Book a Week 2017 - BW51: Winter Solstice

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday and welcome to week 51 in our 2017 adventurous prime reading year.   Greetings to all our readers and everyone following our progress. Mister Linky is available weekly on 52 Books in 52 Weeks  to share a link to your book reviews.

 

 

Winter is coming!  Officially, Winter begins with the Solstice on December 21st.  Unofficially, with the falling temperatures, it's already began as we've been bundling up in several layers while we take our evening walks around the neighborhood. However, I do chicken out and abandon my poor hubby to the cold, curling up with a good book when it hits below 40.  Sometimes he'll join me in reading. Other days he's determined to get those 25,000 steps.  Brrr! 

 

 

 

A Winter Day

 

by

 

Lucy Maud Montgomery

 

The air is silent save where stirs

A bugling breeze among the firs;

The virgin world in white array

Waits for the bridegroom kiss of day;

All heaven blooms rarely in the east

Where skies are silvery and fleeced,

And o'er the orient hills made glad

The morning comes in wonder clad;

Oh, 'tis a time most fit to see

How beautiful the dawn can be!

 

 

Wide, sparkling fields snow-vestured lie

Beneath a blue, unshadowed sky;

A glistening splendor crowns the woods

And bosky, whistling solitudes;

In hemlock glen and reedy mere

The tang of frost is sharp and clear;

Life hath a jollity and zest,

A poignancy made manifest;

Laughter and courage have their way

At noontide of a winter's day.

 

 

Faint music rings in wold and dell,

The tinkling of a distant bell,

Where homestead lights with friendly glow

Glimmer across the drifted snow;

Beyond a valley dim and far

Lit by an occidental star,

Tall pines the marge of day beset

Like many a slender minaret,

Whence priest-like winds on crystal air

Summon the reverent world to prayer.

 

 

 

What wintry books are you contemplating for the season?  Are your characters heading into the arctic and going dog sledding or are they searching for a warm beach to watch the dolphins play. Hmm? Both sound fun. *grin*

 

I have a mini winter challenge if you want to play.   

 

 

 

·         Read a book with Winter in the title

·         Read a book written by an author with first or last name of Winter

·         Spell out winter, reading one book for each letter.

·         Read a book by Lucy Maud Montgomery 

·         Pick any word out of the poem above and read a book with that word in the title.

·         Pick any word out of the poem above and spell out the word, reading one book per letter.

·         Read a book with a winter setting.  

 

 

*************************************

 

Are you ready for another round of 52 Books?   Yes, we are going to do it all over again in 2018 with another trip around the world, an English mystery read, 52 books bingo and various mini challenges as well as continue our perpetual Well Educated Mind and Mind Voyages challenges.   If you have a blog or do reviews on goodreads, you can link and share your reviews on the 52 Books blog.  Plus you’ll find all the links with information for Bingo, monthly themes and authors, and more on the site.

 

 

*************************************

 

 

Happy Reading! 

 

 

What are you reading this week?

 

 

Link to week 50

[Robin M]

I finished The Invisible Library and enjoyed it quite a bit.  A blend of fantasy and steampunk, alternate realities and my favorite subject, books.   :thumbup1:   

 

Currently reading Aime and David Thurlo's Turquoise Girl in their Ella Clah series.     

 

"Navajo Police Special Investigator Ella Clah has seen a lot of death in the decade since she returned to the Reservation, but nothing quite as bad as a series of violent murders of young Navajo. Something about the crime scene reminds Ella of her days in the FBI, and she calls on Agent Blalock for help. And that's not the only link to Ella's past—clues indicates that Ella's father may have tried to stop this killer before his own murder.   Working long hours, desperate to identify and stop the serial killer before he strikes again, Ella manages to squeeze in a few dates with Reverend Bilford Tome. Ella's father was a man of the cloth as well—is Ella following her mother's path, falling for a man whose faith she does not share?"  

[mumto2]

I finished my audio book The Quants https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8434454-the-quants which ErinE recommended for my kids. I ended up listening to it for the Q and ended up learning quite a bit. The book rather oddly starts at the point I received my degree and started working in accounting. This book is great if you want to know why the financial crisis of 2007\8 happened. I had never understood how the managers let it happen. I now understand how but ........ This book explains it all. My kids kept poking their heads in while I was listening because I skipped my headphones for much of it and asking if it had mentioned different topics they have studied. Their understanding appears to be good. ☺

 

I also finished another of Gene Doucette's Immortal serieshttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31817228-immortal-at-the-edge-of-the-world. Not quite as good as the previous books in the series but enjoyable. I have actually checked the next one out already because I think I still need an I because the one I read has an E. :lol:

[Mothersweets]

Hi everyone! I've been busy with Christmas preparations but did manage to get some reading time. I recently checked my Goodreads stats and I have read 75 books this year! I think that is the most I've ever read in one year ever. :)

 

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25614492-salt-to-the-sea This is a YA set during WWII that follows a group of refugees in eastern Prussia who are making their way to hopefully board the ship Wilhelm Gustloff and be evacuated to safety ahead of the Russian army. The tragedy of the Wilhelm Gustloff is true and I can't believe I've never heard of it before!  This was a good story BUT the author wrote it from several different points of view - sometimes  usually changing characters after one and a half pages. It was irritating and pulled me out of the story every time.  :glare:

 

Right now I'm reading an Amy recommendation - His Official Fiancee - and am about a third of the way in. 

[Negin]

I read Pushing to the Peak - 3 Stars - This is a story of an incredible young man who went through a terrible accident while skiing. He didn’t let that stop him from doing all of the things that he planned to do with his life. He completed medical school and is now a physician, got married and has a family. The faith and perseverance that this man and his family have is nothing short of admirable.

 

My favorite quote:

“One of my closest friends asked me if I ever ask, ‘Why?’ I never have because I do not believe there is an answer to that question here on earth, and it would be a waste of my time and energy. That is not to say that I wouldn't want to know the ‘why.’ I would love to have the answers, but I do not. Too often, people torment themselves by asking the why question. We have to accept today as it is and go on. It is a modern idea that life will not have its share of hardships. My grandparents and their grandparents expected life to have its share of difficult times. People died young, crops were destroyed days before harvest and children died of diseases that we easily cure or inoculate against these days.â€

 

 

MY RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars

Fantastic, couldn't put it down

4 Stars

Really Good

3 Stars

Enjoyable

2 Stars

Just Okay – nothing to write home about

1 Star

Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

 

 

[LaughingCat]

Finished my Bingo card (Yay!)

 

B

Prime Number -- Unclutter Your Life in One Week

Flufferton -- White Hot

Eastern Europe -- Bear & Nightingale

Bestseller in Child/Spouse Birth Year -- Clockwork Angel

Steampunk -- Clockwork Prince

 

I

Science Fiction -- Grim

Your Name in Title -- Marie Curie

Collection of short stories -- Small Magics

Seaworthy -- Truthwitch

Middle Ages -- Desiree

 

N

Western -- Reilly's Luck

Ancient -- Year of the Hyena

Free -- Fated

Dystopian, -- Ready Player One

Mystery -- A Regimental Murder

 

G

Translated -- King Solomon's Ring

Outer Space -- Gathering Edge

Finance -- Suddenly Frugal

One Word Title -- Decide

Debut Author -- Organized Enough

 

O

Over 500 Pages -- Cold Steel

Local Author -- Girl with the Ghost Eyes

Female Adventure -- Blood of the Earth

Classic -- Way Station 

Selected by a Friend -- The Selection

 

Some boxes I really struggled with finding a book I was actually interested enough in to read.   Finance especially for some reason  :confused: -- I have read a third to half of many finance books this year.      And since 2 of my struggle boxes were the historical boxes (middle ages/ancients) -- I can see I will have to start early this year on those, what with 5 boxes for historical periods!

 

 

[Loesje22000]

Congrats LaughingCat!

 

I finished a book about Audrey Hepburn and Anne Frank.

A lot of ‘I didn’t know’-experiences:

- Audrey and Anne are from the same birthyear

- Audrey has Dutch-British Parents, and has been born in Brussel (Elsene)

-

-

The ‘Anne’-parts have several new to me facts, which made the book interesting in both story lines.

Not recommended as a first book about Anne Frank, not a heavy/hard reading.

 

I started a book that was mentioned in dutch christian newspapers, about Trinity and the interreligous dialogue with the Islam.

[Zebra]

Winter is coming!  Officially, Winter begins with the Solstice on December 21st.  Unofficially, with the falling temperatures, it's already began as we've been bundling up in several layers while we take our evening walks around the neighborhood. However, I do chicken out and abandon my poor hubby to the cold, curling up with a good book when it hits below 40.  Sometimes he'll join me in reading. Other days he's determined to get those 25,000 steps.  Brrr! 

 

 

 

 

It was 7 degrees when I got up this morning.   I think winter IS HERE, calender be danged  :laugh: !

[Ali in OR]

This week I finished Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology which I enjoyed. Definitely worth using with middle school or high school home schoolers. Not much reading time with a part-time sub job this month (four more days) and lots of Christmas prep. Up next: Standard Deviation is due back at the library later this week. Might see if that's finishable.

 

[Zebra]

This week I read I Don't Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson.   Crazy life of working mother with too high expectations of herself.   The book was very familiar, I thought maybe I had read it before.   But, when I looked into I found I had just read a newer book that was "inspired" by this book.   The book was ok, but just formulaic and too complicated.  Bridget Jones has kids and is an investment banker, basically.

 

I also read Why Won't You Apologize? by Harriet Lerner, who also wrote The Dance of Anger.   It was a quick read about how exactly you should apologize, how you shouldn't wait around for someone else to apologize etc.   It made some good points, but it was a little delusional and naive.   People have fights and rifts because they are angry, many complicated things are going on, and they don't follow a proper "script".  That is the reality of life.   

 

This week I started listening to Beartown by Fredrik Backman.    This one seems better than the last book I read by him. 

 

I also started Moody Bitches by Julie Holland, about our moods.   And finally I am still slogging through Alexander Hamilton.   This book has really encouraged me to do all those awful tasks that I always put off forever, because anything is better than reading this book  :lol: .    I'm exaggerating, but only some.   The book has some interesting things in it, but REALLY didn't need 700 pages.   

Edited December 17, 2017 by Zebra

[ErinE]

This week, I have several possible visitors so I'm doing a bit of dancing in glee as I go about my day. Today, I met up with the woman (and her family) who introduced me to homeschooling and helped me through my initial steps. Her children are close in age to my older two and they played together all the time when we lived nearby. Since they shared illnesses freely (as children do), they would often end watching television at our house or hers. They hiked through the woods together, built treehouses, played pick-up sports, baked cookies, ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. They tried to dam up the creek behind our house - I had to put a stop to that one. There are so many good memories. I was so excited to see her. There were a few teary eyes when we parted. I miss them all so much.

 

Another visitor in the area later this week and fingers and toes are crossed that we can meetup.
 
Books read last week:

• Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. Historical Fiction. A Korean girl, pregnant by her married lover, marries a Korean minister living in Japan, begining a story about a family cut off from their nativeland but treated as foreigners in their homeland. I thought it really well done and worth the reading. There's conflict between the generations, conflict between the Korean immigrants and Japanese natives. I once asked a Russian friend if someone (an American, Brazilian, Chinese) was born in Russia, what does that make them? She told me whatever their ethnic background, they would never be Russian, an attitude I found strange. This book tries to answer that same question for Japan and its Korean immigrants.
• The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J. Walker. Dystopian Fiction. After a devastating aesteroid strike, a man loses his family and must run to find them in time.
• Moonglow by Mark Chabon. Fictional Memoir. A writer researches his grandparents' past. I'm not doing the book service with my blurb, but the experience is different. Point of view and timeline shifts happen often. After a break, it takes a few sentences to remember where you are in the story. Though interesting, it was easy to put down which lessened the experience.
• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalalinithi. Memoir. A brilliant neurosurgeon discovers he has terminal cancer just as he's beginning a promising career. My local library's book club selection.
• Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America by Michael Ruhlman. History - Food Retail. A history of the grocery store, the impacts, both good and bad, from the changes, and how one company is striving for a better experience for customer, grower, rancher, and retail employees. The prose is a bit clunky, but it was an engaging read.
• The Crimson Campaign (Powder Mage #2) by Brian McClellan. Fantasy - Second World. A rebellious general retreats through enemy territory while trying to save the lives of his soldiers. Another enjoyable story, but I kept getting the names confused: Tamas, Tanil, Kez, Kerisimir, Adro, Adamant.
• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. History. An overview of human evolutionary history up to the present day. The first half was okay, but things fell apart in the second. I liked Homo Deus better though I disagree with Harari's support for and reliance on computer algorthms predicting human behavior. I'd hoped to be able to recommend this as an alternative to The Third Chimpanzee, but I can't. I did find some interesting recommendations in the reviews so I've added more books to my TBR pile.
• Binti (Binti #1) by Nnedi Okafor. Space Opera. A young girl leaves her village and planet to attend a prestigious galactic university until her ship is attacked by aliens. Much too short, but interesting worldbuilding. Hugo and Nebula award winner.

I finally picked up War and Peace to try to finish it before the end of the year. I couldn't stand the nagging guilt I felt everytime I spotted the taunting bookmark halfway through the book. Maybe I'll read my October Day book, finish up The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, read a Pratchett, plus get to a few odds and ends. Or maybe I'll be too busy with my visitors.

[Mothersweets]

This week, I have several possible visitors so I'm doing a bit of dancing in glee as I go about my day. Today, I met up with the woman (and her family) who introduced me to homeschooling and helped me through my initial steps. Her children are close in age to my older two and they played together all the time when we lived nearby. Since they shared illnesses freely (as children do), they would often end watching television at our house or hers. They hiked through the woods together, built treehouses, played pick-up sports, baked cookies, ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. They tried to dam up the creek behind our house - I had to put a stop to that one. There are so many good memories. I was so excited to see her. There were a few teary eyes when we parted. I miss them all so much.

 

 

I finally picked up War and Peace to try to finish it before the end of the year. I couldn't stand the nagging guilt I felt everytime I spotted the taunting bookmark halfway through the book. Maybe I'll read my October Day book, finish up The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, read a Pratchett, plus get to a few odds and ends. Or maybe I'll be too busy with my visitors.

 

I'm glad you had such a nice visit with your friend! 

 

 

And I'm right there with you on War and Peace.  :laugh: I've started setting other books on top of it so it will stop taunting me. 

[aggieamy]

Hi everyone! I've been busy with Christmas preparations but did manage to get some reading time. I recently checked my Goodreads stats and I have read 75 books this year! I think that is the most I've ever read in one year ever. :)

 

Right now I'm reading an Amy recommendation - His Official Fiancee - and am about a third of the way in. 

 

Yay on 75!

 

Every time someone tells me they're reading a book I recommended my heart does this weird little combination of happy jump and dread. I'm so excited you're reading it and giving it a try but at the same time if you hate it then I'll I'm afraid you'll be mad at me. (Who knew I was so strange and needy?!?!)

 

Anyway, I hope you like it and if you don't then feel free to post a scathing review here. I don't mind. As long as you aren't mad at me. :laugh:

 

 

• Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America by Michael Ruhlman. History - Food Retail. A history of the grocery store, the impacts, both good and bad, from the changes, and how one company is striving for a better experience for customer, grower, rancher, and retail employees. The prose is a bit clunky, but it was an engaging read.

 

Wow. This sounds like the perfect read for a food loving friend that I still need to buy a present for.

[aggieamy]

The only book I've finished in the last two weeks has been one that I think Erin read a few weeks ago.

 

Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart B*tches Guide to Romance by Sarah Wendell. Sarah and a few other ladies have a website that is a great resource for romance books and it can be a it off-color at times. But it's funny and lighthearted. Well. What is funny in a blog doesn't always translate well to a book. There were some interesting bits in this book but my goodness was there a tone of profanity and really off-color remarks. And a few things this old married lady didn't understand what they were talking about. I didn't dare ask my DH because then he would have wanted to know what I was reading and I really didn't want to have to explain it. My recommendation is to stick with the website unless you really like books with more curse words and non-curse words.

 

I did pull out a few quotes that made think fondly of some of the ladies here:

 

For Robin:

 

 

(For the record, “romantic suspense†does not mean that the romance is in doubt and must be investigated. It does, however, mean that there is an 87.6 percent likelihood that the cover will feature two people running.)

 

For Sandy:

 

 

Hedgehog. n. Most awesome sidekick animal ever in the history of the world, bar none.

 

 

For Negin:

 

 

Here’s a shocking revelation: the content of the book is rarely reflected in the cover.

 

And finally for Kareni:

 

 

And then we get to the landscape of paranormals: Vampires! Werewolves! Vampire werewolves! Mummies! Psychics! The undead! The reanimated! The demonic and the celestial! The slayers, the fey, the wee folk, the fairies, trolls, and selkies. They all fall under “paranormal,†which has its roots in an ancient Greek word meaning “overcrowded genre.â€

 

:lol:

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Now that Robin has posted her challenges for the new year, I'm feeling jazzed to write in a new bullet journal. So many pages to create and challenges to plan. Since I'll be doing multiple financial challenges (esp saving for a wedding), I think the no buying books and dusty challenges will be great ones. I could and should use the library for audiobooks. Maybe one of my challenges will be to see how far into the year I cn get without spending any money on books (says the women who just returned with two new books from Barnes and Noble). I wish B&N would stop sending me coupons. Book coupons must be used. 

[Kareni]

Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart B*tches Guide to Romance by Sarah Wendell.

 

...

 

And finally for Kareni:

 

Quote

 

And then we get to the landscape of paranormals: Vampires! Werewolves! Vampire werewolves! Mummies! Psychics! The undead! The reanimated! The demonic and the celestial! The slayers, the fey, the wee folk, the fairies, trolls, and selkies. They all fall under “paranormal,†which has its roots in an ancient Greek word meaning “overcrowded genre.â€

 

It's so nice to be remembered.  Uh, thank you, I think!  I read the book Beyond Heaving Bosoms some years ago.  I remember being under-impressed at the time for all that I too like the author's site.

**

 

And speaking of paranormal romances, I just read and enjoyed Critical Instinct (Instinct Series) by Janie Crouch; I'd read more by this author.  (Adult content)  Admittedly the publisher has it categorized as romantic suspense which is also true.  It turns out that this is one of a series, but it stands alone well.

 

"Every single person Paige has drawn has ended up dead. And now she's drawn herself.  

 

Paige Jeffries is the darling of the art world. But after a brutal attack two years ago --a savage beating from an unknown assailant--she has become all but a recluse, broken. In her sleep she's drawing scenes of violence. Murders. Going to the cops isn't an option; they already think she's crazy. And they may be right.

 

Homicide detective Brett Wagner is asked to look into a cold case nobody wants: the battery of a local artist who claims to have drawn a picture of her own attack before it even happened. He remembers shy Paige from high school, and is driven to find her attacker, to believe the quiet beauty when nobody else does.

 

Because when he witnesses firsthand what Paige is drawing in her sleep, Brett realizes they are scenes from actual cases. Cases that had no connection until now. Portland has a secret serial killer, and Paige is somehow linked to his mind. 

 

And he's coming for her."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Matryoshka]

I finished two books this week: 

 

146. Stardust by Neil Gaiman (ebook) - nice little fantasy enhanced by listening to Gaiman's telling of it. For the Unicorns! square. 4 stars.

 

147. Night Sessions by Ken MacLeod - near-future story where there's been some kind of Faith War where extremists on all sides came too close to blowing up the planet so now they just pretend religion doesn't exist (not quite sure how that solves anything?).  There are also sentient humanoid robots abandoned because they were too creepy, but are still around. And it's a procedural, so plot centers around solving killing of priest that might hint to a return of religious tensions - takes place in Scotland and New Zealand.  Lots of interesting stuff to parse, but somehow didn't completely come together for me. For "Night in the Title" square. 3.5 stars.

 

Currently reading:

 

- Heat & Light by Jennifer Haigh (audiobook) - So far, seeming like a book I'd abandon if not needed for a square.  Only one CD of 12 in, so maybe it'll get better?  About fracking in PA.

 

- Waiting for Snow in Havana by Carlos Eire - Really enjoying the voice of the narrator.  Speaking of translations or not, it seems weird to read a memoir of Cuba in English, but it was written in English.  And I'm enjoying his asides about various Spanish words and their multiple shades of meaning (which would be hard to do if it were already in Spanish!)...

 

- Cuándo se jodió Venezuela / Crude Nation by Raúl Gallegos (ebook) - interesting nonfiction book about the economic crisis in Venezuela.

 

These will be my last audio and ebooks of the year - everything else I have to get through will be 'real' books...

 

Coming up: 

 

Gotta bite the bullet and just finish that Seuss and Manga - they each finish a Bingo row.  After that, there are three more books I might attempt if it's looking like I've got time.  One is Sein eigener Herr/ Independent People by Laxness - I'm not sure that's a fast enough read - and if I don't finish that, I'll get to one less row, but not the end of the world.  The other books to finish up that last row are for Charlemagne and Pilot, which I've got two selections each for, we shall see what happens...  two kids are bringing their significant others over for Christmas and I thought I'd make them scarves, but just bought wool today(!)  So, might need to prioritize knitting (can I read and knit?  Watch tv, yes, but read?  My current audio is on CD and too annoying to move in/out of car, methinks...)

[aggieamy]

 

It's so nice to be remembered.  Uh, thank you, I think!  I read the book Beyond Heaving Bosoms some years ago.  I remember being under-impressed at the time for all that I too like the author's site.

 

Yes! It was intended to be a compliment. Or at least a shared joke. I don't know anyone that reads the wide range of fantasy romance that you do!

[Kareni]

I enjoyed this review on the Dear Author site.  The novella under discussion, which is given an A grade, is currently free for Kindle readers.

 

REVIEW: A Dangerous Nativity (The Dangerous Series) by Caroline Warfield

 

Here's a link to the novella ~ A Dangerous Nativity (The Dangerous Series)  by Caroline Warfield

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Yes! It was intended to be a compliment. Or at least a shared joke. I don't know anyone that reads the wide range of fantasy romance that you do!

 

Thank you, Amy.  I did take it as a shared joke.  And now I'm wondering what fantasy romance I should next read.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Mom-ninja.]

I read Pushing to the Peak - 3 Stars - This is a story of an incredible young man who went through a terrible accident while skiing. He didn’t let that stop him from doing all of the things that he planned to do with his life. He completed medical school and is now a physician, got married and has a family. The faith and perseverance that this man and his family have is nothing short of admirable.

 

My favorite quote:

“One of my closest friends asked me if I ever ask, ‘Why?’ I never have because I do not believe there is an answer to that question here on earth, and it would be a waste of my time and energy. That is not to say that I wouldn't want to know the ‘why.’ I would love to have the answers, but I do not. Too often, people torment themselves by asking the why question. We have to accept today as it is and go on. It is a modern idea that life will not have its share of hardships. My grandparents and their grandparents expected life to have its share of difficult times. People died young, crops were destroyed days before harvest and children died of diseases that we easily cure or inoculate against these days.â€

 

 

MY RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars

Fantastic, couldn't put it down

4 Stars

Really Good

3 Stars

Enjoyable

2 Stars

Just Okay – nothing to write home about

1 Star

Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

 

I once read something brilliant about the 'why' question. Don't just ask why; ask how. 'How' and 'why" are important questions. 'How' is  closely related to why and will lead towards answers and investigation. I don't want to live in a world where people don't try to figure things out and learn from what has happened. Using the examples of crop failure and children dying from diseases, if there weren't those who had asked why and how then we would not have made medical advances or learned about more advanced agriculture. If everyone accepted that things are just as there are because of a diety, mother nature, supreme power, universe, higher plan, etc. then we would stagnate in learning more about life and how to improve it. Yes, bad things happen. That is life. However, I'm glad we are always striving to improve quality of life as much as we can when we can.

 

Short version: I don't agree with the don't ask why philosophy. Humans asking why is how we move forward.  

 

It was 7 degrees when I got up this morning.   I think winter IS HERE, calender be danged  :laugh: !

 

Meteorologists make it easy and split the seasons at the beginning of a month. Dec 1st is beginning of winter, Mar 1st is spring, Jun 1st is summer, and Sept. 1st is fall. (obviously northern hemisphere....reverse for the southern). That's how my family does seasons now cause it's easier.  

 

The only book I've finished in the last two weeks has been one that I think Erin read a few weeks ago.

 

Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart B*tches Guide to Romance by Sarah Wendell. Sarah and a few other ladies have a website that is a great resource for romance books and it can be a it off-color at times. But it's funny and lighthearted. Well. What is funny in a blog doesn't always translate well to a book. There were some interesting bits in this book but my goodness was there a tone of profanity and really off-color remarks. And a few things this old married lady didn't understand what they were talking about. I didn't dare ask my DH because then he would have wanted to know what I was reading and I really didn't want to have to explain it. My recommendation is to stick with the website unless you really like books with more curse words and non-curse words.

 

 

 

Well, now you've piqued my interest. It's like the forbidden fruit and I want to read it just to see what your objection is. ;)

 

 

 

I finished The Small Bachelor last night. This might be my favorite Wodehouse now. It was hysterical. 

Edited December 18, 2017 by Mom-ninja.

[Raifta]

 

 

I have a mini winter challenge if you want to play.   

 

 

 

·         Read a book with Winter in the title

·         Read a book written by an author with first or last name of Winter

·         Spell out winter, reading one book for each letter.

·         Read a book by Lucy Maud Montgomery 

·         Pick any word out of the poem above and read a book with that word in the title.

·         Pick any word out of the poem above and spell out the word, reading one book per letter.

·         Read a book with a winter setting.  

 

 

Oh exciting!  I can fulfill this challenge with pleasure.  

 

DD has chosen our previous night time read aloud and I was not enjoying it at all.  I tried to beg off, tried to convince them to read the book on their own, and managed to read 8 chapters in about 30 nights (normally it's one chapter a night; this is an indication of how I dreaded the book - I kept on coming up with excuses as to why I couldn't read that night).  At any rate, I finally convinced them to shelve it and I chose our next book - The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery.  We just started it two nights ago and I am so much happier and they are also enjoying it, which is a relief since it's one of my all time favourite books.

 

Just yesterday I finished The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni for my Ancients square in Bingo.  Recommended by a few people on this thread, I was very happy to read it.  It was a great introduction to the Indian epic Mahabharat, which I've always found to be pretty intimidating.  I loved that it was told from a female point of view.  Overall a good read.

 

Started reading The Bright Hour by Nina Riggs and despite having to pause and cry on occasion, it is going quickly.

[Raifta]

Congratulations Mothersweets on 75 books!

 

Congratulations to Laughing Cat for finishing the Bingo! 

 

 

I finished two books this week: 

 

146. Stardust by Neil Gaiman (ebook) - nice little fantasy enhanced by listening to Gaiman's telling of it. For the Unicorns! square. 4 stars.

 

 

 

So DS just finished Stardust and he loved it.  It's quite possibly the first book he has chosen and enjoyed so much that he's hoping to find other books by the same author or in the same vein.  Having not read Stardust or any Neil Gaiman myself, if you have any ideas for books that are similar to this and suitable for a 10 year old, I'm all ears.  (Obviously we are not too fussed about language in books.)

[Kareni]

A one day only non-fiction work that is currently free for Kindle readers ~

 

Culture and Anarchy by Matthew Arnold

 

Also currently free for Kindle readers ~

 

An old title:  Think And Grow Rich  by Napoleon Hill

 

Mooseletoe  by Tiffinie Helmer

 

The Color of Heaven  by Julianne MacLean

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[mumto2]

Amy said.....Hedgehog. n. Most awesome sidekick animal ever in the history of the world, bar none.

 

I totally agree but I haven't read the book with the weasel yet!!! :lol:

 

Laughing Cat, Congrats on your Bingo!

 

Mother sweets, Yeah! For 75!

 

Like Matryoshka I have my head down trying to finish books for my alphabet author challenge and Turquoise. Overdrive keeps taking them back so I think my Kindle reader is permanently turned off at least for the next week or so!

 

I started reading an interesting, new to me, cozy series with a Singapore setting by Ovidia Yu. The first in the series is called Aunty Lee's Delights https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17349206-aunty-lee-s-delights?ac=1&from_search=true. The main character is a rich old widow lady who runs a restaurant for fun an is an avid busybody. ;). :lol: That sums her up quite well. Lots of interesting bits about Singaporean society.

 

I'm trying to finish my audio book which is the last in the Shades of Magic trilogy https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17349206-aunty-lee-s-delights?ac=1&from_search=true. Highly recommended! I waited months for this one so I must push on. I would love to be done before starting our The Dark is Rising read along. I think the books are different enough but I like to keep my story lines a bit mor separate.

[aggieamy]

 

Well, now you've piqued my interest. It's like the forbidden fruit and I want to read it just to see what your objection is. ;)

 

 

 

I finished The Small Bachelor last night. This might be my favorite Wodehouse now. It was hysterical. 

 

I would love to know what you think of the Smart B*tches book!

 

And as another Wodehouse fan I'm glad to hear high marks for one of his books. And it's one I haven't read yet.

 

 

DD has chosen our previous night time read aloud and I was not enjoying it at all.  I tried to beg off, tried to convince them to read the book on their own, and managed to read 8 chapters in about 30 nights (normally it's one chapter a night; this is an indication of how I dreaded the book - I kept on coming up with excuses as to why I couldn't read that night).  At any rate, I finally convinced them to shelve it and I chose our next book - The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery.  We just started it two nights ago and I am so much happier and they are also enjoying it, which is a relief since it's one of my all time favourite books.

 

 

:001_wub: 

 

One of mine too.

 

So DS just finished Stardust and he loved it.  It's quite possibly the first book he has chosen and enjoyed so much that he's hoping to find other books by the same author or in the same vein.  Having not read Stardust or any Neil Gaiman myself, if you have any ideas for books that are similar to this and suitable for a 10 year old, I'm all ears.  (Obviously we are not too fussed about language in books.)

 

Highly recommend The Graveyard Book. If you guys do audiobooks then this one is pretty splendid.

 

Most of his other stuff I wouldn't recommend for a kid that young.

[Raifta]

 

 

 

Highly recommend The Graveyard Book. If you guys do audiobooks then this one is pretty splendid.

 

Most of his other stuff I wouldn't recommend for a kid that young.

 

He'd be happy with an audiobook but our library seems to have a terrible selection so I think we'll get this as a paper copy.  DH  has a bunch of the adult books by Gaiman but you have confirmed my suspicions that none of those are suitable yet.

[Kareni]

Bookish decorations at the Ripped Bodice, a store for romance lovers ~

 

a Christmas tree

 

a menorah

 

Regards,

Kareni

[mumto2]

Bookish decorations at the Ripped Bodice, a store for romance lovers ~

 

a Christmas tree

 

a menorah

 

Regards,

Kareni

I love it! Book art.......

[ErinE]

 

 

Well, now you've piqued my interest. It's like the forbidden fruit and I want to read it just to see what your objection is. ;)

 

 

 

I finished The Small Bachelor last night. This might be my favorite Wodehouse now. It was hysterical. 

 

My copy is still available. I'd be happy to send it to you.

[mumto2]

He'd be happy with an audiobook but our library seems to have a terrible selection so I think we'll get this as a paper copy. DH has a bunch of the adult books by Gaiman but you have confirmed my suspicions that none of those are suitable yet.

Dd is thinking but so far she recommends:

 

Terry Prachett starting with Wee Free Men https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34494.The_Wee_Free_Men?ac=1&from_search=true

 

Inkheart series https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28194.Inkheart?ac=1&from_search=true

[Mom-ninja.]

He'd be happy with an audiobook but our library seems to have a terrible selection so I think we'll get this as a paper copy.  DH  has a bunch of the adult books by Gaiman but you have confirmed my suspicions that none of those are suitable yet.

 

Gaiman has a few children's books. You can do a search on amazon

 

We have read and enjoyed The Graveyard Book, Fortunately, the Milk, Odd and the Frost Giants, and a few of the picture books. 

 

 

My copy is still available. I'd be happy to send it to you.

Sure, that would be great. I'll PM my address. 

[Robin M]

I'll be back in a bit after picking up lunch. Treating my technicians to Japanese food today. but I just had to share this now.  

 

Etsy's Red Decorative Book Set and they have different colors as well.  Neat collection of books including

 

The Gift of Peace, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin

The Nine Tailors Dorothy Sayers

Then We Were None, Agatha Christie

A Wide and Capable Revenge, McCall

Mortal Sins, Anna Porter

Guilty Pleasures, Lawrence Sanders

 

All so tempting.  

[Robin M]

I finished my audio book The Quants https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8434454-the-quants which ErinE recommended for my kids. I ended up listening to it for the Q and ended up learning quite a bit. The book rather oddly starts at the point I received my degree and started working in accounting. This book is great if you want to know why the financial crisis of 2007\8 happened. I had never understood how the managers let it happen. I now understand how but ........ This book explains it all. My kids kept poking their heads in while I was listening because I skipped my headphones for much of it and asking if it had mentioned different topics they have studied. Their understanding appears to be good. ☺

 

I also finished another of Gene Doucette's Immortal serieshttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31817228-immortal-at-the-edge-of-the-world. Not quite as good as the previous books in the series but enjoyable. I have actually checked the next one out already because I think I still need an I because the one I read has an E. :lol:

The Quants sounds like a book my hubby would really like.  How did I miss Doucette? The series looks really good. Added Immortals to my virtual book stacks.

 

Hi everyone! I've been busy with Christmas preparations but did manage to get some reading time. I recently checked my Goodreads stats and I have read 75 books this year! I think that is the most I've ever read in one year ever. :)

 

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25614492-salt-to-the-sea This is a YA set during WWII that follows a group of refugees in eastern Prussia who are making their way to hopefully board the ship Wilhelm Gustloff and be evacuated to safety ahead of the Russian army. The tragedy of the Wilhelm Gustloff is true and I can't believe I've never heard of it before!  This was a good story BUT the author wrote it from several different points of view - sometimes  usually changing characters after one and a half pages. It was irritating and pulled me out of the story every time.  :glare:

 

Right now I'm reading an Amy recommendation - His Official Fiancee - and am about a third of the way in. 

Awesome and Congratulations on reaching 75!  Salt to the Sea sounds intriguing.  If all the points of view are in first person it is difficult to get used to.  Some authors handle the different voices really well.  Adding it to my want list. 

 

 

I read Pushing to the Peak - 3 Stars - This is a story of an incredible young man who went through a terrible accident while skiing. He didn’t let that stop him from doing all of the things that he planned to do with his life. He completed medical school and is now a physician, got married and has a family. The faith and perseverance that this man and his family have is nothing short of admirable.

 

My favorite quote:

“One of my closest friends asked me if I ever ask, ‘Why?’ I never have because I do not believe there is an answer to that question here on earth, and it would be a waste of my time and energy. That is not to say that I wouldn't want to know the ‘why.’ I would love to have the answers, but I do not. Too often, people torment themselves by asking the why question. We have to accept today as it is and go on. It is a modern idea that life will not have its share of hardships. My grandparents and their grandparents expected life to have its share of difficult times. People died young, crops were destroyed days before harvest and children died of diseases that we easily cure or inoculate against these days.â€

 

 

MY RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars

Fantastic, couldn't put it down

4 Stars

Really Good

3 Stars

Enjoyable

2 Stars

Just Okay – nothing to write home about

1 Star

Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

Dr House sounds like a remarkable man and well worth the read.  Our priest once said, sometimes there are no answers for why.  Instead of asking why you are or were afflicted, ask how you can use it  -  to grow, to seek outside yourself, how it can help you and how you can help others  benefit from it. 

 

Finished my Bingo card (Yay!)

 

B

Prime Number -- Unclutter Your Life in One Week

Flufferton -- White Hot

Eastern Europe -- Bear & Nightingale

Bestseller in Child/Spouse Birth Year -- Clockwork Angel

Steampunk -- Clockwork Prince

 

I

Science Fiction -- Grim

Your Name in Title -- Marie Curie

Collection of short stories -- Small Magics

Seaworthy -- Truthwitch

Middle Ages -- Desiree

 

N

Western -- Reilly's Luck

Ancient -- Year of the Hyena

Free -- Fated

Dystopian, -- Ready Player One

Mystery -- A Regimental Murder

 

G

Translated -- King Solomon's Ring

Outer Space -- Gathering Edge

Finance -- Suddenly Frugal

One Word Title -- Decide

Debut Author -- Organized Enough

 

O

Over 500 Pages -- Cold Steel

Local Author -- Girl with the Ghost Eyes

Female Adventure -- Blood of the Earth

Classic -- Way Station 

Selected by a Friend -- The Selection

 

Some boxes I really struggled with finding a book I was actually interested enough in to read.   Finance especially for some reason  :confused: -- I have read a third to half of many finance books this year.      And since 2 of my struggle boxes were the historical boxes (middle ages/ancients) -- I can see I will have to start early this year on those, what with 5 boxes for historical periods!

Congratulations, dear heart.  I'll send out your bingo prezzie soon! 

 

Congrats LaughingCat!

 

I finished a book about Audrey Hepburn and Anne Frank.

A lot of ‘I didn’t know’-experiences:

- Audrey and Anne are from the same birthyear

- Audrey has Dutch-British Parents, and has been born in Brussel (Elsene)

-

-

The ‘Anne’-parts have several new to me facts, which made the book interesting in both story lines.

Not recommended as a first book about Anne Frank, not a heavy/hard reading.

 

I started a book that was mentioned in dutch christian newspapers, about Trinity and the interreligous dialogue with the Islam.

What are the names of the books?  The Trinity one sounds especially interesting. 

 

I also read Why Won't You Apologize? by Harriet Lerner, who also wrote The Dance of Anger.   It was a quick read about how exactly you should apologize, how you shouldn't wait around for someone else to apologize etc.   It made some good points, but it was a little delusional and naive.   People have fights and rifts because they are angry, many complicated things are going on, and they don't follow a proper "script".  That is the reality of life.   

 

 

 

Lots of interesting books.  My dad just told me about a book his therapist recommended he read after breaking up with his very jealous, controlling lady friend  and he said it had some very insightful suggestions -- Living successfully with Screwed Up People:   

 

You can be positive--no matter who tries to bring you down.

 

Unfortunately, the world is full of screwed-up people. But the good news, says Elizabeth B. Brown, is that your world no longer has to revolve around them. With brilliant insights and a keen sense of humor, this trusted author shows you how to: 

• take back the power from the difficult people in your life 
• respond productively when confronted 
• remain poised and in control when everyone around you loses it 
• win fairly in unfair battles 
• let go of the past and live triumphantly now 

Dozens of real-life success stories, brief diagnostic tests, and practical tools are included to help you assess your own unique situation and gain the confidence to live successfully with screwed-up people.

 

You can stop being the victim of others and start loving life in spite of them.

 

I couldn't resist getting it, especially when my dad doesn't generally read self help books nor recommend them.  

 

 

 

I'm currently listening to Faith Hunter's Curse on the Land in her soulwood series. Loving the narrator! 

[Kareni]

An additional bookish art find ~

 

a book snowman

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Violet Crown]

Howdy, friends!

 

I finished Emile Zola's scandalous novel Nana, about a guttersnipe prostitute who brings all of Paris to her feet, ruining men and their families all about her. To really enjoy Zola's Naturalism you have to not read for the plot so much as for his delightfully described series of outrageous scenes. I may have to give Germinal another shot.

 

And that finished my self-imposed Alphabetical Author Challenge. (Sorry Robin, no hope of getting a Bingo; my reading is too narrow.)

 

Amis, Kingsley, The Green Man

Beerbohm, Max, The Incomparable Max

Conrad, Joseph, Victory

Douglas, George, The House with the Green Shutters

Exley, Jo Ella Powell, Texas Tears and Texas Sunshine: Voices of Frontier Women

Frost, Robert, Selected Poems

Greene, Graham, The Ministry of Fear

Hakluyt, Richard, Voyages and Discoveries (vols. 1-4)

Ibsen, Henrik, Peer Gynt

James, Henry, The Reverberator

Kesey, Ken, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Lamb, Charles, Essays of Elia/ Last Essays of Elia

Malraux, Andre, Man's Fate

Norris, Frank, Octopus

Ovid, Ars Amatoria/ Amores

Pancake, The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake

De Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium-Eater

Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel

Seneca, Phaedra

Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle

Updike, John, The Maples Stories

Voltaire, Candide

Waugh, Evelyn, Black Mischief

Xenophon, The Persian Expedition (Anabasis)

Yourcenar, Marguerite, Hadrian's Memoirs

Zola, Emile, Nana

 

Currently reading Rose Macaulay's awfully amusing fictionalized travel memoir, The Towers of Trebizond, and Francis Child's immortal English and Scottish Popular Ballads, which I've used as a reference for years but am now enjoying reading through from the beginning (with no chance of completing before the end of the year, but who cares).

[Kareni]

A new regency quiz from the Word Wenches site ~ 

 

A Regency Christmas Quiz 2

 

 

Plus some currently free books for Kindle readers ~

 

Dear Santa: Children's Christmas Letters and Wish Lists, 1870 - 1920

 

Terradox  by Craig A. Falconer

 

Savage (The Kingwood Series Book 1)  by S.L. Scott

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[LaughingCat]

I once read something brilliant about the 'why' question. Don't just ask why; ask how. 'How' and 'why" are important questions. 'How' is  closely related to why and will lead towards answers and investigation. I don't want to live in a world where people don't try to figure things out and learn from what has happened. Using the examples of crop failure and children dying from diseases, if there weren't those who had asked why and how then we would not have made medical advances or learned about more advanced agriculture. If everyone accepted that things are just as there are because of a diety, mother nature, supreme power, universe, higher plan, etc. then we would stagnate in learning more about life and how to improve it. Yes, bad things happen. That is life. However, I'm glad we are always striving to improve quality of life as much as we can when we can.

 

Short version: I don't agree with the don't ask why philosophy. Humans asking why is how we move forward.  

 

 

 I read the OP as saying more of avoiding the "why me?' that people get caught in -- which pretty much stops all forward movement IME (as vs. asking why/how as a way to avoid past mistakes and/or move forward)

 

 

Regarding Gaiman -- I agree with the rec's for The Graveyard Book and Odd and the Frost Giants.     Coraline might be ok IF creepy/scary is ok  (the Graveyard Book has a tiny bit of creepy scary mixed in with rest-- Coraline is all creepy scary).    

[Kareni]

A one day only classic that is currently free for Kindle readers ~

 

The Lady with the Dog: And Other Stories by Anton Chekhov

 

Also currently free ~

 

Chop, Chop (Chop, Chop Series Book 1)  and  Day-Day (Chop, Chop Series Book 2)  by L.N. Cronk

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[mumto2]

I was just browsing in my Overdrive, basically following the recommended books until there is a single one that I have any interest in. One of the recommendations was Man in the Empty Suit https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13531802-man-in-the-empty-suit?ac=1&from_search=true which is a time travel book which takes place on New Years Eve. Looks really intriguing plus it has an E. I need an E! I checked it out.

[aggieamy]

Howdy, friends!

 

I finished Emile Zola's scandalous novel Nana, about a guttersnipe prostitute who brings all of Paris to her feet, ruining men and their families all about her. To really enjoy Zola's Naturalism you have to not read for the plot so much as for his delightfully described series of outrageous scenes. I may have to give Germinal another shot.

 

Thinking I was going to be very clever and worldly one time I attempted to read Fanny Hill thinking it indeed to be probably laughably quaint by today's standards of decency. Whoa. Boy was I wrong about that. Instead I ended up reading the wikipedia description of the plot. (Spoiler ... there's lots and lots of nakedness.) 

 

I guess the moral (HA!) of the story is that back in the olden days people were just as scandalous as we are now and that if you read a book about prostitutes it's probably going to be a bit illicit.

[Violet Crown]

Thinking I was going to be very clever and worldly one time I attempted to read Fanny Hill thinking it indeed to be probably laughably quaint by today's standards of decency. Whoa. Boy was I wrong about that. Instead I ended up reading the wikipedia description of the plot. (Spoiler ... there's lots and lots of nakedness.)

 

I guess the moral (HA!) of the story is that back in the olden days people were just as scandalous as we are now and that if you read a book about prostitutes it's probably going to be a bit illicit.

A lot depends on the When, Where, and Who of the olden days, too. Even just taking England, the 18th century was much more risqué than the 19th, in art and literature. Jacobean drama (early 17th century) was astoundingly sexual and violent; there was a reason theatre was banned during the Protectorate. When it was legalized again, the reaction against its excesses still affected public sentiments, and drama from the late 17th century was milder.

 

People tend to assume that culture gets more and more prudish as you go back in time, but I think this is because the Victorians were one period of reaction, and we still have a 20th-century cultural bias against it. I see so many parallels between our current time and the 18th century that I really think we are due for another Georgian/Victorian-style reaction.

[Robin M]

This week, I have several possible visitors so I'm doing a bit of dancing in glee as I go about my day. Today, I met up with the woman (and her family) who introduced me to homeschooling and helped me through my initial steps. Her children are close in age to my older two and they played together all the time when we lived nearby. Since they shared illnesses freely (as children do), they would often end watching television at our house or hers. They hiked through the woods together, built treehouses, played pick-up sports, baked cookies, ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. They tried to dam up the creek behind our house - I had to put a stop to that one. There are so many good memories. I was so excited to see her. There were a few teary eyes when we parted. I miss them all so much.

 

 

• Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. Historical Fiction. A Korean girl, pregnant by her married lover, marries a Korean minister living in Japan, begining a story about a family cut off from their nativeland but treated as foreigners in their homeland. I thought it really well done and worth the reading. There's conflict between the generations, conflict between the Korean immigrants and Japanese natives. I once asked a Russian friend if someone (an American, Brazilian, Chinese) was born in Russia, what does that make them? She told me whatever their ethnic background, they would never be Russian, an attitude I found strange. This book tries to answer that same question for Japan and its Korean immigrants.
•  

I finally picked up War and Peace to try to finish it before the end of the year. I couldn't stand the nagging guilt I felt everytime I spotted the taunting bookmark halfway through the book. Maybe I'll read my October Day book, finish up The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, read a Pratchett, plus get to a few odds and ends. Or maybe I'll be too busy with my visitors.

Glad you got to spend some time with your old friends.  I have Pachinko on my want list so looking forward to reading it.   Getting out my reading Pom Poms and cheering you on to finish War and Peace.  Although you could finish it next year and probably read October Daye instead. That's probably what I would do.   :laugh:

 

 

The only book I've finished in the last two weeks has been one that I think Erin read a few weeks ago.

 

Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart B*tches Guide to Romance by Sarah Wendell. Sarah and a few other ladies have a website that is a great resource for romance books and it can be a it off-color at times. But it's funny and lighthearted. Well. What is funny in a blog doesn't always translate well to a book. There were some interesting bits in this book but my goodness was there a tone of profanity and really off-color remarks. And a few things this old married lady didn't understand what they were talking about. I didn't dare ask my DH because then he would have wanted to know what I was reading and I really didn't want to have to explain it. My recommendation is to stick with the website unless you really like books with more curse words and non-curse words.

 

 

Quote for Robin:  (For the record, “romantic suspense†does not mean that the romance is in doubt and must be investigated. It does, however, mean that there is an 87.6 percent likelihood that the cover will feature two people running.)

I'm curious now and want to read.    Hmmm!  Most of the romantic suspense covers also seem to have quite a few bare chested guys with big guns.   :laugh:

 

Now that Robin has posted her challenges for the new year, I'm feeling jazzed to write in a new bullet journal. So many pages to create and challenges to plan. Since I'll be doing multiple financial challenges (esp saving for a wedding), I think the no buying books and dusty challenges will be great ones. I could and should use the library for audiobooks. Maybe one of my challenges will be to see how far into the year I cn get without spending any money on books (says the women who just returned with two new books from Barnes and Noble). I wish B&N would stop sending me coupons. Book coupons must be used. 

I always say I'm going to make it until at least April.  Ebooks always end up being my downfall.  But with all the book shaped packages under our Christmas tree right now, I may just have to shelve my ipad until I've made it through my teetering stacks.  Can you imagine the withdrawal.  Oy! 

 

 

It's so nice to be remembered.  Uh, thank you, I think!  I read the book Beyond Heaving Bosoms some years ago.  I remember being under-impressed at the time for all that I too like the author's site.

**

 

And speaking of paranormal romances, I just read and enjoyed Critical Instinct (Instinct Series) by Janie Crouch; I'd read more by this author.  (Adult content)  Admittedly the publisher has it categorized as romantic suspense which is also true.  It turns out that this is one of a series, but it stands alone well.

 

"Every single person Paige has drawn has ended up dead. And now she's drawn herself.  

 

Paige Jeffries is the darling of the art world. But after a brutal attack two years ago --a savage beating from an unknown assailant--she has become all but a recluse, broken. In her sleep she's drawing scenes of violence. Murders. Going to the cops isn't an option; they already think she's crazy. And they may be right.

 

Homicide detective Brett Wagner is asked to look into a cold case nobody wants: the battery of a local artist who claims to have drawn a picture of her own attack before it even happened. He remembers shy Paige from high school, and is driven to find her attacker, to believe the quiet beauty when nobody else does.

 

Because when he witnesses firsthand what Paige is drawing in her sleep, Brett realizes they are scenes from actual cases. Cases that had no connection until now. Portland has a secret serial killer, and Paige is somehow linked to his mind. 

 

And he's coming for her."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Sounds like a great series. Will definitely check them out. 

 

 

 

Coming up: 

 

Gotta bite the bullet and just finish that Seuss and Manga - they each finish a Bingo row.  After that, there are three more books I might attempt if it's looking like I've got time.  One is Sein eigener Herr/ Independent People by Laxness - I'm not sure that's a fast enough read - and if I don't finish that, I'll get to one less row, but not the end of the world.  The other books to finish up that last row are for Charlemagne and Pilot, which I've got two selections each for, we shall see what happens...  two kids are bringing their significant others over for Christmas and I thought I'd make them scarves, but just bought wool today(!)  So, might need to prioritize knitting (can I read and knit?  Watch tv, yes, but read?  My current audio is on CD and too annoying to move in/out of car, methinks...)

 

Are you close to finishing the Big Bingo?  

[Lady Florida.]

I keep getting farther and farther behind so I'm going to pop in and give a quick update.

 

According to Goodreads I have 7 books on my Currently Reading shelf, and I'm actually working through 5 of them. 

 

I'm listening to The Summer of the Danes, a Brother Cadfael book but I didn't realize it's an abridged version until I added it to on Goodreads. Goodreads says it has 0 pages.  :lol:  I'll finish it but might go back at some point and read an unabridged print or ebook version. Now I have to check the last Brother Cadfael book I read because it seemed really short compared to all the others. It too might have been an abridged version.

 

Reading (all on Kindle) -

 

The Sparrow - I'm stuck in the middle of the book. While I don't mind chapters jumping around in time (and even like it if it's done well), it's moving a bit too slow. I think the time jump forward is supposed to create suspense but it's overdone IMO, and I'm at a point where I just want to scream, "Get on with it! Just tell us what happened already!" Some of the chapters that take place in the future seem pointless. We already know something awful happened and it affected the priest terribly. Don't keep telling me this over and over again. Enough already. I do like the story and I hope it starts picking up because I'm really close to just abandoning it and looking up spoilers instead.

 

A Gentleman in Moscow - Still not far, still liking it.

 

Prairie Fires: The American Dream of Laura Ingalls Wilder - I didn't expect this library ebook to come in so soon. I recommended they purchase it (from the Overdrive feature where you can do that) and put myself on the wait list in case they bought it. It happened very quickly that they purchased it and suddenly it was my turn on the wait list. I just started it yesterday.

 

Diabetes Weight Loss Week by Week: A Safe, Effective Method for Losing Weight and Improving Your Health - I don't have diabetes nor do I have risk factors for it. There was a recent thread on the Chat Board about diet for Type II diabetes and I posted about what my aunt who has it eats, including when she's out and about. I also said I was interested in the diet because it's healthy, so I decided to take action. There's nothing ground breaking in the book and a lot of it is "rah rah you can do it!" but I think that's what I need at the moment. I know how to eat right but lately have been allowing myself to make excuses for poor choices. This is just something to get me back on track.

 

 

 

 

Winter is coming!  Officially, Winter begins with the Solstice on December 21st.  Unofficially, with the falling temperatures, it's already began as we've been bundling up in several layers while we take our evening walks around the neighborhood. However, I do chicken out and abandon my poor hubby to the cold, curling up with a good book when it hits below 40.  Sometimes he'll join me in reading. Other days he's determined to get those 25,000 steps.  Brrr! 

 

 

 

Last weekend one of the local meteorologists said "Winter officially begins at (blah blah time of day) on December 21st" then he followed it with an honest comment you don't often hear from them that made me laugh - "which means absolutely nothing to us".  :lol:

 

We had a short cold spell a week ago but this week highs will be in the upper 70s to low 80s, and lows in the upper 50s to low 60s. Christmas Day looks to be a gorgeous sunny day. https://weather.com/weather/tenday/l/32780:4:US

Edited December 20, 2017 by Lady Florida.

[Robin M]

Oh exciting!  I can fulfill this challenge with pleasure.  

 

DD has chosen our previous night time read aloud and I was not enjoying it at all.  I tried to beg off, tried to convince them to read the book on their own, and managed to read 8 chapters in about 30 nights (normally it's one chapter a night; this is an indication of how I dreaded the book - I kept on coming up with excuses as to why I couldn't read that night).  At any rate, I finally convinced them to shelve it and I chose our next book - The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery.  We just started it two nights ago and I am so much happier and they are also enjoying it, which is a relief since it's one of my all time favourite books.

Yeah, glad you found a book you could all enjoy!   

 

Like Matryoshka I have my head down trying to finish books for my alphabet author challenge and Turquoise. Overdrive keeps taking them back so I think my Kindle reader is permanently turned off at least for the next week or so!

I had to give up on spelling out Turquoise for the last month and resorted to reading one with the word in the title.  Too much to do with too little time to read.  

 

 

Bookish decorations at the Ripped Bodice, a store for romance lovers ~

 

a Christmas tree

 

a menorah

 

Regards,

Kareni

How neat.  I mentioned to hubby doing a Christmas tree in books and I got a 'are you off your rocker, honey' looks.   :lol:

 

Howdy, friends!

 

I finished Emile Zola's scandalous novel Nana, about a guttersnipe prostitute who brings all of Paris to her feet, ruining men and their families all about her. To really enjoy Zola's Naturalism you have to not read for the plot so much as for his delightfully described series of outrageous scenes. I may have to give Germinal another shot.

 

And that finished my self-imposed Alphabetical Author Challenge. (Sorry Robin, no hope of getting a Bingo; my reading is too narrow.)

 

Amis, Kingsley, The Green Man

Beerbohm, Max, The Incomparable Max

Conrad, Joseph, Victory

Douglas, George, The House with the Green Shutters

Exley, Jo Ella Powell, Texas Tears and Texas Sunshine: Voices of Frontier Women

Frost, Robert, Selected Poems

Greene, Graham, The Ministry of Fear

Hakluyt, Richard, Voyages and Discoveries (vols. 1-4)

Ibsen, Henrik, Peer Gynt

James, Henry, The Reverberator

Kesey, Ken, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Lamb, Charles, Essays of Elia/ Last Essays of Elia

Malraux, Andre, Man's Fate

Norris, Frank, Octopus

Ovid, Ars Amatoria/ Amores

Pancake, The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake

De Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium-Eater

Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel

Seneca, Phaedra

Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle

Updike, John, The Maples Stories

Voltaire, Candide

Waugh, Evelyn, Black Mischief

Xenophon, The Persian Expedition (Anabasis)

Yourcenar, Marguerite, Hadrian's Memoirs

Zola, Emile, Nana

 

Currently reading Rose Macaulay's awfully amusing fictionalized travel memoir, The Towers of Trebizond, and Francis Child's immortal English and Scottish Popular Ballads, which I've used as a reference for years but am now enjoying reading through from the beginning (with no chance of completing before the end of the year, but who cares).

Wow, lots of interesting books. Congratulations on completing your A to Z author. No problem with not being able to finish Bingo. I probably won't be able to finish my A to Z by Author because I'm left with q, x, and u at the moment and all the books are way too long to finish before the end of the year. 

[Matryoshka]

Are you close to finishing the Big Bingo?  

 

:lol:  Well, define 'finishing'. :lol:

 

It looks like I'm going to top out at around 150 books for the year, an impressive number (hey, up from EIGHT the year before!), but still a good 100 or so shy of finishing BigBingo! ;)  I think I'll end up at either 26 or 27 finished rows - although pretty much all the books I've read I've managed to squish into a BigBingo square, many are in random rows, so won't 'count' for that purpose...

 

I've also finished the Birthstone challenge (sans spelling - just one book a month), and both the A-Z author and title challenges.

 

I'm fairly sure I'll do A-Z again next year (why not?), but I'm still figuring out whether I'll do so much Bingo next year or focus on something else...

[Lady Florida.]

BTW, I'm out of likes for some reason, so consider your posts liked.

[Robin M]

I do think my Christmas shopping is done. Father in Law say's he isn't celebrating birthday anymore so no gifts.   Dad says I don't need anything, you'll only get it back when I die.   Hubby says I don't know.  Are men always so difficult?    You can't go wrong with a Duct Ling - Duct Tape Key chain.   :lol:   

[aggieamy]

I do think my Christmas shopping is done. Father in Law say's he isn't celebrating birthday anymore so no gifts.   Dad says I don't need anything, you'll only get it back when I die.   Hubby says I don't know.  Are men always so difficult?    You can't go wrong with a Duct Ling - Duct Tape Key chain.   :lol:   

 

My men folk (DH, my dad, and Chews-on-Books) are mostly getting books. Well and one of them is getting a huge dump truck. And about a zillion toys because he is spoiled.

 

Lots of books though. I found a cool 1947 Catechism with this awesome old fashioned sketches for my dad. He's always my tough one to buy for because he (much like your dad and FIL!) says he doens't want anything. I have to remind him that every year I give him a calendar with the kids' pictures on it and perhaps he doesn't want one this year? Oh no. But of course he wants that, it's his favorite present. And so on each year.

 

Show of hands from the BaW group ... who here is has at least ten books wrapped under the tree for family members? Are there any your really excited about giving?

[Mothersweets]

A new regency quiz from the Word Wenches site ~ 

 

A Regency Christmas Quiz 2

 

 

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

That quiz was hilarious! Hot Cockles?!  :lol:  :lol: