books-and-cookies:With the end of the year fast approaching, there’s always this rush to…

books-and-cookies:

With the end of the year fast approaching, there’s always this rush to finish your goodreads challenge or a certain number of pages or any other goal you’ve set for yourself, reading wise. And I just want to tell you: breathe deeply, it’s okay if you don’t reach those goals. It’s okay if you’re one book or 50 below your challenge or if you’ve only managed to read a book or a chapter this year.

We tend to get so competitive with ourselves, with others, that we often forget that the whole point of reading is to have fun. Escape the world. Live somewhere else for a while. Find peace or meaning. It’s not a competition or a race or a struggle. It shouldn’t be stressful or anxiety inducing. And if it gets to that point, it’s okay to take a step back and reevaluate.

And always, always remember that you’ve been a reader since you read that very first page and realised “man, I love this”. And no one can take that away from you.

“The snow lay thin and apologetic over the world. That wide grey sweep was the lawn, with the…”

“The snow lay thin and apologetic over the world. That wide grey sweep was the lawn, with the straggling trees of the orchard still dark beyond; the white squares were the roofs of the garage, the old barn, the rabbit hutches, the chicken coops. Further back there were only the flat fields of Dawson’s farm, dimly white-striped. All the broad sky was grey, full of more snow that refused to fall. There was no colour anywhere.”

- Susan Cooper, The Dark Is Rising.

“She knew perfectly well that things like parties and best friends and going to tea with people were…”

“She knew perfectly well that things like parties and best friends and going to tea with people were fine for everyone else, because everyone else was “inside” - inside some sort of invisible magic circle. But Anna herself was outside. And so these things had nothing to do with her. It was as simple as that.”

- Joan G. Robinson, When Marnie Was There.

laurasimonsdaughter:Merry no-longer-quite Midwinter everyone! On this Christmas Day, I wanted to…

laurasimonsdaughter:

Merry no-longer-quite Midwinter everyone!

On this Christmas Day, I wanted to share with you that some Greek and Slavic folklore states that children born on Christmas eve or day are destined to be vampires after death and sometimes already demonic during life.

In Poland and Germany the curse sometimes extends the whole 12 days of Christmas and leads to becoming a werewolf instead of a vampire. While in Italy you could grow up to be either a werewolf or a witch.

I have found two general explanations for these curses:

  • These are the Darkest Days of the year and no matter how many flames we light in the dark, evil is strong in these times.
  • Jesus takes his birthday very seriously and gets real pissed off whenever someone tries to make him share the spotlight.

In any case, blessings upon all newborns and to all of you as well. Don’t let the darkness get to you 🕯️

Little Library GoldI’ve done almost no reading for pleasure in the last year or so. Between…

Little Library Gold

I’ve done almost no reading for pleasure in the last year or so.

Between being sucked into politics, working on the grocery front lines, writing a novel, being the essential caregiver for my mom, trying to resolve my foot problem so I can get back to walking, making masks etc., I have been struggling to get through this year.

Which is why I need to get back to basics. So when I was waiting in the car for my cat at the vet clinic, I decided to check out their Little Free Library where I found Michael Connelly’s sequel to the “Lincoln Lawyer.”

Awesome!