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.

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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.