Author Topic: The Library (Read 149295 times)

Babi · « **Reply #960 on:** September 30, 2009, 10:27:18 AM »

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

Thanks, JoanP. I'll do that.

JACKIE, thanks for that comparison of the two books. I'll happily stick
with "March".

winsummm · « **Reply #961 on:** September 30, 2009, 10:39:15 AM »

my family is inundateed with it as are generous friends with wall space and I keep making it. . .even though I don't sese it as wel as I used to.

I looked at march on the kindle where they give samples. It is beautifully written. I'll get to it eventually.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #962 on:** September 30, 2009, 12:14:06 PM »

I know this is off topic but we were discussing the cost of bedsheets in ine of the forums so when I saw this I thought it worthwhile to sharei http://deals.yahoo.com/?name=woot#woott:

Steph · « **Reply #963 on:** October 01, 2009, 07:50:50 AM »

I have way too many treasures, mostly glass,ceramic,pottery.. At least they are mostly small and kept in cabinets. I like a small piece of glass or pottery from places we visit.. To remind me.. MDH collects small rocks,, each place we go and then at Christmas presents them to our grown sons to remind them where we went during the year. Sort of a funny Christmas morning bit of nonsense that we all enjoy.. I buy lottery tickets and on Christmas Eve , each member of the family gets at least one.. Just for funand dreams. Now one of the dil is in love with this and participates as well.. We all enjoy the momentary dream part and laugh at the winnings..if an ( Mostly not).
Will look up Karen Brown.. I do so love small stuff, but mdh will NOT do b and b's.. He does not like them at all.

Babi · « **Reply #964 on:** October 01, 2009, 08:40:53 AM »

I have angels, shells, and a few especially lovely rocks. There is a hotel in
Branson, Missouri with a facade of a sort of striped stone, and the same stones are scattered around the area. I picked up one of those as a reminder.
I don't think to look at the shells and stones very often, but when I do I still pause and find them as lovely and soothing as when I first saw them.

winsummm · « **Reply #965 on:** October 01, 2009, 11:09:12 AM »

just hello. been reserecting old computer art. . . . my coffee table is ful of pots wich are full of things like that. . .rocks and shells mostly from trailer trips i.e. canadian pacific beaches have hard rock ones that polish if you feel like doing it. I ust wet them. I would miss them though and the memories that accommpany..

claire

marcie · « **Reply #966 on:** October 01, 2009, 11:31:14 AM »

I too enjoy collecting pottery and also shells and rocks and such.

This past summer we visited Glass Beach in northern California. See http://www.fortbragg.com/fort-bragg-attractions.php and a close-up photo at http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Glass_Beach_Fort_Bragg_3.jpg. The glass is originally from waste (old bottles, etc) that was dumped on the beach and polished over the years. It may have been the tide, or the fact that the beach doesn't seem to be patrolled and I saw some people with buckets picking up glass, but the amount of glass was not as dense as in the photo. I thought I'd see a whole bejeweled fairy land :-) There definitely was glass strewn among the sand and pebbles but the beach wasn't completely covered with it.

I have a beautiful table-top book called The Shell: Five Hundred Million Years of Inspired Design.

marjifay · « **Reply #967 on:** October 01, 2009, 01:29:42 PM »

Thanks, Marcie, for the link to the Glass Beach in Fort Bragg on the northern California coast. We've driven thru Fort Bragg, but never stopped. Next time we will.

Years ago a friend of mine who loves to do crafts projects gave me a huge jar of seashells from Florida, trying to encourage me to use them to make a lamp with a glass base full of shells. I crafts person I am not, and I still have the jar of shells (and the unfinished lamp). I guess I should give them away to a crafts shop.

Marj

mrssherlock · « **Reply #968 on:** October 01, 2009, 02:03:47 PM »

My daughter fell in love with geology, probably resulting from living right next door to the San Andreas Fault in the Bay Area. Everywhere we go we are looking at the strata, she is an expert on different kinds of rocks and needless to say we have them all over the house. She purchases ash from volcanoes, Ebay is a good source, and has a large collecdtion of books. The Wilamette Valley, where we live now, was the resting place of the vast flood which resulted when the ice dam holding glacial Lake Missoula melted. The amount of water is estimated to be 1/2 the volume of Lake Michigan. It took two weeks for the water to subside.this is probably more information than you wanted but if you would like to see an illustration of this event click here: http://www.glaciallakemissoula.org/virtualtour/index.html

marcie · « **Reply #969 on:** October 01, 2009, 02:09:35 PM »

I'm sure that a thrift store or, perhaps, senior center, would love your donation, marjifay. You might want to keep a couple of the shells :-)

How interesting, mrssherlock. It's wonderful that your daughter has such expertise.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #970 on:** October 01, 2009, 02:12:45 PM »

Thank you, Marcie. She would have pursued geology as a career but there was too much math and she does not do numbers well.

marcie · « **Reply #971 on:** October 01, 2009, 02:33:00 PM »

Wow, so geology is her avocation. That's doubly great that she has such a passion and knowledge.

maryz · « **Reply #972 on:** October 01, 2009, 03:31:35 PM »

John loves geology, too - and we love that area. I'll save that web site for him to look at. Thanks, Jackie.

On our recent Elderhostel on Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick, we talked a lot about the geology of the Bay of Fundy. Interesting stuff there, too.

winsummm · « **Reply #973 on:** October 01, 2009, 03:36:13 PM »

geology ucla two semesters and hooked. I watched on all our trips through road cuts where all was revealed. The second course was minerals which cam in handy during my life in ceramics what with glaze chemistry etc. everything is so linked.I have more ceramics from my thirty or forty years worth of making it than I can store inside so some is outside on shelves in the patios and some stashed on shelves in boxes in the garage. I'm giving some of that away too. none of my neighbors have seen fit to steal it. anyone stopping bye?

claire

mrssherlock · « **Reply #974 on:** October 01, 2009, 04:32:23 PM »

Claire: My daughter has become an avid ceramist so there must be a tie between love of geology and handling clay. How interesting. She is running out of room, too, what with the many, many rocks she has collecte4d and now the accumulation of her ceramic art. Ah, the burden of you talented folks never eases does it?

winsummm · « **Reply #975 on:** October 01, 2009, 09:40:33 PM »

the clay in my hands feels so grand especialy on the wheel which helps to shape it. I miss it because I can't work on it in this place, other things too. condos have dumb rules and no place to get dirty make messes.

claire

Steph · « **Reply #976 on:** October 02, 2009, 07:50:08 AM »

Rocks and stones and shells.. Now you can all laugh at me. After my mother in law died, I found an entire drawer in her sewing cabinet full of buttons.. Hmm.. I also had a large clear crystal vase that had some clouding that would not go away.. Solution.. Which caused much laughter in my d-i-l's.. I emptied the buttons into the vase and now have a lovely multicolor container in an open shelf under one of my dollhouses.. Looks so neat and now everyone says I am a crafter.. I say,, not really , justa dont like to throw away useful things.

Babi · « **Reply #977 on:** October 02, 2009, 08:33:55 AM »

Did your daughter make a career in geology, JACKIE? She obviously
has a natural bent for it. Not everybody knows where their greatest
interest lies, and too many wind up in unsatisfying work.
Do you think by any chance you have some really old buttons in that vase,
STEPH? Some old buttons are rare enough to be valuable to collectors.

ginny · « **Reply #978 on:** October 02, 2009, 08:52:45 AM »

Gracious day what interesting posts here on so many fascinating subjects, who knew? Who knew about Glass Beach, thank you Marcie, I can't seem to close (I don't want to close) the Skunk Train link, aren't you lucky to live near it, my grandbaby would be over the moon about that ride, tho we did go to the NC Railway Museum a couple of weekends ago (Gammie got to go too) and he loved that, and rode a train.

And Mrs. Sherlock, who knew? Glacial Lake Missoula! Flood Debris: "These boulders were picked up and carried in the floods only to be stranded in fields and prairies when the flood waters subsided. "

Wow and you're right on this one: "...but there was too much math and she does not do numbers well."

Me either, I was a Geology Lab Instructor in college, in fact was in the lab when President Kennedy was shot, so I guess that dates it. I loved geology, it's fascinating, but it soon does move into numbers and higher ones at that, estimating oil fields, etc., so could not do it, either. Still.

And Claire with working with clay, what a fascinating bunch you are.

Mary, I have always wanted to see the Bay of Fundy, is it as exciting an experience as people say?

Gum, thank you for that fascinating discovery about what causes hoarding. The book Ghosty Men begins the Uncle Arthur section by mentioning that, I believe this is correct, he was the only male of his family who was in society, the other two were in insane asylums (I can look that back up, but I know two of his living siblings were in fact hospitalized for mental issues) so it may in fact be damage to a particular part of the brain and I wonder if it's inherited as well, perhaps some kind of missing what not of the brain, because it does seem to run in families.

However there have been Cabinets of Curiosities for centuries, perhaps not quite so bad as Langley's. You can't blame Homer, he was blind.

Did you all happen to see the news item about the Rottweiler who was thrown from a car in an accident, the family taken away by ambulance and the dog left? The dog then assembled combs and toothbrushes, on the spot, stuff with the family smell on it, made a nest, and was rescued half starved two weeks later by a Samaritan who was able to get the name of an insurance agent off the family artifacts and contact the owners who were very glad to have the dog back? It was a touching item on CBS news and is on YouTube I believe.

Maybe hoarders are making a symbolic safe nest.

What are you reading these fine fall days? Anybody reading the new Dan Brown and if so what do you think of it? I'm in the mood for an adventure, take me away kind of thing, but not Brown. After that Angels and Demons which I still think is the worst book I ever read, (or maybe second to The Liar's Club) I'll pass on his new one tho I hear people are enjoying it. Anybody read it and if so do you like it and how does it compare to the others?

Pat · « **Reply #979 on:** October 02, 2009, 09:22:55 AM »

Meeting with Author, Kirstin Downey
National Book Festival 2009

LtoR: Pat Highet, Kirstin Downey, Author, & Joan Pearson

Lucky for us, Kirstin Downey was in the first group to speak in the History and Biography tent at the National Book Festival on the mall in Washington DC last Saturday before the rains came down. PatH got there early to save seats for us, front and center. It's a good thing, because the tent was filled by the time she began her presentation. Since we had a little time beforehand, we introduced ourselves to Kirstin and she couldn't have been more gracious and happy to see us. She told us she really enjoyed taking part in the discussion of her biography, "The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins," led by Ella and Harold on SeniorLearn in August. She appreciated our interest in her favorite subject, commenting that our people knew what things were like during Frances Perkins' time in Washington and what she accomplished.

During her talk, Kirstin described her own early days in Washington as a reporter for the Washington Post. The first time she heard of Frances Perkins was on a tour bus to become better acquainted with the DC area and rode by the Frances Perkins Department of Labor building. She noticed the name because there aren't many buildings in Washington named after women. Later in the tour the guide asked what American woman had the worst childbirth experience? Frances Perkins. She spent 12 years in labor." Just a joke, but Kirstin made a mental note to learn more about this woman who had served as Secretary of Labor for 12 years.

She related how Frances Perkins found Washington to be a frightening place and tried to resign a number of times, but she was FDR's closest friend and he always managed to keep her at his side. When she came to the Dept. of Labor, she had ten items on her list that she hoped to accomplish. Her top priority was Social Security. The only item on her list that she was unable to accomplish was National Health Insurance. (This drew a reaction from the assembled crowd.) FDR abandoned it to get Social Security. Kirstin told the crowd how Frances Perkins had always fought for a better balance of power between the worker and the employer. Today she'd be talking about jobs, bringing jobs back to America and helping employers build workplaces here rather than abroad.
It was quite a spirited talk from this mother of five. We enjoyed every minute of it!

Joan Pearson and Pat Highet

winsummm · « **Reply #980 on:** October 02, 2009, 10:44:38 AM »

Pat you look like my friend Barbara Jean who has a twin sister but then do does Joam K and I haven't seen her up close. which one are you?
claire..

marjifay · « **Reply #981 on:** October 02, 2009, 12:48:31 PM »

In case anyone is interested I just got this CSpan bulletin about their upcoming documentary on the Supreme Court:

This Sunday night, Supreme Court Week kicks off on C-SPAN with the premiere of our new feature-length documentary The Supreme Court: Home to America's Highest Court. Hear directly from all 11 current and retired Supreme Court Justices about the role of the Court, its traditions, and history. Tour the building and see the grand public spaces of this historic building, including the Great Hall and Supreme Court Chamber, and spaces only accessible to the Justices and their staff, such as the Robing Room and the John Marshall Dining Room. The rest of the week features more original Supreme Court programs, including interviews with the sitting and retired Justices, Supreme Court staff, historians, and journalists at 9 pm ET, Oct. 5 - 11. For video clips, a trailer, bonus material about the Supreme Court, and series information, visit www.c-span.org/supremecourt.

Marj

mrssherlock · « **Reply #982 on:** October 02, 2009, 01:29:26 PM »

Claire: Your post gave me a start. I have a cousin named Barbara J whose mother is a twin. d What a crazy old world we live in.

What I'm reading: Homer and Langley, The Last Dickens, Sing Them Home, Autobiography of Agatha Christie, The Wonder Years. Just finished March . Going to the library today to pick up another batch.

maryz · « **Reply #983 on:** October 02, 2009, 05:08:21 PM »

ginny, the tides in the Bay of Fundy are incredible - may be as much as 30-40 feet. And the marine mammal and bird populations are fantastic. Go visit sometime.

JoanK · « **Reply #984 on:** October 02, 2009, 10:00:25 PM »

GINNY: saw the bay og Fundy at low tide, but not the tide coming in. Great.

WINSOM: PATH (on your left in the picture) is my twin. We are fraternal, not identical, but we look like sisters.

winsummm · « **Reply #985 on:** October 03, 2009, 12:59:57 AM »

pat that lady looks so much like my friend who has a sister twin lives in southern CA san diego way. husbands name is len, also son's, six children I think and rosenberg or something like that surname. I tried to call and ask but just got the machine. I also tried to capture the picture but it kept getting away. shucks. send it to me e-mail and I'll be able to do that. only joan I may get you mixed up in my head where all you folks I haven't met are rattling around. joan we talk on the phone fre
claire

Steph · « **Reply #986 on:** October 03, 2009, 08:04:21 AM »

The Bayof Fundy is spectacular.. Great tidal change is amazing.When we were in Alaska, we discovered that they have very very large tidal change Watching our tour boat go from equal to the dock to way way above it was neat.
No, Babi, I am pretty sure the buttons were from every single piece of clothing my m-i-l threw away. She always cut off any buttons.. I went through them with my granddaughter when she was about 6.. We were looking for really pretty ones for a project ( remember the old glue on pasta pictures??). She was recovering from pneumonia and was supposed to be quiet.. So we did craft projects.

Babi · « **Reply #987 on:** October 03, 2009, 09:34:39 AM »

Anthropology would be a good alternative for those who love digging
into the earth. Geology is such a large part of dating anthropological
sites, but I don't think math plays as big a role.

I've just started an sci/fi (fantasy, more like) by an author I'm not familiar
with. "Innocent Mage", by Karen Miller. Awaiting my attention are Anne Bronte's "Agnes Grey" and a 'true adventures' entitled "You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again". My daughter got the latter from a friend; I opened it and it
looks like it will be funny. The town referred to is Hollywood, by the way.

Frybabe · « **Reply #988 on:** October 03, 2009, 09:46:43 AM »

The Highland Clearances by John Prebble and just started (finally) Relic by Preston and Childs.

ginny · « **Reply #989 on:** October 03, 2009, 09:51:22 AM »

Frybabe, oh, Relic! Let us know what you think. I'm having to come to grips with as i said the beginning of their latest in the series, but will not spoil the series by talking about it, I think I've just about come around, tho, to the idea of how they started so I can start the last installment.

Mary and Steph, I've always wanted to see the Bay of Fundy, sounds so romantic. I loved St. Michael's Mount, you have to take the boat in and walk out, have not been to Mont St. Michel, the mirroring abbey in France, that's on my list too. Such a list!

Stephen King's got a new one coming out, Under the Dome, 1,000 plus pages. I want to hear from somebody who has read it first, as to what it contains. I've read the descriptions

Ella Gibbons · « **Reply #990 on:** October 03, 2009, 11:24:16 AM »

Stephen King. I think I may have, maybe not, read ONE of his books over the years.

If you just wanted to read ONE of King's books, which one would you suggest?

Ginny? Others of you?

Two recollections of King. Years and years ago, before his books were made into movies and before he became famous, he often would come into a Dairy Queen in Falmouth, Maine (or somewhere in that vicinity I can't remember exactly) where my nephew once was manager. His face was buried in a book and he never spoke to anyone; although by that time they knew he was a local author.

And years and years ago, I got a DVD from the library of a King book, CHRISTINE, which was about a car. My husband got a big kick out of watching that and he never liked movies.

Perhaps many people have a memory of King. How old would he be now and is he still living in Maine?

ginny · « **Reply #991 on:** October 03, 2009, 12:02:33 PM »

Thinner! I'd read Thinner! Yes he still lives in Maine, was hit by a car and suffered no end of damage, he's speaking all over everywhere.

JoanR · « **Reply #992 on:** October 03, 2009, 12:53:19 PM »

I read all of King's books up to "Cujo" - couldn't keep reading that one! His absolutely best book was The Stand" although many would say it's the "Shining". Remember the movie of that one with Jack Nicholson? The scariest!
He is reputed to be a very fine writer - although sometimes it would seem as if he doesn't know how to stop.

Frybabe · « **Reply #993 on:** October 03, 2009, 04:15:18 PM »

My sister is a BIG Stephen King fan. As for me, I have only read Misery. I have seen and like very much The Langoliers and Something This Way Wicked Comes (I thing that is King and I have the name right).

JoanR · « **Reply #994 on:** October 03, 2009, 05:04:05 PM »

"Something Wicked this Way Comes" is by Ray Bradbury. I never read it and now that you remind me of it, I think I certainly will!

maryz · « **Reply #995 on:** October 03, 2009, 05:38:05 PM »

Steph, we waved when we drove through the corner of NC this afternoon. We came home from South Carolina through the mountains, which means Franklin/Murphy/the Ocoee River/etc. A beautiful day! Hope you're enjoying the craft fairs. We noticed that this weekend was the Fall Festival at the John C. Campbell Folk School.

bellemere · « **Reply #996 on:** October 03, 2009, 07:36:54 PM »

A Boston group of boosters is putting on the first ever Boston Bookfest this month in historic Copley Square. the keynot speaker is Orhan Pamuk, author of "Snow" and " Museum of Innocence " He is Turkish with a secular outlook.
Also we will hear boston author Dennis Lehane" Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone and One Certain Day. He is speaking about Boston Noir. Does anyone know how to describe 'Noir" I know it when I see it but can't describe it.
some Harvard Business School prof will discuss Competitiveness for Book Sellers, and ther is a whole tech sectin on reading technologies of the future. And it is all free.
My Book Club is going to take the bus for the day and dine in Boston's wonderful Italian North End and sleep on the bus home. Great road trip. Viva
Boston!

Frybabe · « **Reply #997 on:** October 03, 2009, 09:47:49 PM »

Thanks for the correction JoanR. I wasn't sure. If it is about a mysterious stranger showing up in a peaceful and friendly town after which the residents start doing strange things, then that is the one I thought was a King. Speaking of strange, that sentence sounds strange.

Steph · « **Reply #998 on:** October 04, 2009, 07:32:16 AM »

I started with King years ago, but soon gave him up.. Too depressing for me.. The only one I loved is the one about the prison.. I read the novella and saw the movie as well.Excellent indeed.
Ray Bradbury is more fun and scary in a different way.

ginny · « **Reply #999 on:** October 04, 2009, 09:05:38 AM »

Yesterday was such a perfect fall day, I looked at the stacks of books in between the grape customers here and thought, how I would love to sink into a chair and lose myself in a good book. Like most of you I've got a stack a mile high to be read and truly they all look good! Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't, what to pick? After reading 4 intros, all equally fine, just could not decide and finally settled on That Old Cape Magic which already has a quorum here for November.

I like it, I can't say why, tho, it's the first Russo I have read, there will have to be others. I like his writing style: Everyman tryiing to deal with aging and his critical parents (and apparently marriage problems too which come on after the death of his father whom he fears he is becoming) (And no, the fact that his critical mother's secret preference for Ripley and Patricia Highsmith) (who knew she was gay?!?) has nothing to do with it: hahahaa she is an EXTREMELY caustic and unsympathetic character.

It's amazing how an author can in a few pages create a person we have some sympathy for and empathy with, and at the same time make us part of his world, but it's a detached kind of thing....really indescribable. It's one of those books where you feel (and half fear) you're going to learn something about yourself, is the best way I can put it. Is he more like Updike or Roth? Or is Russo in a class of his own? I'm off tomorrow to get Empire Falls, which I never read, tho I know many of you did, he's a new discovery, for me.

I think for the people of our generation it sort of....peels back the layers of....what our parents may have considered "success," and maybe it's something of the....lady and the tiger aspect.. Or something. I dunno it's indescribable. I'm glad they are going to discuss it. I don't know HOW they are going to discuss it, but I'm glad they are.

News:

Author Topic: The Library (Read 149295 times)