Author Topic: The Library (Read 2322085 times)

Steph · « **Reply #10120 on:** December 08, 2012, 05:46:35 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!

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Yes, civilians reporting on Pearl Harbor would be interesting. Years ago, I read Heroshima by Joh Hershey. It truly made me anti bomb and anti war.. One of those very short books that stay with you forever.

Babi · « **Reply #10121 on:** December 08, 2012, 09:07:29 AM »

Terrible images, PEDLN. I was only six years old at the time, so I had no real
understanding of what it meant. These things are so painful, I can't help but think
the editors may have been right in not publishing the article then. It was too
traumatic for people on the mainland, reeling with shock, and the people who suffered
through it already knew.

ANNIE · « **Reply #10122 on:** December 08, 2012, 12:26:30 PM »

Way too graphic for me. What a horrible experience that must have been. I truly think that the editor should have published it. If for only the warning needed to be out there. The reporter painted what Hawaii would be like if the Japanese were successful with a following invasion. I think most of the Asian world already knew what the Japanese were like when they invaded another country. They already proved their capability when they invaded Nanking in China. Horrible story there, early on in the war.

I was 6 at the time and was listening to One Man's Family when it was interrupted to announce the bombing of Hawaii. My parents were downstairs in the living room, just sitting there in shock, when I came down and started asking what was wrong with them.

pedln · « **Reply #10123 on:** December 08, 2012, 01:55:48 PM »

Babi and Annie, I guess we were the same age on that day. We lived in DC then, my dad worked for the FDIC. I remember him telling me that if planes flew over I should lie down and cover my ears. I did that coming home from school one day and a woman cover over to me saying, "it's okay, they're our planes. In the days following, rumors abounded and I remember hearing about people who were rushing to get home while there were still bridges across the Potomac.

When school was out in June (1942) we had to move to Chicago because all the non-war agencies were sent from DC. My dad died a year later, my mother sold the house, and we never went back there to live.

On a happier note for book lovers, here's a fun page to look at. What's on your Christmas list?

Christmas gifts

MaryPage · « **Reply #10124 on:** December 08, 2012, 02:00:42 PM »

During World War II the government kept a lot of stuff from us for purposes of keeping our morale for winning the war high AND, most importantly, to keep the enemy from knowing what havoc they had wreaked on our navy or army or whatever. This helped us win the war in a big way.

Today, secrecy is nearly impossible; something that is very, very bad for our country. What with cell phones and tiny cameras and satellites and computers with the internet and all the rest, no government can be assured of keeping a secret.

Two instances today: We have been able to spy from our satellites and see that the Syrian government is moving deadly gas weaponry. We could not have done this in World War II. Hey, come to think on it, if they had had then what they have now, the Japanese could have seen our testing of the Atomic Bomb out there in New Mexico! Even we knew nothing back then, let alone they. But doubt it would or could be a kept secret now.

The other instance is that the CIA did not want anyone to know they had a unit positioned in Benghazi. Everyone knew about the consulate being there, but across town the CIA had an outpost, and no one knew. Then the awful night happened and the CIA had to go investigate and help out and then it was leaked to some congressmen and then the whole secret game was up, though they tried most awfully hard to contain it and hold on to the plans for what they wanted to accomplish there. All gone up in smoke now with politicians demanding to "know" everything and know it RIGHT NOW!

I am proud of my country and my countrymen for their attitudes during World War II. I have not seen the like since. IMHO true patriots do not get out a megaphone or microphone and yell about their patriotism; they simply live it, and live it with great care for the wellbeing of our beloved nation.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #10125 on:** December 08, 2012, 02:04:55 PM »

PatH · « **Reply #10126 on:** December 08, 2012, 02:52:22 PM »

What a choice, Pedln, I don't know whether to ask for the "I'm silently correcting your grammar" T-shirt, the "Tea And Tolkien For Me" mugs, or "The Ghost of Christmas Future Perfect Passive".

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #10127 on:** December 08, 2012, 03:09:02 PM »

I want the "book pillow" - -where does one order it?

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #10128 on:** December 09, 2012, 05:02:08 AM »

Oh Pedln, what a great page - I want all of them!

Rosemary

Steph · « **Reply #10129 on:** December 09, 2012, 05:46:52 AM »

I love the book pillow. It looks like under the picture there is a www. address for that item.

Frybabe · « **Reply #10130 on:** December 09, 2012, 07:05:24 AM »

I NEED the night stand. I love the paper art. I wonder if the book brush works well.

Babi · « **Reply #10131 on:** December 09, 2012, 09:24:39 AM »

PEDLN, that is wonderful! I've added it to my Favorites list. I wish I had known
about it earlier; I'd love to have some of those things. Yes, the 'grammar' t-shirt,
the hobbit hole necklace, and, and, and....

ginny · « **Reply #10132 on:** December 09, 2012, 10:37:41 AM »

I love the stack of books ornament, there are two of them, and I love the website they are on, Brommers?

Wonderful stuff! Great link, Pedln! On the Christie, her book of Christmas mysteries has had a lot of titles, I think.

Maryz, good for you! It takes strength and dedication to continue with something like that, pats on the back for you!

I'm engrossed in the new Daedalus Books catalog, where have these people been all my life? There's a book about Emily Dickinson and her family's feuds, I had no idea, it looks fabulous, it was published at $32.95 and they have it for $6.98. There's Annie Bell and Kyle Cathie's Gorgeous Christmas Over 100 Delicious Fail Safe Recipes to Fill Your Holiday with Joy. I like that idea of fail safe and it's 5.98. AND they've got the Tres Riches Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry, a reproduction of the original, and long out of print for $29.98, that thing is famous and I never got one when it came out, I'll put it on the list. Really I have nothing but books on my list; I don't need anything and I feel like every day is Christmas, in a way, I guess that seems sappy but it's the truth, and I'm very grateful for it.

I'm reading The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones. The reviews are staggering. Ann Patchett says it's "at once a shimmering comedy of manners and a disturbing commentary on class. It is so well written, so intricately plotted, that every page delivers some new astonishment. It is a brilliant novel." Sarah Blake says she couldn't "put it down." Jacqueline Winspear talks about how clever it is.

Nobody talks about how scary it is. I like Edwardian comedies of manners, I like big country house parties in England, this thing steps beyond that. For the first 50 pages, like a roller coaster climbing a dull hill, it's positively vapid. Apparently on purpose. You have to really force yourself to continue. I almost put it down but then IT happens and the reader is stuck, like you are in the old movies, screaming at the girl not to take the candle downstairs in the dead of night when she hears a noise, and that's where I am, now on page 143, half way thru. I expect I will finish it today, having timidly looked ahead fearfully at what might be coming.

It's that kind of book. Nothing I've said here alludes to the actual plot or spoils it. It's different and creative and I am assuming it ends brilliantly which is what keeps me reading on, trusting Ann Patchett.

I wouldn't run out and buy it, however. I can't put it down, either, but it's sort of a...dread?

pedln · « **Reply #10133 on:** December 09, 2012, 11:18:49 AM »

That Sadie Jones does sound good, Ginny. Scary -- can I read it when I'm home alone?

From the Sunday morning news reads. I'm almost afraid to post this link, about some other uninvited guests. Oh no, not in the . . .

A Dark and Itchy Night

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #10134 on:** December 09, 2012, 11:30:54 AM »

The Hymnal Angel Book Sculpture is remarkable but what I think would be so much fun for my collage age grands is the Book Shelf Shower Curtain - although the one would be more excited if the shower curtain showed all the inner parts to a computer - but how much fun.

It is getting so that you have to wonder if you should leave your house - now the library!!! We already know about paper sacks from the grocery store and sitting in the movie theater - I wonder if there is some chaseaway sachet we can attach to the bottom of our pant legs or jacket hem.

PatH · « **Reply #10135 on:** December 09, 2012, 02:31:37 PM »

Oh, good grief, pedln. Is nothing sacred? If bedbugs in library books become common, we're all toast.

JoanK · « **Reply #10136 on:** December 09, 2012, 04:17:29 PM »

Ginny: "I never got one when it came out,"

I can't imagine why not!

Frybabe · « **Reply #10137 on:** December 09, 2012, 07:43:57 PM »

One more plus for ebooks. Sad. I hear bedbugs are hard to eradicate.

Frybabe · « **Reply #10138 on:** December 09, 2012, 07:56:02 PM »

Almost forgot. My antivirus scan today revealed that I had a malware program from GetBooks. My antivirus program says it is a trojan. I also saw in my research it being called adware. I think I got rid of it. I don't remember where I found it, but I think I had GetBooks.com in my bookmarks folder for a while. Got rid of it a few weeks back because it didn't have anything I couldn't get off of Gutenberg or ManyBooks.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #10139 on:** December 10, 2012, 05:18:41 AM »

Ugh - I remember staying in some dreadful 'hotel' somewhere in the mid-west when a student friend and I were backpacking across the US - when I lay down on the bed, all the bugs ran out. Had never seen one before (or since) in my life, but still worry about it a bit in hotels!

Rosemary

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #10140 on:** December 10, 2012, 05:21:53 AM »

PS - I know this is not about books (I could try to tie it in to my best read of this year, Hound Dog Days...) but I've just been speaking to the owner of a Cocker spaniel about her litter of 6 puppies - we are hoping to have one of them in the early spring. I know puppies are a nightmare, but I'm still quite excited - the last time I had one I also had a new baby (utter madness) so at least this time I'll only have the puppy to deal with!

Steph · « **Reply #10141 on:** December 10, 2012, 05:59:41 AM »

Oh puppies are such joys.. They regard the world with such wonder. Makes you think about being young again yourself. A lot of work, yeah, but oh such a new way to look at things. I had two cockers as my childhood companions and we explored so many things. I remember trying to figure out how to teach them to climb trees ( didnt work), but then I boosted them up in my big tree that I hid in.. Not a safe thing incidently, but noone got hurt, just a bit bruised on my part..

Babi · « **Reply #10142 on:** December 10, 2012, 08:56:55 AM »

WOW!, GINNY. What a book review. Such high praise I want to read the book, and then the 'scary' and 'dread' part. And by an author with such a prosaic name as 'Sadie Jones'.

I echo that "Oh no", PEDLN. I don't think our library has bedbugs, but I intend to
take a good look at the ones I have now for any sign of insects. I really must
congratulate that extermination company for their clever name,...'Boot-a-Pest'.

maryz · « **Reply #10143 on:** December 10, 2012, 10:23:43 AM »

Maybe when you get a book from the library, you could zap it in the microwave for a minute. Shouldn't hurt the book, but I'll bet it would kill any bugs.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #10144 on:** December 10, 2012, 01:13:07 PM »

Get the ASPIDIT???........., what was the name of those little, horrible smelling sachets that mothers put on children to ward off illnesses?

Here is the reason we all love to read and then chat about what we read...... It gets our "good" juices going in our brains.......this is an interesting article about neurohistory - how striving for those good feelings effected history! This is very intriguing.

http://hnn.us/articles/history-meets-neuroscience

Jean

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #10145 on:** December 10, 2012, 02:06:26 PM »

there is so much now that says our impulses are nothing more than satisfying various spots in our brain - and so I smile thinking the old 'saw' the Devil made me do it would be changed to it was the brown rice that kicked off the doparmin to my Mesolimbic system that made me do it...

mabel1015j · « **Reply #10146 on:** December 10, 2012, 02:14:41 PM »

Frybabe · « **Reply #10147 on:** December 10, 2012, 02:51:05 PM »

Anyone interested in audio books may like to check out The End of an Affair by Graham Greene. Colin Firth did the reading. The sample I listened to was super excellent. I hope he does more audio books.

Here is an article from last year listing some other stars and the books they've done for audio books.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/oct/09/hollywood-stars-voice-audiobook-boom

PS: Found a YouTube of the sample. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKD4HHE2pQw

ginny · « **Reply #10148 on:** December 10, 2012, 04:41:17 PM »

Gee what exciting posts in here. A puppy!! What fun!

Bedbugs, what not fun. hahahaa UGG ,I wonder if the microwave treatment would kill them? Sounds reasonable to me. Ugg and then you have to eat food cooked in said microwave?

Horror, horroris, as they say.

Ginny: "I never got one when it came out,"

I can't imagine why not!

HAHAHAhaha, Joan K, you are such a wit! I meant the facsimile not the original. hahahaa (I'm old but I'm not that old) hahaaha

Scary -- can I read it when I'm home alone? Now that I don't know, Pedln. I was reading along last night fearfully when I had to put it down (the fear and dread took over), and I'm not alone and it still got to me.

I think I know where she's going with it and if so it IS brilliant, but right now we're doing a parlor game which is quite nasty, actually, it's like there's a huge malignant elephant in the living room which everybody for some reason is trying to ignore, it's nightmarish in that regard.

It's very much like a nightmare, actually.

I just got home and if I could read it in the daylight I think I could finish it.

JoanK · « **Reply #10149 on:** December 10, 2012, 07:49:38 PM »

"it was the brown rice that kicked off the doparmin to my Mesolimbic system that made me do it... "

That's my new cry!

(Not that new -- remember the Twinkie defence?)

JeanneP · « **Reply #10150 on:** December 10, 2012, 09:17:21 PM »

Mabel.

I don't listen to Audio but if Colin Firth is reading out that one. It is on my list. I love his voice. Will lay in bed and listen to it.. Be an experience.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #10151 on:** December 11, 2012, 05:06:20 AM »

The voice on an audiobook makes such a difference, doesn't it? I really admire the good readers, it must be so hard to keep your concentration and not get in a muddle. I appreciate that they can edit out mistakes, but you must have to be fairly good to start with. Martin Jarvis is the undisputed king of audio books in the UK, lovely voice. We also had cassettes (RIP as new car has no cassette player) of Maureen Lipman reading various Joyce Grenfell sketches and letters, diary entries, etc - she was absolutely perfect (she did of course do a stage show about Joyce some years ago), we really enjoyed listening to those.

Rosemary

Steph · « **Reply #10152 on:** December 11, 2012, 06:00:34 AM »

I love audio books,, listen to them in the car, the gym and sometimes even at home.. But the voices, oh me,yes.. The original reader for Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum was perfect, but then they changed it nd the other one is not that good.
I loved Harry Potter,, that man is a genius.. He does so many voices and seems to remember each one while reading..
There are some men whose voices are too low and at least one woman that I could not hear her at all. Just one of those faint faint voices.. No idea why they used her, but the authors who insist on doing their own reading are not a favorite.. I would guess ego, but it is not worth it. Let the professionals do it. My husband did a lot of voice over work when we were younger.. Then he recorded for the blind in Florida for several years. He loved it..but then that is what his original intention was.. He was in radio for about 6 years.

Frybabe · « **Reply #10153 on:** December 11, 2012, 07:41:54 AM »

Good for your husband, Steph. I met my husband over the telephone when I called a local radio station. I liked his Pennsylvania Dutchish accent.

In most of the samples I listen to the reader is soooooo flat and monotoned. For that reason and that they charge so much more, I don't usually bother with them. My sister and her husband, on the other hand, often enjoy audio books when they travel.

Babi · « **Reply #10154 on:** December 11, 2012, 09:52:57 AM »

Could that be 'aspidistra', JEAN? I've heard of old-time use of garlic sachets, too.
Supposed to ward off colds.

Good line, BARB, but it needs to be a bit shorter and catchier. "The Devil made me do it" is so much easier.

The more you tell us about that book, GINNY, the warier I become. So scary you have to stop reading? Sounds like a bad choice for bed time reading. I'd be afraid of the 'nightmare' continuing all night.

I have to agree with authors reading their own work, STEPH. At least in most
cases; there are no doubt exceptions. I once listened to a poet, Don Blanding,
reading his poems because I really enjoyed the poems. He was awful.

maryz · « **Reply #10155 on:** December 11, 2012, 10:24:21 AM »

I'll bet Asafoetida is what she means.

ginny · « **Reply #10156 on:** December 11, 2012, 11:11:13 AM »

The more you tell us about that book, GINNY, the warier I become. So scary you have to stop reading? Sounds like a bad choice for bed time reading. I'd be afraid of the 'nightmare' continuing all night.

Yes it scared the crap out of me, scary scary scary. It's not a Preston and Childs scary or... a Hannibal the Cannibal type of thing. I've never read anything like it and in case somebody may be thinking about reading it... (it's new and extremely well reviewed), I am not giving the plot away, in any way, that would be a disservice. (It's nothing like Gosford Park or Downton Abbey and I can't imagine why people keep saying that unless ...unless...)

I was determined to finish it but, thinking of the same thing you just said, I left about the last 10 pages after midnight, not trusting my own imagination, which I finished up this morning.

I don't know what to say about it. It did not end as i thought. I am not sure what the ...point... is, if there is one. So many many rave reviews! So MANY!! Pages of them.Don't you hate missing the point? Maybe if I had not been scared to death I could have seen it. There was some humor at the very end, but "comedy" it's not. Comedy of manners, not like EF Benson, for sure. I am not sure WHAT it is?

Not sure I'm in agreement with the ending. Leaves you guessing.

It's different, unique and creative...and scary as all get out. The scariest thing anyway is human nature.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #10157 on:** December 11, 2012, 12:46:05 PM »

Babi and Mary - either one of those could be what i vaguely remember. It's way back there in the recesses of my brain.

Frybabe · « **Reply #10158 on:** December 11, 2012, 11:30:36 PM »

Ginny, you like Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels right?

Made a move - opens tomorrow. Based on One Shot.

Tom Cruise - really?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV6Z5KUja4k

maryz · « **Reply #10159 on:** December 11, 2012, 11:31:45 PM »

John says it's a miniature Jack Reacher.

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Author Topic: The Library (Read 2322085 times)