Berly Tackles Her TBR Pile(s)

So, my quick bio. I am a mother of three; happily married; and live in Oregon. I have a huge TBR pile by my bedside, kinda like my security blanket. : ) I was a Neuroscience/Psych major and worked on nerve regeneration for a bit; then jumped ship and worked in advertising; served as the Community Relations Manager for the MN Timberwolves; was an editorial intern at Milkweed Editions; wrote for Portland Parent Magazine; and now am the Marketing Director and Accounting Whiz for our own business, which cleans industrial water and brings it up to EPA standards. Okay. Kinda unfocused, but I prefer to think of it as multitalented! I love TKD but am nursing a knee back to health, so that is on hold for a while. I also love to work in glass. Back to books. Did I mention I like books? I read lots of different genres and love how LT has opened my horizons! Welcome old friends and new.

Reading now
A History of the World In 100 Objects* by Neil MacGregor
Snake Oil: How Fracking's False Promise of Plenty Imperils Our Future by Richard Heinberg
War Dances by Sherman Alexie

Completed in January
5. Invisible (399 pages) by James Patterson 4.5
4. The Girl on the Train (323 pages) ARC by Paula Hawkins 4.0
3. Station Eleven (333 pages) ebook by Emily St. John Mandel 4.0
2. Moon Tiger* (208 pages) by Penelope Lively 4.0
1. The Blessing Way (201 pages) ebook by Tony Hillerman 3.0

*Off my Shelves



2. Chosen by Someone Else (Paul BAC)--Moon Tiger
7. ...with A Natural Disaster--Station Eleven
16. Based on a Myth--The Blessing Way

I didn't quite make the 75 goal last year, but close. I managed to read almost 22,000 pages, which sounds impressive and since I have never tracked this before and have nothing to compare it to, made me quite happy. Don't burst my bubble if you left me in the dust!! ; )

My top 5 favorite reads from last year were (in no particular order):

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
The Gravity of Birds by Tracy Guzeman
The Martian by Andy Weir
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
The Rosie Project by Gaeme Simsion

and then also

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter
The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride
All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews
The Color of Water by James McBride
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
Interpreter of Maladies by Juhumpa Lahiri
Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Hollow City by Ransom Riggs
More Than This by Patrick Ness

I like to read spontaneously and pretty much refuse to commit to anything in advance (1/1/14)).

(1/7/15) My how quickly I cave!! I am thinking I will alternate between Paul's BAC and Mark's AAC.

Paul's Brittish Author Challenge (BAC)

January : Penelope Lively Moon Tiger ✔
& Kazuo Ishiguro
February : Sarah Waters & Evelyn Waugh
March : Daphne Du Maurier & China Mieville
April : Angela Carter & W. Somerset Maugham
May : Margaret Drabble & Martin Amis
June : Beryl Bainbridge & Anthony Burgess
July : Virginia Woolf & B.S. Johnson
August : Iris Murdoch & Graham Greene
September : Andrea Levy & Salman Rushdie
October : Helen Dunmore & David Mitchell
November : Muriel Spark & William Boyd
December : Hilary Mantel & P.G. Wodehouse

Here is the link to the latest thread : https://www.librarything.com/topic/182914

Mark's American Author Challenge (AAC)

Carson McCullers- January
Henry James- February
Richard Ford- March
Louise Erdrich- April
Sinclair Lewis- May
Wallace Stegner- June
Ursula K. Le Guin - July
Larry McMurtry- August
Flannery O' Connor- September
Ray Bradbury- October
Barbara Kingsolver- November
E.L. Doctorow- December

**If you are interested in the American Author Challenge, check out the main thread:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/185195

In addition I have committed to Roberta's (luvamyster65) Navajo Mystery(Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee)/Walt Longmire Project.

January - The Blessing Way ✔
February - The Cold Dish
March - Dance Hall of the Dead
April - Death Without Company
May - Listening Woman
June - Kindness Goes Unpunished
July - People of Darkness
August - Another Man's Moccasins
September - The Dark Wind
October - The Dark Horse
November - The Ghostway
December - Junkyard Dogs

And I also have to keep an eye on Morphy's Thread on Mercy Thompson and the Alpha Omega Series. I have read a lot, but not all, and would love to reminisce on the one'e I have read and hear people's comments until I get to the new-for-me ones.

Patricia Briggs Group Read

MT = Mercy Thompson series
AO = Alpha and Omega series
WM = World of the Marrok

January: Moon Called MT
February: Blood Bound MT and Alpha and Omega AO (short story)
March: Iron Kissed MT
April: Cry Wolf AO and Star of David WM (short story)
May: Bone Crossed MT and Seeing Eye WM (short story)
June: Hunting Ground AO and Mercy Thompson: Homecoming MT (graphic novel)
July: Silver Borne MT
August: River Marked MT and In Red, With Pearls MT (short story)
September: Fair Game AO
October: Frost Burned MT
November: Night Broken MT
December: Dead Heat AO (NEW!) and the remaining stories in Shifting Shadows

'Course then there is My RL Book Club. Sigh.

February 11th -- All the Light You Cannot See - Anthony Doerr
April 8th -- The Husband's Secret by Liann Moriarty
June 10th -- The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes
August 12th -- Little Failure - Gary Shteyngart
October 14th -- The Good Lord Bird - James McBride
December -- Choose NewBooks!!


And now (1/10) I have committed to read The Worst Hard Time in March with Julia.

: )

Good thing I like books!

I am reviewing a few books that I never got around to last year. Such as (Stephen, you would like this one!)



Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

I received this book from my younger daughter and since I am trying to get her to read more, immediately cracked it open. Pro forma without high expectations. Well, was I pleasantly surprised! I wouldn't say it has much to do with the original Alice in Wonderland, sharing only the heroine's name, chapter headings and a rabbit-shaped cloud, but it is set in an unreal land -- Zombies abound. Strangely addictive, I cannot wait to get the second one in this YA series.

Happy New Year, Kim!

Dropping my star, Kim! And glad that you liked Alice in Zombieland, as I have that one in the stacks.

>6 scaifea: Hi Amber! Happy New Year to you and yours. And congrats on being first, although I am not surprised because I think you live here. LOL. I was in Taylor's Falls, WI for Christmas. We got a little snow and my kids loved it. I wish there had been time to do an LT meetup, but time was short.

>7 Crazymamie: Crazy!! Thanks for the star. I look forward to the group read again with you and the rest of the Spenser group. You are always one of my LT highlights. : )

Aw, shucks. Thanks, Kim!

Kim, found you and drop my . I wish you a fantastic reading 2015.

>9 Crazymamie: : )

>10 Ameise1: I look forward to your beautiful posts again this year. Happy reading to you!

Now, on to my Secret Santa thank you. I lucked out and got Mark!! The creator of all this wonderful Christmas gift giving. I cannot wait to read We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler and Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson. (I think these were the ones from you? I kinda made a haul this Christmas!)

And now a short hiatus whilst I watch the Oregon Ducks in the Rose Bowl!!!! Go Ducks!!

And Happy New Thread, Kimmers! I've missed you!

Wishing you all the best in 2015, Kim!!

>13 msf59: Thanks Mark! I still have to get through closing the books at the company, so I will be around as much as possible 'till that's done. Sorry I wasn't around more recently--December was really rough for those around my family and it took a lot out of me. More on that later. Right now it is all about Happy New Year!!!

>14 EBT1002: Ellen! I love The Peanuts. : ) Thanks for popping in to start my LT year off right.

Oregon up 25-13!!!! This quarter. Good thing too -- Florida is a second half team. Still biting my nails....

>8 Berly: Huh. I don't know where that is. Whelp, maybe next time?

Happy New Year!

>17 scaifea: Just across the MN/WI border east of the Twin Cities. Next time for sure!!

>18 The_Hibernator: Thanks and the same to you!!

Okay, Oregon is up for 39-20 in the third. Wait...make that 45-20!!!!

Another fumble!!

Touchdown!! 59-20. Crazy.

Go Ducks!

You said it Rhonda. Happy New Year! We should really do another Powell's meet-up soon, don't you think? I need to make room in my shelves and I am purging -- I have a bunch of books I want to trade in. I also scored some new books at my Book Group in December. I had the novel idea for everyone to bring in books they no longer wanted and doing a swap. Score!

The Oregon Ducks set new Rose Bowl records today!!

Most points in a half: 41
Most points in a game: 59
Most total yards: 641

Welcome back!

Thanks Jim, and thanks for setting us 75ers up again for 2015. Yay! It is a great place to be.

Paper Doll by Robert B. Parker.

One of the better Spenser reads. A perfect mother in a perfect family is murdered. Why?

This book was the last in the 2014 Spenser group read. In 2015 the group will tackle the books listed above in post #4. But I am sure I will probably have to slip a Spenser or two in just because I will miss him.

Hi Kim! Happy New Year -

Looking forward to another year of following your reading and adventures.

I didn't do any reading today because I had football to watch

GO DUCKS!!!

Hi Suzi. I know. I did nothing and it was GREAT! I watched football and tried to get caught up here. Go Ducks! And I made serious progress here. So it was a good day. Thanks for stopping by and I will try to keep you entertained with adventures. ; ) Happy New Year.

Hi Kim, I will keep on reading the Spenser books, too, but at a slower rate than we have been reading them. I'm excited about our new reading project! It's great to see you set up a new thread. I'll be following along as usual. Happy New Year to you and your lovely family.

DarkNet by John R. Little

John R. Little is a Bram Stoke Award-winning author, and after reading DarkNet, I can see why! Basic plot: Cindy McKay works in Seattle as a prominent radio personality. She is married with a daughter. But her life is filled with a horror she doesn't share. After interviewing someone for her show, she finds DarkNet online. It offers a world of anonymity and there she discovers what she hopes is a way to change her life. This is a truly dark book, with abuse, murder and a some animal cruelty. Not normally my thing. But the book was filled with lots of plot twists, multiple story lines and it pulled me along. I thought the ending was a little rough. I hope I never run into anyone like a certain someone in this book! Disturbing.

>29 Donna828: Hi Donna! Thanks for popping in. I am still trying to get my reviews done from December. Three more to go...then I can get started on my new reads. I will see you around. ; )

The Blessing Way was on sale today on B&Ns ebooks - about $3 I think if you haven't snagged a copy yet. I didn't know she was leading a year long. I always liked Hillerman, and Leaphorn of course.

& Happy New Year!!!

Katie--Good call! It is $1.99 on Kindle right now. Snagged. : ) I was just out in Mpls for Christmas, but it was completely filled with family stuff. No time for a meet-up. Next time I will try to add a little me time and let you know....

Happy New Year, Berly! Just swinging by to drop a star.

Hi Wookie! A star! I love stars. Thanks. Here's one for you. : ) Happy New Year to you, too.

I'm here! And you are a star!

Kimmers! So pleased to see you slot into your place as I was busy away earning a living of sorts.

>34 wookiebender: Does this mean that dear Tania is returning to the fold?

Hello Kim - I'm taking part in Roberta's project too, so no doubt I'll see you over there but I thought I'd drop in and say hi. I know what you mean about books as security blankets - there is nothing like a TBR pile to reassure us that we won't run out!

Happy New Year Kim. I wish you a healthy and happy, book filled year.

Happy new year, Kim! Dropping off my star....

Happy New Year, Kim. I love your list of favorites; many of those books have made my lists. I look forward to following your reading this year. (I don't plan my reading, either.)

>36 AuntieClio: Thanks Stephanie--good luck with that wrist!!

>37 PaulCranswick: Paul--Me thinks you downplay your earning potential. ; ) I am so glad to see you again--Happy New Year! May it be an easier year.

>38 susanj67: Susan (I am guessing that is your name?) -- I am excited to start Roberta's project this year. I have read zero of the books, so it will be a whole new adventure! And I love mysteries. I look forward to getting to know you. Happy New Year!

> 39 Calm! Boy, I could have used some of that during the holidays. Not that it wasn't fun, but...phew! Do you have a new thread up? I don't think I have found you yet. Happy New Year!

> 40 Hi Katie--2015 is gonna be a good one. Glad to see you here. : )

>41 BLBera: Hi Beth--I checked out your favorite authors and enjoy all the ones I recognized. So now I will have to pay attention to the ones I don't know: A. S. Byatt, Jane Gardam, Siri Hustvedt, Penelope Lively ( I am reading one now!), and Meg Wolitzer. Hope you are surviving the cold! Brrrr!! I do not miss that, but I miss the people. Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, Kim! And congratulations to the Ducks!

Thanks Darryl. It was an exciting game with lots of turnovers. It helps that I was rooting for the winning side. My daughter is ecstatic--they went out to celebrate afterwards. : )

Have fun at your parents! And see if you can plan a west coast visit this year, OK? Powell's Bookstore is pretty cool....!

Found you and starred your thread Kim. Happy New Year!

Hi Kim, I have found you my dear and will star this thread, I also failed to reach 75 books ending with 65 but I did read 12 chunksters, 5 of 900 to 999 pages and 7 over 1,000 pages. My page total was 31,856 and I tracked this on the 15,000 page group which will be up and running soon, so if you want to track your pages why not join this group. I will let you know when it is up and running.

Just making sure that I keep up with you, Kim!

>46 brenzi: Hi Bonnie! I am glad you decided to have a thread this year and I am happy to see you here too! Happy New Year! Little Mia is very lucky to have you for a grandma. : )

>47 johnsimpson: John! Well, it looks like we read almost the same number of books, but you sailed past me with the pages! Those were some REAL chunksters! I am not sure what your page group is all about but I will take a look at it when you get it up. I qualified last year, so it should be a fun thing to do without any added pressure. Unless I get competitive. Nah!

>48 Crazymamie: Crazy--Up to date...for now! Dun, dun, dun.....(or however you spell that ominous sound!).

Happy 2015, Kim!

Happy New Year Stasia!! Hope you Mum is doing okay and that you get to enjoy your weekend off before school starts up again. What kind of math was that again? Discrete mathematics? As opposed to tell all? LOL. Hope to see you around a bit this year. Do you have a new thread going yet? Hugs. : )

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

Hi Barbara! This time your wonderful photo shall not go unanswered. I hope you have a lovely weekend full of books, too. : )

So, the project of the day is to reorganize my leaning tower of books by my night table. It truly is leaning and it is now higher and wider than the table, which looks a tad funny. I am going to purge less pressing reads and move them downstairs. I could call this cleaning, but really it is just playing with my books. : )

In addition to the two from Mark >11 Berly:, I received several other wonderful books at Christmas: Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively (currently reading), The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (Early Reader), I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai (Nobel Peace Prize Winner), The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich, Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter (read and reviewed up above >5 Berly:) and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (which I have already read and get to turn in for something new).

I love that people know I love books!

>54 Berly: I hope you leave some books next to your bed ;-)

>55 Ameise1: Oh all the books can't go away! They are like a security blanket and I HAVE to have some by my bedside. What if I finish a book late at night, when I am all comfy in my bed and there is nothing there to choose from? Nightmares! I think keeping 20-25 would make me feel safe and not be too messy looking. ; )

LOL

Happy New Year Kim!

I'm glad you will continue with the Spenser books. You will discover what we loved and despised about them. Bwahaha!!! I will continue my journey with Spenser but at a much slower rate.

I'm thrilled you are going to read the Navajo Mystery/Longmire books with me! The more the merrier.

Oh, I am definitely not done with Spenser and Susan. But it will be great to space them out a little bit more. And I downloaded The Blessing Way on my Kindle and I am about 20% in. So much Indian stuff that I know nothing about!! I am a little bit (about my left pinkie I think) Iroquois, so this is really fun. Happy New Year to you too!

>58 luvamystery65: I'm 5 chapters in The Blessing Way and I am channeling my RL friend Chris, Googling half of what I am reading. It's very interesting.

Are we chatting as we go along on the project thread or posting thoughts as we finish? I will have to go check out the thread.



On another note, I am trying to cut back on the number of books I buy 'cuz there ain't much room left. So, one of my New Year's Resolutions was to figure out how to use the computer to requests books and place holds. Done!! I found my dusty library card, made a user name and password and put two books on hold: Station Eleven (I am the 326th person waiting on zero books available to borrow yet-LOL) and The Rosie Effect (which stands a better chance of coming in at #36 on 27 copies). So, yay me!

>61 Berly: Either or is fine.

My library has both the Navajo Mystery and Longmire books on Overdrive. I just have to time the request right due to a small queue.

Do you listen to audio? Hoopla is a nice resource for audiobooks. Overdrive is too.

Happy New Year, Kim! Yay for you making good use of the library!

Happy New Year Dear Kim. May it be a healthy one for you.

Kim, I love the library hold system...except sometimes you do have to wait. Do you have the app on your phone? It works really well for me.

>62 luvamystery65: I got myself all hooked up on Overdrive only to discover my Kindle is too old to sync. : ( I am going to see if I can get it to work on my phone like >65 banjo123: Rhonda suggested.

>63 tymfos: Terri--Happy New Year! I look forward to more of your book reads and recommendations. : )

>64 Whisper1: Linda, Happy New Year to you too! May it be a healthy one for both of us! I am trying to avoid more knee surgery and you are trying to get in ASAP. Crossing fingers (and arms, and legs) for both!

So I also picked up three books at my RL book group Holiday swap: In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, War Dances by Sherman Alexie, and The Sense of An Ending by Julian Barnes. And now I am busily entering all the books my night table and redistributing them around the house, save 20 or so that are begging to be read. Fun, fun, fun!

>51 Berly: Yes, discrete mathematics. My first question after "What is it?" was "Does this mean there is an indiscrete mathematics?"

Hopefully I will be starting a new thread tonight despite the fact that I have not finished a single book in my 2 weeks off school and thus have nothing to report. School starts again Monday, so it is all downhill from here!

>68 alcottacre: Well, I want a mathematics update as soon as it is all clear to you! And I am very glad you are setting up another thread. You were one of the first people to welcome me to LT and you are such a presence here to the 75ers and a personal favorite of mine. You do have all day tomorrow to read a book....just saying. LOL. Happy New Year!

>69 Berly: Unfortunately I do not have all day tomorrow to read a book as I am working all night tonight. I do have to sleep some time! Also, Beth and I are having our monthly gaming marathon tomorrow. Kerry is still in Louisiana and I have no idea if he is going to make it back tomorrow or not, so there is that going on too.

>3 Berly: aaah, so it was you raving about The Martian! I was trying to think who I had heard raving :) (I suppose there is a chance there could have been others raving...)

Im new to your new thread! I am barely through half of the threads I need to visit yet, just trying to start as I mean to continue ;)

>61 Berly: well done on checking off your new years resolution! Nice one.

>70 alcottacre: Stasia, fine, fine, fine. You are excused. Sleep is a good thing. Highly recommended in fact! We played tons of games while I was visiting family over Christmas break. The old favorites were Mahjong, Farkle and the classic card games. The new favorites included Dixit, Ligretto, The Best of TV and Movies, and The Logo Board game. You'll have to tell me what you guys play.

>71 LovingLit: Megan! I am so glad to see you here. And I know what you mean--I am still trying to find everyone's thread. Happy New Year--I hope it is filled with lots of friends and books. : )

As for raving...I truly did enjoy The Martian! I loved the science, I laughed out loud. My short review went like this: Mark Watney is an astronaut accidentally abandoned on Mars by his crew mates. The rest of the story is his gifted and humorous attempt to contact earth, try to arrange for his rescue and survive. This is less weird sic-fi and more of a McGuyver attempt to improvise repairs and missing tools. Great wit and cool science. Highly recommended. 4.5 stars.

You should read it!

And I am patting myself on the back. I entered all the books in my Towering TBR piles by my nightstand (40ish), moved most of them elsewhere and just kept the January hopefuls nearby. Phew!

>72 Berly: Check out my thread to find out about the game playing. I am posting everything we play there - instead of books since I have not finished one yet this year, lol.

I've finally caught up to you, Kim! Happy New Year only a few days late. :-)

I'm glad you're going to continue with the Spensers, and I think you (and Mamie and Ro and Donna) will like them more if they are spaced out. Not that there aren't some clunkers in there, for sure, but I think they don't grate as much when you have time to forgive and forget in between. Just like real life, I guess.

Congratulations to the Oregon Ducks. I have a co-worker who is an alumna and she is so happy and excited. I am torn about who to root for in the championship since I do feel some allegiance to the B1G conference with OSU. On the other hand, I don't think Oregon's ever won, so that would be super fun, too.

Kudos for dusting off that library card! I don't know what I'd do without the library ebooks to check out and read. It's really helped to curb my acquisitive nature, although I remain a sucker for those darn ebook sales. Baby steps ...

Enough from me — Happy New Year again!

Happy Sunday, Kim! I am another who loves the online access to the library, and the digital stuff is so easy to borrow - LOVE that. I am going to track down those new favorite games you mention - we love to play games and are always on the lookout for new ones. We do have the Logo game - my sister bought it for us several years ago, and that is a fun one to play. Old favorites with us include Big Boggle, Yahtzee, Scattergories, The Train Game, and the kids have recently started playing Settlers of Catan. A really goofy game that they love to play with a big group of friends is Quelf.

Nice swap books - I have In the Time of Butterflies in the stacks and I quite liked A Sense of an Ending when I read it several years ago.

Happy Sunday, Kimmers! Hope you are having a fine weekend and you are getting some reading in.

Go Ducks!!

Happy New Year, Kim! I look forward to your adventures this year. :)

Happy new year, Kim. So glad I found your thread. Now I can star you and not lose your thread again like I did last year.

>73 alcottacre: Stasia--Awesome! I am off to check on your game stats. Oops--Nothing listed yet. You must still be playing! Either that or you have started your new thread. ; )

>74 rosalita: Hi Julia! Yes, we are big Ducks fans. #1 Because they are from Oregon, where we live, but #2 because my oldest goes there. Big Hoopla!!!

I still have to figure out how to download ebooks since my Kindle is too old a version and out for that. Project for later today....And, no, my library card wasn't dusty...it was too buried to get any dust!! LOL. Good luck resisting all those great ebook sales. Baby steps is right. Thanks for coming by and I wish you a wonderful, happy, filled-with-books 2015!

>75 Crazymamie: Crazy--Oh, I love all those games! But I will have to look into The Train Game and Settlers of Catan. Those are new to us. We played one round of Dixit today before J had to head back to college. I miss her already!

>76 msf59: Howdy Mark. No reading yet, but took care of lots of nits and nats and helped J pack up her stuff to head back to college.

I entered about 10 more books into the database. I have finally given in and started to catalog my Owned TBR books. I was resisting. Not that I can remember the original reason why--something about inflating the number of books on LT, but then I realized I haven't catalogued all the books I have read but don't own before LT, so what the heck. They are now all being marked "To Read." I had to give in because all the great suggestion here have really made my piles explode and I recently bought two books I already own. So now I am entering them. That means I have a lot of work cut out for me. Yay! More playing with books.

>77 LauraBrook: Hi Laura! Happy New Year to you too! I am spending the afternoon trying to missing people on LT. I will have to scout you out. Not much book reading going on...everyone is posting like made!! Thanks for popping in.

>78 cameling: Caro! Well, I am glad to hear that you lost me rather than dissed me. LOL. Hoping 2015 is a great year for you and yours. Now don't be a stranger!!

Hi Kim, I have set up the 15,000+ pages group for 2015 and the link I below.

http://www.librarything.com/groups/201515000pageschalle

>81 johnsimpson: And I have already joined up! Man, I am FAST today! ; ) I set my target a little lower than yours though. I am hoping to match this year and break 20K. Do you want monthly updates or random comments?

>82 Berly:, Kim you can post whenever you want my dear as we are all busy and with all the different threads and groups it can get complicated. I am just so glad you decided to join, hope you have had a good weekend my dear.

Kim if you have a smartphone you can get the Overdrive and Hoopla app on there for free. You can listen to audio books on your phone like you would listen to music. That's what I do.

Can you transfer the Kindle book from the library via USB? Or is the model to old for that?

Hi Kim - my first time in your thread ever I think! I'm spreading my 75er wings a little, after spending most of last year wondering what on earth was going on. I can empathise with being 'multi-talented', as an ex-scientist, who then worked in accounting for a bit, who earlier also spent time in sales at a department store, and packing frozen food, and am now somehow working as an urban planner of sorts. Variety is fun! Look forward to reading with you this year though :)

>83 johnsimpson: I have had a most excellent weekend. Thanks. So far I am at about 50 pages read. A slow start. If everyone would just stop posting so much...!

>84 luvamystery65: Roberta--Thanks. I am running out of memory on the ol' phone. But I will give it a try. Thanks for the advice. USB might work....

>85 evilmoose: Evilmoose! Now there is a name I can remember. Me thinks northern US or Canada? LOL. I have seen you out and about posting and you were on my "to-find" list. It's a pleasure to see you here, especially given that you are another eclectic job person. ; ) I forgot tot mention department store. I worked at Dayton Hudson in MN. What are was your science in? And what do you like to read?

I just realized I missed my 6th LT anniversary last December! So, going off the list that lots of people helped compile last year, I am going to get at least one Graphic novel as part of my celebratory purchases.

Reposting here for people to use or not as they see fit.

1. YA Novel (rosalita) The Book Thief, A Wrinkle in Time, Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian
2. Murder Mystery (Berly) A Scarpetta Novel, Turn of Mind, Morgue Drawer Four, Gone Girl
3. Historical Fiction (cameling) Arthur & George, Regeneration trilogy, Iqbal, The Cellist of Sarajevo, Wolf of the Plains, Wolf Hall, A Place of Greater Safety, Early One Morning, Girl in Hyacinth Blue
4. Supernatural (majkia) Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell , The Many-Colored Land , The Rook, The Thirteenth Tale
5. Classic Literature (scaifea) The Aeneid, Jane Eyre
6. Comic Book/Graphic Novel/Illustrated Book (richardderus) Doc Savage: Fortress of Solitude/The Devil Genghis.
7. NonFiction (Morphidae) Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind
8. Contemporary Literary Fiction (msf59)
9. Narrative NonFiction (brenzi) The Worst Hard Times by Timothy Egan and Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo.
10. Boxed Set (banjo123)
11. A Book About Books (lahochstetler) Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader, Rereadings, My Reading Life, Tolstoy and the Purple Chair, So Many Books, So Little Time
12. Memoir (Crazymamie) The Elephant Whisperer, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, Finding George Orwel in Burma
13. Baker's D0zen C00kery B00k (PaulCranswick)
14. Westerns (coppers) Lonesome Dove, Let Him Go, The Whistling Season, The Big Rock Candy Mountain, The Meadow, Plainsong, Tallgrass, Hell's Bottom, Colorado, Doc,
The Painter, The Life of an Ordinary Woman, A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains
15. Travel (MDGentleReader/Suggestions also by Rosalita) Bill Bryson's travel books, Notes From a Small Island, In a Sunburned Country, A Walk In the Woods, The Lost Continent, Paul Theroux's The Mosquito Coast or The African Queen, Travels with Charley, On the Road, The Snow Leopard.
16. Fiction in Translation (katiekrug) A book not originally written in the LTer's mother tongue.
17. Romance (Marky Mark) ??
18. History (Chatterbox) The Swerve by Paul Greenblatt, or Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age by Modris Eksteins
19. Urban Fantasy (AuntieClio) Richard Kadrey (Sandman Slim Series), Kim Harrison (The Hollows Series), Stacia Kane (Downside Ghosts Series). Maybe Mercedes Lackey.
20. Outer Space (drneutron) The Martian and Packing for Mars

PM your address and I'll mail you a copy of Let Him Go

ETA: I'm horrible about mailing out stuff but I am finally working off a calendar since last month so I will jot down a mail day.

>87 Berly: I just realized I forgot to use the Thingaversary list when I celebrated my ninth last month! Bad Julia. Happily I just bought an ebook of The Men Who United the States, which certainly qualifies as narrative nonfiction, I think.

>88 luvamystery65: Thanks! I would love to read another one by Larry Watson. : ) You are the best!

>89 rosalita: No worries Julia. There is always next year! And I think your ebook certainly qualifies. Narrative nonfiction is a category I am rather weak on. As I was logging all my books TBR, I realized I have acquired quite a few bios and historical narratives from my FIL. I am really going to try to read one or two this year. (I don't want to set unrealistic goals!) He has lots of stuff on Presidents and WW 1 and 2. I just entered A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent, The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, and The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914. That should keep me busy!

Still catching up from last year...



So, I'll admit it. This was not a highly intellectual book, but I enjoyed it very much nonetheless! This is the story of how Gert Boyle was forced to change from housewife to CEO of Columbia Sportswear after the early and unexpected death of her husband. It is funny, loving and filled with the weird humor that is Portland, OR. The business is thriving and Gert is a hoot! There are lots of pictures of Columbia Sportswear's ad campaign, which depicts Gert as One Tough Mother. They are not your average sportswear company ad. I also didn't mind buying this book because all proceeds go to CASA, an organization for abused children, and Special Olympics.

Meme answered by books read in 2014
(Stolen from Lunacat-Thanks!)

Describe yourself: Picture Perfect or Basket Case (Depending on the day!)
Describe how you feel: Hollow City (I'm hungry!)
Describe where you currently live: The Rosie Project (Portland is the City of Roses)
If you could go anywhere, where would you go: The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Your favorite form of transportation: Flight Behavior
Your best friend is: The Explanation for Everything
You and your friends are: Sisterland and Playmates
What’s the weather like: Stormy Weather
You fear: Just One Damned Thing After Another
What is the best advice you have to give: French Women Don't Get Fat
Thought for the day: Give people A Second Chance
How I would like to die: Chocolate War
My soul’s present condition: Heaven is for Real

>90 Berly: Of those books you mentioned, I have The Worst Hard Time but haven't read it yet. It's another of those ebook "out of sight out of mind" situations.

Oh, The Worst Hard Time is a good one! I like your meme answers! Morning, Kim!

>86 Berly: An Australian in Canada! My science was atmospheric physics, working in research related to satellite data. Fun to create my own personalised weather forecasts, less fun to sit programming all day. And trying to improve the weather forecast is a rather thankless task.

What do I like to read? My first thought was books. Yes, mostly books. I branch out into cereal packets and that sort of thing occasionally, advertising signs, little plaques next to artworks, and of course the internet :) But otherwise I'm doing the British and Aust/NZ author challenges this year, and have the most structured year of reading I've ever had lined up! I do also slip into some sci-fi/fantasy, and mysteries, from time to time.

Hi Kim, wishing you a belated happy 6th thingaversary my dear, hope you are having a good day my dear.

Belatedly dropping by to star you Kim!
Several of your top of list is on my need to read list. (The Ocean at the End of the Lane, The Rosie Project, and Life After Life) Each new great review makes me bump those books up another couple of notches. It doesn't help that I have hundreds of unread books in my TBR mountain and I keep getting books from the library instead of reading off my shelf. New day, same story. :)

PS - I love overdrive for my audiobooks

>93 rosalita: Julia--I think physical books cry out to be read a little more than ebooks, so The Worst Hard Times might actually get read this year! Let me know if you want to read it with me a little later in the year.

>94 Crazymamie: And Crazy endorses it!! I really had fun with the memes this year. Just another way to play with my books. : ) Today was back to work. I am trying to tie up some financial stuff from 2014. Today I balanced the credit card from January through September. Hope to finish through year end tomorrow and then tackle the wire account and perhaps checking. We'll see! Made a really yummy veggie dinner tonight (trying to lose a few pounds-heh, heh!) and now I am sipping my wine as I enjoy LT. Happy am I!

>95 evilmoose: Megan--Trying to change the weather...good luck on that one! And, yeah, I could see how people might get kinda snarky on your job performance there. LOL.

As to reads--oh, you made me laugh!! Food labels. Snort. I am trying NOT to be structured about reading this year, but I already got sucked into Paul's BAC and a fun project with Roberta et al, oh, and then there's Morphy's Mercy Thompson/Alpha & Omego thread, and Mark usually gets me with his AAC...shoot! I am not doing a good job.

>96 johnsimpson: Thanks John! I am already late shopping for my Thingaversary, so perhaps this weekend....Wishing you a happy Tuesday.

>97 jolerie: Val--No star is ever too late. So happy to see you! New Day Same Story is not all bad. It means you will never run out of things to read!! The three you selected were some of my very favorites. It was my first Gaimon and I already have another one lined up and I have my name in for a hold on The Rosie Effect, the second in the series. Hope you like them, too! (I still have to check out Overdrive.)

Hi Kim, Happy Tuesday my dear.

Hi, Kim! I've got you starred and I look forward to reading your thread again this year.

Karen O.

>99 johnsimpson: Hi John! Well, Tuesday is almost over, so I'm gonna wish you Happy Wednesday!!!

>100 klobrien2: Hi Karen. Nice to see you again! I'd love to have you along for the ride this year. Pipe up and say Hi! every now and then, okay? ; )

So, I was bad today. Or good. Depending on how you look at it. I returned a duplicate book I got for Christmas and came home with two. : )

Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen and The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer. Neither one is one my WL, but they look good. Off to catalog them!

>81 johnsimpson: >82 Berly: Hmm, maybe I will count pages this year too!

And, re returning one book for two. I say good for you. Better to read what you want to I say. I did the same with a lame (expensive) cook book I was given my my MiL. It exchanged nicely for 2 fiction books. *mwa ha ha*

>102 LovingLit: Hi Megan! Oh, I would trade a cookbook for fiction books any day!! LOL. As to counting pages, I like doing it because I don't worry about my book total going down if my pages go up on those really big tomes! ; )

I've counted both books and pages for years. Helps me feel like I'm balancing out the chunksters and graphic novels.

Hi Kim. You know I hate the Ducks, right? (I worked at OSU for 13 years, what can I do?)
BUT..... I will be rooting for them on Monday. I want the Pac-12 to take this one.

I have never counted pages but I wonder if it would free me up to read more chunksters. You know, getting credit for tackling that 800-page tome. Silly, I know. Reading is supposed to be fun and I should read what I want and not worry about numbers. But it's hard for me to turn off that self-competitive part.

>104 SuziQoregon: Hi SuziQ--Well then clearly you are smarter and more efficient than I am !! LOL I am hoping to read a few more graphic novels this year. I think I have only read two ever. Any favorites?

>105 EBT1002: Hi Ellen--You hate the Ducks?! Humph. ; ) As long as you root for them on Monday we can still be friends.

I want to count the pages so I CAN read the big chunksters and still feel like I am racking up the numbers. That way I can still be competitive AND have more freedom with what I read. Happiness.

So, I finished The Blessing Way, but the review will have to wait for the weekend. I started Moon Tiger next for Paul's BAC. I think I will try to hit about half of that challenge and half Mark's AAC. We'll see.....

So one of my New Year's Resolutions was to lose a little weight. Not being able to work out because of my knee (it has been 10 months!) has allowed a little poundage to creep onto my frame. So...today I downloaded an app called MyFitnessPal which helps set goals and then tracks calories and exercise. I started today and met my goal. On a roll of one!! Whoohoo! Hoping to lose a pound a week. We'll see how long I last! : )

So speaking of me knee....the cortisone shot did nothing for me. So my doctor has decided that I need another MRI to see what the heck is going on. Poop. Trying to get that scheduled. In the meantime, she did say I could start no impact things again (biking and elliptical) so I am happy about that. But still no running or TKD. Bummer. Oh well. Learning a lot about patience.

>98 Berly: I would love to read along with you on The Worst Hard Times, Kim! Just give a holler when you're ready to start.

>105 EBT1002: Yes - it's exactly that self competitive part that made me start tracking pages as well as books. That and an inordinate love for spreadsheets and stats. I have a ridiculous reading log spreadsheet that I got from a friend and I adore it!

>106 Berly: Oh lots of favorites - both graphic novels and collections of what was originally individual comics.

As for Graphic novels - I adored the one I just finished Underwater Welder by Jeff Lemire

Collected comics - the Fables series by Bill Willingham is a lot of fun - I've even got The Hubster reading those. The first one is Legends in Exile. It's all about familiar fairy tale and storybook characters in a whole different way than you ever thought of them.

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan is fabulous and the art in this series by Fiona Staples is spectacular.

>106 Berly: I will root for them on Monday, I promise!

>106 Berly: and >109 SuziQoregon: Yes, but you see, I actually hate spreadsheets. Well, I like them when other people make them, but the making of them is just not my thing. Wait, Juli, you said you got one that a friend made. You just fill it in? It calculates things for you?

Hmm. It's probably not too late to add up the pages I've read so far this year just in case I decide to add this stat to my life.

Kim, I wish you a fabulous weekend.

>108 rosalita: Julia--The Worst Hard Time...February or March work for you? : )

>109 SuziQoregon: SuziQ--Thanks so much for the suggestions. I am not sure where to look for them. My favorite little neighborhood bookstore doesn't have much in the way of Graphic Novels. I could try Powell's or there is always Amazon...or wait! I could try using my library! I really am trying to borrow a little more this year. Anyhow...I will track a few of those down and let you know when I do. ;)

>110 EBT1002: Ellen. Phew! We can still be friends. xoxo SuziQ, can you send your friend's spreadsheet to us so we can decide how anal we want to be about our reading? LOL. This could be fun!

>111 Ameise1: Barbara--thanks so much and the same to you!

So, tonight my son is off to his first Winter Formal! He is very excited. Got a matching tie and ordered the corsage yesterday. Today I have to clean house and make some hors d'oeuvres--they are coming over here to take pictures ahead of time. This is a whole new experience for me--the boy's perspective dontcha know! I am very happy for him.

So if no impact things, what can you do? Can you "run" in a nice warm pool and have it covered by medical insurance? Hope they figure it out soon.

& yes, if you every get some non-family time in Minnesota, we should do a meet up! That would be fun.

One Tough Mother looks scary! But how can you hate a book that supports such good charities.

The Blessing Way by Tony Hillman.

For me, the beginning was a little rough. It is the first book in this detective series set on Navajo tribal lands. Hillman takes time to explain The Navajo Way, which I found fascinating (like the fact that there is no word for time" in their language), but it felt like roughly inserted patchwork. About a quarter of the way in, this smoothed over and the book read more like a traditional Murder Mystery. Plot summary: a young Navajo is found murdered on the side of the road. Lt. Joe Leaphorn of the Navajo Tribal Police is willing to consider the supernatural when the corpse is found with a mouth full of sand, abandoned at a crime scene high on the mesa with no tracks and no apparent useful clues next to the body. Professor Bergen McKee approaches the mystery from an academic angle. He is researching Wolf-Witch legend and becomes entangled in the investigation. The setting is beautiful. The mystery is simple, but with enough plot twists to keep the reader happy. It is a little clunky in parts, but good enough that I look forward to the next in the series. Thanks Roberta (luvamystery65) for starting this group project! Which can be found here....http://www.librarything.com/topic/185185

On a side note: I was peeved with my Kindle edition. I can only see the percentage read, so I was at 90% when the story concluded (the rest was filled with promos and other stuff) and that made the ending feel very abrupt to me. Not the writer's fault.

>113 cammykitty: Hi Katie! No impact leaves me the elliptical and biking and swimming but no breaststoke. The first two are not my favorites. I used to be a swimmer, but its winter and the whole wet hair in the cold thing...oh well. I am sucking it up! I have converted my outdoor bike to a stationery bike and set it up in the bedroom so I can watch TV whilst I spin and I bought a new pair of goggles so I can actually see the end of the pool now and not bump into it. LOL. I biked yesterday. Today I am going to swim. I am just happy to be moving at all!!!

So where do you live in Mpls? I finished high school in Edina and then after college I used to live downtown over by the Main Post Office. That was fun because I was connected by the skyway and could walk to work at the Timberwolves with no coat on in the winter! Then I lived over by Minnehaha Falls for two years in our first house. It is still one of my favorite houses. I will definitely let you know when I get back over there. (I will just not tell my family how long I am really coming for!)

One Tough Mother only looks scary. She is a hoot!

So, I was over on cammykitty's thread and she was talking about The Unsuggestor. It basically takes your ratings and then finds the books you are least likely to read. I thought it was quite funny, so I am reposting my comment here. You can find this function under Home/Recommendations/Unsuggestions.f ; )

Katie--Thanks for explaining where the Unsuggestor is. It gave me a big smile! So the first one is the same for me: The Purpose-driven Growth Without Compromising Your Message And Mission by Rick Warren. That's three of us with the same book! What does that say about the book? LOL. The next 100 or so are all pretty much religion based, and, no, those would not be great reads for me. Although it also said I would not like The Tree. I have nothing against trees!! But the one that really made me laugh is A Book in Hand Is Worth Two in the Library: Quotations on Books and Librarianship by Les Harding because that really does describe me. One of my New Year's Resolution is to try to use the library more. I just seem to be in bookstores, grocery stores, the airport (anywhere!) more than the library.

Winter Formal! Oh, my. Will you post photos of the handsome thing in his fancy duds?

Hi Amber. Of course! Later tonight or tomorrow.

I am scared to go over to your thread because I haven't been there for like three days and I know how far behind I am going to be. : P

>118 Berly: No! Don't be scared - come on over!

>112 Berly: Yes, either Feb or March would be great! March is a longer month ... :-)

>119 scaifea:. Okay. I am going to stop biting my nails and head over...

>120 rosalita: That's what I was thinking! March it is. The Worst Hard Time. I am putting it up above on my post for my growing list of book commitments so I don't forget. I look forward to reading it with you.

Small break here while I take down my Christmas decorations. And don't worry (if you are the kind sort and not presently laughing at me!) there was no fire hazard. Since we went out of town, we didn't have a tree this year. Normally I have everything down by 12/29 because my daughter's birthday is the 30th and I like to separate the two and make her birthday special. But, again, we left town so now I am just a tad behind. I will be back later. Stop laughing...it's not nice!

I'm not laughing, Kim! My Christmas stuff is still up. Hopefully, I can motivate myself to get it put away sometime this weekend...

Hi Kim. The Worst Hard Time is one of those books I wish I could read again for the first time. Enjoy!

>120 rosalita: & >121 Berly: I may join you for The Worst Hard Time. I'll see how I feel about it when March comes around. It's one I've had on Mount TBR for some time.

^ What Ro said! I've had that one waiting for a while...

>121 Berly: & >125 luvamystery65: & >126 katiekrug: The more the merrier, as far as I'm concerned!

Happy Sunday Kim.

>114 Berly: I have never read a Tony Hillerman book. One of these days I will get to them. . .

The Worst Hard Time is good on audio, just saying. And our staircase garland and outdoor decorations are still up if that makes you feel any better - hoping to get those down today. Happy Sunday to you, Kim!

>123 katiekrug: Katie--I am not alone! And you are not laughing. Phew! I knew I liked you.

>124 brenzi: Bonnie--I am so glad you enjoyed The Worst Hard Time! I can't offer you a first read through, but you are welcome to do a reread....

>125 luvamystery65: Roberta--It would be great if you could join us on the read! Besides, it is only fair that I suck you into something after all you have done for my reading!! : )

>126 katiekrug: Katie is in!! Yay!

>127 rosalita: And luckily Julia is up for expanding our ranks!! This should be fun, even if it is The Worst Hard Times. (Bad--I know--but I couldn't resist.) Put it on your calendars for March. The more the merrier! I'll start up a thread when we get closer.

>128 johnsimpson: Happy Sunday John!

>129 alcottacre: Stasa--You haven't disappeared yet under the pressure of academia! Nice to see you. I think a Hillerman novel would take you all of an hour to read. Join in sometime if you can't find someone to game with. ; )

>130 Crazymamie: Hi Crazy--Well if you still have Christmas stuff up then I am in good company! Happy Sunday to you and thanks for the audio plug.

So last night was Winter Formal and it went very well. The house got cleaned, the hors d'oevres were ready and Jack and his date looked adorable! They said everyone at the restaurant was very nice to them;the food was excellent and they actually played great music at the dance! Today is all about sleeping in and the homework.

What a lovely photo, Kim! Thanks so much for sharing!

Thanks Crazy! I am not sure I like the tree growing out of their heads--we did move to another background--but those are the shots I have on my phone. Hubby had the better camera and I haven't downloaded those yet.

Ha! I didn't even notice the tree growing out of their heads until you mentioned it.

>132 Berly: Jack looks like the cat that got the cream and rightly so! Have a lovely Sunday, Kimmers.

>136 PaulCranswick: Yes, I think that about sums it up. He is truly smitten.

>132 Berly: Kim, congrats to such a handsom son. You must be very proud.

Happy Sunday, Kimmers! Only half of the AAC authors? WTH? I can understand the BAC (kidding, of course)but mine?

I am so pleased that a few of you are going to read The Worst Hard Time. I adore that book and it was the best book, that I read, a couple years ago.

>138 Ameise1: Thanks Barbara! I am more proud that he is good, kind person, but it doesn't hurt that he is kinda cute. ; )

>139 msf59: Um....still friends?! TWHD is certainly getting a lot of thumbs up. I hope that it lives up to its reputation!! Happy Sunday Mark.

Yep, you know I am just goofing, my friend.

BTW- Chelle does have a 2015 thread. She just posted it yesterday, I think.

Awww...look at how handsome and grown up he looks! What a wonderful milestone to celebrate Kim.

I'm not laughing either. My Christmas stuff is still up and if I'm lucky, I'll get it down before Easter...bahaha!

>132 Berly: That's a handsome fella you have there, Kim!

>141 msf59: I know you are just joshing. Thanks for telling me about Chelle--I will look for her thread!

>142 jolerie: Thanks! It is amazing to me that my youngest is now in high school. He looked so grown-up in his suit and tie.

I won't laugh at you if you don't laugh at me!! ; )

>143 rosalita: Thanks. I can take no credit for his good looks, since he looks nothing like me!!! LOL

Oh, what a great photo! Such a handsome kid you've got there! Thanks for sharing!

Love the picture of Jack and his date, Kim! Oh to be young again!

More later, but for now...Go Ducks!!!!

>132 Berly: aw! That is a lovely photo. I shudder to think about my own high school formal photos, really. I was never that swish. I just looked like a kid playing dress ups!

What a great photo of Jack and his date, Kim. We never had high school formals or proms but both my son and daughter had them. Hope you are having a good Monday Kim.

>145 scaifea: Thanks Amber. You share so many cute photos, glad you could see one of my kids!

>146 alcottacre: Stasia--I know...right?! But remember, there were downsides to being young!

>148 LovingLit: Megan--Ugh! I don't even want to think about my high school photos. Thanks for reminding me. : p

>149 johnsimpson: Hi John--An excellent Monday here. Thank you. Same to you. : )

I saw this recipe for Crispy Gnocchi on Darryl's (kidzdoc) thread and it was a yummy dinner last night!!! Thanks Darryl!

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-recipe/crispy-gnocchi-with-mushrooms-asparag...

Go Ducks!!! First ever National Championship!!

Go Ducks, Kimmers!!

Thanks Mark!! Fingers crossed. Toes and elbows too. LOL.

Yummy gnocchi!!! I haven't had dinner yet. & yes, Jack & his date are looking fabulous.

I too went to Edina. It's a big secret! I work in Richfield, and the rumor in Edina at the time I went there was don't where your Edina clothes, Cougar or Hornet, to Southdale because the Richfield kids would beat you up for it. ROFL! The Richfield kids, as far as I know, don't spend any brain cells thinking about the Edina kids. Now I live in the Fulton neighborhood, a little bit south of Lake Harriet. I have a friend who lives over by the falls. I can see why you call that a dream house!

Jack and his girlfriend are a very cute couple! I think we moms get almost excited about school dances as the kids do.

Loved your comments on The Blessing Way, Kim. I read it before LT and will look through my handwritten journals to see my comments if I have time. I kept a list of books in front for each year, but it's still a pain to find something in particular. No touchstones...WTH? I plan to reread it so I can once again immerse myself in Native American culture.

This is the complete thread, winter formals, meals and sports. I loved the Hillerman series. But I don't remember the individual ones very well.

>155 cammykitty: Katie--Another cake-eater!!! Oh my gosh! No, the Richfield kids could care less. LOL. I loved Lake Harriet and I know the Fulton neighborhood. How fun that we have this in common. So you mention Cougars and Hornets. I actually had the two schools merge into one my senior year. I think we had 726 in my graduating class and I am going to date myself, but that was in 1982. : )

>156 Donna828: Donna, the Moms definitely get excited about the school dances and their cute wittle kids growing up! Plus he is the baby ya know.

I am so impressed that you kept journals of your reads pre LT. No such luck here. Glad you liked the review.

>157 BLBera: Beth, I try very hard to be well rounded. ; ) As to the Hillman series, and most murder mystery series, I am sure the books will blur together over time. It is kinda nice now that I have started to review almost all my reads on LT so that I can go back and look over the individual plots later. (See Donna's note above.) You should check out the thread and just follow along on the comments. They are fun!

So great sadness here. The Ducks got killed. Even with Ohio State turnovers we just couldn't get the touchdowns. Dang it!

Sorry about the Ducks, Kim! It looks like they had a terrific season though! Hugs!

Me, too, Kim.

Thanks you guys. Pack 12 winner, Rose Bowl Champs and a Heismann isn't all bad! Go Ducks!!!

HI Kim - still recovering from last night's game. They just didn't have in them on either side of the ball last night. Still proud of the kids though. It's been a helluva season and my favorite Rose Bowl EVER.

As for comics and graphic novels I've discovered that both Washington County and Multnomah County libraries have excellent collections. I get most of mine from them. I think it's partly because Portland is home to some comic authors. artists and publishers.

Jack definitely appears to be in deep smit ;-)

>110 EBT1002: - yes the tracking spreadsheet I use was built by someone else - I just fill it in. You can find a link to it (and the instructions) here.

Hi, Kim! It's still January, so I guess I can still say Happy New Year?! I was talking up Library Thing to a new friend last week and couldn't think of a good reason (besides laziness) not to be logging on here myself. Really, I've been doing nothing but reading this last year, but it's been a lot of escapist fiction—not much that I would want to list here. But, there have been some great reads here and there, too, and I'm finally ready to tax my brain a bit more, so decided to get on LT and see what my old friends are reading. It's going to take me awhile to update my profile/library, and remember how to set up my thread properly, but will keep tabs on your thread until then.

I'll talk books next time, since I see that we have read some of the same titles. I thought of you while waiting in the long lines over the holidays in Powell's. I mostly read on my iPad now, but still love to peruse the isles.

>163 SuziQoregon: Hi SuziQ! I know. They just didn't have it last night. Sigh. But it was still an awesome accomplishment! One they will always remember. And, yes, best Rose Bowl EVER!!!

I will just have to take myself down to the actual library and see what they'e got for comics/graphic novels. I wrote down your suggestions and I'll see if any of them are there.

And I love that saying, "In deep smit"; and yes he is! LOL.

>164 bonniebooks: Bonnie!!!! SOOO glad to see you back here. There is nothing wrong with escapist literature. I need it too and this is a pretty nonjudgmental group, so feel free to share. Good luck getting everything set up again and let me know when you have another thread going. Remember---this is supposed to be fun! So don't let it be anything but. One of the cool new things is adding the number of someone's post when you want to respond to what they said. Just type ">" followed by the number of the post and then make sure to leave a space after it before you type anything else. Good luck! Hugs. : ) And visit here often!

I was stuck somewhere and didn't have my paper book, Moon Tiger, so I started an ebook, Station Eleven. I have such a hard time reading more than one book at a time, even though when I was like in 6th grade I remember reading 4 or more at once ALL the time. I think it is that I have so many other things to keep straight in my life now instead of just me back then. Plus, I usually like one more than the other and just wind up neglecting the others. Hmmmm...which one will win out?

>166 Berly: That's an intriguing battle, Moon Tiger vs Station Eleven. I wouldn't like to get in the middle of that one.

>151 Berly: That looks yummy!

>152 Berly: Wish the Ducks had done better.

>167 lunacat: Hi Jenny! Reading either one is winning. ; ) But MT is winning. I started it first and felt I owed it some more reading time. Although I loved the language from the beginning, I found Claudia to be a prickly person at best until about page 90, and then her heart began to show through and now I am on a roll. Should finish tonight. I only made it to chapter 3 on S11, but it is very promising!

>168 thornton37814: Lori! Nice to see you piping/popping up (take your pick) here! Thanks for the compliment and the commiseration. : ) : ( What have you been up to? Is 2015 off to a good start?

How did I not stop by to wish you a Happy New Year? Consider it wished, and since it's late, it's good until next January 14th.

I finished Moon Tiger last night and will post a review before the weekend (we're a little busy until Friday). I hope you are enjoying it as much as I did.

Jack looks very handsome in his formal duds, and it's nice they had a good time. Sorry to hear your knee still isn't back to normal, but at least you can do some exercising.

Let's see -what else? Hillerman is one of may favorites, and the series gets richer as you go along. I hope you get the library Kindle issue straightened out - I order mine from the library in kindle format, and then i can download them from Amazon as loans. Works pretty well. At some point, Amazon began indicating the relative page number on the downloads so you don't have to go by percentages alone, but it still counts all the back matter.

Let me know what you think of Moon Tiger. I gotta go to work.

>170 ffortsa: Hi Judy! Thanks for the New Year Wishes and the extended warranty.

I almost made it to the end last night, but I have 40 pages to go, which I plan to devour right after I finish "talking" to you!

I am glad to hear that the Hillman series just gets better and better as it progresses. Should be a good year of reading then! No time to mess with the Kindle right now, although I think I may need an upgrade.

Come again soon! Hugs.

Reading both Moon Tiger & Station Eleven? Wow, Kimmers! That is a double-barrel winner!! I only halfway done with MT, but I am completely smitten.

>164 bonniebooks: Was that a Bonniebooks sighting? Or a mirage?

>172 msf59: Marky Mark! I know...pretty fun! Review of MT coming sometime soon.

I know! It was REALLY Bonnie!! So glad she is back. : )

So, it was just one of those days. This little glimpse will give you an idea. I had on a new pair of earrings. I don't have pierced ears, so just clip-ons. As I was leaving my not so good day at work, one fell off and started bouncing into the open elevator. But it did not make it into the elevator. No, it fell down the shaft. Never to be seen again. Sigh.

Dinner is served. I called "Not It!" for the dishes. I am going to have a glass of wine and finish Moon Tiger.

Tomorrow will be better. : )

>151 Berly: *oh my eyes*
Well, that is IT! Now I have to make it. I thought I had successfully dodged that meal but now it seems I must copy the recipe and make it.

Loving your top notch double up book bonanza in Moon Tiger and Station Eleven. I have to get to the latter asap!

^ Sorry, but it really is soooo yummy! Enjoy.

You can't go wrong with either book. Hurry up! Get them. Read them.

(This is such a pushy thread!)

I have decided not to wear earrings today (see >173 Berly: ). It is going to be a good day!! Finished Moon Tiger. It definitely gets high marks, but I have to think about what I want to write for a review -- I used up about half a tin of book darts highlighting pithy comments and quotable quotes!

Sorry about your earring, Kim. I once lost a bracelet down an elevator shaft - who knew they were so greedy? Hoping today is better.

>173 Berly: >177 Crazymamie: Now I'm concocting some story about a monster that lives in an elevator shaft and uses his magnetic power to suck jewellery down to eat.

>178 lunacat:, no no no, he's collecting for his children. Elevator shaft monsters don't have pretty, shiny things. They also don't understand why it upsets us to lose something to them. After all, they think our world is made up of the stuff.

>179 AuntieClio: Oh I see. So they're just misunderstood, not intentionally cruel. That's OK then.

Query: Where do the elevator shaft monsters' children go to school? I'm simply curious. I want to get my facts straight before I write an exposé on the problem.

>180 lunacat: they are home schooled. They are taught from the stuff businesses mysteriously lose throughout the day. Needless to say, the curriculum is uneven.

>181 AuntieClio: So all that paperwork that mysteriously goes missing, and the squillions of ballpoints that get lost every year are actually supplying their home classrooms? Excellent.

You should see the rubberband ball and the paper lip chain.

>168 thornton37814: 2015 got off to a great start because I spent the first few days in Raleigh. Unfortunately the minute I got home the evening of the 5th, I pulled into the garage to discover a "flood" which ultimately was caused by a leaky valve and have been dealing with first the plumbing issue and then insurance ever since. Next week I'll probably be dealing with a carpenter to make repairs. When I texted my boyfriend that I'd made it back home, he told me to check Facebook because there was an update on my brother who had been scheduled to have a test in mid-January. He was in ER at the VA Hospital. We went on to find out that he had colon cancer which had already spread to the liver and stomach. Prognosis is not all that great, but there is hope for a little longer with chemo. He's home now and will begin chemo in 2 to 3 weeks. I would like a bit of a return to the first few days of January without all the extra stress!

Lori, I'm thinking of you. Hugs xx

23- Brand New Ancient - Kate Tempest.

I think I see my earring...way down there! Should I jump? Will the elevator shaft monster children catch me? Maybe if I show them all the school supplies I have for them....

>177 Crazymamie: >178 lunacat: >179 AuntieClio: >180 lunacat: >181 AuntieClio: >182 lunacat: >183 lunacat: >184 AuntieClio: Oh! You made me laugh so hard! Thanks for that. : ) xoxoxo

>185 thornton37814: Lori. I am so sorry that January has taken a downhill turn. I wish your brother the very best of luck with the chemo and hope it is an amazing success for him! And I also wish you good luck repairing everything after the flood. Sending lots of good mojo! And hugs. Just like >186 Ameise1: Barbara.

Here is my plan for the weekend...

My sentiments exactly. I want to thumb your message. The LT gods should make that an option. :D

Kim, I wish you a relaxed weekend.

Sounds like an excellent weekend plan, Kim! Barbara's pic made me laugh!

>192 jolerie: Val, I don't think you can thumb a message (you could flag me, but that would make me sad!), so I've added my own!



>193 Ameise1: Barbara--How did you know? "Relaxed" is exactly what was called for this weekend. Thanks.

>194 Crazymamie: I know the picture made me laugh, too!!

So, I was a good girl and worked out today. Water aerobics and some laps. I then promptly came home and took a nap. The house is a disaster and I just don't care today. Everyone can help me clean tomorrow. ; )

I finished Station Eleven and now I have two reviews to write! It should come as no surprise, since everyone seems to love this book, but it was great!

Now I am starting me ARC of The Girl on the Train. Sitting by the fire. All alone in the house. Jack is off at a soccer tournament, in the rain (I did not want to be a fan today!), and Sarah is off with Hubbie at a Father/Daughter dance. So cute!

I took a nap today, too. We're twins!! So glad that you loved Station Eleven! And the house all to yourself! I'll be right over!

Pouring the wine sis!!

Most excellent!

>195 Berly: - Can't wait for your reaction to The Girl on the Train! I also got it as an ARC and read it earlier this month. I actually just mailed my copy to Suzanne (Chatterbox) today, because I am eager to hear what others think of it....

Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively

Claudia Hampton is a beautiful, famous writer, old now, dying in a hospital. The nurses tend to her with quiet condescension, but she is unfazed, quietly plotting her greatest work: a history of the world, and by this she means her own.

Claudia is not necessarily a likable woman. I wondered throughout the story how she would have fared if she had been any less than beautiful? But that hardly matters. I loved this book for the amazing prose and the mosaic storytelling, effortlessly switching from present to past, exquisitely shifting from one point of view to another, the personal details amidst the vastness of history. There is her adored brother, Gordon; Jasper, the charming, playboy lover; Lisa, her sadly conventional daughter; and her one great love, a soldier found in the blowing sands of wartime Egypt. The story of Claudia's life is indeed masterfully told in this Booker Prize Winner. Here are a few of my favorite quotes (I think I used a half of tin of those Book Darts!):

"Shall it or shall it not be linear history? I've always thought a kaleidoscope view might be an interesting heresy. Shake the tube and see what comes out. Chronology irritates me. There is no chronology inside my head. I am composed of a myriad Claudias who spin and mix and part like sparks of sunlight on water." (Claudia, page 2--Yup, smitten already, I was!)

"If feminism had been around then I'd have taken it up, I suppose; it would have needed me." (page 14--Did I mention Claudia was arrogant?)

We will win the war, says her true love. "Not because the Lord's intervention or because justice will prevail but because in the last resort we have greater resources. Wars have little to do with justice. Or valor or sacrifice or the other things traditionally associated with them...War has been much misrepresented, believe me. It's had disgracefully good press." (page 102)

And one from Gordon for good measure: " 'Mad opportunists,' says Gordon. 'Tito. Napoleon. That's not real history. History is the grey stuff. Products. Systems of government. Climates of opinion. It moves slowly. That's why you get impatient with it. You look for spectacle.' " (page 186)

Definitely recommended!

Station Eleven by Hilary St. John Mandel

I loved how Station Eleven's main characters' lives swirled together and apart and unexpectedly affected each other in small and large ways. The book opens with a Shakespearean Play, King Lear. The main lead tragically dies of a heart attack on the stage. It is the night before the world realizes it is in danger. With great skill, Mandel uses a looping timeframe to skip between our heroes in their previous lives and now as they adjust to life in Year Twenty. In this way, our dead actor remains front and center and actually is the linch pin tying everyone together: the dead actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor's first wife, his oldest friend, and a young child.

Yes, this is a post-apocalypctic story: there are no phones, electricity, planes, or cars. All are things of the past. But rather than a book of zombies, or constanct crime, this is a fantastic weaving of lives and a great reminder to value what we have. It is not an overwhelmingly dark book, but thoughtful, suspenseful, oddly beautiful and in the end, not without hope. It is a real page turner, so make sure you have the time!

Odd how this book mirrors Moon Tiger in its mosaic representation of life, again switching between present and past, or in this case, life pre and post the pandemic flu. Moon Tiger is told predominantly from the perspective of one character, Claudia, with small reflections by those around her, while Station Eleven has five strong central characters whose narrative we follow.

Since I know so many people have read this one recently, I am going to ask the question: Who would you nominate as the central figure in Station Eleven and why?

>198 Crazymamie: Time for a refill? I kinda emptied my glass whilst writing these reviews. ; )

>199 katiekrug: Katie! I saw that you had already reviewed Girl on the Train, but I skimmed it because I haven't read it yet. I will be sure to look it up after I finish! What are you reading now?

Yes, please. I am skipping your review of Moon Tiger, as I am reading that one right now. Lovely review of Station Eleven! I don't think that there is a main character in it- I think that Arthur is the nucleus of the story.

Back to add that I gave your review my thumb.

Yay! A thumb!! I forgive you for skipping my review, although I don't think I give away much. Thanks Crazy. : )

>175 Berly: I must do it. I must get them. Consider them WLd

>206 LovingLit: You will not be sorry!!! And I will trade you rain for hot....

Morning, Kim!

Happy Sunday, Kimmers! I loved both of your reviews and they both matched my own feelings. Yah! I hope you have an R & R day planned.

My post didn't post!! Trying again...

>208 scaifea: Morning, Amber!

>209 msf59: Hiya Mark! R&R is the plan for the day. I have been going 90 miles an hour (or at least it feels like it!) so downtime would be good! Happy Sunday!

Paul's thread has everyone posting their childhood libraries. We moved around a lot when I was a kid, but this was one of my favorites. Wellesley Hills, MA.

Ooh, what a pretty library! I have Station Eleven out of the library, and was wondering if I'd get to it in time. I guess I should try!

Hi Rhonda, It is a very quick read--you should try to fit it in!!

Wow, I LOVE the library of your childhood, Kim. No wonder it was a favourite. What a gorgeous setting.

^ Thanks Nancy. It was a pretty awesome place and I could bike there. The kid's section was right where the two windows are on the left. I was pretty big into Nancy Drew back then...My collection is still at my parent's house and I remember I used to save up to buy one every now and then. They were $1.25 in hardback. See? Even way back then, although I loved borrowing, I just had to actually OWN some of my favorites. : )

Hi Kim, hope you have had a good weekend so far my dear.

Kim - what a pretty library. I, too, remembering saving up for Nancy Drew books.

Looks like your weekend plan was a success and with good books too!

>210 Berly: Loved your childhood library! What a charming building. I know that the first library I went to was not the one in the photo I posted because it was not built until I was little. It was the one I remember most. I do remember going to it when it was first opened. I always loved the children's librarian, and she made me feel comfortable in the new library. I didn't like the head librarian all that much. She was bad at reader's advisory for kids. She tried to steer you in the direction of what she thought kids would read instead of what the enjoyed. The children's librarian wanted kids to read what they enjoyed. I do realize now that the head librarian was trying to push you beyond where you were to the next level and get you to appreciate better literature, but that was the last thing that I wanted back as a kid.

Another kick in the butt to get my hands on a copy of Station Eleven!

>215 johnsimpson: Thanks John! All in all, a pretty good weekend. The kids are in the midst of studying for finals. Sarah and my hubby went to a father/daughter dance on Saturday and they made it into the top three in the contest!!! Picture to come.

>216 BLBera: Hi Beth. Yup, I just ate those Nancy Drews up!!

>217 SuziQoregon: HI Suzi--It was a good reading weekend. I finished Girl on the Train and started Snake Oil. It is a short book, but it has lots of data to take in.

>218 thornton37814: Lori--I had a similar thing going with my librarians. I eventually realized what the "mean" one was trying to do, but I still didn't take to her. LOL. Probably explains my own kids' reactions to me when I am being pushy for their own good!!

>219 jolerie: Val. What can I say? Read Station Eleven!!

Kimmers, your library looks even better over here on your own thread!
Sorry I am not keeping up as well as usual but my laptop at home is on the blink and I am having to steal minutes between work in the office to post. xx

Hi Paul--I heard about your computer troubles. Man, I hope they get fixed quick 'cuz you are just not posting as much as usual and I love seeing you around. : ) Here's wishing you a happy Monday, or whatever day it is when you wind your way back here. Hugs.

I would love to read Station Eleven but I have one serious issue. It's over a two month wait.

Ouch! That hurt but was necessary. ;)
Well whaddyaknow....the boot to the butt worked. I ordered a copy for myself from BD.

>223 Morphidae: Morphy--that sounds like a long wait, but it will be worth it!!

>224 jolerie: Yes! It worked. : P

I am spending my night helping my daughter review for her finals. Biology including the scientific method, levels of organization, common features of living things, chemistry, DNA and cell division, the cell life cycle, the Human Genome project, etc. Whew! It is all coming back to me...

And then we get to look at her Senior Seminar class, with all sorts of fun things about banking and leases, and credit and interest rates, bonds vs stocks. Yippee!!

I do not miss finals.

Eek! I hope she's all organised and ready now. The joys of parenthood, eh?

Hi Berly - I'm lurking more than posting the threads, as new here, but: I just love that library. It looks like such a welcoming place to visit.
Charlotte
PS Good luck to your daughter!

Happy Wednesday, Kimmers! Sending positive vibes to your daughter! Looking forward to your thoughts on Girl on the Train. It's been getting a lot of buzz in the book world.

^I love the finals/Netflix graphic! LOL.

Great review of Moon Tiger, Kim!

Good wishes to your daughter for finals week, Kim.

>227 lunacat: Jenny--one day down and one to go! Tonight we studied for her English exam: vocal, spelling, an outline for her essay on her book Invisible by James Patterson. And she wants me to read it with her so she can bounce ideas off me. Yay!! She only has one final tomorrow because her other period she is the TA.

>228 charl08: Hi Charlotte! Welcome to my thread. I hope you have a great time here and don't feel too overwhelmed with all the great book suggestions (not all of which are mine--nothing worse than getting hit with a book bullet on your own thread!!) Come back again soon. Do you have a thread yet? Off to check out your home page. : )

>229 msf59: Mark, Review of Train coming soon...I really enjoyed it! Glad you liked the Netflix. I feel like that's what my brain was doing while I helped Sarah study. I can only imagine what hers was doing!

>230 ffortsa: Hi Judy. Thanks! What are you reading these days? How is Jim doing?

>231 rosalita: Julia! Thanks. All good wishes gladly accepted.

>232 Berly: Jim is fine, and I'm fine. We are refurbishing the living room, an interesing experience for us, as we haven't done anythign so 'together' before.

What am I reading. The Unconsoled by Ishiguro, which is proving to be a really weird book. I've asked Jim to read it with me, so we can discuss.

Also on the nightstand: Olive Kittredge for one of my f2f groups (a reread), The Member of the Wedding for the AAC. And something else - ah, Appointment in Samarra for my other f2f group. Yikes.

How is your knee?

Hi Judy! Hoping "togetherness" is going well. ; ) I haven't chosen an Ishiguro yet this month--I'd better get cracking on that! And I loved Olive! Haven't heard of your other two books so I will have to keep an eye out for your reviews. You are one busy reader!

The knee is not cooperating. More on that in the next thread....

Happy weekend!

If you need a book about language for your space #11, might I suggest Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages by Mark Abley? It is actually a really good read. I loaned my copy out and still haven't gotten it back yet :-( This is in regards to your Jan 23rd post with the book bingo board :-)