2011 Combo Challenge

[busy-bee-lmt]

Newest book to add to my list is The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton. I'm pretty sure I've read it before, but didn't remember much of anything about it. A good, fast read. 5 stars.

[crochet321]

Hey guys,

Got back from Burlington, NC my dd had a choir concert at the Duke Univ. Chapel Sunday. The campus was lovely and the chapel was enormous. Also went to Asheville Zoo Saturday. It was nice we hadn't been to the zoo since my dd was about 1yr old. It feels good to be home.

 

I finished reading Diary of Anne Frank. Wonderful read 5 stars. I've started on The Blackstone Chronicles by John Saul. I've never read anything by him before, it's going good so far.

 

Donna-the lapghan was beautiful. I love all the colors. I did one with similar colors in a ripple afghan. It makes me think of rainbows.

 

I hope everyone has a great memorial day!

[judianne]

I posted June's pattern - thought if we made some we could send them to Kiyo or others who donate to charity.

[busy-bee-lmt]

One more book to add to the list. The Mask of Atreus by A. J. Hartley. Definitely 5 stars. A mystery and thriller combined. I had a hunch about some of it, but missed by a mile on other parts of it. A very good read.

[busy-bee-lmt]

I'm on vacation this week and so far about all I've accomplished is reading. I've finished two more by M.C. Beaton: Death of a Gossip and Death of a Prankster. Both were quick reads and I had no clue as to who did in the gossip. But I figured out both the who and why in the prankster murders. Whee!!!! I've only got one more of those at the moment still to read. They are very, very good and I highly recommend them to anyone who likes mysteries. 5 stars both.

[busy-bee-lmt]

The Farseer: Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb. A very good book and a very good wrapping up of the Farseer Trilogy. I did not anticipate where this was going and it kept surprising me with its twists and turns that didn't make sense at the time, but were so very logical in retrospect. 5 stars.

[busy-bee-lmt]

Another book down. Dragons Wild by Robert Asprin. 4.5 stars. It's the first of a new series by him and it's fun, but also doing a lot of setting up the characters for following books. It's based on the idea that dragons still exist and live amongst us, but are unrecognized by mere humans since they look just like us most of the time. The main character has just been informed that he's an almost purebred dragon whose secondary characteristics should be putting in an appearance soon. They do. With some very interesting results on occasion.

[judianne]

Wow, Linda - you put me to shame with all the reading you're doing!

[busy-bee-lmt]

Wow, Linda - you put me to shame with all the reading you're doing!

You have to remember that I've been on staycation for the last week and was using read to destress for a couple of weeks before that. Does wonders for adding to my reading powers. :lol John and Kim get back home tonight. I am so much more rested now that I've had time to just relax and do whatever I wanted or nothing at all (which I've done a lot of.) This year has been very busy with little time off, so I really needed this time to nothing but relax and rest.

[busy-bee-lmt]

Two more books to report on. The Tawny Man: Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb. 5+ stars. I did something I haven't done in a long time with this one. I stayed up until 4:30 in the morning to finish it. There was just NO place to stop in the last 200 pages until the last 20 and at that point there was no point in not finishing it. Wonderful book. It picks up the same main characters in the Farseer Trilogy but 15 years after the end of that series. I shed some tears at the end of this one. Death of a Charming Man by M. C. Beaton. 5 stars. I came closer to figuring this one out in that I had it narrowed down to 3 possible suspects and 3 to 5 possible motives. Not all that close after all.

[ImmaFreek]

Ive been away for a while, but now Im back . Hop you all are doing well

[Gardener]

I read two books this week already, both in the car while dh was driving. I read them on his Kindle. Both were free books that I downloaded from the Manybooks website.

The Paradise Mystery by J. S. Fletcher and

The Murder in the Gunroom by H. Beam Piper

 

Neither was a terrific story, although both held my interest quite well. I think that part of it is the fact that they are older books, and they have an element of "old-fashioned period piece" about them.

 

Linda, I've read most of those Hamish McBeth myseries by MC Beaton, and have always found them to be fun reads. I like them better than her Agatha Raisin series, although I enjoyed those too.

[judianne]

Cindy, thanks for the link...I saved it - there's quite a variety!

[crochet321]

Good Afternoon,

Haven't posted in a while. This warm weather seems to keep me preoccupied. I have been able to read a few books lately. Bloody Bones by Laurell K. Hamilton more of the same. The plots always the same they just fight a different kind of monster in each book. I'm committed to the series so I'm going to try to read all of them. Just not one after the other or it gets to boring. I also read The Blackstone Chronicles by John Saul. I've never read anything by him before. I would give it 3 stars. when it first came out it was published in 5 or 6 installments. But I downloaded all of it at once to my Nook from the library. Can't figure out what to read next I may just close my eyes and pick one from my book shelf

[busy-bee-lmt]

Has anyone read a banned book yet? I reserved one at the library. Andersonville by MacKinley Kanto. Picked it up today. It's HUGE! 760 large pages of small print. Hopefully it's well written. I'm starting it this weekend. It's about the biggest prisoner of war camp in the South during the Civil War. According to my Dad his Grandfather Foster was held as a prisoner there until he escaped and rejoined the Union army. It was banned in the South and in Texas.

[ImmaFreek]

hi everyone, hope you all are doing well.

 

I bought a few books from the Dollar store today. Lullaby for the Nameless by Sandra Ruttan, Another Stab at Life by Anita Higman, and Gates of Hades by Gregg Loomis.

 

Has anyone heard of these authors, and If so, what is your opinion on their books?

[busy-bee-lmt]

hi everyone, hope you all are doing well.

 

I bought a few books from the Dollar store today. Lullaby for the Nameless by Sandra Ruttan, Another Stab at Life by Anita Higman, and Gates of Hades by Gregg Loomis.

 

Has anyone heard of these authors, and If so, what is your opinion on their books?

Hi! I've heard of Gregg Loomis, but I've never read any of his books, so I'm no help to you. I believe he's supposed to be a good author.

 

I finished the book What They Didn't Teach You About the Civil War by Mike Wright. I found it in the history section and the title intrigued me. It's very well researched and includes lots and lots of quotes from letters written by those who lived through it. It has lots of information on things other than names, dates, and places of battles. It's written with humor, but has lots and lots of information in it about the people involved at home and at the frontlines. I had never heard of the Bread Riot in Richmond, for example. One of the generals in the cavalry had boils on his rear end so bad that he could barely sit his horse. Another was such a bad rider that sentries thought he was drunk. 5 stars.

[ImmaFreek]

that sounds like an interesting book I might have to give it a shot

[crochet321]

Hi,

I just finished up Edge of Twilight by Maggie Shayne last night. I had read her first book and decided to give the second one a try. It's just a little to thick in the romance dept. for me. I give it 3 stars. I'll probably read the 3rd book since its a trilogy and I am anxious to know what happens to the twins. I've picked back up on a book I started reading last week. False Friend but I can't remember the authors name. I'm only 20 pgs in but it seems interesting. The main character leaves her best friends in the woods to die when they are 11 yr old. And like 15 yrs later decides to finally tell someone.

 

I haven't had anyone recommend an author to me so I may just pick one I've heard someone talking about. Wait, I did have someone recommend a series of books to me at the store the other day I had almost forgot about it. We were both looking in the same bargain bin of books and she saw me pick up Bullet by Laurell Hamilton. We started talking about it and she said she liked The Black Dagger Brotherhood series. I've never heard of it have any of you read any of them? If so, how were they?

[luvtocrochet757]

Hello everyone,

 

I've been out of circulation since my dad's surgery and death. I've also had to endure pure harrassment on the job. I was finally terminated last Wednesday. I'm back. I'm looking for a job but while I'm waiting, I'm going to get back in touch with my crochet sisters. Tomorrow, I'm going to get all of my wips organized and start from there.

 

I've really missed you guys. I'm glad to be back.

[judianne]

Hello everyone,

 

I've been out of circulation since my dad's surgery and death. I've also had to endure pure harrassment on the job. I was finally terminated last Wednesday. I'm back. I'm looking for a job but while I'm waiting, I'm going to get back in touch with my crochet sisters. Tomorrow, I'm going to get all of my wips organized and start from there.

 

I've really missed you guys. I'm glad to be back.

Good things are often disguised!

Glad to have you back!!!!

[luvtocrochet757]

Good things are often disguised!

Glad to have you back!!!!

Thanks Judy. I've discussed this with my family and they say the same thing. I'm not a quitter, therefore I would have probably stroked out. I've been working 90 hours plus each week for about 3.5 years, haven't been able to take vacation or off days. Had to fight to get the 1 day with my dad 2 days before he died. I would have stayed trying to make it happen. Yes, I can say it is probably a blessing in disquise. Glad to be back.

[JulieKay]

Hi Valerie

Let me chime in ,too ,to welcome you back. I'm so sorry all this tragic stuff hit you all at the same time. I always think that things happen for a reason,so maybe you losing your job was actually for the best in the long run. You may not be able to see it now, but on down the road,maybe you will understand more about why it happened and how much better your life is then .

 

I've been MIA a really long time myself,due to life getting in the way with me too . I think we all have times where life just gets to be all we can handle and we have to step back from things like this. We dont necessarily WANT to leave the group,but for me anyhow, I have to remove as many things as possible to concentrate on what is going on here .

 

Hopefully we can both come back in and get a fresh start .

[JulieKay]

Linda

It sounds like you are on a Civil War kick. I love books set during that time in history. Lots of interesting things to learn about !

 

A welcome back to those of you who have been MIA for awhile .. I have been too for a long time,but ready to get back in the saddle again .

[JulieKay]

Can you name a book that is in a series or set ,or has the same character in all of the books ? I will start -- just saw these today at the store,but havent even read one book from it :

 

The Evanovich "number" series ...

 

Your turn,and there are tons of them out there .