I was really excited when I came across this at work today; I love Kim's art, so I immediately checked it out. A lovely book that I would love to own so I could flip through it on bad days and lose myself in the texture of the paintings.

I've adored vampires since I was a kid, but it has been years since any vampire book has surprised me. Everything that could be done to the vampire had been done: Bram Stoker started it, Anne Rice perfected it, Charlaine Harris made it silly and fun, and Stephenie Meyer threw glitter on it. And countless other authors did everything else you could imagine to the vampire, for good or for ill.

But Silvia Moreno-Garcia has written a vampire novel that surprised me, and excited me, which is why I gave this book five stars despite some issues I had with pacing (and how Necros mind control works, or doesn't, but I won't spoil anything for you). She blends science fiction, alternate history, and folklore, runs it through horror and action movie filters, and out comes vampire drug cartels in Mexico.

You might be saying "wtf," but if you like vampires, you need to read this book. The glossary by itself is a diverse and rich vampiric world that made me crave more books. (Please write more vampire books, Silvia!) But you'll also want to meet Atl, an Aztec shapeshifting bird vampire, and Bernardino, who is a recluse who loves cats and his phonograph and is now one of my favorite literary vampires. (Domingo, a human, is also an endearing standout character. He's so good-hearted and dopey that I sort of had no choice but to love him.)

Certain Dark Things is not quite perfect, but it's pretty damn close, and I'm so happy that an author has made vampires, so ancient and so frequently poorly-written, feel new.

Mabon is coming up next month, and already the mornings and nights are cooler and gold is peeking from leaf-tips. I've been thinking about the changing of seasons, so when this picture book showed up at work, it caught my eye. Although the poetry isn't particularly strong, the illustrations are stunning. I love how they juxtapose humans and animals to show how we all share the world and note the seasons' differences. I also like that all creatures, not just cuddly ones, make their appearances: fish, frogs, salamanders, snakes, and bugs. Of course, the picture of ravens and autumn leaves was my favorite...

There is nothing religious or overtly spiritual in this book at all, but I think it would be a wonderful title for pagan parents to add to their kids' bookshelves because it would fit so well with helping children learn about the seasons and could tie in with lessons about the Wheel of the Year.

I have been dreading the female superhero category of the Read Harder Challenge because, well, I just don't have much interest in superheroes at all. I decided to go with DC Bombshells, on the logic that even if I disliked it, at least the 1940s aesthetic would elevate it somewhat. So I was stunned by how much I enjoyed reading it and by how emotionally invested I became in the characters and their reasons for becoming involved in World War II. My only complaint was that the narrative jumped around so much, as a result of having so many protagonists, that it was easy occasionally to forget what was going on with some of them. I might even continue reading the series.

I read this way, way, way back, when I was just a wee morbid kid and the death positivity movement, if it existed, was completely unknown to me. I had forgotten this book until now, going through the All the Saints You Should Know bookshelf.