The Library

[mabel1015j]

Have any of you seen this?

http://bettyvintage.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Rory-Gilmore-Reading-List.pdf

Apparently in The Gilmore Girls tv show, Rory is seen reading 339 books thru the series and someone has combined them into a list. They range from classics, to Peyton Place, to Harry Potter, to Nickeled and Dimed, to It Takes a Village. It's rather fun to check out.

I heard about it on the History Chicks blog, on one of their q and a programs. If you're the type who likes a challenge, this could be a good self-challenge to read thru the 339. I'm sure there's a page on Goodreads of people who are doing just that, but I haven't checked on it yet. I've read about 70 of them.

Jean

[BarbStAubrey]

I remember that list - I think it came out a few years ago - there are a whole host of books that the average collage student read today not on the list but this sure is a start for those who graduated back 15 and 20 years ago.

I've heard rumor the show is to be revived - I think with new episodes just older characters - they need to do something - TV is dismal - I am not interested in all this intrigue and power plays and the 50s and 60s look - not even any comedies worth a nod.

I am so looking forward to September and watching Football - never was a die hard fan but with TV shows holding no interest and the news is ridiculous with one outrage after the other instead of news that should not have a reporter's opinion I no longer am watching the news either - a good rousing football game will be just the ticket - oh yes, there is Tennis from that place on Long Island in September that is always riveting to watch.     

[PatH]

That's an interesting list.  Rory must be somewhat of an intellectual.  I've read about 70 too, 20%.  You could do worse than work through it.  There are some things I will never read, or finish, like Clockwork Orange, and Siddhartha, which I started and got disgusted with, and Heaney's Beowulf--it's glorious poetry, but it's not glorious Beowulf, which is a raw, primitive tale, with a strange meter which hits you on the the head like hammer blows, and is wonderfully exciting in its own way.

There are oddities.  Why is he reading Encyclopedia Brown--very good detective stories, suitable for 9 year olds?  And he reads Robertson Davies' The Manticore, which is the middle volume of a trilogy, with no mention of the other two.  I started with The Manticore too, but if you like it at all, you immediately go on to the other two.

I never heard of Donald Kagan , but he seems to have written a lot of books about a period of history I care about.  Does anyone know how good he is?

[ginny]

I started out boldly on the list and was feeling pretty smug when I had read the first 7  of 8 and then I hit the next section, almost a wipe out.  Some of these books are quite strange. It might be fun to bring them here in small doses and discuss some of them. I found myself making notes to ask you all about some of them, it might be easier to list them in 20's and see what you think.
Thank you, Jean, for this list.

RORY GILMORE READING CHALLENGE
1
1984
George Orwell

2
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain

3
Alice in Wonderland
 Lewis Carroll

4
 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Michael Chabon

5
An American Tragedy
Theodore Dreiser
6

 Angela’s Ashes
Frank McCourt

7
Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy

8
 The Diary of a Young Girl
Anne Frank

9
The Archidamian War
Donald Kagan

10
The Art of Fiction
Henry James

11
 The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Sun Tzu

12
 As I Lay Dying
William Faulkner

13
 Atonement
 Ian McEwan

14
 Autobiography of a Face
Lucy Grealy

15
The Awakening
Kate Chopin

16
 Babe
 Dick King-Smith

17
 Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American
Women
Susan Faludi

18
 Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
Dai Sijie

19
 Bel Canto
Ann Patchett

20
 The Bell Jar
Sylvia Plath

21
Beloved
Toni Morrison

22
 Beowulf: A New Verse Translation
Seamus Heaney

23
The Bhagava Gita
Unknown
24

 The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men
Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest,
and Saved 1,200 Jews
Peter Duffy

25
 Bitch in Praise of Difficult Women
Elizabeth Wurtzel

26
A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays
Mary McCarthy

27
 Brave New World
Aldous Huxley

28
 Brick Lane
Monica Ali

29
 Bridgadoon
 Alan Jay Lerner

30
 Candide
 Voltaire

So there are the first 30. I don't think, looking at some of those titles, that anybody need feel intimidated with this list. Usually these lists are "You Should Have Read or Your Education is Lacking," but this one is not. I am puzzled art some of the choices (of course this IS a TV show and maybe the writers here are listing their old faves),  but the choices puzzle me. I do realize the order is alphabetic.

It's amazing how many of these we've read here in our Book Club since we started, too.

But looking at this first group, An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser stands out, that's one of those you should have read and never did..  Have any of you read IT and do you recommend it?

To me it's in the category of Waterworks by Doctorow which I keep picking up, marveling at the language, wanting to sink  into,  and putting aside for other books.

Never  heard of Kagan.  Nor quite a few of the others.. Is that Brick Lane by Monica Ali on a par with A House for Mr. Biswas by Naipaul? THAT was a book. I hope it's somewhere eon the list, I'd like to read it again. Or House of Sand and Fog (which IS on the list). I love House books.

And then there's Babe, is that the children's movie? (Or am I showing my ignorance?)  And what of Brigadoon? Surely a Broadway Musical?

And what of The Bell Jar?  I'm not a big fan of Plath, should I be?

This, to me, is more the list of a well read 30 something, (but I  have not seen the Glimore Girls, who or what are they?) and not particularly a "must" read but more of a "you mean you haven't read XXX?"

(Not reading any book with "Bitch" in the title, sorry.) HATED Candide but perhaps read it too young.

[ginny]

But speaking of not wanting to watch the news,  I get almost all my news now as I've said from the BBC App, where I can pick and choose, and now they have a new feature Good News or something like that, I just saw that category this  morning, and it has several day brighteners in it. One story is of an immigrant who has just graduated a doctor in London? I didn't pay a lot of attention to where, nice remarks by him, inspiring,  and another on George and  Amal Clooney establishing a school for Syrian migrant children, in Lebanon, which is where she was originally from, in what appears to be severe need:  https://www.yahoo.com/news/george-amal-clooney-put-3-090532469.html. 

And there were other good news stories, too...or at least interesting somewhat harmless  news: 8-year old Roxy Getter, became the youngest girl to climb the famed Kilimanjaro Mountain. Roxy climbed the mountain with her family which included her parents, who are veteran hikers, and her older brother, 10-year old Ben. The family was vacationing from Punta Gorda, Florida and climbed the mountain during a family vacation to Tanzania.

And we have this in the US, too, these good news nuggets  come in a couple of minutes at the end of the broadcasts, on several networks,  at the end of all the screaming and latest antics of the politicians,  and the constant minute examining of this or that pundit  of the same incident 24/7, so that the ordinary news is lost, (or runs in a ticker tape like stream across the bottom of the screen...I think THAT ought to be reversed and all the hysteria confined to the ticker tape thing)  we have some little glimmers of light that remind us that the world is continuing anyway.

I think the press has  a lot to answer for. An institution which once actually helped guard freedom has disintegrated into an hysterical fight for the entertainment value of an item. The old reporters decry the new "reporting," and say our news broadcasts are nothing but Entertainment. And I think they are right. Not sure how "entertaining" they are, however.

[BarbStAubrey]

Ginny the BBC connect sounds interesting - for awhile I was reading and tuning into the Guardian but it too has gone bonkers since last summer - our local news is still news almost exclusively related to our area and the State - no national political anything which reminds me of a daily mud fight with a roller skating derby thrown in.

Interesting, talk about stories of folks who accomplish things with their life, here of late our local news has featured a clip about many who are making things and the amazing thing is, everyone of them do not have a TV and most do not even have a phone - It is hard to believe in this instant connected world but there really are folks living without wires attached to their ears or their houses and the things they can do and make are wonderful - from art, to quilts, to horsemanship, to music, to herbal products, shelves of daily bread, down to sling shots made from dogwood that is practiced to such deadly aim, bugs can be snapped off a tomato plant leaf.

Weaning myself off TV was difficult because of getting used to the quiet - only recently did I remember before TV everyone sang or hummed or whistled and some even spoke outloud. I had a grandmother who used to speak in a very low voice whole long poems - my mother hummed and my father, he was funny, although I am sure he was not trying to be funny, he talked to whatever he was doing - cleaning out the chicken coop the hay was talked to the broom was talked to, the hens were just told to go into the yard, everything he touched had a life that he spoke to - I so forgot all that - we were our own entertainment while we had the satisfaction of doing and making things.

I still like the Brit coms and Masterpiece theater so the TV will be on Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights and only briefly did I get in the habit of turning on the TV during the day unless there was some national emergency - now if I can just break away from facebook I will have it made.

Decided instead of trying to stop my attachment I will fill my time with the doing and the making so that I am feeling the satisfaction I remember feeling years ago before I started all this nonsense. Maybe it is just as well that I did not learn how to take a photo with my phone and upload it - just one more hook that would make more difficult taking back my life - actually all that we are doing is marketing ourselves and our dogs and our opinion of the behavior of others - craziness.

[Frybabe]

The National Book Festival, held in Washington DC, is on Sat. Sept. 2 this year. Here is this year's site listing for the participating authors. http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/authors/

One thing that raised my eyebrows is that Cokie Roberts is listing for one of the Children's stages. I didn't know Ms. Roberts was writing children's books.

[mabel1015j]

"Rory Gilmore" was a " very bright high school student" when the series started, so some of those books were books she would have been "reading" for her AP classes, others were probably just fir fun. By the time the show ended she was "graduating from Yale.". That explains the broad range of reading material. It isn't any kind of books-you-should-have-read list. It is just fun that someone put it all together, books Rory was seen with thru the years ofthe show. It was a good show. Nothing like it on tv at the moment. Maybe "This is Us" is close in concept and enjoyment.

Many of the ones I have read I read in high school or college, the classical ones mostly. I can barely remember now what they were about except in a very general sense. I had a problem with some of having to think "Did I read the book, or just see the movie?" 😃


Jean

[BarbStAubrey]

It's coming...

Surely everyone is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a wintry fireside; candles at four o’clock, warm hearthrugs, tea, a fair tea-maker, shutters closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies to the floor, whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without.

[PatH]

Jean,thanks for clarifying who Rory is for us non-watchers.  It's interesting that I thought Rory was male; the name doesn't help either way, but I wonder at my assumption.

Of course the list isn't totally what she wanted to read.  Some of them would have been assigned, or something a friend made her read, and maybe she read Encyclopedia Brown with a younger sibling.  And we don't see everything she read.  Nobody would work through The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King without reading The Two Towers, the middle book of the trilogy, even if they read them out of order.  And if she worked all the way through The Manticore, she would definitely want to read the first and third in the trilogy.

I didn't count seeing a movie as reading the book, but I did count seeing The Crucible acted as reading it, since I heard the complete text.

[bellamarie]

Ginny, 

But speaking of not wanting to watch the news,  I get almost all my news now as I've said from the BBC App, where I can pick and choose, and now they have a new feature Good News or something like that, I just saw that category this  morning, and it has several day brighteners in it.

Barb, 

now if I can just break away from facebook I will have it made.
Decided instead of trying to stop my attachment I will fill my time with the doing and the making so that I am feeling the satisfaction I remember feeling years ago before I started all this nonsense. Maybe it is just as well that I did not learn how to take a photo with my phone and upload it - just one more hook that would make more difficult taking back my life - actually all that we are doing is marketing ourselves and our dogs and our opinion of the behavior of others - craziness.

I rarely turn my tv on during the day.  I used to turn on the morning news while my hubby and I sat at the breakfast table to see what was happening, but they have turned into Entertainment Tonight formats.  I really don't care to hear about celebrities and Hollywood.  I'm not sure I could ever give up Facebook, because it has connected me with family and friends I would never be able to be in touch with on a daily basis other wise.  I am always posting and sharing my pics and events.  I don't get a newspaper, I don't watch much daytime tv, and have given up watching any local nightly news because we have to get through the shootings, break ins, and crimes before we can hear anything cheerful if at all.  I do dvr one show for news, and skim through all the repetitious reporting.  The great invention of the fast forward button on a remote!!

My biggest fear, is if we decide to give up all access, then we can become isolated to knowing what is going one good or bad, not to mention you can become a recluse which as I get older I do not want to do. I like staying on top of technology, even if I haven't a clue how to snapchat, but I can tweet and check my Twitter account.  Don't know and don't care to know about Instagram, Kik, etc., etc.

I glanced at this site and laughed because I think I only have heard of four on the list.

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/16-apps-and-websites-kids-are-heading-to-after-facebook# 


1.  Group me
2. Kik
3. WhatsUp
4. Instagram
5. Musical.ly
6. Tumblr
7. Twitter
8. Houseparty
9. Live.ly
10. Live.me
11. Younow
12. Snapchat
13. Whisper
14. Monkey
15. MeetMe
16. Omegle
17.Yellow

So while pining over not reading all or most of Gilmore Girls Rory's book list of 339 books, imagine not knowing any of these ways your children, or grandchildren are conversing with total strangers.  My fifteen year old grandson is in big trouble from what my great nieces saw post on his Snapchat account, and had the good sense to tell my sister (their grandmother), so I could inform my son and daughter in law.  Seems he had one account his parents knew about and one they had no knowledge of and they and others were blocked from seeing.  My son married his wife, and adopted her little boy when he was four years old, and it seems now that he is a teen he seems to want to glorify the lifestyle his biological father lives, a life my son saved him from.  I would not want to be a parent in today's world for nothing, but I also, as a grandparent, do not want to be ignorant and uninformed.  Social media is here and is going no where..... the press is all in knots because our President has taken to Twitter rather than daily news-press with the reporters.  Social media gives, and takes, power and control from us.  It's the good and bad of technology. 

But hey, if we did not have the internet, where would Seniorlearn be?

[BarbStAubrey]

Wheee - IT CAME - TWO books I ordered arrived and I am tickled with what I ordered - as a result of our recent discussion I decided to do something that has been on my todo list for years and years - every week I am making soup - if it lasts for several meals, all the better.

Oh I have cook books galore with soup recipes, some I have tried, some are old friends and very few that I never attempted but I do not have a definitive book of soups and that is what arrived.

I ordered used copies of both, Complete Book of Soups and Stews, Updated by Bernard Clayton, Jr and
Twelve Months of Monastery Soups: International Favorites by Brother Victor-Antoine D'Avila-Latourrette.

Beautiful books - wonderful recipes - many so easy and are new to me - I need to make some stock and freeze it - the difference in taste between homemade and store bought stock is amazing -

Just as mouth dropping amazing to me in another very different way is to see, no one buys cookbooks - they do not even want those I was going to sell last year at Half Price - and these I only paid $1.35 and $1.50 respectively - the Clayton, Jr book was originally a fifty-three dollar book!

First thing I do when a used book arrives is use Gone something or other and take off any paper stickers and then I give the book cover a cleaning and polishing with Novas plastic polish - not only removes any dirt but it cleans a book of 2nd hand smoke particles etc. - that is why I am inclined to order a used book from western states where folks hardly smoke and the laws about smoking in public make it less likely the book will come reeking as some do.

And so my new soup cookbooks are cleaned and I have perused both finding all sorts of wonders. The Twelve Month... has about 7 soups for each month so really I could have been just fine with the one book however, the other is such a compendium of soups and stews it is a lovely book to refer to before shopping as various veggies are in their  season freshest.

Another tidbit I never knew - if you eat a good filling soup at lunch you will loose weight - seems it takes longer to eat and it satisfies the body more than a sandwich so that you are not as hungry at dinner time and folks eating soup for their mid-day meal can easily loose a pound a week - interesting. 

I guess like most books - they can be downloaded and read from a devise but for some of us no devise can substitute curling up with a book and dreaming away at possibilities as we did in our youth.

I have several cookbooks devoted to making bread but with glutton causing havoc I've limited myself to Ezekiel however, I have read that we may be allergic to the chemicals used in the fields to keep weeds down and the chemicals stay on the grain which is ground up into flour - I am thinking of trying some flour from Italy and France available with Amazon -  Italy, France and Germany banned Monsanto products and so it will be a good experiment - used to make bread - not daily but in winter several times a month.

I'd love to know what are some of your favorite cookbooks and if you have a favorite soup recipe that you would share - ha - a senior learn collection of soup recipes.   

[BarbStAubrey]

OH Oh oh  looks like I opened another can of worms - I thought for kicks I would look into novels written about cooking - not recipe books or food books but stories - novels - bingo I found a hidden cache.

The usual summer type reads of divorce and healing and finding another mate - or lonely hearts cooking away their sorrow and the cooking aroma catches the nose of another - or even parents or a mate dying and cooking is solace - but other more intriguing - like - do y'all remember we read The Elegance of the Hedgehog - well same author takes one of the other occupants of the building as the absorbing character in Gourmet Rhapsody - she tells us about the food critique, who has aged and is still seeking one last singular flavor. A quote from the review of this book - "Muriel Barbery's story celebrates life's simple pleasures and sublime moments while condemning the arrogance and vulgarity of power."

Or, Cinnamon and Gunpowder - how about this for a fun read... "The year is 1819, and the renowned chef Owen Wedgwood has been kidnapped by the ruthless pirate Mad Hannah Mabbot. He will be spared, she tells him, as long as he puts exquisite food in front of her every Sunday without fail.

To appease the red-haired captain, Wedgwood gets cracking with the meager supplies on board. His first triumph at sea is actual bread, made from a sourdough starter that he leavens in a tin under his shirt throughout a roaring battle, as men are cutlassed all around him. Soon he's making tea-smoked eel and brewing pineapple-banana cider."

And evidently a National best seller - The School of Essential Ingredients - "Once a month, eight students gather in Lillian's restaurant for a cooking class. Among them is Claire, a young woman coming to terms with her new identity as a mother; Tom, a lawyer whose life has been overturned by loss; Antonia, an Italian kitchen designer adapting to life in America; and Carl and Helen, a long-married couple whose union contains surprises the rest of the class would never suspect...

The students have come to learn the art behind Lillian's soulful dishes, but it soon becomes clear that each seeks a recipe for something beyond the kitchen. And soon they are transformed by the aromas, flavors, and textures of what they create."

Goodness and found this - 50 books that are food novels
http://oedb.org/ilibrarian/delicious-reads-fabulous-food-novels/

OH my and look at here a whole host of cozy mysteries featuring food
https://www.cozy-mystery.com/blog/cozy-mystery-authors-with-culinary-themes-part-1.html

Looks like my TBR pile is going to get taller - there are at least 3 others that I cannot pass -

[bellamarie]

This one has peaked my interest so I just purchased it in hardcover, used for $1.00 + 3.96 shipping at Amazon.

The School of Essential Ingredients - "Once a month, eight students gather in Lillian's restaurant for a cooking class. Among them is Claire, a young woman coming to terms with her new identity as a mother; Tom, a lawyer whose life has been overturned by loss; Antonia, an Italian kitchen designer adapting to life in America; and Carl and Helen, a long-married couple whose union contains surprises the rest of the class would never suspect...

I just finished reading Here's To Us by Elin Hilderbrand, it has the actual recipes in the book the renowned chef Deacon Thorpe makes in his restaurant.

Laurel Thorpe, Belinda Rowe, and Scarlett Oliver share only two things--a love for the man they all married, Deacon Thorpe--and a passionate dislike of one another. Their fragile detente threatens to come crashing down after Deacon's tragic death in his favorite place on earth: Nantucket. Deacon's final wish is for his makeshift family to assemble on the island to say goodbye. Begrudgingly, Laurel, Belinda, and Scarlett gather together as once again they're left to pick up Deacon's mess. Before the weekend is over, there are enough accusations, lies, tears, and drama to turn even the best of friends--let alone three women who married the same man--into adversaries. As his unlikely family says goodbye to the man who brought them together--for better or worse--will they be able to put aside their differences long enough to raise a glass in Deacon's honor?

[mabel1015j]

I've found that books, or tv shows,  that give vivid descriptions of recipes only make me hungry - which is not a good thing! I have enjoyed some of the cozy mysteries where the protagonist is involved with food and she even provides recipes at the end of the books, but there has to be more mystery story than food. 😊
I have read several of the Diane Mott Davidson "Goldy Bear" books and they are fun. Even just the titles are fun - Killer Pancakes, Chopping Spree, The Last Suppers, Sticks and Scones, Dying for Chocolate, A Double Shot. Lol

And I've read most of Susan Wittig Albert's China Bayle series, which have a food relationship, but not enough to enhance my hunger. CB is an herbalist and has acombination herb shop and cafe. I like them a lot.

Jean

[BarbStAubrey]

owww an herbalist - now that sounds intriguing - haha yes, it is awful Jean isn't it how reading about food can get the hunger wanna's for something to take over - what was that one that they made a movie - something about Chocolate - in fact two that I can remember - one in France and it was something about her seeing the past and the future I think and the other in Mexico - all I remember about that one was the unusual way they had sex when married - lordy a hole in the nightgown - cannot remember the name of that one at all but again something about chocolate.

Have not found yet a book that includes making soups or stews - I am thinking a peasant type story but that is me stereotyping isn't it.

Aha Bellamarie you ordered - I think I will also order since it is one on my list and we can compare notes. It will be fun... the Cinnamon one has me thinking comedy - maybe not written as a comedy but the unlikelihood of the story line tickles me - an adventure at sea that isn't... 

[FlaJean]

Just finished Albert's latest China Bayles that came in April---"The Last Chance Olive Ranch".  Very interesting book and mystery.  As usual She inserts a little very good information at the beginning of each chapter about olives, olive oil and herbs.  Then on to the exciting story. 

[BarbStAubrey]

Oh my looked into the China Bayles and that series is extensive - mostly herbs but goes back into the 1990s wow Saw the one about the Olives - looks like that was her latest - have you read others FlaJean from that series?

I went ahead and order a used copy of The School of Essential Ingredients - seems to me the author who wrote about the Paris bookstore has a new one out about a Paris Bistro - more stories than I ever imagined with cooking as the basis. Amazing...

[FlaJean]

I've read all her books.   She is a Phd retired college professor.  Her newsletters always have some tidbits of herbal information and she also writes a column for a garden magazine.  I imagine her cozy mystery books have given her a good income as she is a good and popular author. 

 She wrote an interesting biography of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok called "Loving Eleanor".  Her "The General's Women" about the two women who loved Eisenhower is among other nonfiction books.  When you read one of her books, whether fiction or nonfiction, you know the information has been thoroughly researched.

"more than you wanted to know" 

[mabel1015j]

Yes, I liked her "Loving Eleanor" book. I'll have to look for "The General's Women" and as I said, I've liked all of the China Bayles series. I like the way she's wrapped the family's life into them too.

Jean

[bellamarie]

I saw this advertised on my Facebook today and think I may buy it.  Has anyone read this author?  i like you can get a bonus book Recipes From the Heart for pre ordering Bringing Maggie Home.

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/pre-order-for-bringing-maggie-home/

[BarbStAubrey]

Sounds like a compelling story Bellamarie

[PatH]

All I could get from the link was an order form, so I can only guess what the book is like, but anything with added recipes is a plus to me.

[bellamarie]

Another interesting find on my Facebook this morning.  Oprah's list of 51 books to celebrate her 20 yrs.  Our book club read The Good Earth.  Did we read The Invention of Wings?  I know I did.

http://www.bestproducts.com/lifestyle/g1939/best-oprahs-book-club-books/?slide=51&src=arb_fb_d&mag=bsp&dom=fb

PatH.,  Here is a link to Bringing Maggie Home telling you about the book and reviews from those who have read it.  That order page was for anyone wishing to pre order to get the bonus recipe book.

https://www.christianbook.com/bringing-maggie-home-ebook/kim-sawyer/9780735290044/pd/90145EB#CBD-PD-Publisher-Description

[rosemarykaye]

Oh dear, I've only read one of them (the Maeve Binchy). Started the Poisonwood Bible but got bored - passed it on to my mother, who loved it.

I feel so poorly read sometimes!

Rosemary

[ginny]

I haven't read it, but this morning I have been swept away by the latest Hugo Award for a novelette, whatever that is, in 140,000 words,  and it's entirely online.

Hugo winners 2017 (Partial list)

Best novel
The Obelisk Gate by NK Jemisin (Orbit Books)

Best novella
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com publishing)
Advertisement

Best novelette
The Tomato Thief by Ursula Vernon (Apex Magazine, January 2016)

Best short story
Seasons of Glass and Iron, by Amal El-Mohtar (The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales, Saga Press)

The Tomato Thief  is an experience. A genre I'm not familiar with, but I really enjoyed the ride. And it is really hard to get it out of your mind.

https://www.apex-magazine.com/the-tomato-thief/

[PatH]

That link worked for me, Bellamarie.  It sounds like a good story.

I've only read two of the Oprah picks: As I Lay Dying, and The Good Earth.

[Frybabe]

Looks like NKJemisin is on a roll. She also won the 2015 Hugo for Best Novel for the first of this trilogy, The Fifth Season.

She had some stiff competition in both years including Neal Stephenson's SevenEves in 2016, and Death’s End, by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu this year. I have not yet read Death's End which is the final installment of the Remembrance of Earth's Past that began with The Three-Body Problem.

I've begun reading a new book called Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan. It is okay, but after five chapters, I still haven't warmed up to characters.

[BarbStAubrey]

Never was a fan or kept up with Oprah's book club but I did read a few of her selections.

• Stones from the River - never did finish it - still on my shelf
• A Lesson Before Dying - Fabulous, just fabulous
• Where The Heart Is - a nice read - written to pull at your heartstrings
• The Reader - Wow - read as well his, Homecoming
• Tara Road - a bit more from Binchy than her usual.
• Daughter of Fortune - love Isabel Allende
• Back Roads - this was rough to read
• The Poisonwood Bible - we read it here on Senior Learn or maybe back when we were SeniorNet
• Cane River - started and another still on my shelf
• East of Eden - I thought we all read this back in High School
• 100 Years of Solitude - We read this here on Senior Learn
• The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - anything Carson McCullers writes nails it - don't we all feel isolated at times
• Anna Karenina - another I thought we all read back in High School along with The Death of Ivan Ilych and I remember tackling War and Peace that summer.
• The Good Earth - 8th grade required read however, we read it here on Senior Learn
• The Sound and the Fury - yep, read it back when my babies were napping. Did see Faulkner's Home before it became such a tourist attraction. There was a hush that made me feel I had slipped back in time
• Light in August - years later when we had to pay 10 cents to borrow a book for 5 days and then a nickle for every day after, I think it cost me something like 70 cents to read this.
• Night - never did read Day or Dawn
• The Road - some of his other stories like, All The Pretty Horses and The Crossing are closer to home
• Love in the Time of Cholera - loved his magical realism
• A New Earth - read this over the course of a year - prompted me to dig into other books
• Say You're One of Them - powerful - written by a priest in Africa - read the Christmas story to two of my Grandsons - made quite an impression.
• Wild - lots of different reactions to this story - I remember thinking, I heard this all before.

[Frybabe]

The only one I read was Light in August for a college class. Hated it.

[PatH]

If you want a really quirky list of books to check your reading, here's Abe Books' recent list of 50 essential fiction books (IMHO some more essential than others).

https://www.abebooks.com/books/features/50-essential-historical-fiction-books.shtml?cm_mmc=nl-_-nl-_-C170812-MRC-50histAMTRADE-_-b2cta&abersp=1

I've read 8:

The Three Musketeers: I read it as a child, and again in my 60s, and it's still a good swashbuckling adventure story, though Dumas takes liberties with history.

A Tale of two Cities

War and Peace: we read it here.

Death Comes to the Archbishop: even if you have issues with the proselytizing of the American continent, this is powerful and moving.

The Leopard: a good read.  When I reread it after having worked with a Sicilian colleague, I was amazed at the accuracy of the description of the Sicilian character.

Memoirs of a Geisha

Kristin Lavransdattir: we read it here, and the history is good as well as the story.

Name of the Rose: This seems to me to be more about Eco's own philosophy than the history, but it's enjoyable.

[BarbStAubrey]

Several on the list I want to read and several on my pile of TBR

Pat all of what you read except I did not read the Willa Catha - one I have wanted to read but do not even have it on my TBR pile

• The Three Musketeers
• A Tale of two Cities
• War and Peace
• The Leopard
• Memoirs of a Geisha
• Kristin Lavransdattir
• Name of the Rose
• The Other Boleyn Girl
• Wolf Hall
• Bring Up the Bodies
• Waverly
• Silence - reading it now
• Gone With the Wind
• The Far Pavilions
• Troubles
• the Hunchback of Notre Dame
• The Pillars of the Earth - as I recall it came out in three volumes and I only read the first volume

Like many of us I saw The Thorn Birds and never actually read the book - not sure I would read it now... I do want to read E.L. Doctorow's The March... I've The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet and Midnight's Children on my TBR pile for several years now - something else always catches my eye and so they linger in the pile. 

[bellamarie]

Barb, I have to say WOW!  You certainly are well read to have already tackled all or most all of the books on that list.

PatH.,  I've read a couple from Abe Book's list.  For my birthday my hubby bought me Gone With the Wind and the porcelain figures.  I have see the movie but not yet tackled the book.  LOVED the movie!!!

It seems so odd to me thinking back to how my high school never gave us any list of books to read over the summer like the schools to now.  I sure wish mine would have.

These look like some thrillers to read for summer.....

http://www.randomhousebooks.com/campaign/edge-of-your-chair-thrillers/?ref=PRHEF54B10A40&aid=randohouseinc19864-20&linkid=PRHEF54B10A40&utm_source=Random_House_Group&utm_medium=Advertising&utm_content=&utm_term=&utm_campaign=Edge_of_Your_Chair_Thrillers_Social_Facebook

[BarbStAubrey]

Bellamarie thank goodness they are getting back to giving required reading lists in school - I have always been surprised at how many books the average person had not read that were on the required reading lists - when I went to school in the 40s and very early 50s, the end of 3rd grade we were given a reading list of 60 books to read over the summer knowing that at anytime our 4th grade teacher would ask us to summarize the book in class - this end of the year list went on with an increasing number of books and with the added requirement to submit a book report on at least 10 of the books so that 4th grade it was also 60 - 5th it was 80 - 6th and 7th grade it was 100 and in High School instead of having study hall we had each semester, Library so that reading was an important learning tool.

I happened to be someone who liked the stories and list or not, I always had several books going at once - one on the back porch that I grabbed on my way out the door, one in my room and usually the required reading book on the front porch that was screened in with a sleeping cot where I sat and read with a glass of ice tea. I still walked the dog, spent hours at the beach with my friends, did the grocery shopping for mom as well as, cleaned up my room, dusted the living room and cleaning the bathroom was my choir along with doing the dishes after dinner - During high school Mom had me take my pre-school brother and sister for long walks in the stroller. I used to bring a book with me and read it aloud to them even though well over their heads but they knew each evening before dinner we would sit on the sofa together and I would read to them one of their books. That kept them out from under Mama's feet while she prepared dinner.

During my high school years I always had a summer job but, reading is what we did waiting on our friends on their front steps till they could come out or, sitting in an office waiting for our appointment or, while in any vehicle regardless where we were going. High School was an hour and a half bus ride away so that was a big chunk of reading time as well as doing homework.

I guess like kids today who text is how we read - I was not alone - we all read. I had not seen that kind of reading until the Harry Potter craze. I loved going to the new release fairs at the book store to see the kids get their book and immediately plop down on the floor, on the stairs, outside the building, hundreds of kids all engrossed, reading their book.

Actually I read less now than I did through my childhood and early marriage - partly because there had been no pattern to my day for over 30 years now - and when I am finished for the day, that more often is 8: or 9: at night, I am too wrung out since there is a lot of emotional energy being tossed around. I have not gotten into the habit of a light read or reading mysteries that many read to relax. Too many questions in my head and every book prompts several more - so onward...

[bellamarie]

Barb, After reading your post I now know how you developed your love of books.  I not only did not have any reading lists over the summer but I never had any access to a library, or books in my home, until I got to high school, so thus I developed my imagination and began writing my poems and short stories! 

[BarbStAubrey]

[Jonathan]

I put my book down just long enough to post this author's confession, after killing off one of his characters:

'I have sometimes regretted the deed, so great was my delight in writing about Mrs. Proudie, so thorough was my knowledge of all the little shades of her character. It was not only that she was a tyrant, a bully, a would-be priestess, a very vulgar women, and one who would send headlong to the nethermost pit all who disagreed with her; but that at the same time  she was conscientious, by no means a hypocrite, really believing in the brimstone which she threatened, and anxious to save the souls around her from its horrors. And as her tyranny increased so did the bitterness  of the moments of her repentance increase, in that she knew herself to be tyrant, - till that bitterness killed her. Since her time others have grown up equally dear to me, - Lady Glencora and her husband, for instance; but I have never dissevered myself from Mrs Proudie, and still live much in company with her ghost.'

An Autobiography, Anthony Trollope

[Frybabe]

Lovely essay, Barb. I love reading descriptions like that. Sounds like high summer starting to creep into fall. Red Peacocks? Apparently there are a few, rare.

Interestng quote, Jonathan. I have yet to read Anthony Trollope. In what book(s) is Mrs. Proudie featured? I have The Warden(which I started several times, but got sidetracked) in print and Barchester Towers on my Kindle.

[BarbStAubrey]

Jonathan your quote is quite an analogy but please let's not go there - a very marked difference in this part of the country compared to the views from the east coast and among the majority of those reporting the news - just the difference in explaining how the guy ended up crashing into folks is like night and day. Great Charlie Rose last night that was expressing truth versus propaganda. But then what we hear told from the media may even color how we perceive truth - oh dear - please let's just not go there...

Interesting Frybabe, a little over a week ago I felt something shift - I know we will still have triple digit days and we will be in the high nineties till late September but the birds are silent and the air has a stillness so that you could feel the earth getting ready for a new season - today it is so still with that kind of haze that we seldom see till late September where as up north this haze is typical the end of summer - I remember visiting my daughter a couple of times in September when she was still living in South Carolina and there was a thick mist raising in the morning - we do not get that nor other signs that were included in the Country Diary piece but you can feel a difference and the air is clear so that I can hear the distant highway noises.

It used to be before Austin became so large that we could hear the football crowds in the clear hot early fall air and all week you could hear the closest high school bands practicing everyday in the afternoons. Now unfortunately it is highway sounds. Reminds me of a family when the kids grow up and move on - big change in communication - ha never thought but yes, the air is clearer - not worrying about them or  the condition of their rooms so that we focus on what they are saying that got lost during their teen years with all our own head sounds of responsibility for them crowding our hearing.

[bellamarie]

Barb, What a beautiful essay.  I have been feeling the changes you speak up here in Ohio lately.  As a matter of fact I stopped in at the Home Store and browsed the Fall and Halloween aisles because I am starting to get Fall fever.  Believe me, when it hits me I have no control of the excitement that overtakes me, the smells of apple cider, burning leaves, the different flavors of cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and the cool mornings, with the trees turning their shades of orange, brown and yellow.  I look out my picture window and my dogwood is already showing me the colors of this beautiful season that is on it's way.  It truly is my favorite season of the year, and living in Ohio allows me to experience every possible thing associated with the Fall season, especially the beginning of my favorite football team the Michigan Wolverines.  I know.... you are probably wondering, wait didn't she just say she lives in Ohio?  Well, I was born and raised in the neighboring rival state Michigan and as the saying goes... "You can take the girl out of Michigan, but you can't take Michigan out of the girl."   My hubby was born and raised in Ohio, and is a true Buckeye fan, so imagine what our lives have been like during the college football season.  My boasting chant is Michigan still holds the most wins over ALL college teams, although I do believe Texas is in second behind us.  Yes, the summer nights are chilly here in Ohio, the mornings are a little brisk, and the colors are beginning to change.  Oh how I love this feeling!

Jonathan, Can you share the name of the book you posted about?  Sounds intriguing. 

Oh Barb, you are so correct in this statement... 

"But then what we hear told from the media may even color how we perceive truth"

I'm afraid not only is our season on the verge of changes, but our world as we knew it is indeed changing as well.  As I have said before, I try to watch the least amount of tv possible nowadays because "truth" as we know it, is no longer the "truth" we are being told by the mainstream media.  This president is not a perfect man, he may not say the politically correct things, we know he has definitely got flaws, he even needs to stop that tweeting that seems to get him in so much trouble, but the way this Charotlettsville incident has been turned into a political attack of this president, is such a sad day. I don't think anything he said, or time frame he did it in, would have mattered, the media and those who hate him would have found wrong in it.  How many different ways do you denounce all hate groups, and yet still be called a racist or bigot?  Tearing down statues won't change history, but I can say, those who think it will, have no clue as to the sacrifices brave men and women gave over centuries to give this generation the rights to act so foolishly.  My heart truly hurts for the division and ignorance of our country.  I thank God I have my faith, because without it, all would seem so incredibly hopeless for me in this crazy world. God bless America, she needs it now more than ever.