Tag Archives: Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: What Were You Like as a Child?

A laptop sitting on a wooden table. The text reads: “Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.”

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.

When I was a child, I was:

Quiet and shy. I still am!

Well-behaved. My friend Mei-Ling’s mother once asked her why she couldn’t be more like me. This embarrassed me as I didn’t think people should be compared like that.

Studious. I made the honour roll every semester, although I did get C grades in Spanish, Math, or Science sometimes. History the arts, and English were easier subjects for me.

Bookish. I read constantly and insatiably on every subject matter I could find.

Anxious. When I was about 8, I took a break from reading only to realize I couldn’t find my parents or siblings anywhere. We lived in a cozy trailer home at the time, and so I should have been able to find someone within a minute or two. Given that I was a preacher’s kid, my first assumption was that everyone else had been raptured but that I wasn’t devout enough to be chosen, too. I panicked and ran crying to a neighbour for help, but I was crying too hard for her to understand me. Eventually, my mother returned from running an errand, possibly paying the rent, and I realized that God hadn’t actually come back yet after all.

A drawing of a broken cloud that has been repaired with a needle and thread. You can still see the stitches in the cloud and the threaded needle beneath it. Imaginative. I was always imagining something in my mind no matter what else I was doing. Sometimes I talked to myself quietly about the beautiful stories that were going on in my mind.

Inclusive. Classmates who were left out of other groups could always hang out with me. Sometimes I was bullied for spending time with the kids that others thought were too weird or awkward to associate with. I say this not to toot my own horn or anything, just to give you a picture of what i was like on the playground.

Messy. My tidy parents somehow created a child who was not. I never left food or anything like that in my bedroom, but there were books everywhere and it could get dusty as well.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Favourite Book Bloggers

A laptop sitting on a wooden table. The text reads: “Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.”

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.

Here are a few of my favourite book bloggers.

I have not always done a very good job of visiting some of their blogs these past couple of years due to some tough personal stuff I’ve been dealing with, but they’re still all great people to follow.

If such things were possible, I’d love to get all of these folks together for a big group dinner as I think some new friendships could possibly spark from that evening.

A green stack of paper is lying on a white table next to a fountain pen. In front of the pen and paper are four white cubes that have the word blog spelled on them with one letter on each cube. Berthold Gambrel.

He reviews a ton of indie authors and sometimes filmmakers from a variety of genres. He’s also a genuinely kind and friendly guy who I originally met on Twitter back before it imploded!

Mock Ramblings

Another old Internet friend of mine. We met in the comment section of Bruce Gerencser’s blog, and I’ve learned so much about D&D and various books from his posts over the years. Sometimes he’ll share funny stories about his family, too.

Nerdy Reader Girl 

A bookish friend I’ve known for years. She has the best sense of humour ever, and I live vicariously through the funny stories she sometimes shares about her cats.

Leah’s Books

Leah is someone I originally met through Top Ten Tuesday. She’s been a little quiet online lately, so I’m hoping all is well with her. I love the fact that she jumps around to various genres just like I do and that she’s normally so chatty if you strike up a conversation with her!

Dini Panda Reads

Dini is another wonderful person I met through TTT. Her blog has such an interesting assortment of books on it that I always check out what she’s reading if I don’t know what to read next. I also appreciate her sweet and gentle personality. She’s lovely.

Lark at The Bookwyrm’s Hoard 

Her Sunday posts are always so interesting! Lark’s willingness to stick up for others (e.g. immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community) is also something I admire about her.

Nicole at Bookwyrm Knits

This is the part where I admit that I thought Lark and Nicole were the same person for an embarrassingly long time due to how similar their blog titles are. They are both free to tease me endlessly about that if or when they read this post.

Nicole shares so many interesting knitting projects on her blog when she isn’t talking about books. One of these days I will try knitting myself, and it will be thanks to her. 🙂 She’s so talented.

Sometimes Leelynn Reads 

Leelynn hasn’t posted in a while, but back when she did I loved being exposed to books on her blog I probably wouldn’t have otherwise known about. (She likes romance more than I do, after all!) Her friendly personality was another thing that drew her to me as well. She gets along well with everyone from what I’ve observed which is quite admirable.

 

Apologies if I missed anyone I regularly interact with! It was not done intentionally. There are so many incredible bloggers out there that I love getting to know.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Genres I Want to Read More of This Year

A laptop sitting on a wooden table. The text reads: “Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.”

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.

Simple black sketch of how protons and electrons move around an atom. There appears to be three protons or neutrons in total, but it doesn’t give more information than that. This year I’m hoping to read more nonfiction about medical and scientific advances.

I’m keeping the specific sub-genre open. Biology is interesting, and so is palaeontology, archeology, chemistry, astronomy, and a wide variety of other subjects. I will even read about math so long as you’re not actually expecting me to solve any equations. Ha!

The important thing to me is that they’re taking abut positive developments because I need more good news in my life.

A book about the invention of the atom bomb or how many airborne diseases spread so quickly in the winter, as interesting as they may be, isn’t quite what I’m looking for.

Something that talks about promising treatments, preventions, or cures for life-threatening illnesses, or what scientists are discovering about distant solar systems,  or new species of plants or animals we’re discovering in remote corners of the Earth would be right up my alley.

If you’ve read something along these lines, I’d love to hear about it.

In the meantime, I’ll be scouring the Internet and my local library for hopeful scientific and medical news.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Audiobooks I’ve Enjoyed

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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.

Five hardcover books standing up on a white surface. They are held upright and together in place by a pair of earphones that are wrapped around them in the same way you’d see a person wear earphones. The first few times I tried audiobooks, I was not at all a fan of them because I can read much faster than the average narrator speaks and I’d much rather get to know characters through the written word instead of the spoken one.

My attention span tends to waver fairly quickly if I’m listening to something which is why I also am generally not a fan of podcasts or listening to lengthy speeches of any sort if I’m not physically present in the room at the time the speech is going on.

What shifted my perspective on this topic was when I tried rereading old favourites in audiobook form. This was something I originally did so that I could have something fun to focus on while cleaning or doing chores around the house, and it was key for me to find a way to enjoy this form of entertainment.

These books were amusing rereads in audiobook form for me. Will they also be a good option for you? That’s something each one of you will have to decide for themselves.

1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

2. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

3. All seven Chronicles of Narnia books  by C.S. Lewis

4. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

5. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

6. All of the Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Books About My Favourite Topic

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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 written several blog posts about this topic in the past and am trying not to repeat myself too often, so this time I will be focusing on nonfiction books about animals and nature. Those are two things I love to read about.

Yes, I know that I mentioned “A Short History of the World According to Sheep” in a Top Ten Tuesday post last month, but it belongs to this theme as well. 

These were all solid reads that I’d recommend to anyone who enjoys books on these topics.

Book cover for Raising Hare: A Memoir by Chloe Dalton. Image on cover is a sketch of a young hare whose ears are pointed up and who is looking around at her surroundings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Book cover for The Book of the Earthworm by Sally Coulthard. Image on cover is a drawing of large earthworms digging through the soil. Above the soil there is a large tree whose branches are hanging heavy over the land. In the distance there is a faraway forest and a blue sky dotted with white clouds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. The Book of the Earthworm by Sally Coulthard

 

Book cover for Monarchs of the Sea: The Extraordinary 500-Million-Year History of Cephalopods by Danna Staaf. Image on cover is a drawing of various cephalopods, including squid and octupi, swimming next to each other in a light blue sea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Monarchs of the Sea: The Extraordinary 500-Million-Year History of Cephalopods by Danna Staaf

 

Book cover for Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World by Paul Stamets. Image on cover is a drawing of a pine forest that has a dirt path running through it. Extra sunlight is shining down onto the path.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World by Paul Stamets

 

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

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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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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Song Lyrics That Made Me Cringe

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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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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: My Favourite Song Lyrics

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

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

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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.

 

Book cover for A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot, #1) by Becky Chamber. Image on cover shows a top-down drawing of a winding road through a rural landscape. You can see a metal robot at the top left hand corner and the eco-friendly camper the protagonist rode around in down in the lower left corner. It include a bicycle at the front for pedaling and a small compartment at back for sleeping, eating, and other necessary tasks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

Book cover for Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor. Image on cover is a drawing that can be interpreted in two ways.First, it looks like a young black woman with short hair who is wearing hoop earrings and staring pensively off into the distance. Second, it looks like a grove of trees growing closely together. The hoop earring could also be interpreted to be a swing of some sort or a vine hanging down from the trees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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