The Library

[Frybabe]

Bellamarie, thanks for the update on your condition. I have had other medical office visits over the years where they told me I should get with my physician for blood pressure meds. Neither my GP nor my Cardiologist have thought that necessary. My sister, on the other hand, had been on blood pressure medicine(s) for years. She is absolutely paranoid about her BP; she admits to checking it as often as four or five times a day, when her GP has told her not to check it more than once a day.

BTW, in case you and Barb have not checked out the Library Bookshelf over on Seniors and Friends, Marilyne has posted a poem she has kept for a long time. I think I can safely say that it is from the perspective of mothers and wives regarding men and war.

[BarbStAubrey]

Bellamarie sounds like you are moving along taking care of yourself - have you found that eating certain foods elevates your Blood Pressure? I have a monitor and find that what I eat has a baring and to quickly lower my Blood Pressure I find for me drinking Pomegranate juice does it -

Summer recess starts tomorrow however, the change in traffic was noticeable staring Monday where many a family decided this last week was not that important and so they took off as of last weekend for the coast before the summer crowds - notice the family across from me is gone and the family next to them the children have been home yesterday and today helping their Dad get their mobile home ready - looks like they will be taking off for a more extended trip very soon.

This was the week I remember as a Kid taking out as many books from the library that were permitted - did the same with my children and so there were lots of memories reading sitting under the crawl space under the back stairs or our neighbor had a large porch with a crawl space that kept the sun away and for some reason it was cooler under there then sitting in the shade of a tree.

My children enjoyed the coolness of the side screened in porch - I had a cot out there with a mattress made up like a sofa - a couple of porch rockers... All those years living in Kentucky we did not have Air Conditioning - the first Air Conditioning, and it was still a new concept available mostly and only in new construction was when we moved here - the older two were in Middle School and Paul was in 2nd grade. Our Summers were not as lazy with AC making living spaces cooler but also the pool was just down the street and being with their friends at the pool was important - In Kentucky we spent, I say we because I ended up being a counselor because someone did not show and then continued every summer thereafter bringing Paul with me, we were at Girl Scout camp deep in the Appalachian mountains for 4 weeks while Peter our oldest attended Boy Scout camp. I don't hear anything about Boy or Girl Scouting any longer - many changes however, Libraries still have summer reading programs.

Still reading Machiavelli and found a sale on Embroidering Her Truth: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Language of Power fascinating - Not only is it showing Mary Queen of Scots in a positive light which is different then the usual told by men over the centuries with no application for the safety she and her fellow 4 young friends felt in France and how the Renascence, in all its glory affected her daily life. Further, when we read of this historical time we do not appreciate the value of Textiles - before banks, established in the seventeenth century, Textiles were used as an exchange, collateral, wealth as dollars and investments are used today.

Also, the prologue touches on how Scotland's history was not part of the curriculum in Scotland as late as the 1950s and 60s and how revolutionary it was for a substitute teacher in the author's experience to expose the class to Scotland's history by having them make a cloth depiction that stretched from one side of the classroom wall to the other featuring the main characters that were assigned for research to the students. The sub knew how to get under the wire by making it a lesson in art rather than being accursed of teaching lessons in Scotland's history...

Had no idea either of the close ties between Scotland and France for centuries - and to see from this perspective Mary's conflict and actually Scotland's conflict and battles with Henry VIII is eye opening that I did not see it from Mary's viewpoint when we were into Wolf Hall and The Mirror...  In fact all I've ever read about Mary was her beheading ordered by Elizabeth and how she was a threat because of her wanting to re-establish Catholicism and the British ties to the Pope.

I knew how windows made life richer for Elizabeth and evidently also for Mary since the light allowed wonderful embroidery however, Embroidery is a drop in the bucket to all the various textiles that were as important if not more so then guns and swords and other implements of war - even Henry invest more in Textiles than in the tools of war - fascinating.

[ginny]

thank you  Bellamarie, didn't mean to be so late in responding.

You  will have great insight from the POV of your husband. I do hope the two of you can see the 4 programs on PBS, called Mr. Bates and the Post Office, and report back. I really would like to hear his thoughts on it.

Barbara, happy memories of reading. How lucky those of us were whose parents stressed reading and made opportunity for us to be in libraries and read!  I find I am reading more than ever for some strange reason and Frybabe will appreciate this: believe it or not, having finished the last Bryson book on the UK, I have (gasp!) started Relic again!! Shows you I have no taste at all but its SO well written, and along with a  Robert Hughes recommended by a student, (Rome: a Cultural, Visual, and Personal History,) (absolutely excellent love letter to Rome) I am happily reading constantly again, just like in my childhood.

[ginny]

I didn't mean to shut the place down.

Have redacted some of the above post as they like to say in politics, so we can get back on track.

Speaking of tracks, do any of you play  Wordle? I always have people asking me if I did, and so I tried and am totally hooked, although I hate scrabble. It's a real brain work out. All you do is write Wordle  in the search area  and play (free) the one on the NY Times. It's free, there are hints,  what's not to like? hahahaa

https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html

One of our former students here used to do the Cross Word Puzzle for the NY Times, Manny Nosowsky. He was in the film extras  in the movie about the life of the crosswords there. Cruciverbalists, they call them. I could never do ANY of his!! Boy did he love Latin.

I've got a new craze in gardening and that's growing from seed. I had a cute little Mini Greenhouse left over from my grandson (now 18, graduated from HS, all honors, all scholarships, very very fine young man) on top of that,  but here's this little project for children, untouched, how hard could it BE? 

Et voila  I have ONE plant growing in that tiny windowsill  greenhouse (It's about 4 inches long) with a cute little roof,  from those 16 year old  (at least) old seeds, it's either a radish or a cucumber.  And that has set me off again on gardening books.

Have any of you set any reading projects for the summer? Like finally reading A Tale of Two Cities? OR? Maye this is the summer to read that ONE book you always wanted to read? I find myself wondering about Babbitt...the sequel, (usually unknown to the world) both books by Sinclair Lewis. I wonder how that small town leader would fare in  a 2025 rereading.  Maybe this is the year to actually conquer that book one is slightly ashamed to say one never read that everybody on earth has at least read once. Do you have one? The last time I did that it was The Great Gatsby.

In short, what are YOU reading?

[Frybabe]

Looks to me like another excuse to put off doing some cleaning, Ginny. Your are ahead of me on the little greenhouse garden. Not a greenhouse, but I bought a small hydroponics set-up, but have yet to put it together. I am waiting for some help to take a rocking chair out to the car so I can move a big shelf unit out to the living-room area. I am planning on getting new bedroom furniture, so I am sifting through stuff to get rid of and getting other things shifted. Some of this I need help moving.

I've just started  listening to Adrian Goldsworthy's Anthony and Cleopatra. I am mostly in between reading right now. I am waiting on a hold for another Adrian book, this time it is Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Doors of Eden. This morning I read a few more paragraphs of Clifford D. Simak's Mastodonia while waiting to get my annual bloodwork done. I've pulled up The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac by Eugene Field, but haven't started it yet. He was a poet and writer who lived in the second half of the nineteenth century. I may not have run across his name anywhere, but I do remember one of his most famous poems, "Wynken, Blynken and Nod".

[PatH]

Ginny, I am totally hooked on Wordle. The puzzle is changed at midnight, and when I wake up in the morning, I usually start off with Wordle to get going.  I'm still curled up under the covers, with my CPAP machine keeping me from suffocating, and away I go. I work at it for 10-15 minutes, and sometimes that's enough and sometimes it isn't, but I can often tell how fuzzy-minded a morning is going to be by how fuzzy-minded the game is. Sometimes that's when I talk here too. (not today, it's almost 7 pm, and I'm about to heat up supper)

Have fun. The mini crossword is another quick fun one.

[PatH]

Frybabe, Eugene Field was a big figure in my childhood,but now I can't remember what he wrote. I bet if I look him up I'll remember most of his poems

[BarbStAubrey]

So much rain has me dragging - the humidity is so high it has been one allergy infection after the other - not in the best of moods to read or even watch TV.

Can only remember the start -

With big tin trumpet and little red drum,
Marching like soldiers, the children come!
Its this way and that way they circle and file
My - But that music of theirs is fine...

The illustration had children marching, one with a paper tricorn hat, one with a baton, a couple with bugle and drum and a Scottie dog running along side

[Frybabe]

Well, I remember a little of "Wynken, Blynken and Nod". This is longer than I remember it. Did my old poem book print a truncated version of it, I wonder? Here it is in its entirety, posted on The Poetry Foundation website.

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod
By Eugene Field
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
    Sailed off in a wooden shoe--
Sailed on a river of crystal light,
    Into a sea of dew.
"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"
    The old moon asked of the three.
"We have come to fish for the herring fish
That live in this beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have we!"
                  Said Wynken,
                  Blynken,
                  And Nod.

The old moon laughed and sang a song,
    As they rocked in the wooden shoe,
And the wind that sped them all night long
    Ruffled the waves of dew.
The little stars were the herring fish
    That lived in that beautiful sea--
"Now cast your nets wherever you wish--
    Never afeard are we!"
    So cried the stars to the fishermen three:
                  Wynken,
                  Blynken,
                  And Nod.

All night long their nets they threw
   To the stars in the twinkling foam---
Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,
   Bringing the fishermen home;
'T was all so pretty a sail it seemed
   As if it could not be,
And some folks thought 't was a dream they 'd dreamed
   Of sailing that beautiful sea---
   But I shall name you the fishermen three:
                     Wynken,
                     Blynken,
                     And Nod.

Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,
   And Nod is a little head,
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies
   Is a wee one's trundle-bed.
So shut your eyes while mother sings
   Of wonderful sights that be,
And you shall see the beautiful things
   As you rock in the misty sea,
   Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:
                     Wynken,
                     Blynken,
                     And Nod.

[BarbStAubrey]

Thanks frybabe - Really quite beautiful isn't it - such magic to weave for a little one - remember my mother reading it to me a couple of times - the trigger was down from the skies came the wooden shoe - I remember tangling in my brain with that thought and asked my mother how it was possible.  Remember she deflected the question by suggesting I imagine the silver and golden nets.

[Frybabe]

Of even more interest to me is something I discovered this morning, The YouTube "channel" Celtic Source.  https://www.youtube.com/@CelticSource  I watched the "The Oldest Welsh Fairytale" which I don't think I ever came across before; St. Gregory, yes, the fairytale, no. Anyway, I have it all bookmarked now. He has one on the Taliesin, so I am hoping it helps to understand the tale better when I read it. The Mabinogian which we read here several years back is featured in several of his posts.

Last night I finished Mastodonia. It actually got a little more interesting towards the end. I have been picking at this book for some time, of and on. My next library read should be dropping within the next seven days. Meanwhile, I have continued to listen to Anthony and Cleopatra. So far, nothing new (expected) and slightly boring because of it. I am in Chapter Five now, and it has only just gotten to Cleopatra's birth, etc. Most of the earlier stuff was an overview of the earlier kingdoms, Alexander, and the rise of the Pharaohs.

[PatH]

Frybabe, that discussion of The Mabinogianwas both interesting and frustrating to me.  I had three different books, collected by three different people, and each one had differences: Different stories, partly overlapping, different characters, partly overlapping, different events or different versions of the same events.

At that time my children were reading a series meant for children, written by Lloyd Alexander, based on the Mabinogian. He called it the Prydain Chronicles, Prydain being his name for the mythical place, and the opening book is The Tale of Three I gather that Taliesin was a bard, and that conflicting tales are attributed to him.  He's a character here, and has a confusing, but necessarily helpful, role in this story.  And, after the attempted overrunning of the countryside by the weird bad guys is dealt with, there is the opportunity to board ships going to some mythic country across the sea, with no chance of return, and who chooses "go or stay" and why polishes up everything.

it's a good job, and I think I enjoyed it as much as my teenagers did.

I keep running across things and thinking "Joan would love that.  I'll text her or call her tonight."  Then I realize "No I won't."

[PatH]

Frybabe, that discussion of The Mabinogianwas both interesting and frustrating to me.  I had three different books, collected by three different people, and each one had differences: Different stories, partly overlapping, different characters, partly overlapping, different events or different versions of the same events.

At that time my children were reading a series meant for children, written by Lloyd Alexander, based on the Mabinogian. He called it the Prydain Chronicles, Prydain being his name for the mythical place, and the opening book is The Tale of Three I gather that Taliesin was a bard, and that conflicting tales are attributed to him.  He's a character here, and has a confusing, but necessarily helpful, role in this story.  And, after the attempted overrunning of the countryside by the weird bad guys is dealt with, there is the opportunity to board ships going to some mythic country across the sea, with no chance of return, and who chooses "go or stay" and why polishes up everything.

it's a good job, and I think I enjoyed it as much as my teenagers did.

I keep running across things and thinking "Joan would love that.  I'll text her or call her tonight."  Then I realize "No I won't."

[PatH]

Oops.  Posted twice.  Better than losing a post.

[Frybabe]

That feeling about talking to Joan will stick around for a while, I think. I still talk to George, albeit briefly.

I will be interested to see which version or if the professor tackle more than one version of The Mabinogian when I get around to watching it. Other than finding out that my Taliesin book is not on my Paperwhite, so it must be on one of the Fires.

I am up a bit late tonight. I had been reading in bed, just put my book down and ready to sleep when all these flashing red lights appeared in my windows. Got dressed, went outside, saw a rescue truck, two engines and a bunch of smaller vehicles all lined up in the parking lots, front and back. They were occupying themselves about half way up my building. No one came around knocking on doors, but not wanting to take any chances, I crated the cats up for a fast get-away if need be. They were here for about 40 minutes and then they all packed up and left. Well, good practice. Not unsurprisingly, Shan was on alert and hard to tackle and stuff in his crate. Oscar was an easy catch once I located him.

As far as my reading goes tonight. I was taking a look at a volume of Georg Ebers work, but decided not to start it. So, I reopened The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac. Now I see that Chapter Three is titled "The Luxury of Reading in Bed". 
 

[PatH]

Correction: the first volume in Alexander's series is The Book of Three.
At first, the young protagonist can't understand the words in the book, but as he has more experiences, learns more magic and other things, and accomplishes more, he finds he can read the book after all.

[bellamarie]

Thank you all for the encouragement and suggestions for my health condition.  The lower dose of the Blood Pressure medication seems to be doing pretty well.  I do not take my BP daily, I took it the one time as instructed to and since she said it sounds good, I haven't taken it since.  I really have been doing good, just so busy with the grandkid's ending of the school year schedules.  Phew, it takes a lot to keep up with them and the 3 yr. old great grandson.  I can't wait for the hazy, lazy days of summer to begin.  All my perennial flowers are blooming daily, and I am just needing to keep up with the weeds.  I have finally gotten my front and back yard exactly how I have wanted them so now it's sit back and enjoy the years of hard work. 

Ginny, I have a few friends who have just begun playing Wordle and they really enjoy it.  I have played Words With Friends for years but not tried Wordle yet.  So, you are attempting to grow from seeds.  I bought some Morning Glory packets of seeds from the Dollar store a few years back and planted them and they grew beautifully.  Good Luck with yours.  I did a vegetable garden the past two years the first year it was in the ground and last year my granddaughter's fiancé' built me a raised garden for Mother's Day so I tried my herbs and some vegetables in it.  Very disappointing to say the least, so if I decide to plant anything this year, I think I will go back to the ground. 

PatH., I can totally relate to the thought of calling your sister to tell her about something.  It will be two years in October I lost my younger sister, and I still find myself wanting to call her to share something with her.  The two of you being twins I can only imagine it being even more of a stronger bond.  I like to play Words with Friends some nights before falling to sleep all cuddled up in my favorite blanket, although it only happens when I sleep in the spare bedroom since my hubby and dog toss and turn if I try reading or doing my word games in our bedroom. 

Frybabe, I do remember the poem but don't remember it being that long either.  Thank you for sharing it.  You must let us know how the hydroponics works out with growing your plants.  "The Luxury of Reading in Bed" oh my, I think I need to go back to reading at nighttime before falling off to sleep.  I used to always have a book or two on my nightstand to read not sure when I stopped reading in bed. I hope your blood work all turned out good.  Wow, that had to be a bit scary seeing those lights and firemen outside your window, thank goodness everything was okay.  Fast thinking to gather the cats.

Barb, good to know about the Pomegranate juice for bringing down blood pressure.  Any time you talk about your days as a child and raising your children with so many books to read it astounds me since I grew up with none in my home and no access to a library.  I made sure when I had children and grandchildren, I had shelves of books for me to read to them and them to learn to read.  When I did my in-home daycare, I always had story time. I still have shelves of children books and think I will save them for more great grandchildren.  We take our 3 yr. old great grandson to his small-town library when we babysit him on Fridays.  For the baby shower each person who came brought a book, so he has a nice collection in his bedroom he and his mom read each night together before bedtime. 

Okay, Ginny, you have asked, and I am going to take it more as a challenge... I am going to decide which book I have always wanted to tackle and begin reading it this summer!  I will let you know once I have chosen it. 

[Frybabe]

Ginny, for that matter anyone, have you read any of Douglas Boin's works? If so, what did you think? I was thinking of ordering Clodia of Rome, but checked out his bonifieds first. He is a professor at St. Louis University. I read the comments of students who took his classes and at least one review on Amazon. The Amazon reviewer says Boin is using viewing Alaric and Rome through perspective of the current political correctness trend. I checked out student class  reviews on the Rate My Professors website. Reviews are only up through 2023 and they are not encouraging. This is what he was up to in 2024. https://www.slu.edu/news/2024/january/imperial-cult-temple-ruins.php  Here is the Archeology News news article. https://archaeologymag.com/2024/01/imperial-cult-temple-in-spello-italy/

[ginny]

 Huh. No, Frybabe, I have never heard of him and don't know anything about him, so that's all very interesting. He's apparently not a classicist but an historian. I read his student reviews, and again you can't go by those, somebody may have a sore attitude due to a bad grade, but this one sort of stood out: If you read the reviews under his books you will find he values telling a story over getting things right, and that is exactly right. Douglas Boin belongs in an English department somewhere.


Nothing wrong with telling a good story, beats a bad dull one.

However I'm not in the camp of those who think the "Romans were just like us." 


So no, I don't know a thing about him. There is a difference in Historical Fiction as we just learned the hard way and History.   Why not give him a try and let us know what  you think?

Bellamarie, YES!! iI can't believe my eyes about the seedlings. The first day I thought I was having hallucinations. The third day they were  up to the ceiling of the little greenhouse. A small forest of Zinnias and some snapdragons and what appears a tomato. I don't know what to do? I thought they were weeds, to be honest, from the soil itself, I didn't use anything fancy. But two of them are wearing seed hats where they broke through the soil and are wearing the shell ? of the seeds.

I am reading and reading about growing seeds (this IS, after all, a child's project), they are inside the house in an East facing window and taking off. It says they must have 3 "real leaves" before you prick
them out to transplant but it says nothing about growing them through the roof of the tiny greenhouse.

On the missing books I need a list personally of the greatest books (to see which I may have missed) to see what I can do to finally read one. I will see if I can find one.

[ginny]

Pat! THAT was an exciting evening! Did you ever find out what the issue was? I bet it was pretty hard to get back to sleep after that!

[ginny]

OK Here's a  list of the 100 best books everybody should read before they die?

It's from Reader's Digest,. let's see how their taste runs: (This is subtitled The Best 100 Books of All Time).

https://www.rd.com/list/books-read-before-die/

[ginny]

Now THAT is some list. Where are the old "Classics?" I canNOT believe that Mary Karr's  The Liars Club is one of something you should read before you die!!! I hated that book with a passion and it's the only book after reading  I threw literally in the trash.

Proud of being a liar, smug on it, proud of misleading people? UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!

We need a new list!

[BarbStAubrey]

Good grief my take is the list is full of books that were popular in their day and are now in list form to sell a lot of products that are advertised on their website - not a Russian on the list much less some decent French authors and some on the list, like you Ginny you just had to shake your head in astonishment - not a challenging read on the list - best I could think it was a list of books you should read that can mean a list of books for keeping up with the cultural change not a list of 'Best' or prize winning authors [books].

Then we wonder why young people do not see history repeating itself or have a clue what life was all about before about the mid nineteenth century of even as late as the early twentieth. As Latin disappeared as a required high school class it appears any knowledge of Rome, the Greeks or even Shakespeare is disappearing - ah so it is either our expectation of a list is passé or there is a great cultural change that the media keeps referring to and it is real.

Ah ha, there are a few others who have lists and this is I think a better list that does include many of the books on the Reader's Digest list however, included are books that take a bit of effort that you can sink your teeth into. https://thegreatestbooks.org/ - oh my there are more than 200 - have not downloaded the entire list... well that says something - putting a list of 100 together is no easy fete.

[Frybabe]

What an odd list. I never heard of some of the authors/books and some I have had absolutely no interest in reading like Valley of the Dolls and as you say, Ginny, The Liar's Club. There are a few that are on my TBR list that somehow I have yet to get around to reading, like Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. How could I have not read that yet? Two books I started but very quickly put down, East of Eden and Catcher in the Rye. The second one only lasted 10 pages before I put it down in disgust. A few authors I have read, but not the books on the list.

Will, do Ginny. There is one of Boin's books listed in my online library, the one about Alaric. This new one about Clodia is on my pre-order list.

Current reading: I am about to put aside on Goldsworthy's Anthony and Cleopatra. It isn't holding my interest. Or, I may just skip to the conflicts between him and Augustus and the ensuing battles. Otherwise, my next listen choice will be Boin's Alaric the Goth: An Outsider's History of the Fall of Rome. Day reading is Eugene Field's the previously mentioned The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac by Eugene Field, and for my evening read I picked out a volume of Keith Laumer's science fiction stories. Meanwhile, I am waiting on Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Doors of Eden to become available in my online library.

Today we have an air quality alert thanks to smoke from Canada's wildfires.

[bellamarie]

OH, my heavens browsing through Ginny and Barb's links on greatest books sure brought back some memories of books I have read.  I couldn't get through the entire list of Barb's link since after 600 titles I was a bit overwhelmed.  I did make a list of some from each list for my own keepsake and here are the ones I could call to mind:

Ginny’s link:

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy  (I really loved this book even though I hated the ending)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
All the President’s Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (this book was the end of Truman and Harper Lee's friendship)
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt (Teacher Man was the first book I read with SeniorLearn bookclub)
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green ( movie very sad) 
Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll (Unabridged version gave insight to his questionable pedophile was revealed.)
Are You There, God? It’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume (really like this coming-of-age book)
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (attempted this a few times)
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (loved it!)
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (loved it, very revealing and sad)
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (saw the movie)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (LOVE IT! Also watched the movie at the theater with granddaughters)
The Color Purple by Alice Walker (Watched the series on TV)
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (also saw the movie at the theater)

Barb’s link going up to 650 of the titles:

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (great thriller and movie)
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough (movie)
The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
All the President’s Men (also saw the movie at the theater)
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls (TV series)
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding (movie)
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (saw the movie)
Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Roots by Alex Haley (TV series)
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset (I loved this book)
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren (the first book I ever remember reading as a child)
The Time Mahine by H.G. Wells
Are You There God?  It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (bought this for my pre-teenage daughter)
The Godfather by Mario Puzo (Movie)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Persuasion by Jane Austen
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
Metamorphoses by Ovid
Poems by Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (stage play)
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Aeneid by Virgil
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Emma by Jane Austen
Bleak House by Charles Dickens

My site got a glitch in it and so I ended here.  I have to say many of the books on Ginny and Barb's list I have never heard of and did not sound interesting to me.  I honestly think our SeniorLearn book club read many books that were not on these lists that I feel should have been.  Who compiles these lists and what is the criteria I wonder?

[Frybabe]

Has anyone read We Have Been Harmonized by Kai Strittmatter? I just downloaded the audio version of it and already, after 15 minutes listening, think it needs a more careful reading than just listening to it. A non-fiction book, it promises to be terrifying.

[ginny]

I haven't, Frybabe, what's it about?

 That second list of Barbara's seems to have a lot more books (period!) than the other but it's got some great ones, too.  And some not so great.

Having struggled with the first list, I realize the "classic" books I have not read were mostly children's books, like The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe , part of the Chronicles of Narnia, obviously also not read, and the Little Prince by   Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.  These have always been a sort of don't ask, don't tell type of thing for me, till the other day I said to self: you are not a child, and don't need to read children's books, no matter how meaningful otherwise they may be, forget it.

Thinking I MIGHT have read The Little Prince, I looked up a summation of it to find something completely different. Written by a man who was an Ex Pat and worried about the direction his country was taking, it appears to be about ethics. So I have decided to read it for my book not read. I don't know why  my mother, who was herself a primary school teacher , left these two out, but I suspect they are about more than children's tales. So that's my choice.

Meanwhile in reading over Bellmarie's listing of those she read from Barbara's List (I agree on Amy Tan, loved her books) I suddenly thought to also think Books I Have Read Which I Loved, two of the best fairly recent books I have read and one is Remains of the Day (and movie, who can forget that  portrayal of a butler) and A House For Mr. Biswass which we read here together (along with The Remains of the Day, both book club selections) and which I thought was possibly the best book I had ever read. I thought that then, but what about now?

Wondering if it held up all these years, I looked and I do have a copy of it!!! Yay! So it will be third, and Remains, which I need to order again will be 2nd  but the One Book I Never Read And Am Slightly Embarrassed to Admit It, will be The Little Prince.

[Frybabe]

Ginny, here is the Kirkus review of We Have Been Harmoized. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kai-strittmatter/we-have-been-harmonized/ Consider that we may be heading in our own way to becoming a surveillance society. 

[PatH]

Oh, my!  I'm overwhelmed by that flood of possibilities! I want to read everything I haven't read, and talk about everything I have read, especially The Remains of the Day, which I read when we discussed it here. I agree with every good thing all of you have said about it, but I'm afraid to talk about it, for fear of spoiling it for someone. it's harder than one would think to avoid making spoilers, and warning someone isn't good enough. it's too easy to get an accidental look at a warned piece of writing.

The children's book I always gave as a present back when my friends were having children was Goodnight Moon.
It always got a good response. Sometimes it had been a favorite of the parents, and sometimes it was new to them, but the children always seemed to like it.

[BarbStAubrey]

Not even going to attempt to remember my post - electricity failed again and the Wifi kept going in and out all day - and so of course I lost the entire post not once but twice - just a quicky - this week found an entire season - season 10 of Seaside Hotel the Danish series that yes, you have to put up with subtitles but it is a really great show... takes place at a beachside hotel where the same people holiday every summer bringing not only a caste together but the memory of how summer holidays were often in the same location where summer friendships were an important part of the experience - takes place before, during and after WWII -

[bellamarie]

When we first began reading Remains of the Day I thought, oh heavens I'm not going to like this story...but to my surprise I enjoyed it very much!  As for children's books I still have a pretty good size library from collecting them for my in-home day care, and of course grandchildren.  When my oldest granddaughter Kenzie, graduated college with an early childhood education teaching degree I gave her a nice book bag with some of my children's books for pre-K and beyond.  The one book I own but just could not take a liking to was Where the Wild Things Are a 1963 children's picture book written and illustrated by American author and illustrator, Maurice Sendak.  The book had sold over 19 million copies worldwide as of 2009, with 10 million of those being in the United States. Sendak won the annual Caldecott Medal from the children's librarians in 1964, recognizing Where the Wild Things Are as the previous year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". Wikipedia

Barb, I just hate it when I spend so much time compiling a post only to lose it from a glitch.  Consider stopping at certain intervals if it is lengthy and saving the post to your clipboard in the future.  Seaside Hotel sounds like a relaxing series to watch, it immediately made me think of the resort my hubby and I have been going to for years each summer in Marblehead, Ohio called Southbeach Resort.  There is just something so intimate about returning each year to the place you feel so familiar with.  We love seeing the changes when we miss a year or two and was pleasantly surprised to find a new restaurant/bar had opened after the covid shut down.  Sadly, many of the small mom & pop shops didn't make it and some were our very favorite ones to browse in.  The winery has expanded with a nice wine flight for sampling their various wines.  The lighthouse remains the focal point of the peninsula, and we happened to discover St. Joseph Roman Catholic church a few years back while driving around.  Interesting bit of info about the church: Beginning in 1842, St. Joseph Catholic Church, Marblehead, Ohio served as a station of various catholic churches throughout northern Ohio for 24 years. In 1866, it became a mission, and a small stone church was built. It primarily served the Irish, German, and French fisherman and farmers that had moved to the territory. In 1889, a larger building was erected on a different site. In 1892, St. Joseph became a parish. In 1917, the most recent church was built upon the site of the second church.

PatH., Goodnight Moon was a favorite to read to my grandchildren and daycare children.

Frybabe, you have piqued my interest with the review of We Have Been Harmonized, and this statement

Consider that we may be heading in our own way to becoming a surveillance society.

I not only consider it, but believe we are already there!  All of our devices including smart TVs in our homes along with safety monitors for our houses are capable of surveilling our every movement.  They assure us of our privacy and yet they collect, sell and store all our information on every site we click into on the internet including our messages sent.  A friend of mine sent me a private message about politics and she was informed it was inaccurate, so it was deleted.  That was a real eye opener for the both of us. 

Ginny, another book I would consider a favorite book that has stayed with me throughout the years is The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton.  the novel was a New York Times bestseller in the US, a number one bestseller in Australian and Canada, a Library Reads selection and was nominated for a Goodreads Choice award. https://www.supersummary.com/the-clockmakers-daughter/summary/ As PatH., points out it would be easy to give away spoilers trying to talk about it, but I would highly recommend it.

Okay must get off of here and go tend to the flower gardens.  The Lavender and Asiatic lilies are just now blooming along with the Clematis and Day lilies... I just love each morning going out to the patio to have breakfast and look around to what has opened up overnight. 

[Frybabe]

Ran across this on YouTube today. Yes, it is a point of law thing, but more than that, Lehto points out the difficulties of translating languages including the use of (or not) punctuation so that what is conveyed is as accurate as possible and without ambiguity. This looks like a very expensive lesson for the business world and Apply in particular.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj5hO056FWU

[Frybabe]

A friend of mine sent me a private message about politics and she was informed it was inaccurate, so it was deleted.

I wonder if that has anything to do with Co-Pilot, Alexa (neither of which I use) or a browser setting. This is the first I have heard of such a thing. Ominous!

[bellamarie]

Frybabe, She nor I had/have Co-Pilot or Alexa.  Neither of these applications should be able to read your private messages especially after you have attempted to send them and determine if it is false or inappropriate to send to a private friend.  This happened at the time Mark Zuckerburg and Jack Dorsey were refusing to stop policing Facebook, and Twitter and before they had to testify in front of congress.  I did research on this and it showed how algorithms are set to pick up certain words and there are thousands of workers in a room the size of 3 football fields with hundreds of huge screens to show the tracking of every activity and how the algorithm red flags words that have been inserted into the programs. The message she was sending had nothing inflaming, derogatory or harmful it was just her personal feelings about something in the news. It was a huge eye opener for me.  Ominous indeed!

https://blog.privatecommcorp.com/your-facebook-chats-are-being-monitored-find-out-why-the-social-media-privacy-report/

[Frybabe]

Yikes! I Have never used Facebook, X, etc. I just post with my friends here and on Seniors and Friends. So, it sounds like it is a social media thing? I don't consider our forums Social Media, BTW.

[BarbStAubrey]

I've often posted an even, not one side or the other post on not just facebook but also a few news websites and they were deleted - I was supposed to take sides and not just sides but the side of the thought posted and since I did not follow the plan... tra la la - said sarcastically - now I just keep my thoughts to myself and reading less and less as well as watching less and less - realizing now the first blush of some outrageous news turns out a few days later it was all professionally planned and executed so that believing anything any longer is useless and I read somewhere that is the point -

It's times like this that many of us turn to the glue that holds us together - I don't know about holding together a group but holding me together is about all I can manage these days - found some great stress pills that really do a nice job and amazing if for some time after taking the pill if your tummy repeats the taste is lavender - Nature's Way CalmAid, with Silexan Lavender Oil, Non-Drowsy

Found an interesting list - 50 of the best Texas authors and or books - quite an assortment including I forgot Kathrine Anne Porter - ended up ordering a couple - some of these authors I have read and some of the books on the list I own however, never heard of these and so I ordered used copies of, The Bone Pickers, Al Dewlen and The House of Breath, William Goyen - here is the list... the first 10 or 12 include a sort of review of each author where as the remaining are in the form of a list... https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-fifty-best-texas-books-august-1981/ 

[Frybabe]

Looks like I have to sign up to finish reading the article, Barb, but it does remind me that Mom used to subscribe to Texas Highways. Now I am going to have to see if I can find a similar list of PA authors. In fact, it might be fun to see if there are lists out there for all 50 states. I have heard of Kathrine Anne Porter but don't recall ever reading any of her works.

[BarbStAubrey]

Wouldn't that be interesting frybabe - off the top of my head I would think there were certainly a slew of writers from North and South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi as well as New York - from Pa what pops to mind is both David McCullough and John Updike although I can think of more artists then writers but like the list from Texas there are many who I forgot or knew nothing about.

Stormy day and so not risking staying on here... we already lost power once...

[Frybabe]

I forgot to mention yesterday that Wally Lamb has a new book, just released on the 10th, called The River is Waiting. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-River-Is-Waiting-(Oprahs-Book-Club)/Wally-Lamb/9781668006399#  Was there a book discussion about one of his books here? I thought there was, but I don't recognize any of his titles. I must have mistaken him for someone else.

[BarbStAubrey]

Between loosing power off and on all day because of the severe storms and loosing wifi as the crew building nearby road cutting wires and now would you believe I not anyone to blame but myself wiped away an entire post... lordy - one of those days when I can't win for loosing... Back to...

Yes, Frybabe we did discuss one of Wally Lamb's books during the early years of his career when he was still helping women inmates write their story... forgot the name of the book though or even what it was about but as usual a good discussion at the time.

I've got too many books started again at different stages of being read - I come across something and just getting into it reading the Amazon excerpt - end up downloading and reading more for another hour or so and then the next day I don't seem to get back to it - my latest is a book that actually I believe it was being promoted as a self help book but I find the history engrossing... Think Like a Conqueror: Lessons from History’s Greatest Leaders, Champions, and Heroes

The first chapter is all about Catherine of Russia - seems from childhood she was preparing herself to be Czarina of Russia - she came from nobility but not a famous family and I did not remember but she actually does away with her husband to Rule - wow - she did do a lot of good things including be vaccinated, which was called something different, to encourage the nation to be vaccinated - she was one of the first national leaders to do this... the author is pointing out how pragmatic she was in that she wanted to make life better for the peasants however she know she was in power and to stay in power she needed the support of the landlords - posting this much before I loose it again...