Welcome 2022!

Happy New Year!
I only posted here four times in 2021, so I was beginning to wonder whether it was worth keeping this blog going or not. I do use it to keep track of my reading and movie watching, but is it worth keeping it for that alone? I’m not big on resolutions, but I always use the New Year to think about things I’d like to accomplish in the coming year. One of the things for this year is that I would like to post here at least once a week, whether it be an update of what’s going on in my life, a book meme or review, or even maybe a comment on what is happening in the world. I used to really enjoy blogging, but somewhere along the way I drifted away from it. I’ve signed up for some reading challenges this year, so that might encourage me to come back here more often.
One thing I aim to follow through on for this year is getting my weight down to close to 180lbs. Before the pandemic broke out in 2020 I was just under 190lbs (down from 230lbs in the previous Fall), but in the following months I let things go again and was back to 220lbs by the end of summer this year. Even being a vegan doesn’t guarantee that the weight will stay off. In September I started exercising on a daily basis again, as well as eating a healthier vegan diet (it is possible to eat an unhealthy vegan diet), and when I weighed myself a week before Christmas I found out that I am down to 203lbs. Hopefully by Easter I’ll be getting closer to my goal of 180lbs. I’ll see how it goes. It’s been hard to get out for walks with the recent cold snap – most days recently the temperature has not been more that -20C – but I have been doing free step on the WiiFit board for an hour each day and that has been helpful.
What about you? Are you into resolutions or do you see no point in making them if you feel that you’ll break them too easily? This year I’m going to work on some of the things I mentioned already and will try to enjoy these things and not get too worried if things don’t work out as I hoped. Who knows what the year ahead will bring, but hopefully we may find light at the end of the tunnel as far as COVID-19 goes. I hope you have a great 2022! Stay safe and stay healthy.
Top Ten Tuesday – Books Written Before I Was Born (Feb 2, 2021)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that is hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week a different topic is posted inviting the participants to come up with a list of ten things to do with the topic.
This week’s topic is ‘Books Written Before I Was Born.’ These are all books I have read and include two of my all-time favourites. Those who know me will probably know what those are, otherwise you’ll just have to guess!

- The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve read The Hobbit. It’s one of the books that sparkled my early love of reading.
- Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury. A classic that’s always worth a reread.
- Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson. This is also one that I read when I was young. If I remember correctly I read it after watching the Disney version from the 50s. Although the movie was enjoyable and was the impetus for me wanting to read it, the book was far superior.
- The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway. I first had to read this for high school English and somehow it just stuck with me.
- Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell. This is another one I had to read at school. The year I first read it was 1982. It’s one I’ve returned to a few times since.
- Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky. This is probably my second-favourite book by a Russian author. It’s probably due a reread.
- The Man Who Was Thursday – G.K. Chesterton. This one is good on so many different levels.
- One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich – Alexander Solzhenitsyn. This is my favourite book by a Russian author. It’s not a long read, but it is one to savour. There’s a certain bleakness to it, but the reality of one day in the title character’s life in a Siberian labour camp is worth checking out. I’ve probably read it at least half a dozen times and I never grow tired of it.
- The Stranger – Albert Camus. I read this in one sitting, as it was hard to put down.
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis. If I remember correctly my parents first read this one to me and I’ve loved it ever since. Although this is not my favourite book, C.S. Lewis is my favourite writer.
I was born in the 60s, so there are lots of great books that were written after I was born. However, these ten are ones that are probably all in my top 100. Having said that, I haven’t come up with a top 100, so maybe that’s a project for the near future.
Top Ten Tuesday – 2020 New-to-me authors (Jan 26, 2021)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that is hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week a different topic is posted inviting the participants to come up with a list of ten things to do with the topic.
This week’s topic is ‘New-to-Me Authors I Read in 2020.’ Even though 2020 wasn’t a great reading year for me, there were a few books by people I’d never read anything by before. I usually enjoy trying different authors/writers and almost half the books I read last year fell into this category. These are the ten in print form that I own that I enjoyed the most. There were others that I borrowed from the library or read in ebook form. I’ll probably go on to look for more by some of these and already have read another Matt Haig book, with another on my TBR. Although I realise that Alex Trebek was not an author as such, his book was one of my favourites of the year and I couldn’t really leave him out of this list.

- We Have Always Lived in the Castle – Shirley Jackson. I had heard so much about this one and it didn’t disappoint.
- The Way of Tea and Justice – Becca Stevens. This one was both informative and inspirational.
- Torn – Justin Lee. A very helpful look at the dialogue between gays and Christians, from the perspective of a high-profile gay Christian.
- The Humans – Matt Haig. I’m not sure why I waited so long to read anything by Haig. This was a great read, both funny and sad, and everything in between.
- The Answer Is… – Alex Trebek. This was one of my favourites of 2020. Trebek was a very inspirational person and it’s sad that he is no longer with us.
- The Fire Never Goes Out – Noelle Stevenson. An enjoyable memoir in picture form.
- The Gown – Jennifer Robson. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. The style and structure made it a fairly engaging read.
- Five Little Indians – Michelle Good. This is a very powerful novel – sad at times, but also had moments of triumph.
- Imagine Wanting Only This – Kristen Radtke. This was another memoir in pictures. It was fairly enjoyable, but left me wanting a bit more.
- A Stranger’s Tale – Natasa Xerri and Adam Oehlers. I got in on the crowdfunding of this debut book by someone from Australia that I follow on Instagram. As part of this I received an autographed first edition. It is a beautifully illustrated folklore tale that is worth checking out.
Although I’m hoping that 2021 will be a better reading year for me, I’m always on the lookout for books by people I haven’t read before. As always, I’m open to suggestions.
Top Ten Tuesday – Book Quotes (September 29)
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that is hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week a different topic is posted inviting the participants to come up with a list of ten things to do with the topic.
This week’s topic is ‘Favorite Book Quotes.’ This one will be hard to keep to ten, but I’ll do my best!
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort. (The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien)
You can’t get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me. Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories – C.S. Lewis)
Questions are not scary. What is scary is when people don’t have any. What is tragic is faith that has no room for them. (Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith – Rob Bell)
There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing. (Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury)
Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten. (Coraline – Neil Gaiman)
You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do. (Traveling Mercies – Anne Lamott)
Our humanity comes to its fullest bloom in giving. We become beautiful people when we give whatever we can give: a smile, a handshake, a kiss, an embrace, a word of love, a present, a part of our life…all of our life. (Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World –
And I think that’s what our world is desperately in need of – lovers, people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about. (The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical – Shane Claiborne)
Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams)
We never find what we set out hearts on. We ought to be glad of that. (Beside the Ocean of Time – George Mackay Brown)