Booking through Thursday....and...

1) We asked last week about what draws you to your favorite kind/genre of book. This week, we want to know--how often do you depart from that comfort zone? If you love mysteries, do you ever read fantasy? If you primarily read cookbooks, do you ever read a good romance?
2) How MUCH variety is there in your reading? Do you mostly stick to one type, with just the occasional toe-dip into a different style? Or do you generally read a variety of things, just, maybe more of your favorite style than anything else?

I really do try and mix up my reading genres. I could just read fantasy all the time but I don't want to become bored with it, and besides I do love other types of books. I never use to read mysteries but now one of my all time favourite writers is Elizabeth George who writes amazing mystery novels. I look at my list of books that I've read and if I see that I've been reading the same type of book for the last little while I make an effort to read something else. I browse through book review sites and if a book's description/review tickles my fancy I'll add that book to my "Get It" list. I don't care if it's fantasy, romance, mystery or general fiction. It's the story that I'm interested in.

We had a lovely evening last night at our neighbour's home. We were invited there for dinner in part as a thank you to DH who mows their lawn and keeps an eye on things for them when they are away on a trip or something. After a long hectic day at work it was just the ticket to start the weekend off right.

Our neighbours have a lovely yard, divided by a cedar hedge into two sections. One section is an area of grass surrounded by garden, with a little shed tucked into the back under a tree. They have one of those things that you can build a fire in, if you know what I mean? It's portable, and people can sit all around it and enjoy the fire from any side, and is great for roasting marshmallows over. The second portion of the yard holds the inground pool, and the walkway around the pool is paved with small multicoloured pebbles and that is surrounded by gardens. They also had built a glass solarium, which is big enough for both a seating area and also an area to eat. At one end is a gas fireplace with glass brick walls on either side of it. A lovely room.

We joined our neighbours, plus another couple for before dinner drinks (beer for everyone else and pop for me, I don't drink). Then dinner was served at a table set up in the solarium. What a spread!! Chicken cooked in the barbecue, baked potatoes, roasted veggies, rice and mushrooms, cauliflower, and Caesar salad. Wine with the meal for those who wanted it. For dessert, a cake topped with plum halves and served with a bowl of luscious whipped creme. Yummy!! Our neighbours and their friends are German so after dinner the Shnapps came out. Six different flavours of Schnapps!! DH tried two of them!!

We sat talking at the table for hours and when it got dark we realized that we could see flashes of lightning in the distance. This continued for quite awhile. Then, around 10 o'clock the wind started to pick up and the lightning spread across the sky in bolder, more vivid flashes. It was obvious that something was brewing and so we decided that it would be prudent to pack things up for the night. The other guest couple got in their car and drove off while DH and I walked home. Five minutes after we got home the storm struck. It was quite wild there for awhile and there was no point in going to bed since the thunder and the heavy rain was making too much of a din. It was fabulous! I love a good storm.

Finished reading Kushiel's Scion this morning. What a story. I hate when such a wonderful book comes to an end. But she's got two more in this series to write so I'll try and be patient and wait for them to come out. Cheers all.