Category: Books

Booking Through Thursday: Reading Challenges

Welcome to Booking Through Thursday, a weekly bookish meme about books and reading for everyone who loves both. Booking Through Thursday was first hosted by Deb. With permission, I’ve restarted it in 2026.

This week’s prompt:

Do you participate in any reading challenges throughout the year? If so, let us know (and feel free to share a link to the challenge).

Or maybe you have one of your own devising. Maybe it’s simply a goal to make a dent in your TBR pile.

Whatever the case, happy reading!

Are you participating in one (or several) reading challenges in 2026?

How to play:

  • On your blog: Copy the question/image for your blog, answer it there, and post a quick comment here with a link or trackback to your post so we can read it.
  • On social media: Copy the image, answer the prompt, and post a quick comment here with a link.
  • Right here: Answer in the comments and start the discussion here. No need to have a blog to play.

Note: If it’s your first time here, your comment may end up in moderation. (My spam filter is aggressive.) I’ll be in after my writing sprints to set it free.

P.S. The prompt is always open, and you don’t have to play on Thursday. Comment whenever you like!

Booking Through Thursday: Let’s Read in the New Year!

Welcome to Booking Through Thursday, a weekly bookish meme about books and reading for everyone who loves both. Booking Through Thursday was first hosted by Deb. With permission, I’ve restarted it in 2026.

This week’s prompt:

So, there’s a saying that how you spend New Year’s Day is how you’ll spend the year.

I think all of us here would like to spend at least some of the year reading. That being the case, the very first prompt of the year is:

What book are you reading (or hope to read) on this first day of 2026?

I know some people are working today, some are still cleaning up after the holidays, but I hope everyone can find five minutes for a bit of reading.

Happy New Year!

How to play:

  • On your blog: Copy the question/image for your blog, answer it there, and post a quick comment here with a link or trackback to your post so we can read it.
  • On social media: Copy the image, answer the prompt, and post a quick comment here with a link.
  • Right here: Answer in the comments and start the discussion here. No need to have a blog to play.

Note: If it’s your first time here, your comment may end up in moderation. (My spam filter is aggressive.) I’ll be in after my writing sprints to set it free.

Booking Through Thursday relaunches Jan 1 (that’s tomorrow!)

Booking Through Thursday launches tomorrow. Visit the page to get a sneak peek at the prompt.

I’m excited about this and hope we can build a fun book community here this year.

Anyone can participate, and you don’t need a blog to do so. Read all the details on the Booking Through Thursday page.

Oh, have it

In The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff (essentially the sequel to 84, Charing Cross Road), Helene confides to Joyce Grenfell:

“I’ve been fighting a cold all weekend.”

She thought about this a moment and then leaned over and whispered back:

“Oh, have it.”

This is where I’m at. I’ve been fighting a cold all weekend, without the part about being in London and attending the theater with a celebrity. Honestly, I feel like I end up fighting a cold or virus every other week. I suspect this is a part of a post-pandemic world.

But for today, I’m having it. I’m in the softest of my soft pants. (The great thing about working from home: soft pants every day!) Snow is already falling, and we’re supposed to have blizzard conditions later, so clearly, I’m not leaving the house. Plus, I’m in the middle of (re)watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy (extended version, of course).

This is one of our holiday traditions. My son mentioned that a lot of his friends’ families watch Harry Potter. For us, though, it’s always been Lord of the Rings. We’ll watch it at Thanksgiving and then again at Christmas.

And since I’m partway through The Two Towers, I have plenty of watching left. I have the fireplace going and hot chocolate I can brew (and leftovers, so I don’t have to cook).

I’m all set to have my cold.

Wishing you all a restful (and cold-free) last Sunday of the year.

If you build it, will they come?

This week’s admin focus was on author websites, which I already have. But it made for an excellent reason to do some maintenance. Most importantly, I needed to update my WordPress template.

As I mentioned in my housekeeping note, the old template had been retired. While it still received security updates, the old template didn’t support new features.

But I’m also considering what else I might do with my blog. One of the things I loved about blogging in the early aughts was the blogging and book community. One of my favorite blog memes was Booking Through Thursday (which started on Blogspot and migrated to WordPress).

Real life being what it is, BTT has been inactive for several years. So, I asked myself: what if I restarted it?

With permission, of course. Deb graciously gave her blessing. So here I am, wondering: if I relaunch BTT, will anyone show up?

The book blogging community is still very active, with plenty of weekly book memes. Do we need another? Maybe not. But I have the online real estate—no ads, nothing distracting.

According to WordPress, I can add a selected category to my blog subscription so people can sign up to receive the Booking Through Thursday posts via email, and not any of the others if they don’t want them. (This may take a few tries to iron out, but it’s possible.)

All this to say, I’m going to give the book meme thing a try. If people enjoy it? Hooray! If it falls flat, then it falls flat.

So, look for the relaunch of Booking Through Thursday on January 1, 2026.

Seasonal sales!

It’s that time of year again!

First up is the Smashwords End-of-Year Sale.

All my titles are 50% off. Except for the free ones. Because 50% off of free is still … free. (I make this joke every year; every year, no one laughs.)

Over at Kobo, The Pansy Paradox is part of the Best Indie Books of 2025 sale. It’s buy one, get one, and available in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.

New Release: Our Best War Stories, Vol 2

I’ve been remiss in mentioning that I have a new release out. My story “Rules of Engagement” is part of Our Best War Stories: Prize-winning Poetry & Prose from the Col. Darron L. Wright Memorial Awards, Vol. 2.

My story placed second in the veterans’ division of the 2023 awards.

The book is available on Amazon. If you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription, you can read for free.

Meet my nephew, the children’s author!

My nephew, Ryan Bani Tahmaseb, has a new book out today:

Persian Mythology: Epic Stories of Gods, Heroes, and Monsters is a middle-grade nonfiction book all about Persian mythology. It also has some gorgeous illustrations. I can’t wait to see my copies—one for me, one for the Little Free Library—when they arrive today.

Ryan was also featured in Publishers Weekly: Four Questions for Ryan Bani Tahmaseb.

He also has a picture book that was published last year:

Rostam’s Picture-Day Pusteen is adorable (and the copy I added to the Little Free Library vanished within days, or possibly hours).

Congratulations to Ryan! We are all so proud of you!

Of Halloween and cats

This morning’s observation: Cats do not care about the end of daylight-saving time. Cats want their breakfast. They want it NOW. So, get up, lazy human, and feed them.

This week was, of course, Halloween. And this year, I’m excited to report that we had many, many trick-or-treaters! I always put out a table by the Little Free Library since the dogs lose their minds over the doorbell and people coming up the walk. This setup makes it easier for everyone, even if I don’t get to see all the costumes.

It was raining, so the candy bowl had a lid.

When I went out later in the evening to check on the candy, this is what I found.

No one could bring themselves to take that last piece of candy.

Halloween achievement unlocked!

We also had the city’s book and pie sale this week, where they sell … books and pie (and sloppy joes). I donate books every year, but I’ve never actually been. The sale always ends before I was done with work, but not this year. So I headed on over and bought some books (not that I needed any) and a piece of pie. Not a bad way to round out October. (Well, minus the cat.)

The Pansy Paradox in the wild!

It’s release day for The Pansy Paradox!

You can buy the novel almost anywhere. You can read for free with a Kobo Plus subscription. Or request it from your local library (in eBook or print).

It’s also release day for The Capstone Conundrum, also known as that time when Henry almost met Pansy.

It’s free for my newsletter subscribers as well. But it’s also on sale everywhere, since I know a lot of people don’t want another newsletter in their lives.

If you’re on the fence about The Pansy Paradox, you can always download the extended preview.

If you decide to read, I so hope you enjoy Pansy, Henry, and their adventures.