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Moonshine and Metaphysics

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Mid-year reviews for 2026. Here's what stood out in terms of books and shows/ movies.

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2026 Audiobook Challenge

The 2026 Audiobook Challenge is being hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer and That’s What I’m Talking About. Audiobooks are something I have only recently picked up, but eager to give it a try. I found them exceedingly useful last year for making daily chores more enjoyable. I will probably manage a maximum of 1-5 books under “Newbie (I’ll give it a try)” status, although I am secretly aiming for…

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Best Books I Read in 2025

First Top 10 Tuesday post of 2026! Happy New Year, everyone!!! This week’s Top 10 Tuesday prompt has us look at our best books of 2025, and I am eager to see what everyone has to share! My own favorites are listed below, and reviews shared earlier by me HERE. My reading list is still heavier on the historical fantasy fiction side, but I am glad I managed to pick up on non-fiction reads as…

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Mini-Reviews: Books in 2025 [Long List]

I was ready to write bad angsty poetry on my never-ending reading / blogging slump in the first half of 2025. But luckily, the second half got me out of slump valley in record time. Here’s a quick record of everything I read and (mostly) liked in the past year. Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 4 out of 5. This book reminded me a lot of Madeline Miller’s Circe, as if retelling a mix…

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Watchlist 2025: Mini-Reviews [Long List]

Happy New Year 2026! Lots of watches this past year 2025, and here’s a time capsule of everything good that I binged on. Frankenstein (2025) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 5 out of 5. Standout watch of the year. This movie is a spellbinding visual feast. To think it is based on a book written by 20-year old Mary Shelley during a writing contest among friends in 1818! This story remains relevant for modern…

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Cool Clicks: Best of the Year 2025 Links

When the world is going grim, you take refuge in the pieces of awe and marvel around you. Sharing some art, photography and music to click for. {Disclaimer: None of the links or images shared here belong to me in any way, and no copyright infringement or commercialization is intended by sharing them here for fair use purposes.} [1] Feast on the photos of the Earth’s most stunning landscapes for…

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Throwback Thursday: Imperial Radch Trilogy by Ann Leckie

Name(s): Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, Ancillary MercyAuthor: Ann LeckiePublisher: Orbit BooksCover Art: John HarrisAwards: Hugo, Nebula, British Science Fiction Association, Arthur C. Clarke, Locus etc. etc.Audiobooks: Recorded Books (Book 1); Hachette Audio UK (Book 2) Ancillary Justice had (IIRC) won almost every award the SFF genre had to offer, with good reason. It’s no easy feat,…

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Review: The New Magdalen by Wilkie Collins

I didn’t expect to enjoy The New Magdalen so much! Some minimal research pointed out that “Magdalenes” were rescue shelters for fallen women (~prostitutes/ unmarried pregnant women) back in 1800s. The book is set in the background of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). A lady named Grace has sent out from Canada to England, to seek a home with one of her wealthier distant relatives as a paid…

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Books set in Ominous Places

This week’s Top 10 Tuesday prompt (ten books in special settings or time period) was so cool and could have gone a thousand different ways. Yet, what I ended up thinking of were books set in ominous places. I was thinking of places that are remarkable and likely very dangerous, not somewhere you may want to venture — at least, not outside of a book. 1 / The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann…

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The New Magdalen for Classics Club Challenge

I signed up for the Classics Club challenge last year, and I am slowly — very, very slowly — trying to finish off the items on my list. Thanks to CC Spin #41, the new “lucky” number is 11, and so I am off to read: The New Magdalen by Wilkie Collins (1873) After much hunting around, here’s a blurb at Storytel that actually seemed interesting: “You don’t have to put on the red light“, as Sting…

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Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell Woods

Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell WoodsPublished: 2025Recommended for fans of: Patricia McKillip, Juliet Marillier, To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo, gritty folktale retellings, The Gothic, the poem Sea-Fever, The Pirates of the Caribbean This is a retelling of The Little Mermaid (with some elements of other tales besides), set in the coastal city of Saint-Malo, France (see that lovely image…

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TBR for Spring 2025

List of to be read books for Spring 2025: This week’s Top 10 Tuesday prompt is easy to list out … though for me, very difficult to cover! Oh well, let’s see how this year fares. What’s your TBR for Spring 2025 looking like?

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Ten Talisman Quotes

This week’s Top 10 Tuesday prompt is to recall profound/ witty/ [insert your chosen adjective] things that book characters have said. It made me think of quotes that have seemed miraculous to me, full of insight and capable of bringing great healing. I call them “talisman” quotes. 1 / Your Sacred Friend “When someone who I have given a great deal toAnd who has been a source of great hopeBetrays…

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Monthly Recap (Feb-25)

A clock to perhaps remind me that it’s time to get back to the blogging time capsule, cough up at least one post a month. So here I am, with a monthly recap :: some reviews of the hits and misses for February 2025. Only the Winds First, music share — I am totally obsessed with this song. If anyone has any listen-alikes, please do share! Twilight of the Gods ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 5 out of…

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Bookish Goals for Year ‘25

Ten Bookish Goals? Hmm, that’s a lot. I cannot think of a list of 10 bookish goals for Year ’25, for this week’s Top 10 Tuesday prompt. At most, here are 6 goals and I’d be very surprised if I can manage 2 or more of these: 1) Read at least 12 books, one for each month. The challenge, of course, remains in shortlisting 12 out of the TBR Pile… 2) Read more diversely across genres. That means,…

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Top 10 Reads of 2024

It’s time to list our top 10 reads of 2024 (and download massive TBR reclists, of course). Not much of reading this year, but I would not have missed this Top 10 Tuesday theme for the world! 1 / The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo I have not been a great fan or follower of the Grishaverse, so was hesitant in picking this up. But what a marvelous story this turned out to be. We peer into the ages of…

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Ten Changes in Reading Habits

This week’s Top 10 Tuesday has an interesting theme – how our reading habits have changed over time. This actually proved to be a fun walk down memory lane. Let me count the ways, then! Continue reading Ten Changes in Reading Habits

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