Bookish clubs I would join

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is a Freebie. I'm going with bookish clubs I would join but mostly I just enjoy making up titles. For more Top Ten Tuesday, visit That Artsy Reader Girl here.

01 - The Guild of Notorious Skim Readers — enjoy skim-reading with others who also think it's okay to skip the boring parts

02 - The Chapters and Cakes League — come and eat cake and maybe read a chapter or two of a book but mostly eat cake

03 - The Sisterhood of Literary Feminine Accuracy — complain about the mistakes of female characters in books written by male authors

04 - The Fellowship of the Tome — read chunky books and complain about their length

05 - The Association of Sleepy Readers — pick books, complain about them and then vote not to read them, then take a nap

06 - The Spook Society — get together with other scaredy cats and read scary books that are maybe not too scary

07 - The Civilized Society of Murder Mystery Maniacs — join other murder mystery lovers in reading and nitpicking murder mysteries

08 - The Society of Obstinate & Persnickety Readers — For people who are very, very picky of what they read

09 - Miss Marple's Knit & Snitch Bookish Society — come and join us for some knitting and snitching and maybe even read a book

10 - The League of Trifle Knowledge — join us in the search for the meanings of life in the small corners of bookish worlds

What book club would you like to join?

Words for Wednesday Prompts - Feb. 1, 2023

This February, I'm the host for Words for Wednesday. Words for Wednesday was started by Delores and now is hosted by various people on various blogs. The aim of Words for Wednesday is to encourage us to write using some or all of the prompts. This week's prompts are:
1 - missing
2 - pillow
3 - rattle
4 - flight
5 - beginning
6 - shabby
7 - time

You may write your piece in the comments or post it on your blog. If posting on your blog, please leave a direct link to the post so we can all visit you. Have fun writing!

Seven Things: Just some thoughts

01 - I brought this lovely calendar by Botanikum (link here). Though the calendar starts on a Monday when I'm so used to it starting on a Sunday so I might get confused using the calendar. I seem to keep buying floral wall calendars. I used to get those page-a-day desk calendars but since they stopped putting out the floral version, I decided the heck with desk calendars and anyway, wall calendar are nicer but only if you're able to get a decently large one. For some odd reason, most wall calendar are pretty small unless you get the foldable 12x12 version which I dislike.

Botanikum calender January page

02 - I spent 90 dollars on an app that should remove adware but after it did its job, I still see the same gross looking ads. I don't know why I see these gross ads. I clean my browser's cache a million times. I update the browser a million times as well. I got the stupid app to remove adware but nothing works. Wordpress blogs (the free version) is where I see those gross ads the most. I actually think ads are useful and sometimes allows me to do some window shopping but I just don't get these gross-out ads. So now I got an ad blocker named AdBlock which is an extension for Firefox. It seems to work but I'm still testing it. Here's a post from Mozilla that helped me decided on this particular ad blocker - link here.

03 - I like to complain about things and then forget about it. I think it's the best way to deal with bad things. Dwelling on them is useless and keeps your mind on it too long that you might end up hating the world. So I say, complain and then forget about it.

04 - I have been re-reading (sometimes skim-reading) L. M. Montgomery books for next month's We Love L. M. Montgomery Week (Feb. 20-24) hosted by Rachel at Hamlette's Soliloquy. I have decided on writing two posts for this event. You can find more about We Love L. M. Montgomery Week here.

05 - Two of the best emails I got this month is from two newsletter people (what's the word opposite of subscriber?) telling me I haven't been reading their newsletters and they are starting a new list and they will delete my email from their list unless I say otherwise. This is great news to me. I am the type that are too lazy to unsubscribe from emails I don't read, I just ignore them so it's nice to be removed from a list without doing anything.
     I think all companies should do this also with web accounts because who have the patience trying to remove themselves from a company's website when they never ever have a delete account button (and if they had one, you had to search for it)? But it's easier to unsubscribe from email newsletters than it is to delete an account from a website. I know I have tried. One company told me their computers would all go berserk if I had my account deleted which is hilarious and kind of scary because if every company runs their computers this way, then aren't we all screwed? Are there companies with their computers exploding or shutting down at every moment because I'm certain somewhere someone wants or is going to delete an account.

06 - Some silly author is telling people not to show books they have dnf (did not finish) and that people shouldn't say they didn't like a book and they shouldn't say something bad about a book. To that I say, what the heck? Is this person saying having opinions and expressing them is wrong? If you put your book out there, it is meant to be judged and if you think just because you worked hard on a book means people can't trash it, then what planet are you living on? Just keep your book to yourself then you will never ever have people saying anything bad about your book.

07 - I still do not have email subscription for my blog. Would people be interested if I send them an email when I have new posts? I don't have many readers so I can email people with a short snippets of posts and links. Probably not a lot of emails as I don't post often. Is this a good idea, bad idea?

Got anything you want to share? Feel free to say them in the comments.

Bookish goals I'm sure I'll fail at

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is Bookish Goals for 2023 which I don't do so I going with Bookish goals I'm sure I'll fail at. (If I am to make a bookish goal, it would be to find a book and read it, that's it.) For more Top Ten Tuesday, visit That Artsy Reader Girl here.

01 - Read other people's recommendations — I ought to stop taking other people book recommendations since I seem to fail that a lot. But then again, reviews are like recommendations also because that's usually what got me interested in a book.

02 - Read a certain amount of books — I no longer count the books I finished reading so I can never tell you how many books I read each year nor will I set a goal to read a certain amount of books. What is the point of counting anyway? I find it's just easier not to count.

03 - Finish every book I read — I now DNF (did not finish) like it's nothing unusual. Before, I loath to not finish a book but now I just don't care. Some books are just not worth finishing.

04 - Join a reading challenge — I guess reading challenges aren't made for me because I find them kind of oddly ineffective. If the goal is to read a single book, I can maybe do it but if it's a long or even a short list of books, I can't do it. I don't have the patience to find books to fit the challenge which at times are oddly very specific. And the time limit is something I can't really do either even if it takes a whole year.

04B - Read a book continuously — When I'm reading, sometimes I have these sudden boredom reading attacks. I guess my patience is not always there even when reading a book I really wanted to read and I don't always know why. Often, I owe that to being moody. Even if I'm reading a book that I'm interested in, if I see one that's more interesting, I would read that one instead.

05 - Read more non-fiction — A non-fiction book had to be really interesting to me before I even thought to read it so I'm unlikely to read one. For some odd reason, I always seems to end up reading depressing non-fiction books, don't know why that is.

06 - Buy less books — I take hours and sometimes weeks deciding on a book before I even thought to read it so buying them should be the same but it's not. For some odd reason, now that I read ebooks, I am more likely to buy books (ebooks that is) than before. Of course, the fact that ebooks are cheaper (and they deliver faster) is one good reason but I rarely buy printed books now. I only buy printed books that I know I'll re-read which is rare so I haven't brought a printed book in a couple of years.

07 - Read more books from the library — Now that I borrow ebooks from the library, I kind of read what's available to me so I'm actually reading less library books. The more popular a book is, the more likely the waiting list is long although even unpopular titles have a wait list. I just added myself to a waiting list with over 400 people on it so I might get to read that book in a year or a year and a half which can be frustrating but I try to be patient.

08 - Finish book series — I doubt there are people who actually finish reading series any faster than me which is to say, not fast, sort of crawling in baby steps toward the end. Mostly because I keep starting new series because every book is now a series, even books that had no sequels now have them so...

09 - Read translated books — I am prone to reading translated Japanese books but I just find the translation is never done well. For some odd reasons, they kept translating them to be more American with cliches/phrases and specific saying that one is certain is never mistaken for anything but American. Maybe I just haven't read any good translated books but I certainly didn't try hard to find them.

10 - Read out of my comfort zone — Occasionally, I do try but the result usually deters me even more from reading anything particularly new to me. It's not terrible but at the same time, not having a wider range in reading sort of maybe kept me from new experiences. Maybe, maybe not.

Do you make bookish goals?

These are not my new year's resolutions

sleep new year, revised 2023

I don't make resolutions because I know I won't follow them. But for no reason other than to see what I come up with, I make a list. These are mostly for fun but I probably wouldn't oppose doing some of them.

01 - Build my own traveling island — You're probably thinking there would be problems with finding a parking spot for a moving island but let me tell you, this island will shrink to any size I please so no problem there.

02 - Read more high quality, intellectual books — Who am I kidding? I'm not smarter than a 5th grader (10 or 11 years olds) so if I read any highly intelligent books, I probably wouldn't understand it all that much. But once in a while, I like pretend I'm intelligent enough for these books.

03 - Get bionic eyes or maybe just one eye — Comes in really handy when you want to see the little details in things or spy on your neighbors making sure they aren't committing any crimes against humanity.

04 - Walk the Great Wall of China — Walking and maybe some sitting now and then. I will probably wish for a car before I even reach a mile.

05 - Grow to 6 feet or taller — Being tall is better and you never have to ask the person next to you to hang your coat.

06 - Vacation on the moon — It might be a bit cold over there and kind of dangerous but I can borrow Doctor Who's TARDIS, he owes me a favor. I might even ask him to redecorate the place.

07 - Ride in a hot air balloon — So maybe this is just boring but if you're afraid of heights, it's a challenge. And I hear landing can be a bit iffy.

08 - Open a trading book store — This is where you bring in a book (physical copy that is) and exchange it for another book. Of course, there will be rules such as if you're rude, you're not allow to trade.

09 - Buy a house for just my book collection — Who knows, I might sneak in some priceless art or grow a garden in there. Perhaps I'll even let people come in and read the books, that is, if they have clean hands and clean everything else.

10 - Travel around the world in 180 days — preferably with a cyborg, a witch, a former pirate, maybe a psychic or two since we might possibly need one, a compass that tells us where to get water wherever we are, a suitcase that shrinks and enlarge depending on our needs and also weights almost nothing even fully packed, a chest of gold because nothing's cheap, maybe a couple of magic beans that turns into houses when we can't find a hotel because who wants to sleep in the great outdoor and maybe a washer and dryer because wearing dirty clothes is just not fun.

Is there anything fun (real or imagined) you don't want to do but kind of do?

Fiction: A Girl and Her Cyborg

This month's Words for Wednesday's prompts are provided by Sandi and is hosted at Elephant's Child's blog here. This week's prompts are: hope, joie de vivre, devotion, forgiveness, rescue and/or brioche, pie, pi, duty, honor and/or music from LoLa & Hauser titled Moonlight Sonata. And an extra challenge: Charlotte (MotherOwl) has assigned a colour to each month of the year. This month it is pine green and if you can include it in your Words for Wednesday contribution each week in January she and Elephant's Child would be very grateful. I used almost all the prompts aside from pi, duty and honor.

Fiction: A Girl and Her Cyborg

Penelope Green Fable had another disappointing birthday day. The morning started out dark and rainy. A little after lunch, Greenie ran out of the house and walked down the paved path from the backyard toward the family's park. With her, she took a roll of brioche, an apple pie and two bottles of orange juice from the kitchen. Between two sycamore trees where her tent was placed, she stopped and took a few steps to the right and sat on the ground facing the small pond.

She peered up at the gray sky. A light drizzle was falling. Down below, there was only a small amount of water in the pond. It reflected bits of the gray sky. She pressed her hands together, closed her eyes and wished for a life-size robot, a wish she had made every year since she was four. And every year, her parents told her she was too young and later there were new excuses which Greenie started to think was entirely made up so she wouldn't have her robot. She was mad at them every time and yet she forgave them. Forgiveness was one of her better qualities and yet, she held grudges like she held onto old pajamas that she insisted on wearing even though they were too small. 

Last year, when she turned nine, Greenie had the idea of building her own robot which was a cheaper option but still would be something around two to three thousand dollars. But her parents rejected the idea. Still, she hoped and prayed with a devotion she had never had for anything, not even when she wanted to open a rescue shelter for tiny turtles. She had what some would call joie de vivre but her family would call it stubbornness. 

Happy 2023!

I wish you all a joyful 2023. May all your wishes come true.
Happy New Year!

(p.s. in case you don't know, the above art is a wishing tree where people write wishes on paper or cloth and hang it on a tree.)