karenmari's 75 Book Challenge for 2015 - Thread #1

First thread for 2015, first actual thought about what 2015 might bring reading-wise and life-wise. As always, I'm looking for good books, comfort books, new authors, favorite authors. It's always a crap-shoot. Welcome.

Nothing like mis-spelling your own username in your thread title. Guess I was over-excited. Sheesh.

1. The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell 12/26/14 1/17/15 *** 624 pages
2. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King *audiobook* 1/14/15 2/8/15 ****1/2 531 pages hardcover
3. The Photograph by Penelope Lively 1/17/15 1/22/15 *** 220 pages
4. The Alexandria Link by Steve Berry 1/23/15 1/29/15 ***457 pages
5. Death and the Dogwalker by J. J. Orde 1/29/15 2/1/15 *** 219 pages
6. Desert Queen by Janet Wallach 2/5/15 2/15/15 **** 377 pages
7. The Late Scholar by Jill Paton Walsh 2/15/15 2/21/15 **1/2 356 pages
8. The Judas Pair by Jonathan Gash 2/21/15 2/24/15 ***1/2 182 pages
9. The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers 2/24/15 3/1/15 ** 163 pages
10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling *audiobook* 2/9/15 2/20/15 320 pages hardcover
11. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling *audiobook* 2/23/15 3/1/15 352 pages hardcover
12. The Soul of Discretion by Susan Hill 03/01/15 3/4/15 *** 314 pages
13. Deeply Odd by Dean Koontz 3/4/15 3/13/15 ***1/2 404 pages
14. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling *audiobook* 3/1/15 3/12/15 435 pages hardcover
15. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling *audiobook* 3/12/15 4/1/15 752 pages hardcover
16. Saint Odd by Dean Koontz 3/13/15 3/15/15 **** 338 pages
17. Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore 3/19/15 3/25/15 **** 322 pages
18. Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman 3/26/15 3/28/15 **** 307 pages
19. Six Years by Harlan Coben 3/28/15 3/31/15 **** 351 pages
20. A Fine Summer's Day by Charles Todd 4/1/15 4/9/15 ***1/2 358 pages
21. Peter Pan Must Die by John Verdon 4/10/15 4/22/15 **** 440 pages
22. All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr 4/22/15 5/3/15 **** 530 pages
23. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt 5/3/15 5/21/15 **** 771 pages
24. The Burning Room by Michael Connelly 5/24/15 5/25/15 ***1/2 388 pages
25. Fluke by Christopher Moore 5/26/15 6-5-15 ***1/2 317 pages
26. Finders Keepers by Stephen King 6-5-15 6-7-15 ***1/2 431 pages
27. Cockroaches by Jo Nesbo 6-8-15 6-14-15 **1/2 374 pages
28. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling *audiobook* 4/2/15 5/15/15 896 pages hardcover
29. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling *audiobook* 5/16/15 5/29/15 652 pages hardcover
30. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling *audiobook* 6/1/15 784 pages
31. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton 6/14/15 6/18/15 **** 398 pages
32. Southern Ghost by Carolyn G. Hart 6/18/15 6/21/15 *** 322 pages
33. Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman 6/21/15 6/24/15 *** 179 pages
34. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty 6/24/15 6/28/15 **** 459 pages
35. An Iron Rose by Peter Temple 6/28/15 7/2/15 **** 269 pages
36. Suspect by Michael Robotham 7/2/15 7/4/15 **** 351 pages
37. Lost by Michael Robotham 7/4/15 324 pages

Based on 2 cataract surgeries in December of 2014 (glad I only have 2 eyes, otherwise I'd be using eye drops forever), I may very well finish up the book I'm starting tonight in 2015 - The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell. Since it took me 2 weeks to read The Shining, it wouldn't surprise me at all.

Welcome back!

Thanks, Jim! I was very excited to find the new group tonight and just posted on the Introductions thread. Here's to 2015!

Well Karen, I'll join you in the crap-shoot - hopefully we don't find so much crap though whilst unearthing reading gems. xx

Hi Karen! I'm, just visiting.

Hi Paul! I don't tolerate crap - I am a Happy Book Abandoner. Too many books, too little time. So the crap-shoot refers to the unpredictable nature of what will appeal to me at any given moment. My favorite genre is mystery, but I do branch out periodically into non-fiction, dystopia, science fiction, horror, literature, romance, poetry, etc. Then there's the bookclub I am in - I think since 1997 we've had 1 or two mysteries in the list. Getting back to crap, since 1997 I have only finished/enjoyed about 60% of bookclub books, but enjoy the discussions, fellowship, food, and wine!

Here's our bookclub reading list.
Sep - Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner - abandoned. Couldn't get into the flow at all.
Oct - Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh - wonderful read. Lush, rich characters, interesting time in history.
Nov - Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King - abandoned. Dry, scattered, unfocused IMO.
Dec - Reading the OED by Ammon Shea. - abandoned. Whiny, I have the OED and can find strange words myself. I think he read the OED simply to write about it and make money.
Jan The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce - abandoned. Not one single character in that book interested me.
Feb - Cheri by Colette Never started it - it's always available if I'm ever in the mood.
Mar - The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers - meh. Southern Gothic, okay but not stunning. I actually did read the whole thing.
Apr - Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo - abandoned. Very depressing.
May - All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr - read, enjoyed, but I didn't see what the big deal was. Didn't seem worth the Pulitzer Prize to me.
Jun - The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - excellent read, if a bit long. Vivid characters, fun plots, challenging.
Jul - Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman - 2/3 of the way through and it's rocket science to me so far.
Aug - The All of It by Jeannette Haien

Hi LoisB! Thanks for visiting.

Devil in the Grove was one of my top 5 books read in 2014 - particularly interesting to me because I live in central Florida. I abandoned The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry --- boring!
Loved Behind the Beautiful Forevers and thought The Goldfinch was highly overrated.

Hi Karen, found you and .

I hope your eyes feels much better. I needed drops very often this year due to some pinkeyes.

I wish you a gorgeous reading year.

Hi Barbara! Welcome.

My eyes are doing quite well - still lots of drops. Fortunately not from pink eye - sorry you've gotten that. I remember having it, and as I recall it's itchy and painful and contagious. Here's to a non-pinkeye 2015!

Thank you for my 2015 reading year wishes, too. I have no specific plans except to read what I want, when I want. Except for bookclub, of course. See #7 above. I should have picked up The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry to be discussed January 11th, but couldn't wait to get into The Bone Clocks. It's very unusual and I like Holly Sykes' voice. David writes a teenager's perspective as though he IS a 15-year old English girl.

Wow, looks like you have a really great book club. :) Good luck with your reading this year!

>10 Ameise1: >11 karenmarie: There is an allergic form of conjunctivitis which is not contagious and which I have suffered from in the past.

>13 LoisB: Oh dear, how long did it take to get healed?

>14 Ameise1: It took about 2 - 3 months. I had just moved , didn't have a primary care physician, relied on a nice Urgent Care facility who referred me to an Eye Care facility, who finally decided it was an allergy problem, but wouldn't refer me to an allergist because their allergist wasn't accepting new patients. Welcome to Florida health care! I got out the yellow pages, and found an allergist based on the ads. He turned out to be great, ran several series of tests and discovered that, among other things, I was allergic to neomycin - the key ingredient in many anti-bacterial medications, including those had been prescribed for me. It also turned out that I am allergic to aloe which seems to be in everything, including the tissues that I was using which was really the source of the problem. Bottom line - I read labels very carefully and inform everyone who touches me (doctors, dentist, hairdresser) about my allergies.

Hello Rachel The_Hibernator! I love my bookclub. Our format works well for us. Everybody gets to pick one book per year with no vetoes from potentially bossy others, everybody hosts one time per year, and the person who chose the book leads the discussion and sets the format for the discussion. (Some of us like to go around and let each person speak without hindrance, others like to have an open forum, for example.) We started in 1997 in the subdivision I lived in. Now there are only 4 members that still live there and 8 of us who live elsewhere. If you read the book great, if you didn't, oh well, you'll hear spoilers. 10 out of 12 of us work. I hear horror stories of bookclubs with power-hungry leaders who control what gets read when and really appreciate our democratic approach. We do have one or two members who occasionally propose things like theme-years or rules about whether the person chosing the book has HAD to have read it or not, but most of us immediately smack those ideas down to continue what works.

So far of the books on the list I've abandoned 3 and loved one. My overall average since 1997 is favorable for about 60% of the books.

Hi Barbara and LoisB!

Hi Karen!

May all your wishes come true.

Dear Karen,



Happy New Year from your friend in Kuala Lumpur

beeg, Barbara, Paul! Hi and Happy New Year to you too.

Today is lunch with a high-school friend - both of us transplanted from Southern California to central North Carolina. We usually try to get together about once a month, but last year got away from us - she had spinal surgery in May and I was sick in November and had the cataract surgeries in December. Plus Christmas.

I'm on page 179 of The Bone Clocks. It's just not quite right reading - generic reading glasses are okay but I can't fly through books as I usually do. I have an appointment in mid-January with my eye doctor, and we'll figure out what prescription computer/reading glasses will work best.

Okay, so I just got back from Paul's first 75 book challenge thread of 2015 and am inspired. Here are a couple of resolutions:

1. Lose weight. Lose serious weight. I hate being fat, why do I let myself get fat?
2. Be a better wife to a man who loves me so very much.
3. Be a better mother to my 21-year old daughter and not be so critical of how she's managing her life. Accept her for who she is and revel in it.
4. Read at least 100 books. I always read more than 75 but love this group so much I can't imagine switching allegiances.
5. Look for a new job and if there's a decent offer, jump.
6. Find a good program to volunteer for - food pantry, Friends of the Library, Women's shelter - something. Last volunteer year was 2011 and there's definitely a hole.
7. Visit my family in California. I need sister time, mother's 82, niece and her wife are going to have a baby in June. No excuses.

I never remember to save messages early on in my threads.....

This is my official 2015 Acquisitions Message.

None so far. A good sign, since I have over 1100 books tagged "TBR" in my library. I did get 2 books for Christmas, but those were 2014.....

Well, that didn't last long. 2 books received on the 2nd of January.

Source: BM - Bookmooch, AZ - Amazon, CC - Circle City Music & Books, TS - thrift shop, LT - LibraryThing friend

01/02/15 BM Angel Face by Suzanne Forster - I'm a sucker for her old high-sexual tension psychological thrillers
01/02/15 BM Death and the Dogwalker - Peggy, you're the inspiration for this one!
01/08/15 AZ The Photograph by Penelope Lively - Barbara, you're the inspiration for this one. Ordered just now (1/3/15)
01/08/15 LT On the Brink: The Inside Story of Fukushima Daiichi by Ryusho Kadota. Thank you, LoisB!
01/13/15 AZ Saint Odd by Dean Koontz - pre-ordered in December
01/13/15 CC The Man-eater of Malgudi by R. K. Narayan - Paul - this is the first one I've seen by Narayan, so had to get it.
01/13/15 CC How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein
01/13/15 CC The Holy Qur'an by Abdullah Yusuf Ali - I love that the dates of publication are 1409/1989!
01/13/15 AZ Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges - we saw The Imitation Game last weekend and I wanted to know more
01/24/15 AZ Desert Queen by Janet Wallach about Gertrude Bell, recommended by a dear friend
01/30/15 AZ Quiet as a Nun by Antonia Fraser
01/31/15 TS Second Watch by J.A. Jance
01/31/15 TS Pegasus Descending by James Lee Burke
01/31/15 TS Girl Reading by Katie Ward looked interesting
01/31/15 TS Dream Catcher by Margaret A. Salinger because I've always been enthralled by everything Salinger
01/31/15 TS Where the Moon Isn't by Nathan Filer
**only 16 books for January**
02/03/15 AZ The Soul of Discretion by Susan Hill
02/03/15 AZ The Late Scholar by Jill Paton Walsh
02/04/15 BM Traveling with the Dead by Barbara Hambly
02/05/15 AZ The Judas Pair by Jonathan Gash
02/05/15 BM Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore
02/24/15 AZ The Winter Foundlings by Kate Rhodes
**6 books for February** gads, that's too few by far
03/11/15 AZ 10-day Green Smoothie Cleanse by J. J. Smith
Booksale:
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz
The House of Thunder by Dean Koontz
Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman
Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diane Gabaldon
The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean
The Blackhouse by Peter May
All My Enemies by Barry Maitland
Spider Trap by Barry Maitland
Chelsea Mansions by Barry Maitland
The Jackal Man by Kate Ellis
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
The Falls by Ian Rankin
Twelve Years a Slave by Soloon Northup
The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt
A Fine Summer's Day by Charles Todd
Peter Pan Must Die by John Verdon
Kraken by China Mieville
Dorothy Parker Drank Here by Ellen Meister
The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter by David Colbert
Your Heart Belongs to Me by Dean Koontz
The Kings and Queens of England: A Tourist Guide by Jane Murray
what the night knows by Dean Koontz
Six Years by Harlan Coben
Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler
River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh
The Burning Room by Michael Connelly
Pirate King by Laurie R. King
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
Creatures of the Kingdom by James Michener
The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard
Seize the Night by Dean Koontz
Fox Evil by Minette Walters
Southern Ghost by Carolyn G. Hart
A Very Private Plot by William F. Buckley, Jr.
Don't Look Down by Jennifer Crusie
A Dance to the Music of Time: First Movement by Anthony Powell
A Dance to the Music of Time: Second Movement by Anthony Powell
A Dance to the Music of Time: Third Movement by Anthony Powell
Riven Rock by T. Coraghessan Boyle
Cousin Felix Meets the Buddha by Lincoln Kaye
Our Endangered Values by Jimmy Carter
Jeeves and the Wedding Bells by Sebastian Faulks
Focault for Beginners by Lydia Alix Fillingham
The Second World War volumes 1-4 by Winston Churchill
Apes, Angels, and Victorians by William Irvine
Marrying the Mistress by Joanna Trollope
An Iron Rose by Peter Temple
Vanishing World: the endangered arctic by Fredrick Granath
The Sherlock Holmes Companion by Michael and Mollie Hardwick
** 52 books for March ** - a respectable number

04-11-15 TS Day of the Dead by J.A. Jance
04-11-15 TS False Memory by Dean Koontz
04-11-15 TS The Devil She Knows by Bill Loehfelm
04-26-15 Ontario California Airport What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
** 4 books for April ** - way too low

05-01-15 Lisa Grafton Square by Alfred J. Batty, her stepfather
05-11-15 daughter As You Wish by Cary Elwes
05-11-15 daughter The Creature Vault by Jody Revenson
05-17-15 Louise The Siege by Stephen White
**4 books for May** - again, way too low

06-03-15 AM Finders Keepers by Stephen King
06-16-15 AM Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman
**2 books for June** yeesh

07-03-15 26 books - from a box stored from my MiL and FiL
07-01-15 AM Suspect by Michael Robotham
07-01-15 AM Lost by Michael Robotham
07-03-15 11 books - more from boxes from MiL and FiL
07-04-15 8 books - more from boxes from MiL & FiL

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND HAPPY NEW THREAD, KAREN!
That is quite a valiant list of resolutions. I wish you may accomplish even a few of them. I absolutely affirm #s 2, 3, and 7! Actually, I should be trying #s 1 and 6 too. Thanks, I guess, for the reminder.

Karen, I wish you a fabulous weekend full of reading.

Hi Peggy! Thanks. I think I need to print my resolutions out and put them somewhere I'll see them every single day.

Hello Barbara. You've already given me my first book inspiration for 2015 - The Photograph by Penelope Lively and since it's only $4.00 in "Very Good" condition on Amazon, I just clicked "Place Your Order". Sigh.

Yesterday was strange at work. Since October 28th I've only worked 13 days. Most of it sick, some of it vacation. I find that I have little or no intrinsic motivation to provide high-quality work to the company that continues to shaft its workers and benefit its senior management, but personal pride kept me going yesterday so that by the end of the day I could say that I had given a good day's work.

I have the name of an HR manager of an automotive supplier in Fayetteville using the same software we use - about an hour and 15 minutes or so from here - who I've been told is looking for someone with my skill set and would even consider me working from home a couple of days a week. TODAY is the day I write an e-mail to him. ***looked over the original e-mail from my contact, who said to call him first. I called and left a voice mail.***

>25 karenmarie: Well done, Karen. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

good luck!

I hope so, too, Barbara!

Thanks, beeg. I'm really getting unhappy with my job situation. Maybe this year is the year to switch.

I'm here! I'm here! Dropping a star and wishing you a kinder 2015.

Thanks, Steph! Same for you.

Well, the Panthers beat the Arizona Cardinals, which makes my North Carolina family happy.

Now on to NCIS.....

>21 karenmarie: Good luck on your resolutions!

Thanks, Rachel. I just printed them out and they are tucked on "this week, whichever week 'this week' will be" in my calendar, which I look at every day.

I just realized that I only have one week to read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry so have started it. I don't usually keep two books going, but will not be able to finish The Bone Clocks with enough time left over to read "Harold", so will juggle.

Today is taking down Christmas decorations and tree, getting the decorations into the attic and the tree outside in a good place to start returning to the earth, and putting up the Christmas Present Wrapping Station that daughter and I set up in the upstairs den. Yesterday I got all the stuff put in the right box or trash bag, so it's a matter of just putting up.

Happy New Year, Karen! (if a few days late)

Hi Stasia! I just starred your thread, so will be enjoying 2015 with you.

Happy New Year, Karen!

Karen, I wish you some very good fortune as you e-mail the person in Fatalburg. I'm already imagining meeting you for lunch someday when you've gotten the job, are settled in, and have to be there one day.

Thanks, Larry! So far, so good.

Hi Peggy. I'd love to have lunch someday in Fatalburg - or Fayette-nam as we call it up here.

I've abandoned The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. It's irritating. Harold's irritating. His wife is irritating. I don't care about his blisters. I don't even care enough about the Mystery or about how Queenie is to read the ending. Blech.

I'm back to The Bone Clocks, which is quite intriguing and well written.

iam new to this web can some one tell me if i can read books and how

>37 karenmarie: I agree with you about TUPoHF. I also DNF it.

Hi Karen, I wish you a fabulous weekend.

Hi LoisB! I haven't changed my mind about picking it back up either.

Hi Barbara! Thank you. Pretty fox. I'd like to get some snow here in central NC, but it's early days yet - winter only technically started on December 21st.

Today is errands, putting the last Christmas decorations and wrapping supplies up, maybe doing some cooking, and watching football playoff games with husband. Reading, too, of course!

>37 karenmarie: I also agree about Harold Fry and couldn't understand the book's popularity or critical reception. I was keen for him to stop walking a chapter or two in and was ho hum all the way to an uninteresting end.

I hope your weekend, on the other hand, is not ho hum, Karen. xx

Hi Paul! I am going to make a concerted effort to keep it from being ho hum. Thank you.

I am gearing up to stop eating sugar again, reduce high-glycemic index carbohydrates, and reduce food volume. I don't have a scale that shows me my weight, but I do have one that records changes from a starting point. My starting point was last October, then because of being sick, having two cataract surgeries, and the holidays (and of course hardly any will power), I have added rather than subtracted weight. Sigh. I will try to not sabotage myself and so will set small, attainable goals. Today my goal is to not eat any sweets. I may still imbibe sugar (like if we go out and I get something that I put catsup on, catsup has sugar in it), but no cookies, candy, cake, ice cream, pie, etc.

I am really enjoying The Bone Clocks. I loved the beginning, then couldn't follow the flow once it started moving among people and time periods, and now am just going with the flow. Time-wise it's 2019. Folks keep sneaking in and out of the narrative. I like it.

One thing about the cataract surgeries is that I am using "cheaters" right now - store bought reading glasses - and they aren't perfect, so find that I am not reading quite as much as I usually do or as quickly. I go for an eye exam on the 14th and will get prescription computer/reading glasses then. I may also get a pair of glasses that are trifocals so that my distance vision, which is currently without glasses at 20-30 in my left eye and 20-25 in my right eye, will be spot on. I find that putting on reading glasses then taking them off, then putting them back on, etc. is irritating. I have been wearing glasses for literally 51 years (since I was 10) and except for a period of about 8 or so years of contact lenses, have worn glasses. I almost feel defenseless when I am not wearing them. We'll see - it's such a luxurious problem to have. I drive to work without glasses! First time EVER without corrective lenses for driving. My eye doctor said that I would have to get my license changed because now it says I have to wear corrective lenses.

Time for more coffee and either straightening up the sunroom desk or emptying the clean dishes out of the dishwasher and putting the dirty ones in. Neither is appealing. But the sense of accomplishment for either will be good.

>43 karenmarie: I have progressive trifocals. I was a little hesitant about making the switch to progressives, but my ophthalmologist office had a supplier who would refund the cost of the lenses if I didn't like them within 30 days.

I tried progressives about 4 years ago - and found that I had to turn my head to read my book, which, at the time, was intolerable. I, too, had an eye doctor whose supplier would refund some portion of the lenses - I forget what portion. I zoomed back to bifocals as quickly as they could get the lenses ground for the frames. I hesitate to try progressives again, but it's definitely an idea I'll speak with my eye doctor about.

Sunroom desk straightened up. Papers thrown away, filed, put in my "in" box. Chachkas grouped appealingly.... books put together on a stepping stool to put on shelves, give away, etc., accordingly. I told my husband I'd empty the dishwasher and put the dirty dishes in, so am now committed to doing that. And just finished that too. I'm on a roll.

I got all the errands run yesterday, made beef-vegetable soup, watched the Panthers lose to the Seahawks (boo-hoo), and before all of that we went to see The Imitation Game with Benedict Cumberbatch. It was such a good movie - poignant and informative. He did an excellent job. Now I want to read about Alan Turing, so have bought the book the movie was based on. I usually like to read the book first, but oh well!

Today is the Dallas game. Husband's a long-time fan. His friend, also a long-time fan, and wife, are coming over to watch, so instead of a fun reading/football day I have to make sure the house is under control and "entertain". And tonight's bookclub, so a busier day than I'd prefer.

The Bone Clocks continues to be excellent. 368/624 pages. The way I'm going it might take most of January, then I'll have LOTS of catching up to do. I might start listening to audiobooks in the car to and from work - haven't done much of that lately. I just reviewed my audiobooks and think I'll put Doctor Sleep and The Ice Master in the car to see which one grabs me first.

Happy New Thread, Karen! Yes, I finally stumbled over here. I'll try to drop by more often. Glad you are enjoying the Bone Clocks. I read it last fall and I am a fan.
Doctor Sleep was terrific on audio, (like all King's work, it translates well to this format). I have Revival waiting in the audio wings but it will be awhile.

Hi Mark!! Glad to "see" you. I have lurked on your threads a lot recently but have had such a strange year or so that I don't de-lurk very often. Sorry. I am still loving The Bone Clocks. Revival was very good. Tomorrow morning I start Doctor Sleep if I get tired of NPR on the way to work.

I stopped off at Circle City Music & Books - a wonderful used book/music store - while waiting to meet a friend for dinner tonight, and since I had $41.02 in gift certificates, I spent $35 or so of it. Joy, rapture.

There's a slight coating of ice this morning - we were expecting it - I will be going to the eye doctor before going to work. New prescription and new glasses after cataract surgery. I am looking forward to getting to a new normal for reading, and will have to catch up with some of the new books I've gotten. I've posted them on thread #22 above.

Morning Karen! It looks like we have a bit of a warm-up on the way. Yah! All the Light should make a perfect book club choice.

Karen, we would like to see some photos when you get your new glasses. :-)
I wish you a lovely day.

ack, I need to get The Bone Clocks

Hi Mark! Warm's better, but I do want some snow here in central NC. Good, not-too-much snow. Not much to ask, right?

Hi Barbara! I'll have to figure out how to get them onto messages. I do not upload photos to the "cloud", but might post one or two on my profile.

ack, beeg, yes you do. It's gotten a bit strange, but I'm 449 pages in, and it's still intriguing enough to warrant continuing.

Yay! It's Friday. Why, oh why, am I not independently wealthy?

Morning Karen! Did you know I was at Booktopia, Asheville, in August? Had a great time. What a beautiful little city.

HI Mark! We've been to Asheville twice, both times to go to Biltmore. We adore touring Biltmore and haven't spent any real time in Asheville, sad to say.

I read some more of The Bone Clocks at lunch time today. It's in a very weird phase right now. And, I started listening to Doctor Sleep the other day and it's much creepier than The Shining, IMO. I think I'm glad I'm listening to it - once I get to work things are bright and busy and when I get home I can eat (yay, dinner!) and then read something else or watch NCIS with husband. Do not want to think about it after dark, alone.

This weekend is free - no obligations. Final Christmas cleanup, laundry, errands, reading, decompressing. I owe a friend an e-mail, another friend a snail-mail letter, and an acquaintance a quick note for a late Christmas card. Plus I'm determined to find The Cockroach by Jo Nesbo. I know I have it on my shelves, but I must not have cataloged it. I know that it's on S21 - S27, which means taking books down to find it. Perhaps early tomorrow.

For post #57 below - Hi Peggy! It was a shock when my glasses stopped working. What was more shocking was when the eye doctor said that a prescription for new glasses wouldn't fix the problem - that's when I had to wait for the cataracts to get bad enough to do something about. That was in 2012. Now, happily, I'm waiting on the new glasses. I've ordered a pair of computer/reading bifocals, and a pair of distance/computer/reading glasses. I'm finding it hugely irritating to take glasses off for distance and put glasses on for close work. I put them on the top of my head, where they get stuck in my hair. I bought a necklacy-thing to wear the glasses around my neck, but that was dreadful too. So the new bifocals do not have the swivel nose pads - they are just molded plastic so that when I push them up they (hopefully) won't tangle in my hair. On the 14th I was told 7-10 working days..... that puts New Glasses between Jan 26 - 29. They usually fudge a bit, so perhaps a day or two earlier.....

Insomnia has reared its ugly head. I'm reading, doing laundry, and drinking coffee. One nice thing about the house we build in 1998 is that the laundry is at the other end of the house from where our bedroom is, so I can do stuff without waking husband up. He's definitely not an early morning person, so I enjoy the quiet, even with the washing machine going 15 feet away from me.

Here's a huge shock. On page 511 of The Bone Clocks, Holly is playing pool with somebody, and here's a line that should NEVER made it past an editor: "Brendan, Jacko, and me played at the Captain Marlow, on Sundays when the pub was shut. Guess who usually won?" AND ME? Really? And, although I didn't record page number, there was at least one other instance of using "me" incorrectly for "I". Those kinds of things are almost physically painful when I read them - they scream at me.

Happy New Glasses! I need to see my eye doc too --- my old glasses for reading music at the piano don't work any longer. Everything else seems to be fine, but then, what do I know?
I'm glad that you're enjoying The Bone Clocks. I didn't love and adore it, and that disappointed me hugely. I did like it well enough.
Hmmm. The Shining scared me to pieces. Doctor Sleep is sleeping on my Kindle..... I'll have to see.

Karen, I wish you a relaxed weekend.

Thank you, Barbara, pretty picture! We have several herds of white-tailed deer that take refuge in our subdivision, especially during hunting season and winter. Last week I saw a combined herd of 12 deer munching their way across the pastures. Yesterday I startled a smaller herd of 7.

I just finished The Bone Clocks. My first book finished in 2015. I'm like you, Peggy - I didn't love and adore it, and that disappointed me hugely. I did like it well enough. By the time I finished all 624 pages, all I could say was that it was about Holly Sykes. I liked the first section A Hot Spell 1984 and the last section, Sheep's Head 2043, best.

And, although I didn't record page number, there was at least one other instance of using "me" incorrectly for "I".

Me agree with you on this. Incorrect use of "me" makes I shudder.

so don't run out and get it?

I would say, no, don't run. Don't even walk.

Morning, Karen! Sorry, the Bone clocks was a bit of a letdown. I liked it more than you but agree with you about the beginning and the end. It was certainly not cloud Atlas.

I'm reading Syndrome E, a gory but interesting thriller. Have you read it? Seems like the French have a lock on macabre thrillers. I read Choice Cuts last year which was pretty cutting edge.

>64 SomeGuyInVirginia: i read Syndrome E in 2012, gave it 4 stars. Now to go take a look at Choice Cuts...

Hi Mark! I didn't like the Horology bits and the Atemporals - for some reason it made me think of Richard and his contempt for "Majyck". Haven't read Cloud Atlas, but, along with the other 1402 books I've tagged "tbr", it's just waiting for me to open it.

Syndrome E sounds wonderful, Larry. I've added it to my wishlist. To eventually go on the tbr stack. Choice Cuts, on the other hand, I think I'll pass on....

Hi doc!

I think Cloud Atlas is a Must Read! I hope you can get to it some day.

Okay, I pulled it down off S00 (sunroom, top shelf that goes across the entire room). It's a pristine trade paperback, copyright 2004. It's going to be competing with Cheri, for the February RL bookclub meeting..... which, unfortunately, is always on Superbowl Sunday. They are a group of snobs - only two of us want it changed to the second Sunday of February and they always refuse..... it just depends on my mood and whether husband really wants to watch the Superbowl or not as to whether I'll go. I haven't gone since the October meeting, so might actually make the attempt.

Gaack! Time to get ready for work.

I guess I've said that the reason I was so disappointed in The Bone Clocks was because I loved Cloud Atlas so much. You are in for a treat - a long treat!!!
Boo for snobs who can't accommodate other folks. Would they change the meeting if two people asked it for some other purpose?
Meanwhile, I'll look at the *Cuts* and the *Syndrome*, but I think that *Patrick Melrose 2* is going to put me off anything the least bit down and dirty for some time.

Hi Peggy! They did change it one time for the season premiere of Downton Abbey, which made me think that next year they'd accommodate the Super Bowl, but they didn't. It still riles me.

I got a call that my glasses are in - I will stop there on the way to work since I had to work on something that I shouldn't have had to work on until after 5 today to e-mail it to "Italy" so "Italy could work on it and have it done by the time I get in tomorrow. My boss didn't follow through on a request he made, then pushed it off onto me while he was out of the office for 3 days. "Italy" came back with more specific requirements today, so we had to accommodate them. To be fair to my boss, he did write a query to pull some of the data we needed - but it was HIS project until he dumped it on me. He does that - goes to meetings, is involved at the higher levels, then gives us the scut work. It gets more and more irritating. I snarled a little bit today about it, but the man has such a sunny disposition that I don't know if my snarliness got to him or not. In 3 years he's only cussed at me once, drat him. I don't cuss at him, but I snarl frequently. Ah well, at 61, my inner bitch is leaching to the surface. :)

Wait, wait, wait. Have you read 'Salems Lot? That's probably my favorite King (and the Kindle has it on sa-ale...

Nice, even tho I have it in hardback and read it a hundred times I got the kindle version.

Hi Larry! Just checked out the Kindle version, must have missed the sale 'cuz it's $4.99. But, I have a pristine 1975 Doubleday hardcover, with dust jacket in excellent condition, on my shelves.... they just migrate in, I swear..... I have no memory of where I got it.

Hi beeg. Hundreds of times? My, my. A ringing endorsement.

I just finished The Photograph by Penelope Lively and I gotta say, it's nothing out of the ordinary to me. I give it 3 stars - "good" - and although there were some lyrical paragraphs, not enough to pin a book on for me. I didn't particularly like most of the characters and the reasons for what happened with Kath aren't crystal enough for my analytical soul.

So the question is, what next? I should read Cheri, but I'm inclined to blow off the bookclub meeting to stay home with husband to watch the Superbowl. King?

15 minutes later.....

It's fun to just look at my shelves and pick things. I don't think I want to have 2 Kings going - one in book form and one audiobook, so I'm going to try Christine Falls by Benjamin Black and/or The Third Man and The Fallen Idol by Grahame Greene to see if one of them works.

So I was visiting AuntieClio's thread, saw a comment by lunacat and went to her profile to see where she was from (her comment made it clear that she wasn't from the good ol' US of A) and saw this quote. I'm stealing it for my very own:

"The truly cultured are capable of owning thousands of unread books without losing their composure or their desire for more." Gabriel Zaid

My tbr pile is over 1400 and I acquire new books all the time. I have never felt guilty about that, but it's still nice to see it in print.

Happy Friday, Karen! Love the quote! I hope you have an R & R weekend planned.

That 1975 'Salems Lot may be worth some coin. Check it out. There were several printings of the first edition with modifications, etc.

I read a whole 5 pages before Parker came and jumped on my throat. Play now!

Hi Mark: Nothing big - errands, relaxing, staying inside where it's warm. I did go get my car serviced and inspected so I can get it registered by the end of the month and we're gong back into town to run errands. Towns's 8 miles away, so we try to group things.

I checked out Salem's Lot and it may be worth some - it's a bookclub edition, I think, so may be worth less, but still might be worth doing something about. Thanks for the tip.

Go Parker! When I came home from getting my car serviced, Kitty William and Inara were both stitting on a microfleece blanket next to my husband. We sure do love our kitties.

I started the Graham Greene but just wasn't in the right mood. I needed something else, and found it with The Alexandria Link by Steve Berry. I don't know how many Steve Berry Books have come through the house and gone out again over the years without being read (neighbors give me books, some interesting, some not) but for some reason The Alexandria Link got onto my shelves and into LT and now I'm finding it an enjoyable read.

This morning is laundry, reading, preparing to make a turkey pot pie. I baked a turkey last weekend and the leftover carcase made it into a stew pot yesterday, simmered with just water. Today I'll debone the turkey, remove the fat from and strain the broth, season it, then go from there.

Happy Sunday, Karen.

Just delurking to say hi!

Hiya! I love when you visit.

Thanks, Barbara! I DID have a happy Sunday. I made the turkey pot pie. Husband had 3 helpings. The leftover crust got turned into cook's reward with butter and cinnamon. I also made something I call "cracker fudge" (saltines butter, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips) and am going to put a tin of it in my neighbor Louise's mailbox this morning to cheer her up. (Her husband has Alzheimer's and her life is challenging). Husband and I watched NCIS, and I read quite a bit.

Hi Kath! Hope you're doing well. Think I saw something on Facebook from you about Richard getting moved somewhere? Will have to check this evening when I have more time. If so, Yay!

Hi Steph! I'll zoom over as soon as I can.

Today's rainy and cold, but it's better than the blizzard conditions in the NE.

I want snow! Oh man, how cool would it be to be snowbound in Manhattan, read all afternoon, catch some shows and stay up late hanging out in clubs? very, very cool.

Hi Larry! Here's hoping that by now you're getting some, although not the blizzard they're getting farther up north and east.

We had some rain today, not much.

Ooh, that turkey pot pie sounds good, Karen! Save me some?

We got lucky in the Chicago area too! Just an inch or so...Whew!

Hi Mark! Husband scarfed all the leftover pot pie, but it was tasty.

If I stop at the food store on the way home to get potatoes, celery, etc., I may make the rest of the leftover turkey/broth into turkey soup.

Right now it's I owe, I owe, it's off to work I go!

Maybe next time? LOL.

Sure, Mark! It was tasty. As is the turkey soup - onions, potatoes, carrots, celery, green beans, lima beans. Made it last night for dinner tonight. And for another couple of nights too, will probably freeze half of the rest.

I am going crazy over Doctor Sleep. I'm listening to it, and it is fantastic. I can hardly wait to get into the car and don't like getting to work or home - would just rather listen! I'm on CD 11 out of 15, I think - getting along.

Time to finish The Alexandria Link. 23 pages to go.

6:30 - and done! Average, except for the notes in the back about Kamal Salibi, whose theories were used extensively in the book. I am interested in reading Salibi's books.

Now to find something to read.....

I loved The Alexandria Link. I read it 2010.

Hi Karen, I wish you a lovely weekend.

Hi Barbara! It's interesting that I have all these books on my shelves - I buy them, I Bookmooch them, I inherit them, then eventually it's their time to be read. That's what happened with The Alexandria Link.

The picture is precious. My weekend should be mostly lazy. Husband is sick, I'm fighting being sick (a cold), and the Superbowl is Sunday night. So is bookclub, but I'll stay home to watch with husband. I am going to force husband to stay inside today - we usually run errands on Saturday - because right now, at 8 a.m. it's 17F. He doesn't need to go out in the cold today. Plus, I'm not enamored of the idea of sharing a small confined space with someone who is coughing and sneezing! It will give me time to browse the thrift stores for books, too!

I'm reading Death and the Dogwalker, having heard of the series from Peggy. So far so good. It's a cozy mystery and as a rule I have gone away from them, Agatha Christie being the major exception. I like Jason Lynx.

Sending healing vibes at your place. Just relax and enjoy the weekend. I sent my hubster to do the errand today because I feel like knock out by a steamroller.

Morning Karen! It looks like Doctor Sleep is grabbing you the way it did me. Like many of his books, the first half is the most engaging. His stuff works so well on audio, doesn't it? I think I will listen to all his work now in that format.

Thanks, Barbara. Husband is still feeling pretty bad - now has a sinus headache he can't seem to get rid of. I'm sorry you were so exhausted yesterday. I hope that resting yesterday and letting husband do the errands helped!

Hi Mark. I want to go sit in the car and just listen..... but anticipation is half the pleasure. So I'll wait until I either go out today to get husband something for his headache (nothing we have at home seems to be helping) or travel to work tomorrow. King's books do work well on audio, except if he's reading! I listened to part of the first Dark Tower but had to bail because I just couldn't stand his reading it. Imagine not liking an author reading his own work. Sigh. Just me, I guess. Anyway, I take his books in whatever format I can get - don't anticipate going to one medium or another exclusively.

Off to finish Death and the Dogwalker. Good enough, but I won't go out of my way for any more of the series, I think.

I just finished Death and the Dogwalker. I thought it was the first in the series, but it wasn't. Sigh. If I see any I'll pick them up, but won't go to Amazon.

Off to find another book. A mystery, I think, but which one? Choices, choices.

Husband and I watched the Superbowl. Since the Panthers weren't in it, and the Cowboys weren't in it, I didn't particularly have a horse in the race EXCEPT that as the first quarter progressed, I kept finding myself cheering when the Patriots did something good and saying "Oh Crap" when the Seahawks did something good. By the end of the first quarter I wanted the Patriots to win, so am happy they did. :)

Off to read a bit of Desert Queen by Janet Wallach. Let's see if I can get hooked on it.

Glad you were happy about the Patriots, even if your rooting was rather arbitrary. I was rooting for the Seahawks, but, again, that's rather arbitrary so it was an exciting game either way.

Hi Rachel! It was an exciting game. I couldn't believe it, like everybody else watching the game, when Butler intercepted at the goal line. Exciting stuff.

We never watch the halftime show except out of the corners of our eyes and as we're walking through the living room, so I was able to get some of the pans cleaned up from making a very tasty chuck roast with rice.

Doh! I lost a bet on Seattle.

I had to jet Doctor Sleep because I just couldn't get into it. Is the audio version really that much better? I do really love audio books.

Dramamine .... for the headache.

really

Sorry about that, Larry. I loved the audiobook - since I don't have Doctor Sleep on my shelves don't know if I would have loved it or not. Will Patton, the reader, has a wonderful voice, and although the early parts about the True Knot are a bit enervating, I was always interested in continuing. Once I learned why Abra cried incessantly when she was about 2 months old, I was hooked. Try it if you can find it.

Thanks, Kath - will get some for him today. Hope you're doing okay.

I'm runnng seriously late, but I do want to say that Desert Queen is a very good book. Gertrude Bell was a combination of a woman of her times (Rule Britannia and all that) but also a woman beyond her times (mountain climbing, roaming the desert with only Bedouin companions, etc.). I'm glad I'm reading it.

Just got the latest Simon Serrailler book by Susan Hill and the 4th in the Jill Paton Walsh writing in the style of Dorothy Sayers ala Peter Wimsey from Amazon last night. I adore getting books in the mail.

>101 karenmarie: I read Desert Queen several years ago and learned a lot about the history of the Middle East while I was at it. Gertrude Bell was certainly a character! I am glad to hear that you are enjoying the book.

Morning, Karen! Did you see that Stephen King has a new book coming out this year? Really? How do we keep up, my friend?

...zooms over to Amazon......

Yup, in June. Finders Keepers. I've pre-ordered it. Drat you. :)

Hi Stasia! I am really enjoying it. I'm on page 79. We're up to 1906. She reminds me of Teddy Roosevelt - she had the same gusto for life and a fearless self-confidence that allowed her to attempt and accomplish anything.

Hey Mark - barely. I just finished listening to Doctor Sleep, which was right between excellent and stunning by my rating system. I read Revival and The Shining Decemberish, and Mr. Mercedes just prior to that. My favorites are still Under the Dome, The Stand unabridged, and 11/22/63, but I haven't read anything I haven't liked at some level.

We are now a three-kitty household instead of a two-kitty household, IF the dynamic works out. A kitty needed rescuing from the shelter, so a woman I work with who lives and breathes animal rescues asked me if I'd consider taking one of two kitties (or both!). I opted for the 10-year old girl kitty Dora. She's a tuxedo, very affectionate, very quiet, and has been in the library since Monday night. We brought her out for 10 minutes last night to let the other kitties get a glimpse. One fluffy tail (Kitty William) and two hisses (new kitty Dora to Inara), then back to the library. We'll bring her out some more tonight. She eventually will become as our other two are - indoor/outdoor kitties. We have a cat door, so they come and go as they please.

You all do know what the definition of a crazy cat lady is, right? It's someone who has 1 more kitty than you have.....

Tonight is the big experiment - Dora out with the other 2 kitties. We'll block off the kitty door hall so she can't escape to the outside and run away and let her explore the living room end of the downstairs. We'll see how many, if any, hisses or fluffy tails there are.

A bit scary - husband has apparently had an episode of Bell's Palsy. At lunch today he said the left side of his tongue felt strange, then I noticed that when he blinked his left eye didn't completely close. His doctor said he thought it was BP. Just one more thing to worry about.

I'm doing okay - enjoying Desert Queen, waiting for the weekend. Dinner on Saturday with an old high school friend, Playmakers Repertory Company production of Trouble in Mind on Sunday, lunch beforehand, with my neighbor Louise.

Daughter will be zooming by Sunday morning to pick up a puppy crate so her friend Justin can go pick up his Siberian Husky puppy. Charlotte to Wilmington - 4 1/2 hours - and the idiot boy wasn't thinking of a crate. Daughter had to gently explain that puppies get scared, will unintentionally claw the inside of his car, possibly run around hysterically, and either pee and/or poo without warning. Sheesh. What a child. Daughter is going to have to guide him through Pet Ownership 101. At least she's had fish, pet rats, pet hamsters, 2 horses, and 6 cats.

>105 karenmarie: IF the dynamic works out
My experience (once introducing two kittens to two 10 year old cats, once introducing a 5 year old cat to two 10 year old cats) has been about 6 months for everyone to settle into place, gradually transitioning from terrorizing attacks and bloodshed to curled up together and grooming each other.

Hi qebo - so far we haven't had terrorizing attacks and bloodshed. It might take less than 6 months. :) Last night we let Dora out. Kitty William stayed away from her, Inara sniffed her out, Dora hissed, everybody walked away. Dora then went to hide in the library under the desk. We'll know if Kitty William is stressed if he starts pulling fur out again. Don't know how Inara expresses stress. So far Dora's hissed and hidden.

Good grief, freakin' Bells Palsy is everywhere! I'm still getting over a bout of it (my first) from last October. Did the doc prescribe rehab? Mine did and it was a waste for me, plus I don't do the exercises like I should. Man, when it first hit I locked myself in the bedroom for 3 days, sure my life was over. Now I don't even think about it. It does get better.

I hope Dora works out and you have a new kitt-eh. It sounds good that at least they aren't fighting? Pics!

I don't remember your having BP, Larry - of course I've had serious brain rot since my paralyzed vocal cord and cataract surgeries! Glad you're better. Husbands a bit worse today - his eye hurts a bit and there's more paralysis on the left side of his mouth. He says it feels like when he goes to the dentist for a filling. The doc didn't even want to see husband, and his second call today is so far unanswered. I asked him if he wanted to go to the ER tonight but he doesn't - says it all sounds normal, if terrible. He did buy some eye drops to keep his left eye moist, hopefully that will make the eye pain go away.

Brrr! It's cold here for us wimps in NC, although it was 13F at our house this morning. Now it's 44F but it seems so much colder than that. There's some wind, so that's probably at least part of it.

Tomorrow is lunch with a friend, Sunday is Playmakers Repertory with my friend and neighbor Louise. Busy weekend. Plus with daughter coming by to get the puppy carrier, it will be busier than usual.

Off to see how Miss Dora did today.

>101 karenmarie: Karen, even when I'm expecting books in the mail it still feels like Christmas and/or my birthday when they arrive. I want to be such a drama queen when I go to pick up my mail. "For ME??? You shouldn't have! I don't know how to thank you!"

>106 karenmarie: Eventful and stressful, Karen - you don't do things by halves. Hopefully, your husband will be fine and the incident either an isolated one or something manageable. New puppies are as much a pain as they are a joy and I certainly wouldn't want to transport one loose in a car for four hours.

Have a great Sunday.

Hi Steph! Anticipation is half the pleasure. Yes, knowing books are going to show up is a very good feeling.

Paul! Eventful and stressful? I guess so, more now than in previous times in my life. Health problems have taken center stage, I'm afraid. I'm doing okay - my vocal cord is back to normal and I'm getting used to my new vision. Husband is worrisome. He told me last night this is the most mortal he's ever felt in his life. He has other health problems that are managed, but to see your face droop and be powerless to do anything but wait for it to get better is awful. Mentally he's a bit frail right now. Not off the deep end, but depressed and fearful.

I had a wonderful visit with my friend Jan yesterday. I met her at the Hobby Lobby because she's a crafter. She had already been there for 45 minutes when I got up with her, we spent 45 more minutes, then went to lunch. I didn't get home til 4 p.m.

Today's "Trouble in Mind" at the Playmakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill with my friend Louise. Broadway, 1957. In rehearsals for a groundbreaking racially integrated production, the leading actress must choose between the role of a lifetime or compromising her values, in this bitingly satiric classic penned by a real-life groundbreaker.

As the first African-American woman to have her work professionally produced on the New York stage, Alice Childress lived this story and tells it true.

Lunch out first, so I'll be gone from 11:45 to 5 p.m or so.

A very busy weekend for me, indeed, and I'll look forward to next weekend being quieter.

Boss's last day is tomorrow. I feel a combination of "good riddance to bad rubbish" and fear that with no one in the ICT Director's role, at least temporarily, we'll be subjected to the whims of our psychotic Italian General Manager. Already he's called on me twice directly when he would have gone to my boss before. I hate being called into his office. Usually it's something that he should be delegating to a finance manager or logistics manager, but he dips his fingers in and micromanages. Blech. So now we have no HR Director, no Plant Manager, and no ICT Director. One of the senior technicians left two weeks ago and one of the Commercial Managers left one week ago. All because of our psychotic Italian General Manager. And nobody higher up the chain either notices, or, if they notice, wants to do anything about it. I want out.

Desert Queen continues to satisfy. I actually don't like Gertrude Bell very much.I realize that she was brilliant and knowledgeable about the Middle East, "Mesopotamia" particularly, but aspects of her personality are irritating. We've met T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). Gertrude is now 48 years old. It's 1916 and the middle of WWI. Onward.

Waiting in the wings are The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers for bookclub in March, the newest Simon Serrailler by Susan Hill and the 4th Jill Paton Walsh book based on the characters of Dorothy L. Sayers. Plus I am interested in Quiet as a Nun by Antonia Fraser based on something Peggy said on her thread.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. George Santayana

I am learning how very much the Middle East has not changed since Gertrude Bell's time. I think she would weap hot tears if she were magically transported to Baghdad today.

1920s Middle East + technology + Israel = 2015 Middle East. Oversimplification, but all things I hear about and read about in the news are foreshadowed in this book.

This is a very good book for me. I still find her somewhat irritating, but see the muck and mire she cut her way through.

Trust the kitties to sort it out. I typically toss them together and we have about 45 minutes of hissing and spitting and a day or three of sideways glances.....

Then everything is pretty much ok.

Hi Kath: Things are okay mostly - she hides in the library mostly. Husband's the worst problem - saying it's not fair to the other kitties to have her out and about when they want to be able to come and go. But today all the doors are open and she's been outside on a leash once and knows how to get back in the kitty door if she goes out. The library will become the library again today once I show her where the other box, food, and water are.

I finished Desert Queen by Janet Wallach today. Here's my review: Desert Queen

Hi Karen! Good luck with your kitty mixing!

Thanks, Rachel. Didn't make the library the library again yet, but will probably do so tomorrow as we will probably be iced in here in central NC. Not for sure, but we're prepared.

I'm reading The Late Scholar written by Jill Paton Walsh based on the characters of Dorothy L. Sayers. It's okay..... Dorothy Sayers was happy to give you paragraphs and paragraphs of local detail and clever character studies, but this book is more .... streamlined..... and therefore a bit more shallow. But, it's enjoyable and the story line intriguing.

We're both staying home today - too dangerous to drive to work after a sleet storm with just a touch of freezing rain at the end. Our concrete drive is solid sleet-under-ice. We can work from home using our work laptops. We didn't lose power - yay - so I'll probably stay in my jammies all day drinking coffee and alternately working and reading. :)

Being behind the times Tee-Vee wise, we just discovered a marvelous Police Procedural series called The Closer starring Kyra Sedgwick. It takes place in LA which makes me happy, it's got a marvelous cast, and we were sucked in from the first. 7 seasons, so we're happy. This is apparently the LA month because we just finished watching Bosch based on the characters of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series books. Very enjoyable and well done.

I love a Jammie day, today in the south it's overcast and cold (for us) it's also Mardi Gras and I'm pleased to stay home and let the festivities go on without me.

Yes, jammies and coffee. My work laptop just dropped 2 of my archives, so my network guy (who's also home because of the storm) is going to restore them. My archives seem to be very temperamental when I work from home. Of course working from home at all is somewhat of a miracle, when I actually think what's happening. SAP server in Germany, Outlook servers in Italy. And response times aren't horrible.

I finished The Late Scholar and was moderately disappointed. It was shallow and every once in a while a phrase or sentence would zing uncomfortably and I'd think - that's not how Harriet sounds, or Peter sounds, or Bunter sounds. And the loquacious Dowager Duchess, elderly and fragile, was but a shell of herself. Meh. 2 1/2 stars.

And I'm almost through with The Judas Pair by Jonathan Gash, the first Lovejoy. It's quite lovely, informative, and interesting. Lovejoy's someone you can love and hate at the same time and the story is good.

>121 karenmarie: Nothing wrong with Jammies and coffee, Karen. I can think of nothing nicer than getting changed into "easy pants" when my working day is done and unwinding with some arabica and a good book.

Trust that you are keeping well. xx

Good Grief! I'm sorry about the Bell's. A couple of my friends have had it and come out unscathed in the end. I trust that it will be that way for your husband too.
I have Dr. Sleep on the Kindle, and you make me want to get to it next. I'm pretty sure that The Shining is my favorite King, so I ought not to be dragging my feet.
I went through a complete J. Gash crush and so did my DH. Glad you're enjoying Lovejoy. I'm glad that you didn't think that Jason Lynx was a waste of time. Shirley McClintock in the B.J. Oliphant series is still my favorite though. Sorry that this particular J.P. Walsh was a wash-out. I haven't been able to bring myself to read one, but I'm pretty sure that I will eventually. A thumb for your review of The Desert Queen. It's on my wish list, and I could read the Bell autobiography or memoir or whatever it is while I wait if I were just a bit more motivated.
Wish the work environment were more congenial.
I would love to have our 2 families of cats interacting happily, but I have no idea how to start with six!

Jammies, coffee, mysteries and bad weather sound about perfect. And Gah! I could not stand Gaudy Night, the only thing by Sayers I ever read. I mean I hated it. Funny how that can be, I know she's loved by millions.

I'm glad to hear that you're liking the Lovejoy book. I've got a couple somewhere but haven't read them and now I'll check them out. Have you read Julian Symons or Kyril Bonfiglioli? Symons is more classically British, and I suppose Bonfiglioli is also but he falls in the 'nasty Brit novelist' category. Thanks for the head's up on J. Gash.

#123 - Hi Paul. Yes, doing okay. We've had some weather this week - sleet on Tuesday and 5" of snow with a nice coating of ice on Thursday. We stayed home from work. We lost power but have a generator, and we lost the Internet but I was able to use my cell phone as a wifi hotspot and got to the internet that way so was able to work from home. Today we're in the midst of freezing rain, and the trees are getting coated.

#124 - hey Peggy! There seems to be slight improvement for my husband and the Bell's Palsy - his left eyelid isn't as droopy. Maybe it will just take patience and time. Thanks for the thumb for my review. Gertrude Bell keeps coming to mind as I hear things about Iraq - perhaps she always will now that I know her story and the story of Iraq. I don't think things will ever change much in the Middle East, cynic that I am. Read Dr. Sleep soon! It's quite wonderful. Work continues to be depressing although I bailed some folks out yesterday as we had some month end data/system problems that were interfering with shipping product and therefore getting invoicing in for February. Karen, the hero, working from home for about an hour yesterday.

#125 Larry - here we are on March 1st and it's the same - jammies, coffee, mysteries and bad weather. It always amazes me when someone doesn't like Sayers, but to each his own. Personally, although I loved Gaudy Night as the culmination of the romance between Peter and Harriet, my absolute favorite is Murder Must Advertise, with just Peter.

Tonight is bookclub, to discuss The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers. My first impression - eeewww. My second impression - double eeewww. 163 pages of yuckiness, although well written. Thank God it was short. So how would I rate it? 3 stars for some good images, good characterizations? 1/2 star for the depressing strangeness of it? I gave it 2 stars. I'm not happy with that rating, but I'm finally done with McCullers.

I've also started another re-listen of Harry Potter. Am in the middle of book 2. My work commute is 40 minutes each way - fun stuff and I can listen to it or NPR or my iPod or my Amazon Music to make the time pass.

Happy Sunday, Karen! Hope all is well. Sorry, the McCullers was so....eewwwww. I have not read that one. I might not either.

Hi Mark! Thank you. It was just so depressing. And, since Frankie was so worried about being a member of something, anything, it made me realize that I was not a member of the book. Offputing and distancing.

Glad to hear that there's some improvement with the Bell's!

I have a bone to pick with the current administration!! Last year the Feds shut down for snow when all we had were clouds! CLOUDS! It never even snowed! This year? Half an inch of ice and they call a two-hour delay! The terrorists are winning, folks!

I took the subemway to work, so no audiobook joy today. I'm jealous. I did take a way cool pic of the frozen Potomac (FroPo).

Yes, thank you, Rachel, so are we. Small, but no deterioration, just slight improvement.

Hi Larry! Aack. Half an inch of ice would have meant 100% of the residents and businesses in Chatham County NC would have been without electricity. And only a 2 hour delay? Here it would also have meant 2-3 days of shutdowns, even if the electricity had come back soon. And no audiobook joy, boo flunk. I do love the pic though, thank you! FroPo indeed. I hope tomorrow is better and audiobook wonderfulness back.

I'm reading The Soul of Discretion by Susan Hill - the 8th book in the Simon Serrailler series. It's very good so far. As always I enjoy the personal stories of the people in addition to the Crime. In this book Simon goes undercover to catch the accomplices of a pedophile. And his sister has issues, and his father and stepmother have issues..... Yippee.

Last night's bookclub discussion was good. Only two of us didn't like the book very much - I was one, and the other is the woman who chose the book. She said it was too Southern Gothic, which I tended to agree with. However, there was good discussion, I even had a few positive things to say, and the usual group dynamics were in play. One of the women loves to hear her own voice, another woman tries to dominate, another woman has a hard time hiding her dislike of the domineering woman, etc. Fun stuff. I just sat there and took it all in. Overall, I really like these women, just have fun watching the dynamic. The ONLY thing I didn't like was Homer the Big Dog running around sticking his nose everywhere, literally. And everybody oohing and aahing over him. Serious cat person that I am, I did appreciate Steph's cat Felix visiting me, though.

Today the temp got to 60F, so there are only large clumps of plowed snow by the roadsides with some northern exposures still having some small patches of snow.

Well, I tried to upload a pic of my library, but it didn't work. I'll have to figure it out later. :(

Pic?

>132 karenmarie: Also looking forward to seeing the picture. I did library photos a few threads ago and I am a bit of an anorak where they are concerned not really having one in Kuala Lumpur.

Larry - Maybe pic this weekend. I'm taking an NRA Basic Pistol Safety Course tomorrow night, Friday night, and part of Saturday. I will never join the NRA, and am taking the course from a lovely little gun shop in Pittsboro called Skyflys Guns by Gals. Go figure.

I just finished The Soul of Discretion by Susan Hill, 8th in the Simon Serrailler series. Everything was left hanging, as it frequently is, and I was frustrated in that. But patience is a virtue and I will just have to wait for book 9. Sigh.

Hi Paul! Once I get this picture insert figured out, I'll be dangerous.....

Taking that course is a good idea, even if you'd never even have a gun in the house. At the very least it's a new skill set.

What's the draw with the Susan Hill books? They're rated pretty high on LT.

Hoping for a snow day tomorrow...

>135 karenmarie: The Susan Hill series is one I really must get to . . . one of these centuries!

*sigh* You just about finished me. I have been green with envy of the people reading the latest Shardlake, and here you are finishing the next Serailler. I guess you deserve it since you put up with the work situation.
We were in the high 70s today with sunshine. Tomorrow starts out at 68° and ends up in the 20s. I HATE BOUNCY WEATHER!

Karen, I wish you a lovely weekend.

Wishing you a lovely weekend, Karen. xx

Hi Larry! Oooooh, fun in the wilds of Chatham County, NC! I spent an hour shooting various and sundry pistols and loved it. It turns out that I have pretty good eye and the instructor was impressed. Got home, went out to lunch with husband and daughter, and Just Happened to go back into the Gun Shop to try the feel of different firearms. Some feel better than others, others trigger pulls that feel better than others..... lots more homework to do, but I'm definitely interested in continuing the process.

The draw with the Susan Hill Simon Serrailler books for me is the combination of the mystery with serious commitment to the personal lives of and dynamics among Simon, his father, mother, brother, sister, and sister's family. Other people too, but some of that would be spoilers. There's always a unifying theme - this book's is sexual power/control and abuse. She writes empathetically about people with serious medical conditions and their various reactions, usually with two characters displaying two almost or exactly opposite reactions, both portrayed sympathetically. There are seriously icky bad guys, political issues, love, marriage, children, divorce, death. I just really like them.

Stasia - if you can find your way out of your gameboards, I think you'd like this series.

Peggy - I pre-ordered this book and it just showed up recently - one of the many advantages of Amazon. So did the newest Odd Thomas book recently. I love it. Gotta have something to offset the horribleness that is work. And, horror or horrors, we heard a rumor that our late not-lamented manager who left less than 4 weeks ago has made noises to the psychotic runs-at-the-mouth General Manager about wanting to come back. He, the psychotic GM, said it would never happen, but why even mention it? He had to have known it would distress the department. All of us are now making threatening-to-leave-if-Ramesh-comes-back noises. I actually got a queasy stomach thinking about it Friday morning.

We had bouncy weather too. This morning was 24F and now it's 60F. I was out from 9-11, and it wasn't above freezing.

Thank you, Barbara and Paul! Lovely so far. Daughter's home for a weekend visit, did my gun thing, will now relax with husband and daughter - I might try to persuade them to watch season 4 of Game of Thrones, which we got on Blu-Ray recently but hadn't watched yet. *smile*

I'm between books - I've started 4 different ones, but none have "caught". I think I'll try Odd Thomas - still need to read Deeply Odd prior to Saint Odd.

Happy weekend Karen! Too bad you've been having bouncy weather. Our weather slowly increased from the mid 30's to the mid 40's today, so I was pretty happy with it.

Ha! Annie Oakley. Let me know what works for you.

I just don't think I can get into a series now. I'm not a fast reader and that's a time commitment. HOWEVER, I do make an exception for the Walking Dead tee-bee show. The show airs in seven minuteness and I can watch it on Google Play in 22 hours and seven minutes.

Hi Rachel - it's warming up, weather wise. Today's supposed to get to 68F. Right now it's around 43F. I still will wear a mock turtleneck and down vest - I get cold easily. But I prefer winter to summer - summer in NC just plain sucks. Nasty humidity. I'm from Southern California, which is semi-arid desert, and the summers were hot, but without humidity. And, except for maybe 10 days per summer, it would cool down into the 50s. You could open the house and get it cool quickly. Sigh. That's one major thing I miss about SoCal.

Annie Oakley fer sure! I shot a Colt Gold Cup .22, a Sig Sauer P229 9mm, a Glock .40, a Kimber .45 ACP 1911, and a S&W .357 revolver.

In the shop later on I handled a Ruger SR40, a H&K VP9, a Glock .40 compensator, some S&W which I didn't like at all, and a Springfield XDM and XD Mod2.

Who'da thunk it? Me liking guns. Can't even say it's a mid-life crisis thing because 61 is not mid-life.

Deeply Odd is working for me - hooray! - and am on page 114.

Gotta go get ready for work. Another day in the salt mines.....

Karen, if you get a chance check out a Baretta PX4 storm, super comfortable in your hand, not heavy, and a nice size for a lady. Guns are cool, shooting is fun, what's not to like. 🔫

When I was learning to shoot, the Sig Sauer 9mm was my favorite. Then one day I got pissed at someone and went to the range to shoot out some of my frustration. That's when I realized I was there for the wrong reason, and how easy it is to think a gun is the answer. So I walked away. Haven't held a firearm since.

Beretta is on my list to pursue, thanks beeg.

AuntieClio - Someone at work asked if I mentally put up a target of my boss who left a month ago and who had been a pretty much "ME ME ME and screw the people in my department" or even the psychotic General Manager. I was shocked - I don't ever want to get to that mental place either.

I've handled a Beretta 9mm and liked it, but I've never fired one. I'm not a good shot, so I need something with a long barrel and some overall weight to the gun. I've got a Ruger Mark iii .22 that shoots like a cool breeze but it is a PAIN to clean.

Are you going to buy a gun? I grew up with them so it wasn't any kind of deal. I can see where it might be, though. I don't hunt because I wouldn't eat what I shot so why kill something that was just minding it's own bidness, but I do like to target shoot.

I'm fascinated by the gun talk. My daddy was a big gun lover and target shooter and had pistols stashed all over the house, but I never caught the bug. I seriously wouldn't want one in my house now. In fact, I guess I'm a bit gun-phobic, but I can see how a person could fall in love.
And you enjoy the S. Serrailler series for the very same reason that I do.
(Yesterday was pretty much early summer here - up to 87°. Today we've dropped back into spring. I do wish I thought that all the really cold stuff was done.)

Hi Larry - pics of the Ruger look pretty cool. Yes, I'm going to buy a gun. I'm also going to take the concealed carry class. I had already made up my mind to do that.

So last night I was having dinner with my friend Vanessa and she asked what was new. I told her about taking the basic safety class and how well I had done and how excited I was. She then told me she had taken the class 6 weeks before me at the same store, bought a .45, and set up a shooting range on their land! They're going to take concealed carry early June - she, husband, husband's mother, possibly her daughter - so I'll probably take it with them.

Way cool. Hunting doesn't interest me, though; only target shooting and self-defense. I used to love to fish. My dad always taught me that you have to bait your own hook, take the fish off when it's been caught, and then clean it. I've always been able to do that, but I just can't envision trying to dress a deer or anything like that. And not doing it myself would be cheating. So although I'll gladly eat venison, and have eaten elk, I won't hunt. Besides, I don't think I could actually intentionally kill a deer. (I have killed a deer with a Volvo, though.....)

I grew up with a Walther in the house - the gun was tucked away in my mom and dad's closet and the magazine was tucked away in another closet in another room. Dad always said he got it from a dead German officer. This is believable because he was in WWII. I think it's still at Mom's house - I should ask her. Dad was never a hunter, just went through the craziness that was WWII.

I've never been gun-phobic Peggy, just never had an interest until now.

Today's supposed to rain. That's okay - I've got a vacation day. I want to putz around in the house some, read some, and go into town to look for books at the thrift store and go to the gun store to get a better idea of what I want to buy.

Off to read! I'm at 288/404 of Deeply Odd. Odd is armed to the teeth with two Glocks, interesting with my new awareness of firearms.

I finished Deeply Odd and am now going to read Saint Odd. Fun day off - lots of reading and relaxing.

I seem to be getting my reading mojo back - I just finished Saint Odd. No spoiler here - this is the last of the series, very well done indeed.

I've read all 7 books, but do have Odd Apocalypse to read - novellas between books 4 and 5.

But for now, I feel like I should give behind the beautiful forevers by Katherine Boo a chance. The person who chose this book also chose Shantaram last year, which I listened to and adored, but I'm not sure another book about India right now appeals. Meh.

Happy Sunday, Karen! I have read Koontz in the past but never an Odd book. Bad Mark??

Shantaram has been on my To-Read list forEVER!! I need to slot some time for that wieldy chunkster.

Yep, yep, yep.... Have Shantaram as a must read one day - just not today or tomorrow.
And I am an old Koontz fan but have read only a couple of the Odd books. I'll get there too, I expect. I really loved his very old, patently supernatural things like Watchers, and Twilight Eyes, and The Bad Place. Now I have to go away so that I won't start rereading *W* or *TW* or *TBP*. I am so suggestible!

Hi Mark! Not Bad Mark, just busy-reading-other-things-Mark. I've never read anything BUT Odd books by Koontz even though I have several non-Odd books on my shelves. I have One Door Away from Heaven, The House of Thunder, The Darkest Evening of the Year, Dragon Tears, and 77 Shadow Street. One Door has the highest LT rating, with Dragon Tears second.....

I listened to Shantaram from 3/22/12 to 5/9/12. It was a bazillion CDs and I had to renew it from the library. I gave it 4 1/2 stars and thought it mostly brilliant. Listening to it was wonderful.

Very, very good stuff. Chunkster is right.

Hi Peggy! I actually can't imagine reading Shantaram because I must admit that there were draggy parts. But out of such a huge book, MOST of it was marvelous. And mysterious, enigmatic, symbolic, visceral, and frustrating. A serious effort is required.

Hmmm. Sigh. The Boo book and I are heading off to read. Meh.

However, and I'm perking up here, I also have my first ever print edition of Lapham's Quarterly, Foreigners. I read the first 31 pages last night and am enamoured. It is intellectually stimulating and challenging. So I just happened to leave it on the nightstand..... perhaps it will call out out me before the Boo book does.

:)

>153 msf59: yeah, bad Mark! :) go read some Odd.

My particular problem with Shantaram is that I also have A Suitable Boy, Sacred Games, and River of Smoke all sitting there singing their siren songs. And I've had *ASB* and *SG* waiting longer than *S*. Isn't that just too sad?
I just visited Lapham's Quarterly --- can't get sucked in! Can't get sucked in!

Good grief! They're not books, they're doorstops!

Hi doc! Odd was quite a wonderful series. I do re-read things, so perhaps will dive back in in a year or two. Got a teensy bit choked up at the end..... Odd readers will know why.

Well, Peggy, that is such a nice problem to have, too many books to read. I, too, have that problem. And re Lapham's Quarterly - resistance is futile! It is a joy to read.

Larry, I think Shantaram was 37 CDs..... 34 or 37 anyway..... and if I read the book I'm sure it would have caused wrist problems (tee hee).

Last night I did start behind the beautiful forevers and am reading it with sort of a sick fascination at the two people highlighted so far and the utter poverty that was more sympathetically portrayed in Shantaram. Yeesh. Having just come off a bad work relationship with an Indian, albeit one from a wealthy family, this is probably bad timing to be trying to read this.

And so I have stopped reading it. Don't know whether I'll pick it back up or not. For comic relief I've started Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore. I usually don't like his books and have given away what I have, but so far this is hilarious.

Morning Karen! As far as Koontz goes, you have to read Watchers, which remains my favorite. I also remember enjoying Darkfall.

I loved Island of the Sequined Love Nun! But I like Moore's work, so it's not an unbiased endorsement. I read Practical Demonkeeping back in the early 90s when St. Martin's Griffin bought it out in a mass market paperback- I thought I'd found a hidden gem and was hooked on Moore ever since. In fact, that was the book that started me searching store shelves for publishers rather than titles or author's names.

Do you have a favorite publisher? I'd have to go with Harper, but that's such an unwieldy list. Almost like saying Penguin.

Hi Mark! Looks like I'll start looking for Koontz at the thrift stores.....

Hi Larry! It's fun. Poor Tuck!

I don't think I have a favorite publisher. I just go for whatever sounds/looks good.

So far I'm 4 of 5 in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament - I picked Georgia State to beat Baylor. Don't ask me how or why - it just sounded like a fun upset. I think I'm ahead of my husband..... :)

Hi Karen, I've finally found some time to visit threads. I wish you a lovely weekend.

Thanks, Barbara! I was supposed to go out to lunch with a girlfriend, but just felt whupped yesterday and cancelled. Today will be a normal Saturday - errands, reading, laundry, some house cleaning. Nothing planned for tomorrow either.

Anybody want a 10-year old kitty? :) I think she'd do best in a one-kitty household. We thought things were going well, but two days ago she attacked Kitty William and last night she attacked Inara Starbuck. I originally said if the dynamic worked out I'd keep her, and the dynamic is not working out. Kitty William especially is stressed. He's 16, after all, and has vestibular disease. I think that if he didn't have that, he'd fight back. Sigh.

Husband says that if I don't find her a home in a week he personally will take her to the shelter. At least I'll try to find a no-kill shelter. Double sigh.

On other fronts I'm still ahead in the March Madness bracket. Things will change and husband will probably come out ahead, though, since I'm totally out of it in the bottom half of the South bracket.

Island of the Sequined Love Nun is still fun.

That's tough, I'm sorry that you have to go through that. I would have read ISLN for the title alone. Great stuff.

HI Larry - actually, that's why I Bookmooched it. The title alone grabbed me. Since I have given all my other Christopher Moores away, this one is all alone on my shelves (or will be once I finish it).

Husband is now ahead in the bracket by 10 points. Who'da thunk that NC State could beat Villanova????? Sheesh. But Carolina won, which makes husband happy.

My resolutions for today: File everything in my home office (officially called The Sunroom) that I'm not actively using, excluding soft animals and gifties from daughter. Finish the laundry - I absolutely hate putting clean clothes away. I have no problem washing and drying them, just getting them out of the laundry room. Read. Bring a box or two of books in from the garage from MiL and FiL's house and go through them figuring out what to keep and what to save to donate to the Friends of the Chatham Community Library. Get husband to help clip Kitty William's nails. He's clicking all over the hardwood floors.

Hooray! Today is the first day of the Friends of the Library Sale and I had a blast buying books, books, and more books. Here's the haul:

Audiobooks:
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz

Mass Market Paperback:
The House of Thunder by Dean Koontz

Trade Paperbacks
Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman
Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diane Gabaldon
The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean
The Blackhouse by Peter May
All My Enemies by Barry Maitland
Spider Trap by Barry Maitland
Chelsea Mansions by Barry Maitland
The Jackal Man by Kate Ellis
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
The Falls by Ian Rankin
Twelve Years a Slave by Soloon Northup
The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt
A Fine Summer's Day by Charles Todd
Peter Pan Must Die by John Verdon
Kraken by China Mieville
Dorothy Parker Drank Here by Ellen Meister

Hardcover Editions
The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter by David Colbert
Your Heart Belongs to Me by Dean Koontz
The Kings and Queens of England: A Tourist Guide by Jane Murray
what the night knows by Dean Koontz
Six Years by Harlan Coben
Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler
River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh
The Burning Room by Michael Connelly
Pirate King by Laurie R. King
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

Sometimes I find more fiction, sometimes more mysteries. This time it's mostly mysteries, with a few odd ones thrown in from other genres.

What I was looking for and hoping to find was anything by Ford Madox Ford. We're watching Parade's End with Benedict Cumberbatch and it's whet my appetite for an author I've heard of but never read. Oh well, thrift stores or, eventually, Amazon.....

But not for a while. I now have a new more books to add to my, ahem, not so small tbr stack (1403 before adding these).

"Hello my name is karenmarie and I'm a bookaholic."

Holy smoke! Nice haul there, Karen. Has one of them pushed itself to the top of the TBR stack?

WOW! WOW! WOW!! What a great haul!!! Look at all those B. Maitlands! I'd love to read River of Smoke or The Last Samurai with you sometime...for some reason, I just haven't gotten to them.
But Carolina won, which makes husband happy. Husband isn't the only one. At least, we're happy here so far......
I'm not going to say how big my Mt. Bookpile is, but I'll guarantee it would dwarf your 1400+. Does that make you feel better or envious?

Hi Larry. Well, yes, actually, I've got Rage Against the Dying on the island in the kitchen. Last night I finished Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore, which I absolutely adored, and so today is a blank slate. If Rage doesn't click, I'll try one of the two Harlan Cobens, I think.

Peggy, WOW! WOW! WOW! indeed. It is always an orgy of book buying. My friend Rhoda, who I only see twice a year at the booksales, kept finding Maitlands for me this time around. She recommended about 10 of the books I bought. The only ones I kept refusing are any mysteries that are placed earlier than about 1850 - just do not like ancient Roman, medieval, or whatever mysteries. She always tells me that she's been keeping me in mind as she sorts books during the year. She's fantastic. Sad news, though - she's got macular degeneration but said that she got good news last summer - her doctor doesn't think she will go blind for 10 or 20 years. She's voting for the 20 years, of course.....

And, good news on the (temporary) new cat Dora. Husband was threatening to take her to the shelter (which I would not have allowed because I promised Deb I wouldn't). I sent a text to Deb asking if her situation had changed because Dora was attacking my other kitties. Coincidentally, she had to take her other cat, Wemo, to a no-kill shelter (actually a woman who gets referrals from the no-kill shelter for diabetic cats) because she couldn't afford the insulin. This was on Tuesday, so here I call on Wednesday, asking if she wants Dora back and she does. So we'll meet on Sunday, do the kitty transfer, and she'll be happy and we'll be happy. I don't think we'll try to get another cat/kitten until Kitty William goes to kitty heaven. He's 15 or 16 now, in pretty good health, but by the time they get to this age, things can deteriorate quickly. We'll see.

So off I go to read. At 4:30 I'll head back into town so I can be a volunteer cashier at the sale from 5-7 p.m.

I went back to the book sale to volunteer from 5 - 7 p.m.. Every volunteer gets a free book, so I got, with Rhoda's recommendation, The Scent of Death by Andrew Taylor. And, of course, she recommended another book, The Paris Wife by Paula McLain, o I had to buy that.

And Carolina lost. Boo hoo. I think husband is going to pull ahead in the bracket now.

The Leesburg annual lie-berry annual sale is sometime in June and I'm taking the day off. I hope I can do aw well as you have.

Aren't Book Sale Vacation Days the absolutely best? I'm sure you'll find tons of stuff. Gonna clean out some shelf space in advance? :)

No work AND new books.

Rage Against the Dying is fantastic. I'm over halfway through it - today was a visit to the Chiropractor, a visit to the gun shop (I've narrowed it down to a Colt Commander, the Desert Eagle, the Glock 21.), then home, reading, nap, major laziness.

And, two more days of no work. Whoo-yah!

Hi Karen, I wish you a wonderful weekend.

Happy Saturday, Karen! Great book haul! Wow! I love the hardback edition of River of Smoke. Looks great on shelf. The 3rd book comes out later this year.

Hi Barbara! Thank you. So far so good.

Hey Mark! Yes, great haul. I'm pleased. You're right, the hardcover edition of River of Smoke is gorgeous.

I just couldn't resist going back today for $5/bag and filled two bags to bursting with:

Lapham's Quarterly, 4 editions, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter 2013 (subjects Animals, The Sea, Death, and Intoxication)
Creatures of the Kingdom by James Michener
The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard
Seize the Night by Dean Koontz
Fox Evil by Minette Walters
Southern Ghost by Carolyn G. Hart
A Very Private Plot by William F. Buckley, Jr.
Don't Look Down by Jennifer Crusie
A Dance to the Music of Time: First Movement by Anthony Powell
A Dance to the Music of Time: Second Movement by Anthony Powell
A Dance to the Music of Time: Third Movement by Anthony Powell
Riven Rock by T. Coraghessan Boyle
Cousin Felix Meets the Buddha by Lincoln Kaye
Our Endangered Values by Jimmy Carter
Jeeves and the Wedding Bells by Sebastian Faulks
Focault for Beginners by Lydia Alix Fillingham
The Second World War volumes 1-4 by Winston Churchill
Apes, Angels, and Victorians by William Irvine
Marrying the Mistress by Joanna Trollope
An Iron Rose by Peter Temple
Vanishing World: the endangered arctic by Fredrick Granath
The Sherlock Holmes Companion by Michael and Mollie Hardwick

I just finished reading Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman and all I can say is WOW!

Holy cow, that's what was left at the end of the sale?!?!

>177 karenmarie: EXCELLENT list indeed!

Yep, Larry, all those books cost me $10. And they take what's left, divide the books left into four groups within each category and donate them to the 3 PTA Thrift stores and the Habitat for Humanity Store within our county. They're good people. And there are so many people who donate such lovely books, too.

Thanks, RD! Good to see you out and about. I'm pleased with my haul and finally got everything cataloged.

I'm reading another book I picked up on Thursday - Six Years by Harlan Coben. It's very good and I'm halfway through.

And we gave Dora the kitty back to her original Mommy. She was able to take Dora back, fortunately, because although Dora was beyond sweet with husband and me (and even daughter when she came to visit 3 weekends ago), she decided she wanted to be Alpha kitty and was attacking and terrorizing our other kitties. So we're back down to Kitty William and Inara Starbuck.

Today is back to the hellhole that is work after 4 days off. Blech.

On a roll - I really enjoyed Six Years by Harlan Coben. I love mysteries that start off with the teensiest thing and grow and grow. A light, pleasurable read.

Now what?

Tried again to add a picture. Sheesh!

Hi Karen, I wish you Happy Easter.

Karen in 2015 you are keeping up with me better than I am with you! In slight remedy I want to wish you a wonderful Easter Weekend my dear.

Thank you, Barbara! We had a lovely Easter Luncheon with husband's friend's mother. She's 91 and still has about 24 people every Easter. Her son comes to help. It's 2 1/2 hours to and, this time because of traffic, 3 hours back and 3 1/2 hours there, so was a somewhat longish day. Frances always has THE most interesting people over - never ever a dull conversation. Daughter drove over from Wilmington so we got to see her too.

Hi Paul. You are an amazing person to juggle so much - I'm amazed you visit at all. I made a New Year's Resolution to visit each of your threads this year and so far so good.

Whew! Husband and I are both exhausted from staying up til midnight watching the Men's Final of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Duke played Wisconsin - we're in the heart of ACC territory and although it wasn't the Tarheels, husband's team, we still pulled for Duke. And, even though I had serious misgivings throughout the game, they pulled it off. But Oh, I'm whupped. Off to get ready for work.....

BTW have you seen my PM about how to put photos up?

I have, but haven't taken the time to do anything. I'm sorry I didn't acknowledge your help.

Well, Karen, I pulled for Dook too and figure there's always next year or the next or the next for the Heels.
Hope work wasn't too demoralizing. That additional book haul (3 of the *DANCE* books is great!) should continue to make everything better for another day or so. And I'm off to investigate Rage Against Dying.
Oh - and I'm sorry that Dora kitty didn't work out for you. We're still keeping our 2 feline families separated, and that may be a permanent thing.

Hi Karen, I wish you a fabulous weekend.

Happy Weekend Karen!

Thanks, Barb and Rachel! This morning is running errands (trash, Lowe's, lunch, groceries) then nothing else scheduled until tomorrow night's bookclub meeting. We're discussing behind the beautiful forevers which I happily abandoned about 40 pages in. Depressing and conniving. I read enough about the Mumbai undercity in Shantaram, which I adored.

I'm getting excited about my trip to California - going to visit my sister/husband, mother, and niece/wife who are expecting a baby in June. I'll be there for the baby shower.

And now I'm reading a good-so-far mystery Peter Pan Must Die by John Verdon. I didn't realize it was part of a series, but it's holding my interest and doesn't feel like I've walked into the middle of something. So far.

When we'll you go to California?

Next Thursday through the 26th. It's finally sinking in that I'm going. :)

Hi Peggy! We pulled for Dook too - ACC forever! Next year for the Heels.

I just HAD to stop in at the thrift store and got
Day of the Dead by J.A. Jance
False Memory by Dean Koontz
The Devil She Knows by Bill Loehfelm

Also bought some chocolate for my neighbor - she and her husband had a very scary thing happen. Her husband was driving, leaving the garage. The lift gate light came on, and, without thinking, he got out of the Suburban while it was still in reverse..... he ended up being pinned between the door of the Suburban, the Suburban, and the end of the garage. He was scraped up a bit, the rail on the automatic garage door opener is bent beyond repair, and the door and front panel of the Suburban are crumpled. She's very distraught. He has Alzheimer's and so things are rather difficult anyway, and this is just one more thing to worry about. But, chocolate always helps.

Serious discussions about assets, liabilities, insurance, burial arrangements, financial planning, keeping/selling house, RETIREMENT FOR KAREN.

All good stuff.

Oh dear, what a time you have.

Life certainly isn't dull - I want to retire this year and so have started pushing husband. Once we started, it became a good, positive, productive discussion. We both feel very good about it.

Now it's off to bookclub - to discuss a book I didn't finish behind the beautiful forevers by Katherine Boo.

Have a wonderful, wonderful vacation!

(Why did I think that today was the 16th? No idea.)

Wishful thinking? Wanting the end of the week to be sooner?

Thank you in advance, Larry.

I just got the suitcase out, so have tonight and tomorrow night to pack.

My Kindle is MIA. Sigh.

Oh NO! I'd be distraught if the Kindle were missing.
Hooray for the retirement discussion! Once you have that conversation, there's no turning back.
Safe travels - to and from - and wonderful visits!

Hi Peggy! Yup, Kindle is still MIA. We've looked all over, cleaned things out..... I'm not happy about its being missing. However, nothing I can do about it now.

I'm happy about the financial planning and retirement stuff.

Almost all packed.

Time to hit the sheets, gotta get up at (gulp) 3:30.

Thanks for the good wishes.

3:30! I have to get up at 4 tomorrow, and I'm working a volunteer shift until midnight tonight (3 more minutes!). So I totally feel your pain.

Hi Karen, I wish you a great time with a lot of fun.

Thanks Rachel and Barbara! I'm here in Long Beach California, staying with niece, and her wife. My sister and I drove down on Friday afternoon. We've been having a wonderful time - dinner at a wonderful little hole-in-the-wall Mexican Restaurant on Friday night, bowling and hanging out yesterday. Today is a harbor cruise and brunch. Just spending time with my family is the best part of all.

I did a lot of reading on the plane, but almost none since then. Neither my sister or niece have good reading lamps in their guest bedrooms, and since I'm still mostly on East Coast time I'm up early and being quiet as a mouse until the rest stir.

LA is so busy and crowded! It's very fun to visit and I appreciate the ammenities. However, I do love my rural lifestyle.

Maybe I can be quiet in the kitchen and get a cup of coffee.....

Enjoy your trip, Karen. It sounds like you have a great time.

Sister and I went on a 2-hour cruise of Marina Del Rey yesterday with niece and wife. The buffet was to die for, the mimosas were delicious, and the weather fantastic. We enjoyed being outside on the deck for the last 45 minutes.

Today we will be heading back to Rialto and doing the sister thing again.

Sounds wonderful - just a bit jealous.

*sigh* Thunderstorms here, again.
Glad you're enjoying family and place!

Hi Karen! Bring us back something!

Thanks, Barbara. It is wonderful. The only bad thing about living in NC is that my mother, sister/husband, niece/niece/baby-to-be, and nephew, are all in CA. It's good to see them.

Hi Peggy - yes, husband has been reporting on the NC weather. We haven't had a Single Drop of Rain during my entire stay out here - the drought is bad. I am enjoying family and amenities - lots of restaurants, stores, conveniences, but don't miss not living in the traffic, bad air, and congestion.

Hi Larry! Hmmm..... maybe a few pictures?

Sister and I are off to buy wrapping paper/cards for the baby shower gifts. We've had a wonderful relaxing sister day so far.

Pictures of money?

Maybe made of cloth with pictures of dead presidents?

Today is potato salad day - we're making 15 pounds to take to the baby shower. Then a post office drop to mail home a gorgeous hand-crocheted bedspread that we think my grandmother made and that my sister wants me to have.

Talking with Mom and sister, making breakfast. Lovely time.

What a generous sister! What a VERY generous load of potato salad! Glad to see that you're still making the most of your visit.

Hi Karen, I wish you a gorgeous weekend.

My sister is the best. We're 3 1/2 years apart, which was terrible when we were growing up. But it doesn't matter very much when I'm almost 62 and she just had her 58th birthday in January.

The generous load was actually 20 pounds - we're keeping 5 pounds at the house. It took about 5 hours to make, with 2 people helping my sister.

Thanks, Barbara.

Today's the baby shower. I'm the first up and am enjoying the first cup of coffee. We have to leave in 2 hours. It will be a last minute scramble, for sure.

Back from vacation! Noooooooooo! Ugh, just get through this day and it will get better.

I'm still jet-lagged. And I can't seem to get to sleep before midnight. Blech. Can't wait til Saturday sleep in.

And tonight I'll turn off the light no later than 10.

Off to the salt mines.....

Courage!

Revolution!

Retirement!!!!!

Happy thought, not yet reality.

I finished Peter Pan Must Die in California, and started May's bookclub read - All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. It's very, very good.

>216 karenmarie: You know, my sister and I are 2.5 years apart in age and recently I said something about "people our age" and she said that she didn't consider me to be in the same age-range as herself. hahahaha So apparently it DOES matter to a 38 year old! I feel like we're in the same age range, which makes the whole thing quite funny to me.

Wait another 20 years and mention "people our age" and see what she says then....

I finished All The Light We Cannot See. It was excellent. The only real criticism I have is that the format was one I dislike in two ways: it zooms back and forth in time and there are a bazillion short chapters of frequently a page or two.

However, the story was interesting, poignant, ironic, fulfilling.

Now off to start The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, my choice for our June bookclub meeting.

I loved The Goldfinch. I hope you enjoy it too.

Oh oh oh! Tell me what you think of the Goldfinch. I love Tartt but that's like a bazillion pages long.

>225 SomeGuyInVirginia: But it's also a page-turner :-).

Retirement - I don't see it for myself I must admit.

Trust your weekend was a splendid one Karen. I am sort of back from juggling RL and dropping the balls.

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Lord Macaulay.

Hi Karen, I wish you a lovely weekend.

Wow. I blame jet lag and muscle relaxants.

For some reason I have just not been logging onto my computer after I get home from work.

I've been zoned since I've been back, exhausted, missing my sister DESPERATELY even though I just saw her. We need to live closer, but the potential of them moving out here is fading into the distance with the arrival of the grandbaby (my great-nephew Oliver Michael Cross) living within an hour and a half of them. Sigh.

#224 Barbara - The Goldfinch is absolutely stunning. I am enjoying it immensely. From the first sentence I have been enthralled. No matter how long, it's a marvelous journey so far.

#225 Larry - I like that it's a bazillion pages long (771 by actual count) because it flows so beautifully. I just want to read and read and read and NOT work and NOT do all the other mundane things that get in the way of reading. I'm already 40% finished (I'm reading it on my new Paperwhite Kindle.....) If you like first-person narratives and vivid characters, go for it.

#226 Barbara - right-screen-tappable, Kindle-wise.

#227 Paul! Some people never envision themselves retiring because of the type of people they are - are you one of those people? I want to retire because I'm not doing the kind of work I'm willing to spend 50 hours a week away from home for. I want to read more, volunteer, find satisfying part time work if possible, relax for the first time in ..... oh, forever..... I've never NOT worked without worrying about finding the next job. This would be a first and some of my friends who have retired are just so darned happy that I can see myself happy in retirement too.

#228 - 230 Ha Ha. So I've been reading instead of checking e-mail and LT.

Lord Macaulay who?

#231 Barbara - thank you. So far so good on the weekend front. Tomorrow's Mother's Day so I basically get to do anything I want all weekend..... :) Tomorrow we will probably get some tomato and cucumber plants and plant those plus some Kentucky Wonder pole beans and giant sunflowers. Then laziness and reading.

And, now, for some.... laziness and reading!

I beg your pardon, have we been introduced?- Lord Macaulay.

Bwahahaha! Heeee! okfine!

:)

My Kindle accurately reports that I am 60% through The Goldfinch. Theo, the protagonist, is in an irritating phase right now, but that doesn't make the book any less marvelous.

Other than that, I will probably plant 3 tomato plants, some cucumbers, some pole beans, and some mammoth sunflowers. Husband thoughtfully had the gardeners clean out my vegetable garden from last summer, so, with the addition of some new soil, will be ready to go.

Good morning, Karen. I'm glad you like The Goldfinch and your vegetable project sounds good. Our tomato plants grew quickly the last couple of days.

Hi Barbara - I'm going to have to plant them on Sunday because my Aunt Ann broke her hip about 3-4 weeks ago and I'll be sitting with her on Saturday from 10-4. She lives an hour away, so that's the day. We'll have a good time though, she's a dear.

Yeesh, sorry to her about your Aunt. I don't have to get any planting done, because you can't grow squat on a balcony. At least I tell myself that; the couple who lived next to me had tomato plants. They never seemed to pick them, though.

I loved Tartt's first two, and stated The Goldfinch and liked it, but I've developed a down on door stop books lately.

It's great of you to spend time with your Aunt Ann. I not only approve, I applaud!
I'm glad you're loving The Goldfinch. As you probably don't remember, I wasn't so taken with it although I didn't resent reading it. For the real down and dirty of a guy on drugs, you should try the Patrick Melrose novels of Edward St. Aubyn - fabulous writing!!!
Isn't this weather wonderful???!!! After the one day in the 90s, it's doubly a gift.

Hi Karen, I wish you a wonderful weekend.

Hi Larry! Don't you think P-Bitey would like to watch a tomato plant grow? And then he could dig in the soil, pee and poo freely, and generally make a mess? :)

Aunt Ann (my MiL's sister) had 4 pins put in her hip. She'll be 76 in December, is active physically, and should recover nicely. She just can't be alone yet. Next weekend we're having a big family confab at a beach house in Emerald Isle NC to have a memorial for my MiL and, for those who want to brave the ocean and aren't squeamish about spreading ashes, they can go out on another cousin's boat to do so. Me, ashes and cremation and all that ga-tharge make me squeamish - put me in a $300 pine box in the ground. There will be Aunt Ann, 2 friends of Kay's (one with husband in tow), Aunt Ann's 3 children with spouses and kids, and us. So that makes..... 19, I think. The children are all very religious in very different ways, and I'm just hoping that the most obnoxiously-Christian spouse-of-a-child keeps his mouth mostly shut. And his son, who is getting rather smarmy himself.

I am still loving The Goldfinch. I'm reading it on my Kindle, so although long, isn't a door stop.

Hi Peggy - funny, I'm not thinking of it as a book about a guy on drugs as much as a book about Theo and The Goldfinch. I just looked it up - The Goldfinch is real -by Carel Fabritius and is in the Frick Collection. I am entranced. I just looked at the image, too.

Our weather is gorgeous today. I'll have nice drive to Aunt Ann's house.

Hi Barbara - thank you! I wish the same to you and will head over to your thread now to make the wish there too.

Well, I wish you patience among the pious. Enjoy the rest of the family though and the weekend at the beach. *sigh* I've stayed at Emerald Isle only once since we're much closer to the southern beaches and the Grand Strand.
The Goldfinch is real and lovely and tiny, and I did enjoy her descriptions of it and emotional attachment to it.

Patience among the pious! I love that phrase and will keep it in mind during the weekend.

I had a very nice time with Aunt Ann. She's using a walker and can't put any weight on her right foot/leg/hip at all. We chatted, watched Moonstruck, ate lunch, hung out. Then her son David came over, picked up a prescription for her. We all chatted for a while, then I left for home. Husband and I ate at The Brewery - just a quick sandwich/sweet potato fries (yum), then home and The Dratted TV.

Today is planting 3 tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans and mammoth sunflowers in my 4' x 16' enclosed raised bed. I think I'll visit my neighbor Louise, too, for a while. And, hopefully, will get to read some.

God save us from the religious.

We had rain yesterday which was kind of nice; I stayed in last night and watched Hot Fuzz until I fell asleep. Today I've got laundry which is not nice at all.

I forget, do you make pickles? And sunflowers, tres groovy.

Hi Larry! Rain. I'll start needing it regularly as I planted my vegetable garden this morning. I'm now whupped. I planted pole beans, mammoth sunflowers, cucumbers (and I do, indeed, make pickles!), and 3 tomatoes - a Black Cherry, a German Johnson, and a BetterBoy.

The sunflowers will poke their heads 'way above the top of the fence and the birds have a feast.

I was telling a friend at work, my cube-mate who happens to be Christian, that I had the face that launched a thousand conversions when I was in my 20s. I was lectured to, pleaded with, harassed, harangued, and, during one memorable Bible Study I foolishly agreed to attend, backed up against a wall with a finger stabbing me in the chest trying to force me to agree to accept JC as my personal savior.

Huh.

So anyway, off to the food store, then reading.

I was bribed once, a friend offered to let me out of a loan she made me, if I would go to church with her. I told her it was tempting but God told me to pay her back.

Ha, beeg, what a great story. Insidious, aren't they?

I went to church with a friend when I was in 5th grade for about 6 months. When I was in college I went to church with a friend - another Karen - and on Friday and Saturday it was a Jewish Synagogue and on Sunday and Wednesday it was a Christian Church. The "altar piece" rotated - one side was a Bible and ... whatever... and the other side was a Torah. I went to church twice with a friend here in NC and hated the Christian rock live band they had.

I've tried, you see, and none of it's ever stuck. My sister, on the other hand, is very religious and we went for a 3 year period where we didn't speak because she told me one day that I was going to hell and that I was her special burden with Jesus. You can imagine how that went over with me. My mother started going to Sunday school again about 15 years ago. I'm the renegade, I guess.

Well, off to work. Another day, another dollar.

Hi Karen, I wish you a relaxed weekend.

Thank you, Barbara! This is the 3-day Memorial Day weekend here in the US. Today is qualifying for my conceal carry permit, then errands, relaxing, then dinner with some friends. Perhaps some shooting tomorrow at a friend's property, perhaps not. Monday, gloriously unscheduled.

I finished The Goldfinch two nights ago. It was very good. The ending was unsatisfying. Not bad, just unsatisfying. There was some beautiful writing, some beautiful irony, and some great philosophizing.

I actually didn't read at all yesterday - extremely unusual for me.

I need to find a next book to read. Nothing is grabbing me. I will be reading Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman for the July Bookclub discussion (it will be held at my house) but don't want to start it yet and actually need to acquire it first.

So, a re-read? Mystery? Thriller? Romance? History? etc.etc.

A friend I met in 1973, Marie, passed away on May 15th. I had been trying to get in touch with her - she never got the hang of her smart phone - and her husband called last night to tell me the sad news. We met at Pepperdine University, Los Angeles Campus, when Marie and her then-husband Joe moved into the University-owned apartment next to mine. We all three instantly became friends and Joe actually taught me to drive a stick shift. Joe joined the Navy and eventually got stationed in New London Connecticut. I was on a business trip to New York, took the train up, and re-connected with them. I moved there - tired of my job, my boyfriend, and wanting a new adventure. I slept on a hide-a-way bed in their living room until I got a job waitressing and found an apartment near by. I met my husband at Marie's house.

Over the years Marie shed two husbands, found Allen, and settled in Baytown, Texas. I hadn't seen Marie for 10 years, but it never mattered how long since we'd spoken - we always picked up where we left of and had wonderful conversations til about a year ago or so when I could tell she was failing.

I'm very sad.

So sorry, to hear that, Karen. You are in my thoughts. Hugs xx

😔

Damn, I'm sorry Karen. That sounds like quite an adventure, however.

I'm sorry, Karen. Somehow, in my heart of hearts, I still expect my loved ones who are left to live forever. It's a shock when they don't. Somehow, I don't have the same expectation for myself.
(And just to be clear about it, I'm a Christian, so I'm really offended by the wholesale proselytizing that you guys are describing.)

Thank you, Barbara, beeg, Larry, Peggy.

Marie and I did have some amazing and fun adventures together. We were a combination of carefree and responsible. Marie was one of the most exuberant people I've ever known, one of the free-est of spirits, and one of the most caring and loving.

It is a shock that she isn't here anymore. I did expect her to live forever. It still has hardly sunk in yet. I spoke with Allen again yesterday and found out more about her last months and how the medical issues were finally wearing her down beyond endurance. I think, in the end, the stroke was a blessing.

And until yesterday I didn't know that she was truly 10 years older than I was. When I met her I thought her my age - then her husband Joe said she was 5 years older than I was. Then she had this long rigamarole about why her driver's license showed her being born in 1943 - fake ID when she was a teenager blah blah blah..... then one time at a party she took me aside to tell me that she was now 5 years younger than I was to most of the people there..... it was an endearing conceit of hers - everybody else in my calendar has a year next to their birthday, but not Marie. Until now. Sigh.

And Peggy - I do know some wonderful Christians. It's just unfortunate that I also know some Christians that I try to not judge Christianity by. Here in the South, where religion is much more..... overt? ..... I see the good, the bad, and the ugly much more clearly than at other times and places in my life.

Insomnia has reared its ugly head. For some reason my back is hurting terribly - the pain actually woke me up. It could be from shooting on Saturday AND Sunday, it could be some strange tweek while planting the second round of cucumbers yesterday morning. I don't know if I can wait until Friday for the chiropractic appointment I've got. Ah well, if I had a dime for every minute of severe back pain in my life I could easily retire.

Back to try to get another couple of hours of sleep.

Sorry about your back, Karen. I hope the extra rest time will take care of it. I have just enough back pain to be very sympathetic.

Hi Peggy! Well, I had forgotten about the ATV ride to the shooting range for the conceal carry shooting certification a week ago Saturday. Instead of using the 4-wheeler, they decided to use the ATVs so I sat on the back of an ATV, holding my gun bag with one hand and a side bar with the other, bouncing up and down.

When I went to the chiropractor on Wednesday she told me I had a compressed disc. I got a lot of relief from that visit and the one on Friday, but especially first thing in the morning, it still hurts amazingly.

No more ATV rides for me. I don't like them conceptually anyway, didn't even think about the potential damage to my back while riding last weekend, and will never get on one again under any circumstances except life saving. Harrumph.

I'm reading another odd, fun book by Christopher Moore - Fluke. After The Goldfinch and The Burning Room, I needed something light.

Today, unless it gets rained out, I'll watch Roger Federer play Gael Monfils at the French Open. He's looking good. Nadal and Djokovic are in the same side of the draw and will meet in the quarterfinals, so Roger will only have to face one of them if he gets that far.

Other than that, reading, relaxing, getting clean laundry put away (the thing I HATE to do). We're having beautiful weather - as long as I'm inside in the air conditioning and just looking at it. NC humidity is here. Blech.

Down with back pain! At least the chiro is working, otherwise bupkis. I dread ever getting injured badly and having to take pills to maintain. Urgh.

Yay! for the carry permit! I've got to start going to the range again. I'm not a good shot, but I was getting better with practice. It's kind of zen.

Hi Larry! Yes, down with back pain. I took 2 ibuprophen at work this afternoon and my co-worker Kazuko told me I was taking too many pills. We get along great, but I did ask her if she'd ever had bad back pain. She said no. I didn't say anything. Then, after a great pause, I said that I was taking less pain meds at work - if I wanted 4 I'd take 3, if I wanted 3 I'd take 2, etc. due to her influence. We both laughed.

And yay for getting certified. Go to the range! I need to find a range. Trying to beg off friends won't allow for consistent practice. I want to get better with practice.

I thought of you when my friend told this joke at bridge last week.
Highway Patrol on a routine stop asks white-haired old lady driver for her license. She hands him her wallet and he notices that she also has a carry permit.
HP: Are you carrying now?
WHOL: Yes, I have a Glock in my purse.
HP: (examining it) Do you have anything else?
WHOL: Yes, there's a Smith & Wesson under the seat.
HP: ????
WHOL: I have a Colt in the glove compartment.
HP: Lady, what on earth are you afraid of?
WHOL: Not a damn thing.

Hi Peggy! That's good.

I told a friend at work about the conceal carry activities, showed him a pic of my gun. He asked if it was metal and I said yes, no combat Tupperware for me.

:)

Hi Karen, be careful with ibuprofen take them with food, I use to eat them like m&m's until I tore my stomache up. Main reason for the drive by - Uncle Stevie's new book is out today, on my birthday!

(Can you tell I'm excited)

Happy Birf Dee, beeg! I'm using the full power of the intertubes to have Uncle Steve's new book delivered to me, at the office, on this your birthday.

I regularly take 4 motrin when I take motrin. It may tear my stomach up one day, but at that level motrin really works.

Thank you someguy! I'm stalking the mail box hourly.

Get well soon, Karen. Back pains aren't nice. Thinking of you and sending a lot of healing vibes.

Yes! It's here! BWAHAHAHAHA! Long lunch long lunch!

Got mine too! And I don't work on my birthday, because it's my birthday, I get to read for the rest of the day.

Hi beeg, Barbara, Larry!

Happiest of birthdays, beeg! Enjoy your day, enjoy the new Uncle Stevie.

My copy of Finders Keepers arrived today too. Good motivation to finish Fluke, which I am really enjoying.

I've been chewing down ibuprophen since it first came out - 800 mg at a time for a long time but now usually 400-600. My back got adjusted again today - yay chiropractor!

Off to have turkey tacos for dinner, then watching The Glades with husband and daughter, who is home for an extended week-long visit. Don't know why - she just showed up - but we're having a good time. Don't think there's too much ulterior motive except perhaps that she and her best friend in Wilmington have had a spat.

OK, tell. Is it good? I read the prologue and liked it but got no further.

So weird as I'm reading it I realize I had read it before, he pulled another Delores Clayborn and Gerald's Game cross over by tossing in Mr Mercedes, good stuff so far...

Fluke was a lot of fun. Whaley-boys, Gooville, and lots of sly digs.

Finders Keepers is up next.

I'm so glad it's Friday. Between my back and some work stress, I need some time to do lots of nothing.

Hi Karen, I wish you a fabulous weekend.

Thanks, Barbara! So far so good - got to sleep in, have done some reading of Finders Keepers and will do the normal Saturday Thing with husband - take trash to dump, eat lunch out, go food shopping.

Hi Karen, I wish you a relaxed weekend.

Thank you, Barbara!

Work was very stressful last week, but now it's over! Our plans are simple - errands, relaxing. I want to get the sunroom (aka My Home Office) cleaned up - there's hardly any desk space - and start setting out the books I am making available to my bookclub. I told them they can come early on July 12th so they can take any books I no longer want, and I have to start getting ready. (knowing me I'll barely have this under control on the 12th!)

Good news - my niece and her wife had their baby yesterday. His name is Oliver Michael and he came by C-section. Birth Mommy has had some health problems and this was the best for everybody. He's got his mommy's mouth and The Doaner's nose. 7 lbs, 19 1/2 inches. Other Mommy (my biological niece) sent pics yesterday. As my husband said, our family has been shrinking for quite a while, so it's nice that it's grown by one lovely little soul.

Congrats on the new family member. Wishing the young family all the best.

Mozel Tov! Pics!

Congratulations, Great Aunt Karen, which = GAK! (Our niece invited her children to call us GAPA and GUG. I'm pretty glad that they didn't.)

Thank you Barbara, Larry, Peggy!

We're very excited and they are all three doing well. Just wish I was there..... went there in April for the baby shower but still.....

Sigh.

Once again, couldn't get a picture to load. Techno-challenged or what? Anyway, Oliver is now my profile picture, so you'll have to go there to see him.

I finished the second Harry Hole mystery yesterday, Cockroaches. It was only adequate - I found the English translation to be stiff and awkward and the story disjointed and strange. Perhaps because of the translation, perhaps not.

So will I read the third one? Not any time soon, but I haven't abandoned the series yet.

Husband and I went to see Jurassic World today - I wanted to see the new dinosaur. It was fun. It inspired me to see if I still had Jurassic Park on my shelves, and lo and behold! I did. So I've started it.

I really enjoyed Jurassic Park. It was an intelligent thriller. So many differences from the movie. They're both good in their own way.

I'm taking a vacation day today. No plans, just going with the flow. So far it's been reading and drinking coffee, two of my favorite things.

Crichton was a really good thriller writer, very clean with great pacing.

I'm at work. Gah! Totally jealous.

BTW, I had to stop listening to Nesbo's Police. I was on disc 8 and had no idea what the book was about; just could not get into it. I listened to his Headhunters a while back and was amazed by it, though.

Hi Larry! In an entirely separate way, I'm jealous that you can get to LT from work. We lost internet access at work except to websites on an approved "white list" - you can get things added if they are business related - but no LT, no news, no anything. So I can't do anything from work anymore. Stupid company. Friday is my 20th anniversary there. 10 good years out of 20.

I cleaned off my home desk, and in a black wire basket, between sheets of paper, I found my 1st Kindle. I'm trying to charge it now.

I have two other books by Crichton - Sphere and Travels, a memoir.

Sometime soon I'm going to try the 3rd Harry Hole - Redbreast. If I don't absolutely adore it, I'll probably abandon the series.

Oohh! I loved Sphere.

They tried something like a white list here, more like a black list, but fortunately I work in a department that needs mostly unfettered access to the Intertubes.

no one is the boss of me, I can internets all day long if I want muwhahaha ok, except when I have to work. I liked Congo for a serious page turner, but Jurassic Park is right up there in the top five.

Another *J Park* fan! I taught, and our computers had firewalls that the kids could get around in a heartbeat; I couldn't. So when, for example, I wanted to check an Emily Dickenson or Moby-Dick site, I was foiled and had to wait until I got home.

Crichton! Anybody else a fan of Eaters of the Dead, aka The Thirteenth Warrior? It's probably my favorite of his - I'm a sucker for Beowulf retellings. :)

I love that *and* the movie

Hey Larry - lucky you. Uninterrupted Interwebs, as my daughter calls it.

Hi beeg - you had me going there for a minute. We're in the same boat. At one point I had Congo, but for some reason got rid of it unread. I'll have to keep an eye out for it again.

Hi Peggy - absolutely a Jurassic Park fan - both the book and movie. I've loved dinosaurs ever since I read The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek and The Enormous Egg. I have both on my shelves.

Hi doc! Another book to keep eyes peeled for.

Daughter and I watched Jurassic Park sometime within the last year. I don't even think I knew Jurassic World was coming out - just love the movie.

I just finished up a meh mystery - Southern Ghost by Carolyn G. Hart. The best part of it was the ghost stories told by the protagonist's MiL Laurel.

On to another book. I may start Einstein's Dreams, our July book club read. Or not. I have until July 12th.....

... but I'm reading it. Many of the 'dreams' - different versions of time - are thought-provoking, others are beyond my willingness to devote much mental energy to figuring them out. I have read a bit about Einstein though, and am enjoying the whole process.

Oh lord, the reading list of every book club I've ever seen has been ghastly. Einstein's Dreams starts with a prologue, usually a bad sign, then spins out into the unfettered speculation, which is what bugs me about sci-fi. I'd make sure that my reading suggestion would be highly seasoned pop trash.

Weren't we going to start the cheesy mystery book club, or am I hallucinating?

I've said it a couple of times elsewhere and perhaps above - I enjoy perhaps 60% of the books in our bookclub.

Here's our bookclub reading list (starting September 2014).
Sep - Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner - abandoned. Couldn't get into the flow at all.
Oct - Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh - wonderful read. Lush, rich characters, interesting time in history.
Nov - Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King - abandoned. Dry, scattered, unfocused IMO.
Dec - Reading the OED by Ammon Shea. - abandoned. Whiny, I have the OED and can find strange words myself. I think he read the OED simply to write about it and make money.
Jan The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce - abandoned. Not one single character in that book interested me.
Feb - Cheri by Colette Never started it - it's always available if I'm ever in the mood.
Mar - The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers - meh. Southern Gothic, okay but not stunning. I actually did read the whole thing.
Apr - Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo - abandoned. Very depressing.
May - All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr - read, enjoyed, but I didn't see what the big deal was. Didn't seem worth the Pulitzer Prize to me.
Jun - The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - excellent read, if a bit long. Vivid characters, fun plots, challenging.
Jul - Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman - 2/3 of the way through and it's rocket science to me so far. I started getting it, a little, though. Just finished it. I'm glad it's only 179 pages, otherwise I'd consider abandoning it.
Aug - The All of It by Jeannette Haien

So I have read 5 of 11, and really am looking forward to the Haien book. So 50% read, probably.

If you were in our bookclub, you could pick any book you wanted and that would be YOUR book. So highly seasoned pop trash it would be.

We did discuss it. What are some of your recommendations for the Cheesy Mystery Book Club? :)

Off to find another book.

My post was kind of preach, n'est-ce pas?

Oooh, good question. I put together a jumping off point list below. Also, what is a cheesy mystery, exactly? Agreeable, of questionable taste, making no pretension to art or importance, being no more than 350 pages tops, easy to obtain, having a high body count and/or novel manners of dispatch, not widely read, lurid, compelling, and satisfying.

What are some of your recommendations?

Nevermore, by William Hjortsberg
Prelude to a Certain Midnight, by Gerald Kersh
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, by Henry Farrell (Like Moby-Dick, everybody talks about it but nobody’s read it.)
The Bad Seed, by William March (Ditto.)
The Skeleton in the Clock, by Carter Dickson
The Tallulah Bankhead Murder Case, by George Baxt
Mommy and Mommy’s Day, by Max Allan Collins
Johannes Cabal the Necromancer, by Jonathan L. Howard
Damned, by Chuck Palahniuk
The Horizontal Man, by Helen Eustis
The Devil’s Staircase, by Helen Fitzgerald
The Lenient Beast, by Fredric Brown
A Kiss Before Dying, by Ira Levin
The Puppet Show, by Patrick Redmond
Good Times/Bad Times, by James Kirkwood
Cutter and Bone, by Newton Thornburg
The M.D., by Thomas M. Disch
Holy Disorders, by Edmund Crispin
Devil Take the Blue-Tail Fly, by John Franklin Bardin
Here (away from it all), by Polly Hope
The Bride of Fu-Manchu, by Sax Rohmer
Diamonds are Forever, by Ian Fleming
The Mystery of the Butcher’s Shop, by Gladys Mitchell

I love your definition of Cheesy Mysteries.

Of your list, I've read A Kiss Before Dying by Ira Levin, Holy Disorders and ALL of the Gervase Fen books, including the short stories, and Diamonds are Forever. I think I've read most of the Bonds, but am not 100% sure. I've also read other books by Max Allan Collins, his True Detective series, perhaps the first 3 or 4.

From the shallow perspective of title alone, I like the idea of Johannes Cabal the Necromancer, but I am also entranced by the idea of reading Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (and I haven't seen the movie, either!)

What'cha think?

Crispin is amazing, isn't he. One of my faves. If you like the Gervase Fen books, you may like Gladys Mitchell's mysteries, which are available on the Kindle for a few bucks each. If a book is available on Kindle for less than 4 bucks I usually buy it because so many I've found were Kindle at one time and now aren't.

Cabal was an audiobook for me and that usually enhances things, but I did like it and it's pleasantly horrific, not at all like Jonathan Strange or Harry Potter, more in the vein of The Vesuvius Club without the gay porn. Baby Jane's a camp classic gothic gasper and is a must. It's also just been reprinted so it's easy to obtain.

What books would you recommend?

You've never watched What ever happened to baby Jane? *faints*

Come over I have it DVR'd

Hi Larry - $9.99 for Baby Jane for my Kindle.... maybe I can find get it cheap on Amazon in book form ..... nope. At least $7. Maybe I'll wait for birthday money from my Mom.

Offhand, books for the Cheesy Mystery Book Club - any book by Erle Stanley Gardner, Perry Mason or Donald Lam and Bertha Cool are what first comes to mind. I'll have to do some more thinking.

Sure, beeg! A quick trip to ... Loo-zee-anna?

Getting ready to watch US Germany Women's FIFA World Cup soccer. Big storm making noise, so I hope we don't lose power.

Back to my book - it might actually quality. An Iron Rose by Peter Temple. Laconic, dry, vivid.

I have really enjoyed the following over the last two days:
1. US beating Germany in the FIFA Women's World Cup to get to the final
2. Watching the Japan-England match, sad that it was won on an Own Goal by Japan, not unhappy to see Japan win
3. Finishing An Iron Rose by Peter Temple. Excellent mystery.

Now on to Suspect by Michael Robotham.

And on to "Friday" - yay for tomorrow's holiday. Boy, do I need it.

Hell yes! Long weekend! Whoo-hoo!

I've been busy this morning getting out boxes of books from the garage and deciding which to keep and which to give away. 26 books have gotten added to my shelves, and 4 boxes worth to be given away.

We're having the front and back porches power washed, so it's noisy outside, but it will look nice for next weekend's bookclub meeting here at our house.

Larry - I'm really enjoying Suspect by Michael Robotham.

I liked Suspect, too. I picked up another Robotham audiobook yesterday in case I get a wild hair and decide to hop a plane. Doesn't look like that's going to happen but it was a nice idea. I even kicked around going to Las Vegas for the weekend but nobody else could go. Plus, I'd have to board Parker and I don't like doing that.

I'm clearing the new books off the table. LT Add Books isn't working now but I'm adding ISBNs and titles to an Excel spreadsheet and will add later.

Having the book club meeting on the porch seems wonderful. How in earth can you keep so few books and give the others away? I want the secret!

Hi Larry - glad I was at lunch when LT Add books wasn't working - I've come back and added 11 more from a different box. Lots of scanning of covers and uploading, too.

Most of the books being given away are mass market paperbacks or books I bought for bookclub, hated, and don't want to waste shelf space on.

One more box to go. There are, of course perhaps 10 more boxes in the garage, but these 6 have taken quite a few hours.

Don't board Parker - cats are evil. They won't get even, they'll get ahead.

If the weather is mild I'll consider bookclub on the porch, but as a rule I don't like bugs and I don't expect it to NOT be humid. But, we'll see.

*ahem* Non-mountain NC in July and NOT humid???? A pure delusion!

Hi Karen, I wish you a lovely weekend.

Hi Peggy - but we did have that wonderful Sunday last weekend. I got hammock for my birthday and used it quite a bit that day. No humidity, not staggeringly hot. Admittedly a rare exception to these awful NC summers. But the cicadas sound lovely.

Hi Barbara! Thank you! It's the Fourth of July Weekend, so many of us who work got Friday off and made it a 3-day weekend. Today is the middle day.

Today Roger Federer plays Sam Groth. Roger's my man. He's looking very good too - both in his tennis whites and the way he's playing.

Karen, we have some great tennis Swiss tennis player at the moment. I will watch the game too.

And yay! Roger won in 4 sets. He's a joy to watch.

I like Stan Wawrinka too. He also has a beautiful one-handed backhand. He doesn't look as graceful as Roger, but he seems to be coming into his own this year, winning the French and all.

I just finished a very good book Suspect by Michael Robotham. I am going to immediately start Lost, the second in the series.

Today has been an interesting animal day. First off, while getting ready to read in the hammock on the front porch, I saw a ground hog IN my vegetable garden - a raised bed fenced garden. Damned animal. I yelled at it and it left. I haven't had the heart to go down and see what damage has been done.

Later, from inside the house looking down past the vegetable garden into the pastures, I saw a deer grazing. The horses were somewhere else - just a lone doe grazing. This is the second time I've seen a single deer - perhaps her - perhaps another doe - in the 16 years we've lived here, just grazing in the pasture alone.

Final two animal notes - the June bugs are everywhere. They bang into the windows, dive bomb me in the hammock, buzz through the bushes. And the cicadas are buzzing.