Author Topic: The Library (Read 149289 times)

Donnie · « **Reply #840 on:** September 12, 2009, 02:47:20 PM »

The Library

Our library cafe is open 24/7, the welcome mat is always out.
Do come in from daily chores and spend some time with 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

This week's New York Times Book review had a review of Homer and Langley. I want to read it but I don't want to pay a hardcover price for about 200 pages. By the time I get done reading what I have started, it will be out in paperback. I went to Alibris to look up some of the other books about the brothers people had posted but those (used) books start out at even a higher price than the this new one.

I was haunted by The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri; there was so much in it for me. I sent the movie version to my aunt hoping she would see some of things about leaving your family and then becoming separate from them (especially in worldview) so that we could have a discussion. That didn't happen. A critic (I don't remember who) wrote that Lahiri only gets to a certain point in exploring major cultural issues and doesn't get to a resolution which is fine for a first book but then she goes over the same ground in her later works. I usually don't like the book that comes after the one I thoroughly enjoyed and found meaningful. I liked the Kite Runner; I didn't like his second book. I am currently reading the Book of Shadows by Namita Gokhale and really, really like it.

Frybabe · « **Reply #841 on:** September 12, 2009, 04:07:32 PM »

Still wading through Lost Christianities.

Just started The Highland Clearances by John Preeble(?). I have my clan map and a travel map of Scotland to follow along.

Also recently started, The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. I got it because I read that it was a detective story about characters in books, in this case Jane Eyre, get kidnapped and the detective (Thursday Next) must find the villain, rescue the character and avert "literary homicide". There is much more to it than that -- people can time travel, cloning is routine, England is a police state, the Crimean War is still on, and literature is taken very seriously. It is all a little confusing at the moment, but I think it touches on real life things like revisionist history and forgeries, as well as the possibility of changing stories to suit your own personal preference, not what the author actually wrote. I think we see how easy that is now that we have computers and the internet. A very odd book altogether.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #842 on:** September 12, 2009, 04:14:41 PM »

Mavis Cheek has become a real favorite of mine. She writes about women who have lit Life carry them along until something disrupts the flow and they begin to make demands of Life which sounds banal and too, too familiar. Her powerful use of language, almost lyrical, elevates her books head and shoulders above many on the best seller lists. I'm reading the third, Sex Life Of My Aunt. I literally can hardly put it down.

Quote

There are three holes in people's lives. One is the hole that remains open because you do not get enough love to fill it. The second is the hole that remains because you do not find a fulfilling direction to live by. And the third is the hole that remains because you do not have enough money to make up for one or both of the other holes.

PatH · « **Reply #843 on:** September 12, 2009, 05:10:42 PM »

Quote from: Frybabe on September 12, 2009, 04:07:32 PM

Also recently started, The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. I got it because I read that it was a detective story about characters in books, in this case Jane Eyre, get kidnapped and the detective (Thursday Next) must find the villain, rescue the character and avert "literary homicide". There is much more to it than that -- people can time travel, cloning is routine, England is a police state, the Crimean War is still on, and literature is taken very seriously. It is all a little confusing at the moment, but I think it touches on real life things like revisionist history and forgeries, as well as the possibility of changing stories to suit your own personal preference, not what the author actually wrote. I think we see how easy that is now that we have computers and the internet. A very odd book altogether.

I thought "The Eyre Affair" was a hoot. I particularly liked the bookworms, who ate excess verbiage, and excreted punctuation marks, which t'ended to g;et int-o the con,ver.satio:n of people around them. And you'll find out who really wrote Shakespeare.

Frybabe · « **Reply #844 on:** September 12, 2009, 08:27:27 PM »

PatH, I haven't gotten to the bookworms yet, but I am having fun with the character names - Paige Turner, Jack Schitt, Acheron Hades (appropriate name for a bad guy), Uncle Mycroft who is into games theory. Never having read Pickwick Papers I am wondering if there is any pun intended by naming her pet dodo Pickwick. Coming up on chapter 8.

Babi · « **Reply #845 on:** September 13, 2009, 10:11:25 AM »

That book about 'literary homicide' sounds familiar, FRYBABE. I Think
I read that one. It was an amusing twist, wasn't it? There are more books
in the "Thursday Next" series, if you would like to read them. Check out
Fantastic Fiction.

Oh, jeepers, JACKIE. It looks like I've got,..let me see...about 1&1/2
holes. Would that be an average, I wonder? $:-\$

mrssherlock · « **Reply #846 on:** September 13, 2009, 10:20:22 AM »

Babi: 1.5 puts you ahead of me, with all 3.

I think it was Steph who mentioned The Heroines: A Novel which has me captivated. It will end too soon to suit me.

Steph · « **Reply #847 on:** September 13, 2009, 12:47:58 PM »

I like very very few travel books.. Most of them seem to do such odd things. I would like to read Down the Nile since we were there.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #848 on:** September 13, 2009, 01:44:10 PM »

I was asked to post my comments in the Reading Around The World discussion here: Fitting into several of the semi-qualifications for this category is the latest novel to be translated into English by J M G Le Clezio, Desert, which received the 2008 Nobel Prize for Literature. Like many I said Who? Inflammatory comments by the permanent secretary of the Academy criticizing US literature as "too isolated, too insular" created a further barrier to our appreciation. Reading a review in today's Oregonian I learn that the author is literally a world traveller with, among others, teaching stints in Bangkok, Mexico City, Austin, Albuquerque and Boston.

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/l/jeanmarie_gustave_le_clezio/index.html

Frybabe · « **Reply #849 on:** September 13, 2009, 05:28:30 PM »

Babi, I have two more of the Thursday Next series to read before I add more. I am really starting to get into it.

I looked Swindon up on the net last night and discovered it has railworks and Railway Museum. There is some current hope of reviving the canal area. Didn't see anything about an airport. Got their own soccer team. Google images has some nice images of the shopping area, canal, rail stuff, old town, etc.

Frybabe · « **Reply #850 on:** September 13, 2009, 07:16:23 PM »

Well, how about that! Myrthyr features in The Eyre Affair. My Mom was from Myrthyr Tydfil

mrssherlock · « **Reply #851 on:** September 13, 2009, 11:42:44 PM »

Jon Krakauer has written some books I've enjoyed: Into Thin Air about 1996 season's Mt Everest climb, and Into the Wild has a new one, Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman which is now on my TBR list. Pat Tillman was a professional NFL player who after 9/11 left his multi-millions job and enlisted in the army to fight in Afghanistan. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/books/review/Filkins-t.html
and
http://www.oregonlive.com/books/index.ssf/2009/09/nonfiction_review_where_men_wi.html

From what little I know Pat Tillman sounds like he was a helluva guy.

Steph · « **Reply #852 on:** September 14, 2009, 07:38:53 AM »

I liked Into Thin
Air very much, but also read another book about the same incident that disagreed rather violently with Krakauer.. Who knows.

Babi · « **Reply #853 on:** September 14, 2009, 09:02:56 AM »

"I thought "Travels With Charlie" was good, STEPH. Have you read that one?

Myrthyr Tydfil is a real place! How delightful. I love that name, but
didn't realize it actually existed. That's got to be Welsh, right, FRYBABE? The
Welsh names, all by themselves, are like a glimpse of the past.

Donnie · « **Reply #854 on:** September 14, 2009, 11:45:52 AM »

Anita Brookner has a new book out called The Strangers. I may or may not read it. I have read at least a half dozen of her books. They are quite depressing; yet, I find them fascinating. I say they are depressing because her main characters are often isolated, and lonely. What fascinates me is that they are almost always well educated, travel a lot, know about art, and are well read. They are not poor. I read Brookner to see if she can figure out a way to get her characters to open the door to their holes that they seemingly want to stay closed. From the review I read, the characters in Strangers are also alienated from their relatives, lovers, and themselves so they live with holes. My thought always is that her characters lack imagination. What's the point of doing anything if you don't participate and make what you are doing something other than what it is. For example, take reading; I read-not to manipulate facts or change history-but to stimulate thought and then write my own story; that's what gets me up in the morning in the anticipation of another joyful day.

Frybabe · « **Reply #855 on:** September 14, 2009, 04:02:05 PM »

Yes Babi, there is a Merthyr. Merthyr Tydfil is named after St. Tydfil who was killed by pagans way back when. Merthyr means martyr in Welsh. I didn't know that until just now. At the beginning of the 19th century it was the largest town in Wales owing to its mining and ironworks industry. It was a somewhat depressed area when I visited relatives there in 1969.

Gumtree · « **Reply #856 on:** September 15, 2009, 12:39:14 AM »

Donnie: I've read a good bit of Anita Brookner's work too. As you say its fascinating - I love her prose. I don't find her novels depressing but rather that her characters are often unfilfilled in their lives even though they are well educated, often financially secure etc etc. Perhaps they won't 'open the door' as you put because they feel safe where they are and don't want to take any risks even though if they don't they will miss so much of what life offers.

I think her novels are successful because she writes about the world she knows where the people are well educated, know about art, have travelled fairly widely and so on.

I'll look out for the new one you mention.

Steph · « **Reply #857 on:** September 15, 2009, 08:29:35 AM »

Along long time ago, I read Travels with Charlie.. I loved it..
Now in The Heroines.. the 13 year old was rescued from the sanitarium by Conor, the Irish hero/villain.. Hmm. that makes them real. Curioser and curiorser.. This is one odd book.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #858 on:** September 15, 2009, 12:29:46 PM »

There are several Anita Brookner books at my library. Thought I would start with Hotel Du Lac as it won the Booker Prize, I believe. I've expanded my list of Geraldine Brooks' work; she has a non-fiction about her correspondence with the folks from Oz while she was at the WSJ in New York. Her novel, Year of Wonder, about the plague epidemic in 17th century London, is also on my list. I'm still waiting for my name to come up for March.

Babi · « **Reply #859 on:** September 15, 2009, 01:32:09 PM »

I'll be starting on "March" as soon as I finished with the Dona Gracia Nasi
bio. Let me know when you get your copy, JACKIE, and we can compare
notes as to whether it might be a good discussion book.

marjifay · « **Reply #860 on:** September 15, 2009, 02:20:10 PM »

I really enjoyed Hotel du Lac, Jackie. Will be interested to see how you like it. I intend to read more of Brookner's books. BTW, I've just gotten BAD DAY FOR SORRY from the library after your recommendaion. Sounds good, something quick and easy after the book I've been reading, Maugham's OF HUMAN BONDAGE.

Marge

Steph · « **Reply #861 on:** September 16, 2009, 08:07:15 AM »

Just saw in the paper this morning that our county commissioners are cutting back on library hours.. Amazing.. it is the place that people can go to use computers when they need them and look for jobs..On the other hand, I notice that no county commissioner or school superintendent has cut their salaries..

Frybabe · « **Reply #862 on:** September 16, 2009, 08:23:41 AM »

Steph, It never ceases to amaze me that the politicians threaten or do reduce programs and services that are necessary while continuing to fund their pockets and those of dubious programs of little real worth. Not only do they frequently pick on the libraries, but they often threaten cutbacks on police and fire services too.

Babi · « **Reply #863 on:** September 16, 2009, 09:14:27 AM »

And just think of all that could be done with the money that does into
paying lifetime 'pensions' to Senators. Serve a couple of terms, and walk
out with a very generous lifetime income that they really don't need.
How many ex-Senators are out there right now, receiving funds that could
pay for things we desperately need. Try prying that money loose!

mabel1015j · « **Reply #864 on:** September 16, 2009, 12:23:54 PM »

ALL of the libraries in PHiladelphia are to be closed because the Penna legislature couldn't - or wouldn't - get there act together to let Philly raise their sales tax and make some other adjustments to their budget. I have a feeling that the legistlature is playing politics, most of the legislators are from suburban/small town/rural areas of Pa and they have never been kind to Phila. they may have a battle w/ Ed Randle who's governor, but used to be the mayor of PHila. But! Imagine! ALL the libraries are going to close completely!.......................what a sad state we are in....................jean

mrssherlock · « **Reply #865 on:** September 16, 2009, 12:30:07 PM »

Jean I can't imagine the desolation I would feel if Salem were to close its library. Sometimes my feminist ire is aroused at the shabby attempts to blame the victim, in this case it is poor, inner city residents who have few resources (I can sense a hidden message, they brought it on themselves by their excesses.). How much comfort there is in a book! To be denied that comfort is abominable.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #866 on:** September 16, 2009, 01:13:20 PM »

Jackie - not only is the library the only place some of those children can access books but the library system has after school programs at many of the branches and as Steph said, the library is the only place where many people have to access computers. The system also has a great program of book discussions w/ authors, which have to be cancelled. It's a shame that everything can be a pawn in politics..............Many places don't provide much in the way of activities for children and teen-agers and then get out of sorts when the young people use their energies in misbegotten ways. The first cuts that came in our township budget were the recreation programs. I understand that saving people's jobs are more important, but we all know that there is a lot of unneccasary spending in municiple budgets. It would be nice if some of the folks who have a great deal of money - and their are many in PHila and in my town living in their 20 room, million dollar houses - would pony up some bucks instead of gripping about how much taxes they have to pay. Where are the options from those folks who say the gov't should stay small and out of our pocketbooks? .........................Jean

JoanP · « **Reply #867 on:** September 17, 2009, 07:59:19 AM »

Let's start the day with three bits of SeniorLearn information you may find of interest:

1. We are already hearing from the author, Matthew Pearl in The Last Dickens discussion which is scheduled to begin on October 1. Even if you haven't read Dickens' last novel, you will find much intrigue in Matthew's historical fiction which takes place AFTER Dickens death. (You'll probably end up wanting to read Dickens' unfinished novel after spending time with Matthew.) If you think you might like to participate, please stop in The Last Dickens discussion TODAY!

2. We have a proposal to discuss Pulitizer Prize winning author, Richard Russo's latest novel, That Old Cape Magic.
Described by Bookmarks magazine as "a novel of deep introspection and every family feeling imaginable, with a middle-aged man confronting his parents and their failed marriage, his own troubled one, his daughter’s new life and, finally, what it was he thought he wanted and what in fact he has."
" what it was he thought he wanted and what in fact he has" .
This is a subject that gets my attention every time.
If you think you might like to join us in November, please let us know. If enough are interested to form a quorum, we can put it on the schedule. You'll find the discussion here - That Old Cape Magic

3. Last, but certainly not least, we are nearing a vote for upcoming book discussions. There's still some time for nominating a title that you would like to see included in the vote. We're waiting to hear from you in the Suggestion Box right now!

Steph · « **Reply #868 on:** September 17, 2009, 08:40:02 AM »

Yes, most legislatures are controlled by the rural areas in the state. An old holdover from less populous times.. They love to punish the cities and Pennsylvania and New York are particularly prone to this..
Libraries are the backbone of learning for recent immigrants and people with little or limited income. Politicians simply do not care about these people and never will. Sad, but I am convinced true.

pedln · « **Reply #869 on:** September 17, 2009, 10:48:55 AM »

Jean, ALL of the libraries in Philadelphia. Holy Samolies. I can’t imagine such a thing happening. One would hope such a happening would bring forth all kinds of marches and protests, but unfortunately, that probably won’t happen.

When I started reading the beginning of this thread yesterday I realized how little this school librarian knew about our local city library budget, governance, etc, and so sent off an email to our very with-it and successful library director. I have not yet heard from her. But here we have a defined library tax which is included in the property tax. I think, but don’t know for sure, that this is the library’s budget, and that it can’t be taken away from it. A few years ago we needed a major overhaul of the current building (we have no branches) and a very strong effort was mounted to DOUBLE the library tax. The voters passed it -- .31 per $100 assessed valuation and a few months ago a newly renovated state of the art library was opened, I think, to the tune of $8 million. It was the first library tax increase in 30 years. You will hear some gripers, but I think on the whole people are pleased with and proud of what they have. Yes, there are lots of computers and the whole library is wi-fied. The users are tax-paying citizens getting their information. A lot of emphasis on services to children with three focused areas – little kids, middle kids, and teenagers.

Now, it’s not free for everyone in town because in the 1960’s the state legislature froze library districts, so those folks in the newer city limits, but outside the library boundaries must either use the regional library in a nearby town or else pay $65 per year for a family membership. A pretty good bargain, I’d say.

HaroldArnold · « **Reply #870 on:** September 17, 2009, 12:11:14 PM »

Who here has read Rudyard Kipl;ing's "American Notes?" This is Kipling’s travel log account of his trip through the U.S in 1889. It seems in his work as an editor on an Indian English Newspaper he had embarrassed certain high officials or the Imperial Indian Government administration. His publisher thought it best he leave India for a while. The result was a long extended trip through the U.S. He arrived in San Francisco via Japan by steamship. Some of the scenes cover 1889 San Francisco with a Visit to a Chinese Opium Den where he witnessed a murder, then a train trip up the coast to the mouth of the Columbia where he toured a Tuna cannery built on pilings over the river. Then came a wild train ride east to early Yellowstone National Park, and on to the east for a unique Englishman’s accout of late 19th century America, Americans, and their culture.

I have a hard cover edition of the book now out of print, but the book should be available at most libraries and an inexpensive paperback seems available from Barnes & Noble. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/American-Notes/Rudyard-Kipling/e/9781406819021/?itm=3&usri=1

I have mentioned this title on our :Suggestions" Board as a possible candidate for discussion.Is anybody here interested?

mrssherlock · « **Reply #871 on:** September 17, 2009, 01:53:03 PM »

Harold: I am a fan of Kipling and would relish reading his views of America. Count me in.

joyous · « **Reply #872 on:** September 17, 2009, 02:04:03 PM »

After reading the posts regarding public libraries, I never realized how fortunate we here in Baton Rouge are Besides the Main Library, we have 12 branches from which you can ask
to have a book transferred. :)And------the Main library is in the planning stage for a much
larger new building. Actually, there is no place in this city that is not in close proximity to a
library.
JOY

mrssherlock · « **Reply #873 on:** September 17, 2009, 02:09:13 PM »

Harold: Project Gutenberg has the downloadable text available here: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/977

winsummm · « **Reply #874 on:** September 17, 2009, 02:55:33 PM »

thanks ms. sherlock for the link.I'm looking at free ebooks from gutenberg and how to transfer them to y kindle if possible. it is experimental with them beginning this month and will be bugg but useful to me in that the kinde is personally comfortable for me. thanks a bunch claire

marcie · « **Reply #875 on:** September 17, 2009, 03:40:41 PM »

Kipling's KIM is also available online at http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2226.

Babi · « **Reply #876 on:** September 18, 2009, 08:19:03 AM »

So, can you believe a prestigious prep school dumping it's library? Take a
look.

James Tracy, headmaster of the Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Conn., told the Globe that ink on paper is so 20th century. So his school library is doing away with it -- and its 20,000 books.

"When I look at books, I see an outdated technology like scrolls before books,' Tracy told the (pardon the expression) paper.

He swears this isn't a school production of "Fahrenheit 451," Ray Bradbury's cautionary tale about books being burned in an anti-intellectual hysteria.

"We're not discouraging students from reading," he told the paper. "We see this as a natural way to shape emerging trends and optimize technology."

Administrators at the 144-year-old prep school 90 minutes west of Boston have already given away many of the library's previous collection of classics, poetry and reference material. They are choosing instead to spend $500,000 on a digital "learning center" that will include flat-screen TVs for cruising the Internet as well as cubbies designed for laptops and a coffee shop with a $12,000 cappuccino machine.

The TV sets alone will cost $42,000

Steph · « **Reply #877 on:** September 18, 2009, 08:33:28 AM »

OhBabi, that is so sad. What a stupid limited man.. When we lived in Bedford,Ma, we paid a library fee in our taxes.. Separate line and everything and like Pedlin, when the library needed updating, the customers passed the referendum.. But Bedford is a highly educated town and library usage was tremendous. Our used book store had some of the best books imaginable and a huge computer book section that people came to from miles around.
In Florida, the counties run libraries and some towns.. The results are spotty to say the least.

Frybabe · « **Reply #878 on:** September 18, 2009, 10:12:31 AM »

Babi, I think they are making a HUGE mistake. I have observed and I am told by someone who took a PhD in Education, Reading specialty that people read differently on screen than they do with print.

In my case, I read more spottily on screen. My eyes "jump around" more. Anything that is too long is skipped through, and ads and sidebars are distracting, somewhat. Pages in print that are too "busy" have a similar effect. I don't have a laptop or Kindle, so I can't compare those. I cannot imagine sitting at a desk in a chair (at least not mine) and reading a book for hours. I like to snuggle into a sofa and read. On the other hand, someone I know who is dyslexic reads better with a screen than with paper print, at least at work.

ginny · « **Reply #879 on:** September 18, 2009, 10:43:56 AM »

Golly moses, I can't believe my eyes! What have we come to, the free libraries of Philadelphia closing? My hometown? Closing the libraries? 1984 here at last?

Books like scrolls?

My goodness it's a Brave New World already!

Oh dear, what compares to cuddling up with a good book?

Stephanie I have to say I think your cruise sounds fabulous, and you must fill us in on every detail. Have always wanted to cross the ocean on a ship, and once I am no longer keeping my grandbaby that will be the way for me for the rest of time. I do hate the dressing up, but I guess you can overcome that in several ways.

Holland America has one of the highest satisfaction ratings in the industry, you should have a ball.

Does it have a library like the Queens? I want to go on one of the new Queens someday just for the library, the library on the QEII when last we went (I hated the dress up, did I mention that?) was fabulous. Still have a book I bought from it.

Did you all know that cruising has become the latest Assisted Living (this is NOT intended at Stephanie! hahaha) It's true. The cruise magazines report that some ships have people not only living on them in lieu of Assisted Living but that it's cheaper. Think about it.

What a way to go.

I can't get over the library topic here today.

News:

Author Topic: The Library (Read 149289 times)