Thanks Daphne. By the way, you have a very cute daughter. Is she a reader too?

Thank you Dick, yes she loves to read, and is a junior in high school so needless to say she has to read alot right now (what she doesn't want to) she had 7 books she had to read over the summer for reports due at the 1st of the school year. Her favorite author is Mary Higgins Clark (suspense) and inspirational (Beth Moore). She also loves classical music. She playes flute and picclo, a hugh Andrew LLoyd Weber fan. When she was younger she watched Phantom of the Opera with me and she fell in love. Very set in her goals which i'm glad. I have to say I am very blessed to have a 16 year old with a level head on her shoulders with actual goals..

Daphne, it sounds like your daughter is blessed with good parenting. My daughter, who will be 24 next week, is also an ALW fan. The summer before she started college she went to England with a U of Dallas group to study Winston Churchill and while there got to see the British production of Phantom. That's when she fell in love... Although she loves the music and knows all the lyrics she's not terribly musical. She was a math and physics major in college and is now a software developer. Her musical outlet is now Tango. In fact, she is taking the month of October to go to Buenas Aires just to dance!
By the way, that's my daughter (in my avatar) with me in Hawaii last fall.

Dick, thank you, being a single parent with one income is trying sometimes, but we make it pretty good. I bet your daughter loved England. Brooke wants to go see Phantom live as well. We have to get ready for campus tours this fall. I sometimes have to take a step back to realize the kids are growing up so fast. Your Daughter is beautiful!!! I praise you for being a special education teacher, I believe it takes a special person to be a teacher. I'm sure your daughter will enjoy Buenas Aires ( and the Tango) Make sure to tell your daughter I said Happy Early Birthday, and Happy Belated Anniversary to you and your wife Oh, I believe your daughter must have been blessed with good parenting as well

sorry folks, haven't been reading anything much this past week, other then funereal paperwork, and my deceased father's papers. I found him dead last Sunday, and have been deep in all the details since then.

Tigleapfrog - I am so sorry to hear of your father's passing. Losing a parent is such a difficult journey, especially when it is unexpected. I hope you have a good network of friends and family to help you through. My own parents have been gone for over 20 yrs and my wife's just in the past few years but the memories linger. My thoughts are with you.

Thank you - I now have a nice list of books for me and my husband and maybe my kids.
I really don't have time to read much with my toddler and my dancing daughter but i hope to make some time - along with my knitting and sewing eek!
My husband loves to read and it helps him pass the time on the train to and from work.
Thanks again love it!!!!!

Oh i will have my husband give me his list and I will share it with you all.
I think my list would be all about homeschooling, and how children learn , and stuff like that.

nsnow - i always keep a car in the book - short story collections are the best - for waiting on kiddies at various pick up locations. One parenting book that I love is Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman.

I keep one in the car also jdpandcmp. It is great at the bus stop and waiting at various activities that we can't watch. I don't read as much as I should or as much as I want to. By the time my day is done I can't keep my eyes open to read!

Thanks jdpancmp - I will check that out. We do have books in the car for my toddler he loves books. I try and bring a book for me but usually I'm reading to him. If he happens to fall asleep then I can do some reading or knitting!

Thank you Dick. We hit a problem with a son of mine, and his wife. They were demanding items of my dad's, the day I found him dead. After a few actions that were inappropriate, he opted to not show up here again. Cest la vie!

Tigleapfrog, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. I am sorry for your loss.

Hitchhikers series of course is are faves, together with On the Road, One flew over the cuckoos nest, the Celestine Prhophecy and Catch 22.

Hi Everyone,

My favorite modern English writer is Ruth Rendell. Saw one of her stories on PBS Mystery and have been hooked since. I am now reading Jung.

I'm currently reading "The Translator" by Leila Aboulela. It's about a Sudanese widow working as a translator in a Scottish University and her developing relationship with a professor for whom she is translating. If you like thoughtful cross-cultural stories, this is a good one.

thank you all for your support. Next things I will be reading are the "bluebook for guns" and probate papers. Final irony, our local library sent me a month afterwards,a "so sorry" card.Too bad they sent it for the death of my mom, when she is alive and well! LOL It came as quite a shock to her, to hear of her demise

I love the classic detective stories (Agatha Christie for first, and Simenon, Chandler ecc) and some of "modern", like Fred Vargas (french), or Camilleri (italy), some Mankell and PD James.

and for classic narrative, I like the '800 and '900 novellist (or romancers? I don't know the correct word in english). especially anglosaxon, english or americans: Dickens, sure, Henry James, Edith Warton; Antonia S. Byatt, John Fowles (The French Lieutenant's Woman!). And the Hitchhiker guide too, and David Lodge, for a funny but interesting lecture...
all in the italian translation, naturally! I don't know the english language enough for to read a book and to understand the quality of language.

and my preferred book in absolute is "Anglo-Saxon Attitudes" of Angus Wilson (I think this is the original title for the italian translation "Prima che sia tardi").

and I like re-read many times, in the years, the same books (and also the detective stories!)
uh, I love this argument! I writed down some of your author names for to search for me!

claudia, thank you, I'm gonna write some of those down and see what I can't find. I love how we can be all over the world and still communicate like we do here in solitaire

me too, D, and thanks to you and all for the suggestion of lecture!
now the problem is to find the books in the our national translation!