I've read The Alchemist but it was just so-so for me but I didn't like Poisonwood bible either so you might just like it. :laugh:

My mom had heart surgery on Fri. (she is doing very well) so I am heading out this week to help out. I will be having a long day of travel plus I am going without children so I will have oodles of time for reading. I have a bunch of books that I will be bringing with me. I will be bringing along Goldfinch by Donna Tartt to read while I am waiting for my connecting flight. I also have the new Flavia book, ' Her Husband's Secret' by Liane Moriarty, and ' A Tale for the Time Being' by Ruth Ozeki. I went to the books store today and bought 'Boy, Snow, Bird' by Helen Oyeyemi and 'Dinner' by Herman Koch. so I am ready for a few weeks of fluff reading. I am also bringing some more heavier reads just to balance it all out. I will be gone for two weeks. I don't know if I will be able to get on my parent's laptop or not so I may be quiet for awhile. Oh, I am reading The Circle by Dave Eggers right now. I have to read 200 pages by tomorrow as its due on Tues. I am really liking this book so I am hoping that I can polish it off in time.

My dd and I watched the Canada Reads debate on TV this week. I thought I would leave a link if anyone is interested in checking it out. Canada Reads is a week-long literary debate to promote reading, as well as Canadian literature. I think these yearly debates have been taking place for the last 12 years. I have only been aware of them for the past 3. This year the debates were very intense. There are 5 books championed by 5 people. These books do not just have to be recent books, either, there have been classics on the lists of years past as well. This year's books were: Cockroach by Rawi Hawge Annabel by Kathleen Winters The Orenda by Joseph Boyden Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyen The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood The Orenda was this year's winner.

I liked it but I found it confusing. I read it about 3 years ago and I would like to read it again to see if I could straighten things out in my mind.

Just popping in quick to say that my kids and I are tackling the Great Books this year and we are, surprisingly, enjoying them--all of us. We are reading Herodotus now and, oh! I am loving it. I love all of the little stories he tells along the way.

I like watching award shows but not the Oscars. I find them pretty boring. I did watch a bit of the Red Carpet show but turned it off when the announcer called Julia Roberts, Jessica Roberts. We watched Amazing Race instead.

My dh and I have been separated for 5 months now. Neither one of us wants a divorce but we both know that things cannot go on the way that they have been. We were married later in life, therefore the biological clock was bonging. We had our first child two weeks before our first wedding anniversary. Be the time we had our fourth anniversary, we had three children. I can see now that I was in a fog until my third child turned 5. By that time we were firmly entrenched in the ruts of bad habits. We also never had time to really get to know each other. We are using the separation to do just that--to get to know each other. We are dating each other--going out to dinner, going to the movies, spending time together at his place--just us. It has been a positive experience for both of us. I am seeing little changes in him that give me hope. I am praying that he is able to see changes in me as well. I'm not sure how this is going to all play out but, for now, I am encouraged at how things are going.

So far this year I have been reading nothing but fluff--some of it was well-written fluff but fluff nonetheless. My brain has been mush for the last 5 months and I just couldn't handle anything that required more than mush. I just needed to fall into other people's stories. I think that I just may be coming to the end of 'an all fluff' period. I am feeling little twinges to tackle some things that lean more to the spiritual and academic side of life. Whew! I am relieved by that. I finished reading 'This is the Story of a Happy Marriage' by Ann Patchett--a memoir displayed through a collection of essays. I quite enjoyed it. I think I may even go as far as to say that I enjoy Patchett's non-fiction writing more than her fiction writing. My dh took the kids yesterday for a sleepover. For almost 24 hours, I found myself in absolute quiet. I used that time for reading, just reading. I started and finished 'Perfect' by Rachel Joyce (the author of 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.') As with Harold, this story will stay with me long after I closed the book. There were characterizations that I didn't like but the story itself endeared itself to me. I am now reading The Circle by Dave Eggers and Wonderstruck by Margaret Feinberg (of which I refer to as a 'God book.') What I read in February: The Interestings by Meg Wollitzer Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo (read aloud) The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett

Here are our plans, so far, for next year's Gr. 8: Math: MUS Algebra Latin: I think we are going to attempt Henle--at least that is what I am thinking at the moment. Writing: Jensen's Format Writing and WWS I Grammar: Our Mother Tongue History, Literature, Geography: Medieval Era--TOG 2, AO Yr. 7 Science: Apologia Physical Science Logic: I'm not sure about this yet--have to give it more thought.

We have 2 libraries that we frequent. The one library, well, it doesn't have much in it to browse so it is just a 'go in and pick up' kind of library. The other one is where I do all of my browsing. We go there about twice a month just to browse.

I have The Circle lying on my nightstand, waiting for me to finish Ann Patchett's This is the Story of a Happy Marriage. I have read the criticisms of The Circle and was a bit wary on starting it but after reading your thoughts on it I am eager to get started. And regarding The Two Gentlemen of Verona-- I have tears in my eyes as I send :grouphug: to you.

I read a lot of garbage when I was a teen, things that I should never have read so I am glad to see that Whitney might not be in the garbage category. The teen years were oh-so-long ago so I don't really remember the content of the books very well. I think that I will peruse the library catalogue and see if I can find some of her books. I have never read Elizabeth Goudge. I always hear such good things about her books that she is on my 'author to read' list.

I was a big fan of both Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt when I was a teen. I often wonder if I would enjoy them now. I think I also read Susan Howatch as well.

Robin, I am sending you good thoughts of healing. Hope you feel better quick. I am still in the midst of This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett, still enjoying it. My oldest dd and I are reading A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley. I am enjoying Flavia even more in reading it with someone else. My youngest dd and I are reading Wildwood by Colin Meloy. We just started this book but already a baby has been carried off by a bunch of crows. That is just plain bizarre! It is very cold here today, a good day for reading so I am hoping to read more with dd to find out just what happened to that baby.

Oh, Eaglei, :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: Praying hard!

My kids are 14, 13 and 11. I get up at 5:30 a.m. My ds gets up around 7 and the girls get up at 8:00. We start school as soon as the girls get up at 8. While they eat breakfast, I read the books for Morning Time.

This is how I feel about Patchett as well. I loved Bel Canto but I didn't really like State of Wonders. I felt like she was trying too hard with that one. So far, her non-fiction seems to be more consistent but I am only on the second essay. :laugh: I saw the movie of The Remains of the Day when it first came out. I hadn't read the book so it was just an okay movie for me. I just ordered it from the library because I want to see it now that I have read the book.

Hey everybody! I have been late to the party due to a sick computer. Everything is working now but I feel like I have missed a big chunk of my week. I don't have time to respond to all that I would like to so I will just say: Stacia, I always have a huge pile of books to read from the library. We have a small town library and they don't have the kinds of books that I read so I always have to ILL loan my books. It never fails that all of the books come in and the same time. Hence, the huge pile. My pile now is not that big as I weeded out some of the ones that I didn't feel like reading at this time. Here is what is on my pile now: The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout Perfect by Rachel Joyce Goldfinch by Donna Tartt The Circle by Dave Eggers What Women Fear by Angie Smith I have ordered 24 books through ILL and am waiting for them to make their way to me. I also have 58 books on my 'waiting to be ordered' list.' Shukriyya, I have been meaning to tell you that I always enjoy reading your posts. They have a certain zen quality to them that always calms me down. I read The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (I think that is how you spell it.) I loved it! I wonder if he had Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson in mind when he wrote it because they were perfectly characterized in the book. I started to read 'Half-Blood Blues' by Esi Edugyan but just wasn't in the right frame of mind to continue on. It was beautifully written and I do want to read it but not just now. I am now reading 'This is the Story of a Happy Marriage' by Ann Patchett. This is a collection of essays, so far I am enjoying them and her writing immensely.

Eaglei, I am so sorry that this is happening. My thoughts, prayers and :grouphug: are with you.

I read it a few weeks ago. I don't know if it means anything seeing that you and I don't like the same kind of books :laugh: but I liked the book. There were some weird parts to it but I did think it was well written but I thought Eat, Pray, Love was well-written so take this with a grain of salt.

So did I. In fact, I am re-reading it again right now. She does gloss over the divorce (and I agree with Stacia, she does this because that is not the focus of the book, it is what brought the book about) but I can now see little glimpses of the pain that she was in. It is very slight--a sentence here, a few words there--but I can see her pain quite clearly this time through. I forgot My Ideal Bookshelf. I loved seeing the books that people picked as the ones important in their lives. As a result of that book, my kids and I each picked the books that were important to us and have them displayed on the book shelf in the living room. The collection is fluid because the list changes as time goes on. I am glad that you are enjoying Flavia. My dd and I are reading A Red Herring Without Mustard together as a read aloud. This is to placate me while I wait for the recent Flavia book to come in for me at the library.

Sure, my two favourites are by Pat Conroy (I think it is called My Reading Life) and Tolstoy and the Purple Chair by Nina Sankovitch

Thank you for this, Jane. Your words have caused me to think. I did not like Jane Eyre when I read it but I first read it when I was 41. I was far from the teen years so I cannot blame it on that but I was young as far as reading was concerned. Up until that time I had been reading only pure fluff, Jane Eyre was my first taste of a classic. it was a whole different world than what I was used to. Since then, my literary tastes have changed drastically so maybe I need to retry Jane. Maybe I will like it now that I am bigger. :laugh: I have Cloud Atlas on my TBR pile. I keep hearing good things about it so I might have to put it to the top of the pile. I am sorry that you did not like Harold. This was one of my top reads for last year. Someone said last week that the reason why some books stay with us is that it reflects things that are going on in our lives at that time. I think this is why Harold struck so deep within me. At the time that I read his story my dh and I had been separated for 2 months. I felt at the time that I was on a pilgrimage as well, trying to figure things out. Harold gave me hope, that maybe things would work out for me as they did for Harold and his wife. I am still reading Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill. This is a book about books and reading. I have read better books that fall into this genre but there were bits and pieces that I enjoyed. It is interesting to read of her take on some of the books that she has read and their authors. Next up is One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson

We have a lot on the go, reading-wise. --with my oldest, A Red Herring Without Mustard --with my ds and youngest dd, The Wandering of Odysseus --with my youngest, Flora and Ulysses --family read aloud: The Odyssey, The Twelfth Night

I became a loose woman this past year. I cannot possibly imagine using teabags any more. Eliana, my thoughts and love are with you and your dd. :grouphug: :grouphug: