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slug hollow

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Everything posted by slug hollow

  1. I liked the summary from Laura. It seems well past my writing skills to sum up Jorge Luis Borges, but I will offer up some impressions in the hope of tempting you to read him. I laughed at the apt ness of you checking out his books in the cause of deviling your librarian, for Borges is at heart The Librarian, though not of a type that would ever be frustrated with genuine patrons of libraries, the readers. His stories are wrapped (rapt) around the characters so that the tone is matter of fact, but the depth of each experience makes you utter the "yes." Of having felt that same thing. Only a handful have lived with Hyperthymesia, but reading Funes the Memorious touches the intensity of those vivid, living, breathing memories we all have, the ones you feel could swallow you and transport you back into the moment if only you knew the proper command. Borges' world brings a friend who understands the interconnectedness of all things. He sees the pattern I am certain I could see if I could take one more step back in my view of the word. I think you can find the text of Funes the Memorious online as well. Also, to the Hemingway readers, I have to throw in a recommendation for my favorite, A Clean Well Lighted Place.
  2. My reading is going very slowly but I am enjoying it as much as ever. I would welcome any suggestions on just how to carve out reading time in a busy household. Last week I finished The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. It was a fun quick read. I loved the visual description of Ichabod, it made all the illustrations seem less over-the-top. Still reading: The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons Moby Dick or the White Whale by Herman Melville (ch. 25) I also wanted to add my appreciation for this thread and a high five to the Borges readers. I need to add a re-read to my to read list.
  3. I am joining again this year. I am afraid to go back to check how early I stopped posting last year. Always reading, just slowly. :)
  4. Sure thing, here's my history timeline. http://http://pinterest.com/notpaint/history-timeline/
  5. I have a blog of my digital sketches. http://notpaint.wordpress.com/ I get very little traffic, but knowing that the drawings end up where people might see them helps me to keep making time to draw most evenings. Someday, I hope to paint more. Come visit, I would love comments!
  6. I am woefully behind on my reading, but for this month it is due to dedicating the larger chunk of my reading time to painting, so it is a profitable trade for me. I did manage to finish a book in the last week + a couple of days. Appropriately, it was art related. Two worlds of Andrew Wyeth, by Hoving It is an odd joy to rediscover things I dismissed out of hand in my teens. It is also pretty fun that my library's two books on A. Wyeth pre-date his Helga pictures, so I will have more to discover later. I'm also reading a little fiction, but lately it's 3-4 pages before I fall asleep. Makes any book a long read.
  7. I'm reading The Secret Garden in parallel with my daughter. It is a great kids read for springtime. I also started the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Someone gave me a copy and recommended it enthusiastically. I'm not very far into it yet. It must be time to add in another short story to have finished something this week.
  8. Here's a word a day that has ok etymology & it is searchable. http://wordsmith.org/words/today.html
  9. Week 15 was a total loss for me (readingwise) due to the worlds longest running family cold. Last week I finished Warrior Queen. It was ok, not remarkable. I also read a P.K. Dick short story Skull I found it pretty fun in the classic sci fi short way. I'm so glad to be moving on from the sickies & ready to start a new book.
  10. I am pushing along slowly. Last week was a lost cause due to everyone being sick but this week I did manage to read another short story that has been on my list for a couple of years. Issak Asimov's Nightfall came highly recommended by my brother who always has a good one up his sleeve. Also in the mix have been bits of Warrior Queen - I have to say it's starting out on the trashy side. If anyone knows of another engaging biography or historical fiction about Bouddica, let me know. Also trying to get into Prophets Without Honour. This one is interesting subject matter but the opening seemed disjointed, probably not the thing to pick up when dealing with a fever.
  11. I do have a blog - not paint Why did you start it? I started making drawings on facebook's graffiti app and was thrilled to have a creative outlet that I could pursue in short segments of free time. What's its theme? Just things I've drawn- very little text. Do you update it regularly? Almost daily for over a year. Do you get paid to do it? No. Or do you have one but find that you just don't give it the attention it needs? I also have a languishing diary-type blog, I enjoy looking back over it and having a visual record of things we have done but haven't gotten back to post on it for over a year. I would like to get to a point where I can keep that one up, too.
  12. I just finished The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet. It did have a couple of interesting curves but was not as good as I was hoping. There were a few wonderfully constructed sentences, but far more that were comfortably commonplace. It was pretty fluffy. I'm not sure what I'll read next. I need to choose something& head off to bed.
  13. My reading is going at a snail's pace. I'm reading The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet. It's not as good as some of McCollough's other work. I read most of The Tzarina's Daughter last week. I had a few chapters left but it was due back at the library. I also read another short science fiction piece from Year's Best SF 14 The Ships Like Clouds, Risen by Their Rain by Jason Sanford. It was different enough to be thought provoking over a few days. I am still plugging away at the audio of Agnes Grey, when I get enough quiet time to listen to a chapter.
  14. I'm down to the last 75 pages of Caribbean. It has been slow going, but good to keep moving ahead. There have been some good surprises and I like how the separate stories move forward through history with occasional connections of families/characters. I've also been reading The Tsarina's Daughter It is a much simpler style, as it is told from a young girl's perspective, but that also provides a more shallow approach to some interesting times. I might prefer a deeper look. Perhaps as I read on I'll find more depth. I have 6 more audio chapters of Agnes Grey. I keep trying to add a little more reading time to my day.;)
  15. Still plugging away at Caribbean, though I don't think I knocked out more than 100 pages this week. For a short piece to finish I read Dostoevsky's Bobok last night. Here is an e-text, with suitable 'not for everyone' admonishment. I haven't read him for years but I found I still love his writing.
  16. I'm some 500 pages into Caribbean now. Acutely feeling the slowness of my progress! This weekend I read a pair of short stories out of Year's Best SF 14 The first was Pump Six by Paolo Bacigalupi. It was a favorite picked by my husband and that context made the story even more enjoyable. He's often one to learn things from the bottom up in order to fix them. It fits right in to the story. The second was Orange by Neil Gaiman. A fun short story set forth as answers to an interviewer's questions. Mind you, answers only, the questions you need to surmise. Tanning lotions will never seem tame again!
  17. Shari, here is a link to the Bronte challenge posted last week. Murmer, thank you for the encouragement on Agnes Grey, I did listen to a little more last night & hope to see the story though. :)
  18. I haven't finished Caribbean yet, Though I am still enjoying it. I, too, have been falling asleep reading most nights. I joined the Bronte challenge and began to listen to Agnes Grey on Libravox. I have to admit the tales of misbehaving children were draining to me. I'm only to the fifth part of 25, hopefully it will get easier to take. In order to stick to my resolution to finish something each week I picked up By-Line Ernest Hemingway. I read through the first several pieces. They were terribly short, and left me wanting at least a short story. I find myself striving to find more time to read, though to little avail. This 52 books thing reinforces my feeling that there are oh so many books and oh so little time.
  19. I'm still moving slowly through Caribbean. Isn't that a pleasant image? In order to complete something for the week I picked up an old favorite, Anton Checkov Selected Stories. I read several that drew me right in & before you know it they are over. I love what he packs into a short story. You can read many here but this 1.5 page beauty is missing & has a terrible color scheme over here.
  20. I finished A Study in Scarlet, only 126 pages, so it barley counts but I'm going to fill in with things I can get through in a week while I keep on with my other reading. This week it's mainly Caribbean. I'm about 250 of 810 pgs. into it. I'm liking it much better after the first 60 pages.
  21. I'm currently reading Caribbean by James Mitchner. I have a couple others going also: The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet and SOTW Vol. 3 in an attempt to stay ahead of the kids. Yesterdsay I started reading A study in Scarlet on line here, in the hope of finishing something this week.
  22. Just Dial a Number http://www.amazon.com/Just-Dial-Number-Maxwell/dp/0671728679/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291567375&sr=1-1-spell
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