The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

First book review of 2026! Let's do this thing!

I read The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo because my husband read a description of it and insisted I would love it.

The first thing we do is meet Snow. 

I exist as either a small canid with thick fur, pointed ears, and neat black feet, or a young woman. Neither are safe forms in a world built by men. (page 2)

FOX PEOPLE!!

We learn that Snow is hunting for the man who paid the man who killed her child for her fur. She takes on the role of a caretaker to an elderly lady as part of her investigation. Meanwhile, in another city, we meet Bao, a man who can tell when people are lying because their words cause buzzing in his lips. He's investigating the death of a courtesan found frozen in the doorway of a restaurant. Then the plotlines slowly converge. We travel from China to Japan (time on a boat pleases me!), meet more foxes, and learn secrets. 

The book started slowly and it took me a hundred pages or so to really get into, but then I spent most of a Saturday curled up on the couch reading it and ignoring my to-do list and the dog nosing me for a walk. I wanted Bao to have a happy ending and I wanted to know all of Snow's secrets. 

There are some big problems. Consider the line where Snow describes herself. There is SO MUCH EXPOSITION in the fox scenes. Snow just can't but tell us everything we need to know instead of letting it come to us naturally in the world. There are also pretty graphic depictions of violence against women which I wasn't prepared for based on the tone of the rest of the novel, but it wasn't unrealistic. I don't know. There's just a part of me that wishes not every book had "normal men" threatening/enacting sexual violence. It gets exhausting. 

It was kind of exciting to read such a genre mashup, though. I put it down as fantasy on my spreadsheet, but it's a mystery novel with some historical fiction elements, too. That's fun. I like that Choo is taking risks and that a publisher took a chance on a book that isn't easily categorized. 

The ending was exciting and the book picked up the pace towards the end. Are you interested in Chinese folklore? The relationship between China and Japan in the early twentieth century? Fox people? Give it a try. 4/5 stars

Lines of note:

Revenge is a terrible dish to consume. It eats one from the inside out, no matter what the say about it being best served cold. As the Chinese saying goes, "When a gentleman takes his vengeance, ten years is not too late." But you and I know that chilled food inevitably leads to an upset stomach. (page 117)

Hope, of course, is the most painful thing in the universe. Clinging to a thin strand is the most agonizing way to live. (page 170-171)

Things I looked up:

drowning of the child emperor Antoku at the Battle of Dan-no-Ura (page 129)

Antoku - Emperor Antoku (1178 – 1185) was the 81st emperor of Japan. His reign spanned the years from 1180 through 1185. His death marked the end of the Heian period and the beginning of the Kamakura period

Battle of Dan-no-Ura  - During Antoku's reign, the Imperial House of Japan was involved in a bitter struggle between warring clans. Minamoto no Yoritomo with his cousin Minamoto no Yoshinaka, led a force from the Minamoto clan against the Taira, who controlled the emperor. During the climactic sea Battle of Dan-no-Ura in April 1185, Antoku's grandmother Taira no Tokiko took him and plunged with him into the water in the Shimonoseki Straits, drowning the child emperor rather than allowing him to be captured by the opposing forces.

Hat mentions (why hats?):

..wearing a straw coat worn by peasants to keep off the rain and a bamboo hat. (page 68)

She indicated a hat hanging on a peg in the hallway. (page 207)

The Manchu bannermen on the train wear hats trimmed with otter fur and thick quilted jackets. (page 216)

The police arrived wearing smart uniforms and uncomfortable-looking hats. (page 257)

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Does your spouse ever recommend books for you? Do you wish you could shapechange into a particular animal?

Cool Bloggers Book Club (CBBC) Vote

It is the most wonderful time of year - CBBC time!

Previous CBBC books:
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
My Brilliant Friend 
I Capture the Castle
The Blue Castle

The Joy Luck Club

According to my non-existent editorial calendar, we're doing another round of Cool Bloggers Book Club (CBBC) next month! I have winnowed down the book selection to three books and now you, my friends, are going to vote on what you think is the best option. How did I choose these books? Magic. It was by magic.

You do not have to be cool or a blogger to participate, although I'd argue you're cool just by being here. 

My criteria for adding a book to the vote is that it is written by a woman, someone has expressed interest in reading it for this purpose, and I want to read it. I have a list of books people have recommended to me, so if you have a request for future books, please don't hesitate to put it in the comments or drop me an email. 

Option #1
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin - Classic coming of age story where we follow Rebecca and her two spinster aunts. I suspect this book would fit in well with our CBBC readership. (184 pages, 1903)

Option #2
Five Children and It by E. Nesbit - Let's stay in that era. Kids and a fairy that grants wishes. What could be more fun? (237 pages, 1902)

Option #3
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton - Nance suggested I read Wharton this year and who am I to deny Nance? She's an ENGLISH teacher. This is the winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize if that would sway you. New York society during the Golden Age. Who wants in? (293 pages, 1921) 

Those are the options. You can try to lobby fellow readers to your favorites in the comments, but your vote will be cast at this Google form. I am asking for you to rank order your choices from your most preferred to least preferred book. You do not actually need to be a blogger to participate in CBBC, but you should probably at least occasionally read this blog. I'll leave the form up until Wednesday, January 21 and then I'll tabulate the votes and post the schedule soon thereafter. 

What I Spent in 2025: Did You Know I Have Pets?

 

Tech (<1%) - I did need to pay for storage on the cloud. *sigh*

Donations (1%) - Okay, this is embarrassing. I can afford to do so much better. I already wrote a check to my alma mater to support low income students this year and will continue to make donations/send money regularly.

Miscellaneous (1.1%) - It's not too big of a category!

Fitness (1.3%) - Fitness classes and some new yoga equipment this year. I have no regrets. 

Entertainment (2.5%) - I have a Spotify subscription and this is occasional other fun outings. I think this is reasonable and will probable see this go up this year since my goals are MORE FUN.

Eating out (3.4%) - This isn't too bad. I don't actually eat out much. 

Cars (3.9%) - Gas, the occasional oil change. This is a bit misleading because we bought a new car in November and took out quite a bit from our savings for a down payment (basically, we'd been putting into savings what our car payment was when we paid off our VW and used that as a down payment).

Personal care (5%) - Remember how there was that study that said the average American woman spends $877 on her appearance every year? Hold my beer, average American woman. It takes a lot of money to look like this average Midwestern lady.

Clothing (5.6%) - I'm quite proud of this. I buy quality clothes and try to buy ethically, whatever that means. But I do have a job that requires me to dress professionally, so I did buy some clothes this year. 

Travel (5.8%) - Most of this was not fun travel, so the less we speak of it, the better.

Bills (6.5%) - I really only pay for home/car insurance and water/sewer.

Savings (6.8%) - Grr.

Gifts (8.1%) - Gift giving is my love language. I can't help it. 

Health (9.5%) - Between physical therapy, tortuous gynecological procedures, and my periodontist appointments, this added up quickly.

Pets (14.6%) - And this was a year with nothing major KNOCK ON ALL DAMN WOOD. (Last year, I spent over $10K on my girls, so I'm super duper okay with this number.)

Groceries (24.5%) - I mean, this is okay if you ask me. We have special dietary considerations and I rarely eat out, despite that 3.4% thing above. I also bake a lot and butter is expensive, yo. 

What was your greatest expenditure in 2025? 

December 2025: What I Spent

As a reminder, my husband pays the "big bills" like mortgage, phone, car, and electricity. I pay for groceries and the pets and that somehow evens things out. The big story here is that I bought a lot of gifts. Not too shocking, I guess.

Miscellaneous ($13.37, <1%) - I had to print off some photos for work. I teach a first year seminar and I take photos all semester long and then each student gets a packet at the end of the semester. The students like it, I think.

Fitness ($141.25, 3.6%) - This was fitness classes through March.

Bills ($132.83, 5.7%) - Insurance for house and car. This has gone up a bit because of the new car. That's what we like to call lifestyle creep.

Health ($141.25, 6%) - Anyone want to know how much I spent on physical therapy this year? 

Savings ($200, 8.5%) - This is going to be better next year!

Entertainment ($207.49, 8.9%) - Spotify subscription, tickets for the lights at the Rotary Gardens, and a big chunk for my 2026 planner.

Pets ($243.30, 10.4%) - Zelda food and Hannah probiotics.

Groceries ($652.97, 27.9%) - I say it every month and it continues to be true, but we gotta eat.

Gifts ($663.95, 28.4%) - This is more complicated than it might seem. Here's how it broke down. 

    Christmas gifts for my husband are about half

    Secret SANta gift and shipping

    Gifts for student workers, janitorial staff at school (cash)

    Retirement gift to the lady who used to organize yoga at school

    Books for the two nephews we got in the holiday draw

    Gifts for the mail lady (cash)

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I am not sure if I'm going to continue to do monthly what I spend posts. They don't get much engagement. They do, however, push me to go through my expenses every month to see where money is going. Do you have a thought about these posts one way or the other? 

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Did you spend more on gifts than groceries last month? 

2026 Goals

Let's do it!!! I feel like I've really prioritized health and communication in the past few years, so this year I'm going to prioritize fun and leaving the house. 

I typed "Goals" in my photos and this popped up. There's no grey in her muzzle here. 1/14/21

1) At least one trip with Dr. BB and Hannah - I'd like to some sort of camping trip (maybe a state or national park?). I mean, camping in a cabin, not a tent. 

2) At least two trips with friends - Bestest Friend and I already have something fun set up for this month, so this seems very doable.

3) At least two trips to Michigan to visit my high school friends - I'd like to fit in a trip over the summer and a trip for Homecoming in the fall.

4) Go to a fitness class I've never gone to before - I have a couple in mind already.

5) Make homemade ice cream - Years ago, Dr. BB bought me an ice cream maker attachment for my KitchenAid and I've literally never used it.

6) Do one creative thing a week - I have a lot of sewing projects, maybe I could try some blackout poetry a la Tobia, or do something fun from Keep Going by Austin Kleon, which is a fun little book Maya gifted me.

7) Become a regular reader of at least five new blogs in 2026

8) Leave an average of five blog comments on other blogs every day 

9) Complete NaBloPoMo this year (I have a special project in mind!)

10) Send at least five postcards every month - also, I'm going to continue to track my snail mail

11) Present at a conference for work - I sent in a proposal in November for a conference on campus in February. Fingers crossed it's accepted.

12) Track how many people come to yoga this semester - The lady who organized yoga at the student union retired last week. I'm so excited for her and all her retirement plans, but that means it's now on me to carry the mantle. I want to track and see how many people go and decide if I want to grow the program or just keep on keeping on. I'd also like to see if I need to buy any more equipment for it.

13) Update my resume - I'll leave it to you to figure out why I might be doing this. I love my job, I really do, but higher education is absolutely under attack right now.

14) Have an ePortfolio example - This is silly, but I teach a course where the students must complete an ePortfolio and I used to have a non-academic example to show them, but it has somehow disappeared. I need to make it come back. This should be fairly straightforward and hopefully will be done in January. 

15) Use a new journal to track goals, plan out the year, and take time to notice things I'm grateful for - I have been using habit trackers in a folder to track my goals this year and it worked, but it was more after-the-fact than forward thinking. I want to use this fancy new journal I bought to not only track goals, but be intentional about how and when I'm completing my goals. I want to check in with the journal at least once a day, like I do now with my habit trackers, but also use it once a month with Dr. BB to plan our months and once a week by myself to plan for the week.

    

16) Take a good photo every week and print them out once a quarter - I want to add these photos to the journal. 

17) Take photo of five places at least once a month - The five places are the tree out front, the pond in our neighborhood, the water tower, the log cabin on campus, and maybe the artisan well (this fifth place is still sort of a maybe). I'd like to take those photos roughly around the 15th every month, but I'm going to give myself a lot of grace in that. 

   

18) Pay myself and charity first - My savings has been dismal for YEARS. On every paycheck, I'm going to take money out and put it in various savings places and make at least a $25 donation before I spend other money

19) Reread - I am always tempted by new books, but I buy books I love. I want to reread some of those beloved books this year. Let it be the year of the reread! Last year I reread seven books, so let's say reread twelve this year - one a month, on average. 

20) Do a buddy read - I'm always so jealous of other people doing buddy reads. I want to do a buddy read!

21) Gratitude practice - Write down something I'm grateful for every day in my fancy new journal. 

Rollover goals

22) Be consistent in working out (at least 80% of days of 30 days of intentional movement) - Look, I have a plan. Will it work? Who knows? But I have a plan. 

23) Spend 750 hours outside - Last year I made a 1000 hours goal and it was TOO MUCH. I only made 561.5 hours. I lowered it to 750 this year, but to get those extra hours this year that I didn't get last year, I'm going to start trying to eat lunch outside at least once or twice a week during nice weather and (this is key) read outside if it's daylight and the weather is nice. Also, Hannah and I need to start doing training outside when it's nice out. Surely all of this can add up to another couple hundred hours over the course of a year.

24) Get on the same page as my husband about home repairs, investments, and a will - I 've talked with him about this and we both know we have to do it. 

25) Do two more iterations of CBBC on my blog - I think we can do this, can't we, friends?

26) Date night with Dr. BB every month - We talked about this. I think we're both on board!

I've got a couple of Just January goals and I may reserve the right to add some monthly goals here and there.

1) No baked goods or candy.

2) Do this video to improve posture at least twelve times this month.

3) Train Hannah at least twelve times this month. 

Motto of the year

Be compassionate

Last year, people around me were so kind and loving. My IRL friends, my blog friends, and my co-workers were so supportive. I want to make sure that I give that support back to the world. My first instinct isn't always compassion, but I want to make compassion be the result of my actions. 

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What do you think? Too much? Not enough? Let's find out!

2025 Goals Update

Here are my updates on Q1, Q2, and Q3. 

To get the photos for this post, I just searched the headings in the photo gallery on my phone and you get what you get. LOL. Some of them are strange. 

2025 Cumulative Goals

Health

1) Spend 1000 hours outside ✖

Yearly total: 561 hours, 35 minutes

Not good, really. I think maybe I'll do a more modest goal next year and try to ease up to 1000 hours. 

2) Do something in the yard every week ✖

Yearly outcome: I mean, yes, generally, but the yard is still a mess and I have to confess I didn't really meet the spirit of this goal. 

3) Do at least five yoga poses a day. ✔

Yearly total: 350/365 (95.9%)

This has been wonderful. 

4) Go to a new-to-me fitness class.  ✔

I went to Zumba for the first time this year!

5) Drink 20 ounces of water a day.  ✔

Yearly outcome: 349/365 (95.6%) 

Pretty good. 

6) Exercise for 30 minutes at least 80% of days.  ≈

Yearly outcome: 278/355 (10 days off in August for reasons) - 78.3%. 

Pretty good, but frankly I'm disappointed with myself. 

7) Only eat dessert Thursday - Saturday (or special occasions like holidays and birthdays).  ✖

It turns out that I have dessert more often than I don't. This is something to work on. 

Connection

1) Message my accountability buddy every day and M/T/T at least once a week. ≈

Yearly outcome: This waxed and waned. *sigh*

2) Do two Cool Blogger Book Club sessions. ✔

The Blue Castle in Q1 and the Joy Luck Club in Q3. 

3) Send at least one fun piece of snail mail every month. Track snail mail. ≈

Yearly outcome: Okay, I definitely tracked this. But I didn't send something fun every month. Oh, well. Something to work on for next year. Total was 265 pieces of mail, though! Maybe my goal for next year should be an average of one a day? Is that too ambitious? 

Adulting

1) Figure out a will or whatever ✖

I think you all know that this never happened. 

2) Order new checks.  ✔

Completed in Q2.

3) Limit my clothes buying to the following: two new dresses/season, new mary janes, anything that was on my Christmas wish list that I did not get, necessary bras/underwear/workout gear/replacement leggings or tights (one-to-one replacements on those).   ✔

Yearly outcome: I did pretty well on this. And now my wardrobe needs some stuff!

This is the house where one of my high school friend's lived growing up. His parents sold the house and moved a couple of years ago, but isn't this exactly what you think of when you think of a house?

Home

1) Paint the porch and garage. ✖

This did not happen. 

2) Hem the stupid pants. ≈

Well, someone hemmed them. 

3) Consult an architect/contractor for our bathroom remodel.  ✖

This did not happen.

4) Clean and organize my closet and dresser and keep them that way. ✖

This did not happen.

Me and my SIL. I wore those glasses for hours. 

Fun

1) Learn three new hairstyles: French braid, an elegant low knot, and something else TBD. ✖

This did not happen. 

2) Have one day a quarter where I take off work with no plans. ≈

Yearly outcome: Partial credit. I took off a day in Q1 and two days in Q4 and sort of half-assed it in Q3 (although it ended up being me running errands). Q3 was a mess. But progress was made!

3) Watch at least one makeup tutorial every quarter. ✖

This did not happen. 

4) Go on a girls trip. ✔

We went on a trip to Seattle in July. 

5) Go to at least four new-to-me museums. ✔

Yearly outcome: I did this! Anne and I went to four museums in the first half of the year and I went to a museum with my husband. 

6) Once a month dates with my husband. ≈

Yearly outcome: Six dates. 50%. Is that good? I think probably not. 

7) Actually train Hannah at least three times a week. ≈

Yearly outcome: 71 times throughout the year (this is more like twice a week than three, so that's not nothing, but could be improved upon). 

8) Read big books over 500 pages at least once a month. ✔

Yearly outcome: I read 12 big books this year! I'm so proud of myself for this. 

I think this goal is also why I read fewer books this year compared to previous years. And that's okay because a lot of these were great books. Some were not.

The Last Magician

On a Sunbeam

The Women of Chateau Lafayette

Feed

Night Film

The Bee Sting

Here Be Dragons

Moby-Dick

An American Tragedy

The Hallmarked Man

Gone With the Wind 

Wool

9) Make six new-to-me cookie recipes. ≈

Yearly outcome: I made three new recipes: peanut butter blossoms, brown butter sugar, and ricciarelli. I mean, that's progress. 

10) Do a 30-day project each month. ✔

January: Improve your posture challenge and I did the exercises for 28/31 (90.3%) days

February: 4-5 minutes of core exercises a day and I did it for 14/28 (50%) of days

March: Don't eat candy or baked goods. I managed this on 27/30 (90%) of days

April: Send one postcard a day - I sent 25 in April and the rest in May

May: Two minutes of core work daily on 22/31 (71%) days - I'm collating this in December and have zero memory of doing this in May.

June: Survive. Check.

July: No candy. 31/31 days

August: Lolz. There was no challenge this month.

September: I did a photo a day project and did it on all 30 days

October: Participate in Cool Bloggers Walking Club and I managed a perfect 31/31 day streak. 

November: Comment on at least five posts a day during NaBloPoMo. I was at 28/30 (93.3%) days. 

December: To do at least five minute strength training each day and I was at 23/31 (74.2%). That's not too bad. 

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Do you set yearly goals? How did they go this year? 

December 2025 Accountability Buddy

My 30-day goal for December was to take at least five minutes a day to do strength training, so you'll see occasional random videos of five minutes to meet this goal.

Monday, December 1

5-minute arm workout

20-minute bedtime yoga - I didn't fit yoga in today at lunch, so it had to happen after dinner. 

10-minute evening yoga stretch

Tuesday, December 2

45-minute body blast class at the community center after work

Wednesday, December 3

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime*

40-minute leg workout with Caroline Girvan

7-minute lower body stretch

Thursday, December 4

5-minute shoulder workout

45-minute everyday yoga flow

Friday, December 5

10-minute standing abs

20-minute walking exercise - I got seriously sweaty with this one!

5-minute cool down

Saturday, December 6

5-minute arm workout

45-minute upper body yin yoga

Sunday, December 7

20-minute shoveling - This has been the snowiest winter I can remember since we've lived in Wisco.

Otherwise the day got away from me. I was in the kitchen a lot making cookies and getting food ready for a friend to drop off tomorrow (she's sick and we're doing meal trains and I make a much better dinner for someone else's family than I do my own family). I had book club after dinner. I basically just didn't prioritize exercising.

Monday, December 8

30-minute deep stretch yoga - Yoga was cancelled at the student union today, so I did it in my office!

Tuesday, December 9

20-minutes shoveling - SO MUCH SNOW THIS WINTER.

33-minute leg workout

Wednesday, December 10

20-minute deicing the front walkway 

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

15-minute arms and shoulders

Thursday, December 11

30-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

Friday, December 12

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

12-minute dumbbell deadbug workout (shoutout to Jenny - look at me doing a Caroline Girvan video!)

16-minute no jumping cardio - this was just the same five exercises over and over again - it was a good workout and I'm sweaty, out of breath, and my heartrate is elevated, but it was boring

Saturday, December 13

20-minute iso and dynamic arm workout - Super great workout from Caroline Girvan. 

10-minute cardio dance - Not low-impact if that matters to you

20-minute yoga for open hips and quads - Here's where I admit that the deadbug workout sort of works my abs, but my quads are way more sore today. I clearly have terrible form. 

Sunday, December 14

5-minute bodyweight leg workout (squats, lunges)

30-minute yoga for hips and low back

Monday, December 15

30-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

Tuesday, December 16

45-minute body blast class at the community center after work

Wednesday, December 17

Day off

Thursday, December 18

5-minute shoulder/arm workout

37-minute after work yoga stretch - This was really good. I would recommend it if you want a bit of flow, but mostly stretch.

Friday, December 19

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

Saturday December 20

Day off

Sunday, December 21

39-minute total body circuit

15-minute yoga flow for sciatica 

Monday, December 22

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

5-minute standing ab workout

30-minute walking workout

Tuesday, December 23

18-minute chair yoga - In my office. Two days before Christmas. There were like six cars in the parking lot when I got in this morning. 

45-minute body blast class at the community center after work - Sheesh, she really worked our legs. I'm going to be paying for that. 

Wednesday, December 24

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

30-minute yoga for tired legs

Thursday, December 25

Day off

Friday, December 26

35-minute full body strength with core focus

20-minute yoga for flexibility

Saturday, December 27

15-minute standing abs (no jumping) - this just repeats the same circuit four times, so if you get bored, this is not for you

30-minute cardio - Some jumping included.

15-minute yoga for shoulder mobility

Sunday, December 28

10-minute bodyweight leg workout

45-minute total body yoga deep stretch - I think it's worth pointing out that on all the poses where she puts her elbow on the ground, I'm using a block. I used a block for a couple of twists. I also used a blanket to pad my knees and ankles at times, too. Even though the video does it prop free, I'm still using my props!

Monday, December 29

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

30-minute full body strength workout with dumbbells

10-minute for better posture

Tuesday, December 30

10-minute yoga for lower back mobility - My office mate sent me this via our messaging system at 12:52pm. So I stopped working and did it. 

45-minute body blast class at the community center after work

Wednesday, December 31

15-minutes shoveling off some light snow from last night

10-minute posture workout

10-minute standing abs

60-minutes restorative yoga

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*Our local healthcare organization does free stretch classes virtually three times a week. Sign up here! It's free. It's fun. She has the sign-up through June, so you can basically register for half the year at one time.  We regularly talk about candy and what's for lunch. It's a delightful break in the middle of the day. You do not have to have your camera on. 

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Total: 26/31 (83.9%) of days

Cardio/strength: 17 days
Yoga: 11 days

Short stretch classes at lunchtime:  6 days

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Well, at least I ended the year strong. How did you do in December?