It’s Linda’s birthday! Happy Birthday! These are just a couple of her fun prompts.
#JusJoItJan and One-Liner Wednesday
I found this on Facebook. It still has some wisdom buried there.
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Creatures of the Abyss by Murray Leinster
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
It looks like my friend Ralph recommended this to me in 2013. Sorry for taking so long, but I will finish it today, as I am in the last chapter. Yay!
This was probably one of the most yawn-worthy books I have read in a long time, yet it didn’t help me go to sleep. I kept hoping the story would get more exciting, but it didn’t.
Still, it could just be me. Check out the blurbs and comments. Many were quite positive. Well, at least I gave it a chance. It wasn’t horrid.
Your prompt for JusJoJan January 21st, 2025, is “content.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!
While a lot is going on in the world right now, I am just content reading books and watching Jack Black movies (Gulliver’s Travel and The Big Year) and then Friends. My health is worth the energy it takes to stay light. It is the wrong time of year to let things get to you. Winter, dark days. Colder than most, with a lack of snow here. Snow at least makes everything look clean and is rarely as cold as the no-snow days.
Noa’s Ark by C. Gockel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is the continuation of a fun Sci-fi series. In the first, the main characters are planet-bound for the most part. In this book, we are space traveling. It is very much a space opera. I could almost see this as a television or movie series.
Emily Woo Zeller (Narrator) changes voices seamlessly. She is amazing. Never once did I wonder who was talking or from whose point of view we were looking.
I can’t wait to listen to the next book.
If you like sci-fi, especially space travel, please seek out the Archangel Project.
Hi! It’s time for our twentieth prompt for Just Jot it January 2025. Today, we have a prompt gifted to us by the incomparable Kim. Thank you, Kim! Please be sure to visit Kim’s blog to read her posts and say hello. And follow her while you’re there if you’re not already.
Your prompt for JusJoJan January 20th, 2025 is “antipodean.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!
If a review of sci-fi that speaks of planets couldn’t use the word “antipodean,” what could. But the main characters never got to the other side of the planet. Oh, but look! I used it anyway! 🤪
The New Mandala – Eastern Wisdom for Western Living by John Lundin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
When I tried to listen to the text-to-speech of the Kindle version the other day, it didn’t work. I decided to try again last night, and it worked out quite nicely.
I felt a little lost at first as the easter religions and the Dalai Lama are less known to me than the Judeo-Christian Western religions. However, author John Lundin quickly helped us see how familiar those seemingly foreign concepts are. I found myself quite interested.
This book will need multiple reads. This is the first one to get acquainted and see our common interests. But next, I want to go through and practice some of the meditation and kindnesses Mr. Lundin teaches us to use.
I highly recommend this book for seekers and for those who love comparative religions.
Here is Linda’s prompt:
“Hi there! I’m back with our nineteenth prompt for Just Jot it January 2025. Today, our prompt comes to us from the wonderful Willow. Thank you, Willow! Please be sure to visit Willow’s blog to read her posts and say hello. And follow her while you’re there if you’re not already.
Your prompt for JusJoJan January 19th, 2025 is “why.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!“
Why do I write reviews? It started out in the same way as blogging. I needed a place to keep track. What have I read? Sure, I can go to GoodReads to see if I have read a book, but since I try to record bits of my life here, I can see how that book choice or emotions of the day reflect each other. What I read can affect my life. And my life can carry into my thoughts as I read.
Why did I read this particular book? The author gave me the book long ago when I lived in Reno. He live(d) in Lake Tahoe at the time. I promised a review, so I put it on my ‘Currently Reading’ shelf on GoodReads. That was to prompt me to read it soon.
That shelf has overgrown. When a library or Libby book comes up, it goes to the top of the list over those I own. Suddenly, I have 85 books I am supposedly currently reading. Ha! So my new plan is to pull from the bottom of the list (first books added) and then back to the top, the latest added. My plan is to eventually meet in the middle. Does anyone want to take bets on how long that’s going to take?
I was surprised at how much I appreciated this particular book. It seemed to start rather boring. But soon I found that there were answers here I’d been asking, even though I didn’t know I was asking those questions.
Why. The word my kids learned nearly as soon as they could talk. It is an amazing work that mostly keeps me wondering. How often did I hear my babies ask, “Why is the sky blue?” Or just “Why” to nearly anything. I feel we should stay in that frame of mind. Stay young and keep wondering, WHY?
As usual a song jump out at me:
Decades ago I was in this community musical. Just chorus, but it was so fun. Oliver songs make me so happy. Even if singing about poverty, codependency, and stealing don’t seem appropriate topics to have any glee about.
Peck and puck are left over. But Shakespeare did give us the hockey puck, yes?🤣 Okay, be nice. I do have chickens who could peck… the seeds at your feet. Why didn’t this stream take me anywhere? Guess I’ll just pack it in now.
The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis by George Stephanopoulos
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
For a non-fiction, history type book, this was very interesting. George Stephanopoulos wrote the book and narrated most of it. He is a quiet unassuming man, who knows from experience about the subject matter. He was even able to insert a bit of humor now and then. Not as well as his wife, Ali Wentworth does humor, but, lightened the heavy subject matter a bit.
Lisa Dickey was a contributing author.
Peter Ganim, Elisabeth Rodgers also narrated. That brought the possible tome to something to keep connected.
I highly recommend this book if you are curious about the workings of such places as The Situation Room. Why is it there? When did it start? Who has used it and why? It is intriguing.
Hence, a book review does well here.
Master of Me: The Secret to Controlling Your Narrative by Keke Palmer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Keke Palmer has quite the personality. I remember seeing her as a child actress. Her energy was terrific. And I remember her in Grey’s Anatomy as a pregnant teen. She has always been a great actress with a lot to say.
Though I wanted to love this book it seemed Ms. Palmer couldn’t decide if she was writing an autobiography or a self-help book for herself. Either way was okay. I still enjoyed her take on life and trying to make it a good place for everyone.
Probably teens or young adults will connect to this best. But if you like Keke, you’ll enjoy it, too.
Friends, streaming on MAX, by the way, is the best antidepressants.
My Sister’s Keeper: A Novel by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Finishing a book early on at bedtime, I was left shuffling. Libby had a Jodi Picoult. I thought I could never go wrong with anything of hers. Yet, within the chapter, I realized I had already read Small Great Things. I enjoyed that book, but I wanted something new. So I searched Libby and found My Sister’s Keeper.
This one immediately intrigued me. The younger daughter shows initiative in fixing her problems.
Richard Poe, Julia Gibson, Barbara McCulloh, Tom Stechschulte, Carol Monda, Jennifer Ikeda, and Andy Paris narrate this book, keeping the reader/listener engaged. However, I could not get to sleep at a decent hour.
I loved hearing the characters’ separate points of view.
I’m trying not to give spoilers. There is a great blurb on GoodReads and Amazon if you are interested. But make sure the Kleenex is near the end of the book.
See what I did there?
Does ’embrace’ mean {this} or
Well, that was embarrassing
Darswords 
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