Interesting list. Several of these books sound so interesting. The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters is one that I gave up on recently for no other reason than it was moving really slow and I have read so many wartime Britain books this year...... While on the award list I clicked on this list https://www.kirkusreviews.com/lists/9-bestsellers-you-didnt-know-you-would/ I have read and enjoyed a couple of these already. Just requested a couple more. I am also finding that I have problems focusing these days. The only time when I really get a lot read is the middle of the night which I don't recommend to anyone. This means books from overdrive are getting read and hard copies sit in piles. Lately I have been returning the harder reads from the piles without even starting them. :( The fast pace I was reading at the start of the year is no longer happening. Not sure where I want to spend my free time. My interest in quilting seems to be returning from long ago and knitting I now find boring. Not sure what is happening to me. This is a very long winded version of I understand a bit of your search. For many years I was a woman reading a huge stack of read alouds to my dc's with miltary precision. Somewhere between 20 and 40 pages a day per book covering all sorts of subjects. I normally had a book for me happening at the same time and a knitting project or two with completion deadlines tthat may have been self imposed but I was finishing them happily. I have completely lost the track of what I am writing. Dh is laying beside me reading me the lastest on ebola in Dallas and other horrifying headlines.....my main point was I seem to have lost the trail I was following lately also and am searching. Jane, I love all those fabulous ceilings....I am the person looking up when I walk into a new room in a historic building. Please keep the pictures coming...

Like the new name. :grouphug: on the insomnia. I understand exactly how you feel. Screwtape letters has been on my list for years, maybe your enjoyment will motivate me.

Hunter, What an amazing project. Honestly not sure what else to say but your generosity in doing this for others....... If I think of something useful to contribute I will be back. I have frequently designed my own curriculum using whatever resourses my library had available. The key here is available, I am one of those people who is easily frustrated and gives up when I can't find a single title on the suggested list. When working that way it is very hard for me to make an obvious substitution. I always felt I was somehow cheating my kids. :grouphug:

I finished Thirty-Three Teeth today by Colin Cotterill. It is the second Dr. Siri Paibaun mystery. It was set in Laos in the late 1970's. Interesting and quite atmospheric. The Doctor is the national pathologist with no training, no special equipment, but he sees spirits. While looking for reviews I ran into this interview which I thought Jane and some others might enjoy. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93590413. To be honest I liked the first in the series far better but these appear to be fine out of order.

Jane, Your pictures are lovely and your food descriptions are much appreciated. We keep talking about venturing into that area of the world but eatng with picky eaters has definitely been one of our primary worries. Knowing that basic meat and potatoes would be easy and an occasional pizza makes that trip a bit higher on the list! Out of curiosity how did you fair language wise. I suspect you are fluent in French. What did you actually use most? I have definitely read the first three in the Laura Childs series. I don't remember much to be honest. The Charleston setting was fun. An older gentleman helped solve the mystery. Definitely a cozy. The memories are favourable...... While trying to remember bits from the teashop series I came up with another series that you might like. The China Bayles series by Susan Wittig Albert. The first one is Thyme of Death. I have read these for years and am relatively current new release wise. Fun continuing characters and interesting storylines. One of my favorite series.......

Mommymilkies -- Gone Girl is not a favourite book of mine for many reasons. Since I suspect that you need and want to finish it try to get beyond the halfway point before going to bed tonight. I think it may be labelled part two or something similar, anyway go a few pages in from that point and it was easier to deal with imo. Hopefully you will start feeling a bit better after that point. I gave the same advice to someone I know in real life and she said the book was better for her after that but she will never be a fan either. :grouphug:

I just did some research because the descriptions sound familiar but they were published when I didn't record what I had read. The Novices Tale sounds like I might have read it, if it is the book I am thinking of it was good. ;) My main library has it supposedly and I requested it. If all goes well it should be here Thursday so will let you know when I see it. I went into a who writes like site that my library just started subscribing to and two of the authors mentioned as having a similar style and subject matter are Ellis Peters and Ariana Franklin. My real life best friend recently devoured all four of Franklin's Mistress of the Art of Death books so I have the first one sitting in the stack waiting. Her books are also availiable on my overdrive account. Walking obviously didn't help my sleep problems! :lol: Hoping to fall back to sleep soon!

He's beautiful and obviously very well cared for!

We love Shaun!!!

It was the first Sayer I ever read and is my favorite. I am much more a fan of Harriet......I hope you enjoy it.

I am always amazed at the odd rabbit trails something said by one of the BaWers take me on. Eliana and Pam's discussion of the Quakers in space made me think dd might enjoy them if one of the libraries had them. I started doing various searches to uncover these books with no luck but my search word Elysium led me to a new release by an author that I have never read but think I would enjoy. Death in Elysium is by Judith Cutler sounds like something Ladydusk and others who like cozy mysteries with church settings might enjoy.http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-7278-8396-4#path/978-0-7278-8396-4. I have put a request in for it. The author's website gives a better description so I will edit the link in , I can only paste one link per post. Etahttp://www.judithcutler.com/novels/elysium01.html

Jane, Looking forward to hearing more about your trip when you feel like sharing!

Just wanted to thank everyone for their concern regarding my poor sleep patterns. I seem to sleep much better on days when I am able to take my normal walk and because this week has been hectic no walking which has resulted in really poor sleep patterns even when exhausted. Hopefully the schedule returns to normal tomorrow. Violet Crown -- I started a note earlier on last week's thread but had to abandon it. I am so glad to hear how well your dh is doing. I will continue to send prayers. :grouphug: I did manage to finish a Carola Dunn Daisy Dalrymple book that I have been reading sporadically for at least a week. I do enjoy these mysteries because they are very mild in all ways. Good for young teens. Started a new one on the kindle called Stay Alive by Simon Kernick. It is a fast moving thriller. Enjoying all the twists and turns.

I downloaded Concrete Evidence a couple of weeks ago. Glad to know you are enjoying them. I love The Historian. One of my favorite books!

Pain meds in general make my 92 yo mother appear to have severe dementia. Pretty much any change to her meds is a bad thing for her mentally. When things are stable with her meds she is really good for 92. It takes a least 6 weeks for her to get back to normal after her meds are changed. :grouphug:

I think giving up on books must be going around. I was awake for much of last night and finished a Peter Lovesy, Cop to Corpse, on my kindle after deciding to speed read it so I would know the end. Then I went on to start and quit a newish? Iris Johansen because it was too odd for me. Gave up on Frankenstein by Koontz, simply not in the mood. Also after a 30 or so pages decided I do not want to reread Interview with a Vampire again. Not sure what I want to read.....

The Duolingo App on touch screens requires less typing and is easier to use. Imo

I am not a huge fan of the Wizard of Oz movie but loved reading the series to the dc's. I read all 14 originals twice. Once to dd then again to ds and dd. We liked them. ;) I even made Patchwork dolls in honour of Scraps our favourite character, she doesn't appear until book six. Somewhere I have a great article that is on a similar tangent to this one http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7933175.stm. Maybe all the Wizard of Oz dislike comes from it being political. ;) I hate The Lord of the Flies. Will never make my kids read it though I would let them after a huge warning lecture.

I am also in the group that feels library shelves should not be censored but objecting to a book being used in a classroom setting is acceptable. Naturally the parent objecting needs to have read the material. Before we moved to the UK one of the few disagreements dh and I ever had bookwise was over Harry Potter. One of his friends objected strongly to HP and had shared his views with dh, although I honestly don't think he had ever read them! Dh hadn't read and was simply repeating what he had been told. I was reading HP to the dc's after looking at several home ed blogs etc. in the UK and realizing that knowing the story would give my kids something easy to have in common with potential friends. I had already read the series at least twice at that point and did not agree with friend in the slightest. I prevailed. Since that incident Dh has watched the movies multiple times and visited the movie studio.....he joins me in the puzzled camp now! :lol: One thing I noticed on the Slaughterhouse Five list that was interesting imo was three of the districts where the book was banned are relatively close geographically, not side by side but close enough to where we lived at one time so I know a couple of families in each area still. I wonder if the objections spread via word of mouth as opposed to being brand new.....

Dd is my foreign language intensive child. She has done Latin and German from a young age. We also added in some Greek and Scottish Gaelic when she was younger. She has self studied French, which was far easier thanks to Latin. She just started doing Dutch and Irish Gaelic when Duolingo released them this summer. She is loving the Dutch and considers it to be easy thanks to the German. Gaelic, not much carry over because she doesn't remember much and only completed the first introductory course when she was 10. I have to agree the languages take time which is the only negative for multiple languages. For dd they have become almost a hobby. She loves Duolingo and spends quite a bit of time on the site daily.

I just finished a really fluffy romance by Megan Mulry titled A Royal Pain. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14296788-a-royal-pain Definately chick lit and could probably picked apart on several levels -- some on goodreads really did not like it. ;) I needed a bit distraction and this book came through perfectly. An American woman meets an incognito British Duke and they fall in love..... the American woman, Bronte, needed to stop saying the f word in every other sentence but otherwise enjoyable. I am on the wait list for the other two in the series. VC :grouphug: and continued prayers

Shukriyya, I read a few Louise Penny mysteries at the beginning of the year and agree with Jenn in terms of not standard cozy but not violent crime thriller either. Someplace in between with most elements leaning towards cozy just a bit more layers to make it interesting. The Canadian setting seems to be really well done. I think you might like them. Every since I read Jenn's review I feel like I need to finish that series too.

A couple other ideas: Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple series......dd and I class these as British adult Nancy Drew's. Post WWI setting, titled 20 something heroine whose life can no longer be what she had imagined. Fiancee dead and estate passed to distant relatives. She gets a job at a magazine writing about country houses and murders start happening everywhere she goes. :lol: Order would be nice with these but not essential. Catherine Aird....Dective Sloan, lots of these with no particular order. I have read a few and they have been mild. Sister Carol Anne O'Marie writes a series about an elderly nun set at a San Francisco Catholic college. Pretty mild as I remember. Dd has been reading when we find one and enjoying. Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs is a bit of a leap, nothing shocking really just brings the horror of WWI to me like nothing else. Can't describe why. I just feel too much for the main character. Reading in order essential for these. Dd loves them. Perhaps a better next step after Daisy Dalrymple. ;)

Pam, the honey tasting buffet sounds incredible. The dc's and I have developed hay fever quite badly in recent years especially to rape seed flowers which are grown extensively in our area. We were advised to eat local honey to build our immunity. My local bee guy actually knows what type of pollen the bees were in for all of his honey. We are all much better than a few years ago. My loyalty keeps me buying local but I keep looking at interesting honey produced elsewhere. I think you just inspired me to start collecting! ETA Here is a rape seed link for anyone who is interested. The yellow field in the upper left is what at least every third field (crop rotation) is covered in every April and May. We live in a farming community.http://www.farrington-oils.co.uk/rapeseed-oil/ I read the first Jim Butcher several months ago and liked it. I think you just motivated me to go back and read the rest. Love the idea of each book dealing with a different type of paranormal. I dvr'd Downton Abbey. I still need to watch season three which is also on the dvr. The new season sounds much better so maybe I will manage to watch again. Let me know what you think when you get to the current.

VC both hugs and prayers. I hope you get some answers soon.