Author Topic: The Library (Read 2079940 times)

Jonathan · « **Reply #20640 on:** February 12, 2020, 12:11:22 PM »

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.

Yippee!!! It worked!!! I would just like to recommend one book I'm reading. Just published and a bestseller. Successful Aging, by Daniel J. Levitin. At 91 I'm finding it very interesting. I wish I had read it at thirty.

Jonathan · « **Reply #20641 on:** February 12, 2020, 12:18:05 PM »

Don't misunderstand me. My life has been a ball. I'm just sorry I didn't make it to Truman Capote's famous Party of the Century. Oh, well...it's fun to read about. The author Deborah Davis.

bellamarie · « **Reply #20642 on:** February 12, 2020, 08:01:31 PM »

Jonathan, it is so nice to see your posts. Successful Aging, hmm... so let us know what the author considers to be "successful."

Ginny, I'm with you, there was nothing wrong with Windows 7. I was not about to change over to 10, back when they were saying we MUST, because my niece upgraded, and had the same mess you were dealing with. Unfortunately, my HP died, and I bought my Dell that has Windows 10.

Has anyone read, The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton? Looks interesting.

From the internationally bestselling author of The House at Riverton , an unforgettable new novel that transports the reader from the back alleys of poverty of pre-World War I London to the shores of colonial Australia where so many made a fresh start, and back to the windswept coast of Cornwall, England, past and present A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She arrives completely alone with nothing but a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a single book -- a beautiful volume of fairy tales. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own. On her twenty-first birthday they tell her the truth, and with her sense of self shattered and with very little to go on, "Nell" sets out on a journey to England to try to trace her story, to fi nd her real identity. Her quest leads her to Blackhurst Manor on the Cornish coast and the secrets of the doomed Mountrachet family. But it is not until her granddaughter, Cassandra, takes up the search after Nell's death that all the pieces of the puzzle are assembled. At Cliff Cottage, on the grounds of Blackhurst Manor, Cassandra discovers the forgotten garden of the book's title and is able to unlock the secrets of the beautiful book of fairy tales. This is a novel of outer and inner journeys and an homage to the power of storytelling. The Forgotten Garden is filled with unforgettable characters who weave their way through its spellbinding plot to astounding effect. Morton's novels are #1 bestsellers in England and Australia and are published in more than twenty languages. Her first novel, The House at Riverton , was a New York Times bestseller.

I read Kate Morton's, The Clockmaker's Daughter, and it was amazing!

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #20643 on:** February 13, 2020, 05:08:59 PM »

so glad to see your post Jonathan - and glad you opened the topic of aging - Looked into the book and decided to wait for his next book that will include his research included in Successful Aging but will go on to include interviews with many who have successfully aged. There is an online group that early during their conception I joined that featured mostly elders who were physically active and competed into their 90s called Growing Bolder - the group has matured to include more than physically staying strong and have been noticed by Washington D.C.
https://growingbolderinstitute.com/

I too had read so many books and soon found many of them were not acknowledging the skills and abilities of elders with the author sharing ideas how to use and be accepted for those skills and abilities - my take is we all want to be valued and as Levitin says that is the challenge for elders.

I also found that there are many aspects of aging that are really not addressed - retirement being one - many retire in their 60s but many, like me do not retire till later in life - I found it difficult even though I was barely working for the last 4 years of my career. And then it hit me - retiring is as much an emotional effort as anyone changing careers - when I finally hung up my license a year ago I found I had to figure out who I was without my work that was a big part of my identity - only recently found that, the Holmes Rahe Stress Scale found that making a career change is one of the 20 most stressful things that happens in your life, just behind the death of a close friend. That, re-defining your identity, your job title can impact who you define as your peer group, your life trajectory, and your reputation.

And the other that few really acknowledge is how elders are going through the grief process over and over and over with the death of friends and even the death of opportunities and physical abilities that limit what we can accomplish requiring changes to our goals and contributions.

I must say though an advantage that I had no idea how much stress I lived with for the 39 years of my work so that my shoulders were contently and unconsciously hunched - between calls from scared and emotional clients as early as 6: in the morning to as late as 11: at night - rushing to get an offer to an agent after writing it up in a restaurant after midnight and then, never really sleeping, full of concern for the small problems that my job was to smooth out or planning how to better help. It took over 6 months to finally relax and when I did I was shocked - no wonder I had so many headaches -

I thought they could use a new issue of What Color is my Parachute for retirees - we are starting all over and retirement is not sitting on a beach with a drink in our hands or sailing in some cruse ship or any of the other marketing snapshots used to identify the elderly is it. I'm thinking the baby boomers have made an impact on society at every age level and now that they too are retiring in droves maybe there will be a different approach with respect and inclusion as part of the approach.

Jonathan · « **Reply #20644 on:** February 14, 2020, 10:51:18 AM »

Jenny kissed me when we met, / Jumping from the chair she sat in. / Time, you thief, who love to get / Sweets into your list, put that in. / Say I'm weary, say I'm sad; / Say that health and wealth have missed me; / Say I'm growing old, but add- / Jenny kissed me!

Jonathan · « **Reply #20645 on:** February 14, 2020, 10:53:00 AM »

Leigh Hunt, of course.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #20646 on:** February 14, 2020, 12:41:49 PM »

Sounds like you had a Jenny who kissed you - a blessing for sure...

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #20647 on:** February 14, 2020, 06:59:05 PM »

Frybabe · « **Reply #20648 on:** February 19, 2020, 07:54:54 AM »

Well, Barb, since the end of our discussion pigs keep cropping up. I am rewatching Mary Beard's Empire without Limits. In the first episode what should appear but another coin. This gold coin was imprinted with two standing men on either side of a kneeling man restraining a pig. Near the end of the episode Mary toured the monument to peace that Augustus had erected. The outside walls had a series of motifs in which one includes the scene of Aeneas just arriving in Italy. It includes pigs. No pigs on this coin but on an old episode of Time Team they found an early Roman coin minted in what is now Croatia at a site in Somerset County. It either came in with traders or came with one of the Dacian cavalry units whose dragon standards would have been familiar to the Welsh tribes.

I finished listening to The Faded Sun Trilogy by C. J. Cherryh two days ago. The thing completely sucked me in. It is a story of three cultures trying to find their place and to overcome fear, distrust and prejudice in the aftermath of a 40 year war. To "decompress" I am reading a rather ordinary mystery/romance called Moonglow Cafe by Deborah Garner. The main character is somewhat annoying to me because seen doesn't seem to know the basics regarding Buffalo Bill. I thought everyone knew about the legendary Buffalo Bill and his Wild West show. What keeps me going with this insipid work is that it revolves around gem mining and my favorite Western artist, Charles Russel. So far, it is not helping me to come off my Faded Sun "high".

Next up will be We , a Russian dystopian SciFi by Yevgeny Zamyatin and Slow Horses, the first of the Slough House novel series, by Mick Herron. This series about a department within MI5 which is described as a dumping ground for failed intelligence agents. Apple TV has commissioned a TV series based on it with Gary Oldman starring.

bellamarie · « **Reply #20649 on:** February 19, 2020, 10:46:41 AM »

What a sweet post for Valentine's Day, Jenny kissed me....thank you Jonathan.

As for retirement, I closed down my in home day care four years ago, after sixteen years of having my house filled with babies, toddlers and pre schoolers. I still had my small granddaughter to watch, until she began full day, all week Kindergarten, so I suppose the change was difficult, yet having our Zoey, made it bearable. I also have continued to teach CCD class, one and a half hours a week, so that too has kept me busy, along with constantly going to the four grandkids various sports, and Bible study after church on Sunday. So, I guess I haven't really gotten a chance to know what it would be like to NOT be so busy, if anything I long to wake up and know the day is all mine, no place to go and nothing to do. My hubby retired before me, and he is constantly doing something around the house to keep busy. As for travel, we haven't had that luxury yet. Our dog Sammy is fifteen years old, and has just recently been diagnosed with glaucoma, so we don't want to leave him for any length of time with anyone else, he is spoiled and wants to be with us. I hope to do some day trips when the weather breaks. What I have noticed with the baby boomers retiring, is they are busier than ever. Our sets of friends and family members who have retired, are so busy we can't seem to make the time to get together as much as we used to. They are either going to visit their kids and grandchildren out of town, or busy with their grandkids in town, as are we, so who knew retirement would not slow us down. Ughhh....

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #20650 on:** February 19, 2020, 05:02:35 PM »

From An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols by Cooper.

The pig is a fertility symbol, hence prosperity, but also gluttony, greed, lust, anger and unbridled passion and the unclean. The sow is associated with the Great Mother and has a lunar, sky and fertility symbolism.

Amerindian: A lunar and thunder animal and a rain-bearer.

Buddhist: At the centre of the Round of Existence the pig represents ignorance and greed and is one of the three creatures depicting the sins which bind man to the world of illusion and the senses and rebirth. In Tibetan Buddhism the Diamond or Adamantine Sow is Vajravarahi, a Great Mother and Queen of Heaven.

Celtic: The sow goddess, ‘the Old White One’, Keridwen, is the Great Mother, also Phaea, ‘the Shining One’ as the moon and fertility. The pig is an attribute of Manannan who provided supernatural food through his pigs which were killed and eaten and returned daily.

Chinese: The pig signifies untamed nature, greedy and dirty naturally, but useful and fertilizing when tamed.

Christian: Satan; gluttony; sensuality. Emblem of St Anthony Abbot who overcame the demon of gluttony.

Egyptian: Sacred to Isis as the Great Mother and to Bes, but it can also be malefic as Set in his typhonic aspect.

Greek: Swine were a symbol of Eleusis and were sacrificed to Ceres and Demeter as fertility goddesses. The sow is sacred to the Dictean Zeus, who was suckled by a sow.

Hebrew: The unclean, a forbidden food.

Hindu: The Adamantine Sow, Vajravarahi, Queen of Heaven, is the feminine aspect of Vishnu’s third incarnation as a boar, and is a source of life, fertility.

Islamic: The unclean, a forbidden food.

Oceanic. The sow is lunar and fertility.

Roman: Swine were sacrificed to Mars as god of agriculture, also to Tellus and Ceres at harvest time.

Sumero-Semitic: An attribute of Rimmon, of Tiamat and of the Great Mother goddesses.

ANNIE · « **Reply #20651 on:** February 19, 2020, 07:37:40 PM »

Hi Folks!! I am reading Straight Into Darkness by Faye Kellerman. It’s a police mystery about two gruesome murders in Germany. It’s holding my interest. I’ve never read a Kellerman book so wanted to try her. So far so good!

PatH · « **Reply #20652 on:** February 20, 2020, 07:15:41 AM »

Hi, Annie, it's good to see you. Let us know your final opinion of Kellerman. I've never read any either.

Frybabe, I'll be interested in your reaction to We. It was a big influence for George Orwell's 1984.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #20653 on:** February 20, 2020, 02:03:42 PM »

Been reading a few of what I call chit chat books - so light they could fly over rooftops - these are by Carolyn Brown who lives in Oklahoma just on the other side of the Red River and her stories always taking place in the small towns of Texas, Oklahoma and sometimes she dips into Arkansas - you know the kind, where a good women using the ladies at church overhears lifetime friends talking about her while she is in the stall. Trapped she hears the gossip about her husband that she never saw and then all hell breaks loose with every relative having their opinion and a favorite grand or grand aunt floats a carrot that gives her the financial independence she needs and then we read of her metamorphose... fun and always a few laughs with just enough romantic overtones so that we continue our image of happily ever after.

Looking forward to my next chit chat - Bar Harbor Retirement home for Famous Writers - sounds like the story will involve at least one typical curmudgeon. Still putting one foot in front of the other reading Yanis Varoufakis - this time reading Talking to My Daughter About the Economy or How Capitalism Works and How It Fails. - Brilliant but so many new to me concepts that again I have to turn to other references to understand.

Perfect weather for lighting a corner and reading - as Austin grew the weather on TV became so sophisticated with cold fronts etc. but we have had one Blue Norther after the other - the sky is a bluish grey, wind blowing down from Oklahoma dumping rain from time to time and it lasts 3 days - i even ordered in my groceries with Amazon's free 2 hour window of delivery.

bellamarie · « **Reply #20654 on:** February 21, 2020, 12:08:12 PM »

Hi Annie! I have never read Kellerman, but I find I am enjoying mysteries more now than usual. Penny Louise has won me over.

Frybabe · « **Reply #20655 on:** February 22, 2020, 07:27:36 AM »

Okay, I have settled in with reading Slough Horses by Mick Herron. It is about a department of MI5 which houses failed operatives who for one reason or another were not outright fired. It is relatively funny and an enjoyable read.

The audio book I am listening to is a fantasy, but, as it turns out, is even more funny. The Red Queen's War (book one of a series) by Mark Lawrence follows a prince, too far down the line of succession to count as he gets into various scrapes. He describes himself as a liar, a cheat and a coward. It has me laughing out loud. The reader, Tim Gerard Reynolds, is very good at changing voices. Reynolds primarily focuses on fantasy novels. I put him right up there with Grover Gardner, Paul Woodson, R.C. Bray, and Ray Porter as my top five audio book voices.

PatH, perhaps I should have started We first. I suspect I will need some fun reads after that. Luckily I have a few waiting in the wings.

ginny · « **Reply #20656 on:** February 22, 2020, 06:51:56 PM »

I like books about retirees and Retirement Centers, used to love Corrine Holt Sawyer's books on same. I'll look that one up, Barbara.

Hilary Mantel's long awaited final book in the Wolf Hall Trilogy, The Mirror and the Light is coming out the 10th of March. I don't know if you all are fans of the Wolf Hall series but the first chapter is available free on the Guardain online now and it's just as good as the other two were.

Frybabe · « **Reply #20657 on:** February 26, 2020, 07:08:04 AM »

PatH, I read part of We so far. It seems a lot more pleasant and easy to read than 1984. I can only see vaguely why it might have inspired Orwell. It was interesting to see the character 1-330 go from being almost euphoric about OneState and his place in it to confusion when he was slowly subverted into seeing that the math didn't add up. Infinity got in the way.

It actually reminds me of the theoretical physicists and mathematicians who are "creating" all kinds of odd and not yet provable (except via math proofs) universes and how things work at a minute level. Oh, and the latest, that we are acutally living in or are a computer simulation. This is serious stuff. Scientists are really working on this "problem". While I cannot argue that Quantum Mechanics/Physics does not work (because now we have Quantum computers), I still think of it as someone's idea of a cosmic joke. I expect this is because I get lost almost immediately when trying to get such things straight in my head. Heck, I got lost at imaginary numbers in college algebra class.

ANNIE · « **Reply #20658 on:** February 26, 2020, 01:52:14 PM »

I want to tell you more about my Kellerman book. I am now up to three ugly murders, all garroted. Almost heads removed by a wire. This mystery takes place between the end of WWI
and then beginning of WWII. Hitler and how he fooled the Germans is part of the story and it mostly takes place in Munich. Much true history is part of the story. I am learning a lot about Germany’s history. I am half German so am interested in this mystery. My other half is Irish.🤓❤️

ANNIE · « **Reply #20659 on:** February 26, 2020, 01:57:16 PM »

The book is Straight Into Darkness by Faye Kellerman! 🤓❤️🙏

bellamarie · « **Reply #20660 on:** February 26, 2020, 03:25:56 PM »

Oh dear Annie, I am not so sure I could handle the grotesqueness of these murders. I like a murder mystery, but nothing that goes into detail and beheading with wire. Ughh....

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #20661 on:** February 26, 2020, 03:51:48 PM »

Annie the fact it takes place in Munich between the wars reminds me of the mystery we are seeing on PBS - takes place in Vienna between the wars - interesting to hear the actors talk about their roles and the story line - the one lead actor is German and speaks flawless English even off camera. Seems that German humor is seldom part of a story and when it is part of a story it is very different than the humor of English speaking people - did not know that...

You've peeked my interest although the murders sound barbaric - but then a few of the English/Irish mysteries are brutal - the ones I hate the most is when there is torture involved - had to stop watching The Bletchley Circle for that reason. But Kellerman has such a wonderful reputation for writing a good book.

Whoops bellamarie you too posted your concern for reading about the type of death -

Actually I have ordered a book suggested in another of our discussions written by of all people Boris Johnson - I had no idea he was a writer and he wrote a bevy of books - serious stuff, mostly history and many with a hint of humor - The Dream of Rome is one of those books - his forte is Roman History and this evidently compares today to Rome's past with a hint of humor threaded through - looking forward to the read - ordered a used copy from England on Amazon so it will be several more weeks before it arrives.

ANNIE · « **Reply #20662 on:** February 26, 2020, 08:22:38 PM »

I was watching Vienna Blood and wondered if this was written by Kellerman. Strange that the two stories were so much alike. So on Sunday night when I watch Vienna Blood, I will be looking for that author’s name.

Again I must mention the history of Germany which is so well presented in Strait Into Darkness. Kellerman gives a rundown on who helped her write the book and how so many historians were keeping her on track throughout the whole process. She really impressed me!

ANNIE · « **Reply #20663 on:** February 26, 2020, 08:32:07 PM »

Forgot to mention that Freud is used in both the book and the TV story! Makes me wonder a lot!

And I do know how to spell STRAIGHT !!!! 🤓❤️🤣🤣🤣

Barbara, I will request your book from my library since I have to read all my books in LP. I have Glaucoma. Hope they have that title. Thanks for mentioning it. 🤓❤️🙏

The great thing about SL is I can enlarge the print for all my posts.

ANNIE · « **Reply #20664 on:** February 27, 2020, 04:22:31 PM »

I looked up Vienna Blood and the book is by Frank Tallis and the TV story is by Steve Thompson. He adapted it from Tallis’s book. This is incredible! That the two are so similar! What do you think?

ANNIE · « **Reply #20665 on:** February 27, 2020, 08:10:05 PM »

Ginny! I got a call from Judy Laird and hope she can sign into the Library after I gave her some
directions! She is going to try soon. It was so nice talking to her. Keeping my fingers crossed!
🤓❤️🙏
Forgot to mention about Judy Laird!! She really likes Faye Kellerman. Had read several of her books.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #20666 on:** February 27, 2020, 08:15:56 PM »

Annie I wonder if Thompson adapted the book rather than write the series... I'm enjoying the series - the costumes are incredible and that German concept of initiation in order to be included in secret organizations you can see carried out in WWII -

As I recall a long history of sword fights etc. as part of initiation for German boys. Actually more from Prussia and Baden which prior to WWI made a difference since Bismark may have legally united most of Germany it still functioned with the pride of individual nation/states.

I know it made a difference in our family since my mother's people were from Bavaria and Alsace where as, my father's father's people were from Hamburg and my father's mother's people were from Hanover - big competition between Hanover and Hamburg with Bavaria being low man on the totem pole. Alsace was known as the seat of revolution which his participation drove my great grandfather out to America

ANNIE · « **Reply #20667 on:** February 27, 2020, 11:03:24 PM »

Barbara, speaking of Germany, my great grandfather was from Wertemberg and my great grandmother was from Baden. They came to Hamilton Ohio in 1855 and married in 1859 and their first two children were born in Hamilton. They moved to Union City, Indiana where they bought up several different farms. They raised 6 children on that land. My grandfather was one of those children. And I knew him for a brief time. He was a gentle man whose wife died leaving him with six children to raise. My father was the fourth child in that group.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #20668 on:** February 28, 2020, 02:42:04 AM »

ANNIE · « **Reply #20669 on:** February 29, 2020, 02:15:36 PM »

Impressive picture, Barbara, but why is it here? 🤓❤️🙏

PatH · « **Reply #20670 on:** February 29, 2020, 02:31:35 PM »

I think that because Barb knows I'm sorting through my books to downsize, she wanted to share this accurate picture of the job before me.

ANNIE · « **Reply #20671 on:** February 29, 2020, 03:12:43 PM »

PatH——🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #20672 on:** February 29, 2020, 05:27:32 PM »

Yep, like Pat, the job ahead of me as well - my house is only standing I think because books are holding it up - plus it is a fun photo of someone's library.

ginny · « **Reply #20673 on:** March 01, 2020, 07:39:43 PM »

LOVE the cute new Newslines (cute ads at the top of the pages here) that Jane puts up! Thank you, Jane, love the caterpillar reading!

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #20674 on:** March 02, 2020, 10:27:30 AM »

Finally saw the caterpillar - cute is right - I kept seeing a shelf of books and so they must rotate. Here I thought we were finished with the cold and another expected tomorrow - this back and forth from short sleeved Ts to long sleeve flannel has had its workout this year. But the Jasmin is blooming so thick this year they are like a solid carpet of yellow - I've a huge now 40 year old monster size bush draped over the side fence that is the back fence for my neighbor since he is on the corner. Red buds are in bloom but no leaves starting on the other trees yet.

Jonathan · « **Reply #20675 on:** March 02, 2020, 12:04:00 PM »

The Jasmin is blooming in Texas!! Lucky you, Barb. We're having a mild winter here in Canada (Toronto), but there's still snow on the ground.

What a wonderful picture of that vast collection of books. Now where's that copy of Hsueh Chin's Dream of the Red Chamber? I would like to propose it for discussion.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #20676 on:** March 02, 2020, 12:28:11 PM »

Nice idea for a book discussion Jonathan - Pat is looking for ideas - her life is so busy just now we will all have to really go to bat for her when the decision is made.

OK there are a couple of us Texans that pop into the library and today is one of the Texas Days. so here we go...

Frybabe · « **Reply #20677 on:** March 03, 2020, 06:51:36 AM »

Jonathan, I take it you are looking at the Chi-Chen Wang translation? What a magnificent choice. This is not the dynasty I have been, off and on, spending time in, but I am definitely up for it. It is another chance to learn more about Chinese literature.

Meanwhile, I've been listening to Age of Myth, Book one of the Legends of the First Empire by Michael J. Sullivan and read by Tim Gerard Reynolds. Like Prince of Fools, Book One of the Red Queen's War, written by Mark Lawrence, it is a Celtic like fantasy and also read by Reynolds. Both are excellent world-building tales. I think the Legends series starts out in an Iron Age setting, while the Red Queen series begins in the Dark Ages back when Cardinals could marry and the Vikings were active.

As for reading, I am back to reading SciFi for a while.

bellamarie · « **Reply #20678 on:** March 03, 2020, 09:49:54 AM »

So sad, tornado hit Nashville yesterday, devastating pictures of destroyed buildings, and seven deaths. Please keep them in your prayers. And this Coronavirus, it reminds me of the Ebola, SARS and Mers scare.

Jasmine blooming in Texas, how exciting! My flowers are popping up through the snowfall, I have at least 4 inches of greens showing. Spring can't be far off.

ANNIE · « **Reply #20679 on:** March 03, 2020, 03:22:34 PM »

Well, Judy Laird tried once more and was refused! Does anyone think Jane could help her?

Or maybe PatH?

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Author Topic: The Library (Read 2079940 times)