Off-Topic Winter Reading 2022-2023

[donnamp]

Interesting, Carol!!

We finally got rid of old-school cable and just have streaming services - which my DH manages since he is the TV-junkie. LOL!

Donna

[Paine]

Originally Posted by toaster

Paine, that's a lot of books! Do you know how many you've read since the start of the year?

Beth, I've read 4 books since the beginning of the year. Since the beginning of the year I also started 4 additional books, which I stopped reading several chapters in because I didn't like them. My DH will finish a book even if he doesn't enjoy it but not me! I don't want to waste my time on something I don't like.

[Carol K]

I got rid of cable over 10 years ago, when they encrypted all the channels and I would have had to get a cable box or pay for their DVR service to watch anything. Since I live in Chicago, I'm only a couple of miles from all the broadcast signals. I have a TV and my own DVR with digital tuners, the antenna and a Chromecast stick that I use to stream to my TV from my laptop. I just watch broadcast channels and anything that is available on PBS Passport.

[toaster]

Originally Posted by Paine

Beth, I've read 4 books since the beginning of the year. Since the beginning of the year I also started 4 additional books, which I stopped reading several chapters in because I didn't like them. My DH will finish a book even if he doesn't enjoy it but not me! I don't want to waste my time on something I don't like.

Paine, I never used to give up on books either! I'll try to finish a "meh" book, but I've given up on a handful over the past 10 years or so.

Originally Posted by donnamp

I'm curious - you said you don't have any streaming services - do you just have "old fashioned" cable or are you not a TV-watcher? I'm not a TV-watcher at all - so no judgment, LOL! Just curious.

LOL - yes, it's the first thing for us! We don't watch a lot of TV (or at least I don't; DH watches quite a bit of cable news), but when we do, we are very "old-fashioned" in our cable-only habits. We mostly watch Friday/Saturday nights, and mostly movies, a lot on TCM, but often other things we find through old-fashioned random channel surfing. We also will watch reruns of shows like Everybody Loves Raymond and Seinfeld. The only "new" TV we watch is Saturday Night Live (although we've kind of fallen off that this season). Occasionally we get into a network show, but the only show we're following now is What We Do In the Shadows on FXX - and unfortunately that has very short seasons. Oh, we also rent movies from Movies on Demand or even borrowed from the library.

[Pat58]

Paine and Beth - I'll have to give Fairy Tale another try in a few years. I feel like I missed something!

[DD546]

I'm another one who really liked Fairy Tale.

I just finished Desert Star by Michael Connelly. This is the fourth in the Renee Ballard Harry Bosch series. I enjoyed it. It looks like it may be the last time these two team up, but I think he may continue writing Renee Ballard books.

I also recently read City of Masks by Daniel Hecht. It's set in New Orleans, which sometimes turns me off because people who don't know the city usually get it terribly wrong and I find that distracting. He did okay, not great, but I still enjoyed the book.

Also read The Little Paris Bistro by Nina George. I loved The Little Paris Bookshop by the same author. I enjoyed the book, but I liked Bookshop more.

I'm starting Simone St James The Book of Cold Cases. I really liked The Sun Down Motel, so I'm hoping for good things from this book. All of my digital holds seem to come in at the same time! I also just go the new Leah Bardago book, which I'm really looking forward to reading!

[rhbrand]

Got two books I'm working on.

Halloween Slaughter by Sergio Gomez. I loved the first book and so far, the second seems ok

The other Fluffy to Fit by Claire Morrow She's now a fitness pro who didn't really get started until her mid 40s and now she's in her 50s.

[juliel]

Originally Posted by Rivercat

A friend gave me Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree for Christmas and I read it this weekend. Very sweet, cozy story about an orc named Viv who decides to retire from adventuring to open a coffee cafe in a city where no one really knows what coffee is.

Great suggestion! I requested this from my library and picked it up yesterday. I started it today and am about 1/2 way through. I needed a cozy read today. I’ve wanted to read more consistently this year and this thread inspired me!! Thanks to all! I recently finished Lucy By the Sea by Elizabeth Strout. It was recommended by a friend and I really liked it. I also liked Where the Lost Wander by Amy Harmon. (You’ll enjoy it if you liked watching 1883). What the Wind Knows is very good (by Amy H.). It’s been nice to use my local library. Everyone is so friendly there!

[mimikz]

I really liked Fairy Tale but it was one of the very few books I *needed* to get to the end in a hurry. I sometimes get this way when a child is involved. So I skimmed through to read the end. All good.

I finished the first and am on to the second, Fatal Grace, in the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny. Three Pines is a very enjoyable setting for me. It's the first time Kindle Unlimited has had books I actually want to read. I see it includes the first 6 or 7 in the 18! books in the series.


M

[Carol K]

I had to return Godmersham Park to the library before I finished it, because another patron wanted to read it and they only ordered 2 copies. Now I have 6 books on hold and I'm going to catch up on my magazines.