Book a Week 2016 - BW37: Time for another mini challenge

[aggieamy]

I've passed the 52 mark for the year!!  :party:

 

 

Yay!  :hurray:

 

 

[aggieamy]

I passed the American lit test! Crazy coincidence: there were three questions directly related to the Nathaniel Hawthorne short stories I just read. I almost laughed out loud.

 

Congrats!  And double Yay for reading!

[aggieamy]

Just finished a fantastic audiobook:

 

The Teacher's Funeral by Richard Peck - delightful children's story about growing up in rural Ohio at the turn of the century.  Great characters.  Good reader.  It made me long for simpler time until I remember that the simpler time didn't have a/c.  Highly recommended to kids that like funny stories or slice of life historical books.   

[Just Robyn]

 

 

 I'll also be reading a few books from the library with titles like How to Train Your Labrador and The Puppy Whisperer. We picked out an adorable pup on Friday who will be joining our home in a few weeks. Pic attached.

 

 

I've passed the 52 mark for the year!!  :party:

 

 

 

 

To See Every Bird  by Dan Koeppel

Jane Austen: An Illustrated Treasury

These look great! The Jane Austen one especially. But I really should read the whole Beagle book before buying another illustrated nonfiction, right?

 

 

I passed the American lit test! Crazy coincidence: there were three questions directly related to the Nathaniel Hawthorne short stories I just read. I almost laughed out loud.

 

 

Congratulations to all three of you!

 

As for new pets, our dog recently died. We picked her up from the vet where she was kenneled when we went to the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, and she fainted trying to jump into the car. Lots of tests came back negative and x-rays just showed lots of fluid in her lungs. Anyway, we thought we'd need some animal-free time after she died, but we couldn't stand more than about a week without little furballs in the house and went to the Humane Society to see who needed a home. We now have one four-year-old white (red point), blue-eyed male named Arthur and one five-year-old black female with jewel-like green-blue eyes name Morgana. Perhaps pictures will follow.

Edited September 12, 2016 by crstarlette

[Just Robyn]

Just finished a fantastic audiobook:

 

The Teacher's Funeral by Richard Peck - delightful children's story about growing up in rural Ohio at the turn of the century.  Great characters.  Good reader.  It made me long for simpler time until I remember that the simpler time didn't have a/c.  Highly recommended to kids that like funny stories or slice of life historical books.   

 

This might be good for my youngest, thanks!

[AmandaVT]

I haven't posted on here for a few weeks. Between work and homeschooling, I've been super busy. But, I have been reading! 

 

I just finished Louise Penny's latest, A Great Reckoning. I adore her writing and I feel like she just gets better with each book she writes. She writes detective books that take place in Quebec and her writing is just beautiful. I can't do it justice in a review. 

 

The first in her Inspector Gamache series is Still Life  if anyone is interested in beginning a new series. 

 

Here's Amazon's description: Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it's a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter. 

[JennW in SoCal]

I haven't posted on here for a few weeks. Between work and homeschooling, I've been super busy. But, I have been reading! 

 

I just finished Louise Penny's latest, A Great Reckoning. I adore her writing and I feel like she just gets better with each book she writes. She writes detective books that take place in Quebec and her writing is just beautiful. I can't do it justice in a review. 

 

The first in her Inspector Gamache series is Still Life  if anyone is interested in beginning a new series. 

 

Here's Amazon's description: Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it's a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter. 

 

I'm glad you stopped by! I admire anyone who can fit in reading in addition to Homeschooling and work!  

 

I am one of several Louise Penny fans here.  Saw the newest at Costco last week and decided to wait til I can get my hands on it at the library.  Don't you just want to move to Three Pines?  (Aside from the murders and deaths, it seems like a great place -- and they all eat so darn well!!)

[AmandaVT]

I'm glad you stopped by! I admire anyone who can fit in reading in addition to Homeschooling and work!  

 

I am one of several Louise Penny fans here.  Saw the newest at Costco last week and decided to wait til I can get my hands on it at the library.  Don't you just want to move to Three Pines?  (Aside from the murders and deaths, it seems like a great place -- and they all eat so darn well!!)

 

After reading A Great Reckoning, I restarted the series and yes, I would love to move there. :-) My mom, my aunt and I took a day trip to southern Quebec a couple of years ago and spent some time in some of the towns her books are based on- Sutton, Brome and Knowlton. We had a great time trying to guess which restaurant was "the bistro" and which boulangerie might be Sarah's. It's a beautiful area and it's about 90 minutes from here - hoping to visit again soon.

[aggieamy]

I haven't posted on here for a few weeks. Between work and homeschooling, I've been super busy. But, I have been reading! 

 

I just finished Louise Penny's latest, A Great Reckoning. I adore her writing and I feel like she just gets better with each book she writes. She writes detective books that take place in Quebec and her writing is just beautiful. I can't do it justice in a review. 

 

The first in her Inspector Gamache series is Still Life  if anyone is interested in beginning a new series. 

 

Here's Amazon's description: Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it's a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter. 

 

 

I'm glad you stopped by! I admire anyone who can fit in reading in addition to Homeschooling and work!  

 

I am one of several Louise Penny fans here.  Saw the newest at Costco last week and decided to wait til I can get my hands on it at the library.  Don't you just want to move to Three Pines?  (Aside from the murders and deaths, it seems like a great place -- and they all eat so darn well!!)

 

I'm another Penny fan.  I adore her books.  The audiobooks are superb too. 

 

Three Pines.  Moose County.  Cabot Cove.  I'd like to live in any of those places except I'd probably be murdered.

[Jane in NC]

Joining the congratulatory chorus to the new pup owners, to Jenn for reaching the 52 book goal, to Onceuponatime for surviving her test.

 

Nan, I am so sorry that our paths did not cross this summer. Maybe next year.

 

 

[Shawneinfl]

Just finished a fantastic audiobook:

 

The Teacher's Funeral by Richard Peck - delightful children's story about growing up in rural Ohio at the turn of the century.  Great characters.  Good reader.  It made me long for simpler time until I remember that the simpler time didn't have a/c.  Highly recommended to kids that like funny stories or slice of life historical books.   

 

I have owned this book for years but have never actually read it. I love all Richard Peck's books. I remember listening to Fair Weather, A Long Way from Chicago and A Year Down Yonder while I painted my upstairs bedrooms. I'll have to move Teacher's Funeral from the shelf to the tbr pile.

[aggieamy]

I have owned this book for years but have never actually read it. I love all Richard Peck's books. I remember listening to Fair Weather, A Long Way from Chicago and A Year Down Yonder while I painted my upstairs bedrooms. I'll have to move Teacher's Funeral from the shelf to the tbr pile.

 

I was going through his books to add to my to-read list and discovered that I read one of his books when I was in junior high called Are You in the House Alone?. So different from his later books!  I remembered liking the book but as I read through the description I thought that there's no way I'd let my current junior high aged DD read it. 

[Kareni]

I passed the American lit test!

 

Yay for you!

 

I can't remember the last time I posted on one of the BaW threads

 

 

I,m back. ..

 

Welcome back to you both.

 

 We now have one four-year-old white (red point), blue-eyed male named Arthur and one five-year-old black female with jewel-like green-blue eyes name Morgana. Perhaps pictures will follow.

 

My sympathies on the death of your dog.  But how nice to hear you've given a home to two other dogs.  Somehow I get the feeling you might like Arthurian tales (or tails in this case).

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

I enjoyed this article ~  

 

Romance Novels Brought Me Closer To My Mom, Even After She Was Gone  by Adam Minter

 

"As a child, I often saw my mother reclined on the plaid couch in our basement, engrossed in a romance novel. If I tried to interrupt her, she’d tuck her book under a cushion before tending to me. She really didn’t need to hide anything; I had no desire to touch her “girl books†anyway. I was in my single digit years, and for me she bought other books, primarily about outer space and sports.

 

As I grew into adulthood, I stayed focused on allegedly respectable material: serious nonfiction, the classics, the right newspapers. I became a journalist specializing in the environment and China. My crowd is a self-serious one with little patience for fluff. Among most of my professional colleagues, romance novels are considered sentimental, laughable, a waste of time.

 

So, once I was old enough to cast judgements, I came to one: my mother had wasted a lot of time. Time spent browsing romance novels in grocery stores and pharmacies, time chasing salacious jolts with imaginary men, time that could have been spent more productively...."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Just Robyn]

 

My sympathies on the death of your dog.  But how nice to hear you've given a home to two other dogs.  Somehow I get the feeling you might like Arthurian tales (or tails in this case).

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Thank you, and gee, I seem to have left out the word "cats."  :blushing: That would have been a helpful noun, huh?

[mumto2]

Thank you, and gee, I seem to have left out the word "cats."  :blushing: That would have been a helpful noun, huh?

:lol: I read your post quickly before bed last night and thought the description sounded rather feline but couldn't decide. I knew they were going to be unusual doggies and was really looking forward to pictures. I still would like pictures.........

 

Congrats to 52 books Jenn!

 

Great job Once!

 

Jane, I was another person fooled by your diamondback. I was thinking along the lines of didn't know working in a bird sanctuary posed danger beyond beaks and claws, and they seriously released a rattlesnake? Was highly relieved that you simply took a terrapin for a bike ride!

 

Busy day yesterday. Drove to the coast to visit my favourite seals. So cute, a dozen or so rather clever seals have discovered a place where the tides and current trap loads fish right off the shore located rather conveniently next to a bird sanctuary (parking for us!) which is next to an estuary. Easy viewing for us and a really easy meal for them!

 

I did finish both my Deborah Crombie and Donna Andrews thanks to the car ride. I also started The Widow http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/fiona-barton-the-widow-the-missing-and-the-dead-book-review-a6814561.html which is deemed this year's Gone Girl/Girl on the Train by some reviewers. I'm waiting to give an opinion when I finish, so far it's a fast read......

 

Clicked on a like in the above review, must readsin a title always attracts me ;) and found some interesting books. My hold list has expanded. Audiobooks are also included on a separate list......http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/the-must-reads-of-2016-books-from-yann-martel-to-deborah-smith-a6793046.html

[Jane in NC]

Lovely tribute to Roald Dahl on the 100th anniversary of his birth from his granddaughter Sophie:

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/13/my-grandfather-cast-a-spell-over-my-childhood?CMP=share_btn_tw

[Just Robyn]

Full transcript of Lionel Shriver's address at Brisbane Writer's Festival - worth a read, and a lot more nuanced that you'd think going by the critiques.

 

That was great. Thank you. My favorite line:

 

 

 

I think that indicates a contraction of my fictional universe that is not good for the books, and not good for my soul.

[Jane in NC]

That was great. Thank you.

 

It was good.  Thanks for the link, Sadie.

 

[Butter]

I finished Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide, Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship, and Dangerous Habits, and Short Stories From Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists.  I'm going to count the three of them together as book #86 since they are each less than 100 pages.  I really liked them.  They weren't so much short stories as a brain dump from JK Rowling about various topics in the world of Harry Potter giving more background information than was in the original books.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Full transcript of Lionel Shriver's address at Brisbane Writer's Festival - worth a read, and a lot more nuanced that you'd think going by the critiques.

 

Yes, excellent read, thank you. 

[Kareni]

Lovely tribute to Roald Dahl on the 100th anniversary of his birth from his granddaughter Sophie:

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/13/my-grandfather-cast-a-spell-over-my-childhood?CMP=share_btn_tw

 

 

Lovely is indeed the correct term.  I think that Sophie is also a wonderful writer.  Thanks for sharing the link, Jane.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Lady Florida.]

 

 

As for new pets, our dog recently died. We picked her up from the vet where she was kenneled when we went to the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, and she fainted trying to jump into the car. Lots of tests came back negative and x-rays just showed lots of fluid in her lungs. Anyway, we thought we'd need some animal-free time after she died, but we couldn't stand more than about a week without little furballs in the house and went to the Humane Society to see who needed a home. We now have one four-year-old white (red point), blue-eyed male named Arthur and one five-year-old black female with jewel-like green-blue eyes name Morgana. Perhaps pictures will follow.

 

Oh, I'm sorry about your dog.  :grouphug:

 

I understand the need to not be pet-free. When our dog died earlier this year we still had our cat. If not for her I'm pretty sure we would have made it a point to get another pet, either another dog or a cat.

 

Full transcript of Lionel Shriver's address at Brisbane Writer's Festival - worth a read, and a lot more nuanced that you'd think going by the critiques.

 

Thank you. That was worth the read.

[Stacia]

Ali, what an adorable puppy addition to your family!

 

Crstarlette, :grouphug:  on the loss of your friend. And congrats on the addition of two kitties. I would love to see photos too. (My ds' cat is a flame-point. And I had one for many years that was my baby.)

 

Speaking of pets, here are my sister's dogs. The blonde one is the one I thought fell into the pool. The black one is the one I tripped over. Notice that his head is well above the edge of the table even when he is sitting. He is a big dog! It's like I hit a 100 lb. hurdle when running in the dark.

 

 

Life is busy & stressful. Not a lot of reading, but I'm slowly making progress in Promise of Blood. But, since it's over 500 pages & I'm not yet to page 100, it may take awhile. My slowness does not indicate a lack of interest, just a lack of reading time.

 

Nan, glad you enjoyed The Plover!

 

I think there were more posts/comments I wanted to respond to, but I've gotta run, so I'll just say :seeya:  everyone!

Edited September 13, 2016 by Stacia

[Stacia]

 
 

 

My sis unearthed an old First Aid book at my parents' house.

 

We're not medical people but we laughed over this illustration of head bandaging. :lol:

 

 

Edited September 13, 2016 by Stacia

[Stacia]

dp

Edited September 13, 2016 by Stacia

[AmandaVT]

I finished Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide, Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship, and Dangerous Habits, and Short Stories From Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists.  I'm going to count the three of them together as book #86 since they are each less than 100 pages.  I really liked them.  They weren't so much short stories as a brain dump from JK Rowling about various topics in the world of Harry Potter giving more background information than was in the original books.

 

Oh cool! I'm such an "all things HP" dork, I just ordered this on kindle! Thank you!

[Chrysalis Academy]

Hah, Stacia,  my parents had that book when I was a kid, too! I totally remember that picture, it freaked me out - Mummy? Invisible Man?  Do I really have to first aid on *him*?

Edited September 13, 2016 by Chrysalis Academy

[Butter]

My sis unearthed an old First Aid book at my parents' house.

 

We're not medical people but we laughed over this illustration of head bandaging. :lol:

 

That is fabulous.  I have an old first aid book I was given when I was in nursing school.  It had belonged to my great-grandmother and was from around World War I.  It detailed how to do CPR with the person laying face down and compressions done by pushing on their back.  It was very adamant that you never ever do compressions on their chest as that would injure or kill them.

[Lady Florida.]

That's hilarious Stacia! My mom and I found among her aunt's stuff, a midwife pamphlet put out by a hospital in NY. This would have been in the 1920s and 30s. It was both funny and scary to learn of the advice medical professionals were giving at the time.

[Lady Florida.]

I finished Barchester Towers today. While I like Trollope and the way he writes, I'm glad to be done for a while with those milquetoast characters, Mr. Harding and Eleanor. I don't think they play a big role in Dr. Thorne, but I'm going to take a break from the series anyway.

 

I started Dave Barry's Tricky Business. Neither my library nor the one I subscribe to has it in ebook format so I picked up the hardcover from the library yesterday. I could have bought the Kindle version but it's not something I want to own forever and ever. Only one chapter in and I'm already chuckling. I've long been a fan of his column and I cracked up when I read Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States, back when it came out.

[aggieamy]

 

 

 

My sis unearthed an old First Aid book at my parents' house.

 

We're not medical people but we laughed over this illustration of head bandaging. :lol:

 

Okay.  That's hilarious.  I love it.  It has been forwarded onto anyone I know in the medical community.

[Butter]

Book #87: Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs.  It's a go-along book with the Miss Peregrine series.  It's short stories that were mentioned in the books since Peculiars usually grow up being told the stories.  Most of them were cute or funny.  One of them explains the origin of a loop Miss Wren's Menagerie in Hollow City.

[Kareni]

Paranormal romance, anyone?  This one is currently free to Kindle readers.

 

Eternity (The Immortals Book 1) by Maggie Shayne

 

WINNER: RT Book Reviews: Reviewers Choice Award
WINNER: Reviewer's Listserv: Best Paranormal Romance Award
WINNER: New Jersey Romance Writers: Golden Leaf Award
One of BN.com's "Top 12 Reads of the Year"

"300 years ago, Raven St. James was hanged for witchcraft. But she revives among the dead to find herself alive. She is an Immortal High Witch, one of the light. A note from her mother warns that there are others, those of the Dark, who preserve their own lives by taking the hearts of those like her.

Duncan Wallace’s forbidden love for the secretive lass costs him his life.

300 years later, he loves her again, tormented by hazy memories of a past that can’t be real. She tells him of another lifetime, claims to be immortal. Though he knows she’s deluded, he can’t stay away. And the Dark Witch after her heart is far closer than either of them know."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

This afternoon I finished the book that my book group will be discussing this Thursday.  It was a gripping read, and I recommend it.  I look forward to the discussion and to the food ~ someone has already mentioned bringing a Korean dish while another is bringing a traditional Southern squash casserole.  The story is set primarily in 1950s Korea and Tennessee.

 

The Foreign Student: A Novel  by Susan Choi

 

"Highly acclaimed by critics, The Foreign Student is the story of a young Korean man, scarred by war, and the deeply troubled daughter of a wealthy Southern American family. In 1955, a new student arrives at a small college in the Tennessee mountains. Chuck is shy, speaks English haltingly, and on the subject of his earlier life in Korea he will not speak at all. Then he meets Katherine, a beautiful and solitary young woman who, like Chuck, is haunted by some dark episode in her past. Without quite knowing why, these two outsiders are drawn together, each sensing in the other the possibility of salvation. Moving between the American South and South Korea, between an adolescent girl's sexual awakening and a young man's nightmarish memories of war, The Foreign Student is a powerful and emotionally gripping work of fiction."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Stacia]

Man Booker Prize Shortlist is out.

 

2016 Man Booker Shortlist

The 2016 shortlist of six novels is:

Author (nationality) - Title (imprint)

Paul Beatty (US) - The Sellout (Oneworld)

Deborah Levy (UK) - Hot Milk (Hamish Hamilton)

Graeme Macrae Burnet (UK) - His Bloody Project (Contraband)

Ottessa Moshfegh (US) – Eileen (Jonathan Cape)

David Szalay (Canada-UK) - All That Man Is (Jonathan Cape)

Madeleine Thien (Canada) - Do Not Say We Have Nothing (Granta Books)

 

Edited September 14, 2016 by Stacia

[Maus]

45. "Freaks, Geeks & Asperger Syndrome" by Luke Jackson.  I loved this one!  The author was thirteen when he wrote it, and he does have Aspergers.  It sounded just like my son, only with a British accent!  Well done, but also written in Asperger conversational tone.  I've recommended it to a couple of RL friends who happen to have sons on the Spectrum about that same age.

 

44.  "Seven Miracles That Saved America" by Chris Stewart and Ted Stewart (LDS). 

43. "The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared" by Alice Ozma.

42. "Unsolved Mysteries of American History" by Paul Aron.

41. "The Out-of-Sync Child Grows Up" by Carol Stock Kranowitz. 

40. "Look Me in the Eye: my life with asperger's" by John Elder Robison.

39. "The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History" by Thomas E. Woods.

38. "A Buffet of Sensory Interventions: Solutions for Middle and High School Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders" by Susan Culp. 

37. "Thinking in Pictures" by Temple Grandin.

36. "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" by Jack Thorne, et al

35. "The Wizard of Oz" by Frank Baum. 

34. "Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain.  (We listened as we traveled in Missouri!)

33. "Blue Fairy Book" by Andrew Lang.

32. "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" by Judy Blume.

31. "Greenwich" by Susan Cooper.

30. "Dark is Rising" by Susan Cooper.

29. "Clash of Cultures" by Christopher and James Lincoln Collier.

28. "The Story of US: First Americans" by Joy Hakim.

27. "Freak the Mighty" by Rodman Philbrick. 

26. "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" by Beverly Cleary.

25."Caddie Woodlawn" by Carol Ryrie Brink.

24. "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George.

23.  "The Power of Vulnerability" by Brene Brown.

22.  "My side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George.

21. "Cheaper By the Dozen" by Frank Butler Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.

20. "Murder on the Ballarat Train" by Kerry Greenwood.

19. "Over See, Under Stone" by Susan Cooper

18. "Sing Down the Moon" by Scott O'Dell.

17. "Soft Rain" by Cornelia Cornelissen.

16. "The Collapse of Parenting" by Leonard Sax.

15. ""Flying Too High: A Phyrne Fisher Mystery" by Kerry Greenwood.

14. "Cocaine Blues: A Phyrne Fisher Mystery" by Kerry Greenwood.

13. "Let It Go" by Chris Williams

12. "Writing From Personal Experience" by Nancy Davidoff Kelton.

11. "Writing the Memoir" by Judith Barrington.

10.  "Boys Adrift" by Leonard Sax.

9. "Girls on the Edge" by Leonard Sax.  

8. "Christ and the Inner Life" by Truman G. Madsen. (LDS)  

7. "Gaze into Heaven" by Marlene Bateman Sullivan. (LDS)

6. "To Heaven and Back" by Mary C. Neal, MD.

5. "When Will the Heaven Begin?" by Ally Breedlove.

4. "Four" by Virginia Roth.

3. "Allegiant" by Virgina Roth.

2. " Insurgent" by Virginia Roth.

1. "Divergent" by Virginia Roth.

[Robin M]

What happens when your nose meets with the very hard head of a very excited, pay attention to me, neighbor's Labrador whom John calls dufus. Ow!!!!!!! I was bending down and he decided to come up. We all heard quite a loud crack. Fortunately no broken bones, just very bruised cartilage and a slightly lopsided lean. ENT Doctor says if it hasn't righted itself in 6 months, since it seems it takes cartilage some time to heal, then can go in and repair. So, how was your day?

[Kareni]

Currently free Kindle books:

 

Contemporary:

On A Night Like This (The Callaways #1)  by Barbara Freethy

 

Historical:

For Love of the Duke (The Heart of a Duke Series Book 1)  by Christi Caldwell

 

Contemporary office romance:

Professional Boundaries  by Jennifer Peel

 

Mystery:

Red Gold (A Gabe McKenna Mystery Book 1)  by Robert D. Kidera

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

What happens when your nose meets with the very hard head of a very excited, pay attention to me, neighbor's Labrador whom John calls dufus.

 

Ouch!  I hope your nose feels better soon, Robin.

 

Stacia,  I hope you're healing well.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[mumto2]

:grouphug: That sounds so painful Robin.

 

Also :grouphug: to Stacia, hope all of her bumps and bruises from her doggie adventures are doing better.

 

Btw, I did finish The Widow. It wasn't a book that I am going to recommend to everyone I meet but I far preferred it to Gone Girl (read but felt it was designed for all the hype, disliked it) and Girl on the Train (started itbut it bored me, I just couldn't spend my time on it so abandoned). The Widow was interesting and did have several mostly plausible twists. This book is about the aftermath of an accident where a man is hit by a bus in front of Sainsbury (large supermarket). Not all that interesting except that man is the main suspect in a child abduction which has been front page news for years. This book is about his widow and the following weeks.....

[Jane in NC]

Sending healing thoughts to Robin while continuing to send (gentle) hugs to Stacia.

 

(Great typo--I first wrote "Sending heeling thoughts to Robin".  Obviously the nose bonk would not have happened had the dog heeled!)

 

 

[aggieamy]

I sat down to read a favorite scene or two of A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer last night. This was my second time reading through it ... I hadn't intended to read the whole thing but accidents happen.  :laugh:   It's one of my top five GH books now.  

 

I also have read through a bunch a cookbooks looking for dinner and lunch ideas.  Ugh.  I'm feeling so uninspired with food lately.   

 

What happens when your nose meets with the very hard head of a very excited, pay attention to me, neighbor's Labrador whom John calls dufus. Ow!!!!!!! I was bending down and he decided to come up. We all heard quite a loud crack. Fortunately no broken bones, just very bruised cartilage and a slightly lopsided lean. ENT Doctor says if it hasn't righted itself in 6 months, since it seems it takes cartilage some time to heal, then can go in and repair. So, how was your day?

 

Oh no. Hope your nose gets feeling better quickly.

 

Stacia - hope you're mending as well.

 

IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTES TO BAW FRIENDS - Beware of friendly but stupid dogs.  DAYS WITHOUT A DOG INJURY = 0

Edited September 15, 2016 by aggieamy

[aggieamy]

After finishing Saramago's Blindness, I started To The Lighthouse but quickly remembered why I can never get anywhere with a Woolf novel. So I picked up my volume of poems of Matthew Arnold and am spending some more time wallowing in Victoriana.

 

In-between Arnold's verse, I'm reading chapters from Texas Ranger Tales: Stories That Need Telling, by Mike Cox. (I assume the subtitle is a play on the Texas expression "need killing.") It was apparently the winner of the Violet Crown award for non-fiction back in 1997, so there's that.

 

That's a pretty prestigious award.  It's gotta be worth like a million culture points! 

 

I finished Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide, Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship, and Dangerous Habits, and Short Stories From Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists.  I'm going to count the three of them together as book #86 since they are each less than 100 pages.  I really liked them.  They weren't so much short stories as a brain dump from JK Rowling about various topics in the world of Harry Potter giving more background information than was in the original books.

 

Based on your review I bought these.  Thank you!  DH and DD are both reading them right now and enjoying them.

 

 

 

 

Right now my DH is looking for last minute cruise deals. It's not going to happen because DD is in the 7th grade and we can't really take her out of school for that long anymore.  He wants to setup a "reading convention" which he describes as "like a game convention except instead of playing games we all sit around and read for days on end".  :001_wub:   I feel like I made a good decision marrying him.

[JennW in SoCal]

IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTES TO BAW FRIENDS - Beware of friendly but stupid dogs.  

 

Words to live by.  :laugh:

[Kareni]

I enjoyed this post from Tor.com which is part of their Writers on Writing series ~

 

Fairy Tales and Poetry: Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin by  Seanan McGuire

 

"We are the product of the books we read as children and young adults. They shape the vocabulary we use to shape the world we live in: they spark interests and ideas and ideals that we may never be consciously aware of harboring. Sometimes we’re lucky. Sometimes we can point to the exact moment where everything changed.

 

I was fourteen. I read like books were oxygen and I was in danger of suffocation if I stopped for more than a few minutes. I was as undiscriminating about books as a coyote is about food—I needed words more than I needed quality, and it was rare for me to hit something that would actually make me slow down. It was even rarer for me to hit something that would make me speed up, rushing toward the end so I could close the book, sigh, flip it over, and start again from the beginning...."

 

 

If you're interested in learning more about Tam Lin, the book, here's a Jo Walton column ~

College as magic garden: Why Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin is a book you’ll either love or hate  by Jo Walton

 

"This is one of my very favourite books, and one that grows on me with every re-read. But I know from other online discussions that it isn’t a book for everyone.

 

Tam Lin is based on an old Scottish ballad. It’s the story of a group of friends at a liberal arts college in Minnesota in the 1970s, talking, reading, discussing, seeing plays, falling in love, meeting the Queen of Elfland, coping with ghosts, worrying about contraception and being sacrificed to Hell.

 

That makes it sound much more direct than it is. The story, the ballad story, the way the head of the Classics Department is the Queen of Elfland, is buried in indirection. Many readers wake up to the fact that one of the main characters is about to be sacrificed to Hell as an unpleasant shock sometime in the last couple of chapters. It isn’t just a book you like better when you re-read it, it’s a book that you haven’t had the complete experience of reading unless you’ve read it twice. Some readers have even argued that Dean wanted to write a college story and pasted on the magic to make it sellablesellable outside Jon’s mainstream ghetto, no doubt.  If you hate indirection and re-reading, you’re probably not going to like it."

 

 

My daughter, who majored in Latin at college, liked this book.

 

I'm reminded too that Eliana recommended this book.  Has anyone heard from Eliana?  I'm wondering how she's doing.

 

Regards,
Kareni

[aggieamy]

 

 

I'm reminded too that Eliana recommended this book.  Has anyone heard from Eliana?  I'm wondering how she's doing.

 

I was just thinking about her too.  I was going over my list of read alouds and saw a number on there that she had recommended and it made me think of her. 

[Kareni]

Last night I finished a re-read of the science fiction romance Venomous by Penelope Fletcher.  (Adult content)  I won't post the book blurb because it may cause blushes.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

[Zock]

I sat down to read a favorite scene or two of A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer last night. This was my second time reading through it ... I hadn't intended to read the whole thing but accidents happen.  :laugh:   It's one of my top five GH books now.  

 

I also have read through a bunch a cookbooks looking for dinner and lunch ideas.  Ugh.  I'm feeling so uninspired with food lately.   

 

 

Oh no. Hope your nose gets feeling better quickly.

 

Stacia - hope you're mending as well.

 

IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTES TO BAW FRIENDS - Beware of friendly but stupid dogs.  DAYS WITHOUT A DOG INJURY = 0

 

 

Love Georgette Heyer. I go through phases where I read her books one after another after another. 

 

Her more modern murder mysteries are also quite good, if you like that kind of British crime drama. 

[Zock]

I am currently reading Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

 

I highly recommend it. At first I wasn't sure what to make of it. I'm still in the middle of all the feels about it.