Book a Week in 2015 - Happy New Year

[Lady Florida.]

It feels wrong to whine when it's well above thirty degrees here; but we are thin-blooded creatures, in a house designed to lose heat, with a third-rate furnace we usually only use a few hours a day for a week or two of winter. We are all of us huddled in the parental bed with our books. This is the homeschooling plan for the day.

 

 

 

When we had a Big Freeze in 2010, people outside Florida didn't understand when Floridians complained about not being able to get warm in the house. Just turn the heat up, they said. First of all, the heat pump units common here are not effective in heating when it's truly cold outside. Also, and this is a biggie, our houses are designed to keep heat out, not in. 

[LostSurprise]

See...to me that's bad design. I live in the far North, but landscaping and passive home design can help a home keep heat or cool in. I feel for people that are cold. I believe you can be cold almost anywhere, but pointing at housing is frustrating because that's choosing cheap design and lax housing code over letting people be prepared for the full range of weather their climate holds for them. We all have outliers sometime. We'll probably seeing more weather outliers (or what are outliers to us now) in the future. Code should include the full range of temperature.

 

 

~Tam @ -2 and a wind chill advisory of -25/30, on her soapbox but not critiquing any shivering souls in this thread, just a frustration with design and housing code. 

[Stacia]

Rose, I get what you are saying. And, I'm racking my brains to come up with a book that has a survivor or survivors in the early years after the war.

 

I have always been astounded at the human capacity to live through terrible things, yet go on & lead a 'normal' life too.

 

Not the Holocaust, but the book I'm reading now is looking at life through the eyes of a political prisoner after years of imprisonment & torture. This is really in the days & weeks afterward & the happiness yet strangeness of 'reentering' the world. It's a powerful & moving book, imo.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Rose, I get what you are saying. And, I'm racking my brains to come up with a book that has a survivor or survivors in the early years after the war.

 

I have always been astounded at the human capacity to live through terrible things, yet go on & lead a 'normal' life too.

 

Not the Holocaust, but the book I'm reading now is looking at life through the eyes of a political prisoner after years of imprisonment & torture. This is really in the days & weeks afterward & the happiness yet strangeness of 'reentering' the world. It's a powerful & moving book, imo.

 

Thanks for getting me  :)

 

What's the title of the book you are reading now? It sounds like something I'd like to read at this moment.

[JennyD]

 

CA, I'm pretty sure that this is not what you had in mind, but (again, in going through my stack of back NYT Book Reviews), I recently came across this review of Eric Lichtblau's The Nazis Next Door, about the US resettlement of at least 10,000 former Nazis here in the United States, for supposed scientific/strategic reasons.  

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/02/books/review/the-nazis-next-door-by-eric-lichtblau.html?_r=0

 

And this letter to the editor appeared shortly thereafter:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/books/review/letters-uncommon-woman.html

 

 

 

 

[mommymilkies]

I have been sooooo exhausted by the time I get to read.  I have one chapter left in I Shall Wear Midnight. I will say people consider these YA books but they are so much more.  There's a lot of truth and philosophy that would go above kids' heads.  Also, they get more mature as they go.  There is talk about where babies come from but in a farm way, not a super lewd way, for anyone needing to know. ;)  I can't wait for the 5th book to come out. 

 

 

Thanks! I put it on my to-read shelf!  Man, that is saving my back, lugging books to and from the library, not to mention the height of the book stacks teetering on my bedroom floor!

 

I stayed up late to finally read Night by Elie Wiesel.  It's been on the stack for over a year.  Brutal and devastating book.  His loss of faith is completely understandable, and justified IMO.  From reading his Nobel acceptance speech (reprinted in the back of my edition) it seems he got it back. I'm interested in reading more about that - I guess I need to read my Wiesel. Any suggestions?

 

I'm also really struck by the question of the Jewish Blockaltestes and kapos.  Some of them were clearly brutal criminals beforehand, but he portrays some of them as decent men trying to help.  I've read Zimbardo, I know that humans take on the stereotypical characteristics of a role in which they've been placed, but I wonder how these men coped with their roles afterwards.  I was going to say "reintegrated into their communities" but I guess that's not the issue - the communities were completely destroyed, there was no reintegrating.  But that brings me to the next question - what happened to the camp survivors? I've read a number of books about the camps, but they always end with the Americans came and we were liberated or the Russians came and we were liberated - I haven't really read anything about what happened next, how people recovered and rebuilt their lives and what they did next.  And how they dealt with their captors, the Germans and the Jewish collaborators.  Wiesel did say that there was no thought of revenge, only food.  But what about a year later? 5 years? after that?  Does anyone have a book to suggest that talks about this.

 

This is why book lists always have to remain tentative - good books always lead to other good books, so I often find myself reading a cluster on related subjects.  

I agree.  Night really was a brutal read.  Necessary in some ways, but heart wrenching. 

 

Some quotes by him I love: 

 

"I decided to devote my life to telling the story because I felt that having survived I owe something to the dead. and anyone who does not remember betrays them again."

 

 

 

"I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."

 

"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."

 

In reference to his faith: "I was very, very religious. And of course I wrote about it in 'Night.' I questioned God's silence. So I questioned. I don't have an answer for that. Does it mean that I stopped having faith? No. I have faith, but I question it."

 

 

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

 

 

CA, I'm pretty sure that this is not what you had in mind, but (again, in going through my stack of back NYT Book Reviews), I recently came across this review of Eric Lichtblau's The Nazis Next Door, about the US resettlement of at least 10,000 former Nazis here in the United States, for supposed scientific/strategic reasons.  

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/02/books/review/the-nazis-next-door-by-eric-lichtblau.html?_r=0

 

And this letter to the editor appeared shortly thereafter:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/books/review/letters-uncommon-woman.html

 

 

Wow.

[JennyD]

 

 

 And probably a totally different book, but given my bent I'm really interested in something that talks about the psychological aspects of recovery, rebuilding.  I closed Night and just laid there for awhile, thinking how on earth would you go on after something like that? Yet clearly people like Weisel do go on to have amazing, productive, community-building lives.  Not just after the trauma of the holocaust, but after many kinds of trauma. I guess I need something that helps me see how a person, a community, rebuilds.

 

 

 

 

I heard a remarkable podcast about this very subject -- now I'm trying to remember where.   I believe but am not 100% sure that it was Andrew Solomon, who wrote Far From the Tree.  He interviewed a Cambodian survivor of the Khmer Rouge who had become a de facto therapist to other profoundly traumatized women.  I will see if I can find it.  

[JennW in SoCal]

As is my wont to do, I'm interrupting the more serious literary discussion with some shallow, inane fluff.

 

Thor in a boat with Opie at the helm:  An LA Times article about the making of "Heart of the Sea"

[TeacherZee]

I didn't realize that there was a fifth book about Tiffany Aching coming out!!! *does happy dance*

[shukriyya]

Thank you, Jane.  I realize that one book won't cover it, I should have phrased my request differently.  Maybe I'm looking for more of a historical treatment than a novel, something that traces the different paths that were taken by different groups? Although I am open to fictional treatments too.

 

 And probably a totally different book, but given my bent I'm really interested in something that talks about the psychological aspects of recovery, rebuilding.  I closed Night and just laid there for awhile, thinking how on earth would you go on after something like that? Yet clearly people like Weisel do go on to have amazing, productive, community-building lives.  Not just after the trauma of the holocaust, but after many kinds of trauma. I guess I need something that helps me see how a person, a community, rebuilds.

 

ETA: And many lives are ruined, destroyed forever. For some, there is no "recovering"

 

I guess the obvious next step is to read Dawn and Day by Wiesel.  I just discovered those in researching more - I'll try those first.

 

ETAA: I'm having a hard time writing about this book and my feelings and where I want to go next - thank you for being generous and giving me the benefit of the doubt if I express myself badly. I'm kind of overwhelmed.

 

Not a novel, not even historical but your talk about the pyschological aspects of recovery and rebuilding after trauma made me think of Donald Kalsched. And of course Man's Search for Meaning is a classic in this field. Might be interesting to read if you've not already done so or revisit if you have.

 

[Stacia]

I didn't realize that there was a fifth book about Tiffany Aching coming out!!! *does happy dance*

 

Me neither!

 

Rose, the book I'm reading now is Rue du Retour by Abdellatif Laâbi.

 

Abdellatif Laabi spent 8 years in a Moroccan prison for "crimes of opinion". This poetic and lyrical memoir is a record of the comradeship he found there, but also much more. It is the writer's contemplation on solitude itself as well as his rediscover of passion on his unexpected return to family and friends. RUE du RETOUR is about a poet's return - to home and family, to himself, and to the eternal values of love and hope. These human values are at the core of his moving and poignant story - the testimony of a remarkable man of conscience speaking to "those who can still hear the cry of man".

 

From Publishers Weekly:

Moroccan human rights activist, poet and novelist Laabi makes a stunning English-language debut with this account of his unexpected release from prison (following an international campaign mounted by Amnesty International and the French branch of PEN etc.) from prison after serving eight-and-a-half of a 10-year sentence for "crimes of opinion." A mosaic of memoirs, letters and stories relates his journey back to freedom. His most powerful passages are missives to his wife, Jocelyne, whom he calls here Awdah, Arabic for "return," and whose felt presence succors him throughout his incarceration. Perhaps to universalize his own experience, or to claim solidarity with political prisoners everywhere, Laabi describes his ordeal and recovery in the second person: "You will have to learn to walk again. One step, then another, always forward, in a straight line. It will no longer be that round, that circling around. . . ." Prison only reinforces his belief in the political merit of writing, his "tragic privilege": "And you are called to tell and to keep on telling. . . . Like Scheherazade, 'Write or be killed.' "

 

 

FYI, I know we have a lot of poetry lovers here. Some of Laâbi's translated poetry is posted online to read here:

http://www.poetrytranslation.org/poets/Abdellatif_Laabi

[Robin M]

 

Good morning, gals! I need to write a list as well. James study of wwii needs to include the aftermath and where did,they go from there.

 

 

 

Rose,

 

Here is one book I found After the Holocaust by Michael Brenner. Doing a search of rebuilding after the holocaust brings up some good resources. Eliana will have plenty of resources and will be able to answer many of your questions.

[TeacherZee]

Well my final challenge post is up on the blog :001_smile:

[Angel]

Tam said:  moving on to Waistcoats & Weaponry, the 3rd in the Gail Carriger Finishing School series. It came in yesterday so I tossed everything else in a corner. 

Aly is reading this as I type!  She got it for Christmas.

 

 As is my wont to do, I'm interrupting the more serious literary discussion with some shallow, inane fluff.

Thor in a boat with Opie at the helm:  An LA Times article about the making of "Heart of the Sea"

Thank you!  My ostrich self (which is also more than a bit hormonal) has been skimming past all of the heavy posts!!  The movie looks interesting and not only for the Chris Hemsworth aspect  :laugh:

 

 

 

[Kareni]

Another reread for me -- once again the result of shelving books at the library --

 

Thea Harrison's Destiny's Tarot (Elder Races).  This is a book containing two novellas set in the author's Elder Races world. 

 

"DEVIL'S GATE - A medusa and a physican, Dr. Seremela Telemar is used to living a quiet life focused on work. When her niece goes missing, she turns to her new friend, Vampyre Duncan Turner for help.

 

HUNTER'S SEASON - Xanthe is a palace guard for the Dark Fae Queen Niniane when Chancellor Aubrey Riordan is nearly killed by assassins. Only Xanthe can protect Aubrey while Niniane's mate Tiago hunts for those responsible."

 

I enjoyed revisiting the stories.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Maela]

64 degrees fahrenheight here!!

please excuse my horrible spelling!

 

 

 

 

I'm almost finished with my first book.  I don't know how I'm going to keep up with you all!  The good thing is that tomorrow Dh and I leave (without the kids!) for an overnight trip.  I should have a lot of time to read in the car.  Yay!

[shukriyya]

please excuse my horrible spelling!

 

 

 

 

I'm almost finished with my first book.  I don't know how I'm going to keep up with you all!  The good thing is that tomorrow Dh and I leave (without the kids!) for an overnight trip.  I should have a lot of time to read in the car.  Yay!

 

Don't worry about keeping up. Just enjoy your own trajectory as it unfolds within this larger river of book lovers. Some of us are prodigious readers, some of us are plodders. Robin has created such an inclusive home here that everyone's welcome at the table if books are your focus.

[NoseInABook]

Happy belated birthday, Rosie!

 

TeacherZee, thumbs up on the satire unit! I have a hopeless crush on Jon Stewart. *laugh*

 

You said it well, Mom-ninja. ;) That man is smokin'.

 

 

I have The Stand waiting on my Kindle too. I was hoping to get to it in October and that didn't happen.

 

I've never run out of likes before. Now I wonder if I'm going to because I said this... 

 

I am reading 9 books right now. This is probably very dumb because I'll read a few chapters from each and then get frustrated that I'm not getting anywhere. At least three of them are supposed to be spread out through the entire year (Bible, HotMW, and WEM) but I'm still feeling antsy that I don't have enough time to read. Cranky, teething baby isn't helping matters much. :p

[Lady Florida.]

See...to me that's bad design. I live in the far North, but landscaping and passive home design can help a home keep heat or cool in. I feel for people that are cold. I believe you can be cold almost anywhere, but pointing at housing is frustrating because that's choosing cheap design and lax housing code over letting people be prepared for the full range of weather their climate holds for them. We all have outliers sometime. We'll probably seeing more weather outliers (or what are outliers to us now) in the future. Code should include the full range of temperature.

 

 

~Tam @ -2 and a wind chill advisory of -25/30, on her soapbox but not critiquing any shivering souls in this thread, just a frustration with design and housing code. 

 

Nah. It's not bad design or code. Not here anyway. If that was the case in a place where cold winters were normal, I'd agree.

 

It does include the full range of normal temperatures, but it makes no sense to include the anomaly that comes once every five years or more. (The last one was in 2010. Before that I believe it was 2006.) Homes are designed to keep heat out because heat is what we need to keep out most of the year (often even in winter - I ran my air conditioning last week and will likely run it again next week). It's not about cheap or lax design. During the very RARE years when we get a hard freeze or cold weather lasts for more than 2-3 days in a row, our houses are cold. But not because of improper code or cheap design.

 

Designs in sub tropic climates would be considered cheap or lax if they were built for climates like the northeast or PNW. That just wouldn't make sense on many levels.

[Pam in CT]

Some thoughts as I have been reading this thread...

 

I need to not "follow" the thread.  Reading all the posts in email, I get lazy.  I don't click through so I can like the posts.  Shame on me!!!

 

I need to post more.  I have lovely conversations with you all in my head.  Beginning to realized I should write them out and have them for real!!

 

Regarding the weather... I feel guilty.  It was in the 70s here today.  Now, we did have some unusual snowfall last week.  (The last time that happened was in 2004, and was only the third time in my life.)  Typically, we hang out in the 60s during the day, and get down into the 30s overnight.  Barely jacket weather.  I agree about the "stillness", though.  It is magical.

 

Yes, me too.  Sometimes I actually forget if a BAW conversation has actually happened or if it was only in my head.  And then I am FORCED to spend ages and ages searching for it.  Rather than having a conversation on a new subject or -- imagine -- read a book.

 

Weather much better now.  We had a few inches of snow and it's warmed up to ~25F.

[Pam in CT]

Since we are all freezing:   What to read now: Iceland

 

And to warm us up a bit:  David Bowie's 75 must reads.

 

And since he makes us want to wax poetical - 10 most anticipated poetry books of 2015.

 

And because we need more time in which to read -   7 must read books on time.

 

And the best way to do that is become a library power user.

 

Aww, I like the looks of Karitas, Untitled (early 20th c female Icelandic artist ?) but no one seems to have it...

 

Someone posted the Bowie list last year, I think.  Eclectic soul, that one...

[Pam in CT]

I really enjoyed The Remains of the Day but couldn't STAND Never Let Me Go. The narrator drove me batty. I think I will read the new Ishiguro. I do want to read a lot from my shelves but some new books should be allowed 😄

 

This.  Remains of the Day is IMO a masterpiece of one of my favorite literary genres, the account of the unreliable narrator.  Never Let Me Go is simultaneously creepy and so agenda-driven that it loses narrative integrity...

 

Still, I look forward to the new one.

 

 

 

 

By the way, y'all, I'm gearing up for another round of highly scientific Likes research, and therefore again have to abstain from usage until my full allotment is restored.  Please consider yourselves liked, liked, liked...

[Pod's mum]

Thank you, Jane.  I realize that one book won't cover it, I should have phrased my request differently.  Maybe I'm looking for more of a historical treatment than a novel, something that traces the different paths that were taken by different groups? Although I am open to fictional treatments too.

 

 And probably a totally different book, but given my bent I'm really interested in something that talks about the psychological aspects of recovery, rebuilding.  I closed Night and just laid there for awhile, thinking how on earth would you go on after something like that? Yet clearly people like Weisel do go on to have amazing, productive, community-building lives.  Not just after the trauma of the holocaust, but after many kinds of trauma. I guess I need something that helps me see how a person, a community, rebuilds.

 

ETA: And many lives are ruined, destroyed forever. For some, there is no "recovering"

 

I guess the obvious next step is to read Dawn and Day by Wiesel.  I just discovered those in researching more - I'll try those first.

 

ETAA: I'm having a hard time writing about this book and my feelings and where I want to go next - thank you for being generous and giving me the benefit of the doubt if I express myself badly. I'm kind of overwhelmed.

 

Have you tried Exodus by Leon Uris.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exodus_%28novel%29

I read this a few years ago and learned a lot from of the history of the (modern) state of Israel through it.

It is a tome. I spent the last few days shelving and alphabetising ALL fictions and this is one of the bricks.

It does show an urgent drive to rebuild and pick themselves up from being dependant on others for, well I guess for their lives.

Maybe you could count it as 2 weeks of reading?

 

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

I did read Exodus, but it has been years.  Like more than 20.  I know it made quite an impact on me at the time, but I can't remember any details.

[Mnemosyne]

I just can't keep up with this. Happy birthday Rosie! Hope everyone is enjoying their reads. :)

 

I just finished my first, The 10X Rule, which I quite enjoyed. May pick up a fiction next (though I'm in the middle of a non-fiction) just because it takes a while to get through any non-fiction.

 

http://www.evernote.com/l/AAfhpyid4r9AKbuW7hQ-n5OsFJY-UEXcRdU/<-- Current status.

 

 

[Maela]

FionaS, I like your table!  I might have to try that.

 

 

Just finished book #1:  So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading by Sara Nelson.  Perfect first book for the beginning of the year.  

 

Feels so good to have actually finished a book!

 

I've been reading a little of La Casa every night.  My goal is to just move up one percent (kindle - I don't know the page numbers) every day.  I like the story, but it's just so laborious reading in another language!  I'm also going to be working on Keep Calm and Parent On.  I should be able to finish that in the next week, as I've already started it and it's an easy read.  I'm a slow reader.

 

 

I'm enjoying reading all of your book conversations, even if I don't have much to add.  :)

[Luckymama]

(I didn't look on the weekly thread during November and December.)

 

Have you heard of When Books Went to. War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II? http://www.amazon.com/When-Books-Went-War-Stories/dp/0544535022/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1420845953&sr=1-1

 

"When America entered World War II in 1941, we faced an enemy that had banned and burned over 100 million books and caused fearful citizens to hide or destroy many more. Outraged librarians launched a campaign to send free books to American troops and gathered 20 million hardcover donations. In 1943, the War Department and the publishing industry stepped in with an extraordinary program: 120 million small, lightweight paperbacks, for troops to carry in their pockets and their rucksacks, in every theater of war.

 

Comprising 1,200 different titles of every imaginable type, these paperbacks were beloved by the troops and are still fondly remembered today. Soldiers read them while waiting to land at Normandy; in hellish trenches in the midst of battles in the Pacific; in field hospitals; and on long bombing flights. They wrote to the authors, many of whom responded to every letter. They helped rescue The Great Gatsby from obscurity. They made Betty Smith, author of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, into a national icon. When Books Went to War is an inspiring story for history buffs and book lovers alike."

 

I just read a review on the Dear Arthur blog and immediately switched over to my library website to request a copy :D It looks like it will be a nice companion to Monuments Men, which I read last year.

[Robin M]

Aww, I like the looks of Karitas, Untitled (early 20th c female Icelandic artist ?) but no one seems to have it...

 

Someone posted the Bowie list last year, I think.  Eclectic soul, that one...

 

Amazon Uk has Karitas

[Mom-ninja.]

Luckymama, I just put that on my tbr list. Looks good. 

 

 

I finished The Necklace which I believe I heard about here. A very inspiring story. 

[Openhearted]

Happy belated birthday, Rosie!:)

 

I have been busy reading books, and haven't been on the forum for a couple of days so I just read the last 4 pages of this thread. I have laughed out loud, put at least 3 books on my wishlist, and contemplated stillness. That sounds a lot like reading a good novel.:)

 

I read The Strange Library by Murakami, and I felt a bit lost. I don't ordinarily read fantasy so this was new. Overall I thought it was odd. The design of the book itself is different with flaps folding up and down, no title page and all the pictures. I liked the book and am glad I read it. I am glad I am opening up to new authors and genres. However I feel as if I missed somethinge, like there is supposed to be some great understanding or parallel that I have missed. Maybe not?

 

I read GI Brides by Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvin. It is the story of 4 women from Britain that married American soldiers during WW II. They left their families, friends, independence, and countries behind in the hopes of love and a better life. Most of their stories are heartbreaking. I found them to be very courageous and brave. I had a hard time with the format of the book though. Their stories were told chronologically every fourth chapter was titled with their name. I found this to be confusing. I had a difficult time keeping the characters sorted out in my mind and it took the first few paragraphs of each chapter to put it all back in place. I believe I would have done better with four small books rather than one large one like this. Also it wasn't all that descriptive more factual, but it was a good biography in my opinion.

 

Next I read The Golden Hour by Margaret Wurtele, historical fiction. This was about Giovanni Bellini coming home for her father's death, and she remembers her youth during WW II in Italy. It took about 150 pages for it to become really interesting, but I liked it.

 

Don Quixote is on pause right now. I am really loving the historical stuff.

 

I also received The History of the Medieval World and read a chapter in that.

 

I hope I am doing this right. I could've written more, but I am getting twins to bed so I can start a new book.:)

[Nan in Mass]

So I have read the rest of page 14. I am hopelessly behind. I am back home now. No frozen pipes which is good, considering that the house was 45 F when we walked in.

 

Happy belated birthday, Rosie!

 

Pam, I hear you on the dark and slowing down. Me, too. I have to work at keeping on moving, and I had a dreadful time going from a month living on a sailboat to stuck inside homeschooling, even when doing as much as possible outside. Lately, I have been having to visit my mother-in-law midwinter in Florida and that chirks me up considerably. Have you read Fool's Run? I think that book must have been born in the winter.

 

stadia, I have doubts about Europe,s press being any freer than ours. They may value it more, but I,m not convinced it is any better.

 

Pam, maybe the likes have something to do with hourly rate rather than amount or amount per day?

 

Amy, that Thirkell quote is a favourite of my mum,s. She quoted it when my boys were small. That and the starfish hands one.

 

Nan

[Maela]

I also slow down and even get a little depressed during the winter - and I'm in California! It may not be very cold, but the decrease in sunshine/light really gets to me. It also makes me not want to go outside, which is odd because that is exactly what I need, I think. So I force myself to go out with the kids for at least a little while every day. It took me until just a few years ago to realize all this - to understand why I am so freaking happy every March! That's when the sun starts shining more often again, and everything seems so much more cheerful. January and February are difficult months for me, along with August (our dry, dead, hot, ugly month).

[swellmomma]

Are we having a coldest temp competition?  I'm pretty sure I'd win most of the time, hands down. ;)   :D  Unless swellmomma has the same kind of temps we do.  Or Dory.  Margaret in CO might be in the running, too...

 

Current temp is -14 C (6 F) but with wind chill added in, it's -25 C (-13 F).  This is at 3:45 in the afternoon.  And we're happy 'cause this is waaaaaaay warmer than it's been for the last week.  It feels almost balmy. ;)

 

The low tonight is supposed to be -27 C (-17 F) but with wind chill, it will be -39 C (-38 F).  And we're on the 49th parallel.  Gotta love being in the extreme continental climate zone.  I've seen a meme being passed around that states, "The air hurts my face.  Why do I live where the air hurts my face???" with a picture of a sad little person in a toque.

 

I've watched documentaries on climbing Everest where the narrator makes a comment like, "And the current temp... -29."  He then leaves a dramatic pause for that temp to really sink in with all the viewers.  DH and I look at each other and shrug.  And... ? ;) :D  Granted, the significantly lower % oxygen in the air up there would probably get me but not the -29.  That's just "cover your ears" weather.

 

I've been thinking about the idea of stillness and winter.  I think everyone should have at least one experience of being out at night when the air temp is actually -40 C (or F - at that temp, the two scales come together).  Make sure there's no wind - it's just the air temp that is that cold.  You need to be out in the country and nowhere near a road.  I have never experienced any other silence like that.  It feels like nothing else on earth is still alive.  Nothing moves.  Nothing breathes.  At that temp, the skies will be clear and the stars will be INCREDIBLE.  When you hear of starlight being described in poetry or novels as being a cold light, this must be exactly what is meant.  The blackness outside my house on a moonless night is complete.  Even with a sky literally filled with stars, you get no sense of warmth from them - just an icy, cold light.  It's breath-taking. :)

 

(No.  Really.  It's literally breath-taking.  At those temps, your nostrils freeze shut in under a minute.  Still worth it, though. ;) )

THis week has been cold for sure, regularly in the -30s with the windchill, closer to about -24 to -29C without the wind this week.  By next thursday we are supposed to be back up to -11C for a few days before dropping again.  Wednesday it was -24 C in the wind so we took the daycare kids sledding. 

 

We have no yet had a -40C temp this winter but you are right in your description.  I live in a rural location and have had those temps

[JennW in SoCal]

I hope I am doing this right. I could've written more, but I am getting twins to bed so I can start a new book. :)

 

It's perfect, Dawn! 

[Nan in Mass]

Went to go to bed just now and found that the humidifier and water glass are frozen solid. Oops. I hope our guitars are ok. Nnnniiiiiccccceeee wood stove. : )

 

Breathicles and damp wool... I,ve been doing that all week. The feel of wool in your teeth. I was scared of those sleds. I liked my saucer. It increased the chances of arriving at the bottom with the sled still under you.

 

I don,t think I,ve ever been below about -15 or -20 F.

 

I love winter and usually forget summer will come. Then the first warm day, working on the boat, I feel like crying because I,ve missed summer so much.

 

Nan

[Maela]

I finished book #2 (Keep Calm and Parent On) today also! It's amazing how much reading one can do when not spending all one's free time on tWTM or reading blogs/Faceook! How embarrassing...

 

I liked Keep Calm. I wish there was a way to print a list of all my highlights on my Kindle books...that's not possible is it?

[Uff Da!]

Dh plopped Rabbi Amy Eilberg's "From Enemy to Friend" in my lap yesterday.  He saw that I had followed links to amazon to look at it and thought to buy for me.  I'm enjoying it so far.

 

I also woke with this beautiful quote from Out of Africa running through my head and so pulled Isak Dinesen off the shelf:

 

"The friends of the farm came to the house, and went away again.  They were not the kind of people who stay for a long time in the same place.  They were not the kind of people either who grow old, they died and never came back.  But they had sat contented by the fire, and when the house closing round them, said:  "I will not let you go except you bless me," they laughed and blessed it and it let them go.

 

An old lady sat in a party and talked of her life.  She declared that she would like to live it all over again and held this fact to prove that she had lived wisely.  I thought:  Yes, her life has been the sort of life that should really be taken twice befre you can say that you have had it.  An arietta you can take da capo, but not a whole piece of music, -not a symphony and not a five-act tragedy either.  If it is taken over again it is because it has not gone as it ought to have gone.

 

My life, I will not let you go except you bless me, but then I will let you go."

[mumto2]

Dh plopped Rabbi Amy Eilberg's "From Enemy to Friend" in my lap yesterday. He saw that I had followed links to amazon to look at it and thought to buy for me. I'm enjoying it so far.

 

I also woke with this beautiful quote from Out of Africa running through my head and so pulled Isak Dinesen off the shelf:

 

"The friends of the farm came to the house, and went away again. They were not the kind of people who stay for a long time in the same place. They were not the kind of people either who grow old, they died and never came back. But they had sat contented by the fire, and when the house closing round them, said: "I will not let you go except you bless me," they laughed and blessed it and it let them go.

 

An old lady sat in a party and talked of her life. She declared that she would like to live it all over again and held this fact to prove that she had lived wisely. I thought: Yes, her life has been the sort of life that should really be taken twice befre you can say that you have had it. An arietta you can take da capo, but not a whole piece of music, -not a symphony and not a five-act tragedy either. If it is taken over again it is because it has not gone as it ought to have gone.

 

My life, I will not let you go except you bless me, but then I will let you go."

Lovely quote

[Heidi]

Finished Around the World in 80 days. What a lame and slightly offensive book bc of all the stereotypes. Now to start The Hobbit.

[mumto2]

Since many of my friends here are also crafters I thought I would share a link to one of my favorite quilting blogshttp://veryberryhandmade.co.uk/2015/01/10/big-thoughts-for-2015/.

 

This morning her subject is books.....she just joined a 26 books in a year challenge and listed the fun topic starters that I thought some of you might enjoy. I particularly liked the Read a book with a lion, a witch, or a wardrobe. I have no idea what I would pick (the witch would happen for me without trying) but as a serious Narnia fan it sounds sooo lovely.

 

I have done a couple of her free patterns for small quilt projects for quick gifts. Easy with good directions. I can now imagine Jane, Jenn, and Shukriyya spending part of today exploring her quilt ideas!

 

Edited....I originally said linked to the book group. What I thought was a link wasn't. I went back to click the link and explore which didn't work. Enjoy the topic ideas. ;) http://burns-familyblog.blogspot.co.uk/p/26-books-challenge.html

[Jane in NC]

Dh plopped Rabbi Amy Eilberg's "From Enemy to Friend" in my lap yesterday.  He saw that I had followed links to amazon to look at it and thought to buy for me.  I'm enjoying it so far.

 

I also woke with this beautiful quote from Out of Africa running through my head and so pulled Isak Dinesen off the shelf:

 

"The friends of the farm came to the house, and went away again.  They were not the kind of people who stay for a long time in the same place.  They were not the kind of people either who grow old, they died and never came back.  But they had sat contented by the fire, and when the house closing round them, said:  "I will not let you go except you bless me," they laughed and blessed it and it let them go.

 

An old lady sat in a party and talked of her life.  She declared that she would like to live it all over again and held this fact to prove that she had lived wisely.  I thought:  Yes, her life has been the sort of life that should really be taken twice befre you can say that you have had it.  An arietta you can take da capo, but not a whole piece of music, -not a symphony and not a five-act tragedy either.  If it is taken over again it is because it has not gone as it ought to have gone.

 

My life, I will not let you go except you bless me, but then I will let you go."

 

Out of Africa was in my library book bag before the holidays but I returned it unread.  It is going back on my list.

 

Thank you for the lovely quote which I am going to copy into my journal this afternoon.  Off this morning to teach a class to volunteers about volunteering.  Snort!

 

Since many of my friends here are also crafters I thought I would share a link to one of my favorite quilting blogshttp://veryberryhandmade.co.uk/2015/01/10/big-thoughts-for-2015/.

 

This morning her subject is books.....she just joined a 26 books in a year challenge and listed the fun topic starters that I thought some of you might enjoy. I particularly liked the Read a book with a lion, a witch, or a wardrobe. I have no idea what I would pick (the witch would happen for me without trying) but as a serious Narnia fan it sounds sooo lovely.

 

I have done a couple of her free patterns for small quilt projects for quick gifts. Easy with good directions. I can now imagine Jane, Jenn, and Shukriyya spending part of today exploring her quilt ideas!

 

Edited....I originally said linked to the book group. What I thought was a link wasn't. I went back to click the link and explore which didn't work. Enjoy the topic ideas. ;) http://burns-familyblog.blogspot.co.uk/p/26-books-challenge.html

 

The Boy landed in London this morning. His shopping list from me includes tea and some board books for my grandnephews.  I told him that I was tempted to send him on a yarn and fabric tour but we both knew he wouldn't bother.  Any suggestions though of cool knitting/sewing things readily available in the UK but harder to find in the US?

 

 

[Onceuponatime]

601 new posts since the last time I was here??? You have all been busy. I don't think I can catch up with this week. I finished Mansfield Park and went to my first IRL book club meeting. We all agreed that we are sooo glad times have changed, especially attitudes toward women. I couldn't find the book amusing at all, except in the fact that all the characters were so clueless, which was more frustrating than anything else.

 

I really want to read a book with a winter word in the title next, but I haven't decided which one.

[Violet Crown]

Out of Africa was in my library book bag before the holidays but I returned it unread. It is going back on my list.

 

 

I started reading it last year but was distracted by life. Let me know when you're going to be reading it. 'Cause now there are three books on your list this year that are on mine also.

[mumto2]

Jane, Since I still buy a large portion of my fabric in the States with coupons and carry it back or in our local market, I buy from the really nice couple....won't get him far, but locals actually know who we mean. I don't really know where to send him for fabric other than Liberty which is expensive but very beautiful. Maybe have him pick up a pack of coordinating fat quarters. The website I linked uses liberty almost exclusively so look there for ideas of a color palette to send him after. The quality of their fabric is wonderful.

 

Yarn beyond the obvious like Debbie Bliss etc. Is local. If he sees wool that is local and nice....girlfriend's department probably, tell him to go for it. A couple of skeins never hurt anyone.

 

Pretty sure thehttp://m.cathkidston.com/bags/totes/list?ctry=KZ&results=10Cath Kidston sale continues. I would have him get you a bag for your crafts. I love them! Dd bought a cute dress for 50 percent off last week that she has wanted for a very long time.

[Jane in NC]

I started reading it last year but was distracted by life. Let me know when you're going to be reading it. 'Cause now there are three books on your list this year that are on mine also.

 

Peregrine Pickle (or another Smollett), The Good Soldier Svejk, and Out of Africa, correct?  Or are there others?

 

[Jane in NC]

Jane, Since I still but a large portion of my fabric in the States with coupons and carry it back or in our local market, I buy from the really nice couple....won't get him far, but locals actually know who we mean. I don't really know where to send him for fabric other than Liberty which is expensive but very beautiful. Maybe have him pick up a pack of coordinating fat quarters. The website I linked uses liberty almost exclusively so look there for ideas of a color palette to send him after. The quality of their fabric is wonderful.

 

Yarn beyond the obvious like Debbie Bliss etc. Is local. If he sees wool that is local and nice....girlfriend's department probably, tell him to go for it. A couple of skeins never hurt anyone.

 

Pretty sure thehttp://m.cathkidston.com/bags/totes/list?ctry=KZ&results=10Cath Kidston sale continues. I would have him get you a bag for your crafts. I love them! Dd bought a cute dress for 50 percent off last week that she has wanted for a very long time.

 

Ooooo..I love the idea of Liberty fat quarters.  Brilliant!

[Nan in Mass]

Thanks! I put it on my to-read shelf! Man, that is saving my back, lugging books to and from the library, not to mention the height of the book stacks teetering on my bedroom floor!

 

I stayed up late to finally read Night by Elie Wiesel. It's been on the stack for over a year. Brutal and devastating book. His loss of faith is completely understandable, and justified IMO. From reading his Nobel acceptance speech (reprinted in the back of my edition) it seems he got it back. I'm interested in reading more about that - I guess I need to read more Wiesel. Any suggestions?

 

I'm also really struck by the question of the Jewish Blockaltestes and kapos. Some of them were clearly brutal criminals beforehand, but he portrays some of them as decent men trying to help. I've read Zimbardo, I know that humans take on the stereotypical characteristics of a role in which they've been placed, but I wonder how these men coped with their roles afterwards. I was going to say "reintegrated into their communities" but I guess that's not the issue - the communities were completely destroyed, there was no reintegrating.

 

But that brings me to the next question - what happened to the camp survivors? I've read a number of books about the camps, but they always end with the Americans came and we were liberated or the Russians came and we were liberated - I haven't really read anything about what happened next, how people recovered and rebuilt their lives and what they did next. And how they dealt with their captors, the Germans and the Jewish collaborators. Wiesel did say that there was no thought of revenge, only food. But what about a year later? 5 years? after that? Does anyone have a book to suggest that talks about this?

 

This is why book lists always have to remain tentative - good books always lead to other good books, so I often find myself reading a cluster on related subjects.

When I was young, I read a book about children who were adopted by families in the US. It generally did not go well. I remember thinking that the families had good intentions but most wanted something from the children that the children did not have.

 

Nan

 

ETA - Having read your next post, just wanted to send you hugs. I started trying to understand how people survive and go on living in situations unimaginably horrible to me. It was part of the cultural anthropology reading that I was doing whenever I had the energy, part of what made me curious about what living other places is like. I think I must have found enough of an answer to satisfy me because although I am still interested, I,m not as curious any more. I think part of what I found is that many, many individual people don,t survive, and many peoples are absorbed and "lost" (quotes because it is usually a blending, if an unequal one, I think). I think this is why we revere survivors, like the Hibakusha. I think some cultures are better at giving people tools to cope than others? Anyone who grew up with spirituals can see how music and the Old Testament stories helped American slaves survive. And anyone who has been with indigenous peoples probably has some sense of what extremes one people sometimes has to go to to wipe out another. I have always wondered if there are things in the Jewish culture that especially help them to survive being repeatedly devastated, survive as an identifiable entity. Eliana? On an individual basis, I think whether you survive depends a lot on the people around you, and whether you want to survive or not. I think many people don,t and selfdistruct. That probably isn't,t very helpful... I just wanted you to know it is a really good question and you aren't alone. Hugs.

 

Nan

[Violet Crown]

Peregrine Pickle (or another Smollett), The Good Soldier Svejk, and Out of Africa, correct? Or are there others?

 

Nope, that's them. Let me know! Though the resumption of actual homeschooling has sucked up a lot of perfectly good reading time lately.

[shukriyya]

Jane, Since I still but a large portion of my fabric in the States with coupons and carry it back or in our local market, I buy from the really nice couple....won't get him far, but locals actually know who we mean. I don't really know where to send him for fabric other than Liberty which is expensive but very beautiful. Maybe have him pick up a pack of coordinating fat quarters. The website I linked uses liberty almost exclusively so look there for ideas of a color palette to send him after. The quality of their fabric is wonderful.

 

Yarn beyond the obvious like Debbie Bliss etc. Is local. If he sees wool that is local and nice....girlfriend's department probably, tell him to go for it. A couple of skeins never hurt anyone.

 

Pretty sure thehttp://m.cathkidston.com/bags/totes/list?ctry=KZ&results=10Cath Kidston sale continues. I would have him get you a bag for your crafts. I love them! Dd bought a cute dress for 50 percent off last week that she has wanted for a very long time.

Ooh, Liberty fabric. Loveliness. Every couple of years I buy a Liberty shirt from JCrew. They are pricey but the fabric is so pretty and the combination of stellar quality with timeless classic cut means I can wear them for years.