Before I forget climbing to the tower at Notre Dame is supposed to be fabulous. We have never managed to get in the line early enough. Go first thing.

I like Rick Steves walk guides for Paris. I was able to download them from my library.

I hope you feel better soon. By Gaslight looks great. I put it on hold which will take awhile. Looking forward to your opinion on it. One of the books I'm reading is Complication. So far I think I like it. The interview scenes are confusing but the other parts I like.

I love your books!!!! I started reading In the Footsteps of Sheep back in October but had to set it aside. It's a book that needs notes taken when I read it. Lots of travel tips that I felt the need to record. It's on my list for February..... Landscape quilting is so pretty. I went to a demonstration a couple of years ago and keep running into my notes. Another thing that's on the list, but probably more my 2018 list. Let me know what you think about the book. We went on a long walk today. It was sunny but cold and slippery. I spent awhile trying to finish a Mrs. Bradley mystery called Longer Bodies. I recorded it into my count then discovered it was sadly lacking in Mrs. Bradley. :( At 51% she has finally arrived on the scene. Hoping it gets better! Due to boredom I have started and like 3 other books. I also started listening to Norwegian Wood. So far it's engaging but no idea where it's going, I haven't even read the description recently.

Robin, Great News!!!!!

How can there be no bananas.......in a monkey book! So sad!!!!

Don't worry no novellas for my bingo. They do automatically go into the books read during 2017 if you are recording all on Goodreads. I like to separate them out because most aren't 100 pages. I can start with 200 now! Eta...one more time...there are several older cozy mysteries that don't have 200 pages.

I don't think anyone else has answered so here's my take on the "rules". When I first joined the group I was told that a book must be about 100 pages long in order to be counted towards my 52. That's why I have the novella category on Goodreads, to separate out my shorter stories. For the most part that is probably true on Bingo too. Audiobooks definitely count! Rereads, plays, YA all can count too. Last year we actually had revisit an old friend and a play as separate categories. Not sure if we have a banned book category in this year's Bingo but those tend to be YA for many of us. Robin is the ultimate judge because it's her game ;) but when you have a question post it. Someone will try and help.

I was going to copy and paste Robin's questions with my answers for my year end wrap up but I have my numbers and have to be honest and say that while I read my normal number of books this year my stack was lacking depth. Nothing has truly made my heart sing etc, I just read what didn't horrify or bore me. It's been about entertainment and twaddle (good home ed word) for comfort. Not a happy year for me, first we had a huge health scare with dh then my mom died unexpectedly. So in summary..... 313 books completed, Mainly fiction. 27 novellas/short stories 340 My Goodreads count shows this total 25 of my books were audiobooks. This is my big happy find. I was able to work on my quilts and read books. Even better I like some books in audio format that I have never been able to read happily! 138 Cozy Mysteries. I did read a large number of British Cozy Mysteries for a BaW project. I counted today and it appears that I read 85 British Cozies (or books I thought were going to be cozy) last year. I also read 54 cozy mysteries set in other places, many in this category are rereads). 39 Historical Romances. I thought I had read many more;) Favorite authors are Julia Quinn, Mary Jo Putney, Sarah MacLean, Lisa Kleypas, Lorraine Heath, Mary Balogh, and Tessa Dare. I did read both Linda Castillo's Amish series and Julia Spencer Fleming's mystery series completely. These are definitely not cozy but I loved both series. I normally read a large number of paranormal series books. I completed very few this year. Some Patricia Briggs and Faith Hunter books were pretty much it. I did read and enjoy Station Eleven and The Passage series in their place, I guess. I have never been a dystopian fan. I preread the Hunger Games because of my kids years ago..... Plans for next year are much more varied. Looking forward to it.

Not my category! :lol: Maybe that monkey book Stacia liked so much. I know it's not Bad Monkey.....I had it at one point but never had a chance to start it.

Jenn, You are going to love your Kindle! I had no idea you were reading your ebooks on your phone. I'm feeling a bit of guilt for all the times I told you to check overdrive for the next in a series! Glad you had a great trip, the pictures are lovely! Kindle's are my device of choice. I use a basic fire for reading during the night which limits how much I bother dh. Not sure if you can read a paperwhite in the dark? I will admit I like the fire because I go online too..... I also have the basic reader with 3G for emergencies. It is my reader of choice for the car. I can wear sunglasses and use it, big plus. Also I have a tendency to get a bit carsick when I read while riding. The reader seems to be my best solution. I can read on most roads with one, only super curvy bother me with it. I read quite a bit in the car. Both dc's are totally independent learners now so I tend to ride along with dh, he works from home, on his errands etc. Audible, I am sure it is far nicer because you actually own the book but recently I have started using overdrive to stream book via my kindle fire. Works well enough for my current purpose which is to listen while I quilt and cook. Goodreads, my best advice is to go create an account and have a go. For years I simply used mine to track my reading and dd's. I also used to to share book info with my best friend. Many BaWer's have links in their siggy to their accounts, I finally joined the BaWer's last year and have friends. It's fun and an easy way to find the books that people are talking about. One touch and they are on your list. The bookshelf feature is great, definitely explore that.

Eta....I just saw in Hunter's post, 5th grader. I thought she was a few years older. I am going to leave my information up in case it helps someone with older kids. Sorry. I just want to say a great deal can be done on little Kindle tablets. My kids have done a many things using their second generation kindles. Dd learned several languages using Duolingo. Both have taken several Coursera classes. Ds learned to program and kind people on different forums worked with his poor technology, saw it as a challenge. ;) Papers have been written and submitted. It can be done. That being said we have good internet in our home because of where we live. We are very fortunate for good cheap internet and I know it. BT provides it to most homes with a BT line in the UK for a relatively small additional fee. Only very recently did they both start using inexpensive larger computers. Foreign language can be done fairly well by Duolingo and the Practice Makes Perfect Complete edition available for under $15 used on Amazon. The Complete editions are for French and Spanish. I would suggest Duolingo whenever she has a chance and working through Practice Makes Perfect on days when there is no internet access. Duolingo also has immersion groups where they translate news items, books etc. They are where much of learning beyond the basics happen. Dd works with people from all over the world in her immersion group. Their are native and more experienced speakers hanging out willing to help. The advantage for the native speakers is they get to practice their English. It really is amazing. The app does have some practice abilities without being online, I can ask her if you need the information. She has used it at my Mother's. Dd did test via Clep and passed out of 2years of foreign language using these resources and a couple of cheap travel tapes from bookstore discount tables. Wheelocks Latin also has exercises available online for free. http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/latin/wheelock/index.htm. They go with a textbook that Hunter recently found free to download. The old edition that we bought was cheap through Amazon.

Library books, remember librarians can adjust due dates. You can't necessarily ask on 20 books unless you develop a great relationship with the librarian but on a few you can ask for a longer due because your daughter will be using it for the next few weeks/months for school. If it's not a popular book your request might be granted. Also check out at the main library and return at your branch.

I really love Bruges. It can be done in a day but it will be a beautiful day. We stop every chance we get even if it's just for a couple of hours on our way to somewhere else. The train station is quite close to the main tourist areas. Paris is crowded. We always end up walking as much as possible as opposed to taking the metro. Plan your itinerary with that in mind.

I hope you feel better soon! Congratulations on more than meeting your goal. I "think" the 2017 challenge will open on the first. I also vaguely remember receiving an email about it. Matryoshka, Have you investigated belonging to a large library in your state just for the access to kindle books in foreign languages? Many German and Russian books have recently appeared on one of my libraries lists, some other languages also. As a resident of the state you may be given access for free. It's worked for a few BaWer's. Also Goodreads can be a really good way to organize your reading. I used to read many books simultaneously and faithfully recorded my page number update every few days. It kept me on track because I could truly see where I was at. It also helped me manage my library deadlines, it didn't tell me (unfortunately) when it was due but did indicate when more time reading a particular book was needed to finish within three weeks at a glance. I have had a rough year and can only handle a book or two at a time. Sleep issues are a real problem and I only read fluffy during the night. Lots of fluff finished this year!

Finished The City of Mirrors!!!! Not sure that I liked the very ending pages but they do tie to the start of The Passage or The Twelve so I guess they are needed. :lol: Glad I made the journey although it wasn't anything "like" The Historian which is what started me on this epic 2000 plus page read that was done partly by audiobook. Next October please tell me just to reread The Historian. ;) I am working on making my lists equal each other. Sorry for all the Goodreads activity. I was just going to leave it partially done but came to the conclusion that I need to try and fix it in order for it to be useful in the future. Working on my year end summary too. Will have it done by New Year's!

:grouphug: I have been praying for you and Nathaniel. Your support system, especially your parent's ability to take over on the home ed front is wonderful. I am so glad that you will be able to concentrate on your recovery and your precious baby while simply enjoying the rest of your family.

I have finished a couple of fluffy ones that were lovely. The first was a Penny Branningan cozy which had an unusual crossover character https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11218336-a-killer-s-christmas-in-wales. Dorothy Martin from Jeanne Dams' series bumps into Penny on a train and offers a bit of advice one sleuth to another. It was done as a tribute to their editor who had recently died. The editor was 92 and worked until her death. Eta Lots of fascinating tributes to Ruth Cavin, the editor. Here's one that lists some of her authors. http://www.sarahweinman.com/confessions/2011/01/ruth-cavin-rip.html The other was a Betty Neels romance. Her books are sweet charming love stories, normally with a medical setting. Recently a collection of the Best of Betty Neels appeared on my Overdrive library. I couldn't resist reading one this year, my mom loved Betty Neels. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1815871.A_Kind_Of_Magic. Thiis was a very gentle love story set in Scotland. My copy of City of Mirrors finally arrived so I will go from gentle books to odd vampire zombies...... :lol:

I have an old edition but was able to buy a study guide to go with it.

I just want to give people planning to read Norwegian Wood in January a bit of a heads up if using Overdrive and their Kindle. My Overdrive accounts are no longer offering it in Kindle format and were less than two weeks ago. I would think that I wasn't paying attention when I was doing my Murakami research but I actually downloaded a kindle copy just in case I wanted to start early. It works fine on my kindle(so I got it right) even though the library now says I have an epub version. It expires in three days, ;( I just checked out an audio version. I can keep a Kindle turned off a few days but not through January!

Regarding huge lymph nodes, mine were swollen to some degree for the next year. They became hugely swollen each time I started becoming ill with anything for years. Tell him to listen to his body.

I had it my first semester at college. I was so very ill. I went home for two weeks and returned to school and finished my semester and year. It was an academic and health disaster. I should have withdrawn and went to the local community college for the rest of the year. For the next few years I had mono several more times, basically stress did it to me. I have never been the same. I did manage to recover my grade point average but my first semester grades were dismal. School tomorrow no way. Maybe after New Year. No sports for several months as I remember. Personally I would consider his basketball season over. I just wouldn't add anything extra. Just functioning is going to be hard for a couple of months.

I am going to wait a few more days to do my summary because I have at least one book in progress that will probably go in my summary. :) Basically I am marking the thread so am about to make an incredibly boring post. Today was good. Very quiet but good. Between a friend's flu and our ringer's lack of enthusiasm (serious issues) for providing Christmas carols from the bell tower to the village we have spent way more just family time together this Christmas. I took it easy on meals and just cooked exactly what everyone really wanted so it's been a simple day compared to years past. Different, we had chocolate fudge for dessert.....yes fudge, not fudge cake, plain fudge! The friends we saw tonight want the fudge recipe.....had never heard of marshmallows in fudge and are rather desperate to try my easy recipe. Christmas books, I didn't do pictures and they are now put away so... The most popular books under the tree seem to be some used Dungeons and Dragons manuals the dh spotted somewhere for ds. It's been years since he was obsessed with d and d but was really excited with those books..... Dd is busy with her Star Wars pattern book. I think she is crocheting Yoda first. All the main characters are in the book. She plans to make them all! She has a new kindle and has fortified it with lots Sherlock Holmes. I now own my favourite quilt book. ;) dh received a big hint regarding that one. I've had it checked out of the library for much of the past year and am tired of taking it in when the online renewal periods end. I hope everyone has a lovely day! Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all that celebrate!!! It's odd to think that my day is winding down. Presents have been opened and inspected. Christmas breakfast and dinner have been cooked, eaten, and cleaned up after. We are getting ready to go and visit with friends this evening and attend a church service.

Praying for you and your little one. :grouphug: