Author Topic: The Library (Read 2049749 times)

maryz · « **Reply #16320 on:** December 07, 2015, 02:25:32 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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Well, it has nothing whatsoever to do with books or reading, but I hope everybody got to see the Frank Sinatra's 100th birthday special last night. Such fabulous music, fabulous voices, and the wonderful original arrangements. If you missed it, maybe you can find it On Demand.

Steph · « **Reply #16321 on:** December 08, 2015, 08:44:52 AM »

Finally cooler in Florida, Feels more like Christmas now..

mabel1015j · « **Reply #16322 on:** December 08, 2015, 11:37:15 AM »

Yes, Mary, that was a great program on Sinatra's music, such great songs. I had no idea that Seth McFarland had such a good voice.

The Voice semi-finals last night was also a wonderful night of music. All of the semi-finalists are very good, even though several of them are still in their teens.

Jean

maryz · « **Reply #16323 on:** December 08, 2015, 01:26:42 PM »

jean, I don't watch The Voice, but it's been all over our news this time. One of the finalists is a student at Lee University in Cleveland, TN (just up the road from Chattanooga). They have a fabulous music department and this guy obviously has a wonderful voice.

Jonathan · « **Reply #16324 on:** December 08, 2015, 02:55:25 PM »

'Well I'm definitely not going to reveal the ending....'

Thanks, Rosemary. I'm a hundred pages into Laurie's 'Turkey book', and I don't want it to end...ever. But isn't she altogether wrong about England...'on account of its not being very attractive, what with the weather and not having many antique ruins, but above all the weather, for no one from abroad can stand this for long, and actually we can't stand it for long ourselves, but we have to.' (p82)

She's dead wrong. The nicest holiday my wife and I ever had was driving about England in May, from the cliffs in Cornwall to the moors in Yorkshire. And what brought it all back the other day was reading Mary Webb's little poetic 'The Joy of Fragrance'. England was in full bloom while we were there. The weather had something to do with that!

The things one remembers. Like the little retreat tacked on to the cliff at Morwenstow, Devonshire, where Stephen Hawker wrote his poetry and entertained Tennyson. I could write a book about enchanting England.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #16325 on:** December 08, 2015, 03:52:43 PM »

What wonderful memories Jonathan, I'm so glad you enjoyed visiting England. I live in Edinburgh but I grew up in suburban London.

I have to admit that the weather is always the great unknown if you plan a holiday in the UK. We have had wonderful holidays in Crail (a picturesque fishing village on the Fife coast) and terrible, raining-every-day ones in Devon. As a child and teenager I spent long holidays with an old school friend of my mother's who had moved to Fowey in Cornwall - to me it all seemed hot and sunny and beautiful, and I have wonderful memories of walking across the headland to Daphne Du Maurier's Menabilly, or taking the little boat across the river to Polruan and walking up to see a fabulous garden there that used to be opened for the Lifeboat charity funds by the couple who owned it. However, we have more recently had dreadful weeks in the Lake District where it just rained and rained and rained, and we felt we never really got dry. But we've also had such weeks in Spain and France on occasion!

I haven't heard of that Mary Webb book but I'll look it up right now.

And I am so, so glad that you are enjoying The Towers of Trebizond. I'm forever mentioning it to people who look at me as if I'm mad, but to me it is one of the most perfect books; it would definitely be near the top of my very top ten.

Rosemary

JoanK · « **Reply #16326 on:** December 09, 2015, 12:40:57 AM »

Have to find the "Towers" (although I have this thing about camels -- they are not my friends!

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #16327 on:** December 09, 2015, 02:30:45 AM »

Don't worry Joan, this one is neither cuddly nor friendly. It's more of a person in some ways...

Steph · « **Reply #16328 on:** December 09, 2015, 08:15:39 AM »

Ordered my copy of Tower from Thrift books.. so it is coming. Sounds like such fun.. I have to laugh.I have been in England,Scotland,Wales and Ireland in both rain, wind and sun.. The weather seems quite unpredictable, but when my granddaughter and I were there in 2014 in May, it rained close to every day and she still fell totally in love with London, rain and all.. She still raves on how wonderful it was.

Jonathan · « **Reply #16329 on:** December 09, 2015, 05:47:42 PM »

No, no, no...not to worry Joan. Our little travel entourage also includes a jeep for those who don't like humping it. Perhaps it is difficult to become friendly with a camel, but this one will surely earn your respect.

Now one of my almost perfect books is Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler. Remember him? His 'Lives' of Anglican divines was featured in 84 Charing Cross. Now I learn that there is a connection between anglicans and angling. So now I have rearranged the books on my shelf so that Walton's Angler nudges The Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England.

Surely Mary Webb's Shropshire must be lovely in any weather. Her books are such gems. She certainly has a way with words. The little piece on fragrance can be found in her The Spring of Joy. I feel shriven after reading her.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #16330 on:** December 09, 2015, 05:58:17 PM »

I am still enjoying episodes of Monarch of the Glenn from Netflix. I had no idea it was on for so many seasons. The scripts are sometimes a little silly, but the scenery of Scotland is so gorgeous, I love watching the show.

Jean

Steph · « **Reply #16331 on:** December 10, 2015, 08:33:41 AM »

Some of Scotland was truly lovely, some not so much for me at least. I should have known that the Loch Ness Monster had too much publicity and was really not any fun, but further up on the loch, it turned gorgeous again and there is a castle somewhere on it that is deserted, but oh so lovely

LarryHanna · « **Reply #16332 on:** December 10, 2015, 08:50:54 AM »

Mabel, my wife and I have watched several seasons of "Monarch of the Glenn" twice and enjoyed them both times. We didn't finish the last year of the series as they had changed most of the characters and we lost interest as it just wasn't the same, although the scenery remained outstanding.

pedln · « **Reply #16333 on:** December 10, 2015, 11:49:34 AM »

Just playing catch-up here after the Thanksgiving travels. Miss a few days and you really get behind. Am learning a lot.

Are electric frypans considered "old-fashioned"? I still use mine, once in a while, mainly if cooking something in a sauce.

My DIL gave me a Nigella Lawson recipe for breakfast bars --"eat your milk and cereal in bar form". It calls for condensed milk and the first instruction is "warm the condensed milk in a large pan." Then you add the milk to all the other mixed ingredients. I keep wondering, why a "large" pan. So I take the lid off the can, put the can in a pan of water and heat the water until the milk feels warm.

As for Dulce de Leche -- it was a dessert in Puerto Rico --

1 quart milk, 2 1/4 Cups sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla -- cook, stir until thickens, then cook 40 to 50 minutes. I never made it, but remember it being served in very small glasses. (From The Art of Caribbean Cookery, Carmen Valldejuli, 1963)

Steph · « **Reply #16334 on:** December 11, 2015, 08:05:58 AM »

I dont think the frypans are old fashioned, butdont see them in stores anymore and wondered if they were still being sold.
I like
Dulce in ice cream, but not as a pudding.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #16335 on:** December 11, 2015, 11:04:58 AM »

I think there is dulce in all ice cream I made at one time an ice cream that used honey for its dulce rather than sugar.

Steph · « **Reply #16336 on:** December 12, 2015, 08:45:55 AM »

My grandparents always used honey as a sweetener in everything. They did not like processed sugar. But I really meant ( senior moment) that I like the dulce de leche or caramel in ice cream.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #16337 on:** December 12, 2015, 01:25:57 PM »

I'll take caramel in/on anything! 😀😀

Jean

JoanK · « **Reply #16338 on:** December 12, 2015, 04:20:09 PM »

STEPH: we always found, going around the US, that the places we had heard about that you have to go to were touristy and crowded, but if we went down the road a little, we would find a place just as lovely, and not "touristed up". Sounds like that's what you found in Scotland.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #16339 on:** December 13, 2015, 05:52:11 AM »

Steph · « **Reply #16340 on:** December 13, 2015, 09:02:39 AM »

Oh my Barb, I do agree. I set out to do good and fall prey to books, books and more books..Thank heaven for my two sons who indulge their Mom in whatever she tells them on books.

ginny · « **Reply #16341 on:** December 15, 2015, 09:45:56 AM »

I'm reading a new book which I like very much even though I'm only on chapter 7 . It's called The Admissions by Meg Moore. It's about a family consisting of a busy upwardly mobile working mother, and father, and three girls, the oldest of whom, a star student, wants to get into Harvard, her father's alma mater.

It's got rave reviews, and is told from more than one viewpoint. Here are a few reviews:

"Every once in a while I read a book so good that the quality of my entire life improves.The Admissions by Meg Mitchell Moore is a fun, fast-paced, completely engrossing tale of a California family trying to get their eldest daughter into Harvard. Let me rave: this book is brilliant and enjoyable on every level. I LOVED IT! It's my money-back guarantee of 2015."
-- Elin Hilderbrand, New York Times bestselling author of The Rumor

“The Admissions is a smart, hilarious, compelling novel about college applications, suburban scandals, and risky secrets. I couldn’t stop reading about the Hawthorne’s—a picture perfect family who will “keep up with the Joneses” until they burst.”
-- Jennifer Close, New York Times bestselling author of Girls in White Dresses

"The Admissions is a realistic account of the pressures facing a family that is determined to have it all. At turns funny, touching and wise, it is a sharply observed cautionary tale about the high price of keeping secrets – even ones meant to protect them -- from loved ones. It is also a riotous account of the day-to-day pressures of upscale, aspirant modern life."

I don't read a lot of fiction but I am really enjoying this one. I didn't have girls, I have boys, but the dialogue seems real to me... Has anybody else read it?

pedln · « **Reply #16342 on:** December 15, 2015, 11:23:34 AM »

Sounds like a winner, Ginny. I've just added it to my TBR list. And timely. The next-to-youngest grand just started college, now have about ten years to prepare for the youngest.

Jonathan · « **Reply #16343 on:** December 15, 2015, 03:53:05 PM »

What a bittersweet ending to The Towers of Trebizond. Thanks for not divulging it, Rosemary. It is so moving, and every reader will be left wondering. Life is best as an illusion and the end of it should be a new beginning. But how painful to say 'goodbye to all that.' The only disappointment I felt was that the camel was not there at the end. What a companion. And why wasn't he given a name?

You should all find this book in your Christmas stocking.

Now I'm going to continue my mystical journey. It started off in Lourdes, in France, in Franz Werfel's Song of Bernadette, which is mentioned in The Towers of Trebizond. On my way home I'll stop in Delphi, to read The Oracle: The Lost Secrets and Hidden Message of Ancient Delphi, by William J. Broad. I've got a few questions for her.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #16344 on:** December 15, 2015, 04:03:20 PM »

Isn't it just, Jonathan? I know what you mean about the camel, but my sole criterion for books featuring animals is that they don't die at the end (I usually read the last few pages first if there's any danger of that...)

Have fun with the Oracle. Where does that line come from, 'And then I saw the Sibyl, hanging in a jar... and they asked her, "O Sibyl, what do you desire?" And she replied, "I wish to die"'?

I've had this on my mind for ages, must have read it in 6th year at school (?Latin class) but where does it originate?

Rosemary

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #16345 on:** December 15, 2015, 04:49:51 PM »

Interesting that y'all are talking about this book again - my copy just arrived not an hour ago - I've been bittersweet myself for the past week or so - so this may either make it worse or be a catharsis - but I did get a free book today from Amazon that looks like fun - some kind of a fun Christmas story - nothing on TV so that is what I'm spending the rest of the day doing - reading a fun Christmas story and getting started on The Towers...

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #16346 on:** December 15, 2015, 05:01:01 PM »

Jonathan, I am trying to determine if your "mystical journey" is happening through books you are reading, or if you are actually visiting these places?
I am, of course, going on the premise that it is through "books".

ginny · « **Reply #16347 on:** December 15, 2015, 05:18:23 PM »

Rosemary, one of the many myths about the Sibyl of Cumae (seen here in her beauty in the Sistine Chapel)

comes from Petronius the Arbiter's Satyricon, in which a character called Trimalchio had seen her with his own eyes, he said, hanging from the ceiling of her cave in a bottle, and when children asked her what she wanted, she used to reply, "I want to die." In the days of the Greek traveler Pausanias (2nd century A.D.) a jar was shown at Cumae said to contain her bones.

Supposedly Apollo desired her and when he offered her anything she wished if she would take him as her lover, she asked to live as many years as there were grains of sand in a pile of sweepings and these numbered a thousand, but she failed to ask for continued youth.

You have to be careful what you wish for, I guess.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #16348 on:** December 15, 2015, 05:52:18 PM »

Good grief she must do the work of a stone mason - look at those arms will you - whow...

Frybabe · « **Reply #16349 on:** December 16, 2015, 07:29:15 AM »

Rosemarykay, the quote is from Petronius' only surviving work, The Satyricon. Petronius was known for his satirical writing. T. S. Eliot used the quote in his poem "The Waste Land".

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #16350 on:** December 16, 2015, 07:42:15 AM »

Thanks - I think I must have read it in The Waste Land - I know I was very into TS Eliot in 6th year!

Steph · « **Reply #16351 on:** December 16, 2015, 10:22:06 AM »

If my life will just calm down a minute or two, I can start the Towers, but wow.. this week is complicated. But next week early looks good, so that sounds as if Towers will start for me on Monday.
Sybel.. Hmm, I would have guessed in the painting it was a man.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #16352 on:** December 16, 2015, 02:08:27 PM »

I presume the artist's model was male? Or that he copied another picture and just transposed this figure?

Jonathan · « **Reply #16353 on:** December 16, 2015, 02:33:10 PM »

Tomereader, your premise is correct. Some books carry me away and take me far from home. Saintly apparitions in Lourdes, aromatic delights in Shropshire, memories of High Anglican rites in Trebizond, and the ambiguous utterances of sybils on Mt Parnassus...I can't believe the reality when I put my book down.

Barb, there's a lot of fun in The Towers.

Stephanie, I thought of you when I put the book down.

Into the waste land at six...did that seem far from home, Rosemary?

Ginny, your post left me puzzled. My book, The Oracle, tells me that Michelangelo gave the sybil 'a place of honor on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel as one of the seers who foretold the coming of Christ', but the picture of her in the book is not the one in your post. Are there more than one on the ceiling? Splendid of you and Frybabe to find the answer to Rosemary's question.

ginny · « **Reply #16354 on:** December 16, 2015, 03:43:04 PM »

Yes, she cuts quite a figure, doesn't she? There's a reason why Michelangelo gave her that appearance in keeping with her role.

Jonathan, I don't know what the Sibyl in your book looks like....there is more than one Sibyl in the Sistine Chapel ceiling. This one is the Sibyl of Cumae which was the one Rosemary is asking about.

I'm sure there are many websites that show all the Sibyls and Prophets in the Sistine Chapel.

ginny · « **Reply #16355 on:** December 16, 2015, 03:47:57 PM »

This one seems to show them all, tho the comments seem specious. Which Sibyl do you have, Jonathan?

http://www.italian-renaissance-art.com/Prophets.html

ginny · « **Reply #16356 on:** December 16, 2015, 05:06:47 PM »

Pedln I believe you will like The Admissions. I'm really enjoying it but you know how that is, one turns the page and UGGG, didn't see that coming. So far it's excellent and the characters are very likeable. So far.

Steph · « **Reply #16357 on:** December 17, 2015, 08:23:31 AM »

Our f2f book club met yesterday..The book of the month was a stinker to me.. Mitch Album..."For one More Day" just not anything even remotely like I like to read. I skimmed, which is cheating , but the heck with it. Our conversation seemed to wander, since several of the members have alcohoism in their families.. But we also had to chose books for March , April and May.. We already had Jan.. The Nighingale, which I am reading and loving.. and February.. All the Light, etc, which I have already on my Kindle and will read after Nightingale.. We also have been invited to join in a birthday for our community celebration golf cart parade and were deciding on our theme. ( book covers of course).

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #16358 on:** December 17, 2015, 09:12:22 AM »

I had to read Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven for a book group (soon abandoned...) - I absolutely loathed it, and really have no idea why he is so popular.

serenesheila · « **Reply #16359 on:** December 17, 2015, 10:09:33 AM »

Oh, Step! I just loved "The Nightingale". Hope you continue to enjoy it.

Sheila

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Author Topic: The Library (Read 2049749 times)