Small Talk: Chili's

[Glory]

A place for fans of the US version of the Office to gather and BS about life and work.

Also - it's the new golf course, don't you know?

[Pixel]

Yay!  A new home.  I'm incredibly sad about the demise of the old one, though.  RIP, TWOP.  I loved you for over 10 years.  I will not forget the years of communication, entertainment, and friendship you brought into my life!

[Glory]

I'm super sad, too. But I'm starting to move from sadness to anger. Is that part of the stages of grief?

I'm just really pissed that after all this time all we got was a notice that was effectively, "PS - we're shutting down." I felt like I got hit over the head with an anvil or something.

[MichelleAK]

Hi, all!  Yeah, the announcement TWoP was shutting down was kind of a "hit in the head with a load of bricks" moment.  I am glad we have a new home, though!

[smrou]

Hello!  From Chili's to Luke's and now back to Chili's.  And it's so shiny and clean.

But I'm with you about the abrupt closure of TWoP, Glory.  I'm not a particularly active poster there anymore (at least not anything like I once was), but I'm sad about the loss of so much content.  

I do love this site, though, so I'm glad people are coming over here.  I didn't register until today (only lurked, but the forums here are very new anyway) but I've been reading stuff on this site for some time since I basically follow TWoP people wherever they go.  And for anyone who likes podcasts, I highly highly recommend subscribing to Extra Hot Great.  It's awesome.

Edited March 27, 2014 by smrou

[LiberryLady]

Thanks for setting this up, Glory!

I think I'm going to like this place.  But, man, like smrou, I'm sad about all the content that's going to be gone.  Our fanfic links!  The Casino Night freak-out!  The cool way Greg Garcia used the forum to write us into an episode of My Name is Earl!  Good times, good times.

[mstaken]

Hi, everyone! *shy wave* I'm another TWoP refugee who's been on this site for a whopping eight minutes or so, but I already feel like it has the potential to be my new cyber-home :) 

Favorite shows include Gilmore Girls, The Office, Buffy, and about a zillion or so more. I've recently become happily addicted to Brooklyn Nine-Nine. 

I live in New York, I've fallen into an incredibly odd not-even-a-real-job job that somehow allows me to pay my rent while still spending most of the day surfing the web or attached to my beloved Kindle, and I'm less than three months away from turning 40 and surprisingly sanguine about it (though I totally won't be once the actual day arrives; you've been warned!)

I was usually too shy to participate much in TWoP's Meet Markets, but I'm looking forward to getting to know you guys! 

[Setlist]

Nice to meet you, mstaken! It's kind of cool that with a fresh start, we'll be able to expand a bit. Tell me - what are your opinions on Fantasy Football? 

And hello, everyone else! Thank you so much for getting this all set up, Glory. And so fast, too. My panic has subsided, but I'm still pretty damn sad. I actually remember where I signed up (at my office at my college radio station) and what my first actual post was (on the ANTM thread). It seems like only yesterday. but it was close to ten years ago. 

[possibilities]

Hi All! Seems like we keep getting run out of town, but maybe this coffeeshop will last.

One thing is, I realized that my desire to keep my usename and that I didn't want to start over means... rightly or wrongly, I don't think I've embarrassed myself too much or made too many enemies I want to shed during the move. That's good, right? That I'm not leaving town in the middle of the night and hoping to outrun my rep? That I was thinking I'll miss everyone, not that I'm sso glad to finally be free? You can't be nostalgic if you didn't have a good thing going.

Also, it's really hard to think of a new username. So I'm glad the old one was available just out of laziness and inertia.

I haven't had time to look around the site much yet, but so far it does have a comfy familiar feeling. Modern decor but same hometown faces.

MsTaken, your "voice" is one of the ones I recognize even before I check to see who wrote something. We seem to watch a lot of the same shows, and often I'll be reading some post or other and I'll think: "I bet this is MsTaken"-- and then it is. I am also loving B99.

[mstaken]

Thanks for the warm welcome, guys! 

MsTaken, your "voice" is one of the ones I recognize even before I check to see who wrote something. We seem to watch a lot of the same shows, and often I'll be reading some post or other and I'll think: "I bet this is MsTaken"-- and then it is. I am also loving B99.

Heh---I hope that voice of mine isn't too grating :) At the risk of sounding too fangirl-y, I recall worshiping at the altar of your posts way back when Joan of Arcadia was still on the air! 

I just ate Oreos and ice cream for dinner. And, sadly, that's not the least nutritious meal I had this week! 

[smrou]

Also, it's really hard to think of a new username. So I'm glad the old one was available just out of laziness and inertia.

Yeah, I don't even like my username, but I've been using it since like sixth or seventh grade (whenever my family first got AOL back in like 1992) and I guess I'm pretty attached to it now.  I think if I changed my name I wouldn't recognize it when anyone else used it.  

 

I am also loving B99.

SUCH a great show.  I love it.  

[smrou]

I recall worshiping at the altar of your posts way back when Joan of Arcadia was still on the air!

Aw, good old JoA.  I was just trying to think back to the various forums that I actually posted in regularly on TWoP (other than Chili's, of course)--my main home was the Gilmore Girls forum, and for a period the X-Files forum, but there were lots of forums where I was very active for a shorter period--and I'd forgotten about that.  I remember twice getting shout-outs in the recaps for JoA and feeling more proud than is probably rational for something so silly. 

 

Speaking of other shows, any other Bomb Girls fans here?  Because the series-concluding TV movie is airing tonight and I'm so stoked about it and I have absolutely nobody to talk about it with.  Granted, I don't live in Canada so I have to acquire it through methods (since I'm not patient enough to wait), which means I won't actually be watching it until tomorrow. 

Edited March 28, 2014 by smrou

[LiberryLady]

I am also loving B99.

 

SUCH a great show.  I love it.

 

"THRIFT SHOP!!"

I love it, too. Was last night the series finale?  It felt like it.

[possibilities]

I hope that voice of mine isn't too grating

Not at all! If I didn't like you, I wouldn't have mentioned it. It's one of the few "nice girl" rules I've found actually makes sense in real life.

I recall worshiping at the altar of your posts way back when Joan of Arcadia was still on the air!

Oh gosh, now I'm blushing! I don't even remember anything I said back then, but I'm happy enough to know someone liked it. I was super-invested in that show, even when it got stupid. Often I feel like when I open my mouth, the more invested I am, the more likely people will wish I hadn't ("you're so intense!" is probably the thing I've had said to me more than anything else in my life).

Cookies and ice cream sounds good. I think it's okay to just eat whatever the hell sometimes. I cling to studies that say chocolate is good for high blood pressure and diabetes. I mean, with credentials like that, it should be one of the major food groups not only in reality but also in officaldom.

I want to know what job that's not a job you have that enables you to live the good life of TV and rent-paying and dessert for dinner.

The thing about B99 is that I really didn't think it would be any good. I despised Andy Samberg and the commercials for the pilot gave me hives. But the show is soo delicious. I can't get over how much I love it. I am cynically counting the episodes til I start hating it, since it seems like most TV writers have a short attention span and lose interest in their stories long befor I do. But for now? I love the show.

Bomb Girls is another show I didn't think I'd be interested in, but I wound up loving it. I am looking forward to it being available in the US. I am pretty lazy and mostly clueless about "other means."

I lost a post already. I'm having trouble figuring out how to make something post after I write it. Trying again....

ETA: B99 ws renewed, so this week'ks episode was a season finale, but not a series finale.

Edited March 28, 2014 by possibilities

[smrou]

Bomb Girls is another show I didn't think I'd be interested in, but I wound up loving it. I am looking forward to it being available in the US.

I latched onto Bomb Girls after I'd binge-watched the first season of Call the Midwife and was suffering withdrawal because I wanted new episodes immediately.  So somewhere in my readings online about CtM I saw mention (or maybe even just screencaps) of Bomb Girls and it seemed to fit my need for a period drama revolving around women.  So I dived right in and loved it.  I'm sad that it won't be continuing for another whole season, but hope the two-hour movie will make for a satisfying ending.  It's one of those shows where I can recognize that it has a lot of flaws but that just makes me feel comfortable and happy.

[Pixel]

One thing is, I realized that my desire to keep my usename and that I didn't want to start over means... rightly or wrongly, I don't think I've embarrassed myself too much or made too many enemies I want to shed during the move. That's good, right? That I'm not leaving town in the middle of the night and hoping to outrun my rep? That I was thinking I'll miss everyone, not that I'm sso glad to finally be free? You can't be nostalgic if you didn't have a good thing going.

 

I know what you mean. When I heard there was a mass exodus (exitus? Ha ha) from there to here, I rushed over to see if I could grab my username because I wanted people who liked me to be able to find me, and to not be confused if someone else took it.  Silly, I guess, but I've had the name for 14 years. It's kind of hard to give it up!

[gymtastic]

Hi, friends! I've mostly been lurking for awhile but was excited to see Glory set this up. (Hi, Glory!). I still can't believe TWoP is shutting down so quickly.

[Too Late Kev]

I find it confusing when people have this name over here, and that one over there, and a third one over there...ikar excepted, of course. I'm sure I can remember any number of names for ikar. But I'm still me, and I was so glad someone hadn't inexplicably taken my name.

[Shannon L.]

Hi everyone!  My son and I have been making our way through The Office on Netflix and are about 6 episodes from the series finale. I have to say, that while I didn't think Season 8 was as bad as other people made it out to be (I kind of liked Robert California), I do miss Michael--it definitely lost something when Steve Carrell left. And I can't believe I'm saying that because Michael drove me crazy! 

[BrahmaGirl]

I'm back, baby!! I, too, felt compelled to come grab my TWOP user name, even though I kind of hate it. I guess it, like you fine friends of mine, feels a little like home. [cue canned audience "Awwwww..." circa Full House]

I had no idea that TWOP was shutting down until I saw everyone's Facebook posts. I wasn't posting a lot there, but I was lurking like crazy on True Detective and Walking Dead. Glad to see we're getting the band back together over here!

[EllieH]

Hello fellow displaced TWOPers!

[mstaken]

I haven't rewatched The Office in awhile, so I'm planning to rectify that this weekend with a blissfully lazy marathon of some of my favorite episodes. Anyone have suggestions for which junk food goes best with Office episodes?! 

And, possibilities, I started a Joan of Arcadia with you (and anyone else interested in the show!) in mind :)  

[Pixel]

One of my favorite TV watching snacks is (brace yourselves) Diet Coke and green olives. Weird, I know, but I love the combo of sweet alternating with salty.

[mstaken]

You guys are making me feel better about my own snack addiction: Nutella-covered potato chips. 

Pixel, I, too, am a fan of the salty/sweet combination, as you can see from the above confession...though my choice has roughly a zillion more calories than yours :) 

Is anyone reading anything fun and engaging? My Kindle and I have tried about 15 books over the past few days and have gotten into a grand total of zero of them. 

[BrahmaGirl]

I was just telling someone how much I enjoyed the novel This Is Where I Leave You. If you've ever read David Sedaris's short stories, this is very much in that vein. It centers on a Jewish family of adult children and their mother as they sit Shivah for their late father. Sounds like a real laugh riot, I know, but it really is! Family disfunction abounds. They just wrapped filming on the screen adaptation, and the cast includes Tina Fey, Jason Bateman, and Timothy Olyphant...I am quivering in antici....pation!

Other great recent reads are Night Film and anything by Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl being by far the best, although I finished Dark Places in under 24 hours, so it was also clearly pretty compelling). I just started The Maze Runner this morning and am cautiously optimistic. After that, I think my next one will be The Goldfinch.

Edited March 29, 2014 by BrahmaGirl

[mstaken]

Thanks, BrahmaGirl! I was ridiculously obsessed with Gone Girl and agree that it was her best novel by a pretty wide margin. Are you planning to see the I'm-not-even-sure-it's-still-being-made movie?  

[BrahmaGirl]

I think I will see the alleged movie...I heard they changed the ending, though, so it may be more of a hate watch! I mean, why mess with perfection?

[possibilities]

A friend gave me a gift of a bar of salty chocolate and I was aghast... until I tasted it. More and more I think it pays to have an open mind, because that was delicious!

I love olives of all kinds. I'm not sure you can go wrong with olives.

I have been reading a lot of children's books about ravens, badgers, and other wildlife. They are short, and have a lot of pictures, and I am enjoying learning things like: how a giraffe gets blood all the way up to its head, and how fast a badger can dig, and what kind of problems a raven can solve easily that a crow cannot.

I also have a manuscript by my uncle, which I have not started yet. It's his peronal memoir and I'm very curious to find out all the stuff I dind't know about him because I was too young at the time. He was always an interesting character, but I want to hear his side of the story about all the things other fmaily members told about him when he was not in the room. I have found that since I started getting a lot of my fiction fix through TV, I have read less fictin in print. I find it difficult to find fiction I really like anymore, especially written for adults. But I've been reading a lot of non-fiction, just not lately. This winter was really harsh for me medically and I have needed things that are funny, easy, escapist, rather than things that would challenge me further.

Also, reading stuff and having no one to talk about it with because no one else read it, makes me sad. I was in a book group via my local library for a while, and that was fun. But I got sad because we would read a book and then discuss the whole thing in one session, and it wasn't very detailed. And people were more inhibited than they are on an online forum, because I guess they didn't want to be controversial (small town life! everything follows you to your grave). People didn't seem interested in meeting more often. So it was like a twice a year thing and friendships weren't really forming. Sometimes I think about trying to start a group that meets weekly or monthly. A friend of mine has a group like that, and it's working for her. But the book they're reading didn't interest me at all. I thought of starting an online reading group, and maybe that would work. But I think I spend too much time online already, so I dunno.

ETA: I did finally finish assembling the Jackson Pollock jigsaw puzzle I started last summer-- I put the final piece in that baby yesterday.

Edited March 29, 2014 by possibilities

[mstaken]

It's so validating to know that I'm not the only one going through a book slump :) 

Possibilities, I'm so sorry that things have been tough for you medically. I had a rough winter as well, though for far less valid reasons! 

 

 

I have needed things that are funny, easy, escapist, rather than things that would challenge me further.

This describes my reading preferences of the past decade or so. Reading shouldn't be another of life's arduous chore; like TV, if it feels like joyless and pretentious nihilism in the name of being "high quality," my easily depressed self and I move on to more mood-boosting material. Sadly, this has ruled out a lot of contemporary literature for me. I've been nurturing my shameful addiction to cheesy mysteries instead :)  

I so relate to the debate about whether to start or join a book club. It somehow always sounds appealing to me in theory but falls apart in practice---no doubt due to my aversion to 'having' to complete a book that I'd ordinarily have put down by page three and the fact that coordinating schedules with even just a couple of other people always seems to be far harder than it should be.

 

 

I think I will see the alleged movie...I heard they changed the ending, though, so it may be more of a hate watch! I mean, why mess with perfection?

Oh my gosh, I was starting to think I was the only one on the planet who loved the ending! I found it gruesomely consistent with those characters and their awesomely warped dynamic. I know many people who claim the ending annoyed them to the point where the entire book was ruined retrospectively, which I don't quite get anyway because for me it was such an insightful, darkly witty, clever, beautifully written gem irrespective of how it concluded. I'm really excited that Reese Witherspoon is playing Amy. She's always been one of those actresses for me who you know objectively isn't all THAT great but who just totally adore and connect with anyway. 

 

Gosh, I think that the closing of TWOP has allowed me to find more of my people!

I was just happily thinking the same thing! 

Possibilities, I'm not sure if you saw my other comment on this, but I started a couple of JoA threads and would love to see you and anyone else there if you're so inclined. I love reading about your life in a small town, by the way---as someone who's spent the majority of my life in New York City, small town life has always had this wistful sort of allure for me! 

Edited March 29, 2014 by mstaken

[possibilities]

I used to read a lot of miserable stuff. I think the misery made me feel validated, because I was "in the trenches" myself. Now that I'm not as gloomy myself, I find I have a much less avid appetite for "tales of woe." It's like I had all the catharsis I could use for a while. I have a great respect for literature that exposes terrible things. But I needed to balance my seesaw a little, and delve into "tales of the awesome" and joyful stuff after a while.

I keep meaning to head over to the JoA thread. I am taking too many naps to get everything done. I am an Olympic level insomniac and I was having a lot of trouble sleeping for a few weeks. Now it's like my body suddenly remembers how to sleep and I'm making up for lost time.

I saw that Amber Tamblyn is going to be on @midnight (Comedy Cental show) one night soon. She has taken a wide variety of roles since Joan Girardi! Her stint as crude lesbian on Two and a Half Men was certainly not something I saw coming when she was talking to Little Girl God back in the day.

Small town life is great, I'm not knocking it. But, like anything, it has its pros and cons. Where I live, we don't really have a town (not even a post office). So you don't really want to be too abrasive to your neighbors, but on the other hand, your goodness will pay you dividends just as much as your possible crappiness, so you really can make your way in a "small pond" as long as you're not an asshole. I submit that I am lucky though, because I also live in an area where you won't be run out of town for being a lesbian or anything like that. The stereotype of the "backwoods conservative" culture of rural areas does not apply here. I feel way more normal and well-integrated here with my wild-eyed radical and/or just plain weird qualities than I ever felt in the more densely populated places I spent time. Not knocking city life, either-- I lived in Chicago for a while and there was always stuff going on and new things to discover. More people to meet and so on-- that's also cool. I just need to garden and see moose and wild turkeys and no traffic or I feel like I'll lose my mind.

Edited for multiple typos because my keyboard is dying and skipped a lot of letters on me. I swear I don't have an aversion to vowels, just a need for new hardware.

Edited March 29, 2014 by possibilities

[dread pirate]

Hello fellow TWOPers!

I was traveling for work, and come home to find that the site is closing? I was/am BeetFarmGirl on TWOP, but I've decided to take back a name from a previous board.

smrou Totally jealous that you've seen the Bomb Girls movie, I don't think it will air in the US for a while, I discovered the series on Netflix this summer, and binged both seasons, despite  Tamoh Penikett's atrocious British accent. 

[frenchtoast]

Well, I made it over, and I found all my lovely friends. Mmmm, do I smell some good junk food? Yum! Even if I'm not a big fan of sweet/salty. Sweet/sour is more my cup of tea.

I just started reading some books again, don't know why I didn't this winter, but I couldn't bring myself. I have to figure out how to set up my kindle to borrow books from the library. Since I have to return some books for crostini I'm going to pick up one by Alison Weir about Mary Bolyen. (I think I spelled that wrong, but I whatever) I just finished Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel which I thoroughly enjoyed. I read those on my kindle as they were Mother's Day gifts from last year, but I do find it hurts my wrist a little to hold it. I do like that it's easily transportable. I don't like crostini asking for my kindle to play Minecraft.

We saw Muppets Most Wanted yesterday and enjoyed the heck out of it. SB urgently whispering, "Mom, mom, that's Tom Hiddleston with a mustache. It's Tom Hiddleston with a mustache. With a mustache!" has been cracking me all morning.

And in case no one makes it back there, my facebook page is set up : www.facebook.com/erin.greenberg.37 for easy searching. Someone sent a friend request from TX with the initials EC. I cannot figure out who that is. I did not forsee this problem.

Edited March 30, 2014 by frenchtoast

[mstaken]

Oh, fun, we're sharing Facebook pages?! I have a love/hate relationship with FB, but hanging out with you fellow TV/book/junk food addicts will no doubt push it closer to the 'love' side :) https://www.facebook.com/marla.siegel 

[frenchtoast]

The only reason I joined facebook last night is because TWoP was closing down and I wanted to make sure that I would keep in touch with many of the friends I made over there. So, in the two Meet Markets I was active in I posted the link so during the transition I wouldn't lose information. But, hey, it's voluntary, right?

And smrou, I love your picture. Makes me all jealous for a kitty. And despite the many dreams hubby and I have been having about dogs, we're going to resist and not get another one for awhile. But it's hard.

[smrou]

smrou Totally jealous that you've seen the Bomb Girls movie, I don't think it will air in the US for a while, I discovered the series on Netflix this summer, and binged both seasons, despite  Tamoh Penikett's atrocious British accent.

Ugh, Tahmoh.  Can't stand that guy, and his ridiculous accent didn't make him any easier to take.  I have to admit to being fairly disappointed with the Bomb GIrls movie.  Not that it was bad, but its focus just wasn't where I would have hoped.  But I won't go into any detail since it hasn't aired in the US yet.  

 

 

And smrou, I love your picture. Makes me all jealous for a kitty.

Thanks!  That's Smudge in a mixing bowl, which is sitting on top of a kitchen scale (don't think you can see the scale in the cropped photo), which is how I weigh her.  And being kitty-less is indeed sad, so you'll have to come hang out with me and Smudge sometime.  

I just sent you a FB friend request, but you know my name and face so I'm not worried you won't recognize it.  The real name thing can indeed be confusing at first when you've only ever known someone by a screenname.  Though at least in my case my screenname is based on my real name (S is my first initial, M is my middle initial, and Rou are the first three letters of my last name, Rousseau).  I'm not FB friends with any other Chili's people, so if anyone sees me on Frenchtoast's friends list and wants to friend me I'd be up for that. 

Edited March 30, 2014 by smrou

[Pixel]

Are any of you aware that you can borrow books from the library to your Kindle?

Yes, I've been checking out books on my Nook for 3 years now.  I love it, but what I'm finding is I can usually find the first book in a series at the library, but they don't have the rest or the wait lists are so long and I'm impatient. I end up buying them anyway.  Perfect example - I got Divergent from the library.  Finished it, and couldn't wait to read the rest so I bought them.  Then we saw the movie and my husband and kids want to read the books, so now I'm buying the first one anyway.  Is there something wrong with me that I'm 46 and still enjoy YA books?  They've just gotten so good!  I'm also reading the Beautiful Creatures series.

Finally, for anyone who wasn't part of the original Chili's, I highly recommend the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning.  They're amazing.

I did friend you guys.Toast, I think we were FB friends before but I do regular housecleaning and sometimes people I don't mean to chuck get chucked.  If anyone wants to friend me, feel free :https://www.facebook.com/Pixelfrog1, but please tell me your TWOP name (and your PTV name too) because I can't remember them, even if I used to know.  That's probably how some people got caught up in my FB housecleaning in the past.  I freely admit I've had to double check with Ikar a couple of times to figure out who people were on my friend list.  Most of the time I'm just getting rid of people I went to HS with who I don't really care to keep up with anyway.  You should consider yourself warned, though - I tend to update and post often.  I am never one of those who posts "poor me" crap about how life is so unfair. I try to keep it light and fun, but I am guilty of also posting when I lose weight or work out, because I feel like it keeps me motivated and accountable.

I don't think you need to start a new thread for books anywhere. There might be one, and even if there's not most of us love to talk about books (and everything else) so book chat is pretty welcome here as far as I'm concerned.

Edited March 30, 2014 by Pixel

[Glory]

I friended you Toast and MsTaken! My first name is Carmie so you'll see that in the friend request!

[possibilities]

Haha, The Finer Things. I forgot about that.

I am kitty-less for the first time in ages. I have been reisting the temptation to adopt someone(s), but like frenchtoast said, it's hard. I like not having the responsibility or expense of an animal, but I have a bit of "empty nest syndrome" too.

My library system's selection of downloadable e-books is ridicuously spare. If the selection was better, it would be a great service, though.

Does anyone garden? We are finally seeing some dirt as the snow melts. It's a late spring but I'm hoping it will comeon hard and fast (TWSS) now that it's started. Any signs where you all live? I usually get crocuses first, and then forsythia. Then daffodils. Then tulips. And then we're really in business and everything starts going crazy. I am hoping we got enough snowfall thi winter to make up for 2 years of sumemr drought. My irises didn't bloom last year and even my yarrow was dried ut and half-dead looking. We lost a lot of plant that had been here since before I arrived 6 years ago, bu I'm hoping they will come back from their roots (i.e. that they were dormant, not dead) if we get enough rain this year.

Should we start a pool on whether ikar really isn't migrating over here, or whether he's just holding out for bribes? Or if he'll stay away then come crawling back 3 months from now because he can't ive without the smacktalk?  Person who guesses right gets a custom jetpack and a paperclip necklace with a yogurt lid medal.

[MichelleAK]

Still a couple of feet of snow in my yard. However, it is getting near 40 during the day, and since it's sunny, the snow is melting at a good pace. However, it gets well below freezing at night, so at this rate it will be quite awhile before all the snow is gone.  Early flowers, like tulips and crocuses, usually don't come up until early to mid-May.  On the good news front, sunset isn't until about 8:30pm, and it is finally light-ish when I leave for work at 7am, so I've definitely got "spring fever."

This is me on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/michelle.martin.773  

I think I have friended most of you through Hateball, but if not, please send me a request.

I just started re-reading "Bring Up the Bodies."  "Wolf Hall" is probably my favorite book of the last five years, and I've already re-read it a couple of times.  I'm both looking forward to and not looking forward to the last book.

[frenchtoast]

I just started re-reading "Bring Up the Bodies." "Wolf Hall" is probably my favorite book of the last five years, and I've already re-read it a couple of times. I'm both looking forward to and not looking forward to the last book.

Even though I know how it ends, sort of like, there was a whole lot of foreboding in Bring Up the Bodies. I enjoyed the heck out of both them, though. Edited March 30, 2014 by frenchtoast

[Too Late Kev]

I think ikar will join. He's a joiner. (Maybe he'll join just to put me on His List for calling him a joiner.)

I probably won't contribute to a whole lot of book talk, unless it's YA or SF, because that's pretty much all I read. I didn't read Divergent, but I might at some point. I loved the Hunger Games series. I listened to City of Bones, the first book of The Mortal Instruments, as an audio book. I managed to finish it, but I kind of hated it, especially the ending. I'll never pick up the subsequent books or see any movies based on any of them.

Edited March 30, 2014 by Too Late Kev

[smrou]

I sent friend requests to Pixel and MichelleAK.  In terms of how I use FB, I've been on it for a long time but I don't actually make status updates or upload pics or anything (or at least I haven't so far), but I do regularly comment on things that other people share.  

For folks who like talking about books, I noticed there's a books section in these forums.  But there's not much there so far.  I haven't read anything particularly great lately.  That's actually in large part because I do get most of my books by borrowing from the library on my Kindle, and the pickings tend to be slim.  They have lots of books, but usually only a few "copies" for the entire library network, so I put in requests and end up having to wait a long time for them to become available.  And in the meantime, I'll try out things that are available, which often end up being junk and sometimes I finish and sometimes I don't.

Edited March 30, 2014 by smrou

[gymtastic]

Just wanted to second the love for This Is Where I Leave you - I'd recommend any of Jonathan Tropper's stuff (though I had a hard time finishing his most recent book One Last Thing Before I Go). But I loved all of the earlier stuff. I like finding a new-to-me author and then finding out they have tons of earlier works you can have all at once!

[Setlist]

I think ikar will join. He's a joiner.

 

I think he's ticked off, since one of the mods deleted his post on TWoP when it was an honest question about the site closing. So, he's holding a grudge against the internet. And I can openly say that, since I'm already on his shun list. I can say whatever I want about ikar when he's not around! Muhahaha! Such power! (Hopefully he'll join just to try and negate everything I just said.)

If we're talking books - I think I may have mentioned it over on the old site, but I seriously can't tell me how much The Fault In Our Stars made me bawl. And I'm not one for YA novels. Otherwise, my new favorite author is probably Joe Meno, who I discovered based on having my Kindle "recommend" him to me. I've read maybe four of his books, and only didn't care for one of them. Has anyone else read anything by him? I hadn't heard of him prior to. 

[bethbox]

Hey guys! I made the shift over, even though I have rarely been seen at Luke's. Glad to see some new faces along with the familiar ones :)

Awesome book talk! Like several of you, I haven't been reading as much lately as I used to. My attention span is too short now, or something. What were we talking about again? I did start reading a new series - the Lucas Davenport/Prey novels, but I'm not very far in. I loved the first book, but the second one wasn't as good. And I'm a few chapters in the third one and I'm not quite sure I will like this one either. The main character is starting to get on my nerves, which is never a good sign.

[Pixel]

I've just started reading more because I'm on spring break from school.  No school until summer! Yay!  I'm three classes away from having my master's.  Yet, I still don't know whether to capitalize master's and also if I should be using an apostrophe. Masters? Master's? master's?  I just don't know. If only there was some way to look it up...

Anyway, I've also found through the years that re-reading books I love helps my insomnia. I can fall asleep reading because I already know the story, yet it helps me fall asleep better than watching TV or just laying there in bed doing nothing. I reread books I love many times. Does anyone else do that?  

[Glory]

What was his post? I'm nosy!

[mstaken]

Like several of you, I haven't been reading as much lately as I used to. My attention span is too short now, or something. What were we talking about again?

 

Ha! I've actually been wondering whether to attribute my book slump to the fact that, as I get older,  I have less and less patience for sticking with books that don't immediately engage and interest me...or whether my TV addiction has finally fried my brain to the point where I now lack the mental energy and attention span for the majority of today's novels. :)  

A huge thanks to those of you who have friended me on Facebook. You've already made my cyber-world a more interesting place. And now that you've seen my snarky reference to Gwyneth Paltrow's divorce on there, you know that I'm not as nice a person as I hope to be! 

Pixel, it's Master's! I know this only because I have two of them that I don't actually use :) (Yes, I was one of those people who turned out to be better at school than at 'real life'!) 

[actinolite]

Ok, ok, I finally got around to registering over here! Good to see you all (and to meet new friends!)

[LiberryLady]

I seriously can't tell me how much The Fault In Our Stars made me bawl.

 

I loved that book.  LOVED IT. I just ordered another copy because the person I lent it to hasn't returned it yet, and I want to reread it.  So yes, Pixel, I reread books, too! I find it helps when I'm stressed, to read a book from when I was a teen or even a kid.  (I can't tell you how many times I've read Anne of Green Gables.)

What was his post? I'm nosy!

 

It was just questioning about why the site couldn't make it, financially, wasn't it?  It wasn't like he slapped anyone and stormed out the door.  [/Pam]