The Library

[BarbStAubrey]

The Library Our library  is open 24/7; the welcome mat is always out. Do come in from daily chores and spend some time with us.

[BarbStAubrey]

OH this is rich - frybabe, last week we were both searching for books about ghosts - and so today I get this short story in my email - The Specter Bridegroom - a hoot and a half

 http://storyoftheweek.loa.org/2019/03/the-spectre-bridegroom.html

[Frybabe]

I have The Sketch Book , Barb, an Arlington Edition with no publication date, printed at the latest in 1888. The only way I can guess at the date is because the book has a stamped bit in the front that states it was given free by the American Rural Home (with a subscription to their magazine,) and  "1870-Eighteenth Year of continuous Publication-1888". I think the Arlington Editions were printed between 1880 and 1890, but I am not sure.  The book is actually in pretty good shape for its age.

[Jonathan]

Ginny: "I see in her (Tara) a need for justice, for acknowledgement, for justification...' You're so right. But the book is so many thngs. I've decided it's a eulogy to her Dad. She's  estranged from Mom and Dad. Has  been for five years. Now she hopes to see them in heaven. The book could have been titled O My Father.The hymn does end with: 'Father, Mother, may I meet you in your royal courts on high.' After growing up on the scrapyard and making it to Cambridge and Harvard. What a family life. What an education!!!

[ginny]

Wonderful, Bellamarie and Karen, that looks like a go then. I'm really looking forward to it because it's about honor in life and it's splendid. Beautifully written, short,  and lots to agree/ disagree with.

Jonathan, looks like we need to add Educated to our Mini series hahaha so we can figure it out, or you all can help me figure it out, together. You really think that's a Eulogy? So what of her mother then? She forgives him, excusing him (as she has throughout the book, has spent a lot of time on it)  as a "eccentric"  whack job,   but not her mother for agreeing with him and thus  letting her down? He's got an excuse? Really? What is it?

 Faith? Which one of them  is worse? Boy I now would like to discuss this, want to add it as #2 in July to our Mini  Series? I truly believe EVERYBODY should read this book, no joke. Be warned, it's hard to read in places.

[Tomereader1]

I think I got lost somewhere, which book is the June mini Series?

[ginny]

The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro. Super book.

[hats]

Hi Ginny, Jane, Barb bellamarie And All, Wanted to quickly write how much I admire and think about Path's post about her twin, Joan. It is such a lovely post. Her post alone makes the twins all around us memorable as miraculous human beings. Ordinary people who can strike all the chords of our senses and emotions. Thank you, Path.

I am away from Haiti. Now, I'm reading The Whale Story[/i] by Mark Beauregard. It is the Nineteenth Century.  Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne are married with families. They find it very exciting to share literary thoughts with one another. However, Herman Melville seems to have feelings that are gliding to a deeper affection than polite society would like or that Nathaniel Hawthorne is comfortable with pursuing.

The book is beautifully written. I love the Upstate New York descriptions. The dialogue is so very real. There is a feeling that the authors and their families might have been my neighbors once. There is also the memory of The Scarlet Letter. As the men scrutinize their behaviors, that Classic comes to mind.

Yes, I finished Untwine by Edwidge Danticat. Wonderful! A reminder that tragedy can strike us at any moment. Leaving us without a precious person in our lives. Then, the question how can we live without them is with us every day. I can never finish with Edwidge Danticat's books. She is a wonderful author. I think she is the only one I know from Haiti. I will choose another book by her very soon.

Barb, Happy National Poetry Month.

[Frybabe]

I just finished rereading Null-ABC by John Joseph McGuire and H. Beam Piper. I think some of you might like it even though it is a SciFi.  Published way back in 1953, in three parts, it is a future history. Elections are coming up and schemes to win the election abound. There are three major "parties", the Literates which is split between two factions and the Illiterates. Spys and plots, secret activities at the high school, and a battle at a big department store are included in the run up to the elections. Project Gutenberg free offering http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18346  Amazon also offers the Kindle Ebook for free. I am sure other sites have a free version too.

[Jonathan]

Ginny, I like your idea of a Mini Series format for a future 'discussion'. Now where do I find my copy of Remains of the day? I look forward to rereading it.

And let's get back to Educated, as #2, in July. More will have read it by then, and there should be many impressions and feelings about it. Three siblings helped her with the writing. Three didn't and appear anonymously. Dad does seem like an unlikely hero. But the daughter, it seems to me, shows more sympathy than scorn. Mother is a faithful wife despite everything. And won't see her daughter unless she makes up with Dad. What a book. From junkyard to heaven. Gosh, I love that hymn. I wonder how often Tara listened to it. That was the LP her brother left behind for his sister, when he left home. Wow! A PhD, without ever having done grade school.

[ginny]

Well now as usual, Jonathan, you've picked up things I did not know. Let's DO talk about it in a Mini Discussion in July!

 (We've already done one here on it but perhaps more will want to weigh in once they've read it, IF they can read  it,  so let's hold off). 

I have no idea of half of what you're saying, from junkyard to heaven? Looks like I need to look a few things up.


While in London I saw the 50th anniversary performance of  Arthur Miller's  play The Price, starring David Suchet (Poirot) and Brendan Coyle (Downton  Abbey's Mr. Bates) as well as another actor from Downton Abbey. I had never heard of the play but boy howdy is it something. I think IT might make a good Mini sometime, but our "Mini" schedule is filled for the Summer session. I don't know that we've read that  many plays here in recent years. I don't know that I've read any play in years.  I used to love Ibsen. Back in the day.

[Frybabe]

More interesting, at least to me, info about PA Wines from the book I am reading. PA Gov. Gifford Pinchot, reknown for his support of  forestry and becoming the first head of the US Forestry Service, was a prohibitionist and was responsible for our commonwealth becoming a controlled alcohol beverage state. Didn't know that. We are still stuck with it some of it, but now stores other than the PA State Store can be licensed to sell beer and wine, but not liquor.

The other thing that I ran across, much to my surprise is about Dr. Frank Gadek and the full-credit college-level Enology classes he began in 1973 as a way to teach basic chemical principles. The classes were still going strong when I went to Allentown College of St. Francis de Sales (now De Sales University) in the early 90s.  I was one of the students. Interesting and fun class.

[bellamarie]

I saw on the news last night Wikileaks founder, Jullian Assange who has been in Ecuadora's Embassy since 2012, may be expelled, and could be extradited to the U.S.  It showed him stepping out onto a very small upper balcony, which is the only time he has been able to be outside, he has not stepped foot on the streets in seven years.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/05/uk/ecuador-assange-embassy-expulsion-gbr-intl/index.html

The Australian whistle blower has been holed up at the embassy, yards from Harrods department store in Knightsbridge, since 2012 when he was granted asylum as part of a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was facing allegations of sexual assault.
The case has since been dropped, but as Assange fears US extradition due to his work with WikiLeaks he has remained in place.

Seeing this on the news made me think of the book A Gentleman In Moscow, which also made me wonder..... is it possible, Armor Towles used Jullian Assange's captivity in the Embassy, for creating his character Count Alexander Rostov, who was sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. 

It's not a far stretch of the imagination, since the timing works out.  Assange has been in the Embassy since 2012.  Towles book came out in 2016.  Seeing Assange step out on that upper small balcony, immediately made me visualize Count Rostov in his small attic room. (Which we now know never existed in the Metropol.)

[ANNIE]

I come to you with sad news😢. I am dropping out of SeniorLearn.😢 it has become very difficult for me to read and keep up with all of the comments so I think it best to do this.😢. I will try to peek in once in awhile.  Needless to say,  I will miss you all! Love all the memories of the past 22 years!  Our trips together.  The meetings with the authors of the books we were reading.  The many laughs we have shared.  Please keep me in your good thoughts and prayers as you will be in mine!

[ANNIE]

I can’t drop out of SL after all. 😘😘😘 I forgot how much I liked being a discussion leader!  On reading backwards through all the comments, I just want to stay connected with all of my friends on here. I don’t think I will lead any discussions though.  I will be peeking in frequently though!

Hi Hats, Jonathan, nlhome, Ginny,PatH, Barb. Joan, etc etc!! Miss you all!

[ginny]

 Ann!  Leaving  is NOT good news!  Why not just drop in when you feel like it and say what's happening in your life? You don't have to read anything?

Or keep up with anything. Just drop by and let us know how  you're doing and I know you're reading, what you're reading, or watching or what's going on in your new digs?

Has  it really been 22 years? All the more reason not to stop!

[ANNIE]

Bellamarie and Frybabe!

[ANNIE]

Ginny I will take your kind suggestion to heart!  Thank you for reminding me of how much I love you all!  What was I thinking about!!!🤓🙏❤️

[ginny]

I don't know but I'm glad you've changed your mind.  We go back a  LONNNG way and we are interested in you, not just what you have read.

Welcome Back!

[Jonathan]

22 years!! And hasn't it been fun getting to know all of you. Hi, Annie. How delightful to see you posting: 'I've changed my mind.' I believe many of us share your feelings about sharing and exchanging thoughts and opinions in such good company. If your life has taken a new turn, tell us about.

Reading certainly became more enjoyable for me in the company of all of you. Many thanks.

[BarbStAubrey]

Oh yes, ANNIE please drop in and bring us up to date on what you are doing and what you are observing - the library is more like a cafe now and I know I would hate to think you were not sharing from time to time. Too much history to just leave - we need you.

[hats]

Annie, my stomach dropped immediately. As far as I know, you have always been here just like Ginny.
Seeing a play in London, I can't imagine the feeling. I have read and seen Arthur Miller's The Death Of A Salesman It is definitely a tearjerker.  I watched it on television.  The play you've seen, is it a sad one too?
Bellamarie, I am remembering your post about Where The Crawdads Sing. Glad you liked the book.

[Frybabe]

Annie, I am so glad you changed your mind. Peek in and say hi whenever you have a mind and the time.

[bellamarie]

Annie, I am so glad to see you have decided to stay with us.  None of us post as often as we used to.  We don't read and discuss books as often either, but as Barb has pointed out, Seniorlearn, has become more up to date, in that we are more like a book cafe.  We drop in from time to time, we share what's going on in our lives, we mention books we are reading, and we enjoy reading each other's posts.  We love you dearly, and would hate to think of you leaving us.  Glad you reconsidered!! 

Hats, I truly did like Where The Crawdads Sing.  When you feel you are ready, give it a try.  I know you will like it.  A six year old child, who overcomes the struggles in her life, from being abandoned by all her loved ones, to achieve the things she does, and never give up in the worst of her situations, is just simply inspirational, and amazing to me.

Jonathan, it is hard to believe it's been 22 years for some of you.  I began with the book Teacher Man, back in June of 2006, so for me it's been 15 yrs.  I remember when I joined, I was not what was considered a Senior, so I asked permission to be a member, and everyone so graciously welcomed me. Now I am a full fledged Senior, retired, receiving my SS, and Medicare.  Wooo Hoooo!!!

Frybabe, your wine books are tempting me to break open a bottle of my favorite wine and just sit and enjoy it.  We were just at St. Julian's Winery the other day, and I thought of you.

Ginny, since I came on board years later, who were the first to begin SeniorNet?  I know many are gone, but never forgotten.

Barb, I hope your travel down the silk road is eventful. 

[nlhome]

I think it's interesting how Senior Learn has changed through the years.  I've noticed that a couple of other discussion groups I have participated in have slowed down as well. I can't remember when I started, and I did not join in a lot of the book discussions - a holdover from my English major days, I suspect. But Annie, I'm glad you are staying with a group you have such a long history with and feel such a part of.

[hats]

I can't remember which came first. It may have been The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner or Animal Farm. I had never seen a book group like this one on the Internet. Nor had I seen a book leader as enthusiastic as Ginny. I have finished The Whale by Mark Beauregard. The book involves the writing lives of two geniuses of American Literature. I have thought more deeply about the Puritans whom I first met in elementary school. I have also been left with a longing to return to Nineteenth Century Literature whether American or British.

[Frybabe]

I've finished with the The Merlot Mystery. About the only things I can say really nice about it is that the author sure was good at casting suspicion on almost everyone making it terribly difficult to figure out who did it until almost the last chapter. The other is that since I listened the audio book, the reader was pretty good. I did not like any of the characters. The main character (and narrator) struck me as something of an idiot a good bit of the time. The author did include a paragraph or two about Virginia wine growing history The business of small wine growers in VA took off about the same time it became a thing here in PA.

My next two will be Zoo Nebraska by Carson Vaughn and The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett. The Midnight Zoo is listed in the juvenile category, but doesn't seem to be written too simply. This is one of the few zoo fictions that I found that wasn't a horror, or just used as a backdrop, and I could borrow it.

[BarbStAubrey]

I just could not find anything I either had not read or wanted to read about a zoo and so I extended out the word Sanctuary and decided on,  Love among the Butterflies: The Travels and Adventures of a Victorian Lady by Margaret Fountaine  which is really another travel book however she was a lepidopterist  and then for my non-fiction I'm reading Life in the Garden by Penelope Lively 

I really have a problem with animals in other than a sanctuary and I've read the books on elephants and gorillas, and circus animals and and and - I even have a problem with all these city folks having pet dogs with no place for them to run grrrrr much less any caged wild life. Flowers, butterflies and I'm OK with birds but anything else grrrrr. This was supposed to challenge I realize but not make me so upset I need an aspirin tp sleep

Been reading Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard - wow this author points out the orchard nor selling the orchard is what it is all about - it is really about the actions of the characters that really have nothing to do with cutting down or buying the orchard, nor about the rich and poor in Russia - it is all about being frustrated sexually - their actions tells the story - I can see it and see the double meaning for Cherry Orchard, makes more sense then anything I've read about this play. Almost an extension or start to Anna Karenina.  The play is introduced by David Mamet -

[Frybabe]

I thought of that, Barb, because there are a few books about animals, but not in a zoo setting, but decided stick with the zoo. I didn't think to look into animal preserves and such, darn. I already had Zoo Nebraska, but something like a naturalist's experience/journals, like the Rachel Carson book I read that was mostly written about the Eastern shores, or something about the turtle sanctuaries and studies. All I kept thinking about was Jane Goodall and her Gorilla's, monkey studies, and books I read years ago including Peter Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard recounting his journey with George Schaller in Nepal and one by George Schaller about his studies of the sheep/goats of in the Pakistani area, and of course, Born Free. Findng a novel was much harder for me. I already read Life of Pi , and remember The Architect's Apprentice spent some time with elephants.

I was just looking at my natural history bookshelf and am appalled to discover that neither The Snow Leopard nor George Schaller's book are on it. I can't imagine that I would have purged two of my favorite books in that genre. I still have Matthiessen's Sand Rivers which I have not read, even after all these years. I like Matthiessen's writing and followed his nature/travel articles in International Wildlife (Now integrated with National Wildlife magazine) and National Geographic. He also wrote some novels, one of which, I bought two years ago and haven't read yet (no surprise). Sad to say when I looked him up, i found that he passed away in 2014. The other nature/travel writer and photographer I used to read was Tui de Roy who grew up in the Galapagos Islands. She has written a number of nature books which I didn't know about (but should have). Happy to say she is still alive and living in New Zealand now.

I had Anna Karenina for years and finally got rid of it, unread. I never took to those old Russian classics, but I did watch the Russian (dubbed in English) movie version of War and Peace and Dr. Zhivago (who didn't?).

[Mkaren557]

I had two gift cards at Barnes and Noble.  I ordered two non fiction books.  I have decided that I like some non fiction that is well written and the one I am reading is.  It is called The Last Palace by Norman Eisen, who was Obama's ethics czar. It follows a "house" that was built by a very wealthy Jewish banker in Prague after World War I through the twentieth century to 2014.  I am now in post-World War II when the American Ambassador is living in it.  Anyway, one of my good friends is originally from Prague and she met her husband in a concentration camp.  They left before the Soviets gained total control.
I have also started working my way through the level 2 Latin textbook I was working in when I got sick.  I am loving being a student again and hope to enter a class in the fall. I did however have to go to a booksale to buy all my Latin books back as my relatives donated all of them to a book sale when they had to clean out my condo.  Luckily they were inexpensive; I guess there is not a high demand for Latin texts.

[bellamarie]

Frybabe, I recently purchased a used copy of Anna Karenina.  I hope to get to it in the summer.  It sure is a big book to tackle. 

Karen, good to hear you are back into Latin.  I love to read non fiction books, how interesting about your friend meeting her hubby in a concentration camp.  I bet they have stories they could write about.

I have been nightly reading Danielle Steele's book, One Day At A Time.  I'm still in the thick of my kitchen remodeling, so I can't concentrate on reading during the day.  Too many decisions to make on counter tops, colors, tiles, appliances,  lighting, etc.  I am hoping to have it all completed by Easter.  Just in time to begin some of my more easy read summer fiction books.

[BarbStAubrey]

Whoops changed frybabe my non-fiction from Penelope Lively, which I will read later as one of the Garden selections -  found on my shelves, The Private Life of Deer -

I purchased it when so many of the newcomers in this area who had never lived among wild life were up in arms because of the large deer population and wanted the city to kill them all without realizing we have an open green corridor that connects this neighborhood all the way to the next county and beyond out to west Texas and as soon as you aggressively cull deer you cannot get them all and they have an inward biological drive so that there will be multiple births and does too young will reproduce as they try to get the herd back up to size - also with ready food and water they will again trickle in on our green highway corridor. And so instead of depending on my accumulated knowledge of living among wild life I started to read like crazy so I could converse with all these folks from elsewhere on our neighborhood facebook page and per usual I have more books about a subject that I can read and so now I can finish this one.

While reviewing my selves I too found my Carson books and Leopold, Barry Lopez, Muir, Stegner , Abby on and on - lots of them on rivers and streams as well as trees, the desert, some mountains but nothing just on animals. And those shelves blend into my shelves of books about and mostly written by Native American's like Silko, Momaday, Louise Erdrich and so many others, telling about a life dependent on hunting and herding but do not believe in zoo animals as they prefer the wild horses in the west be left as they were.

Looking ahead to the topics for the reading challenges I set my choices for the next few months, all the way through mid-August. Also I purchased a medium size, woven grass, under the bed type basket to hold my year's worth of books just for this challenge - for instance I did not put The Shadow of the Silk Road in the basket. Making those choices on the next groups of readings was when I realized we had a section for Gardens and so the change from the Penelope Lively book.

Another I knew was going to be a challenge - the one on manufacturing and industry - have a book that we considered back last year on manufacturing and how it affected America - skimmed the first chapter and put is down - so there is that but again, the same problem with zoo's and sanctuaries for animals, I read just about all the novels that are always about woe begotten people or happenings or starting unions, the loss of individuality on and on that make up the canon of factory centered stories. Grrr - and so I found one I know I am going to enjoy - takes place earlier when folks were still masters of handwork and their tools. A book about racing time to build the fastest Clipper ship.

Anna Karenina - remember reading that in High School - Bellemarie the story is exciting, romantic and then oh oh painful that was for so many women the story of falling in love in spite of their usually arranged marriages. Since, there are so many movies with handsome Count Vronsky's, a joy to hear is over and over during the ball the music of Shostakovich - love his music

Here is a composite of many versions with Shostakovich being played along with a current bridal couple dancing to the Second Waltz.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOK8Jb76ibc

Thank goodness Karen the Latin book are available - looks like you are gradually filling your life back with what you love and the biggest news you are back to reading again. Great accomplishment - Took my neighbor nearly a year after her stroke to be able to read which was her favorite pastime - she is still not able to do the math that was her career - forget exactly her title but she worked in the space program and still helped with projects from her home here in Austin

[Jonathan]

What to read next? So many good suggestions. And I have them all on my shelf: Cherry Orchard, The Snow Leopard, Anna Karenina, The Last Palace. The Last I will have to find.

In the meantime I'm into diaries and letters, like In Tearing Haste, letters between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Fermor, both very articulate, even eloquent.

For example, on January 2, 1990 she writes him about her friend Sybil:

'The reaper has been at work over Xmas...she spent Christmas Day with great grandchildren, decided to stay in bed a bit on Boxing Day and the person who took her lunch up found her propped with pillows, specs on nose, book in hands, dead. About to be 96. Oh how I loved her.'

Surely they buried the book with her so she could finish it. Bookmarked, of course.

[BarbStAubrey]

Sounds perfect Jonathan - reminds me of last Sunday's Brit show on PBS, something the Midwives, when an elderly lady is surrounded tightly in her apartment with books and the elder nun comes for a visit and they both get so excited about an author and the age of a book - as we age all our friends and some of our family die as well as, any pets so that all there is are our good and consistent companions, books.

[Frybabe]

Laugh for the day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDuCfTcVmE4

This guy also has several books out on Kindle under his Exurb1a and Exurb2a pseudonyms as well as the readings on YouTube. He has a sense of humor and a bit of a potty mouth in some of these. So be forewarned it you want to listen or read more.

[BarbStAubrey]

A riot frybabe - emailing it to several in my family

[Frybabe]

Barb, the one he did on tips for undergraduates was also very funny, but more there was a fair amount of potty language, so I didn't link that one. Oh, and Bulgaria cropped up again. Whoever the author is, he listed posted from Sofia, Bulgaria.

I just finished The Midnight Zoo. It was not a bad story, simply written for the young set. The ending did a twisty thing and left me not quite sure what of make of it. Now on to Zoo Nebraska. I am also looking to get set for the bus rides I do one novel I can get from the library called Last Bus to Wisdom, but finding a non-fiction is harder than I thought. I am hoping to find a travel book about someone's true adventures via bus, but so far no real luck. Everytime I Google bus trips, I get a lot, and I mean a lot, of children's books.

[BarbStAubrey]

Frybabe I'm doing Novel: Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig - is that the one you are doing? We had a senior learn member who absolutely loved Ivan Doig - we've done one of his books = and for Non-fiction: Maintenance of Headway by mills-magnus which is an iffy, novel versus non-fiction but its about the center where all the buses start out and are scheduled in London and how each bus must meet its schedule so that is why at times the bus driver can wait on you as you flag him and make a dash and other times it appears they close the door and drive off when you are only 25 yards away.

I've never been on a greyhound bus and I'm considering it.

OH yes, that blue ball under my name is now the link to my book web page that shows the titles for each two week period and I put up the list at the mid-year point - the blog does work backwards to there are several months of plans without having read them yet.

[hats]

Ivan Doig? I've always wanted to read one of his books. With shame and a great thank you I have to tell you about MaryZ She, my neighbor, loaned me a book by that author. Before I could read it, I misplaced it and never found it. My memory is terrible now. Did I loan it again? No, I don't give away again a novel given or loaned to me. It goes back to the lender. So, I'm stuck. I still haven't gotten to know this author. Plus, I don't know how MaryZ feels about  the whole situation. I don't want to make  this a pity party. I just want to tell a truth. I would like to hear from MaryZ.

Now on my recent travels I've been to Africa. I finished reading Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga. The novel is about families and hard times that come in their lives. The father is very strict. He wants his daughter and her cousin to become future leaders of their community. The only way to do it is by obeying. Obeying his rules without question. This father reminds me of the one in Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible[/b]. Also, the father in Purple Hibiscus written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The novel is very original with the different relatives in Africa. Tsitsi Dangarembga is definitely an author I want to read again. I might have written only this, the novel is about unexpected changes and our coping mechanisms.

I am now reading Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler. Again, the father of the family stands out for different reasons. Am I in to themes about fathers? No! The dominoes are just falling this way. This time I am in Baltimore. This is a state where I once had beloved relatives: A Uncle, a Aunt and their two daughters.

 All of you know Anne Tyler. I could talk about her book for two more pages. I won't. Will just get back to it as soon as I can today. Good morning Frybabe and all.

[hats]

https://www.vox.com/2014/7/14/5897819/nadine-gordimer-nobel-died-best-stories

There are many African authors. Here is a good link for short stories written by this author.