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

[Stacia]

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Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Stacia]

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Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Ethel Mertz]

I can't keep up with this thread!!! 

 

I finished book #9 late last night: The Apple Orchard (Bella Vista #1) by Susan Wiggs. I liked it enough to read the sequel. I'm still reading Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare? by James Cone.

 

Sadie - I'm really sorry about your masters program. If I lived near you I would come over with Girl Scout cookies (a US thing). Thin Mints.

[Robin M]

PSA! PSA! PSA!

 

Orangey gold, synthetic, not quite static, nylon textured things save lives!

 

Next time you see a public safety worker wearing a safety vest, know that orangey gold, synthetic, not quite static, nylon textured products are making him/her visible & may save a life (or many)! Same goes for your average citizen dog-walker or jogger wearing safety vests. Help support safety in your community by supporting orangey gold, synthetic, not quite static, nylon textured products! :thumbup1:

 

(Paid for by the Committee for Fair Representation of Orangey Gold, Synthetic, Not Quite Static, Nylon Products. Voice-over provided free of charge by Stacia.)

:hurray:  :hurray:  :hurray:

 

 

 

 

  :cheers2:

[Stacia]

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Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[theelfqueen]

Finished John Scalzi's The Dispatcher on Audible (Not Suitable for Children -- liberal usage of the F Word) ,,, really enjoyed this one. And it was read by Zachary Quinto... who has a voice like a dream.

 

[Angelaboord]

How very frustrating, Sadie. I hope that better days are on the horizon.

 

If you're looking for an additional cheery book, I'll cast my vote for the Don Camillo books by Giovanni Guareschi.

 

Regards,

Kareni

Adding my vote for Don Camillo. I'm sorry to hear your news, Sadie. I also liked your post in virtual support not really "like". [emoji17]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[CadenceSophia]

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?

Yes. Although usually it is the right book in the wrong language for me. If you contact customer service they will put in an alert and usually the kindle file will be updated and you can re-download the book by the next day. If you downloaded it a while ago before noticing, delete and try to get it again as someone else may have caught and fixed it.

[Onceuponatime]

Does that mean Sadie is a potholder? Because that's what I'm picturing now....

I was picturing a dishcloth, but she could be an afghan, or even a coaster to keep coffee mugs from making rings on the table.

[Rosie_0801]

Ummm.......

 

 

:blink:

 

 

 

:lol:

 

Don't you remember that conversation? 

 

:smilielol5:

[Rosie_0801]

Does that mean Sadie is a potholder? Because that's what I'm picturing now....

 

No. She's a granny square.

 

I know she feels comfortable not taking this on board as a core part of her identity.

 

 

:smilielol5:

 

 

But if you think about it, a granny square has such potential. It could be anything.

[Stacia]

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Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Rosie_0801]

No.

 

But, to be fair, orangey gold nasty, synthetic, not quite static, nylon textured things (or people) may not excel in conversational memory. I mean, we're busy saving lives & stuff, so some things like random conversations go to the brain "delete" file pretty quickly. :toetap05:

 

;)

 

:smilielol5:

 

I'm gonna go through my pm folder and find it.

[Stacia]

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Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Stacia]

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Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Rosie_0801]

Well, I am *totally* taking my orangey gold nasty, synthetic, not quite static, nylon textured persona on as a (major!) part of my identity!

 

(And I still see Sadie as a potholder. She's no granny square! :001_tt2: )

 

I really don't like the way you are pigeon holding Sadie and reducing her to a one dimensional person.

 

 

Toot if you support freedom of application for granny squares and Sadie!  :auto:

 

 

 

(I just found that conversation in my pm box and you cracked me up all over again. :lol: )

 

 

I hope Sadie isn't in here reading this, because she might not remember the conversation either. I, of course, support her right not to consider herself blue with white edges. My synesthesia has no desire for world domination.

[Stacia]

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Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Rosie_0801]

:smilielol5:  :smilielol5:  :smilielol5:  :smilielol5:  :smilielol5:

 

 

 

Okay. I'm gonna stop now.

:leaving:

[shukriyya]

Yes. Although usually it is the right book in the wrong language for me. If you contact customer service they will put in an alert and usually the kindle file will be updated and you can re-download the book by the next day. If you downloaded it a while ago before noticing, delete and try to get it again as someone else may have caught and fixed it.

 

Downloading it didn't help but I was at the library today with my kindle and the librarian there, though she'd never heard of this happening before, was able to fix it by pressing the 'go to' button and instead of going to the very beginning as I'd been doing she went to title page and that did the trick. Strange but it's fixed now. 

[CadenceSophia]

Downloading it didn't help but I was at the library today with my kindle and the librarian there, though she'd never heard of this happening before, was able to fix it by pressing the 'go to' button and instead of going to the very beginning as I'd been doing she went to title page and that did the trick. Strange but it's fixed now.

Oh was that an Overdrive book? I haven't had the exact same problem then. Glad you got it fixed.

[Ausmumof3]

Ok you all have to help me explain to my family why I have been snorting with laughter over here!!!

 

Is it weird that I associate the word synaesthesia with a warm orangey yellow circle...?

 

I don't have synaesthesia for anything else it's just that the word makes me have it I think...

[Mom-ninja.]

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!

 

Relax, they're talking about books not posts on this thread.  :p

[samba]

I finished Boy, Roald Dahl's autobigraphy of his early life. Thank you, Negin! I read a couple of his books to my students when I was a teacher years ago but was never really a fan. I thoroughly enjoyed this, though. The strength of Dahl's mother and their relationship was touching.

 

Still reading The Wind's Twelve Quarters. I get through just a couple of short stories a day mixed in with whatever longer book I'm reading. I'm enjoying it mostly, so far... not sure I understood "Darkness Box" at all.

 

I just started Dominion: The Power of Man, The Suffering of Animals, And the Call to Mercy. Just the introduction (lengthy) was weighty and thought-provoking. It will take some time to get through this book. It's longer than most on my TBR list. I'm still recovering from Little Dorrit!

[Chrysalis Academy]

I picked up from the library and read in one evening The Merciful Women. I really wanted to like this book. It sounded right up my alley - I love Frankenstein, and so novel that imagined what went on at the Villa Diodati that fateful week when it was written, and what led Polidori to write The Vampyre and subsequently commit suicide, was very appealing. Plus, I've been wanting to read more works in translation, so an Argentinian author's take on this story was even more intriguing.

 

Well. The result teetered on the edge of intriguing and unappealing for awhile, but eventually landed squarely in the distasteful (no pun intended) and weird category. While the idea that most of the second-rate literature in the world canon was "ghost" written has a certain dark humor, ultimately this book left me wanting to take a shower and use strong mouthwash.

 

I also started The Jekyll Revelation - a recent publication revisiting another of my favorite classics. I haven't figured out if this one is going to be readable yet. The author got two strikes right in the beginning: the modern portion of the book is set in Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles (where I grew up), and the author, clearly not a native, has his protagonist worrying about cottonmouths and getting a bad case of poison sumac.  :blink:  Um, dude? We don't have cottonmouth & poison sumac in LA. Substitute rattlesnake and poison oak, ok?  :001_rolleyes:  

 

However, he partially redeemed himself a couple of pages later by a good use of the word "crepuscular."  This is one of my favorite words, and you rarely see it used in literature:

 

"Nights in the canyon were nothing like nights in Los Angeles, where the ambient glow of the city lights kept everything crepuscular until dawn.  Here, the dark meant something."

 

So, I'm giving him one more chance.  ;)  :001_tt2:

Edited January 25, 2017 by Chrysalis Academy

[welovetoread]

FOUND the kindle!!!!

 

This week I dropped everything to read Karen Moning's last book in her Fever Series - Feversong.  Lot of emotion with this one of fear, joy, horror, sorrow, love and loss.  However, she left a little nugget at the end that could possibly continue other characters stories.   

 

Interesting. I might have to read this series.  It keeps appearing on my kindle from the amazon store as a recommendation.

Finished Pillars of the Earth. LOVE this book so very very much.  I think I'm going to check out his trilogy.

This week, I have a few that I'm working on. Norwegian Wood and a few that are on hold at the library from the Feminist category!!

[Jane in NC]

So its Burns Night tonight which means we all need to drink whisky and recite poetry this evening. I'll share my portion of haggis with anyone who wants it.

 

Edited to correct my initial spelling of whisky as "whiskey".  It seems appropriate to use the Scottish spelling.

Edited January 25, 2017 by Jane in NC

[JennW in SoCal]

In honor of Burns Night, here is a fascinating article about Robert Burns, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

 

Robert Burns and the Fight to End Slavery

[Ethel Mertz]

So its Burns Night tonight which means we all need to drink whisky and recite poetry this evening. I'll share my portion of haggis with anyone who wants it.

 

Edited to correct my initial spelling of whisky as "whiskey".  It seems appropriate to use the Scottish spelling.

 

The second book in the Father Christmas mystery series by C.C. Benison centers around Burns Night (Eleven Pipers Piping). So far, it is a 3 book series. And, by the way, the books have nothing whatsoever to do with Christmas.

[Kareni]

I finished yet another Sarina Bowen re-read last night which I enjoyed once again.  (Some adult content) ~

 

The Fifteenth Minute (The Ivy Years Book 5)

 

"Freshman Lianne Challice is known to millions of fans as Princess Vindi. But sometimes a silver screen sorceress just wants to hang up her wand, tell her manager to shove it, and become a normal college student. Too bad that’s harder than it looks.

She’s never lived a normal life. She hasn’t been to school since kindergarten. And getting close to anyone is just too risky — the last boy she kissed sold the story to a British tabloid.

But she can’t resist trying to get close to Daniel "DJ" Trevi, the hot, broody guy who spins tunes for hockey games in the arena. Something's haunting his dark eyes, and she needs to know more.

DJ's genius is for expressing the mood of the crowd with a ten second song snippet. With just a click and a fade, he can spread hope, pathos or elation among six thousand screaming fans.

Too bad his college career is about to experience the same quick fade-out as one of his songs. He can't get close to Lianne, and he can't tell her why. And the fact that she seems to like him at all? Incredible."

***

 

And a one day only currently free Kindle book ~

 

Three Soldiers by John Dos Passos

 

"A grim portrait of World War I army life that set the standard for Hemingway, Mailer, and other acclaimed chroniclers of warfare.

They come to the army from different Americas: Fuselli, a San Francisco store clerk bucking for promotion; Chrisfield, a laid-back Indiana farm boy; and Andrews, a Harvard graduate and promising New York City musician. In basic training, they are told it doesn’t matter where a man is born or what he wants to be. The best soldiers are automatons. To be a perfect cog within a vast military machine is all his country asks of him. In the muddy fields and trenches of France, they learn the terrible meaning of their sacrifice: Once lost, a soldier’s humanity can never be regained.
 
Based on John Dos Passos’s firsthand knowledge of the Great War, Three Soldiers is a grim and utterly realistic portrait of army life. A modernist masterpiece and a brave statement of fact in a time of sentiment, it set a standard that Hemingway, Jones, Mailer, O’Brien, and every other chronicler of the American war experience has since tried to match."

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

[Mom-ninja.]

I'm still reading Walden and I have to say I'm surprised by all his references and allusions to Confucius and Bhagavad Gita. There's been maybe two allusions to the Bible but a lot to these Eastern philosophies/religions. It's also unnerving and amazing how relevant his observations of his day are still true now and maybe even more so. 

Edited January 25, 2017 by Mom-ninja.

[Lady Florida.]

I'm still reading Walden and I have to say I'm surprised by all his references and allusions to Confucius and Bhagavad Gita. There's been maybe two allusions to the Bible but a lot to these Eastern philosophies/religions. It's also unnerving and amazing how relevant his observations of his day are still true now and maybe even more so. 

 

That was a favorite of mine as a teen and young adult and I read it several times back in the day. I had planned to reread it last year but never got around to it. Then I started reading some reviews and blog posts about how people didn't like it when they reread it years later, and it made me not want to read it again because I didn't want to spoil my love for it. Your recent posts as you've been reading it are inspiring me to go ahead and reread it.

[shukriyya]

So its Burns Night tonight which means we all need to drink whisky and recite poetry this evening. I'll share my portion of haggis with anyone who wants it.

 

Edited to correct my initial spelling of whisky as "whiskey".  It seems appropriate to use the Scottish spelling.

 

And we must watch out for the 'wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie,'

[Jane in NC]

In honor of Burns Night, here is a fascinating article about Robert Burns, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

 

Robert Burns and the Fight to End Slavery

 

Thumbs up, Jenn! I loved the embedded poem in the article, A Man's A Man for A' That.

[Onceuponatime]

I'm afraid the only poem of Burns that I think of every time his name is mentioned is his ode To A Louse. I don't usually remember the words except for one phrase, but the visual has been strong in my mind since the first time I read it. 😀😜

[Chrysalis Academy]

I'm still reading Walden and I have to say I'm surprised by all his references and allusions to Confucius and Bhagavad Gita. There's been maybe two allusions to the Bible but a lot to these Eastern philosophies/religions. It's also unnerving and amazing how relevant his observations of his day are still true now and maybe even more so. 

 

 

That was a favorite of mine as a teen and young adult and I read it several times back in the day. I had planned to reread it last year but never got around to it. Then I started reading some reviews and blog posts about how people didn't like it when they reread it years later, and it made me not want to read it again because I didn't want to spoil my love for it. Your recent posts as you've been reading it are inspiring me to go ahead and reread it.

 

Same here, I did a term paper on Walden in 11th grade. I think I found a lot of Biblical references at the time (I was going to a parochial school, so finding such things was encouraged, whether they were actually there or not). I'd like to re-read it, I have a feeling it would still work for me.

 

So many books, so little time!

[shukriyya]

I'm reading two books concurrently. Beauty is proving to be an interesting sic-fi retelling of Sleeping Beauty. So far I'm enjoying it. Again, not something I'd gravitate towards but am surprising myself. From the GR page,

 

Drawing on the wellspring of much-loved, well-remembered fairy tales, Tepper delivers a thought-provoking and finely crafted novel that thoroughly involves the reader in the life of one of the most captivating heroines in modern fantasy -- Beauty. On her sixteenth birthday Beauty is seemingly able to sidestep her aunt's curse. Instead she is transported to the future. Here begin her adventures as she travels magically back and forth in time to visit places both imaginary and real. Finally she comes to understand what has been her special gift to humanity all along.

 

For in Beauty, there is beauty. And in beauty, magic. Without our enchanted places, humanity is no more than an upstart ape. And this, we realize, is why Beauty must be saved, both in the fantastical world of Tepper's novel and in the actual world in which we live.

 

Also just started The World's Wife and loving it. 

[Lady Florida.]

Same here, I did a term paper on Walden in 11th grade. I think I found a lot of Biblical references at the time (I was going to a parochial school, so finding such things was encouraged, whether they were actually there or not). I'd like to re-read it, I have a feeling it would still work for me.

 

So many books, so little time!

 

For me it was the whole being with nature and surviving on your own thing that spoke to me. When I read about people who reread it, what apparently stood out to them now was how he wasn't actually far from civilization and as for surviving on his own, people either gave him food or he stole it. I really don't remember those parts. I suppose I should reread it.

[Stacia]

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Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Narrow Gate Academy]

I just finished my fifth book of the year Stormbreaker by Horowitz.  I was prereading for ds12 and only intended to read 2-3 chapters, but the next thing I know I had reached the end of the book.  I enjoyed enough that I will likely continue reading the next book in the series when I get a chance.  It's long enough that I can count it for my one word title entry for bingo.  Here's a link to my review.

 

 

[JennW in SoCal]

I was thinking about all the talk earlier in the thread about whether or not you visualize what you are reading. I visualize, am there in the scene, and had to share my experience reading Snow Angels, the mystery set in the far north of Finland. It is set in the deep of winter, and as it is above the arctic circle there is no sun. The detective would be out driving to interview someone at 2 in the afternoon and I automatically was picturing him driving through lots of snow and ice, but the scene in my head was lit because it is sunny at 2 in the afternoon. Then there would be a sentence about the dark, or the clear sky and all the stars, and I'd remember, oh year, it is winter above the arctic circle. I'd mentally have to flick a switch and change the scene to dark!  

 

Now in By Gaslight I don't have that trouble because the fog is almost literally dripping off the page!

 

Stacia, I'm glad your friend (co-worker?) liked Jar City. I didn't love Snow Angels, however. The initial mystery itself was good, and the characters good, but the mystery got a little contrived as the bodies started piling up, and I didn't like how the writer set up the climax -- it wasn't believable. It had enough good, though, to warrant giving another title in the series a try.

 

I also finished a fluffy sci-fi soap opera, Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. This is another that wasn't great but good enough that I'm curious to see if the series gets any better as it goes along. On the other hand there is lots of sci fi and fantasy that I haven't read, and my audible credits might be better used on those...

[BarbecueMom]

I finished Hillbilly Elegy tonight. I purposefully did not read reviews beforehand, just a general synopsis, and was therefore unprepared for how personal this book would be. How much of it would mirror my own childhood and adult struggles, although mine was less violent and set in a different geographic region.

 

I told DH recently, after yet another "situation" with my parent, that I felt Iike I was "paying a high, lifelong tax on my own existence." The cost of upward mobility. It's a sad relief to find out that someone else truly gets it.

[mumto2]

So its Burns Night tonight which means we all need to drink whisky and recite poetry this evening. I'll share my portion of haggis with anyone who wants it.

 

Edited to correct my initial spelling of whisky as "whiskey".  It seems appropriate to use the Scottish spelling.

  

In honor of Burns Night, here is a fascinating article about Robert Burns, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

 

Robert Burns and the Fight to End Slavery

  

And we must watch out for the 'wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie,'

Dc's are working the Burns night dinner again this year...this weekend. ;) They are the waitstaff for a sit down charity dinner held every year. Ds considers all the haggis he can eat a good deal and has been having a great time telling dh how great it is. It's honestly better than you all would imagine, very spicy. Dd normally goes hungry until the dessert but is going to brave the vegetarian haggis this year. Dh and I stay home through the dinner but always help with the clean up.....no haggis for dh and he is Scots.

 

We just survived our internet being down for about 30 hours. Totally stressful because the dc's had papers that had to be submitted online last night. With two large projects due Sunday that ds hasn't exactly started.....worse he hadn't saved the directions any place. All got sorted. We now know our local big supermarket has great free internet. :lol:

 

I got quite a bit of reading done. The book of interest was Under The Harrow by Flynn Berry https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27246107-under-the-harrow?ac=1&from_search=true. It's my debut author book. The reviews compare it to Gone Girl so it's another rollercoaster type read. It definitely kept me reading but wasn't really satisfying so I gave it a three. Parts were a bit disjointed. Remember I didn't like Gone Girl and abandoned Girl on a Train so I am probably not the best judge of this particular style!

[mumto2]

With all of our recent talk about the Hygge book I can't resist posting this crochet a long that starts soon because of the hygge title. https://itsallinanutshell.com/2017/01/25/hygge-cal-kits-now-available/

 

My friend did the Mandela one with the same person and it worked incredibly well. She was not experienced with crochet beyond the very basics. I won't be participating but it's beautiful isn't it?

Edited January 26, 2017 by mumto2

[Ausmumof3]

I'm still reading Walden and I have to say I'm surprised by all his references and allusions to Confucius and Bhagavad Gita. There's been maybe two allusions to the Bible but a lot to these Eastern philosophies/religions. It's also unnerving and amazing how relevant his observations of his day are still true now and maybe even more so.

I'm reading a kind of compilation/biography of Thoreau at the moment and apparently he was part of the transcendentalist movement, quite strongly influenced by eastern influences. If you are enjoying walden you might find it an interesting read.

Edited January 26, 2017 by Ausmumof3

[Ausmumof3]

For me it was the whole being with nature and surviving on your own thing that spoke to me. When I read about people who reread it, what apparently stood out to them now was how he wasn't actually far from civilization and as for surviving on his own, people either gave him food or he stole it. I really don't remember those parts. I suppose I should reread it.

Yes. Also it's easy to get all lofty about how it's better to be poor and have freedom of thought than wealthy when you arent the one struggling to put food in your kids bellies. I found myself thinking often, the things he looks down on often are things that made life in his day bearable for woman and kids. And to be honest the families I know who are really into subsistence style living it seems to be a lot harder on the wives than the men.

[Loesje22000]

With all of our recent talk about the Hygge book I can't resist posting this crochet a long that starts soon because of the hygge title. https://itsallinanutshell.com/2017/01/25/hygge-cal-kits-now-available/

 

My friend did the Mandela one with the same person and it worked incredibly well. She was not experienced with crochet beyond the very basics. I won't be participating but it's beautiful isn't it?

I love it!

Maybe, very maybe I will enjoy

[Just Robyn]

Trying to get caught up with the thread! Thanks to all for the congratulations.

 

Sadie,  :grouphug: . How disappointing! I second theelfqueen's suggestion for Jenny Lawson. (Though since I haven't made it to the end of the thread yet, I suppose I might be third or fourthing it.) 

 

RE: Visual thinking - I do not see pictures when I read. (I do feel the characters' emotions, so I am not detached.) There was a short time when I forced myself to create pictures in my mind when I read as an experiment in improving my visual thinking skills. Suddenly one day, I was trying to remember something from a story and a picture flashed in my mind instead of sound/words,. It was a picture of a page of a book - not a picture of whatever I was visualizing while reading the book, but it was an image anyway, and I found the answer to my question by reading it off the page I could see in my head. The experience was actually shocking. You'd think it would be enough to encourage me to continue my experiment with improving my own visual thinking, but no. I guess I got tired of putting so much work into reading and went back to doing things the way that is natural for me.

 

  Is anyone here a "new" audiobook listener? 

 

 

I started listening to audio books last spring when the amount of time I spent driving my kids around go too high for me to bear. It felt like I was wasting so much time, so I decided to finally give audio books a good try so I could at least get some "reading" done while driving. I like that I can listen to books I probably wouldn't read - mostly nonfiction.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I started a few new things I haven't mentioned yet:

 

Mrs. Sherlock Holmes: The True Story of New York City's Greatest Female Detective and the 1917 Missing Girl Case that Captivated a Nation - I'll let the title speak for itself at this point, except to say I'm really enjoying this. It really delves into what society was like, for New Yorkers, for immigrants, inside the criminal justice system, during this tail end of the progressive era before that was all swallowed up in war fever. Fascinating book. It's so amazing to learn more about the independent, smart women that were the backbone of the progressive and women's suffrage movements and all that they accomplished, despite quite heavy odds against them. 

 

The Goldfinch - I had a hard time finding a new audio book to listen to when I finally had to give up on The American Slave Coast (due to a combo of a bad reader & technical problems with hoopla) and I finally settled on this one, as I had enjoyed the audio of The Secret History. That was read by the author, which this isn't, but it's funny that I hear her voice in my head when I think about it, rather than the narrator - who is fine. It's taking awhile to get into, honestly - the early chapters just feel like they're too stretched out, too much detail. But so many of you have read and liked this book, I'm persevering.

 

The Bridge of San Luis Rey - This is one of those classics I'd never gotten around to, and I had it conflated in my head with another book (Bridge over the river Kwai) and had no clue what it actually is. Thornton Wilder is a stunning writer, though, I just love him. This proves to be a fascinating book that explores a man of faith's efforts to grapple with why bad things happen to people - notice I didn't say "good" people, because that is not his assumption. The writing is just gorgeous, I am afraid I will find this book all too short.

 

Darkmans - Because I had nothing else to read, ;)  I started on this last night. Sent to me by Stacia in an effort to get more weird into my reading life  :D . I'm not very far in, but I see the appeal: the writing is great, and the characters are quirky and fascinating. I'm not sure where she's going, but I'm along for the ride.

[ErinE]

Yes. Also it's easy to get all lofty about how it's better to be poor and have freedom of thought than wealthy when you arent the one struggling to put food in your kids bellies. I found myself thinking often, the things he looks down on often are things that made life in his day bearable for woman and kids. And to be honest the families I know who are really into subsistence style living it seems to be a lot harder on the wives than the men.

 

It reminds me of Into the Wild, a book I abhorred, mainly because it celebrated Walden and separation from society while ignoring the people concerned, giving, and loving towards Chris McCandess. He wanted to live apart, but time and again benefited from access to people, transportation, food, and shelter. It catches up with him when he is finally truly cut off from society due to ignorance and lack of preparation.

 

Krakauer, a writer I've enjoyed in the past, celebrates McCandess' actions, but after reading several survivalists' reviews panning the book, I think my initial impression of McCandess was right. He was misguided following the Walden ideal and likely died because of it.

 

The book opens with the mother waking up in the middle of the night, believing her son is calling for her. The date was near the likely date of Chris's death from malnutrition. That moment stays with me. Not that I believe children have an obligation to their parents, but that the mother felt her son calling for her and could do nothing about it. It just breaks my heart.

Edited January 26, 2017 by ErinE

[Lady Florida.]

I started a few new things I haven't mentioned yet:

 

Mrs. Sherlock Holmes: The True Story of New York City's Greatest Female Detective and the 1917 Missing Girl Case that Captivated a Nation - I'll let the title speak for itself at this point, except to say I'm really enjoying this. It really delves into what society was like, for New Yorkers, for immigrants, inside the criminal justice system, during this tail end of the progressive era before that was all swallowed up in war fever. Fascinating book. It's so amazing to learn more about the independent, smart women that were the backbone of the progressive and women's suffrage movements and all that they accomplished, despite quite heavy odds against them. 

 

 

The Bridge of San Luis Rey - This is one of those classics I'd never gotten around to, and I had it conflated in my head with another book (Bridge over the river Kwai) and had no clue what it actually is. Thornton Wilder is a stunning writer, though, I just love him. This proves to be a fascinating book that explores a man of faith's efforts to grapple with why bad things happen to people - notice I didn't say "good" people, because that is not his assumption. The writing is just gorgeous, I am afraid I will find this book all too short.

 

You've been giving Stacia some competition the last few months. :) I just added those two to my TR list. 

 

I read The Goldfinch when it first came out but had never read anything else by Donna Tartt before. I both loved it and hated it and could barely put it down. I keep meaning to read The Secret History, and have had it from the library twice but both times it went back after being barely started. I didn't dislike it but it didn't grab me as much as other books I was reading at the time. I still intend to get to it one day.