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A lot of my new peers are nuts about Lisa Ginova's books about diseases. She is a neuroscientist who can speak to how they work and how they are prevented (Alzheimer's: a good deep sleep, Mediterranean or vegetarian diet, exercise, learning new things)! But her goal was an inside personal look to provide firsthand empathy. I've just seen her on "The Social". Easy to download today's Canadian talk show interview.

Wow, this was under consideration for five stars and just veered off. That is impressive when I can't stand sad or dreary topics. I appreciated the fresh perspective of Canadian and world-wide history and how well Hugh wrote an intelligent, confident, successful career woman of 1917.

Confrontations are going to be good! I'll tell you what, Hugh must have highly respected his wife and Mom. I feel his portrayal of two main females is extraordinary for 1941. Penny is not only storming in to have words with her bold colonel father. She refuses to doubt she has spotted on a bus, the fiancé people claim was dead. Hugh's descrption of trusting her instincts is a lesson in impressive self-assurance!

Well! This has twists you don't expect, especially in a 1941 novel about 1918! Describing Canadian living and our various mentalities to the world is important and sadly still needed. What I'm learning here is a wartime feeling, I am grateful I couldn't know, which Hugh MacLennan lived through twice. What only Halifax knows is what their special, complex, and nautically essential niche in the world was like then.

Where we sought Conan, one person has a photo that is clearly not him. Two think the cat they saw is like my photos. There could be more than one. That area will e-mail photos and information. We will hand out alerts on the roads from town to home every mile or so, getting them to ask neighbours about visitors since winter, October. If they don't see store posters, we will bring it to them! Love, Carolyn & Ron.

I'll say this for the novel, even though he was another author who needed to say "asked" or "inquired" in dialogue questions; not "said". His female is no fainting love interest pining on the home side of war. Hugh MacLennan historically depicted December 1918, just before Halifax's explosion but wrote this in 1941. What a strong, intelligent, assured, educated, likeable career woman 29 year-old Penelope Wain is!

A neighbour missing a cat (we wish ours was only away 2 weeks) and being mistaken by a similar cat is possible I suppose but raised my eyebrows. In pictures, we compared markings with pictures of our sweet boy to be sure but know who we are looking for. To hold a cat and think it's yours? Maybe. Nonsense is realizing one isn't yours but not wanting to disappoint friends! Unfair to that cat and his actual people!

I would like the interested and curious to create an even playing field for yourself. Forget the reviews about this book, certainly at Goodreads. Here is a case in which they don't match my reading experience. I am enjoying this true story all the way along. I don't hesitate to point out irritants of a story or writing. Nothing that has been mentioned pushed any buttons. This story is wholly, entirely pleasant.

Ron & I have long been fans of Stephen Hawking; his work, attitude of endurance and positive spirit, and adore him as a likeable, humorous person. We know we have had him for such a wonderfully long time, that Stephen's longevity really does defy science.

Thank you for being a loveable, accessible person. You make everybody interested in your work! I am especially happy your family had you so long. Love, Carolyn.

I have had a love for Nova Scotia every since I visited it. I have had a compassionate respect for a famous event in history, "the Halifax explosion", ever since I learned about it a few years ago. I won't call it an "anniversary" but I have been alerted that as of December 2017, it has been 100 years since the Halifax environs has survived that manmade disaster and accident. It is the right time to read about it.

If I were commended for regularly reading something far outside the threshold of the kind of story I like, it would be for both of Patricia Cornwell's series. I prefer stories solving mysteries instead of solving crimes and police-/detective-oriented are my least favourite; let alone disturbing crime and the gore of forensics. Kathy Reichs is an emphatic "no" but I like Patricia's writing and friendship viewpoint.

I am enjoying character dialogues, which is all this novel entails. Therefore reading it is pleasant. One literary exception is authors being too dramatic and not simply stating that something is red. I loathe the fanciful, indulgent attempt at flair with "crimson" or "scarlet"; two words at which I cringe. Elizabeth does it a lot. Most notably, there is no pyramid exploration, which is the pull of this series!

This novel has the world's most poorly-written synopsis. Whoever threw it together made is sound like nothing happens and there is no mystery. However star feedback seems to say this is a favourite. It won't be hard to be better than #1 and #3. Amelia & Radcliffe Emerson are a mixed bag. Their son Walter / Ramses risks me not being able to stand him but I loved volume #2, at five-star level (when he was a baby).