@2025 Book Chatter | Book Chatter

Sunday Matters, a latte on a wooden tray against greenery.

Hey, friends. How the heck are you? I’ve been really good but busy at work and with this train wreck of an administration running the country right now (poorly, I might add), time just gets away from me. I nearly forgot about the time change. Really? That again??

Right Now:

As always, I’m about to hang with my students at church. With three services back to back, it makes for a long morning. Some mornings are more challenging because A) Sugar or B) Lack of sleep affect students. Ha! Also, that 6 7 nonsense. IYKYK.

This Week:

I have a routine doc visit. No biggie.

Unrelated, but I joined a walking challenge at work. It’s SO unlike me to do this. I am not a big fan of challenges, especially work ones but I have been chained to my desk for hours at a time and it’s not great to be sitting for that long.

So, I joined. With a minimum of 6K steps my team gets points. With 8K, more points. 10K, even more. I find it easy to get the 6K and most of the time even 8K but 10K a day has been challenging due to time.

Besides carving out time to walk I’ve been exploring new places to walk. Parks and trails. It feels good to be outside. Music and audiobooks have been helping me out.

Reading:

I mentioned falling down an Atwood rabbit hole. Yep. I chose Cat’s Eye for book club. Then a different group of us read Oryx and Crake together. That was a tough subject matter so some bowed out.

I carried on and read the next book in that trilogy, The Year of the Flood. I’ve always liked Atwood’s writing but reading her work now with all of THIS going on? Unbelievable. Truly. I should have my review of Flood up soon.

Watching:

Not a darn thing. I got my Halloween movie fix in and now? Nothing. Not itching to watch anything. Although Stranger Things drops the week of Thanksgiving.

Grateful for:

Local parks
Cool mornings
My little pup who continues to rally at age 16
Friends who make me laugh
Funny videos or reels

That’s it from me. I hope to continue my walking. My most recent hospital stay for all that kidney nonsense was like a huge red flag going up. Like the brain tumor and pulmonary embolism weren’t enough. Ha!

The End of the World As We Know It
By Christopher Golden (Edited by), Brian Keene (Edited by). Stephen King (Introduction by)
Gallery Books, August 2025, 800pp.

The Short of It:

If you hold The Stand near and dear to your heart, this anthology inspired by this beloved book, will not disappoint.

The Rest of It:

I am picky, really picky when it comes to anthologies but this one holds up. Thirty-six of horror’s finest writers came together to create this, well, masterpiece.

The collection opens with a real banger of a story. It puts you right back into the pandemic. That fear of catching it, the fear of what comes after. As you can imagine, a world wrecked by a pandemic quickly deteriorates. Resources become scare, people become desperate, fast. In a world gone to hell, who can you trust?

Each story intentionally walks down that path. Who can you trust? What would you do in a situation like that? Fight to survive, no matter what that means? Or end it?

I really enjoyed this particular collection because it was easy to dip in and out of. Some of the stories are a little longer but still readable in one sitting, which I like. My issues with short fiction, typically, is that there isn’t enough time to pull me in. Not the case with this batch.

Highly recommend.

Source: Borrowed
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