Book a Week in 2013 - week forty three

[Stacia]

Here's your friendly book-pusher checking in.... :p

 

I don't even remember how I stumbled across the site for a small publisher, The Little Bookroom, but I apparently signed up for their emails.

The Little Bookroom’s travel books take readers off the beaten path and provide an imaginative entrée into the world’s best-loved cities.

I got an email from them today about a new cookbook they have out, so I thought I'd mention it for the foodies on the thread....

 

Pasta, a book which is part of the Rome Sustainable Food Project series. To celebrate the new book being out, they are offering a 30% discount on it, as well as other cookbooks in the series, Zuppe and Biscotti.

 

Looking at these is making me hungry!!!! I'm really hoping some of you great cooks get these & invite us over to dinner! :D Pretty please???

[Stacia]

Stacia, you are the book pusher. I just ordered The Dracula Tape from paperback swap. Also, please stop posting about books that are not easily available. Now I have to track down Sweet Dreams, and it's not on paperback swap. I don't need this stress! :tongue_smilie:

 

:leaving:

 

[JennW in SoCal]

Vertigo is one of my favorite movies but it is not horror--it is suspense.  Same for North by Northwest or Rear Window.  As I think about it, I really like a number of Hitchcock films, just not Psycho or The Birds.  Some psychological thrillers just go too far for me....

 

I don't do blood and gore.  The world is too scary--I don't need chain saw murderers or ghouls in masks. I can't even read Stephen King!

 

Me too.  I've seen Psycho and The Birds only once, but love Rear Window and other suspenseful or humorous Hitchcock.  I don't get the appeal of blood and gore and hated how that kind of scary has taken over much of Halloween, especially when my kids were little.  

 

Our standard Halloween movie is Young Frankenstein!!  

 

All this talk of Dracula!  I need to find or download a copy.  I think we read it in English class in high school but have no clear memory of it.   Here is an article from today's LA Times about the new Dracula series.  Sounds like it is worth checking out.

 

If you are a fan of old 50s Sci Fi movies and a fan of Bela Lugosi's Dracula movies, you need to set aside an evening to watch Plan 9 From Outer Space, the worst movie ever made.  It is so bad it is funny!!  Bela Lugosi died before the film was made so old footage was used along with a double holding a dracula-like cape over half his face.  The flying saucer is a pie tin on string.  It is wonderfully awful.

[JennW in SoCal]

I've been posting lots of links and making comments but haven't actually reported on my reading.  

 

#56 One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson.  Eliana, this ties into your 1930s reading because he writes quite a bit about the eugenics movement, and how mainstream it was, how accepted in reputable academic circles.  It was rather shocking.  Some might quibble that Bryson's histories are a mere cursory description without any analysis, but I appreciate that in this work.  I like that the facts are just out there left open for the reader to ponder or to further investigate.  I also love that his books are chock full of interesting tidbits that add to my large collection of useless trivia.  

 

#57 Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allen Poe.  I would never have gotten through this if I hadn't known about its influence upon Melville and Lovecraft.  There are boring swaths of descriptions in between the action and horror, just as in Moby Dick and Mountains of Madness, though in that story the careful description of the setting is part of the building horror.  I kept opening my Google Earth app to find the islands he was describing, then had to research what was actually known about Antarctica in the 1830s.  

 

But Pym is following me.  There is a Captain Pym in my current Master and Commander novel!  

 

 

[Violet Crown]

Eliana,

 

I don't know that Bolingbroke's sincerity is as important to Shakespeare (in my head, at least) as the transition from the concept of a king divinely ordained and ruling as a natural course, to the concept of a king ruling through the moral right.

 

A very interesting spot is in Act III:

 

Queen: Gard'ner, for telling me these news of woe,

Pray God, the plants thou graft'st may never grow.

Gardener: Poor queen, so that thy state might be no worse,

I would my skill were subject to thy curse.

 

There's an obvious allusion to Christ's cursing of the fig tree (the Queen is referring to trees); but the gardener observes that her curse cannot be expected to really have an effect. And of course the implied inverse (which Shakespeare could hardly have said explicitly) is that a royal blessing must likewise have no real effect. It was interesting to see how Shakespeare here, and in other places, undercuts the concept of any divinely derived, metaphysical reality attaching to kingship. (Twice, people fail to recognize Bolingbroke, despite his royal blood; completely contrary to literary convention.)

 

Anyhow, all finished, with Richard and Grahame both. The girls decided someone, mostly me, should be Richard II for Hallowe'en, since the thrift store had an appropriate cloak and crown. I'm going to keep a sharp lookout for usurpers; and maybe lower those taxes a bit. (Wee Girl couldn't choose between Titania and an awesome leopard costume, so has combined them and is going to be the Fairy Queen's pet leopard. We'll see what the neighborhood makes of that.)

 

For seasonal reading, I'm going for Dante, as the Commedia covers Oct. 31, Nov. 1, and Nov. 2 all in one. Highs still in the 80s here; frozen in the ice with Satan sounds pretty attractive right now.

[Robin M]

Me too.  I've seen Psycho and The Birds only once, but love Rear Window and other suspenseful or humorous Hitchcock.  I don't get the appeal of blood and gore and hated how that kind of scary has taken over much of Halloween, especially when my kids were little.  

 

Our standard Halloween movie is Young Frankenstein!!  

 

All this talk of Dracula!  I need to find or download a copy.  I think we read it in English class in high school but have no clear memory of it.   Here is an article from today's LA Times about the new Dracula series.  Sounds like it is worth checking out.

 

If you are a fan of old 50s Sci Fi movies and a fan of Bela Lugosi's Dracula movies, you need to set aside an evening to watch Plan 9 From Outer Space, the worst movie ever made.  It is so bad it is funny!!  Bela Lugosi died before the film was made so old footage was used along with a double holding a dracula-like cape over half his face.  The flying saucer is a pie tin on string.  It is wonderfully awful.

I've never been able to sit through a whole showing of The Birds.  When I was a child, we watched it and I ended up sitting around the corner, peeking because I just couldn't take it.  Oh my  - Plan 9 is such fun to watch.  We love that movie.

 

 

I have the dvr set to record this.  I'll give it a couple of shows to see if it is any good.  Even if I do like it, there's a high likleyhood of cancellation; NBC is the worst about only giving a show a pilot + 1, then pulling it if ratings aren't stellar right off the mark.   :glare:

 

I have really been enjoying Fox's Sleepy Hollow and Fx's American Horror Story: Coven.  'Tis the season for spooky tv, I guess.

 

Jenn, I had no idea you were reading the Master & Commander series, too!  It is funny to me how our reading has run on similar tracks all year, from Peter Robinson to Simon Winchester to now Patrick O'Brian.  Great minds and all that ...   :thumbup1:   I have the second of the series, Post Captain, on the bedside table, but I'm trying to wrap up Spooky October first.   

I just discovered Sleepy Hollow and thoroughly enjoyed it.   Master and Commander is waiting in the wings. It will probably turn in to a 2014 challenge of some sort.

 

 

 

Bourbon Street Books is having a mystery / thriller ebook sale - 10 for 1.99 for the rest of October

[Mom-ninja.]

 

 

 

The sickening thing is, the more one learns about the risks, the dangers, the understandable reasons, the more one also realizes that that level of courage, of conviction, of moral clarity, regardless of cost, is the responsibility of us all, not just a few heroes, but every single one of us, and that passivity in the face of evil is the ultimate evil.

 

 

Exactly. But that doesn't happen. Instead you get a select few, in comparison to the whole, that do have the courage. You could say they have more courage because they know they will be easy to shut down, shut up, and dispose of. If the greater majority of people stood up it would be much harder to squash down.

[Lady Florida.]

Floridamom -- If you didn't enjoy the show I don't think you would care for the book. Too much the same. Imo

 

Thank you. You're probably right. And there are too many books for me to try and make myself like something that I probably won't like.

 

I love Hitchcock movies and own quite a few. I enjoy the subtle creepery. Except Psycho, I refuse to watch Psycho.

 

 

Vertigo is one of my favorite movies but it is not horror--it is suspense.  Same for North by Northwest or Rear Window.  As I think about it, I really like a number of Hitchcock films, just not Psycho or The Birds.  Some psychological thrillers just go too far for me....

I enjoy suspense and psychological thrillers much more than horror stories/movies. I love Rear Window. My cousins and I used to watch The Birds on tv and get completely freaked out over it.

 

My mother was pregnant with my brother when Psycho came out, and said for a very long time she wouldn't take a shower unless my father was home.

 

I don't do blood and gore.  The world is too scary--I don't need chain saw murderers or ghouls in masks. I can't even read Stephen King!

 

Maybe this is part of the reason that I am such a humbug about Halloween.  I am happy to pass out candy and carve a pumpkin but everyone can have the rest of it.  Day of the Dead celebrations, on the other hand, I understand.  I sent College Boy some Mexican punched tissue paper skulls to hang in the Classics Suite where he lives for some seasonal color. Here is a nice Day of the Day activity sheet if you have younger ones at home.

I don't know when Halloween became about blood and gore and chainsaws, but even when I was in my 20's it was still about fun and creative costumes. Ds is completely into the gory part, but Halloween has always been like that in his lifetime.

[Jane in NC]

 

I don't know when Halloween became about blood and gore and chainsaws, but even when I was in my 20's it was still about fun and creative costumes. Ds is completely into the gory part, but Halloween has always been like that in his lifetime.

 

Halloween has evolved from a children's holiday to an adult one.  I think the blood and gore came with the latter although I do remember going through a fright event as a kid--maybe middleschooler?  It was pretty lame though compared to some of today's orchestrated events. 

 

My best Halloween memory from childhood:  My Dad usually escorted a friend and me through the neighborhood.  There was a block on the opposite side of a busier street (not a place I wandered on my own) where one family really got into Halloween.  They had a cauldron with dry ice on the porch and served cups of cider and doughnuts to all.  The parental escorts congregated there while we kids trick-or-treated on our own (but of course under the watchful eyes of the adults in a central location).  There was something magical about it.  Now, as an adult, I think how wonderful it was that these generous people with their cider and doughnuts cultivated community.  Somehow trick or treating in the mall or in a populated subdivision where one does not live (what a lot of people do around here) does not seem to compare.

[Stacia]

Finished Sweet Dreams by Michael Frayn. What an utterly delightful book. Even though it was written in the 1970s, it still feels completely fresh & topical today. It's a lovely, optimistic satire of man & covers many of the Big Ideas. I know when Life of Pi was so very popular, various reviews said it would affirm/renew your faith in God (a claim that left me mystified), but Sweet Dreams *is* actually one of those entertaining, sweet (& a teeny bit bittersweet), humorous stories that will affirm/renew your faith in God (a fun read even if you're not religious), or perhaps in just your role as a human in creating a better world. This is basically a philosophical musing set in a heaven/utopia, while pondering & satirizing man & God's role w/in the world. Like Vonnegut, Frayn's writing style is simple & understated, almost to the point that it seems quite effortless to ponder some quite heavy philosophy while enjoying such an easy, pleasing tale. *Definitely recommended*.

 

To appeal to the classical homescoolers here, there's even a point when the main character & his family renounce living a fast-paced, competitive, city life & move to the country in search of a simpler, more meaningful life....

 

The children run wild, in shirts and jeans.

For an hour or two each day, no more, Howard and Felicity take it in turns to teach them. They do a little arithmetic, a little Greek and Italian, a little harmony and counterpoint. They read Dante and Tacitus and Saint Augustine together, with the Authorized Version and Gibbon to develop the style. Nothing else.

 

To appeal to a different part of the board, how about this quote? ;)  (bolding is mine)

 

One or two of the ladies from the village come up and help out on these occasions, so that the Spanish couple don't have to do all the work. They love every minute of it, too, bless their hearts -- particularly the scandals.

 

There are lots of lovely and funny parts in this book; I think my favorite sections are when Howard (main protagonist) gets a great job & his friend Phil has a rather interesting one as well....

 

He has in fact got a job, now his father mentions it, and an astonishingly good one, too, for someone in his first year down from university. He is working with Harry Fischer's design group, which is almost certainly the liveliest team in the profession at this particular moment. They all think so, at any rate, though they turn it into a joke. You can tell how lively they are by the fact that they work not in great white north-lit drawing-offices, like the more fashionable and established groups, but in a few cramped rooms on the fourth floor of an Edwardian commercial block, above a tobacconist and an employment agency, mostly looking out on an airshaft.

They are designing the Alps.

 

Phil has an incredibly good job, too. He is creating man.

Or at any rate, he is with one of the research teams working on the man project. Half the university departments and industries in the city are involved. The end product, as everyone knows from all the projections and mock-ups they keep making public to try to justify the wildly escalating costs, will have two arms and two legs, a language capability, and a fairly sophisticated emotional and moral response. The general idea is to build something pretty much in their own image.

 

Here's a little bit of a spoiler, so don't read on if you plan to read the book...

 

My other favorite sections include some rather fun conversations...

 

 

 

"I beg your pardon?" says Howard.

Freddie clears his throat, and forces himself to look Howard in the eye.

"I said, I'm God."

He folds his arms very tightly, and looks away over Howard's shoulder. He is plainly embarrassed. So is Howard. He is embarrassed to have embarrassed Freddie.

"I'm terribly sorry," says Howard.

"Can't be helped," says Freddie. "Just one of those things."

"I mean, I'm sorry not to have known."

"Not at all. I'm sorry I had to spring it on you like that."

There is an awkward silence. Freddie fiddles with his biscuit, breaking it into small pieces, and dropping crumbs which catch in the hairy surface of his trousers.

"Well," says Howard. "Congratulations."

"Oh," says Freddie. "Thanks."

----------

The more Howard thinks about it, the less he knows where to look or what to do with his hands. He tries putting them behind his back and looking at the floor, smiling reflectively. Freddie is having difficulties, too. He puts his dry biscuit down, and with his left hand seizes his right elbow. With his right hand he takes hold of his chin. Then he, too, examines the floor.

"On second thoughts," he says, "I don't know about congratulations. Not like being elected to a fellowship, or whatever. Wasn't open to other candidates, you see."

And, later, Howard is having drinks with Freddie & Caroline (Freddie's wife)...

 

 

 

"I can't help feeling," says Howard, sticking his head forward ruefully, "now I know who you are, that I've been a bit outspoken in some of my remarks about the system."

"Not at all!" says Freddie.

"Not a bit!" says Caroline.

"But I must in all honesty say," says Howard very quickly, jutting his chin out and smilingly blinking his eyes, "that I still think there are a number of things in the universe which really need seriously looking into."

"Oh, the whole thing!" says Freddie with feeling.

"Ghastly mess," says Caroline.

"Absolute disaster area," says Freddie.

"Frightful," says Caroline.

"So far as one can understand it," says Freddie.

"Freddie feels frightfully strongly about it, you see," says Caroline.

Howard looks from one to the other in astonishment.

"Good heavens!" he says. "I should never have guessed...."

"Oh, Freddie's a terrific radical," says Caroline.

"Really?" says Howard.

"A terrible firebrand, really," says Caroline.

Freddie knots himself up.

"A bit firebrandish," he admits.

"A bit of a Maoist, to tell you the truth," says Caroline.

She looks sideways at Howard to see how he is taking this. So does Freddie.

"A Maoist?" says Howard, astonished.

"Permanent revolution," says Caroline.

"That style of thing," agrees Freddie.

"What he feels, you see," says Caroline, "is that people ought to struggle pretty well all the time against the limitations of the world and their own nature. Not stop."

Howard gazes at Freddie, deeply impressed.

"Don't worry," says Freddie. "I don't think my views have much effect."

So, God as a bit of a shy, self-effacing Englishman.... :laugh:

[mlbuchina]

OK, those who have read House of Leaves...  Johnny Truant is ANNOYING!!!!!  His pointless rambling is driving me insane. :banghead:   Can't I just skip skim through his footnotes?

 

 

:lol:

[Jane in NC]

OK--I cannot resist posting one more of these stacked book things.  This one is dedicated to all of my reader friends for whom a library card is a ticket to places unknown:

 

[Robin M]

Okay Dolls! I'm heading out tomorrow for Arizona for my parents 60th wedding Anniversary celebration.  I'll be checking in periodically and already have Sunday's 52 books post preplanned.  Yes, organized me!  Don't have too much fun without me. :grouphug:

[Stacia]

Okay Dolls! I'm heading out tomorrow for Arizona for my parents 60th wedding Anniversary celebration. I'll be checking in periodically and already have Sunday's 52 books post preplanned. Yes, organized me! Don't have too much fun without me. :grouphug:

How very wonderful! Hope your parents have a lovely celebration. Enjoy your trip!

[mumto2]

Have a great trip Robin!

[Storm Bay]

I love these book spine poems, and dh has even left the camera at home for the next couple of months for ds's science fair project (dh stays here, but the camera usually goes with him), but I just packed up all the clutter from around the computer and the cord is in the attic. I so want to allow myself to be distracted & do some of my own since I used to write a lot of poetry & live a new challenge. I no longer write poetry as a rule, although did write a sestina or two due to the challenge, but this would be fun. However, the thought of yet another climb up that ladder today is stopping me for now.

 

 

I read 100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer's - 3 Stars - easy to read and helpful tips, much of which I already knew anyway, but also a good reminder. 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll have to remember to take that out.

 

I have also started the first Dexter thriller. No energy to look up the proper title...only a chapter or two in. Definately good enough to finish. Considering the number of abandoned books for me lately pretty high rating. ;)

 

Is it any good? I don't read thrillers & won't read it, but my brother-the-actor had a guest role in that once a few years ago (not sure which season) which I've never seen as we don't pay for premium channels. This is the same character, correct? A bit too dark for me, but I have an interest after db got that role.

 

Is the link from week 42 working now for everyone or still signing you out???? 

 

It's working great today.

 

 I felt a bit guilty but have never liked Alice in Wonderland and really didn't want to read it another time. Dd is loving it which is great and doesn't need me to read it all which is even better! 

 

Dd and I are watching that new series, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland which is dark and NOT Alice in Wonderland as we know it (Plus she's all grown up.) I'm not sure yet how much I like it if at all, but we've been watching Once Upon a Time together since it started. She likes the latter show better than I do now as it's getting a bit old for me, but we're invested in the characters & we know the show so well--well, just by watching every episode, not by visiting a website or reading about it--that we've made it one of our together times.

 

I posted some replies late Saturday night, I wanted to repost a couple of them (I'll spare y'all the complete epic!),  one an answer I managed to leave out of an earlier post, and the other clearing up the muddle I made in a cryptic post (well, trying to clear up.)

 

Seneca was a Roman stoic philosopher, writer, & statesman.  He wrote a number of philosophical essays (such as On the Shortness of Life, which some folks here were reading recently), letters, and tragedies. 

 

Phaedra is Seneca's play retelling a version of the story of Hippolytus (son of Theseus) and his stepmother Phaedra. 

 

I recently reread the French playwright Racine's version, Phedre, and the Greek tragedian Euripides's version, Hippolytus, and then this Roman version.

 

Seneca's had more philosophy than either of the others, unlike Euripides, the gods weren't part of the action at all, and Theseus came off very badly indeed, imho.

 

Seneca's philosophical essays and his plays were fairly widely read during the Middle Ages & Renaissance and you can see references and derivations in a lot of later works.

 

[i don't like biographical interpretations of literature, but it is interesting to note that Seneca lives during some of the most turbulent, challenging times in Roman history - he began his adult career during the reign of Caligula, and then, after the death of Emperor Claudius, he was part of Nero's administration and the small group of folks trying to manage.... Nero's issues, I guess you could say. He wasn't very successful and after briefly succeeding in retiring was required to commit suicide.]

 

 

Re: Orwell's Essays

 

Here are a few that I think broaden one's understanding of 1984 (but I haven't actually reread any of these recently, so I am going on memory!): 

 

Politics and the English Language

The Prevention of Literature

Notes on Nationalism

Why I Write

Looking Back on the Spanish War

 

Thanks. I don't read French, but I think plays in general often involve linguistic & cultural nuances that are hard to translate well, and novels might be less that way much of the time if the translation is very good. However, my grandmother wouldn't read any Russian novels in English as she said they never translated well; it may be, however, that there have been some good ones since as she died 30 years ago this fall (sad, but she wouldn't have lived until now as she'd have been 108, which doesn't run in our family.)

 

 Okay.  I'm crying too much to keep typing. 

 

I get the same way when I start thinking about things like that--either angry or crying if not downright depressed.

[trinchick]

Finally checking in this week with last week's completed books. I hate it when I actually have to work at work and can't get to these important matters...

 

45. The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton - Already discussed here, so won't go on, but thoroughly enjoyable. Great audio reading by Caroline Lee.

 

44. By the Time You Read this I'll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters - Well done novel about a young person contemplating suicide without relying on the cliche to achieve pathos.

 

43. Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella - Was looking for something mindless to pass a couple of hours, and this fit the bill.

[Violet Crown]

I have a book poem photo, but I am too technically inept to get it into a post. I thought we were supposed to be in the Jetsons world now where I could just have my robot maid do this for me. :(  Help.

[Stacia]

.

[Stacia]

I have a book poem photo, but I am too technically inept to get it into a post. I thought we were supposed to be in the Jetsons world now where I could just have my robot maid do this for me. :(  Help.

 

In the reply box, click "More Reply Options".

 

Below the reply window, you will see "Attach Files". Click "Browse" to find & select your file. Once you have done that, click on "Attach This File". It should insert it into the text/reply area.

 

If you happen to have your photo uploaded on a website (like Flickr or on your own blog or something), you can instead click on the picture box above the text/reply area. Then you would enter the url for your photo & click ok.

 

Either method should have it show up in your post.

[Violet Crown]

After I attached the file, it said "Error You aren't permitted to upload this kind of file"

 

Stupid computers. How I miss my Selectric.

[Stacia]

After I attached the file, it said "Error You aren't permitted to upload this kind of file"

 

Stupid computers. How I miss my Selectric.

 

It may be that it's too big.

 

If that is the case, open the file on your computer, select "File", then "Export" & export the file to be a .jpg format for a web size (either large or small).

 

See if that works....

[Stacia]

Oh, and I figure the BaWers can appreciate this about Mosquito...

 

The first few pages depict the artist of the story as he is growing up. Over time, he graduates from Dr. Seuss, to Tintin & Roald Dahl, to H.P. Lovecraft & Kafka, to Frankenstein & Borges.

 

:thumbup1:  

[Jane in NC]

After I attached the file, it said "Error You aren't permitted to upload this kind of file"

 

Stupid computers. How I miss my Selectric.

 

Since the board change I have had problems with photos too.  Now I bat my eyelashes at my husband and ask him to load the photo onto his Flickr site.  From there I can copy it.

[Lady Florida.]

I finished The Haunting of Hill House and was quite disappointed. I stayed with it thinking there would be a payoff in the end. After all, this is often held up as  the standard for the genre. The writing was somewhat childish, and it was neither ghostly scary nor psychologically scary.  One star. Maybe two because there were a few suspenseful parts. :(

 

I'm browsing my cloud to decide what's next, but am leaning toward Orange is the New Black. I watched the series on Netflix and am aware that the show was only loosely based on the book. 

 

My book club's January book (we decided to skip December because everyone gets too busy) will be Nicholas Nickleby. I'm thinking I should start that soon. It usually takes me a long time to get through a Dickens book.

[Angel]

Our favorite scary movies are more from the 50's and 60's - Godzilla and all the other type monster movies.  Them (huge mutant ants), Creature from the Black Lagoon, etc.  Scary but not bloody and gross.

 

Robin, have you seen The Naked Jungle with Charleton Heston?  Not technically monsters, but definitely some ants  ;)

[mumto2]

Storm Bay -- My Dc's watch Once Upon a Time. I watched for awhile but got a bit lost and never bothered to figure it out. It is their favorite. The new season won't start here until spring. They can't wait!

 

Darkly Dreaming Dexter is the same characters as the show. The book was violent but not quite as much as the show imo. The old seasons show here (UK) occasionally on a free station. I watched the parts corresponding to the book last year. We don't have paid TV either but we do have a DVR so I record a few odd series and watch later.

[Tress]

After posting several times on this thread, I had almost forgotten to post what I have read this week :).

 

I finished Dracula. I really liked the book, surprisingly because I usually don't read scary books. 

 

I hadn't noticed that my book contained several long appendices, so I thought there were still at least 50 pages left, when suddenly the book ended. This made me realise that I was reading it with very modern expectations. You know the standard detective story (or tv episode), where there is a plot turn at roughly midway of the book and at least one near the end. I realised that all the time I had been waiting for one of the friends to turn out to be a vampire  (Mina's husband...) or to be in league with the Count. Apparently the 'missing the boat' part *was* the major plot turn. How tame :lol: .

 

I also finished Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. I do not really like Alice, but I'm hoping the video lectures will give me a better feel for the book. I do own the Annotated Alice (no idea why I ever bought that....or maybe it was a gift), so maybe I should take the time to read that. Sometime.

 

I'm halfway through The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lack - Rebecca Skloot. It is interesting, but not so interesting as several glowing reviews had me believe it to be.

 

-----

 

9. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass - Lewis Carroll

8. Dracula - Bram Stoker

7. Balzac and the little Chinese Seamstress - Daj Sijie

6. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

5. Shards of a Broken Crown (Serpentwar Saga book 4) - Raymond E. Feist

4. Divergent - Veronica Roth

3. The Pleasure of Reading in the Age of Distraction - Alan Jacobs  (reread)

2. Dream of Joy - Lisa See

1. The Shallows - Nicholas Carr

[Tress]

I would like to ask for advice.

 

I am planning to read ahead of my kids through most of the required books for their booklists (English and Dutch, Loesje already talked about those lists in a previous post). I do know that if I do not make notes, I will not be able to remember anything :blush: . I would also like to get in the habit of writing things down about the books I read in order to become a more attentive reader.

 

I have noticed that several of you make notes, write down beautiful/interesting passages etc. How do you do this?

-Do you make notes in the books? I can handle that emotionally :D, but it could get expensive, as I assume I would need to buy clean copies for my daughters to read, right?

-Do you make notes in a notebook?

-How do you get into the habit of making notes? I'm always a bit in a hurry, snatching little bits of time to read, and I have until now not been able to get in the habit of stopping and hunting down my notebook to make notes.

 

I would appreciate any help you can give :bigear: .

[Storm Bay]

Thank you, Stacia. I came on to see if I could ask someone how to do this, because I already have one made & a few in progress. I'm even going to stop at the library on my way home from picking up ds (he does 2 classes at public school & the rest homeschooling) to pick up a couple of classic titles to help. This is fun and not something I have time for, but perhaps I can get ds to do some & make it part of his English class (glad I thought of that just now as I can make this hands on teaching. He's been asking for it. He loves his Writing tutor who helps with literary analysis & his teachers at school, but doesn't want to do all of his other learning more independently, which I'd moved him to when I got burned out a few years ago. Now I've been outsourcing more, but need to get back to doing more with him as he's willing to do some of it with me & I want him to stay home at least half time for his music.)

 

There, I've talked myself into this. I think I can get him to have some fun with poetry for once this way.

 

If there are any other cool ways to compose/write that I've forgotten that we've seen here, feel free to remind me.

 

ETA Showed ds & we're about to start. Not that he's jumping up and down with excitement, but he thought a couple were funny (showed him the website, too) and it's more fun that writing poetry. I already have a couple I've done...

In the reply box, click "More Reply Options".

 

Below the reply window, you will see "Attach Files". Click "Browse" to find & select your file. Once you have done that, click on "Attach This File". It should insert it into the text/reply area.

 

If you happen to have your photo uploaded on a website (like Flickr or on your own blog or something), you can instead click on the picture box above the text/reply area. Then you would enter the url for your photo & click ok.

 

Either method should have it show up in your post.

 

 

It may be that it's too big.

 

If that is the case, open the file on your computer, select "File", then "Export" & export the file to be a .jpg format for a web size (either large or small).

 

See if that works....

 

[ladydusk]

I would like to ask for advice.

 

I am planning to read ahead of my kids through most of the required books for their booklists (English and Dutch, Loesje already talked about those lists in a previous post). I do know that if I do not make notes, I will not be able to remember anything :blush: . I would also like to get in the habit of writing things down about the books I read in order to become a more attentive reader.

 

I have noticed that several of you make notes, write down beautiful/interesting passages etc. How do you do this?

-Do you make notes in the books? I can handle that emotionally :D, but it could get expensive, as I assume I would need to buy clean copies for my daughters to read, right?

-Do you make notes in a notebook?

-How do you get into the habit of making notes? I'm always a bit in a hurry, snatching little bits of time to read, and I have until now not been able to get in the habit of stopping and hunting down my notebook to make notes.

 

I would appreciate any help you can give :bigear: .

With my own books, I write: underline, star, ?, or !.

 

With library books I fold corners; if it's toward the end of a page I fold a bottom corner, top corner for other parts of the page sometimes smaller or larger. I seem to have a decent spatial memory and can find passages on a page quickly. That's one of the drawbacks, IMO, of the Kindle, repagination when paging back ... And no feel for how far I need to turn back. It is easy to mark, though.

[Violet Crown]

I would like to ask for advice.

 

I am planning to read ahead of my kids through most of the required books for their booklists (English and Dutch, Loesje already talked about those lists in a previous post). I do know that if I do not make notes, I will not be able to remember anything :blush: . I would also like to get in the habit of writing things down about the books I read in order to become a more attentive reader.

 

I have noticed that several of you make notes, write down beautiful/interesting passages etc. How do you do this?

-Do you make notes in the books? I can handle that emotionally :D, but it could get expensive, as I assume I would need to buy clean copies for my daughters to read, right?

-Do you make notes in a notebook?

-How do you get into the habit of making notes? I'm always a bit in a hurry, snatching little bits of time to read, and I have until now not been able to get in the habit of stopping and hunting down my notebook to make notes.

 

I would appreciate any help you can give :bigear: .

I developed the habit in college of using an index card as a bookmark, and jotting down notes, page numbers, paper ideas.... I would also write the bibliographic information on the card so I wouldn't have to hunt that down later. If I wanted a long quote I xeroxed the page(s), stuck them in the back, and stapled them to the card when I was done with the book. Now I still use an index card bookmark, but just write notes and page numbers. If you like your notes, just put the card in the front cover of the book before you shelve it.

[Mom-ninja.]

I developed the habit in college of using an index card as a bookmark, and jotting down notes, page numbers, paper ideas.... I would also write the bibliographic information on the card so I wouldn't have to hunt that down later. If I wanted a long quote I xeroxed the page(s), stuck them in the back, and stapled them to the card when I was done with the book. Now I still use an index card bookmark, but just write notes and page numbers. If you like your notes, just put the card in the front cover of the book before you shelve it.

 

This is what I do

[Violet Crown]

 

Thanks to dh, and Stacia, here it is: the Old Story of Catholic Guilt, in book spine format.

[mumto2]

You are the only ones who will get this.....books staying dry is a major priority. This was most likely the last day without rain for our move. My new neighbor looked at me very seriously this morning and said that we need to get the furniture done today so it doesn't get wet. My response was the books were today's priority. Took a good chunk of today but we did the bookshelves too! :lol:

 

She is definately wondering about us.....

[Giraffe]

The Prodigal has returned...

 

I do so enjoy reading all your posts, especially the conversations between, well, everyone! I am honored to be able to be a fly on the wall in this group.

 

Though the year started with a bang for me reading-wise, it is going out with a whimper. As I expected, the summer completely derailed my reading plans and the start of school and readjusting to "real life" has only extended my lack of reading. I've been so overwhelmed that I've drug out my old Franklin Covey organizer and am trying to get a handle on a to do list so long that it literally gives me migraines. I have not the energy to read, or construct cogent sentences, these days.

 

I did read "Angels and Demons" since my last post, finishing my accidental reverse reading of Dan Brown's Robert Langdon books. I don't think it makes a difference what order you read them in, they all stand alone, all read basically the same. Good "escape reading", though. Nice for a summer spent on three continents, in four countries, and 10 airplanes.

 

I have downloaded Geraldine Brooks' "People of the Book" from my library in Texas and hope to read that this week. Right now I'm rereading "Getting Things Done" and reading for the first time "Total Money Makeover". I find GTD to be useful; the jury is still out on TMM.

 

Eliana, one of your quotes above has been copied into my day planner, I hope you don't mind. Stacia, that Pinterest page is going to keep me amused when I can't sleep but am too tired to read.

 

Hugs to all,

Giraffe

[mumto2]

Glad to "see" you back on the thread. I read People of the Book at the start of the year and loved it! :)

 

The Prodigal has returned...

 

I do so enjoy reading all your posts, especially the conversations between, well, everyone! I am honored to be able to be a fly on the wall in this group.

 

Though the year started with a bang for me reading-wise, it is going out with a whimper. As I expected, the summer completely derailed my reading plans and the start of school and readjusting to "real life" has only extended my lack of reading. I've been so overwhelmed that I've drug out my old Franklin Covey organizer and am trying to get a handle on a to do list so long that it literally gives me migraines. I have not the energy to read, or construct cogent sentences, these days.

 

I did read "Angels and Demons" since my last post, finishing my accidental reverse reading of Dan Brown's Robert Langdon books. I don't think it makes a difference what order you read them in, they all stand alone, all read basically the same. Good "escape reading", though. Nice for a summer spent on three continents, in four countries, and 10 airplanes.

 

I have downloaded Geraldine Brooks' "People of the Book" from my library in Texas and hope to read that this week. Right now I'm rereading "Getting Things Done" and reading for the first time "Total Money Makeover". I find GTD to be useful; the jury is still out on TMM.

 

Eliana, one of your quotes above has been copied into my day planner, I hope you don't mind. Stacia, that Pinterest page is going to keep me amused when I can't sleep but am too tired to read.

 

Hugs to all,

Giraffe

[Robin M]

Link to week 44 - please continue conversation in new thread.