Book a Week in 2014 - BW35

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday, my lovelies!  Today is the start of week 35 in our quest to read 52 Books. Welcome back to all our readers, to all those who are just joining in and to all who are following our progress. Mr. Linky is all set up on the 52 Books blog to link to your reviews. The link is below in my signature.

 

52 Books Blog - Ray Bradbury:   I have been in a creative writing mood lately so was fascinated when I came across Ray Bradbury's speech from a 2001 writing symposium.   He talks about ways for writers to improve their craft by reading one short story, one poem and one essay every night for a 1000 nights.  In particular,  quality short stories from authors such as Roald Dahl, Guy de Maupassant, and the lesser-known Nigel Kneale and John Collier. And one should read a wide variety of essays from areas including archaeology, zoology, biology, philosophy, politics, and literature.  By the end of that period, your mind will be full of ideas and images to use in your writing.  Stuff your head with literature, good literature, not the modern stuff,  and you'll never run out of ideas. He also suggests writers write one short story a week for a full year instead of working on one novel as a way to practice your craft. Maybe I'll take him up on that...next year. *grin*

Seems to me his idea to read one short story, poem and a essay a night could apply for readers as well. You know me and my rabbit trails.  Just think of all the directions our reading could take. And who knows, a few of you may even be inspired to write.  I may just have to come up with a Ray Bradbury mini challenge for next year.  Who knows where it will lead.

Anyway, in honor of Ray Bradbury's birthday,  read one of his works this year.

 

 

 

History of the Ancient World:  Chapters 42 and 43

 

 

What are you reading this week?

 

 

 

Link to week 34

 

[Robin M]

Thank you for all the anniversary wishes. I made mustard coated rack of lamb which turned out quite delicious. Thank goodness for the ginger, because I'm still tasting garlic this morning. Overdid it just a tiny bit.  :drool5:

 

Still in my reread phase and into J.D. Robb's Seduction in Death.

[Violet Crown]

Robin, Bradbury's advice makes me think of Penguin Books' various sets of short literature, such as were discussed last year (was it already last year?). Must get back to their Great Ideas Boxed Set. http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/greatideas/index_1.html

 

Another famous bit from Boswell's Life of Johnson:

 

ERSKINE. "Surely, Sir, Richardson is very tedious." JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, if you were to read Richardson for the story, your impatience would be so much fretted that you would hang yourself. But you must read him for the sentiment, and consider the story as only giving occasion to the sentiment."

 

Apparently someone floated the idea that he be put forward for a seat in the House of Commons, but it was generally agreed that witty epigrams don't hold up when one actually needs to produce substantive policy speeches. Nearing the halfway mark!

 

I'm excited to get in a post on the thread before church for a change. Must go soon, and then out for my special dinner.... How many posts do you have to have around here for your birthday to show up on the sidebar, anyway? ;)

 

ETA: And belated happy anniversary, Robin!

[Robin M]

Robin, Bradbury's advice makes me think of Penguin Books' various sets of short literature, such as were discussed last year (was it already last year?). Must get back to their Great Ideas Boxed Set. http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/greatideas/index_1.html

 

Another famous bit from Boswell's Life of Johnson:

 

ERSKINE. "Surely, Sir, Richardson is very tedious." JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, if you were to read Richardson for the story, your impatience would be so much fretted that you would hang yourself. But you must read him for the sentiment, and consider the story as only giving occasion to the sentiment."

 

Apparently someone floated the idea that he be put forward for a seat in the House of Commons, but it was generally agreed that witty epigrams don't hold up when one actually needs to produce substantive policy speeches. Nearing the halfway mark!

 

I'm excited to get in a post on the thread before church for a change. Must go soon, and then out for my special dinner.... How many posts do you have to have around here for your birthday to show up on the sidebar, anyway? ;)

 

ETA: And belated happy anniversary, Robin!

 

It is party time!  Happy Birthday and hope you have an absolutely awesome day!!!!!    :grouphug:

 

[Jane in NC]

I'll admit upfront that I am on chapter 34 of HoAW.  Could be worse.  :laugh:

 

Looks like it will be an Archipelago Press week for me.  I plan on reading Rilke's essays on Rodin as well as Our Lady of the Nile written by Rwandan author Scholastique Mukasonga. (Envisioning VC having a daughter named Scholastique.) From the Archipelago website:

 

 

In her first novel, Our Lady of the Nile, originally published in 2012 by Gallimard, Scholastique Mukasonga drops us into an elite Catholic boarding school for young women perched on the ridge of the Nile. Parents send their daughters to Our Lady of the Nile to be molded into respectable citizens . . . and to escape the dangers of the outside world. Fifteen years prior to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, we watch as these girls try on their parents’ preconceptions and attitudes, transforming the lycée into a microcosm of the country’s mounting racial tensions and violence. In the midst of the interminable rainy season, everything unfolds behind the closed doors of the school: friendship, curiosity, fear, deceit, prejudice, and persecution. With a masterful prose that is at once subtle and penetrating, Mukasonga captures a society hurtling toward horror.

 

And I'll still be reading Tsvetaeva's poetry written in an attic garret during what she calls "the plague year", i.e. 1919. WWI may have been over but factions within Russia were fighting for control.

 

You Flufferton girls may be called upon to lighten my mood.

[shukriyya]

Happy Birthday, VC!

 

 

 

And the perfect birthday cake...

 

 

 

Enjoy your day, you share a birthday with my mom :D

 

[JennW in SoCal]

Robin, did you feel any of the Napa quake this morning? Your anniversary dinner sounds amazing and ambitious, by the way! 

 

 

And Happy Birthday, Violet Crown!  I think you have to have put your birthdate in your profile to get the automatic birthday notice in the side bar.  But we'll celebrate for you even without it!

 

Apparently someone floated the idea that he be put forward for a seat in the House of Commons, but it was generally agreed that witty epigrams don't hold up when one actually needs to produce substantive policy speeches. Nearing the halfway mark!

 

I suppose today we could say that witty Tweets don't hold up when one needs to produce substantive policy anything....

 

Jane, I imagine you'd go for some good mysteries rather than Flufferton Abbey stuff to balance your heavier reading.  Have you read Tony Hilllerman's detective series set in the Navajo Nation?  

[aggieamy]

Happy belated anniversary Robin!

 

Happy birthday VC!

 

Things have been a bit *violent* these days at Flufferton Abbey for me.  Quite a few fight scenes and murders. 

 

What Remains of the Day and Where Shadows Dance by CS Harris.  Rather than doing a formal review I'd like to tell you about my evening of reading these two Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries.  I picked #5 up at the library on Friday about 5 o'clock.  Read a chapter.  Fixed dinner for my family and then afterwards sat on the couch and read a bit more.  Got the kids in bed.  Sat in bed myself and finished it at 9 o'clock.  Tried to talk DH into helping me break into the public library to pick up book #6.  He refused.  (Try not to judge him harshly - he's still overall a good man.)  So I was forced to download it to my Kindle and stayed up until 3 am finishing it.  

 

I'm loving this series.  Adventure!  Mystery!  Intrigue!  Murder!  Romance!   ... boy oh boy is there romance!  I don't even know if I'm supposed to be enjoying the romance parts as much as I am but I'm loving it!  

 

Mumto2 - Have you finished all the published books already?  

[shukriyya]

I finished 'Maids of Misfortune' last week and moved on to 'Picking Bones from Ash' by Marie Mutsuki Mockett. I have tended to shy away from mother-daughter stories, having read a lot of them in my 20s and 30s and having lived that trajectory out with all its attendant brooks, streams, gullies and rivers and occasional washouts lol, but the Japanese component drew me in. I've always enjoyed books with this culture layered on or through the story. So far I'm enjoying all the attention to detail which is both spare and lush.

 

After seeing 'The Belle of Amherst' on Amazon a few nights ago I decided to dip further into Emily Dickinson's life and am reading Emily Dickinson : Beyond the Myth by Patricia Serra. Very enjoyable so far. Dare I admit that I've not read much of ED...there is something almost too close for comfort for me about her life, work and lens. But I'm enjoying this book so far.

 

Thanks to Whispersync I've been toggling back and forth between reading and listening (while I knit) to Tara Brach's 'Radical Acceptance'. I recently discovered her guided meditations and, like those, this book is very accessible.

 

I think I'm finding my reading groove again :hurray:

[Jane in NC]

Happy Birthday VC!  I hope you have a lovely day and joyous year ahead.

 

Jane, I imagine you'd go for some good mysteries rather than Flufferton Abbey stuff to balance your heavier reading.  Have you read Tony Hilllerman's detective series set in the Navajo Nation?  

 

Did PBS air some dramatizations of Hillerman's stories a few years ago? I enjoyed those but have not read the books. 

[Violet Crown]

Happy Birthday, VC!

 

Enjoy your day, you share a birthday with my mom :D

 

Happy birthday to your mom! Is that Samuel Johnson in the first picture? It looks like it could be. ;)

 

  

And Happy Birthday, Violet Crown!  I think you have to have put your birthdate in your profile to get the automatic birthday notice in the side bar.  But we'll celebrate for you even without it!

 

I suppose today we could say that witty Tweets don't hold up when one needs to produce substantive policy anything....

 

 

Now I'm reading all of Johnson's pithy sayings as tweets. They hold up pretty well!

 

I can find me if I click on "View all birthdays." I'm next on the list. So I think I just have to figure out how to get one of the people listed visibly banned from the forums, and I should make the page.

[shukriyya]

Jane, I imagine you'd go for some good mysteries rather than Flufferton Abbey stuff to balance your heavier reading.  Have you read Tony Hilllerman's detective series set in the Navajo Nation?  

 

I went through a period of reading these and thoroughly enjoyed them.

 

Happy birthday to your mom!

 

 

My mom has been gone a while but I'll likely remember your birthday now because you share it with her. My dad, who's also gone, shares a birthday with a good friend of mine and I remember her birthday with no need for reminders for that reason :D

 

 

Is that Samuel Johnson in the first picture? It looks like it could be. ;)

 

:smilielol5:

[TeacherZee]

Happy Birthday VC!

 

Happy anniversary Robin!

 

I am still happily ensconced in the world of upper crust Britain. I'm on book 6 now (dam you Amazon and your one click purchases). They aren't actually as predictable as they could have been and I love imagining the world of aristocrats trying to keep up the appearance that they have money even though they are poor as Church mice.

 

I need to get started on a re-read of The Giver as the firsties will be starting that this week.

[Stacia]

 

 

Ah, Violet Crown, Happy Birthday!

[Robin M]

Robin, did you feel any of the Napa quake this morning? Your anniversary dinner sounds amazing and ambitious, by the way! 

 

 

And Happy Birthday, Violet Crown!  I think you have to have put your birthdate in your profile to get the automatic birthday notice in the side bar.  But we'll celebrate for you even without it!

 

 

I suppose today we could say that witty Tweets don't hold up when one needs to produce substantive policy anything....

 

Jane, I imagine you'd go for some good mysteries rather than Flufferton Abbey stuff to balance your heavier reading.  Have you read Tony Hilllerman's detective series set in the Navajo Nation?  

No, even though Napa is about an hour away,  I slept right through it.  Watching news now. They are saying it was 6 miles down versus Loma Prieta back in the 90's which was 11 miles down.  Scared the heck out of my relatives in the bay area.

 

 

Happy belated anniversary Robin!

 

Happy birthday VC!

 

Things have been a bit *violent* these days at Flufferton Abbey for me.  Quite a few fight scenes and murders. 

 

What Remains of the Day and Where Shadows Dance by CS Harris.  Rather than doing a formal review I'd like to tell you about my evening of reading these two Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries.  I picked #5 up at the library on Friday about 5 o'clock.  Read a chapter.  Fixed dinner for my family and then afterwards sat on the couch and read a bit more.  Got the kids in bed.  Sat in bed myself and finished it at 9 o'clock.  Tried to talk DH into helping me break into the public library to pick up book #6.  He refused.  (Try not to judge him harshly - he's still overall a good man.)  So I was forced to download it to my Kindle and stayed up until 3 am finishing it.  

 

I'm loving this series.  Adventure!  Mystery!  Intrigue!  Murder!  Romance!   ... boy oh boy is there romance!  I don't even know if I'm supposed to be enjoying the romance parts as much as I am but I'm loving it!  

 

Mumto2 - Have you finished all the published books already?  

Thank goodness for Kindle.  :laugh:

[Jane in NC]

Joining our chorus wishing VC a Happy Birthday:

 

 

 

(Your birthday gave me an excuse to Google images of Giovanni Boccaccio!)

[Stacia]

By the end of that period, your mind will be full of ideas and images to use in your writing. Stuff your head with literature, good literature, not the modern stuff, and you'll never run out of ideas.

:toetap05:

 

I still will argue that there is modern 'stuff' that is good literature. The stuff we consider good literature was, once upon a time when it was written, modern too.

 

And was Bradbury saying his work is not good lit? Because he would fall into the modern category. :tongue_smilie:

Looks like it will be an Archipelago Press week for me.

Me too. Still working on Elias Khoury's White Masks.

I think I'm finding my reading groove again :hurray:

:thumbup:

Happy birthday to your mom! Is that Samuel Johnson in the first picture? It looks like it could be. ;)

:smilielol5:

I can find me if I click on "View all birthdays." I'm next on the list. So I think I just have to figure out how to get one of the people listed visibly banned from the forums, and I should make the page.

You've just gotta know how to talk to people...

 

;)

[Jane in NC]

No, even though Napa is about an hour away,

 

 

Jane has fantasies of a BaW wine tasting....

 

[Robin M]

Jane has fantasies of a BaW wine tasting....

 

 

If you ever get out this way, we'll do the limo tasting tour of the wineries.

 

[shukriyya]

Jane has fantasies of a BaW wine tasting....

 

 

Double like!

 

 

[Stacia]

I can be the designated driver, lol.

[shukriyya]

I can be the designated driver, lol.

 

We can keep you well supplied with chocolate, Stacia :smilielol5:

 

What kind of audio book would be a good accompaniment for such a tour, I wonder? Perhaps The Rubaiyat? Lots of wonderfully mystical wine imagery there. Or Wine Cups on the Stream by Lady Murasaki. Or maybe something a little more prosaic...these fellows seem to have hit on the right idea. Treachery in Bordeaux looks like it would be the perfect accompaniment :D

[Ali in OR]

Still not reading much. Thanks to my treadmill routine I'm working my way through the Tiffany Aching books. Finished A Hat Full of Sky and am currently reading Wintersmith. Enjoying those. I read Sodium Girl's Limitless Low-Sodium Cookbook. Kind of inspiring, but a bit too "foodie" for practical, family cooking--getting more useful recipes from Dick Logue's 500 Low Sodium Recipes, but I won't count that on my reading list since it is mostly just recipes, unlike Sodium Girl's (Jessica Goldman Foung). We're trying a low sodium diet here to see if it will help with a particular health issue in a family member.

 

Trying to re-read The Secret Life of Bees which dd needs to do a project on for her summer reading assignment for her freshman English class in the local school. I need to transition more to a "hands-off" or at least slightly less controlling role as she no longer home schools, but I do want to make sure she starts strong. Also need to read Richard Powers' Generosity for our book club Tuesday night--yikes! May not get that done. On chapter 29 of HOTAW--just a wee bit behind.

[mumto2]

Happy belated anniversary Robin!

 

Happy birthday VC!

 

Things have been a bit *violent* these days at Flufferton Abbey for me.  Quite a few fight scenes and murders. 

 

What Remains of the Day and Where Shadows Dance by CS Harris.  Rather than doing a formal review I'd like to tell you about my evening of reading these two Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries.  I picked #5 up at the library on Friday about 5 o'clock.  Read a chapter.  Fixed dinner for my family and then afterwards sat on the couch and read a bit more.  Got the kids in bed.  Sat in bed myself and finished it at 9 o'clock.  Tried to talk DH into helping me break into the public library to pick up book #6.  He refused.  (Try not to judge him harshly - he's still overall a good man.)  So I was forced to download it to my Kindle and stayed up until 3 am finishing it.  

 

I'm loving this series.  Adventure!  Mystery!  Intrigue!  Murder!  Romance!   ... boy oh boy is there romance!  I don't even know if I'm supposed to be enjoying the romance parts as much as I am but I'm loving it!  

 

Mumto2 - Have you finished all the published books already?

 

  

 

So glad you still are enjoying these books. I haven't had a chance to read All the Kings Men yet. It came out shortly after I finished my Sebastian St. Cyr marathon. I need to get it but the stack is high. Apparently another on is coming in May 2015.

 

 

 

 Jane, I imagine you'd go for some good mysteries rather than Flufferton Abbey stuff to balance your heavier reading.  Have you read Tony Hilllerman's detective series set in the Navajo Nation?

 

I have read several of Hillerman's Navajo Nation series also. They were quite good.

 

On the Flufferton Abbey front I think I have managed to find the perfect book for my fluuff reading tastes....the Abbey (castle) is owned by a vampire. Fun stuff so far imo. http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-4926-0491-4#path/978-1-4926-0491-4

 

 

Violet Crown, Happy Birthday!!!! I hope you have a wonderful time at your Special Dinner.

[shukriyya]

Still not reading much. Thanks to my treadmill routine I'm working my way through the Tiffany Aching books. Finished A Hat Full of Sky and am currently reading Wintersmith. Enjoying those. I read Sodium Girl's Limitless Low-Sodium Cookbook. Kind of inspiring, but a bit too "foodie" for practical, family cooking--getting more useful recipes from Dick Logue's 500 Low Sodium Recipes, but I won't count that on my reading list since it is mostly just recipes, unlike Sodium Girl's (Jessica Goldman Foung). We're trying a low sodium diet here to see if it will help with a particular health issue in a family member.

 

 

Not sure what health issue you're working with but have you looked at The High Blood Pressure Solution? Often the approach is to increase magnesium and potassium rather than strictly reducing sodium. Results are fairly dramatic. I imagine this might apply to areas other than high bp where sodium reduction is required.

[Jane in NC]

We can keep you well supplied with chocolate, Stacia :smilielol5:

 

What kind of audio book would be a good accompaniment for such a tour, I wonder? Perhaps The Rubaiyat? Lots of wonderfully mystical wine imagery there. Or Wine Cups on the Stream by Lady Murasaki. Or maybe something a little more prosaic...these fellows seem to have hit on the right idea. Treachery in Bordeaux looks like it would be the perfect accompaniment :D

 

Audio book?  Do you think that we'd stop talking in order to listen? 

[shukriyya]

Audio book?  Do you think that we'd stop talking in order to listen? 

 

Good point, my ever practical friend, but by the end of the tour the wine might have a slight dampening effect on our loquacious ways...unless, of course, copious amounts of good, washed rind cheese and various olives, breads and crackers were consumed.

[aggieamy]

I finished book #40 Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson yesterday.  I was highly anticipating this novel after loving her first book, Edenbrooke, but I was a little disappointed.  I did not care for the heroine of the story for the first quarter, maybe third, of the book.  She came across as selfish and too determined to get her way no matter the cost.  This is the reason I could not like Divergent.  I couldn't care for Tris.  Anyway, as I kept reading, the story eventually began divulging the past and finally began to make some sense.  Honestly, if I was writing this story, I would have given the reader some of the past earlier on.  Not enough to give the plot away, but enough to realize why our heroine would be acting the way she was.  Without that back story, she was simply unlikeable.   I also thought the author brought in a couple plot lines that she just left hanging which was frustrating.  I was excited about the new twist I thought she was going to take and then nothing.  All that being said, I couldn't put it down near the end.  Her first book was one of my favorites two years ago.  She caught me up in the story right away which is why I was able to ignore some of the things that Amy didn't like about it.  However, with this book, because she couldn't get me connected with the heroine or the story line, I noticed the language that was decidedly not Regency as well as the lack of follow through with the plot lines.  So it gets a 3 star from me, only because I was not able to put it down at the end.  

 

Still working on The Wizard of Oz and needing to start The Mysterious Benedict Society for our co-op class.

 

Joining our chorus wishing VC a Happy Birthday:

 

 

 

(Your birthday gave me an excuse to Google images of Giovanni Boccaccio!)

 

Jane is always just looking for an excuse to Google Giovanni Broccaccio!

[Negin]

I'm excited to get in a post on the thread before church for a change. Must go soon, and then out for my special dinner.... How many posts do you have to have around here for your birthday to show up on the sidebar, anyway?

 

 

[Negin]

In the past few weeks, I've read:

 

The Goldfinch - 3 Stars - Very good for the first two-thirds or so, then in it got frustratingly long. I felt as if she was possibly being paid per word like Dickens was. Overall, I have mixed feelings about this book. I’m not really sure whether I enjoyed it or not, which is quite unusual for me. I'm not even sure if I can recommend it to others or not.

 

Hush - 4 Stars - An exciting and easy read – a basic serial killer police thriller. The author Anne Frasier/Theresa Weir is one that I often enjoy.

 

The Long Walk Home - 2 Stars - Nice to read about Wales where I grew up. Other than that, nothing incredible –predictable and easy read. A bit similar to "Bridges of Madison County", although I really hated the latter and prefer this one. 

 

:D

 

MY RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars

Fantastic, couldn't put it down

4 Stars

Really Good

3 Stars

Enjoyable

2 Stars

Just Okay – nothing to write home about

1 Star

Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

[Uff Da!]

Happy Birthday Violet Crown!

Happy Anniversary Robin!

 

I started reading Life of Pi.  I'm having trouble reading as I just want to walk everywhere.  I walked one trail four times today.  Then I wandered out to the lake and sat looking out at it because I didn't know where else to go.  I think I may have to try audible for fall.  Then I can walk and go the lake to work on embroidering the infamous graduation quilt that needs to be done by May 2015.  

[Just Robyn]

I finished Fool Moon by Jim Butcher, which was just as fun as the first book in the series. And I just now finished Watchmen by Alan Moore. This was well-crafted, but it was tedious for me because I found most of the characters really boring. I'm glad to be done with it.

[Mom-ninja.]

My you all are chatty. 

 

Happy birthday, VC

 

and Happy anniversary Robin

 

 

I can't remember the last book I posted here. I'm just trying to keep up with all the posts. Does that count as a book?

 

 

I read Bradbury earlier this year. 

[Stacia]

:001_wub:  your granddaughter's photo, Eliana. She's a gorgeous little lady.

[shukriyya]

Missing my grandbaby:

 

I shall drift off to sleep with the image of this lovely, little earth-angel blessing me...

[Pam in CT]

Good evening, ladies!  Happy birthday, VC!  Happy anniversary, Robin!  Congrats on getting back into groove, shukriyya!  Gorgeous baby, Eliana!

 

 

To go along w/ Pam's earlier mention of some NYC/Jewish books: A Jewish Literary Map of New York City

Oh this is so fun!  Maps and books, two of my great loves...

 

 

... I have been in a creative writing mood lately so was fascinated when I came across Ray Bradbury's speech from a 2001 writing symposium.   He talks about ways for writers to improve their craft by reading one short story, one poem and one essay every night for a 1000 nights.  In particular,  quality short stories from authors such as Roald Dahl, Guy de Maupassant, and the lesser-known Nigel Kneale and John Collier. And one should read a wide variety of essays from areas including archaeology, zoology, biology, philosophy, politics, and literature.  By the end of that period, your mind will be full of ideas and images to use in your writing....

... Very cool, this.  

 

 

re Johnson:

Apparently someone floated the idea that he be put forward for a seat in the House of Commons, but it was generally agreed that witty epigrams don't hold up when one actually needs to produce substantive policy speeches.

Oh, I dunno... Surely a higher concentration of witty epigrams couldn't HURT?  Particularly if they edged out meaningless babble, watered down pablum, nattering nabobs of negativity...

 

 

 

OK, off to bed now... I'm getting silly!

 

 

[Robin M]

Aw!  She is so precious Eliana.   Love seeing the pictures of the kids playing and battling. Looks like fun.

 

When you're ready to try that, you might like In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction.  My second daughter pressed this upon me after she developed a passion for creative non-fiction...

 

**********************

 

...and a belated happy anniversary, Robin!   Marriage provides exponential returns... which is not so wonderful when the curve is headed the wrong way, but is a glorious joy when each year builds so amazingly on the one before.

 

**********************

 

The boxes for Rosie are so beautiful - Robin, you did amazing work!  ...and, Rosie, I so wanted to be part of that project, it was one of many good intentions that fell by the wayside when our grandbaby arrived... but I am sure I am not alone in sending lots of invisible love along with the more tangible (and beautiful!) contributions. :grouphug:

Looks good - have added it to my wishlist!

 

Thank you doll. Fortunately we have the curve headed in the right direction, each year better than the one before.  I lurve him so think will keep him.

 

Putting the boxes together was a lot of fun and I held everyone in spirit with me as I put them together.  What you didn't see was the cloth book covers with everyone's name on them.  So you were part of the project in spirit and in actuality.

[Negin]

Eliana, love all of your pictures. Your granddaughter is adorable. 

[mumto2]

I finished Treachery by S.J. Parris this morning. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/10692064/Treachery-by-SJ-Parris-review.html. It is the forth book in a series that it set during Elisabeth I reign using many historical figures to solve a crime that somehow always has consequences for the Queen. ;) A former monk, Giordana Bruno is the main character, and is very likable. I have greatly enjoyed reading this series and look forward to another being published

[Kim in Appalachia]

Eliana, your grand-daughter is beautiful, and I love the shot of your kids.  It looks like it was a fun day.

 

 

This weekend I read Sharp Objects, by Gillian Flynn.  It was a quick, fun read, a perfect book to read after the more heady Murakami. It wasn't as good as Gone Girl, but it was still fun.  It was her first novel, and it was not as polished.  I felt like I had it figured out by half way through, and some of her characterization of people in the small town felt as if it was written by someone on the Jezebel site (a Gawker owned feminist online mag). But it was still fasinating, and her writing is good.  

 

 

[Pam in CT]

OK ladies, I am with great effort prying my lesser, prurient self away from What Makes a Troll to come back here....

 

I finished The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt.  Despite the title, it's about the cognitive processes by which we derive and sustain our sense of what's "right"... simultaneously interesting and frustrating.  I greatly respected the author for his transparency in describing how his own thinking evolved over time, as he encountered life experiences and writers in his own and other fields, and how he therefore changed his theory to adapt to new ideas ... and there is much of interest in his model itself, which posits that different people root their sense of "right" in different foundations (caring for others, proportionate distribution, respect, etc) and that individuals vary within but mostly across cultural groups in which foundations matter most.  So I found much to like... but ultimately was disappointed in his lack of interest or insight into the "so what?"

 

Much more satisfying was Alan Weisman's The World Without Us.  I don't know how I managed to miss this party back in 2007 when it came out --  an absolutely fascinating, award-winning exploration of what the earth would/will look like when humans are gone.  He spends no time at all on the how would it happen? question (though the premise -- that all humans are wiped out and most/all other life forms sustain -- suggests something more on the lines of Ebola than nuclear mechanism).  His interest is in what then? and he looks at it from the most far-flung and disparate lenses... how long would it take for the physical constructions of humans to fall down and be taken over by other life forms (A: cities like New York near the ocean, whose subways and water systems are below or near sea level and require constant electrically-fed pumping, would crumble from beneath in a matter of just a few years)... what human traces would persist for millennia (A: glass, leaving little impact on other life forms; ground-up plastic, which will pile up in increasing concentrations throughout the food chain for millions of years with wholly unknown effect; the ozone hole, which will require geologic spans of time to close; and -- I love this -- Mt Rushmore, which happens to be situated nowhere near either a water table threat nor a fault line...)  He travels to uninhabited dead zones -- Korea's DMZ, Chernobyl -- to count birds and other life forms that have flourished where humans fear to tread... It's one of those sprawling, curiosity-driven, cross disciplinary books that I adore.  (Though it is mighty disconcerting to imagine the world without us...)

 

At shukriyya's suggestion, I dived into The Tent of Abraham: Stories of Hope and Peace for Jews, Christians, and Muslims by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Sister Joan Chittister and Murshid Saadi Shakur Chishti.  Most of this is commentary on the Abraham/Isaac/Ishmael/Sarah/Hagar stories from the three faith traditions; then the last section includes essays from the principal authors and others on how the teachings can be used in interfaith discussions.  I enjoyed it, particularly the insights of Murshid Saadi Shakur Chishti, who framed the stories in terms of our interior journeys and the dramas between the different parts of our selves... which I am now mulling over as we approach our Days of Awe...

 

and I also read Thomas Buergenthal's A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Aushcwitz as a Young Boy - the author was eight when he and his parents first were taken to the camps, and only ten when he and his father were taken to Auschwitz where children ordinarily were "selected" out, so his survival story is quite unusual.  Elie Wiesel's introduction is, as always, also beautiful.

 

 

 

I finished re-reading the Job section of Alter's Wisdom Books translation; and am now on to Proverbs.  Evidently I still haven't yet figured out how properly to read them, sigh.  My eyes glaze over, my attention wanders, they roll off me like water and the proverbial duck's back.

 

Also, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the completion of the Panama Canal, I am listening to David McCullough's The Path Between the Seas.  It starts slow but has begun, a third in, to pick up.

 

My 11 yo daughter and I are reading Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me, which one of her friends passed on to her and which I did not realize before we began is a rather clever riff off of Wrinkle in Time, which I adored at her age but which lamentably she has not yet read.  It is laugh-out-loud funny, but I'm afraid she's missing a lot of the connections.  She's too far in to stop now, though...

 

... and my poor son just got back this weekend from a chock-full summer of adventure and comradeship and nature and un-pluggedness... and has been hit hard by his summer reading and math packets and other back-to-school commitments... so I took pity on him and took out the audio CDs of 1984, one of his required books, so we could listen in the car as we drove back and forth to his choir rehearsals this week before school starts next week.  Sigh.  Talk about being in the canon yet still ghastly.

 

[aggieamy]

 

Now that our visiting kids (and parents) are gone, I should be returning to more substantial reading, but I am still feeling in want of light divertissement.... How 'serious' is the murder and mystery and mayhem?  Gory?  Light-hearted? 

 

 

 

 

Re: The Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries.  They aren't gory but there's some disturbing murders (ie r@pe, mutilation, molestation).  Nothing is described in much detail though and I wasn't bothered by it.  There's a pretty high body count also.  I tend to be pretty sensitive to violence but haven't been bothered by anything in the books.  They are in no way *cozy* mysteries.

 

Mumto2 - Anything to add?

[mumto2]

Re: The Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries. They aren't gory but there's some disturbing murders (ie r@pe, mutilation, molestation). Nothing is described in much detail though and I wasn't bothered by it. There's a pretty high body count also. I tend to be pretty sensitive to violence but haven't been bothered by anything in the books. They are in no way *cozy* mysteries.

 

Mumto2 - Anything to add?

I agree with Amy. :) Definately not cozy but not overly brutal description wise either. I love the continuing backstory in this series. Definitely a page turner. Reading the series in order is a must.

 

Eliana, the photos are lovely. Your grandbaby is so cute!

[shukriyya]

OK ladies, I am with great effort prying my lesser, prurient self away from What Makes a Troll to come back here....

 

 

:lol:

 

 

At shukriyya's suggestion, I dived into The Tent of Abraham: Stories of Hope and Peace for Jews, Christians, and Muslims by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Sister Joan Chittister and Murshid Saadi Shakur Chishti.  Most of this is commentary on the Abraham/Isaac/Ishmael/Sarah/Hagar stories from the three faith traditions; then the last section includes essays from the principal authors and others on how the teachings can be used in interfaith discussions.  I enjoyed it, particularly the insights of Murshid Saadi Shakur Chishti, who framed the stories in terms of our interior journeys and the dramas between the different parts of our selves... which I am now mulling over as we approach our Days of Awe...

 

 

Glad you enjoyed this. If you ever get a chance to do a workshop with Saadi I highly recommend it .

 

 

I finished re-reading the Job section of Alter's Wisdom Books translation; and am now on to Proverbs.  Evidently I still haven't yet figured out how properly to read them, sigh.  My eyes glaze over, my attention wanders, they roll off me like water and the proverbial duck's back.

 

 

Well! While your irritated self is glazing over my poetic self is having a nice little moment of experiencing words as water, clear droplets of interest spilling over the hills and valleys of the loamy body that reads them...and further that poetic self wandered...the mind an earthy shore, one's attention the lake, river, ocean that ebbs and flows to the invisible turnings of the lunar heart...I shall stop there and disembark and thank you for offering up your inattention so generously :D

[NoseInABook]

Happy belated birthday, VC!
 

I finished Messenger. Started reading Son which is reminiscent of Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale but I'm only a few chapters in.

[Pam in CT]

 

Glad you enjoyed this. If you ever get a chance to do a workshop with Saadi I highly recommend it .

Well, you just let me know the next time you're planning to go to one yourself, and I'll see if I can scrounge up the frequent flier miles...  B)

[Mom-ninja.]

Finished The Brainy Bunch. It was okay. Easily offensive to non-Christians if you let it. I did get a couple of points from the book, but overall not for me. I, personally, don't see any advantage at all to having my kids have a Master's degree before the age of 18. While I agree that much of typical high school is a waste of time I don't see a purpose in rushing into college by the time kids are preteens. They seem to hone in and cater their children's education with a particular focus depending on the child's interest. This is fine ,of course, but imo, only to an extent. For example my oldest is heavy into science (at the moment astronomy....last year was chemistry) so he delves into that subject with more depth. However, I still require that he read Shakespeare, poetry, and do art. My middle ds only wants to spend his time immersed in engineering and computers. Yet, I'm making him also learn life science. Both are required to learn music. I guess I can't wrap my mind around being so career focused in one's education starting around age 9-10 to the point other subjects are not given any more attention.  

 

So, I will stick to TWTM as my home school guide.  :)

[mlbuchina]

Hello there!  I finished a book!!  Yay!  I read My Name is Memory, and I really enjoyed it.  I understand the people complaining about the ending, as it sets up for a sequel, but there isn't one.  I did a little research and found that it was supposed to be the first book in a trilogy.  The first book didn't do very well, apparently, and the publisher is not pressing the author for the next installment.  I wish she'd write it anyway, as I fell in love with the main characters and would like to know how their story ends.  Until then, I'll just have to give them the ending that I want them to have.   :D

 

I have started reading City of Bones, and it's okay.  I don't think it's anything special, but it's a nice, easy read while I wait for my youngest to fall asleep.  She's going through an I-can't-fall-asleep-unless-you're-in-the-room-with-me phase at the moment.   :glare:   Oh, well.  It carves me out some reading time.

 

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

[shukriyya]

Well, you just let me know the next time you're planning to go to one yourself, and I'll see if I can scrounge up the frequent flier miles...  B)

 

He gets around and I imagine he'll likely be in your neck of the woods or close to it at some point. He's doing a couple of things in Columbus in October, not exactly in your backyard but not too bad. This in particular.

 

[shukriyya]

 

I love Dickinson's poetry, and I think we have a collection of her letters somewhere around... I've never read a bio, I tend to stay far, far away from literary biographies, but my kids enjoyed The Mouse of Amherst

 

This isn't exactly a bio...rather a novel told in Emily's voice about her life...

 

 

 

As I said I have a rather ambivalent relationship with Emily but it is very much a relationship. And seeing the one-woman show the other night piqued my interest enough for me to want to let us get to know each other a bit. Yes, I do feel that authors who are dead and gone have the amazing capacity for getting to know their reader, sometimes most intimately, but more often than not in some small personal way. They take up residence somewhere in the psyche and show up in the oddest of places, because they can do that, you know. So I might be taking out the garbage or brushing my teeth and right there in the atmosphere is Lessing or Wordsworth or Eliot or Nin with some suggestion about why the women coming and going were talking about that famous Italian or why the daffodil or how the closed bud wants release despite the unknown world it might unfold into. And so I'm curious to know how Emily might choose to inform my soul...through color or sound, a texture, a cry, a single, musical note...?

I'll be joining Stacia as a designated driver (with the added bonus that I won't diminish the chocolate supply for the rest of you!)...

 

The Murasaki is intriguing. Have you read it?

 

Shukriyya's chocolate has the peculiar but winning quality of never running out so no need for restraint on anyone's part :D As to the Murasaki, I've not read it though I do love the image that arises when I read its title.