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.
Some of topics over the last several weeks have been tricky ones, but this one is easy.
By Fundamentaldan – Own work, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1550270
One of the biggest things still on my bucket list is visiting Prince Edward Island. My curiosity about this province began when I first read the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery.
Someday I want to see their red roads, rocks, and beaches for myself.
Visiting the various real-life places that Montgomery fictionalized for her stories would also be amazing.
The interesting thing about this goal is that I rarely yearn to travel much in general! I usually prefer to stick close to home due to how easily I feel motion sickness on various forms of transportation.
I’d love to go back to school someday and get a Masters degree. My Bachelors degree was in Psychology, so maybe something related to that? I once dreamed of working as a therapist and still think that would be a rewarding line of work.
Learning how to enjoy jogging is something I’d also like to accomplish. I’ve tried several times and have never felt that runner’s high that some athletic people talk about. Maybe one day it will happen.
Becoming fluent in Spanish is the final big thing on my bucket list for the time being. Learning to speak a second language is a lot of work, so I dip in and out of practicing it as my time and energy levels allow for. I’d bet I could become fluent if I were more diligent about practicing. Can anyone recommend some good Spanish music or TV shows?
My pick for this week’s freebie theme is a simple one. Let’s look at some interesting bookish stock photos! Tell me which one is your favourite in the comment section below. I’m including brief descriptions of them for anyone who needs captions or who can’t see the photos.
Sad girl holding a book while standing outside near a forest.
Black and white drawing of an astronaut floating through outer space. A book is attached to their helmet with a cord.
Drawing of a skull sitting on top of an antique book. An extinguished candle and empty hourglass are flanking it.
Two children standing in a forest reading books.
A cat wearing a pair of oversized glasses
A cup of tea and a few chocolate chip cookies on two fancy saucers
A cardboard robot standing on two stacked books while stirring a cup of coffee with a teaspoon
Two women balancing books on their heads while reading and laughing
Man floating in a body of water while reading and wearing a pair of sunglasses
Woman reading a book to her dog
Senior woman sitting on chair while reading a book to a young girl
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.
Raise your hand if you read the fantasy genre!
There are countless things I love about these sorts of stories, but I have to admit that some of the names in them are pretty hard to get rolling off of my tongue.
There are often massive linguistic differences between names from real-life cultures I may not be well-acquainted with and names that were made up by the authors themselves.
The former have pronunciations that make sense once you understand a little bit about the language they came from and how vowels and consonants can and can’t be joined up together in it.
This isn’t always the case for the latter unless you have an author like J.R.R. Tolkien who creates entire languages for his worlds. While I definitely don’t judge anyone who skips that step when creating a fantasy world, it can make pronouncing the names of the characters in it trickier.
So I tried to keep this list pared down to names that trip me up due to them not being formed by strict rules of pronunciation.
Daenerys
Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander
Tekilashan
Numuhukumakiaki’aialunamor
Kylarral-ten
Tvlakv
Drizzt Daermon N’a’shezbaernon.
Zoenen Hoogstandjes
I found most of these names in this Reddit thread if anyone is interested in reading more.
I chose Canadian literary events for this week’s prompt because most of the bookish event and festival lists out there are heavily slanted towards the United States.
I think there’s something to be said for shining the spotlight on other parts of the world, too.
Word on the Street, the first entry on this list, is something I’ve attended on numerous occasions in the past. It’s a great deal of fun, and I can’t recommend it highly enough to all of you no matter which genres you enjoy.
Everything else is still on my bucket list!
See the map at the beginning of this post if you need a refresher on Canadian geography as you read about all of these wonderful festivals. The provinces will be highlighted in red in the photos below for the festivals that always occur in the same provinces.
Why I Love It: It includes such a wonderful variety of books and authors for every age, genre, style, and demographic group you can imagine and maybe even a few you’ve never encountered before. The food there is incredible, too!
Target Audience: Diverse authors and storytellers (and anyone who wants to read diverse books!)
Why I Want to Visit It: What’s not to love about celebrating diversity in the bookish community? I really need to rent a car or hop on a train and take a road trip to this festival after we have a vaccine for Covid-19.
Target Audience: Aboriginal writers and anyone who is interested in reading their work
Why I Want to Visit It: Canada has an amazing literary community in general, and it includes many talented Aboriginal and First Nations authors. I’d be thrilled to attend a whole festival dedicated to their work.
Target Audience: Anyone who is part of Canadian literary scene in the Yukon or who wants to learn more about it.
Why I Want to Visit It: I must confess to not knowing a lot about the culture of the Yukon or what the literary scene is like up there. That’s something I’d love to change someday.
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.
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This week’s topic was tricky for me because I’m a minimalist. I don’t own a lot of physical stuff, and almost everything I do own is used regularly and heavily.
When I go on a trip somewhere or want to treat myself, I don’t buy knick-knacks to commemorate it. Instead, I do things like:
Take lots of photos.
Try new experiences.
Order delicious dairy-free meals and snacks that are either unavailable at home or a bit too expensive to indulge in regularly.
Create vivid memories by soaking in every moment of the experience.
Buy a rare t-shirt, hat, socks, or some other article of clothing I happen to need that will also remind me of the good time I had there since all clothing wears out eventually.
Case in point, a few months ago I splurged on a box of vegan Boston cream donuts.
The bakery that makes them goes out of their way to source ethically produced ingredients and pay their staff fairly (which is wonderful!)
When you add all of those increased costs together, this place has to charge more than a typical bakery in order to make ends meet. So I view getting treats from them as a delightful detour from my typical diet.
The cool thing about that is how much more I appreciate them than I would if ate sugary donuts every single day of the week. And it makes my dentist happy, too.
Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl I’m stretching the definition of the term book a bit for today’s prompt. You see, it’s impossible for me to narrow this list down to fictional stories. Which tales make me smile has evolved throughout the course of my life. My answer at age 5 would be completely different… Read More
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. You all might laugh and shake your heads when you read this response. I don’t like to assume that everyone is familiar with the same stories… Read More
Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl I’m the sort of reader who regularly jumps around between authors and among genres. When I discover an author I really love, I might read everything from their back catalogue I can find only to go years before picking up anything else from them depending on if they’re still… Read More
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. Last summer I went on an Alaskan cruise with my spouse, parents, brothers, sister-in-law, and nephews. My parents had been curious about taking a cruise… Read More
Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl If only you all knew how hard it was to narrow this down to only ten books! Did anyone else have that same trouble? There are so many amazing titles coming in the second half of 2020. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher… Read More
Raise your hand if you read the fantasy genre!
I chose Canadian literary events for this week’s prompt because most of the bookish event and festival lists out there are heavily slanted towards the United States.
