Gentle SPECTRUMS discussion

As a member of this Irish family, I wish all my friends "happy St. Patrick's Day" today! Be safe, healthy, full of delight and good luck, and be sure to have the most laughing, gleeful fun! Yours truly, Carolyn.

A-ha, we have found a nice place at the top of the conversation space, for our alphabetized, master buddy-reading list! It is trimmed for 2023 and I regularly add goodies. Let's defer to “Canadian” in authors or subjects, no matter their genre.

If some books aren’t shown: I have not had time to add them, do not have them, or am uninterested. I reflect volumes we are at. Feel free to continue conversations anywhere in our group. Sincerely, your friend and hostess, Carolyn.


~ CANADIAN ~

Jann Arden “Feeding My Mother”
John Buchan “The 39 Steps”
Margaret Buffie “Angels Turn Their Backs” (Winnipegger!)
John Candy “Laughing On The Outside”
Michael G. Coney “Celestial Steam Locomotive”
Biruté M.F. Galdikas “Reflections Of Eden” (wildlife activism)
Maureen Jennings “Let Loose The Dogs”
Lyn King “Walking Into The Night Sky” (poetry)
Lake Winnipeg Writers’ Group “Voices: Volume Ten, Number One”
Margaret Laurence “Heart Of A Stranger”, “Dance On The Earth”, “Long Drums And Cannons”
Gordon Lightfoot “Lightfoot”
Janet Lunn “The Unseen: Scary Stories”
Susie Moloney “A Dry Spell”, “The Thirteen” (Winnipegger!)
Lucy Maud Montgomery “Anne Of Ingleside”, “The Blue Castle”, “Along The Shore”, “Among The Shadows”
William Shatner “Up Till Now”
Ian Tyson “The Long Trail: My Life In The West”.


~ SERIES ~

Nevada Barr “Track Of The Cat”
S.J. Bennett “The Windsor Knot”
Anne Brashares “The Second Summer Of The Sisterhood”
Agatha Christie “The Mystery Of The Blue Train”, “Partners In Crime”, “The Seven Dials Mystery”, “The Murder At The Vicarage”
Cassandra Clare “The Mortal Instruments”, “The Bane Chronicles”
Eoin Colfer “Artemis Fowl”
Chris D’Lacey “The Fire Within”
Melissa De La Cruz “The Isle Of The Lost”
Frances Fyfied “Shadows On The Mirror” and “Half Light” in her real name, Frances Hegarty.
Sue Grafton “A Is For Alibi”
David Handler “The Burnt Orange Sunset”
P.D. James “Cover Her Face”
Sophie Kinsella "Shopaholic Takes Manhattan"
Christopher Paolini “Eragon”
Ian Rankin “Tooth And Nail”
Rick Riordan “The Maze Of Bones”, “The Lightning Thief”, “The Sea Of Monsters”, “The 39 Bones”
J.K. Rowling 1 “Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban” (yes, I am last to indulge. I want to savour this.)
Michael Scott “The Alchemyst”
Trenton Lee Stewart “The Mysterious Benedict Society”
Maggie Stiefvater “Lament”, “The Raven King”, “Opal”.
Garcia Stohl “Beautiful Creatures”
Rex Stout “The Rubber Band”
Carlos Luiz Zafón “The Angel’s Game”.


~ VARIETY ~

Kate Atkinson “Behind The Scenes At The Museum”
John Berendt “Midnight In The Garden Of Good & Evil”
Chris Colfer “The Land Of Stories”
Blake Crouch “Recursion”
Anthony Doerr “All The Light We Cannot See”
Barbara Erskine “Lady Of Hay”
Cornelia Funke “The Thief Lord”
Hazel Gaynor “The Cottingley Secret” 2017
John Green “The Fault In Our Stars”
Michael Gruber “The Book Of Air And Shadows”, “The Forgery Of Venus”
Joanne Harris “Chocolat”
James Herbert “Haunted” (David Ash #1)
Khaled Hosseini “The Kite Runner”
Barbara Kingsolver “The Bean Tree”, “Homeland And Other Stories”, “Animal Dreams”, “Pigs In Heaven”
E.L. Konigsburg “The Second Mrs. Gioconda”
Katherine Kurtz “Chamber Of Culdi”
Ursual Le Gun “Wizard Of Earthsea”
Kate Mascarenhas “The Psychology Of Time Travel”
Jennifer McMahon “The Winter People” I’ll save the same Phyllis A. Whitney title for later.
Erin Morgenstern “The Starless Sea”
Sōsuke Natsukawa “The Cat Who Saved Books”!
Audrey Niffenegger“The Time Traveler’s Wife”, “Her Perfect Symmetry”
A.J. Pearce “Dear Mrs. Bird”
Kate Quinn “The Alice Network”
Nicole Richie “Priceless”
Anne River Siddons “The House Next Door”
Amy Tan “The Kitchen God’s Wife”, “The Bonesetter’s Daughter”
Donna Tartt “The Goldfinch”
Gemma Townley “When In Rome....” (Sophie Kinsella's Sister ~ what fun)!
Sarah Waters “The Little Stranger”
Barbara Wood “The Dreaming”.


~ BIOGRAPHIES ~

Jeanne Cooper “Not Young, Still Restless”
Kirk Douglas “My Stroke Of Luck”
Chelsea Handler “Uganda Be Kidding Me”
Goldie Hawn “Goldie: A Lotus Grows In The Mud”
Elton John “Me”
Anna Faris “Unqualified”
Amy Poehler “Yes, Please!”
Amy Schumer “The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo”
Rainn Wilson “Bassoon King”.


~ NON-FICTION ~

James Bowen “A Street Cat Named Bob”
Bill Dedman & Paul Clark Newell Junior “Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life Of Huguette Clark And The Spending Of A Great American Fortune”
Anne Frank “Diary Of A Young Girl”
James Herriot “All Creatures Great And Small”
Kathleen Jamie “Sightlines”


~ CLASSICS ~

Isaac Asimov “Prelude To Foundation”
Jane Austen “Pride And Prejudice”, “Emma”
Frank L. Baum “The Wizard Of Oz”
Emily Brontë “Wuthering Heights”
Lewis Carrol “Alice In Wonderland”
Geoffrey Chaucer “The Canterbury Tales”
Wilkie Collins “The Woman In White”, “The Moonstone”
Charles Dickens “A Tale Of Two Cities”, “The Pickwick Papers”
Kenneth Graeme “The Wind In The Willows”
Thomas Hardy “Far From The Madding Crowd”, “Tess Of The D'Urbervilles”
Susan Hill “The Woman In Black”, “Mrs. De Winter”, “The Man In The Picture”
Shirley Jackson “The Haunting Of Hill House”, “We Have Always Lived In The Castle”
Norton Juster “The Phantom Tollbooth”
Anna Sewell “Black Beauty: The Autobiography Of A Horse”
Robert Louis Stevenson “Treasure Island”
Jules Verne “In Search Of The Castaways / The Children Of Captain Grant”, “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea”!
Virginia Woolf “Orlando”.

“” “”

I am experiencing “Harry Potter” by myself, like everyone else did when these life-changing novels came out. It is my first time reading them, even though I am 51! We have plenty of other common authors before then.

Shirin contributed the following.
Hi everyone! I just mention the books Carolyn and I have in common to read and I can start reading Thursday whatever books you choose.

CANADIAN (June list)
Maureen Jennings's Let Loose The Dogs”
Lucy Maud Montgomery and Margaret Laurence

SERIES
Agatha Christie, Carolyn I didn't read the ones you chose.
Cassandra Clare “The Bane Chronicles”
Ian Rankin “Tooth And Nail”
Rick Riordan “The Lightning Thief” I have a few books of this series in Persian.
Carlos Luiz Zafón “The Angel's Game”

CLASSICS
Charles Dickens “A Tale Of Two Cities”
Susan Hill “The Woman In Black”
Mark Twain “The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn”
H.G. Wells “The Time Machine”
Virginia Woolf “Orlando”

VARIETY
Anthony Doerr “All The Light We Cannot See”
Erin Morgenstern “The Starless Sea”.

I do take that as a compliment. My moan? Strolling by these well-written reviews with an empty 'like button' click. I put work into them and that darned button has prevailed for 11 years, longer at my blog. I don't mean a single review here and there. Clicking through 6 of my written pieces suggests nothing noteworthy in the bunch and is frustrating to me. I composed 6 last night in an admirable variety.

Hi, Carolyn! I just looked through your list you posted 3 months ago and it's very helpful! I have a lot more books to read lol 😂 but I don't mind of course ☺️ I need to make a list of all the books you listed. I got my work cut out for me!

Welcome to "Gentle Spectrums", Sarah! What kinds of books are you looking for? Whether it is general fiction, mystery, paranormal, non fiction, classic, humour, biographies, fantasy.... let me know. That removes the work and gives you paths to pleasure. :) Obviously, I know my home province, Manitoba best but shall direct you anywhere in Canada. Name what you are in the mood for.

The three provincial folders are authors I have in each, not necessarily favourites. I haven't touched our neighbour, Ontario, where many of my favourites are. Or, was it the buddy reading categories you explored? If you looked up the books and they interest you, I am glad. Be aware that I named the books I am at next. Start with the first, in series.

Thank Carolyn! I'm not exactly sure what mood I'm in, but classics are always my favorites ☺️ I checked out the list you posted here on this thread and checked if my library has any of them, but unfortunately they don't have much 😕 But it's amazing how well you know your province! ☺️👏🏼

I know my whole country well in music, literature, film, and television and of course, specializing in home artists. Do you ever read mystery, paranormal, fantasy, non fiction? There is an abundance from which to choose. I read nothing harsh or depressing and strive for enouragement, education, empowerment, and fun.

P.S. I love the new photograph of yourself! I can't comment on it. Most people don't know (I simply figured it out): these options become available and you don't lose photos you switch from, if you put them in an album first.

That's great! I should learn more about my new community like you! I'm not a big fan of fantasy or paranormal genres, but if they aren't too dark, I'll read them. I'm not very picky 😉 but nonfiction is always great to read! I enjoy those.

Oh, and thanks! I thought it was alright, but I felt like the one with Liberty is better and shows my true self, lol 😂 I need to update the picture since it's a few years old. Soon, I'll have an updated pic ☺️ Oh! I didn't know that! I'll probably have to do it on the laptop. Thanks for the tip! 😁

Sarah, use your cell phone to open Goodreads like any website. You don't need to use the app. I don't think that is the issue. Most people upload one photo at a time without noticing that you can make an album first.

"Supernatural" is fake things like vampires. "Paranormal" is ethereal things in real life, like spirits! Spirits aren't evil, although authors concoct them that way. When I say I love "paranormal"; I mean the wonderful souls that any spiritual person believes in and counts on. Maybe a little suspenseful and spooky because we are blown away that communication with them is possible, the way we have hoped.

I'll get my other clarification over with too, that mystery is literally an adventure quest to solve clues, answer questions, and make discoveries. Too many authors think crimes and detectives need to be thrown in. Untrue. My favourite kind is 'non crime mystery'; which often has the paranormal as the mystery! Speeches over, mike drop! :-)

Merry Christmas to my friends and reader's community! God bless you all. May we all be happy, healthy, safe, and at peace at home and where we travel. Happy, wonderful, glorious New Year 2024 to us all! Love, your friend, Carolyn.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 🎄🎉

I hope Goodreads allows slow-speed internet customers to access their standard format with ease. They remove the light e-mail version many of us have been using, tomorrow. If I take time to reply by e-mail, please advise this might be why.

Happy, wonderful, glorious New Year 2024 to us all! Love, your friend, Carolyn

Google is giving customers until February before enforcing "standard view" e-mail. I tried it and it is slow, although thankfully I can load it. I hope there are protests on behalf of slow internet users so that they keep their "basic view", or push back its removal. There will be decent ISPs in rural Canada eventually.

What we need today, is for Goodreads to put page progress back! It is my #1 activity on this website. Setting my page progress is gratifying to do every morning. Personal friends reach me by e-mail. When group members don't write updates, it helps to see where in a book they are. Daily page progress needs to come back and book pages need to revert back to the format they had previously.

I hope they do allow the basic view version to continue - it's useful for so many people, especially slower Internet or older computers.

I'm glad you mentioned the page progress function is missing, I was wondering if it was just me! Hopefully they are just updating the site or something and it is a temporary glitch.

Postponing a bulkier Gmail until February is good. Goodreads page updating was back last night. I would know, since I use it daily like one is supposed to! It is useful besides for myself, only if you lot regularly update your reading for me to see! ;>

In remembrance of my Mom and Grandpa: Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!
We also send love on this day to our missing orange cat, with an Irish name and happy, strong energy to match it. With love and good, Irish Spirit, Carolyn & our family!

Home safety is important to us. We live in a forest. After the priority to human and animal life: we value family mementoes. My parents are recently gone to Heaven and I am comforted by their belongings for me to hold.

Do not underestimate the value of items that are personal or dismiss it. What California is going through, where people can only be glad animals and humans are safe, is a terrible thing that we pray stops now.

Losing homes is a big deal. Evacuating for your lives is worse. We pray for all of them, dealing with this awful situation. We send our comfort and love to anyone who lost homes and keepsakes like Billy Crystal, Eugene Levy, Paris Hilton, James Woods, Anthony Hopkins: all of you. We are sorry and give you all the respect and support we can send you, from our souls. Love, Carolyn & family.