. It’s kind of an odd duck in many ways, but it works and I keep reading and am getting a bit nervous as to how it all might come out in the end.

I am about to start reading Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. Danielle and I are reading it together. We’ve both been meaning to read it for ages so we decided to stop saying we mean to read it and actually read it. And tomorrow into my paws will come from the library Lumberjanes volume 2 and a book called Poetry is Useless by Anders Nilsen. Both are graphic novels. I know exactly what to expect from Lumberjanes, no idea what to expect from Poetry is Useless. Guess I will find out soon!

I have a long four-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend to look forward to in a couple weeks. Will it be cold by then? Will I be able to spend the holiday curled up under a quilt reading and eating pumpkin pie? I will find out all too soon!