Saturday, June 27, 2026

A Dream of Red Mansions Family Tree--Commonplace Book

As I was reading A Dream of Red Mansions volume 1, I kept having to flip back to the family tree at the front of the book to keep track of everyone.  (Yes, it's one of those kind of books.)
Volume 2 doesn't have the family tree at the front, so in order to save myself having to constantly go back to the first volume, I decided to take a picture of the family tree from volume 1 and save it on my phone.
And I thought I would post it here as well in case it is useful to anyone else.  (I'm claiming fair use on this since it's only a single page out of a 2400 page novel, and can't act as a replacement for the novel itself.)

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

Started: The Story of Doctor Dolittle, Revised, Newly Illustrated Edition by  by Hugh Lofting adapted by Melissa Dalton Martinez
This is part of my "reading books with my kids" project.  We actually started this book at bedtime last night, but I had already shut down my computer at that point, so I'm posting today instead.  
I have vague memories of Doctor Dolittle from my own childhood.  It all seems familiar, but I can't remember anything definite.  One of my elementary school teachers might have read this book, or a version of this book to us.  But without any definite memories, I'm not going to count it as a reread.

Cascade Library, Kent District Library: Guide to West Michigan

(Travelogues--West Michigan)



Address: 2870 Jacksmith Ave SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546

This is part of my project to document places of interest in West Michigan.  For more information on what this is and why I'm doing it, see the bottom part of this blog post here: https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2026/01/guide-to-west-michigan.html

Related Playlists:



Monday, June 22, 2026

This Week in Booktube: June 21, 2026
(These are the Booktube videos I watched this week. As always, I encourage you also to check out each of the videos I've linked to down below.  Support Booktube.  And let me know what you've watched this past week.)

Google document: docs, pub

Day 2 of Millennium Park, Fred Meijer Millennium Trail, Walker City: Guide to West Michigan

(Travelogues--West Michigan)



Sunday, June 21, 2026

Millennium Park, Fred Meijer Millennium Trail, Kent Trails; Walker and Grand Rapids: Guide to West Michigan

(Travelogues--West Michigan)



Millennium Park: Address: 1415 Maynard Ave SW, Walker, MI 49534

This is part of my project to document places of interest in West Michigan.  For more information on what this is and why I'm doing it, see the bottom part of this blog post here: https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2026/01/guide-to-west-michigan.html

According to Google Map, it looks like we started in Walker City, but ended up crossing the border into Grand Rapids in the course of our wanderings.  So I'm putting this video on both playlists.

Related Playlists:




Thursday, June 18, 2026

An Introduction to Language by Victoria Fromkin, Robert Rodman, Peter Collins, and David Blair



This is part of my so-called "Scripted Review" series, in which I make a Youtube video based on an old blogpost.  For more information on what this is and why I'm doing it, see HERE: