Author Topic: The Library (Read 2086362 times)

Frybabe · « **Reply #18600 on:** January 06, 2018, 05:46:44 AM »

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, Jane, for posting the previous discussion of Angle of Repose. I think that was before I became a member. I get to visit with some SeniorNet friends no longer with us like Mal, Traude and PatWest.

I tried reading Crime and Punishment long ago, but soon gave up - too dark and depressing for me at the time. I haven't changed my mind.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #18601 on:** January 06, 2018, 07:42:40 AM »

Frybabe have you read Stegner's The Spectator Bird - that is the one I have had on my to-be-read list and wondered if you have read it yet. I did not join the group when they read the Angle Of Repose - but just as well because it is really The Spectator... that I would like to read.

Most of Russian lit is dark isn't it - it appears they see life as a struggle to be examined because the authors all seem write a story as a philosophical examination.

Mkaren557 · « **Reply #18602 on:** January 06, 2018, 08:26:16 AM »

Barb, I loved your observation about Russian literature. I once spent sn afternoon at the University of Maine trying to convince both the history and lit departments that there is a valid connection between history and literature. I was in the thinking out loud stage and stage but was bluntly told to stop thinking. Russia's history is so dark that it is only logical to me that the literature would be the same.
Have we read any Jumpa Lahiri in the book club. I loved The Namesake and wondered if that would be a good book to discuss. Or a collection of her short stories.

Frybabe · « **Reply #18603 on:** January 06, 2018, 10:49:27 AM »

Mkaren, I saw the movie, The Namesake, and read the book several years ago and enjoyed both. I thought I had her short-story collection,Interpreter of All Maladies, but I can't find it now. It is either misplaced or I never got around to getting it.

My sister asked me this week if I had read Memoirs of a Geisha. She is just now reading it. I read it years ago, but never saw the movie. Worth reading again, but there are so many other books that need my attention.

I finished Daughters of Destiny by L. Frank Baum a few days ago. It was short, light reading, mostly set in what is now Pakistan, probably in the 1880's give or take a little. Until I read this book I was not aware that Baum wrote anything but children's books.

Barb,Angle of Repose is the only book of Stegner's I have read. It looks like Stegner had a thing for writing about marriage and its various baggage and problems. It is not my usual kind of read, but I couldn't resist Angle of Repose for the snippet of pioneer spirit, fortitude, and inventiveness in the 1880s.

bellamarie · « **Reply #18604 on:** January 06, 2018, 11:12:37 AM »

Ginny, "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."

Surely you jest!

Indeed it is a hoax to sell the thing, and make ALOT of money quickly!

From what I am gathering on comments from the NYTimes, Washington Post and other media outlets, this book is fiction and incendiary. Sounds like Wolff used the tactic of chumming up to Bannon, to gain any access into, or around the White House circle so he could claim he spoke with people, on the record,when in fact he may have overheard bits and pieces from eavesdropping. Bannon seemed to have gotten this alter ego, from having a position in the White House hoping to become more important than he was. He has been proven to contradict himself by things he said in public interviews, versus what Wolff says he stated in the book. If he did provide Wolff with any information that is in breach of the privacy contract he signed, he could be in legal trouble. I highly suspect Ivanka Trump, Jared Kurshner, Donald Trump Jr., other family members, and close colleagues of Trump would just open up to Wolff, and tell him the things he alleges them of saying. I don't spend $2.00 on The National Enquirer. or any other sensationalized tabloids, so I certainly will not be spending $20.00, or even $2.00, to read Wolff's sensationalized theories and fictitious ramblings. This has only given the Trump haters more material to use on their late night and early morning bashing of our President. While I am not fond of Trump's tweets, nor his childlike come back remarks, or his past behavior, he has done more for this country in less than one year, than the past Presidents have in the last century, or maybe longer. Instead of trying to bash, and bring this President down, the media should be reporting about his successes. Like him or not these are the facts:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/nation-now/2017/12/20/president-trumps-successes-have-been-underreported-gary-varvel-column-nation-now/968842001/

This statement from this article pretty much sums up the book Fire and Fury:
http://thehill.com/homenews/media/367635-who-is-fire-and-fury-author-michael-wolff

In the introduction to “Fire and Fury,” Wolff writes many of the accounts provided “are in conflict with one another” and may be “badly untrue.” He says he “settled on a version of events” he believed to be true.

I quote, "he believed to be true."

One person's perception of truth, can be much different from another person's, so for me facts are believable, not what one believes to be true. Journalism 101 taught you must be able to prove your facts, with more than just one source. It saddens me how today none of these irresponsible reporters, journalists or authors, are expected to prove anything. We no longer hold them accountable for their false accusations, fictitious story writing, and slanderous remarks. I am in no way trying to make any type of political statement here, I just feel we need to hold all of them more accountable. The trust in the media, journalism, etc., is at an all time low. More people flock to the internet today than hard copy newspapers, magazines,television, or books for their source of news which is no more trustworthy than any of the others.

Hate sells, and so they moved up the release date of this book, to make more money. Hoax indeed!

End of rant......

Frybabe · « **Reply #18605 on:** January 06, 2018, 04:22:41 PM »

Yaaay Bellamarie. I agree wholeheartedly. BTW, I suspect Ginny was joking.

Dana · « **Reply #18606 on:** January 06, 2018, 04:28:28 PM »

Crime and Punishment IS depressing which is why I never could read it...touche Frybabe....and can only do a chapter a day, but it is a great book so everyone has said and I want to see why. Most universally acclaimed great literature really is great....Shakespeare and Homer for example. I don't know if Crime and Punishment is quite in that exalted sphere but I aim to find out! Anyone else interested?! (So far, IMO, it's not....)

PatH · « **Reply #18607 on:** January 06, 2018, 05:26:06 PM »

Dana, I don't think we ever read Crime and Punishment here. We did do War and Peace here, excellent and lengthy discussion, led by JoanK and Babi. It's the only Russian novel I've ever been able to finish, not counting science fiction and fantasy.

PatH · « **Reply #18608 on:** January 06, 2018, 05:30:22 PM »

Karen, your story is amusing. Certainly history and literature are connected. Two academics setting turf boundaries.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #18609 on:** January 06, 2018, 06:05:04 PM »

Exciting Library today - yes Karen, Russian lit is dark isn't it - you know your in for it when you start reading any of them - I went through a phase years back - I think I was in my early 30s and also in my late teens when it was one after the other - I was one of the few that actually read War and Peace in my teens that everyone joked about it being a door stop or weighting down papers. You enjoy eighteenth century authors was any of the Russian authors included - if you were suggesting at the University novels coincided with history and did read some of the Russian authors I bet you have a handle on some Russian History.

Amazing to me is seeing a few PBS documentaries and reading a few books that the Vikings were familiar with the rivers of Russia and used them to get all the way to the Black Sea or course sprinkling the makings of children all along the way. Even though the land of the Vikings, now Norway and Sweden have different politics I see strong similarities - Norway and Sweden have lots of government benefits paid by high taxes but it is a communal way of thinking where as Russia my no longer be a communist nation it is still a nation that sees community over individualism, so much so that those who become wealthy by pushing themselves above others end up over and over being the fall guy and landing in jail and stripped of their wealth. Even their sports heroes do not have the individual media attention that we see here - thinking about it you are so right - long cold winters have folks huddled together in heat-able spaces and so for generations they have had to learn to live as close knit groups and take care of each other. Interesting - yes your comment has me thinking outloud.

Like you Frybabe I too read Jumpa Lahiri when her books were all the rage - I smile with the memory because I just happened to tune into a British radio station or maybe it was a re-broadcaste here - anyhow... I was on my way to my daughter's in North Carolina and turning the dial, someone from the British radio came on with what was a weekly read and I heard the entire book, Namesake read for hours as I was night driving through Mississippi and Alabama on I-20.

Yes, and years back when we were SeniorNet and when the book first came out, we had a very good lively discussion reading Memoirs of a Geisha We used to sum up books and the summation was we did not like it - thinking back, I think we all had a strong women's rights streak that we were not speaking out about but simply lived it and the story of being dependent and the abuse women put up with, often from other women, did not go down that well.

Like Rosemary, I cleaned out my Library a couple of years ago and here it is ready for another clean out - I was shocked though - Half Price books never did pay much when you sold them your used books but, about a year ago, they became very very picky and will not even buy a book that you purchased as a resale -

Every book is looked up on their computer and I guess they must have a way to ID each individual book - They never did pay more than 10 cents for a paperback but now, even a hardback, regardless the excellent condition, unless it was purchased new they will not buy it. And so, it appears used books are best donated -

No wonder more and more folks are having those tiny house shaped 3X4 public book exchanges planted in their front yard near the curb - might just as well let the neighbors have at them - for awhile they were emptied by folks trying to sell them till I guess they too soon learned no longer were they an easy sell.

Bellamarie appreciate your 'rant' - My word have you ever - A sitting president besieged by folks who do not understand him nor do they understand those who voted for him. Their fault finding of the President is that he does not lead as other presidents, who many believe got us in this mess in the first place. And another big issue is the office is not changing the man to their liking.

Pat I forgot we did do War and Peace here on Senior Learn - and yes,

Dana warming to the idea of reading Crime and Punishment but would like something a bit less filled with awfulness for January and February - I could see tackling it starting early March with Spring around the corner but if others are interested now than I would be glad to participate...

Talk about opposing politics how about seventeenth century politics - here I was like Rosemary, vowing no more purchases till I read the books on my shelves that I only half started but... be still my heart... get this description from Amazon -

"An intellectual and emotional jigsaw puzzle of a novel for readers of A. S. Byatt’s Possession and Geraldine Brooks’s People of the Book

Set in London of the 1660s and of the early twenty-first century, The Weight of Ink is the interwoven tale of two women of remarkable intellect: Ester Velasquez, an emigrant from Amsterdam who is permitted to scribe for a blind rabbi, just before the plague hits the city; and Helen Watt, an ailing historian with a love of Jewish history.

As the novel opens, Helen has been summoned by a former student to view a cache of seventeenth-century Jewish documents newly discovered in his home during a renovation. Enlisting the help of Aaron Levy, an American graduate student as impatient as he is charming, and in a race with another fast-moving team of historians, Helen embarks on one last project: to determine the identity of the documents’ scribe, the elusive “Aleph.”

Electrifying and ambitious, sweeping in scope and intimate in tone, The Weight of Ink is a sophisticated work of historical fiction about women separated by centuries, and the choices and sacrifices they must make in order to reconcile the life of the heart and mind."

I'm trying to hold out till the end of the month as a birthday gift for myself. Can I last - this is worse then lent and giving up cookies, cakes and muffins.

bellamarie · « **Reply #18610 on:** January 06, 2018, 06:06:01 PM »

Yes, Frybabe, I heard Ginny's jest in her post.

PatH., How is JoanK doing, it's been awhile since she has dropped in. I miss her.

Dana, I'm not much on reading large books, I can barely keep my attention on novels. Kristin Lavensdatter's book of 1124 pages, may be one of the largest books I have ever read. Reading it here and discussing it kept me going. I remember deciding to read her other two books of the trilogy afterwards.

Barb, we were posting at the same time. There are so many used book stores popping up here in my town, and believe it or not, the paperbacks are selling higher priced than the hard covers. The owner of his shop told me the paperbacks are easier for the college kids to throw in their backpacks, and for women to fit into their purses and men to fit in their jacket pockets since they are all so on the go. I was shocked, but it made perfect sense. Me, I love a hard cover book, nothing more relaxing to me personally than holding a nice firm book, with a beautiful cover, that I know will last a lifetime. I'm not an on the go reader, I have to get comfy on my couch or in my bed with my cozy blankets, hot drink and my dog Sammy when I read. Maybe that's why it takes me forever to finish a book.

Barb,

Quote

A sitting president besieged by folks who do not understand him nor do they understand those who voted for him. Their fault finding of the President is that he does not lead as other presidents, who many believe got us in this mess in the first place. And another big issue is the office is not changing the man to their liking.

I couldn't have said it better, and this is why I prefer him over the other choices. I like someone willing to think outside the box, not go with the flow, same old same old. He is proving he will not conform to Washington, no matter how low his ratings go, nor what anyone else thinks of him. I was never one to follow the polls, I mean look how wrong they have been over the years. Like Clinton asks in her book "What Happened?" The polls had everyone believing it was a sure sweep for her. Oh my!

Okay enough.... I have been dealing with a bit of an ear ache, so I am going back to my Hallmark movie. Ahhhh..... now who can't enjoy a good Hallmark movie?

PatH · « **Reply #18611 on:** January 06, 2018, 07:21:06 PM »

Tag, I'm it as DL for the next book, which means it won't be Crime and Punishment. I wouldn't dare, given my track record with Russian novels, plus I think people might not be able to last living so long and intensely with such a heavy work.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #18612 on:** January 06, 2018, 07:31:31 PM »

Thank goodness Pat - someday but just not this day... I can breathe now...

PatH · « **Reply #18613 on:** January 06, 2018, 07:51:29 PM »

Barb, JoanK is OK, but her life is complicated in ways that make it hard todo much internet stuff, plus her new internet device is awkward to use in frustrating ways that make it hard to type much, and she's still getting fluent with the thing.

bellamarie · « **Reply #18614 on:** January 06, 2018, 09:31:09 PM »

PatH., Good to hear JoanK., is doing okay. Please let her know we all miss her, and hope she gets her new devices figured out. I know how frustrating it can be. Thank you for being our DL. Can't wait to see which book has been chosen.

PatH · « **Reply #18615 on:** January 06, 2018, 09:42:54 PM »

Bellamarie, I realized after I posted that it was you and not Barb who asked after Joan. I'll tell her you asked.

Frybabe · « **Reply #18616 on:** January 07, 2018, 06:10:31 AM »

I haven't been in my used book store in quite a while. The owner also got real picky about what books she takes. Too many were coming in that she already had that weren't selling. Also, what I discovered is that I can often buy a used book online at or lower that I could buy it locally. As far as online used books go, I noticed recently that some of the prices where almost as much as new. I have been satisfying myself with our Friends of the Library Bookstore lately. Can't beat a dollar for hardbound and fifty cents for paperback. Sometimes the bookstore gets books that a used bookstore rejected. Ed told me that occasionally there is a used book dealer who comes in to buy antique books for his store. Not wanting to bother with trying to sell a few antique youth books I had (several were first editions in okay condition), so I took mine up to Ed for the guy. That way the Library got a donation, while the guy got something he might be able to make some bucks on, and I got some more space on my shelves.

Well, I guess I am going to have to put The Weight of Ink on my list to find. It sounds like something I would rally like. We read People of the Book here some time back. The author was invited to participate but although she was unable to at the time, she did answer questions that the discussion leader emailed to her.

This month I am back to reading SciFi as three of my favorite authors in that genre have new books releasing this month. Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, Jack Campbell, and Marco Kloos.

Anyone interested in a detective series set in Victorian Russia, may be interested in Boris Akunin's Erast Fandorin series. I've read the first four, got sidetracked, and now see that he has 16 Fandorin books listed (some are novellas and short stories). I am going to have to catch up. They are really good. Boris Akunin is one of several pen-names used by Grigory Chkhartishvili, who also writes historical fiction and is an essayist and translator.

maryz · « **Reply #18617 on:** January 07, 2018, 10:53:11 AM »

Frybabe - check out Netflix or somewhere for the movie of Memoirs of a Geisha. We saw it as a preview here in Chattanooga (the author is from here). It is a gorgeous movie, and quite well made.

I don't post much - my reading has tanked over the years, but I still always have a book going. And I enjoy seeing what y'all are reading.

PatH · « **Reply #18618 on:** January 07, 2018, 01:26:12 PM »

Maryz, it's always nice when you come in and say hi to us.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #18619 on:** January 07, 2018, 01:50:51 PM »

MaryZ have you started a book after the holidays or are you still engrossed in a book you started before Christmas. What are you reading now... it is fun to hear from you - and even more fun when you share with us what it is you are reading...

Wow Frybabe - antique children's books - how old does a book have to be before it is considered Antique - The few I do have that could possibly be antiques I just could not part with - 2 from the Bobbsy Twin series that were my mothers from just after WWI and an early 6th grade reader from before WWI - my own childhood books would only be from the late 1930s into the 1940s and again since receiving a book was so precious, usually a gift, I just could not part with them.

Seems to me I read something that children's books only became a thing in the mid nineteenth century althougm there is that statue in Paris of La Fontaine, whose Fables, although written during the seventeenth century, were re-published to educate children in the nineteenth century. Hmm come to think of it I have never read his fables in total - a few here and there that were used more frequently - now there is a project - Dana is doing Crime and Punishment a chapter a day I think I will find La Fontaine's Fables and read one each day.

I just never could get into science fiction although, I do like stories that include fantasy - shocked when I saw, Robin Sloan is considered a Science Fiction writer with her Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore and now her Sourdough, where as I think of robots and things shooting through the air and characters dressed for the future or dressed in rags, fighting some impossible intergalactic battle - another that surprised me listed as Science Fiction is The Bear and the Nightingale - Amazon gave it away free a week or so ago and I downloaded it - wanted to read it and another, that again surprised me as Science Fiction, The City of Brass which I put on my reading list. Maybe it is the name of the genre that I find off-putting because after reading the list of top Science fiction books for 2017 I would read several on that list. The one with New York in the title sounded fascinating, something about finding the real cause of climate change is capitalism gone amuck.

Well I need to go deal with my itch that if I do not stop scratching I will have my soft side bleeding -

The itsy bitsy spider climbed on the bedroom quilt
Down came the cold and forced the spider's scorn
Out came the breath of her sleeping meal
Now the itsy bitsy spider bit and bit and bit
So now the wakened meal is dealing with the itch.

maryz · « **Reply #18620 on:** January 07, 2018, 02:02:51 PM »

Thanks, Barb. I have read the new Ken Follett novel. It's shorter than most of his - centered on only one character's life span. I'm currently reading a Laurie King novel - don't know the name - my daughters like the series and get the books. (We share our Amazon library.)

I'm a BookTV fan (on CSpan2), and am currently watching David Ignatius on In Depth. They're doing something new this year. They're interviewing a novelist (fiction!) on the first Sunday of every month in 2018 (beginning at noon eastern time). Just wanted to share the info.

bellamarie · « **Reply #18621 on:** January 07, 2018, 03:12:10 PM »

Oh Barb, I hope your spider bite is okay, it made me think about what happened to me today. I had gotten this new loofah for Christmas, so decided to use it for the first time today. I was all soaped up, and all of a sudden I felt a sharp sting on my hand, the pain went to my thumb. I rinsed off my hand and saw a tiny red mark where the initial sting began. Darn if I know, but the best I can determine, is a possible bug bit from the loofah. Probably was hiding in there.

maryz, I love a good detective book, I will have to check out Laurie King's books. She does have a page I found on the internet.

http://laurierking.com/

Frybabe · « **Reply #18622 on:** January 07, 2018, 05:21:27 PM »

Barb, I've read Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore and enjoyed it. These days the genre is often lumped in with Fantasy and called SciFi, the Fi being the Fantacy part. It is a bit confusing, but a lot of fantasy and science fiction cross over. I would have put the book squarely into the Fantasy column, myself. There are some fantasy writings/movies that I like but I've never gotten into it very much.

Wikipedia has a rather comprehensive listing and explanation of the different Science Fiction sub-genres as well as descriptions of them. There is a new sub-genre, Slipstream, I am not familiar with and when I read the explanation, elsewhere, I still didn't know what it was about. Some of the authors we think of as science fiction writers prefer to call their work Speculative Fiction, Ursula la Guin is one such. Margaret Atwood, I believe is another.

As for the antique children's books, A Little Swiss Boy by Johanna Spyri (author of Heidi) was published in English here in 1926. I can't remember when The Young Whaler was published but I had to be around the same time because the cover design was of the same style. At one time, I had one or two that were dated in the late 1800s, one of which was a marriage manual. I also had a painters manual and paint recipe book which dated circa 1915 if I recall correctly. If I don't still have that one, then I trashed it because it was in bad shape. I had a couple that didn't even have a copyright date, including my copy of Washington Irving's, The Sketch Book. That is circa 1888. I assume that date because of a stamped inscription on the inside which said, in part, that it was given freely with The American Rural Home. A quick Google search fails to give me anything about The American Rural Home. Magazine?

There is a question about how old is "old" for books. I found that "vintage" books are anything between 50-100 years old which would imply, though I didn't see a straight answer on this, that anything over 100 is antique. According to one article I read, really serious antiquarian book collectors like to go back to the16th century and before. Most collectors, I suspect, just specialize in certain genres, authors, or certain time periods. I am not a serious old/vintage/antique/or what have you book collector, but I have acquired a few. At least one of my Latin textbooks is almost an antique, several of my books are from the 1920's, at least two from the 1940's, including my precious People of the Deer, by Farley Mowat which was an accounting of an adventure trip that he took the year I was born through the Canadian wilderness around and west of the Hudson Bay.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #18623 on:** January 07, 2018, 08:10:37 PM »

Wow Frybabe thanks - old and antique and to each his own based on the collector - lots of great information and really thanks for clearing up what had become so muddy - what is considered Science fiction - I have wanted to read a book written by Ursula la Guin but do not know where to start - what a prolific writer.

As to The American Rural Home - not sure if it was national or what but when Roosevelt was digging us out of the depression that was one of his initiatives - I only know what happened in Kentucky - women on horseback set up a door to door library system in the rural areas of Kentucky which meant riding horseback up and over mountains and crossing rivers and streams to leave books not only with these very rural libraries but delivered to some of the homes that were only wooden shacks papered with newspaper to keep the wind out. There were libraries in the larger towns however, during and even into the 1960s there were no free libraries in Kentucky and I assume in most of the south - you had to become a member that had a membership fee and then a fee from a couple of pennies up to a nickle to borrow a book and so the concept of the American Rural Home bringing free books was amazing and of course those in towns had something to say about the Fed Government sticking its nose in.

Hmm Bellamarie a tiny red mark sure appears like a bite doesn't it - wonder what it was - here, a spider bite does not hurt when they bite - a painful bite of anything that does live in wet sponge or towel or in a dark areas is usually from a scorpion which would be far more than a painful bite that you could look at within minutes - talk about pain - grown men cry - for most bites if we can catch it soon after the bite we sprinkle meat tenderizer on it which takes away the sting and subsequent itch but you have to do it within minutes of the bite. Great at the beach for a jellyfish sting. But then who knows what bug could have buried itself in the loofah or

maybe the one who gave you the gift had something sinister in mind...

a voodoo pin??!!??

OH Maryz we have the funniest story about a Ken Follet novel - back about 7 or 8 years ago now I had gotten Temporal and Big Muscle Arterites before it was easily diagnosed - the pain was constant and the headache was severe - Christmas and I always drove to my daughters but each day with the car packed I could not bring myself to start the trip till finally my daughter had Gary, her husband fly to Austin and drive me and the packed car to N.C. and according to your chosen speed it took anything between 15 and 18 hours that I always did straight through since I just do not sleep in a motel/hotel so I might just as well be driving rather than starting out after a no sleep night.

All that to say I had sandwiches, coffee and fruit for the trip and grabbed a few tapes of stories to listen to. Then books on those old reel type tapes was all the rage - and I had the set of tapes for Ken Follet's novel about building the Cathedral in Medieval Europe. I was not feeling well at all and concerned that Gary was not bored - so once past most of Texas where drivers must watch for deer and cows crossing the road or kids ragging along to a store down the road and when we were almost to I-20 popped in the first tape.

I was confused since it sounded like several readers talking on top of each other - but Gary was not reacting and so I thought it was me - after about 10 to 15 minutes of this Gary finally says, he has been in conversation that were double talk but cannot make out listening to double talk - we both roared laughing - as much about how we were being super polite and how he phrased his response and how such a thing could be happening - it was a joke for years that highlighted his driving me to NC for Christmas - never understood how or why the tapes were as if several recording mikes, all timed differently were speaking at once - never did hear the story and frankly I never did get another copy of the story nor did I read the book - only heard about it - seems to me maybe it was discussed on SeniorNet but do not remember for sure. After all this time I should read at least one of his books.

Neat that you and your daughter read and share an Amazon account - neither of my children are readers - Peter, my oldest was but he was traveling so often it was difficult for him to hang onto a book and he had such a small space in his cabin in New Mexico that there were only a handful of books that my son brought back for me - but we did not have Amazon back 10 years ago as we do now - so easy to take for granted conveniences that really are not all that old.

I like David Ignatius - need to look for In Depth - getting rid of most of my CD movies - of course on one wants Video Tapes and I have a bunch of those - I do not think they even make any longer a VCR that will show a Video Tape.

I do not know about where y'all are but here there is absolutely nothing on TV tonight - can't stand Victoria and the Father Brown that will be shown I have seen umpteenth times.... putting on my CD of Garou Concert at the Bercy here is the beginning of the tape
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn7Jol4Afec

Jonathan · « **Reply #18624 on:** January 07, 2018, 10:51:19 PM »

How about a good Gothic fiction for these long winter nights. Here's one I've had on my shelf for many years. Unread. It was a runaway bestseller two hundred years ago. It was satirized by Jane Austen in Northanger Abbey. It came with a charming bookmark, reminding me of the place of purchase: Bashful Bear Book Store, Keene Valley, NY>. It's Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho. I'm sure you've all heard about it. Perhaps you've read it.[

I can't resist quoting from the introduction:

'In part if not wholly, Udolpho's exorbitant popularity among 18c and 19c readers seems to have derived from this profoundly magical rendering of human consciousness. By giving themselves up to the nostalgic reveries of its characters, Radcliffe's readers also gave themselves up to a fantasy about mind itself: that its godlike powers of spiritual transformation, the imagination itself might assuage longing, provide consolation, and reinfuse everyday life with mysterious and fantastic beauty.

'....The effect of a work like Udolpho might be fittingly compared with the use of opiates...of the most blessed power in those moments of pain and languor, when the whole head is sore, and the whole heart sick.

But

Radcliffe's revolutionary representation of human consciousness has lost its power to
entrance, in part because it is now so familiar: we have all become believers in the 'haunted contents of the human psyche.

However

Like a long and complex dream - the kind in which pleasure and apprehension are so closely intermingled as to become indistinguishable - the book repays imaginative introspection. Read in such a move, as a strange survival out of that reverie we call the past, The Mysteries of Udolpho reveals itself in turn as permanently and deeply avant-guard.'

A read like this could take us through this cold winter just like that.

Jonathan · « **Reply #18625 on:** January 07, 2018, 11:14:52 PM »

And then there's that other Gothic thriller, published, I believe in the same year. The Monk, written by Matthew Lewis, at the age of nineteen. I read it long ago. Unforgettable. Ah, nineteen!!! It was a thrill to be alive. I think I'll reread that one. And feel young again?

Jonathan · « **Reply #18626 on:** January 07, 2018, 11:27:01 PM »

Sure enough. Just opened at random and these words fly off the page:

" A raging fire shot through every limb. The blood boiled in his veins, and a thousand wild wishes bewildered his imagination....His unsatisfied Desires placed before him the most lustful and provoking Images, and he rioted in joys till then unknown to him."

Monk was a great favourite with the Victorians. A lusty crowd.

Frybabe · « **Reply #18627 on:** January 08, 2018, 07:52:41 AM »

Barb, I forgot to include that the stamp in the Irving book gave a dateline stating "1870-Eighteenth Year of continuous Publication.-1888. So, I figure that my book was published around 1888. The publisher was Hurst & Co., New York which was in existence from 1871-1919. Mine is an Arlington Edition which looks like the book shown on this page called The Bag of Diamonds . https://books.bibliopolis.com/main/find/publisher/Hurst%20&%20Co.html Like the book on the web page, mine is in very good shape for being over 100yrs old. Which I could say the same for me.

Jonathan, I have The Mysteries of Udolpho on my Paperwhite, but have yet to read it. Something is tickling my brain about The Monk, but I can't remember what. Was it discussed here, maybe? It is not on my Paperwhite. Generally speaking, I don't care for horror stories although I have read my share of Gothic novels if the "horror" in the horror is more like sinister or creepy than what we get these days with the likes of Jason, Freddie Kruger and other bloody horror films.

One of the gothic, melodramatic novels I enjoyed reading a year or two ago was Vendetta or the Story of One Forgotten by Marie Corelli. It is said that sales of her novels were higher than her contemporaries such as H. G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling, and Arthur Conan Doyle. Hard to believe, now. Her critics derided her works, or as I read into it, as popular with "common" folk who lowered themselves or were incapable of reading books of a higher order, kind of like how our "penny dreadfuls" and their readers were first classed. It is a story of romance gone wrong and the ensuing vengeance.

Then there is the unforgettable H. Rider Haggard. Have you read She? In a moment of madness, I spent $20 some years back for a 1926 edition of his works.

maryz · « **Reply #18628 on:** January 08, 2018, 08:30:54 AM »

Barb, funny story about your long road trip. Ken Follett's books are usually long and involved, covering centuries and multiple generations of families interwoven. As I said, this new one, Column of Fire, is only one main character's story, set during the reign of Elizabeth I, so much shorter than others.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #18629 on:** January 08, 2018, 01:10:17 PM »

I am interested to read all these stories of secondhand book shops, as here almost everyone I know gives their surplus books to charity shops - Edinburgh still has one or two secondhand bookshops, but far fewer than in the past. Several charities now have specialist bookshops rather than just swlling the books in their general stores - British Heart Foundation, Oxfam, Barnardoes, Shelter and Amnesty International all have bookshops in the city. They have become very proficient at knowing the value of their stock too - at the weekend I saw a first edition Beatrix Potter in the Shelter shop window for £150. Of course many of the other charities just have a shelf of books in their shops, alongside clothes, bric-a-brac, DVDs and so on. I must admit I know the ones who sell everybook for 50p particularly well!

Jonathan, that quote from The Monk is hilarious. I have never read The Mysteries of Udolpho - we had to do Northanger Abbey as a set book for GCSE at school, but although we were told it was making fun of Mrs Radcliffe's writing, it was never even suggested that we should read her works. In fact at the age of 15 I probably thought she was herself a work of fiction.

That's a very interesting story about The American Rural Home, Barb, you paint a fantastic picture of those intrepid women riding through the moutains to bring books to those who had none. Free libraries are such a precious resource, and ours are now under constant attack from cash-strapped local councils - some in England have closed ALL of their libraries. In Edinburgh we are still hanging on to ours, but only just. As a child my reading would have been immensely restricted without the Bromley Public Library, and as you say, no cheap books from Amazon in those days.

I am reading John Berger's And our faces, my heart, brief as photos. We saw Tilda Swinton's fim about him The Seasons in Quincy on TV a while back and I am so annoyed that I deleted it as I'd like to watch it again. It's £10 on Amazon. I may succumb.

Ginny, we can still buy the Mapp & Lucia DVD on Amazon UK (the one I saw recently with Anna Chancellor and Miranda Richardson in it, and also the earlier one with Prunella Scales and Geraldine McEwan. Another temptation. Perhaps they don't count in my book buying embargo...

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #18630 on:** January 09, 2018, 12:42:00 PM »

Miss a day and look what happens - more books that I am not acquainted with - Jonathan do you read many mysteries or Victorian Melodrama? Although thinking about it excessive drama seems to be pig and parcel of Victorian Literature - for sure Dickens - maybe because the issues of the day seem to us today as folks running around with an over dramatic reaction to life. Or is it because we have many of the same issues today but are numb to them with so many big issues on a larger stage.

I had not heard of either The Mysteries of Udolpho or The Monk Reminds me of a new (to us) series on PBS Monday called Secret Agent, an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's timeless novel. The lead is played by Toby Jones, a believable actor who I know from Detectorists. But the characters and scenes all have that dark, dust covered brown and black of Victorian England that makes uncovering any secret into a search for the holy grail.

Talk about old deteriorating books Frybabe - two of my childhood books I am afraid to open the pages are so brittle - if I could only soak them in a pot of olive or coconut oil - hmmm gives me an idea - I just do not have the heart to get rid of them - both brought home to me from my father - Robinson Crusoe and Heidi - a couple of years ago I found my copy of Black Beauty and it too was so brittle the pages fell apart when I opened the book. It must have been the copy because the Bobbsey Twins from Mom are even older and they are fine. The day will come when I will have to get rid of these memorials to childhood and I am thinking I may just try soaking them in olive oil and see what happens.

Maryz on your recommendation looked into Column of Fire - wow - sounds like a full page turner - this is what Amazon says:

"In 1558, the ancient stones of Kingsbridge Cathedral look down on a city torn apart by religious conflict. As power in England shifts precariously between Catholics and Protestants, royalty and commoners clash, testing friendship, loyalty, and love.

Ned Willard wants nothing more than to marry Margery Fitzgerald. But when the lovers find themselves on opposing sides of the religious conflict dividing the country, Ned goes to work for Princess Elizabeth. When she becomes queen, all Europe turns against England. The shrewd, determined young monarch sets up the country’s first secret service to give her early warning of assassination plots, rebellions, and invasion plans. Over a turbulent half century, the love between Ned and Margery seems doomed as extremism sparks violence from Edinburgh to Geneva. Elizabeth clings to her throne and her principles, protected by a small, dedicated group of resourceful spies and courageous secret agents.

The real enemies, then as now, are not the rival religions. The true battle pitches those who believe in tolerance and compromise against the tyrants who would impose their ideas on everyone else—no matter what the cost."

Now that sounds like a read full of adventure - sounds not too much different than today if the story shows us, "The true battle pitches those who believe in tolerance and compromise against the tyrants who would impose their ideas on everyone else—no matter what the cost."

Looks like another on my reading list after all this promising of no more books till I read all those on my shelves. Ah so - as Mom would frequently say... The best laid plans...

Wow what a lot of charity shops Rosemary - goodness - its a wonder all the millennials have not beat a door down to Scotland - they are big on buying everything they can second hand and they love shopping in places like Good Will for even their shoes and best clothing. One of my grandson's even found an Eames chair that holds pride of position in his apartment.

Just about every year I pull out and play my DVDs of Mapp & Lucia - thanks Ginny - what a wonderful group of stories and you even told us about the DVDs with Prunella Scales and Geraldine McEwain and of course Nigel Hawthorne. Three of the best that have ruined it for other actors trying to bring us this updated version.

A second sunny day for us - only in the 50s but so much better than it was - still knitting socks - I have a book of socks, Favorite Socks 25 Timeless Designs that I really would like to knit every pattern. Lordy it looks like I have passed the threshold to old - so full of myself I'm sharing with the Fed Ex counter person how I knitted 8 pair of socks in 4 weeks and a couple of younger women, not young, looked like in their 50s gave me 'that smile', you know the one that is sorta patronizing as if they could pat you on the head and rumble your hair as the little girl playing house in a grown up world - but then it appears that is how we handle anyone who shares their handwork accomplishment - now gardening gets past the bar, as does weaving or larger items like building a boat or even a backyard picnic table - but old fashioned hand arts from making wooden toys to sewing or knitting and crocheting are 'pat on the head aren't you cute kind' of accomplishments. Ah so... and such is life...

Today I start Infinity in the Palm of Her Hand: A Novel of Adam and Eve by Gioconda Belli - I'll let you know - almost hate to be in the house on such a lovely sunny day but the cold is not pleasant - so I've just made a pot of coffee and I'm set for the afternoon...

bellamarie · « **Reply #18631 on:** January 09, 2018, 04:37:51 PM »

Frybabe, and Barb, you dating books made me think of these three children's books I found at I believe a garage sale years ago when I was beginning my in home day care. One is, The Three Bears Visit Goldilocks (A Rand McNally Giant Book the copyright MCML by Rand McNally & Company. Copyright MCML under International Copyright Union by Rand McNally & Company. Printed in U.S.A. Edition of MCMLXI Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 58-8665. The other two are Jack and the Beanstalk and Tubby Turtle one is MCMLXI and MCMLXII. So one is 1950, 1961 and 1962. They are all three in very good condition, other than the pages have a little yellowing. I remember when I got home and opened them up there were pages of stamps in them, one sheet of Boys Town. I've kept them in a safe place, not that they would hold any value. Interesting on the inside cover it shows RAND McNALLY & COMPANY * Chicago Established 1856

Jonathan, your excerpt from The Monk has certainly piqued my interest. Nineteen.... oh dear I was just married, and moved from my rural, small hometown, Monroe, Michigan to big city Toledo, Ohio. I think my poor mother thought she was losing me forever, because none of her seven married children had yet ventured away from her, to live more than just down the road.

I just spent the past two days reading Not Against Flesh and Blood by Robin Holstein.. It is the third book, of a series, a very good friend of mine has written. She is on her fourth book of this series, which will be Forbidden. I can not tell you how much I enjoyed these three books of hers. My high school friend, who I reconnected with on Facebook, after our 45th class reunion, had messaged me one day and said, "Marie, there is a friend of mine who has a sister that I think you would enjoy meeting and getting to know, she and you have a great deal in common." He provided me with her name, and she and I became friends through Facebook a few years back. We feel like we have been lifetime friends, even though she is twenty-two years younger than me. She has the heart and soul of someone far beyond her years. Indeed, we do have a lot in common, we both love to write, love kids, are faith-filled, she is a southern Baptist and I a Catholic, both conservatives in our views, both love reading, both were teachers in elementary school she public me parochial, both taught religion classes once a week, both went through some difficult times in our lives, and we both found our Prince Charming after kissing many frogs! I highly recommend her books, they are real life struggles from teenager to today, this rodeo/cowgirl who dealt with health issues, marital issues, her struggle with trusting God and men, and becoming addicted to alcohol, thinking that was her only solace in life. All three of her books can be purchased at:

https://www.amazon.com/Faith-Journey-Against-Flesh-Blood/dp/1640277137/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1515533242&sr=1-1&keywords=Not+against+flesh+and+blood+by+robin+holstein

mabel1015j · « **Reply #18632 on:** January 09, 2018, 06:55:39 PM »

Barb mentioned the librarians on horseback in Kentucky during the depression. I realized that I had seen several articles about them recently, they've become very popular in 2017

There’s even been a book written about them. I think I may have posted the Smithsonian article here before, but here are a couple of the articles and a page from Amazon about the book......check out the price of the book - even the used copies!!!

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/horse-riding-librarians-were-great-depression-bookmobiles-180963786/

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/librarians-horseback-new-deal-book-delivery-wpa

http://themindcircle.com/vintage-photographs-librarians-horseback/

http://www.openculture.com/2017/10/before-the-bookmobile-when.html

https://www.amazon.com/Kathi-Appelt-Librarians-2001-05-09-Hardcover/dp/B001WBMKY0/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=J6EAQ5MD3QBK7BF9GDK6

Jean

Frybabe · « **Reply #18633 on:** January 10, 2018, 06:24:05 AM »

Barb, I went hunting for a remedy for brittle pages/books but had trouble finding how to restore brittle pages in an already bound book. If the binding is already loose or broken, I guess the best thing is to take the book apart and doe each page separately, then either restore/repair the binding or have new binding made. At any rate, the first thought I had was Olive Oil? Huh? Brittle pages need to be deacidified and for that you need an alkaline solution.

There are a ton of articles and YouTube videos on restoring and caring for old books, these are only two I found.

https://www.paperandbookrepair.com/single-post/Deacidificaton-Of-Yellow-Brittle-Paper

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/c/caring-for-your-books-and-papers/

Frybabe · « **Reply #18634 on:** January 10, 2018, 06:35:57 AM »

While checking out the BBC World News, I found out that the UK Postal Service is issuing a NEW Game of Thrones stamp. I wasn't aware that they had issued any before. I am not a Game of Thrones fan, but for fans and stamp collectors it sounds like fun. When I was young I collected the odd stamp and still have a bunch, mostly used foreign stamps, some of them still attached to envelopes. I didn't get into specializing into themes. The same with coins, which I started collecting as I found them after my uncle gave me a bunch of oriental coins from his work and travels in the Pacific. The one I liked the most was, I think, Chinese with a square hole in the center. It seems to have disappeared. My other favorite is a Morgan silver dollar that was given to each classmate on completion of an accounting class. I still have that.

PatH · « **Reply #18635 on:** January 10, 2018, 06:42:52 AM »

Barb, I agree with Frybabe. I wouldn't try olive oil. The brittleness comes from acid that hasn't been thoroughly washed out in the manufacturing process. (It's cheaper not to bother.) Talk to someone or read up on the problem.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #18636 on:** January 10, 2018, 02:15:02 PM »

OK you've convinced me - no olive oil - but neat to learn it is acid that does this - never thought to look online - horses of courses - to learn more about repairing books that need help - thanks frybabe and Pat - great and now learning what causes books to deteriorate.

I wager these books were probably cheap versions of classics with the thinking they only need to last while the child is young. Found another an older cousin gave me that I completely forgot I had - Doris Force at Raven Rock... afraid to turn the pages the pages are so brittle - I did read some where to wear gloves since there are oils on our finger tips.

Never did collect stamps Frybabe - and you stuck with it as a kid - wow - remember with all brim and vinegar I thought I would - got started - even saved and purchased a special book for stamp collectors but just did not keep up with it - I had a box of old coins - lots of Indian heads, some Roosevelt dimes and a few of those aluminum pennies made during the war, some old quarters and lots of coins from England including a farthing, several shillings and a pence and coins from Germany - never have seen coins from China - last year had scooped them into a plastic see through bag in the back seat - was taking them to a place to sell and had a couple of errands - someplace along the way the sack disappeared - chaffed about it for awhile and then realized there was nothing I could do and so to look at it as a donation.

Back, oh its been 20 years now, I worked with a couple whose parents were from China and they were Indonesian - at the time Indonesians were giving the Chinese a difficult time and most had to barricade themselves in their homes - this couple were accepted here and to get their money out, like a plot in the books we read, she sewed the money in the hems of everything she was wearing - today that would not work with all the pre-flight screening.

Glad you joined us and shared Jean - great photos - what are you reading this month - are you buried under blankets of snow - I would think during this weather is a perfect time to snuggle under a quilt and read - so fill us in - what book are you reading.

Cold and foggy today - I think another cold front is passing through - sheesh we are really having winter this year - well at least most of the insect wild life will be reduced and for sure enough cold days that we should have peaches this year - although, they have come up with several peach trees types that do not require that many cold days however, last year's winter we had one long weekend of real cold and that was it...

Wait and you see - next week when the TV finally starts showing new episodes to some of our favorite series the weather will warm and we will be struggling to decide between a walk or the TV.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #18637 on:** January 10, 2018, 02:26:14 PM »

Aha a list of non-fiction books that are recommended - which ones have you read?

https://media.bookbub.com/blog/2017/09/20/best-nonfiction-books-to-read-in-lifetime/

Frybabe · « **Reply #18638 on:** January 10, 2018, 04:33:17 PM »

I am surprised to find that I actually read two, Rocket Girls and The Girls of Atomic City. I see several on the list that were discussions here, only one in which I participated. There appears to be a theme to the books I read, doesn't there?

bellamarie · « **Reply #18639 on:** January 10, 2018, 05:44:02 PM »

Barb, I read seven of the fifty-five books on the list, which if it were not for our book club, I probably would not have read.

Well, happy to report there was NO bug bite from my loofah! It appears I had a sprain hand from helping my hubby carry my desk and chest, up and down the stairs. My hand is finally feeling better, after not being able to use it much the past few days. I have been taking Motrin to ease the pain. We are expecting up to possibly a foot of snow this week-end in my neck of the woods. OH MY! I am hoping the weatherman is wrong and we don't get nearly that much. I feel like since the new year rang in I have been under the weather so much, I have gone into hibernation mode. I can't wait for the new season to start up with all my favorite shows. I actually watched everything I had saved on my DVR from Aug-Dec. these past couple of weeks. I've realized when I don't feel so good and am lying around, I will binge watch. Oh well, I rarely do this so I enjoyed it along with my book I read in just two days.

The past few years I have become and avid bird watcher. We have added bird feeders to our little backyard sanctuary and oh how lovely it is to look out and see the beautiful birds in the snow. Today I had two beautiful male Cardinals come, along with two morning doves, a few Juncos, sparrows galore. A beautiful woodpecker visits often, and the other day I had an entire flock of Blue jays. A very unwanted Cooper's hawk came again last week, and scared all the birds off for awhile. He was very large, and the squirrels went running away as well. Last year I had an enormous Cooper's hawk come sit on my back fence, a squirrel was just inches away and neither moved. The squirrel stayed on the fence and fell asleep. Or possibly was playing dead, all the while the hawk remained there for over fifteen minutes, neither making a move. I was fascinated to say the least. I have captured so many photographs and video of the wildlife that visit my backyard, I plan to make a nature book with the photos of the animals and flowers I have taken.

Here is a beautiful male Cardinal I captured today outside my living room window.

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