grundyscribbling

What are you talking about?

I've gotten a bit behind. The silly part is I checked on the 17th, got excited to think about the topic for the next day...and then promptly forgot on the 18th.

independence1776 asked for Favorite nonfiction and fiction books (excluding Tolkien).

Nonfiction is actually quite tricky, because I read a lot of non-fiction, and of late I've gotten quite sloppy about putting my read books into GoodReads, which is usually how I keep track. I've paged through the past few years and pulled the five star non-fiction. In no particular order, The Color of Law, Hidden Figures, Ida: A Sword Among Lions, Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World, A London Year, Spacesuit, Digital Apollo, Design of Everyday Things, Envisioning Information, Popular Justice: A History Of Lynching In America, The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, A Few Bloody Noses: The American War of Independence, The Chocolate Connoisseur, Of Sugar and Snow: A History of Ice Cream Making, Salt Fat Acid Heat, and Maus (I & II). On the German side, Der Pakt: Stalin, Hitler, und die Geschichte einer mörderischen Allianz, Eva Braun: Leben mit Hitler, and Die Büchse der Pandora: Geschichte des Ersten Weltkriegs, and (this one is really just me) Hanau im Dritten Reich, Band I. (I can provide links to GoodReads or publisher's pages if there is interest, and will be happy to talk more about any specific book if requested.)

Fiction If you want the all-time list, I would say the Harry Potter books (but only the books, I ignore all utterances from JKR's direction in the past 5+ years), the LM Montgomery books (not just Anne - also Emily, Jane, and Marigold), Anne McCaffrey's Pern books - particularly the Harper Hall trilogy (she's another one who had funny ideas, though they also showed somewhat in the books, but I like dragons, so please just let me be sentimental about them), Terry Pratchett's Nation and Hogfather (also Night Watch), Good Omens, Jane Austen (except Northanger Abbey, which I've never really gotten into), Neverwhere, the Northern Lights trilogy (reserving judgement about the Book of Dust books...), The Martian, and Sherlock Holmes.

Not sure if they're on the all-time list, but I really like them: the Hunger Games books, the Rivers of London series, the Bryant & May books, City of Brass, the Ember in the Ashes books, and the Akata books (I think it's going to be a trilogy?). Oh, and I almost forgot Momo and Die unendliche Geschichte. (Basically, I walked into my bedroom and looked at my bookshelves. But those are only the English books.)

(What the heck are you talking about?)

heartofoshun asked for Favorite place to repeat visit for work or places you've visited for work and want to return to just for fun. (Or both!)

Favorite place to repeat visit for work is definitely Fort Collins, Colorado. It's an interesting burg in its own right - plenty of restaurants, arts/culture, and the weather's not bad. (At least, it hasn't been when I've been there, which admittedly has never been mid-winter.) But it's also close enough to drive to Rocky Mountain National Park. So whenever I'm sent out there, I always tack on a day or two before or after the work stuff and go up to RMNP. I've been lucky enough to be there before Trail Ridge Road, the road that runs up through the mountains and over the continental divide, was fully open, so I've gone "hiking" there when it was both amazing views AND no cars. I highly recommend it.


There's more snow further up the road. A LOT more snow.