Zeitoun ~ David Eggers - September Book Club Online

[JoanP]

 
The Book Club Online is  the oldest  book club on the Internet, begun in 1996, open to everyone.  We offer cordial discussions of one book a month,  24/7 and  enjoy the company of readers from all over the world.  everyone is welcome to join in.

 

SEPTEMBER Book Club Online

Zeitoun ~  by David Eggers

 
 

" In Zeitoun, Dave Eggers expertly captures the Zeitoun family’s story of perseverance through forces of nature and man. This book is a testament to the city of New Orleans and the survivors of Hurricane Katrina who carry on and strive to rebuild. Zeitoun is narrative nonfiction at its storytelling best and Eggers valiantly provides writing worthy of the source material."   Mike Sullivan  About.com Book review "It’s the stuff of great narrative nonfiction"  Timothy Egan ~ New York Times Book Review

SCHEDULE FOR DISCUSSION:

Sept l -8           PART I
Sept. 9 - 16          PART II
Sept. 17- 23         PART III
Sept. 24 - 30        PART IV - V

Related links::
   Photographs - America's Greatest Heartbreak;
  About David Eggers; the town of Arwad;

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

1. Which of the images of the flood in the book was the most vivid to you? Why?

2. Zeitoun has strong, almost poetic, feelings about his canoe, and his travels in it.. .It makes him realize that he can be an explorer. While in it, he feels peace in his heart in the middle of disaster. Later, he says it is the canoe’s quiet nature that enables him to hear the softest cries for help. Do you understand these feelings? Do you have any object that you feel that way about?

3. In the book, there are many people who help:( Zeitoun, Frank, Yuko). And others who don’t (Cathy’s family, the many people who passed Zeitoun by, or promised to help but didn’t). Why does disaster bring out the best in some people and not in others? Have you experienced this?

4. Which of Zeitoun’s brothers do you think influenced him more: Mohammad or Ahmad? What do the stories of Zeitoun’s past add to the book?

5. Would you have gone to Phoenix, as Cathy did? Was it a wise decision? Do you have a friend like Cathy’s friend Yuko:” I’m your sister. You’re my sister. You’re all I have.”

6. Would you have worked as hard to save the dogs as Zeitoun did?

7. Do you understand why Zeitoun stayed, or do you, like Cathy, think he should have gone?


 

Discussion Leaders:   Ella & JoanK

I thought of Sheila's comments on the emotional scars on kids whose world was turned upside down during and after Katrina.  Here's a video clip of kids who are back in New Orleans, coping with the memory...  (at the beginning of the clip you can see the Cafe du Monde - and smell the beignets...) Look for the big arrow to start the tape...

Katrina kids see city through new lens
Photographers who chronicled the horrors of Hurricane Katrina help kids see New Orleans in a new way

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39080221/ns/nightly_news-making_a_difference

[kiwilady]

I can't get this book here yet but I am interested in just listening to everyones comments. (reading I should say!). My SIL is a Muslim and my daughter practices her own faith. You do not have to convert as a woman but a Muslim woman is not allowed to marry a Christian Man. Its something to do with the Man covering the woman in the faith as head of the household. (Not much different from Christianity is it?)

I did watch the Katrina events unfold in New Orleans and yes many people could not conceive that there could be people so poor they could not leave. I understood this, as if not for my kids I would probably be like one of those people. I would not have a vehicle if not for the kids.

It was awful to see that person sitting in their wheelchair on the bridge with nowhere to go and there was no water for them to drink.

Carolyn

[JoanK]

CAROLYN: HI. WELCOME!

Hearing about your Muslim SIL is interesting. Does your family celebrate the Muslim holidays with him? I believe Eid Al-Fitr is today or tomorrow?

[kiwilady]

No the only holiday my SIL observes is Ramadan and the holiday beginning with the letter E. He enjoys our Christmas trees and decorations but does not accept presents ( I do give him chocolate though on Christmas day) Many Muslims do practice certain hygiene and food things  which go with their faith but do not go to the Mosque every day etc a bit like a lot of our Jewish compatriots who don't go to Synagogue every week but do celebrate their major holidays. He is very moderate and went to school with kids of all religions at a private school. His friends from his native land are Jewish Christian and Muslim. He is very moral however in his ideas and I am too about a lot of things. He does not drink alcohol as a rule. (not so much of a bad thing!)

Carolyn

[Ella Gibbons]

HELLO CAROLYN!  Good to hear from you.   Your SIL sounds like a good guy and fits in with your family well.  And why not?

I know everyone has been glued to the TV the last couple of days to see if Pastor Jones is going to burn those Qurans.  Oh, why, oh, why, are some people so ignorant, so downright stupid!!!  I hope we have heard the last of that!!  

BUT THE SAINTS ARE MARCHING IN!  The Superdome that is -

The New Orleans Saints just played their season opener on a pasture of brand-new, emerald-green playing turf.  - The Dome,” as it’s known locally, is home to the city’s beloved football team, and some feared that if it wasn’t fixed fast enough, the Saints would leave—further wounding a city that had just gone through the trauma of the storm.

Our author, Dave Eggers, has written much about Zeitoun's brothers and sisters, particularly his brother Muhammed who had been a champion swimmer and then he cruelly died in an auto accident.  

Was there something about wanting to be a "hero" that possibly made Zeitoun stay behind to rescue people?

[Aberlaine]

I think Kathy and Zeitoun made the right decision as far as separation.  Kathy needed to get the kids to safety so the adults wouldn't be distracted by fears for them.  Zeitoun had business in New Orleans that he had to take care of.

As the hurricane passed over, Zeitoun found holes in his roof, but nothing of serious consequence.  If the levees had held, that would have been the end of it.  The aftermath of the hurricane no one expected or could have prepared for.  And once Zeitoun found himself caught in it, he did the best to be helpful.

From our vantage points, sitting in our living rooms and watching the horror unfold, I don't think Zeitoun could have gotten out.  And it was probably best for him to stay away from the areas of unrest in the city.  Of course, I haven read the rest of the book.

Nancy

[Ella Gibbons]

Yes, Nancy, the decision seems logical in a way, BUT, law and order must prevail; particularly in a disaster.  Mayor Nagin, on Sunday "ordered the city's first-ever mandatory evauation.  Anyone who could leave must leave."  At that time, Zeitoun could have left. The levees broke on Monday night, Tuesday morning.

Zeitoun had time before then to check his properties and do the riggin he had promised for people; he made a conscious decision to stay in his own home.  However much we admire his motives, his desires to help, he was wrong, IMO.  Of course, we wouldn't have this book to talk about and ponder over.

[JoanK]

Carolyn: that's the one I'm talking about, "the holiday beginning with the letter E". Eids. I THINK it's today. At least it is in Pakistan-- I'm glued to the US Open, and a Pakistani tennis player mentioned it. Apparently, it's different days in different places.

This is interesting, there is a doubles team (they were just runners-up in the finals) with one Indian member and one Pakistani player. They are playing together for world peace. As you all will remember, Pakistan was carved off from India by the British as a home for the Muslems, causing mass migrations of Muslems and Hindus, as well as massacres on both sides. India and Oakistan have been fighting ever since. But this team plays together as if they were twins. The Pakistani player is Muslem -- I don't know if the Indian player is Hindu.

[kiwilady]

When my daughter was visiting her husbands homeland to meet his family she went out to dinner and as they were sitting there, 2 Muslim couples, one Christian girl with one Muslim boy, and a Jewish couple they all said "Why can't everyone be like us? Why can't the rest of the world be like this"

I must get this book as the events of Katrina moved me greatly and I also recently saw a doco based on 6 kids back in New Orleans at the most violent high school in the city trying to graduate in the wake of the return to their home city.

[salan]

Oh my gosh--I just lost my post right in the middle.  Then it jumped me back to Zeitoun discussion and rapidly scrolled and highlighted the whole discussion!!  I felt like some mysterious imp took over my computer, leaving me watching helplessly until it quit.   So here I go again with my thoughts so far.  Just my opinion to date and subject to change once I have finished the book.

Kathy was an "in you face" kind of person.  She took pride in being different and liked the attention that it brought her.  I felt she was insensitive by flaunting her Muslimism to her family.  She knew that her attire would upset them and then she got offended when it did. 

Zeitoun (I read somewhere that it was pronounced Zay-toon)  did not want to leave; but from what I understand from those around me, it would have been almost impossible once the devastation hit.  Roads were closed, or torn up.  Gasoline stations were abandoned or out of gas, etc.  It was a mad house leaving before the catastrophe hit.  Bumper-to-bumber, inching along, gas running low, no stations around....and this was before the worst hit.

I felt that he should have left with his family.  No THINGS were worth the risk.  I always feel that way about those that stay behind when they have been told to evacuate.  Some of the people there had no choice, but Zeitoun did.

Sally

[JoanP]

Have you seen any of the interviews with Zeitoun and Kathy? The one with Tavis Smiley?  A.Zeitoun talks softly, modestly of his role in New Orleans, everyone goes on about his heroics after the flood - and Kathy sits there  on the interview couch, never taking her eyes off of him with that bemused expression on her face.  Wouldn't you love to know what she's thinking?
It's interesting to hear the different comments on whether or not he should have stayed behind for so long.  Does anyone know where the helicopters were taking those they were picking up?

I haven't read past the second installment - don't know what will happen, but seeing these interviews we know he survived...and the marriage survived as they all appear together.

Sally, thanks for the proper pronunciation of Zeitoun.  I was calling him Zeye-toon.

[salan]

You're welcome, Joan.  I always like to know how to pronounce names/words.  I frequently pronounce unfamiliar words incorrectly when I read; and have an "Ah, Ha" moment when I hear the correct pronunciation.  I once read a whole series of books featuring a family named Onedin.  I went through the whole series calling them One Din.  Later, I saw a PBS production and found that they were called O need'n!

Did anyone one else think that Zeitoun was taking a chance by breaking into neighbors'  houses to feed the animals?  I would have done to same thing, but I can understand how others may have thought that he was a looter.  I haven't read ahead, so don't know if this is what got him arrested.

Sally

[Mippy]

This post is not about the book, so skip it if you are not interested.
Now that we are in the second section of the book, and posting about whether or not to leave, it might be ok to write about one of our own experiences.   We generally do not leave.

We sat through a hurricane in FL, taking advantage of a very visible eye of the storm to run outside with the dog for a rest stop.   We were lucky, having no broken windows, although lots of big trees came down.   It was very expensive to remove them later. There was no flooding in our neighborhood, as we are a few feet above sea level.

When that big one hit Florida in the 3rd week in October a few years ago (darn memory, cannot remember the name) we stayed home in Boca Raton (north of Miami, south of Orlando, to help you non-USA folks), but not exactly out of choice.   Almost no gas stations had long-lasting generators, as in hospitals, so that they just closed; we would not have been able to refill our gas tank to drive if we'd headed away after the storm was over.   We and our entire town had no power for 6 days.  
      
We were fortunate to have all 3 adult kids living elsewhere with their families, so food was much less of an issue than for families with little ones.  One supermarket 20 mins. away was open, although out of just about everything, so we managed.  Most neighbors had working outdoor grills, so that helped with food.  The main hardship for me was no hot coffee in the morning, but I finally begged some on the third day from a neighbor with a generator.   Actually cold showers are not much fun, but we were happy to be ok.  
                              
We decided on the 5th day to get a generator.   It would use up some of our gasoline to drive out to the only open store, 25 min away, that said they had a fresh stock of them.  People were fighting over them a little, but we got one, got in line, and bought one.   Of course that night the power came back on.    Since that year, all gas stations in our town are required to upgrade to better generators.  

Our experience was scary, but nothing like New Orleans.  Law and order did not break down in our town, although apparently there were some problems in Miami.   Not all of FL was without power that long, but some coastal regions had storm surges and some people really had no choice about going to shelters.   We were lucky.

Now back to the book ...

[Ella Gibbons]

CAROLYn, get the book from your library if they have it.  It's a good read and it gives us all a better understanding of what these people went through during the huricane!

SALAN, your vision of Kathy is interesting. And in-the-face type of person?  That would be why her family didn't appreciate her new religious views or the way she dressed, possibly?  She was efficient and a good worker, good mother, so she did have qualities we can appreciate.  We don't what  Zeitoun's family thought about his marriage do we?   Or about Kathy?  

We do know that his brother, Ahmad,  (the one that kept calling from Spain) was very worried about his safety and kept urging him to leave the city as he knew from TV what was happening.  I think Zeitoun could have left by helicopter; they were taking people to safety from the post office - Zeitoun paddled in his canoe past there with his friend Nasser and they talked about leaving the city.

Zeitoun was vioeotaped by a man with a camera and he hoped he might be on TV (still wanting to be a hero?).  "The Zeitouns were proud, and there was plenty of sibling rivalry that had pushed them all to an array of achievements, all of them measured against the deeds of Mohammed (their champion brother)."

Kathy told him by phone that Mayor Nagin had ordered a forced evacuation of everyone remaining.

MIPPY, thanks for telling us about your experience in a hurricane.  Did your mayor ask people to evacuate the city?  You saw the eye of the storm?  Kathy describes the hurricane as looking like a circular saw, I thought that was good description. You were out of power for 4 days?

That happened in my town, but it was due to an ice storm in 2004 I think it was and I wasn't home at the time.  My pipes could have frozen except for a gas stove we had installed in a fireplace in our basement family room and it had no electrical ignition.  The gas flowed freely (it had a temp guage, can't think of the word!)

I know all Muslims are approaching this day with some trepidation.  I hope all is well.

[JoanK]

MIPPY: your experiences with hurricanes sound truly scary. My husband was from Florida, and as a kid , went through several hurricanes. He thought they were exciting-- too young to be scared.

I definitely think Zeitoun was right to have stayed at first. He knew his family was alright physically, and was worried about people who might die without his help. It was later, when the possibility of helping trapped people was gone, that I think he should have switched focus and left. Feeding the dogs made him feel he was still needed, but I wonder if that was an excuse.

But I definitely understand him, and might have done the same, even though wrongly. After all, this was a man who had spent years of his life "adventuring" on the seas -- this was as much a part of him as being a family man. If you think of it, all men who go to sea and leave their family behind are putting their family second, as he was. America was discovered by such men.

[kiwilady]

To my astonishment The library system has just got the sound recording of this book! I just reserved it today and hopefully will have it by the end of the week. I can quickly listen for a day while I am doing household chores and contribute for the last week of the discussion. They did have the hardcover print but according to the catalogue it went missing. Someone has stolen it.

Carolyn

[Aberlaine]

I felt relieved that Zeitoun had found several of his neighbors had also stayed.  He then had help rescuing some of the stranded people.  He never seemed to be worried about his safety - even when his food ran out.  I guess he knew help would come from somewhere.

I, too, think that when there were no more people to rescue, he should have left.  Once the mandatory evacuation was announced, it was time for him to go.  Otherwise, he could have been assumed to be one of the criminals looting and burning.

Nancy

[Ella Gibbons]

IMAGES OF THE FLOOD?  

I'm going to answer two of the questions in the heading.

I have the paperback copy  of the book; only one picture of the flood is in it.  I remember from TV flooded streets!  One doesn't streets to be flooded nor water to be up past the first floor of most of the houses.  It's surreal.  Every part of the country has disasters from time to time.  Fires in California, dust storms in the desert, ice and snow in the north and hurricanes in Florida and along the coast.

One cannot live without nature going berserk at times and if we didn't live on earth these disasters are probably beneficial in some ways.  I know fire is!

Yes, JOANK, I do believe that "adventure" was in Zeitoun's blood.  Just think of his 10 years of roaming the seas and you made a good point in stating that America was discovered by such men.  

CAROLYN, good!  You can join in!

NANCY, that is quite an assumption Zeitoun made isn't it?  That he would be rescued; he must have thought America would never stand by its laws or ethics or whatever?  He never thought that a disaster might bring about the worst in some people?  I think Kathy realized this, don't you?

[JoanP]

JoanK, I'm smiling at your comment about your husband being "too young" to be scared during Florida hurricanes...do you think that explains why Mippy stays put during hurricanes - her youth?  

I'm kidding - really! I'm starting to understand Zeitoun's mindset a bit better after reading these posts.  He's confident in his ability to survive the situation, and  he's really excited at  what he is seeing - "a disaster mythical in scale and severity."

He mentions that he feels like an explorer in a new world.   He likes the idea of being a hero -Ella reminds us how excited he was when interviewed - hoping the world will see him as a hero.
I think he's on a high - don't know what it will take to make him leave... Do you think maybe he's in shock - at least a bit?

I've been trying to find the part where he thinks about the danger of paddling around in his aluminum canoe with downed wires in the water.    And the fires that were breaking out...the wires very well might be live, don't you think? How did he dismiss this danger, do you remember?  If you locate that part, will you let me know?

[JoanK]

CAROLYN: great that you'll be with us. Someone stole the book?!? Good Grief!!

JOANP: "...do you think that explains why Mippy stays put during hurricanes - her youth?" DEFINATELY!

I thnk even if Zeitoun was scared, he wouldn't admit it. He was definately living in some kind of heroic dream. It's easy for us to sneer at that, but all the people who left their lives to come down and help may have been doing the same thing. We owe a lot to them.

NANCY: "he could have been assumed to be one of the criminals looting and burning." We'll find out if you're right.

[Mippy]

HaHa  you gals, talking about youth ...  I'm 70 years young and not shy about it.

Why stay at home?  In the FL hurricane I wrote about, there was certainly no mandatory evacuation!   It would have been absurd to send people out into windy, flooded streets, with all the traffic lights out.   Almost everyone in my FL town was safer at home.

I also think Zeitoun should have left when mandatory evacuation was declared.
JoanK ~ I agree with you that he wanted to be a hero.

[Ella Gibbons]

Do you have a friend like Kathy had in Yuko? 

"....given that she (Kathy) and Yuko were among the few non-African American kids in the neighborhood, they were bonded as outsiders."

We all bond for similar reasons, don't you think?    Common interests?

My best friend and I met when we were young mothers in a church were we took turns being Sunday School teachers; we  planned parties at holidays in the basement of the church.  We started inviting each other for dinner; we were best friends until she got Alzheimers in her 70's.  There was a period when our friendship was somewhat strained and now that I am a widow I can understand it.  Her husband died first and she often came to our house and spent 2-3 days, but the difference (my having a husband) was between us.

Common interests.  What is interesting and sad in this story is Kathy's relationship with her own family.  Of course, it was "complicated" growing up with 8 siblings but Kathy's conversion to Islam was the straw it seems.

With time, possibly, she and her family and siblings may mend their difficulties?   

[Ella Gibbons]

JOANP, I know I wondered the very same thing and I'm not sure that Eggers tells us why Zeitoun, after worrying about downed electrical wires and his aluminum canoe, set off canoeing again and wandering about the flooded city.  He and his friend, Nasser from Syria also, were being very foolish; they had already been warned by a soldier with an M-16 rifle to get off the water.  Battle-hardened National Guard soldiers were being sent into the vicinity.

Zeitoun, against the advice of his wife and his brother Ahmad (and most of his neighbors, residents, etc.) was being very defiant.

[JoanP]

T'is one of the hardest things about growing old, isn't it?  Losing close friends...old friends, the ones who know you best.  Like Kathy's friend Yuka, whose door was open for her and the kids when her own family made it clear that they were a burden.  Kathy had already decided to leave when her sister - or was it her sister-in-law told her that Adnan and Abeer couldn't stay the one night. (Who were they?  I forget.)  I do remember Abeer was quite pregnant, nearly ready to deliver, sleeping in their car...
When she reached Arizona (is that right?) Yuka brought Kathy and the kids to a friend's house (another convert to Islam) where 10 other Katrina refugees were already camped out.

I can't imagine what it must have been like to watch the unfolding drama in New Orleans - the floating debris, the conditions at the Superdome...the armed looters.  I can remember on 9/11 when the Pentagon was hit and the Federal Government shut down - sending ALL the workers home.  They feared more planes were coming with the White House and the Capitol their targets.  I was home, watching the conflagration on television and the pandemonium in DC everyone tried to get home at once.  My husband and two sons were working there that day, trying to get home.  I felt so helpless.  Kathy must have felt this way.

From the way he tells it, Zeitoon saw very little of the conditions and the violence Kathy was seeing.  He was feeding dogs, looking for more dog food for them...even gave the prostitute a lift on the way to "work"....

[JoanK]

I was home too, in the DC suburbs, watching the TV, feeling helpless. We were told there was another plane headed for DC (the one that later crashed in Pennsylvania), but no one knew where.

[JoanP]

A day none of us will ever forget!  The Pentagon is less than a mile from our house.  The kitchen window was open - I heard a huge explosion after the first plane hit the Pentagon.  I had the TV on and was watching NY and knew a plane had hit the Pentagon - thought the second explosion was another plane coming in, but it was the first plane, exploding shortly after it had hit.  Sirens and pandemonium. Noise

The situation in New Orleans was quite the opposite - silence.  Except for the rescue helicopters and the motor boats...fan boats Eggers calls them.  Ella, do you think those "fan boats"  were manned by the National Guard?  They weren't at all interested in rescuing the lone man paddling his canoe - or the people calling to them for help from their houses.  I thought that Zeitoun showed his kind-heart again when he explained that the reason they didn't help those calling for help was because they couldn't hear them over the motors on the boats.  Don't you wonder what the Ntional Guard thought of the armed looters?  Did they not see them either?

Oh look, here's a picture of the fan boat - much larger than I pictured...the boat and the photo!  I need to minimize the photo...

- A U.S. Coast Guard air boat navigates the flooded streets of New Orleans. The Navy along with the Army, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard has been mobilized to take part in Joint Task Force Katrina, a humanitarian assistance operation in a joint effort led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in conjunction with the Department of Defense. (text by USN)

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USCG_Air_boat_New_Orleans.jpg

[JoanK]

It is larger. Looks like they have a civvie on board, but they seem to be guarding him rather than rescueing him.

I wonder why it's called a fan boat.

[Ella Gibbons]

JOANK, I don't think we see the big fan on the back of it.  Here's a better picture and description:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airboat

A few years ago while on a trip we rode back into the swamps of some lake (suffice to say my memory is so poor I can't remember the state!) on an airboat.  I can see it was necessary in the swamps; they were rather frightening places to be unless you had a great deal of faith in your captain.  This one took us to a place where he called the alligators by name and he hung meat from a hook rigged outward from the boat and they came up and grabbed it.  I have pictures but too much action - I couldn't get it good.

[Ella Gibbons]

Kathy and Ahmad, his brother, were watching TV and the horrifying messages coming from the city.  -

"Officials were concerned about the spread of E.coli, the risk of typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery.  Unsanitary conditions would threaten the health of anyone still in the area."

'There were roving gangs of armed men....it was the Wild West out there."

Yes, JOANP, those men look like National Guard.  Who else?  Do you think  security men would have a fan boat?

[salan]

I remember watching News helicopters flying over people that were stranded on their roofs.  These people were calling or reaching out for help as the copters flew over.  I kept wondering why, if the news crews could get close enough to film, they weren't rescuing those that were stranded--and why our government was not sending help.  It was taking too long!!!  I felt angry, frustrated and very, very helpless.  I can only imagine how those that were stranded felt.
Sally

[Ella Gibbons]

CATCHING UP WITH A FEW FOLKS:

SHEILA AND MIPPY: - both of you posted that you were using a KINDLE for the first time in reading this book.  We want to know your thoughts, you opinion about the gadget - or can we call it a gadget - it's certainly not a book!

PATH AND PEDLIN, both of you have kindles I think.  Are you reading this book from them?  Are you both back from New York City now?

KIDSAL, we haven't heard from you lately, are you thinking of a Kindle?  I think the price has come down drastically and why is that?  Does the industry realize the sale of the books are more profitable than the gadget?  Reminds me of the hardware (the computer) and the software (the programs).

Thanks, SALLY, for your comments!  We all wish we knew why things did not go smoothly in the rescue efforts.  Many reasons, such as no practice for such a huge disaster, but there should have been more discipline, more organization, don't you agree.

Who was in total charge of the rescue effort?  FEMA?  Shouldn't there be one man to  hold accountable rather than an organization?

We are approaching the last segment of the book, the most exciting of all.  DO STOP IN AND GIVE US YOUR OPIINIONS!

[Mippy]

I love my Kindle, which was a gift in June.  It's a reading devise  not a computer, but in some ways it's exactly like a mini-hand-held computer.  You can easily search for books by author and then order books and receive them in a minute!  Now I never run out of new fiction to read.   In previous summers I re-read a lot more old books.
            
However, big however, I don't use it for non-fiction, except for Zeitoun, which was an experiment.   Not a success.   It's too difficult to page back and find an earlier passage.
I've been noting and bookmarking, but it does not work well.    Does anyone else with a Kindle have better success with bookmarks?

An ecological note:  Think of all the trees we save when we refrain from buying paper books.

To comment on our reading:  Have we gotten to the place where he's in captivity?  I hope this is not a spoiler.   That section was so scary for me to read I could not read it at bed time without nightmares.   I'm catching up reading after lunch, not in the evening.  

[PatH]

Mippy, according to the schedule, through tomorrow we stay on part two, which ends when armed men start to break into the house.  I could hardly stand to stop there.  I'm planning on reading the next section tomorrow, and I guess you're telling me I should go sit outside in the bright sunshine to do it. 

Fanboats are new to me; they're kind of interesting.  Once I read the Wikipedia article and knew how they work, I could see the big fan on JoanP's picture.  It's turning, so practically invisible.  The propeller isn't underwater at all; they are really airplanes with no lift, skimming along the water's surface.

[JoanK]

I'm thinking of buying a kindle, but I'm confused. They seem to sell two types. The cheaper one uses Wifi. Is that the one you all have? How do I know if I have Wifi in my house?

Then there's a more expensive one with extra software? Is that for people who don't have Wifi? How do I know which I need?

[Mippy]

The following has nothing to do with our book, so do skip if of no interest:
Joan ~ You know if you have WiFi in your home if you've installed a wireless router.   That's what I did so that I can access the internet from my desktop computer, although the signal from Comcast comes into the house upstairs at my husband's desk.  I'd guess if you live alone, you do not have or do not need Wifi.
                         
Here's the wikipedia explanation:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiFi

Therefore, a Kindle using WiFi would not work for you, which is apparently why Amazon developed the more expensive Kindle, which can access the same signal as cell phones.

My Kindle was a gift, so I have no idea what it cost, but my kids knew we had WiFi so that I could use that kind.   Is this any help?

[serenesheila]

ELLA, I just received my Kindle-3.  It is the lower cost one, with WiFi.  I bought it because I want to give my Kindle-2 to my daughter.  I played with it for several hours, yesterday, but was unable to make it work.  I have a phone number for Amazon Kindle support, so I spent an hour, or so with them.  Seems I must log on to the modem in my home, for my phone service.  They asked for my password, and I do not remember what it is.  So, I am still not connected.

Tomorrow, I plan to call AT &T to get my password.  Then I will call Amazon/Kindle support again, and have them walk me throough it.  It does offer me easy access to both written script, or verbal script.  It also offers 5, or 6 sizes of font.  It also weighs a lot less than the first two Kindles I purchased. 

I do not remember why I chose not to order the more expensive one.  For some reason I learned that I didn't need the seond feature.

Sheila

[PatH]

Question 5: Do you have a friend like Cathy’s friend Yuko:” I’m your sister. You’re my sister. You’re all I have.”

I have a twin sister.  That's as good as it gets.

[pedln]

About the Kindle, not the book, as I'm reading a print copy of that.

I bought the less expensive kindle because I have wifi at home, as do my library and area coffeeshops.  Actually, how often do you need to download anything.  For most Kindle use you do not need the wireless or the G3software.

There is a learning curve for doing things other than just reading. Mainly for inserting bookmarks and then finding where they are. I bought (it actually was free) Plutarch's Lives and am now flipping through it marking the different "biographies" as there is no table of contents in this book.

As for moving around in non-fiction books, you can do key word and phrase searches.  Amazon has customer forums where you can ask questions of other kindle users.  A useful site.

Ella, I'm still in new york -- until next Monday.

[Aberlaine]

Question 5:  I have no sisters, but have two very close friends from different parts of my life.  The saying goes, "People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime".  The first lady came into my life as we were raising our children.  Although we both moved out of the neighborhood, the friendship lines remain and I could call her or visit her for any reason.

I met my second friend when she came to work in the same place I was, back in 1988.  We stayed at the same place together, eventually becoming office-mates, until 2005 when I retired. 

I watched her get married, have children, and now deal with the "empty nest". 

She watched me raise my children, get divorced, get remarried, lose my second husband to lung cancer, find another partner and finally retire.  We still meet once a month, with three other retirees, to discuss books.  Like my first friend, I could ask her anything, just like she could ask me.

Nancy

[JoanK]

PatH: you got that right!