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Book a Week 2021 - BW50: A Time to Talk by Robert Frost

Robin M

By Robin M,
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Robin M

Robin M

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AVvXsEhCrqEnqcOPzFQwEk-Cwxaq0uA_ZGw2ejxF7YMjEgjmZxK5ckmsV6sAsALv8B7nF-lofkqN-mk8VtwuPtlx4RM_wgu2xPnqxUnQ3KAXHe5bqnkTghiNTr5ChU1tB6K_CvJlt4epX-RnmgLS4Kcf-MFM2fI2NA3Vg9wFCKU83EustouN_Nkt4WwBYU0Ufg=s320

 

Happy Sunday! I love the picture above as well as this simple poem by Robert Frost and the imagery they evoke.  Have a wonderful reading week, my lovelies. 

A Time to Talk

By

Robert Frost

 

When a friend calls to me from the road

and slows his horse to a meaning walk,

I don't stand still and look around

on all the hills I haven't hoed,

And shout from where I am, "What is it?"

No, not as there is a time to talk.

I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,

Blade end up and five feet tall,

And plod:  I go up to the stone wall

for a friendly visit.

 

For 2022, I'm introducing a new year long reading challenge called A to Z and back again.  One word beginning with that letter every week as we work all the way through the alphabet forward, then back to A. The word of the week will be announced with each Sunday's post.  There will be numerous ways to play which include reading a book with the word in the title; read alphabetically by author or title; includes the emotion or action or characteristic or job of the character or the story; find a synonym or antonym; form an aptigram or antigram; Create a story or poem and let your thoughts fly. How you do it is up to you. 

To give you an example, since we are on week 50, we'd be on the letter c. 

The word of the week: Chivalry.   Make of it what you will. 

 

Link to week 49

Visit  52 Books in 52 Weeks where you can find all the information on the annual, mini and perpetual challenges.  

 

 

 

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Robin M

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I am currently reading the second book in J.S. Dewes Divide series, The Exiled Fleet.

“The Sentinels narrowly escaped the collapsing edge of the Divide.  They have mustered a few other surviving Sentinels, but with no engines they have no way to leave the edge of the universe before they starve.  Adequin Rake has gathered a team to find the materials they'll need to get everyone out.  To do that they're going to need new allies and evade a ruthless enemy. Some of them will not survive.”

Talking about chivalry, I think that Adequin is the female equivalent of a knight, tries to take care of her troops, protects the weak, etc. so even though I didn’t plan it this way, synchronicity is at work.

I added three more Agatha Christie books to my virtual stacks: Cat Among the Pigeons (Hercule Poirot #32) Peril at End House (Hercule Poirot #8) and The Mystery of the Blue Train (Hercule Poirot #6), as well as Juliet Gauvin’s The Irish Cottage: Finding Elizabeth. 

 

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mumto2

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When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10423011-when-christ-and-his-saints-slept Is $1.99 on kindle today.  It’s the first in the Plantagenet  series and in my experience the hardest book in that series to find at the library! 
 

edit to hopefully fix the link

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mumto2

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I am nearing the end of my relisten to Abaddon’s Gate.  The kid’s want me to start watching the Expanse now but I think I will definately get a bit further or finish my reread https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18466657-abaddon-s-gate 

One book left to read for both book chains.  One Agatha Christie to listen to.  Possibly a book left for A to Z and I am done with my 2021 challenges that I plan to complete.  I have basically been tidying the shelves (by reading what is due soon) and at this point am declining my hold’s that are appearing unless they are Christmas themed or too good to resist.  I plan to read primarily from my owned stacks for the last week of the year….and perhaps the start of the New Year.  Audiobooks are my exception as I only listen to them from the library.

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Robin M

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6 hours ago, mumto2 said:

When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10423011-when-christ-and-his-saints-slept. Is $1.99 on kindle today.  It’s the first in the Plantagenet  series and in my experience the hardest book in that series to find at the library! 

Thank you, Mum. The link didn't work. Here's the direct link to amazon. https://www.amazon.com/When-Christ-His-Saints-Slept-ebook/dp/B004JF5YU8/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=when+christ+and+his+saints+slept&qid=1639361952&sr=8-1

Even though I have the hard cover edition, I bought the kindle edition. Maybe it'll be easier to read on my old eyes. 😁

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Robin M

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6 hours ago, mumto2 said:

One book left to read for both book chains.  One Agatha Christie to listen to.  Possibly a book left for A to Z and I am done with my 2021 challenges that I plan to complete.  I have basically been tidying the shelves (by reading what is due soon) and at this point am declining my hold’s that are appearing unless they are Christmas themed or too good to resist.  I plan to read primarily from my owned stacks for the last week of the year….and perhaps the start of the New Year.  Audiobooks are my exception as I only listen to them from the library.

That's great. I need to check to see where I am with A to Z.  Yep, agree. Reading from own shelves for the rest of the year is a good idea. 

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Kareni

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Some bookish posts ~

Five Young Adult SFF Books Where Compassion Is Strength

https://www.tor.com/2021/12/09/five-young-adult-sff-books-where-compassion-is-strength/comment-page-1/#comment-932225

The Solarpunk Future: Five Essential Works of Climate-Forward Fiction

https://www.tor.com/2021/09/30/the-solarpunk-future-five-essential-works-of-climate-forward-fiction/

You Really Don’t Have to Finish Every Book You Start

https://www.tor.com/2021/10/28/mark-as-read-on-not-finishing-every-book/comment-page-1/#comment-927877

Regards,

Kareni

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Robin M

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55 minutes ago, Kareni said:

You Really Don’t Have to Finish Every Book You Start

https://www.tor.com/2021/10/28/mark-as-read-on-not-finishing-every-book/comment-page-1/#comment-927877

Good article and love the comments. I give a book three different tries over a period of time and if by the third I still can't get into it, then it's time to shelve the book, thinking I'll never read it.  And because I keep everything, ten years later or so may stumble across and devour it, so guess it's all time and mood and possibly age. 

Once I start reading a book, I'll give it 50 to 60 pages for a short book and about a 100 or so for a chunky book. 

"The reason is almost never that a book was too challenging. This is a frequent argument trotted out by the book-finishing brigade: If people can just quit books whenever they want, they will never read anything that challenges them! They will simply stick with what’s easy and familiar.

To me, the opposite seems true. If there is some rule insisting that every reader finish every book they start, isn’t each reader more likely to stick to their own personal tried and true, knowing there’s no escape once the first pages are turned? 

But also: I think readers know the difference. We know when we’re putting down a book because it’s just not the right moment, or we’re not the right reader,  versus when we’re tempted to put down a book because it’s formally challenging or the content is emotionally exhausting or we’re having to do a lot more critical thinking than we expected. Sometimes you still set aside the smart, hard, necessary books. Not everyone is in the right place for something heavy and difficult all the time. But those are also the books we remember, and maybe go back to."

Exactly. I've had many 'not the right moment's' but when it is the right moment, it's usually a book that tugs at my emotions and times I need a good laugh, or indeed a good cry.  When it comes to the heavy and difficult, has nothing to do with whether they are challenging. It all has to do with the writing, the story, the characters, and whether they engage me and how much time I want to invest in reading it. 

"No book is for every reader. The only “should” in reading is that we should read widely, diversely, enthusiastically. Beyond that, to quote Burkeman once more: “Choose uncomfortable enlargement over comfortable diminishment whenever you can.”  

I think with age comes the diversity of reading. I go through stages. Late teens and early 20's, only reading science fiction and fantasy, leaving them behind in my 30's for action and adventure, mystery and suspense in my 40's until I went back to finish my liberal arts degree and engaged with classics.  When I started the 52 books challenge, I think it helped me to really expand into reading other genres and not just stick with one. Now in my 60's my reading had expanding into reading a multitude of genres, including non fiction which I avoided with the plague in my younger years.   So I think some books depend on age and frame of mind. 

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Mothersweets

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Hi everyone! I just finished The Lost Village by Camilla Sten. Found the premise super intriguing but the execution of it...not so good.

I have higher hopes for my next couple of books, Stranger in the Shogun's City: A Japanese Woman and Her World and Crying in H Mart. Haven't decided which one to read first although I do love going to Hmart so maybe that one. 

Posting this first and then going back to read through the thread. Hope everyone is having a good week!

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bookbard

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Read the Kinsmen series including their newest book Fated Blades by Ilona Andrews. Easy fun read, but no real development, being unconnected short stories.

Finished a non-fiction about my local area, very good, well-researched and well-written. I've read a couple of non-fiction this year and this would be the best I'd say. 

We finished listening to Hatchet (Gary Paulsen) as a family - it's a lot darker than I remember! It definitely started some good conversations though. 

I have bought myself a few books over the last 2 months to unwrap on xmas morning so looking forward to that - some fiction and non-fiction.

 

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Robin M

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Took James to Barnes and Noble to do Christmas shopping.  He has an interesting way of picking out books.  First he's attracted by the title, then the cover, and will decide then and there without reading the synopsis that it's a good book.  He leans towards historical fiction, particularly wwII.   I tell him to read the front flap or back cover to find out what the books about, so he'll glance at it.  He was picking out books for me and I was pretending not to look and he picks up three books totally at random by authors I've never heard of.  When I comment on one not being something I would probably want to read, he says it's my decision mom, trust me.  Yes sir....  

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Granny_Weatherwax

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My recent reading has been books recommended or given to me by my DGD. One book, Leepike Ridge by N.D. Wilson, was a really cute young adult adventure book. I wasn't sure I would like it but I really did. It's about a boy who travels on a piece of styrofoam down a stream and gets caught under a mountain.

I have The Dark is Rising on hand and will begin it today. I bought a copy to gift to my DGD. I hope she enjoys it as much as I do.

A book on my TBR list arrived, We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby, and I was thrilled to go pick it up from the library.  I began it yesterday and am struggling with the content. It's vulgar. I never would have put it on my TBR if I would have known.  It goes back today and I will be a bit more careful about reading reviews in the future. This is my third abandoned book of the year.

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Robin M

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I finally dove into Wolf Hall and enjoying so far.   Have to read it a little bit more slowly to get all the nuances and enjoying the doses of wit and humor mixed in.  Love this description "Their bodies breath out the faint borrowed scent of sun and herbs."

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Mothersweets

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13 minutes ago, Robin M said:

I finally dove into Wolf Hall and enjoying so far.   Have to read it a little bit more slowly to get all the nuances and enjoying the doses of wit and humor mixed in.  Love this description "Their bodies breath out the faint borrowed scent of sun and herbs."

I've been debating whether or not to read this. I watched the series and loved it so I don't know if the book will be a slog to get through or if it will still be enjoyable and add more to the overall story? I'll be interested to hear what you think when you are done. 

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Kareni

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It's been a busy week, but I've managed some reading. (Most of these have some adult content.)

Hitting the Wall: A Stonecut County Romance by Cate C. Wells

I enjoyed this full length contemporary romance.

**

The following are all shorter works which I enjoyed ~

A Lovely Drop: A Story of the NeverNeath by Darynda Jones... Contemporary paranormal male/female romance

One Bed for Christmas: A Baldwin Village Novella by Jackie Lau... Contemporary male/female romance

Regards,

Kareni

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mumto2

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I’ve been working on getting my lists read to post.  My A to Z by Author can go first...

 

A to Z by Author

 

A......Adler-Olsen, Jussi.......The Purity of Vengeance

B.......Bulgakov, Mikhai........The Master and the Margarita

C......Chandler, Raymond......The Lady in the Lake

D.......DeLeon, Jana...........Later Gater

E.......Evanovitch, Janet........Game On: Tempting Twenty Eight

F........Follett, Ken.........The Pillars of the Earth

G.......Griffin, Laura.........Far Gone

H........Harper, Jane..........The Survivors

I..........Isaka, Kotaro........Bullet Train

J.........Jonasson, Ragnar..........Winterkill

K.........Kellerman, Jonathan.........Serpentine 

L.........Lippman, Laura......Dream Girl

M........McElwain, Julie.........Betrayal in Time

N..........Nivan, Larry......Ringworld

O..........Oakley, Colleen........The Invisible Husband of Frick Island

P...........Paolini, Christopher........To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

Q..........Quinn, Kate.......The Rose Code

R..........Rendell, Ruth.........The Best Man to Die

S..........Stout, Rex.........The Mother Hunt

T...........Turton, Stuart........The Devil and the Dark Water

U...........Unger, Lisa.........Last Girl Ghosted

V...........Verdon, John...........On Harrow Hill

W...........Wheelan, Charles......We Came, We Saw, We Left: A Family Gap Year

X...........Xialong, Qiu........The Mao Case

Y............Yokomizo, Seishi..........The Inugami Case

Z...........Zander, Joakim.......The Swimmer

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