C. (Comment, never msg).’s Comments (group member since Jan 30, 2014)

C. (Comment, never msg).’s comments from the Gentle SPECTRUMS group.

Yes, society could assume marriage and parenthood until recent decades. I never thought I would be common-law and Mom to cats but not humans. However, I am happy with that and don't see where we would fit kids in this small house. The property having a few acres is what appealed to us. We intended to marry traditionally and are formally engaged but in no rush. Getting your bearings after a house and property purchase takes the average income years. Meanwhile, relationships can dip out & back into bliss. Now, I don't feel like having a wedding and children my Mom is not here for.

It is fun to not know where Anne, Gilbert, Marissa, and Diana's will take us. I thought reading "The Alpine Path" after the three most classic books was ideal. I don't suppose it will spoil anything of the next three, having come soon after them, I think. And we will read them having a little insight to bolster the experience, don't you think?

I root for characters passionately, even if not aloud. That is what makes "completionists" like me; wanting to collect everything more there is with them, after I am a fan. In music, I must go after every album and single too; an author, every oeuvre, related or not. I reread as a child but am blessed with amassing too large a reading queue to do it. I will refresh myself on spiritual energy healing pages and other skills I learn. I will also revisit stories I read prior to about age 25, that I do not remember.

I let you know important stuff in e-mail. Dad came out of surgery okay. Marigold surpassed the doctor's estimate Friday and is all right too! We are going to stay on top of kidney cleansing and assisting food and treatments, paired with energy medicine, accupressure, and prayer. Something is working, thank goodness!

My reading slowed. It is gardening season and suddenly hot. We were 38 C, 100 F on Friday! A little less yesterday. A couple of weeks prior we had -3 C one night. That is Manitoba as spring turns to summer. I have treated myself to a little TV. When I go to bed, usually the only place I read, I just get cozy and sleep. I have most of our flowers to plant, thus this is not the period to sneak in reading by day.

I will get back to my reading roster tonight and know next week when to fit "The Alpine Path". A nice, thin book in the last month of the Canadian reading challenge.

Good morning, group members! My friend, Shonna runs the Canadian reading theme at her blog with Canada Day, July 1, as the start date. That means we are entering the last month and I see how many more Canadian books I can include. I think I will read Lucy Maud Montgomery's autobiography, "The Alpine Path" in the next week. Please let me know if you have it and are interested in reading along with me.

I ask for prayers for my dear Dad, for cancer surgery this Monday. He is giving up a bladder so that he can continue life on Earth. He has a very good attitude about it. My Mom & dear cat Spirit, are proud of Dad and will watch over him. Your friend, Carolyn.

Shirin, thank you for your care. I wanted to share the worry so friends know what we are going through. Let's continue in e-mail.

We have the Royal Canin foods for kidney disease. We believe in serving dry food as treats. Food is only maintenance. My first childhood cat had this at age 20, not age 10 when Marigold was diagnosed last year.

We are trying to help remove the toxins, cleanse and preserve her kidneys from overworking. There is a special herb capsule blend coming by mail, she has medicine, and I have started giving sub-cutaneous fluids.

For a miracle, I appreciate prayers from caring friends like you. I add energy medicine and acupressure that I am learning too.

I hope friends respond to laying Spirit to rest yesterday. It was a major day, sensitive. We make sure he is still talked about. Today is Mother's Day and I identify that way with them. Happy Mother's Day to offspring and animal Moms! Love, Carolyn.

I see we both gave the novel five stars. Is there anything you would like to discuss about "Hide And Seek"? Along with any subjects or favourite parts you add, I think it would be fun to describe why this is a five-star story or mystery for us.

On a personal note: we laid our Spirit to rest 2 hours ago. The ground thawed enough lately and we planned everything we wanted to say and do, with all of our other cats in attendance of Spirit's service with us.

On a shockingly sad note: we are told that Marigold is in stage 4 kidney disease and doctors expect her to only survive the toxins poor function leaves in a body, for 1 month. This again, 3 1/2 months after Spirit! Well, we are going to fight this with a combination of the very best we can do with western medicine, prayers, faith, and the energy medicine types of aura and other healing I began studying with our precious Spirit. We are warned about Marigold but we do not give up.

We are giving her a wonderful Mother's Day tomorrow. She is Mom to everyone except McCartney & Spirit: Angel, Petal, Conan (missing), and our late Love (ascended in 2014). Photos, good memories, happy times. If we receive a miracle of bonus time and health: we accept it gratefully and gleefully! Your friend, Carolyn.

Hi Shirin,

It looks like you are finished the novel. Instead of new progress notes, I can see what you think of it. To answer your previous question about if people getting close quickly is realistic: do you mean peers and friends generally, or did you refer to romantic relationships? I don't know if you meant who John was dating. You might be circling back to my comment about Tracey's role confusing us. Yes, you can make friends and boyfriends fast sometimes, if the people and situation are open to it.

If you referred to Tracey, the introduction of tears over the addict's panicked behaviour indicated a married couple. It did not resemble someone who only knew the person by first name because they slept in the same empty street of houses. The narrator wrote that when he pushed her outside, "someone always let her in, whenever he did this". The narration also said that Tracey allowed herself to cry "this time", as if this were a long committed relationship. It does not match the superficial acquaintances they prove to be later. I wonder if Ian drafted them to be a couple and did not correct the introduction, when he made role changes.

Yes, dog-fighting was bad enough but separate. Ian used a lot of short plots to through us off the trail, including the cult idea. We find at the end that it is about causing drug-hungry people to offer sex in cars, through two-way windows, and boxing for the entertainment of the wealthy in a dirty secret club.

I like the way Ian fooled us. I don't think he wasted time on the "red herrings", the trails that went nowhere, like the photographer. I do not think he wasted time on them but entertained us until he got onto the right track. It would realistically take time. I love the new officer and his girlfriend.

Do you like the ending? Do you think it is realistic that criminals would get away with that illegal, dangerous club, just because they were public figures in public government jobs and other places? Tony was not a criminal after all but he knew about "Hyde's". His addicted brother visited it.

I am glad to have your update, Shirin. I will give you a little time before I write more. There might be something you want to reply to in message #2. When I wrote it, you avoided looking at it too much until you got further in the novel. Thursday is quite far along! Yes, I am relieved the plot line is not about cult evil, or such fealty to religions that it is cult-like.

When you have a moment to catch-up on message #2, I will enjoy contributing to all of the great topics you are adding here. I love having your perspective, so that I understand the stories better, myself. And to have great memories of trying Ian Rankin out and becoming his fan with you. Your friend, Carolyn.

Hi Leeanne! I am so glad you continued a book discussion that has a lot to enjoy and say about it. I hope everyone knows that they should not come to a stop when I have begun reading or discussing another book.

I am always happy to hear fresh ideas, indeed am hungry for them, whether or not I understand at first try. It is stimulating to have something new to me, to think about; which is what I hope I bring other people. It is why we have conversations in person, letters, by phone, and on-line: to delight in what we have in common or impart something new to each other. I never seek debates deliberately, which is why I have trouble with people like my middle brother and Dad. If I get the sense someone debates kindly and openly, in an informed way; then I am comfortable disagreeing and seeing if there is wiggle room for people to see things the way I do.

I think the way I summarize what I believe you are saying, Leeanne, is that you yourself wanted Anne & Gilbert united at the right time, with the right kind of relationship. But you were eager for the book to reach where they eventually belonged? If I don't have it right, I am all ears.

It makes me happy when people remember things I share about myself, like having built such a blessed collection, I need to aim towards reading the rich library Ron & I have. No one may call us hoarders because we use our books, as you would stockpiled groceries and supplies. We with keen attentions and minds might not realize how rare it might be. I always remember what people tell me about themselves because I look forward to learning it. Well, one of my best in-person friends whom I wouldn't trade with all my heart, multitasks terribly, or has ADD. She does not retain what you say and you can see her glancing elsewhere. This, before the advent of carrying cell phones that are also e-mail and text-messaging (for all but we two flip-phone carries of voicemail only). I treasure those who care to pay attention to getting to know me. :)

I have thought of a less prude sounding way for me to express what you and I agree on, Leeanne, is this. In the olden days, marriage was taken too casually. Nowadays, sex is taken too casually and marriage reserved almost for impossible standards. Or the equivalent of marriage, such as my common-law union of 21 years this summer. :-)

I see too that similar to me, you presume even better Anne books are the sequels coming forward? I sure do feel excitement about them because we have no prediction about what they will be like! We imagine they will contain marriage, parenthood, and house-building or house-buying but everything else is a mystery and I look forward to seeing what their adult adventures will be.

As soon as you quoted the first line about Marilla, I remembered it. Thank you for remiding me. I loved it too. I can't picture life before or without all of the dear cats I have had, who are our equivalent to children. And my life is brightened too, by you friends at a little and larger distance. Yours warmly, Carolyn.

Hi Shirin, only one person is poisoned so far; no sign of a serial killer. There is only the need of people who know something about him, including police investigators, to be careful. The whole novel seems to be about why one crime took place, which I like.

No, we don't like to read of a serial killer. I favour serious "standard mystery" like this and sometimes "cozy mystery" but not "thriller / horror". There is only a hint of the occult so far. I am glad you note the difference between obsessive practices and actual spirituality like paganism and wicca. You introduce a good conversation topic that I did not yet because my reading entry was long.

I love non-traditional spirituality and also the paranormal but never evil things. It seems that what makes things evil or fanatical is obsession with rules and tradition. That way, one is religious or fanatical but misses the heart of spirituality. When people kill in the name of a religion, they lacked understanding in the love and faith at the centre of it. If a thriller novel is about the occult, it would disturb me, because you know a person is justifying evil acts in their mind.

I think the word "occult" was used because our author knew nothing about the subject. I sensed naivety when that student, Charlie, whom readers thought was a homeless squatter, was a university student. It is naive to believe an expert on paganism and wicca needed to sought at a university. There are pagans and wiccans in every country where there is freedom of religion; viewed harshly by traditional religions.

An author must gain a lot of information and knowledge in researching their wide variety of stories. What we take for granted as common knowledge now was less known decades ago but farther in the past than 1990! That was recent. It is when I graduated from high school! :) Anyway, I like it best when a crime mystery has nothing to do with the investigator, so that I as a reader feel more safe. We will both be relieved if the novel is not as evil as we thought.

I can't tell if Tracy is meant to be an unreliable character, or if Ian did not establish her clearly. In the beginning, it sounded like she was the wife of Ronnie who yelled "hide" or "Hyde"; crying as if she had been affected personally by his rants. I wonder if you were shocked, Shirin, when we discovered that she was only a girl who had visited or shared an empty house with him over 6 months and did not know his last name, or much about him.

Also, the beginning of the novel described "calvinists", another type of religion, putting a teenager's body into a hole at a construction site and pouring cement to hide it. I have seen nothing about a missing teenager or calvinists, therefore there is more to learn. I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts as you go along. Of course you can look at my posts closely when you have reached "Friday". Does your novel have no chapter numbers either? In which language are you reading Ian Rankin?

Yes, we love John like usual: his kindness towards everyone and his passion for books! Haha, I laughed too, that he bought books instead of clothes for a party. Especially, since he was not much interested in that party nor in that brief girlfriend.

I always hope my friends will go first, so there is no way notes only reply to me. Please don't hold back on giving me all of your ideas and impressions, Shirin, even though I am writing first. :)

I remember the nice feeling we shared in common of loving John Rebus right away. It came back immediately in this sequel, too. I think we have to acclimitize ourselves to entirely different supporting personages because he is not dating the same woman, nor working with the same police. It is fun to watch John communicate and work with anyone. His thoughts about a life that is not perfect are relatable and funny.

My omnibus of 3 novels, "Rebus: The Early Years" does not have chapters, does your book? I am 60 pages from the end in the heading entitled "Friday". I will stay general enough, that my pondering should not spoil wherever you are in the story, Shirin.

I love that he has been promoted from a constable to an inspector and now leads crime investigations. Obviously, he has a new chief inspector, because the predecessor lost his son in the first novel and we are grateful John's Daughter is safe. Samantha Rebus has not visited in this novel so far but I prefer less talk about divorces and ex-spouses.

The crime is thankfully is not so disturbing as taking or killing children. Addiction is a subject that interests me, since I am dealing with it (pertaining to alcoholism) in my family. Besides containing a crime of course, I find this whole novel much more pleasant and easier to enjoy. Maybe life is lighter for John. He only needs to pay attention to doing his job. He is not juggling emotions about his Dad or Brother, nor being stuck doing "grunt work" (an expression that means small jobs no one likes). I am happy to see John as an inspector who can delegate leg work to other officers. He is not shy about taking charge in his new role. In many series, authors too long portray their characters are struggling and not achieving what they want to.

The crime is not personal at all. It doesn't involve anyone he knows. Of course, John's kind personality shows care for everyone: victims, families and friends, the young, the poor, the elderly, the fearful.

I distrust Tony. I make a guess that he is guilty of a crime. It does not matter if one neighbourhood is usually the district where you work. If another officer takes a case there, you leave him or her in charge of it. Tony appears at the crime scene too much. Later, we learn that his brother is one of the three wealthy men investing in the new chief's anti-drug strategy for Edinborough.

One of the three rich men committed suicide. Was it embarrassment for being seen in the car by John, on the hill where people pay for sex from poor, drug-addicted boys? Was that man involved in another crime? Was his death a suicide?

I will close my pondering with the question you & I have anticipated, Shirin: do we pick up any similarities to "The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde"? The novel and character are mentioned halfway through but I have not thought about this question yet.

I got a lot of reading done in one night, fortunately, therefore my notes about "Hide & Seek" are numerous. However, I am happy to find that with Ian Rankin, I can't help reading on! There is no slow or boring place that creates a pause! A lot like Anne Perry's stories, which also balance the personal lives of characters with their investigating work; the interest and action keep us reading, doesn't it!

Here is our buddy-reading conversation about "Hide & Seek"! Ian Rankin's theme of his first 3 novels, which he did not recognize as mysteries, draws from Robert Louis Stevenson also of Edinborough. This title comes from an early line in "The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde". It reads: "If you be Mr. Hyde, I shall be Mr. Seek!" With this 1886 quotation, Shirin & I begin reading this 1990 book! Your hostess, Carolyn.

I am happy someone finally commented on a dual timeline conversation that I rolled out! You didn't say what you think of our society but I loved all of your other replies to what we discussed. I could not tell (but I doubt it) if the conversation struck you as awkward, or if you thought book discussions closed if we had started another book. Thank you for continuing, so long as anyone has ideas or things to add.

My summary is that I love our present day freedom to just date, or all the intimacy we are comfortable exploring, without locking into marriage. For me, I insist on drawing a line until a couple is committed in some way, like the level of saying "I love you". I hate the casual, rushed idea that something as intimate and serious as sexuality is *expected* by some in our society.

I choose a middle ground balanced between of the respect and line-drawing in 1915, without the judgement and hypocrisy of embraces, kisses, and general romantic company without being engaged. You should be able to try various relationships before something so serious as marriage. It is for our own hearts and assurance and certainly, because it was hard to separate.

You could divorce in Victorian days, if you ignored being frowned upon. A great novel about that and Irish political history is "Never Call It Loving"; for some reason written by New Zealand's own Dorothy Eden. Everything always has and will especially depend on the support and attitude of families, no matter what the social commentary was.

I hope everyone looks forward to the next three books as much as I do. I think they will be fun! I hope Dora is prominent since she will not be a toddler and with questions answered, Anne and Gilbert just have fun, explore the world, and grow.

Hello Shirin and Kerri! It is nice to find you both here, for I have just finished this book this morning, myself. So, although we like to leave reading in progress observations and anticipation; finishing opens us to discussing our impressions in their entirety! Brava to Shirin for finishing in English, if you did not switch to Persian.

I got used to the style and only faulted the long-assed sentences not breaking down each remark. I loved the phrasing of many sentiments, passages worth sharing another time. I came upon a few more unaccustomed uses of words and two new to me: "polity" and "multifarious". They pertain to the proposition that we have more sides as personalities unto themselves than the two Henry investigated.

What strikes you as a topic you each would propose? There is lots of fodder for conversation. Here we go! :)

I have written so many paragraphs, I will keep this short and let you both reply to mine before expounding on more of my observations. I hope there is more to say on the ream of paragraphs I typed out. And I give you time to lead with your observations and ideas.

For the moment, I add the observation that I easily saw the horror genre fit by the end. Like Shirin said of the earlier era and which Kerri felt in present day, if we can get into the story; the suspense build-up is tremedous. Picture the lamplight at night, movie music ramping emotions up in the background, the news that a trampling and an attack with no trigger have occurred, worse than the usual crime or murder. Most alarming, what does this person have to do with someone they know as a friend!

It can only be horror, when Gabriel John reads the letters from Dr. Hastie Lanyon and Dr. Henry Jekyll (from pages 67 to 103 in my Bantam Classics book) and it dawns on him that the body he and Mr. Poole saw expire on page 62, was their friend Henry Jekyll. I wish we had seen his face, as movies must show, or if Robert Louis Stevenson had given page time to pan over to Gabriel John's reaction to that jolt.

And it can only be horror unimagineable, for Henry's original fear from his first experiment to be true: that he can no longer stay his normal self. If we think of how these things would feel, Shirin, I say this is easily horror content in 2021 as well.

I asked in some other paragraph of mine, if you would like to read Ian Rankin's "Hide And Seek" next. Would you? If you would prefer to wait, I will jump into another book for the time being. Did you see the reference to that title on your own? Or did you notice it after my reference to the quote: "If you be Mr. Hyde, I shall be Mr. Seek"?

I noted one more horrific slap in the face, as it were. Imagine the trauma of figuring out that the salt you had used was probably faulty, one of those experiments that would not have worked under normal conditions. Short of tracing the tainted stock; what weight of death facing a person, who sees that their source of remedy no longer had the ingredient to be produced! It seems to override the theory that Edward came back without summoning, the more exercise he received.

Kerri, the question you propose is a good one, even if Robert did not take that tack. If there had been a story about apprehending Edward Hyde and the authorities learning and accepting that Henry Jeckyll turned into that person: how would they have approached the charge? I think Henry would have gotten off. In Canada, there is a frequent precedent for deciding if someone was mentally or emotionally fit to act on a crime in full knowledge and control of their faculties.

Yes Shirin, the mystery excelled at making us just as anxious to find out who Edward was and what his relationship was with someone honourable. If the language took acclimatization at first, I got used to it and by the time I was gripped by the mystery, I read in larger gulps. It wasn't that there was much more action added. The emotional investment of the people involved became greater. We felt for Gabriel John, Henry, and Mr. Potter and their anxiousness propelled us to know how it turned out, the audience.

I see I am popping in anew before you have marshalled your thoughts on existing notes. My Bantam Classic novel doesn't note chapter numbers, only titles. Rather than page through to count, suffice it to say I am at 70% and am enjoying this world phenomenon story immensely. Dare I say, my vocabulary shall as I hoped, gain the stride of enrichment by its conclusion.

I anticpate your topic questions and thoughts. For now, I propose one that I have looked forward to: to which genres would we attribute this story, now that we are well into it? Kerri wrote "mystery" and I agree. I say "horror" too, if we have become at ease with the language and are focusing on the descriptions of the characters' reactions and feelings. It will surely be science fiction as well, when we get to the information that is the detail I believe we all know going in.

Kerri described suspense and Shirin said "odd"; all true. I find the mix highly successful in the generating of suspense, mystery, and deliciously curious oddity: of narration, dialogue, private musing, action, and revelations conveyed in handwritten letters. We have looked at events through the outside view, at an even pace with readers, of Mr. Utterson and a few other men.

Where I am, Mr. Utterson is reeling; learning almost everything via a letter by Dr. Langley. We are about to finally have Dr. Henry Jeckyll's account by letter. Another topic for consideration: if we of 2021 did not know the core shock of this book, that Dr. Henry Jekyll is Mr. Edward Hyde; would we have guessed it by the clues provided?

We have done well to read as blindly as we have but I'll bet the wonderment would be the greater for us, if we could have been oblivious to the grand horror dénouement entirely. I believe I would have guessed it.

The clothes hanging large on Edward Hyde (I love knowing their first names, haha). It was made clear early, by the cheque-writing. It was confirmed for me a little later, when Mr. Utterson's assistant, a script expert by hobby, identified two samples as deriving from the same hand. Rather than our foreknowledge spoiling anything, I for one, have enjoyed watching the details of how it unfolds.

There are only two words to look up. However, I am confused by "cabinet" inferring a room. I thought that Edward Hyde was hiding in a closet but certainly that was not the case, when we describe a nice room with a tea table and a desk. Haha, my 21st century dirty humour guffawed at the use of "intercourse" as something very asexual indeed. It meant something more like "discourse", conversation. I like "passengers", used not for vehicle riders but as in the passage of people walking around roads in public.

Good morning, ladies! I am glad we are enjoying our walk through 1886, even though our steps are slow and we are looking everywhere, in a language that is more graceful than we are accustomed to. I love it. We are even: I am finished chapter 3, too and will start chapter 4 by tonight.

As I mentioned, I recognize all of the words. We just must look closely at creative or advanced use. Like in a spelling bee, we figure out grammatical acrobatics by the structure. For example, we know "apochrophyl" relates to the apocholyps and thus is a witty adjective in the negative.

I would not agree, Shirin, that nothing happened early. Unless you have a particular book genre in mind that denotes fast action, I don't think we a car chase or explosion to build suspense. I enjoy external people introducing us to Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, because it puts us on the same level as the narrators. We are curious and learn about those titular gentlemen along with them. If they had been the narrator protagonists instead, we would feel disconnected by knowing they were concealing a secret and had the power to reveal them to the readers. Being equal to the lawyer and his friend in their puzzlement, I think we instantly feel like they represent us. We are of a mind.

I have felt a need to improve my vocabulary and Robert Louis Stevenson will be just the thing! Shirin, it was neat to notice the reference Ian Rankin must have transposed to his second book title, on page 15! It reads: "If you be Mr. Hyde, I will be Mr. Seek"! I am interested in reading it right after this one, to see if a flow, or similarity can be felt.

I thought having an open category, "Meet The Members", would be nice! Herein, please feel welcome to make your own folders, with your general location of our world. This is a place to make lists of books and other subjects for yourself and report news important to you personally or in your countries for us to read and answer.

Often people join a group but are unsure what to write or where to browse. This is a nice, clear way of getting to know each other and establishing our place, even though we have topic folders for popular subjects like animals, music, television shows, and films.

Members need not belong to my 4 reading challenges, when they are on, nor do buddy reading. If you love to make friends and have the respectful conversations we favour here, I welcome you to set up your corner of our community, called Gentle Spectrums. :)

I thought it would be handy for myself to have a list in plain text of last year's and this year's reading. I will alphabetize them for an easy reference. I have finished my 300 word reviews for all of them.

MY 2020 BOOKS!

“Aunt Dimity And The Deep Blue Sea” Nancy Atherton 2006

“My Cat: A Scrapbook Of Drawings, Photos, And Facts” Marilyn Baillie & Brenda Clark 1993
“The Loud Halo” Lillian Beckwith 1964
“The Egyptian Mirror” Michael Bedard 2020
“Echoes” Maeve Binchy 1985
“Jesus Erzählt Uns Eine Geschichte: Das Hochzeitsfest” Roma Bishop (illustrator) 1990
“Death Of Riley” Rhys Bowen 2002
“The Weed That Strings The Hangman’s Bag” Alan Bradley 2010
“The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare” Lilian Jackson Braun 1988
“Georgie” Robert Bright & Christiane Duchesne (translator) 1944
“Dearest Grandmama” Catherine Brighton 1991
“Arthur’s TV Trouble” Marc Brown 1995
“Blessings From The Other Side: Wisdom And Comfort From The Afterlife For This Life” Sylvia Browne 2000
“Past Lives, Future Healing: A Psychic Reveals The Secrets To Good Health And Great
Relationships” Sylvia Browne & Lindsay Harrison 2001
“Last Look” Clyde Robert Bulla 1979

“Canada’s Peaceful Places” Canadian Heritage 1985
“The Halifax Public Gardens” Arthur Carter / The Friends Of The Public Gardens 2008
“Firefly Time: The Art And Poetry Of Emilee N. Horn (Carter)” Emilee Carter 2015
“From Warsaw To Winnipeg: A Tale Of Two Cities” Stefan A. Carter 2011
“Whitehorse, The Wilderness City” Ione J. Christensen 1989
“Witness For The Prosecution” Agatha Christie 1924
“Point Of Origin” Patricia Cornwell 1998
“Carlsbad Caverns National Park” Candace Crane 2000
“Pacific Vortex” Clive Cussler 1983
“The Mediterranean Caper” Clive Cussler 1973

“The Sandhills Of Carberry” John E. Dubois / Manitoba Museum Of Man And Nature 1976

“The Name Of The Rose” (“Il Nome Della Rosa”) Umberto Eco 1980
“The Green Book” Amal-El-Mohtar 2010
“Wing” Amal El-Mohtar 2012
“The Truth About Owls” Amal El-Mohtar 2014
“Pockets” Amal El-Mohtar 2015
“Madeleine” Amal El-Mohtar 2015
“The Hidden Messages In Water” Dr. Masaru Emoto 2001
“Roses: A Celebration In Words And Paintings” Helen Exley (editor) 1993

“Thank You Notes” Jimmy Fallon 2011
“The Geographer’s Library” Jon Fasman 2005
“The Tree That Grew To The Moon” Eugenie Fernandes 1994
“The Servant’s Tale” Margaret Frazer 1993
“The Witch Elm” Tana French 2018

“Caramba” Marie-Louise Gay 2005
“A Suitable Vengeance” Elizabeth George 1988
“For The Sake Of Elena” Elizabeth George 1993
“Missing Joseph” Elizabeth George 1993
“Labyrinth: The Storybook Based On The Movie” Louise Gikow & Bruce McNally 1986
“Cauldstane” Linda Gillard 2014
“The Dog Who Rescues Cats: The True Story Of Ginny” Philip Gonzalez & Leonore Fleischer 1995
“The Dangerous Dollhouse” Sarah Gordon 1988
“The Dirty Duck” Martha Grimes 1984
“Jerusalem Inn” Martha Grimes 1984
“Help The Poor Struggler” Martha Grimes 1985
“The Deer Leap” Martha Grimes 1985

“Vollgas!” Ute Haderlein, Roger De Klerk 2000
“Wo Sind Die Kleinen Katzen?” Nadine Hahn (illustrator), Claudia Toll 1996
“Mythos Christos” Edwin Herbert 2016
“Alfred Hitchcock’s Solve-Them-Yourself Mysteries” Alfred Hitchcock 1963
“Threshing: The Early Years Of Harvesting” Faye Reineberg Holt 1999

“Sleight Of Paw” Sofie Kelly 2011
“Cat Pictures Please” Naomi Kritzer 2005

“Ghosts Of The Titanic” Julie Lawson 2011
“Froggy Goes To Bed” Jonathan London & Frank Remkiewicz 2000
Stories I Only Tell My Friends” Rob Lowe 2011

“The Sixty-Eight Rooms” Marianne Malone 2010
“Regretfully Invited” Jan L. Mayes 2018
“Murder At Malenfer” Iain McChesney 2013
“While The Clock Ticked” Leslie McFarlane 1932
“Cat Alphabet” Metropolitan Museum Of Art (editor) 1994
“Anne Of Green Gables” L.M. Montgomery 1908
“Anne Of Avonlea” L.M. Montgomery 1909
“Manu’s Ark” Emma V. Moore 2012
“The Night Circus” Erin Morgenstern 2011

“The Eight” Katherine Neville 1988

“A Trick Of The Light” Louise Penny 2011
“Bethlehem Road” Anne Perry 1990
“Highgate Rise” Anne Perry 1991
“The Camelot Caper” Elizabeth Peters 1969
“The Deeds Of The Disturber” Elizabeth Peters 1988
“Monk’s Hood” Ellis Peters 1980
“Extra-Ordinary: Stories Of Manitobans With Down Syndrome” Jordan Power & Darnell Collins (photography) 2015
“The Silent Companions” Laura Purcell 2017

“The Westing Game” Ellen Raskin 1978
“I’d Rather Be In Philadelphia” Gillian Roberts 1992
“Captivated” Nora Roberts 1992

“Look Once Again: In The Garden” David M. Schwartz & Dwight Kuhn 1997
“The Gardener’s Daughter” A.F. Scott & René Moreu 1968
“The Time Of My Life” Patrick Swayze & Lisa Niemi 2009
“The Cat, The Lady, And The Liar” Leann Sweeney 2011

“The Joy Luck Club” Amy Tan 1989
“Spanish Rhymes” Lynda Taylor 1996
“O’ Artful Death” Sarah Stewart Taylor 2003
“Murder On Gramercy Park” Victoria Thompson 2001
“The Wildlife ABC: A Nature Alphabet” Jan Thornhill 1988
“The Haunting” Alan Titchmarsh 2011
“Ghost Towns And Drowned Towns Of West Kootenay” Elsie G. Turnbull 1988

“A Journey To The Centre Of The Earth” (“Voyage Au Centre De La Terre”) Jules Verne 1864
“Birthstones” James Watling & Laurie Steding 1995
“Through The Hidden Door” Rosemary Wells 1987
“Skye Cameron” Phyllis A. Whitney 1957

“How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Cats?” Jane Yolen & Mark Teague 2010
“Dancing Soul: The Voice Of Spirit Evolving” Gwen Randall-Young 1995
(100) “Safe At Home With Pooh” Kathleen W. Zoehfeld & Robbin Cuddy 1998

Hello! I am Carolyn, hostess and group creator, in Manitoba. Our province is the centre of Canada overall but oddly, belonging to "western Canada". Our cats are my Sons & Daughters. I am a vegetarian who loves to garden, food and flowers galore and being in hardiness zone 3 doesn't faze me.

I love music, films, and television as seen in those categories. Since I was a tiny girl, I always loved making international friends. Thankfully, Manitoba has been a refugee and immigrant haven all my life. Now, the internet helps too! Yours truly, Carolyn.

I am early in chapter 1. So! I took two days to finish Ellery Adams's 2012 mystery and there is still no writing here. Well, I needn't worry about being first to lay out things to say because I am not far enough to, similar to Shirin's entry. To ensure I leave a first impression, I will paste my Goodreads page progress update and expand it a little.

This 1886 classic novel only has 114 pages, even if they are the dense sort with no spacing between chapters. It is dense 1800s writing of the most advanced English language skills, even though I share that level of skills. There are few words new to me and I delight in finding them. In many cases, their use is rare and the sentence style long, which I know from Henry James. I absorb and reread every page slowly.

As I said, the words are recognizable even if they are seldom included vocabulary today, in 2021 but I still wonder what second language readers like Shirin, or those with lower English reading skills would make of it. I think I will get used to the style, structure, and tone as I go along and hope the same for both of you. It looks for now, like an outside party is tell the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story and I like that original approach. I will want to meet them later but am enjoying my introduction however peripheral.

Hi Shirin! Do you read at night? It is rare for me to read by day and in contrast, it is my bedtime routine to read before I sleep. Even if I am tired and fall asleep quickly, I cannot retire without reading. I also prefer to read in a reclined position, if I do get in some lines by daylight. But I need a couch, blanket, or towel to lie or lean on.

The lovelist moment is to read with our cats, as long as they aren't scratching their faces or noses on my book, or putting a nose on my hand. Conan always read with me but I have been missing him for 3 years. Spirit took over as Momma's reading cat, then suddenly died of stomach cancer 2 months ago. Now McCartney is always with me reading, which is wonderful, because he did not hang out in our bedroom so much before. He has an office chair and rocking chairs he loves, so having him read with me is comforting. It is like each cat knows we miss what those before us, used to do.

"Odd" sounds interesting to me and probably the right impression of this book! Thank you for starting us off, Shirin! If it looks like no one is typing anything, I might feel tempted to finish the novel I am reading but please don't hesitate. I have felt this year that I would rather everyone else set the tone first, otherwise I am concerned that you will only reply to my observations. I want to see new ones that I would not think of, or your angle on the ones we share. :)

Yes, we are blessed to be among wildlife as well as a safe place for our domestic family cats. We are also grateful by our answered prayers, for nearby neighbours and dogs to be quiet. Then, you hear the birds really sing. It is no longer cold. The snow has recently all melted and then it will rain tomorrow or the next few days. Thank goodness: you do not want a drought in a forest! However, at the end of this week, it will snow again.

I am unsurprised because I was born in Manitoba and Canada. I am not superstitious but have you noticed that some proverbs are reliably true? Here, for the month of March, it is said: "In like a lion, out like a lamb. In like a lamb, out like a lion". Therefore, when our weather started warm last month, I knew cold and snow would arrive later.

Picture a land where the ground is dry, except in a few low spots, and where the grass is all revealed again, except it is yellow and brown. There are new birds and the winter ones have returned to the north (we were their south holiday). But there are no insects yet, except awakened houseflies suntanning on the warm walls in the daylight. You hear only the breeze, distant highway traffic, and the birds. I love observing and enjoying our slowly changing seasons.