Waving hello from the land of taxes. Working on quarterlies for the business, and annual so we can refinance our SBA Loan. Talked to my dad who once again got scammed, fake Microsoft computer lock up. He was scammed last year. The lesson didn’t take. Had a delicate conversation about taking over finances and helping him with stuff. His response, you mean because I’m old. (He’s 91) Mine – No, because there is no need to think you have to take care of things all by yourself. So frustrating. He’s so independent and full of pride and feeling quite stupid at the moment. Decided we’d visit him next week to ‘assist’ him which he is now looking forward too. I told him we haven’t taken a vacation in three years and besides we wanted to test drive the Dodge on all those wonderful highways and byways. LOL! @mumto2 How's your wrist. All those short stories work well with this week's brevity @karen1Thanks for all the wonderful links. @bookbard -- Good question, children's books with adults as main characters. I'll have to give that some thought. @AurieD After reading Wheel of Time, I'm looking forward to reading Sanderson's the Way of Kings. @Jenny in Florida Glad you enjoyed the Victorian book. Look forward to what you think of Brene Brown's book. I have her on my wishlist. @PaulainTx That's one of Agatha Christie's I haven't read yet. Next up for me is the Man in the Brown Suit. @VickiMNE Hope you feel better soon. @Maus Lots of interesting audible books. I enjoyed 39 steps too! @Vintage81 I enjoyed Dawn by Butler a couple years back. Have been meaning to read more by her. I have yet to read Name of the Wind. The synopsis didn't appeal to me for some reason. Glad to know it may not be worth my while. @bookbardand @Vintage81 I love fantasy a well but not all fantasy loves me. Totally depends on the story, writer, and characters. @scholarly Loved the Borrowers way back when. Never could get my son interested though. I'm glad you all enjoyed it. @bookbard Yes, Wayward Children was definitely different. I read the first one and decided I'd stick with her October daye series.

Eating my dinner at work and browsing the internet. Fell into this article on Dame - Have We Forgotten How to Read Critically and I was reminded of a conversation I just had with my son about authors, video games writers, comic book writers and how once something is published, that isn't the time to argue with them about how it's written and how you think it should be changed. Lot of conversations online these days from Authors I follow who have people emailing them, questioning their choices, their writing. Then you have the ones who don't understand or want to cancel all the dead authors because the language may be discomforting. Okay, getting off my soap box. All this to say it is an interesting, thoughtful article. Another one I enjoyed: A Year in Reading the Backlist. Nearly 1 in 3 Americans are Reading Ebooks. As one of those who has discovered I've been reading more ebooks (because they are so easy to get) over the wonderful chunky and dusty physical books on my shelves, I have yet to start an ebook this year. I know we're only a week in, but I find myself wanting that tactical experience, relaxing with a real book, absorbing the story, and enjoy not having the urge to flip over to the news or email or anything else. I think I'll stick with my dusty books for a while. Started another dusty book last night --- Michael Chabon's Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay last night. At this point, I've read enough history as well as historical fiction novels, that I'm familiar with the subject matter and enjoying all the more because of it. Timing, I guess, is everything. Back to work. Will check in tomorrow. 😘

Blogger is free, no host cost. The only expense is the cost for renewing your domain name annually. If you get an actual website, versus a blog take at look at Network Solutions if you want to go a more professional route. We use them for our business websites and is more expensive at $40 a year for the domain and hurricane electric for hosting at $9.99 each for the two. I'm too lazy to switch over the hosting and they both cost about the same, but Network Solutions is easier to navigate and deal with. The only downside with a website is they are more static so it's harder to make changes and wouldn't suit if you plan to post often.

Yes you can and once the blog is set up can have it set to own domain name. You'll have to google for instructions.

I have used blogger for years for free. I bought my domain names through Goggle which are $10 a year. They give you a choice to monetize or not. I've never done any ads because I hate ads in any way, shape, or form. I have every adblocker known so I don't have to see ads when web browsing.

Yep, I've read books like that, wondering what people were seeing that I was not. Different tastes, different perceptions. I fought having James evaluated for a very long time, but once we did, (aspergers) it opened us up to a world of services. It takes a village to raise our special kids. Read as much as you can, take some of it with a grain of salt, use what works, and throw away the rest. I found out a few things about myself along the way with every book I read, so read widely and broadly. If your child is anything like mine, what works one week, won't work the next. It is a journey which you have to take one step at a time as they are ever changing, ever growing, and we have to learn to adapt along with our kids. Hugs, mama.

I finally ready Cixin Lui's science fiction novel The Three Body Problem and so many things are rolling through my mind. Full review here on my blog. Thanks to homeschooling and my science loving hubby, I do have somewhat of a grasp on the sciences, including atomic physics, nanotechnology, radio waves, etc. to understand what was happening, although some of it may have gone over my head. I have a few nitpicks with the story because with main characters introduced, the narration bounced back and forth in the timeline to tell whole backstories until it converged with the present. And maybe I missed it, but it seemed the transmissions sent from earth in the beginning were limited but by the time the aliens received them, they encompassed the history of the world and how the sender wanted the aliens to take over the world. To me, there was conflicting information when it came to the transmissions. Although it was an alternative world science fiction story the real life elements with the communistic ideals and how it plays in our world today kept me from completely enjoying the story. . I have read Qui Xiaolong's Inspector Chen novels set in communist China in the 1990's, which also reflected the real world, but I enjoyed Qui's stories so much more and didn't feel like there was a hidden agenda underneath the story. I doubt I'll read the rest of the series. James and I finished listening to the audible book Ghostbusters one and two they were quite entertaining. I'm still enjoying my sip read of Wolf Hall. We watched Gemini Man with Will Smith which was very exciting. Next up The Great Passage on Ebook.

Link to book week 2 - please continue conversation in new thread

Happy Sunday! Did you know this week is National Letter Writing week so grab some paper and a pen or pencil, not a keyboard, and write a letter to your significant other, family member, friend, long lost relative or even an author to thank them for a book you enjoyed. Our Books about Books Bookology author of the month is Shion Miura and the highlighted read is The Great Passage: "Inspired as a boy by the multiple meanings to be found for a single word in the dictionary, Kohei Araki is devoted to the notion that a dictionary is a boat to carry us across the sea of words. But after thirty-seven years creating them at Gembu Books, it’s time for him to retire and find his replacement. He discovers a kindred spirit in Mitsuya Majime—a young, disheveled square peg with a penchant for collecting antiquarian books and a background in linguistics—whom he swipes from his company’s sales department. Led by his new mentor and joined by an energetic, if reluctant, new recruit and an elder linguistics scholar, Majime is tasked with a career-defining accomplishment: completing The Great Passage, a comprehensive 2,900-page tome of the Japanese language." Learn more about Shion Muira through this interview with Sanseidou translated by Story Unlocker. There are a variety of ways to complete this challenge with plenty of rabbit trails. Read a book with one or more of the following (but not limited too) and have fun exploring a variety of places and topics: Spell out the first and/or last name of the author - one book per letter. Read the highlighted book or any book written by the author. Read a book written in the country or time period of the author. *************** Our letter and word of the week is B - Brevity. During a spurt of creativity, I thought of several ideas to share, which may not happen every week and most of time I'll leave it up your imagination. 😀 Write Brief, small, saying much in a few words. Concise, minute and to the point. A fallen petal from a bouquet tells a story of life, a part of the whole. Petals grow, blossom to fullness, unfolds to display a beauty bold, bright, soft and light, Ages, falls to the ground, and withers away. From beginning to end, quiet elegance revealed in a petal, in a moment in time. What can you sense? A touch, a whisper, a sight so bright it stings the eyes. Tears drip at the simple, at things that barely cause a ripple, as you go about your day. There for your pleasure. A gift nature gives to us if we care to look. Pick a moment, a fallen petal, a ladybug, ripples from a rock thrown into the river, a dusting of light through the window pane. What do you see, what do you hear, what do you feel? Read A short story less than 200 pages, less than 100 pages. A brief written by a lawyer. Now that's an oxymoron. A brief moment experienced by a character. A brief moment in time in your life. The Shortest Novels Written by 20 Authors You Should’ve Read By Now The 20 Best Books Under 200 Pages 20 Great American Short Stories 21 Flash Fiction stories to read while you wait anywhere. Learn Challenge yourself and write your own. Flash fiction or Nonfiction with Dinty Moore's The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Nonfiction or the guide to Flash Fiction. Five Books That Have Helped to Define Flash Nonfiction Goodreads writing flash fiction. Happy Reading! Link to book week one Visit 52 Books in 52 Weeks where you can find all the information on the annual, mini and perpetual challenges.

The third times the charm once again. I started my B book - The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin and finally made it past the first chapter. Once I did, the second chapter hooked me. So far have received a crash course in the Chinese cultural revolution, physics, and the politics and alienation of the sciences, and the race to contact aliens. It's bizarre yet fascinating. Almost half way through Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall which continues to be a complex, but entertaining read. Enjoying my front row seat into the life and times of Cromwell and his interactions with both friend and foe. I've given up listening to Tom Hanks Uncommon Type. Why didn't I finish? Well, the first story was cute but couldn't stand that the guy had no backbone and the woman was too bossy and unsympathetic. Continued with the second which was a charming story about Christmas until the character brought up the horrors of war which become depressing very quickly. With my vivid imagination, I had to fast forward through most of it. With the third the character's voice was way too abrasive and so I was done. I wanted to like it because I like Hanks but unfortunately it's just not for me.

@AurieD @LuvToRead and @PaulainTx Happy you all decided to join in and look forwarding to hearing about your reads. My parents loved to play bridge. I never played the game myself but found out it's reveals much about the players. Parents happily played for years. After mom passed and dad acquired a new lady friend, revealed she had a remarkable temper. His current companion is perky no matter what. 😁 She's a keeper. Bridge Ladies sounds like an interesting memoir.

Wonderful, so happy you decided to join in. The Nightingale is one of my favorites as well. I have a few of Kristin Hannah's books on my shelves and looking forward to reading Kristin Hannah's Magic Hours.

Yes, to the bolded. If the first page starts out with a lot of them, forget about it. Except for JS Dewes The Divided. The story was too good to pass up. Love your goals for the new year. I've put front and center on my bookshelf in the kitchen several non fiction reads that I want to get to this year. and I really want to sip read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged this year. Maybe after I finish Wolf Hall.

Nope, we don't mind being used at all. LOL! Enjoy your reads and look forward to hearing more about them.

@Mothersweets Well done! Nice to know Joyland isn't too gory as I love King's psychological thrillers and scary but not too gory stories. @ladydusk Happy new year and great to see you again. @VickiMNE Sorry to hear about your mom and all your tough times in 2021. Hope 2022 is better and you'll get to see the kids. Good thoughts winging your way. Glad you like Klara and the Sun. I'm looking forward to reading it. @Melissa Louise Glad you decided to join in. I have Erdrich's Round House in my stacks and The Sentence on my wishlist. Sounds great, especially since I liked Stations Eleven so much. Haven't watched the tv show yet but soon. Scary Monsters by Michelle de Kretser sounds interesting too. I don't know why but it's reminding me of books I've read with weird narratives. I'm trying to remember a book which was written in the same way, starting from both ends. One is Italo Calvino's If on the winters night a traveler written in 2nd person. Steven Hall's Raw Shark Texts in which the character unleashes a ludovician, a conceptual fish that eats memories which is why he doesn't remember. Then there's Julio Cortazar Hopscotch which is two books in one. Read in regular chapter order or follow the hopscotch order and start with chapter 73. Maybe not up your alley, but they are unique.

My first book of the year is finished with the 2nd installment in Deborah Crombie’s Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James Series with All Shall Be Well I thought I knew who’d done it, but I was wrong because Crombie did a good job leading me off the garden path, towards another character. Liked getting to know both Kincaid and Gemma better and the burgeoning attraction between them. Enjoyed and appreciated the old fashioned detective work without benefit of cell phone or computer as both detectives. Kincaid’s realization that you can live right next door and still not really know them. The characters discovering Jasmine through her journals and the people she left behind. “Perhaps it is a blessing when Jasmine Dent dies in her sleep. At last an end has come to the suffering of a body horribly ravaged by disease. It may well have been suicide; she had certainly expressed her willingness to speed the inevitable. But small inconsistencies lead her neighbor, Superintendent Duncan Kincaid, to a startling conclusion: Dent was murdered. But if not for mercy, why would someone destroy a life already doomed? As Kincaid and his appealing assistant Sergeant Gemma James sift through the dead woman’s strange history, a troubling puzzle emerges: a bizarre amalgam of charity and crime–and of the blinding passions that can drive the human animal to perform cruel and inhuman acts.” I thoroughly enjoyed the 2nd book in the series and look forward to reading more. There are currently 18 books in the series which began in 1993 and the 19th book A Killing of Innocents is to be released in this year on June 7th. You know how I love to read series. I’ll work my way though them… Eventually.

Welcome back. I haven't read any of the Miss Read books. Look interesting.

Both authors I'm looking forward to reading. Happy New Year Welcome back. I enjoyed Midnight Library. It was definitely different and look forward to hearing what you think about it. Here's the link to my goodreads. To link to your account, click on your icon in the right hand corner, go to profile, then copy the url address and paste here. Good to see you! Aw, so sweet your kids love sharing their books with you. Welcome back. Love the scratch off poster. Yeah and Yep, you can read more, you don't have to stop.

Sounds fascinating. Oh yeah, I forgot I have Woman In White in my stacks. Will have to move it up in the stacks to read.

Here’s an example of the writing element for the A to Z and Back Again. Big A, Little A, What Begins with A If you don’t have a blog and want to play, we can start a new thread with A to Z writing posts.

Happy New Year! 🥂😘

I currently have three books still in progress: My A book - All Shall Be Well by Deborah Crombie. Sipping Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel and listening to Uncommon Type, short stories written by Tom Hanks on Audible. Since we traditionally start the year with Haruki Murikami and other authors from Asia, waiting on the nightstand is Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. Related to our Author of the Month as well as the Word of the Week, The Great Passage by Shion Miuri is waiting in the wings as well and is about a character who likes to collect antiquarian books.

Link to 2022 week one - Please continue the conversation in the new thread.

Happy New Year, my darlings and I’m so glad you are joining me for another round of Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks. Can you believe it's our 14th blogoversary? We'll have to think of a special mini challenge to celebrate. We have some great new challenges this year and as always, you can choose to play along or chart your own path in your quest to read. If you are new to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks, the goal to read 52 books. How you get there is up to you. We all read at different paces and I don't want anyone to sacrifice quality for quantity by reading short books just to make the goal. I want you to enjoy yourself. If you have only managed to read one book in a year, challenge yourself to read two. Five? Then shoot for ten. Years ago when we started this challenge, there were a few people who were sure they'd never be able to read 52 books in a year. Maybe 12, maybe 30, but 52, forget about it. Guess what? Many are reading 52 books or more. Never say never. Set your own goal, read what you want, explore and dive into those longer books, engage your mind and soul and don't worry. Do your best, challenge yourself and see what happens. We have some exciting challenges this year including one a bit different - a new weekly A to Z and Back Again reading challenge with a writing element for the folks in our group who like to journal, write short stories or novel length stories as well as fan fiction, flash fiction and non fiction. Each week I'll present the letter and word of the week. You can read a book or author starting with the letter, or find a character that emulates that characteristic or job. Find a synonym or antonym; maybe form an aptigram or antigram. Rhyme or reason doesn't apply. Write a story or poem and let your thoughts fly. How you do it is up to you. This week we start with A, go through the alphabet and back again to end with A on week 52. I'll post a link to an example on my personal blog so you can see what my wild and wacky brain came up with in response to Word of the Week. I hope you'll play along. Letter and word of the week: A – Antiquary And now for something even more exciting. I'm very happy to announce a brand new reading challenge cohosted by two of our very own Book a Weekers: Amy (alias - aggieamy) & Sandy (alias- mumto2). We’re going on a Crime Spree! Take it away ladies! *************** We are pleased that you’ve committed to a life (or at least a year) of crime. Consider Sandy and I your get away drivers and accomplices as we delve into just a few of the wonderful sub-genres of mystery over the next 12 months. We’ll start each month with a new challenge and new authors to explore. This is lighthearted and fun, so tweak the challenges as you want and join the discussion. Pack your bags. Grab a disguise. Plan an alibi. Let’s go! PS - And many thanks to the Godmother of our BaW crime family, Robin, for allowing us to hold up the thread once a month. ***** We’re going to kick off our crime spree with the beloved writers who started it all: Grandparents of Crime. We’ve chosen to highlight just a few of the famous early writers that produced stories we wouldn’t put down! Have you read any of these authors? Who would you nominate for the prestigious Grandparent of Crime title? For more information on early mystery writers, check out: goldenageofmystery.com Authors to explore: Edgar Allen Poe is not only one of the most famous historical short story writers in the US but also started the mystery genre with his short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” in 1841. He was writing from 1827 until his death at 40-years-old in 1849. Wilkie Collins is credited with two important contributions to the mystery genre—inventing the mystery novel genre (The Woman in White) and then inventing the detective novel (The Moonstone). He was writing between 1850-1885. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle could be considered one of the most famous mystery writers, with over 60 Sherlock Holmes short stories and novels published from 1887 to 1927. Mary Roberts Rinehart is known as the “American Agatha Christie” and is considered the inventor of the “had I but known” literary style in modern mysteries and even better known for creating “the butler did it” trope. Her active years of writing were 1908-1952. Challenge: Enter a life of crime by choosing a novel from one of the highlighted Grandparents of Crime or any mystery written before 1910. ************ Are you excited and ready to get started? If you're new to 52 books, all the links to the challenges are in the menu bar on 52 Books. Our first reading week will run from January 1st through Saturday, January 8th. Take your time to explore the different challenges, links to book resources, visit your fellow readers and of course, read. I look forward to hearing all about your adventures. ~Cheers to a wonderful new reading year! Link to 2021 Week 52 Visit 52 Books in 52 Weeks where you can find all the information on the annual, mini and perpetual challenges.

I love the idea of writing letters to myself for the coming year. Reminds me of Julia Cameron's Artist Way and writing letters to your self from your 8 year old self and your 80 year old self. Quite an interesting exercise. I'd love to join in. Could use the incentive and the accountability. My resolutions are more writing and reading related, but I need to stick in a health one too. Trying to decide what that is. Happy New Year!