Brenna Bychowski
LightNews LightNews
banner
brennab.bsky.social
Brenna Bychowski
@brennab.bsky.social
110 followers 64 following 77 posts
Books (and maps), cross stitching, DnD, Legos, horror, booze. Special collections cataloger with hobbies
📚🗺️🪡🎲👻🍷
Posts Replies Media Videos
brennab.bsky.social
Train wine and a book getting me through the final leg of travel to teach at @rarebookschool.bsky.social this week! I’m so excited to meet the students taking my class this year ☺️
A bottle of wine, a plastic cup, and a hardcover copy of The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling on a train seat tray table
June 7, 2025 at 10:47 PM
brennab.bsky.social
Friday Legos!

Emotional support Eeyore and the world’s greatest detective
A Lego Brick Headz figure of Eeyore looking quite despondent A Lego Brick Headz figure of Batman, in the grey and blue outfit of the early comics
March 28, 2025 at 11:22 PM
brennab.bsky.social
What are folks reading for fun/to take care of themselves right now?

I’m reading:
-Mexican Gothic, for the 4th time
-Kristin Lavransdatter, slowly
-The first Emily Wilde book for Book Club

Also, Heavenly Tyrant and Velveteen vs. the Early Adventures are paused but in progress
A kindle showing the cover of Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries next to standing copies of two books with the spines forward: Mexican Gothic (a tall hardcover with white text on a green and pink background) and Kristin Lavrandsdatter (a fat trade paperback Penguin edition with the titles bracketed between two orange decorations on a black background)
February 2, 2025 at 6:34 PM
brennab.bsky.social
Timeline cleanse: a friend recently convinced me to give needle felting a try. Please meet my jellyfish, shark, and anglerfish friends!

Let me tell you, a craft that involves an insane amount of stabbing is extremely cathartic
Jellyfish made of felted wool, with a pink body, pink snd white tentacles, and slightly crazy eyes A needle felted shark, blue, with white teeth and an eye staring into your soul A needle fried anglerfish with a red and pink body, pink and grey fins, large teeth, and eyes focused on it’s dangling light antena
February 1, 2025 at 11:09 PM
brennab.bsky.social
If ever there was a perfect time for wearing the Fuck necklace, it’s flying at the holidays for a funeral
A hand holding a round metal pendant with the word Fuck on it in all caps
December 19, 2024 at 12:48 PM
brennab.bsky.social
First thing today, I have an 1816 map of the US (mostly states and territories east of the Mississippi). Boss walks in, comes over to look, and says, “Nice to see a map of Illinois first thing in the morning” 🤣
(2/2)
Map of the United States as it was in 1816; it shows the states and territories of the time, which were east and slightly west of the Mississippi River
November 26, 2024 at 3:19 PM
brennab.bsky.social
Me this afternoon when I’d rather be playing Dreamlight Valley:
A cranky looking walking bird with the caption “Going on a stupid walk did my stupid mental health”
November 24, 2024 at 7:12 PM
brennab.bsky.social
We can’t have plants at or desks because special collections, so I brought in my latest Lego build to add some color to my desk
A Lego set of plum blossom branches in a pot sits on a shelf above a desk
November 21, 2024 at 12:22 AM
brennab.bsky.social
One day, I will remember which end of the scale spectrum is large scale and which is small scale without referring to this chart

Today is not that day
Chart from Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Cartographic) showing a range of map scales indicating which are larger and which are smaller and indicating the specificity of coordinates called for at different scales
November 15, 2024 at 2:34 AM
brennab.bsky.social
Because cataloging special collections often involves research, I have a stack of reading on Marshallese stick charts and Pacific islander navigation for my work from home day next week
Four paper clipped printouts of articles and book chapters and a blue bound book lying on a desk
November 8, 2024 at 7:22 PM
brennab.bsky.social
The Night Guest by @hildur.bsky.social came in the mail today, and I was just going to read the first chapter, and then suddenly I finished it 🤷🏼‍♀️

I loved the writing and the overall style, but I may need to read it again to crystalize my thoughts on the ending (which aren’t bad! Just … thoughtful)
September 6, 2024 at 10:47 PM
brennab.bsky.social
Work from home is great because I can put water polo on while I eat lunch and yell excitedly every time our women score. What a return to form after Monday!!

USA 10, Italy 3
Television showing the final score of the USA versus Italy women’s water polo match. Italy 3, USA 10
July 31, 2024 at 5:57 PM
brennab.bsky.social
A really rough game between the US women’s water polo team and Spain.

Spain played a good, aggressive game, and we just couldn’t match it. Given that we could have lost by 5, losing by 2 was better than it could have been.

But oof we need to step up on Wednesday
Screenshot of the end of the women’s water polo match between USA and Spain, with the score USA 12, Spain 13
July 29, 2024 at 2:48 PM
brennab.bsky.social
I’m watching an extremely compelling water polo match between the French and Italian women. France has been fighting like crazy to claw back Italy’s lead, and I’m now so invested in France winning.

They scored a penalty shot to draw ahead, and I’m here cheering like I’m watching the US play 🤣
Screen shot of a water polo match between France and Italy’s women. France leading 8-7
July 29, 2024 at 12:59 PM
brennab.bsky.social
First USA water polo update:
Yesterday, the women beat Greece 15-6
Today, the men lost to Italy, 8-12

This is pretty on brand for each side
Picture of the end of the USA versus Italy men’s water polo match showing the score, Italy 12, USA 8
July 28, 2024 at 2:31 PM
brennab.bsky.social
Is this the kind of note catalogers should regularly make? Eh, probably not.

Am I using it as an example anyway because it tickles me that there is a book where this is true? HELL YES

My class is going to be fun! 😆

@nkjemisin.bsky.social @scalzi.com @tkingfisher.bsky.social @ryannorth.ca
A screen showing a sample catalog note saying “Back jacket includes blurbs by N.K. Jemison, John Scalzi, T. Kingfisher, Ryan North, and others” followed by their names structured according to cataloging rules.
May 17, 2024 at 7:14 PM
brennab.bsky.social
My Saturday excitement: finding out that I can get Polar orange vanilla seltzer in cans 😂

I love this stuff; it tastes like orange creamsicles
A can of polar seltzer being held on the arm of a couch. The can is orange at the top and bottom and had the Polar logo in the middle
September 23, 2023 at 4:02 PM
brennab.bsky.social
It’s Thursday, which means I’m working on maps at my alternate workspace (aka the Really Fancy classroom). Today, among other things, I have this nearly 18-foot-long manuscript map of the Chicago & Great Western Railroad

I love my job, y’all

#CatalogerLife #RareMaps
Completely unrolled map laid out across four tables and just spilling onto a fifth. The map is partially colored in blue and red. Rightmost end of the map, showing land along the south branch of the Chicago River. Several buildings and land plots are colored red and blue. The text in the upper right reads: Map of Chicago & Gt. W. Dec. 1 1885. Scale 1”=200’.
September 21, 2023 at 4:16 PM
brennab.bsky.social
Today’s book mail and a sneak preview of my Spooky Season reading pile for next month! 🍂🍁👻
#BookMail #TBR
The cover of Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology, edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. The title is surrounded by a brightly colored design with animals and plants
September 20, 2023 at 11:02 PM
brennab.bsky.social
I’ve not read anything bad by T. Kingfisher (@tkingfisher.bsky.social), but dang, Thornhedge just knocked it out of the park. This version of Sleeping Beauty is everything I love about fairy tale retellings. Come for the subversion, stay for the forgiveness and found family.
It was, in fact, sweet ♥️
The book Thornhedge, with a cover featuring a white thorn with a drop of red blood dripping from it, next to a glass of red wine
September 18, 2023 at 11:31 PM
brennab.bsky.social
I still have all three of my Game Boys, and, incredibly, they all still work. I still use them, because Game Boy is still my favorite way to play Tetris 🤷🏼‍♀️

I remember saving up for the Color and then waiting for the translucent purple to be in stock at Toys R Us ♥️
Three generations of Game Boys. The original version is on the left; it’s light grey and bulky. In the middle is the Color. I’d much smaller, with a translucent purple body. On the right is the Advance SP. It’s black and folded open, with a wider screen than the first two.
August 12, 2023 at 10:46 PM
brennab.bsky.social
It’s #DnD night, which makes it the perfect time to share a picture of the mini of my character, Lizzie Borden, the 930+ year old Elf assassin. She was painted by one of my fellow players as part of my Secret Sparkle (midwinter gift exchange) gift last year ♥️
Small painted figurine of a woman in a red and pink cloak and red and pink fantasy adventure coloring looking down to the side and drawing a bow. She is posed in the middle of a wooden box with black and gold polyhedral dice on either side
August 12, 2023 at 12:40 AM
brennab.bsky.social
I have a new cataloging project that lets me work at one of our other locations one day a week: Really Big Maps!

I love working with maps, and it’s exciting to have dedicated time with them each week ♥️🗺️

#CatalogerLife #Maps
Three tables pushed together with a flat wall map lying on them and an open laptop next to it. The map is multicolored and printed on yellow paper with illustrations of buildings along either side and wooden pieces at the top and bottom
August 11, 2023 at 1:36 AM
brennab.bsky.social
I’m not sure I’ve ever been more proud of defeating a video game! I’m glad that I picked it back up and pushed through until it got fun. Looking forward to tackling Tears of the Kingdom next 😉

#BreathOfTheWild #botw #Zelda
Screencap from the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild that says “Destroy Ganon: complete”
August 4, 2023 at 10:51 PM
brennab.bsky.social
It was a loooong day of travel yesterday (between both trains, over three hours of delays), but I got home safely last night and found PRESENTS! Book-related presents!

Book Wyrm Dice from The Evergreen Butrow and swag from preordering the Dracula Daily book!

#BookWyrmDice #DraculaDaily
A set of seven clear polyhedral dice. The numbers are in gold, and the dice have bits of book with text inside them Dice book designed to look like a book, with a gold-decorated cover and gilded edges. The cover says Boök Wyrm Dice, and had a cute dragon with glasses A clear eight-sided die with gold numbers and printed paper embedded in it. One visible word is Lorien A red book mark that says Dracula Daily at the top, has a quote from the novel Dracula in the middle, and a drawing of a vampire popping out of an envelope at the bottom. To the right of the bookmark is an adhesive book plate that says Ex libris over a box for the name, followed by a quote from Dracula
July 30, 2023 at 11:52 PM