Book a Week in 2015 - BW4

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday, dear hearts.   Today is the start of week 4 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 - Books of the Far East:  I have been meandering about Japan, but I'm ready to venture on. In my wanderings discovered the Sea of Japan is bordered by not only Japan, but North and South Korea and Russia. I've already explored Russia so decided to head in a southerly direction to explore different rabbit trails and ended up adding a few more books to my wishlist.

James Church and his Inspector O series set in North Korea which starts with A Corpse in the Koryo:

 

A Corpse in the Koryo

 

 

 

 Plus Simon Winchester's  A Walk through the Land of Miracles

A Walk through the land of Miracles

 

 

 

as well as The Calligrapher's Daughter by Eugenia Kim

 

The Calligrapher's Daughter

 

I dipped down into the East China Sea and across to Shanghai and found Elvira Baryakini's White Shanghai: A novel of the Roaring Twenties.

 

White Shanghia

 

 

and from there started my journey across the continent with Colin Thubron's Shadow of the Silk Road

 

Shadow of the Silk Road

 

Check out the Goodreads Around the World in 80 Days  discussion for more books set in both North and South Korea, as well as those set in China,  Mongolia, as well as popular Silk Road stories. 

 

 

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

 

History of the Medieval World - Chapter 4 (pp 28-35) and Chapter 5 (pp 36 - 40)

 

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

 

What are you reading this week?

 

 

 

 

Link to week 3

 

[Robin M]

I'm currently reading The Clockwork Angel (#1 in infernal devices series) by Cassandra Clare.  It's set 150 years before Mortal Instruments series so get to meet Lightwood, Magnus and a few others mentioned in MI.

 

Started Michael Card's Luke: the Gospel of Amazement and thoroughly enjoying it so far.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Well, tangentially related to your journey and to our HoMW readings, I just started The Secret History of the Mongol Queens, and I'm enjoying it immensely! I think I had the sterotypical western idea of "the Mongol barbarians" in my head, in an unexamined way, so I'm finding this book fascinating and enlightening.  The role of women in this culture, and the respect they commanded, was light-years "ahead" of the comparable role of women in the west at this time.  Really interesting.

 

Let's see, I'm also finishing up 1984 (re-read) and Jo Walton's My Real Children this week.  I also started Ancillary Sword, book two of that series, since I picked it up from the library yesterday and will only be able to have it for 3 weeks!  And I'm listening to Northanger Abbey in anticipation of spending February with Jane Austen.

 

For nonfiction, I'm going to try and focus on The Mongol Queens and The Cave and the Light: Plato vs. Aristotle and the struggle for the soul of western civilization, by Arthur Hermann.  It's very interesting, although I suspect might be looked down on by "real" philosophers.  Mostly I suspect this because I can actually understand it!  I do not enjoy reading philosophy as a rule.  But this book is very readable, and it's explaining a lot of the source of conflict in my early life - I am an Aristotelean raised in a Platonic family, religion, school, etc.  

 

 

Books I've read so far this year:

Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie

The Case of Comrade Tulayev - Victor Serge

Dawn - Elie Wiesel

Day - Elie Wiesel

The Ghost-Feeler - Edith Wharton

The House of the Seven Gables - Nathaniel Hawthorne

The March of Folly - Barbara Tuchman

Night - Elie Wiesel

1984 - George Orwell

My Real Children - Jo Walton

The Strange Library - Haruki Murakami

Whole Earth Discipline - Stewart Brand

The War of the Worlds - H G Wells

The Wikkeling - Steven Arntson

 

An abundance of Ws!  :D  Missing letters: B, F, I, J, K, L, P, Q, S, T, U, V, Y, Z

 

ETA: oh, fun: organized by location:

 

An alternate reality:

Ancillary Justice

The Wikkeling

1984

My Real Children

 

Russia:

The Case of Comrade Tulayev

 

Europe:

Night

The Ghost-Feeler

The War of the Worlds

The March of Folly

 

The Middle East:

Dawn

 

The US:

Day

The Ghost Feeler

The House of the Seven Gables

The March of Folly

 

Asia:

The Strange Library

The March of Folly

[TeacherZee]

I read chapters 5 and 6 in HoMW.

 

Yesterday while browsing Amazon I found an interesting looking book and then I was up until 1am reading it. I finished it today. Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson. I've started the second book in the "series" After the War is Over. The first book is a love story set during the First World War. It is very good.

 

I've also read some chapters in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Band of Brothers.

 

It's been a busy week at work and most days I am ready to sleep by 8pm and this week looks like it will be just as insane. Then, hopefully it calms down a bit, if nothing else because I need to catch up on my marking.

[Epicurean]

 

This week I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.  Here is my full review and here is a follow-up post about the first steps I'm taking to implement her method.

 

 

I also listened to Dad Is Fat on audio for something light. Here is my review. Funny stuff!

[Chocolate Rose]

I just finished The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi. I picked it up at Costco last weekend because it looked interesting.  :001_smile:

 

It takes place in Afghanistan and alternates between a present day young girl and her great-great grandmother as a young girl around 1900. It gives an eye-opening (at least for me) view of the treatment of women and rural life in Afghanistan. Both girls had to spend part of their life dressed and acting like males to survive.

 

Rose, I noticed that you read Ancillary Justice. I read it recently, and I don't know if it was because I only had time to read it in small pieces or what, but most of it didn't make sense to me. What am I missing?

 

 

[ChrisB]

Just finished My Antonia by Willa Cather and found it very enjoyable.  I can't believe I've waited this long to read anything from her and am a bit surprised I was never assigned her books in any of my literature classes.  Her treatment of the landscape like a character was so accurate.  Living on the prairie gives me a sense of what she was trying to convey.  And, she does a character so well--she gave me the true personality and appearance as if I'd known them for years, both their good and bad qualities.  

 

Antonia had a joie de vivre that I found very appealing.  In the end, what was really beautiful?  Her outward appearance or her inner love of life?  Her growing life from her friendships, from the earth, from her hard work, her children, marriage...  Over time outer beauty fades, so what are we left with?  Life has a way of showing us what that means if we allow it, and I'm grateful to have read a novel that helps me contemplate what that means in my life.     

 

I'm prompted to read another of her books, probably Death Comes for the Archbishop because I've heard great things about it.  

 

Next up, I'm reading Sophia Loren's book Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.

 

From last week's thread...

Like Chrysalis' parochial high school, I was assigned Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea and For Whom the Bell Tolls and did.not.like them.  Actually, from the whole stack of books that I had to read in those classes, For Whom the Bell Tolls was the ONLY book I couldn't finish.  I'm not inclined to pick up another of his as an adult.

 

Last spring I read Jane Eyre for the third time, and it was a worthwhile re-read, labeling it as one of my 2014 top reads. 

 

This fall I read Pride & Prejudice by Austin.  I've tried to read Austin before, but never have I been able to get through any of them.  Being determined, I decided to finish P&P and am glad I did.  I can now say that Austin isn't my favorite writer, but I enjoyed her enough.  It would take much persuasion ;) to get me to read another of her novels. 

[JennW in SoCal]

I really enjoyed the first of the Inspector Rutledge series, A Test of Wills by Charles Todd, which, according to Good Reads, is actually a mother/son writing team!  Don't know how they share duties, but the writing is beautiful and evocative, and Rutledge's inner struggles felt very real without being maudlin or shallow.  Looking forward to the next in the series, though will likely pace myself as I tend to binge-read detective series.

 

I read a second Heyer book!  False Colours, which I almost abandoned because the bad sit-com like plot was glaringly obvious within the first chapter.  But I needed more fluff this week, and figured Heyer would at least handle the plot with clever twists and turns, which she did, and that the characters would be entertaining, which they were.  

 

Still working on Journeys on the Silk Road and am about half way through listening to As You Wish, which is as delightful as everyone has said. I'm cracking up, though, at all the superlatives that entertainment people are prone to, as in "the greatest [actor, writer, producer, f/x guy, etc] ever in the history of movies".  

 

Last night I started on a PD James mystery, Shroud for a Nightingale, an early Adam Dalgliesh mystery.  It is set in a nursing school, and seems older than its 1971 publishing date (I know, I know, there are BaWers who probably weren't even born then) because of the nurses wearing starched uniforms and caps.  When did they stop doing that?  I can remember them as a kid at the pediatrician's office or on tv, but when did they start wearing the much more comfortable and practical scrubs instead?  Anyway, so far so good! 

[Stacia]

Matching Robin's travel area, I have Chekhov's Sakhalin Island on my shelf. Not sure if I'll get to it anytime soon, though. (Neat article from 2013 here: In Anton Pavlovich's footsteps: Chekhov's Sakhalin 123 years later.) Also, from the area (but much further north & east), I'd highly recommend A Dream in Polar Fog by Yuri Rytkheu, published by Archipelago Books.

 

I finished Nigerians in Space by Deji Bryce Olukotun, published by Unnamed Press. Scientists are being lured back home in a ‘brain gain’ plan to start up a Nigerian space program. But, things go awry. Is it legit, a scam, or something more sinister? This is a well-told set of interweaving stories that not only explores various issues including nationality, exile, political machinations, dreams vs. reality, aspirations, generational impact of actions, scams, criminal activity, national pride, etc..., but also moves between 1993 and the present. There are repeated references to the power & history of Yoruba riddles & storytelling, a gift of a golden tongue. Olukotun has added an intriguing & impressive piece to the canon with his unfolding tale that kept me firmly pulled in throughout the story. Definitely recommended.

 

(If anyone would like my copy of Nigerians in Space, please let me know & I'll drop it in the mail to you.)

 

 

I'm getting ready to start Jack Weatherford's The Secret History of the Mongol Queens, published by Crown Publishers, a division of Random House. (Rose, since you seem to be enjoying it, I think you'd also really enjoy his book Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World.)

 

 

The Mongol queens of the thirteenth century ruled the largest empire the world has ever known. Yet sometime near the end of the century, censors cut a section from The Secret History of the Mongols, leaving a single tantalizing quote from Genghis Khan: “Let us reward our female offspring.†Only this hint of a father’s legacy for his daughters remained of a much larger story. 

The queens of the Silk Route turned their father’s conquests into the world’s first truly international empire, fostering trade, education, and religion throughout their territories and creating an economic system that stretched from the Pacific to the Mediterranean. Outlandish stories of these powerful queens trickled out of the Empire, shocking the citizens of Europe and and the Islamic world.

After Genghis Khan’s death in 1227, conflicts erupted between his daughters and his daughters-in-law; what began as a war between powerful women soon became a war against women in power as brother turned against sister, son against mother. At the end of this epic struggle, the dynasty of the Mongol queens had seemingly been extinguished forever, as even their names were erased from the historical record.. 
           
One of the most unusual and important warrior queens of history arose to avenge the wrongs, rescue the tattered shreds of the Mongol Empire, and restore order to a shattered world. Putting on her quiver and picking up her bow, Queen Mandhuhai led her soldiers through victory after victory. In her thirties she married a seventeen-year-old prince, and she bore eight children in the midst of a career spent fighting the Ming Dynasty of China on one side and a series of Muslim warlords on the other. Her unprecedented success on the battlefield provoked the Chinese into the most frantic and expensive phase of wall building in history. Charging into battle even while pregnant, she fought to reassemble the Mongol Nation of Genghis Khan and to preserve it for her own children to rule in peace.
           
At the conclusion of his magnificently researched and ground-breaking narrative, Weatherford notes that, despite their mystery and the efforts to erase them from our collective memory, the deeds of these Mongol queens inspired great artists from Chaucer and Milton to Goethe and Puccini, and so their stories live on today. With The Secret History of the Mongol Queens, Jack Weatherford restores the queens’ missing chapter to the annals of history.

 

I may also pick up a fiction book (my mainstay) to read alongside the Mongol Queens book, but I don't know which one yet.

 

2015 Books Read:

Africa:

• Rue du Retour by Abdellatif Laâbi, trans. from the French by Jacqueline Kaye, pub. by Readers International. 4 stars. Morocco. (Poetic paean to political prisoners worldwide by one who was himself in prison for “crimes of opinionâ€. Explores not only incarceration but also readjusting to a ‘normal’ world after torture & release.)
• Nigerians in Space by Deji Bryce Olukotum, pub. by Unnamed Press. 4 stars. Africa: South Africa & Nigeria. (Scientists lured back home in a ‘brain gain’ plan to start up Nigerian space program. But, things go awry. Is it legit, a scam, or something more sinister?)

Asia:

• The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami, a Borzoi book pub. by Alfred A. Knopf.  4 stars. Japan. BaW January author challenge. (Creepy campfire style story; thought-provoking ending made me rethink the entire story.)

Europe:

• The Affinity Bridge by George Mann, a Tor book pub. by Tom Doherty Associates. 3 stars. England. (Entertaining steampunk with likeable characters.)
• Extraordinary Renditions by Andrew Ervin, pub. by Coffee House Press. 4 stars. Hungary. (Triptych of stories in Budapest touching on the Holocaust, racism, corruption, the power of music,…)

[Chrysalis Academy]

 

Rose, I noticed that you read Ancillary Justice. I read it recently, and I don't know if it was because I only had time to read it in small pieces or what, but most of it didn't make sense to me. What am I missing?

 

 

Maybe you just read it at the normal pace and from beginning to end - you know, like someone would normally read a book?  :laugh:   I know that didn't really work for me! I said when I reviewed the book here that I had thought it would be my light read, but it made me work ridiculously hard for a light read! The changes in POV - present to past, Breq to Justice of Toren the ship to Justice of Toren the troop of ancillaries to Justice of Toren one of several separate bodies could be hard to follow.  And the storytelling of events that took place in the past - from the AI's POV - could be kaleidoscopic.  Then throw in the ambiguous gender, and it was a book you definitely had to work hard to follow! Kind of like reading a Russian novel, where I often have to make myself a character cheat sheet to keep track of who's who.  I ended up really enjoying it.  But if you didn't you didn't miss anything you can't live without!

 

I started the second book in the series, Ancillary Sword.  It started kind of slow, and with a lot of sentence fragments which I found annoying.  

 

ETA: But now I'm really enjoying it.  And it's easier to follow from the POV POV, and the gender thing isn't as obvious - everyone is called "she" regardless of biological sex, and it's actually starting to blend into the woodwork, the way "he" supposedly does when it's meant to refer to both males and females.

[Loesje22000]

I love my continuing reading in Shirley.

As I became a little bit ill this week, I didn't read much in Le Petit Prince

[Stacia]

Loesje, :grouphug: . Hope you feel better soon.

[beckster]

I am also reading Death Comes for the Archbishop, but not because of the talk of Willa Cather (LOVE My Antonia!!!).  It is the next book for ds in English.  I fear I am going to enjoy it more than he will!

 

finished this year:

Treasure in the Hills

The Quilting Bible

Complete Guide to Quilting

Genesis in Space and Time

A World Without Cancer

Confessions of an Organized Homemaker

Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness

What's Best Next

The Granny Square Book

Kids Knitting

Homespun Bride

Make Over: Revitalizing the Many Roles You Fill

Seven-Minute Marriage Solution

Invisibles:  The Power of Anonymous Work in an Age of Relentless Self-Promotion

Pollyanna

 

currently reading:

The History of the Medieval World

Trusting God

How to be a High School Superstar

East of Eden

You're Already Amazing

Christmas with Anne

Death Comes for the Archbishop

The Hope Chest (by Rebekah Wilson)

 

[guilfordlake]

I've discovered it's a good idea when reading these BaW threads to have open additional tabs for Amazon, my local library, and OverDrive :)

[mellifera33]

I finally finished The Color of Magic, and was dismayed to find that it immediately segues into the next book without resolving the story. Blah. I'm gonna go out of order for a while so I can find a character I like.

[Kareni]

I continued my Amy Harmon run by re-reading Making Faces; this was the first book of hers that I read last July.  I enjoyed it again though I'd forgotten how it had me crying about every fifty pages.

 

"Ambrose Young was beautiful. He was tall and muscular, with hair that touched his shoulders and eyes that burned right through you. The kind of beautiful that graced the covers of romance novels, and Fern Taylor would know. She'd been reading them since she was thirteen. But maybe because he was so beautiful he was never someone Fern thought she could have...until he wasn't beautiful anymore. Making Faces is the story of a small town where five young men go off to war, and only one comes back. It is the story of loss. Collective loss, individual loss, loss of beauty, loss of life, loss of identity. It is the tale of one girl's love for a broken boy and a wounded warrior's love for an unremarkable girl. This is a story of friendship that overcomes heartache, heroism that defies the common definitions, and a modern tale of Beauty and the Beast, where we discover that there is a little beauty and a little beast in all of us."

 

Here's a review  and a second review.. 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[shukriyya]

I spent the weekend reading, zentangling, imagining knitting and hiking. Those were the fun things anyway. There was some cleaning and some commuting but generally a nice balance of solitude and family time. I'm almost finished with 'Winter Rose', a Tam Lin retelling and the prequel to 'Solstice Wood' which I read a week or so ago. I haven't found this as compelling as its sequel, there is less to grab hold of. From the first sentence it felt as though I were stepping into an enchanted, sylvan realm where everything is shrouded in a kind of beautiful, lyrical confusion of impressions. The writing falls like droplets on the skin of my awareness only to dissolve almost immediately. The characters are etched in filament and silk, perfumed with roses and lavender but not with much weight. Kind of like this review :lol: What can I say? When I finish reading it I step out of its world as though I were wearing a thin, gossamer shimmer. A very visual book, it is essentially a faerie story of love and betrayal in which the human realm and the faerie realm collide, blur, knit itself together and then separate..."And like this insubstantial pageant faded, leave not a rack behind..."

This week I'd like to turn my attention more fully to "Ahab's Wife" which I've been reading in small bits and pieces. It's beautifully written but it's been so long since I read a real chunkster that now with all the calls on my attention as well as all the other books I'm keen to read I'm trying to figure out the best way to read it.

I'm slowly reading through Consolations a book by poet David Whyte. Its subtitle is 'The Solace and Meaning of Everyday Words'. It's lovely but not quite as wonderful as his poetry because I feel just the slightest bit of effort in the words and images, the merest feeling of attempts on the author's part to construct something. Still I'm reading a word in the morning and one before bed.  

I've started The Daughters of Avalon though I'm not far enough into it to know whether I'll stay with it. I'm awaiting The Eros of Everyday Life in the mail and on the far horizon are The Summer Queen, Alphabet of Thorn and Zero History. 'Against Interpretations' has been given a time out ;)

In the zentangle realm I've slowed down and am spending a couple of days on each lesson because I want to linger more with some of the designs. Here are two from this week...

 

 

This one I call, 'Our Lady of Zentangle'

 

 

[ChrisB]

I've discovered it's a good idea when reading these BaW threads to have open additional tabs for Amazon, my local library, and OverDrive :)

 

Amen, sista!!

 

shukriyya:  LOVE those zentangles!

[Lady Florida.]

Well, I have my first abandoned book of 2015 - The Brothers Karamazov. I really dislike the spiritual philosophising. I find it incredibly boring, and from what I can gather it will continue to play a big part in the rest of the book. I don't feel bad about dropping it.

 

Yesterday I finished The Phantom of the Opera, and can't say I was impressed. I gave it two stars. It was a silly story and not well written. I didn't like any of the characters (none of whom I think were well developed). My theory is the musical is the only reason this story is still popular. 

 

I think I've been reading a lot of difficult books lately and needed something light and fun. I started The Rosie Project this morning and am at 20% already. I think this is just what I need right now.

 

I'm still plugging along in Ulysses and Unbroken. I also started reading Death Comes for the Archbishop after the My Antonia thread. 

 

After yesterday's audible.com purchases, I decided to start listening to For Whom The Bell Tolls, and will save Out Stealing Horses for later.

 

 

[Onceuponatime]

I'm about half way through Moriarty and almost finished The Age of Reason.

 

Those zentangles are amazing.

[JennyD]

 

Wow, those zentangles are amazing!

 

I am still (mostly) keeping up my New Year's resolution of getting to bed earlier, so I am getting less reading done.  However, i feel FABULOUS!!   Turns out I have a much better disposition when well-rested.  Who knew?

 

I did finish In Search of the Perfect Loaf, by Samuel Fromartz.  It's described as a memoir, but I'd say it's more of just a straight-up nonfiction book about bread.  I learned quite a bit about crop diversity and the evolution of modern wheat, and I finally understand the rationale behind the now-fashionable 'stretch and fold' method for mixing artisan bread.  

 

I am still working my way through East of Eden.  I'm finding it incredibly compelling, without fully understanding why.  It's such a flawed book, in so many ways; is it so magnetic in spite of its flaws, or because of them?  I'm not at all sure yet.  

 

 

[MaeFlowers]

I am checking in this week even though I am still in the books I started in week 2! I just wasn't felling well for about a week and did not even feel like reading. I have started again and am hoping to finish something this week. My current reads are still The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt, Herodotus The Histories and the Iliad.

 

I love the zentangles. I would love to try but just feel like I would end up neglecting all those other things on my plate that I am already so far behind on. Sigh. Maybe some day I'll get it together.

[Jane in NC]

Oh my.  Shukriyya's recommendation of A Short Walk: A Preposterous Adventure by Eric Newby was a good one!  My son must read this book as I am envisioning him (or Nan's boys) attempting something like this.  "Hey, let's go climb a mountain!  No one has ever reached the summit?  No problem!  Special training?  Say what?"  So this book is very, very funny while being amazingly interesting with its setting of Afghanistan in the 1950s.

 

Another amusing volume I completed this week was Orr Shtul's An Illustrated Guide to Cocktails (illustrations by Elizabeth Graeber).  Cocktails reflect social history and there are some good tales within.  For example, I did not know that George Washington owned what was at the time the nation's largest rye distillery at Mount Vernon, annually producing 11,000 gallons.

 

The recipe for the Gin Rickey explains that the drink was named after a 19th century political lobbyist.  As far as the recipe itself, it reads

 

• 1 1/2 ounces gin
• half a lime
• club soda

In a highball glass, pour gin over ice.  Squeeze lime into the glass, drop the fruit in as well, and top with club soda.  Sip slowly while debating how to handle the Pullman car workers' strike.

 

 

 

I now know what the ubiquitous summer drink of the UK, the Pimm's Cup, is. And I raised a glass to y'all on Friday when sipping a Boulevardier with a second toast to ChrisB whose Kingfisher Zentangle was such a delight.

 

Still reading the novel Twenty Thousand Saints by Fflur Dafydd.

 

Update 2015 Challenges: 

HoMW  (bookmarked at chapter 10 of 85 chapters)

The Golden Legend  (bookmarked at chapter 10 of 182 chapters)

 

Chunksters

 

7) A Short Walk: A Preposterous Adventure, Eric Newby, 1959 (Read this book!)

6) A Useless Man, selected stories by Sait Faik Abasiyank written in the first half of the 20th century, translated from Turkish by Alexander Dawe and Maureen Freely, 2015 (Exquisite)

5) Absolute Truths, John le Carré, 2003, audio book

4) Lost, Stolen or Shredded:  Stories of Missing Works of Art and Literature, Rick Gekoski, 2013, 2014

3) The Unicorn Hunt, Dorothy Dunnett, 1994 (leftover from 2014)

2) History of the Ancient World, Susan Wise Bauer, 2007 (leftover from 2014)

1) Women's Work: The First 20000 Years, Elizabeth Wayland Barber, 1994 (leftover from 2014)

[mumto2]

I finished Jane Eyre this afternoon. I actually really enjoyed the last third of the book which I am not sure that I ever really concentrated on before. I read the first portion of Wide Saragasso Sea last summer but handed it off to my out of reading material ;) daughter while on a holiday and never finished. I now really understand how the two books fit together which is nice.

 

I finished Murder Of Crows very early this morning. It was the second in the Anne Bishop series. Once again really good. Dd just started Written in Red......

 

Not sure what I am currently reading. Planning to read Laura Lippman's Girl in the Green Raincoat but having just read a couple of sentences I could end up with anything in the stack.

[ChrisB]

... And I raised a glass to y'all on Friday when sipping a Boulevardier with a second toast to ChrisB whose Kingfisher Zentangle was such a delight.

 

Here, here!  :cheers2: 

 

It means a lot that you liked it.   :001_wub:

[Ali in OR]

After two weeks my bronchitis has turned to pneumonia. Probably more napping than reading happening here. In progress--Forgotten English by Jeffrey Kacirk, one of the books I took from Mom's house. It explains words and phrases that were popular in previous centuries that aren't used much any more. Kind of interesting but this is one I'll definitely be giving away when I'm done. For my trip to urgent care today I brought along Cary Elwes As You Wish, one of my Christmas gifts. A good choice I think for hours of waiting. I finished up Arthur Conan Doyle's stories that have Moriarty in them, so I guess I'm ready to begin Moriarty soon.

[Kareni]

MaeFlowers and Ali in OR (and anyone else who is battling illness) ~ sending good healthy wishes your way.

 

 

Totally off topic:  If anyone on this thread is a New Zealand citizen, I'd appreciate it if you'd send me a personal message.

 

 

I just finished Rachel Bach's Heaven's Queen (Paradox Book 3).  This was the third and final installment in the military science fiction Paradox series, and I've enjoyed them all.  I do recommend starting with the first book, Fortune's Pawn (Paradox Book 1), because the story arc continues through all three volumes.

 

"From the moment she took a job on Captain Caldswell's doomed ship, Devi Morris' life has been one disaster after another: government conspiracies, two alien races out for her blood, an incurable virus that's eating her alive.

 

Now, with the captain missing and everyone -- even her own government -- determined to hunt her down, things are going from bad to impossible. The sensible plan would be to hide and wait for things to blow over, but Devi's never been one to shy from a fight, and she's getting mighty sick of running.

 

It's time to put this crisis on her terms and do what she knows is right. But with all human life hanging on her actions, the price of taking a stand might be more than she can pay."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[prairiegirl]

After two weeks my bronchitis has turned to pneumonia. Probably more napping than reading happening here. In progress--Forgotten English by Jeffrey Kacirk, one of the books I took from Mom's house. It explains words and phrases that were popular in previous centuries that aren't used much any more. Kind of interesting but this is one I'll definitely be giving away when I'm done. For my trip to urgent care today I brought along Cary Elwes As You Wish, one of my Christmas gifts. A good choice I think for hours of waiting. I finished up Arthur Conan Doyle's stories that have Moriarty in them, so I guess I'm ready to begin Moriarty soon.

 

:grouphug:  to you.  I hope that you can get good meds that will clear up the yuckiness inside of you.     I keep hearing good things about  As You Wish.  I have it on hold and it is one its way to me now.  I am also  hearing about Moriarty.  It is on my TBR list, just itching to move up to the hold list.  

[Chrysalis Academy]

I finished 1984.  This was a re-read for me, but it's been many years.  I remembered it as an intensely pessimistic book, but I never realized how much it is a Romantic book - and how closely Romantic and pessimistic go together.  I also find myself surprised that it's on so many people's book lists for their kids, although I may have read it in high school for the first time.  I have a really hard time imagining my 12 year old reading it.  Ever.  Although I'm sure she will some day.  But maybe not because I assign it to her?

 

Blech.  I need to go for a walk in the sun or something, get some fresh air.  I'm in a funk.

[Jane in NC]

Sending wishes of good cheer to those who are ailing.  If you need a hot toddy recipe, I've still have An Illustrated Guide to Cocktails in my library bag. ;)

[Chocolate Rose]

Maybe you just read it at the normal pace and from beginning to end - you know, like someone would normally read a book?  :laugh:   I know that didn't really work for me! I said when I reviewed the book here that I had thought it would be my light read, but it made me work ridiculously hard for a light read! The changes in POV - present to past, Breq to Justice of Toren the ship to Justice of Toren the troop of ancillaries to Justice of Toren one of several separate bodies could be hard to follow.  And the storytelling of events that took place in the past - from the AI's POV - could be kaleidoscopic.  Then throw in the ambiguous gender, and it was a book you definitely had to work hard to follow! Kind of like reading a Russian novel, where I often have to make myself a character cheat sheet to keep track of who's who.  I ended up really enjoying it.  But if you didn't you didn't miss anything you can't live without!

 

I started the second book in the series, Ancillary Sword.  It started kind of slow, and with a lot of sentence fragments which I found annoying.  

 

ETA: But now I'm really enjoying it.  And it's easier to follow from the POV POV, and the gender thing isn't as obvious - everyone is called "she" regardless of biological sex, and it's actually starting to blend into the woodwork, the way "he" supposedly does when it's meant to refer to both males and females.

Yep, it was ALL of those things. And, I was realizing that I couldn't picture in my mind while I was reading what they looked like so I couldn't associate names with the characters. I did consider putting together a cheat sheet, too, but I kept thinking I'd figure it out. I want to like it and understand it so I can read the second book. But, I think at this point it's going to be a pass. Glad you're enjoying it!

[Stacia]

MaeFlowers & Ali in OR, :grouphug: . Sending get well wishes to you both!

 

For example, I did not know that George Washington owned what was at the time the nation's largest rye distillery at Mount Vernon, annually producing 11,000 gallons.

 

Another travel tip in case you are in D.C. You can see a replica of the distillery. It is not on the main Mt. Vernon grounds, but is at a separate location (along w/ the gristmill) about 3 or 4 miles away. I think a lot of folks don't know about this part &/or skip it since you would need a car to get there. I took my kids to D.C. so many times over the years & we loved going to the gristmill because it was always almost empty & has a nice, small grassy area by a creek that is perfect for picnicking. It was always a great place to stop w/ the kids. Over the years we visited, they started excavating the distillery area, so we got to watch different stages of the excavations. When younger, my dd was especially fascinated by watching the archaeologists work -- no job looks better than one digging in the dirt!  :laugh:  (Jane's ds knows that all too well too!) The archaeologists were immensely kind w/ the dc, let them hold some pieces they had excavated, etc.... Anyway, we have many fond memories of visits to the gristmill (& now distillery too).

http://www.mountvernon.org/the-estate-gardens/distillery/

http://www.mountvernon.org/the-estate-gardens/gristmill/

 

Definitely worth a visit, imo, if you have a vehicle when you're in the D.C. area.
 

[shukriyya]

 

For nonfiction, I'm going to try and focus on The Mongol Queens and The Cave and the Light: Plato vs. Aristotle and the struggle for the soul of western civilization, by Arthur Hermann.  It's very interesting, although I suspect might be looked down on by "real" philosophers.  Mostly I suspect this because I can actually understand it!  I do not enjoy reading philosophy as a rule.  But this book is very readable, and it's explaining a lot of the source of conflict in my early life - I am an Aristotelean raised in a Platonic family, religion, school, etc.  

 

I had dh take a look at this as you mentioned it last week. I downloaded the sample and, like you, was a bit suspicious at how accessible it was to someone like myself with very little philosophical background. Though I did get some of my best marks in college in a class on existential philosophy. I have memories of writing a term paper two nights before it was due fueled by homemade peach jam, buns and Pernod  :ack2: At the time Pernod seemed the height of sophistication to my 19 year old self and felt like the perfect complement to Sartre, Nietzsche and the rest of the gang. I recall giving up in frustration at some point and deciding to just write the way I thought. Got an A on that paper I did and have never been sure what to make of that :lol:

 

Anyway dh wasn't keen on his first impression of 'The Cave and the Light' but that's because he's not too keen on most interpretations as a starting point. His view, which he holds rather staunchly to, is read the original first...not too easy to do with such a large span of time. But despite his misgivings I've ordered this from the library though I suspect that I, too, am not keen on reading philosophy. Still, I was moved by the description of Socrates's death. Actually I found it unbearably sad and human but dh took umbrage with that saying that was the fault of the author's interpretation and that, in fact, his death was not at all sad but the fulfillment of the truth he was trying to argue them into believing which was the immortality of the soul, the fact that he faced it fearlessly without any sense of trying to compromise himself. As dh says, a truly enlightened being.

[mumto2]

Ali :grouphug: I hope the antibiotics do their job quickly and you are feeling much better soon.

 

:grouphug: to all our other BaWer's who are in some stage of recovering from an illness!

 

Jane, Pitcher's of Pimms are a very fun part of a British summer so glad you got to try it.

 

Jenn and others.....I finally gave in and joined a que for Inspector Rutledge! :lol:

[mumto2]

I finished 1984. This was a re-read for me, but it's been many years. I remembered it as an intensely pessimistic book, but I never realized how much it is a Romantic book - and how closely Romantic and pessimistic go together. I also find myself surprised that it's on so many people's book lists for their kids, although I may have read it in high school for the first time. I have a really hard time imagining my 12 year old reading it. Ever. Although I'm sure she will some day. But maybe not because I assign it to her?

 

Blech. I need to go for a walk in the sun or something, get some fresh air. I'm in a funk.

I did my reread two years ago. Pretty much the same reaction!

 

 

I really, really miss multiquotes!

[shukriyya]

Oh my.  Shukriyya's recommendation of A Short Walk: A Preposterous Adventure by Eric Newby was a good one!  My son must read this book as I am envisioning him (or Nan's boys) attempting something like this.  "Hey, let's go climb a mountain!  No one has ever reached the summit?  No problem!  Special training?  Say what?"  So this book is very, very funny while being amazingly interesting with its setting of Afghanistan in the 1950s.

 

:hurray: :hurray: :hurray:

 

Jane, I am so glad there is finally one other person on the planet I can share the 'Short Walk' love with. Hilarity, intrepid idiocy, restraint and self-deprecation combined with the author's erudition and the incredible landscape they were 'walking' through made for a jewel of a book. If you ever come across the audio version snap it up. It's only available on cassette now for $70+ but you'll roar with laughter from start to finish. The narrator is brilliant.

 

:grouphug: to all our BaWers who are down for the count.

[JennW in SoCal]

Sending wishes of good cheer to those who are ailing.  If you need a hot toddy recipe, I've still have An Illustrated Guide to Cocktails in my library bag. ;)

 

I'm thinking you should as a general public service. 

 

Of course, every time I read the title of that book, my eyes kept reading An Illustrated Guide to Cockatiels, then I'd have to reread it when you started talking about alcoholic beverages.  Unless of course being the owner of a Cockatiel leads one to drink....

 

Goodness, Ali -- pneumonia!  That's awful!  Hope modern medicine does its thing and you start feeling better real soon.  Hope MaeFlowers is on the mend too.  

 

And finally, this thread doesn't just cause one to buy books, but to start getting the travel bug! The photos on those links to Mt. Vernon made me want to hop on a plane --- when it is a tad warmer.

 

(edited to remove sarcastic comments about snow -- read the news after writing and see that is actually a serious storm in the northeast... Jane, those in the path of the snow need the Hot Toddy recipe so they can stock up on key ingredients!!)

[Guest]

My head is whirling with different types of epithelial and connective tissue - I'm trying to integrate the visual and intellectual pieces and am having to work very hard at it, which is fun, but tiring.

 

Still enjoying Ulysses, though going a little slower than I would like since I seem to be drawn more to shorter works while I'm doing this kind of studying.

 

Last week:

 

2 poetry books:

 

Ariel by Sylvia Plath: I hated this as a teen, but can appreciate it more now... still not my thing (nor is Bell Jar which I am also rereading), but there were some powerful and intense poems in here...

 

Tiger Heron by Robin Becker: Not the same literary calibre, but I enjoyed them much more than the Plath (and am much more likely to want to come back to them!)

 

2 plays:

 

Arms and the Man by Shaw: counts as a comfort reread... great fun with a satirical streak a mile wide.

 

Albert and Victoria: A Life by Donald Freed: Ick.  (and not that Albert & Victoria).  I could see the point(s) and was moved by some parts, but the contrast with Shaw didn't do it any favors... you can make political and social points *and* have an absorbing story with characters one cares about...  Perhaps I am being unfair and would appreciate this more another time... (In this collection)

 

2 novellas:

 

So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell: A beautifully written story with a narrative structure that brought a measure of transcendence to a, plot-wise, sordid story.  A story that will stay with me in the corners of my mind for some time.

 

The Private Lives of Trees by Alejandro Zambra: An odd little Chilean story that almost worked for me.  ...though I prefer more resolution than this offers.

 

3 assorted works:

 

Apology for a Murder by Lorenzino de Medici: This pairs Lorenzino's justification for his murder of a "tyrant" with his assassin's description of murdering Lorenzino with a handful of Lorenzino's poems thrown in.  It's left me with a swirling mass of questions about both the specific situation and broader ethical and political issues...

 

Time of the Ghost by Diana Wynne Jones: DWJ's least child-friendly children's book... it is engaging and, like all her books, carefully plotted despite a spontaneous appearance, but the subject matter is beyond grim - though it is handled from a juvenile viewpoint - and made more so because some of the grimmest bits are autobiographical.

 

7th Heaven: Celebrating Shabbat with Rabbi Nachman of Breslov: I've been reading this in bibs and bobs on Shabbos for a while and finished it off this week.  It isn't scholarly or filled with new information, but I enjoyed the way it pulled together the pieces and its given me the little inspirational boost I wanted from it... and a few nice bits to share with the family at the Shabbos table.

[Guest]

Oh my.  Shukriyya's recommendation of A Short Walk: A Preposterous Adventure by Eric Newby was a good one!  My son must read this book as I am envisioning him (or Nan's boys) attempting something like this.  "Hey, let's go climb a mountain!  No one has ever reached the summit?  No problem!  Special training?  Say what?"  So this book is very, very funny while being amazingly interesting with its setting of Afghanistan in the 1950s.

 

I'm almost afraid to let my older son see it...  but I'm bumping it up my TBR list... thank you, love.

 

 

I am checking in this week even though I am still in the books I started in week 2! I just wasn't felling well for about a week and did not even feel like reading. I have started again and am hoping to finish something this week. My current reads are still The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt, Herodotus The Histories and the Iliad.

 

 

 

How is the Egypt book?  I've been tempted to try it, but haven't been sure.

 

..and where are you up to in the Iliad?  ...it has been much too long since I've rearead it, but I have always loved it (though, for me, it is Hector's story that shines out... )

 

And don't feel you have to have finished something to come chat! 

 

I hope you feel better soon - illnesses that make even reading unpleasant are the worst!

 

:grouphug:

 

 

I love my continuing reading in Shirley.

As I became a little bit ill this week, I didn't read much in Le Petit Prince

 

Get better soon, sweetie! :grouphug:

 

  ...and thank you for reminding me of the French reading discussion... I did better in 2013, but didn't follow through last year at all in my intentions to be reading more in French.  Perhaps admiring the rest of you will inspire me!

 

 

After two weeks my bronchitis has turned to pneumonia.

 

Oh, no!  I had bronchitis last term and that was vile enough - and I was a dragging, foggy-brained mess for far too long!  I hope you can get some healing and feel better soon!  :grouphug: 

 

[Onceuponatime]

Apparently I approach philosophy backwards. I read what other people say about a philosopher, good, bad, and funny, before I even attempt to beard the lion in his den. Otherwise, it would never happen. I would be thinking, "Say what??"

[Runningmom80]

Hi everyone!

 

I just finished The Tao of Pooh.  I think I'm going to start A Path Appears next.  I read Half the Sky a few years ago and it really inspired me, so hopefully this one is just as good. 

 

My list,

1. Gone Girl

2. All the Light We Cannot See

3. The Conscious Parent

4. The Tao of Pooh

[Guest]

I finished 1984.  This was a re-read for me, but it's been many years.  I remembered it as an intensely pessimistic book, but I never realized how much it is a Romantic book - and how closely Romantic and pessimistic go together.  I also find myself surprised that it's on so many people's book lists for their kids, although I may have read it in high school for the first time.  I have a really hard time imagining my 12 year old reading it.  Ever.  Although I'm sure she will some day.  But maybe not because I assign it to her?

 

Blech.  I need to go for a walk in the sun or something, get some fresh air.  I'm in a funk.

 

I've only had one kid read it during high school (so far), but he asked for it b/c he'd read about it elsewhere and was curious.  He was ~17 and felt mildly truamatized by it.  I was ~18 when I read it and parts of it are etched in my mind... I haven't been willing to go back to again yet, though I keep feeling I should at some point.

 

An intersting contrast is Zamyatin's We - just as dystopian, but the 'feel' is so different... and then one wonders if a dystopia with light and harmony that is beautiful to read might not be much more of a nightmare than anything Orwellian.... [i loved the translation I linked, but there are others I haven't looked at]

 

I read a book the other year that compared/contrasted Orwell and Waugh in ways that I found interesting and that articulated some of my instincts about the significance of 1984.  (I found the hyperbolic premise absurd, but you can ignore it for most of the book)  The Same Man

 

 

Yep, it was ALL of those things. And, I was realizing that I couldn't picture in my mind while I was reading what they looked like so I couldn't associate names with the characters. I did consider putting together a cheat sheet, too, but I kept thinking I'd figure it out. I want to like it and understand it so I can read the second book. But, I think at this point it's going to be a pass. Glad you're enjoying it!

 

Perhaps it helped me that I'm not a visual reader - I don't 'see' images as I read at all.  The book was vivid and the characters very real for me, but I could 'hear' them, and had a strong feel for who they were.  I'm not sure how I would have processed it if I were a different type of reader...

 

The part of my brain that really clicked with Ancillary justice is the same bit that loves unreliable narrators and books that aren't puzzles (I dislike those intensely), but that don't lay it all out for me.  It's that piece that enables me to enjoy Ulysses (though I can't imagine that I am going to love Ulysses, the piecing together of impressions and characters is reading work that, if I'm engaged, is very satisfying for me.

 

[Guest]

 

I started the second book in the series, Ancillary Sword.  It started kind of slow, and with a lot of sentence fragments which I found annoying.  

 

ETA: But now I'm really enjoying it.  And it's easier to follow from the POV POV, and the gender thing isn't as obvious - everyone is called "she" regardless of biological sex, and it's actually starting to blend into the woodwork, the way "he" supposedly does when it's meant to refer to both males and females.

 

AS is an easier read, I think.  ... but, to me, it felt very predictable, like dozens of other middle books in a space opera series.  A nicely done one of its type and I enjoyed it, but nothing I'd rave about or press on people...

AJ

 

 

 

I read a second Heyer book!  False Colours, which I almost abandoned because the bad sit-com like plot was glaringly obvious within the first chapter.  But I needed more fluff this week, and figured Heyer would at least handle the plot with clever twists and turns, which she did, and that the characters would be entertaining, which they were.  

 

 

Last night I started on a PD James mystery, Shroud for a Nightingale, an early Adam Dalgliesh mystery.  It is set in a nursing school, and seems older than its 1971 publishing date (I know, I know, there are BaWers who probably weren't even born then) because of the nurses wearing starched uniforms and caps.  When did they stop doing that?  I can remember them as a kid at the pediatrician's office or on tv, but when did they start wearing the much more comfortable and practical scrubs instead?  Anyway, so far so good! 

 

The Heyers I like best tend to have the silliest plots - when she tries for more serious plots I tend to dislike them (with the exception of Civil Contract which has a more serious tone (in places) and I still enjoy)

 

I think nurse's uniforms stuck around longer in the UK?

 

 

 

 

I am still working my way through East of Eden.  I'm finding it incredibly compelling, without fully understanding why.  It's such a flawed book, in so many ways; is it so magnetic in spite of its flaws, or because of them?  I'm not at all sure yet.  

 

 

What an interesting question.

 

I'm trying to think about flawed books that have that magnetism... I keep coming up with the shallow, fun ones that I still want to keep reading...

 

Perhaps 1984?  There is much one could criticize, but I remember finding it a compelling, powerful read.   ...and some of the very qualities one could cirticize are part of creating the flavor and atmosphere of the book and resonate with its themes...

 

...thank you, love.  Pondering this will be a pleasant interlude between sessions staring at images of slides of tissues and rattling of their identifying features...

 

 

 

I think I've been reading a lot of difficult books lately and needed something light and fun. I started The Rosie Project this morning and am at 20% already. I think this is just what I need right now.

 

I found Rosie Project to be a fast, diverting read... it didn't take any mental effort, but it was engaging... I hope it stays fun for you too!  (Though when I stopped and thought about the implications of the resolution, I had some issues with it, especially as the mother of a spectrum son... but one of the reasons I was reading it was to not think, so it didn't bother me while reading)

 

 

Just finished My Antonia by Willa Cather and found it very enjoyable.  I can't believe I've waited this long to read anything from her and am a bit surprised I was never assigned her books in any of my literature classes.  Her treatment of the landscape like a character was so accurate.  Living on the prairie gives me a sense of what she was trying to convey.  And, she does a character so well--she gave me the true personality and appearance as if I'd known them for years, both their good and bad qualities.  

 

Antonia had a joie de vivre that I found very appealing.  In the end, what was really beautiful?  Her outward appearance or her inner love of life?  Her growing life from her friendships, from the earth, from her hard work, her children, marriage...  Over time outer beauty fades, so what are we left with?  Life has a way of showing us what that means if we allow it, and I'm grateful to have read a novel that helps me contemplate what that means in my life.    

 

I love books that leave me feeling I've lived with real people for the length of the story... and when they inspire reflection and connect to my heart and life, it is magic!

 

I think I read My Antonia too young to get that magic - you've made me think I should revisit it sometime this year!

 

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

 

I've only had one kid read it during high school (so far), but he asked for it b/c he'd read about it elsewhere and was curious.  He was ~17 and felt mildly truamatized by it.  I was ~18 when I read it and parts of it are etched in my mind... I haven't been willing to go back to again yet, though I keep feeling I should at some point.

 

An intersting contrast is Zamyatin's We - just as dystopian, but the 'feel' is so different... and then one wonders if a dystopia with light and harmony that is beautiful to read might not be much more of a nightmare than anything Orwellian.... [i loved the translation I linked, but there are others I haven't looked at]

 

I read a book the other year that compared/contrasted Orwell and Waugh in ways that I found interesting and that articulated some of my instincts about the significance of 1984.  (I found the hyperbolic premise absurd, but you can ignore it for most of the book)  The Same Man

 

 

 

Perhaps it helped me that I'm not a visual reader - I don't 'see' images as I read at all.  The book was vivid and the characters very real for me, but I could 'hear' them, and had a strong feel for who they were.  I'm not sure how I would have processed it if I were a different type of reader...

 

The part of my brain that really clicked with Ancillary justice is the same bit that loves unreliable narrators and books that aren't puzzles (I dislike those intensely), but that don't lay it all out for me.  It's that piece that enables me to enjoy Ulysses (though I can't imagine that I am going to love Ulysses, the piecing together of impressions and characters is reading work that, if I'm engaged, is very satisfying for me.

 

 

Yes, there are parts of 1984 that had stuck in my memory vividly for the 20+ years since I'd first read it.  They are still as vivid! But I think the book affected me more deeply this time, because I understood it more deeply.

 

I read We recently, and found it fascinating.  A more hopeful book in some way? I thought at the time it would be a better book for a high school Dystopia book list than 1984 is.  And so much better than Ayn Rand's Anthem, to which it is often compared. I found it far superior.

 

I finished Jo Walton's My Real Children.  I had a tough time finishing it, actually, I sobbed my way through the last few chapters, particularly Pat's chapters.  I think it was such an emotional blow because my own mother is suffering from dementia and losing herself, and she and my father and I all feel so helpless against the process.

 

It was a beautiful and moving story.  She write woman-ness and motherhood so vividly and with such emotional depth.  And the alternate world aspect was interesting.  But - I did not like the ending.  I almost felt like it turned the book into a puzzle? I don't know. I'm unsatisfied somehow.

[Violet Crown]

I'm going to count last week's The Quiet American for the Far East, as it's set in Vietnam during the First Indochina War. Still reading Henry James, with now and then a J. F. Powers short story for intermission.

 

Dh suggests people consider reading Austin's Sense and Sensibilia.

[Just Robyn]

I read Why Read Moby-Dick? by Nathaniel Philbrick - wonderful book. Thank you for the suggestion, Robin. In addition to talking about themes in Moby-Dick, it gives biographical information about Melville and Hawthorne. 

 

And I just finished Shakespeare's Richard II. This was very easy to read and understand, and it left me eager to read Henry IV.

 

I also started Kraken: The Curious, Exciting, and Slightly Disturbing Science of Squid. I can't remember who here recommended it. I have only read one chapter, but am enjoying it so far. 

 

I am still reading Dynamic Characters by Nancy Kress and One Zentangle A Day by Beckah Krahula.

[JennyD]

 

 

Another amusing volume I completed this week was Orr Shtul's An Illustrated Guide to Cocktails (illustrations by Elizabeth Graeber).  Cocktails reflect social history and there are some good tales within.  For example, I did not know that George Washington owned what was at the time the nation's largest rye distillery at Mount Vernon, annually producing 11,000 gallons.

 

 

 

 

Somewhere around here I have some data about historical alcohol consumption rates in the US.  IIRC, the average per capita consumption of pure alcohol was far higher in the early days of the Republic than it is now, but rose even higher in the early nineteenth century, with the all-time peak at about 1830.   The temperance movement of the 1820s most definitely did not come out of nowhere.  

[NoseInABook]

I finished Jen Hatmaker's 7 and Releasing Emotional Patterns With Essential Oils by Carolyn L. Mein. I still have Sally Clarkson's Own Your Life and Parenting The Wholehearted Child by Jeannie Cunnion waiting but I'm really feeling like going on a little fiction kick instead. What I'm going to read, I haven't decided yet. I could go back into the Hallows for some more Rachel Morgan because I have like 8 books of that series left or something else. I'll go look at my Kindle next or browse the paper stack.

[LaughingCat]

Last week finished:

Black Out/All Clear -detailed in PP

 

Reading:

Three Men in a Boat -  misplaced for half the week! however I'm finding I laugh most when I go a few days between the chapters

 

the life-changing magic of tidying up - got about half way and then I went through my entire wardrobe except for shoes.  The amazing thing is that I had actually 'decluttered' it recently and still ended up with a huge pile of clothes to get rid of.  However! I have done this before - decluttering my closet down to only those clothes I loved (which was down to 3 outfits!)- and it did not stick (although at least this time I had more than 3 outfits I love).  And I'm not sure I can really bring myself to do the whole rest of the house in this way (all at once and only that which you love) - we'll see if reading the rest of the book motivates me anymore in that direction.   Definitely books will not be next on the list though no matter what she says!

 

 

[Jane in NC]

I had dh take a look at this as you mentioned it last week. I downloaded the sample and, like you, was a bit suspicious at how accessible it was to someone like myself with very little philosophical background. Though I did get some of my best marks in college in a class on existential philosophy. I have memories of writing a term paper two nights before it was due fueled by homemade peach jam, buns and Pernod  :ack2: At the time Pernod seemed the height of sophistication to my 19 year old self and felt like the perfect complement to Sartre, Nietzsche and the rest of the gang. I recall giving up in frustration at some point and deciding to just write the way I thought. Got an A on that paper I did and have never been sure what to make of that :lol:

 

 

With my new found curiosity concerning spirits, I clicked on your link where I learned that Pernod is in the same anise flavored family as Turkish raki, glasses of which of are always present in the stories of Sait Faik Abasiyanik.

 

 

I'm going to count last week's The Quiet American for the Far East, as it's set in Vietnam during the First Indochina War. Still reading Henry James, with now and then a J. F. Powers short story for intermission.

 

Dh suggests people consider reading Austin's Sense and Sensibilia.

 

Sense and Sensibilia has its own Good Reads page which for some reason surprised me.  I'll leave that suggestion for Eliana.

 

 

 

I also started Kraken: The Curious, Exciting, and Slightly Disturbing Science of Squid. I can't remember who here recommended it. I have only read one chapter, but am enjoying it so far. 

 

 

That would be me.  Of course, there is convergence here between squid ink and your Zentangles.

 

 

 

Somewhere around here I have some data about historical alcohol consumption rates in the US.  IIRC, the average per capita consumption of pure alcohol was far higher in the early days of the Republic than it is now, but rose even higher in the early nineteenth century, with the all-time peak at about 1830.   The temperance movement of the 1820s most definitely did not come out of nowhere.  

 

 

And the rewriting of American myths?  According to Michael Pollan, Johnny Appleseed was planting apple trees for the purpose of make cider (the hard stuff).   Apples we eat out of hand grow from grafted trees; Johnny Chapman's apples were the bitter ones growing from seed.  According to The Straight Dope:

 

Cider was safer, tastier, and easier to make than corn liquor. You pressed the apples to produce juice, let the juice ferment in a barrel for a few weeks, and presto! you had a mildly alcoholic beverage, about half the strength of wine. For something stronger, the cider could be distilled into brandy or frozen into applejack (about 66 proof). In rural areas, cider took the place not only of wine and beer but also of coffee, juice, even water.

 

We stopped drinking apples and started eating them in the early 1900s. The Women's Christian Temperance Union publicized the evils of alcohol, the movement towards Prohibition was gaining momentum, and the apple industry saw the need to re-position the apple. "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" was an old adage, dating from the late 1800s, that was updated into an advertising slogan, promoted by apple growers fearful that prohibition would cut sales. We can thank prohibition for shifting the image of the apple to the healthy, wholesome, American-as-apple-pie fruit that it is today.