I just finished the latest in the Agatha Raison cozy series Beating About the Bush https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44156421-beating-about-the-bush and have to say the series has recovered nicely from the place it was going with a Embarrassingly hysterical 50ish woman chasing men....she still is pretty man crazy but Sort of sane. That statement is only going to make sense to someone else who has read them all....I am just happy I don’t have to give them up. This one features a wonderful grouchy, stinky donkey who falls for Agatha. Made me lol. Comforting fluff and I have suffered from a headache for days now......air pressure, allergies, who knows, but I hate having to take pain relievers so wait too long. @Dicentra I think we all spend a whole lot of time plotting our reading. I have came to believe it’s part of the fun! That said I started plotting my book chain for this year......hoping to chain 20, many of which will probably end up being very fluffy. I need to either connect words in the title between books or the author’s first or last name. Can only chain once so I can’t use dragon 20 times.😉. So far I have...... Dragon Actually by GA Aiken https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3295695-dragon-actually Dragon Bones by Patricia Briggs https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6500341-dragon-bones Rock-a-bye Bones by Carolyn Haines https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26114526-rock-a-bye-bonesac=1&from_search=true&qid=GaQ5nE4tSJ&rank=1 next in a series I have wanted to finish, now on the nightstand next will be something with Rock most likely

Happy to see you! I remember looking at this when it first came across my overdrive I was a bit unsure about it. Noe that I have read your review I am putting it on hold. Thank you! i enjoyed the lists especially the Sci Fi list. I already knew about and had hold’s on two of the but you managed to increase my want list...as soon as I can recommend again (2 days) I plan to recommend others from this list. Another Invisible Library book.🥰 I cannot wait! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21416690-the-invisible-library?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=MnazYEqTgs&rank=1 I just realized this means I will have another dragon book! That category is filling quickly......

Does that mean you like them? 😉 I finished Dragon Bones by Patricia Briggs earlier today and really enjoyed the start of the book a and the end, the middle was a bit too long for me.....overall gave it a 4*. Lots of names that became confusing in the middle so I went ahead and checked Dragon Blood out on audio so I can hopefully finish the series off quickly. The dragon mythology was interesting btw.

First my kids didn’t do LoF Statistics but we own it and they have read it for fun. Math majors.... Took their statistics other places including doing the Dummies books for an intro and I would recommend combing working through the Dummies books with as much LoF as works for you.

Quotes seem to be a problem...........so...... @Robin M and others. If you keep your Goodreads up to date the A to Z challenges are much easier. 😉 This year I plan to just read for awhile then create shelves via the sorting......in prior years I have held myself to first word in title and last names only. This year I will be lifting that restriction which I think is self imposed and using all words and first and last names, so the book will be placed on the shelf and most likely I will also place the letter I will be using it for in the recommendation area. @Bocky Welcome and glad you plan to join us on the LotR group read! 1Q84 is filled with weird scenes in general. It was the first “out of my comfort zone” book I attempted after joining BaW.....we had a read along. I enjoyed it far more than anticipated.....I still remember picking it up at my tiny village library from a hold request and being handed two fat volumes. The hugeness created a bit of curiosity and the librarians were surprised that hat I actually finished it! I have gone on to read most of his fiction. I have become a bit of a Murakami fan girl!😂 So far I have been reading one chapter most days.....up to 6%....really hoping this kindle book proves to be easy to renew! I remember being very confused during the first chapters the first time and so far have been amazed by how foundational they really are. @Lori D. well it won’t tag you either, grrrr. Loved seeing your SCI Fi lists. Plan to investigate a few.

I wanted to test the Koala quilt pattern I recently purchased from SewFreshQuilts so made a block and turned it into a mini.

I hope the rest of your day is highly uneventful!

I think some of the programming over at Goodreads has changed because when I sent my friend request to you I wasn’t given a box to type my message into which is how it worked before. We seem to be friends but I will admit that the process has been different. Yesterday I finished listening to the first A Wizard of Earthsea book and may start the second this afternoon. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59920.A_Wizard_of_Earthsea It was quite good and I enjoyed listening. Ursula Le Guin is one of those classic authors that I have somehow missed. I am reading the paper Face Down Across the Western Sea by Kathy Lee Emerson https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/612296.Face_Down_Across_the_Western_Sea in hopes of finishing it before needing to show it at the desk in order to renew. Also reading Patricia Briggs Dragon Bones https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6500341-dragon-bones which I am really enjoying.

We just saw the Beetles album with cover that started the whole Paul is dead controversy at Target.........my kids were along and are somewhat amazed/bemused that their parents bonded over Dh (14) convincing their mom(at 13) to sit around carefully pressing my record player’s needle (someone had given me the album in a clear out) to make it go backwards and say Paul is dead .......supposedly it worked for him. 😉https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/paul-mccartney-is-dead-conspiracy-897189/ btw This would have been in 1977 so I was super gullible a decade after this was a big deal!

Thank you! May I say you kept me very pleasantly occupied for quite awhile this morning. I particularly enjoyed the graphic. My lists are now overflowing with Urban Fantasy for spelling challenges. 😉 Please......I can’t read SWB’s comment either and will admit to being very curious! TIA They really are good......just saying.....😂 And Then There Were None is part of this year’s AC perpetual challenge for me. I was so happy when I realized it would be part of my 10! i am so looking for the next in the Stars Uncharted series, which I really like. Btw I have never read anything by Devon Monk so that is one of the series on my planning lists.

There are so many 70’s hits that I remember mainly because my best friend and I were trying to record two perfect tapes of our favorites with a tape recorder off the radio........we would listen intently and try to push record at just the right moment. Then there was the listening and rewinding if it wasn’t right. Took us forever. Beth by Kiss was particularly hard to get for some reason and took us weeks. Dream Weaver reminds me of gym class and a mass dance routine. There are sooooo many.....

@ThatBookwormMom He is beautiful! So sorry about your mom.

Robin is good at this and will hopefully give the more technical definition later today. She explained it to me years ago.😉 I understood at the time but am obviously still confused. 🙃I have seriously thought about deleting my ramblings but will post them in case they are helpful ....I don’t even touch Sci Fi or Fantasy and their relationship to this genre. So in my eyes....I will try most books in these category’s because some are great, some aren’t..........I think the biggest problem with the paranormal definition is it means different things to different people in the very basic sense that if a book has vampires, shifters, witches.......anything other than human it means it is paranormal in most people’s eyes. When you look at the genre area on Goodreads it will be a paranormal to many. So it finds itself lumped in with Twilight(which I disliked) which is a paranormal romance. Paranormal romances can have quite a bit of adult content which is not my thing but thanks to years of reading aloud with my kids I edit on the fly and don’t necessarily know I did it. So my eyes are not necessarily burnt if that makes sense. I just finished a paranormal romance last night called Dragons Actually.......it wasn’t my favorite by any means but a very popular series I believe because my Overdrive just bought the entire series. I believe it was done well for it’s marketplace. Lots of adult scenes and violence in this one, I abandoned it and went back and finished it because Dragons are one of my categories this year and I decided I might as well learn the myth behind the dragons in this series.....The myth was good and I am happy with it as a place to start. Very briefly the Dragons were immortal but made a bargain with God to be able to have children and now live long lives but can be killed. Also they shift...... An interesting place to start.......There are many paranormal romances that are rather mild and very readable with great story lines and very few adult scenes..........one of my favorites is the Innkeeper Series by Ilona Andrews. Patricia Briggs probably fits here too but I tend to put them in Urban Fantasy. There is a whole other category called urban fantasy that is generally more to my liking but also contains shifters, vampires, and witches. When I look at lists the books cross over between paranormal and urban. You still have romance and adult scenes just not at the same level normally. There can be violence as they are fighting for a cause. The world building is usually much more detailed, imo. Faith Hunter is one of my favorites that I personally place here although seeing them as PR when I google. Yes they are paranormal.😂 Ilona Andrews also writes the Kate Daniels series that I personally think cross over to Urban Fantasy from the romance because they.......aren’t as sweet, have a well identified baddy? As you can see I don’t really know..... Anne Bishop and her “Others” are sort of set apart from all of the above but not fantasy in a classic way either. Written in Red https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15711341-written-in-red?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=uuXCMywbx1&rank=1. Is the first in the series which must be read in order at the start. There is violence but very little S#x and I will admit I let my Dd read these way back when as the Twilight alternative. The world building is awesome and the romance is such a slow build that not much ever happens book to book but there definitely is a super couple.😉. All sorts of paranormal characters exist but the mythology behind them is so strong.......

Thank you and Happy New Year!

I pretty much get all my audiobooks via Overdrive but do want to second Robin’s Anne Bishop suggestion. This series is one that I have recommended with success to a large number of people who did not like the word paranormal much less books classified as paranormal. I have listened to them on Overdrive.

I try very hard to live for the moment and keep the planning to the near future....as in next summer. Over the past years I have spent too much time wanting something (in my case more children) that I didn’t fully appreciate what I had. I loved homeschooling but could have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t been trying so hard to have more. I grew up thinking I could make anything happen if I just put everything I have physically and emotionally into the goal......age has taught me it doesn’t always work. There really isn’t much I get to control for the future in terms of the big life changing things so I really try to be happy in my now. Do I look forward to grandchildren....hugely, but I am coming to realize that they are in a future that hopefully will happen. I think the more important thing to wish for is that my children live happy contented lives without mama pressure. For now I just try to really enjoy the kids who I am fortunate enough to have in my life........by that I mean other people’s small children nut just my own young adults! One little boy thinks I am the world’s best cook because I make him brownies.🥰 My Dh on the other hand plans extensively for the future which is probably why I just want to worry about the now. 😉. He is also big on reminiscing so I do a great deal of it rather I want to or not.😂

@moonflower Huge hugs, I am so very sorry........

This series is one that my daughter and I read a great deal of a few years ago. I think I have already made @aggieamy Dd read some of these......for the new people, Amy and our families do know each other in real life so I am not picking at her 😉 more just avoiding having to make sure she sees the freebie. According to some Agatha Christie lore this is the series she modeled Miss Marple off of and I believe it to be true. Btw, many in this series used to be free on the kindle so have a look if you like them. @vmsurbat1 I am currently back in the US but have lived primarily in England for many years. We will be heading back for the summer. @loesje22000 The book covers are so pretty and I can’t read a thing!😂. Other than it’s a Dutch author. That said I am utterly in awe of how much of your reading is in English.

First the last couple of threads were not or normal threads in terms of lists as they were rather a dumping ground of all of last year’s reading. Most of the books had been mentioned before at least once. In normal posts most of us give a bit of a category to the book in our description and frequently a link, some people copy and paste the description in. I hope you will find us easier to follow after we settle into our more normal posting habits. Many of us are friend’s over on Goodreads..........I am MumtoTwo over there and would love for you to friend me. We tend to see what others are planning to read over there also. The one term that is totally unique to this thread is Fluffy or Flufferton which I think @aggieamy started a few use ago which basically meant a historical that reminds someone of Downton Abbey the TV show. I tend to use fluff/ or fluffy. Simply to mean light and fun, not necessarily a historical. Congratulations to your Dd and you! I am so glad the last exams are over. Like Lady Florida said the easiest way to find each weeks thread now is to use the link Robin gives in the last post of the previous thread. I try to post something the first time I look at the thread just so I can find it again......we do miss you! I will admit that your books on Goodreads make me curious and many appear to be untranslated so I can’t read the descriptions easily!😉 I have to admit that I am curious about a few of those books so I hope you will be doing some posts after you finish them! Last night I abandoned many books......7 I think.😮 I think waiting for the New Year on so many because of future challenges just set the bar to high and perhaps I was in a bad mood! I plan to look a few over one more time before returning them because, well because......plus my spelling challenge is now a disaster because I lost most of my vowels! Face Down Before Rebel Hooves did survive but it is part of a favorite series! It’s by Kathy Lynn Emerson and is a cozy set in Elizabethan England. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2117103.Face_Down_Before_Rebel_Hooves

Thank You! Before the Facts is on my list of ones I have sourced. That said I actually planned this category back in 2018 but ended up not using it last year. After reading The 39 Steps and you reading Before the Facts I decided I was most likely skipping a great category. I will look through my libraries and let you know if I still have it available..... eta..........Can’t find it anywhere so Thank you! I’ll send you a pm

A a couple of our members are really good at finding free or heavily discounted Kindle books and they do post some of their finds for us which is greatly appreciated. No idea what your time difference is but try and take a peek at the the thread at least once a day in case someone mentions a freebie as they are frequently one day only. They are all via Amazon so keep your kindle attached to your American Amazon. At some point you might be offered a chance to move your account, I was, just ignore it if you can keep things working via the US. If you want more choice there are daily emails from different blogs etc that you can subscribe to that are pretty good. I am still signed up to BookBub which does feature a variety of genres. ohhhhh.......fun! Glad you like them! Also glad you liked Banana........I ended of with Moshi, Moshi on request at the library. Will probably wait to pick it up until next week.

@Robin M I had been prepared to use Banana Yoshimoto in place of our Murakami read also in part because I have read most of his books now and am not sure I want to read the rest. That said a part of me wants to reread my favorite 1Q84 and see if I still like it, sort of a lingering plan for 2020. I just decided to check it out and try it now. I am almost done with Too Lucky to Live https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47632110-too-lucky-to-live which is one of those books I personally call a romp.......filled with people chasing each other in a sort wild but unrealistic way......aka Stephanie Plum books. I grabbed this off of Overdrive because it looked fun and was pretty surprised to find that I already had the second part in my paper stack from the library when I was sorting things last night. So I am planning to dive into that next..... I spent last night sorting and planning. Making my 2020 Goodreads Shelves and filling out the Bingo and Ladies of Literature pages in my new book journal. I also improved the names for my 10x10’s......... Alfred Hitchcock Presents...........the books that are behind the movies! Agatha Strikes Again!..........my Christie perpetual challenge Somewhere in Time........Time Travel Dragon’s Dens Henry and his relatives......Brit historical Visiting Miss Silver......Patricia Wentworth The Cozy Corner Cafe........new to me cozy series Brit Tripping Revisited Around the World in 10 Detectives Plat it Again.......series I never finished but would like to

Thanks for starting the thread Dawn! I really enjoy seeing what everyone is doing. I have way too many plans and know I will never complete many of them. The main one is doable as I have already started, a stack of blocks were made somewhat randomly in a Quilt Along are being put together into at least a quilt top for a potential gift for the future ......either to someone we know or a charity. It was supposed to be a much larger quilt but I quit because the purpose was our bed as our current 30 yo quilt is showing wear. I have faced the fact that they are not right color wise in my eyes ever. It’s hard to put them next to each other for me because I don’t like the palette.....vintage 1930’s repro fabrics were used. After I get the top done I can decide if I want to finish it now or later. This is my layout with sashing between blocks put together in rows. This is what I have.......

@Mothersweets The sequel to Dread Nation is being released in February😀

The knowing an outsider when you see it is just so true! What a great way to describe it when I visit other countries via books I want my visit to be believable.....originally I tried to do my Asian Detectives with all translated books because I thought that would make them authentic and quickly realized that many of my authors might be native to whatever country but had been living in the US so long they were translating their own books. Then I just moved to believable because this was not a perpetual challenge for me!