Book Rants: Oct 2025

Time just sped by so quickly. Already the year is almost over and it seems like I haven't really done anything. But at least I read some books. Here are all the books I read in and a movie I watched in October.

01 - There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura, translated by Polly Barton
What's it about: jobs, work, work relationships
This read like short stories (book is divided by jobs) as told by a nameless, thirty-something woman testing temp jobs to get an easy one because she was burnout from her previous job. She gets very involved with whatever job she was doing and is very competent at it which might make you hate her and yet, you don't. She cares about people and yet, she seems a bit aloof about relationships. But somehow she made us care about the people she cares about. Some of these jobs had a bit of paranormal to them, like a touch of whimsy.
    There was a scene where someone left a threatening message 'Die alone' and she interpreted as someone saying, 'I rather die than die alone!' and I don't know why, I just laughed at this and it's like funniest thing to me but it probably isn't funny at all.
    This is under the category of 'cozy Japanese reads' but I wish they wouldn't use the F word because that somehow took away the cozy. I enjoyed this book very much and the translation is wonderfully un-American.

Books I Unfinished - Oct 2025

I want to say these books aren't bad but I would be lying. But these are my opinions and you know what to do with opinions,right? Some of these books aren't bad, they are just bad to me as a reader. These are the books I stopped reading because I either lost interest or I simply didn't like it enough to continue. Sometimes I do finish a book even if I didn't like it because my brain sometimes refused to listen to the rest of me. Here are the books I unfinished lately. 

01 - Meet Me in the Moon Room by Ray Vukcevich
What's it about: short stories, fantasy, science fiction
Quit at: 17%
Why I quit: I was enticed by the cover art but the oddity, craziness, weirdness was too much for me but mostly because there are no resolutions to these short stories. I know short stories usually don't have resolutions but these were so short, they wouldn't have fit in a resolution. I didn't read them all so I couldn't say if they get longer.

Scribtober 2025

Somehow I dedicated October as a month to draw something but I seemed to have skipped last year. The year before last, I had done Inktober. Inktober takes place every October in which artists try to draw with ink and also there was a theme list. This year, I started very late and not going to ink anything so I'm calling it Scribtober as in scribbling in October.  
    When I did Inktober, I had a theme. So this year I'm going with a theme - Accidently Here - but it might as well be multiplicity because there are a lot of multiples but I'm still coming up with ideas. There's only a few days left in October so I'll probably continue this to November. Some of these I added in color background to get them to show more as they are done in pencil which doesn't show well. I will maybe color them later when I have the time, right now is really all about drawing. Here are just a few that I had done. (Click on image for closeup.)

one

two

three

four

five

six

Have you been drawing or doing some creative endeavor?

Fiction: Ghosts in the Machines

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by Sean Jeating and posted at River's blog over here. This week's prompts are: innocent, evil, face, expanding, born and/or come, surprise, planet, minor, follow. Last week's prompts are: instruction, stupidity, ignorant, disregards, joined and/or shy, not, means, from, destruction.

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Fiction: Ghosts in the Machines
Jennifer Woo liked the peaceful atmosphere of the Dish Mat. Movements were slow and conversations were held in subdued voices. Most days, she sat and read novels behind the counter in the back. The Dish Mat was an automat that mostly ran itself. Anyone could get a quick meal from the multiple vending machines that lined the walls. During the week days, Jenny was there before 8am and closed a few minutes after 10pm. Despite the many instructions on the walls and the tent cards in various languages on the tables, people still asked Jenny questions. She had learned to disregard the minor irritation answering the same questions.

Fiction: Ghosts in the Laundromat

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by Sean Jeating and posted at River's blog over here. This week's prompts are: visited, chewing, nudging, saw, point and/or side, honey, companion, silent, loudly.

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Fiction: Ghosts in the Laundromat
The Quick Mat on the corner street was rumored to have ghosts but Gabrielle Woo knew it wasn't true as it was her second sister who started the rumor to get people interested in the place. Their mother thought it was a great idea as she made Jenny their publicist although Gabby didn't think they need a publicist for a laundromat.
    During the week days, Gabby, the fourth sister of five, was behind the counter in the back of the store where she sat for twelve hours until closing time. Most she was there to answer questions such as how much for a cup of detergent even though it said so on the machines. Everything was in the two vending machines at the front so Gabby rarely had to do anything. But if you want her to keep an eye on your stuff, she would refuse. It wasn't her job or so she claimed.

Book series I've only read one book of (Vol. 2)

Maybe my reasons for not continuing a series a bit lame but that's that. I don't think it matters because we can read whatever we want or don't want and it's perfectly okay to put down a book or a series when you're not enjoying it. I like to read books I enjoy rather than try to like books I'm not enjoying. And just because I put it on this list didn't mean I might not continue later on. Here are more book series that I read one book of and will not likely continue. (Most of these I read before 2025.)(My previous list is here.) 

01 - A Wrinkle in Time (#1) by Madeleine L'Engle
What's it about: time, space, another planet
What I think: I should love this because it's the kind of book I do like reading but I can't seem to get into it. Perhaps if I had read this as a child, I might have loved it and even devour the series but it was dull to me.
Reasons to quit series: It was kind of dull

02 - The Case of the Missing Marquess (Enola Holmes #1) by Nancy Springer
What's it about: missing mother, amateur sleuthing
What I think: Being Sherlock Holmes' younger sister, there is some expectation that really wouldn't have been there if that's not the case. For some odd reason, I keep thinking Holmes is going to come and solve the mystery but nope. Apparently Enola backwards spells Alone and that's somehow described her well. At times, she seems awfully mature and at others, she is essentially a child playing a game. I don't dislike her but I also don't like her. The mysteries (there seems to be two here) is a bit bland to me.
Reasons to quit series: If she is her own original character with no relations to Sherlock Holmes, I might like her but mostly the mysteries was dull.

Fiction: How to save 127 people with a lot of trying

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by Sean Jeating and posted at River's blog over here. This week's prompts are: hear, modern, influenza, physical, organs, original, pea, human, rather, size. 

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Fiction: How to save 127 people with a lot of trying [The first part is here]

01 - "Cordelia Elizabeth Anne Allbright, get your arse up." Tabby's voice sank into Cody's mind. It was quiet, firm with plenty of bossiness that reminded Cody of her granny, Gerty, who whisper-yelled all her names whenever Cody was in trouble. 
    "We agreed I only have to do this once a month not whenever you feel like it!"  Cody responded. There was still one day before September ended. She was exhausted from two hours of cleaning bathrooms at the Groovy Diner. She deserved her rest.
    Tabby kneaded Cody's back. "Do you wish to let 127 innocents die?" 
    Guilt, Gerty was an expert on making Cody feel it with a few words. Somehow Tabby knew the same trick. Growing up with Gerty, Cody had learned never to do anything stupidly immoral because 'karma doesn't just bite you, it obliterate your soul' as she relished in reminding Cody.
    "You have no time to linger. Get up and get to JFK airport ASAP."
    It was jarring to have Tabby's voice in Cody's head. Tabby said transferring thoughts was faster and a talking cat led to all kinds of trouble.
    "No, I—!" Cody's voice dropped. It was vexing how Tabby turned on and off her voice like a radio. It made arguing with her maddening. All her life, Cody either write down what she wanted to say or not say them at all. She knew sign language but rarely used it. But there was an advantage in not speaking - you don't have to answer questions you don't want. Such as why you have men's clothes in your closet when you're a single woman. Mrs. Roman, Cody's landlady, knew why. A year ago, Cody was sleeping in her room when she heard screams. Without a thought, she changed into Male Cody (MC), charged down the stairs and knocked out Mrs. Roman's ex-husband before he could kill her. In fear, MC had changed back to Cody. As easily as she was to accept Cody's ability, Mrs. Roman still snooped around Cody's room now and then.
    When Cody first realized her ability to change forms, she thought she was a genetic freak. Gerty assured her at least she wasn't a cockroach. Gerty evoked all small animals had tougher lives than humans.       
    Over the years, Cody had changed into many different faces and body shapes but no matter who she changed into, they would always be the same age as her. MC had been her go-to disguise since her teens. If there had been an original MC, Cody didn't remember. As she reached eighteen, she made MC's physical size to six feet six inches and then was unable to change it. Gerty said it was fate.
    Perhaps meeting Tabby was fate. At least, Gerty would say so. Tabby, like Gerty, had a sense of righteousness and an abundance of bossiness. As she walked toward the bathroom, Cody reminded herself Tabby was only trying to save lives. Everything else, including Cody, was minor stuff.

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IWSG Oct 2025: Love what you create?

More about the
Insecure Writer’s
Support Group here

The October question at Insecure Writer's Support Group is What is the most favorite thing you have written, published or not? And why?
    There a lot of things I really loved that I had written but somehow I can't think of them today. Maybe it's the ideas I loved more than the actual writing. My mind at the moment is more focused on what I'm working on now rather on what I had written. 
    Before with only a few writing experiences, I thought most of what I wrote was pretty decent but now with more years of writing, I have different opinions. It's pretty easy to fall in love with your creations even when you don't realize it. So I have learned to be more brutal (probably too strong a word) on what projects (writing or otherwise) to give up once I realized I'll never get them to the way I want. Some of my stories do stayed with me even when I had decided not to continue finishing them. 
    I've redo a lot of my artworks because I thought I could do better so with my writings, I do the same thing - rework them into better versions of what I want them to be or abandon them if necessary. Although I am a habitual procrastinator so what I abandoned doesn't always stayed abandoned

Do you always love what you created (writings or other creative endeavors)?

Book Rants: Sept 2025

I would like to have more varieties in the books I read but I always seem to end up reading murder mysteries. I had tried a couple of none murder mysteries but I barely got past the first chapter but at least I did finish one science fiction. The more I dislike a book (or anything), the more I have to complain about so some of these rants are pretty long. It wasn't a great reading month but I did enjoy a couple of books. 
   I put in the spoiler alert text in red but is it useful? It's difficult to decide sometimes what is spoiler and what isn't. I think you cannot write your thoughts on certain books without some spoilers so yes, spoilers for all the books I mentioned here.
    Here are all the books I read in September and other stuff I finished.

Books I Read:

01 - The Night Singer (The Island Murders #1) by Johanna Mo
What's it about: death of a teenage boy, investigation, teenagers, family, old crimes
This is like two books in one but the same story told twice - one in the victim's point of view (Joel, which was told in the present tense which is odd but acceptable) and the other is the investigation with various point of views, mostly Hanna's (a cop). It seemed like one of the views is redundant. I don't like going back and forth, it cuts off the continuation of the story each time.
    I'm annoyed by how much useless information and how many detours the book made before getting to the end. Also, Hanna's father's crime/case hung over the entire book as it was constantly mentioned, constantly thought about by Hanna but of course no resolution but will probably be the last case of the series. But I do find that case more interesting than Joel's case.
    Also, they kept mentioning Hanna's height (over 6 feet) and that annoys me because she really had no personality other than her height, her father's crime and also being awkward around everybody. This is a socially, awkward woman who got a bit too emotional when she shouldn't and her so-call great cop skills were mentioned but never utilized. Basically throughout the book, she was trying not to break down and sob. I don't think she's fit to be a cop, at least, she shouldn't be working Joel's case.
    I wouldn't call this is a murder mystery or even a thriller, it's mostly about people and their emotions and thoughts. I guess titling this as The Night Singer seemed almost meaningless considering that was barely referenced twice but I guess in a way, it gives a certain mystery. I honestly expected something vile or ultra-violent or something unexpectedly better than this ending with that large knife shape on the cover. What actually happened was underwhelming and dumb and I wouldn't call it murder. I don't like this two viewpoints format so I'm not continuing this series.

Fiction: Until Next Month

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by River at her blog over here. This week's prompts are: olympian, support, tabby cat, mountain, fireplace, clothesline.

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Fiction: Until Next Month
Cody was no olympian god but he had the strength of one. He lifted the end of the station wagon and pulled until its front wheels were on solid ground then he dropped it. Hasty, he pulled the car door open and pressed the driver's neck. Assured that there was a pulse, he took out his phone and called for an ambulance. After he tucked the phone away, he looked around. It was nearly dawn and the sky was still dark. He veered his eyes toward the water. If he had been one second later, the car would have gone into the lake and he would have to swim. Cody hated swimming especially in winter.
    A giggle sounded. Cody bended to peek in the backseat. The toddler was grinning with drool down his chin. Cody waved at the boy. The boy waved his pacifier. Cody heard a moan and peered at the driver. He opened his eyes and started to speak but no words came out. 
    "Hey, what are you doing?"

Some Rants on Book Series

Almost every book is a series so it's harder to find standalones and even if you found one, there might be a chance the author will write another book to change that status. Even books published a while back gets sequels or prequels so there's really no escape from book series so you might as well enjoy them. Here's some of my thoughts and rants on book series.

01 - The first book will always cement the verdict for me whether to continue the series or not — If the first book is bad, then the rest of the series is bad but that kind of mentality is wrong but what the heck. There are so many book series out there that there's no reason to slog through two or three books to get to the good ones. I know not every book in a series will be great but I think if you want readers to read your series, you should put all the best stuff (or at least something that makes me want to stick around) in book one - don't wait until book two to put it in because I'll never read book two if I dislike book one.

02 - Maybe publish series all at once — I don't go about trying to pick series that are already finished being published before deciding to read them. I just decide when I see the first book. So it's frustrating to have to read a book or two and find the series is incomplete because of various reasons. One reason is the series not being successful enough that no new books will be published. Another is that the author has not finished writing them or worse, the author has died. So why not only publish a series after all the books in the series are finished being written? Maybe it's a waste of paper and money to publish a series all at once, maybe a whole series may be a bigger failure (financially speaking) than a single book but incomplete series are annoying. Of course I'm not saying if the series is 20 books long to published all 20 books at once but maybe half of it or have some sort of completion with the story to the first three books.
    I dislike how some books are released as standalones but only turns into a series because that book is successful and not because it needs a sequel. I have seen this and I have say, the sequel or the next book in that so-called series is never good.

03 - Make book series as standalone series — It's a bit crazy to have a series with sub series or even sub-sub series and so forth. Just make them all separate so people won't go crazy trying to decided which order to read. I'm all for book sequels using new characters in the same universe but maybe not put in things to connect to the original series. Authors should stop connecting all their books into a singular universe. Why can't book series be standalone series or does everything have to be part of a series?
     
04 - Shorter number of books is better — Three, four, seven or even ten books in a series I can tolerate but after ten, it's just too long. I do not have patience for long series mostly because I can't fast-forward a book like a tv show. I've seen series that are 40 books long and just recently I saw one that was 60+ books. I think the longer a series the less likely the stories will get better. You can only expand so much with the same characters. 
    But if a series has each book as a sort of standalone, I don't mind this as much. For instance, for murder mysteries (which I mainly read), each book has a case so that it can be self-contained so you can read them in any order. But sadly, even with this kind of setup, there are still storylines that are continuous (like character relationships changes or characters dying, etc.) but at least, you don't have to try to figure the order too much.
  
05 - Shorter books are better — As in length - 400 pages or less, not 800 or 1,000 pages. I have low patience for book series with books the size of dictionaries - they're too much and especially way too long if the series is 5 or more  books. If one or two books are long, it's fine but if all the books are long - who has the patience? I think long books are for standalones, not series. 

06 - Put numbers on the book or after the title so we know the order of the book — I know some book series are, as stated above, self-contained so you can read them in any order but I'm an orderly reader and I prefer to read a series in order so I need to know the sequence. So yes, any reader can go search online the order of any book series but why do readers have to do that? They should be able to tell by looking at the book cover or spine (in paper formats) or inside the book (ebook format). 

07 - Reprints of parts of a series in those so-called special editions have to stop — You might have seen one or two beautiful editions of the first or second book of a series that you love and thought hey, maybe they will print the other books in the series in that same beautiful edition but nope. This pisses me off. Not only because I spent money on them but that I have half of a series which I then have to get rid of because I don't like owning half series. 
    
08 - End the larger plot quicker — I don't like book series with larger plots for the entire series that doesn't get wrap up until the last book of the series but especially for long series. For instance, for murder mysteries, I would prefer the larger plot (or a certain case that involves the main character that is constantly mentioned in every book) to get a resolution in book 2 or 3 so that if we don't read the rest of the series, we get a resolution. I don't want to read 10 books to get that resolution. 

09 - Authors shouldn't continue a series of another (usually deceased) author's completed series — They made it sound like it's a continuation but it's really a redo or remake. These new books will never have the same flavor as the original so why do it? 

10 - No more new books (such as sequels or prequels) to already finished series — When a series is completed, that's it, don't go back and release a sequel or a prequel. It's harder to accept the new additions when you've read the original. More so when the sequels comes a decade or longer after the original was finished. Like I said in #9, they will never have the same flavor even with the original writer because it's written at a different time, different mind-set, almost like a completely different series so why do it?

What do you like or dislike about book series?

Seven Things: Thoughts & Complaints

Greetings From Brooklyn

Today is September 7th so I thought it is appropriate to post another Seven Things which I haven't done in awhile. Basically, these are just random thoughts, complaints, rants – stuff that annoys me enough to think about them a bit longer. (I created this new art (above) as a digital postcard for a pal so I thought I shared it. It said Free Cupcake on the little poster on the right.)

01 - A recent author was maybe considered a scammer because her book turned out to be crappy. She hyped up her book so readers were expecting something amazing and they didn't get it. Any book no matter how well is written or how great the author is, still have a chance to be crappy so why are people complaining? I can understand the disappointment of spending money on a book and then getting something crappy. But she is not completely to blame. I think it's your fault if you believe in the hype, right? I mean, a lot of books were hyped/marketed to be amazing and never delivered so why focus on this particular author? 

02 - Technology is a bit problematic if you can't get online. For example, once when I searched my computer for why I can't get online, the answer my computer showed me is to tell me I have to be online to see the answers - why is the help on your computer not on your computer but online? The problem is everything is online so if you can't get online, than you're screwed. But I suppose you can call someone instead...

03 - Some bloggers have made their blog to allow only members of the blog to leave comments which I thought is a form of exclusivity. This is saying 'you can only participate if you're a member' which irks me but it shouldn't because everyone have the rights to have their blog read only by the people they want. 
    When new readers comes along, how are they to comment? Supposedly, would-be readers can email the blogger but for me, I'm a bit of a shy reader when it comes to new blogs (or even blogs I have read for years) so I don't go about asking permissions to comment on blogs. A while back, when some bloggers closed a blog and started a new one, they left a post about sending them emails to get their new blog's url but I never did that either. I don't know why but I feel a bit awkward asking for permission or their new url when I didn't need it before. I guess on a personal level, I'm not good at asking such things when I don't know if those bloggers even remember me as one of their readers. 

04 - Recently, I saw a video about tips to living a better life and the first thing is to clean your toilet - does it sound like your life would be better if you clean your toilet? It might be true but it's not the kind of advice I care for. I think if you're a clean freak, that might actually be your first choice but I don't know. I think they probably should have listed it lower on the list because I didn't want to watch the rest after that advice.

05 - Last month, I had to sign out of my kobo ereader and then when I signed back in, all my preferences are gone. What happened was I accidentally removed a library book while trying to remove a different book and somehow hit on the wrong book. Then I tried to retrieve it but it wouldn't work. Even when I returned and re-borrowed the book, it wouldn't re-upload when I synced the device. So I signed out of Kobo and then re-signed in but damm, all my preferences (text sizes, margin width, brightness settings, words I saved when I looked up their definition, etc.) are all gone. I have to reset every preference I had ever changed. I used the same kobo account and everything but it was as it was treating me like a new user. Why aren't my preferences saved to my device or account? It didn't make sense. Supposedly signing out of something can fix problems because when there is no other option and I wasn't going to reset the whole device but I might as well have done it since I had to reset every preference anyway.
    I was dumb not to try to sign out of Overdrive first which might have saved me some headaches which hadn't occurred to me. Maybe my brain isn't working too well these days but not being able to have your saved preferences when you signed out of the device is just  stupid. 

06 - Sadly, I have exceeded my holds at the library because some of the books I had placed are taking a really long time. The longest one will take 20 weeks until it is my turn to borrow it which makes me wonder how I have the patience to wait for books. The longest time I had waited for a library book is a little over half a year and that book was such a disappointment but I still continue to wait. I don't know where I get the patience but I have plenty of it when it comes to waiting for library books. (Note: I read only borrowed library ebooks.)

07 - Do you ever hit the wrong keys on your computer and your screen or app or window that are opened does some crazy or inexplicable things you can't undo or fix? That's me most daily now. It's especially annoying when I'm using Firefox because they added features I didn't want and can't turn off because some of them have no turn off option and some makes no sense to me. 
    I hate it when users have to adapt to do things in new ways instead of doing it their way. Sometimes I think app creators or technology-related creators likes to annoy users by forcing them to do things their way or how else to explain why updates and upgrades are always so annoyingly dumber or worst?

What's on your mind these days? 

Fiction: Dinner on a Cloud

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by River at her blog over here. This week's prompts are: conviviality, adoration, willpower, mellow, gentle, guitar.

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Fiction: Dinner on a Cloud
Vida's annual dinners were famous for their well-planned, delicious menus as well as their quirky and sometimes perilous locations. Always, Vida was a convivial host who never failed to delight her guests' tastebuds. For ten years, Vida's dinners had long been the neighborhood's most anticipated fall event.
    This year, Vida sent out invitations months before September but told no one of what she will be serving or where it will occur. People who had previously attended her dinners had such adoration for her cooking that no matter what, they would always show up. Rumors had it one of the guests missed out on the birth of his first child just to attend Vida's dinner. 

IWSG Sept 2025: Motivation, Procrastination

More about the
Insecure Writer’s
Support Group here

Supposedly I lied to myself because I thought I would be submitting some of my stories to literary online journals but all I managed to do is submitted one story and that's was it. So now I'm thinking I'm too cowardly or something. I don't think it's rejection that's stopping me.
    It would be nice if someone would take my stories and do the editing and the submitting because I certainly don't seem to be doing it. And I have a hard time deciding which stories to submit considering most of them I can't submit. (Sadly, most online journals do not accept stories that had been posted on your blog - that is considered published. And some have so much requirements that I'm not qualified.)
    In terms of writing and pretty much all my projects, I am constantly putting off what I can finish right away. For some odd reason, I seem to be waiting for something but I don't know what.
    I think it's due to lack of motivation that I haven't submitted more stories or finish writing them. I'm not as motivated as before. I keep  procrastinating thinking I'll get back to it. But of course if you keep procrastinating you'll probably never get to finish anything. But I think finish/do what you can and worry about the rest later but maybe that's another form of procrastination - you think later but there seems to be no later. I don't know where the motivation went. But hopefully, motivation will find me again or I'll find it somehow.
        
What do you do when you can't find that motivation? Do you like procrastinating?

Book Rants: August 2025

I didn't do much blogging this month, same as last month. I have very little motivations even though I did write a couple of posts. I suppose if I get pay to blog, I might just muster the will to post more. Also, I find most things too boring to blog about aside from books. I didn't even post any fiction this month or last month. I like to get back to doing that and also participating in Words for Wednesday more even though I'm always late. For the colder season, I had changed the header to a warmer hue. Sadly, I didn't save the colors hex from the months when I had same warmer hue so I couldn't get back whatever it was.
    This month, I read a lot of murder mysterious or perhaps I should say historical murder mysteries. I don't quite like contemporary murder mysteries much but maybe that will change if I read more of those. Here are the books I read in August.

01 - The Perry Mason Mysteries, Volume One by Erle Stanley Gardner
(The Case of the Lazy Lover, The Case of the Lonely Heiress, and The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom)
What's it about: law, lawyers, murder, deaths, investigations
I like these three books well enough and they were kind of fun cases but I don't think they make me want to read more however short they are. I like Perry Mason and his secretary Miss Della Street (why is she always being referred to as Della Street, not Della or Miss Street but always Della Street?) but not enough to continue the series and there are many books. 

02 - Gaslight Mystery series by Victoria Thompson
What's it about: murders, slums, high society, corruption, poverty, policemen, midwives
So far, I have read 13 of 27 books. (I'm not showing all the covers). Each book is self-contained with a different mystery but if you care about the two main characters (Frank Malloy and Sarah Brandt)'s relationships and those around them, then I suggest reading them in order.
    I like how changes to that period, such as inventions like the motorcars, progress along with the characters and the time period. I enjoy having knowledge of future inventions and events and reading how these people in that time period are adjusting to them.
    The mysteries are good but I enjoy the characters more - they are a cheerful bunch. The characters, mainly, Malloy and Sarah (Sarah rarely calls him Frank), are ones readers enjoy knowing. It's not too much focus on Malloy and Sarah romance even though I had a feeling even in the beginning, they would end up together but you can feel their joy working together to solve cases. Gino and Maeve are also good characters. In a way, these books a bit tame and kind of cozy if you take out the crimes.
    Overall, I liked and enjoyed this series a lot but it would have been nice to be able to read all the books but my library don't have them and half of them are in audiobook format which I don't read. Maybe if I get an urge to complete the series, I might purchase the books I didn't get to read.

Unfinished
03 - The Wintringham Mystery (aka Cicely Disappears) by Anthony Berkeley
What's it about: rich people, servants, maybe a murder, maybe a romance
Quit at: 17%
So what if Agatha Christine couldn't even solve this mystery? The main characters are too boring and it just seemed like I'm reading a lot of dull things that I just don't care about. I didn't get to anywhere toward the death of one of the characters. I was too bored to continue. 

Have you read any good books this August? I hope September will be good to you.

Less things to say

I seem to be posting less and less these days. Even though I am constantly writing posts, I keep not posting anything because I find nothing worth sharing, that is, nothing that I don't find boring. So I silently keep things to myself and post only what I thought aren't boring but I guess everything I post these days are boring. There is none of the excitement when I have a post ready or perhaps the excitement die down too quickly. I could spend a month on a post and finish writing it and creating the art/image but then not post it and I had done that a lot. It's easier not to post than to post and regret it. Of course it's easy to hit that revert to draft button but I don't want to use it.
    When I started blogging years ago, I have tons of things to say. And I guess I might been vomiting anything that came to my head without too much thought if anyone find them boring or not. I was so inspired that I had to post everything. Somehow it's just easier back then because everything seemed new and I might have thought sharing whatever I want is better than not sharing anything at all. There's a different mentality then, I suppose.
   These days there are still things I want to share but I guess not as much as before so I mostly don't share them. Plus, I forget easily. One moment I have an idea and then I lost it the next because I didn't write it down. So less posts, less blogging, pretty much less of everything. I'm okay with it but I guess I'm losing readers for lack of new posts. But at least I have seven or so readers so I'm not talking to myself or so I think.

If you're a long-time blogger, do you find you have less things to post now compare to when you first started blogging?

Some thoughts on reading library ebooks

Here are some thoughts on reading only books borrowed from my local public library and reading them on my kobo ereader (I have the Clara BW model.)

01 - No longer purchasing ebooks - I no longer see value in purchasing ebooks since I rarely re-read books and they would only sit in my ereader or in my accounts. As far as I can understand, when you purchase an ebook, you're buying the rights to read it and that's it. You can't re-sell them because that would require transferring digital rights which frankly, I don't quite know how. But if I really love a book, I might purchase a paper version but I haven't read any books that I love lately. 

02 - Library availability - I have to consider availability from my library when I choose what books to borrow and read. I can request my library to purchase certain books but I rather not since it takes so long for them to fulfill the request and most likely, they wouldn't make the purchase for tons of reason which most likely budgets.
    Public libraries have to purchase rights to ebooks (for a period of time) to loan them out so that right can expired so availability is not a permanent thing for ebooks. I'm wondering why libraries aren't given the privilege to purchase ebooks for indefinite use. It's not like they are making profits loaning them out. But I suppose publishers/authors wants to make money too.
    Also format availability - For example, for a series, book 1 may be available in ebook and audiobook formats but book 2 may be only available in audiobook format. I don't understand this but this hadn't changed in years. I think if you're an audiobook reader, you are likely to have more books available than if you're an ebook reader.

03 - I now waste more time searching for books to read than actually reading them - I don't know why I'm so picky. I usually read a sample of the book to decide if I want to read it. But sometimes I depend on the synopsis or even just by the cover itself. I don't have a definite way to decide, I guess it depends on my mood.
    A lot of times I find books that are in the middle of a series and then when I look for the first book, it's unavailable at the library which is a shame as I do prefer to read from the beginning of a series. I don't get why some book series have no book 1 available but others in the series are available - shouldn't book 1 be the one available?

04 - The more popular a book, the longer the wait time at your library - For example, if you place a hold on a book, you might get to read it in a week or in a few months or even a whole year. Even if it sometimes says the wait time is 2 weeks, that time can extend or shorten depending on readers. I don't mind waiting except when I'm reading a series. 
    And also, the more popular books, the more copies are available which seems unfair. Most ebooks from the library have one or two copies which I guess is the norm. So why are some books have more than 10 copies available? There should be a standard number of copies for all books for equality and besides that, popular authors don't even need their books in the library as much as much as less popular authors but I guess popularity wins out.

05 - Reading on a kobo and sometimes on a kindle - Even though I use mainly my kobo, I sometimes have to use my kindle because not all books available from the library can be read on a kobo since if a book is not listed on the kobo store, you can't get it onto your ereaders unless you sideload them. (Note: Sideload books means you plug your ereader into your computer and download books (from the library's website) and load them into your ereader like you would a file but there are things you have to do before you can even do that because you cannot just load a library book onto your ereader and read it - there are permission issues which I have not been successful in solving so I cannot tell you how to do it.)
    So my option when a book is not available through kobo but is available for kindle, then I read that on my kindle ereader. 
    But if I can't get that book on either devices, then I don't read that book at all which happens a lot but I don't mind it. I guess if I'm desperate to read a certain book, I might purchase it but it's unlikely.

06 - Please don't monopolize books - Having more than one library cards (which is legal somewhat) so you can borrow more books and have more holds is just dumb and disrespecting other library patrons. Since you can borrow more books from so many libraries and have so many holds, you will probably end up borrowing a lot of books at once and probably won't get to read many of them unless you're a speed reader. I just think respecting others by not monopolizing book is the proper thing to do.

07 - No back cover for ebooks - Some ebooks just ends where the story ends, there's not even an The End - it just stops. Then there are books ending with list of books that author had written or some copyright info or even the content list (which is just odd being at the end) but no back cover like paperbacks or hardcovers. I've only seen maybe two back covers of two ebooks and not have encountered another one since.
    You know how there's these notices that tells you not to purchase books without covers (front and back) because they might be stolen goods – ebooks without back covers is like stolen goods because the back cover is not there. How hard it is to put a back cover to the end an ebook? I know this isn't much an issue because most people wouldn't care about it but I think a back cover makes a book more complete and it gives you a feeling of having  finished reading the book when you see the back cover or am I mad to think this way?

Do you read library books? How is your experience on reading books from your library (digital or otherwise)?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Some useful links:
• Find your library at Overdrive's website 
• Overdrive help 
• How to borrow kindle books from your library
• How to borrow kobo books from your library

IWSG Aug 2025: Writing Habits

I have some writing habits that I'm mostly trying to break but it's easier to say you're doing it than actually doing it. But I'm trying, probably too slowly.
    One habit is using the word so. I don't use it as often in my fiction writing but on my blog, I may have used it too often. So is a very see-saw word - sometimes it sounds right and other times it sounds a bit childish. Another is run-on sentences - I don't actually think it's wrong to use them because people have a way of thinking that they sometimes do not pause in between thoughts but I guess in writing, it would seem wrong because periods allow the reader to get the meaning without having to figure out where a thought begins and where it ends.
    Sometimes it's a thin line between what is writing style and what is correct grammar. There's an author who does not use quotation marks and people love that author's books and editors and publishers are certainly not correcting them so is this a style or a bad writing habit? In a way, habits that we associate as being bad can be a style of writing.
    I think people are brought up in certain ways that their language in thinking and writing is a certain way that becomes habit. We can't stop our habits just because someone or a whole bunch of someone says it's bad or wrong. But I guess in terms of grammar, what's wrong is wrong but is it wrong? We are used to other people's standard to judge our own habits. Even if you are good at making your own judgements and even think you are an independent thinker, it doesn't mean you aren't influenced by others.
    It's not easy to unlearn habits you have formed and kept for a long time. I certainly don't want to lose all my habits (good or bad) because they are hard to lose and because I like some of them.

What writing habit (or habits) you think are bad but still use?

[More about the group over at the Insecure Writer’s Support Group blog here]

Book Rants: July 2025

Not much blogging this month. I just didn't have the motivation for it. But I celebrated four years staying at this blog. (You can read about it here. ) And I had a giveaway which I think was a bad idea but sticking to it but I have extended the date to enter. (Check it out here.)
    In between, I read some murder mysteries. Here are the books I read this month.

01 - New leash on death by Olivia Blacke
What's it about: ghosts, murder, roommates
The back and forth between two perspectives kind of delay the story but this was a decent read.

4th Blog Anniversary

In one of my anniversary posts, I had said I had actively blogged with 33 blogs (not at the same time of course) and that is true. But if you do the math, which I hate doing, it's like I had two blogs per year. I have no idea why I keep changing blogs. There is the usual need for newness but I could have stayed at my first blog and keep renaming it but it wouldn't be the same as getting a new url. Maybe it's foolish to want to match url with the name of your blog but it makes sense to do that right?
    Blogging is not my life but it's part of my life. It's always joyful (and occasionally stressful) for me to keep blogging because I find no other platform that suits me. Social medias such as twitter or facebook is just not my cup of tea. I think I'm at the slow lane when it comes to being social. I'm slow to keep up with trends, slow to find anything out, slow to process my thoughts on anything and when I do settle on something, the moment would have passed and there would be no need to post about that something. It's not terrible to be on the slow lane because I have company (other bloggers) and I enjoy their company.
    I started this blog you're reading on July 17, 2021 and this year makes it 4 years old today. I like to make a note of this phenomenon of staying in the same url for a bit longer than some of my other blogs but that's due to my laziness because setting up a new blog takes work and I can be lazy about such things.
    Postcards from the Bookstore is exactly what it states as I do buy postcards from bookstores. Reading and scribbling or scribbling and reading remains what I do on this blog – reading books and scribbling stories or artworks and maybe a new thought now and then.  I wish I can say I added something new idea or new kind of posts to this blog but I didn't. I guess I have not changed my blogging ways even after all these years. I suppose what keeps me blogging is all the challenges (like the a-z challenge in April) or the memes or prompts (like Words for Wednesday) because my blog is dull without them.
    But blogging, yes, I believe I'll keep doing it because what else I'm going to do with my pitiful thoughts and ideas and stories? Can't store them in my computer forever. Can't eat them either. Let's hope I don't quit this blog and start a new one. Happy 4th blog anniversary! May we all stick together in this slow lane for a long while.

How long have you been blogging? And what keeps you blogging?

To celebrate this milestone, here's a giveaway – go here to check it out.

Do you sign out?

I know it's not just me who have dozens of online accounts (with some I even forgot I had opened) because for some reason you have to sign up for an account for every little thing. Even online news sites, browsers (such as firefox, chrome) and almost every website you go to, you can sign up for an account and some you have to sign up or else you can't use their service.
    Signing up for an account means you have to make up a password which I never seem to follow the rule about having a number, a capital letter, a symbol in the password to make it harder for other people to guess and get into your account. But with all the ways a hacker can get into your accounts through the websites/web services you use, does complicated passwords do anything? Still, with so many accounts, there would be so many passwords to remember. I don't remember most passwords to most of my online accounts. I put some of them on paper which is foolish but I can't remember them so what else to do?
   For safety, when you use other people's computer or whatever gadget to get into any of your online accounts, it's a good idea to sign out but with your own computer, most people don't bother. I usually stay signed out of all my online accounts because I don't use them often. For email, I sort of keep signed in but once in a while, I sign out so I can use the password so I wouldn't forget it because I forget easily. But overall, I think it's better to sign out after every use. But it really is so much easier to just stay signed in.

How about you? Do you stay signed in into your online accounts or do you sign out after every use?

Blogging from A-Z - Road Trip 2025 Wrapup

May was a busy month at work and then June somehow just slipped by and now it's July but at least I have done a bit of road tripping for the Road Trip challenge. I went through the Road Trip list and the Master List but didn't find any particular new-to-me blogs and I had looked through the lists more than once. I think now the Road Trip challenge should just be a month or two months, like in May and June because without a deadline, I seem to keep putting it off. More about the Road Trip challenge at the A-Z blog over here.

Here are the two blogs that I enjoyed on my Road Trip:

01 - Ruth Blogs Here > link
Ruth posted a photo a day for the a-z challenge, some photographs and some of her artworks.

02 - A Slice of Life > link
Lady posted a photo a day and thought of them as digital postcards and kind of like a look into what is she is thinking that day.

Have you done the Road Trip Challenge? Have you discovered any new blogs lately?

IWSG July 2025: Do you like pen names?

One reason to use pen names (aka pseudonyms) is to write under someone else but I guess these days, even if someone uses pen names, they just reveal their real name so it's no secret who is who so what's the point of using a pen name if everyone know who you are?
    I like pen names as they are way more creative, unique and easier to pronounce. Recently I read a short story collection titled, Bodies from the Library: Lost Tales of Mystery and Suspense from the Golden Age of Detection, and in the author bios, tons of authors used pen names. These authors probably didn't go about telling people their real names but then again, social media hadn't been invented so it was probably easier to keep your name a secret.
    I think every person, whether you are a writer or not, deserve to have a name they want or like even if is not legalized. We're in a society where names are sometimes ridiculed which is just rude of people. But I don't think people have to stick to the name they are given. At least, not completely. Also, I side with female authors who altered their names to a more masculine or androgynous name because of how unequal gender is. This is why you get all these authors with initials for first names and yes, I got my pen name from that idea because why not?
    Names, whether real or not, is makeup because no one have a name tattooed to their butt when they are born. It's because our names are legalized, we accept them as truth which is true but a person's name is still makeup or else how to explain people being able to change their name (legally or otherwise)?

Do you like pen names? What do you think of pen names?
  
[More about the group over at the Insecure Writer’s Support Group blog here]

Book Rants - June 2025

The summer heat does not induce the urge to read so I read less than usual. But here are the books I read in June.

01 - A Slash of Emerald (Dr. Julia Lewis #2) by Patrice McDonough
What's about: art, murder, salacious men
This was good but lots of tough subjects - pornography, sex, slavery, hence salacious men. The ending (probably not a spoiler) with one of the main character leaving town abruptly is just another ploy I dislike. And people not communicating with each other, so this is a slow-burn romance but honestly, they should just get the romance over with so they can move on to the mysteries/murders but sadly, that's not how book series work. The third book is not released yet but I'll probably read it.

02 - The Anatomist's Apprentice (A Dr. Thomas Silkstone Mystery#1) by Tessa Harris
What's it about: autopsies, murders, romance, perverts, gross-out scenarios
Too many usages of similes and metaphors, almost after every two or three sentences, too many two-word names such as Lovelock, Fairweather, Peabody, Claddingbowl, Finesilver, Silkstone (the main character), a couple of perverts, a few gross scenes (i.e., autopsies, descriptions of dead bodies) - do we need two scenes of two different men getting their tooth pulled? I'm just glad I don't know the names of most internal organs or else I would not be able to read this.
    The mystery of the murders are okay but I think the culprit, or the main culprit seems lacking somehow. And the central romance is fine but really, why does it need it but then again, it's the main reason the main character took on the case - he fell in love with the dead guy's sister. And the title, The anatomist's apprentice, I thought the main character is the anatomist but I guess he's the apprentice but whatever, I'm not going to continue the series. I just don't like how this is written.

03 - Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
What's it about: marriage, the past, one girl's first marriage, death
90% of the book is the nameless main character/narrator, the second Mrs. de Winter whose name is never disclosed, imagining scenarios (things that never happened), being overly emotional, overthinking about every little thing, being pessimistic, being paranoid, being insecure, giving extensive details to everything nature-related and 10% is the mystery of Rebecca and Manderley (the house).
    I thought this is too slow-moving and nothing much really happens until the end. I guess I was hoping for more of the mystery instead of the every day drama of a naive wife and a husband, Maxim de Winter, who most of the time treats his wife like a child and never seems to be communicating to her about anything and never seems to be around. Let's just say, these two characters are boring without Rebecca. Even the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, seems to have no no personality if not her devotion to Rebecca.
    We live in the main character's head way too much and she seems to avoid things that reveals more plot (by declining to do things) as if to slow the pace even more. In a way, this book is like a prelude to the secret of Rebecca because without that ending, nothing really did happen. To me, the ending is not a twist, more like a revelation that answer the mystery of Rebecca's death and it ends like there should have been more.
    I wonder why this is a romance or why people like this book when [SPOILERS AHEAD: Maxim killed his first wife, Rebecca, got away with it as there is no evidence to prove it. The second wife, the nameless character, just accepts it because he loves her and not Rebecca, and that is all that matters to her. Really? Why didn't the revelation that her husband killed another human being, mainly his first wife, bother her or frighten her? She's willing to be with him because he loves her and not Rebecca? The fact that Rebecca was a rotten human being and provoked Maxim to kill her doesn't mean it's right she was killed. Supposedly they soften the killing by making the fact that she was dying of some disease which is stupid. END SPOILERS]
    This is compared to Jane Eyre and I say, nope, nothing like Jane Eyre, there might be some similar things but it's barely a comparison. Apparently there seems to be a sequel but I won't be reading that since I find this too dull and only finish it to find out the mystery of Rebecca's death - that's really the only appealing thing.

04 - Bodies from the Library: Lost Tales of Mystery and Suspense from the Golden Age of Detection by various authors
What's it about: crimes, murders, short stories, early works
Out of the 16 stories (2 are plays), I like the first two stories and the last one (which is by Agatha Christie) and the rest are rather dull. I think since these are early works, they aren't that great because even great authors have not-so-great early writings. The biographies of the authors are interesting and list perhaps better works of these authors to check out. I have not read any works from these authors before aside from Agatha Christie. There's no libraries in any of the stories but I guess the title is referring to Agatha Christie's novel, The body in the library.

Have you read any good books lately?

A semi-organized digital life

I am, more or less, digital with my artworks and writings and my blog and previous blogs and various other things so I have thousands of digital files. They accumulate even when I try to delete and sort them. You might think if you can see everything at once, files on your screen and not physical boxes surrounding you, it would be easy to organize them but nope. But at least I'm semi-organized.
    I usually make folders and name them with numbers at the beginning in order of importance and sometimes if I want a folder at the top I use zeros so my folders look like this:

Example A

    I sort them by name so the numbered folders are in the order I want. And then there are sub folders within these folders so I have folders like these:

Example B

Example C

For my artwork, I organize them by years (see example B) so that's pretty simple. For my blogs, I also organized by years and then by months (see example C). For my writing, I mostly end up with folders such as finished, in progress or maybe finished. And for other things, it's whatever I thought makes most sense.
    I have two main folders - one for archived files (files I'm done with) and one for recent files (things I'm still working on) so I know where to put files. Having two main folders helps to keep clutter down although I'm more organized with my finished files than my recent files. It's gotten easier to find the files I want ever since I got organized with my files.
    Of course there is no single, perfect solution to organizing files because files (and folders) get changed, renamed or even sometimes corrupted but mostly I get messy and end up with loose files (sometimes with temporary names) not in folders. So I'll keep re-re-re-organizing my files until, well, who knows when. (Note: I use Macs only but I imagine you can organize files pretty much the same on any type of computer systems.)

How do you organize your digital files?