— Books, Life, Lists, Poetry, Technology, Writing —

The Pinch of Prequels: The Wonderful Missed Reads

January 23, 2024

Today is a mish mash of memes and more – some poetry, a list of wonderful missed reads, and then some ramblings too that I am not sure will make their way into the post at this time! But note that the title does not mean that any of the books I include are prequels.. It is just a play on words for the content within.

This post contains Amazon and other affiliate links, that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support. Please see the full disclosure for more information. I only recommend products I definitely would (or have already) use myself

Ten Wonderful Missed Reads

This week’s topic for TTT over at ThatArtsyReaderGirl is Books I Meant to Read in 2023 but Haven’t Gotten to Yet. Well, there are way too many such books on my list and I decided to keep it to ten this time around, but also picked a couple from previous years. i just used the lists of ‘most anticipated releases’ from earlier for this list to make it easy on me 🙂

Based on reviews and descriptions, I am assuming that these are all wonderful books that I missed reading in the previous years. Now I am asking you, dear reader, which of these would you recommend I pick first?

  1. Book Lovers by Emily Henry
  2. Clues to the Universe by Christina Li
  3. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
  4. Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn
  5.  If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
  6. The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt
  7. The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson
  8. The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare by Kimberly Brock
  9. The Lost Library by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass.
  10. The Spectacular by Fiona Davis

dVerse-ing this Week: The Pinch of Prequels

This week, both the Monday Quadrille and the Tuesday Poetics prompts are calling out to me. So here are my attempts at them.

The Prompt that Pinches

WhimsyGizmo invites everyone to write a quadrille. So Get those nimble fingers ready and pinch us a punchy little poem of just 44 words (not counting the title), including some form of the word pinch.

Wisdom Within this Word-Web??
Within the labyrinth of my mind,
words linger, longing to intertwine –
in tangled lines, a chaotic dance.
Will coherence arise? Do take a chance!
Just a note: remember to blend
A pinch of common sense, my friend,
For clarity emerges when reason is fed.
~ Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

AI generated image for this poem…

Poetic Prequels

For the Poetics prompt, Lillian asks us to Write a poem that is a prequel to a particular character from a nursery rhyme, Aesop’s fable, book, or mythology. Be sure it’s clear in the poem, who you’re writing about.

Twee Tugs at Heartstrings
Tweedledum and Tweedledee
I wonder how they were in the nursery?
Would Tweedledum often go “ho hum”
While his brother Dee laughed with glee?
Makers of mischief or a joyous pair?
Did they bring cheers or parental despair?
What do you think, Reader Dear?
But one thing does shine so very clear –
In their frequent hugs, was love so true,
That mom and dad surely adored this twee duo.
~Vidya @ LadyInReadWrites

Another poem in their honor here.

AI generated image for this poem…

And Now, the End of This Post

Dear reader, have you read any of these books? Which one do you recommend I pick first? Which one would you want to read first for yourself? I hope you consider joining in at dVerse to write a poem or read other poems (and let me tell you, the other dversers are brilliant!!)

23 thoughts on “The Pinch of Prequels: The Wonderful Missed Reads”

    1. Thanks so much Lillian! I love using the AI image generator – it does weird and funny things sometimes but each one is always cool in its own way and often inspires me in a new direction..

  6. I have not read any of those books but why do you call them missed reads? You still have the opportunity to read them. Maybe call them “Yet to be read” or just on your wish list.
    One of the book covers look familiar, probably from the ones my wife has borrowed and read from the local Library. It is #7 The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson.
    I like the prequel to the Tweedles and the picture you have had generated for the cover. Are they related to the Humpty Dumpty family?
    I am still trying to figure out what a dVerse or dVerse-ing are.
    Blog on!

    1. Doug, the dVerse poets pub is an online gathering place for poets where they have various weekly prompts… And Tweedledum and Tweedledee are Alice in Wonderland characters..
      Agree that they are not really missed reads but I “missed” reading them when I wanted to initially 🙂 i do love books do with libraries and books set in WWII always call to me..

  9. Loved the prequel poem, its very rhythmical and sweet and gives so many imaginary options! I have not read any of the books from your Missed reads, but upon looking at them, I personally would definitely pick ‘If on a winter’s night a traveler’, because that title and the cover look really intruiging.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *