After listening to a two hours short prequel to a Sci-Fi series read by one of my favorite narrators, R. C. Bray, I am now three chapters into Adrian Goldsworthy's Anthony and Cleopatra. I doubt there will be much new info, but I am interested in Goldworthy's take on the war between them and the Roman fleet.

This morning, while waiting for the "vampire" to call me in for bloodwork, I pulled up The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac by Eugene Field, but get to start it before I got called in. Field was a poet and writer who lived in the second half of the nineteenth century. I may not have run across his name anywhere, but I do remember one of his most famous poems, "Wynken, Blynken and Nod".

Here is a little known story about Ethiopian fleeing through Sudan to be able to reach Israel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVOSo7N6hNg

Bubble, what an amazing story, among so many of a strong, determined people even with so much historical religious hatred turned toward them.

Daily we hear so many poignant stories, so many incredible experiences...

I am not sure this is the place for posting this, but it certainly made me reflect on the importance of knowing and remembering history.

https://youtu.be/Yj8MGR-Oh1o?si=WbRCR2d_OtYV-23R

Bubble, such powerful and amazing truth. I saved, downloaded and forwarded.

Thanks for sharing bubble - amazing bit of truth using poetry to speak - don't know which was more wonderful - the story or the poetry...

Bubble, such an important and necessary message.  Spellbinding, to watch and listen to Yuval David, tell the story . . . the history.  I liked it very much, and plan to send it on to others who I know will feel the same way. 

Current FLP read is a crime novel by Anders de la Motte called The Mountain King. It is set in Malmo, Sweden and surrounds and involves two missing young hiker/explorers. Also, I am picking my way through a science fiction anthology of works by Keith Laumer. Despite Laumer's death in 1993, many, if not all, of his works appear to be copyright free otherwise they would not be listed in Project Gutenberg's catalog. As for my listening, I have switched to the fourth of a Michael Mammay science fiction series involving a retired veteran turned for hire investigator.

My sister is continuing her fascination with foreign films and TV series, including Korean, Spanish, Turkish, Brazilian. She isn't particularly interested in Japanese at the moment and does not care for Indian productions citing a difficulty with the sound of their language not suiting her ears which in turn, distracts her from the action.

Mars, How does your sister happen to have access to so many foreign films and TV series?  Are they shown on a pay channel that she subscribes to?  Out of curiosity I'd like to take a look, but doubt that I would watch on a regular basis.  I'm  already  far behind on both American and British shows I have recorded.

My younger daughter is fascinated with the early silent Hollywood films . . . mostly 1920's.  They are shown on TCM on certain nights during the week.  She records them and watches them on weekends. Last week she saw,  "The It Girl",  staring Clara Bowe, and was urging me to watch it.  Next time it rolls around, I may take a look.

Marilyne, Sue says she gets them all on Netflix. She added saying she really likes the Norwegian crime mysteries, but the last series she watched was Scottish. I don't do Netflix. I only get Amazon Prime and Peacock (until Feb. if I don't start paying extra for it). There a bunch of other free movie and TV  offerings like Tubi, FreeVee, PlutoTV, Fawesome and a few others. There were a bunch that were recently dropped, including Crackle. I do not remember Crackle bit the dust or was assimilated into another venue.

I think I forgot to mention that The Mountain King, aside from being a crime/police procedural, is a serial killer thing. I finished it, surprisingly. I usually stay away from them, so if I had known, I would never have borrowed it.

I am still reading a book of Keith Laumer short stories which are all science fiction I think. They are not bad. So far, I have read everyone of them. Usually I only end up reading half of short story anthologies regardless of genre.

Also, my audio book listen is Mark Harmon and Leon Carroll's Ghosts of Honolulu, a nonfiction book about the beginnings of the real NCIS. The chapters tend to be short which is nice. Mark Harmon narrates.

Now that I have finished Ghosts of Honolulu, I am just starting Ghosts of Panama which follows an NIC special agent as he investigates the murder a marine in Panama which blew up into war with Panama and the removal of Noriega from office. Nonfiction and again narrated by Mark Harmon.

While checking out some sale books on Audible, I ran across J. Warner Wallace who is/was a cold case detective who has written The Truth in True Crime: What Investigating Death Teaches Us About the Meaning of Life and Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible. My online library has Person of Interest, so it is now included on my wish list. I am not much of a true crime reader, but this unusual approach has piqued my curiosity.

Marilyne, remember when we talked a little about Laura Dare's The Last Thing He Told Me? Apparently it was made into an Apple TV+ series. Now she has a sequel coming out in January which is titled The First Time I Saw Him. It is set five years after the first book's events. Now, all I have to do is remember to keep an eye out for it.

From another missing one, Tomereader,

Hi, Patricia.  Hope everyone had a safe and pleasant 4th of July.  If you would, in the places I normally post, let everyone know that I am still "kicking" but it's just my computer that is on it's very last leg!  I'm going to try and get a new one before the month is out.  I try not to sign in to anything, as it freezes up if I've been on longer than 10 minutes max.  This entails Alt/Ctrl/Dele and then it rarely does, and I have to "force shutdown".  Yes, it's frustrating as heck, and I try not to do anything but pay my bills quickly, and get out.  As for shopping, I bet Amazon misses the heck out of me.

Thanks, Patricia, for the update from Tomereader. I am ever so glad it is just her computer that has gone wonky. We've been missed a few, besides Tome, in rather close order for various reasons: MaryPage, PatH2, Barb, and Callie and Phyllis, who only post occasionally. It is getting mighty lonely here. I am happy that we have added OLM to our conversations now. She has added a little spark to the conversations.

Now to my reading. The last three books I have given up on before finishing. I cannot seem to get through Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Doors of Eden before having to send it back to the online library and then wait behind a line of others who want to read it. This last time, it had six waiting behind me. So, that one I plan on buying and starting over. It is actually more my sister's kind of reading than mine. SciFi it may be, but it is one of those spooky, creepy, not quite horror but scary types of stories. I will order a hardcopy book, start over, and when I am finished I will give it to her.

The next is Ghosts of Panama. This is another I will try again later. I kept falling asleep on it in Chapter 2 and decided to try again at another time. Mark Haron's narration style is not what I expected from an actor, not annoying, but certainly with not much "spark". It is like he is reading to himself at bedtime and is about to drop of to sleep. BTW, I saw mentioned on YouTube that he is going to show back up in NCIS this next season. I don't know if it will be regular or irregular appearances.

Lastly, I decided to drop Keith Laumer's short story compendium for a while. Most of the short stories feature a rather thuggish diplomat named Retief and includes gangster-like characters. His Retief series of stories were written between 1963 and 1993 when his passed away. They remind me of the old gangster movies and TV shows that were once popular. He has written other SciFi including a military series about a "self-aware" tank, and a series which is an alternative history.

My newest audio book is the nonfiction Travels with George: In search of Washington and His Legacy by Nathaniel Philbrick. In this book, Philbrick along with his wife and dog follow the trail of Washington's travels during his presidency. So far, I have learned more about Washington's teeth. Did you know they were trying implants back then? I sure didn't.

Just started reading the newest novel, and possibly last, of the Laiden Universe series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Lee is getting the series wrapped up after the death of her husband in 1924.

Patricia,   Thanks for letting everyone know about Barb and Joanne (Tome).  I tried  to contact both of them, but failed.  The situation with Barb sounds serious, so hoping she will be okay?

Mars,   Yes, I remember  "The Last Thing He Told Me",  but will have to review it before reading the sequel, "The First Time I Saw Him".  To make it even more more confusing,  (as to the title) it made me think of a old book by Anita Shreve,  "All He Ever Wanted".  As I remember, that was a good story by Shreve. She wrote a lot of good novels in the past, but I haven't heard anything about her in recent years. 

The book I was thinking about that you read, was  "I See You've Called in Dead", by  John Kenny.  I liked it, and plan to find other books by him. Kenny has a great sense of humor!  The dialogue and some of the situations and characters  were so funny!  The story itself was very predictable, but I enjoyed it anyway.

Other books that I got for Mother's Day, are "The Winemaker's Wife",  and "Great Big Beautiful Life" by Emily Henry.  (Reese's Book Club).   Also my younger daughter gave me  "The Pink Hotel",  by Lisa Jacobs. . . a satire on celebrity life at the Beverly Hills Hotel.   It was a hot mess, IMO, but entertaining if you want a break from your regular reading.