Book a Week in 2014 - BW 37

[Pam in CT]

And for the books...

 

I went back and finished up listening to David McCullough's The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914, in honor of its 100th anniversary.  Dang, this is one.boring.book.  And the extraordinary thing is, the STORY glimpse-able through the text is actually quite fascinating.  Financial fraud!  Scandal!  Francophone-US power struggle!  CIA plot!  Senatorial backroom dealing!  JP Morgan intervention in public policy!  US-backed independence movement!  Yellow fever and malaria!  Stubborn refusal to accept medical fact!  Logistics!  --- It has it all.  And yet, the narrative remains... plodding.  It's actually rather remarkable.

 

And then, at Eliana's recommendation, Elie Wiesel's One Generation After.  Evidently the Nobel committee called him "a messenger to mankind" at his award ceremony... I hope I live long enough to read all of the, I dunno, 482 books that he has written...  Of the ones I have read, this is not the one that has touched me most deeply and personally.  But they all have.  Eliana, I was particularly -- moved? struck? shaken? by the chapter To a Young Jew of Today which begins "You are seventeen and confused"... which I think I will give to my nearly-16 yo son the next time he seems to be at a -- what do the Montessorians call them?  Sensitive Moments?

 

And... drumroll... David Mitchell's anxiously awaited The Bone Clocks.  

Well.  Where to start.  (I will try to do this without spoilers...)

What it is:  In contrast to Cloud Atlas (where the mysticism is the connections between the stories), this one is paranormal from the get-go; and it fairly quickly settles into an epic LOTR-style Good vs Evil motif.

Its strengths: A plot that draws you in and holds you, with surprising turns and unseen allies, which at its best evokes LOTR.  A clarity of vision of the moral consequences of our current society's power and consumption patterns that echoes Cloud Atlas.  A marvelous facility of language, and clever interweaving and cross referencing of Mitchell's own and other authors' work and symbols.  An eminently believable and empathic protagonist.

Its weaknesses: A tiresome propensity to tell, not show.  A plot which in its lesser moments evokes Dan Brown rather than soaring myth.  A climactic fight scene that at its worst evokes Twilight, God help us all.  (Yes.  Really.)

 

I think readers who enjoy MR / paranormal / that extra note of Stacia funkiness will enjoy it.  But it's no Cloud Atlas.

 

 

 

And what's coming up... well, I have to start a new audio.  I have awaiting me Julie Otsuka's When the Emperor was Divine, about the roundup and internment of Japanese Americans during WWII... or I might swap it for something Neil Gaiman, I don't know.  I still have to finish Robert Alter's translation of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.  My 11 yo is currently finishing some mean-girl schlock that is running through her friends' circle, and then we'll start up Wrinkle in Time...

[Kareni]

Regarding Shifting Shadows: Stories from the World of Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs:

 

 
Kareni, do the Mercy Thompson short stories stand alone or are they something that need to be fit in with the books orderwise?

 

nly one story deals directly with Mercy and that one stands alone well.  Other stories deal with Bran/Samuel/Ariana; Moira/Tom (who feature in one of the Alpha and Omega stories);Ben; Asil and the youngest ever werewolf, Kara; and Warren and his partner.  A couple of the stories deal with characters never encountered (to the best of my recollection) in any of Briggs' novels.  I suspect it would be fine for you to read it.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[shukriyya]

I spent all day yesterday at one of those giant amusement parks with ds, a coaster-lover. We must have logged 3 solid hrs in walking alone and another hour standing. Much fun was had by all though mine was of the vicarious kind, not being a roller-coaster kind of gal. I did do one ride at ds's request, a kiddie-coaster and getting out of the car after the ride was over proclaimed, 'well I've found my limit and it is rides for 6 year olds :lol: We both got a laugh out of that but as ds very earnestly told me, 'now you have some context for the rides I'm going on, mama' :D True enough. At any rate all this to say that arriving back last night, a shower, a meal and bed was the trajectory hence my late response to yesterday's weekly start-up.

 

Okay, to books...I finished two books last week, 'Radical Acceptance' and 'Picking Bones from Ash'. This week I'm juggling several books...'True Refuge' by Tara Brach who wrote RA, 'Emily Dickinson :: Beyond the Myth' by Patricia Serra, 'The Ivy Tree' by Mary Stewart and 'Claire of the Sea' by Edwige Danticat. I generally don't like to have more than two books going at once but somehow between books coming available at the library and audible credits and my 5/5 it's how my literary week is unfolding. I imagine I'll finish the Emily Dickinson book this week and get a good ways into Mary Stewart. We'll see how far I get with the other two.

 

Robin, I'll see what I can come up with for fairy tales. I'm not into the horror genre so fairy tales are an accessible way for me to accommodate the spooky read theme in October.

 

There are a number of posts I'd like to respond to but they'll have to wait. Time to head out soon for another commute... :driving:

[Pam in CT]

shukriyya, this one's for you :laugh: :

 

13th century Icelandic hymn in Wuppertal train station:

 

 

 

"Here, in an ordinary train station in Wuppertal, Germany, the group Ãrstíðir began singing the Icelandic hymn “Heyr himna smiðurâ€. They hymn — the oldest known Scandinavian hymn — dates back to the early 13th century when the Icelandic chieftain Kolbeinn Tumason is purported to have written these familiar words on his deathbed. Then, more than seven centuries later, the composer Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson put them to music...

 

 

Hear, smith of the heavens,

what the poet asks.

May softly come unto me

thy mercy.

So I call on thee,

for thou hast created me.

I am thy slave,

thou art my Lord.

 

God, I call on thee

to heal me.

Remember me, mild one,[1]

Most we need thee.

Drive out, O king of suns,

generous and great,

human every sorrow

from the city of the heart...."

 

[Stacia]

Frustratingly, my library doesn't have this, though I think my youngest would like it and I see they do have Stories: All New Tales in which it was originally published? If you don't care for the pictures, that would do?

Yes, that would be totally fine, imo. Though I enjoyed it as a folktale, it's not a book I would buy, especially because I didn't like the illustrations.

 

The talk about Hrabal has me thinking back to how much. I enjoyed his book I Served the King of England when I read it earlier this year.

 

Eliana, thinking about you & your ds today. Hope everything has been great for both of you today.

[LostSurprise]

I don't have a nice list;

We start with Dickenson, Whitman.

I see Williams, Ginsberg, Niedecker.

Jackson, Mc. Law

Corman, Armantrouts, Poppies,

Stein

 

 

Love Niedecker. 

 

Remember my little granite pail?

The handle of it was blue.

Think what's got away in my life—

Was enough to carry me thru.

 

You're quite the Objectivist. 

 

 

I'm still here, hanging about the corners, enjoying the discussion. I'm tired. Not reading much. Did complete 2 YA graphic novels by Gene Luen Yang (I read his 2-character/2-book depiction of the Boxer Rebellion called Boxers & Saints). I like the way he layers his characters' personal complexities and his use of Chinese, Christian, and other religious symbol/myth. 

 

 

American Born Chinese explores the identity of a 2nd generation Chinese-American boy by way of the Monkey King and a grossly racist incarnation known as Chin-kee. I like the way Yang layered the 3 characters together to explain the emotions of a boy who--much like any other teenager (but with his own sense of racial isolation)--just wants to be like everyone else. Instead of turning this into a simple 'problem of the week' take, Yang combines real life and myth to explore the various emotions and actions of a real teenager exploring their identity. It becomes part of an epic struggle but also part of the simplest crush or friendship. In the end I think it's more important to see ABC as an impression of feelings, culture, and actions, than as a straightforward story...but that impression burns a lot deeper then any other I've read on the subject. 

 

 

 

Level Up is a far more straightforward story. It follows a young man named Dennis struggling between what he wants to do (sit around and play video games) and what he feels his parents, particularly his father, want him to do (become a doctor). It swings back and forth and neither answer appears really right for him and the character feels out of balance. Part way through the novel you realize that a set of characters you perceive one way are really just not what you thought. It's a convincing emotional trick that allows you to feel what Dennis is feeling. How do you feel when what seemed like your fate is suddenly pulled out from under you and some of the reasons (not necessarily healthy reasons) you are doing something become apparent? Also, if you believe in a higher power or fate, what if questioning that fate is a healthy thing and leads you back ultimately to a clearer vision or purpose? Interesting stuff, and I enjoyed the friendships and humor. Pretty straightforward, not as complex as American Born Chinese, but more accessible to the YA audience I think, especially to kids in families that strongly stress academics or cultures that have a strong sense of parental expectation. 

 

Finishing up Color: the Natural History of the Palette. Should be done today if I get down to it. (And I better because it's due!)

 

Love the idea. Love the stories. Findlay is not as big on transitions, being linear, and explaining things as I could wish. She will often start a story almost mid-paragraph. She may not explain why something happened (for instance, she will quote an archaeologist as licking the (assumed) fingerbone of Buddha and a 3 sentences quote of their joy at licking it...but then not tell you *why* they are licking it...if I hadn't read Dead Men Do Tell Tales and know that licking the easiest way to tell that something is a bone and not a rock because bone is porous and therefore creates suction which makes you tongue stick to it a little, I would probably have a much weirder idea of Chinese archaeologists).

 

Finlay is adventurous and unafraid to tell you about her failures. This can be good or bad. Good because some of the stories are funny (traveling to rural India and miming cows feeding on mango leaves and then urinating to try to find the historical source of the mysterious Indian yellow). Other times you wonder why it's included at all. I love that so much of the book focuses on non-Western cultures and as a writer in Hong Kong she is not afraid to travel through China, rural India, Iran after the World Trade Center, and the Outback for a modern look at some older colors. Most of the real stories are not about Western painters. Most of the stories are about industry and inventiveness in places as far-flung as Argentina, Oaxaca, rural India, the Outback, Tang dynasty China, Persia, Japan, north Africa and Turkey. This story is often a history of human trade and ingenuity...and our love of color. 

 

Good stories. She's obviously spent years on this. Just enjoy it as a recording of her journey and try to enjoy the frenetic jumps that show off her enthusiasm. :)

 

 

 

 

[mumto2]

I finished a Mary Balogh that I have been reading a page at a time for weeks. It was actually really good, I just needed to read a few pages consecutively! :lol:

 

Started Third Grave Dead Ahead. It is part of a quick fun paranormal series by Daryna Jones.

[shukriyya]

And for the books...

 

I went back and finished up listening to David McCullough's The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914, in honor of its 100th anniversary.  Dang, this is one.boring.book.  And the extraordinary thing is, the STORY glimpse-able through the text is actually quite fascinating.  Financial fraud!  Scandal!  Francophone-US power struggle!  CIA plot!  Senatorial backroom dealing!  JP Morgan intervention in public policy!  US-backed independence movement!  Yellow fever and malaria!  Stubborn refusal to accept medical fact!  Logistics!  --- It has it all.  And yet, the narrative remains... plodding.  It's actually rather remarkable.

 

 

Thank you for saving me the trouble of buying this. It's in my Amazon list as a possible tbr but I think I'll let it flow on down the, er, river...

 

 

shukriyya, this one's for you :laugh: :

 

13th century Icelandic hymn in Wuppertal train station:

 

 

 

"Here, in an ordinary train station in Wuppertal, Germany, the group Ãrstíðir began singing the Icelandic hymn “Heyr himna smiðurâ€. They hymn — the oldest known Scandinavian hymn — dates back to the early 13th century when the Icelandic chieftain Kolbeinn Tumason is purported to have written these familiar words on his deathbed. Then, more than seven centuries later, the composer Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson put them to music...

 

 

Hear, smith of the heavens,

what the poet asks.

May softly come unto me

thy mercy.

So I call on thee,

for thou hast created me.

I am thy slave,

thou art my Lord.

 

God, I call on thee

to heal me.

Remember me, mild one,[1]

Most we need thee.

Drive out, O king of suns,

generous and great,

human every sorrow

from the city of the heart...."

 

 

This was just lovely, thanks for sharing :D The blog is rather interesting, too.

 

If you could all, please, think positive, happy thoughts for me for tomorrow morning.  My little guy is starting at a local Jewish Montessori school tomorrow morning.  ...not something I thought we would be doing.  ...but it seems to be the right thing for this child, this year.

 

He is excited, I am scared and sad and hopeful all at once.  I intensely believe that this has the potential to be exactly what he needs right now, but it could fail - despite the best efforts of the wonderful people involved.

 

 

Eliana, I'm hoping your little guy's first day was fun and happy for him and for you :grouphug:

[Kareni]

Today I read Falling for Max (The Kowalskis) by Shannon Stacey; it was a fun, enjoyable contemporary romance.

 

"Max Crawford has reached the point in life where he's starting to think about settling down. Unfortunately, he's always been a little awkward when it comes to social interactions, and working from home doesn't help. He spends so much time alone, painting beautiful, historically accurate model trains that half of Whitford has begun to joke that he may be a serial killer. Not exactly prime husband material. 

Tori Burns has found happiness in Maine, thanks in large part to her shifts at the Trailside Diner. She likes the work, and she loves the local gossip. When shy, geeky Max Crawford becomes a regular, she's intrigued. When she finds out he's in the market for a wife, she's fascinated…and determined to help. 

Molding Max into every woman's dream turns out to be much easier than expected. But has Tori's plan worked a little too well? As she turns his comfortable life all sorts of upside down, she'll have to find a way to show just how she's fallen for him…the real him."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Just Robyn]

I finished Complete Poems by Stephen Crane and Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I'm feeling kind of sick of novels, but started in on Jim Butcher's Grave Peril anyway. I also started The Poem's Heartbeat: A Manual of Prosody by Alfred Corn.

 

Here's a micro-fiction contest for any writers looking for a quick, fun project.

 

And I love this poem that I read on Grievous Angel. (poem by Beth Cato)

 

ETA: Well, I guess anyone who hasn't read it and wants to has to click on it.

[Just Robyn]

dp

 

[Violet Crown]

Cstarlette, what did you think of Crane's poems? I haven't read my collection yet.

[Violet Crown]

Has everyone seen today's Google logo, in honor of Tolstoy? It makes me smile.

[Heather in Neverland]

Started reading:

Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels by J. Warner Wallace

 

Still reading:

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg Mckeown

 

Finished reading:

1. The Curiosity by Stephen Kiernan (AVERAGE)

2. The Last Time I Saw Paris by Lynn Sheene (GOOD)

3. Unwind by Neal Shusterman (EXCELLENT)

4. The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty (EXCELLENT)

5. The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith by Peter Hitchens (AMAZING)

6. Champion by Marie Lu (PRETTY GOOD)

7. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink (INCREDIBLE)

8. Cultivating Christian Character by Michael Zigarelli (HO-HUM)

9. Detroit: An American Autopsy by Charlie LeDuff (um...WOW. So amazing and sad)

10. Pressure Points: Twelve Global Issues Shaping the Face of the Church by JD Payne (SO-SO)

11. The Happiness Project: Or Why I spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun. by Gretchen Rubin (GOOD)

12. Reading and Writing Across Content Areas by Roberta Sejnost (SO-SO)

13. Winter of the World by Ken Follet (PRETTY GOOD)

14. The School Revolution: A New Answer for our Broken Education System by Ron Paul (GREAT)

15. Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen (LOVED IT)

16. Beyond the Hole in the Wall: Discover the Power of Self-Organized Learning by Sugata Mitra (GOOD)

17. Can Computers Keep Secrets? - How a Six-Year-Old's Curiosity Could Change the World by Tom Barrett (GOOD)

18. You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself by David McRaney (GOOD)

19. Hollow City by Ransom Riggs (OK)

20. Follow Me by David Platt (GOOD)

21. The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking by Oliver Burkeman (SO-SO)

22. Falls the Shadow by Sharon Kay Penman (OK)

23. A Neglected Grace: Family Worship in the Christian Home by Jason Helopoulos (GOOD)

24. The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan (DEPRESSING)

25. No Place Like Oz by Danielle Paige (SO-SO)

26. 84 Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff (DELIGHTFUL)

27. The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman (WORST ENDING EVER)

28. Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor (SO-SO)

29. Mere Christianity by CS Lewis (BRILLIANT)

30. The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (WONDERFUL)

31. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (CAN'T-PUT-IT-DOWN-READ-IT-ALL-IN-ONE-SITTING BOOK)

32. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (SUPER CREEPY BUT REALLY GOOD)

33. A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout (WONDERFUL)

34. The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty (PRETTY GOOD)

35. The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez (HEART-BREAKING)

36. One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper (REALLY, REALLY GOOD)

37. The Glory of Heaven by John MacArthur (INTERESTING)

38. Big, Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (AWESOME)

39. Crazy Busy: A Mercifully Short Book About a Really Big Problem by Kevin DeYoung (SPOT ON)

[shukriyya]

 

 

...how I feel with my various reads this week...

[Onceuponatime]

I finished Stuff Matters and will probably assign it to my 15yo. It is a great practical application to chemistry and physical science.

 

I've started a YA book, The Archived by Victoria Schwab. "Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books." It would make a good October read but is not any spookier than Inkspell, so far.

[JennW in SoCal]

Grabbed a mystery at the library before heading out to do errands. Decided to treat myself to a shrimp burrito for lunch and get started on my book. Settled in with the book, enjoying the a/c and my delightful lunch only to discover I had read this book only a month or so ago!

[mumto2]

Grabbed a mystery at the library before heading out to do errands. Decided to treat myself to a shrimp burrito for lunch and get started on my book. Settled in with the book, enjoying the a/c and my delightful lunch only to discover I had read this book only a month or so ago!

:lol: let's just say I understand......

[NoseInABook]

Jennifer, I hate it when that happens!!

 

Still reading Lysa TerKeurst's The Best Yes. Started the second book in Kim Harrison's witch series called The Good, The Bad, and The Undead. Jen Hatmaker's Tune In is still on my list but I haven't picked it up in a days. I probably should do that. Instead I keep looking up spooky stories.

[Jane in NC]

Be jealous all!

 

Stacia and I spent the day together at Brookgreen Gardens in SC.  It was our private homeschool convention (not!)

 

 

[Stacia]

Jane is even more awesome in real life than as an 'imaginary', online pal!

 

Loved hanging out with you today, Jane! :-)

[Stacia]

Man Booker shortlist is out:

http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/man-booker-prize-fiction-2014-shortlist-revealed

[Pam in CT]

Grabbed a mystery at the library before heading out to do errands. Decided to treat myself to a shrimp burrito for lunch and get started on my book. Settled in with the book, enjoying the a/c and my delightful lunch only to discover I had read this book only a month or so ago!

:lol: That has never happened to me.

 

Mmm...

 

 

Be jealous all!

 

Stacia and I spent the day together at Brookgreen Gardens in SC.  It was our private homeschool convention (not!)

SO jealous.  (Company, and locale...)

[Pam in CT]

Man Booker shortlist is out:

http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/man-booker-prize-fiction-2014-shortlist-revealed

 

Oooh, doesn't the Ali Smith one look good?

 

"How to be Both is a novel all about art's versatility.  Borrowing from painting's fresco technique to make an original literary double-take, it's a fast-moving genre-bending conversation between forms, times, truths and fictions.  There's a renaissance artist of the 1460s.  There's the child of a child of the 1960s.  Two tales of love and injustice twist into a singular yarn where time gets timeless, structural gets playful, knowing gets mysterious, fictional gets real - and all life's givens get given a second chance."

 

 

 

[Just Robyn]

Cstarlette, what did you think of Crane's poems? I haven't read my collection yet.

 

I would divide his poems into two groups. There are the short, powerful, downer poems, like the two I posted last week. They make me think of haiku, but longer (and more pessimistic), or fables, but shorter and more condensed (and less instructive). I love those.

 

Then there are some more kind of ooky-gooky, pretty, meandering, repeat-o ones, like this:

 

There was, before me, 

Mile upon mile 

Of snow, ice, burning sand. 

And yet I could look beyond all this, 

To a place of infinite beauty; 

And I could see the loveliness of her 

Who walked in the shade of the trees. 

When I gazed, 

All was lost 

But this place of beauty and her. 

When I gazed, 

And in my gazing, desired, 

Then came again 

Mile upon mile, 

Of snow, ice, burning sand. 

___________________________________

 

 

Or this:

 

 

And you love me 

 

I love you. 

 

You are, then, cold coward. 

 

Aye; but, beloved, 

When I strive to come to you, 

Man's opinions, a thousand thickets, 

My interwoven existence, 

My life, 

Caught in the stubble of the world 

Like a tender veil -- 

This stays me. 

No strange move can I make 

Without noise of tearing 

I dare not. 

 

If love loves, 

There is no world 

Nor word. 

All is lost 

Save thought of love 

And place to dream. 

You love me? 

 

I love you. 

 

You are, then, cold coward. 

 

Aye; but, beloved -- 

 

__________________________________________

 

 

 

I wasn't really into those. I just read them quickly and moved on.

[Violet Crown]

Be jealous all!

 

Stacia and I spent the day together at Brookgreen Gardens in SC.  It was our private homeschool convention (not!)

Oooo, I'm indeed jealous! Some day, one of y'all is going to come to South by Southwest....

------------------

Today's Samuel Johnson twitterfeed:

 

Johnson @Boswell

I might as well have played on the violoncello as another; but I should have done nothing else. #cellosrule

 

Johnson @Boswell

When a man says he had pleasure with a woman, he does not mean conversation.

 

Johnson @MrsThrale

Seeing Scotland, Madam, is only seeing a worse England. #yesscotland

[Jane in NC]

Oooo, I'm indeed jealous! Some day, one of y'all is going to come to South by Southwest....

------------------

 

 

I should work on that one.  My son would be so jealous. ;)

[shukriyya]

Be jealous all!

 

Stacia and I spent the day together at Brookgreen Gardens in SC.  It was our private homeschool convention (not!)

 

Jane is even more awesome in real life than as an 'imaginary', online pal!

 

Loved hanging out with you today, Jane! :-)

 

Oh, wow! How wonderful!!

[Jane in NC]

And now for a quick walking tour of the sculpture garden at Brookgreen.  For you BaWers, we'll begin with Don Quixote.

 

 

It's a jungle out there.

 

 

Keeping Stacia out of the ponds was challenging.

 

 

The owls are never what the seem...

 

[Kareni]

Today I skimmed, rather than read, Word Play by Amalie Silver; it's described on the book's cover as a romantic satire.   It wasn't all that I'd hoped for from those 60 five star Amazon ratings, but it was somewhat entertaining.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

[Stacia]

Now that I'm dried off from pond-hopping ;-), I have to say that the last photo Jane posted was one of my fave sculptures from today...

ETA: it is entitled "Evening".

[ladydusk]

Be jealous all!

 

Stacia and I spent the day together at Brookgreen Gardens in SC.  It was our private homeschool convention (not!)

 

 

Jane is even more awesome in real life than as an 'imaginary', online pal!

 

Loved hanging out with you today, Jane! :-)

 

Completely jealous!

[ladydusk]

I read Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer yesterday, not my favorite Heyer, but it was OK.  I'm about halfway through When Gods Die by CS Harris and I'm enjoying it immensely.

[Stacia]

And for those who like that 'Southern Gothic' look...

[Stacia]

One more of DQ (*not* Dairy Queen!) & Sancho Panza...

[Stacia]

Oh, and Jane threatened to make me go to the Poetry Corner, but I think we (*ahem*... I) successfully averted that by aimlessly wandering around instead.

 

(Whew!)

 

Lol!

[Kareni]

I believe (though could be incorrect) that this is a one day free Audible book.

 

Free: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving and Tom Mison

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Robin M]

Be jealous all!

 

Stacia and I spent the day together at Brookgreen Gardens in SC.  It was our private homeschool convention (not!)

Positively Green!!!  Just kidding. Happy you two were able to get together!

 

Man Booker shortlist is out:

http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/man-booker-prize-fiction-2014-shortlist-revealed

 

The Narrow Road to the Deep looks really intriguing!

 

And for those who like that 'Southern Gothic' look...

 

So beautiful and really miss it.  Hubby just expressed an interest in going to Savannah.  Shock!  So maybe one of these years I'll drag him out there.   My sister for her 60th sister's bday trip wants to check out the waterfalls along the Appalachian trail.  Now we just need to figure out which state to start in.....

[shukriyya]

Now that I'm dried off from pond-hopping ;-), I have to say that the last photo Jane posted was one of my fave sculptures from today...

 

 

ETA: it is entitled "Evening".

 

What exactly is going on there?...it looks like a gothic Tippi Hedren moment...

 

[shukriyya]

One more of DQ (*not* Dairy Queen!) & Sancho Panza...

 

 

 

One for you and one for Jane...

 

 

 

[JennW in SoCal]

And for those who like that 'Southern Gothic' look...

 

 

Love some Southern Gothic!  My sister-in-law in Florida was amused when I made a point of finding some Spanish moss hanging low enough for me to touch.  It is so exotic to this California girl -- to me it looks like the props the Imagineers use to make the Haunted Mansion look haunted at D-land!  Of course I then had to laugh at the "exotic plant area" in the botanical garden (in Orlando) devoted to succulents -- the plants that love my backyard.

 

What exactly is going on there?...it looks like a gothic Tippi Hedren moment...

 

 

I was wondering, too, about that statue, but I do like the description "gothic Tippi Hedren moment".  

 

In other book related news, my trip to the library wasn't a total loss.  The "new books" shelf had Jo Walton's What Makes This Book So Great, a collection of her blog posts about rereading her favorite sci fi. (Thanks to Eliana for introducing me to Jo Walton!)  I sat reading outside as the daylight faded.  I also started listening today to A Town Like Alice.  

[shukriyya]

Toggling back and forth between four books is making me feel all :willy_nilly: One is whispersync so I'm moving between listening and reading, one is a paper back so that gets put down and mislaid occasionally and the other two are straight-up ebooks. I'm enjoying them all but with four going I'm not able to fully sink into any one in particular so I read a bit here of one and a bit there of another and I end up never feeling like the inner landscape is unfolding with them. And yet I can't get myself to read just one at a time :cool:

[Stacia]

To me, the sculpture depicts that evening moment moving into a dreamworld, floating on a cloud, while the night creatures welcome you into the fold....

 

I'm on my iPad, otherwise I'd be using the rolling, laughing smiley for the 'gothic Tippi Hedren moment'.... Honestly, you California girls come up with some wacky stuff! ;-) (And wouldn't Tippi probably have tigers tucking her in instead of owls?)

[JennW in SoCal]

To me, the sculpture depicts that evening moment moving into a dreamworld, floating on a cloud, while the night creatures welcome you into the fold....

 

I'm on my iPad, otherwise I'd be using the rolling, laughing smiley for the 'gothic Tippi Hedren moment'.... Honestly, you California girls come up with some wacky stuff! ;-) (And wouldn't Tippi probably have tigers tucking her in instead of owls?)

 

Hitchcock would understand  ;)

 

Besides it's lions, not tigers, lol!

 

                                    

[Stacia]

Rofl.

 

And, DUH on my part. Your old Hitch comment made me actually 'get' shukriyya's post. I've never actually seen The Birds & think of Tippi Hedren more as an animal activist than actress.

 

I feel so out of touch now...

[Kareni]

What exactly is going on there?...it looks like a gothic Tippi Hedren moment...

 

 

I'll reveal my (prior) ignorance here and confess that I had to use Wikipedia to identify Tippi Hedren.  She sounds like an interesting woman.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Stacia]

Ok, with the Tippi Hedron & The Birds talk, did you know there was actually a Barbie created of it?

http://www.barbiecollector.com/shop/doll/alfred-hitchcocks-birds-barbie-doll-l9633

 

Just wrong. So wrong. Rofl.

[shukriyya]

Ok, with the Tippi Hedron & The Birds talk, did you know there was actually a Barbie created of it?

http://www.barbiecollector.com/shop/doll/alfred-hitchcocks-birds-barbie-doll-l9633

 

Just wrong. So wrong. Rofl.

:lol:

 

Listed as 'no longer available from Mattel' How many do you think they sold?

[shukriyya]

Hitchcock would understand ;)

 

Besides it's lions, not tigers, lol!

 

 

Again the question arises, what exactly is going on there?

Edited September 10, 2014 by Susan Wise Bauer
Photo removed

[Stacia]

Obviously it is snack time & the King of the Jungle (even though he's not a jungle animal) wants to make sure Tippi gets the right snack out. They're probably pulling it out in time to kick back in front of the tv & watch Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom....