I have a kindle question. How do footnotes usually work? The last time I had a kindle with footnotes they were more like end notes -- I'd have to bookmark where I was and find notes at the end of the book then hope to find my way back to my current page. Drove me nuts especially since it seems I've never mastered navigating around my kindle very well. (I have a paperwhite.) I'm looking at 2 different kindle editions of the Maude translation of War and Peace and can't figure out which one to get. Yes, they are each only .99, but is there some clue in the description of whether the footnotes are active -- can I just highlight the footnote to get the French translation??? option #1 option #2 Which brings me to another kindle question. How do I purge titles from my library listings? There are titles of Overdrive books from a few years ago and I want them GONE but can't figure it out. Same with a few books I've read but will never read again. How do I purge those? (edited to fix links...)

I'm on a roll with the Wheel of Time series, and just finished the 3rd book, The Dragon Reborn. I was chuckling over a review at Goodreads in which someone said they couldn't rationally explain why they like the series as it is poorly written with unbelievable characters and clunky dialog -- and I totally agree! I'm enjoying it but at the same time am very annoyed with it. And yet I'm ready to start the next one! It is the women characters that annoy me the most. Here is a world where the women are powerful -- the Gandalfs if you will. But holy cow they are shrewish and petty. Every time I start to like them the author throws in a scene that just makes me cringe, and I turn it off or hit the fast forward button. It made seeing the new Wonder Woman movie a refreshing change as the Amazons were portrayed as truly wise and strong women, and Wonder Woman herself is a terrific superhero. I wanted to pump my fists at the end of the movie and shout "Yes! Girl Power!" but I didn't. Speaking of strong women, I finally got to the good stuff in Women Sailors and Sailor's Women, the chapter about the wives of Captains who save the day. Apparently many of them would learn navigation, perhaps out of curiosity, and more than once they had to put that knowledge to good use. One woman in particular was remarkable. Only 19 years old and 4 months pregnant, when her husband the captain became ill, she had to take control of a Cutter in particularly nasty seas off Cape Horn. She navigated a course around the cape and delivered the ship and its cargo safely to San Francisco. There might be one more interesting chapter, but then it is back to mistresses, mermaids and sirens.

Stacia -- how is Eliana? Is her head better? Can she read again? Any chance she would join us for a War and Peace read along?? I'm probably going to mostly listen to W&P, though, as I have a show coming up that has a both a long run and a long commute. And no one to car pool with. There are two audible options, and I far prefer the narrator for the Maude translation over the narrator for the Garnett translation.

I edit, delete and retype lots of my posts, too. Your command of the language is really good, and look forward to having you along for W&P! Railway Children was a favorite book of mine from childhood. In fact, I think I still have the copy I got from one of those Scholastic Books sales. My boys and I listened to it, and saw a nice BBC adaptation -- a recent adaptation. I thought it held up really well & my boys enjoyed it. My youngest went on to read almost everything by E. Nesbit.

Oh my, this stopped me in my tracks tonight. He sounds like he was a lovely a human being as his prose would suggest: Brian Doyle ETA -- Ethel just linked the same article!

It is a very unique zoo, but it is huge and as someone mentioned very, very hilly. Just like when going to Disney, you would be well served to have a game plan before heading in. Their web site has lots of useful information -- maybe think about what kinds of animals you'd all like to see and make a point of going to that area first. Look too at the "experiences" tab on the web site which gives times for keeper talks and feedings. My favorite times to visit the zoo are early mornings and, starting in mid-June, evenings. It isn't as crowded then, the animals are most active, and you've got a better chance of watching the keepers feeding animals. I love the aviaries which take advantage of the steep canyons to give the birds lots of room to fly. The reptile area is pretty cool, if your kids like snakes, and if you head down behind the snakes there are several small buildings that are easy to miss which hold small amphibians like poisonous dart frogs. The walk down Tiger River to Hippo Beach is pretty cool, and you get an underwater view of the hippos swimming. The koalas are of course adorable, and the elephant area is really nicely done, with an open view to where the keepers work with the elephants. There is a whole new area opening in July. I love the tram that takes you from one side of the park to the other -- the view of the zoo (you go right over the gorillas) is terrific as is the view of downtown San Diego. There are also bus tours. Some of those things come free with a membership. Oh, and during the evening during their summer hours, there is extra entertainment. Food is really expensive, similar to what you find at a theme park. The Wild Animal Park is now San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Nobody can remember that -- we all still call it Wild Animal Park! It is a very different experience as it is so vast an area. What is cool is how the animals have so much space to roam, but you can't always get a good look at them. There are some really great keeper talks, though, and the bird show is always a lot of fun. The tiger exhibit is pretty amazing, the gorillas are popular, the cheetahs like to hang out in a spot where you can watch them. In the summer, though, the lines are huge for the safari trams which take you out on the "savanna". It is also a long, long drive from downtown, if that is where you are staying. Legoland is fun -- haven't been in years now. You can easily spend a full day there! If your kids like to get wet, bring a change of clothes or a swim suit, even if you aren't going into the water park. As I recall the pirate area has lots that can get you soaked. It can be chilly, too, as you are right by the coast, so a sweat shirt for the evenings or after getting soaked is a must. In fact, that sweatshirt might be handy for the zoo, too. The Natural History museum in Balboa park is going to have a special dinosaur exhibit all summer. I've never been a big fan of the Reuben H Fleet science museum and recommend skipping it. The model train museum is small but pretty cool. Balboa park is quite the happening place on Friday nights with food trucks and outdoor entertainment. There are free organ concerts in the park on Sunday afternoons at the big outdoor organ. Hope you have fun, no matter which places you go!!

Any of you remember the episode of Cheers when Sam reads War and Peace to impress Diane? The final joke is after he is finished it, she suggests they watch the movie. He is incredulous. "You mean I could have watched the movie instead of reading it?!!" Here's 5 minute, animated TED talk "Why should you read War & Peace?"

Oooooh, a late summer read along of War and Peace. I'd totally be up for that. I recommend listening to Moby Dick, though at least with a book you can skim when your eyes start to glaze over. It is a mixed bag of a book as huge chunks are nothing more than a descriptive narrative of every single detail of whaling. Then there is that entire chapter devoted to a philosophic discussion on the color white. A very small portion of the book is the Shakespearean drama of Captain Ahab's quest for the white whale. But it is a book that has stayed with me and that I don't regret reading.

For what it's worth, about Razor's Edge and Larry.... A dear friend is a social worker who works with military veterans. She made a passing comment to me recently that PTSD is exacerbated by previous trauma, that young men and women with troubled pasts or who were raised in bad situations are less equipped to cope with the traumas of war. They are mentally or emotionally wounded and handicapped to begin with, and the wounds of war compound their difficulties in coping. Her words were on my mind while reading Razor's Edge, and added to my thoughts on Larry. I've enjoyed the discussion, enjoyed that it was spread over the month so that a late comer to the book like me could still participate. Thank you to Jane and Stacia! My "currently reading" pile is rather diverse at the moment. Non-fiction: Women Sailors and Sailor's Women: An Untold Maritime History. I'm reading a chapter here and there, hoping to get through the book before it is due. It is by a former curator at the Maritime Museum in Greenwich, and is a rather scholarly book. I picked it up hoping to learn more about the world of my beloved Master and Commander series. It is fascinating, though I was rather disappointed that the male author (& his editors) had to start the book out with 2 chapters focusing on prostitutes, as if the book needed to appeal to the prurient interests of its readers. I'm no prude, but for heaven's sake, I wanted the book advertised on the book cover flap, the book about the wives of the captains (thinking of Admiral Croft's wife in Persuasion), or about the women who passed as men and sailed the 7 seas. Those stories finally started around chapter 3 -- I was going to abandon it but thought I should skip ahead first. Fiction: Wind up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami. Wonderfully weird from page one. Audible: The Dragon Reborn. Yes, I'm still plugging away at the Wheel of Time series, and have to confess to actually enjoying it. I still want to edit it, still hate how he writes women, but it makes for a good background while I drive or do needlework. And when my dh and I are in the car together, we are plugging away at the audio version of Truman. We had to leave off this afternoon in the summer of 1945....

I loved checking in this morning to find such happy posts from Violet Crown and AggieAmy! And photos too! And wouldn't a BaW wedding be delightful? Green with envy, y'all!

For those of you who have finished The Razor's Edge, here are two articles on Maugham's "George Harrison" phase: From the Telegraph Somerset Maugham and the Guru and from the NYTimes Somerset Maugham's Swami

Got to the point in Razor's Edge tonight where I could finally read what y'all have posted. Poor Larry! Am I the only one who will likes the man? I'm just at the half way point, so my opinion might change, but at this point in the story I don't see him as selfish but as someone who was probably always an outlier, who was a sensitive soul, went to war and is suffering PTSD. I do not think he is irresponsible for traveling the world on an existential quest for knowledge. I loved how he explained his reading to Maugham earlier in the story, his need to learn outside the parameters of university -- it is a pure homeschooling/love of learning kind of philosophy. Elliot is a delight. I think we each would love to have an Uncle Elliot of our own! I'm not too fond of Isabel who seems a confused pre-feminist who wants her free love but wants her men to "do a man's work". She would have been miserable with Larry, but when he was asking her to join his Bohemian life, I kept thinking of the young Hemingways in Paris, as described in A Moveable Feast. And Gray is just that -- grey. We don't ever know much about the man.

Finally started Razor's Edge this afternoon. It will take a day or two to catch up with everyone and read up on the discussion. I was tickled pink to finally find a Vera Stanhope mystery on the library shelves, and it was delightful. It was everything a mystery should be with a good whodunnit, and a team of great characters trying to solve it. Vera in particular is a great character, flawed, but not because of some deep, dark secret trauma, just a flawed human being who recognizes her mistakes and shortcomings. Wish they weren't so hard to track down in my library system.

Congratulations to Nan and Penguin on the newest BaW college graduates!! It is a grand feeling isn't it?! I've been getting a kick out flashbacks to the 1980s thanks to the audio book Ready Player One. Tonight I felt like I leveled up to even deeper flashbacks -- back to the early 1970s thanks to the "mix tape" soundtrack for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. Would anyone else here care to fess up to remembering the song "Brandy" from 1972?!

Happy Mother's Day! I slept in til 10:30 this morning! The kind of mother's day morning I could only dream of back when I was actively parenting littles. My afternoon will be spent like many other Sunday afternoons, playing in a pit orchestra. This time it is terrifically fun music for a ballet. Life has been too busy to sit long enough to start Razor's Edge. In the car I've been listening to, and enjoying, Ready Player One. I'm a little late to the game, as it were, on this one as it seems everyone (especially among the nerd-crowd) has already read it. I also finally finished the first in the Janwillem van de Wetering series of 14 police procedurals set in Amsterdam. He has a fun, lighthearted style, but it is rather disconcerting that a book written during my teen years can feel so dated. The casual misogyny was jarring yet uncomfortably familiar. But a good start to a series which no doubt gets even better during its run.

It was fascinating to see the gardeners at work in the castle grounds in Kyoto. They were carefully tending the pine trees as we went by, pulling out dead needles and carefully tending to each branch. Looks like this will be an interesting book to read -- thanks for the link and the heads up!

No books finished for me either in the past week. But we drove 3000+ miles through the beautiful, wide open desert SW and got caught in some epic traffic in central Texas. The epic traffic cut short our meeting with VC and two of her lovely girls, but we still managed to fit in some food and talk of books! Middle girl is devouring the Master and Commander books, clearly a reader with excellent taste! I figure I should take book recommendations from her, so if she liked True Grit, I'm sure I will, too! DH and I got through 1/4 - 1/3 of the audiobook version of David McCullough's Truman biography, which we are both enjoying. And I'm close to finishing the first in a series of Amsterdam mysteries. I'll catch up with the thread tomorrow, though am not sure if I'll be able to get to Razor's Edge this week. Life is back in full swing starting tomorrow morning!

It is a challenge finding books for my dh and I to listen to on long drives. (He settled on the Truman bio for our upcoming trip.) He loved The Martian, has enjoyed Bill Bryson but only has stuck with bits and pieces of Simon Winchester or some of the memoirs I've recommended. And tv or movies is tough too -- he wants the dark, gritty stuff like Breaking Bad or Penny Dreadful while I'm happily watching little British mysteries. He does like Cary Grant, though...but can't see the charm in old Fred Astaire movies.

Thank you for sharing that. It's not just the breadth of his reading that fascinates, it is the collector's mindset. Kareni, the North Water title piqued my interest, too. Not much reading to report here after a busy weekend. Finished a musical Sunday evening and am gearing up for a road trip. I started the first Janwillem Van De Wetering mystery, which was written in 1975. It's so recent yet so much has changed that I've had to reset my mental images to fit the time period. I'm also waiting to learn what my dh has picked for our road trip book. Will he go with the Truman bio or a history of Texas?

Homeschool dad!! I stand corrected! I totally understand the circles you are going around in trying to decide about your ds, wondering what is due to being possibly on the spectrum, whether he is gifted enough to compensate for and therefore disguise a disability, and he should be pushed into doing more. I've got one who is 2E, and another who is gifted but doesn't have a "type A", driven personality, so really, I do understand!! Both of mine are college grads and I still occasionally walk that tightrope of wondering if I should push or bite my tongue. It is career and grad school topics that come up now, but it is the same challenge of knowing what they are capable of, but uncertain if what they could do is the same as what they should do. Not much help, just some empathy and encouragement!

This is fascinating stuff! More for me to contemplate in those long dialog scenes today. I was amused recently when some high school kids were telling me about their band trip to NYC, that people couldn't understand their "California accent". It must have been all those dropped mid-word t's.

Random thought from the orchestra pit, because sitting quietly listening to the same lines night after night leaves one lots of time to contemplate. We are in danger of losing the spoken letter "t" when it comes in the middle of a word such as "button" or "important". It is being replaced by a glottal stop. The younger generation in particular seems unable to say "but-ton" even when reminded repeatedly by the director. "Buh-n" or "impor-nt"

As one who has been there and done that, I only have to say that there is no right answer to how much you should push. And don't forget that your ds still has a lot of growing and maturing yet to do in the next couple of years. What might seem like the right thing this week might feel totally wrong next year. What's a thoughtful, sensitive homeschool mother to do? First of all. From what you've described it does NOT sound like your ds is on the spectrum. Someone who needs more "down time than most" is most likely, quite simply, an introvert. I've dealt with both issues as a homeschool mom, and they are completely different. It may be that the amount of down time he needs recently has increased as his body readies itself for the final big physical and developmental growth spurt. I didn't push my gifted ds. He took community college classes starting his junior year, never took a single AP, only took the ACT once. He attended an excellent small liberal arts school where his professors challenged him and where he was surrounded by equally bright and equally non-driven students. It was the perfect fit for him, he received an excellent education, he thrived, graduated with an armful of honors, and I'm so very, very happy I didn't push. Was it easy to not push? NO! I was weighted down by guilt during the college admissions process when I'd hear of other homeschooled kids heading to MIT, wondering if I'd done a disservice to my ds by not pushing him. But I know (and my friends all reminded me at the time) that it was not the right path for my ds -- I was doing what fit him best. I still wince when I read college threads here as far, far too often posters are dismissive and disdainful of the types of school my ds attended. The bottom line is that both my kids are happy adults whose company I happen to enjoy and best of all they are both gainfully employed. My advice to parents of high schoolers is to stop obsessing about college admissions and instead focus on what is right for your child today. What kind high school program would you do with your ds in the fall? What books would you have him read? What kind of internships or outside activities or projects would he pursue? What are you doing together to enjoy these last few years of your homeschooling journey? I found the last few years of homeschooling to be as thoroughly enjoyable as the first few -- it was like the payoff for surviving the middle school years! And sometimes, just because we could and we needed the break, we'd spend a weekday afternoon at the zoo or at the movies. Don't feel like you are going to make or break your child's life by what you decide to do in 11th grade. Treat it like every other year of homeschooling -- do what feels right, relax and enjoy your ds. The right path will show itself, even if it is the most unexpected path.

Here is a really fascinating article illustrating the difficulties of handling subtleties in a language when translating a novel. Translating from Chinese or Japanese carries an extra burden as so much meaning is wrapped up in the characters or kanji. The article itself isn't specifically about translation, rather it is about Murakami's newest novel which came out in Japan a few months ago and about the common word choices he has made in his last several novels. There is probably more nitty gritty on the Japanese language than you want, but even a quick skim of the article showcases the daunting job of translating a novel. Conquering Commendatore

Oh thank you! I've put the first title on my audible wishlist! My youngest ds dearly loved the Bartimaeus trilogy, and I finally listened to it while I was crocheting an afghan for his college dorm. I thoroughly enjoyed it too and was bemused to realize how much he had based his young teen personality on the Bartimaeus character! Have you stocked up on brie and baguettes?