As far as TV goes these days, Debi & I have been staying up past our bedtimes and watching at least one, and sometimes two, episodes of Bridgerton, which we enjoyed hugely until they were gone.  Then we indulged in Queen Charlotte, which was yummy. I fell in love with British History when I took it in the 8th grade, and so this was a marvelous romp.
King George III could be eaten with a spoon, I swear.  The actual details of what was said and done have to be fiction, but the historical truths remain accurate.  I like to think Queen Charlotte may have been actually much as she is portrayed here.

We are now indulging in THE COOK OF CASTAMAN, and loving it.
I want to paste a warning label on ALL of these before you start out, if you do.  Lots and lots and lots of passionate SEX.
You may well learn stuff you've never imagined!

I recall that when the first episode of  Bridgerton  played on HBO, (Two or three years ago?),  that my husband and I watched it.   I thought it was worth continuing on and following the whole series.  He disliked it intensely, and didn't want to watch any more.   That doesn't usually stop me from going ahead with any movie or series, but in this case, I just never got back to it.    I think we got hooked on Succession, shortly thereafter?   The story is supposedly based loosely on the life of Rupert Murdock.  For anyone  who has HBO,  I highly recommend it.  It won most of the EMMY Awards last year, and rightly so!         

I also "binge watched" the new season of Bridgeton on Netflix.  Agree with Mary Paige aboutthe sex scenes.

Mary Paige, did it end like you thought it would? 

Looks as if the story has ended after 3 seasons. 
Marilyne, all 3 are on Netflix so you could catch up if you're so inclined.

I have had 2024 ebooks by various authors on hold. Several have been added to my loans and I don't want to delay borrowing and be put at the end of the list. Hopefully I can keep from dozing of during afternoon readig.
Am sure I'll "just read one more chapter" at night!!

Someone, I feel certain a family member, has given me a pillow, a small one, that says that on it, CALLIE.  Chalk it up to my Great Forgettery that I cannot recall who.  I have little magnifying glasses spread throughout these rooms so that I may still indulge my reading habit.  I still seem to be able to follow and remember the plot or contents of the book I am currently reading, but then forget it later.  Makes no matter now, I enjoy each as I go along in them.  I learned to read at a very early age and was never known to not have a book in my hand.  Nowadays, all the kids have cellphones in their hands!  I cannot really see this as an improvement;  honestly, I cannot.

CALLIE, I am not assured that BRIDGERTON is finished.  I was extremely relieved when Colin and Penelope finally married, but there are other children to marry off and other seasons to be filmed.  I believe Bridgerton will be back to engage our fascination with the Regency Period of the great British Empire.  It all remains to be seen, as we are told;  and Time will Tell, as we are also told.

Mary Paige, I hope so!  I love British history (the "long ago" past - not the present!!!) and would be glad to see another season or two or...

I just finished reading the e-book of "Lies and Weddings", the 2024 publication of Kevin Kwan, who wrote the trilogy "Crazy Rich Asians".   He seems to be fascinated with rich Asians moving to England and intermarrying.  Kind of a trite plot and hard to keep characters/places/dates straight.   I could predict the ending but did finish it.

Callie and Mary Page . . After reading your positive  comments on "Bridgerton",  I'm definitely going to take another look.  As I mentioned a few days ago, I liked the first episode, but my husband didn't, so we went on to something else.  I usually watch an hour or two of TV  in the afternoon, so will put it on my (LONG) list of shows to see.

Callie - I'm definitely going to add  "Lies and Weddings",  to my next Amazon order.  I thoroughly enjoyed all three of the  "Crazy Rich Asians" books,  by Kevin Kwan.    So much fun to read!  I then passed them on to my younger daughter who also likes them, and the movies as well.  I don't remember how many movies there were  . . .  maybe just the one from the first book?

I'll return tomorrow, to write about the new Kristin Hannah book,  "The Women".  I'm not done yet,  but liking it a lot more than I thought I would. 

Marilyne, it's a trilogy:  "Crazy Rich Asians", "China Rich Girlfriend" and "Rich People Problems".

All 3 seasons of "Bridgerton" are on Netflix. So you could catch up .

I'm still on waiting list for "The Women". I haven't always liked Kristen Hanna's books but am hopeful I'll like this one.

I have come across a small black photo album that says Senior Net 20th Anniversary 1986 . 2006.  I have it full of photos of Bob and I, mostly at our wedding.  Glad to have found them, because these days I can hardly remember a thing, and it is so lovely to see these.

Mary Page - I left you a message in Norm's Bait and Tackle last night.   

Callie - I'm about halfway through "The Women", and I like it!  I definitely plan to finish it.  The story takes place in Vietnam,  during the war, told by one of the Army nurses.  Not a happy story as you can imagine, but maybe that's what I like about it?  Sometimes I need a dose of reality.

Mars -  We haven't heard from you in awhile in here?  Any books to recommend?  I think you would like "The Women".

I haven't gotten through the books I am reading this past week. Seems I've been spending too much time watching YouTube stuff. Tired of that now and back to reading.

I had to renew The Birth of the West. The book is long and, accordingly, so are the chapters. I kept falling asleep on while watching the TV or reading this past week. I managed to stifle that today. The last bit I read was how the church took over presiding over weddings. According to Paul Collins, who wrote the book, the church had no (or no formal) involvement in marriages until the mid-900's. Now we are back to fighting over power and land. The previous chapter included the infamous Cadaver Trial and power struggles between the wealthy clans and their pet popes. Meanwhile, in all of this, the Vikings have been taking advantage and raiding Europe while everyone was squabbling and otherwise distracted. And I am only on Chapter Five.

I also went on a book buying spree. I think I mentioned the books about books, four in all. The others I picked up as e-books and audiobooks. Some of the audiobooks are borrows like Great Courses. Nine of those,  and one I bought. Then there are several John Scalzi books, Hyperion (yes, I am trying that again), a C. J. Cherryh, and also added pre-orders for two.

On the e-book side, I picked up Joe Haldeman's Infinity Dreams: Stories and Iain M. Banks, The Algebraist.

For bedtime reading I grab my Paperwhite and settle in for a few pages/chapters of Hugh Howey's Across the Sand, the sequel to Sand. It is good, but the beginning is a bit slower to warm up, IMO. There is something of a mystery going on that definitely keeps me going.

I have about a dozen or so of those Great Courses on hand that I have not listened to as yet.
I really should get back to them, or I will have wasted all that money tied up in them in vain.  Well, my heirs can jolly well take them and either be glad of my investment or hate me for spending so much they may have preferred spending on their own choices.

We are still working away at cleaning up and clearing out my apartment of 21 years.  We are clanging the bells as hard as we can to get family to come and take stuff.  Granddaughter Maria came today and was surprised at how much she could actually have a use for.  Hurrah!  And, bit by bit, individuals are finding books they did not think I'd have.  One e-mailed to ask if I had anything on Alexander the Great, Pompeii, and James Herriott's Cat Stories.  Or Tales, I forget which.  She was blown away when she found I had all three!  Fun!  The Alexander one is one of those hugely big (not thicker than other books, but large, with lots of pictures, though I doubt any photos of The Great.)
I have given my landlords the date of August 14th for the turnover.  Of course, Debi and Becky, who flew in from Missouri to help Debi take care of me and to work on this project we are getting sick to death of, have done all of the really hard work.
I have been e-mailing family and urging them to come and haul away and doing the terribly tiresome job of going through and culling the file cabinets that have been collecting my paper-life for decades.  One has to downsize sooner or later, and I am afraid I have left it too much to later.  Oh well, we WILL get this project over and done with, to huge relief and satisfaction.  Becky had a call last night that her husband has fallen ill with a condition he already has, so she flew home this afternoon.  I don't think she will be back, albeit she swears she will.  Time will tell.  I sure hope my son=in-law will survive and get even better.

MaryPage, I'm glad to hear that you have some help with your down-sizing project. Sorry to hear that Becky's husband is ill. It sounds serious. Hope he improves soon.

Paula Hawkins, who wrote Girl of a Train, has a new book, titled The Blue Hour, coming out in October. Not much on it yet, but it looks interesting. https://paulahawkinsbooks.com/the-blue-hour/

Mary Page - Somehow I missed your message here from a couple of days ago.   I didn't realize that you were moving out completely, from your long time apartment!  Wow, that's a big job, but good that you have so much help from family.  I would love to spend a day with you and your  book collection,  but alas, I live about 3,000 miles from you, so that will not be happening.      I'm happy for you, that so many of your grandchildren are interested in the books, and other treasures.  Hoping that Becky's husband will be well, and that this was only a slight setback for him.  Keep us posted on how you are doing.

As of this late hour, (10:13 P.M. Eastern), with our latest thrashing, crashing storm full of thunder & lightning (they seem to be coming along more frequently and of gaining strength lately), Sam is in hospital, not doing very well, has been in the operating room twice already, and is keeping us all in a daze of fear.  Becky has been spending day & night with him.  Apparently they have hospital beds that have some sort of side extension that can be pulled out for a family member to catch some snooze on.  I've never seen those, nor heard of them before this week. We can but hope for the best. The getting rid of my stuff is extremely slow going. Yesterday Debi had a dear friend from her years of being a French teacher come to look at my books.  She was thrilled with them, commented that we had the same tastes, and went off with a few.  Didn't make a dent.  I have a firm date of August 14th for turning the apartment over to my landlords.  Cross your fingers for me that all goes well.  Please, cross a lot of them. 

Will do, MaryPage. I had a near panic attack when I got down to the last few days. Lots of things I would have liked to keep, but didn't have room for or wouldn't fit in the apartment. Only a few things a miss, but not much. My clearance guys helped me pack up the remaining books and set them on the porch so they could come back for them the next day. Bob did not want to just trash the books. He was going to take them up to the library, and if that didn't work out, I suggested he take them to Community Aid or Goodwill. I counted a dozen boxes mostly comprising of books I read and will not likely read again, books I bought and never got around to reading (some thirty years old or more).

I've been going on something of a buying spree to fill what little space I have left on my shelves. I have four new books on bookmaking and printing, and just yesterday I ordered another Roman history centered around economics. Titled Rome: Strategy of Empire, it was written by James Lacey. Dr. Lacey is currently teaching at the Marine Corps War College.

I've also been adding to my audiobook and Ebook collection including Every Man for Himself and God Against All: A Memoir by Werner Herzog which he narrated himself, Crimea by Orlando Figes, Infinite Dreams by Joe Haldamen, and The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks.

It looks like I am going to have to renew Birth of the West for the second time. I finished Across the Sand and have just started Infinite Stars which is a book of SciFi short-stories. I just noticed that I haven't finished reading Mastodonia, so I need to get back to that too. My audiobook listen is still The Rise of Athens: The Story of the World's Greatest Civilization by Anthony Everitt which I haven't touched for a few weeks. Shame on me.

The Women, by Kristin Hannah,   was  a meaningful book for me . . .   bringing back controversial memories of the Vietnam war years.  The Country was divided then, much like it is now, only for very different reasons.  This fictional story centers around a young woman who has just graduated  from nursing school with her RN degree.    She signs up for a tour of duty in the Army, and is sent to Vietnam, were she works in field hospitals for two years.    I can honestly say that I haven't enjoyed a novel so much, in many many years.  Lots of others I've liked, but have been quickly forgotten.  Every so often one comes along, that you know you'll never forget, and this is one of those special ones for me.    It's big, has over 400 pages of small print, and weighs a ton . . . but it's worth it!

Mary Page -  I'm thinking about Becky's husband Sam, and hoping that he's doing better every day.  How nice, that the hospital, has accommodations for family to stay with the patient if they want to.  I haven't heard of such a thing here.    Sounds like you're slowly moving toward getting your old apartment cleared, and have found new homes for many of your books.

Mars -  So, you just had to fill that empty space in your bookshelf!  ha ha    I can relate to actually having a legitimate excuse to buy a few books!  I still have't found a decent copy of Exodus, but when I finally find what I want, it will probably be the last book I'll ever buy. (famous last words!)

I'm on Hold for "The Women"....#149 for 147 copies of the ebook.  Guestimate for wait time is 3 weeks.  Hope I still remember when it shows up on my Loan list!

In the meantime,I'm reading through Elin Hilderbrand e-books and am about finished.  She writes "beach books" and sets most of them on Nantucket.  Light reading - but I'm not really "into" heavier history and don't care for science fiction or thrillers.  I have read a few memoirs, biographies and other non-fiction books.

    Was delighted to find that the library has a lot of magazines on-line that can be checked out like e-books - but don't count on the number of book loans we're allowed.  I've read through the back copies of the "Saturday Evening Post" (I remember reading that as a youngster; didn't realize it's still being published bi=monthly) and others that I enjoy but don't want to subscribe to.

Mary Page, sending prayers and good wishes for Sam.  Nice that the hospital provides a place for family to stretch out.  Also sending prayers, good wishes and hoping you get all moved by the deadline you've set.

I need to go out and "grease" the metal birdseed feeder post with petroleum jelly ("Vaseline" but cheapest brand)so the squirrels will slide down if they try to climb it.  I get tail shakes and irritated looks at the window when they do. 

We each have different passions, which make a chance for people to specialize in the books they write for us.
I have been blown away by the books I have picked up and adored recently, albeit I am in my final days or whatever (unknown) of life, and you would think of interest.  I have told you of my being crazy about "THE SITUATION ROOM", and did you hear the President say the other day that he had been down there twice in the previous day?  Once you have read the book, that sort of sets your teeth on edge.  Anyway, I think my latest passion will surprise and perplex you.  Octopuses!  And I am now set straight, after all these years of being prissily certain of my correct use of the plural of octopus, I find I have been incorrect all along.  It is NOT octopi!  So there!

I am devouring "THE SOUL OF AN OCTOPUS" by Sy Montgomery.
No matter YOUR passions, this will lead you into new colorations of this planet we live on.  In short, it will blow your mind.

Interesting post MaryPage. Thanks! I saw mention of The Soul of an Octopus several days ago, but didn't given it much thought at the time.

I came in today because of a just posted YouTube post from Darrel at Sci-Fi Odyssey. He did a rather lengthy discussion of Ray Bradbury and his Fahrenheit 451. This book and Orwell's 1984 were two of the most influential books I have ever read. Both embody something of how I feel about misuse of media and the growing habit book editors seem to have for changing words, etc. when releasing newer editions of old books. Imagine Bradbury worrying about "updated" works of his books. In the clip he mentions this and took pains to ensure newer editions of his books were using his original texts and that those already altered by reissued in the original.
The news about the worldwide crash (thanks again Microsoft) of a huge number of servers kind of illustrates how too much reliance on computers and networking creates havoc. Imagine some day something happens that isn't fixable. Lots of knowledge lost and not retrievable. That's why I make hard-copy of things I deem important, and sometimes multiple digital copies which will only last as long power does.[/size]

I'm still seeing results of that failure now, at noon time.  I back up important stuff to Flash Drives, and DVD --- No power required for retention.

That is okay if you still have power or will have shortly. I some times thing catastrophically and enduring. Gheez, I hope we never get blown back to the dark ages (or earlier). And I don't often read dystopian books they are like horror stories to me. 

I posted earlier but lost it because my wi-fi kept going off and on.  I think it was affected by the global outage.

I posted that my previous post about being on hold for "The Women" must have "inspired" all the borrowers to turn in their copies because it appeared in my Loans this morning! 

MaryPaige, I enjoyed your "octopuses/octopi" comments because it reminded me of a pompous local broadcaster who referred to stewardesses as "stewardi" (this was before male flight attendants were hired).

When I see more than one titmouse at the birdfeeder I wonder if i should say "titmice" or "titmouses". 

Off to see if "The Situation Room" is available in e-book form.

Hope Everyfriend is having an Enjoyable Day.

Callie -  Glad you finally got  The Women.    Be warned . . . the first half of the book takes place in Vietnam, in field hospitals,  so it's graphic as to  injuries, casualties,  etc.   My dil belongs to a book club, that will be discussing it at their next meeting.   I'm curious as to what their consensus of opinion will be?

Mars -  I haven't watched the YouTube video, about  "Fahrenheit 451", and  "1984" yet,  but definitely will  take a look this afternoon.  It's been a long time since I've read either one.   Sci-Fi Odyssey looks like a fascinating site. 

More later . . . .

I had to send Birth of the West back to the library yesterday because someone else is waiting for it. They won't let me renew a third time. Because I don't want to wait so long to finish it, and it seems worth the price, I ordered a hardbound copy which should arrive within two weeks. When it arrives, I will have to rearrange my shelves because the ancient/medieval bookshelf is packed full now. New furniture coming will alleviate that situation. Meanwhile, I am going back and picking up on several books I started but temporarily put aside.

I received yesterday a book titled "Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus.
I would never have picked it with such a title!

I still decided to start it so I could thank the donor with some comment. Well, I can't put it down! I am enjoying it a lot because it is fast reading and to the point. 

Bubble -  "Lessons in Chemistry" was a bestseller here a couple of years ago.  Then it was made into a TV mini-series, that I've heard it was very good.  I always intended to read the book, but had forgotten about it.  Now that you've reminded me, I'll order it from my library.

Mars -  Have you ever  read any of Carl Sagan's books?    Yesterday, I checked out   The Demon Haunted World,   from the library.     I've only read the preface so far,  but that tells me that it's going to be a fascinating book.   What a brilliant man he was . . . gone too soon!       

Loved "Lessons in Chemistry".  Very hilarious in places.  The plight of women back in those years...not funny at all.  Even if you were brilliant!

I read "The Women" until the main character got home. After reading a few more chapters, I was tired of her failing to deal with her life and didn't read all the details. So I skipped to the last chapter and didn't particularly like the way it ended, either.

During Viet Nam era we had become parents and were living at 10,200 feet above sea level in Colorado. We didn't experience any of the protests, etc. nor had anyone in family or friends who were in the military. So, I don't really remember much about the Viet Nam era.

The book club I used to belong to is discussing it this Fall. Most of the members are 15-20 years younger than I am and I may go to that meeting to see what they say.