Thanks for the link. I enjoyed the article. The other odd coincidence is Goodreads sent me an email that included the next book in this series coming out in June, I think. I was more excited about the new Kate Burkholder so I can be excused for forgetting!

Every year the UK newspaper's are full of students with no offers or who didn't make grades through the UCAS system. Many are so determined for Oxbridge that they only apply to popular programs at those Uni's so you frequently hear of students with 5A's and better being accepted nowhere. A friend's international application granddaughter used all of her choices for one top 5 school in various programs. Her IB score was good (within the range for all applied to programs) but no offers. For student's in the UK the hard thing is exam scores are not released until a few days before most are due to leave for their first year of Uni so knowing a student who didn't get in at the last moment is really common. We do have something called clearing where students can apply for vacant seats in other programs where they have the grades. Safety schools and programs are important no matter where one is looking.

Jenn, Thanks for the Murakami Article. I'm looking forward to reading the book! :) Was this the book featured in your Murakami picture? What an odd coincidence because I am almost done with this book, been carrying it around all day. I have it from overdrive but really enjoying it. As Erin said good writing with fascinating descriptions of creepy and unusual otherworlds. There definitely could be more of this book. Hoping for more in the series. I have been busy finishing a couple of books. I really liked Ink and Bone . I have the next on reserve and should have it within the next month or so which is good because the ending was a cliffhanger! I also finished The Shadow Land. I'm still feeling a bit blah about it although the ending was better than expected although not unanticipated.....as a mystery reader the clues were not subtle and I knew where it had to be heading from close to the start. I gave it a three probably deserving of a three and a half......might of given it a four if it was a hundred pages less!

My likes are being weird and not working on some posts. Everyone consider yourself liked. :) Ethel. :lol: Kathy....been meaning to try Mrs. Polifax. I will look for it as an audiobook now. More to post but Dh is now ready for our errands!

Yes to the above. They are also easier schedule wise if you live any distance from your testing locations. If we had a test like SAT Latin or a morning AP it meant hotel etc because it's just available once or twice a year. A traffic jam which is all to common on our route to test could mean missing the exam forever. Major stress. Each dc did the required amount of SAT subjects/AP for Uni admission then switched to Clep. Eta. Clep doesn't offer Latin so SAT it was. We did let dd take as many SAT subjects as she wanted each time we drove her so she did do 6 and 3 would have been fine.

I'm back to reading The Shadow Land. Part two is simply a continuation with the flashbacks being about the Bulgarian characters so not quite the cut off point I had imagined. It's good not riveting which is how I felt about The Historian more of a low key interesting. Putting context to historical bits I know. Not particularly fond of any of the characters so that is probably much of the problem for me. Also read quite a bit of Ink and Bone on the Kindle during the night. Mom Ninja read it months ago and I have been on the wait list every since! Fun and clever. The series is called The Great Library. It's YA.

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Crstarlette, I am so sorry. :grouphug: Faithr, :grouphug: Stacia, Your beloved kitty's pictures are so cute. I feel so bad for all of you. Now for my book update. I spent much of last night reading The Last One by Alexandra Oliva. I had quite a surprise and am a bit embarrassed because of what I posted yesterday. It's dystopian. I filled my bingo square completely by accident. It was pretty good but not just the story of a reality show gone bad! :lol:

:grouphug: Stacia, I'm so sorry.

Glad to know you enjoyed one of Rutherfurd's books. Sarum https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1853145.Sarum?ac=1&from_search=true is my plan for the Ancient's Bingo square and I am feeling intimidated. I finally put it on hold in my Overdrive a couple of weeks ago. Not sur if you have ever visited Sarum or not. We took my fil many years ago because he had read this book and loved it. He had a grand time walking around the site and sharing what he was seeing with regard to the book. It's one I have had on my list since then.

Congratulations to Robin for spelling Diamond. I need to go searching for Dark Watcher I think! Yeah, to 52 completed by Heather also. Jane, glad you will have the boy and the girl around for several days/weeks. But I am itching just thinking of the poison ivy. Hope the Boy is doing OK. Ethel, looking forward to your review of Lillian Boxfish......I keep looking at that one. I'm sure your choir performance was wonderful. Ali, I'm jealous. I still 3 on 1 copy for the CS Harris. I finished Tripwire my latest Jack Reacher suspense thriller novel by Lee Child's. These books are addictive. :) I keep ending up giving them fives because they are pretty much impossible to put down once I start reading sort of like a great movie. I figure that means a five from a Goodreads pov. Dh even made me popcorn to go with my book last night! :lol: Honestly it was more he shared because they had a movie night with one of the Marvel movies...Guardians of the Galaxy. I went on to get accidentally hooked on The Last One https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27245997-the-last-one which MMV read recently. I didn't have my Kindles synced and had a few minutes to read and no idea where I was in Ink and Bone https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20643052-ink-and-bone on the kindle I grabbed for the car. If you have ever watched a reality show like Survivor it's an interesting book, sort of a behind the scene with what I suspect is going to be a horrible twist.

The hygge book concentrated a whole lot on how the Danish were the happiest according to some poll and hygge was why. The day after I finished the book I read an article that the according to a new poll Norwegians are! ;) Beyond the settings , the book talked about how closed people's hygge groups are. These are small groups of close friends almost impossible for a newbie to get into. People are left without people to hygge with. :( As someone who was raised to invite everyone, especially people who might need friends, closed groups are hard on me. I don't enjoy being part of one generally. Honestly it's probably the hardest thing about British reserve for me because I invite people to what I perceive as public events that I learn later were rather closed......dh recently read a poll somewhere that 55% of neighbours in the UK have never spoken to each other. Probably true! It's also true in my experience that those neighbours are pretty happy when someone starts the conversation. Yes I know the neighbours! :lol: I found a cute introduction to hygge on the visit Denmark website. I am technically incapable of pulling to video out and just posting that. If someone else does I won't be offended :) but you all need to see the laundromat. A hygge laundromat! Really! http://www.visitdenmark.com/hygge.

You should check and see if your library has them on Overdrive. That way you could check them out on your kindle. Death in the Clouds is one of my favourite Christie's with Poirot.

I find it interesting that we apparently stopped at the same moment. I do plan to finish because my getting the hardcopy of this book is a fluke. The holds are now long and I just happened to look at it the morning it hit circulation at the library. One copy extra in new shelving which I immediately put a hold on. I originally requested it on Overdrive and had it first day out but it was in epub format which I don't normally mess with. Last night a book that I think might be pretty similar popped up in my overdrive, I had been 3 on 1 copy. The Women in the Castle https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30653967-the-women-in-the-castle?ac=1&from_search=true. I generally prefer to spread topics out more..... At this point in my reading I doubt you would enjoy Shadow Land. Hygge Southern Style....maybe mint julips and pretty appetizers served on the deck. I have never had a mint julip but like the thought of them. ;)

I just finished reading part one of Elizabeth Kostova's The Shadow Land which I believe some of you are planning to read. Part one is interesting. Sort of a meandering introduction to who the main character of the book really is, a young woman whose life has been hugely affected by the disappearance of her brother as a teen. Many of the Goodreads descriptions say this book is a love story to Bulgaria which seems to be very true. Enjoyable so far.... I'm putting it aside to finish The Burning Page which I am about to lose on overdrive. It's the third Invisible Library book. I still like the series but it may be going downhill a bit.

I think my frig/freezer combo is smaller than the Smeg. My husband put shelving over ours that I can just reach where I keep my large containers of staples rice, porridge oats, etc. I don't think a Smeg would fit even if I was willing to spend that kind of money. I have a separate small under the counter freezer that is almost always in use. We also have an almost new under counter frig that we saved from our neighbours kitchen remodel that sits unused in the garage. We have never plugged it in but could expand if needed ;). I don't shop every day but have to admit nice village shops within a five minute walk have reduced my desire to stock up which makes my refrigerator situation easier. Many condiments that I would have kept in my frig in the US are kept elsewhere in England because they actually are used pretty quickly by my family like bbq sauce. I keep ketchup in the frig because I like it cold. Eggs I keep on the counter in a bowl. I do own a pottery egg container for my eggs(rather like a cookie jar) but prefer the bowl. My egg jar sits on a high shelf as decoration! I also keep a fruit bowl on the counter and I generally even leave my lettuce in the fruit bowl if it's going to be used in the next day. Unless I used something like a cucumber partway I just leave it out unless I know we won't really eat it for days. I normally refrigerate berries. It works really well but the climate isn't buggy. Occasionally a few things flying around attracted to the fruit but not that often. Eta...I have two teenagers, both at home.

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Thanks Rose! Much better with the exclusive bookshelf I think. I recently deleted my abandoned bookshelf because I had to keep them in want to read also. I didn't use it all that often because it felt like it was only appropriate for books I might want to try and read again.

:grouphug: praying

I think it sounds like a good solution. One of my friends and her husband actually always send their younger children to school for a couple of years and never regretted it. In hindsight I personally think it the time to send them because the goals of the public school probably match your own closer than they ever will again.

Your grandbaby is beautiful!!!! Aunt Olivia is adorable too! :grouphug: I am so glad that you were able to get in to see the Lyme Dr. Great to hear that testing is moving forward towards treatment.

Fwiw, We worked through several exams prior to taking the ACT and I remember the reading section improving quite a bit for ds just from that exposure. If your son went in unfamiliar with the exam I think those two sections might be the ones where practice helps the most for timing etc.

In general I totally agree. I tried really hard to think of a time I changed my belief system because of a book alone and can't. I do have to say that back when the first edition of the WTM was published it probably did change my life. Sort of appropriate to say that here. ;) I had decided I thought I would homeschool but was feeling really anxious about it. Dh saw himself as support but more my choice. I suspect since I had a top rated elementary two blocks away I would have enrolled my dc's when it came down to it, my neighbourhood home ed buddy did a week before first grade started for our oldest. The WTM was a choice in a book club dh belonged to and he bought a copy and gave it to me. That book has reassured me every since. When in doubt I pull it out........ As far as wanting to read books I don't like at this stage in my life, no thank you. Maybe if I needed to for a compelling reason such as related to an illness etc but otherwise no. Eta....Kathy, how is your dh doing today?

I have finished spelling Diamond for April. This one was relatively easy for me because all the books except Mourn Not Your Dead were already sitting in a library stack on April 1. I feel like I cheated almost...... D.......Die Trying by Lee Child I.......Irresistible by Mary Balogh A.......Twelve Angry Librarians by Miranda James M.......Fatal Mistake by Marie Force O.......Man Overboard by JA Jance N.......Mourn Not Your Dead by Deborah Crombie D.......Duck the Halls by Donna Andrews So far I have managed to read one other book that qualifies for the challenge each month but may not manage it properly this month. Ironically there are lots of books with Diamond in the title but due to huge stacks I really don't feel like reading the fourth in a series that I have never read or worse reading the first three so I can read the fourth (I have a series in order compulsion :) ). Nothing set in South Africa etc in my stack to be moved forward. I found a book in my physical library catalogue that I thought meant most of my requirements. It was part of a series but it was by an author I have been wanting go try. Wish the catalogue had been a bit more descriptive..... A historical romance fan that I met at the library sent me home with some of her favourite Stephanie Lauren books last year after telling me order wouldn't matter. I discovered overdrive had them so I put them on the wish list and returned my physical copies which I didn't have time for. I didn't think of Stephanie Lauren again.....so when The Peculiar Case of Lord Finsbury's Diamonds appeared in my search I put a hold on it and when I picked it up was shocked to discover it's thin. It's 155 pages, and the cover classes it as a short story. I started it and like it. Would like to read more in the series which I suspect ties to other series by this author. So for now it's my other Diamond book maybe I will read something else but I can't imagine what. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19367015-the-peculiar-case-of-lord-finsbury-s-diamonds I plan to pick The Shadow Land up from the library today. Totally excited about this one. I love The Historian.....I don't think diamonds are mined in Bulgaria! :lol: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31394293-the-shadow-land

Stacia, I am liking the alligator part of the post....I can't believe it climbed stairs onto the second floor! Just freaky! :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: To both you and your kitty. Sending some prayers your way too!