Peacefield

Fab book, Kylie!! I'm glad you like it. I'm just at the halfway point of The Asylum. What a creepy, maddening and intriguing book! Thanks again, Weave .

Happy reading, Muggle Not! I finished the 3rd Cork O'Connor book and really enjoyed it . I did not see the end coming.

Happy Easter to everyone from me as well! I had brunch with my mom earlier today and we decided to uncover the outdoor furniture and grill. I'm sure it'll probably snow one or two more times but we just can't wait any longer. I also bought a lovely outdoor rug and a wicker table. Now all we need are flowers! I have one more day of house-sitting with this sweet boy Chuckles. I've had a lovely time and will miss him. Hopefully the couple I'm house-sitting for will take another vacation again soon .

Easter Parade is on right now so I'm enjoying some Astaire and Garland . I forgot too that Ann Miller is in this!

Chilly but very sunny! Best of all, I can still see the grass outside. My side of town narrowly escaped the big storm that came through last night. So while we have nothing, my co-worker, who lives about 30 miles south of me, got 10" of snow! It's March though, so that's typical for us .

I'm so very happy to intrigue you with Pears, Kylie! Instance of the Fingerpost is an amazing piece of fiction and pretty much epitomizes my favorite type of book. You can probably say the same about Pears himself! I am, Athena. I love being able to have so much reading time. If only I didn't have to wait another 20+ years before I retire!

Welcome, David! Happy you've joined us When I think of British crime my mind automatically goes to Elizabeth George. I've only read one of her books, but I aim to read more!

Hello and welcome to BCF! Thanks for joining up

I can tell I'm on vacation, I managed to finish a book in 7 days, which is not usually the case with me! I really enjoyed Purgatory Ridge and am looking forward to reading more in the series. Today I'll start The Asylum by John Harwood. This is my third Harwood book thanks to Weave, who has gifted me all of them!

I'm glad to hear they still make beanbags, Noll, I remember them well from the 70's! Whoever invented those things was brilliant! Athena, I hope the work on the path is done soon. It's easy to get stressed when the animals are stressed, isn't it? At least I feel like that sometimes. Me and my roomie for the next 10 days, a Brittany spaniel named Chuckles, are getting on swimmingly. He's only 2 and when he's not napping he's playing fetch or running around outside. I hope the couple for whom I'm sitting will take a trip every year so I can come back and stay with him. He's so much fun! Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend

Hey there and welcome to BCF, Scott! Glad you've joined up

I second that! It sounds like a perfectly light and lovely book, and I've added it to my wishlist.

Have fun dress shopping, Shelfy! That's very exciting . Are you all recovered from your flu, Athena? It's going around quite badly here in the US. Two co-workers of mine couldn't come into work yesterday because of sick children. It's been a busy week for me, but that's pretty normal. I have a lot of errands to run after work today and tomorrow plus the gym. Friday I start house/dog sitting for 10 days so I have to pack for that. Thankfully I took next Mon-Wed off so I can hang out with the dog and finally just relax!

Thanks for the news on the new Flavia book, Muggle Not! Too bad it's not coming out sooner. Love that series! That's a beautiful view from your hotel . I've never visited Charlottesville but would really like to one day. The SE corner of the US is the one are I've yet to venture into, which is sad since I think I've been to almost every other state in the union. I started the 3rd book in Cork O'Connor series last night, Purgatory Ridge. Looks to be pretty exciting! I looked at WK Krueger's website and he's got quite a lot of events coming up this year, with lots in MN, so that's exciting! He's having a launch party for his new book, Manitou Canyon, in September. I have hopes to see him in May when he'll be doing a reading only a couple miles from my house!

I finished Arcadia yesterday and am still happily digesting and pondering its contents. Iain Pears is truly an amazing writer and deserves so much attention and praise. I'm always happy to share and recommend him and this book is one I will pass along happily. Interestingly, there was also an app created alongside this book. I'm not sure how often that's been done before, but it helped give a visual account of each character and their 'track' their story was on. It also helped to refer to it as keeping 10 character's path, which took place in the future and in the past, clear and straight to the reader. As you can probably tell, the gist of this book is sort of hard to explain. It basically takes one professor's fictional storytelling, which he's writing in 1960's London, and turns it into a real place with real characters. At the same time, people in his life are able to travel into that fictional land from the present and future. It's magical I tell you, magical!

I read about 75 pages of Arcadia last night and was really sad to have to turn out my light and go to sleep. I'm thoroughly taken with this book! Close to 200 pages in of a 500+ page book and I can't wait to get home and read more. I can say I've never read anything like it

It reached 70f here yesterday (21c) so yahoo!! It's going to be in the 50's today which is also just fine. Gloomy with clouds, but I'll survive.

Coffeeeeee, with some sweet cream

I've seen those cat books, and I love the wee paw prints marching across the covers . I'd love to visit that bookstore, Muggle Not! I squeezed in as much reading as I could this weekend, which only amounted to about 75 pages, but I am thoroughly hooked on Arcadia! I don't know what it is but I feel like a kid whose imagination is running wild! Every page is a thing of beauty. If you're reading this Iain Pears, I love you!

Hurrah for your new reading challenge, Willoyd! I've only read 9 out of the ones you listed so maybe I should do a similar challenge. And extra kudos for including #s 26 and 45. These are a couple of my favorites so I can't wait to hear what you think of them. How did you decide on each title? It must've taken a lot of research!

You're exactly right about finding things you like doing, Brian. I love taking dance classes at my gym, like Zumba and belly dancing. It's a hard 60 minute cardio but it's worth it! I've also learned to love weight lifting/strength training . For the past month or so I've been focusing on macronutrients and trying to get a good mix of food for my body type. So far it's working so I'm happy!

TGIF, everyone! Nothing special planned for the weekend, just my normal gym going and weekly food shopping. My belly dancing class has started up again at the gym and it's lots of fun! Other than that I plan on staying in and reading, plus do a little sewing. The goal is to spend less money since last week I had to put $1400 worth of repairs into my car .

Thanks everyone for your reading good wishes! Little Pixie, thanks for mentioning more of Carol Goodman's books, I have taken note, and yay for the moving up of IOTF! That is in my top 10 reasons of all time. You must let me know when you finally get to read it. Have you read any other Iain Pears? I love Dante Club so much, Madeleine. I finished reading that book while on a trip to the east coast and it was so amazing to be sitting in the Craigie-Longfellow home and walking on Brattle Street at the same time. I also visited Mt. Auburn Cemetery and was able to see the graves of Longfellow, Holmes and Lowell there. Have you read any of Pearl's other books? Thanks, Paula, and thank you as ever for sending me Wind Up Bird Chronicle and Underdogs! Speaking of gifts from Paula, I recently finished Station Eleven and adored it. I've checked another post-apocalyptic read off my list! No wonder Emily St. John Mandel was nominated for a book award for it. I've never read anything like it and the story was so gripping. This morning I read the first page of Arcadia. I can't wait to get into it!

Aww, I used to love seeing the first crocus come up in the spring, Inver! We had a lot of them around my house growing up. It's pretty chilly here today, only 18f! But the sky is a bright blue and no clouds to speak of so I'm happy .

Hello, Paula, the queen of book recommendations! You've easily read more books than I will this year and it's only March! :D