Lovely, Newhomebuilder. Here on our little hill in the Georgia Piedmont, it's lazy time. I'm all alone in our sun room, except for the birds arrived for dinner on the porch, even the cats having abandoned me. Lovely late afternoon light slanting across the room, trees and leaves tossing in the wind. Chilly little puffs of wind telling me it's past time to get up and go empty the vegetable bins of everything and anything to go into a chicken curry, quick but luscious and perfect for the changing weather. The thought gets me up. Right now. :)

Good List. I see my favorite "The Secret Garden".

By the book : writers on literature and the literary life from The New York Times Book Review / edited and with an introduction by Pamela Paul ; foreword by Scott Turow. This very interesting book takes a peek into several writers’ preferences, likes and dislikes on books and all things literary. I’m taking reading ideas from some of the comments. One question that was asked of authors was about a favorite childhood book that influenced them the most as a writer. J.K. Rowling says that one of her favorite books and which encouraged her to be a writer was Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. In fact, several authors profiled here mention this book as having influenced their lives. Sting’s favorite novelist is Mark Twain, “for the perfect combination of plot and character in Huckleberry Finn.” As for “what books might we be surprised to find on your shelves,” Sting owns the complete works of British humor writer P.G. Wodehouse. Wodehouse is one of my favorite authors too, and is mentioned more than once in this volume. Question - “What book did you feel you were supposed to like, and didn’t?” Many authors diplomatically chose not to answer the question, but Michael Connelly says there are too many to list. He is an impatient reader, he notes, his time to read is too short so he only gives a book – any book – a short leash. “It’s got to draw me in quickly.” Question - “What is the best book you read in the last year?” The best book for Hilary Mantel (writer of Wolf Hall) was Life After Life by Kate Atkinson and Caroline Kennedy's favorite fiction was The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers. Other authors share this information and more. Some are Donna Tartt, Joyce Carol Oates, John Irving, Elizabeth Gilbert, David Sedaris, Jonathan Franzen, Dave Barry, John Grisham, Lee Child and many others.

I do think it's hard to make up fantastical worlds that are vastly different from the one in which we currently live and it still be relatable. My biggest gripe in scifi/fantasy is, the sky is the limit!, so why does the alien life form have to be humanoid, replete with all the same sensory organs. My son tells me it's this relatable thing. I dunno. Maybe it is. My point is, I don't know how to make up a fantastical world, what could be done differently, etc. It'd be a tough task, no doubt.