Book a Week 2016 - BW23: Think about it fiction

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday dear hearts!  This is the beginning of week 23 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 - think about it fiction:  

 

“Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully. 

"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever." 

"And he has Brain." 

"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brain." 

There was a long silence. 

"I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything.†

― Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh

 

 

 

Do you like reading philosophical fiction?  I've unintentionally read philosophical style stories in many science fiction books, as well as intentionally in utopian, dystopian or Bildungsroman type stories over the years.  Never did I expect to run across philosophy in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Philip Dick's When Androids Dream of Electric Sheep or Leo Toystoy's War and Peace.  I expected it with Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.  I didn't appreciate Gaarder's Sophie's World, nor Sartre's Nausea, or Atwood's Handmaid's Tale, reading them far too quickly to absorb.  Looking back on the books I've read over years, some deserve a second, slower read, time to ponder and discuss.  Now that we are through with lessons for the summer, it would be good time to pull out one or two or three old reads and give them the attention deserved.  

 

For ideas and to contribute to the delinquency of your pocketbooks, check out Goodreads  Popular Philosophical Fiction,

 Philosophical Science Fiction,  as well as 25 Works of Fiction every philosophy student should read and The Splintered Mind's discussion with 4 philosophy professors and their choices for best philosophical speculative fiction.

 

We should probably  have a reread summer and visit old friends or maybe those that weren't so friendly the first time and give them a second chance.  Time to contemplate our packed reading shelves again.  *grin*

 

Happy reading! 

 

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

 

History of the Renaissance World - Chapters 37 and 38 

 

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

 

What are you reading this week?

 

 

 

 

 

Link to week 22 

 

Edited June 12, 2016 by Robin M

[Robin M]

Good morning.  We are done with 10th grade and planning is in full force for 11th.  I discovered great courses plus and fell in love. Well worth $20 a month and already started watching lectures on drawing.  Will come in quite handy for u.s. history and mythology.  And if anyone has any suggestions for mythology, I'd appreciate it. We are going the route of living books and videos and looking at all regions and cultures.  

 

Reading wise, I finished Menna Van Praag's Dress Shop of Dreams which was a lovely magical realism story about love and dreams. Similar to Sarah Addison Allen. 

 

Currently indulging myself with Kaylea Cross's romantic suspense Hostage Rescue series and on # 3 Hunted.  

Edited June 5, 2016 by Robin M

[ErinE]

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Edited November 8, 2016 by ErinE

[ErinE]

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Edited November 8, 2016 by ErinE

[idnib]

Good morning.  We are done with 10th grade and planning is in full force for 11th.  I discovered great courses plus and fell in love. Well worth $20 a month and already started watching lectures on drawing.  Will come in quite handy for u.s. history and mythology.  And if anyone has any suggestions for mythology, I'd appreciate it. We are going the route of living books and videos and looking at all regions and cultures.  

 

 

I would recommend Elizabeth Sandiver's course on classical mythology.

 

 

As for reading, I'm still plugging away at the extended version of The Stand, Theo Jansen's The Great Pretender. I have been reading aloud Romeo and Juliet, Tolkein's The Two Towers to the children, but I'm going to count them for myself, especially after having to read all those Tolkien languages aloud.  :D

[Chrysalis Academy]

Well, like I said last week, I don't much enjoy reading philosophy, but I like philosophical novels, apparently - I've read quite a few of those listed, or have them on my TBR list. It's what I like about sci fi and fantasy, really - the ability to explore philosophical questions in a world constructed specifically to highlight/daylight them. I think Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch series is another that examines a whole host of philosophical issues, from gender identity to social justice.  I've been meaning to pick up Jo Walton's The Just City, an explicitly philosophical sci fi novel, ever since Eliana recommended it, maybe I'll get to that this summer.

 

Or how about some philosophical poetry? This morning I finished reading Brand New Ancients, an modern epic poem about modern life, about surprising and disappointing ourselves, and about whatever it takes to get you through the night. It was powerful and moving, made me sob like a broken-hearted teenager. Highly recommended.

 

I'm struggling with The Autumn of the Patriarch (Marquez) - it's written in the same punctuation- and paragraph-free stream of consciousness that Saramago writes in, which I find very challenging to read. It doesn't really give you a chance to come up for breath. I think I'd have given up on it without the encouragement of the intro lectures from the Future Learn Marquez course.  I'm persevering.

 

Also reading The Sunne in Splendour, a novel about Richard III, a very great read so far.  And still slowly savoring The Age of Innocence.  I have a whole stack of teaching-books to tackle this summer, I'm finishing up With Rigor for All and then moving on to tackle those books over the next few months.

 

Books completed in June:

101. Brand New Ancients - Kate Tempest

100. Eligible - Curtis Sittenfeld

99. Pacific - Simon Winchester

98. Innocent Erendira and other stories - Gabriel Garcia Marquz

97. Sand County Almanac - Aldo Leopold

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

Good morning.  We are done with 10th grade and planning is in full force for 11th.  I discovered great courses plus and fell in love. Well worth $20 a month and already started watching lectures on drawing.  Will come in quite handy for u.s. history and mythology.  And if anyone has any suggestions for mythology, I'd appreciate it. We are going the route of living books and videos and looking at all regions and cultures.  

 

Reading wise, I finished Menna Van Praag's Dress Shop of Dreams which was a lovely magical realism story about love and dreams. Similar to Sarah Addison Allen. 

 

Currently indulging myself with Kaylea Cross's romantic suspense Hostage Rescue series and on # 3 Hunted.  

 

The Palace of Illusions would be a great modern read if you don't want to tackle The Mahabharata itself.  I am really appreciating Eknath Eswaran's translations of the Dhammapada and the Mahabharata.  I like Stephen Mitchell's translation of the Tao Te Ching. We really enjoyed his translation of The Epic of Gilgamesh as well.

 

Anenberg Learner has a really great set of introductory videos for world literature, and they cover some of the classics of world mythology.

 

Seconding the Vandiver Classical Mythology suggestion. Somebody on the high school board suggested this anthology to go along with it, and I'm liking that very much.  I also like Ted Hughes Tales from Ovid.

[Stacia]

Thanks, ErinE, for all your lists of books & your ranking of the Hugo-nominated ones. I just put your top 3 on hold at my libraries.

 

I am feeling restless with my reading & I think I'm getting ready to ditch the various books I have in progress...

 

The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler is so-so & I feel no real desire to pick it back up & continue reading. I wish I did because I loved The Night Circus, but have not been as enamored with other carnival/odd/circus type stories I've read (stuff like Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children & The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno, for example). Per Kirkus' review, I guess I must not be a die-hard mermaid fiction fan. :leaving: :lol:  (And, I'm a little bummed because this would have been my 'pick a book by its cover' for BaW Bingo.)

 

I'm at about the halfway mark in The Carpenter's Pencil by Manuel Rivas & though I like it ok, it's not as gripping, nor as good, as I hoped it would be. Not sure if something was lost in translation or if it is just the author's style...? I'm disappointed because I read quite a few gushing reviews of this book, plus it was originally written in Galician. Maybe I'll keep plugging away or maybe I'll shelve it for now & pull it out at a later date.

 

I'm also at the halfway mark in The Attempt by Magdaléna Platzová. I actually like this one well enough, but again, am feeling no real desire to pick it back up & continue reading. As it is Czech, I'm going to point it out to you, Jane, as I think you might like it. It's one I might consider revisiting down the road someday when I'm more in the mood to read it.

 

I have various others I've picked up & rejected by a few pages in. And now I'm floating around trying to figure out what will catch my fancy next.

 

2016 Books Read:

5 stars:

• The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail by Óscar Martínez (Mexico) [baW Bingo: Library Free Space]
• What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi (Europe: Various) [baW Bingo: Fairy Tale Adaptation]
• West with the Night by Beryl Markham (Kenya)
• Sergio Y. by Alexandre Vidal Porto (Brazil & USA)

4 stars:

• The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Columbia) [baW Bingo: Picked by a friend – idnib]
• Good Morning Comrades by Ondjaki (Angola) [baW Bingo: Set in Another Country]
• An Exaggerated Murder by Josh Cook (USA) [baW Bingo: Mystery]
• The Expedition to the Baobab Tree by Wilma Stockenström (South Africa) [baW Bingo: Translated]
• A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator's Rise to Power by Paul Fischer (North Korea)
• Narconomics by Tom Wainwright (Various: mainly Latin & North America) [baW Bingo: Published 2016]
• A Dark Redemption by Stav Sherez (England)
• Eleven Days by Stav Sherez (England)
• The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (India) [baW Bingo: Epic]
• The Stranger by Albert Camus (Algeria) [baW Bingo: Nobel Prize Winner]
• The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud (Algeria)

3 stars:

• Gnarr! How I Became Mayor of a Large City in Iceland and Changed the World by Jón Gnarr (Iceland) [baW Bingo: Non-fiction]
• A Quaker Book of Wisdom by Robert Lawrence Smith (USA)
• The Three Trials of Manirema by José J. Veiga (Brazil) [baW Bingo: Dusty]
• Necropolis by Santiago Gamboa (Israel)
• North to the Orient by Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Asia: Various) [baW Bingo: Historical]
• Smile as they Bow by Nu Nu Yi (Myanmar) [baW Bingo: Banned (in Myanmar)]
• Ajax Penumbra 1969 by Robin Sloan (USA) [baW Bingo: Number in the Title]
• Bossypants by Tina Fey (USA)
• The Mirror Thief by Martin Seay (USA & Italy) [baW Bingo: Over 500 Pages]
• Harp of Burma by Michio Takeyama (Burma/Myanmar)
• Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols & Other Typographical Marks by Keith Houston (Other/Various)
• Time and Time Again by Ben Elton (Europe: Various)

2 stars:

• We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo (Zimbabwe) [baW Bingo: Female Author]

 

Edited June 5, 2016 by Stacia

[Loesje22000]

I'm in the middle of the Dutch edition of SWB 'The story of Western Science'.

 

I like it better then I thought I would

[Nan in Mass]

But Robin, that,s a POOH quote, not a Tao of Pooh quote. Shouldn,t it be attributed to A A Milne? (I was going to read pooh for my philosophy book and was surprised to open the new thread and find an A A Milne quote. I haven,t read The Tao of Pooh. I don,t need an interpretor to turn Pooh into philosophy lol. It (along with LotR ) has been my philosophy book ever since I can remember. Which probably explains a lot.

 

Nan

[Stacia]

Ok, so maybe I've found my next read (& one I picked up based on the cover):

 

 

:lol:

 

I've read the first few pages & have already laughed a few times. Plus, you know I can't pass up vampire stories.

 

From Publisher's Weekly:

This witty debut imagines what might happen if the repulsive and monstrous vampires of old were brought into the contemporary milieu of glamorous and heroic vampires, with entertaining results. Centuries-old Yulric Bile wakes after 300 years to find his kind are no longer reviled and hunted, but rather celebrated, notably through the television show The Phantom Vampire Mysteries, created by and starring actual vampires. The show's intensely devoted fan base includes a current occupant of Yulric's home, 22-year-old Amanda Linske, who has been caring for her brother, precocious eight-year-old Simon, since their parents died. The show is one of her few refuges from her difficult life. When an esteemed Phantom Vampire Mysteries producer learns of Yulric's awakening, Amanda, Simon, and Yulric become unlikely allies in a showdown between old and new. It takes several chapters for the connections among the various elements to become clear, but once they do, the pages fly by. Engagingly complex characters and wry humor will keep readers coming back for more.

 

[Ali in OR]

I very much enjoyed The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. I've read her Winter Garden book also--I'll need to remember her name in the future when I just want to pick something up from the library. I like her and think she does a particularly good job with women and their relationships with each other (particularly within a family). I had to return America's Original Sin to the library unfinished. Maybe I'll try to get it again--not sure. I was only 40 pages into it, but wasn't really encountering any new ideas, especially having read The New Jim Crow.

 

I picked up Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend and am enjoying that. I'm getting my kindle recharged and the software updated (Amazon warned me to do this in March but I'm just getting to it). Hoping to go on a little (very little) shopping spree for kindle books for an upcoming trip.

[Ethel Mertz]

Last week's reading was pretty light, with perhaps the exception of the Sarton novel.

 

1.     Undercover Inmates (An Agnes Barton Senior Sleuths Mystery #10) – Madison Johns, quick and cozy read

2.      Miss Julia’s School of Beauty (Miss Julia #6) – Ann B. Ross, I love reading through this series.

3.      Birds of a Feather (An Agnes Barton Senior Sleuths Mystery #9) – Madison Johns; another quick cozy read

4.      The Magnificent Spinster – May Sarton; this Sarton novel dragged a bit as the Narrator kept going on about how she was an historian and not a novelist. Even so, it was a fairly enjoyable read. It was a dusty book off our shelves, read for the month of "May."

5.      Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand – Helen Simonson; finished this last night and loved it!

 

I abandoned The Woman Upstairs. I found it too slow and the prime character too whiny and I just got irritated.

 

I've got an embarrassing number of books in progress, including Darwin's Voyage Around the World (read aloud with DS), SWB's HAW (in preparation for next year's Ancient History rotation), C.S. Lewis's The Magician's Nephew and The Horse and His Boy (trying to keep up with DS), another of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple books, another of Ann Robb's Miss Julia novels, The $64 Tomato (inspired by one of the gardening threads), Gareth Knight's The Magical World of the Inklings, and (inspired by BAW Philosophy focus) Aristotle's Children: How Christians, Muslims, and Jews Rediscovered Ancient Wisdom and Illuminated the Middle Ages.

[Kareni]

... and The Splintered Mind's discussion with 4 philosophy professors and their choices for best philosophical speculative fiction.

 

That was a dangerous link as at the end of the piece there was a link to a second link which then pointed to a third link.  Seven links later ....  On the upside (half an hour later), I've requested several movies that I think my husband will enjoy seeing.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Reading wise, I finished Menna Van Praag's Dress Shop of Dreams which was a lovely magical realism story about love and dreams.

 

I liked that one, too.

 

***

 

Yesterday I finished the new adult contemporary romance Jockblocked: A Novel (Gridiron Book 2) by Jen Frederick.  It's evidently the second in a series, but I found it to stand alone well.  (Adult content.)  I enjoyed it.

 

"She’s always played it safe…

 

College junior Lucy Washington abides by one rule—avoid risk at all costs. She’s cautious in every aspect of her life, from her health, to her mock trial team, to the boring guys she dates. When a brash, gorgeous jock walks into the campus coffeeshop and turns his flirt on, Lucy is stunned by the force of attraction. For the first time ever, she’s willing to step out of her comfort zone, but can she really trust the guy who’s determined to sweep her off her feet?

 

He’s always played around…

 

Entering his last year of college eligibility, linebacker Matthew "Matty" Iverson has the team captaincy in his sights. And it’s his for the taking, if he can convince his quarterback Ace Anderson to give up the starting position. Luckily, Matty already has an edge—the hottie he’s lusting over just happens to be Ace’s childhood best friend. Getting Lucy on his side and in his bed? Hell yeah. Matty is more than confident he can have both, but when he falls hard for Lucy, it’s time for a new game plan: convince the woman of his dreams that she’s not sleeping with the enemy."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Onceuponatime]

I'm determined to finish Redwall, even though I'm finding it to be definitely written for a younger audience. I keeping eyeing other books in my bedside tower, um stack. I've also realized I'm not in a very philosophical mood. Maybe because we are officially on summer break.

[Mom-ninja.]

Finished A Study in Scarlet and I enjoyed it as I do all Sherlock stories. My other book, Founding Mothers, is in the car and it's pouring outside so.....guess I need to start a different book. 

[Violet Crown]

On last week's thread we discussed philosophical education for children, and I mentioned Gareth Matthews and his work in this area; one point of Matthews' is that children's fiction often tackles issues of importance in contemporary philosophy, and parents can be alert to these philosophical implications. For example, in The Wizard of Oz the Tin Woodsman became tin as a result of a series of chopping accidents by which parts of his body are sequentially replaced, until he is entirely tin. This is just the 'Ship of Theseus' problem, a classic in questions of identity: is the Woodsman the same person at the beginning and end of the process? If not, at what point does he cease to be the human woodsman? Or if so, aren't there then two bodies for one person? Each answer spawns new questions. To Matthews, most good children's fiction is philosophical fiction, if you pay attention. (Alice in Wonderland, a special case, is deliberately loaded with issues of interest to logicians and linguists.)

 

This week, continuing poetry with a focus on the medieval William Dunbar, who could be philosophical himself. The first stanzas of his best-known work, The Lament for the Makaris [Poets]:

 

I that in heill was and gladness

Am trublit now with great sickness

And feblit with infirmitie:

Timor Mortis conturbat me.

 

Our plesance here is all vain glory,

This fals world is but transitory,

The flesh is bruckle, the Feynd is slee:

Timor Mortis conturbat me.

 

The state of man does change and vary,

Now sound, now sick, now blyth, now sary,

Now dansand mirry, now like to die:

Timor Mortis conturbat me.

 

No state in Erd here standis sicker;

As with the wynd wavis the wicker

So wannis this world’s vanitie:

Timor Mortis conturbat me.

 

Meanwhile having finished Graves I am reading J. M. Barrie's lesser-known novel Sentimental Tommy, about the young child of a shamed Scottish woman who returns from the London slums at his mother's death to her dismal Scottish home town. Some wonderful moments of Barrie's dry humor, but so far it's as unfortunately sentimental as the title tried to warn me. We'll see if it improves, but I don't think Peter Pan is going to be eclipsed by this one.

Edited June 5, 2016 by Violet Crown

[mumto2]

I finally read a book that has been on my list for ages Deborah Crombie's A Share in Death https://www.goodreads.com/series/40961-duncan-kincaid-gemma-james. This is the first book in a series and featured a Scotland Yard detective named Duncan James. In this book he goes on vacation at an exclusive holiday hotel in Yorkshire (Thirsk area, Amy) and people start dying in suspicious ways. It's a good mystery. It was one that could honestly be classed as almost a cozy. No icky details, crimes are described as tastefully as possible, etc. No explicit scenes.

 

I remember Crombie was on Stacia's dad's list of mystery authors he enjoyed when we had her ask him a couple of years ago. I can see why. :) Definitely will be reading more in the series.

 

I have been reading the third book in the Kate Burkholder series https://www.goodreads.com/series/56323-kate-burkholder. I like the characters and are intrigued enough to keep reading but some of the scenes are just ick. Let's just say I learned some things about pig farming that I would have preferred not to know in this one. That being said I am almost done and the next one is on hold.

 

Stacia, An Unattractive Vampire sounds hilarious. Looking forward to your thoughts after you read it.

Edited June 5, 2016 by mumto2

[melmichigan]

Good morning.  We are done with 10th grade and planning is in full force for 11th.  I discovered great courses plus and fell in love. Well worth $20 a month and already started watching lectures on drawing.  Will come in quite handy for u.s. history and mythology.  And if anyone has any suggestions for mythology, I'd appreciate it. We are going the route of living books and videos and looking at all regions and cultures.  

 

Reading wise, I finished Menna Van Praag's Dress Shop of Dreams which was a lovely magical realism story about love and dreams. Similar to Sarah Addison Allen. 

 

Currently indulging myself with Kaylea Cross's romantic suspense Hostage Rescue series and on # 3 Hunted.  

Great and Roman Mythology by Peter Struck is offered by Coursera.  The course covers The Iliad, The Odyssey, Hesiod, Theogony and Works and Days, Homeric Hymns, The Aeneid, Sophocles, Oedipus Rex; Euripides, Bacchae, Aeschylus, Agamemnon; Aeschylus, Eumenides, and Metamorphosis.  I did the course during the summer of 2014 in preparation for fall. If any of those works would be useful in your study I would highly recommend his course; I don't know if I would have gotten through those original works without it!

 

#1 in Kaylea Cross series, Marked, is free on kindle.

 

I am actually stuck on The Beast (Black Dagger Brotherhood) by J. R. Ward. I'm on Chapter 35 and I haven't picked it up in days and I have zero inclination. :confused1:  I never thought that would happen!

Edited June 5, 2016 by melmichigan

[Shawneinfl]

Good morning.  We are done with 10th grade and planning is in full force for 11th.  I discovered great courses plus and fell in love. Well worth $20 a month and already started watching lectures on drawing.  Will come in quite handy for u.s. history and mythology.  And if anyone has any suggestions for mythology, I'd appreciate it. We are going the route of living books and videos and looking at all regions and cultures.  

 

Reading wise, I finished Menna Van Praag's Dress Shop of Dreams which was a lovely magical realism story about love and dreams. Similar to Sarah Addison Allen. 

 

Currently indulging myself with Kaylea Cross's romantic suspense Hostage Rescue series and on # 3 Hunted.  

 

Robin, I just signed up thanks to your info. I never knew about this. I think this will be an early father's day gift for my hubby.

[Shawneinfl]

I've done a poor job keeping track of my reading this spring. Perhaps by the end of June when things slow down a bit I can resume real reading. I have been listening to a great audio book while I clean (bookshelves) upstairs. My books are way too scattered in various rooms of my house and it's time to put some sense of order to them. So I'm listening to Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant. I'm liking it enough to consider buying the paper copy.

Edited June 5, 2016 by Shawneinfl

[Jane in NC]

Again thanks to Jenn for turning me on to Arnaldur Indridason's Icelandic detective Erlendur.  I read The Draining Lake in which the murder takes us back to the Cold War--and the complexity of relationships and trust.  Unfortunately I somehow skipped the previous volume in the series, Voices, so I am now clued into the background of what happened in that book.  I will obviously need to backtrack and have made a note of this on my library list.

 

I also started reading Steinbeck's Once There was a War.  Such a lucid writer.

[6packofun]

Well, this week's thread is perfect!  I was getting ready to put a few books that I never read/wish I'd read/need to reread as an adult into my queue at the library and was trying to decide on a translation of Kafka's The Metamorphosis...which one??  Help.  :)

 

I'm finishing Ishiguro's The Buried Giant and I can't say I love it, but will reserve negative thoughts until the end.  lol

[Nan in Mass]

On last week's thread we discussed philosophical education for children, and I mentioned Gareth Matthews and his work in this area; one point of Matthews' is that children's fiction often tackles issues of importance in contemporary philosophy, and parents can be alert to these philosophical implications. For example, in The Wizard of Oz the Tin Woodsman became tin as a result of a series of chopping accidents by which parts of his body are sequentially replaced, until he is entirely tin. This is just the 'Ship of Theseus' problem, a classic in questions of identity: is the Woodsman the same person at the beginning and end of the process? If not, at what point does he cease to be the human woodsman? Or if so, aren't there then two bodies for one person?...

Well the boat answer to that question is that as long as you don,t replace all the bits of the boat at once, it is the same beloved boat, even if over time, there is nothing left of the original boat. As there probably won,t be, if the boat is old and has been kept up properly. I wonder how much of our original bodies, the atoms we are born with, we have at the end of our lives? I,m not sure I see the point of this question? I,m sure there is one if it has intrigued philosophers for ages, but why is it interesting?

 

Nan

[Nan in Mass]

I am reading Tigres al anochecer, a Magic Treehouse book, in an effort to snatch back a little of my rapidly vanishing Spanish. I took a year of it while the boys were at community college (since I was there waiting) but that was four or five years ago now. I,ve never read one before. I hope it gets more exciting soon. It has taken me an hour to get up to page 8. The fairy tales I read last year were much better.

 

Nan

[Mom-ninja.]

I have a huge tbr list and yet I can't find a book I want to read. I need light, funny, upbeat type of books at the moment. I tried to find my tried and true P.G. Wodehouse, but can't find his books for Kindle at my library. 

[Kareni]

I have a huge tbr list and yet I can't find a book I want to read. I need light, funny, upbeat type of books at the moment. I tried to find my tried and true P.G. Wodehouse, but can't find his books for Kindle at my library. 

 

I recommend The Little World of Don Camillo (Don Camillo Series Book 1)  by Giovanni Guareschi

 

"Reading ‘The Little World of Don Camillo’ is to travel to the Valley of the River Po, Italy’s widest and most fertile plain, with its unique atmosphere, culture and natural history. And to do so in the incomparable company of a cast of fictional characters who testify to the exquisite humour and humanity of their creator.

 

In the Little World, eternal forces grapple with the absurd drama of everyday life, and hilarious and unearthly things can happen.

 

If you keep this in mind you will have no difficulty in getting to know the village priest, Don Camillo, and his adversary, Peppone, the Communist Mayor. Nor will you be surprised when a third person watches the goings-on from a big cross in the village church and not infrequently intercedes . . .

 

In story after story, the hot-headed Catholic priest, Don Camillo, and the equally pugnacious Communist mayor, Peppone, confront one another, sometimes in a serious and violent manner.

 

The clever bit is the way Guareschi engineers a resolution to the conflict and transforms the situation to the great benefit of the local community, so that the two men put their political convictions aside and, however begrudgingly, develop respect for one another.

 

To enable this, the author creates a third main character, his finest creation and the most surprising. Il Cristo presides over proceedings from above the altar of the town church and counsels Don Camillo, exposing and undermining the stubborn priest’s personal politics and prejudices and, with fascinating insights and gentle humour, suggests paths of action which, with the benefit of hindsight, we come to see make things right.

 

Guareschi claimed that the voice from above the altar was simply the voice of his own conscience, but in the stories it is a living reality which enables solutions so simple that they are beyond the reach of political minds clouded with ideology and the need to win."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[JennW in SoCal]

Again thanks to Jenn for turning me on to Arnaldur Indridason's Icelandic detective Erlendur.  I read The Draining Lake in which the murder takes us back to the Cold War--and the complexity of relationships and trust.  Unfortunately I somehow skipped the previous volume in the series, Voices, so I am now clued into the background of what happened in that book.  I will obviously need to backtrack and have made a note of this on my library list.

 

I also started reading Steinbeck's Once There was a War.  Such a lucid writer.

 

Just this afternoon I noticed Voices sitting on my shelf.  I can send it to you later this week, if you'd like. It is the only title of his I've read as I haven't had any luck finding his books on nearby library or bookstore shelves. Perhaps when I finally have some free time this summer (say, perhaps, in August) I can make a focused effort to find more. 

 

I've finally found the most recent Inspector Banks book at the library.  I hadn't liked the last few titles in the series, but as it's been a year or so since I last visited the Yorkshire Dales with his team I'm hoping absence will make my heart a little fonder.  

 

I was just talking Steinbeck with a group of musicians and singers last night over margaritas and Mexican food. As a group they weren't too fond of him, but it was a pleasant surprise to be talking books when it was least expected!

Edited June 6, 2016 by JennW in SoCal

[Violet Crown]

Well the boat answer to that question is that as long as you don,t replace all the bits of the boat at once, it is the same beloved boat, even if over time, there is nothing left of the original boat. As there probably won,t be, if the boat is old and has been kept up properly. I wonder how much of our original bodies, the atoms we are born with, we have at the end of our lives? I,m not sure I see the point of this question? I,m sure there is one if it has intrigued philosophers for ages, but why is it interesting?

 

Nan

Interesting; not everyone would find that answer intuitively obvious. Consider this hypothetical: your ship is made of silver planks. A thief comes nightly into your boathouse and replaces one plank with one of the same shape and size, but made of wood. He assembles the stolen silver planks in his own boathouse. At the end of a year, the ship in your boathouse is entirely wood, and there is one in his boathouse entirely made of silver.

 

Should the thief be able to argue successfully to the judge that he didn't steal your ship, as you have the same ship you began with? If your ship shares an identity with the original one, is the silver ship in his boathouse a different ship?

 

Similarly, if the pieces chopped off the Tin Woodsman were reassembled as the macabre process progressed, and the man stayed alive, would it be intuitive to tell that person that the tin man over there is the same man as the original "meat" woodchopper? Which is the original woodchopper? Or are they both? Or neither?

 

Eta: I'm not at all saying your answer is wrong! Just proffering thoughts that might lead to other conclusions.

Edited June 6, 2016 by Violet Crown

[mumto2]

I have a huge tbr list and yet I can't find a book I want to read. I need light, funny, upbeat type of books at the moment. I tried to find my tried and true P.G. Wodehouse, but can't find his books for Kindle at my library.

 

 

 

P.G. Wodehouse is one of the authors which have many books available for free on kindle. Obviously the copyright expired at some point. I haven't tried them so can't vouch for the formatting but they are out there.

 

 

 

 

 

I recommend The Little World of Don Camillo (Don Camillo Series Book 1)  by Giovanni Guareschi

 

"Reading ‘The Little World of Don Camillo’ is to travel to the Valley of the River Po, Italy’s widest and most fertile plain, with its unique atmosphere, culture and natural history. And to do so in the incomparable company of a cast of fictional characters who testify to the exquisite humour and humanity of their creator.

In the Little World, eternal forces grapple with the absurd drama of everyday life, and hilarious and unearthly things can happen.

If you keep this in mind you will have no difficulty in getting to know the village priest, Don Camillo, and his adversary, Peppone, the Communist Mayor. Nor will you be surprised when a third person watches the goings-on from a big cross in the village church and not infrequently intercedes . . .

In story after story, the hot-headed Catholic priest, Don Camillo, and the equally pugnacious Communist mayor, Peppone, confront one another, sometimes in a serious and violent manner.

The clever bit is the way Guareschi engineers a resolution to the conflict and transforms the situation to the great benefit of the local community, so that the two men put their political convictions aside and, however begrudgingly, develop respect for one another.

To enable this, the author creates a third main character, his finest creation and the most surprising. Il Cristo presides over proceedings from above the altar of the town church and counsels Don Camillo, exposing and undermining the stubborn priest’s personal politics and prejudices and, with fascinating insights and gentle humour, suggests paths of action which, with the benefit of hindsight, we come to see make things right.

Guareschi claimed that the voice from above the altar was simply the voice of his own conscience, but in the stories it is a living reality which enables solutions so simple that they are beyond the reach of political minds clouded with ideology and the need to win."

 

Regards,

Kareni

Everytime you recommend Don Camillo I feel like I need to read one but can never find one through my easy sources.....overdrive. I finally caved and requested a 1950's copy from one of my libraries. It's coming from storage, we shall see if I dare to read it. Sometimes books arrive that are so fragile they worry me to the degree I don't dare to actually read them!

[Rosie_0801]

But Robin, that,s a POOH quote, not a Tao of Pooh quote. Shouldn,t it be attributed to A A Milne? (I was going to read pooh for my philosophy book and was surprised to open the new thread and find an A A Milne quote. I haven,t read The Tao of Pooh. I don,t need an interpretor to turn Pooh into philosophy lol. It (along with LotR ) has been my philosophy book ever since I can remember. Which probably explains a lot.

 

Nan

 

I enjoyed the Tao of Pooh when I was younger. That's how I got to be a Western Taoist, lol.

 

I think Pippi Longstocking was my first philosophy book. The effect on my psyche has been most inconvenient over the years. I'm sorta half Little Women and half Pippi. People don't deal with it well.  :huh:

 

Speaking of Pippi, I got a laugh out of reading it aloud to dd the other month. Whatever "faults" Marek had, he could be said to excel in Jollification. (A subject mostly about climbing out of windows.  :laugh: )

[mumto2]

Interesting; not everyone would find that answer intuitively obvious. Consider this hypothetical: your ship is made of silver planks. A thief comes nightly into your boathouse and replaces one plank with one of the same shape and size, but made of wood. He assembles the stolen silver planks in his own boathouse. At the end of a year, the ship in your boathouse is entirely wood, and there is one in his boathouse entirely made of silver.

 

Should the thief be able to argue successfully to the judge that he didn't steal your ship, as you have the same ship you began with? If your ship shares an identity with the original one, is the silver ship in his boathouse a different ship?

 

Similarly, if the pieces chopped off the Tin Woodsman were reassembled as the macabre process progressed, and the man stayed alive, would it be intuitive to tell that person that the tin man over there is the same man as the original "meat" woodchopper? Which is the original woodchopper? Or are they both? Or neither?

 

Eta: I'm not at all saying your answer is wrong! Just proffering thoughts that might lead to other conclusions.

VC, you just sent me chasing rabbit trails....fun memories.

 

Last night when I read your Tin Woodman comment I was instantly reminded of an article a dear friend mailed to me years ago when I, a recently openly declared homeschooling mom, had mentioned that the dc's and I were enjoying the Oz series. I was able to find the article thanks to Google. http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?a=504 I still have the magazine tucked away somewhere as a memento of her opinions (there were many) on literature and what my children needed to know. My cover is much nicer, pencil illustration of something. I never figured out how to teach my little people the politics mentioned in that article and never thought to pull it out later.

 

For those who don't feel like reading the article, Oz might be an allegory (no Baum confirmation ever to my knowledge) for the politics of the 1890's Populist Movement. The Tin Woodman is seen as the depressed labor force which simply needs a little oil to come back to life.

 

Now for the poor Tin Woodman and his pieces which is the subject of today's discussion. If I remember my Oz stories, we read them all, I believe the Woodman is written as a much better person in his tin form than as a "meat" man. So he changed....my 2p!

[Nan in Mass]

Interesting; not everyone would find that answer intuitively obvious. Consider this hypothetical: your ship is made of silver planks. A thief comes nightly into your boathouse and replaces one plank with one of the same shape and size, but made of wood. He assembles the stolen silver planks in his own boathouse. At the end of a year, the ship in your boathouse is entirely wood, and there is one in his boathouse entirely made of silver.

 

Should the thief be able to argue successfully to the judge that he didn't steal your ship, as you have the same ship you began with? If your ship shares an identity with the original one, is the silver ship in his boathouse a different ship?

 

Similarly, if the pieces chopped off the Tin Woodsman were reassembled as the macabre process progressed, and the man stayed alive, would it be intuitive to tell that person that the tin man over there is the same man as the original "meat" woodchopper? Which is the original woodchopper? Or are they both? Or neither?

 

Eta: I'm not at all saying your answer is wrong! Just proffering thoughts that might lead to other conclusions.

Boats (or parts of them) can be taken apart to copy and then put back together again. Often dummy parts are put in place to support things while a piece is removed. Your silver thief did it all at once in a continuous process and all the original bits still exist intact (unlike a boat which has been repaired over time) so I,d say the silver boat was just moved to the neighboring shed.

 

We all, boats and people, grow and change over time, sometimes unrecognizably. And anyway, why can,t things multiply? Why can,t the tin man have turned into two tin men? If you have to label one original, the one with your heart and memories is the original boat and the one with the soul and memories is the original tin man and at the point where they are equal in weight, you have two.

 

Still not getting it lol...

Nan

[Jane in NC]

Just this afternoon I noticed Voices sitting on my shelf.  I can send it to you later this week, if you'd like. It is the only title of his I've read as I haven't had any luck finding his books on nearby library or bookstore shelves. Perhaps when I finally have some free time this summer (say, perhaps, in August) I can make a focused effort to find more. 

 

I've finally found the most recent Inspector Banks book at the library.  I hadn't liked the last few titles in the series, but as it's been a year or so since I last visited the Yorkshire Dales with his team I'm hoping absence will make my heart a little fonder.  

 

I was just talking Steinbeck with a group of musicians and singers last night over margaritas and Mexican food. As a group they weren't too fond of him, but it was a pleasant surprise to be talking books when it was least expected!

 

No need to send the book, Jenn.  My library system has two copies!

 

Let me know about the new Inspector Banks when you get around to it.  I too have not cared for where this series has gone.

 

VC, you just sent me chasing rabbit trails....fun memories.

 

Last night when I read your Tin Woodman comment I was instantly reminded of an article a dear friend mailed to me years ago when I, a recently openly declared homeschooling mom, had mentioned that the dc's and I were enjoying the Oz series. I was able to find the article thanks to Google. http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?a=504 I still have the magazine tucked away somewhere as a memento of her opinions (there were many) on literature and what my children needed to know. My cover is much nicer, pencil illustration of something. I never figured out how to teach my little people the politics mentioned in that article and never thought to pull it out later.

 

For those who don't feel like reading the article, Oz might be an allegory (no Baum confirmation ever to my knowledge) for the politics of the 1890's Populist Movement. The Tin Woodman is seen as the depressed labor force which simply needs a little oil to come back to life.

 

Now for the poor Tin Woodman and his pieces which is the subject of today's discussion. If I remember my Oz stories, we read them all, I believe the Woodman is written as a much better person in his tin form than as a "meat" man. So he changed....my 2p!

 

Now that was an interesting article!

[Onceuponatime]

About the tin man and the silver boat: What I've gleaned from my sporadic and piecemeal study of eastern philosophy is the idea of impermanence. The tin man is not the same man as the flesh man, the old boat is not the same boat as the once new boat. The adult is not the same person the child was. There may be vestiges of the past in the present, some kind of connection; but that connection may just be a scar, a trophy, a scrap of wood or material, or a memory. The reality is that things change; change is a constant. I am not even the same person I was yesterday. There have been thousands of "me's."The mind can reject this thought and attempt to create an appearance of permanence or work to increase and maintain connections with the past, projecting the past on to the present. Or...it can imbrace impermanence and try to see beauty and value in the changes that inevitably come, living more fully in the present.

 

Do I do this? Ha! I don't think we are wired that way, so it would take a perpetual conscious effort. At best, it helps to be reminded of impermanence now and then, so we can temper our response to change. Even those who claim to practice acceptance of impermanence can hold on to outmoded traditions and ways of doing things and might become distraught if their tenuous connections to the past are destroyed. It would take an extraordinary person to be able to go through life without any kind of attachment to anything that went before.

 

P.S. The man who had his silver boat taken apart piece by piece would be better off claiming the other man stole his silver, rather than his boat. 😃

Edited June 6, 2016 by Onceuponatime

[fastweedpuller]

Well, like I said last week, I don't much enjoy reading philosophy, but I like philosophical novels, apparently - I've read quite a few of those listed, or have them on my TBR list. It's what I like about sci fi and fantasy, really - the ability to explore philosophical questions in a world constructed specifically to highlight/daylight them. I think Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch series is another that examines a whole host of philosophical issues, from gender identity to social justice.

Thanks for the lists, Robin!  Like Rose I think I have read the majority on that Goodreads list, mostly in high school...seems to be a theme, getting youngsters in touch with their inner philosophical workings.  Rose, thanks for the Ann Leckie series suggestion.

 

I very much enjoyed The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. I've read her Winter Garden book also--I'll need to remember her name in the future when I just want to pick something up from the library. I like her and think she does a particularly good job with women and their relationships with each other (particularly within a family)....I picked up Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend and am enjoying that. I'm getting my kindle recharged and the software updated (Amazon warned me to do this in March but I'm just getting to it). Hoping to go on a little (very little) shopping spree for kindle books for an upcoming trip.

You'll truly enjoy the Ferrante series if you like well-represented female relationships.  I have The Nightingale on my TBR list too but the wait time is miles deep at the library...one day

 

On last week's thread we discussed philosophical education for children, and I mentioned Gareth Matthews and his work in this area; one point of Matthews' is that children's fiction often tackles issues of importance in contemporary philosophy, and parents can be alert to these philosophical implications. For example, in The Wizard of Oz the Tin Woodsman became tin as a result of a series of chopping accidents by which parts of his body are sequentially replaced, until he is entirely tin. This is just the 'Ship of Theseus' problem, a classic in questions of identity: is the Woodsman the same person at the beginning and end of the process? If not, at what point does he cease to be the human woodsman? Or if so, aren't there then two bodies for one person? Each answer spawns new questions. To Matthews, most good children's fiction is philosophical fiction, if you pay attention. (Alice in Wonderland, a special case, is deliberately loaded with issues of interest to logicians and linguists.)

Can't agree more with the bolded, VC.  I think it's why I read so much of it as a teen and college student, esp. for escape!

 

i finished Evicted:  Poverty and Profit in the American City this last week.  Lots to contemplate, I appreciate the author's efforts (a Guggenheim fellow).  It was a bit of a slog, not because of the writing (which was well done) but because of the content. 

 

Audiobooks count, you all tell me, so I admit to having started, finished and mostly enjoyed Niall Ferguson's Civilization:  The West and the Rest this last week.  He's a bit of a lad, that guy; an intellectual bro of the most annoying order (despite being Mr Ayaan Hirsi Ali).  Perhaps my politics simply clash with his, though this audiobook, read by the author, was entertaining if madly disjointed.  I count it as background school research; dd will tackle early Modern this year and I have a few overarching themes we'll address, maybe even using his BBC doco using the book.

 

Otherwise I made headway on a few enjoyable books this week:  Oliver Sacks' On the Move (his memoir about coming to America in the 1960s), Frans de Waal's Are We Smart Enough to Know how Smart Animals Are? (title is fairly self-explanatory, yes?) and Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North.  (These are fairly typical of my usual reads:  a memoir, a NF science book, and a literary novel.)  And I am <thisclose> to getting 3 books from Overdrive that I have anticipated for weeks! and thus I feel I can juggle the others.

 

I also tabled The Invention of Nature from my kindle: my birthday is coming up soon so I requested the actual book as a gift. 

[Nan in Mass]

Thinking about this some more... I think the Tinman was an unfortunate example of philosophy in children,s books where I am concerned, between being a rather literal person, having been educated as a software engineer, living with old boats and knowing boatbuilders, and having Buddhist brother in laws. I have no argument with the idea that there is philosophy in children,s books. I thought that was half the point. ("My mother says some days are like that. Even in Australia." Viorst) and there are philosophical questions that intrigue me, although I don,t spend much time thinking about them. Just not the Tinman. I also am pretty suspicious of mtaphores in stories. I kind of like to keep them subconscious rather than dragging them out into the light of day. Just repair the boat, decide if the repairs merit a II added to the name, and go sailing.

 

Notice I am not commenting about the favour the thief would be doing one by replacing the silver planks with the far more useful wooden ones. : )

 

Nan

Edited June 6, 2016 by Nan in Mass

[Kareni]

 Everytime you recommend Don Camillo I feel like I need to read one but can never find one through my easy sources.....overdrive. I finally caved and requested a 1950's copy from one of my libraries. It's coming from storage, we shall see if I dare to read it. Sometimes books arrive that are so fragile they worry me to the degree I don't dare to actually read them!

 

I hope that the 1950s book is still in good shape so that you're not fearful of reading it.  And I hope that the actual reading will not be a let down after all the anticipation!  (I can't help but think I'm recommending a restaurant and hoping that the service and food will be good the night you go.)

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Catherine]

I just finished listening to The Remains of the Day with my freshly-minted college graduate and we both really liked it.  It was sad though!  Now I'd like to explore more of Ishiguro's writing.  Any recommendations?

[Rosyl]

I have been side tracked with my reading because I am in home school recovery (you know the time of year when you deep clean everything and/or put away everything you were unable to get to during the school year) and then I discovered the series  A Place to Call Home.  I watched season 1 and 2 when I should have been reading.  

 

28.Fairy Garden 101 by Fiona McDonald

 

27.  House of Mirth by Edith Wharton.   I thought I should try another Wharton book after I decided Ethan Frome was depressing.  This one was equally depressing.  I may try Age of Innocence.  I did enjoy the vocabulary in the book.

 

26.  Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen

25.  The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

24.  Dying in the Wool by Frances Brody

23.  Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton 

22. A Wish on Gardenia Street by Shelley Shepard Gray

21. Love Letters by Beverly Lewis

 20.  The Atonement by Beverly Lewis

19.  Big Girl Panties By Stephanie Evanovich

18.  Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold by Ellen O'Connell and a brief sequel called Rachel's Eyes.

17  Trolley Car Days by Ruth Kane 

16.  The Triumph of Wm. McKinley by Karl Rove    

15.  Defending Jacob By Wm. Landay

14. The Decision by Wanda Brunstetter

13.  Five Miles South of Peculiar by Angela Hunt

12.  The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

11. In the Time of the Butterflies Julia Alvarez   

10.  The Sound of Things Falling  by Juan Gabriel Vásquez

9.  DIY Succulents:  From Placecards to Wreaths by Tawni Daigle

8.  The Scarlett Thread by Francine Rivers on audio.

7. Travels with Casey by Benoit Denizet-Lewis

6.  The Rescuer Suzanne Woods Fisher

5.  A Town Like Alice  by Nevil Shute

4.  Jackson Bog by Michael Witt.  
3.  Toward the Sunrise by Elizabeth Camden     

2.  Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin

1.  Crucial Conversations by Patterson and Grenny

[Violet Crown]

Boats (or parts of them) can be taken apart to copy and then put back together again. Often dummy parts are put in place to support things while a piece is removed. Your silver thief did it all at once in a continuous process and all the original bits still exist intact (unlike a boat which has been repaired over time) so I,d say the silver boat was just moved to the neighboring shed.

 

We all, boats and people, grow and change over time, sometimes unrecognizably. And anyway, why can,t things multiply? Why can,t the tin man have turned into two tin men? If you have to label one original, the one with your heart and memories is the original boat and the one with the soul and memories is the original tin man and at the point where they are equal in weight, you have two.

 

Still not getting it lol...

 

Well, perhaps there's after all nothing to get. Don't tell dh's employer.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I just finished listening to The Remains of the Day with my freshly-minted college graduate and we both really liked it.  It was sad though!  Now I'd like to explore more of Ishiguro's writing.  Any recommendations?

 

Never Let Me Go is a good one. Very different from The Remains of the Day, but I enjoyed it, and found it very thought-provoking.

 

I have been side tracked with my reading because I am in home school recovery (you know the time of year when you deep clean everything and/or put away everything you were unable to get to during the school year) and then I discovered the series  A Place to Call Home.  I watched season 1 and 2 when I should have been reading.  

 

28.Fairy Garden 101 by Fiona McDonald

 

27.  House of Mirth by Edith Wharton.   I thought I should try another Wharton book after I decided Ethan Frome was depressing.  This one was equally depressing.  I may try Age of Innocence.  I did enjoy the vocabulary in the book.

 

 

 

I read Ethan Frome in high school, and it scared me off Edith Wharton for years. I liked House of Mirth okay, but IMHO The Age of Innocence is far, far better. I'm re-reading it right now and loving, again, the deft way that the character of Newland Archer is slowly unpeeled. I feel like Wharton is there, beside me, watching Newland and commenting on him, in a gently mocking way. She loves him, but she sees his flaws.  I can't really express what I mean, but I think that the way that this character is constructed is truly masterful. Love this book.

[Rosie_0801]

 I have no argument with the idea that there is philosophy in children,s books. I thought that was half the point. ("My mother says some days are like that. Even in Australia." Viorst) 

 

I can confirm this.  :tongue_smilie:

[Ali in OR]

I have been side tracked with my reading because I am in home school recovery (you know the time of year when you deep clean everything and/or put away everything you were unable to get to during the school year) 

 

Love this. I hope to be in recovery in a day or two (still working on that final essay...sigh.)

[Nan in Mass]

I have been side tracked with my reading because I am in home school recovery (you know the time of year when you deep clean everything and/or put away everything you were unable to get to during the school year) ...

  

 

It always seemed like I should love the ending of school but it never worked out that way until after we,d been on vacation for awhile and I stopped mourning the things we didn,t get to and my fast growing children and settled into our more timeless summer lives.

 

Well, perhaps there's after all nothing to get. Don't tell dh's employer.

 

 

Lol

 

 

I can confirm this.  :tongue_smilie:

Have you read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day?

 

Nan

[Chrysalis Academy]

Morgan and I finally finished reading Castle Corona by Sharon Creech.  I was underwhelmed by this book. Entirely skippable.

 

I finished a re-read of With Rigor for All, a great book about teaching literature to middle and high school students. More focused on classroom teaching, but useful nontheless.

[Kareni]

Given the philosophical theme this week, I thought I'd mention a book about which I've heard favorable things; the description sounds quite witty.  It is on sale currently for $1.99 for Kindle readers.

 

Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story by Leonie Swann

 

"A witty philosophical murder mystery with a charming twist: the crack detectives are sheep determined to discover who killed their beloved shepherd.

On a hillside near the cozy Irish village of Glennkill, the members of the flock gather around their shepherd, George, whose body lies pinned to the ground with a spade. George has cared for the sheep, reading them a plethora of books every night. The daily exposure to literature has made them far savvier about the workings of the human mind than your average sheep. Led by Miss Maple, the smartest sheep in Glennkill (and possibly the world), they set out to find George’s killer.

The A-team of investigators includes Othello, the “bad-boy†black ram; Mopple the Whale, a merino who eats a lot and remembers everything; and Zora, a pensive black-faced ewe with a weakness for abysses. Joined by other members of the richly talented flock, they engage in nightlong discussions about the crime and wild metaphysical speculations, and they embark on reconnaissance missions into the village, where they encounter some likely suspects. There’s Ham, the terrifying butcher; Rebecca, a village newcomer with a secret and a scheme; Gabriel, the shady shepherd of a very odd flock; and Father Will, a sinister priest. Along the way, the sheep confront their own all-too-human struggles with guilt, misdeeds, and unrequited love.

Three Bags Full is already an international hit. “It’s rather as if Agatha Christie had re-written The Wind in the Willows, and I ended by loving it, â€Jane Jakeman wrote in The Independent. Funny, fresh, and endearing, it introduces a wonderful breed of detectives to American readers."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

[ErinE]

I just finished listening to The Remains of the Day with my freshly-minted college graduate and we both really liked it. It was sad though! Now I'd like to explore more of Ishiguro's writing. Any recommendations?

My favorite book - it is perfect.

 

Never Let Me Go is good, a step out from his normal genre.

 

I also liked An Artist of the Floating World.

[JennW in SoCal]

Given the philosophical theme this week, I thought I'd mention a book about which I've heard favorable things; the description sounds quite witty.  It is on sale currently for $1.99 for Kindle readers.

 

Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story by Leonie Swann

 

"A witty philosophical murder mystery with a charming twist: the crack detectives are sheep determined to discover who killed their beloved shepherd."

 

 

You need to start getting kickbacks on Amazon from all the books I've bought based on your recommendations.  Of course, most of them are either free or $1.99, so your percentage would be small!

 

This sounds right up my alley.  Of course in my mind's eye the sheep will all look like Shaun the Sheep...