I spent way to long looking at those lists in the middle of the night. So true about not having time to sleep due to reading! I have finished a couple of fun books. The first is Thunderbird Falls by C.E. Murphy. It is the second in the Urban Shaman series. Good but the first was better. Imo The second was Carolyn G. Hart's Death on Demand. The very first one. :) This series is probably how I started reading cozy mysteries and it was a lovely relaxing read. The centerpiece of this book is a mystery bookstore on an island off the South Carolina coast. Lovely continual references to great classic and not so classic mystery books. I decided to slowly reread the series since they are kindle library books for me and track down as many unfamiliar books and authors as possible mentioned within. I found a couple new ones in this book. Several others that I have on my kindle as old freebies (Dr. Thorndyke) but have never managed to read, maybe this will prompt me. ;)

Someone asked a question about how regular attenders feel when we walk in 15 minutes early and can't get a seat easily. To be honest pretty thrilled people came to the special service. We eventually get to sit somewhere, usually with other displaced regulars. I am always happy to see the church full.

Tress-- Dd is still going strong on the course. She has really enjoyed it. She had her 7 essays done for the certificate last week and went ahead and submitted one this week because she wanted too. The Princess of Mars was turned into the movie John Carter which the dcs watched last summer. Dd found the differences interesting -- even more interesting when one of her papers to grade was on the movie not the book. :(

I think "The Bobbsey Twins" are free on the kindle like the Oz books.

I reread most of the series 3 or 4 years ago. I still like them. :lol:

I would be on the look out for older editions of Nancy Drew. My set is really old because I bought them as a child from used book stores. The older the better. Trixie Belden and Cherry Ames are a couple of other old series which dd loved.

I did read for hours at a stretch last night. The rest of the family watched silly Christmas movies for hours. I was upstairs reading!!!! Warning.....you are just getting to the part where putting the book down becomes really hard.

I finished "The Last Detective" the first of Peter Lovesey's Inspector Diamond mysteries. Loved it and have moved it over to dds pile. Two great series discoveries in one week! Earlier this week I stumbled onto Inspector Sloan by Catherine Aird which was great too!

I use my electric kettle all the time when cooking. I love not waiting for water to boil for macaroni etc. So quick and easy. It has cut cooking time for simple meals way down.

After getting past the ick factor you mentioned I put a library request in for this book. I do have an adolescent boy who would love it. Plus he has been reading and rereading http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/24/simpsons-mathmatical-secrets-simon-singh-review for the past month. Time to move on with just about anything! :lol:

I have never seen one of those before. I think it may be the first. Tell Calvin it means we are all cheering him on!!!

Assuming I can get the kindle library copy at the right time I will join you with "Wind up Bird Chronicles". I keep saying how much I want to read it so I need to just do it. As an ebook it will be lighter but the percent counter will move very slowly!

Let us know how he does location hunting. It is my favorite Sayers. Would love to have a go.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2013/07/27/husbands-secret-moriarty/2591079/ "The Husband's Secret" by Liane Moriarty was quite a good "popular" read. It was compared to "Gone Girl" in one review I saw. I liked it far better then Gone Girl and recommend it as a good easy read.

Normally khaki trousers, polo/dress shirt, and new tennis shoes. He wears the next pair to church until wears out old. He does own a suit which he wears to special services but only because it was literally waiting for me to find on the super discounted rack. Being tall and skinny occasionally has advantages. He has black tennis shoes for suit.

:praying:

Robin -- In answer to your question I just went in and took another look. I couldn't remember what looked good other than your already read Magic Mountain. This list https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8961.The_Best_by_Nobel_Prize_Authors?page=1 of books by Nobel Prize author's came up in my search. One author who I was not familiar with but think I might enjoy is Herta Muller. "The Appointment" appears to be sitting on my little library's shelves so might go and take a look at it today. Coetzee(Disgrace) and Gunter Grass (Tin Drum)also look intriguing at fairly quick glance. I have never read Faulkner so that is a possibility. It is becoming obvious that I might really like this challenge. I am not sure if I should be looking at the books that actually won or everything by the author.

Also finished "A Monstrous Regiment of Women" by Laurie R. King. This is the second Mary Russell book. I had a hard time locating this one at libraries for some reason but I really like (compulsive actually) series books in order so we waited quite a while for this one. Dd enjoyed it also. :) Since a few of you are reading the first one "Beekeeper's Apprentice" currently I just wanted to say I think this one will prove to be important in the future for this series. Mary Russell "grows up" in this book and I suspect what happened in this one will be referenced frequently in future books.

I finished the second book in the GM Malliet series that a few of you are also working on. "Death of a Lit Chick" was quite good. A few of my questions about the detective were answered and the ones the were not are intentionally not being answered by the author. This one takes place at a mystery writer's conference where all genres(spy thriller, comfy, chick lit......) are represented. A long discussion between characters takes place about what the reader expects in a sucessful mystery. Boy did I see myself being described -- I get really antsy if no murder by page 80. After that part I "get" that the atypical aspects of Malliet's books are intentional and seem to serve a purpose. Looking forward to reading more.

Robin-- Like everyone else any of the name headers are great as long as they have the week number included. I did a quick browse through the Nobel Prize winner list. I am certainly willing to try a few of them but I know I would probably only actually complete them if we do them in the style of 1Q84 or If on a Winter's .....If the challenge is to pick any of them I will probably quit somewhere along the line. I too loved October and Spooky Book month. Maybe too much. I still have a few to finish! :lol:

I am really relieved to hear you did not remember it well either. I was so surprised that I had forgotten so many great parts in a couple of years. ;) Loved it the second time too! :lol:

Happy Birthday!

Robin -- I have been thinking about your question regarding planning for next year. I probably won't have finished any of my original goals fot this year unless my stack contains an accidental Antarctica setting which would amaze me. I am not too bothered by my lack of success because I have enjoyed myself and been introduced to many novels that I never would have tried without you and this group. When I looked at the proposed challenges the ones that interest me the most are "52 books around the world" and the "1001 books by century before you die". The 1001 simply because it can be accomplised if my goal is one a century. The 52 because I am fascinated by Elaina's list. Stacia has a petty good one too! I have no idea where many of my books for this year were set so recording that is a minimum goal for me. ;) I love your mini challenges so please keep doing those! I hope to complete a few more next year.

Rosie and Stacia -- I just clicked the link for A town like Alice and am glad I did. I had mistakenly thought it was a history of Alice Springs which I knew did not appeal to me right now. Just shows one can't judge a book by the title! :lol: My library only has the cd for this one currently availiable and would prefer a hardcopy. Putting it on next year's list.

We are discovering that bellringer's are a lovely group of people who are incredibly enthusiastic about their hobby. One of the gentlemen teaching them has been ringing for 70 years. Wow! I hope I can make it up the 94 steps to the bell ringing chamber when I am his age much less do anything useful after I get there. Our tower is 8 bell. Ds has been deemed a natural and can bell ring easily for a really long time ( haven't been on a 3 1/2 hour peal yet) but tomorrow he will do 30 minutes then break for cermony then another 20. All change ringing. Dd gets poofed (as they call it) so is not sent out to other churches. She does do change ringing at our church but they rotate her out when tired. She has only been ringing since August(ds started in April) so part is inexperience but apparently it is also a strength of pull and balance factor too. She also knows the bell she is ringing is the size of a small car that doesn't bother ds a bit. Right now she works quite hard to keep the bell "up" which is a skill that requires pulling hard when it starts to come down. Much seems to be intuitive imo. Anyway by spring they expect her to be ready for everything including peals.