Book a Week 2016 - BW8: r.i.p. umberto eco and harper lee

[Stacia]

Between the World and Me.... wow.  I've only just started it but it's already heavy.  And dare I say I already have felt a bit uncomfortable?  Perhaps a bit too easily - dare I say it? - defensive, because 'not every kid outside the city has the life he's describing... and lots of kids in the city, regardless of skin color, have the life he speaks of...'

(Please don't hate me for those thoughts.  I'm not exactly sure what to think of them, either!)

 

It's definitely going to be a journey. 

 

I kwym.

 

What I wrote when I read it a few months ago...

 

To call it the latest "in" book seems like it would trivialize it; otoh, it has been making a splash & is being widely talked about. I first heard about it because an indie bookseller (Astoria Bookshop in Queens, NY) decided to sell the book at cost in order to get the book out there to the reading public.

 

I can’t say that I especially enjoyed Between the World and Me. And maybe that is rightly so, as race problems, doubts, & fears are not something to enjoy; it is not a happy book; it does not sugar-coat the world. Since this was written as a letter from Coates to his 15yo son, I’m not the intended audience; sometimes, I felt like I was intruding on something too private, too personal... a strong feeling of “I shouldn’t be hereâ€. It’s hard to put a number or a rating on such private thoughts, personal musings, inner feelings on having grown up black in America & now raising a teen son in the US of today. There’s a profound message here, a deep impact. The prose was, at times, poetic, or unappealing, or clunky, or smooth; but at all times thought-provoking, or eye-opening, or heartfelt, or personal. There are many questions & thoughts, yet Coates provides no answers. It was really not the book I expected to read. And, yet, I can't stop thinking about it either.

 

I think I have a sliver of this embedded in me now. I hope I have come away wiser, more aware, a better human....

 

I really like this NY Times review & much of it reflects what I felt as I read the book too. Part of Coates' inspiration was James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time, which I have now requested from the library.

[Stacia]

Angela, :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: .

[Lady Florida.]

I have been reading memoirs written by parents of kids with Down Syndrome while I nurse. I like reading memoirs rather than the guides because I can get a better sense of what life is really like. And it helps to know that the process of coming to grips with the initial diagnosis seems to be about the same for everyone.

 

The two memoirs I've read in the past week are An Uncomplicated Life by Paul Daugherty and Road Map to Holland by Jennifer Graf Groneberg. Daugherty writes from the perspective of a father whose daughter with ds is now in her 20's (and spends a lot of time detailing their battles for inclusion in the public schools), while Groneberg writes about her son's first two years. I could identify much more with Groneberg's book, but I liked getting the far perspective from Daugherty as well.

 

Another memoir came in the mail today (The Shape of an Eye by George Estreich) along with a bunch of books about motor skills and speech. I am almost to the point where I need to take a break and read something else just to let everything sink in, though.

 

--Angela

 

 

 

 

 

Reading memoirs sounds like an excellent choice for the reasons you mentioned, plus they're not going to be clinical like a how-to book might (even if the author doesn't mean it to sound that way).

 

I'm guessing Roadmap to Holland is a more detailed version of that essay about planning a trip to Italy and ending up in Holland. Is that right? I remember a friend sharing that some years ago when she found out her daughter had a severe developmental disability.

 

I hope the memoirs help you, your baby girl's heart heals on its own, and your infection clears up quickly. Continued good thoughts and hugs for all of you.  :grouphug:

[Momto4inSoCal]

I finished war and peace yesterday. It took a little longer since everyone is sick in my house including me. I really enjoyed it. For anyone who is not familiar with Leo Tolstoy, he is a Russian writer and has influenced Ghandi and Martin Luther King with his ideas on non violent resistance. He was corresponding with Ghandi for a year before he died.

 

Tolstoy seems to have such intuition about the nature of people in general and the way they feel , social pressures and why people react the way they do to different situations. I love history and reading about the wars and Napolian written from different soldiers perspectives, all the way from Kutusov down to the hussars gave me a different view of the history as I knew it. The transformation of Pierre who seemed to want a deeper understanding of life and only recieve it after going through trials, whose understanding of what really makes a man free rings true to me. I really felt a connection to Natasha in the end when she realized being a wife and a mother was what she really wanted and didn't care about full filling social obligation or handing her children off to a wet nurse. I plan on getting the Kingdom of God is Within You since this book has really sparked my interest on Tolstoy.

[Stacia]

Idnib, how was the bookstore visit with Aridjis & his daughter Chloe?

 

Momto4inSoCal, hope you feel better quickly! (And your family too!) :grouphug: 

 

Melissa, how are you doing these days? Any updates? Sending hugs & good wishes to you.

[Ali in OR]

Another memoir came in the mail today (The Shape of an Eye by George Estreich) along with a bunch of books about motor skills and speech. I am almost to the point where I need to take a break and read something else just to let everything sink in, though.

 

 

I read this one a year or two ago as the author is local. I don't really know him but run into him from time to time--his daughter is now at the same high school as my daughter. I thought he was quite eloquent, and while my dd does not have DS, I could relate to many of his thoughts and feelings just being a parent of a developmentally disabled child. I can't remember if he's actually an English professor or if he just majored in English but he could put feelings into words so perfectly. Hope you find it helpful.

[duckabell]

This week has been a lighter week. I finished up two YA novels, "Glass Sword" (Red Queen #2) and "Calamity" (Reckoners #3). I also listened to "A Man Called Ove" and finished up "The Nightingale." This was one of the weeks where 3-4 holds arrived from the library and so I tried to finish everything before it was due. I also had more time to read due to family sicknesses. Next weeks' goal is to read my other library books that I've had on my to-read list for over a year.

[marbel]

<snip>

 

 

The Lost Time Accidents by John Wray. Enjoyed the first 30 or so pages that I read of this, but it's a long (& possibly complex) novel, so I will see how I feel about tackling it. I have another very busy week right now so I'm not sure it's the right book at the right time for me. Possibly now, possibly later. Stay tuned.

 

<snip>

 

I picked this up at the library yesterday.  I'd requested it, but I didn't remember why.  Now I realize I must have seen it mentioned here.   Not sure why I am so quick to request books from the library.  I could save the book as a to-read in Goodreads.  But there is that feeling of, "hey, this looks good; maybe I can read this... tomorrow?" 

 

No matter. The librarians don't care if we read or don't read, as long as we keep checking stuff out. 

 

I'm in the midst of a light read after Heart of Darkness:  A Test of Wills, first in a series of mystery novels.  It started slow but now I'm at the point where I'm slipping away from my responsibilities to get a few more pages in. This is set in England, post-WWI.  The lead character is a police inspector, newly back from the war, trying to get over shell-shock and resume his life.  One of the things that has stood out to me so far is the disdain people felt for veterans who came back suffering mental illness/anguish.  Not sure why, but I thought that was more of a modern thing - maybe from hearing/reading stories of soldiers returning from Vietnam and being treated shamefully.  In any case, it's a gook book.

 

 

 

[idnib]

I just finished HoD with my son. The Achebe essay (speech) is well worth it because of the different perspective. I ordered Apocalypse Now from Netflix but have put off watching it because I have recollections of gore and I am a gore wimp these days. Should I? Shouldn't I?

 

I think it's fairly gory and it's definitely violent. It's the anti-war hero movie and is quite disturbing but the acting is top-notch. Watching Brando's portrayal of Kurtz is extraordinary. Since you have a DVD you can just turn it off if it becomes too much, but if you're really sensitive just the initial exposure before you turn it off may be too much.

 

I was thinking about Apocalypse Now last night because I went to hear Homero Aridjis and his daughter at City Lights Bookstore, which is just down the block from American Zoetrope, where Coppola produced the film. Here's a picture of the building, and you can see there's a red sign under the red awning. And if you zoom in on the sign, you can see the film mentioned. Anyway, I walked right by the sign and thought about this thread!

[idnib]

Idnib, how was the bookstore visit with Aridjis & his daughter Chloe?

 

(For anyone not familiar with Aridjis, here's a link.)

 

Stacia, thanks for asking. It was excellent! City Lights (founded by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti) held the talk in their poetry room, which was a fitting location. We were surrounded by shelves and shelves of volumes of poetry and the letters of poets, while photos of the beat poets meeting in the same room during the 1950s were on the walls. About half the crowd of ~50 were other poets and other literati who know him and his family. The inquired about Chloe's health (she had recently had the flu, maybe?) and the trip and talked about old times before the official talk. Several Mexican-born U.S. poets told him he was an inspiration to them and they were honored to have such an important Mexican poet visit San Francisco. Many people thought I was from Mexico and tried to speak Spanish to me.  :)

 

Aridjis discussed meeting many poets through the years, more as an explanation of how his daughter Chloe, who translated The Child Poet, spent her entire childhood at poetry readings and on the laps of famous poets, even poets who notoriously disliked children! He spoke of the coincident publishing of the volume in Spanish in 1971 and the birth of his daughter. She later grew up and began her translation, then went to Harvard and then Oxford, before deciding to write her own material before completing the translation. This translation to English is the book Archipelago published and the reason for the (brief) tour. She jokingly said it had been on her "pending" list for 20 years. Aridjis felt the delay had been a good idea, as it allowed her to "internalize" the content and by absorbing it as she matured, and increasing her own vocabulary and sense of words through her writing, she was able to make a better translation than she would have in her 20s.

 

He then read from the 1971 copy of the book in Spanish, and then Chloe would read the English translation. (People who spoke Spanish would make small sighs and sounds of satisfaction while hearing him read. I don't know if that is similar to the South Asian practice of making noises of appreciation during a poetry reading, or if just sounds even better in Spanish!) He explained date background of some of the poems, particularly focusing on his family background and his environmental work. He spoke of his half-Greek (paternal) ancestry and how his father left Greece after war with the Turks, and how he never went back and how that generation was scattered to the winds. He touched on the day of his accident with a shotgun, which completely changed his personality from a rough, active boy to a poetic, quiet one. He also said he was the first person to write about the monarch butterflies, who arrived in his area of Mexico each year. Everyone in his city knew of them, but had never written about them, except for him. One year a Canadian research team, following the butterflies South, arrived in his town and claimed to have "discovered" they were living in Mexico. He took umbrage with that and showed them the book in which they had already been "discovered" and they eventually backed off.

 

Both of them then took questions, Chloe sometimes translating the questions into Spanish for him, but he would answer in English. Even his extemporaneous answers were quite poetic, it's simply the way he speaks. Through the questions, we got to learn about his environmental work, his run-ins with the government of Mexico, and how behind all environmental destruction he has seen in that particular country, drug lords are behind it. As an example, once he went to a beach at night to protect sea turtles and got into an argument with a man who claimed to have killed thousands of them. Aridjis called him a coward for killing so many defenseless animals, and as they were shouting at each other, his friend pointed out a man who had appeared on the rock above them, holding a gun. The man they were arguing with was a drug runner, and so was the man on the rocks above them, and this was a beach for receiving drugs via boat. They had not realized how much danger they were in and had to quickly apologize and leave. He's also had trouble with the government for claiming that the environment of Mexico will never be clean until the politicians are clean. (He said it sounds better in Spanish!)

 

One person asked him. "Why poetry, instead of prose?" He replied that he is a great lover of nature, ever since he was a small boy, and that poetry is the same thing as nature, and the two cannot be separated for him. Only poetry comes close to expressing his feelings about his life experiences.

 

ETA: Sorry about the length of the text. I can really get going if both the kids have events and I have more than a few minutes!

Edited February 24, 2016 by idnib

[Mom-ninja.]

Um, have you all seen that JK Rowling (with 2 authors) has written a play about Harry Potter as an adult and his kids?! I've never wanted to go London so badly before. 

 

I can imagine the crowd opening night!

[Mom-ninja.]

Oh, also read The Power of Roughhousing which was a very quick but informative read. 

[Onceuponatime]

I just finished Dead Men Don't Ski. If you liked Death in Kashmir, you would probably like this one. It is a good who-done-it.

 

Next up is a reread of The Woman in White for my book club.

Edited February 25, 2016 by Onceuponatime

[HRAAB]

I just finished Dead Men Don't Ski. If you liked Death in Kashmir, you would probably like this one. It is good who-done-it.

 

Next up is a reread of The Woman in White for my book club.

Thanks for this recommendation. I enjoyed all M. M. Kaye's Death In .... books. I'll add this one to my list.

[Jane in NC]

(For anyone not familiar with Aridjis, here's a link.)

 

Stacia, thanks for asking. It was excellent! City Lights (founded by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti) held the talk in their poetry room, which was a fitting location. We were surrounded by shelves and shelves of volumes of poetry and the letters of poets, while photos of the beat poets meeting in the same room during the 1950s were on the walls. About half the crowd of ~50 were other poets and other literati who know him and his family. The inquired about Chloe's health (she had recently had the flu, maybe?) and the trip and talked about old times before the official talk. Several Mexican-born U.S. poets told him he was an inspiration to them and they were honored to have such an important Mexican poet visit San Francisco. Many people thought I was from Mexico and tried to speak Spanish to me. :)

 

Aridjis discussed meeting many poets through the years, more as an explanation of how his daughter Chloe, who translated The Child Poet, spent her entire childhood at poetry readings and on the laps of famous poets, even poets who notoriously disliked children! He spoke of the coincident publishing of the volume in Spanish in 1971 and the birth of his daughter. She later grew up and began her translation, then went to Harvard and then Oxford, before deciding to write her own material before completing the translation. This translation to English is the book Archipelago published and the reason for the (brief) tour. She jokingly said it had been on her "pending" list for 20 years. Aridjis felt the delay had been a good idea, as it allowed her to "internalize" the content and by absorbing it as she matured, and increasing her own vocabulary and sense of words through her writing, she was able to make a better translation than she would have in her 20s.

 

He then read from the 1971 copy of the book in Spanish, and then Chloe would read the English translation. (People who spoke Spanish would make small sighs and sounds of satisfaction while hearing him read. I don't know if that is similar to the South Asian practice of making noises of appreciation during a poetry reading, or if just sounds even better in Spanish!) He explained date background of some of the poems, particularly focusing on his family background and his environmental work. He spoke of his half-Greek (paternal) ancestry and how his father left Greece after war with the Turks, and how he never went back and how that generation was scattered to the winds. He touched on the day of his accident with a shotgun, which completely changed his personality from a rough, active boy to a poetic, quiet one. He also said he was the first person to write about the monarch butterflies, who arrived in his area of Mexico each year. Everyone in his city knew of them, but had never written about them, except for him. One year a Canadian research team, following the butterflies South, arrived in his town and claimed to have "discovered" they were living in Mexico. He took umbrage with that and showed them the book in which they had already been "discovered" and they eventually backed off.

 

Both of them then took questions, Chloe sometimes translating the questions into Spanish for him, but he would answer in English. Even his extemporaneous answers were quite poetic, it's simply the way he speaks. Through the questions, we got to learn about his environmental work, his run-ins with the government of Mexico, and how behind all environmental destruction he has seen in that particular country, drug lords are behind it. As an example, once he went to a beach at night to protect sea turtles and got into an argument with a man who claimed to have killed thousands of them. Aridjis called him a coward for killing so many defenseless animals, and as they were shouting at each other, his friend pointed out a man who had appeared on the rock above them, holding a gun. The man they were arguing with was a drug runner, and so was the man on the rocks above them, and this was a beach for receiving drugs via boat. They had not realized how much danger they were in and had to quickly apologize and leave. He's also had trouble with the government for claiming that the environment of Mexico will never be clean until the politicians are clean. (He said it sounds better in Spanish!)

 

One person asked him. "Why poetry, instead of prose?" He replied that he is a great lover of nature, ever since he was a small boy, and that poetry is the same thing as nature, and the two cannot be separated for him. Only poetry comes close to expressing his feelings about his life experiences.

 

ETA: Sorry about the length of the text. I can really get going if both the kids have events and I have more than a few minutes!

I loved The Child Poet and now love it even more. Sigh. Thanks for letting us be a fly on the wall.

[idnib]

I loved The Child Poet and now love it even more. Sigh. Thanks for letting us be a fly on the wall.

 

You're welcome.  :)

 

As you know, I haven't yet read the book so I apologize if I repeated stories in it. I forgot to add that he recommended his volume Solar Poems if people want to read more about the monarchs and the sea turtles. The linked one has both Spanish and English, it seems.

 

And apologies to all for the grammatical mistakes I made. I had time to get it all out but not to edit it!

Edited February 24, 2016 by idnib

[Kareni]

I finished two books yesterday/early this morning ~

 

 

The new adult romance The Score (Off-Campus Book 3) by Elle Kennedy which I enjoyed.  While it's third in the series, it could certainly stand alone.  (Adult content.)  This is a book I'll likely re-read at some point.

 

"He knows how to score, on and off the ice

Allie Hayes is in crisis mode. With graduation looming, she still doesn't have the first clue about what she's going to do after college. To make matters worse, she's nursing a broken heart thanks to the end of her longtime relationship. Wild rebound sex is definitely not the solution to her problems, but gorgeous hockey star Dean Di-Laurentis is impossible to resist. Just once, though, because even if her future is uncertain, it sure as heck won't include the king of one-night stands.

It'll take more than flashy moves to win her over

Dean always gets what he wants. Girls, grades, girls, recognition, girls...he's a ladies man, all right, and he's yet to meet a woman who's immune to his charms. Until Allie. For one night, the feisty blonde rocked his entire world--and now she wants to be friends? Nope. It's not over until he says it's over. Dean is in full-on pursuit, but when life-rocking changes strike, he starts to wonder if maybe it's time to stop focusing on scoring...and shoot for love."

 

**

 

I also read Coming Back (Ink & Chrome Book 3)  by Lauren Dane which started slowly but which was ultimately a pleasant read.  This one is definitely not for conservative readers.  (Adult content.)

 

"Mick Roberts, the newest partner at Twisted Steel's custom hotrod and motorcycle shop, looks like a man with everything. But secretly he still craves the connection he lost when his best friend Adam and the love of his life Jessilynn walked out. Then, he wasn't ready for the pleasure they promised. Now, things have changed.

Rich, powerful, and insatiable, Adam Gulati is used to getting what he wants. And there's nothing he wants more than Mick and Jessi. He hasn't seen either in over a year, but the second he sets eyes on them again his memories-and his desires-can't be denied.

After trying to live without them, Jessi Franklin realized no one else can satisfy her like Adam and Mick. The three of them need one another-in more ways than one. It's time to stop pretending and submit to the hunger they all share. But once they go down this road, there's no turning back. As deeply devoted as they are, no one knows what great bliss their forbidden fantasy will find-or the price they may pay . . ."

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

[Butter]

Um, have you all seen that JK Rowling (with 2 authors) has written a play about Harry Potter as an adult and his kids?! I've never wanted to go London so badly before. 

 

I can imagine the crowd opening night!

 

I already pre-ordered the script :)

[Soror]

Angela (hugs)

 

idnib- Thank you so much for relating the information about the talk, I quite enjoyed hearing about it all.

 

Um, have you all seen that JK Rowling (with 2 authors) has written a play about Harry Potter as an adult and his kids?! I've never wanted to go London so badly before. 

 

I can imagine the crowd opening night!

I did see that, isn't that the one that is going to be released as a book? 

 

I cannot remember when I last posted. I'm working my way through Lies My Teacher Told Me, which I'm finding rather fascinating. The kids and I watched the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice- swoon- I now understand the Mr. Darcy/Colin Firth love. Dd1 was quite disappointed when I told her there wasn't any more Mr. Darcy books/movies(I did see that there was a follow up written by someone else which doesn't seem all that interesting to me). Dd1 told me I need to be reading more good books so we can watch the movies together, she is a born romantic. I was afraid they would struggle with the language and although they found it difficult to understand at times they enjoyed it still. I explained bits here and there. I'm headed to the library today for Big Magic which has arrived. I ordered a copy of The Well-Educated Mind and Don Quixote this morning. I had went back and forth on ordering WEM at Christmas but then the price went up and I decided against it but when I checked again it had went down some I went ahead and purchased it, as my brain seems to be currently working it seems a good time to seize the opportunity.

Edited February 24, 2016 by soror

[Kareni]

We were just talking about this ....

 

Is Giving Up On A Book Ever OK? 7 Signs It's Time

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

[Kareni]

An entertaining post from author Ilona Andrews ~ 

 

Brief Analysis of Alphahole Trope in Romantic Fiction. WITH CHARTS AND WITTY GRAPHICS

 

Regards,

Kareni

[idnib]

Um, have you all seen that JK Rowling (with 2 authors) has written a play about Harry Potter as an adult and his kids?! I've never wanted to go London so badly before. 

 

I can imagine the crowd opening night!

 

That would be great fun! I did pick up the Harry Potter USPS stamps today, although the images are from the movies. I would not have asked about them if you hadn't put Harry Potter into my mind today! The kids love them.

[AmandaVT]

Thanks again for all the kind words & wishes, everyone. :grouphug:  This group is, hands down, just the best!

 

 

My ds really loved that one too. If you end up reading something else that you think would appeal to someone who loved it, please post. I'm always on the lookout for more books for my (14yo) ds. He can be kind of a picky reader at times, though he can also be diverse in his reading.

 

 

 

The Wright Brothers is on my to read soon list  - my dad raved about it after he read it. I'm going to be visiting him in a couple of weeks and he's lending it to me then. It looks really interesting.

 

I also really enjoyed Isaac's Storm a few years back and would like to re-read it soon. It's about the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. Another in the hurricane genre (I think I just made that up!) is Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938. I grew up in Newport, RI and heard many stories from my grandparents about that hurricane, so it was of a particular interest to me. 

[Robin M]

Likes and hugs all around, my darlings.

 

Found in my meanderings today: 

 

For our Haruki Murakami readers - Memoranda, a video game puzzle based on his short stories. 

 

12 Oscar nominated films you never knew were based on books  and  10 Books to read in the back of a TukTuk

 

Five Fantasy novels set in historical times

 

 

 

Real life meanderings - I drove by the new shop of Blackout Fight Gear and  Apparel yesterday on my way to work and their new building sign read Gear and Apparrel.  I contacted them by facebook 

 

Me:   Hey, I just drove by your new shop at 6609 Fair Oaks and thought you should know your sign person misspelled Apparel with two r's.

 

response:  Lol in haventry seen it yet lol. Guess that's on te list to fix.

 

:svengo:

 

 

Edited February 25, 2016 by Robin M

[NoseInABook]

Stacia, glad the eyes don't require immediate help. I still am trying to read Don Quixote.. It isn't bad but the font of the book gives me a headache every time I pick it up!

 

Happy belated birthday, Kim!

 

Mom22es, I'm so sorry. Lifting you up in prayer! Fluff reading is perfect for the rough times.

 

PeacefulChaos, the ladies in this thread have encouraged me to drop a book or two since I started posting too. I always beat myself up a little for doing it then feel relieved. ;) 

 

Angela, praying for the babe and for your recovery!

 

Still reading my junk food books and enjoying them. I have one more Mercy Thompson book before I'm through with everything in that series and I'm not sure where I'm going next. I have a stack of Christian non-fiction too but that's going more slowly... Sally Clarkson's new one, The Lifegiving Home, is lovely. Not feeling Lysa TerKeurst's More Than A Good Bible Study Girl but I'll finish it because I only have 3 chapters left. Voices by Steve Witt is good but I kind of stalled mid-book. Also have a fostering one hanging out there for a book club, The Beauty And Brokenness of Foster Care. Speaking of fostering, our little bit stayed longer yet again!! *laughs* His case is a total rollercoaster. We go to court again in a week and then we'll see what shakes out but they seem to think he may actually go home in March. We shall see. It's been he's going home in 2 weeks for the past 6 months. :p 

[SEGway]

I missed a week or so, when life happened. 

 

I got to read Oliver Sack's Gratitude. I'm sad, again that he died.

 

Then, Coates' Between the World and Me. Disturbing, but worth reading.

 

Robin McKinley's The Hero and the Crown. I read this in high school and enjoyed it. I think it held up well.

 

And, (out loud on a long road trip with the family for my grandpa's funeral), Wodehouse's Damsel in Distress. It was a good choice to entertain dh. I had read it before (which made it easier to read aloud); dh had not.

 

I think I must be missing something. But, maybe not.

 

ETA: Oh! I remember now. Also, Mister Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore after hearing about it on a BaW thread. Light and fun. Thanks for that! :)

 

Edited February 25, 2016 by SEGway

[Kareni]

response:  Lol in haventry seen it yet lol. Guess that's on te list to fix.

 

Ouch.  Now my eyes hurt!

 

 

 

 

 

Five Fantasy novels set in historical times

 

I've been enjoying the Tor.com 'Five books about' series.  I hadn't seen this one yet, so thanks for posting the link.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[aggieamy]

An entertaining post from author Ilona Andrews ~ 

 

Brief Analysis of Alphahole Trope in Romantic Fiction. WITH CHARTS AND WITTY GRAPHICS

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

That is really witty.  I have sent it to about 15 friends! 

[Chrysalis Academy]

 

RE: The Bluest Eye

You're really knocking out the bingo card! Have you read Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison? It's the same genre of book and is so very powerful. I'm not sure I could read it again. Maybe someday.

 

 

 

RE: The Evolution of Everything

What do you think, compared to The Swerve?

 

 

 

 

Re: Bastard Out of Carolina - that was the other book that came to mind, along with The Color Purple, when thinking about The Bluest Eye.  Actually, I didn't read the book, I saw the movie, which I regret. I can often handle reading things that I really can't stand watching. I don't think I want to read it, now.

 

I've really been mulling over this book, and trying to place it in the correct context. Is it primarily about black experience, or the experience of poverty and ignorance, or the experience of little girls, everywhere, being victimized by those they should be able to trust? It's very challenging to try and make sense of. I'm reading Rebecca Solnit's essay collection, Men Explain Things To Me, which is highlighting the female experience of male violence so I'm looking at this in a broader context and it's very disturbing. Especially when you have girls.

 

 

RE: The Evolution of Everything - this book is really starting to piss me off, 'scuse my French.  Matt Ridley is such a great writer, and Shannon and I are enjoying his book Genome very much.  And I agree with the basic premise, that many more things are the result of emergent processes than we think, and that we have a natural tendency to see planning, intention, and design where they don't exist.  The chapters on biological evolution were very straightforward.  But now he's getting into the evolution of the economy, technology, etc., and his conservative/libertarian slip is showing.  He's making some really glib statements about how coal is the best thing that ever happened to humanity (it turns out he owns a coal mine, hmm) and how genetic engineering and fracking are nothing but good and should be totally unregulated, they are evolving! Inevitable! So they must be great, who are we to stand in their way!

 

He takes on design-ism, which I think is good, but he falls prey to progressive-ism.  And, he is cool with the scientific laws of biology & genetics, but appears unfamiliar with laws of ecology and physics - i.e. you can't have unconstrained growth on planet with finite inputs.

 

I don't know, I'm finding the book very readable, but the author kind of glib, and he makes a ton of unsupported claims, some of which I know to be iffy at best, so it makes me wonder about the stuff I don't know about.  Overall I'm kind of disappointed. What is it with modern Lucretians and overstating their case????

 

He does give a major shout out to Greenblat and The Swerve. He starts each chapter with a quote from Lucretius.  But I don't think it's a very Epicurean book!

[Chrysalis Academy]

 

 

Eye problems are awful.  :grouphug:

 

Oh my. I don't want to seem intrusive/insensitive or anything, but is that hard? 

 

 

 

Re: not seeing out of one eye - not that hard for everyday life, but it does make things requiring stereopsis difficult!  I can't thread a needle to save my life, and I've never been good at games with fast-moving small balls - tennis, or ping pong.  I have an severe astigmatism, which means my two eyes are focused very differently, and my brain can't put the two images together, so it has essentially turned off the input from one eye.  I still have peripheral vision over there, but that's it.  But my eyes move together, so nobody knows about it unless I tell them.  The only time it's really caused a problem is when I've gotten an infection or something in my good eye, which renders me fairly non-functional.  So I sympathize with anybody with eye infections! 

[Chrysalis Academy]

Yes, it's April. I think I checked up on this last week or the week before.

 

For anyone who is interested, I purchased a book someone (Rose?) mentioned a couple of months ago. It's an illustrated version of Voyage of the Beagle. It also contains some modern photos of the locations Darwin visited. I do think some people are reading Origin, but I can't remember who.

 

It's great, we started it but then put it aside to read Genome. We'll pick it back up in March.  I want to read Origin too, but I don't think I'll get to it by April . . .

[Mom-ninja.]

My kids are all sick, and therefore the two younger ones want lots of cuddle time. So I'm listening to Trapped the 5th book of the Iron Druid series. Nice fun escapist book that is perfect when dealing with tissue explosions throughout the house, and grumpy feverish children you try to encourage to drink anything....please anything at all. Just drink. 

[mumto2]

Um, have you all seen that JK Rowling (with 2 authors) has written a play about Harry Potter as an adult and his kids?! I've never wanted to go London so badly before. 

 

I can imagine the crowd opening night!

  My quote order is wron but I was going to say it was for sale to read. Butter found it first! Hope you feel better soon.

 

I just finished Dead Men Don't Ski. If you liked Death in Kashmir, you would probably like this one. It is a good who-done-it.

Next up is a reread of The Woman in White for my book club.

Thanks, I just checked the Bali one out.

 

  

I already pre-ordered the script :)

Make sure to review it here. Also let me know how your kids like it!

 

 

 

Still at my mom's. Reading Grave Witch by Kaylayna Price. That is the series we all searched for....for Mel. Really good for the paranormal fans among us. :)

[Kareni]

Yesterday I read Pamela Clare's Seduction Game: An I-Team Novel.  I ultimately enjoyed it, but the hero certainly did some unsavory things during the course of the book.   This is the seventh book in the series, but it could be read as a standalone.

 

 

"CIA officer Nick Andris wants revenge. His last mission failed after a Georgian arms smuggler killed his lover. He’s been tailing a woman for three weeks hoping she will lead him to his target. But there’s a problem with the intel. Holly Elise Bradshaw is nothing more than an entertainment writer with a love for sex and designer clothes. Clearly someone at Langley made a mistake...
 
When Holly finds herself in trouble, the only weapons at her disposal are her brains and her body. But they won’t be enough to handle the man who’s following her. He’s going to turn her world upside down."

 

 

And Kareni--

 

I have not read a romance novel in years.  But tomorrow I have a six hour drive.  Alone.  In a car wired for bluetooth.  So....I downloaded a Pamela Clare romance.  I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Which Pamela Clare book did you choose?  Was it the one above?

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

[Mom-ninja.]

Re: not seeing out of one eye - not that hard for everyday life, but it does make things requiring stereopsis difficult!  I can't thread a needle to save my life, and I've never been good at games with fast-moving small balls - tennis, or ping pong.  I have an severe astigmatism, which means my two eyes are focused very differently, and my brain can't put the two images together, so it has essentially turned off the input from one eye.  I still have peripheral vision over there, but that's it.  But my eyes move together, so nobody knows about it unless I tell them.  The only time it's really caused a problem is when I've gotten an infection or something in my good eye, which renders me fairly non-functional.  So I sympathize with anybody with eye infections! 

 

Wow. I'm impressed with hos you have adapted. I will admit that I went about doing stuff with one eye closed a for a bit. I did not like it at all. Shows how amazingly the brain can adapt when necessary, and how normal function is taken for granted. 

[Mom-ninja.]

Kareni, I remember a while back (couple years maybe?) you mentioned a book in which the heroine has celiac. I meant to read that book, but I can't find it on my tbr list. Do you have any idea what the book was called? 

[Kareni]

Kareni, I remember a while back (couple years maybe?) you mentioned a book in which the heroine has celiac. I meant to read that book, but I can't find it on my tbr list. Do you have any idea what the book was called? 

 

Yes, it's SEALed with a Kiss by Mary Daughtridge.    (You have a good memory!)

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Mom-ninja,

 

I haven't read it, but I've heard good things about a male/male romance in which one of the lead characters has celiac.  The title is  Status Update (#gaymers) by Annabeth Albert.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Momto4inSoCal]

Do you guys get the amazon prime free books of the month? These are the selections https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/kindle/first/ref=kf_lp_redirect_rw_to_aw

Any recommendations?

[Butter]

#20: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.  I read it to the boys as part of school since we're studying WWII right now.  My 9 year old was especially excited to learn what was factual in the book and that so many people really did risk everything to save the Jews.  That's the second time I read it.  I love the story.

[idnib]

Re: Bastard Out of Carolina - that was the other book that came to mind, along with The Color Purple, when thinking about The Bluest Eye.  Actually, I didn't read the book, I saw the movie, which I regret. I can often handle reading things that I really can't stand watching. I don't think I want to read it, now.

 

I've really been mulling over this book, and trying to place it in the correct context. Is it primarily about black experience, or the experience of poverty and ignorance, or the experience of little girls, everywhere, being victimized by those they should be able to trust? It's very challenging to try and make sense of. I'm reading Rebecca Solnit's essay collection, Men Explain Things To Me, which is highlighting the female experience of male violence so I'm looking at this in a broader context and it's very disturbing. Especially when you have girls.

 

Yeah, I don't know. I guess Bastard Out of Carolina is a contrast in that way, since the protagonist is white. I don't have a copy of the book anymore, but I remember Allison writing about the myth of the noble, working poor, they were "poor, but they were clean." When I read that, many years ago I remember I started crying.

[Mom-ninja.]

Yes, it's SEALed with a Kiss by Mary Daughtridge.    (You have a good memory!)

 

Regards,

Kareni

You have a wonderful memory! And thanks for the other recs as well.  

 

#20: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.  I read it to the boys as part of school since we're studying WWII right now.  My 9 year old was especially excited to learn what was factual in the book and that so many people really did risk everything to save the Jews.  That's the second time I read it.  I love the story.

I loved that book. 

[Onceuponatime]

So, I mailed a couple of books Media Mail today, for the first time. The postal clerk was very helpful. Almost as an afterthought, she looked at me sternly and said,"You realize media mail is subject to investigation?" I nodded because even though I hadn't known it, I did then.😊

[Chrysalis Academy]

Wow. I'm impressed with hos you have adapted. I will admit that I went about doing stuff with one eye closed a for a bit. I did not like it at all. Shows how amazingly the brain can adapt when necessary, and how normal function is taken for granted. 

 

Yep, of course you can never know if your perception is the same or different than another person's, but I suspect that my brain has compensated, mostly. I notice that people who voluntarily close or cover one eye are a lot clumsier than I am!  :D

 

I caught up on this thread this morning, after not having looked at it since Monday, and consequently, I have exceed my like quota for the day.  So consider all your posts "liked" by me until tomorrow!

[Stacia]

So, I mailed a couple of books Media Mail today, for the first time. The postal clerk was very helpful. Almost as an afterthought, she looked at me sternly and said,"You realize media mail is subject to investigation?" I nodded because even though I hadn't known it, I did then.😊

 

:lol:

 

Yeah, they can rip them open to look at what's inside. :rolleyes:  (I'm sure there's some huge conspiracy of people misuing media mail to do things like -- gasp -- include an actual card with a book they are sending.) I used to (years ago) be a huge fan of the USPS. But, they've gotten so nasty over media mail (& in general), at least in my area, that I am no longer a fan. They are an onerous chore to deal with & sometimes I'd rather pay UPS twice as much because at least they're nice & I don't have to deal with the USPS.

 

Because they can rip into media mail for inspection services (& I've heard a few horror tales of people never getting their stuff or only part of what was in there, etc...), when I send anything media mail, I always include a post-it stuck on the book(s) inside that includes my address & the address of the person I'm sending to. That way, if the postal service rips into it & destroys or loses the envelope in the process, they should at least still know who it needs to get to. That's the theory anyway.

[Mom-ninja.]

I have gotten more than one padded envelope that was open at the top and no book inside. Lovely. Cause then sender and receiver is out a book. 

[Onceuponatime]

I have gotten more than one padded envelope that was open at the top and no book inside. Lovely. Cause then sender and receiver is out a book.

Okay, now I'm going to be worried until the recipients get their books.

[Kareni]

I have gotten more than one padded envelope that was open at the top and no book inside. Lovely. Cause then sender and receiver is out a book. 

 

Ouch!  That's painful.  I'm exceedingly generous with the packing tape.  If someone wants to open one of my packages, they'll have to work at it.  (Does your post office have those pictures of suspicious packages?  I'm sometimes fearful that my love of tape will backfire.)

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Ausmumof3]

We need the name of the Terry Pratchett book. 😊

"Johnny and the bomb" I think was the full name.

[Stacia]

(Does your post office have those pictures of suspicious packages?  I'm sometimes fearful that my love of tape will backfire.)

 

:lol:

 

Well, if you keep the wires off it, they might not be as suspicious. ;) :lol:

 

And Ouat, I wouldn't worry. For the most part, I've never had problems w/ the actual mailings, just the grumpy employees. Of course, I don't use excessive tape like Kareni, so maybe that's why.... Lol.