Book a Week 2015 - BW44: Nonfiction November

[Jane in NC]

Eliana, thank you so much for the amazing list! I have copied and pasted it into a Word document so I can refer back to it whenever I need a cozy book. And mumto2, thank you also! I added your recs to the bottom of Eliana's list. Now off to the library to see what they have...

 

Incidentally, does anyone know how to print 1 post? I thought I had done it before but can't find anything obvious.

 

If you click on the number in the upper right hand corner, it should isolate a single post in a separate window.  This might actually be the best way to save this post since you'll have access to the links.

 

Of course you could always do a copy and paste.

 

[Butter]

If you really want to go to a smelly exhibit the Victorian Street at the Thackeray Museum in Leeds is really awful

 

The Kerry County Museum in Tralee in Ireland has an exhibit downstairs you walk through with the sights, sounds, and smells of medieval Kerry.  It wasn't too bad smelling, but you did have to make sure you didn't step into the yellowish-brown liquid going through the place.  As not horrible as it was, we definitely didn't want to take the smell with us on our shoes.  https://thefamilywho.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/tralee/

[Jane in NC]

Rose,

 

There is an interview with an historian on today's All Things Considered broadcast that may interest you.  His book his This Gulf of Fire:  The Destruction of Lisbon, or Apocalypse in the Age of Science and Reason. 

 

The Amazon description reads: 

 

The captivating and definitive account of the most consequential natural disaster of modern times.

On All Saints’ Day 1755, tremors from an earthquake measuring perhaps 9.0 (or higher) on the moment magnitude scale swept furiously from their origin along the Atlantic seabed toward the Iberian and African coasts. Directly in their path was Lisbon, then one of the wealthiest cities in the world and the capital of a vast global empire. Within minutes, much of the city lay in ruins.

But this was only the beginning. A half hour later, a giant tsunami unleashed by the quake smashed into Portugal’s coastline and barreled up the Tagus River, carrying countless thousands out to sea. By day’s end, the great wave chain would claim victims on four separate continents. To complete Lisbon’s destruction, a hellacious firestorm then engulfed the city’s shattered remains. Subjecting survivors to temperatures exceeding 1,832°F (1,000°C), it burned for several weeks, killing thousands and incinerating much of what the earthquake and tsunami had spared.

Drawing on a wealth of new sources, the latest scientific research, and a sophisticated grasp of European history, Mark Molesky gives us the authoritative account of the Great Lisbon Disaster and its impact on the Western world—including descriptions of the world’s first international relief effort; the rise of a brutal, yet modernizing, dictatorship in Portugal; and the effect of the disaster on the spirit and direction of the European Enlightenment. 

Much more than a chronicle of destruction, This Gulf of Fire is, at its heart, a gripping human drama, involving an array of unforgettable characters—such as the Marquês de Pombal, the once-slighted striver who sees in the chaos his path to supreme power, and Gabriel Malagrida, the charismatic Jesuit whose view that the earthquake was a punishment sent by God leads inexorably to his demise. There is Dom José, the unremarkable king of Portugal, who stands by his people in their moment of greatest need but ultimately abandons them to the tyranny of his first minister. There is Kitty Witham, the plucky English nun who helps her fellow sisters escape from their collapsing convent, and Manoel Portal, the Oratorian priest who flees the burning capital on his broken leg and goes on to write one of the definitive accounts of the disaster. Philosophers, kings, poets, emperors, scientists, scoundrels, journalists, and monkeys all make their appearance in this remarkable narrative of the mid-eighteenth

 

Monumental earthquake and Atlantic tsunami--and I have never known of this!  Clearly our Western History ignores the losers, in this case Portugal.

[mumto2]

The Kerry County Museum in Tralee in Ireland has an exhibit downstairs you walk through with the sights, sounds, and smells of medieval Kerry. It wasn't too bad smelling, but you did have to make sure you didn't step into the yellowish-brown liquid going through the place. As not horrible as it was, we definitely didn't want to take the smell with us on our shoes. https://thefamilywho.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/tralee/

I don't remember anything that you could step at the Thackeray. I just explored your blog after looking at your link. You do a great job with it....tell your dd congratulations!

 

Since my first post I remembered Disney also used smell at Epcot in Spaceship earth with the fire near the beginning of the ride. I suspect all of these rides/exhibits were created roughly at the same time.

 

Years ago dh and I visited Epcot the weekend before I had some surgery. We thought the smell part was interesting and had a conversation about it. After surgery I was pretty out of it for several days. Dh and I were watching a movie (Scarlett and the Black) which has a scene with an incredible fireplace in it. Woozy me very happily told dh what a great fireplace it was, beautiful, and it seemed so real, just like Disney.... I could actually smell the fire burning. Well, I did smell smoke. The garage next door was on fire.....dh figured it out because he could smell smoke too but knew it wasn't right. While I called emergency, he got the homeowners out. The fire was put out quickly and no damage beyond the garage to either house. We probably wouldn't have noticed so quickly without that movie fireplace and my odd fixation on Disney fires and smells.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Thanks, Jane, that does look very interesting, it's definitely going on my TR list!

 

Great interview.

[Stacia]

Looks like a set that would appeal to more than one BaWer...

 

‘Women Crime Writers: Eight Suspense Novels of the 1940s and 1950s’

[Angel]

Way behind but wanted to catch these up!

 

In good (book) news, one of the categories I had left for the special book challenge I'm doing this year was a book that came out the year you were born.  

 

 That leaves me with just 7 more categories on my challenge (one of them will require me to read Red Badge of Courage... not looking forward to that...).

 

 

Trust me, you didn't miss anything!  I seriously expected to find out why Thomas and Teresa helped WICKED.  Maybe some of the planning of the Maze and why those trials with variables were necessary in the first place.  Nope.  It was about what happened to a random group of people when the sun flares happened and then a year later when the Flare was purposefully released to control the population.  This group of people found a child named Deedee, hit by a disease dart but did not get sick, who is obviously the child renamed Teresa.  They got her to a flat trans to get her to people she can help (who of course ended up being WICKED).  It was mostly one long fight scene.

You must be doing the same book challenge as my IRL book club!  I think I have 13 left to go...and I'm not sure I'll finish.  There's just not enough time.  Our book club has been choosing a category a month to read, and our category for November is the "read a book published the year you were born."  

 

Is Red Badge of Courage your "book you should have read in high school?"  It was mine.  It was horrible!  One star.  Blah!

 

Yeah, I was kind of done with The Maze Runner series and dd had told me that the prequel really had nothing to do with the same people.  I'm glad I didn't bother!   

 

I always knew that I liked my BaW friends, but to find a shared love of Uncle Wiggily is touching to me.  :001_wub:

 

Did you and your children play the Uncle Wiggily board game too? 

My older dd had the Uncle Wiggily board game.  It took FOREVER to finish  :laugh:   For a long time I had no idea that it was made from a book.  

 

Anyway, I'm just getting ready to return a few (because I have quite a few others waiting) & will try to get back to them at a later date. I did want to mention one (that I haven't yet read) because it seems like one that might appeal to some of you (I'm thinking mumto2, aggieamy, Angel, maybe others...?): The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals by Wendy Jones. I picked it up because it's published by Europa Editions.

 

Added it to my ridiculous list!

 

I'm reading Red Badge of Courage.  I'm about 1/3 through it.  Yuck.  Awful.  There's good reason I didn't read it when it was assigned by my tutor!  It's horrid.  I hate it.  Seriously, I can't use enough negative words about this horrid book.

:iagree:  :lol:

 

I managed to finish a book last week but haven't had time to do my review.  Life is just rushing by too fast  :glare:  

 

I've got to get upstairs.  Dh and Aly are watching the Tombs episode of X-Files.   :eek:  Totally creeps me out!!

[Stacia]

Re: Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale/Winterson's The Gap of Time: Winterson's book is the first book in a new series of modern retellings of Shakespeare works.

 

To see other upcoming ones, look here: The Hogarth Shakespeare.  Looks like there are plenty of big names including Margaret Atwood, Jo Nesbo, Howard Jacobson, Anne Tyler, etc.....

[Violet Crown]

So late checking in. These last 72 hours I have been costumed, apple-bobbed, partied, rosaried, chanted, and requiemed to the point of collapse. No new completed reading to report, though I need to read the libretto to Aida before Thursday.

[Violet Crown]

 

Monumental earthquake and Atlantic tsunami--and I have never known of this! Clearly our Western History ignores the losers, in this case Portugal.

Voltaire made a pretty big deal of it in Candide, but that's about the only reference to it I ever recall reading.

[Violet Crown]

VC--still plugging away at The Golden Legend. Did you notice that Bartholomew is credited with giving the people of India "the Gospel according to Matthew written in their own language"? The compilation of the Legend occurs a century or so before Wycliffe so this really jumped out at me.

I didn't remember that! But it wasn't uncommon for the Gospels to be translated into vernacular languages, either as glosses on the Latin or as freestanding translations. In England, Bede translated them as glosses in the eighth century, and there are Anglo-Saxon Gospels from about 1000 A.D. Translations seem to have been more common where the language wasn't Latinate. (Now whether it was actually St. Bartholomew translating for the Indians, is of course another sort of question.)

[Kareni]

Earlier today I finished the contemporary romance All of Me (A Covington Cove Novel) by Kelly Moran which was a pleasant read.  This is evidently the second in a series, but I didn't feel at a loss just reading this book.

 

"For ten months, bestselling novelist Alec Winston hasn't been able to type a single word, and he's coming dangerously close to breaching his publishing contract. An invitation from his brother to spend the summer in Wilmington Beach might be just the thing to blast through his writer's block. Yet Alec discovers more than a spark of inspiration on the sunny sands. He meets an amber-eyed muse who makes him think about much more than books . . .

Faith Armstrong has finally gathered the courage to leave her past behind and accepted a job as a private tutor, hoping for a fresh start on the North Carolina coast. This is the home she's always longed for--not just a place, but a state of mind. She's felt invisible her whole life, so the host of new friends and the attention of a sexy author have her head spinning.

But Alec has a secret that could prove this isn't the life Faith dreamed of after all . . ."

 

 

I also recently finished the new adult novel Focus on Me: In Focus series by Megan Erickson which I enjoyed.  Once again, this is the second book in a series of which I haven't read the first.  It stood alone well though I would certainly like to read to read the first book as characters from that book play a role in this one.  One of the characters is facing some serious issues, so this was a somewhat emotional read.  (adult content)

 

"Colin Hartman can now add college to his list of failures. On the coast-to-coast trek home from California, Colin stops at a gas station in the Nevada desert, and can’t help noticing the guy in tight jeans looking like he just stepped off a catwalk. When he realizes Catwalk is stranded, Colin offers a ride.

Riley only intended to take a short ride in Colin's Jeep to the Grand Canyon. But one detour leads to another until they finally find themselves tumbling into bed together. However there are shadows in Riley's eyes that hide a troubled past. And when those shadows threaten to bury the man whom Colin has fallen in love with, he vows to get Riley the help he needs. For once in his life, quitting isn't an option…"

 

 

I also read a pleasant male/male romance novella His Grandfather's Watch by N.R. Walker which happens to be currently free to Kindle readers (as do a few other works by the author).

 

"It was just an ordinary day for Alex Harper at Harper's Antiquities, until Callum Winters walked in with a watch.

"It was my Grandfather's. I was hoping you could tell me something about it."

A love story of two couples, generations apart."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Chrysalis Academy]

Re: Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale/Winterson's The Gap of Time: Winterson's book is the first book in a new series of modern retellings of Shakespeare works.

 

To see other upcoming ones, look here: The Hogarth Shakespeare.  Looks like there are plenty of big names including Margaret Atwood, Jo Nesbo, Howard Jacobson, Anne Tyler, etc.....

 

Yes, I'm really excited about this whole series.  Yay!

[Jane in NC]

Voltaire made a pretty big deal of it in Candide, but that's about the only reference to it I ever recall reading.

And I don't recall this but I read Candide as an undergrad. Another book to revisit.

[mumto2]

Looks like a set that would appeal to more than one BaWer...

 

‘Women Crime Writers: Eight Suspense Novels of the 1940s and 1950s’

I can't find any of these at this time but hope they appear in one of my library's. Dorothy Hughes, one of the authors, wrote one of my favorite books, The Expendable Manhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12459312-the-expendable-man. It would fit in with some of the books Stacia and Rose are reading. It is a page turner that deals with US race relations in the 50's or 60's from a slightly atypical viewpoint. I don't want to do a spoiler in case anyone wants to add something a bit lighter in with their other reads so am being careful. I found it on overdrive.

[Jane in NC]

I can't find any of these at this time but hope they appear in one of my library's. Dorothy Hughes, one of the authors, wrote one of my favorite books, The Expendable Manhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12459312-the-expendable-man. It would fit in with some of the books Stacia and Rose are reading. It is a page turner that deals with US race relations in the 50's or 60's from a slightly atypical viewpoint. I don't want to do a spoiler in case anyone wants to add something a bit lighter in with their other reads so am being careful. I found it on overdrive.

 

This looks quite interesting as do the books in Stacia's link. But none of them are in my library system. Sigh. 

 

Eyeing that ridiculous stack of unread books...

 

[Butter]

Last night I finished reading the second Gregor the Overlander book, Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, to the boys.  They told me to immediately buy the next book and they couldn't wait until tomorrow (tonight) to start listening to it.  They are loving this series.  This is the book with discussion of killing a baby rat (the Bane).  That didn't bother either of my boys.  What really upset my 9 year old was when the mites from the weird island ate Pandora the Bat.  He was upset about that for several days.  Other than that it was a great book.

[unsinkable]

Oh, what fun! I love the nonfiction bingo. I read a lot of NF, but not in many of those categories, so this will be a fun stretch.

 

In Cold Blood came in from the library so it's made it as far as the stack, as has The Winter Tale. I haven't started either yet. Still trying to finish my anthology of climate fiction and working on The Gospel According to Jesus Christ - does this count as nonfiction/theology, I wonder? and The Selfish Gene - which could count either as Scientific of 1970's on the Bingo! And I started The Sellout by Paul Beatty. It's a recent release that I have had on hold forever. I think it would fit with a theme some of you are reading, race relations in the US. It is absolutely biting satire, I'm thinking that it's leaning toward the tragicomic at this point. I'm not very far in, but I think that you would like it, Stacia, based on what I've read so far.

 

Books completed in October:

160. The Secret Chord - Geraldine Brooks

159. The Man in the High Castle - Philip K Dick

158. The Grey King - Susan Cooper

157. The Sleeper and the Spindle - Neil Gaiman

156. Solaris - Stanislaw Lem

155. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot

154. An Appetite for Wonder - Richard Dawkins

153. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - Philip K Dick

152. The Book of Chameleons - Jose Eduardo Agualusa

151. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon - Grace Lin

150. Ender in Exile - Orson Scott Card

149. The Year of the Turtle: A Natural History - David Carroll

148. Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut

147. The Time Machine - HG Wells

146. The Story of my Teeth - Valeria Luiselli

145. Roadside Picnic - A & B Strugatsky

144. A Handful of Dust - Evelyn Waugh

143. Fairy Tales for Computers

ETA: looks like I read 3 nonfiction books in October - can I use them for the bingo, or are we starting fresh as of November?

Do you have any Philip K Dick recommendations for an older teen who loves the movie Blade Runner and read Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep? bc of the movie?

 

I sent him a copy of Minority Report but he was so disappointed with the movie I'm not sure if he read it.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Jane in NC]

I finished Charlie LeDuff's Detroit: An American Autopsy last night.  LeDuff might utter a choice expletive in response if he were to hear that he is sandwiched between Henry James and Shakespeare in my reading stack.  Not because of disapproval, mind you.  It's just the kinda guy he is.

 

One of the things that enters the book is LeDuff's own ancestry, namely his Creole great-grandfather who was labeled "Mulatto" in the South and became "White" on paper in the north.  Race is such a complicated issue.  LeDuff doesn't even try to venture into the conversation gracefully. 

 

Interesting book although not one for all, I admit.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Do you have any Philip K Dick recommendations for an older teen who loves the movie Blade Runner and read Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep? bc of the movie?

 

I sent him a copy of Minority Report but he was so disappointed with the movie I'm not sure if he read it.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Hmm, well, I read a bunch of PKD in my youth, but I'm on a re-read tear right now.  I have done, recently, Androids, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and The Man in the High Tower.  Of those, The Man in the High Tower was my strong favorite and I wouldn't hesitate recommending it to an older teen. Although you'd get more out of it if you have a little familiarity with the I Ching and Taoist/Buddhist divination. I dabbled in that in college so I got exactly what the characters were doing with the sticks and coins. If a kid was totally unfamiliar with that whole system of seeking knowledge I think they would be a bit lost.

 

Stigmata was very odd.  I'm not quite sure what I make of it. I don't not recommend it, but it wouldn't be my first choice.

 

I've got the Valis trilogy on my to-read stack.  I haven't read Minority Report in quite awhile, but yes, it was completely different from the movie and I know I liked it much better than the movie.  

[redsquirrel]

Passing this on:

 

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/02/baileys-prize-crowns-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-as-its-best-of-the-best?CMP=twt_books_b-gdnbooks

 

If you haven't read "Half a Yellow Sun" I highly recommend it.  Having read a few of the other winners of past years, I can see why it won.  I haven't really cared that much for the other two I have read.

[Kareni]

Last night I finished Shayla Black's  Wicked for You; it's definitely not a book for conservative readers.  It was an okay read but not something I'm likely to reread.

 

I've been making great strides in getting through my library book stack and am down to under five from about thirty or so.  I fully expect to be suddenly inundated with fifteen or more library books showing up at once on the hold shelf.

 

Some books that I sampled and put aside were

 

 

The Traitor Baru Cormorant

 

Exquisite Captive

 

Lumberjanes Vol. 1

 

Mahu

 

All of these are books that I might have read to completion had I been in a different frame of mind.  I may well give them another try at some point.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[unsinkable]

Hmm, well, I read a bunch of PKD in my youth, but I'm on a re-read tear right now. I have done, recently, Androids, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and The Man in the High Tower. Of those, The Man in the High Tower was my strong favorite and I wouldn't hesitate recommending it to an older teen. Although you'd get more out of it if you have a little familiarity with the I Ching and Taoist/Buddhist divination. I dabbled in that in college so I got exactly what the characters were doing with the sticks and coins. If a kid was totally unfamiliar with that whole system of seeking knowledge I think they would be a bit lost.

 

Stigmata was very odd. I'm not quite sure what I make of it. I don't not recommend it, but it wouldn't be my first choice.

 

I've got the Valis trilogy on my to-read stack. I haven't read Minority Report in quite awhile, but yes, it was completely different from the movie and I know I liked it much better than the movie.

Thank you!

[aggieamy]

Robin - I love the non-fiction Bingo.  Since I'm unlikely to get time to read 25 books as is this month I'm going to count a reread as one of my books. 

 

 

It is absolutely how our grandmothers entertained.  Delightfully fun glimpse into life in the past.  Great tips on throwing parties too.  Some are useful and some are absurd for our modern days.  Would anyone like to come over and listen to the fight on the radio with DH and I?  :lol:

[unsinkable]

Robin - I love the non-fiction Bingo. Since I'm unlikely to get time to read 25 books as is this month I'm going to count a reread as one of my books.

 

 

It is absolutely how our grandmothers entertained. Delightfully fun glimpse into life in the past. Great tips on throwing parties too. Some are useful and some are absurd for our modern days. Would anyone like to come over and listen to the fight on the radio with DH and I? :lol:

Why, of course!

 

:lol:

 

I have a entertaining book from the 60s that suggests putting a pack of cigarettes and matches at each place setting!

[Butter]

The soonest my doctor can get me in for surgery is December 15th!  I'm in pain and have to be in bed a lot of the time.  So my friend convinced me to call another doctor.  She's able to get me in for a consult at 9:30 tomorrow morning.  She's part of University of Texas Health Sciences and specializes in gyn surgery.  This means if she can get me into surgery before the middle of December I'll have students watching which is kind of cool because at one time I was the student watching surgery (nursing school).  I was able to get a copy of my urodynamics test result to take along.  Hopefully I'll be getting this done before 6 more weeks.  It's been 4 weeks tomorrow since my uterus prolapsed and it's significantly worse now.  I am honestly afraid it would fall out completely before 6 weeks are up!

[aggieamy]

The soonest my doctor can get me in for surgery is December 15th!  I'm in pain and have to be in bed a lot of the time.  So my friend convinced me to call another doctor.  She's able to get me in for a consult at 9:30 tomorrow morning.  She's part of University of Texas Health Sciences and specializes in gyn surgery.  This means if she can get me into surgery before the middle of December I'll have students watching which is kind of cool because at one time I was the student watching surgery (nursing school).  I was able to get a copy of my urodynamics test result to take along.  Hopefully I'll be getting this done before 6 more weeks.  It's been 4 weeks tomorrow since my uterus prolapsed and it's significantly worse now.  I am honestly afraid it would fall out completely before 6 weeks are up!

I am so sorry.  That sounds miserable.  I hope you get good news from the doctor tomorrow. 

[mumto2]

:grouphug: Butter

[Kareni]

Heather, I'm hoping for a closer surgery date.

 

***

 

Any one here knowledgeable about the book (not movie) version of the Princess Bride?

 

 

My book group is going to be reading the book this month, and I obtained this particular copy ~

The Princess Bride: An Illustrated Edition of S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure

 

Can you tell me how this compares to the more standard versions such as this or this?  Is the text the same?  Do all of the copies of the book claim to contain only the "good parts"?

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Butter]

I was able to run over to the OB/Gyn just now and get a copy of my urodynamics test result to take with me tomorrow to the new OB/Gyn.  According to what that doctor wrote, I'm pretty messed up in the bladder and urethra.  He wrote on there what surgery he recommended for the bladder prolapse (transobturator tape) and that's what the OB/Gyn I was seeing also recommended.  Tomorrow I will get a third opinion lol

 

Any one here knowledgeable about the book (not movie) version of the Princess Bride?

 

 

My book group is going to be reading the book this month, and I obtained this particular copy ~

The Princess Bride: An Illustrated Edition of S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure

 

Can you tell me how this compares to the more standard versions such as this or this?  Is the text the same?  Do all of the copies of the book claim to contain only the "good parts"?

 

I read The Princess Bride.  It looks like that edition is the same as the others just with a few pictures added.  What there is of the "Look Inside" was the same as the Kindle version I read.  Some of the 1 and 2 star reviews talking about it being abridged and missing several pages appear to be by people who do not understand the book.  The author pretended to be abridging a much longer story.  It's not true.  William Goldman does in fact claim his book only contains the good parts.  It's a weird book.  I liked the movie better.  https://mamareader.wordpress.com/2014/04/29/the-princess-bride-by-william-goldman/

[Kareni]

This is for today only:

Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Promotions

 

First in series free: http://pattyjansen.com/promo/

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Stacia]

Heather, hoping the new doc will get you into surgery sooner! :grouphug:

 

I finished Jeanette Winterson's The Gap of Time today. Really enjoyed it (& made the mistake of reading the last 100 pages while waiting at ds' ortho appt today & was having to wipe away a few tears). I think she actually managed to get to the emotional core of the story more than the bard himself did. (Is that possible?) It's a tragedy that ends in a comedy, I guess, but Winterson's version does a better job of intertwining the stories over the time gap, I think. Worth reading & looking forward to discussing once some of my BaW friends read it too!

[Jane in NC]

My favorite word so far in The Winter's Tale:  flapdragoned.

 

In Act III, Scene III, the Clown is reporting on the fate of the ship to which Antigonus returned:

 

..to see how the sea flapdragoned it...

 

 

A footnote explains:

 

flapdragoned  swallowed down (as drinkers swallowed flapdragons [raisins, etc.] out of burning brandy

 

 

How did I manage in undergrad without Google?  Why have I not always referred to raisins, etc. as "flapdragons"?

 

Some of you may want to read more about that festive game played with flaming food called fladragon or alternately snapdragon. Terrific article here

with references to Shakespeare, Dryden, Dickens,  Lewis Carroll and Agatha Christie.

 

As the article concludes, it is noted:

 

 

Like so many indoor amusements, it became traditional during the Victorian era, because nothing says “fun for kids†like sticking your hand in a burning bowl of liquor.

 

Don't forget to include flapdragons in your holiday plans!
 

[Robin M]

This is for today only:

Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Promotions

 

First in series free: http://pattyjansen.com/promo/

 

Regards,

Kareni

:drool5:  You are the coolest!  Thank you! 

[Stacia]

My favorite word so far in The Winter's Tale:  flapdragoned.

 

In Act III, Scene III, the Clown is reporting on the fate of the ship to which Antigonus returned:

 

 

A footnote explains:

 

 

How did I manage in undergrad without Google?  Why have I not always referred to raisins, etc. as "flapdragons"?

 

Some of you may want to read more about that festive game played with flaming food called fladragon or alternately snapdragon. Terrific article here

with references to Shakespeare, Dryden, Dickens,  Lewis Carroll and Agatha Christie.

 

As the article concludes, it is noted:

 

 

Don't forget to include flapdragons in your holiday plans!

 

 

That is completely weird & hilarious!

 

Must forward this info to my sister for her Christmas party this year. :lol:

 

[Angel]

This is a totally new play to me, so I'm going to do what I usually do for reading Shakespeare with the girls - read a picture book version, then watch the movie, then read the real thing. In fact, maybe we will do the first two this afternoon, it's a rainy day!

 

That's exactly how I taught Shakespeare!  I found it extremely effective.  

 

I put hold on The Winter's Tale and The Gap of Time.  I don't know if I'll get to them.  Actually, probably won't, but wanted to try.  Especially the Shakespeare because I meant to read more of him this year and didn't.

[redsquirrel]

I finally got my Library of NYC card and it is approved!  I now have access to their ebooks and audio books!  I am so excited.

 

So, I use overdrive on my kindle fire and check out "new books".  I am not kidding that it is over 300 pages of 'new books".  However, and I am dead serious about this, I have NEVER seen so many smutty books in one place in my life.  Ok, lots of your regular romance Harlequin novels. I had no idea there could be so many.  Did you know there is an entire genre of Christmas Romance novels?  And a whole lot that have 'baby' in the title.  Like, "A baby for the CEO"...and the CEO is never a woman.  I don't know what the fascination is with babies  or pregnancy ("Pregnant by the Rancher") in a romance novel, but it must have a LOT of fans.  But the Christmas ones!  I am totally serious that I saw at least 25 different titles that had to do with Christmas.  And Amish? What is that about?  That feels very non-consensual to me.  I am pretty darn sure Amish people do NOT want to be in romance novels.

 

But it didn't stop with 'romance'.  It went waaaay beyond that! :scared:  I felt quite scandalized. I am apparently quite tame in my reading habits.

 

I really need to get out more or something. I had no idea that those types of books are so popular.  You could even borrow them in 4 packs. They had "October means love" collections with 4 books to borrow at once. DH is a librarian he said that it is industry standard for some big libraries to have a deal with certain publishers that they will buy every ebook that comes out for some blanket price.

 

I ended up borrowing 2 cookbooks that I have been dying to check out.  I already know I am going to have to buy one and I haven't even started the second.  I kept looking at cookbooks and looking at cookbooks..it went on and on in Overdrive.  Then I looked and they have something like 400 pages of cookbooks! I think I got through 30 before I got tired of looking at them.

[Stacia]

One of my favorite quotes from Winterson's The Gap of Time:

 

“The past is a grenade that explodes when thrown.â€

 

[Kareni]

I read The Princess Bride.  It looks like that edition is the same as the others just with a few pictures added.  What there is of the "Look Inside" was the same as the Kindle version I read.  Some of the 1 and 2 star reviews talking about it being abridged and missing several pages appear to be by people who do not understand the book.  The author pretended to be abridging a much longer story.  It's not true.  William Goldman does in fact claim his book only contains the good parts.  It's a weird book.  I liked the movie better.  https://mamareader.wordpress.com/2014/04/29/the-princess-bride-by-william-goldman/

 

 

Many thanks, Heather.  I had known about the fictional abridgement aspect of the book but wasn't certain that the editions were the same save for the illustrations.  It's good to know -- especially since reading the book was my suggestion!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Tress]

The soonest my doctor can get me in for surgery is December 15th!  I'm in pain and have to be in bed a lot of the time.  So my friend convinced me to call another doctor.  She's able to get me in for a consult at 9:30 tomorrow morning.  She's part of University of Texas Health Sciences and specializes in gyn surgery.  This means if she can get me into surgery before the middle of December I'll have students watching which is kind of cool because at one time I was the student watching surgery (nursing school).  I was able to get a copy of my urodynamics test result to take along.  Hopefully I'll be getting this done before 6 more weeks.  It's been 4 weeks tomorrow since my uterus prolapsed and it's significantly worse now.  I am honestly afraid it would fall out completely before 6 weeks are up!

 

:grouphug:  Heather  :grouphug:  I hope the new doctor can get you into surgery ASAP!

[Tress]

I'm still reading SWB's History of the Medieval World: chapter 68 & 69 this week.

 

 

I'm reading 18th century related books in Dutch and English. Finished:

 

Pieter Langendijk - Wederzyds Huwelyksbedrog (18th century Dutch play)

Arthur Japin - Een schitterend gebrek (Dutch high school literature list, setting:18th century, about Lucia, the first love of Casanova, told from her point of view)

 

Working on:

Richardson - Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (18th century)

Rhijnvis Feith - Julia (Dutch, 18th century, epistolary novel)

 

Other:

Pope Francis - Laudato Si

Robert Rodi - Bitch in a Bonnet (very funny, makes me want to reread every book by Jane Austen NOW!)

Gene Wolfe - Peace, after Kareni's link to this article, I could not resist, although it's obsiously not 18th century lit :D

[mumto2]

I finally got my Library of NYC card and it is approved! I now have access to their ebooks and audio books! I am so excited.

 

So, I use overdrive on my kindle fire and check out "new books". I am not kidding that it is over 300 pages of 'new books". However, and I am dead serious about this, I have NEVER seen so many smutty books in one place in my life. Ok, lots of your regular romance Harlequin novels. I had no idea there could be so many. Did you know there is an entire genre of Christmas Romance novels? And a whole lot that have 'baby' in the title. Like, "A baby for the CEO"...and the CEO is never a woman. I don't know what the fascination is with babies or pregnancy ("Pregnant by the Rancher") in a romance novel, but it must have a LOT of fans. But the Christmas ones! I am totally serious that I saw at least 25 different titles that had to do with Christmas. And Amish? What is that about? That feels very non-consensual to me. I am pretty darn sure Amish people do NOT want to be in romance novels.

 

But it didn't stop with 'romance'. It went waaaay beyond that! :scared: I felt quite scandalized. I am apparently quite tame in my reading habits.

 

I really need to get out more or something. I had no idea that those types of books are so popular. You could even borrow them in 4 packs. They had "October means love" collections with 4 books to borrow at once. DH is a librarian he said that it is industry standard for some big libraries to have a deal with certain publishers that they will buy every ebook that comes out for some blanket price.

 

I ended up borrowing 2 cookbooks that I have been dying to check out. I already know I am going to have to buy one and I haven't even started the second. I kept looking at cookbooks and looking at cookbooks..it went on and on in Overdrive. Then I looked and they have something like 400 pages of cookbooks! I think I got through 30 before I got tired of looking at them.

:lol: A couple of years ago we had a BaW discussion on if it was possible to browse in an online library in a satisfying manner. At the time I hadn't really perfected my skill. Now I can spend hours looking at cookbooks etc online. Glad you are enjoying your new card which sounds like a really incredible one. :)

[Kareni]

A fascinating article from the Atlantic:

 

The First Book of Selfies

 

 

"The popularity of YouTube “haul videos,†fashion vlogs, and shoefies is often derided as a sign of the times, if not a sign of the end of times. Combining unbridled narcissism with unabashed materialism, these images—usually self-portraits—rack up millions of hits, and their creators can often become celebrities in their own right. But the impulse to catalogue, classify, and, ultimately, communicate one’s fashion choices is nothing new. Like most everything in fashion, it’s been done before—in Renaissance Germany.

 

The illuminated Klaidungsbüchlein, or “book of clothes,†compiled by the Augsburg accountant Matthäus Schwarz between 1520 and 1560 is a proto-Kardashian book of selfies. Rendered in rich tempera colors accentuated with costly gilding, the series of hand-drawn portraits meticulously catalogues his extensive and flamboyant wardrobe. The book has been widely known among scholars in Germany since the eighteenth century, but the original manuscript—housed in the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig—is so fragile that it’s rarely displayed. ..."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[redsquirrel]

:lol: A couple of years ago we had a BaW discussion on if it was possible to browse in an online library in a satisfying manner. At the time I hadn't really perfected my skill. Now I can spend hours looking at cookbooks etc online. Glad you are enjoying your new card which sounds like a really incredible one. :)

 

For me anyway, I can only browse because I have a Kindle Fire.  It allows me to browse on my device.  My sister has a paperwhite, which is prob superior as a Kindle, but it can't interface with overdrive like mine does.  My sister borows many fewer ebooks than I do b/c she doesn't want to sit at her laptop and browse the selection.  I am not thrilled with the Fire, but the ability to browse on my actual kindle, and not having to sit at my laptop for hours, makes a big difference to me. I don't think I would switch to a paperwhite for that reason. Then again, I didn't pay for my Fire.  DH 'won' it at a work conference and gave it to me.  I would never have coughed up the money for a Fire on my own.

 

When I can't sleep I often lie in bed going through books on overdrive, reading about them and putting them on my 'wish list' etc. The Fire makes that really, really easy. 

 

And I love being able to borrow directly onto my kindle. 

 

A few people mentioned that they have a big urban library in their state that allows out of area borrowing.  I am now a big fan...and not just because of the smut, lol.

 

[Jane in NC]

A fascinating article from the Atlantic:

The First Book of Selfies

 

 

"The popularity of YouTube “haul videos,†fashion vlogs, and shoefies is often derided as a sign of the times, if not a sign of the end of times. Combining unbridled narcissism with unabashed materialism, these images—usually self-portraits—rack up millions of hits, and their creators can often become celebrities in their own right. But the impulse to catalogue, classify, and, ultimately, communicate one’s fashion choices is nothing new. Like most everything in fashion, it’s been done before—in Renaissance Germany.

 

The illuminated Klaidungsbüchlein, or “book of clothes,†compiled by the Augsburg accountant Matthäus Schwarz between 1520 and 1560 is a proto-Kardashian book of selfies. Rendered in rich tempera colors accentuated with costly gilding, the series of hand-drawn portraits meticulously catalogues his extensive and flamboyant wardrobe. The book has been widely known among scholars in Germany since the eighteenth century, but the original manuscript—housed in the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig—is so fragile that it’s rarely displayed. ..."

 

Regards,

Kareni

That was really interesting. I have passed the link along.

[Ali in OR]

 

 

I ended up borrowing 2 cookbooks that I have been dying to check out.  I already know I am going to have to buy one and I haven't even started the second.  I kept looking at cookbooks and looking at cookbooks..it went on and on in Overdrive.  Then I looked and they have something like 400 pages of cookbooks! I think I got through 30 before I got tired of looking at them.

 

Another cookbook reader here. I like checking them out of the library and I buy one every year from the library book sale. I read it over the course of the year and then donate back usually! So, what did you get, and what do you have to buy???

[unsinkable]

I finally got my Library of NYC card and it is approved! I now have access to their ebooks and audio books! I am so excited.

 

So, I use overdrive on my kindle fire and check out "new books". I am not kidding that it is over 300 pages of 'new books". However, and I am dead serious about this, I have NEVER seen so many smutty books in one place in my life. Ok, lots of your regular romance Harlequin novels. I had no idea there could be so many. Did you know there is an entire genre of Christmas Romance novels? And a whole lot that have 'baby' in the title. Like, "A baby for the CEO"...and the CEO is never a woman. I don't know what the fascination is with babies or pregnancy ("Pregnant by the Rancher") in a romance novel, but it must have a LOT of fans. But the Christmas ones! I am totally serious that I saw at least 25 different titles that had to do with Christmas. And Amish? What is that about? That feels very non-consensual to me. I am pretty darn sure Amish people do NOT want to be in romance novels.

 

But it didn't stop with 'romance'. It went waaaay beyond that! :scared: I felt quite scandalized. I am apparently quite tame in my reading habits.

 

I really need to get out more or something. I had no idea that those types of books are so popular. You could even borrow them in 4 packs. They had "October means love" collections with 4 books to borrow at once. DH is a librarian he said that it is industry standard for some big libraries to have a deal with certain publishers that they will buy every ebook that comes out for some blanket price.

 

I ended up borrowing 2 cookbooks that I have been dying to check out. I already know I am going to have to buy one and I haven't even started the second. I kept looking at cookbooks and looking at cookbooks..it went on and on in Overdrive. Then I looked and they have something like 400 pages of cookbooks! I think I got through 30 before I got tired of looking at them.

I did know about those romance genres. I went to high school with a girl who has written a few Amish romances. She told me about it at our reunion a few years ago.

 

The one I didn't know about that I learned when Katie was in her contest was the medical romance genre.

[Butter]

Great news! I saw the other doctor this morning and she can get me in for surgery on the 23rd! I can handle 19 more days :)

 

This is a blessing in disguise I think.  This doctor is super thorough and specializes in uterine and vaginal prolapse and urinary incontinence.  She did a fellowship at the Mayo Clinic 7 years ago for pelvic reconstruction.  She discovered that in the last month I also developed a rectocele so now I have that, cystocele, urethra out of place and moving around too much, and 3rd degree uterine prolapse. Everything is just collapsing in on itself in there.

 

She's going to do the hysterectomy, fix the rectocele and cystocele and secure the urethra like it should be and do the bladder sling. She's also going to tack my vagina up to the ligaments since I have a lot of years ahead of me and to reduce the risk of needing a future surgery. Because my dad had prostate cancer 7 years ago and they have found a link between fathers with prostate cancer and daughters with ovarian cancer and they believe ovarian cancer begins in the fallopian tubes, she will also be taking out my tubes while she is in there to reduce that risk.

 

So a bit more than I was expecting, but I think this doctor is definitely the best I could have found.  Thank goodness my friend gave me the number and urged me to call.  19 more days!

[mumto2]

Butter, Great news!!!!!

[Stacia]

Hang in there, Heather! :grouphug:

 

Sounds like you've found a great doctor.