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Margret wrote: "Hubby took me out for a date to the Garth Brooks concert last night.. then some random person came up to us and comped our tickets from section 232 (almost behind the stage) to Row 2 floor and cent..."

How cool!

Margret wrote: "Hubby took me out for a date to the Garth Brooks concert last night.. then some random person came up to us and comped our tickets from section 232 (almost behind the stage) to Row 2 floor and cent..."

I saw Garth Brooks in concert circa 1998. He's sensational. Country music isn't my first choice but I do like a lot of it and liked Southern Rock as a kid.

And totally awesome with his fans. He took requests from people who brought signs and played acoustic versions...even some Bob Seger, Billy Joel, and an awesome version of American Pie

What an experience, Margret!

So I went to B&N today and bought 3 more books, even though I have 50+ sitting on my shelf I haven't read, and have no time to read during the semester. I'll read them all eventually. Maybe XD

Join the gang. I think most of us do that. We can't resist those shiny covers

I also had gift cards so....a good excuse to go.

Look like I finally won my first Giveaway book The Keeper of Portals

Quinn wrote: "Look like I finally won my first Giveaway book The Keeper of Portals"

Congrats!

Words I have always wanted to include in my book reviews because it makes me sound smart/like I know what's going on:

Deux ex machina: ugh that plot was so deux ex machina (rolls eyes, adjusts monacle)

Stream of consciousness: Atmospheric writing and stream of consciousness gave this book a dream-like quality.

Scooby-doo ending: damn that scooby-doo ending!!

Also, effervescent and juxtapose wouldn't be bad either

I've used DXM in commenting on a book, not sure if in a review.

SOC I use all the time.

The others are funny. Some of mine

Visceral, ethereal, Schadenfreude, baroque, paradox, paradigm, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and as painful to read as watching Leah Thompson having foreplay with a stuffed duck.

Ooh I need to write those down!

I'd love a reason to insert paradigm shift into a conversation

Margret wrote: "I'd love a reason to insert paradigm shift into a conversation"

Paradigm shift is the new proactive in the business world. I hear it at least once a week and often much more often.

I worked for this small company at one point and the owner hired this "marketing expert". I nicknamed her buzzwords and bullet points because everything out of her mouth was one or the other. One day she littered a paragraph with dozens of them in a meeting. I calmly asked "well that's great, do you understand what it means?" A half dozen people cracking up laughing didn't do much for our already strained relationship.

Which reminds me of a few more: Vis a Vis, liquid, morph(ing), outside the box, risk assessment, normalize........

'Crepuscular' is probably my favourite adjective: "It was a fine, crepuscular read, to be enjoying in front of a fire with a glass of brandy."

Margret wrote: "Words I have always wanted to include in my book reviews because it makes me sound smart/like I know what's going on:

Deux ex machina: ugh that plot was so deux ex machina (rolls eyes, adjusts mon..."

I love all of those :)

Soliloquy!

Ugh meetings. Our staff meetings are usually just a blame game and then everyone gets mad at each other. Or there's a "serious incident" because we're understaffed all the time.

Apparently I've got time to read 2275 books before I die. It looks like I really need to prioritise my TBR. ;)



It's a problem as every four months I seem to add as many books to my TBR as I read in a year.

Angela wrote: "Apparently I've got time to read 2275 books before I die. It looks like I really need to prioritise my TBR. ;)

"

At first I thought that was how many you had on your to-read list! I've got another 2025!

I'm not sure for me. In high school I was a super reader (easily 70+ a year), but as a chem major I'm lucky to read 40. Maybe when I graduate I can read more again.

Haha no, but seriously being a member of this group that number may not be completely improbably in the future.

Elizabeth wrote: "I'm not sure for me. In high school I was a super reader (easily 70+ a year), but as a chem major I'm lucky to read 40. Maybe when I graduate I can read more again."

I guess it would probably average out Elizabeth. I didn't read many books for pleasure when I was at university.

I'm almost done, I graduate May 20th so hopefully then I can read again. I've had the same two books as currently reading since January.

That's not long to go Elizabeth! Well done. More time for reading soon.

Thanks! right now it feels both so close and so far away.

4,480. At least Scott won't be driving me crazy for all of those precious years

4160. Got a new goal to beat.

I did similar math when evaluating my physical collection a couple of years ago. If I never brought home another book it would've taken me 40 years to read everything in my house. I have since downsized considerably lol (but still not enough).

Wow Niki. Thanks to you I will never feel guilty again about the number of books I bought but haven't read yet ;-)).

Niki is in a league of her own. Haha

Bill, you'll smash that number. I've seen how you are doing on the series challenge.

Margret, I don't know how you coped without Scott to drive you crazy. Haha I love your guys banter.

Haha glad to help lol. I blame 11 years as a bookseller where I never brought home a paycheck. It's a sickness.

I do feel very welcome in this group. Even though I suck at buddy reads.. I'm kind of like that really old kid in high school who looks like they are in their late 20's.

Sounds like the original Beverly Hill 90210 ;). I use to love that show.

Margret wrote: "4,480. At least Scott won't be driving me crazy for all of those precious years"

I'll stick around just to spite you.

You'll probably live longer than me anyways, I already have the body aches of a senior citizen.. and probably complain just as much. Do me a favor and kick me out of the group when I start complaining about my bodily functions

Margret wrote: "I do feel very welcome in this group. Even though I suck at buddy reads.. I'm kind of like that really old kid in high school who looks like they are in their late 20's."

It's okay, I suck at buddy reads and I created the group... O_o

To be fair I've only pretty much done buddy reads with Scott, and he's left me in the dust every single time lol

Our updates are like-
Update #1-
chapter 1: whoa, That vague thing that happened was totally (insert vague description)
Update #2- K I'm done now

The other two I was at the mercy of library holds but posted later

Margret wrote: "To be fair I've only pretty much done buddy reads with Scott, and he's left me in the dust every single time lol

Our updates are like-
Update #1-
chapter 1: whoa, That vague thing that happened wa..."

OK that's pretty funny.

Let's agree on a series and do a set schedule and I'll stick with it.

Yes I will catch up on Saxon Stories and we can doooo this!!! I'm trying to get better at this buddy thang, it's my NY resolution

I'll try to keep it slow on that series but we might have to pick another. Those are audio and short. A chapter takes like ten minutes at 1.5X.

Any interest in doing Steelhaven? I could start in May, June or July.

Herald of the Storm
Lord of Ashes
The Shattered Crown

I don't suppose there's audio for that one? Could do that or you can help my motivation for the Ketty Jay series (stalling on book 2 for no real reason)

I'll catch up on the hawk!

I'm looking for some recommendations, so figured why not ask here!

I want a fantasy book/series that is exclusively set in one city, and that the city itself and the various groups/entities that exist in it are the main focus.

I'm not even sure what comes to mind as a good example of what I'm looking for. The Lies of Locke Lamora is maybe an example, and Mistborn definitely falls into this. I loved the Malazan books that focused on Darujhistan and Lether.

For a non-book example, but probably the best one I can give - if you've ever played Baldur's Gate 2, a large chunk of the game is spent in the city of Athkatla where you're exploring the different guilds facing off against each other, exploring temples and what's going on inside, and just getting a great sense of overall life in the place.

That sense of a 'living' city is really what I want - so if you've anything that springs to mind relating to that, send them on my way :)

Technically even Mistborn, Locke Lamora and even the Malazan books you're referencing are all in one city.

Shades of Magic all takes place in several overlapping Londons. The world building a flavor of the Londons didn't blow me away.

Book of Babel while not technically one city is one Tower and has that exploration feel. Book one the action is slow but the world building and character development is deep. I'm just 35 pages into book two right now.

Dagger and Coin isn't one city. However the four or five cities are really well developed.

Devine Cities is a different city in each book but there's tons of hidden gems of legend that come to life.

Dawn of Wonder is the only book published in the Wakening series and it's not one city however world fits exploring different facets of hidden tombs and temples. Plus the writing is awesome.

Off the top of my head that's what I can think of.

Yeah, the books I listed were the ones that fit the bill just on a casual glance at my shelf.

Dagger and Coin and Divine Cities are on my list, I just haven't come across copies nearby at a decent price. Might just look at ordering, as Divine Cities in particular has really caught my eye.

Dawn of Wonder looks like it could be good alright, I just might not have the patience to push on with some of the frustrations you had mentioned in your review, as they are exactly the sort of thing that will make me put a book down. Still, I'll try get a sample of it and see what the writing's like.

That's a few to go on now at least - cheers!

Some data on braid tugging and skirt smoothing while defeating the dark one

For whatever reason the skirt smoothing was nearly as aggravating/distracting as the braid tugs. BTW the one braid tug in New Spring was by a man. The lack of them had me waiting so when it finally happened I was quite amused.

When I was reading/listening to them I texted my sister:

Marg: "Zara, nothing has happened for like 4 books."
Zara: "LOL"

... you can't just lol something like that!!!

And I also feel that the number is falsely low, there was so many times Nynaeve "yanked" or "grabbed a fistful" of her braids