A Kernel of Nonsense

Top Ten Tuesday is an original blog meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and is currently being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is “Bookish Discoveries I Made in 2025 .” I love discovering new authors. I have both debut and seasoned authors on this list. These are the authors whose works really impressed me and who I will be reaching for again hopefully in the new future. Covers are linked to Goodreads.

Here are a few stats that should really drive home the devastation Israel has visited upon Palestinians in Gaza. 2,700 families in Gaza have been completely wiped out. Every single member of these families have been killed. There are also over 6,000 sole survivors of other families, meaning only one person in an entire family has survived the genocide. These numbers are absolutely horrifying and only a fraction of the evil the world has allowed to happen to Palestinians over the last two years.

For those who have been alarmed by what ICE and Border Patrol are doing in Minnesota and other states and would like to know ways to help, here are a few places where your money can make a real impact. Safe Haven MD is working to assist people upon their releases who have been detained by federal agents in Minnesota. If you are able, consider donating here. The Immigrant Rapid Response Fund is dedicated to assisting immigrant and refugee families. You can help by donating here. Seeds Worth Sowing is an organization helping to provide supplies to families unable to leave their homes. Please consider donating to them here.

1. Vanessa Montalban

2. Wen-yi Lee

3. K. Ancrum

4. Kat Dunn

5. Carissa Orlando

6. Elliott Gish

7. Kylie Lee Baker

8. Monika Kim

9. Lucy Rose

10. Rebecca Ross

Which author did you pick up in 2025 that you intend to pick up more of? Have you read any of these authors yet? Let me know in the comments and be sure to leave me a link to your own TTT post, so I can visit!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original blog meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and is currently being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is “Goals for 2026.” I was almost tempted to look at last year’s reading goals to see how I did. But I would like to spare myself the embarrassment. This year I have different kinds of goals that range from reading to blogging and even yes, the dreaded social media. I have joined a couple of reading challenges for the year, you can find my post on those here. Covers are linked to Goodreads.

Palestinians have been dealing with colder weather, especially overnight the last few weeks. They have also experienced powerful winds and flooding which has caused the collapse of tents and shelters. As of four days ago, the number of Palestinians who have died because of the cold has reached 31. This includes infants. Israel continues to block material meant for construction into Gaza, preventing Palestinians from building safer shelters for the displaced.

1. Goodreads goal – The easiest goal on my list is my Goodreads goal. Last year I set my goal at 60 and read 72 books. This year I am shooting for the same goal. It’s challenging enough, but won’t stress me out entirely. You know, the sweet spot.

2. Be more consistent on Instagram – I literally took a six-month unplanned hiatus from Instagram last year. I just could not get myself to post. I have so many pictures I took last year that I simply didn’t post. What a waste. I plan to be much more present on the platform.

3. Try Threads out again – I feel very disconnected from much of the community since everyone left Twitter. I am hoping to at least keep up with bookish news here.

4. Read more from my shelves – I was really good at reading backlist books last year, but many of these came from the library. This year I would like to focus on the books I have on my shelves

5. Dive deeper into horror – I won’t say much in regard to this because I have something cooking, but I want to approach the genre a little differently this year.

6. Read more series – I picked up so little series last year and I have so many on my shelves that I haven’t continued or haven’t even started.

7. Edit those book reviews for goodness’s sake – I am so bad at posting reviews and it’s not even the fact that I haven’t written them. I write reviews almost immediately after I read a book. I am just really bad at editing them and scheduling them. I would like to be better at this.

8. Read more translated horror – I really want to read more horror books from around the world, particularly translated horror.

9. Read more romance – I’m pretty sure I can count on one hand the amount of romance books I read last year. Such a shame.

10. Pick up more non-fiction – I have several non-fiction books on my shelf that I would like to get to this year.

Do we share any similar goals? Are you looking to pick up more of your own books or posting more reviews? Which genre do you want to tackle more of in 2026? Let me know in the comments and be sure to leave me a link to your own TTT post, so I can visit!