Book a Week 2017 - BW4: The shape of culture: past, present, and future

[Joules]

Finding it difficult to read just using the library. I guess our library isn't very good. I might splash out and buy a cheer up book, as I've just found out I will have to withdraw from my Masters due to a sudden and unexpected drop in our income, and I feel pretty devastated about the crushing of a long term plan for financial well being once I finish homeschooling ds 13.

 

Any cheer up book suggestions ?

 

I'm so, so sorry, Sadie!

 

Terry Pratchett?

[Joules]

Ok, I've started down on Ponce by Fred Willard. He's a local author. I have to admit that the first few pages have me chuckling.

 

 

Master of cracker noir

 

That sounds like a local one that I can get into!  I wish it was on audiobook; my sit down and read time is mostly devoted to classwork.

 

Off to check the library...

[theelfqueen]

Sadie - I am sorry to hear that, I hope it turns out to be a temporary setback... as for a book suggestion how about Jenny Lawson?

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Ausmumof3]

Well, I had something happen that I didn't expect: I disliked a Shakespeare play. Shannon and I went to see the filmed version of the Stratford Festival production of Antony & Cleopatra, and I didn't like it. We've also been reading the play, and really struggling. It doesn't read like other Shakespeare plays - there isn't really any comic relief to speak of, though Enobarbus is the best character - the language feels more stilted and convoluted, and there are fewer really magical turns of phrase. I could easily believe a claim that Shakespeare didn't write this play, or that it was a collaboration that he didn't participate much in (I haven't investigated the possibility, I'm just saying this based on how it reads). So I'm not going to force us to finish reading it.

 

As far as the story, yes, it's based on Plutarch who had it in for Cleopatra, so I knew that it would be an ahistorical hit-job, but for whatever reason it really bothered me. I can watch or read Richard III, and think, Well, this is clearly a Tudor propaganda piece and doesn't describe historical reality, and still enjoy the play as a good story with a great villain. But I can't do that with A&C. Partly because I admire Cleopatra as a historical figure, singular in a world of solely male leaders, and I hate to see her memory denigrated in such a way. In such a way is the key, I think: she is made to look foolish, devious, weak, and jealous, all "feminine" traits that are really focused on. Low blows by Plutarch and by Shakespeare. I'm kind of surprised because Shakespeare at least is usually better at villains, he makes them interesting, human, and complex. Not so with poor Cleopatra, she's a parody of a hysterical woman. I thought it was kind of sad.

Do you read Colleen McCullough? I find her Cleopatra quite fascinating.

[Ausmumof3]

Finding it difficult to read just using the library. I guess our library isn't very good. I might splash out and buy a cheer up book, as I've just found out I will have to withdraw from my Masters due to a sudden and unexpected drop in our income, and I feel pretty devastated about the crushing of a long term plan for financial well being once I finish homeschooling ds 13.

 

Any cheer up book suggestions ?

I'm so sorry... ☹ï¸

[Penguin]

Oh, Sadie: :grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

[Penguin]

I lived in Denmark from 2011 until just a few months ago. I have mixed feelings about reading The Little Book of Hygge. I am curious about the book, but I already have my own ideas about what hygge is and what it isn't.

 

Getting used to the lack of sunlight was difficult the first winter. Having my then 5th grade son walk to school when it was pitch black out nearly did me in, particularly since part of the walk was through a public park.

 

Candles, candles, candles. You cope with candles. And lit candles are found in places that I would be shocked to find them in the USA. Like on the children's play table in the dentist waiting room. On top of the head of the young girl chosen to play St. Lucia in the procession.

Edited January 24, 2017 by Penguin

[Onceuponatime]

Adding my condolences, Sadie. Hoping your alternate plans will be satisfying for you.

 

 

About visualizing books: Today I saw a current photo of Barbara Bush. The first thought that popped into my head was, "OMG, it's Mrs. Basil E. Frankwieler!"

 

We are probably heading to the city library this afternoon. I'm planning on checking out Tidewater Mornings by William Styron for a bit of local culture. I didn't know he was a (relatively ) local author, and I was never all that interested in his novels. Has anyone here read anything by him before? What did you think?

Edited January 24, 2017 by Onceuponatime

[Jane in NC]

Adding my condolences, Sadie. Hoping your alternate plans will be satisfying for you.

 

 

About visualizing books: Today I saw a current photo of Barbara Bush. The first thought that popped into my head was, "OMG, it's Mrs. Basil E. Frankwieler!"

 

We are probably heading to the city library this afternoon. I'm planning on checking out Tidewater Mornings by William Styron for a bit of local culture. I didn't know he was a (relatively ) local author, and was never all that interested in his novels. Has anyone here read anything by him before? What did you think?

 

I read Sophie's Choice ages ago but I believe that Styron is now best known for his memoir on living with depression, Darkness Visible.  Has anyone here read The Confessions of Nat Turner? 

 

[Butter]

So apparently someone on GoodReads *really* didn't like the fact that I didn't like the Narnia series very much... or that I posted the reviews over a year after I read them (a couple weeks ago I copy and pasted the reviews from my book review blog - which I have had since 2013 - to my GR account).  Like, she was kind of vicious about the fact I didn't like them  :lol:

[Violet Crown]

I read Sophie's Choice ages ago but I believe that Styron is now best known for his memoir on living with depression, Darkness Visible. Has anyone here read The Confessions of Nat Turner?

 

No but it's buried somewhere on my TBR shelf.

 

I finished my third book of the year: Twain's immortal The Prince and the Pauper. This was a slow read-aloud with Wee Girl, for whom it was a formidable vocabulary challenge, but her language skills are improving mightily and she loved the story, even with many pauses for definition, explanation, and paraphrasing. Because it doesn't fit into my Name Spell Challenge, I'm going to count it as Book n for the year, until I find a better number.

 

Meanwhile, Hakluyt is on to fifteenth-century accounts of English adventures in the Levant. Wikipedia helpfully informed me that "Candia" and "Chio" are the islands of Crete and Chios (thank you Everyman edition with no notes!). Here's an English ship's captain, on a voyage of pilgrimage to Jerusalem, nonplussed at his Ship's Master's attachment to his cat:

 

It chanced by fortune that the shippes Cat lept into the Sea, which being downe, kept her selfe very valiantly above water, notwithstanding the great waves, still swimming, the which the master knowing, he caused the Skiffe with halfe a dozen men to goe towards her and fetch her againe, when she was almost halfe a mile from the shippe, and all this while the ship lay on staies. I hardly believe they would have made such haste and meanes if one of the company had bene in the like perill. ... This I have written onely to note the estimation that cats are in, among the Italians, for generally they esteeme their cattes, as in England we esteeme a good Spaniell.

[Penguin]

I finished Norwegian Wood and while I didn't like this as much as Kafka on the Shore, I did enjoy this more than some of his other books. It is also shorter than some others, which I think has something to do with it. I would sometimes get bored of tedious details in 1Q84 and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and I didn't have that problem with this one.

 

I then read a quick dusty book, Saint George and the Dragon, which I had picked up at the library book sale thinking that I will probably never read The Faerie Queene, and this much is better than nothing. There were a couple of points in the story that made me laugh and I was glad to see King Arthur make an appearance. This adaptation is in verse and the book has simple, all red illustrations.

 

I also finished listening to Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In by Bernie Sanders. Part of the book is narrated by Mark Ruffalo. He pronounced "Asia" with three syllables and "virulent" with a long I.Other things too, but those were the most shocking pronunciations, for me.

 

Books I started:

 

One Thousand and One Nights by Hanan Al-Shaykh - This is a "reimagining" of nineteen of the stories from The Arabian Nights. "Reimagining" is the word used on the back cover, but I have no idea how these compare to other tellings. There are some odd phrasings, missing words and weird commas that are a little distracting here and there, but overall it is light and fun - also bawdy. I enjoy the interconnectedness of the stories and the multiple frames.

 

Believing Is Seeing: Creating the Culture of Art by Mary Anne Staniszewski - This is another dusty book I purchased from the library book sale (a couple years ago). It was on a table of children's books, but didn't look like a children's book, so I thought it was probably about teaching art appreciation to children or something like that. Nope! Just on the wrong table. Looking at Amazon reviews, it appears that this book is commonly used as a textbook (though I imagine not the only textbook for a course). It is heavily illustrated and feels like I'm sitting in on a lecture with a power point presentation for the first few weeks of a course in art appreciation or art history. The author argues that, as far as we know, art as we think of it has only existed since the eighteenth century.

 

The Obesity Code by Jason Fung - Thanks to Negin and anyone else that brought this book to the BaW threads! I am listening to this while I run. It's light and easy to listen to. I have listened to about three hours of it. I suppose I am always skeptical of diet books, but about three hours in, the information about experiments showing insulin as a cause of weight gain is interesting, so I'm a little less skeptical now and almost wishing I had somewhere to drive so I could listen to more. I lost seventy pounds last year and am hopeful for anything that will help me keep it off. 

First of all, congrats on the weight loss :)

 

I am not sure what I think yet about One Thousand and One Nights. For better or for worse, I am reading it concurrently with a traditional version. So far, this retelling/reimagining just seems like a junior classics version of Haddawy's Arabian Nights - well, with the erotic bits left in of course. I was expecting Hanan al-Shayk's Shahrazad to be more of a participating character. So far, she no different from the Shahrazad in the traditional telling. But these are only preliminary observations and I will reserve judgement. I'm only on page 62.

Edited January 24, 2017 by Penguin

[Tress]

Finding it difficult to read just using the library. I guess our library isn't very good. I might splash out and buy a cheer up book, as I've just found out I will have to withdraw from my Masters due to a sudden and unexpected drop in our income, and I feel pretty devastated about the crushing of a long term plan for financial well being once I finish homeschooling ds 13.

 

I'm so sorry, Sadie :grouphug: :grouphug: I really hope this will only be a temporary setback.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Isn't every day a reading day?! 

 

This musician isn't wowed by that list of books about classical music. If you are already interested in the music, then some of those books would make good reference material but otherwise that list is taking a thing of joy and beauty and treating it as if it is dry and tedious -- a persistent stereotype that is eroding its audience. There were a couple of works of fiction that might be fun, but overall as a list for general readers --- blech! 

 

I've got a link to share for all you fans of audio books. From Sunday's Los Angeles Times: Bringing audiobooks to life in the Valley

 

I appreciated the fiction suggestions, as this is a Bingo square for me that I was having trouble figuring out how to fill - I don't see myself reading one of those fat reference books!

 

Do you read Colleen McCullough? I find her Cleopatra quite fascinating.

 

I haven't read any McCullough. I'll have to check that one out. I've read both Stacy Shiff's Cleopatra and Diana Preston's Cleopatra and Antony, so I've got a good nonfiction in Cleopatra and find her a fascinating and admirable woman. I read the chapter on A&C in Women of Will where she argues that A&C is the mature conclusion of the great love story Shakespeare started with Romeo & Juliet. Maybe it could be that, if it were staged right, but I have trouble seeing it. I still find it more of a hatchet job than an admiring portrayal of mature, tragic love.

 

I finished Foe last night, a retelling-ish of Robinson Crusoe. I didn't care for it. I didn't get it, clearly, if it's full of deep allegorical meaning. I mean, I can see how it explores the idea of stories, who tells them, what makes them compelling, sharing vs. privacy, but I didn't enjoy it or feel like it fully developed any of the themes it flirted with. I probably would have abandoned it, but it's a Bingo square and was a pretty short and easy read.

[prairiegirl]

Finding it difficult to read just using the library. I guess our library isn't very good. I might splash out and buy a cheer up book, as I've just found out I will have to withdraw from my Masters due to a sudden and unexpected drop in our income, and I feel pretty devastated about the crushing of a long term plan for financial well being once I finish homeschooling ds 13.

 

Any cheer up book suggestions ?

Sadie, I am so sorry about this. Hugs. I am hoping that things will work out or that you will be able to find a new solution to this problem. 💕💕

[Mom-ninja.]

Okay ladies, I read GH. I didn't think I'd ever read her again after reading The Grand Sophie and feeling let down. However, I decided to give it another go. I listened to Faro's Daughter. It was a fun, cute, fast read. Totally predictable and formulaic but a fun time anyway. 

 

I don't think this will make me a GH lover but her books are good for light fluffiness. 

[Lady Florida.]

:grouphug: Sadie :grouphug:  I'm sorry. I hope something comes along to help and that things work out in your favor.

[Butter]

Well, that got weird.  The person who didn't like that I didn't like the Narnia books then commented three times on a recent review for The Rabbit Ate My Flip-Flops asking where my flip-flops are and why I'd wear them in the middle of winter, complete with misspellings (side note: it's going to hit almost 80 here today so that comment gave me a bit of a chuckle).  So I figure bored kid/teen.  Had to report them, though, because that nonsense is just annoying.

[Storygirl]

I find the discussions of synesthesia and mental pictures interesting, because my mind is almost 100% verbal. I think in words, not pictures. I remember skimming quickly through passages of description when I was a book-devouring child, because I found them boring. I don't picture what I read at all. If I think of a person I know well -- someone from my family, for example -- I can have a tiny glimpse of a picture of them fly through my mind, like a ghostly memory, but it doesn't last. I can't hold a picture in my head like a photograph. If I wanted to write a descriptive passage of fiction, I could do it, but it would help to look at something similar while writing, instead of trying to imagine something from scratch.

 

I didn't realize that I was so unusual in my lack of visualization until recently. I suspect that if I were evaluated, I would have a visual-spatial disability. I have real trouble with directions and get lost easily. I hated geometry and calculus. I am a natural speller when writing but do significantly worse when spelling aloud, because I don't visualize the words. Other than that, I don't think my lack of visualization has hampered me in any way, but it does interest me that others think so differently.

[shukriyya]

 

I didn't realize that I was so unusual in my lack of visualization until recently. I suspect that if I were evaluated, I would have a visual-spatial disability. I have real trouble with directions and get lost easily. I hated geometry and calculus. I am a natural speller when writing but do significantly worse when spelling aloud, because I don't visualize the words. Other than that, I don't think my lack of visualization has hampered me in any way, but it does interest me that others think so differently.

 

I'm highly visual, and still have trouble with directions and get lost easily. I did love geometry though, excelled in it even. I didn't realize there were differences until I was leading a group visualization at a teaching event last year. Later my dh, not a visual person, came up to me and said it was difficult for him to formulate the imagery in his mind. We talked about this and I realized, listening to him, that this is more common than I was aware of. I've been so visually-attuned all my life that I thought this was the norm. 

 

In book-related news, A Pomegranate and the Maiden is available as a kindle book for .99 on Amazon. As you can imagine from its title it focuses on the Demeter-Persephone myth but presented as "a multi-faceted re-telling of the story of Demeter and Persephone as told in Homer’s Hymn to Demeter. The many characters speak directly to the reader, presenting multiple perspectives of the same event. Among the voices we hear is that of the mother grieving for her lost child, the daughter struggling for independence, the father who tramples on a mother’s rights, and the lover who resorts to nefarious means to win his beloved. Each perspective is deeply rooted in the character’s psychology and gender. Woven within their narratives are stories familiar to readers of Greek mythology."

[Lady Florida.]

Well, that got weird.  The person who didn't like that I didn't like the Narnia books then commented three times on a recent review for The Rabbit Ate My Flip-Flops asking where my flip-flops are and why I'd wear them in the middle of winter, complete with misspellings (side note: it's going to hit almost 80 here today so that comment gave me a bit of a chuckle).  So I figure bored kid/teen.  Had to report them, though, because that nonsense is just annoying.

 

That's weird. Glad you reported them.

[aggieamy]

Well, that got weird.  The person who didn't like that I didn't like the Narnia books then commented three times on a recent review for The Rabbit Ate My Flip-Flops asking where my flip-flops are and why I'd wear them in the middle of winter, complete with misspellings (side note: it's going to hit almost 80 here today so that comment gave me a bit of a chuckle).  So I figure bored kid/teen.  Had to report them, though, because that nonsense is just annoying.

 

I have some pretty uncharitable thoughts about a person that would internet stalk someone because of a book review that they didn't like.  What jerks.

[fastweedpuller]

Okay ladies, I read GH. I didn't think I'd ever read her again after reading The Grand Sophie and feeling let down. However, I decided to give it another go. I listened to Faro's Daughter. It was a fun, cute, fast read. Totally predictable and formulaic but a fun time anyway. 

 

I don't think this will make me a GH lover but her books are good for light fluffiness. 

 

GH:  I am about halfway finished with The Grand Sophy and! I! had! to! turn! my! brain! off! at! seeing! so! many! exclamation! points! so I could enjoy the story.  !!  It is a great fluffy read though, and a balm for my tired soul.

 

((hugs to Sadie!))

 

[Jane in NC]

GH:  I am about halfway finished with The Grand Sophy and! I! had! to! turn! my! brain! off! at! seeing! so! many! exclamation! points! so I could enjoy the story.  !!  It is a great fluffy read though, and a balm for my tired soul.

 

((hugs to Sadie!))

 

 

And some people! complain!! about lack of quotation marks!!! :lol:

[Kareni]

And some people! complain!! about lack of quotation marks!!! :lol:

 

Are you sure? asks Kareni. Perhaps you're mistaken.

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Tress]

I find the discussions of synesthesia and mental pictures interesting, because my mind is almost 100% verbal. I think in words, not pictures. I remember skimming quickly through passages of description when I was a book-devouring child, because I found them boring. I don't picture what I read at all. If I think of a person I know well -- someone from my family, for example -- I can have a tiny glimpse of a picture of them fly through my mind, like a ghostly memory, but it doesn't last. I can't hold a picture in my head like a photograph. If I wanted to write a descriptive passage of fiction, I could do it, but it would help to look at something similar while writing, instead of trying to imagine something from scratch.

 

I didn't realize that I was so unusual in my lack of visualization until recently. I suspect that if I were evaluated, I would have a visual-spatial disability. I have real trouble with directions and get lost easily. I hated geometry and calculus. I am a natural speller when writing but do significantly worse when spelling aloud, because I don't visualize the words. Other than that, I don't think my lack of visualization has hampered me in any way, but it does interest me that others think so differently.

 

I could have written your first paragraph, I never, ever visualise what I read, but your second paragraph......I have excellent directional skills and am very good in geometry and calculus. So apparently those things are not connected, at least not for me.

 

 

I'm highly visual, and still have trouble with directions and get lost easily. I did love geometry though, excelled in it even. I didn't realize there were differences until I was leading a group visualization at a teaching event last year. Later my dh, not a visual person, came up to me and said it was difficult for him to formulate the imagery in his mind. We talked about this and I realized, listening to him, that this is more common than I was aware of. I've been so visually-attuned all my life that I thought this was the norm. 

 

In book-related news, A Pomegranate and the Maiden is available as a kindle book for .99 on Amazon. As you can imagine from its title it focuses on the Demeter-Persephone myth but presented as "a multi-faceted re-telling of the story of Demeter and Persephone as told in Homer’s Hymn to Demeter. The many characters speak directly to the reader, presenting multiple perspectives of the same event. Among the voices we hear is that of the mother grieving for her lost child, the daughter struggling for independence, the father who tramples on a mother’s rights, and the lover who resorts to nefarious means to win his beloved. Each perspective is deeply rooted in the character’s psychology and gender. Woven within their narratives are stories familiar to readers of Greek mythology."

 

What a great description! And for a change, it is availabe to readers outside the US for a low price too! Bought it! Thanks!

[Stacia]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Stacia]

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Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Jane in NC]

GH:  I am about halfway finished with The Grand Sophy and! I! had! to! turn! my! brain! off! at! seeing! so! many! exclamation! points! so I could enjoy the story.  !!  It is a great fluffy read though, and a balm for my tired soul.

 

((hugs to Sadie!))

 

 

 

And some people! complain!! about lack of quotation marks!!! :lol:

 

 

Are you sure? asks Kareni. Perhaps you're mistaken.

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Punctuation be damned, she said.  Just watch your antecedents.

[Stacia]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Chrysalis Academy]

:lol:   You guys are cracking me up. I know I use too many exclamation points when I post here - I think it's because I feel like I'm having an actual conversation with you guys, across a table at the cafe, but then it just looks so flat when it's typed out. I feel the need to let you know I'm really excited to be talking with you!!!

 

Actually when it comes to books, I think I'm way less fussed about the lack of punctuation or not using capital letters than I am about sytactic/structural things. Misplaced modifiers and sentence fragments that don't feel really well and intentionally used send me around the bend. I also don't like metaphors/imagery that feel really strained - like the author is hearing their creative writing teacher in their head saying, "Don't use cliches!" so they try to come up with a metaphor that no one has ever thought of before. For good reason. Because it makes no sense.  :glare:

[Kareni]

A currently free Kindle book (today only) ~

 

The Titan by Theodore Dreiser

 

"In the Panic of 1873, Frank Cowperwood’s fortune was destroyed and his criminal activity on the stock exchange was exposed. Now, with his prison sentence complete, he is ready to begin the next chapter of his life. Following the same creed of selfishness that guided him to his first fortune, Cowperwood leaves Philadelphia for Chicago and gives up financial speculation to pursue a new frontier. Though he soon rediscovers wealth in stock investment, he remains hounded by scandal as he maneuvers to take control of the Chicago railway system. Through double-dealing, divorce, infidelity, and social disgrace, America’s most corrupt man continues his lifelong pursuit of self-satisfaction.
 
In the sequel to The Financier, Theodore Dreiser presents a man of indomitable force and pitiless ambition. Based on railway tycoon Charles Tyson Yerkes, Frank Cowperwood is widely considered one of the greatest characters of twentieth-century literature."

**

 

I've been re-reading some books by Sarina Bowen, a favorite author.  I enjoyed revisiting them all.  (Some adult content)

 

The Year We Fell Down: A Hockey Romance (The Ivy Years Book 1)

 

The Year We Hid Away: A Hockey Romance (The Ivy Years Book 2)

 

Blonde Date: An Ivy Years Novella

 

Regards,

Kareni

[CadenceSophia]

Good Morning! (At least for me)

 

Just popping in to update my reading. I finished Sous Les Vents de Neptune by Fred Vargas. I really like her (yes, a woman) as an author. I ordered another of her books but I am thinking about joining Alliance Française online library so I can read the rest without having to buy them all.

 

Still reading Jane Eyre..Just looking at it a bit on the kindle cloud reader. Going to let it drag out a while because I am trying to read as many paper books as possible before I have a baby in April and have to switch back to my kindle for the next 2 years :)

 

And I got a fun book (for me) in the mail this week from another author a really like, An Old Man's Toy by Anthony Zee. He is a physicist and just so good at writing and explaining things.

 

And I started Le Chardon et Le Tartan which is the first book of the Outlander series translated into French :) I would guess it doesn't count for the chunky bingo square if I have read the book 3x before but never the French translation lol

[shukriyya]

Punctuation be damned, she said.  Just watch your antecedents.

 

...thus setting a precedent with grammatical damnation.

[Faithr]

I posted this in last week's thread accidentally.  Trying again!

 

I finally finished reading Waverley by Sir Walter Scott.  I blogged about it this a.m.  I am doing the bingo challenge so Waverley fills my 'classic' requirement.

 

I am still plowing through City of God and will be for weeks and weeks.

 

I've had a false start on Mary Beard's SPQR: A History of the Roman Republic.  I was going to listen to it in the car but bluetooth stopped speaking to my phone, so that has stalled out before I even got to the second chapter.  So far dh and ds have tried to fix things but are baffled at what has gone wrong.  Boo hiss!

 

A friend bought me a book for $1.00 at a used book sale.  Wasn't that sweet of her?  She thought I might like the author, Jean Kerr.  She's famous for Please Don't Eat the Daisies, which I've never read.  This book though is entitled Penny Candy.  I started reading it last night.  It is really a collection of funny stories written for magazines in the late 50's - early 60's.  They are light, humorous, interestingly dated in a way that evokes nostalgia and makes me miss my mom. 

[idnib]

You guys are making me nervous about the language I use to post here. It's meant to be conversational, often typed between kids needing my help with math or history. Apologies if I do something which is driving you crazy!

 

Finding it difficult to read just using the library. I guess our library isn't very good. I might splash out and buy a cheer up book, as I've just found out I will have to withdraw from my Masters due to a sudden and unexpected drop in our income, and I feel pretty devastated about the crushing of a long term plan for financial well being once I finish homeschooling ds 13.

 

Any cheer up book suggestions ?

 

Sadie, I'm so sorry. In my ideal world anyone could study whatever they wished to learn without regards to money.  :grouphug:

 

I find the discussions of synesthesia and mental pictures interesting, because my mind is almost 100% verbal. I think in words, not pictures. I remember skimming quickly through passages of description when I was a book-devouring child, because I found them boring. I don't picture what I read at all. If I think of a person I know well -- someone from my family, for example -- I can have a tiny glimpse of a picture of them fly through my mind, like a ghostly memory, but it doesn't last. I can't hold a picture in my head like a photograph. If I wanted to write a descriptive passage of fiction, I could do it, but it would help to look at something similar while writing, instead of trying to imagine something from scratch.

 

I didn't realize that I was so unusual in my lack of visualization until recently. I suspect that if I were evaluated, I would have a visual-spatial disability. I have real trouble with directions and get lost easily. I hated geometry and calculus. I am a natural speller when writing but do significantly worse when spelling aloud, because I don't visualize the words. Other than that, I don't think my lack of visualization has hampered me in any way, but it does interest me that others think so differently.

 

Yes, the images are ghostly for me too. That's exactly right. I also tend to skim any long descriptive passages. Lest you think we are twins, though, I do very well with directional sense and most geometry and calculus. You know what I'm really bad at? Those things where you have to look at a 3D figure in varied 2D pictures and figure out what the other side must look like. Or those geometrical maps of things ostensibly unfolded along their edges and you have to figure out if they would re-fold into the correct shape.

 

 

[Violet Crown]

Faithr, what did you think of Waverly? It was my first Scott and sometimes I feel I should re-read it now that I'm more used to Scott's style. I mostly think this when my train stops at Waverly Station.

[Penguin]

Good Morning! (At least for me)

 

Just popping in to update my reading. I finished Sous Les Vents de Neptune by Fred Vargas. I really like her (yes, a woman) as an author. I ordered another of her books but I am thinking about joining Alliance Française online library so I can read the rest without having to buy them all.

 

Still reading Jane Eyre..Just looking at it a bit on the kindle cloud reader. Going to let it drag out a while because I am trying to read as many paper books as possible before I have a baby in April and have to switch back to my kindle for the next 2 years :)

 

And I got a fun book (for me) in the mail this week from another author a really like, An Old Man's Toy by Anthony Zee. He is a physicist and just so good at writing and explaining things.

 

And I started Le Chardon et Le Tartan which is the first book of the Outlander series translated into French :) I would guess it doesn't count for the chunky bingo square if I have read the book 3x before but never the French translation lol

And this leads me to a question:

Do bingo rereads count if you have never read the book before in that language?

[Faithr]

Faithr, what did you think of Waverly? It was my first Scott and sometimes I feel I should re-read it now that I'm more used to Scott's style. I mostly think this when my train stops at Waverly Station.

I enjoyed it.  I am weird in that I often enjoy old books with lots of Latin and archaic words, even though sometimes it can interfere with comprehension on my part (me and little ole brain!).  I have read Ivanhoe a couple of times, so maybe I knew what to expect.  I was surprised by a lot of things:  the humor, the gentle romantic tension that to this day is present in a lot of historical fiction, the references to American Indians (for instance when talking about the Highlanders stealth is approaching the enemy across the marshy moors) . . . somehow the novel felt very modern to me in spite of a lot of the archaic quality.  If this is the first historical novel, all the elements are right there, sprung from Scott's creative genius!

 

I am not chomping at the bit to read another Scott novel though right now.  But I might very well get around to reading another one at some point.

[TravelingChris]

I am so sorry Sadie.   :grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

[Schadenfreude]

Yay, I received Head in Flames today from Stacia!

This week I am going to work my way through it, finish The Longest Winter by Katherine Lambert, finish Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami, continue with Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas, and continue The Complete Idiot's Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition. I'm really hoping I can actually make this happen.

[Jane in NC]

You guys are making me nervous about the language I use to post here. It's meant to be conversational, often typed between kids needing my help with math or history. Apologies if I do something which is driving you crazy!

 

 

Sadie, I'm so sorry. In my ideal world anyone could study whatever they wished to learn without regards to money.  :grouphug:

 

 

Pshaw! No need to be nervous when we are being silly.  I need a little silliness in my life at the moment (and an excuse to use the word "pshaw").

 

What a lovely sentiment you sent to Sadie.  I want to echo it.

 

[Ausmumof3]

On local culture, we moved from rural to urban when I was around three. The family culture was quite different to the school culture. also we were a religious family in a pretty non religious area. We moved again when I was in grade 3 but this time to a semi rural area. The school had quite a weird subculture going on or maybe it was just friends.

 

I feel like even now, hanging out here, gives me a taste of a different culture as well. The well trained mind culture maybe 😂😂😂.

 

On synaesthesia (which is probably spelt horribly wrong because spell check doesn't recognise it), I am more of a text based thinker. I think visualisation is something I lost when I began reading. I get a quick flash of someone's face. Probably the only thing I strongly visualise is numbers and I see them as an array. I dream in greyscale. I can associate various things with colours but it's a more conscious process not something that just happens. I wonder how much is to do with sensory versus intuitive personalities, but given we are all book people I would think we were mostly intuitive. Maybe I'm wrong?

[Jane in NC]

I am a spatially visual person with one exception--I have very poor facial recognition skills.

 

When we discuss books, I can often remember the color and design of a book cover before I remember the title.  I will remember where the book was found in the library, the book store or my shelves--woe when things get moved about!

 

This is really not surprising given my background in mathematics.  I see patterns, I love patterns.  Knitting or embroidering repeated patterns is very comforting to my soul.  That said, I love jazz which has patterns but then pushes the boundaries of the patterns. 

 

It is not unusual for me to dream about a book I am reading, to put myself in the book.  That doesn't happen all the time but often enough.

 

I am rarely satisfied with the movie version of a book over the original.  I can only think of one case when I thought the movie was better than the book!  My own images of the content of books obviously resonate deeply.

 

 

[shukriyya]

Anyone ever have this happen? On my kindle the cover displays as the correct book but the download is another book entirely? This just happened through overdrive with my kindle. I began reading and thinking, this is def not the kind of book I'd choose and it doesn't match the descriptions plus it showed me at 97% of the way through after just beginning. I checked out the sample on Amazon and sure enough the book I received as a download is an entirely different book. I've contacted my library to let them know but I"m wondering if this has occurred for anyone else?

[shukriyya]

I am a spatially visual person with one exception--I have very poor facial recognition skills.

 

When we discuss books, I can often remember the color and design of a book cover before I remember the title.  I will remember where the book was found in the library, the book store or my shelves--woe when things get moved about!

 

This is really not surprising given my background in mathematics.  I see patterns, I love patterns.  Knitting or embroidering repeated patterns is very comforting to my soul.  That said, I love jazz which has patterns but then pushes the boundaries of the patterns. 

 

It is not unusual for me to dream about a book I am reading, to put myself in the book.  That doesn't happen all the time but often enough.

 

I am rarely satisfied with the movie version of a book over the original.  I can only think of one case when I thought the movie was better than the book!  My own images of the content of books obviously resonate deeply.

 

Yes! For me the experience of beauty through visual means--color, symmetry, pattern and so forth is somatic. I can literally feel my body relaxing, sinking into something that feels like refuge. 

[mumto2]

Great job, Cstarlette. Your weight loss is huge!

 

I finished Home by Harlan Coben https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29430007-home last night. For now it's my one word title for bingo. It wasn't bad because it definitely was a book where the pages turned easily but I didn't like it as much as previous ones in this series. The ending was somewhat unexpected but only came about because so illogical things happened about a third of the way through. That really bugged me because it just couldn't happen that way.

 

Still trying to finish The Ides of April. It's my book set in Rome which is the only reason I keep going. It isn't bad but I don't seem to mesh with it real well.

 

I have started The Essex Serpent and like that one! :lol: As the mom of fossil collectors enjoying those parts. Also the local myths about the serpent which cross over into a serpent carved into a pew in the local church. I was so sad to discover the church doesn't exist. I thought it might. Many churches in my area have church mice.....wooden ones carved into, maybe onto describes better, the church furniture. It's lots of fun hunting for them when visiting a new church.

[Kareni]

Here's a book review of a book that sounds intriguing; perhaps the book might appeal to some here.

 

REVIEW: Dust Bowl Girls by Lydia Reeder

**

 

I finished another Sarina Bowen re-read which I enjoyed once again.

 

The Understatement of the Year (Ivy Years #3)  by Sarina Bowen

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Stacia]

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Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Rosie_0801]

On synaesthesia (which is probably spelt horribly wrong because spell check doesn't recognise it), I am more of a text based thinker. I think visualisation is something I lost when I began reading. I get a quick flash of someone's face. Probably the only thing I strongly visualise is numbers and I see them as an array. I dream in greyscale. I can associate various things with colours but it's a more conscious process not something that just happens. I wonder how much is to do with sensory versus intuitive personalities, but given we are all book people I would think we were mostly intuitive. Maybe I'm wrong?

 

To be clear, synesthesia has nothing to do with visual/spacial abilities or whether you are a pictorial or text  or auditory thinker. It's a weird brain thing where sensory triggers connect in strange ways. I mean, there's no good reason why my personality-colour synesthesia should have developed at all, let alone developed into personality-colour-texture, and certainly no reason why one person I know should trigger emotion-colour-(and once it was shape and movement too) synesthesia. I don't even know if the movement is a synesthesia thing. I've never seen it on a list. It's not even a person I know well who triggers it. It's just weird stuff. :lol:

 

Why should Stacia here be a bright orangey gold colour? I think it is in her profile pic, so it's probably just a colour association. But the colour association from her profile pic doesn't explain why the orangey gold colour is nasty, synthetic, not quite static, nylon textured. It's not like I think Stacia is a nasty nylon kind of person or anything! To me, Sadie is a deep sky blue crocheted square with white edging. She says she isn't, but in my synesthesia weirdness, she is.