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To echo last week’s ice and snow theme, this week I will be sharing ten books that are set in either the North Pole or the South Pole.

Sometimes Antarctica will appear instead, but I think that’s close enough to count.

If it’s going to be cold and snowy for the next four months for me, why not read about places that are even colder and snowier?

1.Skating to Antarctica by Jenny Diski

2.The Telescope in the Ice: Inventing a New Astronomy at the South Pole by Mark Bowen

3. A Negro Explorer at the North Pole: The Autobiography of Matthew Henson by Matthew A. Henson

4.Arctic Autumn: A Journey to Season’s Edge by Pete Dunne

5. Race to the South Pole by Roald Amudsen

6. The Ferocious Summer: Adelie Penguins and the Warming of Antarctica by Meredith Hooper

7. Ice Bound: A Doctor’s Incredible Battle For Survival at the South Pole by Jerri Nielsen

8. The Big Bang Symphony: A Novel of Antarctica by Lucy Jane Bledsoe

9. Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic by Jennifer Niven

10. Improbable Eden: The Dry Valleys of Antarctica by Bill Green

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This is the time of year when my part of the world is in flux.  The weather is generally chilly and windy, but we don’t always know what will be on the ground other than autumn leaves. Will everything be covered in a thin – or thick – layer of ice? Maybe it will be cold and rainy instead? Perhaps we will have a few flakes of snow gently falling from the sky but otherwise be fairly dry? Will we have a surprise blizzard?

You never know which one of these options might occur even if climate change is making the warmer days where you can go outside with a light winter jacket but not a scarf, gloves, or snow boots more likely and the blizzards less likely than they used to be.

Here are ten book covers filled with snow and ice.

1. The Call of the Wild by Jack London

2. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

3.Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer

4. The Terror by Dan Simmons

5. The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen

6. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

7. Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell

8. The Ice Storm by Rick Moody

9.Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan

10. Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons (Calvin and Hobbes, #7) by Bill Wattenson

(Oh, how I miss reading Calvin and Hobbes).

If you live in a cold place, stay warm!

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These are some of the many books I read in school and what I thought of them. There are a few mild spoilers in this post, but I can only assume that all of you have either already read these old titles or don’t mind a few vague hints about their endings.

1.The Giver (The Giver, #1)by Lois Lowry

My Thoughts on It: Certain details about this society make no sense if you try to work out the logistics of them over multiple generations, but I found the rest of it thought provoking and loved it overall.

2. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

My Thoughts on It: This story was surprisingly relatable, especially since a few of my friends acted a lot like Ponyboy.

3.1984 by George Orwell

My Thoughts on It: What a frightening warning about totalitarianism. This was a great read.

4.The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

My Thoughts on It: I loved Anne and was heartbroken by the postscript that let readers know she died in a concentration camp. We’d read a fictional book in which a girl about her age survived it shortly before this one, so I assumed this nonfiction account would have a triumphant ending as well.

5. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

My Thoughts on It: Why didn’t they listen to the sensible adults around them? I liked this story but was so annoyed with Romeo and Juliet for rushing everything.

6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

My Thoughts on It: While I liked the story, I hated the ending. It was so dark and dreary.

7.Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

My Thoughts on It: I loved the first 90% of it, but the last 10% or so is the origin story for why I’m so hesitant to read books about beloved pets anymore unless I know for a fact that those pets are going to live happily ever after.

8.A Separate Peace by John Knowles

My Thoughts on It: The writing was beautiful, but I thought many of the characters needed to learn some basic manners and social skills as they clearly hadn’t been taught how to behave at home.  They were so unkind to each other! I faced enough bullying growing up that it was not something I usually wanted to read about in fiction, especially when the adults in the story often didn’t take it seriously.

9. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

My Thoughts on It: Living in a giant peach sounded terribly sticky and uncomfortable, but I loved the playfulness of this story.

10. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco

My Thoughts on It: This is still one of my all-time favourite stories. I love the life lessons in it about never judging anyone based on physical appearance and how even small acts of kindness you don’t think anyone has noticed can still be repaid in unexpected ways.

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Here are ten books I avoided reading in large part because of how hyped up they were. Generally, I tend not to be a big fan of stories that are marketed as the next hot read, although of course there are always exceptions to that rule.

As I haven’t read them, it’s hard to speculate whether or not I would have liked them after all. I suspect that part of the prompt is easier to answers for participants who chose to talk about hyped books they did end up reading!

1. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

2.When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

3. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

4. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

5. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

6. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

7. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

8. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

9.Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

10. Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

How often does your taste in books match up with what everyone is talking about on Booktok or other similar bookish places online?

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Today’s topic is all about food, which brings me back to one of my very favorite genres: cozy mysteries.  So many of them are focused on food or mention food often.

Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mysteries by Mia P. Manansala.  These are set in a Filipino family restaurant.  I’ve only read the first in the series, but I enjoyed the characters, the recipes, and the family togetherness.

Tea and Read Mysteries by Joy Avon.  While not fully food-related, this series is set in a tea room, with lots of fabulous teas and pastries.

French Bistro Mysteries by Daryl Wood Gerber.  Set in a French Bistro in Napa Valley, there is plenty of food and wine – and murder – in this series.

Deep Dish Mysteries by Mindy Quigley.  This series takes place in a mobster-themed pizza parlor, which made it an instant winner for me.   Add in Delilah’s sassy, fat cat, and I couldn’t ask for more.

Cheese Shop Mysteries by Korina Moss.  I stumbled into this series accidentally, but you had me at cheese.  I love all the interesting tidbits you learn about cheese and cheesemaking in this series, even if it did cause me to go out and buy a bunch of blue cheese at one point.

Pancake House Mysteries by Sarah Fox.  These take place in a pancake house in a small coastal town.  Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, so I loved reading about all the various crepes.

Java Jive Mysteries by Caroline Fardig.  I loved this series mainly because it’s set in a coffee house in Nashville, but also due to the friendships Juliet has and forms throughout the series.

Spice Isle Bakery Mysteries by Olivia Matthews.  This was a new setting for me. Although it’s centered around a family run restaurant, I’d never read about a Caribbean family or food before.  All I can say is that it sounded delicious.

Pies Before Guys Mysteries by Misha Popp.  I love a bit of magic with my mysteries, so this was the perfect series for me.  I’m not a big pie baker, but this series wants me to pull out the pie pans and dive in.

Noodle Shop Mysteries by Vivien Chien.  While I haven’t started this series yet, it’s been on my TBR for a long time now. I’m a sucker for noodles of any kind so this series is a longtime draw for me.

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Whenever I’m in the mood for a long read, I love digging into family sagas and ideally following the same individuals and their descendants for decades if not even longer than that. With that being said, shorter periods of time are okay, too.

It doesn’t matter if the characters are fictional or based on real people. Either way there is nothing like getting to know a large extended family well and seeing what happens to their children and grandchildren.

Here are some fantastic family sagas which is my topic of choice for this week’s relationship freebie post.

1. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

2. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

3. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

4. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

5.Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

6. A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

7. Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley

8. A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza

9. The Good Earth (House of Earth, #1) by Pearl S. Buck

10. Legends of the Fall by Jim Harrison

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I love spending time on and near bodies of water. It’s such a relaxing way not only to enjoy your free time but also, when possible, to travel around.

Here are ten books that include scenes with boats, ships, and/or other vessels you can use on lakes, rivers, and oceans.

1.Life of Pi by Yann Martel

2. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

3. Scuffy the Tugboat by Gertrude Crampton

4.The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

5. Jamrach’s Menagerie by Carol Birch

6. The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

7. The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima

8. A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes

9. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

10. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia, #3) by C.S. Lewis