Category Archives: Blog Hops

December 30, 2025 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Library Books With Long Waitlists


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

The original topic for this week was Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf, but I’m tweaking it a little bit as nearly everything I read comes from my local library. 

Black and white photo of someone walking down a desolate road next to a line of street lamps that are closely packed together but not turned on.Here are ten books with long waitlists that I hope to request from the library once the demand for them isn’t quite so high. Yes, I know I did this same topic a while ago, but might as well recycle it every now and again.

 

 

 

Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi’s Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging by Angela Buchdahl

Wait Time: 12 weeks

Why I’m Interested: Earlier this year I met someone who is on the heart transplant list. I continue to think of him and hope he gets his transplant.

 

Recitatif by Toni Morrison

Wait Time: 12 weeks

Why I’m Interested: I generally enjoy her work quite a bit.

 

On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters by Bonnie Tsui

Wait Time: 15 weeks

Why I’m Interested: The science of fitness is interesting and can change rapidly.

 

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

Wait Time: 16 weeks

Why I’m Interested: Terrifying vampires are the best sort of vampires if you ask me.

 

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

Wait Time: 16 weeks

Why I’m Interested: I like the idea of memorializing a child who died young a very long time ago (even if a good deal of this is probably fiction). Too often their lives were forgotten.

 

Ingram: A Novel by Louis C.K.

Wait Time: 2o weeks

Why I’m Interested: It predicts how climate change will affect us all in the coming decades.

 

Flashlight by Susan Choi

Wait Time: 22 weeks

Why I’m Interested: It appears to be long and character-driven. If I’m going to read a long book, it needs to have excellent character development, so I’m hoping this will fit the bill.

 

Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It
by

Cory Doctorow

Wait Time: 22 weeks

Why I’m Interested: I may or may not have ranted about this phenomenon a few times this year.

 

Are You Mad at Me? by Meg Josephson

Wait Time: 23 weeks

Why I’m Interested: This is something I struggle with.

 

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

Wait Time: 25 weeks

Why I’m Interested: Climate change, seed banks, and literary fiction sounds like an interesting combination.

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December 23, 2025 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Winter Solstice Bookish Wishes


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

The text of this image has a dark blue background and the phrase “happy winter solstice” written in a cursive yellow font. In the centre of the image, a sprig of golden and blue berries is covered in snow and includes some dead twigs that are still attached to the recenlty living portions of this plant. Happy belated Winter Solstice to everyone who celebrated it a few days ago!

Here are my Winter Solstice bookish wishes for 2026.

1. Better ways to learn about upcoming nonfiction titles.

Goodreads sometimes mentions them, but there are no dedicated lists for new nonfiction there from what I can find. If you know of a site that remains up-to-date on this, please share.

2. Library access for everyone.

One of the things that surprised me when I started to get to know other Top Ten Tuesday bloggers is that free public libraries don’t exist in some countries and are maybe only available in big cities in others. I think everyone should have access to free books no matter where you live.

3. More novels about older protagonists  

When I say older, I mean senior citizen age. Even though I’m a long way from reaching that label, I enjoy reading about the lives of people who aren’t your typically 18-30 year old protagonists. There’s so much more to life than being a teenager or young adult, and it’s not explored enough in my opinion.

4. More short stories and novellas 

I know I’ve mentioned my love of shorter form literature in previous bookish wishes posts, but this is my comfort zone at the moment.

5. A good cup of tea

So much in life can be made just an little easier with a good cup of tea.

6. New books from all of our favourite authors.

Wouldn’t that be nice?

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December 17, 2025 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Something I Wish I Were Better At Doing

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

A light orange sign that says “new skills training”. Just so you all know, I’ve been having trouble leaving comments on some WordPress blogs recently. They ask me to log in even though I’m already logged in, and then when I leave my comment it never appears on the post. If I don’t comment on your post, I am not ignoring you.

Now onto today’s topic.

I wish I were better at starting and  keeping conversations going with people I’ve either just met or don’t know much about.

As someone who is shy and introverted with a splash of social anxiety to add another layer of difficulty to it all, I still do not always know what to say to enrich a conversation.

I worry about accidentally hurting someone’s feelings by mentioning something that is a sensitive topic for them.

If I’m talking to someone I already know, I can easily steer the conversation away from topics I know are tricky for them and to things I know will make their faces light up with joy.

With a stranger or acquaintance, you can’t possibly know in advance where all of their sore spots are even if you try to avoid the most obvious topics that should be handled delicately if at all.

I’m also uninterested in stuff like sports, fashion, or celebrity gossip that many people use as icebreakers. So you can ask me about that sportsball game or which actors are secretly dating if you wish to…but I won’t have a solitary clue what you’re talking about and so will just be smiling and nodding along without anything new to add to whatever just happened.

This is something I’ve gradually gotten better at over the years, but it’s still not easy for me to come up with general interest topics that are inoffensive and interesting but that I also know enough about to keep talking about.

Thank goodness for books is all I can say. Without them and the interesting ideas they contain, whether they’re science facts or cool plot twists in fictional tales,  I truly would be permanently stumped.

 

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December 16, 2025 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My Winter 2025-2026 to-Read List


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

 

A sprig of holly lying on an opened hardcover book that itself is lying on some rough rocks at the beach on a sunny day. Just so you all know, I’ve been having trouble leaving comments on some WordPress blogs recently. They ask me to log in even though I’m already logged in, and then when I leave my comment it never appears on the post. If I don’t comment on your post, I am not ignoring you.

The photo I included in this post made me chuckle because the beaches in Ontario are often inaccessible in the winter.

Windy days are common here in Southern Ontario, and in the winter all of that wind can blow freezing water up the shore and onto any sidewalks or piers nearby.

So not only it is well below freezing for us then, the land next to our lakes is often coated in a thick layer of ice that can be incredibly slippery and dangerous.

I’m glad that people in some other parts of the world can take leisurely strolls next to their lakes or oceans in the winter without possibly slipping straight into the freezing water, though. It must be lovely, and I mean that sincerely if also slightly humorously.

With that mental image  firmly in place, here are some books I’m looking forward to checking out this winter.

 

Book cover for “Is This a Cry for Help?” By Emily Austin. Image on cover is a drawing of two pale legs sticking out from behind a gigantic stack of books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Is This a Cry for Help? by Emily R. Austin

Publication Date: January 13

Why I’m Interested: Book bans are something I’m always curious to read about, especially from the perspective of a librarian who is fighting them.

 

Book cover for How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days: Tales from Hawthorne Cottage by Jessie Sylva. Image on cover shows flowers growing around a golden mirror or some other similar round object.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days: Tales from Hawthorne Cottage by Jessie Sylva

Publication Date: January 20

Why I’m Interested: Honestly, the title is what drew me to this one. I love puns and cozy speculative fiction.

 

 

Book cover for Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett. Image on cover shows a drawing of cats of various colours sitting in a large wooden piece of furniture that looks like it may have originally been built to hold china instead. It has little windows and recesses to put your valuables, like cats for example. Ha!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.  Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

Publication Date: February 3

Why I’m Interested: Animal rescue is one of those topics that will draw my attention to all sorts of different books. There’s nothing like reading about an abandoned animal finding a happy new home.

 

Book cover for The Daughter Who Remains by Nnedi Okorafor. Image on cover is a drawing of a black woman being enveloped in a yellow-green mist as she holds both arms up and embraces whatever is happening to her. There also appears to be a snake writhing near her neck for reasons I do not know as I haven’t read this book yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.  The Daughter Who Remains by Nnedi Okorafor

Publication Date: February 17

Why I’m Interested: It will hopefully encourage me to finally begin this trilogy. I’m generally a fan of Ms. Okorafor’s work and the afro-futurism genre as a whole.

 

Book cover for Onward: 16 Climate Fiction Short Stories to Inspire Hope by Erin Entrada Kelly. Image on cover is a drawing of a sandglass-shaped hole in a cave that opens to show the viewer a bird sitting on a ledge in the cave looking down at a serene pool of water in the forest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Onward: 16 Climate Fiction Short Stories to Inspire Hope by Erin Entrada Kelly

Publication Date: February 24

Why I’m Interested: To be honest, climate change is not looking good at the moment. I worry about what the future may hold as the Earth continues to warm up. My fingers are crossed that this book will imagine some cleaner, cooler futures for us all.

 

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December 10, 2025 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: 10 Gifts for People Who Love The Outdoors

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Two gifts, one the size of a hardback novel and the other the size of a large adult human hand, are wrapped in white paper. They both have red ribbons tied around them and greenery tucked inside of the ribbon next to the wrapping paper. I am not very talented at making generic present suggestions because so much of what goes into gift buying for me are the specific personality traits and interests of the recipients.

Some people would love tickets to a baseball game or a lightweight kettle they can bring with them on backcountry hiking trips, for example, while others might find it exciting to get a gift card to a beloved local coffee shop or a new book from their favourite author.

The last time we had this prompt, I talked about what to buy for minimalists who don’t want a lot of stuff they then have to dust or look after.

This year I’m going to give some gift ideas for nature lovers as I happen to be one of those folks who loves spending time outdoors surrounded by plants and (docile) wildlife.

Closeup photo of a small tree branch covered in a heavy layer of wet snow. 1) Their favourite sunscreen, bug spray, anti-itch cream, or lotion.

Obviously, check ahead of time to see which products they prefer and if they’re comfortable with this, but I love getting practical gifts like this.

2) A subscription to a weather app

You do not want to be wandering out into the forest and possibly out of communication range if tornadoes, thunderstorms, or blizzards are in the forecast!

3) Shelf-stable snacks

Dried fruit or vegetables, crackers, trail mix, dried meat,  ingredients for s’mores, and similar items  are much appreciated after working up an appetite outdoors.

4) A new water bottle 

Make it something sturdy that won’t shatter into a thousand pieces if it is accidentally dropped.

5) A gift card to their favourite grocery store or outdoorsy store

This is such a flexible idea that can work for people of any age or fitness level. I like outdoor picnics, for example, and would be thrilled to splurge on a few fancy food options if I had a gift card to a grocery store. Someone who hikes out in the wilderness for days on end might prefer to use their gift card towards new hiking boots,  a tent, or a million other options you can find that you didn’t know existed at stores that specialize in hiking, camping, rock climbing, and other outdoor activities.

6) Companionship

If you’re able to, offer to go with them on one of their adventures. Some types of outdoor activities are simply not safe to do alone at all, and most of them are much more fun with a friend or a group of people.

7) A sun hat

My dad bought me a great new sun hat  last spring. I was able to get so much use out of it this year, and it’s a good idea to use multiple layers of protection against the sun on a bright or hot day.

8) Camera accessories 

My phone takes pretty great photos, but there are so many accessories that serious photographers could use to take even better ones.

9) Stories

Is it really a campfire or a bonfire if nobody has any stories to tell? I’d argue no. The more stories everyone shows up with, the better. They can be from fiction or nonfiction books as well as from real life.

10) A small first aid kit

Obviously, I hope that no one ever needs to use it, but I always carry some basic supplies with me if I’m going anywhere other than downtown Toronto. It has come in handy once or twice, too!

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December 9, 2025 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books Set in Snowy Places


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Five deciduous trees that have lost all of their autumn leaves and now have every single one of their branches coated in snow. They look like someone sprinkled powdered sugar on them. The sky behind them is light blue, there are fir trees in the distance, and the ground is blanketed in fresh, white snow. I’ve read the first eight of these, and the rest are still on my TBR list. Snowy settings can be so interesting to read about, although I only enjoy heavy snowfalls in real life when I can stay home and don’t have to shovel snow or drive in it.

(Making snow people can be fun, though!)

1. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

2. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

3. Little Women (Little Women, #1) by Louisa May Alcott (some scenes were quite snowy, but not all of them).

4. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1) by C.S. Lewis

5. The Long Winter (Little House, #6) by Laura Ingalls Wilder

6. White Fang by Jack London

7. The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen

8. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

9. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson

10. Northern Lights (His Dark Materials, #1) by Philip Pullman

11. Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata

12. The Bear and the Nightingale (The Winternight Trilogy, #1) by Katherine Arden

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December 3, 2025 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: My Earliest Memory

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Black and white photo of a baby sleeping in a crib.

This is not my brother, but it is what I was hoping to find in that crib!

As this is the third time this has been a prompt for the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge, I’ll provide links to my previous two answers: eating apples and tire swings.

This memory happened in the same old farmhouse as my first two posts. To be honest, any one of my three answers could be my genuine first memory. When you’re little things can be a little fuzzy as far as which moment happened first.

In this snapshot from my past  I am walking around the house looking for my baby brother which means I was probably about three years old when this occurred.  I liked knowing where my brother was and what he was doing.

There was a wooden crib in one of the rooms of the house, and I thought it was a good place to check.

I walked quietly into the room and past the crib in case he was asleep. He was not in there, so I decided to check the kitchen.

That is where this snippet of memory ends. I can only assume he was with mom in the kitchen, and I wish I could remember what happened next.

 

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December 2, 2025 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books About Seasonal Affective Disorder


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A person’s hand holding up a very bright lightbulb that does not appear to be attached to any power source! Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that happens during the same season of the year every year. The winter blues are a milder condition similar to this one that has some of the same symptoms and many of the same treatment options, although some people also use that term colloquially to refer to SAD.

As someone who has SAD and struggles with winter because of it, I thought I’d use this week’s freebie post to share some books about it. Both fiction and nonfiction titles are included. I haven’t read most of them yet, but I’d like to!

1. The Girl and the Grove by Eric Smith

2. Super Chill: A Year of Living Anxiously by Adam Ellis

3. Light Boxes by Shane Jones

4. Stay and Fight by Madeline Ffitch

5. Winter Blues: Everything You Need to Know to Beat Seasonal Affective Disorder by Norman E. Rosenthal

6. Defeating SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder): A Guide to Health and Happiness Through All Seasons by Norman E. Rosenthal

 

If you have a medical condition or conditions, which books about it or them are you aware of? Would you recommend reading those books to people who want to learn more?

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November 26, 2025 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: A Genre I Wish Were More Popular

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Four red advent pillar candles. Two are lit and two have never been lit yet. Oh, this week’s topic is easy.

I wish Christmas ghost stories were popular today.

In Victorian England in the 1800s, telling ghost stories was a widespread Christmas tradition. There were new entries in this genre published every year for families to enjoy, and some of them became classics that are still well-known today.

I try to keep that tradition going in my own small way by seeking out and hopefully also reviewing ghost stories every December, but I’d love it if they were easier to find and if more people saw the value in reading something just a little scary at this time of the year.

Since Christmas isn’t always an easy holiday for me to enjoy for reasons beyond the scope of this post, having something to look forward to during it makes a world of difference for me. I think it’s so emotionally healthy to give people a wide variety of ways to interact with holidays they struggle with.  Not everything has to be cheerful and sugary sweet all of the time in order to be meaningful.

Oh, and one of the tags on this post is Seth’s Christmas Ghost Stories because I actually reviewed quite a few classic ghost stories from the late 1800s and early 1900s on my blog a few years ago. Click on that tag to read my reviews if you wish to.

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November 25, 2025 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Quotes About Gratitude


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

I have mixed feelings about Thanksgiving in general, but one of the things I appreciate about it  is how it gives me a chance to reflect on the many good things in my life. This is something that North American culture often needs more experience doing in my opinion, so I’m going to reframe the Thanksgiving freebie post a little this week.

Here are ten quotes about gratitude and the importance of feeling grateful for what you do have.

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”
― Epicurus

Eight little wooden blocks that look like Scrabble titles have been arranged to spell out the phrase “Thank you.” “Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

 

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”
― Maya Angelou

 

“If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.”
― James Herriot , All Creatures Great and Small

 

“…for love casts out fear, and gratitude can conquer pride.”
― Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

 

“My religion is nature. That’s what arouses those feelings of wonder and mysticism and gratitude in me.”
― Oliver Sacks

 

“It’s a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack.”
― Germany Kent

 

“I marveled at the beauty of all life and savored the power and possibilities of my imagination. In these rare moments, I prayed, I danced, and I analyzed. I saw that life was good and bad, beautiful and ugly. I understood that I had to dwell on the good and beautiful in order to keep my imagination, sensitivity, and gratitude intact. I knew it would not be easy to maintain this perspective. I knew I would often twist and turn, bend and crack a little, but I also knew that…I would never completely break.”
― Maria Nhambu, Africa’s Child

 

“The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh

 

If you’re celebrating this week, may you be able to eat all of your favourite foods and perhaps think of a few things you’re grateful for, too!

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