Yes, I have thanked a Veteran today. Robin's link to the Poppy appeal was fascinating partly because I never knew how much money is raised each year in the UK by the Veterans selling poppies. Generally around the first of November it is expected (at least in the North) that you have a poppy attached to your outerwear at a minimum. Many have what I would call permanent poppies as opposed to the fabric version sold each year.....all 4 of us do. Yes, even children wear them. We still stop by a stand and "pay" for our poppies each year which explains why the sales figures appear to equal one for more than half the population! The village church service with wreath laying afterwards will be the largest of the year. Standing room only. Scouts in uniforms etc.....It really is lovely. Now for books.....Several of my favorite cozy authors write books set immediately following WWI. Carols Dunn https://www.goodreads.com/series/41574-daisy-dalrymple, Jacqueline Winspear https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/462033.Maisie_Dobbs?ac=1&from_search=true, and Frances Brody https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3102629.Frances_Brody are all authors that I will be returning to as I go Brit Tripping :lol: next year.

My Ds is a hot chocolate man and has a cup every night before bed. He drinks water and hot chocolate, that's it. Because of his limited tastes we pick of mixes wherever and whenever we see them. Not sure how accessible some of his standbys are but he is good with Cadbury and Milka. He enjoyed the Starbucks and Ghirardelli mixes he received last Christmas quite a bit and did not share. I took that to mean special. He also really likes Swiss Miss with marshmallows so take his recommendations with that in mind. ;) I think this thread made me drink coffee instead of my usualtea today. We have been out running errands and dh has kindly stopped twice to refill my travel mug. I am definitely enjoying a caffeine induced state right now. I haven't even been drinking much Coke (my real weakness) these last few weeks so it's hitting me fairly hard. Book ideas for Chews......My Popper's Penguins is a must. Both of mine loved the original Boxcar Children, I think that means the first six or so. I also read all of the original Wizard of Oz books three times when they were little. For a couple of years we lived Wizard of Oz. Definitely could quote it! They should be free on kindle which might be handy. FYI, I used to make a really good Scraps, the Patchwork Girl doll. ;)

Tea of course! I have a giant cup sitting beside me right now. I really don't quote movies\books all that much but one of the favorite quotes around my house is from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy regarding the demolition of Arthur's house........useful in an amazing number of situations. We tend to paraphrase so something like this, But the plans were on display........in the celler, down the stairs, bottom of a file cabinet in a disused lavatory. That's our version! :lol: Also....Don't panic! Says it all. ;)

I didn't learn to knit with EZ but discovered her patterns a couple of years later with a subscription to Vogue Knitting. But I can totally understand how her methods must be super confusing for a lefty. Her patterns always require me to read and reread because I am always convinced I have erred but I love the results. I have made her baby surprise jacket at least a dozen times and always am surprised at the end because it worked! It's a great way to use up left over yarn. https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-surprise-jacket. The stories behind how quickly she developed each pattern also impress me, the methods are unique and clever. Ladies, opinions? I think it sounds fun but I will need a shorter name for the Goodreads bookshelf I suspect. Eta...Amy and I were posting at the same time. Looks like she solved my Goodreads problems. Brit Trippers :lol: I am currently reading several books as I can't seem to stick to one. Most of my book time today has been spent on the third book of a YA series called The Great Library that Mom Ninja recommended to me. So far I am enjoying Ash and Quill https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30956356-ash-and-quill?ac=1&from_search=true.

Elizabeth Zimmerman is my knitting hero! It's great to see her included on this list. My rather small Goodreads experiment worked! By entering the county in my notes box I can sort alphabetically by county. Yes! I can see lots of future applications for this discovery. I finished Blood Trail by Tanya Huff. It is a reread from 18 years ago that I spent a whole bunch of time hunting for. Not nearly as good as I remembered. I think I am done with the series for now. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/338122.Blood_Trail

:grouphug:

My new title ideas are The Great British Road Trip or The Mysterious British Road Trip. Goodreads sorted my Alphabetical by title category so easily that I soul love to be able to have it with me at a glace in alphabetical order. I am the odd person occasionally walking around the library looking at lists on my kindle. It seems like it could be helpful. I also think we might be able to look at each others shelf easily.

I an doing some planning for my mystery tour of England next year and am trying to figure out how to keep track on Goodreads along with a hand written notebook. So Goodreads people help please..... I think my main aim at this point is going to be able to keep track of my books read in county alphabetical order. I plan to set up a shelf named something like "Tour of England" to separate out the books but would like to see where i have read at a glance. A chart preferably. I have just taken a look at the sort function for shelves and I think if I enter the County in the notes section (which I have never used) I can sort that way. Yes? Next part of the question is I think the notes section is private. Am I right? I don't want to be listed in the bottom reviews with the only thing said being Durham or Sussex. The comments section goes to the review part, right?

There are definitely shorter Murakami's than the hugely popular 1Q84 which I did love. It's an all time favorite which I never would have read without this group so I would never discourage reading it. ;). But I have enjoyed others greatly also and most are shorter. One that I want to read next year is a book with two shorts, 234 pages apparently, called Wind/Pinball. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24013720-wind-pinball?ac=1&from_search=true

A couple more author ideas are Mary Balogh and Mary Jo Putney.

Another Palin fan although I have only watched the tv series. I had no idea there were books. Amy and I are planning to read our way around England using mysteries as our guide. We have found a list at Stop You're Killing Me http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/LocationCats/England/index.html to use as our jumping off point. I suspect that this could turn into a multi year project! ;) I found this post by a blogger called The Literary Nomad http://theliterarynomad.com/general/england-by-the-book/. Which gives an idea of what I think both Amy and I are planning only with mysteries. People could easily join in with other books. For BaW it could be divided into regions as opposed to counties might work best. Loesje, We would love it if you want to join us!

Indie authors sound like a great idea! Butter, I hope we can count on you for this one. I was also thinking of the counties of England challenge personal challenge Amy and I have planned for the next couple of years. Perhaps some of that could be incorporated into a more regional occasional opening posts. For instance books by the North of England's Murder Squad, a group of seven author's. Loesje, Flander's detectives definitely need to be incorporated into your Flanders lit! :)

I just noticed The Last Mrs. Parrish on Overdrive last night when browsing through the new books section. I will definitely check it out and read it now that I "know" the author through Quill. I just went into Overdrive and discovered there are 10 people ahead of me on the holds list. So exciting for your friend!

I really do not want to have to wear a corset but marrying our kids off is fine with me! Thanks to my late night readathon I am tired right now. So definitely not my most creative. Topics.....as I am sure you all know I could do something with mystery's. Cozy's, series, police procedurals. Let me know and I will "research" happily! Maybe someone could do Japanese fiction or mysteries. I really liked The Devotion of Suspect X. I like my January Murakami and plan to read one for 2018 but don't expect everyone to read with me again. Urban Fantasy which I enjoy but don't really understand the definition of. I have also really enjoyed spelling the birthstone's. It is a challenge to find all those vowels! I wouldn't mind something like that again.

I didn't have access to the Harper Connelly series until Overdrive for some reason so much more recent reads for me. :). I agree those are good, probably better. I read them in quick succession. Popcorn reads. The latest Aurora Teagarden happened to be particularly good if you secretly preferred Robin Crusoe (the original boyfriend) to the man she married way back at the start of the series. That's all I'm saying. It was an easy read in terms of just right if you have not read a book in this series for awhile. There was one released a couple of years ago which I also read. If possible restart with that one.

Same here. I am not even sure my dd read on. We did it as a read aloud years ago, or should I say I started reading it aloud years ago. Dd and I finished it on our own. Ds just watched the movie. :lol: But I am glad the latest is good. Maybe someday...... I will also tell dd that she might want to read on. Penguin, Thanks for the photo link. Those meetups sound so fun! I finished my audio book today and have now filled another Bingo square. The last ones are hard for me! Anyway I read The Sisters Brothers https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11319473-the-sisters-brothers for my Western square and doubt I will be reading another Western that isn't a romance novel anytime soon! Not a fan, way to much killing, as in every 5 minutes they killed someone else! Oddly, I was satisfied with the ending. I didn't sleep well last night and read a cozy by Charlaine Harris https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33559163-sleep-like-a-baby. Sleep Like a Baby was pretty good even if it didn't make me sleep! ;) The Aurora Teagarden series was one of the first cozy series I read many years ago so was a bit relieved that I still enjoyed this book. I believe Noseinabook has already read this one.

I have two high scorers. One with a perfect score if you super score the two efforts, the other dc slightly lower. Innate ability helped a whole lot. But a few other things also helped. I think serious study in a foreign language (Latin) helps a great deal. Exceptional grammar is the deal breaker between a low 30 and a 36 on the English section I feel. One of my kids was lacking part of this particular qualification (quit Latin) and that is their difference educationally and it showed here and reduced the composite. There was a level test prep did not seem to be able to surpass in two weeks for my highly competitive kid. Math skills need to be at the level the exam is anticipating or very close. I think it is important for them to have some understanding of all of the problems in order to feel comfortable with the exam. There are always a couple of hard problems that many cannot answer. Knowing what the problem is asking means you can comfortably finish the exam and return to work on the hard ones without panic. Panic wastes time and makes them sloppy. Familiarity, we tested annually from the start which helped make a timed test not stressful. At first this was because we were in a state where this was a requirement. After, we just saw the merit of it. We also did test prep. I bought the review books before the exam and we did as much as time allowed. They never went in blind like I did. They always completed at least one timed practice exam. My kids took the exams together because of distance and travel expense. My younger child's scores improved greatly with practice exams so they can help a lot.

The autocorrect on my new kindle is driving me nuts! I can't seem to get rid of it and it completely changes words that I know typed correctly to something odd. I might of typed boos but I rather doubt it since s and k are far apart on the keyboard! Kareni, I will give the Anne Cleeland books a chance. I have the first marked on my Overdrive wish list.

I thought we might be reading the same book about the Great Lakes but I just checked and mine is called The Living Great Lakes by Jerry Dennis. I just received it s a belated bday gift and started it for this month's nonfiction selection. Since the book seems to have a transmitter that attracts interruptions I have read the first few pages many times now! :lol: I finished the third book in Ilona Andrews Innkeeper series. I hope there are more. Lots of clever bits that the series has built up to that I really enjoyed. I am intentionally not risking spoilers because I am hoping either Robin and Kareni will give these boos another try!

Thanks Kareni! The recommendations appear to be pretty accurate because I have greatly enjoyed three of the series mentioned. The last one sounds vaguely familiar but I am rather hopeful. The first book by Dennis Lehane is now sitting on my Overdrive wish list waiting ford me to read through my stack a bit!

:grouphug: Praying

Agree with above. Also wondering about adding the Math Subject test to his December plans. ;grouphug:

I love ceilings and haven't seen any on this list. Fun link. I think my favorite is the San Pantalon from this list. In a vague attempt at book related....many years ago on my birthday dh told the dc's that mom had picked an outing and they needed to be nice because it was my birthday. After being in the car for over 3 hours frustrated muttering erupted very quietly that SHE is probably taking us to see some old ceiling somewhere. At that moment the sign for Harry Potter Studios appeared........ :lol:

We are a group with several Christie fans so you may find many opinions! Hallowe'en Party is not one of her better books. The good news is if you liked it well enough to be interested in reading more you are going to love many of the earlier books. As a general guide her books set in the 60's are generally the worst. I took a quick look at Hallowe'en Party over on Goodreads before responding and noticed that the Poirot series page had what I suspect is good advice in terms of which books really do need to be read in an order. https://www.goodreads.com/series/51138-hercule-poirot. I read her books in no particular order and enjoyed most immensely. She is an author I only discovered after we moved to England ten years ago and had an urge to immerse myself in books by British author's. That urge was combined with the fact that book covers were all different there and I was hopeless at bringing books home from the library that I hadn't already read. I turned to Christie and Sayers in self defense! ;) While investigating our area in order to find a permanent home we stopped and checked books out in all 30 or so library branches our borough had at that time. No reserves I simply checked out whatever was new as we visited. I don't remember ever being overly disappointed and I have probably read 90% of her work. I do prefer Marple to Poirot generally. I also have a fondness for her other series that isn't shared by many. I really like Tommy and Tuppence but that may be because my dd at 12 did too! A couple of my favorites are The Murder of Roger Ackroyd https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16328.The_Murder_of_Roger_Ackroyd and 4:50 from Paddington https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/140278.4. I am looking forward to hearing what you think of her books!

Spooky October seems to be continuing as I read through what I have already checked out on Overdrive. I had a surprise when I started The Only Child by Andrew Pyper https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32620376-the-only-child mainly because I didn't know it was one of my spooky book choices! I really loved most of the book but the last third was a disappointment. I am not sure what ending I wanted other than not the one I got! The book's premise is there is only one monster who was Frankenstein, Dracula,and Hyde all rolled up together and he still lives today. Fast paced. I am currently reading Ilona Andrew's latest book in her Innkeeper Chronicles. It happens to be one of the Goodreads best of 2017 books. I'm not very far but pretty sure this book might keep me up late tonight!https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28756485-one-fell-sweep?ac=1&from_search=true