Book a Week 2015 - BW48: december dawdle and dabble

[Butter]

But why are they in 1940 after leaving their loop and before getting to the animal loop, and also between the animal loop the carnival loop rather than being in the present? ETA: Okay, I missed a loop in there. But ykwim. In between loops, why is it still 1940 if their loop is destroyed?

 

It's been a long time since I read Hollow City, but I don't remember them being in 1940.  They were either going from one loop to another or in the present momentarily before jumping into another loop.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I finished 'The Battle for God' from Karen Armstrong.

I started the book just before the attacks in Paris.

 

 

What did you think of it? I really enjoyed her History of God earlier this year and would maybe like to read this one.

[Kareni]

Hey dolls,  Amazon's cyber monday kindle sale includes a few Georgette Heyer and Dorothy Sayer books. 800 books with 85% off.

 

Now I've been spending way TOO much time perusing the options.  Some about which I've heard good things ~

 

These are currently $1.99 each for Kindle readers:

 

Swords and Deviltry (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Book 1) by Fritz Lieber  plus five sequels

 

"Swords and Deviltry, the first book of Leiber’s landmark series, introduces us to a strange world where our two strangers find the familiar in themselves and discover the icy power of female magic. Three master-magician femme fatales and a sprightly lad illuminate the bonds between father and son, the relationship between the bravado of the imagination and the courage of fools. A hedge wizard explains the cold war between the sexes. Mouse and Fafhrd meet again and learn the truth of how Mouse became the Gray Mouser. Together they traverse the smoke and mirrors of Lankhmar learning more and more of the foggy world in which they live, mapping the sinister silent symptoms of the never-ending night smog. They follow the night smog’s relation to the region’s longing for larceny and the hazy opiate of vanity. Last but certainly not least, they experience the pleasures and pains of the City of Sevenscore Thousand Smokers that will lead them to countless more adventures and misadventures."

 

 

The Mirror by Marlys Millhiser (this is an enjoyable time travel story)

 

The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic by Darby Penney (non-fiction: this sounds poignant)

 

 

 

a Patricia Wrede book ~ Shadow Magic (The Lyra Novels Book 1)

 

also Sorcery & Cecelia: Or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (The Cecelia and Kate Novels Book 1)

and several others by the author

 

 

 

And this one is CURRENTLY free to Kindle readers ~

 

The Big Time by Fritz Lieber

 

Amazon.com Review

Fritz Leiber (1910-1992) is best known as a fantasy writer, but his achievements and influence are also considerable in the horror and science fiction fields. One of his major SF works is the Change War series, about rival time-traveling armies locked in a bitter, age-old war for control of existence; the battles frequently alter the course of human history. The most important work of Leiber's Change War series is the Hugo Award-winning novel The Big Time, in which doctors, entertainers, and wounded soldiers find themselves treacherously trapped with an activated atomic bomb inside the Place, a room existing outside of space-time. It's not one of Leiber's strongest novels: the cutesy-girlish narrative voice is unconvincing, while the demands of describing time travel and time paradoxes inevitably strain the prose. But The Big Time is a tense, claustrophobic SF mystery, and possibly the ultimate locked-room whodunit.

 

In addition to the Hugo, Nebula, Derleth, Lovecraft, and World Fantasy Awards, Fritz Leiber received the Grand Master of Fantasy (Gandalf) Award, the Life Achievement Lovecraft Award, and the Grand Master Nebula Award. --Cynthia Ward

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Chrysalis Academy]

I finished Free Will by Sam Harris. It's been on my stack for awhile, but I was inspired to finally read it after reading In Cold Blood. It definitely grapples with the reasons you feel confused and troubled by that book.  It's a Buddhist response - free will is an illusion, fundamentally because the self that does the choosing is an illusion. But Right Action is possible.  It's one of those books I probably need to read 3 more times to be able to talk about coherently.  

[Just Robyn]

It's been a long time since I read Hollow City, but I don't remember them being in 1940.  They were either going from one loop to another or in the present momentarily before jumping into another loop.

 

It is definitely 1940. From chapter one, after leaving their loop, before finding another:

 

 

...I realized no one had thought to bring fresh water, and that sunblock in 1940 meant standing in the shade. 

 

Description from WorldCat

 

 

 

Having escaped Miss Peregrine's island by the skin of their teeth, Jacob and his new friends must journey to London (circa 1940), the "peculiar" capital of the world.

 

The reason the children were being evacuated from London (after the animal loop, before the second loop) and the buildings were crumbling carcasses (It was a hollow city) is because of the London Blitz, (though the dates don't quite match up, since it should still be just before Sept. 7th when they're there) which is why

 

 

 

For a moment Olive looked as if she might cry, but then her face went hard and she shook her fist at the sky and yelled, “Nasty Hitler! Stop this horrible war and go right away altogether!â€

 

The historical fiction and its connection to the children's story was the best part of the book to me, though I obviously still haven't figured out how it works in the story's world.

Edited December 1, 2015 by crstarlette

[Stacia]

Buzzfeed's list of the Best 24 Fiction Books of 2015:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/isaacfitzgerald/books-we-loved-in-2015#.vtWgw9xeo

[Ali in OR]

Buzzfeed's list of the Best 24 Fiction Books of 2015:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/isaacfitzgerald/books-we-loved-in-2015#.vtWgw9xeo

 Thanks Stacia. Three new holds placed (they better not all come up at once, though I'm about #2 on all of them so they might). The Book of Speculation, Welcome to Braggsville, and Infinite Home. And a couple others look interesting too.

[Loesje22000]

What did you think of it? I really enjoyed her History of God earlier this year and would maybe like to read this one.

 

I like her writingstyle, she seems to be able to describe the history of religions in a 'neutral' way, without offending them.

It was good - for me - to read what some one 'outside' consider 'fundamentalism' and that often the 'fundamentalistic' part of a religion is a reaction to the more liberal part of the same religion.

The line between 'conservative' and 'fundamentalistic' can be small.

[Rosie_0801]

Speaking of religion, dd and I finally finished listening to the KJV in the car today. It's like a listening marathon! :svengo:

[Butter]

Last night I finished Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.  The main character, Cath, has social anxiety and even spends the first month of college eating protein bars for dinner because she can't find the dining hall and is afraid to even go looking for it or to ask someone for help.  At the same time, she's a super popular fanfic writer with a huge following on-line.  Her mother abandoned her when she was in 3rd grade, her father has bipolar, and her twin sister, who definitely does not have anxiety, just wants to enjoy college as herself and not as part of a set of twins.  The story happens over the course of her first year of college as she realizes as much as she loves the fictional world she writes about, the real world is much more important.  I really liked it.  It's a YA so nothing really strenuous.  Ms. Rowell either has social anxiety or knows people who do because she was spot on with descriptions of how Cath was feeling in different situations.

[Chrysalis Academy]

 Thanks Stacia. Three new holds placed (they better not all come up at once, though I'm about #2 on all of them so they might). The Book of Speculation, Welcome to Braggsville, and Infinite Home. And a couple others look interesting too.

 

 I put Delicious Foods, Undermajordomo Minor, The Book of Speculation, and Fates and Furies on hold.  I've read two on the list. That's pretty unusual for me, I'm not usually up on current fiction. This group has definitely broadened my reading range!

[Kareni]

Last night I finished Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.  The main character, Cath, has social anxiety and even spends the first month of college eating protein bars for dinner because she can't find the dining hall and is afraid to even go looking for it or to ask someone for help.  At the same time, she's a super popular fanfic writer with a huge following on-line.  ...

 

I started, but haven't finished, Rainbow Rowell's latest book Carry On which is a companion to the above in that it is the fan fiction that Cath writes.  It's rather like Harry Potter meets Twilight.

 

"Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who's ever been chosen.

 

That's what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he's probably right.

 

Half the time, Simon can't even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor's avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there's a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon's face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here--it's their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon's infuriating nemesis didn't even bother to show up.

 

Carry On - The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow is a ghost story, a love story and a mystery. It has just as much kissing and talking as you'd expect from a Rainbow Rowell story - but far, far more monsters."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Butter]

I found the fanfic bits in Fangirl to be... awful.  So I don't think I'd be interested in reading Carry On.

[Kareni]

I found the fanfic bits in Fangirl to be... awful.  So I don't think I'd be interested in reading Carry On.

 

I've stalled out myself, and I'm not sure whether I'll continue.  It has a LOT of favorable reviews on Amazon, but there are also some one star reviews.  I think you're in good company!

 

 

 

I finished another re-read last night of a historical romance by a favorite author; I enjoyed revisiting it ~

The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne

 

"Attacked on a rainy London street, veteran spy Justine DeCabrillac knows only one man can save her: Hawker, her oldest friend . . . her oldest enemy. London's crawling with hidden assassins and someone is out to frame Hawker for murder. The two spies must work together to find who's out to destroy them..."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Butter]

I've stalled out myself, and I'm not sure whether I'll continue.  It has a LOT of favorable reviews on Amazon, but there are also some one star reviews.  I think you're in good company!

 

The biggest issue I had with the fanfic bits was just that the writing style and level was terrible.  It was, tbh, pretty typical of fanfic writing, but generally the super popular writers really are professional writer caliber.  Even though Cath is supposed to be a super popular fanfic writer, her fanfic bits seemed like average real life fanfic writing.  Of course the bits that were supposed to be from the "actual" Simon Snow books were the worst of all.  The writing was awful and the dialogue was utterly stupid.  Props to Rainbow Rowell, though, for having three distinct writing styles in Fangirl (narrator of the actual book - which is obviously the author's regular writing style since it read very similarly to Eleanor and Park, Cath as fanfic writer, and Gemma whatever it is as author of the Simon Snow series).  I assume Carry On is written in Rainbow Rowell's "regular" voice and not like Cath as fanfic writer, so I would hope it wouldn't be that terrible.  The whole Harry Potter/Twilight mash-up of the Simon Snow books, was just weird and cliches being used as spells and what not, though, I think would end up irritating me in the end if I tried to read Carry On.  If it was written in the voice of Cath as fanfic writer I think I would go insane.  If she used the bits of Carry On, Simon Snow that are in Fangirl, at least some is in Cath as fanfic writer, though most of those bits in Fangirl were not from Carry On.  I kind of get the idea that Rainbow Rowell just really, really wanted to publish some Harry/Draco slash fanfic.

 

ETA: Some of the reviews on Amazon indicate the whole book is written in Cath as fanfic writer voice.

Edited December 1, 2015 by Butter

[idnib]

Ive been spending time with family and have been mostly out of pocket. I once every few months mostly avoid the computer for a week-ish just to remind myself I can.

 

I finished The Horse and His Boy (still reading Narnia from March), The Martian, and The Shadow of the Bear.

 

The latter is a YA novel I was pre-reading to discuss with DS when he reads it, but honestly I am having second thoughts. Although I knew it was written from a Catholic perspective, I was quite turned off that the villain was an atheist who told the Catholic protagonists that they didn't have power over him because as an atheist, he has no morals. That kind of junk makes me angry but I'm still trying to decide whether to move on to better books or turn it into a discussion point.

 

The Martian grew on me as it went along. I really didn't like Mark Watney (he's really an ass) but I enjoyed all the critical thinking and problem solving. I rather enjoy dark humor so that didn't bother me at all, but calling the mothers and sisters of committee members prostitutes was ridiculous. Not only was it crass and sexist, I honestly don't believe an astronaut would speak like that on any sort of official record which would be scrutinized for centuries to come. I'm pretty sure astronauts receive so much training in how to speak and file reports that they find it difficult not to do it. Anyway, what irritated me was that it kept taking me out of the narrative. I can imagine how much better it would have been if the (officially filed) language was represented differently. At least the writing improved as the book went along. I'm quite guilty of abuse of parentheses, but the first few chapters were ridiculous in that regard. 

 

My work on House of Leaves continues. I like to read it when I'm undisturbed but get a bit scared if I read it late at night, so I'm fitting in small amounts of time where I can.

 

 

Surgery went well.  It lasted 4 hours and 3 minutes.  There was more repairwork than expected once they go in there.  They kept me an extra night to try to get on top of the pain.  I'm having severe constant bladder spasms.  Once they started back up after finally being relieved last night, I realized they missed one of the drugs they had me on when they sent me home.  They called it in and I took it a little while ago, but so far very little relief.

 

Moving this ahead from last week. I'm glad your surgery went well and you are are feeling better!

 

Lovely photos, as always, Jane!

 

Yes, please read H is for Hawk. I've been wanting someone else to read it & review it for me!  :tongue_smilie:  (I can't tell if it's something I would like or not, but I keep seeing it pop up on various lists recommending it, so....)

 

I haven't read it but I sent it to my MIL for her birthday and she really enjoyed it. Best I can do.  :o

Edited December 2, 2015 by idnib

[Woodland Mist Academy]

Mind if I drop in to ask for a recommendation? 

 

I'm looking or an Audible book that is similar to The Lodger and The Enchanted Inn. I can't seem to find anything that looks enticing. Anyone have suggestions? (Bonus points for a Christmas/winter setting.)

 

So as not to appear completely rude by making a request and then running....

 

I recently read Early Decision: A Novel by Lacy Crawford. It was a super quick read and great for this time of year. (Especially if you like to add to your college admission angst!  ;) )  It was fiction, but nothing but the truth. It not only changed my perspective, but changed some of what we're doing. 

 

Now I can run with a clean conscience...  :gnorsi:

 

;)

[Woodland Mist Academy]

 

 

I'm looking or an Audible book that is similar to The Lodger and The Enchanted Inn.

 

The FORSAKEN Inn, not enchanted...  :glare:

[Kareni]

Mind if I drop in to ask for a recommendation? 

 

I'm looking or an Audible book that is similar to The Lodger and The Enchanted Inn. I can't seem to find anything that looks enticing. Anyone have suggestions? (Bonus points for a Christmas/winter setting.)

 

I couldn't find a book entitled The Lodger and the Enchanted Inn, so I decided that you were talking about two books.  (I guess that second capital T should have cued me in!)

 

So, this appears to be The Enchanted Inn by Pam Champagne, but there are a number of books entitled The Lodger.

 

The Lodger by Marie Belloc-Lowndes

 

The Lodger: A Novel by Louisa Treger

 

The Lodger by Mary Jane Staples

 

The Lodger by Karl Stevens

 

The Lodger: A Spider Latham Mystery by Liz Adair

 

and I could go on!

 

Based on the time travel aspect of The Enchanted Inn, I'd recommend Jack Finney's Time and Again.  If I recall correctly at least part of it has a winter setting.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

The FORSAKEN Inn, not enchanted...  :glare:

 

Well then, ignore what I just said above!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

This afternoon I finished the historical romance Falling Into Bed with a Duke (Hellions of Havisham) by Lorraine Heath; I enjoyed it, but it does have some adult content.

 

"In the first in a dazzling new series, New York Times bestselling author Lorraine Heath introduces the Hellions of Havisham—three charismatic rogues destined to lose their hearts . . .

 

 

After six unsuccessful Seasons, Miss Minerva Dodger chooses spinsterhood over fortune-hungry suitors. But thanks to the Nightingale Club, she can at least enjoy one night of pleasure. At that notorious establishment, ladies don masks before choosing a lover. The sinfully handsome Duke of Ashebury is more than willing to satisfy the secretive lady's desires—and draws Minerva into an exquisite, increasingly intimate affair.

 

A man of remarkable talents, Ashe soon deduces that his bedmate is the unconventional Miss Dodger. Intrigued by her wit and daring, he sets out to woo her in earnest. Yet Minerva refuses to trust him. How to court a woman he has already thoroughly seduced? And how to prove that the passion unleashed in darkness is only the beginning of a lifetime's pleasure . . . ?"

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Woodland Mist Academy]

So sorry for the confusion! 

 

The Lodger by Marie Belloc-Lowndes

and

The Forsaken Inn by Anna Katharine Green

 

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

So sorry for the confusion! 

 

The Lodger by Marie Belloc-Lowndes

and

The Forsaken Inn by Anna Katharine Green

 

It's funny, I knew exactly the book you meant, even with the incorrect title! Didn't I win a contest related to that book last winter?  ;)  :D

[Woodland Mist Academy]

It's funny, I knew exactly the book you meant, even with the incorrect title! Didn't I win a contest related to that book last winter?  ;)  :D

 

You did! That even came to mind when I was writing my post. Maybe that's why I wrote enchanted....I was thinking of you and was spellbound...  :lol:

[Chrysalis Academy]

You did! That even came to mind when I was writing my post. Maybe that's why I wrote enchanted....I was thinking of you and was spellbound...  :lol:

 

Well, I do tend to have that effect on people  ;)  :D

[Kareni]

A couple of intriguing posts ~

 

From BookRiot:

 

12 Things You Should Know about the Silver Bible

 

 

From Slate:

 

The Overlooked Books of 2015

 

Regards.

Kareni

[Kareni]

Those of you who listen to audio books might be interested in this thread on the General Education Board posted by tranquility7.  The offer ends on December 2.

 

 

$4.95 Audible SALE - Tolkien and SWB!! (Ends Dec 2)

 

 

"** Sale ends Dec 2 **  I found the Audible sale thanks to the Black Friday thread :drool5: , but I thought the sale on these titles was worthy of its own thread!
 
Tolkien - The Fellowship of the Ring (now $4.95, usually $38.49)
 
SWB -The History of the Ancient World (now $4.95, usually $39.95)
 
SWB -The History of the Renaissance World (now $4.95, usually $39.95)

Here is the main sale site, so you can look for other goodies!!

(I also broke down and got The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, Around the World in Eighty Days, The Yearling, The Black Stallion, and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH :blushing: )"

 

Other titles are mentioned in the thread.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Robin M]

So sorry for the confusion! 

 

The Lodger by Marie Belloc-Lowndes

and

The Forsaken Inn by Anna Katharine Green

Check out  Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and Wilkie Collins. 

[Tress]

I'm happy to say that I just saw a review of Jeanette Winterson's Gap of Time in the newspaper. I had assumed that it would take a couple of years to get to the Netherlands but apparently not :D. And lo and behold, I checked my library and they are buying it! I could not put a hold on it, but I will.

 

I don't have much reading to report. I'm tired, we are in the midst of Sinterklaas crazyness (but I finished wrapping the presents yesterday!) and Dutch homeschoolers are still reeling from the new plans by our Secretary of Education :(.

 

K-6 homeschooling will hopefully be still possible, but only for parents with a Bachelors degree and with home visits and yearly testing. Homeschooling 7-12 will only be allowed to parents who have a teaching degree* for every subject or who hire teachers for each subject.

 

*=That is, a masters degree for each subject *and* a 1-2year teacher training for each subject. Well, I will probably have grandchildren and great-grandchildren before I manage to get a masters degree in Dutch, English, French, German, Latin, Greek, History, Geography, Math, Chemistry, Biology, Economics :lol:. It's good that I already have a masters degree in Physics, now I only need to work at a school for 1-2years to get my teacher training. Sigh.

 

Anyway, I have been reading the second, third and fourth book of Ursula le Guin's Earthsea, which are very good. And I finished my Dutch 18th century history book. Still reading Pamela (still annoying).

[Kareni]

... and Dutch homeschoolers are still reeling from the new plans by our Secretary of Education :(.

 

K-6 homeschooling will hopefully be still possible, but only for parents with a Bachelors degree and with home visits and yearly testing. Homeschooling 7-12 will only be allowed to parents who have a teaching degree* for every subject or who hire teachers for each subject.

 

Wow!  Those are stringent requirements.  Do the new plans go into effect immediately?  How very frustrating.

 

**

 

If you are in a position to help, I'd appreciate it if you could look at my thread:

 

Looking for Kindle Paperwhite cover with elastic strap plus interior hand strap ...

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Tress]

Wow!  Those are stringent requirements.  Do the new plans go into effect immediately?  How very frustrating.

 

No, it is not clear when these new requirements go into effect. And we are still hoping that other political parties will be able to get some requirements modified or dropped. It makes for a very uncertain situation and lots of  :willy_nilly: .

[Kareni]

And we are still hoping that other political parties will be able to get some requirements modified or dropped.

 

I sincerely hope for positive news.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

For Dante loving lego fans ~  The nine circles of hell from Dante’s Inferno recreated in Lego by Mihai Michu 

 

I confess that the second circle had me chuckling.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

[idnib]

Those of you who listen to audio books might be interested in this thread on the General Education Board posted by tranquility7.  The offer ends on December 2.

 

Thanks! I may or may not have purchased 12 audiobooks. At least some of the books, if I purchased them, are for the children.

 

K-6 homeschooling will hopefully be still possible, but only for parents with a Bachelors degree and with home visits and yearly testing. Homeschooling 7-12 will only be allowed to parents who have a teaching degree* for every subject or who hire teachers for each subject.

 

*=That is, a masters degree for each subject *and* a 1-2year teacher training for each subject. Well, I will probably have grandchildren and great-grandchildren before I manage to get a masters degree in Dutch, English, French, German, Latin, Greek, History, Geography, Math, Chemistry, Biology, Economics :lol:. It's good that I already have a masters degree in Physics, now I only need to work at a school for 1-2years to get my teacher training. Sigh.

 

Wow, that's really stringent. Is there some sort of incident behind these changes? Or is someone asking for more than they expect as an opening position for concessions? Is there data measuring how homeschoolers have fared using the current system?

[Jane in NC]

Tress, I thought of you today.  I was driving down the road and saw a small house that was being lifted from its foundation to be moved.  Over the front door was a sheet of plywood with the following spray painted on it:

 

No

Tress

Passing

 

I guess the place is off limits to you!

 

Jane

[aggieamy]

So sorry for the confusion! 

 

The Lodger by Marie Belloc-Lowndes

and

The Forsaken Inn by Anna Katharine Green

 

A second vote for Wilkie Collins.  I'd start with The Woman in White.  I think you'd also really enjoy Rebecca if you haven't read it yet. 

[aggieamy]

Ladies!  All hands on deck!  I need a short story recommendation ASAP!  Any genre fine!

 

One of my book clubs reads short stories every Christmas and I forgot to pick out a short story to bring.  I'm on a work deadline so I can't really look and would prefer someone here to just give me a link to a short story they read and enjoyed.  Please!  Pretty Please!

 

We meet in an hour. 

 

 

[Stacia]

Ladies!  All hands on deck!  I need a short story recommendation ASAP!  Any genre fine!

 

One of my book clubs reads short stories every Christmas and I forgot to pick out a short story to bring.  I'm on a work deadline so I can't really look and would prefer someone here to just give me a link to a short story they read and enjoyed.  Please!  Pretty Please!

 

We meet in an hour. 

 

A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote.

 

Pdf (11 pages) here: http://faculty.weber.edu/jyoung/English%206710/A%20Christmas%20Memory.pdf

[Jane in NC]

Amy,

 

I have a favorite Hemingway Christmas story, A North of Italy Christmas, but I cannot find it online.  The story is not included in his larger collections either.  I happened to pick up a copy of it with another holiday tale, Christmas on the Roof of the World, a number of years ago. 

 

The story is short and I love it dearly.  I wish it was more easily available!

 

ETA:  A Child's Christmas in Wales!  Another story I love although I could envision everyone in a book club showing up with it.

 

 

Edited December 2, 2015 by Jane in NC

[Stacia]

Amy,

 

I have a favorite Hemingway Christmas story, A North of Italy Christmas, but I cannot find it online.  The story is not included in his larger collections either.  I happened to pick up a copy of it with another holiday tale, Christmas on the Roof of the World, a number of years ago. 

 

The story is short and I love it dearly.  I wish it was more easily available!

 

ETA:  A Child's Christmas in Wales!  Another story I love although I could envision everyone in a book club showing up with it.

 

Jane, is this the story? (About 2 pages long? Scroll down on the page that opens....)

 

(If it is, I love it! What a great little story. Made me smile.)

Edited December 2, 2015 by Stacia

[Jane in NC]

Jane, is this the story? (About 2 pages long? Scroll down on the page that opens....)

 

(If it is, I love it! What a great little story. Made me smile.)

 

That's it!  Stacia, you are brilliant!

 

Jane

 

[Kareni]

Thanks! I may or may not have purchased 12 audiobooks. At least some of the books, if I purchased them, are for the children.

 

Well, if it's for the children, of course it's all right!

 

 

Can someone remind me of how to post one's picture to the board?  (Not an avatar but rather a photo I'd like to share in the thread.)

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Stacia]

Kareni, I usually upload my photos to Photobucket, then copy & paste them from there.

 

I think you can upload it as an attachment directly from your computer, but the file size needs to be pretty small in that case.

[Kareni]

On 12/2/2015 at 3:29 PM, Stacia said:

Kareni, I usually upload my photos to Photobucket, then copy & paste them from there.

 

I think you can upload it as an attachment directly from your computer, but the file size needs to be pretty small in that case.

 

I just noticed "Attach Files" below which I generally overlook.  Let's see if this works.

 

 

I've been taking a colored pencil drawing class this term through the local community college's continuing education classes.  Today was the last day, and I finished my second project.  I drew these butterflies based on a card by Laurel Burch.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

[Mom-ninja.]

I finished Free Will by Sam Harris. It's been on my stack for awhile, but I was inspired to finally read it after reading In Cold Blood. It definitely grapples with the reasons you feel confused and troubled by that book.  It's a Buddhist response - free will is an illusion, fundamentally because the self that does the choosing is an illusion. But Right Action is possible.  It's one of those books I probably need to read 3 more times to be able to talk about coherently.  

 

I feel the same way. That book had my mind going back and forth. I'd understand for a moment then it would slip away and then back again. 

[Lady Florida.]

Once again I've missed a few weeks but have been reading.

 

Recently abandoned:

 

-Brave New World - Don't like it enough to finish. Too many books, too little time. 

 

-Sapiens - Started out interesting then the author went off on his personal tangents. I was expecting more science.

 

Finished :

 

-Career of Evil - 3rd Cormoran Strike novel. I liked this one because it provided background information on both of the main characters without sounding too expository, but didn't like the story as well as the first two. Looking forward to the next one.

 

-Murder Most Historical and The Thames River Murders, by Ashley Gardner. The first one is a collection of short stories but introduced some new characters that will be getting their own series. The latter is the latest in a series of historical mysteries. Total fluff and I'm not ashamed. ;)

 

Currently reading (I should say still reading):

 

-War and Peace - I don't understand why people think this book is hard. Because of the length? If they read the entire Harry Potter series they read more pages than are in War and Peace. In fact Deathly Hallows alone has about 2/3 the number of pages in W&P. Number of characters? George R.R. Martin and Hilary Mantel load their books with characters. I just see most of them as "extras" and the main characters aren't that plentiful or hard to keep up with. Too hard? No it isn't, if you have a decent translation. Moby Dick was much harder and not even close to being as interesting. I'm just over halfway through, taking it slowly, and loving it.

 

-East of Eden - Love it. Love Steinbeck.

 

Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories - Good distraction when I'm not in the mood for the serious reading of the above two books.

 

-I"m listening to Silas Marner.

 

I could get on board with Forster in February. Ever since I read A Room With a View a few months ago, I've been wanting to read more of his work. I'd be fine with either A Passage to India or Howard's End since I plan to read both eventually.

 

 

Finally - Stacia does it again! I don't like either Hemingway novels or Woody Allen movies, but I watched the trailer she posted for Midnight in Paris and it looked like fun. I just finished watching it on Amazon Prime. :D

 

 

[Stacia]

I've been taking a colored pencil drawing class this term through the local community college's continuing education classes.  Today was the last day, and I finished my second project.  I drew these butterflies based on a card by Laurel Burch.

 

Lovely, Kareni! So glad you posted your artwork.

 

Finally - Stacia does it again! I don't like either Hemingway novels or Woody Allen movies, but I watched the trailer she posted for Midnight in Paris and it looked like fun. I just finished watching it on Amazon Prime. :D

 

So... did you like it? :laugh:

 

Before I originally saw the movie, I thought Owen Wilson was a strange choice. But, I thought he fit the role perfectly. And I love the conversation he has with the surrealists when he tells them he's from the future & they don't bat an eye. :lol:

[Lady Florida.]

 

 

 

So... did you like it? :laugh:

 

Before I originally saw the movie, I thought Owen Wilson was a strange choice. But, I thought he fit the role perfectly. And I love the conversation he has with the surrealists when he tells them he's from the future & they don't bat an eye. :lol:

 

I did. I really enjoyed it. It was a cute movie. Wilson I think was a good choice because of his voice, of all things. Though I don't like Woody Allen movies, I'm familiar at least with a number of quotes from many of them. And I've heard Woody Allen speak. Some of Wilson's lines sounded very much like something from Allen, and that voice of his made the delivery spot on.

 

And speaking of Wilson's voice - Ds has a friend whose voice I always knew sounded like a celebrity's but could never put my finger on it. One of the other moms finally figured out he sounds like Owen Wilson. Even looks a bit like him. Now whenever I see Owen Wilson in anything I can't help but think of the friend. :)

Edited December 3, 2015 by Lady Florida

[aggieamy]

Jane, is this the story? (About 2 pages long? Scroll down on the page that opens....)

 

(If it is, I love it! What a great little story. Made me smile.)

 

 

A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote.

 

Pdf (11 pages) here: http://faculty.weber.edu/jyoung/English%206710/A%20Christmas%20Memory.pdf

 

I assigned my book club two stories since the second was so short.

 

Thank you for the suggestions.  And on a short notice.

 

I love you ladies!  BaW gals are some of the nicest people I know!

[Jane in NC]

How often do we close the cover on a book, never to give it much thought at a later date?  Books that remain with us on the edge of daily consciousness are special indeed, even if the book remains for reasons that we ourselves fail to understand. The author has carved his way into our souls.  Quite an accomplishment.

 

So it is with Ivan Vladislavic, the South African writer whose novel The Folly perplexed several of us when we read it several months ago.  Perplexed yet amused... I was sufficiently intrigued by Vladislavic to read an article that he posted on LIterary Hub, Death at 30,000 Feet.  In the article he mentions two great American writers who seem to have been dismissed to the dusty shelves of libraries, Carson McCullers and Sherwood Anderson.

 

In my early 20s, after graduating from college, I began a self education project that involved reading all of the classics that I somehow missed in high school and college.  Of course, I never completed the task, literary rabbit holes being what they are.  But in those years I read Anderson's influential novel Winesburg, Ohio and McCullers' beautiful first novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.  Vladislavic's article prompted a desire to revisit both books.

 

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter has accompanied me in the car, an audio version read/performed by Cherry Jones who captures the voices of a small Southern town in the 1930s.  What astonished me upon revisiting the book was not the astute 12 year old protagonist I had remembered but the deep complexity of Dr. Copeland, a black doctor of great dignity created before there was a notion of a Civil Rights movement.  Even more astonishing is that McCullers wrote this book in her early twenties.  It was published in 1940 when she was 23.  About fifty years later, when Modern Library created its top 100 novel list, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter came in at #17. 

 

What a book!  Jonathon Yardley revisited the novel in 2004 and wrote this essay on it. 

 

I look forward to rereading Sherwood Anderson in the months ahead.

 

Rereading A Moveable Feast reminds me of another literary rabbit trail I followed back in my 20s when I first read this book.  Hemingway often mentions Turgenev.  Stacia, as a fellow Hemingway fan, I recommend A Sportman's Notebook or Fathers and Sons if you have not read them.