The Library

[BarbStAubrey]

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.

[PatH]

The huge moon was visible here.  It was gorgeous.

[bellamarie]

We had a high of 7 degrees today, with a low of 1 degree.  We have a front coming in, bringing below zero temps.  I just worry about the children who have to wait at the bus stop or walk to and from school.  We took our grandkids out for their last day of winter break today and our car read 6 degrees out with a feels like -11.  Oh, I can tell you my winter coat was nice and toasty, but I do have to cover my mouth and nose with my scarf. 
Barb, I missed the full moon but a friend of mine captured it last night.

[PatH]

That's beautiful, Bellamarie.  Yes, you have it much worse than I do in temperature.

[rosemarykaye]

A belated Happy new year to all  - finally almost back to 'normal', only my youngest daughter still at home until the weekend, which is lovely. We are about to head out to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery to see the BP Portrait Award - this is an annual exhibition and we enjoy disagreeing with the judges' decisions   We're also hoping to see another exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery - Ages of Wonder, Scotland's Art 1540 to now.

We don't have your extreme temperatures, thank goodness, neither do we have the severe weather that's hitting Ireland and the west of the UK - in fact Edinburgh is quite calm and sunny this morning. My husband and I went for a walk at the Cramond estate on New Year's Day - we had done the same route in the summer, but of my gosh was it different in January - wet (rain started as soon as we had gone too far to turn back), and terribly muddy. However we did have amazing gingerbread scones at the Cramond Falls Cafe, so it was all worthwhile!

We also went to see The Illusionist at the cinema. My husband thought it was brilliant, but I don't think I really 'get' animated films, I get frustrated when there is no speech apart from deliberately garbled noises. I'm sure the animation was very clever if you are into that sort of thing!

Barb, The Wind in the Willows is one of my all time favourites, such a beautiful, elegiac book.

Yesterday I decided to sort out all my very muddled bookshelves. Took everything off the shelves, got half of it done and then it was too late - so now the sitting room carpet is covered with book stacks. Part of the problem is, if I try to put them all back neatly there is even less space than there was before, as I forget that I had them piled on top of rows, stuffed down the back of other books, etc. I've managed to find about 10 to give to charity shops - either duplicates or ones I know I'm never going to read (The Unbearable Lightness of Being anyone? Thought not! I can't imagine why I though I'd ever plough through that one - I fell asleep when we went to see the film...)

Yesterday I also heard the COSTA book prize shortlist announced on Radio 4. The winner of the First Novel section was Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman - has anyone read it? It is the frontrunner to win the overall prize.

Better stop now, hope everyone is managing to keep warm over there,

Rosemary

[Frybabe]

Hi, Rosemarykay. The temp here at 6am local is 5F. This will be the warmest day of the week, going to a whole 27 degrees F. Friday and Saturday will not make it out of the mid-teens. Monday we will actually get up to and over the freezing mark for a few days. It looks like the snow storm coming up the coast will miss us here in PA. They Philly area will probably get some, but not much. Most of the snow is expected to dump in New England. I am not going anywhere I don't have to for a few days.

[bellamarie]

The frigid temps have closed some schools and a two hour delay for many this morning.  I'm a northerner, have been my whole life, so I actually love this time of year.  Now that I am retired, I can pick and choose when to get out, except for tonight I must teach CCD class. 

Rosemarykay, you sound like tackling those bookshelves may end up being much more than you anticipated.  Good luck with finding the room for all those books.  I still must take all my Christmas decorations down.  This might be the first year I have not taken them down on New Year's day.  I stayed up til the wee hours of the morning after the ball dropped, so I was a bit too tired to tackle such a big job.  Plus, I do think I am going to miss all these beautiful lights, bulbs, nutcrackers, snow globes and red and greens.  I always feel a bit melancholy when I take it all down.  But as Alfred Lord Tennyson said:







Does anyone have any idea what book we will discuss next, and when?  I hope we can begin something at the beginning of February.     

[CallieOK]

Rosemary,  I've read "Eleanor Oliphant......" and thought it was o.k.    Here's the synopsis from my library's e-book list:


No one's ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine.
Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she's thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.
 But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond's big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.

Reviews:   "A charmer...satisfyingly quirky."—Janet Maslin, The New York Times "Books to Breeze Through This Summer"

"This wacky, charming novel...draws you in with humor, then turns out to contain both a suspenseful subplot and a sweet romance....Hilarious and moving."—People


Comments also say that actress Reese Witherspoon has bought the movie rights and plans to star in the film - no production date mentioned.

[ginny]

 What causes that? What causes a person who in other ways appears perfectly "fine," socially, as the title says,  to occasionally blurt out  (1) exactly what they are thinking regardless of whether or not it's polite or acceptable or (2)  the wrong thing at the wrong time? Or maybe those  are the same thing. Is it a learning disorder?

Is it some sort of syndrome? I am asking because I actually know two people in their 60's like this and neither seems to have any other issues  of socialization otherwise.  They are both extroverts and quite popular, in fact one of them was the most Popular Person in her class in high school (remember those superlatives?).

And neither have developed this in old age, it's just apparently part of their personality, and they don't seem to realize that others are taken aback.

[BarbStAubrey]

Not sure I understand Ginny - if this behavior is not new - it is part of their personality and they both have been popular and well liked is it only now that they are aging this habit is a problem and others are taken back where as all the years, before they were in their 60s it was part of their likeability?

If others have always been taken back by this behavior was their other behavior that made them so popular over shadowing this problem and now that they are in their 60s there is not enough other acceptable and admired behavior to overshadow the blurting out their thoughts?

Being popular and well liked may have been because they blurted out what others were thinking and others did not have the way about them to say aloud without calling negative attention to themselves and these folks knew how to be blunt in a charming way which became part of their mystic.

I'm remembering a movie with Julia Roberts - horse farm - husband that was the football hero and lived off that reputation but was philandering - she decides enough - attends Jr. League or some such group of women and is blunt - honest but says aloud what everyone knew about the behavior of the men and women represented in the group - all are horrified - her mother Gina Davis, put up with her philandering husband and following her daughter's 'I've had enough" she locks him out of the house - Julia Roberts falls for some horse trainer and her philandering husband tries to get them together - they do a wonderful sexy dance that everyone must have seen them do together for years and year but she still leaves him - they remain friends but for Julia, enough was enough - all to say, saying aloud what everyone knows is not what most of us do - but those who do, embarrass but are the mavericks that bring reality to the public bio of many in the community. Then the fine line is, if what is said aloud is true or an outrageous personal opinion or half truth just to keep the 'maverick' in the spotlight. 

[Jonathan]

It's out!!! And I can't put it down. Well, obviously I have put it down, to find out that we're into a New Year and that you're all still such avid readers, and eager to talk about books. Pardon me, Bellamarie, I'm still laughing over you're reading, at 3AM,  Shakespeare's account of Londoners polluting the Thames River! What would you like to talk about, next. Several have mentioned The Wind in the Willows as a good read. How about Lucky Jim, or Moll Flanders, or, Robinson Crusoe?

Or how about this latest? Tina Brown's The Vanity Fair Diaries? Everybody's going to be talking about it. Because everybody is in it. There must be at least 2000 cited in the index. I feel overwhelmed so I'll give you the blurbs from the dust jacket:

"The sizzling diaries of Tina Brown's eight spectacular years as editor in chief of Vanity Fair paint a riveting portrait of the flash, dash, and follies of the eighties in New York and Hollywood.

The Vanity Fair Diaries is the story of a young Englishwoman
-
barely out of her twenties, Oxford-educated, Fleet Street-honed - who arrives in Manhattan on a mission. Summoned from London to attempt a do-or-die rescue of Conde Nast's flailing new flagship, Vanity Fair, she is instantly plunged into  the competitive maelstrom of the
New York media world and backstabbing court rivalries of the planet's slickest, most glamour-focused magazine company. She survives the politics, the intrigue, and the attempts to derail her with a simple stratagem: succeeding. In the face of rampant skepticism, she triumphantly reinvents a failing magazine.'

The book is a splendid 'I did it my way' story. And a great break from another 'diary' I'm engrossed in, The Kennan Diaries, almost a hundred years of a diplomat, historian's life. Beautifully written, but gloomy at times about his country. Brown, coming from England, is all Hope and Glory.

You'll love it, Ginny. It will be up to your expectations. Perhaps I should ask you, 'How far are you in the book?'

[ginny]

I think you have your finger on it right here, Barbara: If others have always been taken back by this behavior was their other behavior that made them so popular over shadowing this problem and now that they are in their 60s there is not enough other acceptable and admired behavior to overshadow the blurting out their thoughts?

That's it. I see now, that's exactly it.  I'm glad that it is not some disease I knew nothing of, and when I get annoyed I don't have to beat myself up for thinking insensitive things. EF  Benson always said that those who are critical of others (blurted remarks) are always the most sensitive, themselves, and that's the issue, really, one can't SAY anything.    Good. I feel better, thank you.

What's out, Jonathan? The Tina Brown book? Yes it sure is, and I've got it but haven't done more than a cursory glance, my "pleasure reading," has really taken a back seat in this short Christmas break. I haven't had any time at all.  I love your description of it, do you think there's enough to discuss in it?  Since it's new I am sure the lines at the public library are long to read it, though, and that's always a consideration.

The last thing I read I REALLY got caught up in was Pachinko and I only had time for a couple of chapters in it, but it's really knocked the critics sideways, heck of a book.("NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST * A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW TOP TEN OF THE YEAR * NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2017 *A USA TODAY TOP TEN OF 2017," and on and on.

 I thought I knew what pachinko was but I had no idea what it is in Japan, etc., so watched some film on it and now have a better idea of what they mean by it.

Is it the Tina Brown book you can't put down?

Karen, that's the Quote o the Year, good for you!

[Mkaren557]

You were right, Ginny.  I just kept on translating and translating and it lifted my mood.  I just bought Pachinko I am looking forward to reading it.

[maryz]

I watched the PBS NewsHour tonight, and the program is starting a book club in conjunction with the NYTimes Book Page.  They said the main part of the discussion will be on a FaceBook group page, with some sections on the evening newscast.  Thought y'all might be interested.  This is the link to the PBS NewsHour web page that talks about it.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/introducing-the-pbs-newshour-new-york-times-book-club-now-read-this

[bellamarie]

All these titles of books you all are posting makes me anxious to go to my library and see if I can find a few to cozy up with, and read now that the Christmas season is over.  Well, I know my neighbor has reminded me more than once, us Catholics don't end the season until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Monday, January 8, 2018), but my decorations are all put away.

mayz, thank you so much for the link and info on the new book club.  I am very interested in this FB, Now Read This book club..

I was pretty excited to open my email today and found this from Goodreads:

Hi Marie,

Have you ever wanted to ask Kristin
Hannah a question? Now's your chance!

We're interviewing the author of The Nightingale for our February newsletter in celebration of her new book, The Great Alone. Since you've rated one of her books highly, we wanted to give you the chance to submit a question. You can ask her about her books, her life, or anything else you want to know.

Reply to this message with your questions by Friday, January 5. We will choose several of the most interesting questions for Hannah to answer.

This interview will appear in the Goodreads newsletter and online here. Missing out on our general, romance, or young adult newsletters? Be sure to sign up.

Thank you,
Cybil Wallace
Goodreads Editorial Team

Of course I responded with a question for Kristen Hannah.  I can't wait to see if my question is chosen and for her to respond.

Not sure if my question I posted above was overlooked, so I will post it again.....
 
Does anyone have any idea what book we will discuss next, and when?  I hope we can begin something at the beginning of February.     

Jonathan, I have never read The Wind and the Willows or The Vanity Fair Diaries.  As a matter of fact I am almost sure I began Vanity Fair Diaries and was having a difficult time sticking with it.  I will have to double check to see if I possibly bought it or borrowed it from the library, but it does sound familiar. 

Ginny, I have always been amazed at how some people can just blurt out something without thought.  I have a sister that has done this her entire life, and at her age now in her 70's she has gotten even worse.  I can tell you it has caused many relatives to back away from her, because they find it offensive.  I have always tolerated her, but I can say  many a times I have come home with hurt feelings.  Now that I am in my 60's, I just shake it off and say, oh well that's just her.  Her favorite saying has been, "If you think it, you might as well say it." My mother's saying raising us seven siblings was, "Just because you think it, doesn't mean you should say it."   Can you guess the two of them were never very close.  I can't imagine anyone being popular with such bluntness.

[rosemarykaye]

I agree bellamarie - my mother-in-law is a fine example of someone who says what she thinks before she's even had time to review it herself - but is hugely sensitive to anyone else's criticism, real or imagined. I have been offended by her many, many times over the years as she has 'put me right' on my reading choices, my lack of interest in sci-fi, the fact that my degree is not in a science subject (and therefore does not count as an education in their family), my not going back to work the minute my first child was born (she was only able to do this because she was rich and had a nanny and a housekeeper, plus her own mother lived opposite them - but let's not allow the facts to cloud the argument, as my husband so often says in relation to his mother...).....  These days I try to let it roll off me (which is the only thing you can do, as she's got much worse with age) - this week she was extremely unpleasant to my husband (I wasn't there) and I was cross on his behalf, but he said he's decided not to take any notice as it's just her. At her age I think he's right, but I wish I had challenged her more when I was younger - like you, I was brought up to behave very differently and saying what I think does not come naturally!

I'd be happy to read Wind in the Willows as a group - or indeed Lucky Jim. I have read Moll Flanders and Robinson Crusoe, but in the dim distant past, and I'm not sure I'd have the time to devote to them just now - they are long and complex, though of course also good reads. Anyone else got any suggestions? The Monica Dickens' book I read recently The Winds of Heaven has a lot of potentially interesting points in it about (English) women's lives in the post war period, the importance of keeping up appearances, the class system, etc but it might be too difficult to get hold of in the US, and its interest might be limited to a few 1950s obsessives like me!

Back to work today so I'd better remove this cat from my lap and get going...

Rosemary

[Frybabe]

Since people are making recommendations for future book discussions, I will put in my two cents. I started Wind in the Willows but stopped to read some books with a time limit on them. I'd like to finish it soon, but not sure what I could contribute in a book discussion of it.

I finished reading Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner last month. What a story! The story is very heavily based on real people, places and events.

Wikipedia has a summary that doesn't get too detailed with spoilers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angle_of_Repose

The struggle of these two mismatched characters to keep a marriage together in the late 1800's/early 1900's is well worth reading. The occupations of both partners, one an illustrator and writer, the other a civil engineer are well illustrated. Oliver was an overly trusting and hard working engineer who (along with his family) suffered set back after set back and disappointment.  Susan, who all the while wrote about and illustrated the West and its inhabitants, never really became a part of nor was reconciled to living in the West. She preferred the society of and moaned over the loss of her Eastern family, friends and sensibilities.

This book is very heavily based on Mary Hallock Foote and her husband, Arthur De Wint Foote. Plenty of fodder for discussion, not the least of which is the controversy over Stegner's use of material provide by the family. Stegner won a Pulitzer Prize for the book. Those familiar with California, Colorado and Idaho histoty may be familiar with De Wint Foote's engineering accomplishments.   

[Dana]

Has this group ever read Crime and Punishment?  As a major classic it is obviously worth reading.....a bit heavy going at the beginning......
 I am presently tackling it at a chapter a day and finding it a challenge....

[PatH]

Bellamarie, your question wasn't overlooked, but we don't have an answer yet.  We're working on it.

Everyone, it's very helpful to have a lot of suggestions; do keep them coming.

[BarbStAubrey]

Oh dear - Karen and Ginny, not sure I am ready to read a book that includes a wife having to compete for her husband over his attachment to Pachinko nor a story where a woman is so dependent on a man she has to accept whatever men want - There was a movie with this title back about 15 years ago about a young women needing eye surgery and turns to a secret life in Pachinko - unfortunately a film of her at work gets out and of course she is ostracized by family and friends. As I understand the current book Pachinko is about a young woman having little control over her life leaves her Korean home including her baby son for Japan where she ends up in Pachinko. Let us know Karen your reaction to the story.

Wow Dana you are tackling a tome - I like how you are reading a chapter a day - good idea - like you, I do not remember if we read it here but if we did it had to be over 10 years ago.

Frybabe I've always wanted to read Wallace Stegner - isn't Angle of Repose when he first moves to the west coast?

Rosemary yes, all those classics that their theme or characters pepper other literature - the one I have not ever read is Lord Jim - need to do that. I have the squeals to The Wind... love the wisdom in those characters - this time of year the chapter about Christmas is such a part of my joy over the dreaming/nightmare of Scrooge and subsequent Turkey for Tiny Tim.

Wonderful Bellamarie to be speaking with Kristin Hannah - her new book is not yet available but she never displeases does she.

Jonathan The Vanity Fair Diaries sounds like a good gossip - fun - we really do not have gossip columnists any longer - ha, except what passes for the news these days - oh dear but it's all become opinion hasn't it.

Thanks MaryZ - the book they chose is about race and the author's small town in Louisiana is the setting - looks like the news is influencing the books we choose - Korea/Japan - Russia - Race - I guess all we need is a book from or about Mexico and now Pakistan and of course Palestine is always with us.

Pat I am going to throw my 2 cents in - back some weeks ago hats shared she was reading The Bridal Chair - we have read several in the past that centered on art, which gives us a lot to investigate but this one has both the Jewish influence and the prelude to WWII in Europe.

"Beautiful Ida Chagall, the only daughter of Marc Chagall, is blossoming in the Paris art world beyond her father's controlling gaze. But her newfound independence is short-lived. In Nazi-occupied Paris, Chagall's status as a Jewish artist has made them all targets, yet his devotion to his art blinds him to their danger.

When Ida falls in love and Chagall angrily paints an empty wedding chair (The Bridal Chair) in response, she faces an impossible choice: Does she fight to forge her own path outside her father's shadow, or abandon her ambitions to save Chagall from his enemies and himself?

Brimming with historic personalities from Europe, America and Israel, The Bridal Chair is a stunning portrait of love, fortitude, and the sharp divide between art and real life.

"Only Gloria Goldreich could write a novel so grounded in historical truths yet so exuberantly imaginative. The Bridal Chair is Goldreich at her best, with a mesmerizing plot, elegant images, and a remarkable heroine who...will remain with you long after the last page."

[Mkaren557]

So I simply said that I bought the book Pachinko, not that we should discuss it.  I am very willing to read whatever the book club decides to do. It seems quite obvious to me that books that I suggest seem to miss the mark for one reason or another so for the time being I will leave book selection to those who are more in tune with the wishes of the club.  I have never read anything by Stegner, so that would be an adventure. 

[BarbStAubrey]

Karen are you reading Pachinko - what do you think - Ginny had good things to say about the book after she read a couple of chapters... I'm just remembering the movie and that Pachinko has its reputation and from what I understand, everything about Pachinko is the current topic of conversation in Japan - much as we in the US speak of various woman's issues.

[Frybabe]

babe I've always wanted to read Wallace Stegner - isn't Angle of Repose when he first moves to the west coast?

Barb, if you mean the author, I don't know. He moved around a lot. His son, though, is a Professor Emeritus from the Univ. of Cal. The novel itself begins on the East coast, moves to California, then to Colorado, Mexico, Idaho, then back to California. I haven't yet, gotten around to ordering a copy of Mary Hallock Foote's volume of letters (which was edited by Rodman W. Paul, an expert on California mining and agricultural history) from which much of the novel was taken.

[Mkaren557]

Barb, Pachinko is on my to be read pile.  I am currently reading the Celeste Og book Little Fires Everywhere which I am loving, and The Power Broker by Robert Cato, which is so heavy (pounds) that I can barely lift it.  The latter may take me the whole year to read.  It is the biography on my 2018 reading list.

[PatH]

Karen, I wouldn't run down your ability to pick good discussion material.  Cranford was terrific.

Not every good book makes for a good discussion, but so far all the suggested books that I've read are good material.

[rosemarykaye]

I agree Pat - I really enjoyed the Cranford discussion and it was all thanks to you Karen

[bellamarie]

I so loved Cranford, one of my favorite books I have read, and we discussed!  karen your choice was excellent and you did a great job as our moderator. 

I am open to anything, you all have wonderful titles posted, and I just look forward to going in any direction decided upon.  I tend to like non fiction over fiction, but I need to get back to enjoying fiction more. 

I am anxious to read The Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly: 

This is an excerpt from Amazon.com

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • For readers of The Nightingale and Sarah’s Key, inspired by the life of a real World War II heroine, this remarkable debut novel reveals the power of unsung women to change history in their quest for love, freedom, and second chances.

New York socialite Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French consulate and a new love on the horizon. But Caroline’s world is forever changed when Hitler’s army invades Poland in September 1939—and then sets its sights on France.

An ocean away from Caroline, Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager, senses her carefree youth disappearing as she is drawn deeper into her role as courier for the underground resistance movement. In a tense atmosphere of watchful eyes and suspecting neighbors, one false move can have dire consequences.

For the ambitious young German doctor, Herta Oberheuser, an ad for a government medical position seems her ticket out of a desolate life. Once hired, though, she finds herself trapped in a male-dominated realm of Nazi secrets and power.

The lives of these three women are set on a collision course when the unthinkable happens and Kasia is sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious Nazi concentration camp for women. Their stories cross continents—from New York to Paris, Germany, and Poland—as Caroline and Kasia strive to bring justice to those whom history has forgotten.

Not sure the availability since it is fairly new.

[bellamarie]

Rosemarykay,  Oh dear, I suspect it would not do you any good at this stage to speak up to your mil, but I can only imagine the hurt feelings you experience.  I have to say, I had the most loving, precious mil imaginable.  She was so dear to me, one time we were at a family function and my unbearable sister in law was treating me very rudely in front of the entire family members.  I was quite new to the family, so I remained silent and shied away from any conversation.  My sweet mil called me the next morning, apologizing for the way I was treated, and told me to never for the sake of the family peace, allow myself to be treated like that by the sister in law again.  From that day forward, I cherished her for caring about my feelings.  Not sure if I agree with the old statement, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks."  But, I do think when we allow a pattern to form after many years, it is difficult to change them.  I'm going to venture to guess, she is a mother who couldn't be pleased no matter how hard you or your hubby tries.  Because I had such a wonderful mil, I have made it a point to be accepting of my two daughter in laws.  With one of them, I do have to bite my tongue a bit, but I'd rather bite my tongue, than take a chance on losing time with my grandchildren, if I tick her off.  I weigh my words very carefully, but I do make my feelings known. 

[BarbStAubrey]

Easy to understand how the new Tax Law affects deductions on Real Estate interest and interest on equity loans or personal loans used for upgrading your home and how the new law affects your income bracket rate.

https://www.nar.realtor/tax-reform/the-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act-what-it-means-for-homeowners-and-real-estate-professionals

[Jonathan]

So many good suggestions. And it's wonderful to see so much enthusiasm to choose another book for discussion.

Karen, The Power Broker is a magnificent book. It is indeed a 'heavy' read. I've just put my copy on the bathroom scales and it weighs in at 4 lbs. That makes it both physically and mentally challenging. To read it from cover to cover,  all 1162 pages, is a magnificent resolution. I enjoyed it tremendously years ago; and I've often felt like rereading it. Here goes.

A very interesting companion book is Robert Moses and the Modern City: The Transformation of New York. Edited by Hillary Ballon and Kenneth T.  Jackson.

Well written. History made excitingly palatable. Robert Caro does write well.

[CallieOK]

Bellamarie,  "Lilac Girls" is available as an e-book.  I borrowed that version from my library.  I liked it.

[rosemarykaye]

Thanks Bellamarie - you're right. not much that can be done about my MIL now! I don't let her get to me any more. I think she has never in her life been challenged because she's very loud and forthright and her sons at least are far more like their father, ie very placid and don't want an argument. I personally hate confrontations, but I think if I had my time again I would now confront my MIL (her 50 year old self rather than her 80+ year self, I mean!). But what's done is done. The sad thing is, she is clearly a very unhappy person (hates her care home, hates all the staff - who are lovely and very patient) but I can't see a way to help her with that when she is so obstinately furious all the time. I am blessed with a wonderful daughter-in-law so I would do everything in my power to make her feel welcome. So far we seem to get along really well.  My son's mother-in-law and father-in-law are both very nice people too.

Going back to the books! Lilac Girls sounds interesting but I hope it's not too depressing? In these dark winter days I feel I want something not too heavy - but of course we should read what the majority want to, so don't worry about me (I so often fail to keep up anyway...)

Sorting out my bookshelves (still very much a work in progress I'm afraid) has unearthed numerous books that I meant to read and forgot about, so I am really going to try to catch up on my own books this year rather than buy/borrow new ones (famous last words, as i couldn't resist a copy of Richard Coles' Bringing in the Sheaves, which was heavily discounted (£2.50 down from £20) in The Works yesterday...)

Better get back to it now,

Rosemary

[BarbStAubrey]

The sun is out and the cold is not as bitter - not yet our usual warm but at least the arctic is not blowing through my attic and down the air ducts or under the doors.

OK this is what we have offered so far as a possible read - noted in maroon will be those books suggested that another said, for one reason or another - naw - rational for their naw is anything from a book taking too much effort, maybe not enough to talk about, it may be depressing read this time of year etc etc etc. Someone else may have even said something good about the book but we need to narrow the list and the 'naws' help to do that... Those in black are likely suggestions... Pat has indicated she prefers a group read centered in: classics, both ancient and more recent, things with a scientific aspect, some historical stuff, and science fiction.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine: A Novel
Lucky Jim - Moll Flanders - Robinson Crusoe
The Wind in the Willows
The Vanity Fair Diaries
The Kennan Diaries
Pachinko
The Winds of Heaven
Angle of Repose
Crime and Punishment
The Bridal Chair
Little Fires Everywhere
The Power Broker
The Lilac Girls
Bringing in the Sheaves: Wheat and Chaff from My Years as a Priest

[bellamarie]

Well, this is what Toledo Ohio looked like this morning, most all of the local counties closed schools.  I am on the state border of Ohio/Michigan, most all of the lower state of Michigan schools were also closed.

Toledo, OH, United States
Clear
-4°F
Hi: 9° Lo: -6°
Feels like -16°F

The sun has been up shining since 8:00 a.m.  It feels oh so good in my living room, but don't let it fool you, it is frigid out there.

The compiled list of books look very interesting.  I don't care for science fiction, but if one is chosen, I am okay with sitting this one out.  I never want to stop anyone from enjoying a good book to discuss. 

Jonathan I was wrong about the title I thought I had begun reading The Vanity Fair Diaries.  The title of the book I actually began reading was, A Diary of The Lady My First Year and a half As Editor.  It is about Rachel Johnson who was appointed editor of The Lady_ the oldest women's weekly in the world.  Rachel Johnson faced the challenge of a lifetime.  For a start, how do you become an editor when you've never, well, edited?  How do you turn around a venerable title, full of ads for walk-in baths, during the worst recession ever?  And forget doubling the circulation in a year-what on earth do you wear to work when you've spent the last fifteen years at home in sweatpants?  Will Rachel save The Lady-or sink it?

Okay, all Christmas decorations and Dicken's Village is finally packed away, my living room is put back together, now I am ready to settle in and continue reading a book I began before the holidays.

[rosemarykaye]

Barb - I didn't mean to recommend Richard Coles' book for a group discussion! I have only just bought it and haven't even started reading it - it might be awful! I do think The Winds of Heaven might be good though (and I have read that!)

Bellamarie - I have read Rachel Johnson's book and also seen the documentary made of her first few months at The Lady, which was (and probably still is) one of the most eccentric places in London. You can still see the documentary on Youtube and I think you would enjoy it. More recently she made another documentary called How to be a Lady, in which she consulted various 'experts' about how to behave - everything from flower arranging to riding side-saddle. It was very entertaining, especially the part where she is instructed in how to enter and leave a room in a ladylike manner - you'll have to watch the programme to see what happens!

I am still plodding through my mega book sort-out. I swear those books breed when I'm not looking....I have run out of shelves and they're still all over the place.

Rosemary

[CallieOK]

Some sections of "The Lilac Girls" were difficult for me to read because they take place in a concentration camp.  Two of the characters are "involved" - in opposite ways.  Not too sure I would want to explore that sort of thing in depth.   

[jane]

Those of you interested in reading Angle of Repose might enjoy reading the discussion we had of that book way back in 2002:

http://www.seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/archives/fiction/AngleRepose.htm

[BarbStAubrey]

thanks Jane - made maroon the title in our list...

[ginny]

I'd like to gently say that perhaps we should  not be overquick to categorize Pachinko? I only read two chapters but it's a new book and I doubt it has any relation to a 15  year old movie?  It's very much like Pearl  Buck's The Good Earth in the first two chapters and the only reason I only read two was I put it down so I could sink into it sometime and be totally immersed when the holidays were over.

 It was that good,  initially. Let's give it another consideration down the line, it's much too big to consider for a read in a month or two. Of course it might be the worst book ever written, but I don't think we want to eliminate  something none of us have even read on the basis of reviews.  We made that mistake with Wolf Hall, I would not like to see us do it again. Karen will get to it before I do, I am interested in her opinion once she's read it.

The pachinko thing might be enlightening, actually. Of course I'm talking through my hat because I haven't read it and apparently none of the rest of you have, either.

We could discuss Fire and Fury: the new Trump/ Bannon sensation.  hahahaha I'm 73 pages into it, it's not a book that demands much of the reader: a commuter type of read. I don't see anything surprising, but it's not quite, to me, what I expected. Sometimes I wonder if it's a hoax to sell the thing.

I came IN to say I am so glad to read that others have been experiencing in the past Those Who Blurt: thank you for saying that.  Misery Loves Company and I am glad to see I am not the only person who has had to encounter and deal with such behavior.  I used to think, in the case of the two people I was talking about,  it was stupidity,  and I still think so in one of the cases. In the second case, I am worried that it might be something more, both people seem totally unaware of the reactions of others and would be, and have been when one tries however kindly to stop it,  crushed if reacted TO in any  way.

 Sometimes I wish I still lived in New Jersey, they know how to handle that type of thing, but I  now live in the polite South.  So one sighs and mushes on. I'm not sure what's worse, the remarks or the sense of being victimized because you can't defend yourself. And that's just the one on one, most of the time there are other people involved, making it worse.

The deal is, as was said to Bellamarie, those who say they should say what they think need to be prepared to take the result of that , and they never are.

That's one reason I like EF Benson's deft hand with such things. If the world today was as he portrays in his comedies of manners,  it might be a better, (and funnier)  place. At any rate, I'm enjoying reading a few lines before drifting off at night.  Oh and on the new Mapp and Lucia series, I do now very much like the new actor playing Georgie. He does an interview on YouTube and he seems a perfect foil for the new Lucia. Amazon has  written that the one DVD they apparently they had of the new series is no longer available, darn it.

Rosemary, did you see that article from the BBC on people getting to run a bookstore for a... week or whatever it was, having the experience of running a bookstore,  somewhere in Scotland? It came  out over Christmas but is not a new thing, apparently.   I am trying to understand the appeal.

 It could be Wigtown, but I can't find anything on it now except old news about an Airbnb. I guess you pay for the privilege...The town is small and has TONS of bookstores already. How stressful would that be, to try to keep up with the appeal of the others. Or would one be able to encourage people to one's own tastes in that short time. Or? Obviously there is something I don't understand.  Sounds a clever idea, actually, people pay to run your business for you. I've had my head in the sand.

Happy Twelfth Day of Christmas now almost over.

[bellamarie]

Ginny it’s nice to hear from you.  Yes, I do agree with feeling like a victim in situations of rude, outspoken, hurtful words from family members.  Now that I am older, I believe it’s a form of insecurity on their part, trying to bully someone.  I do feel these type of people should be ready to deal with the consequences their outbursts may result in.  Myself and two other sisters discuss the wrath we would face if we ever confronted our sister about her outbursts that are very rude and sometimes vulgar, and we all agree to remain silent to keep the peace.  Oh would Dr. Phil have a field day with us.

I am perfectly okay in taking Lilac Girls off the list for discussion.  Callie, I may not be as tempted to read it after your comments.  I did not intend to read any type of book that gets involved in the concentration camps.  I don’t think I want, or need, to deal with that type of book at this time, if ever.  Thank you for enlightening us. 

Rosemary, Thank you for the heads up on Rachel Johnson’s book The Lady. I plan to stick with it.  I will check out the documentary.