pontalba

Yes, I knew about the lovely chocolate and caffeine contributing, for some people. Fortunately they don't bother me. But let me drink a glass of a good Port wine, and I am down for the count. One of the worst headaches I ever had was from red wine. I love it, but it doesn't reciprocate! I do have a couple of helpers though. One is to drink a cup of strong coffee (I always drink it black in any case), and take a Claritin before drinking alcohol. It works for me. I like vodka too. . With tonic water, usually.

Good grief! What an unimaginably awful experience. I'm sorry you lost her so early. A new word! Love it!

Hey Julie, I found this! http://m.wikihow.com/Play-Hopscotch They show the traditional type first, then some variations I am not familiar with. I used to love hopscotch!

Just thought of one. 1998's A Widow For One Year by John Irving. Fantastic story! The film The Door in the Floor was made from the first third of the book. Universal story, not dated.

Tea, hot.

We get the paper copies in the mail. Easier to share. What a shame those maps are not on anymore!

Thanks, Anna. Different is good, and interesting.

Oh, yes. dear Mr. Craig. We've seen all the Bond ones, and Archangel and Defiance. All very good! If it is this one..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4mBGEdB-XE I saw it when it came out. Hilarious!

I'd have to agree about The Handmaid's Tale and The Road. I have to say I didn't like The Book Thief, I felt it made light of the Nazi reality. So, I'd hope it doesn't become a "go to" classic in the future. I'd hate to think that future generations thought that was all there was to that horror.

We are receiving it, but I don't get to read all of it all the time. It's quite good though. We also get New York Review of Books in the mail. I used to subscribe to Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and Science Fiction/Fantasy magazine. But they just got too expensive to keep up. They are a great way to find new authors though. I have a stack of The New Yorker around here, somewhere, and Time magazines. Probably still have some Newsweek as well. I wish I hadn't thrown out the ancient National Geographic Magazines when we moved. They went back decades.

Love it! Actually, the buzzard expression is from New York. My first husband was from N.Y. as well. That was his expression. So, I regret to admit, it's a "Yankee" expression.

Great reviews, Anna. I have Wild Swans on the shelf, and really do want to get to it....hopefully this summer. I want to read Mr. Mercedes as well.

Oh, I'll get back to the Roman series, no doubt about it! But after a thousand pages or so of it, I just pooped out. I'll write a review of the Gabaldon, as finished it late last night, er, really early this morning. The last quarter was some better, but I still think I will stick with a 3/5 rating. I'm just a bit tired, after the late night and the travelling on the weekend.

What an ordeal! But it sounds like your preparations will see you through it just fine, Julie. That's half the battle.

Interesting. Although I'm sorry you've had to go through all that! When you say pain around your right eye, do you mean above and below? Or just above? I get something like that, but attributed it to sinus headaches. Of course I don't get it very often, not like I used to. There are so many "causes", before I underwent "the change", I used to get a headache just before and just after my time. Then there were what I called "sinus headaches". Now I wonder. Do you get headaches from red wine? The hospital does sound a bit Stephen King(ish). heh But the ducks sound adorable. Do you know what kind of ducks they were? I used to raise Muscovy Ducks, the black and white ones.

No, I wouldn't call Obama a "Hitler". However, I don't know where that Japanese PM got the idea that there was any "free healthcare" in the United States. That's the biggest joke of the century. Only if a person is just about destitute, living in poverty can one get free healthcare. Too many people fall between the cracks and are unable to afford the 500.00 to 600.00 USD monthly premiums that are available. And, these high premiums also carry at least a 5,000.00 USD deductible. If that is considered "free", I'll eat my hat. Obamacare is a monstrous joke. IMO. Sorry, I avoid any political stuff like the plague, but I couldn't let that go by.

Great review, James! Sounds fascinating.

You don't have to learn to be strong and brave, you already are!! / hugs/

ROTFALOLTIC!!! That's great, Julie! I've read a few YA books, and thought they were interesting. It is a great idea for authors to tackle problems that teens face, and I appreciated the insight in the ones I have read. Julie, we had YAs too. Nancy Drew, The Bobbsey Twins......and lots more. What is Black Beauty, but YA? Little Women. I think so called adults could learn a lot from those books.

I suppose, for me, classic means a story that can stand the test of time, one that won't seem dated in one or two hundred years. Something universally human that could take place in the 21st century as well as the 23rd. Naturally the technology will change, probably drastically, but the story should rise above that and not depend upon it. But the last 20 years? I'd have to think long hard about that.

Y'all were talking about coincidental happenings.....well, I've got something interesting. Over the weekend we visited a town about 170 miles away for a book/author signing. It was at the Page & Palette book store in Fairhope, Alabama. Oliver North was there signing his latest. P&P is the greatest little independent bookstore! We drive over occasionally and stay the night. Lots of shops and stuff. Anyhow P&P has a used book section upstairs, so naturally we went upstairs. The very first book I spotted from across the room was The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin! Naturally I ran over and grabbed it, immediately. I'd written the book and author name on a scrap of paper and kept it right in front of the computer monitor, so it was fresh in my mind. It looks very interesting. Thanks, frankie!

I put down Fortune's Favorites by Colleen McCullough about 150 pages in, it is the third in the Roman series, and having read the first two in quick succession all of a sudden I was just fed up with all things Roman (for the moment!). So, now I'm about 75% through Diana Gabaldon's Written in My Own Heart's Blood. I'm sad to say it doesn't measure up to some of the previous books in the series, IMO. But it's pretty good. Very unresolvy. I'd given in and bought the e-book. I'm not 100% sure I'll bother with the hard copy.

Granted there may be people that haven't grown up, but reading YA and that are not the same, by the stretch of anyone's imagination.

People that write insulting articles of that nature are most likely very insecure within themselves, so they are compelled to belittle others that don't share their worldview in order to pump themselves up. It's fine that a reader doesn't like certain genres, so what? But, when they turn that dislike into a personal attack on (an)other reader(s), is where I draw the line (in the sand). From the article linked above......... What bloody nerve! Is that the "Royal We"? /it's enough to puke a buzzard/

OH BOY!!!!!!! I'm so very happy for your family Julie!!!!!! Wonderful, happifying news, to say the very least. PHEW! is right.