Author: Lynn

My husband and I live in beautiful Nova Scotia, Canada, and now that we are empty nesting I again began pursuing my dream of writing for children. I am privileged to have met and/or corresponded with Canadian and US authors,; among those are internationally known Canadian author Budge Wilson who wrote many MG and other books, Laura Best, Darlene Foster; US author Drew Lamm (originally from Canada); US author/novelist Sue Harrison - all whose books I've reviewed on my blog, Amazon and other sites. It's my joy to be in contact with other writers and professionals of all stages of the process. Life brings change, and for me that meant the opportunity to pursue a decades old dream - to learn to paint. I now join other painters weekly and we paint and learn together. You can check out my paintings at https://www.instagram.com/lynn.a.davidson2019

Juneteenth (June 19) honours Black Americans. Here is a suitable Reading List.

Admittedly, I don’t venture far into books about race – and I don’t mean that in a bad way (I’m sorry … I don’t know how to phrase things to be sure it’s non-offensive) – but usually I don’t read a book because of who its author is or isn’t. Lately I have become more aware, you might say, and have read a few that, for me, are very educational and well worth reading. The following list of 35 books are some of many that are recommended reads in connection to Juneteenth and on issues of race.

Four Hundred Souls – by Ibram X. Kendri
On Juneteenth – by Annette Gordon-Reed
Barracoon: the story of the last “Black Cargo” – by Zora Neale Hurston
Frederick Douglass: prophet of freedom – by David W. Blight
Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow – by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance – by Hanif Abdurraqir
How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America – by Kiera Laymon
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness – by Austin Channing Brown
Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All – by Martha S. Jones
A Black Woman’s History of the United States – by Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross
His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope – by Jon Meacham
Wandering in Strange Lands: a Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots – by Morgan Jerkins
Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and its Urgent Lessons for Our Own – by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
Overground Railroad: the Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America – by Candace Taylor
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism – by Robin DiAngelo
The Souls of Black Folk – by W.E.B. Du Bois
The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America – by Kahlil Gibran Muhammad
The Origins of Others – by Toni Morrison
White Rage: the Unspoken Truth of our Racial Divide – by Carol Anderson
Progressive Dystopia: Abolition, Antiblackness, and Schooling in San Francisco – by Savannah Sange
Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right – by Arli Hochschild
City of Inmates: Conquest, Rebellion and the Rise of Human Caging in Los Angeles (1771-1965) – by Kelly Lytle Hernandez
Race, Reform, and Rebellion: the Second Reconstruction and Beyond in Black America, 1945-2006 – by Manning Marable
Racism: a Short History – by George M. Frederickson
When Police Kill – by Franklin E. Zimring
Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution and Imprisonment – by Angela Davis
The Hate U Give – by Angie Thomas
How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History Slavery Across America – by Clint Smith
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together – by Heather McGhee
From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century – by William A. Darity Jr. & A. Kirsten Mullen
Pourin’ Down Rain: A Black Woman Claims Her Place in the Canadian West – by Cheryl Foggo
At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance – A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power – by Danielle L. McGuire
Kindred – by Octavia E. Butler
Hidden Figures:The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race – by Margot Lee Shetterly
Roots: the Saga of an American Family – by Alex Haley

The titles in bold type are the few on this list I have read so far. Which have you read? Do you have any suggestions to add to this list? If so, please mention them in the comments. Thank you!

Thanks for readings, and … Blessings on your day! 🙂

Ever Hear of TSUNDOKU?

Hi there!

I have a question for you to start this off … Do you practice Tsundoku? Had you ever heard of it?

Tsundoku – pronounced sun doe coo – is a Japanese expression meaning “leaving a book unread after buying it, typically piled up together with other unread books.” The word literally means reading pile. Someone by the name of Sanders said, “the Tsundoku scale can range from just one unread book to a serious hoard.”

Now can you say you practice it? 🙂 I definitely can! First, let me make it clear here that I am not a hoarder of books, I am a collector of books. There is a difference … right?

I have come to the conclusion that buying books and reading them are actually two entirely different hobbies. – Unknown

My reading pile consists of not only hard copies, (in the low hundreds) but it extends to e-books, and also audio books. So, yes, I have hundreds of unread books! Should I be ashamed of that? Well, maybe, but I prefer to embrace the fact that I have found books I am looking forward to reading, albeit many of those will be in the far-off future simply because of the quantity of them. Anyway … isn’t tsundoku a pretty word? 🙂

That is why I am happy to be participating in reading challenges — because I have so many of my own books to read that I can fill almost all of the prompts with them. I do still borrow the occasional novel from the library, because I have lists in my library account of the ~~hundreds of books~~ low thousands of books I want to read. I just can’t help myself!

As usual, on my “Books I’ve read in [whatever year]” page here on my blog, I keep track of the books I’ve read each year. There you can see I continue to read many picture books. It’s a record I keep for myself and for anyone who might be interested.

Now it’s your turn to share.

Do you practice tsundoku? Or, do you have lists of books you hope to borrow or buy to read? Are you participating in any reading challenges?

Thanks for reading, and blessings on your day! Let’s keep in touch.

Have you read any of these books?

Hello, Everyone!

I have been thinking about what to share with you regarding books and reading challenges, so here is the list of books I have read so far for the 52bookclub challenge:

The Alice Network – by Kate Quinn
The Great Alone – by Kristen Hannah
Puff, the Magic Dragon – by Peter Yarrow
Pier 21: a history – by Steven Schwinghammer
Catherine, Called Birdy – by Karen Cushman
My Brilliant Friend – by Elena Ferrante
The Answer Is … Reflections on my Life – by Alex Trebek
The Sun Down Motel – by Simone St. James
Good Mothers Don’t – by Laura Best
You Had Me at Hola – by Alexis Daria
A Soldier’s Sketchbook: the illustrated First World War Diary of R.H. Rabjohn – by John Wilson
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang – by Kate Wilhelm
Uncommon Danger – by Eric Ambler
Krambambuli – by Syr Ruus
St. George and the Dragon – by Beth Andrews
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit – by Sloan Wilson
Their Eyes Were Watching God – by Zora Neale Hurston
Big Magic: Creative Magic Beyond Fear – by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Calculating Stars – by Mary Robinette Kowal
Before Green Gables – by Budge Wilson
Reagandoodle and Little Buddy: the true story of a labradoodle and his toddler best friend – by Sandi Swiridoff
Angela’s Ashes: a memoir – by Frank McCourt
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek – by Kim Michele Richardson
My Sister the Moon – by Sue Harrison
The Tale of Despereaux – by Kate DiCamillo
Someone to Watch Over Me – by Jill Churchill
The Pursuit of Happyness – by Chris Gardner

For the Indigo reading challenge I have read:

Catherine, Called Birdy – by Karen Cushman
My Brilliant Friend – by Elena Ferrante
Good Mothers Don’t – by Laura Best
White Fragility: why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism – by Robin DiAngelo
Krambambuli – by Syr Ruus
Our House is on Fire: scenes of a family and a planet in crisis – by Malena Ernman
The City in the Middle of the Night – by Charlie Jane Anders
My Sister the Moon – by Sue Harrison
Big Burn – by Lesley Choyce

For the Agatha Christie reading challenge — none yet.

For what I’ve read for the Goodreads personal challenge you can check my page there (I’m there as Lynn Davidson); too many books to add here because I am halfway to my goal of 700.

Of the above 31 books, which ones have you read? Do you have any of them in your TBR (to be read) stash?

Thanks for reading … and Blessings on your day!

Book Reading Challenges

Hello Everyone! I hope somebody is still out there.

How are you doing? What’s up in your life and how are you staying sane, happy, and busy? It’s certainly been a challenging year (plus) with COVID and isolation and everything that comes with that – and it continues. I hope you’re all keeping safe and well.

I am still involved in caring for a family member, ten complete years now back and forth weekly. During that time, life has brought many changes, sorrows, and stresses, but blessings as well. We have a new grandbaby boy, as of October, and he is a blessing no one believed would happen. His mum and dad are so in love with this little guy, born a year and a half after they were married. At least once a week I babysit him so his mom can work at the office instead of trying to do it all from home.

Do you have any surprises and blessings to tell about?

Just to update you a little …

As I shared with you in a much earlier post, I have moved from writing into painting – which is on hold for the second time because of the pandemic. And as you likely know, I am a book lover so I’ve gone deeper into reading reading reading. At the beginning of the year I took on reading challenges so that I can work my way through the large number of yet unread books I have purchased over the years – mostly discounted and at book sales. I am ~~compulsively~~ lovingly adding to my accumulation, hoping to eventually set up my own personal library in one of the former bedrooms in our house.

In this post I am going to tell you about the reading challenges and perhaps I can share about my painting in a later post.

On Goodreads I accepted an invitation to join the 52BookClub – the challenge to read 52 books in 52 weeks, by following prompts for each week. They don’t have to be done in order, so I chose not to read them in order of prompts which are listed at the beginning.

From Indigo I accepted the challenge of reading 21 books in this year, also following prompts. A few of them line up with 52BookClub prompts, so I can use one book for both.

On Goodreads I also accepted the challenge to read Agatha Christie books with no set deadline. I have a few of hers that I haven’t read yet, and got a few more at a book sale a few weeks ago. I’ve yet to start that one.

Our local library issues a summer reading challenge too, which I tried last year and will likely do again. I’m continually keeping my library ladies busy.

I almost forgot … Goodreads challenges readers to set a personal goal, and mine has been high the past few years, but this year I lowered it. 700 is my goal, which includes all genres and mostly picture books – whatever I can read. Although I am not writing picture books now I am still reading them and sharing them. Always learning.

Because I’m slowly trying to figure out how to maneuver the changes made to WordPress, I haven’t been able to update my homepage much, but I plan to do that. I’ll show there the books I’ve read for the challenges – once I figure it out!

Perhaps you will find that you’ve read some of the titles I have selected for prompts, or maybe you will be encouraged to read some on my list. Either way, I hope you enjoy reading and travelling to different places through books.

Shown above are some of the many books I have on hand to read. This is before I purchased many more at the book sale in April. The ones stacked in front are chosen for prompts, and in my journal on the desk I’m keeping track.

I’m currently reading How NOT to Die by Michael Greger. (such a good book!) And I’m reading The Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner, having loved the movie starring Will Smith.

What are you reading these days?

Thanks for reading this post, and … Blessings on your day! Let’s be in touch – social distancing, of course.

HAPPY NEW YEAR – 2021 has to be better than 2020 … right?

Hello, my friends! Happy New Year!

It’s been a very challenging existence for most of us the past year – some much more than others. I do hope you were not terribly hard hit in 2020. We aren’t all the way through yet, and I believe it is going to continue for quite awhile yet – be it COVID-19 or political upheaval. Do take care of yourself.

I am not going to post much this time, but I think you might enjoy this video. One could look at it as a celebration of making it through the past year and welcoming the new one.

Much love to you as we move ahead this year.

Thanks for reading, and … Blessings to you! 🙂

No- Launch- Book- Launch of Good Mothers Don’t by Laura Best

Hey, everybody!
It’s been a VERY LONG time since I have posted here on my blog, but here is a blog post you have to read. It’s by author Laura Best about her newest book! Be sure to view her reading from her book via YouTube.

Laura Best

Welcome to the No- Launch- Book- Launch of Good Mothers Don’t, brought to you compliments of Covid 19 and Rural Internet Service. I’m so glad you could make it. I know, I know,–it’ just not the same, right? But hey, I’m not about to let the fact that I can’t have a regular book launch at the community centre, or even a virtual launch, get me down. When life gives you lemons you make lemonade, right?

We tried, we really did, to come up with a way to help celebrate the release of my new novel but there was that uncomfortable feeling lurking in the background, that sinister pandemic pointing it’s ugly finger like the grim reaper waiting to catch us off guard. We thought about ways to make it safe and fun like all the other launches we’ve had here at the community centre, but mask-wearing isn’t fun…

View original post 2,407 more words

Happy New Year!; news; word for the year

2019! 2019! 2019! 2019! 2019! 2019!

It’s hard to believe it is 2019 already, but that’s what my calendar says so it must be true, so …

HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone!

I have a bunch of news to share with you.

About LIFE: Looking back, 2018 proved to be a more challenging year for me on a personal level. Sometimes you learn surprising and/or disappointing things about people. It can be quite impacting. Enough about that, except to say I’ve also learned more about myself, and that there is more to self-care than I realized. Although we are soon completing 8 years of daddy-care, I’m now giving myself time for new things, which I’ll tell you about. First I’ll mention that in November 2018 I passed a landmark birthday. It doesn’t even bother me; in fact, I’m rather happy about it. There really are some benefits to getting older. 🙂 My family had a surprise party for me, too, which was fun.

About HOME: We have a new kitchen and I love it! (did I tell you this before?) My husband completely renovated it from a tiny space to a very large and up-to-date one. I have an ocean theme happening in there and it brings me such peace. Did I say I love my new kitchen? From start to finish it took a year, but it wasn’t that bad living with my kitchen things stored in several rooms, and using a two burner hot plate, knowing what was coming. We still got along fine, despite a few enthusiastic discussions, and it has all come out better than expected.

About WRITING: You all know that writing was my main reason for this blog, well … writing and books, books, books. Because of … stuff in my life … stresses, depression, much tiredness, and so on, the joy of writing disappeared and writing became a burden to me. All that hoping and planning and effort had to be set aside; I did the minimal and stopped expecting more of myself than I could manage. The heaviness lifted which confirmed it was the right thing to do for now. I still am interested in writing and believe I will come back to it again as I always do. Can’t stay away. My blog suffered and I feel I’ve let you down, for which I apologize.

About ART: Since I have to be doing something creative, you might be wondering what I was led into now. In July, thanks to a set of situations that God put together so beautifully, I began PAINTING LESSONS! Yes! This is something I’ve been wanting to learn since I was 17, decades ago. It didn’t work out for me then, but the time is right for me now and I am loving it. My teacher is a very talented professional artist who is patient, easy to work with and fun to be around. That’s what works for me. 🙂 I started with private lessons, then joined others for two sets of classes spanning eight weeks, and now I am renting space in his studio and getting help when I need it – which is still very necessary. I’ve met other interesting painters, all women, and two in particular I paint with the most. They’re funny, talented, and great to spend time with in the studio. Being the only one with no background experience in painting, I learn something every time I’m there to work on something, which is only one morning a week at this point, but I’ve completed two oil paintings that now are hanging in my house. If you are interested in seeing some of my teacher’s work: ARTCAN

About READING: If you happened to peek at my reading progress, which you can access from the menu at the top of the page, you’ll have seen that I did a huge amount of reading last year. My total? 1389! I can hardly believe it myself! Most were pictures books, but I read several novels and also enjoyed audio books. Goodreads sets a reading challenge every year, so in 2018 I set mine at 500. Guess I beat that one with no problem! This year I may have set my personal goal too high – 1000 – but I’ll see what I can do.

About EVENTS: The exciting news for 2019 is that another of our daughters is getting married to a great guy. They’ve set the date for April and are having their ceremony in Jamaica, following that small event a few weeks later with a big celebration with family and friends in May. It’s going to be a busy spring!

About MY WORD FOR 2019: The past several years I’ve chosen a word for the year. Actually, I wait for it to be given to me, and this year it was immediately revealed. FLOURISH. That’s got an expansive feel to it, freeing and creative.

About GOALS: As you know, I don’t set new year resolutions, I set goals. I didn’t do very well with them last year, so for 2019 I simply want to improve in my painting skills, read lots, and gradually get back what I lost.

Now it’s time to stop and let you do some sharing. What were the highs and lows of your 2018? Do you have goals for 2019? And do you have a word for the year?

I hope to hear from you. ♥ Sending you love.

Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂