Books I like to have read but didn't

I could have titled this as Books ruined by movies but it's not entirely true since most movies inspire me to read the book and sometimes they are better than the book. I had seen at least one movie adapation of all these books except The Woman in White. These are the books that I have been trying to read more than once but I finally gave up on them. But that still didn't mean I won't try to read them again. Here are some books I like to have read but didn't.

01 - Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
This is my type of book - a little bit of fantasy, a little bit of wackiness - that would naturally drawn me in but somehow I started it, stopped, started again, stopped, never returned to it. I may have seen a few move adaptations that may have repelled me from reading the book. I think I know the story because of so many references to it.

02 - Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 
I thought I wanted to read this but then I found there seemed to be different versions and also, the original is written in older English (properly not the correct term) and is probably not as easy to understand so I tried the 'Grey Translation' and I got past maybe a few chapters and then just couldn't mustered the interest to continue. Another book that is sort ruined by watching a couple of movie/tv adaptations and hearing how great the book is and how people constantly referencing this book and how great Shelley is. Maybe I should try again but perhaps read the original version.

03 - Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
This should've been a book I could have breezed through (like the other Austen novels I had read) but I never finished it even trying to read it three or maybe four times. I have a paperback version which I still have a bookmark in it. And sometimes I just pick it up and check to that bookmarked page and then tried to read a few words and then gave up.
    I think if I had not seen the 1999 movie adaptation which put me off reading the book for years, I might have already read this. But it's the ending, the conclusion to the romance of Fanny (the main character) and a certain gentleman that annoyed me in the movie which I'm sure will annoy me in the book. Mostly, I found this boring and tedious and long and why is it so boring to read about a bunch of rich, spoiled people trying to put on a play?

04 - His Dark Materials book 1: The Golden Compass (original title Northern Lights) by Philip Pullman
This is the first book in a series which it's exactly the type of book I would like but somehow I never could finish reading it. And yes, I also saw a movie adaptation which may have influenced me to read the book. The book was slow-moving and somehow it just seemed like there are a lot of boring parts to get through along with politics which I never liked.

05 - The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
The main character was so unlikeable which shouldn't deter me from reading this book but it did. At the beginning of the book, when Walter (the main character) came across a woman in white, he was thinking he could possibly do something to her (ie, assault her) and no one would know. Sorry, what? If a man thinks he can do whatever he wants to a woman simply because there is no one around, then that guy is an a-hole. And then he just becomes much more unlikeable when he met the unpretty sister who was kind and courteous to him but he keeps wishing he was meeting the pretty sister. I know you don't have to like characters to read a book but I just could not stand to be in this guy's head.
 

06 - Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
I think I would have easily devoured this and even liked it if I had read it earlier and if I have never seen the 1994 movie. And knowing what happened to Beth makes it less enjoyable because I found her end so depressing that I really didn't want to read that part. This is probably why it's a bad idea to watch a movie before reading the book.

What books you like to have read but didn't?

Book Rants - July 2026

I pretty much spent July reading book samples and I barely finished any books but I re-read a lot of books. I'm not listing all the books I didn't finish since returned them (I read borrowed library books) and don't remember their titles. Here are the books I unfinished and a few I did finish. (P.S I'm using a hide/show script for book #4, let me know if it works.)

Books I Unfinished:

01 - We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida, translated by E. Madison Shimoda
What's it about: cats, temporary cat owners, cat therapy
Quit at: 38%
It's not a novel as it said on the cover, it's short stories connected by the idea of being prescribe a cat as therapy. I think I had expected it to be a novel and maybe a little disappointed it wasn't.
    I thought the first story I read was rather dull and meaningless where things just happened to this particular temporaty cat owner and it involved the cat a bit. I tried the second story but I just didn't care. There is some paranormal elements but that doesn't come until later in the book. I really did try to finish this but I just couldn't do it.

Fiction: Bad Hair Day

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are supplied by Charlotte and hosted at River's blog here. This week's prompts are: snake, linen, cake, tired, letter, clip and/or brush, matter, rake, blue, bush, read.

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Fiction: Bad Hair Day
10:22 AM
Tess Mercy didn't need to rush but she didn't want to see Rob turned into a donkey or a snake or some other animal.

10:01 AM
Twenty-one minutes ago, Tess and Rob were at Ingrid's Diner having some cheap but decent coffee. After some small talk, Rob said, "Tess, I think we should go our separate ways. I'm sure you'll find someone—"
    "Better than you. Thanks for saying so, Rob." Tess smiled.
    "I didn't— Never mind. I thought you were going to throw something at me or even hit me." Rob chuckled and raked a hand through his blond curls. 
    "Why would I do that?" She grinned. "Thanks to you, I'm a free woman." 
    "I'm so glad you understand, Tess." He grinned.
    She should be angry at Rob, her boyfriend of almost a year, engaged to another woman since last year and was breaking up with Tess as if she didn't matter.
    But Tess never liked to fuss in front of people especially since she worked with some of them. She dabbed her mouth with the napkin and dropped it on the table. Smiling, she stood up and said, "Goodbye, Rob. Have a nice life," and lightly tapped his hand. She half-ran out the exit, toward a subway station, down the stairs through the turnstile and in a few moments a train arrived and she hopped inside. 

Update: Things I like to continue, start or restart

Back in January I made a list of things I may or may not do. I'm going to give some updates because it's the middle of the year and I guess updating this is sort of a reminder. You can read the original list here.

01 - Continue blogging - Succeeded — This I did but not consistently but I haven't been consistent with my blogging for at least ten years so I don't expect that to change but at least I'll keep blogging.

02 - Continue to refuse to join any social media or anywhere else to embarrass myself except in a blog - Succeeded — Yep, still only doing blogging.

03 - Restart commenting more on blogs - Semi-Succeeded — I did comment more sadly not more than I like.

04 - Start practicing procrastinating in my sleep - Semi-Succeeded — While I was sleeping, I forgot what I did so I may have succeeded without knowing.

05 - Restart on finishing my artworks - Failed — I just don't seem to remember to work on them or rather I looked at the long list of (artwork) files, found it too daunting, turned to do something else and then forgot about them.

06 - Continue to not learn any new people skills - Semi-Succeeded — I guess I don't quite know how to be polite anymore when people are rude.

07 - Restart finishing/editing my novels and short stories - Semi-Succeeded — I have tried to finish a few pieces but only made a little progress. I don't know where my motivation went.

08 - Start watching less youtube - Failed — I have a terrible habit of watching youtube when I'm stressed or when I'm unable to motivate myself to do things. Sometimes getting lost in someone else's lives makes you think you have nothing to worry about.

09 - Start exercising every day or at least briefly consider to consider doing it - Failed — why is this so hard?

10 - Continue trying to go wireless - Failed — Even when I'm tripping over them, I seeme unable to keep the wires at bay. I don't think people can go wireless because no matter whatever technology you use, there will be wires.

11 - Continue doing jigsaw puzzles - Failed— I haven't done one puzzle in almost a year. 

12 - Restart reading more fantasies, science fiction, middle grade books and books that are not murder mysteries - Semi-Failed — I shouldn't bother trying to have varieties in my reading. I find most books boring now so it doesn't matter what genre they are in. There's nothing wrong in reading the same types of books.

Did you make goals at the start of the year and if you did, did you succeed? 

Happy 5th Blog Anniversary

This month marks 5 years since I started this blog. Staying at one blog for longer than two years is a challenge because I have a habit of moving to new urls at random or maybe not at random but I never had a good reason aside from wanting a new home/name. Postcards from the Bookstore is quite nice but so was the previous other 30 or so names but I guess I'm still trying to find that perfect name which probably doesn't existed. Moving to new urls is sort of like starting over. 
    To celebrate this milestone, I wrote this post. In the old days, I would make a big deal of this and host a giveaway or three but there seemed to be no interests for that, at least, not here. I guess not being at any social media might make me (and my blog) less known to people. I have often said, blogging is a form of social media but it's not quite true since it's harder to get noticed and my posts are never brief like in social media. I couldn't say blogging is better than social media but it's certainly less daunting to me. 
    I have plenty of moments where I want to quit blogging but I never did. I still needed a place to keep some of my thoughts or else they go nowhere. But also, I really just like writing. I'm not much of a talker.
    You could say blogging is a habit, a part of my life, so that I don't need a reason to keep blogging, I just do it. I'm constantly thinking up things to post and write them even when I don't post them. These days, I don't think you need a purpose to blog unless you're using it to make money. I'm a somewhat slacker blogger and I believe no one have to blog every day or every week or even every month to be a blogger. You just have to post something every once in a while so people know you're still around. 
    Also this year makes it 20 years of blogging for me. Not much of a big deal since I know a couple of people who had blogged way longer than me. I wish I have some wisdom to share but I don't.
    Happy 5th blog anniversary! May we all continue to blog with joy and anything else that comes with it.

What keeps you blogging? And do you need a purpose to blog?

Fiction: Storms & Misfortunes

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are supplied by Charlotte and hosted at River's blog here. This week's words/prompts are: ants, sushi, meeting, miniature, juniper, leaves and/or mushroom, seagull, windy, glass, knit, safe and (above) the image of a dormer window.

Fiction: Storms & Misfortunes
It was death that made Nora Merryweather stopped telling fortunes. When Nora first ascertained she knew things by looking at something as ordinary as a mushroom or a pebble, her aunt, Mary, taught her how to read the world around her. Sometimes knowledge simply entered her mind when she looked at something long enough and other times, she had to wait awhile. Since the age of fourteen, Nora had been telling fortunes by looking at people's belongings but her true talent was knowing when and how someone would die. 
    At eighteen, Nora tried to prevent her aunt's death by keeping her away from water. Instead of drowning trying to save a boy, Mary was crushed by a shopfront sign when she pushed a woman out of the way. The boy she should've saved, died. And the woman who should have died, lived. Fate, it seemed, could not be tricked but could be altered but never to how you wanted – it was a lesson Nora never forgot. Now Nora try to avoid misfortunes that came her way and if someone got saved, it was a happy side effect.
    A few months after her aunt's death, her neighbor, Mrs. Seagull, the woman Mary saved, offered Nora to live at her boarding house rent-free if Nora took care of the housework. Since Nora had nowhere to go after she sold the house to pay for funeral expenses, she accepted Mrs. Seagull's offer.
    Nora had no qualms about living in a boarding house isolated and miles away from civilization. It's why people came for quiet retreats away from the city. Nora didn't mind sleeping in the tiny attic room as she was somewhat miniature, having never grew taller than three feet and eleven inches.
    Not being much of a talker, Nora was a bit annoyed by the boarders' nosiness. If Nora leaves the house unexpectedly, if she misses dinner, if she sidesteps ants, if she avoids sushi, they all wanted to know. Frequently, Nora did the housework without speaking to anyone but she had a meeting or two with the boarders on her way down and up the stairwell but she never say more than necessary.  
    Each day, Nora would peer out the dormer window at the sky and enjoyed the quiet of the early morning. Sometimes, Nora thought life would be peaceful if only she didn't know any misfortunes but then she wouldn't have learned anything without them.

New music added to my playlist

I rarely listen to newly released music so everything's new to me. Here are some music that I'm currently listening to that I believe are almost recently released.

01 - Lines by Feng Ze > link 
Good pop-rock songs, mostly in English with one mandarin song and two with some mandarin lines thrown in. (If you're wondering, the cover has the artist sitting on the lamppost with a lamb on his lap)

02 - Everyone's A Star (Fully Evolved) by 5 Seconds of Summer > link  
I prefer the clean lyrics version but I like they give people a choice between the two versions. This is punk-rock, pop-rock, fun sounds, serious lyrics. I wouldn't say I love this album but it's very close but I definitely love the last song, 'I'll find you.'

03 - Meant Love by EJEAN  > link
Soft pop-rock that are a bit dreamy.

04 - Songs in the (M)attic by Matt Nathanson > link
Some really good Billy Joel tribute/cover songs.

What music are you listening to these days?

Fiction: A strawberry moon, a fire and a cat

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are supplied by Charlotte and hosted at River's blog here. This week's prompts are cold, door, fire engine, tree, jacket, sign and/or candle, cup, egg, roses, window, hazy. Optional additional prompt is Charlotte's colour of the month Jade Green.

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Fiction: A strawberry moon, a fire and a cat
The fire engine took almost two hours to arrive but Jane Strong didn't fret as she stood outside in the cold. Staying a few feet away, she started to shout the door was unlocked but too late. The firefighters had smashed her front door off its hinges and the three men trampled on it on their way inside with the hose.
    The night air was cool. Jane tucked at the sweater she had hasty put on. It had been a cool June. Most of the townspeople thought Jane had done something to the weather. They believed she was an enchantress. Perhaps it was her use of candles or dressing in black or perhaps owning a black cat. If the wiring in her house didn't often short out, she wouldn't use candles. Dressing in black had been a habit since her teens and why should she change? As for her black cat, she just appeared and made herself at home. Even if none of those reasons existed, the townspeople would find some other reason to believe their own prejudices since they refuse to believe anything she say.
    She looked up at the strawberry moon in the sky. Was it a sign? Henry, her husband, believed in signs and he believed almost everything signified bad luck.
    Her eyes dropped down to the almost petalless pink roses in front of her house. Henry had planted them when they first moved in last year. People thought Jane made the roses grow with her witchcrafts but all she did was took care of them and the apple tree in her backyard. The townspeople often had trouble growing things and they didn't like that Jane could do what they couldn't.
    Someone thrust a paper cup into her hand. There was a boiled egg inside. She glanced up at the middle-age Marvin Hart, the town's newspaper reporter and busybody. "Old Bane said you're welcome to board at his bed and breakfast with a discount," said Hart. Jane wondered why Old Bane would do such a thing when the man was stingy with money. 
    Hart grinned. "Well, I'll be going now. Good evening, Mrs. Strong." Hart tucked his hands into the pockets of his faded leather jacket, made his way to his beat-up, faded jade green truck and drove off into the darkness. She detested the man. When Henry died eleven months ago, Hart interviewed her and then wrote several articles of how she might had poisoned her husband. The townspeople had believed him and avoided her. The three neighbors on the left and right side of her, moved away. Ever since, only her house was occupied in this far part of town. Even when it came out that a brain aneurysm had caused Henry's sudden demise, people still avoided her. Jane had since decided never to speak to Hart nor in front of him. Sometimes she wondered how Hart kept showing up whenever something bad happened, as if he knew they would happen. 
    After the firefighters left without speaking to her but had glanced at her as if she was some strange alien, Jane inspected her house. The lower level had broken windows, smashed objects, messes everywhere and almost everything was soaked. She dropped the paper cup with the egg into the trash bin in the kitchen. She refused to accept anything that man gave her. Upstairs, her bedroom was mostly unaffected though the scent of smoke lingered. 
    "There you are," Jane said, relieved at seeing the black cat lying on her bed but the cat didn't budge. Jane stroked the animal's back and felt no throbbing. The cat wasn't breathing. 
    About three hours ago, when the cat woke Jane after the fire started, Jane had grabbed the sweater hanging on the chair, ran downstairs, called the fire department and ran outside and forgot the cat. She had told the firefighters to look out for the cat but maybe they didn't care to touch her. Most of the townspeople believed black cats were bad luck. 
    Her view became hazy and Jane wiped her tears away. "I'm so sorry, Moody." She brushed her hands over the cat's body. The cat had showed up at her front door ten months ago. Jane had fed her scraps and apple slices thinking she would go away but the cat stayed on. After a time, she allowed the cat inside and started feeding her regularly. The name Moody was stuck in her head and it became the cat's name.
    Moody sprung her eyes opened and meowed. Jane cradled her. "Oh, you silly thing, you scared me."

Book Rants - June 2026

I might had watched way too more movies than read books. It has been a rather lazy month. I seemed to lack the will to do things. I guess I can blame the weather. Here are the books I read in June and some movies I had watched. (I'm not listing all the movies I had seen because most of them are re-watches.)

01 -  Murder in Chinatown (Gaslight Mystery#9) by Victoria Thompson
What's it about: poverty, immigrants, murder
The mystery was really good in this one and it keeps me guessing who the suspect was. And as usual, I enjoyed the interaction between Sarah and Malloy (the two main characters).

Seven Things: Much ado about nothing

01 - I find now I have no good ideas of what to post. When I did the a-z challenge this April, I was full of ideas but now that I'm back to regular blogging, I've got nothing. My purpose for blogging has not changed all these years: To share stuff - artworks, writings, books I read, movies/shows I've seen, anything that I experienced or thought about or any nonsense I thought to share. Now it seems all I post are books or book-related things, some fiction and maybe some art. I guess I'm more of a slacker blogger now as I post very little. 

02 - If anyone knows of any memes, challenges, blog hops, let me know. I'm always looking for new ones. I like memes/challenges because they allow me to post something without me having to think too much on ideas. It might be lazy blogging but blogging is blogging.
    Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies had a long llist of memes/challenges over here which consisted of book-related memes. The memes/challenges I know of are (not listed on Lisa's blog):
- Words for Wednesday - this month's the prompts are hosted at River's blog.
- Thursday 13 -
- Friday Writings - 

03 - I don't know why but I keep procrastinating on my writings (and artworks). I have about maybe twenty or thirty stories/novels I had been working on but do I finish them? No. I am unable to. Sometimes I can eagerly work on them and then suddenly, I lost whatever motivation there was. Most times now I seem to be in a state of pauses. I have no idea what I'm waiting for. Perhaps for someone to club me on the head and demand I must finish them.

04 - I had my kobo ereader for over two years now and so far, it's working well but like everything else, it has its down side. One of the features that keeps driving me crazy is the font/text size setting. For example, book 1 can have normal text size (at least in terms of the size I preferred on my ereader) but if I open book 2, the text size can be huge and if I open book 3, the text size can be back to normal size and then book 4, it can be huge again. There is no individual text size preference for each book as the size is whatever you had set for the previous book which means it's like a surprise whenever I open a new book and there's like a 45% change of having to change the text size again. I guess this is one really great reason to read paper books instead.

05 - I had been using Firefox for many years and had been a decent browser but now it's just a messed-up browser where lots of odd things happens (such as zooming into a webpage for no reason) and all the updates just add new things I hate (such as grouping tabs and then coloring that group?). And every time I update, there again is another new feature I don't use. And after every update, there is another update. Why couldn't it update to the latest version when it updates? Why do have to keep updating every damn week?

06 - Closed my The memory of rain blog - that just means I make invisible all the footer elements and reverted all the post except for the one with the notice about the move. I thought of making it private but decide if people land on this page, they can go to my current blog. This is my way of moving on from that blog. 

07 - I updated/changed a couple of things on my blog. I have changed my blog header again. A bad habit that I couldn't stop doing. I think changing your blog's header once in a while sort of freshen up the blog without doing too much. I didn't change it too much. Usually, I had my headers in cool hues for the summer and warmer hues for the winter but now I don't bother with that. I just have light but bright hues.
    I have updated all the pages (links below my header.) I removed the a-z posts links into my introduction page (hello page) which I also updated. And I have updated the writing page which is where I listed with links all the fictions/short stories I posted on this blog. I don't think anyone uses that page but I like to update and organized it.
    I have reluctantly removed Elephant's Child link off the bookmarks list (aka my blogroll). I've removed links all that time when someone hadn't updated in years but for someone who had passed away, it seemed odd, different. Why it should be odd to remove it? I don't know. The world always seems different somehow when someone passes away. Certainly, the blogosphere is different now.

What's on your mind these days?

Fiction: Canoe on the Roof

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are supplied by Hilary Melton-Butcher and posted at River's blog over here. This week's prompts are: baker, canoe, gable, training, rot and/or lily-livered, provisions, barley, arrow, border. Optional prompt: Charlotte's color of the month Razzmatazz.

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Fiction: Canoe on the Roof
Mr. Huckleberry Baker's mind was elsewhere when he climbed the ladder toward the roof of his house. On the front end of his gable roof and sitting on the side of the ridge was a canoe. He hadn't a clue who put it there but he wanted it gone.
    Mr. Baker had little knowledge of roofs so when his left foot sank and created a hole in his roof, he wondered, 'Should it rotted through like that?' It wasn't safe to continue. With his foot bare and a bit tender having to struggle out of the hole, Mr. Baker stood and proceeded back toward the ladder but was hit with dizziness and double vision. He sat down on the ridge and slowly his dizziness faded and his vision cleared. He wasn't lily-livered except when it came to heights which he often forgot about.
    How normal his day had been. This morning, after he ate two toasts with a cup of hot barley tea, he entered his home office and started work. For almost two decades, Mr. Baker wrote manuals for machines and gadgets. He had no training but he knew how things work by studying them. 
    While he was marveling at his masterpiece for a multi-propose blender, the phone rang. Automatically he picked up the receiver and said, "Hello."
    "Hello, Mr. Baker. Do you know you have a canoe on your roof?" Miss Hart was his next door neighbor who was inquisitive about everything.
    Mr. Baker's immediate respond was, 'Do not be ridiculous' but he instead said, "Thank you for letting me know, Miss Hart. I will check it out." He returned to work, had a tuna melt and black coffee for lunch, kept working and didn't remember about it until nearly night. 
    He glanced at the canoe two arms stretch from him. The inside was a pale wood but outside was painted razzmatazz, a word Miss Hart used to describe her favorite bright pink hue. On the side, painted in white was Peace Queen with two, white arrows crossed to make an X between them. Last night, he dreamt about a canoe with those exact words. What did they mean?
    Mr. Baker forgot it all when he tried to get off the roof but as he stood up, dizziness and double vision kept him down. After the fifth try, he gave up. He pictured his funeral with his parents sobbing while beside them his ex-wife laughing and throwing cash into the air. Without changing his will, any provisions he had wanted to make for his parents wouldn't happen if he die today. 
    From up here, he noted all the houses with their lights off. Everyone was probably at the town's ninety-third anniversary party. It must be 7 by now. The party didn't end until after 10. Across from him, the full moon was hanging like a sculpture in the sky. Its beauty made him think of his accumulated ifs and somedays from his forty-three years of living. Why hadn't he taken more chances? Why hadn't he done more? He thought of Miss Hart. Ever since she moved in next door two yeas ago, she had been dropping by or calling to talk about any old thing but he enjoyed her loquacious roaming.
    After a while, Mr. Baker crawled into the canoe. It was a single person vessel with a wooden ottertail paddle. He lifted the paddle and swung it on the right side and then the left. It was almost natural except he had never canoed before. He pictured paddling toward a wide horizon under a bright sky.
    Before he realized, the canoe was shifting and then gliding down the steep roof, past the border of the sculpt hedges that framed his front path and landed on the grassy lawn with him almost spilling out. The paddle had slipped from his hands, slammed against his front windows and put a hole in one of the panes. He patted himself all over and found he was in one piece and chuckled at his good luck.
    "Good evening, Mr. Baker. Isn't it a bit late for a canoe ride?" Miss Hart was staring down at him with a hint of a smile.
    Mr. Baker got out of the canoe with a hand from Miss Hart. "Thank you, Miss Hart. I was just... practicing." He dusted his clothes.
    "Don't you think it's time you call me Betsy?"
    "Betsy, yes. Why don't you call me Berry." He grinned.
    She glanced at the words on the canoe. "Berry, would you believe I used to be known as the Peace Queen?"
    Mr. Baker's grin widened.

Some things that don't belong in the beginning of ebooks

I'm a linear reader, I go from cover, publishing info/copyrights/credits, the content list, dedication, to the first chapter, right toward the back cover which often do not exist. I don't skip any page even if I don't read them thoroughly because you don't really read a book if you don't at least look at all the pages. I read mostly ebooks (borrowed from my local library) and like paper books, they have mostly the same things in the beginning but on an ereader, it's slightly different. Here are things I think shouldn't be in the beginning of ebooks and one that just needs a little styling (#3). (Note: Not all ebooks have these things but many of them do.)

01 - Praises or reviews of the book — I'm already reading it so why do I have to read reviews and praises before I start the book? Only the book can convince me to read it.

02 - Author's bio & back list — Back in the days, the author bio and their back list is at the end of the book and I have always preferred that. After I finished a book, it's like a treat to read the author's bio and sometimes back list when you want to read more of the author's other books. I never read an author's bio if I didn't finish the book. 

03 - Long chapter titles for content list page — Long chapters titles are a problem with ebooks because you tap or press the screen to turn the page and if you hit one of these chapter list (which are links), you go directly to that chapter. Long chapter titles meant no space around the screen to tap/press an empty area to go to the next page (see example A below). So maybe I can just go click on, for example, Chapter 1 and start reading but I like to see all the content list. 
    I'm not against long chapter titles, I actually like them but maybe they need to be smaller than the chapter number (see example B) or put them inside the book and simply just used Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc (example C). Also flush left text is better than center text but that's a preference.

04 - A preview (usually a future scene) — This just confuses me as sometimes I thought was I starting the book but it was a preview which is also in the book. I think any future scenes shouldn't start the book even if it might peak a reader's interest because it gives readers expectations that takes (sometimes) a long time to meet. If you know you have to read 300 pages of boring stuff to get to that preview, would you even start the book?

05 - An introduction — older books (such as classics) often had introductions which I'm willing to read but sometimes they give spoilers and assumes the readers already read the book - isn't that a good reason to put it at the end of the book? 
    And then there are these introductions by famous authors or famous people which are like love letters to the book or author and they give no new or interesting insights so what's the point? Why should I care about some famous person's opinion about another famous person or their book?

06 - Web link that took up almost an entire page — Once there was a book (two actually) with a page (I think it was about signing up for news or something from the publisher of the book) that kept asking to go to a website when I pressed/tapped to go to the next page and I kept pressing down on the screen at every possible place and it kept asking to go to the website. I experienced this before I learned to navigate my ereader so I must have restarted my ereader at least three or four times just to get out of that page. And I didn't read either book because I was too mad.  
    Only later, did I learn to pressed the very, very bottom corner edge of the screen to get out of such pages. Why would you make an entire page a web link? I have no reason to go to any web link on my ereader, not even to sign up for a free book - it's just something I don't do.
    Edit: The whole cover as a hyperlink — There is one ebook I recently opened and it showed the cover (sometimes an ebook have no cover when you open it) and when I tap to go to the next page, it asked me to go to a web link. No matter which area I tapped, it asked to go to a web link so I looked this up and found the only way out of that cover is to swipe it to go to the next page. Why the hell would you make a whole cover a web link? Why would I go to a website when I hadn't even read the book? 

07- Acknowledgements — Acknowledgements is not the dedication but it's like the dedication but extended. So yes, readers might skip this even if it's at the end of the book but readers still can skip this even at the beginning so it might as well be at the end. I think acknowledgements at the end makes more sense because then I cared enough to read those names unlike the beginning of the book where I really had no such care.

What things do you not want in the beginning of books?

Fiction: Gone

This week's optional prompt at Poets and Storytellers United is: a time you surprised yourself. The ending may be a sort of a surprise. I don't know why I went that direction, it just happened. Visit other participants over here.

Fiction: Gone
One hundred feet from the ground, Julia peered down below and then at the man-child beside her. For about half an hour, Ted played games on his phone. 
    Thirteen years ago, Julia was introduced to Ted by common friends at this carnival. Ted thought it was a good idea to ride the rollercoaster to celebrate their engagement but a mechanical failure had stranded them.
    Growing up, Julia had foolishly rebelled on the wrong things and had thought marrying Ted will make up for her mistakes. But ten years of waiting for an engagement had altered her but Ted, he was the same expect the thirty extra pounds.
    It was too late to turn back. Due to his many generosities of lending money to his friends, he earned himself and Julia many debts. When she asked him to get his friends to pay him back, he struck her face, twice. That was the moment she felt like an insect who had been squashed one too many times but still stood in the same place to be squash again and again.
    Slowly, Ted turned away from his phone screen and looked up at her, eyes blinking slowly. He began to hunker down and the phone slipped from his hands and struck against her feet. When she glanced up, Ted was gone but there was a fat fly squatting on the leather seat and it seemed to be gazing at her. Haphazardly, it flew up and away into the dull afternoon sky.
    A sudden drop and the rollercoaster started turning. On the ground, Julia stumbled out of her seat. Clementine, Julia's friend, rushed toward her and said, "I'm glad you're alright. Wasn't Ted with you?"
    Julia shook her head and shrugged. What could she say that didn't sound mad?     
    About nine minutes on the way home with Clementine driving, she exclaimed, "What the heck! That is one chubby fly."
    On the windshield was a fat fly and it seemed to be staring at Julia. Clementine turned on the wipers but the fly didn't move quick enough. A short smear of red was left on the windshield but another swipe and it was gone.

Book Rants - May 2026

Is it helpful to talk about books I didn't finish? I like to list them in case someone might take interest because even if a book didn't work for me, others might find it to their liking. Even if a book have all the ingredients you like, it didn't mean you'll like the book. Here are the books I read and two I didn't finish.

Books I Unfinished:

01 - Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz
What's it about: post apocalyptic America, humanlike-robots, restaurant business 
Quit at: 29%
I thought this was about four robots running a noodle shop but it's mostly discussions of restaurant businesses, ownerships (of said business but also the robots), food, a lot of cursing (four-letter f words and the usual ones) and money (they are all broke). There are different perspectives and various back stories. It's a crappy world where humanity is no better than dirt (according to the robots anyway) and robots are pretty much in the same situations except they have less rights.
    I didn't care about a single robot no matter that they have various genders (some of them are referred to as 'they'), various body types (some had many arms and legs), they just seem bland. At first, I thought they are going to stick with Staybehind (the story starts with him, a robot waking up) but then they switched perspective and suddenly, it's dull. Don't know what happened, I just couldn't muster interest and even at 163 pages, I couldn't finish it. 

Fiction: The Friends Market

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are supplied by jabblog and posted at River's blog over here.  This week's prompts are: hand, useful, panic, horse, shape, sharp and/or nuisance, boredom, quizzical, history, warfare, hair and bonus words notification, money, cotton, spray, clock, mug.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fiction: The Friends Market
Wearing her blue with white clouds pajamas under her pink raincoat and pink rainboots, Jacklyn strolled down the aisles of Old Friends Market. She glanced at her wrist watch: 12:01. She had plenty of time. The market didn't close until 3:03 am.
    Two months of leisure wanders around the market had turned into a daily ritual. Each night, she came and even when she was looking for something particular, she found, it didn't matter. Being here was a haven. Always, there was a strange, frantic elation cruising through her just as she stepped inside the market.
    In the spacious store, Jacklyn passed one or two shoppers. Soft music from the speaker weaved through the air. About two feet away, a man with an orange beard lurched toward a giant bag of candles and threw it into his cart already full of bags of cat food. He gave her a nod as he passed her, leaving an odor that reminded her of high school days.
    It was easy to just drop anything she thought useful into her cart but when Jacklyn checked, it was filled with bags of dog food. She did not panic. It was her habit to buy dog food whenever she came to the market. Her dog, Mickey, was a Harlequin Dane. His appetite was as huge as a horse. Sometimes she wondered why she owned a dog bigger than her but when she looked at him, she stopped wondering. Unlike his kind, Mickey embraced boredom so he was never a nuisance. She had no sharp eye for anything but she had always thought Mickey was worthy even if he practically ate through her money. 
    When she was wrong or made a bad choice, Mickey would give her his quizzical look with one eyebrow raised. If she had Mickey before she met Ted, she might not have gotten married. But even if Mickey had given her that look, perhaps she wouldn't have listened as she was too much into Ted back then. Her marriage had been a constant warfare. They were always fighting and unable to agree on anything. After the divorce six years ago, she was hesitant to get a dog due to her history of short-lived pets but once Mickey was in her life, there was no more doubt.
    She picked up a bottle of shampoo, conditioner and hair spray. It was expensive to own a Great Dane so Jacklyn had to sacrifice a few things such as salon visits. It was madness trying to tame her unruly hair that sometimes grew into a giant bubble shape but she persisted.
    Across from Jacklyn, a tiny woman was placing bags of various pet foods into three carts. A few times, she shook or nodded her head as she peered down the floor here and there with quick glances at the giant, analog clock surrounded by a rooster hanging on the back wall.
    Jacklyn looked away. She picked up a box of cotton balls and a bottle of hand lotion and tossed them into her cart. As she near the next aisle, she read the notification about taking your pets for regular checkups at the vet. Four months ago, the vet found a tumor in Mickey's brain. Had they removed it, he would die but if they didn't he would be in pain all his life so she made the decision. When they gave him the injection, Jacklyn was calm but afterward, she destroyed most of her home furniture.
    She turned into another aisle and paused to smile at a coffee mug with the slogan: Every dog deserves his bone. Turning and going into the next aisle, she picked up three cans of coffee beans. The scent of coffee always perked Mickey up. 
    The padding of feet made her look to her left. There was Mickey walking beside her. He had glints in his dark eyes. She glanced at her wrist watch: 1:03. He was on time as usual. When she dropped a box of popcorn into her cart, Mickey gave her his quizzical look. She took it out and put it back onto the shelf. Moving up and down the aisle, she would glance at Mickey before putting an item in her cart. He either gave her his quizzical look or licked his muzzle for approval.
    After she paid, Jacklyn pushed the cart with her bags of purchases toward the exit's double doors which slid open to the pouring rain outside. Mickey followed her but he stopped just before the doors. She turned to face him. This was where she had to leave him each night. Seeing her Mickey again was a joy but she couldn't take him home no matter how much she wanted to. He only existed in the market now. She lingered, rubbing his ears, giving him kisses before heading out. 
    Walking five steps, she paused and turned around. The doors to the market were closed and the lights were out. Jacklyn dried her eyes, glanced at her wrist watch: 3:04. There was always tomorrow night and the next.

Ten Book Series I Deemed As Finished

If a book series is good, I want more but if a series is the opposite, I would wonder why it's so long. Sometimes I think authors/publishers are dragging out storylines so that there would be more books. Maybe we will never get to control how long or how short a series is but we can choose not to read them. Book series are getting ridiculously long and I refuse to endure a series if I'm not getting along with them. Here the books series I'm done with.

01 - Noodle Shop Mystery by Vivien Chien (7 books read, 13 released so far) 
I thought by book 6 or even 7, Lana (the main character) would grow a bit (investigation skills for example) but nope. Every book is pretty much the same so I thought reading 7 books is enough. The 14th book will soon be released which tells me that this will probably be 20 or 30 books long but I don't like Lana enough to follow her slow growth. I can read for the mystery but I find them a bit dull. The one fun thing is the covers - one can enjoy searching for a skull on every cover.

Friday Writings: Tree of Death

I recently found this new blog, Poets and Storytellers United and I thought I try their weekly writing prompts. This week's optional prompt is dead tree, or any other dead tree you’ve seen or imagined. Or by the idea of beauty in death, or last-minute actions that turn out to be important. Or, you may simply ignore the prompt and write anything at all. The word limit is 369 words maximum (excluding title and notes). Visit other participants over here.

Fiction: Tree of Death
He is a common tree and to most humans, he is unseen. And yet, those who are desperate would find him almost by fate. For a long while, he had no name but everyone started calling him Elm and it stuck. Not being an elm, he was appropriately offended but he didn't completely dislike it.
    Every few decades, Elm wakes up in a new place but he is always near a body of water. Currently, he resides beside a beach. The noonday sun only shines on his left side as his other side is blocked by a forty-story hotel. Elm doesn't speculate why this is so. He has learned some things you simply accept as truth.
    For 1,201 days, he hasn't granted a wish to anyone but three days later, a man appears. His eyes are frowning and there is a slow melancholy to his movements. For two hours, he studies Elm before he takes a few steps closer, presses a shaking hand against Elm's trunk and speaks. "I wish to die but nothing too painful, if possible."
    Elm would laugh at the man if he could. How many comes to ask for death but none wants to die in pain? If they want an easy death, Elm would grant them the opposite but not because he is spiteful but because that is what wishing for death does. Many thought death brings peace but it just pauses everything until your next life.
    It doesn't take long and the man experiences every severity of his death.
    It is rare for Elm to ruminate after a death but this man somehow leaves a smudge of sorrow in him. Often, he tries not to think it is life that he takes away even as he grants death. 
    As the wind glides over Elm, and a few leaves fall off his branches, he think of the man and his return. Will he endure the same messes he has left behind? Will he live another unhappy life? Elm sighs but makes no sound. Life would be peaceful if death never reaches him.

Quick Quiz - My Answers

My answers for the Quick Quiz that I posted for the A-Z challenge here where you will find a few quirkly answers in the comments. Feel free to answer one or two or any of these questions.

01 - What nickname would you give your blog?
I called my blog (this blog anyway), PC for postcard but I may start calling her Percy later though I have no reason why I picked that name.

02 - Do you blog in your swimsuit?
I think of pajamas as swimsuits, so yes.

03 - Is your blog clever enough to change a lightbulb?
Not really but she will try.

04 - What happens when you drop a blog and a piano down a well?
You get untuned blog soup.

05 - Why do blogs cry when it rain?
To release their grief about not being able to dance.

06 - Do blogs multiply when you leave them in the bright sunshine?
Naturally, that's why I have to blog in the darkness.

07 - What do baby blogs do if you leave them in a room full of broken computers?
Throw tantrums and then sing themselves to sleep.

08 - Do clocks go backward if you revert a post?
Only if I do a little somersault afterward.

09 - Where do bad blogs go when they are sad?
Into sad songs where they stay until they lose their discontent.

10 - Do blogs dream of analog sheep?
Yes. Sheep and umbrellas.

A few complaints about ebooks, reading, ereaders

01 - Recently, I heard amazon is discontinuing their kindle devices released in 2012 or earlier on May 20 which means those older devices cannot be used to purchase new ebooks or borrow ebooks from your public library but can only read the books already on the device and if you do a factory reset, the device will become unusable, basically a paperweight. What was the point of all this except to force people to upgrade? 
    I find this unfair because most people cannot afford a new ereader. I admit, some devices are too old to use but aren't we creating more waste by not using what is still working? If amazon wants people to upgrade then they should allow people to trade their old devices for new ones and not just give them 10 dollars gift card for them.

02 - The problem with Overdrive (which I use to borrow public library ebooks) is that, it does not tell you whether a book can be read on certain ereaders unless you borrow books directly from the ereader. (I use a kobo ereader.) Basically when I search for a book at my library's Overdrive website, I had to take a chance whether it can be read on my kobo. Most of the time, if there is a kindle format, it can be read on a kobo which is like 80 to 90% of the time. The only certainty is whether it can be read on a kindle because that's one of the formats that is offered in most library books - why is that anyway? Amazon doesn't even own Overdrive.
    The ebook formats usually offered from a library (my public library anyway, I'm in the U.S.) are: Kindle, OverDrive Read (read in a browser), EPUB, Open EPUB, PDF, MediaDo (design for graphic novels but read in a browser) and audio books which I don't use. (Read all about the different formats here).
    Supposedly if the ISBN number of an ebook at the kobo store matches the ebook your library had purchased, you can read it on a kobo otherwise you have to sideload the epub version (by using Adobe Digital Edition with authorization of your ereader) or the open epub version (which didn't need authorization). 
    I got the kobo so I don't have to sideload books or use Adobe Digital Edition because Overdrive is built right on the device and yet I cannot read a book that is an OverDrive format. So maybe sideloading books isn't too hard but it really defeats the purpose of having Overdrive on your device. (Note: OverDrive is the correct term with the capital D but I find it confusing that there is an OverDrive format so I used Overdrive when not referring to the format.)

03 - Last month, when I closed a borrowed library ebook and sync my ereader (a kobo), that book became a preview which is basically a sample which means I cannot continue reading the book. I tried many methods to get the ebook back but nothing works. The only reason a borrowed library becomes a preview if it expired which it didn't. The other reason is if the book's license (which the library had purchased) expired which wouldn't make sense because if it had expired, I wouldn't be able to borrow the book at all. I had return it and borrowed it again but it won't load onto my kobo so I was forced to finish the book on my kindle ereader which I loathed. I know it's a bit of a luxury to have two ereaders but I've been meaning to get rid of my kindle ereader (by selling, trade it in to amazon or giving it away) but I was too lazy. Maybe I should do a giveaway here on this blog? Is it even worth it since it will probably get discontinued in a few years by amazon?

04 - Petty reason not to read/continue a book #1 - Using the four-letter f word in a cozy mystery or a cozy book. I had this strange idea that if a book is cozy, it should not be bombarded with four-letter f word, to sort of give it a tame and friendly feeling but this seems not to be true.
    I recently tried to read a book that is a contemporary/fantasy-ish kind of cozy book but I couldn't stand that the main female character who is forty-something keeps using the four-letter f word and even use it as a verb. A character can curse when they are frustrated and angry but doing it like a natural habit is not something I like. Sometimes I think of this using the four-letter f word is a sign of immaturity that I cannot accept in older characters. Or am I weird to think that? And why was it necessary for a forty-something woman to curse? Is this a dumb reason not to read/continue a book?

05 - Petty reason not to read/continue a book #2 - Having a main character who sleeps in a tent on the beach and having casual sex with the lifeguard. I didn't read this book (which is also a first book in a series) but I read this synopsis and this is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. As a grown woman, she can do the latter but to sleep in a tent on a beach on a daily basis is baffling especially since she can afford real housing. Why isn't she worrying about the weather or the sand or the sun or someone coming up on her and attacking her or murdering her in her sleep? And also, because she's a cop, there might be criminals who she put away and maybe want to kill her or harm her. How many dumb reasons do you need to not do this? Plus she has a dog - I would think to be a responsible pet owner, you should have a real place, if not for yourself, for your dog. 

06 - Petty reason not to read/continue a book #3 - Having one of the main character's wife killed so he can be a broody mentor to some new youngster - why should this make sense? Can not a mentor have a wife, a happy family life, while still teaching his new student? Why did he need to have something tragic to provoke him to take on a student? Or rather, why did he have to be a gloomy fellow? Does having a dead wife made him a better mentor? Or perhaps the question to ask is, why do we need this? Or perhaps the real question is since this is a sequel series re-starter, why ruin the happiness of a character to continue a series? I can't accept this so this is another petty reason for not reading. 

07 - I recently encountered a male author who wrote under the pseudonym of a fake female author who had a fake bio (on goodreads). This author wrote books with main female characters which annoys me more. This is surprising but at the same time I find this disturbing. When female authors used male pseudonyms, they don't pretend to be male (as far as I can tell). I may be bias about this. I think male authors had no need or reason to pretend to be females. 
    Since fictional authors (tv characters and such) can author books, why not fake authors? But we know those fictional character authors are fake unlike this male author pretending to be this female author who is fake but not every reader would know unless they go about researching it. But still, what is the point of writing as a fake female author? 

Do you have a complaint about your reading or books in general?

A-Z April 2026 Challenge: Reflection

My thoughts & reflections on the A-Z Challenge this year. (More about the challenge here)

01 - This year is the only time I had a theme - Blogging with a side of ramblings and short fiction. I did pre-write some posts but rewrite almost all of them at the last minute – I seemed unable to stick to what I thought up. 

02 - I signed up only on the theme reveal list because I prefer to be on a simple list. I don't know how or why the master list became this over bloated database-like list. I still think it's better to just have a name and a link to your blog and maybe some indication whether your blog is adult content. Why do we need to complicate a list?

03 - Is it wrong that I avoided blogs with serious subjects/themes because I want to keep a cheerful disposition during the challenge? I don't mind bloggers tackling serious issues but I don't want to be depressed by them. Also, I maybe avoided continuous stories. For some odd reason, I can't remember too much of what I read during the challenge – it's like my mind was in rush mode or something – what I read seemed to slip out of my head.

04 - Overall, I find the challenge was less stressful this year but may because I visited less blogs and was much better at not forcing myself to leave comments. 
    In case you missed some of my A-Z posts, here's a list or you can go to the link below the header (a-z challenge):

~ Unofficial Badges ~ Theme Reveal • Authoring Barmy Chronicles • Blogrolls & Blogs • Capitals & Comments • Derangement (fiction) • Excuse me while I forget to blog • Followers & Female Blogger • Gaol (fiction) • Honest Blog Confessions • Introductions & Identities • Joys of Blogging • Keep calm and keep blogging • Lament for the lonely blogger

• The Memory Bus (fiction) • New Acronyms for Blogging • Ordered Lists & Old-Timer Bloggers • Pet Peeves About Blogging • Quick Quiz • Reading blogs as they are • Sidebars & Switching Platforms • Text from your blog • Unusual Blogs • Vaguely useful suggestions • Weblogs from blog's past • X (Ten) Reasons Why I'm Still Blogging • Yawning Dog (fiction) • Zany Blogging Thoughts

05 - Here are some wonderful blogs that are worth visiting (in no particular order):

• Live and Learn @ Live and Learn - Toss and Turn > link
This April is Live and Learn's 15th blog anniversary so she reminisced about her early blogging days with previous posts. Being a semi-new reader, I find these older posts delightful and fun. 

• Charlotte @ Uglemor - Mother Owl's Musings > link
Charlotte had a travel theme paired with wordle solves. I enjoyed reading about the places she had been and happenings she encountered. It was through Charlotte that I found out about wordle so I like to thank her for that.

• Tamara @ Part-time Working Hockey Mom > link
I enjoyed reading about the 1980's through Tamara's posts. I may have avoided the few tough subjects but overall, it's a good trip down the 1980's lane.

• Al Penwasser  @ Penwasser Place > link
So maybe historical figures is not a fun subject but Al Penwasser made it fun and even if some of the things said aren't necessary historically accurate, it didn't matter. I enjoyed the fun way each post is presented.

• Jamie @ Whatever I Think Of!  > link
I love the idea of a book cover scavenger hunt and this was Jamie's theme - this definitely would make a fun monthly meme. I didn't have much time to participate until the middle of the month but it was fun. 

Did you participate in the A-Z Challenge this year and what did you think of it?

Book Rants: April 2026

accidently here no. 2

I had a good reading month though it was busier than usual with the A-Z Challenge which I just finished. (I'll talk about that in a later post.) The art above have nothing to do with anything, I just thought I share it since I finished it and it's something cheerful to look at. Here are the books I read in April. 

01 - The house with a dragon in it by Nick Lake, illustrated by Emily Gravett
What's it about: a dragon, a witch, an orphan, wishes, family
It was disappointing that the dragon is only at the beginning and end of the book and didn't get involved in the main story. This is really about an orphan and a witch who grants her wishes. I half enjoyed this. It's mostly because I expected more of the dragon so it's like false advertising, perhaps this needs a new title and new cover art. The illustrations are wonderful.