Quarantine and chill and kindness chatty clubhouse: Jump in and join the conversation! All is welcome!

[L&Lfan]

I’m currently reading Dark Star:A Biography of Vivien Leigh by Alan Strachan. It came out about a year ago and I just didn’t have the time to read it until now.

My 2 all time favorite books are Gone with the Wind and The Thorn Birds. I reread them every decade since the first time, so I’ve read each of them 4 times. I discover something new each time.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Favorite book of all time is Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut
Favorite series of all time is Harry Potter

Currently reading: Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber

 

[NYCgrrl]

Got a new book to read this week: "Beheld" by T. Nesbitt. It's a historical fiction set in newly colonized Puritan MA. Told generally from a woman's POV.
My favorite book? Hard to say.... I gave a copy of "Beloved" by Toni Morrison to almost everyone I knew one holiday season but then there are the books and authors that I cycle through on a regular basis- "War and Peace", Jane Austin, Issac Asimov, "Tale of Two Cities", James Michener, Phillip Roth, "The Canterbury Tales" are constants.

Tonight's dinner was simple and to the point. Burgers on pretzel buns, with a choice of vegetable based toppings and a side salad.

 

[Searc]

DH keeps looking out the window and talking about how any day he's going to have to get out there and mow the lawn, a chore he really dislikes and ironically seems eager to start for some reason. We're in Michigan and this would be very early. I told him the neighbors would come after him with torches and pitchforks if he tried to make that a thing already. Not to mention that over the weekend we had a deluge and actually had standing water in our backyard for quite sometime so the ground is just too squishy here for mowing just yet.

Our grass hasn't started growing yet, still too cold here in northeastern WI.

 

[Searc]

I am a reader, of paper books only. I tried digital and it is not for me. I enjoy historical fiction (minor in History) and have been reading a lot of WWII era fiction. Currently reading Resistance Women.

 

[mimijudy1975]

NYCgrrl, here. The lockdown isn't changing much of my life as I'm already semi retired and any work I do only requires my laptop. Biggest change is that my gym is temporarily closed down so no pool time for me. Not the same but walked up 10 flights to try and keep in shape today; good for the lungs. My goal for the next few weeks will be to make it up to the 16th floor w/o collapsing onto an elevator to end the journey, LOL.

Bulk cooking, prep and freezing is a norm in my life so spent the morning roasting 4 lbs of Chinese roast pork, making pork and chicken stock, and a pot of plain rice.

Tonight's dinner is roast pork noodle soup and I make it often enough that I no longer need a recipe. However this is the link that gave me the confidence to add it to my regular repertoire:

http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/index.php?s=roast+pork+noodle+soup
Cook's Notes: No small bok choy available? Use larger and quarter chop. Leaf spinach or any dark greens make a fine substitute or addition; same for peapods. Silken tofu is great for the vegans/vegetarians as a meat replacement and of course just use a meatless stock. You can always use Italian pasta to replace the Chinese rice or wheat noodles. Perfect when you cook too much and it's in the fridge as a leftover.

Thanks so much for the recipe ideas . I bet your kitchen smelled wonderful . Cooking up ahead and freezing meals is a great idea .

 

[SaintsManiac]

I am a reader, of paper books only. I tried digital and it is not for me. I enjoy historical fiction (minor in History) and have been reading a lot of WWII era fiction. Currently reading Resistance Women.

That one is next on my list!

 

[Searc]

That one is next on my list!

It's (fiction based on a true story) about a woman from WI who was murdered by the Nazis.

 

[SaintsManiac]

It's (fiction based on a true story) about a woman from WI who was murdered by the Nazis.

I love WWII historical fiction. It’s one of my favorite genres. I prefer women authors, too.

 

[Searc]

I love WWII historical fiction. It’s one of my favorite genres. I prefer women authors, too.

Me, too!!

 

[SaintsManiac]

Me, too!!

I read the Nightingale in about 2 days. Then I turned around and listened to the audio book. So good.

 

[Kittyblue]

Right now I'm reading a smutty vampire series. Not great literature but keeps the mind off being stuck inside.

 

[Searc]

I read the Nightingale in about 2 days. Then I turned around and listened to the audio book. So good.

I don't think I have that one, I'll have to check my bookcase tomorrow.

Good night.

 

[DuskKodesh]

Right now I'm reading a smutty vampire series. Not great literature but keeps the mind off being stuck inside.

1: Is it good? And 2: would you recommend it? I'm unashamedly a fan of smutty vampire books

 

[Kittyblue]

1: Is it good? And 2: would you recommend it? I'm unashamedly a fan of smutty vampire books

So far I'm really enjoying it - give it a try! It's the Night Huntress series by Jeanine Frost. And if you have any recommendations send them my way

 

[DuskKodesh]

So far I'm really enjoying it - give it a try! It's the Night Huntress series by Jeanine Frost. And if you have any recommendations send them my way

Back in the day I read my way through the entire Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood) series and loved them. They're cheesy but good and way better than the HBO show IDK what happened with that show but it went crazy far away from the plot of the books! Christine Feehan has a number of good ones that I loved but my fave was probably the Cowboy and the Vampire by Clark Hays and Kathleen McFall. It's a weird mix of genres with some jokes thrown in and it just had this humorous quality to it but still managed to feel like a romance novel!

 

[mmouse37]

I recently finished a book called The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson that I really liked. It was long but very interesting. It will make you feel better about our current circumstances as it is about a man who is seriously burned in a car accident and how he survives. But, he is visited in the hospital by a woman who claims they were lovers throughout different periods in history. So, it not just one story (about his survival from the fire) but another of their history together back in time.

A New York Times BestsellerThe Gargoyle: the mesmerizing story of one man's descent into personal hell and his quest for salvation. On a dark road in the middle of the night, a car plunges into a ravine. The driver survives the crash, but his injuries confine him to a hospital burn unit. There the mysterious Marianne Engel, a sculptress of grotesques, enters his life. She insists they were lovers in medieval Germany, when he was a mercenary and she was a scribe in the monastery of Engelthal. As she spins the story of their past lives together, the man's disbelief falters; soon, even the impossible can no longer be dismissed.

MJ

 

[cabanafrau]

Our grass hasn't started growing yet, still too cold here in northeastern WI.

SE Michigan turned green very early a few weeks back. Our backyard is currently attempting to compete with the awkward, lumpy, shagginess of my hair. Ordinarily my husband would be grumpy at the prospect of pulling out the lawnmower. At this point he's restless enough to consider that a potentially entertaining way to spend part of an hour.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I don't think I have that one, I'll have to check my bookcase tomorrow.

Good night.

You must read it!

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Question of the day 3/31: Whatcha reading or what is a favorite book you have read?

We are readers in our house. We are slowly and I mean slowly turning to digital books. We have several book cases full of this, that and the other. My husband has every book David Baldacci has put out and is also big fan of Edgar Allen Poe and lots Sci Fi. I prefer mysteries, romance and just good told story. I like Fannie Flagg, Doretha Benton Frank and Janet Evanovich for just fun read. I'm reading a mystery by her now and it's hard to wade through and I have break up issues and haven't gave up on it yet.

So what's everyone else reading or something they enjoyed reading?

I read a lot. I really don't read many serious books, except on WWII. For some reason, I really...idk if the word to use is enjoy, or like,or how to put it...but that topic works for me.

I do read a variety of genres. Some of my favorite authors:

Nora Roberts (easy to read, a simple formula in the trilogies, don't require brainpower)
Jim Butcher (love love love the Dresden Files series)
Robert Aspirn (MYTH series is so fun)
Piers Anthony (Xanth series)
Spider Robinson (Callahan series...so punny)
Beatrice Small (romance, a bit more...descriptive...than NR)
Raymond E Feist (all of the Krondor books..all, what 29 or 30?)
Steven Brust (the Dzur series)
Cody McFadyen (his FBI series is very intense)
Terry Goodkind (Sword of Truth series + offshoots D'hara, Nicci)
Maya Banks and Suzan Tisdale are 2 newer romance authors I enjoy.
Johanna Lindsey (her Malory series started me on my romance path back in high school!)
Michael Palmer (his Brotherhood of the Rose started me on spy novels back in high school)
Phillipa Gregory (has a series of books on British monarchy...if you watched THE WHITE PRINCESS, it was based off one of those books)

And talking about smutty vampirish:
Laurell K Hamilton used to be on that list, with her Anita Blake books, but they took a sharp downward turn (IMO) about book 15. I will still read the Meredith Gentry ones, as they are meant to be 'fantasy ' and actually have a story. But the AB ones started as a really fun series about a monster hunter, vampires and werewolves...and evolved into weird fetish novels.