Book A week 2015 - W19: Happy Mother's Day

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday dear hearts:  We are on week 19 in our quest to read 52 books.  Welcome back to our regulars, anyone just joining in, and to all who follow our progress. Mr. Linky is all set up on the 52 books blog to link to your reviews. The link is also in my signature.

 

52 Books Blog - Happy Mother's Day: Happy Mother's Day, dear hearts.  One of my favorite memories is reading to my son when he was so much younger, books by P.D. Eastman and Dr. Seuss to name a few.   Now we're reading things like Inside Hitler's Bunker and the Iliad.  *grin* 

I really can't remember what books I read with my mother when I was a child.  Probably Dr. Seuss since I have a picture of me at 7 reading one of his books to my little brother.  I think the 50's / 60's generation probably all grew up on Dr. Seuss.   

What was your favorite book growing up?

 

 

 

My Mother Kept A Garden
My Mother kept a garden,
a garden of the heart,
She planted all the good things
that gave my life it's start.

She turned me to the sunshine
and encouraged me to dream,
Fostering and nurturing
the seeds of self-esteem...

And when the winds and rain came,
she protected me enough-
But not too much because she knew
I'd need to stand up strong and tough.

Her constant good example
always taught me right from wrong-
Markers for my pathway
that will last a lifetime long.

I am my Mother's garden.
I am her legacy-
And I hope today she feels the love
reflected back from me.

Author Unknown

 

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

History of the Medieval World - Chapter 22 Byzantium pp 150 - 158

 

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

 

What are you reading this week?

 

 

 

 

Link to week 18

[Robin M]

I'm currently reading Swann's Way by Marcel Proust and actually enjoying it quite a bit. 

[Robin M]

Woot! Woot!   My old roomie and friend Maria Alexander won the Stoker Award for her novel Mr. Wicker. Superior Achievement in a First Novel. 

[Violet Crown]

Checking in quick: big day today, Wee Girl's First Communion! A/k/a "the day I get to whear a pretty white dress and veil and everyone will be paying attention to me but not expecting me to say anything." Then cake and champagne and barbecue. And it looks like the rain's stopped and the sun is out.

 

Almost done with Sayers' Inferno. Middle Girl is finishing up Sayers' Purgatorio so that next.

[Cinder]

I don't remember what my mom read to me but I know she did read to me when I was very young because in later years she thought this was why I did well in school. She thought my brother and sister didn't do as well because they weren't read to as much. I'm the oldest.

 

My favorite book was The Phantom Tollbooth. We read that in 10th grade for a unit on word origins and vocabulary. Plus Mr. Martin was my favorite English teacher and one of my favorite teachers ever.

 

Since my last check-in (I may have missed a week):

 

I'm nearing the end of part 2 of 1Q84 and am about 2/3 finished with Pieces and Players by Blue Balliett.

 

I've listened to Marriage from Hell by MC Beaton and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams. I like Martin Freeman's narration.

 

I'm about halfway through reading aloud The Penderwicks in Spring with dd. We're both enjoying Batty's adventures as a nearly 11yo.

 

 

[Butter]

I'm reading Psych's Guide to Crime Fighting for the Completely Unqualified.  It's hilarious, as I expected.

 

This past week I did a LOT of reading.  5 full books.  And I still fed and educated my kids and kept my house clean.  So that's awesome lol

[Kareni]

Happy Mother's Day to you all!

 

I can't recall my mother reading to me/us when we were growing up, but I distinctly remember my grandmother (Oma) doing so.  One book that had a powerful impact was Anne Holm's I Am David (also sometimes titled North to Freedom).

 

"David's entire twelve-year life has been spent in a grisly prison camp in Eastern Europe. He knows nothing of the outside world. But when he is given the chance to escape, he seizes it. With his vengeful enemies hot on his heels, David struggles to cope in this strange new world, where his only resources are a compass, a few crusts of bread, his two aching feet, and some vague advice to seek refuge in Denmark. Is that enough to survive?

David's extraordinary odyssey is dramatically chronicled in Anne Holm's classic about the meaning of freedom and the power of hope."

 

My grandmother was Hungarian and was born in 1905.  She lived through both World War I and (with her daughters, in the Netherlands) World War II.  My mother told stories of them eating tulip bulbs during the war when food was hard to come by.  "... the meaning of freedom and the power of hope" were things Oma knew well.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Loesje22000]

At home mother didn't read aloud as soon as you could read on your own.

So I remember only readings from the bible and from: 'Jip and Janneke'

http://s.s-bol.com/imgbase0/imagebase3/large/FC/6/8/7/0/1001004002520786.jpg

 

I think Jip and Janneke are typical dutch, typical for their timeframe, and one of the first Dutch childrenbooks for young children.

 

Pluk van de Petteflet was read aloud at school:

http://s.s-bol.com/imgbase0/imagebase/large/FC/6/5/3/9/1001004002069356.jpg

[TeacherZee]

I know that the LAST books my mom read to me were David Eddings' The Belgariad. She stopped reading to me at bedtime sometime during book 3 because I would stay up way to late reading ahead *ahem*. I also know that the FIRST book she read to me was Arthur C. Clark's 2001: A Space Odyssey. I was less than 24 hours old  :lol:  In between those books she read me tonnes of other books. And I love her for it.

 

I'll update my read so far this year list once I am on the other side of end of term madness.

[Ali in OR]

I've been working on two this week, so nothing completed. But I really like the two I'm working on.

 

Ricochet River by Robin Cody is one my daughter is reading for lit class. Well, she's done reading it, but the lit class will be working on it for a couple of weeks. This is a beautifully written story that takes place in a fictional town in the Cascades east of Portland. Lots of regional flavor--logging, salmon runs, huckleberries. The story, told by Wade, is a reminiscence of his senior year in high school and an Indian boy who moved to town that year who had a big impact on Wade.

 

My other read is The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. Robin mentioned it early in the year as a potential pick for its cover. I ended up putting it on hold after reading a review in Time magazine. I've never read anything by Ishiguro; his best known book is probably Remains of the Day. What grabbed my attention in the article is that he wanted to explore the idea of how a country or people group recovers and heals after some catastrophic experience, like Germany recovering from the Holocaust and the evil committed in their land by their citizens. But he didn't use a modern country--he sets the book in post-Arthur England and he includes fantasy elements like ogres and dragons. There is a mist of forgetfulness over the land as we follow the elderly couple Axl and Beatrice who try to remember their past lives. This book is beautifully written and captivating. I'm more drawn into the novel having read the Time magazine piece--I'm not sure I would have generalized the story to apply to other peoples otherwise. And knowing that there were forgotten horrible events in the history Axl and Beatrice are trying to recover, I'm intrigued by Ishiguro's courteous, gracious language in most every conversation. This will definitely be on my best of 2015 list. I hope to finish it today.

 

Coincidentally, dd and I are reading Roger Lancelyn Green's King Arthur, so I was already back in Arthurian England anyway, and we've read a little non-fiction on Saxons and Britons. I like such serendipitous reading convergences!

[Kareni]

Last night I finished I Wish by Elizabeth Langston.  This was what I'd describe as a really nice young adult novel.  I think even conservative readers might enjoy this book.  While this book can stand alone, it's the first in a series.  I'd be interested in reading the second book when it is published.

 

"Lacey Linden is hiding the truth of her life--a depressed mom, a crumbling house, and bills too big to pay. While her high school classmates see a girl with a ready smile and good grades, Lacey spends her evenings seeking ways to save her family. On a get-cash-quick trip to the flea market, Lacey stumbles over a music box that seemingly begs her to take it home. She does, only to find that it's inhabited by a gorgeous genie. He offers her a month of wishes, one per day, but there's a catch. Each wish must be humanly possible.

Grant belongs to a league of supernatural beings, dedicated to serving humans in need. After two years of fulfilling the boring wishes of conventional teens, he is one assignment away from promotion to a challenging new role with more daring cases. Yet his month with Lacey is everything that he expects, and nothing like he imagines. Lacey and Grant soon discover that the most difficult task of all might be saying goodbye."

 

Here's a review with some detail if you're interested in learning more.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

[Onceuponatime]

My mother also stopped reading to us once we could read on our own. I was reading well by 5 so I don't remember what she read to me, but I'm sure Suess was in there somewhere. She did join a book club that sent children's books in the mail regularly. Some of them I found again at yard sales when I had kids of my own and they have become family favorites. We were also allowed to get Scholastic books from school sales.

 

I read to my kids as long as they wanted me too. My 11 yo just recently stopped asking. 😥

 

Yesterday I finished If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him by Sharyn McCrumb. It was so so. Since then, I've been reading The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough. I found it in a thrift store and bought it because it sounded interesting and slightly familiar. Come to find out, it is a story I enjoyed over 20 years ago in a Reader's Digest magazine, in a very condensed form. I'm am enjoying the complete version just as much as before

[Negin]

I really can't remember what books I read with my mother when I was a child.  

My mother never read to me as a child, not that I can recall, but I grew up loving books regardless. Can't think of my favorite book, there were far too many to choose from - Topsy & Tim, Enid Blyton, Milly Molly Mandy, and later, The Silver Sword (aka Escape from Warsaw). Robin, love that poem, btw. 

 

I read:

Anne Frank: The Biography - 4 Stars - This book gives a great deal of information about the family and friends and what happened to all of them after the war. It's very thorough and detailed. There is another one written by one of their family friends that I think would also be an interesting perspective. The writing was engaging and held my interest. I liked how the author interspersed Anne's writings throughout. One of the reasons that I enjoyed reading this is that we'll be staying very near to the Anne Frank Museum for a few days quite soon.

 

July 22 1941. The girl next door is getting married. Anne Frank is leaning out of the window of her house in Amsterdam to get a good look at the bride and groom. It is the only time Anne Frank has ever been captured on film.

 

Once again, I'm having difficulty embedding a video. 

 

I also read Rick Steves' Great Britain - 4 Stars - What is there to say? He writes very helpful travel books. :D

 

 

 

MY RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars

Fantastic, couldn't put it down

4 Stars

Really Good

3 Stars

Enjoyable

2 Stars

Just Okay – nothing to write home about

1 Star

Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

[Just Robyn]

Happy Mother's Day to all of you! 

 

I read volumes 1 - 3 of iZombie. It is total brain candy, a much needed break. I'm sorry there is only one more volume to read. I also read 24 cantos of Purgatorio, started in on the 2015 Rhysling Anthology, and began reading Catherynne M. Valente's The Boy Who Lost Fairyland with my middle ds.

[Ali in OR]

Just trying to see if I can attach a photo after reading the post about cleaning out your cache in the thread on pictures. Tried to post this at the beginning of the year when we were posting our bookshelves. This is our biggest bookcase--dh's boring books on the left, mostly kid/homeschool stuff in the middle, many books from my mom or reference stuff on the right. Plus the Little Women dolls my mom made when she was a girl.

 

 

 

Yay! It worked!

[idnib]

I am still reading Inferno and am almost done with The Pilgrim's Progress. I did finish the original book, but Bunyan later wrote a sequel and I'm reading that. They are the same volume.

 

I added The Elephant Whisperer as an audio book. I don't usually listen to audiobooks, although I buy a lot of them for my kids. However I have a lot to do around the house so it's something to keep me occupied while I work.

 

I finished Price Caspian and didn't like it as much as The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I'm hoping to enjoy the rest of the series more.

[mumto2]

As soon as I could read my mother stopped reading to me too. I will say I have many happy memories of reading my own books with my mother reading her books after that.....side by side on my parent's bed most evenings for several years. My father was very tolerant. I remember Dr.Suess and the Little Brown Bear books by Elizabeth Upham best.

 

Currently reading the third book in the Libriomancer series by Jim Hines.

[SunnyDays]

Hello, and happy Mothers' Day!!  :)

 

I don't really remember being read to much, but I know that my parents and grandparents did read to me a great deal.  I read very early on my own, and I was sort of an "I do it myself!" type, so I probably kicked them out of the role at some point.  :LOL:

 

Gave up on Ready Player One.  It had promise, but as much as I liked the 80's references, I'm just not a video game girl and for some reason I couldn't stay with it.  Oh well.

 

Starting some brain candy:  How to Murder a Millionaire by Nancy Martin.  It's the first in a cozy mystery series.

 

[mumto2]

 

My other read is The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. Robin mentioned it early in the year as a potential pick for its cover. I ended up putting it on hold after reading a review in Time magazine. I've never read anything by Ishiguro; his best known book is probably Remains of the Day. What grabbed my attention in the article is that he wanted to explore the idea of how a country or people group recovers and heals after some catastrophic experience, like Germany recovering from the Holocaust and the evil committed in their land by their citizens. But he didn't use a modern country--he sets the book in post-Arthur England and he includes fantasy elements like ogres and dragons. There is a mist of forgetfulness over the land as we follow the elderly couple Axl and Beatrice who try to remember their past lives. This book is beautifully written and captivating. I'm more drawn into the novel having read the Time magazine piece--I'm not sure I would have generalized the story to apply to other peoples otherwise. And knowing that there were forgotten horrible events in the history Axl and Beatrice are trying to recover, I'm intrigued by Ishiguro's courteous, gracious language in most every conversation. This will definitely be on my best of 2015 list. I hope to finish it today.

 

Coincidentally, dd and I are reading Roger Lancelyn Green's King Arthur, so I was already back in Arthurian England anyway, and we've read a little non-fiction on Saxons and Britons. I like such serendipitous reading convergences!

I remember the cover being interesting but your description convinced me to add my name to the hold list.

 

VC, I hope you had a lovely day.

[Jane in NC]

Sitting in my mother's lap and being read to is an enduring memory.  Apparently I learned to "read" at age 3 1/2.  One wonders if I had simply memorized the narrative in my favorite books!

 

Saluting my mother who has since passed away for allowing me to get my first library card at age 3 1/2.  The rule was that a child had to write his name in order to qualify. I could write mine so Mom said of course I should have my own card.  My father was paid on Tuesday back when one received paper checks.  Every Wednesday (before I attended school), Mom and I took the bus downtown to cash his check, pay bills, shop.  Our first stop was the library where every week I borrowed a stack of books.  The dear woman then toted them about downtown as we ran our errands.  Of course she realized that I was the kid who could be parked in a chair with my stack of books while she stood in line at the bank or the gas company (back in the day when parents parked their children and went on to do what needed to be done).

 

I think my favorite book from young childhood is Poems to Read to the Very Young which Mom bought for me at the PTA book sale when I was in Kindergarten.  I can recite practically every poem in the book from memory.

 

 

I still have this book and spent many happy hours reading it with my son.

 

Still reading Mysliwski's novel A Treatise on Shelling Beans which is absolutely brilliant.  Nonetheless my sense of humor lead me to crack open some rarely read manga, a book that my husband said I would like, Oishinbo, The Joy of Rice.  Beans and rice, you know?  Back to my peasant roots...

 

[idnib]

I forgot to answer the questions...

 

My parents didn't read to me really at all. I learned to read in pre-K and that was that. I did grow up in a house with many, many books. They were almost all non-fiction: religion, history, biographies, and medicine accounted for 95%. The others were a few books or poetry, some Updike novels, and a few cookbooks. I read a lot of those books and fiction as well.

 

When I was really young, my favorite book was A Mouse to Be Free. It's truly a wonderful book and I have read my copy to my kids.

 

 

 

 

Jane, how's your weather?

[Butter]

I only vaguely remember my mom reading to me.  I know she did, but I've never enjoyed being read to (or listening to audiobooks) so as soon as I could read (at 3) I insisted she stop reading to me.  She reads to my dad when they are in the car or he's working on the house or whatever.  He doesn't enjoy reading, but loves listening.  It's quite adorable.

 

My favorite book when I was little was a little golden book called Where Did the Baby Go?  Everyone always said I looked like the little girl in the book so of course I thought it was really about me.

[6packofun]

My current read is perfect for Mother's Day!

 

Breed by Chase Novak

Alex and Leslie Twisden lead charmed lives--fabulous careers, a luxurious home in Manhattan, a passionate marriage. What's missing is a child, and as they try one infertility treatment after another desire becomes obsession. As a last-ditch attempt to make their dream of parenthood a reality, the Twisdens travel to Slovenia, where they undergo a painful procedure that gives them what they've so fervently wanted...but with awful consequences.

Ten years later, coddled and living in a house of secrets, the twins Adam and Alice find themselves locked into their rooms every night, with sounds coming from their parents' bedroom growing and more disturbing.

Desperate for answers, the twins set out on a quest to uncover the truth about the man and woman who raised them. What they discover will reveal a threat so terrible that it must be escaped, at any cost.

 

Hey, Stephen King liked it!  LOL

 

As for my mom, she taught me to read at home with Bill Cosby's Picture Pages!  I was not homeschooled but my birthday caused me to be held back a year in school so my mom took over!  LOL  She read to me a lot--especially Cinderella until I had it memorized--but once I started reading on my own pretty well she no longer read aloud to me and focused on my siblings.  (Which was OK with me! lol)

[Kim in Appalachia]

I just finished reading Kate Atkinson's Case Histories. It was a well written, engaging book. There were a few things I found odd in the end, but still, I enjoyed the mysteries.  I just put, One Good Turn on the wait list at the library.  It's the second book in the series.  I checked out Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City.  I was very interested in his latest book, but since I hadn't read anything by him before, I thought I would start by reading some of his older works from the library.  

 

I have Kate Atkinson's book, Life After Life, on my Sansa Clip.  I had started it last summer, listening while I ran, but then I got injured and didn't run for a few months.  When I started back, I was inside on my treadmill, using my time to watch House of Cards. :)  I really want to read that book, but I'll have to restart it.  Maybe when my kids start swimming again.  I run slow and long on swim days, plenty of time to listen to a book.  Her sequel to it just came out, and it looks good too.  

[Ali in OR]

My sister and I have often wondered why our mom never read to us. We were asking our oldest brother and he had many fond memories of mom reading to him--guess she didn't have the time by the time we came along (kids #3 and #4 of the 4-kids-in-5-years)! I didn't read much to my disabled dd--she didn't respond. I didn't try reading to middle dd until she was about 10 months old. She loved it immediately and I felt guilty that I hadn't tried earlier. She has always loved books. As a toddler she would grab a book then walk backward to me or dh when we were sitting on the floor and plunk herself down in our lap with the book! Read-alouds have been my favorite part of home schooling. In theory I think I could still read aloud to them in the evening, but sports, activities, and homework have taken away most of that time. We can still do a little during summer though.

[Kim in Appalachia]

I forgot to post about my mom reading to me.  She didn't, not much anyway.  Some Dr. Seuss and early readers, but nothing beyond that.  My mom hates reading.  She thinks it's a waste of time, and books take up space and collect dust.   :ohmy:  :tongue_smilie:  But she did always encourage me to read. :)  My mom is an amazing person, but she is incapable of sitting still.  She always has to be busy doing something with her hands.  I got her a fitbit for Christmas.  We never left the house and she logged over 10,000 steps before dinner time.  

[Chrysalis Academy]

I don't remember my mom reading to me. She must have done when I was very small, but I remember her saying that she had a lot of bad reading habits - she hadn't learned to read until she was 8 or 9 - and she was afraid of passing them on to me.  My dad read me the Bible - the KJV - the whole thing, even Leviticus!  :lol:   

 

What I do remember was my mom reading *with* me - reading side by side, all the time I was growing up. She shared her favorite books with me, she was the one who introduced me to Georgette Heyer and Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt and Mary Stewart and Daphne DuMaurier - those were the books I grew up reading.  We'd both read them separately, then talk about them.  Good memories.

 

She stopped reading at some point, I don't know when. I think it was after I left home.  She stopped reading and started having the TV on all the time. Now, she really can't read, her memory and substance abuse issues have gotten in the way. Sometimes I wonder if she had kept reading, if she might have staved off the dementia a little longer.

 

I treasure the memories I have of reading with my mom. I read with my girls, too, but I'm going to keep reading *to* them till they till me to quit!

[Chrysalis Academy]

Oh yeah, reading!  I decided to pass on Dante for now - too many obligations at the moment, I need reading to be a pleasure, not another chore.  I picked up The Graveyard Book and started reading it last night. I'm really enjoying it.  Not as much as The Ocean at the End of the Lane - I haven't cried yet - but still, very much.

 

For nonfiction, working on an interesting stack - The Amazons, Shakespeare's Daughters, Does Santa Exist, and Hacking your Education.  

 

Books read in May:

71. A Game of Thrones

70. Persuasion

69. The End of College

68. The Ocean at the End of the Lane

[JennW in SoCal]

Happy Mothers Day to my BaW friends. I'm sitting in the airport cell phone lot and just watched the plane carrying my youngest as it landed. Now waiting to hear that he has his luggage and is ready. It's like old times, sitting and listening to an audio book, waiting on a kid.

 

Will share favorite childhood books later when I have a real keyboard instead of my phone!

[Stacia]

Woot! Woot!   My old roomie and friend Maria Alexander won the Stoker Award for her novel Mr. Wicker. Superior Achievement in a First Novel. 

 

That's cool! I've been wondering how scary Mr. Wicker is...?

 

Checking in quick: big day today, Wee Girl's First Communion! A/k/a "the day I get to whear a pretty white dress and veil and everyone will be paying attention to me but not expecting me to say anything." Then cake and champagne and barbecue. And it looks like the rain's stopped and the sun is out.

 

Congrats to Wee Girl.

 

I'm nearing the end of part 2 of 1Q84

 

Are you still enjoying it?

 

I'm reading Psych's Guide to Crime Fighting for the Completely Unqualified.  It's hilarious, as I expected.

 

I'm going to have to get this one for my ds. It's hard to keep him in new books, but he always loved Psych, so this book would probably be a big hit with him!

 

My grandmother was Hungarian and was born in 1905.  She lived through both World War I and (with her daughters, in the Netherlands) World War II.  My mother told stories of them eating tulip bulbs during the war when food was hard to come by.  "... the meaning of freedom and the power of hope" were things Oma knew well.

 

We have Oma here too (dh's mom). As a child in Belgium during WWII, I know she has mentioned that you won't be picky about what you eat. She has no qualms about eating something that has fallen on the floor.

 

So I remember only readings from the bible and from: 'Jip and Janneke'

http://s.s-bol.com/imgbase0/imagebase3/large/FC/6/8/7/0/1001004002520786.jpg

 

I think Jip and Janneke are typical dutch, typical for their timeframe, and one of the first Dutch childrenbooks for young children.

 

My dh recognizes those!

 

I also know that the FIRST book she read to me was Arthur C. Clark's 2001: A Space Odyssey. I was less than 24 hours old  :lol:

 

:lol:  I daresay you may be the only newborn who has had that as a first book read!

 

My other read is The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. Robin mentioned it early in the year as a potential pick for its cover. I ended up putting it on hold after reading a review in Time magazine. I've never read anything by Ishiguro; his best known book is probably Remains of the Day. What grabbed my attention in the article is that he wanted to explore the idea of how a country or people group recovers and heals after some catastrophic experience, like Germany recovering from the Holocaust and the evil committed in their land by their citizens. But he didn't use a modern country--he sets the book in post-Arthur England and he includes fantasy elements like ogres and dragons. There is a mist of forgetfulness over the land as we follow the elderly couple Axl and Beatrice who try to remember their past lives. This book is beautifully written and captivating. I'm more drawn into the novel having read the Time magazine piece--I'm not sure I would have generalized the story to apply to other peoples otherwise. And knowing that there were forgotten horrible events in the history Axl and Beatrice are trying to recover, I'm intrigued by Ishiguro's courteous, gracious language in most every conversation. This will definitely be on my best of 2015 list. I hope to finish it today.

 

Thanks for your review! I loved Ishiguro's other books I've read & think Remains of the Day is an almost perfect book.

[Halcyon]

I don't recall my mother ever reading to me. She must have, though...right?

 

I am trying to reach Ordinary Light but just not getting into it. It seems a little....boring? Maybe i just need to push through a bit more. Also still listening to Emma on Audible and The Ender's Game with the kids. 

[Stacia]

My mother also stopped reading to us once we could read on our own. I was reading well by 5 so I don't remember what she read to me, but I'm sure Suess was in there somewhere.

 

For me too. I distinctly remember The Cat in the Hat.

 

July 22 1941. The girl next door is getting married. Anne Frank is leaning out of the window of her house in Amsterdam to get a good look at the bride and groom. It is the only time Anne Frank has ever been captured on film.

 

Once again, I'm having difficulty embedding a video.

 

That is very neat. Thanks for posting it.

 

(Re: the link to embed. Copy & past the link. If it begins with "https", delete the "s" so that it is just "http". That should fix it & allow it to embed.)

 

I read volumes 1 - 3 of iZombie. It is total brain candy,

 

In more ways than one, huh? :zombiechase:  

 

Currently reading the third book in the Libriomancer series by Jim Hines.

 

I need to try this series or have my dd try it. She loves the J. Hines books based off of old fairytales (The Stepsister Scheme, etc...).

 

I was sort of an "I do it myself!" type, so I probably kicked them out of the role at some point.  :lol:

 

I think that may have been like me too. I guess my fondest childhood memories of reading are Richard Scarry books & also the book Ma Lien and the Magic Brush.

 

 Saluting my mother who has since passed away for allowing me to get my first library card at age 3 1/2.  The rule was that a child had to write his name in order to qualify. I could write mine so Mom said of course I should have my own card.  My father was paid on Tuesday back when one received paper checks.  Every Wednesday (before I attended school), Mom and I took the bus downtown to cash his check, pay bills, shop.  Our first stop was the library where every week I borrowed a stack of books.  The dear woman then toted them about downtown as we ran our errands.  Of course she realized that I was the kid who could be parked in a chair with my stack of books while she stood in line at the bank or the gas company (back in the day when parents parked their children and went on to do what needed to be done).

 

I think my favorite book from young childhood is Poems to Read to the Very Young which Mom bought for me at the PTA book sale when I was in Kindergarten.  I can recite practically every poem in the book from memory.

 

 

 

I love that you had a library card at age 3 1/2!!! And, I know that book too! Lovely (even for this non-poetry fan).

 

When I was really young, my favorite book was A Mouse to Be Free. It's truly a wonderful book and I have read my copy to my kids.

 

 

 

This looks great. I still love kids books as much as I did when I was a kid!

[Stacia]

She reads to my dad when they are in the car or he's working on the house or whatever.  He doesn't enjoy reading, but loves listening.  It's quite adorable.

 

My favorite book when I was little was a little golden book called Where Did the Baby Go?  Everyone always said I looked like the little girl in the book so of course I thought it was really about me.

 

That's so sweet about your parents. :001_wub:

 

I remember having quite a few of the Little Golden Books! I wish I could remember the name of one that had a black dog in it. I loved that one.

 

 

My current read is perfect for Mother's Day!

 

<snip>

 

Hey, Stephen King liked it!  LOL

 

Ok, your combo of sentences here makes me :lol: .

 

I checked out Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City.  I was very interested in his latest book, but since I hadn't read anything by him before, I thought I would start by reading some of his older works from the library.  

 

I'm not really a fan of Larson's writing, but that book was fascinating (the city parts) & chillingly creepy (the devil parts). <Shudder.> If you do read his Lusitania book, I'd be curious as to how it is. (He picks interesting subjects, I think, I just don't like his style of writing.)

 

she is incapable of sitting still.  She always has to be busy doing something with her hands.  I got her a fitbit for Christmas.  We never left the house and she logged over 10,000 steps before dinner time.  

 

This sounds exactly like my grandmother!!!

 

What I do remember was my mom reading *with* me - reading side by side, all the time I was growing up. She shared her favorite books with me, she was the one who introduced me to Georgette Heyer and Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt and Mary Stewart and Daphne DuMaurier - those were the books I grew up reading.  We'd both read them separately, then talk about them.  Good memories.

 

She stopped reading at some point, I don't know when. I think it was after I left home.  She stopped reading and started having the TV on all the time. Now, she really can't read, her memory and substance abuse issues have gotten in the way. Sometimes I wonder if she had kept reading, if she might have staved off the dementia a little longer.

 

I treasure the memories I have of reading with my mom. I read with my girls, too, but I'm going to keep reading *to* them till they till me to quit!

 

:grouphug: :grouphug:

 

Oh yeah, reading!  I decided to pass on Dante for now - too many obligations at the moment, I need reading to be a pleasure, not another chore.

 

Yeah, not sure when/if I'll get to Dante myself. I just don't seem focused on reading lately. Ugh.

 

Happy Mothers Day to my BaW friends. I'm sitting in the airport cell phone lot and just watched the plane carrying my youngest as it landed. Now waiting to hear that he has his luggage and is ready. It's like old times, sitting and listening to an audio book, waiting on a kid.

 

Glad to hear that he made it in on Mother's Day!

 

 

I don't recall my mother ever reading to me. She must have, though...right?

 

Yes. I'm kind of in the same boat. I don't really remember, but I have so many happy memories of books that I know adults in my life (& esp. my mom) spent a lot of time reading to me. My mom has always been an avid reader & she always made sure we had lots of books around.

[Stacia]

For my actual reading this week, not much happened. Too much irl stuff going on to have time to stop & read &/or to concentrate even when I did have a bit of time.

 

So, still in progress...

 

Stuffocation (not sure I'll finish; it's just too wordy, ironically enough given the subject matter)

The Prince (enjoying but I don't have the concentration right now to make much progress)

 

2015 Books Read:

Africa:

• Rue du Retour by Abdellatif Laâbi, trans. from the French by Jacqueline Kaye, pub. by Readers International. 4 stars. Morocco. (Poetic paean to political prisoners worldwide by one who was himself in prison for “crimes of opinionâ€. Explores not only incarceration but also readjusting to a ‘normal’ world after torture & release.)
• Nigerians in Space by Deji Bryce Olukotum, pub. by Unnamed Press. 4 stars. South Africa & Nigeria. (Scientists lured back home in a ‘brain gain’ plan to start up Nigerian space program. But, things go awry. Is it legit, a scam, or something more sinister?)
• Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor, pub. by Viking (Penguin Group). 3 stars. Nigeria. (YA fantasy lit in the vein of HP but with a West African base of myth & legend.)
• Under the Frangipani by Mia Couto, trans. from the Portuguese by David Bookshaw, pub. by Serpent’s Tail. 3 stars. Mozambique. (Murder mystery that ultimately examines the things that kill a people, a country, a place; told through a magical realism lens of the living & the dead, traditions vs. modern mores, colonization against freedom, & war facing off against peace.)
• Gassire’s Lute: A West African Epic, trans. & adapted by Alta Jablow, illus. by Leo & Diane Dillon, pub. by Dutton. 4 stars. West Africa, incl. Ghana & Burkina Faso. (Children’s poetic book [part of the epic of Dausi], telling of Gassire who gives up his noble lineage & warrior life to become a bard/griot.)

Asia:

• The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami, a Borzoi book pub. by Alfred A. Knopf.  4 stars. Japan. BaW January author challenge. (Creepy campfire style story; thought-provoking ending made me rethink the entire story.)
• The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire by Jack Weatherford, pub. by Crown Publishers. 4 stars. Mongolia. (Non-fiction. Even with gaps, fascinating pieces of lost &/or censored history.)

Caribbean:

• The Duppy by Anthony C. Winkler, pub. by Akashic Books. 3 stars. Jamaica. (A duppy [ghost] relates ribald & amusing anecdotes of Jamaican heaven.)

Europe:

• The Affinity Bridge by George Mann, a Tor book pub. by Tom Doherty Associates. 3 stars. England. (Entertaining steampunk with likeable characters.)
• Extraordinary Renditions by Andrew Ervin, pub. by Coffee House Press. 4 stars. Hungary. (Triptych of stories in Budapest touching on the Holocaust, racism, corruption, the power of music,…)
• The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, pub. by Scribner Classics. 4 stars. France & Spain. (Lost generation of post-WW1 expats living, loving, & arguing in France & Spain.)
• Kismet by Jakob Arjouni, trans. from the German by Anthea Bell, pub. by Melville House (Melville International Crime). 4 stars. Germany. (Tough Turkish-German PI in the middle of a turf war as a Croatian organized crime group tries to take over territory of Albanian & German mobs in Frankfurt. Darkly funny & nicely paced.)
• The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham, pub. by Penguin Books. 5 stars. France. (Interlinked stories of friends in post-WWI France as they move through life & each finds his or her own version of success.)
• Cat Out of Hell by Lynne Truss, pub. by Melville House. 3 stars. England. (Creepy, frivolous fun horror/mystery mash-up… and a cat who wants Daniel Craig to voice him if there’s a movie version.)
• Orlando by Virginia Woolf, pub. by Harcourt Brace & Company. 4 stars. England. BaW March author challenge. (Woolf’s love letter to Vita Sackville-West; story of man/woman Orlando spanning over 300 years of English history. Wordy but redeemed by flashes of profound beauty & brilliance.)
• Missing Person by Patrick Modiano, trans. from the French by Daniel Weissbort, pub. by David R. Godine (a Verba Mundi Book). 4 stars. France. (After WWII, an amnesiac tries to piece together the people & events of his past. A lyrical, yet spare, examination of identity & history.)

Middle East:

• The Jerusalem File by Joel Stone, pub. by Europa editions. 2 stars. Israel. (Noir detective tale re: jealousy. Ambiguous, unsatisfactory ending.)
• Goat Days by Benyamin, trans. from Malayalam by Joseph Koyipally, pub. by Penguin Books. 3 stars. Saudi Arabia. (Simple tale of enslaved Indian forced to herd goats in the Saudi Arabian desert.)

North America:

• The Good Lord Bird by James McBride, pub. by Riverhead Books (Penguin Group). 5 stars. USA. (Sharp satire, historical fiction & folly, standing on top of heart, soul... & freedom.)
• No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, pub. by Vintage International. 4 stars. USA. (Spare & brutal tale of stolen drug money in Texas. Classic themes which are hard & beautifully-crafted.)
• Guantánamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi, pub. by Little, Brown and Company. 5 stars. North America: USA. (Shocking diary by a never-charged Guantanamo detainee. Shines a harsh light on rendition, interrogation, torture, & US thought & policy shifts after 9/11.)

Oceania:

• Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood, pub. by Poisoned Pen Press. 3 stars. Australia. (1920s lady detective Phyrne Fisher storms the Melbourne social scene with moxie while on the trail of a suspected poisoning, a back-alley abortionist, & the head of the cocaine trade.)

Other:

• Going Postal by Terry Pratchett, pub. by Corgi Books. 4 stars. Other: Ankh-Morpork/Discworld. (Moist von Lipwig’s punishment for being a con artist is being put in charge of the Postal Service & getting it back into profitable shape. Witty & fun.)

[-M-]

Hello, BaWers! Happy Sunday to all of you!

 

Robin, to answer your questions, I wasn't read to when I was little. *small, sad smile*

 

And my favorite book as I was growing up was Children's Guide to Knowledge. It is the one book largely responsible for preventing my young mind from atrophying in my parents’ blue-collar, “we-have-the-largest-newest-clearest-color-television-in-the-neighborhood†home. The subtitle of the book is Wonders of Nature, Marvels of Science and Man, and it was published by Parents’ Magazine Press. An aunt gave it to me when I finished third grade. Her inscription notes that the book would help me complete fourth-grade reports. Forty-four years after its publication, Children’s Guide to Knowledge continues to deliver a compelling world of animals, plants, history, geography, and scientific achievement (through early space exploration, anyway). The spine is crumbling, and the book has a damp, forgotten smell, but it still seduces.

 

I've reached Book 40 in my quest to read at least 104 books this year. Admittedly, I experienced a bit of a graphic novel binge during Weeks 13 and 14 of my daughters' spring semester: College decisions had been made and scholarship offers declined, and I had a moment to breathe and appreciate that it had all gotten done and done well -- and that all of us were still happy, healthy, and sane. *wry grin* Graphic works were the answer to many weeks of perpetual motion.

 

I returned to more conventional reading with two quick books to reacquaint me with archery basics. A year has passed since we were last at the range. I guess I am more text-bound than I had realized because I really appreciated the refresher before pulling out my equipment. Arguably, it paid off, too: I had twenty quite passable rounds on our first lesson back.

 

I read Lillian Hellman's disturbing play The Little Foxes in anticipation of seeing the Goodman Theatre production later this month. And I pored over Container Gardening for the Midwest before heading out to make our little patio alive with color and growth. Much of the yard work now falls to me -- observation, not complaint -- and I am quite pleased with how well everything turned out this year. My group pitched in at important intervals, when study and/or work permitted, and with their help, I think it really looks wonderful out there.

 

And I closed Miriam Toews' All My Puny Sorrows with a satisfied sigh. Beautiful writing about difficult emotional subjects. Heartily recommended.

 

At this writing, I've got active bookmarks in Sense and Sensibility (a reread in anticipation of seeing the Chicago Shakespeare Theater production later this month) and The Stand, which, in addition to Sense and Sensibility, our family book club is reading. Paperback editions of The Shining and The Stand were my first purchase with my first paycheck from my first job thirty-five years ago. I reread The Stand in the nineties, so this is my third go of it, and it's still a fast-passed, engrossing, entertaining read. The writers of television series like Jericho, Lost, and The Walking Dead were so clearly readers of early Stephen King, don't you agree?

 

My list can be found here.

 

And if this works, here is an image of my middle child reading Children's Guide to Knowledge. I think that pic is twelve years old now.

 

 

ETA: Richard Scary's A Story a Day: 365 Stories and Rhymes was another important book in my early childhood.

[Stacia]

I returned to more conventional reading with two quick books to reacquaint me with archery basics. A year has passed since we were last at the range. I guess I am more text-bound than I had realized because I really appreciated the refresher before pulling out my equipment. Arguably, it paid off, too: I had twenty quite passable rounds on our first lesson back.

 

I tried archery in middle school, but would love to try it again someday as an adult.

 

 

And I closed Miriam Toews' All My Puny Sorrows with a satisfied sigh. Beautiful writing about difficult emotional subjects. Heartily recommended.

 

I have this one sitting here on my shelf. Glad to see that you heartily recommend it!

[Nan in Mass]

Happy Mother,s Day!

 

Jane - What a happy surprise! We can use one at this time. I gave it to Mum to read first because she is going every other day to hold the hand of the clan member we are losing and remenis and that is hard for her. When she is gone, which will be any day now, Mum will be the last of our clan elders. (She has other relatives living, but they aren,t in the "clan", the relatives who live here and do things together all the time.) thank you. Your timing was superb. I am looking forward to reading it as soon as she finishes. Miraculously, it is new to both of us!

 

Nan

[Just Robyn]

 

In more ways than one, huh? :zombiechase:  

 

 

:lol:  :lol:  :lol:

[Nan in Mass]

My mother was still reading to me (and my husband, father, and children) up until about two years ago when her voice became unstrongenough. My father read to us some when we were very small. Oh, and there was one famous occasion when we were in college when my mother was sick and he took my sister and me and our boyfriends-now-husbands up to his tiny summer cabin one stormy winter weekend and read the whole of Hitchhiker,s Guide to the Galaxy aloud to us while we threw paper airplanes back and forth between the upper bunks. We are still talking about it. My Dad always claimed he couldn't read lol. He mangled all the names but was so taken with the book that he just had to share it.

 

Jane, I hope Anna went ok.

 

Nan

[idnib]

Oh yeah, reading!  I decided to pass on Dante for now - too many obligations at the moment, I need reading to be a pleasure, not another chore.

 

I'm sure you'll come back to it when the time is right.

 

I've really enjoyed reading the actual text of Inferno but the outside stuff of reading some of the notes, references, Googling, etc is getting to be a bit of a drag.

[Violet Crown]

My parents were engineers and didn't read to children, or indeed to themselves outside of reports and trade journals. I think I've over-compensated. :)

[6packofun]

I just finished reading Kate Atkinson's Case Histories. It was a well written, engaging book. There were a few things I found odd in the end, but still, I enjoyed the mysteries.  I just put, One Good Turn on the wait list at the library.  It's the second book in the series.  I checked out Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City.  I was very interested in his latest book, but since I hadn't read anything by him before, I thought I would start by reading some of his older works from the library.  

 

I have Kate Atkinson's book, Life After Life, on my Sansa Clip.  I had started it last summer, listening while I ran, but then I got injured and didn't run for a few months.  When I started back, I was inside on my treadmill, using my time to watch House of Cards.  :)  I really want to read that book, but I'll have to restart it.  Maybe when my kids start swimming again.  I run slow and long on swim days, plenty of time to listen to a book.  Her sequel to it just came out, and it looks good too.  

 

Oh, now we're talkin'!  I love, LOVE Erik Larson.  The Devil in the White City is still my favorite of his, BUT Dead Wake is now in 2nd!  lol

 

Also, Life After Life is on my personal list of top books ever read.  You have good taste!  :)

[Kareni]

Recently someone asked for suggestions on newer books about writing -- here's a site with many reviews that might prove helpful.

 

Writing Slices

Reading the Books that Teach You to Write

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

[SunnyDays]

 

Recently someone asked for suggestions on newer books about writing -- here's a site with many reviews that might prove helpful.

 

Writing Slices

Reading the Books that Teach You to Write

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

Kareni, thank you for this!  I wasn't the one who asked, but I spent a few minutes browsing this site, and I think it will provide a wealth of ideas!!

[mumto2]

Stacia, Speaking of our daughter's taste in books.... My dd just read The Madman's Daughterhttp://www.ew.com/article/2013/01/29/the-madmans-daughter-megan-shepherd-interviewand thought it was pretty good. :lol: She just checked out the second one.

 

She in anxiously awaiting the second Seraphina bookhttp://rachelhartmanbooks.com/. She loved the first one and really wants me to read it. Just requested it so will give it a try, this way I should be able to read the second one while we have it from the library if I want to.

 

You are right about Libriomancer. Dd probably would like it.

[Shawneinfl]

 

At this writing, I've got active bookmarks in Sense and Sensibility (a reread in anticipation of seeing the Chicago Shakespeare Theater production later this month) and The Stand, which, in addition to Sense and Sensibility, our family book club is reading. Paperback editions of The Shining and The Stand were my first purchase with my first paycheck from my first job thirty-five years ago. I reread The Stand in the nineties, so this is my third go of it, and it's still a fast-passed, engrossing, entertaining read. The writers of television series like Jericho, Lost, and The Walking Dead were so clearly readers of early Stephen King, don't you agree?

 

 

 

I was a big Stephen King fan in the 80's and 90's;The Shining remains my favorite. Your observation about the tv shows gave me an "aha" moment.

[Jane in NC]

Happy Mother,s Day!

 

Jane - What a happy surprise! We can use one at this time. I gave it to Mum to read first because she is going every other day to hold the hand of the clan member we are losing and remenis and that is hard for her. When she is gone, which will be any day now, Mum will be the last of our clan elders. (She has other relatives living, but they aren,t in the "clan", the relatives who live here and do things together all the time.) thank you. Your timing was superb. I am looking forward to reading it as soon as she finishes. Miraculously, it is new to both of us!

 

Nan

 

For those who are curious, I sent to Nan Shukriyya's "pick me up" book, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, which was miraculously new to me too.  It is a delight, one that I knew Nan and her Mom would enjoy as well.

 

My parents were engineers and didn't read to children, or indeed to themselves outside of reports and trade journals. I think I've over-compensated. :)

 

My software engineer husband read a passage in Steinbeck's Sea of Cortez notebook to me just last week.  He always read to our son although I am definitely the read aloud person of the household.  My mother did not read much to me once I started reading chapter books.  I was the crazy parent who read things like Sue Hubbell's books on the natural world to my son as well as many classics until The Boy was a young teen.

 

Neither of my parents were big fiction readers although my Dad's favorite book was Don Quixote.  I am glad that we had art books and history books in the house but my ticket to literature and the world was that library card.

 

I have an elderly friend who grew up poor.  Because of the age difference between her and her younger brothers, she was responsible for them as both of her parents worked.  She told me that she would spend her summers reading her way around her town's small library.  She remains an amazing resource of esoteric knowledge--as well as a person who will drop everything to read to a small child.

[Jane in NC]

Jane, how's your weather?

 

Soggy!  My neighbor reports that we had had four inches of rain from Friday night to Sunday afternoon--and still more came after that.  His rain gauge may overfloweth.

 

I feel fortunate in that we missed some of the rain in the later bands.  The gusts have brought down a number of sticks and small branches.  I have clean up to do this morning in the high humidity.

 

[Nan in Mass]

Went back and read the thread and discovered there was another question - favourite children,s books. Mine were Winnie the Pooh, Beatrix potter books, The Dragon in the Clock Box, Bunny Blue, and a book from my Grammy,s house that I think was called Honey Bear, about a little girl who got lost and was found by a bear and comforted with honey. As an adult, I still adore DiaCB, Pooh, and Beatrix Potter books. I don,t think I,ve ever grown up past their lol. My husband and I read aloud my children,s books in college and Pooh was our favourite. We still read it aloud to each other for comfort. I was so grateful for the Beatrix Potter books when I was tired and reading aloud to my children. The pictures mirror the story so I could just READ without having to talk. When the pike grabs Jeramy Fisher, the picture shows Jeramy Fisher,s legs sticking out of the Pike,s mouth. No need to explain what a pike is. Exciting stories that aren,t boring for either wiggly little boys or their parents.

 

You know, thinking about this some more, one of the ways that I feel my mother,s aging is that the book flow is reversing. I am now feeding her more books than she is feeding me. It is still quite a ways away, but when her eyes give out, I will be reading aloud to her, I am sure.

 

Nan

[Nan in Mass]

...

 

And my favorite book as I was growing up was Children's Guide to Knowledge. It is the one book largely responsible for preventing my young mind from atrophying in my parents’ blue-collar, “we-have-the-largest-newest-clearest-color-television-in-the-neighborhood†home. The subtitle of the book is Wonders of Nature, Marvels of Science and Man, and it was published by Parents’ Magazine Press. An aunt gave it to me when I finished third grade. Her inscription notes that the book would help me complete fourth-grade reports. Forty-four years after its publication, Children’s Guide to Knowledge continues to deliver a compelling world of animals, plants, history, geography, and scientific achievement (through early space exploration, anyway). The spine is crumbling, and the book has a damp, forgotten smell, but it still seduces.

 

 

 

I returned to more conventional reading with two quick books to reacquaint me with archery basics. A year has passed since we were last at the range. I guess I am more text-bound than I had realized because I really appreciated the refresher before pulling out my equipment. Arguably, it paid off, too: I had twenty quite passable rounds on our first lesson back.

...

And if this works, here is an image of my middle child reading Children's Guide to Knowledge. I think that pic is twelve years old now.

 

 

ETA: Richard Scary's A Story a Day: 365 Stories and Rhymes was another important book in my early childhood.

I had both my mother,s book of knowledge type books (2 volumes - Scientific Wonders of the World and Wonders of Living Things) and a more modern version of my own. I pored over them for hours.

 

What archery books did you read?

 

Nan