End of November

A roundup of mundane magics and writing worth sharing

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Today's post has a quick reflection, followed by the end-of-the-month roundup of mundane magic moments, links I loved, and books I finished. This month, I’m also including a section for what I’m looking forward to in December, because even when we know there will be difficulty ahead, there is still room for joy. If we like it, I might make it a regular thing. The sections are clearly marked, so feel free to jump ahead.

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It’s been quiet over here this month (by which I mean: on my Substack) and I’m sure a lot of you can imagine why. I’ve had a lot to process and felt that it was better to do so privately for a while. I know I’m not alone in this.

Aside from the train wreck that is U.S. politics and the general state of the world, we also lost my husband’s mother this month. I am doing my best to support my husband while he grieves with and supports his family. On top of that, we also had a long-awaited evaluation for our youngest, and we’re now working on how to support him at home because (as we suspected/knew) he was diagnosed autistic¹ and has a speech delay, and we want to help him get ready for pre-k next year. I’ve been putting a lot of energy into giving him more opportunities to practice certain skills.

We’re okay, but it’s been a lot. And I just don’t have much to say about most of it at the moment. I do have a lot of hope, though, and plenty to look forward to.

You can expect to hear from me more regularly in December, because I’ve got a few posts lined up related to my Reading Queue and my word of the year on top of our regularly scheduled end-of-the-month roundup (speaking of which — let’s get into it).

✨️ Mundane Magics ✨️

• Trick-or-treating: (I know this is technically an October thing, but I couldn't leave it out!) We had gorgeous weather this year, just the slightest bit chilly and perfect for a walk. There were enormous piles of leaves in some of the yards we walked through, and the kids were literally squealing with delight at the swishing and crunching as they ran through. Actual magic. We went around the same block as last year, and we all had plenty of energy left, so we drove over to our friends' house and walked up and down their street as well. My family used to do something like this at my aunt and uncle’s house, and it was my favourite part of Halloween. I think next year we'll plan to go straight there and enjoy the whole evening together. (No regrets about this year at all, though — Sybil said it was "the best Halloween yet," and I wholeheartedly concur.)

• Puzzles: My brain loves a good puzzle. I can put on an audiobook or some music and happily pass hours this way. I spend two days hunched over this one and it was great.

• Anne Vally
  ’s creative retreat: Leading up to and following the election, some of us gathered over at
  Knit Together
  to slow down and work with our hands each day, knowing that other people were grounding/regulating their nervous system along with us. It helped me feel a bit more centered and less alone. If you’re a fiber artist, I highly recommend Anne’s newsletter for a regular dose of compassion, calm, and sense of community.

• Garrett Bucks
  ' What Comes Next call: After the election, it quickly became apparent to me that I have not been doing enough to engage with my community and live my politics. Rather than beat myself up about it (too much), I channeled my energy into finding ways to do better, because we’re going to need each other — we always have, of course. Garret’s generous offering was really helpful for making me feel more hopeful and empowered. Check out his recent Substack posts for more about community building.

• My friends: Also after the election, my friends and I in our group chat almost immediately started talking about how we can be more involved in our community, going to rallies, volunteering, etc. I needed that hope. I think we all have different strengths, and I’m grateful we’re doing this together. We also went to brunch together (which is the first time we've all been together in person in such a long time, and it was so lovely) and we're planning a book club where we each read any book from our TBR and then we'll meet up after a while and we can each tell the others about our own book. It means so much to me to have friends who want to help build the same kind of world I do, and who also want to escape to fictional worlds with me.

• Supermoon: Did any of you catch the last supermoon of the year this month? I go to bed early, so I caught it mostly through trees, but it was gorgeous. The moon’s position had it shining directly into the window above my bed for an entire week this month, and I just love it.

• A day alone with Jon: I wish this were less notable, but with two small children, my husband and I just don’t get a ton of alone time. Our friend took the kids for us one day last weekend and we snuggled and ate a meal together alone and watched a grown-up show (Our Flag Means Death — we love it) and it felt nice to just be us for a while.

Links I Loved

• If you need gentleness/permission/hope, read anything by

  Lisa Olivera
  . I was going to share links to a recent post but I literally saved all of them.

• A short but beautiful, hopeful post by

  Sarah Teresa Cook

• In case I didn’t convince you up above, here’s a post by Garret Bucks about how/where to practically find/build community right now.

• And, here’s a comprehensive post with community recommendations and FAQs from

  Simon Haisell
  , who will be leading his War and Peace slow read again next year, this time for paid members — but please don’t let that scare you away if you’re interested in joining! There’s an opportunity for a subscription comp if you need it, and he’s kept the cost low as subscriptions go. It’s a worthwhile experience, and I highly recommend it.

Books I Finished

• The Dragon Reborn (book 3 in the Wheel of Time series) by Robert Jordan: Another installment in this epic fantasy series, complete. I don't have much to say about this one, but not because I didn't enjoy it as much as the others. It's just that, as the third in a series of fourteen (lengthy) books, I don't think a long review here is helpful. I'll be continuing the series after I catch up to the end of this book in The Wheel Weaves podcast (which goes chapter by chapter with no further spoilers with one person who has previously read the series and one who hasn't), which I've found enriching alongside my reading experience.

• Cacophony of Bone by kerri ní dochartaigh: An achingly beautiful memoir. Truly the most stunningly written nonfiction book I've ever read. I have never seen prose like it. I started it in February and decided to prolong the experience for a while by reading it almost daily, as much of the book is journal entries written over the course of a year, but I switched halfway through to reading monthly, and finally got impatient this month and finished the whole thing. It's such a tender work, and I'm glad to have it on my shelf to revisit.

• Brooms by Jasmine Walls and Teo Duvall: A graphic novel set in 1930's America, with magic. This one had an excellent combination of representation, with Black, Indigenous, and Chinese-American characters, and more than one form of disability highlighted. Given the setting, racism does play a significant role in the story line, but our characters have a happy ending. The little montage at the end had me in (happy) tears.

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë: A literary classic. This was a reread — my first time reading was about a decade ago, when I was an English major at Marywood University and was unknowingly becoming very burnt out. Thus, I remember very specific lines from the beginning and end of the book (including the one that I wear as a tattoo) but the middle, although I generally knew what happened, was a bit of a blank. I undoubtedly relied on Spark Notes and class discussions for some of the chapters I didn't have the energy to read at the time. In this read through, I was much more critical of Rochester and the treatment of Bertha (IYKYK) and so deeply annoyed by St John. I had a copy with really nice Footnotes which also enriched my reading greatly. I had no idea how clever this book was the first time I read it; there are so many references most modern readers aren't likely to catch that serve the narrative. Overall, it's still a favourite, and I definitely recommend reading it in the dreary months.

• Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros: Yes, this is that dragon smut romantasy you've probably heard about (second in the series; the first is Fourth Wing). This book zoomed out from the setting of Basgiath (the war college where we spent the first book) and brought in more politics and new characters. I’ve seen some things from people who loved the first book and couldn’t get through or didn’t enjoy the second, but it felt like a reasonable progression for a trilogy. The third book comes out in 2025 and I likely won’t rush to read it but will get to it when I can.

• Releasing the Mother Load: How to Carry Less and Enjoy Motherhood More by Erica Djossa: A nonfiction book about invisible labour/the mental load. This explains what it is and where it comes from, but most importantly, it actually details how to let some of it go. There are practical examples, free printable lists, and it's written for single as well as partnered parents, people in same sex relationships, etc. The author clearly put thought into various motherhood experiences, and I really appreciated this book. I have a really supportive and engaged husband and I still need to work on letting go of a lot of the mental load, and I feel like this was helpful for recognizing how my perfectionism makes this hard for me.

• Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson: A witty, whimsical fantasy. I loved everything about this book. The narrator, the characters, the setting, the magic system. The author was inspired by tone of the Princess Bride, and you can tell. I laughed out loud more than once. But there were also some really great found family type moments. This will end up on my shelf.

• Little Moons by Jen Storm: A graphic novel following Reanna, an Ojibwe teen whose sister has gone missing, and her family’s grief. This is a heavy story, written by an author whose cousin is among the many missing and murdered Indigenous women and two spirit people. It doesn't have a tidy happy ending, but there is an element of hope, and I think it's beautifully done.

• Restoring the Kinship Worldview: Indigenous Voices Introduce 28 Precepts for Rebalancing Life on Planet Earth by Darcia Narvaez and Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows): I really appreciated how the authors of this book pulled from their own experience as well as various Indigenous traditions to illustrate how these precepts can help create a more peaceful, harmonious world.

• The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst: A fantasy following a librarian who has fled a burning city with spell books and her talking plant companion in the midst of a rebellion and sought shelter on her home island. This was such a cozy and sweet story, with elements of found family, romance, and casual queer representation. I loved the world the author created and was excited to see that this is the first in what will be a series. I'll be waiting for the next one.

• What You Are Looking For is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama: A Series of short stories set around a small commonly center with a library. Each character walks in unsure and, thanks to the librarian, ends up finding exactly what they need. I loved how each character has their own arc of growth and finds happiness, often in an unexpected way.

An unexpected DNF

• Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys: A novel from the perspective of Bertha from Jane Eyre. I was looking forward to this all year, and I was excited to read it immediately following my reread of Jane Eyre. You might have noticed that I don't shy away from confronting topics in my reading - especially in nonfiction. For some reason, particularly in my fiction reading, I've found that some stories are just a bit much for me, even when I feel they're important and well done; this was one of those. I've tried in the past to push myself to finish a book that gave me this visceral kind of reaction (specifically with the Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler — it gave me terrible anxiety, but I can see its value, so it was hard to put down) and I have learned to be gentle with myself and recognize earlier when a book is too much for me. With that being said, I would still recommend this book to anyone interested. We all have different thresholds and tender points, and yours may tolerate it better.

What I’m looking forward to in December

• Book advent: Last year I saw someone share about doing a book advent with their kids for the holidays, and I loved the idea so much that I set several calendar reminders for myself over the last few months so I’d have time to gather books for the kids. We’re doing one book every day until Christmas, and I managed to buy all of them secondhand either at yard sales or from Thriftbooks. I can’t wait.

• Holiday things: Aside from the actual day of, we’ll be enjoying a Christmas in the park thing we go to with my mom every year, and the kids will be doing a breakfast with Santa with my parents and my nephews.

• Craft club: Have I mentioned how much I love going to craft club with my friends at our local library? It’s just always great. Hopefully all of us will be well enough for both days this month so we can enjoy each other’s company before the whirlwind of Christmas and the new year.

• Slow-reads: First, I’m so unbelievably proud of myself for getting this far in my year-long War and Peace slow read (the success of which is undoubtedly owed to Simon and the community he’s created). I’ll be finishing it toward the end of December, which feels amazing. Secondly, I’ll be starting my (now) annual reading of The Dark is Rising on December 20th and reading a chapter a day until the 31st. This is like a whole thing that I discovered last year just in time to participate, and I loved the BBC audio production version² of it so much that I bought the rest of the book series so I can read the first book³ starting in early December and continue with the rest into the new year as well.

• Sybil’s birthday: My oldest is going to be 6! That feels unreal, but she’s literally reading and writing now and surprises me just about every day with something new she knows or can do. Wild. We’re not having her party until January (because holiday things) but I’m looking forward to spending the day of her birthday cozy at home and marvelling at her.

We made it! November is generally a hard month for me and I’m glad to be here at the end of it with you. I hope you’ll join us in the commments. And as always, feel free to share if this resonated with you.

1. I’ve suspected Oren is autistic for quite a while. Since being diagnosed myself, I’ve seen it in much of my family. This isn’t something I’m grieving or having a hard time with. I’m glad that he will have words to understand his experience far earlier than I had. Given the speech delay as well, we just wanted to make sure he had what he needed when it was time for him to start school next year, and for the school to be prepared as well.

2. I found this for free on Spotify and it’s so atmospheric and immersive. A really great way to read this book.

3. The Dark is Rising is technically the second in the series, but many read it only as a standalone. I loved it that way last year and am excited to experience the rest of the series this time around as well.