Categories
Book Club Books

#iwsgbookclub Oct. 2022 Poll & What I #read in Sept.

Please join the IWSG Book Club today on Goodreads for a short general poll. Aside from spotlighting two IWSG member books each month, we also want to engage in bookish whimsy and encourage others to have a healthy reading lifestyle. You don’t have to be reading or have read the 2 current featured books to be able to participate in this poll, so please, join in the festivities. Click the image below to see our fun poll. This month the topic is about audiobooks.

In Sept 2022, I read 4 titles, but only finished three. This month I will be focusing on lighter, silly, and fun reads.

2022 Reading Challenge

2022 Reading Challenge
Toi has
read 2 books toward
her goal of
60 books.
hide

Below you’ll find my star ratings and review blurbs for each title I completed in the indicated month. If you have not signed up for my newsletter, please consider doing so. That’s where I post an overview of what I’ve been reading, watching, and writing quarterly, as well as talk about my love of reading while offering tips for having a healthy reading lifestyle. You can also click the Goodreads links to see the thorough reviews. At the bottom of this post, you’ll also be able to watch a video of my monthly reviews, if that’s more your style.

~

4-stars

Review

Unrated

Review

4-stars

Review

5-star

Review

So, did you read any good books in Sept. or did you try either of the IWSG Book Club Books?

What did you think of the ones I read? Any recommendations?

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords #blacklivesmatter

Categories
Fun Hops IWSG

Footprints #WEPFF Challenge featuring My Way #amwriting #flashfiction

No one ever accused me of being a poet and I’m not going to pretend I know anything about the craft. I’m submitting a poem this month because that’s all that came to me after being sick and in quarantine for 10 days (missed 4 days of work). I am now going to try to read all the IWSG Day posts I missed from people who visited my blog and then I’m going to try to read as many of the WEP entries as I can (I will likely fall short of reading all the entries before the deadline, but it is what it is). It’s been a rough 2 weeks and I wrote this poem to help combat my feelings of being overwhelmed.

~

My Way

A gray shoe leaving a print in the mud.
Pexels.com

I looked around one day,

And realized, I’d lost my way.

There was no path for me to follow,

But there were footprints in the hollow.

 

So many legacies left behind,

One would help me discover mine.

All I had to do, was take a step,

A step or two in someone else’s shoes.

 

But which way to go, which prints to try,

The ones too big, you can’t reach that high.

Or the ones so small, there’s nowhere more to grow.

Perhaps the ones, long and narrow,

Full of fears you can never know.

 

I looked around, overwhelmed with choices,

Big ones, small ones, deep ones, shallow ones.

 

The prints were my only way forward,

Regrets of a wrong choice, I could not afford.

 

Then I saw it, one pair on their own.

Footprints leading away from the rest.

Up the side of the hollow floor,

Footprints creating a new path never worn.

 

Someone brave enough to climb up and out,

To seek a path of their own without doubt.

But would I go that way, or would I stay?

Stay with familiar prints going the usual ways.

 

Each path led to a future unclear,

But those prints represented that 1% fear.

That small chance that could be good or bad,

While the other prints were safe and clear.

 

Perhaps to fear regrets that have not come,

Is the problem that I took on.

Any path could work if I chose it,

If I rose above and didn’t abuse it.

 

I looked at the footprints once more,

I’d made up my mind which way to go.

I’d go my own way and leave my legacy,

Perhaps my path would help someone like me.

~

FCA- 284-words- My Way 2019 Copyright © Toinette J. Thomas

**Update- For some reason, many comments are being delayed, not for approval, just being delayed. I’ve come across several that didn’t post until hours later. Sorry. I’m trying to figure it out. If you leave a comment and don’t see it right away, it’s okay. It’s probably just delayed. 🙁 **

Please visit other entries in this hop and enjoy some funny, scary, touching, and thought-provoking stories. You’ll be so glad you did.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Categories
Books

#Review: The Time Keeper #fiction #book

Goodreads

Title:  The Time Keeper

Author: Mitch Albom

Genre: Inspirational Fiction, Time Travel

Pages: 224

Reading Level: Teen, Adult

Content: PG (adult situations and content)

This book was sweet. A fan of time travel stories, this take on the legend of Father Time takes you in a direction you wouldn’t expect. This story is less about time travel and more about man’s understanding of time and how we use it to define every moment of our existence. It all begins with the first man who dares to count the hours of the day and what happens when his desire to control time costs him what he thinks he loves more than anything else.

This story is told in two parts and the second of these parts is broken down into three points of view. Don’t let me confuse you. Basically, you have the story of how it all began and then you have the story of how it all ends as told from the point of view of: Father Time, a teenage girl, and a rich old man. The story is just as complex and fascinating as it sounds. You’ll definitely walk away from this story giving much thought to how you spend the moments of your life.

I won’t pretend that many of the aspects of the girl and old man’s life weren’t a bit cliché, but it worked well for the overall narrative. I don’t think this is a story you need to spend too much time thinking about. Once everything is cleared away and the story is concluded, the meaning and message behind it all is clear.

This is not a YA read, but I’d definitely recommend it to some young readers as well as many adults. It’s a short read too.

I listened to this book and it was a bargain buy on CD (glad I still have one of those in my car).

I give this book a 4.

This review has been posted to GoodReads.

If you’d like a Kindle copy of this book, try this link: Amazon.

Get a print copy with free international shipping at this link: Book Depository.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords