Robin M Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 (edited) Good morning, dear hearts! This is the beginning of week 8 in our quest to read 52 books. Welcome back to all our readers, to those just joining in and all who are following our progress. Mr. Linky is all set up on the 52 Books blog to link to your reviews. The link is also below in my signature. 52 Books Blog - R.I.P. Umberto Eco and Harper Lee: This is a sad week for the book world as we have lost both Umberto Eco (84) and Harper Lee (89). Umberto Eco studied medieval philosophy and literature at the University of Turin and his thesis about Thomas Aquinas earned him a Laurea Degree in philosophy. He was a cultural editor for Radiotelevisione italiana, italy's national public broadcasting company and a lecturer at the University of Turin. He has a 30,000 volume library in his apartment in Milan and a 20,000 volume library in his vacation home near Rimini, Nasim Talab who wrote The Black Swan says in Brainpickings Umberto Eco's Library: Why Unread Books Are More Valuable to Our Lives than Read Ones: The writer Umberto Eco belongs to that small class of scholars who are encyclopedic, insightful, and nondull. He is the owner of a large personal library (containing thirty thousand books), and separates visitors into two categories: those who react with “Wow! Signore professore dottore Eco, what a library you have! How many of these books have you read?†and the others — a very small minority — who get the point that a private library is not an ego-boosting appendage but a research tool. Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. The library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means, mortgage rates, and the currently tight real-estate market allows you to put there. You will accumulate more knowledge and more books as you grow older, and the growing number of unread books on the shelves will look at you menacingly. Indeed, the more you know, the larger the rows of unread books. Let us call this collection of unread books an antilibrary. Harper Lee studied law at the University of Alabama and wrote for the school newspaper, but never finished her degree. She moved to New York City and worked as an airline reservation agent while pursuing writing in her off time. After completing To Kill a Mockingbird, she became Truman Capote's research assistant. She accompanied him while he traveled and helped him conduct interviews and wrote up all the notes for his novel In Cold Blood. Capote minimized her role in the creation of the story, thus destroying their friendship. To Kill a Mockingbird was published to great acclaim. Interest in Lee declined when no further books were written or published. In 2015, Go Set a Watchman was published. The book was a sequel to Mockingbird, a story Lee had written first, but had been held back by the publisher. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.†` To Kill a Mockingbird I currently have Eco's Foucault's Pendulum on my nightstand which I'll be reading this week. Join me in honoring both authors by reading one of their books this year. ******************************************************************* History of the Renaissance World - Chapters Seven and Eight ******************************************************************* What are you reading this week? Link to week 7 Edited February 21, 2016 by Robin M 19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin M Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 I'm currently reading Elaine Levine's Red Team Series and started #3 Honor Unraveled last night. Waiting on the nightstand is Foucault's Pendulum. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-M- Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 (edited) A few notes on the books I’ve read since I last posted: â– Purge (Sofi Oksanen; 2008. Fiction.)The sometimes annoying device of toggling time (in this case, the present and the years leading up to during the Soviet occupation of Estonia) and point-of-view is, in this tense novel, effectively employed. â– The Shawl (Cynthia Ozick; 1990. Fiction.) “My niece Stella,†Rosa slowly gave out, “says that in America cats have nine lives, but we — we’re less than cats, so we got three.†She saw that Persky did not follow. She said, “The life after is now. The life before is our real life, at home, where we was born.†“And during?†“This was Hitler.†“Poor Lublin,†Persky said. “You wasn’t there. From the movies you know it.†She recognized that she had shamed him; she had long ago discovered this power to shame. “After, after, that’s all Stella cares. For me there’s one time only; there’s no after.†Persky speculated. “You want everything the way it was before.†“No, no, no,†Rosa said. “It can’t be. I don’t believe in Stella’s cats. Before is a dream. After is joke. Only during stays. And to call it a life is a lie.†■The Book of Jonas (Stephen Dau; 2012. Fiction.)Unasked, a bookseller pressed this book on me a few years ago, and for some reason, I had thought it was a “feel-good story†about the relationship a soldier and a young person he rescued during a combat mission. This is not that. At. All. To me, the novel read as a meditation on the nature of otherness, on how alone each of us really is. Yes, it concerns war and its senselessness, but it also explores family and loss and grief and isolation, both social and cultural. Highly recommended. â– The Bunker, Volume 3 (Joshua Hale Fialkov; 2015. Graphic fiction.)I have a love-hate relationship with the artwork in this series, but the story has hooked me completely, to the point that I cannot believe I haven’t seen news of its screen, large or small, adaptation. â– The Squirrel Mother (Megan Kelso; 2006. Graphic fiction.)Obstinately and, to this reader, pointlessly obscure. â– The Silence of Our Friends (Mark Long; 2012. Graphic fiction.)Long, whose father was a television reporter during the time of Silence‘s events, draws on childhood recollections to describe the civil unrest in Texas in the 1960s. Well-told story and exceptional artwork. â– Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World (Cal Newport; 2016. Non-fiction.)That Newport’s suggestions (including “Quit social mediaâ€) are obvious goes without saying, but his earnest admonitions may prove helpful to those who are re-evaluating their pursuits. â– When Breath Becomes Air (Paul Kalanithi; 2016. Non-fiction.)For me, Breath is a sentimental companion to Being Mortal, which I read late last year. Moving. Worthwhile. Yet… if you have time for only one, choose Being Mortal. The essence of Breath can be found in Kalanithi’s essay “Before I go†(Stanford Medicine, Spring 2015). Today I am in the midst of Sue Klebold's pain-filled memoir A Mother's Reckoning. (NYT review here.) Books read in 2016: Januaryâ– The Heir Apparent (David Ives; 2011. Drama.)â– Neighbors (Jan T. Gross; 2001. Non-fiction.)â– Our Class (Tadeusz SÅ‚obodzianek (adaptation by Ryan Craig); 2009. Drama.)â– Scored (Lauren McLaughlin; 2011. Fiction.)â– Ready Player One (Ernest Kline; 2011. Fiction.)â– Arcadia (Tom Stoppard; 1993. Drama.)â– Purge (Sofi Oksanen; 2008. Fiction.) Februaryâ– The Shawl (Cynthia Ozick; 1990. Fiction.)â– The Book of Jonas (Stephen Dau; 2012. Fiction.)â– The Bunker, Volume 3 (Joshua Hale Fialkov; 2015. Graphic fiction.)â– The Squirrel Mother (Megan Kelso; 2006. Graphic fiction.)â– The Silence of Our Friends (Mark Long; 2012. Graphic fiction.)â– Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World (Cal Newport; 2016. Non-fiction.)â– When Breath Becomes Air (Paul Kalanithi; 2016. Non-fiction.) Edited February 21, 2016 by M-- 19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-M- Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 And now something I think will interest my fellow BaWers. Here is my image of a First Folio. The Illinois stop for the First Folio! tour is not the Newberry Library, as one might have guessed, or any of Chicago’s wonderful museums or the state’s colleges or universities. No, “The Book That Gave Us Shakespeare†can be seen at the Lake County Discovery Museum through February 28. Opened to Hamlet’s “To be or not to be†soliloquy, the Folio reposes in a display case, which is, in turn, behind a display pane. The effect is a bit like birdwatching through the picture window with binoculars: twice-removed. And while good reasons for the ultra dim lighting must exist, I have grown old: It was beyond difficult to see the Folio. I have, however, decided to focus on the fact that I stood in (approximately) the same room with the bible of the secular religion that is bardolatry, and that, dear readers, was wildly cool. 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onceuponatime Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 (edited) I think Taleb's book is The Black Swan. I read it a few years ago. I've read a few of Umbert Eco's books, the Name of the Rose was my first. It was the first work of fiction that I needed to have a dictionary on hand while I read. I have his Travels in Hyper-Reality, which I will gladly send to anyone interested. It is a non-fictional book of essays. Some are his experiences with the commercialization of reality that he experienced as a tourist in America. And that was before the current reality TV. I finished Ajax Penumbra 1969. It was fun and far too short. I wanted more. I can also send that to someone who is interested. Are there any takers for the Mother West Wind's Animal Friends? My next book is Dead Men Don't Ski by Patricia Moyes. ETA: Ajax Penumbra is taken. Edited February 21, 2016 by Onceuponatime 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 Today I started Pride and Prejudice and finally, after many attempts I think I may be able to finish a Jane Austen book- I can finally join the club :) I also started Lies My Teacher Told Me, which I bought when it was on sale months ago but never started. I have countless other books requested and put on hold from the library from various lists and recommendations here and rabbit trails from my own interests. I looked on Kareni's BBC list of modern epics but I couldn't get a single one on ebook from the library. 1. The Crystal Cave- Stewart 2. The Hollow Hills- Stewart 3. The Last Enchantment- Stewart 4. The Wicked Day- Stewart 5. Younger Next Year for Women 6. Very Good Lives- Rowling- very, very, extremely short 7. The Once and Future King- White 8. The Lost Art of Walking 9. Move Your DNA-Bowman 10. The Wild Trees- Preston 11. The Magician's Elephant- diCamillio 12. Wild- Strayed 13. The Last Child in the Woods- Louv 14. Good Omens- Pratchett and Gaiman 15. Beauty- McKinley 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 Yesterday I finished a re-read of C. S. Pacat's Captive Prince: Book One of the Captive Prince Trilogy. I read this a year ago but was waiting for the publication of the third and final volume before continuing on. I decided to re-read this volume so that the details will be fresh when I continue on. I enjoyed it. It has triggers galore and is not for the conservative reader. "Damen is a warrior hero to his people, and the rightful heir to the throne of Akielos. But when his half brother seizes power, Damen is captured, stripped of his identity, and sent to serve the prince of an enemy nation as a pleasure slave.Beautiful, manipulative, and deadly, his new master, Prince Laurent, epitomizes the worst of the court at Vere. But in the lethal political web of the Veretian court, nothing is as it seems, and when Damen finds himself caught up in a play for the throne, he must work together with Laurent to survive and save his country.For Damen, there is just one rule: never, ever reveal his true identity. Because the one man Damen needs is the one man who has more reason to hate him than anyone else…" Here's a starred review from Publisher's Weekly with some more details. And here's an article about the author/series ~ Erotic fantasy trilogy Catherine Pacat’s Captive Prince finds niche ETA: Hmm, try this link to the cached article as the link above will no longer access the article. Regards, Kareni 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 I finished The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. It was a very difficult book to read, right up there with The Color Purple and other books of the young girls abused by those they should be able to trust genre. These books are powerful and important, but I do not enjoy reading them. I have thoughts about this book that relate to our discussions on race inspired by Between the World and Me and The New Jim Crow, but they are still cooking, I'm not ready to post about them quite yet. On a lighter note, this completes my 4th Bingo row: 4th row across Translated: The Procedure - Harry Mulisch Banned: The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky Mystery: The Last Policeman - Ben Winter Color in Title: The Bluest Eye - Tony Morrison Nobel Prize author: Death in the Andes Mario Vargas Llosa Books read in February: 37. The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison 36. The Poisoned Crown - Maurice Druon 35. Shakespeare's Sonnets 34. Deep Work - Cal Newport 33. Boy, Snow, Bird - Helen Oyeyemi 32. Strange Bodies - Paul Theroux 31. A Passage to India - EM Forster 30. The Strangled Queen - Maurice Druon 29. Jurrasic Park - Michael Crichton 28. The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England - Dan Jones 27. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness - Michelle Alexander 26. Theogony - Hesiod 25. Aristotle's Children: How Christians, Muslims and Jews Rediscovered Ancient Wisdom and Illuminated the Middle Ages - Richard Rubenstein 24. Richard III - William Shakespeare 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 (edited) I finished The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. It was a very difficult book to read, right up there with The Color Purple and other books of the young girls abused by those they should be able to trust genre. These books are powerful and important, but I do not enjoy reading them. I have thoughts about this book that relate to our discussions on race inspired by Between the World and Me and The New Jim Crow, but they are still cooking, I'm not ready to post about them quite yet. I was just contemplating re-reading some Morrison this morning, it has been ages. I wonder how it will strike me now with kids of my own but further removed from being a child myself. Edited February 21, 2016 by soror 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 I wonder how it will streak me now with kids of my own but further removed from being a child myself. I shared this amusing typo with my daughter. She said that she hoped the book would keep its dust jacket closed at all times! Regards, Kareni 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negin Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 I read Mr. Bridge - 4.5 Stars - I prefer to give Mr. Bridge 4.5 stars, since I didn’t think that it quite measured up to Mrs. Bridge, although it’s still worth reading after Mrs. Bridge. The vignette style of both books is something that I seldom see and love. Just like Mrs. Bridge, this book is not plot-driven. Nothing major happens. Both books are subtle and heartwarming. Both will remain with me. Some may not like Mr. Bridge. I prefer to not judge him too harshly. He was a man of his time in the Midwest. I prefer to look at his positive side. He loved his family and was traditional. and For the Love of a Child - 4 Stars - This is a page-turning sequel to “Not Without My Daughter†that had me fully absorbed. The first part takes off where Betty and her daughter Mahtob return to the US after escaping an abusive husband in Iran. I appreciated this part since I was eager to know more after finishing “Not Without My Daughter†recently. Betty became involved in assisting parents involved in the parental abduction nightmare. The remainder of the book gives a few truly heart-wrenching stories. This is the part that moved me immensely. While reading these stories however, I was curious to know more since some have no resolution and leave you hanging. I kept hoping for updates and wish that there was a revised edition since this was published in 1992. The writing style is probably not the best. It didn’t bother me, since I wasn’t reading it for that. I seldom judge a book based on writing style alone anyway. For me, it’s far more about content, plot, and story line. I highly recommend this book if you’ve read “Not Without My Daughter†and would like to know more. Mahtob has recently published a book which I look forward to reading soon. I read this quote and so I made this image yesterday and thought to share here. MY RATING SYSTEM 5 Stars Fantastic, couldn't put it down 4 Stars Really Good 3 Stars Enjoyable 2 Stars Just Okay – nothing to write home about 1 Star Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad. 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin M Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 I think Taleb's book is The Black Swan.. Yes oops. Corrected it. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 So little time for so many comments I wish I could make.... I am at a real coffee shop waiting for a pizza. My mom ate almost half a frozen pizza last night so I decided to feed her what she likes in the evening. ;) I have already done soups and roasts.....she is up and going better with her walker. I finished The Royal We. It was highly readable but I felt sort of bad for Will and Kate. It was thinly disguised made up about them and if I was Kate or Harry I would be soooo mad. I also finished Forever and the Night. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/641637.Forever_and_the_NightIt was the first real paranormal romance and it was fascinating to realize how otherauthors have taken things from that book. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 Negin, I'm reading Mrs. Bridge based on your rec. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 I shared this amusing typo with my daughter. She said that she hoped the book would keep its dust jacket closed at all times! Regards, Kareni (blush) I really need to slow down on my typing and proof-reading :) 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negin Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 Negin, I'm reading Mrs. Bridge based on your rec. Oh, I hope you enjoy it. It's not for everyone, but then again, no book is really. I often get worried when others read books based on my liking them :lol:. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbel Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 For the past 5 days I've had 14 pages left to read in Heart of Darkness. (A re-read from many years ago; I handed it off to my son and after he read it, he wanted to talk about it, so... I am rereading.) A pathetic week, where I can't even get time to read 14 pages. (I have listened to a bit of David Copperfield while driving.) 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 Last week's reading: 3 BaW recommendations: Hill of Devi by Forster: [Thank you for recommending this, Jane!] This was a fascinating complement to Passage.... though I felt it confirmed my (reluctant) sense that Forster, not just the narrative voice, held some rather patronizing attitudes, despite his fondness for India and many Indians. ...but I enjoyed seeing his perspective and recommend this to fellow Passage readers. (I think all this Anglo-Indian dynamic might make a reread of McKinley's Blue Sword necessary...) Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle: Oh, Pam. Thank you, love. I needed this book. ...and this Jesuit priest doing outreach to gang members in LA is the inverse of McCarthy's No Country for Old Men... there a grim, tragic, horrible things, but it isn't hopeless or a impending apocalypse... McCarthy is a better prose writer, but Boyle's response resonates deeply for me. Finding Oscar: Thank you, again, Pam. This book connected some dots for me. I was heavily involved in Central American activism as a teen and young adult, but how we got from there to where things are now was opaque to me. This slim account of one massacred village in Guatemala gave me a glimpse - the militants we (the US) funded and trained during the '80's became the backbone of the cartels... it makes sense, and seems obvious now, but I guess I didn't want to see it. Didn't want to realize how far the ripples of our actions can spread... As I read more cartel related books over the year, this connection will stay with me. 2 SFF books: Babel-17 by Delaney: This was a fascinating book... and now I want to try some more Delaney. This was more a cerebral pleasure than an emotional one, but the characters were engaging enough that it wasn't purely intellectual appreciation... and what a fascinating look at language and its power. Sleeping Life by Host: This is a sequel to Host's Stained Glass Monsters which just came out this month. I continue to delight in her stories - they feel young, in many ways, but have a sweetness and integrity to them which I appreciate. I enjoy spending time with her characters and seeing her worlds... her wrap-ups are imperfect at times, and the stories feel YA in their development but adult in some of the underlying thinking. I have yet to articulate effectively how I see these - sorry! 3 assorted books (essays, a play, religious writings): Notes of a Native Son by Baldwin: Some of these blew my mind, others were merely interesting, others will haunt both mind and heart... and, like his Fire Next Time, this is scarily modern in its applications. Baldwin was so *young* when he wrote these, and his willingness to be present and vulnerable and to really look at issues and himself is amazing. Goodnight Desdemona (Good morning Juliet): This is a very silly play! Our protagonist's PhD thesis about Othello and Romeo & Juliet as altered comedies leads her to being pulled into the worlds of the respective plays and changing everyone's future (weaving in lots of lines from the plays themselves). It lacks depth, in every sense, but is amusing - and while spoofing, it gives one pause for some thought about both characters. Water from the Well: Another collection of Torah-related essays by Holly Pavlov filled with ideas and insights which dove-tailed nicely with some of my current musings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 Nasim Talab who wrote The Black Swan says in Brainpickings Umberto Eco's Library: Why Unread Books Are More Valuable to Our Lives than Read Ones: Thank you for that article, love. ...and what an interesting idea... I can't say my collection of not-yet-read books has those intentions behind it, but I see my own ignorance as an ever expanding landscape... the more I read and learn, the more I see how little I really know or understand... and I have come to have great peace with that, while still continuing to strive to expand my understanding (even knowing that will exponentially increase my awareness of what I do not understand...). I have not read any Eco in a very, very long time... hmmm... I finished The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. It was a very difficult book to read, right up there with The Color Purple and other books of the young girls abused by those they should be able to trust genre. These books are powerful and important, but I do not enjoy reading them. I have thoughts about this book that relate to our discussions on race inspired by Between the World and Me and The New Jim Crow, but they are still cooking, I'm not ready to post about them quite yet. When I was reading some Morrison, I looked at this book and then decided I could not bear to read it. (And I don't think I will ever be able to reread The Color Purple, not ever) ...but I very much want to hear your thoughts when they are ready for sharing. I read this quote and so I made this image yesterday and thought to share here. I love this quote! Thank you for sharing it! ...I think it could be my reading motto... except I don't like to skip bits. (I skip sex scenes and I have skipped some explicit battle type scenes, but otherwise if a book has things that drag enough to skip, then I realize the book and I are not connecting well and I abandon it) Oh, I hope you enjoy it. It's not for everyone, but then again, no book is really. I often get worried when others read books based on my liking them :lol:. :iagree: I keep wanting to share the books I love, but I am always afraid of mismatching a book and a reader... For the past 5 days I've had 14 pages left to read in Heart of Darkness. (A re-read from many years ago; I handed it off to my son and after he read it, he wanted to talk about it, so... I am rereading.) A pathetic week, where I can't even get time to read 14 pages. (I have listened to a bit of David Copperfield while driving.) :grouphug: Not pathetic, love. Just busy... and I imagine filled with lots of important things. The book will still be there when you have time for it (unless you live here and set it down in a public space where others can discover it...) I hope it has been a productive and happily busy week. (and that this week has lots of happy reading time!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali in OR Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 I've been reading this week--even got one finished. And I didn't bring anything new home from the library, so I guess that makes the TBR pile that much smaller. Finished Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day which was a fun read. There are a few cringe-worthy comments to the modern reader (certain characters being called a Dago or Jew; women need a man who can physically put them in their place), but if you're just reading for the idea of making the most of life it is enjoyable. I'm a little over halfway through The New Jim Crow which I find to be very compelling. This hits me more than Between the World and Me--give me facts, figures, and explanations any day. It will probably be on my year-end list for books I think everyone (or every American) should read, but it it not a quick or easy read. Also working on A Medal for Murder by Frances Brody, the second Kate Shackleton mystery. It's a nice fit for grabbing a book to read before the soccer game or while I'm waiting for one of dds' activities to be done. It will probably be my treadmill read this week. Too many possibilities hanging around for the next book to read. My dad is supposed to come next weekend--I feel like I should start one of the ones he sent for Christmas, but they're all more serious reads. Maybe I'll try Man's Search for Meaning. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 I've now finished C.S. Pacat's Prince's Gambit (The Captive Prince Trilogy, Book Two); I enjoyed it and am now eager to read book three. I'll reiterate that this series is not for the conservative reader. This series should definitely be read in order. "With their countries on the brink of war, Damen and his new master, Prince Laurent, must exchange the intrigues of the palace for the sweeping might of the battlefield as they travel to the border to avert a lethal plot.Forced to hide his identity, Damen finds himself increasingly drawn to the dangerous, charismatic Laurent. But as the fledgling trust between the two men deepens, the truth of secrets from both their pasts is poised to deal them the crowning death blow…" Regards, Kareni 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 From last week (I will *never* catch up at this rate!) I thought this was a pretty cool post/list about Epics. I like that it included non-western selections. I bought a few new books from this list! http://www.amazon.com/lm/R36UA0KQ8K4OJ That is a wide ranging list! (Though I strongly disagree with many of the translation choices!) I would add Tale of the Heike (link to Tyler translation, the McCullough is also a fine choice) Hey, guys! Happened upon this book and thought of all of you who are reading cartel-related books. Narconomics: How to Run a Drug Cartel Neat! I have placed a hold... One of my favorite fairy tale retellings is Beauty by Robin McKinley. It's wonderful. I love that book. It is one that I read so often and at a young enough age (and which aligned so perfectly with my own mind and heart) that I can never see it objectively. The King's Peace is retelling of the King Arthur story. At one point, I thought this might be the first Jo Walton book that was a miss for me, but then I got pulled back into it, and I ended up enjoying it. I plan to read the sequel (sequels?), but not immediately. Bingo categories: Female author and Arthurian The traumatic scene at the beginning, or something later on? This duology isn't my favorite Walton, but I think she does some neat things, and I always love her heart and integrity. There's only one sequel: King's Name, but there is a companion book Prize in the Game which has some back story for Elenn - and is a much grimmer book than anything else she has written. It is also a spectacularly done retelling of the Irish epic The Tain. There is a free ebook available. (and here's Jo's blurb about the book) I also finished reading aloud Shakespeare's Sonnets. I had read many of them before, but this was the first time I'd read the whole thing cover to cover. I have been fascinated by how differently I experience a poet's work when I read a complete volume straight through versus a few poems here and there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Hello everyone. I have just returned from a long weekend in Denver where I stayed with my niece and her family while attending the Bat Mitzvah of a dear family friend. We had a wonderful time! To occupy my time while flying from the Carolinas to Denver (and back again) I packed two small Mexican selections, the Penguin Classics version of Mariano Azuela's The Underdogs, A Novel of the Mexican Revolution, and the stunningly beautiful memoir, The Child Poet, by beloved Latin American poet Homero Aridjis. About the former: It is clear that I do not know much about the Mexican Revolution other than a few names (Villa, Zapata). The end notes were very helpful. Even so, this book depressed me. Whatever the initial motives for the Revolution, it seemed that violence for violence sake was ultimately embraced. The Child Poet, on the other hand, is an astoundingly beautiful book! From the inside cover, Homero Aridjis has always said that he was born twice: first to his mother in April 1940 and the second time as a poet in January 1951. At age ten his life was distinctly cleaved in two. Before one fateful Saturday he was carefree and confident, the youngest of five brothers growing up in the small Mexican village of Contepec, Michoacan. After the accident--in which he nearly died on the operating table after shooting himself with a mislaid shotgun--he became a shy, introspective child who spend afternoons reading Homer and writing poems and stories at the dining room table instead of playing soccer with his classmates. His early childhood became like a locked garden. But in 1971, when his wife became pregnant with their first daughter, visions from this elusive period started coming back to him in astonishingly vivid dreams. In The Child Poet, Aridjis paints the pueblo of Contepec--the landscape, the campesinos, the Church, the legacy of the Mexican Revolution--with an urgent, joyous sense of wonder. Get this--the daughter in utero who inspired these dreams is the translator of the work from Spanish to English. Aridjis offers vignettes and I will say that some are a little uncomfortable. But there are passages in this book that literally took my breathe away at 35,000 feet!! Home again with many responsibilities needing my time and attention. I have several books started. My goal is to wrap up some of those by month's end!! 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 A couple of Denver notes: I did not do any touristy things on this go around. We spent our time focused on friends and family so I did things like going to my grand nephews' pre-school when they were picked up by their Mom. My five year old grand nephew's class had a list of things that they would do if they were president. Dearest grand nephew said that he would put more books in bookstores!! At the airport this morning I found a small outlet of a local book shop chain, the Tattered Cover. What impressed me was not the usual wall of best sellers and airplane books, but the wall of fiction that had a number of small press volumes as well as books in translation. Of course I had to show my support. I bought The 6:41 to Paris by Jean-Philippe Blondel, translated from the French by Alison Anderson and published by New Vessel Press. It is described as a psychological thriller about past romance--which perhaps will count as my romance novel after Kareni's delightful defense of the genre last week?? 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 RE: The King's Peace The traumatic scene at the beginning, or something later on? This duology isn't my favorite Walton, but I think she does some neat things, and I always love her heart and integrity. There's only one sequel: King's Name, but there is a companion book Prize in the Game which has some back story for Elenn - and is a much grimmer book than anything else she has written. It is also a spectacularly done retelling of the Irish epic The Tain. There is a free ebook available. (and here's Jo's blurb about the book) That's the scene that made me decide not to go on with the book. I don't like rape scenes. If they occur in a book that has engrossed me in its characters or plot,like with The Bluest Eye, I can take it. But when it happens right at the beginning like that, it's a major turnoff. Partly, I'm afraid that it's setting the tone for what the book will be like - though in the case of The King's Peace, probably not. But it's also just that getting that gut-punch from a book I don't yet care about makes me actually not want to care about it. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeacefulChaos Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Still finishing up Piercing the Darkness, an old reread. I was going to try to finish it before I fell asleep last night... but that didn't happen. :lol: I've not got much left. Today I picked up two books at the library - a Star Wars book (Aftermath, which starts up right after Episode VI finishes) and Between the World and Me. I'm starting the SW one first, so that I can pass it on to Link if it's decent. Then I'll tackle BtWaM. I wasn't even planning on getting books at the library lol - was going to finish up PtD and then read The Scarlet Letter... but I got inexplicably drawn into the new releases section. :lol: 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 I finished a book! I've spent the weekend doing little else but reading, and finished A Suitable Boy. Oh, Robin I know what you meant back when you finished it. I gave that book a month of my life for that??? I knew that's where it was going though. I could just tell. Now I get to concentrate on the other two books I've been reading. Both are on the Kindle and both say I have about 5 hours left. I'll try to finish The Moor's Account first because it's for my IRL book club and our meeting is a week away (March 1st - next Tuesday). Next I'll finish A Passage to India. Both are very much holding my interest. I'm trying very hard not to open the next mystery in one of two series I'm currently reading. If I do, I won't give the above books the time they need. Wish me luck. ;) 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 (edited) Have been super busy, so have had very little reading time. Have just barely started Anne Morrow Lindbergh's North to the Orient. Have you ever had a book on your 'want to read' list for a really long time & then have no idea how you heard about it, what it's about, or why you wanted to read it? Well, I picked up & started reading one that has been on my list for years under those conditions: I Am A Japanese Writer by Dany LaFerrière. I've started it & it's definitely meta-fiction, but it has some interesting parallels to some recent BaW discussions re: identity, race, etc.... A devilishly intelligent new novel by the internationally bestselling author and Prix Médicis winnerA black writer from Montreal has found the perfect title for his next book I Am a Japanese Writer. His publisher loves it and gives him an advance. The problem is, he can't seem to write a word of it. He nurses his writer's block by taking baths, re-reading the Japanese poet Basho and engaging in amorous intrigues with rising pop star Midori. The book, still unwritten, becomes a cult phenomenon in Japan, and the writer an international celebrity. A Japanese writer publishes a book called I Am a Malagasy Writer. Even the Japanese consulate is intrigued. Our hero is delighted until things start to go wrong. Part postmodern fantasy, part Kafkaesque nightmare and part travelogue to the inner reaches of the self, I Am a Japanese Writer calls into question everything we think we know about what-and who-makes a work of art. Here's a review that gives an overview of part of it... I Am a Japanese Writer is about a black writer in Montreal who sells his latest book to his publisher based on the title alone—I Am a Japanese Writer. So does it mean anything to the reader to know that Dany LaFerrière is, in fact, a black writer living in Montreal who has written a book called I Am a Japanese Writer? What we have here is not a memoir, of course, but a meta-fictional vehicle in which to explore issues of racial and national identity. and By using these deliberately clichéd elements, I Am a Japanese Writer offers an amusing and very readable analysis on the flimsiness of racial identity, and illustrates the power literature has to transcend ideas of race. The ideas would work well without them, but the meta-fictional games LaFerrière uses bring a whole new depth and clarity to his arguments. As the narrator describes reading Mishima as a teenager: "I dove into the universe set before me the way I dove into the little river not far from my house. I hardly even noticed his name, and it wasn’t until long afterward that I realized he was Japanese. At the time, I firmly believed that writers formed a lost tribe and spent their lives wandering the world and telling stories in all languages. That was their sentence for some unnamable crime . . . I don’t understand all the attention paid to a writer’s origins. Because, for me, Mishima was my neighbor. Very naturally, I repatriated the writers I read at the time. All of them. Flaubert, Goethe, Whitman, Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, Cervantes, Kipling, Senghor, Cesaire, Roumain, Amado, Diderot—they all lived in my village. Otherwise, what were they doing in my room? Years later, when I became a writer and people asked me, “are you a Haitian writer, a Caribbean writer or a French-language writer? I answered without hesitation: I take on my reader’s nationality. Which means that when a Japanese person reads me, I immediately become a Japanese writer." Edited February 22, 2016 by Stacia 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Oh, and ds read Ondjaki's Good Morning Comrades & enjoyed it. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melinda in VT Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 The traumatic scene at the beginning, or something later on? This duology isn't my favorite Walton, but I think she does some neat things, and I always love her heart and integrity. There's only one sequel: King's Name, but there is a companion book Prize in the Game which has some back story for Elenn - and is a much grimmer book than anything else she has written. It is also a spectacularly done retelling of the Irish epic The Tain. There is a free ebook available. (and here's Jo's blurb about the book) ... No, it wasn't the beginning. I got bogged down in the battles in the middle. I desperately wanted a map, and spent too much time trying to figure out how and to what extent places in the book mapped to geography in our world. It is definitely my least-favorite Walton book to date, but I am bringing The King's Name on my trip. Our library also has Prize in the Game, but I'll probably save that for later. I want to read The Just City and sequel, and finish the Farthing books, and there's a book with Children in the title that looks intriguing. My access to Internet will be spotty this week, but I appreciate the link to Jo's blog and look forward to having time to check it out. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melinda in VT Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 That's the scene that made me decide not to go on with the book. I don't like rape scenes. If they occur in a book that has engrossed me in its characters or plot,like with The Bluest Eye, I can take it. But when it happens right at the beginning like that, it's a major turnoff. Partly, I'm afraid that it's setting the tone for what the book will be like - though in the case of The King's Peace, probably not. But it's also just that getting that gut-punch from a book I don't yet care about makes me actually not want to care about it. I can understand that. What helped me is that I have read and loved several other Jo Walton books, so even though I didn't care about he characters yet, I cared about and trusted the author. I can say that the scene is not gratuitous, and not indicative of the tone of the book. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Hello all. Wow there are more penumbra books! Yay... Ok I had audiobook fluff - no 1 ladies detectives agency number 1 dramatised. I have history of the Renaissance from the library and read ch 1. And I'm reading a Terry pratchett but not a Discworld one on my phone. It features a bag lady who runs her trolley into people but who actually is secretly a time traveller. She strings random sentences together but they make sense if you realise she's actually living in several different times at once. Time travel stuff messes with my head but I'm still enjoying it a bit. 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onceuponatime Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Hello all. Wow there are more penumbra books! Yay... Ok I had audiobook fluff - no 1 ladies detectives agency number 1 dramatised. I have history of the Renaissance from the library and read ch 1. And I'm reading a Terry pratchett but not a Discworld one on my phone. It features a bag lady who runs her trolley into people but who actually is secretly a time traveller. She strings random sentences together but they make sense if you realise she's actually living in several different times at once. Time travel stuff messes with my head but I'm still enjoying it a bit. We need the name of the Terry Pratchett book. 😊 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 I finished listening to Good Omens by Gaiman & Pratchett yesterday. I thought it was great - so funny. I kept getting caught laughing out loud while listening to it with my earphones. I was raised in a religious cult that really emphasized the book of revelation, armageddon, etc. so I enjoyed every single bit of satire and probably got almost all of the allusions and references. I also happened to agree with many of the not-so-subtle points made by the angel/demons and Adam. Shannon heard me laughing so much she wants to read the book, too. She probably won't get as much of it, not having been raised with fire-and-brimstone, but I still think she'll find it funny. I'm now reading Mistborn by Brian Sanderson, recommended by somebody here (and by Shannon who just finished and loved it). It's starting kind of slowly, but she assures me that it picks up soon, and that it's worth persisting. I'm also reading The Evolution of Everything by Matt RIdley, which fits the Epicurus/Lucretius/Swerve theme we've discussed here. Also The End of Education by Neil Postman, The Soil Will Save Us by Kristin Ohlson. With the kids, I'm wrapping up Robin Hood with Morgan, reading Genome and Frankenstein with Shannon, and getting ready to start Paradise Lost with her. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 (edited) Ack. I am sitting at a dr. appt. & I was so rattled before I left, I forgot to bring my book! Harrumph! Edited February 22, 2016 by Stacia 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mesamin Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 (edited) I can't like your post Stacia. That would be frustrating. Hope you are well. :seeya: I finished Susan Vreeland's "Lisette's List" and thoroughly enjoyed it. The pacing is gentle, her characters are well thought out and she's poetic without being flowery. I'm a little bummed the library doesn't have another Vreeland electronic book that I could just zip over here. There were not any recipes in it however! Next I start Sara Gruen's "At the Water's Edge". This is the same author who wrote "Like Water for Elephants". Edited February 22, 2016 by Mesamin 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 (edited) Mesamin, please let me know what you think of the book. I haven't read her books but she will be visiting our local indie bookstore this week. The lady who runs the store said she really enjoyed the book! Am at an eye dr. for a possible cornea issue. Yikes. Edited February 22, 2016 by Stacia 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Stacia, I hope everything turns out ok! I can only see out of one of my eyes, and I am super protective of it. I also feel your pain about forgetting a book! How frustrating. Now that i have audiobooks on my phone, I at least have something to listen to if I forget. I was chuckling this weekend - when dh and I were first together, he was always surprised when I brought a book with me everywhere, just in case. He's gotten used to it over the years. This weekend, the girls had performances, and we knew we'd have an hour to kill before and between the shows. Knowing we'd be together, I didn't bring a book. But guess what, he did! I had to give him a little grief - what, you don't think my company will be entertaining enough?? But I was secretly proud. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Have you ever had a book on your 'want to read' list for a really long time & then have no idea how you heard about it, what it's about, or why you wanted to read it? Well, I picked up & started reading one that has been on my list for years under those conditions: I Am A Japanese Writer by Dany LaFerrière. I've started it & it's definitely meta-fiction, but it has some interesting parallels to some recent BaW discussions re: identity, race, etc.... I've had books like that. Usually it's because a friend recommended it or I read a review somewhere. There was (still is?) a good deal of complaint over Adam Johnson's The Orphan Master's Son because he's a white man with no actual ties to either North or South Korea. I don't think one needs to be from a particular country or race to write well about it. Shakespeare was neither Italian nor Danish yet imagine if it wasn't acceptable for him to write about either of those countries/cultures. Race doesn't come into the picture there of course, but it's an early example of writing fiction about another culture. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Stacia, hope all is well and that it ends up being nothing serious. I am almost finished with Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink. It's the account of what happened at Memorial Hospital in New Orleans after Katrina, mostly related to patients who were allegedly euthanized by doctors and nurses. On a much lighter note, I also read Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson. It's a middle grade graphic novel that was a Newbery Honor Book this year. It's very very good. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Thanks, everyone. Looks like the eye issue is a 'just leave it for now/monitor it' type of thing. So, no surgery needed at this point. My vision is still correctable w/ lenses so they are going to stick with that until/if/when it worsens (which could happen or may never happen). I'll just need to monitor it w/ annual eye exams, at least at this point. They did see the same thing developing in my other eye too, though, so I'll have to watch both eyes. So, overall, good-ish news, I guess. 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Good-ish news indeed, Stacia. Lots of love, Jane 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runningmom80 Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 (edited) I'm so behind. :leaving: Not SOOOO behind, but I think I'm only on book 5? I lost track of my list too! I'll be back to make this a substantive post. :lol: ETA: Moved my update to a new post on page 4. :) Edited February 27, 2016 by Runningmom80 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Thanks, everyone. Looks like the eye issue is a 'just leave it for now/monitor it' type of thing. So, no surgery needed at this point. My vision is still correctable w/ lenses so they are going to stick with that until/if/when it worsens (which could happen or may never happen). I'll just need to monitor it w/ annual eye exams, at least at this point. They did see the same thing developing in my other eye too, though, so I'll have to watch both eyes. So, overall, good-ish news, I guess. That sounds like mostly good news. We'll be hoping for "never happen". 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmandaVT Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Fingers crossed that your eye stays in the "not needing surgery" camp! I haven't posted in a week or so, but have finished up a few books. I get so many ideas reading these threads that I keep adding more to my wish lists! I started A Passage To India today and am planning on rereading To Kill a Mockingbird as well. 8. The Boys in the Boat - I saw this one recommended here so many times, I had to read it even though 1930's rowing isn't my normal reading cup of tea. I loved it! It was so well written and I became very interested in the stories of each man. And then I may have gotten unreasonably sad when I got to the end of the book. 7. Such a Pretty Fat - Jen Lancaster. I had to reread this one after recommending it to someone on the boards recently. Light, and laugh out loud funny in places. It's a weight loss memoir and I think anyone that's struggled with their weight could relate to Jen's struggles. 6.The Residence - another one I saw recommended here and another one I loved. I liked this one so much that halfway through, I ordered a copy for my aunt and had it shipped to her because I know she'll love it! Every time I see Hillary Clinton on TV now, all I can think is that the White House staff must be hoping that anyone else end up as the next president after the bits about life with the Clinton family in the White House. Reading about one of the staff walking in on President and Mrs. Obama dancing after the inauguration was a really sweet part of the book as well. And please don't tell me I'm the only one that would have loved to try President Johnson's shower just once! 5. The Martian 4. Outliers: The Story of Success 3. The Water Is Wide 2. Two Minute Warning: How Concussions, Crime and Controversy Could Kill the NFL 1. Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Happy Birthday, Kim in Appalachia!!! 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostSurprise Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 (edited) I finished some books on color theory, In the Garden of Beasts (Larson's history of Nazi Germany in the '30s through the eyes of the American ambassador and his daughter), and Angela Carter's Fireworks: Nine Profane Tales. I liked Carter's style, but found her topics (incest, rape) a bit rough so I decided to stop with this book and read The Bloody Chamber later. She has an interesting sense awe mixed with hard, dirty reality. This was her first book so she seemed a little more in love with complexity than her fairy tale retellings, but I was impressed with her and look forward to reading more later (a little at a time). In the Garden of Beasts was meh. Like the one about the Chicago World's Fair, this one really seemed broken into 2 subjects which intersected but didn't always work together. I got a bit tired of Martha Dodd's lovelife. I picked up These Is My Words by Nancy Turner and I'm enjoying it. It's a plot-driven novel, very quick moving, and the main character (17 year old girl pioneering with her family through Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona) has a fun voice. My dh didn't have anything to read at the dentist so he read the first 35 pages or so and he called it, "an exciting Laura Ingalls." Lots of bad stuff happens to characters...and good things...in general the characters feel historically realistic. The main characters attempts to be herself, and to fit in societies idea of womanhood, and her naivete in things like romance and figuring out what she wants in her life just ring true to me. Anyway, I'm enjoying it a lot, and for those who like historical fiction or the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, you would probably enjoy it too. I heard about it on the What Should I Read Next? podcast. Edited February 22, 2016 by LostSurprise 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 I'm trying to finish Passage to India, House of Leaves, and The Swerve before the end of the month, so I can clear the decks for March. I did finish A Confederacy of Dunces, which was a hilarious book, although I was sad to read that it was published after the author committed suicide and it was his mother who took up the effort after his death. The novel also gave me such a strong sense of place. The author was a native of New Orleans and set the book there; by the time I was done reading I was Googling about moving to The Big Easy. I have, however, decided to focus on the fact that I stood in (approximately) the same room with the bible of the secular religion that is bardolatry, and that, dear readers, was wildly cool. Very cool! Thanks for sharing your photo, too. I checked and it's unfortunately not coming within several hundred miles of me. I finished The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. It was a very difficult book to read, right up there with The Color Purple and other books of the young girls abused by those they should be able to trust genre. These books are powerful and important, but I do not enjoy reading them. 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. For the past 5 days I've had 14 pages left to read in Heart of Darkness. (A re-read from many years ago; I handed it off to my son and after he read it, he wanted to talk about it, so... I am rereading.) How is it as a re-read? I read it in high school, along with watching Apocalypse Now. My SIL read it last year and that got me thinking. A couple of Denver notes: I did not do any touristy things on this go around. We spent our time focused on friends and family so I did things like going to my grand nephews' pre-school when they were picked up by their Mom. My five year old grand nephew's class had a list of things that they would do if they were president. Dearest grand nephew said that he would put more books in bookstores!! Aaaaww. And welcome back! I'm also reading The Evolution of Everything by Matt RIdley, which fits the Epicurus/Lucretius/Swerve theme we've discussed here. What do you think, compared to The Swerve? Thanks, everyone. Looks like the eye issue is a 'just leave it for now/monitor it' type of thing. So, no surgery needed at this point. My vision is still correctable w/ lenses so they are going to stick with that until/if/when it worsens (which could happen or may never happen). I'll just need to monitor it w/ annual eye exams, at least at this point. They did see the same thing developing in my other eye too, though, so I'll have to watch both eyes. So, overall, good-ish news, I guess. Good news! Hoping it never comes to surgery. :grouphug: 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Oh, I hope you enjoy it. It's not for everyone, but then again, no book is really. I often get worried when others read books based on my liking them :lol:. I will hold you personally responsible for my liking or not liking the book. ;) Stacia, here's hoping your eyes don't get any worse. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Hello everyone. I have just returned from a long weekend in Denver where I stayed with my niece and her family while attending the Bat Mitzvah of a dear family friend. We had a wonderful time! To occupy my time while flying from the Carolinas to Denver (and back again) I packed two small Mexican selections, the Penguin Classics version of Mariano Azuela's The Underdogs, A Novel of the Mexican Revolution, and the stunningly beautiful memoir, The Child Poet, by beloved Latin American poet Homero Aridjis. About the former: It is clear that I do not know much about the Mexican Revolution other than a few names (Villa, Zapata). The end notes were very helpful. Even so, this book depressed me. Whatever the initial motives for the Revolution, it seemed that violence for violence sake was ultimately embraced. The Child Poet, on the other hand, is an astoundingly beautiful book! From the inside cover, Get this--the daughter in utero who inspired these dreams is the translator of the work from Spanish to English. Aridjis offers vignettes and I will say that some are a little uncomfortable. But there are passages in this book that literally took my breathe away at 35,000 feet!! Home again with many responsibilities needing my time and attention. I have several books started. My goal is to wrap up some of those by month's end!! I just received an email letting me know Aridjis and his daughter Chloe will be at City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco tomorrow night at 7:00. Here's hoping DH can watch the kids! If anyone else is in the Bay Area and wants to try and meet up and attend, PM me! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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