This week in the U.S., we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. Although the holiday's history is problematic, I still love the fact that we set aside a day to gather with family and friends and express gratitude for our blessings. My life is far from perfect, but I've been given so much that I can't count high enough to name all of my blessings. Please know that you are among them. Thank you for continuing to support my humble little blog. I appreciate every visit, every comment, every suggestion, and every reading rec. You make blogging fun! Whether or not you are celebrating Thanksgiving this week, I encourage you to take a minute to look around you and be grateful for everything you have. I firmly believe that, no matter your circumstances, there is always, always something to be thankful for!

My kind husband is going to brave Costco today to get pies so I don't have to, but I've got a million other things to get done before Turkey Day. There's too much going on in my head for me to be able to think up a good Top Ten Tuesday topic for today's Thanksgiving Freebie, so I'm just going to leave it at this: Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Top Ten Tuesday!

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate! I know the holiday has a problematic history, but I still love that it prompts us to spend one day out of the year hyper focusing on gratitude. We should be counting our blessings every day, of course. Still, I need the annual reminder to really think about all that I have and be thankful for it. After all, my life is rich and full and beautiful, in spite of its challenges and heartaches. We were discussing the Book of James in church yesterday and I love the verse that counsels us to "count it all joy" (James 1:2). I'm trying to do more of that as I count my blessings instead of my problems. 

Today's Top Ten Tuesday (hosted, as always, by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl) topic is our annual Thanksgiving prompt: Top Ten Reasons Why I'm Thankful for Books. I've done this one multiple times, so today I'm going to go rogue and express my gratitude not for books, but for book bloggers. Over the years, I've wanted to do a personal shout-out to all of the bloggers I love and appreciate, but I couldn't figure out a way to do so without (1) creating a post that's so long no one wants to read it and (2) accidentally leaving someone off the list. Yesterday, I had the brilliant idea of highlighting the top ten commenters on my blog this year. Blogger, unfortunately, doesn't have an easy way to identify these rock stars (at least not that I could find). Since I haven't posted nearly as much in 2023 as I usually do, I decided to just count up the comments myself. How hard could it be, really? Ahem, this is what my desk looked like after tallying up comments for just the first few months of the year:

 

At this point, a few things occurred to me:

(1) This project was going to take longer than expected and maybe I should quit while I was ahead.

(2) I probably should have used a spreadsheet for my calculations instead of writing everything out by hand.

(3) I really wanted to know who my top commenters were.

(4) A lot of people have taken time out of their days this year to leave a comment on my blog. How awesome is that?

As I wrote all of your names down and scrolled through all of your comments, I was absolutely flooded with gratitude for YOU. According to my calculations, 184 of you (not including anonymous commenters) paused a moment to leave me at least one message this year. Thank you for that! It means a great deal to me. Even more amazing is that a whole bunch of you left me multiple comments over the course of this year. My favorite part of blogging is interacting with you. I haven't been as good about commenting on other people's blogs this year, so the many comments on mine mean even more to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you! You make blogging such a joy for me. 

Although I appreciate each and every comment left on my blog and it's not a competition, obviously, I still want to give some shout-outs to the bloggers who commented most here at BBB this year. If you're not familiar with them already, do yourself a favor and go check them out. You'll find thoughtful book reviews, on-point reading recommendations, fun book commentary, and, best of all, new blogger friends!

Just for reference, I have published 66 posts this year (not including this one), of which 40 were Top Ten Tuesday lists. (I've been a HUGE slacker on reviews this year!)

1. Katherine P. @I Wish I Lived in a Library and Lark @LarkWrites...On Books and Life (43 comments)

2. Cindy @Cindy's Book Corner, Deanna @A Novel Glimpse, Helen @Helen's Book Blog (41 comments)

3. Lydia @Lydia Schoch and Nicole @BookWyrm Knits (40 comments)

4. Rissi @Culture Characteristics/RissiWrites (32 comments)

5. Louise @Foxes and Fairy Tales (31 comments)

6. Deb Nance @Readerbuzz and Leah @Leah's Books (30 comments)

7. Carla @Carla Loves to Read (29 comments)

8. Dedra @A Book Wanderer (26 comments)

9. Nicole Santana @The Christian Fiction Girl and Vero @The Moon Phoenix (24 comments)

10. Lindsey @Lindsey Reads and Marianne @Let's Read (23 comments)

11. Lisa @Bookshelf Fantasies and Tanya @Girl Plus Books (22 comments)

12. Carol @Reading Ladies and Ethan @A Book a Week (21 comments)

13. Emily @Budget Tales Book Blog and Rainbow Stevie @Literary Loot (20 comments)

14. Suzanne @The Bookish Libra (19 comments)

15. Leslie @Books Are the New Black (18 comments)

A million thanks to these frequent commenters and to all of you who read my blog and take the time to comment. I appreciate you more than you could ever know. I love being part of the book blogging community. Thank you for making it such a fantastic place to hang out!

Have these book bloggers also blessed you with their lovely comments? Which book bloggers are you thankful for? Why are you thankful for books and this bookish community of ours? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

I hope everyone who celebrates had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We had planned to join my aunt-in-law at her house as we do every year, but we ended up having surprise guests and doing our own thing. It was lovely to cook, eat, and visit with my sister, brother-in-law, three of our four children, and our daughter-in-law. I'm thankful for each of them. They all bring such light into my life.

Over the weekend, we brought all of our boxes of Christmas decorations into the house from the garage. Even though we donated a ton of holiday decor to charity before moving, we still have a LOT. Once again, our living room is filled with boxes! It's bringing back not-so-distant, not-so-pleasant memories of moving into this house in the middle of major remodeling. As for that, the house is finally just about done, thank goodness. We've been waiting for a week for our painters to come do some touch-up work. Hopefully, they will show up today so we can get the remodel all wrapped up and move on to Christmas decorating. Yay! This is my favorite time of year.

As the new year speeds closer, I've noticed posts popping up about 2023 reading challenges. In case you don't know, I have another blog, Ready For a Reading Challenge?, that's basically a database of current reading challenges. If you're into these, definitely check it out. I added a few this morning (Lori over at Escape With Dollycas Into a Good Book is so on the ball!) and will continue to do so as I spot more 2023 challenges being announced around the book blogosphere. If you're hosting a reading challenge this year, please let me know. I'd love to help you get the word out.

I also thought it would be fun to see just how behind I am how I'm doing on my 2022 reading challenges. Here's a breakdown:

2022 Literary Escapes Challenge: So far, I've read books set in 43 of the 50 U.S. states (plus D.C.). Not bad. I still need: Arkansas, Delaware, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Carolina. If you know of any good reads set in these states, let me know!

2022 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: I'm a big hist-fic fan, so I should be totally rocking this challenge. I pledged to read 50 historical novels this year and I'm only at 35 so far. Will I read 15 more before January 1st? It's possible...

2022 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge: This one I have been rocking, thank you very much. I vowed to read 20 cozies and I've read 22. Ba da bing, ba da boom!

Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge: Reading mysteries is never a challenge for me, so I signed up for this challenge at the Sherlock Holmes level, which meant reading 56+ books in the mystery/thriller/crime genre. So far, I'm at 74. Easy cheesy.

Booklist Queen's 2022 Reading Challenge: I'm at 44/52 on this prompt-based challenge. Since I still have to read a Shakespearean play, I'm unlikely to finish this one in time. Or I'll do what the challenge host recommends and sub out the tough categories for easier ones so I can complete it. We'll see.

Aussie Author Reading Challenge 2022: I was super excited about this one, which requires you to read and review books by Australian authors, but I've been failing miserably at it! I pledged to read and review 24 books and I've only done ONE. Yikes. I have read four more that I haven't reviewed yet. Will I catch up? At this point, that's very unlikely. Bummer. 

2022 Nonfiction Reader Challenge: I've really been wanting to read more non-fiction and this challenge has helped me do that, although not as much as I'd hoped. Still, I've read 11 books that fit the bill so far this year and am almost done with my 12th. I've only reviewed three of them, though. Oops!

2022 PopSugar Reading Challenge: This challenge is always a, well, challenge for me. That's why I do it. I'm not doing too badly this time around, though. I've read 41/50 books. I doubt I'll complete this one either, but I'll get close.

2022 Build Your Library Reading Challenge: I'm actually going to complete this challenge today when I finish reading Sphere by Michael Crichton for the "A Story Set Under the Sea" prompt. Woo hoo! That will be 40/40 books read.

The 52 Club's Reading Challenge 2022: I'm nearing the finish line on this 52-prompt challenge as well. I've got 7 prompts left. Not too shabby.

2022 Medical Examiner Mystery Reading Challenge: I've been counting the bodies in the murder mysteries I read for this fun challenge that I do every year. So far, I've tied 262 toe tags, putting me in 13th place. I don't know how many more murder mysteries I'll be able to fit in this year since I'm still madly reading middle-grade books for the two book awards programs I'm helping to judge. We'll see.

2022 Support Book Bloggers Challenge: This one doesn't have to do with reading. It's a task-based challenge that encourages book bloggers to support each other in a variety of ways. There are 17 tasks and I've done 11.

All in all, I'm pretty proud of my reading challenge progress this year. Even if I don't finish all of them, I've had fun trying and that's all I really care about.

Did you take on any 2022 reading challenges? How are you doing with them? 

Thursday is Thanksgiving here in the U.S. and, while I know the history behind the holiday is problematic, I still love that we celebrate it. For me, it's about gratitude above all. Yes, it's great to gather with loved ones. Yes, it's fun to feast on delicious food. Yes, it's delightful to watch football (for some people), play games, take long walks, nap on the couch, and just spend time visiting with family and friends. What's the holiday really about, though? Gratitude. It's a time to acknowledge all the wonder and goodness that life has to offer, even amidst the challenges and struggles we all face. As a religious person, it's also a time for me to really reflect on and fervently thank God for the blessings He's given me. I love that there is a holiday focused on thankfulness. Even if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you do take a moment this week to be grateful for what and who you have in your life and for all those little things that make your existence beautiful, joyful, and worth living. 

One of the things I'm very grateful for is YOU. Thank you for visiting my blog, for leaving thoughtful comments, and for making this book blogging community of ours such a delightful place to hang out. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

To celebrate the upcoming holiday, today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is a Thanksgiving Freebie. I'm going to go with something non-bookish today and list ten quotes I love about gratitude. If you want to join in the TTT fun, head on over to That Artsy Reader Girl for all the details.

1. There is always, ALWAYS something to be grateful for. - Author Unknown

2. "As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." - John F. Kennedy, U.S. president

3. "So it is not happiness that makes us grateful. It's gratefulness that makes us happy." - Brother David Steindl-Rast, American monk

4. "Count your blessings;

Name them one by one. 

Count your many blessings;

See what God has done."

- hymn, "Count Your Blessings," text by Johnson Oatman, Jr., music by Edwin O. Excell

5. "...live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you." - Alma 34:38, the Book of Mormon

6. "Those who find gratitude in the little things find humility in the big things." - Lidia Longorio, Hey Humanity

7. "He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has." - Epictetus, Greek philosopher

8. "Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a gift and not giving it." - Author Unknown

9. "O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth forever." - 1 Chronicles 16:34

10. "Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance." - Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Ours was busy but also relaxed. It was nice to have all four of my kids together for a few days. Now that it's over, we're in full Christmas mode. We have lights on the outside of the house, all of our decorations are out of the garage waiting to be put up, I've ordered my Christmas cards, I'm attending my book club's yearly lunch/book exchange this afternoon, and we'll be doing our annual decorating of a neighborhood tree tonight. Our usual tree was cut down in the middle of the night a couple years ago—the vandal disappeared with not only the tree but also all of our decorations! Good thing they were mostly bought at Goodwill. Hopefully, the thieving Grinch doesn't appear this year so everyone can enjoy the festive tree as they're driving past. 

Today's TTT prompt—Top Ten Bookish Memories—is a great one. Unfortunately, although I've been a reader all my life, I can't think of any really interesting memories to share. So, I'm going to go rogue once again and talk about something else today. 

Most of you know I love reading challenges. Historically, I've been awesome about signing up for a bunch of them and awful about actually completing them! I happen to be rocking my challenges this year, so I'm getting excited about which I want to take on in 2022. Last year, when my favorite reading challenge blog went dark, I even decided to create my own so that there would be a central place to find the many new challenges that are posted every year. Apparently, I have been a little too enthusiastic, as I copied and pasted challenge posts into my blog. I got two cease and desist emails from two separate bloggers accusing me of plagiarism over the weekend! Oops. Since my posts were clearly marked with links to the blogs that had made the posts and it was obvious I was not hosting all of the challenges, I figured it was all good. Wrong! If I "plagiarized" your challenge post, I am so sorry. I didn't intend to do anything offensive and certainly not anything illegal. The posts from this year have all been rewritten in my own word (I'm leaving the posts from last year as is since I got no complaints on them, the year is almost over, and it would be a big pain to do so). So, if you're interested in reading challenges for 2022, take a look at Ready for a Reading Challenge. I'll be updating it constantly as I come across more challenges, so keep checking back. If you're hosting a reading challenge in 2022, let me know. I'd love to advertise it for you (in my own words, with clear links to your post, of course). I haven't entirely decided which challenges I will be doing in the new year, but I've listed ten I'm either planning on or considering. 

Before we get to that, though, I encourage you to join in the TTT fun. It's a good time, I promise! All you have to do is click on over to That Artsy Reader Girl, scan a few quick instructions, make your own list, and spend some happy hours visiting other fantastic blogs. What's not to love?

1.  2022 Literary Escapes Challenge (hosted by Lori/Dollycas @Escape With Dollycas Into a Good Book)—This challenge involves reading a book set in all of the 50 U.S. states. You get points for every country as well. It's my favorite reading challenge, so I do it every year. Naturally.

2.  2022 Reading Challenge (hosted by Goodreads)—I like to set a personal reading goal at Goodreads every year as well. It's been 200 books read for the past few years and this year, for the first time, it looks like I will not just reach that goal but actually surpass it. Only 16 more to go! I'm going to go for 200 again in 2022.

3.  2022 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge (hosted by POPSUGAR)—This annual prompt-based challenge is always a fun one. I don't think I've ever actually finished it, but I'm getting close this year with only 13 prompts left. The 2022 prompt list hasn't been released yet (which is why I'm using last year's logo). I'm excited to see what will be on it.

4.  Booklist Queen's 2022 Reading Challenge (hosted by Rachael @Booklist Queen)—I love prompt-based challenges and I've been having fun with this one this year (only 11 more to go), so I've signed up to do it again next year. Also, props to Rachael—although she did send me a cease and desist email, she was extremely nice about it!

5.  2022 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge (hosted by Rick Mills @The Mystillery)—This challenge involves counting up the corpses in the mystery books you read. Sure, it's a little morbid, but it's also a lot of fun. Rick is a great challenge host and always has several running at a time. Check them all out since you can do several of them concurrently. The 2022 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge officially opens on January 1, so stay tuned. You can get a feel for what the challenge is all about by checking out this year's challenge page. Be sure to note who's in 11th place :)

6.  2022 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge (hosted by Lori/Dollycas @Escape With Dollycas Into a Good Book)—I enjoy a good cozy, so I've been doing this fun challenge this year. I've only read 11 cozies so far, fewer than I thought I would, but that's okay. I'll read more in the new year with this challenge. I'm signing up for the "Peckish" level.

7.  2022 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge (hosted by Marg @Intrepid Reader and Baker)—I love hist-fic, so this one is a no-brainer. You simply read as much in the genre as you can and post links to your review on the challenge site. Easy peasy. The 2022 challenge hasn't been officially announced yet (which is why I'm using the 2021 logo), but Marg says it will be up this week, so watch her blog for more info.

8.  The 52 Club's 2022 Reading Challenge (hosted by The 52 Club)—As its name indicates, this challenge involves a prompt for every week of the year. 52 prompts is a lot, but I've been enjoying this challenge as well (only 5 more to go). I'll probably sign up for it again in 2022. We'll see.

9.  The Nerdy Bookworm 50 Books a Year Reading Challenge 2022 (hosted by Emily @)Emily the Book Nerd)—I've probably overdone it with the prompt-based challenges already, but it seems like everyone is hosted one in 2022 and I do love them. This challenge *only* has 50 prompts, so I'm definitely considering it.

10.  2022 Nonfiction Reader Challenge (hosted by Shelleyrae @Book'd Out)—I didn't read a ton of non-fiction this year, but I enjoyed all the ones I did read, so I'm interested in expanding my NF horizons in 2022. This challenge would be a good way to motivate myself.

So, there you go. I'm definitely going to do 1-7. We'll see about the rest. I'm also still looking for a fun challenge that is not prompt-based. Any recommendations? What about you? Are you a reading challenge addict? Which ones have you done this year? Which are you planning to conquer in 2022? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

Today's Top Ten Tuesday prompt is about Characters I'd Love an Update On (Where are they now that the book is over?). This topic wasn't really lighting a fire under me, so I decided to go rogue and talk about Thanksgiving, which Americans will be celebrating on Thursday, instead. Although Christmas is my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving comes in at a close second. I love that it's a day centered around gratitude. It's not about getting anything (except really, REALLY full), but about giving thanks. There's a hymn members of my church sing regularly that says, "Count your many blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done." Thanksgiving is the perfect time to do this, to really focus on all the people and things that make my life so abundantly rich and beautiful. I hope you know that you are among the former. Your support, encouragement, and friendship means a great deal to me. So much so that I'm going to make a whole TTT list devoted to why I'm grateful for everyone who reads this blog.

First, though, I want to encourage you to join in the TTT fun. Hop on over to That Artsy Reader Girl for all the details.

1.  Seeing your comments always makes me smile.

2.  You have the best reading recommendations!

3.  You give me a place to talk about my favorite subject—books. It's nice to be able to have conversations with other readers instead of just talking to myself.

4.  The fact that you take time out of your busy lives to visit my little blog makes me feel good about myself and the many hours I log trying to make BBB a fun, helpful place to be.

5.  Through your comments (and your blogs), you've helped expose me to new book genres, thus helping me open my mind and expand my reading interests.

6.  Your blogs give me even more places to hang out and geek out about our favorite hobby.

7.  You help make up a great and wondrous online community that I have always found to be warm, welcoming, and empowering.

8.  I'm always inspired by visiting your awesome blogs. There are so many talented writers, reviewers, and designers in the book blogosphere!

9.  You encourage me to use my own talents to make BBB the best it can be.

10.  Your kindness and loyalty make me feel appreciated and loved—and who doesn't need more of that in their lives? 

Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading my little blog. It has truly been a blessing to get to know all of you through your blogs and through the wonderful comments you leave me here at BBB. 

For those of you who celebrate, have a wonderful Thanksgiving. My aunt-in-law does the majority of the cooking for our annual family feast. She doesn't love fighting the crowds at Costco for pies, though, so that's my yearly task. I'm writing this on Monday, just in case I don't make it out alive. Wish me luck!

November is a busy, busy month in my household.  Three of my four children were born in November (although none of them were due then), there's Thanksgiving, and this year, I hosted a bridal shower at my home for my daughter-in-law to be.  This month always brings a flurry of activity which really doesn't let up until mid-January, but it's also the time when I reflect most on the things in life for which I am grateful.  This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic—Thanksgiving/Thankfulness Freebie—goes right along with that. 

Although I'm a religious person, I don't bring up the topic very often on this blog.  However, I want to share with you this short, beautiful video that was released a few days ago by Russell M. Nelson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I, and others of my faith, believe him to be a prophet of the Lord.  Whether or not you see him that way, I can assure you that he is a man of intelligence, experience, and wisdom.  I love the things he says in this video, especially his message about gratitude.  In the video, he gives listeners a challenge to flood our social media channels with posts about the things and people we are grateful for.  Because many of my friends and family members are members of my faith, my Facebook feed has been overwhelmed with beautiful, inspiring, funny, thought-provoking, and moving messages of thanksgiving.  It's been lovely—a vast improvement over all the hateful, divisive political posts that dominated social media earlier this month.  I urge you to watch this little video and find your own ways to #GiveThanks:

All over the U.S., families will be gathering this week to celebrate Thanksgiving.  This underrated holiday is one of my favorites—not because I love to pig out on turkey and pie, but because it's not really about gluttony at all.  Thanksgiving revolves around gratitude, being thankful for the blessings in our lives.  Even when life is dark and gloomy, if we just look around a little bit, we can always find something to be grateful for.  Like the quote says, it's a choice.  We can actively decide to cultivate an attitude of gratitude, which will make us happier, healthier, and more pleasant to be around!  This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for so many things—family, friends, a nice house, food on the table, the miracle of modern medicine, cool weather (a REAL blessing in hot, dry Arizona), and so much more.  To all my U.S. readers, Happy Thanksgiving!  A belated one to all you Canadians as well.  

Not surprisingly, today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is a gratitude freebie.  Before I jump into the spin I decided to take, I want to encourage you to join in the TTT fun.  It's easy.  Simply click on over to That Artsy Reader Girl, read a few instructions, make your own list, then spend some happy hours surfing the book blogosphere checking out everyone's lists.  Easy as ... pie!  See what I did there?? 

Today, I decided to celebrate my favorite aspect of blogging—interacting with you, my readers.  To be quite honest, I would probably blog even if no one ever saw my reviews, just because I find it enjoyable, but the fact that people actually want to read what I write is both surprising and wonderful.  I love reading your comments, crafting responses, and just interacting with so many good, like-minded folks.  I appreciate you coming by, even if you're a shy lurker, but I'm especially thankful for those who comment regularly here at BBB.  You make this hobby so much fun!  So, I'm going to publicly thank my most frequent visitors with a TTT list titled Top Ten Twelve Commenters On BBB Who Deserve My Eternal Gratitude.  I hope you will show these good people some love by visiting their blogs, commenting, and taking their always on-point reading recommendations to heart.  Thank you, my friends, for all you do for me and my little blog :)

Top Ten Twelve Commenters on BBB Who Deserve My Eternal Gratitude

1.  Annette @Annette's Book Spot

2.  Carla @Carla Loves to Read

3.  Cath @Read_Warbler

4.  Helen @Helen's Book Blog 

5.  Joy @Joyous Reads  

6.  Katherine @I Wish I Lived in a Library

7.  Kay @Kay's Reading Life

8.  Lark @Lark Writes ... On Books and Life

9.  Mystica @Musings From Sri Lanka

10.  Sam @Book Chase

11.  Sam @We Live and Breathe Books