Thanks JoAnn, the comic strip was funny! I never did finish my entire summer list. Glad that we liked some of the same books! And I think you’ll really like Beyond That the Sea in particular. I was swept up into that book. I still need to read book 2 of Shannon Bowring’s. I had a hard time choosing my favorites as my Honorable Mentions were so good too. I hope we both have a good reading year in 2025! I’ll try for quality over quantity.

Thanks Jane. It’s always a bit of a surprise to me to see my stats and what kind of authors I read during the year or in what format. I don’t really plan on anything — other than to read things I think might be good — so I’m curious to see the numbers. I’m glad you liked Night Watch. Her storytelling was great I thought. And I plan to read book 2 of Ferrante sometime this year. I look forward to seeing which ones you read this year. Happy 2025!

Thanks Lux. I like how these books took me to various places. They were all quite good. And I haven’t seen the new Tesla but there seem to be a lot of Teslas here in California — which we’ve seen while staying here. I hope you have a great start to the new year!

Hi Rachel, thanks, yeah I’m not sure what started the fires but it was really blowing hard. I wonder a bit about the power lines and the trees. I hope it wasn’t arson, ugh.
The devastation is so widespread. Today on Thursday there was no wind so I hope the firefighters gained some ground in controlling them. There’s a wall of smoke near us in Orange County. The air must be really bad in L.A. We start driving back tomorrow.

James is still on my list. as are the other Ferrante novels. I did also like Brilliant Friend. Took a pass on Long Island, but eager to read the sequel to The Road to Dalton. I also really liked Night Watch.

So happy to hear you’re okay and I hope your brother’s home continues to be safe! Glad he’s evacuated if things change.

The devastation is really unbelievable! The winds in Southern California are so turbulent and frequent. I always worried about arsonists when we had wind warnings and there was cause to worry. I wonder if that’s what happened here.

Hi – thanks Rachel. Yeah the fires & heavy wind have been scary. My brother in Pasadena evacuated – but luckily he & his place are okay. Thank goodness. We are staying in the Orange County area now and are okay. The winds were crazy last night. And what terrible devastation to L.A. County, ugh! Hope the wind stops soon.
I wonder if Pearly Everlasting has a good audio narrator — I’m not sure but check it out. Hope your year starts off well.

Yeah my husband & I listened to Wide Wide Sea in April last year when we were driving to Calif. I was mostly invested in the story towards the latter half when Cook makes some moves that lead to his demise. Then I was really keyed into hearing now why did this happen — as he had been successful with the local people before and as an explorer. I’m still a bit fascinating with what Cook did & all the places he went. I hope you enjoy it.