akawil

I went with a friend to do part of the Indie Bookstore crawl that's happening this month here in Dallas. We got the following shops stamped:

Half Price Books flagship: I've been here many times. I picked up several books including the new Lev Grossman Arthurian story.

Interabang Books. My favorite local new bookstore. I bought Michael a book about the making of Born to Run and a lovely boxed set of Murderbot.

Bibliobar is in downtown Plano right down the drag from the park where we do Pokemon on the way back from Kura on Legacy Drive. It's tiny but I did find a book I liked there. Lots of sex positive/queer stuff and a strong emphasis on romance.

Neighbor Books is just off the square in Downtown McKinney, in sight of the old courthouse where we saw the Hot Club of Cowtown a few years ago. It's bigger than most of the indie stores I've seen and has a better selection of books, but the arrangement choices are pretty different: all the fiction is one one long set of shelves mixed in but the nonfiction is divided up. I liked this better than Bibliobar but not better than Interabang.

Books
The Undercutting of Adam and Rosie, by Megan Bannen. Third and last in this trilogy of romantic fantasies. They're not romantasies, they're romance x fantasy crossovers: both parts weigh in equally. This one is about gods, demigods, and immortality, and brings the changing world to its logical conclusion. I've enjoyed these stories and I'm going to miss this extended clan now that they're over.
The Queens of Crime, by Marie Benedict. The "Queens of Crime" aka five famous vintage mystery writers, solve a real-life crime in 1930 England (and Bolougne). I liked the twists at the end and the parallels between things that had happened to the narrator and the victim.

Music
Brass Queens, Hot Tub Sessions Volume 1. Short 30-minute album by a group of women brass players recommended to me by the algorithm. Fun stuff; I need to find out if they're touring.
Jess Murph, Sex Hysteria. Another "recommended by the algorithm" try but this one wasn't as successful. Autotune and rap, featuring Gucci Mane. Not awful or anything, just nothing that made me want to listen to it again.
Rose Betts, There Is No Ship. Still another algorithm recommendation but this one is right up my alley. Folk inflected piano and a great voice! I see more of her music in my future.

(more about other activities later)

HunnyBunny Biscuit Co.. A little chain of biscuit brunch foods shops that includes Oklahoma City. We liked it so much we ate there twice. They have biscuit benedicts that are delicious and also a fantastic biscuit cinnamon roll. I hope they open up in Dallas because they'd make a mint.

Fogo de Chao. Spouse was into carnapalooza. It was nice and the service was overall pretty good. I wish I'd come in completely starved because I always feel like I didn't get enough to eat. What we did get was really well done meat and sides. I always wince at the money we spend on these things but it's less than we spend on omokase or a Tasting Collective meal. I also tried a Brazilian soda that was really nice but the amount of sugar in it was scary.

Musashi's. Japanese hibachi place that we like. We went there last year and since we still don't have a regular place in Dallas, we decided it was a good vacation meal. They have some of the nice Wagyu and American Wagyu on the menu. I had the American Wagyu and it was expensive but delicious. The chef was very experienced and put on a good show. I feel like one-off places are much better than Benihana is nowadays and this was no exception.

The Jones Assembly. Warehouse restaurant and concert space in an old auto plant. Slightly upscale gastropub menu and vibe. If this place were in Dallas, we'd be all over it.

We didn't see any shows in July and we don't have any on the schedule for August, which is good because we're busy AF right now and feeling overwhelmed between scheduling for games we're doing in September and preparing for the con we're going to in November.

( Under the cut to protect your flist )

There's a lot of stuff that has recently come up that we're considering that will either be on the list next month or not. The only thing on the current list that is a major maybe is the PMJ in December, and that may depend on my eye surgery.