What we’re reading, watching, and listening to

Iris

Reading: I finished Moss’d in Space by Rebecca Thorne, which was very cute and enjoyable, and just picked up Love Galaxy by Sierra Branham. It’s basically Love Island in space, I think, though as someone who’s never watched Love Island I can’t be entirely sure. But I’m liking the main character so far, and I’m very curious to see where it goes!

Watching:  I recently watched The Bombing of Pan Am 103, a British miniseries about the Lockerbie disaster. Not the breeziest topic (though it helps that I’ve seen a lot of Air Crash Investigation, and already knew a little bit about the disaster), but very well-done. It depicts the human side of the investigation and the independent Scottish spirit very convincingly. I was also impressed by the Scottish accents from the non-Scots in the cast!

Listening to: Found myself a little nostalgic and went back to an old favorite, Ruins by First Aid Kit, though I must say it was a little confronting to realize the album came out in 2018. Where has the time gone?!

Sophie

Reading: A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett, part 3 of the Shadows of the Leviathan series (a.k.a. “Ana and Din Investigate Complicated and Weird Murders”). I just really enjoy the rather hostile non-human parts of these books; the plants and the trees and the animals are all just… uncomfortable, if not menacing, and the way the humans exploit this is also volatile and dangerous and often goopy. I’m also still reading my way through this year’s Ursula K. Le Guin Prize shortlist. Just over halfway done!

Watching: NFL Redzone! And any other NFL games I can find. Preferably featuring the Pats and/or the Lions. It’s been a long off-season.

Listening: All the records I got for my birthday 😍 People gave me some really fabulous stuff, both new (Lux, Nusantara Beat) and old (Mezzanine, OK Computer) and very old (Songs in the Key of Life, Dutch Swing College Band, Bugsy Malone OST!).

Jurgen

Reading: I am currently reading Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. A beautiful book (deep red cover, and I’m reading the one with the black edged paper), and an amazing story. It is a tale about the plague, angels and devils walking the earth, a young girl, a excommunicated knight and a priest. It is moody, gloomy, and beautifully written, befitting the medieval story.
It also gives me the urge to reread Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susanne Clarke, another fantastical book set in a certain historical time period (the Napoleonic Wars), albeit a lot less horror-like. Maybe that’s why it also reminds a lot of the Hellboy graphic novels of Mike Mignola, as it is poetic at times, mystically dark, echoing old texts about demons, and that creepy, moody darkness.

Watching: Buehlman’s book also makes me want to rewatch the A24-movie The Green Knight by David Lowery. Because of the medieval styled story of course, but it also captures a similar dark fantasy vibe at times. Not strange if you think this movie is an adaptation of a 14th century poem. It is a lot more fairytale-like though, since Between Two Fires deals a lot with the real horrors of the plague.

Listening to: If you want to know what I’m listening to while reading this awesome book, I always keep playlists of the books I read. For this one it is called Of the Tale Between Two Fires.

and a little bit of a bonus:

Art: Some of the adventures of the knight, the girl and the priest, are straight from Hiëronymus Bosch paintings, and without to much of an extravagant descriptions it paints quite a world full of demons and weird monstrous apparitions.

Video game: I’m not that much of gamer (out of self-preservation, btw), but I have seen and second-hand played enough to know that it gives you a bit of a The Last of Us story. The apocalyptic effect of the plague, the grumpy, swearing father-figure keeping the cheeky girl-saint safe.

Yannis

Reading: 

• Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien:  After having sat on my bookshelf unread for the better part of 15 years, I think it’s about time to get round to this. I’ve read all kinds of stuff, but it feels almost sacrilegious to be a bookseller and miss out on what very well may be THE fantasy masterwork. One fantasy series to rule them all, you might say…

• Right Kind of Wrong by Amy Edmondson: Mistakes are a normal part of life, in fact maybe even essential to learn or accomplish anything important. But are you making “intelligent” errors and learning anything from your attempts? A past Financial Times Business Book of the Year, authored by the leading researcher on Psychological Safety in the workplace—this has been one I’ve been very keen to dive into.

Watching: Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War. After a 10 year wait, one of the Big Three Japanese animes (One Piece, Naruto, Bleach) is returning to the screen to conclude what has been an epic adventure. There are scenes expanded to include content not featured in the original manga, animation of the highest level and of course, art and characters of Kubo Tite’s Soul Reaper world that simply ooze cool (just check out Captain Byakuya Kuchiki as an example). If you love a good battle manga/anime with excellent characters, powers full of poetic depth and richness, beautiful art – definitely one for you.
(Side note—if you love fashion, this series will give you MAD inspiration for new looks)

Listening to: NYT Opinion Interview:  Ezra Klein x Francis Fukuyama – “What can we learn from the ‘End of History'”. A powerhouse political scientist and international relations expert on the mic, discussing the current global political climate. Why? Because he wrote a book 30 years ago that turned out to be highly prescient, showing a preview of the current state of politics and the weaknesses of liberal democracy that have been revealed.

Lília

Reading: I’ve been reading a couple of books at the same time, as I usually do. I’m slowly going through The Republic of Memory by Mahmud El Sayed, a wonderfully dense book about language, communication, politics and life in a generational ship. It’s slow progress, and I have to be in the mood to plow through, but I’m enjoying it immensely.
Less dense but equally interesting is The Summer Dragon by Todd Lockwood. A Staff Choice by colleague Maria, it made me curious and I’m quite fascinated by how he conjures all the images he wants us to imagine. The book also has quite a few beautiful black and white images made by the author – who is mostly known for his artistic work in many book covers. Great debut novel that I hope will be followed by other titles in the future.

Watching: Besides watching The Apothecary Diaries anime (my newest guilt-free pleasure), I’ve been also rewatching Shetland, based on the books by Ann Cleeves and set in the Scottish islands. It follows a police detective solving murder cases in the islands. I have been waiting for all episodes of Reacher to drop before watching it.

Listening to: I’ve been listening almost non-stop to the playlist of Butcher & Blackbird, put together by Brynne Weaver as inspiration for her book of the same title. This playlist goes together with the book perfectly, one of the few times when I listened to a playlist while reading the book and enjoyed it.

Naomi

Reading: Right now, I am reading Doomsdate, which is loads of fun! I’m also making my way through the Love Lines series by Cara Bastone (Call Me Maybe, Sweet Talk, and Seatmate in order). It’s a series of novellas originally written specifically for audio and you can tell, because they are very dialogue-heavy. The books are super fun and zippy, and they contain everything I love about Cara Bastone’s writing.

Watching: I’m watching the fourth season of Ted Lasso. I’m not sure yet how I feel about it—it doesn’t make me feel as happy and excited as the first three seasons did.

Listening to: I am listening to the GraphicAudio adaptations of Ilona Andrews’ books. I’m currently on the fourth book in the Hidden Legacy series, Sapphire Flames, and it is absolutely amazing. “A movie for your mind,” indeed. This is the last one in that series that has been adapted by GraphicAudio, and I don’t know what I’ll do with my life when I’ve finished… (Actually, I’ll probably dive into the Kate Daniels’ series, which has 12 GraphicAudio-books!)

Else

Reading: I’ve been reading the Booker Prize Longlist. I just finished The Disappearers by Marlon James, and starting on the final book for me; The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout. So far, my favourite book from the long list has been Switzy by Emma Cline. It has been a lot of fun to do a deep dive into the Booker Prize and compare it to the Women’s Prize for Fiction, whose longlist I also read this year. I definitely enjoy the Women’s Prize for Fiction more than the Booker Prize, but to each their own.

Watching: I am watching the latest season of the Great British Sewing Bee, which is just about to come to its conclusion. But I have also rediscovered my Nintendo Switch and I’ve been playing Forager, a super fun exploration/farming/harvesting/crafting sim game. I am very addicted and will tell you all about my optimization of forges if you let me.

Listening to: Some of my favourite bands have dropped new albums in the last couple of months. So I’ve been listening to the new Mastodon album, Marrow Deep, a lot lately. My favourite instrumental post rock band, If These Trees Could Talk, also dropped a new album (The Hidden Hand) which you might’ve heard me play in store as well, just like Those Who Ride With Giants’ new album Serene, which even has some rain and thunder sounds in there.
Of course I wouldn’t be me without also listening to an audiobook or two, having just finished Richard Sean’s new book, Infinite State on Audio, I am now listening to R.F. Kuang’s latest novel, Taipei Story, on audio.

Renata

Reading: Just read Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang, Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, The Girl Who Drank The Moon by Kelly Barnhill. Currently reading The Bear and The Nightingale by Katherine Arden.

Watching: The Ninth Jedi (on Disney Plus), See How They Run (on Netflix).

Martijn

Reading: Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. So far, so fun!

Watching: I’m re-watching Farscape; an old favourite sci-fi show. Still excellent.

Listening to: A new Leon Bridges EP (Happiness Anytime: Part 2), a new Role Model album (Chuck Timely & The Hourglass), and a new Phoebe Bridgers album (Lost Weekend).

Júlia

Reading: I recently enjoyed reading Grim Tidings by B.K.Borison—the perfect pre-Halloween read. It’s a haunting romance about the Grim Reaper on a mission and a Guardian Angel doing everything possible to ruin her plans, and protect the souls of his city… Until they fall for each other. It’s very whimsical, and touches also on a bit more serious topics like grief and mental health.

Watching: I’ve just finished the final season of The Bear on Disney+. Each season is a wild, fast ride filled with amazing acting, deep storytelling, fantastic character development, and food, so much food! The final season delivers on all of that, and I loved seeing where everyone’s story ended.

Listening to: I’m listening to the latest album of Phoebe Bridgers, Lost Weekend; its a very ambient, atmospheric album with great songwriting, and a nice match to fall season.

Tiemen

Reading: I’m reading the Beware of Chicken series at the moment. Honestly, at first I started reading it just because it sounds absolutely ridiculous. It is, but it is also an incredibly heartwarming and well-written fantasy series about a Kung Fu master who decides to become a farmer… and his rooster, who, for a variety of reasons, becomes his first disciple.

Iris M.

Reading: A friend lent me their copy of the graphic novel adaption of The Raven Boys, so naturally that prompted a reread of both series by Maggie Stiefvater: The Raven Cycle and The Dreamers. And although Queen Demon is making eyes at me, I picked up Record of a Spaceborn Few instead.

On the side, I’m reading Picture This by Molly Bang—a dive into visual language in the form of a picture book. On my TBR: Slow Gods by Claire North, Joanne Harris’ A Pocketful of Crows, and Ursula Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness.

Watching: I’m rewatching Star Trek: Deep Space 9; and playing Titanium Court for the first time. Star Trek doesn’t really need an introduction; Titanium Court is notoriously difficult to pitch. It’s a tile matching x tower defense narrative game in pink 90s pixel-style. I think. It’s weird! If that’s your jam, that’s a recommendation.

Listening to: Oh man, I’ve been listening to all the music this past month! It’s mostly split between contemporary takes on traditionals, traditional instruments and folk music (Emma Capponi’s Buried, Frankie Archer’s The Dance of Death, Mohammad Reza Mortazavi’s Nexus) and spacey stuff (like Carbon Based Lifeforms and the soundtrack for the first Citizen Sleeper game) and old favorites (System of a Down, Bauhaus’ Mask, Daft Punk’s Alive 1997). I’m also enjoying listening to the Sunday night programming of the Concertzender, though I’ll usually play back the separate programs at a later time.

Damla

Reading: The Tarot Trials by Katee Robert (a girl joins the unforgiving Tarot Trials to discover the truth of her mother’s execution, avenge her,  and earn a place as one of the ruling Cinque) I absolutely love a tarot-themed fantasy novel, and it sounds even more irresistible when it seems to be a chilling battle for survival, in the style of The Hunger Games. This one hits the shelves on October 22nd!

And for the nonfiction pick of the month, Underland by Robert Macfarlane (a nature/history/travel book all at once that takes the readers on a journey deep into the literature, mythology, and history of what lies underground)

Watching: The Other Bennet Sister (a book-to-TV adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice, about the life of Mary, the overlooked Bennet sister) I am so happy that it is finally available to watch in the Netherlands! And the show gets bonus points from me for casting Dónal Finn as the love interest.

And of course Practical Magic 2 is out, which gives me the perfect excuse to re-watch the original (Practical Magic), also known as the perfect fall movie.

Listening to: In preparation for V.E. Schwab’s latest release Victorious, I am brushing up on the first two books in the Villains series, Vicious and Vengeful, in audiobook form. The second book was published in 2018, so I had forgotten how much I loved reading about these murderous psychopaths (words I do not use lightly). Can’t wait for book 3, coming next month.