Writing Stories and Celebrating Poetry

Hi my fellow bookworms,

Happy Spring!

This month I spent much time writing. It has been a while since I pushed myself to do so (with school over and whatnot), and though while the writing was instructive, it was the most creative writing I have accomplished in a while. I am prepping to host a memoir workshop this upcoming month, based upon the Story Circle Network's Older Women's Legacies initiative. I made a complete revision of the workbook that was used previously. It was hard, since I have a couple returning members, but I wanted this experience to be special and new for them. After much research, thinking, writing, and rewriting, I am happy with this new workbook. I hope this next month will be full of heartfelt writing and memories.

March honors many holidays and celebrations, but one I wanted to bring a focus to is Women's History Month. One of the blogs I read promoted this calendar featuring different books for each day in March, celebrating different women in history, written by women. I have not yet read these titles, but the one I want to is the book titled Let's Call Her Barbie by Renee Rosen. Find out more information about the books on Janis Robinson Daly's blog here. 

(c) Janis Robinson Daly, 2026

You can always use this opportunity to check off the squares on your bingo card (featured in my January blog post), or to check off your Read Harder list from Book Riot. :) 

Goodreads also has finally unveiled their DNF option, or "Did Not Finish" option. I just categorized a book on my Goodreads shelf as DNF and tagged it, so I will hopefully read it again when I have a moment! I feel like I started and stopped quite a few books this past winter, but haven't updated my public profile. I am aiming to read for fun for at least 20 minutes a day and will hopefully bring you some lovely new reviews soon! 

Speaking of books to read, there is a list of free fantasy novels for your Kindle! Check out the blog, Stuff With Fantasy, for your ecopies today. I believe you will have until the end of the day on Monday to download your chosen novels.

Continuing with my earlier conversation about celebrations...

(c) Once Upon A Book Blog(ger) 2026

April honors many different celebrations, including Deaf History Month, Earth Day, April Fool's Day, Arab American Heritage Month, National Poetry Month, National Scrabble Day, International Dance Day, and of course, religious observances, such as Easter and Passover. One of my coworkers is creating a display for our library observing National Poetry Month. She will be displaying artwork titled "blackout poetry." Blackout poetry is a form of poetry in which you take a page from a printed book (we are using discarded books that are now going to be upcycled), black out most of the page using a permanent marker, and create a poem based on the text present. Some who are more artistically inclined can draw pictures to help further the poem's meaning, others create more profound messages, but it is aimed to help overcome writer's block and unleash your creative spirit. I created my own! :) ^ See here ^

Last year I did my own display for April and National Poetry Month using "Pocket Poems," or poems you can fit into your pocket for on-the-go reading and inspiration. I also had a section were visitors could submit their own poems for display. While I am not a great poet, I love the elegance and rhythmic language and the imagery each poem evokes. 

Would you write a blackout poem? If you do, or just want to write a regular one, or even share a poem already in existence, please do so here! 

Until next month...Happy Reading! :)

Happy New Year! Happy Lunar New Year!

 Hello my fellow bookworms,

Happy New Year and Happy Lunar New Year! This Lunar New Year is the Year of the Snake. According to the NBC News, beginning on January 29th (which is also National Puzzle Day!), this year is about renewal, regeneration, letting go of the past (whether it is anger, lost love, etc.), and start a new beginning. This year is about growth, creativity, and positive transformation - so be sure to clean your home, decorate with red to add good luck, and celebrate with your family and friends (Google).

Photo by RDNE Stock project from Pexels

I hope you have been enjoying the winter weather so far! It has been a mix of warm and cold weather with us, and I am definitely enjoying the warmer part! We already had our first snow, but we have been having a lot of rain, so luckily I have a good stack of books to read ready to go!

February marks the beginning of Black History Month! Libraries all over the United States have some really cool events planned. DC Public Library is hosting "Historically Black Phrases Live!" LA County Library is hosting many different book discussion and live music events. New York Public Library is hosting an innovative Book Design Workshop with Blk + Brwn Book Designers, in which patrons can learn book binding basics! If I lived closer, I would totally go to this event!

Something really cool that the Chicago Public Library is doing is hosting tours of the Pullman National Historical Park Museum. Pullman National Historical Park is a part of the United States' National Parks Foundation, designated in 2015, and the first one in Chicago. In middle school, I had chosen the Pullman estate as a topic for a history project, and thought it to be fascinating and unfair. The town of Pullman became one of creating Pullman cars (a type of railroad car), factories, homes, and basically a ploy that trapped workers in the area. Workers would have their pay deducted if they lived in the town of Pullman. There were many issues with how the workers were being paid, which led to the Pullman Strike of 1894, to which George Pullman was criticized for his policies and experimentation of how he ran his company, town, and factory workers, and the Supreme Court ultimately ordered the Pullman Company to sell its non-industrial land holdings (no more controlling the workers!). The success of the company came back to fruition under the leadership of its next president, Robert Todd Lincoln. I had pictures and postcards from my time visiting the area, but if you happen to visit, please share what you learn / your photos!

There a lot of books, music, and movies that you can consume and learn from this upcoming month. I recently learned there is an audiobook of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous speeches and sermons, which would be a pretty neat experience to hear! If you are not sure what you would want to read/listen/watch, here are some options:

• Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby
• By the Book by Jasmine Guillory
• Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
• Coming to America
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• A Dash of Salt and Pepper by Kosoko Jackson
• The Deep by Rivers Solomon
• Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
• Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin
• Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
• The Hate U Give
• Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola
• Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
• Just Mercy
• Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Essential Box
• The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monae
• Moonlight
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave
• One Night in Miami
• Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
• Real Men Knit by K. M. Jackson
• Run by John Lewis
• The Unspoken by Ian K. Smith
• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
• The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates 
• You Should See Me in a Crown  by Leah Johnson 

I know this blog post is a mesh of different ideas, but I finally graduated and I feel I am now back into the groove of blogging again. I would like to leave you with some fun links before I sign off:

• Temptations (the cat treats brand) released a series of fabulously purrfect reads featuring cats as the main characters. Check them out here!

• Book Riot released their annual Read Harder Challenge! I hope to finally tackle some of these fun book challenges this year, now that I do not have to read my homework anymore! :)

• Starbucks partnered with Oprah and is hosting a book club. The one for December featured Claire Keegan's Small Things Like These. It is a short book covering heavy topics, one that was gifted to me by a friend, so I hope to catch up on my reading and read it. The latest title is A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. 

• Goodreads hosted their Goodreads Choice Awards last year, of which you can now see the winners, voted on by readers like you! A few of the currently nominated books that I want to read include:
• James by Percival Everett
• The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava
• A Touch of Chaos by Scarlett St. Clair (the last in a series!)
• Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier
• The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
• Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino

I wish you all the best this year! Happy early Valentine's Day! I hope you make time for yourself and treat yourself to a good cup of coffee/tea/hot chocolate and a good book. 

Photo by freestocks.org from Pexels

Happy Reading! :)

Best of the Best Book Lists

Photo by Ioana Motoc from PexelsPhoto by Ioana Motoc: https://www.pexels.com/photo/sill-life-with-gingerbread-red-berries-and-old-books-lying-on-a-windowsill-19149211/

Hello my fellow bookworms!

How did the time go by so fast? We just had falling leavings and changing colors, and suddenly, SNOW. Ah! I am not ready for it, yet. At least, there are quite a few new cozy reads out to keep you company during the cold season?

Today I have some award winning and best of the year book lists for you!

• The National Book Awards
• According to the National Book Foundation's website:

"The National Book Awards were established in 1950 to celebrate the best writing in America. Since 1989, they have been overseen by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to celebrate the best literature published in the United States, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in our culture. Although other categories have been recognized in the past, the Awards currently honors the best Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature published each year."

• The winners for this year are:
• Fiction: Blackouts by Justin Torres
• Nonfiction: The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History by Ned Blackhawk
• Poetry: from unincorporated territory [åmot] by Craig Santos Perez
• Translated Literature: The Words That Remain by Stenio Gardel, Bruna Dantas Lobato
  
• Young People's Literature: A First Time for Everything by Dan Santat
  
• If you check out the award website, you can also see the finalists and various Longlists!
  

• The 2023 Booker Prize

According to The Booker Prizes website:


The Booker Prize is the leading literary award in the English speaking world, and has brought recognition, reward and readership to outstanding fiction for over five decades

Each year, the prize is awarded to what is, in the opinion of the judges, the best sustained work of fiction written in English and published in the UK and Ireland. It is a prize that transforms the winner’s career.

• The winner of the 2023 Booker Prize this year is: Prophet Songby Paul Lynch
• Check out the Booker Prize website to see the both the Shortlist and Longlist of book nominations!
   
• New York Times' 100 Notable Books of 2023
  

• Time's Best Books 2023 
  

• Book Riot's Best Books of 2023
• Check out their selections in science fiction, romance, nonfiction, mystery/thriller, horror, fiction, fantasy, comics, and children's books!

• Goodreads Choice Awards - you can still vote in these for about 2 more days! Check Goodreads in about a week or so to see the final results.
  

I am currently working on a project in my neighborhood that details the top 25 books the community has read. I was surprised by the amount of manga that made the list! I was not surprised that Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus was the #1 book, though! What was your favorite book this year? I still have some time left, so I will leave my choice until next time. ;)

Happy Reading!

Summer Vibes

Photo by Ylanite Koppens from Pexels

Hello my fellow bookworms!

It's finally summer! Depending on where you live, that could mean you are able to go out and enjoy some sunshine, or it could mean that you may still have limited hours to be out. It is still a weird time for all of us, but at least we are a bit closer to all going outdoors and being social again.

I have some book news for you:

• Just in time for summer, the ice cream company Salt & Straw is hosting new flavors based on children's books. You can buy a pint for yourself (online) and enjoy reading the book it is based off at the same time! (Smile: Words & Pictures sounds like a delicious flavor to me!)
  

• If you feel up to it, Buzzfeed Books is hosting a Summer Reading Challenge. Read through six different categories and enter to win a tote bag, candle, and six books!
  

• The New Adult Scavenger Hunt is no more. I am sad to read this, but am glad that it was around for as long as it was (it was held annually since 2014). See the final post by Kelsey Ketch, the host of the hunt, here, before it is deleted, along with the website.
  

• Do you  have a Costco membership? If so, there is a "hidden benefit" where Costco hosts book signings and events! They also offer signed books to purchase at their store, as well. You can view the upcoming author events here. Though the events calendar is empty at the moment (at least, it is for my area of the world), I imagine it will fill out as places start reopening again. 
  

• Are you tired of reading the same old stories and need diversity, different points of view, and books of color, but do not know where to start? Try LibraryReads, a website that hosts the monthly nationwide library staff picks list for adult fiction and non-fiction that aims to be inclusive of all races, genders, viewpoints, etc. If you are a librarian, you can nominate a new and upcoming book to the monthly list, as well!
  

• The Smithsonian Magazine has a list of books to read in honor of Pride Month, showcasing overlooked stories and new books to dive into. 
  

• Book Riot has a list of free audiobooks for children to listen to. It may be of some fun to listen to this summer, whether you have children or are a child at heart!
  

• I know I mentioned it in my previous post, but the First Chapters Contest is live and up until July 18th! Try your hand at writing a compelling first chapter to win $3,000, publication, and a consultation with an agent!
  

• If you live in the UK or in France, there is a book titled Le Trésor de l'Entente Cordiale® that will lead you on a treasure hunt between the two lands. If you can solve all the clues and gather the key fragments, you will be led to an actual treasure: a golden casket! 

Photo by Taryn Elliott from Pexels

I hope you have a happy, healthy, and fun summer! What books are you looking forward to reading? Let me know! I have a stack of books that I am aiming to read, so I will update on that next time. :)

 Happy Reading!

Wishing You a Happy New Year

Good Afternoon Bookworms,

I hope you had a very happy holiday season so far!

(c) OnceUponABookBlog(ger) 2020

How did you do with Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge for 2020? I can tell you that I should have read harder, as I read only 7 out of the 24 categories this year. This year was hard for me to read actual books. Audiobooks were fun, as well as comics and graphic novels. What time I usually spent in transit reading was not there this year. I also started reading then stopped reading a few books. There were many other things going on that made it harder to read, but I hope with the new year, I can get back into the swing of things and buckle down and just read! Here are my final categories, with the categories read in bold:

1. Read a YA nonfiction book
2. Read a retelling of a classic of the canon, fairytale, or myth by an author of color
1. Snow White, an Islamic Tale by Fawzia Gilani-Williams 
   
3. Read a mystery where the victim(s) is not a woman
1. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
4. Read a graphic memoir
1. Almost American Girl by Robin Ha
2. They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, and Harmony Becker 
3. Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh
5. Read a book about a natural disaster
6. Read a play by an author of color and/or queer author
7. Read a historical fiction novel not set in WWII
8. Read an audiobook of poetry
9. Read the LAST book in a series
1. The Fiercest Joy by Shana Abé 
2. Imagine Me by Tahereh Mafi
10. Read a book that takes place in a rural setting
11. Read a debut novel by a queer author
12. Read a memoir by someone from a religious tradition (or lack of religious tradition) that is not your own
13. Read a food book about a cuisine you’ve never tried before
14. Read a romance starring a single parent
15. Read a book about climate change
16. Read a doorstopper (over 500 pages) published after 1950, written by a woman
17. Read a sci-fi/fantasy novella (under 120 pages)
18. Read a picture book with a human main character from a marginalized community 
1. Last Stop on Market Street by Matt De La Peña
19. Read a book by or about a refugee
20. Read a middle grade book that doesn’t take place in the U.S. or the UK 
1. Melody Finch by Ian Boyd and Gary Luck
21. Read a book with a main character or protagonist with a disability (fiction or non)
1. The Aosawa Murders by Riku Onda  
2. Almond by Won-Pyung Song
22. Read a horror book published by an indie press
23. Read an edition of a literary magazine (digital or physical)
24. Read a book in any genre by a Native, First Nations, or Indigenous author

If you tried reading harder this year, let me know what your favorite book was this year! If not, let me know anyway! If you want to try Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge for 2021, you can do so by clicking the link. If you happen to finish the entire list, you can receive 30% off of an order at Out of Print!

Happy last day of 2020! This year has been one wild ride. There is much to look forward to this upcoming year. I hope that by this time next year, we may be able to see each other in person once more. May you fill the new year with new adventures, books, accomplishments, and learning!

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Until next year! :)

Happy 2020!

Hello Fellow Bookworms,

Can you believe we have reached another new year, another new decade? There were so many good books this past decade, and there are so many good books still to come!

Have you heard of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge? The original post, posted in 2015, is continuing into its sixth year in 2020, with a list intended to challenge the way you read and guide you to read outside of your norm. As an added bonus, if you are able to complete the list before next December 31st, you can snag a 30% coupon off an order at Out of Print!

Want to try out the challenge with me? Here is the list:

1. Read a YA nonfiction book
2. Read a retelling of a classic of the canon, fairytale, or myth by an author of color
3. Read a mystery where the victim(s) is not a woman
4. Read a graphic memoir
5. Read a book about a natural disaster
6. Read a play by an author of color and/or queer author
7. Read a historical fiction novel not set in WWII
8. Read an audiobook of poetry
9. Read the LAST book in a series
10. Read a book that takes place in a rural setting
11. Read a debut novel by a queer author
12. Read a memoir by someone from a religious tradition (or lack of religious tradition) that is not your own
13. Read a food book about a cuisine you’ve never tried before
14. Read a romance starring a single parent
15. Read a book about climate change
16. Read a doorstopper (over 500 pages) published after 1950, written by a woman
17. Read a sci-fi/fantasy novella (under 120 pages)
18. Read a picture book with a human main character from a marginalized community
19. Read a book by or about a refugee
20. Read a middle grade book that doesn’t take place in the U.S. or the UK
21. Read a book with a main character or protagonist with a disability (fiction or non)
22. Read a horror book published by an indie press
23. Read an edition of a literary magazine (digital or physical)
24. Read a book in any genre by a Native, First Nations, or Indigenous author

(c) Once Upon A Book Blog(ger) 2019

Did you end up completing any resolutions? I find it is really hard for me to continuously complete a task and must shake things up every now and again to keep the task interesting (i.e. workout more --> go outside, hike, bike, parkour, etc.). Thinking it over, while not keeping to what I originally wanted for myself in the beginning of this year, I think this year has brought much perspective that I can use in 2020.

Thank you all for staying with me and this blog, which was once a resolution of mine! I wish you all the very best for the upcoming year and upcoming decade! May you stay curious, stay kind, love yourself, love others, travel, and experience the world - whether it be in book form or not. As Walt Disney once said, "Keep moving forward."

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P.S. I am currently in between a middle school/young adult fantasy book and do not want to rush a review post, so look out for another book review soon! :)