I have always wanted to go to Cairns. Huge part of my dream trip to Australia. Have a wonderful time. We loved 101 Dalmatians and were actually just talking about it the other day on a walk. The dc's were explaining to dh how great the book was and where Disney had changed the story. I just got done searching for I Capture the Castle since we have never read it. Listed as a mood altering book.......haven't got to that in training but it is apparently a huge special category. Haven't ran into one just heard them mentioned. Very curious now. While looking for I capture the castle I discovered an unknown to me sequel to 101 Dalmations. http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/reviews/books/0-312-15664-2.html. It sounds different...have requested it. Couldn't resist but sci fi dalmations.......:lol:

Many of my posts have been lost this week. No longer sure what has actually managed to post. Wish I knew what the problem is. Eliana -- Grandbaby is beautiful. Amy -- We didn't try to go and watch the tour live. Can't believe how many were there. Our roads were completely nuts with closures and traffic. We watched on the telly. Just started day 2 so behind. Found lots of future field trips with dh saying that looks good constantly. Jenn-- Love E. NESBITT, We read several. VC--Stuart Little we liked. I didn't get to read it as a child. :( probably saw the movie too close to book to love it....

I have been busy with library stuff but found a dystopian novel on the shelf per the Goodreads list that I have looked at a couple of times. Never Let Me Go by Kazoo Ishiguro......I think it has been mentioned at some point here. I bought it home and plan to try it. Dystopian is not my favorite.

Absolutely gorgeous!!!!!

Stacia, Regarding language storage a friend's husband who was a highly accomplished linguist seemed to know his languages literally in order of learning after a massive stroke. The problem there was his family spoke English his sixth language. He spoke wonderfully in Russian (second language) with his doctor.

I love my ereader and am so grateful to be able to library books on it. Love being able to grab the kindle on my way out the door and know I have everything I need bookwise at least. An added advantage is I can read the kindle while riding in the car almost always, I can only read books on expressways normally without nausea. I am 10 percent through Jonathan Strange and hoping to be able to read at least 10 percent a day. Not normally so disciplined but I don't always read that much on the kindle. Another kindle advantage is a 1000 page book weighs the same in my hands as 100 pages. This is another one of those things that I can't believe that I am moaning about but chunky books frequently make my hands hurt. I feel so old admitting that one. I finished Larkswood by Valerie Mendes. Reveiws compared it to the Forsyth Saga, I don't agree fwiw. I did not care for the Forsyths and this wasn't bad. Also it had two distinct time periods that it concentrated on not a sweeping long period with every event detailed like many sagas. To be honest I waited for it for several weeks and the request queue behind me is long. Felt a bit obligated. I did like the ending quite a bit.

I just lost my longer post so am now basically marking for tomorrow. I am caught up on HotAW! Yeah!!!! I have started Jonathan Strange and think I like it. Not very far and am having the same print issues as Robin with the paperback. Switching to the kindle version because I was able to get the library copy on overdrive.

Praying :grouphug:

Praying :grouphug:

I am happy to say per the current forecast it should be nice until 3 tomorrow which is the finish in Sheffield. We watched the start but the dc's had been hired to ring at another church and dh and I had a local gala to attend. Bought a dozen perennials which dh helped me get in the ground this afternoon. Here at least a local village Gala is the same as a village fete (ithink that is how cozy mysteries spell it). Never been to a fete or seen one advertised......we have the race recorded and will watch later tonight. :) On the book front I finished my kindle overdrive book this morning. The House on Tradd Street which is the first in a series set in Charleston (thought of Stacia) which is about historic houses and a realtor who can see ghosts. Fun and light so will read the rest.

:grouphug: Robin I am waiting for both the Silkworm and the Martian. Everyone here (BaW) has been so enthusiastic about the Martian that I finally joined the queue for this one even though it is pretty far from my normal taste by description. I did read one of my need to return books next week. It was called Lost for Words and is a parody based on the Booker Prize process. The author has been short listed in the past. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/01/lost-words-edward-st-aubyn-review It started off being really entertaining, lol type, but went down hill at a pretty constant rate. If I hadn't wanted to know what "won" I may very well have stopped but because it was quick reading I finished. I have never read anything else by St. Auban and almost requested the start of his famous series as I laughed through the opening pages but won't bother right now. Maybe someday ........ I have to say that I now seriously wonder how many of the books the each of judges actually read. :( By the way I did give it a 3 in the end because I totally enjoyed the start, it just got old and a bit boring.

This is pretty off topic but I am considering reading Jerusalem after my Bill Clinton's favorites last week and ran into this article while researching. Thought some here would enjoy it. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1352842/Jerusalem-hymn-British-national-anthem-says-Simon-Sebag-Montefiore.html FYI There are tons of recordings of the hymn on youtube if anyone is not familiar. I don't remember it before our move. Sing it frequently now at many events (weddings, funerals, public contcerts.....) as well as our church still uses it.

I was able to finish House on the Strand today by Daphne Du Maurier. It was completely different from last weeks The King's General and Rebecca which is all I remember reading by Du Maurier. The quick description is it is a time travel book in which the main character travels back to the 14th century mentally using drugs. The descriptions are vivid and it is engaging. Compared to Connie Willis' time travel books in the description I am going to link. If anyone(Negin this probably means you) thinks they may want to read this book do not read beyond the first couple of paragraphs. Serious spoilers but the analysis of the book is well done and interesting. http://www.tor.com/blogs/2009/06/the-addiction-of-time-travel-daphne-du-mauriers-the-house-on-the-strand Robin, I am still planning to wait for Sunday on Jonathan Strange. I have a couple of library books with holds on them to try and read so Sunday is good. Shukriyya, I hope you have a wonderful time. :)

I really like both rhubarb and eggplant. For one moment I thought Robin was stuffing eggplant with rhubarb. Yuck! But have to say I love Rhubarb Crumble and Rhubarb Fool but have no idea how to make either. Eggplant I like to cook with but no one else in my family eats. :(

Apparently the start of the race frequently happens elsewhere in Europe and it is a huge honour to be chosen. From personal experience it means bike tourism in the whole area goes way up and driving becomes dangerous. From one direction our village is entered by coming down a tree lined curved hill signposted very obviously at 40 for good reason because at the bottom two extremely busy roads intersect without a round about. Bicyclists (not locals) are being clocked at 60 plus coming down our hill. Accidents are happening but no tragedies thus for because the locals have become super cautious, the bikes are only visible for maybe 20 feet at best to people making a right hand turn. You can imagine 20 feet with a bicyclist dressed in black going 60 with bright sun not fun for people driving cars. Here is the Wiki description of the route. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Tour_de_France. The villages along the way are putting lots of effort into flowers and other decorations(bunting must be all over, I think every group I belong to has been asked to do some for the route). Church towers are scheduled to ring ( comment directed at Jenn) with great ringers. Should be great viewing assuming the weather holds. Campsites with spectators are filling quickly apparently. It took us roughly an hour last night to get out of York, after 6. Normally we leave at 5 and with normal heavy traffic its 20 minutes to the main road. York looked great. We walked a portion of the route, shopped for souvenirs for friends, and back to the car via the walls. Our weather is beautiful currently(we never know this could be our summer ;) ) and dh is free so we are trying to have a couple of days out. Planning to go to the coast near Whitby today.

I will bring a sweet and a savory. Maybe lemon drizzle and spinach artichoke dip. We can watch the start of the Tour de France which is happening in Yorkshire this weekend. I keep looking at the weather and it is iffy. We may end up showing off our drizzle to the world. ;) The crowds are starting and we are not on the route or close enough for it to be easy to go watch with way too many people. We will be watching the telly and recording! Robin, I need to finish House on th Strand before I start Jonathan Strange due to the potential for confusion on my part. Should be ready to start this weekend. Should we plan on Sunday?

While riding in the car today I started reading a really fun cozy mystery by Miranda James called the Silence in the Library. Since so many of us loved series mysteries growing up I had to post about this book which is all about people who love Nancy Drew, Trixie Beldon, Cherry Ames ........ the librarian who is the series main character loves these books and is helping organize a display and activities surrounding these old series. It is discovered that the 100 year old author of his favorite series( it is made up but there are fun excerpts) lives nearby and can come and speak, obnoxious fans surface and a murder occurs. That is pretty much where I am in this one and loving it. No need to read the others thus far. Here is an article I found while making absolutely sure the Veronica Thane series was just for this book. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook-blog/memoirs-of-a-book-nerd-by-miranda-james/

I suspect I must have gotten the idea for Daughter of Smoke and Bone from one of your posts now I know your dd read them. Blush......well tell your dd they were enjoyed and given the 5* Goodreads award. :lol: Took a couple of months to get all three from the library. The first took the longest. Shawne -- Your Cross Stich project is lovely.

:grouphug: Can't tell you how bad I feel for you. That is one of my big returning from the US fears. I hope your books eventually show up even Blyton. Can't seem to find it in my libraries. Dd has just finished the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. She really enjoyed it. Maybe your dd might like it. :lol: :grouphug: Hope you start feeling tatally better soon. Love having you back. I didn't know the new Harkness was due out soon. I managed to put myself on the list as number 2. Yeah! Looks good, all downloaded. Thank you! :)

I think you definately need to volunteer. I would love to come to a sale organized by you!

Giraffe, I have missed you also! Good to see you. ;) I will add my vote to People of the Book. I think it ended up in my top 10 last year. Loved it. I didn't even mind the switches between past and present. Considered the bit set in New York pointless but otherwise great. Jenn, you probably could enjoy the later bibliophile mysteries without reading the first but the cast of characters remains remarkably the same for each book considering the location switches so the first has background on everyone. The second is set in Edinburgh so you would probably like that one. Trying to figure out what to read next. I just rejected a stack which is good because they can go back to the library. I may go ahead and try Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell in the next few days. My copy is pretty chunky with just over 1000 pages so it will take awhile. I ended up going on the wait list for the library kindle book and just was notified that it is available. Need to return something to get it. :lol: Anyway need to finish in the next 3 weeks.

Jenn not sure if you would enjoy this series http://www.cozy-mystery.com/Kate-Carlisle.html by Kate Carlisle about a book binder. Definitely cozy and light. Need to be read in order or at least the first one first. I have been enjoying them on my kindle from the library.

Cannot even imagine how long it would take me to combine double points with size 1 needles. Socks must take a very long time. I actually normally like 4 ply to knit with because it is so light and my hands never feel sore when I knit for several hours.

I promise I will go to bed and quit posting soon. ;) Negin's Roosevelt reading list made me think of Clinton and his love of mysteries. I remember him as being a Dorthy Sayers fan but couldn't find anything mentioning her. Anyway I thought I would share this quick article with his top 5 choices.http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/pageviews/bill-clinton-shares-favorite-books-ann-curry-today-declares-love-daniel-silva-blog-entry-1.1637278 Stacia, notice that Jerusalem by Montefiore is in his top five. I have never read Silva. May have to request one. :lol:

Currently reading my Steampunk challenge book. I ended up with Kiss of Steel by Bec McMaster which is the first in the London Steampunk series. It is different. Not at all like Soulless which I loved. This has a bit of a hopeless air about it. The world portrayed is pretty grimm. The ruling class all has a virus called blue blood which is sort of a controlled vampire. Vampires also exist in a pretty feral form. Common people are in terrible circumstances. For all the yuk I am explaining I have to say I am reading it pretty quickly. Finished the latest in Carolyn Hart's Death on Demand series titled Death at the Door. It wasn't the best one ever but did deserve a 3*. Also finished my 17th Century read. I had a really hard time finding one. I ended up with The King's General by Daphne Du Maurier and enjoyed it greatly. I think I might read Rebecca again for rereads.