Category Archives: Bookish Talk

Bookish Talk, Lists

My Favorite Reads: Best of 2025

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2025 Top 5 Reads - Book Chatter

Reading was down overall for 2025. Who could read during this mess of a country we are living in. Even though my numbers were down, I read some excellent reads. Give any of these a go, you won’t be sorry. 

The Imagined Life by Andrew Porter
Heart the Lover by Lily King
The Mad Wife by Meagan Church
My Friends by Fredrick Backman
Writers & Lovers by Lily King

You’ll notice two Lily King books. I am in love with her writing. Give them all to me, please. All of these books stayed with me long after I turned the last page. You can’t go wrong with any of them. Enjoy!

Bookish Talk, Life

Sunday Matters: Fell Into an Atwood Rabbit Hole

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Sunday Matters, a latte on a wooden tray against greenery.

Hey, friends. How the heck are you? I’ve been really good but busy at work and with this train wreck of an administration running the country right now (poorly, I might add), time just gets away from me. I nearly forgot about the time change. Really? That again??

Right Now:

As always, I’m about to hang with my students at church. With three services back to back, it makes for a long morning. Some mornings are more challenging because A) Sugar or B) Lack of sleep affect students. Ha! Also, that 6 7 nonsense. IYKYK.

This Week:

I have a routine doc visit. No biggie.

Unrelated, but I joined a walking challenge at work. It’s SO unlike me to do this. I am not a big fan of challenges, especially work ones but I have been chained to my desk for hours at a time and it’s not great to be sitting for that long.

So, I joined. With a minimum of 6K steps my team gets points. With 8K, more points. 10K, even more. I find it easy to get the 6K and most of the time even 8K but 10K a day has been challenging due to time.

Besides carving out time to walk I’ve been exploring new places to walk. Parks and trails. It feels good to be outside. Music and audiobooks have been helping me out.

Reading:

I mentioned falling down an Atwood rabbit hole. Yep. I chose Cat’s Eye for book club. Then a different group of us read Oryx and Crake together. That was a tough subject matter so some bowed out.

I carried on and read the next book in that trilogy, The Year of the Flood. I’ve always liked Atwood’s writing but reading her work now with all of THIS going on? Unbelievable. Truly. I should have my review of Flood up soon.

Watching:

Not a darn thing. I got my Halloween movie fix in and now? Nothing. Not itching to watch anything. Although Stranger Things drops the week of Thanksgiving.

Grateful for:

  • Local parks
  • Cool mornings
  • My little pup who continues to rally at age 16
  • Friends who make me laugh
  • Funny videos or reels

That’s it from me. I hope to continue my walking. My most recent hospital stay for all that kidney nonsense was like a huge red flag going up. Like the brain tumor and pulmonary embolism weren’t enough. Ha!