Joining Kat and friends. Go see what the others are up to.

Knitting.

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Reading.

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Sophie’s World: A History of Philosophy by Jostein Gaarder. I am pretty sure I will be reading this for a long time. It is not a short book, and I only have patience for 5-10 pages at a time. I am all the way up to Aristotle. Digression: when Elder Son was in college he had to read Aristotle (or Plato) (or both). I remember that he was not impressed with either one. Such is the arrogance of youth. TSTR*.

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The Art of Mingling / Jeanne Martinet. This was a fun read, but I quit about 3/4 of the way through. I picked up some tips about entering a room, striking up a conversation, and leaving said conversation. As a natural-born non-mingler, I need those skills and look forward to using them in the future. 3★

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The Last Wish / Andrzej Sapkowski. Another one I quit 3/4 of the way through. It just wasn’t holding my interest, but at least I gave it a good try. YMMV.

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The Thursday Murder Club / Richard Osman. A delightful little mystery, cozy-adjacent but not exactly a cozy. As I started it I was pretty sure I had read it in the past, but I didn’t remember enough to spoil the story. The club is a group of four friends living in a retirement community — NOT a nursing home – who ge3t together on Thursdays to go through unsolved murder files and try to solve them. Where/how they get the police files is never fully explained, but who cares? It is a fun story. The ending was a bit improbable, but the story was enjoyable. This is the first in a series, so I will probably read the rest. 3.5★

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Opening My Cultural Lens: A Globe Trekker’s Experiences and Photographs / Gail Shore. Gail is a local author and a friend, so of course I had to buy her book. At the book signing, held in a nearby village, the author was interviewed by a famous friend, Ann Bancroft. Gail is a wonderful photographer and adventurer; my only criticism is that her photographs are too small in the book. She said in the interview that she made a decision not to make this a coffee table book — which would have allowed the photos to be much larger — after a friend told her that the function of a coffee table book was to give a guest a place to sit their drink. 4★

Listening.

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Uncharted Waters/ Sally Hepworth. I haven’t left the house in over a week so haven’t had the opportunity to listen as I drive. The two out-of-house commitments I have this week will help. TSTR*

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Watching.

These two are on Netflix and are thoroughly enjoyable. Enola is the younger sister of Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, is as smart at both of them, and is also better at hand-to-hand combat. 4★

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Pieces of Her on Netflix. Another limited series, an entertaining mystery but not nearly as good as Unbelievable. Mother and daughter have been in witness protection for 30 years, daughter knowing nothing about that, until mother kills a gunman who is shooting people in the diner where she and daughter are having a birthday lunch. The act is caught on video and shown nationwide, thereby eliminating the WITSEC-created life they had known. Bits of the backstory are introduced sparingly, which I found annoying. 3★

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* TSTR = Too Soon To Rate.