My cousin and I just started a book club for two. We have lunch every other week or so via Skype. (It’s sort of like being at a restaurant because our disembodied heads on the screen are facing each other.) We decided to layer in a book club meeting every few lunches.

It works like this: we both list ten books we’re excited about from our To Be Read list. First, we see if we overlap with any book. If not, we then look to see if any of the other person’s ten overlap with a book that we didn’t offer up but happens to be on our larger TBR list. Finally… I guess we just convince the other one to read a book we’re excited about.

It helps that we have somewhat similar reading tastes. I mean, not exactly, but we overlap in a bunch of areas. Both of us are reading something we really wanted to read, BUT we also get the benefit of getting to talk about it. Our first selection is an Agatha Christie book we both had on our TBR.

I’m feeling pretty smart at this moment.

The Nats are going to the World Series! As a Nats superfan (though I’m sad that I no longer rank #1 for the search term “Nationals Superfan” due to all the Johnny-Come-Latelies), I was very excited ESPECIALLY because I botched things back in October 12, 2012, when I woke up the Wolvog before the final out to tell him that we were going to the playoffs. Then I had to eat my words in the morning and explain that we were definitely NOT going to the playoffs. Josh made me wait this time until the team stormed the field before I let the Wolvog know we were World Series bound.

I asked Josh if we were going to go to the World Series, and he looked at me incredulously and said, “Do you know how much those tickets cost?” Even for superfans who no longer rank on Google as a superfan? I just assumed Chase Parker would call and offer me free tickets so I could cheer on my boys.

So… yeah… exciting times in D.C. At least, on the baseball front. Everything else in D.C.? Let’s not think about that for a moment…

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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments in order to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

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And now the blogs…

But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Three Year Old Embryos” (Lindsaymader)
• “Making Plans” (Infertile Phoenix)

Okay, now my choices this week.

The Next 15000 Days has a post about a visit from a blogging friend. I love the part in the post where she recounts how they were speaking about the bloggers who came before them: “How important a bit older bloggers were for us. Reading their blogs was comforting for us in the darkest days of our infertility since it gave us hope that there is possibility of living happily again. We both agreed that Mali was a motherly figure to both of us.” I love that because we all have people who came before us on our infertility or loss journey who helped us through it with their words. Someone may be the same age (or even younger!) but, situationally, they still can be motherly.

By the Brooke wrote a series of thought-provoking notes in a single post. From being an anticipator (me too!) to being a pizza orderer (I think I’m somewhere between pizza orderer and chili cooker), I was nodding along. And then I got to these beautiful words: “For the longest time after Eliza died, it was so easy to imagine what my life would be like if she had lived that I couldn’t stop doing it. Eventually it got trickier, and although I still think wistfully of what it would be like to have her here with us, it’s harder for me to imagine. I just have no idea what kind of third-grader she would be.” She alternates between the what is and the what could be, trying to live in the space in between. Read to the end: she makes you laugh just as much as she makes you cry.

Lastly, it was Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day this week, and Of Needles to Noodles has a post about it. The letter she wrote her son made me bawl. She explains, “I want Laurie to know about his siblings who aren’t here. Although they were lost, we haven’t lost them.” Go read it. Bring tissues.

The roundup to the Roundup: Nationals are going to the World Series. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between October 11th and 18th) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week? Read the original open thread post here.

I’ve never done a reading challenge because while I think they can be great motivators, I am such a rule follower that I know I would choose my books to allow me to hit the goal vs. choose books I want to read. If I was worried about numbers, I would read shorter books to boost the final count rather than give Stephen King’s The Institute a chance. But because I’m not worried about numbers — not aiming for any particular number — counting the books I’ve read this year is more a statement of a reading renaissance than achieving any particular goal.

There are some years when finishing 12 books is an amazing feat. Other years where you realize you’ve somehow read 52 and could have done one of those one-per-week challenges.

This year, I’ve read 42 books so far. And none of them are Little Golden Books. (Yes, I would not put it past myself to count Little Golden Books towards my overall final number.) Four were audio books. Eight were extra books I snuck in doing my #15Best thing. (Yes, I’ve kept that up all year missing very few days.) It turns out that 15 minutes in the morning = about 10 extra books per year. All of those were non-fiction.

The rest were fiction except for one or two.

My favourite things I’ve read this year:

• Magic for Liars (Sarah Gailey)
• Her Royal Spyness (Rhys Bowen)
• The Oracle (Charles Soule)
• Normal People (Sally Rooney)
• A Study in Charlotte (Brittany Cavallaro)
• The 7 1/2 Deaths of Eveyln Hardcastle (Stuart Turton)
• Tell the Machine Goodnight (Katie Williams)
• Truly Devious (Maureen Johnson)
• The Testaments (Margaret Atwood)

What is on your list of favourite reads this year?

ChickieNob and I have been busy rewatching the first two seasons of The Crown to prepare for the third season release on November 17th. I love rewatching shows because knowing what happens next frees me to notice the small details, such as the music running in the background of a scene or seeing an infrequent character — such as Porchey — as one of the guests at the dinner table.

At first, we were both upset with the idea of a different cast, but I think we’ve come to a place of peace with it. I think it was smart of Netflix to give us the heads up so we could go into the series knowing the actors would change overtime. Plus, it feels like Olivia Colman is channeling Claire Foy in the trailer, creating a bridge between the first actress and the actual person they’re both portraying. It doesn’t hurt that they’ve gotten an amazing second cast to replace the first one.

But it is bittersweet to spend time with these early versions of Queen Elizabeth or Princess Margaret. To know that in a few short weeks, new actors will slip into the roles and the story will continue.

How do you feel about television shows replacing actors for the same character?

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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I feel like I’m entering a period of cocooning. I feel myself getting quieter and quieter, standing back and observing without feeling completely a part of things. I don’t feel the impulse to write — instead I have to convince myself that I want to sit down and type up a post. I don’t have an impulse to scroll.

If I let it happen, I know I emerge out the other side feeling more talkative, more engaged, more connected to the people and world around me. I feel a need, once again, to write. A need to check in on Facebook and see what people are doing.

If I fight it, I just feel like crap. So I’m letting myself cocoon a bit and observe. We’ll see what I notice this time.

Do you ever feel yourself pulling back and inward?

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.