Book a Week 2019 - BW5: 52 Books Bingo - Something Flufferton

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday and welcome to week five in our 52 Books rambling roads reading adventure. Greetings to all our readers, welcome to all who are joining in for the first time,  and everyone following our progress. Visit  52 Books in 52 Weeks where you can find all the information on the annual, mini and perpetual challenges, as well as the central spot to share links to your book reviews. 

I think I'm in the mood for something flufferton which just happens to be a 52 Books Bingo Category.  Come join me at Flufferton Abbey as we perambulate and promenade along footpaths and around the lake, enjoy a bit of tea and scones, perhaps a few finger sandwiches, then while away the afternoon reading in the library or the garden. 

Flufferton is a term coined by  @aggieamy in relation to all things regency, both classic and modern.  Regency stories revolve around romance, mysteries, and the Napoleonic war. Modern fiction set in the regency era can run the gamut from historical romance fiction to paranormal.  

The Regency era from 1811 to 1820 fell within the period of Romanticism which latest approximately from 1790's to 1850's.  Romanticism in English Literature began with the poetry of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coolridge in 1790.  By the 1820's Romanticism encompassed almost all of Europe and was influenced by The Bronte sisters,  French authors Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas and as well as American, Italian, Russian and Polish writers. 

Amy says: 

"Flufferton Abbey is not a genre so much as a writing style.  A few genres lend themselves well to being Flufferton books such as cozy mysteries, comedy of manners, romance, and historical fiction.  Everyone has their own specific thing they look for when they pick up a book and plan to spend time at Flufferton Abbey but there are a number of things that are expected:

 

•  A happy ending – If you are crying at the end of the book it does NOT qualify.  A Flufferton book has the couple getting together, the mystery solved, the situation put right tidily.  If anyone has died during the course of the book they had better have deserved it.
• Setting – A lot of the charm in these books is being able to sneak away to someplace wonderful for a visit.  It’s easy to imagine that the cuppa tea we’re having isn’t really in our living room but the morning room of our manor house.  Gritty?  Realistic?  Downtown Detroit in the 1960’s?  Nope.  Not Flufferton appropriate.
•  Characters – We love these characters.  They have charm.  They make us smile.  We wish we knew them in real life.   
•  Humor – A mandatory ingredient.  Some books have us laughing out loud in ways that make our family worry about our mental stability.  Some books have just an occasional chuckle.  All books have at least some. 
•  Re-readability - Absolutely.  These are the books that we've read so many times that there are sections we've memorized."

 

The queen of the modern regency romance is undoubtedly Georgette Heyer.  Although Jane Austen lived and wrote her books during the 1800's, Heyer created the Regency England genre of romance novels. Back when I was a teen in the 70's, Harlequin romances and historical romances were my favorite reads and I actually still have a few in my shelves, all yellowed and well read.  

 

Check out a few of these links and have fun following rabbit trails. 

 Time Traveling Regency Romances 

 NPR's 100 Swoon Worthy Romances

 The Regency Inkwell's Contemporary Romance Writers of the Regency and Victorian Period

 Goodreads Popular Regency Era Fiction

 Silver Petticoat Review's regency romance

Regency Reader's Top Fifty Funny Regency Romances

 *************************************************************

Theologica Reads Club - An ecumenical group for those who want to dive a bit deeper into the discussions surrounding theological/religious reads. 

 We are winding up our discussion on The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher. What would you suggest we read next?  If you would like to join in, let us know. 

 *************************************************************

 What are you reading?

 Link to week four

[Robin M]

I'm halfway through the historical fiction novel by James Michener - The Source.  The story has lead me on many a rabbit trail  learning more about Jewish history, reading about the different ethnic groups as well as creation of the Talmud as well as the discussion of whether Jesus has one or two natures and the infighting among the christians.  As we proceed through history, the Jews who reside in Makor are wiped out again and again.   I thought I'd get away from death  for a while but it seems to be the theme of the day. 

Rereading Devon Monk's Death and Relaxation (ebook)  and just received James Rollins newest book in his Sigma series - Crucible - which about death of witches as well.  

"Arriving home on Christmas Eve, Commander Gray Pierce discovers his house ransacked, his pregnant lover missing, and his best friend’s wife, Kat, unconscious on the kitchen floor. With no shred of evidence to follow, his one hope to find the woman he loves and his unborn child is Kat, the only witness to what happened. But the injured woman is in a semi-comatose state and cannot speak—until a brilliant neurologist offers a radical approach to “unlock” her mind long enough to ask a few questions.

What Pierce learns from Kat sets Sigma Force on a frantic quest for answers that are connected to mysteries reaching back to the Spanish Inquisition and to one of the most reviled and blood-soaked books in human history—a Medieval text known as the Malleus Maleficarum, the Hammer of Witches. What they uncover hidden deep in the past will reveal a frightening truth in the present and a future on the brink of annihilation, and force them to confront the ultimate question: What does it mean to have a soul?"

I'll be ready for something flufferton soon and have The Weaver Takes a Wife by Sheri Cobb Smith waiting in the wings. 

Edited January 27, 2019 by Robin M

[Negin]

Flufferton Abbey sounds like a delight! I may be changing my next book to read. 

I read Fire and Gold: Benefitting from Life's Tests - 5 Stars - This is one of my favorite books of Baha’i quotations. I have been going through it for several years and I try to read one quote most mornings during my prayer time. The quotes help to calm me and set the tone for my day. They’re perfect for not only dealing with life’s tests and difficulties, but also trying to understand the purpose and the source of tests. 

My favorite quote:

“In every suffering one can find a meaning and a wisdom. But it is not always easy to find the secret of that wisdom. It is sometimes only when all our suffering has passed that we become aware of its usefulness.”

I also read Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style - 3 Stars - Tim Gunn is one of my favorite celebrities. The man has class and unlike so many in the fashion world, he also happens to be considerate and kind. I often wish that he would help me with a brand new makeover and clothes shopping! My daughter and I enjoyed his TV Show, “Guide to Style” so much, that we plan on watching them again. I liked this book just fine, but didn’t love it nearly as much as “Gunn’s Golden Rules: Life’s Little Lessons for Making it Work”. There were some good tips in this, but nothing groundbreaking. I knew most of it already. For me, it was just an enjoyable reminder. The illustrations are charming. 

Some of my favorite quotes:
“There is no reason to have something taking up space in your closet that does not make you feel good. These items must go. Perhaps you like to torture yourself by trying on some jeans from a few years ago to see if you can button them. Clothes do not exist to humiliate their owners. Please do not force garments into performing psychological tasks for which they were not designed.”

“Few activities are as delightful as learning new vocabulary.”

“Know, first, who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly.” —Epictetus”

“Although there are few things easier than throwing on a dress, something about them communicates that you have made an effort.”

   

MY RATING SYSTEM
5 Stars
The book is fantastic. It’s not perfect, since no book is, but it’s definitely a favorite of mine. 
4 Stars
Really Good
3 Stars
Enjoyable 
2 Stars
Just Okay – nothing to write home about
1 Star
Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

 

[purpleowl]

If anyone is looking for some inspirational Regency romance to go along with the theme, here's a shameless plug for my friend Kristi Ann Hunter's books! Two of her novellas are available as free ebooks (A Lady of Esteem and A Search for Refuge). 

 

My completed books last week:

• John Owen's The Mortification of Sin. Very convicting! I think I will come back to it and read it more slowly at some point.
• Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. From a list of classics I'm sloooowly working my way through. It was fine enough, though I will say I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't end the way I thought it would.
• R. C. Sproul's The Prayer of the Lord. Quick read. This was an ebook I had forgotten I had until I logged into my Ligonier account a couple weeks ago for some reason and saw it there, lol.

Current read is Martyn Lloyd-Jones's Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure. 

[Matryoshka]

I have finished.... nothing this week.  I'm still reading what I was reading last week - I think I was right at the beginning of most of them at the start of this week?  I did also move my dd into her apartment (which required two trips 1.5 hours each way) and dug out mostly by hand from a heavy sleet storm, both pretty much by myself - dh picked a great week to be out of town!    I also broke my toe doing a pratfall on black ice after the snow melted and refroze on the driveway.  Fun week!!   I'm a bit confused how I'll have managed to read more books in busy December than in January, though!

 So, still reading The Tangled Tree, Gentleman in Moscow, Ghostwritten, and The Cross.  Enjoying them all, just not going very fast...

I have a whole bunch more books 'on board' to go, though, so I need to get hopping!  I have my two SciFi book club books out of the library, which fortunately don't need to be finished till the third week in Feb.  Both are not ones I'd had on my TR list and I know nothing about - has anyone here read them or heard anything good/bad about them?  If time is crunched and one doesn't appeal to me, I may ditch it (I'm usually the only one who reads both books in time for book club, so I won't feel guilty )  The picks are How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu (I think this is supposed to be somewhat humorous?) and Semiosis by Sue Burke.  And I got out Why Read Moby Dick? by Philbrick, in the hopes that it will inspire me to tackle the nemesis book I've decided to tackle this year - or maybe to keep me going through it if I find my resolve flagging...  and Winter of the Witch, the third in the series that started with The Bear and the Nightingale came in faster than expected from the library (looked like there was a sizeable queue for it!).  I loved the other two and read each in a day, so hopefully that will be a quick read.  And that doesn't even count my Overdrive holds list, which I've got almost everything suspended on as things are coming available faster than I can read what I'm currently on.  And... I haven't even started a Spanish book this month.  So I'm feeling behind, even though it's mostly just in my own head!

I probably won't get to a Flufferton read till later this year sometime (must do it for Bingo!).  I saw that Overdrive has The Grand Sophy, so I thought maybe I'll see what you all were going on about with Georgette Heyer, or maybe third book in the Extraordinaries series (that I'm going to read anyway) might work?  It's a regency romance/adventure where people have superpowers...  could that still be Fluffferton, lol?

•  

Edited January 27, 2019 by Matryoshka

[Penguin]

23 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

I probably won't get to a Flufferton read till later this year sometime (must do it for Bingo!).  I saw that Overdrive has The Grand Sophy, so I thought maybe I'll see what you all were going on about with Georgette Heyer, or maybe third book in the Extraordinaries series (that I'm going to read anyway) might work?  It's a regency romance/adventure where people have superpowers...  could that still be Fluffferton, lol?

•  

The grand Sophy is the only G. Heyer I have ever read - I would like to know from others if it is a good representation of her work. It was a nice for a Flufferton, except that I unexpectedly encountered an icky, anti-semitic scene. I was jarred out of Flufferton zone, for sure.

--

I am still working my way through Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I've made it to the third volume - woot! It drags in spots, which almost always happens in very, very long books. But it is such a fun read. Very witty. But I needed a break and I have been listening to Lincoln in the Bardo. I only listen to about three audio books per year, so I am ultra-picky about them. I picked this one because of the multitude of voices /characters. I love the storytelling, but is a very sad book. I love old cemeteries, and now I want to visit Oak Hill Cemetery on one of our DC days, since it is the setting for this book.

And I just read a new-to-me H.C. Andersen story, Gåseurten (The Daisy). It is also very sad! I'm talkin' Little-Match-Girl-style-sad. 

[JennW in SoCal]

@Matryoshka -- How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe has been on my nightstand for a few years now. My ds read, and as I remember, enjoyed it. I keep thinking I'm going to start it, so have left it there, vacuuming off the dust from time to time!

My reading pace remains fairly slow this month. I didn't report in last week that I read another Arnaldur Indidrason mystery, Black Skies. Inspector Erlendur doesn't make a single appearance in this one, but instead we follow Sigurdur Oli. A good mystery, and it was good to get "to know' Sigurdur, an interesting and flawed character. 

Still haven't finished the lovely and short Rare Encounters with Ordinary Birds. It is a nice quiet read when I do pick it up. I did get through (though it has lots of photos which help make it a quick read) the autobiography of the designer Kaffe Fassett, Dreaming in Color. If you are a knitter or quilter you might recognize the name. What a fascinating life! I'm now mildly stressed at the idea of designing a quilt worthy of the small collection of his fabrics which I got at Christmas!

I may soon need a bit of Flufferton as a palate cleanser! I'm reading a very dark, gritty thriller set in Belfast, featuring a former IRA member who is haunted by the 12 people he murdered during The Troubles. It is really good. Just dark. It is The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville.

Oh, and I started listening to Michelle Obama's memoir. I've got lots of hand work (knitting, quilting) to do so imagine I'll get through it fairly quickly.

[tuesdayschild]

Posting first, then coming back to read the thread.

Thank you for the kind thoughts and prayers passed on via Jay’s brief stop here a few weeks back.  I’m well on the way towards climbing back to good health now.  (no more surgeries needed, and the lab results came back clear.  Feeling very blessed and thankful!)

January has been a bit off stride for our family, I was two weeks post major surgery and then to make life a little more exciting 🙃 my Dh and Ds had an accident on the highway (a massive wind gust flipped the vehicle they were towing with – the vehicle was totalled, and thanking God - they crawled out completely unscathed.)   My sister gifted me a fridge magnet that says,  “Life is fragile, handle it with prayer” (we sure are).

Wondering how Kathy’s sweet grandbaby is doing?  Did the operation proceed (I’ve been thing about you a lot Kathy!)?

Hoping to catch up on early threads, at some point, and see what you’ve each been reading.

 

[tuesdayschild]

My book happenings this month.... 

I haven’t been overly productive with reading (physical books) this month; but, I’ve managed to amble my way through a few audios in a half-hearted attempt to complete the whodunit spelling challenge. (Christie).

Other guidelines I thought about were to try to make a start on:

• 10 books/authors relating to Scotland 
• Read at least 2 non-fiction each month
• Be reading a classic

 

 Completed:

• The Book of Luke, KJV (combed through this slowly and noticed so many things I seemed to have overlooked in previous reads.)
• Psalms  Even though I studied through Psalms last year I listened to them, narrated by Alexander Scourby, continually during the first half of January.  I love how the psalmist’s prayers are recorded in every situation, all the emotional landscapes, they are traversing through; not just joyfilled, victorious moments in their life. 
• Psalm 147:3  He healtheth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. ♥
• 01-02   The Catherine Wheel: Miss Silver Bk15 ~ Patricia Wentworth, narrated by Diana Bishop   (4-) pub 1949  (audio)  review can be found at/near the end of this post dated 01/19   
• 01- 02 Jan  Death in the Stocks: Hannasyde Bk1 ~ Georgette Heyer, narrated by Ulli Birve  (3.5)  pub 1935.  (audio)      Repeat, listen through Inspector Hannasyde books in order.  Perfect for night time listening.  I rather like the Verekers inside the setting of this book, they are so offbeat and into making literal pests of themselves.  
• 02-15 Jan  The Christmas Wassail: Roger the Chapman Bk22 ~ Kate Sedley (ebook) (2.5) pub 2013   Goodreads review   
• 06 -14 Jan  C=  Vittoria Cottage: Drumberley, Bk1 ~ D. E. Stevenson  (4+) (Rural England)  pub 1949  (audio)   blogged review of all three books
• 14- 16 Jan  H=  Music in the Hills: Drumberley, Bk2 ~ D. E. Stevenson  (Scotland) (4.5) pub 1950  (audio)   
• 16-18 Jan   R=  Winter and Rough Weather: Drumberley, Bk3 ~ D. E. Stevenson (5 Favourite read this month)  pub 1951 (Scotland)    (audio)   
•  18- 20 Jan   S=  The Secret of Chimneys: Superintendent Battle Bk1 ~ Agatha Christie   (3+)    pub 1925    (audio)    It’s been years (!) since I went through this book I could not seem to recall much of anything about the story so it was like listening to a brand new Christie.  Interesting twists and turns with ‘foreigners’ as the baddies, and, as I do like Bundle and her dad a book with them in it seems more enjoyable.
•  20- 22 Jan   I=  Irena’s Children ~ Tilar J. Mazzeo, narrated by Amanda Carlin    (5)  pub 2016  N/F    (audio)  Blogged review
• 20- 23 Jan   E= Two Owls at Eton: A True Story ~ Jonathan Franklin   (4.5)  N/F Memoir  pub 1960   (audio)  Blogged review  
• 20-25 Jan   T=  The Talisman~ Georgette Heyer, narrated by Phyllida Nash (audio) (5)   pub 1954    Favourite night time listen.   (I swapped the Heyer bookclub read, Toll-gate, for this one)
• Mid Dec – 27/19   Cranford ~ Elizabeth Gaskell  (4.5)  Classic.  Sip read.  Lovely book.  Blogged review  
• 25 – 27 Jan:  The Man in the Brown Suit ~ Agatha Christie  pub 1924  (3)  I wasn’t in the right mood to have Emilia Fox read this to me, so didn’t enjoy it as much as the first time I listened to, it ranked as a solid 4/5 back then.

Still reading:

• Symbols ~ Joseph Piercy     N/F   my sons idea of a lite read for me to enjoy.  (It is, and I am.)
• A Change of Heir ~ Michael Innes     pub 1984  (epukapuka)  Reading this to complete January’s Whodunit spelling challenge “Christie”

Current Sip Reads:

• The Life Application: KJV Bible   Job,   (and, Hebrews.  reading with my family)
• How the Heather Looks ~ Joan Bodger      memoir     A delightful, gentle read - perfect for those that love books about children's books and authors.  I started this mid-way through last year, then paused over Dec ‘18/early Jan ‘19,  back to sip reading it now and hoping to count it as read sometime this year  😜
• (I’m chipping away at  Dante’s Divine Comedy, I’ve been in sip, pause n ponder, repeat  mode for about 18months with this title, I’d like to count it as ‘read’ by the end of this year.  Hopefully  ;-P )

Edited January 28, 2019 by tuesdayschild
fix a books category to read

[tuesdayschild]

58 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

The Grand Sophy

This a one of my favourite Heyer books. 

4 hours ago, Robin M said:

The Weaver Takes a Wife by Sheri Cobb Smith waiting in the wings. 

Interested to see what you think of this, I purchased it free off one of Kareni's links awhile back.

 

17 minutes ago, Penguin said:

I would like to know from others if it is a good representation of her work. It was a nice for a Flufferton, except that I unexpectedly encountered an icky, anti-semitic scene

I think it is.  I can't remember that scene at all (feeling very unobservant, as I've been t through that book quite a few times) wondering if my edition had it edited out, or if I just never picked it up?

[Penguin]

30 minutes ago, tuesdayschild said:

This a one of my favourite Heyer books. 

Interested to see what you think of this, I purchased it free off one of Kareni's links awhile back.

 

I think it is.  I can't remember that scene at all (feeling very unobservant, as I've been t through that book quite a few times) wondering if my edition had it edited out, or if I just never picked it up?

You made me curious - according to this article on Tor.com, many editions have edited the troublesome scene. Interesting. 

[marbel]

re: The Grand Sophy and an :

18 minutes ago, tuesdayschild said:

This a one of my favourite Heyer books. 

<snip>

I think it is.  I can't remember that scene at all (feeling very unobservant, as I've been t through that book quite a few times) wondering if my edition had it edited out, or if I just never picked it up?

I thought that book was great fun and I'd reread it.  I think I might remember a short scene with anti-Semitism but am not sure. In books like that - old, or set in the past - I tend to just flow over stuff like that as typical of the times.  

[Mothersweets]

5 hours ago, Robin M said:

 

I'll be ready for something flufferton soon and have The Weaver Takes a Wife by Sheri Cobb Smith waiting in the wings. 

Flufferton is one of my favorite genres ❤️ The Weaver Takes a Wife is a fun read - I hope you like it,  Robin!

5 hours ago, Negin said:

I also read Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style - 3 Stars - Tim Gunn is one of my favorite celebrities. The man has class and unlike so many in the fashion world, he also happens to be considerate and kind. I often wish that he would help me with a brand new makeover and clothes shopping! My daughter and I enjoyed his TV Show, “Guide to Style” so much, that we plan on watching them again. I liked this book just fine, but didn’t love it nearly as much as “Gunn’s Golden Rules: Life’s Little Lessons for Making it Work”. There were some good tips in this, but nothing groundbreaking. I knew most of it already. For me, it was just an enjoyable reminder. The illustrations are charming. 

Some of my favorite quotes:
“There is no reason to have something taking up space in your closet that does not make you feel good. These items must go. Perhaps you like to torture yourself by trying on some jeans from a few years ago to see if you can button them. Clothes do not exist to humiliate their owners. Please do not force garments into performing psychological tasks for which they were not designed.”

“Few activities are as delightful as learning new vocabulary.”

“Know, first, who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly.” —Epictetus”

“Although there are few things easier than throwing on a dress, something about them communicates that you have made an effort.”

 

 

I think Tim Gunn is a class act. I've heard that he and Heidi Klum are making a Project Runway type show for Amazon. I can't wait!

1 hour ago, Matryoshka said:

I have finished.... nothing this week.  I'm still reading what I was reading last week - I think I was right at the beginning of most of them at the start of this week?  I did also move my dd into her apartment (which required two trips 1.5 hours each way) and dug out mostly by hand from a heavy sleet storm, both pretty much by myself - dh picked a great week to be out of town!    I also broke my toe doing a pratfall on black ice after the snow melted and refroze on the driveway.  Fun week!!   I'm a bit confused how I'll have managed to read more books in busy December than in January, though!

and Winter of the Witch, the third in the series that started with The Bear and the Nightingale came in faster than expected from the library (looked like there was a sizeable queue for it!).  I loved the other two and read each in a day, so hopefully that will be a quick read.  

I probably won't get to a Flufferton read till later this year sometime (must do it for Bingo!).  I saw that Overdrive has The Grand Sophy, so I thought maybe I'll see what you all were going on about with Georgette Heyer, or maybe third book in the Extraordinaries series (that I'm going to read anyway) might work?  It's a regency romance/adventure where people have superpowers...  could that still be Fluffferton, lol?

•  

I really enjoyed The Bear and the Nightingale - I keep meaning to read the next one in the series. Glad to hear it is so good!

56 minutes ago, Penguin said:

The grand Sophy is the only G. Heyer I have ever read - I would like to know from others if it is a good representation of her work. It was a nice for a Flufferton, except that I unexpectedly encountered an icky, anti-semitic scene. I was jarred out of Flufferton zone, for sure.

--

I am still working my way through Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I've made it to the third volume - woot! It drags in spots, which almost always happens in very, very long books. But it is such a fun read. Very witty. But I needed a break and I have been listening to Lincoln in the Bardo. I only listen to about three audio books per year, so I am ultra-picky about them. I picked this one because of the multitude of voices /characters. I love the storytelling, but is a very sad book. I love old cemeteries, and now I want to visit Oak Hill Cemetery on one of our DC days, since it is the setting for this book.

And I just read a new-to-me H.C. Andersen story, Gåseurten (The Daisy). It is also very sad! I'm talkin' Little-Match-Girl-style-sad. 

I like Georgette Heyer's book but the Grand Sophy was one I couldn't get in to. I found Sophy super annoying. I think Frederica is a better choice. 😉

I just finished watching Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell on Netflix and LOVED it!! The costuming and set design was very well-done and the story really pulled me in. I think I want to read the book now, too, 

47 minutes ago, tuesdayschild said:

Posting first, then coming back to read the thread.

Thank you for the kind thoughts and prayers passed on via Jay’s brief stop here a few weeks back.  I’m well on the way towards climbing back to good health now.  (no more surgeries needed, and the lab results came back clear.  Feeling very blessed and thankful!)

January has been a bit off stride for our family, I was two weeks post major surgery and then to make life a little more exciting 🙃 my Dh and Ds had an accident on the highway (a massive wind gust flipped the vehicle they were towing with – the vehicle was totalled, and thanking God - they crawled out completely unscathed.)   My sister gifted me a fridge magnet that says,  “Life is fragile, handle it with prayer” (we sure are).

Wondering how Kathy’s sweet grandbaby is doing?  Did the operation proceed (I’ve been thing about you a lot Kathy!)?

Hoping to catch up on early threads, at some point, and see what you’ve each been reading.

 

So glad to see you back, Tuesday! and thank goodness your dh and ds are ok, too!

 

I haven't finished anything (too busy watching Netflix, haha) but have been trying to read Shogun. Don't know if I can continue - the main character is an arrogant *ss and the writing isn't that great. So much telling and not enough showing. I feel the need for a Flufferton. 

[Miss Tick]

@Æthelthryth the Texan thank you, thank you, thank you! You casually mentioned reading All Systems Red a few weeks back, so I checked it out. I loved it! Then I discovered that all four novellas in the series have already been written and published! I'm working on number 2. I'm scared to recommend the book to others since i like it so much.

In between, I randomly picked the 600+ page, A Crown for Cold Silver. It is a complicated fantasy world, but so far features a female action-hero protagonist who is, shall we say, "mature", which I'm appreciating. It is ruining my chance at 52 books this year, though. Probably wasn't a realistic goal. Better to find out in January I guess. Grumble.

@Matryoshka Moby Dick was totally doable by using the narrative chapters as the carrot to get through the chapters describing the business of whaling. We visited the New Bedford Whaling museum a few summers ago and it, of course, had a lot of Moby Dick tie-ins. 

[Kareni]

1 hour ago, tuesdayschild said:

January has been a bit off stride for our family, ... 

welcome back! I'm glad to hear that your surgery went well. How scary an accident for your husband and son; I'm glad they were not hurt.

2 hours ago, Matryoshka said:

   I also broke my toe doing a pratfall on black ice after the snow melted and refroze on the driveway.

Ouch! I admit to fearing ice... I hope your toe will soon heal.

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

6 hours ago, Robin M said:

Happy Sunday and welcome to week five in our 52 Books rambling roads reading adventure. 

Amy says: 

"Flufferton Abbey is not a genre so much as a writing style.  ...

Thank you, Robin, for hosting.

And thank you, Amy, for the Flufferton thoughts!

Regards,

Kareni

[mumto2]

Flufferton is one of my favorite genres!  Last night a hold on a Flufferton by a favorite author, Grace Burrowes, appeared and was promptly downloaded so this is an easy challenge!  😉  I will be reading My One and Only Duke.

Purpleowl, thanks!  I just downloaded one of the free novellas to try.  I love Sproul, btw!

4 hours ago, purpleowl said:

If anyone is looking for some inspirational Regency romance to go along with the theme, here's a shameless plug for my friend Kristi Ann Hunter's books! Two of her novellas are available as free ebooks (A Lady of Esteem and A Search for Refuge). 

 

My completed books last week:

• John Owen's The Mortification of Sin. Very convicting! I think I will come back to it and read it more slowly at some point.
• Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. From a list of classics I'm sloooowly working my way through. It was fine enough, though I will say I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't end the way I thought it would.
• R. C. Sproul's The Prayer of the Lord. Quick read. This was an ebook I had forgotten I had until I logged into my Ligonier account a couple weeks ago for some reason and saw it there, lol.

Current read is Martyn Lloyd-Jones's Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure. 

 

@Matryoshka  I hope your toe heals quickly.  Broken toes hurt so much!  The .........Science Fictional Universe book was recently listed someplace (helpful right) and received a good review and I think said to be humorous.  It was put on my list to read this year for my Sci Fi challenge ........

@tuesdayschild  I am so very glad to “see” you and know your reports are all good.  I am so glad you feel well enough to hang out on BaW again!  I am also very thankful your husband and son were unhurt.  Btw,  your son is a sweetheart!  Such a nice young man who obviously adores his mum.

I am taking a break from relistening to Gamache, so far 4 Louise Penny’s this month.  They are great and I find I have forgotten so much....at least I remembered who did it in the last one!  Anyway The Preacher by Camilla Lackberg became availiable so I am in Sweden for a change of scenery.  This is my second book in her Fjallbacka series and this is as good as the first one.

I finished the first book in a new to me cozy series(one of my 10’s)  by Victoria Gilbert called a Murder for the Books.  I think  I am planning to use it as part of a book chain.  @Robin M Can I use just the author’s first name?  So an author named Victoria to another Victoria, just once?  It started slow and I had problems focusing on who the characters were but by the end I was actually quite attached to them.  It was a 3* but I might give the series another try.

I have a huge stack of books and no idea which I am going to land on seriously next.  The new Flavia is waiting for me and I made the mistake of reading a few pages of Written in Red, a reread by Anne Bishop, and I might HAVE to read that next.  I know what happens but I was instantly immersed.  I love that series!  I have the next two on audio, so you all know what I will be listening to whenThe Preacher is done!

[Kareni]

1 hour ago, SusanC said:

@Æthelthryth the Texan thank you, thank you, thank you! You casually mentioned reading All Systems Red a few weeks back, so I checked it out. I loved it! Then I discovered that all four novellas in the series have already been written and published! I'm working on number 2. I'm scared to recommend the book to others since i like it so much.In 

The Murderbot stories are good, aren't they? My husband and I gave our adult daughter the first one for Christmas, and it didn't surprise me when she went on to buy the next three. A full length Murderbot novel is supposed to be published in 2020, I believe.

I recently enjoyed the free story Fandom for Robots BY VINA JIE-MIN PRASAD. I think that fans of Murderbot might also like it.

https://uncannymagazine.com/article/fandom-for-robots/

Regards,

Kareni

[Negin]

Kindle books on sale today. 

The New Anti-Semitism 

The Last Days of Night (historical fiction)

  

 

[Junie]

I finished The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  It's certainly not my favorite Twain work (that would be Pudd'nhead Wilson) but I see why it's considered by many to be some of his best work.  The never-ending scenes with the king and the duke made me want to pull my hair out and the section where Tom Sawyer is trying his convoluted plan of freeing Jim made me nearly sick.

One side of my family hails from the deep south.  From what I have learned about them they were poor and poorly educated, especially several generations back.  I would hope that they would have acted with less foolishness than most of the characters in this book.  I found many, many parts of this book insulting.

[mumto2]

I finished a paranormal urban fantasy book last night that I wasn’t sure I would finish when I was doing yesterday’s post.  Blood Law was chosen because of my other book chain......I started two because they happened naturally and can abandon one if I get stuck.  I needed a book with Law in the title and knew I had Nora Robert’s Of Blood and Bones on hold.  Blood Law sort of jumped out at me during my library search for that reason.  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6803525-blood-law It’s the first book in a two book series that the author has apparently stopped working on.  It needed better editing badly because parts of it were great but it was many pages between these parts......It was set in a world where vampires made up about 50%of the population so police forces had their own paranormal police.  The author threw out some other popular vampire mythology to have a really good start with a good main character.........  😟. On to Nora Roberts for this book chain!  

13 minutes ago, Junie said:

I finished The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  It's certainly not my favorite Twain work (that would be Pudd'nhead Wilson) but I see why it's considered by many to be some of his best work.  The never-ending scenes with the king and the duke made me want to pull my hair out and the section where Tom Sawyer is trying his convoluted plan of freeing Jim made me nearly sick.

One side of my family hails from the deep south.  From what I have learned about them they were poor and poorly educated, especially several generations back.  I would hope that they would have acted with less foolishness than most of the characters in this book.  I found many, many parts of this book insulting.

My 5th grade teacher was one of Clements cousins.....she was close to 70 at the time and I think had seen him at a family reunion when she was 5.  Her tradition was to read her classes Tom Sawyer......she was fabulous at read alouds.  Great with the voices and accents.  I loved it with her but wasn’t that impressed when I read them to my kids!  

[Junie]

7 minutes ago, mumto2 said:

 

My 5th grade teacher was one of Clements cousins.....she was close to 70 at the time and I think had seen him at a family reunion when she was 5.  Her tradition was to read her classes Tom Sawyer......she was fabulous at read alouds.  Great with the voices and accents.  I loved it with her but wasn’t that impressed when I read them to my kids!  

This is pretty awesome!

[marbel]

Flufferton Week - I'm in!

Some time ago I picked up the kindle version of Frederica (Georgette Heyer) so this is the week for it.  I also have the first in the Her Royal Spyness series from the library... not sure if that quite counts; it certainly has a Flufferton title!

I finished two books this week:

Fiction: The Citadel by A. J. Cronin.  He was one of my mother's favorite authors so I've always had his books in the back of my mind. This was not great literature but a good old-fashioned sort of novel. Clean, no cursing (written in 1937), a good story line.  A little melodramatic in places. But overall good.  I will read more by this author.

Nonfiction: For my personal USA-nonfiction challenge, I read Rising from the Plains by John McPhee. I have spoken of my love for McPhee here before. This book is as good as all the rest. It's about the geology of Wyoming, which is fascinating - even if mostly over my head. But more, it's the life story of a particular geologist, starting with his mother, who came west as a young schoolmarm in 1905. Just a great book, even if in some places the words just flowed by my eyes with little comprehension. 

[Junie]

This week's reads:

Continuing from previous weeks -- 

Speak Love which I am reading with my teen girls and The Red Badge of Courage which I am keeping in my purse so that I have something to read while I'm waiting on groceries/kids/etc.

I am also reading through SWB's Story of the World.  I'm in volume 3.

New this week -- 

Anne Bradstreet by D.B. Kellogg looks like an easy read about a Puritan poet.

The Man in the Iron Mask by Dumas.  This is going to take a while to read, but if it's as good as The Three Musketeers it will be worth it.

Since it's Flufferton Week, I may also start another Jane Austen, probably Emma.  This one might take several weeks to finish since I have so many other books going on.

 

 

 

[Teaching3bears]

I read Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.  It wasn't a short book but very easy to read through.  In some ways it  might qualify for Flufferton though it is set in Japan before and after the war.  I knew nothing about Geisha before I read this book and now I really feel like I know what their life was all about.  But it is so sad!  They are essentially prostitutes though they are not considered Japan's prostitutes.  I might read another book about Geisha.

I might read The Europeans by Henry James next.  I think that would be considered Flufferton.

 

[Violet Crown]

On 1/27/2019 at 1:33 PM, Robin M said:

Characters – We love these characters.  They have charm.  They make us smile.  We wish we knew them in real life.   

 

11 hours ago, Teaching3bears said:

I might read The Europeans by Henry James next.  I think that would be considered Flufferton.

 

... no.

Actually I can think of exactly one major James character whom any sane person would want to know in real life. She drops dead well before the end of the novel.

[Violet Crown]

This week--and last week--I finished three books:

William Gresham, Nightmare Alley
The Wanderer: Elegies, Epics, Riddles
Sir Walter Scott, Guy Mannering

Guy Mannering launches the Scots Wha' Hae 10x10 category. It's classic Scott, and the source for Meg Merrilies, the Amazonian gypsy who instantly became one of his most beloved characters. Keats wrote a famous poem about her a few years after the publication of Guy Mannering while getting over-excited on a trip through Scotland. From Lord Houghton:

Quote

"The pedestrians passed by Solway Frith through that delightful part of Kirkcudbrightshire, the scene of 'Guy Mannering.' Keats had never read the novel, but was much struck with the character of Meg Merrilies as delineated to him by Brown. He seemed at once to realise the creation of the novelist, and, suddenly stopping in the pathway, at a point where a profusion of honeysuckles, wild rose, and fox-glove, mingled with the bramble and broom that filled up the spaces between the shattered rocks, he cried out, 'Without a shadow of a doubt on that spot has old Meg Merrilies often boiled her kettle.'"

Quite the fanboy, that Keats.

Nightmare Alley was at one time something of a cult sensation, about a swindling carny who makes it big before the wheel of fortune makes its inevitable revolution. Crime, madness, con artistry, religious zealotry, vice, corruption: there's something for everyone in this excellent and very dark novel. The author was the first husband of poet Joy Davidson, who left him and married C. S. Lewis (Gresham was easily the better novelist but probably the worse husband). Republished by NYRB, it goes into both the Little Oval on the Spine and Crime and Punishment 10x10 categories.

My first foray into Crime and Punishment, a few weeks ago, was No Orchids For Miss Blandish, by James Hadley Chase, a 1939 crime novel given an extra boost in its sales by being vituperated by George Orwell, who condemned its sex and violence as American fascistic degeneracy (despite its British author), inferior to the polite English thief "Raffles." Unfortunately the only copy I could find was the rewritten later version, not the the '30s version that so horrified Orwell; nevertheless I was pleased to see that the publisher brazenly selected a few words of Orwell's essay (Orwell calls it "a brilliant piece of writing" in a semi-ironic way, before explaining at length why it's not only "sordid and brutal" but politically problematic) for a back-cover blurb. Also my 1970 printing has wonderful Yellow-Submarine-era cover art:

A fluffy read, in a way. Recommended for those who like that kind of thing; but not as good certainly as the Gresham.

Currently reading (speaking of awesome cover art) The Age of Madness by Thomas Szasz, of which more later. An odd book by a man with a mission.

[Junie]

I am loving The Man in the Iron Mask!  I picked it up and saw that there were 88 chapters and thought that it might take me 88 (or 44) days to complete it.  I started reading and finished 16 chapters!

I really enjoy Dumas' writing style.  I read The Three Musketeers a few years ago.  The middle books in this series are a bit trickier to find, especially since I don't like to read on a device.  I might give dh the challenge of finding these for me for Christmas this year.  :)

I already own The Count of Monte Cristo.  Is there any other Dumas that y'all would recommend?

[Violet Crown]

Middle Girl has been on a Dumas kick and recommends reading through the entire d'Artagnan series. Oxford World's Classics reprinted them a few years ago and they're super-cheap from bookfinder.com .

Edited January 29, 2019 by Violet Crown

[Violet Crown]

dp

Edited January 29, 2019 by Violet Crown

[Penguin]

1 hour ago, Junie said:

I am loving The Man in the Iron Mask!  I picked it up and saw that there were 88 chapters and thought that it might take me 88 (or 44) days to complete it.  I started reading and finished 16 chapters!

I really enjoy Dumas' writing style.  I read The Three Musketeers a few years ago.  The middle books in this series are a bit trickier to find, especially since I don't like to read on a device.  I might give dh the challenge of finding these for me for Christmas this year.  🙂

I already own The Count of Monte Cristo.  Is there any other Dumas that y'all would recommend?

Not the best Dumas, but I rather liked The Black Tulip and I think a Dumas fan would like it.

[Ravin]

Last week I thought I'd posted an update on my progress, but it was still sitting in the reply box on the other thread! Oops!

My overall reading goals are to take in a mix of fiction and nonfiction, spiritually enriching, informative, and fun selections; to keep up with the Druid book discussion/study group I'm in, to put eyes on words not related directly to work more often than last year, and to read books that I bought ages ago and still haven't read.

My currently reading list:

The Stand (unabridged) by Stephen King (on audiobook; it's over 48 hours long, so this will definitely take me more than a week, as I listen to audiobooks on my commute and when driving for work, about 6-10 hours a week). Update: I'm still on Chapter 45, 35 hours, 34 minutes to go to finish it!

The Táin translated by Ciaran Carson Update: I've finished the second and third chapters, including, I should add, the end-notes for each of them.

Odin: Ecstasy, Runes & Norse Magic by Diana L. Paxson (this is one of those "bought ages ago and still haven't read" books) Reading on Kindle, which isn't on hand, but I know I read at least some since last update.

Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor A little over halfway through this one. Forgot my Kindle again this week so will have to check it out a second time to finish it.

Books I've read for the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge this year (most recently completed first):

3. American Like Me by America Ferrera. Finished it last week! 

2. The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin (third book in the Broken Earth series) Finished it last week! I am definitely going to seek out more of Jemisin's books, the trilogy was the best science fiction read I've had the pleasure of enjoying in a long, long time!

1. The Sky-Blue Wolves by S. M. Stirling 

Next Up:

I think I have one of Kamala Harris' books on hold from the library on audiobook. Other than that, I'm not sure. Feel like I need to finish some more of my current reading list before I go looking for more!  If anyone has a rec for a favorite science fiction author, especially one who's published in the last couple of decades, let me know! 

My 10x10 challenge categories:

1. humor

2. science (nonfiction)

3. fantasy & science fiction by new-to-me authors

4. LGBT

5. classic fiction

6. folklore (The Táin will satisfy this)

7. religion (nonfiction) (Odin: Ecstasy, Runes & Norse Magic by Diana L. Paxson will satisfy this)

8. law (nonfiction)

9. modern fiction in translation (i.e., originally published in a language other than English)

10. books by women of color (Stone Sky met this requirement)

The books must of course all be separate selections, though they may fit into more than one category, they cannot be used for more than one, so that I read 10 books for it.

[Liz CA]

Fiction: For pure entertainment, I am still reading Coulter's Riptide but it's getting to the point where I can predict the plot.

Non-fiction: Still working through the I5 Serial Killer by Henderson which seems to present real police work behind the scenes versus what we see on TV.

Non-fiction: Out on the deep blue edited by Leyland Fields. It's a collection of individuals' memories so I can read one at a time without losing the theme.

Audiobook: Lie to me by J T Ellison. 2 minutes in I was completely hooked.

[Kareni]

19 minutes ago, Ravin said:

If anyone has a rec for a favorite science fiction author, especially one who's published in the last couple of decades, let me know

I'll cast my vote for SK Dunstall's Linesman.

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

A bookish post ~

For Jane Austen fans,

Regards,

 Kareni

[Violet Crown]

The down side to the 10x10 Categories Challenge is that now instead of being part-way through two or three books, I've got ten of them in the queue. Less when there's category overlap; but still. Robin? Bug, or feature?

Stacked by my bed:

The Brexit Special: Nikolai Gogol, Diary of a Madman

Scots Wha' Hae: James Kelman, How Late it Was, How Late

Don't Mess With Texas: J. Frank Dobie, The Voice of the Coyote

Plucked From the Air: Nikolai Gogol, Diary of a Madman

Little Oval on the Spine: Sylvia Townsend Warner, Mr. Fortune

A is for Amy who...: Thomas Szasz, The Age of Madness

Bad Catholic: Blaise Pascal, The Provincial Letters

Dramatic, Lyric & Epic: Gawain and the Green Knight

Crime & Punishment: Edward Anderson, Thieves Like Us

The Hollow Crown: Anon., Edward III

[mumto2]

1 hour ago, Violet Crown said:

The down side to the 10x10 Categories Challenge is that now instead of being part-way through two or three books, I've got ten of them in the queue. Less when there's category overlap; but still. Robin? Bug, or feature?

Stacked by my bed:

The Brexit Special: Nikolai Gogol, Diary of a Madman

Scots Wha' Hae: James Kelman, How Late it Was, How Late

Don't Mess With Texas: J. Frank Dobie, The Voice of the Coyote

Plucked From the Air: Nikolai Gogol, Diary of a Madman

Little Oval on the Spine: Sylvia Townsend Warner, Mr. Fortune

A is for Amy who...: Thomas Szasz, The Age of Madness

Bad Catholic: Blaise Pascal, The Provincial Letters

Dramatic, Lyric & Epic: Gawain and the Green Knight

Crime & Punishment: Edward Anderson, Thieves Like Us

The Hollow Crown: Anon., Edward III

Lol,  I have books in the stack and on hold and on lists for all of the 10 X10’s too.  I now really waste time in planning.  😉😋 Having a blast at it!

@Ravin

I am currently listening my way through The Expanse series by James Corey.  It starts with Leviathan Wakes https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8855321-leviathan-wakes.  My Dd is reading the first one and seems to be loving it.....she has sourced the second so plans to keep reading them.

 She also just finished and enjoyed The Goblin Emperor which has had mixed reviews here because it works better as a book because it has many very similar names. I think is more fantasy then you are looking for but she read it really fast and was so into it she shared scenes etc.

 We also both enjoyed The Three Body Problem which is fun because it’s Chinese Sci Fi.

[Kareni]

I finished a book last night that proved educational while also being a good albeit sad read. I knew the term gender fluid but I feel I better understand it after reading this book.

Symptoms of Being Human  by Jeff Garvin

Starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist * YALSA Top Ten Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers * ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults List * 2017 Rainbow List

"Riley Cavanaugh is many things: Punk rock. Snarky. Rebellious. And gender fluid. Some days Riley identifies as a boy, and others as a girl. But Riley isn't exactly out yet. And between starting a new school and having a congressman father running for reelection in über-conservative Orange County, the pressure—media and otherwise—is building up in Riley's life.

On the advice of a therapist, Riley starts an anonymous blog to vent those pent-up feelings and tell the truth of what it's really like to be a gender fluid teenager. But just as Riley's starting to settle in at school—even developing feelings for a mysterious outcast—the blog goes viral, and an unnamed commenter discovers Riley's real identity, threatening exposure. And Riley must make a choice: walk away from what the blog has created—a lifeline, new friends, a cause to believe in—or stand up, come out, and risk everything."

 From a writing standpoint, I thought the author did a fine job of never revealing Riley's biological gender.

Regards,

Kareni

[Robin M]

On 1/27/2019 at 6:24 PM, mumto2 said:

I finished the first book in a new to me cozy series(one of my 10’s)  by Victoria Gilbert called a Murder for the Books.  I think  I am planning to use it as part of a book chain.  @Robin M Can I use just the author’s first name?  So an author named Victoria to another Victoria, just once?  It started slow and I had problems focusing on who the characters were but by the end I was actually quite attached to them.  It was a 3* but I might give the series another try.

Yes, you can use the author's first or last name once consecutively to chain to the next book. The only rule is no reading of a series by the same author to form the whole chain.  

3 hours ago, Violet Crown said:

The down side to the 10x10 Categories Challenge is that now instead of being part-way through two or three books, I've got ten of them in the queue. Less when there's category overlap; but still. Robin? Bug, or feature?

Oh my! A buggy feature maybe. Can look at it as way too many bookmarks in way too many books or variety is the slice of life.  😉    

[mumto2]

I finished rereading Written in Red yesterday and loved it.  The first book in The Others series which I frequently recommend but haven’t revisited since 2013.......I had forgotten so many just plain fun little things about those characters and how the world at Lakeside Courtyard changed when Meg arrived.  Glad Kareni accidentally 😉made me start this reread as preparation for the new release.  I have the next three books on audio but may switch to print depending on quilting time......I am not sure I have the patience to listen.  I plan to use this first in the series for my Other Worlds 10 category but will resist filling the category with the other 5 books........

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15711341-written-in-red

[Lady Florida.]

On 1/27/2019 at 7:28 PM, tuesdayschild said:

Posting first, then coming back to read the thread.Thank you for the kind thoughts and prayers passed on via Jay’s brief stop here a few weeks back.  I’m well on the way towards climbing back to good health now.  (no more surgeries needed, and the lab results came back clear.  Feeling very blessed and thankful!)

January has been a bit off stride for our family, I was two weeks post major surgery and then to make life a little more exciting 🙃 my Dh and Ds had an accident on the highway (a massive wind gust flipped the vehicle they were towing with – the vehicle was totalled, and thanking God - they crawled out completely unscathed.)   My sister gifted me a fridge magnet that says,  “Life is fragile, handle it with prayer” (we sure are).

Wondering how Kathy’s sweet grandbaby is doing?  Did the operation proceed (I’ve been thing about you a lot Kathy!)?

 

 

I'm glad to hear you're recovering well. Thank Jay for keeping us updated. I'm sorry about the accident but thankful that dh and ds came out okay. Do you have a replacement vehicle yet? Or some way of getting around until you do?

I've been meaning to post about Emma but have been online less than usual and mostly making drive by posts here and there. She did amazingly well! Her bypass surgery was on a Thursday and she went home the next Monday, five days post-op! At home she seems no different than before. No, scratch that. She actually seems to have more energy. She has a six week ban on tummy time which she mostly doesn't mind because she hates tummy time. However, she's trying to roll over and isn't allowed to. It won't be dangerous or anything, but supposedly will be painful if she lays on her front where her incision was. She's supposed to get the stitches out tomorrow. We are calling her Wonder Woman because of how well she's doing. And we're all looking forward to her being past the recovery point so we can see her start to bloom. 

[Robin M]

On 1/27/2019 at 3:36 PM, Matryoshka said:

I have finished.... nothing this week.  I'm still reading what I was reading last week - I think I was right at the beginning of most of them at the start of this week?  I did also move my dd into her apartment (which required two trips 1.5 hours each way) and dug out mostly by hand from a heavy sleet storm, both pretty much by myself - dh picked a great week to be out of town!    I also broke my toe doing a pratfall on black ice after the snow melted and refroze on the driveway.  Fun week!!   I'm a bit confused how I'll have managed to read more books in busy December than in January, though! 

Sorry to hear about your toe and hope it heals quickly. Thankful you didn't hit your head!

On 1/27/2019 at 4:28 PM, tuesdayschild said:

Posting first, then coming back to read the thread.

Thank you for the kind thoughts and prayers passed on via Jay’s brief stop here a few weeks back.  I’m well on the way towards climbing back to good health now.  (no more surgeries needed, and the lab results came back clear.  Feeling very blessed and thankful!)

January has been a bit off stride for our family, I was two weeks post major surgery and then to make life a little more exciting 🙃 my Dh and Ds had an accident on the highway (a massive wind gust flipped the vehicle they were towing with – the vehicle was totalled, and thanking God - they crawled out completely unscathed.)   My sister gifted me a fridge magnet that says,  “Life is fragile, handle it with prayer” (we sure are).

Wondering how Kathy’s sweet grandbaby is doing?  Did the operation proceed (I’ve been thing about you a lot Kathy!)?

Hoping to catch up on early threads, at some point, and see what you’ve each been reading.

 

Welcome back and glad to hear you are doing better.  Appreciate Jay keeping us updated.  So happy to hear your son and hubby are okay.  

4 hours ago, Lady Florida. said:

I'm glad to hear you're recovering well. Thank Jay for keeping us updated. I'm sorry about the accident but thankful that dh and ds came out okay. Do you have a replacement vehicle yet? Or some way of getting around until you do?

I've been meaning to post about Emma but have been online less than usual and mostly making drive by posts here and there. She did amazingly well! Her bypass surgery was on a Thursday and she went home the next Monday, five days post-op! At home she seems no different than before. No, scratch that. She actually seems to have more energy. She has a six week ban on tummy time which she mostly doesn't mind because she hates tummy time. However, she's trying to roll over and isn't allowed to. It won't be dangerous or anything, but supposedly will be painful if she lays on her front where her incision was. She's supposed to get the stitches out tomorrow. We are calling her Wonder Woman because of how well she's doing. And we're all looking forward to her being past the recovery point so we can see her start to bloom. 

Thrilled to hear the good news about Emma.  

Your guardian angels are working overtime. 😘

 

Edited January 30, 2019 by Robin M

[Kareni]

6 hours ago, mumto2 said:

I finished rereading Written in Red yesterday and loved it.  The first book in The Others series which I frequently recommend but haven’t revisited since 2013.......I had forgotten so many just plain fun little things about those characters and how the world at Lakeside Courtyard changed when Meg arrived.  Glad Kareni accidentally 😉made me start this reread as preparation for the new release....

And I just started rereading the second book in The Others series today; clearly something is in the air!  Glad you're having fun revisiting the series, mumto2.

Regards,

Kareni

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I have finished The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher. 

There are many thoughts I must deal with now that it is finished. How have I never heard of Rosamunde Pilcher before? She has multiple books in a couple of genres and I am aghast that I haven't heard of her. If The Shell Seekers were to be the only book of hers I read, I would think she is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. The Shell Seekers is a wonderful book; I felt the gamut of emotions and wanted to read simultaneously faster and slower. I wanted to reach the conclusion but also wanted it to continue. I detested certain characters and loved others. I detested certain actions and agreed with others. Most importantly, and definitely most personally, I identified with the basic family squabbles and the complicated and tumultuous maternal and sibling relationships.

This is one of those books that needs to be read multiple times over the course of many years. I can see how the reader would identify with different characters as time passes and that identification would lead to different interpretations and, possibly, greater understanding.

 

[Violet Crown]

Thanks for the update, Kathy.

[Kareni]

I stumbled on this site today (I see it closed at the end of 2017, but directions are provided to a new site); while it has reviews of books in many genres, I think it might be of particular interest to those who favor non-fiction. Scroll down for lists of best (and worst!) books of 2017.

STEVEREADS

WHAT I READ AND WHY

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Having now spent an hour or so browsing the Stevereads site I mentioned above, I've been surprised at the diversity of reviews featured -- non-fiction, fiction, science fiction, romance, children's books and more. My favorite posts though are those  best of year lists since the site itself features only a small subsection of the author's reviews.

Here's a link to the start of the best of 2016 lists:  Here.

ETA: Be aware that the reviewer is very opinionated, and his politics may or may not align with yours.

Regards,

Kareni

[mumto2]

14 minutes ago, Kareni said:

Having now spent an hour or so browsing the Stevereads site I mentioned above, I've been surprised at the diversity of reviews featured -- non-fiction, fiction, science fiction, romance, children's books and more. My favorite posts though are those  best of year lists since the site itself features only a small subsection of the author's reviews.

Here's a link to the start of the best of 2016 lists:  Here.

ETA: Be aware that the reviewer is very opinionated, and his politics may our may not align with yours.

Regards,

Kareni

I just spent awhile on 2017 and the books are really diverse.  I need to go back and add some to my lists!

[tuesdayschild]

Thank you, to each one, for the warm welcome back. And the verbal comforting pats concerning Dh & Ds.

On 1/28/2019 at 3:24 PM, mumto2 said:

Btw,  your son is a sweetheart!  Such a nice young man who obviously adores his mum.

I think he is, and he does 🙂  (read what was typed a few weeks back, that's him exactly).  

On 1/28/2019 at 2:15 PM, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

I think I might need to pull from my non-fiction stacks next.

Have you pulled anything yet?

On 1/28/2019 at 2:12 PM, Penguin said:

this article on Tor.com, many editions have edited the troublesome scene. Interesting. 

Very interesting article, thanks for sharing it!

On 1/28/2019 at 12:36 PM, Matryoshka said:

dh picked a great week to be out of town!    I also broke my toe doing a pratfall on black ice after the snow melted and refroze on the driveway.  Fun week!! 

Wondering how are you managing without the DH and your broken toe?   (Broken toes are so painful!)

On 1/28/2019 at 2:32 PM, Mothersweets said:

I found Sophy super annoying. I think Frederica is a better choice. 😉

The link @Penguin  shared sort of nailed Sophy's character for me, I'd not seen it before she is "rather Emma-ish"  (are you and Emma fan?).  Love Frederica too; but, my best favourite remains The Reluctant Widow

[tuesdayschild]

On 1/29/2019 at 9:18 AM, marbel said:

Some time ago I picked up the kindle version of Frederica (Georgette Heyer) so this is the week for it.  

 

Hoping you enjoy Frederica.... I just adore Felix, and appreciate all the research Heyer did on 'new fangled' machines in the era the book is set in.

On 1/30/2019 at 8:12 AM, Kareni said:

For Jane Austen fans,

Interesting article. Thanks for sharing.

11 hours ago, Lady Florida. said:

Do you have a replacement vehicle yet? Or some way of getting around until you do?

I've been meaning to post about Emma but have been online less than usual and mostly making drive by posts here and there. She did amazingly well! Her bypass surgery was on a Thursday and she went home the next Monday, five days post-op! At home she seems no different than before. No, scratch that. She actually seems to have more energy. She has a six week ban on tummy time which she mostly doesn't mind because she hates tummy time. However, she's trying to roll over and isn't allowed to. It won't be dangerous or anything, but supposedly will be painful if she lays on her front where her incision was. She's supposed to get the stitches out tomorrow. We are calling her Wonder Woman because of how well she's doing. And we're all looking forward to her being past the recovery point so we can see her start to bloom. 

3

We've found one but are having it transported up from the other Island, so Dh is using my drive vehicle (I'm not allowed to drive yet) so it's working out well.

So happy to read that about Emma, Kathy.  Enjoying very damp eyes over your very good news!