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Book a Week in 2015 - BW4


Robin M
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I'm reading Much Obliged, Jeeves and loving it.  PG Wodehouse has a command of the English language that must have been a blessing personally bestowed upon him by God.  It's one of his latest books (1971) and I can't tell if some of the charm of old Britannia has left the book or it's just my imagination.  It doesn't take away from the humor or the story but that is a time period I dearly love to visit and I don't feel it as strongly in this story.  

 

 

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"The Boy" has returned from the UK where he had a grand time visiting his girlfriend.  Among the things they did was go to the Victoria and Albert which has a current exhibit called Disobedient Objects.  The V&A is a design museum so the point of the exhibit is to look at items used in protest from a design perspective.  He brought home a copy of instructions for making a Book Bloc Shield, something that this group needs to see.  And here is a photo of constructed book shields.

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Jane, I'm feeling your joy over the return of your lad.

 

I'm about to ditch my current read, 'Daughters of Avalon'. Too much romance and not enough history for my liking. I'll give it another go today and see where I am at the end of the day with it. I'm also reading No End to Snowdrops, a biography of the Celtic poet and mystic, Kathleen Raine. A little bit of info on her here for those interested. I've not encountered her poetry before and it is very much in the traditional style of nature poetry. Lovely images and powerful use of language....I can't seem to cut and paste from this particular site but here's a gorgeous poem of hers called Into What Pattern.

 

I'm considering buying 'Ahab's Wife' as it's due back soon, I'm finding the writing marvelous and I'll most certainly not have finished it by its due date. Its heft makes for an unwieldy read and lugging it around with all my other necessities has tended to mean I leave it behind to make room for things like thermoses, knitting and the like.

 

Anam Cara on audio continues to nourish, befriend and delight.

 

 

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NONONONONononononononoono.....

 

St Jude = lost CAUSES

 

St Anthony = lost ITEMS

 

 

please please please don't tell me my journal is a case for St Jude!!!

 

I continue to hold out hope.  True, it has taken longer than our typical lost item, but now that Amy has enlisted the Force I'm confident it will turn up soon.  Well, hopeful anyway.

 

Eek!  One of those speak before I think moments.  Our lost items usually end up being underneath a stack of paper or fall behind a dresser.   When all else fails, a major decluttering usually reveals the items.  The last thing we lost ended up behind James bookshelf.

 

 

Find of the day  -   The books we were:

 

Ă¢â‚¬Å“What you are seeking is also seeking you,Ă¢â‚¬ Rumi says. Certain cherished books, like old loves, find and transform us at decisive stages of our lives. Thus, they remain emblazoned on our minds and hearts, whether we like it or not. And when we must address these emissaries of the past (as I find that I am doing now), we should try to speak of them with the respect and tenderness befitting a ghostly self. If I might be permitted one parting quote from another Sufi mystic, Al-Ghazali, Ă¢â‚¬Å“Only that which cannot be lost in a shipwreck is yours.Ă¢â‚¬ The rest is flotsam.

 

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re: lost items, lost causes, and support of the saints...

Eek!  One of those speak before I think moments.  Our lost items usually end up being underneath a stack of paper or fall behind a dresser.   When all else fails, a major decluttering usually reveals the items.  The last thing we lost ended up behind James bookshelf.

 

 

Find of the day  -   The books we were:

 

 

 

Quote

Ă¢â‚¬Å“What you are seeking is also seeking you,Ă¢â‚¬ Rumi says. Certain cherished books, like old loves, find and transform us at decisive stages of our lives. Thus, they remain emblazoned on our minds and hearts, whether we like it or not. And when we must address these emissaries of the past (as I find that I am doing now), we should try to speak of them with the respect and tenderness befitting a ghostly self. If I might be permitted one parting quote from another Sufi mystic, Al-Ghazali, Ă¢â‚¬Å“Only that which cannot be lost in a shipwreck is yours.Ă¢â‚¬ The rest is flotsam.

 

 

 

:001_wub:  :001_wub: OK I'm feeling all calm and centered now.  St Anthony's pulling for me and my lost book journal; Rumi's pulling for me and my lost book journal, and somewhere out there my book journal, itself, is pulling for me.  All is well.

 

Shabbat shalom, ladies...

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I wonder if they ever read them. The premiers, I mean.

After reading Lost for Wordshttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22067431-lost-for-wordslast year I have become a bit sceptical about how the books are selected for these prizes. I love lists and found a couple i would be happy to try if my library hax them on the premiers list.

 

BTW I am not recommending reading Lost for Words. It wasn't that good. ;)

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I learned today that author Colleen McCullough has died. I read her book The Thornbirds many moons ago; I also liked her book Tim.Here's one obituary: http://www.people.com/article/colleen-mccullough-thorn-birds-author-dies?xid=socialflow_twitter_peoplemagRegards,Kareni

I read this a couple of years ago after seeing the mini-series on a movie channel. I loved the book, and I found the Australian setting amazing. I devoured the book in two days. I didn't think the movie was all that great, but I remember my mom talking about it a lot. She loved Father Ralph (Richard Chamberlain).

I am very sad to hear of her death. My prayers to her family.

Thanks for posting this. I had not heard about it.

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So, I guess, overall, I'd say it doesn't bother me to have it in books, nor do I even notice it that much (at least so far in my reading journeys). Maybe it's almost like 'white noise' to me -- I just read around it. Otoh, I don't want to read gory details about gross or violent things. In the Mongol Queens book I'm reading, I read a short section that was talking about sexual violence against women & girls & I'm not sure I can ever erase that from my brain. History needs to be known so as to not repeat the bad things, but... ugh. 

 

 

 

So I just read the chapter in question. Ugh is right, I feel so sick.  Interestingly, it's had the unintended consequence in confirming my disdain of the culture, which I was revising - to allude to your other read - based on the privileged position of the Mongol women under Ghengis Khan.  But that didn't outlast him by more than a generation.  So, was it a function of Mongol culture, or was he an exceptional individual? Because his sons and grandsons are coming off like particularly inventive sadistic psychopaths.

 

"Disdain for the culture" is too strong, and the wrong way to say it - I guess I just mean that I had the pretty uninformed western idea of the barbaric behavior of the Mongol hordes . . . and it sounds like this was, in fact, the rule, and that Ghengis Khan was exceptional in some ways.  In his attitude to his wives and daughters, at least.  

 

So I don't know what I think.  Keep reading, I guess.

 

ETA:  I woke up this morning thinking about my "disdain for culture" statement and wishing to take it back - so allow me to 'splain.  When I read about the Mongols publicly torturing and killing their aunts and sisters and cousins - and their male relatives - I feel disgust.  But it's the same disgust I feel reading about Boko Haram kidnapping girls for forced marriages, or ISIS executing prisoners, or the entire Holocaust, or the Spanish Inquisition, or Columbus' treatment of the Tainos and the whole rest of the native experience in North  & South America, the slaughter of the Tasmanians, or the Germans killing the Herero, or any of a huge list of atrocities that history presents to us.  I end up just feeling disgusted and disdainful about humans in general.  I got a lot of Romantic pessimism going on.

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I finished listening to Northanger Abbey today, too - I was in the car for many hours.  Catherine is such a goofball! But sweet.  I enjoyed the book, but I bet it's one I would have enjoyed more in my younger days than I did now.  It's a great send-up of Gothic novels, though! I bet my kid would enjoy this Austen more than the others at this stage in her life.  I've been holding off on giving her one, because I don't want it to be too soon, and for her not to appreciate it.  When did you guys give your daughters Austen? And which one first?

 

ETA:  as Mom-ninja pointed out, I phrased this question in a very sexist way! I'm not trying to imply that boys don't/shouldn't read Austen - it's just that my children happen to be girls, so that's why I asked this way.  I'd love to hear about when boys read and enjoyed Austen, too!  :)

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So I just read the chapter in question. Ugh is right, I feel so sick.  Interestingly, it's had the unintended consequence in confirming my disdain of the culture, which I was revising - to allude to your other read - based on the privileged position of the Mongol women under Ghengis Khan.  But that didn't outlast him by more than a generation.  So, was it a function of Mongol culture, or was he an exceptional individual? Because his sons and grandsons are coming off like particularly inventive sadistic psychopaths.

 

"Disdain for the culture" is too strong, and the wrong way to say it - I guess I just mean that I had the pretty uninformed western idea of the barbaric behavior of the Mongol hordes . . . and it sounds like this was, in fact, the rule, and that Ghengis Khan was exceptional in some ways.  In his attitude to his wives and daughters, at least.  

 

So I don't know what I think.  Keep reading, I guess.

 

I think that's the case. Not that Genghis was always a nice guy either. He wasn't. But, he was visionary in quite a few aspects & really went outside of the norms & traditions of his time too. In both books, it has always emphasized that his sons were not stellar -- not smart, not visionary, not particularly good warriors even -- basically sub-par in many aspects.

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 When did you guys give your daughters Austen? And which one first?

 

I had my daughter read Pride and Prejudice in 9th grade.  She enjoyed it.  One of her friends was a big Austen fan, and I know they watched several movie versions together.

 

I don't think she went on to read any of the others.  I recall that I also assigned The Scarlet Pimpernel that year, and my daughter read at least half a dozen of its sequels.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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In the Top Five Books you've read?  thread, MyThreeSons mentioned the book Five Smooth Stones: A Novel by Ann Fairbairn on her list.  It was a favorite of mine many years ago, but we learned that neither of us had ever discussed it with anyone else.  So, out of curiosity, has anyone here read it?

 

The copy I owned had this cover.  And here's a description:

 

"This gripping bestseller, first published in 1966, has continued to captivate readers with its wide-ranging yet intimate portrait of an America sundered by racial conflict. David Champlin is a black man born into poverty in Depression-era New Orleans who makes his way up the ladder of success, only to sacrifice everything to lead his people in the civil rights movement. Sara Kent is the white girl who loves David from the moment she first sees him, and who struggles against his belief that a marriage for them would be wrong in the violent world he has to confront. And the Ă¢â‚¬Å“five smooth stonesĂ¢â‚¬ are those the biblical David carried against Goliath. By the time this novel comes to its climax of horror, bloodshed, and hope, readers will be convinced that its enduring popularity is fully justified."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

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I finished listening to Northanger Abbey today, too - I was in the car for many hours. Catherine is such a goofball! But sweet. I enjoyed the book, but I bet it's one I would have enjoyed more in my younger days than I did now. It's a great send-up of Gothic novels, though! I bet my kid would enjoy this Austen more than the others at this stage in her life. I've been holding off on giving her one, because I don't want it to be too soon, and for her not to appreciate it. When did you guys give your daughters Austen? And which one first?

Dd was 11 turning 12 when she read Austen. She was coming off her Charles Dicken's marathon and read Agatha Christie exclusively after. One of her best friends at that time loved Austen and knew where all the filming locations in our area. To be honest I am not sure that I had much choice because she had a group of friends that were all reading the same books simultaneously.

 

She started with Pride and Prejude, Sense and Sensibility, then Emma. I picked up a three book set somewhere and had her godmother(who has actually read the books ;) ) put them in a reading order for dd.

 

For the Austen film fans the girls had one really marvellous fall day with heather in bloom on this moor discussing Austen sitting on rock piles that were shown in this or that according to the expert friend.http://www.weekendnotes.co.uk/hathersage-moor/They were supposed to be doing a scientific survey on grouse habitats. :lol:

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I finished Ancillary Sword, sequel to Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie last night.  I really liked it.  It was an easier read than the first one - the ambiguous gender was not much of an issue (although I find it interesting to think of which characters I "see" as female and which as male - they are all called "she" or "daughter" in the book) and the POV was much easier to follow, because all the action was happening in a single chronology, and Breq has just a single body, although she can still see through the eyes of her ship and many of its soldiers via implants (hers and theirs).

 

The first book really delved into issues of individuality and identity and free will.  This one continued with the free will and individuality issues but added in a whole sub-theme about colonial/capitalist exploitation of natives/workers, power, and justice.  This is a very impressive series.  I'm looking forward to the third book.  I like that each book resolves the immediate plot, no cliffhangers, but there are clearly more stories to tell, and you are eager to find out what happens next, while still feeling satisfied by the book you've just finished.  

 

I digress:  but why is it so hard for authors to finish books?  I've seen so many comments to this effect on the BaW thread, and felt it myself for years.  How many times have you been reading a great book you really enjoyed, good characters and pacing, interesting plot, and then it ends . . . stupidly.  Either rushed, or not believably, or without resolving anything, or some other unsatisfying way?  This happens to me a lot.  Sometimes I have the feeling that an editor is telling the author "Nope, It can only be 300 pages, you have to stop now" or something like that.  Have  you guys had similar feelings?  You know, the "I want to throw this book I just finished across the room" feeling? Or feel like you could do a better job in writing the ending?

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  When did you guys give your daughters Austen? And which one first?

 

Are you assuming that people don't give their sons Austen to read? 

 

One of the great misunderstandings of Austen is that people categorize her books under "chick lit" and I find that unfortunate. 

 

 

 

I finished The Birth of Venus late last night due to not being able to sleep. I don't know why I even try to read historical fiction anymore. I never like it. This book was no exception. 

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Are you assuming that people don't give their sons Austen to read? 

 

One of the great misunderstandings of Austen is that people categorize her books under "chick lit" and I find that unfortunate. 

 

 

 

I finished The Birth of Venus late last night due to not being able to sleep. I don't know why I even try to read historical fiction anymore. I never like it. This book was no exception. 

 

Oh my gosh, how sexist of me!!!!  I apologize, and I stand corrected!  :blushing:  ;)  It's just that I have two daughters, so when I'm thinking of kids/students and asking about advice I'll apply to mine, I'm thinking of girls.  But I should have phrased my question differently - it was the end of a long day and I was being lazy.  Thank you!

 

I agree completely about the chick lit thing. And hate the idea that there are "boy's books" and "girl's books" when it comes to literature.  But at the same time I acknowledge that there may be gender-based differences in interests - I have seen several people posting about doing a "history of warfare" class with their sons.  I don't think I've seen anyone design a class like that for a girl - but I could be wrong.  I don't think either of my dds would enjoy such a class.  ;)

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Well, I will not be handing Austen to my ds anytime soon. Call me sexist though I'm not sure I'd be that quick to offer her to a daughter either. I liked her but didn't love her and don't feel my life would have suffered without reading her though I suppose I have some context for discussion that comes up. Brontes are a different story. At the very least I will be giving my ds Jane Eyre to read.

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I had the BEST quesadilla on Thursday. The local hardware store had a girls night and one of the foods they had was quesadilla with some sort of hard cheese (I would guess gouda), goats cheese, spinach, garlic, and chilies. My friends and I could not stop eating them. Soooooo good.

 

I haven't read much lately but, inspired by you ladies and your Zentangles, I picked up Secret Garden: 20 Postcards at my local indy today. It isn't zentangling but it is colouring which works better for me right now.

 

I also picked up two books at the library. I will probably be buying them in the future but I wanted to check them out first. They are two history books to go with our HoMW reading but these are Swedish History books. One goes from 13000BC to 600AD and the other one goes from 600AD to 1350AD. So spanning before and after HoMW but I thought it would be good. They aren't necessarily chronological but more thematic. I have a later book in the series and that is built up in a similar way. They do tend to be chronological within the themes.

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My son read P&P as a 7th grader and liked it very much.  I assigned it, I don't think he would have picked it up on his own, but he liked it and was able to discuss it. But he likes lots of books that people don't consider to be 'boy' books.  He adores The Penderwicks, for example.

 

Once someone (ahem, MIL) said something to him about how they were surprised he liked a book because the main character was a girl. He said, "I think that is insulting to girls AND boys."

 

Half of a Yellow Sun is very good. I am two chapters in and I don't want to put it down.  I love books set in Africa, and this author is just amazing (so far, lol).

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I really want to read Half of a Yellow Sun too.

 

After Amy declaring me out of my reading rut, I haven't picked up either book I was reading since then! :tongue_smilie: I have had an overly (really, really) busy & stressful week & next week will be the same. Hopefully things will calm down closer to normal after that, but I don't know. Both books I was in the midst of are either long or require a good amount of concentration (Mongolian names) & I didn't have time to sit down & whittle away at reading. Anyway, I ended up picking up a relatively short book from the library in the meantime, hoping I can make it through in a somewhat timely manner. It is The Jerusalem File by Joel Stone, published by Europa Editions.

 

From Publishers Weekly:

 

Stone, who died in 2007, successfully grafts a classic hard-boiled detective plot line onto the complexities and dangers of life in modern Israel in his final novel. When Prof. Jacob Kaye suspects his attractive wife, Deborah, of infidelity, he hires Levin, a former Israeli security service officer turned PI, to shadow her around the streets of Jerusalem. Levin quickly confirms his client's fears. When Deborah's art professor lover is gunned down on the road to Jaffa, an apparent victim of a random Palestinian sniper attack, Levin wonders whether Kaye was behind the murder. While the gumshoe's growing attraction to the woman in the case is stock material, Stone (A Town Called Jericho ) uses it to challenge his lead character's retreat from life and generally passive attitude. The book also nicely captures the inherently tenuous nature of life in the Holy City, where a door-to-door insurance salesman offers a small extra charge for terrorism coverage.

 

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While going through my email I discovered notification that a free online course in making early manuscripts is just starting through Stanford, it actually started January 20 but usually you can start a bit late. https://class.stanford.edu/courses/English/DiggingDeeper1/Winter2015/about. Dd may decide to take it if she isn't too late to earn a certificate. Anyway it goes with our Medieval theme.

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So I just read the chapter in question. Ugh is right, I feel so sick.  Interestingly, it's had the unintended consequence in confirming my disdain of the culture, which I was revising - to allude to your other read - based on the privileged position of the Mongol women under Ghengis Khan.  But that didn't outlast him by more than a generation.  So, was it a function of Mongol culture, or was he an exceptional individual? Because his sons and grandsons are coming off like particularly inventive sadistic psychopaths.

 

"Disdain for the culture" is too strong, and the wrong way to say it - I guess I just mean that I had the pretty uninformed western idea of the barbaric behavior of the Mongol hordes . . . and it sounds like this was, in fact, the rule, and that Ghengis Khan was exceptional in some ways.  In his attitude to his wives and daughters, at least.  

 

So I don't know what I think.  Keep reading, I guess.

 

ETA:  I woke up this morning thinking about my "disdain for culture" statement and wishing to take it back - so allow me to 'splain.  When I read about the Mongols publicly torturing and killing their aunts and sisters and cousins - and their male relatives - I feel disgust.  But it's the same disgust I feel reading about Boko Haram kidnapping girls for forced marriages, or ISIS executing prisoners, or the entire Holocaust, or the Spanish Inquisition, or Columbus' treatment of the Tainos and the whole rest of the native experience in North  & South America, the slaughter of the Tasmanians, or the Germans killing the Herero, or any of a huge list of atrocities that history presents to us.  I end up just feeling disgusted and disdainful about humans in general.  I got a lot of Romantic pessimism going on.

 

Well, then, as an antidote that might elevate your levels of optimism... if you haven't already, and appropos of our exchange on that other thread, you might take a look at Steven Pinker's new book.  The long moral arc bending and all that.

 

(And...  did you ultimately end up studying with him?  So jealous...)

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Oh my gosh, how sexist of me!!!!  I apologize, and I stand corrected!  :blushing:  ;)  It's just that I have two daughters, so when I'm thinking of kids/students and asking about advice I'll apply to mine, I'm thinking of girls.  But I should have phrased my question differently - it was the end of a long day and I was being lazy.  Thank you!

 

I agree completely about the chick lit thing. And hate the idea that there are "boy's books" and "girl's books" when it comes to literature.  But at the same time I acknowledge that there may be gender-based differences in interests - I have seen several people posting about doing a "history of warfare" class with their sons.  I don't think I've seen anyone design a class like that for a girl - but I could be wrong.  I don't think either of my dds would enjoy such a class.  ;)

I have all boys. :D  I can't wait to read Austen with them, but I do think I will wait until they are older. Right now my oldest is in the Percy Jackson and the like stage. 

 

 

I am sensitive to gender assumptions. While my boys love all things "boy" they also like musicals and my youngest is in dance. You don't know how many times people assume that, when I'm talking about dance class or watching musicals, I have a daughter. 

 

I will say that my boys think I've lost my mind when I cry over a book or movie. They simply shale their heads and walk away. So, yes, there are differences between the sexes.  :lol:

 

 

So, I checked out an ebook to read on my Kindle so I could move on as quickly as possible from the not so enjoyable book last night. I open my kindle cover and see that my kindle is not charged. I decided to watch Phantom of the Opera on Netflix while I waited. 

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I had the BEST quesadilla on Thursday. The local hardware store had a girls night and one of the foods they had was quesadilla with some sort of hard cheese (I would guess gouda), goats cheese, spinach, garlic, and chilies. My friends and I could not stop eating them. Soooooo good.

 

I haven't read much lately but, inspired by you ladies and your Zentangles, I picked up Secret Garden: 20 Postcards at my local indy today. It isn't zentangling but it is colouring which works better for me right now.

 

I also picked up two books at the library. I will probably be buying them in the future but I wanted to check them out first. They are two history books to go with our HoMW reading but these are Swedish History books. One goes from 13000BC to 600AD and the other one goes from 600AD to 1350AD. So spanning before and after HoMW but I thought it would be good. They aren't necessarily chronological but more thematic. I have a later book in the series and that is built up in a similar way. They do tend to be chronological within the themes.

 

Wait.

 

Stop.the.bus.

 

I had to read that three times.  I'm still flummoxed.

 

Your local hardware store sponsors ladies' nights, at which they serve free gourmet quesadillas???!!

 

:svengo:

 

 

Dang.  I am living in the wrong part of the world.

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I have all boys. :D  I can't wait to read Austen with them, but I do think I will wait until they are older. Right now my oldest is in the Percy Jackson and the like stage. 

 

 

I am sensitive to gender assumptions. While my boys love all things "boy" they also like musicals and my youngest is in dance. You don't know how many times people assume that, when I'm talking about dance class or watching musicals, I have a daughter. 

 

I will say that my boys think I've lost my mind when I cry over a book or movie. They simply shale their heads and walk away. So, yes, there are differences between the sexes.  :lol:

 

 

Mine is a dancer, too. And a singer of classical music. He's pretty much always the only boy in his dance class. But would I give him Austen?

 

 

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I am terrible about keeping this updated.

 

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

 

That's my current status. 10 books read. Just finished Quiet and Smartcuts - absolutely loved both of them and they are both going on my very short "To Buy" list. Have a short list I'm currently working through, I need to figure out which one I'm going to focus on for the next week so that I don't keep on reading a couple pages of each and not getting any of them finished. No more buying books for a while (or getting library books). Eek! I have library issues.

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Inbetween books and I don't watch tv very often, but yesterday was feeling extremely lazy so checked to see what I had recorded.  Caught up with Glee by watching the first 4 episodes of the last season.  In amidst the idiocy they keep coming up with tiny tidbits of wisdom.  Plus.... Yes, plus.  Remember I was feeling lazy.   Two episodes of Sleepy Hollow.  Episode 11 and 12 in which we had a renegade angel trying to destroy Alexander, the Horseman of War.  I really don't like Ichabod's wife. Guess I'm tv'ed out for another month or so. 

 

Book wise, happy to report my buying ban held up for the whole of January.  February sees the purchase of Murder of Crow's and J.D. Robb's latest in her In Death series and don't think I'll hold out for long on Dean Koontz final book in the Odd Thomas series.   James and I are going shopping tomorrow during the super bowl and guess where we are going?  Yep, the bookstore. 

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Chrysallis Academy:  I've been holding off on giving her one, because I don't want it to be too soon, and for her not to appreciate it.  When did you guys give your daughters Austen? And which one first?

 

15/16 is when we did our Austen study.  We did Sense & Sensibility first because all of the girls were REALLY familiar with the movie, and we were saving Pride & Prejudice for last.  Northanger Abbey was our second book.

 

mumto2: Dd was 11 turning 12 when she read Austen. She was coming off her Charles Dicken's marathon and read Agatha Christie exclusively after. One of her best friends at that time loved Austen and knew where all the filming locations in our area. To be honest I am not sure that I had much choice because she had a group of friends that were all reading the same books simultaneously.

She started with Pride and Prejude, Sense and Sensibility, then Emma. I picked up a three book set somewhere and had her godmother(who has actually read the books  ;) ) put them in a reading order for dd.

For the Austen film fans the girls had one really marvellous fall day with heather in bloom on this moor discussing Austen sitting on rock piles that were shown in this or that according to the expert friend.
http://www.weekendno...athersage-moor/They were supposed to be doing a scientific survey on grouse habitats.  :lol: 

 

It is so much more fun with friends!!!  And I REALLY REALLY want to visit there!!!

 

Honestly, in my opinion, reading Austen at 12 is fine, BUT I would really (I'm liking that word today) think that you should revisit it Junior or Senior year in high school as there is so much good discussion to be had and much of that will go over her head at 12.  But that's just me  ;)  

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

 

That's my current status. 10 books read. Just finished Quiet and Smartcuts - absolutely loved both of them and they are both going on my very short "To Buy" list. Have a short list I'm currently working through, I need to figure out which one I'm going to focus on for the next week so that I don't keep on reading a couple pages of each and not getting any of them finished. No more buying books for a while (or getting library books). Eek! I have library issues.

 

You're quite organized!  I simply have stack 1 and stack 2 (from my two different libraries though now I'm thinking of Thing One and Two from Dr. Seuss!), the towering stacks of unread books that I own, the books on my shelves, and the e-tower on my Kindle.

 

If you finish your Books in Progress and move on to your Books to Read category, I'd vote for You Are Your Child's First Teacher and The Well-Educated Mind; I enjoyed reading both of those.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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If you finish your Books in Progress and move on to your Books to Read category, I'd vote for You Are Your Child's First Teacher and The Well-Educated Mind; I enjoyed reading both of those.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

This is one of the few parenting books I bought. I read it many times over those early years of mothering. Wonderful stuff!

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This week I read "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by W. Shakespeare. Last night I happened to catch an episode of Shakespeare Uncovered talking all about "The Dream." My 8yo read "Mystery Math A First Book of Algebra" by David Adler. She was really excited by this picture book, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to bring out HOE. :)

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You're quite organized!  I simply have stack 1 and stack 2 (from my two different libraries though now I'm thinking of Thing One and Two from Dr. Seuss!), the towering stacks of unread books that I own, the books on my shelves, and the e-tower on my Kindle.

 

If you finish your Books in Progress and move on to your Books to Read category, I'd vote for You Are Your Child's First Teacher and The Well-Educated Mind; I enjoyed reading both of those.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Both of those will be re-reads for me. Liked them both, but I feel like I rushed through them (I often do the first time through a book). So, on the to-read list they are!

 

I have to be organized, I just have so many books. I have more books I haven't read yet in the house, but they aren't even in my Evernote yet. So I just listed the ones I want to read or re-read the most right now. ;)

 

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Wait.

 

Stop.the.bus.

 

I had to read that three times.  I'm still flummoxed.

 

Your local hardware store sponsors ladies' nights, at which they serve free gourmet quesadillas???!!

 

:svengo:

 

 

Dang.  I am living in the wrong part of the world.

 

There was also wine. ;) And chocolate deserts.

 

In some respects I live in the most awesome place in the world. Because not only does our hardware store do the above, I also have one of the best Indy bookstores in the country in town. The only thing that would make me declare it as the best place in the world would be if the indy also had a coffee shop attached. :)

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Well, then, as an antidote that might elevate your levels of optimism... if you haven't already, and appropos of our exchange on that other thread, you might take a look at Steven Pinker's new book.  The long moral arc bending and all that.

 

(And...  did you ultimately end up studying with him?  So jealous...)

 

Not really - he was on sabbatical for my first year, then was off in book-writing and galley-proofing land after that, and I had kind of headed off in a different direction.  I got to interact with him at talks and lectures, but my warmest memory of him is during my interview - he was delightful! I had fallen in love with The Language Instinct and came out of the interview with a bit of a crush on him.  He moved over to Harvard soon after I left, I think.

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