Category Archives: Blog Hops

February 11, 2026 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: My Favourite Song Lyrics

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
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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Tagged as Lyrics, Music, Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge

February 10, 2026 · 1:00 am

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.

56 Comments

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Tagged as Animals, Top Ten Tuesday

February 4, 2026 · 1:00 am

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? 😉

13 Comments

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Tagged as Bad Bunny, Football, Kendrick Lamar, Sports, Super Bowl, Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge

February 3, 2026 · 1:00 am

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

50 Comments

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Tagged as Book Covers, Top Ten Tuesday, Typography

January 28, 2026 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time

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.

There are so many books I wish I could read again for the first time! I decided to narrow down the list to titles that were published sometime this century.

Book cover for The Deep by Rivers Solomon. Image on cover is a drawing of a black mermaid with long hair swimming up to the top of the ocean as a whale dives deeply into the water behind her.

1. The Deep by Rivers Solomon

There were a few amazing plot twists in this tale that were well done, including one that I originally thought of as a flaw in the plot. It would be a joy to discover them again.

Book cover for The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey. Image on cover is a drawing of a young girl, about 10 years old, who is wearing a dress and standing with her arms outstretched. Only the silhouette of her body can be seen due to how bright the setting is.

2. The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

Once again, there was a creative plot twist that kept me hooked. While I did figure it out in advance due to how often I’ve read stories in this sub-genre, it was still executed nicely and set up everything nicely for how this duology would pan out. It wasn’t until the final scene in the second instalment that a few last things gelled together which was incredibly satisfying for me as a reader.

3. A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot, #1) by Becky Chamber

Yes, I know I’ve gushed about this duology before, but it really is the perfect world to step into if you’re dreaming of a peaceful solarpunk future.

Book cover for A Short History of the World According to Sheep by Sally Coulthard. Image on cover is a photo of a shepherd herding his sheep while they stand on a mountain. There are much larger, snowier mountains in the background.

4. A Short History of the World According to Sheep by Sally Coulthard

This is the sort of history I love to read! Sheep changed the destinies of the humans who cared for them in so many different ways.

5. Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor

This novella had a mysterious and exciting ending that other readers should discover for themselves. I reread it a few times just to see how many different interpretations I could come up with about what happened next.

Book cover for Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Image on cover is a drawing of an astronaut falling through space with a large yellow planet in the background. The astronaut is stilll tethered to something just out of sight by a white cord attached to their space suit, but their limbs are flailing as they are unable to grasp onto anything in the vacuum of space.

6. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

The film version of this story is finally coming out this spring! I can’t wait. Once again, the plot twists were exciting and the ending left so much scope for the imagination as Anne Shirley would say if she lived in our era.

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Tagged as Books, Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge

January 27, 2026 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Discoveries I Made in 2025

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Drawning of four hardback books stacked on top of each other neatly. There is a spigot attached to the top novel, and little lightbulbs glowing of light are gently falling out of it like large drops of water. This is going to be a hodgepodge of a post as I attempt to get as close as possible to the full ten answers over the next two months. (I started compiling this list back in November).

1. Hospitals Have Libraries.

Or at least the ones in my area do! I didn’t have a lot of time to browse through them while dealing with various medical stuff for myself and my family last year, but they seem like great places to not only find something interesting to read but also to enjoy some peace and quiet and maybe learn some more about the illnesses or other conditions that have lead you to spend time there.

While I hope that no one reading this post ends up needing this knowledge in 2026, please visit your hospital’s library if you do end up spending time there and need a restful place to unwind. I can’t recommend this resource highly enough.

2. Many People Still Die of Tuberculosis

“Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection” by John Green dove into why this happens and what we can do to stop it. I knew this disease still killed some people, but I didn’t realize how large that number is or how cruelly unnecessary the vast majority of those deaths are.

It some ways it reminds of how people living with HIV in wealthy, developed countries now have life spans that are nearly as long as those of us who are HIV-negative while those who are HIV positive and living in developing nations generally have much shorter lifespans.

Learning stuff like this is why I love reading nonfiction.

3. Sometimes I Like Literary Fiction

After many false starts, I now enjoy this genre on occasion. It simply takes the right plot twist for me to settle into the slower pace of these stories. This isn’t something that will ever be a regular part of my reading habits, but I’m proud of myself of continuing to try every so often until I found a few titles that work for my tastes.

4. BookTok Isn’t for Me

I’m sorry to say that I’ve loathed every BookTok book I’ve tried and at this point I don’t know that I’ll try again because I don’t seem to fit into that demographic group at all. Kudos to those of you who do, of course!

5. I Love the Idea of Silent Book Clubs

A Silent Book Club is a group of people who agree to meet up somewhere like a bookstore, library, or coffee shop and read silently with each other.

This is exactly the sort of reading environment that I crave more of because you can pick any genre you like and bounce among them as often as you’d prefer. I just need to find one reasonably close to home and join in.

6. Bookstodon Is Essential

If you have a Mastodon account, I strongly recommend getting to know the @bookstodon@fedigroups.social community. There are readers of every genre there, and I’ve read and participated in so many wonderfully nuanced conversations about books with various folks there.

(My account is @lydiaschoch@mastodon.social if anyone wants to be buddies there!)

64 Comments

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Tagged as Top Ten Tuesday

January 21, 2026 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Humorous Book Titles

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’ve blogged about humorous book titles several times before, so today I’m going to share some titles that are both humorous and a little quirky. While I haven’t read any of them yet, quirky can be a good thing!

Book cover for The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story by Lemony Snicket. Image on cover is a drawing of latkes that have been hung on the branch of a Christmas tree and are screaming.

1. The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story by Lemony Snicket

Book cover for No Sex Please, I'm Menopausal!
by Stevie Turner. Image on cover shows a pink pair of panties against a black background.

2. No Sex Please, I’m Menopausal!by Stevie Turner

Book cover for The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks Gets a Girlfriend by Nancy McArthur. Image on cover is a blurry painting of a lush green garden that’s overtaken everything.

3. The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks Gets a Girlfriend by Nancy McArthur

Book cover for How to Tell If Your Cat Is Plotting to Kill You by Matthew Inman. Image on cover shows a drawing of a grey cat walking around with a thought bubble filled with a skull and crossbones above his or her head.

4. How to Tell If Your Cat Is Plotting to Kill You by Matthew Inman

(Yes, I know I’ve shared this one before, but it’s too good to only share once).

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Tagged as Hilarious Book Titles, Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge

January 20, 2026 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Goals for 2026

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Photoshopped silhouette of a person leaping over a mountain. I was planning to revisit my goals for 2025, but as I looked back at them I realized that I didn’t really accomplish any of them last year other than being excited that we’re getting a TV show made from Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments

. These past few years have included some hard times for me and my family that included death and a few family members who were diagnosed with serious or life-threatening illnesses among other stressors.

While things are steadily improving and I’m quite hopeful 2026 will be much better for us all, I honestly haven’t had a ton of extra time or emotional energy for doing things like joining a book club, visiting new bookstores, or making a ton of new friends.

Therefore, I’m recycling a whole bunch of my goals from last year and hoping to actually accomplish them this year.

1. Read more non-fiction

I’m especially interested in science, medicine, memoirs, and history.

2. Visit one new independent bookstore

Visiting one seems much more do-able than trying to check out multiple places.

3. Take myself on tea or donut dates

Toronto has some incredible coffee shops that I need to visit more often.

4. Strike up conversations about books with strangers or acquaintances when appropriate

Every so often I see someone at the coffee shop or on the subway who is reading a book I really loved. I’m going to try to be less shy and tell folks they’re reading fantastic stories. This might be a way to make some new friends or even just have a nice conversation.

We still need a platonic version of OkCupid for bookish people, though! 😀

5. Practice handwriting five minutes a day

I have always had sloppy handwriting, but I do want to make it slightly more legible this year if I can.

6. Read in the park more often (weather permitting, of course)

I love books and nature, so why not combine them more often than I currently do.

7. Read less young adult fiction

It rarely speaks to me anymore.

66 Comments

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January 14, 2026 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: The First TV Show I Remember Watching

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.

The Sesame Street logo. It looks like a street sign with the numbers 123 at the top and the phrase “Sesame Street” written in a plain white font against a green and gold background. Oh, this is an easy one: Sesame Street.

My grandparents’ live out in the countryside. They used an antenna on their old TV to get a few basic channel back in the day and probably still do.

Depending on what age I was and where we lived, my parents either didn’t have a TV at all or did the same thing as far as not paying for cable goes for most of my childhood. We generally didn’t get to see much current stuff unless they were on PBS or other public channels. It was a lot of news, Jeopardy, and reruns of older movies or shows instead.

Luckily, Sesame Street was available when I was in the right age groups to watch it.

(The Internet was not even something on our radars back then, and what did exist of it back in those days was nothing at all like what we have today).

I have fond memories of the songs and skits they included on that show. See also: “Sunny days, chasing the clouds away.”

My favourite scenes were the ones that showed other children running around and playing outside on playgrounds or other fun places. I also enjoyed how grumpy Oscar the Grouch was and wished I could climb into his trash can and find out why he liked it so much.

20 Comments

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Tagged as Childhood Stories, Sesame Street, Television, Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge

January 13, 2026 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2026

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Drawing of the outside of a blue multi-story building. Snow is falling gently outside as the street lamp glows dimly.Inside a window on the second story of this building, a pale-skinned man and woman who both have black hair sit by the window wearing sweaters and reading books in companionable silence.

Image credit: ninikvaratskhelia_

We’ve reached what is often Southern Ontario’s snowiest and iciest portion of the year.

This is when I often get a disproportionate amount of reading done due to how cold, slippery and dark it is outside.

(We have about 9 hours of daylight per day now. It’s nothing at all like how things are way up north where they have months of darkness, but it’s quite cloudy most days and I do definitely miss the feeling of sun of my skin right about now).

I’m writing this post in advance beginning in November. As I only had three titles to add in when I began, I am hoping that by the time this is published that number will have grown a little.

Let’s see what future Lydia can do!

Book cover for Phases: a Memoir by Brandy Norwood. Image on cover is a close-up photo of her face as she wears a blue silk garment and gazes thoughtfully off into the distance.

1. Phases: A Memoir by Brandy

Publication Date: March 31

Why I’m Interested: Yes, I have mentioned this book a few times lately, including the most recent Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge post. I’m too excited about it not to talk about it again today. I loved Brandy’s music growing up and am curious to learn more about her life.

Book cover for What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed. Image on cover shows a white flower with yellow spines, or possible very thin yelllow petals, sticking out from it. The other half of the image shows a black moon slowly merging with the flower.

2. What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed

Publication Date: April 7

Why I’m Interested: The alien planet described in this novel sounds so creative albeit dangerous.

3. Canon by Paige Lewis

Publication Date: May 19

Why I’m Interested: Weird fiction is alluring to me, and this was so odd I’m struggling to condense the plot into one sentence.

68 Comments

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Tagged as TBR, TBR List, Top Ten Tuesday

Category Archives: Blog Hops

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: My Favourite Song Lyrics

Top Ten Tuesday: Pets Are Family, Too

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

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Covers Featuring Unique Typography

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Discoveries I Made in 2025

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Humorous Book Titles

Top Ten Tuesday: Goals for 2026

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: The First TV Show I Remember Watching

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2026

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