Tag Archives: book recommendations

Brrring On the Warmth: Finding Your Cozy

There’s no winning as a Seasonal Fusser. That’s the title I’ve bestowed upon myself, a thorny crown that almost boasts a quality of perpetual discontent with the Canadian weather we each endure and endear. Emphasis on almost — because there’s a potential remedy to seasonal fussiness that I’m going to share with you.

Close-up image of a snowflake.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

First, a quick introduction: As a new member of the HOTS team (a big and sincere thank you to my colleagues for the warm welcome, by the way!), I must confess that my go-to conversation starter is typically rooted in the capricious. And amid these frigid conditions that sheathe our windows with curtains of frost, there’s no greater example than the weather.

So, here’s my two cents: I’m a fan of long summer days marked by cerulean, cloudless skies and bright rays of sun that infiltrate my windows. I especially long for it at a time when I’m often inconvenienced by slushy sidewalks, mountains of snow, and/or freezing evenings that darken before 5 p.m.

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Something Old and Something New For 2025

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Happy 2025 readers! I and our HOTS bloggers are hoping you’ve had a stellar start to the new year, perhaps with a new (or old) New Year’s resolution under your belt. We’re probably all familiar with the less than positive statistics that most resolutions aren’t built to last, but we’re optimistic that whatever it is you’ve made your thing of the year is something achievable and something you can work towards with conviction. Maybe whatever you’ve decided on lands somewhere in between trying to go to the gym more often or going on that wild adventure you’ve always been planning on, but mine and many of our library staff (like Sumayyah) revolve around reading. Surprise, surprise. Whether it’s pages, words, or titles, we’re challenging ourselves to finally tackle and conquer our forever towering mountain of books or our endlessly long to-read list, which is, of course, a good and very achievable goal for 2025 and will probably not also be our resolution coming into 2026.

In the spirit of our very ambitious reading resolution, and in case you were missing our year-round-up post, I’ve polled our staff across the system to gather their favorite reads of last year (though not exclusively published in 2024) and what they’re most looking forward to reading in 2025. In case your reading list isn’t a full city block long and you’re looking for something to pick up at your next library visit, see below for what my colleagues have to say about how they’re kicking off 2025 with a bang satisfying page turn!

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New Year, Improved Me!

image-of-fireworks
Photo by Single.Earth on Unsplash

I’ll be honest folks; I’m tired. I miss the sun and being warm and am very much in need of a vacation. So this is gonna be a relaxed post featuring, unsurprisingly, resolutions. This year, I’m taking it easy with my aspirations. I’m making my goals small, simple, and (hopefully) achievable. Also, crucially, my list of resolutions is short. I’m not looking to revamp my whole self within a measly 12 months, but I am looking to build further on who I already am and improve my habits.

Which, coincidentally, is quite similar to what we’ve done with our reading challenge! The broad strokes are the same—read a certain type of book a month—but the prompts are different and, most excitingly, we are now offering a prize!

That’s right, if you take on the challenge and submit the log by email or in-person, you’ll be entered into the Grand Prize Draw: your choice of a private cooking session at VMC in the VSES Teaching Kitchen, or a guided maker session with one of our Creation Specialists at Pierre Berton Resource Library or Civic Centre Resource Library!

And actually, that ties into resolution #1: to read 12 books this year.

The twist is, they have to be books I own. Why? Because my personal library is 90% books I’ve never gotten around to reading. (Disclaimer: I got most of them for free, so I don’t feel too guilty about it.) And I do want to read them, but because I own them, there’s no sense of urgency to actually do so. Nobody’s waiting to borrow them and there are no due dates. Therefore, I’ve put it off and put it off. So here are three books I own that I’d like to read in 2025!

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