Howling Frog Books

Do you know how hard it was to resist the temptation to type "Ch-ch-ch-changes" in that headline?  It was tough.  Anyway, to continue the posts in the Month of Faves: Wed. | Dec. 14 –  Best Changes We Made This Year #AMonthofFaves2016 –  to your Day / Life / Routines / Blog / Habits The dishes and accompanying kitchen tasks.  As laid out in How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind.   I'm not even very good at it yet, but the habit of getting the kitchen completely cleaned up (dishes, counters, floor, table) every night is a big one.  Of course, right now our dishwasher is busted and so it's a little trickier because our dish drainer is kind of small! Anyway, do those four things every night.  You'll be happier.

Estella's Revenge is hosting A Month of Faves in December !  Today's question: Tue. | Dec. 13 –  5 Books on Our Winter Reading List  #AMonthofFaves2016  – which books are your must read this winter? Oh, I have so many hopes and dreams and plans for my winter reading!  Perhaps one third of it will actually happen.  Here are some of them: I like to re-read two favorite children's books around Christmas time: The Dark is Rising and The Children of Green Knowe .  I don't do it every year or anything, but I do it pretty often.  I'm particularly excited about the Green Knowe book this year, for reasons obvious to regular readers -- I actually got to visit the real Green Knowe about six months ago , and now I get to imagine the whole thing in greater detail!   So I'm saving it for last; right now I'm reading Over Sea, Under Stone before I start The Dark is Rising .  Who knows, maybe I'll decide to read them all? The coolest thing...

Estella's Revenge hosts a Month of Faves in December, so we can remember some of the good stuff that happened this year!  Today's prompt: Mon. | Dec. 12 –  The Most Unique, Weird or Most Memorable Book(s) Read This Year  – not necessarily your favorite book because it could be memorable for how bad or how much you liked or disliked the characters. I read some fairly strange books this year.  Just the other day, in fact, I read the biography of a fictional writer that was as surreal as anything I've ever read:   A Nose for Fiction  Another surreal modern novel was Baba Yaga Laid an Egg , about women getting older.  Partly. Weirdest mystery prize goes to The Dead Mountaineer's Inn , a murder mystery at a snowed-in ski resort involving a cast of strange people and...aliens? The oddest regular novel I read entwined the Cluny tapestries with the fortunes of a mixed-race Indian girl in the 1930s: The Lady and t...

Estella's Revenge is hosting A Month of Faves in December !  Today's question: Thu. | Dec 8 –  Favorite Book to Movie or TV Shows #AMonthofFaves2016  – what were your faves; did you both watch the movie and read the book; which was better? OK, confession time: because I don't read a lot of brand-new books, and I don't go see a lot of movies, it is extremely unlikely that I have seen any recent movies based on recent books.  Right now at work, we are running a display of books that have been made into movies (Find out if the book is better!), and I haven't seen ANY of the 2016 movies. Except Dr. Strange.   I saw that!  Comics are books, right?  That was pretty fun.  But I have never read any of the comics. And I'll probably go see Fantastic Beasts pretty soon.  I'm looking forward to that. As I told you yesterday, I did both read and see the film of The Neverending Story recently.  So while I am about 30 years out of date, I h...

Estella's Revenge is hosting a month of favorite things.  Today: what do we read? Mon. | Dec. 5 –  This Is How We Read #AMonthofFaves2016  – eg. Number of books read so far, genre you read the most from, picture of favorite (or most often used) reading location, most read author, % eBooks, hardcovers, paperbacks and/or audiobooks, hint at what your favorite read of the year is (let us guess), types of books you wish you read more of, month you read the most and least) Forgot to mention this, which was neat Goodreads says I have read 130 books, which doesn't count the fluffy mystery re-reads that I don't bother recording.  (For example, I have not recorded anywhere that my brother gave me a pile of old Three Investigator books at Thanksgiving, and I'm on something like #6, or that I'm reading Aunt Dimity mysteries at the gym.)  I have blogged about most of those, but not all -- maybe 120-125 books blogged about this year. This year has been a ...

As I caught up on my blogroll today, Kristen at We Be Reading had a nice pick-me-up post that I haven't seen before -- the Month of Faves, hosted by Estella's Revenge .  Well, I may be a day late and a dollar short, but I'm going to do it anyway, at least a few of them.  So here's Day 1: Thu. | Dec. 1 –  These Are A Few of My Favorite Things #AMonthofFaves2016  – eg. to eat, drink, wear, smell, see, do, enjoy, best thing I bought, most used gift received etc, favorite concert, outdoor activity, place visited, most squee worthy moment of the year, biggest change. Food: At the moment, it seems to be chorizo soft tacos from Chipotle, but that's only because I just discovered them.  Eat two, save one for lunch! Drink: I've been a Dr. Pepper addict for way too long, but I've switched to Dr. Pepper 10, which tastes way better than diet. Wear: In December, fuzzy socks.  I get cold easily. Do: Besides reading, snuggle with the family, quilt, and take ...