tymfos books read in 2009

Hi! This sounds like fun. I probably read 75 books in a year. I never counted before -- too busy reading, I guess.

I know you don't have to start with Jan 1, but my brain works pretty much on a calendar year basis.

I'm just going to throw a bunch of the book I remember reading this year into my first few posts, and then go on from there. Anyone who's curious about any of them, feel free to ask if you have questions about any of them.

Here's ten that I know I read this year:

1. The Unseen by Alexandra Sokoloff
2. The Price by Alexandra Sokoloff
3. The Terrible Hours by Peter Maas
4. Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson
5. Judas Child by Carol O'Connell
6. The Odds by Kathleen George
7. Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill
8. More Tales to Tremble By, edited by Stephen P. Sutton.
9. Haunted Pennsylvania by Mark Nesbitt.
10. The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger.

Nice list. I liked Haunted Pennsylvania and Heart Shaped Box. Are you from PA?

Welcome to the group.

I just visited your home page and I answered my own question. I'm from South Central PA.

Welcome to the 75 challenge. I enjoyed visiting your library and seeing how many books we have in common. I just bought Isaac's Storm--how did you like it?

Is Hubby a musician? I notice he has a couple of music references in "his corner." I'm the music director at my church.

I'm Looking forward to seeing what else you have rad this year.

>2 cal8769: Thanks for the welcome, cal8769. Yes, I currently live in Southwestern PA, in a small town in the mountains.

I do read ghost stories from all over, however. One of my hobbies is collecting books of regional folklore (of the spooky kind) from places I visit. Which reminds me of some other books I read this year, since Christmas vacation:

11. Haunted Daytona Beach by Dusty Smith

12 Paranormal Investigator by Daytona Beach Paranormal Research Group

13. Ghosts of Key West by David L. Sloan
14. Haunted Key West by David L. Sloan
15. Florida's Ghostly Legends and Haunted Folklore Vol 3

I actually bought the first two of those (#11 & 12) from Dusty Smith herself after going on her ghost tour of Daytona Beach, so I actually was able to have them autographed.

I just thought of some more books I've read this year:

16. Mary, Mary by James Patterson
17. London Bridges by James Patterson
18. The Seance by John Harwood
19 The Sea's Bitter Harvest by Douglas Campbell
20 I Never Believed in Ghosts Until

OK, that makes 20 books I know I've already read this year!

Welcome! I recently finished a gothic horror book by the excellent author Susan Hill. If you like spooky stuff, you might enjoy The Woman in Black.

And, another great one of hers is The Man in the Picture.

MusicMom, Thanks for the welcome. I'm actually the primary musician in the house (he played trombone in his high school band, but hasn't touched it in years), but hubby LOVES Wagner's operas. (They're not my cup of tea -- I have very eclectic tastes, but my operatic interests tend more toward Italian opera.)

I just finished Isaac's Storm today! I thought it was amazing. It starts out kind of slow, giving all the backround of hurricane forcasting history and Isaac's background, but as I read, the book really pulled me in. The description of the devastation of the Galveston hurricane is heartbreakingly detailed. What a tragedy! Be sure to look at the end notes; there's an amazing story there about a meteorologist who traced the routes of historic storms.

Whisper1, thanks for the suggestions. As you can see, I definitely like spooky stuff!

(edited to add) I just added The Woman in Black to my wishlist!

Now I'm starting to look at other people's threads in this group -- looking for those of you who have welcomed me, found most of you . . . this is a pretty overwhelming group, lots of people and lots of posts and pages of threads. It may take a while to get to know people and be able to contribute much to conversation.

LOL

I added Woman in black to my wishlist a couple of days ago. I plan to read it in October when I do my Halloween reads. Horror and ghost stories are not preferred genres of mine but I am trying to expand my Horizons.

tymfos

Next time you are down Florida way stop in Savannah. They have a haunted house tour and a book by Margaret DeBolt about Savannah ghosts--I can't remember the title but I own it. When I get home I will try to find it.

Welcome to the group!

Since you liked Larson's Isaac's Storm, you might try a couple of his other books: Devil in the White City and Thunderstruck. They are both very good.

MusicMom41,

Great thought! Savannah is one of my very favorite cities!!! They actually have several ghost tours to choose from -- it's supposedly a very haunted city. I took one of them a couple of years ago when we stopped on our way down to visit family in Florida. I actually have the book of which you speak -- Savannah Spectres by Margaret DeBolt. (I'm not sure if I have it cataloged yet.)

(They also have a lovely lighthouse out on Tybee Island -- lighthouse photography is another one of my hobbies!)

Thanks for the welcome, alcottacre! Those sound like good books, too. I know our public library has Devil in the White City.

(Ah, my wishlist is getting out of control! :-)

tymmfos

(Ah, my wishlist is getting out of control! :-) Welcome to LT! :-D

Savannah Spectres is the book I was talking about. We lived in Savannah for nearly 25 years and it's where we raised our children. Our older boy was 13 months old when we got there and our younger son was born there. I love that city! :-)

I'm a big lighthouse fan. My Dad was in the US Coast Guard and one of his early assignments was at the light house at Point Reyes in California. When we were traveling we always visited any lighthouses we were near. The Tybee lighthouse has a nice museum, also--I think it would still be there.

I agree with #11 Larson is a steadfastly good writer..

I am so happy to have you here!!!!

Yeah, one of the hazards of these challenge threads is finding fabulous books that you just have to read.

Come visit my thread~ come visit my house! ( I live in Pa too)
Now that you joined us here it feels even more like a party! This is a great group, fabulous folks, seriously avid readers... just plain old fun!

I too like ghostly, spooky stories, so we have that in common :)

Have fun and get ready for your TBR pile to grow even higher....

I'm a little late, but welcome! It's nice to see another fan of spooky stuff. You're in good company here!

Welcome to the 75 Challenge, tymfos! It's good to see you over here too! I also like "ghost stories," especially true ones, although most of the books we own are under my son's account, since he's the same way, only worse. One year, we took a "haunted" tour of Alton IL at midnight on a Friday in October--Great fun!

Glad you're here!

terri

Welcome! As you can see, we are very chatty in this group :)

and just a little... over the top at times..
not me of course.. but some..

Thank you to all who have made me feel welcome here at the 75 book challenge.

>18 Cait86:, 19 . . . chatty and a little over the top is OK with me . . . :)

I'll add the words supportive, encouraging, kind and sensitive to the list of descriptions regarding our members.

Two more books:

I just read this first one in the past month, and loved it, but somehow missed putting it on my lists in posts #1 & #5:

Book #21 Find Me by Carol O'Connell. This was the most recent of O'Connell's Mallory mystery series. I thought it was very good, very deep, very touching, very suspenseful, and it kept surprising me to the very end.

Book #22. 3000 Degrees by Sean Flynn. I just finished this one today, after starting it yesterday. (If I hadn't had a meeting to go to last evening, I probably would have finished it then!) This book is both enthralling and absolutely heartbreaking. It's the story of a warehouse fire in Worcester, Mass. which killed 6 firefighters. It's not a long book (only 245 pages) but the author does an admirable job of both introducing us to the firefighters -- helping the reader see them as real human beings -- and describing the horrible inferno they were battling. Flynn presents little things about the firefighters lives that really give you a sense of what kind of person each of them was. And the descrition of the fire demonstrates how a fire that, at first, seems to be relatively under control can turn deadly in an instant -- especially when understaffed fire teams have insufficient and/or inadequate equipment (like radio units that short out when exposed to water).

It's given me an even greater appreciation of firefighters and the risks they take in the line of duty.

edit: I don't know why the touchstone doesn't seem to work right in the post for this book. It appeared to be working when I was typing it.

#22 I have the rest of the books in the Mallory series, but not that one. I will have to locate a copy. Thanks for the recommendation.

The Flynn book looks interesting as well. Again, I thank you for the mention.

Touchstones are very touchy things - sometimes they work, sometimes they do not - so I would not worry overly much about it.

Book #23 The Fifth Floor by Michael Harvey. I just finished this novel. It's a mystery. I like the author's style -- it's written much in the style of the old "hard boiled" detective novels of the 40's, but updated and set in modern Chicago. I enjoyed this writer's use of language and dark humor. At the end, I had some trouble with the storyline from a plausibility point of view, but it was overall a good story, well-written.

(I had forgotten that this next book was purchased and read this year, until I stumbled upon the Amazon.com paperwork, dated Jan 2009.)

Book #24 Ghosts and haunts of the Appalachian Foothills by James Burchill. I found this volume of folktales delightfully creepy.

delightfully creepy? Ok, then, I'm adding it to my list.

I like delightfully creepy !

Me, three!

Since so many of you are interested in this book, maybe I should say a little more about it. The stories in this book are mainly folk tales from southern Appalachia. They tend to be brief, told without a lot of embelishment -- rather matter-of-factly, come to think of it. For me, that's part of the charm of them.

The real creepiness factor comes from the fact that people have claimed these things as true. I really like paranormal folklore and allegedly "true" ghost stories, so this is really my cup of tea. If you're looking for great literature, however, this may not suit you.

I also think that the sequel volume, The Cold, Cold Hand, which I read last year, might have been a little better than this first volume.

Oooh folktales! Sounds good to me :)

Welcome, and welcome. Interesting selections and library, you have. I, too, heartily endorse Larsen's books. Enjoy!

Thanks for the welcome, Prop2gether. I just took a peek at your library and your current thread -- which I starred. You have an interesting library, and I'm IMPRESSED by how many books you read! I could never find the time to read that many.

what dk_p said!

Tank you bery much for the nice thoughts! :-)

I started reading "in a hurry" when I was stuck in bed for the entire second grade. I was also blessed with parents who read and did not censor the library. I was an English Lit and History minor, so there has also always been a lot of reading for school as well. And I have a book almost everywhere with me. I'm also one of those who will read several things at once, which also means I finish several books in a short period of time. As you can tell from my recent posts, I've been reading a lot of serial mysteries this month, and they go really fast. I do have several chunksters to get through because I want to finish them up, but they do take a little longer.

And I can only say my reading rate has escalated since joining this group!

Count me in on adding the "delightfully creepy" books to the pile!

I've been off the boards traveling for a few days. Funny, vacation time seems like a great time to read, but it always winds up being busier than regular life! If only I didn't get motion sickness trying to read while riding in a moving vehicle . . . I did manage to get in some reading.

Book #25 The Morro Castle by Hal Burton is a non-fiction book I found while grazing through our county library's catalog. It's about a cruise ship that caught fire off the coast of New Jersey in 1934, just hours after its captain died of an apparent heart attack. I knew absolutely nothing about this disaster, so it was informative. I would not call the writing absolutely stellar -- the introductory chapters seemed sort of muddled to me, in the way they presented information -- but it was interesting. Once the author got into the actual fire situation, it was confusing -- but that's the way it was when it happened, very confusing, with different people escaping with very different memories and perspectives. This disaster changed safety regulations for all American cruise ships, so it's a significant event in that regard, as well as for the lives that were lost and all those impacted by the fire.

Book #26 No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. I forgot to list this. I read it several months ago for our library's book discussion group. I have a hard time summing up what I think of this one. Powerful, gripping, violent. Our discussion group argued over whether we're left with a sense of the hopelessness of the spiraling out-of-control violence of society . . . or whether, in the final pages, there's a ray of hope that shines through . . . Not an easy read by any stretch of the imagination, but thought-provoking and stunningly written, with well-drawn characters that I grew to care about as I read.

McCarthy is easily one of my favorite authors, and that ambiguity over the ending is one of hte reasons. If you haven't read The Road yet, give it a try. I'm also in the middle of his Border trilogy starting with All the Pretty Horses, another really fine work.

I am going to echo everything DrNeutron said - I finally discovered McCarthy this year, and have loved The Road, No Country for Old Men, and All the Pretty Horses. He is such a gritty writer, and his books are anything but cheerful, but I have found that they contain a lot of insight and food for discussion.

just passing through to say hello... so much to catch up on!!

>39 mckait: Hello to you, too, mckait! I'm trying to catch up, too . . . may be off line the next couple days, though . . .

I'm psyched! I actually snagged an Early Review book for July! My very first one! The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny. It sounds like it's going to be good, and I can't wait to receive it and start reading. But, in the meantime, I'm working on my TBR mountain . . .

Book #27 Cold Hit by Linda Fairstein. I'd read most of Fairstein's Alex Cooper series, but missed this one because it was not in our public library's collection. I finally got around to finding a copy at the County Library. As usual in this series, it was a good, suspenseful mystery which kept me guessing until the end.

I got one too.... The Day The Falls Stood Still, and it sounds like a good one :)

I got Weekends at Bellevue--hmm? Maybe they know something I don't? :-D

Trying to play catch-up again!

My in-laws offered to watch our son for a few days, while my husband and I had some time away. We had just arrived at our hotel, when I spotted a big banner saying "Annual Fair and Booksale" on the public library right across the street . . .

(Crash!!! Sound of me digging out from under mountains of newly-purchased books.)

Book #28 The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons. In the midst of travels, I managed to read this. It's been described as Siddons' foray into the horror genre. It is a form of horror, but not what I'd consider the conventional type. I found it well-written, thought-provoking, and very disturbing. Not quite sure what to say about it beyond that, without it being a spoiler.

So Lucky!!!

tymfos

What books did you buy?

I am curious too!

now, that is what I call a vacation......

Hi! I'm home at last! After a couple of weeks of dashing hither and yon, vacation time is over. It's nice to be at my own computer desk with my own relatively dependable internet connection.

Does anyone want to hazard a guess which I get caught up on first -- the threads here on LT, or the threads in my laundry pile? :) Come to think of it, I don't think I ever quite catch up with either . . .

Thank you to those who have dropped by here on my thread lately. For you who expressed curiosity about my book sale finds . . . well, my husband actually picked out a bunch of books he wanted, and I got some for my son, too. I aquired a few items on my wish list, and made too many impulse buys. Details to follow as soon as I sort them out.

The trouble with book shopping is that for every item I cross off my wishlist, I wind up finding at least three or four more other books that I can't resist.

Ok, for those who were curious:

at the library sale in Saranac Lake, NY, I found these books that were on my wishlist:
Christine Falls,
Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans,
Battle Cry of Freedom,
Cape May Court House, and
Black for Remembrance.

I also got Onion John, A Swiftly Tilting Planet and some Hardy Boys books, hoping my son would read them.

My husband got a whole bunch of books, too, from the "all you can fit in a bag for $5" section. (My Battle Cry of Freedom, which alone was worth more than $5, was part of that bag, as well as A Poor Wise Man and the books for my son. My husband is an expert bag packer!)

Then I stumbled on ANOTHER library sale in Long Lake, and bought
On Life After Death,
Blue Like Jazz, and
The Perfect Storm.

On Life After Death was on my wishlist; I had already read The Perfect Storm, but couldn't resist having my own hard-cover copy for only $1; and Blue Like Jazz caught my eye, in part, because the writer was described as being like "Anne Lamott with testosterone." OK . . . have to check this out.

But then, today, we found a used bookstore in Toledo, OH . . . I'll tell y'all about those books tomorrow. It was a long drive home.

Some great reads! Congratulations on the haul.

Hooray! Hubby picked up the mail held at the post office during our vacation, and my Advance Readers' Edtion of The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny was waiting for me! I can't believe it arrived so quickly! It looks very good . . . I can see my reading plans for the coming week are about to be turned upside down!

Next Time I vacation, I will call you to help plan..... you do seem to have a knack :)

The library book sales were dumb luck, pure and simple. Can't take credit for planning those!

The bookstore, however, was planned. I Googled major cities along our route and "book store," and tried to check out the most promising ones. We were a block away from one in Cleveland, but didn't find it. So much for my planning capabilities! I need to remember to Google the map, as well as the store name and address! :)

Book #29 Journey Into Fear edited by Richard Peyton.

This was an anthology, sort of an uneven read. The cool thing was that it alternated spooky legends/folklore about railroads with short fiction stories, the idea being that the legends were the inspiration for the fiction. The editor tried to connect each legend with the story that followed; his success in that endeavor was not uniform. In some cases, the only relation was that the stories both had trains in them, and endeavored to be creepy.

The legends were recounted briefly by the editor himself, in an straightforward and effective way. The short stories were a mexed bag -- some really fine authors were included, including Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Rod Serling and Ray Bradbury. Other writers were more obscure. As in any anthology, I liked some stories much better than others. I enjoyed the actual legends as much as the fiction. All in all, an enjoyable read.

Book #30 The Brutal Telling by louisepenny::Louise Penny

This was my very first book received from LT's Early Reviewer's program. It's an Advance Readers' Edition paperback. I will be posting my full review shortly -- need to think about this a bit, I want to do it justice. It really pulled me in, I could hardly put it down. I really liked the characters, and her way of writing . . . just not sure how I felt about the ending, or how I can even address how I felt about the ending without verging on a "spoiler," which of course I won't do.

I definitely plan to read more of this author's books.

#55: I have read the first 3 books in the series and the books have gotten better, IMHO, the further into the series I have gone, so I definitely recommend it.

>56 alcottacre: Thanks for the input. And thanks for stopping by my thread! It's been a little quiet here the past couple of days. :)

tymfos

I started the Louise Penny series this year and I really enjoyed the first one. I hope to read the next one before the end of the year. I think yours is the 4th boo or maybe the 5th? Have you read the others?

>58 MusicMom41: MusicMom, I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the first one in the series. After reading this one, I put the others on my Wishlist. I really liked the way she made reference to the past history of Three Pines (the other stories); just enough information to be tantalizing, but not too much.

Unfortunately, our county library system doesn't seem to have any of Penny's books, so I'll have to ILL or buy them.

FYI: This one is the 5th in the series, scheduled for general release in October.

I just realized that I said I would post the books I found at the used bookstore in Toledo, then never did. . . so since I haven't posted in a few days . . . here they are:

The Great Fire Chicago 1871 by Herman Kogan
A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger
Disaster on the Mississippi by Gene Salecker
Plan B by Anne Lamott
Last Man Out by Melissa Fay Greene
Best Ghost Stories of J.S. LeFanu
Great Lakes Shipwrecks and Survivals by William Ratigan

All these, and a book for my husband,
If at First: A Season with the Mets by Keith Hernandez, for $40 -- most of them hard cover editions in excellent condition. I think we were pretty lucky!

Ahem . . . I'm just wondering why, with all those newly-purchased books, I just checked four more books out of the county library when I was there today for my son's tutoring appointment . . . :)

I'm hopeless. . .

...as we all are.

#60 tymfos

What a great haul! I'm gathering "disaster" books for 2010 and it looks like you got a couple of good ones for me to add to my list.

#63: Carolyn, you might want to check out the Disaster Buffs group here: http://www.librarything.com/groups/disasterbuffs

They always have book recommendations along that line.

>63 MusicMom41:, 64 I love to read books about disasters -- it amazes me the lessons that can be learned to prevent future disasters . . . and the lessons that SHOULD be learned and aren't . . .

I'm currently reading Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy by Diana Preston. I highly recommend it for your disaster books pile.

BTW, I posted a few times on the Disaster Buffs group in June and July, after I first joined LT, and then suddenly nobody at all was posting over there and I sort of gave up, as I felt like I was just talking to myself . . . I'd love to see it become active again. Maybe I'll just keep posting and see if anyone else shows up . . .

#65: I read the posts in the group, although I do not post myself - I pretty much just lurk. I have seen your posts, so do not feel like you are posting to nothing.

Thanks for the link, Stasia. It looks like a good site and I'll try to find time to explore it today--between chapters of Dune! :-)

tymfos--that sometimes happens on threads. Don't give up--as Stasia said that doesn't mean no one is reading them and keep them starred or go back occasionally and check them. The Virginia Woolf group and sometimes the Civil War--literate thread are that way. Very quiet with occasional flurries of activity.

I've added the Preston book to my wish list. Thanks.

Good grief! We must have a group for everything.. Stasia, do you belong to all of them? I am awed that you knew that.. lol

>66 alcottacre:, 67 Thanks for the encouragement to keep posting on the Disaster Buffs group. That really is a subject area where I do a lot of reading. (Civil War is another subject where I do a fair amount of reading; maybe I'll do some posting there, too, at times, even when it's quiet.)

>67 MusicMom41: Hope you enjoy the Preston book when you read it. ("Enjoy" is probably not the word for a book about something so tragic, but you know what I mean.)

#68: Who would have enough hours in the day to belong to all the groups, Kath? Not me, although I am flattered that you think so, lol.

The library where I work is now weeding its nonfiction section, prelude to a major shift of floorplan -- due to serious overcrowding of all the shelves in the building.

I've already purchased a few of the discards, and checked out a bunch of nonfiction Wishlist titles still in the system that I feel may be in danger of discard -- afraid they'll be withdrawn and walk out the door for good before I notice. (I'd hate to have to ILL them from elsewhere, after they've been sitting on our shelves for years. . . )

Of course, I already have a pile out from the county library, not to mention my own books already on the TBR pile . . . oh, dear, this is getting out of hand . . . I'm drowning in books . . . glub glub glub . . .

tymfos

"oh, dear, this is getting out of hand . . . I'm drowning in books . . . glub glub glub . . "

Welcome to LT! :-D

May I ask a stupid computer question? How do you get the quotation in italics when posting a response to someone? I know in Microsoft Word, it's highlight text & hit control+I, but that doesn't work here. (It just brings up my Internet Explorer favorites menu!)

(edited for spelling)

I'll try to explain--it's not hard. Even I can do it--and it's the only "fancy" thing I've been able to get to work on LT. :-)

Use the "" symbols. between these symbols insert "i" for italics or "b" for bold. To close the italics or bold use "" again and insert either "/i" or "/b".

Thanks!

Don't you mean Thanks!?

Don't you mean Thanks!?

OK, Thanks!

:)

Book # 31 Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy by Diana Preston. I need some time to put together a full review, but this was probably a 5-star item. I was very impressed by this thoroughly researched AND thoroughly readable account of this WWI tragedy. Highly recommended.

#78: Diana Preston is an excellent nonfiction writer, tymfos, and I would recommend you check out some of her other books as well. A Pirate of Exquisite Mind is definitely worth the read.

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll look into that one.

Somehow, I can't imagine a 500+ book about a single incident could be deserving of this much praise. But the reviews are excellent, so I'm taking your word (and Stasia's) and putting them both on the list. In looking at my library catalog, I notice Preston has also written a 102-page book called Remember the Lusitania!. She must really have a passion for it. I may read the shorter one first.

Thanks!

#81

I can vouch for A Pirate of Exquisite Mind, a book about William Dampier whose life rivaled any of the English explorers of his day. I've added Lusitania to my wish list.

Book #32 Reading With Deeper Eyes: The Love of Literature and the Life of Faith by William H. Willimon.

Someone on one of the threads (I can't remember who/where) commented, in regard to not liking The Shack, "My God is more compicated than that." Though I'd never read that book, the comment resonated with me. I often find myself feeling something like that in response to much that I hear from other Christians in our society.

I like Willimon because he talks about God as more complex, not a God of easy answers. The one Bible story he analyzed in this volume, the book of Job, is a prime example under Willimon's analysis. The rest of the stories he looks at are not from the Bible -- he looks at what ten writers ranging from Homer to Flannery O'Connor (and many other diverse writers) have to say about the human condition and how that relates to Christian belief.

For those who are very interested in literature, and in the paradoxes of the Christian faith, this is a worthwhile book. (And it made me want to read some of the literature he analyzed . . . surprise. . .)

#81: Terri, Remember the Lusitania! is a children's book, Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy is not.

#83: Thanks for the recommendation on that book, tymfos. It looks very good!

Both of the Preston books look good!

Thanks for stopping at my thread. You have a nice reading list here and I have you starred now for recommendations.

I'm simply stopping by to say hello. I'm a frequent visitor on your thread.

Stasia, I've joined the "disaster" group. Do they have a group thread for short, chubby 56 year old women?

Thanks to all of you who have dropped by today!

I've posted my review of Lusitania:

http://www.librarything.com/work/119443/details/47946628

Absolutely Great Review! I would give it 2 thumbs up if I could. I can hardly wait to get the book, now. You should probably post it on the "disaster" site, also, for those who don't follow the 75 challenge threads.

Thanks for the compliment. I took your advice about posting the review on Disaster Buffs, too. (While I was at it, I also put a link to a review I did of another great disaster-related book, 3000 Degrees.)

And I really hope you like Lusitania when you read it!

Hmm... book #32 sounds incredibly interesting... I'll have to track it down. Thanks for the informative review!

Book #33 Dead Famous by Carol O'Connell. I had already read most of the Mallory mystery series, but had never gotten my hands on this one before. As usual, O'Connell slowly reeled me in, puzzling me with one surprise after another, slowly revealing pieces of her puzzle until I was hopelessly hooked and could barely put the book down because I needed to see what came next. As is often the case with O'Connell, when the ending finally came, it left me shaking my head trying to process what had just happened. A good mystery with lots of surprises.

Hmm, I've been popping in on other threads, but haven't posted on my own thread for a few days . . .

I've been reading Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War by Tony Horwitz as my nonfiction book this week, but needed a fiction break.

I've picked up a favorite author Ray Bradbury and his book Death is a Lonely Business. I just love his writing!

Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War has been on my TBR list for ages. I think the fact that it's come up 5 times in the last half hour of my post-reading is significant. I may have to move it up.

Book #33: I just finished Confederates in the Attic. Definitely a worthwhile read. I'll review it after I get some sleep (yawn).

#97: Tony Horwitz is one of my favorite nonfiction authors. Glad to see you enjoyed Confederates.

tymfos

I agree with you. Ray Bradbury is an incredible writer. When I first discovered him I tried to read everything he wrote. A wonderful English prof. in college introduced me to him by asking the class to write a paper on one of Bradbury's short stories There Will Come Soft Rains. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend this one.

Happy Saturday morning to you.

#98 Stasia

Horwitz is definitely a fine writer! I shall have to think of reading more of his work.

#99 Linda

after reading your post, I pulled my Vintage Bradbury off the bookshelf and reread There Will Come Soft Rains. It had been a long while since I'd read it, and it is such classic Bradbury. Thanks for the recommendation! A perfect read for a rainy Saturday morning.

Happy Saturday morning to you, also!

Someone in our neighborhood has started a rock band, and they are practicing. I say "band" loosely -- it sounds like a lone guitarist and a drummer, but they are quite diligent in rehearsing this one song that they are doing. It reminds me of the long-ago summer when a neighbor was learning to play electric guitar. We heard the opening strains of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" drifting across the field over and over and over, as it seemed to be the only thing the kid could play.

While reading Lusitania: an Epic Tragedy, I saw mention twice of Edith Cavell, an English nurse who was executed in Belgium by the Germans. I had first learned of her as a child in a book called Nurses Who Led the Way and the short story about her had made a deep impression upon me. I decided it was high time I learn more about her, and found a biography in our local library, Friend Within the Gates by Elizabeth Grey. I picked it up and started reading it this afternoon, and am already over 40 pages in. I'm not sure if this book was meant for an adult or younger audience (it was in the general biography section of the library, but it is written with the simplicty of a text for, perhaps, a younger audience.) It's not particularly great writing, but the story interests me and I am learning a lot about this amazing woman.

edited to try to get touchstone to work for Nurses Who Led the Way -- it shows up correctly when I'm typing, but didn't come up in the post!

Bradbury is a favorite of mine, too.

Book #34 Friend Within the Gates by Elizabeth Grey.

I'm almost ashamed of how quickly I tore through this unassuming biography of a martyred nurse, when I really should have been doing other things.

It is the true story of Edith Cavell, a highly principled, London-trained nurse who went to Brussels to found the first lay (as in, not made up of nuns) nursing school and clinic which became the Belgian Nursing Service.

Unfortunately, WWI came, and Cavell found herself using the clinic buildings to hide English, French, and Belgian soldiers, as well as other "enemies" of the occupying Germans. This eventually led to her arrest, conviction, and execution by German authorities. The October 1915 execution, along with the sinking of the Lusitania earlier that year, fired up world opinion against Germany and eventually helped lead to Germany's defeat in WWI.

The writing was not spectacular. There were some places where a theme was introduced and dropped with, in my mind, insufficient clarification. But, for the most part, the author did tell Cavell's story (and provide some necessary background) in a relatively straghtforward way, which is really all I wanted from this book.

I am haunted by Cavell's words to a clergyman, shortly after the verdict and death sentence were announced: "This I would say -- standing as I do in view of God and Eternity: I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness toward anyone." (She was executed the next day.)

Words to ponder . . .

#103 tymfos

Great review. I've always wanted to know more about Edith Cavell. I hope my library has that book. You should post your review on the main page--I want to give it a thumbs up.

Thanks for the kind words, MusicMom. I've taken your advice and posted the review.

http://www.librarything.com/work/3329206

Thanks--I've given it a thumbs up. :-)

Thanks!

My local library has Friend within the Gates, so I will check it out at the earliest opportunity. Thanks for the review and recommendation!

Congratulations! Please check today's home page and you will see your hot review!

Hot Review!!! Cool!!!

Aw, shucks, folks! ;)

(I never had a "hot review" before . . .)

I probably wouldn't have even posted that review, if MusicMom hadn't liked my comments on the thread and suggested that I post it on the book's page. So, thanks again for the encouragement, and to all of you for your kind words!

Book #35 Death is a Lonely Business by Ray Bradbury. Finished 1:25 a.m. 8/31/09.

Classic Bradbury -- oddball characters, bizarre storyline, creative genius with language, metaphor.

I love reading Bradbury's writing!

#112: I have not read that one by Bradbury. I will have to see if I can find a copy. Thanks for the recommendation!

I've posted my full review of Ray Bradbury's Death is a Lonely Business:

http://www.librarything.com/work/32355/49388931

I understand from reading someone else's review that this book was the first of a trilogy. I plan to look the other books up, too.

Like Stasia, I haven't read this one by Bradbury. I'll be sure to get a copy and read it asap.

Thanks for the excellent review. I gave it a thumbs up.

Thanks!

I had planned to really stay away from LT -- and the computer in general -- today. I need to read BOOKS! And my son starts school tomorrow, I need to make sure everything is ready. . .

But then the new monitor for my computer arrived today, and I had to hook it up and TRY IT OUT. (Ever since my old monitor died earlier this summer, I'd been using a tiny old one left over from a prior computer.)

So, as long as I'm here, may as well mention that my interlibrary loan of Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts arrived today, and I've started reading it. My current non-fiction read is The Sea Shall Embrace Them: the Tragic Story of the Steamship Arctic by David W. Shaw.

Both books look pretty promising.

Two weeks ago, when I was at the county library, I picked up We Are Not Afraid, after reading several glowing recommendations here on LT. I really meant to read it -- I even started the first chapter. I know it will be an excellent book if/when I do read it.

But I can't. Not right now. The courage of the Civil Rights workers is inspiring, but I just can't deal with the kind of virulent racism which led to their murders, at least not in my current frame of mind.

Is that a cop out?

nope! Not a cop out at all. I cannot follow the news regarding that poor girl who was abducted and held hostage for 18 plus years...It sickens me. I have no tolerance for perverts. Thus, I simply do not want to hear about the graphics of it all.

#118: No, not a cop out in my book at least. Sometimes I find I am just not ready or in the mood to read a book at a particular time and come back to it later. The book is not going anywhere, tymfos, and I am sure you will get back to it when you are ready.

The Sea Shall Embrace Them is a pretty good read if I remember correctly. It has been a while.

YOu got a thumb from me also. I am a great Bradbury fan. Nice review.

Thanks to you all for kind words, encouragement, and thumbs!

This being my official day off, and my son's first day off to school for the term, I headed off with my wishlist to a couple of libraries. Wouldn't you know, I actually came home with a book that WASN'T on the list???? (Well, it was sitting like a lost puppy right there in new non-fiction, next to one that was on the list, as if to say, "Take me home too, please!")

:)

#122: I always figure that is part of the reason libraries exist: to introduce us to books we did not know we wanted to read! Happens to me all the time.

Not much time for LT yesterday & today. I'm getting behind on threads.

I've got several books going now: In addition to the earlier-mentioned The Sea Shall Embrace Them and 20th Century Ghosts, I started Louise Penny's Still Life, the first in the Three Pines series. It was still in the car (from the library trip) when I stopped to eat, and I took it in the restaurant and started looking at it while I waited for my food . . . and got hooked.

Now if real life would give me time to get back to it . . . maybe I can manage a few minutes before I have to leave the house . . . see ya later!

I am enjoying the Three Pines series, too. I have made it through the first 3 and am looking forward to reading the others in the near future.

#125 Thanks for stopping by, Stasia! I finished Still Life -- picked it up when I got home and could hardly put it down to make supper.

I'm trying to post it properly, but the touchstone refuses to cooperate, and I can't get the italics to work, and I'm going to bed. It's been that kind of day. Good night!

;) zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Great idea, tymfos. Good night!

Book # 36 Still Life by Louise Penny. (Mystery Fiction)

When a local woman is found dead in the woods during hunting season, questions abound. Was it a hunting accident, or something more sinister? Who is responsible? And is there a connection between her death and her sudden decision to publicly display a piece of her artwork?

The writing hooked me in and kept me reading (sometimes to the detriment of other work I should have been doing). Penny definitely has a way with words, including a keen wit that is very appealing. The plot had me guessing and second-guessing right up to the very moment the actual murderer was revealed. The characters are colorful, well-developed, and often quirky. Penny is a keen observer of human behavior and motivation, and that understanding drives her characters and is evident in the many nuances of meaning that can be drawn from this book relating to the title itself -- "still life."

This is the first of Louise Penny's mystery series set in the picturesque Quebec village of Three Pines. I highly recommend this book

Book #37, The Sea Shall Embrace Them by David W. Shaw. (Non-fiction; maritime history)

On September 27, 1854, the steamship Arctic, the pride of the United States trans-Atlantic shipping & passenger fleet, sank following a collision with the French steamer Vesta on the Grand Banks.

The Sea Shall Embrace Them is the story of the Arctic; of the honorable captain who was willing (with his young son) to go down with the ship and the rebellious crewmen who were not; and of the passengers who perished because of the crew's dishonorable behavior.

It is also the story of the 19th-century Yankee trans-Atlantic shipping trade, and the battle with foreign competition (mostly in the form of the Cunard Line of Britain). Anyone who thinks that government bailouts are a new phenomenon may be surprised to learn that the Arctic was built and operated largely with government bailout funds.

This is definitely a story worth telling, and author David Shaw tells it well. I am somewhat disappointed with the lack of footnotes/endnotes, though the author does provide a bibliography (as well as a glossary of nautical terms).

Recommended.

Very nice reviews, tymfos. I did Still Life (I'll try to get the correct touchstone) as an audio book last spring on an auto trip with my husband. We bothe really liked it and I plan to continue with the series.

The Sea Shall Embrace Them sounds like it will be a good read for next year--I plan to read some "disaster" books and I'm partial to sea stories. You have certainly added a lot to my TBR pile in a short time. :-)

Thanks for the kind words, MusicMom. I've got more disaster books coming -- one about an avalanche/train wreck, and one about a fatal wildfire. I suppose I should go post on the Disaster Buffs board.

Speaking of disaster books, the most UNUSUAL (but still very deadly) disaster I ever read about in a book is told in this volume: Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 by Stephen Puelo. I heard about it on Book TV, I think, and was so fascinated, I had to ILL the book. I would hesitate to try to review it, because it has been too long since I read it, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone who is interested in reading about disasters.

Book #38, The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche by Gary Krist. Non-fiction: railroad history, disasters. 315 pages (including appendix, endnotes, bibliography, & index).

(My full review can be found here:) http://www.librarything.com/work/2654558/reviews/46753720

For a railroad buff who is also fascinated by books about disasters, this was the perfect read.

Two Great Northern Railway trains -- one filled with passengers -- are stranded for almost a week at the railroad's summit crossing of the Cascade Mountains during a freak late-winter storm. They are parked on a narrow ledge -- between a steep mountainside above to one side, and a precipitous drop-off to the other side. And the snowpack on the slope above them is becoming more and more unstable . . .

This is Gary Krist's first venture into non-fiction, and he brings the full storytelling skills of a novelist to this true story of a railroad under siege by Mother Nature. The narrative is well-paced, vividly (but not luridly) presented, never dry. Yet his research seems thoroughly done, too, with solid endnotes explaiing his sources and how he put the story together from the historical record. Highly recommended.

edited by author to add link to full review

Nice review of The White Cascade.

Have you read any books about the Johnstown Flood? If so, is there one you would recommend?

hi there, just found your thread and it was a joy to read through your reviews! Admittedly I am a bit late in discovering it but I've been away for most of the summer so I hope I'm excused. :)

Happy reading!
Eliza

#135 Hi! Hey, I'm just discovering people's threads, too! I'm glad you enjoyed the reviews, and I'm glad you stopped by!

#134 Thanks!

I should have read something about the Johnstown Flood, since that's not too far from where I live now . . . I guess it's like the fact that I lived in Philadelphia and never visited the Liberty Bell until I'd moved across state and came back to visit. It's sort of always there, so you don't pay attention, though I have visited the Flood Museum and the Flood Memorial.

From what I've heard, The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough is considered pretty much the definitive book on the subject. Our local library has it, and it is on my TBR list. I'm going to bump it up the list, I think. It's high time I read it!

I'm taking a look at the books I've read, the reading pace I'm on now, and the categories that books fall into that I've completed thus far and those I want to read. If I read just over 2 books a week, I can complete the 75 Challenge by the end of the year. That's do-able.

I know some of you in this group are also doing the 999 Challenge. Looking at the categories of what I've read and possibilities within my TBR/Wishlist, I think I could do it. Everything fits in a category that I've done so far, if I use one category for "odds and ends" as I've seen done in threads that I've peeked at. I'd have to average about 2 1/2 books per week to fit in the extra books I'd need. But the one category I'd add that I haven't used thus far is YA, and they'd be quick reads for me. I could count some I've read with my son that I haven't listed here.

Would there be any point in joining that challenge at this late point in the year? I'd love to hear from "75'ers" who are also doing the 999, if any of you are around . . .

>138 tymfos:: Would there be any point in joining that challenge at this late point in the year?

I guess the question to ask yourself is, would you get anything additional out of doing it that you wouldn't get just reading what you planned. Or, would it just put some extra stress on your reading?

If the former, why not?

If the latter, why?

tymfos

I've added The White Cascade to my wish list--I seem to be getting quite a few disaster books from you! I like railroads and I lived in the Pacific Northwest when I was in high school. Thumbs up for your review.

One of the first disaster books I plan to read in The Johnstown Flood because I already own that one and I'm also planning on reading everything David McCullough wrote (The only book of his I don't have yet is the one about the Panama Canal. It's on my wish list--I'm requesting it for Christmas.)

The White Cascade sounds like a book that is right up my alley, so on to the Planet it goes. Thanks for the recommendation!

Well, I had started reading yet another disaster book, which shall remain nameless because I didn't read enough to judge it. I just decided I'd had enough of disasters for a while!

I'm still working on 20th Century Ghosts, which is an odd collection of short stories. Not quite what I expected, but Hill is surely skilled in drawing a reader in, even when the premise of the story appears preposterous at first. (A story about an inflatable kid who goes to school? C'mon! But he makes you actually care about this character!) However, I can only take so much of this oddness in a single dose, so it's taking me a while to finish.

I started The Art of Racing in the Rain last evening, but didn't have much time to read.

I need to decide my next non-fiction read. Several are clamoring at me from my bookshelf. . .

Well, I decided, for non-fiction, to read Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships: Decoding Social Mysteries Through the Unique Perspectives of Autism by Dr. Temple Grandin and Sean Barron, edited by Veronica Zysk.

I've had the pleasure of hearing two of these remarkable people (Temple Grandin and Sean Barron) speak at different autism education seminars I've attended. I've had the book for a while, and have been meaning to start it. I picked it up off the shelf just to look at it tonight, and started reading.

I'm also enjoying my fiction reads, 20th Century Ghosts and The Art of Racing in the Rain.

ETA for clarification

I just realized that I counted two different books as book #33. (Dead Famous and Confederates in the Attic). I need to renumber the books from there on!

Hey, I like to read, but I never said I could count! :)

OK, here's the re-numbered ones from #33 on:

33 Dead Famous by Carol O'Connell
34 Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz
35 Friend Within the Gates by Elizabeth Grey
36 Death is a Lonely Business by Ray Bradbury
37. Still Life by Louise Penny
38. The Sea Shall Embrace Them by David W. Shaw
39. The White Cascade by Gary Krist.

currently reading:
20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships by Temple Grandin & Sean Barron

current first foray into e-audio books:
Someone in the House by Barbara Michaels
(Our local library just got involved in NetLibrary, and I had to give it a try!

OK, I had to give this a try. I found it on AlcottAcre’s thread, who found it on lunacat's thread, who found it on Terri's thread, who said she copied it from wunderkind.

Using only books you have read this year (2009), answer these questions. Try not to repeat a book title.

(Unfortunately, my books didn’t fit too well. I cheated and used one I’m not finished with yet!)

Describe yourself:
The Unseen by Alexandra Sokoloff

How do you feel:
Dead Famous by Carol O'Connell

Describe where you currently live:
Haunted Pennsylvania by Mark Nesbitt & Patti Wilson

If you could go anywhere, where would you go:
Haunted Daytona Beach by Dusty Smith

Your favorite form of transportation:
Journey Into Fear by Richard Peyton

Your best friend is:
Mary, Mary by James Patterson

You and your friends are:
Reading with Deeper Eyes by William Willimon

What’s the weather like:
Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson

You fear:
Ghosts and Haunts of the Appalachian Foothills by James Burchill

What is the best advice you have to give:
Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships by Temple Grandin & Sean Barron

Thought for the day:
Death is a Lonely Business by Ray Bradbury

How I would like to die:
Still Life by Louise Penny

My soul’s present condition:
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger

I am behind in posting my reads too...
Thank you for the book titles.. I ordered one of them....
will order the other soon..

:)

#147 I'm always glad to recommend books.

Plus, the discussion reminded me that I had the Grandin/Barron book on my shelf unread . . . so now I'm reading it! The first chapter by Dr. Grandin, well, let's just say it resonated with something I was saying just last evening . . .

:)

I bought that one too..... :)

Given the date today, I'd just like to take a moment to remember those who perished on Sept. 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center in NYC, the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and on United Flight 93 when it crashed in Somerset County, PA; and to thank all those First Responders and Rescue and Recovery people, etc., who dealt with it all.

Book #40, The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.

In this delightful book, an aged canine named Enzo offers a dog's-eye memoir of life with his humans and the nature of life. Chief among Enzo's favorite humans is his long-time buddy Denny Swift -- apt name for a race car driver. (Note that I don't call Denny Enzo's owner -- nobody can really own a soul like Enzo's!) Enzo's "voice" is oddly believable; there is a simplicity of delivery that is charming, while coveying some sage insights.

Enzo recounts life with Denny as the young man races from bachelorhood through courtship, marriage, fatherhood, widowhood, and custody battles with his in-laws. There are plenty of struggles along the way, and Enzo waxes philosophical -- from a doggie perspective. He explains his education process (there are some very informative programs on TV!) and reveals his philosophy of life, much of which can be demonstrated with racing metaphors.

Enzo shows us time and again how difficult it is to observe the struggles of those around him, and not be able to communicate with them except through barks and growls and gestures. Enzo wants to HELP his loved ones (Denny and his daughter Zoe, and even wife Eve are dearly loved by him) but often his "dog-ness" gets in the way. He needs a tongue and mouth that can form words; he needs THUMBS!

Every story has its conflicts. Eve's cancer (which Enzo detects with his nose long before it is evident to humans) is tragic. Eve's parents are ruthless in their custody battle for little Zoe. Through it all, Enzo stands by, observing and putting the pieces of the story together from life observed, conversation fragments, and knowledge of the world gleaned from TV-watching. He may be unable to talk, but he can offer his presence and LISTEN. Sometimes, in tough times, that is the greatest gift

simply stopping by to say how much I enjoy your thread.

Tymfos, I read The Art of Racing in the Rain earlier this year (I think--maybe last year?) and I absolutely loved it. It's one of those books that you know is not great literature, and you know you're going to cry, and yet, I found it to be one of my very favorite books ever, and Enzo to be one of my very favorite characters ever!

#152 Thanks for stopping by, Linda!

I enjoy your thread a lot, too. I've put a lot (most) of your Katrina books on my Wishlist! :)

#153 Thanks for stopping by, Terri!

Enzo is a four-leggged sweetheart, isn't he? I, too, just loved that canine character!

No dog books.

cannot

Glad it was good though...

Book #41, Owls Well that Ends Well by Donna Andrews. Cozy mystery, 326 pages.

This book is a real hoot. (pun intended)

I found a recommendation of the Meg Langslow mysteries on Richard's thread, and picked up the only one in our public library to look at . . . and kept reading, despite the pile of already-started books waiting for my attention.

This was just a VERY funny cozy mystery that kept my attention, and gave me lots of grins and snickers and out-loud laughs. And I didn't guess "whodunnit."

Though I'd say that, for hilarious cozies, I still like the Tamar Myers Penn Dutch mysteries better.

ETA to add genre and number of pages

Tamar Myers Penn Dutch mysteries

Please give us a title with a touchstone so we can check them out! :-)

#158 I had tried to put a touchstone for the author, Tamar Myers, but for some reason it didn't work.

Here is a touchstone for one of the early books (3rd, I think) in the series: No Use Dying over Spilled Milk by Tamar Myers.

Another: Just Plain Pickled to Death

I haven't read them all, and I didn't read them in order -- though I think that would have been better, there is definitely a progression to these in terms of what is going on with the characters.

The protagonist in these is Magdalena Yoder, an unconventional Mennonite innkeeper in Bedford County, PA. Her town of Hernia is fictional, but the county is real; there are mentions of places in the area (which is part of the fun for me, living near that part of the world).

These books are zany, kooky, fun cozies -- and decent mysteries, too! And there are recipes!

ETA to add:
I'm a little disappointed that the reviews that have been posted thus far for these books are not so great . . . I wonder if am I perhaps too influenced to like them because of the locale?

tymfos

The Tamar Myers books sound fun!

158, 160: The ones I read, I thought were pretty hilarious. However, I've been looking at other readers' reviews, and I may not be in the majority. I'll be the first to say, they are not great literature. But I found them to be fun, easy reads with likeable characters to enjoy when you want a laugh. (I wouldn't want a steady diet of them all the time.)

It's been a while since I've read one; I guess I need to grab one, read it, and give it a review.

Now I've done it -- another visit to Amazon.

I had an excuse -- my HUSBAND needed a particular book. And you can't just order one, right?

For myself, I only ordered
Ghost by Alan Lightman (for the Halloween group read)
The Woman in Black by Susn Hill
A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny

All in all, I think I used a fair amount of self restraint! :)

You showed wonderful self control! I have to make an Amazon order this week--I hope I do as well. I went to a used book store today and sort of blew the budget. Luckily I have some Amazon bucks to spend so that will help.

Thanks for the touchstone to the Penn Dutch books. The look like they would be fun and I live in the town where the West Coast Mennonite Central Committee is based! I should really enjoy these. Although I'm not Mennonite, I know a lot of them.

Edited to add--one of the books I'm planning to order in Woman in Black to read for Halloween. I don't usually like to read scary books but I'm entering into the Halloween spirit by reading spooky stories--some of the ones on the Halloween thread and some I want to do.

I've just seen SOOOOO many people recommend The Woman in Black as one of the greatest ghost stories ever, I have to read it and see if it's really that good!

>164 tymfos:, et al, re: Woman in Black - tymfos -

I read this ghost story fairly recently. Everyone, will have their own experience with reading it, of course. I liked reading the book, the writing is good as is the story. It made me somewhat uncomfortable but was definitely not bone-chillingly, spine-tingling scary. It is from a period in literature where it was one of the first of its type and a fresh,exciting work for that age, from what I understand. The topic is well presented, and I felt more sad at times than scared. Oh, well. It is slightly spooky and VERY atmospheric.

womansheart/Ruth

Book #42, 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill. Short stories. 316 pages.

What can you say about a writer so gifted, he can write a story about an inflatable boy and actually make you buy into the story and care about the character?

I'd heard so much about this book, I requested it through inter-library loan. Despite the title, these short stories are not all ghost stories, though most of them are in some way creepy/weird. Some I liked much better than others. I would say that all are well written. They are extremely creative -- out of the box thinking, so to speak.

> 165 Ruth, thanks for the input. I like books with a lot of atmosphere, so the book may be a good one for me. I'm currently reading The Little Stranger and I've read some similar sentiments expressed about it, as far as not being scary as might be expected, but great atmosphere. Works for me! :)

After reading your comments regarding book #42, I need to re-visit this one. I checked it out of the library last year but didn't get a chance to read it.

20th Century Ghosts was not an easy read for me. Some of the stories are so strange, you need to take your time to get into them. Like I said, some of them I liked much more (and, thus, some much less) than others. But some of them really grabbed me. Some were pretty disturbing.

Funny thing is, the story I found I most needed to put off finishing, and left to the end (reading it last even though it was in the middle of the book) was Abraham's Boys -- as in Abraham Van Helsing . . . and now it's time to read Dracula for the Halloween group read. Perfeft timing!

put Donna Andrews's series on the wishlist after seeing Owls Well That Ends Well on your thread and looking it up - sounds great! The thing is, the Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery ones also sound really good but bad average ratings of a book tend to put me off so I'm choosing Andrews's series instead :)

Woman in Black has been on my must read list for a while now...
I have to do better with getting to it! I have 20th Century Ghosts here somewhere. I have avoided it because short stories give me hives. Usuall.

Book #43, Elk River Ghosts, Tales, and Lore by Mack Samples. Folk tales, etc. 82 pages.

This is a peculiar little volume -- often charming, sometimes a little disturbing, written by the former president of the Wet Virginia State Folk Festival. When I purchased it, I expected more ghostly tales; however, ghosts populate a minority of the stories included.

This plain-talking book is filled not only with folktales of various kinds, but also descriptions of various folk ways and recollections of a once isolated, rural, homogeneous community's first encounters with diversity and modern ways. We learn how they reacted to the first person of color in their midst, the first Catholic children in the local school, and the first family to divorce in their community. Some tales focus on local attitudes toward politics and religion. An interesting glimpse of a rural locale and its people.

Book 43 sounds interesting, though, I must say that as a child of poverty in a small community, and as a child of the 1950's who was the first and only child in my grade school whose parents were divorced, reading it may bring back some unhappy memories.

The town was small in number and in compassion. Let's just say Mitford it was not!

The community in this book was sort of a "mixed bag" in the tolerance/compassion department. Mitford, they were not. But some folks (especially some of the younger ones) seemed capable of learning. Even the older folks were surprisingly open-minded on the racial issues, and the story about the first divorce had an interesting ending . . .

Mitford it was not.
I am so stealing that line.

Eliza

Steal away...I'm happy to share....

Book #44, The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. Fiction, 466 pages, on Booker short list.

This was billed as a "ghost story," but perhaps that's a bit misleading. The source of the odd happenings in this book is a bit more ambiguous than that.

It is definitely a novel with atmosphere, infused with the air of a time when fortunes dried up for many and a time-honored way of life was crumbling like the bricks of old Hundreds Hall, the primary setting of this dark tale.

I'll write more in my full review, when I've had a chance to digest this work better.

Recommended.

I look forward to your review. I am a huge fan of Waters.. this one disappointed me.. it felt strained to me.. contrived.

> #177 - tymfos -

I am also looking forward to your review of The Little Stranger. I may wait to read it until the time when I have read the book myself with fresh eyes and no filter.

>178 mckait: - Kath -

Do you have a book by Sarah Waters that you would suggest for a good place to start with her writing?

WH/Ruth

Any other....all others are five stars to me. Fingersmith, perhaps?

OK, I've posted my review of The Little Stranger.

http://www.librarything.com/work/7609965/details/47121547

Now it's time to get down to work on the Halloween Challenge! (But The Little Stranger was a nice prelude to all that . . . :)

Book #45, Someone in the House by Barbara Michaels. Fiction, Audio book, listened to through NetLibrary.

This was my very first experience with an audio book of any kind. It was downloaded to and listened to at my desktop computer -- I lack the appropriate portable players for computerized media. Due to lack of portability, I was rather limited as to when I could listen to it.

I'm not going to give this one a star rating, because I have a hard time knowing how much my impressions were affected by the fact that I was listening, not reading. The story really didn't impress me that much. I stuck with it to see how it would turn out, but I didn't find the ending satisfying.

You seemed to enjoy Stranger more than I did... that is good! read more... you won't be sorry. As for Barbara Michaels, I have read a few of hers. I find her to be perfect for those saturday afternoon, what should I do with myself so I don't have to think days. Light entertainment. I cannot manage an audio book myself..doean't work for me..

side note.. boy, was I ever thinking about you yesterday!
I read the Barron book you suggested and was intrigued. Its a good one.
I still have the one he wrote with Grandin. I asked a question @ work yesterday.. a QUESTION..turned into a huge deal.. meetings, angry director... I keep forgetting that I am not allowed to think there..

Kath, I wonder if I went into The Little Stranger with fewer expectations because I hadn't read anything else by the author?

Hard to believe that a QUESTION could cause such a fuss! What is it we tell our kids, there are no bad questions except the ones that are not asked? Who are these people who run this school, anyway????

Have to run and get us all ready for school and work . . .

My son just finished his homework a few minutes ago, and didn't even have time or energy to do a good job on it all. He should have been in bed over an hour ago. He had SO MUCH homework tonight . . . :(

I'm almost done reading Dracula for the Halloween group read, with Poe and the rest of the spook list waiting on my "priority TBR" shelf. I'd hoped to finish with Drac tonight, but probably won't.

I'm also almost done Custard's Last Stand by Tamar Myers (my "light" read) and am well into Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships (my non-fiction read), and I'm planning to read The Graveyard Book for work-related reasons. I feel like I'm reading in five different directions. I AM reading in four different directions! :)

> 185 - Keep up the good reading.

It does sound as though your son had an extra large serving of homework. Wow.

Sending caring and loving thoughts to you and yours.

WH/Ruth

Thanks for the caring and loving thoughts, Ruth! I'm really glad you dropped by my thread!

>185 tymfos:: Does it seem like children have more homework than we did? I don't remember having the stress my children seem to have. Of course, they do more after-school activities, but still...

>188 TadAD: I know they get homework earlier in their academic life than I ever did -- kindergarten even.

And there is a lot more emphasis on reading just about every night. I think that is good, for the most part, though sometimes it threatens to make reading just WORK, which can backfire on efforts to get kids to enjoy reading.

Wednesday night was an unusually heavy homework night -- not typical of my son's workload. Actually, when I was about his age (middle/jr. high school), I had a LOT of homework, especially math. But then, they had thrown me in the "gifted" class for all subjects, with lots of pressure to get all A's, and I always had some difficulty with math and science, so I had STRESS . . .

But I know what you mean. Kids do seem to have a lot of stress in their lives, a lot of pressure -- especially pressure to perform on all these mandatory standardized tests. "No child left behind" -- lots of kids stressed and burned out.

>189 tymfos: I wonder how much those standardized tests stress the teachers? It seems they need to have their kids perform and that leads to imposing stress on the kids.

There were the occasional standardized tests when I was a kid (60s and 70s), but they never seemed to really matter. I got the impression that they were just informational and I never noticed teachers really focusing on them. About the only time I remember teachers "teaching for the test" were in advanced placement courses in high school.

terri
lunatics run the place

I wish you could have heard the rant caused by a question about teaching a child to explore with his hands.. instead of his mouth...

what the heck are teachers trying to prove anyway? They should be teaching during class and nt bogging the kids down with so much work at night..
so sorry..Makes me smile to think of him tho.. so serious and sincere ..

>190 TadAD: I know those tests drive a lot of the teachers crazy. Not just the pressure to perform . . . but, also, the misplaced priorities. The sense that everything worth learning can be quantified by how you answer those tests -- having to teach to the test, rather than actually helping kids learn how to learn.

I never remember much pressure to perform on the standardized tests when I was a kid (also '60s and '70s).

> 191 Kath, the more I hear about your work environment, the more I appreciate having a job that I love, working with people I respect, even with low wages and few benefits.

> 192 Like I said in #189, it really was not a typical homework night, as least as far as things have gone so far this year. I just happened that several teachers gave more homework than usual, and it added up. Also, I suspect the one assignment was a case of procrastination on the kiddo's part. (He takes after his mother in that regard!)

Some of my bowling league members have turned me on to a new source of inexpensive books. There's an outlet store just down the way from the bowling center . . . has a huge discount books section . . . need I say more?????

#195: need I say more?????

Yea - what is the address?!

lol@stasia :)

#196 Really, Stasia, it's not THAT good for it to be worth coming all the way from Texas . . . :)

. . . but if you ever are traveling and see an Ollie's Bargain Outlet along the way, check it out. I've never seen a general discount/closeout/buyout store with so many books! Of course, I don't know that it's always that way. Apparently they bought out a book distributor's stock, so they are really loaded right now. I found a few gems that I am eager to read . . . probably not until after Halloween, though.

If you want to see where they are, here's their web site:

http://www.olliesbargainoutlet.com/

edited to add link and correct mistake in name of store chain.

Well, rats. Not one even close to Texas - no Lousiana or Oklahoma. I guess my wallet should be breathing a sigh of relief, but I am not!

My wallet was sighing, but not with relief . . .

Book #46 Dracula by Bram Stoker. Read for the Halloween group read -- a re-read for me.

its been a while ...read it a few times myself over the years...
I have to line up a few "Halloween" reads for myself..

There is an Ollie's store about 30 minutes from my house. I will try to contain myself though. I look around the house and see piles of books everywhere..including 15 checked out from the library. This is such an obsession.........................

There are worse obsessions, Linda. It keeps us out of the bars...

I seem to be kind of "stuck" with my reading the past day or so -- just can't concentrate. I'm trying to decide how much of the Halloween group read to continue with. A few books I can't get hold of now. I won't buy a book like Creepers that I can read at the library once I get to the top of the waiting list! Reading from the library not only is kind to my wallet, but it boosts our library's circulation statistics, which helps with our state funding formula. (Maybe. If they ever pass a state budget.)

Dr. Moreau is out of the library too, except for an "adapted" Scholastic edition. I'll have to read it on the Internet. I definitely want to read The Woman in White, but some of the others don't particularly appeal -- and there are several newly-purchased books on my shelf that I'm dying to read! On the other hand, the group read challenges me to stretch my reading horizons and read things I probably wouldn't otherwise, which can be a good thing.

tymfos

I'm picking and choosing what to read for the Halloween read, too. I like the challenge of reading "horror" type books because it's not a genre I enthusiastically embrace but I'm discovering that there are some pretty good reads in it if you have some "guidance." I really like woman in White but I've read it several times and as recently as last year. I plan to read The Moonstone instead--but may not get to it until November. I'm going to read The House of Seven Gables and The Island of Dr. Moreau. I have a couple of my own choices I hope to get to, but I also have an ER book I got this month (from the August batch) that I must read and review.

The nice thing about the Halloween Group is that it is rather unstructured so we can read what we have time for and not feel pressured! I really like that. I don't want one of my biggest pleasures (reading!) to become just another "job!"

I'm taking a similar approach. I read Dracula last year, so didn't read it this year. And I didn't manage to get The Wood Wife. I'm also reading out of order. I'm enjoying the Halloween Group as well - and one of the reasons is that it's relatively low stress. Plus, the conversation over the books has been excellent!

#206 I don't want one of my biggest pleasures (reading!) to become just another "job!"

That's exactly what I needed to hear, MusicMom. I had some free time to read this afternoon/evening, and decided to just "wing it" according to personal inclination. So today was a smorgasbord of reading -- a little of this, a little of that from a large buffet of volumes.

A phone call from a friend in need of prayer made me realize that I've been neglecting my Bible and devotional reading. So I started reading a fresh book of poems/prayers by a favorite author.

All in all, I finished off one book, started two others, read a few chapters from the middle of 2 other books and a short story.

A good reading day!

#207 I'm enjoying the Halloween Group as well - and one of the reasons is that it's relatively low stress.

That was another good reminder that any stress I've been feeling from the Halloween read is self-induced. The "rules" are flexible -- to read whatever of the books on the list that I want to, discuss them as I'm inclined to. No need to stress over books I can't get / don't want to read. (Why do I always make things more complicated than they are?) :)

Thanks for the helpful words, drneutron!

Book #47, Custard's Last Stand: a Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery with Recipes (11th in series), by Tamar Myers. Fiction, cozy mystery, 248 pages (not counting short preview of next volume in series).

The antics of Magdalena Yoder (and her friends and enemies) always make me laugh, and this book is no exception. These books tend to be heavy on madcap humor, a little light on plot. It usually works for me, but this time the recipe had a tad too much silliness and not quite enough plot for my taste. (The bigfoot gag was just a little too over the top.) Was it just a weak outing by the author? Is the series wearing thin? Was it my mood? My changing reading tastes? I'm not sure.

However, it was a fun, light read (which I needed) and I plan to pick up the next installment, Thou Shalt Not Grill, from the library sometime soon.

>210 tymfos:: but this time the recipe had a tad too much silliness and not quite enough plot for my taste

That seems to happen to a lot of mystery series that rely on quirky humor...some of Charlotte MacLeod's series come to mind. I wonder if it's just a natural progression as each book tries to be "more" than the last.

Anyway, if I see the first book in this series, I'll give it a try since I like light mysteries at times.

Thanks.

Book # 48, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

I picked this up to read because I work in a library and, as this book is the 2009 Neberry Medal winner, I definitely felt I should read it. I don't plan to give it a proper review because I'm quite a few years past being the "target readership" of such a book and I'm hardly an expert on juvenile/YA literature, but here are my thoughts:

I rather liked it from the start, and as I got further into the book, I liked it more and more. It was clever, imaginative, and just a well-told story that held my interest. By the end, I could hardly wait to see how it all turned out.

There were a few elements that didn't quite make sense to me, that left me questioning -- some loose ends, I might call them. But, overall, an enjoyable read.

I read The Graveyard Book last year because my sons have been pestering me to try a Neil Gaiman book for years. They've read them all. I, too, enjoyed it and plan to try one of his "adult" books next year -- probably Neverwhere because the son who lives in the same town we do can lend it to me. I had almost the same reaction to Graveyard as you did. :-)

Someone at work told me that Gaiman intended The Graveyard Book to be a retelling of the The Jungle Book?!?!?

#49a A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell. (short story, fiction)

Glaspell's short story has haunted me since I read it for a college English class. The story, on its surface, is about a visit to an alleged domestic murder scene as the men search for evidence and the women-folk gather personal items needed by the jailed wife of the murder victim. It is, in actuality, about the differing ways that men and women of the early 20th century viewed each other and their often-separate worlds.

Book #49, Midnight Assassin: a Murder in America's Heartland by Patricia Bryan and Thomas Wolf. Non-fiction, 278 pages.

I'm currently organizing my thoughts to review this book, and will post more about it.

For the present, I will say that this book is about the December 1900 murder of an Iowa farmer, John Hossack, for which his wife Margaret stood trial. It is also a study of women's roles at the turn of the 20th century, and of how gender stereotypes can influence the administration of justice.

This is a thoroughly researched, well-organized, thought-provoking book. Recommended.

I have paired this book with the acclaimed short story, A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell, because Glaspell covered the Hossack trial as a reporter with the Des Moines Daily News; A Jury of Her Peers was inspired by her experiences covering the crime, though in its details it differs in susbstantial ways from the Hossack case.

#214 bdb

Name This Book:

Abandoned child raised by creatures that are not "of his kind." Sheltered from harm as an infant and youngster and given a certain amount of protection as he gets older and learns how to adapt to the world he belongs in. :-)

tymfos

Nice reviews. I've been dabbling in several books that portray the society and roles of men and women at the turn of the 20th century. Midnight Assassin looks like a good candidate for continuing this exploration.

#214, 216 Yes, The Jungle Book by Kipling does have a parallel structure. :)

But the atmosphere is a whole lot different!!!! :D

#217 Definitely! It's a book that would fit into that exploration very nicely.

What? You don't think jungles an be spooky? Trust me, they can! :-)

#220 I'm sure they can be . . . you won't catch me wandering around in any jungles, anyway . . .

I've decided that I'm getting a little "stuck" on my current book for the Halloween group read. So I decided I needed to lighten things up a bit, escape from the dark, dreary confines of The House of Seven Gables and head for the ballpark.

From the shelf, I grabbed for a re-read Can't Anybody Here Play This Game?, Jimmy Breslin's classic 1963 account of the '62 Mets, reissued in 1982 as part of the Penguin Sports Library. My husband is the Mets fan in the household, but for some reason this volume came to our joint library from my collection. At times, it is LOL funny. Just what I needed!

I have to read The House of Seven Gables again soon...

Terri...

I've visited The House of Seven Gable often. I love New England, and in particular, Salem, Concord and Lexington, Mass.

On one of the visits, I got a very creepy feeling as I walked in the upper level of the house. At the time, I did not know that there were reported rumors of the house being haunted.

After all the interesting talk about The House of Seven Gables all over the boards, and your own personal testimony of creepiness, Linda, I'm ready to jump back into that book . . . just as soon as I get through today. (It's going to be a LONG day . . .)

I'm thinking that this thread is getting a bit long. I'm starting my 1010 challenge this Saturday, have a thread all set up in that goup. It might be a good time to start a new thread here, too. So look for me to be jumping to a new thread on Saturday. I'll post a link from this thread when I do it.

What is the 1010 Challenge?

Here is a site regarding the reported haunting of The House of Seven Gables. It was in the attic area that I felt a presence.

http://www.graveaddiction.com/sevengab.html

This is my 1010 Category Challenge thread, which I'm starting this Saturday, 10/10:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/74456

It's basically 10 categories of reading for 2010, though some of us thought it would be cool to go on and start 10/10 of this year. You don't have to read ten in each category, though some structured folks who have more time to read than I have are doing so. I'm doing 5 in each category, figuring that will leave me 25 free or "wildcard" reads left to fill out my 75 challenge. (Though with different start/end dates, there's even more flexibility between the 2 challenges.)

I'll have to check out that link about the haunting -- haven't had time yet. Yesterday was just non-stop from morning until late evening. I barely had time to think about LT, (except I actually slipped onto the LT site and used the "series" function at work to get info for a patron!)

ETA to correct spelling

Catching up with your thread over here. You've read a lot of good books this year.

It was interesting reading the "haunting" thread of the House of the Seven Gables. I never saw anything in the house or felt anything evil when I worked there. Hawthorne's birth place is also on the site and that house is another matter. I have seen and heard more things in that home than I would have ever believed. It's so funny how different people see and feel different things.

Thanks for stopping my my thread over here! I'm glad you like my book choices.

That's very interesting about your experiences at Hawthorne's birthplace vs. at the House of Seven Gables. I guess it's not surprising that people's perceptions of the paranormal vary -- face it, our perceptions of regular stuff can vary widely, too. If you don't believe that, ask five different witnesses to an accident or a crime to tell you what happened. (A good detective will be suspicious of the testimony if everyone agrees about all the details!)

Made a stop at Waldenbooks on the way home today. Bought Zeitoun and The Worst Hard Time. Zeitoun will probably fit into my "interesting people" category in my 1010 Challenge. The Worst Hard Time has me considering a slight change to one of my categories so that it includes history from the first half of the 20th Century, too!

Both will wind up here on the 75 Challenge, among either this year's or next year's reading.

I just got back from your 2010 thread and already you are changing your mind! ROFL (you will see why when you read my last comment there.)

Why not put The Worst Hard Time in disasters? It's on my Wishlist and that is where I''ll probably put it--the Dust Bowl surely qualifies as a disaster!

#231 I guesss maybe because there are SO MANY books about disasters that I want to read? And fewer of the (non-disaster) history of the latter part of the 20th century that have caught my eye?

You're right, of course, the Dust Bowl WAS a disaster, and The Worst Hard Time can rightly fit there. For that matter. Zeitoun could go in disasters, too, since it deals with Hurricane Katrina.

But the Dust Bowl was a different kind of disaster. I normally think of a disaster as something which happens rather suddenly, over a course of hours or days -- a storm, a fire, a bombing, a crash or wreck -- and then has an aftermath. But in the Dust Bowl, the "disaster" itself went on and on . . . so it was almost an era, so to speak, in that part of the country. It triggered a westward migration that really altered the nature of our country.

More seriously, I'm wondering if I should change at least one of my 1010 categories to allow space for some more "literary" reading -- most of what I have planned is non-fiction or popular fiction. Of course, I can still add in some literary novels outside my designated 50, but the category might "push" me a little more in that direction.

ETA to try to fix my blasted typos!

Book #50, The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

I finished it! And I LOVED the ending. :-)

I glad you ended up with a better feeling about the book. I have about 75 pages to finish--and I'm off to do that now. I've enjoyed the so far book--I hope I love the ending, too! :-)

I seriously think that my fractured reading time had a lot to do with my unhappiness with the book at one point. When I started it, I had more blocks of time and it was going OK. And tonight, I managed a fairly long block of time with only a few interruptions. It was in the middle, when I could barely read for 5 or 10 minutes without having to stop, that I really had problems getting into the book. And I think it's a book where you really need to get into that atmosphere and live there a bit.

#231

No matter how much you tinker with the categories now--in 2010 you are wise to have that many "free choices." You will need them!

I discovered this year my biggest problem was getting so many good recommendations for other LT members that didn't fit my categories. I suggest a "recommended by LT members" as a category. I'm going to have one next year. I already have over 100 candidates for that category from recommendations made this year! Maybe I should just take that list and put those books into categories. :-D

>236 MusicMom41:: Solve it like this, Carolyn:

101010 Challenge Categories

1) Books recommended by LT members in 2008
2) Books recommended by LT members in 2009
3) Books recommended by LT members in 2010
4) Books that somehow got on my LT Wishlist
5) Subsequent books by authors that I tried due to LT recommendations
6) Books someone else on LT is reading that look interesting
7) Books that the LT Recommendation system suggested I might like
8) Books mentioned in LT forums that look interesting
9) Books sitting around my house waiting to read
10) Books on my Amazon Wishlist

#237
LOL Sounds like the perfect category system to me!!! :-D

#237 Tad

ROFL

That is a 10/10 challenge I could do--especially if you add "that I already own" to about 5 of those categories (not counting category 9). I really want to make a dent in my "To Read" list on LT--those are ones I own and want to read soon--usually because I've gotten a "nudge" on LT. Wish lists--LT and Amazon -- are ones I don't own that I want to read. I'm trying to make good use of my public library--even with our new book shelves I have no more space for new books without doing some clearing out.

Book # 51, Can't Anybody Here Play This Game? by Jimmy Breslin. 124 pages, non-fiction (and proof that truth can, indeed, be stranger than fiction!)

In 1962, the baseball world was taken by storm by the unique phenomenon that was the first year of New York Mets baseball. (When I say "storm," think of a DISASTER.) The 1962 Mets set a whole new standard of ineptitude for Major League Baseball. They were also, almost certainly, the most beloved losing team in MLB history -- perhaps in all of pro sports.

This is Jimmy Breslin's classic baseball book, written between the 1962 and 1963 seasons, and re-issued in 1982 as part of the Penguin Sports Library (the edition I own). It is laugh-out-loud funny at times as Breslin describes (in his inimitable style) the improbable progress of games on the field (think of Keystone Cops playing baseball), and shares off-the-field comments by those close to the team and ordinary fans. A two-page appendix lists the dubious records which the Mets set in their rookie season as a team.

However, this book is also thought-provoking. At times, it is clear that it was written in a totally different era. Breslin's description of the wages of those laborers constructing Shea Stadium (then in progress) suggested great expense to readers at the time -- but it is all well below minimum wage for workers today. But much of the commentary sounds familiar to today's fan, as Breslin mourns the fall of "sport" and the rise of "business" in the major leagues. It was his contention that the Mets were beloved in 1962 because of, not in spite of, their shortcomings. In an era when pro athletes were already becoming too "perfect," too "professional," these were ballplayers to whom fans could relate.

One statement, however, has perhaps proved false, if my choice to re-read this book is any indication:
Someday, when George Weiss's cold, automatic methods of running an organization turn the team into just another boring winner, everything happening now probably will be forgotten.

On the contrary, it was the memory of the 1962 Mets that made the world-champion 1969 Mets such a miracle for fans. And I do believe the memory still lingers on today.

This book is still a fun read; it's a blast from the past, well written, with something to say that's still worthwhile.

Well, I've decided that it's time to start a new thread, as this one is getting a bit long.

Please join me at my new thread!

http://www.librarything.com/topic/74808

I look forward to your visits there!