Just started "Lab Girl" memoir by Hope Jarhen

https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15913822

This one is on my TBR and I have a copy. What do you think of it so far?

It's short and easy book to read. However, it's not what I expected, but then I wasn't sure what I was expecting? I'm about 60pages in. So far I enjoy her writing about having favorite trees in her life, about tree seeds and their fight for survival from pre-historic times to now. And about how she decided to become a scientist. The botany/paleobiology stuff is interesting and on a good level to understand.

Taking a virtual trip overseas?
Embarking on a workplace based drama to help you miss your co-workers less?
Finally plucked off the longest standing resident off your To Be Read mountain?

Share with us what you're reading whilst at home practicing social distancing, and also tell us why you chose it.

I'm currently reading "The Night Olivia Fell" by Christina McDonald which I purchased last month to fulfill a WishList Tag to member Spoiledrotten.
https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/5873497

I started it a while ago and somehow got distracted with other books and never finished. I’ve gone back to it and will release it for an upcoming SSM, if I’m going out releasing at all at the end of the month.

https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/566733

Working my way through Hugh Howey's Wool saga. It's a hefty read I haven't had time for until now.

Working my way through Hugh Howey's Wool saga. It's a hefty read I haven't had time for until now.

Ah, yes! I enjoyed that one (my comments on this bookring copy - but beware of spoilers: https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/14388072/ . I'm a fan of reading catastrophe/apocalypse books during Difficult Times, and this one certainly counts!

I have that one on my pile also.

Here in NZ we're just hours away from a 4 week lockdown so I'll admit reading hasn't been on my mind. Once my parents manage to get back to their home (they have a special extension to get back to our island, flight leaving tomorrow), I will feel a little more at ease though I know I won't be able to see them (hard in itself as we usually have a meal with them once a week).
A few days ago I was two thirds of the way through 'The Best of Adam Sharp' by Graeme Simsion: https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15620476/ , a wishlist tag of last year from mattandmandy75. When I get back into it, I will go on to Spotify and listen to the soundtrack that goes with the book, while I read. Unless my wife picks up extra work before then, hopefully she'll enjoy the music too while I read.
Then comes the choosing of the next book. Anyone up for a Non-Facebook 24 hour read-a-thon set on a WEEK DAY?

I'm up for your readathon!

I'm up for your readathon!

Here in NZ we're just hours away from a 4 week lockdown so I'll admit reading hasn't been on my mind. Once my parents manage to get back to their home (they have a special extension to get back to our island, flight leaving tomorrow), I will feel a little more at ease though I know I won't be able to see them (hard in itself as we usually have a meal with them once a week).
A few days ago I was two thirds of the way through 'The Best of Adam Sharp' by Graeme Simsion: https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15620476/ , a wishlist tag of last year from mattandmandy75. When I get back into it, I will go on to Spotify and listen to the soundtrack that goes with the book, while I read. Unless my wife picks up extra work before then, hopefully she'll enjoy the music too while I read.
Then comes the choosing of the next book. Anyone up for a Non-Facebook 24 hour read-a-thon set on a WEEK DAY?

I'm up for a readathon! I'm determined to finish The Land of Painted Caves (which is a bloody big book, I've been reading it since February) so this would be perfect :O)

Eragon, by Christopher Paolini

but I refuse to allow it to influence my choice of reading :-)
I'm alternating two: The Familiars by Stacey Halls was an e-gift from my daughter on Mothering Sunday/Mother's Day, last Sunday in the UK, so it's overtaken all other TBRs. I recently enjoyed her very impressive second novel, The Foundling, so added her debut to my wish list. It's beautifully written but, as it's about the Pendle witches, it's intense and upsetting and I get too involved to read it for long without needing a break.
My alternative is The White Family by Maggie Gee which I chose because it fits plum's March reading theme. I have half a dozen suitable titles and have put them in alphabetical author order! There may not be enough days left in March to read them all . . .

My alternative is The White Family by Maggie Gee which I chose because it fits plum's March reading theme.

Not pleasant reading!
https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15893988
The Dry by Jane Harper will be next, also chosen because it fits plum's March reading theme.

The Dry by Jane Harper will be next, also chosen because it fits plum's March reading theme.

I LOVE Jane Harper. I've read all three of her novels. I hope you enjoy "The Dry"!

The Dry by Jane Harper will be next, also chosen because it fits plum's March reading theme.

I LOVE Jane Harper. I've read all three of her novels. I hope you enjoy "The Dry"!

Yes, it's disappearing fast as I keep turning pages . . .

The Dry by Jane Harper will be next, also chosen because it fits plum's March reading theme.

I LOVE Jane Harper. I've read all three of her novels. I hope you enjoy "The Dry"!

Yes, it's disappearing fast as I keep turning pages . . .

And now they've all been turned! Didn't last long, I couldn't put it down!
https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15894007

I love this series. Inspector Singh always brings a smile to my face :-)

I love this series. Inspector Singh always brings a smile to my face :-)

I didn't say why I chose it: like The Familiars that I finished a couple of days ago, it was part of the e-gift from my daughter on Mothering Sunday/Mother's Day, last Sunday in the UK, so it jumped well up the reading order. I could hardly put it down and have finished it already!

And now they've all been turned! Didn't last long, I couldn't put it down!
https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15894007

So glad you enjoyed it, Nu-Knees!

And now they've all been turned! Didn't last long, I couldn't put it down!
https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15894007

So glad you enjoyed it, Nu-Knees!

Yes, I did indeed!

The Familiars by Stacey Halls

Love the sound of this....I have just been online to purchase a copy for my Mum who lives in Lancashire, England.
https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/5895595
Thank you for highlighting this one to me Nu-Knees!

I hope you enjoy The Dry by Jane Harper, it was one of my favorite reads of 2017.
https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/5244173

The Familiars by Stacey Halls

Love the sound of this....I have just been online to purchase a copy for my Mum who lives in Lancashire, England.
https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/5895595
Thank you for highlighting this one to me Nu-Knees!

You're welcome. I hope your mum is suitably impressed. It's certainly got me gripped!

I hope you enjoy The Dry by Jane Harper, it was one of my favorite reads of 2017.
https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/5244173

Thank you again. Yes, I bought this copy when I saw it because I remembered seeing positive comments on BookTalk. Will be starting it tomorrow . . . Good night :-)

I hope you enjoy The Dry by Jane Harper, it was one of my favorite reads of 2017.

Thank you again. Yes, I bought this copy when I saw it because I remembered seeing positive comments on BookTalk. Will be starting it tomorrow . . .

And tomorrow is now today :-) As I understand it to be quite thrilling, and I'm not always very good with thrilling, I'm also starting a lighter novel to run alongside it: Bird Cottage by Eva Meijer, also chosen because it fits plum's March reading theme.

I'm also starting a lighter novel to run alongside it: Bird Cottage by Eva Meijer, also chosen because it fits plum's March reading theme.

Finished another one.
https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15896617

I got a copy of the Familiars from a LFL just before movements became restricted. Definitely at the top of my reading list!

I got a copy of the Familiars from a LFL just before movements became restricted. Definitely at the top of my reading list!

Well it has my strongest recommendation. I've just finished it. Amazing - and exhausting. I lived every minute!

I've got some good ones for taking me to another place:

Le Road Trip: A Traveler's Journal of Love and France ( https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15202569 ), by Vivian Swift; I've enjoyed her mix of personal-memoir/travel-journal/watercolor-art before, and this book's really enjoyable so far.

And I enjoy audiobooks, even when my driving is more limited than usual; might start listening while on walks since longer-distance road-trips are off the table. Current selection:

The Mirror and the Light ( https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15788832 ) by Hilary Mantel, the conclusion to the "Wolf Hall" trilogy; while I'm glad to be able to finish the story of Thomas Cromwell, this one's definitely on the darker side - even if I didn't know the historical outcome, the foreshadowings of impending doom are pretty heavy.

The Mirror and the Light

I have that on hold at the library, which, of course, is now closed, so I have no idea when I'll get to read it. :-(

Of course, I know how it ends.

In Florence, at 6:00 p.m. (noon my time), everyone will go out on their balconies or open their windows and read the opening verse:

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra via
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
che la diritta via era smarrita

In the middle of our life's journey
I found myself in a dark wood,
The straight way was lost.

Sounds amazing. I’ve enjoyed seeing the videos online of singing from balconies even during these scary times.

In Florence, at 6:00 p.m. (noon my time), everyone will go out on their balconies or open their windows and read the opening verse:

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra via
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
che la diritta via era smarrita

In the middle of our life's journey
I found myself in a dark wood,
The straight way was lost.

That's really beautiful!

How interesting!!

Most of these I really enjoyed and found that reading short stories helps with keeping your concentration.
https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/14583882/

Most of these I really enjoyed and found that reading short stories helps with keeping your concentration.
https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/14583882/

Yes! I was having a bit of trouble concentrating on reading and an anthology got me back in the groove. Now I have returned to my big brick of a novel, "The Shell Seekers" by Rosamunde Pilcher:
https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/11952602/

It's really good and keeping my interest despite its length.

The Shell Seekers is one of my all-time favorites. After reading it I practically binge-read everything else by Rosamunde Pilcher. Such a treat!

The Shell Seekers is one of my all-time favorites. After reading it I practically binge-read everything else by Rosamunde Pilcher. Such a treat!

Have you read anything by her son Robin who's been keeping her legacy going for a while?

Nonfiction and nothing to do with all this Corona virus situation.
I just needed something a bit different to my recent reads.
Deviate: The Creative Power of Transforming Your Perception by B. Lotto
https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15193148/

As Marie curie said, nothing is to be feared, it is only to be understood. So I am attempting to understand better the ways great epidemics if the past have played out and shaped our world.

And I'm loving it.
It's funny, sad, and heartbreaking, but I do not want it to be over!

And I'm loving it.
It's funny, sad, and heartbreaking, but I do not want it to be over!

That book is SOOOOOOOO good!

I cannot wait to read a 2nd novel by Honeyman!

I also read Hilary Mantel's The Mirror & the Light these days, just started. (Brilliant, as expected.)
And Bernardine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other. (Love it)
And Miguel Torga's Tales and More Tales from the Mountain https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15561299/ Short stories. I normally don't like them that much, but these are excellent.
And 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari. Non-fiction, Harari's next book after Sapiens and Homo Deus.

by Karen White. I love it so far.

So far a cute book.

since 6 am Tuesday morning (March 24th), after the country's second case was confirmed. I have piles of books to read, but at times concentrating is difficult, and I've found a great youtube channel that has a number of Ngaio Marsh and Georges Simenon books (Alleyn and Maigret, respectively). They are delightful, old-fashioned easy listening mysteries, perfect for while I'm doing work around the house, or as background to a jigsaw puzzle. At the moment I'm a third of the way into Hand in Glove by Ngaio Marsh.

Other than that, I've completed two books of short stories, Desire, a Vintage Minis book of Haruki Murakami tales, and Muriel Spark's The Portobello Road, here https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15776709

At the beginning of the year, I started a readathon of her books in publication order. I alternate them with other reading. I’m about to start The Murder at the Vicarage, having just finished Normal People by Sally Rooney (what a great book!).

I've recently acquired a collection of 50 of her short stories that I'm planning to intersperse with other things :-)

https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/9470908

By coincidence I read in 2 books in January/February that speak to these pandemic times.

1. "Letters from the Earth" by Mark Twain
Twain's interesting thoughts about viruses, plagues, pandemics in regards to the human race.
&
2. "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/7933737/ Non- fiction. Fast paced. About the origins and incidents involving viral hemorrhagic fevers, particularly ebolaviruses and marburgviruses. It is written so the layman can easily understand the epidemiology and ecology of zoonotic viral outbreaks, like the current novel corona virus19.

3. "The Library Book" Susan Orlean https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/371-15514774

4. "Marie-Therese" (of France) Bio. by Susan Nagel (currently reading) https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15756444

Just today I decided I would have a morning reading ritual which consists of the following books:
Wisdom: 365 Thoughts from Indian Masters https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/12534524
Grace for Each Moment
https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/13272694
The Scriptures
https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15901616
Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody, The: Great Figures of History Hilariously Humbled
https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/14986086

I'm also currently reading:
Women Who Love Books Too Much: Bibliophiles, Bluestockings, and Prolific Pens from the Algonquin Hotel to the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/6741320

by Lillian Hart.
This has been on my Kindle forever and seems like an easy read.

This is a delightful old book (1940) by Charles Lee; I found a copy of it, signed by the author, in a used bookstore in Quebec (I think it was) a few years ago. It has a chapter for each month, full of delightfully old-fashioned book trivia, lists and occasionally quotes, somehow related to that month. I've read January's a few times :) but this year decided to work through it - and as with everything going on I hadn't read March yet, I have been today. It references Walden: 'it was during the month of "stormy March" ' when Thoreau started cutting wood for his cabin. I thought I had a copy of Walden - turns out I don't, or I can't find it, but I did find one of his other books on my shelves, The Maine Woods, a hardback published in 1950 that's a compilation of several of his travels in that area, and began in on that.

"Mercy Point" by Anna Snoekstra
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/---/mercy-point.htm
YA Fantasy is certainly not my normal genre, but this is an author I am really enjoying of late.

This is a delightful old book (1940) by Charles Lee; I found a copy of it, signed by the author, in a used bookstore in Quebec (I think it was) a few years ago. It has a chapter for each month, full of delightfully old-fashioned book trivia, lists and occasionally quotes, somehow related to that month. I've read January's a few times :) but this year decided to work through it - and as with everything going on I hadn't read March yet, I have been today. It references Walden: 'it was during the month of "stormy March" ' when Thoreau started cutting wood for his cabin. I thought I had a copy of Walden - turns out I don't, or I can't find it, but I did find one of his other books on my shelves, The Maine Woods, a hardback published in 1950 that's a compilation of several of his travels in that area, and began in on that.

If you find yourself really hankering to read Walden, it is probably available as a free ebook online. I'm going to look up "The Maine Woods," as I hadn't heard of that one. Thanks and happy reading!

Replying to ReallyBookish: From my understanding of the introduction, the book combines accounts of three of his voyages that had been published, often serialized and one posthumously, in magazines. They have been arranged into some form of chronology and sort of blended into one narrative arc for this book from 1950. It's very possible the same pieces have been published in other forms, too.

The free ebook idea is a good one, though probably not for me - I don't enjoy reading digitally, perhaps because I work on the computer a lot and associate it more with that? Nevertheless, good to know if I get desperate :)

Replying to ReallyBookish: From my understanding of the introduction, the book combines accounts of three of his voyages that had been published, often serialized and one posthumously, in magazines. They have been arranged into some form of chronology and sort of blended into one narrative arc for this book from 1950. It's very possible the same pieces have been published in other forms, too.

The free ebook idea is a good one, though probably not for me - I don't enjoy reading digitally, perhaps because I work on the computer a lot and associate it more with that? Nevertheless, good to know if I get desperate :)

Thanks! I appreciate the info on "The Maine Woods." Like you, I do not enjoy reading digitally. I like analog books! However, these are unusual times so if you find that you really need something, it is always an option. Happy reading!

I read Walden years ago on audio. It was a great way to read it. I felt like I had actually met Thoreau and gotten to know him.

Lots of time to read right now. Hope you are all well. A few minutes ago I finished "Sisterland" by Curtis Sittenfeld, an interesting tale of identical twins. The book right before that was spectacular, "The Great Believers" by Rebecca Makkai. Currently on audio I'm in the middle of an amusing old sci-fi classic, "The Midwich Cuckoo" by John Wyndham.

More audiobooks than before, because I can listen to them while doing household chores or when making jig saw puzzles or cross-stitching during the weekend.

Currently my physical books are: The Cossack's Bride by Justin Scott, Geenlanders by Jane Smiley, Het Holcroft pact by Robert Ludlum. The audiobooks I'm listening to are Rode sneeuw by Jørn Lier Horst and The Rainbow by D.H. Lawrence.

I chose them, because all the physical books are VERY old ones on my (M)TBR, the Lawrence book because it's a 1001-book and Rode sneeuw because it's a thriller and I like to read those to relax, how strange that may sound to you.

I chose them, because all the physical books are VERY old ones on my (M)TBR, the Lawrence book because it's a 1001-book and Rode sneeuw because it's a thriller and I like to read those to relax, how strange that may sound to you.

It does not sound strange at all! I enjoy old-fashioned murder mysteries to relax with and like you, I often listen to them while doing housework or a jigsaw puzzle. I have been listening to Agatha Christies, but I think I have already read most of those, so I have recently started on Georges Simenon's Maigret mysteries, as well as Ngaio Marsh's. This YouTube channel has a bunch of them, if anyone else is interested
https://www.youtube.com/---/UCQYhrBELbUEtT7HCjduokWg

The 3 bios (now working on #3):
1) Cruel to be Kind: The Life & Music of Nick Lowe - Will Birch
2) And on Piano....Nicky Hopkins - Julian Dawson
3) Time is Tight - Booker T. Jones autobio (of Booker T. & the MGs)

I’m now 1/2 way into “My Sister, the Serial Killer” by Oyinkan Braithwaite https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/5659360
Enjoying the short snappy chapters of this one.

I’m now 1/2 way into “My Sister, the Serial Killer” by Oyinkan Braithwaite https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/5659360
Enjoying the short snappy chapters of this one.

Oooh, I've been interested in that one - do tell us how you find it when you're done!

Yesterday, I finished reading "The Notebook" by Nicholas Sparks. Today, I finished reading "The End of the Affair" by Graham Greene and I'm currently reading "Mistborn Trilogy" by Brandon Sanderson and "The Importance of Being Aisling" by Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen. I have plenty of books on my TBR pile to choose from once I am finished these :P

Over the weeks I have been gathering free books that looked intersting to me. but i did not have time to read them. Now I do.
Mostly detectives; Ian Rankin;Alex Rider stories; Wilbur Smith; Emelie Schepp and other skandinavian detectives. Milos Stankovis' Trusted mole and stories about corruption, maffia and intelligence in russia and usa. And the new: Stephen King's mr. mercedes.

... ( https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15787259/ )! It's a collection of "compact fiction" - I'm not entirely sure what that means as opposed to "short stories", but I guess I'll find out.

in order, of course :-)

The Lost Art of Walking ( https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15787349/ ). Seems appropriate, given the increase in the foot-traffic I've seen since the shelter-in-place advisory hereabouts.

I’m continuing to read and study the Bible, and in particular the book of Proverbs. Did you know, “no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” The Bible is the revealed word of God to his creation, so it is more important to me than any other book. And, regarding the New Testament, “there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.”

http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/12503923

It's been on my shelf the longest and it's going to be a virtual sailing trip from Vancouver Island to Tahiti.

The Alice Network - Kate Quinn - Best book I have read for a while. I listened on 'Libby' the library app so got the wonderful french accents and the lowered dulcet tones of the lovers of the moment. I will be seeking the printed page at the library as soon as we are let off our leads and can go foraging for good reads to hold in our hands again.
Review. (Not mine)
Solve for X." That's the phrase invoked repeatedly by Charlotte "Charlie" St. Clair, the brainy college student at the center of Kate Quinn's exciting new novel, The Alice Network. In the aftermath of World War II, Charlie is thrown together with a veteran female spy from the previous war in a high-stakes journey to locate disappeared figures from the past. Unsolved puzzles and cryptic riddles crop up like weeds in a bomb crater, and as math-whiz Charlie puts it, "There was always an answer and the answer was either right or it was wrong." But her adventures turn out to be messy, non-formulaic and not so black and white, which after all is what makes life — and novels — interesting.

Another audiobook. Re reading from a long time ago when I had less wrinkles and the hares on my head were not breeding like rabbits.

To me it seems a good time to read dystopian novels now. Finished Hanna Jameson's The Last recently, now I'm reading Sophia Mackintosh's The Water Cure (Booker list 2018). In both all protagonists live in a hotel (and nobody else). I have no idea yet what happened to the world in The Water Cure, the hotel is on a small island. Might be a virus, might actually be nothing, the few people who know are either dead, disappeared (killed?) or not talking much about it.
Parallel I read Hilary Mantel's The Mirror & the Light. Thomas Cromwell's last four years. And Yuval Noah Harari's 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. Also a bit dystopian at times.
And two audiobooks: when taking walks it's Great Expectations by Dickens, at home I listen to Jeanette Winterson's Frankissstein (brilliant!), not really that dystopian, but basically it's about gender and AI.

Authored by Col. J.H. Patterson, D.S.O.
This autobiographical recollection of being stalked by two African lions while engineering a railroad bridge in Tsavo, Uganda was the inspiration for the 1996 movie "The Ghost and the Darkness" with Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas. I recently saw the movie for the first time & HAD TO track down the book through interlibrary loan. I've just started reading.
.

Reading Lovely Lane by Kristin Hannah and also Girl Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis

I'd previously read "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" in C. S. Lewis's Narnia series, and a few weeks pre-COVID-19 I thought of reading the rest of the series, so I bought the first two books.

And then I happened to run across this review:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/---/ct-krazy-michael-tisserand-books-0101-20161227-story.html

It's a biography of George Herriman, cartoonist of Krazy Kat, the greatest comic strip ever! Yes, even better than Calvin & Hobbes! I ordered a used copy, and it arrived a couple of days ago. I haven't really started it yet.

"Jewish poet and intellectual in seventeenth-century Venice : the works of Sarra Copia Sulam in verse and prose, along with writings of her contemporaries in her praise, condemnation, or defense."

Haven't gotten to the meat of it yet. I've read the Series Editors' Introduction (it's part of The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe series), and begun the Volume Editor's introduction

so the latest book I'm reading is called Uncanny Valley << https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/5969745/ >> a memoir about a woman who worked in Silicon Valley customer support for a big data company (and some others) ... "a generation-defining account of the amoral late capitalist Tech landscape we are fatally enmeshed in." I'm enjoying it, she has some interesting turns of phrase and uses a lot of hyphenated descriptive words for the techie and the admin people.

Camus writes about an (fictional) outbreak of the pest in Oran, Algeria, in the 1940's.
The reaction of medical authorities, government institutions, the general public and the press he decribes bear remarkable parallels with what we see happening in the corona crisis.

My husband is a doc. He also picked this from his shelf. Some ironic coping twist I guess, his philosophy major undergrad days.

I had been reading the latest Phillip Pullman but it was pushing me toward the Black Dog so I started at the beginning of Discworld and intend to read all of them again and in order of publication. I am much happier now!

It is still such a slog. But I gave it another go because it gets such solid reviews. I don't know. I just don't get it. I do liek the Raven King footnotes.

It is still such a slog. But I gave it another go because it gets such solid reviews. I don't know. I just don't get it. I do liek the Raven King footnotes.

I really loved that one ( https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15321915/ ); hope it improves for you, but if it remains a slog, do feel free to bail and try something else!

It is laugh-out-loud funny!
Just finished Silenced by Jerry Jenkins (part of the Left Behind Series), an enjoyable mystery.
Also reading Arizona: A History by Thomas E. Sheridan.

Reading about the life of the first Elizabeth makes today's politics of intrigue easier to understand .
Its an interesting read, very friendly but still a history.
Aloha to all.

I just finished "Marie-Therese" (of France) Bio. by Susan Nagel https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15756444

Just started "Lab Girl" memoir by Hope Jarhen https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15913822

Just started "Lab Girl" memoir by Hope Jarhen

This one is on my TBR and I have a copy. What do you think of it so far?

Just started "Lab Girl" memoir by Hope Jarhen

https://www.bookcrossing.com/---/15913822

This one is on my TBR and I have a copy. What do you think of it so far?

It's short and easy book to read. However, it's not what I expected, but then I wasn't sure what I was expecting? I'm about 60pages in. So far I enjoy her writing about having favorite trees in her life, about tree seeds and their fight for survival from pre-historic times to now. And about how she decided to become a scientist. The botany/paleobiology stuff is interesting and on a good level to understand.

It's short and easy book to read. However, it's not what I expected, but then I wasn't sure what I was expecting? I'm about 60pages in. So far I enjoy her writing about having favorite trees in her life, about tree seeds and their fight for survival from pre-historic times to now. The botany/paleobiology stuff is interning so far and on a good level to understand.

Thanks! That helps!

I’m reading books recommended by friends that I’ve had sitting around for a while.. the Salt Path by Raynor Winn nonfiction which I found so interesting and full of hope yet my husband found it depressing.. we all react differently I guess. Also Kate Mortimer’s “ The Forgotten Garden” and now Ive just started reading Jane Carols “Accidental Feminist”. Full of humour and so relatable to a baby boomer.

I’m reading books recommended by friends that I’ve had sitting around for a while.. the Salt Path by Raynor Winn nonfiction which I found so interesting and full of hope yet my husband found it depressing.. we all react differently I guess. Also Kate Mortimer’s “ The Forgotten Garden” and now Ive just started reading Jane Carols “Accidental Feminist”. Full of humour and so relatable to a baby boomer.

As part of a local book club I'm reading "Who Has Seen the Wind" by W. O. Mitchell, a Canadian classic.
"...still puffs of cloud were high in the sky, retaining their shapes for hours on end, one of them near the horizon, presenting a profile view of blown cheeks and extended lips like the wind personification upon an old map."
Doesn't that paint an exact description? Love his way with words!

As part of a local book club I'm reading "Who Has Seen the Wind" by W. O. Mitchell, a Canadian classic.
"...still puffs of cloud were high in the sky, retaining their shapes for hours on end, one of them near the horizon, presenting a profile view of blown cheeks and extended lips like the wind personification upon an old map."
Doesn't that paint an exact description? Love his way with words!

Lovely quote! Thanks for sharing.

I've been seeing the world from between two covers (and a distance of several decades) - Patrick Leigh Fermor, Eva Ibbotson's Vienna (fiction, yes, but she gets the feel of the city over). At the moment I'm reading My Family and Other Animals. Corfu sounds wonderful!

I'm reading My Family and Other Animals.

I enjoy Gerald Durrell's books about his family very much. His natural history books are good, too.

I’m reading books recommended by friends that I’ve had sitting around for a while.. the Salt Path by Raynor Winn nonfiction which I found so interesting and full of hope yet my husband found it depressing.. we all react differently I guess. Also Kate Mortimer’s “ The Forgotten Garden” and now Ive just started reading Jane Carols “Accidental Feminist”. Full of humour and so relatable to a baby boomer.

I have only just started this one but so far an easy read.

Jim Harrison, Julip

Just finished volume 2 of short stories by a local author Neil James. I have read volume 1 and they are very good. Nothing too complicated and some are funny. Makes for light hearted reading

Last night (technically this morning as it was a little after midnight) I finished reading This Sceptr'd Isle by Mercedes Lackey, and I have not yet selected another book from the 10-foot-high pile I'd acquired over the last year from the local thrift store.

But that's for the print books I read at home, and which I can register via this site and redonate. For the ebooks such as I read during my breaks at work (grocery store/essential), a few days ago I'd started the first book of The Crystal Doors trilogy by Rebecca Moesta, one of many selections I'd acquired via StoryBundle.

In both cases, the choices are a matter of "spring cleaning."
In the first case, I'm trying to cut down on the to-read pile and get things donated when I can, and this was both familiar territory (I'm a fan of the author's works) and shorter than some of the other "familiar territory" in the pile.
In the second, I'm slightly OCD about the "personal documents" on my Kindle and have been focusing on books that are part of a series (specifically those where I have multiple books in the series as I do in this case) to more quickly reduce the number of documents on my account by reading ONE book in the series and then, if I like the book enough to keep a "permanent" copy, replacing the entire series with Kindle-bought editions.

I also listen to the No Sleep podcast on the drive home from work. Very appropriate late at night. ;)
This one is a more self-serving reason; I used to use a podcast app that actually rewarded me for using it (points towards Amazon gift cards and the like), and even though that app no longer exists I'm still trying to catch up--nearly done with season 5 of a series that's already into season 14. Had it not been for the reward I probably would never have started the podcast--I have hearing problems that make anything that's pure audio a challenge--but now that I'm into it there are a few other titles I'm interested in trying if and when I catch up on this one.