...this is the first time in almost a week I was able to get booklikes to load. It's just getting worse, isn't it? And if that's not bad enough, I finally created a post on Wordpress after the new update.  Typically my posts are crossovers from here or tumblr, or whatever.  So that block thing...OMG does it suck so much ass!  I tried to "switch to classic editor"  and you know what it did?  It took me right back to the block editor.  It's so...ugh!  It's frustrating and I now want to start looking for a new book blog spot.  I'm on Librarything, but it's not a blog spot and you couldn't pay me to go back to goodreads.  I've recently signed up for the beta site The StoryGraph, and though I haven't fully explored it, I'm pretty sure it's not a full-on blog spot like here.  I think it'll be a good site after some time, but right now, the only way to import your library is from goodreads, so that's going to make adding my library tedious.

So...suggestions?  I know I should probably suck it up and figure out how to make the new wordpress update work for me, but I don't have a ton of time to blog as it is.  And when I have the time, I'm usually exhausted and sore from work.  Life is stressful enough right now, and book blogging is supposed to be fun.  I barely have a handle on wordpress as it is.  Again, UGH!!

If anyone is/has been blogging somewhere else that they like and find (at least a little) user-friendly, I'd love a heads-up.

Also, I hope everyone is doing well,  I know I've been absent from here for a bit and only part of that is because the site only works half the time I log on.

Book: Skip

Task #1: Dreidel

I went with having all biographies or memoirs. My choices were:

Nun - Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revoluntionary by Anita Anand

Shin - Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper

Hei - Living and Dying in Brick City by Dr. Sampson Davis

Gimel - This Will Be My Undoing by Morgan Jenkins

On December 15, you spun the Dreidel and got a....

Gimel!

I will be reading This Will Be My Undoing come January 1st!

Task #2: Recipe for Latkes - uh we just fry up a Rosti latke packet, with applesauce on the side. 

Task #3: Skip

Task #4: As a family, we have donated 10 cans to the school food drive in November and four more cans and four toys to the local food bank via the town's Tree Lighting ceremony on December 12th.

Door 5: Bon Om Touk

Book: I read Life As We Knew It (Last Survivors #1) by Susan Beth Pfeffer. That is one big moon and it gets bigger with each additional book in the series.

Task #1: List of rainy day reads - I don't do much, if any, re-reading. Rainy day reads means to me reading something that gets me so invested I don't want to leave my blanket fort, so mysteries - either cozy or historical. Something quiet and soothing, but with a puzzle to solve to keep me turning the pages.

1. Guidebook to Murder (Tourist Trap Mystery#1) by Lynn Cahoon

2. Spying in High Heels (High Heels #1) by Gemma Halliday

3. A Death on the Way to Portsmouth by Christine Trent

4. Mr. Churchill's Secretary (Maggie Hope #1) by Susan Elia MacNeal

5. Miss Frost Solves a Cold Case (Jayne Frost #1) by Kristin Painter

Task #2: Skipping

Task #3: Did someone say dragons? Toothless from the How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell is of course my favorite literary dragon.

Task #4: Compile a list or stack – 4 books minimum – composed of books that either have opposing words in their titles

I had to search my current TBR pile as well as past reading (thank you BL reading challenge app!) to get these:

1. Living and Dying in Brick City by Dr. Sampson Davis

2. Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor's Reflections on Race and Medicine by Dr. Damon Tweedy

3. Alone: The Triumph and Tragedy of John Curry by Bill Jones

4. Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George

Book: I read I'm Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal (both main characters are 15).

Task #1: Favorite children's book is still Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Clearly. Favorite middle grade reads were anything Babysitters' Club (still holds up 30+ years later!) and Sweet Valley High (does not at all hold up 30+ years later, but does provide endless commentary via the Double Love podcast, which I HIGHLY recommend listening to).

Task #2: Skipping

Task #3: 

I used the Happy Color app on a daily basis (it's so soothing it puts me to sleep). It had two pictures dedicated to the holiday.

Task #4: As a kid, we went to Action Park (sadly closed in the early 2000s) and Dorney Park (THE place for school field trips). When I was young, all I wanted from a ride was to feel like I was almost going to throw up, so my favorites were roller coasters and anything that spun you in a circle really fast. I went to Disney World once when I was 16, so the rides I went on took forever to get to due to the long lines. Then there were the Midway rides that came every summer with the local fairs. As an adult and a parent, I get out of having to go on many rides since my kids are tall enough to go on the rides themselves. The ones we go on as a family are the Ferris Wheel and the Twirl-a-Whirl (known as the Teacups ride at Disney parks). I can't really do roller coasters or any ride with strobe lights due to the epilepsy.

Giving this another read! This was the second book I read in the series but actually the latest one so after I went back and started with book 1, I just kept wanting to go through to the end again. This will surprisingly fit under International Human Rights Day for a couple of reasons. I'll explain once I'm finished! :)