The Library

[maryz]

Bella, the fact that the phone screen is too small for your eyes is a pretty good reason for getting a tablet, IMO.  I got my first Kindle because I was having trouble holding physical books in my hands.  And I've learned that I love being able to change the size of the print to suit me.  Our daughters game me the iPad when I broke my arm near the shoulder and had to have a shoulder replacement.  I now read all my Kindle books on the iPad (and gave my Kindle away).  Each one has slightly different features, and different ones suit different people. You'll find one that works for you.

[Steph]

The IPhone is just too small for me to read and look at pictures.. the IPAD is glorious for this, plus newspapers and games.. I have a failed cataract surgery on my right eye and I simply need lots of light and larger print to navigate.

[ginny]

FAILED cataract surgery? I would like to hear more about that one, you don't hear many people say that nowadays and I'd like to know the down side to all the raves I've heard, because let's face it, most of us either have or will have cataracts.

Stephanie did you know the Kardashian Wedding is going to be in Paris on May 24th? Supposedly at Versailles, what a fitting venue for.....can you stand it? You may see more than you wanted to. hahahaa

[MaryPage]

That's my birthday.  And Queen Victoria's.  Who are the Kardashians?

[ginny]

The scourge of the earth: modern "I wanna be a celebrity" at its worst.

[FlaJean]

I love my iPad.  I only use my computer to FTP info or when I'm making a slideshow which is easier on my Mac.

[JeanneP]

On going back home to u k a few years ago my daughter comes with me most times, but One Time we took her two sons along. My GS. Age 20 and 16. First thinking , spend 2 weeks London area. Should have sent the 16 year old back home after 2 days. He took off 3 times because he didn't care for what we were doing that day.
Will say he got to know his way around the city good. We could get on the tube and he could take us any place. But it had my daughter a wreck.
Now the 20 year old. I could spend months  with him he was crazy about the whole trip. Loved the history of the places .just everything.. Once we got up north to family both Had a great Time because my cousins boy took them in hand.  Girls really fussing over them. They could even enjoy a village pub. I have taken my other G C .on trips, the boy at all ages ,but when  he and sister together,he at 18 . Her at 14,  was Disaster . but now she loves England .even had her honeymoon there and France. Not to crazy about France though. Been back to UK and says she could live  there. ( I doubt that ). Her husbands main office is there so he goes back often. So now I am waiting to see how the Greatgrands  take to travel.  Been doing a lot already ages 6 and 3 yr. old twins. I had my 2 girls three times on trips to Europe . From ages 3 and 5 to teens.Wasn't good all the time. Places they liked .some hated. They have to be entertained all the time teens think.


So maybe a tablet would be a good thing for your teenagers should have with them.  Help when they get bored. They sure seem to keep them all busy now.

[JoanP]

A little reminder -

Tomorrow is the last day to voice your preference for April's Book Club Online discussion - We'd love to hear from YOU if you haven't already voted!

  The heading in the SUGGESTION BOX should contain all the information you need.

Thanks!

[PatH]

Alas!  The end of an era.  I got my notice of the Stone Ridge annual used book sale today, and it's the LAST ONE.  After 46 years, they are quitting.  For those not in the DC area, Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart is a world class Catholic girl's school, grades 1-12.  The book sale is a huge event, with over 100,000 books, and a lot of fun.  I've gone for years.  I don't pick up big ticket items, I get lots of quirky things I didn't know were around, cheap paperbacks of things I wanted, odd cookbooks (my weakness) etc.

My notice didn't say why they were quitting, but on their website there is a sort of defensive letter from administration that boils down to: it was a bit of a nuisance, and they no longer pull in a whole 10% of the money needed for the scholarship fund.

Grr.  For locals, it's April 11-14.

[rosemarykaye]

Oh Pat - you have my commiserations!  I look for much the same kind of stuff in the big Christian Aid book sale here - I love finding quirky things.  It is sad when places become controlled by people only looking for the profit - I know they need money, but couldn't they look at ways of making it more profitable rather than just ditching it?   These events have important social functions too -  I bet now they will just be resorting to on-line begging letters, which we receive regularly from our old colleges (who now get current students to ring people up and pretend to be interested in what 50+ year olds are up to, then go for the kill...) We ignore it all - would much prefer your sale.  Enjoy the last one.

Rosemary

[mabel1015j]

My PBS station has, wonderfully, been showing Rosemary and Thyme this season. I love those stories. The women are so practically dressed and sensible in their behaviors. I love their friendship. Midsomer Murders follows. Thank goodness, there's nothing on network tv on Friday nights.

[ANNIE]

We just watched "Nebraska" with Bruce Dern.  Thought provoking.  Different movie.  Kind of reminding me of the Canadian movie about the retired women when they decided to take a trip across the Canada.  Excellent acting.  Sleepers are almost worth watching twice.No explosions, no violence just a timely story for now.

[ginny]

A more timely story might be how are YOU?? We have been worried about you and are glad to see you!

Glad to hear a review of it. There was one in the Books Into  Movies, too. I haven't seen it. Is it like the one with the guy on the lawnmower who drove across, was it two states in the mid west to see his brother? I loved that. Was it called Straight?

In other words is there a redeeming value to it?

[ginny]

I was close: The Straight Story: from Wikipedia:

The Straight Story is a 1999 drama film directed by David Lynch. The film was edited and produced by Mary Sweeney, Lynch's longtime partner and co-worker. She co-wrote the script with John E. Roach. The film is based on the true story of Alvin Straight's 1994 journey across Iowa and Wisconsin on a lawnmower. Alvin (Richard Farnsworth) is an elderly World War II veteran who lives with his daughter Rose (Sissy Spacek), a kind woman with a mental disability. When he hears that his estranged brother Lyle (Harry Dean Stanton) has suffered a stroke, Alvin makes up his mind to go visit him and hopefully make amends before he dies. But because Alvin's legs and eyes are too impaired for him to receive a driving license, he hitches a trailer to his recently purchased thirty year-old John Deere 110 Lawn tractor (1966 have max speed of 6.5 miles per hour (10.5 km/h) or according to other source his original had 5 miles per hour (8.0 km/h) ) and sets off on the 240-mile (390 km) journey from Laurens, Iowa to Mount Zion, Wisconsin.

The film was a critical success and garnered audience acclaim, although the overall gross proved less than expected. Reviewers praised the intensity of the character performances, particularly the realistic dialogue (which Roger Ebert compared to the works of Hemingway). It received a nomination for the Palme d'Or at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival and Farnsworth received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

I loved that movie. An aged star and plot. Yes it was long, but to me not boring? Yes there's no bang bang shoot 'em up, no jumping from or to trains no  aliens, no robots,  no car chases, nothing but real life and that endless magnificent midwest countryside, and the real people he met.

Very similar, now that it's been written, of Mr. Fry's Pilgrimage. I'm beginning to understand John Donne's "They also serve who only stand and wait." Never understood that when young.

Loved it.


And as far as jumping from or to trains, recently CNN online had footage which showed a young woman attempting in a subway to duplicate leaping on to the top of a moving subway train. She was on a raised platform over the trains which may have given  her the idea.  Apparently it's not as easy as Hollywood makes it look. She did live, however, which is good, but she did not leap up without promptly going right off too with serious consequences.

[ANNIE]

Ginny, I am home and everything went very well. I am now hooked to a pacemaker which tells my heart when to beat.  Easiest procedure I've ever had.  VERSED is my friend! as my nurse said. Its "twilight sleep" which they used to use to deliver babies.  You are awake but don't know it.  No nausea or upchucking from this anesthesia.
 

[maryz]

Glad to hear such good news, AdoAnnie!

[CallieOK]

Great news, AdoAnnie!

[MaryPage]

Pat, I have a cousin who taught at Stone Ridge eons and eons ago.  Bethesda, is it not?  Let's see, somebody famous went there.  Maria Shriver?  That sounds about right.  Anyway, Jane taught history, I am pretty sure it was history, waaaay back there in time.  She is 86 now, and about to be 87 in a couple of weeks!

I have the DVD of Nebraska and have just started to watch it.  Had to turn it off to go to bed last night, but will start again tonight.

I loved, loved, loved Rosemary and Thyme.  Bought all of those DVDs, too, and enjoyed them several times and then passed them on to my gardener namesake granddaughter.  I mean, she does not have a career as a gardener, history being her discipline, but she is an expert, and she loves Rosemary & Thyme, as well.

Annie, you are an Inspiration!  I fiercely admire your spunk!  And am relieved you got through all that.

[ginny]

Oh good,  Ann, I am so glad to hear it went well and you are feeling OK.

We were worried about you.


______________________


I also am a fan of Rosemary and Thyme, I hate they stopped making the series. Sometimes when watching Doc Martin I get R&T out (I bought it a long time ago) and watch it, too, once the Doc Martin is over.

Did you all see an alumnus of Brideshead Revisited in one of the episodes?

[hats]

Hi Mary, Ginny and All,

Decided to stop by. Ginny's name kept running through my head. Just a quick hello. I'll bet most of you enjoyed Blue Highways. Would like to read that one. Here is my email addy, teakettle58@yahoo.com/china.thimble@yahoo.com. Well, have a pleasant weekend.

[PatH]

Hi, hats, it's good to hear from you.  Is all well with you?  We miss you.

[Frybabe]

Hey Hats! Good to see your post.

I've just discovered Minnie Mary McKay who wrote under the pen name of Marie Corelli. She apparently enjoyed a huge following, including the Churchills and the Royal family. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Corelli Two of her books, Vendetta: A Story of One Forgotten and The Mighty Atom. Vendetta was supposedly based on a true event and was made into a movie way back in 1915. The opening paragraph of Vendetta is a real grabber:

I, who write this, am a dead man. Dead legally—dead by absolute proofs—dead and buried! Ask for me in my native city and they will tell you I was one of the victims of the cholera that ravaged Naples in 1884, and that my mortal remains lie moldering in the funeral vault of my ancestors. Yet—I live! I feel the warm blood coursing through my veins—the blood of thirty summers—the prime of early manhood invigorates me, and makes these eyes of mine keen and bright—these muscles strong as iron—this hand powerful of grip—this well-knit form erect and proud of bearing. Yes!—I am alive, though declared to be dead; alive in the fullness of manly force—and even sorrow has left few distinguishing marks upon me, save one. My hair, once ebony-black, is white as a wreath of Alpine snow, though its clustering curls are thick as ever.

[ANNIE]

Oh, Hats!,Is that really you?  Welcome home to SL!  We miss seeing you.  How are things going in your neck of the woods??  Yes, we are definitely enjoying  Blue Highways.  Very good journey, well told.  Have you read it?  Come join us in the discussion.

[mabel1015j]

Annie, glad you are doing well. Good luck in continuing to feel better.

Hats - glad to hear from you, what are you reading?

OMGosh, i watched the movie Girl With the Dragon Tattoo last night, i was expecting a good story, i vaguely remembered some comments from some of you that were favorable, so i settled in for a nice movie evening. Ha! You could have warned me!

It was a good movie, but i didn't expect the sex, torture, dysfunctional family! Looking back over some of your previous comments - do the following two books use the same girl character? I don't know how the book ended, but the movie ending certainly left room for a continuation of her story.

Jean

[maryz]

Hi Hats!  Good to hear from you.  How are things over on your side of town? 

[MaryPage]

Yes, Jean, all three (3) books feature Lisbeth Salander as "The Girl Who."  And you cannot but KNOW that all ten (10) books Stieg Larsson had sketched out were about her.  Such a great pity he died suddenly, because he was a truly gifted and fascinating writer.
Yes, the books are violent.  But there is something fragile and compelling about them.  I became very involved with her.  I think she had a genius IQ and was somewhere in the Autism Spectrum.  I believe he wrote her as a very good person with a truly horrifying life history who was a creature of her generation's culture.
Also, Jean, I honestly believe the books have to be read first, or the movies cannot make sense.  I wish we were near, as I still have a set of the books.  I was given two sets, and gave one to a granddaughter, but everyone else in the family appears to have read them, and so I have not yet given the other set away.  Who knows, I may reread them one day.  They were a really, really good read.

[mabel1015j]

I'll find them MaryPage, but you are so kind to think of me and to fill me in. I find that reading violence is not so hard for me while reading it rather then seeing it. I can hold back my brain's involvement as much as i want while reading it, i can "see" as much as i can handle. Thank goodness 

Jean

[MaryPage]

I am just like that, Jean.  And truthfully, I never choose to read violence.  It just flat out is not my genre.  But in this case, my oldest son, Rob, brought me my first set and told me I would love them.  I trust his judgment, so set in to read.  My two favorite and closest first cousins (well, one is the widow of a first cousin), both Bryn Mawr graduates who read constantly, as do I, and know what I like, both read them and told me not to miss them.  So onward I went, and got totally hooked.  I then purchased the Swedish set of 3 movies, with subtitles, and enjoyed them.  I don't know why there has been just the one American made film.  Maybe it was not a big hit?

I mourn those 7 unwritten books of Larsson's almost as though they were people, but the ending of book three is rather comforting.

[MaryPage]

Jean, I was out in the kitchen fixing breakfast and it occurred to me to pass on to you some of what I read about Larsson, the author, after he died.  It would appear that he was a journalist in real life, and that he sketched out a plan to write 10 books, each one attacking a different social ill that he saw in Sweden, i.e., the Nazi wannabes, organized crime, corrupt politicians, and so forth.  Each book would expose the rot under the veneer of respectability in that small nation.  He would do this with this girl, plus a figure who was not dissimilar to himself.
At least, that is my take on what I have read.
He had a common law wife of many years, and under Swedish law she did not get a penny.  A brother and his father got all, and it was so unfair.  Read up on him if you get time.  Well worth the effort!

[Frybabe]

MaryPage, the really nasty thing about the father and brother getting all the inheritance is that, according to what I had read months ago, Larsson was estranged from his family. Last I heard there was a fight between the girl friend and the two about a manuscript for the next book which she had physical possession of and claimed she had helped in the writing of it. I haven't looked into whether or not the court case has been settled yet.

[MaryPage]

I have not kept up with it, either, Frybabe.  But from what I can remember, his grandfather was a famous anti-Nazi and he got his ideas from him.  Then, as a magazine editor and journalist, he was a crusader against evil, and there were many death threats.  Many, many.  So it was that he and the Love of His Life shared a home for years and years, but chose not to marry because under Swedish Law their home addresses have to become public property along with the licensing, and that was a closely kept secret FOR THEIR PROTECTION!  He had no reason to believe he would have a sudden heart attack and be dead instantly.
His real life story parallels the books in a lot of ways.  When he was 15, he saw a girl gang raped.  He became a champion of women and women's rights right then and there.
And now the woman he loved gets nary a penny of his now vast estate!
They had been quite without funds!  And he did not know how famous he became.

[mabel1015j]

Thanks for all that info MaryPage and Frybabe. You've encouraged me to read the books. Ironically i'm reading a Barbara Delinsky book that has a tangent story of a disapproved of wife (in the U.S.) whose brothers-in-law tried to squeeze her out of her inheritance of a trust fund. Coincidences are so curious and interesting, aren't they? 

Jean

[JoanK]

I love the kindle for quirky books. There is a 'browse" function, and within it, you can choose broad subject. The books are arranged by popularity, so if you go to about page 40, you get the books that no one ever buys, on odd subjects.

[JoanK]

some of you will remember Clare Read from the old seniornet. We have kept in touch by phone since she dropped out. I finally met her yesterday -- she lives about 60 miles South of me in San Clemente, and I've tried to  visit her before, but something always happened. We had a great visit, and she gave me one of her paintings as a gift (she is both a painter and a potter). Her pots ate lovely too -- I wanted to buy one, but was afraid if I asked, she would give me that too.

She has a beautiful smile, with a hint of mischief in it -- wish I'd had a camera to take a picture of her It's great after knowing someone 10 years to finally know what they look like.   

[jane]

How great, Joan, you were finally able to meet!

[maryz]

Joan, great that you were able to meet up with Clare.  It's such to meet these folks face-to-face.

Y'all may have been missing Steph.  I've been in touch with her by e-mail.  She has been in the hospital and had surgery for a bowel obstruction.  Obviously it was quite extensive.  She's at home for recuperation and rehab.  She obviously gets on the computer from time to time, but is still very weak.  She asked me to pass the information along to you.  I know we're all eager for her to feel well enough to get back here.

[ginny]

Wow!! I am so sorry to hear that. I hope she is feeling better soon!! Give her our best!

[MaryPage]

Oh, my goodness gracious, STEPH!  Oh my!  I feel I want to fly down there and bark at everyone and make sure her every need is attended to.

Probably a very good thing I cannot possibly do that.

What a horrible surprise.  For Steph mostly, of course, but for us as well and all.

Get well, Girlfriend!

[Tomereader1]

Good thoughts and prayers for our Steph.


 I just finished reading a very sweet, interesting book.  It is by Joseph Monninger, titled "Eternal on the Water".  It is a love story, not a bodice ripper romance.  There is sadness, humor, information about nature things, touching on life-threatening disease (actually it's kind of the center of the story).  It may not be the "literary novel of the year", but I totally enjoyed it.  The author is a college professor in New Hampshire, has twice won the National Endowment for the Arts fellowship.

> There is no cursing inthis story.  A lot of very tender/passionate lovemaking between the couple, but not "graphic sex".  Lots of kissing!

[pedln]

Sorry to hear about Steph.  I hope her recovery won't interfere with the trip to Europe she has planned with her granddaughter.

Annie, glad to hear you're home, fixed up, and things are going smoothly.

Ginny, I've just added The Straight Story to the top of my Netflix queue. Nebraska has been there for a while, but every other day they change its status to "long wait."

Rosemary, one does wonder how we got along without all these "tech things."  I went off to play cards the other night and forgot to bring my purse. In town it wouldn't have mattered so much, but this was out in the county. Wore my prescription sun glasses out there and then had to borrow my hostess' Walmart magnifiers for the evening and the trip home. But what bothered me the most was driving alone at night and not havinga cell phone. Ended up with two ofl the other gals there following me part way home.

Bellamarie, I want a big screen for my eyes, too.  My 9-yr-old XP is going to the basement and I'm getting a 23" touch All-in-one.   Can't wait to pinch and expand the print of those articles in the NY Times and Wall St. Journal.  I can read about two minutes on the phone, but that's about it.