Book a Week in 2014 - BW32

[mumto2]

 

 

Those empty shelves are very sad :( . We really need to find you a book to read. Unfortunately my brain is tired and I can't think of one. Can't remember if you have tried Josephine Tey, from what I have read of them (two ;) ) I think you might enjoy that author.

 

I am so happy for you that your dad is doing better and that you have a plan once he is out of rehab. I'm glad that the stress level has decreased.

 

My dad is doing better, too. He has an official diagnosis of COPD (I think the initials stand for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or Disorder, not sure.) He has nurses and respiratory therapists coming to the house, helping him with his medication and sorting things out for him. So we are happy with how things are turning out. It is looking like a nursing home will be far in the future. Yay!

 

I finished Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. I think I am going to buy that book. It was so helpful to me and was beautifully written. I have now started The Rock that is Higher by Madline L'Engle. I think this is gong to be a keeper as well.

I am so glad both your and Onceuponatime's (sorry I missed that quote) dads are doing better. My mom is also doing much better memory wise so we think we will be able to get her back to her own home soon with a bit more home help. Still have the back pain issue unfortunately. I can't even express what a thrill it is to be able to speak to her again and have her be her. Such a relief--she reacted very badly to pain meds and was not herself for way longer than the norm.

[Robin M]

Yesterday I spent half the day in bed with The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen, the literary equivalent of a soaps and bon bon marathon. I felt amazingly refreshed afterward. Pure escapism.Today I work on school plans, we start back up in 2 weeks and our books arrived Monday. I've been schooling myself to read one chapter of the Evolution of God a day, and I've been snatching a few glimpses of Stuff Matters.

 

My Dad has stabilized. They got his kidneys back in order, fitted him out with a defibrillator vest, and sent him to a rehab facility, after that he will move in with my brother. So, things are a little less stressful for the moment. I hope everyone else's parents are doing well also.

Happy to hear your dad is doing better. It's always a relief when they are out of the woods.

 

I am so happy for you that your dad is doing better and that you have a plan once he is out of rehab.  I'm glad that the stress level has decreased.

 

My dad is doing better, too.  He has an official diagnosis of COPD (I think the initials stand for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or Disorder, not sure.)   He has nurses and respiratory therapists coming to the  house, helping him with his medication and sorting things out for him.  So we are happy with how things are turning out.  It is looking like a nursing home will be far in the future.  Yay!

 

I finished  Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh.  I think I am going to buy that book.  It was so helpful to me and was beautifully written.   I have now started The Rock that is Higher  by Madline L'Engle.  I think this is gong to be a keeper as well.  

 

Glad to hear your dad is doing better as well and has a diagnosis. It's disease. My mom lived with it for 25 years or so.  He'll just have to figure out what his triggers are so he can avoid those things and the medication does help over a period of time.

 

 

 

 

 

Missing my mom today.  It's her birthday so James and I trekked out to the cemetery for a visit.

 

[mumto2]

Robin :grouphug:

[Stacia]

:grouphug: , Robin.

[JennW in SoCal]

   

 

Dd & I ran by B&N this afternoon. Didn't find the item we had gone looking for, but dd picked up a fun-looking book called Camelot Burning. Wanted to mention it to those of you w/ teens who might enjoy it. She started it in the car & said it's good so far. Seems like it's a mix of Arthurian legend & steampunk. (Dd has always had a fondness for all things related to Arthurian legend....)

 

 

I picked up The Iron Wyrm Affair off the clearance/discount shelf for myself. Looks like fun, light, steampunk reading for me too.

 

I'll be curious what you and/or your dd think of The Iron Wyrm Affair. It is the steampunk/urban fantasy mashup that I just finished yesterday. Definite fluff!

 

 

Oh, Jenn. When I was in B&N, I saw a book that I thought you might like....

 

Saving Mozart by Raphaël Jerusalmy (& it's from the ever-lovely publisher Europa Editions).

 

 

ETA: And, for the many of you on here that like Georgette Heyer, I thought this Europa book might appeal: The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals by Wendy Jones. (Of course, I've never read Heyer, so I have no idea if this storyline would be appealing to Heyer fans or not! :lol:  But, still, I thought of all the Heyer fans on the thread. Maybe the cover art made me think you would like it....)

 

Both of these sound good, too!

 

I started listening to Simon Winchester's Krakatoa: The Day the Earth Exploded.  It is, as with anything he writes, quite excellent, and he is a lovely reader of his own work.  The mom of one of my students is from Indonesia and the book got me started talking with her today as it opens with a brief history of the Dutch exploration and colonization of the country.  She then gave me a cool book mark from Indonesia that features Wayang, or shadow puppet designs!  

 

I'm itching for a good mystery to fill in between all the sci-fi and fantasy on my tbr pile!  I may dip into the list compiled from all of Jane's recommendations! 

[Jane in NC]

Just realized that the English translators of Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky's Autobiography of a Corpse, Joanne Turnbull and Nikolai Formozov, won the PEN translation prize for 2014.  I read (and was quite touched) by this book earlier in the year. There is a nice quote from the judge's citation on PEN's homepage.

[Kareni]

 

I picked up The Iron Wyrm Affair off the clearance/discount shelf for myself. Looks like fun, light, steampunk reading for me too.

 

I haven't read any of Lilith Saintcrow's steampunk; however, I did enjoy her Dante Valentine series as well as some of her other series some years ago.  This non-fiction book of hers looks charming and has some great reviews.

 

SquirrelTerror

 

Regards,

Kareni

[aggieamy]

shukriyya - My DD has read Etiquette and Espionage about three times this week and has suggested it to three adults who have also loved it.  It's a fun story and an easy read.  Might be just what you need.  

[shukriyya]

shukriyya - My DD has read Etiquette and Espionage about three times this week and has suggested it to three adults who have also loved it.  It's a fun story and an easy read.  Might be just what you need.  

 

Thank you, Amy, for your daughter's suggestion. I believe I looked at this during our steampunk challenge a couple of months ago and couldn't quite get past the vampires and werewolves. I ended up instead with the first book in the 'Magnificent Devices' series. It was a quick day-long read and I bought the next book in the series and then promptly lost interest :lol: Around the same time I bought 'Maids of Misfortune' and most recently I bought 'The Paper Magician'. I sense that this kind of light read is the direction to go in rather than my 5/5 challenge which I've been steadily working my way through.

[Stacia]

Amy, for the life of me, right now the only Arthur related books I can think of are the nice picture books by Robert D. San Souci: Young Guinevere (my dd loved & still loves this book), Young Arthur, Young Lancelot, and Young Merlin.

 

I know she also read & quite enjoyed the Lost Years of Merlin books by T.A. Barron. Looks like there are more in the series/some additional series sections too....

http://tabarron.com/books/novels/merlin/

[Stacia]

I feel like I'm heading in a reading rut too. :tongue_smilie:

 

I really like The Blazing World. It's well-written, interesting... but, I just don't want to read it. For some reason, I feel like I'm crawling through the book -- I've been reading for awhile & I'm still not at the halfway mark. I think it's just me (feeling scatter-brained since dd's high school started this week & I'm ramping up to start ds' school, along w/ their various outside activities -- life just got infinitely busier) & I just want something light to read. I may end up setting The Blazing World aside for now & perhaps pick it up later (maybe in Winter when I want something longer & more involved).

 

Jenn, ok, it's funny that you just finished The Iron Wyrm Affair. I kept looking at the title, thinking that 'Wyrm' seemed familiar & I guess seeing you post about it is why it was familiar to me!

[TeacherZee]

I'm in a re-reading rut. I've mostly been reading (and even more listening) to David Eddings and J.D. Robb this year. Need to break out of it.

[mumto2]

Just finished reading The Likeness by Tana French.  It was good but so soon after In The Woods was probably a bit too much of that author.  Definately taking a break from the series although I will go back eventually I read the rest.

[Stacia]

For the Outlander fans...

 

The ‘Outlander’ Books Are Feminism’s Answer to ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’

[Pam in CT]

Resurfacing after several weeks of wandering, first tooling around the northeast in our new camper van (!!!) with various combinations of husband, youngest daughter and dog; and then a quick trip to Bavaria for a wedding (lederhosen galore, I'm delighted to report...)

 

 

 

I read All Quiet back in high school, and it made quite the impression on me about the horrors of war and the power of good writing.  I don't want to re-read it in order to keep that first impression pure.

 

No new reading to report at the moment.  

"All Quiet on the Reading Front"...  :laugh:

 

IKWYM about being wary of re-reading it.  It made such a huge impression on me the first time around...

 

 

 

 

To tie this in with BaW, it was rather delightful when my youngest's love of Bill Bryson started influencing his own style of writing!

I  :001_wub: Bill Bryson.  He could write a book about sitting at his kitchen table perusing the phone book, and manage to make it both hilarious and insightful.

 

 

Heather, some of the best.book titles.EVER. are on your list -- you could count it as a 5/5/5 category, LOL!

Started reading:
Crazy Busy: A Mercifully Short Book About a Really Big Problem by Kevin DeYoung


11. The Happiness Project: Or Why I spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun. by Gretchen Rubin (GOOD)

18. You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself by David McRaney (GOOD)

21. The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking by Oliver Burkeman (SO-SO)

25. No Place Like Oz by Danielle Paige (SO-SO)

 

:lol:

 

 

 

I am also hoping to finish  'Gift from the Sea'  by Anne Morrow Lindbergh  this week.  I am thoroughly loving this book.  I have filled two pages of my commonplace book with quotes from this book.  A sure sign of a fulfilling  book.

This is another one that I loved so much when I first came across it that I'm a little afraid to go back, and maybe wreck it... 

 

 

 

Missing my mom today.  It's her birthday so James and I trekked out to the cemetery for a visit.

:grouphug: , Robin...

 

 

[Mom-ninja.]

Amy, for the life of me, right now the only Arthur related books I can think of are the nice picture books by Robert D. San Souci: Young Guinevere (my dd loved & still loves this book), Young Arthur, Young Lancelot, and Young Merlin.

 

 

These look great.

[Pam in CT]

So, I totally lost track of what I read over the last few weeks, sigh... I know I abandoned several audio books (it's tricking picking something that works for multiple people in the car!), and I spent a lot of time just driving and/or pouring over guidebooks... but I've definitely lost track of some...

 

I finished Deborah Rodriguez' A Cup of Friendship, a fictionalized memoir about an American woman running a cafe in Kabul, which was uneven in terms of the writing but an interesting glimpse into the region and its expat/local dynamics... and Abdu'l Baha In Their Midst by Earl Redman, which was at Negin's suggestion, another slice of Bahai history...

 

I finally got to a book that Eliana first raved over months ago and then came back to again recently, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks' To Heal A Fractured World: The Ethics of Responsibility... thank you!  I will be continuing to process this for some time... it is a remarkable book -- both firmly grounded in his tradition and how that tradition has shaped a particular ethical orientation, and at the same time so accessible and respectful of other traditions...

 

Less successful for me was Martin Buber's Gog and Magog... I had high hopes for this; I recently re-read I and Thou, which I loved the first time I encountered it decades ago and if anything loved more now that I am, er, more mature... and I really thought I would delight to see his philosophical constructs come alive in a work of fiction... but so many elements in both the writing and the narrative of Gog and Magog emerged as stumbling blocks to me... that the central questions at its core (can imperfect means further positive ends; can human beings further God's plans; what is the fine line between furthering God's plans vs. trying to hasten or manipulate them) didn't end up holding any passion for me as I was reading  (though in real life, they DO!)... 

 

 

... and lastly, as a rabbit trail off a silly thread here a few weeks back, David Fagan's Rhubarb! Tales of Survival on a Little Greek Island, a lighthearted romp that had me fantasizing about escaping myself to a life under the Grecian sun....  For the botantically curious-minded who (like me) were puzzling over whether rhubarb can even grow in such a climate:

 

... The word rhubarb has crept into my vocabulary as an expression for the shenanigans that accompany any activity.  In the days of radio theater, two or three individuals standing around a live microphone "rhubarbing," or repeatedly muttering the word 'rhubarb,' gave the audio impression of a debating mob... nothing on Hydra happens without a rhubarb, even changing a light bulb.  To plagiarize someone else, 'You can't make this sh1t up.'

 

That is, the connection to actual rhubarb is -- go figure -- tenuous.  From now on when a WTM thread goes into what used to be called a "kerfuffle" (also good!) I'll be going with "rhubarb."

 

 

 

 

Still in progress - My 11 year old daughter and I are working through both The King of Attolia, the last of Megan Whalen Turner's trilogy; and also Thaliad by Marly Youmans.  Shukriyya -- have you read this?  I'm thinking of you often as we go through it...  And at Jane's recommendation I started The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, which reworks / interweaves the Pontius Pilate and Faust narratives in a 1930s Russian setting -- totally weird and so far fascinating....

 

 

[Mom-ninja.]

I'm reading Hashimoto's The Root Cause and frankly feeling frazzled. Eat less iodine....but wait high iodine protects against breast cancer.....but it'll destroy your thyroid. Eat more selenium....but wait not too much or you will be depleted of iron and copper. Eat more B12 found in animal products.....but wait cut out dairy and be careful with animal protein consumption because you may not have enough enzyme or stomach acid to digest it.

 

My head is spinning. Frankly, I find it surprising that humans even survive considering the exact amounts of minerals, vitamins, amino acids, fats, bacteria, and enzymes we are supposed to have in our body at all times. Everything must be enough but not too much. Too much = health problems. Not enough = health problems. Imbalance between two or more combinations of all of the above = health problems.

 

:willy_nilly:

 

 

 

[Woodland Mist Academy]

I suggest chocolate....

[Stacia]

Maybe to help Shukriyya break her reading drought?

 

http://flavorwire.com/471139/50-excellent-novels-by-female-writers-under-50-that-everyone-should-read/view-all

 

(I've read five of them & tried two others that I didn't like well enough to finish. Have one of them sitting here in my pile from the library & I almost bought one of them yesterday at B&N.)

[Mom-ninja.]

I need to go to B&N. I have to renew my teacher discount. So, I can look to see what's on sale.

[Jane in NC]

... and lastly, as a rabbit trail off a silly thread here a few weeks back, David Fagan's Rhubarb! Tales of Survival on a Little Greek Island, a lighthearted romp that had me fantasizing about escaping myself to a life under the Grecian sun....  For the botantically curious-minded who (like me) were puzzling over whether rhubarb can even grow in such a climate:

 

... The word rhubarb has crept into my vocabulary as an expression for the shenanigans that accompany any activity.  In the days of radio theater, two or three individuals standing around a live microphone "rhubarbing," or repeatedly muttering the word 'rhubarb,' gave the audio impression of a debating mob... nothing on Hydra happens without a rhubarb, even changing a light bulb.  To plagiarize someone else, 'You can't make this sh1t up.'

 

That is, the connection to actual rhubarb is -- go figure -- tenuous.  From now on when a WTM thread goes into what used to be called a "kerfuffle" (also good!) I'll be going with "rhubarb."

 

 

 

 

Still in progress - My 11 year old daughter and I are working through both The King of Attolia, the last of Megan Whalen Turner's trilogy; and also Thaliad by Marly Youmans.  Shukriyya -- have you read this?  I'm thinking of you often as we go through it...  And at Jane's recommendation I started The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, which reworks / interweaves the Pontius Pilate and Faust narratives in a 1930s Russian setting -- totally weird and so far fascinating....

Love the rhubarb reference!!

 

And credit must go elsewhere, I am afraid.  Did Stacia recommend Bulgakov?  I have yet to read The Master and Margarita!

[LostSurprise]

Finished: 

 

The Mislaid Magician or Ten Years After by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

 

 

Book 3 of Wrede and Stevermer's 'letter novels' set in a fantasy version of Regency Era. Light, and the two cousins are always sassy and amusing. An Eliana recommendation and I've enjoyed them. The series has taken the girls from debutantes to mothers. Thanks Eliana!

 

Boxers & Saints, companion graphic novels about the Boxer Rebellion. 

 

 

YA historical graphic novel (and finalist for the National Book Award) which explores differing sides of the Boxer Rebellion with themes of belief, mission, patriotism, war, women's equality, the stories we view our world through. I was really blown away by this set. It's history was on-track and it's characters were compelling. It also examined religion quite complexly and allowed its characters to explore their world through mystical experiences. We live in such a hyper-realistic age, that seeing 2 people seeing the world through the stories of Chinese gods and heroes and Christian saints was really refreshing to me, and did nothing to dull the realism of the story. In fact, it enhanced it because I believe in the power of narrative to explore and define our world. 

 

Violent (this is the Boxer Rebellion, thousands were killed) but the tone is lighter, much more human. It doesn't seek to glorify violence, although it doesn't deny that human beings can feel a sense of glory which feeds into violence. Recommended for teens, although the themes are complex enough that I wouldn't expect a younger teen to understand all the themes. I think mine were a bit puzzled about the first book. It was much more foreign, but the second helped them tie it into something they could understand. Recommended. 

 

The Makeup Wakeup by Lois Joy Johnson and Sandy Linter

 

I don't really wear makeup but I saw someone recommend this lately, and I'm over 40, so I thought it would be interesting to see what they had to say about ageing and the ways we deal with it. It was fairly detailed with very specific tips on how to make yourself up, product suggestions, and a detailed section with some plastic surgeons at the end talking about why and when you may want more physical work done (or what you should do with make up instead if you chose not to go that route). Very professional NewYork type stuff which is to be expected since Johnson is a makeup editor and Linter is a famous makeup artist and both are 50+. NMS at all but interesting. Older (40-70) famous models and actors make up the before and after shots and are fairly honest about if they had work done. 

 

 

Enjoying Rilke's Book of Hours. The poems are very approachable. I made the mistake of reading the back footnotes though and it seems these translators have edited Rilke according to their own taste. At least they note that they took out several lines here or there because they thought them repetitive or that they used a different phrase because they thought the German wording too full of piety (?), but now I don't really trust the words I'm reading. I'll probably finish it, but I'm making note so that get another translation. 

[Pam in CT]

Sigh.  Embarrassment is...

 

 

 

And credit must go elsewhere, I am afraid.  Did Stacia recommend Bulgakov?  I have yet to read The Master and Margarita!

 

 

Stacia mentioned the Bulgakov... and another one (I'm blanking on the title) with a dog.  I read (and loved) his Country Doctor's Notebook  (a gift from my wonderful mother in law when she finished reading it)

 

... when other people keep better track of who recommended books that I am reading than I do myself.  Sigh.

 

:blushing:  :blushing:  :blushing: Sorry Stacia!  Thank you very much for bringing Master and Margarita to my attention!  I'm really enjoying it!  Ack!

[JennW in SoCal]

On the book front today, a couple of small outrages tempered by some nice finds.

 

 

It all started with an innocent post by Stacia: 

Maybe to help Shukriyya break her reading drought?

http://flavorwire.com/471139/50-excellent-novels-by-female-writers-under-50-that-everyone-should-read/view-all

(I've read five of them & tried two others that I didn't like well enough to finish. Have one of them sitting here in my pile from the library & I almost bought one of them yesterday at B&N.)

 

Outrage #1.  What about women writers OVER the age of 50?  I know -- the point is to discover young novelists and have the delight of following them as their craft evolves and matures.  But did they have to put the age demarcation? The quip that you need to quickly buy Jo Walton's book before she turns 50 is what set me off.  Just another reminder that we older dames become invisible to the greater world, for better and worse.  (Yeah. I know. Sensitive much?   I just had a birthday that put me another step farther away from that 50 benchmark....)

 

Outrage #2.  I just bought a hardback copy of a Dorothy Sayer's mystery for .25 at the library.  That is not the outrageous bit -- that was a find!  The outrage is that it is the library's copy which has been TAKEN OUT OF CIRCULATION!!!  It is in fine condition, no need to pull it off the shelves!  It means other patrons at my library will not have the luxury of discovering Sayers on those shelves.  My branch has an awful habit of taking any book published before, oh 1970, off the shelves as if it a contaminant that needs to be excised. 

 

But all this outrage is assuaged by starting a lovely little mystery set in Sicily by Andrea Camilleri.  I learned of the Inspector Montalbano mysteries through a review at NPR books, and was happy to find a few of them on my library shelves.  I'm starting with The Voice of the Violin.  And it is a soothing voice this afternoon  :nopity:  ;)

[Jane in NC]

This looks really fascinating - thank you!

 

 

I resisted this last time you mentioned it... but this time I'm adding it too my library wish list...

 

 

 

Oooh!  I'm very fond of Tsvetaeva's poetry, but I've never been quite sure about some of the translations I've encountered. 

 

*************************************

Wow!  That looks amazing.

*********************************

*envy*

 

 

I finished Archangel Sunday.  Thank you so much for encouraging me to read this, and read it *now*.

 

I don't think I've ever encountered anything quite like these stories... what a powerful use of science and inquiry... of yearning and aspiration and struggle... all of which are intrinsic to science...

 

 

...and now I have to take my kids to the fair!  (it's a little, tiny fair - but my little guy looks forward to it every year - the key attraction is the fire fighters... they bring a fire truck and an ambulance and a fire safety teaching house (he's been too little for that before, but will enjoy it this year I think)

 

Several things struck me while reading Archangel.  All scientists have hits and misses, the latter sometimes within their own lives or perhaps determined a century later.  Agassiz is an unfortunate case.  Many of his contributions to geology stand today; his educational method ("Study nature not books") is embraced by experiential science programs. But his timing was unfortunate.  His firm anti-Darwinian stand and his racism (let's be honest--he was not alone in racist tendencies in the 19th century) have led to movements to remove his name from schools, for example.  We don't dismiss Newton for his alchemy practices or the fact that he lacked details in his construction of the Calculus.  Yet Agassiz's legacy is being erased--despite his progressive efforts to educate women in the sciences.

 

Barrett is an interesting writer.  I'm glad that you enjoyed her book. 

 

And I think you will be as awe struck by Krzhizhanovsky as I was.  That book is haunting a little piece of my mind.  Whenever I hear a story on the radio about Kiev, I hear Krzhizhanovsky's voice.  I have another of his books in my dusty stack but I feel that I continue to digest Autobiography of a Corpse.

[Jane in NC]

On the book front today, a couple of small outrages tempered by some nice finds.

 

 

It all started with an innocent post by Stacia: 

 

Outrage #1.  What about women writers OVER the age of 50?  I know -- the point is to discover young novelists and have the delight of following them as their craft evolves and matures.  But did they have to put the age demarcation? The quip that you need to quickly buy Jo Walton's book before she turns 50 is what set me off.  Just another reminder that we older dames become invisible to the greater world, for better and worse.  (Yeah. I know. Sensitive much?   I just had a birthday that put me another step farther away from that 50 benchmark....)

 

Outrage #2.  I just bought a hardback copy of a Dorothy Sayer's mystery for .25 at the library.  That is not the outrageous bit -- that was a find!  The outrage is that it is the library's copy which has been TAKEN OUT OF CIRCULATION!!!  It is in fine condition, no need to pull it off the shelves!  It means other patrons at my library will not have the luxury of discovering Sayers on those shelves.  My branch has an awful habit of taking any book published before, oh 1970, off the shelves as if it a contaminant that needs to be excised. 

 

But all this outrage is assuaged by starting a lovely little mystery set in Sicily by Andrea Camilleri.  I learned of the Inspector Montalbano mysteries through a review at NPR books, and was happy to find a few of them on my library shelves.  I'm starting with The Voice of the Violin.  And it is a soothing voice this afternoon  :nopity:  ;)

 

I'm with you, Jenn.  I saw the title of the link and refused to read it. 

 

The Montalbano mysteries have been on my radar--in fact I think that I have read one or two of them.  Good thing that I now keep lists (being over 50 and all that).  :laugh:

 

 

[Guest]

Ooh! Me! I got The Paper Magician. And I started Oliver Twist today, so we're both on Dickens, too.

 

It was a toss up between Oliver Twist and Great Expectations. I am enjoying Great Expectations!

[mumto2]

 

Outrage #2.  I just bought a hardback copy of a Dorothy Sayer's mystery for .25 at the library.  That is not the outrageous bit -- that was a find!  The outrage is that it is the library's copy which has been TAKEN OUT OF CIRCULATION!!!  It is in fine condition, no need to pull it off the shelves!  It means other patrons at my library will not have the luxury of discovering Sayers on those shelves.  My branch has an awful habit of taking any book published before, oh 1970, off the shelves as if it a contaminant that needs to be excised. 

 

But all this outrage is assuaged by starting a lovely little mystery set in Sicily by Andrea Camilleri.  I learned of the Inspector Montalbano mysteries through a review at NPR books, and was happy to find a few of them on my library shelves.  I'm starting with The Voice of the Violin.  And it is a soothing voice this afternoon  :nopity:  ;)

Discovering libraries discarding classic books or the first in a popular ongoing series is a huge pet peeve of mine. Our library has a policy of removing the last copy from active circulation and putting it in storage but making it available upon request.  Sounds good but many times it doesn't seem to happen in practice.

 

I had an incredibly hard time sitting through the part of my volunteer training regarding on how to mark books for removal and future removal from circulation.  Apparently yellowed pages although undamaged is a removable offence.  I am going to be really bad at that part of the job.

 

One thing I didn't realize is reading in the bath sucessfully (as in you don't get the book wet) is still really bad for paperbacks because the humid damp dissolves the glue.  Heat from reading paperbacks in the sun is also damaging.  These and a couple other factors mean our library's paperbacks frequently only survive 6 checkouts before they need to be pulled from circulation due to poor condition.

[Hoot]

DS is away for two weeks with the in-laws, so I have declared myself on vacation!  I went to the library and filled a bag with about 20 books and then went to another library in the next state over, got a library card and picked up a couple of goodies there, too. 

 

So far, I've finished Deadhouse: Life in a Coroner's Office by John Temple.  It was a good read, but it seemed a bit wandering.  At first it felt like it was going to be about the interns, but then it sort of morphed into nothing more than recounts of past cases.  I was entertained, but I didn't feel like it was very well thought out. 

 

I have no idea what's up next.  I think I'll just reach in the bag, grab something and start reading.  :laugh:

 

1. The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright
2. Winnie Mandela: Life of Struggle by Jim Haskins
3. Herbal Antibiotics by Stephen Harrod Buhner

4. When Did White Trash Become the New Normal? by Charlotte Hays
5. Family Herbal by Rosemary Gladstar
6. Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare
7. Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner's Guide by Rosemary Gladstar
8. The Hot Zone by Richard Preston
9. War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
10. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
11. The Telenovela Method by Andrew Tracey
12. Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman
13. The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
14. Divergent by Veronica Roth
15. Buddhist Boot Camp by Timber Hawkeye
16. Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh
17. The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins
18. Plastic Free by Beth Terry
19. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

20. Deadhouse: Life in a Coroner's Office by John Temple

[Jane in NC]

Fellow readers:  Your friend Jane is about to be driven off the deep end and into the abyss!!

 

So I am reading Arturo Perez-Reverte's novel The Nautical Chart, translated by Margaret Sayers Peden.  Do I shoot the translator or an editor?

 

Chapter I opens with the Herman Melville epigraph, "I have swum through oceans and sailed through libraries."  In Chapter VI we read, "I have swum through libraries and sailed through oceans."  Google reveals that Melville wrote (in Moby Dick) "I have swam through libraries and sailed through oceans".  Swam or swum?  Does it matter if one has sailed through oceans or libraries?  Or does all of this reveal that I am simply a petty minded fool (which is why I have a master's degree in Mathematics)?

 

Things like this really irritate me.  I know that publishers lack the fine editors of old but one would think that such a beautiful quote would have stood out to a reader in the business of proof reading a book.

 

Growl, growl...

 

 

 

 

[prairiegirl]

 

 

 

 

 

Missing my mom today.  It's her birthday so James and I trekked out to the cemetery for a visit.

 

Robin,  :grouphug:   You are in my thoughts today.

[JennW in SoCal]

Fellow readers:  Your friend Jane is about to be driven off the deep end and into the abyss!!

 

So I am reading Arturo Perez-Reverte's novel The Nautical Chart, translated by Margaret Sayers Peden.  Do I shoot the translator or an editor?

 

Chapter I opens with the Herman Melville epigraph, "I have swum through oceans and sailed through libraries."  In Chapter VI we read, "I have swum through libraries and sailed through oceans."  Google reveals that Melville wrote (in Moby Dick) "I have swam through libraries and sailed through oceans".  Swam or swum?  Does it matter if one has sailed through oceans or libraries?  Or does all of this reveal that I am simply a petty minded fool (which is why I have a master's degree in Mathematics)?

 

Things like this really irritate me.  I know that publishers lack the fine editors of old but one would think that such a beautiful quote would have stood out to a reader in the business of proof reading a book.

 

Growl, growl...

 

My guess is that no one bothered to look up Melville's exact words, because "have swum" is correct modern usage. "Have swam" would make some grammarians twitch.  But still, why rearrange the words and use it twice?  

 

Epigraphs are tricky, and at worst are an author's affectation to come across as a Serious Artist.  I think paying close attention them is dangerous as it can push an otherwise sane woman (of a certain age) into the abyss.  Have care, Jane, have care!!

[Kareni]

So I am reading Arturo Perez-Reverte's novel The Nautical Chart, translated by Margaret Sayers Peden.  Do I shoot the translator or an editor?

 

Perhaps you should just shoot the book as internet accessibility in prison might limit your contributions to the Book a Week threads.

 

To meld Melville and Hugo ~ We don't want you to have to say, "Call me 24601" or whatever your number might be!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[NoseInABook]

Anansi Boys is complete as is Plan To Be Flexible. I'm picking up Neverwhere. I think that'll round out my Summer of Neil tour. For now. Maybe... 

[Maus]

25. "The Verbally Abusive Relationship" by Patricia Evans. A lot of good information. Her chart of consequences (reproduced here) especially struck home, but I'm looking for more of "an adult survivor of childhood abuse" type book, and this is really a "is my partner abusing me?" type book.

 

24. "Doctrine & Covenents" (LDS).

23. "The 7-day Christian: How Living Your Beliefs Every Day Can Change the World" by Brad Wilcox (LDS).

22. "Gift of Love" by Kris Mackay (LDS).

21. "In Loving Hands" by Kris Mackay (LDS).

20. "The Outstretched Arms" by Kris Mackay (LDS).

19. "No Greater Love" by Kris Mackay (LDS).

18. "The Book of Mormon" (LDS).

17. "Inferno" by Dan Brown.

16. "The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches" by Alan Bradley.

15. "I Am Not Sick I Don't Need Help!" by Xavier Amador, Ph.D.

14. "How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare" by Ken Ludwig.

13. "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

12. "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein.

11. "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card.

10. "With Healing in His Wings" ed. by Camille Fronk Olson & Thomas A. Wayment (LDS).

9. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" by J.K. Rowling.

8. "The Good Knight" by Sarah Woodbury.

7. "Speaking From Among the Bones" by Alan Bradley.

6. "The Continuous Conversion" by Brad Wilcox (LDS).

5. "The Continuous Atonement" by Brad Wilcox (LDS).

4. "Finding Hope" by S. Michael Wilcox (LDS).

3. "When Your Prayers Seem Unanswered" by S. Michael Wilcox (LDS).

2. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling. (Read-aloud)

1. "The Peacegiver: How Christ Offers to Heal Our Hearts and Homes" by James L. Ferrell (LDS).

[TeacherZee]

On the book front today, a couple of small outrages tempered by some nice finds.

 

 

It all started with an innocent post by Stacia: 

 

Outrage #1.  What about women writers OVER the age of 50?  I know -- the point is to discover young novelists and have the delight of following them as their craft evolves and matures.  But did they have to put the age demarcation? The quip that you need to quickly buy Jo Walton's book before she turns 50 is what set me off.  Just another reminder that we older dames become invisible to the greater world, for better and worse.  (Yeah. I know. Sensitive much?   I just had a birthday that put me another step farther away from that 50 benchmark....)

 

Outrage #2.  I just bought a hardback copy of a Dorothy Sayer's mystery for .25 at the library.  That is not the outrageous bit -- that was a find!  The outrage is that it is the library's copy which has been TAKEN OUT OF CIRCULATION!!!  It is in fine condition, no need to pull it off the shelves!  It means other patrons at my library will not have the luxury of discovering Sayers on those shelves.  My branch has an awful habit of taking any book published before, oh 1970, off the shelves as if it a contaminant that needs to be excised. 

 

But all this outrage is assuaged by starting a lovely little mystery set in Sicily by Andrea Camilleri.  I learned of the Inspector Montalbano mysteries through a review at NPR books, and was happy to find a few of them on my library shelves.  I'm starting with The Voice of the Violin.  And it is a soothing voice this afternoon  :nopity:  ;)

 

That is an outrage!! I was so happy to find Gaudy Night on my parents shelves* as my copy had a very unfortunate run in with a water bottle.

 

*My parents are downsizing and we are allowed to use their extensive library as a bookstore where all the books are free :D

[Violet Crown]

Love the rhubarb reference!!

 

And credit must go elsewhere, I am afraid. Did Stacia recommend Bulgakov? I have yet to read The Master and Margarita!

I didn't specifically recommend the Bulgakov, but I think when I read it last year I posted the section about the cat with a gun on the mantelpiece. I know others had read it and mentioned it was a good read.

 

Finishing up Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy. Dh is helping me through the tricky parts, and translating relevant technical articles from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy for me, so I can get a better picture of the sixth-century Boethius' relationship to the later Thomistic philosophy. I think I'll be ready for fiction again after this!

[Stacia]

.

[Stacia]

Yep, I know I mentioned Bulgakov's The Master & Margarita! I found it fascinating & weird -- definitely one that will require a re-read one day. I really enjoyed the parts about Pontius Pilate, as well as the other storyline w/ the Devil & Behemoth wreaking havoc in Moscow. I think I said at the time that this is the type of book you could do an entire semester college course on & still miss stuff. I've never read Heart of a Dog, but have heard it is quite good.

 

As for my own reading these days, I'm still trying to decide what to start....

[shukriyya]

I'm on the road again. We, as a family, listened to the first in the Amelia Peabody series. I've read several of these and thought they might appeal to family tastes. I was right and ds is, I think, enjoying it most of all, squealing with delight at the manner and perspective of Amelia. I find the colonial lens trying but Amelia's ability to master every situation that comes her way is appealing. Dh is given to wry smiles at various points throughout the narrative so I'm calling it a successful family audio book experience.

 

The lads are off swimming right now. As for Shukriyya, though the book drought persists I'm enjoying the current quiet and peace as well as the engaging and heartfelt conversation here on our thread.

[shukriyya]

Now I feel badly for posting the link. (There were some pretty cool books on there, even so....)

:grouphug: thank you for thinking of me, Stacia.

[JennW in SoCal]

 

 

Now I feel badly for posting the link. (There were some pretty cool books on there, even so....)

 

YOU should not feel bad (or badly?) about posting the link as there were many wonderful books on that list, some of which I've read, others that piqued my interest.  It was an unfortunate choice by flavorwire to pointedly demarcate the list by an arbitrary age, but it is the typical style of the flippantly breezy and hip writers of the internet.  

[Stacia]

It was an unfortunate choice by flavorwire to pointedly demarcate the list by an arbitrary age, but it is the typical style of the flippantly breezy and hip writers of the internet.  

 

You make a very good point. And, I agree that it is a flippant way to demarcate the list. The title sounds good, though, 50 by under-50, yada, yada. It's attention-grabbing & that is the point, rather than really assessing new books by female writers of any age.

 

Perhaps here is a better article: Will #readwomen2014 change our sexist reading habits?  (And some of the author lists are here.)

 

I guess I feel badly about it partly because I work very hard to *not* click on some internet links (& therefore help drive their importance on the web), kwim? For example, I refuse to click on any link that is not a hard 'news' story on a news website because I don't want to contribute to frivolous material being considered important or newsworthy by the readership. ( :cursing: ) And, when reading news stories, I try to find a list of related stories about the topic, then choose the news source(s) carefully.

 

Anyway...

[Kareni]

Yesterday I read and enjoyed the romantic suspense novel Body of Evidence (Evidence Series Book 2) by Rachel Grant.  I see it's second in a series, but it certainly stood alone well.  (Though now I wish to read books one and three.)  And, hmm, I now see that book one is free to Kindle readers.

 

"In Body of Evidence, a sexy romantic political thriller, an archaeologist and a US Attorney find themselves on an explosive, globe-spanning chase full of political intrigue and legal drama. Body of Evidence is the second book in Grant's Evidence Series, where archaeology, politics, and war collide.

And she thought facing a firing squad was bad...

When archaeologist Mara Garrett traveled to North Korea to retrieve the remains of GIs lost in combat, she never imagined she'd be arrested, convicted of spying, and sentenced to death. Her only hope is Curt Dominick, the powerful, ambitious, and infuriatingly sexy US attorney prosecuting her uncle, a former vice president of the United States.

What starts off as a rescue mission quickly morphs into a race across the Pacific. Someone is after Mara, and they'll risk everything to stop her from reaching Washington DC. With betrayal around every corner, Curt and Mara have little reason to trust each other and every reason to deny the sparks between them that blaze hotter than the Hawaiian sun. Still, desire clashes with loyalty when they discover a conspiracy that threatens not only their lives but the national security of the United States."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

[melmichigan]

I got off track again last night and took a detour from my school work to read Trail of Dead (A Scarlett Bernard Novel) by Melissa F. Olson, which was my free prime library choice for this month, just like book one was last month.   It has an interesting premise, a null in the world of witches, vampires, and werewolves. I'll be interested to see if the author grows this series in the next book, this one fell short.  The main character seemed contradictory at times and the back and forth between characters was often adolescent.  

 

 

[Violet Crown]

Perhaps here is a better article: Will #readwomen2014 change our sexist reading habits? (And some of the author lists are here.)

.

An intriguing link! One of my self-challenges this year has been female writers, after reading almost none last year. My own sexist reading habits were I think shaped as an undergraduate, where it wasn't good enough to read women writers: they had to be women writers writing about the female experience, whatever that is. Which in a way is just like slapping on a pink cover; presence on a syllabus is notice up front that this is a book or story about Womanhood. So "The Yellow Wallpaper" gets assigned repeatedly, but not Death Comes for the Archbishop. And it's as if men can't write convincingly about the female experience, though Portrait of a Lady (for instance) is very relevantly feminist.

 

Dh is actually much more likely to read female writers than I am. Last year it was mostly Edith Wharton and Dorothy Dunnett.

 

Maybe I'll read Katherine Mansfield next. And Elizabeth Gaskell has been waiting her turn. And George Eliot....

[shukriyya]

An intriguing link! One of my self-challenges this year has been female writers, after reading almost none last year. My own sexist reading habits were I think shaped as an undergraduate, where it wasn't good enough to read women writers: they had to be women writers writing about the female experience, whatever that is. Which in a way is just like slapping on a pink cover; presence on a syllabus is notice up front that this is a book or story about Womanhood. So "The Yellow Wallpaper" gets assigned repeatedly, but not Death Comes for the Archbishop. And it's as if men can't write convincingly about the female experience, though Portrait of a Lady (for instance) is very relevantly feminist.

 

Dh is actually much more likely to read female writers than I am. Last year it was mostly Edith Wharton and Dorothy Dunnett.

 

Maybe I'll read Katherine Mansfield next. And Elizabeth Gaskell has been waiting her turn. And George Eliot....

And my own reading habits are the opposite. I would say that my reading is predominately by female authors. Perhaps as high as 95%? This year, to date, of the 36 books I've read only two have been by men and in some ways the author in question, Alexander McCall Smith, doesn't count. He writes so convincingly in a woman's voice that he doesn't feel typically male in his writing though I might be hard pressed to say what a generalization such as 'typically male' meant.

[Jane in NC]

Dh is actually much more likely to read female writers than I am. Last year it was mostly Edith Wharton and Dorothy Dunnett.

 

:hurray: Another Dorothy Dunnett fan! 

[Stacia]

As I've said previously, I know my own reading is decidedly sexist in that I read many more male authors than female authors. (This year, reviewing my list, 11 of 45 books read are by females.) And, looking at my 'favorites' shelf over on Goodreads, I have a similar percentage, so it looks like generally my reading ranges from about 20 to 25% female authors vs. 75 to 80% male authors.

 

Unfortunately, I think that (too?) many of the published/marketed female authors out there are chick lit writers (how big a market segment does that take up vs. female authors *not* writing chick lit?); chick lit & uber-popular lit (think Lee Child, John Grisham, etc...) is what my library system tends to stock. As someone who uses the library a lot, this distresses me & is one of the reasons I pay a fee to belong to a larger, neighboring library system. Even so, my sister's library system -- much smaller -- still does a much better job of stocking a wide variety of books from both male & female writers. It's not for lack of trying on my part; I feel slightly envious when you guys talk about suggesting books for the library to buy & then they actually do buy them. I've suggested plenty that I would like the library to purchase. My track record of them actually buying any? Zero.

 

And, then, where does "Robert Galbraith" (aka, J.K. Rowling) fit? I know that "he" is a she, but she is obviously penning under a man's name. So how does that affect the figuring/appeal of the book(s) to the masses? Can that be an accurate reflection of reading a female author/statistics if, say, the reader did not know it was actually a female author? How much did the male name on the cover affect whether or not someone picks up that book (vs. having a female name on the cover)? And so on...

 

I guess I really do need to finish reading The Blazing World (by female writer Siri Hustvedt) as this type of thing is *exactly* what she is addressing (but in the art world vs. the literary world).