Today’s TTT is a Halloween freebie, and while that should make things easier, it doesn’t. I’m not much for Halloween: my family didn’t celebrate it as a kid, and while I’ve enjoyed quite a few costume parties in. So, I’m really leaning into the whole freebie thing. But first, the tease:
The momentum of a state is always towards the centre; always towards the agglomeration of more power. No ‘conspiracy theory’ is necessary for any of this to be true, and neither do the people running the state need to be evil or ill-intentioned. It is simply the logic of the thing. A state is like a vortex or a black hole: at a certain point, it begins to suck in everything around it. As it grows, it will tell stories that justify its existence. (Paul Kingsnorth, AGAINST THE MACHINE)
So, now to the freebie. I’m going to go with “Ten Books I’ve Been Looking At on Amazon”. I was going to do “Top Ten Strange Things People Died From in Colonial Alabama,” but the book I like to amuse tourists with is not where it should be. (Whenever I show people the library’s local history room, I like to point out some of the more interesting resources, as well as genealogical volumes with funny names like “IT’s MCCRAW, NOT MCGRAW!” )
(1) Ask Old Paths: Medieval Virtues and Vices for a Whole and Holy Life, Grace Hamman
(2) Those were the Vaqueros, Arnold Rojas
(3) Watch With Me: and Six Other Stories of the Yet-Remembered Ptolemy Proudfoot and His Wife, Miss Minnie, Née Quinch, Wendell Berry
(4) Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language, Nicola Gardini. Trans. Todd Portnowitz.
(5) Rebel Cornbread and Yankee Coffee: Authentic Civil War Cooking and Camaraderie, Garry Fisher
(6) Tyranny, Inc.: How Private Power Crushed American Liberty–and What to Do About It, Sohrab Amari
(7) Creators, Conquerors, and Citizens: A History of Ancient Greece, Robin Waterfield
(8) Solaris, Stanislaw Lem
(9) Taking Religion Seriously, Charles Murray
(10) The Myth of the Great War, John Mosier
Reading Freely 
I hope you can find that book. I like hearing about odd things that have killed people.
Thanks for stopping earlier.
If I find it this week, I’ll do a bonus list and let you know. 😅
I love it that there are so many books in the world because then all of us can find something we are interested in to read!
I listed books I’ve read that involve Halloweenish creatures. Find it <a href=”https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2025/10/ttt-books-with-halloweenish-creatures.html“>Here</a>
I love the idea of unusual ways people die. It always amazes me how people die.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!https://readbakecreate.com/halloween-creatures-book-tag-2025-edition/
I posted the list today!
https://readingfreely.com/2025/10/31/ten-strange-ways-to-die-in-colonial-alabama/
I too love to hear about unusual ways people die lol.
I hope you have a spooky week and a Happy Halloween! 🎃💀👻
My TTT: https://essentiallyash.blogspot.com/2025/10/top-ten-tuesday-halloweeeeeeen.html
Ash @ <a href=”https://essentiallyash.blogspot.com/“>Essentially Ash</a>
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Not gonna lie, I REALLY want to know the strange things people in Colonial Alabama died from. Please tell me you’re going to do that TTT list sometime!
I’m not big on Halloween either. I’ve never been a fan of dressing up, even as a kid. I do like lightly spooky stories, though, so I focused on ghosts this week (right up my alley as a genealogist).
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Mercy! So much demand. I’ll have to find the book. XD
A lot of these sound intriguing, but I think I like the sound of Creators, Conquerors, and Citizens: A History of Ancient Greece best.