I finished The Silent Wife http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jul/08/summer-reads-psychological-thriller-silent-wife on my kindle fire. One of the things that always worrys me when reading on my fire is that I tend to read really fast. This time I was glad to get through quickly. From the start you know that the wife becomes a murderer and from there on I was just waiting to get the murder over with. None of the characters were likable other than the husband's secretary. :lol: Obviously not a favourite although since it was compared to Gone Girl I didn't expect to absolutely love it. I did actually like it better then Gone Girl .... it was different with really dumb characters that just made me want to scream at their stupidity, frequently. Not sure what I am reading next. I have a Joan Smith which can't be renewed because of a hold so that on top of the pile. THE accident is on my kindle. By the author of The Expats which I enjoyed.

Daughter of Time is waiting for me in my stack. I almost started it this afternoon instead of the next Iain Pears which was closer to the top literally. Brat Farrar sounds really good, I am going to try and put a request in for it.

I have two favourites that are rather moist that work best as a bundt cake. A sour cream coffee cake and an Apple cake. Spectacular as bundt cakes which are devoured quickly and in normal cake shapes they seem blah.

My "What makes you think of Spring" book was wonderful. When the challenge was announced by Robin I thought of Daffodils and did a library search and requested "Daffodils before Swallows" by Daniel Pelitz. The title comes from Shakespeare, O Proserpina, ....Daffodils! That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty...... I found an interesting blog entry pertaining to this quote http://theplaystheblog.wordpress.com/2014/01/26/daffodilsthat-come-before-the-swallow-dares-and-takethe-winds-of-march-with-beauty/ and plan to go back and give the entire blog /project a better look soon. This book is considered a family saga and is very well done. Two children born on the same day in very different circumstances grow up, meet, from bonds of friendship with others, and eventually marry. Along the way there is lots of great Flufferton Abbey for the late 20th century, historic house, Eton, Oxford. Shakespeare's First Folio also takes center stage with a bit of the age old "who" question.

We had a great time the year we did these. Paired it with Galloping the Globe done my way with Zoobooks, Draw Write Now, and interesting library books.

Stadia -- Thank you so much for posting the link to Eaglei's update.

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: Praying......

I have been thinking of Shukriyya while reading Mary Stewart's "Airs above the Ground" and wondering if this was part of her Mary Stewart marathon. Dd had it from the library an I decided to read it before returning it. Lovely story and as a bonus it had Lippizzans! :) Going to have to find my copy of "The Miricle of the White Stallions" and watch it soon. Edited: Just fixed my typo..it is ground not groud

Welcome! Just wanted to add our leader, Robin, frequently gives us a bit of a mini challenge on Sunday when she starts the "New" thread off. Since many of us use our libraries pretty exclusively the completion of those tend to trickle in due to loan request timing. I know my "makes me think of Spring " book is still waiting to be read(I have it, just haven't read it but plan to :lol:) . You do not need to participate in any of these challenges to be part of these threads. They can be fun and I personally love them (Thank you, Robin) but not needed to enjoy the group! Many of us are also attempting to actually complete reading SWB's "History of the Ancient World". I know I stopped roughly halfway when I bought my copy years ago. This week is chapters 3 and 4. So we aren't far along yet. Planning on two chapters a week and a finish at the end of the year.

I finished "Heresy" by SJ Parris hhttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/mar/13/heresy-sj-parris this afternoon. It was a 5* read for me. Set in Tudor England, which is probably my idea of a great time travel destination, it was a great story. I didn't read the linked review until after I had finished, very surprised to learn that in some ways it was a true story. This was simply a story of intrigue with the main character, an Italian monk who has fled the Catholic Church because he is accused of being a heretic, making his way to Oxford England as part of a group charged with rooting out the Catholics. His personal aim is to locate a special book which holds the key to the universe's workings, essentially. No love interests and still a great historical. Potential for a future love interest does exist but highly doubt it will be developed.

Sukriya -- even your knit dude pondering s are somewhat elegant. After your post about how well the suit fits all I could think of was with my luck I would spend months knitting and it wouldn't fit either of my dudes, probably wouldn't even fit anyone I know. Really did they knit it and then find someone to fit in it. Think about it, have you ever managed a fit like that knitting?

Just another suggestion that might make the OP's life easier. My mom had similar problems with this when my dad was suffering from dementia. Shortly after my father passed she met someone who had business sized cards that could be discreetly handed out if anyone questioned what was going on. It saved explanations. My mother wished she had thought of it.

Knitters -- Just think of how long it took to make that suit!!! I don't want to do a huge spoiler. The third book has a rather shocking twist. Things get interesting in the fourth. By the fifth you will most likely be really pleased with the love interest. I don't care for her in number one either. ;) I think her role in the second is minimal but honestly can't remember.

It is fine with me too! If memory serves me right you probably are not halfway through yet. It does get better when you cross the halfway mark. Not much to be honest but better. It is hard not getting a book everyone else loves. That was Gone Girl for me too. It was a book, nothing special. Dd and I both love Maisie and have been reading them slowly in order to savour them. They always seem to be tear jerkers but in the best way. I think the first one is the saddest. I don't think I really grasped the situation young British women were facing during WWI until I read that book. Things like Downton Abbey still keep it glamorous and maybe Maisie's story isn't typical because her background is still a bit glamorous but it is so sad and it felt real. After reading that I have paid much better attention to what is around me and have learned much.

Currently I keep only textbooks and other support materials for current coursework out on book shelves. This can be pretty broad in the support material category which includes pretty much anything I can imagine anyone wanting. Fiction etc that is either beloved or are good choices for upcoming months for dc ages also displayed. This pretty much fills my bookshelves. I have plastic bins where I have tried to roughly categorize the rest. I used to tuck things all over the place. The big bins where I am either topic specific like history , math, Sonlight, or a bit broader like used but keeping or new purchases seems to be making it so I find thing quickly when I decide that I actually really want to. We have these on industrial shelving units in the garage.

Amy-- Duolingo is actually fun. This is coming from someone who is not an enthusiastic linguist. Recently I have started an account there to keep an eye on Ds and provide a bit of competition for him because there is a game playing element -- small but hopefully enough to keep Ds going with it. It is easier with the app I think. I am doing French and Ds German. It is actually going well enough that I might add German. Dd has been doing both for a few months and is almost done. She loves it.

I have "TheDiscarded Image" by CS Lewis waitiNg to be read. Somewhere I saw it listed as a spine to pair with a study of medieval literature. It looks very interesting and I really should read it! One of my 5/5/5 is CS Lewis. Hoping to do this, the Prelandrea 3, and Screwtape Letters. My e library now has search choice titled "books like Gone Girl". Driving me nuts because they got rid of a very sensible new ebook choice for that. Hope you enjoy it, I never managed to decide if I actually liked that book or not. Glad that you are enjoying it. Some characters shift around a bit in book three and then the series gets really really good. How is that for incentive to keep reading? If this post turns out to be a complete mess please excuse it. I am experimenting a bit.

I had one of my awake nights. I finished Murder on the Marais http://murderbytype.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/murder-in-the-marais-cara-black/ by Cara Black. It was probably way too intense for middle of the night reading and gave me rather disturbing dreams when I finally fell back to sleep. To be honest it was a disturbing book to read anytime, filled with Nazi hatred and WWII horror that carried forward into our time. Not my typical murder mystery. I would read more by the author but not for awhile.

So many fun ones to choose from. 14 and 16 are probably my favourites partly because they hold the most! :lol: My bookshelves are crammed full but I think 16 could hold even more. My question about #8 is what shape do you have it in? Really a fun concept. Was it really easy to shape?

I loved Angelmaker and Before I go to Sleep. Grisham is always good. ;) Some other ideas: The Secret Keeper The Rosetti Letter The Expendable Man -- Dorothy Hughes Now you see me --SJ. Bolton The Husband's Secret The Rosie Project

Last week I ended up "abandoning" two books partway through. I thought of our discussions here about how far you should read before making the decision to quit because of a speaker I recently listened to, who apparently leads very popular library based book clubs. She recommends page 19, apparently for all books. One book I quit at roughly page 19 :lol: simply because I am not in the mood for that style, with the other I made it to page 100 before I admitted to myself that the subject matter was depressing me greatly. That one was good at page 19. IMO no hard and fast rule. ;) I did finish the latest Elly Griffiths forensic mystery "Outcast Dead" and enjoyed it. Her main character is a forensic archaeologist working in Norfolk England. Most of her sites are fictional but the stories are good. I also did my 15th century read "The Flowering of the Rose" which is the first half of We Speak No Treason by Rosemary Hawley Harman. I did not realize it was a two part story when I requested it and can not get the second half quickly and have decided to skip the rest. It was a rather detailed account of the backstory surrounding King Edward and his Queen with Richard as more of the focus. Not bad but not enthralling, 3*. I have a couple more that I am waiting for by other authors for the same period. Currently reading JD Robb's Concealed in Death and Murder in the Marais by Cara Black.

We just bought our first Dyson last fall. It is worth it. Best vacuum we have owned by far. Dh bought it refurbished.

Lucky you, I adore knitting patterns in general but the old ones are really special. Old infant and doll patterns or the best ones. I do admit the styling can be funny. My kids reactions to the cigarettes in older media always amaze me (who grew up with a dad and older brothers who were/and still are smokers)because they just can not believe it was that common, actually a status symbol. Other than their uncle's who they see rarely due to distance, they know no smokers. Hard to believe the cultural shift in 30 or so years both in the US and UK.

We met when we were 14 and my Dh's family moved next door to my family.

Congratulations!!!!