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Claire Good luck on the book sale . I hope you can pick up some that you want, but also keep reading your paper books so you can finish them up first, since that is your goal. I know it's hard to buy new books and not read them first, though !

Devi What colors are they having for the wedding ? I wondered what color of dress you'll be wearing ?

They went ok, Pixie . Everything done and ready . The Dr explained what all would happen, then I had my therapy class to learn pre-op exercises to strengthen my leg muscles . I have my therapy class set up for the Monday after surgery , and my walker rented to use ( for 1st 2 weeks) ,so all systems go . Thanks for asking !

Don't you hate hen that happens ? Are you able to renew them or do you have the 2 week time limit on them all ?

Hi B Go right ahead ! Have fun with it! ) I liked it because t's pretty easy to find books to fit most of the categories .

Athena Congrats on the Moderator status ! I just noticed it last night .

Dead End Gene Pool - Wendy Burden Wendy is related to the Vanderbilt family from a few generations back, so she grew up knowing she would inherit " a few million dollars" when she came of age . She spent most of her life with her grandparents, who were filthy rich. It was interesting to hear how much money they had, the houses they lived in ,the trips they took , and the extravagant lifestyles they lived . It sounds very tempting to live a life like the with the world at your fingertips, but with it came a pretty bad legacy of suicides, drugs, alcohol and too much pressure to look perfect and make perfect decisions. Her Mother wasn't really ever there for her and spent most of her life on constant vacations, having several man friends , and never really having much interest in being a mom . Through it all, the author is able to look at the humor in her life ,but yet tell a story of a lot of sadness ,too . I don't think it'd be worth it to have hat much money if your life was as difficult as hers was . Interesting book, though ! It's always interesting to read how the other half live ! 4/5

Kate Good idea, tossing the book you weren't enjoying . You have a lot more good ones waiting on you,so no use wasting time on something you really do not enjoy . Now the Clinton /Obama one sounds quite interesting . I guess I never knew there was such a clash between the 2 .. Would you say it's mostly the men or the women ? And you're right, how will we ever know , it could all just be made up stuff, but possibly true . I'd guess there'd be a lot of disharmony amongst some of the politicians .. I think once in awhile it's evident ,such as on the Inauguration Day when the new President and wife come into the White House with the old ... when they walk out together, once in awhile their faces and body language kinda give away their opinions of each other .

Hi Kate Yes, the Fikry book was quite a surprise for me . I didn't know quite what to expect. It's really different, so that always helps to make things more interesting . I think you'd enjoy it with all the book references throughout . The author mentions a LOT of books during the story, so that's also a plus if there are any that sound interesting to you ! It's also a quick read ,plus it's so good you keep reading faster to see what will happen .

Thanks Pixie -- I've read the Fried Green Tomatoes book you have and it's good too . Probably a bit better than Daisy Fay. They made a movie of it I know . I'll keep an eye out for some of the other Zevin books . Athena I haven't read all of Flagg's books so I'm not familiar with that one or how good it is. At least since you got it used, if it's not something you'll like, it wasn't the cost of a new book. You can just donate it or something if you don't care for it . You might like it though !

Beautiful kitty ! She looks very happy there where she can stretch out and enjoy her space !

Yea, let them handle that stuff . No hurry to get everything done fast. Moving really isn't bad if you take your time and can get things situated like you want them . It should be ok if you can only keep one shelf of your TBR in your place, since you other shelves will be close by ! You can always switch up books when you finish one shelf full !

Thanks, Athena I'm glad you reminded me to look for other books by the same author ( of AJ Fikry) . I meant to look that up last night before bed and forgot ! I'm glad to hear her others were also good !

Have fun in Switzerland, Will. Post some photos when you get back, will you ? I'd love to see them !

Oh boy, I'm on the list who want to see photos when you get your new place all arranged ! I love moving and getting things organized into a new place just like you want them ! Good luck on the move. Take your time with it and don't wear yourself out . You've got plenty of time to work on it .

Kate I'm glad you found a good book, as it sounds like the last few have been duds ! You're still reading at a good steady pace ,so that's a good thing !

The Storied Life of A J Fikry -- Gabrielle Zevin 5/5 * Wow, this book was good ! I picked it up yesterday and read it straight through in just a few hours' time . It's the story of A J Fikry, who owns a small bookstore in a small tourist town ,who barely makes ends meet moneywise , but he loves books a LOT ,so he is fairly content with life in that area . The rest of his life has been sad . He becomes a widower at a fairly young age, so also becomes pretty cynical about life and isn't really very well liked by a lot of people. He is rude and not very friendly to most people , including the customers in his bookstore . One day, he loses one of his most prized possessions, but in a strange twist of fate, he "finds" something else that replaces it .In the beginning, he considers it a burden ,but as time goes on, he realizes that the "burden" becomes the greatest blessing in his life . His personality begins to change with his added responsibility . He seems to be a bit like the Grinch, if you know that story . He actually finds out he has a heart and life becomes so much better for him. He begins to open up to people and learns to be happy . Throughout the book ,there are MANY books mentioned ,and little mini-reviews of each at the beginning of each chapter. I don't want to give away any more of the story ,but let's just say you will do yourself a huge favor if you read this book. It truly was the best I've read all year so far . A Beautiful story !

Daisy Fay & the Miracle Man - Fannie Flagg 4/5 This book is a re-read from a long time ago. The first time I read it , I would have given this a 5 . but on re-reading it will get a 4 . The tale is told by Daisy Fay ,who is a young girl of probably about 10 when the story starts . She grows up in Mississippi in the early 1950's. She's got a pretty dysfunctional family ,due mainly to her dad's hair-brained ideas to get rich. They all fail , and each time, they come out a little worse . He finally goes in half with a friend to buy a restaurant and diner in a small beach town that rarely gets much business ,and when it does, it's very short time-wise . He has always been a drinker ,but as the money situation gets worse, so does the drinking, then the cheating . Daisy's mom finally bails out, leaving her with her Dad . Daisy misses her mom, but she is used to fending for herself most of the time, so she is able to handle whatever life throws at her . The story is really funny in the beginning ,where Daisy tells a lot of funny stories about her dad's new ideas to make money and about her family ,who all sound like a pretty colorful group . I would have enjoyed the book more if it had stayed in Daisy's early years, but the story goes on into her adulthood, and it seems to lose steam for me at that point. Not as funny , sad in parts and almost like the author used up all her good stuff in the beginning , so was out of ideas by the end . Maybe she was just trying to show that as a kid ,we may be able to look at life differently than we do as adults, when we grow up and see that life maybe was a little off-kilter before . Anyhow, I'd recommend the book, as it does have some really funny parts and is a good story .

Hi Devi Good to hear from you ! I hope all is going ok for you as well . Things here are settling down . The job is going well, so maybe that worry is finally over . Knee scheduled for the 28th at 10 AM . I have 3 appts this week, one with the surgeon, one with the family doc and one with the therapist . I'll be really glad to get it over with and back home At least I'm reading again, so that's always a good thing . Thanks very much for stopping in . You're always welcome !

Thanks Athena , I hope you get a chance to try her someday. Her writing is really good !

My Cousin Rachel - Daphne DuMaurier 5/5 This is a re-read from a long time ago. I'm so glad I read it again ! Wow, what a story ! Philip is being raised by his much older cousin, Ambrose ,who is a confirmed bachelor in his early 40's. They have led a very peaceful life in a big old mansion . As the story begins, Ambrose is preparing for a trip to Italy to possibly find some new plants to have sent back to their estate . He loves gardening and is always on the lookout for new foliage . While he is gone, he writes frequently to Philip, but as time goes by , the letters become less ,and then they begin sounding very worrisome. Philip is worried about Ambrose's health, so he leaves to go find Ambrose and bring him home . What he finds is a terrible shock ,with more shocks to follow . Something from Ambrose's time in Italy resurfaces in Philip' life, and soon, he becomes prey to the same situation that Ambrose did . A VERY good book . I used to think that Rebecca was the better of the two, but I'm almost inclined to say they are tied at this point . 5/5

Welcome back ! I see you're from Guernsey ..wow, what a beautiful place to call Home !

Athena Wow, I just read your list of statistics so far for the year. Pretty doggone impressive ! I like how you had all the info narrowed down such as male/female authors and even specific genres . You should be some type of a book-keeper of some sort that keeps track of facts and figures for somebody that has lots of stuff to keep track of ,like the President or somebody ! I don't think I've ever known anyone as organized as you are . I TRY to be organized and am to a degree, but my ScatterBrain sometimes messes up my organizational skills !

Wally Lamb is one of my favorite writers . All the books I've read of his are great . She's Come Undone was his first ,and I liked it a lot, but you can really see quite an improvement between it and his next books . I Know This Much Is True was 5 stars . A Beautiful book with a well told story . The last paragraph is just astonishing . The Hour I first Believed is somewhere between the other 2 I mentioned. I really liked it but maybe not as much as I K T M I T . I have We Are Water. Why haven't I read it yet ? Too many other books piled up waiting . I'll definitely get to it though !

Pray for Silence - Linda Castillo 4/5 Kate Burkholder is the police chief of a very small (fictional ) town in Amish country. In fact, many of the towns and streets she mentions in the book are areas we have been to many times .. There are a few other books in this series and this is book 2, so I've started them a bit out of order . Anyhow, this takes place on night when one of the men in the police force is driving the back roads on his night shift and hears a scream . He goes to investigate and finds an amish man running across the road. He gets out to see what has upset the guy ,and finds out that the man helped on a neighbor's dairy farm .He came into work that morning ,didn't find any of the family awake yet, so thinking they had just overslept, he goes in the back door to holler for them to get up . He finds that someone has come in and murdered the whole family . It's up to Kate and her 4 -man police force to discover who killed this family and why .Soon, she finds that one of the family members was keeping a big secret, which led to the murders . This is a really interesting story and kept me guessing til the end . I'm impressed that is was so good . I finished the book in a day and now want to read the others in the series. I think there are 4 total, and one more to be released this coming week . If you like mysteries, it's well worth a try !