I've never warmed to Hemingway (by which I mean I actively disliked most of his books) but I did like A Moveable Feast for the same reasons Little Leaves did. Magical Realism? I don't see that at all in anything I've read by him. Actually that's the opposite of how I would have described him. Realism realism is more like it.

I read this in high school just for fun. My cousin went to a fancy prep school that had required summer reading and I went to plain ol' public school that didn't. One night I spent the night at her house and didn't bring a book but her summer reading book -- Catcher in the Rye -- was laying about so I read it and loved it. Something about it super appealed to me as a high school girl. I have not picked it back up because I'm sure I would be wildly disappointed in it now and I want to hang on to that memory. I picked up Roald Dahl's autobiography to read to John and then read a few chapters to see if it would be something appropriate for his age and am hooked. It's fantastically interesting. It would make your girls rethink boarding school. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad as a girl or if you're a wizard. Sounded pretty horrific for a nine-year-old boy in 1925 though. And congrats on the victory against Wee Girl!

Nice. That'll be great for around town and roadtrips. Now for the important question ... do you and your DH like the same roadtrip audiobooks? If you have a semi-legitimate reason to buy a tutu then you should. I remember that but not the title! @Negin - this sounds like your type of book! Do you remember the title?

So if you're reading some good books on tennis and want to dress the part you might be interested in these 17" skirts that last forever and have great pockets. (Their other styles are darling too but I like a longer skirt.) https://www.donajobrand.com/collections/ultimate-skirts-17

I bought a bunch of tennis skirts to wear during Covid because they are forgiving if you put on a few pounds and I hate slacks of any sort. As an added bonus I really like how they make me look a little more put together and whenever DH gets home from the water treatment plant and sees me in my tennis skirt he figures that I plan for us to go as a family and play tennis that evening. So we've been doing that and it's lots of fun. He doesn't know how incredibly comfortable skirts are.

FINISHED: The Silent Pool (Miss Silver) by Patricia Wentworth - All I'm getting finished this year are read alouds and audiobooks. It'll be interesting to compare the number of audiobooks I read this year versus other years in December. Anyway ... if you like Miss Silver books then this is a recommend. 🙂 I've now read 20/32 Miss Silver books. I'm kinda bummed about that. They're my favorite easy listen.

Yep. George Guidall and The Cat Who books ... *heart*. Is this the TV show then? In my family we refer to the Danish Royals as the beautiful people. Princess Mary's whole family is so cute.

"turn the pages" LOL.

LOL! That's fantastic!

Two good points here. The gals I know might be spending an hour a day on spiritual things between Adoration, Rosary, reading the Bible but I don't think it's a solid hour of sitting and only reading the Bible.

Ditto on the Bible thoughts. I don't know anyone that does an hour a day! And I'm hanging out with some book loving people.

Super interesting. It does make sense that the Boomer and Silent Generation read the most. Likely they're retired or at least empty nesters and have more reading time. I also found the stats on audiobooks fascinating and ring true for the people I know.

FINISHED: The Cuckoo in Spring by Elizabeth Cadell - I'd call her books DE Stevenson-lite. Not as charming but there was still such a good understanding of human character that I read on. If you happen to stumble across one in a thrift store or used book shop pick it up but no need to go out of your way to hunt one down. The Teddy Robinson Storybook by Joan Robinson - This was a gift for Chews on Books from Mumto (and probably for me as she took pity on my string of unimpressive read alouds). Guys! It was so so lovely and sweet. John jumped into bed every night and insisted that tonight we "read two chapters about Teddy Robinson". It's one of those books that works for adults and children in different ways but they both love it. Highly recommend if you're still reading aloud to the 6-10 years old crowd. And I have to share this Goodreads recommendation because it's hilarious ... Um ... no And on a similar line of thought ... DH's Kindle recommended a billionaire romance to him the other day. Target ad fail there.

I can't wait to hear about what car you get! I'm a boring middle aged lady that loves sports cars so let me live vicariously though your adventures while I putter around in my station wagon. I volunteer to be a beta reader if you're looking for ones yet! I have so many Bill Bryson related thoughts here ... please bear with me while I ramble on a bit ... I want Bill Bryson to be one of my favorite authors. His hiking the Appalachian trail book was hilarious. DH and I listened to it as an audiobook on a road trip and loved everything about it until he wandered off on an aside about acid rain. While that's important it was unrelated to the book and felt like he just needed to shoehorn his cause in where he could. It was odd and took away from the book. Then I read At Home and he did the same friggin thing! Then Notes from a Small Island and by this time I was tired of his random asides. If his editor had been like, "Hey buddy. That's really interesting and important. Why don't we take this chapter out of the book and send it as an editorial to the New Yorker instead?" then I would be a huge Bill Bryson fan. Instead I'm a mildly annoyed Bill Bryson fan. Re: Hoover. I live Truman country. He was a KC native and we have a lot of respect for the man around here. He was kind, hard working, and unpretentious. Exactly what Midwesterners value. He was also broke. Apparently so broke that the Senate passed the Former Presidents Act so he and Bess would have some sort of retirement to live on. Truman was embarrassed to be in that position and word got back to Hoover so Hoover decided to take the retirement also (despite being independently wealthy) so Truman wouldn't be the only one and be embarrassed. That warmed my heart to hear that story. I'm sure it could be spun to be a story of greed (this wealthy man decides to take a government retirement) but I think Hoover did do it out of kindness. I might have a lot of strong opinions on a man while he's president but when he's the former president I cut him a lot of slack.

Welcome. We're glad you're here! Tell us a little bit about yourself.

This was one of the best read alouds DD and I did. I was sobbing at multiple times in the book! And I'm going to have to look at my read lists and post my three favorites too! You betcha that looks like something I'd love! Just reserved it at my library. And I got word that A Most Novel Revenge by Ashley Wheeler is available so I really need to get myself in the car and get to the library.

That's where I am with things too. So many thing on DS's list are back ordered that I'm thinking of being greedy and grabbing what I can now. That said he's super easy to buy for. A few books, board games that DH and I will play with him, and toy train stuff will make him crazy happy. She plays the piano and the ukulele - she's got a concert sized one and a baritone. The kit is a super fun idea. Maybe even a smaller ukulele. I suggested a banjo but DH vetoed that idea. LOL.

I've started lists and have a pretty good idea of what I'm getting for everyone except DD (16 yo). She gets harder and hard to shop for every year. What are y'all getting your musically inclined teenage girls this year?

Sometimes I feel like you post this threads just for me! Has anyone read any of this author? I've never heard of her before but sounds interesting. I'm always on the lookout for new Golden Age mystery writers.

I haven't heard of her. Do you have a recommendation on where to start? If you assign me one then I'll be a good student and read it. EDIT ... 30 seconds later I just bought The Quiet Professor so we can discuss it when I finish it in a few days. You're likely to have finished by the time you get back to this thread. Well, I do love myself some GH in general. I think what made me so angry was that book was just bad and I know she can do better. I'll give a few recommendations. I wish I could do a "if" and "then" programming chart here. The Grand Sophy is one of my favorites. But it's a product of it's time and there's scene with a Jewish merchant that I'm sure got laughs in the 30's but nowadays is cring-y. Don't start with it unless you're the type of reader that can compartmentalize that type of thing. If you like lots of humor and a gentler hero then start with Cotillion. If you like an arranged marriage trope and a slow burn romance built on friendship then start with A Civil Contract. If you like a mature couple and a villain you want to get their comeuppance then start with The Nonesuch. If you want high comedy and improbable hi-jinks and fantastic side characters then start with Sprig Muslin or The Talisman Ring.

Oh my goodness gals! I finished a Georgette Heyer audiobook that I hated with every fiber of my being. I listened at 3x speed on audible and it was the only way I got through it. I don't know why I didn't give up ... maybe I had hope that it would turn around. Horrible romantic hero. Horrible heroine. Kidnapping. Dumb plot twists. HATED. IT. Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer - My ranking is *negative stars* and *infinity thumbs down*.

I'm about halfway in the Elizabeth Cadell book ... so far I would tentatively recommend. I'll keep you updated! I think it's actually one I discovered because of the "similar books" website @Robin M posted a few weeks ago. I'm glad to see you post ... I was thinking about you! My reading was really hurting in April/May but I've given myself permission to simply read whatever catches my fancy at the moment and do a bunch of rereading this year. It's helped. But still this is hard. ((HUGS))

You've piqued my curiosity! Who are you adding to your homeschool?

I've been meaning to say this for awhile and keep forgetting but I love how you have your Goodreads link in your sig line. It's so helpful to be able to "remind" myself who you are over on Goodreads. I hope you don't mind if I steal that idea.

Y'all I am D.O.N.E. with MTH. I can't do it anymore. We finished a WWII MTH last night and as soon as we finished John went and grabbed another one off the shelf we have in his room where we store future read alouds. He was so excited and I had to hold back tears. After he fell asleep I took all the MTH books off his shelf and hid them. It's no longer an option. I'm the worst mother.