My Head Is Full of Books: Sunday Salon --- Halloween-ish edition

"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Sunday, October 30, 2022

Sunday Salon --- Halloween-ish edition

My Hoppys and Muffys are dressed up for Trick-or-Treating

Weather: The weather has finally turned fall-ish with cool temperatures at night and moderate ones during the day. The leaves in our deciduous trees have all started the process of turning colorful and some are dropping them. Sunsets are now officially before 6 pm and our days are getting shorter and shorter as we march slowly toward winter solstice. Monday is Halloween and we have lots of candy but few decorations. In fact, we've decided to not even carve a pumpkin this year, opting for the few decorations we've acquired over the years to make our porch look welcoming to those trick-or-treaters who brave the rainy weather that night.

My Spotify Halloween Playlist: I love so many halloween-ish pieces of music so I made myself a Spotify list to have them all in one place. You can listen to it, or play it during in your house as trick-or-treaters come by in the evening, for atmosphere. Here is the link to Anne's Halloween Favorites Playlist.

I'm feeling hopeful about the upcoming election: Need to get a boost? Take a look. Things are looking up for Democrats in the polling and voting. This is all taken from a twitter thread by Simon Rosenberg You can find the twitter thread here

-At this point in 2018 Rs had 300k early vote lead. Today Ds have a 2m vote lead. 😁

-Ds outperforming averages from 2020 in GA, MI, NV, OH, PA, VA, WI.

-Polls have been good for Dems this week, some upwards of 3-4% movements to Ds.

-New @nytimes polls in 4 key House races are encouraging for Dems.

-There are encouraging polls of Hispanics/Latinos in NV, TX.

-A new @HarvardIOP poll of 18-29 year olds has very encouraging news. "Definitely voting" matches/exceeds record breaking 2018 midterm numbers, Ds lead 57-31 (+26) with this group.

-Abortion, gun safety, climate, loan forgiveness, strong recovery = reasons to vote

-Liz Cheney will now be openly campaigning for Democrats. The rejection of MAGA by more traditional Republicans is happening across US, could end being a few points in key races and really make a difference

-@POTUS has been a good President. // We can do this. Vote and encourage a friend to vote with you!

Reading, books, and blogging: So I did it. I read a book every day this week for my Cybils judging responsibilities and I also managed to finish two other books, too. (That it is the most astonishing thing!)

Read for Cybils (27 down, 33 to go!):

The Most Dazzling Girl in Berlin by Kip Wilson. A YA novel-in-verse set in Berlin in 1932.
Maya's Song by Renee Watson. A children's poetic biography of Maya Angelou.
Counting in Dog Years and Other Sassy Math Poems by Betsy Franco. A delightful children's poetry book.
Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round: My Story of the Making of Martin Luther King Day by Kathlyn Kirkwood. A memoir-in-verse for middle grade kids. Plenty of primary documents.
The Lost Language by Claudia Mills. A middle grade coming-of-age novel-in-verse.
Golden Girl by Reem Faruqi. A novel-in-verse about a young Pakistani-American girl who has a problem with stealing.
Yuck, You Suck!: Poems About Animals that Sip, Slurp, and Suck by Jane Yolen.

Read for self, not Cybils:

Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. A book club selection about the court case concerning involuntary sterilization of minors. Audio.
Victory. Stand! : Raising My Fist for Justice by Tommie Smith. A graphic memoir by one of the runners from the 1968 Olympics who raised his fist in protest. Excellent.