Hello from the other side of the time change. The light's all weird now, isn't it? We find ourselves thinking about going down into the cellar and retrieving jars of preserves. Socks thought lost last fall are turning up in the dryer again. Birds are flying widdershins around the house. Strange times, dear readers, strange times. 

Fortunately, books are still the same. Lots of pages of text. Some are funny. Some are frightening. You know the drill. 
 

First up is John Scalzi's The Kaiju Preservation Society, which is about slackers and giant monsters. One must rescue the other. Hilarity ensues. Scalzi knows how to find a funny set-up and then take it out for a spin, and The Kaiju Preservation Society is no exception. This isn't How to Build A Dino, after all. It's more like How to Not Get Eaten While Navigating Awkward Office Politics. 
 

Meanwhile, Simone St. James is back with The Book of Cold Cases, which is the story of Shea Collins, a medical receptionist by day, cold case blogger by night. Collins gets a chance to do a deep dive interview with an elusive and affluent local woman who was tried and acquitted in the cold-blooded murder of two men forty years ago. Much of the book is spent detailing the woman's backstory, but along the way, Collins is sucked into a nightmare about duplicitous killers, spooky houses by the sea, and what may very well be an otherworldly horror. St. James has been regularly scaring the beeper-jeepers out of us with her books, and The Book of Cold Cases is another all-night read. Recommended. 
 

Also, wrapping up The Expanse series is Memory's Legion, a nice collection of all the novellas that James S. A. Corey wrote between delivering the doorstopper editions of the nine volumes in the main series. The stories in Memory's Legion discretely fall between the various books, and none of them provide necessary information you need in order to read the books. However, they do tidy up loose ends and—oh, come on. If you're a fan of the series, you need these. Full stop. Everyone else should revel in the fact that there's a couple million words of really great space opera they haven't read. 
 

And speaking of great reads, Kotaro Isaka's Bullet Train is out in paperback this week. Instead of trying to summarize the book in a couple of sentences, we're just going to direct your eyeballs to the movie trailer. 

Bullet Train trailer (with Brad Pitt!)

'nuff said. Plan accordingly. 
 

And what's better than an atlas of extinct countries for a readership who can't travel? 

Oh, wait. We can travel again? Well, that's exciting. What's Rick Steves up to these days? 
 

Ah, good. Normalcy. We'll take it. 
 

Except maybe not this route. 
 

And speaking of taking over the world, Ryan North has a new book out this week called, uh, yeah, that: How to Take Over the World: Practical Schemes and Scientific Solutions for the Aspiring Supervillain. We suspect, however, that North's book is a bit tongue-in-cheek and not an actual handbook. 
 

A better manual for behavior might be Denise Christopher's Knight Owl, which is the story of a young owl who dreams of being a knight. Armed with a baking tray, a saucepan, and a wooden spool, Owl is determined to save his family from a terrible fire-breathing dragon. Naturally, it takes more than a wooden spoon to defeat fire, and Christopher's delightful illustrations turn this tale into a bedtime staple. Recommended. 
 

And speaking of useful guides, here is Amelia Wood's The Kickass Coven: How to Create a Witchy Sisterhood to Empower Yourself and Change the World. We think the sub-title sums this one up nicely. Plus more than thirty rituals to help you get sh*t done (wow, we could use those this week), guides to crystals, tarot, cauldrons, smudging, dream visualizations, and how to lay out a great spread for when everyone comes over to commune with the dead. Too much garlic will ruin the mood!
 

And speaking of witches, here is India Holton's The League of Gentlewoman Witches, wherein Victorian ladies engage in tea ceremonies, clever word-play, and adventurous hijinks. There are pirates, flying bicycles, and alterations in natural history museums! What more could you ask for? 

Okay, sorry. That was rhetorical. We didn't mean to—hoo boy, that's a list. Okay, well, how about a million adorable critters? 

Cats on macarons! Hedgehogs with bowties! Bunnies in cupcake tins! 

Whew. That was close.