Book a Week in 2014 - BW31

[mumto2]

I have now started The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt; it's a nominee for the Man Booker prize this year.

 

 

 

I've just barely started it. Shukriyya, just from the first few pages, plus this paragraph from The Guardian's review make me think it's a book that might interest you (feminism, art world, etc...):

I needed distraction today and the dc's had weddings to ring for so I started my first Booker Prize long list book also because a pesky libray patron has put holds on them behind me! ;( This http://www.themanbookerprize.com/books/we-are-all-completely-beside-ourselves one, We Are Completely Beside Ourselves is the one I am tackling and not loving it at all. It is rather odd. Odd structure and just plain different. This book had a twist to it that I never expected and am now bored with. I am beyond the halfway mark so plan to continue. It is interesting so not a hard read at all but the only reason I honestly have for continuing is curosity. I guess that is the reason I read many books, the temptation to read the end and be done is huge but I suspect it won't answer all the questions and I will still be reading. I am having to be really careful here to not spoil this for others who may want to read it.

[shukriyya]

I have now started The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt; it's a nominee for the Man Booker prize this year.

 

I've just barely started it. Shukriyya, just from the first few pages, plus this paragraph from The Guardian's review make me think it's a book that might interest you (feminism, art world, etc...):

 

Thanks, Stacia. It looks like it has the potential to go either way, into an empowering, lyrical exploration of female artistic autonomy or into a bitter, self-aggrandizing diatribe against patriarchy, both valid perspectives but one is more palatable than the other. I'll be interested to hear your take on it and will wait for that before further perusal.

 

When I was in middle school I used my mother's old texts - Using Latin.  Each chapter opens with a brief story or dialogue in Latin (with unfamiliar words glossed), followed by a brief grammar lesson, and then some review exercises.  There are unit reviews every 4? lessons with a cultural or historical section afterwards.

 

I only did Latin with my eldest, and found it as straightforward to teach as it had been learn from.

 

...but it is just a text.  There aren't (as far as I know) any supplementary pieces or bells and whistles.

 

 

I see that there is a scanned copy of the second volume at Open Library, which at least gives a sense of the format...

 

Thank you, Eliana. It certainly gets glowing reviews on Amazon from folks who used it in the 50s and 60s. Always intriguing when there's such staying power like that. Into the basket of options it goes. You BaWers are so generous. When I posted my comments about latin programs it was more just inner chatter and y'all have jumped in to help with such kindness. Thank you :D

[Violet Crown]

Finished Hamlet. *Spoiler alert!* ... Just about everyone is dead by the end. Once again, I wondered who exactly was watching Ophelia as she floated along the brook, singing to herself, gradually sinking lower and lower, and apparently making no attempt at rescue.

 

Now on to The Red Badge of Courage, as a challenge from Middle Girl, who just finished it and was shocked I hadn't read it. Jane, I told you I'm not well-read; that wasn't any kind of false modesty. Now even my kids are figuring it out. Must make up for mediocre education! Quick, Robin, to the bat-shelves! (Sorry Robin, I knew that would slip out at some point.)

[shukriyya]

Finished Hamlet. *Spoiler alert!* ... Just about everyone is dead by the end. Once again, I wondered who exactly was watching Ophelia as she floated along the brook, singing to herself, gradually sinking lower and lower, and apparently making no attempt at rescue.

 

 

I dropped into that for a moment, VC and it's a sober and visceral contemplation but full of movement. I find myself wondering in a macabre sort of way what was she wearing, what color dress, was her hair long, tangled, swaying in weeds, was her skin white, muddied by the alchemy of earth and water...

 

Thanks for the spoiler alert btw  :smilielol5:

[Rosie_0801]

I finished the Book of Margery Kempe.  This is decidedly not one of my favorites.  At some point, I realized that I value seeing personal growth in the people I read about.  The way she portrays herself shows very little personal growth except in the beginning.  Instead, there's a lot of weeping to show how devoted she is and how she suffers.  Blah.....

 

 

Drugs. She needed drugs. 

 

But maybe, considering there weren't any, it's better she believed it was a gift of God rather than a curse of Satan?  :crying:

[melmichigan]

 

I really, really loved LeGuin's Lavinia - which looks at the Aeneid from a different angle... it is beautiful, fascinating, and rich with historical and literary connections.

 

I added it to my wish list!

[Stacia]

Melissa, I just love your minion avatar. The minions are just great (& not only because they're yellow), lol!

 

 

[JennW in SoCal]

Finished Hamlet. *Spoiler alert!* ... Just about everyone is dead by the end. Once again, I wondered who exactly was watching Ophelia as she floated along the brook, singing to herself, gradually sinking lower and lower, and apparently making no attempt at rescue.

 

Now on to The Red Badge of Courage, as a challenge from Middle Girl, who just finished it and was shocked I hadn't read it. Jane, I told you I'm not well-read; that wasn't any kind of false modesty. Now even my kids are figuring it out. Must make up for mediocre education! Quick, Robin, to the bat-shelves! (Sorry Robin, I knew that would slip out at some point.)

 

In the last production of Hamlet I saw, the director threw in a bonus death at the end!  It was a messenger, I think, but it was so sudden and violent -- it really looked like someone had snapped his neck -- that the audience gasped. Don't shoot the messenger has taken on a new meaning since then.  I had to re-read the last few scenes when I got home, in my mother's old high school copy of the play, to check on the body count!  And poor Ophelia.  That image is now going to be stuck with me!!  Maybe she did a Virginia Woolf and filled her pockets with rocks.

 

Red Badge of Courage brings to mind the number of books I skimmed while the kids were reading them.  I feel like I read Red Badge but in truth I did not.   

[Violet Crown]

Good so far:

 

------------------------

 

The line, broken into moving fragments by the ground, went calmly on through fields and woods. The youth looked at the men nearest him, and saw, for the most part, expressions of deep interest, as if they were investigating something that had fascinated them. One or two stepped with over-valiant airs as if they were already plunged into war. Others walked as upon thin ice. The greater part of the untested men appeared quiet and absorbed. They were going to look at war, the red animal--war, the blood-swollen god. And they were deeply engrossed in this march.

 

--The Red Badge of Courage

[melmichigan]

Melissa, I just love your minion avatar. The minions are just great (& not only because they're yellow), lol!

Thanks!  I couldn't pass up the cupcake. ;)

[mumto2]

 

 

I read it (last year?) and really loved it... but was bewildered to see it on the Booker list... not, imho, Booker material.  it is light reading quality, though the story and emotional arc were ones I connected with and wanted to stay with...

I went ahead and finished We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves.  I can't say it is Booker Prize worthy it was a far better book then I was expecting for awhile there.  Totally agree that it is a light book which I read through quickly and didn't skim -- there was no need to slow down.  I think a large part of my disappointment with this book was the fact that it was on the Booker list.

 

My next Booker Prize List book is The Lives of Others which looks a bit intimidating to be honest.  Probably will wait a couple of days to start this one.

[shukriyya]

 

I really, really loved LeGuin's Lavinia - which looks at the Aeneid from a different angle... it is beautiful, fascinating, and rich with historical and literary connections.

 

 

Have just had a chance to take a look at this and it has gone onto my tbr list. It looks intriguing and along the same lines as The Firebrand, my recent MZB read as part of my Ancient History from Women's perspective 5/5 category. I imagine Lavinia could also be placed in that category.

[Robin M]

! Quick, Robin, to the bat-shelves! (Sorry Robin, I knew that would slip out at some point.)

 

Same bat time, same bat channel

 

 

[Angel]

:grouphug: :grouphug:  :grouphug:

 

To all of you with ill and aging parents.  

 

Yes! :grouphug:  I am trying not to think about this.  As an only child it is a daunting and depressing thought.  

 

 

And, about tea kettles.  I get having a tea pot in which to steep the tea if you are going to have more than one mug, but...but.....is it so very wrong to just boil the water in the microwave?  There isn't the romance of the whistle of the kettle or the zen like quality to the ritual of making tea, I know, but my microwave is so happy to be of use.  It scrolls out the words "enjoy your meal" when you open the door after the ping!

 

This made me laugh!  My cousin boils her water in the microwave and then sometimes forgets about her tea and puts it BACK into the microwave  :rolleyes:  I prefer non-microwaved water.  Microwaved water doesn't feel ... right.

 

I just returned from my trip with my grandma. The performance of Much Ado About Nothing was way funnier than anything I imagined in my head while I was reading it. I'm very glad I saw it performed by the skilled and talented folks at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival.

 

That sounds amazing!  The right exposure to a great performance on stage can make such a difference in the enjoyment of Shakespeare. i believe in starting them young ;)   Our local Shakespeare company is just brilliant.  Their A Midsummer Night's Dream performance was magnificent. I have not seen Much Ado About Nothing performed on stage yet! 

 

 

The Horse and His Boy - with the kids, my least favorite of the Narnia series, but they enjoyed it. Glad to be moving on!

 

 

The Silver Chair is my least favorite.  

 

Now on to The Red Badge of Courage, as a challenge from Middle Girl, who just finished it and was shocked I hadn't read it. Jane, I told you I'm not well-read; that wasn't any kind of false modesty. Now even my kids are figuring it out. Must make up for mediocre education! Quick, Robin, to the bat-shelves! (Sorry Robin, I knew that would slip out at some point.)

 

 

Red Badge of Courage brings to mind the number of books I skimmed while the kids were reading them.  I feel like I read Red Badge but in truth I did not.   

 

:willy_nilly:Run Away! Run Away! This may be one of the only books I skimmed in school and bs'd my way through the assignments!  Bleh!  I sometimes have the fleeting thought that I will re-read this and see if it improved with age.  Then I pick up something a lot more interesting  :001_tt2:

 

Rosie  :grouphug:  and feel better!!

[Angel]

Eliana, you are amazing!  Thank you!

 

And I will look forward to your retellings and sources!  I'm not above nagging  :lol:

[Stacia]

I'm going to have to read a John le Carré novel soon. It's been a really long time since I've read one & I'm especially in the mood after seeing the latest movie (dh & I went tonight):

 

 

Btw. this movie was quite good & gets a thumbs up from both dh & me.

 

I still need to read Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy after seeing that movie a couple of years ago because there is still a question I want answered & I'm hoping the book will answer my question!

[Stacia]

Don't shoot the messenger has taken on a new meaning since then.   

 

I thought of this movie that is coming out soon (?) .... Looks good w/ a good cast too. (How can it not be with Jeremy Renner & Andy Garcia?!)

 

[Jane in NC]

Stacia--I have a copy of Tinker Tailor reserved for you. There was a article in the Boston Globe discussing a recent assertion that le Carre might be the world's greatest living English author. I will not go that far (nor even comtemplate who might claim such a title) but I will say that I really like the Karla trilogy which begins with Tinker Tailor.

 

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/07/31/john-carre-herman-melville-century/tHHi5ofq6hVkJxdnrG4VmK/story.html

 

VC--RBofC is probably another of those books wasted on the young. I read it eons ago but did not think much of it. Last February I listened to an audio version as I drove by myself to Saint Simons Island. Surprisingly visceral in its battlefield descriptions from a man who had not lived the experience.

[Uff Da!]

Drugs. She needed drugs.

 

But maybe, considering there weren't any, it's better she believed it was a gift of God rather than a curse of Satan? :crying:

Post parting depression looks easy in this day and age compared to what she went through. I kept thinking about the recent menopause thread when reading her account. Hormones can do terrible things to a person. Her decision to call herself "the creature" I find disturbing.

 

I started Norms and Nobility. Wow. I should have read this years ago but I think my brain would have exploded.

[Violet Crown]

Post parting depression looks easy in this day and age compared to what she went through. I kept thinking about the recent menopause thread when reading her account. Hormones can do terrible things to a person. Her decision to call herself "the creature" I find disturbing.

 

Keep in mind that "creature" in 1400 didn't have the negative connotations of the modern word. It was more like the modern usage of "creation," primarily emphasizing the relationship between the being (self) and the Divine Creator. From Tyndale's Bible, for example: "Yf eny man be in Christ, he is a newe creature."

[Violet Crown]

VC--RBofC is probably another of those books wasted on the young. I read it eons ago but did not think much of it. Last February I listened to an audio version as I drove by myself to Saint Simons Island. Surprisingly visceral in its battlefield descriptions from a man who had not lived the experience.

Interesting--I found myself wondering if Crane had been involved in the war (but obviously too lazy to look it up). Yes, I can't imagine I would have enjoyed it as much in high school.

[Robin M]

Sending a bit of tlc everyone's way


 

Have a great day my chicas!

 

I am in reread mode since diving into a variety of writing exercises and getting back into the habit of writing.  On my plate - J.D. Robb's Glory in Death and Bodie Thoene's Vienna Prelude. 

 

 

[Robin M]

Post parting depression looks easy in this day and age compared to what she went through. I kept thinking about the recent menopause thread when reading her account. Hormones can do terrible things to a person. Her decision to call herself "the creature" I find disturbing.

 

I started Norms and Nobility. Wow. I should have read this years ago but I think my brain would have exploded.

 

Post parting.  Hmm! That's an interesting way of putting it, as one is parting with their babe when he/she leaves the womb.  I like it better than postpartum. 

[Stacia]

Stacia--I have a copy of Tinker Tailor reserved for you. There was a article in the Boston Globe discussing a recent assertion that le Carre might be the world's greatest living English author. I will not go that far (nor even comtemplate who might claim such a title) but I will say that I really like the Karla trilogy which begins with Tinker Tailor.

 

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/07/31/john-carre-herman-melville-century/tHHi5ofq6hVkJxdnrG4VmK/story.html

 

Oh, yes! Thanks!  :hurray:  (I had forgotten!)

 

[Onceuponatime]

I dropped into that for a moment, VC and it's a sober and visceral contemplation but full of movement. I find myself wondering in a macabre sort of way what was she wearing, what color dress, was her hair long, tangled, swaying in weeds, was her skin white, muddied by the alchemy of earth and water...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now you know. This picture always comes to mind as soon as the word Ophelia enters my consciousness. I was a slightly morbid teen and young adult who took pleasure in the time my English teacher told me I looked like a pre-raphaelite painting. Now I look like a 50 year old mom of 5 and I've lost my fascination with the faintly macabre, in literature and art. :tongue_smilie:

[Uff Da!]

Post parting. Hmm! That's an interesting way of putting it, as one is parting with their babe when he/she leaves the womb. I like it better than postpartum.

I just noticed that auto correct. :). Somewhat fitting.

[Uff Da!]

 

 

Now you know. This picture always comes to mind as soon as the word Ophelia enters my consciousness. I was a slightly morbid teen and young adult who took pleasure in the time my English teacher told me I looked like a pre-raphaelite painting. Now I look like a 50 year old mom of 5 and I've lost my fascination with the faintly macabre, in literature and art. :tongue_smilie:

Lizzie Siddal (the model for Ophelia and a lot of the Pre-Raphaelites) is both fascinating and tragic. I believe she was ill when she posed for Ophelia, too professional to quitt and died shortly after.

[Robin M]

Link to week 32 - please continue conversation in new thread.