Wow. I admit I've only heard the title of the book and wasn't aware of what it was about. If I worked for those publishers who have the crazy covers I would have slapped on an oil painting of people actually having a picnic by the roadside. :o

Maybe I can take another approach to getting DS to read Twain....

It's wonderful you have so much support "on the ground" and such friendly folks too.

Still thinking of you.

Saying good morning and I hope you and your family have a good day ahead. :grouphug:

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

I'm glad there's a rest day. Hang in there, get some rest and food, and know we are thinking of you. :grouphug:

More :grouphug: this morning. I know it's going to be a tough day, but you'll get through it. We're behind you all the way!

I am still reading House of Leaves (which has become terrifying and can only be read in small doses), Basin and Range (taking 3x as long as I Google map all the locations mentioned so I can actually see these geological formations, must have been a faster read pre-Internet), The Hobbit (to the children), and On the Nature of Things (fascinating and amazingly modern). I finished An Illustrated Life and picked up my held copy of Grain Brain but didn't crack that one yet. Eliana, thank you so much for putting together this post. There are lots of things I need to look into from it. I thought I might suggest looking into Nikki Giovanni as well, if you're not familiar with her work. Today I was in the car with the kids and we were listening to KZSU, Stanford's student station. They were playing MLK speeches over nice music and one passage stuck out for me. I don't recall hearing it before: What a cutie! I did a double-take because we have the same furniture! Same buffet, same chairs, except our table is oval. We have the same table pad and latch to lock the pieces together. Oh, except our buffet has Sharpie marks on the front from a little artistic adventure DS had when he was 3. :001_cool:

Thanks for the update. It's good to hear that the doctors feel they can get everything under control. We will continue to think of you and your family tomorrow. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

I've been checking in throughout the day but now that it's evening I wanted to let you know our family is thinking of yours. :grouphug:

Still with you this morning... :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

Still with you tonight. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

Continuing to wait with you. If it helps, surgeons don't say they can make it right unless they can. :grouphug:

Oh Cat, what a day for you guys! I am sending good thoughts to you and your family, the surgical team, and the donor's family as well. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: This is an official self-care reminder. At the tone, it will be time for a stretch break, a snack, and a drink of water. Beeeep.

I wouldn't have a problem with reading any of these things to my kids. Now I feel like a bad parent. :p Then again, I grew up watching on the Muppets and watching early episodes of Sesame Street, which I guess is a problem now. It's funny because when the new Muppets came out I was annoyed with some of the innuendo and then I started to remember what I survived. I'm not even sure I can answer the original question re: what books might not meet modern parenting standards as the books already mentioned wouldn't have been on my radar. Maybe Where the Red Fern Grows? He's out at all hours, killing animals, walking long distances without supervision? I don't see it that way, but I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of the parents who worry about Blueberries for Sal.

I bought a copy in September for DS. He hasn't bitten yet, though. It's sitting on my nightstand but I covered it with a couple of other books so I won't see it right before I need to be able to sleep. :p

There's the first line for an interesting novel.

I didn't think you were saying that at all, for what it's worth. Yes, tea would be better. The nuances of what I want to explain are too difficult to communicate, or more likely I lack the skills to concisely write what I'm thinking into the small text box. I think you're being too hard on yourself! I enjoyed reading your thoughts and hope you don't delete them. :grouphug:

:lol: Those quotes would be hilarious if we were!

Perhaps this makes a difference? If you had lived at the time of Bach and loved his music, and saw the possibility of any more music from him actually conclude in your lifetime, maybe you would have felt the loss, even if only for a few days? By the time you were introduced to him you had access to his entire body of work and are fully aware there will never be anymore. While an artist is living there is always hope of one more play, novel, song, composition, or movie.

I don't feel it is that clear-cut, at least in my case. I think my thoughts and personal experiences are too complex to explain in this forum. I too wish we could have tea in person! :)

I agree. I think that's a possibility. But when he did write in the earlier part of the book about "people who believe themselves to be white" he only mentioned those with actually lighter skin. At that time he could have expounded upon the ideas being discussed here but he chose not to. Was it for us to decide our own categories, or was it really about the history of skin color? Would it have made the book more confusing, or less acceptable? Did he expect readers such as me, of Asian descent, to slot myself into a category? I would find this difficult, as I lead a nice upper middle class lifestyle but am Muslim. And are poor whites, such as those who live in some parts of Appalachia, more like blacks who live in poor ghettos, or like whites?

I read this trilogy last year. If you consider Book 1 too strange to continue you should avoid Book 2, which takes place in a completely different location, namely HQ. It's such an oddly written book with confusing occurrences and obfuscated bureaucracy. It's even more confusing than Book 1, I think. Book 3 clears up much of the confusion, but Book 2 is a real hump to get over. I see what you're saying but I need some time to think on it. My initial thoughts are that you may be correct in what you're saying about the current state of affairs, but I don't know if Coates is implying this in his book or not.

I think ordering the materials is the same as registering. At least I hope it is, as that's all I've done. When I asked the woman whether the exam would come via email or snail mail, she told me snail mail so I think that's all you have to do. Please, someone correct me if I'm wrong!