Category Archives: Blog Hops

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Fictional Things I’m Glad Are NOT Real

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.

This is once again going to be a science fiction, horror, and fantasy heavy list due to how much I’ve read in those genres.

1. Vampires

Stylized drawing of a Chinese dragon that doesn’t have limbs. It’s long, snake-like body curls around itself as it flicks out its tongue and looks annoyed. 2. Zombies

3. The Borg

4. Panem (The country set in North America in the Hunger Games series that forced children to fight for their lives in epic televised battles)

5. Being the Chosen One ™. Honestly, that sounds exhausting.

6. Aliens who show up on Earth ready to fight.

7. Having a One True Love ™. Falling in love can be an excellent thing, but the pressure of believing there’s only one person out there for you and you’d better not mess things up was intense when I was single.

8. Epic adventures. This, too, sounds exhausting. Let someone else go save the world while I hunker down for the rest of the winter.

 

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Top Ten Tuesday: Nonfiction Titles I Recently Added to My TBR List


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Here are ten nonfiction titles I’ve recently added to my TBR list. If you’ve read any of them or have other suggestions for great titles in this genre, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Book cover for Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent by Kim Bowes. Image on cover shows a close-up photo of a silver Roman coin. The face on the coin is pointing up, and you can only see the top half of the coin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent by Kim Bowes

Why I’m interested: As I’ve mentioned here before, I prefer reading about the lives of ordinary people in the past. It’s interesting to find out what they ate and wore and what their daily lives were like.

 

Book cover for The Crown's Silence: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery in the Americas by Brooke N. Newman. image on cove shows a British royal crown hanging from the black silhouette of a head as if it were an earring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. The Crown’s Silence: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery in the Americas by Brooke N. Newman

Why I’m interested: This is an aspect of the transatlantic slave trade that I wasn’t aware of.

Book cover for elieve You're Made for More: 7 Steps to Break Free from Low Self-Esteem, Remember Your Worth and Claim Your Quiet Confidence by Natasha Page. Image on cover shows the title written in a pink font against a blue background with the subtitle written in a yellow bubble on the bottom right hand of the cover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Believe You’re Made for More: 7 Steps to Break Free from Low Self-Esteem, Remember Your Worth and Claim Your Quiet Confidence
by Natasha Page

Why I’m interested: It sounds helpful. (I don’t have a great track record with self-help books, though, so no promises that I’ll actually finish it).

Book cover for Ferns: Lessons in Survival from Earth’s Most Adaptable Plants by Fay-Wei Li and Jacob S. Suissa. Image on cover is a drawing of about eight different types of ferns, one of whom is red, growing towards the centre of the book cove.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Ferns: Lessons in Survival From Earth’s Most Adaptable Plants by Fay-Wei Li and Jacob S. Suissa.

Why I’m interested: Botany is such an interesting subject.

 

Book cover for Unfrozen: The Fight for the Future of the Arctic by Mia Bennett and Klaus Doods. Image on cover is a drawing created from the perspective of someone looking down at the arctic and seeing the dark sea water between icebergs as a few different cargo ships sail past each other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Unfrozen: The Fight for the Future of the Arctic by Mia Bennett, Klaus Dodds

Why I’m interested: Cimate change frightens me, but I am also intrigued by how it alongside geopolitical conflicts are shaping the future of this continent. Will humans someday live there for non-scientific purposes, for example?

 

Book cover for The Great Shadow: A History of How Sickness Shapes What We Do, Think, Believe, and Buy by Susan Wise Bauer. Image on cover is a historical painting of a woman lying sick in bed as two other women tend to her. I’d estimate that this scene was set in the late 1700s or early 1800s based on their attire and the little white rumpled hat one of the caretakers is wearing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. The Great Shadow: A History of How Sickness Shapes What We Do, Think, Believe, and Buy by Susan Wise Bauer

Why I’m interested: I couldn’t read about contagious diseases back when Covid first emerged, but now I can occasionally explore how previous generations handled similar crises and how epidemics and pandemics e can permanently affect a culture in all sorts of interesting ways.

Book cover for The Flowers of Good: The Science and the History of Marijuana Liberation by Sidarta Ribeiro, Daniel Hahn. Image on cover is a drawing of what I presume is a marijuana plant. It’s tall, leafy, and green.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. The Flowers of Good: The Science and the History of Marijuana Liberation by Sidarta Ribeiro, Daniel Hahn

Why I’m interested: For the record, I don’t drink, smoke, or do any sort of drugs, including this one. I also do not judge you if you’ve made other choices in life. My interest in the topic is rooted firmly, pun intended, in how this plant can be used to treat pain and nausea from all sorts of various illnesses. The less suffering in the world, the better if you ask me! Such things should never be politicized.

 

Book cover for When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History, and America’s Black Botanical Legacy by Beronda L. Montgomery. Image on cover shows drawings of the leaves of about a half dozen different plants, none of which I can identify unfortunately.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History, and America’s Black Botanical Legacy by Beronda L. Montgomery

Why I’m interested: Can you tell I love reading about plants, especially during the cold months of the year when nothing grows? This is another topic I know nothing about but would like to.

 

Book cover for Why Not Me: Living with Invisible Illness by Lindsay Ireland. Image on cover shows dozen of little oblong shaped objects smushed together in circle. Are they bacteria multiplying in a Petri dish, maybe? They seemed to be loosely arranged in a star-like pattern.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. Why Not Me: Living with Invisible Illness by Lindsay Ireland

Why I’m interested: I don’t have multiple sclerosis, but I do like reading about the lives of other people living with chronic, invisible illnesses. We often share a lot in common, and it’s rewarding to learn about the aspects of other diseases that are generally only known to those who are quietly dealing with them. Having empathy and/or sympathy for others is a good thing that I think should be encouraged more often than many parts of western society currently do.

 

Book cover for Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others by Stephanie Dalley. Image on cover shows a man carved into a stone wall. He has a long beard and appears to have two large wings sprouting out behind him as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others by Stephanie Dalley

Why I’m interested: I was lucky enough to learn a little about this topic in college, but there’s still so much I don’t know about it. Mythology is fascinating, so this is definitely something I’ll be checking out sometime.

 

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Top Ten Tuesday: Fictional Things I Wish Were Real


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

This list is going to be heavily influenced by Star Trek and other science fiction themes. Be prepared.

I wish these fictional things were real:

A photo of Earth taken from the moon. Earth is partially hidden in shadow and looks small against an endlessly inky black sky. The moon’s surface is a monotone of grey and light brown. 1) Successful Human Settlements

For example, groups of people living well on other planets or on the moons of other planets. I think our longterm chances of surviving as a species would be much higher if we had the technology to spread out in the galaxy or universe.

2) Replicators.

Imagine if we could have all of the food, medicine, medical equipments, and other necessary things for life available at the press of a button. So much human suffering could be eliminated. (I’ve already talked about the wonders of a Star Trek medical bay in a previous WWBC post, or I would have included it here as well).

3) Equality for All

My favourite types of science fiction to read and to watch are the ones that show humans solving problems that have nothing at all do with any form of prejudice based on ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity,  sexual orientation, religion, disability, etc. because such a thing doesn’t really exist in their society anymore. If only they went into more detail about how that happened, because I’d love to see us figure it out in the current era.

4) Warp Drives

We’ll need them to travel to other solar systems!

5) Magic

I wish I really could flick a wand or perform a spell to fix many major problems.

6) Dragons

Is this at all practical? No. Do I still want them to exist in remote places on Earth where humans will hopefully leave them in peace anyway? Yes.

7) Bigfoot

See also: #6.

8) Justice

Even the worst antagonists in books are virtually always overcome eventually. In real life, not so much…but I still wish it could happen. I want peace for everyone.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Quotes About Reading


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A tiny green cactus in a tiny white planter that is sitting on a white hardcover book on a wooden table. The original theme for this week was  “Quotes From/About Books,” but I’m tweaking it to be quotes about reading instead. 

1. “Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you.”
Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind

2. “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
Stephen King

3. “She read books as one would breathe air, to fill up and live.”
Annie Dillard, The Living

4. “Only a generation of readers will spawn a generation of writers.”
Steven Spielberg

5. “My alma mater was books, a good library…. I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.”
Malcolm X

6. “Everything in the world exists in order to end up as a book.”
Stéphane Mallarmé

7. “Why can’t people just sit and read books and be nice to each other?”
David Baldacci, The Camel Club

8. “The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of past centuries.”
René Descartes

9. “Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries.”
Anne Herbert

10. “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”
Joseph Addison

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Song Lyrics That Made Me Cringe

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.

Young brown girl holding her hand over her forehead in embarrassment. Her nails are painted various shades of pink. As I mentioned last week, I struggle with a lot of modern music. There isn’t always much care taken to write thoughtful lyrics or develop the artist’s vocal or instrumental skills before new songs are released.

No, I’m not saying that every song that was released when I was a kid or teenager was high quality. There were duds back then, too, but the quality of music in general does seem to be going downhill over time.

I wish this trend would reverse itself. It’s much more interesting to me to listen to thought-provoking lyrics written by or for an artist who is a genuinely talented singer or musician no matter what they look like than it is to see a highly attractive person use autotune or AI to sing something shallow and meaningless.

(Does this mean I’m old now? Ha!)

Here are some recent song lyrics that have made me cringe.

 

he way that switch brrt, I know he dyin’ (Oh my, oh my God)
6-7, I just bipped right on the highway (Bip, bip)
Skrrt, uh (Bip, bip, bip)

Doot Doot (6 7) by Skrilla

My school-aged nephew has informed us that 6 7 is no longer a cool meme now that we’re in 2026, but I am still annoyed by the song that created it.

 

I was a teenage teenager full of piss and vinegar
Living like a prisoner for haters
I was a teenage teenager, I am an alien visitor
My life’s a mess and school is just for suckers

I Was a Teenage Teenager by Green Day

I enjoyed some of Green Day’s stuff back in the day, but this song is repetitive nonsense.

 

Sexy, confident
So intelligent
She is heaven-sent
So soft, so strong

Woman’s World by Katy Perry

The concept was a good one, but the lyrics were so bland they felt like something written by AI.

 

The lyrics in this song are all too explicit and cringy to share in this post. I loved the beat, though, and wish it had been given better treatment.

WAP by Cardi B. And Megan Thee Stallion

 

 

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Top Ten Tuesday: Books for Armchair Travelers


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

This is one of those cases where I’ve read and enjoyed all of the Top Ten Tuesday books I’m mentioning today. It’s been a while since I’ve read some of them, but maybe they’ll become rereads this year.

Thank you to Laurie C @ Bay State Reader’s Advisory for submitting this topic. 

Book cover for The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Image on cover is a drawing of the city where the main character lived. The houses huddle close together and there are no plants to be seen anywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

 

Book cover for Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. Image on cover shows the faces of two Mexican people, one woman and one man, leaned in so close that his nose is nearly touching her cheek.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

 

Book cover for Walden or, Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau. Image on cover shows a sketch of the tiny cabin Thoreau stayed in. Trees are growing all around it. It is overlayed with a green filter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Walden or, Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau

 

Book cover for Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. Image on cover shows a closeup shot of a Geisha who is starting ahead at the viewer with a serious expression on her face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

 

Book cover for The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Image on cover shows a setting yellow sun partially obscured by a large tree. The background is orange as if it were just before sunset.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

 

Book cover for Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. Image on cover shows an Asian woman holding a fan up to her lips as if she were shushing the audience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

 

Book cover for Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez. Images on cover are a colourful bird hanging upside down at the top and a closeup shot of an olive-skinned person with brownish-green eyes peering at the audience from the bottom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

 

Book cover for Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1) by Chinua Achebe. Image on cover is a drawing of a middle-aged African man’s face who is staring thoughtfully into the distance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1) by Chinua Achebe

 

Book cover for Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Image on cover is a photo taken of the author from the side. She’s brown-skinned and wearing a black turtleneck sweater. She has a serious and slightly sad expression on her face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Book cover for The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. Image on cover shows golden metal leaves and flowers arranged in a beautiful circular pattern against a dark pink background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: My Favourite Song Lyrics

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.

I have a document with a list of my favourite modern songs in it, so this was an incredibly easy post to write. There are many older songs I enjoy as well, but I thought it would be a little more challenging to stick to the contemporary stuff (more or less) as I find it a bit harder to find good music these days.

(This is something I may or may not be grumbling about a little next week. Ha!)

You can be amazing
Closeup photo of piano keys. You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug
You can be the outcast
Or be the backlash of somebody’s lack of love
Or you can start speaking up

Brave by Sarah Bareilles

 

Many mighty ships are sinking
Many stars are falling down
And I count it as a blessing
That you hold me up now

Beautiful by Mali Music

 

We all talk having greens, but none of us own acres
If none of us own acres, and none of us grow wheat
Then who will feed our people when our people need to eat?

Reagan by Killer Mike

 

Fortune’s flame will never dim
Treasure stokes the fire within
Bring on hell or waters high
We will sail against the tide

Against the Tide (The Captain’s Tarantella) by Sail North

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Top Ten Tuesday: Pets Are Family, Too


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Since I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day, it’s always interesting to see what I can come up with that fits this theme for Top Ten Tuesday.  My previous posts have included Romantic Quotes, Conversation Hearts, Helpful Nonfiction Books About Relationships, Asexual Characters, Platonic Relationships, and Chocolate.

I’m not feeling particularly creative this year, so I’m going to keep it simple and share ten quotes about the joys of having a pet. If platonic love can also be celebrated among friends and family for Valentine’s Day, I’d argue that pets should be included as well.

If not for my allergies, I’d want to have a couple of pet rabbits hopping around my apartment!

Two baby bunnies eating a row of daisies that have been picked and placed in front of them. Behind the rabbits you see a large expanse of short grass.1. “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”
Anatole France

2. “My philosophy when it came to pets was much like that of having children: You got what you got, and you loved them unconditionally regardless of whatever their personalities or flaws turned out to be. ”
Gwen Cooper, Homer’s Odyssey

3. “Perhaps the greatest gift an animal has to offer is a permanent reminder of who we really are.”
Nick Trout, Love Is the Best Medicine: What Two Dogs Taught One Veterinarian about Hope, Humility, and Everyday Miracles

4. “Anyone who thinks money can’t buy happiness has never owned a cat [or any pet].”
Arya Riverdale

5. “Our pets are our family.”
Ana Monnar

6. Dogs teach us the true meaning of unconditional love and loyalty. In their eyes, we find a reflection of our best selves.”
Uma Sajit

7. “Our pet are our babies. We’re not rational about them. Feathers or furs or scales, they’re the center of entire worlds.”
Nicole Snow, No Good Doctor

8.“Some things about being human can’t be learned from your own kind..”
Rona Maynard, Starter Dog: My Path to Joy, Belonging and Loving This World

9. “A pet and a book and a bar of chocolate – what more could one want?”
Michelle Granas, Amadea: One Spring in France

10. “We are very fond of books. You can learn nearly everything from them that rabbits can’t teach you.”
Alan Snow, Here Be Monsters! (1)

Happy Valentine’s Day to those who celebrate it! If you have a cute story about your pet(s), I’d love to hear it.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Will You Watch the Super Bowl? Why or Why Not?

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.

Drawing of a football lying on a white surface. Well, that depends on your definition of the term watch.

Will I watch the game?

No offence intended to people who do enjoy such things, but I’m not interested in playing sports myself, much less watching strangers do so on TV or in real life.

Will I watch the halftime show?

Maybe. Kendrick Lamar’s performance was fantastic last year. Bad Bunny isn’t an artist I follow, but I’m willing to check out what he puts together if I hear plenty of good things about it.

Will I eat some classic Super Bowl food?

If they involve brownies or loaded nachos sans olives, I will be quite tempted to say yes. (I’d have to make them at home, of course, so I could keep them dairy-free).

Will I watch some Super Bowl commercials? 

Yes, they’re the best part of this day for me.

Is that succinct enough for you? 😉

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Top Ten Tuesday: Book Covers Featuring Unique Typography


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

I like the typography of all of these covers.

Book cover for Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. Image on cover is a red handprint that has the title and author’s name written in white ink on all five fingers and on the palm of the hand. Very creative!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

 

Book cover for In the Woods by Tana French. Image on cover shows the title and author’s name drawn to look like branches in a tree. There are dozens of tiny branches sprouting from every letter which makes a marvelous effect. It’s like visiting a bush or tree in winter and seeing just how many branches they have with their leaves shed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. In the Woods by Tana French

 

Book cover for Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1) by Ernest Cline. The font of the title and author looks like it was made in the 1970s or early 1980s due to how it straddles the line between orange, red, and yellow. In the letter O, there is a tiny white key hidden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1) by Ernest Cline

 

Book cover for The Anatomical Shape of a Heart by Jenn Bennett. Image on cover shows the red words in the title stretched out a little and formed into the shape of a heart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. The Anatomical Shape of a Heart by Jenn Bennett

 

Book cover for Dust (Dust, #1) by Joan Frances Turner. The word dust in the title has been typographically designed to look like dust that has temporarily clumped together. There are still little green and yellow particles of dust flowing away from the word Dust, though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Dust (Dust, #1) by Joan Frances Turner

 

Book cover for Oil: Anatomy of an industry by Matthew Yeomans. The word oil is written to look like drops of oil that have spilled onto an off-white surface on this book cover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Oil: Anatomy of an Industry (Bazaar Book) by matthew yeomans

 

Book cover for Tree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer . Image on cover shows the title and author’s name written on a white background that is filled with with what looks like dozens of either smudged human fingerprints or little black oblong objects that are roughly that size and shape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Tree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer

 

Book cover for Beloved (Beloved Trilogy, #1) by Toni Morrison. The word Beloved is written in an elegant gold font against a red background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. Beloved (Beloved Trilogy, #1) by Toni Morrison

 

Book cover for Bult by Marieke De Maré. Image on cover shows the word Bult written in a large, plain font that’s so tall and straight it almost looks like the walls of a building. There is a scraggly black line waving up and down below this word.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. Bult by Marieke De Maré

 

Book cover for The Color Master: Stories by Aimee Bender. The title and author of this book are written in a beautiful cursive font that gradually shift colour from green to blue to purple to red to pink as one’s eye scrolls down the cover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. The Color Master: Stories by Aimee Bender

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