I finished Second Acts, and really liked it. The author obviously has his own opinions about different issues that each president faced, but what I liked the most is how much he concentrated on how the president dealt with life afterwards, and how even the president beset with major scandals or low popularity was treated with kindness and humanity in his writing. He also showed how the ex president saw his time in office, and how he saw the next office holders administration. This is an excellent book for anyone who wants a glimpse of American politics in the last 60 years, and a glimpse of the people who led us in those times. Its certainly a reminder of how our past can't help but influence our future, and a reminder that the more things change, the more things stay the same. BTW - I was esp taken by Herbert Hoovers story. I can still remember my parent's degrading comments about him (they were Depression Era children), and so all I knew were Hoovervilles. But he was an engineer who led the American effort to get food and shelter to the battered countries after WWI (this was before he was president). Truman asked him to help again with the Marshall Plan after WWII. In between that time he was basically ignored. Truman and Hoover ended up being friends, and Hoovers legacy certainly became a more complex and positive one than the one that he is usually known for. Now reading John Connely's Book of Lost Things. Loving it so far.

Mary, my question to you wasn't rhetorical: I'm trying to get at what you mean by compelling. Since I've only read one book on your list, I need some more information to see if I've read anything this year that might apply. Now, "Best Books" or favorites, as the writer of the blog does a good job of explaining the whys of, are a whole other kettle of fish. I can find a book compelling without really thinking it's one of the best books I've read -- or even liking it, for that matter. Though compelling and "liking" are sometimes simultaneous, only one is requisite for me to consider it for my "Best of the Year." Maybe I'm splitting hairs, though. I tend to overanalyze when I'm puzzled. :-( Okay, I'll just list my favorites of the year, compelling or not. Birds Without Wings - I can't believe I read it way back in January! The Wilderness Journals of Everett Ruess, edited by W.L. Rusho Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War - Nathaniel Philbrick Below the Convergence: Voyages Toward Antarctica, 1699-1839 by Alan Gurney Vee, I read Frankie and Stankie back in June. I liked it quite a bit, perhaps because it had a more memoirish feel to it than most fiction. What about it appealed most to you? Sheri, I was taken with The Big House, too. I wrote a review of it over at Bibliophil when it was still fresh on my mind. I reread what I wrote and now a couple of years later I'm delighted that I still remember it remarkably well.

Some of my favorite characters have already been mentioned. I agree wholeheartedly with Rosefolly about Elnora Comstock from Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter. Aerin from The Hero and the Crown and Harry from The Blue Sword both by Robin McKinley are also favorite characters. My favorite Georgette Heyer characters are Leonie from These Old Shades and Sophy from The Grand Sophy. (Oh yes, the whole family from the Amelia Peabody series). For male characters, as a young girl, I wanted to be just like Tarzan, heck, I wanted to be Tarzan! Later, I just wanted to marry him and live in the jungle with him. (vbg) Other favorites include Jim Chee, Brother Cadfael, F'Nor and F'Lar from Anne McCaffrey's Dragonrider series. I also loved Aragorn, Legolas, Frodo and the other Hobbits from The Lord of the Rings by Tolkein. I'd better stop there, suffice it to say that I have several favorite characters from several favorite authors!

chisue, Me, too! I like the Abandoned Plan -- first one -- *with* elevator, and presumably AP quarters off the first floor. So...why did you scrap it? First off, these are only 3 of the many iterations I've knocked out, so I hope you all see that I'm not wedded to a plan and trying to defend it as perfect. I'm very willing to scrap and start again. My problem is that they're all variations on a similar theme. Anyways, to your question, I scrapped the plan because 1.) That huge basketball court of open space by the fireplace, behind the LR, just gnawed at me, I couldn't think of how to use it or fill it, and 2.) as I analyzed how I live I realized that I'd never be sitting directly by the window playing a board game or what have you - that "keeping room" solution was more of an idealization of how I'd use the space than a reflection of how I live now and how I would live in such a house. Once again that volume of space between the kitchen and the living room was driving me bonkers. I already had the bench seat by the window covered in the LR. Here is a render of the bay window. Another issue that bothered me with that 1st plan is the bathroom being an island room. If it was a powder room it didn't take up enough room, by putting in a shower my office could do double duty as a guest room. Then I realized that if I have a full bath and bedroom down on the first floor, why do I need to put another fully dedicated bedroom for my parents up on the 2nd and install a 3 floor elevator system, Now all I needed to do was connect the bath and bedroom and away we go. Oaktown, The thing is, much of the in-law suite, the stairs, and every upstairs room but the master BR currently are "buried." The inlaw suite has windows on two walls, it's just the closet and bath which are buried. As for the upstairs, the plan isn't completed, but every room up there has windows except for the "kids bath" and the laundry room and I'm completely fine with using a bathroom without windows or doing laundry in a room without windows in that I'm hardly spending any time in those two rooms. Thank you so much for your ideas on a new layout, that's exactly what I need to break my ideas out of the rut, some fresh eyes and ideas looking at my problem. I'm really going to play around with what you've laid out. Don't take this short paragraph to be indicative of my appreciation, you've done me a great favor. I dpn't know if it will work but it's definitely a reimagining. cpartist, The dining room doesn't need to be facing the best views because hopefully when you're using the dining room, you're interacting with your table mates. I agree that the DR doesn't need to face the best views, but some room does. That fireplace will be aesthetically interesting, like a massive sculpture and across from it will be a wall of windows in the center of the house, so just having a hallway there rubs me the wrong way. With a dining room people are sitting down, spending time there but with a hallway all I'd be doing is walking past a central focal point, which is what led me to revert the DR back to that location so that at least we'd be sitting in a room bounded by a massive sculpture and impressive views. All of your comments regarding the 1st plan are appreciated because I suspect that they represent the issue of resale value and how future buyers, with tastes and interests different from mine, will see the house. I need to find a way to square the circle here.