Here is a little more S. Undset yumminess for you before the thread flips to next week: Return to the Future is my vintage copy of Undset's memoir. The copy of Kristin Lavrandatter is my Danish copy that I have not yet tackled.

Ferrante: I am only midway through Book 2 so we’ll see if my gushing sustains to the end of the quartet. That being said, lots of other writers are currently popular that don’t resonate with me at all. I have been disappointed by the bulk of the contemporary realistic fiction I have recently read. Which is why I don’t read much of it any more.

My quiz result was dragon. Currently reading: Ferrante’s Neopolitan Novels are the best realistic fiction that I have read in a long, long time. Steadily working on The Last Castle by Denise Kiernan. The story behind the Biltmore House in North Carolina, it is for my micro history Bingo Square. I have a high interest in the topic but the book is adequate rather than compelling.

Oh, happi duck, that is so sad. I am so sorry.

Ah, ok. I missed it in that post. Thanks. I went back and read last week's thread and saw no reference to Undset so I was a bit confused.

Hi. I missed last week and will have to go back and see what was posted about Sigrid Undset. I picked up a vintage biography of her earlier this year at the thrift shop - photo below! I missed last week mostly because our city was hit by a flash flood. We watched the water in the street rise from the safety of our second story apartment, but my car was a flood victim. The water had reached at least a foot in the streets, and my car is small and low to the ground. I was afraid that it would not be salvageable, but I am happy to report that the insurance company deemed it fixable. I'm reading several books, but the one I am most excited about at the moment is The Story of a New Name (Book 2 of the Neopolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante). Has anyone else read this series?

It is highly localized, even within the state. You really have to target a city and/or county for your search and find out if records are public. ETA: Try searching P2C plus name of the city/county. P2C stands for Police to Citizen.

Great news, Just Kate!!!! I'm still trying to sort out my own issues. Thanks for asking.

Any recs for a start into Bollywood movies? I’ve never seen one, but am interested! You guys have made the My Family and Other Animals call out to me from beneath its dust in my shelf.

Thinking of you, Just Kate.

I think you have received some good advice. There have been some studies that indicate that prunes can help with bone density. I usually eat them (I have osteopenia) daily. They don't bother my tummy, and they aren't going to hurt me so I figure why not?

Just Kate, I use a lot of self-talk to get through times of uncertainty and waiting for results. I say things to myself like “You know, Penguin, this might be your last weekend that you DON*T have cancer. Do you REALLY want to spend it worrying?” Which upon reflection kind of sounds like I am berating myself (rarely a good idea!) , but it isn’t really like that for me. It’s more like my way of nudging myself out of a funk. And I do that thing where I give myself a set amount of time to research and worry, and then I put it away. And I try to keep VERY busy. If this is not helpful to you, then of course ignore me. We’re all different, and I acknowledge that. (Some if this I wrote as an ETA to my previous post but then realized you might not see it.)

I am sorry that you are going through this, and that the first scan led to more worries. Since my initial cancer diagnosis 12 years ago, I have had more scans and biopsies than I care to remember. I will be having a CAT scan myself next week for some inexplicable rib pain. But I have trained myself to develop the mindset that it-isn't-cancer-until-it-is-cancer. I'm not there perfectly, but I am close. I don't want the spectre of cancer to take away any more of my days than is absolutely necessary. I won't lie, though. I have spent some time Googling my most recent symptoms and some other related stuff. Try not to do that because it can actually be not so helpful for your state of mind but I am just admitting that I don't always 100 percent follow my own advice ? Today, you do not have a cancer diagnosis. Today, you have swollen lymph nodes. You don't feel sick in any way. Today, I have some rib pain that could in fact be a yoga injury. It is nothing that keeps me from doing what I want to do today, and I did not let it rob me of my today. Mega Hugs.

Resolved - nm!

My son took an AP exam in the Netherlands last year. Maybe the same school! This year, we are in the US.

Welcome! Have you read Nesbo’s Macbeth? It tempts me, but the reviews are mixed. I haven’t read any Nesbo, but I would like to try at least one. Do you have a recommendation?

I'm hardly ever reading something that matches the theme of the week, so yippee that I am currently reading sipping Scandinavians: In Search of the Soul of the North. We went to Norway in 2014. I'll upload some pictures this week. When we lived in Denmark, we actually lived along the Limfjorden. Surely I have some pictures of the Limfjorden, but I will have to hunt for them. These are of St. Olaf's Church in Balestrand and the Norwegian Booktown of Fjæreland. The church was the inspiration for the church in Frozen. Fjærland is one of the travel highilghts of my whole life! .

Congrats!!! Yippee!!! I have been following your DD's search since my son is a year behind her and looking at some of the same schools. Well, not the all-women's ones, obviously :)

nm

Yes, and I am terrified of it because I can not use steroids. Goats also eat poison ivy. Can you get a goat? Or borrow one?

Done. Thank you for the update. I have an 11th grader and am spending lots of time on these sites at the moment ?

As a breast cancer survivor, any and all new lumps get rapid attention. I had a sudden swollen lymphnode biopsied near my collarbone. Our best guess (meaning me and the docs) is that it “popped” due to strain from plank exercise. I was doing a 30 day plank challenge at the time. I am now scared to do plank after what it put me through, but it was NOT cancer.

I keep hearing that forums are a dying format, but Reddit is a forum format and is quite popular.

I am 53. I get very annoyed with my age-peers who do not grasp/acknowledge that our 20-something kids are maneuvering through a vastly different financial landscape than the one we had in the 1980s.

It was a Danish series called Matador. Produced in the late 1970s, it is the saga of a small (fictional) Danish town through the 1930s and 1940s. It is hard to overestimate how important this series is to Danish culture, and Princess Mary (originally from Austrailia) claimed that she used it to help herself learn Danish. It is a wonderful series, and would definitely appeal to those folks who like period dramas. Alas, I know of no way to access a version that has English subtitles other than ordering the DVDs from Denmark.