The Library

[Frybabe]

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.

Thanks Mary. Maybe YouTube Has it. Sony doesn't have BookTV in it's line-up.  Roku does, but I need to reset the password on it before I can use the thing again. I've been putting that off since I rarely use the upstairs TV. That is where it and my old flat screen TV went when I got the SmartTV a while back. Sheer laziness on my part.

[maryz]

Frybabe, I meant you could watch it on their web site.  I think this link will take you there.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?417269-1/born-crime 

[ginny]

Snow, snow, beautiful snow!!  Still coming down. I love snow. hahahaa.

Mary I'm sorry, I completely forget to not  use green here as I use it everywhere else, it's not deliberate!

That's a great idea, Ann!

Rosemary If that's daft there's no hope for any of us. hahaha

The new issue of the New Yorker (talking about daft) takes up the issue of talking to one's self and when it IS daft, I think it's quite interesting. I feel vindicated. I always knew Agatha Christie talked out her plots out loud, it's a sign of creativity this article says and actually helps memory,  unless you hear voices in your head.  They are doing a lot of research on it, but that appears to be a precis of what they said, I need to sit down and read it more carefully; it's quite long and involved.

Oh yes I was so proud of self last night until I took one last glance at the little henhouse porch as it was getting dark...and... behold, was that movement? It was getting dark fast, was that...yes...it's that crippled black hen (I say crippled, she, like a lot of us, is old and  sagging in this or that part, doesn't stop her tho but still it limits her mobility). Is she still out? It's hard to see a black hen in the shadows of a sleet storm at sunset.

Binoculars out I rush to the room closest to the hen house where the  binoculars reveal yes, a black hen  is attempting to jump up the side of the ramp,  not walk up from the bottom. . Jumps and fails. Jumps and fails. Oh for Pete's sake. So out I go with a flashlight into the sleet, meeting my husband bringing down wood for the fire,  and I shout over the wind at him where I'm going but...BUT ...when I get there she somehow miraculously has not only managed to get in the house she's now attempting to join the others on the ceiling high roosts. If that's IS the same black hen,  we have 2 black  hens in the flock.  I can't see thru the tiny slats in the hen house  well enough to see if the other is in there. I am NOT opening the door and having them all get off those roosts!!  I ask my (very long suffering) husband if he will check it on his way back to the barn, because it's dark and my eyes aren't good in the dark.

I've just about knocked the...stuff.... off my boots when the motion lights come on, on  the chicken house indicating a predator is lurking,  but it's only  my husband coming down that drive and he says that not only are both of the black hens  in the house but one is on the very top roost (about 10 feet off the ground) and  the other is on the rung below her. So all is well. This time.


I know we talked about Australian author Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies, I can't remember if any of you have read it and what you thought about it? It's in paperback  and it seems it's suddenly talked about  everywhere here as they've just made a new movie out of it. Apparently Reese Witherspoon read it in one day, couldn't put it down, Nicole Kidman read it in one day couldn't put it down and she's produced?  directed?  a movie out of  it,  including Saoirse Ronan  (Brooklyn, The Grand Budapest Hotel) , and an all star cast: they are all carrying on about it.  The plot looks wonderful..."dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive"..... and I'm snowbound.

In searching for it in the various TBR stacks I also found Belgravia by Julian Fellows,  I knew I had it! Just the thing! It needs to snow for a week.

[rosemarykaye]

Ginny, I was telling my daughter about your antics with the hens and she said it sounded like Dorothy at the beginning of The Wizard of Oz, as the tornado approaches 

i know what you mean about needing it to snow for a week - there is something peculiarly cosy about snow, so long as we are lucky enough to be tucked up all warm and snug in our weatherproof houses. It seems to give us licence to sit down and read, when we would otherwise feel the need to run about getting groceries or other Useful Things.

I haven't ever heard of Big Little Lies, must look it up.

At this year's Edinburgh Book Festival I went to a talk given by Charles Fernyhough with Richard Holloway. Fernyhough is carrying out major research into voice hearing, and he talked about voice hearers from Margery Kemp and Julian of Norwich right through to modern day members of the Hearing Voices Network. It was fascinating. I did write it up for The Edinburgh Reporter, so if you want to read it, it's here: http://www.theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2016/08/edinburgh-international-book-festival-charles-fernyhough-voices-in-our-heads/
Feel absolutely free to ignore though

So glad to hear that the Little Black Hen is safe and well! Reminds me of the nursery rhyme:

Hickety, pickety, my black hen,
She lays eggs for gentlemen;
Gentlemen come every day
To see what my black hen doth lay,
Sometimes nine and sometimes ten,
Hickety, pickety, my black hen.



Rosemary

[Mkaren557]

Drop into the pre discussion of Cranford and sample what is to come when we begin discussing the book in Wednesday, January 11.  Everyone is welcome!  If you have never tried our online book club, this is a great time to start. We will be reading a novel  that can light up even the darkest winter day.  There is still plenty of time to get the book or you can even read the whole book online on the Project Gutenberg website.

[bellamarie]

Ginny your little incident with your black hen reminded me of my runaway Daisy, the white Havenses dog I was dogsitting for when my granddaughter Kenzie and her boyfriend went to Florida the week before Christmas.  I wrote a blog on it, and my granddaughter read it to her boyfriend's family at breakfast the next morning. Kenzie said they all had an "OH NO, then an OMG moment."  She said they were laughing and then worrying with each paragraph.  Thank goodness your black hen is safe and sound, as is little Miss Daisy.  Animals can surely keep us on our toes.  I still can't believe how I was crawling in snow banks looking for that little white dog in the dark of night, who blended perfectly in all the mounds of snow in my neighborhood.  We are too old for this!!   

I just bought Liane Moriarty's book The Husband's Secret.  I have a friend who was raving about it and I had to see what it's all about.  I'm with you Ginny and Rosemary, I love a good snowfall to where it keeps us huddled up in our house.  We had one just before Christmas and it melted last week.  We got a dusting the other day which looks so pretty on the sun this morning, but I am looking forward to the next BIG one to come.  Rosemary you brought back such memories with that poem.  My hubby and I used to read it to our grandchildren from the Mother Goose's Favorite Nursery Rhyme book we have.  The book is so old the poor jacket and pages have been taped over a million times.  We refuse to get rid of it because it holds so many precious memories of the days the grandchildren were on our laps reading it with us.  My 8 yr. old grandson Zak is autistic, and even though he had major sensory and social problems as a baby, before he was 1 yr. old he was reciting every poem in that book, along with reading every NO DAVID book I had in the house.  Thank you for that sweet memory this morning.

I am going to cozy down and begin reading the first two chapters of Cranford today so I can be ready for the discussion on the 11th.  Thank you Ginny for changing to the black font I along with others was squinting my eyes reading your green posts.   

[bellamarie]

Annie, 

So glad that the swim team was late. Also that the shooter is under arrest. What motivates these people, anyway?? Very scary!

It appears there was prior knowledge this man had mental issues.  I just don't understand how our security is so lacking in preventing these incidents from continuing to happen.  At least he is in custody and we can possibly find out more about him.  Thank God the swim team was safe.  Sadly there were too many fatalities and injuries.   

[jane]

We have, in my opinion,  severe mental health CARE issues in this country.  I know that in my own state the Governor...soon to be the US Ambassador to China...has closed down two state mental health facilities unilaterally and his staff directed another hospital not to accept patients, and he then shut that down because there were no patients.  DUH. NOT what is needed! 

[Mkaren557]

My son has schizophrenia.  It came on while he was a junior in high school; he is now 49 years old.  I tried to get him help and someplace safe to live, but no one would even talk to him because he did not have a diagnosis.  He got sicker and sicker, had two stays on the Psych ward in the hospital, and wound up homeless, but no agency would help because he did not have a diagnosis and does not pose a danger to himself or others.  I will just say that both my other son and I slept with knives handy. At this point he was 22; I opened the paper and discovered that Bill had broken all the plate glass windows on the main street. To shorten this story, he spent time in jail, tried to burn down an apartment house and to hurt me, and wound up at state prison.  At last he was safe - -at least safer than he was on the street.  While he was in prison I spoke out at a public meeting where the Commissioner of Mental Health was speaking.  I guess she remembered me because the day Bill was released from prison, he was driven to the state mental hospital where he was diagnosed and committed.  He, I am pleased to say, is being supervised by the state of Maine and seems well taken care of.  Of course, throughout this whole thing I could get no information about him, because of the privacy act. 
I share. this story to explain just how difficult it is for the parent of an adult child to get any help or to access the system.  So the only place he got any help was in the prison system, which seems to be the first level of treatment for the mentally ill in this country.  So, Bella, I hope you can see why a mentally ill person can walk into a gun shop, buy a gun, and got to an airport and shoot and kill people.  He was probably undiagnosed, entitled to his privacy, and has not shown himself to be a danger to himself or anyone else - -at least to the satisfaction of the mental health professionals.

[rosemarykaye]

Thank you so much for sharing this MKaren.

The mental health provision in the UK is also appallingly poor. Some years ago the government at the time introduced its 'care in the community' policy - which of course meant no care, just closure of many good psychiatric facilities to save money. The people who lived in them were simply sent out onto the streets, and those who did not have families able and willing to pick up the pieces mostly stayed there, or as you say, ended up in prison. Our prisons are also breaking under the strain, and I heard somewhere that a large proportion of the prison population has unaddressed mental health issues - prison is not where they should be.

Successive governments seem to have a very different idea of what families can and should be able to cope with than anyone else has - these poor families are pushed to breaking point by their child, sibling or parent's mental health issues, and as you say, our data protection laws now mean that doctors cannot speak to the family without the person's consent (unless they have been officially committed, which I think is rarely done, mainly to save money, as once the person is committed the health service actually does have to do something.) You are a wonderful mother to have persevered and spoken up at that public meeting; many people are not so articulate or strong.

The only thing of any material difference in the UK is that is is much harder (though not impossible) for anyone to get hold of a gun.

Rosemary

[Frybabe]

Way too common. I knew at least three people affected similarly. Two of them had mothers who tried to kill them; one of those was sent to the criminally insane facility in Norristown. A former neighbor of mine had a relative would just up and leave without warning and sometimes disappear for months.

[Frybabe]

I picked up T. P. Wiseman's Remembering the Roman People to read while waiting at the ENT's office. (Guess what! Now I've lost most of my sense of taste).

Also started, Cranford, for the upcoming discussion and another Science Fiction, second of a series which includes political, military, economic, and religious elements of an empire in the process of falling apart. Forever Odd still needs finished.

[bellamarie]

Karen, thank you for sharing your story.  I too have a child who was diagnosed with a mental illness, bipolar manic depressant and phyzofrenia.  She had a learning disability throughout her school years which led to her being tested and was found to have audio perception.  We thought at the time it was a relief to know why she struggled so badly in school, not knowing at this time she had any mental disorders.  As she became a teenager her choices seemed to put her in dangerous situations.  Far too many to go into.  I can remember just breaking down and crying uncontrollably one day after not knowing where she was for days.  Our family feared, as yours did, once she was finally diagnosed and released from the psychiatric ward sooner than we felt she should be, that she could harm herself or one of us.  At nighttime we feared to go to sleep.  We were very blessed and fortunate because Georgia, Ohio and Michigan were instantly at our service for treatment for her. We have an excellent crisis center here in Ohio we could take her to if she got out of control. Our Catholic services helped with providing cost for her outrageous prescriptions while we were applying for disability benefits for her. While she lived with us in Ohio I made a stipulation she must allow my name to be on all medical access so I could talk directly to all her doctors, therapists, psychiatrists, and anyone else involved in her treatment and care or I refused to be involved.  I had to take a hard line where that was concerned if I was going to be a part of caring for her.  She resisted at first because she felt she could lie and manipulate me if I didn't have direct contact with her doctors, but I held firm and she agreed.  Florida where she lives now has been horrible.  They cut her off from any SSI benefits, which she was entitled to and had for years.  Her disorders are mostly manageable, but she suffers from episodes of anxiety frequently, and if she skips a dose of her medications she has a horrible episode of paranoia, causing a rough night for her and her husband.  Her husband will usually call me to calm her down.  She has a very loving, understanding husband, and she and I talk daily, sometimes more than a couple of times a day.  When one member of a family suffers from a mental illness I feel it effects the entire family in so many ways.  I'm not sure how she or I have survived over the past years but for the grace of God.  I cherish her and wish we lived in closer proximity, but then she loves Florida and we love Ohio.  I always joke and say she and I have a Barbara Walters/daughter relationship.  We love intensely, yet need our separate space to be our individual selves.  I am a smothering mother, she is a strong independent woman.  I pray for your son Karen, and for you and your family. 

We have a long way to go where mental illness is concerned, and it seems our government has fallen into a habit of only seeming interested in mentioning it when these type of tragedies occur.
As we learn more about this particular man it's appearing it was far more than a mental disorder that prompted him to committ this hayneous act of violence.  Politics are immediately entered into the equation and the media is always too quick to report before all the facts are known.  We have got to find a way to secure our airports, train stations and other places of high interest of attacks.  I feel we have gone so far worrying about a person's rights being violated, that we are ignoring and overlooking the obvious signs that are right in front of our eyes, time and time again. 

[rosemarykaye]

Again, thank you for sharing that Bellamarie, you are another wonderful mother. So many of us have these issues in our families.

I personally don't see how we can ever secure transport systems, especially trains and buses - in cities at least they do such short routes and people are on and off them all the time, it's not like planes. As you know, London has had its share of terrible terrorist incidents over the years - but people just carry on because they have no real alternative. As someone who used to use the tube (underground) daily, I am so glad I no longer have to. When my daughter and I go down to visit my mother I avoid the tube at all costs (not just because of the fear of terrorism, but also because it's so antiquated that the trains are always breaking down, it's terribly hot, and you seem to be packed in like sardines even outside the rush hours now), but now my other daughter will be starting a job in central London in the autumn, and to her it's just irrelevant, as it was to me when I was 21. The confidence of the young.

Rosemary

[bellamarie]

I agree Rosemary, we will never get it perfected on our security, but we have to pay closer attention to the red flags that are right in front of our eyes.  In so many of the incidents there have been prior knowledge.  I could not imagine traveling in what you call the tube.  I am a bit claustrophobic, the mere visual of your tube makes me anxious.  Yes, to be young and confident is a luxury, I fear I have lost over the years.  I am glad to see your daughter and my twenty-one year old granddaughter go about their lives in such a way, as they should be able to.  I am just always reminding her to be aware of the dangers.  We have some very strange reports of incidents in the places she goes daily.  The shopping mall is becoming less and less inciting to shop at these days in my city.

[BarbStAubrey]

Few folks know what to do or how to assist the mentally ill - in fact the judgment about anyone that is a victim of a life that includes out of the ordinary happenings that leave a huge personality disorder is not anything the public knows how to handle - so they judge and do not take time to learn but, want it to go away or for the behavior of those afflicted to be put is a safe so to speak so they do not have to deal with what they have no clue how to address - this is no different then the judgment of the public towards the Menendez brothers who were victims of horrendous sexual abuse - today, if they were girls there would have been a different outcome and still today this kind of intimate dehumanization and what it does to you is not understood - no one sees how child or adult put in a completely powerless situation where someone has complete control over your body and mind and spirit to humiliate and wound is similar to an illness in the brain that creates a powerless situation that takes over and controls a person -

So again, the public takes care of their personal life, family and careers and simply judges anyone who is not doing the same as pariah that is unworthy, deeming they can have their freedom as long as the contain their difficulties that no one approves of and then, there are those who prefer to see every outburst as an attack rather than a signal they need help - and yes, life is lost. Revenge is easy - mental and emotional health for the perpetrator/victim feels namy pamy - so we spend as many dollars on the wheels of revenge rather than on mental health. At this point in my life all I do is shrug - it will only change when folks, instead of viewing how the world 'should be' they accept reality and realize their individual experiences and viewpoints cannot be paramount when living in a community where some folks need mental health care - 

Onward - warming up here today - but it sounds like a great swath of the country is buried in snow - Yesterday did not want to go out in all that cold for the mail till late - at my front door were two packages - the one I expected - had ordered and received some wooden knitting needles the other, I thought was delivered to the wrong house or maybe miss-labeled.  Inside the large plastic sack was a calendar with everyday assigned as a day of celebration.

I know I never ordered this calendar - looking further the celebrating events were things like - National Whipped Cream Day, National Cuddle Up Day, World Thank You Day, Thesaurus Day, I'm Not Going to take it Anymore Day, Thank a Mailman Day, National Weed Your Garden Day, Turn Beauty Inside Day, along with the usual Martin Luther King, Valentine's, Groundhog so forth...

I was enchanted and rather than get rid of this I needed to find out how I received it - well after finally tearing open the large plastic mailer - at least 2 feet by 2 feet attached to the plastic with static electricity was the receipt - yep, to me all right but, oh my from Maria Widjaja - I was in tears - this very uplifting calendar from Maria - I helped Maria buy and sell her house 10 years ago - Maria's husband had died and her son wanted her in town nearer to him. Maria and her husband, a much older Viet Nam war vet with many issues lived in a small house they built themselves about 20 miles outside of Austin on a couple of acres of scrub land - that house was an eduction of how life experiences alters normality - Maria's mother was pressed into being a comfort women for Viet Nam soldiers - and her daughter was also part of the system that also serviced the American soldiers so that Maria had a baby at age 10 who was hidden, thank goodness, with family, yes in the north.

At age 12 the Americans were being evacuated and Maria's mother begged that this soldier would marry Maria and take her with him - in the turmoil he married her - he stayed married to her and some 20 years later they were able to get Maria's son to America - at first no love between mother and son and still there is a strong need to protect and care. Even today there is a palatable distance but no malice between them.

The kicker is - this house Maria were selling - the fireplace seemed extra deep - located in the center of the house with the front room on one side and a bedroom, bath and kitchen on the other - pull down stairs in the kitchen to a room upstairs that Maria said was her room - as I looked over the house in the bath, hidden in the closet was a small opening covered with a few suitcase that was directly behind the fireplace - What is the opening for Maria? Thinking maybe ash removal - Nope, that opening led to a secret hiding space built into the brick fireplace big enough to sit with legs bent up - Maria explained in all seriousness, so she could hide - not if but when the soldiers come. This almost 50 year old women turned into a 10 year old in front of my eyes.

Now this simple women, who learned english and works mostly as a checker or building displays at big box stores, every year at this time sends 'me' a small gift thanking me for getting her small house near her son - but this year her gift was so poignant I have to catch myself - to realize we can be grateful and positive regardless - so yes, her gifted calendar will be a daily reminder of how to celebrate the small good things in our lives.   

[ginny]

Karen I am so sorry to read about your son. {{{{HUGS}}}}. I can't imagine how hard and how traumatic that must have been and is. I am glad he's now receiving treatment.

Bellamarie, I am also so  sorry to read about your daughter's situation. {{{{Hugs}}} to you, too.  I agree with Rosemary about both of you.

Yes the Chicken story did remind me of you and the dog in the snow. I wish it were an isolated incident, a sort of funny incident,  it would be funnier that way  but unfortunately it's a way of life here,  I spent a good hour yesterday in 20 degree weather trying to get a beautiful white hen  back in when she literally flew the coop and the dinner brought TO her in the chicken house.

See even a chicken brain knows that when the cruise ship waiters bring a dinner to you in bed it's ridiculously decadent, best to keep your honor and fly the coop.

RosemaryKaye, hahaha hickety, pickety,  my foot. Your daughter was astonishingly prescient, except that I am the only person in the universe who has not seen that movie but I do know the book and yes,  that IS my life, only it's not one time, it's continual. It's more like:
 
And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting.

Or in my case, still is running, still is running. That's life on the farm apparently.

I love it, but at my age it's just as well we don't have livestock now. I can barely handle chickens.   

Frybabe you can't beat Wiseman, (the model for Dumbledore apparently), he's super good.

I've started  Maria Wyke's Caesar a Life in Western Culture, and it's very intriguing. Very simply written and easy to read. She traces  the perception of Caesar through the ages of history, countries,  and cultures.   It's absolutely fascinating. I am not sure all of her info is what the majority of scholars (or T.P. Wiseman)  think about some things, (like when Caesar's  Gallic Wars were published and read,  or how the French feel about him),  but it's riveting  anyway to read. She's got another one out as well, on Caesar in the USA, how his reputation rose and waned according to our own history. Fascinating.

My GOSH  Rosemary. I read that link. I printed out the pdf of the article, Voices in Our Heads.  I ordered the book The Voices Within: The History and Science of How We Talk to Ourselves.  It's the very thing the New Yorker was talking about.

It seemed like every other sentence I wanted to discuss with somebody. For instance:

Holloway asks about the mechanics of reading – do we sound out the words in our head? Yes, says Fernyhough, it takes us longer to read a word that takes longer to say; writers are ‘colonising our inner speech, making us sound out the words they want us to hear.’ 

I have a friend who is a very slow reader. Is this why? But how can it be the writer's fault?

The entire article is full of such things, that's why I printed it out.

Then I went looking for who wrote it. Somehow I had missed your statement of "I wrote it up..." Nothing on the bottom. Nothing on the top. Finally WAY at the top a byline.

I'll tell you what, THAT is one  fine piece of writing. We ought to discuss IT. The bit on tinnitus alone was scARY.

[nlhome]

Such interesting discussions in this library.

I read your article, Rosemary, based on Ginny's enthusiasm and the reference to tinnitus, which is something my husband suffers with. Thank you for telling us about it. It is a stimulating piece.

I am on the board of directors for our 2-county mental health agency. The issues are broad, our goals are lofty, and there is always first in consideration funding. A big issue we have is a shortage of psychiatrists, so much so that we now use a nurse practitioner when that need arises. Psychiatrists are in short supply everywhere, but particularly in rural areas. In our state, as well, education is no longer respected, so I fear in the future there will be even greater shortages.

[bellamarie]

Thank you all for your kind words.  nlhome bless you for any and all you do to help the mentally ill.  I met some wonderful people while going with my daughter for her treatment be it counseling, her behavioral management, psychiatrist or psychologist, and when she was hospitalized a few times.  These people truly cared not only for their patients, but wanted to reassure the parents, spouses or other primary care giver/loved ones they were there for us as well.  Rosemary, what a very interesting article on voices within.  My daughter with her mental illness has auditory hallucinations and will express so strongly how what she hears is real.  It is a phenomenon to me.

[Mkaren557]

     There are a book and a movie that helped me understand what my son was going through.  Wally Lamb wrote I Know This Much is True, which is about twins - - one is schizophrenia and one tries to care for him.  All of a sudden I didn't feel so alone.  The care give had the same experiences, feelings, and the same anger that I had.  The movie I watched with my son at the suggestion of his therapist - - A Beautiful Mind.  The movie is amazing and for most of the movie I wasn't sure what was real and what was not.  Bill told me that every day he struggles to figure out when people are talking to him if they are real and deciding if  he needs to lis to do what the voices he hears  tell him to do.  I understood that even on his medication he hears voices but they are not as powerful and he has more clarity.  Both the novel and the movie are difficult to read/watch, but they were therapy for me.

[FlaJean]

Rosemary, that is such an interesting and well written article.  Thanks for posting the link.

[bellamarie]

I read the book by Patty Duke called, A Brilliant Madness she wrote about her struggle with her mental disorder very similar to my daughter's.  I remember thinking as I read the affects her illness had on her family members that our family was not alone.  I saw the movie A Beautiful Mind at the theater when it first came out.  Russell Crowe won a Golden Globe, and Jennifer Connelly won an Academy award for best supporting actress, along with the movie winning best picture.  Once my daughter was diagnosed I could not research enough on mental disorders to help myself and her to understand what we were dealing with.  I would print out articles to take to the hospital to show her famous writers, philosophers, celebrities, doctors, etc., all suffer with mental disorders.  When she saw the list of names I know it helped her realize she was not the only one.  Knowledge is powerful! 

[bellamarie]

Ginny, 

Holloway asks about the mechanics of reading – do we sound out the words in our head? Yes, says Fernyhough, it takes us longer to read a word that takes longer to say; writers are ‘colonising our inner speech, making us sound out the words they want us to hear.’ 

This is interesting.  I took a speed reading course many years ago, and I rarely slow down to sound out the words when I read.  Through the course it taught me to almost skim the words, never stopping.  I like using this method when reading articles or very long books.  When I read for pleasure I rarely speed read.

[rosemarykaye]

Thanks for your kind words. Charles Fernyhough was such a great speaker - and so unassuming - and Richard Holloway such a good 'chair' that it was not difficult to write about at all, especially as the subject is so interesting. I like these kind of sessions at the Book Festival much more than the 'buy my book' standard thing you tend to get from celebrities. Of course Fernyhough has written a book, but he really knew his stuff and was able and willing to answer questions from the audience - you could tell that the subject (rather than his own ego) really fascinates him.

Richard Holloway is also quite a character. He is a former Bishop of Edinburgh but he now says he has little or no faith left. Many people in the Episcopal church seem to feel betrayed by him, but I can't understand this, as he is just being honest about how his thoughts have changed. He has written lots of books about his views on faith (and many other things). He is passionately supportive of many wonderful charities and minority groups, and a brilliant speaker in his own right. He has also written and spoken about his own childhood as the son of one of the Alexandria block printers - this is Alexandria in Scotland, not Egypt. His skilled father was made redundant as technology took over, and never really recovered from being 'cast aside'. It is partly for this reason that Holloway is so involved with projects to bring back meaning to communities with high unemployment rates.

He must be well over 80 now and he's still going strong. I love him!

[bellamarie]

Rosemary, 

He is a former Bishop of Edinburgh but he now says he has little or no faith left. Many people in the Episcopal church seem to feel betrayed by him, but I can't understand this, as he is just being honest about how his thoughts have changed.

I think when you have someone "of faith" guide you in a leadership position be it priest, pastor, minister, bishop or pope,etc., then turns from it, the people would feel betrayed. It's not that you deny him of him being honest to himself, it's more like you question if he was honest with you as a faith leader.  Not sure this makes sense to anyone else, but for me I can understand their feelings.

[rosemarykaye]

Yes, I do see what you mean Bellamarie. I am not only a member of our Episcopal Cathedral but also work in the cathedral office. I just feel that he did resign his post as soon as he could no longer reconcile his feelings with his position (there have been two bishops since him), so he was as honest as he could be. But I do take your point. I have tried to think how I would feel if our current Bishop (who is v good) or our Vice-Provost, who is a friend as well as a wonderful priest, were to act in this way, and I personally think I would be able to accept this, but I completely appreciate that many people might find it upsetting. Thank you for sharing your view on this - it is a tricky one for me as I was not living in Edinburgh at the time, so I was not 'on the ground' when it happened. He's an interesting person whatever one thinks of him, I suppose.

[bellamarie]

Wanted to share this with all of you.  Can't wait to watch it.

"She's every inch a queen. Victoria, starring Jenna Coleman and Rufus Sewell, comes to MASTERPIECE on January 15, 2017. #VictoriaPBS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS19gVw1Qbs

[Mkaren557]

               Cranford discussion starts tomorrow.


We will be on Chapters 1 & 2 until next week.  So drop in and share your thoughts and questions.  We have had a lively, fun discussion  for the past couple of days on body odor in the Victorian Age in the pre-discussion.  It will only get better as we engage the book tomorrow.  All our welcome. 

[Frybabe]

I ran across an interesting blog, this morning, posted on the Many Books site that points out that both movies and books seem to be getting longer. The article gives several possible reasons or combinations thereof for this.
http://manybooks.net/articles/will-books-be-getting-longer-in-2017

Also, a Many Books blog pointed out several TV shows that were inspired by books. Most I know about, but I was surprised to learn that George R. R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice was the inspiration for Game of Thrones. I expect most of you already knew this. I have not seen the TV show nor have I read the book, so I was clueless.

[bellamarie]

That is interesting, I have never read Game of Thrones nor seen A Song of Fire and Ice.  I read this article and what surprised me is they say books are becoming lengthier.  I for one am a bit turned off from a book if it is too thick.  They point out with the digital ereaders the books are longer due to not having to lug around a heavy book.  What really surprised me recently I ventured into a used bookstore that just opened and found a section of hardbacks only $1.00 each.  I was talking to the owner and he said people rarely like hardcover books anymore they prefer paperback or ereaders.  I was shocked to hear this because I LOVE hardcover books and dislike paperback, and I prefer reading a hardcover book to ereaders.  It was my lucky day regardless, because I bought myself an armful of hardcover books for a buck each!  I spent my afternoon sitting in Barnes and Noble yesterday wallowing away my time before going to my granddaughter's basketball game.  Coffee and a book by various CNN reporters covering the last few years on the election.  It was a wonderful book with tons of pictures and surprisingly it held no particular political slant.  Anyway, I browsed the "last chance" book section and found a book I thought I might like to read but could not bring myself to pay $5.00 for it when I just got books for only $1.00.  Just before Christmas I went on Amazon and ordered $40 worth of books and even paying that for six books was difficult.  Does anyone pay full price for a book anymore?

[rosemarykaye]

Bellamarie - some of our charity shops also sell off hardbacks, often almost brand new, and their staff say the same thing, ie no-one wants to buy hardbacks any more (in fact their paperbacks are often more expensive). I suppose this is for at least a couple of reasons - one being that people simply do not have space in their houses for big books (although maybe that is more of a reason in the UK, where our houses tend to be a lot smaller than American ones I believe - and especially here in Edinburgh where virtually everyone apart from the super-rich lives in tenement flats with no garage, basement or attic), the other being that hardbacks are very heavy to hold. I know both my mother and my mother-in-law can't manage them at all now, and even though I am, thank God, perfectly fit and able, I do find them cumbersome sometimes.

And I have to say I rarely pay full price for a book. I borrow from the library, buy from charity shops and as a last resort buy second hand on Amazon. Some of the people I work with have very strict views about this, and buy only from independent bookshops. They have a very dim view of Amazon. I know they are right bu I'm afraid my morals don't run that far.

Frybabe - I have noticed that many books are getting longer. I put a lot of that down to poor editing - I find that many new books could have been cut by a third or even a half. I think it's especially true with well-known writers - I'm not sure if editors are too scared of them to cut their verbiage, or whether they just think 'it'll sell anyway' so can't be bothered to read it critically. I feel that the later Harry Potter books were far too long and padded, and I have also found that with some of the more recent Louise Penny Three Pines books (in fact I have really gone off the latter).

Rosemary

[Frybabe]

Bellemarie, I prefer hardbacks too. Unfortunately, with the price difference, many times I end up buying a PB, but only fiction. Non-fiction I still buy hardbound, if they exist. I've found a few that only come in PB.

Rosemary, my thoughts too. I've read so many now that seem to repeat themselves in various ways as if the reader is likely to forget what came before. As far as ebooks becoming more lengthy, another reason for that length may be because of the way the authors are being paid their royalties (at Amazon at least). I believe Bart Boge mentioned in one of his posts in this discussion (Dec 29) that Amazon pays them by the page read rather than by the download. It appears that many people download books and then never read them. Guilty, kind of, but I do intend on reading them eventually; something else always grabs my attention. Some books I don't finish and remove from my list. Not very many. There are also a few that I want to try again thinking the book just didn't suit my mood at the time.

[BarbStAubrey]

I'm another who prefers hardbacks - I've noticed often the hardback used books are sometimes less than the same book in used paperback - funny - I wonder where folks read that they prefer a paperback - hmm I wonder if it is the weight of the hardback so that slipping a book in your purse to read during breaks or lunch it is less lugging than a paperback. To this day I am still shocked as I preview homes on the market and they do not have one book in the house - notta - and if there are bookcases filled with books the other agents consider that seller eccentric -

Well my sister at age 68 dyed her hair purple so maybe I should think about adopting some eccentricity since I have two rooms with bookcases in rows and to the ceiling of books and one smaller bookcases in two other rooms and a stack on the large coffee table in the Den as well as on the coffee table and end table in the front room and after all these years even books piled on a small table in my bedroom - for years I always kept my bedroom free of anything, reserved for sleeping and dressing. I find the room snugly and easier to keep warm and cool in summer so I've a comfortable chair and moved my small TV so that it is now my hang-out room in the evening.

I'm crediting the change in my hang-out room as why for the last two years I did not experience the awful winter depression I go through - I tried special lights and change in diet on and on - it was awful - but the den only has the sliding glass door on the far side next to the bay breakfast area where as my bedroom has a triple 9 foot set of windows with a desk and my chair in front of the window with only glass curtains so the sun and light comes in and at night I can hear the deer and that pesky raccoon trying to evade the watchful eyes of the next door cat - I feel a part of the day and night rather than shut away from it even if the fireplace lit in winters was nice it had me feeling secluded. OK still does not answer what eccentricity I should add to my life... hmm

[BarbStAubrey]

Finished up The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper - wonderful - well put together story - Arthur is in his late 60s and his wife dies - the fun ways he avoids one helpful neighbor in particular is a riot and on the anniversary of his wife's death he gathers his courage to clean out his wife's clothes and personal belongings - finds her boots and when he puts his hand in the boot he finds a beautiful gold charm bracelet that is so unlike his wife and the story begins -

On one of the charms that is of an elephant with a real jewel he finds a number etched and recognizes after having seen  TV show the week before that it is a number out of the country - dials and is astonished to be talking to a man in India who knew his wife. Seems as a young women his wife was his nanny and goes on to share the story of the charm, is telling him of something Arthur never knew and if Arthur is ever in India he must come to stay with him.

This starts a wonderful tale, some so funny you are roaring laughing outloud as he tracks down each of the charms and goes through all sorts of feelings, even jealousy, as he learns about his wife.  He re-connects with his two children. His son in Australia and the daughter still in England and for his 70th birthday they spread all the family pictures on the walls of the living room that show what he was doubting - that he and his wife had a good loving marriage and she was happy, not feeling as he imagined after learning all these wonders of his wife's earlier life that she was pretending.

He meets lords and ladies, famous authors, street musicians, an appraiser in a part of London he never imagined existed - visits London for the first time and even ventures into Paris to find out about each charm.

One charm leads, with some sleuthing to the next. The story shows Arthur re-connecting and the changes he makes in his life that is part of finding yourself when you are alone after so many years. All done as a wonderful story that is hard to put the book down - I read it in two night staying up the one night till way in the morning to finish it. When I did finish I looked up with a satisfying smile and pondered a few minutes before hitting the bed.

Great read - I hope you enjoy it as much as I did...   

[bellamarie]

Now that is interesting, paying author's by the page.  Yes, now that you mention it Frybabe, he did say that and he encouraged buying through Amazon. 

Rosemary I have a home of about 1,600 sq. ft. living space that we purchased back in 1984 when our youngest of three was only in the second grade.  Since all three are married and my husband and I have managed to fill every, room, closet, dresser, nook and crannie.  I am just now looking into having book shelves built or bought to have in my living room.  I am not by any means a hoarder, so how is it we have filled a house bought for five now only with two?  I could not imagine down sizing to a flat or condo.  I can surely see why you would not want to buy too many hardcover books.  The resale shop did indeed sell the used paperbacks for much more. 

Barb, that book you just finished sounds wonderful!  Wow!  I would give the world to have all those book shelves you mentioned.  Your bedroom sounds like the perfect place to chase away the winter blues.  I have fallen into a stupor these past few weeks and can't find anything to shake it.  I long for sunshine!!  I can cope with snow and cold temps but I need ☀️ sunshine!! 

[Dana]

It being a very stormy day here and stuck indoors I have just watched the first episode of Rebus (quite old), never saw him mentioned here.  The books by Ian Rankin I have read as a Scot but never particularly liked, a depressing detective, and for no good reason.....anyway, I did enjoy that first episode, available on Amazon.  Probably because I liked listening to the accent which of-course I still have....if you like a nice straightforward detective story with that lovely Scottish bluntness which I do so miss....you might like to try this series (it does have subtitles!)
BUT.....do they speak with Edinburgh accents?  Don't think so, but I've been away too long.....certainly not Morningside....Rosemary....do you know?

[PatH]

I made a quick count of bookcases, and came up with 20--ranging in size from 2 x 3 ft to four ceiling-high built-ins.  And that's not all, there are books piled on top of some of them.  Unless I think a book is going to get very heavy use, I get the paperback, because it takes up less space.  Could I get rid of some?  It would be fairly easy to get rid of a quarter of them, but then it would start getting hard.  I do reread books, and refer to books I've read, and especially with the wide-ranging things we talk about here, I've been surprised at some of the books it's been handy to own.

That said, I do appreciate a book printed with beautiful type font on good paper and nicely bound.

[bellamarie]

Oh PatH.,  I seriously need to buy or build bookcases.  I love my books and can't depart with them.  I loan one every now and then to my daughter in law, but she is good in returning when she is finished with it.  I think I need to go get my eyes examined because when I place my glasses on my eyes really bother me, but gosh if I try reading a book on an ereader I not only lose interest quickly, I also start to drift off.  I think the light on the tablet or computer really is annoying for cozy, comfortable reading.  Nothing like having book in hand, afghan, cup of coffee, and my dog Sammy snuggled at my feet.  I love books, just not so much ereaders.

[Jonathan]

Are you enjoying your books as much as I am enjoying mine? I have them all over the house. Not a room without several shelves. How happy I am to have them. And at 88 they're almost the only friends I have left. My wife was very happy to share them with me, and, of course she had many of her own. But in the last year or so I found her more and more often with the book resting on her lap while she rested along with it.

I do have some treasures. Let me tell you about one. It's title is Poetic Pearls. Date unknown. Publisher: Rhodes & McClure, Chicago. It has a newspaper clipping attached to the front cover (wooden), consisting of an obituary on the infant daughter, Myrtle, of Mr and Mrs Charles Hall, 6__  South Arno street, with a date pencilled in: 1901.  I purchased the book on Cape Cod, many years ago. It seemed to have so much intrinsic value. One pearl is titled as: A New Poem by Lord Byron. Then it also has pearl clippings from newspapers inserted, such as: LIFE, which has lines like 'Get out and live it each hour of the day/Wear it and use it as much as you may./Don't keep it in niches and corners and grooves;/You'll find that in service its beauty improves.' Edgar A. Guest.

Anothe pearl with a misprint that puts me in stitches. The Rose, by Edmund Waller:

'Go, lovely rose!/ Tell her that wastes her time on me...'

Certainly the message the poet didn't wish to send. You are familiar with the original, aren't you?

"Go lovely rose!/Tell her, that wastes her time and me...'

[rosemarykaye]

Oh what a precious book Jonathan! What a sad and evocative newspaper cutting.

And I love the misprint

I too have books all over the house. It is normal for me (though my husband would like it not to be...). I think the only rooms that don't have any books are the bathrooms, and that is because I am afraid that the steam from the showers would ruin them.  I agree, they are like friends. I am not a big shopper for clothes, ornaments nor much else apart from books - in fact I think most Americans would be shocked at how little space most British houses have for clothes, especially flats like mine that were built maybe a hundred years ago.  I know if I had one of your walk-in closets it would have to be shelved and filled with books.

As long as we're not actually flattened by a bookcase I think our habit is fairly harmless.

Rosemary