Shannon’s Comments (group member since Mar 29, 2018)

Shannon’s comments from the flight paths group.

@Megan - You're not!!!!!!!! What is it? :) I'll check it out.

@Megan - thanks for circling back. Was happy to read about your trip and to hear that you enjoyed. :)

I'm reading The Last Romantics this week. About halfway through and enjoying it so far. Same author as The House Girl which I really enjoyed. Also refreshing to see that the two books feel quite different. Sometimes I find authors re-write the same book over and over again. :)

Happy Wednesday all....

@Megan - I know! I wish I could say that was an April Fool's joke but only Mother Nature is laughing! ! !

@Megan - the 4 year probably doesn't care that it's raining.... just sayin' :) Renting bikes in Stanley Park is fun... and that bridge thing...is it Capsilano? Could be scary for a little person. Enjoy!

@Magdelanye - I haven't managed to get very far into Gods in Alabama yet. What I have read has been good....just busy. Hopefully more tonight. :)

Not very springy here today.... snow on the ground from yesterday and temps around freezing. The rest of the week improves though so looking forward to that.

I actually read the Fruit of the Drunken Tree...admittedly because the name appealed to me. I enjoyed it. :) I found the setting (Narcos-era Columbia) to be one you don't often read about.

This week I'm trying to read Song of Batoche and I'm finding it to be slow going.

I need to start Gods in Alabama soon for my bookclub in 2 weeks.

Happy Weekend all!

I'm hearing good things about The Paris Seamstress....

I'm just about finished Golden Child... so far, I think there was just a bit too much hype on this book. Also it starts with 'an event' and it takes the entire book to get back to the event. Pace not fabulous... we'll see how it ends. I will be finished tonight for sure.

Next week I'm going on vacation and can't wait to rip through a pile of books!

Daisy Jones & The Six seems like a great beach book and A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France has been on my TBR for way too long, hopefully also get to a few more....
The Lost Man
The Quintland Sisters

@Megan - what's the matter - don't like Danielle Steele and John "Mr. I sell my name to ghost writers" Patterson? hahaha! :) Agree!

I'm reading about those who are less fortunate than us - they met their demise on a mountain in 1959! :) Mountain of the Dead: The Dyatlov Pass Incident I'm reading with a friend... seems like a conspiracy theory book in a way but right now I am in the chapter where the author refutes all the conspiracy theories about their deaths. I suspect the remaining chapters will be exploring a new theory but not sure yet.

Book club tonight! Super excited...it's my happy place. We read I'll Be Your Blue Sky... not my favourite book but very light/easy to read. Kind of like a Nancy Drew historical fiction with a side of romance.

Hope you are all well.

Stay warm everybody! Big snow here....
Wish I could read but stuck at the office today.

@Mary Anne - Thanks! :) She's 13. The power of YouTube and google, eh? I think this adventure has been a fabulous practical learning experience for her.

Winners is a great place to buy essential oils if you're not looking for bulk quantities for cosmetic making.

Love Medicine Walk! Take your time Megan, you'll be sorry when you finish it. :)

Sorry, right = it was Magdelanye...
Frankincense is occasionally used as an essential oil in bath bombs and other products. It is one of the more expensive EOs so you don't run across it too often. You can most likely substitute that for the EO that you like best. Personally I am a fan of grapefruit or bergamot. Maybe I should get my daughter to whip up a batch or two for us... haha. :)

@Petra - she hasn't tried this recipe yet but this may work for you...

3/4 cup cooled organic brewed chamomile tea (or filtered or distilled water)
1/4 cup liquid castile soap.
1/2 tsp organic almond oil.
3-4 drops vitamin E oil optional.
8 drops Frankincense essential oil.
8 drops Lavender essential oil.

(You can probably buy liquid castile soap but it may not be all natural. You can make it at recipe found here but now you'll be investing some time and soap making skills. I can ask her if she'd like to try making a batch of the cleanser for her business and possibly ship you some... in any case here's the recipe link https://thethingswellmake.com/easy-be... )

Good luck!

My daughter makes her own artisan soaps Nd bath bombs. It’s not my skill. :) I help with marketing and packaging.
Making them isn’t difficult but it takes some practice. She makes some with essential oils so no fragrances per se and others with paraben and phthalate free fragrance oils. It’s fun.

Trickster Drift does a good job reminding you of the first book in the prior pages. So far so good.

Hi guys,
Sorry I've been awol. I usually comment on another thread every Friday but maybe I am going to convert to this one. :) Livelier and more open-minded discussions perhaps.

I'm really struggling with The Clockmaker's Daughter. I am 300 pages in (of 500) and really ambivalent as to whether or not I finish it. I've read some of her other books and enjoyed them but this one....not so much. :(

So instead I picked up Trickster Drift which is starting off reasonably well.

I also finished I'll Be Your Blue Sky for book club. It was a bit like Nancy Drew meets romance but light on the romance. Good enough but not a quality discussion-generating book in my opinion. Book club isn't until March 1st so we'll see how it goes.

How's everyone doing here? Hope you are all well and staying warm. :) My daughter is keeping me busy as she has started a business selling all natural bath bombs and soaps. She is only 13 so I am guiding her on the business aspects and helping with sales. It's been a fun and educational way for us to hang out. :)

Have a great weekend all.

@Magdelanye - that's a tough question to answer. I didn't love it, obv. That said, I'd like to discuss it with someone to see if it was a fairytale-like parable around being unsatisfied in life OR if it was just a quirky period piece with a bizarre almost supernatural mermaid in it. I really don't know. I'm leaning toward the latter.

I would say it's a rental... (library loan) and not a purchase. That way you can bail if you're not feeling it.

I recently finished The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock

Did anybody read it? I'm interested to discuss the themes... if the book was about the relentless pursuit of something more? Or am I reading too much into it.

This year was the first year that I fully participated in Canada Reads. I read 4 of the 5 finalists and 2 additional books on the long list. I can wholeheartedly say it has been a disappointment. I`d like to go back to the ignorance to the process that I had before.

The 2 books that I read in the long-list were far better choices than the finalists but that is subjective. What isn`t subjective is the fact that the defenders, in many cases, only read 1 of the books. How does the winning book - the one that is supposed to accomplish best the opening of the keys of Canadians - truly earn the right to win when the voting off is random based on the whims of defenders. I found the winner is really the defender and not the merit of the book at all. I don`t think I will participate next year. I may check out the books, read a couple but that`s all.

In my opinion the weakest book won. It was a memoir so I don`t want to criticize someones personal experiences too much but for me, it did not hit the mark at all on the CR theme.

Signed, the disappointed bookworm.

:)