Mystery Corner ~ 2

[ursamajor]

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Pull up a comfortable chair and join us here to talk about mysteries and their authors.
 We love hearing what YOU enjoy and recommend!

Links:
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Our Favorite Old Mystery Writers
Fantastic Fiction
Stop You're Killing Me

Discussion Leader:    JoanK   

Hope to be back.

[Frybabe]

I'm reading two now that are the same. So-so, not particularly compelling. I keep hoping they will pick up a bit. I think I am just getting tired of Carol Goodman's basic plot formula which doesn't see to change from book to book. The writing itself, as always, is excellent.

The other is a SciFi that would probably interest a teen or near teen much more than it does me. The main characters are still in high school, so the part of the story dealing with that and other family dealings is less than interesting to me. Other characters include a religious nut, an evil scientist (in government employ, naturally), and a security guy with a nasty hobby and deadly expertise.

[Steph]

Maybe its the weather.. I just feel so unsettled. Found an old Sharon Mc Cone.. before Hi... but an interesting plot, so am trying that.

[mabel1015j]

I just read Nancy Bartholamew's Miracle Strip. This is my first of her's and i think her first book. I picked it up because i had looked for books set in Penna and her name came up, well, the lead character is from Philly, but the story is set in Florida!?! The character is a stripper, a first for me! But a smart, good self-esteem stripper! LOL. The story was not complicated, but entertaining, light. I'll try another of hers then decide if i'll continue reading ber.

Evanovich has a new book, with a new co-author and new characters. I'll be anxious to check it out and hope it has some of her humor and interesting characters.

Jean

[Steph]

I love Stephanie Plum and tolerate Diesel, but most of the rest she does with a co author, I dont like.

[FlaJean]

I got a notice from my library that my Sarah Jio "Blackberry Winter" was ready for pickup.  I was on the reserve list so long I can't even remember what it is supposed to be about.  Well, I guess I'll find out when I pick it up.

[pedln]

I’m playing catch-up here, and getting so many good ideas for lazy summer (if it ever starts) reads.  (We have the heat, but not the lazy.)  You all are reminding me about authors I seem to have ignored lately.  Will have to correct that.

My f2f group read Linda Castillo’s Sworn to Silence, Steph.  Do all her books have “silence” in the title?

I don’t know why I haven’t read any Donna Leon’s lately.  Hers are always good.  Thanks for the reminder.

As one who just bought her obligatory "once every 10 years whether you need it or not" new purse, I have a hard time relating to a narrator who spends all her time thinking about what purse to carry, and what one to buy next (when she's not thinking about how to avoid having to do any work). But some of you may feel differently.

But a very brave woman, JoanK.  For me, changing purses is a major undertaking requiring much forethought.  And for sure, some necessity will be forgotten and not make the change.

Looks like many of us are not Nicholas Sparks fans.  I agree with your comments.

It was good to see Carol Goodman’s name again, Frybabe.  She met with SeniorLearn when we were in New York in 2008? 2010? (Can’t remember which trip) Brunch at the Ritz Carlton – wow, what a treat.  Goodman brought her mother, both lovely women.  We read her Night Villa.

I appreciate the comments about The Covert Affair.  It has been on my TBR list, but maybe not anymore.

Love the Sue Henry books about Alaska, and glad to learn about the Sitka writer, John Straley.  I spent two weeks in Sitka several years ago with a church group.  We had gone to help spruce up Sheldon Jackson College, which unfortunately, has since closed.  Looking forward to the Straley books.

I enjoyed the first Cara Black, but unfortunately was trying to read it at the same time I was reading Daniel Silva’s first -- The Unlikely Spy.  Both good, but too much WWII.  Best read separately.  The Silva required a lot of going back and forth, re-looking things up.  Glad I wasn’t reading it on a kindle.

Has anyone read Sharon McCrumb’s The Ballad of Tom Dooley?  My f2f group is reading it next month.  I have it from the library, but haven’t had a chance to start it yet.

[MaryPage]

Good on you, JOANK.  For being the only female math major.  There are a lot more of them now, but not nearly what we should have.  I think various influences during childhood and early girlhood tend to lead the females of our species to believe mathematics are a male discipline.  Of course, that is pure hogwash, and math can be a barrel of fun.

One of my 13 granddaughters, Angela, was in the first semester of her second year of college when she realized, to her great amazement, that her favorite courses had been the math ones she had been forced to take for catch up.  So she talked with her counselor and switched her major, albeit in her case it meant a 5th year of college.  Her parents were dismayed, but not daunted.  Goodness knows, Bob & I encouraged her.  And she duly graduated as a mathematician and landed a job RIGHT AWAY as an actuary.  Me, I just barely knew about those.  So I Googled and found it is considered one of the best jobs in the country!

Well, Angela, who is 30 now and married with an almost 11 month old daughter, loves, loves, loves her job.  And she has progressed and taken courses the company pays for and gotten promotions and is extremely well paid.

So Gals, encourage your female descendants to consider Mathematics!

[JoanK]

Pedlin: " For me, changing purses is a major undertaking requiring much forethought.  And for sure, some necessity will be forgotten and not make the change."

I agree. For me a purse is a tool, meant to hold and organize my things so I can take my life with me. Once I get one that is just as I like it, I don't want to give it up.

URSA: I hope you'll be back, too.

MARY: Girls are encouraged to believe that they "can't do math." Boys too, but not as much. Then they freeze, and don't really try. Having done some math tutoring, I see that many kids with problems simply do not know how to study math. They don't pay attention in class, don't take notes and don't look at the book. Then they stare at a homework problem: of course they don't know how to solve it, and say "I can't do math."

[PatH]

Somewhere I read of a study that concluded it only took one bad math teacher to turn a person off of math.  ("Bad"=someone who puts you down, makes you feel inadequate, or is so confusing you give up.)

My daughter used to tutor math, and had a reputation as the one to go to when you were scared you wouldn't pass a test.  What she really had was the ability to see what the snag was in a person's understanding.  She told me that mostly, once you explained the theory so they got it, they could do the problems, but that the teachers hadn't bothered to see if their students were getting the point.

[PatH]

The other is a SciFi that would probably interest a teen or near teen much more than it does me. The main characters are still in high school, so the part of the story dealing with that and other family dealings is less than interesting to me. Other characters include a religious nut, an evil scientist (in government employ, naturally), and a security guy with a nasty hobby and deadly expertise.

Don't frustrate me, Frybabe, what's the book?

[Frybabe]

PatH, the book is the first in a series (the Rho Agenda), called The Second Ship. I just finished it this morning. It took until about half way through for me to really get interested, then I had to keep reading, staying up late last night. With the Roswell space ship/alien scientific investigations many years after the supposed crash as a starter, it has turned into a classic good vs evil story. Some of the technologies advanced by the investigations include a practical cold fusion energy source to replace oil, a Nanite based system that, after injection into a person, repairs body injuries quickly - even ones that would otherwise be fatal - and quantum and subspace communications. Even though the heroes of the story are teens some of the violence, though not overly explicit or extensive for the most part, doesn't lend itself to reading by the early teen set as far as I am concerned. Of course, now that I've gotten interested, belatedly, I will have to borrow the next in the series.

[mabel1015j]

Joan - i think the "one bad teacher" study could be true for any subject. I would ask my college students at the first class meeting, "how many of you hate history?" LOL . About a third of the class raised their hands. The next obvious question was "why did you hate it?" The frequent answer was that the teachers only talked about battles and dates. ......... I would have hated history too if that was all i got pushed at me. Fortunately, i had found historical fiction in ninth grade and feel in love with Josephine and Napoleon and was off from that.

 In my college history classes i emphasized individual's stories and how they made decisions/choices often based on their psychology and what had happened earlier in their lives. There were only a couple dates (1492, 1776, 1787, 1860-1865, 1968) and a couple battles (Trenton, Gettysburg, D-Day) that i thought they shoud have forged in their brains, it's so easy to learn the details these days. I thought concepts and themes and trends were more important for them to understand (the founders/wives, building a republic/federalism, slavery's importance, the women's/suffrage movement, the labor movement, the youth and 50's influence on the 60's and it's movements, and others.)

The sad thing was that i attended a "teacher's college" and got NO suggestions of how to do that, or any suggestions if creative lesson plans. I just went with what i would have liked. I hope they are doing a better job of creating teachers today.

Many times a student would say at the end of the semester "why didn't they teach history like this in high school, i would have liked it."

[Steph]

Ah Jean, my younger son ended up a double major in college, because he discovered that History was interesting once you got out of high school. He loved it and even though criminal justice is how he earns a living. history is his passion. military history at that and he reads and studies it to this day..

[Frybabe]

Steph, just curious. Does your son have a particular period of military history that he likes best? I am interesting in all things Roman, including military, but branch out now and again. My latest acquisiton is a book on Cromwell's New Model Army.i

[CubFan]

Greetings -

My grandchildren are fortunate that their school district has learned how to teach history. They incorporate history related information throughout the curriculum in middle school and teach it by historical periods across the globe. When they did the Renaissance period they had the children lay on the floor under their desks, tape a piece of drawing paper to the bottom of the desk and draw a picture so that they got the feel of Michelangelo painting the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel. They also took the students to a Renaissance fair. When they studied ancient China in history class, they read some Chinese literature in reading & learned to work an abacus in math class. Taking a little time out of the regular math curriculum didn't interfere with current instruction and gave an importance to the history curriculum.

I know that when I learned about the explorers it was just about the explorers and tied in primarily with US history. They learned about the explorers, what was going on in North America that drew them & what was going on in Europe and Asia at the same time. When I studied ancient Egyptians it was just that area. These kids learned about ancient Egypt, ancient China, ancient India - the Incas, the Mayas, the Aztecs etc the same year so they had a world view. Of course, once they are out of middle school they pick their history courses and the topics are narrower. In any case, they received a nice base and my grandchildren enjoy history.

In 6th grade they do a genealogy unit and have to research their own heritage ending in a written report, an oral report, visuals and a food.

It isn't easy for school systems to create their own curriculums as textbook companies control much of what goes on & they cater to the states that have a state system and not those who allow each district to decide how to meet the standards.

I had an outstanding US history teacher. She read to us from "Gone With the Wind" and talked about Teddy Roosevelt as if she knew him. Now looking back, maybe he was to her generation what JFK was to ours.

Mary

Mary

[MaryPage]

When I was in the 8th grade, I had a fantabulous History teacher.  God Bless you, Miss Lewis, wherever you are!
I did not recognize her as causing my love of History for some years, as many of us at that school did not.  Funny, but she was a shy and insecure person, and teenage girls could sense that a mile away and we were all over it.  But comparing notes years later, we all realized what a great teacher she was.
She taught us what was then called ENGLISH HISTORY.  Actually, it was a history of the English speaking peoples, and basically of England.  She had gimmicks to help us learn and remember stuff, and she did not spare us the grusome.  Being just barely teenagers, that helped a lot.  Divorced, killed, died, divorced, killed, lived.  Henry's six wives.  That kind of thing.  Remember, remember the 5th of November.  Thank you, Miss Lewis;  I always have and I always will.
Jean, if I had my life to live over again, I would teach History.  I envy you your being able to do that.
Speaking of English History, and being in the Mystery forum, is there anyone at all in here who has not yet read Josephine Tey's THE DAUGHTER OF TIME?

[JoanK]

Mary: I'll bet  she taught you the same jingle I learned for remembering the British kings:

"Willie, Willie, Harry, Ste ..." (for William the Conquerer, William II, Henry I, Steven ''').

My ambition is to write a similar one for US presidents. I roughed one out once, but it wasn't very good and I've lost it. It started:

Georgie, John and Jeff makes three
Madison, Monroe, and John Quincee.

And goes downhill from there.

[mabel1015j]

The ditty i learned for the Federalist presidents was Washington And Jeff Made Many A Joke: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Adams, Jackson.

Jean

[Steph]

My sons focus is on Viet Nam and a little of Korea. Since he was airborne, he also has quite a library on airborne and the history of it. Viet Nam truly interests him and I try hard not to mention it, since I am so anti Viet Nam..
I love English History. Where I think  schools fall down is that Africa has a history and yet you never see classes in that part of the world.. We learn that China is an ancient civilization, but nothing about the other parts of that world. Makes you wonder if we learned more, we would understand better why they react the way they do.

[Frybabe]

I agree, Steph. The focus when I was in school was on Western Civilization with only lightly covering a smattering of other cultures. Even the Western Civ had some big holes, like Scandinavian history apart from the Viking Invasions, and Eastern European history before WWI. The only history we learned, barely, involving India and Africa was that they were colonized. China was just highlights of ruling dynasties, Japan  practically nothing other than Matthew Perry initiating the opening up of trade. Nothing about Australian or most of the South American countries, little about Canada other than what related to the American Revolution and the French and Indian Wars.

China all by itself would probably take a couple of years for anything really in depth. It must be hard to choose from all the world history which should be included and which not given the time constraints. The best a teacher can hope for is to instill in students a life long curiosity/interest in history, or any subject for that matter. After all these years, I still have big gaps in general historical knowledge of places around the world.

[ursamajor]

The mnemonic for presidents I learned was "Washington and Jefferson made many a joke; Van Buren had to pay  the fiddler."  Our geology teacher (freshman year) had some amusing ones too, but I know longer remember them.

[Steph]

The more we learn about other cultures and history, the more we will understand the differences in the way we live.

[MaryPage]

Right on!

[JoanK]

Absolutely. Sociologists have a saying: the fish can't see the water it swims in. Only by getting out of the water and looking back, can one see it.

[JeanneP]

Seems like we in the UK studied a lot more about other part of the world than in US schools.  Even in American schools today they seem to teach less.  Even American history has fallen off.  Guess they  can now just (google) what they need to know.

Not as much fun though.

[mabel1015j]

When i had college students from outside the U.S., they often knew more U.S. history than some of the students educated here. Some knew an amazing amount of details about our history.

Jean

[JeanneP]

Britain is so small but for so long we had all the commonwealth countries and so we where taught all about those.  India.parts China. Africa. NZ. Aust.  Many islands.  I think that most those people taught about the u.k also.  Most called it their Mother country..

[Frybabe]

I needed to get a new fly swatter yesterday so I stopped into the local dollar store. I came out with Preston and Child's, The Wheel of Darkness. The price was right.

[Steph]

  and you can use it to swat the flies as well.

[ginny]

I think they dwell too intensely on the various periods of American History and have to give up. We never got to WWII when I was in high school nor anything after that, but we did memorize the major battles of WWI. Who does that today? You have to pick and choose your history, there's too  much, to cover in great depth, even in this young nation of ours.

We, as children in Pennsylvania,  also memorized every  Indian tribe of the area, how they lived, what they wore, etc...I doubt sincerely there are few  people in the world who today could name  even one Pennsylvania Indian tribe.  We spent an inordinate amount of time on the Revolution and almost none on the Civil  War. I wonder if there is a national standard for teaching history. I am pretty sure the battles of WWI are forgotten in today's high schools but I may be wrong.

[mabel1015j]

Ginny - Delaware and Tuscarora and Lenape ....

Generally wars are taught as causes and results. You're right there is not enough time to teach every battle, or even many battles. Of course, all Penna kids get to go to Gettysburg - or they used to, i realize that most school districts don't fund field trips any more.

Jean

[Frybabe]

I've been casually looking for more into on the local Indian tribes, Jean. It started as a hunt for Mom who was interested in the local tribes and the Amish. Most of what I find are bits and pieces.

I remember Gettysburg when we were still allowed to crawl all over Devil's Den.

[ginny]

Because you, Jean, are from the area. Am I right?

[JoanK]

Just finished a mystery that I liked a lot, but it's a specialized taste. "The Tooth Tatoo" by Peter Lovesey. I loved it because the four main characters are the four members of a string quartet, and that is one of my favorite forms of classical music. Much of the book was about how it feels to play the great works of Beethoven and others. If you are not a classical music lover, this may not hold your interest, as it did mine.

It added to my interest that one of the clues was a netsuke, the small Japanese ivory carvings that a number of us in seniorlearn read a book about not too long ago.

I'll definitely try more of Lovesey's, altrhough I gathered the emphasis on music is unique to this book.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/l/peter-lovesey/

I remember reading a book years ago by an Israeli author with a similar theme, but I can't remember what it was.

[MaryPage]

I have always loved everything by Peter Lovesey.  I find he and I share much the same sense of humor.  His mysteries are always also very funny.

[JoanK]

This one is serious. but looks like I have to read them. Which series do you like?

[mabel1015j]

Yeah Ginny, but i didn't learn anything about the Native Americans in public school. I thought of Tuscarora (how do you spell that?) bcs of the tunnel/mountains on the Pa turnpike. I learned about the others as an adult in NJ.

Jean

[Frybabe]

I knew of the existence of local tribes fairly early, but never anything about them other than there had been an encampment close to where I grew up at the convergence of the Yellow Breeches Creek and the Susquehanna River. The owner of an Indian jewelry store in New Cumberland my Mom liked was a member of a local tribe. The father of one of my girl friends in high school was a full blood Indian of the Turtle Clan whom I associated with the Delaware Indians, although I now know that many of the Eastern tribes had Turtle Clans. What a handsome man he was: tall, straight, square-jawed, and dignified.

[ursamajor]

I guess the way American history is taught depends on where you live.  In Tennessee in the 40s we never got past the War between the States (local designation).