Dh and I have been talking about this on and off all day and we thought they were going to be able to get off in Thailand. Landing is just phase one......being allowed to board an airplane will not be easy. What about transfers.....then the question is what about when they get home after being on a series of planes in Asia. My friend is definitely an experienced traveler and if anyone can make it work out it’s that couple but just the logistics is a mess. What if they get sick......I think friend has asthma.

At this point I appear to be 15% male authors. I always tend to the female authors but 15% male is pretty low even for me.....my Faith Hunter and Julia Spencer Fleming rereads May take that percentage even lower!

Sending rain prayers!

@Pen I found the the 19 books list https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ariannarebolini/whimsical-fantasy-books-buzzfeed-book-club to be particularly wonderful. The books The Eyre Affair and Mr. Penumbra’s 24 hour Bookshop are particular favorites of mine, so good both my kids were forced to read them! The other’s I have read were good, and several of my want to reads are on it. I found a couple of new to me’s that I can’t wait to try. On a humorous note I went hunting for the Uncanny Valley which sounds charming, I found I completely different techy Uncanny Valley which I put on hold because it will good for me......two techy kids.

Dd seemed to rather like Touch Not the Cat when she was on her Mary Stewart kick. I never finished it......possibly because I gave it to Dd when she was whining about nothing to read! 😂 I think I may have started the John Bude, mine is still decorating my nightstand. I am trying to work through what I have without accumulating too much more book wise so will hopefully get to it later this week. I find checking books out to be really fun, not sure what the name for the compulsion is, but it is so satisfying and I currently have many, too many, that I plan to read! I am currently finishing Aurora Blazing https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43472908-aurora-blazing which is the second book in a Space Opera (I think) series that I know Kareni and someone else here also has been enjoying. I really like this one. I also finished my four corners Bingo square with Rock with Wings by Anne Hillerman. I almost cheered when it explicitly said “four corners”. 😉. It also works for my Bookchain Challenge so it was an added bonus to really like it. I plan to read the next one in the series soon......I may even read it next in my bookchain. Lots of options thanks to the Anne in the authors name.....just can’t decide if I am cheating if I read the next then switch to a different Anne. I do realize this one can be Hillerman. What an easy silly problem to be worried about!

I loved the book Big Little Lies but have no interest in watching the series.

We are back switching to new threads on Sundays. The start of the new year was what had things a bit confusing for awhile. New thread should be up soon!

I don’t think the one day event is worth it but I do know several people who have done his Financial Peace through a church with success. I would look for a Financial Peace starting in your area soon if you want more of a community (for lack of a better word). His basic plan is good and logical. The book is clear and easy to implement which is a bonus.

I think I have read it but decades ago. The cover from 1989 looks familiar ! @vmsurbat1 I hope you start feeling better soon! @Dicentra I love those end papers, glad you rescued it! I make many reading plans but get distracted so easily! @tuesdayschild I just marked Overture To Death for the next time I need an O. O has become my new problem letter! My Julia Spencer Fleming reread is going well, half way through the second in the series. I now remember being irritated with the first book when I first read this series and am still irritated with the main character!😉 If someone, maybe @JennW in SoCal , hadn’t really loved them and told me to keep reading I would have missed out. From this point they just get better........for the record I am not fond of the first Inspector Gamache either.

Thanks for posting the Westerdam info. With all the closed borders one has to really wonder where a cruise ship of mixed nationalities will be. allowed to dock. Canada appears to be it so now confused with why the cruise line is talking to the US Stata Department. Dh found some more detailed info on the Westerdam’s original itinerary and it aligns perfectly with what my friend said in her email. How long is the recommended isolation time for this anyway? Is it 14 or 21 days.....seems to be conflicting.

I think you could be right.......cannot believe my friend is on that boat or on any boat involved in this. May I just say boarding 800 passengers in Hong Kong was nuts, what were they thinking?

I just received a blast email from a British friend who is on one of the cruise ships being refused entry to ports. She did not say anyone onboard is ill just that they picked up passengers in Hong Kong. They have no idea when they will return home......she was canceling plans with our group for next week.

Glad some of you are feeling better!😉 It’s funny it never occurred to me that Patricia Wentworth had written anything other than Miss Silver. Planning to try one. I stayed up late in order to finish Moonlighter by Sarina Bowen. I haven’t read the others in her hockey series and had no problems with it as a stand alone . Fluffy adult romance between childhood friends many years later. Female tech CEO and a hockey player with ties to the security industry. This happens to be the first book that I have seen the new publishers library ebook policy in action with a library having only one ebook for a number of months before being allowed to buy more. I have to say I was far down on this list....more than six months per overdrive. Then wham it was in my account . Sort of messes up all “my book flow planning” 😂 but I really did not wait very long, maybe 2 months.....pleasantly surprised. Anyway I decided to read it ASAP so others could have it.

I have never listened to a Mary Stewart but her Arthur is available on my Overdrive and The Crystal Cave is a 16 hour listen and I suspect the other two books will. be similar in length, I will listen to these later in the year. Moon spinners, Airs Above the Ground, and Nine Coaches Waiting are probably the typical favorites but these are far more fluffy than the Arthur books and shorter. Fwiw Moonspinners is the one that stuck in my head for decades! My library happens to have Rose Cottage which I plan to read but the Kindle price for several of the Mary Stewart’s is 1.99 or was a couple weeks ago if anyone can’t find them at the library.

My sil was involved with a massive Christmas cookie fundraiser for years. Maybe 50 different cookie types involved and most spend at least a week or two in the freezer. The whole thing was wild imo but successful, they sold them by the pound for more than I would have paid, people had fights about who got to buy some of those cookies. So freeze if you need to. I regularly bake for church affairs and freeze my excess for another week. Sometimes I even freeze the trays that I have prepared wrapped extremely well in plastic wrap. I have never had a negative comment about the frozen cookies and they all get eaten.

My Dd loved the Alan Bradley Flavia books. Patricia Wentworth books are great when you run out of Agatha Christie. I was a huge fan of both Cherry Ames and Trixie Beldon. Mary Stewart books are also fun for teen girls........they were my first books from the adult section of the library. Someone recommended Donna Andrews. I love those books! Dd has read a few.

For some reason I thought that series was complete. I loved it too. I started a reread of these a couple of years ago in honor of Spooky October and never finished. When I finish my Faith Hunter reread maybe I will go back and read the Kim Harrison’s including the new one. I just ran into her other series set in Rockton, the off the grid one, again. I didn’t love the first one and hadn’t realized there are now five books in that series. I may give the second book a try in that series too.

Moon Spinners was my favorite growing up too. I reread it a few years ago when Dd was a tween and enjoyed it again! @tuesdayschild I love your sip read book. The colors are beautiful! @Negin Your NYC pictures are wonderful. I have never been except to sit in the airports.

@Kareni Thank you for the Groundhog Day article because it was oddly timely because my dc’s had tons of questions last night......remember raised in England so they only know about the movie. I forwarded it on. I also sent it to my hedgehog loving British friend who appears to highly oddly enthused. She now seems to be making a study of groundhogs...😂 @Dicentra I record my short stories and novellas on Goodreads and put them on their own short story shelf so I know that I have read them and subtract them off my book total at the end of the year

I finished listening to Christie’s ABC Murders yesterday and totally enjoyed it even though it was more predictable than most AC books imo or I just remembered it clearer! 😂 I also finished a couple more Faith Hunter’s in preparation to read the new book that came out last fall. Currently almost finished with The Chinese Shawl by Patricia Wentworth which I am really enjoying. These books are such a great find for classic mystery fans! I am now reading the books in order and so far it’s satisfying, enough background characters (really background in this one....a mention of a new baby by Miss Silver) to hopefully make it worthwhile. I have read three chapters of the first book in a new to me Sci Fi series called Waypoint Kangaroo. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26114364-waypoint-kangaroo Not sure how this series came onto my lists but it seems to be a fun one featuring a bumbling Bond spy type main character named Kangaroo because he has an odd super power pocket into a parallel at his disposal. Julia Spencer Fleming’s In a Bleak Midwinter will be my next audiobook. So the reread or in this case relisten to this favorite series starts! Robin, the Mary Stewart links are great! I am planning to read The Rose Cottage because I missed this one during Brit Tripping Brit Tripping and had planned to read it then. I might join you in The Chrystal Cave......

Lighthouse Island just was added to my lists. I think I am going to start tracking Dystopian books in case I need to adjust my categories in 10 x 10’s. Dystopian fiction seems to be something that I am being drawn towards. I read Milk and Honey several years ago. I remember planning to read the next in the series but never have actually bothered. @Robin M All seasons of Stargate are currently on Prime if the urge to watch is there.

The two U.K. cases are in York, one is a student at the Uni there. York is rather close to our home village and I know my kids awareness is heightened at that news. They know several students at that Uni and are very aware that York is a favorite shopping spot for our village. An easy drive or train ride for a nice meal and better shopping so friends go up to York every day......we normally go every other week. York is a major tourist destination both within the U.K. and internationally so the possibility for spreading quickly to many locations is definitely large. That said both my kids decided not to go to grad school in the U.K. and are in the US. So Ds was sharing his hand sanitizer at an event in Florida where we are all currently living. That said because of the number of students who traveled over the holidays when combined with close living conditions at all Uni’s, students are a group that need to be very aware. My kids have pointed out their classes are completely available online so if needed they feel fortunate to be able to hang out with mom and dad with their internet and mom’s freezer!

My DS was at a University event yesterday that had free pizza. While waiting to collect his pieces he got out his hand sanitizer and people wanted to pay him for doing their hands too.....he shared for free! Just the normal flu is going around on campus but obviously students are aware to some degree.

@aggieamy I hope everyone starts feeling better soon. The C’s were given anti nausea meds to go with the Tamiflu which helped a whole lot.

Just saw, praying!