It is already New Years Day. I have set my Goodreads goal at 100 books. This seems like a large number to me. I have only reached 100 books once. Now that I am busy with other projects, I might not get a chance to read that much. I have the books, but maybe not the time. I just like the number 100 as a solid number to aim for in my reading for the year 2025.
5 Authors to Read More of in 2025 Thursday, December 26, 2024
There are 5 authors I have read before that I would like to spend time reading more from in 2025. I will be spreading the books out throughout the year, in order to read other books as well. I don’t like to read too many books that are too similar at once, so this will help keep my interest, as well as to better appreciate the words and stories on a page. These are authors I have collected a number of books from over the years, and I am making an effort to read in the new year.
In no particular order, the authors and their books are as follows:
This is the blog for the CANTOSTARS music program on CJSW 90.9 FM in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Saturday, December 21, 2024
Sailor Moon will be celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the animation in 2025. Bands DALI and Manish performed the original song Moonlight Densetsu in 1992 that became the opening theme song for the original Sailor Moon animated series in 1995. The song CantoStars will be playing Sunday morning is from the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos the Movie Theme Song Collection EP. This is a 5-song EP released in 2023 for an animated movie that is one of the latest in the franchise.
Eric Chou is a Taiwanese singer and actor. His most recent single is The little things, released in 2024. He has released 6 albums since starting in music and entertainment in 2014. He has appeared in film, television, and talent shows. In the Starlight BnB reality show, he sings and plays the keyboard. He is also a chef. The program showcases the beautiful outdoors and recreational activities, as well as bring celebrities to live at a bed and breakfast together. There are 30 episodes all together with 1-hour episodes available on Netflix.
Kelly Yu is a Chinese-Canadian singer. She released a new album this year, Scorpio in November. She also started her career in 2014 in China, and is credited in film, television, variety and talent shows. Her most recent film credit was in 2023 for the Far East Films production, The Ex-File 4. She returned to the lead role Lin Jia that she played in The Ex-File 3. It is a romantic comedy that also stars Han Geng formerly of the South Korean boy band Super Junior. Scorpio is a 10-song album with pop and rock music sounds.
Andy Lau is a longtime singer and actor. He has starred in Hong Kong television and film. A couple roles international viewers might know him best would be the crime thriller The Infernal Affairs, which was remade as The Departed by Martin Scorsese, and the wuxia film The House of Flying Daggers with Zhang Ziyi, and Takeshi Kaneshiro.
He recently starred in the Hong Kong action movie, High Forces, which had a release in Mainland China, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong at the end of September and early October 2024.
His most recent single is a song from the movie, 親愛的小孩, which translates as Dear Child.
Wendy Zhang also performs on the track.
The song I picked for the weekend program CantoStars is 繼續談情 which is titled in English as Butterfly Love, which is from the 繼續談情 or Best of My Love 2005 compilation album. The music video I found dates back at least 11 years shows two people spending their days together and the conversations they have.
Cloud Wan is a Cantopop singer who also released a new single in September of this year. The music video is about a young woman on her own for her birthday. She is missing her parents’ home and has pizza and cake on her own. The title of the song is 引我笑, which is Make Me Laugh in English. She is a Hong Kong singer and actress who was on the talent competition show, Kingmaker III in 2020. She has released a number of singles since 2022, and has had a couple of acting roles, along with continuing to appear in talent competition shows.
Aimyon is a J-pop singer with a new album also released in September. The album is titled Jealous of Cats. She is both the composer and lyricist on the album. She sings, plays guitar, and was a lead voice actor in The Boy and the Heron. It is what might be considered the last animated film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was released in 2023.
The song I picked for Sunday is Coffee Shop Poplar.
It is already November. Where has the year gone with it already near the end of the year? This has been an interesting year in reading. I haven’t stuck to my reading goals as I would like, but I also read books I have been meaning to get to for a while.
I can say this year has been about change and growth for me in creative endeavors. I want to keep it up, but I know it will also be a lot of work. I am still young and healthy so I will do as much as I can, and finally get to where I want to be in terms of career, as well as family obligations. I aim to do the best at everything I do, and that means seeking help when I need it, as well as being willing to learn and try new things.
Beverley McLachlin released her most recent work of fiction, Proof, back in September. The book is currently a bestseller in Canada where the author also was also the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. She was the first woman to hold the post and was the longest serving chief justice in Canadian history.
Her latest follows Juilly Truitt, a criminal justice lawyer, who has always put her work first. Now she is also a new mother. The daughter of a pop star has gone missing, and the ex-wife has been charged with kidnapping. This is happening while there is a custody battle taking place that also has a public following with the high-profile celebrity. McLachlin has written two previous novels and one memoir.
Cristina Garcia is the author of novels and plays. She worked as a journalist, as well as an editor of Cuban and Latin American literature. Her focus as a novelist has been on Cuba as a place as well as part of the imaginations of Cubans, and Cuban Americans.
I started reading her novels years ago. Currently, I am almost done Here in Berlin about an unnamed visitor to Berlin takes snapshots of the city and speaks to strangers, drawing out their stories as an outside listener and observer. Published in 2017, the volume reveals the marks of WWII and the Nazi regime that still remain almost 100 years later with changes in society. Many of the conversations are difficult to have. The individual voices captured in the short chapters or snapshots are haunting and disturbing. The book is around 200 pages, but so much is said in the sparse writing, while other things are not said.
I also read King of Cuba published in 2013. I will soon be caught up with Garcia’s novels. She has also written children’s books. I have only two left to go, The Lady Matador’s Hotel from 2010 and the most recent novel, Vanishing Maps, published in 2023.
Other books I have started reading include Big Mall: Shopping for Meaning by Kate Black which is a scholarly look at the mall as a place that grew and developed over the decades in Canada, United States, as well as in the Middle East and Asia. The author draws from historical records and newspaper archives to tell the story of one particular mall that has significance for her growing up in Alberta, Canada.
At the start of the year, I made video about all the mass market paperbacks I would read in 2024. Now that it is November, I can say I have not read any. I will make one more attempt, with Hunting Party by Elizabeth Moon, which is sci-fi space adventure with Captain Heris Serrano finding herself having to steer a luxury yacht. After all her adventures, this latest stint might not be the most exciting, but her old enemies somehow find her.
Other books I would like to get this week include the love-triangle novel Polar Vortex by Shani Mootoo, and the epic fantasy novel The Gods Below by Andrea Stewart
Weekly Reading Blog Thursday, October 31, 2024
The Blood Orchid is the latest book from Kylie Lee Baker. It is the second in a series with The Scarlet Alchemist as the first.
I am still catching up on my reading. I am still reading the debut book The Keeper of Night in ebook format that was released back in 2021. The story follows a Half-Grim Reaper and Half-Shinigami as she travels back to find her roots in 19th century Japan. It is something that I started to read a while back and returned to it for Halloween.
The new duology is set in Tang Dynasty China. Zilan has a dream to become the Royal Alchemist to provide the wealthy and powerful with gems they can eat to stay young forever. It has elements of historical fantasy that draws YA readers into a good old ball of yarn. It is the story of a young girl wanting to make it in royal court and whether she will succeed in the imperial exams to get there.
As for other reading for the week, I read the text of Poetics by Aristotle without reading the introduction or notes in the Penguin Classics edition.
After studying, reading books of fiction, poetry and watching many theatrical performances, I finally got around to reading this classical text of literary criticism attributed to the Ancient Greek philosopher.
Aside from the references to peers of the time period as well as to women and slaves, the ideas of the volume seem familiar. Aristotle was specifically talking about poetry and theatre. While I have read The Iliad, I still have The Odyssey to read, as well as a few volumes of Classical Greek plays. I will finally have to get around to reading more of them to have a better understanding of what specifically the text is referring to.
I will also continue reading Carnegie’s Maid by Marie Benedict. It is the book club pick for the month of November. While the meeting won’t take place for a few weeks, I still would like to get to the end fairly soon. I have read to the 50 page mark and there are around 275 pages to the book. The story follows a young woman who journeys across the ocean to take up a post in the Carnegie’s household during the American industrial revolution era.
It is already close to the end of September. I am sitting at my desk, a pen in my hand, and I am thinking about the fall season. There are rainy days, and there are warmer days. I enjoy the mornings, waking up to stillness and seeing if it is time to get up and get ready for the day. The alarm clock doesn’t always ring. If the clock does ring, the sound is almost too faint.
During the past few months, I started a few books but did not finish that many. Although I am having trouble finding a book that I will stick to the end, I still made a list of books to read for the month of October. I am hopeful I will get to some if not all of them at some point. Here goes!
