Yes, so many great resources for readers these days. I also went through both my school library and the local public library. I can still remember when I was in about the 5th grade or so, going into the regular part of the local library and starting to read 'grown-up' books. Started mainly with gothic mysteries, Holt, Eden, Whitney and such. And they're all still fun reading nearly seventy years on!

I so remember the day I got my adult library card. No such thing as YA then, you jumped right into the deep end.

I recently did my periodic cull of the bookshelves, to make room for the books I've bought since the last one. Over the last couple of months, with the libraries closed, I've been very happy to have well stocked shelves, but even so, I've realized now that I've gone over them in close detail, that there are a lot of books here I'd forgotten I have, and that I won't mind at all re reading.

And also a few I've never gotten around to reading. Right now I'm reading George MacDonald Fraser's "Pyrates" and having a marvelous time. It's a rollicking adventure with tongue tucked well into his cheek, with half a dozen anachronisms per page, and hilarity just leaking from it like sea water. Why has this been sitting on my shelf for all these years and I've never read it before?

Oh, I'll have to watch for that. I don't recall ever reading anything by Fraser before but am familiar with his name from hearing about the Flashman series.

I thought I would really catch up on the books I have stockpiled here, but not so. Between the digital and audio books I can read free through my library system, I also recently rediscovered the Internet Archive. They have eliminated the waiting period and as many people can currently 'check out' any book they have at once. Most of our local libraries instituted curb-side pick-up a couple of weeks ago and I've done that once. Not only haven't I made headway in my personal stockpile, but haven't had to take advantage of Project Gutenberg or LibriVox lately either.

Just did a quick check while I was thinking of it and the Internet Archive has Pyrates available. Thanks for the tip!

Oh, Flashman is firmly grounded in sober reality compared to this piece of silly fluff, but I'm finding it hugely entertaining.

Oh, my. I had only put it on my wish list so I wouldn't forget about it. Maybe I'll go now and check it out. Sounds like some light and fun reading.

I also enjoyed reading "Pyrates" a long time ago, and I was equally entertained by "The Reavers", a similarly comic and anachronistic novel set among the Border Reivers (as I prefer to spell them). I confess that I've never looked at his "The Steel Bonnets" or "The Candlemass Road", which I think are more straightforward tales of the time of the Reivers. Maybe it's time to try them.

Thanks for the tip! Looks like I might have a lot of catching up to do.

I've started reading "The Canterbury Tales" - in the original writing. Hard to digest, but I'll plodd on.

My pet cat Sammy loves to be read from this masterpiece.

that paints a lovely picture.

My daughter bought me a Kindle last Christmas, and, although I've always said I preferred holding a real book in hand, it has come in very handy borrowing electronically during the pandemic. I find that even since the library has reopened, it's so much more convenient to automatically return and borrow another without leaving my couch.(also easier to carry in my purse at all times!)
I've enjoyed the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy (Kevin Kwan), the Scythe trilogy (Neal Shusterman) and my favorite was Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens. (This is coming as a movie soon, I hear)

Our libraries have reopened to some extent, but they're not really set up for browsing. If you pull a book from the shelf to look at, you can't put it back if you don't want it, but are supposed to put it in a bin, where it will have to sit for I think five days. It really cuts down on the joys of a leisurely browse, when you know you're taking books out of circulation and making work for the librarians, just so you can read the jacket blurb on some book you probably don't want.

So I'm still doing a lot of electronic borrowing, plus ordering books from their website that I can just run in and pick up. Plus still finding happy little corners of my own bookshelves to plunder.

My local library is currently open Monday - Wednesday. Online searching is great! Can decide ahead of time what I want to borrow. Plus our state (and I think most states in the U.S.) has a 'library' which you access using your local library with your library card number. Can borrow eBooks and audio books for two weeks - or put them on hold and get in the queue. It's not new and I've been using it for several years but what a boon for readers these days.

I thought my bookshelves would be happily lightened, but it hasn't proved to be the case.

Just picked up Stephen King's 'The Outsider'.

I've been watching the Outlander series on Netflix recently with my daughter, so bought the collection of books (Diana Gabaldon) to see how they compared. It's such a cliché, but I always prefer the written word over any other medium.

Just finished the first one yesterday.
This was a fun read (mostly), even if the plotline is often extremely convenient and the quality of the writing is a bit "mmeh". Escapism peppered with a tinge of history, lacking the bit of oomp which could have transformed it to a great saga. It was still a happy escape from my tedious and rather heavy workload at the moment. I'll happily dig into n°2.

Richard Osman, who is well known in UK for his funny quiz programmes and ready wit has written a marvelous book called "The Thursday Murder Club" It is very British and very funny, set in an old folks community. I am loving it. Now Steven Spielberg is going to make a film of it. I have a rather dubious reaction to this news. Anyway, we shall see....

Oh that sounds like fun, Ren, even though murder-mysteries are not normally my cup of tea. I recently revived my Kindle so I think I'll download this.

Just finished David Crystal's "The Fight for English: How language pundits ate, shot, and left" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006) and enjoyed it. He is rather hard on prescriptivists, of which I am a charter member, but I enjoy his insights nonetheless.

Toni I really think you will laugh, but some won't get it I suppose. Our humour in UK is unique!

I have a stay in hospital coming up in the new year, if I haven't already read it by then I'll certainly have it read by the time I'm home.

Keep Safe Toni

Thanks, Ren, all will be grand. Time to catch upon some reading at last.

Reading a really well-written book called "My Sister the Serial Killer" by Oyinkan Braithwaite. It presents a totally new approach to the murder mystery as well as including some Nigerian culture. I am thoroughly enjoying it.

I'm ordering some recommendations from here from the library, I need something new.

I've been reading a lot of trash lately because I'm tired of winter, tired of covid, tired of this apartment, so I'm doing the equivalent of scarfing down a big bag of cheesies and a beer in my pyjamas. Which is fine for a while but I'm starting to get a stomachache. Mary Higgins Clark and Joy Fielding can only take you so far before you find yourself shouting "People do not behave that way!" You can't make your characters do something just because the plot demands it; it needs to not only fit human behaviour but also fit the character.

And my perennial complaint about how parent/teen interactions are shown in books. Yes, all teens can be snarky and moody and all parents can nag. And households where no one ever has a nice moment together ever do exist. But to present that kind of household as so normal that it's not even commented on or part of plot or character, no, that's not life.