Storeetllr's (Mary) 2015 Journey Through Bookland Part 5: Fall Into Books!

A little about me: Now that I'm retired, I read a lot. I've got a marked taste for the fantasy and mystery genres (latest favorite mystery series is Susan Hill's Simon Serailler series), and, if they're seasoned by a bit romance, fantasy and/or horror, that's great too. I like Georgette Heyer-type romances and also some scifi, especially when it deals with social issues, like Louise Marley's and Sheri Tepper's does, though occasionally I enjoy space opera like the Vorkosigan and Liaden series, as well as westerns like Lonesome Dove, historical fiction like Doc, and historical mysteries like the Matthew Shardlake and Flavia Albia series. Mercy Thompson and Matthew Swift are two of my favorite urban fantasy series protags, and Johannes Cabal (Johannes Cabal, Necromancer) is my latest steampunk/gothic/horror series pleasure. I like themed reads too: Fantasy February, May Murder & Mayhem, September Series & Sequels, Halloween Horror October.

You will seldom see giving a book less than 2.5 stars, because, if it's that unappealing or the writing itself is that bad, I won't finish it. I'm too old to suffer needlessly, so these days The Pearl Rule is ruthlessly applied! On the other hand, the books I do finish I tend to rate liberally.

5 stars - I love this book and you will too.
4.5 stars - Practically perfect in every way.
4 stars - A really great book in all respects with perhaps some minor flaws.
3.5 stars - Better than average but with some flaws.
3 stars - Entertaining but ultimately forgettable and probably won't reread.
2.5 stars - Not sure exactly why I bothered to finish this one. Perhaps some aspects of the story, characters or writing appealed to me, or it's part of a series. Glad it's over, anyway.

As I mentioned, my latest favorite binge-series is the Simon Serrailler mysteries. Here, for my own edification, is the series order:

The Various Haunts of Men
The Pure in Heart
The Risk of Darkness
The Vows of Silence
The Shadows in the Street
The Betrayal of Trust
A Question of Identity
A Breach of Security
The Soul of Discretion

Books Read in September

134. Three in Death by J.D. Robb. 4 stars. Mysteries.

135. A Liaden Universe Constellation Vol. 1 by Sharon Lee. 4 stars. Scifi. Short stories set in the Liaden Universe.

136. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. 4.5 stars. Audio. 3d reread.

137. Enemies at Home by Lindsey Davis. 4 stars. Audio. Historical mystery. 2d in series.

138. Siren's Call by Jayne Castle. 4 stars. Paranormal fantasy. 4th in Rainshadow series.

139. The Liar by Nora Roberts. 3 stars. Romantic thriller. Standalone.

140. Semper Fidelis by Ruth Downey. 3.5 stars. Audio. Historical mystery. Medicus series.

141. Archangel's Enigma by Nalini Singh. 4 stars. Audio. Fantasy. Guild Hunter series.

142. Devoted in Death by J. D. Robb. 4 stars. Kindle. Mystery.

143. Make Me by Lee Child. 3.75 stars. Audio. Mystery thriller. Latest in Jack Reacher series.

144. The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill. 4 stars. Mystery thriller. First in Simon Serailler series.

146. Chapelwood by Cherie Priest. 3.5 stars. Audio. Horror. 2d in the Borden Dispatches series.

147. Six and a Half Deadly Sins by Colin Cotteril. 4 stars. eBook. Mystery. 10th and latest in the Dr. Siri series.

148. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. 4.5 stars. Audio, read by Lenny Henry. Fantasy.

149. Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. 4 stars. Audio. First in the Southern Reach trilogy. Dystopian horror scifi, I think.

150. The Martian by Andy Weir. 4.75 stars. Audio. Reread

Books Read in October

151. Click Clack the Rattlebag by Neil Gaiman. 4 stars. Audio. Horror.

152. Deadly Election by Lindsay Davis. 4 stars. Historical mystery. Third in the Flavia Albia series, a spin-off of the Falco Roman mystery series.

153. Still Alice by Lisa Genova. 4.5 stars.

154. The Liaden Universe Constellation, V. 3. 3.5 stars.

155. The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allen Poe. 3 stars. Audio, read by David Ian Davis.

156. A Cat Was Involved by Spenser Quinn. Mystery.

157. The Pure in Heart by Susan Hill. 4 stars. Mystery. Second in the Simon Serailler series.

158. Tail of Vengeance by Spenser Quinn. Mystery. Short story in the Chest and Bernie series.

159. The Vows of Silence by Susan Hill. 3.5 Audio. Mystery. Fourth in the Simon Serrailler series. In this one, a sniper is shooting brides, a teenage boy has been sucked into a fundie cult and proceeds to alienate his family, and Simon and his family are in the midst of more melodrama. I've jumped right into the fifth, again on audio, but then I plan to take a break from Simon's world of part soap opera and art police procedural (albeit without all that much procedure).

160. The Shadows in the Street by Susan Hill. 3.5 stars. Fifth in the Simon Serailler mystery series.

161. The Just City by Jo Walton. 4 stars. First in series, and my first Walton.

162. Nimona by Noelle Stevenson. 3.5 stars. GN.

163. Harbor by John Ajvide Lindquist. 3.5 stars. Audio.

164. The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman. 4.5 stars. Audio.

165. Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. 4 stars. Audio.

166. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rawlins). 4 stars. Audio. Second in the mystery series. T

Books Read in November

Books Read in December

167. Plan B by Sharon Lee. 4 stars.

168. I Dare by Sharon Lee. 4 stars.

169. Jackaby by William Ritter. 3.75 stars.

170. Fear the Dark by Kay Hooper. 3 stars.

171. The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher. 4 stars. Audio. Long steampunk scifi fantasy

172. Fables Vol. 1 by Bill Willingham. 3.5 stars. GN.

173. Chrononauts by Mark Millar and others. 3.75 stars. GN.

174. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. 4.5 stars. Scifi. Audio.

175. The Crossing by Michael Connelly. 3.75 stars. Audio. Read by Titus Tolliver.

So, I read 175 books this year, which was my actual goal, so now I can just stop reading until January. Haha, just kidding. Jumping right into my next audio as soon as I finish this post. Whee!

176. Fables, Volume 2 by Bill Willingham. 4 stars. GN. I liked this one a lot more than the first. Snow and Red drive up to The Animal Farm for Snow's annual visit, only to find the animal-shaped fabled beings in open revolution. Of course, you just know Red is going to join up. So glad I decided to continue with this GN series, even though I wasn't blown away by the first.

Autumn (Sept/Oct) Favorites

I read some solid books in September and October, but these three stood out and still stand out in my mind, weeks after I read them:

Anansi Boys
Still Alice
The Lesser Dead

July/August Favorites: https://www.librarything.com/topic/192777#5201884
May/June Favorites: https://www.librarything.com/topic/190678#5146052
March/April Favorites: https://www.librarything.com/topic/188442#5074817
January/February Favorites: https://www.librarything.com/topic/186192#4995442

Well, here we are, it's autumn again, yet as I write this looking out over the back garden, the sun is warm and golden, the leaves of the trees are still green, and there is a riot of color in the garden! Soon, of course, the wind will blow cold and the snow will blanket everything, but for now I'm content.

Welcome to my newest thread, Fall Into Books! Pull up a comfy chair, grab a lap rug if you're feeling chilled, and make yourselves at home. There are hot drinks and fall treats ~ help yourselves! And feel free to peruse the bookshelves. There's some good reading to be had!

Happy new thread, Mary. What beautiful pictures! I like Susan Hill, too. I have the second one on my desk; I hope to make time for it soon.

Happy new thread and happy fall!!

Thanks, Beth! I am looking forward to reading the second Serailler and going forward with the series. Funny, just when I thought I was out of mystery series to read, along came this one. Neverending, you know?

Hi, Reba! Thanks!

Happy Friday, Mary! Happy New Thread! Love the autumn theme. It is fast approaching.

*waves cast*

Thanks, Mark! It is fast approaching. I know you like Autumn if for nothing else but because the cooler temps make work better, but for me it's only the harbinger of bitter cold winter.

Hey, Roni! Still swinging that cast around, I see.

I just read a good one, the first in a series. Old World Murder.

Mary I love all the fall colors in your new thread!

Oboy. Another series to start. I'd say no, but I'm a total sucker for a good series. Thanks, Beth! I think. :)

ETA I checked it out and saw that it's a cozy. I'm not usually enamored of cozies, but perhaps it isn't too cozy-ish? (Not a word, sorry, but you know what I mean.)

That's one great thing about fall, Ro ~ the gorgeous colors. It's like nature is giving us almost an overdose before it all turns to gray and white.

Happy new thread, Mary! Love your fall pics -- so beautiful. Can't wait to eat solid food again!

Oh, you poor thing. Although milk shakes are kind of fun. How long will you need to wait on solids?

Two weeks. I got overly ambitious tonight and attempted scrambled eggs. They were soft, but just solid enough to cause pain and get stuck in places I really didn't want them. Back to soup tomorrow.

Just reading that made me cringe with both sympathy and ickness. (If that's not a word, it should be.) Too bad you don't need to lose weight. Can you have milk shakes? (Notice, I'm stuck on those ice-cream treats. I will never be skinny.)

Pretty new thread, Mary! I love all the Fall goodies.

I'm a big fan of the Susan Hill series although I'm a few books behind. Have you read Ann Cleeves' Shetland series?

Oh, God. Another series? LOL No, I haven't read Cleeves yet, Jo. It's going on the wishlist, but not on the TBR pile just yet. I'm getting overwhelmed. Unless when I add it to my wishlist library, it sounds too good to not check out right away. (I am SUCH a pushover.)

:) I should add that it's important to read the Shetland series in order. None of that skipping around stuff. :)

Yes, it sounds good initially, but now I crave what I can't have... even if it's not normally something I would eat. It's hard when my family is eating something delicious-smelling. As for milkshakes, yes I could probably have one, except I am not allowed to use a straw for two weeks either. The pressure from sucking is too much for the delicate tissue and sutures. I could use a spoon, though:)

Happy Saturday, Mary! You are probably busy, finally reading Haruf, so I won't bother you for long.

Hugs to my pal.

Happy new thread, Mary!

>24 msf59: LOL, Mark:)

I thought the latest Jack Reacher wasn't one of the better ones either, Mary, although as always it was an entertaining read. You've put your finger on a couple of reasons why. I also thought the female character was pretty two-dimensional. More complex would've helped.

I liked that new Dr. Siri, too, including the fact that the seemingly bizarre premise turned out to have an acceptable logic to it.

I just finished the latest Eve Dallas, Devoted in Death, and thought it was another good one. The required sex scenes always seem a bit silly to me, but the author is unflaggingly good at getting us caught up in the chase, and I always enjoy the humor and personal side stories along the way.

>22 Copperskye: Yes, ma'am. Got it. No skipping.

>23 AMQS: I'm not sure it would be worth it, Anne, but if I could legitimately have milk shakes every day... No, never mind, I am 100% sure it wouldn't be worth it. Hope you're feeling better!

>24 msf59: Haha, Mark, you crack me up! Hugs back.

>25 scaifea: Thanks, Amber!

>27 jnwelch: Yes! You're so right about the lack of character depth of the female character in the latest Reacher, Joe. And bizarre describes the Dr. Siri plot to a tee. It was great how the whole thing was resolved. As far as the In Death books, I just skim the sex scenes without much irritation since they're usually so short and, occasionally, funny.

I've just been racing through my reading over the past few days. Here are the latest two I've read:

148. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. 4.5 stars. Audio, read by Lenny Henry. Fantasy. I tried twice before to read this but was put off for some reason ~ mostly, I think, because I didn't like the characters. This time, it clicked for me right away, and I ended up loving the characters. Well, except the villain. Anyway, Fat Charlie (who isn't really fat) had an awful father growing up, and his fiance's mum hates him, but when he finds out his father is dead, he flies to the funeral and is gobsmacked to learn not only that his father is a god but also that he has a brother he had no idea he had. Gaiman sure can write!

149. Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. 4 stars. Audio. First in the Southern Reach trilogy. Dystopian horror scifi, I think. So, this one drops you into the middle of a weirdly exotic world without any explanation, which is a bit disconcerting at first, but it all starts to make a horrible kind of sense as everything begins to turn to sh*t for the team that's been sent into the mysterious Area X. I'm not sure if I can explain more without giving away spoilers, but I will say I began to suspect what was happening about 2/3 of the way through, yet it was well worth reading it to the end for the pithy writing, the devolution of the main character, and the whole surrealistic story. Going to go on with the rest of the trilogy.

Currently reading Deadly Election and finishing up Constellation 3.

>29 Storeetllr: Anansi Boys is my favorite Gaiman!

Good reading going on over here, Mary. I also enjoyed the Gaiman and Annihilation and both were good audios.

Watching the Cubbies...

I was surprised by how much I ended up liking it, Roni.

Yep, lots of good reading, Mark! What's going on with those Cubbies?

My sis and I are supposed to be going up to the mountains today to see the fall color, but I don't hear her stirring yet, and if we don't get out within the hour, it won't be worth the trip. Anyway, if we go up, I'll be posting some pretty pics tomorrow (well, I hope I get some good stuff).

*waves cast --4 more days!*

Yay, Roni!

So, I got a few nice shots yesterday, taken on the way up to Estes Park via Nederland, where we had a fabulous lunch at a curry place called Kathmandu, and then while in Rocky Mountain National Park. We saw a lot of elk and a few deer and were lucky to have seen a herd of elk grazing near the road and even luckier the buck was willing to allow us to take a few photos of him and his harem.

At the risk of posting too many images, here are a few more, these from my iPhone camera (the ones above are from my DSLR):

Lovely photos, Mary! It looks like you had a nice day!

>35 Storeetllr: Wow Mary, What incredible photos. A few years ago my partner and I spent ten days with his cousin and her partner in Yellowstone. What a wonderful time it was. Your photos remind me of our incredible time with wildlife.

Hi Mary, Autumn is my favorite time of the year. Your pictures are fantastic, we just got home from our road trip and the fall colors in the Rockies was pretty much at it's peak. We didn't see much wildlife on this trip, but there was one bear right down at the roadside.

I especially like the little tree at the top of the rock but they're all good. Autumn in Colorado is really special.

It was a lovely day, Joanne, but oh! I was tired at the end of it!

Thanks, Linda! I bet your Yellowstone trip was incredible! I've been wanting to get there since moving to Colorado but just haven't gotten round to it yet. Maybe next spring. Or autumn. Summer's too crowded, I think, and winter...well, I am not keen on trudging through even more snow than we get here in Denver.

Hi, Judy ~ glad you enjoyed the pics. Glad you got to take a fall road trip through the Rockies. I'm kind of glad we didn't see any bears, but my sis says elk can be as dangerous, so we were careful not to rile them when we saw them.

Isn't that little tree growing out of the top of that rock pile wonderfu, Rebal! I do enjoy the fall color, though I'm a spring/summer girl myself.

Beautiful images. I caught sight of two young deer a couple of times walking in Scotland - completely unexpected, and wonderful to see such elegant animals in the wild.

Love the photos.

Happy Saturday, Mary! LOVE the gorgeous photos. Sadly, I have never visited Estes Park. I WILL one day. I am getting an itch to see some "real" mountains.

I just started Armada. It works very well on audio. It is not as riveting as Ready Player One but I am finding it light and entertaining.

Gorgeous pics!

*waves cast--2 more days!*

>42 charl08: Thanks, Charlotte! For us city folk, it was magical to see the elk herd grazing placidly in the meadow at the side of the road, ignoring us importunate picture-taking humans as much as was possible. The buck was definitely keeping one eye on us.

>43 BLBera: Thanks, Beth! So glad you enjoyed them.

>44 msf59: Thanks, Mark! You definitely have to come out this way someday. Best time as far as I'm concerned, of course, is spring for the wildflowers and fall for the colors, but in winter the mountains are majestic. Summer's best enjoyed in the garden sipping a glass of cold lemonade or iced tea, imo.

ETA Cline is another writer I haven't read yet. (Don't throw rotten tomatoes at me!)

>45 mstrust: Thanks! Glad you liked them.

>46 ronincats: And now one more day! Bet you cannot wait!

*waves cast--ONE more day!* ;-D

151. Click Clack the Rattlebag by Neil Gaiman. 4 stars. Audio. Horror. Short story, only listed here in honor of Halloween. You don't even know it's horror until after you finish it, and then it hits you.

152. Deadly Election by Lindsay Davis. 4 stars. Historical mystery. Third in the Flavia Albia series, a spin-off of the Falco Roman mystery series. These are getting better and better. In this one, Albia is investigating a body found in a treasure chest at her father's auction house when she is hired by the current aedile Faustus, with whom she is not sleeping, to dig up dirt on the candidates going against his friend, whose campaign for aedile Faustus is managing.

Currently reading Still Alice, which I'm going to class as horror, if only my own special idea of horror, having had relatives who were diagnosed with Alzheimer's, but which is very good, and finishing up the third volume of The Liaden Universe Constellation.

Also currently binge-watching the second season of Longmire, which I'm liking far too much for the good of my getting much of anything done.

>36 Storeetllr: Mary, your pictures are making me homesick. I do miss Colorado! Conservationists have started an elk herd in northern Arkansas not too far from us. My brother has been down several times to take photos. I'd like to go along with him sometime, but not sure I can get up at 5:00 a.m.!

Love all your mountain pictures, Mary. We had a rainy day today, in the 60s, our fall. *waves*

Love your mountain pictures, Mary! We're having a cool rainy day, so it feels a bit like fall today. *waves*

So, I didn't really double post. I posted and when I went back to the list of starred threads, the first post wasn't registering, so I thought maybe I forgot to hit the post button. But I guess I didn't after all.

Great photos, Mary!

Hi, Donna ~ Not long now till your next trip here. You might still be able to catch some fall color, if it doesn't snow first. :) I'm sorry I'll have to miss seeing you this trip. How cool about the Arkansas elk herd, but 5 am? That's too early for me, that's for darn sure! How far away is the herd? Too bad you and your bro couldn't spend the night before down there, so you wouldn't have to get up quite that early?

Hi, Roni ~ I wonder how that happened? Well, you can double ~ or triple ~ post here anytime. So, your cast is off at last! Yay you! I'll be in SoCal in about 3 weeks. So excited! I'm hoping to get down to SD, and would love to see you (and Reba) when I'm there, but my schedule isn't set yet so I'm not sure when that would be. It would be great to finally meet you, and your arm should be back to normal by then, I would hope.

Thanks, Darryl! Hard to take other than great photos with the scenery up here!

Finished two more yesterday:

153. Still Alice by Lisa Genova. 4.5 stars. Audio, read by the author. Devastating and intense story of a brilliant woman who is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's, told from her point of view. Coming from a family with a history of dementia and Alzheimer's and having a very real chance of getting it myself (tho I'm already too old for early onset), this hit me pretty hard, but I'm so glad I read it, even if it left me emotionally drained. It almost got a 5 star rating, but I wasn't always thrilled by the narrator, so took off a sliver for that; the writing was sometimes clumsy and the dialogue was sometimes stilted, so another sliver came off for that.

154. The Liaden Universe Constellation, Vol. 3. 3.5 stars. More fun stories from the Liaden Universe.

Not sure what I want to read now. Maybe the the audio of latest St. Cyr mystery, which I just got from Audible. Maybe Nimona, a GN I've heard a lot of good things about. Maybe one of the twenty or so books sitting by my bedside, some from the library, some I bought awhile back and haven't gotten to yet, and some gifts from others (Mark and Joanne, specifically).

So many choices!!! (It's not the worst problem to have.)

>56 Storeetllr: I've got Constellation Volume 3 lined up on my Kindle for reading at some point, Mary. Glad to hear it has more fun stories.

Nimona worked for me, and I expect you'll have a good time with it.

Another fan of Nimona here. I really enjoyed the playfulness with the clichés. Good gags too.

Hi Mary! We had a beautiful fall day here. When this time of year cooperates, it may be my favorite season.

I was also a fan of Still Alice, although I read it in print. The film is very good too, with an excellent performance by Julianne Moore. I highly recommend it.

Oh yeah: Go Cubbies!!

Wonderful pictures, Mary! Thank you so much for sharing them!

Hi, Joe! Glad to know you're a Nimona fan too! I am really enjoying the Liaden books, but they aren't easy to find at the library so I haven't been able to immerse myself in that universe as I prefer to do with series like that.

You too, Charlotte! Nimona sounds better and better the more I hear about it.

Hey, Mark! Such amazing news about the Cubs! I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for their continuing wins! As for Still Alice, I'll watch the film adaptation at some point for sure. Hope you're still enjoying the season!

Thanks, Lori!

So, I haven't been reading as much as usual. Instead, I've seen The Martian, and I can attest it is one hellava movie adaptation! Woo! I plan on seeing it again, probably when it gets to Netflix, but I'm so glad I went and saw it first on the big screen. I've also been binge watching Longmire and have gotten thru the third episode of the new season. I'm going to watch the rest of Season 4, but if it continues to be as over-the-top wierdly unrealistic as the last few episodes, this will probably be my last season.

I did manage to listen to one short classic horror story and am about 1/4 of the way thru Cujo, which I'm reading for the first time and am finding pretty dated and not a little annoying. Here are my thoughts on the short story I read:

155. The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allen Poe. 3 stars. Audio, read by David Ian Davis. Poe is already melodramatic enough without the narrator adding to it. As for the story, I read it decades ago and remember enjoying it, tho not as much as The Tell-Tale Heart, and I think I would have done so again if I'd read it in print.

I've been kind of coasting the past few days, though the Simon Serrailer seems to have gotten me back into the swing of things:

156. A Cat Was Involved by Spenser Quinn. Mystery. 4 stars. Short story detailing how Chet and Bernie meet. Fun stuff.

157. The Pure in Heart by Susan Hill. 4 stars. Mystery. Second in the Simon Serailler series. Another good installment, tho I wish I'd read it in order. At least now some of the third book makes more sense. Pretty dark and troubling, with a cliffhanger ending.

158. Tail of Vengeance by Spenser Quinn. 4 stars. Mystery. Short story in the Chet and Bernie series. Love this series! If you haven't read it and are wondering if you should, either of these short stories would give you a good taste of what the longer novels are like.

I haven't gotten back to Cujo, and am not sure I'm going to even try. Today I'll be starting The Vows of Silence on audio, In the Shadow of Blackbirds, a YA ghost story, and the GN Nimona.

Happy Sunday, Mary! Hooray for Nimona. Sorry, to hear Cujo has been dreary. I read it and liked it but that was in the early 80s. I was just a wayward kid...

Oh yeah- Go Cubbies! Big game tomorrow!

Hi Mary! Passing through, catching up. Amazing photos earlier -- don't we live in a spectacular place?

I have been hearing lots of rave reviews for The Martian. I'm busy for the next few days, and then I'm going to Las Vegas with my daughter and some other ladies from Kansas City. I doubt we'll have time to watch a movie there! And then my trip to CO is coming up… So many good times ahead and a good movie to look forward to. Life is ummm…good!

I will second Mark's rec for the film version of Still Alice. It wasn't as depressing as I thought it could have been. Like you, i'm too old for early onset Alzheimer's. That's one blessing of age!

Hi, Mark! Happy Day-Off Monday to you! Yes, it is disappointing when a favorite writer's work doesn't age well. Same thing happened with Salem's Lot (which I actually read about 3 times, and the latest time made me realize it was no longer something I wanted to reread), but The Stand still had what it takes. I didn't start Nimona last night but the fourth Simon Serrailer on audio instead. I really like that series!

Go Cubs!

Hi, Anne ~ we do, indeed ~ even in winter. At least for the first month or so of it. After that, I'm longing for a tropical island vacation.

I hope you get a chance to see The Martian on the big screen, Donna! I think you'll like it. I'll get to the film adaptation of Still Alice sometime, probably through Netflix, though like you I've got a few other irons in the fire first.

Here's a link to a fun article on the ten most beautiful bookstores (in the U.S.): http://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/oregon/articles/the-usa-s-10-most-be... Enjoy!

My favorite is The Last Bookstore in downtown L.A., though I also like Tattered Cover here in Denver. Is your favorite on the list?

Nice article. Now that I've been to Tattered Cover, I need a road trip to finish the list. :)

Book store road trip! Woo! I love The Last Bookstore, Jim, so, if you ever need to be in Pasadena, you must make a trip to see it. It's unique, as far as I know, in the book-shop world.

I like the creaking floorboards and cramped rooms of City Lights. I've been to the McNally bookstore, and while I'd say it's nice and functional and has a good selection, I wouldn't call it one of the most beautiful. I'd love to go to King's and Powell's.

City Lights sounds delightful, Jenniferl! My kind of bookstore, actually.

159. The Vows of Silence by Susan Hill. 3.5 Audio. Mystery. Fourth in the Simon Serrailler series. In this one, a sniper is shooting brides, a teenage boy has been sucked into a fundie cult and proceeds to alienate his family, and Simon and his family are in the midst of more trauma-drama. (I admit I cried a little.) I've jumped right into the fifth, again on audio, but then I plan to take a break from Simon's world of part soap opera and part police procedural (albeit without all that much procedure).

>73 Storeetllr: "(albeit without all that much procedure)" I know, right, does Simon do any police work? I have to get back to that series but I can't seem to get into A Question of Identity although I've tried several times. I may need to skip to the next (horror of horrors).

I have the second Simon Serrailler in my queue. I really liked the first and see that they definitely need to be read in order.

(D)oes Simon do any police work? Good question, Jo, and one I've asked myself. Overall, I like the series, but some things are beginning to annoy me, so I know it's time to take a break. I've got an audio of the new Chet and Bernie mystery (if you haven't read these yet, run out and get the first ~ Dog On It. You will love it!), and a book of Longmire short stories on audio, and one by Diane Setterfield of The Thirteenth Tale fame that looks good and creepy to fit in with Halloween Horror month, this one titled Bellman and Black. I also need to start Nimona and Ghost Story, and yesterday I was at the library and picked up Weavers by Aric Davis who wrote a kind of freaky book ~ A Good and Useful Hurt ~ that I read and liked a couple of years ago. Gods, it never ends, does it!

Hi, Beth! I also prefer to read series books in order, especially when the characters and their personal lives are so prominent. Years ago, I read a series of police procedurals by Dell Shannon that was different and, I felt, could be read in any order, because though things happened in each character's personal life, they weren't emphasized in the story. Occasionally, I've started a series at the last (recently published) book and liked it so much I've gone back to the beginning (I'm thinking of the Easy Rawlins and Harry Bosch mysteries, when I started with Little Scarlet, a book club choice, and Concrete Blonde, a serendipitous choice, respectively, but that's not the way I like to do it.

Finished two last night:

160. The Shadows in the Street by Susan Hill. 3.5 stars. Fifth in the Simon Serailler mystery series. In this one, someone is strangling prostitutes, the new Dean is shaking things up with his new plans for the cathedral, his unpleasant wife is behaving strangely, and Cat is not coping well with single motherhood, and Simon isn't around all that much.

161. The Just City by Jo Walton. 4 stars. First in series, and my first Walton. Interesting premise that reminds me a little of Farmer's Riverworld series. Greek gods interfering in the lives of mortals. A city based on Plato's Republic. "Masters" from many different historical periods making decisions about everyone else's lives. Philosophers in abundance, but not many with practical knowledge. Robots from the distant future doing all the drudge work that keeps the city functioning but no one has knowledge of how they work. What could possibly go wrong? Thanks to Roni for turning me on to this fascinating novel. Look forward to the next in the series.

Tee-hee, I would say my work here is done...but of course it isn't!

Heh. I always visit your thread with a bit of trepidation, Roni. You always hit me with at least one, and usually more, BBs. BTW, I ordered The Philosopher Kings from the library last night, right after I finished The Just City, and it already came in!

I think both you ladies are very dangerous when it comes to book bullets!

>77 Storeetllr: Mary, the versatile Susan Hill just got picked for January 2016 British Author Challenge. I haven't read any of the Simon Serraillier series but some of her literary fiction, criticism and gothic stuff is pretty good.

Jo Walton is always good fun and this is from someone who doesn't normally care for sci-fi and fantasy stuff.

Have a lovely weekend.

Stopping by to wish you a lovely Sunday, Mary.

And I'd add you to the list of dangerous threads, Judy.

A visit from Paul! A visit from Paul! So far my weekend has been great, thanks! Hope yours is equally good. This morning, we're celebrating my niece's birthday with a lovely brunch at The Fresh Fish Company. First time there, though, so I'm only assuming it's going to be lovely. I read Hill's Woman in Black, and now am in the middle of the Serrailler series, and I generally enjoy her work, though I think I need to space her books out a bit. January sounds about right for my next Hill book! As for Walton, it's my first, but it won't be my last. I know The Just City is fantasy, but it's so much more than that. And I now want to read some Aristotle.

Thanks, Lori! Back atcha!

162. Nimona by Noelle Stevenson. 3.5 stars. GN. Cute story. Sad about how it ends.

163. Harbor by John Ajvide Lindqvist. 3.5 stars. Audio. I remember liking Let The Right One In, but Harbour was too all over the place for me, and it left a lot of unanswered questions. Also, one of the main characters annoyed the hell out of me. It did, however, have a number of really good parts, especially the spiritus and the family's ill-fated trip to the lighthouse.

Continuing with my Horror Fest reading:

164. The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman. 4.5 stars. Audio, read by the author. I read Those Across the River for last year's Horror Fest and remember it being okay but not great (bucking the general trend), but I thought I'd try another of Buehlman's, and I'm so glad I did. This is a book about vampires, though not your cute, sexy ones, told by a couple of vampires, though not likable ones, living in the subways and tunnels under NYC in around the 1980s (I think). It was gritty, dark, matter-of-factly graphic, sometimes gory, violent, and with a twist at the end that had me gasping out a laugh. I did end up liking one of the vamps ~ the main narrator, turned when he was 14, and a particularly icky 14, in around 1930. I don't think I'll be giving anything away if I say that, at one point, he comes into possession of an African Gray Parrot (that's what my Nickel is) and forms a kind of bond with it. Anyway, he does well by it ~ as far as it's possible for a vampire to do well by any living creature. Recommended.

I have Those Across the River lined up for my next read and it sounds like it's not going to be as good as I was hoping it would be. Oh well, I'll give a go and see. I am adding The Lesser Dead to my list as I enjoy a dark tale with the blood-thirsty type of vampires.

Happy Sunday, Mary! Hope you are having a lovely weekend. Speaking of creepy reads, I am enjoying The Library at Mount Char, but boy, it is a strange, twisted read and completely original.

Hi, Judy! I was in the minority on Those Across the River. Others raved about it, if I remember correctly, so you should enjoy it just fine! The Lesser Dead, now, that I can recommend if you like dark and bloodthirsty!

Hi, Mark! Yes, thanks, it's been a relatively quiet weekend, with only a frost scare on Friday evening to get my blood pumping. Hope you're having a great day off. I've got Mount Char on my WL, so I'm glad to know you are enjoying it and that it's strange and twisted, which I love!

Stopping by to see what you're up to. Love the Horror Fest reading! Have a great week!

Hi Mary, just stopping by and waving.

Oh, hey! Visitors! I've had a strange couple of days and haven't spent much time here. Not sure if you recall, but I was supposed to be going to Los Angeles for a week or so, but my trip was canceled, and I've been a bit depressed over it. My friend asked me to postpone while she deals with elder-care problems having to do with her mom, who had a stroke a year ago and needs nursing care, and she's trying to find a new nursing home for her while fighting with Medicare and her LTC insurance and her Kaiser doctors. God, I'm not looking forward to that kind of thing happening to me in my old(er) age!

Anyway, hi, Joanne! Hope you're enjoying the beautiful (though chilly) weather this week! If it stays this cold (at night, at least) and we get a storm, we'll have snow!

Hi, Connie! *waves back*

Last of the horrorfest reads for this year, I think, though I may try to "shoehorn" a YA in before Saturday.

165. Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. 4 stars. Audio. Historical supernatural horror story set in France during the time of The Plague. Dark, gritty, gory, violent ~ just like the time it was set in. Thomas (pronounced Tomas, like the Spanish pronunciation), a disgraced former knight turned mercenary, and his band of evildoers come across a young girl while they are sheltering in her barn, eating the carcass of her mule they slaughtered. The girl (whose name we do not learn until long after) sees angels and hears their voices telling her to go into the barn, and she obeys, though she is terribly afraid of what the men will do to her. That's the beginning of the story, sort of. I won't say much more in case I give away some spoilers, but I will say overall this is about an epic struggle between Heaven (with a capital "H") and Hell (ditto), and involves a lot of death and violence, starvation and torture, zombies and Cthulu-like monsters.

Hi, Mary! Sorry, to hear about your cancelled L.A. trip and I hope your mood has bounced back. I like my LT pals buoyant and content.

Blustery in Chicagoland today. Didn't even reach 50, with a tenacious wind.

You probably read the Radleys, right? This sure seems like your cuppa. I started it today and I really like it. A fresh spin.

Thanks, Mark. It was a disappointment, but I'll get over it. And since I was flying Southwest, I still have the money I paid for the flight in my account to use for another trip. I'm thinking Punta Cana in January. LOL

Gorgeous sunny day here, but I was cold all day. I think it got up to 60F, but it never got warm in my little basement lair, except in Nickel's corner where she gets warmth from an electric heater.

I was just over to your nice new thread, Mark, and commented on The Radleys. I wasn't aware of it before you mentioned it, but it does sound good. The premise sounds a little like a short story I read awhile back, except the abstaining vamp was a single man living in a trailer park in the south.

>91 Storeetllr:

Speaking from my own recent experience with a vacation cancellation, that sucks! :( Sorry to hear you had to postpone your trip. I know how much you were looking forward to it. Thank goodness for Southwest though. And I'm sure Nickel is happy.

Sorry about your vacation, and I hope you get to go somewhere fun very soon!

>91 Storeetllr: I can understand the disappointment, Mary. But the reason your friend asked to postpone is a valid one, for sure. Caring for the parents is a big job, especially when they need extra medical care. I hope you can go there soon or to Punta Cana. ;-))

(I had to google the last destination. That looks really perfect!)

I remember, Jo! Sucks big time. Hey! I have an idea! Why don't we get together, go to the Tattered Cover, and drown our sorrows?!? :) Nickel doesn't know what a narrow escape she had! But she's happy. I've let her wing feathers grow out, and she is flying all over and learning to land with something like precision. Yesterday, she startled, jumped off my shoulder, flew around the living room and came back to land on on my upstretched arm! So proud of herself!

Thanks, Jen!

I know, Connie. I'm not mad at my friend, just at the situation and my not being able to go. But, like The Man In Black said, I'll just have to "get used to disappointment." (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZIlAExvneo) And yes, Punta Cana does sound like it would be heaven, especially when it's cold and snowy here. I was in Cancun on the Yucatan peninsula back in the 90s, and the water was clear and blue and warm and marvelous, and you could see some of the islands just at the edge of the horizon, and I've always wanted to get back there and spend a week or two on one of the islands.

Here's an old pic of me from 1990, sitting on the cliffs at Tulum, a Mayan ruin on the coast just a little south of Cancun, gazing out into the turquoise-bluer-than-it-looks Caribbean east toward the Isla Cozumel and dreaming.

Well, it's a day early, but I'm going to post this now in case I get busy tomorrow and forget to do it:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVE!


(My daughter Meg and friends when she was a kid)

>91 Storeetllr: Bummer -- I was looking forward to seeing you in San Diego. Hope the trip gets rescheduled soon (and that we're here when you come).

Thanks, Reba. Yes, I was going to let you know about the postponement after I got over the worst of my disappointment. I was thinking I'd try again in March or April. We'll see. I need to wait for another "sale."

And now, something that should really put fear into you!

Happy Halloween!

>99 Storeetllr: & >102 Storeetllr: Lovely memories, Mary and I am not scared a bit!

Haha, Paul! Then you're a brave man! I tell you, I scare myself sometimes. :)

Happy Sunday, First of November, and First Day of Daylight Savings (in the U.S.). Don't forget to take time out to play!

Love the video clip, Mary! Reminds me of acquaintances with a toy dog - can't remember the breed - and a parrot. The parrot would throw the dog's toy and they would play fetch, with the dog bringing the toy back to the parrot to throw again.

Ha! That must have been fun to watch, Lori! My Nickel doesn't play like that, but she likes to lean down toward my niece's minpin and pretend it wants to give it a kiss, then bite it on its nose. So far, I've prevented any damage to either of them by pulling her away in time and keeping the minpin from snapping her up like a tasty little appetizer.

So, it's November, which is National Novel Writing Month. I decided just this morning to do NaNoWriMo this year, so I may be spending less time on LT and FB than usual for the next month. We'll see, because so far I have no idea what my novel is going to be about, and that's really weird, because so far I've written 1,191 words. Anyway, Happy November!

>108 Storeetllr: Good luck with the writing. What did you write about last year?

Good for you, Mary! I hope you figure out what your novel is about soon! I'm sorry your trip is off especially since I won't have time for a meetup on this trip to Denver. :-(

Good luck with NaNoWriMo!

>105 Storeetllr: I love the little video! >98 Storeetllr: And the picture is beautiful. I love to sit there for a while and enjoy it.

Thanks, Charlotte. I'll need all the help I can get. I sat it out last year. No inspiration, no energy. I don't feel that much more inspired or energetic this year but decided to give it a shot, see if I can get back in the writing habit. I usually write romantic historical mystery thrillers, sometimes with a touch of paranormal. Obviously, I write for my own pleasure.

Me too, Donna. It's kind of weird to be writing along having no idea where I'm going with it. Though I don't usually have a detailed outline when I start NaNo, I do usually know what the story will be in general. I'm sorry you won't have time for a meetup, especially since I postponed my trip to L.A. just to meet up with you. (j/k)

Thanks, Lori! Keep sending good luck vibes my way. I need all the luck I can get!

The video of the parrot at play makes me smile every time I see it,Connie. Thanks, I love that image of me at Tulum too.

Hi, Mary! I love your Cancun photo! Very tranquil.

I am very impressed you are doing NaNoWriMo. Good luck, my friend. How often have you tried it?

I loved all your Halloween photos and that parrot video is a hoot!

Have fun with NaNoWriMo! Wishing you much inspiration.

Thanks, Mark! I was there in around 1990, and Tulum, the Mayan ruin just south of Cancun which is where that picture was taken, was almost deserted when I was there. I don't think it's that peaceful and quiet anymore. Thanks also for your good wishes for NaNo. I've done about 7 or 8 since 2006, won 4, bombed on 2 or 3, and sat out the rest. I really love NaNo, it's so invigorating. And debilitating. Quite an experience, anyway.

Hi, Jo! Isn't that parrot video fun! Thanks for the good wishes for NaNo. Keep 'em coming. I'll need all the luck and inspiration I can get.

The list of Early Reviewer books is out! I didn't find much that interested me and requested only two: When Breath Becomes Air, a memoir by a young neurosurgeon who was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer at 36 wherein he muses on what makes life worth living; and A Christmas Escape by Anne Perry on audio.

Last month I won Arab and Jew, which I've only just barely started. It's a big book, so it's probably going to take me a good while to finish it.

I wrote a little for NaNo this morning; my word count is up to 1,870. According to NaNoWriMo's website, at this rate, it will take me until January 20 to finish it. *sigh* I'll be writing more later, maybe at a write-in that I've been invited to attend in the Barnes & Noble at the Southlands Mall, so I should be able to shorten that time a bit. I do enjoy write-ins and find I do well at them, even with all the distractions. Maybe because the distractions make me concentrate more on my writing?

Last book of October:

166. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rawlins). 4 stars. Audio. Second in the Cormeran Strike mystery series. This series, starring tough, war-wounded private investigator Cormeran Strike and his intrepid assistant Robin Ellicott, keeps getting better and better. In this one, an eccentric, not-very-well-respected author goes missing, and his dumpy wife "hires" Strike to find him. Turns out he's pulled a scarper before, so the police aren't interested in looking for him, but he's been gone a bit too long this time for the wife's, and Strike's, comfort.

Happy November, Mary, and the best of luck with your writing.

Thanks, Judy!

Went to the write-in tonight at B&N and brought my total up to 2,781 words. Not bad for not knowing what my story is about yet, huh? I did kill off one of my three characters tonight. He was a cocky young attorney, and I have to say it was quite satisfying to send him tumbling down the steps outside the building where I used to work and break his neck for him. I'm thinking there's a bit of suppressed animosity inside me still, even though I've been retired for almost 3 years now. (3 years! Yikes!)

>120 Storeetllr: Ha! I wonder if he will be the first of many?

"I did kill off one of my three characters tonight."' You are a regular George R.R. Martin, aren't you? Snickers...

Congrats on 2,781 words! Yahoo!

>121 charl08: Haha, Charlotte! I didn't start out to write a murder mystery/thriller, but it looks like it's going in that direction, so yeah, it is probably the first of many. Perhaps this endeavor will be cathartic and I will finally get over the last of my angst about the last few years of working as a legal secretary in a large law firm which may not be named for a bunch of narcissistic inconsiderate lawyers and managers who also may not be named.

>122 msf59: Heh, if I was writing epic fantasy. This is something else, perhaps urban fantasy. I haven't found out yet. Thanks for the kind words on my paltry word count of yesterday.

I'm trying not to think of those who have already written more than 50,000 words. One guy in the NaNo FB group last night said he was up to 80k+. *notjealousnotjeaous* Actually, having worked as a word processor for awhile, I know how hard it is to type that many words in a short period of time ~ hard on the wrists; the fingers, the back, and the eyes* ~ much less think creatively about what you are writing. Not to mention it takes I think 17 hours to type 50,000 words, according to an engineer who also posted to the FB NaNoWriMo group. I can scarcely stay awake that long on a normal day. LOL

*ETA and the butt!

Day 4:



"At This Rate You Will Finish On December 16, 2015." Bahahahaha!

I saw a good Audible deal on Half-Resurrection Blues. I've heard good things about this urban fantasy series. And for 4 bucks you can't beat it:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QFKHOX0/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&a...

In regards to NaNoWriMo: Go, Mary! Go, Mary!

Oh! That sounds very interesting indeed, Mark! I will head over to Audible as soon as I finish up on LT and check it out.

And thanks for the encouragement in regards to NaNo! Today ~ Day 5 ~ my word count is over 6,000! I'm catching up! Just another couple of good days, and I will be on track, which is kind of scary since I have NEVER been on track when it comes to NaNo word counts. I usually start slow, maybe don't even start writing until the 3rd or 4th, then go ninjawriter starting around Thanksgiving and write 5-8k a day for the duration. Hope I don't jinx myself.

Day 6 of NaNoWriMo 2016, and I'm on course to exceed 10k words by this time tomorrow!!! (Sorry about the multiple exclamation points. Not very professional writerly, but I'm that excited.) AND I wrote over 2,000 words today! wOOt!

As a corollary to my writing wins, I have read nothing for two days. I think I'm going to turn off the computer and the AlphaSmart now, grab a book (I'm thinking Plan B), and settle down for a little light reading. Or maybe I should listen to an audiobook, since my eyes are feeling a bit strained. I just picked up Jackaby from the library, and I want to read it before my Early Reviewer copy of Beastly Bones, the next book in the series, arrives.

Decisions, decisions.

Great progress on your NaNoWriMe, Mary!

Thanks, Lori!

So I didn't read anything last night. After turning off my laptop, I got into my jammies, brushed my teeth, washed my face, got into bed, and was so drowsy I just turned off the light and went to sleep. Slept pretty much all through the night too, but the dreams I had! All about my characters and story. Too bad I've forgotten the details.

Another write-in today where I hope to write at least 2k words, which would put me over 10k for the first week. Go me!

Happy Saturday, Mary!

"but the dreams I had! All about my characters and story." That is really interesting. I am sure this is very common, among writers.

I was curious about Jackaby. I did not see a lot of LT love on it, so I just let it slide...

Hi, Mark! I was just over on your thread before coming back here to check how high my tsundoku pile is. :) (It's pretty high.) Hope you have a fantastic time at the Big Bash for MrsMark this evening!

Yes, I've been having vivid dreams for awhile now, many of them (that I remember, anyway) having to do with characters in books I was reading at the time and now on the story I'm writing. Very weird but cool, in a way.

I'll let you know how I like Jackaby. I hadn't heard about it until I won it's sequel from last month's Early Reviewer batch.

"to check how high my tsundoku pile is." We sure love checking those piles, don't we, Mary, although sometimes it can be a bittersweet experience. Looking at all those neglected volumes. Heart-breaking.

Funny, for all the reading/listening I do, I do not think I have ever dreamed about a character. I wonder how many do??

Can you see over your Tsundoku pile? Is there danger of a Tsundoku collapse? (Hoping more usage of the word might help it catch on...).

Good luck with that writing. Those words are piling up.

Yes, the tsundoku pile is gettin' pret-ty high. Good thing I no longer live in earthquake country, that's for damn sure!

I haven't always dreamed about my reading/writing, Mark. It's a recent thing. My sis says it's a good thing and must mean my creativity is breaking out of the stranglehold that stress has kept it in these past few years.

Thanks, Charlotte! I broke the 10k barrier today! Yay me!

Yay for >10k!! Go Mary!

Good luck with the novel writing Mary.......I await the fruit of your labours avidly.

Just out of curiosity, have any of the competition finalists made it to the shops?

" Good thing I no longer live in earthquake country, that's for damn sure." LOL. Great point!

Happy Sunday, Mary! Have a great day.

Thanks, Jo! I've never broken through the 10k barrier in the first week since I started doing NaNo in 2006, so it was kind of a rush for me.

Thank you, Paul. Yes, many NaNoers have had their NaNo novels (with many rewrites, revisions and edits, of course ~ writing 50k words in 30 days doesn't leave much time for crafting a perfect draft) published, including The Night Circus and Water for Elephants, among other popular, perhaps best-selling, novels.

Here are a couple articles that mention a few others: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/8-best-sellers-started-during-national-novel-... and http://mentalfloss.com/article/53481/14-published-novels-written-during-nanowrim.... (Don't look for any of my efforts to join these, though, at least not at the stages they are at present. :)

Happy Sunday to you too, Mark! Hope last night's party was a great success. I'll jump over to your thread soon and get an update.

Wow, Mary I had no idea that those books in the articles were originally NaNoers! You never know, maybe you're working on a future best seller!

It's really quite inspiring, Judy! And it's true that, with a little editing ~ well, a lot of editing, after major rewriting and revision ~ I might one day publish one of the 4 or 5 first drafts, most of them incomplete, that are languishing in my virtual desk drawer. Not sure how much of a best seller it would be, though. :)

>140 Storeetllr: Fascinating Mary and, I think, quite inspiring.

You go, Mary! I am in awe.

Hi Mary, I had to check out your thread when you mentioned the links for the published novels that were started in NaNoWriMo. I am going to share them with someone I met at the Surrey International Writers Conference. I think she will be happy for the inspiration. Good luck with your writing!

It is, Paul!

Thanks, Roni. Me too (in awe that I haven't completely lost my creativity)!

Oh, yes, Meg ~ please do share them! And thanks!

How's your murder mystery going?

There you are, Joanne! Yes, it's going great, though it's no longer a murder mystery. It sort of morphed into urban fantasy horror with a touch of romance (can't seem to escape lurve) and dogs.

In fact, I wanted to stop by LT tonight and brag a little about my progress. I crossed the 20,000 word line ~ first time ever I hit 20k words so early (i.e., on schedule) since I started doing NaNo in 2006. According to my stats, if I continue at this pace, I will hit 50k words on November 30! Go me!

ETA this:

Happy Friday, everyone! Here's a little something to start your day off right. Enjoy!



ETA credit where it's due: http://giphy.com/gifs/painting-van-gogh-dominos-GalPuINXLiiXK

>148 Storeetllr: - WHOOT! Great progress with your NaNoWriMo, Mary!

>149 Storeetllr: - That is so cool!

>148 Storeetllr: Way to go, Mary! That's impressive.

>149 Storeetllr: >150 lkernagh: Isn't it fun!

Thanks, Joe! I'm so happy about my progress this time! I go to another NaNo write-in tonight (assuming my new (!) laptop arrives before I'd have to leave for the write-in, in which case I'll stay and wait for it), and I always do really well at write-ins.

Continuing the good luck vibes for your writing marathon, Mary. xx

Thanks, Paul! I'm up to 24k+ now! My goal is to reach 26k by day's end, which would be awesome and mean I'm a little ahead of the curve at this, the halfway mark.

Happy Sunday, Mary! I am sure you are busy writing away. You go Girl!! High Fives to my pal!

So, you wrote so much that you wore out your old laptop? Congratulations on your progress, Mary. I also appreciated the list of novels that were NaNo writers' projects. I had no idea.

It's great to see your daily output on the rise, you must be inspired by your story to be able to put so many words on the page. Keep up the good work!

Hi, Mark ~ No, no writing yet. I tend to write later in the day and evening. For some reason, it suits my off-kilter circadian rhythm.

Donna! So nice to hear from you. Glad you made it back in one piece. Haha, my poor old laptop, operative word "old." I think I bought it in around 2008, so it had a good run. Actually, it still works okay, but ssslllloooowwww. And the hard drive was pretty much full, so I've been moving things to an external hard drive, which entailed actually considering what I was moving and if I really even wanted to keep it, and trying to stay organized. Anyway, I am now struggling to master this new beast. Latest everything: touch screen, solid state drive, audio that's almost-as-good-as-my-Bose-docking-station speakers, HD camera, backlit keyboard, 2.6GHz so it's fast, 16GB of RAM, I could go on. Oh, yeah, and a huge screen, almost too big for a laptop=17". I've wanted to fling it out the window a few times since I got it the other day because I can't figure out how to get somewhere or do something or because it suddenly changes screen aspect and I DON'T KNOW WHY! My sis has a similar model and told me to just take it slow, it would all sort itself out. Anyway, it is impressive how many well-reviewed novels were begun as NaNo projects. I live in hope, but I don't think mine will ever make it that far.

Thanks, Judy! Funny how the story, about which I had no idea when I started writing, has taken on a life and a direction of its own. Not to mention the characters. I'm actually writing it as an intro novella to a series I've been thinking about for awhile. It will be urban fantasy/horror, have shifters, weres, and demons, not sure about vampires and witches, etc., but I hope there'll be a bit of a twist on the old tropes that will make it appealing and not just same old-same old. We'll see. I could completely scrap the whole thing after I finish writing it or change it completely after NaNo's over.

Isn't new technology frustrating? I tend to put up with the old computer components even when I know they are reaching the end of their life because I don't want to learn how to use new hardware because it takes time away from what I really want to be doing - like writing. Good luck with the NaNo writing.

Thanks, Meg! I really should be writing now instead of messing about here on LT, but...here I am anyway because it's so much more fun. I'll be up late writing tonight, no doubt.

My old laptop was so familiar, if slow and untrustworthy, and it was easy to use, even if it was always crashing and losing internet connection and taking forever to load a page or program. Heck, it used to take me 10 minutes to boot up. So nice to have one that boots immediately and pulls up pages and programs in a blink, but it does things that really freak me out, like jumping from one program to another without me doing anything. It's like it has a mind of its own. I may start calling it "Hal." Just so long as it doesn't start calling me "Dave." :) I know it's going to be great, once I figure it out and get used to it, but until then...

Oh how exciting! I did not realize that you are writing a book! Best wishes with your new computer! Like Meg, I am in no hurry to deal with new computers and their programs. Let me know when your novel is finished, so I can purchase it!

A new laptop! I'm sure you two will be getting along just fine after your (hopefully short) period of adjustment!

3-7 inches Monday into Tuesday, according to CBS. Yuck!

Aw, thanks, Deb. You're very kind. It's for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which is a "write a novel of at least 50,000 words during November" challenge I've participated in 5 or 6 times since 2006. I have 3 manuscripts that I wrote during NaNo sitting in the virtual desk drawer but haven't really looked at them since finishing their respective year's NaNo. One of my plans for retirement was to rewrite, revise, edit and submit them, because I think they are worth it. Two-plus years into it, I still haven't done any writing or revising of any kind. But I hope this year's NaNo gets my creative juices flowing again and my butt back into the writing chair. :)

3-7 inches is better than the 3 feet they were talking about a couple days ago, Jo! And I'm not sad about getting a lot of snow. It will keep me inside and (I hope) writing. Or at least fiddling with the new laptop. I just hope you aren't too badly impacted by the storm.

Blizzard warnings are so rare here in Denver. We didn't have a lot of wind overnight, how about you? Nice to have the sun come out this afternoon!

Hi, Joanne! Yes, the sun is lovely, shining on the snow. It's quite warm here too, but still a bit windy. Luckily, I don't have to go out today. Staying inside where it's snug and warm, trying to figure out this cussed new laptop and write my 2,000 words a day for NaNo.

Hope you are having a good Hump Day!

Howdy, Mary! We are supposed to get a couple of inches Friday night into Saturday morning. I am happy with one inch.

Snow before Thanksgiving- Boo!!

Hope the writing went well today!

>98 Storeetllr: Woefully behind in reading threads, I am glad I visited here today. What a lovely photo!

Yeah, I hear that Mark. Only good thing about snow in Colorado is it tends to melt relatively quickly. Stay safe and wear your warmest boots and mittens, my friend.

Hey, Linda! Thanks for visiting! Which photo? If the top one, then thanks! I took it back in around 2005 when I was on a morning hike at Towsley Canyon, I think it was, in Newhall, CA. Pretty proud of it, actually. Also took another one the same day that I also like a lot; you can see it here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/158416#4265137

Hi Mary, I hope the writing is going well. I just wanted to drop by to wish you a very happy Thanksgiving, enjoy the holiday!

Oh, thanks so much, Judy! We're going to have a quiet Thanksgiving. I made my famous Yams 'n Apples Casserole today, so all I'll need to do tomorrow is pop it in the oven for 15 minutes to warm it. My sister is making the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Then it's only the two of us and maybe one of her daughters, depending on the weather. Lisa lives up in the mountains near Copper Hill Ski Resort, at about 11,000 feet, and it's supposed to snow tonight into tomorrow, so she might not be able to make it down.

Happy Thanksgiving, Mary! Have a great day, my friend.

With the milder temps, and now a bit of rain, most of our snow is gone. Yippee!!

Hi Mary, Happy Thanksgiving. I've been lurking, following your writing. Impressive. Enjoy the day; the yam 'n apples casserole sounds great. It sounds like you will have a small celebration - I think my sister will be hosting almost 40 of us! I'm just hoping I made enough pies.

Thanks, Mark! Glad your snow has mostly melted and your Turkey Day is going to be warm(er) (than mine). :) Happy Thanksgiving to you and your wonderful family too!

Happy Thanksgiving to you too, Beth! Forty! Wow! I felt a bit overwhelmed when we had 12 for Christmas dinner last year. Your sis must be an amazing woman! So, what kind of pies?

Welp, turkey's in the oven and smelling heavenly, and my sis has kicked me out of the kitchen so she can get everything else prepped and ready to be cooked. It turns out my niece Lisa will be coming for dinner today after all, and my other niece and her SO and D (my great niece who's Not-A-Baby-Anymore) will probably come for dessert, so it won't be all that small a celebration. BTW, my sister said she's going to take a pic of the Yams n Apple thing I made because she said it looked so beautiful. (She's a good sister.) If she does, I'll post it.

Hi Mary. I'm a new visitor to your thread and I'll join the rest in cheering you along in your writing.
And...

Hi, Ellen! Welcome to my LT home! And thanks for your kind wishes for my writing endeavor. Have you heard about NaNoWriMo before?

Happy Thanksgiving to you too!

To all my LT friends in the U.S.,

>175 Storeetllr: I have indeed heard of NaNoWriMo before (although I'm now having a hard time remembering the whole acronym). I had a friend who, several years ago, participated and made some good headway on a book she was writing. I don't think it's been published (yet) but I remember her incredible focus for that month!

National November Writing Month? Is that it?

Yep! That's it, Ellen! And you're so right; NaNo does provide writers a platform for intense focus that will, it is hoped, become a habit for the rest of the year. It's great that your friend started her novel with NaNoWriMo. A lot of authors have done so and published what they started during NaNo, including The Night Circus and Water For Elephants. I posted links to a couple of articles about it at >140 Storeetllr:.

So, a progress report: I am within 1,497 of making it to 50k words! And though the story won't be quite finished, it's so close to the end (I'm working up to the big final battle scene now), I think it's possible I may actually be able to write those lovely words ~ "The End" ~ before midnight on November 30.

Great work, Mary! And your weather should be contributing to staying focused on your writing, right? We don't have snow here in central Kansas right now, but have the ice and freezing rain.

>178 Storeetllr: Excellent! Keep going, keep going!

>178 Storeetllr: So impressive. Hope you've got something lined up to celebrate the success. I am going to binge on all the library books I have (mostly) been resisting for the month. Hurrah!

>178 Storeetllr: Wow, keep up the good work you are so close to being done!

Thanks, Roni, Jennifer and Charlotte! It feels so good to have finished. Well, anyway, to have won the purple bar for finishing 50k words. The story is not quite finished. Just another thousand words or so to go.

Charlotte ~ Did I miss something? Are you doing NaNoWriMo too? Anyway, you have it right. First thing I'm doing, a glass of wine. Second, picking up (Roni will like this) Plan B which I started toward the beginning of the month but had to put down in order to do NaNo. And I'm going to spend the rest of the evening reading and sipping wine. I may have a bite to eat for dinner. Or maybe just ice cream. :)

Oh, and a special treat for Miss Nickel who has been so good while I've been busily writing, attending write-ins, and generally ignoring her, or at least not giving her quite as much attention as she's used to getting. Such a great writing companion!

ETA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RT3cx1b9ZM, to give credit to my Muse (Eliza), as well as my Evil Helpful Inner Editor (Higgins), without whom I could not have "did it."

^Big High Fives to my pal! Nice job, Mary! Now, you can get back to those books.

>184 Storeetllr: Oh well done. No, you missed nothing re me writing. I've just been trying to clear the TBR pile rather than getting distracted by all the shiny books at the library!

Congratulations Mary!! What a great accomplishment! As someone who struggles to put a couple of paragraphs together, I'm very impressed.

Stay warm!

Thanks so much Mark, Charlotte and Jo! I'm still writing, though I got to 50k words a couple days ago. I do want to finish the story before end of NaNo. However, I seem to have come up with a plot twist right here at the end. Now what? *sigh*

I'm looking forward to getting back to the books, Mark. So much. Can't just yet, though. NEED to finish this story.

Okay, I thought not, Charlotte, but wanted to be sure. Yes, I totally get what you mean about getting distracted by the shiny new books from the library even though the unread pile of books one owns is staring reproachfully from a table in the corner.

Hi, Joanne! Yeah, I was out yesterday and made it home just before the worst of the snowstorm hit. Not so much snow, but driving on those icy roads can be treacherous ~ and scary. BTW, went to see my godson from California play in and win a hockey tournament that was being held at Big Bear Ice Rink at around Lowry (which is 6th Ave. until it gets to Dayton) and Yosemite. It was great to see him and his mom and dad. They are the friends I was supposed to stay with on my aborted vacation to Cali of late October-early November. Last time I saw him, he was about 12 and not quite as tall as me. Here's a pic of him and me after the game:

Hooray for your Godson!! Boo to snowstorms!! Yah, for getting back to the books!

>188 Storeetllr: That's great that you got to see him play! Those kids sure tend to grow up fast, don't they?

>188 Storeetllr: Sounds like NaNo really worked for you if you need to carry on and finish the story.

I just wrote a long response to Mark, Joanne and Jennifer, hit a wrong key by mistake, and stupid computer lost it!!!!! So annoying.

Thanks, Mark! It was a fun game. I swear my heart almost stopped a few times, it got so exciting.

It was wonderful, Jo, and even better was watching his team win the championship game!

It did, Jennifer! I didn't write anything yesterday or today as I had a little headache that wouldn't seem to go away, but I plan to finish the story tomorrow and then put it aside until after Christmas when my daughter goes back to NY on January 5. Not really looking forward to reading it. It's so full of plot holes, shudder-worthy writing, and things that make absolutely no sense that it's going to take a lot to whip it into shape.

Speaking of writing, I found this cartoon by Grant Snider (who is a genius imo) which really spoke to me and makes me laugh right out loud (esp. the plot hole and critical reaction parts):

I should finish the first book I've read since starting NaNoWriMo on November 1. I swear, I have NEVER gone that long without reading a book since ~ well, I can't remember ever going that long without reading a book. What is it, you ask? Okay, it's actually an omnibus from the Liaden Universe: Korval's Game, which includes Plan B and I Dare. I actually finished Plan B yesterday and jumped right into I Dare, which is probably why I didn't think of it as a separate novel. I will count them separately when I list them on my December reads. Thanks to Roni for pushing suggesting this great series. :)

On a less fun subject, I've mentioned before that I participate in PostCrossing, which involves sending postcards to folks all over the world and getting postcards back from all over the world. One postcard sent/one postcard received is the deal. (www.postcrossing.com). So the other day I received a postcard from a young woman in Lyons, France (she'll be 21 on January 17). It took me a couple of days to register the card because I wasn't sure exactly what to say to her. Here's the postcard, front and back:

Unhappy news (again, sorry) for Mercy Thompson fans. Patricia Briggs had a nasty accident the other day and may take awhile to recover, which may put release of her next Mercy Thompson novel back. Here's the FB post that talks about what happened. https://www.facebook.com/OfficialPatriciaBriggs/posts/787339474708357

>193 Storeetllr: I don't have any wise words in response to this, just sad. I grew up with the threat of terrorist attacks and I would say that defiance (I refuse to let these threats change my life) can be an empowering response. Hope she at least goes home for a weekend to get some hugs.

I love that cartoon - especially the critical response!

>193 Storeetllr: That is sad. I hope receiving your card gives her some comfort.

Hi, Charlotte ~ Yeah, it took me a couple of days to come up with something to say. I mean, after our very own (what looks like) domestic terrorist attack yesterday in San Bernardino, CA where 14 people were killed while enjoying a holiday luncheon, it's clear that there really is no guaranteed safe place. I just told her that there were a lot of people who were praying for Paris and for all those who were killed or lost loved ones in the attack, and that many of us are working toward making the world a safer, less hate-filled extremist kind of place. I also told her that my only child lives in NYC, and not a day goes by that I don't think of the possibilities and worry. Not much else to say.

I just looked at the cartoon again and laughed out loud at the critical response image. I can remember a few books I've read over the years (not many lately because I use the Pearl Rule ruthlessly) that made me feel that way.

I hope so too, Jennifer. If this kind of violence continues, we'll all have PTSD, every man, woman and child in the entire world. Anyway, just want to clarify I didn't send her a card, because that's not how PostCrossing works. When a card arrives, you register it on the site, and there's a place to write something to the sender. I usually make lighthearted comments about the card and maybe respond to something the sender wrote. This time, lighthearted comments just wasn't going to cut it.

>193 Storeetllr: No, I did PUSH--aren't you glad I did?

Loved the cartoon, sniffled over the postcard--think you handled it beautifully.

Back in San Diego--and I've been cold ever since I got back, while daytime highs have been in the mid-70s. Go figure.

A very big congratulations to you, Mary, for completing your NanNoWriMo so successfully. I am awestruck at your determination and fortitude. Your French postcard almost brought me to tears as well, what a horrible thing it is to see young people all over the world being afraid. Your reply was both thoughtful and encouraging.

Hubby and I started the week off with some Christmas shopping and we got quite a lot done so I am starting to feel a little more in control. I am a little grinch-like until the presents are bought, then I can relax and enjoy the rest of the holiday season.

>193 Storeetllr: That's heartbreaking.....

You're right, Roni, you pushy thing you. :) I'm very glad you pushed enough to get me to try Agent of Change. I was just thinking of rereading it, because I read it so fast I think I missed some stuff, and because now that I've read the first five per your suggested reading order, I think there's stuff I would appreciate more knowing the story arc. But then there's Theo's story... Weird how we are affected unexpectedly sometimes by weather temps. When I lived in L.A. County, when the temps dipped into the 60s, I was in my woolen coat and boots and hat and scarf. Here, I was out in a light sweater yesterday when the temps were in the high 50s. And before you say it, no, I am NOT getting used to it and yes, I still miss SoCal.

Thanks, Judy. NaNo was fun (sort of) and productive. At least it got me writing again. I've even joined a writing group! I know what you mean about Christmas. Every year, it seems, I get less and less into the "Christmas spirit." Then when it's over, I think wistfully that I should have enjoyed it more. It's the incessant pre-Christmas "BUY! BUY! BUY!" that gets to me most. This year, I've got a couple of books to give my great-niece and will contribute a few bucks toward her college fund, and I'm also contributing toward four big-ticket items that we as a group are giving to four of our number. The rest are getting nothing from me, unless something jumps out at me and shouts: "I'd be PERFECT for ____!" And I've told everyone not to get me anything (except maybe an adult coloring book and some special coloring pens I've been lusting for, but only if they REALLY REALLY want to), because I already have too much stuff!

Isn't it just, Joanne! I've been thinking back to the 80s and 90s when my daughter was a kid, and how it seems to have been Columbine that started me worrying about mass shootings. Although I guess it was the Kennedy assassination in '73 that marked the end of the post-WWII era of relative peace and prosperity here in the States.

I've finished three books in December so far, and am in the middle of two:

167. Plan B by Sharon Lee. 4 stars. Scifi space opera. I read this so fast, after not having read any books in November (due to, you know, writing a book which is provisionally titled Shifter for NaNoWriMo) and then jumping right into I Dare, the next book in the Liaden Universe, that I don't remember it individually, just as a part of the one I'm reading now (I Dare). I can say that it was filled with a lot of exciting action, and I enjoyed it a lot.

168. I Dare by Sharon Lee. 4 stars. Scifi space opera. Satisfying end to one story arc in the Liaden Universe and promising beginning to another!

169. Jackaby by William Ritter. 3.75 stars. Audio. YA Supernatural Mystery. Interesting concept: It's the late 1800s, and Abigail Rook, a young woman of good family who has run away from her home in England to work on a dinosaur dig, ends up in America after that endeavor runs out of money and folds. She meets Jackaby, a private investigator who can sense the supernatural, and inveigles her way into his employ as his assistant. In this, the first of a series, they are on the trail of a serial killer who the police believe is just your run-of-the-mill killer but which Jackaby is certain is a supernatural being. A few fun characters include a beautiful ghost, a duck that used to be Jackaby's assistant, a morrigan, and a werewolf cop. There were a few weak spots, and once or twice I wanted to shake Abigail Rook for being a TSTL idiot, but all-in-all, it was a fun read. I'm looking forward to starting the second in the series, Beastly Bones, which I won as an Early Reviewer copy. Note: I wasn't thrilled with the narrator, Nicola Barber, whose voice for Jackaby was robotic and stupid. I think she was trying to convey his personality, which is obviously Sherlock Holmsian with a side of Asperger's, but it was really too much.

>192 Storeetllr: I love The Story Coaster! Now I see what you've been living through the past six weeks. I also love last minute plot twists. I hope it doesn't throw you off too much. What fun you are having with your writing, but I do miss your "book reports"!

>193 Storeetllr: Oh my, what a heartbreaking card from Paris. Thank you for sharing the reminder of how terrorism affects the innocents.

>202 Storeetllr: Ahh, back to reading. Good for you!

Hi, Donna! Isn't that Story Coaster fun. And believe me, writing a novel (especially one in 30 days) is quite the wild ride!

Best Books of 2015? What do you think?



http://bookriot.com/bestof2015/

I dunno. I looked at Goodreads' winners of their best SF and Fantasy today, and of the top ones in each field, I'd only read one of the top 20 in fantasy and had never heard of 8 of them, and none of the top 20 in science fiction. Although 5 are on my wishlist, I've never heard of 7 of them (that means not only the book but also the author). Sorcerer to the Crown was certainly enjoyable--it's the only one of yours above that I've read--but I wouldn't put it at the top. I actually did best in the YA Fantasy & SF combined category, with Uprooted read and Winter and Six of Crows on their way to me from the library. Sad, and these are the genres I read! (Of course the good part is lots of good ideas for future reads.)

Hi, Roni! I've read 170 books so far this year, and I always feel so unread when I look at these lists and realize that not only have I not read most of them but I haven't even heard of most of them. LOL I've read one of the ones listed above, and I want to read a couple more (Nimona, Fates and Furies, The Library at Mount Char), but I don't know much about the rest. Here's another "Best of" list of scifi, fantasy and horror, and only one is on my radar (because of you, actually): The Philosopher Kings. http://www.popmythology.com/10-favorite-books-of-2015/

ETA I don't think Sorcerer's Crown is the same novel as the one shown in >205 Storeetllr: above.

I look at the lists of Best Books of 2015 and I take many ideas from them, but honestly, I am still catching up with books from 2013 etc. I very rarely read a book that was actually released during the current year!

>207 Storeetllr: So true! Actually, looking at the books in >205 Storeetllr:, I missed Archivist Wasp in the top row, so I've read two of these, but it wouldn't have made my top 10 list. You are right--I cited the wrong book in >206 ronincats: so I've corrected that. In your popmythology lisit, I will eventually get to the Jemisin, have heard of the Schwab, and have added Dark Orbit to my wishlist.

>208 DeltaQueen50: I've read 35 books released this year, thanks to new releases by favorite authors, ER books, and a good library in conjunction with all the websites tracking new releases each month in fantasy and science fiction and the book warbling that goes on on LT. But that's not a large sample to get a best 10 of the year out of.

Hah! Here's yet another "Best of" list of booksellers' favorites. Some of the choices are new, while others were duplicated on other lists I've seen. *sigh* I can't keep up either, Rona and Judy!

http://lithub.com/the-25-best-books-of-the-year-according-to-booksellers/

Thanks for sharing the lists, Mary! One thing is for sure: This has been a helluva year for books. I have read many great new titles and still have many to go. I plan on starting Fates & Furies soon.

I liked Goff's earlier novel, Monsters of Templeton, so this one is also on my list for 2016. I think the two from the list in >210 Storeetllr: that I read (Nimona and H is for Hawk were your doing, Mark. Or maybe Nimona was Roni's doing. Whoever suggested them, I thank you!

I've read earlier books by Schlitz that I liked, so I'll probably also get to The Hired Girl sometime in 2016, though it's gotten mixed reviews on LT. Haven't heard a lot about the other books on the list, except the Haruf, whose novels I really need to get to at some point soon, being as they were so highly thought of here on LT.

No, I haven't read Nimona yet. From this latest selection, Uprooted is the one I've read and I would put it in my top 10. I haven't read the Jemisen, although I've read all her previous books, so I'm sure I'll get around to it before too long.

Saw your weather on the TV news just now--lots of snow and a snow day for schools!

So, knowing I love sending & receiving postcards from all over the world through PostCrossing, my friend Joanne mentioned there is an LT Christmas (or Holiday, if you prefer) Card exchange. Of course I signed up for it right away! Thanks, Jo! http://blog.librarything.com/main/2015/12/librarything-holiday-card-exchange-2/

We are snowed in today. This morning, we were visited by one very hearty squirrel (we usually get 3 or 4 hovering around the back door, waiting for my sister to dole out the day's peanuts, but only this one showed up). His snout was covered with a dusting of snow, and I managed to get a picture of him. Looks like he's saying: "Yeah, yeah, I am cute. Now, where are those peanuts?"

Hi again, Roni! Okay, must have been Mark who suggested Nimona. I'm putting Uprooted and The Fifth Season on my 2016 TBR list. Oh, boy, I've already got a pretty long list for 2016, and I imagine it's not going to get any shorter as we get closer to New Year's Day. Story o' my life, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

>214 Storeetllr: Ha! Yeah, give with the peanuts already, Mary!

Thanks for that 2015 book list. I'm another one who liked Nimona. As Mark said, what a helluva year for books. I'd add Signs Preceding the End of the World and Neurotribes to the list, and for GNs, another Mark tip, The Story of My Tits.

>216 jnwelch: Shouldn't that be "Tips", Joe? Snickers...

>217 msf59: Ha! I'm going to try to stay out of trouble in my part of the woods, buddy.

"Tips?" "Tits?" "Woods?" Okay, boys, keep it clean. Oh, wait, I seem to be channeling my mother. Never mind. Go for it!

In other news, here's what it looks like this morning on the back deck and in my front and back yards:



There will be no going out for a drive anywhere today!

Love the squirrel (and the snow). A little field mouse has adopted one of the bird feeders in the tree in the back garden, but so far has proved far too quick for me to photo him/ her.

Ooh, snow! Glad it is there and not here. Yes, I can be selfish that way. At least, you can just curl up inside, with the books and glance out occasionally. Smiles...

Oh, boy, I wish we had a little bit of that snow here. Charlie is pretty bummed that we'll not have a white Christmas...

Totally understand, Mark! If I had to go out in it, I wouldn't be at all happy.

And, Amber, I'm not all that happy about it as it is, so I would LOVE to "share" it with you. How about you take 90% of the stuff and I'll keep 10%. :)

Thanks for the lists, Mary. Fates and Furies made my list, but I've only read a few of the others. I also loved Groff's Arcadia.

Hi, Mary! Try not to get to frustrated with a couple of my pals on FB. They are brain-washed zombies. These are long-time friends, but BOY, have they got off track. LOL.

Oh my goodness, it was cold out there today!!! Brrrrrrr!

Did you find your Christmas card match(es)? I was disappointed not to get an international LTer, but at least they were out of state!

I love all the end of year lists! Have you seen NPR's book concierge? Fun!

>223 Storeetllr: It's a deal! *grins*

Hi, Joanne! I got my Christmas card matches too! Only one international, if you can call Canada international since it's right next door. But I'll take it. The others were in different states. Some of the LT names I recognize from the threads, which is kind of nice. It's beautiful and relatively warm today, so that's a nice change. Maybe the sun will melt the snow on the street outside my house so I can get out of the driveway. I haven't seen the NPR book concierge. I'll have to go look for it, though I really don't need more books on the TBR list, which is longer than my arm as it is.

>227 scaifea: If only there were a way! I'm hoping most of the snow melts by Christmas. (As my sister says, I'm such a Scrooge.)

Happy Friday, Mary! Did you see my post up there? I was just trying to explain my friends. Lol.

Hope you are enjoying those current reads.

>225 msf59: Oh, Mark! I missed it in my excitement at Joanne's news about the holiday card exchange. So sorry!

Yes, I don't hold anyone's weird FB friends against them. I have a few of my own. Also a few family members I don't like to admit I know. So far, I haven't unfriended much less blocked them, though with one or two it's close. I mostly just try to ignore them. I will extend that same courtesy to your weird friends, except for a rolling-of-the-eyes comment once in awhile. :)

170. Fear the Dark by Kay Hooper. 3 stars. Another installment in the Bishop Files. I enjoyed it okay while I was reading it, but afterwards, when I was thinking about it, I realized that there were a couple of real problems with the ending. I mean, who really believes a guy can get into a storefront office from the outside quietly enough to sneak up on four FBI agents (all of whom are psychic) and two local cops. Seriously?

171. The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher. 4 stars. Audio. Long steampunk scifi fantasy set in a world that is really not an alternate of ours. Drops you right in the middle of the action, doesn't explain all the reasons for everything that's happening, lots of action, lots of memorable characters, complicated politics, an ancient enemy (shades of Cthulhu). Even sentient cats! Worth the effort of remembering who everyone and everything is. Long story short, the world is made up of city-states that exist inside huge tall spires. Spire Albion is in the midst of a cold war with Spire Aurora (reminding me vaguely of England versus Spain; shades of Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana and Lions of al-Rassan!). Captain Grimm's Albion merchant airship is attacked by an Auroran ship of war and, while fighting off the enemy ship, is badly damaged. War is declared, and three cadets are drafted by the Spirearch (like president or king) of Albion, along with Captain Grimm, Fezzy (sp?), a master sorceror of the aether and his apprentice Folly, and Prince Rowl (sp?) of the Soft Paws tribe of cats, for a vital mission. Nothing like The Dresden Files or even the Furies of Calderon series. Recommended.

>231 Storeetllr: Hey, wasn't The Aeronaut's Windlass a lot of fun? Glad you liked it!

Oh, it was, Roni! Can't wait for the next in the series.

>224 BLBera: Oops! I seem to have skipped right over your post, Beth. So sorry for that. As I told Mark, whose post I also failed to respond to, I got so excited by Joanne's info about an LT Christmas card exchange that I left my thread to check it out and when I got back I forgot to go back up the line. Anyway, good to know you loved Arcadia. I guess I better get it on my TBR list for 2016 too.

>233 Storeetllr: And I can't find any information on when that might be--drat!!

If it's as long as the first, Roni, it could be awhile. :)

Hi Mary, I am here to wish you a very Merry Christmas. We seem to be busy these days with the family and Christmas events and I am not getting enough LT time! I am heading over to my Mom's the day after Christmas but when I get back in early January, I will be back here on a more regular basis. Hope Santa is good to you!

Thank you, Judy! Sounds like your Christmas season is going to be filled with family fun. Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I probably won't be around all that much either ~ my daughter's here from NYC for two weeks, and she does keep me busy! See you on your 2016 Category Challenge thread in January!

Had a great time at the Denver Zoo tonight with my daughter, my sis, my niece and my great-niece strolling in the freezing cold to ooh and ahh at the awesome Christmas light show. Here are a few pics of the winter wonderland:



So proud of my 3-year old great-niece. Of all the fantastic animals on the carousel to choose from, she wanted to ride the hyena. What a kid!

For my Christmas/Hanukkah/Solstice/Holiday image this year (we are so diverse!), I've chosen this photograph by local photographer Mark Lenoce of the pier at Pacific Beach to express my holiday wishes to you: Peace on Earth and Good Will toward All!

What? You don't acknowledge Festivus? LOL

Thanks, Roni! Beautiful image! Love it. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Blessed Solstice, and Happy Holidays to you too! Oh, and Cheerful Festivus! And may all your wishes come true!

>214 Storeetllr: What a lovely photo!

^Glad you had a fine time at the Denver Zoo, Mary. Nice to be surrounded by your family, isn't it?

Eerily warm here...almost creepy but I am not complaining.

Have a wonderful holiday, my friend.

Merry Christmas!

So glad your daughter is able to spend the holidays with you! Zoo Lights is one of our annual traditions.

Finally managed to find my way over here to get caught up. Congratulations on NaNoWriMo!

>193 Storeetllr: - Thanks for sharing the postcard here. It really struck a chord with me.

Happy white Christmas, Mary.

Have a lovely holiday, Mary

Thanks to Linda, Mark, Meg, Jo, Lori, Reba and Paul and to everyone who has stopped by my thread to spread a little holiday cheer! To you and to all my FB friends, may your holiday season be magical and filled with love, joy, peace and prosperity that lasts throughout the coming year. Merry Christmas from Nickel and me!

Aww, what a cute image, Mary. I'm going to join Joanne in sending some Peanuts greetings. Christmas is winding down but I hope the joy continues into the next year. So glad your pretty daughter is with you. I loved the zoo pics!

Merry Christmas

Feliz Navidad, Mary. Love the pics. The lights look fantastic.

Hello and thanks to my recent visitors ~ Donna, Ro and Beth. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

I had a lovely Christmas at my niece's house, except for the driving-through-a-snowstorm part. Yikes! It was snowing lightly when we left to go to my niece's, but we heard it wouldn't be a heavy storm so I felt okay about driving in it. After being at my niece's for 4 hours, though, we left to find that, while it may have stopped for awhile, it must have started snowing again while we were having dinner, and the roads were covered with 2-3 inches of snow and scary-slick with ice. I drove home white-knuckled at no more than 20 mph. LOL

Here's a photo of me and my great-niece Dylan enjoying one of the books I gave her for Christmas: Ellie's Christmas by Beth Harwood. (The other one was The Nutcracker, a Magic Theater Book, also with moving parts.

Well, I think I will finish at least one more book before the end of the month, which should bring my total up to a nice, neat 175 for the year. Here are the last few books, along with brief thoughts on each:

172. Fables Vol. 1 by Bill Willingham. 3.75 stars. GN. A powerful enemy has decimated Fairyland, and the few refugees from the devastation have made a life for themselves hidden here amongst the Mundies, and they call their land within a land Fabletown. Interesting, with great illustrations and some really great bits (like the Beauty & the Beast part, and what Prince Charming and The Big Bad Wolf have gotten up to since leaving Fairyland), and am looking forward to the next in the series.

173. Chrononauts by Mark Millar and others. 4 stars. GN. Fun story about two young and crazy science guys running amok on the time continuum.

174. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. 4.5 stars. Scifi. Audio. Okay, after trying and giving up on this one twice, I got the audio and BAM! It clicked right away. Of course, it helped that I had already read the beginning 50 or so pages a couple of times already. By the time I listened through that, I was well and truly hooked. I guess I just hadn't been in the mood before. Anyway this is a mind-bending story of a segment of a once great IA-piloted starship that had been betrayed and is out for vengeance. Lovely character development! Highly recommended.

>253 Storeetllr: - What a wonderful and festive holiday photo of you and Dylan! Glad to read that your driving-through-a-snowstorm was a safe journey.

Happy Saturday, Mary! Love the Nickel Christmas wishes and I love the photo of the niece...a future LTer perhaps?

I liked Ancillary Justice too. Not always an easy read but chock full of interesting ideas. I think I have the 2nd book saved on audio...

Wonderful photo of you and Dylan, Mary! Glad you finally ended up enjoying Ancillary Justice. I'm going to reread it and the read the next two for the first time in the new year.

Beautiful photo Mary. I love the look on Dylan's face.

Thanks, Lori! I love that photo too and plan to print a copy so I can frame it and always remember. Yeah, that driving-through-the-snow is for those with steadier nerves than me!

Hi, Mark! Yes, Dylan is definitely going to be a reader! I went to Tattered Cover today to look for a particular desk calendar for my sis and ended up buying the first three Little Bear books and a couple more Christmas books for Dylan. I just cannot resist her enthusiasm for reading. Ancillary Justice surely was full of interesting ideas. Can't wait to get to the next now.

Thanks, Roni! I'm glad I persevered with Ancillary Justice (thanks to you and others who loved it). I'm really looking forward to reading the next two!

Thanks, Reba! Isn't it precious? My daughter took the pic. She's got quite the eye for what will make a good pic.

Here's a fun meme I got from Lori's (lkernagh) thread.

Answer the question with a title of one of the books you read this year:

Describe yourself: The Pure in Heart
Describe how you feel: Being Mortal
Describe where you currently live: At the Mountains of Madness
If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Gilead
Your favorite form of transportation: Flight of Angels
Your best friend is: Doctor Sleep
You and your friends are: Between Two Fires
What’s the weather like: Caressed by Ice
You fear: Fear Itself
What is the best advice you have to give: Trust No One
Thought for the day: Nobody's Home
How I would like to die: Plan B
My soul’s present condition: Visions of Heat

Caressed by Ice -- LOL, ain't that the truth!

How are you, Mary! I've enjoyed getting caught up here, though I am embarrassed to see that I missed your entire NaNoWriMo :( Congratulations to you -- that's wonderful, and very impressive!

My brother gave me Ancillary Justice recently -- glad you enjoyed it!

Love your photos: especially the Zoo Lights and you reading with Dylan.

Happy Holidays, Mary!

>253 Storeetllr: What a lovely photo! That easily could be featured in some "the joy of reading with children" article.

>260 Storeetllr: Nice! I have to figure out a Plan B for when the time comes. :-)

Hi, Anne ~ Yes, ice and snow in any title would work for us these days. No worries about missing big chunks of my thread. I know how busy you are, especially around the holidays. I really enjoyed NaNo this year and plan to get back to my very fragmented and plot-holey first draft after my daughter returns to NYC on Jan. 5. Hope you enjoy Ancillary Justice and get into it the first time, unlike me who had a few false starts. I'm sure you've gone to Zoo Lights in years past, it's great for kids (and adults too ~ I loved it!) though pretty cold. I was glad I wore my puffy coat.

Hey, Joe! Thanks. Happy holidays back atcha! I love that Dylan loves books. Makes gift-giving easy. Plus I get to wander around bookstores. Haha, I thought "Plan B" was a great answer for that question.

Really excited tonight. I was searching for the next book in the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series by Val McDermid after Wire in the Blood and checked Hoopla which didn't have it. Hoopla did have two others that I've been wanting to read: The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher and The Library at Mount Char, plus one I hadn't even known about yet but am now chomping at the bit to read: Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day, short stories from the world of Cabal. As I said, I'm super excited!

Also excited because today we had our big family Christmas dinner and gift-giving extravaganza (though we had all agreed no presents this year except 4 big ones that we all would contribute to, and of course gifts for Dylan; haha, that so didn't happen, and it took us over 3 hours to distribute all the gifts). Anyway, I really scored big: a new winter jacket and pair of gloves; some essential oils and a sugar/salt scrub my daughter made (she made similar gifts for all the ladies in the family); a framed photo of Dylan, my daughter and me reading one of the books I gave her for Christmas; two coloring books and a set of Chameleon coloring pens!!! I took a "selfie" of me with the pen set.



Oh, yeah, and my sis gave me two bottles of oxygen for the next time I go up to Frisco, because after 2-1/2 years, I'm still not used to the thin air in Denver, much less the thinner air up in the mountains.

175. The Crossing by Michael Connelly. 3.75 stars. Audio. Read by Titus Tolliver. The latest Bosch mystery, though not quite up to Connelly's usual standards, was enjoyable, with Harry crossing over to "the dark side" to become an investigator for the defense, his half-brother Mickey Haller of Lincoln Lawyer fame, who is representing a former gang member charged with a brutal rape/murder who Haller is certain was framed. "The Crossing" refers to the intersection of victim and perpetrator ~ when and where they crossed each other's paths. As I said, I enjoyed it, but the characterizations were thin and we know who the villains really are from the start; this is just showing how Harry works it all out.

Following Mark's lead, here is my personal Best of the Year list:

Fiction

Lamentation by C.J. Sansom
The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths by Harry Bingham
Maplecroft by Cherie Priest
City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Neon Court and Minority Council by Kate Griffin
Written in Red by Anne Bishop, first in a series of equally enthralling urban fantasy that I also read this year
Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks
The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye, first in a series of equally thrilling historical mysteries set in late 1800s NYC that I also read this year
Johannes Cabal, Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard, first in a series of genre-bending steampunk meets horror meets mystery meets magic novels that I also read this year
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
Redshirts by John Skalzi
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman

Nonfiction

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
Bossypants by Tina Fey
H Is For Hawk by Helen Macdonald

There may be additions.

Also, it was hard for me to choose, because, seriously,

^ Nice, Mary!

My son and I have convinced my wife to try Redshirts. I loved all three of your NF's, and it made me happy to see Bossypants on there. She's such a smart, funny woman.

>264 Storeetllr: - Nooooo way! You have access to Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day?! Okay, I did not know that there was a short story collection from the world of Cabal but still.... Jealous! ;-)

>266 Storeetllr: I love your lists, Mary. Good choices, I especially like Imaginary Friend & The Gods of Gotham being on there and of course your NF picks. Primo!

Thanks, Joe! I hope you manage to convince your wife to read Redshirts. Having loved the first Star Trek series and also some of the second (before I swore off TV for a number of years), it really hit the spot for me. I read the beginning of Bossypants and wasn't thrilled, but listening to it on audio read by the author worked immeasurably better.

Heh. I didn't know it either, Lori, until I was hunting for something else and discovered it purely by chance. As I clicked "borrow," I was grinning so hard my face was hurting.

Thanks, Mark! It was such a pleasure to put together that list ~ as I went through all the books I read this year, looking for my favorites, I felt so happy when I came upon each one of those titles.

It's so nice to reflect back on our favorites, isn't it? Bossypants was a hoot.

>253 Storeetllr: Adorable! What a great photo!

>266 Storeetllr: Yup, it's hard to choose just a few books for a best of liSt. I ended up just going with one that felt right that day, but I'm pretty sure if I tried again I'd have half different.

Fun reading everyone's lists - there are plenty that are new to me, so no shortages of reading ideas for 2016 - I guess that's unsurprising here on LT.

Hi, Jo! Bossypants was a hoot, even more so because Fey read it so well. I love that picture! Dylan's mom said she's been rereading (!) the books I gave her on Christmas over and over. Yep, she's an LTer-in-training for sure! Her birthday is the first week of January, and, no surprise, I got her more books: the first three in the Little Bear series by Else Holmelund Minarek, with illustrations by Maurice Sendak. I used to love reading these books to my daughter when she was about D's age, and she loved them too. I hope this is true of D.

Charlotte! Hi! So nice to see you! Yes, I could have added at least another five or ten to the list, and may do so, but I felt I had to keep it within bounds. Still, out of 175 176 books, I don't think 20 is too many to be favorites. It's only a little more than 10%. I haven't been online as much as usual because my daughter's here from NYC for a couple weeks on a visit, so I haven't gotten around to everyone's threads. I'll be by yours to see your list of favorites so I can add to my already long long long list of books I want to check out in 2016.

176. Fables, Volume 2 by Bill Willingham. 4 stars. GN. I liked this one a lot more than the first. Snow and Red drive up to The Animal Farm for Snow's annual visit, only to find the animal-shaped fabled beings in open revolution. Of course, you just know Red is going to join up. So glad I decided to continue with this GN series, even though I wasn't blown away by the first.

Happy New Year, Mary! We are just going over to friends tonight, for fun, games and tasty beverages. Nothing wild.

How about you?

I don't know, Mark. The combination of you, games and tasty beverages sounds like it has potential for quite a bit of wildness. :)

I'm going out for sushi with my daughter at 7pm, then I'm coming home to read and she's going out to a yoga studio for a yoga/meditation session at 10:30 ending with a kombucha toast at midnight. I passed on it ~ if I managed to get down on the floor on one of those mats, I wouldn't be able to get up, plus I probably would fall asleep. Besides, kombucha? LOL

Have a nice evening, Mary! I see you are having a discussion, (if that's what it is. LOL.) with my friend Carl on FB. He was supposed to go tonight too but he is under the weather. His wife may still show up. She is more fun, anyway. Chuckling...

Yeah, I tried to ignore his comment. Really I did. I have turned off notifications to that post so unless he replies to me directly I won't see anything else he says and won't have to respond.

Have great time tonight!

Favorite books are hard to choose, Mary. I like your list, especially Lamentation which was in my Top Ten. I read Still Alice awhile ago but saw the movie this past year and thought they adapted it to film quite well. I love the Magical New Year image. I saw it on FB and almost stole it for my own good wishes to family and friends. I hope 2016 brings all good things to you and your family.



I almost forgot to say, I think oxygen is the perfect gift for those trips to the mountains. I still have a few days of lightheadedness when I visit. Too bad my visits are short. I just start getting used to it and it's time to head home!

Thanks, Donna! I know we have dissimilar tastes in books, but there is some overlap (Vorkosigan and Shardlake, for two). Glad you liked the Magical New Year image ~ I didn't do the illustration, but I wrote the words, so you are welcome to "steal" it anytime. I hope the coming year is also magical for you and your beautiful family too! I will be testing whether the 95% pure oxygen (and what the heck is the other 5%, I wonder?) works tomorrow and Monday when we go up to visit my niece.

I wish you could stay longer too. We'd have a better chance of getting together at a meetup. I remember Jim (drneutron) was planning to be here sometime in January. I don't suppose you'll be able to sneak in an extra trip? You do need to spend some g-ma time with Hope, right?

Mary, where are you? Looking for you in 2016!!

Happy New Year, Mary!

Hey, where've you been?

Hi, Roni, Joe and Jo ~ Happy New Year! Thanks for checking up on me. I've been offline the past couple of weeks except for brief visits when my daughter wasn't making me go places and do things with her. :) I drove her to the airport yesterday in the late afternoon and pretty much collapsed from exhaustion when I got home. That girl has enough energy for three people! Me? Barely enough for a half a person. LOL

I haven't started a 2016 thread yet but will soon, I promise. Today was all about resting up and doing a little business (paying bills) and a few chores (like the laundry, cleaning the humidifier) that I'd been putting off the past couple of weeks.

There you are! Rest and recouperate!

I know I was sad when Chris left after he was home for two weeks (and he's only in FoCo), so I suspect you were, too, when your daughter left. :( Looking forward to your thread!

Yeah, I almost had to pull over as I was leaving the airport because tears were messing with my vision. Oh, well, I'm going to try to get her back before another year (year!) passes. Though she does wear me out!

I was just by your thread and am going to stop by as many threads as possible tonight to "mark my place," so probably won't get to my own thread until tomorrow.

It looks and sounds like you had a terrific time with your daughter, Mary. I saw some of the pics on FB. Swipe away the tears and treasure the memories.

Hugs to my pal.

I did have a great time with her and do treasure the memories, Mark. Just that it's hard to see her go and know it may be another full year before I see her again. Thanks for the hugs, my friend!