Book Rants - May 2025

This ends my Mary Higgins Clark reading phase since there are no more Clark books available at the library for me to read but I have enjoyed them. And will probably read them if more becomes available. Here are the books I've finished reading in May.

01 - Moonlight becomes you by Mary Higgins Clark
What's it about: murder, elderly people, money, funerals
This one was really good though I did correctly guess the culprit which I rarely do - can't say if this makes this a good book or not.

02 - Santa Cruise (Alvirah & Willy #6 & Regan Reilly Mysteries #9.5) by Mary Higgins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark
What's it about: cruise, felons in hiding, thievery
This book is part of two series but you don't have to read the other books to read this one. This is not like a Mary Higgins Clark kind of book, no suspense, at least, none that seems like it. It just feels like a cozy mystery that is probably too much cozy and not enough mystery and it's mildly amusing.

03 - I heard that song before by Mary Higgins Clark
What's it about: past crimes, missing girl, murder trial
The idea that a woman would marry a guy she knew a mere week even knowing he might have killed two women always like a dumb thing to do but I guess that's love. This was okay. I didn't really care enough for any of the characters so that's why it's kind of dull to me.

04 - Under Suspicion series by Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke
What's it about: reality tv show about old cases, murder, kidnapping, stalking, very bias people
I didn't read this series in order due to library availability. I think book 7 is the best of the bunch though I haven't read book 1 and 2 due to no ebook format available. Most of these end with swift endings or short endings where we get the answer but no details of what happens after and sometimes it felt incomplete. Some cases could have ended sooner but there were fillers about the main character's (Laurie) personal life that make getting to the answers longer.
    I'm here for the cases/mysteries but Laurie's personal life is half of every book. Laurie's boyfriend, Alex, seemed like a good guy but In book #4, he was an ass. This man dumped Laurie so she would know what's it's like to lose him so that she would come crawling back to him - is this the behavior of a man who loves a woman and who had said he was willing to wait for her until she was ready to have him in her life permanently but his wait time meant a little less than two years. He wanted her to get over her dead husband like she could just do it easily.
    I lost all respect for Alex in book 4 and every time I read about him in later books, I just thought what an asshole. In book 5, the case is basically there to show Laurie the way to her true happiness (sprinkle some sarcasm here) and that she have to get Alex back which she did, not a surprise at all. Now if Alex had gotten shot or maimed somehow on Laurie's behalf, I might like him again a little but nope, he's not only in perfect health, his career skyrocketed and he's living the best life. So what if he feels remorse, it does not redeemed Alex's ass behavior. I also lost respect for Laurie for taking Alex back after he made her suffered. Why didn't she wait for him to crawl back to her? Laurie already have two good men in her life, her caring father and her sweet son (okay, he's still a child) but she doesn't need Alex for her happiness. If the message that a woman cannot be happy without a man than I don't agree. And this is written by two women. Why do we need this relationship drama when Laurie, time and again in almost every book, almost get killed?
    The series have no conclusions because it's one those series where it's a different case for each book but if you care about Laurie's love life, then read in order but I'm here for the mysteries/cases.

05 - Save the cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody
What's it about: writing advices, writing fiction reference
With any how-to books, it all depends on the reader but I find this a pretty decent guide. Their 15-story-beat method sounds like a good way to write a novel which is the entire book. This is a bit repetitive with the summaries but I guess that's how they make it longer. And there are spoilers for a lot of books and now I will never read Misery by Stephen King nor The Help by Kathryn Stockett - one is scary and the other has a disgusting/gross out bit. The pep talk at the end of the book is quite good. But like all how-to books, it only works if you actually try it but I haven't try the method yet.

Have you read any good books lately?

Are you a Luddite?

One of the meaning of Luddite according to Merriam-Webster is, one who is opposed to especially technological change. I may not be a Luddite but sometimes I seem to be. I don't update/upgrade my apps or my computer's operating system (OS) or even get a new computer often because every time I do, there is a lot of work involved. I only ever get a new computer when my current one goes kaput. Or when I really need one. (Note: Update and upgrade are two different things. Upgrade is a major change while update is a minor change. For easier reference, I'll just use update only. Note 2: I use Macs.)
    It's impossible to be always up to date when it comes to technology so I often I don't even try to be up to date unless necessity requires it. Even if you buy a new computer and get all new apps and new devices and new everything related to that new computer, there might still be problems. A glitch here, a glitch there. A file won't open. A file open in the wrong way. Lots of things can go wrong. I only ever had one or two glitch-free updates. Most of the time, there are issues.
    I was going to list those issues I encountered when updating but they all led to the same two things: (1) updates requires more updates which my computer may not have the required technology (such as memory or power) to make it possible and (2) any improvements that the computer and app makers made aren't always an improvement and that creates problems. Also, I have to think of the cost as new apps might cost more and new computers definitely cost more. If possible, I would use the same computer, the same OS, the same apps but it's not practical. So I'm willing to update but I just might be stubborn about it.

Are you a Luddite? Do you update your computers and apps often?

Fiction: A Stranger of Home

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by David M. Gascoigne and is hosted at Elephant's Child over here. This week's prompts are: elbows, imagine, canal, heavily, population and/or mocked months, annex, support, casino.

Fiction: A Stranger of Home
He finds everything familiar but a little strange. After all the work learning the ways, Moon Chow should be automatically doing everything as if he have done it before and yet, he is unable to proceed without some cautious double thinking. At his age (nearly 30), he is an adult but back home, he would be a child but he needs to forget that. He needs to forget everything he knew from before.
    This is his home-away-from-home permanent home now. His old home, long destroyed and in millions of pieces, can never be forgotten. If not for his foster father, Crud, Moon would have died with his family. But Crud has dumped Moon here and went off 'to farther education himself' as he puts it but Moon knows he is in some casino gambling away.
    But Crud has given Moon everything he needed - an identity, a house, a job as a janitor at a college and a driver's license though if asked, he should decline driving any automobile because he have not learned to drive but Crud said it's perfectly normal to never drive. Being somewhat lazy about names, Crud had picked Moon's name out of a menu at a cafe for a special named The Moon Chowder Jumble. His own name, Crud Pierce, came from a bet which Crud had lost along with his ship.
    As he shifts in the chair between a large man and a small woman, one of Moon's elbows hit the back of the chair. He imagines shrinking down and fitting in like water in a canal, moving in the same direction and blending in just enough not to be noticed he doesn't quite fit in.
    Should he have relied heavily on Crud's human annex? For four decades, Crud had been working on the annex while living around and studying humans. And for ten years Moon had knew Crud, he had been a great supporter of his annex. In this small town with a population under two thousand, where Crud had left Moon, it should be easy for Moon to fit in or so Crud had said. But Moon isn't sure he can trust Crud or his annex anymore.
    Two months ago, the Wilsons, who lived next door, had invited Moon to their holiday party and he had said yes because without Crud, Moon missed company. In this room, in the Wilson's house with the snow falling outside, Moon isn't sure why he misses Crud. It has been 367 days since he saw Crud. The man has barely been a father and he always refers to the annex instead of explaining things. The thought that Moon might never see Crud again freaks him out but he has resolved to continue no matter what.
    Looking again at the new faces, he is reminded he is alone and there is no cure for that except to make friends. Quietly, he plays with the veal he has cut to pieces. Overtime, he has found one person can be easy to get along with while another is like a thorn that pricks everyone. Mocking seems to be a favorite pastime. Moon has learned silence seems to be the best reply when someone mocks you, that, or just laugh along which to Moon is like accepting the ridicule so often he stays silent. He can picture people mocking Crud for being a lousy gambler but that wouldn't happen since Crud likes to get drunk afterward and hide somewhere to sleep off his losses.   
    It seems like Moon has been here for ages and yet, he still does not think of this small town as his home or the people here his friends and families. But he has learned, if someone engages him, he would engage back. That's how humans get along. He recalls the chapter on human relations but of course he is to forget everything he has learned because it should have been automatic. But as he raises his glasses to toast to happiness, he wonders if happiness is necessary to be human.

Cooler hues for the summer

I've changed my header and background color on my blog for a cooler hue for summer. As I look at my blog often when previewing posts, I prefer to have cool tones in the summer (and warm tones in the winter). It helps with the hot weather. Of course I can't help but tweaked the design slightly though just the main name.

previous header

new header

I also change my curtains to greens and blues at home and also some artworks. I think it did help to keep cool. Just like having a bright yellow curtains makes a room seems warmer but it may all be an illusion but I do believe colors create certain moods so why not change what you can.

Do you change your environment to cooler or warmer hues for seasonal changes?

Blogging from A-Z - Road Trip 2025

Alternative road trip badge A

Alternative road trip badge B

Reading Charlotte's post (link here) convinced me to join in the Blogging from A-Z Road Trip challenge. It's a second chance to visit the blogs I might had missed. When the A-Z challenge started, I had gone through the master list (containing all the participants) every couple of days until the closing sign-up date and picked blogs to visit based on their themes or in some cases, no themes. Maybe I might have dismissed some blogs a bit too hasty.
    I will limit my visits to a few blogs because my wifi keeps going off and on so it's a little hard to stay online. I made Road Trip badges so if you're participating, feel free to use one or both badges on your blog. [More about the Road Trip at the A-Z blog here.]

Here are my Blogging from A-Z Challenge April 2025 posts links:

• awkwardly awesome april • brevity • criminal (fiction) • diva (fiction) • erase • follow • grumpy • headphones (fiction) • impulse • java • kerfuffle (fiction) • lackadaisical • mundane

• noodles • ocean (fiction) • postcards • quirk • rainbow (fiction) • speechless • two • umbrella • vicarious • witch (fiction) • xoxo • yatter • zine

Did you participate in the Blogging from A-Z Challenge last month? If so, are you doing the Road Trip?

Book Rants - April 2025

It seems suddenly a lot of Mary Higgins Clark's books are available as ebooks at my library so I decided to read all that are available. She really is the queen of suspense but I have to admit, sometimes it does seems like I'm reading the same book only with different characters but they kept me entertained so I'll keep reading them. I do find Clark's book endings almost always ends in marriage or engagement so that's a bit of fun to note. Here are the books I read last month.

01 - Where are you now? by Mary Higgins Clark
What's it about: missing people, murders, grieving, money
This was really good. One can think of so many solutions why a person would go missing for years but when you read on, it became clear what it was. Still, I think the culprit/murderer seemed like a surprise but then again, I had listed almost all the male characters as suspects. This ends with a marriage.

IWSG May 2025: Slightly above mediocre

This months question is: Some common fears writers share are rejection, failure, success, and lack of talent or ability. What are your greatest fears as a writer? How do you manage them?

My fears, out of many as a writer, is being mediocre and not having readers. I'm not a published author but I do post stories on my blog and that maybe gets read. I like to believe my writing is slightly above mediocre and sometimes on days when I especially thought myself clever, even a tad higher than that. I know I'm not born with an innate writing talent so I do work hard at it. Most of the time. Maybe I can be a bit lazy with grammar and maybe I get tired of editing my own writing that I sometimes don't work too hard at it.
    Even we are not picky about grammar and structure, we can be picky about what we like. People's preferences can make them dislike what they read. This doesn't change how authors write or at least, I don't think it should. I prefer to write what I want to read so even there is no audience, that's something that I can accept.
    I do try all the time to improve my writing but there is so much you can improve after a while. So I try not to think about if what I write and share is mediocre or not but whether I would enjoy reading it. But mostly, I just keep on writing.
  
[More about the group over at the Insecure Writer’s Support Group blog here]

Some ramblings about last month (April 2025)

spring blooms, 2025

As a blogger, I sometimes have a need to share and I guess this is why I blog. Anyway, I'm sure I did other things other than the three things listed below but now I can't remember but I do remember doing some not-very-stressful work. (I work as a graphic designer.) Here are some ramblings about April.

01 - I finished the April Blogging from A-Z challenge and I think I did pretty well. It's a bit of a challenge to write a post a day but I think it's a good challenge to test my patience and endurance. You can read about my thoughts about it here.

02 - For two stressful days in April, I went to jury duty. If it didn't involve speaking in front of an audience (as the potential jurors are all gathered in the same room and talk in front of various people), it wouldn't be so bad. Public speaking to me is torture. Public speaking about myself (which each juror had to do) is pure torture. At least we get a questionnaire to answer so I don't have to think up what to say but I was panicking internally every moment. I can't even remember what I had said. Then there were discussions between lawyers and the potential jurors that really seemed to be repeating the same: Can you be trusted to judge without prejudices or bias? So the judge said there are no wrong or right answers but it's like being back in school where you would be embarrassed no matter what you say. There was a lot of waiting around. If I didn't have a word search puzzle book to distract me, I might had gone a little mad.
    I didn't get picked for service which I am extremely grateful for as the trial was likely to last for weeks. And it was a murder trial and I read murder mysterious which made it quite unreal.
    During security check, they confiscated my tiny Swiss army knife - it's about 3 inch by 1 inch. And my shoes set off the metal detector for no reason. They were plain dress shoes so I doubt there were metal in them but who knows.
    Anyway, it was an anxious two days I'll never get back but it wasn't entirely horrible but I wish to never to do it again but sadly, the government keeps finding me because I've never moved.

03 - The whole month, I was doing New York Times' Wordle (link here) and sometimes Quordle (link here) which is the same but sort of like four Wordle instead of one but they have different challenge levels. I think I'll be doing Wordle for a long while. Still haven't created an account at New York Times but I'm fine with just playing without keeping score/record.

How was your April? I hope May is being good to you.

A-Z April 2025 Challenge: Reflection

Here are some ramblings about my experience in finishing the Blogging From A-Z challenge this year. More about the challenge over here. (The theme I had for my alternative a-z badges is beginning or spring so that's why the sun and plant/tree graphics above. You can see the badges here in this post.)

01 - I had picked three words and let the readers choose which one I will be rambling about or if I have an inkling, tell a (fictional) story. This was maybe a good idea but readers don't seem to want to choose so then I decided I can choose the word if it gets too late to post. Since I have to wait for people to choose the words, I have to write/post on the same day so that means just a few hours to write each post which is a bit nerve-wracking but still kind of fun.

02 - I made a list of blogs I was going to visit (from the master list) - a very short list because I want to make it easier for myself. I admit there are many themes I have no interest in but I did visit all the blogs on the master list (except for the adult content ones) just to check them out.

03 - Before the challenge started, I had made coffee mugs with the alphabets so I don't have to think up or make images/graphics for each post which lowers the stress (see above and below).

04 - I debated on leaving a link (to my a-z posts) whenever I leave a comment. I don't want people to think they have to visit me back but at the same time, I want to make it easier for people to visit me. So in the end, I left some links but not a lot.

05 - I did get a little lazy at commenting toward the end. I really do try to leave a comment but my attention span seemed to wane a lot. Plus my wi-fi sometimes had nervous breakdowns just for fun so sometimes I'm not sure my comments went through and I was too lazy to check.

06 - I'm very grateful to those who chose to visit and leave comments - they made the overall challenge more fun and more interactive. Without readers, it wouldn't be as fun so thank you all.