"If you give a mouse a cookie . . ."

We broke down and joined the 21st century by getting a flat-screen TV.  I asked Harry how long we'd had the other one - I'm pretty bad with dates - and he said 15 or 20 years! 

We don't watch a lot of TV - mostly movies, General Conference, World Series, and basketball games - and we watch PBS on Harry's laptop mostly.

But now we don't really like how it fits in the existing space that housed the other TV.  So that means we shuffle things around, maybe tear out some more of the shelving, maybe hang it on the wall (my idea), then have to find places for all the gazillion books on the shelves in that room.  (Harry's Little Free Library will be getting a truckload of donations if they don't watch out!)

What do you want to bet we finally get a new roof on the family room?

This is probably why we haven't bought a new TV for 15 or 20 years!

Another book read - summer, ah summer, the reader's paradise!!

I was tempted to put this "review" on our book blog - and then noticed that the last time I posted was in January - and no one else has posted since then - and the book I wrote about was another by the same author!!  Perhaps no one reads that blog.

I have loved the two previous Kate Morton novels I have read.  I skimmed some reviews of this book and found them to be mostly negative.  Perhaps if it hadn't been summertime, I might have been negative too. The complaints were that the story bogged down, the parts in the present were boring,  perhaps expectations were too high.

I was up until 2 a.m. plowing through the end of this one.  Finally got too tired to go on, so stayed in bed when I woke up and finished it.

What I like about her stories are that they are compelling - you want to keep reading - but she does provide some natural breaks quite frequently, so you can put it down.

Thus far I have never totally "figured out" the plot ahead of time.  I have made some good guesses - but they weren't quite on the money.  I like that quality - keeps me reading.

I'm not a fan of romance or historical novels in general, but the element of romance in these stories is more implied than explicit, which makes them more interesting for me.  The historical aspects are well-researched.  When I read through the acknowledgement pages, I was tempted to go to some of sources - maybe I still will!  It seems like she is exploring other areas of history that have not been used as much.  This story involves London children being sent to live in the country after World War II started.  I have read one other novel about that time period and found it very intriguing.

Wonder what she will write about next time?  I'm sure I will be eager to get hold of it!

Latest summer read -

I just finished this - I love the Flavia De Luce stories - although the last one wasn't quite up to par.  This one made up for it though - lots of great elements - an old British estate, film stars of the 30s and 40s, a murder to solve, Christmas time ambiance, and of course, all the requisite chemistry questions Flavia manages to include.

If you haven't read these, start with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie - and go from there!!

Books, books, and more books!!

If there is anything that is true, it is that the Terrills, as in Harry and Barbara, have an inordinate number of books. The book shelves in our house are filled to overflowing - the overflow resides in the infamous "room in the garage" that was originally built for food storage. Dad has been determined for many years to restore it to being a food storage room. With his new calling as Ward Emergency Preparedness specialist, he feels driven anew to get it in order.

So for FHE tonight, we started going through the books in the room in the garage. Dad said, "Let's just do one shelf. It will be a start." It kind of works like when you give a mouse a cookie though, so we ended up going through several shelves.

Found some old college textbooks - any claimants?

Decided that we definitely need a coffee table (I have been in favor and have been lobbying for same for many years) to display our lovely collection of "coffee table books!" Dad may be humoring me, but I plan to pursue this avenue of interior decoration!!

Dad came across a book we bought in Cochabamba 3 years ago - a history of the church in Bolivia - he definitely got side-tracked!!

Books, books, books - I have always loved them - can't seem to get into the electronic version. And have definitely not kept my new year's resolve to not buy any new books this year!!

(Dad is into his electronic collection - and was much more willing to let go of books I've been trying to jettison for over 35 years!!)

A must read!

It started with Haylie Hoopes recommending this book to me - and that was followed by about 20 other people recommending it - so I was in Vroman's on Monday and took the plunge!

And hey, it lives up to the hype, as far as I'm concerned. It is supposed to be an adolescent novel - I think - it's heroine is 16 years old - but I was hooked from the get go!!

Best of all, there's a sequel - so I got it at the Clifton Book Fair tonight - how's that for convenient?