I couldn't put down The Time Travelers Wife but I think it was more like watching a train wreck for me. I guess I had to find out how it ended but after I got to the end I remember thinking, "Blah." I was on modified bed rest with my twins at the time, though, so I guess I had nothing better to do. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wait - Amish Vampires in Space is a thing? [emoji23] Not outer space related, but I recently saw a friend on Goodreads had a book called Dracula Versus Hitler. Apparently Van Helsing calls on Dracula to help fight the Nazis. I think that one may be going on my Spooky October list. [emoji6] As for Finance books, I've got a couple by Michael Lewis on my list. My dh works in finance and that's practically all he reads. (Finance as a genre, I mean, not Michael Lewis.) So I have shelves and shelves of books to choose from, but Michael Lewis' The Big Short and Boomerang looked like the most interesting to me and dh recommended them as being particularly accessible to a non-finance person. I'm happy to report that dh is much better and Abby just seems to have a mild cold at the moment on the tail end of colds that started making the rounds before Christmas. [emoji846] Thanks for all the well-wishes! --Angela Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Happy New Year!! Our New Year's isn't going quite like we planned it, with a sick baby (cold) and a sick dh (probably flu). This isn't too out of the ordinary for us on New Year's Day, actually, so I'm just hunkering down in the rocking chair with the baby as much as I can. I started Lab Girl at about 1:30 AM, so I'm guessing it might become my first "new" book of 2017; the rest of my books are all carry-overs. Currently I have going: I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life Night Circus (secret Santa [emoji318] book) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (still not sure if I want to finish or not) The Child with Special Needs, Stanley Greenspan So I guess that answers the question of do I read multiple books at a time or not. [emoji5] (Actually I have so many books to choose from right now, I'm a little overwhelmed.) I read about half of the Autobiography in 2013 and then set it aside because I had a baby and couldn't concentrate enough anymore. [emoji5] It's on my TBR list for this year, though. I imagine I will have to go back and reread. Her prose is dense but not inaccessible. I actually made a list of about 50 classics that I want to read in the next 5 years, a la the Classics Club website. https://theclassicsclubblog.wordpress.com/ (Still haven't figured out how to link well on Tapatalk!) We'll see how this goes, as I'm not very good at following anybody's plans, including my own. But I'd really like to read more substantially this year, and that includes Bingo. One of the books I'm looking at for the Eastern European square is Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West. [emoji15]I'm not sure if I'm up for it or not. (1181 pages!) I set my Goodreads challenge at 61 books for the prime number, but if I end up doing fewer books but more pages than 2016, I'll be happy. The extra 9 books will probably end up being books that won't count in my 52 anyway. (I'm Angela Boord on Goodreads, if you'd like to Friend me. [emoji2]) Hello to everyone who is just jumping in this year! Last year was my first year to participate in the thread and I have to say that doing so was a great decision. BaW is a wonderful place. --Angela Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

That's on my TBR list, too, from the same place. Hope you feel good enough to tackle it soon!! And congrats to Robin!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Re: reading time... It's a baby year for me, so I can read more because I'm nursing. My biggest obstacle right now isn't TV but mobile devices. When I had no iPad and only an old phone with a broken screen, I virtually had to read a book. Now I have a habit of "quickly" checking various social media, mail, and/or blogs when I sit down, and of course "quickly" often somehow ends up filling all my time. So next year I am going to try to make myself a few rules about when I am allowed to pick up my device and where I am allowed to visit. (Facebook is the absolute kiss of death for my attention span.) I'm also going to try to be a little more deliberate about my TBR piles. Researching special needs will continue, and I am hoping to keep up with my older kids' reading better, too. I want to read more substance... but to also allow a "whatever I want" slot before bed every night. And I'm going to give audio books while I cook dinner another shot. The only problem with that is that it's so loud in my house with 8 kids still at home and 6 of them boys that I often can't hear. [emoji849] Hope everyone with colds/coughs feels better soon! And thanks, Jane, for the good thoughts. [emoji846] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ok, here's my list for the year... I decided to include the books that were short or mostly photos in addition to the books I actually had to read. I'm not sure if anyone will be interested, but I like to see all kinds of books in lists. :001_smile: I didn't figure out percentages, but there are a lot of special needs/homeschooling books (of necessity) and several food/diet/health books... but fewer of those than in past years, which was a goal of mine. Nonfiction The Woman Who Changed Her Brain: And Other Stories of Pioneering Brain Transformation, Barbara Arrowsmith-Young When Listening Comes Alive, Paul Madaule Awakening Ashley: Mozart Knocks Autism on Its Ear, Sharon Ruben The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science, Norman Doidge Last Testament: In His Own Words, Pope Benedict XVI (with Peter Seewald) The Cruise of the Arctic Star, Scott O’Dell Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget, Sarah Hepola No Plot? No Problem!: A Low Stress, High Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days, Chris Baty This is Your Brain on Parasites: How Tiny Creatures Manipulate Our Behavior and Shape Society, Kathleen McAuliffe How to Converse with God, St. Alphonsus Ligouri A Little Way of Homeschooling, Suzie Andres (reread) The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds, John Muir Laws The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling, John Muir Laws The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, Siddhartha Mukherjee Give Your Child the World: Raising Globally Minded Kids One Book at a Time, Jamie C. Martin Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet, Elaine Gottschall (reread) How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease, Michael Greger 33 Days to Merciful Love: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat in Preparation for Divine Mercy Consecration, Michael Gaitley The Homegrown Preschooler: Teaching Your Kids in the Places They Live, Kathy H. Lee Housekeeping vs. The Dirt, Nick Hornby Food, Genes, and Culture: Eating Right for Your Origins, Gary Paul Nabhan Managers of Their Homes, Steven and Teri Maxwell (reread) Loose Parts: Inspiring Play in Young Children, Lisa Daly 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff Smarter, Faster, Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and in Business, Charles Duhigg Shirt of Flame: A Year with St. Therese of Lisieux, Heather King The Complete Book of Home Organization, Toni Hammersley Healing Your Body Naturally After Childbirth, Jolene Brighten 100 Million Years of Food: What Our Ancestors Ate and Why It Matters Today, Stephen Le Grain of Truth: The Real Case Against Wheat and Gluten, Stephen Yafa Life From Scratch: A Memoir of Food, Family, and Forgiveness, Sasha Martin On Immunity: An Inoculation, Eula Bissv Life Among Savages, Shirley Jackson Down Syndrome Bloom: Finding Beauty in the Unexpected, Kelle Hampton Down Syndrome Parenting 101: Must-Have Advice for Making Your Life Easier, Natalie Hale The Shape of an Eye: A Memoir, George Estreich Road Map to Holland, Jennifer Groneberg An Uncomplicated Life: A Father’s Memoir of His Exceptional Daughter, Paul Daugherty The Parent’s Guide to Down Syndrome, Jen Jacob Gifts: Mothers Reflect on How Children with Down Syndrome Enrich Their Lives, Kathryn Lynard Soper Babies with Down Syndrome: A New Parents’ Guide, Karen Stray-Gundersen Fiction Still Life (Inspector Gamache, #1), Louise Penny (mystery) Circling the Sun, Paula McLain (historical) To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee The Woman in Cabin 10, Ruth Ware (thriller/mystery) The Little World of Don Camillo, Giovanni Guareschi Crooked Heart, Lissa Evans Unusual Uses for Olive Oil (Prof. Von Iglefeld/Portugese Irregular Verbs #4), Alexander McCall Smith The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion The Eagle Tree, Ned Hayes Binti, Nnedi Okorafor (SFF) Ancillary Sword (Imperial Radch #2), Ann Leckie (SFF) Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch #1), Ann Leckie (SFF) Fool’s Quest (Fitz and the Fool #2), Robin Hobb (SFF) Fool’s Assassin (Fitz and the Fool, #1), Robin Hobb (SFF) I also read nearly all Beverly Cleary’s Ramona and Henry Huggins books aloud to my kids over the summer. Drama and Poetry She Stoops to Conquer, Oliver Goldsmith (drama) Pygmalion, George Bernard Shaw (drama) Sonnets from the Portugese, Elizabeth Barrett Browning (poetry) Cookbooks Einkorn: Recipes for Nature’s Original Wheat, Carla Bartolucci Sourdough: Recipes for Rustic Fermented Breads, Sweets, Savories, and More, Sarah Owens The Healing Kitchen, Alaena Haber

My husband is clearing out a bookcase in our bedroom and moving the books to his office. I caught myself thinking today that it might be a good place for me to put my TBR books. Obviously since I have graduated from TBR pile to TBR bookcase I completely understand! [emoji15] I started to answer Robin's questions this morning but the little ones apparently hadn't been briefed that I am on vacation. I may squeeze in a couple more books over the next few days anyway, I guess. - Angela Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I read Circling the Sun a few months ago. I'll be curious to see what you think of it. I'm somewhat ambivalent about it; when I finished it, I wasn't sure that I had really liked it, but on the other hand, it has really stuck with me. It might actually be improved by the right narrator, but I would have to fast forward through some parts. [emoji15] It did, however, make me think that I should read Out of Africa! That'll make it onto my TBR list for 2017. [emoji846] -- Angela Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Merry Christmas to everyone! We have had the early morning present unwrapping, the visit to Grandma's and further present unwrapping, Christmas dinner, cookie and candy eating, and now we are all stuffed and back home and winding down amid the remains of the chaos. We had a pretty good Christmas, bookwise, and I also got a very nice (large) wok. My husband gave me I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong, The Food Lover's Cleanse Cookbook by Sarah Dickerman, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (which I have wanted to read for a while), and a stack of books collecting the writings of various saints. The present everyone is waiting in line for line for, however, was given to our twins -- The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. [emoji16] Also, many thanks to my Secret Santa!!!! I received Night Curcus and the Illuminae Files (a SF novel written in the form of emails, etc, something I particularly enjoy for some reason) and I am happily bouncing around between them... trying to decide whether or not to save The Illuminae Files for Bingo! --Angela Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I can see that having 9 kids will finally pay off with the Bingo category for "Bestseller published in your spouse's or child's birth year." [emoji6][emoji16]So many choices!! Ethel, I am keeping you in my thoughts and prayers! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

And I was right! [emoji38]Thank you to my secret Santa! Now I am going to try *really hard* to wait till Christmas Eve to open them... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You're welcome!! [emoji16][emoji16] I hope you get some time to sit down and read it soon. I have become terrified that my Secret Santa book has already arrived and become lost in the giant pile of Amazon boxes that is my bedroom closet right now. But I am determined to start wrapping tomorrow. Or at least to open the boxes! Lol Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Like many others, my time to read lately has been contracting. Last week I finished a book called Awakening Ashley: Mozart Knocks Autism on its Ear. This was a mother's story of her little girl who was diagnosed with PDD-NOS at 19 months and the listening therapy based on something called the Tomatis method that made a tremendous breakthrough for them, leading to Ashley being removed from the spectrum at the age of 4. I discovered this book after reading the chapter on learning disabilities in The Brain's Way of Healing by Norman Doidge - all about therapies based on the concepts of neuroplasticity. Tomatis was a French doctor who studied hearing in opera singers and discovered that their faltering voices were not due to shredded vocal chords but to hearing loss. After working with them he developed a listening therapy that uses specially filtered recordings - of Mozart, specifically - to help retrain the ear to hear high frequencies better. The ear is also apparently quite connected to the health of the sensory system as a whole and because it also controls the sense of balance, Tomatis discovered that correcting the ability to listen (not just to hear, but to make sense of what you're hearing) led to improvements in posture, social skills, language, even the ability of dyslexics to read. Awakening Ashley as a book could have been improved by weeding out some of the many (!) exclamation points, but the information was good. I'm on a bit of a rabbit trail now, to see if this therapy can help some of my kids (who are not autistic but have an assortment of learning disabilities) and Abby (although information is sparse regarding its use with Down Syndrome.) I'm about halfway through The Child With Special Needs, by Drs. Stanley Greenspan and Serena Weider, which I am reading slowly because of the avalanche of information. I used this book with my oldest many years ago, but I'm finding that I don't remember much beyond the barest essentials. And I read a little bit of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz and a little bit of A Fatal Grace, the second Inspector Gamache book. I'm finding it hard to settle into anything, though, and I can't decide if further reading of Oscar Wao would be worth it or not. I like getting the SFF references, but why can no one have a decent relationship in literary books? I am looking forward to the week after Christmas when I can hopefully take a breather and do some fun reading. I'm at 71 books for the year, technically, but if you take away all the middle grade books, the cookbooks, and the instruction manual sort of books without much text, I'm only at 46 books for the year. [emoji53] I'm hoping to squeak in a couple more before Dec 31 and then I'll try and post my Goodreads Year in Books, too. [emoji846] --Angela Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Oh - what didn't you like about Secondhand Time? I was thinking I might ask for it for Christmas. I read a few 2016 books this year; more are on my TBR list, which means they might be read in a few years when everybody's done talking about them. [emoji4] More of my books this year were BaW titles! -- Angela Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Robin, thank you for the Bingo prize! What a pleasant surprise yesterday and just what I need for this time of year. [emoji1] Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yes, Happy Birthday, Rose! It sounds like it was lovely. [emoji2] And happy St. Nicholas Day as well! My 3 year old has been running on nothing but chocolate coins today, and that went pretty much as you might imagine. [emoji6] - Angela Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Ok, I have a GwtW connection, too, but it's not as interesting... The piano teacher in the small TN town where I grew up lived in a large turn of the century house filled with antique furniture... which had apparently been used in the GwtW movie. I always thought that was interesting, although MY piano teacher was the one who came to the Catholic school. So I never actually saw got to see the furniture, except when my mom watched the movie when it came on TV every year. I still haven't read the book either. [emoji5] -Angela Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Well... not exactly, especially for a family of 11. We eat the entire batch at one meal sometimes. But for a smaller family, it's probably somewhat closer to the truth. All the recipes are no-knead, so the theory is, you make a big batch of dough, let it rise, then put it in the refrigerator and tear off chunks as you need them over the course of the week. You still have to let the dough rest and rise for a certain amount of time once you pull it out of the refrigerator before you bake it. The basic bread recipe probably comes close to 5 minutes of prep time, but there are also more complicated recipes for holidays, etc. Everything I've made from the book has turned out well. -Angela Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Forgot to say - I could go for a Murakami read along. I've only read What I Talk About When I Talk About Running and have been meaning to read one of his novels... just not sure where to start. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I love cookbooks and own far too many of them. I usually have to put some in the giveaway pile every year so I will have room for new ones. Most of them I use for only a few recipes, though. Some of my favorites: A reproduction of the 1950 Betty Crocker cookbook. The cake section is wonderful and all the recipes I've tried have converted nicely to my GF flour blend. Our go-to birthday cake is in there. Plus, I like the food groups and the menu pages. The amount of food they considered a "light" meal vs. a "full" one is eye-opening! All I can figure is that everybody walked more or the portions were very small. The Joy of Cooking - for pancakes, muffins, coffee cakes, and quick breads, though I alter those, too. Healthy Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day - I just use my GF flour for the regular recipes and it works pretty well, although there's a GF section as well. Most of my other books aren't in heavy use, but I like to read them. One of my favorites to page through is Washoku:Recipes from the Japanese Home Kitchen. Beautiful photography. And I used to reread Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking and More Home Cooking every year before getting really sad about how she died and how young she was and then I would go make her gingerbread. Her gingerbread is the best. -Angela Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Ok, I'm calling my Bingo card done, too. I have 4 bingos in no particular letter pattern. Thought I was going to be able to go for the blackout, but my current TBR pile is full of books about special needs so I don't think I'm going to have time for the other 5 spots before the end of the year. (Abby is doing very well, by the way. It's just the year of special needs as I have 2 other kids in speech and OT as well as her stuff. Seems like all I do is drive to therapy appointments anymore, but it's all good.) I have a Bingo across the first horizontal row, and then through some maneuvering of books, across the fourth horizontal row, and down the I and O rows. B Female Author - Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie Historical - Crooked Heart, Lissa Evans Book based on cover - Translated - The Little World of Don Camillo Epic - Fool's Assassin, Robin Hobb I Published 2016 - The Woman in Cabin 10, Ruth Ware Revisit an Old Friend - A Little Way of Homeschooling, Suzie Andres Over 500 Pages - Fool's Quest, Robin Hobb Banned- To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee Nautical - The Cruise of the Arctic Star, Scott O'Dell N Number in the Title - 84, Charing Cross Road, Helen Hanff Fairy Tale Adaptation - Library Free Space - Life Among Savages, Shirley Jackson Mystery - Still Life, Louise Penny 18th Century - G Dusty - Shirt of Flame: A Year with St. Therese of Lisieux, Heather King Written Birth Year - Classic - Sonnets From the Portuguese, Elizabeth Barrett Browning Color in the Title - Blackout: Remembering The Things I Drank to Forget, Sarah Hepola Arthurian - O Picked by a Friend - Gifts: Mothers Reflect on How Children with Down Syndrome Enrich Their Lives Play - She Stoops to Conquer, William Goldsmith Nonfiction - The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, Sidhartha Mukerjee Nobel Prize Author - Pygmalion, George Bernard Shaw Set in Another Country - Circling the Sun, Paula McLain And in other news, I finished Last Testament, the book of interviews with Pope Benedict, and The Brain That Changes Itself. And I, too, abandoned Nicotine. It was my Book of the Month choice for November, but the first chapter was so distasteful I just couldn't get past it. Blech. I thought I was going to cancel my subscription but I didn't realize you had to actually call them to cancel (clever on their part) and it automatically renewed. Fortunately December's books (some of them) look better, but I still find myself liking their "extra" picks more than their main ones. I wish I could just pick the extras! --Angela Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Hope your ds is ok, Erin! (Also, I need to tell you how much I enjoy reading your book reviews each week!) I'm right there with you as far as 2016 goes, This year has been a tough one, and I'm looking forward to a fresh start in 2017. Of course I am thinking about my reading goals first. But that is mostly stress relief, I think. This week I finished Pygmalion for the Play Bingo square. I liked it, but I guess I was expecting My Fair Lady and it... isn't. Instead it's like social commentary wrapped up in a little humor. Still chewing on it. I also started Last Testament, the new book of Peter Seewald's interviews with Pope Benedict XVI. The interviews were done just before and after Pope Benedict's resignation and cover his decision to resign, his childhood, WWII, what it was like to be pope... lots of ground. I'm enjoying it. -Angela Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

We spent last week doing a college visit and weekend with my 17 yo dd, which made the events of the week in the wider world seem somewhat surreal. I was also getting over a cold. I did some reading but probably not as much as I would have had I not felt compelled to go online for news. I'm still reading for Bingo. In addition to Blackout and The Cruise of the Arctic Star, which I mentioned on last week's thread, I read She Stoops to Conquer for the 18th century square. I think I might have found it funnier if I knew the plays Goldsmith was satirizing. Or maybe if I had seen it performed instead of reading it. Also, I really didn't get what was so keen about Marlowe, considering the kind of lines he was dropping when he thought he had found a cute servant girl. I'm sure it could stand a re-read, though. Since I used She Stoops to Conquer for the 18th century square, I still needed to read another play and I was sort of in the mood, so I downloaded Pygmalion onto my kindle while we were in the hotel room. I'm enjoying it more, and I guess it doesn't hurt that I have fond memories of watching My Fair Lady with my mom when it used to play on TV every couple years. Then we hit Half Price books before we left town and I came away with a bunch of books for the kids, but alas, I didn't have time to look for myself. My husband, who almost exclusively reads books about Wall Street and investing, picked up a book by Michael Lewis (of The Blind Side fame) called Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity, and since it was sitting next to me in the van, I picked it up and started thumbing through. Lewis is actually the editor of this one; he examines several financial panics - Black Monday in 1987, the tech bubble, the mortgage crisis, etc. - by reprinting articles and excerpts published just before the crash, during the crash, and after. It's kind of an interesting historical perspective. I won't read all of it because I'm not that interested in reading about financial markets, but some of the articles are interesting and well-written. Lewis includes some of his own work, and he is an excellent writer. I hope those with colds feel better! -Angela Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

So having decided to play along with Bingo after all... I just finished my Nautical read, which I had begun over the summer, The Cruise of the Arctic Star by Scott O'Dell. This book tells the story of a journey O'Dell, his wife (whom he endearingly calls "the navigator" throughout the book), his friend Del, and a difficult deckhand named Rod took up the coast of California and Oregon, from San Diego to the Columbia River. Along the way, he tells interesting little stories from California's history and natural history that relate to the ports along the way. I enjoyed it; I'm not sure why I had to be nudged to pick it up again and finish it, other than that I put it down when Abby went into the hospital for her surgery in July. But I'm happy I read it and happy it fit in the Bingo square and now I'm going to pass it along to dh to read to the boys, I think. I also read, start to finish, the book Blackout:Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget by Sarah Hepola. This fits in the "color in the title" square. It's a memoir of Hepola's drinking and finally, of her struggle to get sober. A lot of adult content and bad language, but there was a lot to think about in this book, regarding women and girls and drinking in general, and also the ends of a certain kind of feminism. I am at the moment sitting in a hotel room on a college visit with my 17 yo dd, and I confess that this is an issue that worries me, even though the university we are looking at it is a religious institution that is supposed to be pretty tame. Anyway, I gave the book 4 stars and do recommend it, but in some ways, it is a book that makes you sometimes feel as if you are watching a train wreck. I wanted to start She Stoops to Conquer for my 18th century square, but I have misplaced my copy in the van somewhere. [emoji53] So now I'm just floating around because I don't have the books I was going to read for the Nobel and Arthurian squares. (I do, of course, have other books with me. But I wanted to read that one!) --Angela Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk