#AmReading + #AmWatching + #AmListening - Media Shares And #Reviews 31-12-20

Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.
~Brad Paisley

    

*~* 

    
Happy New Year's Eve, and welcome to this week's weekly media shares and reviews post!
    

~ 

    
*Disclaimer: no matter what's being reviewed, all opinions in this post are entirely my own, and I reserve the right to have them, regardless of who may or may not share them. Feel free to express your own in the comments, but please respect my right - and the rights of other commenters - to have opinions that might differ from yours, and to express those opinions too.
    
Also, please remember that I read/watch/listen to things in a variety of genres, and for all ages, so you should make sure you check that the book/movie/show/song is suitable for the intended audience before reading/watching/listening to it, especially if children are involved. I take no responsibility for anything which may happen as a result of failing to do so.
    

*~* 

    

OK. Let's see what I've been reading, watching, and listening to, and which song I'm going to share for the last 2020 media post, shall we? After all, that's the point of this post, and why you're here today, right?
    

*~* 

    

• Reading:

In the past two weeks I read four books... Just enough to have managed to complete my 2020 Goodreads reading goal.  I have started another book before the year is over, but I won't make it to finishing it this side of midnight, even if I stay up until then, so I guess it will go towards next year's goal.  Anyway, here are the details for the books I finished reading, along with my reviews for them. 

    

The Ickabog
by J.K. Rowling
My rating: four out of five stars

I struggled to get in to this one at first, and - being totally honest - for the first half of the book I was convinced it was only going to be a three star read for me at best. But it picked up in the second half, all the seemingly random stories started to tie together, and it had a really nice ending. So, though it was far from being an amazing read for me, I do think it was a really good one that was worth persevering with, hence the four star rating. 

    

~ 

     

Bright Lights and Candle Glow
by Staci Troilo, Michele Jones, Pamela Foster, Jan Morrill, Dave Kwiecinski, Joan Hall, P.C. Zick, and E.J. Lane
My rating: five out of five stars

Usually, when you get a collection like this from a selection of authors writing in a variety of styles and/or genres, there will be stories that appeal to you more than others. While that does hold true for this collection, it's impossible for me not to give this book the full five stars, since I feel all the stories deserve high ratings. Yes, as I said, I did enjoy some more than others. But I thought they were all fantastic and well-written tales, and consider this collection worthy of the full five stars. A highly recommended read for around the holidays. 

    

~ 

    

By Royal Appointment
by Victoria Leybourne
My rating: five out of five stars

This was a well-written and wonderful little romantic tale, with fantastic characters and a fabulous plot. 

     

~ 

     

Ready Player Two (Ready Player One, #2)
by Ernest Cline
My rating: four out of five stars

OK, so this wasn't as much of an awesome read as the first book was. However, it was a fun read, it was great to have an excuse to spend more time with the characters I learned to love in the previous book, and it did have quite a few moments I really loved. Also, that was a pretty cool ending. So, a really great read, but don't go in to it expecting to have the same amazing reading experience you had in "Ready Player One" - which I'm going to assume you read before considering reading this one - because you won't. I'm definitely glad I read it though, and would still recommend it to those who loved its prequel.
 

    
~

    

As you may already know I mentioned in yesterday's post, if you'd like to see everything I read in 2020, including what my longest and shortest reads for the year were, you can go check out my2020 year in books over on Goodreads.  As I also said yesterday, no... You don't have to be a Goodreads member to take a look. 

    

*~*
    

• Watching:

During the past two weeks I watched very little.  I did manage to catch the final episode of season 2 of "The Mandalorian" the day it was released (the Friday before Christmas) though. 

 
    

~ 

     

Unable to watch my DVD copy of my favourite holiday movie ever - which is my usual Christmas Eve movie - due to it being somewhere among the boxed up DVDs (and only now thinking about the fact it's available on Amazon Prime, and I have that)  I also watched a Christmasy movie called "Holidate" on Netflix, which - unusually for me, since I'm usually several years behind on things - is a newly released movie.  I watched it on someone else's recommendation, and thought it was a lovely movie, which I'd highly recommend to people who like the romantic comedy style holiday movies.  I missed my anual viewing of "Santa Clause - The Movie" but was not disappointed with the movie I chose to watch instead. 

    

~ 

     

That's it though.  Between the holidays, daily chores, attempts at catching up on eMails, organizing the new house, sometimes remembering to sleep, and making sure to actually complete my reading goal for the year, I didn't really have time to watch anything else.

    

*~* 

    

• Listening:

Over the past two weeks I've been listening to Christmas music.  After all, it was the holidays.  On that note, my last music share for 2020 is another Christmas song, and a reminder to do what we can to make 2021 a good year, no matter what kind of mess we're still dealing with from the disaster that was 2020.  Yes, I know this song wasn't written for the year we've just gone through, but it feels sort of appropriate.  So, whoever and wherever you might be, I hope you had a very Merry Christmas - or whatever else you celebrate at this time of year - regardless of how your holidays looked because of current circumstances, and that the coming year will be a good one for you. 

Taking A Look Back At 2020 And Ahead To 2021 - #AmReading + #AmWriting + #Blogging + Personal Goals

Life offers you so many doors, it is up to you which to open and which one to close.
~Unknown

    
It's been quite a year, hasn't it?

     

There have been serious storms, raging wildfires, not to mention a viral pandemic that's plunged the world in to chaos.  That's without counting the landlord saga, and my Nan and Aunty Joyce's deaths.  Honestly, the only good thing I can think of that happened this year was us getting our Hermann's Tortoise, Artemis, who joined our family back in January.  Well, and I guess the fact I've personally remained relatively healthy is a good thing too.  I wish I had Anne's optimism...

      

 

I don't think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.
~Anne Frank    

    

I don't know about you, but I'll be glad to see the back of 2020.  With that in mind, let's take a look at my goals.  Then we can get on with looking forward to 2021, and hoping it's better than 2020.  So...

      

You can read full details of my reading, blogging, and personal goals for last year in the version of this post from last year, and you can see the full details of my writing goals for 2020 in this post. But here's a summery of my goals for 2020, to save you having to go check out those posts (unless you want to go check them out).

    

Reading:

My 2020 reading goal was to read 104 books. I also did this bookish resolutions tag where I mentioned some titles I wanted to read in 2020, which were as follows:

• Darlene Foster's "Amanda Travels" books
• "Laughter Lines: Life from the Tail End" and "Doggerel: Life with the Small Dog" by Sue Vincent
• "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells
• Jean Adamson's "Topsy And Tim" series
• "The Four Treasures of Eirean" by Ali Isaac
• "Leith's Vegetarian Bible"
• More books by Sally Cronin
• "The Animals Of Farthing Wood" by Colin Dann
• Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" series
• The rest of Eoin Colfer's "Artemis Fowl" series
• The rest of Amber Fox's "Mae Martin Mysteries" series

     

“The love of books is a love which requires neither justification, apology, nor defense.”

~J.A. Langford

     

Blogging:

My blogging goal for 2020 was to blog five days a week (Monday through Friday).  With each day having a theme: motivational and inspirational quotes on Mondays, random stuff on Tuesdays, writing related things on Wednesdays, reviews on Thursdays, and pet posts on Fridays.

    

Writing:

I had three writing goals for 2020:

1. Finish writing two of the books I've started writing, and publish both of them in all formats I now offer.
2. Write at least 30 new poems.
3. Write a story that challenges me as an author somehow, and pulls me out of my writing comfort zone. Such as one in a genre I haven't explored much - or at all - before.

    
Personal:

My personal goal for 2020 was to practice better self care.  A goal I've been working on for a few years with little to no success, and hoped to be more successful at in 2020.

     

 So, how did I do?

     

Reading:

 I read the 104 books for my reading challenge, but it was a close one.  I almost didn't make it.  As for the books on my list: I read...

• "Laughter Lines: Life from the Tail End" and "Doggerel: Life with the Small Dog" by Sue Vincent
• Jean Adamson's "Topsy And Tim" series
• "Leith's Vegetarian Bible"
• More books by Sally Cronin (though not as many as I'd planned to)
  
• "The Animals Of Farthing Wood" by Colin Dann (the first one anyhow, but that's all I had a copy of)
  
• Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" series
• The rest of Eoin Colfer's "Artemis Fowl" series

 

So... Most of what I planned to, but not all of it.  Since it was only a  "Books I'd like to read in 2020," list though, I'm counting it as a success, since - as I said - I did read most of the ones on the list.

To see everything I read in 2020, and even get details of what my longest and shortest reads for the year were, check out my year in books on Goodreads (no, you don't have to be a member to take a look).

     

Blogging:

 Well, I did post all the days I planned to, and even several I didn't.  However, a lot of the time the theme for the day got thrown out of the window, and it was a heavy dose of quote posts that made it possible a lot of the time.  I'm still counting it as a success though, because I did post at least five days a week all year, which was an achievement in itself with how 2020 has been.

     

Writing:

 I did half of the first of my writing goals, managed to more than complete the second, but failed to do the third at all.  I completed and published "Snowlilie's Brother" - which was made available in eBook and paperback in June, and audio in August - and wrote more than 30 poems.  So a 50% success rate for my writing goals.  Given the kind of year I had, and how hard I found it to write through it, I'm not complaining though.  I am, however, hoping for better luck in 2021... I even made a point of doing the profile updates I needed to do before this year ended, and setting up the series pages with KDP's new series manager thing before 2020 was over (despite having originally planned to worry about both those things after the new year) so there would be less to get in the way once January rolls around.

     

Personal:

The year started off great.  After that... Well, things happened, and mostly I was just trying to deal with and process it all.  I tried to practice self care amid the chaos that was 2020.  I really did.  But with all the things going on this year I feel like I failed at self care again.  Although, I probably get points for actually trying.  I think any of us with self care as a goal for 2020 should get points for any attempts we made at self care this year.  So I'm calling this a partial success.  Or  perhaps, since I managed to remain reasonably sane, and keep my anxiety under control enough that I at least didn't end up in hospital, maybe I should let this count as a complete success? What do you think?

    

No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again. ~Buddha

    

As for my goals for 2021...

    

Reading:

I'm sticking with a goal of reading 104 books in 2021.  That's two books a week.  I'm not bothering with any other reading goals for the coming year, or a want to read this year list.  I just want to read 104 books or more, regardless of which ones they happen to be.

     

Blogging:

I'm reducing my blogging schedule to be posting once a week.  I'll finish out this year with the 2020 plan by catching you up on some reviews tomorrow, but after that it will be a weekly post on Fridays.  It might be a PetKid Pals post.  It might be a random update from either me or one of the petkids.  It might be a tag or something I've decided to do.  Depending what I have that I want to share.  If I have a book related announcement, something time sensative I want posted on a spacific date and that day doesn't fall on a Friday, or something interesting enough happens that means I end up with several posts I want to do at any given time, I'll do some extra posts, but mostly it will just be the weekly post, either from me or from one of the petkids.  Sorry to those who like my posts the way I've been doing them the past couple of years, but the quotes and links posts are a lot of work to put together - especially with how I have to do things with the new blogger - and I'm finding I'm spending so much time and energy on putting together blog posts that I have none of either left for actual writing, or some of the other things I want to do off the computer.  So I'm cutting back on my number of posting days.  I hope you understand.

    

All human creativity issues from the urgency of longing.

~John O'Donohue

    

 

Writing:

My writing goals for 2021 are to publish the poetry collection I've been working on, and finish writing - and then publish - at least one story.  I'd like to do more actual writing than that, even if I don't publish more than those two things, but I've decided to aim small, and just see how 2021 goes.

    

Personal:

When I first started putting my goal list together, the only goal I could come up with for this one was, "We need to get moved."  Since we've now done that though, I'm changing it to unpacking and settling in to our new home.  My other personal goal is once again a reminder to myself to practice better self care, which at least I'm off to a good start with by keeping my goals for 2021 relatively small and simple.

   

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
~Walt Disney

     

     

To sum up, my goals for 2021 are:

1. Read at least 104 books.
2. Blog once a week (on Fridays).
3. Publish the poetry collection I've been working on.
4. Finish writing, and then publish, a story.
   
5. Finish unpacking, and settle in to our new home. 
6. Practice better self care.
   

 

There's a limit to how many steps you'll be able to take today. Make sure they're all in the right direction.

~Jeff Sheehan

 

     

So, what about you? How was your 2020? Did the pandemic change a lot of things for you? If you had any goals or resolutions for the year, how did you do with them? Did the pandemic make a difference to your ability to keep them? Do you have any goals or resolutions for the coming year? Whatever the case, I'd love to know, so don't hesitate to share in the comments, or any other way you'd like to that I can be reached.

     

A goal should scare you a little & excite you A LOT.

 ~Joe Vitale

 

     

And, though we're finishing out 2020 and starting 2021 in lockdown, remember...

     

No matter what pain you’ve been through, tears will dry, broken hearts will heal, and somewhere a person who truly cares is waiting for you.
~Unknown

A Load Of #Quotes - Words Of #Wisdom + #Inspiration And #Motivation

Despite the fact most people love them, I'm not planning to do the quote posts next year (though I haven't officially announced that yet) so thought I'd use today to share the batch of quotes I've gathered that didn't end up used in posts on my blog before.  At least, I'm pretty sure none of these ended up used.  Although, with how many quote posts I've done over the past couple of years it's tough to be 100% certain without looking each one up in my archives, and I'm not about to do that, so it is possible there are duplicates somewhere along the way.  Either way, here they are.

 

 

*~* 

    

“The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another's, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises.”

~Leo Buscaglia

    

 *~* 

     

"Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open."

~Albus Dumbledore

 

"For most people, blaming others is a subconscious mechanism for avoiding accountability. In reality, the only thing in your way is YOU."

~Steve Maraboli
     

“The journey between what you once were and who you are now becoming is where the dance of Life really takes place.”

~Barbara De Angelis

 

“The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been.”

~Madeleine L'Engle

          

 "In difficult times carry something beautiful in your heart."
~Blaise Pascal

“All events are blessings given to us to learn from.”

~Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

  

"Look up at the stars & not down at your feet. Make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. However difficult life
may seem, there's always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don't just give up."
~Stephen Hawking

“When the sun has set, no candle can replace it.”

~George R.R. Martin

 

“Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in one's own sunshine.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

“Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.”

~E.B. White

 

“Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.”

~Anne Frank

 

“Beauty is not in the face; Beauty is a light in the heart.”

~Kahlil Gibran

 

“The quieter you become. The more you can hear.”

~Ram Dass

 

“Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.”

~Lionel Hampton

 

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”

~Marcus Aurelius

 

“Life is a learning experience only if you learn.”

~Yogi Berra

 

“Forgive yourself each night and start every morning with a plan to do better. Don't carry around any burden or pain. Let it all go.”

~Author unknown

 

“Taking good care of YOU means the people in your life will receive the best of you rather than what is left of you.”

~Lorraine Cohen

  

"An act of love that fails is just as much a part of the divine life as an act of love that succeeds, for love is measured by its own fullness, not by its reception."
~Harold Loukes

“Acknowledge, accept, and honor that you deserve your own deepest compassion and love.”

~Nanette Mathews

 

“I love myself for I am a beloved child of the universe and the universe lovingly takes care of me now.”

~Louise Hay

 

“When you're different, sometimes you don't see the millions of people who accept you for what you are. All you notice is the person who doesn't.”

~Jodi Picoult

 

“Beware of Destination Addiction - a preoccupation with the idea that happiness is in the next place, the next job and with the next partner. Until you give up the idea that happiness is somewhere else, it will never be where you are.”

~Robert Holden, Ph.D.

 

“If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.”

~Dalai Lama

 

“Desire is half of life, indifference is half of death.”

~Kahlil Gibran

 

“Push yourself to the edge of your limits. That's how they expand.”

~Robin Sharma

 

“Motivation is like food for the brain. You cannot get enough in one sitting. It needs continual and regular top up's.”

~Peter J. Davies

 

“Stay true to yourself, yet always be open to learn. Work hard, and never give up on your dreams, even when nobody else believes they can come true but you.”

~Phillip Sweet

 

“The highest reward for a man's toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it.”

~John Ruskin

 

“Don't be afraid to lose people. Be afraid of losing yourself by trying to please everyone around you.”

~Unknown

 

“Love is the only flower that grows and blossoms without the aid of the seasons.”

~K Gibran

 

“The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.”

~Oprah Winfrey

 

“Sadness flies away on the wings of time.”

~Jean de la Fontaine

 

“The turtle makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.”

~James Bryant Conant

 

“You can ignore reality, but you can’t ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.”

~Ayn Rand

 

“Each contact with a human being is so rare, so precious, one should preserve it.”

~Anais Nin

 

“Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind.”

~Eric Hoffer

 

“The greatest good we can do for others is not to share our riches with them but to reveal theirs to them.”

~Zig Ziglar

 

“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the ordinary.”

~Christina Baldwin

 

“Sometimes it's the toughest moments that you learn the most about yourself, and the more you know yourself, the less you are willing to give away.”

~Jennifer Love Hewitt

 

“To a great mind, nothing is little.”

~Sherlock Holmes

 

“Keep your hands open, and all the sands of the desert can pass through them. Close them, and all you can feel is a bit of grit.”

~Taisen Deshimaru

 

“Don't envy what people have, emulate what they did to have it.”

~Tim Fargo

 

“Forgiveness is giving up all hope of having had a better past.”

~Anne Lamott

 

“How immensely important to us are those things in our life that are stable and unchanging. So much of our world is in motion. How welcome are the bits that stand still.”

~C.R. Milne

 

“Solitude shared with animals has a special quality and rarely turns into loneliness.”

~May Sarton

     

"Though we may come from different places and speak in different tongues, our hearts beat as one."

~Albus Dumbledore

 

"Stop letting people who do so little for you control so much of your mind, feelings and emotions."
~Will Smith
 

"Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing."
~Barry Finlay
    

“If light is in your heart, you will find your way home.”

~Rumi

     

“Don't let one cloud obliterate the whole sky.”

~Anais Nin

     

“People change so that you can learn to let go, ...good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”

~Marilyn Monroe 

    

"I am especially glad of the divine gift of laughter; it has made the world human and loveable, despite all its pain and wrong."
~W.E.B. Du Bois

     

"Always tell the truth, do no harm to others, and don't think you are the most important being on earth."
~Harper Lee

 

“Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.”

~Rumi

 

    "Don't wait for a light to appear at the end of the tunnel, stride down there and light the bloody thing yourself."
~Sara Henderson
 

"The world is a great ocean, upon which we encounter more tempestuous storms than calms."
~Edgar Allan Poe

     

“How we care for ourselves gives our brain messages that shape our self-worth so we must care for ourselves in every way, every day.”

~Sam Owen
     

 

 "Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs."
~Charlotte Bronte
    

*~* 

    

“Don't isolate.

"No one wants to talk to me and I don't want to talk to anyone" is a lie and you know it.

Reach out to people you care about, even if it's hard. Even if it's just to say "hey, thinking of you."

You are wanted.

You matter.”

~Meg Dowell