The Library

[JoanK]

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. We look forward to hearing from you, about you and the books you are enjoying (or not). Let the book talk begin here!

Suggestion Box for Future Discussions

JOYOUS:  do join our discussion of Zeitoun, scheduled for September. The prediscussion is        here:

http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=1585.0

[Steph]

We took to the woods.. I loved that book so many many years ago. Good read.
Yesterday, we had the DNA expert speak to us, then the medical examiners office and in the evening, a lecture on Sherlock Holmes. This is a really good Elderhostel program.. Now known as Road Scholar..

[mabel1015j]

OMGoodness, so many good books being discussed.

Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel was fascinating. I didn't like the book that followed Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed as well.

Sheila - I loved Freedom's Dgts. It finally gave the women, especially the Af-Am'n women, involved in the civil rights movement the credit they deserve. I'll look for CofL. Those are 3 fascinating men.

A friend gave me 3 of Dana Fuller Ross' books yesterday. I started Wagon's West: Independence. I can't believe i haven't come upon these books before. I like historical fiction and this is a boatload of historical fiction. There are 24 books in this series and he and his wife have written many, many more.......... That does concern me a bit. They must be doing them w/ assembly lines...........lol.......or help from "interns." He has about 4 different pseudonyms. I've just started, this first one is in 1830's; Andrew Jackson wants to send pioneers to the northwest to save that terrirtoy from the British and the Russians. Have any of you read any of his books.........here's the "fantasticfiction" site on hiim.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/r/dana-fuller-ross/

I also read a Valerie Wesley mystery that was recommended some where on SL. She's a P.I in Newark and since i know the area, i really enjoyed it, i will read others.

I'm also reading another Lorna Landvik novel (she of Angry Housewives Eating Bonbons.) This one is entirely different. It's title is Oh My Stars about a group of young adults who fall into being a club band, writing and playing their own songs, in the middle of the 20th century. A young girl who has had her arm amputated in a textile factory inadvertantly becomes their manager; the band eventually is 2 young white males and two young black males. They travel from carnivals and clubs in N. Dakota down thru the center of the country to Memphis. The story weaves it's way thru the complexities of their being an inter-racial group and her being "deformed" and the way people assess them and how they support and encourage each other. It's nicely done.

Jean

[roshanarose]

Book News : The author of "The Bookseller of Kabul" Aasne Seierstad is being sued by the second wife of the Rais family upon whom the book was based. 

"The lawyer said the case against his client and her publisher was brought to court in Oslo about two years ago by the bookseller's second wife, Suraia Rais, who has lived in Norway for about four years.

He said the main hearing in the case, at which Suraia Rais, her husband, and Seierstad were present, took place last month.

Rais' lawyer Per Danielsen told Dagbladet the sentence was in his opinion a blow to Seierstad's journalism.

"It's now been established that Seierstad wrote to make money by discussing other people's private lives," he said, describing her actions as "careless."

He added the best to come of the court's decision was that it opened the way for the rest of the family to seek damages.

Schioetz said only Suraia Rais had sued Seierstad because other family members would have had to put up a guarantee for eventual legal costs, a guarantee from which Norwegian residents are exempt.

"I think that is the main reason why it was only wife number two who sued Aasne," he said.

Seierstad has also written books based on her experiences living in Kosovo and Chechnya"

Source:  www.nz.entertainment.yahoo.com

I heard it on ABC Radio National News this am. 

[Steph]

I thought I had read all of Lorna Landevik, but that is a new one Have to look it up.

[Frybabe]

Thanks for the notice Roshanarose. I had some questions regarding the article so I did some further digging. My biggest questions were: didn't she get the family's permission, and did she use their real names? The answers to those are in this old article http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article626510.ece

On the face of it, I can't see how these people can be awarded damages. She did not use their real names and she did get the family's permission. The next questions are whether she got that permission in writing, and if she did, were there restrictions on what she could write about? If she acted in good faith and the family later felt threatened (remember the names were changed) is that her fault? I take it the family was not given advanced copy prior to publication. Was the family compensated at all for her stay with the family?

[marjifay]

I tried a couple of Preston and Childs' "thrillers" but they were DNFs for me.  But I really liked BLASPHEMY by Douglas Preston.  About a giant superconducting particle accelerator the government has built inside a mountain on an Indian Reservation to the tune of $40 billion, which they want to test. But an Indian medicine man, a televangelist and a pastor who runs a failed mission on the reservation gear up to pull the plug on it, calling it "The Antichrist."  The pastor sends an email to 56,000 people on his right-wing mailing list telling them they must stop this antichrist project.  When a bunch of these people show up, with their homemade weapons, ballbats, kitchen knives, etc.,  things get really hairy and funny.

Marj

[ANNIE]

"So Happy Together" by Maryann McFadden.  Aug.15 to Sept 5.

Do join us for this author attended  discussion.  The book fits in very well with Bruce Frankel's book, "What Should I Do With The Rest of My Life?" about choices made in later life, as it is the story of a soon to retire school teacher who plans a sabbatical so that she can take a class in photography.  She is hoping to be able to become a serious photographer, as in National Geographic type magazines.

As she prepares for her trip to Maine, her parents announce that they are selling their home and moving to a retirement facility. A few days after helping them move, her long lost daughter arrives with a little message for her.  What to with unhappy parents and now an unhappy daughter and still get to Maine in time to take her class becomes the focus of her life.  Whoops, she has neglected to deal with upcoming wedding plans and the groom's opinion of her plan changes!  Now what?

[mrssherlock]

Annie:  Good capsule summary of the first few dilemmas she must face.

[marcie]

marjifay, I too enjoyed BLASPHEMY. That's a good teaser that you provided.

[Steph]

Today as the finale of the elderhostel, we are the jury. We have been lectured all week by various people involved in investigating the crime and getting it to court. Today.. its our turn.. Since we dont even remotely agree, it should be interesting.

[pedln]

Trying to figure out DNF -- Did not finish?

Steph, that sounds like a really good Elderhostel (or Road Scholar.)  I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Sheila,  I'm glad you liked Major Pettigrew's Last Stand.  I haven't read it yet, but my DIL gave me her copy.  She knows the author, whose kids go to school with my grandkids in DC. 

I recently finished The Postmistress, a novel by Sarah Blake, another DC writer.  The time is WWII, set in Cape Cod and London, with a focus on a young radio broadcaster who works with Edward R. Murrow and is seeking "the rest of her stories."  One wonders who is the postmistress and should all letters be delivered?  I think back to my childhood during that period and find it illuminating to read about it now.

[marjifay]

Yes, Pedln, DNF is Did Not Finish.  I don't mess around, if the first 75 or so pages don't hook me, I sent the book back to the library.  Too many good books to read to waste time on boring books.

I have The Postmistress in my TBR pile.  Looking forward to it.

Marj

[mabel1015j]

Thought you might enjoy this article in a recent Newsweek mag titled "Slow Reading." It laments the era we are going thru when we want everything fast - speed reading, fast food, fast internet, etc. It compliments the idea of "slow reading," which i assume many of us are more likely to do that "speed reading" just because we have more time..........i keep thinking i should learn to do continental knitting because it's supposed to be the fastest way to knit. But each time i give it a try i fuss at myself about "why?" I have no need to knit more quickly. I pretty well organized and always start projects far enough ahead that i can get them done by the time i need them, OR, spend a lot of the last week before the deadline knitting  .................anyway,
here's some food for tho't.............

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/06/23/slow-reading-an-antidote-for-a-fast-world.html

[bellemere]

I am still deep in Kristin Lavransdatter, archaic language, unpronounceable names and places, tangled Scandanavian history, and all.  I am loving it!  Talk about slow reading - more than once I have gone back over a paragraph two or three times, just taking in the depth and complexity of thought and the beauty of exspression.  And the story!  Medieval Norway sure had a lot going on under those cloaks and wimples!  So glad I found Kristin after all these years.
Let me put in a plug for Barbara Pym in the fall selection.  She is sheer delight.  I was reading her books when I was working and had an English colleague in another departmen who helped clarify some of the mysterious
English menu items: fairy cakes, cauliflower cheese, etc.  WE joking
ly planned a Barbara Pym tour of England featuring the British Library of course, a jumble sale, and tea with a curate. My favorite was Quartet in
Autumn, but happily read any of her books.
Does anyone read Joyce Carol Oates?  Seems to be the leading woman writher today; certaiinly the most prolific.  After Kristin is done, I am trying another fair-haired herioun, "Blonde" by Oates, a few years old.  Fictionalized biographies are sort of fun .  This one is , of course, Marilyn Monroe.  Is that a good choice for an Oates book?  Just looked appealing on the llibrary shelf.

[bellemere]

Apologies for all the typos in previous post.  My fault for typing early morning when the eyes still havn't awakened fully.

[JoanP]

Bellemere, do you see yourself drawn to reading the entire Undset trilogy on Kristin's life!  You are not going to be able to put it down, I'll bet.  Now that was a romance!

Barbara Pym - "a sheer delight"  - You will be happy that we are planning to discuss not only her "Excellent Women"  in November, but possibly one of her later books, "Quartet in Autumn" along with it.  We look forward to seeing you in that discussion!  Thanks for the plug!

[JoanK]

"It compliments the idea of "slow reading,"

YES!!

I have always been a very fast reader, and people say "That's wonderful." It's NOT! If I am interested in something, I speed up, and before I know it, I've finished, and am saying "What did I just read?" It's like gulping your food, instead of savoring it, and not tasting it at all. I do all sorts of tricks to slow myself down.

If we were in a competition to see how many books we can read, it would be useful, but I can't think of any other use for it.

I accidently tought myself speed reading in graduate school. I was editing a paper I had written, and found myself running my pencil down the middle of the page, somehow picking up all the words as I went. I have done it, sometimes, and it works, but it's no fun.

[Steph]

Tonight I need all of senior nets support. I arrived home today from the Road Scholar program that I really loved. I was tired and happy.. On my door were two piece of papers.. They were subpoenas for the civil trial of the man who hit us.. The first was for me, which made sense, but the other one.. My husband who is dead as a result of the accident. I have cried and yelled and exhausted just sit with tears still rolling down. How could anyone be so cruel as to subpoena a dead man. Didnt they even think how that would affect his widow. I do not understand our justice system, but just now, I am not quite sure I will get any justice or even any peace.

[roshanarose]

Steph - I am so sorry that you had to encounter such stupidity.  The problem is, that if and when you talk to the offenders about this appalling error, you will have to relive it.  If I were there I would do my best to complain to them for you.  There is so much help and kindness in the world, but there is a helluva lot of stupidity and ignorance as well.  Thinking of you....

[FlaJean]

That was a terribly stupid mistake, Steph.  There are no words that will ease the pain, I'm afraid, but you are in our thoughts and prayers.

[jeriron]

STEPH

I am so sorry.. 

You will probably get an apology but it's not going to mean much.

[maryz]

{{{{{{{{Steph}}}}}}}}}

[mabel1015j]

Steph - !@#$%^^& to those stupid people and to come at a time when you were feeling so good, must be doubly hard, so sorry.......jean

[Gumtree]

Steph  Big Big Hugs for You  {{{{{{Steph}}}}}}

How callous and cruel it was to do that. Something similar happened to my mother some time after my father died - We were all upset by it so I have an inkling of how you are feeling.

Take care of yourself and try to remember that 'this too will pass' 

[Babi]

  It looks like some clerk was just 'filling in the blanks',  with very painful
results to you, STEPH.   I wish I could have been there.  A shoulder to
cry on is so much more comforting than words.

[MaryPage]

Oh Steph, I know the pain you are experiencing, having drunk the bitter waters of that well.  It is now 4 years and 7 months since my husband died, and yet, almost every week, mail comes to him.  Try as I might, making phone calls to get him off lists for contributions or memberships or credit or products, the system grinds on and his name & address are sold to yet other mailing lists.  It hurts every time I see his name on a piece of mail or pick up the phone and hear a voice ask for him by name, still!  Put it down to a really, really clueless clerk, I suppose.  Understanding and hugs, with sorrow.

[Frybabe]

That's appalling, Steph!

Someone was very careless/negligent. And isn't it just typical of people to send these glaring mistakes on a weekend so that you have to stew over it until Monday. Someone owes you a major apology.

[Steph]

I know that I will hear it was some sort of mistake, but that doesnt make any better. I simply must have finally realized that no matter what, the dead do not get justice..

[bellemere]

Another instance proving what Charles Dickens said:
"The law is an ass!"  I am truly sorry, aploogies won;'t remove the sting for you. 

[ginny]

Stephanie, I am sorry to hear of this ridiculous snafu. Do you have an attorney? He or she should deal with this immediately, I'd make a stink over it, never heard of such a thing, and am sorry to see others have experienced it  as well. The joy of our bureaucratic system.

Civil trial? You need a good attorney here to get thru this, one who will fight for you. This stupid mistake would, to me, seem a powerful lever which would move any jury.

I am so glad you enjoyed the Road Scholars program, happy memories against the inanity of the system.

[MaryPage]

Steph, you are not going to believe this;  I cannot believe it, myself!  But I was just talking to a young woman who lives upstairs and takes my packages inside for safe-keeping for me when I am away and that sort of sweet, neighborly thing.  She is in her thirties and a medical assistant in a local hospital.  We were talking about feeling down about things (her sweetheart is in Iraq) and I told her of my feelings of distress and shock over what just occurred to you in the matter of this subpoena (no names or places mentioned), and her immediate response was:  "The same thing happened to my Mother!"  Her father is dead;  her mother still lives.

Her analysis is that an awful lot of workers are just going through the motions these days, and do not really have their MINDS and sensibilities locked on their jobs.  Our generation, as a rule, wanted to do the best job of work they possibly could.  This generation is not considerate of how their output affects other persons.  Most (not all, thank goodness!) are locked on to their own lives and heedless of other lives really existing at all!  Sad, but I think she may be right.

[mrssherlock]

Steph:  No mere words can ease your pain but words are all I have to offer.  It would be good if you could keep the memories if your Road Scholar experience both for the enjoyment and mental stimulation but also as a measure of how you are better at taking care of your self.  Someone will pay for this, have no doubt.  You have attorneys, I'm sure, and your sons are a source of strength for you as well.  May I suggest that crying, while it provides solace, only makes you feel more helpless, more a victim.  What you need to do is get in touch with your deep anger at the man and circumstances that have deprived you of your DH.  Get mad, mad as hell.  Yell, throw things, hit the pillow.  Depression is anger directed inwards and hurts only ourselves.  Make someone else hurt for what they did.

[maryz]

And, like Mary Page mentioned, sometimes names never get off the lists.  John's dad died in 1997 and never lived at our address - and we still get a couple of things a year addressed to him. 

[MaryPage]

Probably because after his death your father-in-law's mail was forwarded to your husband so that he could attend to the estate, and the postal service provides "forwarding" addresses willy-nilly to clients who request them!  You can often see the requests for these on envelopes that come in your mail.

One of my daughters had a letter offering a credit card to "Pupper her last name" recently.  Now "Pupper" is her 2 year-old dog, who came by that name when the 4 family members could not come to a unanimous agreement on a name and they realized, after several months, that he thought his name was Pupper, which was supposed to be his temporary designation only.  They gave up searching for another name.

We really scratched our brain cells trying to figure that one out!  My daughter, of course, called the card company in indignation.  The clerk she spoke with thought it was a hoot.  FINALLY we figured it out.  Another daughter, who has a one year old puppy of the same breed but who lives in Missouri rather than Maryland, thought it would be cute to have HER puppy send her sister's puppy a birthday present last spring.  So she ordered a cute dog toy ON LINE from a pet supply place and had it sent to "Pupper my other daughter's last name"!  They sell their mailing lists, obviously!

I am in on a 4-member family cell phone plan with one of my sons.  Mail for him, his wife, and his daughter come to my home on a regular basis, and NONE of them even live in my state!  Nor do I pay the cell phone bill!  It goes to my son and he pays it!  Go figure!  Oh, and no, none of them has EVER lived here!

What an age we live in!

The thing that makes me most angry is medical practices selling their patient lists.  I thought doctors were supposed to protect our privacy.  Not so!  I went to an audiologist last year for the first time.  Have not been back there, but Ever Since I am literally deluged in my mailbox with offers of hearing aids and free hearing tests and meetings re hearing problems and You Name It, from dozens of different companies.    I find this unacceptable, but am helpless to do anything about it!

[Frybabe]

For anyone interested, the Direct Marketing Association has a site where you can opt out of mailing lists that are sold to marketers. It used to be a simple matter to just list your mailing address or email address to remove yourself from these lists, but I see they have changed to procedure considerably. It does include options to remove names of deceased and caregivers now. I am not clear if there is now a charge or not. It looks like they only charge $1.00 if you download and send the form through the mail. I guess that pays for them to type it into the database. Here is a link to the consumer area where you can register and manage your direct mail and/or your email:
 https://www.dmachoice.org/dma/member/home.action

I know about this association because my former employer used to print their magazine. Here is a link to the DMA's home page if you are interested in knowing more about what they do:
 http://www.the-dma.org/index.php

Keep in mind that not all direct marketers are members of this association.

[ALF43]

WHAT??
Stephanie- a subpoena in your husbands name??

Man alive, call an attorney and sue this guy's arse all the way to nowhere!!!

That is riduculous, he'll get off if you don't.  Why would they subpoena you OR your dead husband??? 
Have you filed a motion against the guy that hit you?
I would love to console you honey, but vengence is SWEET!

Laws are like spiders' web which, if anything small falls into them they ensnare it but LARGE things break through and escape.
Don't put up with this.

[pedln]

Steph, let the press in your community (or wherever the supena originated) know about such a careless and upsetting error.

[Steph]

The trial is a civil one.. traffic violation.. States Attorney against the driver.. I will call this morning and let them know what they did. I know I will get a simple apology, but I suspect it is not quite that simple..  I am being called, hopefully by the states attorney as being a witness to the accident.. At this point, I do not need an attorney. One of my sons checked and we can still sue if we want to.. The point being the man has nothing. He has declared bankruptcy last year before all this, lost his house to the bank.. etc. I had a check run on him and if we won, all we will get is the ability to make sure he never has anything. Not sure I could do that to anyone.
Bad nightmares last night.. I guess this was one of those last straw things. I am angry,, I know that, but being a quaker, truly believe that anger solves nothing.. Neither does grief however.
Somehow I will get through this.
Do we have anything on our site about computers. I just received myIPAD and my HP computer hates it.. Sigh..

[Babi]

 I have to agree with you, STEPH.  Though this man has caused you a
terrible loss and years of pain, there is no point in putting yourself through years of additional stress with no gain in sight.  The man is down; kicking him wouldn't change a thing. 
  I didn't know you were a Quaker.  That philosophy of life has always been one that appeals to me.