julie

Wow, that was fast - they almost beat you guys home !

Yes it certainly is. Trying to get back into the groove now. Plus I'm trying to run an experiment with Pixie -we are both supposed to read on our Fires to see how long we can read til the battery croaks . And I'm reading one of my old Southern favorites : A Short History of a Small Place . Have you read it ?

Pops You've still got it . FUNNY !!! Maybe he couldn't put the MEATTY ones on a pedestal because he couldn't lift them . And your part about the bonnet ... I think she looks exactly the same, only older and meatier. Don't most of us tend to do that as we age ? I don't know very many people who still look like they did 30 years ago. He probably cut quite the figure as a young version, but his older pics make him look like an old grump .

Thanks, just looking for things to get my mojo turned around . I did better this afternoon. I read for about an hour and a half .

Poppy Charles certainly had lots of fodder in his own household and personal life to use as some examples for his books I guess. Quite an odd arrangement ,since it sounds like he fancied all the sisters in the beginning and must have chosen the wrong one to marry ,but he may have gotten to sample the wares of the others from the sounds of it . It always seems odd to me when I hear anything like this about him. From his pictures ,he looks like such a stuffed-shirt kinda guy. Grumpy and no life at all ,but apparently he had quite a lively time of it . The fat toothless old girlfriend story was funny . Ah well, who can judge ? None of them are alive any longer. It sure what have been interesting to meet him and see what he was like in person . It amazes me that he has such a sense of humor in his books since he looks so crabby .

Go right ahead Miss Poppy I just stumbled across it today and thought I'd link it in here . They've got some good books chosen. I've read a few of them already .

Yea, I've never been anyplace like that ,that had the subway type systems either .All we have here is cars, trucks and John Deere Tractors .

Kay Thanks for taking us along on your book journey. Sounds like you guys had a wonderful time . Do you ever write inside the covers of your books where you got them ? Like if you go on a special trip to buy them or get them in a specific area, so you'll remember ? Since you have so many, it'd be hard to keep track of where you got them ,although I can sometimes remember where I was when I read a specific book, something very memorable and a favorite book, I can recall that I read it once on a camping trip, or down at our family reunion hotel, etc .. Hope your colds don't get any worse ! No fun ...

For anyone interested in a new challenge : http://www.businessinsider.com/most-famous-book-set-in-every-state-map-2013-10 Read your way across the USA. Supposedly the most famous book set in each state .

James I haven't ever had the feeling in your brain like you are describing . As far as memories, I go back to about age 4 ,when we moved to the house I grew up in . Sometimes at night when I can't sleep, I'll try to make my brain remember things from when I was small, like the colors of rooms in our house, colors of the carpet, furniture , my Grandma's house and all the things she had .. It's a good exercise to keep my brain working I guess. The house I lived in from birth to 4 has always been lived in until last year . The old lady died who lived there ,so her family tried to sell it on their own . I called them one day to ask if I could look through it . They were very kind ,and met me there and let me walk through and spend time remembering . It was actually fascinating. I drive by the house all the time ,but could never remember specifics ,like where each room was, colors, etc . When I walked in I went into the living room and immediately asked where the tiny built in shelves were ? The man looked at the wife ,went over and said Look behind here : They had a "fake" fireplace on the wall. We moved it away from the wall and there were the tiny shelves I remembered my mom had knick-knacks sitting on . The shelf was built indented into the wall and was small, but I remembered it . Then they had a tiny 2-shelf thing built on the corner wall. I said That's where the phone and phone book sat. The man said ,no there was never a phone there . Well, I Iooked down into the corner ,and it had been painted over, but you could see the old cut wires where out old black phone used to sit . I didn't have any memories at all of the parent's room, bathroom or kitchen ,but when I walked into the back bedroom, I actually got cold chills . It was like my brain took a snapshot for me . I remembered it was my room, where my bed sat, my white chenille bedspread, my stuffed dog with the plastic ears that sat on my pillow ,and even my blue and white footie pj's . WEIRD how my brain just had a quick snapshot of those things . We left that house when I was 4,so I had memories from some time before that . The basement was especially cool. I had no memories at all of it, but it actually had a "Bomb Shelter" built in it ( remember back in the 50's ,the threat of wars with Russia ? ) We had to do the drills at school, go into the hall, cover our heads with our hands and crouch down onto the floor ? Not sure if you guys did that over there or was it just here ? Anyhow, lots of houses back then built Safe places in the basement. It was a small building with extra -enforced bricks, benches all along 2 walls ,and food shelves to store foods etc on ... pretty neat ! I never knew that house had one of those . Just a little tidbit from my brain ,and a small journey back to the 50's . I like trying to do that, make my brain remember things from long ago, people's houses, faces of people who are no longer alive ,voices, etc ... I like thinking about the past and sifting through it to pick out the good .

Bizzarre I don't know anything about the Kobo. I think a couple people in here might own them . As for Nook, I have the one from a couple years ago. Not sure if it's called Simple Touch ? Anyhow, I love it for the size . It's almost completely square and has a rubberized edging all around it and the back ,so it's easy to hold without it slipping from your hands . It's very simplified. Pretty much just touch to flip the pages. The only button on it is the start button .Not in color ,just a plain screen kinda like the kindle you have, and no keyboard ,but it's a nice simple one for reading . I don't know about any newer Nooks than that one . The Kindles : I've had the first white one, the grey keyboard one ,and now have the Fire and the PaperWhite .If you're looking for something to only use for reading, choose the Paperwhite. It's touch screen, no glare, lasts long before needing recharged and has the backlit screen that you can set at any level or turn it completely off . It's really nice ,so I'd choose it unless you want one that shows videos and color photos, etc ..

I agree, James - The Kindle books aren't stacked up where I can see them. I can put them in my Cloud,so the only one visible when I turn it on is the current one I'm reading , That's a much easier way to handle TBR piles -- keep them invisible until needed .

Kylie Yes, I read a book about them as a teen. No clue what it was called . I have a newer one that has been on my Kindle for a year or so called Go Down Together http://www.amazon.com/Go-Down-Together-Untold-Bonnie-ebook/dp/B001TSZ6UQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1382185274&sr=1-1&keywords=go+down+together

Athena Wow, you got a nice pile of books ,didn't you ? The Shell Seekers is great. The beginning was dry, but stick with it, it is well worth reading . In fact, Read it twice, which is very rare for me . Bryce Courtenay : I'll be interested in hearing how you like his book. The only one of his I've read is The Power of One ,and it is an all time favorite. Wonderful story-telling .

Thanks Kylie - got them too last night when I found the other. I also got one called The Life of Charles Dickens ,by Frank Thomas Marzials . All free . Gotta stop buying books and start reading a few . DARN Why did I go back to Amazon to look some more ? Crap . Here are a few others that sound tantalizingly fascinating. http://www.amazon.com/Charles-Dickens-Favorite-Daughter-Perugini-ebook/dp/B00DW0I3CC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1382183116&sr=1-1&keywords=dickens+and+daughter http://www.amazon.com/Great-Expectations-Daughters-Charles-Dickens-ebook/dp/B008MWL9IK/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1382183157&sr=1-2&keywords=dickens+and+daughter http://www.amazon.com/The-Invisible-Woman-Charles-Dickens-ebook/dp/B008WONU62/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2 http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Charles-Dickens-Scandal-ebook/dp/B00942HRII/ref=pd_sim_kstore_3 http://www.amazon.com/The-Other-Dickens-Catherine-Hogarth-ebook/dp/B0084I6LGM/ref=pd_sim_kstore_22 I think at least one or two of these will end up being SOLD ,to the old lady still in her PJ's .

As said previously, I know little to nothing about Myra , but I have read about a few male/female partnerships that have been serial killers. The ladies in these twosomes always tend to play the victim when they are eventually caught. Rarely do they admit their guilt , take equal blame for the crimes, etc. They want to act innocent ,or like they were forced to participate (which sometimes they are ,but not always ). They usually try to schmooze their lawyer into portraying her as a really good person whose mind was twisted by the evil man .. but I don't usually fall for that stunt. Once maybe ? I don't know, it'd depend on the circumstances. There are girls who get mixed up with a bad guy ,and are in the car when the first event takes place . They may be in a position then in which they can't get away or call for help or they will end up just as dead as the victim ,but for ladies who continually stay with the guy and participate in the crime ? Nope, don't feel sorry for them . They know it is wrong so they should pay the same price as he does . Now there are exceptions to the above. Take Bonnie and Clyde. She willingly took part in everything they did, and may very well have been just as dangerous as Clyde , if not more so . She was a tough nut . They went out in a blaze of bullets ,so she ended up getting the same punishment as he did . A little bit of overkill , but I guess the cops wanted to make sure they stopped them .

Wow, that was quite interesting , Poppy .. Hard to figure this one out . For one, I guess when you marry a person , you are both different people in the beginning than you are as time goes on . Things change and so do people. We are all products of our experiences in life and how we handle them, so to think that Mrs. Dickens had changed after having so many kids isn't too hard to believe. And most people who have several kids do tend to get more meat on their bones as time goes by . All ladies tend to do that at a certain age I think . Putting up a wall in the bedroom was quite odd. Wonder what that was all about ? Really a strange situation. Maybe he didn't find her attractive after having so many kids ? It sounds very sad for her ,that her life didn't go as she had wished ,so it sounds like she was very lonely. I wonder how the kids dealt with it all , like did they side with one or the other parent, or try to stay neutral ? Anyhow, I guess no one will ever know the whole story now ,will they ? If it were going on in today's world, it'd be plastered all over the news ,but sadly ,authors really don't get the celebrity status that they had during his times I don't think . Many are well known and have lots of fans, but as far as their personal lives, I don't hear much about any personal lives of any currently famous authors . Do you over that way ? They'll on occasion have one on the morning news show if it's a really big name author ,and interview them about their newest book . It drives me bonkers when the interviewer hasn't read the book. Makes for a very disjointed conversation ,for both parties . The authors usually seem ticked off, as they have a right to be. If someone is going to interview them about their book, they should have read it so they know what questions to ask . Anyhow, poor old Charles. I might be sticking up for the wrong side here . I guess I'll just say that he is still a wonderful author, but his private life sounds like it was pretty messed up .

Kylie I found the Dickens book for Kindle for free last night on Amazon !

Thanks Miss Poppy , but Rose has been put back in the Cloud . Another one I just couldn't get into . I think I'll try an old favorite and see if I can get hooked on that one . Thanks for stopping by !

Ooh Cool Pops ! I need to go on a search for this book. I never knew Dickens had any family members that wrote about their life with "dad " . Interesting, I'm sure . I knew he was married and had quite a large family with that lady, but STEPPED OUT on her with another lady frequently. Maybe they even lived together ? Not sure about that part . As for his woman troubles, I guess it'd be hard to judge .It makes him sound like a bad guy and I firmly believe that if a person isn't content in their marriage then they need to legally get out of it and move on once it is over ,but I also have to look at the time they were alive and remember that divorce wasn't quite as simple ( or accepted) as it is today . One of our kids once said to us that we were the only 2 parents still married out of all his friend's parents ,so we must be Oddballs by today's standards . I guess another thing we don't know is what Mrs' Dickens was like . She may have been The Dickens to live with ,so maybe he decided to find someone easier to get along with . Also, I'm wondering if they may have both been satisfied with the situation ? Maybe she didn't like him very much on her end either ? Would it have been a thing like some of the famous people now in certain careers ,whose reputations would have been greatly affected by being divorced ? Not sure, it's all just a pile of guesses on my part . I need to find that book .

Hope you enjoy it in here. Lots of nice people that love books too !

Alright ! That's enough of this lollygagging around . Time to turn on that Kindle and get some reading done ! I am getting really frustrated with this Reading Slump ,so I am pulling out the Big Guns now . I thought maybe if I put some "reading-related videos" on my thread ,maybe it'd get me in the mood to read .

Pixie I'll charge mine up completely this weekend and then turn off the Wi-Fi hookup, the light down to dim and see how long I can read before the battery croaks . I don't use it to read on for any length of time . I like the PW better for that. It's much lighter and handy dandy for reading ,but I love the Fire for videos, etc . I know it sucks the battery life out much faster if you use it for videos . That's usually why I have the charger plugged in all the time and mainly use it while plugged in . Maybe we can compare notes to see if our times match up fairly close .

Congrats on the new job, June ! I hope you like it a lot . I know from some of your posts that you were unhappy with your current job for different reasons, so this has to be a move in the right direction . It's nice that your friend will also be there ,and they pay raise is great news .