Yep, a wonderful, safe country. My ds is a teacher in Japan, and while it has crossed his mind that he is close to North Korea, he thinks it is a great place to be.

For your armchair travel enjoyment today, here is a hostel in Kyoto designed just for bibliophiles. Check out the photos -- it looks so very, very cozy, but according to the text in English, don't expect it to be comfortable :laugh: Book and Bed Kyoto

Add me to the list of people for whom multi-quote doesn't work. Let's see if I can remember everything I wanted to comment on. Aggieamy -- tech week and performances of school productions are indeed exhausting! AND they are a fertile petri-dish for whatever virus is circulating town. I'm no longer a stage mom, but a free lance musician in the orchestra pit who is in numerous productions each year. I just finished a production at a high school and am now battling "pit plague" from all the teachers and students coughing and sneezing all around me. Kolaches -- An upcoming road trip will be taking dh and me across the great state of Texas, and I've added kolaches to my list of things to eat on the road. Will gladly accept other recommendations, btw. Thanks to Negin and Mumto2 I've got 2 more titles on my Kindle, Belgravia and Lucifer's Tears. As far as my own reading, a couple of very different books. Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche by Haruki Murakami was a very compelling book. (Thank you, Stacia!) It is a collection of short bios and interviews with survivors of the sarin gas poison unleashed on the Tokyo subway system by members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult followed by some interviews with members of the cult who were not part of the attack. In between there is thoughtful and insightful commentary by Murakami. It is a snapshot of Japanese society with its deeply cultural work ethic and sense of duty, and at the same time a very personal piece of work by an author who feels himself an outsider in his own country. I find myself becoming a fan girl, especially after reading this 2011 piece from the New York Times Magazine. The Fierce Imagination of Haruki Murakami The other book I read last week annoyed me to no end. Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead is about a professional ballerina who becomes pregnant and leaves the ballet world while she is still a young dancer in the corp de ballet. I thought the premise was promising, but it was a disappointing rehash of the movie The Turning Point with characters that were thinly veiled versions of real people from the 1970s era of New York City Ballet. It was one of those modern works of fiction advertised with blurbs about "shocking revelations" or "explosive secrets". Meh. Saw the "shocking revelation" coming from a mile away and really didn't care about any of the characters. The Invisible LIbrary by Genevieve Cogman finally arrived on hold at the library. I know a few of you have read it already and I'm looking forward to it!

Finally have a few minutes to stop by and say hi. Idnib, I finished We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and it is not the traumatic experience that The Lottery was when we were young. It is certainly disturbing, but very compelling and beautifully written. And it is short! My current car audiobook is Hard Country by Michael McGarrity, which I found on the "1st in a series" sale at Audible. It's a western set in New Mexico, and I'm just loving hearing familiar place names and the author's ideas of what they were like in the late 1800s.

That should inspire me to keep my "currently reading" up to date! I have a lovely non-fiction book, Meadowland, that is has been listed as "currently reading" for a year now! And I need to mentally match more goodreads user names with BaW names as I'm not entirely sure who everyone is (and I only have a whopping 11 goodreads friends, lol!)

Someone had posted the link to yoga in kilts -- here's a BBC article about the young Scottish lads behind the video. I, too, started laughing pretty hard when it first came across my social media feed -- there was too much WTM context to explain the hilarity to my dh, so I didn't even bother.

:hurray: and :grouphug: Thank you for sharing -- what an amazing young lady, Heather! She is warm, perky and brave to put herself out there. And extraordinary to get her black belt and to continue training when she is fighting chronic illness.

I read this in high school and just loved it. It is an uncannily prescient book in many ways. Ooooh -- added a few titles to my want to read stack at goodreads, and was amused to see Rose/Chrysalis Academy had marked the same titles. :grouphug: Awww, Nan. Sometimes sleeping through books is a great kind of recuperative therapy. Some of my favorite comfort listens are discworld titles read by Stephen Briggs. I finished Slow Horses last night, a solid thriller, and quite timely, featuring a group of discredited MI-5 agents. It doesn't quite measure up to Alan Furst, but I'd definitely read the next in the series. The biggest annoyance was the kindle formatting. The point of view of the story jumps around and all too often there wasn't a nice empty space between paragraphs to warn me that we were cutting to a different scene. I'm still enjoying Niall Ferguson's Civilization on audio, and just started Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Many of you read it and talked about it last year, so I'm a little late the to the party. I'm only a chapter into the book and I'm already drawn into the story. I was traumatized at a young age by The Lottery, so have always been leery of reading anything of Jackson's, but too many rave reviews of this book convinced me to try it.

I highly recommend Hyperion, probably the best sci fi novel I've ever read. Best of all it is part of the First-in-a-Series sale at Audible, and it is an excellent listen! Hyperion is The Canterbury Tales in space. There are none of the familiar space tropes -- no evil aliens keen on conquering all, no wise-cracking heros nor earnest young heros realizing their destiny. It is seven pilgrims, for lack of a better word, each telling their stories as they are en route to the planet Hyperion to face something called The Shrike. It is profound and absorbing and unlike anything else I've read in the genre.

Right?! Now I'm excited for you to get to my favorite of the series, Prisoner of Azkaban. Harry Potter was such a huge part of our homeschool life. Did I ever tell y'all that my oldest met his best friend in a theater class where they put on a play based on the first book? My red headed ds played Ron and his friend played Harry. The two of them went to Wizarding World in Florida last year and while riding the Hogwarts Express there play acted the trip to Hogwarts from the first book! :laugh:

I read that book a few years ago, really loved it and am glad someone else I know has now read it! Don't remember the two out of place scenes, just that it was quirky and fun.

Oh goodness -- been there done that, only it was my nose and shoulder. Hope it doesn't make it too hard to eat -- that would add insult to injury! Hoping everyone with creeping crud recovers quickly. And another welcome to Happy as she joins our fun group of book lovers.

Patrick Rothfuss is a really slow writer. REALLY slow, and sidetracked by everything else he does. He very much enjoys being Patrick Rothfuss, going to conventions and store signings, running his huge World Builders fundraising project every autumn for Heifer International, creating table top games and playing and filming epic D&D games with other geek celebrities. So yeah -- it is going to take ages for that last book to come out. In the meantime, you should try to catch him at a live event sometime because he is a fabulous and very funny story teller. to a you tube clip of him reading a story from his days on the college newspaper about the time he tried to prove his guinea pigs were actually fish. I really loved The Slow Regard of Silent Things, but it is a very different book from the main series. It is slow -- nothing much happens -- but the prose is lovely and poetic and you just inhabit her world for a short bit of time. I liked Auri, but I most of all love the current, present-day Kvothe, wish to learn more about him. Not sure how the 3rd book is supposed to get us there!

Chasing the Phoenix was one of the oddest books I've read. It is a light, breezy, irreverent tale of 2 con men, one a genetically modified half dog/half human, running a long-con in a post-apocalyptic China. It is smartly written with bits of Chinese poetry thrown in, some Tennyson and Shakespeare too, and there were some lovely passages of writing. The characters have appeared in other titles by the author, Michael Swanwick, titles which apparently won Hugo and/or Nebula awards. But I didn't love it, can't think of anyone I'd recommend it to. It was weird sci-fi fluff, I guess, like a snack food that is fun while it lasts but leaves you still hungry. Still listening to and enjoying Civilization by Niall Ferguson. And from the "dusty" stacks on my kindle I have started Slow Horses, the first in a series of espionage thrillers about a group of disgraced Mi5 agents sent to do grunt work at building called Slough House. Only 2 chapters in and I'm liking it!

Ds #1 knew when he was 11 or 12 that he wanted to work at Disneyland as an Imagineer. Discovered a love and gift for theatrical lighting design in high school, got his B.S. in Show Production (lighting and sound) and has been working at Disney for 3+ years as primarily a lighting guy though he does sound too. Ds#2 only knew he wanted to major in science, either physics or chemistry. Discovered geology freshman year, majored in that and minored in math, graduated with honors. He is taking a few years to explore the world before heading to grad school in geology. He is currently teaching English in Japan.

My latest book is another chosen directly or indirectly because it is related to East Asia. I saw the cover, read the blurb and thought, "sure, why not?" It is Chasing the Phoenix by MIchael Swanwick, about 2 con men (one a genetically modified half dog/half human) in a post apocalyptic world who through a long-con inadvertently bring about the reunification of China. I'm 40 pages into it and don't know quite what to think, though admittedly have enjoyed what I've read so far. Tongue in cheek sci-fi is a tough sub genre to pull off, but the reviews on Goodreads are mostly positive. Chasing the Phoenix by Michael Swanwick

I'm smiling at everyone describing how their reading tastes, interests and knowledge sets them apart. I have to share this quote from Will Schwalbe in The End of Your Life Book Club: That's us. The League of Casually Promiscuous and Whimsical Readers. :laugh: I did find a new book buddy in my group of quilting friends. She loves genre literature as much as I do and we make pilgrimages to the local indie genre bookshop. Not sure yet how much our tastes match, but its fun to shop with a like minded friend.

What terrific minimalist reviews. I now want a copy of Victory with an Edward Gorey cover.

Someone else must have loved that book because I already have it marked as "want to read" on Goodreads. I need a shelf labeled "Recommended more than once on Book a Week. Just read it already!" And then it needs to nudge me periodically to look for that title. Speaking of books and movies...we saw, and laughed our way through, the Lego Batman movie a couple days ago. It pays homage to several of the comic book iterations of Batman, as well as the all the move versions. I'm thinking this Lego Batman is the only Batman you really need in life! Not as much reading accomplished last week. No illness or family issues here, just drama from my quilt guild -- I kid you not! All is well once again in the land of middle aged and retired ladies who deal in fabric and batting, so I can continue with my reading life now. Though, funny story, I was recently at lunch with a small group of quilters, and said I was looking forward to an afternoon of reading. And when they asked "oh, what are you reading?" I tried to describe By Gaslight. I made the mistake of saying that I had originally thought it might be steampunk -- and I lost them with that word. Had to explain steampunk, had to explain my love of genre literature. I got the dismissive "oh, like Star Trek" comment and they changed the subject! I am now tainted as one of those people, lol, someone who reads all that weird stuff! I swear -- next to my peers, white, middle aged women -- I am a huge geek. Once a year among the throngs at comic-con, though, I'm just a clueless, un-hip suburban mom. I did finish the third in the Rivers of London series, Whispers Underground. It's the third book since Christmas that has drawn me literally under the streets of London and into the sewers -- Neverwhere, By Gaslight and now Whispers Underground. I am continuing to enjoy this Rivers of London series -- they are a good, quick read in between meatier books. I may never finish A Man Called Ove. Just cannot bring myself to listen to any more of it. And I'm now questioning the character of a few long time friends who raved about Ove and hated LaLaLand. This may be a tougher dividing line to cross than politics, lol!! My dh and I have been listening to Niall Ferguson's Civilization, a world history that attempts to cover, in an engaging, conversational manner, the reasons for the rise and dominance of Western Europe. I'm enjoying it so far as he is touching on questions that I had to tackle as an ungrad and grad student in Asian Studies classes -- why did China, a rich, technologically advanced empire, slowly stagnate, close its doors and fade while the West exploded with the Enlightenment, and trade and all the rest? He makes a good case for his answers, so far at least. I'm thinking I'd like to read his Ascent of Money about the evolution of finance, and to round things off by finally getting to Guns, Germs and Steel.

I don't want to wade into the other discussions on this thread, just want to say that my son's experience with The College of Wooster was exceptional. It was the perfect place for him, full of amazing opportunities that stretched him and challenged him, and full of quirky kids that he connected with. Another long time WTM kid is also a Wooster alum, and I know at least one other WTM kid started there, but the mom seems to have quietly slipped away from the forums. What was special about the school? You mean other than the bagpipers and black squirrels?! Like other small schools it has a very close knit community. The small departments mean that students are closely mentored. My ds started doing paid research before the end of his freshman semester, traveled for field research each of the 3 summers he was there. He was a TA and a peer tutor. He traveled and presented posters at professional meetings in his sophomore and senior years. The amount of writing and the high stakes senior capstone project really challenged him. Unlike most other colleges, that capstone project is required for graduation and if you don't successfully complete it, you don't graduate. Students are mentored all the way, so you'd think they wouldn't fall through the cracks, but a couple of my son's friends didn't graduate simply because their capstone project wasn't up to snuff. (An expensive lesson to learn -- I think the school offers a discounted tuition for kids who have to revise their projects.) Actually, my ds thought Wooster was the perfect school for really smart, intellectually curious students who are not cut out for the competitive environment of Ivy league or other prestigious schools. Or weren't cut out for the high stakes college admission process for the big name schools. The quality of the education was high, and the graduation stakes very real, but it was a nurturing, engaging place to be. The professors all do research, and all publish and are well connected in their fields, but they truly love to teach. To me it was the perfect step after homeschooling, with challenging classes and mentors who were as fully vested in his education as I was. One of his professors told me at graduation that he stood out in her freshman seminar class, and she actually wrote a note on his first midterm, "Have you considered this as your major?" I loved that they saw his potential and pushed him along. His professors created classes for him because he had finished everything else that was offered. They encouraged him to polish his research and submit it to an academic journal, but he just couldn't push himself to do more than he already was doing. Now that he has graduated he still corresponds with his professors, and knows they will advocate for him when he is ready to apply for grad school. I know he would like to be a professor at a small, liberal arts college one day. He is currently teaching English in Japan, at a high school, and watching his students as they face their own college admissions process in the next few weeks. My ds didn't do any of the organized clubs other than the club for his major. BUT he had a large, close knit group of friends and they played lots of D&D through the 4 years, and binge watched tv together, or played board games. They traveled together on breaks -- hiked part of the Appalachian Trail.

:party: Wonderful news! But of course none of us are really surprised, knowing that the fine folk at Berkeley would clearly see what a great ds you have!

I loved End of Your Life Book Club. Just seeing the title takes me back to the book and how much it resonated with me, how much a part of my relationship with my kids, even now that they are adults, is wrapped around the books we share. Will have to get my hands on Books for Living! I see on Goodreads that Lady Florida gave In the Shadow of the Banyan 5 stars a few years back. Clearly this is another book I must read!

First of all, hats off to you, Angela, for sticking with us throughout your stressful, busy year!! You add so much to the conversation. And most importantly, a warm happy 1st birthday to little Abby from all her honorary aunties here at BaW!!! :party:

Well, the rest of you can read this afternoon -- I'll be sipping cold beer and eating nachos in front of the tv with dh! I may not last the entire game, but do enjoy watching football once in a while. Go Falcons! I'm listening to A Man Called Ove, and clearly I'm a curmudgeonly old lady because I don't find it charming. Bits of it have touched me, but I'm annoyed with how predictable it is, and how I know there is going to be some lovely, pat, feel good ending. Actually, what really annoyed me was having Ove, at age 59, being described as elderly. That isn't old!! I'm only finishing it to fill in a space on my library system's reading challenge. My other book-in-progress this weekend is the third in the Rivers of London series, Whispers Underground. ETA: About finding things to do other than watching the Super Bowl.... Apparently half of Southern California thought it would be a great afternoon to go to Disneyland, everyone thinking it would be empty because of the game. My ds just got to work and said the place is PACKED!

Lobscouse and Spotted Dog, which is the source of the hardtack recipe in the link, is full of delightful recipes, all from the Master and Commander series. You'd think I would have tried my hand at some of them, being such a fan girl and all, but I'm much, much happier (as is my dh) reading about the attempts made by others!! Thank you for the link, Kareni!!