The Library

[Frybabe]

Ginny, I loved Bryson's Little Dribbling. In fact, I bought it. The version of Nearly Everything that I am listening to is a direct transcription from the old tape/disc version with the narrator including the narrator telling you which tape you are listening to. Very minor distraction. The FLP only has The Body and In a Sunburned Country on audio, so if I want to listen to the others, I will need to buy them. I find that I enjoy humorous stories much more listening to them, rather than reading them myself for some off reason.

I watched the US vs Wales game yesterday and was happy with the outcome, although the players may not have been. Pulisic, so I discovered, is from nearby Hershey. Another reason to cheer for the US team.  Loved watching Gareth Bale (Wales). He put a lot of speed into that shot into the net for the tying point near game's end. So next up. The US will be playing England on the 25th and Iran on the 29th, watch on Fox. Wales will be the opposite, with Iran on the 25th and England on the 29th, watch on FS1. I don't know about Iran, but I do want to watch the matches with England.

[ginny]

Yes, and a sad day for Argentina fans who  were delighted at how it began but not happy about how it ended. It's not over  yet, though.

I've watched 5 games so far. Love the World Cup.


Here's a LIST of LISTS, NPR's List of 400 Books We Love. What I love is you can click on the covers and see what it's about, and on the left you can see them grouped into Biography, etc., including Book Club Selections.

https://apps.npr.org/best-books/#view=covers&year=2022

So far, and it's early going, I have read NONE of them, but I'm enjoying looking, anyway.

[BarbStAubrey]

Interesting - a few I considered when they came across in the daily Book Bites from Amazon and yes, I am reading Davos Man the Billionaires Devoured the World and I only started Jacques Pepin's Art of the Chicken that I debated getting a hardback since it is full to the brim with his artwork but decided his story was what I wanted and the money saved made it a 'now' purchase

Recognized the book reviewed by Rosemary Kaye,  The Marriage Portrait - Looked into Less is Lost and after starting but never finishing his first Less book I decided no - these guys that see themselves as less than through the victim glass drive me up a wall - at least his victimization is not blamed on any one thing or person it is just the glass he looks through. Reminds me of those Rabbit books back in I think it was the 50s or maybe the 60s

However, many more, many, many more I never heard of and just by the covers - I know don't judge a book etc. - but they do influence or they would not put so much effort and money into having the 'right' cover - anyhow the covers of most say I would not even pick them up to consider...

[Frybabe]

Has anyone with Apple+ watched the Slow Horses series? The trailers are almost good enough for me to want to pay for Apple+. The only subscription TV channel I tried was a big disappointment. Paramount+ did not play well with my TV even though it is a Sony (which owns Paramount+). Others seem to have had the same or similar problem. I gave up on it after a few months. BTW, I was also disappointed with the HALO series which finally, finally arrived on TV after years and years of on again/off again struggles.  Not the acting or scenery, but the storyline itself.

Looks like I have a book list to browse next. I think I will get breakfast and bring it up here while checking it out.

[Frybabe]

I've put two of the listed books into my library wish list, The Last Slave Ship and Africa Risen. That brings my wish list total at FLP to 32. There are another five or six in my local library list.

BTW, if you want to see some interesting stats on the Atlantic Slave Trade, Wikipedia has a bunch. Interesting to note the countries involved in the trade (the Danish? Rather unexpected), the number of slaves transported (over 12 million) and where they went. I noted that the Portuguese not only transported the most, by far, but sent a large majority to Brazil. The Brits were next, sending the majority to the British Carribean, and so on. Look where we were in comparison. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_slave_trade The resources and references for the article are extensive.

[BarbStAubrey]

Thankful - the year brought good and bad, laughter and tears - a full year for most of us and best of all we are surrounded by family and friends -

[BarbStAubrey]

Wow talk about science fiction that is no longer fiction - looks like there will be no sense in reading if another control can tell us how to think about anything...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkP9cwsEx0o

[Frybabe]

Elon Musk is pretty serious about the future of artificial intelligence and robotic. It scares the heck out of him but it isn't stopping him from making them. He as a robotics company which is making advanced intelligence robots for (and I think under its wing) his Tesla Company. If you think that is contradictory to how he feels about them, it isn't. He needs to be in the game in order to help monitor and control the outcomes, and maybe spot the bad actors faster. I haven't seen much of anything on the subject lately, but they (the ever so nebulous they) have been working on AI interfaces in the bio-mechanics field. I expect we will also see AI/brain interfaces for brain injured folks in the future. And Lord only knows what the military is doing to enhance our soldiers that we don't know about - yet.

We are starting to get really good at slowly killing our plant and extincting ourselves as it is. The only way we may, in the end, be able to advance out into the stars is to "uplift" our conscious into an artificial construct that can withstand the radiation, pressure and other nasties awaiting out there.


Watched the US vs England game yesterday. It was a very good game. We play against Iran on the 29th. As I understand it, we must win that game in order to stay in the running for the World Cup.

[ginny]

On the AI, haven't there been reports at least twice, recently,  of robots having feelings and personalities, resulting in the firing of those people reporting it?

I am not totally in Elon Musk's camp, on anything, actually. His decisions so far with Twitter don't particularly show me great intelligence?

 I really enjoyed the Argentina/ Mexico game today. Messi! Messi! Messi! hahahaa   

I had settled down to read Simon Brett's The Tomb in Turkey and really was enjoying it till the game came on. So good in the earlier game to see Robert Lewandowsky representing Poland,  (now playing for Barcelona) get his first ever goal in a World Cup, if I understood that correctly, also this morning in 5 appearances in the World Cup. He had tears in his eyes.  I just love the World Cup!

And it will be in the USA,  Canada,  and Mexico in four years!

[BarbStAubrey]

I think for most you either hate Musk or love him - to me he brings information period and he is a force to contend with as are most billionaires. However this was the first time I saw what A1 is all about and how we are already on the road - when I shared the link with my sister she emailed back a book she wishes everyone would read and that it would be mandatory reading in High School...  Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man by Marshall McLuhan   she is hoping I read it and we discuss it - downloaded it today but probably no chance to read it till next year with my big move next week.

We were seeing the A1 lifestyle as doing away with the law, religion, reading lit with the concept of having an opinion, jails, wealth - an individual appears to have no responsibility for their actions therefore with morality out of the minds and hands of the average person they have little to no choice in life - I've noticed this phenomena during the sale of my house - the buyer is devoted to his cell and the idea of a win win did not exist - he only wanted what he wanted with no concept much less even a win loss mentality that what he wanted affected others and me as the seller in a big way - in order to close we finally had to amend the contract with another new closing date with a per diam for every day he delayed closing - when the per diam agreed upon got up to $500 a day he finally found another way and we closed. Nothing fazed him until the numbers on his spread sheet were high enough to tip the scale - met when I was closing my part and he walked past the room and still no apology for the chaos he caused.

My sister is convinced that the rash of mass killings is because the individual parked his feelings, reality and morality as his life revolved around technology and they act devoid of any connection to others, as not more than objects that will react if they do something that prods, hurts, scares to even killing them.

My sister sees this coming of digital dominance as "akin to the move from personal communication eg. Tribal culture to the adoption of printing press literate culture - we have not yet developed the cultural discipline that we have reading print...the closest thing we have is discipline of sports but that is not culturally widespread enough. Hence the increase of unpredictable violence....."

She goes on to say, "Remember that the Middle ages, which was image dominant...not text dominant...violence was so rampant that the Church...still a dominant institution...first said you can not fight on Sunday...Lords day....then you can not fight on Saturaday, the vigil of Sunday...and then you can not fight on Friday because of Crucifixon....and so on until fighting was vastly limited...   For us, the Church no longer has that widespread social dominance....so we may move towards greater social control as China and Taliban and...."

Ever since I saw the youtube explanation of A1 I've wondered if anything matters - are we the last generation to read and see value in a book allowing the message of a book to affect our life. I can see how the news already has established good and bad so that even this bit by Musk is put into a category based on our programed opinion of the man - none of us have met him and I bet none of us were ever even in a room listening to him speak and yet, here we are having a strong opinion about him and that is happening over and over based on the media news we frequent -

I notice with my grands when they read the viewpoints of a historical or current speaker or writer or someone who had achieved fame and success they do not, even if brought to their attention, read or watch or listen to a contemporary with an opposite viewpoint. e.g. Grandson reading speeches and books by Du Bois but when I mentioned he had a rival in Booker T. Washington my grandson did not want to read him, all he wanted was to devote his attention on Du Bois. That to me is being single minded that goes hand in glove with control, similar to having complete control over what you want, what pleases you and that to me is not education.

I can rile, even condemn but I cannot change anyone or what is coming

Just that - no world cup here - there are several bars in town that are able to pull it in and they are jammed to overflowing and so with various areas of the country seeing and probably even hearing news from different viewpoints, even our logical conclusions are skewed because we have been exposed to differences.

[Frybabe]

Barb, your last comment reminds me of my days in the printing industry where I discovered that the national news magazines (Newsweek, et.al.) print the news a bit differently for each of the different regions in the US. Mostly, I think it was the regional issues that changed and the regional only advertising, but national news could also be emphasized or deemphasized depending on regional interests and ideals. One of my favorite PBS programs years ago was called World Press Review or something similar. It had a host (forget who) and three or four others that would review a news event as reported by different newspapers worldwide. You could see how one event could be slanted or viewed with the careful usage of words or sins of omission to evoke different opinions or emotions from their readership.

I hadn't thought much about but was aware of how photo editing could do the same. That just got brought back home to me with the ads for the new Pixel smartphones which allow you to erase things from your photos. Now, not just the professionals and talented amateurs can do this, but the everyday person can change their reality just ever so slightly. So, here you are all alone on the beach while in fact you are surrounded by people. This is where I should probably stop watching most YouTube (et.al.) feeds. Back to hardbound books, eventually, because electronic books kept in cloud accounts will be (are) too easy to modify without you necessarily knowing it. Makes me wonder if I should stop weeding out my hardcover book collection. I wonder if there are any (hopefully) disaster-proof bunkers for print books like there are for seed banks, etc. One could scare oneself mightily thinking of what future disaster might bring.

Are we all a bunch of lemmings?

[ginny]

Frybabe, I'm not  a lemming, for what good it does me.    I think there are more Luddites around than one thinks, to keep print alive. But you have a point, maybe we need to hold on to some of our personal libraries,  after all.

Barbara, the World Cup, all the games, are available live, free, on the internet? Just as we are here, they are available as they happen, and all you have to do is go to  FIFA online and you can watch with the richest man in comfort.   For instance today: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=FIFA+live+streaming  If you click on this right this minuter, 9:20 am Sunday,  you will see if you were remotely interested in Belgium vs Morocco is it? That you click on the link there and you can see several free links (I count 4) where you can watch the game playing right now.  Schedules of future games and times are also on display.  It depends on who is playing, and when.

As for this: I thought this was a good point, or I did until I watched a speech of Elon Musk's yesterday:

 and I bet none of us were ever even in a room listening to him speak and yet, here we are having a strong opinion about him and that is happening over and over based on the media news we frequent -

He is a good speaker. It's true I  have not heard him in person,  but I have watched films of his speeches, which are available for any person to click on, on the Internet,  and he's a personable, thoughtful speaker.

But remember what your mother said: pretty is as pretty does. Perhaps his actions and his intelligence are strangely disconnected? He's certainly making a right mess of Twitter, and his machinations about buying it boomeranged on him, too.  A right mess which may have consequences nobody wants.

I thought your sister made some interesting points there. Thank you for bringing them here for our interest  and good luck on the move next WEEK!!

[ginny]

While we're on this subject, I had an interesting encounter when I had my car serviced a couple of weeks ago. A very nice older lady asked if she could share my little table there in the waiting  room of the dealer while we were both having our cars serviced. I really (there was a high incidence of the flu and Covid in that city at the time) rather would have preferred to sit isolated as I was, but there we were, three feet apart.

She proceeded to cough a lot.  She told me she had been a C.P.A and was reading up on being licensed again. Book in hand. She told me that she and I did not understand, that we  (?) were out of touch, just like her mother had been watching the Moon Landing, and asked me what I thought of Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, etc.

I told her I thought it was a fake.  She looked disapproving. It seems that some investment firm, (I can't recall which now) she was invested in was big on it. I looked it up and they were pushing it, actually. The man running it was a legend in investments. She told me about the "miners" mining the coins and how they were going to limit the mining somehow and the number of coins. I told her politely about the "mining" breathlessly reported in the media as causing a blackout power wise, in was it Salvator,  San Salvator? whatever,  using all that electricity and what that electricity was actually  going  to (super computers) and there was nobody with a pick and shovel actually digging out metals or coins. She looked worried and very disapproving, and told me that older people just can't keep up.

 I said that's not my experience and I deal almost entirely with older people and I found them inspiring and a lot more up on things and trends than I was.  I suggested the Lifelong Learning thing (Osher LifeLong Learning Institute: OLLI)  at Furman University (she knew all about it, she had taken a course in Weaving there, and the woman who led it was really tops in her field)...I suggested perhaps trying another subject?  But I got nowhere. She repeated at the end of our conversation (which went on, on her part, for some time) that  she and I were really out of touch, just like her mother and the Moon Landing, being left behind in this new world.

The NEXT DAY FTX crashed.  But even today people still are saying they are holding on. I bet they are. I bet they are heavily invested in cryptocurrency.  It lost 60 percent of its value  last year and this year the Wunderkind  of the financial world was found to have defrauded quite a few  people in FTX.

I think if a person of age wants to stay au courant he needs to talk, but more importantly, listen,  online or off, to other older individuals to keep current, because they are the ones with the experience to know, they are the ones who still read, and they are the ones with the wisdom to know what they are looking at. I hope she did not sink money in any of those investments that day, in an effort to stay up with the times.

Do YOU worry about not being "up with the times?"

[BarbStAubrey]

I think that - being up with the times - is the very thing that brings on this lemmings attitude and actions for the masses -

As to bitcoins and Cryptocurrency my reaction was to ignore it - once they suggested it was going to replace money and then went on to the scare tactic that Biden was getting rid of money by next summer I thought no way... money backed by a government has been the way of things for several hundred years and yes, it was during our lifetime that government money became universal but you don't change a system like that in a year or so - plus the money itself has no intrinsic value - it is the trust in what backs it that gives it value - there was no explanation of what backs bitcoins or cryptocurrency other than a bunch of wiz kid computer nerds with a concept of a global world sans national boundaries and so if it were to become the way of things I figured there would have to be an acceptance and trust in a global system of governing regardless wealth exchange plus there was no news saying the wealthiest among us was trading in their dollars for bitcoins etc. 

To me it is like every generation does something outrageous with fashion to show their independence - now it is no longer teenage rebellion everyone seems to adapt to the newest fashion rage and now that is the way so many follow others in their thinking and understanding of the world around them - when I see these groups of usually collage age young people being interviewed and asked simple simple questions that they cannot answer for awhile I thought how can anyone be so dumb and still function - well now I'm beginning to think this is average which shows me why it is like talking to a brick wall during most retail and service encounters. But even more scary is what you experienced Ginny - someone who drives and has ownership of a vehicle and is no longer a teenager acting or being probably, that dumb and thoughtless and so even if we escape the affects of A1 and protect our books etc. we will be up against daily this stupidity

Ginny thanks for the streaming link - when I opened it I realized now why we are not seeing the world cup in most of Austin - everyone for over 5 years now has been cutting their cable - so prominent now, it is no longer talked about as a topic - as to streaming, there may be many who do - I don't pay for the service - I know my son does and it is how he watches baseball but I'm almost sure Katha who lives in Saluda does not pay for the ability to stream - I'm sure here in Austin being such a tech town many stream and yet, I'm not hearing on any of the neighborhood communication sites that anyone is watching the World Cup - interesting --- maybe that is it - a few bars with large screens have it on and the places are overflowing out onto the sidewalk and in a couple of instances out onto the street and maybe those watching prefer to be among other fans with a beer in hand enjoying the games as a social event. 

As local TV reporters pan the crowd they seem to be mostly in their late 20s into their late 40s and early 50s - the last few days have been cold and these fans are bundled up which says to me they are probably new to Austin since most in Austin do not have winter clothes unless they are in the habit of taking a winter break to go skiing - winter clothes here are piling on a few shirts and jackets, often wearing flannel Pj bottoms or two pair of jeans or if they work outdoors they often have a jump suit that no one knows what they have on under to keep warm but I'm betting not the winter clothing I'm seeing worn by those watching the world cup at the local watering hole. 

Hmm maybe, just maybe more of those differences picked up by national broadcasting as to what 'sells' in different areas of the country. This area of the country it's football all the way and then in some spots around the state baseball - but it starts in High School with most of the town showing up to watch Friday night football with moms bringing their fresh baked cookies and cakes for the fans and girls wearing outrageous corsages that drape to the floor for homecoming - football is huge with some team's game shown on local TV. Baseball or Basketball cannot compete with the interest in football. Kids are playing soccer but it is not a game that has become part of school curriculum or even after school activity beyond middle school.

Haha maybe this regional independent interest in football versus other sports is saying that we are not all alike and A1 has its work cut out for it...

[Tomereader1]

As to What Are You Reading?:  I have in hand, halfway through now, Robert Harris' new novel, "Act of Oblivion". It deals with the time period of Charles I, his beheading, the search for the "regicides" (those who had signed the warrant to arrest and punish the King).  The main thrust of the book is of two "regicides" who made it to America, have to go into hiding, mostly with Puritan families in Northeastern cities. And the chief member of the Privy Counsel who has volunteered to go to America and get those two, "dead or alive".  This is a very interesting book, especially since I had looked for information awhile back (when some book mentioned Charles I) and didn't find a lot of info on Charles I, his crimes, his punishment, etc. 
Only to say I am really enjoying this book,  since I am a devoted Robert Harris fan anyway.  My favorite of his is "Pompeii".

[ginny]

 Tomereader, I agree that Harris writes well. I'm less sure of the historical accuracy, especially after seeing his interview with Peter Jones on youtube, but he does give the flavor, doesn't he? I know absolutely nothing about Charles I, so you're way ahead of me.

I'm reading and very much enjoying Cicero: A Portrait by Elizabeth Rawson, a book recommended by Mary Beard.  It gives you a pretty breathless picture of the times right after the Assassination of Julius Caesar and Rawson really catches  you up in Cicero's uncertainty. It's not historical fiction, but it reads like a novel, and for some reason it's the closest I've ever come in having any sympathy for Cicero, so she seems to be hitting an emotion I did not know existed. I knew he had a courageous death, and her book is helping me dislike him less, I guess you could put it that way. I'm starting to feel sorry for him, nobody's perfect.  She's written one on Brutus, too, which, once I finish this one, I may also read, just for her perspective, as he's #1 on my hit list of disliked Romans.

Or maybe Cassius first and  dumb Brutus second. Lived up to his name (Brutus means "Stupid,") I've always thought,  but maybe she could add something I have missed. It's definitely illuminating.

Still reading The Tomb in Turkey by  Simon Brett, another reluctant sleuth but this one is understandable, a  friend invites another to share a house free in Turkey, and the invitee is a bit worried about going to Turkey like that  in the first place as possibly many of us would be...so it's believable, so far. Friend would like to control her life in retirement, I understand that, too.

Barbara, I am totally infuriated by the World Cup offerings today. Here where we live FOX,  who has the only English rights to the World Cup showings, chose to show Mexico vs somebody in place of the USA vs Iran live  yesterday and today when Messi and Argentina are playing we have Mexico and Saudi Arabia. I ask you who in the US wants to see that over Messi and Lewandowski? I'll watch it on youtube or Telemundo, thank you very much, both free, in Spanish but hey!

Barbara, you may be like me, and didn't see soccer interest booming in your town. From what I can see this morning, Austin apparently  has more than 10 youth soccer feeder clubs into what appears to be at least 12  high schools with varsity soccer teams, a Professional Men's MLS soccer team, and a Barcelona Academy for youth soccer, only one of 5 in the entire US., and they don't place those where there is no interest, they are expensive. I'm sure football is king, but soccer is coming on strong, it appears, it sure is here. I do worry about the practice of "heading," and I hope that someday they will wear some kind of head gear to protect them.  When I played lacrosse in high school we had no head gear at all, and now just look at the men's teams, and rightly so, those solid balls can knock you out. I checked out the Clemson women's team images of play,  and it also appears they have some type of head gear on. They should.

We here have really lived through changing times in more than one way. Just like the original football teams in the US look strange and unprotected  to us now with those strange quasi helmets, so lacrosse has changed, now it's time for soccer to change before somebody gets killed.

[Frybabe]

US vs Netherlands, 10AM, Sat. Dec. 3, 10am on Fox.

Unfortunately, I missed the US vs Iran game. When my sister called to remind me about halfway in, I was already starting to drift off while reading with Oscar anchoring me to the sofa. It was just too comfy to get up to go into the other room. I promptly fell asleet until about 4:30pm.

I don't hear much about soccer in our area, although I know there are or were a few teams around for some years now. So it was quite a surprise to see Christian Pulisic from Hershey on the team. And there he was, making the winning goal.

It has been a day or two of rediscovering several of my old sprint, NASCAR and Formula One drivers are still alive and kicking. Bobby Allen I saw a few times when he raced at Williams Grove Speedway. Bobby Allison almost died (in fact they did at first pronounce him dead) in a crash at the Pocono Raceway, and Mario Andretti who, before becoming a big name in racing, raced at Pocono. And the Pocono Raceway itself, which I thought had been shut down and abandoned long ago, is in operation. Looks like they have an annual NASCAR event race weekend and a bunch of live concerts, etc. I used to love watching the races, but the closest I got to a race at the Pocono Raceway was when George and stopped to eat at one of the restaurants along Rt. 33 popular with the race teams during a race weekend.

Oscar is here looking for more lap time. Sounds like a good thing to do this rainy afternoon. 

[Tomereader1]

Ginny, I even rushed home from the grocery store yesterday to see the US v. Iran game.  I'm usually not that interested in soccer (football, they call it!) only if the Women's team are playing, Olympic or whatever.  I think 2 hours to end up with a 1-0 score shows my tremendous patience (ha, ha, ha).  That Christian Pulisic is fantastic! I've never seen Messi play.  My previous interest in soccer was the movie "Bend it Like Beckham".  My hubby liked that one, and we watched it many times.  Of course, I'd never seen Beckham play either.  I've seen a few old films with Pele, who was, at that time, the world's best. 

Back to the Harris novel, it did kind of overlook the historical part of Charles I crimes and misdemeanors (lol), and rather degenerated into discussing (tangentially) the Puritans, a touch of info on an Indian tribe, but basically a personal vendetta by the guy on the Privy Counsel (Nayler) who was going to find the two regicides in America.  All in all, it covered a lot of years,  a good guy/bad guy theme with a sort of Hallmark ending.  Not Harris' best effort, IMHO.

[ginny]

Tome, yes some of the games can be slow but some can be heart stopping, too. I don't know how anybody who is related to a player makes it heart wise through one of them. So Messi and Argentina move on!!! And so does Poland. I was with the surprised looking Polish player who could not understand why Poland fans and players were suddenly cheering yesterday, having lost 2-0 and that's because of the Mexico Saudi Arabia game which allows Poland to go through.

It's over my head,  but I was with him, what's all the celebrating, till he found out. Fox here showed them coming out on the field and then said we'll now show Mexico and did,  so I switched to  Telemundo who  showed it all and even included a screen for Mexico too at times of goals.  I really like the BEIN sports (ESPN)  Commentators in English but the Spanish commentators have SUCH enthusiasm and when a goal is made, and  holler out GOOOOOOOOOOOOAL so long that the closed captioning made three lines of OOOO's and it really gets the heart pumping. ( And I like that "Si, Senor," too they say to each other.)
It was fun.

You have quite an astute look there at Harris's style. He does do his research, and is known for it but the whole thing with  Historical Fiction is that they can take these minor characters (sometimes, I'm still trying to get over his et tu Brute supposedly addressed to Decius Brutus and not the one we think it is), and expound on what they think they would say.  So the result is for me, a constant looking up of the facts and it gets tiresome. Because one hopes to come away knowing something more than one did and one hopes it's somewhat accurate, if possible.

But my taste in Historical Fiction runs to things like Horrible Histories: here's Henry VII and  the Tu Tu Tudors:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D4CETT2tvs

[ginny]

But I came IN to say I so much enjoyed yesterday sitting in front of the electronic roaring fire courtesty of DISH, because it's too warm here for a proper fire at the moment reading The Tomb in Turkey by Simon Brett.

Two friends of a certain age who live in a village called Fethering in the UK (it's a series) go on a trip to Turkey and it's really good so far. They are total opposites in every way, one carries Imodium in her purse and the other is a free spirit, and now about 2/3rds through the book a murder has occurred. I don't know what the negative reviews (I always read the negative ones first) are talking about, using the word "creepy," maybe I don't know what it means. Apparently it's the only one of its kind ( the trip part) but I think he'd have a goldmine if he kept on with it AND out of curiosity I looked the locale up and he's describing something really there and which I never heard of at all.

So I don't know what more you'd want in a mystery but so far it's really fun reading. Print is big, capital letters before chapters are 3 lines tall, paper (it's a paperback) is nice and large but light...it's a hit with me, anyway.

[Tomereader1]

The Brett books sounds like it might be a bit of fun!  Will check my library to see if they have any Simon Brett.

[ginny]

I can't speak for others of his books but this one's a winner. I hope he writes a lot more of this type, I think he's hit on something.  Especially since so many of us are not traveling yet. And some of us are lucky to be of a "certain age."

I hate to see it end, to be honest.

I read an article today in the Guardian I think it was, with a new idea, a person talking about how you should slow down your reading speed and never read more than 3 pages a DAY in any one book. That elongates the pleasure and immersive experience, apparently. That's the goal.

I think it would drive me insane. I'd have to be continually starting over. They also had a person try it who was a mega reader and she managed to get it down to 10 pages a day in heaven knows HOW many books and how on earth that provided an enjoyable  immersive experience in the one book I have no idea. I mean really.

Many thanks to Jane for the wonderful winter headings at the top of every page. So festive!

 

[ginny]

I finished A Tomb in Turkey, and enjoyed it to the very last words, which I had to laugh over. Never saw the solution coming, but I never do. Finally saw the "creepy," but until then not, but again I don't read a lot of mysteries, and those of you who do I am sure would see  right through it.

Nice to end a book laughing. He's a very clever man.  I think I'll try one of his others, myself, the earlier ones seem only on Kindle, so I'll try there.

What is everybody reading?

[Frybabe]

I am now reading Worlds Enough and Time by Dan Simmons. It is a good thing I did not give up on him when I tried reading Hyperion. Worlds Enough and Time: Five Tales of Speculative Fiction beginning with Looking for Kelly Dahl which grabbed me right away. It is a bit surreal. I love it. I did not know that Simmons wrote The Terror. The TV mini-series fascinated my sister who likes horror thrillers.

Also, I am in the middle of listening to a translation of Caesar's Civil Wars , another fascinating book. I forget off-hand which translation it is.

[Frybabe]

I might just have to try the Hyperion series again. One of the short stories in Worlds Enough and Time is "Orphans of the Helix". It was much more understandable than Hyperion and provided some background to the whole series. It may have only been a part of the Hyperion series, but "Orphans..." made it sound a lot like the whole series was essentially centered on religious wars and promises of immortality if one allowed some alien symbiont to become part of your body.

Justinian's Flea came in a whole month before anticipated. I had to put it off for a week, but since I am already reading the last of Simmon's five novellas I can probably pick it up in a day or so if no one else picked it up yet.

[Tomereader1]

I am just hating myself...I have gotten hooked on this World Cup Soccer stuff!  Never thought that would happen.  It's like "I don't have a dog in this hunt", but I just pick a team at random, and cheer for them.  I have spent hours in the last few days watching.  I'm totally enjoying seeing the fans all painted up, dressed up, cheering for their team.  I'm just a sucker for sporting events, especially at the upper levels.  The Olympics, Summer or Winter, will find me with weary eyes from hours of TV viewing.  I get really ticked with the network for concentrating on the "superstars" in some sport, and neglecting the lesser sports, when these folks have worked half their lives to be good enough to compete in the Olympics.  Oh, well, no more diatribe about that.  Back to Soccer!

[Tomereader1]

"What Am I Reading?" Well,I am just about 100 pages into "An Autobiography" by Agatha Christie.  She started it in 1950 and finished it when she was 75.  She had an interesting childhood, and it's kind of hard to see how she managed to be a writer, when she was into "play-acting" for her "nursie".  She didnt really have other children to interact with, so made up playmates. I presume she will tell us when and how the "writing bug" bit her.  The book is right at 500 pages, and I am having to swap out reading time with it, and other books for my book clubs. 

[ginny]

Oh me, too, Tome! Me, too. I can't help but focus on Messi, he just played his 1000th game, for Pete's sake. We're watching a true legend in his last years. Still scoring!!!  But they are all good or they would not be there, and just think it's coming to America, Canada and Mexico the next time.

My grandson came over last Saturday and we watched Argentina win and I found out I don't have to watch it on Telemundo at all, it's on 21 Fox. I hate Fox in every way but they have the English rights. Their staff are awful to introduce the games, but the play by play people are pretty good.

I, however, prefer the Spanish announcers, they get SO excited, and when somebody scores a goal their word "GOOOOOOOOOAL" can go on forever. So exciting. I counted 3 lines in the Closed Captioning the other day on the screen.

The games are  always playing  in the background here and since Neymar is back for Brazil didn't they sear across the screen, though? Golly what excitement.

It's going to be an epic final.

[ginny]

I really enjoyed Agatha Christie's autobiography Come, Tell Me How You Live. You might like that one, it's about her travels with her new archaeologist husband and starts out with what the woman in the dress shop said to her (Christie was a large size then) when she tried to find something that fit to go to those areas of great heat. It's absolutely hilarious. I loved it, it was like taking a trip to Mesopotamia with her.

Frybabe, what is Justinian's Flea about? The title sounds interesting, not Sci Fi?

I'm embarking on a Simon Brett pilgrimage now to read the other "Fethering" mysteries, taking place in a small English village, and I prefer paperback so am waiting for them to come from B&N,  who seem to have more of them than anybody else, including Amazon.  I had a gift card  so I look forward to settling in with one tomorrow, actually.

Since I'm not traveling I'm reading several books about travel on the kindle, and watching what not to do on airplanes by stewardesses on youtube, or what TO  do, and how travel has changed and what stewardesses really think (!!)  none of them particularly with any new information. (I did discover that I was inadvertently doing something they dislike so I can change that if there is a next time)...Who knew? I will have to be in a lot better shape than I am now, that's for sure.

I did like the suggestion that you photograph your medicine bottle info on the label, that  might come in handy but in the UK they prescribe,  themselves, you don't show them labels, so you have to see a doctor anyway if you spill all  your meds on the floor and don't fancy eating off the floor. That may have changed since I was last there. So much has!

So we have Morocco and Spain  (more than half of these men are on the Barcelona FC team) and Portugal (Ronaldo) and Switzerland today!!!

[Tomereader1]

That Moroccan team is great.  They can block most anything Spain throws at them.  I can't believe no one has scored just yet.  Picture me getting excited over soccer...ha ha ha.

[Tomereader1]

Well, how about that?  I really enjoyed it.  The announcer said earlier in the game "death by a thousand passes", speaking of Spains passing, passing, passing (that's when people can get bored, at least me).  Tell me what you thought Ginny!

[ginny]

Well when Morocco came out for the shoot out, and the son of the street vendor whose mom was a house cleaner made that goal I screamed with the rest of them. And I am a big  Busquets fan (Spain).  I love the World Cup. Morocco I don't think can go to the end, but what a memory for them. And for us all.


Now Renaldo will not be starting for Portugal. This is very interesting. You don't ever mess with a coach. Will he come on at the end and save them all? OR?

How can one not watch that? One final game right now for the qualifying.

[ginny]

That  "death by a thousand passes" (hahaha) is how Argentina controlled their last two games. So they pass and pass and then strike! It's enough to give you a heart attack.

[jane]

Tomereader1....me, three, on the World Cup.  I do, however, have a "favorite" and an old lady's crush...on Christiano Ronaldo and Portugal.  Yes, I know, he's a controversial figure to put it mildly, but he's so handsome...That shows you that "shallow" can be found in the very much "OLDER" female population.     


jane

[Tomereader1]

Hey ladies! And how about Pepe?  He looks like he could star as a villian in a mystery movie, but even at his age, he sure got that goal.  I love to watch the guys in their warm-up.  They can stretch and push and pull their legs in ways that every bone in my old body would snap should I try one.  Lotsa "handsome" guys on all the teams, but Reynaldo is dashing.  However, I think the Goalie, Bono, is cute as a bug.  He looks so little, (he's probably not) but that appeals to me because of my shortness!  So, now that we have laid bare our crushes on soccer players, where do we go from here?  We know that old adage, "just because there's snow on the roof doesn't mean there's no fire in fireplace" --or something like that!  Now, remind me who will be playing against Moracco?  I get so excited that I forget what the announcers say about the next matches.  I can see I won't be getting much done around the homeplace till this Tournament is over!

[Tomereader1]

Ginny, "reading".  I went to my library's website and requested a copy of "Come, Tell Me How You Live".  They only had one copy available, but there is one request ahead of me.  Maybe by then I will have finished this one I'm reading now.  While I was on the site, I was trying to watch FIFA and forgot to check on a book by Simon Brett. 
Guess I'll go back tomorrow and see what I can find.

We're certainly having some good, fun conversations here in "The Library", even talking about the soccer.  Wish more of our people would be participating on Senior Learn, like it used to be.

[Frybabe]

Ginny, the full title of the book is Justinian's Flea: The First Great Plague and the End of the Roman Empire. Nonfiction. The title is catchy, buy on closer inspection of reader reviews, it apparently fails to impress. According to a rather bland review from Kirkus, the flea itself doesn't even show up until 100 pages in. Not everyone who read it was unimpressed however.  An Audible listener called it " a most impressive exposition of the fascinatingly complex bio-psycho-socio-political events of late (Roman) antiquity." And The Guardian did an interesting review way back in 2007. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/may/05/featuresreviews.guardianreview9 Naturally, I am going to have to read it to see where I stand with it.

[ginny]

Frybabe, oh well, you know what reviews are, do read it and give us your frank opinion! It sounds good to me. I don't need the entire plot on the first page, which some reviewers seem to require.  What short little attention spans some reviewers have.

Jane and Tome! Yes, he's handsome, he really is. I'm more proud of the old Coach, myself, who went WAY out on a limb, with his faith in his team and his need to combat (which many coaches don't) the Megastar's tantrums which is what it was.

The Portugal  Coach could have gone down in infamy, but right won out, he can't have any team member dissing his ideas,  so he, courageously I think,  took an unheard of action. Order and respect (appear) to be restored  and Christiano is still  a scoring machine.  I predict he will sit out the next one, too, in the first half, as the team seems galvanized without him. Very deep bench,  as they say.

My personal fave  is  "the flea,"  the incomparable Lionel Messi, whom we will never see the like of again, I don't think. It may be the homage to his grandmother every time he makes a shot.    (We all have our personal reasons)  hahaha laid bare, as you say.   It could be because we went to see him play live in Barcelona and also in Boston.  You talk about a fan base!  He's still got  "it," too.  Two giants of the game appearing at once on the world's stage.

As for the Library, our entire site is for books, and it's the same now as it was, despite all our sad losses and fond memories, it's always been  a place to talk about anything and everything as we don't have those other areas on this site, no happy chat areas, so we planned for those off the cuff conversations originally to be here, that's why there's some duplication in the folder offerings.

If you build it, they will come. It's a fun place to be. Thank you for helping make it so interesting.

As for Scheduling: This Friday it's Croatia and Brazil  10:00 am on Fox

and Argentina and the Netherlands at 2:00

And it's Morocco and Portugal (!) at 10 on Saturday
and  England and France at 2 on Saturday

[ginny]

 Well, did you watch IT?

If so what did/do you  think of the Harry/Meghan Show?

There are no right or wrong answers. 

I will admit to not having watched it because I don't care?  The little commercial outtakes are breathlessly everywhere?  They start playing whether or not you want to see them.  What I have seen under protest  reminds me of the Kardashians and their extremely long and unwarranted 15 Seconds of Fame.

Don't care. What do YOU think?

[Tomereader1]

No.  Didn't watch.  I didn't even watch the Oprah interview.  Also, in the "I don't care" group.  That group that  also includes the Kardashians.  Didn't ever watch or read about their shenanigans.  Should anyone invent something where you push a button, and all the Botox in the world dissipates, those Kardashians would melt just like the Wicked Witch in Wizard of Oz.

I am looking forward to Friday....FIFA!!!!!