Happy Sunday! This week our armchair adventures have us walking and wandering as we wind our way across, around, up and down paths and trails through the Appalachians to the Silk road to the Japanese Monk trails.
Have fun!
Sunday, July 27, 2025
Sunday, July 20, 2025
BW29: X is for Xerophyte
Happy Sunday! X is for Xerophyte which is a drought tolerant plant. We can go many different ways with this topic and read books set on earth or planets which matches up with our 52 Books Bingo Category with Setting as Character.
Top Ten Tuesday: Books about Drought
15 Fantasy Books with Desert Settings
5 Mystery and Thrillers Set in Times of Drought
50 Must-Read Books Set In Space
Book where the setting almost feels like a character.
Happy Reading!
Sunday, July 13, 2025
BW28: Y is for Yesterday!
Happy Sunday! Today is Embrace Your Geekness Day and why that reminds me of yesterday I have no idea. Probably because in the past (and present) I have been surrounded by brainiacs and geeks as well as a few dorks. July 15th, by the way, is Be a Dork Day. So whether you are a geek or a dork or somewhere in-between, embrace it.
Books With Nerdy, Geeky, or Genius Heroes and Heroines
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books With Nerds
Awkward Protagonists Who Find Their Place In The World
Introverted heroines/hero or very shy/painfully shy heroine/hero.
Happy Reading!
Sunday, July 6, 2025
BW27: Zero in the title
Happy Sunday! We're past the halfway point for the year and it's time to recite the alphabet backwards from Z to A. Go ahead and give it a go and see if you can say the alphabet backwards without having to say it forwards. LOL!
Let's look for the famous zero (or a synonym) in the title of the book, or look for a picture of a zero on the cover, or a character, human or animal, named Zero. Have fun and be creative.
Zero!
by
When I say nothing,
and you think of zero,
you’re partially wrong,
because it’s one of maths’ hero
Not all heroes,
have to be number one
In mathematics,
It’s all about the fun
Zero’s a kind number,
If you didn’t know.
Even if it’s added,
It lets you shine alone
But don’t make it angry,
As it may multiply.
It’ll remove your complete existence,
In the blink of an eye!
If you want its power,
It can’t guarantee you much.
But it can make you whole,
Stand straight and such.
Zeros got a major role
In defining limits,
Don’t underestimate this number,
It’s got endless potential in it!
There's more to this number,
From what you might already know!
Now, is zero just a nothing?
That’s a big, fat no!
Sunday, June 29, 2025
BW26: Half Way There!
Happy Sunday! We are half way through the year which coincides with the 4th of July so celebrating with fireworks, fire crackers, and sparklers, and making much noise. We're full of zest, zang, zoom, and zeal so make the most of your time.
Our dragon of the month is Falkor from the Never Ending Story.
What has been your most favorite story so far this year? Have you discovered a new author or series to explore? Any interesting book news you'd like to share?
Halfway Down
By
A. A. Milne
Halfway down the stairs
Is a stair
Where I sit.
There isn't any
Other stair
Quite like
It.
I'm not at the bottom,
I'm not at the top;
So this is the stair
Where
I always
Stop.
Halfway up the stairs
Isn't up
And it isn't down.
It isn't in the nursery,
It isn't in town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head.
It isn't really
Anywhere!
It's somewhere else
Instead!
Sunday, June 22, 2025
BW25: "It's Summertime, Summertime, Sum, Sum, Summertime"
Happy Sunday! So happy Summer is here with more time to enjoy some summer reading. Make sure to throw in a book with a Y in the title such as Year of Wonder by Geraldine Brooks or and author whose name starts with Y such as Yeats, Yoshomito, or Yancey.
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
By
William Butler Yeats
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
Sunday, June 15, 2025
BW24: X is for .....
Happy Sunday. X marks the spot with a dot, dot, dot. Don't know why that little ditty popped up in my head.
One author I really have enjoyed and learned much from is Qiu Xiaolong, author of the inspector detective Chen Cao who is a homicide detective in the Shanghai Special Cases Bureau in China. Inspector Chen Cao was introduced with the publication of Death of a Red Heroine in 2000. Set in the mid 1990's in China, it was a police procedural blending fact and fiction delving into the politics and culture of the country. The character is in his early thirties and also writes poetry and works as a translator. Inspector Chen must navigate his way through government politics while trying to solve murders. The 13th book in the series Love and Murder in the Time of Covid was released in 2023.
His latest stories are a duology series which takes place in seventh century China called the Judge Dee Investigations. The first book Shadow of the Empire is a companion piece from his 12th novel - Inspector Chen and the Private Kitchen Murder - in which the inspector is reading a Judge Dee novel. The second book was released in 2024: The Conspiracies of the Empire. I'm looking forward to reading both.
Sunday, June 8, 2025
BW23: Wuxia Literature
Happy Sunday! Our next 52 Books Bingo category is Wuxia! Wuxia literature is historical fiction stories in which the characters use traditional Chinese martial art disciplines for either good or bad.
9 Classic Wuxia Stories That Define the Genre
10 Best Wuxia Novels for Martial Arts Fans
Goodreads Wuxia and Xianxia or Wuxia books
Happy Reading!
Sunday, June 1, 2025
BW22: Dragon of the month: Saphira
Saphira Bjartskular by Joshua Raphael
Happy Sunday! June is a time of honor and celebration with World War II D Day, Flag Day, Father's day, Juneteenth, the summer solstice as well as Great Outdoors Month, Rose month, and National Adopt a Cat month.
Our dragon of the month is Saphira from Christopher Paolini's Eragon. I happily supported the Saphira Figurine kickstarter campaign last year and look forward to receiving a collectable figurine of Saphira when it's ready.
Christopher Paolini's Inheritance cycle includes Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance and is a wonderful series about a farm boy who discovers a dragon egg and is thrust in a world of magic and power. Works set in the same world include Murtagh and The Fork, The Witch, and the Worm. Paolini's other works - To Sleep in a Sea of Stars and Fractal Noise - are amazing thriller stories set in outer space. He's also been involved in other works including the short stories anthology Guys Write for Guys Read which I recently acquired.
Join me in reading stories by Christopher Paolini this month!
Sunday, May 25, 2025
BW21: Unique, Unusual, or Unconventional.
Happy Sunday and thank you to all who died in the service of our country and hugs to all their families. I love reading unique stories - some of which may be weird, mind blowing, extraordinary, and most often - unusual or unconventional. Stories like Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar, Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall, or 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. What books have you read that were unique, unusual, or unconventional?
Literature’s 12 Most Unusual Books
10 “unique” and distinctive books
Top Ten Tuesday: The Most Unique Books I’ve Read
Sunday, May 18, 2025
BW20: A Time to Talk
Time To Talk
By
Robert Frost
When a friend calls to me from the road
And slows his horse to a meaning walk,
I don't stand still and look around
On all the hills I haven't hoed,
And shout from where I am, What is it?
No, not as there is a time to talk.
I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,
Blade-end up and five feet tall,
And plod: I go up to the stone wall
For a friendly visit.
Sunday, May 11, 2025
BW19: Happy Mother's Day
She Is the Quiet
by
Jen Ambrose
She is the quiet that settles in after the storm,
not the thunder,
not the flash—
but the stillness that holds the house together
when everyone else forgets to breathe.
She is the hand that never lets go,
even when it seems like she has.
Invisible strength tucked in folded laundry,
school lunches,
and the way she always remembers
what you forgot to say.
She doesn’t ask the world for attention.
She listens for the creak of the floorboards,
knows the weight of each footstep,
feels the shift in the air
when someone needs her.
Her love isn’t loud.
It’s the worn chair at the kitchen table,
the light left on in the hallway,
the way she knew before you did—
what you were carrying.
She is the thread.
Not the needle. Not the fabric.
But the thing that binds it all
so gently
you don’t realize it’s there
until something unravels.
And still, she stays.
Even when she’s tired,
even when her heart is stretching
farther than it should,
she stays.
Not because she has to.
Because she chooses to.
Every day.
Happy Mother's Day!!!
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