A Fresh Page for drachenbraut23 (Bianca) in 2015

Welcome, everyone to my first thread in 2015. Please, make yourselfs comfortable in my small niche where you can find books, talks about cooking, crafts, knitting and other interesting stuff. This is my on/off third year in this wonderful group and I am looking forward to another fun filled year.



I wish everyone a Happy 2015!




Key to symbols

♬ audiobook
✔ off the shelf
@ e-book
✨ shared TIOLI
✿ TIOLI
✗ slow read
# library

Currently Reading

Books in 2014

Despite an incredible slow reading start at the beginning of the year, 2014 turned out to be a good reading year after all, with a good mix of genre's, including brain candy and non-fiction.

♬ audiobook
✔ off the shelf
@ e-book
✨ shared TIOLI
✿ TIOLI
✗ slow read
# library

001. ♬ Words of Radiance - Brandon Sanderson - 48h18/1088p -
002. ✔ PB The Doll's House - Neil Gaiman - 232 pages -
003. ♬ Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Laini Taylor - 12h31/433p -
004. ♬ Days of Blood and Starlight - Laini Taylor - 15h17/528p -
005. ♬ Dreams of Gods and Monsters - Laini Taylor - 18h6/528p -
006. ♬ Murder of Crows - Anne Bishop - 14h13/368p -
007. ♬✔ The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami - 26h6/624p -
008. @ Skinwalker - Faith Hunter - 326 pages -
009. @ Blood Cross - Faith Hunter - 335 pages -
010. @ Mercy Blade - Faith Hunter - 305 pages -
011. @ Raven Cursed - Faith Hunter - 368 pages -
012. @ Death's Rival - Faith Hunter - 336 pages -
013. @ Blood Trade - Faith Hunter - 369 pages -
014. ♬ ✔ The Scar - China Mieville - 21h42/608p -
015. @ Cinder - Marissa Meyer - 404 pages -
016. ♬ PB Of Human Bondage - W. Somerset Maugham - 25h59/608p -
017. ♬✔ Vertraute der Sehnsucht - Lara Adrian - 11h33/400p-
018. PB Quartet in Autumn - Barbara Pym - 193 pages -
019. ♬✔ Steel's Edge - Ilona Andrews - 15h25/401p -
020. PB The Archived - Victoria Schwab - 321 pages -
021. PB The London Cookbook - Jenny Linford - 346 pages -
022. @ Bloodring - Faith Hunter - 336 pages -
023. @ Seraphs - Faith Hunter - 336 pages -
024. @ Host - Faith Hunter - 356 pages -
025. @ The Girl with all the Gifts - M.R. Carey - 417 pages -
026. ♬✔MacRieve - Kresley Cole - 13h51/369p -
027. @ Uglies - Scott Westerfeld - 448 pages -
028. @ Pretties - Scott Westerfeld - 388 pages -
029. @ Specials - Scott Westerfeld - 388 pages -
030. ♬ PB The Painted Veil - M. Somerset Maugham - 7h21/240p -
031. ♬ PB Longbourn - Jo Baker - 13h29/352p -
032. ♬ A Living Nightmare - Darren Shan - 5h34/266p -
033. ♬ The Vampire's Assistant - Darren Shan - 5h5/176p -
034. ♬ Tunnels of Blood - Darren Shan - 4h48/176p -
035. @ The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer - 320 pages -
036. ♬ The Emperors Knife - Mazarkis Williams - 15h9/352p -
037. ♬ Knife-Sworn - Mazarkis Williams - 13h/400p -
038. ♬ The Tower Broken - Mazarkis Williams - 13h23/416p -
039. ♬ PB ✔ Under the Skin - Michel Faber - 8h42/304p -
040. ♬✔ Company of Liars - Karen Maitland - 18h50/592p -
041. GN ✔ The Man Who Laughs - Victor Hugo/ David Hine - 160 pages -
042. ♬ PB ✔ Lullaby - Chuck Palahniuk - 7h15/272p -
043. ♬✔ The Witch's Daughter - Paula Brackston - 13h22/464p -
044. ♬✔ Debris - Jo Anderton - 14h24/464p -
045. HB The Painted Bridge - Wendy Wallace - 306 pages -
046. PB Romeo Spikes - Joanne Reay - 400 pages -
047. PB The Golem - Gustav Meyrink - 262 pages
♬ Der Golem - Gustav Meyrink - 8 hours/44 min - 253 pages - - counted as one book as read in tandem!
048. ♬✔ The Crane Wife - Patrick Ness - 8h32/320p -
049. PB ✔ - The Death of Grass - John Christopher - 195 pages -
050. @ Strange Weather in Tokyo - Hiromi Kawakami - 192 pages -
051. @ Carmilla - Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu - 103 pages -
052. ♬ The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell - 24h29/624p -
053. PB The Crucible - Arthur Miller - 128 pages -
054. ♬✔ The Dog Stars - Peter Heller - 10h41/320p -
055. HB Being Mortal - Atul Gawande - 282 pages -
056. ♬ The 5th Wave - Rick Yancey - 12h41/480p
057. PB Manga Shakespeare: Othello - Ryuto Osada - 208 pages
058. PB ✔ Gretel and The Dark - Eliza Granville - 358 pages
059. PB ♬ ✔ A Tale For The Time Being - Ruth Ozeki -14h42/432p
060. ♬ ✔ The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving - 1h15/98p
061. ♬ More Than This - Patrick Ness - 11h01/480p
062. ♬✔ Cocaine Blues - Kerry Greenwood - 05h52/184p
063. @ GN Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? - Roz Chast - 240pages
064. ♬Burial Rites - Hannah Kent - 12h2/384p
065. PB The Underground Girls of Kabul - Jenny Nordberg - 350 pages -
066. ♬ ✔ The History of Love - Nicole Krauss - 9h51/272p -
067. @ ✔ The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman - 64 pages -
068. @ The Passport - Herta Müller - 96 pages -
069. ♬ Der Mensch ist ein großer Fasan in der Welt - Herta Müller - 3h3/112p -
070. ♬✔ Tricked - Kevin Hearne - 10h41/368p -
071. @✔ More Than Life itself - Joseph Nassise - 55 pages -
072. # The Berserk Volume 04 - Kentaro Miura - 117 pages -
073. ♬✔ The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman - 5h48/272p -
074. ♬✔ Flying High - Kerry Greenwood - 5h6/156p -
075. ✔ Fragile Beginnings - Adam Wolfberg - 176 pages -
076. ♬✔The Garden of Evening Mists - Tan Twan Eng - 15h36/352p -
077. ♬✔ Trapped - Kevin Hearne - 9h2/336p -
078. ♬✔ A Crimson Petal and the White - Michel Faber - 41h36/864p -

I am also going to participate in both the AAC and BAC this year, looking forward to new authors and genre to explore. I don't like planning what to read, so I just add whenever I finished.

American Author Challenge



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

British Author Challenge



January - Penelope Lively - Moon Tiger
January - Kazuo Ishiguro - When We Were Orphans
February - Evelyn Waugh - Decline and Fall
February - Sarah Waters - The Paying Guests
March - Daphne Du Maurier - Rebecca
March - China Mieville - The Iron Council
April - Angela Carter
April - W. Somerset Maugham
May - Margaret Drabble
May - Martin Amis
June - Beryl Bainbridge
June - Anthony Burgess
July - Virginia Woolf
July - B.S. Johnson
August - Iris Murdoch
August - Graham Greene
September - Andrea Levy
September - Salman Rushdie
October - Helen Dunmore
October - David Mitchell
November - Muriel Spark
November - William Boyd
December - Hillary Mantel
December - P.G. Woodehouse

British Author Challenge Thirteenth Month

Bernice Rubens and Aldous Huxley

I also decided to carry on reading from the 1001 books list, this time with a little more focus. I want to read every month at least one or two books and try to combine this with the other challenges. Some of them, which I read quite a long time ago I will reread at one point.

So far I have documented 119 books of the list, also I have read a few more which I haven't catalogued as yet.

Abandoned

2001 A Space Odyssey - Arthur C.Clarke
The Romantics - Pankaj Mishra
The God of Small Things - Arundathi Roy

1001 books in 2015



001 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
002 The Turn of the Screw - Henry James
003 Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut (reread)
004 Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier (reread)

I also would finally like to make a huge dent (who am I kidding?) in my current TBR and thought that this years Reading Globally Group Themes could be incredible helpful in achieving this.
Again, as I don't like to plan ahead. I just add the books as I go along.

First quarter: Indian subcontinent



Second quarter: Iberian peninsula
Third quarter: Nobel Prize winners writing not in English
Fourth quarter: Women writing not in English

♬ audiobook
✔ off the shelf
@ e-book
✨ shared TIOLI
✿ TIOLI
✗ slow read
# library

January

001 ✿ (3) ♬ ✔ Tortilla Flat - John Steinbeck - 7h3/208p
002 ✨ (10) ♬ ✔ When We Were Orphans - Kazuo Ishiguro - 10h6/320p
003 ✿ (22) ♬ ✔ The Museum of Extraordinary Things - Alice Hoffman - 12h18/368p
004 ✨ (15) HB Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel
005 ✿ (9) ♬ ✔ PB People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks - 14h05/372p
006 ♬ ✔ PB The Secret History - Donna Tartt - 21h46/503p
007 ✿ (22) PB Saga Volume 1 - Brian K. Vaughan - 160p -
008 ✿ (22) ♬ ✔ PB Casket of Souls - Lynn Flewelling - 14h7/496p -
009 ✿ (22) ♬ Shards of Time - Lynn Flewelling - 12h57/412p -
010 ✨ (12) PB The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers - 359p - 12h57/412p -
011 ✿ (22) PB Saga Vol. 2 - Brian K. Vaughan - 144p -
012 ✿ (22) PB Saga Vol 3 - Brian K. Vaughan - 144p -
013 ✨ (15) @ Moon Tiger - Penelope Lively - 224p -
014 ✿ (22) ♬ ✔ @ Gilead - Marilynne Robinson - 8h57/288p -
015 ✿ (22) HB Gracefully Grayson - Amy Polonsky - 256p -

February

016 ✨ (6) ♬ The Turn of the Screw - Henry James - 4h45/158p -
017 ♬ Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut - 7h11/306p -
018 PB Saga Volume 4 - Brian K. Vaugham - 144p -
019 ♬ The Paying Guests - Sarah Waters - 21h29/576p -
020 ♬ Clean Sweep - Ilona Andrews - 7h55/229p -
021 ♬ The Atlantis Gene - A. G. Riddle - 15h44/451p -
022 ♬ The Girl in the Box - Alone - Robert J. Crane - 5h7/182p -
023 ♬ The Girl in the Box - Untouched - Robert J. Crane - 7h15/234p -
024 ♬ The Girl in the Box - Soulless - Robert J. Crane - 5h38/187p -
025 ♬ The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August - Claire North - 12h8/448p -
026 ✔ Keb World of Shell and Bone - S. K. Falls - 186p -
027 ✔ Keb Matched - Ally Condie - 384p -

March

028 ♬ Ice Forged - Gail Z. Martin - 19h33/592p -
029 ♬ Reign of Ash - Gail Z. Martin - 20h46/656p -
030 ♬ ✔ Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier - 10h45/384p
031 PB Y The Last Man - Brian K. Vaughan - 128p -
032 PB Fables: Legends in Exile - Bill Willingham - 144p

♬ audiobook
✔ off the shelf
@ e-book
✨ shared TIOLI
✿ TIOLI
✗ slow read
# library

Books aqcuired in 2015 *sigh*, including my audible flexi

001. PB Das Muschelessen - Birgit Vanderbeke
002. PB Saga - Brian K. Vaughan
003. PB Saga, Vol. 2 - Brian K. Vaughan
004. PB Saga, Vol. 3 - Brian K. Vaughan
005. PB Saga Volume 4 - Brian K. Vaughan
006. ♬ Shards of Time - Lynn Flewelling
007. ♬ The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August - Claire North
008. ♬ The Martian - Andy Weir
009. HB Wonder Struck - Brian Selznick
010. PB Y The Last Man, Vol.1 - Brian K. Vaughan
011. PB Fables Legends in Exile - Bill Willingham
012. ♬ The Complete Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
013. ♬ Vision in Silver - Anne Bishop

Welcome back!

Thank you, Jim!

Hi Bianca! I'm dropping a star, as I think we have somewhat similar reading tastes. And I like your thread organization too.

Great start! Dropping my and looking forward to following you. Happy reading 2015!

I've somehow managed to lose your thread three times today (no idea how) so now you're starred and posted on to ensure it doesn't occur again.

You certainly did end up with a good reading year, Bianca. I wish the same for you again in 2015. I will be following you once again.

Hi, Bianca! Congrats on this great 2015 thread. Looking forward to a fun year on LT.

Hello Bianca--I don't know if I ever posted on your thread or merely lurked, but I'll be following your thread this year. I'm also doing Reading Globally (I'll be leading the third quarter Nobelists segment), so perhaps some of our reading will overlap.

Yay, a 2015 thread, starred of course. Happy new year, Bianca!

Good to see you back Bianca! May 2015 be a wonderful year filled with love, laughter, good health and, of course, many wonderful books to read.

I found you Bianca!

Happy New Beginning, Bianca! Looking forward to following your reading in the new year. I always enjoy your book choices.

How is the Gracefully Grayson book coming? I liked that one.

Hi Bianca! Found and starred! I see you had a great reading year in 2014 - it helps to see all of the books listed in one post! - and 'Yay' for joining the BAC and the AAC. I am looking forward to another fabulous year of following all that occurs on your threads.

Hello Bianca! Best wishes for a happy new year.

May all your wishes come true.

Bianca,



Happy New Year from your friend in Kuala Lumpur

Happy new year Bianca!

Found & Starred ......

First of All - I wish you ALL an incredible happy, wonderous, interesting, magical, peaceful and whatever you think is important, wonderful New Year .

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

We had a quiet New Years Eve and I have to admit that I missed all the fireworks as I was fast asleep, long before midnight - LOL.
This was my son's first year to celebrate the New Year with friends and so it was just myself and my parents. My dad had to suffer with me and my mom when we discovered they were showing all this incredible fabulous and tacky dance movies from the late 70's and early 80's. I am sure my dad would have wished for something else, but I think we entertained him well enough with our running commentaries and laughter. Such fun - we started the evening with "Grease", "Flashdance", "Saturday Night Fever" and by the time we came to "Staying Alive" I had enough of John Travolta and was unable to "Stay Alive" any longer and fell asleep on the sofa. However, my mom woke me and send me to bed with the terrified cat of my sister.
My mom told me this morning that Alex phoned after midnight in good spirits, enjoying himself. I still managed to text him, before I fell asleep. My parents said they were surprised that I didn't wake up when the fireworks started.
Today will be another quiet day and I will go for a walk later, also most of the snow is gone again, but it is cold and sunny today.

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

>10 DorsVenabili: Hello Kerri, welcome to my little niche. I am looking forward to follow your thread as well :)

>11 Ameise1: Thank you Barbara and as usual a wonderful photo!

>12 lunacat: LOL Jenny - that happens so easy in the first days of the new threads. I found and starred you already as well!

>13 Donna828: Thank you soo much Donna, I was so pleased, surprised and quite proud of myself that I ended up with such great reading this year, also I still mostly listen to audiobooks, as I still find it difficult from time to time to concentrate on a physical book. Considering that I only had read 8 books until May :) LOL - I really made a huge leap from September onwards. I am also happy following you in 2015.

>14 jnwelch: :) Heya Joe - so glad you found me. Let's have another great year of fun and other interesting stuff!

>15 arubabookwoman: Hello Deborah, nice to meet you! Great to know that you are going to lead the Nobel Prize theme of the Reading Globally Group. I am quite excited about my first year in following the themes of the group.

>16 Deern: Nathalie :) A HAPPY NEW YEAR to you as well. Found and starred your thread as well.

>17 Whisper1: Thank you very much Linda! I wish you exactly the same for 2015!

>18 The_Hibernator: Hi Rachel, take a seat and make yourself comfortable!

>19 msf59: Same compliment back to you Mark. I always enjoy your book choices as well!
Can't say that much about Gracefully Grayson yet, as I just started to dipp in. Debbi and Joe absolutely loved it, so I thought I just have to give it a go!

>20 lkernagh: LOL, Yes BAC, AAC, Reading Globally, dent into the 1001 books. Oooops, I am seriously going for the "Full Monty" this year. I thought this will help me to make a dent into my TBR!

>21 lunacat: >22 lauralkeet: >23 Ameise1: >24 PaulCranswick: >25 The_Hibernator: >26 ronincats: A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU AS WELL!

>27 roundballnz: Found and starred you as well Alex!

And what are your New Year solutions?

Mine are 1. Seriously try to reduce TBR mountain and reduce amount of books bought - use library services more often.

2. Well, I recognised that I accumulated a huge amount of really good quality wool over the past 2 years, also I didn't knitt as much I still carried on buying wool whenever I couldn't resist. So, I definitely will try to reduce this mountain as well. I started already and created over the past week already some interesting pieces (which I will post over the next few weeks) . Also, I do use patterns I mainly create my own items and just use the size measurements of the person I am knitting for.

To carry on enjoying life with my family and friends!

>28 drachenbraut23: A Happy New Year to you! A lovely image you're dropping in the threads.

Feel free to send any spare wool in my direction to lessen your stash. I'm happy to offer this as a useful public service ;)

^Now, these are my kind of resolutions!

Here you are, Bianca! What ambitions for the new year! I am dropping a star so I can keep up!

Happy New Year Bianca!

I'm working today but I'll be back around. :-)

Happy New Year, Bianca! May it be filled with fabulous! Like you, I will be trying to read more from my shelves and the library.

Happy New Year Bianca and welcome back to the group.

I think you chose the best movie to fall asleep too, Bianca - the three others are better :) I couldn't get any sleep because of the fireworks - and I had to go to work early at 5 o'clock. Now I'm tired.

Looking forward to follow your many book-plans for 2015.

Hi Bianca, what wonderful reading plans you have for 2015. I'm taken with both the American and British authors challenge, but my reading is never that organized. Looking forward to following along.

Happy New Year, Bianca!

>29 drachenbraut23: I have a similar resolution to cut down on physical book-buying, due to space considerations. :-|

Happy New Year, Bianca!

Happy New Year, Bianca! I managed to stay up to greet the New Year but just barely. No New Year resolutions for me. I tend to make my resolutions at the close of the Canadian Thanksgiving, using the remainder of October and and all of November and December to establish the new resolution as a habit. My current resolution isn't so much a resolution as it involved eating healthier and making better snacking choices between meals. I like how it ties in with my more 'home prepared' approach to eating, avoiding as much per-processed food items as we can.

>33 msf59: - Perfect resolution list, Mark! Are you sure you have covered off everything that needs to be covered of on the book/blog front? ;-)

Oh... I missed the tacky dance movies! :(
I feel asleep early during "Tratsch im Treppenhaus" on NDR3 which as a kid I had loved to watch with my grandmother, but was awake again for midnight and the fireworks. And of course I saw "Ekel Alfred" and "Dinner for One" earlier - "same procedure as every year" in every sense. :)
I remember a teenage Silvester party where we played "Dinner for One" and my best friend acted as the tiger rug and we had to stumble over her... those were the times! :))
(And yes, I also made the mistake of presenting DfO on video to friends from England who found it completely and utterly unfunny)

Ein frohes neues Jahr nochmal an dieser Stelle Dir und Deiner Familie!!

#43 - oh yes. Dinner for One is a must here in Denmark. They show it always just before midnight - must I, Mrs Sophie? Same procedure as every year :)

>30 qebo: >31 msf59: Thank you Katherine and Mark.

>32 lunacat: Haha Jenny, good to know that you do offer this public service. I usually collect any spare wool and take it to work. We started last summer a knitting group for our parents - "parents", because we even have got dads participating in the knitting experience. My friend and I organised this, to give parents a little distraction and a place where they can forget their worries for a short time. We found a few ladies from a knitting club nearby who com 1x a week for 1-2 hours (depending on demand) who teach our parents how to knit. This has become quite a favourite among our parents. Some of my collegues, including myself, help the parents inbetween the sessions and show them how to trouble shoot, how to carry on with certain passages. As I tend to do a lot of nights and I am known to be a seasoned knitter, I sometimes have parents coming at night time to show me their knitted items and help them along.
I still have to give this "armknitting" a go, but first I have to finish my "building sites".

>33 msf59: *Big sigh* LOVE that New Year solution Mark. That's what it would be for me, if I wouldn't be so hard pressed for space. Well, we will see how I will get on this year with my solution, especially with all this brilliant charity shops nearby.

>34 ffortsa: Hi Judy. Well, maybe a little ambitious, but even so that I am participating in the challenges my reading is still flexible.

>35 luvamystery65: I hope work wasn't to hard yesterday, Roberta. I have to work Christmas and New Year this year again.

>36 Crazymamie: Hello mamie, wonderful to see you in my little corner. Yep, shelves and library that's the plan :)

>37 SandDune: Thank you Rhian, I am looking forward to this year and hope that my health will permit me a more regular appearance.

That's a far better use of your spare wool than sending it to me. I love the institution of the knitting group, and what a perfect thing to allow the parents some downtime and distraction, and something to do while they just want to sit with their babies but aren't able to 'do' anything else with them. Genius idea.

>38 ctpress: >44 ctpress: Hello Carsten :) You might be right and I choose the right movie to fall asleep to. Crumps, going to work tired, most dreadful! I hope you survived the day well and could have a good rest last night.

Haha, the offered challenges are too good this year, not to participate AND they will help me to get rid of my huge TBR. I still have got lots of books from the 1001 books list which fit quite a few of the challenges, so everything will go hand in hand. Aren't you reading of the 1001 books list as well? Or am I mistaken there?

Dinner for One - Yep, was on, on one of the other channels. "A must" here in Germany as well, but oddly enough not in Britain. My English family was amazed when I told them that we show this movie every single year and just shook their heads in astonishment.

>39 lit_chick: Hi Nancy, welcome in my little world. Well, my reading is never organised either. Also, I sometimes try to plan ahead it never seems to work. That's why I left everything open for the challenges and just add as I go along. I do the same with the TIOLI. I only find challenges when I finish a book.

>40 scaifea: Thank you, Amber.

>41 DorsVenabili: Brilliant, I wonder how many of us try this each single year. Let's see how we go this year, Kerri.

>42 lkernagh: I usually don't tend to make "any" solutions at all, Lori. However, when I came back from London this time with 1/2 my car filled with books I had accumulated and I than rummaged through ALL my books over the Christmas season, I just thought - Nope, this is getting too much now. The same applies to my wool.
Healthier eating is always a good choice, as in the long term you can see and feel the benefits of it. I am planning to make a little more use of the kitchen thread this year as there are soo many foodies here. So, that we can share more of our recipes.

For some reason, I didn't mind sleeping into the New Year, rather than waiting for it to arrive. My son definitely had lots of fun and enjoyed his time with his friends. They had enough fireworks to stay out to 2.30 in the morning. However, I do wonder what they were up to as he left his set of clothes at his friends house, who apparently offered to wash ALL the clothes of the teens attending the party - LOL. He was quite sparse in terms of forthcoming information.

>43 Deern: Oh, what a shame. They were absolutely fantastic, Nathalie! Especially, the clothing in the 80's, which are coming back this year. I have to say that I liked being a teen in the 80's - it was quite fun, with fun music and I still do enjoy a little of the "Neue Deutsche Welle". Alex discovered them recently so I have been listening to them again and I have to say it was such a "Gute Laune" music.

I don't think that I have ever seen "Tratsch im Treppenhaus", but of course I know and enjoy "Ekel Alfred". LOL, I just mentioned the same to Carsten in regards to "Dinner for One", my English family and friends NEVER could understand why we Germans are so fond of it.

>46 lunacat: Thank you Jenny. My friend was the one who came up with the idea. It actually was quite difficult to find people who would volunteer to come to our unit, without feeling to overwhelmed by the environment. It took us almost 6 month of organisation to get this group going, but now it is a fixed part of the unit. Sometimes some of the nurses come in to learn some knitting themselves and it has turned out to be quite the fun group.

#001 Tortilla Flat - John Steinbeck - 7h3/208p
audiobook unabridged narrated by John McDonough
✿ Challenge 3: Read a book with a food item in the title (Tortilla)

My first book finished in 2015 and one I quite enjoyed. I do appreciate Steinbeck's writing and definitely will seek out more by him in the future. So far I only had read The Pearl, which I equally liked.

"This is the story of Danny and of Danny's friends and of Danny's house."

“No, when you speak of Danny's house you are understood to mean a unit of which the parts are men, from which came sweetness and joy, philanthropy and, in the end, a mystic sorrow.”

Tortilla Flat is a picaresque novella made up of seventeen loosely linked episodes. I felt that this anecdotal style highlighted the dire predicaments of a life in poverty and what it actually means to live on the brink of survival.

“This is the story” of a group of destitute paisanos who aren't interested in living by the system, which in the 1920's meant status and comfort, but prefer a carefree life, mainly wine, enough food and woman. They keep their dignity within a subculture, where conventional values are replaced by values of their own.
Danny is a young man who returns from the First World War and discovers that his uncle has left him two houses. Danny is someone who hasn't done much with his life and actually hasn't got the desire to do so anyway. The houses elevate his social status in Tortilla Flat, but any kind of snobbery is quite alien to Danny.
He becomes the “core” for a gradually expanding group of friends around him. We meet Pilon, Jesus Marie, Big Joe Portagee, Pablo and Pirate. Most of them share his aversion to any regulated activities, everything is shared in Danny's house fraternally.
The paisanos life is poor, but on the other hand it is rich and beautiful, Danny is what holds them together, despite all the economic problems. Life is not planned ahead, lived daily and intense. This rascal's trump card is their friendship, maintained humanity, in an environment of hopeless poverty and humility. Life is about survival and to preserve their own dignity. Even so that most of them are thieves and carpetbaggers, they are portrayed in a manner that you can't do anything else, but like them and feel with them.

“I will go out to The One who can fight. I will find The Enemy who is worthy of Danny.” These are Danny's last words!

Danny was the groups core, their bright light and when this finally expires, the group scatters like the leaves in the wind.
For some reason some parts made me chuckle and reminded me of Neil Gaimans American Gods and his Anansi Boys, and other parts reminded me of “one for all, all for one” from the Three Musketeers by Dumas.

Wow, your review brought that book right back to me, and it goes so well with The Heart is a Lonely Hunter although different in tone. That Steinbeck year (2013?) was a fantastic experience!

>50 Deern: Actually I own most of his books and had read some of them in German when I was younger. So, this year will be my Steinbeck year! I thought that you enjoyed him quite a lot, Nathalie.

Happy New Year Bianca. I hope you have a great year.

I love the knitting group idea, Bianca. That's lovely.

>52 calm: Thank you calm, so nice to see you moving around the threads. Waiting patiently for your own thread to start this year.

>53 lauralkeet: Thank you Laura :) It has become a fave among our parents, as it gives them the opportunity to take a breezer without being too far away from their loved ones.

OMG. You should be ashamed of yourself for torturing your father with those awful dance movies. Grease? Flashdance? Saturday Night Fever??? I would have run out of the house screaming in horror.

Maybe you can strap Alex to a chair, similar to Alex in A Clockwork Orange, and have him watch those movies if you want to get him to confess to his activities during the New Year's party. I'll bet he'll tell you everything within 10 minutes.

Nice review of Tortilla Flat. I haven't read that one, so I'll have to get to it.

For how much longer will you be in Germany?

I loved Tortilla Flat, too, Bianca. Did you read Cannery Row or Sweet Thursday? Even better, for me.

Starting 2015 with a classic, Bianca. Like it :) Have only read three Steinbeck's - my next are planned to be Cannery Row, but let us see....

Yes, I do have some book-lists I follow. The ones I explore most are 1001 Books and 1001 Children's Books and 501 Must-Read Books. I try to read a few from every list during the year.

2012 was the year of the Steinbeckathon, and the reason I remember that piece of trivia is that it was my very first year here. SO much fun. Tortilla Flat is one of the books that I didn't manage to get to, but your review is making me want to pull it off my shelf very soon. Here is the link to the Steinbeckathon main thread, if you do decide to make this your Steinbeck year, Bianca. There are links to all of the individual books that we read right at the top of the main thread. Steinbeckathon I kept it starred so that I could go back to read the comments for the books that I missed that year, knowing that I would eventually get to them.

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

Happy Saturday, Bianca! Good review of Tortilla flat. I also liked this book, but Steinbeck's writing really took a leap in his next couple of books. You have a fine road ahead of you, reading this man, my favorite author.

Happy weekend Bianca! >29 drachenbraut23: Those sound like good New Year's resolutions. As I said on my thread, my resolution is to be happy. That's it. I've started that resolution by stating something that made me happy every day, and asking what makes other people happy makes me happy too. It's like a happiness wheel. :)

>49 drachenbraut23: - I remember reading and not liking The Grapes of Wrath as part of required school reading and haven't attempted any Steinbeck novels after that. I think the older reader that I am now may appreciate Steinbeck's writing. Nice review of Tortilla Flat, Bianca.

Bianca, I've found your thread! Happy new year.

I laughed at your description of the bad 80s dance movies. Olivia Newton-John's album was one of the first I owned and loved, but I wasn't allowed to watch Grease when it came out... I think I was 20 something when I finally got round to watching it!

>49 drachenbraut23: Nice review! This is on my TBR pile. I loved The Grapes of Wrath and Cannery Row. I thought Cannery Row was somehow related to Tortilla Flats in some way, but now I'm not sure. :-|

Here at last, Bianca - and you've been busy! I'm glad that you liked your Steinbeck 3½ stars worth. For some reason I've never warmed to him. I can appreciate his literary worth, but I'll have to be poorer in books than I am right now to jump on a Steinbeck.
Now I hope that you can give some attention to The Ruby in Her Navel. I enjoyed that in my mad dash to 75 last month (last year). It is also the reason that I'm reading about Eleanor of Aquitaine, who makes a brief appearance in *Ruby*. Hope you like it!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Bianca, I think Steinbeck is a great way to begin a new year of reading. He is one of my favorites and I have fond memories of the Steinbeckathon!

I've finally found your thread, Bianca, and wish you a very belated Happy New Year. Your New Year's Eve sounds like great fun. And I will be following with interest your knitting posts, as I have recently (for the fourth time) taken up knitting and hope to stick with it this time. I am still very much a beginner but my good friend Liz has been a huge help. We have a standing appointment for Monday lunchtime to eat and knit together, which we call "Kibbles and Knits". (That's a play on words that probably wouldn't be familiar to you since it's based on an American brand of dog food called Kibbles 'n' Bits.)

I started Tortilla Flat late last year but didn't finish it. I liked it but it was the wrong time. I'll have to try again this year and hopefully have better luck. I enjoyed your review very much.

Happy New Year, Bianca! Good luck with all of your goals this year. Reducing my shelves is a big goal for me this year too. I'd at least like to get the books out of stacks and up off of the floor and nearly every flat surface in my house. It will take over 100 books to get there for me, but I'm up for the challenge!

Hope you had a great weekend!

Found you and starred you Bianca! Welcome back to the group and a belated happy new year!

>4 drachenbraut23: 'I also would finally like to make a huge dent (who am I kidding?) in my current TBR'

It's almost a group tradition that throughout January we all kid ourselves that this year we will manage to do this. :-)

>45 drachenbraut23: I love the sound of your knitting group for parents. It sounds like a really good idea.

>55 kidzdoc: LOL Darryl, nope I don't believe you. I am sure we would have been able to entertain you as well :). Your suggested form of torture for Alex wouldn't work as he LOVES this old movies. However, I will definitely consider something along those lines.

I still will be in Germany for some time. I am planning to go back on the 21.02, which will also mean a new lodging home.

>56 jnwelch: I don't own Sweet Thursday Joe, but I do have Cannery Row on my TBR together with East of Eden, Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath.

>57 ctpress: Carsten, I realized that I quite enjoy the lists, especially the 1001 list and I still have tons of books from that one on my TBR. I do like the 1001 children books list as well, but sometimes it surprises me what they consider to be children books.
Glad you are another one who enjoys Steinbeck, I definitely will try to read some more by him this year.

>58 Crazymamie: Hi mamie, thanks for the link to the Steinbeckathon. I had already a look at it and agree with you, that it is a useful link to bookmark. I definitely will make use of it.

>59 Ameise1: Thank you Barbara.

>61 msf59: Thank you for the encouragement Mark and good to know that Steinbeck is one of your favourite authors. I definitely will read more by him.

>62 The_Hibernator: Rachel. I think being Happy is the most important resolution of all :) For me it's not just being happy, but generally enjoying life with my family and friends.............................and of course trying to reduce my TBR - LOL

>71 drachenbraut23: All good ones, Bianca, although I'm not an East of Eden fan like many others are. There was a Steinbeckathon a couple of years ago put together by Ellen and Ilana, if I remember right, and it really sold me on his books. Although The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men are exceptionally good books, I have a special place in my heart for Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday.

>71 drachenbraut23: That's a great long break, Bianca! You certainly deserve it. Will you and your mother subject your father to more torture over the next 1-1/2 months? If so, please tell him that I have an extra bedroom that he can use.

>63 lkernagh: I sympethize with that feeling, Lori. I think when you had an unsatisfactory reading experience during school years, quite often it takes decades to get over it. My sister has got the same with Franz Kafka she hated him during her school years and still hasn't attempted to re-read him, I never had that problem, whatever we read I enjoyed.

>64 cushlareads: Hi cushla - I was lucky I was allowed to watch them movies with my mom and grandmother. AAARgh I do remember the Olivia Newton John Album we owned that one as well, but they were quite fun. My sister and I also were complete fans of Bonnie M and even today, we have to laugh when we listen to that music. Memories......................*big smile*

>65 DorsVenabili: Hi Keri, I will find out once I get to read Cannery Row, but I am sure that I read somewhere as well that Tortilla Flat and Cannery Row were somehow related.

>66 LizzieD: Thank you Peggy - yes, yes, yes, I am ALMOST finished with The Ruby in her Navel and I am loving it. Just need to make the time to sit down and get some more physical reading in. I got already in my audible basket Sacred Hunger by him, which also sounds very interesting. I adore his story telling, he is so detailed that you get catapulted back into that time. Although, I have to say that I don't think that any of those characters are particular likeable.

>67 Donna828: Thank you Donna, I also thought that the book was a lovely way to start the New Year. I am glad that mamie gave me the link to the Steinbeckathon, so that I can have a closer look at the comments people made.

>68 rosalita: Hi Julia, so glad that you found me. "Kibbles and Knits" sounds fantastic. I hope you will stick to it and I obviously would enjoy to see your items as well.
Yes, I will post my items over the next few weeks. I only need to get some nice photos done. On some of the ones I took you can't see the patterns well enough. So far, I completed 1x poncho, 2x loop scarfes, 1x ordinary scarf, 1x triangular lace shawl and I almost completed a jumper in an 80's style. So, this is where my audiobooks come in handy.
However, I also go once a week to a knitting club here in Germany. We are a group of 6-8 woman of very different ages and different knitting experiences and it is quite fun.
I do hope that you will enjoy Tortilla Flat if you should give it another go.

>69 LauraBrook: Thank you Laura, yes I had a great weekend and yes I definitely have to get read of my TBR for me it has reached 450+ books now.

>70 souloftherose: LOL - you are so right Heather, however I will try very hard this year to make a dent.

Thank you, as I said already to Jenny the knitting group turned out to be a great success and I am glad that my friend came up with this idea. At least a little which can help to take their minds of their worries for a short period of time.

#002 When We Were Orphans - Kazuo Ishiguro - 10h6/320p -
audiobook unabridged narrated by Michael Maloney
✿ Challenge 10: IOU challenge: Read a book by someone whose name ends in I, O, or U
BAC 2015 January - Kazuo Ishiguro

This is my 5th book by Ishiguro, but The Remains of the Day will always be my favourite.

Quite early on in the story it becomes clear that this is not our classical detective story, but a story about personal growth and a too late recognized grand illusion. Similar to Stevens in The Remains of the Day, Christopher, our main protagonist, realizes at the end that he sacrificed his happiness for the wrong reasons.

“All I know is that I've wasted all these years looking for something, a sort of trophy I'd get only if I really, really did enough to deserve it. But I don't want it anymore, I want something else now, something warm and sheltering, something I can turn to, regardless of what I do, regardless of who I become. Something that will just be there, always, like tomorrow's sky. That's what I want now, and I think it's what you should want too. But it will be too late soon. We'll become too set to change. If we don't take our chance now, another may never come for either of us.”

Christopher is born in Shanghai and when he looses his parents to an apparent kidnapping, he has to go back to England. There he lives with his aunt , in London and attends boarding schools. He is the odd child, the outsider and someone who considers himself to be a survival artist. Deeply troubled, a child who lives in his own fantasy world and believes that he can hide his true being from everyone around him. He wants to become a great detective to unravel the riddle of his childhood trauma. This discrepancy of self-perception and what other think of Christopher, runs like a red thread through the story. At least his dreams of becoming a great detective become true.

The whole story appears to be like a walk through Christopher's memory landscapes in which incredible high hedges are blocking the way, and constantly narrow the path into nothingness. The strongest passages in the book are the flashbacks into Christopher's childhood. Although, they are collections of individual episodes of his childhood, they manage to knit themselves into a fascinating story.

The second part of the book, where Christopher goes back to Shanghai to find his parents initially didn't quite work for me and I it just felt like a brake in the story line. Everyone in Shanghai appeared to know him, and their greatest concern was to assist him in solving the crime committed almost ? 20 years earlier. He was treated like some kind of saviour and at times, this strange status was just incomprehensible to me.

“The colonel nodded. "Our childhood seems so far away now. All this" - he gestured out of the vehicle - "so much suffering. One of our Japanese poets, a court lady many years ago, wrote how sad this was. She wrote of how our childhood becomes like a foreign land once we have grown."
"Well, Colonel, it's hardly a foreign land to me. In many ways, it's where I've continued to live all my life. It's only now I've started to make my journey from it.”

Well, and here I realized that the exaggerated Shanghai part was just another way to show us how the perceptions and memories of Christopher and his surroundings diverged, and how his life-lie finally starts to get holes.

Definitely a good read and one I can recommend.

Started listening to this yesterday and so far - great, quite engaging historical fiction set in the early 20th century in of the turbulent and colourful New York.

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

My mom gave me a voucher for Christmas so that I can attend a gym which is led by experienced physiotherapists. The first 10 sessions will be 1:1 and then after just under supervision. I am quite excited as I really would like to get a little more "fit" and hope that this will work for me. Due to my complex health issues, including my back, my physio in London suggested this kind of gym. Also, I am doing regular exercises at home, I just wanted to have something a "little" more tailored to my requirements. I will let you know, how training is going.
Otherwise, I had a great weekend with long walks, knitting (yes) and I was able to finish quite a few projects. I also made the dissapointing experience that my "beloved" son doesn't enjoy my cooking anymore as such. Usually he eats the same as my mom and dad, however my mom was in London from Friday to Sunday and I had the chance to cook for him. I made a lovely spicy lentil stew on Saturday and he ate about half of it with "long teeth" (a German saying, not sure if we use it in English) and told me with a tortured face - "mom, no disrespect, but..........I am so glat when "Oma" is back tomorrow and I can eat her food again" *sigh*.

>72 jnwelch: Joe :) When I read Cannery Row I always will remember that this one has got a special place with you. Yep, I checked the notes on the Steinbeckathon already and definitely will go back to them for future referance.

>73 kidzdoc: Darryl, you make me howl with laughter. Yes, I will let my dad know that there is a spare room to have with you, just in case my mom and I should carry on torturing him. Only this afternoon, after I asked him how work was he just grinned at me and said "Well, from the mad house at home, to the mad house at work, what else?"

Yes, I am looking forward to my time here, especially as I am planning to get "fit" again and for the time here I am planning to take up a wool spinning class, which I wanted to do already for a very long time. I do hope that the lady who is running it, will have a space for me during the time I am here :).

I read When We Were Orphans for the BAC too (haven't reviewed it yet), but I wanted to say I had the exact same reaction to when he got to Shanghai. I had difficulty with his nightmare-like travels through wartime Shanghai. However, by the time I got to the end of the book, I was liking it again. I'm still trying to pull my thoughts together on it.

Hi Bianca. I've finally managed to come over to wish you and your family a very Happy New Year!



(I'm desperately going through the threads, trying to catch up with everyone.) I can't remember everything I wanted to comment on, but I think that parents' knitting group is a brilliant idea.

>75 drachenbraut23: Nice review!
>76 drachenbraut23: *sigh* I know that feeling. Several times I've cooked with my older son, and he does seem to love cooking. However, once we've finished making the dish, he's often shown no interest in eating it! It's quite disappointing, especially as - for me - cooking (other than quick and easy things) is a bit of a process, so the satisfaction of making the food successfully is a bit dimmed :0/

Hi Bianca! Found and starred! So happy you are here for 2015!

I have the same problem about mount TBR. I should really try reading more books off my shelf. The not buying books isn't as big a deal so much as I can't stop borrowing books from the library so the books just keep sitting there....

You remind me that I really need to get to more Steinbeck books. The only one of his that I've read is East of Eden.

Nice to hear the Steinbeck love! I can't get enough of it. Good review of the Ishiguro. I think I have this one on shelf. Hope the week goes well, Bianca.

Now I want to read that Ishiguro instead of the one I started. Or both, or... too many BBs already too early in the month. :)

I hope Alex is only going through a phase and will happily return to enjoying mum's healthy and spicy foods. Haven't we been there in the 80s with the new American fast-food which had the main advantage of being different from mum's home-cooking? :)

I'd love to start knitting again, but don't really know what (except for a scarf) would be a good re-starting project. The little wool shop here has closed down and the other one looks very "traditional" not in a good way, so I guess I must order materials online. If you have an advice for me... ?

Yay for the gym! Is it Kieser or is it somewhere in London?

Nice review of When We Were Orphans, Bianca. I read it at least 10 years ago, so I didn't remember much abut it until I read your comments.

So now you're torturing your father and your son?!?

>75 drachenbraut23: I own that one, but have yet to read it. Must get to it some time!

>83 kidzdoc: Oh, really, Darryl. If people didn't like those films, they wouldn't keep showing them. Are you quite sure you've watched them properly? Maybe you should sit down with Bianca, Alex and her dad?....

;0)

>78 arubabookwoman: Hi Deborah, glad to hear that someone has similiar thoghts on When We were Orphans, yep the most disturbing part was once Christopher went back to Shanghai. As I have been listening to the audio I initially thought I missed something vital somerwhere, because nothing really made sense to me. However, I then noticed that I didn't miss anything and that it was obviously intentional. I am eagerly awaiting your review to compare notes.

>79 humouress: Hooray, Nina is here! Yes, the food issue is upseting, especially as Alex has become quite overweight over the past 2 years. He doesn't really enjoy sports, which doesn't help a lot. However, I do hope that I will get him back on track food wise. My mom cooks quite healthy as well, but quite a lot of meat, whereas my dishes are mostly vegetarian.

>80 jolerie: LOL - It's only the 6th of January today and I noticed that I had already several BB's over the past few days. However, I do hope that I will be able to resist.

>81 msf59: Thank you Mark! Definitely, can recommend the Ishiguro and I also wish you a wonderful week.

>82 Deern: Woah, you got a BB on my thread. :)
I also do hope that I will be able to return Alex to my more vegetarian folds. Also, my mom's food is healthy as well, she does cook meat on a daily basis - just so typical German, don't you think so as well?

Kinitting, if you don't want to make a scarf, but nothing to complicated I would suggest that you may make yourself a nice poncho. They are quite easy to make and if you include some interesting patterns, just great. Yes, I can pm you some links for online wool-shopping and if you like I can scan and send you a few easy patterns as well. I find knitting incredible relaxing.

Regards the gym, this is here in Germany. It's a Physio clinic which offers "medizinische Sporttherapy", I thought that was a good solution as my English physiotherapist strongly discouraged me from going back to an ordinary gym. Once I am back in England I am going to see my Physio there again on a regular basis.

>83 kidzdoc: Darryl hmpf, yes now I torture both, may I include you in this round. Hm, let me think I am sure I will be able to find something suitable for you as well. LOL

Thanks that you enjoyed my review of When we were Orphans *smile*. I didn't realise that that book was published that long ago. Somehow, I thought this was newer.

>84 alcottacre: Welcome Stasia! Great to see you around :)

>85 humouress: Thank you soo much Nina for backing me up here. Hm, very good suggestion. Maybe I should restrain Darryl on a chair and then watch with him all this wonderful and tacky old dance movies + my incredible interesting running commentary throughout. What do you think, Nina?

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

Ok, I had my first session at the physio gym yesterday and today I am absolutely sore :( I am a whimp and today I can see that I still have got a lot of rebuilding in front of me. However, my physio (who is dutch and lovely) is great and we are only starting slowly to see what I can and can't do and then we will built on it.
I was utterly exhausted last night, but I still went for a 6km walk with my brothers little dog. I am sure that everyone still remembers Paula, my brothers mini dog, who stays with us when he is abroad.

I am still listening to The Museum of Extraordinary Things which I absolutely love, also the part of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, was incredible sad and heart breaking.

>86 drachenbraut23: I will be able to find something suitable for you as well.
Why don't you crowd source that? I bet you'd get some ideas.

>86 drachenbraut23: 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
There is of course an entire book about this... Triangle by David von Drehle .

Hi Bianca! Just found your thread and am sure I'll get some book bullets from it. I look forward to seeing how you get on with the various author challenges. I have a spare copy of The round house if you'd like it to fulfil the Louise Erdrich requirement.

Hi Bianca. I'm about half-way through this thread and will get back to you later, but I just wanted to say that it is Sweet Thursday that is a sequel to Cannery Row, with the same cast of characters.

>86 drachenbraut23: Ah; maybe the problem is vegetables. On some days, my guys can't be persuaded to take even one bite; but on others, they down the stuff like it's going out of fashion - without even being asked. And my husband thinks that egg counts as a vegetable.

Yup; I think you should include Darryl in your next film-watching session ;0)

Good that you got some physio in, but sorry that you were sore after it.

Gosh! Your parents take in everyone - little dogs, hedgehogs, non-vegetarian boys ...

#85 - Count me in for a rewatch of those dancing-movies, Bianca - and throw in "Dirty Dancing" as well :)

Interesting review of When We Were Orphans. Like the first quote. Soon "we'll become too set to change". Yes, that was also true of Mr. Stevens. And with a lot of us who gradually and without realizing it becomes too set in our habits of thoughts and actions.

I have only read Remains of the Day by Ishiguro - but that was a masterpiece.

Hi Bianca, I am dropping a star and hope to come and visit with you on a regular basis this year. Steinbeck is a favorite author of mine and I am sure you will enjoy exploring some of his works this year.

>75 drachenbraut23: Nice review! I've only read Never Let Me Go, which I love, but definitely want to get to The Remains of the Day at some point. Interesting that this one has similar themes.

>76 drachenbraut23: I've always wanted to explore Alice Hoffman's stuff further, but never know where to go. This looks right up my alley. I've only read The Foretelling, which is a very interesting YA thing about a tribe of women warriors. I know her subject matter is all over the place.

Best wishes on the new exercise regime. It sounds like you have dreadful back problems? I'm so sorry. I've had some bad neck issues, and it's difficult to find a safe exercise regime, but I think I've finally worked it out.

Hi Bianca - I've been wondering about The Museum of Extraordinary Things; I generally like Hoffman but wasn't sure about this one.

Happy year of reading!

Dropping by, Bianca, to see how your year is going so far. Looks like you've been busy!

Bianca, I wish you a fabulous weekend.

Bianca that would be hilarious to force Darryl to watch dancing movies with your running commentary! Well, maybe not hilarious for him. For us yes! May I suggest Strictly Ballroom. Such a great, VERY CRAZY, dance movie.

>87 qebo: Great idea with the "crowd sourcing", Katherine.
Thanks for the recommendation on the Triangle Shirt Factory fire. Any suggestions for the Dreamland Park as well? As Alice Hoffman only scratched on these events, I have become more curious.

>88 Sakerfalcon: Thank you Claire. I found you as well :) The last time I checked in the Green Dragon group, I only could find your old thread. Yes, if I could borrow The round house by Louise Erdrich that would be great. Have you read this one already? In terms of BB's we probably can get them from each other quite a lot.

>89 ffortsa: Judy, thank you soo much for saying that. I do own Cannery Row, but not Sweet Thursday which means I will try to get that one before I read them.

>90 humouress: LOL And my husband thinks that egg counts as a vegetable. Love that one, Nina. Reminds me of our holiday in Eastern Europe. When we were in Latvia you could find chicken under the vegetarian menu and in Lithuania it was fish. However, we found one vegan/vegetarian cafe in Vilnius, Lithuania and "everything" was made from/with soya products. Baaah. When we asked whether they had some choices without soya they kinda of got annoyed and asked us if we didn't realize that we were in a vegan/vegetarian cafe? LOL. Amazes me again and again.

I had two more sessions and my soreness has improved quite a bit.

LOL, yes my mom (more than my dad) tends to take everything in. However, she is getting slightly better now.

>91 ctpress: CARSTEN - hooray, I am so glad to have found another male person, who would enjoy a tacky movie evening and of course we will include Dirty Dancing as well :)

Yes, Remains of the Day was Ishiguro's masterpiece. Although, I enjoyed all his other works as well, he never reached the quality of the Remains of the day again.
Agree, with you on the quote. Only recently, I talked with my best friend about that issue, I think that is why it touched me so much. I feel, that I have become very set in my ways and that I found it difficult to change as well, not that I need to - ahem, at least I don't think so...........LOL. However, I am sure you know what I mean.

>92 DeltaQueen50: Hello Judy, so glad that you are feeling better. I am glad to see that there are so many lovers of Steinbeck in this group. Which means if I do have any questions I know who to ask. :) I also will try to be more present in this group this year again.

>93 DorsVenabili: I feel that all of his books have got a similiar red thread running through them. All his main protagonists are kind of strange prisoners under the compulsion of their memories. We always seem to take walks through the landscapes of our heroes memories.

I loved The Museum of Extraordinary Things. I think Alice Hoffman is a brilliant story teller. I only read her The Dovekeepers before, which I enjoyed as well, also this is meant to be one of her weaker novels.

Thank you for your wishes on my exercise regime :) - Yes, I do have quite severe congenital spinal issues, which worsened over the past few years. Everytime I go trough a "flare up" it takes me longer to get back on track, which has been made even more difficult my some of my other health issues. However, I always like to view myself as a weed - I always get back up and I am never some one giving up anyway. :)

>94 BLBera: Hello Beth, The Museum of Extraordinary Things was beautiful and definitely worth a read. However, her mentioning of the Triangle Shirt Factory fire and the scenes from the Dreamland Park makes me want to explore these particular events a little further.

>95 ronincats: Yes, Roni I have been quite busy, especially on the knitting front. Will try to post some pics soon as I am sure you would appreciate the items.

>96 Ameise1: Thank you Barbara. I hope you had a great weekend as well.

>97 luvamystery65: Roberta, now we only have to come up with a strategy on how to capture Darryl, fix him to a chair and the movie night can begin. Have to check out "Stricktly Ballroom" I am not sure whether I have ever seen this movie. :)

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

The last week was quite busy, with lots of appointments and organizing stuff. I also ended up in quite a reading mood, which I didn't want to interrupt. I finished listening to The Museum of Extraordinary Things which was a great book, finished reading Station Eleven another great book and I am almost 3/4 into listening to People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. Somehow, I didn't make any real progress with The Ruby in her Navel. However, I am quite pleased with my reading this month and that is all what matters.
The weather here in Germany has been utterly awful for the past week. Lots of rain, with high winds, no fun at all. Everytime the weather did quiet down a bit, I used the opportunity to walk the dog.

#003 The Museum of Extraordinary Things - Alice Hoffman - 12h18/368p
audiobook unabridged narrated by Judith Light, Grace Gummer, Zach Appelman
✿ Challenge 15: Read a book you acquired in 2014

A Love Story, yes and a lovely at that. Two people, two very different backgrounds, meet by chance and fall in Love. Two young people who still have to understand their past and find their purpose in life. Both characters were incredible likeable and I enjoyed watching them grow throughout the story.

“Love happens in such a way, Maureen told me. It walks up to you, and when it does, you need to recognize it for what it is and, perhaps more important, for what it might become.”

First we meet Coralie, a young woman, sealed off from the outside world, being brought up by her father in the “Museum of Extraordinary Things”. The friends of her childhood are the “living wonders” of the world, who work for her father in the museums side show . Coralie was born with webbed fingers (Syndactyly) and trained by her father from a very early age to become one of the main attractions, “The Human Mermaid”. Most nights of her adolescence years she swims in the freezing Hudson River to train the capacity of her lungs and her endurance, but secretly she dreams of a free and normal life.

Eddie is a young Jewish man, who came with his father as a child from the Ukraine. Like many other immigrants at that time, he and his father toiled in one of the numerous sewing factories under miserable conditions. Different events led to the estrangement to his father and his religion. He feels lost in the world and doesn't quite understand his purpose in it. Fate eventually leads him to a masterful photographer, who take him on as his apprentice. Through the lens of his camera Eddie starts to perceive the world around him in different ways.

“Hochman had been right, the past was what we carried with us, threaded to the future, and we decided whether to keep it close or let it go. Fate was both what we were given and what we made for ourselves.”

Throughout the story we scratch on the historical events of the Triangle Shirt Factory Fire, which I thought were incredible daunting, as Alice Hoffman describes these incredible vivid. We also get to “see” a little of Dreamland park and it's downfall in May 1911. The story changes between Coralie, Eddie and an unknown narrator. We go back between past and present events. Alice Hoffman covers quite a few subjects, such as woman and workers rights and child abuse. Sometimes I wanted her to elaborate a little bit more on some of the subjects addressed. However, I thought this was a great read as Alice Hoffman is such a great story teller.

>101 drachenbraut23: Sounds like a very good read. I will have to give it a go. Thanks for the recommendation, Bianca.

I wrote a paper for one of my classes on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. What a tragedy.

>102 alcottacre: Hi Stasia, if you wrote a paper on it. Could you recommend any good non-fiction/fiction dealing with this tragedy? The one Katherine recommended sounds good already.

>103 drachenbraut23: Bianca, the book that Katherine mentioned is very good, but there is a previous book that von Drehle used as one of his sources that it good too: The Triangle Fire by Leon Stein. Those were the two books that I used primarily for my paper. There is also a good video done by PBS, American Experience: Triangle Fire, if you would like something on video as well. Many of the sources I used for my paper were primary sources such as the commission report about the fire and newspaper reports of the day, so I did not use many books aside from the two mentioned.

>104 alcottacre: Thank you Stasia, I will look out for the books and for the video. Alice Hoffman only scratches at the incident, but was incredible vivid in the descriptions of the day of the fire, which I found incredible daunting. Especially, the part when she described how the girls jumped out of the windows, because they were locked in.

>105 drachenbraut23: No idea how much the Hoffman book explains it, but the girls were locked in because of the fear of theft on the part of the owners. The owners insisted that the girls and their personal items such as purses be searched before the girls were allowed to leave for the day.

>106 alcottacre: Yes, that was one of the reasons how Hoffman explains it, but she also stated that this was done to stop the workers from going for breaks and so that they could be easier controlled.

>107 drachenbraut23: Yes, it is true that the locked doors were to keep the girls from going on breaks, but the primary reason as I understand it was to curb theft.

ETA: The amount of control the owners wanted to exert over their workers was, by any standard, ridiculous. Even bathroom breaks were strictly enforced.

>100 drachenbraut23: Glad to hear you've been in a book reading mood. I'm desperately clinging to mine as I really don't want to fall into a book funk that lasts months at a time. Who knows if I'll be successful *sigh*.

I hope the weather perks up a bit. It's been appalling here, and a second storm has arrived this afternoon - very high winds and driving rain. I want to hibernate and never come out!

Wonderful! I was a fan of The Museum of Extraordinary Things. I can usually count on Hoffman to just tell a good story and that one is no exception. I have a few other of her books on my TBR mountain that I will eventually get around to reading.

There was a novel about it that I read a few years ago, Triangle.

Bianca, I am glad you are having such a good reading month, but I will indeed look forward to seeing pictures of your knitting as well.

Hi Bianca! Good review of The Museum of Extraordinary Things. That one is already on my WL. It looks like my cuppa. Hope the week is going well.

>99 drachenbraut23: However, I always like to view myself as a weed - I always get back up and I am never some one giving up anyway. :) I love that attitude! I'll have to remember that when I get cranky.

>101 drachenbraut23: Nice review! I'm looking forward to this one, and it helps that it's set in my favorite time period of U.S. history.

Great review, Bianca - sounds like a very interesting love story - although with the odds against them. Have to admit that I know next to nothing of th Triangle Shirt Factory Fire. But I like books with historical settings.

>98 drachenbraut23: I read The round house last year and it was very good, though not easy in terms of the themes and plot. But I don't think any of her books are. I'd read a couple of her early books some years ago, and I liked the Round house better.

Nice review of The Museum of Extraordinary Things, Bianca!

Bianca, I wish you a relaxed weekend.

Hi Bianca! Thanks for the interesting review of The Museum of Extraordinary Things, it looks really interesting. Happy weekend!

Good morning everyone, after having some trouble with my laptop for over a week. I am finally "proper" back online. Although, I have been lurking on some of your threads. Unfortunately, I am absolutely useless in using my iphone for updating and typing - far too small for me. However, we (my mom, Alex and myself) had tons of appointments over the past week, which gave me the opportunity to get quite a bit of good reading done, whilst sitting in the waiting areas.
My medical sport therapy is going also really well and we even can see a little improvement after such a short time. When I go on Thursday mornings, there ususally comes an elderly lady (around 80) with a zimmer frame. When working with the weights she uses much higher weights then I do, which absolutely cracks me up as I can see that she always looks at the "small" weights I am using. My dad always sniggers now, when I come back and asks me whether I have been taken over again by the "club of old ladies" and their zimmer frames. He just thinks it is hilarious, well, in a good natured way :) . LOL - I personally think I have done absolutely great so far.

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

>108 alcottacre: Stasia, thinking about working conditions like that just makes me shudder and I am glad that at least in our contries these issues aren't as much of a problem anymore.

>109 lunacat: Jenny, yeah :) *dancing around in circles* the good reading is still in swing and I hope it won't stop for a very long time :).

The weather has slightly improved in Germany, at least in terms of storms and rain. Currently, we are experiencing a cold front with temperatures to -5 during the day. *shudder* , but at least not wet anymore.

>110 jolerie: This is only my second book by her Valerie, but I definitely will see if I can get some of her other books as well. She is such a great story teller.

>111 BLBera: Thank you for the recommendation Beth, what did you think about the novel?

>112 ronincats: Thank you Roni :). I will try to post some photos this week, if I can get Alex to model for my scarfes and hats *grin*. Somehow, you can't really see how they look like just photographed.

>113 msf59: Actually, I think The Museum of Extraordinary Things would be your cuppa as well. Also, it has the love story it is more of a background story. However, as mentioned before the themes addressed made me want to know more about this time in history.

>114 DorsVenabili: LOL - cranky is okay from time to time as well Kerri. I don't think I could smile all the time. Actually, I can be quite bad tempered from time to time.

If the setting of The Museum of Extraordinary Things is your favourite time in US history, than you definitely will enjoy the story.

>115 ctpress: Yep, the same here Carsten. I also love historical fiction, especially stories which are set in the middle ages.

>116 Sakerfalcon: Great to know Claire, so yes I would be very happy if you could lend me The Roundhouse by her.

>117 kidzdoc: >118 Ameise1: Thank you Darryl and Barbara :)

>119 The_Hibernator: Hi Rachel. Thank you :) and a happy belated weekend to you as well.

Since my last visit I finished Station Eleven which was a captivating read, despite some flaws. I read this in one sitting as I constantly wanted to know what was happening next. The setting is pretty much along the lines of The Road and The Dog Stars, also not quite as bloody. There were a couple of situations where I thought " oh really?", but all in all it was a brilliant read.

I listened to People of the Book a historical fiction novel which I enjoyed a lot. I finally managed to read/listen to The Secret History, which I received as a present quite a few years back. Another book which had a brilliant plot and kept me captivated.

Thank you Joe for recommending Saga volume 1, I loved this GN and just ordered the other 3 volumes. However, I didn't realize that this was on Alex wishlist on amazon and he was absolutely delighted that I got the GN.

Yesterday, I finished listening to The Casket of Souls the 6th installment in the Nightrunner series. I love this series. I reread them already many times as I just find them so entertaining. I just started to listen to the final installment Shards of Time in the series and hope that the series will end on a great note.

I almost finished reading The Heart is a Lonely Hunter which I enjoy tremendously as well. Next up will be The Photograph for the BAC.

I also started to read Dr. Mutter's Marvels together with Alex, which makes it a slow read. Actually, I just would like to go ahead and finish it as it is absolutely brilliant, but I fear that Alex will be incredible cranky if I should do so - patience Bianca, patience. Well, I thought I might just read the book when he is in school and then just pretend I didn't read it, but unfortunately I am not good at pretending and I know for sure that he will find out easily.

Hi Bianca! Nice to see you back and it is great to see the wonderful reading going on. Glad you loved Saga. I just requested Vol 4.

I have Dr. Mutter's Marvels saved on audio. Happy Thursday!

I've just read all four volumes of Saga and will be ordering my own copies soon - perhaps even today! Glad to see you liked it, and that you get extra mum points for reading them :)

>122 msf59: Hi Mark. I should have known that you have read already the Saga series - LoL. Yeah, I am looking forward to the other ones as well.

I think Dr. Mutter's Marvels is great. I am curious what you will make from it in audiobook format. Is there a leaflet with all the pictures from the book as well? The book is filled with interesting pictures from that time. Similiar as you find in The Sick Rose

>123 lunacat: Hi Jenny - I absolutely loved the Saga volume 1. I finished it in one reading whilst waiting for my mom at the doctors. Aside from having absolutely stunning graphics, the story itself is absolutely brilliant. Yes, mum points are always good - LOL - also he was a tad dissapointed that it didn't go onto his shelves, but mine. *grin*.

>122 msf59:, >124 drachenbraut23: Oh, yes, Dr Mutter needs illustrations.

>121 drachenbraut23: I also read Station eleven recently and couldn't put it down either - it was a one-day read for me too! I'm sure on a reread I'd notice inconsistencies and improbable things, but this time I thought it was excellent. Glad you enjoyed Casket of souls too, I thought it was a good one. I keep putting off Shards of time because once I've read it there won't be any more in the series for me to look forward to!

>121 drachenbraut23: I'm so glad your physical therapy is going well, Bianca! And it always makes me happy to see that someone else has read and enjoyed People of the Book. One of my all-time favorites, that one. I think I must be the last person on earth to read Station Eleven but you all are making it sound very tempting so I'll probably cave at some point this year.

>125 qebo: Yes, that's what I think Katherine. I just can't imagine this book without illustrations. However, if you enjoyed Dr. Mutter's Marvels I am sure you would equally enjoy The Sick Rose I am almost through with that one as well. It is such a beautiful book and definitely not one you can enjoy in one sitting.

>126 Sakerfalcon: I thought Casket of Souls was absolutely brilliant and yes I can understand that you are hesitant to read the last one. It's such a great series and I will miss all my fave characters. Also, I am sure she could have managed to write even more stories with them. One of my friends read Shards of Time and told me that she managed to finish the series in a great way. Have you read the Tamir series as well, Claire? That was my first series by her, which I equally enjoyed.

>127 rosalita: Hello Julia - I thought the People of the Book was great. Although, I took me some time to get used to our main character at first. I loved all the different stories, especially the earlier ones.
Thank you - I am also glad that my physio is going so well and hoping to be back on track by summer. My physio's say that it is good that I am so determined and focused when I do my exercises.
Station Eleven is a good read and a quick one at that. I am sure that you would enjoy that one, Julia.

>128 drachenbraut23: The Sick Rose
Oh, this does look interesting. Though I have no medical expertise whatsoever.

Oh, good, I'm glad you loved Saga, Bianca, and what a nice bonus that Alex had WL'd it.

I left a list of other good GNs over on Jenny's thread, as she's looking to read more.

I'm enjoying The Night Circus, to the surprise of probably no one. What a lot of fans it has!

>129 qebo: Katherine, no there is no medical expertise required it reads more like a history book and my 15 year old son is reading it as well. However, there isn't THAT much writing anyway, but this beautiful illustrations about disease and showing the development of medical illustrations over time.

>130 jnwelch: Alex just gave me some of his GN's which he would like me to read and he thought they were brilliant. One is The first volume of Elephantmen which he collects. Than he gave me Swamp Thing and Y The Last Man which are also by Brian K. Vaughan. Are you familiar with any of those?

Y The Last Man is an excellent series. I think you'll get caught up in it, Bianca. I'll have to check out the other two.

>133 jnwelch: Great to hear that, Joe! Than I probably will start with that one once I finished the Saga series. :)

I just snagged myself a copy of Station Eleven a couple of days ago and I can't decide if I want to read it while everyone else is reading it or wait till it is off everyone's radar. It's not like I have a lack in reading material to fill my time in between...haha!

>135 jolerie: LOL - Just read it Valerie. It's only a short book and read in within a few hours *grin*

Hi Bianca, you've inspired me to put a hold on the first three volumes of Saga at the library, I should be reading them early next month. Julia isn't quite the last person not to have read Station Eleven, but I am hopeful that I will get to it a some point this year.

Great news about the sports therapy. Now I am wondering what is a zimmer frame?
I like your dad's sense of humor! :)

On another thread I just posted that I might not read SE and now I am already again moving it upwards mount tbr.. Maybe it was a good thing with the credit card fraud so at least I can take some days (until the new card arrives) to decide what book to buy next while reading all the free test chapters.

Bianca - lovely to see you back to your active best in the group. I will be in the UK in July/August this year so maybe we can get together then. Hani I am sure is keen to meet one of her FB favourites. xx

De-lurking to say hi, Bianca!

>128 drachenbraut23: I have read the Tamir books and, like you, they were my first books by Flewelling. I did enjoy them but for some reason it's the Nightrunner series that I go back and reread.

I can tell I'm going to have to read the Saga books; so many people have said good things about them, and I love what I've seen of the art.

Never mind the book fever, I saw on Carsten's thread that you've heard the rumour that perhaps the Duchess Kate is having a second son? Oh, I am so suckered into it all! ;) I read the blogs and the UK Daily Mail for every bit of Kate and Will info and pictures. Do you think I that I could count all that reading as a book? :) Diana was the same age as I am - and pregnant around when I was -even back then me and my friends stayed up all night to watch Diana and Charles get married - now that was a shipwreck! When Diana's Dresses Exhibition came to my city, I hopped off to see them with my sister and a friend. So of course I have to follow them now. I suspect another boy, but really who knows. Let's just hope that Prince Harry settles down and does not become like his Uncle Randy Andy! Gasp!

I'll be back for book talk , Bianca, but the Royals ( some of them ) are oh so important!

>138 Deern: A zimmer frame...

>143 Morphidae: Aaaah - thank you! I wanted to look it up today and of course forgot.

Bianca, I love the lively book chat on your thread…and now I see that you are going to be reading Ms. Lively soon. I am nearing the end of the audio version of Family Album which has been very good. She is an author I will be visiting again.

How nice for you and Alex (and your parents) that you still have lots of time left in Germany. It is interesting how you commute between countries. At least you aren't doing it on a weekly basis! Your new gym sounds fantastic. Have fun getting stronger and healthier!

Ha, ha - good story on th old weightlifter. Made me laugh. That must be intimidating :)

Yes, you better keep waiting on Alex with that "cutting-edge-surgeon-bio". Have a nice weekend in Germany with your family.

My cousin commutes between Berlin and her hometown as she and her partner (who is German) own a flat and a business in Berlin but she still works part time at home. Although she dots back and forth far more regularly than you, and flies as well so it's a little speedier than your drive!

Nice to 'see' you again, Bianca :-)

>121 drachenbraut23: I seem to be on a GN kick and my local library has all the Saga volumes so I will definitely give them a try.

Wow! Lots of great reading, Bianca. And now I know what a zimmer frame is too. I think we call them walkers here.

Good to hear you enjoyed People of the Book! I think I have Dr. Mutter's Marvels on the wishlist too. I've been to the museum in Philadelphia and it was a fascinating and creepy experience, especially the drawers filled with various swallowed items. :-|

I've got the first Saga on request at the library, too. We'll see what I think of it.

Happy Sunday, Bianca. No photo greetings this time due to my busy RL.

Glad to see your medical sport therapy is going well, Bianca! Great reading, too. At some point I will get around to reading Station Eleven as I really enjoyed her earlier books, Last Night in Montreal which had more of a noir feel to it, and The Singer's Gun.

Just lurking, not much to say. We call Zimmer frames 'walkers' here in the States. It's good that the old lady is keeping her upper body strong, isn't it?

Zimmer frame sounds so much classier than walker.

Good afternoon everyone. Wonderful to have so many visitors :)

>137 DeltaQueen50: The Saga GN's are brilliant and I only can recommend them. Aside from brilliant graphics I also enjoy the story line and do like the characters.
Station Eleven also a good read and hopefully you will enjoy it as much as the rest of us :)

>138 Deern: Thank you Nathalie, yes the sports therapy is going really well and I see that Morphy explained already the zimmer frame. The lady - Helga - is really nice and "only" 72 years old. She has got quite a few health issues and does the training in conjunction with her physiotherapy and she told me that she also has improved already tremendously and hopes to be able to get rid of the zimmer frame at one point.

Station Eleven was a fun read, despite it's flaws. You know just one of those page turners.

>139 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul, great to hear that you and your family are going to be in the UK during July/August. Of course, if I should be around during that time I would love to meet you and Hani. I am sure we can find a wonderful place to eat :)

>140 scaifea: Hi Amber :) de-lurking is fine!

>141 Sakerfalcon: Claire, same here. The Nightrunner series is always the one I go back to. You will be pleased to hear that Shards of Time was another good read. At least IMO. I noticed that lots of other people felt that the characters haven't been well enough flashed out. However, I felt that it was enough for the plot of this story. I only would have liked to delve a little deeper into the character of the Plenamarian doctor.

>142 vancouverdeb: You are so right Deborah, "Never mind the book fever" Kate and William are much more interesting at present. Yes, the rumors are there. My mom and I saw a short news flash on her. I can't remember anymore whom she was visiting, but (as so often since married) she wore a blue dress and a baby blue coat and the first thing they mused about, whether she was trying to hint that it will be another boy. My mom and I were laughing about that. However, I am curious as well as I am seriously fond of this lovely Royal couple.

>143 Morphidae: >144 Deern: Exactly zimmer frame or "Rollator" in German :).

Good to see you, Bianca! Hope the week is going well for you. How is the reading?

Hi, Bianca - nice to see you again! I imagine you're still enjoying your time in Germany very much.

I've requested the first Saga volume from the library. It sounds fun for Fantasy February and I haven't read any GN's yet this year.

>145 Donna828: Hi Donna, I just finished Moon Tiger by Lively last night and I really enjoyed it. I found it incredible interesting that this particular book had such different receptions. I am definitely going to read some more Lively as well and I still have got The Photograph on my TBR.

Yes, I got into a nice little rythm with my commute between countries. When I told my manager that I am going to move to Germany, she asked me if I could imagine to commute between countries - and no, when it initially got proposed to me I couldn't. However, the main point was that I was unable to find work in the area I lived and in the end I decided to give it a go. When I initially started I used to commute every 2 weeks and that by plane for the first two years. After some time this became incredible tiring and I got myself a nice little car and since then I drive between countries, which I find much more relaxing (aside from the rare problems of weather and traffic jams).

>146 ctpress: Isn't it Carsten? LOL - yes, she is such a lovely woman, but not as old as I thought. When I had the first session with her and I saw her watching me, the only thought which entered my mind was "please, don't say anything". :)

>147 lunacat: I used to do that for a little over 2 years, Jenny. 2 weeks on/off and flying and I got so fed up. Since I moved to Germany I tend to lodge when in London, I lodged for 4 years with my sister, then for 2 years with a friend of hers and I just moved again. So, when I travel back and forth my luggage is slightly larger especially now, when I stay up to 12 weeks in London. So, a car is much more convinient and I always can take an extra pair of shoes and other stuff, which I might otherwise wouldn't take with me. :)

>148 souloftherose: Nice to "see" you as well :). I am curious to see what you will make from Saga. Will look out for your thoughts on them.

>149 DorsVenabili: Hi Kerri, if one day I should make it to the states, that's where my son would like to go - The Mütter museum in Philadelphia. My son told me about the museum and coincidentally Darryl told me about the book a few days earlier, so I felt that this would make a fine christmas present - and it was :) I read this together with my son and we just finished chapter 6 and so far it is just brilliant. The book reads more less like a historical fiction, which makes it an awesome read for a 15 year old teenage boy, interested in creepy stuff and science.

>150 Morphidae: great Morphy - go for it. Joe did a good job at promoting this fantastic GN.

>151 Ameise1: Thank you soo much Barbara and I do hope that your RL shedule will calm down in the near future. :)

>152 lkernagh: Hi Lori, yes I am also quite pleased that the sports therapy is going so well. From next week onwards I am promoted and allowed to train 3 times a week. Hooray :) my endurance with cycling has increased quite a lot as well and I managed today for the first time 20 min without falling of the bike with exhaustion.

>153 ffortsa: Definitely agree with you there Judy. I was mightily impressed by this lovely lady, but really can understand her. She said as long as she can maintain her independency she does whatever will help her to do so. She comes 2x a week and combines the training with her physiotherapy. Absolutely great and I do hope that I will still be that able at that age.

>154 qebo: yeah, I think zimmer frame sounds much more classy than walker, but also better than rollator :).

I had business a couple of days every week in NYC for about two years in the mid-90s, Bianca, and had to commute by plane there and back from Chicago. Not as bad as what you're talking about, but I'm glad not to do it any more. Driving does sound more relaxing.

The widely varying reactions to Moon Tiger sure are fascinating. I'll get to it some day, but I've got a bunch waiting in front of it.

Hope all is going well with you and your son.

>156 msf59: Heya Mark, reading is fantastic I can't quite believe my current reading streak. I finished The Heart is a Lonely Hunter which I really enjoyed. Such a great story, I will definitely will read some more by her and by Mrs. Lively as I equally enjoyed Moon Tiger. I am almost finished with Gracefully Grayson and I am glad that I had some tissues nearby and I am still listening to Gilead another wonderful book. Reading so far is just wonderful.

>157 streamsong: Hi Janet, yes I do enjoy Germany with my family a lot, especially my little time with Alex as he is always busy. At 15 he finally reached the age now where he doesn't always wants to hang out with mom *grin*. However, I am a mean mom and today I made him go on a power walk in the forrest with me. Initially he wasn't to keen, but I have to admit that I used a - ahem, tiny winy little bit of blackmail. Well, we both enjoyed our walk and talked about lots of interesting stuff.

I really enjoyed the Saga GN's and just can recommend them.

Today was another busy day. I went for my sport therapy in the morning. In the afternoon I went with Alex for a power walk in the forest, which was really fun and we managed 3.5 miles an hour. This evening I had my knitting club, which was also fun and everyone admired the scarf I am currently making.

On the reading front I finished listening to Shards of Time the apparent last installment in the Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling. As usual it was fun to follow Alec and Seregil on their adventures, also I was quite worried about loosing one of my fave characters. However, hoooray IMO she still has got some room to write another story with this two lovely characters and their fabulous friends.

I also finished The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers for Marks AAC, which I really enjoyed. I was impressed that McCullers addressed so many different social and political issues, also this felt at times too much and at other times the story felt slightly rushed like she is running for her live, but despite that I just loved the way she has drawn the characters all with their problems, finding their purpose in life. At the beginning I couldn't quite understand the role of Singer in this story, but then it clicked and from there on I just felt extreme sadness for him and somehow I wasn't surprised at all at how his story worked out.

Well, after there were soo many interesting discussions going on about Moon Tiger I virtually couldn't wait to form my own opinion. Again, a book I thoroughly enjoyed and wouldn't it been for the boring part of Tom's diary at the end of the book, this would have been a fantasic read. Nope, I didn't think that Claudia was absolutely horrible. Yes, she was brutally honest and IMO a product of her time who managed to go her way. Also, I never felt that she was really nasty to people, she certainly made people left out, when she was together with her brother, but otherwise? Yes, I can see how the relationship to her brother made people uncomfortable, same here, but looking at the way she and her brother were brought up, not necessary an unusual occurrence for that time in history. It was never an issue of power struggle with them and once they past puberty everything stopped, also not their attachment to each other. I think when she got her daughter it was too early after the loss of her first child, which was incredible traumatising for her. Even so, that she wasn't the main carer for her daughter and she somewhat felt that her daughter was a dissapointment, I never got the impression that she didn't love her. I think that due to the cicumstances, both were just unable to relate to each other. I definitely will try some other works of Lively as well.

Currently, I am listening to Gilead such a quiet but wonderful book. I love the stories and the love expressed in these letters from John Ames to his son.

I am hoping to pack up with Gracefully Grayson by tomorrow night, another wonderful book recommendation from Joe and Debbi.

>159 jnwelch: Hi Joe, just noticed that I cross posted with you, whilst still answering and updating my reading. Yes, the reactions to Moon Tiger are absolutely amazing. However, I belong to the camp who is pro Claudia and if you should get to read it one day. Somehow I could imagine that you would belong to the pro- camp as well.

Well, I kind of got used to the commute by now. Although, sometimes I wish it would be different, but nothing I can do about at present. :)

And here the first pics of my knitting adventures. Alex was reluctantly *grin* modelling for me. Obviously, for girls.Both, loop scarf and hat in ? half fisherman's rib and the hat with "Bommel".

" Reading so far is just wonderful." Music to my ears, my friend.

I am so glad you came down on the positive side of Moon Tiger. Loved your comments.

>161 drachenbraut23: Huh, it was only the T diary at the end of the book that at all redeemed it for me. I'd rather have read a whole book of his diary than hear about Claudia, but each to their own!

>163 drachenbraut23: Wow, that wool would be perfect for a friend of mine as her competition colours are yellow and purple, but I've never come across woll that is those shades together. What is it?

Lots of wonderful reading on your end, Bianca!
I totally echo what you said regarding McCullers impressive insight into such heavy topics.

Alex is a doll for being a willing model for you to show off your knitting. I like those colours. They remind me of fall and all the colour changes.

100 POSTS BEHIND!!!! Good grief!
I will just say that I'm happy that you're getting into the exercise mode again. I'm also very happy that you enjoyed Moon Tiger too. I'm definitely in the admirers' camp. And I must get back to Marilynne Robinson sooner rather than later. I really, really loved Gilead.
What a wealth of books we have access to!!!!!

Lovely knitting Bianca!

>161 drachenbraut23: I felt that same way about Tom's diary at the end. It was SO boring and I mostly skimmed it. I didn't see the point of it being in the book as it was so different in focus and tone. It threw me out of the story.

>163 drachenbraut23: I love the looks of both the colors and the patterns of the hat and scarf, Bianca. I am currently working on my fingerless mitts to wear in my always-freezing office. It is my first time knitting with double-pointed needles and despite a few little hiccups it's going pretty well. Of course, I have not yet tackled the shaping of the thumb — that will come soon and we'll see if I am still feeling good about this project after that. :-)

Oh, that hat and loop scarf turned out lovely, Bianca! Well done, you!

Yay for Gracefully Grayson! I'll let Debbi know you're reading it, Bianca.

The hat and scarf are lovely! If it's still as cold when you get back to London as it is now, you'll need to bring them with you!

I read volumes 1 and 2 of Saga this week and loved them. Some of the visual details were hard to look at, but overall the art was fantastic and a perfect match for the story.

>163 drachenbraut23: So beautiful, Bianca.

Both pieces look lovely and warm! So nice of Alex to model for us after he already had done the forest walk with you! :)
I didn't get around to any knitting yet. I should start some winter scarf or poncho project early in spring to have a chance to be done once autumn comes.

>164 msf59: Thank you Mark. I am quite pleased with this month reading and still can't believe that I read so many fabulous books. I haven't read that many books in almost 2 years now. Hooray :) !
Yes, I really enjoyed the story and the way it has been told. However, after reading all these interesting discussions I have come to the conclusion that if Claudia would have been Jasper, the reception of the story would have been entirely different.

>165 lunacat: Seriously Jenny, you could have read a WHOLE book in the style of Tom's diary - I am amazed. I probably would have gone into a lovely snooze after 10 pages :).

The wool colour combination is beautiful, I agree. My friend has got a wool shop here in Germany (that's also where the knitting club is) and the wool was part of her winter sale. It's a mixed fibre wool, great for washing and I only paid ~ 1.50 pound/50g.

>166 jolerie: Hi Valerie, yes Alex is a doll for modelling the "girls" stuff for me :). Since, he has done some more for me.
Yep, I am quite pleased with my reading this month as well. Mostly good reads, not one abandoned book.

>167 LizzieD: Peggy, I finished Gilead and just loved it. Such a beautiful book, I can't believe that I had this sitting on my TBR for such a long time.

>168 lauralkeet: Thank you Laura! I managed to finish up quite a few "knitting building sites" from last year and I am in the process now of getting rid of my mountain wool.

>169 Morphidae: Great to hear that someone else thought the diary was boring, Morphy. Yep, I did the same I kinda skim read that part.

>170 rosalita: Thank you Julia! Yes, when you use double pointed needles for the first time that can be quite tricky. I would love to see the pics once you finished them, Julia. Thumbs can appear a little daunting the first time, but don't worry not much different what you are doing already :). *Stares at you absolutely horrified* your office is that cold that you need fingerless mittens? Julia, that is horrific.

>171 scaifea: Thank you Amber! I was quite pleased with how they turned out. There are more pics of scarfs and hats to come. I have quite a lot of leftover wool, which is just about enough to make either loop, hat, or mittens/pulswarmers.

>172 jnwelch: Finished it Joe, and it was fantastic. Thank you so much for recommending it. Such a wonderful book.

>173 Sakerfalcon: Hi Claire, thank you. I do have quite a few surplus knitted items, which I will bring with me, when I come back to London. If you do like knitted items, you can have a look what you like as I usually tend to give my surplus away to friends and family.

Great, that you enjoyed the Saga GN's as well. As I mentioned already on your thread, you are welcome to borrow Volume 3 and 4 from me.

>174 Ameise1: Thank you very much, Barbara. I am glad to hear that you like my knitting.

>175 Deern: Yes, isn't he lovely my big boy. I have been watching American Horror stories with him over the past two nights and I noticed despite him being already 15, he still loves snuggeling on and still wants his cuddles. We had such a great time the past two nights. When we watched the first episode of the season, I was utterly scared, which he found really, really funny and "cute". However, I lost my squimishness after the first episode and quite enjoyed this season. Tonight we are going to start season 2.

If you are a slow knitter than spring is the perfect time to get going. However, you might want to consider buying your wool now, as the winter sales are on now. Actually, I didn't want to buy anymore wool, but my friend has absolutely fab wool (and the colours I like) on sale.

January was a wonderful reading month for me with a variety of genres and new to me authors thanks to the challenges.



#001 ✿ (3) ♬ ✔ Tortilla Flat - John Steinbeck - 7h3/208p
#002 ✨ (10) ♬ ✔ When We Were Orphans - Kazuo Ishiguro - 10h6/320p
#003 ✿ (22) ♬ ✔ The Museum of Extraordinary Things - Alice Hoffman - 12h18/368p
#004 ✨ (15) HB Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel
#005 ✿ (9) ♬ ✔ PB People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks - 14h05/372p
#006 ♬ ✔ PB The Secret History - Donna Tartt - 21h46/503p
#007 ✿ (22) PB Saga Volume 1 - Brian K. Vaughan - 160p -
#008 ✿ (22) ♬ ✔ PB Casket of Souls - Lynn Flewelling - 14h7/496p -
#009 ✿ (22) ♬ Shards of Time - Lynn Flewelling - 12h57/412p -
#010 ✨ (12) PB The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers - 359p - 12h57/412p -
#011 ✿ (22) PB Saga Vol. 2 - Brian K. Vaughan - 144p -
#012 ✿ (22) PB Saga Vol 3 - Brian K. Vaughan - 144p -
#013 ✨ (15) @ Moon Tiger - Penelope Lively - 224p -
#014 ✿ (22) ♬ ✔ @ Gilead - Marilynne Robinson - 8h57/288p -
#015 ✿ (22) HB Gracefully Grayson - Amy Polonsky - 256p -

Total pages read = 4.638, which equals 309 pages/book. HOOT!

My favourite books were



+ this month GN's were utterly captivating with their stunning artwork.

And here some more knitting pics. I knitted this jumper over the christmas period. The wool is a cotton/wool mix in tweed style and I experimented a little with structures and different pattern combination. The jumper looks quite sporty and looks especially great worn with "flares" or denims. This jumper was quite fun to make.

On the reading front, I finished the month of with the captivating story of Gilead. Carsten, thank you for giving me the nudge to go for it. Beautifully written letters from a dying father to his young son. The letters are meant to be kind of instructive, but actually they are a history of John Ames life and his musings on life. Absolutely wonderful. At the beginning, I thought it was a little slow, but overtime that was exactly what I loved about the story.

My final book for January was Gracefully Grayson recommended by Joe and Debbi. A wonderful, beautiful, heartbreaking book. Highly recommended. The main theme is about gender identity, but somehow it is soo much more. If you should get to it don't forget the box of tissues, I can't tell you how many times I needed them. Grayson our main character is a young teenage boy, who dreams to be a girl and this is his journey on how to make it true.

I also finsished this morning The Turn of the Screw for the AAC challenge which I enjoyed a lot. The tension is maintained throughout the whole story and until the end you just don't know what is true. The end took me by surprise and wasn't what I expected at all.

Currently I am listening to The Paying Guests and I started to read Witness the Night for the Reading Globally group.

>178 drachenbraut23: What a fun combination of patterns!

I love the jumper, both the style and the colours. Just the kind of thing I'd wear. Very nice indeed.

I love the sweater--the colors and the juxtaposition of patterns!

>178 drachenbraut23: Wow! I love that sweater!!

I love your jumper Bianca! I hope my knitting will be that good some day, but I'm only just learning and don't practice as much as I should. And it looks like you had a great reading month. Good job!

Beautiful sweater, Bianca. And, what a lot of good reading you've done in January. I hope your Feb. is also filled with good books.

>180 qebo: >181 lunacat: >182 ronincats: >183 scaifea: >184 The_Hibernator: >185 BLBera: Thank you Katherine, Jenny, Roni, Amber, Rachel and Beth for the compliments on my jumper. I have to admit that I really enjoyed making this jumper, especially as I used several different colours. I usually tend to stick to one, maybe two colours at most, but lately I got this thing about "more colourful". One of my mom friends asked me if I could give her the instructions or make her one as well, but I had to pass on that one. I don't really use instructions, but measurements. I know what my measurements are and I usually look at my wool, imagine what I want of it and just start knitting. Sometimes, I have to unravel (? right term) my items again, because it is not that what I wanted, but who cares. I usually mix and match patterns I find in my knitting magazines, which date back to the early 80's :).
I almost finished a simple cardigan with a multi-coloured wool my friend had on sale. Will see how it looks when completed. I got some matching wonderful ceramic buttons to go with the cardigan.

>185 BLBera: Thank you Beth. I hope my reading streak is not going to leave me again. Also, it porobably will slow down a little, once I am back in London in a couple of weeks and back to my 52 hour working week :).

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

Last night I started with Alex the second season of American Horror stories. The first season was set in an old Victorian style house and the second season is set in an asylum in the 1960's. Also, there are in our shared opinion too many (as we think unnecessary) nude scenes, the series is really good. At least from the scare factor. Alex keeps to be delighted when he sees me jump, or cover my eyes. Odd, what makes a 15 year old teenager happy.

From this week on I start going 3x a week to my medical sports therapy - ha, I got promoted. I still enjoy it a lot, especially as I can see that I continue to get better.

I am about a 1/4 listening to The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters and I am not quite sure about it yet. I love the setting - mostly South London, which has been my home for almost 20 years now. I like to follow their steps of places I know, but the story itself is kind of slow, considering that this is quite a chunkster, but I couldn't really say that it is bad either. Well, will see in a couple of days.

Today I am going to try Darryl's recipe of the African Bean stew as it just sounds fantastic and I do have most ingredients at home. I am curious how this will turn out, but alone the thought of the combination of peanut butter and hot spices are incredible mouthwatering.

What a fabulous jumper, or as I would call it, a sweater!:) Amazing variety of patterns and textures. I'm afraid I'm a failed knitter. Long time ago I attempted to knit a jumper/ sweater for my eldest son. I did fairly well, even managing to put a different colour in it, following a pattern. It was a v neck with raglan sleeves, but once I got to the sleeves, I mailed it away to my grandma to finish the sleeves and sew it all together. So I have much admiration for your work!

As for your reading, simply amazing!

>178 drachenbraut23: - what a fun, and warm looking sweater!

Love the sweater/jumper! It looks soft and comfy, plus the colors and patterns, just great!

American Horror Stories is in my Sky package I believe. Hm... I am also one of those people who can sit out a whole movie having their eyes covered and their thumbs in their ears, but here I could stop and rewind or fast-forward. I might give it a try.

Edit: yes, I have 3 full seasons I could watch... just downloaded the first 3 episodes. And I found Heimat3, I didn't even know it existed. Of course we'd all watched Heimat in the 80s, but I hadn't even sen the later 2nd part.

>176 drachenbraut23: Interesting point about Claudia/Jasper. I think I would agree with you.

Glad to see you liked People of the Book. Brooks is one of my favorite authors and I've read everything she's written.

>179 drachenbraut23: I thought Gilead was a beautiful book when I read it. Home was a lovely follow-up.

>178 drachenbraut23: I love the jumper! The colours are lovely and the wool looks so soft. I've paused with my knitting because my two projects have got to a part I don't like and I keep putting off picking them up...

>186 drachenbraut23: 'I don't really use instructions, but measurements.'

I find that very impressive as I'm very much a need-to-follow-a-pattern person. I did manage to change a pattern for a teacosy once but it took several unravellings to get it right.

>176 drachenbraut23: Yes, my office is that cold! It's usually between 64 and 68 degrees F (roughly 18 to 20 C), which is just impossibly cold if your job entails sitting at a desk for long stretches. I started the thumb shaping today over my lunch hour and so far, so good. It's a bit frustrating to only have an hour at a time to knit because unlike, say a scarf, it's important for me to be able to keep track of which round I am on. We'll see how it goes from here.

The jumper/sweater you made is just gorgeous! I just love the mix of patterns that you came up with, and the colors are lovely.

>178 drachenbraut23: That is so cute!

>179 drachenbraut23: I liked The Turn of the Screw as well when I read it a while back. I always say that if I ever adopt a brother/sister cat team, I will name them Miles and Flora. True story.

>186 drachenbraut23: I kind of felt the same way about The Paying Guests. It has a really good sense of place and great attention to fascinating historical details, but it ultimately bored me a bit and went on and on. The more I think about it, the less I like it. Also, I think I just don't like Sarah Waters style in general, actually. That was my second Waters novel, and I think I'm probably done with her.

A week away Bianca. Hope everything is fine my dear and you are keeping up your reading momentum.

Yes, I hope you're well and not affected by any of this year's viruses. Wishing you a good week!

Hi Bianca - late arrival to your thread but i'm finally caught up.I love the creative knitting that you've been up to, almost have me convinced to pull out my needles though it's summer here so I'll resist the urge for a few months.
I'm requesting Saga #1 from the library, adding Station Eleven to my' to read' list and considering Dr. Mutter's Marvels.

Just popping in to give Waves & Hugs to Bianca! Hope all is well! ♥

Hugs Bianca! Hope you had a great weekend!

Hope all is well with you and yours Bianca. :)

Waving to you, Bianca. I hope everything is ok.

Also stopping by to wish you well, Bianca.

Hi, Bianca! What are you reading these days?

Hey Bianca. Hope you and Alex are ok. Are you coming back to the UK soon?

Just checking in Bianca!

Ditto.

Happy weekend Bianca!

I understand that Happy Birthday wishes are in order, dear lady!

Happy Birthday Bianca!
Hope everything's alright. Have a good week!

Happy birthday Bianca! I hope you do something special to celebrate and have a lovely day!

Happy Birthday, Bianca!

Happy Birthday, Bianca.

Happy Birthday, Bianca! We miss you!

Happiest of Birthdays, Bianca!!

Happy Birthday Bianca. I hope everything is alright and you're simply off having lots of fun with Alex.

Happy Birthday, Bianca!

Happy Birthday, Bianca. I hope you are having a wonderful day! :D

Happy birthday Bianca! I hope books were involved in some way.

Birthday?! Happy Birthday, Bianca!

A very Happy Birthday to you, Bianca!

It's probably not your birthday anymore where you are, but it still is where I am so ... Happy Birthday, Bianca!

Belated Happy Birthday, Bianca!

Belated Birthday Hope you are away having a Fab time .........

Happy belated birthday! (yeah, I only get here once a week, give me a break....)

Missing your presence on LT, Bianca. I hope you are having wonderful RL time with your son and family and that all is well with you.

Hello Bianca, I hope everything is fine at your place and you're just too busy in RL. I wish you a most lovely weekend.

Happy Easter Bianca. We miss you.

Wishing you a restful Easter weekend, Bianca!

Hi, Bianca! Hope things are going well.

Stopping by to say hi, Bianca! Hope all is well and I know how life can get busy!

>98 drachenbraut23: My husband tried being vegetarian for a month, so I said I would, too; but then he wanted to eat mock-meat (ie made from soya), which I've never taken a shine to. We did find a couple of restaurants where at least everything tasted different, but after one or two meals, that was enough for me.

He was relieved when the month was over (so he could eat meat again) and so was I (no more mock-meat). My initial hope that we might eat more vegetarian food died quite quickly...

I see you've disappeared from LT, Bianca, when I've just reappeared. I hope you're not avoiding me. Or maybe we're actually the same person?...

Hope everything is well with you.

ETA - extremely belated birthday wishes. Hope you had a great day.

Just stopping by to say hello Bianca!

Happy weekend Bianca. Hope things are going well!

Hi Bianca; wishing you a happy weekend (well, hope it was good).

Hope everything is well with you and your family.

Hi Bianca, I hope everything is fine with you. I wish you a most lovely weekend.

Happy weekend, Bianca!

Hi Bianca, hope all's well with you, though I can see you're still enjoying your reading. Come back and play soon!

To other concerned friends, I just checked on Facebook and Bianca has rated a book on Goodreads a couple of hours ago, and several others previously this month.

Happy weekend Bianca!

Popping in to say hello Bianca.

I (well mainly Hani) have had a couple of messages from Bianca and she is ok and hopefully about to get back into the groove of things here again. I know she has been sorely missed and the brave lady keeps facing down health difficulties and will continue to do so I am sure. xx

I think that's why (the health issues) we get so concerned when she goes incommunicado, Paul. Thank you so much for the update.

What Roni said, Paul. Thanks.

Sending lots of positive thoughts to Bianca.

Thanks so much for the update, Paul.

Thinking of you, Bianca and sending you a load of positive vibes. Hugs xx

Just stopping by to say also thinking of you Bianca.

Hope to see you soon Bianca! Thinking of you.

Hi Bianca, I wish you a lovely weekend.

Hi Bianca! Thanks for your message. Sorry to hear about your health woes, but glad to hear you're fighting back (we wouldn't expect any less). Looking forward to seeing you back on LT soon. Hope your family is well. Hi to Alex, too!

Bianca, I hope things are looking up for you. Your place will be here ready for you when you're ready for it. WE'RE ready for you for sure!

Hi Bianca! Hope you're well. Just waving.

Good to see the pictures of you with Darryl!

I've loved following Darryl's journeys and meet-ups too. Great to see you!

Hani loves reading your contributions on FB Bianca, but I miss you around here. xx

Ah, well done, Bianca. Congrats on passing 75. :-)

Have you passed 75? Congratulations!

Hope everyone is well on your side (hedgehogs included!).

Way to go, Bianca! Congratulations on making 75.

Thank you very much everyone for your wonderful messages.

I am really pleased this year as I currently do feel just great, which had such a positive impact on my reading.
I managed to read 121 books so far, which just makes me feel so good.

I still follow most of your threads to get my BB's, also I am just a lurker. If life should carry on as it is at present, I may will try to be a bit more active next year.

Lovely to see a Bianca sighting!

Splendid also to see you so upbeat and I am sure it will augur a splendid weekend. xx

Hi Bianca - I've picked up a few BBs from you via goodreads.

HI, Bianca! So glad to hear you are feeling well and, wow, what a reading year you are having.

Bianca!!! :D
*freu*

WOW! 75 and feeling well!! I'm happy that you're having such a fine 2015, and it's always lovely to see you here.
Are you still reading *Ruby* and Iron Council? Those are two that I have read and enjoyed, and it's hard to think of two more different books.

Bianca - How lovely to see you posting! Take you time shifting back into the slipstream that is LT. Lurking seems to be my modus operandi this year as well.... no time to really digest and comment on all the threads in the group.

I wish you a wonderful weekend!

I'm happy to see you and to hear that you're feeling so much better. I loved the pics that Darryl posted of your meetup and adventures.

Good to see you, Bianca!

Hi, Bianca! Hope everything is going well.

Hi Bianca, I finally find time to do some weekend greetings. Wishing you a most lovely weekend.

Hi Bianca - falls Du hier reinschaust: Fröhliche Weihnachten und alles Gute für 2016!! {{{hugs}}}

Happy Holidays, Bianca! And Happy Reading! Hope to see you more in the New Year!

Bookish Christmas wishes to you Bianca!

For my Christmas/Hanukkah/Solstice/Holiday image this year (we are so diverse!), I've chosen this photograph by local photographer Mark Lenoce of the pier at Pacific Beach to express my holiday wishes to you: Peace on Earth and Good Will toward All!

Have a lovely holiday, Bianca. xx

And may you have a lovely New Year, Bianca, filled with wonderful books and all your favorite things!

Merry Christmas and Happy, Happy New Year, Bianca!

Happy Holidays, Bianca!

What a treat it was for Debbi and me to see you in September. We're already looking forward to, hopefully, doing the same in '16.

Hope you're having a relaxing holiday break.

Merry Christmas Bianca! I hope you, your family and all the animals are tucked up nice and warmly.

Wishing you the best for 2016.

Hi Bianca. Happy New Year!

Do you have a thread in the 2016 group yet?