Book a Week in 2015 - BW2

[Just Robyn]

 

I love the poem!  I've heard that story but I love this way of putting it.  Are the rest like this?

 

Nan

 

Are they all really weird? Yes. Some are much more weird that this one. Are they all based on tales? Well, I didn't realize this one was based on a tale, so i guess I wouldn't know.

[Tress]

All - Why does it worry you not to finish books? If it is nonfiction, then it is not at all strange to only read the bits one needs; people normally do this when they are researching and learning about something, don't they? And if it is fiction, then why does it matter?

 

Because.....it's untidy, it's sloppy, because it's like making a commitment and then not honouring it, because the book might improve and then I've missed that :svengo: , because.....I have no idea, because.... I'm an idiot, I think  :lol: . I *know* I don't need to finish a book, I *know* I can skip to the end and read just that if I want to know how it ends. Still, I almost always finish my books. I really must learn when to quit (says Tress who is still dutifully slogging through Kafka on the Shore......).

 

ETA, talking about this with my dd11, I realized that the thought 'there are so many books, why waste time on reading something that is not really engaging', wasn't true in my youth. My mother took me to two different libraries each week and there were still not enough children's books to only read the goods ones. I distinctly remember years of visits where I started at the letter A and looked for a book I hadn't read yet. In a few weeks I would be at Z and then start over at A again, to get those that had been checked out previously. Not finishing a book because it was 'meh', just would not have crossed my mind.

[Pam in CT]

Death Comes for the Archbishop is easily my favorite Cather novel. Even if you *don't* like My Antonia, you should try that one. :)

 

:iagree:

[Pam in CT]

re: From Enemy to Friend: Jewish Wisdom and the Pursuit of Peace

 

I'm still reading Rabbi Eilberg's "Enemy to Friend" book and enjoying it.  I keep wanting to stop and copy her quotes down but I think owning the book is probably enough.  One of the early quotes talks about conflict being a pulling back of the light which leaving an empty space to create something new.  

 

_____

 

In other news, Dh said he would support me looking for a new church as it's been almost a year now since I accidentally flushed out my online stalker and I am still dealing with fallout.  I've learned and grown from this experience so it has been a blessing but I think the "empty space" in our case will be filled with community somewhere else.  

 

I just read this a couple of weeks ago, back in the darkest days of the year... so much there that resonated with me... the power of the tool of "sacred listening"; the related peril of humiliating the person on the other side; and ultimately potential for "creative clashes" to emerge out of conflict (this reminded me of Schumpeter's "creative destruction" construct...)... just what I needed at the time...

 

_____

 

I wish you success in your quest for community, and will hold you in the light...

[TeacherZee]

Life's to short for bad books and bad wine

[Pam in CT]

Pam, For the sake of you like research I want to report I have used pretty close to 100 since yesterday this time. I didn't obstain but have been keeping track and the new thread moving quickly means I am now out.

 

If I don't like someone's post know that I am out at that moment!

 

You're the best!  I encourage all methodologically- and/or curious-minded souls to chime in and add their results!

 

 

(I'd like, but, you know...)

[Pam in CT]

re: abandoning books, or not:

Because.....it's untidy, it's sloppy, because it's like making a commitment and then not honouring it, because the book might improve and then I've missed that :svengo: , because.....I have no idea, because.... I'm an idiot, I think  :lol: . I *know* I don't need to finish a book, I *know* I can skip to the end and read just that if I want to know how it ends. Still, I almost always finish my books. I really must learn when to quit (says Tress who is still dutifully slogging through Kafka on the Shore......).

 

ETA, talking about this with my dd11, I realized that the thought 'there are so many books, why waste time on reading something that is not really engaging', wasn't true in my youth. My mother took me to two different libraries each week and there were still not enough children's books to only read the goods ones. I distinctly remember years of visits where I started at the letter A and looked for a book I hadn't read yet. In a few weeks I would be at Z and then start over at A again, to get those that had been checked out previously. Not finishing a book because it was 'meh', just would not have crossed my mind.

 

:iagree: Yeah, me too.  I rarely don't finish.  Occasionally I tell myself I'm putting something "aside" and never quite make it back (this happened last year with several dusty philosophy tomes), but even that's rare; and I almost never explicitly acknowledge to myself that I have no intention of coming back to it.

 

But... it has happened in the past with Ulysses, and we'll see if it does again! :lol:

[Pam in CT]

Life's to short for bad books and bad wine

 

Now bad WINE, that's a different story, that I will put aside...  :lol:

[Mnemosyne]

I would like to read them, as I've never read it before.

But in which language do you read them?

I own Le petit Prince in French and Dutch.

I don't have Le Petit Nicholas in book yet, I do have the dvd ( in French, Dutch subtitled)

 

I really need to get myself some Dutch books more complicated than De Kameleon. I have all my old kids books, but I'm not going to get back up to a native level reading that type of material. -.-

[Tress]

I really need to get myself some Dutch books more complicated than De Kameleon. I have all my old kids books, but I'm not going to get back up to a native level reading that type of material. -.-

 

You could browse this site for Dutch recommendations: http://www.lezenvoordelijst.nl/

 

Maybe start at the 12-15yo recommendations and then progress to the 15-19yo recommendations?

 

HTH,

[Jane in NC]

All - Why does it worry you not to finish books? If it is nonfiction, then it is not at all strange to only read the bits one needs; people normally do this when they are researching and learning about something, don't they? And if it is fiction, then why does it matter?

 

 

Nan

 

I borrow non-fiction books from the library all the time that I don't read cover to cover, never expected to.  These are not books that I list here (cookbooks, craft books, travel guides). Non-fiction books that I mention here are those that I choose to read in their entirety. Perhaps to be edified?

 

When it comes to fiction, I have definite tastes.  These threads inspire me to choose things out of my comfort zone  Sometimes I stay with a book because I hope to see what someone else saw in it.  Or I hope to expand my own thinking.

 

I have been listening to a newer (2003) le Carré  in the car for a while now.  Absolute Friends may turn me off le Carré for a while which is a shame since I love his Cold War Karla trilogy and like most of his other books.  The cynicism in Absolute Friends is brutal--so why do I keep listening?  For one thing, le Carré has a good record with me--maybe this book will change? Or maybe the author has moved into a place where I am no longer comfortable with him.  But I need to find that out for myself by reading the book.  So I am carrying on despite my discomfort.

 

I gave up on one book last year because it bored me. 

[Lady Florida.]

I don't have a problem with dropping a book I don't like. I too, have a goodreads shelf just for those books. Mine is called Abandoned. 

 

If a book is a well-loved classic I'll try to persevere but even an abandoned classic doesn't bother me. As others have said, life is too short. Add to that there are so many books I would love. Why waste my time on the ones I'm not enjoying? 

 

I will sometimes go back and read a book I abandoned if I feel there's a good reason. I dropped Vanity Fair, but a lot of readers I respect put in on their list of favorites so I picked it back up again. I didn't have the reaction I was having when I quit reading it, but after I finished I realized I would have been just as happy to leave it on my Abandoned shelf. The same thing happened with Outlander (no offense Outlander fans - I just didn't like it). Those are two books I would have been fine not finishing, and I could have been reading something I really enjoyed instead of wasting my precious reading time.

 

 

I understand those who feel it's untidy to leave unfinished bits of books in their lives. I never claimed to be a neat-nick. :lol:

 

And Trees, you're not an idiot. :) It's just a different preference.

 

[shukriyya]

This is for Pam in her attempts to embrace dormancy...and for everyone else who is feeling the slow, dark, inward circumambulation around the gestating bud.

 

WINTER APPLE

Let the apple ripen
on the branch
beyond your need
to take it down.

Let the coolness
of autumn
and the breathing,
blowing wind
test its adherence
to endurance,
let the others fall.

Wait longer
than you would,
go against yourself,
find the pale nobility
of quiet that ripening
demands;
watch with patience
as the silhouette emerges
and the leaves fall;
see it become
a solitary roundness
against a greying sky,
let winter come
and the first
frost threaten,
and then wake
one morning
to see the breath
of winter
has haloed
its redness
with light.

So that a full
two months
after you
should have
taken the apple
down
you hold it in
your closed hand
at last and bite
into the cool
sweetness
spread evenly
through every
single atom
of a pale
and yielding
structure.

So that you taste
on that cold,
grey day,
not only
the after reward
of a patience
remembered,
not only
the summer
sunlight
of a postponed
perfection,

but the sweet
inward stillness
of the wait itself.

 

~ David Whyte ~

[Kim in Appalachia]

I've been super busy and haven't made it often to the boards, but I wanted to jump in today and post.

 

My first book of the year was, The Painter, by Peter Heller.  It was a wonderful book.  It was like Poe meets Hemingway with amazing almost poetic descriptions, but not overdone.  And I thought the plot was fairly tight (I'm not liking the new literary trend of no plot).  It was beautiful, creepy, sad, and even at times funny.  I highly recommend this book.  

 

My family also listened to Terry Pratchett's Snuff. It was a poke and nod to Jane Austin, and a fun book. It was a bit darker then his others, but still excellent.

 

I currently reading All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr.  I'm enjoying it so far; it's beautifully written and engaging. 

 

I'm looking forward to Neil Gaiman's latest book, Trigger Warnings, which is a collection of short stories. 

[Kim in Appalachia]

I don't have a problem with dropping a book I don't like. I too, have a goodreads shelf just for those books. Mine is called Abandoned. 

 

If a book is a well-loved classic I'll try to persevere but even an abandoned classic doesn't bother me. As others have said, life is too short. Add to that there are so many books I would love. Why waste my time on the ones I'm not enjoying? 

 

I will sometimes go back and read a book I abandoned if I feel there's a good reason. I dropped Vanity Fair, but a lot of readers I respect put in on their list of favorites so I picked it back up again. I didn't have the reaction I was having when I quit reading it, but after I finished I realized I would have been just as happy to leave it on my Abandoned shelf. The same thing happened with Outlander (no offense Outlander fans - I just didn't like it). Those are two books I would have been fine not finishing, and I could have been reading something I really enjoyed instead of wasting my precious reading time.

 

 

I understand those who feel it's untidy to leave unfinished bits of books in their lives. I never claimed to be a neat-nick. :lol:

 

And Trees, you're not an idiot. :) It's just a different preference.

 

 

I like the idea of creating an Abandoned shelf.  I may do that. 

[Loesje22000]

Le Petit Prince was read aloud to me when I was little in English. I read it in French now.

Le Petit Nicholas I read in French.

Can you read French?

 

I also have several fairy tales in Spanish that I want to read but those require looking up every other word.

 

Nan

I can read some French.

Cyrano the Bergerac was too hard last semester, for me.

But I'll give Le Petit Prince a try as I can 'stereo read' that one.

[Kareni]

Happy Birthday Mel!  

 

...

I read A Walk in the Woods - 5 Stars - I adored this book from the first page to the last. I love Bill Bryson’s humor, his overall style, and his descriptiveness. 

 

 

Happy Birthday to you, Mel!  (I don't think I said it earlier.)

 

 

My favorite Bill Bryson book is his not one of his travel books but rather his book on the English language. 

The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way

 

"With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson—the acclaimed author of The Lost Continent—brilliantly explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't), to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed into one of the world's largest growth industries.

Clever, insightful, often hilarious, The Mother Tongue is an engaging jaunt through the quirks and byways of the world's most important--and baffling--of languages. Readers will learn why island, freight, and colonel are spelled in such unphonetic ways; why four has a u in it but forty does not; why Noah Webster was a liar, a cheat, and a plagiarist; and other fascinating facts about our mother tongue."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

[Loesje22000]

I really need to get myself some Dutch books more complicated than De Kameleon. I have all my old kids books, but I'm not going to get back up to a native level reading that type of material. -.-

Do you have Kruimeltje, Dik Trom or Pietje Bell?

The Little Lord Fauntleroy and The Secret Garden have neat translations, and you would be familiar with the plot.

 

If you would like more highschool literatuur you can take a look at www.lezenvoordelijst.nl

Not everything has a neat content, but you could start with level 3,

http://www.lezenvoordelijst.nl/zoek-een-boek/nederlands-15-tm-19-jaar/niveau/3

Oeroeg or : Erik of het klein insectenboek.

Both have also movies.

[Pam in CT]

This is for Pam in her attempts to embrace dormancy...and for everyone else who is feeling the slow, dark, inward circumambulation around the gestating bud.

 

WINTER APPLE

 

Let the apple ripen

on the branch

beyond your need

to take it down.

 

Let the coolness

of autumn

and the breathing,

blowing wind

test its adherence

to endurance,

let the others fall.

 

Wait longer

than you would,

go against yourself,

find the pale nobility

of quiet that ripening

demands;

watch with patience

as the silhouette emerges

and the leaves fall;

see it become

a solitary roundness

against a greying sky,

let winter come

and the first

frost threaten,

and then wake

one morning

to see the breath

of winter

has haloed

its redness

with light.

 

So that a full

two months

after you

should have

taken the apple

down

you hold it in

your closed hand

at last and bite

into the cool

sweetness

spread evenly

through every

single atom

of a pale

and yielding

structure.

 

So that you taste

on that cold,

grey day,

not only

the after reward

of a patience

remembered,

not only

the summer

sunlight

of a postponed

perfection,

 

but the sweet

inward stillness

of the wait itself.

 

~ David Whyte ~

 

Thank you, dear.

[Kareni]

Concerning

The Understatement of the Year:

 

Well consider yourself credited/blamed. I was up until just after midnight. It was one, if not the, best book in the Romance genre I've read (NA is a new category for me).

 

I'm glad you enjoyed the book!

 

 

 I can't find it but started searching using Ivy which gave me a load of books by Alexandra Ivy. While wading through those I spotted one with a Gargoyle on the coverhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17207134-levet?from_search=trueand I love Gargoyles. Has anyone read The Guadians of Eternity series?

 

I'm 99.5% sure that I've read one of Alexandra Ivy's books at one point; however, I no longer recall details.  (That probably means it was enjoyablefor me but not outstanding.)

Regards,

Kareni

[LaughingCat]

Because.....it's untidy, it's sloppy, because it's like making a commitment and then not honouring it, because the book might improve and then I've missed that :svengo: , because.....I have no idea, because.... I'm an idiot, I think  :lol: . I *know* I don't need to finish a book, I *know* I can skip to the end and read just that if I want to know how it ends. Still, I almost always finish my books. I really must learn when to quit (says Tress who is still dutifully slogging through Kafka on the Shore......).

 

ETA, talking about this with my dd11, I realized that the thought 'there are so many books, why waste time on reading something that is not really engaging', wasn't true in my youth. My mother took me to two different libraries each week and there were still not enough children's books to only read the goods ones. I distinctly remember years of visits where I started at the letter A and looked for a book I hadn't read yet. In a few weeks I would be at Z and then start over at A again, to get those that had been checked out previously. Not finishing a book because it was 'meh', just would not have crossed my mind.

 

I was 17 when I first put a book down and didn't finish it - it was Shogun and I started having nightmares where everyone was speaking 'Japanese' and I couldn't understand them so it was easy to put it down.  After that I moved to the 'why waste time' mentality.   There's not all that many books I put down - but I don't stress about it when I do.

 

[Kareni]

Yesterday I read and enjoyed  Artistic License by Elle Pierson which is a contemporary romance.

 

""Picasso would have loved his face."

An art exhibition in Queenstown, New Zealand results in an unlikely friendship and a reluctant love when shy art student Sophy James meets reticent security consultant Mick Hollister. Content with her solitude and independence, Sophy has never desired a long-term relationship. Born with a face that apparently not even a mother could love, Mick has given up hope of having one. They don't have a lot in common; they shouldn't even like one another - and they can't stay away from each other."

 

I enjoyed this for several reasons:

 

1.  It happened to be set very near where my daughter did her college semester abroad (in Dunedin, New Zealand).

 

2.  I've read a number of romances ("Really??!"  "Yes, really.")  Every so often, I've read a romance where a woman (generally one not meeting society's view of beauty) is the unwitting subject of a bet.  This is the first romance where I've read where it is the hero who is the subject of such an unsavory bet.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Nan in Mass]

I can read some French.

Cyrano the Bergerac was too hard last semester, for me.

But I'll give Le Petit Prince a try as I can 'stereo read' that one.

 

'Stereo read' - I like that term.  My version of stereo-reading is reading something in French that was originally written in English (like Harry Potter or Agatha Christie).  Even when I haven't read the book (I have read very few Agatha Christies in English), I can tell how something would be said in English and it gives me an ah-ha moment.  I think, so THAT is how you would say that in French.  This doesn't happen as often when I read in French because the structure of the sentences is different in the first place.  In order to speak French and still be me, I need to know how to say the sorts of things I would say in English, in French.  If I were better at French, I'm sure I could make the leap and sound like me without needing to resort to an English construction.  I don't think I explained that well, but maybe you know what I mean anyway?  In trying to speak French to a friend (who moved away this summer - boo hoo), I realized how much of what I say in conversation is worded in order to be slightly amusing.  It is something my family seldom NOT does.  To be unable to do that in French feels stifling.  Hence I read translations rather than original French.  Besides, it takes more energy to read original French.  I have to look up much more, think about the grammar more.  Loesje, you are distracting me.  Now I just want to sit in front of the fire all day and read Le Petit Prince rather than run laundry and switch the canned goods to the casserole dish and tupperware cabinets and vice versa LOL.

 

Nan

[melmichigan]

 

I haven't read this book, but I saw a very favorable mention of it elsewhere in a post concerning strong female characters; it also has 507 five star reviews on Amazon.  It's free to Kindle readers.

 

My Familiar Stranger: A Paranormal Romance (Knights of Black Swan Book 1) by Victoria Danann

 

I looked this up on my kindle and realized I downloaded it at some point.  I must have lost it when one of my kindles died.  I added it back to my new kindle to keep in mind.  I stayed up late last nigh and read The Understatement of the Year, which I enjoyed. 

 

 

Ok, more procrastination.  I had one of those judgemental moments about books.  Dh does not read the same kind of books I read.  In fact, he kinda hates reading and thinks he has a reading disorder.  We both like HP but he prefers books like 2001: A Space Odyssey and musician biographies, and I like darker books and history.  So I felt myself cringe seeing books friends down rated on Goodreads.  It made me sad. "WHY don't you see this is clearly a 5 star book?!?!?", so I think I'm a little emotional this week and need to stay off of there.  I may actually have shed a tear or two.  A reminder to myself not to take it personally.  ;)

 

 

 

I can't get multiquote to work, but I've been thinking about what mommymilkies said above.  I'm wondering how much of this is dependent on the generation.  Space Odyssey, War Games, and many books that I enjoyed when I was younger were impacted by the lack of the technology or ideas involved in the story line.  I'm dating myself, but I can remember when we were the only family with a computer on our block.  I remember playing Oregon Trail when all it entailed was a curser moving across a crude map of the US.  Today my kids play Oregon Trail and it's a complete video experience with trading and precision hunting.  

 

I know this impacted me to some degree when I was reading  the beginning chapters of In the Kingdom of Ice last week.  The first few chapters include details about scientific discoveries, invention, and general history of the time period.  Some of it was interesting, but some of it was just so hard to relate to in a sense because I've never encountered that hardship, or those types of societal behaviors.  

 

I'm also very stingy with stars. ;)  I rarely give four stars, let alone five.  So much of reading is objective that I have to be very careful with reviews or ratings, especially on places like Goodreads or Amazon.

[Mnemosyne]

Do you have Kruimeltje, Dik Trom or Pietje Bell?

The Little Lord Fauntleroy and The Secret Garden have neat translations, and you would be familiar with the plot.

 

If you would like more highschool literatuur you can take a look at www.lezenvoordelijst.nl

Not everything has a neat content, but you could start with level 3,

http://www.lezenvoordelijst.nl/zoek-een-boek/nederlands-15-tm-19-jaar/niveau/3

Oeroeg or : Erik of het klein insectenboek.

Both have also movies.

 

All three. Used to have the Kruimeltje movie too, loved that as a kid.

 

Also have Floortje, Kippenvel, Pietje Puk, Paulus, Harry Potter and a bunch of books about horses. My parents have a bunch of 'grown-up' books, but I'm not really interested in any of those - young adult might be the best level right now, or textbooks for high school levels (seeing as I'm refreshing math and other high school skills, might as well add in another language).

 

Thanks for the resource!

[Loesje22000]

All three. Used to have the Kruimeltje movie too, loved that as a kid.

 

Also have Floortje, Kippenvel, Pietje Puk, Paulus, Harry Potter and a bunch of books about horses. My parents have a bunch of 'grown-up' books, but I'm not really interested in any of those - young adult might be the best level right now, or textbooks for high school levels (seeing as I'm refreshing math and other high school skills, might as well add in another language).

 

Thanks for the resource!

You're welcome.

 

This a christian link for the general science exam in grade 10:

http://www.anw-antwoord.nl/site2/

 

And this about history:

 

http://www.entoen.nu

 

More and more Dutch Highschool publications are available as Ipack.

So you can read your textbook online...

[LaughingCat]

I'm also very stingy with stars. ;)  So much of reading is objective that I have to be very careful with reviews or ratings, especially on places like Goodreads or Amazon.

 

I follow the little comment that pops up under the star on good reads so very few books get 5 stars from me (amazing) and a lot get only 4 stars (really liked it) 3 stars (liked it) or 2 stars (it was ok).  I have often thought that most people don't follow that scheme and give much higher stars than I do and that I am pulling down a book's star level - but I like it because it gives me a wider range -- since I have almost nothing marked as 'didn't like it' (1 star) if my 'ok' was 3 stars I would only have 3 stars to play with instead of 4.

[mumto2]

Yesterday I read and enjoyed Artistic License by Elle Pierson which is a contemporary romance.

 

""Picasso would have loved his face."

 

An art exhibition in Queenstown, New Zealand results in an unlikely friendship and a reluctant love when shy art student Sophy James meets reticent security consultant Mick Hollister. Content with her solitude and independence, Sophy has never desired a long-term relationship. Born with a face that apparently not even a mother could love, Mick has given up hope of having one. They don't have a lot in common; they shouldn't even like one another - and they can't stay away from each other."

 

I enjoyed this for several reasons:

 

1. It happened to be set very near where my daughter did her college semester abroad (in Dunedin, New Zealand).

 

2. I've read a number of romances ("Really??!" "Yes, really.") Every so often, I've read a romance where a woman (generally one not meeting society's view of beauty) is the unwitting subject of a bet. This is the first romance where I've read where it is the hero who is the subject of such an unsavory bet.

 

Regards,

Kareni

Artistic License is currently free from the Prime lending library if anyone is interested. It's been awhile since I checked out my monthly book so am actually pretty excited.

 

ETA. I also just learned that prime members now get two free kindle first books each month.

[Pam in CT]

Yesterday I read and enjoyed  Artistic License by Elle Pierson which is a contemporary romance.

 

""Picasso would have loved his face."

 

An art exhibition in Queenstown, New Zealand results in an unlikely friendship and a reluctant love when shy art student Sophy James meets reticent security consultant Mick Hollister. Content with her solitude and independence, Sophy has never desired a long-term relationship. Born with a face that apparently not even a mother could love, Mick has given up hope of having one. They don't have a lot in common; they shouldn't even like one another - and they can't stay away from each other."

 

I enjoyed this for several reasons:

 

1.  It happened to be set very near where my daughter did her college semester abroad (in Dunedin, New Zealand).

 

2.  I've read a number of romances ("Really??!"  "Yes, really.")  Every so often, I've read a romance where a woman (generally one not meeting society's view of beauty) is the unwitting subject of a bet.  This is the first romance where I've read where it is the hero who is the subject of such an unsavory bet.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Dunedin!!  Home of the Cadbury Chocolate Factory Tour!  Did your daughter go??  Three years later my kids still rave.  They claim it's the best factory tour they've ever been on!  (though I claim Toyota's... we go on a lot of factory tours, lol...)

[Loesje22000]

'Stereo read' - I like that term. My version of stereo-reading is reading something in French that was originally written in English (like Harry Potter or Agatha Christie). Even when I haven't read the book (I have read very few Agatha Christies in English), I can tell how something would be said in English and it gives me an ah-ha moment. I think, so THAT is how you would say that in French. This doesn't happen as often when I read in French because the structure of the sentences is different in the first place. In order to speak French and still be me, I need to know how to say the sorts of things I would say in English, in French. If I were better at French, I'm sure I could make the leap and sound like me without needing to resort to an English construction. I don't think I explained that well, but maybe you know what I mean anyway? In trying to speak French to a friend (who moved away this summer - boo hoo), I realized how much of what I say in conversation is worded in order to be slightly amusing. It is something my family seldom NOT does. To be unable to do that in French feels stifling. Hence I read translations rather than original French. Besides, it takes more energy to read original French. I have to look up much more, think about the grammar more. Loesje, you are distracting me. Now I just want to sit in front of the fire all day and read Le Petit Prince rather than run laundry and switch the canned goods to the casserole dish and tupperware cabinets and vice versa LOL.

 

Nan

I think I understand what you are trying to say.

It is one thing to express your self in a foreign language in the way you are.

It is another thing to get the feeling of another culture.

French books and films have such a different feeling to me.

Sorry for distracting you... ;)

[Luckymama]

Yesterday I read and enjoyed Artistic License by Elle Pierson which is a contemporary romance.

 

""Picasso would have loved his face."

 

An art exhibition in Queenstown, New Zealand results in an unlikely friendship and a reluctant love when shy art student Sophy James meets reticent security consultant Mick Hollister. Content with her solitude and independence, Sophy has never desired a long-term relationship. Born with a face that apparently not even a mother could love, Mick has given up hope of having one. They don't have a lot in common; they shouldn't even like one another - and they can't stay away from each other."

 

Regards,

Kareni

I read this and enjoyed a few weeks ago :)

[Stacia]

Seeing all the talk about reading a book in another language is making me think I need to find one in Spanish to read. Hmmm....

 

I, like others, often ditch books I'm not liking.

 

I'm now reading Haruki Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase. I read this book sooooooo long ago (over 20 years ago) that I didn't remember anything specific about it other than a feeling of 'weird'.  :laugh:  (This was the first Murakami I ever read, had no idea who he was, & just stumbled across the book at the library.) As I'm reading, it's like visiting an old dream -- that feeling of déjà vu but still not remembering enough to know where the plot is going to lead me. At least it's handy to be forgetful. ;)  I was less than thrilled with last year's novel of his (Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage) & when I tried The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle a year or two ago, I couldn't get into it (though I stuck with it quite awhile before ditching it). So, I'm really relieved to be enjoying this one as I do enjoy his work & writing & it's nice to be back where I can appreciate it again.

 

And, completely OT -- mumto2's mention of loving gargoyles, made me think of the fact that there is a Darth Vader gargoyle on the National Cathedral (as well as some other pretty funky ones). Just in case any of you didn't know & you happen to be in the D.C. area...

[ChrisB]

...

And, completely OT -- mumto2's mention of loving gargoyles, made me think of the fact that there is a Darth Vader gargoyle on the National Cathedral (as well as some other pretty funky ones). Just in case any of you didn't know & you happen to be in the D.C. area...

 

Oh, Stacia, my kids would love to see the Darth Vader gargoyle!  When we are in DC next, we'll have to swing by to see.

[Violet Crown]

All - Why does it worry you not to finish books? If it is nonfiction, then it is not at all strange to only read the bits one needs; people normally do this when they are researching and learning about something, don't they? And if it is fiction, then why does it matter?

 

Because I embrace the Sunk Cost Fallacy.

[JadeOrchidSong]

Finished Hunger Games 2 and 3

Finished The Prince and the Pauper

Starting War and Peace today.

[Pam in CT]

re: why plow doggedly on, through Bad Books:

Because I embrace the Sunk Cost Fallacy.

 

Right.  What she said.

[mumto2]

Dunedin!! Home of the Cadbury Chocolate Factory Tour! Did your daughter go?? Three years later my kids still rave. They claim it's the best factory tour they've ever been on! (though I claim Toyota's... we go on a lot of factory tours, lol...)

Were you given tons of chocolate? The first couple of times we went we received something like 15 bars each but ds kept losing teeth on the tour...curly whirly's are sticky. Since Kraft we receive substantially less. UK tour in Birmingham

https://www.cadbury.co.uk/

 

 

Gargoyles.....dd made this one which turned out pretty perfect so will just link the pattern https://www.yorkminster.org/shop/gifts/knit-your-own-goswald-gargoyle.html. Plus pictures are hard to post.

[Stacia]

Oh, Stacia, my kids would love to see the Darth Vader gargoyle!  When we are in DC next, we'll have to swing by to see.

 

Take binoculars! Also, I think it's well-worth getting the cathedral guidebook called Guide to Gargoyles and Other Grotesques (before looking around at the various gargoyles & grotesques). It has a lot of close-up pics of some of the unique & funky gargoyles there. When you do plan to go, you may want to call ahead of time or look online to see if they are still doing work on the outside of the cathedral (from earthquake damage) which may or may not hinder your view of Darth Vader

[VaKim]

 

ETA. I also just learned that prime members now get two free kindle first books each month.

This must only be for certain people because mine tells me I've already borrowed my one for the month. 

[aggieamy]

Re:  Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant

 

 

Put on hold at the library.  Thanks for recommending.  I do believe we are heading toward this stage of life with MIL.  

 

*hugs*  

 

 

 

On my night stand is a stack of mysteries including one by PD James, sci fi including a Jo Walton title and Georgette Heyer for good measure.  Not sure what I'll pick up from the stack for a change of pace, but by golly I have some options!

 

 

What Georgette Heyer?  I'm voting for that one.  

 

 

All - Why does it worry you not to finish books? If it is nonfiction, then it is not at all strange to only read the bits one needs; people normally do this when they are researching and learning about something, don't they? And if it is fiction, then why does it matter?


Nan

 

 

Doesn't worry me a bit.  I have so many books I want to read and I'm already 33 so I know I only have at most 60 years of reading ahead of me.  I have a lot of books to get through in those 60 years so I can't waste time on stuff I'm not loving.  

 

 

Life's to short for bad books and bad wine

 

 

Yep. I totally agree.  

 

 

[Pam in CT]

Books!  This thread's about books?

 

I have once again misplaced my book journal, but thus far this year:

 

Carry On, Jeeves, by PG Wodehouse, recommended by aggieamy, good humored romp for dark days...

The Book of Chameleons, by Jose Eduardo Agualusa, recommended by Stacia, weird and wonderful as discussed last week...A for Angola!

The World Without You, by Joshua Henkin - story of extended family coming together at the one year anniversary of their son / brother / husband's death for the unveiling of his tombstone -- for an IRL book group; good enough but paled in comparison to David Grossman's Falling Out of Time, which same group read last month and this one fared poorly in comparison...

 

and, lastly, The Valley of the Assassins and Other Persian Travels, by Freya Stark, recommended by Jane; travel memoir of intrepid female Brit, impersonating an archaeologist so as to enable the cover to Live the Dream.  Here she is rhapsodizing re: solitude in a manner that resonated for me with our conversations about stillness:

 

Solitude, I reflected, is the one deep necessity of the human spirit to which adequate recognition is never given in our codes.  It is looked upon as a discipline or a penance, but hardly ever as the indispensable, pleasant ingredient it is to ordinary life, and from this want of recognition come half our domestic troubles... Modern education ignores the need for solitude: hence a decline in religion, in poetry, in all the deeper affections of the spirit: a disease to be *doing* something always, as if one could never sit quietly and let the puppet show unroll itself before one: an inability to lose oneself in mystery and wonder while, like a wave lifting us into new seas, the history of the world develops around us. 

 

 

I've taken up Ulysses (on the third episode), and am about halfway through Painted Alphabet (B for Bali!).  I'm still wavering on objectives for 2015.  Y'all have nearly shamed me into tackling a novel in Spanish, but I fear this may prove to be my Waterloo, like philosophy turned out to be last year...

[Lady Florida.]

This must only be for certain people because mine tells me I've already borrowed my one for the month. 

 

Mumto2 - Do we get 2 from Kindle Prime, a borrowed book or Kindle First, a free book you get before it's published (you get it "First")? 

[Violet Crown]

I have so many books I want to read and I'm already 33 so I know I only have at most 60 years of reading ahead of me.

Aaaaaaaaa

 

I'm worm food. Quick! Read!

[Stacia]

Looking forward to your comments on both The Valley of the Assassins & The Painted Alphabet, Pam!

[Pam in CT]

Were you given tons of chocolate? The first couple of times we went we received something like 15 bars each but ds kept losing teeth on the tour...curly whirly's are sticky. Since Kraft we receive substantially less. UK tour in Birmingham

https://www.cadbury.co.uk/

 

 

 

Well, we thought it was tons, but maybe not 15, maybe more like 5-8 each.  They did a lot of prizes to see who'd been paying attention, and my daughter in particular scored quite a few that way, much to the irritation of her older brother.

 

We'll have to figure out a way to swing by Birmingham!

[Pam in CT]

Looking forward to your comments on both The Valley of the Assassins & The Painted Alphabet, Pam!

 

Have you read Desert Queen (re: Gertrude Bell?)  I found myself comparing Stark to her frequently.  I enjoyed it.  We hold pretense to being fairly intrepid in my family, but  :svengo: ...

 

Painted Alphabet is a delight thus far.  I just got to the part where Mpu Dibiaja... er... vanished?  Clearly a turning point.

[melmichigan]

I follow the little comment that pops up under the star on good reads so very few books get 5 stars from me (amazing) and a lot get only 4 stars (really liked it) 3 stars (liked it) or 2 stars (it was ok).  I have often thought that most people don't follow that scheme and give much higher stars than I do and that I am pulling down a book's star level - but I like it because it gives me a wider range -- since I have almost nothing marked as 'didn't like it' (1 star) if my 'ok' was 3 stars I would only have 3 stars to play with instead of 4.

Yes, I often wonder if everyone is using the same system.  Most books I read would be 3 stars, once in a while I find a 4 star, and 5 would be very rare.  It takes a lot to amaze me. ;)  I sometimes wonder if I just have higher standards.

 

I get one Kindle First and one Kindle Prime Library choice a month.

[aggieamy]

Aaaaaaaaa

 

I'm worm food. Quick! Read!

 

I think that would make the best bumper sticker ever.  

[mumto2]

This must only be for certain people because mine tells me I've already borrowed my one for the month.

Were you doing the Prime books or in the Kindle First where I think all kindle owners get one. Kindle First is where I got two not the prime part.

 

Eta. I really think the second choice in the kindle first section is new. I got my December choice at the very end of the month and didn't get the message. Today there was a little messege right next to where you "buy" them. Since I bought my two the message is gone.

[JennW in SoCal]

This is the first time I've ever run out of *likes*!!  I'm amused by the warning you get when the like button is clicked -- "you have reached your quota of positive votes for the day".  What a bunch of renegades we are, indiscriminately clicking the like button.  

 

 

 

What Georgette Heyer?  I'm voting for that one.  

 

 

The Grand Sophy, which someone had recommended on this list last week.

 

 

 

About abandoning books:

Doesn't worry me a bit.  I have so many books I want to read and I'm already 33 so I know I only have at most 60 years of reading ahead of me.  I have a lot of books to get through in those 60 years so I can't waste time on stuff I'm not loving.  

 

I like your confidence that you'll be reading well into your 90s!  If I'm equally optimistic it gives me about 40 more years of reading -- it's a comforting number!  

 

I easily abandon books.  If a book isn't holding my interest I'll sometimes read the last few pages to see how it ends and if it seems worthwhile I'll go back and read that last chunk.  But the last page or two often satisfies my curiosity and I'll put it aside.  Here's what will really shock some of my fellow BaW'ers, and possibly get me banished from the group.  Sometimes I count the books where I've peaked at the ending then dumped it!!  

 

Shoot, I got an A on an essay about Othello without having read the entire play!!! It was a freshman English class at a large state college and I think the grad student who taught the course too thrilled to have a well crafted paper to notice that my understanding of the work was a bit superficial!!!