Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Foods From My Geographic Area That I Love

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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.

A bottle of Quebec maple syrup in a glass container. It’s sitting on a wooden table, presumably ready to be poured on some food!One type of Canadian food I haven’t tried yet is Saskatoon berry pie, but I’d bet it will be amazing once I find a dairy-free version or recipe for it someday Everything else on this list is something I have eaten at least once.

I can’t possibly know what everyone has or hasn’t already tasted, so Wikipedia links are included in this post if anything I described is unfamiliar to you or you’d like to know more about them.

Maple syrup is at the top of my list for this topic because Southern Ontario is excellent at making it and it’s one of those foods that people buy here to give as gifts elsewhere. I know it’s collected in many other places on Earth, too, so I hope you all have had a chance to taste it if you wish to.

Poutine is delicious as well. You may not think that French fries, gravy, and cheese (or, in my case, vegan cheese) would go so well together, but they’re delicious. I prefer to add a few tablespoons of chopped green peppers for added flavour, although it’s not a traditional topping per se.

Butter tarts are something I wasn’t able to try until I finally found a bakery that makes a dairy-free version of them. Thank goodness for vegan and allergy-aware bakers is all I can say! They are an incredibly rich dessert that I adore, and I recommend them as well.

Peameal bacon sandwiches are a delicious lunch due to how rich and savoury this type of meat is. They’re typically served on the same sort of bun you might use for hamburger or veggie burger meat. I like to put some honey mustard on mine, but they’re good plain as well.

Nanaimo bars took some getting used to due to my dislike of shredded coconut, but they’re otherwise wonderfully fudgy and sweet.

Split pea soup is actually something my parents made on occasion when I was growing up in the United States. I didn’t realize there was a French version from Quebec, too, until I moved up here.

Finally, beaver tails are a classic Canadian treat. It’s a flat pastry that’s fried and then covered in toppings that range from a simple cinnamon and sugar to chopped up pieces of well-known candy or candy bars and copious amounts of icing. They are also teeth-achingly sweet, so you may want to consider splitting one with a friend or relative as a little bit can go a long way.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Was Reading On This Day Over the Last Ten Years

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Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Thank you to Anne @ HeadFullofBooks for coming up with this topic! Here are books I’ve read in August over the past ten years. I can’t guarantee that I was reading them on precisely August 11 as I don’t keep track of such information, but they were all read in this month and all good reads.

 

2016 

Book cover for The Many Deaths of Tom Thomson: Separating Fact from Fiction by Gregory Klages. Image on cover shows a black and white photo of Tom Thompson in the 1910s standing outside near a large pile of cut firewood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Many Deaths of Tom Thomson: Separating Fact from Fiction by Gregory Klages

Genre: History

Why I Liked It: Tom Thompson was a famous Canadian painter and one of the Group of Seven who created all sorts of art in the early 1900s. This book explores his life and mysterious death, and I thought the ending was quite fitting for a life that ended far too soon.

 

2017

Book cover for Coping With Your Difficult Older Parent : A Guide for Stressed-Out Children by Grace Lebow, Barbara Kane, Irwin Lebow. Image on cover shows the title and author’s name against a bright yellow background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coping With Your Difficult Older Parent : A Guide for Stressed-Out Children by Grace Lebow, Barbara Kane, Irwin Lebow

Genre: Psychology/Self-Help

Why I Liked It: My parents are actually wonderful, but unfortunately I have other relatives in their age group who are only becoming more difficult to handle as they grow older. I’ve read multiple books about boundaries, dysfunctional families, (severe, untreated) mental illness, and self-care over the years to help me develop the coping skills I need for these situations.

 

2018

Book cover for The Bedroom: An Intimate History by Michelle Perrot, Lauren Elkin. Image on cover shows rumpled, white, unmade bedsheets on a bed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bedroom: An Intimate History by Michelle Perrot, Lauren Elkin

Genre: History

Why I Liked It: The wide range of topics it covered. Yes, there were references to sex in this book, but it also talked about many other things related to bedrooms and sleeping: central heating, how hotel accommodations worked in the past, how people slept in jails, hospitals, and sanitariums, and so much more.

 

2019 

Book cover for Let's Play White by Chesya Burke. Image on cover is a painting of a black woman who is staring straight ahead at the audience with a somber expression on her face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s Play White by Chesya Burke

Genre: SFF

Why I Liked It: This was one of those collections of short stories in which every entry was unique. I get a little bored with collections that repeat the same themes too often, so this one definitely stood out to me.

 

2020

Book cover for Zombies, Run!: Keeping Fit and Living Well in the Current Zombie Emergency by Naomi Alderman. Image on cover shows black zombie hands reaching out to a white stick figure who is running away from them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zombies, Run!: Keeping Fit and Living Well in the Current Zombie Emergency by Naomi Alderman

Genre: SFF, Health, Fitness

Why I Liked It: Honestly, the information in it is just as applicable to now as it was to 2020. Taking care of yourself during stressful times is incredibly important no matter what the threat is. The zombie angle simply added a dose of fun to what is otherwise a serious topic.

 

2021

Book cover for Broken Places & Outer Spaces: Finding Creativity in the Unexpected by Nnedi Okorafor. Image on cover shows curving yellow lines against a blue background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Broken Places & Outer Spaces: Finding Creativity in the Unexpected by Nnedi Okorafor

Genre: Memoir

Why I Liked It: I don’t purposefully seek out information about the lives of my favourite authors because I believe they deserve privacy just like the rest of us  (unless they’re harming other people or something, of course). Therefore, I didn’t know about Ms. Okorafor’s botched back surgery or how it lead her to become an author until I read this. It was quite interesting!

 

2022

Book cover for On Sundays She Picked Flowers by Yah-Yah Scholfield. Image on cover shows a black woman’s face partially hidden by many leaves and trees in a forest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Sundays She Picked Flowers by Yah-Yah Scholfield

Genre: Horror

Why I Liked It: Eveything up until the ending was perfect. The protagonist was nuanced and relatable and the setting was deliciously scary. I just wish the conclusion had been a happier one, but I’m still glad I read it.

 

2023 

Book cover for The Necessity of Stars by E. Catherine Tobler. Image on cover shows alien flowers growing in a garden as something that resembles a dragon stands in the distance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Necessity of Stars by E. Catherine Tobler

Genre: SFF

Why I Liked It: This one had the opposite problem that Scholfield‘s tale did. The beginning was a little lacklustre, but the ending was so worth the wait. Once again, I’m glad I read it even though it didn’t match all of my expectations.

 

2024 

Book cover for Gay the Pray Away by Natalie Naudus. Image on cover shows two young white women embracing romantically while standing in a windswept meadow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gay the Pray Away by Natalie Naudus

Genre: YA

Why I Liked It: I related to it on so many different levels, from growing up in a conservative Christian homeschooling family to being a lifelong bookworm  to eventually coming out.

 

2025 

Book cover for Ghosts, Trolls and the Hidden People: An Anthology of Icelandic Folk Legends by Dagrún Ósk Jónsdóttir. Image on cover shows a black and white drawing of ghosts and other otherworldly creatures outside at night in a city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ghosts, Trolls and the Hidden People: An Anthology of Icelandic Folk Legends by Dagrún Ósk Jónsdóttir

Genre: SFF

Why I Liked It: You all might remember how much I love myths, fairy tales, and folklore in general. This was a fabulous collection of just that.

 

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A Review of Ava

Book cover for Ava  by Victoria Dillon. Image on cover shows a light pink egg that is just beginning to crack open. Title: Ava

Author: Victoria Dillon

Publisher: New Harbinger Publications

Publication Date: March 3, 2026

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 238 pages

Source: I borrowed it from the library.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

For fans of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale comes Ava, a provocative blend of speculative fiction and social commentary that takes readers on a gripping, thought-provoking journey into the fight for women’s autonomy in a politically charged Southern landscape.

What if the only way to reclaim reproductive freedom was to rewrite the very nature of birth itself?

Ten years after Roe v. Wade is overturned, twenty-two-year-old biologist Larkin finds herself unexpectedly pregnant in a country where choice is no longer an option. Initially uncertain, she embraces motherhood—until a devastating diagnosis changes everything. Trapped by Tennessee’s strict abortion laws, she is forced to carry her baby to term, only to endure the heartbreak of losing her hours after birth.

Years later, Larkin joins a radical scientific movement that could change a groundbreaking technology that replaces gestation with incubation, allowing women true control over their reproduction. When she uses it to bring her second daughter, Ava, into the world, she believes she has finally reclaimed her autonomy. But as Ava grows and begins to question the very choice that created her, Larkin is challenged in ways she never imagined.

Ava is a powerful, emotionally charged exploration of motherhood, bodily autonomy, and the far-reaching consequences of restrictive legislation. In a future shaped by loss and innovation, mother and daughter must confront the ultimate what does it truly mean to have a choice?

Content Warning: Miscarriage, misogyny, forced pregnancy and birth, and a baby who died of a fatal birth defect a few hours after being born.

Review:

Reproductive freedom is more than a catch phrase.

The science fiction elements were intriguing and like nothing I’ve ever seen in this genre before. I especially enjoyed the sections that discussed how human reproduction could be altered in order to make it much safer for pregnant people to experience. While I don’t want to give away too many hints about how the incubation process worked in this tale, I was fascinated by the technological changes that made such a thing possible and thought it was a good platform to discuss everything from sexism to bodily autonomy.

I would have loved to see more character and plot development At times this read more like an outline of a book than the finished product, especially when it came to exploring the character’s internal lives and how the invention of a new way for humans to reproduce might change society forever. As important as the messages were in it, I was underwhelmed by the execution of the storyline and kept wishing the author would give us more details about how everything worked and what the characters thought of these biological and social developments.

There was a cliffhanger ending here that made me wish to know what happened next. It will be interesting to see if other readers have the same reaction, but I thought it was a good place to end given all of the dramatic changes to society that had just taken place. The consequences of these actions could be far reaching and spur on multiple sequels if the author wanted to write them.

Ava was thought provoking.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Reasons I’ve Stopped Reading or Watching a Series

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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 vintage television that has one of those test cards on it comprised of stripes of various vertical colours that used to show on channels that were off air for the night. The tv includes two antennas sticking up from the top of it. There are many reasons why I might stop watching a series, including:

– A hopeless storyline. I enjoyed the first few seasons of The Walking Dead, for example, but then lost interest because the characters could never gain a foothold and improve their lives. They always slid back into misery, and I really struggle to stay interested in shows that do that repeatedly.

– Prejudice that is portrayed in a positive light. That is to say I don’t watch shows or read books that encourage sexism, racism, ableism, classism, homophobia, etc. (This has thankfully become much less common now than it was in some older programs!) It’s fine if a show explores these topics, of course, and for some historical stuff it can’t be avoided easily or at all depending on which story is being told.  Just don’t make hatred look normal or admirable.

– A plot that is stretched out over too many seasons. I’d rather see things end prematurely than be dragged out longer than is necessary. (See also: The Handmaid’s Tale. It should have ended after a season or two, to be honest).

– If it includes anything related to spies, the criminal justice system,* war,  the military, or the police. I have extremely limited interest in these subjects at best, so a show really has to impress me to get to watch them if they include these themes.  Brooklyn Nine Nine was one of my rare exceptions to this rule.

– Bad or minimal character development. I need to feel emotionally connected with at least one character in order to want to keep watching something, and this is difficult to make happen if nobody has any depth to their personality or backstory.

 

*Also, why did my autocorrect try to turn the criminal justice system into Cthulhu? 😂

 

My criteria for books is honestly mostly the same as what I wrote above. If you keep the pacing even, don’t make things too dreary, and allow your characters to be well-rounded people instead of walking stereotypes, I’m open to just about any genre even if I do prefer speculative fiction in general.

Good storytelling transcends genre in my opinion!

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Top Ten Tuesday: Ice Cream Trucks on Covers

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Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

We are officially in the dog days of summer, and what better cover freebie theme to pick than ice cream trucks. They are a common sight here in North America in the summer. I don’t know if the same is true in other parts of the world, so please share if this is (or isn’t) something people look forward to in your country when the weather is hot and, depending on your local climate, possibly quite humid as well.

I have not read any of these titles yet, so let me know if they’re good.

Book cover for Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer. Image on cover shows a young woman standing confidently on top of a stationary ice cream truck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer

 

Book cover for Love, Inc. (Love, Inc., #1) by Yvonne Collins.Image on cover shows a drawing of a young white woman with curly brown hair who is sitting inside of a ice cream truck with her chin cupped in her hands as she looks off to the side deep in thought. Beside her is a chalkboard filled with the following options for today’s specials: matchmaking, mediation, surveillance, revenge, with prices negotiable and satisfaction guaranteed written in small letters at the bottom. Revenge is written as the largest word on the chalkboard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Love, Inc. (Love, Inc., #1) by Yvonne Collins

 

Book cover for Stay Sweet by Siobhan Vivian. Image on cover shows a laughing young white woman whose brown hair is pulled into a pony tail and who is wearing a pink and white dress. She’s leaning over the window in an ice cream truck to take your order!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Stay Sweet by Siobhan Vivian

 

Book cover for The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson. Image on cover shows a drawing of a young white woman wearing a blue sundress who has several dogs surrounding her in front of an ice cream truck. I think they’re all about to get a treat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

 

Book cover for Wesley James Ruined My Life by Jennifer Honeybourn. Image on cover shows a drawing of a young black man and a young white woman working inside of an ice cream truck. He looks distracted and she looks bored.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Wesley James Ruined My Life by Jennifer Honeybourn

 

Book cover for We Are Called to Rise by Laura McBride. Image on cover shows an ice cream truck parked on an empty beach on a partly cloudy day. Where are all of the beachgoers?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. We Are Called to Rise by Laura McBride

 

Book cover for The Good Humor Man by Kathleen N. Daly. Image on cover is a 1950s-style drawing of a white man driving an ice cream truck. He’s smiling and waving as he drives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. The Good Humor Man by Kathleen N. Daly

 

Book cover for Melt With You by Jennifer Dugan. Image on cover shows a drawing of two young queer women sitting on top of an ice cream truck watching the sunset. The one with dark, curly hair is turning to the one with straight blond hair as if she’s about to say something or perhaps kiss her companion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. Melt With You by Jennifer Dugan

 

Book cover for The Little Ice Cream Truck by Margery Cuyler. Image on cover is a drawing of a little brunette boy who is getting an ice cream cone from an ice cream truck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. The Little Ice Cream Truck by Margery Cuyler

 

Book cover for Garth Pig and the Icecream Lady by Mary Rayner. Image on cover shows a drawing of a pig who is wearing a striped shirt and brown shorts and running on his hind legs after a badger who is driving a truck away from the pig.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. Garth Pig and the Icecream Lady by Mary Rayner

 

Book cover for Curious George and the Ice Cream Surprise by Margret Rey. Image on cover shows Curious George, a brown monkey, dancing with joy in front of an ice cream truck outside in the grass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11. Curious George and the Ice Cream Surprise by Margret Rey

 

(Yes, I know this is eleven books instead of ten. Goodreads had eleven ideas for me, and I couldn’t bear to leave any of them out).

 

If it’s currently summer where you live, stay cool! May autumn arrive soon.

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A Review of Outopos

Book cover for Outopos by Rudolph Kohn. Image on cover is a drawing of a closeup of the brain of a computer. Various chips in it are glowing in the darkness. Title: Outpos

Author: Rudolph Kohn

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: April 26, 2023

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 9 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb:

The war between artificial intelligence and mankind is almost over. VeeTwo agreed to finish the war in exchange for a plot of land with abundant resources, but a strange intruder with a cryptic message interrupts her plans.

Content Warning: Brief references to war.

Review:

Every battle must eventually end.

There was a philosophical bent to this tale that I found intriguing. This is something I’m saying as a reader who is only an occasional visit to this corner of the literary realm, so it’s a rare compliment from me. Those of you who regularly read this sort of stuff may be even more into it than I was despite my stellar rating as there very well could be moments I missed that fans would pick up on more easily. VeeTwo, the protagonist, was a thoughtful and kind robot who I’m glad I got to know, especially once their life became much less predictable after they arrived home from the war. Few things are as satisfying as seeing a character you feel connected to experience something that tests their value system in all sorts of unexpected way.

War isn’t generally a topic I enjoy reading about, either but I liked the way Mr. Kohn veered around the bloody aspects of it to explore what happens when one side has won and there are no more battles to fight. This is generally something that’s saved for the final scene or maybe not even discussed at all, so it was amusing to see it become the main focal point of a short story for once. What a creative way to explore what it means to live a good life, and not to mention an author grabbing my attention with two topics that are a little outside of my comfort zone. Bravo!

The ending was what convinced me to give this a full five-star rating. It wasn’t quite a plot twist due to some subtle foreshadowing earlier on, but it did fit the themes of this piece beautifully and gave me everything I was hoping to find from the characters. I especially loved how it not only resolved the main conflict but also left space for a sequel if the author ever decides to write one. Regardless of whether or not that happens, I’ll be thinking about these characters and their society for a long time.

Outpost was a wild and immensely satisfying ride. 

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: My Life in Photos or GIFs

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.

 

Several of my loved ones, including my spouse, don’t like having their photos shared on the Internet. Their absence in their post is a sign of my respect for their wishes and nothing more. 😊

 

A middle-aged white woman with shoulder-light, wavy and loosely curly brown hair is standing beneath a tree filled with pink blossoms on it. She has a hand on her hip and is smiling gently in the shade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love spending time in nature. This was taken at one of my favourite parks here in Toronto  back in May.

 

 

A yellow #2 pencil and a crumpled up piece of paper lying on an open spiral notebook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously, you all already know I spend a lot of time writing all sorts of things.

 

The same middle-aged white woman now standing in front of a pair of rainbow angel wings at a display at Pride.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We love Pride festivities  (assuming no migraines that weekend, of course). It’s such a happy and welcoming place. This was taken at the end of June during a rare quiet moment in the section of Pride where all of the booths and street food are located.

No, this didn’t happen on the same day as the park visit. Purple is my favourite colour, so I wear that shirt a lot.

 

Rows of free weights neatly lined up on a rack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I gained some weight over the past few years while dealing with a few painful health conditions, one of which is now hopefully resolved for good.  While I still have weight to lose, I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished since last autumn when I started focusing on my health more. (My body can easily develop another migraine as a result of exercise, dehydration from perspiring more than usual, or how much I eat, so it’s a delicate balance between sticking to healthier habits and not triggering bonus migraines. Aren’t bodies fun? Ha!).

My favourite types of exercise include kickboxing, weightlifting, dancing, yoga, and walking. Swimming and cycling are great, too, although I haven’t done either in a long time.

 

A photo of myself and my mom sitting in comically oversized chairs in a park in Windsor. The chairs were made of metal. There are several large trees in the distance, and we are partially covered by shade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whimsical thngs often attract my attention. Here’s a photo of me and my mom sitting in two comically large chairs in a park in Windsor, Ontario. We met up there in June and had a wonderful long weekend together.

And, look, I didn’t wear the same purple shirt that day. I did still wear purple, though. Ha!

 

Screenshot from Duolingo showing that I’ve finished the first seven sections of the Spanish language and am about a third of the way through the eighth and final one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, look how close I am to being finished with Spanish on Duolingo! There are eight sections of learning for this language, each of which is divided again into many subsections of lessons. I think I’ll finish it this year at this rate.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Library Books on my TBR List That I’m Looking Forward to Reading

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Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

The original theme for this week was “Books I HAD to Have Immediately but Still Haven’t Read.” It’s quite rare for me to buy books without immediately reading them, so I’m tweaking the topic a little to talk about some library books on my TBR list that I am looking forward to reading instead.

 

Book cover for The End of My Life Is Killing Me: The Unexpected Joys of a Cancer Slacker by Annabelle Gurwitch. Image on cover shows a drawing of a chick (as in a baby chicken) who is stretching it’s wing and leg in a yoga pose with one wing and one leg pointed straight up in the air as the bird lies down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. The End of My Life Is Killing Me: The Unexpected Joys of a Cancer Slacker by Annabelle Gurwitch

Why I’m Interested: Stage 4 cancer doesn’t seem like something that’s inherently funny, but I’m drawn to the idea of making the best of whatever is happening to you and trying to find the humour in hard circumstances when possible. No, I’m not talking about toxic positivity here. Think of it more like living in the moment and looking for the good when you can.

 

Book cover for The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon: The Diary of a Courtesan in Tenth Century Japan by Sei Shōnagon, Dennis Washburn (Foreword), Arthur Waley (Translator). Image on cover shows a traditional drawing of a  Japanese woman looking off to the side while holding a cup up to her lips.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon: The Diary of a Courtesan in Tenth Century Japan by Sei Shōnagon, Dennis Washburn (Foreword), Arthur Waley (Translator)

Why I’m Interested:  I’ve never read a book like this before.

 

Book cover for Church Girl by Naima Simone. Image on cover shows a black man and a black woman hugging as they stand in front of a stained glass window.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Church Girl by Naima Simone

Why I’m Interested: Every so often I peek over into the romance genre to see if anything looks interesting, and this is one of those rare titles from it that I might want to read.

 

Book cover for I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy. Image on cover shows the author wearing a light pink dress and smiling uncomfortably as she holds a dark pink oblong object.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Why I’m Interested: My parents and the vast majority of my other relatives are wonderful human beings with whom I have warm, healthy relationships, but I also know what it’s like to be related to or otherwise socially connected to someone who stirs up difficult and painful emotions.  If only we lived in a world that was more open to discussing such topics and emotionally supporting people who don’t have the “typical” reaction to complex relationships or the death of a relative. You never know what’s really going on behind the scenes in a family or social group in general, so these folks won’t receive any judgement from me about how they should behave under these circumstances.

 

Book cover for The Future of Work Is Grey: The Untapped Value of Age in the Workforce by Dan Pontefract. Book cover shows a lightbulb that is glowing because it has a candle burning inside of it. Clever!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. The Future of Work Is Grey: The Untapped Value of Age in the Workforce by Dan Pontefract

Why I’m Interested: This isn’t something that personally affects me (yet, of course), but I wholeheartedly support all efforts to reduce and eliminate discrimination, especially in the workplace given that just about everyone must work for a living. There’s absolutely no reason to make the job hunt harder than it already is for many folks!

 

Book cover for The Beauty of Being Weird: A Psychologist's Guide to Living Guilt-Free by Sergi Rufi. Image on cover shows a black sheep standing next to the title on the right and a row of white sheep standing off to the left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. The Beauty of Being Weird: A Psychologist’s Guide to Living Guilt-Free by Sergi Rufi

Why I’m Interested: There is definitely something to be said for learning to be comfortable in your own skin.

 

Book cover for Playmakers: The Jewish Entrepreneurs Who Created the Toy Industry in America. Image on cover looks like a 1950s style game box that has two white children, a girl in a pink dress and a boy in a blue suit with a yellow button down shirt, falling gently as they smile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Playmakers: The Jewish Entrepreneurs Who Created the Toy Industry in America by Michael Kimmel

Why I’m Interested: This is another slice of history I know nothing about, but I want to change that.

 

Book cover for You x Me by Ayla Vejdani. Image on cover shows a black woman with a short haircut looking down at the viewer with a serious expression on her face. She’s wearing a blue blazer with red flowers embroidered onto it, long earrings, and a light purple dress shirt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. You x Me by Ayla Vejdani

Why I’m Interested: I know nothing about dating app culture these days, so this anthology could be a good read. (Can you tell I love learning new stuff?)

 

Book cover for Homesick for a World Unknown: The Life of George B. Schaller by Miriam Horn. Image on cover shows a photo taken of a white male 1950s scientist named George who is wearing a very large backpack and sitting on a rock as he surveys the valleys and mountains ahead of him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. Homesick for a World Unknown: The Life of George B. Schaller by Miriam Horn

Why I’m Interested: I’m intrigued by the lives of scientists who worked generations ago and want to know more about their lives and accomplishments.

 

Book cover for Big Worlds: Politics and Elections in the Canadian Provinces and Territories by Jared J. Wesley. Image on cover shows all provinces and territories in Canada on a map that splits each one off into its own little island, probably to represent the many differences among us.

 

 

 

10. Big Worlds: Politics and Elections in the Canadian Provinces and Territories by Jared J. Wesley

(Apologies, but this was as large as this image could be sized).

Why I’m Interested: Canadian culture is fascinating and I love learning about the differences between one place here and another. It’s not a topic that our local news covers very often, and I have not travelled to most parts of my country yet.

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A Review of Love After the End

Book cover for Love After the End - An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction by Joshua Whitehead (Editor), Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler (Contributor), Darcie Little Badger (Contributor), Gwen Benaway (Contributor), Gabriel Castilloux Calderón (Contributor), Adam Garnet Jones (Contributor), Mari Kurisato (Contribuot), Kai Minosh Pyle (Contributor), David Alexander Robertson (Contributor), jaye simpson (Contributor), Nazbah Tom (Contributor). Image on cover is a drawing of two people, one Native and brown-skinned and one pale with what appear to be cat ears on their head, sitting by the side of a pool of water with their legs dangling in it. They look content. Title: Love After the End – An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction

Authors and Editor: Joshua Whitehead (Editor), Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler (Contributor), Darcie Little Badger (Contributor), Gwen Benaway (Contributor), Gabriel Castilloux Calderón (Contributor), Adam Garnet Jones (Contributor), Mari Kurisato (Contribuot), Kai Minosh Pyle (Contributor), David Alexander Robertson (Contributor), jaye simpson (Contributor), Nazbah Tom (Contributor)

Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press

Publication Date: September 1, 2020

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, LGBTQ+

Length: 192 pages

Source: I borrowed it from the library.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

A bold and breathtaking anthology of queer Indigenous speculative fiction, edited by the author of Jonny Appleseed.

This exciting and groundbreaking fiction collection showcases a number of new and emerging 2SQ (Two-Spirit and queer) Indigenous writers from across Turtle Island. These visionary authors show how queer Indigenous communities can bloom and thrive through utopian narratives that detail the vivacity and strength of 2SQness throughout its plight in the maw of settler colonialism’s histories.

Here, readers will discover bioengineered AI rats, transplanted trees in space, the rise of a 2SQ resistance camp, a primer on how to survive Indigiqueerly, virtual reality applications, mother ships at sea, and the very bending of space-time continuums queered through NDN time. Love after the End demonstrates the imaginatively queer Two-Spirit futurisms we have all been dreaming of since 1492.

Content Warning:

Review:

What happens after climate change begins to make Earth a difficult place to survive?

The plot twists in “Seed Children” made me smile. I especially liked the way the protagonist, a synthetic person, described her relationships with the children in her life. She was a kind and gentle soul who I wanted to see live happily ever after. The contrast between her sweet personality and the harsh world she lived in provided another layer of meaning as well. Some people are hardened by their circumstances, so to see her remain true to herself only made the ending all that more satisfying.

In “History of the New World,” Em and her family were given a chance to move away from a dying Earth to a habitable planet that scientists had recently discovered. The world building was well done, but there a few things about the character development, especially as it pertained to Em’s wife Thorah, that I would have loved to see developed more fully. The choice Thorah made simply didn’t feel believable to me. Understanding her decision was crucial to a certain moment in the pot, so not having it dampened my enthusiasm for the ending.

My favourite story in this anthology was “How to Survive the Apocalypse for Native Girls” due to how the narrator evolved as she realized what kind of advice she should actually be sharing to future generations. While I can’t go into a lot of detail about that without giving away spoilers, I can say that the character development was fantastic and that I wish this had a sequel. There was so much more I wanted to know not only about this character but also the complex world she lived in!

Love After the End – An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction was an interesting assortment of stories.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Books I Wish I’d Discovered Sooner

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.

I tend to believe that the right books will appear when we need them, but there are a few books I wish had shown up earlier in my life.

Someone – probably my aunt or grandmother – gave me the first few Anne Shirley books as a kid, but I didn’t read the rest of them until I was an adult. Either my local library didn’t have them or someone else had borrowed them every time I looked as I do remember searching for them.

Book cover for Anne's House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery. Image on cover shows Anne in a long blue dress that does not have a bustle. She’s looking off to the side with a serious and slightly sad expression on her face as she stands in front of her new home and a small grove of trees around it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anne’s House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery

I read the first three books in this series as a preteen and watched the film version of Anne of Windy Poplars as well. Everything from Anne’s House of Dreams onwards were titles I read in adulthood. I enjoyed seeing Anne as a wife and mother, although her life turned out quite differently than I had dreamed it might.

 

Book cover for The Shelters of Stone (Earth's Children, #5) by Jean M. Auel. Image on cover shows a drawing of a running horse on a cave wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Shelters of Stone (Earth’s Children, #5) by Jean M. Auel

It appears that I need to grumble about this series once again. 😂 I read the first four books many years after they were first released, and then I had to wait years to read books 5 and another long stretch of time before book 6. If only each new instalment could have been released every 3-4 years at the most so I could have finished this series sooner and not spent so much time assuming it would end satisfactorily. I will refrain from listing the many plot holes and abandoned conflicts that irritated me along the way. Ha.

I look forward to seeing what everyone else came up with!

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