I too love birches and would love a little wood of them. I would plant Scottish bluebells under them en mass. A seed trading friend of mine in California sent me three bags of birch seeds (besides the ones I got myself from the little tree at Lowe's). They are European Birch, White American Paper Birch and one other that I cannot recall off hand. I read that they had to be fresh or they wouldn't grow, so I didn't planted them. But now, I think I will go ahead and try sprouting them. What have I got to lose? I think if I put them in very soggy paper towels and stick them in plastic bags, they should sprout, as that is where they sprout best in their natural environment - on the banks of brooks and rivers where it is very wet. Worth a try. Eduarda, I appreciate your input. Muito Obrigada! ~Annie

Oh, yes, I re-read all the time. The ones I re-read the most are Jane Austen's novels, the "Outlander" series by Diana Gabaldon, "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy (one of my favorite books ever), and "Far From the Madding Crowd" by Thomas Hardy. I've re-read "To Kill a Mockingbird," too, but only 3-4 times.:)

The movie 'Love Story' is in my top ten bad movies. If you have a taste for really bad movies, it is very, very funny. Has anyone read 'The Horse Whisperer'? It would be a close candidate for worst book - right up there with 'Bridges of Madison County'. It starts off as a story about how to train horses, then morphs into a really sentimental and very sticky love story. I worked at a small town library when Bridges was popular. The waiting list for it was several hundred people long, most of them women. For many, reading it seemed almost a life changing experience. Quite often, the books that I have found excrutiatingly bad are bestsellers. But I've become more sophisticated in my old age. I don't even open books like 'The Davinci Code' anymore and when people recommend such books, I just smile politely. During the time I worked at the library, John Grisham and Danielle Steele always headed the bestsellers' list. They seemed to release new books about every week and a half then. Danielle Steele was very bad, but not bad enough to qualify for the worst book award. I did learn a very simple rule for judging mysteries by the cover while at the library. First, read the first page of the book. If there is a spelling or grammatical error there, save your eyes. It won't get any better. If there is egregious, exploitative sexism on the first page, save your time. Then glance at the back cover. If the author is holding a cat or cats, put the book down and walk away. In the days that I read science fiction and fantasy, I learned to eschew any book that had a first line something like "Grachilimuki, from the planet Fvrin, was no ordinary spaceman." Having to make up stupid words just showed a paucity of imagination.

AnnPann - I did a little digging for you, and although I didn't find any specific sites referring to that situation, I found some books that might address it: Australia-focused home front books: S.J. Butlin and C.B. Schedvin, War Economy 1942Â1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1997 Darian-Smith, Kate. On the Home Front: Melbourne in Wartime, 1939-1945. Australia: Oxford UP, 1990. Saunders, Kay. War on the Homefront: State Intervention in Queensland, 1938-1948 (1993) The Home Front Volume I by Nancy M. Taylor NZ official history (1986) The Home Front Volume II by Nancy M. Taylor NZ official history (1986) Political and External Affairs by Frederick Lloyd Whitfeld (1958) NZ official history Britain: Calder, Angus . The People's War: Britain 1939-45 (1969) Harris, Carol (2000). Women at War 1939-1945: The Home Front. Thrupp: Sutton Publishing Limited. ISBN 0-7509-2536-1. Marwick, Arthur (1976). The Home Front: The British and the Second World War. Rose, Sonya O. (2003) Which People's War?: National Identity and Citizenship in Wartime Britain 1939-1945 Misc: Costello, John. Love, Sex, and War: Changing Values, 1939-1945 1985. US title: Virtue under Fire: How World War II Changed Our Social and Sexual Attitudes Noakes, Jeremy ed., The Civilian in War: The Home Front in Europe, Japan and the U.S.A. in World War II Exeter, UK: University of Exeter, 1992. Then below is a link to an interesting site about a community in London with oral histories etc (won't hurt your eyes).... Might be relevant... Here is a link that might be useful: Hidden Histories: East Community Heritage (London)