Book a Week 2016 - BW42: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

[Mom-ninja.]

I finished The Haunting of Hill House. It was okay, but it had essence of The Turn of the Screw, which I hadn't really cared for.

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children is next. Hopefully it will at least be entertaining.

 

 

I've got 20 pgs left in Haunting.

[Kareni]

I finished the young adult novel Learning to Swear in America  by Katie Kennedy; I enjoyed this book quite a lot.  It had a droll humor that had me chuckling from time to time.

 

"An asteroid is hurtling toward Earth. A big, bad one. Maybe not kill-all-the-dinosaurs bad, but at least kill-everyone-in-California-and-wipe-out-Japan-with-a-tsunami bad. Yuri, a physicist prodigy from Russia, has been recruited to aid NASA as they calculate a plan to avoid disaster.

The good news is Yuri knows how to stop the asteroid--his research in antimatter will probably win him a Nobel prize if there's ever another Nobel prize awarded. But the trouble is, even though NASA asked for his help, no one there will listen to him. He's seventeen, and they've been studying physics longer than he's been alive.

Then he meets (pretty, wild, unpredictable) Dovie, who lives like a normal teenager, oblivious to the impending doom. Being with her, on the adventures she plans when he's not at NASA, Yuri catches a glimpse of what it means to save the world and live a life worth saving.

Prepare to laugh, cry, cringe, and have your mind burst open with the questions of the universe."

 

**

 

I also read The Tao of Hockey (Vancouver Vice Book 1)  by Melanie Ting; this was a pleasant read but probably not a book I'll re-read.  (Adult content)

 

"After being selected in the first round of the NHL draft, Eric Fairburn was in a car accident that destroyed his career. Now, five years later, he’s getting one last chance. If he can make the Vancouver Vice of the AHL, it could be the first step to making his hockey dreams come true. There are only two things standing in his way—the coach from hell and his own self-destructive ways.

The one talent he hasn’t lost is his way with women. So he’s surprised to be turned down by a mysterious woman he meets in a bar. Eric finds himself pursuing her when he should be focusing on hockey. Yet he’s drawn to her confidence and independence, believing that might be the key to fixing his own on-ice issues."

 

**

 

I read about 60 pages of the fantasy Song of Blood & Stone (Earthsinger Chronicles) (Volume 1)  by L. Penelope before putting it aside.  I was initially enjoying the book and then it lost me.

 

 

"Penelope delivers an engrossing story with delightful characters in this fantastic opening to a promising series." --Publishers Weekly starred review 

"Deft, vivid worldbuilding. Fascinating mythology. Deeply emotional romance." --Kit Rocha, New York Times Bestselling Author 


"Orphaned and alone, Jasminda is an outcast in her homeland of Elsira, where her magical abilities are feared. When ruthless soldiers seek refuge in her isolated cabin, they bring with them a captive--an injured spy who steals her heart. 

Jack's mission behind enemy lines nearly cost him his life, but he is saved by the healing power of a mysterious young woman. Together they embark on a perilous journey straight into the heart of a centuries-old conflict. 

Thrust into a hostile society, Jasminda and Jack must rely on one another even as secrets jeopardize their bond. As an ancient evil gains power, Jasminda races to unlock a mystery that promises salvation. 

The fates of two nations hang in the balance as Jasminda and Jack must choose between love and duty to fulfill their destinies and end the war."


** This multicultural, new adult, fantasy romance takes place in an alternate 1920s timeline with hints of steampunk, dieselpunk and decopunk. Perfect for those who want magic and adventure in their love stories. Recommended for readers 17+.

Winner of the 2016 Self-Publishing Ebook Award for Fiction from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association

 

 

I'll admit that the terms dieselpunk and decopunk are new to me!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Kareni - I don't know if I've told you this before but I really appreciate all the cool links you post.  You seem to find the most interesting things!  Thanks for taking the time to share them here. 

 

Thank you kindly!  I shall continue to do so.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Here's a link for Harry Potter fans.  I've noticed the occasional use of language that might trouble some.

 

The Setup Wizard:   Live Updates from the IT Crew, their Friends, and Students at Hogwarts

 

I've linked so that you can read in chronological order.  Have plenty of time when you begin.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

[Stacia]

Veering away from October spooky reading to start a book that came in for me at the library.

 

 

Limonov by Emmanuel Carrère.

 

A thrilling page-turner that also happens to be the biography of one of Russia's most controversial figures
 

This is how Emmanuel Carrère, the magnetic journalist, novelist, filmmaker, and chameleon, describes his subject: "Limonov is not a fictional character. There. I know him. He has been a young punk in Ukraine, the idol of the Soviet underground; a bum, then a multimillionaire's butler in Manhattan; a fashionable writer in Paris; a lost soldier in the Balkans; and now, in the fantastic shambles of postcommunism, the elderly but charismatic leader of a party of young desperadoes. He sees himself as a hero; you might call him a scumbag: I suspend my judgment on the matter. It's a dangerous life, an ambiguous life: a real adventure novel. It is also, I believe, a life that says something. Not just about him, Limonov, not just about Russia, but about all our history since the end of the Second World War."
 

So Eduard Limonov isn't fictional―but he might as well be. This pseudobiography isn't a novel, but it reads like one: from Limonov's grim childhood to his desperate, comical, ultimately successful attempts to gain the respect of Russia's literary intellectual elite; to his immigration to New York, then to Paris; to his return to the motherland. Limonov could be read as a charming picaresque. But it could also be read as a troubling counternarrative of the second half of the twentieth century, one that reveals a violence, an anarchy, a brutality, that the stories we tell ourselves about progress tend to conceal.

 

ETA: I've read a third of it tonight. It moves along at a good clip & is alternately inspiring & horrifying. (Caveat: some delicate readers may be offended by the frank sexual talk in the book.) In a way, it reminds me of Dancer by Colum McCann (a book I read years ago & loved).

Edited October 20, 2016 by Stacia

[Violet Crown]

This evening I read Matthew Arnold's "The Scholar-Gipsy," which may be the most famous poem in English I'd never read. (Unless you count "Hiawatha.") I've read it through several times now and am still not quite sure what's going on in it.

 

I wonder if trying to read Arnold's collected poetry straight through was wise.

 

O born in days when wits were fresh and clear,

And life ran gaily as the sparkling Thames;

Before this strange disease of modern life,

With its sick hurry, its divided aims,

Its heads o'ertaxed, its palsied hearts, was rife--

Fly hence, our contact fear!

Still fly, plunge deeper in the bowering wood!

Averse, as Dido did with gesture stern

From her false friend's approach in Hades turn,

Wave us away, and keep thy solitude!

Edited October 20, 2016 by Violet Crown

[ErinE]

What books have you given in the past and loved? I do that too. Our absolute favorites have been:

 

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

 

One year, between our many moves, we were staying with my in-laws for Christmas. For several years, I have read "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" to my kids in the days before the holiday. My nephews were visiting when bedtime rolled around so I pulled out the book and began reading. My children crowded around me eager to hear the story, and my nephews were skeptical.

 

One nephew turned to his mother and says, "Why is Aunt Erin reading?"

 

After a few paragraphs, they were hooked. As they were leaving, they made me promise I wouldn't read any more until they could hear it. The next three days, they came over just to hear the story. I finished the book on Christmas Eve. They loved it.

 

The next year, they went to see the play and brought me back a t-shirt. It was the best gift.

Edited October 20, 2016 by ErinE

[ErinE]

Finished:

 

A Nun in the Closet by Dorothy Gilman - I almost gave up on this about fifty pages in but it just felt too silly.  I'm glad I didn't because it ended up being an entertaining story.  Nuns.  Hippies.  Suits.  A mystery.  An over-the-top unbelievable ending.  It's by the same author as the Mrs. Polifax books so I suspect if you like those you'd enjoy this.

 

If anyone wants this book let me know and I'll send it your way otherwise it's getting donated to the library.  I'm willing to mail over the Pond also.

 

It sounds interesting. I'd love to read it if it's still available.

[Onceuponatime]

This evening I read Matthew Arnold's "The Scholar-Gipsy," which may be the most famous poem in English I'd never read. (Unless you count "Hiawatha.") I've read it through several times now and am still not quite sure what's going on in it.

 

I wonder if trying to read Arnold's collected poetry straight through was wise.

 

 

It looks like Matthew Arnold thinks you might be better off not reading his poetry because he is untrustworthy, but it also looks like you might have already been corrupted. 😉

[Woodland Mist Academy]

I finished We Have Always Lived in the Castle. After reading the posts about it, I should have known to clear my schedule and hide myself in the study with a mug of spiced apple cider.  (Not berries and sugar, mind you--I've sworn off sugar for good... :ack2: )

 

Just reading the book straight through one evening would have made it even more enjoyable. I hated stepping away from it. I don't always feel this way... some books I like to read and ponder over a period of months and months; they become like friends. Not sure I want to be friends with any of the characters in this book...

 

Although....

 

Did anyone else get drawn in by the daily, weekly, seasonal rhythm? In some ways the most disturbing part of the book was that I could relate to so much of what was written...it seemed so ...normal....

 

Edited October 20, 2016 by Woodland Mist Academy

[Little Nyssa]

I've been rereading The Secret Garden with my daughter. It's such a terrific book, but one sad thing struck me that never did before-- perhaps because I've been recently reading L.M.Montgomery's journals and a biography of her and there was much sad information on her & her husband's overuse of sleeping medications-- there was a reference to the nurse asking Colin if he took his bromide. I realized that they must have been giving Colin a lot of medications to calm him down and make him sleep-- it must have been a horrifying existence for the child, which is not gone into in great detail, as it is really a children's book... his horrible fears plus the isolation plus drugs... thus his awakening to the garden and to normal human life is also his release from the nightmarish existence of bromides, and who knows? Perhaps veronal, morphine, etc. :( This would be why, when Mary shows up, he thinks she is just another phantasm of a nightmare.

 

Still making my way slowly through Andre Brink's excellent book Writing in a State of Siege (about being a white South African writer with a conscience, under apartheid). I tried his fiction, starting with Phillida, the only volume our library has, but it was not that good... I'll be trying another though.

 

Tried reading Auden... could not get into it: too wordy. I will try him again, but with a volume of just his very best selected poems. I don't want to give him up, because Alexander McCall Smith is so fond of him! Does anyone have any favorites of his?

 

:)

Nyssa

[JennW in SoCal]

Here's a nice article about The Wide Sargasso Sea and other works that "give voice to the marginalized and maligned" characters from other great works.  

 

The Book that Changed Jane Eyre Forever

 

Still haven't read Sargasso Sea. I remember checking it out from my local library but giving up after a page due to the miniature font!

[idnib]

Did anyone else get drawn in by the daily, weekly, seasonal rhythm? In some ways the most disturbing part of the book was that I could relate to so much of what was written...it seemed so ...normal....

 

 

I did, which is interesting to me because I usually resist ideas such as cleaning a specific room on a particular day each week. I found myself wanting to join them for breakfast in the garden, or for tea in the afternoon.

 

I think that was a deliberate move on Jackson's part, and in a way the story was more creepy because of it. I could see an alternative lifetime in which this was really a wonderful way to live, without the dark undercurrent. It reminded me a lot of Grey Gardens, the documentary about Jackie Kennedy's two cousins who lived a reclusive life in a house in the Hamptons.

Edited October 20, 2016 by idnib

[Stacia]

Although....

 

Did anyone else get drawn in by the daily, weekly, seasonal rhythm? In some ways the most disturbing part of the book was that I could relate to so much of what was written...it seemed so ...normal....

  

 

I did, which is interesting to me because I usually resist ideas such as cleaning a specific room on a particular day each week. I found myself wanting to join them for breakfast in the garden, or for tea in the afternoon.

 

I think that was a deliberate move on Jackson's part, and in a way the story was more creepy because of it. I could see an alternative lifetime in which this was really a wonderful way to live, without the dark undercurrent.

I noticed this too & agree that the 'normality' is what fed the creepy feeling. Mostly, I could identify with the parts of caring for/hanging out with the cat.

 

And Uncle Julian was awesome. Loved his character & the things he said/the way he said them.

[Violet Crown]

Nyssa,

 

I love Auden! When I was a schoolgirl I studied (and was made to memorize!) his "Musée des Beaux Arts," and I thought I'd never read anything so sad and beautiful in my life. So I have a special affection for that one. "Night Mail" and "Stop All the Clocks" are rightly famous poems. And "Academic Graffiti" is light but fun.

 

And then, all his other poems. :)

[aggieamy]

It sounds interesting. I'd love to read it if it's still available.

 

It's yours.  PM me your address and I'll send it your way. 

[aggieamy]

I've been rereading The Secret Garden with my daughter. It's such a terrific book, but one sad thing struck me that never did before-- perhaps because I've been recently reading L.M.Montgomery's journals and a biography of her and there was much sad information on her & her husband's overuse of sleeping medications-- there was a reference to the nurse asking Colin if he took his bromide. I realized that they must have been giving Colin a lot of medications to calm him down and make him sleep-- it must have been a horrifying existence for the child, which is not gone into in great detail, as it is really a children's book... his horrible fears plus the isolation plus drugs... thus his awakening to the garden and to normal human life is also his release from the nightmarish existence of bromides, and who knows? Perhaps veronal, morphine, etc. :( This would be why, when Mary shows up, he thinks she is just another phantasm of a nightmare.

 

:)

Nyssa

 

That is a fascinating and sad thought.  It adds a bit of a gothic touch to The Secret Garden.  It really makes sense because how else would you keep a ten year old boy calm and still?  Even sick ones don't usually want to sleep the day away. 

 

DD and I reread it about a year ago and had a fascinating conversation on who Mary ended up marrying.  She was a romantic and I was practical.   

 

[Jane in NC]

It took me forever to finish reading Hamlet, Revenge! by Michael Innes. The book is slow going--not a mystery for those who want action or quick results.  This is an analytic country house mystery with 31 potential suspects.  Rabbit trails galore are followed. 

 

I was not enamoured with it but still enjoyed the way that Hamlet the play was woven into the novel.

 

Another book that I read recently was something Stacia sent to me, Season of Migraton to the North by Tayeb Salib (translated from the Arabic).  There were moments when I felt the prose was really beautiful yet the content took some troubling turns. 

 

Stacia, I left this book with a steward onboard our small PNW boat.  When she had an afternoon off on Orcas Island, the young woman made a beeline to the bookstore.  Admittedly, I gave her the volume with some caveats.  She took one look, thanked me, and dashed to her cabin to drop it off!!

 

 

[ErinE]

I finished We Have Always Lived in the Castle. After reading the posts about it, I should have known to clear my schedule and hide myself in the study with a mug of spiced apple cider.  (Not berries and sugar, mind you--I've sworn off sugar for good... :ack2: )

 

Just reading the book straight through one evening would have made it even more enjoyable. I hated stepping away from it. I don't always feel this way... some books I like to read and ponder over a period of months and months; they become like friends. Not sure I want to be friends with any of the characters in this book...

 

Although....

 

Did anyone else get drawn in by the daily, weekly, seasonal rhythm? In some ways the most disturbing part of the book was that I could relate to so much of what was written...it seemed so ...normal....

 

 

I did, which is interesting to me because I usually resist ideas such as cleaning a specific room on a particular day each week. I found myself wanting to join them for breakfast in the garden, or for tea in the afternoon.

 

I think that was a deliberate move on Jackson's part, and in a way the story was more creepy because of it. I could see an alternative lifetime in which this was really a wonderful way to live, without the dark undercurrent. It reminded me a lot of Grey Gardens, the documentary about Jackie Kennedy's two cousins who lived a reclusive life in a house in the Hamptons.

 

 

  

 

I noticed this too & agree that the 'normality' is what fed the creepy feeling. Mostly, I could identify with the parts of caring for/hanging out with the cat.

 

And Uncle Julian was awesome. Loved his character & the things he said/the way he said them.

 

Shirley Jackson battled anxiety, agoraphobia, small town pettiness, and a dog of a husband. The Franklin biography goes into detail about Jackson's thoughts and motivations behind writing the novel. She changed the main character, stripped out backstory, and arrived at a spare, creepy story. It was her last, and arguably, best published work.

Edited October 20, 2016 by ErinE

[Laura in CA]

Nyssa,

 

I love Auden! When I was a schoolgirl I studied (and was made to memorize!) his "Musée des Beaux Arts," and I thought I'd never read anything so sad and beautiful in my life. So I have a special affection for that one. "Night Mail" and "Stop All the Clocks" are rightly famous poems. And "Academic Graffiti" is light but fun.

 

And then, all his other poems. :)

 

 

Same here. As a follow-on, we also read William Carlos Williams' Landscape with the Fall of Icarus. The first line of the Auden and the last line of the Williams often come unbidden to mind, such as at a recent interment with full military honors for a 21-year-old friend of my son's; we were in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge and sailboats were passing serenely by – unspeakable grief juxtaposed with great beauty and also indifference. Poems you read as a child/young adult become part of you. 

 

The memoirs I posted about upthread (Lord Berners') are full of allusions – literary, classical, Biblical – most of which were lost on me (thank goodness for Google! :) ). I don't think he was necessarily showing off; they were just part of the fabric of his being.

 

I will check out the other Auden poems you mention – thanks!

[Laura in CA]

I've been rereading The Secret Garden with my daughter. It's such a terrific book, but one sad thing struck me that never did before-- perhaps because I've been recently reading L.M.Montgomery's journals and a biography of her and there was much sad information on her & her husband's overuse of sleeping medications-- there was a reference to the nurse asking Colin if he took his bromide. I realized that they must have been giving Colin a lot of medications to calm him down and make him sleep-- it must have been a horrifying existence for the child, which is not gone into in great detail, as it is really a children's book... his horrible fears plus the isolation plus drugs... thus his awakening to the garden and to normal human life is also his release from the nightmarish existence of bromides, and who knows? Perhaps veronal, morphine, etc. :( This would be why, when Mary shows up, he thinks she is just another phantasm of a nightmare.

 

 

 

Very interesting; thanks! One of my favorite books ever, and one that my boys enjoyed also. That explains a lot.

[Rosie_0801]

I finished reading 'Small Business for Dummies' last night. Learning about things might be the first step towards learning to do them. :p

[Kareni]

... as at a recent interment with full military honors for a 21-year-old friend of my son's; we were in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge and sailboats were passing serenely by – unspeakable grief juxtaposed with great beauty and also indifference.

 

My sympathies, Laura, to you and your son on the death of his friend.  The death of a child or young adult is particularly sad -- all that unrealized promise.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Some time ago someone on the thread posted about a favorite children's book.  I just received a copy from the library and had the chance to read it.  I liked it very much.

 

The Enemy  by Davide Cali and Serge Bloch

 

From Booklist

“Every morning I shoot at him. Then he shoots at me.†The words and pictures are minimal in this picture book, with just a short sentence and a small khaki-colored ink drawing on almost every white page. A uniformed soldier in a hole shoots an enemy in a hole on the opposite page. The soldier knows from the manual that “the enemy is not a human being,†that the enemy will kill families and pets, burn down forests, and poison water. The spare trench-warfare scenarios evoke World War I as the soldier crawls to the enemy’s hole and discovers their connections, including loving family photos and battle manuals filled with untruths. In eloquent contrast to the close-ups of the two small holes and barbed wire are the big double-page views of what the soldiers share: the starry night and the stormy sky. The elemental peace message will spark discussion. Add this to the core collection column, Peace Not War in the November 1 issue of Booklist. Grades 2-4. --Hazel Rochman

 

Starred Review, School Library Journal, April 2009:
"Poignant, thought-provoking, and powerful in its frankness and simplicity, this short piece will prompt discussion on war and other means of resolving conflict."

Review, The Wall Street Journal, April 25-26, 2009:
"Think of it as a kind of 'All Quiet on the Western Front' for the elementary-school set, though with chic, inventive illustration by Serge Bloch."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[mumto2]

Laura, My sympathies also. :grouphug:

[Chrysalis Academy]

I started, then abandoned Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff. I enjoyed his Set This House in Order, and I think he's a great writer, but this book was not inviting. Events in the real world, and recent reads like Underground Airlines, Between the World and Me, and The New Jim Crow highlights the horrors of the treatment of African Americans in the country's past and present, and that is horrible enough in its own right. Adding the supernatural element is just . . . jarring, for me.

 

Jane, Hamlet Revenge just arrived here, it's good to be forewarned that I may need my detective's notebook to keep the characters straight!

 

Sadie, I'll agree that Had-Seed is dragging a bit for me too, but I'm persisting.

 

Stacia, I received the package - thank you! And I hope to make it to the PO today to send yours off.

 

Jenn, I have read Sargasso Sea a couple of times, and I like it although it don't really feel the connection to Jane Eyre - Rochester is too different in it to feel like the same character. But I like it in its own right very much, as a book about colonial culture, cultural misunderstandings, exploitation and madness. I always found Bertha a fascinating character.  I have The Madwoman in the Attic on hold and am looking forward to reading it.

 

Ok, I think that catches me up with page 3 of this thread . . . 

[Jane in NC]

Here's a nice article about The Wide Sargasso Sea and other works that "give voice to the marginalized and maligned" characters from other great works.  

 

The Book that Changed Jane Eyre Forever

 

Still haven't read Sargasso Sea. I remember checking it out from my local library but giving up after a page due to the miniature font!

 

 

Jenn, I have read Sargasso Sea a couple of times, and I like it although it don't really feel the connection to Jane Eyre - Rochester is too different in it to feel like the same character. But I like it in its own right very much, as a book about colonial culture, cultural misunderstandings, exploitation and madness. I always found Bertha a fascinating character.  I have The Madwoman in the Attic on hold and am looking forward to reading it.

 

 

Through the wonders of a working search engine, I was able to find my comments on Sargasso Sea that I wrote in '14:

 

 

Jean Rhys created one of the more provocative examinations of racial identity that I have read in Wide Sargasso Sea.  The term "victim"  seems to apply to both Antoinette and Rochester in this pre-quel to Jane Eyre.  Known later to us as the mad woman Bertha, Antoinette is introduced to us as a Creole living in Jamaica's changing world after the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833.  Her father had been a cruel slave owner left impoverished after abolition.  He subsequently drank himself to death leaving a wife, daughter and mentally disabled son on a crumbling estate surrounded by the people whom he formerly abused.  The European whites view white Caribbeans (i.e. Creoles) as inferior while the black Jamaicans were not inclined to associate with former slave masters. The family's monetary problems are later solved when her mother remarries.  In fact, it is her step-father who leaves Antoinette half of his estate, assuring her future financial stability--if only life were that simple then.

 

Rochester (a name that does not enter the book although part of the story is told through his eyes) is a second son. Because of primogeniture, he must find his way in the world financially.  Behind the scenes machinations pair him with Antoinette--under the law of "feme covert" her property became her husband's.  Love or respect did not enter into the relationship; he performs the act of a dutiful son and marries the woman selected for him.  Later he learns that madness runs in the family, that his wife's father seems to have a bevy of mixed race children on several islands, children of his slaves who were then abandoned.

 

Rochester does not redeem himself--nor would we expect him to when we see the picture that Bronte created of him.  We might understand him a tad better through the speculations of Rhys.  We certainly see the complexity behind the mad woman in the attic. 

 

Rhys made this statement on colonial abuse in 1966.  It is not a particularly comfortable book to read but certainly worthwhile.  Should your high schooler who loves Jane Eyre attempt it?  Maybe--I would say that it might depend on your student's maturity and historical knowledge base.  The reactions to the patriarchal society which enslaved humans are raw.  Sensitive readers beware!

[Woodland Mist Academy]

I did, which is interesting to me because I usually resist ideas such as cleaning a specific room on a particular day each week. 

 

I must confess to "neatening the house" almost immediately after putting the book down. (Partly because of the frequent mention of it in the story, but mostly because by the end I was so thankful to have a home to neaten.)

 

 

I found myself wanting to join them for breakfast in the garden, or for tea in the afternoon.

 

 

Reading about breakfast in the garden, tea in the afternoon, and wanderings through the woods made me wistful for the early childhood years of mothering. 

The drawing of the curtains and checking of the doors were familiar as well. 

 

Takeaways from We Have Always Lived in the Castle:

 

1. More breakfasts and teas out-of-doors

2. Neaten the house more regularly

3. Be kind

4. Have cardboard, hammer, and nails at the ready for those times when curtains just aren't enough

5. NO SUGAR

 

 

 

I think that was a deliberate move on Jackson's part, and in a way the story was more creepy because of it. I could see an alternative lifetime in which this was really a wonderful way to live, without the dark undercurrent. It reminded me a lot of Grey Gardens, the documentary about Jackie Kennedy's two cousins who lived a reclusive life in a house in the Hamptons.

 

Thanks for mentioning Grey Gardens! I'm adding it to my list now!

 

  

I noticed this too & agree that the 'normality' is what fed the creepy feeling. Mostly, I could identify with the parts of caring for/hanging out with the cat.

 

And Uncle Julian was awesome. Loved his character & the things he said/the way he said them.

 

Me too. I love the dimension he brought with him and the tenderness he evoked. 

 

Shirley Jackson battled anxiety, agoraphobia, small town pettiness, and a dog of a husband. The Franklin biography goes into detail about Jackson's thoughts and motivations behind writing the novel. She changed the main character, stripped out backstory, and arrived at a spare, creepy story. It was her last, and arguably, best published work.

 

Interesting! Thanks for mentioning this! I will look into the biography.

[Mom-ninja.]

Finished The Haunting of Hill House and found it to be, eh, not her best work. I predicted what was going to happen as soon as the story about the man on his horse was told. It was obvious who it was going to happen to.

 

I also finished The Hot Zone about Ebola. Now that was a scary read! I want an updated edition. 

 

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

 

 

I also finished The Hot Zone about Ebola. Now that was a scary read! I want an updated edition. 

 

Well then, may I highly recommend this book:

 

Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, by David Quammen, published in 2012. It was fantastic. It came out before the most recent Ebola outbreak, my understanding is that his Ebola: The Natural and Human History of a Deadly Virus from late 2014 takes the Ebola chapter from Spillover and updates and expands it to include those "ripped from the headlines" events.  I haven't read the second one yet, but the first one is highly recommended. I've liked every Quammen book I've read.

[Mom-ninja.]

Well then, may I highly recommend this book:

 

Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, by David Quammen, published in 2012. It was fantastic. It came out before the most recent Ebola outbreak, my understanding is that his Ebola: The Natural and Human History of a Deadly Virus from late 2014 takes the Ebola chapter from Spillover and updates and expands it to include those "ripped from the headlines" events.  I haven't read the second one yet, but the first one is highly recommended. I've liked every Quammen book I've read.

Wow, thanks. I put both (and a few others) on  my TBR list. 

[Ethel Mertz]

Just got back from a few days of vacation in Maine with old friends. I'm reading a new Leslie Meier mystery at the moment along with Patricia Bell-Scott's The Firebrand and the First Lady: Portrait of a Friendship: Pauli Murray, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Struggle for Social Justice. I have piles of laundry awaiting me as well.

[Mom-ninja.]

Am I allowed to admit that I love doing laundry? 

[Woodland Mist Academy]

Am I allowed to admit that I love doing laundry? 

 

Lest you be accused of being off topic.... 

 

 

(I have no memory of buying this book. I'm not quite sure why I still own it, but I do. :001_huh: )

Edited October 22, 2016 by Woodland Mist Academy

[Stacia]

Finished Limonov: The Outrageous Adventures of the Radical Soviet Poet Who Became a Bum in New York, a Sensation in France, and a Political Antihero in Russia by Emmanuel Carrere.

 

It's not quite a traditional biography, but it is a fascinating & fast-moving look at the man (admirable? reprehensible? both? neither?). Worth reading, especially for fans of world/international politics, outcasts, & rabble-rousers.

 

It was a Publishers Weekly Pick & got a starred review from them:

"This deft, timely translation of French writer and filmmaker Carrère’s sparkling 2011 biography of Edward Limonov is an enthralling portrait of a man and his times. The subtitle is no exaggeration: Limonov, a prolific and celebrated author, cofounder of Russia’s National Bolshevik Party, onetime coleader of the Drugaya Rossiya opposition movement, and current head of Strategy-31 (which organizes protests in Russia aimed at securing the right to peacefully assemble), has led an extraordinary life. Carrère suggests that Limonov’s haphazard turns—from budding poet, disillusioned émigré, New York City butler, and Parisian literary rock star to Russian countercultural maverick, Putin opponent, and political prisoner—have been prompted by his drive for adventure and fame. Though his behavior is frequently reprehensible (including his lasting flirtation with authoritarian and fascist figures), Carrère’s Limonov never dissolves in a mess of unfathomable contradictions. Instead, he emerges as a mirror through which the vortex of culture and politics in the late-Soviet and New Russian eras is reflected. In this astute, witty account, Limonov has found his ideal biographer. There are few more enjoyable descriptions of Russia today. (Oct.)"

[Little Nyssa]

Thank you to everyone who recommended poems by Auden! I just read those particular ones and liked them very much. I got a different volume of his poetry: his best selected poems. The first volume I had tried was his poems from the 1920s, which I did not really take to. I like better his things from the 1930s and 40s.

[Lori D.]

Just a few weeks back, my film class and I watched the 1931 version of Frankenstein directed by James Whale -- what a visual treat, with the extreme lighting, framing, camera angles, and set design, all very heavily influenced by the German Expressionism of the 1920s! We had some great discussion in class on the ethics, and I just finished grading their essays on that film -- some great insights from these high schoolers!

 

[Chrysalis Academy: we'll be watching Double Indemnity next semester as we focus on the conventions and themes of different film genres!]

 

Super busy this semester with researching, watching films, and creating/writing the material for this Intro to Film Analysis + Essay Writing class that I'm running this year, so time for reading and exposure to new books is taking a huge hit right now. :(

 

However, during spare moments for relaxation, I just re-read The Left Hand of Darkness (Le Guin) this week, and was re-delighted at the strong and poetic writing, and the detailed development of culture and character. Still a fantastic read even though it is over 45 years old!

 

"Ahead of us, cleared and revealed by the same vast sweep of the wind, lay twisted valleys, hundreds of feet below, full of ice and boulders. Across those valleys a great wall stood, a wall of ice, and raising our eyes up and still up to the rim of the wall we saw the Ice itself, the Gobrin Glacier, blinding and horizonless to the utmost north, a white, a white the eyes could not look on.

 

Here and there out of the valleys full of rubble and out of the cliffs and bends and masses of the great icefield's edge, black ridges rose; one great mass loomed up out of the plateau to the height of the gateway peaks we stood between, and from its side drifted heavily a mile-long wisp of smoke. Farther off there were others: peaks, pinnacles, black cindercones on the glacier. Smoke panted from fiery mouths that opened out of the ice. 

 

Estraven stood there in harness beside me looking at that magnificent and unspeakable desolation. 'I'm glad I have lived to see this,' he said."

 

BTW, in case anyone is interested, Ursula LeGuin has a website, complete with a blog that she adds to every few months, sometimes with some poetry or other fanciful bits of creative writing, interspersed with her thoughts and what's going on in her life at age 87. ;)

 

Edited October 22, 2016 by Lori D.

[Mom-ninja.]

Lest you be accused of being off topic.... 

 

 

(I have no memory of buying this book. I'm not quite sure why I still own it, but I do. :001_huh: )

 

I haven't read that book. My libraries don't have it. :(  I have read Laundry: The Home Comforts Books

 

 

 

 

Super busy this semester with researching, watching films, and creating/writing the material for this Intro to Film Analysis + Essay Writing class that I'm running this year, so time for reading and exposure to new books is taking a huge hit right now. :(

My ds has to write an essay about the movie Mona Lisa Smile. The topic is conflict. He watched the movie completely baffled. He looked at me and said, "That was one of the most boring and dumb movies I've ever watched." I guess much in that movie would go over the head of a 15 yr old boy.  :laugh:   This will be a tough assignment. 

[Chrysalis Academy]

Just a few weeks back, my film class and I watched the 1931 version of Frankenstein directed by James Whale -- what a visual treat, with the extreme lighting, framing, camera angles, and set design, all very heavily influenced by the German Expressionism of the 1920s! We had some great discussion in class on the ethics, and I just finished grading their essays on that film -- some great insights from these high schoolers!

 

[Chrysalis Academy: we'll be watching Double Indemnity next semester as we focus on the conventions and themes of different film genres!]

 

Super busy this semester with researching, watching films, and creating/writing the material for this Intro to Film Analysis + Essay Writing class that I'm running this year, so time for reading and exposure to new books is taking a huge hit right now. :(

 

However, during spare moments for relaxation, I just re-read The Left Hand of Darkness (Le Guin) this week, and was re-delighted at the strong and poetic writing, and the detailed development of culture and character. Still a fantastic read even though it is over 45 years old!

 

 

 

Your class sounds awesome! We're working on Our Town right now, and watched the wonderful Masterpiece/BBC production with Paul Newman as the Stage Manager. Then we're doing Gatsby and we'll watch the 2013 and the 1949 films, and then do a bunch of paired read/watch of film noirs and a few standalone films: Double Indemnity, The Maltese Falcon, The Long Goodbye, Sunset Boulevard, The Thin Man, and Rebecca.  So fun!

 

Left Hand of Darkness is one of my all-time favorite books.

 

I read The Postman Always Rings Twice last night. I didn't like it as much as Double Indemnity, but it was pretty good. I haven't seen that film, but it doesn't get the same rave reviews as some of the others - One of them I read says that Lana Turner was a star rather than an actress - ah, how some things stay the same.

 

Zombie Town opens today!! The teens have a show at 1 and 4 pm, and then we switch venues and do another week of Tech, then do shows next weekend.  Here's hoping that the three main interacting characters have got all their lines down solid - they were still pretty shaky in Act 2 during our final rehearsal.  Shannon is awesome, though - she does 3 characters, a pretentious San Francisco theater collective member, a Texan gravedigger, and a radio DJ. A nice stretch of roles to grow on!

[JennW in SoCal]

Zombie Town opens today!! The teens have a show at 1 and 4 pm, and then we switch venues and do another week of Tech, then do shows next weekend.  Here's hoping that the three main interacting characters have got all their lines down solid - they were still pretty shaky in Act 2 during our final rehearsal.  Shannon is awesome, though - she does 3 characters, a pretentious San Francisco theater collective member, a Texan gravedigger, and a radio DJ. A nice stretch of roles to grow on!

 

Here's to you in the tech booth and Shannon on stage --- "Break a Leg!!"

[Lady Florida.]

I haven't read that book. My libraries don't have it. :(  I have read Laundry: The Home Comforts Books

 

 

 

 

 

I don't have the laundry book but I do have Home Comforts by that author.

[idnib]

Well then, may I highly recommend this book:

 

Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, by David Quammen, published in 2012. It was fantastic. It came out before the most recent Ebola outbreak, my understanding is that his Ebola: The Natural and Human History of a Deadly Virus from late 2014 takes the Ebola chapter from Spillover and updates and expands it to include those "ripped from the headlines" events.  I haven't read the second one yet, but the first one is highly recommended. I've liked every Quammen book I've read.

 

Thanks for mentioning these. I will have to check them out! 

[Kareni]

My book group met Thursday evening to discuss Alice Hoffman's  The Dovekeepers; we had a good discussion.  There were some ardent fans of the books while others liked but did not love it.  We all came away feeling better educated about Masada (the setting of most of the book).  We also came away well fed; a number of the members had brought dishes from that region.

 

"Nearly 2,000 years ago, nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived. Based on this tragic and iconic event, Hoffman’s novel is a spellbinding tale of four extraordinarily bold, resourceful, and sensuous women, each of whom has come to Masada by a different path.

The lives of these four complex and fiercely independent women intersect in the desperate days of the siege. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets—about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and whom they love."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Woodland Mist Academy]

I haven't read that book. My libraries don't have it. :(  I have read Laundry: The Home Comforts Books

 

 

 

I don't have the laundry book but I do have Home Comforts by that author.

 

I have Home Comforts as well. It's my understanding that a good part of the laundry book is taken from the laundry section of Home Comforts.

 

Flipping through Laundry by Monica Nassif (the book I posted a cover picture of), I found this:

 

                             Once your laundry is loaded into the machine, you have almost an hour to call your own. This time is utterly guilt-free--after all, you're still accomplishing something.

                             So resist the temptation to multitask, and use the time wisely to take care of yourself. 

 

                              You can brew a cup of tea. Curl up with a book. Pick up your knitting. Call an old friend. Laundry is a wonderful excuse to stay in and enjoy all the cozy comforts of home. 

 

Who knew? I've clearly been approaching this incorrectly for years. I see A LOT of laundry in my future...  ;)

[Kathleen.]

I read "The Complete Father Brown" by G. K. Chesterton. I found the DVD at our library - I'm not sure which I like better, they're so different. My 10yo read "Molly Twinkletail Runs Away" by Daisy Meadows.

☺

[Stacia]

OT: Movie talk...

 

My mom & I went to see The Accountant tonight. I really liked it (& I think idnib would for sure too), but my mom thought it was too violent.

 

 

Also saw some previews for upcoming movies that look good: Dr. Strange; Live by Night (I like 1920s/mafia style movies); Split (looks creepy as anything but I may have to see it because of James McAvoy & it's M. Night Shyamalan's newest one).

 

And Hell or High Water has been out a bit & was written by the writer of Sicario. Wondering if anyone has seen it? Ds & I want to go.

 

 

 

[Robin M]

Link to week 43 - please continue conversation in new thread