Avram's journal

I've been sick and my sleep schedule is off, so I'm catching up.

Books
A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping, by Sangu Mandanna. Another found family plus romance set around an inn by an author whose previous work in this style I really enjoyed. For fans of the school wizard whose author is a bigot but who want works about a hidden world where the good guys have a heart.
The Cold Light of Day, by Anna Lee Huber. Seventh Verity Kent mystery. This time she and her war hero husband go to Ireland to find out what happened to her intelligence service ex when he went undercover to find Michael Collins. I started a little grumpy at where they were on the subject of British rule and the Black and Tans, but things quickly got more grey if not outright anti-British/anti-Imperial pretty quickly. The B mystery was about a woman who was attacked and her hair cut and the twist in the tail on that one was really well done. The next one came out in August and it's already on my library list.
The Anatomist's Wife, by Anna Lee Huber. First in her older series about a Scottish artist who was married to an anatomist and was implicated in his work (though he was not a resurrectionist). In this one the victim was a pregnant noblewoman killed at a house party, so they're locked in until the authorities can get up to investigate. Our heroine is interesting, her partner/possible romantic interest is also not bad, and the suspects were an interesting lot. I'm in for the next one.
The Pairing, by Casey McQuiston. Queer second-chance romance when a couple that broke up just before a foodie tour end up taking it at the same time several years later. Very sensual (about art and food and wine, not just sex), and very interestingly written, with a perspective switch that manages to avoid breaking the pining vibe. Also I liked the characters and their journeys more than I expected to.

Music
Darragh Morgan, For Violin and Electronics. A little too high pitched for me, but the clincher was that Miss Berry kitty was disconsolate the entire time I was listening to it and stopped crying and complaining at once when it ended.
The Florestan Trio, Saint-Saëns: Piano Trios Nos. 1 & 2. I do love me some Saint-Saëns.
Steeleye Span, Conflict. Their newest. A mix of trad and new songs. The genocide song hit pretty hard. We were laughing at the honey song, which I think must have been trad, if not outright vaudeville, because the entendre was pretty heavy

We did jack diddly musicwise in August. There are a bunch of shows coming up in the fall that we already have tickets for and we are also trying to plan for my cataract surgery in either December or January, so that will affect our calendar until we nail it down.

But this month is the start of chamber music season, and I'm excited to be going out for that, even if it means messing up the family dinner schedule with my father-in-law (we have dinner every other Monday and chamber music is almost always on Monday evening).

( Under the cut to protect your flist )

I don't think we bought any tickets last month either, for the reasons mentioned above. There are a bunch of shows at smaller venues I haven't listed here but I need to sit down and go through them with Michael and possibly talk to other friends to see if we can get some interest. Also, I've found the Celtic pub in Richardson that has an in to the local scene, so we may start seeing local Celtic shows there. It won't be the Duck, but nothing is.