Right-hand man!  Show of hands if you watched Hamilton’s America on PBS on Friday night.  All of us?  Good, then we can discuss it.  HOW FREAKING GOOD WAS IT YOU GUYS AMIRITE?  Steve and I watched it on Friday when it aired, and then again on Saturday (we recorded it).  And I’m sure we will be watching it plenty more over the coming months.  We pretty much spent the entire weekend in a Hamilton haze, either watching the #Hamildoc, singing along to the soundtrack, discussing a trip to Broadway (not likely) and driving down to Mount Vernon on Sunday to soak in more Hamiltonia – like this stained glass window showing the General and his right-hand man.  (We would have gone to Mount Vernon this weekend even if we hadn’t been in a revolutionary mood from Hamilton’s America, because it was the fall harvest days family festival, which I put on our calendar weeks ago.)  Anyway, it was such fun to stroll the grounds of Mount Vernon rapping “We are outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered, outplanned” – oh, and we taught Nugget to shout “Rise up!” from the backpack, so basically we were the coolest people on the farm. #YayHamlet

So, Hamilton mania aside, I had a pretty decent week in reading.  I finished two books: Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d, the eighth Flavia de Luce mystery, and Love Wins: The Lovers and Lawyers Who Fought the Landmark Case for Marriage Equality, and started To the Bright Edge of the World.  In a turn of events that will surprise exactly no one, my library stack is completely out of control – I have eight books checked out (although two of those I’ve finished and another one is a book of Hallowe’en poems for the kids) and five to pick up from the holds shelf.  (Being back in a library system that doesn’t charge for holds is going to be good for my wallet but bad for my spare time, such as it is.)  Anyway, it was a good reading week.  I always enjoy a visit to Buckshaw, even though Flavia’s story seems to be taking a sadder turn lately.  And Love Wins was spectacular.  I spent about a third of the book ugly-crying – including sobbing through the last couple of chapters on the metro.  This was not a shock, since I cried when I read the Obergefell v. Hodges decision on the day it came out, too.  Now I’m working my way through To the Bright Edge of the World, Eowyn Ivey’s sophomore novel.  (I loved her debut, The Snow Child, when it came out in spring of 2012, and have been looking forward to her next book ever since – so I’m excited to finally have it in my hands, courtesy of the library.)

When I finish To the Bright Edge of the World, I’ll pick up another library book – I’m just not sure which one.  If I’m feeling nonfictiony, I’ve got Waiting to be Heard, the memoir written by Amanda Knox after her release from prison in Italy.  I followed her case with fascination as it was unfolding and always believed that the “evidence” against her simply didn’t hold water, so I was very happy to see her come home and am looking forward to reading her book.  Or I might pick up the seventh volume of Fables, which I finally have in hand after waiting weeks to get it (the library only has one copy, and it was overdue for about two weeks).  Or maybe something else from my holds queue – I might end up surprising myself!

On the blog this week, my diverse kidlit pick for October, and it’s another good one, coming on Wednesday, and a visit to Shenandoah National Park on Friday.  Have a good one, my friends!

What are you reading this week?  And more importantly, how many times have you watched the Hamildoc?