Book a Week 2017 - BW5: festive february

[Stacia]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Robin M]

Yay. So one more thing... anyone have suggestions for X? Any chance there's some kind of cheat for X... or can one only do this challenge a few times? I mean, there can only be so many books about Xanadu or written by Xavier... or ...? Wouldn't one run out (or at least end up reading some reaaaly weird stuff?)

My favorite Qui Xiaolong, author of Chinese inspector series,

 

Also check out this list

 

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/42210.Authors_Starting_With_X_

[shukriyya]

I have started reading When Women Were Birds: Fifty-Four Variations on Voice by Terry Tempest Williams.

 

 

 

Already, a strong quote has grabbed me...

 

The summary:

 

Shukriyya, this one already has your name on it when I'm finished (if you don't already have it).

 

Ha and thank you! This and a couple others of hers have been on my tbr list for awhile now after I heard an interview with her on onbeing. Will be interested to hear what you think. She mentioned her mother leaving her the journals and her reaction upon finding them blank. It's kind of a marvelous koan, really. 

[Violet Crown]

Yay. So one more thing... anyone have suggestions for X? Any chance there's some kind of cheat for X... or can one only do this challenge a few times? I mean, there can only be so many books about Xanadu or written by Xavier... or ...? Wouldn't one run out (or at least end up reading some reaaaly weird stuff?)

Can't go wrong with the Anabasis.

 

I finished The Green Man last night. Very 1969, with plenty of casual sex, in tension with Amis' unsubtle curmudgeonly contempt for the student movements. It's a supernatural thriller on a technicality, but really a Kingsley Amis novel featuring a ghost. God makes a silly appearance for half a dozen pages, as if Amis is trying to clear himself of the charge of writing mere genre fiction; and he leaves the reader the option of deciding that the narrating protagonist, a heavy drinker and quite unreliable, is actually just hallucinating it all. An early reference to Henry James invites the reader to pay more attention to the psychological state of the innkeeper telling the story than to sussing out whether the things he experiences are real or not. It's a satisfying, quick read.

 

A sample:

It was indeed cooler today. The sun, standing immediately above the patch of woods towards which the ghost of Thomas Underhill was said to gaze, had not yet broken through a thin mist or veil of low cloud. As I walked over to where my Volkswagen was parked in the yard, I told myself that I would soon start to relish the state of being alone (not rid of Amy, just alone for a guaranteed period), only to find, as usual, that being alone meant that I was stuck with myself, with the outside and inside of my body, with my memories and anticipations and present feelings, with that indefinable sphere of being that is the sum of these and yet something beyond them, and with the assorted uneasiness of the whole. Two's company, which is bad enough in all conscience, but one's a crowd.

I did not knit anything while reading this book.

 

ETA: On to an "L" title next; I was all ready to go with Little Dorrit, but dh convinced me it's time I dip my toe into Nabokov. Here goes....

Edited January 31, 2017 by Violet Crown

[Matryoshka]

My favorite Qui Xiaolong, author of Chinese inspector series,

 

Also check out this list

 

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/42210.Authors_Starting_With_X_

Thanks, that is very helpful. Anyone have a similar list of books with words starting with X in the title? Hmm... too bad I already read most of the Xanth books (and even these many years later have no wish to read any more... )

[Heatherwith4]

I'm checking in quickly to say that last week I finished Searching for Sunday, by Rachel Held Evans. It was very interesting for someone raised in Evangelical Christianity and sometimes (always) finds herself out of place. It's taken me a while to get through it, but that's only because I have several books going at once. :)

 

This week I'm trying to use Goodreads a little more. It helps to visualize the books I have on my kindle and my hard copies in one place.

[Onceuponatime]

Would anyone like me to pass along Pomfret Towers by Angela Thirkell? (Thanks to Aggieamy ) It was an amusing, flufferton, feel-good story. I admit to being startled a couple of times by the British terminology that would have definite risqué connotations in modern America. The story line set those thoughts at ease. 😊

 

I'm currently reading The Truth by Terry Pratchett. It appears to be about the power of the press, which seemed fitting. Also, it is crammed with puns and word play. I can just see the author making himself chuckle while he wrote it. Consequently, I keep reading passages over to make sure I'm catching everything. It feels like I've said this about another of his books...

[Lady Florida.]

Anyone have a similar list of books with words starting with X in the title?

 

 

 

Here you go. 

[fastweedpuller]

So hey.  Anyone up for discussing Norwegian Wood?  "They" say it's the most autobiographical of his works. 

[mumto2]

So hey. Anyone up for discussing Norwegian Wood? "They" say it's the most autobiographical of his works.

I am, but on the way out the door. Will be home in a couple of hours.

[JennW in SoCal]

Stayed up late to finish By Gaslight. What a satisfying book. Beautifully written, complex, well paced, great characters, good plot. 

 

 

I'm currently reading The Truth by Terry Pratchett. It appears to be about the power of the press, which seemed fitting. Also, it is crammed with puns and word play. I can just see the author making himself chuckle while he wrote it. Consequently, I keep reading passages over to make sure I'm catching everything. It feels like I've said this about another of his books...

 

While I was in bed with a nasty head cold over the weekend I re-listened to a chunk of The Truth, one of my favorite Pratchetts. I love Otto the vampire! The book seemed very timely, too, more so now than other times I've listened to it

 

So hey.  Anyone up for discussing Norwegian Wood?  "They" say it's the most autobiographical of his works. 

 

Why yes, but let me get some coffee and eat breakfast first....

[BarbecueMom]

So hey. Anyone up for discussing Norwegian Wood? "They" say it's the most autobiographical of his works.

Me! As soon as I can get the kids' math and writing done and toss them out in the backyard.

[ErinE]

My favorite Qui Xiaolong, author of Chinese inspector series,

 

Also check out this list

 

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/42210.Authors_Starting_With_X_

Orson Scott Card has Xenocide if you've read and liked Ender's Game.

[Stacia]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[JennW in SoCal]

About Norwegian Wood....

 

The book resonated with me on a deeply personal level. I think it is a tribute to Murakami's literary prowess that he can write with profound insight about something too often handled with simplistic cliches. I keep writing to expand on this, but deleting as it either sounds too trite or is more than I want to share. Suffice it to say that the book captures the fog of being 17 or 18, trying at once to cope with grief and a sudden, profound understanding of death, while also trying to navigate the business of growing up and navigating college. I think this review from the Guardian does a much, much better job of defending the literary merits of Norwegian Wood than I ever could:

 

Winter Reads: Norwegian Wood

Edited January 31, 2017 by JennW in SoCal

[fastweedpuller]

Thanks for that, Jenn. 

 

For me, besides what you mentioned, his work (granted I have only just read 1Q84 and this one) capture the good side/bad side of living in a monoculture (as Japan surely was until, well...).  The pressure to succeed in school, for example.  The stratification exhibited in this book where one "class" of students expects to succeed and the other has less expectations of the goals of school.  The shocking-to-our-western-sensibilities treatment of mental illness/depression/suicide (and jeez DO NOT read The Vegetarian if you are at all sensitive to this...though the setting for that book is '80s90s Korea).  The fog of adolescence.  The male gaze vs the female sexual experience.  Ageism. 

 

Frankly I liked the book, and I marvel because it is of course a translation.  Yes, the subject matter was depressing, but I didn't find it a depressing book.

[mumto2]

Great link Jenn!

 

I probably should just stop there but will be a bit brave and go on. I found the University educational system parts of the book fascinating. I learned a great deal from that so could easily stop there and say it was a worthwhile read for me.

 

I normally stay away from books where suicide and death play such a large role. During my teens one of my closest friends had a long tangled history of suicide attempts and destructive behaviour with me as someone trying to save her. To say I empathized with Toru is almost an understatement. Eventually she pretty ruthlessly cut me out of her life (I now wonder if she did it for me and think it was) and I went off to College. When I heard about her suicide when we were 22 I wasn't surprised. Sad, very sad. I so very much wanted her to find happiness or at least contentment. I have always thought of her frequently with regret for the things she didn't get to do. For her there was one thing that set the whole chain of events in motion, impossible for me at 15 to change it. Not sure it could be changed. I also think of all the great adventures we had....This book was good for me. It made me remember through clearer eyes. I have always felt a sense of guilt because I couldn't save/fix her.

 

Not sure what more I want to say. I suspect I have way overshared. But I do feel a bit better after having read the book.

[Kareni]

I enjoyed a re-read (my fourth, perhaps) of Andy Weir's The Martian: A Novel.  I will continue to recommend this book.

 

"Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.

Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?"

**

 

And here's a currently free (one day only) classic by an American author:

 

"Mary [Johnston] is chiefly remembered for To Have and To Hold (1900), and Andrey (1902. She was the first woman to speak before the Virginia General Assembly on giving the right to vote for women. She was unique in that almost everything she wrote was published on both sides of the Atlantic. Canadian and London publishers extended her works around the globe. Her other novels include two Civil War stories: The Long Roll (1911) and Cease Firing (1912), The Great Valley (1926), and Miss Delicia Allen (1932)."

 

To Have and to Hold by Mary Johnston

 

"A dauntless hero will do whatever it takes to win the heart of his bride in Mary Johnston’s bestselling historical adventure set in colonial Jamestown

Captain Percy is the embodiment of bravery. At the suggestion of a friend, he boards a ship to America to stake his claim in the New World—and perhaps even meet the woman of his dreams. Meanwhile, eligible women are setting sail to the very same place on “bride ships†in order to find husbands and forge new lives. Jocelyn Leigh is one such lady. She fled Europe in order to escape an unwanted suitor, but much to her dismay, he follows her across the Atlantic.
 
Jocelyn thinks that her problems are over when Captain Percy rescues her and asks for her hand in marriage. But life in Jamestown is far from easy. From swashbuckling pirates to kidnapping plots, from hostile Spaniards to wary indigenous tribes, danger seems to lurk in every corner of the new colony. Johnston’s most popular novel, To Have and to Hold is a classic adventure for all ages."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[shukriyya]

Orson Scott Card has Xenocide if you've read and liked Ender's Game.

 

Ds just finished this and gives it two thumbs up as long as you've read the two books preceding it.

[Stacia]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[aggieamy]

Hello everyone! I'm still having a bit of trouble getting started with anything new. I tried listening to The Good Earth but I just don't like the reader. So, I started listening to Brat Farrar with Carole Boyd as the narrator  and am loving it. I read the book maybe 10 years ago so I don't remember all the plot points (yay!) and the reader is excellent!

 

I've read several chapters of the first Miss Seeton book and am liking it but something about the writing style is bothering me. I wish it was a little more straightforward maybe? 

 

Also, I thought of one more fun holiday for February - National Pizza Day on February 9th! http://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/national-pizza-day-february-9/

 

Did you just buy Brat Farrarr on sale from audible?  It's my next audiobook because I saw it was on sale and have always wanted to read it.

 

When ds was applying to colleges one of the essays was to recommend a book for the first year read (where all freshman read the same book and it can be discussed in classes.)  He wrote on The Wee Free Men.

 

That's a cool essay topic and an even cooler book choice.

 

Since I suspect I am the only person here who had a Burns Night supper in their lives this year I have a bit of new knowledge to report regarding haggis. Other years our whole family has been involved actively in making the village event happen but this year dh was pretty adamant that I wasn't going to go and work clean up because of a foot injury that I have pretty much recovered from. He was right standing on a hard floor for a couple of hours would have set me back. He took my place which was sweet and did his normal heavy lifting too. So I stayed home and worked on a quilt. ;)

 

Well, my crew arrived home about eleven and the smell that came with them was pretty bad. As they walked towards me it arrived long before they did! :lol: A fatty meaty heavy yucky smell that resulted in me doing two loads of laundry before going to bed. I'm really not that picky in general but could not imagine waking up to the smell today. I never noticed it other years......

 

 

But Sandy what we all really want to know is did your daughter try the vegetarian haggis and did she like it?!?!  (Apologies if you've alreay discussed this and I just missed the conversation.)

 

Thanks, that is very helpful. Anyone have a similar list of books with words starting with X in the title? Hmm... too bad I already read most of the Xanth books (and even these many years later have no wish to read any more... )

 

Have you read any of Piers Anthony's books as an adult?  I love them as a preteen girl.  The Incarnations of Immortality series and the early Xanth series were so creative that I just fell in love with them.  Then as I got to be an older teen I read them and I couldn't define it but there was something about them that made me feel a little ... icky? I couldn't define it but stopped reading his books at that point.  A few years ago I reread some of them and now I can put a name to the feelings I had as a young woman.  There was an incredible emphasis on young woman (girls almost) and being attractive and alluring and sexy.  They captured my imagination so much as a kid but I wouldn't want to give them to my 12 yo DD to read.

 

Also ... like many here I read WHATEVER I wanted as a kid and my parents didn't care.  Now movies they were super strict with but not books. 

[aggieamy]

Just finished the audiobook version of The Cat Who Blew the Whistle by Lillian Jackson Braun for at least the 15th time.  Moose County is my happy place.  :001_wub:

[mumto2]

 

 

But Sandy what we all really want to know is did your daughter try the vegetarian haggis and did she like it?!?!  (Apologies if you've alreay discussed this and I just missed the conversation.)

 

 

  

Just finished the audiobook version of The Cat Who Blew the Whistle by Lillian Jackson Braun for at least the 15th time.  Moose County is my happy place.  :001_wub:

She claims to have been to busy to eat. Her brother certainly wasn't! :lol: He seems to really like haggis. Dh went and picked up Pizza for them around 5 so they wouldn't have to eat if they didn't want to so he probably spoiled her appetite. She had the clootie pudding which she really likes. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/clootiepudding_9528

 

I am on The Cat who played Brahms in my reread. I hope to reach Moose County soon.....do you know which book?

[Joules]

 

Have you read any of Piers Anthony's books as an adult?  I love them as a preteen girl.  The Incarnations of Immortality series and the early Xanth series were so creative that I just fell in love with them.  Then as I got to be an older teen I read them and I couldn't define it but there was something about them that made me feel a little ... icky? I couldn't define it but stopped reading his books at that point.  A few years ago I reread some of them and now I can put a name to the feelings I had as a young woman.  There was an incredible emphasis on young woman (girls almost) and being attractive and alluring and sexy.  They captured my imagination so much as a kid but I wouldn't want to give them to my 12 yo DD to read.

 

 

I loved the Incarnations of Immortality and enjoyed Xanth (but at some point had enough of the repetition).  I encouraged ds to read them as a young teen without re-reading.  He read a few and enjoyed the mythology of Incarnations, but told me the books were very misogynistic and didn't read any more.  I couldn't believe it and had to re-read to see what he was talking about.  It really was a whole different world for women way back when...it all seemed perfectly normal to me then.

[Narrow Gate Academy]

I finished reading book 8, The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher yesterday.  I downloaded it from the Amazon Prime library to use for my bingo prime number square.  The plot reads somewhat like a fairy tale and quite enjoyed it.  Here the link to my review.  Now after finishing three fiction books, I need to make some progress on my current nonfiction book.

[Robin M]

We've all succumbed to the wonderful cold that's going around. Both technicians sick, One fortunately getting over it so he can handle the shop. Hubby's in the middle, has hit bottom. I fought it until yesterday in order to finish quarterly taxes. This morning James and I both woke with sore throats. Sigh! Curled up with books, video games, plenty of liquids and Kleenex.

[mumto2]

Robin :grouphug: I refuse to like a post where everyone is uncomfortable. I was going to say miserable but I know you like the books. I am also sure James likes a videogame day or two. I hope all of you feel better soon!

[Rosie_0801]

I attended an Interfaith Women's Tea this past weekend at a local synagogue. I heard a rabbi, an episcopaliean priest, and a Muslim woman discuss creation and being good stewards of our earth. Very interesting. They recommended a book called The Faith Club. I grew up in a very hippie church, and have not found one down here that I have loved like my own church, but this group of women made me think I should try the Episcopal church again.

 

I read Green Deen the other year. It was fun. 

 

Or some book like it. Change the cover and it completely throws me out.  :o

[Matryoshka]

Have you read any of Piers Anthony's books as an adult?  I love them as a preteen girl.  The Incarnations of Immortality series and the early Xanth series were so creative that I just fell in love with them.  Then as I got to be an older teen I read them and I couldn't define it but there was something about them that made me feel a little ... icky? I couldn't define it but stopped reading his books at that point.  A few years ago I reread some of them and now I can put a name to the feelings I had as a young woman.  There was an incredible emphasis on young woman (girls almost) and being attractive and alluring and sexy.  They captured my imagination so much as a kid but I wouldn't want to give them to my 12 yo DD to read.

 

I have not read any as an adult, nor do I wish to.  I read them sometime in my mid-teens, I think?  That's when I was devouring a book every day or two, and not being terribly discerning.  I think I remember thinking the first couple were funny enough, but then they got really repetitive and old, and yes, somehow started feeling ... icky.  And not just because of the horrible puns.

 

Kind of got a bad taste and never want to read another Piers Anthony book ever again. Kind of how you feel about eating food you once got sick from.  I'm embarrassed that I got through 7 of them before getting to that point...

[Little Nyssa]

I read Patti Smith's "Just Kids." I had it recommended to me by someone who heard her interviewed on NPR and thought it sounded wonderful, perhaps an example of a creative person's story discovering her art... an example of a successful memoir.

but it was very disappointing: it's not very introspective, and I really have no idea what she is like or what she does, any more than I had before I read it! I didn't know who she was before I read it, and I still don't know. The book is really about her youthful relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, who is no doubt extremely talented, (but not someone I would like to read further about,) and there is really no discussion of what he was like or why. She writes, 'I went here.. i went there' and certainly there were a lot of events that could have been interesting, but they were never explored. The only anecdote that I will remember was that Alan Ginsburg gave her a quarter because he thought she was a boy.

[TravelingChris]

I have been distracted so not reading that much.  Started Billy the KId by Robert Utley.  This is a biography and I am finding it interesting but I put it down for a while and am finishing a mystery first.

 

I have so many books on my to be read list.  My limited family -just me, dh and my son, binge watched Expanse last week on Prime and are now ready for the second season on SciFi.  My son brought over the books and he wanted his dad to read them but I think I will start reading them first.  Then I saw a commercial for Magicians while I was watching Crimes to be Remembered on Demand and they kept saying that season I is on Netflix and season two is starting soon.  Since I really liked a TV show a long time ago which starred Bill Bixby as a magician who solved crimes, I decided to start watching it. Then I decided that dh and my son would like it too. So I recommended to my son who is watching at his house and dh and I are watching together now.  That series is from a book too but we don't have that book yet.

 

I always right down new mysteries that people recommend and I think I will like.  That series by Magdalen McNabb sounds like something I would like to read too.

 

Prayers that your surgery goes well Nan and for your family to feel better Robin.

[Mom-ninja.]

Kind of how you feel about eating food you once got sick from.  

 

Brown bread...the horrid brown bread in a can. Shudder.  :ack2:   I was 7. I ate it. I have never forgotten that night. My body has been on high alert on guard since then. If I get one tiny whiff of that vile stuff I will throw up. The world should be rid of all of it forever. 

 

 

 

 

Moving along in Three Men on a Brummel had I am sad to say I came to a racist bit. I'm trying not to let it ruin the rest of the book for me. I hate it when this happens. The book The Egg and I was hard for me to enjoy because the author full out shared her very racist opinion of native Americans. That has stuck with me and I even have a hard time reading her children's books.   

[SereneHome]

You ladies are true inspiration.  I am still on the two books I started at the beginning of the year :(

[idnib]

You ladies are true inspiration.  I am still on the two books I started at the beginning of the year :(

 

One of the books I'm reading I started in July, and the other in 2013.  :o

[shukriyya]

Brown bread...the horrid brown bread in a can. Shudder.  :ack2:   I was 7. I ate it. I have never forgotten that night. My body has been on high alert on guard since then. If I get one tiny whiff of that vile stuff I will throw up. The world should be rid of all of it forever. 

 

Ha! I have such fond memories of this stuff. My mom would make it in a blue and white Maxwell House coffee can, Boston Brown Bread it was called, sweet, dark, and moist from molasses. She'd only make it once or twice a winter and always with homemade baked beans and only when it was super cold. She'd put the beans on in the morning and set the bread to bake early in the afternoon and our anticipation would grow with the wonderful rich smell filling the house. I can remember one particular time having been out all day long in a sub-freezing Canadian winter wonderland, tobogganing, making snow forts and the like with my brothers. It was dark as we found our way home. We were tired with that delicious feeling of having been immersed in the raw elements all day, spent and content with the prospect of homemade Boston Brown Bread and homemade baked beans to nourish us upon our return home. It's a memory that has stayed with me all these decades.

 

In the bookish realm, I finished Palace of Illusions. The ending was so...poignant, moving. I won't say more as I know at least one other person on this thread is reading it but it was very satisfying in a kind of ontological way.

[Kareni]

Those of you who like any of the following

 

~ books about books

~ short stories

~ writing

 

might enjoy the book I just finished -- Am I Alone Here?: Notes on Living to Read and Reading to Live by Peter Orner.  It was eminently readable; it's a book that might be read and deliberated over or read more speedily.  I enjoyed it.

 

"A National Book Critics Circle Award finalist in Criticism

“Stories, both my own and those I’ve taken to heart, make up whoever it is that I’ve become,†Peter Orner writes in this collection of essays about reading, writing, and living. Orner reads—and writes—everywhere he finds himself: a hospital cafeteria, a coffee shop in Albania, or a crowded bus in Haiti. The result is “a book of unlearned meditations that stumbles into memoir.†Among the many writers Orner addresses are Isaac Babel and Zora Neale Hurston, both of whom told their truths and were silenced; Franz Kafka, who professed loneliness but craved connection; Robert Walser, who spent the last twenty-three years of his life in a Swiss insane asylum, “working†at being crazy; and Juan Rulfo, who practiced the difficult art of silence. Virginia Woolf, Eudora Welty, Yasunari Kawabata, Saul Bellow, Mavis Gallant, John Edgar Wideman, William Trevor, and Václav Havel make appearances, as well as the poet Herbert Morris—about whom almost nothing is known.

An elegy for an eccentric late father, and the end of a marriage, Am I Alone Here? is also a celebration of the possibility of renewal. At once personal and panoramic, this book will inspire readers to return to the essential stories of their own lives."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Negin]

Just thought to let anyone who may be interested know that this book which I've heard good things about is one sale today. Of course, your library probably carries it. Since I don't have one, I'm always happy about a sale!

 

[Tress]

Those of you who like any of the following

 

~ books about books

~ short stories

~ writing

 

might enjoy the book I just finished -- Am I Alone Here?: Notes on Living to Read and Reading to Live by Peter Orner. It was eminently readable; it's a book that might be read and deliberated over or read more speedily. I enjoyed it.

 

"A National Book Critics Circle Award finalist in Criticism

 

 

 

“Stories, both my own and those I’ve taken to heart, make up whoever it is that I’ve become,†Peter Orner writes in this collection of essays about reading, writing, and living. Orner reads—and writes—everywhere he finds himself: a hospital cafeteria, a coffee shop in Albania, or a crowded bus in Haiti. The result is “a book of unlearned meditations that stumbles into memoir.†Among the many writers Orner addresses are Isaac Babel and Zora Neale Hurston, both of whom told their truths and were silenced; Franz Kafka, who professed loneliness but craved connection; Robert Walser, who spent the last twenty-three years of his life in a Swiss insane asylum, “working†at being crazy; and Juan Rulfo, who practiced the difficult art of silence. Virginia Woolf, Eudora Welty, Yasunari Kawabata, Saul Bellow, Mavis Gallant, John Edgar Wideman, William Trevor, and Václav Havel make appearances, as well as the poet Herbert Morris—about whom almost nothing is known.

 

An elegy for an eccentric late father, and the end of a marriage, Am I Alone Here? is also a celebration of the possibility of renewal. At once personal and panoramic, this book will inspire readers to return to the essential stories of their own lives."

 

Regards,

Kareni

Thank you, Kareni! That sounds like a book I will enjoy. I'm putting it on my birthday wishlist, high on my wishlist :).

[Jane in NC]

Ha! I have such fond memories of this stuff. My mom would make it in a blue and white Maxwell House coffee can, Boston Brown Bread it was called, sweet, dark, and moist from molasses. She'd only make it once or twice a winter and always with homemade baked beans and only when it was super cold. She'd put the beans on in the morning and set the bread to bake early in the afternoon and our anticipation would grow with the wonderful rich smell filling the house. I can remember one particular time having been out all day long in a sub-freezing Canadian winter wonderland, tobogganing, making snow forts and the like with my brothers. It was dark as we found our way home. We were tired with that delicious feeling of having been immersed in the raw elements all day, spent and content with the prospect of homemade Boston Brown Bread and homemade baked beans to nourish us upon our return home. It's a memory that has stayed with me all these decades.

 

I too have fond memories and my mother's recipe for Boston Brown Bread. Nice to know there is an extra slice for us to split since Mom-ninja doesn't want one!

[Onceuponatime]

I love brown bread and baked beans. I also grew up eating them...from cans because my mom was not much of a cook. She did try to make homemade codfish cakes. Those were shudder worthy.

 

I adored a toasted slice of brown bread slathered with butter. For the past few years, I've been on a quest to create the perfect brown bread style muffin.

Edited February 1, 2017 by Onceuponatime

[Violet Crown]

You ladies are true inspiration. I am still on the two books I started at the beginning of the year :(

I'm still reading Hakluyt's Voyages from January 1.

 

ETA: I'm looking at your children's ages and laughing. How are you even being allowed to read anything besides Thomas the Tank Engine? Don't worry, we've all been there. Remind me which books you're reading?

Edited February 1, 2017 by Violet Crown

[Ethel Mertz]

Yay.  So one more thing...  anyone have suggestions for X?  Any chance there's some kind of cheat for X... or can one only do this challenge a few times?  I mean, there can only be so many books about Xanadu or written by Xavier... or ...?  Wouldn't one run out (or at least end up reading some reaaaly weird stuff?)

 

My "X" book will be Aunt Bessie Assumes (Isle of Man #1) by Diana Xarissa.

 

I finally finished Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare? by James Cone. Particularly helpful for understanding Malcolm X's point of view, the author paints a detailed picture of the influences that affected the stands MLK and Malcolm X took, as well as drawing out the differences and commonalities between the two. Five stars.

[mumto2]

My "X" book will be Aunt Bessie Assumes (Isle of Man #1) by Diana Xarissa..

I saw that too. I actually own at least one of the books in the series because it was free on Kindle. The mystery series with the X author that Robin recommended upthread is also quite good. I read one for a different challenge in the past. The only reason I haven't read more was I couldn't find them at a library.

 

I'm currently reading Before the Fall which Stacia read months ago. I've been on a wait list this whole time. I'm not ready to render an opinion on the whole book but have to say the Jack LaLanne parts are cracking me up. He had a fitness show when I was little (5 or so) that I was somewhat obsessed by and used to exercise with Jack frequently. For the main character Jack was a hero of what a person with determination can do. It makes me really like the guy so I am hoping he doesn't turn out to be dreadful.

[Lady Florida.]

You ladies are true inspiration.  I am still on the two books I started at the beginning of the year :(

 

 

One of the books I'm reading I started in July, and the other in 2013.  :o

 

I'm still reading one from last April and one from last July.

[Stacia]

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Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Stacia]

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Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Stacia]

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Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[JennW in SoCal]

I'm another one who has fond memories of eating brown bread and baked beans, but as my mom defiantly refused to spend too much time in the kitchen, both came from a can!  Stacia, I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it as, according to my Alabama raised mother, it is a New England staple. She developed a taste for it during my parent's poor-college-student days in Boston.

 

I would like to add that I want a time machine so that I can travel back, as a little girl, to spend a long winter's afternoon with little girl Shurkriyya and her siblings.

[Jane in NC]

Today marks the birthday of Langston Hughes, born in 1902.  Our thought for the day:  Democracy.

 

 

Democracy will not come
Today, this year
Nor ever
Through compromise and fear.

I have as much right
As the other fellow has
To stand
On my two feet
And own the land.

I tire so of hearing people say,
Let things take their course.
Tomorrow is another day.
I do not need my freedom when I'm dead.
I cannot live on tomorrow's bread.

Freedom
Is a strong seed
Planted
In a great need.

I live here, too.
I want freedom
Just as you.

 

[Jane in NC]

More on brown bread:  My mom was a Midwesterner so I have no idea where the idea of brown bread came from but we never ate it with beans.  We ate baked beans--just not with the New England staple of brown bread. 

 

My mother loves molasses and raisins though, as do I.  I suspect that is why she was drawn to the recipe. 

 

By the way, she always baked hers.  Proper brown bread is steamed.  We need Nan to weigh in here.