July 19, 2023 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Share One Interesting Fact You Know

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

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

Closeup of a pale person’s hand reading braille on a white page. While doing research for this post, I stumbled across a fact that I never would have guessed is true.

The majority of blind people in the U.S. Canada and the U.K. cannot read braille.

Statistically, less than 1% of British people and less than 10% of Americans and Canadians with sight impairments can read. (I couldn’t find the percentages for other countries. If you know any of them, please share!)

There are a few different reasons why this is true:

1) Braille is harder to learn as an adult,

2) there’s a social stigma to using it,

3) some kids who are blind or partially blind have other health problems like diabetes that can reduce sensation in their fingertips and make learning Braille difficult,

4) a lot of special education teachers are carrying heavy caseloads and may not have the time to teach much Braille, and

5) some schools prioritize auditory teaching methods to teaching braille or using large print books for students who have some sight.

Other sites said the rise of audiobooks and technology like text-to-speech apps that will read for you is making the use of Braille less necessary.

Isn’t this fascinating? I always assumed that the majority of people with a sight impairment would know Braille.

 

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July 18, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books With One-Word Titles


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

An Asian woman smiling slightly as she holds a hardback book over the lower half of her face and peeks out above it at the viewer. The book has a white cover with no title or author printed on it, and the woman is standing in a similarly white and barren room. There’s nothing like a compelling title to grab my attention and make me yearn to see if the blurb is just as good.

While I tend to prefer longer titles to shorter ones, you definitely can come up with a catchy title that only has one word in it.

Here are ten books that caught my eye that have one-word titles.

1. Othello by William Shakespeare

2. Becoming by Michelle Obama

3. Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

4. Internment by Samira Ahmed

5. Beloved by Toni Morrison

6. Redshirts by John Scalzi

7. Affinity by Sarah Waters

8. Sula by Toni Morrison

9. Pride by Ibi Zoboi

10. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

 

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July 13, 2023 · 1:00 am

A Review of Jathniel, the Immortal

Book cover for “Jathniel, the Immortal” by Eugene Roy. Image on cover shows an analog clock that has been stretched into a spiral so that you keep seeing the numbers 3, 6, 9, and 12 repeating themselves as the clock swirls down into an indeterminate point in the centre of the picture. Title: Jathniel, The Immortal

Author: Eugene Roy

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: April 29, 2023

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, LGBTQ+, Contemporary

Length: 42 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

‘Angel Of Death’ Jathniel’s assignment at an elementary school shooting challenges his faith, and breaks his heart. But, like all Transitional Guides, he is supposed to be emotionally sterile. As a means of reset, Jathniel is thrust into unknown territory – life as a mortal canine, where he is granted the experience of love in its purest form, trusting and unconditional.

Review:

Content Warning: Car accident, mass shootings, death of a child, death of a pet, HIV.

Love comes in many different forms.

Jathniel’s reaction to each of his new assignments made me smile. I can’t go into a lot of detail about those moments without giving away spoilers, but I was delighted by how adaptive he was to new situation. The one where he was transformed into dog and had to adjust to a world where he understood the humans perfectly well but they weren’t able to return the favour well at all was especially fun. It truly felt like the author had tapped into dog psychology in those scenes, and I chuckled along as Jathniel adjusted to being someone’s pet instead of the powerful spirit being he had normally been.

My only piece of constructive criticism for this short story has to do with the ending. I found myself getting a little confused about one character’s transformation into someone else, and I would have benefited from a longer explanation about what was going on there. As much as I loved the rest of it, this scene did hold me back from going for a full five-star rating there.

The world building was fabulous. Did I want to dive deeper into it? Of course, but I was also satisfied with how much the author shared about what Jathniel did as an Angel of Death and why he was able to move so seamlessly from one death to the next. If Mr. Roy ever decides to write a sequel, I hope I’ll be the first person in line to read and review it. This was something I was thrilled to have stumbled up, and I’m not quite ready to say goodbye to it yet.

Jathniel, The Immortal made me yearn for more.

 

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July 12, 2023 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Describe Your Fashion Sense

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

My fashion sense is comfortable and practical.

I tend to gravitate towards dark shades of purple, red, blue and green because those colours look best on me. (Especially purple!)

A white woman who is wearing a dark red t shirt, black sneakers, and a pair of jeans is sitting on some wooden bleachers in front of a brick wall. She has loosely curly brown hair, is wearing sunglasses and a watch, is holding a grey jacket, and is smiling as she leans her right arm on her left knee and leans forward towards the audience. Here’s a photo of me from last autumn so you can see what I typically wear. Jeans, yoga pants, and subtle shirts that generally don’t have any writing, logos, or obvious designs are what fill up my wardrobe for the most part.

I buy clothing that can be washed in a regular washing machine with as little fuss over it as possible. (That is to say, no ironing or dry cleaning, please.) Rarely, I’ll splurge on something that needs to be air dried if I otherwise love it, but the rest of the time I prefer clothes that can be tossed into the dryer without a second thought.

Softness is important, too, so I avoid scratchy fabrics like wool or lace. I want my clothing to move naturally with my body, provide adequate coverage from the elements, be okay if it gets a splash of mud on it while I’m out in nature, and to impede my movements as little as possible.

Brand names mean almost nothing to me when it comes to clothing. This was different before fast fashion became so ubiquitous and drove down the quality in so many stores, but I’ve noticed that some brands I used to spend more money on are no longer worth it. The $50 shirts from higher end stores tend to fall apart just as fast as the $10 shirt I picked up on sale at a fast fashion store these days, so why bother spending more in most cases?

(I sincerely hope this changes. I would happily spend more on clothing if it were constructed better and if more of the profits were passed onto the workers who sewed and/or sold it. But if it’s all equally poorly made and the workers often aren’t treated well either way, I’d rather keep my attire budget smaller and save or donate the rest).

I do tend to buy name brand shoes because my feet still notice a big difference between thrifty, poorly-made shoes that wear out in a month or two and better-made shoes that I can wear for the entire year. So I suppose that is one area where certain brands matter to me.

To be honest, fashion isn’t something I think much about aside from what I said earlier. If I ever have more money than I know what to do with, I might hire someone to show me other styles that might suit me. For now, though, I’m happy with my practical and thrifty wardrobe.

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July 11, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Neanderthal Stories I’ve Enjoyed


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Close-up photo of prehistoric art that has been carved into a large rocky cliff. The images carved into it appear to be various animals that resemble, among other species, cattle. It’s hard to tell what other animals are, but they have four legs and sometimes have tails and horns as well. Maybe they are goats? Those of you who have followed me for a while might remember how fascinated I am by Neanderthals, prehistory, hunter gatherers, anthropology, archeology, other extinct hominid species, and similar topics.

These are the sorts of things I love exploring, especially when new details are discovered about that era that upend our previous assumptions about it.

For this week’s Freebie post, I’ll be sharing some of the books about Neanderthals and early modern humans that I’ve enjoyed.

The site I found this photo on didn’t say for sure who carved these images, but there has been Neanderthal cave art found in certain caves that was created long before Homo Sapiens showed up in Europe. It amazes me to think about how similar they were to us!

Let’s dig into my list.  It’s mostly fiction because of how quickly new ideas can replace older ones in the nonfiction genre.  If you know of other wonderful fiction or nonfiction titles on this subject, I’d love to hear about them.

1. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Earth’s Children, #1) by Jean M. Auel

Genre: Fiction

Why I Loved It: This was my first introduction to fiction about Neanderthals. It was such a detailed and creative interpretation of what scientists knew about this subject in the 1980s.

 

2. The Inheritors by William Golding

Genre: Fiction

Why I Loved It: It was written from the perspective of Neanderthals. The 1950s assumptions about the differences between them and us  are quite different from modern assumptions, but the writing was crisp and clear.

 

3. Ember from the Sun by Mark Canter

Genre: Fiction, Science Fiction

Why I Loved It: Without giving away too many spoilers, this is about a scientist who finds a perfectly preserved Neanderthal embryo and decides to implant it into a human volunteer. This isn’t something that could ever actually happen, but the ethical and societal repercussions of bringing back an extinct human species made this a must-read for me.

 

4. Hominids (Neanderthal Parallax, #1) by Robert J. Sawyer

Genre: Science Fiction

Why I Loved It: I’ve often wondered what Earth would be like if Neanderthals had become the only surviving human species instead of us. This series does an excellent job of exploring that question in depth.

 

5. Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art by Rebecca Wragg Sykes

Genre: Nonfiction

Why I Loved It: There’s something to be said for conversational books about the latest scientific discoveries on a topic. I found this easy to read and was surprised by how much more we’ve learned about Neanderthals over the last decade or so.

 

6. The Ugly Little Boy by Isaac Asimov

Genre: Science Fiction

Why I Loved It: Well, I don’t know that love is the right word here. The antagonist’s decision to kidnap a Neanderthal child and bring him to the 1990s in order to be studied was a terribly unethical and dangerous one. I did love the way Asimov dove into all of ramifications of this choice, though.

 

7. Shaman by Kim Stanley Robinson

Genre: Science Fiction

Why I Loved It: I’m still reading it, but the writing is exquisite.

 

8. Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes by  Svante Pääbo

Genre: Nonfiction

Why I Loved It: Every era seems to bring a new understanding of what the differences were between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. I thought this was a well-rounded look at the topic as it was understood in the 2010s, but I haven’t gone back yet to reread it and compare to what scientists think in the 2020s.

 

 

 

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July 6, 2023 · 12:00 am

A Review of The First Kiss

Book cover for The First Kiss by Greg Krojac. Image on cover shows a closeup photograph of a black woman who is staring seriously at the audience with the tiniest smile on her lips. Her skin in glowing near a small light in an otherwise dark room. Title: The First Kiss

Author: Greg Krojac

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: September 16, 2020

Genres: Horror, Science Fiction

Length: 28 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

A night that begins with Daniel and Melody sharing a romantic meal at a swanky restaurant culminates in a disturbing discovery.

Review:

Content Warning: Grief and brief references to Covid-19, blood, and gore.

Rules are meant to be followed, right?

The character development was perfect for something of this length. Obviously, there’s not as much space to explore anyone’s personalities in twenty-eight pages as there would be in a full-length novel, but I thought the author did a good job of sharing enough about Daniel and Melody’s tragic pasts to explain why they would be willing to take such a big risk together. Grief can make someone do all sorts of things that they probably wouldn’t think to do otherwise.

As much as I wanted to give this story a higher rating, there were too many things about it that I found far-fetched even for the horror and science fiction genres. For example, the way people consumed food in this futuristic world was wildly different from how the vast majority of us do so right now. It was so out of the ordinary that it pulled me out of the storyline as I came up with several alternatives that would have been more rational for them.  This pattern was repeated a few more times as more about the main characters’ lives was revealed. I know this is vague, but I’m trying to avoid spoilers while still sharing my reasons for choosing a three star rating. If only the plot holes had been given more time to resolve themselves.

With that being said, I was intrigued by the world building. Melody and Daniel live in a place and time that was heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though many years have since passed, their culture remembers those terrible days vividly and have not forgotten any of the horror of it. There were only brief mentions of Covid-19 in this tale which I thought was a good choice. Alluding to it was more than enough given the fact that it’s still such an intimate and terrible part of many people’s lives today.

The First Kiss was creative.

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July 5, 2023 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: How I Stay Cool During Heat Waves

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

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

June, July, August, and September are generally hot, humid months in Ontario.  You may catch a break at the beginning of June and the end of September with warm but otherwise pretty pleasant weather, but even that isn’t guaranteed these days thanks to climate change.

Closeup of a tiny little wave in a lake. It’s so small it wouldn’t even cover your ankles, but it’s very cute. I stay cool during heat waves by:

1) Showering in cool water at least once a day and more often if it’s unbearably hot (Think anything above 35 Celsius in general or above 30 Celsius and really humid. That translates to about 95 Fahrenheit with lower humidity or 86 Fahrenheit with high humidity).

2) Eating cold, healthy meals. My diet becomes much more raw and plant-based in the summer when so much delicious fresh produce is in season and I’m trying to avoid turning my stove on.

3) Visiting Lake Ontario. All of that water cools the outside temperature down dramatically on the pier and beach. That’s before you take swimming or wading in the lake into account as well.

4) Exercising early in the morning, after sunset, or (if the heat warnings are severe) not at all. I rest as much as possible during the hottest portions of the day unless I’m going swimming and have plenty of sunscreen to prevent me from burning.

5) Keeping the blinds closed. This makes more of a difference than you might think if you do it consistently and don’t turn your oven or stove on either. My air conditioner is busy enough as is with the outdoor heat, and on very hot days it struggles to keep up.

6) Enjoying vegan ice cream. I don’t eat it very often the rest of the year and hot weather diminishes my appetite, so this gives me something to look forward to when we’re days or weeks into a heat wave.

7) Drinking plenty of ice water, especially if I’m being exposed to the heat for long periods of time.

8) Running ice cubes up and down my limbs.

9) Watching films or tv shows about cold, snowy places. I have no idea how this works, but it sure does seem to help.

10) Wearing loose garments made from natural fabrics and as few layers of clothing as possible. (That is to say, no socks, please!)

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July 4, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Canadian Books I Haven’t Read Yet


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A white lighthouse sitting on a massive stone outcrop near the ocean. The top of the lighthouse is reflected in a clear pool of water in the sand below the stone. The sky is blue, calm, and only has a few wispy clouds floating through it. This week’s original theme was “Book Covers In the Colors of My Country’s Flag.”

I had trouble finding covers that fit it, so instead I’ll be talking about Canadian books I still need to read.

If you’ve read any of these books, I’d like to hear what you thought of them.

1. The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

2. The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy

3. The Cure for Death by Lightning by Gail Anderson-Dargatz

4. Ru by Kim Thúy

5. Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje

6. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

7. Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood

8. Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese

9. Who Has Seen the Wind by W.O. Mitchell

10. Bride of New France by Suzanne Desrochers

 

What famous books from your country have you not read yet?

 

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June 29, 2023 · 1:00 am

A Review of Love’s Refrain – A Victorian Ghost Story

Book cover for Love’s Refrain - a Victorian Ghost Story by Stephen Glick. Image on cover shows an 1800s-style black and white photo taken of a young woman wearing a flouncy white dress and sitting on an old-fashioned couch. Her hair is arranged in a fancy, curly bun on top of her head, and her arms are gently placed beside each other on her lap. There is a man in a black suit standing facing the wall to the right of her. His head is turned so that he’s looking at her. Title: Love’s Refrain – a Victorian Ghost Story

Author: Steven Glick

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 18, 2018

Genres: LGBTQ, Paranormal, Historical

Length: 100 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

A ghost from the past. A chance meeting in the present. A terrifying séance. Charlotte Stanton’s perfect married life is turned upside down when a secret love she buried long ago hauntingly returns. Still the question remains: are the supernatural events intruding upon Charlotte’s life happening only in her mind? Is she heading down a path toward madness? Set in Boston’s Gilded Age and accompanied by period drawings and silhouettes, LOVE’S REFRAIN explores one woman’s search for love, and the power of the past to emancipate the present.

Review:

It’s never too late to make things right.

Charlotte stirred up so many different emotions in me. Sometimes I felt endless empathy for her, while in other scenes I shook my head in frustration at how naive and sheltered she was. Surely the average adult would have figured out some of the stuff that she found so confusing much faster than she did! With that being said, I appreciated how nuanced her personality was, and I’d much rather read about a realistically flawed character than someone who always made the right decision. The more I got to know her, the more I liked her. If the author ever writes a sequel, I’d sure like to follow along on more of her journey.

I would have loved to see more details included in this story. For example, we never learned how Charlotte met her husband or what killed the ghost who was haunting Charlotte. That cause of death could have been a good way to get to know the deceased and explain why she was so attached to the protagonist. I also had some questions about the ending as far as the practicalities of life Charlotte would need to face after the final scene was wrapped up. While I can’t go into detail about that without giving away spoilers, it was yet another moment in this tale when having more details would have made the storyline richer in my opinion.

Spiritualism is one of those topics that I don’t think is discussed enough in fiction, especially in paranormal stories set in the late 1800s. I was pleased to see how much attention it received here. Whether you already know a lot about this movement or nothing at all, don’t worry. The most important details will be spelled out clearly, and everything else will be a happy bonus for those of us who do have preexisting knowledge of it. Some of the most interesting scenes were the ones that explored the various responses to the spiritualist movement from different portions of society. Many different points of view were represented, and I thought the author did a good job of showing why so many people were drawn to it and what they hoped to get out of speaking to their dead loved ones.

Love’s Refrain – a Victorian Ghost Story made me smile.

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June 28, 2023 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Recent Songs I’ve Loved

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

Photo of a rainbow audio spectrum capturing the sounds of various notes that are being played. The colours are, from left to right, purple, red, orange, yellow, green, and blue, and each colour is at a slightly different height against the black background. In addition, the colours have dim reflections of themselves in the shiny black but dimmer floor of this image as well. I know this week’s prompt only asked for one answer, but I’m going to give four because I couldn’t narrow them down any more and, just like I do with books, I also jump around between musical genres.

As I’m a pretty new listener to three of my four answers, I had to make a guess as to what genre some of them best fit into.

Brutal by Olivia Rodrigo

Genre: Punk Rock

Why I Like It: This is something I discovered while watching the first episode of the science fiction television show The Power. I like the way it captures the angst of being a teenager who is still figuring themselves out and doesn’t know how to respond to adults who romanticize that stage of life. This is great for when you’re maybe a little grumpy and need to vent your frustrations through music.

 

When We Were Kings by The Temptations

Genre: R&B

Why I Like It: It tells the 60-year story of how the Temptations came to be and what they’ve done over their incredibly long music career. How cool is that? I’ve slowly been going back and listening to their entire catalogue. They’ve made so many beautiful and uplifting songs, many of which are about how love can enrich your life.

 

Opera #2 by Vitas (Go here for an English translation of lyrics)

Genre: A fun mashup of Opera, Classical, and maybe a little Folk music thrown in there, too?

Why I Like It: Vitas has an amazing voice, and his music videos are like little works of art with the stories they tell. I can’t help but to wonder what encouraged him to write such a sad song, though.

 

 

Gambia by Sona Jobarteh (Go here for an English translation of lyrics)

Genre: A contemporary spin on traditional Gambian music.

Why I Like It: This is a joyful song about Sona’s love for her people and her country. The music video is a beautiful tribute to the peaceful daily lives of people in Gambia as well.

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