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]

2 Pulitzer's - and his wife passed only 2 months ago - his skill with words and explaining history is a treasure we have and will have - Rest in Peace David McCullough

Thanks frybabe - did not see this in the news 

[ginny]

Thank you, Frybabe. A long and full productive life. I see his wife had predeceased him by a couple of months. I will never forget our discussion of his Nothing Like it in the World, the building of the transcontinental railroad. You'd never dream that would be of interest but it was wonderful. I'll never forget it, nor the contributions of those in the parts of the country it went through.

 I think I will tear myself away from the newest Harry/ Megan  book called  Revenge now being serialized in the  Times (I wish our newspapers still did that, do any of them?) and read another of his, maybe on the Brooklyn Bridge which has been on my To Read  List long enough to grow grass. The Revenge book so far, am about 4 chapters in, reading it free online from what's been in the paper,  which is in the kindle preview apparently, so far shows Miss Markle to be remarkably ungrateful to her father for his pretty constant and indulging  support, particularly financial.

 At any rate, it does make you fear for Harry. So far.


Dana, how interesting on the Ishiguro, that whole subject and your analysis. I think I'll put that one to the back of my pile, too.

I'm not sure Penelope Fitzgerald's books are...either light or cheerful. The only light and cheerful thing I've read lately is the one above how not to turn into a little old lady, am still laughing over the one about you tell people you're 82 and they don't look surprised. My last haircut places me in the Old Lady Club without actually being there, (or so I fool myself)..... it's a reverse. Who knew hair was that important?

Frybabe, I'm sorry about Lucy. It's hard to lose a pet.

I  think at one time I started The Name of the Rose and didn't finish it, was irritated by it for some reason. I think I picked up the Shadow of the Wind instead and didn't look back. But again, so many times it depends on what you want to read at a particular moment in your own life.

And quite frankly I don't see much around to read which I can relate to, recently. Maybe this is why people read mysteries about huge houses with 100 servants, a major threat (murder, etc.) and a solution. The world made right again.

[Frybabe]

I am sure I missed a lot when I first read The Name of the Rose and have forgotten much since. The movie was a lot easier to follow. It probably would have helped if I had more knowledge of Catholic Church history during the Avignon Papacy (1309-1376). The book is set in 1327. I am not sure why the book is sometimes hard to follow, but it might be because it is supposed to be a translation of an old manuscript. So it probably sounds off to our modern ears. Wikipedia describes the book as "an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies, and literary theory."  Found this about semiotics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotics This is also something I do not know much about, nor do I care to. I forget the use of such was (still are?) a church thing back then, but then so do/did witchcraft, some artists and I suppose, others. At any rate, the audiobook is not much better than the book to follow.

My Audible newletter just arrived and it features some of Umberto Eco's other works. Two in particular sound interesting. Baudilino and On the Shoulders of Giants. Baudilino is a tale set in Constantinople in 1204 and is described as a "lighthearted" fusion of "historical events with myths and fables".  The latter is a series of previously unpublished essays, the themes of which "essays explore themes he returned to again and again in his writing: the roots of Western culture and the origin of language, the nature of beauty and ugliness, the potency of conspiracies, the lure of mysteries, and the imperfections of art." Well, that certainly covers a lot of The Name of the Rose doesn't it? The book has a little of all of that.

[ginny]

I probably shoud give it another chance, it irritated me. But you know how it is, anything can irritate you if you're in the wrong mood!

I thought you all might like to see a puzzle I did yesterday. It's an APP for the iphone and Ipad from a company called Veraxen with truly a million puzzles to choose from, most of the collections are free.
I love the architectural ones, and the Roman ruins,  and the old castles and the daily ones which can be anything.

But the other day they offered a new collection called Librarian Day. I looked at all the puzzles offered, entranced, and paid the whopping 99 cents to get them all.

Since the company has a feature where you can share what you did on Facebook, I know they will not mind my sharing it here and Jane has kindly put it up for me:



Isn't it beautiful?

This reminds me so much of the library I used to go to as a child. It's so similar it might have been the same. Small with this kind of design. Just magic.  I keep wanting to place a couple of  desks back in front of the books, under that top floor,  though. It's missing those desks, just a couple. In the one I went to there was more depth between the front of the top floor and the stair walk.

Thought you might like to see this. I don't know where this one is, that's the only drawback of the puzzle people, but I know it's not the one I grew up with: it's long gone, the building repurposed.

[Dana]

that's a lovely picture Ginny.  I use an app called Medito and there are sleep stories on it.  One story is about a library and it is exactly like this one.  You walk thru it and pick books out and read bits of them.  It almost always puts me to sleep so I have had to make a concerted effort to stay awake to hear all the books.  This picture completely captures the image in my mind of that library.  As my library as a kid (which I frequented zealously) wasn't nearly so beautiful, and as I have never seen one as nice as this anyplace, I thought my sleep story was somebody's phantasy of the perfect library.  But now I now....they really do exist!

What is the puzzle here though.....is it like a jigsaw puzzle you have to complete to show the picture?

[BarbStAubrey]

Oh my - that is a lovely library - and Dana a puzzle that allows you to walk through a library and pick books to read excerpts - wow - I used to do that at bookstores before everything was easier online... forgot the name of the bookstore - now out of business but a national chain then I would bring a few over to the cafe and end up starting one I could not leave so of course it was a purchase that was not planned

house on the market for nearly 2 weeks now - the first week lots of showings while I stayed with Paul & Sally in Magnolia but very quiet now - we're assuming families are getting their household rescheduled and children ready for school that starts here on the 15th - expect it to be quiet for the week and probably no real activity again until September - reading is about all that is left since I do not want to pull things out or make a mess that I would only have 10 to 20 minutes to clean up and get out of here... this is the hardest part - not being able to do anything - just waiting till the right person comes along and says they want to make their offer...  waiting dependent on others is not my strong suit - ah so and this will pass...

[BarbStAubrey]

Such a thoughtful surprise - telling my broker how sterile the house and all my handwork is packed as is half of my books and then telling him all about Senior Learn and how you, Frybabe was reading The Name of the Rose and my copy that I read some 25 years ago was packed so that my memory was sketchy and then proceeded to share a synopsis of the story - Well - about 3:30 an email saying if I had not looked out the front door there was something there for me - Kevin had delivered a used copy with a note saying it was to help me get through the 'sterile' environment - I was flabbergasted - he probably picked up at half price books on his way back to the office after our morning get together --- all that to say at the end of the intro is the perfect quote --- "In omnibus requiem quaesivi, et nusquam inveni nisi in angulo cumlibro" which I translate as "I sought rest everywhere, and found nowhere but in a corner with a book"

[Frybabe]

Ginny, am I remembering wrong? Did you used to live in the Morrisville area? This really caught my eye.

https://wanderwisdom.com/news/cat-themed-brewery

[ginny]

Frybabe, no, that wasn't me? It was Moorestown, NJ, in this building: https://thecommunityhouse.com/ off to the right wing there.

It wasn't big enough as the town grew, for a library, they built  a new one, but I think it should have been kept as some kind of library, but I don't live there and have no say. But you can see by looking at the little film how magnificent the building was and still is, although much changed to fit their needs.  There was a gigantic swimming pool in the basement, too, where they used to have swimming meets, and tennis courts out back which we lived right behind, so going to the Library was almost literally in my back yard.

If you notice, one of the rooms they now call "Library," shows,  much reduced in grandeur, one of the overhead floors? And the depth of that walkway under which there were a few...a very few desks. I will never understand why people think that removing beautiful paneling for stark  white painted whatever is an improvement. It's not. But you can see the result here and the fact they have gone back to "a library" in name anyway.

We have a heavily paneled living room, I guess you'd call it, and if I had a dollar for every person who has said, wow, it's dark in here (there are large expanses of windows on both sides) why don't you paint the paneling white? Or tear it out and brighten it up?  One person thought a nautical blue would be the best choice.

A nautical blue? The bookcases too? Or maybe a nautical white for them?  De gustibus non disputandum.   Good thing WE bought the house, the paneling stays, and I added bookcases in the same wood to match.  I think it reminds me of former days, and that's why it seems comfortable.

[ginny]

Barbara, whart a lovely post and what a wonderful gift to you! You will have to read it now!!!

Sterile house. I recall the real estate agent we had when we moved from our first house to here, thought the first house desperately needed to have those wall to wall bookcases in the living room removed.

THEY were white! She said nobody wants bookcases, it devalues the house. Really?

I said surely not, no. Well the house has had many owners, and in looking online a couple of years ago I was astounded at the difference in the back of the house. Whoever did THAT makeover should go into the business, it was incredible, hats off to them, BUT there are  no bookcases in the former living room, either.

Imagine a book case being a detriment. The latest thing in decorating, so I am told, is books books books, spilling off chairs, stacked everywhere, books.

It did,  however, take 2 years to sell that house but we moved here first, so it wasn't too bad. Hope a buyer appears, soon, Barbara, it's hard to keep something "picture perfect" all the time.

Dana,  I have never heard of  an app called "Medito," I must get one, it sounds wonderful and just what I need...nice way to drift off, beats Gin Rummy which I usually lose at and get all riled up, so I usually end with one of these puzzles. So soothing.

Yes, it's just like a puzzle you put together on a table, but it's electronic, and it's really a lot of fun. There's all this "elevator" type music which I like, very soothing and repetitive, but you can turn it off if you like, there's a timer, (that went in 2 seconds, thank you very much, not a contest), lots of ways you can individualize the experience for your own taste. There's  a "tray" to display all  the pieces on the bottom, and you get to choose how many pieces the puzzle is you put together. I like 63 pieces total.  You can drag the piece into position and when it gets on the puzzle it's quite large and easy to see, even for me. You can click at any time and see the finished product so you know where to put a particular piece, or at least in which area of the screen. When it IS in the right position, it does a little "click." Most satisfying. I don't like it on the iphone, too small, but on a regular iPad it's marvelous. Better than the real thing, I hate to say and I've got one now on the PANELED ROOM O SHAME coffee table.

[Frybabe]

I love built-in bookshelves.

[Dana]

Oh that puzzle sounds great Ginny, but I only have a laptop, or whatever it is now called, and a phone......and no time what with all my reading at the moment....haven't even done any Latin since I finished the Pliny.
I have been doing audiobooks.  A great way to go to bed, except you really need the book as well to catch up easily from where you fell asleep!

How awful anyway, about Salman Rushdie was what I was going to say.  I never could read any of his books though, have to admit.  Not good at magical phantasy.

Off now to start Lethal White, I really am a sucker fro JK Rowling

Oops.....almost forgot....am listening to Strangers on a Train by yr fav. Particia Highsmith.  It's really creepy when read out loud.

[ginny]

 I do, too, Frybabe!!

Oh that one IS creepy, Dana, read alone,  or when you listen to it. I think it's the precursor for the Ripley series, I could be wrong. She can get very dark.

There's an interesting article today in the BBC online about your favorite Enid Blyton and how India loves her books, it's quite good. I had no idea she had written 300 books, if I read that correctly.

Honestly, had it not been for Latin I think I might have gone nuts this summer, with my sprained knee and pretty immobile, and that's no joke.  I ran out of face to face classes to pre translate and parse, and I enjoyed every minute, and really looked forward to my morning sessions at 9.  All those different voices from the past. And then there's the Master Craftsman  Caesar whose grammar is SUCH a  joy! I wish HE had written 300 books. Nothing like it in the world, Latin.

I like audio books, too, depending on the reader.

[BarbStAubrey]

Hard to believe that what happened to Rushdie can happen - hoping he pulls through but it sounds like if he makes it he will lose an eye - there seems to be little place for either Wit or a humorous look at something serious and not just among devote Muslims - this is  urging me to pick up a Samuel Johnson or Oscar Wilde book, both known for their wit and humor. 

Rain all around us but none absolutely none for the last 3 days that rain has fallen within just a couple of miles of us... They say the Nino is almost done - now the operative word appears to be 'almost' - how long is 'almost' - sheesh... What was that Katheryn Hepburn and Burt Lancaster movie about him being a rainmaker - need to find that and watch it...

[Dana]

I just listened to a thing about Enid Blyton on BBC following your comment, Ginny.  What a scream......"sexist, racist, homophobic, no literary  merit, repetitive" BUT got children reading voraciously......so true (well, the reading bit)......I must read one of her stories againand see how awful it is because I REALLY REALLY LOVED her!  My parents got quite upset and tried to put me off her....Enid Bolton, my Dad insisted on calling her.....all that stuff about the lashings of ginger beer....I had never heard of ginger beer but remember insisting on having it when I went off to pick raspberries (summer job of sorts), and I had an imaginary dog called Timmy when I was younger......met a British woman recently whose dog was called Timmy , and I immediately said "Famous Five?" and her eyes lit up....

[ginny]

HO!!  Dana, that can't be the same article!!!  Could you read  this one, which is not on audio but which  extremely  positive: note" clean, wholesome, value-educating appeal" Lots of the old covers displayed, lots of positive images.

Younger readers are drawn to her series, from Amelia Jane to the Faraway Tree. "She was by far one of the most prolific writers in the world," says Abraham. "Apart from the clean, wholesome, value-educating appeal… her enduring popularity here is threefold: first there's nostalgia as most parents start their kids off on Blyton reliving their own childhoods, then there's the storytelling itself, from mystery and adventure to food feasts, and thirdly she's of course still seen as one of the best English tutors in the world, and in India that's key to getting ahead."

Roxanne Noronha from Mumbai, who grew up loving Blyton's books as a child, has tapped into that appeal. In June 2021, Noronha created a WhatsApp group to sell off the many books she's collected from childhood. It was a life-changing move, she says, and it helped her connect to Blyton lovers not just across India, but Asia as well. Today, she's made a career out of trading in Blyton and chasing down rare editions for collectors. "I've hunted down Blyton books piled up with second-hand dealers in dusty, narrow lanes, chanced upon reading nooks in neighbourhood restaurants and cafes and in old run-down local libraries. Finding a new edition and sharing it with like-minded collectors is an adventure and a joy," she says. So far, she's sold more than 500 books, a mix of paperbacks and rare first editions.

Grandmothers and grandchildren sitting together, reading Blyton! 600 milion copies of her books in current circulation. Other than JK Rowling and one other author, she's 3rd on the hit parade.

I think it might be hard to find more of a positive panegyric to Blyton than this article:

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220809-enid-blyton-the-british-author-loved-in-india

[ginny]

Barbara, I agree on the horror, such an awful thing:  9 stab wounds, 9, and the perpetrator says he's innocent.

On the aura of childhood reading delights, one of my favorite books was the extremely famous (I know you all have at least one copy somewhere)  Bonita Granville and the Mystery of Star Island. Yes!!!

Having read my neighbor's attic cache of the Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew (they had 3 girls and so had all the books) and my fave, Cherry Ames, Student Nurse, I stumbled on this rare thing, based on a real movie star I still have never heard of named Bonita Granville....A couple of years ago I managed to find a copy and it remains unread. I don't want to spoil the memory, because pleasant  memories are important, best left in memory in the case of some books. I'm sure it's dreck, but not to me, then.

Once on the slow train to Pompeii from Sorrento  I sat behind a mother and her son reading one of the Harry Potter series. The boy was tall, I am not sure what age he was, but he certainly appeared old enough to read for himself without his mother's help, about 9 or 11 or so.  They were reading the book together, and enjoying it so much, and since I was right behind them,  in those rickety seats,  I couldn't help but overhear. What was really happening was, HE was reading it in English, and she was helping him know the French translation, because they were French. Such joy in reading a book.

I thought that was one of the most marvelous things I had seen in a while, what a memory for that child.

[ginny]

Am currently reading The Labors of Hercules, (and of course it's by Agatha Christie, I'm definitely on a Christie kick),   and I have to say enjoying every word. It's one of my favorite audio books, the one narrated by Hugh Frasier (who played Hastings to Poirot on the PBS mysteries), but the book in print is also  a delight. It's really one of her best, I think, and so clever of her and so well written, in which the off remark of a clergyman causes Poirot to undertake the Labors of the ancient myth (and namesake)  as a challenge before his retirement.

Quick, how many of The Labors of Hercules can you name without looking them up? One nice thing about the book is you will know them when finished, albeit in another form.  5 Thumbs Up. haahaha

Unfortunately I can't say the same thing about the physical book itself, brand new and one of those very nice paperbacks with the good sized print, but BENT.

It came with a crease across it, and not only the cover:  the entire book, and it's a brand new paperback,  appears to have been crushed by some machine, the cover is bent but so are at least the first 100 or so pages.  I am really particular about my books, I guess. Fussy is the word. It's an irritation.

Am I the only one vaguely bothered by the condition of a brand new book? I have to wonder at the....why would anybody wrapping that in a box think that nobody on the other end would care?

Suddenly a new series (to me) popped up on Acorn when I went to Amazon Prime called The Agatha Christie Hour, will talk about that in the movies area, one I had never heard of or seen. I watched the first one, very odd.  Not sure what to make of it.

What are you reading this fine morning?? Hope it's not bent in two.

[ginny]

Did you know today is National Relaxation Day?

[BarbStAubrey]

OH oh a mangled book - how sad and upsetting - and a new book - oh oh oh - hope they give you some kind of refund or send another

I started a delightful sorta cookbook but so far more their life story and how they ended up Two Americans, Mother and Daughter opening a Cooking School in Burgandy and of course all their background experienced to get to the point where they could especially since opening any kind of brick and mortar business in France is a tangle of legalities not made for the average even the average Frenchman or woman  - The book does include recipes however I'm really enjoying their story - and the photos are wonderful - entitled The Cook's Atelier by  Marjorie Taylor, the Mom and Kendall Smith Franchini, the daughter who married a Frenchman who is their key to opening a business in France. Lovely concept of treating their students as guests who enjoy each other's company not only after learning and preparing lunch but staying and enjoying dinner together every day for a week. They have more French students than American or English students...

If today is National Relaxation Day then I have it made reading this book because it is well written, an easy relaxing read with nothing strange or shocking or spooky jumping off the pages at me...

[Frybabe]

I ordered a book once that was supposed to be "like new", but it came with a big coffee stain. The pages had buckled accordingly. Ginny, that was the paperback version of Adrian Goldsworthy's Caesar. I never did read the book but instead listened to the audio book.

[Dana]

I recently got audible...just 1 book every 2 months and I have been getting great enormous books (China, Sarum and now London) by Edward Rutherfurd which take FOREVER to listen to, especially when you keep falling asleep and can't remember where you left off.  I find it a great way to end the day, or if I wake up in the middle of the night.  His books have a lot of real history in them as well as a so so storyline.  I find the history really interesting, stuff I only vaguely knew about China and especially the early English stuff about the Vikings and King Canute and Herward the Wake and so on

But I was going to say, I noticed audible has a lot of good Agatha Christie stuff including BBC radio plays of her work.  Got them lined up for the future.

My library also has hoopla where you can get stuff both audio and to download for free, but the selection is not half as good.

[Frybabe]

Great, Dana. I have several very long books on audio including Adrian Goldsworthy's Caesar, Ron L. Hubbard's Battlefield Earth, Umberto Eco's the Name of the Rose, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbons and Shogun by James Clavell. I don't think I've run across Edward Rutherford, so I checked him out. I've added London to my Wish List.

[Frybabe]

Sad ending!

I woke this morning to the news that Grossinger's Hotel in the Catskills has burnt down. Wasn't that the place that some of our members talked about some years back about staying there? I also learned that it has been closed down since around 1986, and was being gradually demolished. There are probably some TV news shots of the fire, but these are the two articles I read this morning.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fire-hits-vacant-grossingers-hotel-once-a-catskills-jewel/ar-AA10LtIu
https://www.abandonedspaces.com/public/grossingers-resort.html?edg-c=1

[ginny]

OH, Frybabe! Grossingers!

Well there you have it, I thought it was still in operation, stupid me.
The end of an era, which apparently has been derelict for some time. Yes, I was one of those who spent a summer going to Grossingers, the Concord, and Neville's and the rest of the big ones,  while working at Tennannah Lake House (now long LONG gone)...owned by a Paley brother.

Elizabeth Taylor, there was always some big star there, impossible to imagine the glamour of the thing today. How families would come for the summer BEFORE air travel, BEFORE Florida, and how they all knew each other. Slammin' Sammy Snead...
Johnny Carson's Band in the attic (some of the staff  stayed in the attic rooms at Tennannah Lake House, very modest (no closet) $125 per night, no closet, electric light bulb (this was the staff in the summer of the late 50's). I always planned to swan back and stay there. Unfortunately time and air travel caught up with those grand old piles, and it became an ashram, so I never got to stay.

Thank you for putting that here. Memories, memories, those great hulks of Catskill Resorts, the Borscht  Belt. Every comedian you can think of, was there.

Well I was already feeling ancient. haahahaha

[ginny]

I came IN to say I finished another ancient book, The Labors of Hercules and enjoyed it no end.  In the book by David Suchet Poirot and Me which I'm also almost finished, he alludes to a movie he made called Get Carman, which I can't find.

I have now become fascinated by George Carman.

There's a film on Amazon Prime about  Jeremy Thorpe's trial, called  A Very English Scandal I've mentioned before here. I watched the climactic court scene again last night.   (Not to be confused with the 2021 sequel A Very British  Scandal).....He was  head of the British Liberal Party in real life, and the  trial on Amazon Prime which is about his homosexual affair and attempted contract on the person involved, starring Hugh Grant,  (who is simply  astonishing in the role) which I've mentioned before.

But the most astonishing thing about it this time around is the  amazing recreation of his trial and his defense attorney, Queen's Council George Carman's role for his defense. Carman was played to perfection  by Adrian Scarborough who ran away with the part (as did Hugh Grant who somehow managed to channel Thorpe to an amazing degree),  in the midst of so many known stars.   Having just watched the Depp-Heard trial and marveled at the skill of Benjamin Chew and Camille Vasquez, I am interested in that type of thing.

The actor was stunning in the part, just stunning. And apparently the real George Carman was something else. I had  attended purely by accident just wanting to be there, a very high profile trial in the Old Bailey in London. It was  years ago and by sheer luck. I sat in the  limited gallery the actors did in the recreation, and the attorneys were....breathtaking, they really were .... I was spellbound. I did not see George Carman at the time, but the barrister I DID see was...you'd have to have been there.

 I did not know the rich and famous who appeared, including one very angry and haughty Lady XXX, who spit out her answers with great contempt,  and this captures that very experience.  Apparently Carman, (known as "Get Carman," if you needed a defense attorney, HE was the one you wanted) was quite famous for his many cases of stunning defense work, and apparently always in jail himself. A complex and apparently flawed human being. But the film in those few moments of courtroom drama which captures it somewhat just  fascinates me. Apparently this film was also based on a book.


I've ordered a biography of him by his son called No Ordinary Man, and apparently it's not a hagiography, not by a long shot. I'm going to reserve judgment till I read it.  It makes you wonder about Defense attorneys as a whole. 

There is also a very highly rated book on the Jeremy Thorpe scandal by John Preston called
A Very English Scandal: Sex, Lies, and a Murder Plot at the Heart of the Establishment, but this is not the part that interests me, it's the trial itself.

Interesting also is the same theme 2000+ years ago in Cicero's prosecution of Catiline, they are still using the same tricks against the other side that he wrote about in his manual for persuasive oratory.

[BarbStAubrey]

Has anyone heard from Pedlin - according to Senior Learn records her last post was before the Pandemic in the summer of 2017 and she was moving to Albuquerque - prompting this is I received the strangest email - short using her email address that I checked since she received Jacquie Lawson greeting cards that I send to those whose email address I have - email simply asking if I use Amazon - returned a short reply yes and even use them for buying groceries - next I get a follow up email about her being in the hospital and her friend's birthday and she tried to send a gift card to the friend but Amazon wouldn't take her credit card and would I send her the gift card and she would pay me back upon her being released from the Hospital - Knew it was a scam because Ann would never ask me to do such a thing but then I realized we have not heard from her in a long time and looking found it is a long time - 2017 was 5 years ago - the Pandemic has messed up my sense of time but that is far longer than I realized - Ann was not in good health before the post in the summer of 2017 although none of the Jacquie Lawson cards have been returned and so I need to email her and ask how she is but thought I'd ask first if someone here has heard from her... 

[ginny]

I got the first one,  and looked at the sender in expanded view. Someone has hacked her email, has her former mailing list,  and is trying to extort money from you. These people need to get a life.

It's not  Ann. It's not Pearson, either, who wrote the same sort of strange thing a couple of weeks ago. Not them.

[BarbStAubrey]

Thanks Ginny - I thought it was bogus and so now I feel safe just trashing the email and not responding - however, have you or has anyone heard from Pedlin...could not believe it has been 5 years since her last entry...

[ginny]

No I have not heard from her, and I miss her.

Wise move!!!

[Tomereader1]

While we're here in the Library, I will note that tonight my f2f Mystery Book Club had read Agatha Christie's "The  Mysterious Affair at Styles".  The eight attendees provided an absolutely smashing discussion.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised at how many Christie devotees there are in this group.  I know I've read a few of her mysteries, but there are folks here that obviously have read every one of them, and anything about her.  I've seen a couple of documentaries on TV lately.  Another surprising thing was that the book was recommended by one of our two male club members, and he did a superb job of moderating, providing lots of background info, commentary from real reviewers, etc.   We used up our hour of meeting time with everyone getting into the "fray".  This night was what Book Clubs should be about!  Since the library had hardly any copies due to the age of the book, most of us read it on our Kindles, IPads, telephones.  Some downloaded from Gutenberg, some from whatever other sources they regularly use.  I guess I've gone on too long about this, but when something is this much fun, I come home on a real "high" and can't really get to sleep.  (It's 12:41 A.M. here now)

[ginny]

Yep, that's IT and that's exactly what a good in person  Latin class is like, too.  Just exactly. A high! People have to be willing to take a chance in congenial company and discuss: it's the reason you came, isn't it?

Like anybody else on earth, not all of her books hit the same standard, but then again, what books DO?

So glad you had that experience, Tome! Sounds like you have a great group there.  Apparently you take turns suggesting new reads? I like that the person whose suggestion is won then leads the group, that's smart. That person will have more passion about the book than any other and can present it well.

I'm now reading The It Girl by the author of the Girl in Cabin 10, Ruth Ware, and we're at Oxford, where I did take a course one summer, at Christ Church, though the actual college here in the book is, I think, fictional,  so I can sort of relate to the scene, anyway,   and there's a lot of strange foreshadowing going on, not sure on this one, but I know she has a plan.

I read the Preston book on the trial and George  Carman  yesterday on kindle while waiting for the bio by his son, it's well written. The subject matter is not as palatable as one might like, however. He's the one who wrote Dig, about the finding of the Sutton Hoo treasure, and I think I'll read that next. Loved the show on TV. I like the way he writes, and he did win a Pulitzer, so he knows how to write. The movie with Hugh Grant ends by starting the second scandal in the series but flies through what HAPPENED to the main characters that you've just watched,  at the end!!!!  You CANNOT stop it from starting the new one which I didn't want to see,  so I wanted to know more. Amazon Prime really wants you to watch.  I'm seeing so many things I did not know existed, and learning about them, too.

Hugh Grant is absolutely splendid in that part.

A great way to start the day, thank you, Tome!

[Frybabe]

I watched a video of a walking tour of some of the famous graves at Arlington National Cemetery. Authors Samuel Hammet (Maltese Falcon), and Mary Roberts Rinehart were there. On a rather interesting note, the narrator states that Charles Henry Crane (supposedly buried there. There is a dispute about that) was the son of Icabod Bennet Crane who was the inspiration for the fictional Icabod Crane from Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". Charles Henry was one of the doctors attending Abraham Lincoln when after was shot. His son, Stephen Crane, is best known for The Red Badge of Courage.

I own an antique copy of the Arlington Edition of The Sketch Book which at the very latest was printed in 1888. The magazine American Rural Home was giving it away with a subscription to their magazine, and the inscription stamped on it said "1870-Eighteenth Year of Continuous Publication-1888". American Rural Home went belly-up in 1891. The printing in the book is small and many of the last lines on the pages are darker print than the rest of the print. So, I haven't read it.

I so enjoyed my unexpected history jaunt because of watching the short video.

[PatH]

I got that same bogus email.  Her email must still be active, and I'd love to contact her, but hesitate if she's been hacked.
I used to have her son's email too, but no longer have all my old contacts.
5 years!  yikes.

[PatH]

Tomereader, I'm one of the Christie fans who has read them all--several times, over the years.  They can stand a number of rereadings if you space them out, but eventually I'd had enough and boxed them up.  That was years ago.  I wonder if they're
good for another now.

Your book club sounds great, and that what my f2f Sci Fi discussion was like, and it was like that here until we got too small to do full discussions.  It's a lot of work, so you need enough people to share it out.

[BarbStAubrey]

Yep Pat have to echo we had some wonderful full discussions here didn't we - I did look at Pedlin's facebook page and there were many sending Birthday wishes in 2021 but not so in 2022 and nothing from Pedlin on her facebook page for the last couple of years - lots of our regulars just floated away but Pedlin was one of the dye hard special ones that I wish we could learn how she is or if she too passed - seems to me her last posts were indicating dementia and then her very last post on Senior Learn she spoke of moving

Tome your book club sounds like a great gathering of people that make group reading interesting and fun - so glad to hear - they are finally opening a few of our libraries where they had been online with a pickup and deposit system at each location - I'm thinking it will take awhile after they open for the kind of activity everyone remembers - I my be wrong but assuming the book club you meet with gets together at the library.

RAIN - we had rain yesterday - although predicted so far none today but overcast - AND the prediction is for rain all next week - tra la tra la tra la - few to any will be previewing houses but that is just fine with me if we get all this soaking rain and I can roll up all my hoses

[Frybabe]

This was just about the top of my morning's news read. Very interesting. Looking forward to checking out the book when it is released.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/a-1934-letter-revealed-what-we-always-suspected-about-king-tut-s-treasure/ar-AA10Rgr2?ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=967ba63707a84dc4ac5452b85f743696

[Frybabe]

In my hunt for historical books on migration spurred by climate changes thanks to an article in the latest Guardian Long Reads newsletter, I ran across this one due to be released in February 2023 -
The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration by Jake Bittle.  It is now in my wish list.

[ginny]

Yes that's been interesting about King Tut, also when the then Earl Carnarvon  died, there was found hidden away  a small collection, in a cabinet if I remember correctly,  of little things from the tomb, which they put on display at Highclere Castle, (the "home" of  Downton Abbey, at least the outside shots), which I went to see years ago. They had made quite an entertaining display of it, in the basement,  you enter through a big tent, just as if you were on the dig, itself, and there are the tools, etc. Very nicely presented.

I have to say the artifacts are as they were described, small,  and probably to the archaeological world, insignificant. Of course if I ever dug up one tiny scrap of a coin I would be thrilled. NOW one wonders how insignificant they will be after this. And again how widespread the practice was back in the day.

Oh Pat, good, another Christie fan, I had forgotten you like her, too. I find her very calming for some reason, now.  I just got a book of all 50 of Poirot stories, which I am looking forward to. I very much like her short stories. I read all the Miss Marple short stories last summer. How clever she was. I agree that putting on a successful book club discussion is a LOT of work, you're right about that, too.

Still reading The It Girl, by  Ruth Ware, it's got a LOT of foreshadowing in it for one of her books...perhaps people complained about her Agatha Christie trick endings in the others?  I loved them, as I never figure out hu dun it in the first place.  We shall see. Still also very hung up on George Carman. Adrian Scarborough did a fantastic job with that role.