shukriyya Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Premise of a zombie novel please? I'm in the dark here. Actually I'm sweltering in the full sunlight hitting the car and I can't google easily as I'm posting from my phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 52 Books Blog - Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: This week highlighting [font='Trebuchet MS']the 17th novel in Susan Wise Bauer's list of fiction reads from her book The Well-Educated Mind is Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. The story was originally published in a three part serial in Blackwood's Magazine in 1899.[/font] Check out the beginning of the first chapter on the blog and r[font='Trebuchet MS']ead the rest online here or here or here.[/font] I may have to pull out my old copy & revisit it. I love Heart of Darkness (& the updated movie, Apocalypse now). Not easy reading (as far as topic), nor easy watching (of the movie topics), but riveting & necessary nonetheless, imo. I read two books from the Dutch High School reading lists: Kees de Jongen (1923), by Theo Thijssen, and Het woeden der gehele wereld, by Maarten ‘t Hart. I especially liked Kees de Jongen, which surprised me. I started reading it with the idea that it was a normal story about a young boy. You mostly see what happens through the thoughts of Kees and he is very naïve and makes a lot of mistakes. The first chapters were therefore very annoying. Then I realized that it wasn’t so much a story of what happens, because very.little.happens, but the story of how Kees grows up and how he little by little matures in his thinking. It was very interesting and very well written. Maarten ‘t Hart is a well known Dutch writer. He has written a lot of books and I think I need to read some more of his works before I know if I like him. 'Het woeden der gehele wereld' was meh. I think I saw the title in a BaW-thread and I was so surprised that I could find Tolstoy and the purple chair, my year of magical reading, by Nina Sankovitch, in my library! I love books-about-books and I love the idea of her reading a book a day in order to handle the grieve of her sister’s death. It did make me a bit sad while reading, I won’t ever have such a relationship with my parents or sister as she describes. And just to show that I don’t understand a thing about marketing :D: who wants to guess how they translated ‘Tolstoy and the purple chair’, (which I find such a nice, intriguing title!) into Dutch? The Dutch title is ‘Een boek per dag’, which translated into English would be a booooring ‘A book a day’. Why would anyone do that? I will have to ask my dh if he has read either of those books from the high school reading list. For some reason, Thijssen's name seems familiar to me? And :lol: about the translation of the book title. (Hey, I'm so proud of myself -- I could read the title in Dutch & knew what it meant!) There's definitely truth in the statement, "lost in translation", eh? (Speaking of, did anyone ever watch the movie Lost in Translation? I spent many years working for Japanese companies & loved that movie because I think there's a truth & definitely a certain amount of disconnect & un-realness between cultures [not just Japanese & American cultures, but various groups around the world] & within our own selves too). We stayed at a wonderful little B&B called Strawberry House in tiny, Plant City, FL. It was so much fun - like visiting a favorite aunt's house. I think it will be our new place to stay when visiting our daughter. We stayed in a room called Betty's Berry Patch which even had Strawberry bedroom slippers. That seems like a completely delightful place! My reading plans for the next couple of weeks have been slightly hijacked. I have an opportunity to attend a tea with a couple of mystery authors. I had never read either but was assured they write books that are my type. Being the compulsive soul that I am.... trying to get some of their books read. ;) I read the first one in Kate Ellis(one of the authors) series "The Merchants House" really quickly. I barely set it down until it was finished. My type definately! The lead police detective Wesley Peterson also has a degree in archeology. In the first book he solves a historical crime involving skeletons found at an excavation while at the same time solving a present day crime that is somewhat similar. They each provide clues for solving the other. Oh, The Merchants House sounds like one I would really like too. Will have to look that one up! Can't wait to hear about your tea with the writers! How fun! :coolgleamA: I'm tired of everything and want back to normal live: teaching, reading, living :grouphug: I read:The Scorch Trials - 1 Star - [font=georgia]What on earth was this all about? I was confused through most of it and barely had any idea as to what was going on! It bored me and I honestly did not care much at all for any of the characters, especially after my favorite was killed in the first book. Under normal circumstances, I would have given up on this in the first 10% (my personal rule for giving up on a book if it's rubbish), but I stuck with it since I hoped that it would get better, but mainly because it's part of a Reading Challenge. [/font][font=georgia]Obviously, I won’t be reading any more in the series. Surprise! Hahaha! :lol:[/font]The Racketeer - 4 Stars - [font=georgia]One of my favorite things is a fabulous John Grisham book, the kind that takes me a few days to finish. "The Racketeer" reminds me of his older stuff that I prefer – clever, fast-paced, and hard to put down.[/font]The Blind Contessa's New Machine - 3 Stars - [font=georgia]I would have possibly given it 4 stars, but the ending was incomplete and I just didn’t particularly care for it. [/font][font=georgia][img][/font] :laugh: Love your review of The Scorch Trials, Negin. Guess I'll probably NOT rush out to read it.... I read The Blind Contessa's New Machine a few years ago. Thought it was an interesting snippet in time & enjoyed the historical bent of it, but I'm with you on giving it 3 stars. It was decent, but not a favorite. However, it has one of the best openings, imo... On the day Contessa Carolina Fantoni was married, only one other living person knew that she was going blind, and he was not her groom. This was not because she had failed to warn them. “I am going blind,†she had blurted to her mother, in the welcome dimness of the family coach, her eyes still bright with tears from the searing winter sun. By this time, her peripheral vision was already gone. Carolina could feel her mother take her hand, but she had to turn to see her face. When she did, her mother kissed her, her own eyes full of pity. “I have been in love, too,†she said, and looked away. 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Stacia Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 :smilielol5: Stacia, you know how much we both love to laugh at that book! :D Dd is the Queen of Decluttering. We joke how she should be an organizational consultant. She especially loves to declutter when she's having a bad day. I love it, since she does it all for me. I like to declutter also, but not nearly as much as she does. :lol: That's awesome about your dd. Has she read the feng shui book? ;) I also read Dara Horn's A Guide for the Perplexed, which alternates between a historically-based account of Solomon Shechter's discovery of a cache of sacred texts among the rubble of a Cairo genizah (attic storage space) and a modern-day software programmer. Very good. As well (it's vacation!! All I do is read!!) I finished A Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, by David Mitchell (of Cloud Atlas fame...). This is set in shogun Japan, at the moment c. 1800 when the Dutch East India Company imploded and its Batavian assets were seized by the British East India Company -- a time about which I knew nothing. Great book -- like Cloud Atlas, many-layered and morally complex, though a much more straightforward narrative structure. Ah. Glad to read your review of A Guide for the Perplexed. My library copy is still sitting here unread after almost 3 weeks. Ack. May need to return it now & check it out again at a later date. As much as I love & adore Cloud Atlas, I tried reading Jacob de Zoet & just didn't get into it. (I tried it prior to Cloud Atlas.) I love his writing & all his details, but perhaps I just wasn't in the mood for it. May have to try it again down the road.... I love the conversation in this thread each week! I just added 9 books to my "want to read" shelf in Goodreads! I am planning to stop in at the library later today (after the post office. I hate the post office. The Library will be a little treat for myself after I do the dreaded post office trip.) Is there a way to follow any of ya'll on Goodreads? Though I've had a Goodreads account for years, I've just started using it this year (mostly to keep track for this thread) and I don't have anyone to follow... I'm on Goodreads if you want to be Goodreads friends: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3917029-stacia Ooh, my library has it. I'll check it out tonight and see if it's any good. I've read a couple of zombie things, I've read World War Z and things of that nature. A couple of the Walking Dead graphic novels too. Yay, a brave person! :hurray: :laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 And :lol: about the translation of the book title. (Hey, I'm so proud of myself -- I could read the title in Dutch & knew what it meant!) There's definitely truth in the statement, "lost in translation", eh? (Speaking of, did anyone ever watch the movie Lost in Translation? I spent many years working for Japanese companies & loved that movie because I think there's a truth & definitely a certain amount of disconnect & un-realness between cultures [not just Japanese & American cultures, but various groups around the world] & within our own selves too). Speaking of... We watched Lost in Translation just a couple of weeks ago. I saw the DVD at the charity shop when I was dropping off a box of stuff and noted that this was a movie I had intended to see. Wry is what I would call this film. Over the weekend I watched the 1962 version of The Manchurian Candidate. Seems appropriate to be reliving the Cold War, you know? Anyway, the film made me curious so I looked up some information on the book, a 1959 political thriller. Wow--I had no idea. In '98, a software engineer recognized a phrase in the book, a phrase that came directly out of Robert Graves' novel I, Claudius. She then determined that several paragraphs had been lifted. Apparently author Richard Conlon is considered a creative plagiarist! Here is an article on the case for those who might be interested. By the way, Angela Lansbury is wonderful in the film! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Robyn Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Is there a way to follow any of ya'll on Goodreads? Though I've had a Goodreads account for years, I've just started using it this year (mostly to keep track for this thread) and I don't have anyone to follow... There's a link to my Goodreads account in my signature. :seeya: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Speaking of... We watched Lost in Translation just a couple of weeks ago. I saw the DVD at the charity shop when I was dropping off a box of stuff and noted that this was a movie I had intended to see. Wry is what I would call this film. Over the weekend I watched the 1962 version of The Manchurian Candidate. Seems appropriate to be reliving the Cold War, you know? Anyway, the film made me curious so I looked up some information on the book, a 1959 political thriller. Wow--I had no idea. In '98, a software engineer recognized a phrase in the book, a phrase that came directly out of Robert Graves' novel I, Claudius. She then determined that several paragraphs had been lifted. Apparently author Richard Conlon is considered a creative plagiarist! Here is an article on the case for those who might be interested. By the way, Angela Lansbury is wonderful in the film! Yes, wry is an apt way to describe Lost in Translation. Fascinating article. (Btw, your link goes to page 2 of the article, which explains why I felt a little lost when I first started reading it. :lol: Once I figured that out & started at page 1, it made much more sense. LOL.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Yes, wry is an apt way to describe Lost in Translation. Fascinating article. (Btw, your link goes to page 2 of the article, which explains why I felt a little lost when I first started reading it. :lol: Once I figured that out & started at page 1, it made much more sense. LOL.) Too funny! I think I fixed the link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shukriyya Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I'm sitting in a cafe with my latte enjoying the conversation but not keen to contribute much due to phone keypad posting. I saw LiT awhile ago but can't remember whether I liked it or not. For some reason I confuse it with Being John Malkovitch which I loved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I'm sitting in a cafe with my latte enjoying the conversation but not keen to contribute much due to phone keypad posting. I saw LiT awhile ago but can't remember whether I liked it or not. For some reason I confuse it with Being John Malkovitch which I loved. :confused1: Wow, those seem like 2 totally different movies to mix up! :lol: (I liked Adaptation better than Being John Malkovitch. Though, John Cusak is fab so I can't say I totally disliked Being John Malkovich. :D ) Hey, you asked some question earlier about zombie premise. What did you mean by that??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shukriyya Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Well I've never heard of zombie lit. Is just stories with zombies as protagonists? What is the appeal? What makes them special? Yes I know the two movies are wildly different but the associative mind doesn't always interpret things coherently :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shukriyya Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 All time favorite movie...Ushpizin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Well I've never heard of zombie lit. Is just stories with zombies as protagonists? What is the appeal? What makes them special? Yes I know the two movies are wildly different but the associative mind doesn't always interpret things coherently :lol: :lol: about associations. Re: zombie lit. I don't really feel like I'm the one to answer it as I haven't read a lot of zombie lit. But, I can say that I liked World War Z, which is really more of a sociopolitical novel looking at the world in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. The zombies are not the main characters, the humans that survived are. The fascinating part of the book, imo, was looking at an epidemic (in this case, the zombies) & how the various countries around the world reacted. Some ignored it (until too late to ignore), some took immediate action such as isolating themselves from others, others tried to fight &/or find a cure/method of handling, etc.... Really a fascinating look at how various cultures & nations might react to a worldwide epidemic (even though I don't care for zombies). In Boneshaker, another novel I read that had zombies, I would again say that zombies were not the main characters. They are a sort of mass enemy, 'the other' that the protagonists/main characters fight against. Appeal? I'm not sure. They're gross :ack2: , so perhaps that makes them appealing to some? :lol: And, I guess because they're un-dead & often menacing, dangerous, etc..., it puts the zombie lit firmly in the horror genre, which is a fave for some. Will be curious about what others have to pipe up & say about this topic... :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Premise of a zombie novel please? I'm in the dark here. Actually I'm sweltering in the full sunlight hitting the car and I can't google easily as I'm posting from my phone. I think many of them have a necromancer involved in some way. Since I have never read a just zombie paranormal not sure beyond that. I have read several in this series http://anitablake.wikia.com/wiki/Anita_Blake which has everything paranormal I think. ;) Anita Blake is a necromancer but is involved with series vampires and........ ETA well not much of an answer Stacia(I mean my answer not yours!) Zombies are not main characters in these books either. She normally is paid to raise people from the dead to have questions answered regarding wills etc. There are other complications with her abilities but can only vaguely remember. This series is on my reread list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shukriyya Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Ok, thank you. It sounds like a mix of horror-dystopian. That comic looks pretty amusing, more so since I can't pinch-enlarge it and my aging eyes aren't getting the whole table-side dialogue which seems to be something along the lines of xenophobia, runaway consumerism and the mistake of ordering brains and suchlike :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onceuponatime Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I've finished A Year in Provence and am getting ready to start Q by Luther Blissett. It has been popping up on my Goodreads recommendations for sometime and the descriptions intrigue me. (I'm on Goodreads. You can find me under the name Angela as one of Robin's friends.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAMom Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Here's my Goodreads page. :) I'm reading Champion by Marie Lu right now. The beginning of spring seems to have brought my slight reading slump so I'm reading something I can get through quickly and easily to gather some momentum again. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 How did I miss this one? This is dedicated to Rabbi Yossi Raichik, the man who saved many of the children of Chernobyl. The metal sculpture by David Kracov is called the Book of Life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shukriyya Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Jane, that's a gorgeous sculpture! I came here specifically to report that I've got three books on hold and see that I am 124th out of 127, 34th out 34 and 5th out of 5 on the respective waiting lists for each book. Not too thrilled with those prospects. Time to dig into currently owned inventory... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaraby Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Jane, that's a gorgeous sculpture! I came here specifically to report that I've got three books on hold and see that I am 124th out of 127, 34th out 34 and 5th out of 5 on the respective waiting lists for each book. Not too thrilled with those prospects. Time to dig into currently owned inventory... I have that problem currently with Monuments Men - there are only three copies in the library system and the one at my library is "in repair" so I'm thinking maybe sometime this fall? Hard to say. I'm going to have to go into the second string for my next book, I think. :0) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onceuponatime Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 I abandoned Q pretty quickly. IMHO it didn't show any signs of living up to the hype. Instead I am reading Incident at Badamya by Dorothy Gilman. It is much more my kind of book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 I am listening and sometimes reading along with Lord of the Rings. I have never read it before. Well I tired once as a kid but I just remember being utterly confused. I think I may have been about 11 and had no direction, no knowledge of the Hobbit and tired to read and fully understand the prologe of LOTR before moving on. I didn't end up moving on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 BaW friends, here is eaglei's latest (still amazing) update on her son: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/498232-urgent-prayer-request-for-ds/?p=5551189 :grouphug: , eaglei. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 It's not a book, but some people do use it as an audio book. We have been watching Bob Brier and his Teaching Company / Great Courses talk on the Great Pharohs. I have some of his books on reserve at the library. I'm looking forward to looking at them. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shukriyya Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 I've got my eye on this upcoming book... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbel Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 I can't keep up here! My books finished and in progress didn't change since last week, but if I manage to finish something before next Sunday I'll post it! Shukriyya, a bit belated, but happy birthday. It's still today where I live. Sounds like you enjoyed a lovely day. I'm sorry to say I had very little reading time last week. Hoping it will get better this week but it's doubtful, what with taxes and a baby shower and a church women's event to plan and execute. A link to my goodreads account is in my signature. I'd love to meet more BaWers there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shukriyya Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 I can't keep up here! My books finished and in progress didn't change since last week, but if I manage to finish something before next Sunday I'll post it! Shukriyya, a bit belated, but happy birthday. It's still today where I live. Sounds like you enjoyed a lovely day. I'm sorry to say I had very little reading time last week. Hoping it will get better this week but it's doubtful, what with taxes and a baby shower and a church women's event to plan and execute. A link to my goodreads account is in my signature. I'd love to meet more BaWers there! Thanks for the birthday wishes, Marbel. And I know what you mean about keeping up :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieamy Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 BaW friends, here is eaglei's latest (still amazing) update on her son: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/498232-urgent-prayer-request-for-ds/?p=5551189 :grouphug: , eaglei. Posting on the run but wanted to thank Stacia for linking the update and send hugs for eaglei! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostSurprise Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 My Goodreads. I didn't read much last week. DS4 needed an attitude reboot, so we did a lot of read alouds and started cleaning the Lego shrine in the basement. I'll try not to count The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash on my reading list, but it is pretty fun and has great visual subtext. Today I finished Sweet Land, a book of short stories by Will Weaver. One of his short stories, "A Gravestone Made of Wheat," is the inspiration for the movie Sweet Land so this is a best-of-the-last-collection-plus-the-new-stuff. I wasn't sure how I felt about this at first. It's well written, and the people are very real and familiar to me (I live in the northern Midwest like Weaver), but the first few stories seemed a bit bleak and I wasn't sure I wanted a whole book of that. After the first few, things evened out and I really enjoyed this book. One thing I really loved was that Weaver wasn't afraid to examine the perspective of the retiring and elderly. IMO, we ignore that age group in literature (and movies). I think we idealize the changes that happen to teens and 20s, but we're afraid to examine the changes that come near the end of life. Weaver did a great job with this, and developing people in small towns, blue collar fields, changing times. I'd read more of Weaver's work. [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d84zP4QyeQ&list=PL8E0B006B9CFC34C8&index=5[/media] Finishing up A Natural History of Dragons (pseudo-Victorian dragon naturalist adventure which I'm enjoying because of the nifty details but I think the feminist oppression is so repetitive that rather than feeling inspiring it feels dull) and Incarnadine (very fresh, semi-religious poetry which I'm kind of iffy about). Both are interesting, but part of me is ready to move on...which is good because I have Mary Karr's memoir The Liar's Club waiting around, Endo's Silence, and 2 or 3 books waiting at the library. I need to get into gear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negin Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 My Good Reads Page in case anyone would like to be my friend. I wish that Good Reads would have a "People You May Know" or "People with Similar Tastes" section, like Facebook does, although I usually ignore that part on Facebook and am sure many of us do. I've often wondered what my life would look like if JUST ONE of the people who live in my house, myself included, were like this. Pam, :lol:. I need to be more like her myself. I thought I was quite good at decluttering, but she's in whole other category. Love your review of The Scorch Trials, Negin. Guess I'll probably NOT rush out to read it.... I read The Blind Contessa's New Machine a few years ago. Thought it was an interesting snippet in time & enjoyed the historical bent of it, but I'm with you on giving it 3 stars. It was decent, but not a favorite. However, it has one of the best openings, imo... Stacia, I agree with you on the beginning of The Blind Contessa. I loved it from the get-go. No, I wouldn't particularly recommend rushing out to read The Scorch Trials. :lol: :lol: That's awesome about your dd. Has she read the feng shui book? ;) No, she decluttered that one. Seriously. :smilielol5: Guess now, every time we joke about that book, I'll have to rely on my memory. :D I can't keep up here! I have a very hard time also. Someone asked a while back if reading these weekly threads counts as one book. I don't think that's a bad idea. :D One thing I really loved was that Weaver wasn't afraid to examine the perspective of the retiring and elderly. IMO, we ignore that age group in literature (and movies). I think we idealize the changes that happen to teens and 20s, but we're afraid to examine the changes that come near the end of life. This looks very interesting. For the longest while, I've had a pet peeve about ageism and "looks-ism" (yes, I know that's not a real word). I cannot stand society's obsession with looking and being young. To me, age is a gift. This article is absolutely depressing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 During the early hours of the morning I finished "World Without End" by Ken Follett. After reading "Pillars of the Earth" I knew the book would not live up to the expectations that are placed in my mind from the title of peace and serenity conjured from my connecting this title instantly with favourite prayers like the Magnificat. This book had I title that called to me on many levels. One thing that struck me almost from the first page was that it was almost a copy of Pillar reworked for the 14th century. The changes in the world were shown very clearly when set against the lives of the descendants of the characters from Pillars. Construction of the Church and village were still focal points. Manipulations through the Church hierarchy and Monarchy reigned. Wool and fabric trade a mainstay. Then there was the plague sweeping a cross Europe and brutally rearranging this world repeatedly. Still present were some pretty violent r*pe scenes. Were these scenes necessary to the book this time through? Probably not, which I am sure affected my attitude while reading. Plenty of icky moments which didn't have to be that icky. For all my complaints I still gave it a 4* so good overall simply missed the mark set by expectations. So my 14th century read is done although a couple alternative choices are still moving their way through the library's system of holds. Maybe another will be read when they finally arrive. A brutalized France was visited and Italy in the aftershock of the plague has been experienced during the unfolding of the story which are not needed for my geography challenge since those countries are complete but can be added. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Today I finished Sweet Land, a book of short stories by Will Weaver. One of his short stories, "A Gravestone Made of Wheat," is the inspiration for the movie Sweet Land so this is a best-of-the-last-collection-plus-the-new-stuff. I wasn't sure how I felt about this at first. It's well written, and the people are very real and familiar to me (I live in the northern Midwest like Weaver), but the first few stories seemed a bit bleak and I wasn't sure I wanted a whole book of that. After the first few, things evened out and I really enjoyed this book. One thing I really loved was that Weaver wasn't afraid to examine the perspective of the retiring and elderly. IMO, we ignore that age group in literature (and movies). I think we idealize the changes that happen to teens and 20s, but we're afraid to examine the changes that come near the end of life. Weaver did a great job with this, and developing people in small towns, blue collar fields, changing times. I'd read more of Weaver's work. I actually watched the movie Sweet Land and really liked it. Thanks for the posting the trailer I enjoyed watching it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostSurprise Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 I actually watched the movie Sweet Land and really liked it. Thanks for the posting the trailer I enjoyed watching it. The movie is available for free, in it's entirety, on Youtube. The story and the movie are quite different. The story deals only with the aftermath of death of one of the couple with some slight flashbacks in order to explain how it all plays out. The movie is a romance dealing almost completely with the backstory. The marriage is arranged through the man's parents in Norway. He is a farmer in the northern plains, very isolated. Unfortunately she's a German national and it's right after WWI so there's a lot of prejudice. Sweet story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mothersweets Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 All time favorite movie...Ushpizin Yep, same here. One of my favorites. Shopping! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murmer Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Finished: The Aesop for Children by Aesop Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan FIAR Vol 4 Working on: Fiction: Life of Pi by Yann Martel Kindle: Naomi and her Daughters by Walter Wangerin Jr. Non-fiction: The Reader as a Learner by NZ Ministry of Education Phone: Lies, Da** Lies, and Science by Sherry Seethaler Computer: Motherhood Realized by Power of Moms Well Education Mind: Gulliver Travels by Johnathan Swift Angel Girl: Water Babies by Charles Kingsley Sweet Boy: Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales Book Autobook: Total Read for 2014: 45 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shukriyya Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 I started two books in the past 24hrs, the result of another pre-dawn wake up though I spared you all my musings this time :smilielol5: First book is a 5/5/5 category which I wasn't sure I wanted to do, Canadian authors. I've got more than five categories and I figure that whichever one has the most books read within its parameters wins. So this first book is a result of my really enjoying, The Midwife of Hope River. I wanted something of a similar time period, rural, women-focused etc. The Birth House by Ami McKay fits the bill. I downloaded the sample from Amazon and zoomed through it. The writing is good and I can see that it's going to be a great story. It's not available as an ebook and there's a waitlist for the hard copy so I'm suspended between the second chapter and the waiting that comes with books on the hold list. Meanwhile I began The Lemon Tree : An Arab, A Jew and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan. Writing is a little disjointed but the story is fascinating. Awhile back I mentioned starting Annie Dillard's, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. I know I waxed lyrical about her writing last week but oh.my.goodness. It is so dense! Not dense in the sense of being difficult to understand, it's not, it's poetic, lyrical and shimmering with ideas and observations, vibrant with curiosity and attention, alive with the body and its mysteries BUT I feel like I can't get a breath in edgewise. The author's material comes out in one long, unbreathing gasp. Looking at the way the words unfold on the page I keep hoping for a chapter break, a paragraph break, even a semi-colon break would do but grammatical breaks come there none. The poet in me wants so much more space between her thoughts to be able to digest the beauty she is presenting us with, to be able to look at it from various angles, to watch the light refract and reflect it. But honestly it all feels a bit manic. I'm not sure if reading it in small doses would help much either as the thoughts, ideas, emotions, images just keep flowing through each other with a porousness that feels like one great, melting Spring. It's a book I thought I would *love* because the writing is crystalline, layered, unromantic and frankly beautiful but the lack of ability to come up for air is very much detracting from the experience IMHO. I'm undecided about this one. I want to like it, I want to want to read it but when I pick it up to do so I'm brought up short by the lack of consideration for the reader's boundaries and sense of space. In other bookish observations...I'm noting that while I have an ideal list in my head of books I need to get to, the actual bones-and-sinew me is reading things far less edifying. I'm trying to decide if that's ok or not and by whose standards. There has been mention of fluff last week week. I'm not sure what qualifies as fluff, the eye of the beholder and all that but I will say that these past two weeks the headier books sit on my kindle or by my bedside awaiting my attention which hasn't been generous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Awhile back I mentioned starting Annie Dillard's, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. I know I waxed lyrical about her writing last week but oh.my.goodness. It is so dense! Not dense in the sense of being difficult to understand, it's not, it's poetic, lyrical and shimmering with ideas and observations, vibrant with curiosity and attention, alive with the body and its mysteries BUT I feel like I can't get a breath in edgewise. The author's material comes out in one long, unbreathing gasp. Looking at the way the words unfold on the page I keep hoping for a chapter break, a paragraph break, even a semi-colon break would do but grammatical breaks come there none. The poet in me wants so much more space between her thoughts to be able to digest the beauty she is presenting us with, to be able to look at it from various angles, to watch the light refract and reflect it. But honestly it all feels a bit manic. I'm not sure if reading it in small doses would help much either as the thoughts, ideas, emotions, images just keep flowing through each other with a porousness that feels like one great, melting Spring. It's a book I thought I would *love* because the writing is crystalline, layered, unromantic and frankly beautiful but the lack of ability to come up for air is very much detracting from the experience IMHO. I'm undecided about this one. I want to like it, I want to want to read it but when I pick it up to do so I'm brought up short by the lack of consideration for the reader's boundaries and sense of space. You describe the way I felt last year when I read Wiesław Myśliwski's novel Stone Upon Stone. Now imagine being the translator of that sort of prose! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennW in SoCal Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 In other bookish observations...I'm noting that while I have an ideal list in my head of books I need to get to, the actual bones-and-sinew me is reading things far less edifying. I'm trying to decide if that's ok or not and by whose standards. There has been mention of fluff last week week. I'm not sure what qualifies as fluff, the eye of the beholder and all that but I will say that these past two weeks the headier books sit on my kindle or by my bedside awaiting my attention which hasn't been generous. My bookshelves are packed full of good intentions. I've bought interesting and well written books based off of reviews that piqued my curiosity, but they are collecting dust at the moment. There's too much else crowding my mind to appreciate beautiful, well-crafted writing. I gave in yesterday afternoon and went to the library in search of a few mystery titles in some favorite series. The writing is well crafted, but it isn't too very taxing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shukriyya Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 My bookshelves are packed full of good intentions. I've bought interesting and well written books based off of reviews that piqued my curiosity, but they are collecting dust at the moment. There's too much else crowding my mind to appreciate beautiful, well-crafted writing. I gave in yesterday afternoon and went to the library in search of a few mystery titles in some favorite series. The writing is well crafted, but it isn't too very taxing! Love the bolded! And I guess I'm in good company :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 I finished Langston Hughes' The Ways of White Folks today. His is an easy, conversational manner, but the man doesn't pull any punches. Must repeat what I've already said.... Ouch. And Wow. Written about 80 years ago, but just as on target today about race, about people, about society. Powerful writing. Powerful book. Highly recommended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Started Anna Karenina yesterday. 25% done, really hating Anna and Vronsky for their blatant selfish, immoral love affair, also Oblonsky's infidelity. I like Levin for his integrity. Pillars of the Earth is slow going. Just got a paper copy from the library after my ebook borrowing g time expired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onceuponatime Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Esther: A Glimpse Behind the Mask volumes 1 & 2: A pre-Purim selection - it goes through Megillas Esther pasuk by pasuk (verse by verse) in Hebrew and English with the commentaries of Rabbi Alshich. There were a few new bits here, but the best part was the way R' Alshich put together things I already knew and wove them into fresh insights that deepend my appreciation of this text. ...but Esther is always going to be a hard text for me. I come close to tears during the Megillah readings each year (we read Megillas Esther (the Scroll of Esther) in the evening and morning of the holiday of Purim). ...the level of sacrifice asked of Esther devastates me. ...sorry, I'm leaving out context again. The traditional reading of the text is that Esther is married to Mordechai, is forced into an unwanted relationship with the king... but should he die, or discard her, she could return to her husband. ...until she accepts the relationship to use it to save our people. ...but the underlying message of Purim, that there is no happenstance, that everything, from the smallest coincidence to the greatest sorrows can be used to elevate the world. ... that even when an evil person uses his freewill to cause harm and destruction that there is the potential to use that descent as the impetus for a greater elevation. ...that pain and sacrifice have meaning, that as individuals we may suffer, die, or experience great tragedies, but we will come together as a people and try to build up - with G-d's help. This is fascinating. I've done a parallel study of Esther and Herodotus, but I did not know that she was considered to be married to Mordechai. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Thank you Eliana. Let America be America Again reminds me of a poem published in the same time frame, Land of the Free by Archibald MacLeish. MacLeish called his work "A book of photographs illustrated by a poem", the photographs being WPA shots by Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, etc. It is a lovely book despite the grit and pain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaraby Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Loved the poems, Eliana. I love reading his poems, but they really come alive when they're read aloud. Danny Glover reading "Ballad of Roosevelt" is right up there at the top of my list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam in CT Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 There was a line I loved in So Many Books which described book collections as lifetime reading lists... (Unfortunately, I accidentally returned the book before I copied down the quotes I wanted...). My shelves are such an interesting blend of the beloved, the useful, the read-20-years-ago, and the to-read-found-on clearance... among others. This is definitely the positive side of my relationship with our library cards - we have a 50 book/card hold limit, and my card and my husband's are usually at or near their max. ...so those months long waits don't seem quite as bad. ...the downside, of course, is that I check out far more books that I am able to read.... and then there are the dilemmas: 5 books to pick up and the card is maxed... which 5 current-checked-out-books are going to be sacrificed so these newcomers can be accommodated? :laugh: And then the overall management complexity of multiple wait lists: Ooh good, this one is waiting for me at the desk in hard copy -- wait... didn't that one come up already on the e-book list? Or was it the other e-book list? And don't even get me started on the once-a-month Kindle lending library... Haven't worked that one out satisfactorily yet... On the Elizabeth Wein books: I think they are too much for J books, but not for YA. I haven't given them to my 12 year olds, but they were fine for my 14 year old (well, she's just read CNV so far), and definitely fine for my older ones. RUF is differently explicit than CNV - it is a truthful, though very toned down, depiction of a horrific situation, in this case of a concentration camp and the aftermath of medical experiments. It gives a much happier resolution than anything adult or non-fiction could offer, but it is a hard, painful read. I do think these books are important for teens to encounter - too many kid-level books gloss over this period in ways that feel to me untruthful. ymmv. :) I haven't given the Wein books to my 12 year olds, so I sympathize. ...my then 14 year old read CNV last year, but I've put off handing either to my 12 year old twins. Imho these have to be YA books because adult level truth would be so much grimmer. ...especially Rose Under Fire. The descriptions are so toned down it is scary - but they are also incredibly intense and hard to take. ...I think they walk the tightrope of truthfulness with restraints really well... ymmv. I absolutely agree that it's important for teens to encounter these issues, and that Wein "walks the tightrope of truthfulness with restraints really well..." For me, there is a parental tightrope of just how much, when... and there are no magic "YA" age cutoffs either; you have to know your own kids.... My younger, at 11, has more and more productive mechanisms to process and cope with difficult content than my eldest did at the same age... Still, had I known where RUF was going, I would have urged her to wait a couple years. (I was very glad we were reading it together, so we could talk about it as we were going.) On Anouk Markovits: Re: I am Forbidden - I've looked at this, but been reluctant to try it. The fiction I've encountered set in the Orthodox world, whether modern or Chasidic, depicts a universe so skewed from the one I have experienced that I can't appreciate the story itself b/c the wrongness (from my perspective) jars me so much. It tends to be written by women who have had very negative experiences and have left this world. I don't want to deny the truths of their experiences and the validity of their perspective, but the dissonance has been too strong for me to appreciate their stories. otoh, the fiction published by Orthodox publishing houses has left me equally cold. Yes, I've read several accounts like that, and they don't do much for me either. FWIW, although evidently Markovits herself did leave her community (I only know that because of the author interview at the end), that isn't at all the trajectory of the novel. There is one character who leaves, but that character then drops out of the story for nearly the whole length of the novel and the character's brief reappearance does not drive its action or resolution. It's not My Name is Asher Lev... but then, what else is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Decided to return A Moment in the Sun to the library along w/ a huge stack of other books. Will return to A Moment in the Sun in the winter, I think.... I'm still reading Terry Pratchett's Reaper Man & am now also starting Asleep in the Sun by Adolfo Bioy Casares. Lucio, a normal man in a normal (nosy) city neighborhood with normal problems with his wife (not the easiest person to get along with) and family and job (he lost it) finds he has a much bigger problem: his wife is a dog. At first, it doesn’t seem like such a problem, because the German shepherd inhabiting his wife’s body is actually a good deal more agreeable than his wife herself, now occupying the body of the same German shepherd in a mental hospital run by scientists who, it appears, have designs on the whole neighborhood. But then Lucio has a sense, however confused, of what’s right, which is an even bigger problem yet.Asleep in the Sun is the great work of the Argentine master Adolfo Bioy Casares’s later years. Like his legendary Invention of Morel, it is an intoxicating mixture of fantasy, sly humor, and menace. Whether read as a fable of modern politics, a meditation on the elusive parameters of the self, or a most unusual love story, Bioy’s book is an almost scarily perfect comic turn, as well as a pure delight. Apparently ABC was a good friend of Jorge Luis Borges. And, here's an interesting article too: Latin America's Kafka: What a Sly Argentine Has In Common With A Tubercular Czech. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shukriyya Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Three minutes to lockdown... :willy_nilly: I'll be continuing the conversation with y'all in the ethers. Happy reading until the boards are back up and running :seeya: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shukriyya Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Three minutes to lockdown... :willy_nilly: I'll be continuing the conversation with y'all in the ethers. Happy reading until the boards are back up and running :seeya: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shukriyya Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 double post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 :laugh: And then the overall management complexity of multiple wait lists: Ooh good, this one is waiting for me at the desk in hard copy -- wait... didn't that one come up already on the e-book list? Or was it the other e-book list? And don't even get me started on the once-a-month Kindle lending library... Haven't worked that one out satisfactorily yet... There is also the question of which form to even request the book in -- ebook , where no one else will know exactly what I am reading ;) or traditional, where chunky books may "look" great but are very heavy.........These are the problems that can be discussed on BaW that no one else will ever understand. Also the fact that I can't tell someone else that I spent an utterly satisfying 20 minutes or so sorting the 30 or so physical library books that I have on hand last night into many categories like: part of a series and waiting for the first , probable hold by others so should seriously read, preread for Dd or Ds and need to stay ahead, and finally an " oooh! can't wait" pile. Here the question is more apt to be "what is in your ___ pile" not "why do you have 30 books checked out." Love being able to talk to other compulsive library people. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Looking forward to your review of Asleep in the Sun. None of my libraries have it .....they don't seem to have many South American authors in general. Makes the continental and geography challenge more of a challenge! :lol: Decided to return A Moment in the Sun to the library along w/ a huge stack of other books. Will return to A Moment in the Sun in the winter, I think.... I'm still reading Terry Pratchett's Reaper Man & am now also starting Asleep in the Sun by Adolfo Bioy Casares. Apparently ABC was a good friend of Jorge Luis Borges. And, here's an interesting article too: Latin America's Kafka: What a Sly Argentine Has In Common With A Tubercular Czech. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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