Not that anyone is still following this, but this was me (which.chick) and I still have Charles de Mills and he still blooms amazingly every year and I still love him. Mme. Plantier died some years back in a hard winter. I shovel-pruned Stanwell Perpetual because he just looked sad, year after year, and it was depressing. *sigh* Fantin Latour powdery mildews (it's very humid at my house) and does not bloom every year for me. Just... not doing well. I have a friend who's about 200 feet lower than me in elevation with better sun and I'm relocating Fantin there. I've waited long enough for him to settle in and it just isn't going to happen. But, Ispahan is trouble free, HUGE, and produces hundreds of flowers, every single year. (Probably would like a trellis of some sort, but doesn't have one. I have a 3' fence around the base and he sort of fountains out of that. I hack off about 6' a year before winter to keep the canes tidy.) Never sick. Never dies from freezing. Has good clean foliage ALL SUMMER. Just... big and strong grower. Two thumbs up for that. I couldn't source either of the Belles back then, but if I move Fantin Latour, I will try again this spring.

So many books I have loved and lost myself into. I still love the classics like Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Great Expections, Wuthering Heights, Little Women and can reread them over and over again. Jane Eyre is probably my favourite of those books and I read my Mom's hardcover from her childhood once a year. A Tree Grow in Brooklyn is another favourite. Terry Brook's Sword of Shannara Books and other series of his as well. Same for David Eddings. I like Fantasy books about wizards, dwarves, etc. I read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Trilogy when I was young and loved those books so much that I couldn't bring myself to watch the Lord of the Rings movies. I didn't want the movie to take away what my imagination saw in those books. My brother bought me the boxed set when we were kids and even to this day no gift he has ever given me (well the Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer comes pretty darn close) will mean as much to me. I wouldn't lend them to anyone else to read. Another book I read when I was a teenager was called Tregaryn's Daughter. I can't even remember now what it was about but I remember really enjoying it and when reading it this picture of where they lived really stuck in my mind. My friend's Mom had a picture hanging in her living room and that picture is almost identical to what I imagined in my mind. I have never looked on line but I have never been able to find that book again to reread and I really want to. Maybe it won't be as good as I remember. Another favourite book of mine was The Outsiders. I must have read that book over 100 times. I knew exactly where it was in the library. Years later that book was on my niece's schools requirerd reading list. I told her I had read that book many times and could recite every word of it to her. I wouldn't watch the movie made from that book either because it couldn't be as good as the book was. Another book was called the Pig Man that I read and reread many times. Years later it went by another name but I read it when it was called the Pig Man. I can't remember who the author was. I don't read as much as I would like because of the lighting in my house. I need to get a better lamp to read by. I miss reading and getting lost in a good book. Anne

Great thread - I've added a few of the books suggested above to my own "to read" list. I just finished reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and couldn't put it down. It was a bit more science than I'm used to in my reading material, but not too difficult to understand. The story is about how the cancer cells taken from the cervix of Henrietta Lacks revolutionized medical research, and how her family, poor African-Americans, came to terms with the cells being taken from their mother upon her death (HeLa cells) - without their knowledge - and were turned into a multi-billion dollar business, even though her own children couldn't afford adequate health care. Here is a link that might be useful: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

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."