I read (listened to) both and enjoyed them. Cromwell wasn't made to seem as sympathetic as Richard III, but Mantel did make him human. He too came out more complicated and less evil than history would have us believe. I heard a lot of complaints about this yet it didn't bother me. I wonder if listening rather than reading is what made the difference. One would think that would actually make it harder, but I didn't find it to be confusing.

We love AcornTV! It's well worth $5 a month IMO. We watch through our Roku. And to bring this back on topic, Roku has some of its devices on sale.

I feel the same way! My heart goes out to him. As if what happened wasn't bad enough, he's been maligned ever since as having been completely evil. I don't know if you read my Goodreads review, but that last paragraph is really about wishing it all turned out differently not just for Richard but for the princes and many other characters too. I'm currently reading When Christ and His Saints Slept. I borrowed the Kindle version almost as soon as I finished The Sunne in Splendour but must say I'm not as in love with this book. Maybe it's because with Sunne you know it's about Richard III. There are numerous characters but in the end it's really all about Richard. It even says so in the title. With Christ and His Saints I keep wondering if it's about King Stephen, Empress Maud, the time period and the war between them, the fictional character she added, etc. I don't really know what the problem is, but it's just not as - captivating? interesting? fascinating? - as Sunne. I wanted to love it but the love just isn't there.

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

Quoting myself to say that the only time I'd add a thickener before cooking is if I made a roux.

I picked up A Man Called Ove, and a few more in the historical mystery series I've been listening to - Her Royal Spyness series.

Thanks. Next time I'll do it the traditional way - after it's done and just needs to be thickened. Thanks for the tip to use saute mode. I did see Amazon Kitchen recipes praised on the big fb group, which is why I thought it would be okay.

So I made beef stew last night and it was tasty but... I followed a recipe from Amazon Kitchen that has you put the thickening agent (flour) in with all of the other ingredients before cooking. It didn't thicken. The consistency was more like vegetable beef soup rather than a thick stew. I'm hoping it was just that recipe but the video showed a thick stew at the end so I don't know.

Oh, I forgot that's been on my TBR list for a long time. When we went to see Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them we were looking at the posters for other movies, and dh said he wants to see Arrival. I didn't know it was based on a short story.

Thank you again for these threads, Robin. And what a cool photo! I admit to having a bit of a letdown after reading your post. When I saw foodie in the title I was excited. You see, my first ever Instant Pot arrived yesterday (tonight's dinner is cooking in it right now) and I've been looking at IP cookbooks. I bought two Kindle versions - one was free, and one (the one most often recommended) was only $2.99. Then I saw that it's not about reading cookbooks. :( I soon realized though that I don't need to be disappointed. I need a new mystery/detective story to read because I'm almost finished with my current one. As it happens the next Inspector Montalbano book for me is #3 and is called The Snack Thief. It's available for Kindle at my library. Think I can count it? It doesn't name a specific food, but who doesn't like snacks right? :D The mystery I referenced above that I'm almost through is the second Justin de Quincy, Cruel as the Grave. Even though I'm only on the second one, I'm enjoying this series so far. It looks like she only wrote 4, with the last one published in 2006, so it's doubtful she'll add to the series. :( I also need to get started on my IRL book club book - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Our meeting is next Tuesday, Dec. 6th, and when I downloaded the sample it seemed like it will be a quick read. I'll probably start later this week and I'm sure I'll finish in time. Still working my way through Alexander Hamilton, a little at a time. I've been listening to the soundtrack (Prime Music), and that plus the recent Biographies thread on the main Chat Board inspired me to pick up the book again. I never finished Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories, so thanks for the Agatha Christie reminder. If I ever finish that one, I'll read the Miss Marple set next. I don't have to read all of the books in the Poirot collection because there are many I've already read, and the same will be true for Marple. I might reread some, but probably will just pick the ones I haven't read. As for A Man Called Ove, I've been eyeing that one for a while now. Your post has me thinking I'll like it. It's only $4.95 at Audible as part of their Black Friday weekend sale. I might go ahead and pick it up, along with a few others. The list is quite extensive.

Audible.com has over 400 audio books on sale, starting at $4.95. Many are best sellers. The sale ends midnight Nov. 29th.

My IP was supposed to come today but I was pleasantly surprised by a delivery last night. I get to use it for dinner tonight if the learning curve isn't too steep. For some reason I have my mind set on beef stew. For one, dh likes it and I haven't made it in a while. Two, he's working the midnight shift tonight so I need something we can eat at separate times that will easily heat up. My morning has been spent browsing for IP stew recipes. From what I understand you shouldn't just try to adapt your own recipes until you get used to using it. Is that right?

I was just thinking we might want to keep this thread going until Christmas. There are always good deals after Black Friday as well; sometimes even better than the Thanksgiving weekend sales.

Oh thank you, that's good to know. I'm making a point to shop at Target more often anyway. I'll make a trip to my local Target tomorrow.

Ddil (they hosted) set up an online sign up system this year. She used signupgenius.com but there are others. She listed all the items our family might want, signed up for what they would provide, and sent an email to everyone who was coming with the link to sign up. When creating the list, she also left it so that you could add something that wasn't on the list but that you wanted to bring. I think online sign ups are a great way to get everyone to bring something. It takes some of the stress off the host family, prevents duplicates, and leaves no room for doubt that everyone is expected to contribute and not arrive empty handed.

My IP will be here tomorrow. Yesterday I bought the one on sale for $69 at Amazon - the 7 in 1 model. I hope I love it as much as everyone says I will. In anticipation, so far I've joined a facebook group and have a membership request for another one pending. I've been scouring the internet for recipes as well. I'd buy a book if I knew it had recipes my family will like but for now I'm hoping to find much of what I need/want online. Any suggestions for websites, fb groups, blogs, etc?

^^^Yes!^^

This pretty much describes me, especially the last part about empty nest. My 7 in 1 will be here tomorrow. I hope I love it as much as everyone else does. (I don't make yogurt but I do make bread, and my understanding is you can proof dough in the 7 in 1 as well.

We cut the cord several years ago and they're still sending us "Please come back, we miss you" junk mail. And now that Directv is in bed with AT&T and our cell service is through AT&T they're both bugging us. Cutting the cord was one of the best decisions we ever made. We haven't once wished we had satellite or cable again.

It sounds mean, especially because it doesn't sound like family culture. It sounds like this kind of thing is only done to the "different" child. We sometimes joked with ds saying things like, "It's a good thing you're not the first born or we'd have to sell you." But - we only did that once we knew he was old enough to get the joke, and know that it was truly a joke. And we joked with his older brother (dss) about getting rid of him too. So, ds wasn't the only one on the receiving end of such jokes.

I read his Catherine the Great bio and really enjoyed it. I've never been into Russian history, but he made it quite interesting. And he made me want to read more.

Those all look good. Adding them to my tbr list. My brief brush with fame: Jeannette Walls (the author) is related to dh by marriage. Her current husband, not the one in the memoir - the good guy. :) My MIL and her MIL were first cousins. She and her husband came to a family reunion in Tennessee a few years ago. I had only recently read the book and found out about the relation, and I wondered how she felt about being in a small mountain town not unlike the one she grew up in. I didn't ask though because I didn't want her to have to be "the famous author". She seemed to just want to be there as one of the spouses. Just like the rest of us.

Here's a link to my biographies/autobiographies/memoirs shelf on Goodreads. Those are ones I've read. I'm currently reading Alexander Hamilton, the biography by Ron Chernow that inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda to write the musical. He read it while on vacation one year. The difference between him and me is that he read it and immediately thought "This would make a great musical!" It's why he's famous and I'm not. ;) I've heard good things about the U.S. Grant biography referenced up thread. ETA: Oops. That's his autobiography a pp mentioned. The one I heard about recently is this one. Some on my to-read list are Infidel, Nicholas and Alexandra, and Lab Girl.

I've done that a few times since dss started hosting several years ago. He's always sent us home with leftovers, but I still made a mini Thanksgiving meal for us one day over the long weekend. That wayI had a carcass for broth and soup.

I love my Galaxy tablet. It's probably a little bigger than what you're looking for, but they make smaller ones. I have the Tab A 10.1. Any of the low to mid-range Galaxy tablets will probably fit your requirements. A 7 or 8 inch would be just right. I read mostly on my Kindle Paperwhite but when I want to read something with color (or a magazine) or something with photos or drawings, I use the Kindle app on my tablet. ETA: Before I got the Galaxy tablet I had a Kindle Fire. It just seemed too limited by Amazon to me. I wanted to be able to get more apps from more places without having to side load them. I don't know if the newer Fires are more open.