Happy New Year!

 

Happy New Year! It's 2023. We're not back to blogging just yet, but there are some posts scheduled for early January. We're still around on Instagram, Tumblr, Goodreads, etc too. See you all after our break is over! Happy reading!

The Cookie Book Tag (Batch 5)

 

It's December 25th, so Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! I hope everyone has a great day. The year is almost over, and today we're going to do a book tag. (The only book tag we keep doing.) It has been a year to the day since Adri and I participated in the Cookie Book Tag for the fourth time. And today, we're going to do it again to see how our answers do and don't differ. Before we begin, here are the more technical details about the tag.

The Cookie Book Tag was created by Nicole @ Sorry, I’m Booked. And you can check out the original tag post here: Sorry, I’m Booked, The Cookie Book Tag.

The rules…

• Link back to the person who tagged you + the creator of this tag 
• Pick a book that corresponds with the cookies theme 
• Have fun 
• Tag 1-3 people

Chocolate Chip: A Classic Book That You Love or Really Enjoyed (interpret classic how you want, it can be a classic written 100 years ago or 20 years ago)

Breana: I have two books and one series as an answer to this question. There's Washington Square by Henry James, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and the entire Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (the John Ciardi translation).

Adri: My classic is really, what I assume to be, obscure. It's Tap Dance: A Beginners Guide by Trina Marx (1983).

Thin Mints: A Fandom That You Really Want to ‘Join’ AND/OR a Hyped-Up Book You Want To Read (your source(s) of a book being hyped can be from anywhere)

Breana: I'm going to go with The Keeper's Six by Kate Elliott. It comes out in January 2023, and I'm really excited for it.

Adri: I can't think of a fandom right now. As for hyped books, I’ve turned my attention to getting through books on my shelves.

Shortbread: An Author You Can’t Get Enough Of

Breana: I've read all of Katherine Arden's books (Winternight Trilogy & Small Spaces quartet), and Sarah Kuhn's Heroine Complex series is one of my favorites. For short fiction, some of my favorite authors are Eugenia Triantafyllou and Lavie Tidhar. 

Adri: Better Homes and Gardens Editors… Umm, does this count? I brought two used, old baking books, Complete Book of Baking, and Old-Fashioned Home Baking. I can't get enough of them! Actually I need try out more recipes, but I like the aesthetic.

Samoas/ Caramel DeLites: An Emotional Rollercoaster (this cookie was hard … so any book that made you feel more than one emotion, strongly. The choice of emotions is up to you)

Breana: Seanan McGuire's Middlegame. That book is the epitome of an emotional rollercoaster, and I was rooting for the main characters the entire time.

Adri: Sociology: Your Compass for a New World by Robert J. Brym and John Lie. It’s a bit older, but it was a ride.

Oreos: A Book Whose Cover Was Better Than The Story OR Vice Versa, Where The Story Was Better Than Its Cover

Breana: I don't really have a good answers for this question. I mean, the book cover for the US edition of A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross is kind of simple, but it's a perfect fit for the novel. I don't have any criticism about it, because the story was excellent. 

Adri: Inside Tap by Anita Feldman. I like the cover, and it fits, but it is simple. The inside is valuable. I like the layout and am having fun working with it.

Tagalongs/ Peanut Butter Patties: A Book That Wasn’t What You Expected (good, bad, or just different, interpret how you wish)

Breana: Meet Me by the Fountain An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange. It's one of my favorite nonfiction reads of the year, but, going into it, I wasn't sure what to expect. That being said, it provided a lot of information about the history of malls, much of it I wasn't aware of. 

Adri: Breana already read Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey, but I really didn't know what to expect when I got into for myself. Nonetheless I loved it.

Snickerdoodles: A Book You May Never Stop Rereading/ Loving

Breana: I don't have much time to reread anything right now, but, if I did, I would go with The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo and The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd.

Adri: Inside Tap, again, because it is a tutorial book after all. But like I said above, I love the layout.

Bonus: Choose a cookie I didn’t list and make up a question!

Our question from 2018: Monster Cookies have bold flavors and a long and varied list of ingredients such as M&Ms, chocolate chips, peanut butter, oats, and even sometimes raisins. It’s like a handful of cookie types mashed into one monster of a cookie. So… Monster cookie: name a book with a bold and whimsical title or a book title with four or more words.

Breana: This one is easy: When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo. The Singing Hills Cycle just has great titles.

Adri: Daybreak on Raven Island by Fleur Bradley.

That's it for today. We tag you to do the cookie book tag to see how your answers differ (if you've done it before). If you're curious about our original take on the tag and our second, third, and fourth try at it visit the posts HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. 

Break Notice

It's time for our annual break from blogging. All weekly memes are on hold till January, and any posts that appear after this were scheduled at a prior date. We'll still be around on Instagram, Goodreads, etc. Also, you can now follow us again on Tumblr. Visit Our Thoughts Precisely (Extra). Until then, see you all in the New Year, and happy reading!

 

2022 Favorites Part 2: Movies, TV Shows, & Music

Welcome to the second part of my Favorites of 2022 post. Today, I’m going to talk about my favorite movies, TV shows, and albums of the year.

I’ve been enjoying a lot of older TV shows and movies in 2022. Murder She Wrote, Agatha Christie’s Marple, Hercule Poirot—weekly mystery staples. But, there’s also Svengoolie on Saturdays, which shows old science fiction and horror movies. On the other side, there’s stuff like the original Star Trek, MacGuyver, Knight Rider, Vega$, and Hawaii Five-O. I also watched The Matrix again, and I rediscovered how much I loved it.

Some other stuff includes the yearly cooking competitions, as well as Abbott Elementary. The latter is such a fun series to watch, and each episode usually gets a laugh out of me. I also finally saw Encanto, and that movie was just charming. Then there was Sonic 1 and 2, and they were just as good as I thought they were going to be.

Most of what I watched tended to be on Netflix though, but, in my defense, they had a lot of good series and movies come out in 2022. The Adam Project was an action flick with a strong science fiction element and great visuals. The Curse of Bridge Hollow was spooky and funny. Wendell & Wild was an easy favorite for me. And I loved the stop-motion animation, music, and story. I’m a little behind with The Cuphead Show!, but the first season was so charming and the visuals basically identical to the game, it’s easily one of my favorite shows of the year. Then I checked out Mr. Midnight: Beware the Monsters, and, wow, it was so good that I ended up binging all of the episodes. Lastly, I watched a romantic-comedy called Business Proposal. It was so funny, and the characters were fantastic.

Moving on to music, my top-favorites were: Renaissance by Beyoncé, Special by Lizzo, Caprisongs by FKA Twigs, Dawn FM by The Weeknd, Traumazine by Meghan Thee Stallion, and Dirt Femme by Tove Lo. Some pleasant surprises were Rina Swayama’s Hold The Girl, Taylor Swift’s Midnights, The Gods We Can Touch by Aurora, and Motordrome by MØ. Some other good ones were Harry’s House by Harry Styles, Hypnos by Ravyn Lenae, and Tierra Whacks three very short Eps (Rap?, Pop?, and R&B?). Then there was Remi Wolf’s 2021 debut album, Juno, which was fantastic. And, finally, Magdalena Bay released a deluxe version of their album, Mercurial World, which added a lot to the original.

**Note: I Listened To and What I’ve Been Watching posts can be found under the Thought Corner label.**

So that’s all on my end. What were some of your 2022 favorites?

Music Monday: Christmas Edition

Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: With our break from blogging and the end of the year approaching, it's time for the Christmas edition of Music Monday! Today, we're sharing more festive music.

My pick is I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.

My second pick is one of my favorite songs from The Polar Express, also called The Polar Express performed by Tom Hanks. I love that movie. Happy Holidays!

Adri: This year I tried to find holiday music by artists that aren't already on my playlist. (Well, I think I did a decent job.) This week I'm listening to Let It Snow and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Oleta Adams. Happy holidays!

Andrea: Hi All! As you all know, this is my favorite time of the year. To get into the holiday spirit I'm listening to I Can Hardly Wait Till Christmas by The O'Jays, Silver Bells by A Few Good Men, and Give Love On Christmas Day by Johnny Gill. Until next time, have a wonderful Christmas! 

 

 

What are you listening to this holiday season?