julie

Here is Where Discovering America's Great Forgotten History Unfortunately, for me, this book SOUNDED much better than it was. There were parts that were interesting, and others that were mind-numbingly boring. I love history ,especially American History. It had short stories of famous places in which important events took place in our country. Good writing, but parts of it weren't that interesting, thus the lower rating .

Kay Love your new bookshelf. It's so pretty and so is your TBR jar ! It sounds like it is working well for you so far . You always make all the books you read sound so good , I'm constantly writing down the titles . I thought I got to everyone's book thread to wish them a happy reading year. Not sure how I missed yours unless it wasn't complete when I was in here last . I hope you are successful with the clearing of your shelves and not forcing yourself to read books that aren't grabbing your attention. That'll make more time to the ones that DO !

Good luck on your reading this year ! I think I missed your thread before !

Kate Wasn't North and South good ? I saw the mini series when is was on, but haven't read the books yet myself .

Best of luck in the new year with your reading Andrea ! Looks like you have a nice wish list to choose from .

Hi there Melodious I'll say that Steinbeck is one of my favorites too . I haven't read all his books, but liked the ones I did read. Grapes of Wrath was good, although very depressing . I don't think you'll find East of Eden quite as much so . It isn't all blue skies and rainbows either, but it tells a really interesting story . Hope you have a good reading year .

Devi Love the name for your challenge this year and how you have it divided up . It looks like Santa was good to you this year too . Happy Reading

Anna I am also majorly impressed, getting to talk to Bugliosi ! What a rare treat . Helter Skelter is one true crime I have yet to read and not sure why I keep putting it off ,but with you guys talking about it, it makes me want to read it more . Maybe this year ?

You're off to a great start . I got partway through Paying Guests and hit a snag . Not sure why ,it just seemed to lose steam . I have couple other of her books, so hopefully they will be better . Also, I have a couple Lansdale books. I read one which was terrific ,and this one you have sounds good too . You definitely can't go wrong with Wally Lamb !

Alexi Best of luck this year. It sounds like you have some very sensible goals that can be reached ,so you should do fine. I like the "Reduce your TBR by one " . That DOES sound easy ,until you stop to think that if you buy faster than you read ,it may be challenging . I bet you can do it though !

Thank you Kylie I'll try to drop in more often this year ,and read on a more regular time frame . Thanks Athena Thank you Devi, and the same for you , also !

Sounds as if you have a nice list to choose from James. Enjoy !

Noll If you get to make the trip again, then try to come early Fall, maybe the beginning of October . That weather would probably suit you much better and it's beautiful over here in the Fall, with all the changing colors, etc . I don't like it when it's too humid like that either ,

Popular : Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek by Maya Van Wagenen What a cute book this was ! This was a memoir about a girl in Middle School who wanted to learn to be more popular , Her dad found an old copy of a book from the 1950's .written by a young girl back then about ways to be popular, from the way you dress, to making friends, etc . Maya decided to try to use this book in today's world and follow it as closely as she could for one year, to see if it helped her to become more popular in school . It was a really quick read and an enjoyable book, bringing back lots of memories of school , friends, clothes, etc .. If you want a light read that is a really feel-good-story , and teaches us ALL how to be more popular, give this a try, You won't be sorry !

Thanks Frankie and Chesil . I hope you both have an enjoyable year of reading , too .

Batten down the hatches, Kate ! Stay safe . We had freezing rain and sleet here this morning ,but just rain now .

I've never gotten that far west yet myself . Maybe someday ! Noll, you probably picked the hottest month of the year to be there . August is pretty doggone hot here and probably in most of the states I'd guess . What all else did you see while over here ?

Janet I'm impressed with your statistics from the past year . You stayed pretty consistent with the number of books read per month, reading close to the same each month except one ! You also seemed to have the ratio I do of male vs female authors . I don't keep exact numbers, but I'm pretty sure I read more male than female each year . Not sure why ? Anyhow, you are much more organized than me to keep track of so many different things. I'm lucky if I remember to write down a book I finish .

How true. We lived back in the day before every home had computers, cell phones , video games and such ... In fact, we only had one black and white TV for the first few years of my life. I remember getting colored TV and thinking we were the coolest people in town !! I guess I never realized they had those magazines , although there was an even earlier version when the settlers out West sent back East for a mail order bride ! I guess no matter what the age or time frame, we all want a companion . Thank you and I wish the same for you Thank you Janet. I hope you also have a wonderful year of reading ahead .

Thank you Alexi and Athena The same to you guys, too .

A Happy Reading Year to you , Chrissy !

Wow, Kate So pretty ! I don't think I've ever seen photos of the Grand Canyon with SNOW ! I guess because it rarely happens, huh ? Thanks for sharing .

Disposable Income by Tammy Mal Anna Snellman was getting up in years and was lonely . She did fairly well for herself, running a small boarding house . She had a few friends , but wished for a husband to spend time with her ,so she placed an ad in a lonely hearts magazine in 1948 . Surprisingly, she got a response from a younger man ,who was pleasant and they got along well . It wasn't long until he proposed to her . She was happy , knowing that she would have someone to spend many years with . They sold the boarding house and bought a small home in another state . Anna spent her days happily, being a housewife . Little did she know, her new husband Charles was still reading the lonely hearts magazine , and responding to ads , Many , in fact ! Read the book to see how his secret life was discovered . Quite an interesting way ! I rate this book with 3 stars ,mainly because it's a fairly new writer who still has problems knowing the difference between the word TO and TOO .. drives me bonkers when a word is misspelled repeatedly in a book . The story was interesting because I guess I didn't realize back in 1948, we had an early version of "meeting online", such as the dating websites ,with sometimes people losing their life savings in the end . On to the next ..............

Thanks Noll and Bobbly . Best wishes for you both , too .