Inspiring writing reminder

“I wonder how old we are when we stop thinking like kids?” – This Kid Reviews Books (Quote used with permission. Thanks, Erik!)

The most popular books on Goodreads so far this year

Hi everyone!

Above is what one of my book spaces looked like a few months ago, more books added since then.

In case you haven’t seen it, I’m sharing the following information with you that is on Goodreads. None of my books shown above are on included in it.

They compiled a list of 9 of the most popular books in 9 categories (so far this year in Goodreads), so 81 titles. The selections are based on the total number of reader reviews and the titles that Goodreads members marked as “want to read.”

CONTEMPORARY FICTION:

Hello Beautiful – by Ann Napolitano
Yellowface – by R.F. Kuang
Someone Else’s Shoes – by Jojo Moyes
Maame – by Jessica George
Pineapple Street – by Jenny Jackson
The Collected Regrets of Clover – by Mikki Brammer
Big Swiss – by Jen Beagin
Birnam Wood – by Eleanor Catton
Adelaide – by Genevieve Wheeler

HISTORICAL FICTION:

Weyward – by Emelia Hart
The House of Eve – by Sadeqa Johnson
River Sing Me Home – by Eleanor Shearer
The Covenant of Water – by Abraham Verghese
The House is on Fire – by Rachel Beanland
Hang the Moon – by Jeannette Walls
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? – by Crystal Smith Paul
The Trackers – by Charles Frazier
Lady Than’s Circle of Women – by Lisa See

MYSTERY:

All The Dangerous Things – by Stacy Willingham
The Housemaid’s Secret – by Freida McFadden
What Lies in The Woods – by Kate Alice Marshall
I Have Some Questions For You – by Rebecca Makkai
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers – by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Homecoming – by Kate Morten
The Maid’s Diary – by Loreth Anne White
I Will Find You – by Harlan Corben
The Bandit Queens – by Parini Shroff

FANTASY:

Fourth Wing – by Rebecca Yarros
Hell Bent – by Leigh Bardugo
A Day of Fallen Night – by Samantha Shannon
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries (book #1) – by Heather Fawcett
Tress of the Emerald Sea – by Brandon Sanderson
Atalanta – by Jennifer Saint
Witch King – by Martha Wells
Victory City – by Salman Rushdie
Clytemnestra – by Costanza Casati

SCIENCE FICTION:

In The Lives of Puppets – by T.J. Klune
The Ferryman – by Justin Cronin
Chain-Gang All-Stars – by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Ascension – by Nicholas Binge
The Marriage Act – by John Marrs
Some Desperate Glory – by Emily Tesh
Children of Memory – by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Meru – by S.B. Divya
The Endless Vessel – by Charles Soule

HORROR:

How to Sell a Haunted House – by Grady Hendrix
Lone Women – by Victor Lavalle
A House With Good Bones – by T. Kingfisher
Don’t Fear The Reaper – by Stephen Graham Jones
Sisters of The Lost Nation – by Nick Medina
Natural Beauty – by Ling Ling Huang
Bad Cree – by Jessica Johns
The Haunting of Alejandra – by V. Castro
Looking Glass Sound – by Catriona Ward

ROMANCE:

Happy Place – by Emily Henry
Romantic Comedy – by Curtis Sittenfeld
Yours Truly – by Abby Jimenez
Final Offer – by Lauren Asher
Things We Hide From The Light – by Lucy Score
Exes and O’s – by Amy Lea
Meet Me at The Lake – by Carley Fortune
True Love – by Christian Lauren
The Right Move – by Liz Tomforde

YOUNG ADULT:

The Stolen Heir – by Holly Black
Chain of Thorns (The Last Hour, book #3) – by Cassandra Clare
Song of Silver Flame Like Night – by Emelie Wen Zhao
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute – by Talia Hibbert
These Infinite Threads – by Tahereh Mafi
The Davenports – by Krystal Marquis
Divine Rivals – by Rebecca Ross
Warrior Girl Unearthed – by Angeline Boulley
Forget Me Not – by Alyson Derrick

NONFICTION:

Spare – by Prince Harry
The Wager: a Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder – by David Grann
Poverty, By America – by Matthew Desmond
A Fever in The Heartland – by Timothy Egan
The Creative Act: a Way of Being – by Rick Rubin
You Could Make This Place Beautiful – by Maggie Smith
Quietly Hostile – by Samantha Irby
A Living Remedy: a memoir – by Nicole Chung
King: a Life – by Jonathan Eig

I am sad to say that I have read NONE of these yet! I own a copy of Hang the Moon which I have yet to get into, and I want to read Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, The Housemaid’s Secret, Homecoming, The Wager, A Fever in The Heartland.

Which books have you read of the 81 listed above? Did you like or dislike them? Which ones do you want to read?

Thanks for visiting! I appreciate you, And … Creative Musings! – Lynn

L.M. Montgomery quote

When one comes across a great quote, one must share it!

THE WORLD CALLS THEM ITS SINGERS AND POETS AND ARTISTS AND STORYTELLERS, BUT THEY ARE JUST PEOPLE WHO HAVE NEVER FORGOTTEN THE WAY TO FAIRYLAND. – L. M. Montgomery

I have had an active imagination all my life, which has led me into being a creative person. Perhaps that has been my way to fairyland.

How about you? Do you have a specific way to remember, or to create a special place for yourself?

Be safe and be kind.

Thanks for visiting, and … Creative Musings! 🙂 – Lynn

Just a few thoughts, such as weather

Hi Everyone!

How are you doing lately in this changing world? I’m not even going to mention the social and political upheaval, how about the climate?

Here in Canada, we had an abnormally dry spring which opened the way for fires that quickly got out of hand. Even here in Nova Scotia, starting in late May, there was a record loss due to forest fires. Canadians in several provinces were battling forest fires, and many people had to evacuate their homes – some losing everything. So tragic.

Now it is rain. So much rain. Not every day, but it sometimes seems like it. We went from too dry to too wet, so you can imagine what that is like for growers. Hot, humid, thunderstorms, rain; this is summer 2023.

On another note … I am still plodding along with building a website for my paintings. I’m sure it is simple for some, but not for me. I’d hoped to have it ready by now. If I don’t give up in exasperation I will let you know when you can visit it – if you are interested or curious.

Last topic: I found a couple of things that I enjoyed and thought you might, too.

DON’T LET ANYONE WHO HASN’T BEEN IN YOUR SHOES TELL YOU HOW TO TIE YOUR LACES.

And this African proverb for the writers among us …

UNTIL THE LION LEARNS TO WRITE, EVERY STORY WILL GLORIFY THE HUNTER.

What has the weather been like for you?

and, Can you relate to either of the above quotes?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂

The lost has been found; books are important

Hi there!

In my last post I was expressing my frustration with trying to update my blog. I’d changed themes and colours, but my widgets on the right and left sides got shifted around and half were lost. Well, it took me awhile but I sorted out how to move the left ones from the right back over to their original place, and I also found the lost ones that had been located on the right and put them back where they belong. If that was confusing to you … be glad you didn’t have to watch me trying to fix the problem! 🙂

I’m unsure how to continue, but this much is done – not perfectly but good enough for now. I’ll wait until next week for a Happiness Engineer to assist me further, although I do have a painting draft started.

You know, it still seems strange to me that I am not dividing my time and life with caregiving. I don’t regret the experience, though; not one bit. It is realizing that I have freedom that I’ve never had before that I’m still getting hold of. From caring for children to caring for parents … now I have some time for my own interests in a broader sense. It’s quite an adjustment, believe it or not. And I have more time with my beloved husband now, a man who was very understanding through the past 11.5 years.

Having said that, I am usually available for our grandchildren when needed. Our older grandson is graduating this month!, so he won’t be getting off the school bus here anymore. We’ll certainly miss having him; the bus doesn’t travel to his house so our location worked well. We babysit our younger grandson (2 yr 8 mon) one day a week – and he LOVES books, which is fabulous. In fact, that’s the first thing we have to do when he arrives – “Gammie come read bookth”; so Grammie does. Under “books I read this year” you can see we are going through a great many picture books as I try to have several “new ones” from the library each time he arrives. It is fun for both of us. Also, for a few hours on some weekends we babysit our 5-month-old grandbaby girl who is beginning with board books, so there is potential there for many more reading times. Books are important.

My heart is full.

I hope you have someone to read to. A tip for anyone who is helping with the care of someone with dementia – picture books are great! Read them to your person, talk about the pictures, get your person to read some too, if possible. Picture books are the best.

What is your experience with updating websites and blogs? And with reading to/with others?

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! – Lynn

Updating my site and not enjoying it

Hi All,

Today my dad would have been 98! What’s amazing to me is that he lived only three years short of a century! Imagine all the changes he lived through during that time.

I spent most of the day painting at the studio. Now, here I am trying to update my site and finding it to be quite exasperating. I apologize for if you came looking for any information that was in my right side bar – which has disappeared, much to my dismay! Everything that was on the left is now on the right. Not what I’d intended. Yes, I have revealed myself to be a klutz at this. I’m sorry to say it took me hours to get it the way I wanted it before this update. Now I have to try to make it better again.

I sure hope you are having a better time on here than I am of late. The Happiness Engineers are good at what they do, although passing it on to me was not the best idea even with their instructions.

I’m not giving up yet; just feeling a good movie or time spent reading The Fellowship of the Ring is a better decision for the rest of this evening.

Please bear with me! It has got to get better, right?

Blessings to you all.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings!

Change – the one consistent thing

Hello my readers!

Finally I’m back, making another attempt at blogging again. It’s been nine months since my dad passed away, ending 11.5 years of caregiving. The total change has been very difficult, but I am feeling better as time goes on while I’m figuring out and adjusting to my new normal. Grief takes its time.

Do you find it interesting how we go through phases and seasons in our life? By that I mean, for myself anyway, interests come along to explore and spend time in, then they morph into something else to learn from and grow in, and on it goes through life. Or we find ourselves in a pleasant working relationship, which eventually has to come to an end. That is difficult to deal with and what I’ve found is that change is the one consistent thing. It will happen, like it or not, so I can adapt and hold onto what I’ve learned or I can make myself miserable. The first choice is the better one to live with, don’t you agree?

As you know, I’ve loved books all my life, reading them, accumulating them, even learning to write them for children. When I got burned out on the ‘write them’ part I was directed into learning to paint. I am still reading a lot, but now I am finding joy in oil painting. I haven’t given up on the writing goal, but it is set aside for the time being.

Creating through painting seems to be the something that was missing for me, the something that was locked up inside me in great need of expression. It is challenging, frustrating at times, rewarding, tiring in a good way, confidence building, fun, healing, and surprising. Surprising when what I’m trying to do turns out the way I want it to or even better than I’d hoped. It’s a growing experience, and I do enjoy the challenge, as I am a creative and have to be working at something.

I’m telling you this because I am going to try to set up a place where you can view my paintings. So, please, bear with me. You may come here and find things are all messed up, while in the meantime I am probably consulting a WordPress Happiness Engineer to help me undo and fix my mistakes.

Most of my paintings are from photographs taken by my instructor, or myself, or my daughters. I will talk more about that later. Below is the very first painting I did, chosen for me to learn how to colour match. What you see is my copy of the original by Lawren S. Harris who was a member of the Group of Seven. My apologies that my photo is a little dark.