Linda-Marie Barrett / Executive Director:
Reading: Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang. I’m absorbed in this fantasy set in a world quite different than ours, yet beset by the familiar struggles of colonialism, racism, misogyny, and religious oppression. About to start Orbital by Samantha Harvey for my book club.
Listening: To the quiet hum of our new heat pump, and silence. Blessed silence.
Watching: Binge-watching the newest season of Virgin River and A Man on the Inside. A Man on the Inside is funny and often quite moving, offering a look at aging and senior communities that we tend to avoid because, frankly, it’s often not easy. Lots of poignant moments.

Candice Huber / Membership:
Reading: Finishing up my last 2024 books and making a TBR list for 2025!
Listening: The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri. Super excited to see how this series ends!
Watching: Almost finished binging Outer Banks on Netflix, and I'm really enjoying it! I'm also a big fan of Shrinking on AppleTV, which just ended season 2. And I'm soooo sad about What We Do in the Shadows ending.

Nicki Leone / Communications:
Reading: Almost done with Morante's Lies and Sorcery. It's been a beautiful ride. I have my winter issue of the Slightly Foxed Quarterly by my bed for reading-to-sleep material, and H.D.'s Helen in Egypt for my "oh I haven't read this in so long" pick, and A Grandmother Begins the Story by Michelle Porter after a discussion about indigenous writers at my last book club meeting.
Listening: Still with Middlemarch narrated by Juliet Stevenson -- I don't really want it to end. I also, after a steady-heady diet of podcast episodes from the Folger Library, signed up for the Marquee channel, which runs all the Royal British Shakespeare Company productions. And it was there that I stumbled into Judi Dench in one of those "Masterclass on Acting" things doing Prospero's last speech, the one that starts, "Our revels now are ended..." And it was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard.
Watching: Although I tend to stay away from Christmas movies during the holiday season, I did rewatch Simon Callow's one-man show The Mystery of Charles Dickens, which is fantastic and ought to count since Callow holds the patent on all things Dickens. And I finally caught up with the new season of Doctor Who over Christmas, appropriate since the seasons always start with a Christmas special. I always love seeing how each new Doctor makes the role their own. Ncuti Gatwa is, dare I say, a rather sweet incarnation.

SP Rankin / Website Administrator:
Reading: I feel a little like the bookish version of the Ancient Mariner--post move, I am surrounded by my books, but not a word is being read. Here's to better things in 2025.
Listening: I've just arrived in Minas Tirith in the Andy Serkis-narrated audiobook version of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's been the perfect unpacking companion.
Watching: New Year's Eve always feels Hitchcockish to me, so to ring in 2025, I'm watching a triple feature of Vertigo, Rebecca, and Young and Innocent (which I'd never seen).

Andrea Richardson / Sales:
Returning next week!