Who Knew That Jane Austen Could be so Much Fun!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

Well sadly, my niece Stephanie passed away on Wednesday, February 1st after bravely battling through approximately two years of a cancer diagnosis. She was suffering from ovarian cancer and had initially been misdiagnosed by her primary care doctor. She lobbied for a second opinion, but ended up being horribly allergic to many of the chemo therapy drugs that her new doctors tried to give her. Despite all that, she fought long and hard and had the best primary care physicians possible working on her case - Rest In Peace, Stephanie!

To be perfectly honest, there is nothing much going on with me these days. I've been doing all types of puzzles, and reading of course, but I really haven't been doing much of anything else for the past few days. I may have to put down my books and puzzles until I can get my housework back under control...maybe!?!

I'm also still working through an amazing backlog of crossword puzzles and sudoku puzzles from the newspaper. So far, I've done approximately 112 sudoku and crossword puzzles from the newspaper, although I have also done some sum-doku puzzles from my puzzle books, too! Actually, I just finished another one of the puzzle books from my collection last Saturday afternoon - Saturday, February 11th - as well as a Jumbo Crossword Puzzle book early this morning - Sunday, February 26th!

Apparently, later on this afternoon, PBS' 'Masterpiece' will be airing the television adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel Northanger Abbey. Actually, Mareena just told me that she has a copy of the book although she has never read it. I vaguely remember reading several of Jane Austen's novels when I was in school - even Northanger Abbey - although I don't think that I could tell Mareena anything about the story.

To be perfectly honest, I would have to say that many of Jane Austen's novels that I read while I was going to school were rather boring! I don't know why this should have been the case - because I generally loved reading, loved school, loved most of my teachers, and loved everything about the subject of English. Anyway, the television adaptation of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey looks very intriguing, and I'm actually looking forward to reading this book again some time soon. Perhaps with the span of several decades between me and my first reading of it, my impressions will change.

As regards my own reading, the most recent book that I've read was The Copper Beech by Maeve Binchy which I finished on Friday, February 24th! This was actually a reread for me from just about five years ago. In my opinion, Ms. Binchy's books are consistently among some of my favorites - very rarely have I ever disliked a book by Maeve Binchy.

I immediately started reading The Doctor's Wife: A Novel by Elizabeth Brundage on Friday, February 24th. Although I already have one other book by this author on my bookshelf, The Doctor's Wife: A Novel is the first book that I've ever read by Ms. Brundage. So far, it's an intriguing plot.

According to Goodreads - as of today, February 26th - I've actually read 69 pages out of 368 in The Doctor's Wife: A Novel by Elizabeth Brundage; or approximately 19 percent. Since my own copy of The Doctor's Wife: A Novel by Elizabeth Brundage actually has 342 pages in it; reading 69 pages means that I have read approximately 20 percent.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight