Book a Week 2016 - W1: Happy New Year!!!!

[Violet Crown]

The discussion of the Childhood of Young Americans series is making me feel guilty about where I get my books. (1) My city has multiple Half Price stores, and I live minutes from the main one. It's huge and stocked with everything under the sun. Just the clearance section has hundreds and hundreds of books, and always a few I'm interested in. (2) Even closer is the also well-stocked library discard store, where every children's book is fifty cents and other books are one or two dollars. All donations, as well as books the library doesn't want anymore, go there. (3) Dh has infinite-checkout privileges at one of the country's largest university libraries. On the rare occasion that a book I especially want isn't there, he's gotten it through university intralibrary loan. (4) I regularly get to browse at COAS bookstore in Las Cruces, and the secondhand bookshops in Edinburgh, for those UK-only books.

 

Besides having far too many books, as a result the girls have a shelf full of the CoYA series: both the old orange cloth-covered ones and the newer blue softcovers. I especially like the one on LBJ. And Mad Anthony Wayne.

[Butter]

Heather, how are you doing??? Hoping 2016 is starting off pain-free for you. :grouphug:

 

I am doing SO much better!  I've really made a lot of progress in healing the last week or so.  I can feel that some of the internal stitches are dissolved.  My stamina is improving, too.  I'm up to 4,500+ steps a day.  I'm increasing my goal (FitBit) by 500 steps a day every time I exceed my step goal 5 days in a row.  Before too long I'll be back to 10,000 a day.  I took my first taekwondo class since September.  The last week of September I got the flu which led to bronchitis which led to my uterine prolapse and then surgery.  So starting with the flu I was just too sick or too in pain to take class.  I missed it so much!  It was so great getting back to it.  My body feels so good now.  I didn't do sit ups or push-ups and only did slight squats since deeper ones hurt.  I took it easy sparring, but otherwise I was able to do everything.  I'll be testing for my first degree black belt in December.  We've been doing taekwondo for a little more than 2 years now and it's a huge part of our lives.  My older two kids are first level certified junior instructors and my daughter works at the studio we go to.  All 6 of us take classes.  My older two are first degrees, my third will be testing for his in June, and my youngest is still a low rank since he tends to take long breaks (my husband will be testing for his first degree when I do).  So anyway, it was awesome to be able to get back to it.  It was hard being forced out for 3 months.

 

Anyway, yeah, so where does everyone get their books?

 

I read mostly on my Kindle and most of the books I get are free or extremely cheap (usually no more than $1.99).  Some of the freebies have been terrible, but I've also found a lot of gems that way, too.  Some books I buy full price.  Those are generally new releases I know I want and usually several people in our family will read them (and we share our account with my parents and at least my mom will read them, too, and sometimes she reads them aloud to my dad).  I reserve books at the library on occasion (paper or Overdrive for the Kindle if they have it).  Usually those are books friends have recommended.  I live in San Antonio so we've got a really good library system.  I have about 400 books on my Kindle right now in my To Read folder (I've never read any of them before) and about 40 paper books on my shelf that I got ridiculously cheap at library book sales on the last day when the books were $1 a bag.  I discovered Robin Cook by picking up a couple of his books at a library book sale and thinking the blurb on the back sounded good.  I love his books.

 

I live in Fairfax County so I have access to their books, and they have a lot. 

 

We lived in Fairfax when the little guys were babies, in Springfield.  We were not far from the Lorton branch.  I loved that library system so much.  I'd put 30 or 40 books on hold (mostly kids books) every week and we'd go pick them up.  That branch was small, but we could get any books from any branch of course.  The librarians knew us really well.

 

So, today I got a surprise postcard with a quote by Charles Baudelaire that contained the words " hearts" and "balloons." The first thing thought that popped into my head was,"How did Lemony Snicket get my Address?" 😃 Thanks to a BAW friend.

 

I got a surprise postcard today, too :)  My quote was from Aesop.  Love it!  It was a such a lovely surprise.

 

On the 28th I'll be hosting a book group for women at my church.  They've been wanting to start one for a while now and everyone knows I read tons so I got elected to run the first one.  We've instructed everyone to come with an idea for a book to read later and we'll vote on the next 3 (we're going to do it every other month).  For this one we're reading Petey by Ben Mikaelsen.  It's a wonderful book.  I think we'll have a good discussion about it.

 

I've been feeling so much better that I haven't been reading as much.  I've been out of bed and doing stuff!  My house is clean again.  The rest of the family tried their best, but it wasn't as clean as I like to keep it and now I can do almost everything (my 14 year old son is still doing the sweeping and mopping).  I'm doing some organizing of stuff that just got shoved wherever for a while while I was sick.  But today I finished my first book of 2016.  I read Prince Caspian by CS Lewis.  I actually liked a Narnia book!!!  Actually, I liked The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, too, but I really, really didn't like The Magician's Nephew and The Horse and His Boy.

[PrairieSong]

This is a torturous thread, torturous, I tell you! It's like pressing your nose up against a bakery window and knowing you somehow have to make a choice...only this is worse. Oh so much worse. And much better too. Carry on.

[Kareni]

Yeah, my super power is deleting spam. No one likes me anymore. Sigh.

 

 

We like you just fine.  (Now if you start deleting bacon, some of us may have a problem ....)

 

Regards,

Kareni

[mumto2]

Eliana :grouphug: I just want you to know that you are an inspiration to me. While I understand the desire to do more in the world, you already make our world a much better place.

 

I keep reading the thread when I have had a couple of free minutes but have spent most of my day watching Avengers (sixth season since Jane will want to know) and turning my quilt top into one big rectangle. All my planning seems to have worked thus far and I am really relieved.

 

I did finish Lisa Kleypas' latest Cold-Hearted Rake. It was a well done historical romance. Nothing particularly unique about this book but I do really like the characters who are going to be the main characters in the second book in the series. Looking forward to that one.

[Jane in NC]

I keep reading the thread when I have had a couple of free minutes but have spent most of my day watching Avengers (sixth season since Jane will want to know) and turning my quilt top into one big rectangle. All my planning seems to have worked thus far and I am really relieved.

 

 

Had to look it up, Mumto2. Tara never held a candle to Emma. Just sayin'.

[idnib]

My first book of the year was The Fellowship of the Ring. I finished it yesterday. This was not a reread for me. My dad tried to get me to read the series as a teenager and I never could get into them. I read The Hobbit last month and am loving the series so far.

I started A Pilgrim's Progress last night and am now about a quarter of the way through. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. There is a big glaring issue for me but I guess I need to think about that a bit.

 

I am re-reading The Hobbit to the children right now and then we are moving on to The Fellowship of the Ring. I read The Pilgrim's Progress last year so let me know if you want to discuss!

 

I have told this story before, but it is one of my favorites in praise of librarians.  When my son was 12 and we were going to London (where we stayed at a hotel she suggested!), I was chatting with her about my son's first requested stop, the Natural History Museum because of his desire to see the fossils there.  She pulled a book off the shelf on the dinosaur models designed by Richard Waterhouse Hawkins for the Crystal Palace exhibit of 1854.  We learned from the book that these sculptures of extinct mammals are in a park in Bromley, a borough of London that is not hard to find but not on the tourist path. We went there and it was by far my son's favorite London experience at age 12.

 

Thanks for this info! Dh has a conference in London next summer and we might tag along.

 

I just finished Between the World and Me.  I will need a few days to formulate my thoughts, but I highly recommend it!

 

I am most of the way through and am absorbing, but as I read I am struggling with what to post about it. It is, for me anyway, a very difficult book to encapsulate. 

 

Basin and Range

 

 

DD had book club at the library today so I was wandering the non-fiction and Basin and Range was flat on a shelf, left there by someone who didn't re-shelve! but for your post I would have passed it by. It looks very good. In return, I'll suggest a book I read last year, Hard Road West. I think you might like it!

Edited January 6, 2016 by idnib

[Stacia]

Re: Between the World and Me...

 

I am most of the way through and am absorbing, but as I read I am struggling with what to post about it. It is, for me anyway, a very difficult book to encapsulate. 

 

Yes, for me too.

[Robin M]

From my meanderings around the interwebz

 

 

From The Australian - Now Read This: What's on Offer for Reading in 2016.  Lots of Australian authors to choose from. 

 

From the Arabic Literature (IN English) Forthcoming in 2016

 

Check out Ann Morgan's Ted Talk on My year reading a book from every country in the world.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

[swimmermom3]

 

 

DD had book club at the library today so I was wandering the non-fiction and Basin and Range was flat on a shelf, left there by someone who didn't re-shelve! but for your post I would have passed it by. It looks very good. In return, I'll suggest a book I read last year, Hard Road West. I think you might like it!

 

Hard Road West is a great book!  My copy is much loved as it was gifted to me by our own nmoira.  :crying: It might be time for a reread.

[marbel]

I am re-reading The Hobbit to the children right now and then we are moving on to The Fellowship of the Ring. I read The Pilgrim's Progress last year so let me know if you want to discuss!

 

 

Thanks for this info! Dh has a conference in London next summer and we might tag along.

 

 

I am most of the way through and am absorbing, but as I read I am struggling with what to post about it. It is, for me anyway, a very difficult book to encapsulate. 

 

 

DD had book club at the library today so I was wandering the non-fiction and Basin and Range was flat on a shelf, left there by someone who didn't re-shelve! but for your post I would have passed it by. It looks very good. In return, I'll suggest a book I read last year, Hard Road West. I think you might like it!

 

Oooh, thank you!  This looks good, and has just been requested from the library.  My son may take it first - he just finished a book on the CA Gold Rush so it is a current interest for him along with the geology.

 

[Jane in NC]

Thanks for this info! Dh has a conference in London next summer and we might tag along.

 

 

 

Then let me also tell you about my favorite day in London from the same trip.  We started by doing one of the organized walks, ours being a Shakespearean walk.  This involved meeting near Westminster, taking a boat ride down the Thames, then wandering in Southwark.  After our walk, we bought lunch items from the famous Borough (outdoor) Market, enjoying our lunch in the gardens of Southwark cathedral.  The icing on the cake was attending a performance at the Globe.  My son insisted that we be groundlings.  This meant arriving early to lean against the stage.  What a glorious day!

 

Note to Eliana, perhaps Pam and others:  a play by Wole Soyinka, the Nobel prize winning writer from Nigeria, is now available for listening on BBC Radio 3.  Death and the King's Horseman was challenging for me.  The BBC description reads:

 

 

A new production of the drama by Nobel Prize-winning writer Wole Soyinka, based on real events in 1940s Nigeria. A colonial district officer intervenes to prevent a local man committing ritual suicide - with far reaching consequences.

 

Death And The King's Horseman is considered to be Professor Soyinka's greatest play. In awarding Soyinka the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, the Swedish Academy drew special attention to Death and the King's Horseman as evidence of his talent for combining Yoruban and European culture into a unique kind of poetic drama.

 

Here is the link.  The way these things work is that you can listen to them from a computer or other Internet device but they are not available as downloads. Essentially they will disappear after a few weeks.

[JennW in SoCal]

For those of you doing geology with your students, I want to recommend the recent NOVA series on the geology of North America. It was really nicely done, and there is usually good bonus material on their web site.  I'd also recommend books by Simon Winchester -- The Map That Changed the World or Krakatoa or for California, A Crack in the Edge of the World.  He studied geology at Oxford and is a terrific writer -- a very nice combination!

 

If I could rent out my ds the geology senior, I would!  It is a blast going on drives or hikes with him because he identifies rocks and explains the topography and the forces that created it.  And he has expanded our vocabulary -- nouns like batholithe, and adjectives like quartzo-feldspathic.  Mad Libs might never be the same!

 

Now, about my current reading...

I know I'm not the first among us to have a friend lend a book because he or she just loved it. "It is powerful! Amazing! You have to read it!" Then you read it and aren't so terribly impressed. That is the situation with the first official book I finished this year, Playing with Fire by Tess Gerritsen. It is about a violinist and a piece of gypsy music she finds in an old bookshop in Rome, the story behind the composition and the madness in her current life.  It has lots going for it, and there are some nice passages, but it was all very superficial and, well, annoying!  I didn't care about the characters, and the way the varied plot strands tied up at the end was rushed and contrived.  Not sure what to tell my friend when I return the book. It was....interesting...unusual...not what I was expecting. Then maybe I can turn the tables and get him to talk about what he loved so much.

 

In the meantime I'm also listening to a delightfully bizarre book which I doubt anyone I know here or in real life would also like.  Except my college boy who has already read it. It is Welcome to Night Vale, and it makes the old tv series of Twin Peaks, or episodes of Twilight Zone, look like normal life.  It is about a single mother and her teenage son and their small desert community where eldritch monsters lurk and secret agents in dark glasses also lurk about, spying on everyone. Even that description makes it sound normal. It is supposed to be humorous, and it is, but you have to be in the right frame of mind.  Patrick Rothfuss's review of it on GoodReads does it better justice than I have.

 

 

[Pam in CT]

Then let me also tell you about my favorite day in London from the same trip.  We started by doing one of the organized walks, ours being a Shakespearean walk.  This involved meeting near Westminster, taking a boat ride down the Thames, then wandering in Southwark.  After our walk, we bought lunch items from the famous Borough (outdoor) Market, enjoying our lunch in the gardens of Southwark cathedral.  The icing on the cake was attending a performance at the Globe.  My son insisted that we be groundlings.  This meant arriving early to lean against the stage.  What a glorious day!

 

Note to Eliana, perhaps Pam and others:  a play by Wole Soyinka, the Nobel prize winning writer from Nigeria, is now available for listening on BBC Radio 3.  Death and the King's Horseman was challenging for me.  The BBC description reads:

 

 

Here is the link.  The way these things work is that you can listen to them from a computer or other Internet device but they are not available as downloads. Essentially they will disappear after a few weeks.

 

Ah, that does indeed sound like a glorious day.

 

Thanks for the link!  I will be spending much of tomorrow doing arts-and-crafts, getting my daughter's bat mitzvah invitation printed and assembled, and having something to listen to will be perfect.  

 

Her Hebrew name, Shalviya, more or less means "tranquility," so she incorporated Zentangle into the design.  Remember Zentangles?  Everything flows from BAW, as it turns out.  :laugh:

[Kareni]

In the meantime I'm also listening to a delightfully bizarre book which I doubt anyone I know here or in real life would also like.  Except my college boy who has already read it. It is Welcome to Night Vale, and it makes the old tv series of Twin Peaks, or episodes of Twilight Zone, look like normal life.  ...

 

My daughter introduced us to Welcome to Night Vale when we visited her in South Korea a couple of Christmases ago.  We enjoyed the episodes we listened to, and I'll agree that they are anything but ordinary.  I requested the book from the library and timed it to arrive here during her visit.  It just came to the house a day ago and is now awaiting her attention.  I'll have to tell her that another Book a Weeker is reading it.  (She's currently watching the movie Mr. Holmes with my husband.)

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Mom-ninja.]

Sorry, but I cheated and stopped reading the thread by page 5. I'll never read books if I have to keep up with the thread. 

 

 

Finished The Golem and the Jinni. I saw that a sequel is due in 2018. 

[idnib]

Then let me also tell you about my favorite day in London from the same trip.  We started by doing one of the organized walks, ours being a Shakespearean walk.  This involved meeting near Westminster, taking a boat ride down the Thames, then wandering in Southwark.  After our walk, we bought lunch items from the famous Borough (outdoor) Market, enjoying our lunch in the gardens of Southwark cathedral.  The icing on the cake was attending a performance at the Globe.  My son insisted that we be groundlings.  This meant arriving early to lean against the stage.  What a glorious day!

 

Thank you! This day sounds like exactly what I would want to do. I have been to London a couple of times, but by myself. The second time I went, the 7/7 bombings happened while I was in flight. :crying: When I landed there were limited trains and crazy traffic from all the people who normally use the Tube. It was almost impossible to even get a cab. I walked as much as I could but it definitely cut down on my ability to see more things. 

 

For those of you doing geology with your students, I want to recommend the recent NOVA series on the geology of North America. It was really nicely done, and there is usually good bonus material on their web site.  I'd also recommend books by Simon Winchester -- The Map That Changed the World or Krakatoa or for California, A Crack in the Edge of the World.  He studied geology at Oxford and is a terrific writer -- a very nice combination!

 

If I could rent out my ds the geology senior, I would!  It is a blast going on drives or hikes with him because he identifies rocks and explains the topography and the forces that created it.  And he has expanded our vocabulary -- nouns like batholithe, and adjectives like quartzo-feldspathic.  Mad Libs might never be the same!

 

These sound great! We are studying meteorology right now, trying to take advantage of the effect of El Nino to actually see storms in our area. Geology is spring and summer, with spring focusing on "local roadside geology" and summer on "bigger geology" found in national parks.

Edited January 6, 2016 by idnib

[Lady Florida.]

 

I keep reading the thread when I have had a couple of free minutes but have spent most of my day watching Avengers (sixth season since Jane will want to know) and turning my quilt top into one big rectangle. All my planning seems to have worked thus far and I am really relieved.

 

 

 

 

Had to look it up, Mumto2. Tara never held a candle to Emma. Just sayin'.

 

Without looking it up I'm going to guess you mean Tara King vs. Emma Peel since you're talking about The Avengers. Definitely Mrs. Peel.

[mumto2]

I just discovered that I double posted so will post my current books in progress.

 

Dying in the Wool by Frances Brody.....village cozy set Post WWI. This book features a young war widow (her husband is listed as missing, technically) as the sleuth. I always feel very melancholy reading the post WWI settings, so many young men dead. Set in Yorkshire. So far I am enjoying her first case. Our village library is featuring this author in about a month....I had to steal(I did confess to the person doing the display) my copy from the back room.

 

Also reading Simon Brett's The Body on the Beach.....village cozy. Love the descriptions of life in the village. Accurate but really funny imo. Please note I find them humorous because I had to figure out similar proper behaviour.

 

Thanks Jane for the village cozy idea. I am enjoying finding some new series.

 

eta: First I double post and don't know it, then I edit the first dp instead of the second. Sorry!!!!

Edited January 6, 2016 by mumto2

[mumto2]

 

If I could rent out my ds the geology senior, I would!  It is a blast going on drives or hikes with him because he identifies rocks and explains the topography and the forces that created it.  And he has expanded our vocabulary -- nouns like batholithe, and adjectives like quartzo-feldspathic.  Mad Libs might never be the same!

 

Now, about my current reading...

I know I'm not the first among us to have a friend lend a book because he or she just loved it. "It is powerful! Amazing! You have to read it!" Then you read it and aren't so terribly impressed. That is the situation with the first official book I finished this year, Playing with Fire by Tess Gerritsen. It is about a violinist and a piece of gypsy music she finds in an old bookshop in Rome, the story behind the composition and the madness in her current life.  It has lots going for it, and there are some nice passages, but it was all very superficial and, well, annoying!  I didn't care about the characters, and the way the varied plot strands tied up at the end was rushed and contrived.  Not sure what to tell my friend when I return the book. It was....interesting...unusual...not what I was expecting. Then maybe I can turn the tables and get him to talk about what he loved so much.

 

In the meantime I'm also listening to a delightfully bizarre book which I doubt anyone I know here or in real life would also like.  Except my college boy who has already read it. It is Welcome to Night Vale, and it makes the old tv series of Twin Peaks, or episodes of Twilight Zone, look like normal life.  It is about a single mother and her teenage son and their small desert community where eldritch monsters lurk and secret agents in dark glasses also lurk about, spying on everyone. Even that description makes it sound normal. It is supposed to be humorous, and it is, but you have to be in the right frame of mind.  Patrick Rothfuss's review of it on GoodReads does it better justice than I have.

  

Had to look it up, Mumto2. Tara never held a candle to Emma. Just sayin'.

Tess Gerritson is an author I really enjoy normally. The Rizzoli series is one I have read for years. I did end up returning her latest stand alone to the library unread ( I really should have read the description before requesting it) because the daughter killing mother storyline was more than I could handle.

 

Welcome to Night Vale sounds intriguing. Since both you and Kareni like it I will investigate.

 

We actually did hire a Paleontology student for science when the dc's were younger. They had some great beach days cracking rocks open for ammonites and bellamites with a really enthusiastic teacher. We all enjoyed our lessons and still go fossel hunting and sometimes show them to the student, when he visits home as he now travels the world as a grown up paleontologist. We never have made it to Jane's park but did know about it. The student had detailed photos of him with each dino in the park..... :lol:

 

Jane, We totally agree about Tara and Emma. Dd and I are watching and deleting Tara from the DVR. We need the space so badly only one of us has to watch for an episode to be deleted.

 

Regarding our DVR issues the BBC has a new series called Dickensianhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35174153which dd (who read most of Dicken's books when 12 and is a huge fan) is loving. I am watching. Also recording the new War and Peace and Beowulf.

 

Beowulf (ITV) is supposed to be family-friendly in the sense that Dr. Who is. The first episode wasn't bad but not great either. I loved the settings. http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=beowulf+itv&view=detail&mid=0D5420CAC4E9B9546D100D5420CAC4E9B9546D10&FORM=VIRE4My imagination never filled things in that well. :lol: Anyway ds wants it on the dvr so space is needed.

[Nan in Mass]

Butter, I am glad you are doing better! That,s great! It,s been a long haul.

 

Nan

[Nan in Mass]

I finished An Illustrated Life. Since I have a sketchbook, most of what it talked about was familiar. One new idea (for obvious reasons lol) had to do with the sketchbook as a safe place. I knew about it being safe in a risk sense, as in a private place where you could experiment or mess up with no one seeing, and safe in a dear diary sense, a private place to express emotions and record experiences and process stuff, and safe in a stuck together so unable to get lost sense. It hadn,t occurred to me that if people actually want to buy your art, your sketchbook becomes the place where you draw the things you want to keep for yourself, safe from being sold away from you. I use mine as a place to practise drawing or painting, to keep a log when I am travelling on land, to process emotions, to write down grocery lists or phone numbers or family history, and to work out paintings. It is pretty ordinary and not very visually interesting, except the log parts. It was fun to see lots of much more interesting examples. One person filled 43 books with drawings of her companion animal, at least one a day, as a way to be close. One took the little irregular swatches of test colours from painting, inked over them to turn them into animals or whatever, and cut them out and stuck them in their book. One person wrote and drew children with cancer as a way of finding the strength to keep going and telling them stories. Another worked in a nursing home for the disabled while she was learning to draw, and found the residents were happy to model for her. I thought it was interesting that so many people found that they liked drawing or working while they were moving. I think humans are designed to think on their feet.

 

Nan

[Violet Crown]

Finished my second book for 2016! This is a cracking pace, for me; but then the first was started in the old year, and the second was very light reading: Don Camillo's Dilemma. Dh checked out several of Guareschi's books from Big State U.'s library for me, so I have some easy reading for a while. However it's time for Hamlet, again, as it's time to teach it to the next child.

 

And then, thanks to ... Jane? Someone else? I don't remember who first brought it up--I've pulled out my dusty 1721-page Parochial and Plain Sermons of (Bl.) John Henry Newman, which is quoted from in Brave New World, though somehow I didn't notice when I read that book myself. Jane's yeomanlike reading of Jacobus de Voragine's Legenda Aurea straight through has convinced me to copy her feat and go straight through P&P. We'll see how long I last. Despite the admittedly dull implications of the title, these sermons--written while an Anglican, and better thought of almost as essays--contain some of Newman's finest thought.

 

Bluegoat, I dangle a challenge here....

[swimmermom3]

Thank you! This day sounds like exactly what I would want to do. I have been to London a couple of times, but by myself. The second time I went, the 7/7 bombings happened while I was in flight. :crying: When I landed there were limited trains and crazy traffic from all the people who normally use the Tube. It was almost impossible to even get a cab. I walked as much as I could but it definitely cut down on my ability to see more things. 

 

 

These sound great! We are studying meteorology right now, trying to take advantage of the effect of El Nino to actually see storms in our area. Geology is spring and summer, with spring focusing on "local roadside geology" and summer on "bigger geology" found in national parks.

 

Have you checked out the Roadside Geology series?  We just acquired our Oregon one a few months ago and it's been a great compliment to our Hiking Oregon's Geology book (thanks to Correleno), which we have used for a few years for some memorable excursions.  It's part of the Hiking Geology series.  

 

Can I ask what you are using for meteorology? We start that in two weeks.

[Kareni]

I read quite an enjoyable book last night that features a ghost (or is he?) and a romance.  It does have adult content.

 

Winter Oranges by Marie Sexton

 

"Jason Walker is a child star turned teen heartthrob turned reluctant B-movie regular who’s sick of his failing career. So he gives up Hollywood for northern Idaho, far away from the press, the drama of LA, and the best friend he’s secretly been in love with for years.

 

There’s only one problem with his new life: a strange young man only he can see is haunting his guesthouse. Except Benjamin Ward isn’t a ghost. He’s a man caught out of time, trapped since the Civil War in a magical prison where he can only watch the lives of those around him. He’s also sweet, funny, and cute as hell, with an affinity for cheesy ’80s TV shows. And he’s thrilled to finally have someone to talk to.

 

But Jason quickly discovers that spending all his time with a man nobody else can see or hear isn’t without its problems—especially when the tabloids find him again and make him front-page news. The local sheriff thinks he’s on drugs, and his best friend thinks he’s crazy. But Jason knows he hasn’t lost his mind. Too bad he can’t say the same thing about his heart."

 

There's a good review here.

 

**

 

I also read an enjoyed the paranormal romance Lion Eyes: Shifters Unbound by Jennifer Ashley.  This is part of a series but could stand alone.

 

"Bree has just decided to give up trying to be a Shifter groupie when a lion Shifter slams into her truck and tells her to drive. Seamus is on the run from hunters, other Shifters, and who knows who else. All Bree knows is that he's compelling, needs her help, and most intriguing of all, wears no Collar ...

Seamus McGuire fears he's gone crazy--feral--and become a killer. His only hope of getting away from the hunters and police on his tail is Bree, a human woman who not only knows a lot about Shifters but has great compassion for them.

Things are more complicated than they seem, though. Seamus is on a mission--to protect those in his care after the destruction of Kendrick's compound of un-Collared Shifters. Seamus must keep it together and make sure his charges stay hidden, but at the same time, he's pulled to Bree as he's never been pulled to a woman before. He needs to prove he's innocent and not crazy before it's too late for himself, Bree, and those he's vowed to protect."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[marbel]

For those of you doing geology with your students, I want to recommend the recent NOVA series on the geology of North America. It was really nicely done, and there is usually good bonus material on their web site.  I'd also recommend books by Simon Winchester -- The Map That Changed the World or Krakatoa or for California, A Crack in the Edge of the World.  He studied geology at Oxford and is a terrific writer -- a very nice combination!

 

 

We have these books at home and they are on the stack to read!

 

I will look for the NOVA series.  We are using some Great Courses lectures but documentaries with a more visual element are great too. 

 

I think if I'd been a science person, geology would have been my place.  So I'm really happy to have a reason to read all these books/listen to these lectures now.

 

So, thanks!

[idnib]

Have you checked out the Roadside Geology series?  We just acquired our Oregon one a few months ago and it's been a great compliment to our Hiking Oregon's Geology book (thanks to Correleno), which we have used for a few years for some memorable excursions.  It's part of the Hiking Geology series.  

 

Can I ask what you are using for meteorology? We start that in two weeks.

 

The Roadside Geology series is the main one we'll be using. We own the local one and the library has ones for more far-flung places we can use. I printed out some hiking/driving reports used by local geology groups to summarize their own trips and we bought a copy of Geology Underfoot in Yosemite National Park and the same guide for Death Valley/Owens Valley. We also have a few historical books I'm mostly forgetting now, but Kratakoa is one of them for DS.

 

We just started meteorology Monday, after studying space since September, so I don't have any real experience with these books, but this is what we're using:

 

For both kids, we have National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Weather (great pictures of clouds), The Kids' Book of Weather Forecasting (forecasting), Golden Guide Weather (overview) How the Weather Works (experiments and activities), and How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate (climate change).

 

For DS only (and DD later) I added 2 history books as well: Air Apparent: How Meteorologists Learned to Map, Predict, and Dramatize Weather and Weathering the Storm: Sverre Petterssen, the D-Day Forecast, and the Rise of Modern Meteorology (American Meteorological Society - Historical Monographs).

Edited January 6, 2016 by idnib

[TeacherZee]

The discussion of the Childhood of Young Americans series is making me feel guilty about where I get my books. (1) My city has multiple Half Price stores, and I live minutes from the main one. It's huge and stocked with everything under the sun. Just the clearance section has hundreds and hundreds of books, and always a few I'm interested in. (2) Even closer is the also well-stocked library discard store, where every children's book is fifty cents and other books are one or two dollars. All donations, as well as books the library doesn't want anymore, go there. (3) Dh has infinite-checkout privileges at one of the country's largest university libraries. On the rare occasion that a book I especially want isn't there, he's gotten it through university intralibrary loan. (4) I regularly get to browse at COAS bookstore in Las Cruces, and the secondhand bookshops in Edinburgh, for those UK-only books.

 

Besides having far too many books, as a result the girls have a shelf full of the CoYA series: both the old orange cloth-covered ones and the newer blue softcovers. I especially like the one on LBJ. And Mad Anthony Wayne.

 

One of many things I miss with Edinburgh is all the secondhand bookshops. Both for buying books but also for getting rid of books when I moved. 

[JennW in SoCal]

 

 

For DS only (and DD later) I added 2 history books as well: Air Apparent: How Meteorologists Learned to Map, Predict, and Dramatize Weather and Weathering the Storm: Sverre Petterssen, the D-Day Forecast, and the Rise of Modern Meteorology (American Meteorological Society - Historical Monographs).

 

oooohhh -- I'm going to have to look for Weathering the Storm.  My dad was a meteorologist in the Army Air Corp during WWII, stationed in London then Paris after D-Day.  We aren't sure if he was part of the team doing forecast work for D-Day or not. (He passed away many, many years ago, before I was old enough to start asking questions.) He later was part of the team that designed and built the first weather satellite that was launched in the early 60s.

 

When I was on a tour with my mom in Europe in the late 80s/early 90s, a WWII pilot veteran bought me a drink and toasted my dad in honor of all the meteorologists who helped them safely navigate their missions. 

[mellifera33]

For those of you doing geology with your students, I want to recommend the recent NOVA series on the geology of North America. It was really nicely done, and there is usually good bonus material on their web site.  I'd also recommend books by Simon Winchester -- The Map That Changed the World or Krakatoa or for California, A Crack in the Edge of the World.  He studied geology at Oxford and is a terrific writer -- a very nice combination!

 

 

Thanks for the suggestion. We did a geology unit over the summer, but can't quite let go--it's become a perpetual back-burner unit study. :)

 

Have you checked out the Roadside Geology series?  We just acquired our Oregon one a few months ago and it's been a great compliment to our Hiking Oregon's Geology book (thanks to Correleno), which we have used for a few years for some memorable excursions.  It's part of the Hiking Geology series.  

 

Can I ask what you are using for meteorology? We start that in two weeks.

 

We like the Roadside Geology series too. We got pretty good at spotting basalt in road cuts. lol. We also like the geology books from the Built it Yourself series. We used Geology of the Pacific Northwest as the spine for our summer unit. 

[idnib]

oooohhh -- I'm going to have to look for Weathering the Storm.  My dad was a meteorologist in the Army Air Corp during WWII, stationed in London then Paris after D-Day.  We aren't sure if he was part of the team doing forecast work for D-Day or not. (He passed away many, many years ago, before I was old enough to start asking questions.) He later was part of the team that designed and built the first weather satellite that was launched in the early 60s.

 

When I was on a tour with my mom in Europe in the late 80s/early 90s, a WWII pilot veteran bought me a drink and toasted my dad in honor of all the meteorologists who helped them safely navigate their missions. 

 

Oh wow. I think you may find this book very interesting then.

 

DS should be done with it in about 6 weeks and I'm happy to loan it to you via mail after that. I'll need it back in 4 years for DD!

[Lady Florida.]

Robin, how are you coming along with A Suitable Boy? Is anyone else reading it? I finished Part 3 today and am really liking it. The short, readable chapters are bad for my sleep schedule though. I keep telling myself, "Well this next chapter is short so I'll go ahead and read it.". Then the next one is short too, and the next one. Before I realize it I've been reading for about an hour! 

[Jane in NC]

And then, thanks to ... Jane? Someone else? I don't remember who first brought it up--I've pulled out my dusty 1721-page Parochial and Plain Sermons of (Bl.) John Henry Newman, which is quoted from in Brave New World, though somehow I didn't notice when I read that book myself. Jane's yeomanlike reading of Jacobus de Voragine's Legenda Aurea straight through has convinced me to copy her feat and go straight through P&P. We'll see how long I last. Despite the admittedly dull implications of the title, these sermons--written while an Anglican, and better thought of almost as essays--contain some of Newman's finest thought.

 

Not that I knew what Newman work was being referenced in BNW, but I found it interesting that he was being referenced.  Blame it all on me, VC! (To be fair, please note that I spent a year reading The Golden Legend in small bits.  It was the only way I could manage.)

 

And your brave self challenge may just lead me to read Lucretius.  On the Nature of Things is always lurking on the edge of consciousness.

[Robin M]

I finished my first book this afternoon.  Frankenstein.  I am still processing it and will have to come back to write my full thoughts.  My gut reaction is what an abhorrent and deplorable man Victor Frankenstein was.  Is it the writing that leads me to feel a disgust of this character that at this moment I cannot remember ever feeling before about any other character?  I am uncertain.  It was not at all what I was expecting!

No, it wasn't at all what I expected and yes, I was amazed at what a whiny so and so, the doctor turned out to be.  My husband got an earful while I was reading it.  

 

Robin, how are you coming along with A Suitable Boy? Is anyone else reading it? I finished Part 3 today and am really liking it. The short, readable chapters are bad for my sleep schedule though. I keep telling myself, "Well this next chapter is short so I'll go ahead and read it.". Then the next one is short too, and the next one. Before I realize it I've been reading for about an hour! 

 

I'm almost to part 3, currently on page 129 and enjoying it. Keeping making stars in the corner of pages, so I can go back and look up references to the culture, words I don't understand.   

Edited January 6, 2016 by Robin M

[Lady Florida.]

 

I'm almost to part 3, currently on page 129 and enjoying it. Keeping making stars in the corner of pages, so I can go back and look up references to the culture, words I don't understand.   

 

Me too, and I meant to also say I've been looking up things to help me fill in my knowledge gaps about India in its early years of independence.

Edited January 6, 2016 by Lady Florida

[Kareni]

Here's an enjoyable post ~

11 Delightful Tales Set in Our Favorite Place—Bookstores

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Pam in CT]

Not that I knew what Newman work was being referenced in BNW, but I found it interesting that he was being referenced.  Blame it all on me, VC! (To be fair, please note that I spent a year reading The Golden Legend in small bits.  It was the only way I could manage.)

 

And your brave self challenge may just lead me to read Lucretius.  On the Nature of Things is always lurking on the edge of consciousness.

 

Go for it.  I did it a couple of years ago in combination with Steven Greenblatt's Swerve, then passed the set onto my then 17 (ish) nephew.  Rocked his cynical hipster New Yorker world, it did...   :laugh:

[Lady Florida.]

Here's an enjoyable post ~

11 Delightful Tales Set in Our Favorite Place—Bookstores

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Thanks for sharing. I've read three of them: Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore, The Shadow of the Wind (thank you for the recommendation Stacia!), and The Thirteenth Tale.

[marbel]

Here's an enjoyable post ~

11 Delightful Tales Set in Our Favorite Place—Bookstores

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

This reminds me of a book I read long ago and still have... The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley.  It's not on this list.  Anyone know it? 

 

I think I bought it from the now-defunct catalog, A Common Reader.  Anyone remember it?  They had a lot of interesting books you'd never come across browsing Amazon... it's been gone for years but I still miss it.   Here is someone's blog post about it; I'm not the only one who misses it! 

 

Edited January 6, 2016 by marbel

[JennW in SoCal]

Speaking of meteorology.  Holy El Niño Batman!!

 

We are currently under a tornado watch, a severe thunderstorm watch, and a flash flood watch and it is DUMPING outside.  We had to pump water out of the pool yesterday when we got over 2" of rain, and it looks like that much will fall again today.  That would be half our annual rainfall in 2 days!

 

I cancelled my students for the afternoon and am going now to sit and read in front of the fire! Fittingly enough, I was playing overwrought Beethoven quartets as the storm blew in.

[Pam in CT]

Oh dear, Jenn.  God knows y'all need the water, but when it rains it pours...  gracious.  Stay safe.

[Lady Florida.]

Here's an enjoyable post ~

11 Delightful Tales Set in Our Favorite Place—Bookstores

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Thanks for sharing. I've read three of them: Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore, The Shadow of the Wind (thank you for the recommendation Stacia!), and The Thirteenth Tale.

[idnib]

And your brave self challenge may just lead me to read Lucretius.  On the Nature of Things is always lurking on the edge of consciousness.

 

I just started this last night because the Classics and the Western Canon group started today and I'm reading with them!

[idnib]

Hmmm. I'm going to have to be the dissenting voice on The Gap of Time. I must be missing something that everyone else sees, including all the respectable reviewers who gave it such high praise. Despite my anticipation and my desire to enjoy it, in the end it read like teen fiction to me. (Sorry to all who loved it. I'm assuming the problem was with me.) The strange way in which everything worked out so smoothly (trying to be vague here) was too much for me. Of course the original play is also somewhat unrealistic, but Shakespeare is entertaining in part because of wit and language and I didn't find enough of that in this modernized version to offset the implausible ending.

 

I'm sorry.

Edited January 7, 2016 by idnib

[Jane in NC]

Go for it.  I did it a couple of years ago in combination with Steven Greenblatt's Swerve, then passed the set onto my then 17 (ish) nephew.  Rocked his cynical hipster New Yorker world, it did...   :laugh:

My husband and I enjoyed Swerve. I had every intention of reading Lucretius afterward but you know how those intentions go...

[Robin M]

Speaking of meteorology.  Holy El Niño Batman!!

 

We are currently under a tornado watch, a severe thunderstorm watch, and a flash flood watch and it is DUMPING outside.  We had to pump water out of the pool yesterday when we got over 2" of rain, and it looks like that much will fall again today.  That would be half our annual rainfall in 2 days!

 

I cancelled my students for the afternoon and am going now to sit and read in front of the fire! Fittingly enough, I was playing overwrought Beethoven quartets as the storm blew in.

Yikes!

 

 

 

 

 

I just looked outside to see this. Accumulation since yesterday.  Poor plant.  More rain on the way. Glad I'm inside

 

 

Edited January 7, 2016 by Robin M

[Kareni]

I think I bought it from the now-defunct catalog, A Common Reader.  Anyone remember it?  They had a lot of interesting books you'd never come across browsing Amazon... it's been gone for years but I still miss it.   Here is someone's blog post about it; I'm not the only one who misses it!

 

I remember A Common Reader with great fondness; it is where I first learned of the Aubrey/Maturin books which now number amongst my husband's list of favorite fictional works.  I recall too that the catalog writers referred to Thumping Good Reads.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

Well, I just finished a thoroughly enjoyable, silly read:  William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope.  It was actually quite brilliant - the script of Star Wars written as a 5-act play, in iambic pentameter and Shakespearean language.  Really just fan fic, but super clever and enjoyable to try and recognize which soliloquy came from which play.  Such funny juxtapositions, sci-fi/space words written in Shakespearean style!  I probably won't read the rest of them - he's done all 6 - but it was a fun read.  

 

Star Wars/Shakespeare lovers, unite!

[Chrysalis Academy]

And now on to more serious matters: I read Prometheus Bound, by Aeschylus.  The reason I read this play now is that I am preparing for our Frankenstein study, and the subtitle - the modern Prometheus - seemed to beg the comparison.  But I don't get it.  Was Mary Shelley being satirical? Tongue in cheek? Because I don't see the connection.  Surely she isn't implying that Victor somehow did something beneficial for humanity? Or his creation? Which Prometheus did.  Is the connection that Victor defied God in creating life, like Prometheus defied Zeus in gifting humans with knowledge of fire, medicinal plants, augury, and other things?  I still don't see the connection.  Victor was a totally irresponsible creator who failed to give the basic iota of consideration to his creation, whereas Prometheus was a compassionate being who gave gifts to beings - humans - that weren't even his creations/responsibility at all.  The idea that Victor is some kind of modern Prometheus is actually rather offensive. What am I missing? Anyone? Eliana?

[Pam in CT]

Ah, Rose.  I've never read Prometheus and only know the barest bones of the story from D'Aulaires days, so I got nothing...

 

but

 

... can I just say, your post restored both sense of humor and my faith in humanity after a rather bleak day.  So, on that note, I am turning the computer OFF and retiring to my bed.

 

With a BOOK.

 

Night, all.