The World of Cactus & Succulents, by Orthos, is the first C&S book I read. Although many of you consider it basic, it really helped me learn about proper sun, soils and watering. This copy is from 1977..When you're a teen, and buy your first cactus and/or succulent, this book comes in very handy. One thing I like about this book are different ideas decorating schemes. My dream was to one day have a Sedum/Donkey's Tail, buy a Donkey planter, similar to the display above. The last pic, A Gallery of Succulents, has numerous Cactus and Succulents listed, w/pics, species, description, AND pronunciations. Eg. Pelargonium (pell ahr go nyum) One thing missing, NO Accent Mark. Darn.. I've been searching for a Clivia book that doesn't cost 150.00! lol..I don't think any exist. Toni

The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies by Robert Michael Pyle The Butterflies of Cascadia by Robert Michael Pyle Butterflies of Houston and Southeast Texas by John and Gloria Tvetan The Butterflies of West Virginia and Their Caterpillars by Thomas J. Allen Butterflies through Binoculars - The East by Jeffrey Glassberg Butterflies through Binoculars - The West by Jeffrey Glassberg Butterflies through Binoculars A field, finding, and gardening guide to butterflies in Florida by Jeffrey Glassberg, Marc C. Minno, John V. Calhoun Butterfly Gardening for the South by Getata Ajilvsgi A Field Guide to Caterpillars (Butterflies Through Binoculars Series) by Thomas J. Allen, James P. Brock, and Jeffrey Glassberg Florida Butterfly Gardening by Minno and Minno Kaufman Focus Guides: Butterflies of North America by Jim P. Brock, Kenn Kaufman Peterson Field Guides - Western Butterflies by J. W. Tilden and Arthur C. Smith Peterson Field Guides - Eastern Butterflies by Paul A. Opler and Vichai Malikul Peterson First Guides - Caterpillars by Amy Bartlett Wright Peterson First Guides - Butterflies and Moths by Paul Opler Image by: Stuart_S Butterfly Forum Library

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.

"To Build a Fire" by Jack London was a reading assignment in my English class (many years ago). The link below has one version of this story and is the one that I recall. http://www.artofmanliness.com/2017/01/28/manly-weekend-read-build-fire-jack-london/