Let's Chat! - Never Delete!

[April Lyn]

Kara wrote: "Today is International Women's Day. In its honor, let's discuss our favorite female authors. Who are yours?"

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni <3
Tracy Chevalier
Marian Keyes

[Kelsi]

Margaret Mitchell, the Wollstonecraft women, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Jane Austen, and the bronte sisters as well!

[Morgan]

Some of my all time favourites would have to be JK Rowling, Louisa May Alcott, L.M Montgomery and Jane Austen :)

[Ashley]

Ooooo, yes! Love Louisa May Alcott and LM Montgomery!! See, I knew I would miss some.

[AJ]

Anne McCaffrey, Julia Quinn, Mercedes Lackey, George Elliott, Jhumpa Lahiri (sp?), so many more!

[Ashley]

George Elliott is a female?? I didn't know that!

[Megan]

Charlotte Bronte, Margaret Atwood, and Mary Kay Andrews

[Lisa]

I really enjoy Sharon Kay Penman and Dorothy Dunnett.

[Kara]

My favorites are Zadie Smith, Aimee Bender, Jhumpa Lahiri, and, of course, Jane Austen.

[AJ]

This is actually in response to Craig's comment that no one knows when to expect the next George RR Martin books, but this seemed like a better place to stick it - so very funny! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7lp3R...

[Kara]

Wow, almost a full day without Goodreads access! It was a weird day. :)

Goodreads said they were having some technical issues. I believe they're full back up and running now.

[Lilac]

IKR! I didn't know how addicted I was until it was gone. :)

[DENISA]

Kara wrote: "Wow, almost a full day without Goodreads access! It was a weird day. :)

Goodreads said they were having some technical issues. I believe they're full back up and running now."

I almost had withdraws... Even tried another computer but alas... it seem to be the site.. Wohooooo it is back!!!

[Melissa]

Denisa wrote: "Kara wrote: "Wow, almost a full day without Goodreads access! It was a weird day. :)

Goodreads said they were having some technical issues. I believe they're full back up and running now."

I almo..."

lol .. I had no probs with GR's today but I did give up Facebook for Lent so I definitely know about withdraws !!!

[DENISA]

lol on the withdraws.... hmmmm makes us appreciate what we do have huh?

[Kara]

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Anyone have plans?

We met friends on Friday night for karaoke, so today, we're just taking it easy. I'm doing some work and homework, and I'm going to try to get through a big chunk of Assassin's Apprentice this afternoon.

[Jack]

Just been watching the parade. Happy Paddy's day!

[Kara]

And Jack, your avatar is very well-suited for the day. :)

[Jack]

Well of course. :)

[Melissa]

I'm not doing anything. Went to church this morning .. not really into the bar / party scene anymore. I am craving some corn beef and cabbage. Wish I knew how to make it lol

[Kara]

My best friend swears by this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/corned-b...

[Kara]

Now you've really got me craving corned beef and cabbage, so I'm calling some of the local places to see who's serving it and is not totally packed.

[Melissa]

Kara wrote: "Now you've really got me craving corned beef and cabbage, so I'm calling some of the local places to see who's serving it and is not totally packed."

oops! I said corn instead of corned :( I would try to make it but it's just me and my son and he doesn't like it.

[Kara]

Awww, that's too bad. Maybe he'll acquire the taste by next year. :)

[Kara]

FOUND A PLACE. I'm off to an early dinner. :)

[Ashley]

We went to church this morning, then came home to watch the ACC Championship game. Miami beat my Tar Heels (but Miami is crazy good this year!). Now we are watching NASCAR. The Hubby is a Dale Jr. fan and I like Jimmie Johnson.

Then it will be like Christmas Day in our house at 5:00 (central time). It's SELECTION SUNDAY for college basketball! :) So, we're going to watch that and get take out from Chili's and get a Shamrock Shake from McDonalds, HAHA.

The Hubby has helped deliver 7 babies since Thursday (He is on his OBGYN rotation), so we're just ready to sit back and relax tonight. :)

[April Lyn]

Spent the morning reading The Book Thief and playing Ruzzle, early lunch with the hubby at Applebee's, going home now to veg..

[Melissa]

April Lyn wrote: "Spent the morning reading The Book Thief and playing Ruzzle, early lunch with the hubby at Applebee's, going home now to veg.."

What is ruzzle?

[Megan]

I had to work this weekend at the jail for first appearances. Was planning to work this afternoon as well but decided I deserved to actually enjoy my weekend, so I've finished a good chunk of the weekend chores, walked my puppy, and am now kicking back to delve into "In the Garden of the Beasts".

[Robyn]

how did i miss an entire holiday??? honestly i completely forgot about this day! i happened to check my fb and saw all the holiday posts and realized that was today.
maybe i better set some reminders so i dont forget about easter as well

[Megan]

Robyn wrote: "how did i miss an entire holiday??? honestly i completely forgot about this day! i happened to check my fb and saw all the holiday posts and realized that was today.
maybe i better set some remind..."

March 31

[AJ]

Got my corned beef fix on Friday, so had the Guinness beef stew tonight, yum!

[Kelsi]

I enjoyed some Guinness and hung out with my family, and also wrote a paper. Productivity!

[DENISA]

Kelsi wrote: "I enjoyed some Guinness and hung out with my family, and also wrote a paper. Productivity!"

Kelsi I hung out with family too and got all my college work in a day early... it will probably rain or snow on that one... sounds like your weekend was just what you needed..

[Kara]

Hello from 10,000 feet! Hope everyone's having a great Monday. As soon as the wifi here stops being so annoyingly slow, I'll be sending out our semimonthly broadcast.

[Julie]

I quit smoking 20 days ago. I have not been able to concentrate to read a normal book and it is frustrating because I love to read. I have been reading books that educate me on the subject of nicotine addiction and this does help because knowledge is power with breaking free from this addiction. Just wondering if anyone else out there quit and how long before life gets back to normal?! I did smoke for 30 years.

[April Lyn]

Melissa - ruzzle is a phone app, like boggle. So addictive!!!

[DENISA]

Julie wrote: "I quit smoking 20 days ago. I have not been able to concentrate to read a normal book and it is frustrating because I love to read. I have been reading books that educate me on the subject of nicot..."
I quit 13 months ago but I did it with a electronic cig... and it worked. I don't want real cig and now I only use it once in a while.. if I forget it at home it doesn't drive me crazy

[Kara]

Julie & Denisa: That's really great! Congratulations to you both. :)

April Lyn: ...I'm going to download Ruzzle right now. Sounds fun.

[Ashley]

Ooooo, I have Ruzzle on my phone! It's totally fun until your Hubby beats you 5 straight times....grrrr, haha.

[Melissa]

Julie wrote: "I quit smoking 20 days ago. I have not been able to concentrate to read a normal book and it is frustrating because I love to read. I have been reading books that educate me on the subject of nicot..."

Congrats on quitting!!! I just celebrated my 3 yr anniversary in January. It's so worth it. It's not easy but just take one day at a time. I used an online support group on about.com that I could have never done it without them!

[DENISA]

Kara wrote: "Julie & Denisa: That's really great! Congratulations to you both. :)

April Lyn: ...I'm going to download Ruzzle right now. Sounds fun."

ah.... thank you...

[DENISA]

Melissa wrote: "Julie wrote: "I quit smoking 20 days ago. I have not been able to concentrate to read a normal book and it is frustrating because I love to read. I have been reading books that educate me on the su..."

Congrats to you also Julie

[Lilac]

Oh God, I've just read the Goodreads blog post!

I absolutely adore Goodreads, it's my favourite website, but if this turns out as bad as I expect it to, I'll have to leave. I'm already exporting my shelves and considering deleting my address from the giveaways section.

What does everyone else think of this?

[Jack]

Oh no Lilac, please don't leave. What exactly does this mean? I read the blog post, but what do you expect to happen?

[Lilac]

I don't know what it means exactly because the GR team haven't given out many details but it could be really bad. There were all sorts of problems when the two sites were joined before, and any of these things are possible, though not definite:

Censoring and deletion of reviews
Amazon sharing our personal info
Not being able to link to other book sellers
Links to LGBT books not working

And a load more stuff that I can't think of off the top of my head :(

[Jack]

Oh, well I hope that doesn't happen.

[Kara]

I'm wary but of the wait and see mindset. I love this place and all of you and have no plans to leave. I am curious to see what happens next.

[Kara]

Anyone else have the day off today? Any plans for the long weekend?

I'm at a marketing conference in Chicago. We're going to tour some local businesses then have some speakers come in. I'm super excited. I just started a new role in the marketing department, so this is timely.

[Toni]

I don't have the day off, but I'm looking forward to the weekend! :) I FINALLY finished a book - Wolf Hall. I had a very long dry spell. Crazy times at work and other personal things going on. I have a long way to go to make up ground on my goals but I think I can do it. :)