Book a Week in 2014 - BW28

[Robin M]

Today I read and enjoyed Pure Heat (Firehawks) which is the first of a new series by M. L. Buchman.

 

"These daredevil smokejumpers fight more than fires.

The elite fire experts of Mount Hood Aviation fly into places even the CIA can't penetrate.

 

She lives to fight fires

Carly Thomas could read burn patterns before she knew the alphabet. A third-generation forest fire specialist who lost both her father and her fiancé to the flames, she's learned to live life like she fights fires: with emotions shut down.

 

But he's lit an inferno she can't quench

Former smokejumper Steve "Merks" Mercer can no longer fight fires up close and personal, but he can still use his intimate knowledge of wildland burns as a spotter and drone specialist. Assigned to copilot a Firehawk with Carly, they take to the skies to battle the worst wildfire in decades and discover a terrorist threat hidden deep in the Oregon wilderness—but it's the heat between them that really sizzles."

 

I'd previously read a number of Buchman's novels in his military romance Nightstalkers series; this book has several characters from that series playing significant roles.

 

Regards,

Kareni

Karen, you are bad for my pocket book. Every book you mention I end up buying.

[Stacia]

Ronette & Eliana, so good to see you popping back in again! Amy, you too.

 

For those that have already read Lexicon, a comment I had: One of the news report pages mentioned something about how the brain acquires additional languages & stores them in different parts of the brain. Do you know if this is true? I know a lady (Dutch is her first language) fluent in many languages with Dutch, Spanish, & English being her three strongest/main languages. She had a stroke. Afterward, she was able to speak only in Dutch. She has regained her other languages (esp. English as she lives in the US). Anyway, the book's mention made me think of her situation.

 

Not sure I can even begin to answer Negin's question.

 

Eliana, I think you would be fine with Second Person Singular. It is not magical or surreal, just real (and unfortunate) circumstances, imo. The heart-wrenching parts of the story will be what get to you.

[mumto2]

Stacia, Regarding language storage a friend's husband who was a highly accomplished linguist seemed to know his languages literally in order of learning after a massive stroke.  The problem there was his family spoke English his sixth language.  He spoke wonderfully in Russian (second language) with his doctor.

[Negin]

I resisted an e-reader for a long time, too. But I got a Paperwhite for Christmas and have become a convert. 

I resisted for a very long time also. I've had my Kindle (just the regular, basic - no frills one) for about four years. Dd and dh are pushing me to get a Paperwhite. I may :). I will always prefer the feel, touch, and of course, smell of a regular book, but ereaders have their place and are so convenient. 

 

... so while I do keep a mental list of Books That Have Transformed *My* Life (eg, I mentioned The Faith Club, last week), that's not the question I think you're posing... your marvelous quote is asking about books that have a more universal transformational potential.  And I love the language in which it's expressed: "the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until..." (this language echoes a particular construct within Judaism) "... all living humans read the book" (which has its own resonance...).

 

You asked for five; three came instantly to mind:

 

Night, by Elie Wiesel

My Name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok

Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell (sorry, y'all, I can't stop yakking about this book)

 

Yes, I now realize that the question is a very difficult one to answer. Love your list by the way.

 

I think Negin didn't mean that we really think everyone should (or would) react the way we do to the books, but that feeling one gets after reading certain books... where I want to press it upon all my friends and relations...

Eliana, thank you for clarifying. That is exactly what I meant. When I was asking it, I had no intention of being patronizing/offensive. I was just looking for suggestions, and yes, the type of books that we really want our loved ones to read and hopefully enjoy. 

 

Five books I consider must reads:

 

1. The Book Thief

2. Harry Potter (am I allowed to repeat Negin's suggestion?)

3. Moral Animal

4. Winnie the Pooh

5. Hold on to Your Kids

Of course you can repeat from my list :D. You do remember that you and I often have such similar taste in books (that Good Reads pie chart) and in workout DVDs also. I forgot about The Book Thief. I can't believe I forgot that! 

[Onceuponatime]

Stuart Little.

 

:grouphug: I like Stuart Little. :001_smile: (The movie was blasphemous.)

 

What disappoints me is when my own children don't feel the love for the books I once loved. How could they not like My Side of the Mountain and The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler?

[prairiegirl]

:grouphug: I like Stuart Little. :001_smile: (The movie was blasphemous.)

 

What disappoints me is when my own children don't feel the love for the books I once loved. How could they not like My Side of the Mountain and The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler?

 

I feel that same kind of disappointment.  Actually, I have felt that kind of disappointment over the same book.  I loved The Mixed Up Files when I was a kid and was looking forward to reading it with my kids.  They didn't get all excited over it like I did and I felt let down. 

 

Negin,  I have been pondering your question and I really don't have many fiction books that have moved my soul the way that you described.  The only one that comes to mind is The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.  That book rocked my very being.  I told the world about that book and was so disappointed when people didn't  have the same feelings about it that I did.   I am thinking that maybe the book I am reading now (Parnassus on Wheels) might be on that list as well.

 

I can think of more non-fiction books that have moved me and have set my soul on fire  but I don't know if that is what you are looking for.

 

For me, the non-fiction books that make that list  are:

 

Eat, Pray, Love

Broken Open

A Million Little Ways

 

Thanks for making me think.  There is no better thing to ponder on than books.

[shukriyya]

Eliana, your grandbaby is beautiful! She deserves a post of her own so I'll leave it at that. Hoping grandma-hood is all you anticipate it will be.

[Mom-ninja.]

I finished Beating Patellar Tendonitis last night. I hope that by following the suggestions I can finally heal/strengthen my knee. Gave me some things to think about like shoes.

[Pam in CT]

Re: language acquisition and retention:

Stacia, Regarding language storage a friend's husband who was a highly accomplished linguist seemed to know his languages literally in order of learning after a massive stroke.  The problem there was his family spoke English his sixth language.  He spoke wonderfully in Russian (second language) with his doctor.

That is amazing.  How terribly fortunate that his doctor happened to speak Russian...

 

 

 

:grouphug: I like Stuart Little. :001_smile: (The movie was blasphemous.)

 

What disappoints me is when my own children don't feel the love for the books I once loved. How could they not like My Side of the Mountain and The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler?

:iagree: That movie was blasphemous.  Maybe those trash-talking Chat Board ladies mostly knew just the movie, VC...

 

 

I loved, loved, loved Mixed Up Files as a kid, and totally fantasized about running away to live in a museum whenever my parents got (imo) out of line... not one of my kids particularly connected with it.  Dolts.

 

 

[shukriyya]

I'm a bit travel-weary and while I've been following the discussion I seem unable to articulate my thoughts clearly this morning. We got in late last night. I woke in the wee hours thanks to the time difference and have been listening to the dawn chorus as I post on the tablet from a slowly lightening world.

 

I got a serious chunk of reading done on the plane and am now about 1/3 of the way through 'The Golem and the Jinni'. I am thoroughly enjoying this story. It will slip easily into my 5/5 magical realism category.

 

I'm too tired to quote so...

 

Pam, your comment about the impossibility of earthworms being agents of healing in this world set off a little internal reaction of sadness compounded no doubt by fatigue. Wah, my world absolutely includes those articulated little earth angels as very much in the healing realm as they turn over the loam of our lives in a loyal and graceful dance of oxygenation and patience.

 

Negin's posted quote...I take umbrage with the idea that we live in a shattered world. While one only has to look at the situation in the middle east to feel that we've gone to hell in a handbasket there is something else alive and flourishing in the spaces in between that give me a sense of decided wholeness, underscored by the often fractious and dualistic context in which it arises. And while I can't think of any books that changed the direction of my life I can certainly think of people who have. I've read books that moved me, caused some internal tectonic shifts and delighted my soul but they are all bound up in the context in which I read them.

 

I'm sure there's more I wanted to say but that'll have to do for now.

[-M-]

Hello! Since I last posted, I've completed:

 

â–  In the Basement of the Ivory Tower: Confessions of an Accidental Academic (Professor X; 2011. 288 pages. Non-fiction.)
â–  Antony and Cleopatra (William Shakespeare (1606); Folger ed. 2005. 336 pages. Drama.)
â–  The Girl with All the Gifts (M.R. Cary; 2014. 416 pages. Fiction.)
â–  Python for Informatics: Exploring Information (Charles R. Severance; 2013. 244 pages. Non-fiction.)
â–  The Stranger (Albert Camus (1942); 1989 edition. 123 pages. Fiction.)
■ Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë (1847); 2005 B&N edition. 592 pages. Fiction.)
â–  The Fever (Meg Abbott; 2014. 320 pages. Fiction.)

 

That puts me at forty-four, to date. I am about to reread Hamlet and am making my way through two tome-like beach reads: The Three (Lotz) and The Flight of the Silvers (Price).

[Onceuponatime]

 

 

I loved, loved, loved Mixed Up Files as a kid, and totally fantasized about running away to live in a museum whenever my parents got (imo) out of line... not one of my kids particularly connected with it.  Dolts.

 

It just occurred to me that those two favorites of mine were both about running away and living independantly of parents. Perhaps our children do not empathize with that sentiment, which may be a good thing after all. Maybe rugged individualism is on its way out, connectivity is in. I'm all for connections, but seriously, what if we lose it one day? Then I will have survival skills. :coolgleamA:

[Kareni]

 

I loved, loved, loved Mixed Up Files as a kid, and totally fantasized about running away to live in a museum whenever my parents got (imo) out of line... not one of my kids particularly connected with it.  Dolts.

 

Perhaps you should take the lack of your children's love for the Mixed Up Files as a compliment from your children on your parenting -- they may not think that you get out of line!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[LostSurprise]

:grouphug: I like Stuart Little.  :001_smile: (The movie was blasphemous.)

What disappoints me is when my own children don't feel the love for the books I once loved. How could they not like My Side of the Mountain and The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler?

 

 

 

I loved Stuart Little too (although there were a few moments I found mildly creepy or strange as a child). I just read it to my 9 year old. I also like the decision to include pictures on every 2nd or 3rd page. It really helps a younger reader make the move from picture books to books with more complex text. 

 

I loved The Mixed Up Files but it doesn't read as well aloud as it does to yourself. We tried it a few years ago and other than delighting in Jamie's money-mongering and cheating the boys were bored by the mystery of the stone angel. Ah well. My non-reader got into reading with My Side of the Mountain. He even read the whole series (I wasn't fond of the next one myself) before I finished reading the first one out loud. 

[JennW in SoCal]

Finally had some time this morning to catch up with you ladies.  I love Stuart Little!  I didn't know it had gotten bashed in a Chat Room thread.  That's as baffling to me as the hate shown by some WTMers to the Calvin and Hobbes comic strips. Our family loves Calvin and Hobbes.  The one book that brings out the evangelist in me is Rascal by Sterling North.  I fell in love with it while reading it aloud to my kids.  It is the autobiographical story of a year in the author's boyhood, in rural Wisconsin in 1919 when he was 12 and adopted a baby racoon. The animal story is great, of course, but his life is extraordinary, and the writing is just lovely.  He touches upon life without his mother who had passed away, but it is never maudlin or sappy.  He describes camping trips he made alone, the flu epidemic, describes the news of the armistice passing by phone (I had to explain party lines to my kids, though!)  I haven't re-read it to see what I think of it now, but it was an absolute magical read aloud.

 

I've been busy with a bit of life these past few days.  Music obligations, as usual, but also getting geared up for my college boy leaving tomorrow.  He has a few weeks of field work then heads back to campus til Christmas break!  I've also been feverishly finishing the needle-turn applique for this Hawaiian quilt hanging because my mother-in-law will be here in a few days to help me baste the batting in and get me started on the hand quilting.   The pattern is Silver Sword -- the plant that only grows on the top of the Haleakala volcano on Maui.  It's taken me a year to do the applique (by hand), though I wasn't diligently working on it every day -- weeks would go by without a single stitch getting done, but it got done thanks to many hours of good audio books! I'm hoping the quilting goes a little faster...

 

[mumto2]

Finally had some time this morning to catch up with you ladies.  I love Stuart Little!  I didn't know it had gotten bashed in a Chat Room thread.  That's as baffling to me as the hate shown by some WTMers to the Calvin and Hobbes comic strips. Our family loves Calvin and Hobbes.  The one book that brings out the evangelist in me is Rascal by Sterling North.  I fell in love with it while reading it aloud to my kids.  It is the autobiographical story of a year in the author's boyhood, in rural Wisconsin in 1919 when he was 12 and adopted a baby racoon. The animal story is great, of course, but his life is extraordinary, and the writing is just lovely.  He touches upon life without his mother who had passed away, but it is never maudlin or sappy.  He describes camping trips he made alone, the flu epidemic, describes the news of the armistice passing by phone (I had to explain party lines to my kids, though!)  I haven't re-read it to see what I think of it now, but it was an absolute magical read aloud.

 

I've been busy with a bit of life these past few days.  Music obligations, as usual, but also getting geared up for my college boy leaving tomorrow.  He has a few weeks of field work then heads back to campus til Christmas break!  I've also been feverishly finishing the needle-turn applique for this Hawaiian quilt hanging because my mother-in-law will be here in a few days to help me baste the batting in and get me started on the hand quilting.   The pattern is Silver Sword -- the plant that only grows on the top of the Haleakala volcano on Maui.  It's taken me a year to do the applique (by hand), though I wasn't diligently working on it every day -- weeks would go by without a single stitch getting done, but it got done thanks to many hours of good audio books! I'm hoping the quilting goes a little faster...

 

Absolutely gorgeous!!!!!

[aggieamy]

Finally had some time this morning to catch up with you ladies.  I love Stuart Little!  I didn't know it had gotten bashed in a Chat Room thread.  That's as baffling to me as the hate shown by some WTMers to the Calvin and Hobbes comic strips. Our family loves Calvin and Hobbes.  The one book that brings out the evangelist in me is Rascal by Sterling North.  I fell in love with it while reading it aloud to my kids.  It is the autobiographical story of a year in the author's boyhood, in rural Wisconsin in 1919 when he was 12 and adopted a baby racoon. The animal story is great, of course, but his life is extraordinary, and the writing is just lovely.  He touches upon life without his mother who had passed away, but it is never maudlin or sappy.  He describes camping trips he made alone, the flu epidemic, describes the news of the armistice passing by phone (I had to explain party lines to my kids, though!)  I haven't re-read it to see what I think of it now, but it was an absolute magical read aloud.

 

I've been busy with a bit of life these past few days.  Music obligations, as usual, but also getting geared up for my college boy leaving tomorrow.  He has a few weeks of field work then heads back to campus til Christmas break!  I've also been feverishly finishing the needle-turn applique for this Hawaiian quilt hanging because my mother-in-law will be here in a few days to help me baste the batting in and get me started on the hand quilting.   The pattern is Silver Sword -- the plant that only grows on the top of the Haleakala volcano on Maui.  It's taken me a year to do the applique (by hand), though I wasn't diligently working on it every day -- weeks would go by without a single stitch getting done, but it got done thanks to many hours of good audio books! I'm hoping the quilting goes a little faster...

 

 

Jennifer - That is beautiful.  DD and I were just looking for a new read aloud and I guess I'll just pick Rascal rather than going to my list.  

[Jane in NC]

Finally had some time this morning to catch up with you ladies.  I love Stuart Little!  I didn't know it had gotten bashed in a Chat Room thread.  That's as baffling to me as the hate shown by some WTMers to the Calvin and Hobbes comic strips. Our family loves Calvin and Hobbes.  The one book that brings out the evangelist in me is Rascal by Sterling North.  I fell in love with it while reading it aloud to my kids.  It is the autobiographical story of a year in the author's boyhood, in rural Wisconsin in 1919 when he was 12 and adopted a baby racoon. The animal story is great, of course, but his life is extraordinary, and the writing is just lovely.  He touches upon life without his mother who had passed away, but it is never maudlin or sappy.  He describes camping trips he made alone, the flu epidemic, describes the news of the armistice passing by phone (I had to explain party lines to my kids, though!)  I haven't re-read it to see what I think of it now, but it was an absolute magical read aloud.

 

I've been busy with a bit of life these past few days.  Music obligations, as usual, but also getting geared up for my college boy leaving tomorrow.  He has a few weeks of field work then heads back to campus til Christmas break!  I've also been feverishly finishing the needle-turn applique for this Hawaiian quilt hanging because my mother-in-law will be here in a few days to help me baste the batting in and get me started on the hand quilting.   The pattern is Silver Sword -- the plant that only grows on the top of the Haleakala volcano on Maui.  It's taken me a year to do the applique (by hand), though I wasn't diligently working on it every day -- weeks would go by without a single stitch getting done, but it got done thanks to many hours of good audio books! I'm hoping the quilting goes a little faster...

 

 

 

How inspirational!  I have wanted to try one of these needle turn appliques but have been warned on how difficult it is.  I am so impressed!

 

I have been thinking about books that rocked my world (more than shattered).  Part of the deal for me seems that some books arrive at the perfect time in our lives.  If on a winter's night a traveler was one of those books for me as was Fowles' novel The Magus.  I recall distinctly my son placing Nancy Farmer's The Ear, the Eye and the Arm in my hands when he was a preteen.  This book really touched him in part because he was at a phase of thinking about his place in the larger world.  In fact, Farmer's novel continues to live in his bookcase with lots of Calvin and Hobbes, Augustine's Confessions, assorted Tacitus, and countless archaeology books.

 

Which brings up another issue.  Books that rocked our world at twelve or twenty-two may not do so at 52.  Or they may even more so.  Revisiting the classics at this time of my life is richly rewarding because of everything I failed to see on the first go around. 

[Mom-ninja.]

 

Which brings up another issue.  Books that rocked our world at twelve or twenty-two may not do so at 52.  Or they may even more so. 

 

Well, you won't catch me re-reading V.C. Andrews at this time of my life. Or ever again. 

 

[Onceuponatime]

 

 Never mind, I need to go finish The Martian. Only 1 chapter to go.

[Kareni]

... Part of the deal for me seems that some books arrive at the perfect time in our lives.  ...

 

I agree.  I can remember attempting to read Tom Robbins' Even Cowgirls Get the Blues as a sixteen year old, but it did nothing for me.  I read it in college and loved it so much that I went on to read Tom Robbins' oeuvre.  A few years ago, my book group read it and once again it did nothing for me.  (Hmm, perhaps I've regressed!)  It does make me nervous of rereading other old favorites ....

 

Regards,

Kareni

[aggieamy]

I don't care what kids these days are saying.  Mixed Up Files... is one of the best books ever written.  It might have been the first read aloud I ever did with DD.  

[Violet Crown]

Beautiful quilt, JennW! Of course, Eliana's grandbaby still wins the thread...

 

 

I loved Stuart Little too (although there were a few moments I found mildly creepy or strange as a child). I just read it to my 9 year old. I also like the decision to include pictures on every 2nd or 3rd page. It really helps a younger reader make the move from picture books to books with more complex text. 

 

It was the sheer strangeness of Stuart Little that fascinated me. Here was a children's book that was (as I learned to call it later) underdetermined. Stuart's not a mouse; but he's obviously a mouse. And there's never an explanation. He can talk to animals, but he's a young man, not an animal. There's another tiny woman in the world, but she doesn't look like a mouse, and there's no reason why she exists in the world of normal-sized people. And best of all, he never finds Margalo. When I first read it, I thought there must be a sequel; but no. Every time I read it - because I couldn't stop - I wondered, Why doesn't he find the da*n bird? Where's the end? And then one day, when I was about Middle Girl's age, it struck me almost like the roof caving in: because it's not the bird that he's looking for. And that was the beginning of Literature for me.

[Pam in CT]

Well, then, darling...

Pam, your comment about the impossibility of earthworms being agents of healing in this world set off a little internal reaction of sadness compounded no doubt by fatigue. Wah, my world absolutely includes those articulated little earth angels as very much in the healing realm as they turn over the loam of our lives in a loyal and graceful dance of oxygenation and patience.

... have I got a book for YOU!!!   :laugh:

 

 

 

 

Jenn, that is spectacular...

The pattern is Silver Sword -- the plant that only grows on the top of the Haleakala volcano on Maui.  It's taken me a year to do the applique (by hand), though I wasn't diligently working on it every day -- weeks would go by without a single stitch getting done, but it got done thanks to many hours of good audio books! I'm hoping the quilting goes a little faster...

 

... and I looked up the plant -- how funky!!  Does your family have a particular connection to it?

 

 

 

 

I have been thinking about books that rocked my world (more than shattered).  Part of the deal for me seems that some books arrive at the perfect time in our lives.  If on a winter's night a traveler was one of those books for me as was Fowles' novel The Magus.  I recall distinctly my son placing Nancy Farmer's The Ear, the Eye and the Arm in my hands when he was a preteen.  This book really touched him in part because he was at a phase of thinking about his place in the larger world.  In fact, Farmer's novel continues to live in his bookcase with lots of Calvin and Hobbes, Augustine's Confessions, assorted Tacitus, and countless archaeology books.

 

Which brings up another issue.  Books that rocked our world at twelve or twenty-two may not do so at 52.  Or they may even more so.  Revisiting the classics at this time of my life is richly rewarding because of everything I failed to see on the first go around. 

Yes... this is why I am so glad I decided decades ago to abandon the taboos of my upbringing, and mark up my books.  It's soooo revealing to encounter my earlier selves as I reread books that rocked my world in prior lives.

[aggieamy]

I started listening to Making Habits, Breaking Habits: Why We Do Things, Why We Don't, and How To Make Any Change Stick on Audible. Whew. I have a lot of work ahead of me. At least I have made a lot of progress on this project:

 

Finished The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta yesterday. Kind of a new take on the Left Behind Series. I wasn't greatly impressed. If I had been reading the print version I'm sure I would have abandoned it half way through. The plot was weak and then too quickly resolved at the end.  Three stars. I think I'll be moving back to my non-fiction faves for a while.

 

I'm finally coming to terms with the fact that I just don't care for the fantasy genre. I started listening to Night Circus narrated by Jim Dale. Should have been a winner, right? Well, three hours in and I could take it or leave it. I like to read about real people and events, especially historical fiction that feels like non-fiction, or actual history that reads like fiction. I love books about people overcoming the impossible.

 

Whoa.  Back up the BaW Thread a minute.  I saw this when it was posted last week and thought 'oh, that's really pretty' without it registering that you MADE it.  Totally impressive.  That was a major reading comprehension fail on my part.

[aggieamy]

Basically all my reading has consisted of lately is listening to Georgette Heyer audio-books and skim reading books on how to write.  I don't know what that says about me at this point in my life.

 

FINISHED:

 

Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer - audiobook -  I stuck with this one because I've loved everything by GH but it was a struggle in the beginning.  There was some domestic abuse that bothered me in the first few chapters and made me wonder if I was ever going to like our male main character.  There were also parts where it felt like this book was too long.  Despite my intitial misgivings I loved the ending.  I was laughing hysterically at parts in the last chapter.  ****

 

Writing Mysteries by Sue Grafton - meh.  It's been done before and better.  ***

 

IN PROGRESS:

 

Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett -  audiobook - Still listening with DD.  It's taking us awhile though because DH insists on going places with us and we don't want to listen with him in the car since he doesn't know what's going on.

 

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer - audiobook

 

My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell - a book with pages!  

 

 

[mumto2]

I have been busy with library stuff but found a dystopian novel on the shelf per the Goodreads list that I have looked at a couple of times.  Never Let Me Go by Kazoo Ishiguro......I think it has been mentioned at some point here.  I bought it home and plan to try it.  Dystopian is not my favorite.

[Rosie_0801]

I get evangelistic about '101 Dalmations.' Every time I find a copy in a second hand shop I buy it and keep it in my handbag until I find someone to fob it off to.

 

 

Anyway,  :seeya:  from Cairns where I'm lying on my bed wearing a nightie; whereas yesterday I was tucked up between flannelette sheets, under 6 blankets and was wearing a skivvy, a sweater, tracksuit pants and a beanie.

[Pam in CT]

I have been busy with library stuff but found a dystopian novel on the shelf per the Goodreads list that I have looked at a couple of times.  Never Let Me Go by Kazoo Ishiguro......I think it has been mentioned at some point here.  I bought it home and plan to try it.  Dystopian is not my favorite.

 

This is a very disturbing book.  I guess that's much of the point of the dystopian genre, but...

[JennW in SoCal]

I get evangelistic about '101 Dalmations.' Every time I find a copy in a second hand shop I buy it and keep it in my handbag until I find someone to fob it off to.

 

 

Anyway,  :seeya:  from Cairns where I'm lying on my bed wearing a nightie; whereas yesterday I was tucked up between flannelette sheets, under 6 blankets and was wearing a skivvy, a sweater, tracksuit pants and a beanie.

 

 

I loved the book 101 Dalmations when I was a kid.  Haven't seen a copy of it in years -- did all the copies migrate to Australian second hand shops??!

 

Watch for crocs, sharks and snakes, Rosie!!  And sea jellies and everything else that is poisonous and dangerous up there in the tropics.  But have a great time enjoying the tropical weather. :coolgleamA:

[JennW in SoCal]

 

IN PROGRESS:

 

Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett -  audiobook - Still listening with DD.  It's taking us awhile though because DH insists on going places with us and we don't want to listen with him in the car since he doesn't know what's going on.

 

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer - audiobook

 

My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell - a book with pages!  

 

I hope you and your dd enjoy Rascal.  Based on the above reading list, I think you will as you have very similar taste in books.  And I totally empathize with not listening to an audio book in progress when someone new, or new to the book, is in the car.  

 

My Family and Other Animals is a family favorite, and anything Pratchett is automatically a favorite, too!  

[Jane in NC]

I loved the book 101 Dalmations when I was a kid.  Haven't seen a copy of it in years -- did all the copies migrate to Australian second hand shops??!

 

Watch for crocs, sharks and snakes, Rosie!!  And sea jellies and everything else that is poisonous and dangerous up there in the tropics.  But have a great time enjoying the tropical weather. :coolgleamA:

I love another of Dodie Smith's books,      I Capture the Castle.  Who cannot love a book that opens "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink"!

[JennW in SoCal]

 

Jenn, that is spectacular...

... and I looked up the plant -- how funky!!  Does your family have a particular connection to it?

Silverswords_on_haleakala.JPG

 

 

Me again with another post in response to something.  Suppose I could have multi-quoted and put all this into a single post but that would require thoughtful planning and I'm having none of that nonsense this afternoon!!  

 

There is no family connection to the Silversword plant or to Maui in particular but we are forever connected to Hawaii.  Met my dh while we were students at the university there, and most of my in-laws live there.  My mother-in-law teaches Hawaiian Quilting, even designs her own quilt patterns, though this is not one of them.  I did a pillow years ago before kids but hadn't made the time to do one in the meantime.  I picked this simply on its design, and on the batik fabrics I bought at a sale last year.

[shukriyya]

It's been a day of unpacking, laundry, shopping, cleaning and re-orienting all of which has been embroidered with that particular fog that seems to accompany time-zone shifts. Throughout the day Negin's question of what books changed one's life kept bobbing up like a persistent but optimistic cork. Somehow it knew an answer would be forthcoming and sure enough I managed to pull out two books that did in fact change the course of my life. The first is Marion Woodman's, The Pregnant Virgin. I was so moved by what she wrote that I began a brief correspondence with her which shifted the trajectory of my life in ways that affirmed a particular inner structure leading to rich explorations and a slow dawning of the intrinsic value of claiming an authentically embodied life. The second book was Andrew Harvey's, The Way of Passion. That one planted seeds that shaped my spiritual life in ways that bore fruit of the wildest, most thrilling, most unimaginably grace-filled kind.

 

 

I love another of Dodie Smith's books,      I Capture the Castle.  Who cannot love a book that opens "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink"!

 

I uttered an 'oh my goodness' to dh here when I read this, Jane.  I Capture the Castle was a book I read and reread again and again from my late teens through my twenties. It was pure magic, full of a kind of earthy longing and wonderfully captured details, mystery and refinement.  It doesn't seem to be a book that is too well-known either :cheers2: 





 

[shukriyya]

Me again with another post in response to something.  Suppose I could have multi-quoted and put all this into a single post but that would require thoughtful planning and I'm having none of that nonsense this afternoon!!  

 

There is no family connection to the Silversword plant or to Maui in particular but we are forever connected to Hawaii.  Met my dh while we were students at the university there, and most of my in-laws live there.  My mother-in-law teaches Hawaiian Quilting, even designs her own quilt patterns, though this is not one of them.  I did a pillow years ago before kids but hadn't made the time to do one in the meantime.  I picked this simply on its design, and on the batik fabrics I bought at a sale last year.

 

I, too, appear to be having none of that multi-quoting nonsense today either :lol:

 

We lived on Maui at one point and the island has a particular resonance for my family. When I saw mention of Haleakala I felt a little flare of recognition and immediacy. The quilt is gorgeous, Jenn, and what a wonderful way to nourish your connection with the Island. What part of Maui is your 'home'?

 

[shukriyya]

I get evangelistic about '101 Dalmations.' Every time I find a copy in a second hand shop I buy it and keep it in my handbag until I find someone to fob it off to.

 

 

Anyway,  :seeya:  from Cairns where I'm lying on my bed wearing a nightie; whereas yesterday I was tucked up between flannelette sheets, under 6 blankets and was wearing a skivvy, a sweater, tracksuit pants and a beanie.

 

:seeya: I'm having a little linguistic rush upon seeing the exoticism of the words 'skivvy, nightie, beanie and flannelette' never mind that they are all in the same sentence :lol:

 

[Pam in CT]

OK, VC, I have been quoting this aloud to myself all afternoon and evening...

It was the sheer strangeness of Stuart Little that fascinated me. Here was a children's book that was (as I learned to call it later) underdetermined. Stuart's not a mouse; but he's obviously a mouse. And there's never an explanation. He can talk to animals, but he's a young man, not an animal. There's another tiny woman in the world, but she doesn't look like a mouse, and there's no reason why she exists in the world of normal-sized people. And best of all, he never finds Margalo. When I first read it, I thought there must be a sequel; but no. Every time I read it - because I couldn't stop - I wondered, Why doesn't he find the da*n bird? Where's the end? And then one day, when I was about Middle Girl's age, it struck me almost like the roof caving in: because it's not the bird that he's looking for. And that was the beginning of Literature for me.

 

... A mere "like" really doesn't do it justice!

[Robin M]

Good Afternoon, ladies.  Too many things to quote so thoughts:

 

Beautiful grandbaby, Eliana! 

 

Jenn, Awe inspiring quilt.  So much creativity and inspiration from all you gals. 

 

Intrigued by Embers and The Girl with All the Gifts. Both added to my want list. 

 

 

E-readers.  Fought it for a long time, got one of the very first edition Barnes and Noble nook's and liked it. Especially for traveling. No more over weight suitcases. Have since upgraded to an Ipad which can read any ebook for Kindle, nook or whomever.   At this point about 50% of my reads are ebook and love the convenience and way too easy to go overboard with spending.  Gotta watch that budget.

 

 

Big news:  To Kill a Mockingbird is now available in ebook and audio format

 

I just know you all want to add more books to your wishlist so here is the Millions list of Anticipated releases for the 2nd half of the year.

 

 

Still plugging away with Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.  Took a break with the next book in Nalini Singh's Psy Changeling series and just finished #8 Bonds of Justice. 

 

Thanks to Kareni just downloaded Kristen Ashley's "Own the Wind" and M.L  Buchman "Pure Heat."  *sigh*

 

 

[JennW in SoCal]

OK, VC, I have been quoting this aloud to myself all afternoon and evening...

 

... A mere "like" really doesn't do it justice!

 

I've been thinking of this, too, all afternoon but my Southern California response is more, "Whoa dude! It's, like, not the bird he's looking for."  Of course my geek-damaged brain pictures Obi Wan Kenobi in the hover car waving his hand as Stuart Little goes by, "These are not the birds you are looking for..."  and Stuart blithely drives on. 

 

 

But, seriously, I'm going to track down our copy of Stuart Little and reread it this week.  

 

Any profound literary pearls of wisdom about Trumpet of the Swan?  I liked that book a smidge better, but have to confess to not liking Charlotte's Web too much.  I found the pig somewhat annoying...

 

Can we talk E. Nesbit books tomorrow?

[Robin M]

I've been thinking of this, too, all afternoon but my Southern California response is more, "Whoa dude! It's, like, not the bird he's looking for."  Of course my geek-damaged brain pictures Obi Wan Kenobi in the hover car waving his hand as Stuart Little goes by, "These are not the birds you are looking for..."  and Stuart blithely drives on. 

 

 

But, seriously, I'm going to track down our copy of Stuart Little and reread it this week.  

 

Any profound literary pearls of wisdom about Trumpet of the Swan?  I liked that book a smidge better, but have to confess to not liking Charlotte's Web too much.  I found the pig somewhat annoying...

 

Can we talk E. Nesbit books tomorrow?

 

Loved Trumpet of the Swan. We did it as a read aloud and I  spent a lot of time explaining things to James. Once he got older, he read it for himself and even know, he occasionally sneaks it out and reads it.  Same with Stuart Little.   All this talk about the books are making me want to pull them out and reread as well.

 

I have to admit the only Nesbit book I've read is The Railway Children. 

 

 

[melmichigan]

I really like the professor so far, his enthousiasm is contagious. And I'm really enjoying The Odyssey, much more than I expected. It's a reread in the Fagles translation and I have read it twice before in different Dutch translations. It's getting better and more 'comfy' every time (ahum, comfy might not be the proper way to talk about such a classic....and obviously not when talking about all the slaughter...still, it's way more comfy than The Illiad :D).

:iagree: He is a wonderful professor.  

I read the Robert Fitzgerald translation because that is what my DD will use with TOG this coming year.  I may have to go back and read Fagles translation based on the few quotes that were read in class.  It just sounds so different from what I read, but then again maybe it was the professor and his familiarity with the material.

 

ETA:  I'm going to pout now, the forum won't let me see the grandbaby you are all gushing over, and I love baby pictures.

[aggieamy]

Mumto2 - Did you see any of the Tour de France when it was in your part of the world?  DH and I have watched it for a bit every morning.  I was going to wave to you if I saw you but then I remembered - I don't know what you look like and you can't see me through my TV.   :laugh:   

[Stacia]

Jenn, gorgeous quilt. I have a connection to Hawaii too -- lived there when I was a child (& my sister was born there). All my first childhood memories are from there. I think that's why the Pacific Ocean is in my heart & soul & I'd so badly love to live out west along the Pacific coast.

 

Dd got to read "I Capture the Castle" this past year in her Brit Lit class. They had a light/fun list of books to choose from for one assignment & dd picked "I Capture the Castle" & enjoyed it.

 

I don't think I've ever read Stuart Little. :leaving:  Another one here that loved "The Mixed Up Files..." when I was a kid but neither of my dc had any interest in it whatsoever. Can't really remember a fave book from that time period in my life other than "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" -- I think I could identify w/ the main character having a younger sibling like Fudge. :rolleyes: ;)

 

Eliana, your granddaughter is beautiful! Thanks for sharing her sweet photo with us! :grouphug:

 

I want to read "Jonathan Strange..." too. Just got home a little while ago, not sure if I'll get to the library tomorrow or not....

[mumto2]

Many of my posts have been lost this week.  No longer sure what has actually managed to post.  Wish I knew what the problem is.

 

 Eliana -- Grandbaby is beautiful.

 

Amy -- We didn't try to go and watch the tour live.  Can't believe how many were there.  Our roads were completely nuts with closures and traffic.  We watched on the telly.  Just started day 2 so behind.  Found lots of future field trips with dh saying that looks good constantly.

 

Jenn-- Love E. NESBITT, We read several.

 

VC--Stuart Little we liked.  I didn't get to read it as a child. :(  probably saw the movie too close to book to love it....

[mumto2]

I get evangelistic about '101 Dalmations.' Every time I find a copy in a second hand shop I buy it and keep it in my handbag until I find someone to fob it off to.

 

 

Anyway,  :seeya:  from Cairns where I'm lying on my bed wearing a nightie; whereas yesterday I was tucked up between flannelette sheets, under 6 blankets and was wearing a skivvy, a sweater, tracksuit pants and a beanie.

I have always wanted to go to Cairns.  Huge part of my dream trip to Australia.  Have a wonderful time.

 

We loved 101 Dalmatians and were actually just talking about it the other day on a walk.  The dc's were explaining to dh how great the book was and where Disney had changed the story.  

 

I just got done searching for I Capture the Castle since we have never read it.  Listed as a mood altering book.......haven't got to that in training but it is apparently a huge special category.  Haven't ran into one just heard them mentioned.  Very curious now.

 

While looking for I capture the castle I discovered an unknown to me sequel to 101 Dalmations. http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/reviews/books/0-312-15664-2.html. It sounds different...have requested it.  Couldn't resist but sci fi dalmations.......:lol:

[mumto2]

Stacia,  I think you would really like Jonathan Strange.  Shukriyya from what I have read so far I think you would like it also.

 

Pam,  thanks for the comment about Never Let Me Go.  I suspected disturbing which is why I kept looking but not actually checking out.  I think I will try it but discard it quickly if I am not comfortable with it.  The beauty of library books.....easy to return!

[Rosie_0801]

:seeya: I'm having a little linguistic rush upon seeing the exoticism of the words 'skivvy, nightie, beanie and flannelette' never mind that they are all in the same sentence :lol:

 

 

Oh come on! I remembered to say sweater instead of jumper!

[mumto2]

Good Afternoon, ladies.  Too many things to quote so thoughts:

 

Beautiful grandbaby, Eliana! 

 

Jenn, Awe inspiring quilt.  So much creativity and inspiration from all you gals. 

 

Intrigued by Embers and The Girl with All the Gifts. Both added to my want list. 

 

 

E-readers.  Fought it for a long time, got one of the very first edition Barnes and Noble nook's and liked it. Especially for traveling. No more over weight suitcases. Have since upgraded to an Ipad which can read any ebook for Kindle, nook or whomever.   At this point about 50% of my reads are ebook and love the convenience and way too easy to go overboard with spending.  Gotta watch that budget.

 

 

Big news:  To Kill a Mockingbird is now available in ebook and audio format

 

I just know you all want to add more books to your wishlist so here is the Millions list of Anticipated releases for the 2nd half of the year.

 

 

Still plugging away with Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.  Took a break with the next book in Nalini Singh's Psy Changeling series and just finished #8 Bonds of Justice. 

 

Thanks to Kareni just downloaded Kristen Ashley's "Own the Wind" and M.L  Buchman "Pure Heat."  *sigh*

I actually made it through the millions new release list.  Great list, but dangerous!!! :lol: I spent last night going through one created by my friend (village librarian) and this one seemed to have many that I had skipped looking at on her list because I wasn't familiar with the author, since this one had the descriptions included I added several of those to my reserve list.   Also found several not on her list which are ordered by the system,  ended up with a few of those too. ;)  my reserves are really long, just hope they spread themselves out. 

[Onceuponatime]

Life is intruding in my reading, but yesterday I finished The Martian and started Spotted Horses by William Faulkner. It is in a 3-fer book and the short length was why I chose it. I was blown away on the first page. I felt like I'd forgotten what richness language can have. In fact, to my embarrassment, I had to reread some passages a couple of times to get the cadence and depth of the story and not just skim through it.

[Shawneinfl]

Oh my! I have been completely neglectful of reading aloud this summer. I did declare July "electronics free month" at our house and though we have worked a couple of puzzles and played some board games,  I have not read one book aloud to my children this month. Running upstairs to get Rascal, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, and Stuart Little. Thank you ladies.

 

BTW, Mixed-Up Files was one of the first audio books I ever listened to in the early 70's. It could probably count as one of my "life-changing" books.