The Library

[Frybabe]

Wow, what a game! Absolutely riveting.

I have absolutely no idea what I activated for this thing to start trying to finish my sentences and phrases for me. It is getting annoying. It comes up with a little "Tab" icon at the end of its suggestion, but I don't know where it came from. It must be something on my keyboard or in the browser settings because it is doing the same thing on Seniors and Friends too.

[ginny]

OH my word, TWO of them!! Heart breakers, both of them.

I wanted Croatia to win, I really did,  but when Neymar cried, I did, too. They try SO hard.

Then Messi, golly moses what a game. I couldn't STAND  it but  you can't NOT look, heart attack or not. Tension was so high but they prevailed at the end. Way past midnight there, 120 minutes, tied, and then a kick off.  I don't know how those athletes are still standing, I really don't.

[ginny]

 Reading wise, I've discovered there's a Christmas Mystery by Simon Brett featuring the two ladies of Fethering whom I so enjoyed in Turkey, so have ordered it.  It's called The Shooting in the Shop... I hope it gets here by   Christmas. I do love a Christmas mystery.

Then last night I started on a Penelope Fitzgerald mystery The Golden Child, about a Museum and murder.  I absolutely love Penelope Fitzgerald, who started writing in her old age and won the Booker and all sorts of awards. We read her book  the Bookshop here years ago. Sadly she has passed on. However this Golden Child I had no idea it was a mystery or that she ever wrote one:  it's quite a satire on museum curators written as only she can. Here are a couple of reviews:

"A classically plotted British mystery . . . leavened with a wicked sense of humor. Nobody is safe: pompous art critics with their gobbledygook, precious aesthetes, heads of departments, the public, the cops . . . Miss Fitzgerald has been around - the plot flops all over the place, including a trip to Russia. Somehow Miss Fitzgerald, thanks to her lovely writing style and eye for the absurd, makes everything hang together." -- Newdigate Callendar The New York Times



Penelope Fitzgerald's novel, The Golden Child, combines a deft comedy of manners with a classic mystery set in London's most refined institution—the museum. When the glittering treasure of ancient Garamantia, the golden child, is delivered to the museum, a web of intrigue tightens around its personnel, especially the hapless museum officer Waring Smith. While prowling the halls one night, Waring is nearly strangled. Two suspicious deaths ensue, and only the cryptic hieroglyphics of the Garamantes can bring an end to the mayhem. Fitzgerald has an unerring eye for human nature, and this satirical look at the art world delivers a terrifically witty read.

If you read one of her sentences you can't put the book down. I started it on Kindle and I'm finishing it in print and I am enjoying it no end so far. It has nothing to do with the movie of the same name.

[BarbStAubrey]

Paul came and got me a week ago and the movers moved everything in on Sunday - My daughter surprised me and flew in Monday to help - paper and paper and boxes and paper and boxes and plastic bubble wrap - hate to see it all go to waste but it is piling up and still no silver ware or sharp knives so we finally broke down and picked up at the grocery store a few simple things - and then a nightmare of hours and hours trying to get email back with the new connections - how I would have done all this without Katha I do not know... she leaves on Monday...

[ginny]

YAY, Barbara!  You're moved! How wonderful your son and daughter were on hand to help with the transport and especially with the unpacking, what a lovely surprise!!

Congratulations!  We look forward to hearing all about your new experiences.

Ronaldo Fans Unite!  Morocco and Portugal, today at 10 Eastern.  What a matchup this will be! Followed by England and France, what a contest there. Everybody says it's going to be Renaldo vs Messi at last.  Nobody should count out France. OR Croatia.  Heart attack times are coming.

A very exciting World Cup this year, but I guess they all are. This one seems to have many giants participating however.

Popcorn ready!

`

[Tomereader1]

Okay, Ginny.  As a relative "newbie" to watching soccer, World Cup, I must ask a question that has bothered me since the first game.  When the fans get really quiet, there is this sound in the background, audible behind the announcers voices.  Sounds like 100,000 crickets making their voices heard.  What is it?  I know the fans of some of the South American teams have that annoying thing that looks like an Alpenhorn but, to me, sounds like donkeys braying.
Anyway, this sound here at World Cup?  Could it really be crickets? or what type of contraption?  Little steel balls in a metal container?  Please enlighten me!

Congratulations, Barb, on getting moved in to your new place!  Be sure to pace yourself with all the unpacking and putting away!

[ginny]

Tome, I have NO idea. Maybe somebody can enlighten us both. I also don't know what that annoying song is they keep singing for some games.

[Tomereader1]

My heart has not quit racing!  1-0 Morocco!  Sorry about your Ronaldo. 
This was another great game in this 2022 World Cup.  And Morocco finishing with only 10 players on the field.
(Oh, I should have said "on the pitch") I thought for sure Portugal would score. 

What can you tell me about France's team?

Thank you for corresponding with me concerning this new, awesome experience of watching (and enjoying) World Cup Soccer. 

[ginny]

France is scary. We need for England to beat France, so Messi can win it all.

[ginny]

They are out there singing that song again! The British are singing it.

[ginny]

Well France and Morocco. Maybe Morocco can knock them out.

I see the coach is not sorry for leaving Ronaldo on the bench at the start of the Morocco game. I personally think that was a mistake, but he's saying he's not apologizing, it was the right decision,  so there you are.

[Tomereader1]

I wonder if I Google the song, or YouTube. I might find it there.  I don't guess I've paid attention to what the fans are singing, so I don't even know what it sounds like.  Too busy watching the action on the Pitch!

Yeah, France was a bit scary! England tried so hard to get a goal with free kicks, and the frame on the net kept sending them askew.  Their goalkeeper did a good job too.

Did you find Pepe's remarks about the referees factual?  The commentators didnt seem to think they were doing anything wrong.  "Let 'em play" seemed to be the watchword.

[Frybabe]

I didn't catch what Pepe said about the referees, but I thought the some of the calls were not accurate. However, the ref did stop and view video on two occasions to make his discission. Good for him.

I was sorry to see England lose, but....am excited about a match between Morocco and France.

I've finished Caesar's Civil Wars. It is odd that I found the sections covering his fight against Pompeii and allies somewhat boring. It seemed a bit less detailed than I would have liked.

Now, for something completely different, I am listening to Middlemarch and enjoying it.  I am also reading a SciFi book called Exin Ex Machina: Asterion Noir Book 1 by J. S. Jennsen. I've discovered it is the first of a subset of Jennsen's Amaranthe series. It is holding up well without reading the 10 books ahead of it. This is a universe where man and machine are one. This is a future of computer augmented brains, and punishments are meted out by erasing a person's memories and such. Of course, there is a group doing overwatch and control, and there are those who rebel against this control. I haven't seen much mention of bio-mechanical augmentations. When moving about in this universe, it is a little hard to tell whether it is physically or via virtual reality. Probably a bit of both, but it is sometimes hard to tell. Jensen bills herself as "futurist, author, geek, gamer".  I guess I found another mega-seriwes to read.   

[PatH]

We discussed Middlemarch here, and I enjoyed it very much until I got hopelessly lost in the politics, and dropped out.  I should try it again.  British politics of that time are a little less opaque to me now, and I've enjoyed other books of hers--Silas Marner and The Mill on the Floss, for example.

[Frybabe]

Silas Marner was a class read in high school. I didn't get it back then and found it rather depressing. I think that put me off to reading other Elliot novels. I have had it and Mill on the Floss in my TBR pile for quite some time, untouched as of yet.

I ran across an interesting book this afternoon which I downloaded right away. It is called The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson. It is a true story about a music student by the name of Edwin Rist who broke into a British Museum and stole 299 bird skins. Rist was arrested and subsequently diagnosed as Autistic. I think that is why he got such a light sentence.

[ginny]

Well today's the day!!!  Argentina vs Croatia!   Who will win? And then tomorrow at 2 pm France vs Morocco!

Wow!

People can say what they  like about Amazon but when you order a book it comes. I had placed an order with another famous bookseller and they  didn't come and they  didn't come and I wrote their chat this morning to find out why and they are  scheduled to come APRIL 4, 2023.

APRIL 4th?

[ginny]

Messi! Messi! Messi!!!!!!!

[BarbStAubrey]

In the middle of boxes and paper and bubble wrap I had to get something for Christmas ordered and sent - well I think today the entire nation must have been ordering from Amazon - as fast as I would get something set to go, went to pay and over and over they could not promise delivery till after Christmas - soon figured out the popular colors or whatever were being sold fastest those orders were stacked up based on probably whorehouse inventory - and as they sold out it would be another shipment to fill their shelves and so I tried to choose the less popular - got it all done but this was the very first time it was a chore that exhausted rather than a pleasure that put a smile on my face.

All day I saw delivery after delivery going up the street and stopping at nearby houses - The pandemic sure changed permanently how we shop and Amazon is the new Walmart - they have everything of which most is made in China - like you Ginny, I know it will be delivered pretty much when they say they will and if not the message is on the final page for delivery so that changes can be made before the button is mashed.

Finally figured out why the shelves in this house seem so out of reach - thought the wife that sold the house must have been at least 6 feet tall - then it hit - all the ceilings are 10Ft or more - which is great for this hotter area of Texas however it puts the cabinets that much higher even with a drop down and so, where I thought I had tons of kitchen cabinet space I actually have less because the top shelf is useless and the middle shelf I need a ladder to reach which I am not up to using ladders on my own so, the edge of the shelf will be all I can reach. The real challenge is what should go on what shelf and in what drawer - I'm pooped thinking and figuring before I even start to unpack a box... I thought packing and sorting and tossing before the move was a challenge - piece of cake compared to setting up a new house... Once I have the basics in place all will be well and I can take my time but the kitchen is basic... so no reading for a bit... Did choose books for everyone's gift along with a scarf or shawl ---

[Tomereader1]

This one's for you, Ginny: This is Argentina's song:  "And its fans, who have turned Qatari stadium after Qatari stadium into a madhouse, kept singing, all the way through a final whistle that became a foregone conclusion. They kept belting the catchy tune that has become their World Cup soundtrack and which suddenly sounded prophetic.

“Muchaaaaachoooooosss,” they chorused, and then, over five short verses, on repeat, they told a story. It begins with decades of heartbreak since their two World Cup victories in 1978 and ‘86. It continues with “the finals that we lost,” including four at the Copa America since 1993, and “how many years I cried.”

“Pero eso se terminó,” they chanted, and the tone changed. But that ended. Last year, at the Maracanã, against the Brazilians in the Copa America final, “les volvió a ganar papá.” Daddy beat them again.

And “boys, muchaaaaachooooos, now we’re excited again,” they’ve bellowed again and again here in Qatar. They bellowed it at downtown plazas and outside Lusail. They’ve used these words to christen wins over Mexico and Poland, then Australia and Holland, and now Croatia."

Now it's on to Sunday’s final (10 a.m. ET, FOX/Telemundo). Time to keep singing.

[ginny]

 TOME!!  THANK you!  How on earth did you find that out? I will "hum" along, too, now that I know which side it's for. I am SO happy for Messi and I think everybody is, whether or not they are fans, he's tried so hard for so long.

I hope we'll all be singing Sunday!!!  France is really going to be hard. And he knows that,  he plays for PSG, but they know him, too. World Cup for the Ages no matter how it goes. I doubt we'll ever see the level of talent on the field we have this time, young and old. A World Cup of Legends.

Barbara, My hat's off to you, I doubt sincerely I could do it. But you've got tons of time now and no pressure so  you can do it as you like.

[Tomereader1]

Ginny, the words to the song were in an article on my AOL news page.

I watched today and was hoping Morocco would score at least one goal. They really looked like they were going to!
But, I will be cheering along with you for Messi, Messi, Messi when the final comes on Sunday.  I think the 3rd & 4th place match on Saturday will be fun too!

[Tomereader1]

Ginny, in my Wednesday's Dallas Morning News, there were two neat articles about World Cup.  Both were from Associated Press.  I had noticed that there were many women in attendance at the Morocco games.  This article is "Importance Beyond the Pitch" and  featured comments by two women.  Very interesting and insightful.

The second article, "Messi Gets Another Shot" was strictly about Messi. 

I don't know how to tell you to access these articles, but I'm sure you will know how to do it!
Enjoy!

[Frybabe]

The next world cup (2026) will be held jointly by Mexico, the US and Canada.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/fifa-names-the-16-host-cities-for-the-2026-world-cup#:~:text=FIFA%20names%2016%20host%20cities%20for%20the%202026,Boston%2C%20Miami%2C%20New%20York%2FNew%20Jersey%2C%20Philadelphia%2C%20Toronto%20

[ginny]

 Wow, what a great list of stadiums in the US! Already built and ready to go. All over the country, 11 of them unless I can't count (which is possible). Wow.

But THIS one tomorrow is one for the Ages, it really is. How lucky we are!

The Guardian has come out with their Best Books of 2022, almost all of which I  have never heard of, but quite a few of which look really  good.

 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/dec/03/the-best-books-of-2022

and a longer list?

https://guardianbookshop.com/featured-in-the-guardian/the-guardian-and-observers-best-books-of-2022/?utm_source=editoriallink&utm_medium=merch&utm_campaign=article



 



 

[Tomereader1]

My poor Morocco, didn't even get one goal.  Oh, well, I liked Croatia too.

Can't wait till tomorrow.

[Frybabe]

Thanks for the list, Ginny.

Of the larger list, I have read Conundrum, have Horse in my TBR pile, and I want to see if the library has West Winds.

The search button on the Free Library of Philadelphia is not functional. They are dropping the old Overdrive app and instead using the new Libby by Overdrive app. The ratty things about the Libby app are that they do not have a Windows app for it, and I have yet to figure out how to search for a particular book or author in the app. To top it off, I just went over to the online website to do a search and discovered that the search function isn't working. I hope that is a temporary thing, because I refuse to "browse" through tons of books when I am looking for a specific book. As far as I know, they have not yet gotten an app approved for use on Kindle. I know they were working on it a while ago. Meanwhile, I already have a workaround for using Libby on my Kindle Fires. I am kind of wondering how this change to Libby will affect my Kobo which has a direct link to Overdrive. I haven't seen any news on that. Must research.

An exciting first five minutes, Tomereader. Morocco did indeed get one goal just after Croatia got their first. Like the announcers, I thought the referee was a bit off on his calls or ignoring what should have been called. I saw him do the same a few weeks back.

[Tomereader1]

Mars, I was late tuning in and missed that first 5 minutes.   Yes, that Ref wasn't the best they'd had.  The announcers said he hadn't ref-ed a game in a while. I forgot how long they said. They talk so fast...even the closed captions can't keep up with them!

[Frybabe]

Oh good. While the search function on the FLP website via my computer is still not operable this morning, the Overdrive app on my Kindle still is.

I forget too, which game that ref last officiated, but I only started watching the games just before the quarter finals, so not more than two weeks maybe?  Then they didn't assign him any games until yesterday's game. I see Argentina is favored to win today.

[Tomereader1]

MESSI, MESSI, MESSI!  Argentina, yay!

[PatH]

Wow!  I hope nobody collapsed from the suspense.

[ginny]

I know I nearly did, my GOSH what a game!!!

WONDERFUL teamwork!  And of course, Messi, Greatest of All Time! Here holding the Best Player
in the World Cup Tournament Trophy,  looking at the World Cup Gold Cup.



There will never be another World  Cup like this one, I predict, with so MANY talented famous athletes! A World Cup for the Ages.

Whew! What a GAME!

[ginny]

 Gosh, I lost a post here somewhere! Thanks so much,  Tome, for that great article, I did get to read it.

Frybabe, they sent that referee home after his  bad calling of that game.

What a let down it will be, it's like after the Olympics, we're going  miss the World Cup excitement!

It's so nice to see Americans so caught up  in it, too, AND to hear it's coming to America next time!

[Frybabe]

Reserve your seats, Ginny.

What a nail biter the second half and overtime play was. Felt bad for France, briefly. I noticed that the manger's (was it?) hand was shaking near the end when they showed a closeup of him.

My sister was quite happy today, what with the Cup final and the Philadelphia Eagles game right after it.

[Frybabe]

Found this on YouTube this morning. Take at the stadiums that will host the 2026 FIFA World Cup games. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKTEl4uL1h0  They are taking bids for the 2030 World Cup games. Among the bidders are Morocco, Argentina, Uruguay, Chili, Greece, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.

[ginny]

You'd think they would return to some of these huge stadium buildings in countries which already have them?   It would cost the host country a lot less.  But I can see South America wanting in.

On feeling bad for France, they won the last World Cup, and Mbappe is only 23  years old, and incredibly talented. Hopefully  he will have many years of dominance to come. Except,   of course, for Erling Haaland.  So interesting, soccer is.  I bet we just saw the unprecedented 8th Ballon D'or winner win. Man that was a GAME!

But what is THIS suddenly threatening the entire country? Golly moses, I hope everybody has laid in supplies for this humongous storm approaching. It seems no one will be totally out of the picture. Good luck, All!!

I watched the "old" Scrooge from 1951 with Alistair Sim last night in black and white. Just love that movie, and him. Got to have Scrooge at Christmas, one way or the other. Which one is your favorite of the movie ones? How did your book club discussion go of A Christmas Carol, Tome?

Yesterday I had a lovely afternoon after banging around all the grocery stores available for that  ONE thing none of them had. I came back and settled in with my new Christmas Mystery, The Shooting in the Shop I think the title is by Simon Brett, in a series I just discovered with the Tomb in Turkey and I enjoyed it as well, so far.  It opens with a Christmas Party one of the two lady protagonists didn't want to go to... I turned on the fake fire on DISH which roared happily and had a lovely rainy afternoon reading with one eye while  looking at the tree and the fake fire which actually crackles with the other.

OH!!! AND!!! Remember that other "famous bookseller" whose customer CHAT online service told me the other books I had ordered with my gift certificate would be here in April 2023? Guess what? Every day the email says they've sent another one? Today 3 more are "on the way."

Isn't that interesting? 

I came IN, however,  to quote Sir Walter Scott:

Heap on more wood!-the wind is chill;
But let it whistle as it will,
We’ll keep our Christmas merry still.-


   A very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to  you all, however you celebrate it!

[Frybabe]

Can't get away from Soccer just yet. This interesting video is about what happens to the stadiums built for the FIFA games and what Qatar plans to do differently than other countries. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJd08mTGpdE

Just finished one very interesting SciFi book (one of G. S. Jennsen's Amaranthe series) and trying to get a second finished today. Current audio listen is the second of M. C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin series. These books, aside from being entertaining, are great for when I don't want to listen to a long piece. They are only 5-6 hours apiece.

I doubt we will be getting much if any snow here today. It is thirty here now but will get up into the mid-forties this afternoon. Tomorrow, however, anything that comes down and doesn't dry off will turn icy. Temps to gradually lower until it hits around seven degrees by Friday morning with frigid temps over the weekend.

[PatH]

It's 21 degrees here, with 23 mph winds.  Feels like 3 degrees.  I'm not sticking my nose out the door.  About the same tomorrow.

[ginny]

That was a fascinating film, Frybabe! Shipping containers, who knew?    Thank you for putting it here.

  Last night I couldn't sleep and was tired of all the ipad games I usually play so I thought to see what I had in kindle and there was a sample of something called Midwinter Murder: Fireside Tales from the Queen of Mystery, and it's Agatha Christie again but I never heard of the book. It's short stories, so I read the sample they give free and got hooked on the first one. A young couple inherits a house and decides to try a bed and breakfast since the furniture is too big, nobody wants those huge old pieces any more (or has the house to handle them) and the housing market is too small and expensive for buyers, and immediately the guests arrive and so does a snow storm and a murderer. It could have been written yesterday.

For once in my life I figured out who did it, but I kept thinking I had read it before (and I am sure I have) but it was actually pretty scary and fun. The sample ran out just as it was getting good, so I decided to see what it cost, and  it was the huge sum of $1.99 so I bought it and started on a Hercule Poirot I did not know about either, and then when I started the 3rd one, and it was a Christmas Mystery,  I knew my $1.99 was well spent.

Still reading The Shooting in the Shop and I don't know if it's just me (I'm sure it is) but I appreciate things about a book in hand that the publisher has taken the time to do well.  For instance my copy is a hardback with a beautiful glossy cover of a gold box with red ribbon, very pretty. While I was reading it yesterday the cover slipped a little and I felt something smooth underneath. So I pulled the cover off and guess what was under it? Another cover! The book itself has a smooth glossy cover the same as the book jacket! I have never seen this in my  life, is this something new?

It's beautifully bound,  and the print, while not a "large print book," is large and readable and the paper is white and crisp, the entire thing physically is a joy. I  took time to see who the printer was, if any other of his books are in that form, I would like to have one.  The publisher is called Gale and under it it says Engaged Learning. I never heard of them, have you?

What's everybody reading or hoping to get under the tree or giving as a gift?

[BarbStAubrey]

Some time later this afternoon is when this deep freeze reaches us - Paul urged his sons driving in from Lubbock to leave after work which means they drove through the nigh since it is a 9 hour trip - but this way they avoided driving through weather... Still no word from Cooper, who last winter transferred to Denver and was only able to arrange to come in Christmas eve through the day after Christmas - if the storm passes maybe he will be OK however, the backup in the airport is another matter unless he is hitching a ride on a Fed Ex plane - I just need to be patient and all will be answered - the news on this weather is ramping up my anxiety remembering two years ago in February being so cold - could not get the house above 40 from Sunday afternoon till Wednesday noon without being able to cook either - just remembering all that has me more than anxious about this storm.

Evidently a new book - do not have time now to read so I skipped it - the entire storyline of Scrooge is updated and used to describe a business man who invites a homeless man into his building to stay over Christmas - forgot the title already but it was listed yesterday in Book Buds that is a daily announcing kindle books available for 99 cents to as much as 3.99 - so many stories now and even TV stories that I call chit chat - I think the literary world calls them light reads - something that can usually be read in a day and is not very deep but does hit a current social or moral issue with a wise ending solution. None of them grab me as a traditional Christmas story, even these light usually Christmas romance stories on TV - I think I am just getting crotchety with all this unpacking and no time for Advent or Christmas - Still working on the kitchen - once that is done I think things will fall in place... 

[jane]

Tis a mite cooler here in NE Iowa.  -7 at the moment and winds starting again out of the north. The 4 or so inches of snow is the fluffy, light stuff...good at blowing around.

I canceled my trip to my sister's in Ohio...fear of being stranded at O'Hare.  I'll see them all at a wedding in March, so I'm safe here in my den with the fire going and watching the snow blow off my neighbor's roof.   {That's what we do for fun in Iowa in the winter. }

Stay safe and warm.