It was fun reading all these titles, so many of which are favorites of mine. And one un-favorite: I hated Memoirs of a Geisha so much, I wanted to write to the publisher and demand my time back. I can forgive a lot of things, but not bad writing! It prompted me to send out an email to my friends and relatives asking them what book they hated to the point of outrage. (Clear winner: The Celestine Prophesy -- boy, do people hate that book!) I adore Bryson. I am just finishing A Brief History of Nearly Everything, and I love love love it. I won't repeat the ones others have mentioned. Here are a few you may not have heard of that are absolutely wonderful: A Lesson Before Dying New York Trilogy (read them as one book) The Metaphysical Club (don't let the name fool you) Defining the Wind (beautiful writing and hilarious) The first two are novels, the other two are sort of history of ideas. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Don't give up on War and Peace! It's just long, not hard, and it's terrific. He LOVES people -- if you like Ann Tyler, you'll like Tolstoy. The only tricky part is the names. One edition of W&P even comes with a bookmark that keeps them straight, or you can keep your own chart. But new translations of Tolstoy simplify the names as a matter of translation, which made Anna Karenina very easy to read. Reread Charlotte's Web now that you are an adult and can appreciate what an incredible piece of writing and philosophy it is. Some book!

I've actually set it aside for now and am reading different books. We are considering moving to a new location in a different state, though we have run into some difficulties that may prevent it from happening. In any case I thought that if I end up having my books packed for an extended period of time, I might be happy to have a couple dozen or so that I have not yet read, that I could keep by me until we were all settled. The problem we ran into is Tom's hobby, amateur radio, AKA ham radio. It involves using a large antenna tower. While the FCC decrees that by law towers can not be banned, many communities put so many barriers in the way that it is actually impossible despite the law. Personally I can understand restricting them on small lots where they are in your neighbor's face, but surely if you have an acre or more, they ought to be permitted. He actually has two at our current home and we are in the middle of a densely populated area, Silicon Valley. We fell in love with a house and were actually in the process of making an offer when the city told us No Antenna. Now we are starting all over in a different community. I must admit to being deeply discouraged. Personally I don't care beans about ham radio, but Tom has always fully supported my activities, and I support his. If we do succeed, I'll let everyone know our new location. Rosefolly

I have been reading local authors including Small World by Jonathon Evison and The Final Case by David Guterson. Small World was very good 4+ in my opinion. I haven't finished Final Case but it is hard to put down. I was surprised to see so many negative reviews on Goodreads. The book is based on a true story of the abuse and death (in 2011) of an adopted Ethiopian girl placed in the WA home of extreme fundamentalists. Guterson (in real life) had also adopted from Ethiopia, and he said it struck him that his daughter could have been in the same situation. He attended the trial (not as a writer but as a parent and person involved with the Ethiopian community). This book is a novel, not nonfiction. It is not a pleasant topic and his descriptions of abuse are searing. Unless the book falls apart in the last third, I don't understand the poor reviews.

I love Atonement. I just finished Fox Creek (Cork O'Connor) by William Kent Krueger, 3 stars. It was basically bad guys chasing good guys through the forest. There was initially some mystery and tension to it, but it just got long and drawn out. Where has tight, edge-of-the-seat storytelling gone? Yesterday, at about the 2/3 point, I went searching online for the ending, because I was tired of the narrative. I couldn't find it anywhere! No spoilers. So I buckled down and finished the darn thing. The character development doesn't amount to much. There's a strong Native American element that runs through it. And the force/thing driving the bad guys, some made up thing that I stopped caring about. I need to go back and read Ordinary Grace to remember why I love this guy's writing.