Author Topic: The Library (Read 2306974 times)

MaryPage · « **Reply #10560 on:** February 03, 2013, 07:10:53 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!

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I have read most of them, and there is not a single one I want to read among those I have not read.
For instance, of those numbered 1 through 10, #8 is the only one I have not read. And so it goes.
Funnily enough, of those numbered 11 through 20, #18 is the only one I have not read.

Frybabe · « **Reply #10561 on:** February 03, 2013, 07:25:37 PM »

What a list Barb.

My TBR pile includes: Catch-22, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Warden, Cranford, The Moonstone, Heart of Darkness, and Middlemarch.

There are three I have not yet acquired for my TBR pile - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, A Dance to the Music of Time, and The Leopard. I haven't decided about A Bend in the River.

I started but couldn't finish these three - A Passage to India, Crime and Punishment and A Catcher in the Rye .

I had Anna Karenina for years then decided I wasn't ever going to be interested in reading it, so it is gone.

If I counted correctly, there are about 14 others that I have read. There also quite a few that I've seen movies of or have otherwise heard the story so often when younger that I have not desire to revisit them by reading.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #10562 on:** February 03, 2013, 07:35:42 PM »

There are a few others like the Goethe that I have not read but these are the ones I would like to read - would love it if we were to choose a couple to read together here on Senior Learn. The Ann Taylor sounds like a good one for a group discussion - have no idea what The Home and the World is really about.

98 The Home and the World by Rabindranath Tagore

87 On the Road by Jack Kerouac

72 Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler

69 If On a Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino

48 Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin

And where I have seen all the Canon Doyle movies I have not actually read one of the books so I would like to read
41 The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #10563 on:** February 03, 2013, 07:38:50 PM »

OH yes, another that would be great to read as a group from your list All Quiet on the Western Front Have the TV depiction of the Warden - a riot.

PatH · « **Reply #10564 on:** February 03, 2013, 08:10:57 PM »

I've read 34, want to read or would be willing to read 24, and don't want to read 42. Some of the don't want to read I started and gave up on.

Barb, if you haven't read any Sherlock Holmes, you're in for a treat, but we already discussed Hound of the Baskervilles here.

MaryPage · « **Reply #10565 on:** February 04, 2013, 12:27:10 AM »

I agree. All of the books are ever so much better than any of the films ever made. Ever. By anyone.
But I must admit that Basil Rathbone was my first Sherlock Holmes, everyone else has just been an imposter.
You know how it is. Only Sean Connery is Double Oh Seven. Bond. James Bond.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #10566 on:** February 04, 2013, 04:14:50 AM »

I've only read 23, and some of those I read as a teenager and should really read again, as I'm sure I missed a lot.

The one I gave up on was Martin Amis's London Fields - I really loathed it and I wouldn't choose to read any of this work after that. He's very much part of the London literati, always arguing with people in the Saturday reviews.

I think I did start The Name of the Rose many years ago & gave up, but I'd give that another go - it had just been made into a film at the time, and I don't think I was prepared for the extra effort the book needed.

There are 14 that I'd like to read.

I loved the one-line summaries!

Rosemary

Steph · « **Reply #10567 on:** February 04, 2013, 06:16:59 AM »

I have read a lot of the books. Amazing.. but there are some I have not read and have no interest in.. others I have started over and over, but never liked.. So an interesting list, but since I disliked John Opdykes novels, I am not surprised that there are a lot of books in there that I have no interest in..

marjifay · « **Reply #10568 on:** February 04, 2013, 08:45:51 AM »

I love book lists!

Was surprised to see I'd read 32 of them.
(Hound of the Baskervilles was the best Sherlock Holmes I've read) I agree about Basil Rathbone. We love to listen to him on XM Radio's old radio programs)

A bunch I want to read:

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (NOTE: The movie will be shown on Turner Classic Movies
channel this coming Wednesday, February 6, at 5 pm Pacific Time.)

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS

DISGRACE by Coetzee

THE TIN DRUM

THE LEOPARD

GRAPES OF WRATH (hard to believe I've not yet read this. They say it's better than the movie, and the movie was great.

Marj

Babi · « **Reply #10569 on:** February 04, 2013, 09:06:43 AM »

I hadn't realized that women stationed in dangerous duty areas were not paid the same, or
credited with the combat zone service, as the men. That does put it all in a different
light. Discrimination is discrimination, period. I still hate to see young children left
without a mother. More and more fathers are showing themselves capable of providing the
nurturing care they need, but it is still a sad, and dangerous, situation.

It seems I've read a little over 1/3 of the books on that list. Plus a couple I started
but didn't finish. Oh, yeah, as FRYBABE mentions, there are two or three that I only know
from the films.

I wonder if it's only bookies like us that peruse these lists? We're always alert for
somthings good we may have missed. ROSEMARY, I read, and finished, "The Name of the Rose",
but I was still dissatisfied with it. Actually, I decided not to read any more by Eco.
Just 'fyi'.

pedln · « **Reply #10570 on:** February 04, 2013, 09:39:49 AM »

At first I was thinking myself illiterate, but a second glance determined that was not the case. I recognized most of the titles, or at least the author, had read some, dipped into others, seen the movie, and like one online literary test proved a few weeks ago, I can at least carry on a conversation about most.

As with any of these lists, which are great fun, one always wonders, "why this and not that," what's the criteria for selection. I was curious about Atonement, a relative newbie among all these old guys, probably the baby of the group in copyright. But the one that really captured attention was the title below --- who, what, where, anybody know?

5 Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee
Protagonist’s “first long secret drink of golden fire” is under a hay wagon.

Babi · « **Reply #10571 on:** February 04, 2013, 09:57:19 AM »

Don't know about the book, at all, at all. But 'Laurie' is apparently 'Laurence'. Here's a link to him.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPlee.htm

Frybabe · « **Reply #10572 on:** February 04, 2013, 10:03:50 AM »

Marjifay, All Quiet on the Western Front has been on my TBR list for a long time, even before I actually bought the book last year. It was my Dad's favorite silent film. He let me stay up late at night to watch it with him. Naturally, went he passed away I had to finally get the book. And there it is; still in my TBR pile.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #10573 on:** February 04, 2013, 11:02:33 AM »

Cider with Rosie is a famous book in the UK - so much so that it is often a set book for GCSE (exams taken at 16 years). It's about Laurie Lee's childhood in the Gloucestershire countryside in the early part of the 20th century, with his mother and many sisters. It's a lovely book. Laurie Lee wrote several other books. He also went to Spain to fight for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, and wrote about it in As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #10574 on:** February 04, 2013, 12:32:33 PM »

Interesting Rosemary - I was confused if I wanted to read it since it was one I had not read - now I really want to put it on my to be read list - hmmm I wonder with all this background if it is a book we may want to read here - and I would vote to read All Quiet on the Western Front in a NY minute as the saying goes.

marjifay · « **Reply #10575 on:** February 04, 2013, 02:18:59 PM »

FryBabe wrote: "All Quiet on the Western Front has been on my TBR list for a long time, even before I actually bought the book last year. It was my Dad's favorite silent film. He let me stay up late at night to watch it with him. Naturally, went he passed away I had to finally get the book. And there it is; still in my TBR pile."

Well, no time like the present! I just put it on hold at the library. My NYear's resolution is to read each week a book from my TBR list.

I had never heard of Laurie Lee or his book Cider with Rosie. It gets 5 stars at Amazon. Thanks for the info, Rosemary.

Marj

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #10576 on:** February 04, 2013, 03:39:07 PM »

What a fabulous idea Marejifay - I only have to more than a years worth read weekly to read - looks like I read 44 - a few more I saw the movie but have not actually read the book - This is great we aught to match titles and share a few insights as we read. Some of the titles that I had not actually read are here on my bookshelves - planed to read but never got to them.

JeanneP · « **Reply #10577 on:** February 04, 2013, 04:10:11 PM »

Lots on the list sound familiar. Will print it and check further.
I am so spoiled now with reading LP books as so many were being printed. But, Looks like now that people have the readers they seem to be cutting back on LP.
I have even noticed it at the library. They say can't find as many to order now.

maryz · « **Reply #10578 on:** February 04, 2013, 05:28:07 PM »

Jeanne, that's one thing with the e-readers - you can make the print any size you want.

Frybabe · « **Reply #10579 on:** February 04, 2013, 05:41:49 PM »

Another neat feature, now that I have two, is the sync feature. Now I can pick up either ereaderm, sync to my cloud storage, and then I can pick up where I left off without hunting the last page I read.

JoanK · « **Reply #10580 on:** February 04, 2013, 07:48:36 PM »

Looks like I've read 61. (or read enough of them that I don't need to read more), including all of the top 10. The only one that caught my eye as wanting to read was the Tagore: Is it the same Tagore that writes poetry? If so, I'd try his book.

Some interesting choices: quite dark.

kiwilady · « **Reply #10581 on:** February 05, 2013, 03:21:08 AM »

I have read only half of the list and to be honest I dont want to read any of the others.

Rosemary I read Cider with Rosie twice. Once as a teenager and once as an adult. Got more out of it as an adult.

Just finished the 80 chapter Trollope Book. "Can You Forgive Her" It is a very simple plot really but I do love Trollope.

Carolyn

Steph · « **Reply #10582 on:** February 05, 2013, 06:05:57 AM »

Grapes of Wrath is a wonderful book.. and movie as well. Cider with Rosie.. I read maybe half. I think it is really really English..

MaryPage · « **Reply #10583 on:** February 05, 2013, 08:10:13 AM »

Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee:
I gave this in paperback to my great granddaughter Emily only 3 months ago!
It was made into a marvelous film which was shown on Public TV several years or more ago. Gosh, the way time passes for me these days, it could have been decades ago!
I think it was one of a series of books, and I think the film was a TV mini-series.

JeanneP · « **Reply #10584 on:** February 05, 2013, 01:06:57 PM »

MaryZ. Yes, I saw where can make the print larger on the Readers. Only thing is they are so small. 7". I would have to have the 10" because I took speed reading years ago. so Read a page in a book fast. My hand would be moving on the readers all the time.

kiwilady · « **Reply #10585 on:** February 05, 2013, 05:15:53 PM »

This is a free downloadable to computer Mp3 Ipod and Ipod shuffle. 3000 books available mostly old and classics.

This one is a mystery and I am three quarters of the way through it and it is not half bad.

http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/book/Ashiel-Mystery-A-Detective-Story

I have a feeling this is downloadable in print too but you can check out the site. I am listening in MP3 format.

Carolyn

maryz · « **Reply #10586 on:** February 05, 2013, 06:51:23 PM »

Steph, how are you liking your Learning Course?

Steph · « **Reply #10587 on:** February 06, 2013, 06:03:20 AM »

MaryZ.. I have read the introductions, but this is a busy week and I am hoping to have a bit of time this afternoon for the first lecture.. I am a little disappointed that the intro seems to say that this is strictly New Testament.. not the Old one and I had hoped for both.

maryz · « **Reply #10588 on:** February 06, 2013, 06:46:27 AM »

I'm not sure how they could discuss the New Testament without discussing the Old. Oh, well - I do hope you'll like it, though.

Babi · « **Reply #10589 on:** February 06, 2013, 09:44:08 AM »

Yeah, STEPH, especially the part where it was decided to combine the Old and New into
our present Bible, but change the Jewish bible around to suit ourselves. I've never found an adequate explanation for that bit of high-handed scholarly manipulation.

marjifay · « **Reply #10590 on:** February 06, 2013, 01:01:16 PM »

A friend and I drove to Las Vegas yesterday (best time of the year to go, sunny but nice, cool weather). We are probably the only people who go there to sightsee, but not to gamble. Everytime we go there is something new and interesting to see.

First time we'd seen the amazing Veer Towers located on the strip, two luxury condominium towers that lean away from each other in opposite directions. Leave it to Vegas to come up with something like that. You can see them at Wikipedia, but their picture is not as good as seeing them in person where you really get the feeling they are going to topple over.

Also drove up to the nearby Mount Charleston resort where there was still snow on the mountains. Lovely area.

Marj

Steph · « **Reply #10591 on:** February 07, 2013, 06:18:50 AM »

Listened to the first two lectures yesterday.This course is called Lost Christianity and it is the history of all of the different forms of Christianity that got abandoned or regarded as heresy.. The first lecture was the introduction.. An overview. The second was on an original form.. You had to be jewish and then regard Jesus as a man. Interesting and Jesus brother James was the head of this one.. All books of it have been lost so the only way you can examine it is through the question of heresy.. We are not touching the old Testament. Will have to look again at the courses, since he mentions there is a course t hat is earlier than this one. Good but sort of superficial.

Frybabe · « **Reply #10592 on:** February 07, 2013, 06:42:03 AM »

That sounds like Erhdman's lectures, Steph. Interesting subject. I read a good portion of his book, but it eventually got to tedious to continue.

ginny · « **Reply #10593 on:** February 07, 2013, 08:26:22 AM »

What an interesting list. I missed the beginning or into and just plunged into it, thinking as I read what dark selections some of them, and now I see that John Updike did it: hence the Rabbit books. Interesting. No Sinclair Lewis either. Interesting.

I don't see Look Homeword Angel on it. Do you remember when it seemed everybody had to read that thing? And nobody understood it? At least nobody I know understood it. They have reprinted it in a nice new paperback edition and they had it on the sale table at B&N, and thinking perhaps now that I've got all this age (with the "wisdom" that supposedly accompanies it) I'd try it again, I took it home.

I came in to say I am reading the antithesis of Rabbit in The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. I am absolutely beguiled with this sweet, calm jewel of a book, so far. I'm not very far into it, but it almost defies description. A quiet self effacing man of 65 living in an English village receives a letter about a diagnosis of cancer in an old friend, and resolves, in his quiet way, to finally try to make a difference.

It's a beautiful book, so far. Beautifully written. Have any of you read it? It reminds me, so far, of the documentary about the man who set out from...was it Iowa...to ride a lawnmower to another state to reconcile with his brother...I'm not sure if his brother was ill or what. I'm not sure why he had to drive a lawnmower, either, don't remember the details. That was what he had available, apparently, or he was too old to drive or had no car or license? Can't remember any of that. I do remember the shots of him driving down those long country roads on that lawnmower and the people he met on the way. Sort of a Travels With Charley (Steinbeck) kind of story. It was quixotic and very poetic and that's sort of what Harold Fry is, so far. Opening the pages of the book are like going into a zone of peaceful quiet.

I see also due to the economy they have announced they are closing 380 or so B&N's. That makes no sense to me, you literally can't get IN one here, you can't park. Nobody likes books, right?

Babi · « **Reply #10594 on:** February 07, 2013, 09:30:24 AM »

I'm sold, GINNY. Rachel Joyce's book sounds perfect. Thank you for telling us about it.
'A zone of peace and quiet' is so inviting.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #10595 on:** February 07, 2013, 11:05:12 AM »

Yes, I read "Harold Fry" and have since shared it with BarbStAubrey. I hope she has read it by now and enjoyed it as much as I did. She hasn't let me know yet.

marjifay · « **Reply #10596 on:** February 07, 2013, 11:39:26 AM »

I've had Look Homeward Angel on my TBR list for some time. Hadn't heard it was that difficult to read. Also have had his You Can't Go Home Again waiting for a long time to read. A friend of mine a long time ago recommended You Can't Go Home Again, and said he regretted that having read it, he could not read it again for the first time.

I'll give The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Frye a try, Ginny. As I recall, it was on several lists of favorite 2012 books.

Marj

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #10597 on:** February 07, 2013, 12:31:34 PM »

Ginny, I'm sure I've heard of that Rachel Joyce book, but I've certainly not read it - and amazingly enough I've just found it on the library catalogue, so I've added it to my 'lists' (which are of course miles long, but never mind...)

Thanks for the recommendation,

Rosemary

pedln · « **Reply #10598 on:** February 07, 2013, 04:43:11 PM »

I have Harold Frye on my bookshelf, but haven't had a chance to read it yet. Random House sent it to me as a freebie/gift. I think because if "liked" RH on Facebook.

The fellow riding the lawnmower -- they also make a film out of that

Quote

The Straight Story (1999)
starring Richard Farnsworth (Oscar nomination for Best Actor), Sissy Spacek, Harry Dean Stanton, Everett McGill
IMDb synopsis:
Based on a true story: Alvin Straight is a very old man with a quiet life in a small country town. When his brother gets seriously sick, he decides to put away their differences and visit him after many, many years. So, alone, he begins a long journey through hundreds of miles, just to see again his brother, even if it's the last thing he will ever do.

serenesheila · « **Reply #10599 on:** February 07, 2013, 06:39:12 PM »

GINNY, I am in the middle of the Howard Fry book. I am thoroughly enjoying it! It calms me, and leaves me quietly peaceful.

Sheila

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Author Topic: The Library (Read 2306974 times)