Book a Week 2015 - BW46: armchair traveling west of the prime meridian

[Robin M]

I'm traveling so posting saturday tonight since won't have time in the morning. Appreciate it If one of you early risers would bump in the morning.

Happy Sunday my lovelies! We are on week 46 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 in my signature.

52 books blog - Armchair traveling west of the prime meridian: I had an epiphany after last week's post, since we only have a few weeks left in the year. (oh my!) Started giving some thought to 2016 and had a grand idea. For our armchair travels, will split our bookish travels and the world up into four quarters: Traveling East and West of the Prime Meridian and North and South of the Equator. Which will give everyone a variety of ways to go. For example: East of the pm and north of the equator booking it across Europe and Asia or exploring the seas, South of the equator and following the ocean currents or hang out in South America, West of the pm and sail across the Atlantic to North America. I'm getting excited just thinking about it!

This week we'll be doing a scouting trip West of the Prime Meridian. But let's not forget those countries intersected by the dividing line on the Continent of Africa as well as Europe. You can dip down into Morocco with Edith Wharton's tales of her journey in 1917


In Morocco

Before hopping on a steamer ship and traveling across the Atlantic with Simon Winchester.



as well as Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea, which Moby Dick was based upon. By the way, if you missed the 2012 MD readalong, you'll get another chance in 2016. More on that later.

Are you in the mood to explore North America with Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods





[or dip down into South America with David Grann's Lost City of Z.





Put on your traveling shoes and join me West of the Prime Meridian.


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

History of the Medieval World
Chapter 60 - Great Army of the Vikings pp 458 - 465
Chapter 61 - Struggle for the Iron Crown pp 466 - 471
Chapter 62 Kampaku pp 472 - 478

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

What are you reading this week?




Link to week 45.

[Robin M]

I'm still working my way through Side's In the Kingdom of Ice.

 

Just finished Spider's Trap, Jennifer Estep's  # 16 in her Elemental Assassin Series.

[LaughingCat]

Repost since I missed Robin's link to the new thread:

 

Butter, on 09 Nov 2015 - 4:07 PM, said:

Today I read The Wave by Todd Strasser.  That was quite a disturbing book.  It's the fictionalized story of an experiment done in a Palo Alto high school in 1969.  When faced with the question of why did people follow the Nazis and why didn't the other Germans stop them, the teacher started an experiment that got out of control.  He started a movement he called The Wave complete with a salute and slogans.  Within a week the students who were part of The Wave clearly thought of themselves as better than the other students and intimidated the others and refused to allow them to do things with them.  The school newspaper dedicated an issue to the negatives about The Wave and Wave members decided the editor of the paper had to be "taken care of."  Two students were beaten up.  The editor of the paper lost her boyfriend and her best friend because of her refusal to maintain her membership in The Wave.  After a week it was clear the experiment needed to be ended immediately, but the teacher really wanted the students to learn from the experience.  He called a pep rally just for Wave members where they would see a broadcast from the national leader of The Wave movement.  He told them The Wave had been started in high schools across the country and the National Wave Youth Movement was about the start.  When it was time to put the image of the leader up, he put up a video of Adolf Hitler.  The kids were shocked and dismayed as they learned the truth.  No one spoke about what happened for three years.  I am sure to this day they all know exactly how Hitler did what he did and why others didn't stop him.  Fascinating book, really.

Ok, I'm way late on this -- but this reminds me of Jane Elliot's brown vs. blue eye experiment --  with 3rd graders!  Here' s the link to the Frontline program on it.   It was gob-smacking when I first watched it.  

[Negin]

 

Are you in the mind to explore North America with Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods

Robin, happy travels.  :grouphug:

 

Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods is one of my all-time favorites. I'm going to look into the other titles you mentioned. 

 

I read News of a Kidnapping - 3 Stars - I don’t generally watch much TV. My husband watches more than me and knows which shows I’ll like. We recently finished watching the first season “Narcos†about Pablo Escobar. This book was a nice addition to the TV series, although I prefer the latter. The book moved more slowly than I had hoped, yet it was a compelling look at that dark period in Colombia. There’s no doubt that Pablo Escobar was an absolute monster. One of my favorite quotes: “The most unsettling and dangerous aspect of his personality was his total inability to distinguish between good and evil.â€

 

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. 

[mumto2]

Welcome home Jane! Looking forward to hearing about your trip....

 

I finished The Lake House by Kate Morton this week. http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2015/07/in-the-bookroom/authors/mystery-and-more-kate-mortons-carefully-structured-the-lake-house-has-broad-appeal/Really enjoyed it. It was a really satisfying read. Typical Kate Morton. Not sure what else to say. ;)

 

I also finished G M Malliet's The Haunted Season.https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/gm-malliet/the-haunted-season/ The is a great series if you like cozy mysteries. English village with a vicar who is a former MI5 agent. This one is a take off on a strangers on a train theme....

 

Finally I read the latest Agatha Raison. It was just fine. I do think Agatha is getting a bit more likable.

[Nan in Mass]

Angel, I remember reading about that blue/brown experiment. And although we covered history pretty sketchily in high school, I did at least make my younger two listen to the Ira Glass NPR program on the Third Wave. It was an hour well spent. I strongly feel that some of the brain wiring that allowed us to survive way back needs some serious cultural modification. I think this sort of tendency to think in-group/out-group makes a better original sin than born-selfish/taught-to-be-unselfish. Guess I will have to go back and see what you all have been discussing while we were getting oldest off to sea.

 

I finished The Outback Stars. Next up - The Stars Down Under.

 

Nan

[Violet Crown]

Can't wait to hear about Jane's adventures!

 

Finished Henry James, The Wings of the Dove, one of the best books I've ever read. Well underway on John Henry Faulk's Fear on Trial, the author's account of being hounded and blacklisted from his job at CBS by self-appointed anti-Communist watchdogs in the McCarthy era.

 

Next will be The Good Soldier Å vejk, I hope in the next few days.

[Melinda in VT]

Redshirts by John Scalzi

A funny, light-hearted read. I enjoyed this one more than the books I've read in his Old Man's War universe, although I enjoyed those too. I'd like to read one more Scalzi book before mid-January, when he'll be the guest of honor at a convention I'm attending.

 

Station Eleven

I liked this one quite a bit, but it felt like the author didn't quite finish developing her main theme. With a better dev edit, I think this one could have been five stars.

 

The Martian

I loved the science and the mental fortitude to avoid panic and work the problem. I read the book and then saw the movie. Both were good. Characterization was better in the movie. Problem solving was better in the book.

 

Raising My Rainbow

Great look at what it's like to parent a kid who is gender nonconforming. Even though our transgender experience is different in many ways, there was much I could relate to. I hadn't heard of the author's blog before, but I intend to start following it.

[Jane in NC]

What an appropriate topic!  Last week I was out of the armchair and in a kayak or my hiking boots exploring a magnificent area west of the prime meridian: the Eastern coastline of Baja California Sur.  We did a week long small boat cruise on the Sea of Cortes. 

 

Very little reading was accomplished.  I was too busy watching birds and taking in the colors of the volcanic rocks and cacti or the brilliantly colored fish.

 

This was my first crossing of the Tropic of Cancer.

[Violet Crown]

What an appropriate topic! Last week I was out of the armchair and in a kayak or my hiking boots exploring a magnificent area west of the prime meridian: the Eastern coastline of Baja California Sur. We did a week long small boat cruise on the Sea of Cortes.

 

Very little reading was accomplished. I was too busy watching birds and taking in the colors of the volcanic rocks and cacti or the brilliantly colored fish.

 

This was my first crossing of the Tropic of Cancer.

So that'll be Henry Miller for you this week, then? :D

 

Seriously, sounds delightful! Any photos for us?

[TeacherZee]

Oh I do need to read a bit wider. I thought I would this year but then with moving and a new job I ended up in the comfort read category (not feeling bad about that at all) but this will be good for me. I love A Walk In The Woods but I think I need to read more about non Europe and North America, or at least non-Western Europe. 

 

More romance for me this week and another few re-read chapters of The Giver with my firsties. 

[Jane in NC]

So that'll be Henry Miller for you this week, then? :D

 

Seriously, sounds delightful! Any photos for us?

 

:lol:  I'll pass on travels with Henry, thank you.

 

My husband is the family photographer but it may take some time before he gets things up on his computer for me to copy. He is currently reading work email.  Ahem.

 

I did read about half of Josef Skvorecky's The Miracle Game which I think you might enjoy, VC.  From the back cover:

 

1948:  in a Bohemian village church, Danny Smiricky is witness to an inexplicable event which the Catholic townspeople insist is a miracle and the newly ascendant Communist Party denounces as a fraud.  In its aftermath a priest is arrested, and dies under interrogation.

 

Twenty years later, in the midst of the Prague Spring, the case of the miracle is reopened, and Danny is reluctantly drawn into an increasingly Byzantine investigation.  As he comes closer to the convoluted and inevitable answer, the unraveling mystery becomes for him a sorrowful metaphor for socialism's own miracle.

[Stacia]

Not reading anything at the moment. Set aside David Wong's book right after I posted about it because life got busy & then later decided I'd rather sit down & read it at another time. I'm in the mood for something different. But what... I don't know.

 

Negin, thanks for the mention of News of a Kidnapping. It would also fit into cartel-related reading.

 

VC, :lol:  about Henry Miller. And Fear on Trial sounds like an interesting book.

 

Jane, sounds like an incredible trip. I, too, would love to hear & see more about it.

 

Re: Robin's list in the original post -- I read The Lost City of Z years ago. It's the book that made me decide that I could have handled polar exploration better than I would ever be able to handle rain forest/jungle exploration! :laugh:

 

Melinda, I enjoyed your comments on The Martian. Yes!

 

Laughing Cat & Nan, thanks for the comments & the links. Will look them up & pass on the info to ds since he just finished reading The Wave.

 

Robin, have fun during your trip!

[Chrysalis Academy]

Shannon and I are going to start reading The Voyage of the Beagle together in January. I got the newly published illustrated edition. So that will be a good armchair travelling selection for us for early 2016:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Voyage-Beagle-Illustrated-Charles-Darwins/dp/0760348138/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1447614772&sr=8-3&keywords=the+voyage+of+the+beagle

 

I'm reading The Gap of Time, but as soon as I finish I have Ancillary Mercy waiting, which I'm very excited about! The third book of the trilogy that I've really enjoyed this year, and Eliana liked it, so I can't wait to read it.

 

Books Completed in November:

165. In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

164. The Winter's Tale - William Shakespeare

163. The Sellout - Paul Beatty

162. Charles and Emma: The Darwin's Leap of Faith - Deborah Heligman

161. Loosed Upon the World: The Saga Anthology of Climate Fiction - John Joseph Adams, ed.

[Just Robyn]

I finished The Things We Carried by Tim O'Brien. Wow! An easy read, in that I didn't have to look up words or untangle sentences. A tough read emotionally, and also because the way he "blur the lines between reality and fiction" is kind of a mindcuss. At first, I think I knew the book was fiction, but then after some chapters went by, I started second guessing that, and I had to look it up. Eventually I got to some chapters/sentences where he explicitly addresses the fiction/nonfiction and truth/fact lines. O'Brien states that just telling the facts doesn't get to the truth; you have to embellish it to make readers understand an event on an emotional level. So, though a list of facts may be truer in that everything listed factually happened, a story that embellishes those facts may be truer with regard to the understanding of the human condition that we gain from reading it. I still want to sit down with him and a highlighter and get him to highlight all the facts. IMO, this is a book everyone should read.

 

I also read Sleepyhead Assassins, a book of poetry by Mindy Nettifee - poem below - and I'm currently reading Shakespeare's Henry V. 

 

 

 

When Cherries are $1.99/lb. 

 

It’s pretty much Christmas. on the way home from work,
I buy enough for the whole neighborhood.

 

Everyone smells me arrive, comes outside
with beach chairs and flashy walking sticks.

 

We gather around the stop signs, prop up broken box fans
around us like soldiers, Vince Guaraldi tinkling through

 

the closest window. We spit pits for distance, the young boys
showing off and the old boys letting them. We swear

 

with reckless abandon, building a naughty momentum,
bitching about the godless, blue-collar July sun,

 

still baking the asphalt into hell-cake after it has already
gone home to the other side of the world for the night.

 

We knot tart stems with our lecherous tongues.
We gorge shamelessly on cherry flesh

 

’till we look like vampires, smiling in the dark.

[Jane in NC]

Good grief!  My "likes" have yet to return!

 

The travelogue begins..On Friday we flew to San Jose del Cabo--Los Cabos airport services both San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, the latter being a popular stop for the Americans who patronize inclusive resorts. San Jose del Cabo has them too but CSL seems to be a popular stop for the partying crowd.

 

In quieter San Jose del Cabo where we spent our first night, one has the option of staying at one of the big beach resorts or a more relaxed hotel in town.  We chose the latter. Our little hotel was just off the town square which is where one finds the book mobile on Fridays.

 

 

Then on Saturday we met up with the other 51 guests who would be aboard our "small" vessel.  The waters of the Sea of Cortez near the Southern tip of Baja are known to be rough. Our cruise provider has decided that it is better to transport people by bus to La Paz and begin the boat tour in calmer waters.  Here is the map of our adventure:

 

 

Unfortunately my photographer husband has a lot on his plate the next few days so I may not get any more pictures for a while.  I will tell you more about our adventures in later posts. In the meantime, I need to make some chicken soup.

[Kareni]

I'm traveling

 

Safe and happy travels, Robin!

 

 Last week I was out of the armchair and in a kayak or my hiking boots exploring a magnificent area west of the prime meridian: the Eastern coastline of Baja California Sur. 

 

Welcome back, Jane!

 

:lol:  I'll pass on travels with Henry, thank you.

 

I decided that Travels with Henry had to be a book title, and it is.  See here.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Books recently finished ~

 

Carla Kelly's historical romance Miss Whittier Makes a List which I very much enjoyed.  (This book would be fine for even conservative readers.)  Much of the story took place aboard ship, and I learned a few new things (for example, the impressment of sailors into British service).  I've often seen this title on lists of Carla Kelly's best books so was eager to read it.  You can read more about the author's books here.

 

"In the early 1800s, seventeen-year-old Hannah Whittier is traveling by ship down the coast from her Quaker home in Massachusetts to her brother’s house in Charleston, South Carolina. To while away the dull hours, Hannah composes a list of qualities she wants in a husband. Boredom will soon be the least of her worries.

 

First the Molly Claridge is boarded by the British frigate, H.M.S. Dissuade, and forced to turn over any supposed Englishmen. Later the American vessel is blown out of the water by a French man o’war. After a long, harrowing day clinging to a grate and battered by the sun, Hannah is fished out of the water by the Dissuade and forced to sail toward England with the British crew and its imperious yet devilishly handsome captain, Sir Daniel Spark.

 

Proper young Quakeress Hannah locks horns with rough-talking Captain Spark, who expects her to carry her weight by helping their cook and keeping watch. The captain has none of the qualities on Hannah’s list, so why is she so drawn to him? Could it be that loyalty and valor are more important than mild manners and patience? Hannah learns that Captain Spark has fought valiantly in England’s naval battles against France, and she sympathizes with his weariness in the face of so much death and destruction.

 

Captain Spark in turn values Hannah’s lively spirit and positive attitude. And, despite her tanned skin and cabin boy attire, Hannah presents quite a temptation to the captain who has been too long at sea. Now, if only they can make it to England in one piece ...."

 

**

 

I also read Nora Roberts' Stars of Fortune: Book One of the Guardians Trilogy which I enjoyed.  (Though, of late, I tend to prefer her standalone novels over her trilogies.)  This book has a definite paranormal component.

 

"Sasha Riggs is a reclusive artist, haunted by dreams and nightmares that she turns into extraordinary paintings. Her visions lead her to the Greek island of Corfu, where five others have been lured to seek the legendary fire star, part of an ancient prophecy. Sasha recognizes them, because she has drawn them: a magician, an archaeologist, a wanderer, a fighter, a loner. All on a quest. All with secrets.

 

Sasha is the one who holds them together—the seer. And in the magician, Bran Killian, she sees a man of immense power and compassion. As Sasha struggles with her rare ability, Bran is there to support her, challenge her, and believe in her.

 

When a dark threat looms, the six must use their combined powers—including trust, unity, and love—to find the fire star and keep the world on course."

 

**

 

I also read and enjoyed Diane Gaston's Valiant Soldier, Beautiful Enemy (Three Soldiers) which is third in a quartet of Harlequin historical romances.  It stood alone well though I'd also like to read the other three books now.  This book begins with the pillage of the town of Badajoz, Spain in 1812 by the British.

 

"A soldier's second chance

Captain Gabriel Deane has known his fair share of pain, but he'd take a dagger to the chest rather than relive the torture of rejection from the woman he loves.

Saying no to Gabriel broke Emmaline Mableau's heart, but being a soldier's widow had already cost her family too much. Now she wears Gabriel's ring around her neck: a reminder of the man who can never be hers.

Two years later, Emmaline's hand trembles as she goes to knock on Gabriel's door. Now she has a proposal for him, but will he say yes?"

 

Regards,

Kareni

[idnib]

I'm also looking forward to hearing more about Jane's travels!

 

I am still struggling with the aftermath of our family's emergency trip and the reason for it, so reading is on the back burner. I'm a slow reader anyway so this is a problem.

 

I'm trying to finish In Cold Blood before bed tonight.

[mumto2]

:grouphug: idnib

 

Jane, Your trip itinerary sounds so scenic, all those Isles.....

 

Oddly hectic day here so no reading. There haven't been many days in my life where dh and I have TWO discussions regarding rather to file an insurance claim or not. Nothing earth shattering just costly.....no claims are beinv filed.

 

I am trying to get JD Robb's Devoted in Death started. I am sure that after a few pages it will be a quick read.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I finished The Gap of Time.  I loved it.  Can I give something 6 stars?  As a stand-alone story, without reference to Shakespeare's Tale, I would have loved it as a story of love and loss and forgiveness and second chances. But as a reimagining of The Winter's Tale, it is perfect. I love the changes she made, the depth she added. I love the ambiguities in the ending. I love how Winterson interjected a bit of herself in at the end - she was a foundling, and has loved the play her whole life.  I like her explanation of what Shakespeare was doing in this play, and the themes of forgiveness in his later plays.

 

Jeanette Winterson has been one of my favorite writers ever since I read Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit in the early 90s.  I lost sight of her for a few years and have missed a whole set of her books. I think it's time for a retrospective, I think I'm going to read over her whole body of work in order for the next year.  I think she's absolutely brilliant.

[idnib]

I finished The Gap of Time.  I loved it.  Can I give something 6 stars?  As a stand-alone story, without reference to Shakespeare's Tale, I would have loved it as a story of love and loss and forgiveness and second chances. But as a reimagining of The Winter's Tale, it is perfect. I love the changes she made, the depth she added. I love the ambiguities in the ending. I love how Winterson interjected a bit of herself in at the end - she was a foundling, and has loved the play her whole life.  I like her explanation of what Shakespeare was doing in this play, and the themes of forgiveness in his later plays.

 

Hmmm. I may be sold.

[NoseInABook]

I half want to check out the Nora Roberts book but I may just wait until I get get it from the library. I'm sure it's going to be just like the other fifty million trilogies she has written in this vein but they're like comfort food.

 

Halfway through the last Rachel Morgan/Hollows book in the series and it feels like the author has grown bored with the series and is tying up the loose ends for the fans only. 

 

[Ali in OR]

^{I finished Dai Sijie's Once on a Moonless Night this week and enjoyed it. My brain had to work harder than I intended when I first picked it up, but I got caught up in  the many layers of the story. I hope to find time today/tonight to finish Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. The Gap of Time is still on hold but I'm next in line for it. In the meantime I also picked up the first Sebastian St. Cyr mystery, What Angels Fear. Haven't started yet.}

 

^{I've never read Bill Bryson, but have been thinking of picking A Walk in the Woods when I'm up next for our book club--Jan or Feb. Have to see if everyone else has already read it.}

[Chrysalis Academy]

Hmmm. I may be sold.

 

Here is the Gap of Time quote I meant to post earlier.  

 

And the world goes on regardless of joy or despair or one woman's fortune or one man's loss. And we can't know the lives of others. And we can't know our own lives beyond the details we can manage. And the things that change us forever happen without us knowing they would happen. And the moment that looks like the rest is the one where hearts are broken or healed. And time that runs so steady and sure runs wild outside of the clocks. It takes so little time to change a lifetime and it takes a lifetime to understand the change.

[idnib]

Here is the Gap of Time quote I meant to post earlier.  

 

And the world goes on regardless of joy or despair or one woman's fortune or one man's loss. And we can't know the lives of others. And we can't know our own lives beyond the details we can manage. And the things that change us forever happen without us knowing they would happen. And the moment that looks like the rest is the one where hearts are broken or healed. And time that runs so steady and sure runs wild outside of the clocks. It takes so little time to change a lifetime and it takes a lifetime to understand the change.

 

Sold, to the reader in the blue t-shirt and flannel pj pants!

[Robin M]

Had a good time with hubby's family. This morning, the guys made french toast with homemade bread and also hashbrowns. Yummy! 

 

 

View of the Oakland Bay from their house

 

 

Even with all the walking I've been doing, after going up and down their stairs a few dozen times, my poor legs are sore.  :tongue_smilie:   

 

 

 

[Kareni]

This afternoon was a re-read for me ~ Robin D. Owen's Heart Mate (Celta's HeartMates, Book 1).  This is the first in a series of fourteen books, and I'm waiting for the library copy of the latest release.  It was a pleasure to revisit this book.

 

"All his life, Rand T’Ash has looked forward to meeting his HeartMate, with whom he could begin a family. Once a street tough, now a respected nobleman and artisan, he has crafted the perfect HeartGift, which, in the custom of the psychically gifted population of the planet Celta, is the way a man finds—and attracts—his wife…

 

Danith Mallow is irresistibly drawn to the magnificent necklace on display in T’Ash’s shop, but she is wary of its creator, despite an overpowering attraction. In a world where everyone is defined by their psychic ability, Danith has little, placing her at the opposite end of the social spectrum from T’Ash. But T’Ash refuses to accept her rejection and sees it as a challenge instead. They are HeartMates, but can T’Ash persuade his beloved to accept her destiny by his side?"

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

And a bookish post ~

 

Beautiful Bookplates of Etsy by Becky Stone

 

Do you use bookplates?

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Stacia]

For fans of The Martian, today's Tee Fury shirt is a "Watney's Space Potatoes" one. It's available for another hour & a half or so....

[Maela]

Just finished Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I really enjoyed it.

 

 

I love Bill Bryson!

[Tress]

I read chapter 72 & 73 of SWB´s HOMW.

 

I finished Laudato Si, but missed the study evening at our parish (migraine). There are three more study evenings, hopefully I will be able to attend those.

 

I finished Peace, by Gene Wolfe.  :blink: That´s one weird book and not at all what I expected. I should really read it again, but not now (I´m tired and not up to following vague clues). I read A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula le Guin instead, which was nice and easy and a dusty, so I feel accomplished now :D.

 

 

Still reading Pamela  :toetap05: . I decided to drop Julia (Dutch) for now, because one 18th century epistolary novel seems to be my max. I´ll pick it up again after finishing Pamela.

 

 

 

 

107. Ursula le Guin – A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea quartet 1) (Dusty)

106. Gene Wolfe – Peace

105. Pope Francis – Laudato Si

 

[Jane in NC]

Rose, I too was planning on reading The Voyage of the Beagle early next year. 

 

And count me in on the HoRW for 2016.  I am on chapter 67 of the HoMW, definitely on track to have 'er done by year's end.

[Nan in Mass]

Welcome home, Jane! I am looking forward to more pictures!

Hugs,

Nan

[Jane in NC]

These photos taken at the beginning of the trip define the rhythm of the week.

 

My husband was always up pre-dawn.  He would roam the ship, chat with crew members and take photos of the rising sun.  Here you can see Venus, Mars and Jupiter in alignment.

 

 

There are no docks on these small islands and the channels are too shallow for the big cruise ships.  Thus we encountered the occasional sail boat or fishing vessel on the water, few people outside of our group on land.  One of our first activities was a ridge hike on Isla San Francisco which first involved boarding a Zodiac to the beach where water shoes were swapped for hiking boots.

 

 

The volcanic rocks against the blue of the water and sky were amazing. 

 

 

Here is a view of the "small" ship we were on with mountains in the distance.  It was all breathtakingly beautiful!

[Pam in CT]

Angel, I remember reading about that blue/brown experiment. And although we covered history pretty sketchily in high school, I did at least make my younger two listen to the Ira Glass NPR program on the Third Wave. It was an hour well spent. I strongly feel that some of the brain wiring that allowed us to survive way back needs some serious cultural modification. I think this sort of tendency to think in-group/out-group makes a better original sin than born-selfish/taught-to-be-unselfish. Guess I will have to go back and see what you all have been discussing while we were getting oldest off to sea.

 

Of all the many responses to Ta-Nehisi Coates' book that have been burbling since I read it back in August, the one that I keep coming back to most often is his idea that racism precedes race -- that the human *desire to dominate* comes first, and then we cast around for some Other to do it to and some justification to base it on.

 

"Americans believe in the reality of ‘race’ as a defined, indubitable feature of the natural world.  Racism — the need to ascribe bone-deep features to people and then humiliate, reduce and destroy them — inevitably follows from this inalterable condition.  In this way, racism is rendered as the innocent daughter of Mother Nature, and one is left to deplore the Middle Passage or the Trail of Tears the way one deplores an earthquake…

 

But race is the child of racism, not the father. And the process of naming ‘the people’ has never been a matter of genealogy and physiognomy as one of hierarchy.  Difference in hue and hair is old.  But the belief in the pre-eminence of hue and hair, the notion that these factors… signify deeper attributes, which are indelible — this is the new idea at the heart of these new people who have been brought up hopelessly, tragically, to believe that they are white." 

 

 

 

 

I finished The Gap of Time.  I loved it.  Can I give something 6 stars?  As a stand-alone story, without reference to Shakespeare's Tale, I would have loved it as a story of love and loss and forgiveness and second chances. But as a reimagining of The Winter's Tale, it is perfect. I love the changes she made, the depth she added. I love the ambiguities in the ending. I love how Winterson interjected a bit of herself in at the end - she was a foundling, and has loved the play her whole life.  I like her explanation of what Shakespeare was doing in this play, and the themes of forgiveness in his later plays.

 

Jeanette Winterson has been one of my favorite writers ever since I read Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit in the early 90s.  I lost sight of her for a few years and have missed a whole set of her books. I think it's time for a retrospective, I think I'm going to read over her whole body of work in order for the next year.  I think she's absolutely brilliant.

 

Hmmm. I may be sold.

:lol: OK, sold as well to the woman in yoga pants...

 

 

 

For fans of The Martian, today's Tee Fury shirt is a "Watney's Space Potatoes" one. It's available for another hour & a half or so....

Dang.  Missed that.

 

 

 

These photos taken at the beginning of the trip define the rhythm of the week.

 

My husband was always up pre-dawn.  He would roam the ship, chat with crew members and take photos of the rising sun.  Here you can see Venus, Mars and Jupiter in alignment.

 

 

There are no docks on these small islands and the channels are too shallow for the big cruise ships.  Thus we encountered the occasional sail boat or fishing vessel on the water, few people outside of our group on land.  One of our first activities was a ridge hike on Isla San Francisco which first involved boarding a Zodiac to the beach where water shoes were swapped for hiking boots.

 

 

The volcanic rocks against the blue of the water and sky were amazing. 

 

 

Here is a view of the "small" ship we were on with mountains in the distance.  It was all breathtakingly beautiful!

Oh.my.goodness.  Those are... well, words fail.

[3sapphires]

Hi everyone!

 

I'm an avid reader, and would love to jump in to this thread, so I will! I try to read in a pattern to keep myself well balanced - I'm a children's librarian - one children's book, one YA book and one Adult book, lather, rinse and repeat.

 

Last week I read

 

Outlander

Ever by Gail Carson Levine

Wonder by RJ Palacio

 

Outlander was much as I expected it to be - I read it to see what the hype was about, but was a little late to the party, lol. I liked it, but not enough to read the next 10,000 pages of the series.

 

Ever was interesting. I recommended it to my 13 year old. I was surprised at the ending, and I like books that don't end as you think they will. It was a quick read, as well.

 

Wonder was amazing. I loved this book. Even though it will be an easy read for her, I recommended this to my 13 year old as well. I'm very glad that this book was as popular as it was. I do have do admit, though, that I have no interest in reading the next one. It centers around a character that I did not like, one who I do not want to become sympathetic to, lol. I'm stubborn.

 

I am currently reading The Cider House Rules by John Irving. I am enjoying it very much.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Ok, once again after raving about a book I feel like I need to add a rating - The Gap of Time is definitely rated R.  All Winterson's work deals with s@x, of all flavors, very openly and matter-of-factly.  Tastefully if the situation warrants, but she doesn't shy away from anything either, including the violence that can be involved in s@xual relationships, marital and otherwise. So if that's something you prefer to avoid, just a word to the wise.  I know we are all grownups here, but I know I'm always looking for good things for my kid to read, especially things to pair with classic works.  I wouldn't have my 13 year old read this book, she just doesn't have enough life experience to deal with the s@xual parts and put them into a healthy context.

[Pam in CT]

Welcome sapphires!   :seeya: I loved Wonder too.

[Nan in Mass]

Pam - (Unfortunately, I can,t quote.) That,s very interesting. I was thinking more of middleschool girl cliques than race relations, but the idea you voiced still applies. The timing is suspicious with the cliquiness -kindergarten not too bad, middleschool dreadful. But this could just as well be US public school culture passed along to the new students by the older ones and that it is so all pervading in my little world that I take for granted that it will happen naturally unless one educates and guards against it. I love having holes like this poked in the things I take for granted. Even if I decide they are wrong, it helps me to see where other people might be coming from, which in turn helps me to become less judgemental.

 

I think the thing that struck me most about about doing ancients with my children was the fact that slavery was not based on skin colour. It is interesting to think about how slavery might have played out differently in the US if the Africans had been physically indistinguishable from the Americans with European ancestry. Or in Europe. There was (and still is) non-different-culture-or-physical-characteristic-based slavery, but not on quite so devastating a scale, at least as far as I know. I could be wrong about that. It isn,t something I,ve investigated.

 

Nan

[Nan in Mass]

Wow, Jane! Just wow!

[Nan in Mass]

Grrr... Can,t edit, either. Reading my first paragraph, I can see that it is less than clear what I was getting at. Yes I think our propensity to divide the world into us and them is inborn (at least today I do), and I agree your author is right about having to be careful about what underlying assumptions we have that are a product of this. Maybe middleschool girl cliquiness is, but it could also be a culturally transmitted tradition rather than an inborn propensity towards cliquiness. Kind of backwards from the arguement of your author in the case of race relations. If it is a yes/no situation, that means that no is a possibility, which I hadn,t seen. And that probably isn,t any clearer than what I said the first time lol.

 

Nan

[Nan in Mass]

Welcome, 3saffires.

[Nan in Mass]

Sapphires. Ug.

 

Nan, who can,t wait until edit somehow mysteriously goes back to working.

[Kareni]

Hi everyone!

 

I'm an avid reader, and would love to jump in to this thread,

 

Welcome, 3sapphires!

 

 

Jane, thanks for sharing those lovely pictures.  I think my husband, the amateur astronomer, would have enjoyed joining your husband in his pre-dawn ramblings.

 

 

Of all the many responses to Ta-Nehisi Coates' book that have been burbling since I read it back in August, the one that I keep coming back to most often is his idea that racism precedes race -- that the human *desire to dominate* comes first, and then we cast around for some Other to do it to and some justification to base it on.

 

 

I haven't read the book by Coates, but I can see where this is an idea that would definitely deserve some thought.  I'm not sure whether I agree or disagree.  Thinking of pictures, the opposite of the beautiful ones shared by Jane would be those I've seen of KKK rallies in which small children (too young to have considered opinions of their own) are marching with their parents.  Whether Coates is correct or not, I do think that racism is often inculcated by parents.  Of course, the opposite is true as well since acceptance can also be taught by parents.  The more difficult path for a child or adult is probably to believe differently from those who raised him or her.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Stacia]

Welcome, 3sapphires! :seeya:  (You made it further than I did in Outlander. :lol: )

 

Jane, wow. Love, love the photos. You & your dh should submit a travel article w/ photos to a travel magazine.

 

Speaking of Coates' book, issues of race, alongside YA reading makes me think I should mention a YA book I read a few years ago. I thought it was great & recently picked up a copy from the library for my ds to read (but he hasn't started it yet). It is The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M. T. Anderson. I may have mentioned this book previously, but I can't remember. I can't remember tons of the details re: content so please make your own decisions for your YA readers; I do think I remember one scene referencing sex. Anyway, the book was good enough that I actually plan to read the second one at some point. (Maybe I need to re-read the original one first, though.)

 

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 9 Up–In this fascinating and eye-opening Revolution-era novel, Octavian, a black youth raised in a Boston household of radical philosophers, is given an excellent classical education. He and his mother, an African princess, are kept isolated on the estate, and only as he grows older does he realize that while he is well dressed and well fed, he is indeed a captive being used by his guardians as part of an experiment to determine the intellectual acuity of Africans. As the fortunes of the Novanglian College of Lucidity change, so do the nature and conduct of their experiments. [...] Readers will have to wait for the second volume to find out the protagonist's fate. The novel is written in 18th-century language from Octavian's point of view and in letters written by a soldier who befriends him. Despite the challenging style, this powerful novel will resonate with contemporary readers. The issues of slavery and human rights, racism, free will, the causes of war, and one person's struggle to define himself are just as relevant today. Anderson's use of factual information to convey the time and place is powerfully done.–Sharon Rawlins, NJ Library for the Blind and Handicapped, Trenton
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* M. T. Anderson's books for young people reflect a remarkably broad mastery of genres, even as they defy neat classification. Any labeling requires lots of hyphens: space-travel satire (Feed, 2002), retro-comic fantasy-adventure (Whales on Stilts, 2005). This genre-labeling game seems particularly pointless with Anderson's latest novel, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation (2006), an episodic, highly ambitious story, deeply rooted in eighteenth-century literary traditions, which examines, among many other things, pre-Revolutionary slavery in New England.
 

The plot focuses on Octavian, a young black boy who recounts his youth in a Boston household of scientists and philosophers (The Novanglian College of Lucidity). The Collegians believe so thoroughly in the Age of Reason's principles that they address one another as numbers. Octavian soon learns that he and his mother are objects of one of the Collegians' experiments to learn whether Africans are "a separate and distinct species." Octavian receives an education "equal to any of the princes in Europe," until financial strains shatter Octavian's sheltered life of intellectual pursuits and the illusion that he is a free member of a utopian society. As political unrest in the colonies grows, Octavian experiences the increasing horrors of what it means to be a slave.
 

The story's scope is immense, in both its technical challenges and underlying intellectual and moral questions--perhaps too immense to be contained in a traditional narrative (and, indeed, Anderson has already promised a second volume to continue the story). As in Meg Rosoff's Printz Award Book How I Live Now (2004), in which a large black circle replaces text to represent the indescribable, Anderson's novel substitutes visuals for words. Several pages show furious black quill-pen cross-hatchings, through which only a few words are visible, perhaps indicating that even with his scholarly vocabulary, Octavian can't find words to describe the vast evil that he has witnessed. Likewise, Anderson employs multiple viewpoints and formats--letters, newspaper clippings, scientific papers--pick up the story that Octavian is periodically unable to tell.
 

Once acclimated to the novel's style, readers will marvel at Anderson's ability to maintain this high-wire act of elegant, archaic language and shifting voices, and they will appreciate the satiric scenes that gleefully lampoon the Collegians' more buffoonish experiments. Anderson's impressive historical research fixes the imagined College firmly within the facts of our country's own troubled history. The fluctuations between satire and somber realism, gothic fantasy and factual history will jar and disturb readers, creating a mood that echoes Octavian's unsettled time as well as our own.
 

Anderson's book is both chaotic and highly accomplished, and, like Aidan Chambers' recent This Is All (2006), it demands rereading. Teens need not understand all the historical and literary allusions to connect with Octavian's torment or to debate the novel's questions, present in our country's founding documents, which move into today's urgent arguments about intellectual life; individual action; the influence of power and money, racism and privilege; and what patriotism, freedom, and citizenship mean. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

 

[Pam in CT]

Aw, man, I was in the midst of doing my book roundup, with quotes and commentary and all, and then we LOST THE POWER (??!!) for over an hour, which threw off the router, and now my post is lost forever.  Grrr.

 

Power is back.

 

Books In Brief:

 

Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin (this goes with Ta-Nehisi Coates, but it would be better to do Fire first, Between World and Me second)

 

In Paradise, by Peter Matthiessen (for an IRL book group -- powerful and disquieting story of a motley bunch of Jewish, Buddhist and Christian questers who convened for a 10 day spiritual retreat in winter Auschwitz.  Based on composite experiences of 10 such retreats author actually took.  Unsettling.)

 

Of Cocktails and Penguins: A Summer in Antarctica from Behind the Bar, by Tanja Plasil - Stacia, I think you found this for me when I was kvetching about finding something for my continent quest but not wanting to endure an Ill-Fated Expedition narrative.  This is a memoir of a female bartender on a former Russian icebreaker/submarine locator now re-tooled (ish) to run tours to the continent.  I regret to report that its major virtue is its brevity, lol...

 

Heliopolis, by James Scudamore - this was another Stacia recommendation - fiction that ricochets between the upper-upper Brazilian crust and its harshest favelas, with a narrator with a foot in both worlds....  This started out very strong, though its ending left me unsatisfied.  (Despite its nod toward personal lurching-toward0redemption, which is usually my weakness....)

 

 

I am pleased to report that with the bartending book I have now COMPLETED by continent goal for the year.  The others, not so much....

[idnib]

Hi everyone!

 

I'm an avid reader, and would love to jump in to this thread, so I will! I try to read in a pattern to keep myself well balanced - I'm a children's librarian - one children's book, one YA book and one Adult book, lather, rinse and repeat.

 

Welcome!!!

 

Ok, once again after raving about a book I feel like I need to add a rating - The Gap of Time is definitely rated R.  All Winterson's work deals with s@x, of all flavors, very openly and matter-of-factly.  Tastefully if the situation warrants, but she doesn't shy away from anything either, including the violence that can be involved in s@xual relationships, marital and otherwise. So if that's something you prefer to avoid, just a word to the wise.  I know we are all grownups here, but I know I'm always looking for good things for my kid to read, especially things to pair with classic works.  I wouldn't have my 13 year old read this book, she just doesn't have enough life experience to deal with the s@xual parts and put them into a healthy context.

 

Thanks for the rating, I really do appreciate knowing ahead of time. 

[Kareni]

Last night I finished the second of two of Carla Kelly's historical romances that were under one cover ~  Libby's London Merchant & Miss Chartley's Guided Tour.  I enjoyed them both.  The first was a re-read, but the second book was new to me.  Here's a blurb for each book.

 

"Beautiful Miss Libby Ames knew little about the man who landed unexpectedly at her country manor. Only that he called himself Mr. Nesbitt Duke, a London merchant. And after one look at Libby, he claimed he’d fallen in love. But it was soon clear that this handsome stranger was not being entirely truthful.

Arriving at Libby’s doorstep was not fate, but rather an encounter of Nesbitt’s own design. Furthermore, his position in life was far from that of a merchant. His name too was a lie. But his true identity was still not the greatest mystery. For Libby had no idea of the secret longings of her own heart—or what to do next about the mystery man, and the passionate love that has taken her by shocking surprise."

 

This book keeps you guessing as to which of two suitors will win Libby's heart.  I'm looking forward to reading the follow on novel which features the second suitor.

 

 

"To all appearances, Miss Omega Chartley is a schoolteacher on holiday. In fact she is a gentlewoman fallen on hard times, left at the altar eight years earlier and forced to make her own way in the world after the loss of her family fortune. Omega’s modest tour of England is cut short when she comes to the aid of a runaway. Jamie Clevenden has fled the clutches of a brutal uncle, and Omega is determined to help him escape the law, as represented by Bow Street Runner, Mr. Timothy Platter. Aided by a kindly war veteran and his adopted daughter, the two fugitives arrive at the home of Jamie’s other uncle, the Viscount of Byford—none other than Miss Chartley’s disgraced fiancé, Matthew Bering. There Miss Chartley will finally learn the secret that Lord Byford has hidden from her all these years, the story of a dark chapter in his past that stands in the way of not only their happiness but that of his nephew. Now they must face the truth together, no matter how dire the consequences."

 

This story had a number of circumstances that strained credulity; however, I enjoyed it nonetheless!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Pam in CT]

re: Coates' idea that racism is the father of race, not its child...

Pam - (Unfortunately, I can,t quote.) That,s very interesting. I was thinking more of middleschool girl cliques than race relations, but the idea you voiced still applies. ...

I think the thing that struck me most about about doing ancients with my children was the fact that slavery was not based on skin colour. It is interesting to think about how slavery might have played out differently in the US if the Africans had been physically indistinguishable from the Americans with European ancestry. Or in Europe. There was (and still is) non-different-culture-or-physical-characteristic-based slavery, but not on quite so devastating a scale, at least as far as I know. I could be wrong about that. It isn,t something I,ve investigated.

A significant difference might be that once the institution of slavery is eliminated, it only takes a couple of generations for its legacy to erode, since there aren't physical markers of the different groups a hundred years later...

 

 

... Yes I think our propensity to divide the world into us and them is inborn (at least today I do), and I agree your author is right about having to be careful about what underlying assumptions we have that are a product of this. Maybe middleschool girl cliquiness is, but it could also be a culturally transmitted tradition rather than an inborn propensity towards cliquiness. Kind of backwards from the arguement of your author in the case of race relations. If it is a yes/no situation, that means that no is a possibility, which I hadn,t seen. And that probably isn,t any clearer than what I said the first time lol.

Yes -- Coates does not in any way minimize the role of cultural reinforcement of race-based hierarchies (both how "people who believe themselves to be white" teach their children; and also how "people who are taught they are black" internalize what that means).

 

It's his concept of what comes first -- that Us-Them instinct that you identify coupled with a determination to dominate -- that has me reeling.  He doesn't himself call it Original Sin, but we might as well (Jim Wallis recently wrote a book with exactly this language; I haven't read it yet).

 

 

...I haven't read the book by Coates, but I can see where this is an idea that would definitely deserve some thought.  I'm not sure whether I agree or disagree.  Thinking of pictures, the opposite of the beautiful ones shared by Jane would be those I've seen of KKK rallies in which small children (too young to have considered opinions of their own) are marching with their parents.  Whether Coates is correct or not, I do think that racism is often inculcated by parents.  Of course, the opposite is true as well since acceptance can also be taught by parents.  The more difficult path for a child or adult is probably to believe differently from those who raised him or her.

 

 

I think he'd agree with all of this... though his audience is, assuredly, young black people.