The Library

[JoanK]

The Library Our library cafe is open 24/7, the welcome mat is  always out. Do come in from the heat and humidity and join us. We look forward to hearing from you, about you and the books you are enjoying (or not). Let the book talk begin here! Everyone is welcome!

 Suggestion Box for Future Discussions





BABI: I have a different scheme for avoiding commercials. My cable TV also has a set of music channels, including a classical music channel. When the commercial comes on, I just swith and listen to music. I have to guess when to go back: sometimes I miss a minute, but it rarely matters. And sometimes I decide that the music is better than the TV show.

[ginny]

Of course you are right, mary, it was a combination of things, Ripley included,  all at once. I'm checking out the Ice Truckers also mentioned here, that is something else. What a strange program, and so interesting.

I must be attracted to the macabre tho, after watching Grey Gardens with Drew Barrymore on HBO I sent off for the movie at Netflix  and they sent,  instead,  the original.  I may have also requested the original. THAT thing is totally searing, have any of you seen either of them?  Unlike the HBO documentary,  of course, they could not include scenes from the past so you did not quite understand as well as you might but it made extremely difficult watching. In fact, I could only manage 10 minutes at a time, very depressing.

I did, however,  finally storm in during my breaks from the show and clean out my youngest son's room,  which I had been using as sort of a handy attic. I'm sure none of you have a spare room into which you throw things which are in the way, but I sure did and it had grown into  a mess. After watching Grey Gardens (the Bouvier Beales living in the Hamptons in...unfortunate squalor, house now owned by Sally Quinn and Ben Bradlee),  my  room is now 98.9  percent on the way to a home inspection.

Just about the most depressing thing I ever saw, and so tragic in so many ways. Too bad there's not a book about it,  so we could discuss it here legitimately. There is a huge article by Sally Quinn on it however, on the internet. I now understand some of Quinn's statements more, on her impressions of "Little Edie" Beale versus how she now feels about her.  Truth is always so much stranger than fiction, isn't it?

Yesterday I  got Rosemary Mahoney's new book on the pilgrimages people take and her visits to the sites of pilgrimages.  I loved her Down the Nile and hope this one will hold up to the last, I'll let you know.

I'm still reading Sebald's The Rings of Saturn in bits, I do like it.  Traude remarked in another forum  a lot of his work has yet to be translated, that was news to me!

Yesterday he was talking about Amsterdam and put in a quote in Dutch (thing needs a translator and it's already translated) but somehow I saw "Pinatubo" (sp)  and I had just seen a documentary on the eruption of Pinatubo (sp) and so I think I figured it out.  But the feeling is the same as anybody who did not read Dutch would have upon seeing the headline about "Pinatubo" in Dutch, so it's quite a ride. (For some reason I always confuse Pinatubo with Mt. Unzen  where  several  National Geographic famous photographers and vulcanologists.  Maybe because both of those eruptions were in 1991).

But so far this summer I have yet to find THE book, which I can't put down. Perhaps the Ruiz. Are you reading something that just sweeps you away and which you can't put down? I hear the newest Sophie Kinsella is not up to her normal mark, anybody read it?

In short, what are you reading now that you just LOVE? Did you see Dickens's Drood is scheduled  to start here? I visited his house one time in London, that man must have had the leg muscles of a horse, you never saw so many flights of steep stairs in your life!

[PatH]

I'm sure none of you have a spare room into which you throw things which are in the way

Ha ha ha.

[Babi]

 I don't, but then I don't have a spare room.  You would be surprised, tho',
what I can cram into the laundry area.   

[Pat]

Amazon.com Plays Big Brother With Famous E-Books in the New York Times.

This morning, hundreds of Amazon Kindle owners awoke to discover that books by a certain famous author had mysteriously disappeared from their e-book readers. These were books that they had bought and paid for—thought they owned.
---------------
As one of my readers noted, it’s like Barnes & Noble sneaking into our homes in the middle of the night, taking some books that we’ve been reading off our nightstands, and leaving us a check on the coffee table.

  New York Times

To read the whole article you may need to sign in;  registration is free and does not include any spam.

[marjifay]

I watched the HBO film of Grey Gardens twice, it was so good.  And the acting was wonderful.  I hope Barrymore and Lange get awards for it. 

I think I saw something about the TV awards nominations coming up soon.  I don't usually watch it because about all I watch on regular TV are movies, weather, and some of the oldies (ie, Andy Griffith programs), but I'll be looking to see what awards go to HBO, espec. Grey Gardens.

Marj

[mabel1015j]

The name "Amazon" has been intriguing me. Did they choose that as a symbol of women warriors and if so how does it relate to reading? Did they choose it for the river and if so, why?

Pat - don't keep us in suspense, who was the author? Did it happen to everybody? ...............Oh! O.K., i missed your link to the article, got it..........................neevermiind  jean

[ginny]

I thought those kindle things were on a time limit, is that not true? I don't really know much about them. Thank you Pat, I'll read the article.

Marjifay, it looks like the HBO Grey Gardens has a whopping number of Emmy  nominations which it certainly deserves, I hope they win, too, unfortunately they are up against each other, that was not inspired nominating:



    Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie

        * Kalina Ivanov, Production Designer
        * Brandt Gordon, Art Director
        * Norma Jean Sanders, Set Decorator

    Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special

        * Ellen Parks, CSA, Casting Director
        * Robin Cook, CSA, Location Casting Director

    Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie

        * Mike Eley, Director of Photography

    Outstanding Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special

        * Catherine Marie Thomas, Costume Designer
        * Mickey Carleton, Assistant Costume Designer (New York)

    Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special

        * Michael Sucsy, Director

    Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries or a Movie

        * Alan Heim, A.C.E., Editor
        * Lee Percy, A.C.E., Editor

    Outstanding Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Movie

        * Jenny Fifield-Arbour, Department Head Hairstylist
        * Nancy E. Warren, Hairstylist

    Outstanding Makeup for a Miniseries or a Movie (Non-Prosthetic)

        * Linda Dowds, Department Head Makeup Artist
        * Susan Hayward, Key Makeup Artist
        * Vivian Baker, Personal Makeup Artist

    Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie or a Special

        * Vivian Baker, Special Makeup Effects Department Head
        * Linda Dowds, Department Head Makeup Artist
        * Bill Corso, Prosthetic Designer
        * Sean Samson, Special Makeup Effects Artist

    Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Original Dramatic Score)

        * Rachel Portman, Composer

    Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie

        * Drew Barrymore as Little Edie
        * Jessica Lange as Big Edie

    Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie

        * Ken Howard as Phelan Beale

    Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie

        * Jeanne Tripplehorn as Jackie O.

    Outstanding Made For Television Movie

        * Grey Gardens—HBO—Specialty Films and Locomotive in association with HBO Films

    Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or a Movie

        * Henry Embry, Production Mixer
        * Rick Ash, Re-Recording Mixer

    Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special

        * Michael Sucsy, Writer
        * Patricia Rozema, Writer

[mrssherlock]

That was Ken Howard???  I didn't recognze him.  
 Just finished an excellent read about Australia's early settlers.  The Secret River by Kate Grenville is a product of her deep research into her own ancestor's arrival in Australia which she planned as a non-fiction book.  This article in Wikipedia describes a book she has written about that research,  Searching for the Secret River, which I must read.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_River#Literary_significance_.26_criticism

A few weeks ago there was a mini-discussion here about Australian literature and this book was mentioned.  Thanks to Gum, I believe, who told us about it.  Australia has always fascinated me; at one time I was planning to immigrate so its still a secret fantasy of What If . . .

[Steph]

Funny. I thought that the Gray Gardens was in fact a book first. Now you say it wasnt. I musthave read the article instead and not realized it. Must see the tv thing.. Did not.

[Frybabe]

Frank McCourt lost his battle with cancer and Meningitis. Here is the breaking news item from FoxNews. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,533941,00.html?test=faces

[mrssherlock]

Steph:  Wikipedia on Grey Gardens:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Gardens

[maryz]

ginny, they've always said that once you buy something for your Kindle, it's always yours.  Even if you delete it, it just goes to the Amazon "storage" (my word, not theirs), and it is always retrievable.

Sorry to hear about Frank McCourt.  His work has been very popular.

[Steph]

What author did Amazon delete and why?? That strikes me as piracy, since you paid for the book??

[Frybabe]

Steph, it was George Orwell's 1984 and his Animal Farm. According to what I read, Amazon discovered that the third-party vendor who they contracted with or allowed to offer these two did not have the rights to the books. If I were to guess, and I am, Amazon didn't want to get involved in a lawsuit from the real rights holder. Intellectual property law in the digital age is still being hammered out so there is very little if any precedent to go by yet.

I find it a little disconcerting that Amazon was able to and did in fact erase everyone's copies. On the up side, they did give everyone their money back. Think of it as a defective product recall. The difference is that the product (the book) isn't going to harm anyone who bought it so why take back what is already sold? I would find it very upsetting if, say, a food company who had to recall a product could just come in and raid my fridge.

[bellemere]

Frank McCourt certainly had a good run for the money.  Never wrote a book until after he retired, and really only had one good one to write.  But it was great. I mean to put it on my re=reading list.  I saw him in person on a panel of memoir writers, and he certainly has the gift of gab.
On another note: there was an article in the business sectin of the Ny
times about a new invention to help people with macular degeneration, (which I have)  It is a tiny telescope, the size of a pea that can be implanted in place of the lens in the eye.  It supposedly helps someone with AMD to read, watch tv and recognize faces.  The progress of my own case is very, very gradual, and I don't need anything like that.....yet.  But it is wonderful to know that something is out there.  It is expected to get FDA approval this week and is already iin use in European countries.  Now, the biggie question:  Will Medicare pay for it? 

[Frybabe]

Wow, Bellemere, that sounds very SciFi. A tiny telescope? Wonder if it will have a zoom lens. I knew about the implants to help blind people to see, but haven't heard about this yet. Optical technology has come a long way from these implants to the Hubble.

[ginny]

I am sorry to hear about Frank McCourt, and this is the first place I heard it, I like the idea that we're so au courant here.  He really had a story in Angela's Ashes, and we read his memoirs of his teaching career in the Books some years ago.

This is also the first place I heard about the Kindle retracting books! Thank you Pat and Frybabe for that additional information, the copyright thing which people think is nothing, is actually BIG stuff and people really are liable to prosecution. It's a brave new world!

On Grey Gardens, as it turns out there IS a book which was written after the original documentary, it's called My Life at Grey Gardens: 13 Months and Beyond by Lois Wright by a woman who visited often. It takes up after the documentary left off, I've got it on the way so will let you know how it is. There's also another one by somebody named Jenkins who was some sort of hanger on or something.

Lois Wright, if you saw the original documentary,  was the female guest at the birthday party.

There is also a third film telling of the story! There's the original documentary,  Grey Gardens,  and then the HBO film,  and another one called  the Beales of Grey Gardens, which is unreleased footage by the makers of the original movie,  the Maysles,  for Criterion.  Netflix has it, too. I  found that out reading the Wikipedia (can't believe I'm saying this) site, thank you, Mrs. Sherlock.

I don't have a Kindle, I'm somewhat spooked that they can remove a book, I guess....are the books forever? That is, are they your own personal library for good or is there any time limit? How do you store them, is there any limit to  capacity in the Kindle?

I guess one thing about it, you won't turn into Grey Gardens, (tho really you should have seen the "spare room"  here,   and have too much clutter. Still I do like the sound that Deems described of being able to index and search and highlight if I understood her correctly.

Oh but I love books, just the tactile feel and smell of them.

[Frybabe]

Someone earlier mentioned that you can't download a copy to your computer or otherwise copy the book you bought for backup. That is the one thing that would stop me from buying such a device.

[maryz]

Ginny, I have a Kindle.  It's my understanding that the Kindle has a huge capacity for storage, and that "your" books are always stored in Amazon's "basement".  So even if you delete a book that you purchased, it can always be retrieved from Amazon.

The way I read the story about the recall of the books was that Amazon found that the source from which they got the Orwell books did not actually have to rights to do that.  And that's why they "recalled" (as somebody just said) them.  IMHO, it was a simple recall of a product they didn't have the right to sell in the first place.  And money was refunded.  No big deal.

There have been several books that I would've liked to buy for my Kindle that are not available.  There's always a place to click to send a message to the publisher that you'd like to have it available for Kindle - and I do that.

[ANNIE]

I know that this folder is all about our books that we read buuuuut, if you were involved in the Curious Minds discussion about the Big Box stores a few years ago, I thought you might like to read this article that was left in the Organic Living folder over on S&F's.   A surprising article about Walmart and their suppliers.  This will have a big impact on the grocery stores we shop in.  Good for Walmart.  They have accomplised something that our government and the FDA couldn't accomplish for years and years.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/07/16/wal-marts-eco-labeling-mandate/?icid=main

[JoanK]

Good for Walmart. I'm used to thinking of them as "the bad guys". Have to look again.

I'm sorry to hear about Frank McCourt. I saw him, on TV, at a Dodger game a few months ago. I've also seen him in person, and to hear his "line of gab" is to adopt him as a friend.

At the book-signing (for "Tis") where I was, someone asked him if, now that he was rich and famous was he happy? He answered that he was Irish, and the Irish aren't meant to be happy, but sometimes he would feel happiness sneaking up on him.

[PatH]

Amazon really had to recall those books.  They had been unknowingly selling stolen goods, and had to get them back if they could.  I hope they apologized properly to the purchasers.

[Gumtree]

Mrs Sherlock Glad to know you read and enjoyed Kate Grenville's Secret River'. There's a lot in it that is a fairly authentic view of how it was during the 'wild colonial' days. It's beautiful country around the Hawksbury River and largely untouched today. The Wiseman's Ferry settlement where Grenville's ancestor settled is still much as she describes it and even now is only accessible by water. The companion book 'Searching for the Secret River explores her personal journey to find her ancestors and of course holds some elements which are similar to the fictional account - I found it worth the read.

So, you were planning to emigrate ??  You would be very welcome let me tell you! You could even join my F2F bookclubs    But I daresay you would have chosen to live in one of  the larger cities -Sydney or Melbourne - or maybe in tropical Brisbane and not in my hometown, Perth which is smaller, quieter, friendlier, has the best beaches  and is the  best kept secret we have.

[marjifay]

Interesting article on Wal Mart, Annie.  I'd read a similar one in the NY Times.  There have been questions as to just how meaningful will the claims of these companies be, and will they be independently verified.
But at least it's a start. 

I always feel guilty shopping at Wal Mart, but really can't afford not to as their prices are so low.

Marj

[Babi]

  I was glad to see that the article also stated: 

Amazon said it would not automatically remove purchased copies of Kindle books if a similar situation
 arose in the future.

[pedln]

Thanks for posting the link to the Wal-Mart article, Annie.  No doubt there will be gripes about costs, interference, etc., but there should be benefits in the long run.  No doubt there’s been much to criticize Wal-Mart about, but they’ve tried to do a lot of things right, too.  I’ve been one of their fans for a long time.

Marj, if y ou won’t feel guilty about shopping there, I won’t feel guilty about using paper towels and napkins and TP that’s thicker than the ultra-thin stuff my girls use.

One thing about the Kindle that surprised me when Judy Laird showed me hers – how thin it was – ¼ in?  3/8 in?  I was expecting something much more boxey.  It would fit easily into most over the shoulder purses.  I would love one, but have too many unread books right now.  I did note that on Amazon this am the price for the Kindle version of Matthew Pearl’s Last Dickens was 11.99, which is slightly more than their set Best Seller price of 9.99.

Just a side note -- It's always been interesting to note the words that become more used in our vocabulary.  The Wal-Mart article used "transparency,"  for example.  I don't recall that word being used so much before the last presidential campaign.  What are your thoughts?

[mrssherlock]

I'll admit to favoring Sydney way back when but from what I know now it would be a small town on the west coast where it's not too hot, in other words near Perth.

[maryz]

pedln, I have also noticed higher Kindle prices - the Frances Perkins book was $19 and change.

[Steph]

I am still on the fence on the kindle. It sounds great sometimes,,I especially like thethey can read it to you feature. I broke my regular glasses on this trip.. my backup pair turned out to being fine for far away and horrid for reading. Finally wentout and bought a pair  150 mag. of those drug store glasses.
work perfect but I want my regular glasses back.. Now I understandthe call back, but would have preferred to be told in advance.

[mabel1015j]

 I'm having mixed feelings today as i do every summer when i get the latest Evanovich's STephenie Plum Book. I go Finger-lickin Fifteen yesterday from the library and started it last night - laughing already in the first 50 pages - with great anticipation.WoooHooo!..........................but my mixed feelings are because i know i will have it finished - sometimes in as little as 2 days, i have finished one of her books, - and THEN i have another year to wait for the next one! I'm going to try to read this one slowly, not stay up all night reading, and maybe i can stretch it to 2 weeks................ ............jean

[Babi]

TP that’s thicker than the ultra-thin stuff my girls use.

  Guilty, PEDLN? I feel very pleased with myself for having found it!

[Ella Gibbons]

ANN, there are so many ways of looking at Walmart stores.  Sure, they are amazing; I believe I read that they are approaching the biggest employer in the USA.  And they lower prices for all of us and now rating products for environmental impact.

It's all to the good.  HOWEVER (and isn't there always a "however"), the impact this one store, this huge chain of stores, has had on America is devastating.  It's closed small town America, put thousands of entreprenauers out of business, lost thousands of jobs for those who cannot find employment elsewhere because of transportation and other ills of the small towns.

Frankly, I am tired of it all.  I want the small shops back again, the friendly clerks, the feel of a small town, the excitement of a new store opening, a new name, a new look, a new revitalized America without the big chains and the big malls.

[marjifay]

I feel as you do, Jean, about Evanovich.  The ones I've read have been hilarious.  (except Fearless Fourteen which I could not finish becuase it was too silly).  I have Finger Lickin' Fifteen on hold at the library, but am still twelfth on the wait list.

Have you read Dorothy Cannell's funny mystery, THE THIN WOMAN?
If not, it might help until the next Evanovich arrives.  Its about a 27-year-old woman who is invited to a family reunion with relatives she hasn't seen in some time.  She's embarrassed because she's chubby and has no boyfriend, so she goes to a temporary agency and "rents" a good-looking man, a real "hunk,"  for the weekend. 

Marj

[maryz]

I'll come argue on the other side of the WM issue.  I shop at WM every week - just once a week.  I HATE to shop for groceries or anything else.  And, in general, I can get everything I want at Walmart.  Unfortunately, larger will almost always drive out smaller - whatever it is.  It happened with clothing and department stores, with filling stations, with farms - whatever.  And I enjoy going in those smaller stores from time to time, in different locations.  But that's a tourist thing - not a weekly shopping thing.  I want something that is one-stop, and for me, in this area, Walmart fills that need.

[mabel1015j]

I'm a N0-Walmart person, but i'm fortunate to have a l of of options, i have no need to shop at Walmart.  I recognize that in some places that's the only store that has everything and that for some it's necessary to get those low prices. I just don't shop there on principle, but i must say that the pressure seems to have moved them to be more generous to their employees and certainly they are attempting to be more customer friendly. But i'm still angry at their heavy handed behavior in  small towns and undercutting local merchants. That's capitalism at it's worst.

Marji - i've read some Cannell's, but not that one. I'll look for it, thanks for the recommendation. ....................

Just finished an interesting Susan Wigg book, Lakeside Cottage. It was a typical boy meets girl, boy leaves girl, boy and girl get back together story. The interesting part was that the male character saves the life of the president and has all the mountains of fame fall on his head. He hates it and tries to hide out. It gives that other side of the horrors of getting your name into the public sphere. I would not want to be in the public eye for any reason these days. I have a friend who has been a tv producer for talk shows on Phila networks for decades and has from time to time asked me to come on a show. I have always refused. I have spoken on many topics in a small arena close to home, but i have refused to go on Phila tv. I just don't want to be that exposed, there are too many nuts out there who think they have every right to get in your face and judge and comment what you are doing or saying.......................................jean

[Steph]

We tend to buy gas at WalMart since it is cheaper where we live than most of the others. I dont buy groceries..Dont like the larger packages.. I buy paper goods from Sams.. which of course is owned by WalMart.. Although we just joined the new Costco in our town.. So I may change to that.. I like variety and we now have the open centers, which have a lot of clothing stores that I like and shoe stores, etc.. WalMart has some things I like, but not that many. Books are  a good example. They seem to only carry romance and a few authors like Patterson.. I am a Amazon fan for new stuff and even a lot of used.

[nlhome]

I'm not a Wal-Mart person either. I usually shop from a list, and I can't find what I need quickly enough to suit me. So, I go to Wal-Mart about once a month, for those things that I can't find at our regular stores. I find that I don't save money at Wal-Mart, because I shop specials and sales and stock up for good prices at my regular stores, so I know the prices of what we buy most regularly. Wal-Mart has its good deals, of course, and for those who are low income, it can be a real savings place, except that it's too easy to justify buying because of the "low low" prices even when the items aren't necessary - speaking from watching friends and my one son's family and their buying habits.

[pedln]

MaryZ, I wish I could get everything at one place, and I wish I could limit my shopping (mainly for groceries) to once a month.  I’d probably save a bundle, but unfortunately have favorites from about four different places, but don’t go to each one every week.  My knees don’t like to shop much either, which probably explains why most of my clothes now come from Target, WalMart and LL Bean.

And, while they may be fine for canned beans and toilet paper, do we want the Big Boxes to shape culture?  How Target gets books to the best seller list.

Target Can Make Sleepy Titles Into Best Sellers

But in the last few years, much in the way it has cultivated its image as a counterintuitive purveyor of Isaac Mizrahi clothes or Michael Graves tea kettles, Target has been building itself into a tastemaker for books.

Through its book club, as well as a program it calls Bookmarked Breakout, both started in 2005, the company has highlighted largely unknown writers, helping their books find their way into shopping carts filled with paper towels, cereal and shampoo.

 


Ella, there were lots of good things in the good old days.  We’d all like doctors to still make house calls, too.  But that’s not gonna happen.

[EvelynMC]

I have trouble shopping at Wal-Mart because it is so big, and I cannot walk very far.  So I just go to our local grocery store for the groceries and my husband does the Wal-Mart shopping about once a month mostly for cleaning needs and paper products.  But if he didn't shop there, I don't think I'd go there for anything. I'd just pay the higher price at the grocery store.  And the prices are higher because they pay a higher wage.

But this is a small town and the pay is low just about anywhere you work.  Most of the people are glad of the job.

But I'm glad Wal-Mart is making such a commitment to "green".