Book a Week in 2014 - BW49

[Kareni]

Why does a book I've wanted to read all year have to show up today when I'm supposed to be getting garb made for Saturday?  :scared:

 

Probably for the same reason that fourteen holds showed up today at one of my libraries and three at the other.  It's either feast or famine. 

 

It's a good thing that my house is only infested with bookworms!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Pam in CT]

Aaaaaaaaaa! The guilt! Don't hesitate to put Maupassant aside if he does nothing for you.

heh, heh, heh.  Actually, thus far I'm enjoying it.  I'm pretty much an omnivore, book-wise...

 

 

mom-ninja...  :grouphug: ... oy.  Quite a BAW run we seem to have going. :ack2:  :ack2:  :ack2:

 

For all of you with the tapeworms and roaches and such...

 

This is what is going on in my neck of the woods and I keep having to explain why I don't want to infect myself with hookworms...

.http://autoimmunetherapies.com/candidate_diseases_for_helminthic_therapy_or_worm_therapy/allergies_helminthic_therapy.html

Not looking.  Not looking not looking not looking lalalalalalalalalal

 

 

 

:blink:

 

As we say in the South, "Isn't that nice?!"

Yeah. As we say in Texas, that fella's a bubble off plumb.

Oh for crying out loud, ladies.  OK, now I looked.

 

PSA to anyone else who hasn't yet: DON'T. :ack2:  :ack2:  :ack2:  :ack2:  :ack2:

As we say in New England:

 

 

ETA: aw, man, my youtube didn't embed.  One more try:

 

 

Angel - re Code Name Verity - I thought this was truly marvelously written, and Stella and I both really enjoyed it.  There are some difficult subjects, mostly around treatment of POWs, but it's quite sensitively done, and the ending while tragic is imo a developmentally appropriate resolution while still maintaining reasonable integrity to its historical context.  I think you'd be OK with it.  

 

Its sequel, Rose Under Fire, does deal with themes that *I* found difficult to discuss with a sensitive 11 yo (live human beings used for pretty gruesome medical experiments).  Had I known what was in it, I would have waited another year or two.  (FWIW, the "mature theme" was far harder for me to deal with because its historical context was real.  It made me think: how would I respond to this same subject in a dystopian novel... and I don't think it would have troubled me nearly so much.  ymmv...)

[shukriyya]

Mom-ninja, when we lived in Hawaii large, flying roaches were common place ;) We'd be in our outdoor kitchen and they'd be crawling on the counter and then all of a sudden off they'd fly. When most of life happens outdoors like that you realize and adjust to a more intimate experience of inter-dependence.

 

This week it's been a blocked-up kitchen sink, as in dishes get done the night before and the drain is let out only to find standing, greasy water still in the drain the next morning. Lovely! The plumber came and worked his magic though and now our drains are free-flowing. I've been getting my yayas out just standing at the sink, running the water and watching it flow easefully down the drain :smilielol5: It's the little things, ya know.

 

Uff da, as Pam said, lalalalalalala

 

Mumto2, any pics of the ornaments would be lovely :D

 

Eliana, how wonderful that the place where your dream lives is 'nestled in your heart'. That's a perfect place for a dream to begin its journey into embodiment.

 

 

[JennW in SoCal]

Mom-ninja, when we lived in Hawaii large, flying roaches were common place ;) We'd be in our outdoor kitchen and they'd be crawling on the counter and then all of a sudden off they'd fly. When most of life happens outdoors like that you realize and adjust to a more intimate experience of inter-dependence.

 

 

 

I was going to mention the flying roaches.  Those suckers are so big you can hear paper crinkle when they walk over it.  I remember vividly lying in bed and hearing that sound one night.  I couldn't go to sleep til the beast was out of my room.  And they are so big I never could kill them because of the mess.  Blech!  and double blech!!

 

Of course in Hawaii, with the houses so open to the outside, you usually have a wild gecko chirping away in a corner somewhere, and you hope upon hope it keeps the roaches at bay.

 

As they say on the islands, "lucky you live Hawaii"!

[shukriyya]

Of course in Hawaii, with the houses so open to the outside, you usually have a wild gecko chirping away in a corner somewhere, and you hope upon hope it keeps the roaches at bay.

 

As they say on the islands, "lucky you live Hawaii"!

He he, for our nighttime entertainment dh and I would lie on the big bed and watch the geckos eat the moths as they moved across the big picture window. A whole world coming to life as ours was winding down. It was actually pretty fascinating observing the behavior of the two creatures and since we were without electricity it was an entertaining way to pass the evenings in between chat, read alouds, crosswords and card games.

[Robin M]

Ah, the insect of the week discussion. We're an interesting bunch.

 

Georgia - two inch long roaches - those things would fly and run straight at me even while I spraying with bug spray. :w00t:   

 

 

Kareni, I have you to blame for not getting much done the past three or four days.   Downloaded Sweet Dreams and once I was done, had to download Gamble.  *sigh*    She breaks all the writing rules but damn, she tells a good story with great characters.    Thanks for introducing me to Kristen Ashley.

 

 

We are getting a major drenching. Yeah for the rain but boo if you have to be out and about like we were today. Major wind storm blew all the leaves off the trees, followed by a heavy rain and made for a not fun drive on the highway. Everybody going 40 because can't see worth beans. Flooding on the side streets because all drains quickly clogged.   Just glad to be home safe and sound.

 

We're supposed to be putting up Christmas lights but our front patio fence is covered in morning glory which is still in all its glory and flowers abound.  We usually have had our first freeze by now and everything dormant.  The lights will be assimilated if we put them up now.  Have to come up with an alternate plan.

[Kareni]

Kareni, I have you to blame for not getting much done the past three or four days.   Downloaded Sweet Dreams and once I was done, had to download Gamble.  *sigh*    She breaks all the writing rules but damn, she tells a good story with great characters.    Thanks for introducing me to Kristen Ashley.

 

I shall happily take the blame.  And when you're done with the Colorado Mountain series, you can move on to the author's Dream Man series which starts with Mystery Man  and her 'Burg series which starts with For You.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Stacia]

Judge clears release of files that may contradict facts in Capote’s In Cold Blood

[aggieamy]

Judge clears release of files that may contradict facts in Capote’s In Cold Blood

 

How fascinating.  I live in Kansas City so all this feels like it happened in my backyard.  My book club read this a few years ago and had a great discussion on it.  I know they'll be interested in reading the article also.  Thanks so much for posting it.  

Truman Capote is one weird duck. I wonder what will happen if we find out he made a lot of it up.  

[Kareni]

Some fun gifts for writers and others:

 

the Doodle duvet with a set of washable markers

 

or the Glow in the Dark Doodle pillowcase with mini-UV light

 

or for writing fun at the table, the Doodle tablecloth and pen set  (which looks like it would be great for graphing purposes as well)

 

or for those who prefer a smaller canvas, the Doodle pencil case with pens

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Mom-ninja.]

For all of you with the tapeworms and roaches and such...

 

This is what is going on in my neck of the woods and I keep having to explain why I don't want to infect myself with hookworms...

.http://autoimmunetherapies.com/candidate_diseases_for_helminthic_therapy_or_worm_therapy/allergies_helminthic_therapy.html

 

I do not have allergies, thank goodness. 

 

 

 

Mom-ninja, when we lived in Hawaii large, flying roaches were common place ;) We'd be in our outdoor kitchen and they'd be crawling on the counter and then all of a sudden off they'd fly. When most of life happens outdoors like that you realize and adjust to a more intimate experience of inter-dependence.

 

 

Yeah, I just refuse to live an intimate inter-dependence with roaches in my house. I'm cold-hearted and selfish like that. The nasty critters are going to DIE. 

[shukriyya]

I do not have allergies, thank goodness. 

 

 

 

Yeah, I just refuse to live an intimate inter-dependence with roaches in my house. I'm cold-hearted and selfish like that. The nasty critters are going to DIE. 

 

Okay, then, that's settled...except that they dined on dinosaur poop.

 

And here, for your viewing pleasure, is an astonishing and yes, shudder-worthy, cockroach experience. Full version can be seen on David Attenborough's Planet Earth should anyone be so inclined ;)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC51eymvsRA

[Violet Crown]

It feels weird to interrupt the discussion for a post about books*, but here's an excerpt from my current read, Dobie's Cow People:

 

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

 

I came down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, took boat for Galveston, and made my way overland to Austin. There I hired to a man named Neil Cain. He had a farm out about ten miles from town and put me to plowing at fifteen dollars a month. His field had a fence around it to keep cattle out. The only fences in Texas in those days were to keep stock out of fields; nothing fenced them in. There were not many fields. The Chisholm Trail from south Texas to Kansas passed right by our field. I could watch the herds of Longhorns trailing by, see cowboys riding, smell the dust of movement. I wasn't a bit satisfied with keeping my eyes on a pair of mule ears walking up one row and down another between a pair of plow handles. Moreover, I had learned that cowboys were getting thirty dollars a month, while here I was getting just fifteen dollars. I took the cow fever.

 

About this time a phrenologist named O. S. Fowler came to Austin analyzing people's heads and telling them what they were suited for. I borrowed a horse from Mr. Cain and rode in to find out what I was good for. Mr. Fowler sat me down beside a table, pulled out a blank chart, told a young woman assistant to write as he dictates, and began feeling my head. He felt this bump and that bump, and the young lady wrote down everything he said.

 

"Young man," he concluded, "you will always be under the spell of some woman. That woman should be your wife."

 

I asked him what I owed him.

 

"Ten dollars."

 

I paid it--two thirds of a month's salary. Then I rode back to the farm.

 

While we were eating breakfast before daylight the next morning I pulled the sheet of paper I had paid ten dollars for and put it on the table. Then I thumped my head and said, "Mr. Cain, everything in this head is in this paper. It don't say a damned word about plowing. I'm going to follow cows instead of mules."

 

 

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

 

By the way, does anybody know where The Ox-Bow Incident is supposed to be placed? The only clues are that there's concern the rustlers could have crossed the Rio Grande, which seems to limit it to Texas, New Mexico, and (maybe) Oklahoma. But there's mountains and heavy snow, which rules out Oklahoma and most of Texas. But crossing the Rio in New Mexico wouldn't have put them in Mexico. So the Big Bend region of West Texas in a particularly bad winter seems like the only possibility; but I don't recognize any of the place names. Really it all seems like it's set in Colorado. Maybe the rustlers had very fast horses.

 

*ETA: When I started this post, we were still on disgusting bugs.

[Kareni]

Yesterday I finished the historical romance Rules for a Proper Governess (Mackenzies Series) by Jennifer Ashley.  I enjoyed it (but few books compare to my enjoyment of the first book in the series, The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (Mackenzies Series)).

 

"Scottish barrister Sinclair McBride can face the most sinister criminals in London--but the widower's two unruly children are a different matter. Little Caitlin and Andrew go through a governess a week, sending the ladies fleeing in tears. There is, however, one woman in town who can hold her own.
 
Roberta "Bertie" Frasier enters Sinclair's life by stealing his watch--and then stealing a kiss. Intrigued by the handsome highlander, Bertie winds up saving his children from a dangerous situation and returning them to their father. Impressed with how they listen to her, Sinclair asks the lively beauty to be their governess, never guessing that the uncoventional lady will teach him a lesson or two in love."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[brehon]

It feels weird to interrupt the discussion for a post about books*, but here's an excerpt from my current read, Dobie's Cow People:

 

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

 

I came down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, took boat for Galveston, and made my way overland to Austin. There I hired to a man named Neil Cain. He had a farm out about ten miles from town and put me to plowing at fifteen dollars a month. His field had a fence around it to keep cattle out. The only fences in Texas in those days were to keep stock out of fields; nothing fenced them in. There were not many fields. The Chisholm Trail from south Texas to Kansas passed right by our field. I could watch the herds of Longhorns trailing by, see cowboys riding, smell the dust of movement. I wasn't a bit satisfied with keeping my eyes on a pair of mule ears walking up one row and down another between a pair of plow handles. Moreover, I had learned that cowboys were getting thirty dollars a month, while here I was getting just fifteen dollars. I took the cow fever.

 

About this time a phrenologist named O. S. Fowler came to Austin analyzing people's heads and telling them what they were suited for. I borrowed a horse from Mr. Cain and rode in to find out what I was good for. Mr. Fowler sat me down beside a table, pulled out a blank chart, told a young woman assistant to write as he dictates, and began feeling my head. He felt this bump and that bump, and the young lady wrote down everything he said.

 

"Young man," he concluded, "you will always be under the spell of some woman. That woman should be your wife."

 

I asked him what I owed him.

 

"Ten dollars."

 

I paid it--two thirds of a month's salary. Then I rode back to the farm.

 

While we were eating breakfast before daylight the next morning I pulled the sheet of paper I had paid ten dollars for and put it on the table. Then I thumped my head and said, "Mr. Cain, everything in this head is in this paper. It don't say a damned word about plowing. I'm going to follow cows instead of mules."

 

 

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

 

By the way, does anybody know where The Ox-Bow Incident is supposed to be placed? The only clues are that there's concern the rustlers could have crossed the Rio Grande, which seems to limit it to Texas, New Mexico, and (maybe) Oklahoma. But there's mountains and heavy snow, which rules out Oklahoma and most of Texas. But crossing the Rio in New Mexico wouldn't have put them in Mexico. So the Big Bend region of West Texas in a particularly bad winter seems like the only possibility; but I don't recognize any of the place names. Really it all seems like it's set in Colorado. Maybe the rustlers had very fast horses.

 

*ETA: When I started this post, we were still on disgusting bugs.

It's been quite a while <ahem> since I read it; but, wasn't the novel supposed to take place in Nevada?

[Violet Crown]

It's been quite a while <ahem> since I read it; but, wasn't the novel supposed to take place in Nevada?

Ah, okay; I don't remember that being explicit, but it might have been; and I could have misunderstood the references to crossing the Rio. Thanks!

 

ETA: A little poking around, and the movie is explicit about its being set in Nevada; the book isn't, but it's supposedly obvious if you're local; and the author was from Nevada. So Nevada for the win.

[Angel]

Angel - re Code Name Verity - I thought this was truly marvelously written, and Stella and I both really enjoyed it.  There are some difficult subjects, mostly around treatment of POWs, but it's quite sensitively done, and the ending while tragic is imo a developmentally appropriate resolution while still maintaining reasonable integrity to its historical context.  I think you'd be OK with it.  

 

Its sequel, Rose Under Fire, does deal with themes that *I* found difficult to discuss with a sensitive 11 yo (live human beings used for pretty gruesome medical experiments).  Had I known what was in it, I would have waited another year or two.  (FWIW, the "mature theme" was far harder for me to deal with because its historical context was real.  It made me think: how would I respond to this same subject in a dystopian novel... and I don't think it would have troubled me nearly so much.  ymmv...)

 

Kidnapped?  There is one woman who is a prisoner of the Gestapo.  There are sections that refer to torture, but although I found them emotionally hard, they were, I felt, handled well (unlike some of the violence I've encountered in many YA books).

 

Perhaps she means a part where one character experiences what I'd label as sexual harassment?  It isn't explicit, but I wouldn't want a sheltered tween encountering it either - it's a disturbing concept. 

 

I think this book is *amazing* for the way it deals with intensely disturbing material in a way that is both reasonably truthful and YA appropriate. 

 

Rose Under Fire has more explicitly disturbing things - but part of it is set in Ravensbruck.

 

 

I think the reason the violence in these books is more disturbing than the (often more extreme) violence in other YA books is that there is a reality to it, not just because these are historical fiction and things like this (and, far, far worse) really happened, but the way it is written - not a focus on gore or details, but on the human experience.

 

I feel that violence *should* be disturbing.  I am more distressed by YA books that have violence without real consequence or substance than ones that walk the tightrope these books do - of truthfulness within a YA frame.  I don't like books that wallow in grimdarkness - historical or invented - but neither do I like ones that paper over reality.  

 

...but, also, I think a book should be internally consistent.  So, the flavor of Prisoner of Zenda, for example, is one type, and the presentation of violence is perfectly in keeping with that tone and type of story.

 

 

 

 

Yes!  She said POW and not kidnapped!  My bad.  I think the bolded was the scene she was talking about!  Something about the girl having to offer sexual favors in order not to be tortured.  

 

Again, this is not for me or Aly, this is for my nephew (13yo).  Aly and I would have difficulty with this book (as in too emotional) as we can't handle it. The knowledge that it was real is very hard for me (ostrich!).  My nephew has NO problems at all with that.  WWII has been a very focused interest for him for over a year now.  

 

No one has commented on Monuments Men for a 13yo.  I was certain some here had read it.

 

Any other suggestions for me?  He has read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Number the Stars, and others like that.

 

Thanks for helping me!  I 

[Pam in CT]

re: WWII YA books

...

 

Any other suggestions for me?  He has read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Number the Stars, and others like that.

 

Thanks for helping me!  I 

 

I actually have Boy in Striped Pajamas in my stack for Stella, but neither of us have gotten to it.  Have you read it?

 

You might try Black Radishes (occupied France).  There's another one I remember from years ago about Norwegian resistance skiers... it'll come to me...

[Angel]

re: WWII YA books

 

I actually have Boy in Striped Pajamas in my stack for Stella, but neither of us have gotten to it.  Have you read it?

 

You might try Black Radishes (occupied France).  There's another one I remember from years ago about Norwegian resistance skiers... it'll come to me...

 

HECK NO! :scared:  I would be a bawling blubbering mess.   ;)

 

I'll check out Black Radishes.  And I've sent an email to his mom asking about The Book Thief.  Thanks!

 

ETA:  I really like the look of Black Radishes!  If he hasn't read it, this might be the one!

[JennW in SoCal]

Angel,

 

I remember it being hard finding YA literature on WWII that wasn't so, well, female based.  Everything was focused on relationships or riffs on Anne Frank, and none of it was right for my ds when he was 12/13.  I finally found Under a War Torn Sky, which he really loved.  This site, Great Books for Teens, has a nice list which includes that title and several others that look intriguing.

 

If you think your nephew is ready for regular literature, Herman Wouk's Caine Mutiny is a really good read. My ds read it in high school and I had read it as a teen.  The collected works of Ernie Pyle are an amazing read, but also likely for an older reader.  He was a reporter embedded with troops in Africa and Italy and his dispatches are the best journalistic writing I've read.  

 

My particular ds was (and is) a sensitive soul and I knew Anne Frank would destroy him.  I introduced him to the Holocaust through the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman.  It is based on his family's story, and even though the characters are mice (the Jews) and cats (the Nazis) it is very powerful and remarkable.  

 

 

 

 

[Stacia]

No one has commented on Monuments Men for a 13yo.  I was certain some here had read it.

 

I didn't quote you before, so maybe you missed my other post. So...

 

I think The Monuments Men is fine for a 13yo boy. But, I'm not sure how interested a 13yo boy would be in The Monuments Men, even if he is into WWII (unless he's also really into art). He might enjoy poking around the Monuments Men website.

 

As much as I enjoyed The Monuments Men, I'm thinking there must be other WWII books out there that would be more appealing to a 13yo. That said, both my dc (& especially my 13yo ds) really enjoyed The Monuments Men movie. (Neither of them read the book.)

 

 

[Robin M]

No one has commented on Monuments Men for a 13yo.  I was certain some here had read it.

 

 

Sorry Doll! I missed the first time you asked.  Yes, my 14 year old read and found it fascinating and I did as well.  If the 13 yo is seriously into wwII like mine, then it is a good read. The movie is also good but changes a few things from the book but nothing major that will ruin it. 

 

[Stacia]

Shukriyya, I CANNOT like your post with the video of roaches, especially because I opened that post at lunch! :ack2:

 

 

[Kareni]

re: WWII YA books

 

...  There's another one I remember from years ago about Norwegian resistance skiers... it'll come to me...

 

Is it Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan?

 

"In the bleak winter of 1940, Nazi troops parachuted into Peter Lindstrom's tiny Norwegian village and held it captive. Nobody thought the Nazis could be defeated—until Uncle Victor told Peter how the children could fool the enemy. It was a dangerous plan. They had to slip past Nazi guards with nine million dollars in gold hidden on their sleds. It meant risking their country's treasure—and their lives. This classic story of how a group of children outwitted the Nazis and sent the treasure to America has captivated generations of readers."

 

ETA: Hmm, well perhaps not as this has sledders rather than skiers.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

[Angel]

Angel,

 

I remember it being hard finding YA literature on WWII that wasn't so, well, female based.  Everything was focused on relationships or riffs on Anne Frank, and none of it was right for my ds when he was 12/13.  I finally found Under a War Torn Sky, which he really loved.  This site, Great Books for Teens, has a nice list which includes that title and several others that look intriguing.

 

If you think your nephew is ready for regular literature, Herman Wouk's Caine Mutiny is a really good read. My ds read it in high school and I had read it as a teen.  The collected works of Ernie Pyle are an amazing read, but also likely for an older reader.  He was a reporter embedded with troops in Africa and Italy and his dispatches are the best journalistic writing I've read.  

 

My particular ds was (and is) a sensitive soul and I knew Anne Frank would destroy him.  I introduced him to the Holocaust through the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman.  It is based on his family's story, and even though the characters are mice (the Jews) and cats (the Nazis) it is very powerful and remarkable.  

Thank you!!!  His mom will too!  She is always looking for books for him.  You guys are such a vast resource!

 

ETA:  that is a really great list of WWII books.  I forwarded it on to my cousin.

 

I didn't quote you before, so maybe you missed my other post. So...

 

I think The Monuments Men is fine for a 13yo boy. But, I'm not sure how interested a 13yo boy would be in The Monuments Men, even if he is into WWII (unless he's also really into art). He might enjoy poking around the Monuments Men website.

 

As much as I enjoyed The Monuments Men, I'm thinking there must be other WWII books out there that would be more appealing to a 13yo. That said, both my dc (& especially my 13yo ds) really enjoyed The Monuments Men movie. (Neither of them read the book.)

 

 

I am actually thinking of getting the movie for him as well as a book about WWII.  I haven't seen it yet but look forward to it!

 

Sorry Doll! I missed the first time you asked.  Yes, my 14 year old read and found it fascinating and I did as well.  If the 13 yo is seriously into wwII like mine, then it is a good read. The movie is also good but changes a few things from the book but nothing major that will ruin it. 

 

He is seriously into WWII lol!  He tends toward hyper-focus and this happens to be one of them (along with building things and rollercoasters).

 

Again, I really appreciate the help!  His younger brother's reading interests are very close to mine and the girls, so he is easy.  He is getting the 4th Michael Vey book  ;)

[Stacia]

I am actually thinking of getting the movie for him as well as a book about WWII.  I haven't seen it yet but look forward to it!

 

I think he might really enjoy the movie!

[Angel]

Is it Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan?

 

"In the bleak winter of 1940, Nazi troops parachuted into Peter Lindstrom's tiny Norwegian village and held it captive. Nobody thought the Nazis could be defeated—until Uncle Victor told Peter how the children could fool the enemy. It was a dangerous plan. They had to slip past Nazi guards with nine million dollars in gold hidden on their sleds. It meant risking their country's treasure—and their lives. This classic story of how a group of children outwitted the Nazis and sent the treasure to America has captivated generations of readers."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

Yep!  I think so!  He's read that one, too!

[Angel]

I think he might really enjoy the movie!

 

Great!  I need to double check that he hasn't seen it, but I doubt it.  They are not movie crazy like our family, and little brother wouldn't be as interested. 13yo boys are difficult to buy for LOL!  And I really really like to buy presents, and I really really like to make it as personal as possible!

[mumto2]

I am so very very cold! All day, 11 hours with two 45 minute trips home looking at trees, decorating trees, putting trees together which had instructions for other trees, then decorating a bell tower with self adhesive decorations which would not stick together. I am cold tired and waiting for dh to arrive with Chinese carry out. I will take pictures on a sunnier day and try to post some. Things do look festive at the church.

 

Angel, My take on Monuments.....nothing inappropriate but long. Neither of mine would be particularly interested because they receive long in depth WWII lectures every time they visit a site from dh who taught the subject to graduate students. I never seriously considered making them read it. I don't think there was any reason not to let them read it.

[shukriyya]

Shukriyya, I CANNOT like your post with the video of roaches, especially because I opened that post at lunch! :ack2:

 

Yep, I knew that post wasn't going to win me any friends but the sheer magnitude of those creatures is staggering and offers one a certain kind of...perspective. Sorry about its collision with your lunch. :blushing:

 

We actually love that series of videos by David Attenborough and somehow his erudite tones lend an element of, dare I say, respect to the seething cockroachian mass--at least at a distance and with the screen safely between the viewer and the viewed. Generally my feeling upon seeing them is :willy_nilly:

 

Okay, I'll try and stick to the straight and literary path from now on. Can't promise anything though ;)

[Stacia]

Yep, I knew that post wasn't going to win me any friends but the sheer magnitude of those creatures is staggering and offers one a certain kind of...perspective. Sorry about its collision with your lunch. :blushing:

 

Well, I didn't even watch the video. Lol.

 

In our neck of the woods, roaches are normal & big (especially on a wooded lot). When I'm in SC, there's an even bigger cousin there, going by the cute name of Palmetto Bug. (However, a Palmetto Bug is not cute, imo. Not cute at all.)

 

I guess I see them enough irl that I don't want to watch them on screen. :lol:

 

I'm pretty much live & let live with many things, but roaches & mosquitoes are hard to take, imo....

[Kareni]

In keeping with the buggy theme we have going and for those who might be interested in how not to write a book, I saw mention of this book which sounds intriguing.

 

Rise of the Spider Goddess: An Annotated Novel by Jim C. Hines

 

"In 2006, DAW Books published Jim C. Hines’ debut novel Goblin Quest. But before Jig the goblin, before fairy tale princesses and magic librarians and spunky fire-spiders, there was Nakor the Purple, an elf who wanted nothing more than to stand around watching lovingly overdescribed sunrises with his pet owl Flame, who might actually be a falcon, depending on which chapter you’re reading.

This is Nakor’s story, written in 1995 and never before shared with the world. (For reasons that will soon be painfully clear.) Together with an angsty vampire, a pair of pixies, and a feisty young thief, Nakor must find a way to stop an Ancient Evil before she destroys the world. (Though, considering the relatively shallow worldbuilding, it’s not like there’s much to destroy...)

With more than 5000 words of bonus annotation and smart-ass commentary, this is a book that proves every author had to start somewhere, and most of the time, that place wasn’t very pretty."

 

 

There's a good review here: Rise of the Spider Goddess: An Annotated Novel, by Jim C. Hines

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Jane in NC]

I think the reason the violence in these books is more disturbing than the (often more extreme) violence in other YA books is that there is a reality to it, not just because these are historical fiction and things like this (and, far, far worse) really happened, but the way it is written - not a focus on gore or details, but on the human experience.

 

I feel that violence *should* be disturbing.  I am more distressed by YA books that have violence without real consequence or substance than ones that walk the tightrope these books do - of truthfulness within a YA frame.  I don't like books that wallow in grimdarkness - historical or invented - but neither do I like ones that paper over reality.  

 

 

I am in complete agreement, Eliana.

 

Adults often shrug their shoulders at youth playing violent video games or watching violent movies where humans or aliens are slaughtered, yet hackles are raised when these same youth are exposed via literature or history to events that reflect reality. 

 

My fear is that history will repeat itself.  Maybe some of us were just born to keep vigil, to keep the collective memory alive.  Otherwise why do I read some of the things that I read (and I am thinking in particular about post WWII Eastern European literature)? 

 

 

[Stacia]

I feel that violence *should* be disturbing.  I am more distressed by YA books that have violence without real consequence or substance than ones that walk the tightrope these books do - of truthfulness within a YA frame.  I don't like books that wallow in grimdarkness - historical or invented - but neither do I like ones that paper over reality. 

 

I am in complete agreement, Eliana.

 

Adults often shrug their shoulders at youth playing violent video games or watching violent movies where humans or aliens are slaughtered, yet hackles are raised when these same youth are exposed via literature or history to events that reflect reality. 

 

My fear is that history will repeat itself.  Maybe some of us were just born to keep vigil, to keep the collective memory alive.  Otherwise why do I read some of the things that I read (and I am thinking in particular about post WWII Eastern European literature)? 

 

I totally agree.

[Stacia]

In keeping with the buggy theme we have going and for those who might be interested in how not to write a book, I saw mention of this book which sounds intriguing.

 

Rise of the Spider Goddess: An Annotated Novel by Jim C. Hines

 

"In 2006, DAW Books published Jim C. Hines’ debut novel Goblin Quest. But before Jig the goblin, before fairy tale princesses and magic librarians and spunky fire-spiders, there was Nakor the Purple, an elf who wanted nothing more than to stand around watching lovingly overdescribed sunrises with his pet owl Flame, who might actually be a falcon, depending on which chapter you’re reading.

 

This is Nakor’s story, written in 1995 and never before shared with the world. (For reasons that will soon be painfully clear.) Together with an angsty vampire, a pair of pixies, and a feisty young thief, Nakor must find a way to stop an Ancient Evil before she destroys the world. (Though, considering the relatively shallow worldbuilding, it’s not like there’s much to destroy...)

 

With more than 5000 words of bonus annotation and smart-ass commentary, this is a book that proves every author had to start somewhere, and most of the time, that place wasn’t very pretty."

 

 

There's a good review here: Rise of the Spider Goddess: An Annotated Novel, by Jim C. Hines

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Will have to check that out, Kareni.

 

My dd has read & enjoyed his princess series books (per Lizzie in MA's suggestion).

http://www.jimchines.com/novels/princess/

 

[Nan in Mass]

I've never lived with roaches (except the occasional small one in the yard) so the video didn't bother me... until it got to the struggling bat. Waaaahhhh...

 

WWII books and 13yos - What about the book recommended in the logic section of TWTM? The one about the soldier who fought for both sides? I haven't read it but my boys loved it. Middle one (who is next to me) says he found it interesting and he wasn't upset by it. (All mine were easily upset.) He says it isn't the best written book, but that was part of what made it non-upsetting lol. He says the recommended bio of Hitler was also non-upsetting, which now that he is in his twenties, he finds questionable. He says perhaps more upsetting would have been better.

 

Oldest is home! Yeah!

 

Have to run go do math. More later.

 

Nan

[Stacia]

Going back to the violence comments....

 

I think one reason I was immediately drawn into the book I'm currently reading is that it starts with, "Among all my recollections, among all the numberless sensations of my life, the memory of the lone murder I had committed weighted heaviest on my mind." (Wording might be slightly different in the versions depending on the translator. My copy is a version from 1950, translated by Nicholas Wreden.)

 

As you very quickly find out, the murder takes place during a war, the 16yo narrator (soldier) fires in self-defense as another soldier is aiming at him. Given how violence is often portrayed in our society today (and with killing during wartime just generally considered 'acceptable' killing), it is refreshingly, horrifyingly accurate to think of killing someone else that way. It is murder, regardless of the circumstances surrounding it. (Interestingly, the author Gaito Gazdanov also served as a young soldier in the Russian Civil War. It makes you wonder how autobiographical that statement might be....)

 

 

[Stacia]

How fascinating.  I live in Kansas City so all this feels like it happened in my backyard.  My book club read this a few years ago and had a great discussion on it.  I know they'll be interested in reading the article also.  Thanks so much for posting it.  

Truman Capote is one weird duck. I wonder what will happen if we find out he made a lot of it up.  

 

I would be curious to hear any thoughts your book club has on it.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to find that there were some artistic liberties taken in creating the book. It's hailed as true crime, but also a novel at the same time. I think in that case, you have to assume a certain amount of liberty/exaggeration/imagination were woven into parts of the story. Since it was really the first (or one of the first) novels of its kind, I wonder if people didn't just assume it was all true vs. being a mix? Today, we are more used to a mix & maybe can appreciate that it is a mix. Also, back then, there was much more reliance on eyewitness accounts, but as we all know, eyewitness accounts can vary greatly & are generally considered unreliable. So perhaps that can also account for a good amount of variance between versions/info...?

 

I am very curious how different some of the investigator's notes are from Capote's version.

 

[JennW in SoCal]

We actually love that series of videos by David Attenborough and somehow his erudite tones lend an element of, dare I say, respect to the seething cockroachian mass-

 

I've got a literary follow up for you.  

 

If you like David Attenborough, and enjoy his voice, then you've got to listen to the audiobook version of his memoir, Life on Air, which he himself reads.  It is utterly fascinating, between the animals, the travel and the history of television that is the backdrop to his entire life's story.  The link takes you to the audible.com page where you can listen to a sample of the book.

[shukriyya]

I've got a literary follow up for you.  

 

If you like David Attenborough, and enjoy his voice, then you've got to listen to the audiobook version of his memoir, Life on Air, which he himself reads.  It is utterly fascinating, between the animals, the travel and the history of television that is the backdrop to his entire life's story.  The link takes you to the audible.com page where you can listen to a sample of the book.

 

Thank you, Jenn, for reeling me back in and bringing things back round to a literary focus. This looks wonderful and we have several credits to use up on audible. I'll have ds take a listen and at 19 hrs it might be just thing for long commutes when classes start up again in January.

[hornblower]

 

 

There's a good review here: Rise of the Spider Goddess: An Annotated Novel, by Jim C. Hines

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

oh, I like Jim Hines! I hadn't heard of that one though so thx!

[Jane in NC]

Book notes!

 

Was it someone on this thread who mentioned Andrea Camilleri? Many of his Inspector Montalbano books have been translated from the Italian and miraculously my library has some on CD. Today I finished listening to The Terracotta Dog, a satisfying mystery for me, although not one for all. Some of our gentle readers will not care for his storylines set in the Sicilian landscape. This article from the Guardian gives a glimpse into the author and his work.  (Oh the food in these books!)

 

HaÅ¡ek's stories in Behind the Lines can be biting. He mocks bureaucracies, human foibles, institutions of all types.  In one, prisoners of war are sorted by ethnicity and as they await food, HaÅ¡ek notes:

 

     The quarantine camp and the offices of the Red Cross are to be found within the spacious grounds of the old castle in Narva, built by German crusaders and used at one time to ravage Baltic regions with fire and sword.

     Now it is the turn of English corporations to ravage them, furnishing them with unwanted pieces of artillery, fake porcelain eggs to motivate their hens to lay, electric tea-urns and sports equipment, all of them very important seeing that the Estonians themselves have nothing to eat.

 

 

I am also reading another of Dunnett's Johnson Johnson novels, Send a Fax to the Kasbah (published elsewhere as Moroccan Traffic).  Dunnett's historical novels revolve around political power plays.  In Send a Fax to the Kasbah, the principalities are corporations. Very entertaining so far.

 

 

[Jane in NC]

One other note:  A friend today highly recommended All the Light We Cannot See.  Has anyone here read it?

[Stacia]

One other note:  A friend today highly recommended All the Light We Cannot See.  Has anyone here read it?

 

This has been on my to-read list for a bit. I'm thinking OUAT or LostSurprise read it??? (I know someone on this thread read it.)

 

My sil was just recommending it to me last week during Thanksgiving. She's reading it now & loving it.

[JennW in SoCal]

Book notes!

 

Was it someone on this thread who mentioned Andrea Camilleri? 

 

I did.  I read The Voice of the Violin over the summer and enjoyed it.  I seem to remember there being more on the shelves at my library -- I'm going to have to read some more.

 

 

The Mary Stewart book I just read, Stormy Petrel, was a lovely bit of fluff set in the islands off the west coast of Scotland.  I learned that Stewart's husband was the chair of the geology department at the University of Edinburgh, and there is a tip of the hat to geologists in the book.  One of the main characters is a geologist who is intent on studying an "igneous intrusion with fragments of garnet peridotite".  Truer geologic words are rarely spoken by fictional characters.  The geologist also armed himself with a rock hammer when he went to face the bad guy, leading my son and I to joke that rock hammer combat could be the topic of his senior independent study project.

[Nan in Mass]

Five hours of math later, I'm back...

 

Eliana - Midwifery! Microbiology! Wow! I don't think my brain woke up from babyizing until my youngest was at least five lol. Good for you!

 

And about Agatha Raisin - I love it when series jump right in rather than repeating all the background information. I recently read the Sector General books and found the repetition annoying.

 

Nan

[shukriyya]

One other note:  A friend today highly recommended All the Light We Cannot See.  Has anyone here read it?

 

I remember Stacia talking about this waaaay back in February? March? I took a look and commented that no way could I read it. Then I promptly forgot about making that comment and a few months later shared 'hey, this book looks interesting, it's going on the tbr list' to which Stacia responded 'hey, wait a sec, Shukriyya, I mentioned this earlier in the year and you said no way.' To which I responded 'burble, burble, rhubarb, rhubarb' and to round out the wild trajectory of this book I recently took it off my list for reasons I'm not sure of though I think I read the free sample and decided I wasn't quite keen enough on the author's style to plow through it.

 

Clear as mud?

 

:smilielol5:

 

Nan, five hours of math...?

 

Jenn, Stormy Petrel sounds fun. I think it's one of her lesser known books.

[Stacia]

I remember Stacia talking about this waaaay back in February? March? I took a look and commented that no way could I read it. Then I promptly forgot about making that comment and a few months later shared 'hey, this book looks interesting, it's going on the tbr list' to which Stacia responded 'hey, wait a sec, Shukriyya, I mentioned this earlier in the year and you said no way.' To which I responded 'burble, burble, rhubarb, rhubarb' and to round out the wild trajectory of this book I recently took it off my list for reasons I'm not sure of though I think I read the free sample and decided I wasn't quite keen enough on the author's style to plow through it.

 

Clear as mud?

 

:smilielol5:

 

Yeah, but if you say, "burble, burble, rhubarb, rhubarb" quickly three times, I bet you'll immediately put it back on your TBR list. :D

 

And we'll get Pam going on rhubarb again too! ;)

[Maus]

Hmm, I might not make it to 52.  Oh, well.  But I might get in a couple of quick, just-for-fun reads over Christmas.

39. "Girls Growing Up on the Autism Spectrum" by Shana Nichols, et al. This was officially recommended by the neuropysch. Has a lot of good information on girl specific topics, but the section she most recommended it for covers teaching your ASD daughter how to be safe in those situations where most of us rely on our gut instincts to let us know a guy's intentions are not good. As the neuropysch put it, we have a 10 year old who looks 14, but who responds to social situations like a 7 year old, and we could potentially have some trouble if we don't teach her how to handle those types of situations.

38. "Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story" by Ben Carson. Where have I been, that I'd never heard of this man? Very inspiring. I love that his mother made them turn off the TV and read two books a week. We could use a little unplugging around here, too.

37. "The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man's Quest to Be a Better Husband" by David Finch.
36. "Wolf Stalker" by Gloria Skurzynski and Alane Ferguson.
35. "Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks: Danger in the Narrows" by Mike Graf.
34. "Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax" by Dorothy Gilman.
33. "Smart but Scattered" by Peg Dawson and Richard Guare.
32. "Her Next Chapter" by Lori Day.
31. "Sense and Sensibility" by Jane Austen.
30. "The Survival Guide for Kids with ADHD" by John F. Taylor.
29. "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families" by Stephen R. Covey
28. "He Delivered Even Me, He Will Deliver Even You" by Misti Stevenson (LDS).
27. "Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith" (LDS).
26. "Pearl of Great Price" (LDS).
25. "The Verbally Abusive Relationship" by Patricia Evans.
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).

[shukriyya]

Yeah, but if you say, "burble, burble, rhubarb, rhubarb" quickly three times, I bet you'll immediately put it back on your TBR list. :D

 

And we'll get Pam going on rhubarb again too! ;)

 

Stacia knows Shukriyya very well :smilielol5:

 

Was Pam in the nay or yay rhubarb camp? I can't remember.