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Sam🇨🇦

@readnext

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2026 RG: 6/24
📖 Game Changer
🎧 The House in the Cerulean 🌊 (reread)

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ongoing status: toddler mode

To be gentle with my 2026 reading expectations I am going for a smaller than usual goal of 24! I still read every day, but don’t usually get time with my own books.

If I count all of the new books I read for the mini hobbit last year, I’m certain it would reach 100 or more. This has me curious, for those of you regularly reading books to kids, do you count them in your yearly reading challenge? Admittedly, I tagged on “The Café at the Edge of the Woods” by Mikey Please to achieve my 2025 goal of 42 books. But also, it definitely counts, as I read it well over 15 times in December alone.

What are you currently reading?

recent reads:
— Finding My Way by Malala Yousafzai
— Murder by Memory by Olivia White
— The Intruder by Freida McFadden

current reads:
— Down the Drain by Julia Fox
— Game Changer by Rachel Reid

possibly next?
— Quicksilver by Callie Hart
— I Think We’ve Been Here Before by Suzy Krause taken in Paris, France by @readnext

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8 months ago

some summer

1. Yuli Sato capturing lovely moments. 💕
2. Bedside table mix of recent, current and future reads.
3. 🤍
4. Soble & Ta Chido
5. old 🐶☀️🌱
6. “Sunk in the grass of an empty lot on a spring Saturday, I split the stems of milkweed and thought about ants and peach pits and death and where the world went when I closed my eyes.”
7. 🦋#2 release day
8. tiny hobbit walking baby bunny
9. that soothed the soul! 🤖
10. COLOURFUL CHAOS
11. Dusty, where are you?
12. summer spins!
13. A hard (emotional) read, a powerful woman indeed. Curious though, how did she retain all of that information in the depth of trauma, especially the early chapters?
14. trying to add to my cooking repertoire (and get my kid to eat veg 🫑)
15. ☀️ room
16. beach bums bocce ball
17. “You should get Squirtle!”
18. Book Bangers discuss “What Lies Between Us”
19. Paddling canoes, exploring ruins
20. Slowly adding to tiny hobbits shelf for later. by @readnext

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a year ago

what I’ve read, what I’m reading, what I plan to read next

Last read: Astra by Cedar Bowers 4/5
My book club chose this one after having a great experience with Greenwood by Michael Christie (her husband) the month before. I can’t say enough good things about Greenwood, and I was pleasantly surprised by Astra. Each chapter is written from a different POV, which at times felt like I was reading separate short stories. The writing was beautiful, but because of the format I struggled at times to connect with (or even like) Astra. Overall, it’s a good Canadian debut!

Last read: Children of Dune by Herbert 3.5/5
When I read this at 23, I was blown away and gave it 5/5. Reading through it a second time, I found it difficult to connect with a few main characters and struggled to understand motivations. Dune is a masterpiece, and I truly enjoyed my Messiah reread. Children of Dune is still enjoyably thought provoking, but you’ll struggle more with the inner monologues (they’ve multiplied) that ramble on and on barely push the story forward.

Currently reading: Obasan by Joy Kogawa
A library copy I’ve had on hold for a while. Based on Kogawa’s own experiences, it’s Canada’s first novel (1994) to tell the story of evacuation, relocation, and dispersal of Canadian citizens of Japanese ancestry during WWII. There’s a quiet power to Kogawa’s writing that I am enjoying.

Reading next: Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
This was given to me last fall with the warning that it is at times a dense (but epic) fantasy. Have any of you read this series or anything by Erikson? What be your thoughts?

what have you read, been reading, want to read next? by @readnext

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a year ago

hello hobbits

First post of 2025! On the last day of March using a photo of a book I read on the first day of the year. The world is changing and the speed of that change is accelerating. Haven’t felt like posting as a result. Been trying to create positive change wherever possible offline. Hope you are all taking care out there. ♥️

quotes that soothe the soul:

“You don’t have to have a reason to be tired. You don’t have to earn rest or comfort. You’re allowed to just be.“

“Nobody should be barred from necessities or comforts just because they don’t have the right number next to their name.”

“If they have an issue with you, that’s on them. And it’s not even about you, personally. They just … don’t understand what you are. Or maybe they can’t fit you into their beliefs, and that scares them. The unknown makes us stupid sometimes.“

- A Prayer for the Crown-Shy

“You keep asking why your work is not enough, and I don’t know how to answer that, because it is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it. You don’t need to justify that, or earn it. You are allowed to just live.”

“We’re all just trying to be comfortable, and well fed, and unafraid.”

- A Psalm for the Wild-Built by @readnext

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2 years ago

BOOK BANGERS
🤍🤍🤍

These literary humans truly are the salt of the earth.

I’ve been in several book clubs, but this is the one that continues to outlast them all. It always has room for personal chats with wine on top of our book discussions. It has helped us journey through the pandemic. It always has me reading outside of my comfort zone. It is such a beautiful constant in life and I feel so lucky to be part of it. Much love to the bangers!!

An extra big thank you to Yuli for capturing our memories in banner form for our 2024 Xmas book club, with all our photos in chronological order! 🤍 by @readnext

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2 years ago

Happy Halloween! 👻
.
What creepy/spooky/terrifying things have you been reading this fall?
.
When a waitlist for a library copy is months and months long and as a result you forget most of the first volume! Hi, that’s me. 👋
.
I first read The Nice House on the Lake, Vol. 1 back in February of this year. Powerful start (from what I remember), but it wavered halfway through and I can’t for the life of me remember the bulk of the second half. Thankfully, Vol. 1 was readily available at my branch when I was picking up my hold on Vol. 2! Rereading it now, it has me thinking about The Glass Onion, but less murder mystery vibes, more apocalyptic sci-fi. Looking forward to getting to revisiting the ending so I can finally start the second volume. The cover of Vol. 2 is looking especially messed up. 😬 by @readnext

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2 years ago

A late night happy bday to Le Guin 🎈
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What’s the first book you ever read by Le Guin? If you have yet to enjoy Le Guin’s work, do you know which book you’d start with?
.
I found my first copy of The Tombs of Atuan (not this beautiful edition) at a used book sale in cottage land. It cost me a toonie, a significant portion of the meagre $10 my parents had given me to spend on used books. Nine year old me had no idea about the literary obsession I was about to embark on. Admittedly, it took me reading The Tombs of Atuan a couple of times to realize it was the second novel in the Earthsea series. Starting with what is arguably the darker book in the trilogy didn’t wear me down. I found Le Guin’s writing to be incredibly engaging, and I was enraptured with Tenar’s internal conflict.
.
Do you know how to read?’
‘No. It is one of the black arts.’
He nodded. ‘But a useful one,’ he said.
.
“Freedom is a heavy load, a great and strange burden for the spirit to undertake. It is not easy. It is not a gift given, but a choice made, and the choice may be a hard one. The road goes upward towards the light; but the laden traveler may never reach the end of it.” by @readnext

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2 years ago

Happy Saturday hobbits 🍂

What books have you been perusing this weekend?

I’ve fallen fast for Shōgun and can’t seem to stop reading this mammoth of a book. Tiny hobbit is currently obsessed with books about bugs, sharks, and farm animals. 🐞🦈🐰 by @readnext

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2 years ago

still thinking about these lovely summer moments

“September tries its best to have us forget summer.” - Bern Williams 🍂

Happy Friday the 13th hobbits! 🐈‍⬛ by @readnext

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2 years ago

Chatting about this one at bookclub tonight, and what a great classic retelling. Looking forward to our discussion! by @readnext

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2 years ago

that’s that me, double espresso

after an especially hot long weekend, extra caffeine was needed to get through work today

these two books have been sending plenty of signals to my brain releasing copious amounts of dopamine, and they both just happen to be book two!

He Who Drowned the World has been HIGH on my list of tbr, and I’m enjoying it so very much, as with She Who Became the Sun, I’m continuously guessing which characters will meet their fate by the end.

the last time I read Dune Messiah I was in my early twenties, and rereading it now, I’m constantly wondering as to how the heck Villeneuve will make a movie based on a book that mostly takes place in the minds of these characters?

my current reads are all about psychological warfare and excellent dialogue ☕️ by @readnext

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2 years ago

Sequel hesitation. 😟
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What is it that prevents me from immediately jumping into book two when I adore the first one? When I was a kid/teenager, I couldn’t devour entire series fast enough. Within the last five years or so, I’ve developed a habit of procrastinating reading sequels, especially when I love the first book. I suppose I just don’t want to be let down! Is it…the final season of GOT… is that why I’m like this?!? The timing of it all does match up. 🤔

Anywho, have you read He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan? Was your heart crushed, but in that beautiful all consuming sort of way? That is what my sadistic heart seems to be yearning for. With my reread of She Who Became the Sun finished, I think it might finally be time to jump in.☀️ by @readnext

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2 years ago