Hmmm...I'm torn about what would constitute a good book forum. Just MHO, but I think there can be an intimidating factor that is off-putting on some book forums. As I mentioned in my post above, even my best friends and I don't always agree on what constitutes a good book. But because of our history of friendship, we don't feel hurt or harshly judged when someone says, "that book didn't do it for me." It's especially hard to convey a difference of opinion when it's delivered in a post. Sometimes I re-read things I've posted which I've meant to sound funny or wry, and am worried that my tone might have been misinterpreted. So how about this - For now, how about a thread where we can list books that we've enjoyed recently, and some of our all-time favorites? Without giving away too much, we can give some general info and maybe alert people if they contain coarse language/graphic violence/sex, etc. I mention this because my MIL often passes on "CSI"-type mystery novels that she enjoys to me. I'm not especially prudish, but I do a lot of my reading at night instead of watching TV and I've found that reading books with disturbing themes like child abuse/decapitations/rapes, etc. are too disrupting to my sleep to read at bedtime. What prompted my OP is that I just finished a heartwarming read and was looking for something good to start on. Seeing a list of what you've all been reading is a good place to start looking. I'd already been thinking about "Snowball" that gina w mentioned above. I may download a chapter on the Kindle to check it out. Do any of you have other suggestions on how to approach starting a thread?

Chris Bohjalian, who's been mentioned already, also had a book out of compilations from a column he wrote when he moved to Vermont. It's called "Idyll Banter," and I really enjoyed it. Right now, I'm reading "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society," which is a few years old. I'm enjoying it. "The Distant Hours" -- (fiction) about a letter posted in 1941 that reaches its destination in 1992 -- is one of the titles on my to-be-read list. "A Vintage Affair" I read a few books back. Really liked it. A mystery to go along with your cruise theme? Mary Higgins Clark's "Santa Cruise."

Chapter 12 gives a portrait of Mrs. Delany's good and cherished friend, the Duchess of Portland, for whom the rose and rose class were named. Much botanizing and plant collecting went on at the Duchess's home, Bulstrode, and the horticulturally inclined King George III and Queen Charlotte came to visit Bulstrode, and enjoyed looking through Mrs. Delany's paper mosaicks. They also made specimen plants available to Mrs. D. via the Queen's collection of plants at Kew. After the death of the Duchess in 1785, the king gave Mrs. D. the use of a cottage at Windsor Castle, as well as a stipend so that she could keep up her London residence also. This was before he became "Mad King George"... Virginia

Thank you so much for all the recommendations. I'll be traveling a lot soon and I'm sure I'll read a lot of these. I have Aunt Dimity queued up to read, along with the first Ngaio Marsh book. I'll probably try Miss Read next and/or Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. Many of those mentioned I have read. Rhys Bown mysteries, Amelia Peabody mysteries, Georgette Heyer, Mitford books, etc. But it was helpful to have those recommendations because it was lovely to see there are others who enjoyed those books as well. And I will try the audiobook of the Amelia Peabody mysteries because I often fall asleep to an audiobook, so it's helpful to have a good recommendation. I tried A Man Called Ove and I'm sure I'll finish it, but it is unbearably sad to read it right now so I laid it down. I have a friend who has cancer and also a suspicious spot on her liver and she is the light of her husband's life. I want to escape from pain and loss right now. A murder mystery like Agatha Christie writes should be sad, I guess. It's murder, but somehow that doesn't reach out and snatch my heart out like the pain of Ove losing his wife. Another time in my life I would probably have liked A Gentleman in Moscow and A Man Called Ove. So thank you so much to all of you for taking the time to respond. It will be nice to have this thread to check when I finish the stack of books I have now.