I'm sorry for your loss, Prairie, Song. Based on the brief bio you provided on the other thread, he sounds like he was an amazing man. :grouphug: And I'm sorry you are in the midst of the worst fog of a head cold, Robin. Wishing you a quick recovery! Ah, memories. The Image anniversary is just a few days after my oldest's birthday. It was a heady time, 25 years ago. We were new parents when my dh joined with his close friends at his art studio to leave Marvel and make this new imprint, Image, work. There's actually a documentary about it, The Image Revolution, which has several interviews with my dh. 25 years ago Image mostly did super hero stuff, not the artsy graphic novels highlighted in that link.

I'm another one who has fond memories of eating brown bread and baked beans, but as my mom defiantly refused to spend too much time in the kitchen, both came from a can! Stacia, I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it as, according to my Alabama raised mother, it is a New England staple. She developed a taste for it during my parent's poor-college-student days in Boston. I would like to add that I want a time machine so that I can travel back, as a little girl, to spend a long winter's afternoon with little girl Shurkriyya and her siblings.

About Norwegian Wood.... The book resonated with me on a deeply personal level. I think it is a tribute to Murakami's literary prowess that he can write with profound insight about something too often handled with simplistic cliches. I keep writing to expand on this, but deleting as it either sounds too trite or is more than I want to share. Suffice it to say that the book captures the fog of being 17 or 18, trying at once to cope with grief and a sudden, profound understanding of death, while also trying to navigate the business of growing up and navigating college. I think this review from the Guardian does a much, much better job of defending the literary merits of Norwegian Wood than I ever could: Winter Reads: Norwegian Wood

Stayed up late to finish By Gaslight. What a satisfying book. Beautifully written, complex, well paced, great characters, good plot. While I was in bed with a nasty head cold over the weekend I re-listened to a chunk of The Truth, one of my favorite Pratchetts. I love Otto the vampire! The book seemed very timely, too, more so now than other times I've listened to it Why yes, but let me get some coffee and eat breakfast first....

Thank you for linking the edition you got. Did you get the .99 kindle version?s

No illustrations in my kindle edition, and I'm not seeing holes where an illustration should be. I'll be curious if you think the illustrations add anything to your reading pleasure :D

Just realized I hadn't included this in my massive multi-quote post. Jane, I will happily read any mystery/procedural you recommend! Thank you for thinking of me. :001_smile: Also, just finished the balloon section of By Gaslight, then read the article you had linked about the real balloons in the Civil War, something I had never heard of before. The section seemed somewhat random within the flow of the book, but this author is purposeful in his story telling, so perhaps the significance will be revealed in the next 300 pages. And Shukriya -- lol about finding your library book buried in a stack of books. :D

I finished 9 books in January, a record pace for me. Doubt I can keep it up for the rest of the year but it's been fun! Strange Library by Haruki Murakami Strange Shores by Arnaldur Inridason Cotillion by Georgette Heyer A Hundred Days by Patrick O'Brian Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki Snow Angel by James Thompson Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold And I'm half way through By Gaslight by Steven Price. Should we discuss Norwegian Wood tomorrow then?

I'm ready to talk Norwegian Wood. Am I the only person who loved it? About Three Men in a Boat: Kathy -- I seem to have also "purchased" this in 2013 but never read it. Just downloaded it onto my Paperwhite. Another who would love to see the Green Man pattern. And Miss Seeton sounds like something I'd enjoy -- just added the 1st to my Kindle queue. And another Kindle addition this afternoon. I've been re-listening to My Family and Other Animals and just love how Gerald Durrell writes about his brother. I've been wanting to read Lawrence for a while now, and was dismayed at how few titles were in my library system. This sounds really good. This sounds like fun! I loved the Netflix series The Crown about the early days of the current queen, but am not loving the Masterpiece series on Victoria.

I was thinking about all the talk earlier in the thread about whether or not you visualize what you are reading. I visualize, am there in the scene, and had to share my experience reading Snow Angels, the mystery set in the far north of Finland. It is set in the deep of winter, and as it is above the arctic circle there is no sun. The detective would be out driving to interview someone at 2 in the afternoon and I automatically was picturing him driving through lots of snow and ice, but the scene in my head was lit because it is sunny at 2 in the afternoon. Then there would be a sentence about the dark, or the clear sky and all the stars, and I'd remember, oh year, it is winter above the arctic circle. I'd mentally have to flick a switch and change the scene to dark! Now in By Gaslight I don't have that trouble because the fog is almost literally dripping off the page! Stacia, I'm glad your friend (co-worker?) liked Jar City. I didn't love Snow Angels, however. The initial mystery itself was good, and the characters good, but the mystery got a little contrived as the bodies started piling up, and I didn't like how the writer set up the climax -- it wasn't believable. It had enough good, though, to warrant giving another title in the series a try. I also finished a fluffy sci-fi soap opera, Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. This is another that wasn't great but good enough that I'm curious to see if the series gets any better as it goes along. On the other hand there is lots of sci fi and fantasy that I haven't read, and my audible credits might be better used on those...

In honor of Burns Night, here is a fascinating article about Robert Burns, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Robert Burns and the Fight to End Slavery

Isn't every day a reading day?! This musician isn't wowed by that list of books about classical music. If you are already interested in the music, then some of those books would make good reference material but otherwise that list is taking a thing of joy and beauty and treating it as if it is dry and tedious -- a persistent stereotype that is eroding its audience. There were a couple of works of fiction that might be fun, but overall as a list for general readers --- blech! I've got a link to share for all you fans of audio books. From Sunday's Los Angeles Times: Bringing audiobooks to life in the Valley

I automatically clicked like, but please think of it instead as a long distance hug. I agree any Jeeves might be a fun cheer up book. My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell is a delightful book -- leaves me chuckling. And you can't go wrong with a Discworld book. Hoping you discover another path to achieving your long term plan, or perhaps a different, equally brilliant plan will become apparent. Hugs in the meantime as you weather the setback. :grouphug:

The thing that struck me about Southern California when we first moved here was how transient it felt. Almost nobody I met was actually from the area -- everyone had relocated here and would probably be moving on at some point. Part of it was the area of town we lived in, part of it is that San Diego is a big Navy town with families coming and going. The housing booms and busts have meant that people are always looking to move to a newer, bigger house. And buildings, both residential and commercial, are constantly being remodeled, or rebuilt or redeveloped. It took forever for me to have a sense of place here -- to feel like it was home. Interestingly now that I do have a sense of place here and feel like it is home, lots of people I know are retiring and leaving, either due to the high cost of living or simply to be close to grandchildren. I've watched several East Coast people fail to adapt to Southern California. After spending a couple of years complaining and criticizing everything, they give up and head back home to someplace East. True, we don't know how to drive in the rain -- but we are so very laid back, what's not to love? At least south of Orange County your waiter or barrista isn't an aspiring actor!! OMG -- it is quite something how true that stereotype can be! Onto this week's reading. I finished Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time, and just loved it. The forgotten 5th horseman of the apocalypse, Chaos, makes an appearance when time come to a full stop. :lol: I also finished my other book about time, Ruth Ozeki's A Tale for the Time Being. A definite mixed bag of a book. I loved so much about it, except it also annoyed the hell out of me! She seemed to want to cram everything into this book, as if it would somehow make the book Important with a capital "I". I thought the diary of the girl in Japan was terrific. Her voice was spot-on. I loved the Buddhist nun- great grandmother. I loved the characters of the couple in British Columbia who found and read the diary. What I found to be too much was packing in everything else from 9/11 tp Quantum Mechanics (I especially found that an awkward add on and a tad pretentious) to the extra violent school bullying. It brought to mind a quote of Lao Tze who said that governing a country was like cooking a small fish -- meaning you need a gentle touch. I kept thinking that advice should be given to an author writing a complex book. Don't over do it! By Gaslight got set aside for a few days. Interesting what strong reactions that book elicits! Put me in the column of loving the atmosphere and details -- to me it is like good world building found in better sci fi or fantasy. I'm also enjoying Snow Angels by James Thompson, the mystery set in Finland which Stacia mentioned last week. It is a perfect, quick mystery in between all these more hefty tomes.

A statistic I'll have to report at the end of the year is the number of books read thanks to Stacia. The stack of your recommendations is teetering! Snow Angels was available on Overdrive, so now it's on my kindle and it's due in 3 weeks. Aaack! I'm just past the half way point of Tale for a Time Being and haven't made any progress on By Gaslight since Sunday, I think. Life -- all good and wonderful stuff -- keeps getting in the way of reading.

I vote Mom-ninja for BaW personal trainer. I figured I had better finish my 20 minutes of yoga before checking in on the board! If I had started reading without having done something exercise related I would have had so much guilt -- especially after eating the entire plate last night of cheese ravioli in a garlic cream sauce with prosciutto! What do you suppose the physiological benefits are to playing viola in a quartet for 90 minutes? I always work up a sweat -- that thing is heavy!

I LOVED the Artemis Fowl books! I read them aloud to my youngest ds, even though he was old enough to read them on his own. Sure there is a gaseous dwarf but what do you expect from someone who has to unhinge his jaw so he can chew a tunnel through earth? My ds and I were bigger fans of the young criminal mastermind himself, Artemis, and of his nemesis Holly the captain of the fairy police. Artemis at least changes and grows as a character throughout the series, so there is that redeeming quality. It is never on the level of Harry Potter, nor does it aims to be, It is just good tween fun.

I'm a violinist who is good friends with the organist at church. Over the years we have searched for and found almost everything ever written for organ and violin or organ and violin/cello, even organ and string quartet. Our congregation is rather spoiled when it comes to chamber music ;) .

The one Dalgliesh mystery I read was Shroud for a Nightingale, and I remember wishing the book had more of him, more of the detecting and solving of the mystery. It's funny that I didn't really like it because the hospital and the nurses in training have stayed clear in my mind. One of the benchmarks for me of a good book is if it stays with me, and clearly much of that book did stay with me! ETA I also enjoyed the collection of stories in Mistletoe Murders. At least one of those was a Dalgliesh story, wasn't it?

And I'm loving the writing. It took a few pages to get used to the lack of quotation marks for dialog, but I'm finding it very atmospheric, drawing me into the setting in an immersive, visceral way. I like the repeated imagery throughout a section, the subtle means the author uses to set the scene and the mood.

Rose -- I also really liked Death Comes to Pemberley and agree with your assessment of why it got such negative reviews. I liked the mystery and how all the characters were treated -- it felt right. I may have to reread it! I haven't loved the other one or two PD James mysteries I've tried -- do you have a favorite I should try? My current reading seems to be guided by Stacia, and it is proving a good thing! I'm half way through A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki and about 100 pages (or 1/7th) of the way through By Gaslight. I finished The Hundred Days by Patrick O'Brian. It is the 19th book in the Master and Commander series, and I would say that the series peaked about 5 books ago. I certainly enjoyed it, but it wasn't as compelling a story as previous entries. I've only got the last one left (well, and the 2nd entry which I had skipped), but will save it for later in the year. I'm enjoying a re-listen to Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time, but it is slow going because I'm listening at bed time and keep falling asleep! It has meant lots of rewinding every night to figure out where to start again.

We absolutely loved it. I loved that it was a peaceful and quiet retreat from the madness of the resort. I didn't mind the long bus route as it was a bus dedicated to just the lodge (and maybe one other hotel?) so the line to get on the bus at the end of the day wasn't huge and you could get on the first bus that came. I loved watching the animals from the room balcony, though we also stayed in a non-view room one time, which was fine, too. I loved that there were bunk beds in the room for our boys!! I loved the really unique activities in the hotel. There were night vision binoculars that we got to use while an animal caregiver gave a talk. There are nightly (or at least frequent) talks given by Lodge cast members about their home countries. Almost everyone working at the lodge is from Africa. We attended a couple of talks, one of which was by a gentleman from Uganda who was one of the first cast members to come from there. He showed slides of his home town on Lake Victoria, and talked about fishing on the lake as a child with his father. At the time I had middle school or late elementary students, and to me it was like a little homeschooling add on. For younger kids there are crafts and parades with African instruments. I'd say if you have animal lovers in the family, it is a no-brainer. It is expensive, and if it is out of your budget, you can always ride the bus out there in the afternoon, enjoy the animals, evening activities and have dinner, then take the bus back to your hotel, assuming you are staying within the resort.

Hey Janice, Another long timer here (though you may not recognize my name as I was mostly a lurker back in the early days and format of the forums) happy to see your update. Our church music director is a proud St Olaf grad and she is proof of the excellent music program there. And as a busy church musician myself I'm always happy -- thrilled -- to see someone perfecting that grand instrument! And how cool that your ds is a sound engineer. My oldest ds is a lighting guy who works crazy hours sometimes, too.

Awwww!! Thank you for sharing this. We had to wait and wait and wait for Order of the Phoenix to get written. Our first midnight Harry Potter release party was for Order of the Phoenix. We read the first chapter aloud together when we got home, then the kids read it on their own after that. It was kind of sad to have them reading it on their own as dh and I read aloud the first 4. My poor 9 yo ds came to me so very, very sad early on in reading the book. "Mom," he said. "I think JK Rowling has forgotten how to write fun books." It's been fun hearing their reactions to the series as they've re-read them as young adults, how much they appreciate the way the characters grow. And I must admit to loving the sound of an owl at night!! Never thought about having an owl arrive for their 11th birthdays! When I first read the book I was horrified that any parent would be ok with their child heading to boarding school at age 11. When my oldest turned 11, however, it suddenly seemed like a brilliant plan!!

I listened to this over the summer -- and abandoned it about half way through. It might be a better read in print but honestly, I never cared enough to find a print version and finish it. I seem to recall that it was the jumping into the back stories that finally did me in. I really wanted to like it as I'm a Die Hard fan, too. I'll be curious what you think.