julie

Thanks Chalie I agree . VF You are right on target with that comment. Life has been challenging lately,so I think he is doing all he can to help me .I always tell him he reminds me of one of those big ice-cracking ships that go straight through any type water without anything stopping them. Very solid and nothing seems to shake him . I'm just the opposite ,like a little "DINGY" (this word can be taken in more than ONE way for me . ) Everything seems to rock my boat,but as long as I am tied to his ship, I can stay afloat. Make sense, or do I sound a little DINGY ???? Thanks Pickle I already have a Kindle .The keyboard 3, I guess they call it . I had Kindle 2 and sent it to my granddaughters in Korea because they wanted one so bad,so my husband turned right around and bought me the newer one last year . I'll have to admit, I haven't used it as much as regular books,but I am trying to get more used to it and possibly removing some of my book clutter that way. Now I can clutter my Kindle with free books.

Pontalba That would be handy if you both like the same books. My husband likes war books and all nonfiction ,so we really wouldnt read many of the same ones I don't think. I like reading about the Civil War,but he likes WW 1 and 2 books . And I'd certainly understand your husband liking the weather down there a lot better ! No big thunky coats, no shoveling, no slick roads .

Hi Karsa You are so funny ! I could try to hook you up ,but you might have to share . I have been really lucky I must say .Probably more than I deserve . He's very quiet and not a big conversationalist ,but that could be because he can't get a word in edgewise most of the time.

Looking good VF Very pretty shelves .

Pontalba It certanly sounds like your weather down there is pretty doggone good most of the winter.Anoccasional snowfall once in awhile would be much 6easier to deal with,although I can't complain this year so far. It has been unbelieveably nice.Bright blue skies and sunshine almost every day til this latest snow hit us,which didn't amount to a big pile, just a lot of blowing and drifitng yesterday and very cold today . It also sounds like you guys hit some really good book hauls lately,so you will have some great entertainment to last awhile. Do you and your husband both enjoy the same books, or are part yours and part his ?

Will do Pontalba - He came home from the hospital and went upstairs ,came back down and handed me a piece of paper he had printed off from an amazon order . He handed it to me and said Happy birthday 2 weeks early ! He surprised me the same way when he got me my mini-laptop or whatever you call these small laptops. I kept seeing them on tv and saying how cute they were and he came home one night,handed me a bag,and there was my new laptop ! He is pretty good about getting my things without me even asking . I'll sure give you a shout when it arrives here. Maybe you will be able to hear me yelling from down there!

Welcome Lovebug I am not a blogger, but I can imagine that it would feel like it was something you HAD to do on a regular basis . I agree totally that to me at least, the more regimented my reading is,the less I enjoy it . It's much more fun to choose what you want to read and when you finish it so it's fun . I think you will like it here. There are lots of friendly people and lots of areas to visit that have pretty much anything book-related in them .

Pontalba I'd recommend it to anyone. So VERY good . Such a surprise at the end when you find out about the author's life . (If you get it on Kindle,don't read that first, save it for the flower on top of the cake .

Chrissy Yep, I have a good husband .We've been married for almost 35 years. We met when we were 13 ,so have grown up and grown old together . He's one of the good guys .

Hi Guys You are not going to believe it ,but guess what my husband just did ? He went over to the hospital this AM to get bloodwork done,and on the way home, he bought amazon gift cards, then came home, clicked on the Amazon page and bought me a KINDLE FIRE !!! Wow, I am so excited ! I told him he shouldn't have done it right now when we have other more important things that need paid for , but he said he had some money saved up and knew I wanted one,so he bought it . While he was gone today, I did the Live Chat thing in the amazon help section and asked them about the screen brightness and they said it is adjustable ,like on your computer version of it, You can have white, beige ,or black background behind the words when you read on it,so that will answer the question about the brightness issues. WOW, am I lucky or what ?

Yes, I think now I remember the Coraline commercial. A little boney girl wearing all black. I'll have to ask my grandson when he wakes up if he saw the movie. As I recall, it looked like maybe a little bit of a horror-type story or maybe scarey ? He loves scarey movies,so he'd love it I'm sure . Maybe someday I'll pick up a copy and give it a try,or at least one of the Gaiman books. I think I once saw one called Anansi boys or something like that,and it sounded really interesting .

Hi Karsa I just got the chance to see a Kindle Fire yesterday in the store .I myself have always wanted one with the back-lit screen,mainly because I think it'd be more like a computer screen and would be great to read at night when you don't want to leave the lights on . May I just say that it was the coolest gadget I have ever seen. It is a little thicker than the Kindle, but not a lot. It has a very plain black edging ,a black shiny-type edge, and no visible buttons on it anywhere . There is one switch,a wee little push button on the bottom to turn it on . The screen does everything by touch,which would take some getting used to since I've never had a touch screen for anything . It has the clearest,brightest colors and does so many neat things. It plays movies,and the picture is so clear ,it is amazing that something that small would have a picture that nice. Then you can play music,which is also so nice, set up in a list form of what music you have on it, touch the screen,choose the song,and Aretha Franklin is singing her heart out . Then go to the book section,and all your books show up in a colored bookshelf so you can see all the covers. The backlight is bright .I'm wondering how it'd look outside of a store,in your home under less bright lighting . I also don't know if there might be a switch somwhere in it to change the brightness if you want . Anyhow, my birthday is in 2 weeks and I'd LOVE to get one of these as a gift. Ordinarily, I could probably get one ,because I'm lucky that my husband usually ASKS me if I want certain items, and he has asked me if I want one of these. I have told him no at the present time, mainly because we are facing some serious medical expenses in the next few months ,with no sure answers as to how long it may drag out,what all it may involve, etc. Id love to be able to get the "Fire",but until we get these other matters taken care of ,I need to be the voice of reason and put it on hold. Maybe someday if I am able to get one, I can give you guys a better tour of it from an owner's prospective .

Well, I just completed book 2 for the 2012 list . I must say ,this one was possibly one of the best books I have read in a long time . If Jack's In Love by Stephen Wetta . I'm trying to figure out how to sum this book up without giving the story away . Let's just say first of all that the title is really puzzling in a way, because it sounds like it might be such a different book than it really is . Jack is the main character in the story, a boy from the "wrong side of the tracks" who never really fits in .It tells of the pain of being a person like that and how it must feel to be that kid in school, the one that no one really associates with ,due to the fact that he is judged solely on the place he lives and the famiy he comes from . The book is told in Jack's voice ,that of a 13 year old boy ostracised by almost everyone in town,kids and adults alike,although no one really takes the time to get to know him and see the good he has inside . As the story begins, you are immediately told what happens to some of the family before you know how they got to the end. This book was a real gem ,for me anyhow, because I love books like this that can teach me about LIFE and how someone that lived a different life than me probably felt growing up. We all know kids like that and can clearly remember them ,years later,and wonder whatever happened to them, if they were able to leave our town and make a success of their life by overcoming small-town prejudices and just plain unfairness towards people,based on narrow-minded thinking more than anything . This book tells you the story of what it's like to BE that kid ,grow up in that house and handle the rejection . In a way, Jack really is in love of a sort throughout the book,.It really isn't the main theme of the book ,but everything that occurs in the book revolves arounnd it . In the end ,there are some facts that you know are going to happen,but others that end in a twist you didnt see coming . The best part of the book,I think, is the end when the author tells you a short story of where he got the idea for the book ,and then when you read the short bio of the author and how he grew up, it is very surprising to see how that somehow ties in with the entire book. No, he wsn't Jack, but he knew a Jack, which we all do . He was the lucky kid who wasn't Jack, but may have ended up a lot worse off in his adult life than "his" Jack did . Definitely would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. I hardly ever give a book 5 stars, but this one gets 5 and possibly higher,because it teaches a lot about life if you will take the time to think about it .

VF You are a hoot ! Let us know how the guy ends up with the eyepatch. Maybe he is a retired pirate . Was Coraline the one they made the movie of ? I remember seeing a commercial for it awhile back .I think there was a little skinny girl as the main character .I haven't read any Gaiman books ,but have heard really good things about them.

Hi Pontalba Sorry to hear you have been too busy to get much reading time in either . Hopefully we will both have things settle down soon . Have you guys gotten any of the nasty weather down that way this week ? We finally got our first good hard snowfall. We don't have a lot out there,but the way it snowed yesterday, it looked like a blizzard . VERY slippery driving . Bobbly That sure sounds great ! Perfect way to lean back and relax a bit . Ben It sounds like you found some good books there . The Green Mile was really good .At the time I read it ,it was coming out in really small paperbacks, so the book was cut up into small pieces so you only got a bit of the story at a time . It'll be much better with it all together . You sound like me with the Holmes books. If I find a book I like a lot, then I read a whole bunch more by the same author if I can find them .

That sounds really good,VF . I think it is available here, but it costs a bit ,maybe a dollar or 2 . Might be worth looking into when I have some spare money on my card.

Hi Ben Great idea ! Thank you for compiling a list of them all. Wow ,that is certainly a large number of stories. Maybe I'll toss one in now and then. I know I have several on my Kindle but not nearly all of them .

Poppy I don't think it's silly at all that you kept the last card your dad wrote you before he got so ill. I have the last card my grandma sent me (about 30 years ago ), the last card my aunt sent me when our first baby was born,the last card my favorite cousin sent me before she died of cancer age 50 ,and am keeping the last cards that my aunt ,uncle and an elderly cousin of mine who is a grumpy old man,but also one of the neatest and funniest grumps I have ever known. I know they are all old and won't be with me much longer,so I hold onto those items to have one last thing from them. Nothing in the world can replace those items . So if YOU are silly, then so am I ,and proud ot be among someone as sentimental and caring as you are .

Andrea I think you have several others who would make you proud to be Italian . How about Good Old Tomba from the winter olympics ? He was quite popular too,

Welcome Andrea ! Bocelli wouldn't happen to be your last name,would it ? Wow, he is handsome ,and his voice is even more beautiful than he is . Hope you enjoy it here .

Hi Poppy So sorry about your kitty .Love all the pictures,they are all so pretty . We don't have any pets, but I did have a cat when I was a kid. I got him from the neighbors when he was a baby kitten,and had him til I was 16,when we moved out in the country .I'm assuming he liked it back in the old neighborhood,because he came up missing right after we moved . He was a MANLY cat,but I dressed him in my baby doll clothes and put him in my baby carriage. He did NOT like that at all. I think it ruined his reputation as one of the Toughest Cats in the Neighborhood .

Hi Kell Another good response to Sisters Brothers ! Glad you liked it . I am S T I L L reading If Jack's In Love. Taken me a long time,not because the book is thick,but I guess Life has gotten in the way of reading this week somewhat . I will probably finish it today,since I'm pretty close now . It has been really good. I'm wondering how it will all tie up in the end .

Hi Pontalba Yep, the Broadmoore book was a bargain . Doesn't seem like it will be a really long read either . I'm kinda juggling 2 books at once,so that's why it's not done yet .

Wow Chalie That is really interesting . I guess I thought the place might have been closed down .I'm not sure why I thought that, other than probably watching all those ghosthunting shows where they go to abandoned places like that . It's probably a good thing to have the alarm system as a safety measure ,just in case anyone dangerous would get loose You brought up a good point about the alarm ,how would you know if it was just a drill if someone got loose at that time ?

Hi VF Sorry ,didn't mean to make fun or cause problems. I agree, I'd read about anything too if it came down to it . And I am glad when anybody likes to read,no matter what their taste in books is .