Tag Archives: Solstice

Top Ten Tuesday: Winter Solstice Bookish Wishes


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Some of these will be repeats from last year because I am apparently a creature of habit.

Little red berries still clinging to a bush after a frost. Every piece of the plant has a light layer of frost on it which gives this image a cold, brisk, wintery feeling. 1. Quiet Reading and Writing Time

A small apartment and a spouse who watches a lot of YouTube videos equals not as much quiet reading and writing time for me as I’d prefer to have!

 

2.  Restore the Ebook Holds Limit at the Toronto Public Library

In October of this year, the Toronto Public Library reduced the number of ebook holds you could have from 30 t0 15. The problem with this is that many of their new ebooks – and books in general –  have long waiting lists.

It can be frustrating to be excited for a book only to see a 20 week average wait for it, and my book buying budget is limited. I will not complain to the poor librarians who I’m sure had no input into this decision, but I will file a complaint with the Top Ten Tuesday community.

Surely one of you has magical powers and can reverse this, right? 😉

 

3.  A Proper Ending for Every Series

I’ve become reluctant to start new series these days due to how many of them have never been finished or have had terribly unsatisfactory endings that leave all sorts of important plot threads dangling.

 

4.  Snowy, Cozy Reading Days

There’s something special about reading in your safe, warm house as snow falls silently outside.

 

5. A third Monk and Robot Book

Becky Chambers, your fans would love to find out what happens in this world next!

 

6. Dairy-Free Chocolate

I love nibbling on it while reading particularly exciting or dramatic scenes

 

7.  More Well-Done TV Shows and Films Based on Books

It’s splendid to see a fictional world come to life on the small or big screen. Some changes to the plot are fine so long as the screenwriters and director remain true to the spirit of the text.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Winter Solstice Bookish Wishes


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Painting of a young, blond, white woman who is standing outside in a snowstorm and looking at a fir tree whose branches are heavily coated in snow. She is wearing a red dress with white cuffs on it and a white cloak with a yellow, possibly fur trim. She is also holding a lantern that’s about the size of an infant. The lantern is glowing steadily in the dark winter scene, illuminating her, the tree, and the snow. Happy (almost) Winter Solstice to everyone who will be celebrating it in a few days! I’m eagerly anticipating the changing of the seasons and the few extra minutes of daylight we’ll soon have each day here in Canada.

Here are my Winter Solstice bookish wishes.

1. More Audiobooks at the Library 

A few years ago, some Top Ten Tuesday bloggers encouraged me to give audiobooks a try during an audiobook prompt. I listened to you and have since learned to love having this option while doing chores or getting cardiovascular exercise on a brisk walk!

My local library has a pretty decent selection of audiobooks, but I’d love to see them offer even more of them than they currently do. For example, I’d love to listen to audiobooks of Jean M. Auel’s Earth’s Children series this winter or even just listen to more fiction in general. Nonfiction is better represented at my library than fiction is from what I’ve seen.

2. Quiet Reading Time 

My spouse prefers watching YouTube videos to reading books and we live in a small apartment, so sometimes I wish for more quiet time to read.

3. An Abundance of Novellas

I’ve really been on a novella kick lately and wish there were more books of this length being published, especially in the speculative fiction genres. It’s refreshing to have something longer than a short story to dive into that doesn’t require my attention for 200+ pages. Some storylines don’t need that much space to shine.

4. Dairy-Free Chocolate

I like to save it for emotional scenes, whether it’s a tense moment in a horror novel or a sentimental chapter in a piece of mainstream fiction. There’s something about chocolate that makes those passages even more memorable.

5. Living Happily Ever After

This is something I’ve mentioned here before, but since 2020 I have felt stronger and stronger urges to read stories that end happily. Occasionally, I will actually look up reviews of certain books or skip ahead to the last few pages to see if the good guys won and if everything is peaceful in the end. While I’m still willing to read some stories that don’t fit that pattern, I’m limiting them much more than I used to and am quicker to DNF them if they become too sad.

6. Endings in General

Maybe I should explain this one a little better. I’m a writer, and I’ve been having trouble coming up with endings for my stories. Beginnings are easy, middle sections aren’t too bad, but endings can be tricky. Here’s hoping I get a flash of inspiration in 2024.

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