Book a Week 2016 - BW31: august peregrinations

[Chrysalis Academy]

I think Rose was the one who first raved about it....(?)

 

 

I think so, but I suspect I learned about it from one of Kareni's fascinating links. Tor maybe? Or maybe one of yours? I've got a ton of books on my lists with no memory of how they got there.

 

I'm glad people are enjoying the series. I liked the first book of the trilogy best, and found the 2nd the weakest of the three, but like where the story arc went and how he resolved it. So it's worth reading on, IMHO.

[Lady Florida.]

For those of you who use Goodreads are you serious about a Don't Read shelf? Unless there's a setting I haven't found, you can't change the three default shelves - Read, Want to Read, and Currently Reading. I thought you couldn't put a book on one of the other shelves without also putting them on a default shelf. 

 

I have both a Gave Up, Not Worth My Time shelf and a Finish Another Time shelf, but for both of those I had to also put the books on a default shelf (I chose To Read) because it wouldn't let me just put them on the shelf I created. I'd love to be able to change that. I stopped putting books on my Gave Up shelf for that reason.

Edited August 6, 2016 by Lady Florida.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I finished Edward II - the Marlowe play. I read it as a read-along for HotRW, and because we might spend next year doing Elizabethan drama.  I am familiar with the history of this time period, and I've read several fictional accounts of the life & death of Edward II, Isabella & Mortimer, etc. so the context of the play was familiar.  I probably need to do a lot more background reading on "history plays" as a phenomena. Clearly they aren't intended to be accurate history, the medium itself makes that impossible. This play is a good example - 20+ years of Edward II's reign are compressed into a single drama. The impression created - that the events all happened back to back - makes it impossible to understand or interpret them historically.  So, clearly that's not the point. Then what is? I think we must be intended to glean a message from the dramatic story, but I'm a little hard pressed to know exactly what that message is. It's a play written and staged in the later years of Elizabeth's reign, a time when her personal power & control was waning somewhat, her trusted elder advisors had died, and a younger generation was vying for power, amid the uncertainty of the succession. The play is full of the conflict between the ruler, focused on his own selfish desires and heedless of both his people and his powerful barons, vs. the barons - the old aristocracy - who are jealous of the favors given to someone they consider a commoner. Neither side is portrayed very positively. 

 

A couple of surprising things about the play: the nature of the relationship between Edward and Gaveston is very frankly portrayed as sexual, and quite sympathetically, really. There are a ton of classical allusions, including having Edward call on Jove in prayer, rather than Jesus, which I found somewhat anachronistic! It's mildly anti-catholic, which fits its time, but certainly wouldn't have been historically accurate in Edward's time.  Isabella is portrayed surprisingly positively in the early part of the play, and seems more to have come under the sway of her lover Mortimer, rather than being a force of evil in her own right.  The only real villain of the piece is Mortimer, which I suppose makes sense from whatever POV you look at it - a usurping lord would be bad news.

 

Anyway, interesting read and quite wonderful language, definitely on a level with The Bard, I think. I'll be reading more of Shakespeare's history plays in the coming months and it will be interesting to compare them.

[Chrysalis Academy]

For those of you who use Goodreads are you serious about a Don't Read shelf? Unless there's a setting I haven't found, you can't change the three default shelves - Read, Want to Read, and Currently Reading. I thought you couldn't put a book on one of the other shelves without also putting them on a default shelf. 

 

I have both a Gave Up, Not Worth My Time shelf and a Finish Another Time shelf, but for both of those I had to also put the books on a default shelf (I chose To Read) because it wouldn't let me just put them on the shelf I created. I'd love to be able to change that. I stopped putting books on my Gave Up shelf for that reason.

 

Kathy, I checked how I have it set up, and you're right - everyone has the 3 default shelves, but you can add another shelf (mine is called Abandoned) and mark it Exclusive in the settings, and then it can be another default shelf.  So the books I have on the Abandoned shelf just show up there, not on Read, Want to Read, or Currently reading.  For your various Not-To-Read shelves, I think you can check them as "exclusive" in the Edit Shelf settings, and then you'll be able to put books there  and not have them show up on your To-Read list.

[Lady Florida.]

Kathy, I checked how I have it set up, and you're right - everyone has the 3 default shelves, but you can add another shelf (mine is called Abandoned) and mark it Exclusive in the settings, and then it can be another default shelf.  So the books I have on the Abandoned shelf just show up there, not on Read, Want to Read, or Currently reading.  For your various Not-To-Read shelves, I think you can check them as "exclusive" in the Edit Shelf settings, and then you'll be able to put books there  and not have them show up on your To-Read list.

 

Oh thank you! I'll re-defined those shelves as exclusive.

[Mom-ninja.]

Today I finished Genevieve Cogman's The Invisible Library (The Invisible Library Novel) which I had started last week.  It was an enjoyable read and a storythat I could envision as a movie.  I see that the sequel is coming out next month, and I'll be requesting it from the library.

 

"One thing any Librarian will tell you: the truth is much stranger than fiction...

 

Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, a shadowy organization that collects important works of fiction from all of the different realities. Most recently, she and her enigmatic assistant Kai have been sent to an alternative London. Their mission: Retrieve a particularly dangerous book. The problem: By the time they arrive, it's already been stolen.

 

London's underground factions are prepared to fight to the death to find the tome before Irene and Kai do, a problem compounded by the fact that this world is chaos-infested—the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic to run rampant. To make matters worse, Kai is hiding something—secrets that could be just as volatile as the chaos-filled world itself.

 

Now Irene is caught in a puzzling web of deadly danger, conflicting clues, and sinister secret societies. And failure is not an option—because it isn’t just Irene’s reputation at stake, it’s the nature of reality itself..."

 

Regards,

Kareni

Now this looks like a good book. 

 

I finished Over Sea, Under Stone to see if my kids might enjoy it. I think it will be perfect for my little one who is all about being a spy and fighting bad guys. 

 

I've started listening to Troublemaker and I'm already  :scared:  at some of the things she's experienced as a child in Scientology. 

 

I'm reading Love in the Time of Cholera to fill in a BINGO square. I am enjoying his writing, but not being too far into the book yet I'm getting the vibes that the boyfriend is an obsessive stalker. Had my experience with one of those in high school. No thank you. Shudder. 

 

Sad news in my life is that 97 yr old grandpa is in the hospital, and my cat is back in the kitty clinic with bladder stones. Stressful news in my life is I took my oldest for a driving lesson (he just got his permit) and by the time I got out of the car I sprouted grey hair and almost  :svengo: when I got home. 

[Lady Florida.]

 

 

Sad news in my life is that 97 yr old grandpa is in the hospital, and my cat is back in the kitty clinic with bladder stones. Stressful news in my life is I took my oldest for a driving lesson (he just got his permit) and by the time I got out of the car I sprouted grey hair and almost  :svengo: when I got home. 

 

:grouphug: Mom-ninja  :grouphug:

[Robin M]

 

Sad news in my life is that 97 yr old grandpa is in the hospital, and my cat is back in the kitty clinic with bladder stones. Stressful news in my life is I took my oldest for a driving lesson (he just got his permit) and by the time I got out of the car I sprouted grey hair and almost  :svengo: when I got home. 

Hugs and prayers for grandpa and your fur baby.   Commiserations on your oldest getting his permit. I taught my brother to drive because I had more patience than my dad.  As far as my now 17 year old. Seriously doubt he'll be learning for a couple more years.   I think he plans on walking everywhere.   :lol:

[JennW in SoCal]

  As far as my now 17 year old. Seriously doubt he'll be learning for a couple more years.   I think he plans on walking everywhere.   :lol:

 

Ahem. I have a 21yo who STILL doesn't have a license!  He went to college in a small, walkable Ohio town, now he's teaching English in a small, walkable Japanese town with easy access to the excellent national train system.

 

But yeah -- those first times riding shot gun with a newly permitted-teen behind the wheel are :scared:!  Probably the most terrifying moments in life!  

 

Here's hoping you have some warm, fuzzies in your life, mom-ninja, to counter the sad and stressful stuff.

[idnib]

 

Sad news in my life is that 97 yr old grandpa is in the hospital, and my cat is back in the kitty clinic with bladder stones. 

 

 

:grouphug:

[mumto2]

:grouphug: Mom ninja

 

Another Dd18 who has her permit but hasn't driven a single time. No serious interest.

[Stacia]

:grouphug: :grouphug:  Mom-ninja. Hope your grandpa isn't suffering.

 

Sorry about your kitty too. I had a cat who developed crystalizations (sp?) a lot (diet didn't help) & he ended up having the surgery & did great after that.

 

I know what you mean about the :svengo: with teen drivers. I'm having to force my 18yo to drive because she's starting college (commuting from home -- her choice), but DOESN'T DRIVE yet. I cannot commute back & forth 4x a day to take her/pick her up (esp. not w/ a high schooler in the house, working part-time, yada, yada).  :willy_nilly:  She doesn't like driving but is starting to understand the necessity. Mostly, for here, she has been on small roads & still goes too slowly; I have to keep telling her to speed up. (Everyone around here drives like motorway race cars & driving is pretty aggressive, so doing the minimum speed is necessary!) I just signed her up for some driving lessons too, just to give her more time in the car (& give my own heart/stress level a break), practicing w/ someone else. She starts those tomorrow. I've already told my ds (who is old enough for his permit but also has no interest in driving) that there is no way he is waiting until 18/going to college to learn. I told him he is learning next year. I know so many teens who have absolutely no interest in driving. Surprises me because I was one of those teens that went the first day I could both to get my permit & my license.

[Mom-ninja.]

Grandpa was just sent home. :hurray: 

 

My ds doesn't have much interest either, but we kind of made him get his permit. You have to have your permit for a minimum of a year before you can get a license, and we decided that if he needs to start driving to college he needed to be able to do so. He's just starting DE so I wanted him to get his permit now.  

[Stacia]

Glad to hear that your grandpa gets to go home. Hope he continues to do well!

[Lady Florida.]

I think connectivity has made today's young people not care about driving. They can talk to their friends and even see their faces online, so they don't always need to get together in person. Ds and his friends are gamers and they chat while playing online, several nights a week. In my day (she said in her old lady voice while brandishing her cane) we couldn't wait to drive. The only alternative to getting together with friends, was talking to only one friend on the phone until you got told to hang up "or else". This was before call waiting, so you tied up the phone. Plus it was only one friend at a time. None of this is an issue anymore and it's changed everything.

 

Ds was very excited about getting his learner's permit. You have to have it for one year and have a certain number of driving hours before you can test for a regular license, regardless of your age. His 15th birthday was on Labor Day that year so he had to wait a day, but he took the test and drove home from the DMV. At first he was excited to drive and he drove every chance he could, but the thrill wore off quickly. I often had to insist on him driving when we went somewhere, just so he could get the practice.

 

He was less than 2 months shy of turning 18  when I put my foot down (remember, he got the permit the day after he turned 15). We don't have decent public transit here and nowhere he goes is within walking (or even biking) distance, not to mention most of the year it's too hot to walk or ride a bike. I told him he needed to take the driving test, and I made an appointment for him. I knew if I just said he needed to schedule the test he'd put it off. He did very well - got 2 points taken off for something stupid we probably all would have done - and drove to his dual enrollment class the following day ( had already been driving him there for one term). At first I was nervous about letting him drive to class or anywhere else, but I told myself I shouldn't have had him get his license if I wasn't ready for him to drive alone.

 

I was a nervous mom the first few months of him driving alone because much of his driving is on the interstate. I always had him text me when he arrived at his destination, and text when he was heading home. I think that instilled the habit in him because long after I stopped requiring it, he continues to let me know what he's doing. He texts if he's stopping somewhere on the way home so I don't worry. He still lets me know if plans changed and he'll be somewhere other than where he said he'd be, or if he's going to be late.

 

He'll be 19 next month, so telling me these things is just a courtesy not a requirement/demand, but I'm glad he does it. And I'm not going to tell him to stop. :)

 

 

Edited August 6, 2016 by Lady Florida.

[Kareni]

  As far as my now 17 year old. Seriously doubt he'll be learning for a couple more years.   I think he plans on walking everywhere.   :lol:

 

 

Ahem. I have a 21yo who STILL doesn't have a license!  He went to college in a small, walkable Ohio town, now he's teaching English in a small, walkable Japanese town with easy access to the excellent national train system.

 

And my daughter has been out of college for a few years and has never learned to drive.  Her apartment in Seoul is across the street from the academy where she is teaching English, so her walking commute to work is under ten minutes. She routinely rides buses and the subway to get around town.

 

 

Grandpa was just sent home. :hurray:

 

Yay!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Several currently free Kindle books ~

 

The Girl from the North (Pathway of the Chosen Book 1)  by Cat Bruno

 

Unfinished Business: An Angela Panther Mystery Book One (The Angela Panther Mystery Series 1)  by Carolyn Ridder Aspenson

 

Gone Wild (Love in Midlife Series Book 2)  by Dakota Madison

 

Settling Up  by Eryn Scott

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kathleen.]

I read "Anne of Green Gables" by Lucy M. Montgomery. I remember this was a favorite when I was in high school. My 10yo read "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett and then we all watched the movie together.

☺

[Kareni]

Heading out of town soon for a five day camping trip with long time friends.

 

Happy reading all!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Lady Florida.]

Heading out of town soon for a five day camping trip with long time friends.

 

Happy reading all!

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Enjoy your trip.

[Robin M]

Link to week 32 - please continue conversation in new thread