That's an awesome fact about you. I think it's fun hearing about what your life was like before we "met" you. Do you still do anything with Special Olympics? I listen to audiobooks too. Usually a The Cat Who book because I've listened to them all a million times and I won't force myself to stay awake for the story line. My grandmother used to do that too and I have pleasant memories of waking up and hearing George Guidall in her bedroom in the middle of the night. Do you have a specific book you like to listen to? Me too! And to jump back to our discussion a few weeks ago. I also love my Kindle for being on the treadmill. I can make the text bigger and easily flip to the next page. I lack the coordination and patience to read a regular book on the treadmill. I share your pain. I took DD (13 yo) out to Dillards last weekend looking for a confirmation dress. Our only guidelines were that it had to cover her shoulders and not be too short. Since I'm a boring mama I also told her there wouldn't be any cleavage showing. (Not that she was looking for a low cut dress anyway.) About two hours later we're both near tears and freaking out because I wasn't sure we were going to be able to find a dress. At one point I text messaged my DH to let him know that it was impossible to find a dress that covered both bum and bOOks and which did he prefer hanging out in front of the Archbishop. We finally found something that kinda worked. It's a little bit shorter than I would like but in the back the hem is longer so it looks appropriate. Then ... she went over to a friend's house that evening that got in some new chicks and played with those. That evening she got so deathly ill that she spent two days laying on the bathroom floor and missed confirmation.

We're going to need some snacks in this bunker! I was having the hardest time figuring out who on Goodreads was reading all of my guilty pleasures books! I'm glad you posted here too so I can put two and two together. :) (I swear when I first read that, I read "telegraph" as "twitter.") I'm always amazed at people who don't like history. To me it's more fun than current events because at least you know how it's going to turn out in the end. In current events every new day is a surprise.

Me too though I suspect you and I will have to go underground to escape the angry mob with pitchforks that will be pursuing us shortly.

Marbel - Shhhh. Don't tell anyone but I missed the bus and am still in Yorkshire. Seems like there's a million books to read there and they've all been great. Glad your enjoying your Brit Tripping. I just got The Nature Fix from the library today. It's a ways down on my nightstand though so we'll see when I get to it.

He was always my favorite. There was something charming about how goofy he was. Have you read any of his other books?

I agree. I don't think he's talking about love of the empire either but sometimes some of the best literary characters that we love (Snape? Gatsby? Holden Caulfield?) are not the best of people.

I read somewhere that Shel Silverstein books are one of the most commonly stolen books for school libraries. That's a compliment to him! Does your DS have any favorite poems yet? I tried to figure out my favorite Shel Silverstein poem but that's rather like trying to figure out your favorite type of donut. I couldn't pick one but I saw this online and something about it just charmed me.

My Brit Trip update. So far I'm keeping up! Nothing has caught my interest for Tyne and Wear next week so I might read an Agatha Christie and call it a WILD CARD. London (Scotland Yard) – Now You See Me Cambridgeshire – Dead Scared Huntingdonshire – The Children of Green Knowe Bedfordshire – Cambridge Blue Northamptonshire and Rutland – The Red House Mystery (Wild Card) Nottinghamshire – Miss Silver Comes to Stay East and West Riding of Yorkshire – Dying in the Wool York – A Murder for her Majesty North Yorkshire – The Old Fox Deceiv’d Durham – Rose Cottage

I finished A Murder for her Majesty by Beth Hilgartner. Highly recommend to the 10 yo history loving readers in your house. Lots of adventure. Great setting too. The author knows York very well and it translates well into scenery in the book. The Shambles in York. Picture credit to Andrew Pickett. Also the Shambles.

Boy oh boy. My family is going to be so excited when I switch up the menu on Friday and they get muskrat. And because I like to take a joke too far I looked up where you can buy muskrat meat. The nearest dealer to me is about three hours away in Omaha. But! It looks like there's a mail order option. https://www.exoticmeatmarkets.com/Muskrat-Meat-I-Exotic-Meat-Market-I-Exotic-Meats-p/muskrat1601.htm This is not a budget meat. Much more expensive than the fancy salmon I always talk myself out of buying. My poor family will be spared this delicacy because I'm too frugal. I'm finding this discussion fascinating. So many wildly different views on books vs kindles. (I hope we aren't on our way to what future generations will call The Great Books vs eReaders Kerfuffle of 2018.) Luckily we're a calm friendly group. I'm go in spurts of doing a few books on my kindle and then a few in print. I can't get library books on my Kindle so if it's available at the library I read it as a paper book. If I'm forced to buy it (for Amy's attitude towards buying something she could have for the not insignificant amount of money paid in property taxes please see my above discussion on (1) taxes and (2) the outrageous cost of muskrat meat these days) I will probably read it on my kindle since it's easy to just click and buy it. Or sometimes really old books are free which is nice too. While traveling I much prefer the kindle and will never go back to my suitcase full of books ways. My official vote is: I have no preference and prefer them equally. Caveat! I much much prefer non-fiction with sections, columns, graphics, and all in paper book form. A lot of times with certain non-fiction I just want to read the sections that are relevant to my life and that's much easier to discover in a paper book vs an eReader.

I guess my post could be misconstrued into an anti-mermaid prejudice (which I promise I don't have!) but really I just love a country who can pass laws on mythical creatures. Unless of course the Ministry of Magic had something to do with this ...

I finished a writing book that had some good information but you had to trudge through an immense amount of profanity to get to it. I don't really know why I finished it. I will admit to an incredible amount of skimming towards the end. So so much vulgarity. I guess I'm not really recommending the book. Only warning about it. 500 Ways to be a better Writer by Chuck Wendig

*heart* This makes me love the British Empire even more. When I try to read poetry I get frustrated and I feel as though I'm missing the point or message. Listening to it read like this registers more with me. On the home page if you click on the blue dot (or star) next to the thread title then it will open the thread and take you to the newest post. (Is that what you're asking about or did I misread the question?)

Here's my flower and Brit Trip updates. Books in RED are in progress. I'm still laughably behind in my flower challenge. (Kara - how are you doing? I think we were going at the same pace.) C – The Children of Green Knowe H - Henrietta's War R - Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod Y – Young Men in Spats S - Stormy Petrel A – The Great and Terrible Quest N – Now You See Me T - Past Perfect, Present Tense H - How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind E - Editor-Proof Your Writing M - The Scarlet Slipper Mystery U - Uncle Dynamite M – The Magic Words R – The Red House Mystery O – The Old Fox Deceiv’d S – Sad Cypress E – Everyday Fashions of the Twenties C – Cambridge Blue L – A Day for Love O – V – Cherry Ames, Visiting Nurse E – R – Rose Cottage A – A Murder for her Majesty V – E – N – BRIT TRIP: London (Scotland Yard) – Now You See Me Cambridgeshire – Dead Scared Huntingdonshire – The Children of Green Knowe Bedfordshire – Cambridge Blue Northamptonshire and Rutland – The Red House Mystery (Wild Card) Nottinghamshire – Miss Silver Comes to Stay East and West Riding of Yorkshire – Dying in the Wool York – A Murder for her Majesty North Yorkshire – The Old Fox Deceiv’d Durham – Rose Cottage

Thank you! That's awesome!

This was the exact thing I was going to comment on. School lunches today don't have that pizza and I would really like to try it again. Something about it was wonderful. Me too. Yesterday I made from scratch corned beef hash but you know, it wasn't the same.

Love it! My contribution to poetry month. The Soldier by Rupert Brooke read by Sophie Okonedo

The Accidental Coach - How's your DH doing?

*fingers crossed* I hope you guys get good news very soon! I find it very interesting/humorous that about 90% of the time our reading tastes are perfectly aligned and then sometimes we're randomly on opposite ends of the spectrum. I do agree completely that a good narrator can increase a book's ranking by one to two stars. When DD was little I tried reading The Wizard of Oz to her and we gave up because she just didn't like it. Then we tried it as an audiobook and we ended up driving in circles for an hour one evening to finish it up. Hurrah! Things I don't want to talk about ... 1. Taxes. And that's the list! I adored Hatchet as a kid. Was this your first time reading it? Should we ask about the contractor or just ignore that topic?

Brit Trippers - Just finished my Yorkshire read. The Old Fox Deceiv'd by Martha Grimes. The setting was very Yorkshire-y (specifically a coast town like Whitby) in it which was fun. Overall it was a *** book. I'd read another of her books. It's also fun that they're written in the 80's so there's a bit of nostalgia there too. Picture courtesy of BBC.com and Mike Atkinson.

What a fun article. And this recipe looks great. Funny quote: Question for BaW IP gals (Sandy and Kathy ... anyone else?) - Could I make this in an instant pot? Thoughts?

PSA - Never forget your book when you go to the Apple store to get your (insert numerous cuss words here) iPhone fixed. It was a horrible experience and I could have finished two books in the amount of time I spent waiting. Does anyone here keep an emergency back up book in their car or purse?

I'm so sorry to hear you've had such a stressful time. How's he doing?

Thanks for the interesting Brit Trip link!

What a great questions! I've read about 29ish books this year. The new authors are: Joyce Dennys, Henrietta's War <- Highly recommend to the Brit Trip gang Frances Brody, Kate Shackleton series Margaret Lovett, The Great and Terrible Quest Dana White, How to Manage Your Home Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad Don McNair, Editor-Proof Your Writing Sharon Bolton, Lacey Flint series <- Another highly recommend LM Boston, The Children of Green Knowe Alison Bruce, Gary Goodhew series Interesting. About a third of my books this year have been new to me authors. Around here it's the Marx Brothers movies, Ghostbusters, Scooby Doo, Agatha Christie, and Georgette Heyer. And eating sushi. Don't forget that a book set in generic England (a lot of Agatha Christie books, for instance) will work as a Wild Card and can be substituted for counties that you can't find a book for. Indeed. You need more Heyer. That's what you were meaning to say, right? :)