Great news!

Over the years I have received extra or wrong several times. The response has always been to keep it and pass it along to others. I would call. Like others have said emphasize that mailing it back is really difficult and they need to facilitate it.

It's a shame the freebies don't last bit longer. The patterns in the post Kareni linked are lovely and free. I really like the scarf which uses one skein of sock yarn.....I just need to buy some sock yarn. ;) The crochet cowl is one of the prettiest I have seen.

I finished Flavia and it was a good outing with my favourite 12 year old sleuth. I need to process it a bit but it probably rates pretty high in favourites for the series. Certainly in the middle. One bit of advice to those of you planning to read it DO NOT read the reviews. One gave me a spoiler that I wish I hadn't read.

Life of Fred

We used several Coursera classes. At the time we did Coursera we were able to get free certificates with verified certificates costing around $50. We always did the free. I evaluated each class on it's own merit in terms of how we handled it transcript wise. Some classes easily deserved a semester's credit, economics and calculus come to mind. Some classes prepared them to take Clep exams. Some were used as a section of that year's Language Arts/ lit credits, a Science Fiction class comes to mind. There is a syllabus on the intro page and an estimated hours per week which is a good place to start. I also used some of the classes as electives on the transcripts. Sometimes I packed a couple together. To be honest it depended on what we needed each year because the Coursera classes were hard to predict in terms of availability at the time we were doing them.

The full book wasn't free without prime or Kindle unlimited but I was able to get a preview which appears to be pretty long. Over 2000 kindle locations. I can't seem to get my kindle to switch to page count but think that is at least a hundred pages. Glad you have been enjoying the Rivers of London series. I have good news The Hanging Tree is due for release in early November. I agree with you on the banning verses shelving of books in libraries. I am a card carrying member at many libraries but I volunteer at my village library. We recently (2 years or so) outsourced our inventory management, not our decision much higher. Cost.... This essentially means books can't be switched between children's and YA easily. That really bugs me. Sometimes I know the book is in YA everywhere else. I would love move it to YA and be done with it. There are also books that could be moved down to children's that sit in YA because of this. SKL, We loved Bunnicula in book form. If Jenn's boys liked the audio I would listen to that one.

Praying

Erin :grouphug: I liked the reading part of your post not the illness part. I hope it isn't whooping cough. When I think of Scary books my mind tends to go to King and Koontz. Both of them tend to be too much for me to handle. I did read and really enjoy King's 11/22/63 last year because someone here recommended it. I looked at the contemporary link and was surprised to discover they were the only ones listed that I really recognized. Ethel, I liked the monkey's in the book better.

The Futurelearn class I linked https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/begin-programming earlier uses Java. It's supposed to be a no experience needed class. I am assuming you program basic games which I think they do in one of the codeacademy modules also but without the Java.

My current line up for spooky reads includes Justin Cronin's The Passage, Shattered with Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell, and one with a great cover that I spotted yesterday titled The Accidental Alchemist https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22351151-the-accidental-alchemist?ac=1&from_search=true. I love gargoyles!!!!! I ended up listening to Anne Hillerman's Spider Woman's Daughter. It wasn't great but it wasn't horribe. I didn't really like the narrator that much so could have been influenced greatly by that. I used to love her father's books. I will probably read the next one eventually but not right away.

My ds did the AP exam last year but for him it was more a result of what he has been teaching himself for years. I think it would be helpful to your ds to do codeacademy, although it has apparently changed greatly from when my dc's did it. My son's next steps were to do free online courses through Coursera. I think he did python from Coursera next. I believe both Edx and Futurelearn offer beginning courses also. My ds believes that the free content is always better than paid for learning programming. ;) With free your ds can just quit if the course isn't right for him. My son has completed many online freebies but he has also quit many. He has also done several to the point where he learned what he wanted to figure out. I just went into Futurelearn and found this course which I think one of ds's friends has done. https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/begin-programming. It starts at the end of October. Maybe work on Codeacademy until it starts.

I have a really happy delphinium that normally stands over 7 feet tall when in bloom. Right now it's blooming for the second time this year (third if you count Christmas 2015). I bought it in a pack of four from someone in the local horticultural society at a plant show years ago. I have one of the other pack mates left, three to four feet in bloom. I joke that it thrives because I planted in front of a high window that pushes outward never expecting it to block the window.

Going back to a thread conversation I had with Amy a few weeks ago..... After many years I reread Lillian Jackson Braun's The Cat Who Could Read Backwards https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6643846-the-cat-who-could-read-backwards. It is the first book in her wonderful series which is definitely a top ten cozy series on most lists ;) . It was great! Qwelleran meets Koko....One thing that I noticed was this book (published in 1966) didn't feel as dated as many books do when they are fifty years old. I plan to continue this series reread fo at least a few more books. Also I forgot to mention I was able to pick up the latest Flavia on Thursday morning. I have read a few pages......may read a few more today. :lol:

My kids loved them. They are in our save pile. :) That being said my kids loved Lego too.

:grouphug:

I am so sorry.

Tress and Ladydusk, Hope to "see" more of both of you! Missed you. Sadie, Some ideas..... The Others series by Anne Bishop Ex Libris by Jim Hines https://www.goodreads.com/series/67567-magic-ex-libris The Dinosaur Feather by Gazan https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7086187.S_J_Gazan for some reason goodreads isn't showing the English versions right now. I assure you I read them in English!

Well, I suppose I should be walking to the Post Office right now..... :lol: I finally got around to reading my very first Mrs. Bradley book by Gladys Mitchell https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21802216-speedy-death. It was my August Prime free book so I needed to return it before I missed checking out September's. With this book I did things backwards and watched the tv series first, at least the episodes I was able to record. Dd and I loved the shows because Diana Rigg and Peter Davidson were in them. Now I have read some reviews and discovered they weren't overly true to the books. ;( :lol: Somehow I'm not surprised! Both the shows and the books appear the break the conventional formulas for series mysteries and tend to surprise me. Apparently Speedy Death isn't one of the better books according to a website where fans ranked all 66 of her books although I liked it. I plan to try one of the favourites from these lists next https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30074629-picture-miss-seeton The first in the Miss Seeton series which Lori D. recommended on another thread is this month's prime selection. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30074629-picture-miss-seeton

Well you managed to crack up both dh and I today! I didn't even show him the Goodreads....... Just remember I have a great driving teacher to recommend. I took tons of lessons and put that poor man through all my roundabout paranoia. Dh just looked at me when I read your comment to him and said if I can drive here you certainly can! Ok, my library system is not what I would like it to be but I did spend many hours on a committee trying to improve it. It is much faster than before. ;) Sometimes I think I get more frustrated because I actually know what different codes mean when I look at my account. The paranoid me put on it on hold in an overdrive account because it should be waiting for me.

I read the Flavia comment and forgot all about why I came to the BaW thread. Last night I finished a book I had abandoned earlier this month. Property of a Lady https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10841914-property-of-a-lady I quit reading it because it seemed to be turning into more from the horror genre than mystery and I had no clue why I had reserved it. After abandoning it I figured out that I must have been starting the series because one of the later books takes place in a bell tower, so I got the book back. Well, it was way more horror and less Aunt Dimity than I personally like to read. I like paranormal so I don't know what my problem is with the ghosty, real sort of ghosty books. People being haunted just creeps me out. I finished it and may try the next one in the series eventually because I liked the characters. I think the bell tower book is pretty far into the series so I may not get that far. But this book certainly meets spooky criteria imo!

I am first on the library system's reserve list (only one ?????? Lol ) just went and checked. Not at my library yet but need to remember to check tomorrow because our village library isn't getting it's own copy from what I can tell. So it may need to be moved between branches but think it's in the system. Looking forward to your review. Even when I get my hands on it I know dd will want to go first.....

It is by Justin Cronin. Thanks for the recommendation. :) I really must try it now. Out of curiosity have you read The Historian? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10692.The_Historian. It definitely isn't horror. ;) If you haven't read it it makes a great spooky read.

I know I had a "stack" of Howatch Gothics. I was pretty impressed that I had manage to source so many old ones from storage areas in my local libraries. I personally read all of The Dark Shore and The Shrouded Wall according to my records. I know I tried others but never finished. The Dark Shore was the one I didn't care for. I just looked at Goodreads comments out of curiosity and now remember thinking it was a not so good version of Rebecca. I am sort of hoping I didn't give dd The Devil on Lammas Night, doesn't sound familiar. It was a long time ago (3 years ;) ). Also just finished Colleen Hoover's new New Adult novel It Ends with Us. It wasn't fluffy like her others. It dealt with spousal abuse. It did a good job but has lots of adult scenes.

I forgot to send :grouphug: to all our members who aren't feeling well or are under a lot of stress. I hope we all have a great week. Rose, I read several books by Howatch a couple of years ago. Mainly the first part of the Starbridge series and some of her gothics. I couldn't source the others at that time so at some point will go back. I loved the Starbridge but suspect Jane's advice is right for you. I also grew up on the Whitney, Stewart, Holt combo and will be honest and say some really show their age. I reread those a couple of years ago too. The Howatch gothics show their age to be honest. For a first time read thats a bit disappointing. I believe dd liked them so might be worthwhile from your perspective. ;)