Austenesque Lovers TBR Challenge 2022 discussion

Our members enjoy getting social among the book stacks and in the virtual libraries at each challenge level. Sometimes members have trouble finding these conversation threads and participating.

Here is our own virtual social space in the group where you can update members on life events, encourage through happy and sad times, and check in with one another about real life.

This is optional and members are by no means obligated. Share what you are comfortable with.


Thank you, Marlene, for suggesting both topic and topic title. :)

Lovely idea!

Fantastic! I'm going to kick The Pump Room off with a life update and a humorous story! Life update: Dan (my husband) got COVID, and that's the first time it's touched my house. He isolated really well, and I was banished to the spare bedroom because his work computer live in our bedroom. The rest of us didn't catch it, and tomorrow is the last day of the quarantine for my youngest two daughters. Hooray!

I went to the Dollar Tree today looking for advent calendar surprises. While walking around, I somehow ended up shopping up and down the aisles with someone else's cart! I looked down when putting something into my cart to see... not my items, but two pairs of scissors someone else selected........ Oops!!!! I was streaming YouTube videos and if anyone called me, I didn't hear. And then the second thing.... When I got out to the parking lot, I burst out laughing like a mad woman. Apparently, I pulled too far into my parking spot, such that my car was two-thirds PAST the lines....

How did I not notice this? I probably should have gone home right then and there.

Bio-rhythms were not aligned for a good day...smiling.

So glad to hear you’re all okay now, Marlene—and in time to enjoy Christmas!

That's a good blessing that you're now Covid-free. LOL, what a hilarious shopping story.

I know we’re not in 2022 yet but I have a pressing question for those more familiar with texting abbreviations than I will ever be. Does anyone know what RTC stands for?

I've seen it represent 'Real Time Chat'. Does that make sense in the context?

I found that too when I googled but I can’t connect it to context, sigh. Thanks for trying!

I'm so out of the loop that I can't interpret half of what I see in texts or my nieces/nephews' conversations.

And I don’t even have the nieces and nephews to listen to! I’d PM you with the context but Goodreads doesn’t let me do that from my iPad.

No worries. Maybe someone else will have the answer or you can PM me later and I can take a whack at it.

LOL, teenagers and young adults speak a semi-foreign language to me. I do know that 'dope' is now a pretty awesome thing since my nephew said that after he got engaged. ;)

Abigail wrote: "I know we’re not in 2022 yet but I have a pressing question for those more familiar with texting abbreviations than I will ever be. Does anyone know what RTC stands for?"

I got Real Time Clock when I went on the Internet.

I wonder what a real time clock is? Surely most clocks at least aspire to offer the real time. One of life’s little mysteries!

From the Internet: A real-time clock (RTC) is an electronic device (most often in the form of an integrated circuit) that measures the passage of time. Although the term often refers to the devices in personal computers, servers and embedded systems, RTCs are present in almost any electronic device which needs to keep accurate time of day.

Not that it makes it any clearer for me. Laughing!

Okay, now I’m really confused!

Okay, I checked and the person who used the term is not in this group, so I’ll give the context here (if you could call it that): “RTC” is the entire text of a review of my new book: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... I appreciate feedback, so I’m dying to know what the person thinks but don’t want to be a pushy author and ask her! And a number of people have Liked this “review,” so RTC must mean something to somebody.

Oh! It's for a review. Usually a blogger will use it. That means 'Review to Come' as in she read the book, but hasn't written up the review yet. I use it now and then here on GR.

Oh, thank you so much!! You can’t believe the mental contortions I was going through trying to figure out what it signified! “Real true c**p” was the closest I came. 😂

Buahaha! No? That is a hoot.

A useful lesson to me to stop obsessing. I am grateful to you for bringing me back down to earth and helping me recognize that the great yawn phase of bringing my little paper baby into the world is a normal stage of its life. Maybe I shouldn’t be checking for reviews three times a day.

Oh, I remember the obsession part well. It can be daunting putting your paper baby out there and hoping it is accepted and loved, but braced in case it is not. Maybe just once a day for the first few weeks. After all, you need to 'like' and thank your readers, right? ;)

True that!

Abigail wrote: "True that!"

Oh my goodness, I have some of the meanest reviews on my first, which I was upfront about being one edit too soon, lol, but the originality was enough so that most loved it. What gets me is that "that is so unrealistic" like we're writing True History books for school LOL...

But for a first-published JAFF...I was a wreck for weeks! My second will be out soon and I again am only trying to go places no one else has (hopefully, though I confess I've only read hundreds), and to offer new twists in ways that some have never considered taking our crew of characters :)

Kimbelle wrote: "Oh my goodness, I have some of the meanest reviews on my first, which I was upfront about being one edit too soon."

Sorry to hear that! I hope you have better luck with this next one. :-)

Sophia wrote: "That's a good blessing that you're now Covid-free. LOL, what a hilarious shopping story."

I just saw your comment.

I have a new theory about the car. One day when I got home, I got out of Dan's car, and it started rolling backwards!!!! I realized that I stopped the car, but did not put it in park or turn it off.... I can do that and still walk away with the keys. I'm Deaf and his car is pretty quiet... But still..... I will have to watch out for that. Yipes!

Oh my stars, Marlene! Glad you figured out the mystery of the car and in the safety of the driveway. Whew! I'm pretty sure if I had the kind of car that let me remove the key without taking it out of gear or turning off the ignition that I'd have similar stories.

Haha! I am a little nervous about it. *insert sweating emoji here*

I imagine so. ;)

Here's something fun. This morning, I played Go Tell it on the Mountain in church for my annual Christmas piano solo. It's quite jazzy and very fun. Have a listen if you think you'd enjoy it. it's at about 28:30, but eventually it'll be edited and will be at about 17:30.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA7Hc...

Let us know when it is edited. We used to sing that song a lot when I attended a private Christian School in Newtown Square, PA.

I loved it, Marlene. Reminded me of Vince Guaraldi's style for the Charlie Brown songs. :) Thanks for sharing your talent with us.

Sheila wrote: "Let us know when it is edited. We used to sing that song a lot when I attended a private Christian School in Newtown Square, PA."

My playing isn't going to edited at all -- eventually - probably in a couple of weeks - the first 11 minutes of the online service are going to be cut out. It's just what's on the screen while people are waiting for the service to begin. I think mostly it's so that people watching on YouTube know that it's up and running. :-)

How did you like your private Christian school? My sister went to one for high school and LOVED it. We have one here, but don't send our kids. With 6 kids, that would've been rather expensive! ;-)

Sophia wrote: "I loved it, Marlene. Reminded me of Vince Guaraldi's style for the Charlie Brown songs. :) Thanks for sharing your talent with us."

Good comparision! I've got the book for A Charlie Brown Christmas, and Linus and Lucy in particular is fun also!

Ah, bet that is a fun book to play through. :)

Any news if our members who live in the US states (AR, IL, MS, MO, KY, and TN) hit by those terrible tornadoes got through safely?

Check in if you can. :)

Marlene wrote: "Sheila wrote: "Let us know when it is edited. We used to sing that song a lot when I attended a private Christian School in Newtown Square, PA."

My playing isn't going to edited at all -- eventual..."

I attended 3rd grade through 12th. I found some of the girls in my class looked down on me (mean girls) as we were poorer and wore hand-me-downs and my father drove a clunker, etc. My mother went to work to be able to afford the tuition. There were 3 of us but eventually my brother was withdrawn as he needed more attention than the school had available. He then went to public school. But he never lost his connection with GOD...died last December 14th from Glioblastoma/brain cancer. He is missed.

Marlene wrote: "Here's something fun. This morning, I played Go Tell it on the Mountain in church ..."

Thanks Marlene, I enjoyed that.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Sheila wrote: "I found some of the girls in my class looked down on me (mean girls)"

That's sad - certainly doesn't reflect God's attitude towards someone from a poor family! Sometimes I get frustrated with some of the girls in our church who are clique-y and my daughter feels left out. I know that those girls are simply very comfortable with each other because they spend a lot of time together due to car pooling and their mothers taking turns babysitting, but it still hurts my daughter. Happens no matter where you are, I suppose. :-(

"my brother. . . never lost his connection with GOD...died last December 14th from Glioblastoma/brain cancer. He is missed."

Sorry to hear that! That anniversary is coming up. *hugs*

Happy New Year!!! Any resolutions out there? I'm always a bit wary, but my resolution is to declutter one area of my house from 7:45-8:00 (or beyond) everyday with my husband. So far so good, but one of the sessions took an hour!

Good resolution, Marlene! An orderly space is so calming.

I don’t make resolutions a lot but I do have a goal of getting through at least most of my next book by the end of the year. It’s about a journey through loss and grieving—a subject on which I feel I have very little wisdom to convey! So I’ve been struggling to find my footing in the story.

I don't do New Year's resolutions. Sometimes I make goals for myself for a day and I can usually do that. Today I will vacuum the downstairs or I will make a pie. Easy enough.

Cleaning is definitely a great goal to have -- even 15 minutes of resetting every day and putting things back in their place can keep a house tidier than we think!

I have some resolutions (the typical be healthier/lose weight), etc. But my word of the year is "brota" which is the imperative form of "bloom." That's my goal this year - to bloom! :)

May the sun shine upon you as you bloom and friends nurture your soul.

Abigail - a book you're reading or writing?

Sheila - I'm not very good at that. I do the daily stuff and run through a list, but don't often have a broad goal. I don't like projects.

Sinai - I like the idea of word of the year! I haven't tried it for myself yet.

My goal is to be able to walk again without the walker.

Aside from getting through the TBR pile!

Not one for cleaning. LOL I do like to have a place for everything. Otherwise the little piles start appearing.

Walking again without the walker is a fantastic goal. I hope that it goes wonderfully well.

Well, I think that people who like cleaning are few and far between. Unicorns! So, in the various areas of keeping the home neat and clean, here's where I stand currently:

decluttering - want the results, but feel I have little time to work on it
organizing - my areas are either organized or I feel confident about organizing them if they're not
tidying - so-so at this. Homeless clutter makes my head explode, and I keep boxing up paper and clutter. I have boxes and boxes and boxes. . . . For the most part, I'm afraid to box it up, because I know I'll have yet another out-of-sight, out-of-mind box of clutter that will get swallowed by the storage room to be dealt with . . . someday. .. but that causes my living areas to be cluttered . . . until we have Christmas with relatives, then we have to box up things like crazy.
cleaning - We're okay at this - we run the Roborock and the dishwasher faithfully, but the bathrooms aren't where I want them to be.

It feels . . . complicated . . . and time consuming. But I'm ready. I want a neat and tidy house.

Thanks Marlene!

And you sound super organized and ready to rock your goals!!

I do keep my bathrooms, especially the toilets, clean and the kitchen also is a place I want to be clean, as that would affect our health. I never leave dishes overnight. I also have a neat looking house, but dust collects so it is vacuuming and dusting which need to be addressed occasionally. Since retiring I don't do that as often as I used to do it.

I have been trying to get rid of things that have just collected over the year, i.e., children's books and games that my children now don't want and my one daughter's many trophies which she claims she has no room for. What do you do with 20 old trophies?

Well, they say that one mans junk is another mans treasure.
But they also say, one new thing in, one old thing out.
So throwing things away can be very healthy, even if it doesn't feel right!