April 26, 2022 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Curly-Haired Characters on the Cover


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A red headed woman with long, curly hair standing in front of a wall plastered over with magazine covers.

This isn’t me, but my hair is similar to a brunette version of hers.

I have naturally curly hair that ranges from Type 2C (wavy/loose curls) to something a little curlier than Type 3B (springy ringlets) depending on which part of my head you’re looking at, how recently I’ve washed and moistured it, how humid or dry the air is, and a million other factors that anyone who knows curly hair no doubt is already well aware of.

When I was a kid, I’d always get so excited to see a curly-haired person included on a book cover or described in a story.

Sometimes that was the deciding factor in whether I read a book!

I grew up in a community that was so homogenous that even minor differences in human appearance like this were hard to find.

And I’m saying that as someone who is Caucasian. I’m sure the small number of classmates I had who were from other racial backgrounds yearned for representation of people who looked like them even more than I did.

Representation matters.

While there’s still plenty of work to do in this area, I’m glad publishers are doing a better job these days of representing characters from a wider range of backgrounds.

This week I’m going to be sharing ten wonderful book covers featuring people who have curly hair.

 

The Stolen One by Suzanne Crowley Book cover. Image on cover shows a woman with curly red hair sitting at a table and glaring at the reader.

1. The Stolen One by Suzanne Crowley

 

Baby Girl by Lenora Adams book cover. Image on cover shows a young black woman wearing hoop earrings as she looks over her shoulder and has flowers tucked behind her ear.

2. Baby Girl by Lenora Adams

Nobody's Prize (Nobody's Princess, #2) by Esther M. Friesner book cover. Image on cover shows a white girl with long, curly brown hair standing and staring at a large aquarium.

3. Nobody’s Prize (Nobody’s Princess, #2) by Esther M. Friesner

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill book cover. Image on cover is a drawing of the heroine wearing her hair naturally in a big puff of gorgeous curls.

4. The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

Liar by Justine Larbalestier book cover. Image on cover shows a young black woman hiding her face in her hoodie.

5. Liar by Justine

Ten Cents a Dance by Christine Fletcher book cover. Image on cover shows a blond woman staring off into the distance.

6. Ten Cents a Dance by Christine Fletcher

Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann book cover. Image on the cover shows a dark-skinned African-american girl dancing for joy while wearing a white, sleeveless top.

7. Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann

 

8. The Freemason’s Daughter by Shelley Sackier

Blue Flame (Perfect Fire Trilogy, #1) by K.M. Grant book cover. Image on cover shows a young woman with loosely curly brown hair standing outside by the ocean during a storm.

9. Blue Flame (Perfect Fire Trilogy, #1) by K.M. Grant

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo book cover. Image on cover shows a drawing of a woman who has a large, black Afro.

10. The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

 

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April 21, 2022 · 1:00 am

Unexpected Results: A Review of Untethered

Untethered by Nick Stephenson book cover. Image on cover show outer space. The top half of the stars are in a blue cluster and the bottom half are in a red cluster. Title: Untethered

Author: Nick Stephenson

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: February 24, 2021

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 20 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 2 Stars

Blurb:

When a scientist discovers the secret to teleportation, he struggles to figure out what to do with it.

This short story is a love letter, of sorts, to what is commonly referred to as “The Golden Age” of science fiction – the heady days of the 1930s – 1960s where spaceflight had only just become more than a dream and the possibilities seemed endless. I hope you enjoy my take on it.

Review:

Content Warning: Deaths of lab animals.

Inventing can be tricky business.

Teleportation is one of those topics that used to be covered regularly in the science fiction genre but is rare enough to find these days that I always perk up when I read a blurb that references it. Some of the most memorable scenes were the ones that described how the protagonist and his assistant discovered how to transport living creatures across long distances in the blink of an eye. Their original theories about how to do it were solid, but it certainly took them a great deal of time to translate theories into something safe, effective, and profitable. I smiled as I read about the joy they shared when all of their hard work paid off. That scene was somehow by far the most relatable of them all even though teleportation isn’t actually possible in our world yet.

As intrigued as I was by the premise of this short story, were some massive plot holes in it. One of them involved the development of the teleportation machine the main character spent so much time talking about, and the other involved the twist ending. It struck me as odd for such an intelligent and passionate protagonist to gloss over how he expanded a small prototype into something that could be safely used on adult human beings. While I can’t say much about the ending for spoiler reasons, it also contained inconsistencies that seemed quite out of character for a protagonist who had devoted his life to scientific research. I really wish these portions of the storyline had been explained in greater detail as I desperately wanted to give this a higher rating!

Science hasn’t always been used for wholesome purposes, especially when the original creators of a device, drug, or other work are no longer fully in control of who does and doesn’t have access to it. My favourite moment happened when the narrator realized some of the more sinister applications for his invention long after he lost the ability to have a say in how it was used. His reaction to that moment was a tiny slice of the resolution, but it made all of the portions of it I cannot discuss in my review even more poignant. One of the reasons why I enjoy science fiction so much has to do with how it can coax an audience to think about serious, real-world issues like these that we might otherwise not think about, and on that note the author’s message certainly thrived.

Untethered was a wild ride.

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April 20, 2022 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: One Meal Everyone Should Try

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 believe everyone should try meals that they did not grow up eating from places in the world their (recent) ancestors did not come from or live in. Of course, this means that the answer will be different for everyone!

Shish Kabob, rice, and other East African food. In my case, this means trying meals from different African countries and cultures since none of the small towns I grew up in offered anything like that.

I’ve only done it once so far at a nice little Ethiopian restaurant here in Toronto and once or twice at other places, but I hope to do it more often once this pandemic ends. There are so many other cuisines to try from that continent. I know I’ve barely even scratched the surface so far.

Sadly, I can’t find my photos of those meals, so here’s a stock photo of similar East African food instead.

It is so much fun to taste new dishes and try new combinations of spices! I can’t recommend it highly enough.

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April 19, 2022 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Merchandise I’d Love to Own


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

My answers to this week’s prompt might be a little unorthodox.

I have enough bookmarks, ereaders, tea mugs, and cozy socks to last for many years to come.

I do not have enough chocolate to nibble on while reading, but that’s because I have a sweet tooth and chocolate is hard to resist. Perhaps some of you who do not like sweets so much have never had this problem. Ha!

These are the bookish things I wish I had.

A cozy little home library in a the corner of a room. There is a red rug on the wooden floor and a light shining on the books and rug from a nearby shelf.

A Spare Room to Turn Into a Personal Library.

There are many things I love about living in a cozy apartment in a city, but one of the few downsides of it is that housing here in Toronto is too expensive to devote an entire room to reading. If only that were different!

A man using a laptop while sitting on a couch. A woman has stretched out next to him on the cough and has her legs by his thighs as she listens to something.

A Big, Comfortable Couch

I want to gently flop over the sides of the couch and find every position comfortable while still leaving space for someone else to sit there, too.

Yes, sometimes I’d probably sit on the “proper” way, too. But not every time.

Pink clouds floating through the sky near a full moon at either sunrise or sunset.

Peace and Quiet 

I want a few hours of peace and quiet in which to read.

It’s okay if a truck rumbles by or a bird sings outside of my window, but I would rather not have conversation, music, blaring horns, or anything else that might be distracting.

Quiet reading sessions are the best if you ask me.

A little white dog sleeping on a chair.

A Leash and Soft Place to Sleep for My (Hypothetical) Dog or Dogs

Yes, I know that’s worded a little oddly, but let me explain. I don’t think of pets as objects to be owned. They’re members of a family instead.

If I weren’t allergic to dogs and if my home were large enough to accommodate one, I’d also want to have a canine companion or two. (Let’s also assume that my spouse agrees to this plan!)

Ideally, they’d sleep or play quietly for a couple of hours while I read and then let me know that they were ready to go for a walk.

There’s something about taking a walk that makes reading even better. It  gives you time to think about what you’ve read and wonder what might happen next in the story.

Dogs are also good listeners from what I’ve surmised from people who can live with them, so I’d probably talk to them while we exercised together.

It wouldn’t matter to me what the dog looked like. I simply included the picture above because the dog in it looked so peaceful.

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April 14, 2022 · 1:00 am

A Review of Tales from Monarch Bay: First Memories

Tales from Monarch Bay - First Memories by J.M. Acosta book cover. Image on cover shows a frozen river of some sort that’s either covered in snow or a large flock of birds. Title: Tales from Monarch Bay – First Memories

Author: J.M. Acosta

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: April 12, 2021

Genres: Fantasy, (mild) Horror, Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: 55 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

All it took for Rien was to touch his old Rio player and a sudden rush of memories from High School came flooding back. To when he first moved to Monarch Bay and met The Keeper. When he had to stop the faceless man and save the world from an ancient threat. But are these really memories he wants to relive?

Review:

Content Warning: Vomiting and a little blood.  I will not discuss them in my review.

Everything in life has its own rhythm if you pay enough attention to it.

One of the biggest strengths of this novella in my opinion had to do with the way it explored old, half-forgotten memories. I think that just about all of us have had the experience of discovering such a memory after being exposed to something that reminds of us of the past. I was fascinated by how the narrator reacted to everything his mind dredged up, whether they were of happy times or terrible ones. It can be quite a jarring experience, and that aspect of it was captured just as nicely as the many other emotions the narrator felt as he relived that portion of his teenage years.

I had trouble keeping track of the plot and the world building. Some of their most important moments were described so rapidly and in such little detail that I wasn’t always sure what was happening. This was a technique that made sense in the beginning when Rien first discovered the MP3 player and had no idea what it was capable of doing, but I wasn’t quite sure why it was used later on once the stakes were higher. As much as I would have loved to give this a higher rating, I simply couldn’t do it due to these issues.

Beaches are such liminal spaces that it made perfect sense for so much of this tale to happen on and near them. It was interesting to take note of all of the connections the author made between the existence of ordinary beaches in our world and the otherworldly places they described that were every bit as transitory and filled with uncertainty. What made this portion of the storyline even better was how it was even more deeply explored in the ending, but that’s all I can say about that topic. If you want to learn more, you’ll simply have to go read it for yourself.

Tales from Monarch Bay – First Memories was a thought-provoking read.

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April 13, 2022 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: What’s On Your TBR List

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.

Purple and white tulips lying on an opened book. If this prompt had been scheduled for the winter or summer, I would have had a very different answer to it!

You see, this is one of the best times of the year for enjoying the outdoors due to the mild weather.

My reading rates drop off when the sky is sunny and the temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold to make it uncomfortable to stay outdoors for several hours.

With that being said, here are a few books that bridge the gap between my love of reading and my love of the outdoors.

Ontario Birds: 125 Common Birds by Chris Fisher

Why I’m Interested: I’ve been casually interested in birdwatching for years but started doing it more intensely in 2020 when many other forms of entertainment were unavailable. It’s thrilling to catch sight of a bird you haven’t seen in your area before! I think red-tailed hawks are my favourite species so far.

 

Trees of Ontario: Including Tall Shrubs   by Linda Kershaw and Plants of Southern Ontario by Richard Dickinson and France Royer

Why I’m Interested: Identifying local trees and other plants is a brand new interest of mine. Someday I’d love to walk through the forest and be able to identify everything I see!

 

I’ve mentioned these books in previous posts, including a Wednesday Weekly Blogging post from the winter, but I am still looking forward to reading A Prayer for the Crown Shy (Monk & Robot #2) by Becky Chambers and Empty Smiles (Small Spaces #4) by Katherine Arden as well.

Why I’m Interested: I enjoyed the previous book(s) in both series quite a bit and am looking forward to catching up with the characters’ latest adventures.

I hope to review Chambers and Arden’s books on my blog this summer or autumn, but I am not planning to review the bird or foliage books. Speaking of which, I wonder how people do review books like that? It seems like that would be a little tricky since the authors are experts on the topic and many readers would not be.

Anyway, those are the books I’m most looking forward to reading in the near future.

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April 12, 2022 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I Haven’t Read But Want To


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

I originally thought this week’s prompt was going to be a hard one, but I ended up finding the full ten answers for it!

 

Coffee, tulips, and an opened hardback book lying on a white bedsheet. Author: Min Jin Lee

What I Want to Read From Them: Pachinko 

 

Author: Agatha Christie

What I Want to Read From Them: I don’t know yet.

 

Author: Yaa Gyasi

What I Want to Read From Them: Homegoing 

 

Author: Noelle Stevenson

What I Want to Read From Them: Nimona 

 

Author: Rita Dove

What I Want to Read From Them: I don’t know yet.

 

Author: Allyson Hobbs

What I Want to Read From Them: A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in America

 

Author: Nelson Mandela

What I Want to Read From Them: Long Walk to Freedom 

 

Author: Dee Brown

What I Want to Read From Them: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee – An Indian History of the American West 

 

Author: Art Spiegelman

What I Want to Read From Them: Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History (Maus, #1)

 

Author: Nomi Eve

What I Want to Read From Them: Henna House

 

If you’ve read any of these authors and have other suggestions of good books from them, I’d love to hear about it!

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April 7, 2022 · 12:00 am

Stop That Infernal Racket! A Review of Drummer Boy

Drummer Boy by Nakia Cook book cover. Image on cover shows a series of five different types of drums lined up next to each other. Title: Drummer Boy

Author: Nakia Cook

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: October 27, 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Folklore, Contemporary

Length: 12 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

Something besides the drum kit in the attic is creating a disturbance in the house, and it’s driving Nadia and Adam to wit’s end in this rhythmically haunting tale.

Review:

Content Warning: Car accident. I will not discuss it in my review.

Is there anything more irritating than living with a musician who thinks they need to practice all of the time?

I appreciated the simplicity of this tale. Yes, there were the requisite number of plot twists, but the narrator always stuck close to the original dilemma about living with someone who couldn’t stand the sound of drums being played. The storyline chugged along beautifully as it was, so I was glad to see the author give her characters so many opportunities to be their true selves. That was exactly the right decision to make in my opinion!

There was a minor plot hole involving the drums and why they existed in that particular house that I wished had been explained. As much as I want to go into detail about that issue, I’ll need to tread carefully here in order to avoid spoilers. Let’s simply say that I wondered why the characters had chosen such an unusual fate for them when I could think of several other practical solutions for it that seemed more likely than the one that was eventually revealed. This was the only thing holding me back from giving a five-star rating as everything else about it was well written.

This was my first time reading one of Ms. Cook’s stories, and it was a wonderful introduction to her imagination and writing style. She seemed to be the sort of writer who shared enough details for the reader to understand what is happening and then trusted us to fill in everything else for ourselves. For example, the physical appearances of the characters were barely mentioned at all, but their personalities shone through brightly. This pattern was repeated in other areas, too, like the ending that you’re all simply going to need to read for yourselves. I enjoyed coming up with my own explanations for everything she left unsaid and will keep an eye out for more of her work in the future.

Drummer Boy was a particularly good read for musicians or anyone who has ever lived with one.

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April 6, 2022 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: A Unique Talent You Have

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 sketch of a heart in an otherwise blank notebook Not everything in our world is poetic or beautiful by any means, but my unique talent is finding the poetry and beauty in situations that at first glance do not seem to have a silver lining in them at all.

I’ll give you all a few examples of what I mean.

Years ago, I needed to go through some medical tests for a potentially life-threatening health condition that I was ultimately found not to have. While the technician was performing the ultrasound and taking notes of what she was finding, I quietly came up with pleasant thoughts about how the thump of my heart on the monitor sounded like something you’d expect to hear in a submarine as it dove deep into the calm, blue sea.

When my spouse and I went through financial trouble many years ago and had no money to spare for frivolities of any sort, I made taking long walks my chief form of entertainment and imagined that all of the trees were whispering delicious forest secrets to each other as the humans passed by unobtrusively below. It was honestly just was much fun as going to the movies or buying junk food and other things we couldn’t afford!

More recently, there were some protests here in Toronto earlier this year that clogged up some of our most important streets in the hospital district of the city. I imagined the sound of their angry voices on megaphones and the incessant beeping of their vehicles passing down the street while on their way to their destination were a warning from some future version of Toronto where such things were now commonplace.

This isn’t to say that i ignore the very real troubles we all go through or expect other people to think about scary life events the same way I do by any means. I simply find it easier to deal with them if I can make up whimsical stories about them in my head once I’ve done everything I can to change the situation.

Why worry excessively if there’s truly nothing else you can do in the moment? I think it’s better to look for the good in those moments if you can.

 

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April 5, 2022 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: 5 Reasons to Take a Reading Break


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A few years ago, I blogged about the general benefits of taking a reading break. Today I wanted to take a different approach to the topic and discuss some of the specific reasons why it can be a good idea to stop reading or to read less often for a while.

Reason #4 will mention grief and Covid-19, so feel free to skip that one if needed.

A beautiful park filled with large, healthy trees that are brimming with green leaves. 1. Enjoying Good Weather 

Southern Ontario is a humid and often stormy place. That humidity translates into chilly winters and stifling summers, so one quickly learns to take advantage of mild temperatures and clear skies when they occur.

To me, reading is an activity that makes more sense when it’s -30 Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit) or 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) outside and it’s medically dangerous to be out there for long periods of time. If you’re lucky enough to have a balmy day in the15-20 Celsius (59-68 Fahrenheit) range, you’d better enjoy it while it lasts and go take a hike or enjoy a picnic or something.

2. Pursuing Other Interests 

I love my bookish and often nerdy interests, but that is not all that I am! It’s refreshing to switch between hobbies and interact with different social circles. Sometimes I also discover that there is more overlap between my various interests than I originally thought which is always cool to find.

3. Being More Physically Active

Yes, I know that some people listen to audiobooks while exercising, but that only works for me when I’m doing something like taking a brisk walk. I prefer to give my undivided attention to activities like weightlifting so that I can keep an eye on my form and stay focused on what I’m doing.

4. Resting My Mind 

This was especially true about eighteen months ago when a relative of mine caught Covid-19 and did not fully recover from it. (That is to say, they are still with us but have Long Covid now). Books can be a healthy distraction, but they can also be a little overstimulating when you’re waiting for news of even the smallest signs of improvement and do not necessarily get them.

5. Rediscovering the Excitment of Reading 

Nearly anything can begin to feel repetitive if I do it too often! As much as I love reading, taking breaks from it enables me to rediscover how exciting it is to crack open a book and once again anticipate what it will be like to discover all of its secrets.

 

 

 

 

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