The Library

[mabel1015j]

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


Amazing! Isn't it interesting how things come to your mind in groups? A name you've never heard before comes onto your mind and in the next few months you hear it again and again?!?

You all must be in my mind!...................I just read Lethal Legacy by Linda Fainstein - i had never heard of the Collyer brothers in my 68 yrs of living. The book is very interesting. A rare books/document researcher is murdered. It gets very complicated for the detectives and the prosecutor - who is the protagonist. In the process of investigating the murder they come upon a NYC apartment where lives the brother of a thief and forger. The detective calls in a summons for help saying something like "It's a Collyer brothers situation." ......... He has to explain to the prosecutor what that means....................I read this just 2 days ago and here you are talking about "the brothers" on SL! I liked the book, altho in the middle of it Fairstein gets a bit bogged down in rare books and maps. She obviously did a lot of research at NYC public library  - she does a lot of description of the institution. I must go look for pictures of the interior. I had recently seen a "Whose Wedding is it Anyway" episode where the couple got married in the NYCPL. Fairstein is a good storyteller.
Also, my brother-in-law was recently in the hospital and while he was there my SIL hired a cleaning service to come in and clean out the downstairs rooms, so he could move easily thru them when he came home.  They took sev'l dumpster loads out of their house, but there is still plenty there - there were paths thru the house, almost as bad as you all are describing and Fairstein talked about in Lethal Legacy. My BIL just collects things - papers, magazines, etc, but his wife is hooked on the tv shows that sell products and some of those things were still in the boxes........................ and just 3 days ago my husband told me about seeing "the Hoarders" on tv.
I read Ragtime decades ago and saw the movie and was recently surprised to know that Doctorow was still alive and writing. I assumed when i read Ragtime that he was an established writer and at least middle-aged at the time.
Jackie - how sad that you lost some precious things in your moves. Numbering the boxes is a good hint.
I'm in a cozy mystery niche. Besides Lethal Legacy - which i don't know if it fits the category of c.m., I'm totally confused by the way libraries and stores categorize books these days - I've just finished Between a Wok and a Hard Place by Tarar Myers - it was o.k., but she spent more time describing people, places and things than on the story. She also seemed to want to get in every stereotype about the Amish and Mennonites. It was a little over the top at times.

I've also just finished Arkansas Traveler by Earlene Fowler. Enjoyed it very much. We're an inter-racial family - many whites, blacks and Hispanics - and this is a story about the protagonist -Benni, who is white, married to an Hispanic chief of police in a small Calif town, returning to her small town in Ark with her girlhood friend, who is Hispanic and who is going to marry Benni's cousin. Another of Benni's childhood friends, a black woman, is running for mayor against a man who has been mayor for a while and has tight control on the police and other institutions in town. His son is involved w/ a group of young white supremecists. ............................is that complicated enough for you? ......................Joan and Pat, you may enjoy the banter between two older sister-aunts of Benni, who just compete w/ each other about everything, especially their cooking. Oh gosh, these books about food and w/ recipes in them are killing me!!! They all sound soooo good. .............. I like Fowler's writing, she's also a good-storyteller. The story moves along and she writes good dialogue.
All three of these books are parts of a series about the protagonists and i think i heard about each of the authors here on SL...........................jean

[winsummm]

Mount St Helens made a big impression on me back in the days when our family trailer traveled late seventies and early eighties. In fact I really identified wit her when she erupted inso far as I had just been diagnosed with arthritis in my hip. this painting grew out of that. we both had fire in our bones.

hope this works it is four by seven feet and in oil. I couldn't bring that off now.
claire

http://www.geocities.com/artetal/mtsthelg.jpg

[mrssherlock]

winsummm:  I'm impressed.  Abstract art is beyond me intellectually but the combination of the colors and the composition portrays fire very well.

[Steph]

I now belong to a paperbackswap.com  and that means, I trade a lot of books nowadays. One of my daughter in laws gets a big bag when she comes to visit. She takes it home, reads what she wants and shows them all to her sisters and friends.. I take some to the Habitat store.. also the small lending library at a assisted living center. I still have far to many books.
But the thing I have way to much of and am not going to get rid of is crystal and china and glass of all types.. My husband was an only surviving child, his Mother was an only child and her Mother was as well.. Then I had a big wedding 50 years ago.. and my Mother left me her Mothers china and glass.. All in all.. glass everywhere, but I love it and looking at it makes me happy.. Therefore.. I will let it be my descendents problem.

[Babi]

Don't be too sure, STEPH. I despaired of ever wearing smaller sizes
again. However, about nine+ months of not being able to eat more than
barely enough to stay alive solved the problem. Not that I would recommend
that route, but I certainly lost the weight. Of course, my previous
wardrobe was then literally falling off me, so I still had to get rid of
clothes.

  A beautiful, intriguing picture, Claire. Of course knowing what inspired
it was a great help in understanding it. Like JACKIE, in abstract art I
must judge purely by the colors and composition.

  Now, what does one do about an overabundance of family pictures. I
have always been glad to receive them as the grandkids grew up, and I
still receive family 'update' photos and portraits. The problem is,  I haven't
enough space for them. Every available surface has pictures, some are stored
away, and more arrive every year.  Storage space is at a premium, too. Ah,
me. 

[Mippy]

How many books ... don't let me count the ways        we keep adding more bookcases!
   Well over 2,000?   over 3,000?  
We do sort fiction vs non-fiction, but even then duplicates occur every now and then.

The books I can usually push myself to give away to the library's used book room are
those we bought at the used book sales of various libraries in the town ... often are
stamped  taken out of circulation   and others are the mysteries bought on impulse that are so poor that I probably won't loan them to anyone.  
Now that my daughter reads when she travels on her i-phone (downloading from Amazon) she won't borrow as many as she used to, so I'd better do more serious sorting this month.

[mrssherlock]

Babi:  About the ever expanding store of family pictures, can you digitize them?  Some printers are scanners, too, and it is much easier to store them digitally.  Maybe you could request digital pix instead of hard copies.  With the advent of digital photography we are taking pictures of everything and we simply upload them to the computer.  Then they can be downloaded to one of those tiny thumb sticks. 

[JoanK]

"Next time, by hook of crook, make sure you're born with a mountain in the front yard. It comes in mighty handy all the way around" Frank Waters "The Colorado".

Do you believe, I hadn't been in a used bookstore since I moved to California, almost three years ago. I've been ordering used books through Amazon. I almost forgot that the point of used bookstores is not just to get books cheap but to find books you would never know existed.

When I moved here, people told me that none of the used bookstores are wheelchair-accessable. Yesterday, I finally went to see for myself, and as a reward, found the book quoted above. It is delightful. It was worth the dollar I payed for it just for that quote.

If you're wondering how a mountain comes in handy "..you can even see it from behind the schoolhouse privy, so there's no need to worry about losing your way home" ibid.

[marcie]

I love all of the book suggestions here. Like many of you, I have way too many books but like some of you I don't consider collecting books hoarding either :-) We keep adding bookshelves too but have now run out of wall space in every room and hallway.

JoanK, your mountain quote had me puzzled. I'm glad you explained it. That makes perfect sense. I'm glad  you were able to get in the store with your wheelchair and find that great bargain.

[maryz]

Glad to hear you're still painting, Claire!  Me, too!

[PatH]

When I was growing up (early teens), I counted my parents' books, and there were about 2000.  I bet by the time I had to dispose of them it was closer to 3000.  I haven't counted mine, but it feels about like the 2000.  This might inspire me to make an actual count (no small matter).  If I do, I'll report it here.

If I had to downsize, I think it would be dead easy to pitch 1/4 to 1/3 of them, but then it would start to get hard.

Claire, I'm an art ignoramus, but sometimes a painting will hit me hard, and yours did that.

[marcie]

That's an amazing painting, Claire.

[Steph]

Ah Used book stores or my online version. I love both and spend hours in them.. There are always new authors for me..

[Babi]

Oh, dear me, no, JACKIE.  I'm not a picture-taker myself, for the most
part, and know nothing about handling them via a computer. I rarely look
at those I have in albums, never mind any I might have stored in a computer.
The box of loose snapshots from years gone by sits in the top of my closet
waiting for the time when I am bedridden and desperate for something to do.
 

[mrssherlock]

The box of loose snapshots from years gone by sits in the top of my closet
waiting for the time when I am bedridden and desperate for something to do.

That situation remionds me of an interesting mystery, The Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey, wherein her Scotland Yard Inspector, trapped in bed with a broken leg, is given a stack of portraits by his actress friend.  She challenges him to discern what he can simply from the faces.  This is a quiet book but for me it sang loud and clear as one of the portraits was of Richard III. 

[marcie]

Jackie, I loved The Daughter of Time. It got me interested in reading other books about the maligned Richard III.

[mabel1015j]

Someone somewhere on SL had mentioned not liking Pat Conroy's new book. I just read Newsweek's review:(I quote)  Conroy's memlodrama is so perfumed w/ pathos it stinks........the friends occasionally hurt each other; they often hurt themselves, Conroy seems tothink they're heroes - flawed, to be sure, but the bet humanity has to offer. In fact, their obsessive romance of damage makes them self-indulgent and ultimately unlikable, not to mention tiresome.....what's really objectionable about the purple prose..is that it swamps everything in a homogenizing bath of sickly beauty.I don't think the reviewer liked it, either............it's kind of sad, Prince of Tides is one of my favorite books...............................

jean

[maryz]

A couple of years ago, I went through all the photographs and divided them up into families or friends or whatever.  I kept out a few that I really wanted to keep.  The others I mailed to the designated family.  I didn't ask if they wanted them or tell them this was happening.  So they didn't get the chance to refuse.  And then the photos were THEIR problem!

I read somewhere early on that Pat Conroy said that he wanted to write novels about the south in 'purple prose' - and I guess he's doing that. 

We're docked tonight in Newark, NY.  They provide great services for boaters (and I presume for bicyclers) - and all free.  There's a shower, bathrooms, a washer/dryer, and internet service.  I kept asking about charges, and the dockmaster kept saying "Welcome to Newark!"  I'm sure this gives them great 'press' throughout the boating community.

[Donnie]

I am always a little fearful of reading The Library posts as I want to buy most books mentioned;they all are described so well.  I worry I will die before I get a chance to read all those I buy.  I am now reading the Library at Night by Alberto Manguel who tells book stories like those already told.  For example, he tells of Patrice Moore who shortly after Christmas in 2003 was heard by his neighbors to be moaning and groaning but nobody could get into his apartment.  Finally firefighters were called and after an hour of forcing a locked and blocked door with a crowbar, the man was found literally buried in books. The avalanche he had to be unburied from was a ten year accumulation of journals, magazines and books.

I found Nothing Remains the Same by Wendy Lesser to be an interesting read because she spends some time rereading books she read as a young person.  I have always claimed A Tree Grows in Brooklyn saved me from a humdrum life.  It was the first book I read that was like my life.  As a young person I wanted so much that I most likely was not going to get.  Then as an adult when I reread Tree, I thought the girl was a whiner: I could not relate with her at all; I hated the story.

I read a lot of books about books especially autobiographies written by book people.  The thing that surprises me is how many readers who write come from non-reading families like mine.  I continue to ponder this because it is so often said that you can't blame children for not liking to read if they don't see their parents as readers.  I don't find that to be true.

I like the Inspector Lewis mystery series as I like a lot of the PBS mysteries.  However, they usually come on later in the evening when I have had it with reading and just want to be entertained.  I don't really want to talk about them.  I hasten to say I read a book by someone who teaches these type of mysteries in college because she claims their setting (time and place) reveal so much about cultural values.

[mrssherlock]

I have an unusual request.  I am looking for the absolute best book light.  Two weeks or so ago we had a power failure at around 9 pm.  It was dark but I have a book light a gift from my sister.  It was no good, rigid, to move the light across the page I had to move the entire unit.  I want to be prepared for the next power failure, reading is perfect when there's no TV or computer.  Please tell me about your favorite book light.

[PatH]

I use book lights mostly when I want to read without having the room light, or if I'm staying somewhere where there isn't a good light near the bed.  My current favorite is one I got at Barnes and Noble for $13.95.  It Says "Mighty Bright" on the base.  Its base is a clip containing the 3 AAA batteries, from which comes a thin, flexible neck ending in a tiny but very bright LED light, with 2 brightnesses.  You can get it to light a whole page or bend the neck around to get it where you want it.  The batteries last a long time, unlike some lamps where they burn out in a single night if you fall asleep without turning them off.  It's awkward with some books, though.  You might try to get a chance to fiddle with it before buying.

[Babi]

What in interesting premise, JACKIE. I very much like Tey, but I don't
recall having read that one.

"I don't think the reviewer liked it, either."

(JEAN)
  No kidding. 

 Now that is a great idea, MARY.  There could very well be photos in
there that others no longer have, and would treasure. Thanks for suggesting
it.
  It's so true, DONNIE. How often the books that moved us and meant so
much to us when we were young, seem vapid to our more mature minds. Still,
they made a difference then, which is no doubt one reason we eventually
arrived where we are now.

[mrssherlock]

Babi:  How insightful: 

How often the books that moved us and meant so
much to us when we were young, seem vapid to our more mature minds. Still,
they made a difference then, which is no doubt one reason we eventually
arrived where we are now.

[winsummm]

booklight like that one. my daughter sent me one from amazone but so far haven't found the small three A batteries for it. it would be nice to be able to read anywhere with it. now stuck in an old recliner that hurts my back.

doctors visit yesterday finds me ok but uncomfortable. good blood pressure etc. but but etc. eighty one just isn't  like even twenty years ago at at sixty one.  shoot. back to yesterdays coffee.

books about animals relating to people pleased me in my youth i.e. Albert Payso n Terhune's collies and William Walton's horses and cowboys.and on the radio, the lone ranger capt. midnight and other heros. then there were the girl detectives like nancy  drew. at least they made me into a reader. I came a cross two of them last week
when sorting. I wonder if I will still like the writing. 'have gotten fussy . . .

claire

[Steph]

Pictures.. Several years ago, I made two photogallery's for our two sons. Each one containing pictures, newspaper clips, etc. of their lives. Put them in a scrapbook type.. To my amazement, they loved them and so did the wives.. They are treasures as far as they are concerned.
I also did a scrapbook of me and then one of my husband. This way I did use many of the old pictures, lots of houses we lived in. Animals we owned, etc. Great fun and again  they are down in our living area and it is surprising to me the number of people who come to visit, who invariably find them and think they are neat.. I suspect its just unsorted pictures that get put in closets.

[mabel1015j]

It worked the other way round at our house, my dgt bro't me HER pictures and 2 empty photo albums for me to organize. (She had asked me if i would do it and i said yes, since she's 10X busier than i am). I filled up one album, but then i was left w/ the pictures that i didn't recognize, either the people or the events, so i told her she has to organize them, I didn't have any idea how she would want them placed, then i'll put them in the album for her.

I put together an album of the highlight's of our son's life to pass around at his wedding rehearsal dinner. Many of his bride's family had only known him for 3 yrs, so they had missed the previous 30 yrs of his life. I suggested to the bride's mother that she do the same for the bride. I would not do it, if she didn't want to make one for her dgt. She said she would, but then on the evening of the dinner told me she didn't do it. But everyone, including our family, enjoyed seeing Stephen's "life" even the parts they had "lived" thru.

I've put almost all the pictures from the last 3 yrs on disks. They were either taken by digital cameras, or sent to me from phones, or i scanned them into the computer and then every once in a while i transfer them to the cd's. That way if my computer crashes, or anything happens to the snapshots, we'll have copies of them. Every week i change the desktop picture on the computer, using one of the pictures that are still in "My Pictures" so i get to enjoy them each day, they aren't just sitting in the computer file.  I think there are sev'l hundred by now..........................

Jean

[CallieOK]

I have two book lights.
One is a Zelco Model 10080.  It's about 6 inches long with the light folded half way over one end and the clip part (that goes on the book) folded over the other. Each one unfolds to a 90º angle.  The light can be swiveled from side to side and is nice and bright.
 I think I got it at a book store and don't remember what I paid for it.  Neat feature is a little recorder inside on which you can put/play back things like...comments on reading, references to be remembered, etc.  I really like it.

The other one is a Lumatec Ulltralite Reading Light.  It's about 61/2 inches long.  The book clip looks like a paper clip (stronger) and snaps out of a recessed area.  The LED light extension is pushed up to curve over the book page.

I don't like it nearly as much because 1) the light extension wobbles, 2) the LED light isn't as bright as I like, 3) the lighted area is smaller than the other one and 4) the clip isn't as sturdy. May have ordered it from a catalog.

Is this where someone mentioned reading "Stone's Fall"?   I finished it - but the ending made me think the author is SICK!  

Now reading a good old "trashy" Judith Krantz novel.  

[marcie]

I didn't find the Zelco light with a recorder but here is a video review of one Zelco led book light: http://video.yahoo.com/watch/986846/4063478

Here are various models: http://www.offerfind.com/search/itty_bitty_book_light although the price at amazon.com is better for some of them.

[mrssherlock]

Thanks for your reviews of booklights.  I found that my type is still available.  One model at Amazon slips into the spine of the book and the light is on a flexible mount.  http://www.amazon.com/Zelco-11324-LED-Bookmark-Lite/dp/B000PER22K/ref=pd_sim_k_2
That one sounds good but i'll look some more.  Since i read in bed those whch mount on a book rack won't  do. 

[winsummm]

marcie which do you use?  book lite.

claire

[marcie]

Claire, My husband is a reader too so we both have lamps attached to the head of the bed.

 I don't currently use a book light but when I rode an early commute bus to get to work in the morning while everyone else was asleep on the dark bus, I used a light that looked similar to the one here:  http://www.amazon.com/Slim-Owl-Super-Bright-Light-White/dp/B0000DJADY/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1252633261&sr=8-16

I don't know where my light is right now and can't remember the brand.

[winsummm]

the kindle  2 folio for fifty bucks looks nice. you don't scratch it up by carrying it in a purse but the three AAA batteries only last forty hours probably just llike the one I have which sells for 18 dollars if I can find it. it's a good lead marcie I  followed yours to here at amazon.

I'm not able to read books with ordinary print anymore so am giving them away an d only using the kindle. have to stock up on tjese  batteriest I guess.the two AA are easy to find but the three AAA are not.  My son wants my old art text books on roman and greet architecture. he wants to look at pictures. of course I can do that too but am not into these particular ones.

thanks, claire

[Steph]

One of the nicest thing about our nephews wedding last Fall was at the reception, they had a video running. It was pictures that Jen and Stephen collected from all of their families.. They also did some of their current lives. It was amazing watching the bride and groom grow up, see old friends and relatives. My brother who was his father is dead and I was shocked enough to cry when the very first picture in the show was his Dad..It was lovely though.

[Babi]

 I like the idea of collecting pictures from the life of each child into a special
album for them.  I'll keep that in mind for the future, for the days when my
outside activities are more limited.
  I was reading Eccl. 12 the other day, and was happy to declare that despite
the increased difficulties of these aging years, I still 'find pleasure in them'.   

[winsummm]

sorting books in baggies.  I did that a few years ago but found overlapping subjects. most of them are in a file box still in which ever baggie I thought most appropriat. i.e. friends, animals family mine hiss ours. etc.

claire

[mabel1015j]

Sev'l months ago Ginny mentioned "Down the Nile." Friends of ours are going to Egypt in Nov and they have read that book also. Didn't you all talk about another book of a woman traveling by herself in that area? I can't find the discussion. My memory was that there was even a tho't of using this other book in a book discussion. Does anyone recall that? ......................jean

[ginny]

Jean, did they like Down the Nile? It sure made me want to go, I still think that's the best book on travel I've read.

There are others, older ones about women in Egypt, but I have not read them, you may be thinking of the one about the woman in Australia who crossed the continent by camel alone? Very annoying woman but it made for a good read. (Some animals harmed in making the trip,  as they disclaim about movies). Those sections a total turn off for me.

 I'd like to hear about their trip, a "totally to die for" trip is being put out by the...is it (I can never remember the name) American Archaeological  Society? Anyway it's online and  it's by boat in October, wait listed, starts in Alexandria, Egypt,  and then goes across the entire top of North Africa, Roman ruins galore. I would kill to do it, right in the middle of grape season here. I think next year, our 30th in grapes, assuming there's no war or danger from pirates or Libya deciding war on Americans, and assuming I can wangle the tariff, which is much too high,  I must do it. Never saw anything like it.

________________

But except  for the trip to the library, one can travel at home with a good book. I  finished Homer and Langley, reluctantly.  He's done a masterwork in "creating" Homer, and I think if that thing doesn't win something it will be a real shame. Little by little Homer's personality grows on the reader till the poignant end....I'm going to carefully choose another of his. Meanwhile I'm off pursuing plot with the other recommendations of the Wall Street Journal article, that was a good article and so far, right on.

_____________________



Am also watching the documentary Mondovino, the world of wine. I would recommend it except for the subtitles (which it needs, being in several languages) but  which are not put against a white background, but rather right over the film, which renders them almost impossible to see. I will say I think it's improving my French, because you can almost understand that as well as the sub titles and you can pick up a lot that the subtitles do not convey, which surprises me, i thought they did the entire speech, they don't.

It seems (hahha) to be about a failed attempt by the Mondavi vineyards in America  to acquire? destroy? ...depends on who you ask..... a large section of...Burgundy, France? The amazing thing is that everybody has a different idea of what happened, and a lot of speculation about motivation, and a LOT of them are interviewed, it's absolutely fascinating. 

___________________________

I've just  started Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth, which won the Book of the  Year title  from the New York Times Book Review and about 9  other publications. It's short stories and it's excellent so far, I'm in the first one. The pages of reviews are incredible.

_____________________

So what are YOU reading??

[Babi]

 My librarian who promised to find "March" for me proudly presented it
yesterday.  My delight was fully equal to her pleasure.  I won't be able to
start it immediately as I am currently reading two other books...but soon!
With my high opinion of Geraldine Brooks writing skills, I fully expect it to
be gratifying read.

[Steph]

Excitement.. On our Bucket List ( like the movie) has always been a transatlantic cruise. We decided recently that 2010 was the year.. So I have been diligently searching. Came up with a dandy with lots of extras for early booking.. So Next May 14, we will leave from Ft. Lauderdale to Barcelona Spain.. 14 days.. Balcony.. We are both so up for this.. Silly but fun..We use river boats all the time, went to Alaska on a mid sized boat, but this one is 1600.. guest.. Holland America..Noordam.. So.. I must start reading up on transatlantic and Spain. HmmGinny, tell me about Spanish Wine..

[Gumtree]

Jean, did they like Down the Nile? It sure made me want to go, I still think that's the best book on travel I've read.

There are others, older ones about women in Egypt, but I have not read them, you may be thinking of the one about the woman in Australia who crossed the continent by camel alone? Very annoying woman but it made for a good read. (Some animals harmed in making the trip,  as they disclaim about movies). Those sections a total turn off for me

Ginny: I tried Down the Nile but couldn't get into it and didn't finish. DH was rather ill at the time so I guess my concentration was down. Might try it again sometime.
The woman in Australia with the camel--ssss only crossed half the continent - she started in the middle and worked her way south and west ending up about 150 miles south of where I am at this minute. Inhospitable country  for most of the way to be sure -  but she did have help. She was not Aust's finest hour.