GlassBeagles

Hi, Karen,

 

I haven't ready any of Jill Churchill's books recently, but I read quite a few of them in the past. I'm not seeing ANY of them on CD at my library. Oh, well.

 

How are the Aurora Teagarden books? Are they still in the "cozy" category?

The Aurora Teagarden series is straight mystery, nothing paranormal. I really enjoyed the two I've read. The first book is "Real Murders" See below:D

"Though a small town at heart, Lawrenceton, Georgia, has its dark side-and crime buffs. One of whom is librarian Aurora "Roe" Teagarden, a member of the Real Murders Club, which meets once a month to analyze famous cases. It's a harmless pastime-until the night she finds a member killed in a manner that eerily resembles the crime the club was about to discuss."

I'm part way through the third and final (that I know of so far) Bernie and Chet mystery by Spencer Quinn, To Fetch a Thief. Fun, fun, fun books if you're a major dog lover like I am.

 

Karen, if you have any more recommendations for light mysteries like these, I'd love to hear them!

 

Have a great Monday, everyone.

I finished the third book, just couldn't wait for the cruise LOL. Jill Churchill writes a couple of series, am slowly making my through her Jane Jeffery's series. It starts with Grime and Punishment, then continues with A Farewell to Yarns and so on a so forth. I also like Chralaine Harris's Aroura Teagarden Mysteries.

Karen,

 

I just finished listening to Dog On It, by Spencer Quinn. I really liked it. Thank you so much for the recommendation of the three books!!!

 

Lynn

I'm glad you liked it, I thought he did a pretty good job of presenting the thought process of a dog, at least my dogs are somewhat like that.

Okay. I couldn't stand it. I went to my library (since today is my day off) and picked up the first two Spencer Quinn audiobooks. I have to order the third one to be transferred to my library. They look great. Thank you for mentioning them!!!

 

Now I have to get these on MY iPod Touch, which my son gave me for Christmas. I'm in love with my iPod Touch, by the way.

 

Since you mentioned an iPod, do you use the Bookmark app? It was the first (and one of few) app that I bought. It's sooooo worth it unless you have an alternative I don't know about.

I think you will enjoy the books, I did. I know this sounds silly but to my mind the "voice" of the character is that of a big dog. I have had both big and little dogs and this feels more like a big dog. When I read the first one it reminded me so much of a dog one of our neighbors had, which helped the enjoyment.

I have a fifth generation iPod nano, which only has books on it, if I want music I use my husbands nano ;). I didn't know they had a bookmark app. and I don't know if it would work on my ipod. Since I listen to only one book at a time (although I maybe reading to others at the same time) I don't have too much trouble loosing my place. Although I do try to check which disc and track I am on before I turn it off. I'll have to check with itunes and see if the app will work with my nano, thanks for the heads up.

Boy, you are good. Yes and no.... LOL This novel was in 2001 and there was controversy tied to Oprah. He was very dis-satisfied with her choosing this novel (don't know why). The one I think you are alluding to was James Frey's A Million Little Pieces supposedly about his drug addiction (fact based) and she had him on the show and then again when it turned out to be made up.

 

Regarding our dog...yes it is heart breaking and one of the toughest things we had to do (cried like a baby). The first chapter of this book is similar...told thru the dog's perspective, which in and of itself is hard...but somewhat re-assuring......don't want to ruin the read for you.

Hi guys, I know long time no hear from. I just picked up The Art Of Racing In The Rain at the library yesterday should be on my ipod by the end of the day. LOL You know I'll cry also, our oldest beagle is getting up there and has started to slow down some, she just can't keep up with the pups the way she used to.

Spencer Quinn has a mystery series that is also written from the dogs point of view, the Chet and Bernie mysteries. So far he has written only three books, Dog On It, Thereby Hangs a Tail and his latest To Fetch a Thief, which I also picked up at the library yesterday. I may save that to listen to on our cruise next month.

Yup that sure is-wore it formal night

Gotta love the tie!!

Great little ship she was...the Song of Norway.....our first cruise

Hey framerman we miss you over on the Feb. 25th Spirit Cruise!! Sorry things didn't work out.:( But you are going to love the Dream!

Hi, Ronnie,

 

Actually, a while back I converted a few of my DVD's (of which I have a huge collection of romantic comedies) to .avi so I could watch them on a Cowon that I have. It turned out to be useless because the screen is too small for me to enjoy a movie on. Therefore, I'd like to get something bigger and watch my own movies. I have so many movies already, and it would be great to carry them around with me.

 

So it sounds like the iPod Touch is more finnicky as to formats. Is that correct? My Cowon takes .avi and .mp3, which is pretty standard, I believe. If only the screen were bigger. Sigh!

 

I'll check back for your book recommendations. Thanks!

 

Lynn

Hi Lynn,

Told you I lurk;) sound like what you need is the iPad it is much bigger than the iPad Touch but does pretty much the same things. I've taken a look a them and would love one but DH doesn't feel I need any more technology.:rolleyes:

Still can't believe you did a back to back on the Dream

We did and we loved it. We were lucky enough to have two Cruise Directors, Jeff who was assigned to the Dream and John Heald who filled in for him when he went on vacation, they were both great. We met a lot of nice people many with whom we will cruise again. Two of the best things and if you ever cruise on the Dream I highly recommend them. The first is the Behind the Scenes tour, you get to see parts of the ship that not even all of the crew get to see. The other is the Chef's dinner, it is amazing and well worth the cost, you actually eat in the galley.

Now we are planning a Cruise on the Spirit for next Feb. and a lot of the MonkeyHeads have decided to join us. Don't know when we might do another back to back, we've pretty much decided that if we are going to fly to another state for the cruise we would like to spend a little time seeing the area either before or after the cruise. With Bill's work schedule it is hard to take more than two weeks at a time so that means one week to be tourist and one week to be cruisers.

I am going to jump in on the question also. I enjoyed it. Totally different than any other Michael Crichton book I have ever read/listened to. Set in the 1700's (maybe 1800?) in the Caribbean. Thought it would be a pirate story and jump back and forth from old times to new times....not the case. Good listen to book, his last. HE will be missed:(

My notification must be off.

Metal casting is great I love working with silver, although this time I am using more bronze, the cost of silver is a little to high! As much as I enjoy it I am glad that Thurs. is the last class of the semester.

I too enjoyed the Pirate Latitudes though it wasn't quite what I was expecting either. It was based on fact and took place in the 1600's. If you go to Black Beards castle on St. Thomas you will see a statue of the female "privater".

Hi Lynn,

Busy with school work thank goodness the semester is almost over!! I'm listening to Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton and just finished reading the latest Charlaine Harris, Dead in the Family. Next I'll be reading my Metal smithing book so I can finish my school projects.;)

Hi, Jim,

 

I keep forgetting to ask you: Have you read or listened to Girl With a Dragon Tattoo? I'm sure it's not MY type of book (at least I imagine it's not), but it's soooooo popular that I am curious as to whether you read it and what your opinion of it is, if you've read it.

Hy Lynn!

I know I don't post much but I do lurk. I just finished The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. It was very good and I think you would like it, it wasn't overly violent or gruesome. For me it was a little slow to start but I was glad I stuck with it. I am now waiting for my father-in-law to finish the next one so I can read it.

Right now I'm listening to the Lord John Books by Diana Gabaldon and reading the latest Charlane Harris novel.

Thank you sooooo much. I'm finally combining my love of writing with my passion for cruising.

 

Oh, I listened to all the Agatha Raisin series, too. I had my ups and downs because a lot of them seemed pretty much the same to me, but somehow I wanted to listen to them all anyway. They were good for driving in the car and listening to.

 

I'm glad to see you here. I thought you left our board and have missed you.

Oh I've been lurking, just haven't piped up.

I wasn't sure that I was going to enjoy the Agatha Raisin series at first, she really wasn't a likable character but she is growing on me. I like books because they're short and simple, a nice escape after a long read or should I say "hear". Kinda like sorbet between courses.:) After listening to Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell I needed something light before heading into and Echo In The Bone.

Congratulations Lynn!! I'm so happy for you, I know it's just the start.

Audio books, wow I've gone through so many of them since I last posted here. Right now I am listening to Just Take My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark I'm about half way through and I'm not sure where it's going. I've also been stumbling through M.C. Beatons Agatha Raisin series they nearly had the whole series at our library.

We have a new cruise booked with a bunch of the MonkeyHeads for next Feb. out of San Diego on the Carnival Spirit. We are all counting the days some of us are even counting the hours. LOL

Lynn is right I love to pick up a good book and read, but there is only so much time to sit down and read and soooooo many books I would like to read so I listen to books when working at my torch or doing housework. I feel like I am getting two things done at the same time! Besides before the written word stories were passed on verbally. So we are following a time honored tradition by listening to books.;)

I'm confused I thought Sony made the Kindle.

I saw Julie & Julia last week and loved it, so I am now reading, My Life In France. Currently I am listening to Rosie Dunn by Cecelia Ahern, you follow the life of Rosie through a series of letters, e-mails, instant messages and such it is really well done, I'll be looking for other books by her. Ta ta for now!:D

Hi guys!

Looking forward to hearing about your cruise Jim, hope you had a great time!

Hummm A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, I just shelved a copy yesterday and was thinking I should add it to my to be read list.

Haven't had much chance for reading lately some staff changes at the store have had me working a lot more hours and I am trying to get a couple of jewelry shipments out. I'm still reading The Eyre Affair and realize I want to read Jane Eyre again plus find Fford's next book. Apparently he also writes a mystery series set in fairytale land. I'm listening to The Fortune Tellers Daughter, it's enjoyable but so far not what I would call a great read.

Jim,

Even though I used to work near there I'm not real familiar with all of the restaurants in the area. I like the Rock Bottom Brewery but their are a lot of chain type restaurants like P.F. Changs, Bubba Gumps and such that aren't too far from there. We ate on the Queen Mary and had a great meal I'm just not sure how expensive it is. You could also try Shoreline village they have a number of restaurants. There is a great breakfast place in San Pedro, the Pacific Diner, they have beef strogonoff omlets on the weekend, but I don't know if you have the time to get there and back.

You will love the Queen Mary!! We stayed there years ago and loved it. I hear that check-in is easier if you stay the night at the Queen Mary.

Hi guys!

I am still reading The Eyre Affair and so far I am loving it. I'll have to read Something Rotten again when I get to that point of the series.

We have done the Mexican Riviera three times once with the kids, once when we were supposed be on a different itinerary but got side tracked by a hurricane, and once again with the kids. But we haven't done it on the Splendor. My suggestion for Mazatlan is the Tequila Factory and Old Town Tour, this is the best tour I have ever been on, and not just because you get to taste a lot of tequila!!

Where are you staying when to get to So. Cal?

Hi guys guess we all got busy, I know I did. As for audio books I just finished two that I really enjoyed, Dog On It by Spencer Quinn and Something Rotten by Jasper FFord. Dog On It is the first in a series with the next book coming out in January, it is a "Chet and Bernie mystery" Chet being a dog and Bernie being a privet detective, the story is told in first person by Chet. As for Something Rotten it isn't the first book in the series I think it is four or five. The first book The Eyre Affair is the first book, I am currently reading that right now. They are sci/fi-fantasy-mystery and very ereverent. The main character is Thursday Next who works for SO 27 the literary branch. I am really enjoying the premiss. As for cruising our next cruise is a back to back on the Carnival Dream in January. It is our 20th anniversary present to ourselves. We should have about 60 people from the MonkeyHeads and Cruise Critic getting together on the first cruise and quite a few on the second. Well I've got to get back to going through the e-mail. More later.:D

Well we are back from our cruise, didn't get to read as much as I had planned but that's OK we were having fun. Jim, I am currently listening to The Associate and I am enjoying it. I am reading Double Cross, it is one that I can't wait to see how it ends but I don't want it to end! I think I will be reading Tribute by Nora Roberts next. Don't know yet what I'll listen to.

By the way Jim you can also find us in the Dream roll calls here, just look for 01/23/10 and/or 01/30/10.

Back to back sounds like so much fun! Lynn, who started this blog did one last year (I think at least). Love the name monkey heads! Where is the carnival connections site? on here or a whole different web site?

 

Jim

If you go to the Carnival website and scroll down to the bottom you will find "Customer Help and Support" listed under that you will find "Community Support Forums" click on that and it will take you to Carnival Connections. Scroll down until you see User Groups and you will find the Coconut MonkeyHead Wasters Club. The group started when someone posted Don't Do It and said they had a terrible cruise and not to waste money on a Carnival Cruise. When they wouldn't explain why it was a bad cruise a new thread was started, Let's Do It where everyone defended Carnival and it just swelled from there. You would be more than welcome to join us!!:D