Book a Week in 2014 - BW7

[Woodland Mist Academy]

Sympathy and advice please------my beloved Kindle Keyboard will no longer charge. I tried two different cables with no luck. I plugged it into the wall charger and into the laptop. And to make sure, I repeated everything with dd's Kindle. Hers charged :(

 

I am so sad!

 

So now I need advice. Should I get the regular Kindle or the Paperwhite? I read indoors and outdoors. I've been using a cover w integrated light to read in lowlight situations. I do NOT like reading books on my ipad and only do so when the library ebook is only available in the ePub format.

 

Any cover to recommend? I like a sturdy cover so I can throw the kindle into whatever bag (especially when travelling) without worry.

 

Dh says to get whatever I want. He's no help :lol:

 

We love our Paperwhites and Verso covers.

[shukriyya]

I guess I'm not invited on the road trip anymore, huh?

 

I will make it one way or another... for the sake of math alone!

 

(Come to think of it, I may not like math much more than I like poetry....)

 

 

 

This peculiarity should keep all parties happy...or perhaps unhappy depending on one's inclinations or lack thereof :lol:

[Woodland Mist Academy]

Speaking of math and poetry. . .

 

We finished two read-alouds last week.

 

Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences

The Tree That Time Built: A Celebration of Nature, Science, and Imagination (science poetry)

[Stacia]

...

[shukriyya]

P.S. Why I need Jane's math course....

 

 

(See why I like surrealism? It makes sense to me. :lol: )

 

Well, I have to say that the above has a certain poetic symmetry to it. Works for me :smilielol5:

 

 

 

[Robin M]

Never thought I'd hear myself say this - I'm in the sixth circle of hell.  :lol:   Underlining names and marking pages as I go so I can look things up later.  Sparknotes and Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy  are helping to keep me from feeling woefully ignorant.  I find it amusing Dante placed the majority of philosophers in limbo.   I'm trying to remember the paranormal series I read in which the Furies play a key role as lovers, (yes, gross thought) to one of the gods.  Although they just have a bit part in one of the cantos, I can envision them in my mind's eye. Very creepy.  
  

I'm halfway through Here Be Dragons and finally enjoying the heck out of it, now that I am familiar with whose who. 

[Stacia]

...

[shukriyya]

Speaking of math and poetry. . .

 

We finished two read-alouds last week.

 

Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences

The Tree That Time Built: A Celebration of Nature, Science, and Imagination (science poetry)

 

I see the confluence of science and poetry/art as a mutual relationship. They are both expansive languages requiring from their readers an imaginative leap and a courageous piecing together of imagery with fact. I mean really, can one even contemplate the thickness of one atom without launching oneself into the great, shoreless vistas of the imagination? :D

 

 

 

[Robin M]

Arg! You guys are making it remarkably hard to do a quick pop in.  Too many interesting conversations. 


 

“What Not To Read†— A Different Sort Of Book Club
 
I named the group “What Not To Read.â€
The rules were simple. Each member of the book club (this was a one-time meeting at the library where I worked) had to bring at least one book that he or she absolutely hated, and talk everyone else out of reading it.
http://bookriot.com/2014/02/06/read-different-sort-book-club/

But, but, but... I liked The Mist of Avalon and Poisonwood Bible.   Twilight, I think the only reason I liked the series is because I read it holed up in a New York Hotel room with a sick kid. Mindless entertainment.   Eat Pray Love - no desire to read it, but caught part of the movie and it didn't do anything for me.    Err, my what not to read - Wicked by Gregory Maguire. Totally icky.
 

This brings up some ongoing questions for me. There are books (and the above looks to be one of them) that feel like they would be stories of exquisite beauty infused with poetry, a depth of sadness, an intensity of livingness, slings and arrows and all that that I know I don't want to read for the bare fact that I am just not intrepid enough to wade into such compelling slices of humanity. I don't want my porous skin to be touched in such a way. There is just too much in life that offers itself up as exquisitely, beautifully difficult. Things that grow and mature us in ways that we might not necessarily want even though it graces the unfolding of our souls. This world is so fraught and so available to us in ways that often require, on my part, a veil of sorts. Sometimes the veil is as thick and complete as a burka and sometimes it is diaphanous but it's pretty darn rare that there isn't some sort of fabric between me and life.


I guess this is a rather elaborate way of saying I've become a bit of a wuss wrt reading

 
First response - :blink:, Because it stopped me in my tracks.  Then, 'darn, she's making me think again.'  Reread and found it beautifully poetic and the ending statement made me giggle. 
 
 

Maybe poetry drove them off the cliff?
 
:D :001_tt2:

 

or it might have been math. 
 
Regards,
Kareni

Yep! :lol:   Both. I would have been right there with them.    

 

Road Trip?  I'm inviting myself along or maybe we'll just take two cars.  The poetry car and the surrealistic car and see who gets there first. Where were we going again? 

[LostSurprise]

I had an interesting week. Lots of reading one thing, putting it down, picking up another. I didn't finish anything until the weekend. 

 

 

 

Someone mentioned Iain Bank's (as will be corrected later this is Iain Pears, not Iain Banks) art mystery series last month. I was glad they did because there was one (the Titian Committee) on clearance at Goodwill shortly afterward and I read that over the weekend. It was a light murder mystery and enjoyable in the same way that the Inspector Gamanche (from Quebec) mystery was interesting. I think the best parts poked fun at Italian vs. English culture and people. A little bit of art history (Griogoire, Titian) and a lot of wandering around Venice with a will they-or-won't they kind of couple, an Italian inspector in the art treasures bureau and an English art dealer. I would read another of this or Louise Penny's Gamanche series, although I'm not running to do it. 

 

 

 

I also finished up Jane Hirschfield's The Lives of the Heart this weekend. I've been savoring it since Christmas. I liked it very much. In many ways it's very simple. She writes less with form  and dense language and more with images. Perhaps she's the right poet for the right time, but she speaks to me right now. Recommended. 

 

Changing Everything

 

I was walking again

in the woods,

a yellow light

was sifting all I saw.

 

Willfully,

with a cold heart,

I took a stick,

lifted it to the opposite side

of the path.

 

There, I said to myself,

that's done now.

Brushing one hand against the other,

to clean them

of the tiny fragments of bark. 

 

This one appeals to me today because I find it just like me. I imagine everyone needs me, make a big deal of changing things, sighing over the trouble I'm taking. Sometimes I wonder if it's like moving a stick from one side of the path to the other!  :lol:

 

 

 

The book I finished today was released by San Francisco's Exploratorium. It's very short and has many pictures to illustrate its scientific concepts. It's called By Nature's Design by Pat Murphy, photos by William Neill. It looks at scientific patterns in nature and gives short descriptions of why these patterns happen. It covers Spirals and Helixes, Ripples and Meanders (rivers, sand), Spheres and Explosions (bubbles, raindrops, flowers) Branching, Packing and Cracking (hexes and groups of 3), and Fractals. Very short. Not a treatise by any means. The best parts are whole pages of photos with paragraphs explaining how and why each pattern fits in with it's group. I think this would be a great teaching resource and the information itself could easily be brought down to an elementary level by an interested teacher. 

 

It did take me a little bit to get into it. Diana Ackerman wrote a lovely Foreword (although maybe a bit too flowery for what came next) and then the introduction by the author was a bit dull. The text is short and gets to the point. The author was fantastic at that. As a former Bio major I loved the ratio of information to images. Very little fluff. Recommended. 

 

 

Best Book of the Year **

10 Best Books *

13. By Nature's Design by Pat Murphy and William Neill~non-fiction, natural patterns, science, Exploratorium series. 

12. The Lives of the Heart by Jane Hirschfield~poetry, relationships, 1990s. *

11.  The Titian Committee by Iain Banks~mystery, Venice, Art History, Argyll series. 

10. Mort by Terry Pratchett~fantasy, Disc world series, Death.

9. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein~youth fiction, WWII, female pilots and spies.

8. Still Life by Louise Penny~mystery, Inspector Gamanche series, Quebec. 

7. The Maid's Version by Daniel Woodrell~literary fiction, mystery, multiple narrators.

6. The Master Butcher's Singing Club by Louise Erdrich~fiction, northern plains, WWI/WWII, relationships, Finally Finished!/Dusty Book. *

5. Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger~youth fiction, boarding school, spies, steampunk. 

4. Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown~fiction, pirates, food, colonialism.

3. The Man of Numbers: Fibonacci's Arithmetic Revolution by Keith Devlin~non-fiction, Mathematics, 13th century, Indian-Persian numbers.

2. The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli~youth fiction, 13th century, disability, read-aloud.

1. Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki~fiction, story within a story, Japan/Canada, Zen. *

 

Working on: 

putting down The Goldfinch for a bit

Life After Life (Ackerman), she's a lovely writer

Zoo in My Luggage (Durrell)

Where the Red Fern Grows (Rawls)-read aloud

[Stacia]

...

[shukriyya]

 

 

I'm in the surreal car. I think the first part of the trip is through the wormhole....

 

I'm in the spaces between the car :lol:

 

 

[Stacia]

...

[Stacia]

I'm in the spaces between the car :lol:

That's cuz you're in the poetry car.

[shukriyya]

That's cuz you're in the poetry car.

 

And the journey is an inner one :smilielol5:

[Robin M]

Thanks for the link. I love their book Exploratopia for younger kids. Super fun.

 

I wish I could go on 'liking' posts. Apparently, I've already hit my limit for giving out likes today. :huh:

 

 

Yep, I guess I over used my likes the other day and now can only do a few at a time.  So just imagine I like all your posts for now.

[Stacia]

And the journey is an inner one :smilielol5:

 

Hope that saves on gas & doesn't contribute to it... (says the non-poetry fan)

 

hahaha....

 

:biggrinjester:

[Woodland Mist Academy]

Any other books-about-books that you can recommend? :bigear: I looooove books about books.

 

The Book Lovers by Leon Garfield

[AmandaVT]

I've gotten a little lost in my Outlander world for the past few weeks. I just finished Drums of Autumn (book 4) and need to slow down if I want my reread to be timed for book 8. Hopefully this week I can finally finish Ben Franklin. That's my goal!

[Guest]

NM

[shukriyya]

Hope that saves on gas & doesn't contribute to it... (says the non-poetry fan)

 

hahaha....

 

:biggrinjester:

 

Looking for a non-poetry 'fan' gif this seemed appropriate...though there is a certain poetry to those flapping ears :lol:

 

 

 

 

[Stacia]

...

[marbel]

I saw that complaint many times about the book.

 

Depending on your viewpoint, it's true that perhaps it comes off that way. Though she tells a little bit about the divorce & 'makes light' of it in the book, it seems to me that her overall tone in the book (very optimistic) probably influenced the way she presented that whole situation.... Meaning, I think, that as an optimist she wanted to 'gloss over' the bad stuff, make herself look at fault (rather than point fingers/drag someone else down/dwell on bad stuff), & move on to sharing the happier/more inspiring part of her story. 

 

I think in a divorce situation, there is probably a lot going on & it is often something with problems on both sides, not just one. Since she chose not to focus on that, nor to point the blame at anyone but herself, I think too many were quick to assume that she is a callous person. Rather, I took it as she felt a mention of it was somewhat important as to what set her on this path, but focusing more than a few passing comments on it really wasn't integral to her actual story that she wanted to tell.

 

Don't know if I'm explaining it well (& I could be completely off-base anyway), but I think her presentation of that was widely misunderstood. Which is too bad because I found her story funny, inspiring, & optimistic.

 

Good/interesting point.  I hadn't thought of that and this is the first time that idea has been presented to me.  Perhaps she is not the selfish, self-absorbed person I think she must be.   I can't help but think, though, that a really skillful writer could find a way to let the reader see the pain of the divorce without pointing fingers/placing blame - perhaps that too is unfair.  BTW I have been divorced and there was a lot of relief mixed in with the pain and guilt and sorrow.  It was just such a mixed bag of emotion!  Maybe I'm just jealous that I didn't get to go to Italy to recover from mine.   ;)   Just a new (dumpy) apartment and right back to work!  :nopity:

 

And it took 12 years to find true love! :001_wub:

 

[Stacia]

 

Hey, did you know that Aug. 18 is Bad Poetry Day? I'm putting that on my calendar for sure! :thumbup1:

 

http://bookboard.com/blog/2013/08/its-a-bad-poetry-day-throwdown/

 

:lol:

[twoxcell]

I can not keep up with you ladies in these threads. :svengo: I just finished Rabbit Proof Fence last night. It was a fast and easy read which is good for me right now since I don't really have the time for anything to long and deep. I really enjoyed it but I would still like to learn a bit more about the topic in general. The next book I have from the library is My Bondage and My Freedom. This one I think will be a bit heavier reading then my previous books.

[Jane in NC]

The Book Lovers: A Sequence of Love-scenes, chosen and arranged by Leon Garfield

 

From jacket flap:

 

 

. . .an outstanding collection of loves scenes taken from famous novels by writers of many different nationalities, from Dostoievsky to Jane Austen.  Around these scenes, which range from the absurd to the tender, the tragic to the hilarious, Leon Garfield has woven the story of a young man who, having fallen in love with a pretty librarian is too shy to express himself coherently and turns to passages from the classics in an attempt to make her understand his feelings.  She answers in the same way, but they both find that it is all too easy to misinterpret the written word. All ends happily however, with a little help from interested onlookers. Leon Garfield's brilliant narrative and the passages from Trollope, Turgenev, Stendhal, Thomas Mann and other classic writers, combine to provide not only the perfect introduction to the nineteenth century novelists, but an engrossingly readable story in its own right.

 

Leon Garfield's Shakespeare Stories I & II were among our favorite read out loud books when my son was a young pup.  I had not heard of this this volume before.

 

[marbel]

Ooh! The whole Barsetshire Chronicles, or just the second novel?

 

Not that it matters; I can't get five minutes in a row to listen to BBC news around here; I don't think I'll be listening to Trollope. Where do y'all find time to listen to broadcasts and podcasts and audiobooks, anyway? Seriously - this is a variation of the "when do you find time to read?" question. I have to tune out everybody just to try to read a book.

 

I rarely listen to audiobooks - generally only as part of homeschooling.  Podcasts and broadcasts?  Never happens, though I would like it to. I love doing counted cross-stitch and would love have time to do that while listening to something edifying and/or enjoyable.

 

Right now my reading is limited to a few minutes in the mornings and evenings, and when I'm waiting for my kids somewhere.  They've been getting weekly allergy shots so there's a half hour a week in the doctor's office.  Thirty minutes a week at piano lesson.  Yesterday they started a rock climbing class so - yippee! - 90 minutes added to my reading day!  Since I don't have a smartphone I can't do any "work" (housewife-type work) while I am out of the house - can't pay bills, etc.  All I can do is read!  :hurray:

 

And while I am thankful that the orthodontics are coming to an end, I have to say... some of those long appointments were great for reading time! 

[aggieamy]

Wow.  Lots going on here.  It's hard to keep up.  

 

With respect to the road trip though ... has anyone called shotgun yet?  Me!

[Stacia]

Good/interesting point.  I hadn't thought of that and this is the first time that idea has been presented to me.  Perhaps she is not the selfish, self-absorbed person I think she must be.   I can't help but think, though, that a really skillful writer could find a way to let the reader see the pain of the divorce without pointing fingers/placing blame - perhaps that too is unfair.  BTW I have been divorced and there was a lot of relief mixed in with the pain and guilt and sorrow.  It was just such a mixed bag of emotion!  Maybe I'm just jealous that I didn't get to go to Italy to recover from mine.   ;)   Just a new (dumpy) apartment and right back to work!  :nopity:

 

And it took 12 years to find true love! :001_wub:

 

 

:grouphug:  & I'm glad you did manage to find true love, even if the path took awhile. It probably didn't help that Elizabeth Gilbert had that hunky Italian tutor while you had to face work & an apartment... :tongue_smilie: ;)

 

Yes, perhaps a more skillful writer could have put more in there about the pain of the divorce, but I still think that is not really the focus of her book (at all). (I also think that would have greatly changed the outlook/feel of her book.) Her book is about the journey to finding herself & true love (things she found after she got a divorce). I think mentioning the divorce was a small thing she felt she had to do to set the stage for her book. Just because she didn't dwell on the pain, upheaval, guilt, & sorrow in the book doesn't mean she didn't feel those things in her real life. Perhaps to her, those type of feelings are private ones, whereas joy is a feeling to be shared. To me, her past is not what the story is about. Her story is about the beauty & love that can be found after going through hard personal times.

 

I mean, I don't know you, but I would imagine that if I met you & we started chatting, you would talk about your current life, your true love, etc... -- probably a lot of the good things in your life. I'd be surprised if you suddenly went into great detail/angst (sorrow, regret, guilt, etc...) about a divorce you went through years ago, especially since your life is much different (& hopefully improved) now. Though you will always carry that experience with you (& I'm sure it will always shape you), I would think you also focus on your present & future much more than your past. That is the same thing EG did in her book, imo.

 

At a party, who would you rather talk to...

a) a bitter, sad, regretful divorcee who still focuses a lot on her divorce that happened years ago

or

b ) a divorcee who learned from her mistakes, took time to figure out what she really wanted from life, spent time pursuing that, had some adventures, & can tell an optimistic, funny story?

 

Does that make sense? I guess I'm always surprised at how willing some critics of the book are to write her off for not 'caring' enough, but I think that's not the case. I think she's a glass half full kind of person & chooses to focus on the good in her life, not the bad. (That doesn't mean she doesn't feel or regret the bad, just that she doesn't park herself there.)

 

[Stacia]

With respect to the road trip though ... has anyone called shotgun yet?  Me!

 

:hurray:  Love it.

 

I usually like doing the driving (because of my motion sickness). Otherwise, I'm always the one calling shotgun! :lol:

[Angel]

or it might have been math. 

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

:iagree:   It was the math!

 

I will forgo this excursion.  My fingers and calculater are fine math skills thank you very much  :001_tt2:

[MicheleinMN]

Did y'all like that movie? I liked it at the time but I'm not so sure I would now for reasons not entirely clear to me.

 

Nope, intensely disliked that movie from the word go.  (Though I did start to like Brad Pitt a bit more after watching it. ;))

[Angel]

 

I'm in the surreal car. I think the first part of the trip is through the wormhole....

 

I'm driving!  Otherwise I'll be throwing up!

[Paisley Hedgehog]

.

 

[Stacia]

The last bit of poetry I read was with 13yo ds.  We were analyzing "The Daffodils" by Wordsworth, the one that starts off 'I wandered lonely as a cloud .... '    Ds read that line aloud, looked up at me, and said, "That guy needs a girlfriend!"   :svengo:

 

:lol: :hurray:

 

[marbel]

 

Does that make sense? I guess I'm always surprised at how willing some critics of the book are to write her off for not 'caring' enough, but I think that's not the case. I think she's a glass half full kind of person & chooses to focus on the good in her life, not the bad. (That doesn't mean she doesn't feel or regret the bad, just that she doesn't park herself there.)

 

Oh yes that makes sense!  The things I read/heard about it (don't recall exactly where) did focus on the seemingly frivolous nature of the divorce and her seemingly quick recovery from it.   Most of the positive things I read about it came from...oh, dare I say this... feminist websites and such, which also colored my view.   I think at one point I read too much fiction about unfulfilled women leaving perfectly fine husbands to "find themselves" and it wore me out. 

 

[Jane in NC]

On the topic of poetry (and on a homeschool related note), may I share a couple of old posts from my son's high school days?

 

In '09, I related how I introduced my son to Donne:

 

 

In recent weeks, we "shook hands" with Donne via the opera, Doctor Atomic, by modern American composer John Adams. There is an aria sung by the character of Robert Oppenheimer with lyrics that are Donne's beautiful sonnet, "Batter my Heart".

BATTER my heart, three person'd God; for, you
As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow mee,'and bend
Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new.
I, like an usurpt towne, to'another due,
Labour to'admit you, but Oh, to no end,
Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weake or untrue.
Yet dearely'I love you,'and would be loved faine,
But am betroth'd unto your enemie:
Divorce mee,'untie, or breake that knot againe;
Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you'enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee.


Admittedly, my son failed to grasp that which I see both in Donne's sonnet and in the aria. This may have been one of our less successful homeschool experiences for him, but, despite my frustrations over my son's lack of appreciation, I convince myself that a new door opened for him. One day he'll appreciate it.

 

 

Just three months later, I wrote the following post:

 

 

My son is literal. Our adventures in poetry have brought laughter with tears to some of the participants on this board. Well, let me tell you what happened today...

My 11th grade son is concurrently enrolled at the local CC where he is taking (among other courses) Expository Writing. Heretofore his assignments were an essay relating a personal experience, a narrative essay, an argument based piece, cause and effect. Now the class is turning to literature for comparison and contrast. As a class exercise today, groups of three had to explain a poem. As my son described it, he could not believe how fortuitious it was that his group received a poem he could understand! Imagine that! It was Emily Dickinson's "There is No Frigate Like a Book". After he said it was the only poem he could ever have explained, he then added, "Oh yes, there was that William Carlos William's poem you like, the one about the plums." "Oh, I love that poem," I said. He responded, "I could have explained that one. Or the other William Carlos William's poem, you know, the one about the red wheelbarrow."

I was dumbfounded remembering the glazed eyes and the frustrations I have felt over the years in trying to explain metaphor and symbolism to my son. And look what happened: he processed something along the way! (Note: I'm not pushing my luck and bringing out John Donne tonight.)

Be of good cheer, friends. There may be more happening in those brains than you think.

 

Be of good cheer, friends. We may convert Stacia yet.  ;)

[JennW in SoCal]

I had an interesting week. Lots of reading one thing, putting it down, picking up another. I didn't finish anything until the weekend. 

 

 

 

Someone mentioned Iain Bank's art mystery series last month. I was glad they did because there was one (the Titian Committee) on clearance at Goodwill shortly afterward and I read that over the weekend. It was a light murder mystery and enjoyable in the same way that the Inspector Gamanche (from Quebec) mystery was interesting. I think the best parts poked fun at Italian vs. English culture and people. A little bit of art history (Griogoire, Titian) and a lot of wandering around Venice with a will they-or-won't they kind of couple, an Italian inspector in the art treasures bureau and an English art dealer. I would read another of this or Louise Penny's Gamanche series, although I'm not running to do it. 

 

 

It's Iain Pears.  I was just on Amazon trying to find this series because I too enjoy the Inspector Gamache series (just finished  A Rule Against Murder) so figured I'd look for these.  Iain Banks is a prolific writer of sci-fi, but apparently doesn't write mysteries as well!  My library even has a copy of the 1st in the Pears series.  Yay!! 

[LostSurprise]

It's Iain Pears.  I was just on Amazon trying to find this series because I too enjoy the Inspector Gamache series (just finished  A Rule Against Murder) so figured I'd look for these.  Iain Banks is a prolific writer of sci-fi, but apparently doesn't write mysteries as well!  My library even has a copy of the 1st in the Pears series.  Yay!! 

 

Haha...thanks...I have both Iain Banks and Iain Pears books on the same shelf! My mistake!

[Robin M]

It's Iain Pears.  I was just on Amazon trying to find this series because I too enjoy the Inspector Gamache series (just finished  A Rule Against Murder) so figured I'd look for these.  Iain Banks is a prolific writer of sci-fi, but apparently doesn't write mysteries as well!  My library even has a copy of the 1st in the Pears series.  Yay!! 

 

Yep, easy to get them confused.  I have books by both on my shelves.

 

Are y'all ready for some more linky love: 

 

the 25 Best Websites for Literature lovers - More food for fodder.  Since I lost all my bookmarks, happy to find a few interesting to add to my list.

 

What will this mean for Seattle, for the U.S?  Anything.  - City council approves seattle's Bid for become UNESCO City of Literature.

 

 

For our poetical thinkers:  Two Reflections only  and Chikome Xochitl: A Poem in Seven Parts. 

 

 

A bit of bookish surrealism -    One of my favorite artists  - Jonathan Wolstenholme.

 

 

 

 

[Violet Crown]

Leon Garfield is one of our favorite children's writers. I first read Smith when I was 11, and the girls have read many of his books. I see NYRB Children's has just published what I think is the first US edition of Smith.

 

Mansfield Park is not pleasing me. I waited and waited for the plot to appear, and when it did it's a boring version of Clarissa. Sorry, Austen fans.

[prairiegirl]

:lol:

 

(Pssst. I loved Eat, Pray, Love. :leaving: )

 

  :laugh:

 

So did I.  In fact, I am re-reading it again right now.    She does gloss over the divorce (and I agree with Stacia, she does this because that is not the focus of the book, it is what brought the book about) but I can now see little glimpses of the pain that she was in.  It is very slight--a sentence here,  a few words there--but I can see her pain quite clearly this time through. 

Great list! :thumbup1:

 

A couple that I'm thinking of (that I've never read):

The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel

My Ideal Bookshelf by Thessaly La Force (recommended by some BaWers...)

 

 

 

I forgot  My Ideal Bookshelf.  I loved seeing the books that people picked as the ones important in their lives.   As a result of that book, my kids and I each picked the books that were important to us  and have them displayed on the book shelf in the living room.   The collection is fluid because the list changes as time goes on.

With all the talk last week about a "Flavia" character, I decided to give Alan Bradley a go and started The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Fun read so far.

 

And if the quote below from the book has been shared before, well, I'll just have to share it again because I love it. :001_smile:

 

"...it occurred to me that Heaven must be a place where the library is open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. No...eight days a week."

I am glad that you are enjoying Flavia.  My dd and I are reading  A Red Herring Without Mustard together as a read aloud.  This is  to placate me  while I wait for the recent Flavia book to come in for me at the library.

[Kareni]

 

I'm in the surreal car. I think the first part of the trip is through the wormhole....

 

Just make sure you don't take the road shown here.  If you do, I doubt much progress will be made.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Mom-ninja.]

 Where do y'all find time to listen to broadcasts and podcasts and audiobooks, anyway? Seriously - this is a variation of the "when do you find time to read?" question. I have to tune out everybody just to try to read a book.

I listen to my audio books while I am getting my youngest to sleep. We cuddle in bed and I listen to my ipod as he drifts to sleep. Yes, there are times that I drift off as well. We also listen to audio books in the car but those are for the kids.

 

 

When you hear the sound of my VW diesel pulling up into your driveway, you know the caped Dolciani proselytizer  tutor has come to call! 

 

I once had visions of touring cross country, camping out in extra bedrooms or on couches of all my boardie friends, tutoring math and talking books. 

You are welcome at my house any time. Any time.

 

 

 

Mansfield Park is not pleasing me. I waited and waited for the plot to appear, and when it did it's a boring version of Clarissa. Sorry, Austen fans.

You might want to try reading it along with Bitch in a Bonnet. He's also not a fan of that particular book, and he'll make you laugh.

[shukriyya]

Just make sure you don't take the road shown here.  If you do, I doubt much progress will be made.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee....

 

 

 

[Violet Crown]

When you hear the sound of my VW diesel pulling up into your driveway, you know the caped Dolciani proselytizer tutor has come to call!

 

I once had visions of touring cross country, camping out in extra bedrooms or on couches of all my boardie friends, tutoring math and talking books.

Alas, dh belongs to the First Church of AoPS, and has been spreading the good news of competition-problem-based math since the pre-textbook days when members of his cult had to pass around badly photocopied MathLeague exams.

[Woodland Mist Academy]

Alas, dh belongs to the First Church of AoPS, and has been spreading the good news of competition-problem-based math since the pre-textbook days when members of his cult had to pass around badly photocopied MathLeague exams.

 

:wub:

 

[shukriyya]

Well lookie here...Anyone read this? It actually looks pretty intriguing and the excerpt I read was like something from an entirely different writer than that of 'Eat, Pray and Love'. The reviews aren't too bad either.

[LNC]

Re reading Middlemarch. I first read it for Victorian Novel class at Baylor and loved it. I watched the miniseries in my 30s caring for my son during one of his his medical crises - special memory. I am really loving it in my mid 40s. I mostly read non fiction and occasionally more fluffy fiction - but this is so well written!

[Just Robyn]

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