The Library

[ginny]

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.

[ginny]

Isn't that something? I wonder why it was in the house, certainly in no way seems to pertain to Mr. Elick, just the opposite.

Wow, look at the range in what you all are reading! Amazing!

I like to read the news apps when I get up in the morning, starting with the Guardian and the BBC, both free,  and this morning I got very intrigued by a long article which I couldn't stop reading even thought it's a mini book in itself: "Dad said: We’re going to follow Captain Cook’: how an endless round-the-world voyage stole my childhood."

It's about a family where Dad wants to follow his dream to sail around the world and did,  but then kept on going, and what kind of life that was for his two children. Not quite what you might envision, actually.

Wavewalker: Breaking Free is by Suzanne Heywood, to be published on April 13.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/mar/25/suzanne-heywood-round-the-world-sailing-trip-stolen-childhood?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

I'm going to have to read the entire book, and find out what happened. The unbelievable selfishness of the parents here is astounding, BUT....who can criticize a man who finally gets to follow his dream and feels it's an incredible gift to his children?

So far it's riveting reading.

[Tomereader1]

I am currently reading "The Nazi Conspiracy" The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch. It is history, but not fiction. The chapters inform you of what was going on in Germany, Russia, Japan and finally the U.S. It has information that I, personally, had never been aware of. I just checked it out yesterday, and am already on Pg.250 of 335. There are roughly 20 pages of Notes. (which I will read!) Very interesting reading. These 2 authors have written similar books on Geo Washington and Lincoln.

[Frybabe]

Darn! I can't rely on my memory these days. So, I have to amend my last post. Junger spent a year embedded with troops in the Korengal Valley taking five trips between June 2007 to June 2008. Not Kandahar in 2004.

While up here on my desktop, I have begun to listen to London House by Katherine Raey since I have my jigsaw game on the desktop. The book is an historical fiction about a modern-day woman who discovers her grandmother may have been a Nazi spy. I don't know if it is one of those books that switch back and forth in time or not as yet. The first chapter certainly was during WWII. I think I read Raey's The Printed Letter Bookshop some time back.

[Dana]

Wavewalker........That is a fascinating story.....I guess she was just the wrong child for her parents.  I wonder how her brother got on...

[BarbStAubrey]

Parents live anywhere and do all sorts of work - children are in their care and just because a place of residence or kind of work is unique and different than most, it is who the parents are and what they can offer - living in a different location to satisfy others they could not offer their best selves.

It seems to have become a thing now that kids can publicly complain how their parents live or the spots in their growing up that they wanted to be different - Seldom do kids have a perfect life - when a kid grows up they can then choose how they want to live - in the meantime, as kids we all have dreams - some dreams include a different way of life than the reality of what is...

All this complaining about your childhood that did not match your dream of what you wanted is showing us how spoiled and tedious some have become - I'm sure there are many who would have been thankful, if not for the adventurous life that at least they had enough food - they could live without fear of being removed from their parents - they did not have to fear being conscripted to fight as young as age 10 or work in a factory or pull minerals from the ground or find their food in a garbage heap as is life for many kids as early in life as the original adventure started - or even down-to-earth, parents who are in the military and kids either live with grandparents or change schools and residents every couple of years living with one parent at a time as they rotate duty and that is not a 3 year scenario either. 

I'm so fed up with this victim status just because someone had a different idea from their parents about how to choose their life experiences - different then the parents values the grown kid did not admire - sheesh - And then those who support this thinking by showing how different the parents values were compared to others or comparing yesterday's values with today - the difference in history and therefore, different values were used as a guide by the parents. I'm remembering articles in magazines were showing the glorious  adventurous of families taking off and traveling most often in a mobile home but also many a story included world travel for a few years - For this family it was a lifestyle with all the pluses and minuses of any chosen lifestyle and this grown kid is having a temper tantrum by writing how unhappy she was as if she broke away from some cult.  Nope, not buying this one... Yep, Dana wrong parents or maybe the other way wrong child - whatever, for sure a spoiled tedious childish adult. Appears Harry started something...

[ginny]

Wow, what a range of books being read! That sounds good, Tome,  where did you hear about it? And Frybabe, too, with again theh Nazi theme.

I think my husband might be interested in the first one. He's finished the Flower one and is now reading about some conspiracy during WWII, himself.   You all are putting me to shame with all your good reading.

Barbara, I know what you mean about children and tell all books,  but having read that excerpt I do think she might have a valid point. Particularly at the end there, where her education and that of her brother was non existent,  apparently, and not a concern of her mother's, or anybody else's,  and they as she became a teenager seemed to turn the adult responsibilities totally over to her as they went on their excited hippie way, and expected HER to make bookings, etc., in what apparently turned into some sort of business to pay the bills.

That lifestyle would get old, very fast. SOMEBODY has to be the adult.

It's hard to tell from an excerpt. But I agree, Dana,  there was a misfit. What constitutes neglect, though?

One year of adventure, yes. But now let's sail on, footloose and fancy free, and do it again and again and again.  Year after year.   A lifetime of no kind of books, educational opportunities, etc? The occasional work sheet thrown at the kids. That in some places is called neglect, despite getting to see the world from a boat.

I also think the brother would be a good interview. Hopefully we can hear more of his perspective, too.

[ginny]

I had a somewhat rude awakening this morning about a game APP.

I like to play games on the iphone and ipad, and the commercials just drive me wild.

The big thing now is SLOTS.  Gambling games. I don't do them, but the commercials are every time you  shuffle a hand, if playing, say Gin Rummy, and that can be up to 10 commercials  a game.

There's one which is engaging about other companies offering  FAKE SLOTS.

You don't want the fake slot games, we are concerned for you. Play our game (actually we seem to have a new one every day),  instead, we guarantee you lots and lots of money.

Out of curiosity I went to the website and see that there are literally hundreds of people playing this. But if you read the complaints they are very telling.

1. They complain that the company doing the game doesn't "care." They are not winning billions. It was advertised that they would win.

CARE?  You want a company making money off your own gambling greed to actually CARE?

2. They complain in English which has to be seen to be believed. It's not a matter of English being   a second language, it's perfectly clear from the idiomatic expressions these are normal English speaking people,  but they can't spell and they are essentially illiterate, but it's their "hard earned money," they are spending "hundreds of dollars" on and they feel let down because the company doesn't "care."   Doesn't care enough to let them win.

I've really never seen anything like it in my life. Is this legal?

One poster reveals the company is from China. The company has three automatic responses, all caring and helpful.

I wonder what's happening to this country . But it's clear that out there we have people who DID have the benefit of being able to go to school,  who cannot write an  English sentence, and who feel cheated if the company they are sending money to, to  gamble doesn't "care," and that's repeated over and over.

I don't understand it.

[Frybabe]

Something tickles my mind from years and years ago about off-shore gambling as a way to get around US gaming laws. I thought that got cleaned up, but since I don't gamble. At the time, a lot of the outfits mentioned were working out of the Caribbean. Hmmmm!

[Tomereader1]

Ginny, I actually have no idea where I heard about "The Nazi Conspiracy" etc, but it probably was from the Book Page Magazine which I pick up free from my Library; my subscription to BookMarks Magazine, which is great, or it might have been a notification from one of the publishing houses who generously send me Emails about their latest publication.  All I know is, I wrote it down on my scratch-paper list, and requested it from the library.  It came rather quickly, and showed no signs of having been checked out before, LOL. Publishing date is 2022, via Flatiron Books.

And yes, I get so wrought-up about people who can't spell or put together a simple sentence, and no, I'm not talking about those for whom English is  a second language.

[BarbStAubrey]

A few days ago, again on some strange channel that I do not remember what it was, there was to me a very interesting program - I've been hearing about AI not really knowing what it was or what it meant - well this hour long program was all about Artificial Inelegance - various aspects that I started to understand but could not repeat - some using a mechanical devise to appeal to our sense of needing something that looks human to go to for information - and other I'm not sure where or what but I'm getting the sense it is now incorporating itself in just about everything that is man made. 

However, with all of that what really struck me and now I'm seeing it - early on so it is building on itself faster them humans can keep up is the concept of outrage - it seems the more outraged we become the more inclined we are to make purchases, and to stop what is essentially healthy behavior. And so all these stories we hear about people behaving in ways so differently than how we were brought up, how we accepted and adapted our values that now the opposite is being flaunted by others and we become outraged - I know I too cannot believe and shake my head at how sentences are so convoluted it is like reading a new code and how people complain because their own behavior is doing them in and they blame others - on and on HOWEVER now I know when I react in outrage it is what the marketing people want to drive us not only to the economic marketplace but to the marketplace of ideas that help separate us - make us into them or the other - and the other concept that was programed into AI was the concept of victimhood - seems when we feel we are the victim we want to take care of ourselves by shopping and any number of other addictions

I cannot repeat what was included but now I am trying to figure out if I want to delve in and learn more about AI or realize it is all around and as I see it the only escape is to shut off most outside influence and think local, very local, like my home, my interests that take my concentration - So many of the current books published are actually tipping into victimization or blame showing how bad we were - the titles are like the neon lights of Broadway that hook me which is what AI has mastered - someplace during that seminar on TV they  said there will be no need for war with bullets and guns - AI will have us do ourselves in as we will be easily persuaded to act against our behalf believing we are doing the 'right' thing or we will become so addicted to damaging behavior we will become useless to not only our community but to our family and ourselves.

Scary sounding and it is not Flash Gorden it is real and happening now - so now I am going to try to stay away from anything I think is outrageous because it appears AI is similar to our own mental makeup only on steroids so if AI can build an addictive lifestyle based on outrage then I can only I've been doing it at a much slower pace and the same with feeling sorry for myself - because yes, I have often felt sorry for myself and in order to feel better will buy yet another book or eat another cookie or waste the rest of the day doing nothing that would be in my best interest.

Golly I wish now I remembered at least the name of the TV special or someway y'all could see it - this was riveting, eye popping and yes, outrageous and scary making me feel self protective far more than all the fears people have been preparing for with closets or basements full of food - now I can see all the stored food in the world will not even be needed - we really have to strengthen our mind and question question question getting to the root of everything we give our attention to. Having seen how easy it was to believe in masks and even shot that are now all being exposed as shams I can buy into what AI is capable of...

From here on any post from me will attempt NOT to include anything that we would consider outrageous or blame since blame is a tool to feel less victimized - my reading will attempt to focus on the values included that we see as strengthening or examples of strength and heroic if only showing simple capabilities - the only thing for now I can think of is to see the positive in everything - not superficially but I do believe there is strength and other positive values inherent to all happenings that if takes work to find them then so be it... being influenced by AI I now understand is like a war being waged on humanity.       

[BarbStAubrey]

Oh lordy - I feel I have to explain myself - yes, I fell into the hole of outrage - all over a book, a book, a book suggested here that told the story of something that gets my goat and in the past I would have passed on making any comment thinking it was not something I had to read or accept and to each his own but no... I had to give a tirade about my disdain for kids being upset with how their parents raised them - in the scheme of things does it really matter - how many kids in the world and one writes a book about how they were raised and how they felt about it so I can be outraged - and only after I realized what I did, did the program on AI hit me like a ton of bricks -

Another - I still post on the Nextdoor neighborhood in Austin - I found the sweetest explanation about how foxes move into safe areas for a few weeks when they have their kits to stay safe mostly from coyotes - no scolding or you should know or do this - no instruction or outrage but a sweet essay that I found on facebook that I copied and pasted with the author's name on our neighborhood Nexdoor page - well I never - it was so well received with so many not only from our neighborhood but all 50 some odd surrounding neighborhoods - responding not just to the information but the way it was presented - so many Nextdoor had to start another link and they messaged me thanking me and acknowledging the unheard of interest - which says to me people are hungry, starved for sweetness for concepts to be shared in a gentle way -

I've so grown out of that habit and now I can see it is necessary - that I too easily fall into being outraged or blaming which says I believe I can do nothing about what offends me. All I can think of is there are many world wide, national and even local events, horrors that I cannot directly affect but instead we did something from our home that probably like giving up something for lent doesn't really affect anyone but ourselves and bottom line that is all we can do is affect ourselves and maybe our family and in some cases our community and so all the news I'm watching is interesting but I cannot really directly affect any of it... so why get outraged - why blame this or that group or nation - it is their doing and all I am is the audience like watching a football game buying popcorn and sodas - now realizing if I am outraged at a bad call or the other team having a good play I will end up buying more popcorn or another soda that could even become a beer.  Hmm can a football game be watched without feeling like we are in the middle of it or maybe just watching how we react and not let our reactions rule our taste buds and pocketbook. Is that the answer to all the outrageous stories we hear on the news?

[Frybabe]

Wow Barb, too bad you can't remember the name of the program. It reminds me that Elon Musk is very, very wary of AI or ASI (Artificial Superintelligence) and has warned of its dangers on numerous occasions. I have seen him call it the "greatest existential treat to humanity".  And yet, that is not stopping him from working on a neural microchip implant that can wirelessly talk to computers. He is not the only one working on this technology though. I know of at least one other, but the name escapes me at the moment. Like all new technology, it has the potential to be abused as well as improve the lives of many.

My sister just in the last week has removed her account on Next Door Neighborhood. Here, it has expanded to encompass a much larger area then just the local neighborhood. Not only that, but there are more and more not particularly useful complaints and rants as well as more people promoting their own businesses. I can kind of understand people wanting to let others know they are available for various startup or summer jobs like local handyman and lawn services, but if they are not vouched for who knows if they are trustworthy, qualified, or not. Nice idea that is turning into something users here are starting to turn away from because it is turning into something not very locally useful and friendly.
 

[Jay C]

I am currently reading three different books.  First I am reading in English Ovid's Metamorphasis.  In a Greek group I am part of,  we are reading the Apostolic Fathers, Ignatius' Letter to the Magnesians.  I am also reading in Greek the Iliad.

[BarbStAubrey]

Wow Jay you have a full plate of reading on your table - reminds me of the education curriculum we had back in the late 40s and early 50s that included among the basic classes we needed to graduate from high school either 4 years of Latin or 4 years of Greek - Ginny does a super job of guiding the Latin group here on Senior Learn however, no group studying or reading in Greek - I was not familiar with the Apostolic Fathers... and when I looked for it on Amazon I found a slew of books about various Roman Catholic topics that peaked my interest - not about to take on Greek since back those many years ago I chose Latin that became a huge challenge for me. However, some of the books on Amazon's for sale shelf I'm delighted to know about. So thanks for coming in to the Library and sharing your current reading choices.

Another interesting tidbit that I did not know - a book mentioned on Amazon - The Brontes in Ireland... I had no idea the Brontes came from Ireland - the book includes background on the grandfather and all his acquaintances - Had to have been their father who emigrated since all the sisters were born in Yorkshire and the Amazon excerpt talks of the Grandfather living out his life in Ireland.  Too many books on my pile to add another but this information was a surprise to me and since I've always enjoyed reading Irish authors, to me their way with language always promises a good read it now explains to me the well written Bronte books.

Golly I wish there was an annotated copy of Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood - Every line seems to use a word so out of fashion or having a Welsh colloquial meaning I'm spending more time on Wiki-links and other reference material then actually reading the work. Continually researching is taking the enjoyment out of reading this piece and I sure now can relate to Miss Penny who tries several times to read Under Milk Wood putting it down each time. Still reading Miss Plum and Miss Penny and also, have Gladwell's Tipping Point going -

Read it years ago and we take so much of his historic and iconic thought for granted that when I came across the book I realize I forgot the second line of the title How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference - and thought I better read this again from a 2023 perspective and maybe I will find some inspiration to off set my deep concern after having some understanding of AI.

[Dana]

Oh wow great JC....you are the first person I have met who is translating the Iliad....
.....I am also translating the Iliad.....it is so much sheer fun to translate every bit....how far have you got?

[PatH]

Welcome, Jay C!

That's a rich diet of reading. I envy you, being able to read the Iliad in Greek, and you too, Dana.  We read it here in English some time ago.

What translation are you using for Metamorphoses?  We read some of them here a number of years ago.

[Frybabe]

One good reason to have print books rather than e-books. They can't be "updated" or revised except when printed in a new edition. I can just see the future of books and reading as these people continue to rearrange an author's original works to suit themselves. Will what was originally written survive in recognizable form? Will stories and writings eventually morph into something entirely different than what the author meant or intended? https://news.yahoo.com/agatha-christie-latest-author-rewritten-160018274.html

[Dana]

It is completely wrong, immoral even, to change someone's work and pretend it's what was written. It's inconceivable, shocking and disgusting.

[BarbStAubrey]

Sculpture will be next - they are already gluing themselves to and throwing paint on famous works of art so next I'm expecting instead of pulling down statues they will be chipping off bits and pieces or adding parts just as they are erasing and replacing bits and pieces of literature. Did you ever in your wildest dreams... even all the books written about the gulags and that destructive time in Russia and now China did not included changing literature although they did ban, burn, tear down and chop up reminders of the past... Yes, all we can do is buy up all the used books we can find of titles that are important to us...

Actually I was surprised - from the reviews there are many home school Moms buying up the McGuffey Readers so there are at last on Amazon none of the old originals left for sale and they have been reprinting, copying those originals so that Moms are buying them up to use as they home school their children -

Ginny there is a open window for you if you could put together a way for Mom's who may not even have any prior experience with Latin to have some sort of simple teaching aid for Moms to help Children learn Latin. I bet many a Mom home schooling would be thrilled. From what I read about their using the McGuffey Readers over the curriculum suggested by local school districts is based on wanting excellence for their children and seeing their child can and is achieving this excellence I'm thinking they would want to provide the bones of a classical education that does included Latin (or Greek) - I bet there is a ready audience.

[Tomereader1]

A friend and I went to see the most wonderful movie!  I don't know how many of you get out of the house now to "go to a movie" since Covid shut us down back in 2020.  The movie is: "The Lost King".  It's about one woman's search to locate the missing bones of Richard III.  The Scottish accents are difficult, but it is beautifully filmed and acted.  You may remember his bones being found under a parking lot back in 2012.  My friend had gone to see this last week, and loved it so much (knowing how I like movies like this) she invited me to go see it with her.  Glad I brought some tissues for the ending.  It's really something that needs to be seen and heard on the big screen, but if it ever gets to streaming, the closed captions will be good for the dialog.  Cinematography is awesome.

[ginny]

That sounds wonderful, Tome! Just the thing. I will wait for it to appear at home, although I admit that the Everything Everywhere is so far possibly dependent upon the big screen as I've tried twice and although it's strangely compelling, it still makes no sense, but I think that's intentional. I hope so, anyway. hahaha

Another really good and really old Richard III film is Looking for Richard, as of all people Al Pacino does a wonderful job with explaining Shakespeare's play from the point of view of Richard himself, whom he plays, it's really a Master Class and I don't know why he did not make more of them, but he really is into Richard.  A lot of passion for the part. But so many people think or thought he was over the top,  anyway. I really enjoyed Looking for Richard and will seize on The Lost King the minute I can see it here.

Thanks so much for bringing that here.

Barbara,  the Home school Latin program must have heard you as they have been booming for many years. The idea was good.  Lest said on that, soonest mended.

On the changing of art, this has happened before, remember the fig leaf addition to sculpture? Some people now think the sculptures came with one originally.  It seems these periods run in cycles.  The issue is, to me, the media. And of course we're HERE on the media, because of the media but back in the days of the addition of the fig leaf, there weren't 10000 stories, breathless stories, on the omnipresent  internet and TV about this trend and the outraged this or that parent...

And we've always had wanna be  tin pot dictators, too, like the current governor of one US state, and we always will, so long as the voters in that state put up with him.

History is just repeating itself.

[Frybabe]

My main focus on reading right now is Geraldine Brooks' book Horse. Switching back and forth in time, the story is based on the great racehorse Lexington, art, racial inequality, and the work the teams at Smithsonian did to restore the great horse's skeleton in preparation for exhibition. I've been pretty much sticking to this one book so I can get it read before I have to return it. Well worth the time.

When I am not reading, I have been listening to Blue Earth Remembered by Alastair Reynolds. This is a science fiction tale, the first of three. Set in 2160, this first novel follows two siblings of a wealthy Nigerian family as they try to solve a mystery left by the matriarch when she passes away. So far, there are the funeral, a pair of conniving cousins, the mysterious contents of a safe deposit box, the conservationist researching elephants and his sister who, I think, is an artist. And yes, the story involves space travel and living via the family business.

[Frybabe]

Has anyone else seen mention that Amazon is shutting down Book Depository on April 26? According to news reports Book Depository, which Amazon aquired in 2011, is a huge part of their book offerings. I am still scrambling to see how that affects their book offerings in the future. I suspect there will be a lot less offered for a while as everyone scrambles to compensate. Any comments, insights or thoughts?

[Tomereader1]

Never heard of it.

[BarbStAubrey]

Frybabe what is Book Depository

[Frybabe]

The Book Depository is a huge online book seller based in the UK. It ships books free to over 160 countries, that is until it closes up shop on April 26. It was founded in 2004 and became one of the fastest growing and top-rated book sites for buying printed books. This certainly will affect anyone who buys print books. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/04/amazon-to-close-book-depository-online-shop

[ginny]

Huh! Who knew? All this time we could be getting books shipped free from the UK?  Huh!

[Frybabe]

Yeah, that's what I thought. All those books published in the UK that weren't offered for sale in the US for a year or more, if at all.

Several more days and I will finish Horse. The early setting is mostly in the years leading up to and including the Civil War. The book does not neglect the still ongoing prejudices some people harbor. Anyone interesting in horses and horse racing will enjoy this one, I think.

[Tomereader1]

No one has been in for about 4 days.  So...anyone looking in, I'm wishing you all a beautiful Sunday and a great start to next week.

[Frybabe]

Well, I have pretty much been picking around trying to find something interesting to read after finishing A Rising Man by Amir Mukherjee. This is the first of series about a former Scotland Yard detective who decided to take on a policing job in Calcutta, India in 1919. It was a fast read with an okay story, but I thought the detective seemed not so bright. I like the detective's subordinate. Well, I plan on giving it another try so have put a hold on the next one. I've alos put on hold, Enemy of All Mankind by Steven Johnson. This one is non-fiction about the pirate, Henry Every. I don't recall running across his name or his aliases before, but he did sail the Atlantic and Indian Oceans in the mid-1690's before disappearing.

While I am waiting on those, I am picking around a bit. I haven't settled on one yet. Also, still listening to Blue Earth Remembered. It is a bit wordy, lengthy, and I keep falling asleep on it. For me, the story bogs down a bit but interesting overall, and I want to see where it ultimately leads. I do like the narrator, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.

[ginny]

Tome. hahaha What tome are you reading at present?

I don't think what I am reading would be of much interest here? But I'll put it in at your prompt.

They have put the Oxford Companion to  Classical Literature at last on Kindle. This volume,  which in the past has cost an arm and a leg, well over $100,  has also come down severely lately  in cost for the  hardback, but in essence if you want to know about anything classical and the latest scholarship expressed succinctly,   forget Wikipedia where half of it is mush, and gossip, (though they mean well and their illustrations are very good), and try it. YOU will then be privy to real classical scholarship for $9.99.  They've got the one for Civilization  on kindle,  too.

I'm currently reading the chronology of Ovid's poetry in relation to his Exile.

Your turn?

What IS everybody reading?

[Frybabe]

Thanks Ginny. I have a couple of small credits to use on Kindle.

My old Audible app on my computer will still play their audio books bought before August of last year, so I am trying to remember to utilize that while up here. Right now it is a Great Courses listen on Spanish history called The Other 1492: Ferdinand, Isabella and the Making of an Empire.  Blue Earth Remembered is on my Kindle HD10; it has the best audio of the Kindle tablets I have.

Also, and hour or two ago I downloaded the second of Amir Mukherhee's police detective series. So now I am all set for a while.

[Frybabe]

Got it, Ginny. Thanks, again.

While on Amazon I discovered a book that had I been younger and still in publishing and printing, I would have loved this book. It is way, way too pricey for me now: Printing and Misprinting: A Companion to Mistakes and In-House Corrections in Renaissance Europe (1450-1650). Over $100 for the Kindle edition. I just love the history of typography and printing. 

[Tomereader1]

Ginny, and all!  What "tomes" am I reading, ha ha ha.  Wouldn't call them tomes exactly, but I'm deep into far more books than I should be.  I'll make an effort to list them: 

I went to see that awesome movie, "The Lost King", and have delved deep into checking out books from my library on this particular occurrence (digging for and finding the bones of Richard III); so I have "Digging for Richard III;
"Looking for Richard" (DVD - Al Pacino as R III); another one on order, but haven't picked up yet.  Now, for other stuff:  "The Art of Blessing the Day" - Poems with a Jewish Theme by Marge Piercy; "The Night Watchman" by Louise Erdrich (I should have finished this for Book Club, but extenuating circumstances prevented); "I Have Some Questions for You" by Rebecca Makkai (now half-way through), and one trashy piece of memoir/essays, which shall go unnamed, haven't finished that one and don't really intend to.
There you have it in a nutshell (pretty large nut, I'd say)!  I'm really, truly anticipating and WAITING on "Horse", but I'm way down the list of requests.  You may now return to your reading!

[BarbStAubrey]

Talk about feast or famine - after checking in the past few days and finding notta and today the gangs all here...

Been reading Jensen's book The Cross - his take is the symbol has greater meaning than representative of one religion - he saw the universal symbolism in the fight over saving the cross created by eye beams when the towers came down - wondered what happened to that cross because it does not appear in the outdoor area devoted to the many deaths that day that the new buildings have incorporated in that location - well he goes into the story of how it has been saved and in a museum devoted to 9/11 - I did not even know there was a museum and more shocking is that some beguine TV travel show included a nine pin alley that is a bit different than the bowling we all know and there is no mechanical devices setting pins and the young high school kids were not even born yet and a college age young man who managed the alley was not born yet either...

Time sure did fly - 9/11 was 22 years ago this September. That gave me a reference to the years between the two world wars - I believe WWI ended in 1918 - 22 years later would have been 1940 and Europe was already a year into the war and then the end of the next year we would be joining them with a major depression that lasted almost till the start of WWII that began in 1929 - Interesting while checking dates I noticed Prohibition started in 1920 the same year that the 19th Amendment was ratified that gave Women the Right to Vote.  Over all there was a lot happening in just 30 years between 1916, the start of WWI and 1946, the end of WWII - golly the more you think on these years the more you can see the changes - Kitchens changed, housing heating and cooling and we forget even indoor bathrooms were the norm but not in the 20s and for many not even in the 30s. Cars, phones, fashion, medicine, art, movies, goodness forgot TV came along, I guess that is what is called a Cultural change -

I'm thinking of these last 30 years from 1993 till today - I can see the changes brought on by Technology and those Tech changes but not so sure I can see dramatic change in fashion, medicine, art or movies. I guess electric cars, but to me that is now only a realistic possibility so I would not include electric cars as a change in these last 30 years. On any given day I can use my vehicle to go shopping or travel up the road to another town and never see an electric vehicle. Certainly there are no public electric charging stations in the area. Popular music changed some in the last 30 years and fewer people now attend church services to the point many now openly do not believe in a God and there has been a mass migration into what we called western countries - I guess we are seeing the end of the arch for women's sports equalizing opportunities for biological girls and women - but that got its big push in 1972 with Title IX and the 1980 NCAA convention which established first, 10 and a year later 19 championships for women. But then that is a 50 year arch which yes, I can see many cultural changes in 50 years but where I do see change in the last 30 not so much a cultural change as those years between 1916 and 1946.

What about you, I still have and wear shirts and slacks I purchased back in the 90s and do not feel out of place - I guess I can buy more out of local season foods and more foods from other cultures and Amazon with it's delivery has replaced shopping places like Walmart, Target, Hardware stores and for sure book stores although, I still like to browse a book store it is not the monthly visit as it had been. But cultural change since 1993 hmm - I'm not sure that 9/11 brought about a cultural change - a war yes, that morphed into another war but a change in the culture of society so that our music, art, fashion, home care and cooking methods changed as dramatically as those 30 years between 1916 and 1946

[BarbStAubrey]

So now it is Jeeves and Wooster being amended "after being deemed “unacceptable” by the publishers.

A report Saturday in the Daily Telegraph details original passages in the novels have been expunged or reworked for new editions issued by Penguin Random House.

The Telegraph also revealed edits have been made to the 2022 edition of Right Ho, Jeeves, which carries the same disclaimer warning the sensitive reader of outdated content, and stating changes have been imposed on Wodehouse’s original text.

Wodehouse joins other writers including Ian Fleming, Roald Dahl, and Agatha Christie who have been purged of words seemingly at odds with modern sensitivities."

Well the interesting and wonder is - a book written 89 years ago is still being read and required a current edition to keep up with demand - when oh when do people start to read books written in the past realizing values were different in the past and have nothing to do with today. I'm sure if they even knew how to read Shakespeare which because he writes in an older form of English is probably the only reason they are not demanding its outdated content be changed. 

[Frybabe]

Would there be anything left of Shakespeare if they amend his works?

Would any of these long dead authors approve or disapprove of the changes? Well, if this BBC article is correct then the answer is yes. https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-49754930 Ugh! Still don't like it. It is jarring to read along and find they/them glaring back at me in regard to a single person. I think people with multiple personalities or who are hosting a symbiont would qualify as they/them, though. So what would you call a group of "they/them" people if the words are being usurped by individuals?

Early morning musings.

[PatH]

When I get behind on posting, it's hard to jump back in and work through comments on past conversations.  And somehow I take forever to write a post even when I know exactly what I'm going to say.

Things I've been reading: the condo where I'm now renting a unit has a library, stocked by donations from the residents. You can take books to read, keep them if you want, or bring them back if you don't want them. The assortment is very good, not just some things that deserve being discarded.  There are a lot of detective stories.  I've reread some Tony Hillerman, and read two of those written by his daughter Anne.  She has a different focus than her father, but the books are very good.  There was a volume of the complete Sherlock Holmes short stories.  Those can take a lot of rereading if it's been a while, so I reread them all.

Ooops.  I just got a text from Xfinity saying they're going to interrupt service to work on my internet again.  If they weren't pretty much the only game in town at this spot, I'd switch.

More later.

[Tomereader1]

Is everyone here taking a sabbatical?  Or have the space aliens whisked you away to their airship?  Maybe my computer has simply fallen into a coma?