Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge for June 3, 2026

Each Wednesday, Long and Short Reviews hosts a weekly “blog hop”. For more details on how to participate, please click here.

Unique YouTube, TikTok, or other videos I’ve seen Lately

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge for May 27, 2026

Each Wednesday, Long and Short Reviews hosts a weekly “blog hop”. For more details on how to participate, please click here.

Animals I Wish I Could Have as Pets

Top Ten Tuesday: First Books in a Series by My Favorite Author

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

I have a lot of favorite authors, and narrowing down my favorite books for each might be a bit of a trial, so I thought I’d make it a little easier on myself.  Since I tend to gravitate to series, I wanted to highlight the first book in my favorite series by my favorite authors.

Michael Connelly – The Black Echo.  Bosch Universe.  I had a friend rec this series to me years ago and I cannot thank her enough.

Michael Connelly (again) – The Lincoln Lawyer.  This is also part of the Bosch Universe, but focuses on Harry’s half-brother, Mickey Haller.  I often get a lot of guff for this, but I prefer Mickey to Harry (or Renee Ballard).

Tess Gerritsen – The Surgeon.  Rizzoli & Isles.  This series is one of the few I got into in reverse.  I started watching the series with Angie Harmon and discovered that it had been based on a series of novels.  In between seasons, I began binge reading the books.  While the show and the series are very different, they are both fantastic.

Kathy Reichs – Deja Dead.  Temperance Brennan.  Tempe is an interesting character who often does dumb things (she’s forever getting conked on the head), but her relationship with Andrew Ryan is the best.

Dana Stabenow – A Cold Day for Murder.  Kate Shugak.  Set in Alaska, starring a Native woman, this series is fascinating in all the details you get about native life in Alaska, as well as all the history of the state and the people.  Even though I’m angry with the author for something she did about halfway through the series, this is still one of the best out there.

Travis Baldree – Legends and Lattes.  Legends and Lattes.  I’m pretty sure I discovered this book through TTT and instantly fell in love.  Cozy fantasy is something I never knew I needed.

Vivien Chien – Death by Dumpling.  Noodle Shop Mysteries.  Cozy mysteries are one of my top favorite genres and I read a ton of them.  These are some of the best.

Jenn McKinlay – Books Can Be Deceiving.  Library Lover’s Mysteries.  I love books set in a library and these are particularly fun since the town’s residents are all a little kooky.

Dakota Cassidy – The Accidental Werewolf.  Accidentally Paranormal.  There is so much I love about this series – the crazy way the characters become paranormal creatures, the humor, Nina.  The author is also a pretty great woman, too.

John Scalzi – Constituent Service.  Here, I am going to break with my theme since I couldn’t think of a tenth series I read faithfully (it’ll come to me after I post this, I’m sure).  However, I do adore John Scalzi – he makes me laugh, he makes me think, and – in When the Moon Hits Your Eye – he even made me cry.  While I haven’t read anything of his yet that I haven’t enjoyed, I think his novella, Constituent Service, is one of the best (and most bizarre).

Have you read any of these authors?  What did you think?

 

Movie Review: A Gorilla Story – Told by David Attenborough

Title: A Gorilla Story – Told by David Attenborough
Director: James Reed and Callum Webster
Starring: David Attenborough
Producers: Jennifer Davisson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Alastair Fothergill, and Phillip Watson
Publisher: Netflix
Genre: Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Non-Fiction, Contemporary, Historical
Rating: 4 Stars (8 stars on IMDB)
Reviewed by Astilbe

David Attenborough tells the remarkable story of his first encounter with the baby gorilla Pablo, how that gorilla grew up to be a top Silverback and how Pablo’s direct descendants are doing today.

Good news, especially about a critically endangered species, can be hard to find but so worthwhile when it happens.

I loved learning about David’s decades-long relationship with Pablo, a gorilla who was orphaned as a baby in the 1970s, adopted by the dominate male in his group, and who later became the leader of that same group as an adult. It was incredible to me that we could know so much about Pablo’s life over the years as well as the lives of his descendants. The flashbacks to the past, including how a few brave humans worked to keep this population alive at a time when their survival was in question, helped to provide some context for their group dynamics today, especially as they related to how newcomers were treated and what happened to young male gorillas as they grew up.

One of the topics I wish had been explored in greater depth was related to the resounding success of the conservation efforts of the 1970s that turned the Virunga Mountains into a sanctuary for this species. There were some brief references to the gorilla population slowly growing too large for this area, and I would have loved to hear what modern day scientists are hoping to do to solve this new problem. For example, would they relocate some of these animals or maybe try to expand their territory?

This film did an excellent job of appealing to viewers from a wide range of ages. While I wouldn’t recommend it to children under the age of eight due to a few brief scenes of violence between some gorillas, older kids and adults had plenty of content to work with here. David’s narration helped to explain what was happening both inside of this particular group of animals as well as in the outside world. There were multiple scenes showing the tender care mother gorillas gave to their babies as slightly older youngsters played boisterous games nearby that would work especially well for kids, teens, and adults simultaneously.

A Gorilla Story – Told by David Attenborough was heartwarming, hopeful, and educational.

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge for May 20, 2026

Each Wednesday, Long and Short Reviews hosts a weekly “blog hop”. For more details on how to participate, please click here.

A Typical Day in My Life

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Secondary Characters

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

All of these secondary characters were great!

 

1. Rue from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 

She was the person who inspired the main characters to start the rebellion, after all!

 

2. Samwise from Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien 

He was such a supportive friend, to say the least.

 

3. Matthew Cuthbert from Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

None of the Anne books would have been possible if he hadn’t stood up for Anne and asked his sister to keep her after the orphanage mistakenly sent them a girl instead of the boy they requested.

 

4. Tonkee from The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin

There were so many layers to her personality.

 

5, 6, and 7. Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which from A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle

Everyone needs some guidance when visiting strange new lands!

 

8. Mercutio from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

He had such a fantastic sense of humor.

 

9. Podrick Payne from A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin

He had a wonderful character arc. I also like the fact that he was timid and shy  when the audience first met him. There aren’t enough characters written like that for my tastes these days.

 

10. Kaede from Legend by Marie Lu

She was incredibly brave and loyal, and the main characters would not have survived without her assistance. The same could also be said for Samwise!

TV Review: This is a Gardening Show


Title: This Is a Gardening Show (Season 1)
Director: Brook Linder
Starring: Zach Galifianakis
Producer: Chris Kim
Publisher: Netflix
Genre: Non-Fiction, Contemporary, Historical
Rating: 3 Stars (6 on IMDB)
Reviewed by Astilbe

Follows Zach Galifianakis as he approaches gardening with curiosity and self-effacing humor, blending comedy with appreciation for the planet while providing accessible tools and tips.

The future is filled with plants of all sizes, shapes, and colors.

I loved Zack’s sense of humor in this series. Whether he was asking kids about whether tomatoes were a fruit or a vegetable or joking about placing bets about what color certain potatoes would be before they were dug up, he brought so much laughter to topics like climate change and sustainable farming that wouldn’t generally be thought of as funny. Some of the points he made about what our future will look like if we don’t change how we grow our food were quite serious, so it was helpful to have those moments bookmarked by plenty of laughs along the way.

Each episode was about fifteen minutes long which unfortunately didn’t leave much space for exploring their topics in depth. I think twenty-five to thirty minutes would have been a better length, especially when Zach and his guests began talking about the history of agriculture and how certain wild foods have changed over the millennia thanks to selective breeding that are difficult to distill into a few short sentences.

Speaking of the historical segments, they were by far my favorite portions of these episodes. For example, wealthy Victorians thought that tomatoes were poisonous, and their reasoning for that was as logical as it was surprising. I also enjoyed the moments in later episodes that talked about how ancient civilizations like the Egyptians used composting not only to enrich their crops but also to reinforce some of their cultural beliefs as well.

This Is a Gardening Show was educational and amusing.

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge for May 13, 2026

Each Wednesday, Long and Short Reviews hosts a weekly “blog hop”. For more details on how to participate, please click here.

Something I Wish I Knew More About

Top Ten Tuesday: Picture Books About Gardens

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Aren’t these picture books about gardens adorable? I think this is a great way to get kids interested in gardening, healthy eating, and the outdoors.

1. Flower Garden by Eve Bunting

 

2. Our Community Garden by Barbara Pollak

 

3. Seed to Plant by Kristin Baird Rattini

 

4. The Story of Frog Belly Rat Bone by Timothy Basil Ering

 

 

5. In Enzo’s Splendid Gardens by Patricia Polacco

 

6. The Bunnies’ Picnic by Lezlie Evans

 

7. Bring Me Some Apples and I’ll Make You a Pie: A Story About Edna Lewis by Robbin Gourley

 

8. That’s Not a Daffodil! by Elizabeth Honey

 

9. Luke and Lottie and Their Vegetable Garden by Ruth Wielockx

 

10. Two Old Potatoes and Me by John Coy

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge for May 6, 2026

Each Wednesday, Long and Short Reviews hosts a weekly “blog hop”. For more details on how to participate, please click here.

Something I Could Give a Speech About with No Notice