Over the years my preferences have changed to knitting mainly with circular needles and I need to buy some new ones. My old interchangeable set seems fragile, as in the cords seem to be snapping. It’s roughly 30 years old, Boyle I think, plastic tips. I no longer like knitting with them anyway. I just want some new ones and plan to start treating myself as I (or Dd) starts a new project. I bought a couple of new pairs of needles last week from Knit Picks......the wood ones in small sizes. These have been my favorites for years but just did a google and found lots of new brands that I have never heard of. Dd still likes what she calls normal straight needles so I will probably buy a few new pairs for her too. Hit me with your favorites..........

My son’s vocabulary improved quite a bit when I found some high interest (for him) reading comprehension books. The new words in context when reading something he cared about to a detailed level really did it. He would take that particular workbook to Dh, the science guy😉, and they would go over the lesson and correct together. He loved science......I can’t seem to google the name but a funny drawing of Einstein was on the cover. Wordly Wise was not very useful.

The audio for Rabbit Cake is now on hold. Thank you! My plan for The Goblin Emperor is to attempt the audio (which is not popular at my library, so almost always available) with the print version in the house. Trying to get the best of both worlds without having to hold the thick book which definitely would be an issue but for using a glossary is much preferred by me. I had the paper checked out last spring and my Dd grabbed it out of the pile and loved it so much. When she was done someone else had a hold on it........at that point audio may not have been a choice. I have to admit I am probably better off listening to the pronunciations as opposed to letting my brain make them up, my chances of long term audio enjoyment is just greater. I have recently started rereading (listening) whenever possible to many of the fantasy type series I have enjoyed while I sew, they make a great background and headphones mean I can use the machine too.

Jonathan Strange is one of my all time favorites.......and I do recommend it. I love Mrs. Pollifax! She is a relatively new find for me. A new friend recently asked what my all time favorite book was and Jane Eyre is what popped out. I have loved that book since I was a teen. I just put a hold on A Suitable Boy.....it is almost 1500 pages and I don’t think it is on Kindle. I hope I will be able to hold it to read it as it sounds wonderful. Thick books bother my hands. I just remembered to put a hold on the book.....one of my planned fall reads. Audio or print for Rabbit Cake? I just put The Bright Way on hold. Ditto, for Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend, Just put it on hold! @Kareni The Linesman is my planned last book for my Sci Fi 10 x 10 this year. So I will be reading it!😉

This is such a hard question because everyone has preconceived tastes. I want to recommend books to people that they will love so I tend to tailor the recommendation to the person. Honestly, I think I recommend actually reading the Harry Potter series to people more than any other books.....cannot believe how many people have only watched the movies. Same with Narnia, irl most people have just read Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe......so I recommend reading the rest or at least a couple of others in the series. My recent favorite books to recommend is The Expanse Serieshttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8855321-leviathan-wakes?ac=1&from_search=true, the first in the Department Q series https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10822858-the-keeper-of-lost-causes?ac=1&from_search=true, and as always the Sebastian St. Cyr series https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10822858-the-keeper-of-lost-causes?ac=1&from_search=true which are my ultimate comfort reads. I have recommended Murderbot several times lately too....... This thread has convinced me to give Lady Trent another try..........the end of the first book irritated me so I decided not to continue. I have had the Poisonwood Bible on my nightstand for a really long time and should probably open it!

I haven’t actually finished the first Medusa yet.......I am just enthusiastic! I am back to sewing so listening to a new audiobook right now, that might be abandoned so will wait for here. I think I left off on Acton and Doyle around Book 5 because of supply issues. Here’s the saga..........For some reason Overdrive (or at least my Overdrive) does not show the later books as even existing so I waited for awhile to see if that would change. I have never had a relatively popular book that is published as kindle not show on Overdrive as a choice to recommend. So the whole thing is just weird. I plan to fill out the request forms at my physical library now that I am somewhat stationary.....they own one of the later ones along with the early’s and see if they buy them. If not I will probably buy them.........my irritation is I read half thanks to the library and like to own complete series....... Also thanks for today’s links......I plan to download both as I read Patricia Rice occasionally also.

Dd finished the first of her Halloween Hamsters. I love it! I made the mug rug under it........trying to learn how to make pumpkins with my scraps.

Now I do remember.......I also think @JennW in SoCal would enjoy the music elements in this character.........she has a constant stream of music playing in her mind thanks to an implant. She is able to alter them depending on her situation. I think Jenn would enjoy seeing the composers that the character chooses..........so far I haven’t seen any of the movies but actually know a few of the pieces of music. I have put a request in for my library to purchase the second book in the series.......I could only request an audiobook on Overdrive.

I am glad they changed to DHL for the rest of the world, they promised to. Never followed up.

I am sorry that you need more extensive surgery. Sending hugs........

Sending hugs as someone who has been in this situation. I hope it all resolves itself and it might. We were allowed to have a new test date just for Dd using the tests that are always made for these situations. It was summertime and she was the only student that did the special test date.......as she had planned to quit studying both Latin and German permanently with the original SAT exam she couldn’t wait months for the normal rotation of those exams and a free sitting. The other students involved just took the SAT on the next date for free. My experience makes me wonder if the FedEx shipping is the problem as I thought UPS was the required carrier worldwide.......we were told that all CollageBoard materials had to be shipped by UPS as part of the test security protocol.......that said we were living overseas where UPS is not a particularly common carrier. There are apparently premade mailing poaches etc involved........postage prepaid and prepared by Collegeboard etc., the administrator should just put the tests in and drop off, have picked up, whatever. Apparently someone decided the postage was wrong and returned the package to a school........not the school, a school. Unfortunately there are several schools with a potentially similar name. We never figured out which school or found them. The tests were invalidated by the chain of security anyway apparently............

I have a couple of really good books in progress........The first is Medusa Uploaded https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36245705-medusa-uploaded which I think is somehow a recommendation from BaW. When Dd saw the cover there was a little squeal because it’s being talked about as great on her media! 😂So once again any cool mom vibes I have come from you guys. Obviously she plans to read it because these are like Murderbot per Dd. I guess they are in the sense that I am really involved with this character...... I have also been listening to Wife of the Gods https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6105001-wife-of-the-gods?ac=1&from_search=truewhich is the first book in the Darko Dawson series. This is another of those books I never would have found without Robin’s monthly detective challenge. The character is good, the narration is well done. I totally plan to keep listening to these!

My Dd suffered from lost exams a couple of years ago. College Board took a really long time to admit the tests never arrived. The fault was with the mail carrier not the school btw. Her exams were never found ....... you might want to call the school and ask if other students are receiving their scores......the knowledge that no one had scores is what finally moved us towards a retest date......Dd had taken language exams which were only offered once or twice a year.

I don’t think I would in most cases.......remember I raised my kids in a country where they weren’t supposed to be left alone at all until one of them was 14 (I think.....could be 13) when I was being paid to babysit infants at 10. It isn’t always followed but as a home educator I followed that law even though we have always had great neighbors. Central location. Buses.......... In this case my biggest hesitation would be he just started attending a new school. You don’t know his new friends or who might be his friend in October. He just has to mention having your isolated house to himself for the weekend for things to get out of control for the kid. Get your sis involved. Have him spend the night at her house and hang out with her family some. That way you go go and enjoy yourself!

I forgot to mention a couple of finishes for last week that might be of interest....... The Rosie Result https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42940508-the-rosie-result which is the third book in the Don Tillman/Rosie Project series. I was not a fan of the second book although I adored the first, that adoration forced me to give the third book a try. I have to say I enjoyed it.......honestly you could probably skip the second. 😉 The Black Shepherdhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44140356-the-black-shepherd this book is set partially in Estonia.......need I say more? Brexit Special 10X10 category almost done! Seriously this book is apparently part of a larger series which I did not realize in my Estonia excitement until I was part way through. Not for everyone, it’s gritty dealing with dark prostitution/ underage issues. That said I might read another in the series at some point.

Thank you for posting this. I will definitely be reading it. Also I went over to you blog and it is really well done.👏 I have been busy exploring Robin’s links. They are particularly great this week as I love both Legal and Medical thrillers......I have found several new to me books and my lists and hold’s are overflowing (as usual, but I have great new stuff).😉 I have been reading my Fred Vargas (last month’s mystery author) very slowly and hope to finish it soon. I started a new release called Save Me from Dangerous Men and can’t make up my mind about it. On one hand the main character is a cool owner of a used bookstore with an encyclopedic knowledge of books which is so fun, on the other she is a violent, really excessively violent PI. Not sure if I will be picking this one back up. I have several other good books in my Kindle stack. Due to not wanting to read Save Me at bedtime I started my Faith Hunter reread last night. I had forgotten so many wonderful parts of Skinwalker and I am only a few pages in. One thing I particularly enjoy about paranormal urban fantasy worlds is the mythology which makes them and their world exist. This book just cracked me up because apparently the reason that witches and vampires are out of the main society is that Marilyn Monroe was one and attacked JFK! The Secret Service was forced to kill her........🤣 I have several audiobooks checked out including the first in this month’s detective series featuring Darko Dawson. I need to find time to listen.

This week’s topic on the Book a Week thread happens to be Medical and Legal Thrillers. I thought I would put a link here because a couple of the links @Robin M provided are particularly helpful imo https://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/691514-book-a-week-2019-bw37-52-books-bingo-medicallegal-thrillers/

Link to Week 36 https://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/691340-book-a-week-2019-bw36-whodunit-bookology-detective-darko-dawson/ Robin, I hope you feel better soon!

Robin has the flu and put the new thread up with a message for someone to link the threads........so I will give it a go but not in the pretty way. Please excuse my total lack of technical ability. I will happily delete later! Link to Week 37 https://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/691514-book-a-week-2019-bw37-52-books-bingo-medicallegal-thrillers/?tab=comments#comment-8455714

This event is starting this fall in our area https://www.mayflower400uk.org/events/. My scone eating friend loves to go to everything so I am sure she will find things for me to go to!

This week’s Brit Tripping....... I could title this how I spent my free time last summer.😂 Basically I hung out with one of my best friend’s eating way too many cheese scones and receiving texts from our son’s that said things like at mile 10 can’t get through, about an hour out. Our lads decided to explore local footpaths and we were acting as transportation who didn’t go home because the food and conversation were too good.😉 Ds and one of his friends decided to use old online footpath maps and design a continuous circular walk in north Nottinghamshire. That sounds easy if you have ever looked at a footpath map because they appear plentiful but many of the footpaths were no longer maintained so they spent a lot of time hunting for routes that worked where they weren’t somehow blocked either by time or on purpose. They had both a river and a canal to cross back and forth over which proved more complicated than expected when putting the final walk together. They preferred not to cross fields filled with cattle, pigs, etc. Sheep are generally fine btw. https://www.countryfile.com/go-outdoors/walks/britains-footpaths-why-are-so-many-disappearing-and-how-to-save-a-footpath/. Eventually they managed to create a 17.5 mile walk through some nature preserves and along portions of the Chesterfield canal where the footpaths were well maintained. Occasionally they had to carefully cut across farmer’s fields where footpaths existed. I found this YouTube which is part of the area they walked https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g0FjgQ-R_z4 and is interesting in terms of how the locks operate.....I just watched the first few minutes. Also this is the area where the Mayflower Pilgrims came from. Next summer I will eat less scones and collect some Pilgrim photos, I promise.

I grew up in a household where distant relatives dropped in for the week because my mom invited them after they arrived and were welcomed but Dh did not. He gets really uptight and over the years I have grown to prefer not having my routine messed with. 😉. In part home ed made me want to keep my blocks of school time in place.........oddly my in-laws were my most frequent drop ins for years and purposely picked during school because we were home and “free”. Which I think may be what changed my attitudes. I tend not to mind the drop in and drink a cuppa visitors in the U.K. because it seems to be how it is. I don’t normally drop in myself but can happily serve the tea and chat if I have to. It became easier when we moved and the kids had larger bedrooms and could hide upstairs and finish their work.

Sending prayers.........

I just finished a book that was chosen for Robin’s the Sound of Silence category on 52 books that I am using for one of my 10x10’s. Bonereaperhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13222292-bonereapers takes place in Norway’s https://www.croptrust.org/our-work/svalbard-global-seed-vault/ and I wasn’t sure what I was expecting beyond the cover stating it was “Norwegian Noir with an American twist”. The reality was the book was part of a mystery series that is more cozy than noir and I happily carried it around today and went to bed early in order to finish it. Great find and I have requested the rest of the series. Bonereapers is the third so I am out of order but think I will be fine. I ended up abandoning The Windsor Factionhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17654681-the-windsor-faction. The first couple of chapters were great then the alternate history part of the alternative history started messing with my mind. It took way too much concentration and I have several other alternate histories marked as to read that I will enjoy more. I listened to Donna Andrews latest in her Meg Langslow series. These always make me smile and I tend to reread this cozy series and am thrilled my library now has the audio on Overdrive. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41150387-terns-of-endearment

Sending hugs and prayers.........both to him and the rest of your family. I hope that previous experience will somehow make the whole experience easier.