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The Sunday Post is a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, tell you what I’m reading, and share news. It’s hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, Readerbuzz, and Book Date.

The Sunday Post #282

On The Blog Last Week

• I recommended nonfiction books for Nonfiction November!

On The Blog This Week

• On Tuesday I share quotes from the Incorrigible Children series because I'm obsessed.

In My Reading Life

On Halloween, I read Memento by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. It's a novella set in The Illuminae Files universe. It doesn't feature any of the human characters from The Illuminae Files, but AIDAN is there. If you haven't read the series, AIDAN is a robot with a tendency to commit mass murder. The novella is about AIDAN's creators and first victims.

Is it weird that I enjoyed the novella more than a few of the books in the series? Maybe I just love novella-length books. They cut out all the fluff. This one is short and snappy. Like the rest of the series, it has twists, and unique formatting, and morally gray characters. If you enjoyed the rest of the series, it's definitely worth reading.

Nonfiction November started! I read The 57 Bus: A True Story Of Two Teenagers And The Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater. It's true crime (obviously). I have mixed feelings about this one. The crime and the questions it raises are fascinating. It's about a teenager who sets another teenager on fire in the back of a bus. The teen who got burned is genderqueer, so of course the media reported the crime as "man in a skirt gets set on fire." The teen who set the fire told the cops he did it because he's homophobic, but he also seemed confused about what "homophobic" means. It raises questions about what society should do with children who commit crimes. Should they be locked up forever, or should we give them leniency because they're kids whose brains aren't fully developed? Can teens be rehabilitated?

My mixed feelings come from the pacing. I don't think the author had enough material to fill an entire book. It's a short book, but it still feels really drawn out. I appreciate learning about the teens involved in the crime, but do we really need to hear from all their friends and family members? It gets repetitive. The book also left me with questions. The teen who set the fire had two friends with him when it happened. We don't learn much about them. Maybe the author couldn't get interviews with them? I don't know, but their perspectives seem important. They were direct witnesses to the crime. I also wanted to know about the skirt that became a fireball. I thought it was illegal to sell clothes that burn quickly? (Or is it only illegal to sell baby clothes that burn quickly? I feel like all of Baby Brooklyn's clothes have tags on them that brag about their ability to NOT become fireballs?)

Despite my unanswered questions, I liked the book. It's great for teens or adults who are interested in true crime but don't want to read anything gory or disrespectful to the victims. The victim doesn't die in this one. I especially recommend the book to anyone who is interested in the criminal justice system in the US.

Right now, I'm reading a book that is gory. It's The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest To Transform The Grisly World Of Victorian Medicine by Lindsey Fitzharris. Don't read this one if you're squeamish.

In The Rest Of My Life

Instead of listing 5 happy things, let's just talk about Halloween:

I promised I'd show you Brooklyn's costume. Here it is! Behold my spooky baby! She was the Wicked Witch of the West. I should probably be concerned that she finds the Witch to be the most relatable character in The Wizard of Oz, but whatever. That's a problem for her future therapist.

She had fun on Halloween. We went trick-or-treating twice. We walked around the neighborhood at night, and we visited a Sweet Street during the day. Sweet Streets weren't a thing when I was a kid. I had never been to one before. It's trick-or-treating, but commercial. Instead of going to houses, you go to businesses. The employees are all in costumes. The stores are decorated with spooky stuff. The kids get candy. The adults get coupons for eyebrow waxing. It's cute. The dentist gave out crayons instead of candy, which is very on-brand for a dentist. One of the employees at the brewery had the coolest Krampus costume I've ever seen. It looked expensive. And very heavy. I don't know how he was serving beer in that thing without passing out. I wanted to take a picture of Krampus and Brooklyn, but it turns out that toddlers aren't fans of ultra-realistic-goat-head-wearing-beer-dispensing Christmas demons. Who would've guessed?

The cutest Wicked Witch.

That's a wild bunny in the background. The wildlife around here has no respect for humans.

Not Halloween-related, but this happened last week. The neighbors moved, and their house is empty, so no one was around to pick the apples off their trees. Now there's a giant apple mess on the ground. Fun. When I was a kid, adults would pay neighborhood children to clean up the apple messes. Brooklyn is . . . deeply uninterested in cleaning. Don't hire her.

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Take care of yourselves and be kind to each other. See you around the blogosphere!