Book a Week 2020 - BW5: Ladies of Fiction - Mary Stewart

[Lady Florida.]

13 hours ago, Robin M said:

Has everyone given me their updated snail mail, email, and birthday information for postcard / book swap and contact list?  I'll finish updating the list this weekend and pm. 

😘

I actually have an address for the new house instead of just a lot number now. 🙂  We're hoping that the buyer of this house will be able and willing to do a rent back so that we only have to move once if this one sells before the other one is finished. There's a potential buyer who knows it's about to go on the market but it's a matter of whether he can qualify for the amount we're asking. If he buys it he already said he'd be on board with renting back to us. Fingers crossed!

[SereneHome]

I am still on chapter 3 of Lost city of Z but!!! I am reading Harriet the Spy to my kiddies and I am enjoying it very very much.  Since I didn't grow up in US, most of the kids' books are new to me.

Speaking of Ladies of fiction - I just can not say enough good things about Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman.  I read it last year and actually had to buy it after I read it bc I just loved it so so much

[Dicentra]

20 hours ago, Kareni said:

I recently finished How to Draw Inky Wonderlands: Create and Color Your Own Magical Adventure by Johanna Basford. It did not take long to read; however, it would take quite some time to do all the projects. I enjoyed it.

 "A welcoming drawing guide for creating beautiful worlds and wondrous wildlife from bestselling artist Johanna Basford

 

I have some of Basford's colouring books.  Lovely, lovely intricate sketches to colour.  That book looks wonderful, Kareni, but I have ZERO drawing skills. 🙂  I think I would make Basford want to gently take the book back from me and say, "Here, dear.  Just colour what I've drawn.".

On 2/5/2020 at 7:00 PM, Kareni said:

10 ALICE IN WONDERLAND ILLUSTRATORS

https://bookriot.com/2020/02/02/alice-in-wonderland-illustrators/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Swords and Spaceships - 020420&utm_term=BookRiot_SwordsAndSpaceships

Kareni

 

 

I have a hardbound copy of Alice that I rescued from our local library - they were going to toss it out!  It's the version with the original Tenniel illustrations and it has gorgeously weird endpapers and drawings throughout.  And they were going to throw it away!!!  Don't worry, everyone - it's safe at my house now. 😉

http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/resources/background/tenniel-and-his-illustrations/

 

[Kareni]

1 hour ago, Dicentra said:

I have some of Basford's colouring books.  Lovely, lovely intricate sketches to colour.  That book looks wonderful, Kareni, but I have ZERO drawing skills. 🙂  I think I would make Basford want to gently take the book back from me and say, "Here, dear.  Just colour what I've drawn.".

I hear you, Dicentra, being another person with little native artistic talent; however, I do think it would be possible to do the projects in this book. I think my greatest issue (surpassing the lack of talent) is the disinclination to spend the time to better my skills. This might properly be called laziness but could also be called choosing to spend my time elsewhere doing things like reading, finding bookish posts on the internet, and eating chocolate!

ETA: And yay for being a rescuer of Alice in Wonderland!

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Some of you doubtless recall @Angelaboord; I thought I'd mention that her book is currently on sale for 99 cents. 

Here's what I wrote last year:

On 8/23/2019 at 8:10 PM, Kareni said:

... last night I finished  Fortune's Fool (Eterean Empire Book 1) by Angela Boord; it impressed me. If you decide to read the book, be prepared to invest some time as it's over 700 pages.

 "A secret affair. A disfiguring punishment. A burning need for revenge.

Kyrra d’Aliente has a bad reputation and an arm made of metal.

Cast out of the safe and luxurious world of silk to which she was born, played as a pawn in a game of feuding Houses, Kyrra navigates a dangerous world of mercenaries, spies, and smugglers while disguising herself as a man.

War destroyed her family and the man she loved.

Vengeance is within her grasp.

But is she willing to pay its price?"

 

Here's a good review.

And here's a Reddit thread started by Angela:  

Hi! I'm Angela Boord, author of Fortune's Fool, and I'm writer of ..

 

Regards,

Kareni

[tuesdayschild]

I ended up purchasing the Basford book Kareni mentioned (thank you!!) through Bookdepository - so looking to working in it. 

@mumto2 I forgot yesterday....  love seeing you mention the Miss Silver titles you're reading (I'm reading a few series in order this year, and garnered the idea of rereading that series again from you)

Finished two books this week, both via audio.   

Overture to Death: Roderick Alleyn #8 ~ Ngaio Marsh, narrated by Anton Lesser (abridged) (3) I'm going through the stories in order, this time, and this edition created an entertaining quick option.  The old spinsters in this book are something else.  Extra:  the married Dr has an affair with the 'man bait' Marsh injects into this story: she's one bad gal..... and I can't recall if Alleyn apprehends her in any of the later stories (?).

Death of a Maid: Hamish MacBeth Bk23 ~ M.C. Beaton, narrated by Graeme Malcolm (2) This was on the available to  'download now" via my libraries epukapuka site, so I did.  gave the book 2* due to the narrator - he's really good.  I stuck with the book because of him, and to see what happened to Hamish, I wished I hadn't ....  sadly, Hamish MacBeth is not my cup of literary tea.

I have so many fiction books I could read and yet  seem to really settle with anything - I think I over indulged in  too many whodunits and fluffertons in January .  

I've just started reading  The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase by Mark Forsyth.  It's rather pithy and witty, I did sit there and laugh myself silly over one of his excerpts.  There are some f-bombs in the text, and he can be rather irreverent towards why God included things in the bible, using 'that' particular style, and, towards Shakespeare's writing acumen in general.   I'm please I've got this on ebook so I can glide over things that aren't sitting well, and, so that I can go back and slowly read the way to use the tool he is talking about.

 

Edited February 7, 2020 by tuesdayschild

[vmsurbat1]

On 2/6/2020 at 2:16 AM, Robin M said:

Has everyone given me their updated snail mail, email, and birthday information for postcard / book swap and contact list?  I'll finish updating the list this weekend and pm. 

😘

 

Thanks for the reminder; I just sent you mine.  Down with the flu here at our house.  

[Negin]

6 hours ago, Dicentra said:

I have a hardbound copy of Alice that I rescued from our local library - they were going to toss it out!  It's the version with the original Tenniel illustrations and it has gorgeously weird endpapers and drawings throughout.  And they were going to throw it away!!!  Don't worry, everyone - it's safe at my house now. 😉

http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/resources/background/tenniel-and-his-illustrations/

 

So pretty!

[Kareni]

I don't generally post the books I have in progress, but ....

My book group chose to read a TOME ... 716 pages of text plus pictures and another 200 pages of back matter. I generally start a book group book the weekend before we meet on a Thursday; however, I decided it behooved me to start this book much sooner. We will meet on the 20th this month, and I've been reading a couple of chapters daily for the past  week.

The book is  Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell... by Mary Gabriel

I'm at page 217.

Regards,

Kareni

[aggieamy]

On 2/2/2020 at 1:58 PM, Robin M said:

I first read the Arthurian saga about Merlin and his life before, during, and after King Arthur, which consisted of The Crystal Cave (1970), The Hollow Hills (1973), and The Last Enchantment (1979) and Wicked Day (1983) back during the late 70's, early 80's.  I read and reread all her books during that period of time, but unfortunately only kept Merlin's Series in my stacks.   The series has always stood the test of time and each time I get something new out of them.  I look forward to rereading The Crystal Cave again this month.   I only have to hear one of the titles of her books such as Touch Not the Cat or Nine Coaches Waiting or The Ivy Tree or Airs above the Ground and be taken right back into the story.   

 

Yay! Mary Stewart Month! I'm excited about this. She's an author I discovered as an adult and have loved. My favorite of all her books is Wildfire at Midnight which I think I've read three times now. That said ... I haven't read all her books yet so I might discover a new favorite with this months new read. 

12 hours ago, tuesdayschild said:

I've just started reading  The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase by Mark Forsyth.  It's rather pithy and witty, I did sit there and laugh myself silly over one of his excerpts.  There are some f-bombs in the text, and he can be rather irreverent towards why God included things in the bible, using 'that' particular style, and, towards Shakespeare's writing acumen in general.   I'm please I've got this on ebook so I can glide over things that aren't sitting well, and, so that I can go back and slowly read the way to use the tool he is talking about.

 

Just added to my to-read list!

9 hours ago, vmsurbat1 said:

 

Thanks for the reminder; I just sent you mine.  Down with the flu here at our house.  

I am so so so so sorry. My kids just went back to school yesterday after being sick for almost ten days. I hope you guys have a speedy recovery. 

[aggieamy]

I am getting so much reading done with this flu-induced insomnia! 

At 3 am I finished Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer. It's another one I was surprised to see that none of my GR's friends have rated yet. It's a romance between the town "crazy" and ex-con. The setting is Georgia summer 1941 so you know there's bad stuff around the corner. It was incredibly well written. The author had her historical facts spot on. The hero and heroine were perfect for each other. It played on the trope of "fall in love after you get married" which is one of my favorites.

@mumto2 - I seriously can't believe you haven't read this! I have to wonder if you read it before GR's and it just didn't get marked? Highly recommend!

[Maus]

I find myself catching up listing what I've read again.  I have to compete to use my own computer, as two of my kids' computers have bitten the dust.

14.  "The Road from Coorain" by Jill Ker Conway.  Entry three from the Well-Educated Mind autobiography list challenge.  I really enjoyed this one.

13.  "All Rivers Run to the Sea" by Elie Wiesel.  Entry two from the Well-Educated Mind autobiography list challenge.  He jumped around in time a little, which was mildly confusing, but overall, I liked it.

12.  "The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction" by Alan Jacobs.  Heard about this one on a recent Read Aloud Revival podcast, and since my library had it, I went and got it.  Thought provoking.  I prefer reading for Whim, as he speaks about.

11.  "Whatever You Choose to Be" by Ann Romney.  Book form of a commencement address she gave.

10.  "Five Little Pigs" by Agatha Christie.  2nd entry in the Agatha Christie challenge.  Yet another one I don't remember reading before.

9.  "Rethinking School" by Susan Wise Bauer.  Audio version.  This is helping me be more secure about our High School efforts, so I come back to it often.

8.  "The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax" by Dorothy Gilman.  I think I picked both of these up during an audible sale.

7.  "The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax" by Dorothy Gilman.  Audio book listen while I started back up my walking habit.

6.  "A Faithful Reply to the CES Letter" by Jim Bennett.

5.  "Bamboozled by the "CES Letter"" by Michael R. Ash.

4. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou.  Entry one - the Well-Educated Mind autobiography list challenge.

3. "The Harlequin Tea Set" by Agatha Christie.   Entry one - Agatha Christie Challenge.

2. "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis. 

1. "Unselfish: Love Thy Neighbor as Thy Selfie" compiled by Paul D. Parkinson.

•  

[Kareni]

11 minutes ago, Maus said:

"The Road from Coorain" by Jill Ker Conway.  Entry three from the Well-Educated Mind autobiography list challenge.  I really enjoyed this one.

I read that years ago and enjoyed it also.

**

21 minutes ago, aggieamy said:

At 3 am I finished Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer. It's another one I was surprised to see that none of my GR's friends have rated yet. It's a romance between the town "crazy" and ex-con. The setting is Georgia summer 1941 so you know there's bad stuff around the corner. It was incredibly well written.

This is a long time favorite of mine; it was published in1989 and my copy may well date from then.

Funny, I see that I recommended it to you last year!

On 1/9/2019 at 9:33 AM, Kareni said:

I thought of another marriage of convenience title for you @aggieamy Morning Glory  by LaVyrle Spencer

It's a historical romance set in Depression era America.

Regards,

Kareni

[aggieamy]

4 minutes ago, Kareni said:

I read that years ago and enjoyed it also.

**

This is a long time favorite of mine; it was published in1989 and my copy may well date from then.

Funny, I see that I recommended it to you last year!

Regards,

Kareni

I'm so happy you pointed that out. I rely on Goodreads so much for keeping track of who has read what and I couldn't figure out where I even heard about the book. It was a great recommendation. Thank you so much. It's going to be one of my top three books of the year. I can predict that and it's only early February!

[Dicentra]

16 hours ago, Kareni said:

I hear you, Dicentra, being another person with little native artistic talent; however, I do think it would be possible to do the projects in this book. I think my greatest issue (surpassing the lack of talent) is the disinclination to spend the time to better my skills. This might properly be called laziness but could also be called choosing to spend my time elsewhere doing things like reading, finding bookish posts on the internet, and eating chocolate!

ETA: And yay for being a rescuer of Alice in Wonderland!

Regards,

Kareni

To the bold - you've just described paradise. 😉 🙂

@Negin - I borrowed the pic of the Alice endpaper from an eBay listing for the same book - they're asking $50 USD for their copy and I think mine is in better shape.  And that particular printing of Alice is from 1972 - the year I was born.  I HAD to bring it home. 🙂

Edited February 7, 2020 by Dicentra

[Dicentra]

I finished Miss Read's Village School this week as well as The Graveyard Apartment.  Weirdly, I think the writing style in those two books has more in common than one would suspect.  Both are very... Mundane.  Factual.  They both, fairly plainly and slowly, detail the insignificant little bits of daily life.  But the Miss Read book didn't have a horrifying basement or a freaky butterfly.  So I didn't accidentally mix them up in my head. 😉 😄

I also just started the newest novel in the Pendergast series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child called Crooked River.  Anyone else read Preston and Child?  Or Preston?  Or Child? 🙂  They write together but also separately.  None of it is literary fiction, by any stretch, but I love them and have read everything the two authors have written - either together or separately.  Douglas Preston also writes some nonfiction and I read The Lost City of the Monkey God last year.  I've just started The Lost City of Z but I think if you read and liked the Grann book, you might like The Lost City of the Monkey God.

So far I've finished:

1. The Love Knot by Elizabeth Chadwick   *Historical fiction/romance - 3 stars

2. The Case of the Chocolate Cream Killer: The Poisonous Passion of Christiana Edmunds by Kaye Jones   *Nonfiction (history) - 4 stars

2 1/2.  Extraction (Pendergast #12.5) by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child  *Fiction (short story) - 4 stars  (I didn't think that a short story would count but I did finish it 🙂 )

3. Daughters of the Grail by Elizabeth Chadwick  *Historical fiction/romance - 4 stars

4. The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike  *Horror - 5 stars

5. Village School by Miss Read  *Historical fiction - 4 stars

I also realized that I have no plan to my reading.  I don't think I'm following any challenges other than "read more". 🙂  Maybe after my courses are finished in May, I'll sit down to see if what I've read to that point in the year fits any sort of plan or challenge and then organize things from there.  Right now, I'm just jumping randomly from one book to another.  This fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants way of approaching things is very unlike me.  It's kind of refreshing and anxiety producing all at the same time. 😉

[Penguin]

I have three finished books to comment on:

Astrid Lindgren: The Woman Behind Pippi Longstocking.  by Jens Andersen. Highly recommended. I knew that Astrid Lindgren (AL) was beloved in Sweden, but I did not realize how powerful she became. She ran the Children's Fiction department of a leading publisher for 24 years, and was very influential in the publishing industry. And what an energizer bunny! She wrote all morning (using shorthand) then worked at her publishing job. In her later years (after about age 60), she became very outspoken about political causes, and people listened to what she had to say. In addition to being passionate about women's rights and the rights of children, she spoke out about the tax laws, nuclear power, and animal rights. 

I had known that she had had a child out of wedlock when she was very young, but I did not know the details. She was only 19 and the father was both much older and in the midst of a bitter divorce. She gave birth in Denmark because the laws regarding single mothers were preferable to those in Sweden in 1929. She ended up leaving her baby in foster care in Copenhagen until he was three. It sounds like foster care was really sketchy in Denmark at that time, and it was thus a stroke of fantastic luck that her son had a good foster mother. When her son was three, he went to live with her parents for a year. I think he was four before he lived in the same household as AL. She only saw him periodically those first four years because she was living in Stockholm. Living through that difficult time heavily influenced both her philosophy and her fiction. 

Affairs at Thrush Green (Thrush Green #7) by Miss Read. Not my favorite in the series, but still enjoyable. However, there was again a love triangle with a melancholy outcome for one of the involved parties. This love triangle was much better written than the one in #3 because it touched me rather than made me furious with Miss Read.

Oscar Wilde's Fairy Tales. This was a disappointment. It was an audiobook with great narration - big names like Judi Dench, Derek Jacoby, and Jeremy Irons. But I found the stories themselves to be completely forgettable.

@Lori D. Something Wicked This Way Comes is one of my favorite books. Have you seen the movie? It is unfortunately not one that is easy to source. As far as I know, it is only on DVD. Disney really went through a really interesting horror-movies-for-kids movie phase in the mid 1980s with both this movie and Return to Oz.

[Lori D.]

2 hours ago, Penguin said:

... Something Wicked This Way Comes is one of my favorite books. Have you seen the movie? It is unfortunately not one that is easy to source. As far as I know, it is only on DVD. Disney really went through a really interesting horror-movies-for-kids movie phase in the mid 1980s with both this movie and Return to Oz.

Not seen the film of Something Wicked..., but I remember seeing the Return to Oz in the theater when it came out, and was impressed with it at the time!

[Lori D.]

3 hours ago, Dicentra said:

... I also realized that I have no plan to my reading.  I don't think I'm following any challenges other than "read more". 🙂

 

That's pretty much all I can do for reading during the times I'm in the midst of teaching my classes -- and that's okay! For me, it's all cozy mysteries, favorite repeats, YA books, and light sci-fi/fantasy -- nothing that takes too much brain power, because teaching sucks all of my brain power away, lol. 😄 All that to say, I don't think this is a bad way of reading -- just enjoy the book at hand, and if it's not fitting right now, set it aside and try later, this summer, when you have more mental energy to put into it. (Works for me, anyways! 😉 )

[Kareni]

Regarding Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer:

4 hours ago, aggieamy said:

 It was a great recommendation. Thank you so much. It's going to be one of my top three books of the year. I can predict that and it's only early February!

High praise, indeed! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Other books that I liked by the author include Years and Then Came Heaven.

Regards,

Kareni

[mumto2]

8 hours ago, aggieamy said:

I am getting so much reading done with this flu-induced insomnia! 

At 3 am I finished Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer. It's another one I was surprised to see that none of my GR's friends have rated yet. It's a romance between the town "crazy" and ex-con. The setting is Georgia summer 1941 so you know there's bad stuff around the corner. It was incredibly well written. The author had her historical facts spot on. The hero and heroine were perfect for each other. It played on the trope of "fall in love after you get married" which is one of my favorites.

@mumto2 - I seriously can't believe you haven't read this! I have to wonder if you read it before GR's and it just didn't get marked? Highly recommend!

I think I have read it but decades ago.  The cover from 1989 looks familiar !

@vmsurbat1 I hope you start feeling better soon!

@Dicentra I love those end papers, glad you rescued it!  I make many reading plans but get distracted so easily!

@tuesdayschild I just marked Overture To Death for the next time I need an O.  O has become my new problem letter!

My Julia Spencer Fleming reread is going well, half way through the second in the series.  I now remember being irritated with the first book when I first read this series and am still irritated with the main character!😉 If someone, maybe @JennW in SoCal , hadn’t really loved them and told me to keep reading I would have missed out.  From this point they just get better........for the record I am not fond of the first Inspector Gamache either.

[Kareni]

Currently free for Kindle readers ~

Syphon's Song (Mayflower Mages Book 1) by Anise Rae

 "In the Republic of Mage Territories, mage power rules. But if Bronte Casteel wants to survive, she must keep her power hidden. Syphon mages, long feared for their legendary ability to drain power, are doomed to a fiery stake. But the legends are wrong. Bronte can’t cast a single spell.

When a body goes missing, along with a powerful artifact, her family orders her from hiding to negotiate their return. Thrust between two rival families, Bronte must face the one man who knows her secret.

Colonel Vincent Rallis never forgot the woman whose mage power sang to his. Yet finding her proved impossible until he senses her cross the threshold of his land. She bears a message that hints of a deadly plan, one that intersects with his hunt for an anti-mage terrorist group. Torn between duty and his heart, Vincent must convince his gentle syphon not to run again, to trust him…and dare to reveal her truth and claim the life she deserves.

Can they find a way to their fated love when mistrust and fear hinder their path and evil lurks in every spell? "

Regards,

Kareni

[Dicentra]

7 hours ago, Penguin said:

I have three finished books to comment on:

Astrid Lindgren: The Woman Behind Pippi Longstocking.  by Jens Andersen. Highly recommended. I knew that Astrid Lindgren (AL) was beloved in Sweden, but I did not realize how powerful she became. She ran the Children's Fiction department of a leading publisher for 24 years, and was very influential in the publishing industry. And what an energizer bunny! She wrote all morning (using shorthand) then worked at her publishing job. In her later years (after about age 60), she became very outspoken about political causes, and people listened to what she had to say. In addition to being passionate about women's rights and the rights of children, she spoke out about the tax laws, nuclear power, and animal rights. 

I had known that she had had a child out of wedlock when she was very young, but I did not know the details. She was only 19 and the father was both much older and in the midst of a bitter divorce. She gave birth in Denmark because the laws regarding single mothers were preferable to those in Sweden in 1929. She ended up leaving her baby in foster care in Copenhagen until he was three. It sounds like foster care was really sketchy in Denmark at that time, and it was thus a stroke of fantastic luck that her son had a good foster mother. When her son was three, he went to live with her parents for a year. I think he was four before he lived in the same household as AL. She only saw him periodically those first four years because she was living in Stockholm. Living through that difficult time heavily influenced both her philosophy and her fiction. 

Affairs at Thrush Green (Thrush Green #7) by Miss Read. Not my favorite in the series, but still enjoyable. However, there was again a love triangle with a melancholy outcome for one of the involved parties. This love triangle was much better written than the one in #3 because it touched me rather than made me furious with Miss Read.

Oscar Wilde's Fairy Tales. This was a disappointment. It was an audiobook with great narration - big names like Judi Dench, Derek Jacoby, and Jeremy Irons. But I found the stories themselves to be completely forgettable.

@Lori D. Something Wicked This Way Comes is one of my favorite books. Have you seen the movie? It is unfortunately not one that is easy to source. As far as I know, it is only on DVD. Disney really went through a really interesting horror-movies-for-kids movie phase in the mid 1980s with both this movie and Return to Oz.

That Lindgren biography sounds good, @Penguin!  I'll have to put it on my TBR list. 🙂

@mumto2 - That's me - the distractable reader. 😉

5 hours ago, Lori D. said:

That's pretty much all I can do for reading during the times I'm in the midst of teaching my classes -- and that's okay! For me, it's all cozy mysteries, favorite repeats, YA books, and light sci-fi/fantasy -- nothing that takes too much brain power, because teaching sucks all of my brain power away, lol. 😄 All that to say, I don't think this is a bad way of reading -- just enjoy the book at hand, and if it's not fitting right now, set it aside and try later, this summer, when you have more mental energy to put into it. (Works for me, anyways! 😉 )

@Lori D. - yes!  My brain feels very, very drained.  There are so many nonfiction books I'd like to read and I'd LOVE to start a reading program like the one outlined in The Well-Educated Mind (as I've read woefully few of the books/plays/poetry collections she lists) but my brain is simply not capable right now.  I've been re-watching (not even reading - eek!) past episodes of Vera (based on Ann Cleeves' novels) starring Brenda Blethyn because I already know what will happen and the accents and the scenery make me happy.  I've also been re-watching Shetland starring Douglas Henshall (also based on Ann Cleeves' novels) for mostly the same reasons.  Makes me want to visit the north of England and Shetland!

Edited February 8, 2020 by Dicentra

[Lori D.]

Just finished the Time Machine (H.G. Wells), doing it as prep for the next book for my Lit. class. I had forgotten how funny Wells can be. The first 2 chapters have some pretty heavy teasing and "snark" going on between all of these men who meet weekly for dinner and debate at the Time Traveler's house. These 2 chapters act as the "frame" and the "techno-babble" explanation for the actual time traveling adventure. I loved how the Time Traveler is so cool and rational in those chapters about all the things that might go wrong, or that he might never make it back again -- and then he completely flips out and is running on emotion and instinct -- first when he actually experiences time travel, and then when his machine is stolen. SO human, lol. Lots of explanations of theories and Victorian sentence structure/vocabulary slow the book down a bit. And I definitely give him credit: Wells himself was a socialist and supported evolutionary theory,  yet he does not shy away from showing the very negative (for humankind) ultimate results of both by the end of the book.
__________________

Thoughts on The Hobbit -- 4rd installment

CHAPTER 10 - "A Warm Welcome"

- Wonderful opening to this chapter: "Then Bilbo saw a sight: The lands opened wide about him, filled with the waters of the river which broke up and wandered in a hundred winding courses, or halted in marshes and pools dotted with isles on every side; but sill a strong water flowed on steadily through the midst. And far away, its head in a torn cloud, there loomed the Mountain! ... All alone it rose and looked across the marshes to the forest. The Lonely Mountain! Bilbo had come far and through many adventures to see it, and now he did not like the look of it in the least." Lovely description in the first long sentence which structurally mimics what it is describing -- the winding, spreading, flowing river. And the mood associated with the Mountain. And again, Bilbo's internal conflict (homebody, vs. someone who has found himself pushed into an adventure-quest), has had some positive, life-changing results from some of those adventures, but who still would rather just go home, instead of continuing on this quest that stretches him.

- Lovely spiritual lesson for me in this chapter. [And also in chapter 8, when Bilbo climbs the tree to see if they are getting near the end of the forest, but doesn't notice they are at the bottom of a valley, so the trees swell up around him and seem to go on forever, so they all despair]. It is the lesson of seeing only the difficulties that I'm in the midst of, and forgetting to look beyond the moment to God's infinite and eternal provision and care. -- In this chapter, I see that early in the chapter, as Bilbo & co. reach the Lonely Mountain via the only good/safe route (on the river), "But Bilbo did not know that. All he knew was the river seemed to go on and on and on forever, and he was hungry, and had a nasty cold in the nose, and did not like the way the Mountain seemed to frown at him..." 

- After all they've been through, when encouraging Thorin to ask for aid from Lake Town while enthusiasm for the dwarves is still running high, Bilbo says: "... if you want to go with this silly adventure—it's yours after all, and not mine..." -- LOL! Still thinks of it as "their" adventure (not "his" adventure) after everything they've been through. 😂

- More great capturing of human nature: Thorin as a confident leader, makes a startling/dramatic entrance, even while looking like a wreck and accompanied by just the little hobbit and 2 dwarves: "Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror King under the Mountain... I have come back.“ And then the self-serving but rather cowardly Master who hesitates: "The Elven King was very powerful... and the Master wished for no enmity with him, nor did he think much of old songs, giving his mind to trade...and gold..." But he who hesitates is lost, LOL, and the Master loses any power he might have had through his hesitation (and frankly, also due to his cowardice and self-focus): "Others were of different mind, however, and quickly the matter was settled without him. The news... spread from the doors of the hall like fire through all the town. People were shouting inside the hall and outside it."

- The theme of hospitality again; although, it is with mixed motivations -- the people genuinely believe in Thorin & company and are happy to provide that hospitality and support, while the Master just goes along with it until he believes they will be exposed as frauds. So, based on what we've seen about hospitality earlier in this story, what do you think will be the result of the heart's motivation of hospitality to the people, and to the Master...? 😉 
__________________

CHAPTER 11 - "On The Doorstep"

- “They were come to the Desolation of the Dragon, and they were come at the waning of the year.” -- moody, and I love the unusual verb choice "were come" (seems more poetic somehow)

- Irony - Bilbo, the most NON-adventurous member of the company (who almost had to be shoved out the door of his hobbit-hole by Gandalf, lol), has become the one most interested in figuring out the next step of the adventure: "They were at the end of their journey, but as far as ever, it seemed, from the end of their quest. None of them had much spirit left. Now strange to say Mr. Baggins had more than the others. He would often borrow Thorin's map and gaze at it, pondering over the runes and the message of the moon-letters... It was he that made the dwarves begin the dangerous search... for the secret door..."

- Love the idea of "sitting on the doorstep" on the mountainside. Also -- now, they must wait on the prophecy itself to come in its own, right timing. And what a cool, mystical conjunction that must happen for the keyhole of the door to be revealed so the secret passage into the mountain will open -- sun and moon and season must all align, AND on top of all that, you must have the key to the lock.
__________________

CHAPTER 12 - "Inside Information"

One of my favorite chapters of the book.

- Dwarves: 
"The most that can be said for the dwarves is this: they intended to pay Bilbo really handsomely for his services; they had brought him to do a nasty job for them... they all would have done their best to get him out of trouble... as they did in the case of the trolls before they had any particular reasons for being grateful to him. There it is: dwarves are not heroes, but calculating folk with a great idea of the value of money; some are tricky and treacherous and pretty bad lots; some are not, but are decent enough people like Thorin and Company, if you don't expect too much." -- When I read this description of dwarves, I can't help but think ahead to The Lord of the Rings, and the character of the dwarf Gimli, the son of Gloin, who becomes changed and ennobled by his choice to be a part of the fellowship and sticking by these people (Elves, Men, and Hobbits) who are not his people (Dwarves), to fight alongside them for Truth and Right and Beauty. It is foretold of Gimli that: "I do not foretell, for all foretelling is now vain: on the one hand lies darkness, and on the other only hope. But if hope should not fail, then I say to you, Gimli son of Glóin, that your hands shall flow with gold, and yet over you gold shall have no dominion.”

- Bilbo:
Yet another "journey to the underworld" for Bilbo. And here he becomes the epic hero: As he heads down the tunnel for the first time knowing there is a live dragon down there: "He was trembling with fear, but his little face was set and grim. Already he was a very different hobbit from the one that had run off without a pocket handkerchief..." And then, hearing and seeing signs of the dragon just a little before actually getting to the end of the tunnel and beholding the dragon: "It was at this point that Bilbo stopped.  Going on from there was the bravest thing he ever did. The tremendous things that happened afterwards were as nothing as compared to it. He fought the real battle in the tunnel alone, before he ever saw the vast danger that lay in wait." The epic hero's choice! Go Bilbo!

- The Dragon:
The riddling talk between Bilbo and Smaug -- it takes the "Riddles in the Dark" chapter with Gollum to a whole new level; and that Smaug finds riddles fascinating. And the description comparing Smaug to a cat -- perfect! And little Bilbo finds the dragon's weak spot (the bare spot in his armor) -- and Bilbo also finds/makes use of the dragon's character weakness: the flaw of hubris (Bilbo flatters Smaug's vanity, and later Smaug has so much pride (hubris) that he thinks the men of Laketown can do nothing to stop him). Reading this chapter this time, I felt so aware of the hugeness and power of Smaug -- so big he can't even get his head into the secret tunnel that is "five feet high and three may walk abreast", and yet he can shoot flames and vapor out one nostril after the running-away Bilbo and burn the hair on the back of Bilbo's head and heels to a frizzle. "Never laugh at live dragons, Bilbo you fool!"

- The result's of Smaug's failure to offer genuine hospitality to the Dwarves, and to Bilbo (the giving of gifts, rather than Bilbo having to steal one), to be seen in chapter 14... 😉 

- Fun fact about name/word origins:
In his 1938 letter to the the Editor of The Observer, Tolkien stated that the name "Smaug" was derived from the low Germanic term for "to squeeze through a hole" (which Smaug is too big to do, from having eaten all the dwarves when he first landed on the Lonely Mountain 😫, so it's a bit of an ironic name.)  Here's the actual quotation from Tolkien in that letter: "The dragon bears as name – a pseudonym – the past tense of the primitive Germanic verb Smugan, to squeeze through a hole: a low philological jest…”  The name Smaug also appears to be related to Eastern European words for "dragon" --  "smok" (Polish), and, "zmaj" (Slavic). Tolkien often had more than one influence in creating words and names, and this may have been one of those times.
__________________

CHAPTER 13 - "Not at Home"
- So scary -- imagine being trapped in the dark tunnel, with the secret door smashed shut, and the only way out will be past a live, alert, dragon.  😫 
- Wow -- what a treasure! The gold and silver, the gems, the Arkenstone, the beautiful objects (gold cups and harps, armor, weapons...), and the artistry of the Dwarves.
- The Lonely Mountain must be huge -- there was a huge, beautifully made Kingdom underneath it -- not just a palace -- the whole KINGDOM.
- Whew! They escape the Mountain while Smaug is away! Now to find a safe (and warm) hidey-hole...
__________________

CHAPTER 14 - "Fire and Water"

- Tolkien's power-packed writing style is breathtaking
A magnificent job of building tension and suspense in this action scene, and then releases it with a very satisfying and mythic/epic end to the dragon. "The dragon swooped once more lower than ever, and as he turned and dived down his belly glittered white with sparkling fires of gems in the moon—but not in one place. The great bow twanged. The black arrow sped straight from the string, straight for the hollow by the left breast where the foreleg was flung wide. In it smote and vanished, barb, shaft and feather, so fierce was its flight. With a shriek that deafened men, felled trees and split stone, Smaug shot spouting into the air, turned over and crashed down from on high in ruin. Full on the town he fell. His last throes splintered it to sparks and glides. The lake roared in. A vast steam leaped up, white in the sudden dark under the moon. There was a hiss, a gushing whirlwind then silence. And that was the end of Smaug and Esgaroth, but not of Bard."

- Epic/myth doesn't get better than this
The Dragon is slain by Bard, the direct-line descendent of the Lord of that land, who, while trying to defend his people, was slain by the Dragon (as were so many of the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain kingdom). BUT... the arrow that slays the Dragon was forged by the True Kings (i.e., the dwarves of the Lonely Mountain kingdom) under the Mountain, and shot by Bard, the true leader descendent. So Men and Dwarves who were killed and overthrown by the Dragon, come full circle, and it is a Man and a Dwarf-made arrow that kill and overthrow the usurping Dragon. [Not to mention that it is little Bilbo's discovery about the Dragon's weakness that contributes the key to where to shoot that mythic arrow... 😉 ]

- Also, one of the epic conventions is that important and heirloom weapons are named. Just before he shoots his last arrow at Smaug, the thrush tells Bard of the Dragon's uncovered spot, and Bard addresses his weapon directly: "Arrow! ... Black Arrow! I have saved you to the last. You have never failed me and always I have recovered you. I had you from my father and he from of old. If ever you came from the forges of the true king under the Mountain, go now and speed well!"

- And a bit of comic relief after all that tension -- the word-sparring of the Master vs. Bard, and the Master seeing he is losing his power and sway over the people -- and the people, so quick to change their support, lol: "Up the Bowman, and down with the Moneybags!" 😂

- At the end of the chapter, the Elven King is redeemed. He failed to offer the Dwarves hospitality when they were found weak and wandering in Mirkwood. But here: "...when he received the prayers of Bard, [he] had pity, for he was the lord of a good and kindly people; so turning his march, which had at first been direct towards the Mountain [and the treasure!], he hastened now down the river to the Long Lake... great store of goods he sent ahead by water..." And the Elven King leaves many of his skilled elves with the Laketown people to help them build shelters for the fast-coming winter.

Edited February 9, 2020 by Lori D.

[Robin M]

1 hour ago, Lori D. said:

- Bilbo:
Here he becomes the epic hero: As he heads down the tunnel for the first time knowing there is a live dragon down there: "He was trembling with fear, but his little face was set and grim. Already he was a very different hobbit from the one that had run off without a pocket handkerchief..." And then, hearing and seeing signs of the dragon just a little before actually getting to the end of the tunnel and beholding the dragon: "It was at this point that Bilbo stopped.  Going on from there was the bravest thing he ever did. The tremendous things that happened afterwards were as nothing as compared to it. He fought the real battle in the tunnel alone, before he ever saw the vast danger that lay in wait." The epic hero's choice! Go Bilbo!

Yes, this.  I agree it was the bravest thing he'd ever done.   Thank you so much Lori! I love all the quotes. 

 

1 hour ago, Lori D. said:

So, based on what we've seen about hospitality earlier in this story, what do you think will be the result of the heart's motivation of hospitality to the people, and to the Master...?

I thought The Master didn't like anyone upsetting his apple cart or taking the attention away from him. His motivation was get rid of them as fast as he could so things could get back to his normal.  Maybe he expected them to all be killed by the dragon. If not and they were successful, he'd find a way to get all the dragon's treasure. 

[Junie]

Thanks, @Lori D.  I'm enjoying your comments on The Hobbit.

I'm still reading through El Hobbit, but I'm not as far through the book as you are.  The other night I gave my husband a summary of what I had just read:  Bilbo found an anillo in a cueva.  He knew exactly what I was talking about, but I didn't spoil anything for the young dc in the room who haven't read The Hobbit yet.  :)

[Robin M]

On 2/7/2020 at 12:24 AM, vmsurbat1 said:

Thanks for the reminder; I just sent you mine.  Down with the flu here at our house.  

Hope you all feel better soon! 

On 2/6/2020 at 7:46 PM, Kareni said:

Some of you doubtless recall @Angelaboord; I thought I'd mention that her book is currently on sale for 99 cents. 

Here's what I wrote last year:

Regards,

Kareni

Yes, I have it in my virtual shelves. 

On 2/7/2020 at 10:31 AM, Maus said:

I find myself catching up listing what I've read again.  I have to compete to use my own computer, as two of my kids' computers have bitten the dust.

14.  "The Road from Coorain" by Jill Ker Conway.  Entry three from the Well-Educated Mind autobiography list challenge.  I really enjoyed this one.

13.  "All Rivers Run to the Sea" by Elie Wiesel.  Entry two from the Well-Educated Mind autobiography list challenge.  He jumped around in time a little, which was mildly confusing, but overall, I liked it.

7.  "The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax" by Dorothy Gilman.  Audio book listen while I started back up my walking habit.

•  

Sorry to hear about the computers.  We recently got a chrome book for the office and liking it so far.  I have Wiesel book on our shelves with the intention to read it sometime this year.  I some how missed Jill Conway. Will have to check her out. 

On 2/7/2020 at 12:51 PM, Dicentra said:

 

I also just started the newest novel in the Pendergast series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child called Crooked River.  Anyone else read Preston and Child?  Or Preston?  Or Child? 🙂  They write together but also separately.  None of it is literary fiction, by any stretch, but I love them and have read everything the two authors have written - either together or separately.  Douglas Preston also writes some nonfiction and I read The Lost City of the Monkey God last year.  I've just started The Lost City of Z but I think if you read and liked the Grann book, you might like The Lost City of the Monkey God.

I've read Relic which was quite good. and have been meaning to read more in the series. Their writing reminds me of James Rollins. I love and have read everyone of the Sigma force novels. 

[Dicentra]

@Robin M - Another Rollins fan here! 🙂  Although I've somewhat fallen off lately.  I need to go back and start reading the Sigma Force series from 6th Extinction.  Although I did read The Bone Labyrinth - apparently I somehow skipped over 6th Extinction.  Then I read Demon Crown but somehow skipped Seventh Plague.  And I haven't read Crucible or The Last Odyssey.  I'm all over the place. 🙂  Do you like his earliest stuff?  I really liked Deep Fathom and Ice Hunt.

[Dicentra]

And if anyone is, like me, always forgetting the order of books in series, I found this website to be quite useful:

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

 

[Robin M]

15 minutes ago, Dicentra said:

@Robin M - Another Rollins fan here! 🙂  Although I've somewhat fallen off lately.  I need to go back and start reading the Sigma Force series from 6th Extinction.  Although I did read The Bone Labyrinth - apparently I somehow skipped over 6th Extinction.  Then I read Demon Crown but somehow skipped Seventh Plague.  And I haven't read Crucible or The Last Odyssey.  I'm all over the place. 🙂  Do you like his earliest stuff?  I really liked Deep Fathom and Ice Hunt.

Totally enjoyed his earlier books.  You definitely need to read Subterranean and Amazonia.        

The Crucible. Oh my goodness.  Really good. His books are so exhausting with the non stop action.

 However, I didn't like his books in which he collaborated with Rebecca Cantrell. Didn't like her writing at all.  

[Dicentra]

1 hour ago, Robin M said:

Totally enjoyed his earlier books.  You definitely need to read Subterranean and Amazonia.        

The Crucible. Oh my goodness.  Really good. His books are so exhausting with the non stop action.

 However, I didn't like his books in which he collaborated with Rebecca Cantrell. Didn't like her writing at all.  

Yes - I've read Subterranean and Amazonia!  I have one of his books from his collaboration with Rebecca Cantrell and one from his collaboration with Grant Blackwood.  In the Blackwood/Rollins one, I read in a constant state of panic that the dog would get hurt or die.  I just couldn't read anymore from that collaboration - too stressful!  I never did read the Cantrell/Rollins one - now I may not at all. 🙂  If I get desperate one day for reading material, I may give it a go.

[Negin]

5 hours ago, Dicentra said:

And if anyone is, like me, always forgetting the order of books in series, I found this website to be quite useful:

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

 

I often visit that site. 

[Lady Florida.]

14 hours ago, Dicentra said:

And if anyone is, like me, always forgetting the order of books in series, I found this website to be quite useful:

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/

 

Yes, I often use that one as well as https://www.orderofbooks.com/

[Pen]

Are we sticking with same thread instead of new threads each week?

[mumto2]

22 minutes ago, Pen said:

Are we sticking with same thread instead of new threads each week?

We are back switching to new threads on Sundays.  The start of the new year was what had things a bit confusing for awhile.  New thread should be up soon!

[mumto2]

2 hours ago, Seasider too said:

Catching up, I’ve completed three in the last two weeks.

Florida by Lauren Groff

I am studying the short story genre as that is the focus of my current work. This collection is literary in tone, but rather depressing. I appreciated the familiar imagery.  

This Is Our Time: Everyday Myths in Light of the Gospel by Trevin Wax 

 

This was good. It has a how-then-shall-we-live tone, and interesting backstory for the author’s expressed point of view. I recommend it for Christians desiring to understand and navigate today’s American culture. 

 

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

 

This was good! Moriarty is a great author, twisty plots like Paula Hawkins, laugh out loud dialogue and descriptions like Kristan Higgins. I am usually pretty good at figuring out whodunits but this kept me guessing right down to the end. I know it has been made into an award-winning HBO series, but I have not seen it. After reading the book, and reading online articles about differences between the book and the video, I think I’ll stick with the book. Adult content and themes, but great story. Recommend. 

 

(Sorry my fonts vary. A mystery of technology.)

I loved the book Big Little Lies but have no interest in watching the series.

[Robin M]

Week six is live now - please continue conversation in new thread