I stayed up way to late last night and read With Every Letter by Sarah Sundin that Kareni recommended as a free Kindle book. I was okay. I am a sucker for books set during ww2 but for me there was a bit to much religion. I am considering buying the other books in the series though because I really liked the secondary characters and they are featured in those books so... (I'll be writing a longer review later)

Is the dialogue supposed to take up a whole page? If that is true I don't think any of my books pass it either. Although most of my books do have quite a bit of dialogue between two women, but I'm not sure they are longer sections.

In 2009 apparently, I thought it was more recent than that but no... My cousin credits my brother and David Eddings with turning her middle son into a reader. My brother introduced the boy to Eddings and now he is as a voracious reader as the rest of the family (not being a reader isn't really an option in my family...my grandmother could read two or three books a day once she retired)

*whispers* I started first grade in 1988 *sneaks off* Apart from children's books the authors that have been with me the longest are Anne McCaffrey and David Eddings, both who have passed away fairly recently.

Has anyone reported the fact that we can't multiquote?

Have you added the date you finished it? It will only show up in the challenge if you have a date in 2015 attached to it.

Since you are reading so many Narnia related books I though I would cautiously recommend The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia by Laura Miller. It is quite critical about the books and C. S. Lewis but I did think she had some interesting points.

Jane I was thinking about your son today as I read the first chapter in my book on Swedish history. The chapter went into great detail on how archeology has changed over the years and why it is necessary for 1) a whole new set of books on Swedish history, 2) why he won't be writing about "traditional" time periods and 3) how archeologists are really interested in other peoples trash. It was a very interesting chapter.

The past two weeks I have been GREAT at starting books...finishing...not so much. So my current reading looks like this: Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling The History of the Medieval World by Susan Wise Bauer Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death by James Runcie The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (audio book) Sveriges Historia 13000 f. Kr. - 600 e. Kr. by Stig Welinder The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery (phone book) And I should start reading one of the two flufferton books I want to read. And this week is another dozy of a week at work. Thank heavens I am off a week for winter break at the end of the month. Read this year looks like this: 1. The Child Catchers by Kathryn Joyce 2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling 3. The Understatement of the Year by Sarina Bowen 4. The Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen 5. The Year We Hid Away by Sarina Bowen 6. Blond Date by Sarina Bowen 7. A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift 8. Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson 9. After the War is Over by Jennifer Robson

There was also wine. ;) And chocolate deserts. In some respects I live in the most awesome place in the world. Because not only does our hardware store do the above, I also have one of the best Indy bookstores in the country in town. The only thing that would make me declare it as the best place in the world would be if the indy also had a coffee shop attached. :)

I had the BEST quesadilla on Thursday. The local hardware store had a girls night and one of the foods they had was quesadilla with some sort of hard cheese (I would guess gouda), goats cheese, spinach, garlic, and chilies. My friends and I could not stop eating them. Soooooo good. I haven't read much lately but, inspired by you ladies and your Zentangles, I picked up Secret Garden: 20 Postcards at my local indy today. It isn't zentangling but it is colouring which works better for me right now. I also picked up two books at the library. I will probably be buying them in the future but I wanted to check them out first. They are two history books to go with our HoMW reading but these are Swedish History books. One goes from 13000BC to 600AD and the other one goes from 600AD to 1350AD. So spanning before and after HoMW but I thought it would be good. They aren't necessarily chronological but more thematic. I have a later book in the series and that is built up in a similar way. They do tend to be chronological within the themes.

My orchids are very happy plants. I water them every 2-3 weeks by filling the outer pot to the brim with water and let them sit and soak for an hour or two then I lift the inner pot out and pour the water from the outer pot over the dirt and then let it drain. I give it regular plant food from May-October when I water it, just a couple of drops in the water. Nothing the other months. From May-October they all live in North facing windows. The other months some of them get to live in south facing rooms. Orchids do best with benign neglect.

Thanks Jane for the Grantchester rec. Just the type of book I want to read now.

I finished reading After the War is Over by Jennifer Robson last night. Another good book about the aftermath of the war. I did think the resolution was quite odd though. It was very much a whip lash ending.

I had a wait today so I downloaded The Blue Castle on to my phone. So far so good. I do have to say one thing I like about smartphones is that I always have a book in my pocket.

I read chapters 5 and 6 in HoMW. Yesterday while browsing Amazon I found an interesting looking book and then I was up until 1am reading it. I finished it today. Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson. I've started the second book in the "series" After the War is Over. The first book is a love story set during the First World War. It is very good. I've also read some chapters in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Band of Brothers. It's been a busy week at work and most days I am ready to sleep by 8pm and this week looks like it will be just as insane. Then, hopefully it calms down a bit, if nothing else because I need to catch up on my marking.

I too am an Elinor, although I'll admit that when I was younger I was probably more of a Catherine. I wonder if it changes as we grow and mature?

Yeah I won't be using my credit on any of the books as the credit costs more than the books in the sale :) And I definitely won't use it on a book I didn't finish in High school and then lied my way through the discussions ;) (And this was pre-wikipedia so I couldn't even do what I did in grad school for my pop-lit class when we had to read Carrie and look up what happened on the 'net :lol: ) But there are a few books I probably will be buying, seeing how Tuesday is pay-day and all :)

As we have been talking Hemingway, Audible has For Whom The Bell Tolls on sale And there are quite a few other interesting looking books in the sale

Nope :001_smile: I'm attempting Wuthering Heights for the first time but I might have to also re-read Northanger Abbey

Jane: "For me Dickens is not "hard" but, as VC notes in a post I quote below, he fails to get to the point. Which is why I prefer my Dickens as multi-episodic Masterpiece Theater productions." Oh. Dear. God. Yes. I couldn't get through Hard Times until I had seen the BBC series. But I am going to partially disagree with you on Hemingway. I HATED For Whom The Bell Tolls (although it did make me a fan of John Donne's poem so not a complete disaster) but I really like "Hills Like White Elephants" although I wish I could read it for the first time many times. Northanger Abbey is my favourite Austen, actually it is one of my all time favourite books. It is so deliciously snarky. I usually cop out and have my students watch the movie but the book is fantastic. My least favourite is Emma but I really like the mini-series with Romola Garai. I do remember liking Mansfield Park but now you all are making me wonder if I miss-remember :confused1: This has been a loooooooong week so I haven't read much. Hoping to remedy that over the weekend.

When I was in high school we had to read several classics and I didn't like many of them while reading. However when we discussed them in class I liked several of them, some even became favorite books of mine. I absolutely agree that reading is a social act. One of the things I love about these threads is the insights into books I gain.

Beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

The Colour of Magic is one of my least favorite Pratchett. Try the Death books. They are hilarious. I am a particular fan of The Death of Rats AKA The Grim Squeeker.

Please let me know where the thoughts take you. tomorrow my seniors are going to discuss how knowing about an author can impact how we view satire. But it is also interesting to know how the difference between being amused and being changed by the satire. Do we choose satire that agrees with what we believe or do we search for satire that changes us?