Xminion, have not heard about Larson's latest book and I hesitate to buy and put it on my "TBR" (to be read) pile which already requires me to use a step stool to reach the top. :-) I'd love to see the Chicago Museum building. I take it it is no longer white? It really must have been breathtaking to see the whole fair in white. A gal in our book club, and the one who chose this book, grew up in Chicago and her grandfather worked on the fair buildings so she shared some photos and old movie footage from back in the day. So interesting. Jodi-

Stacey - This is a good suggestion; thank you! A friend sent DH and me Sugar Street and Palace of Desire just a few weeks ago and this is a reminder to read them (my TBR pile is so large, sigh). DH spent a year in Cairo working on his graduate degree in Arabic and read some Mahfouz then. He is a great writer. If you enjoyed the way Mahfouz writes about Egypt, you might also enjoy The Alexandria Quartet, by Lawrence Durrell. These are four novels about a group of people, mainly expatriots, in Alexandria before and during WW2. They are poetic and a bit abstract, without a set plot from start to finish. That in a way reflects Egypt itself, which has spent the last thousand years muddling along. One of my all time favorite novels is Nile, by Laurie Devine, a postwar story of a young woman who undergoes female circumcision and then must make an independent life of her own, led primarily by her emotions and the very unsuitable man she loves. This is a straightforward tale, beautifully written, filled with details of Egyptian life. If you liked Mahfouz, I think you'll like this one!

Liz, may I submit Mrs Beeton and her Husband by Nancy Spain, for 1947, a copy of which I have had knocking around here for some time? N S was the great niece of Mrs B and had a large selection of family letters and memorabilia which she drew on for this book. A pity that it is written under Post-War conditions as the paper is poor quality and there is a dearth of photos and illustrations.

We had it and discontinued it. Ours is a family Amazon account----for DH, me, our 3 kids and my mother. We all have access to the 1000 odd books now on our account. Most of them would not have been available thru the "unlimited" program-----what a misnomer! We set up our account an gave everyone kindles years ago so we would all have instant access to books and newspapers. Interestingly it is my DD and my mother who are the champion readers in the family. My mother reads a book a week! DD got a list of 100 books every well educated person should read (from the nyt, maybe?) and has been working her way thru them since she finished her undergrad degree in 2009. Many of those are free! For us, buying books on Amazon to share, even at full price, has been well worth the expense.