The Library

[BarbStAubrey]

Wow thanks Pat - just what I'm looking for - great...

In the meantime I remember I had started Frybabe's read - The Booksellers of Florence - then all the moving became number one and I set it aside - I guess to set a book aside that is on kindle sounds strange but what else would you say - anyhow resurrected it and where I last read left my hazy to what I had read earlier and so I am starting over - good thing since in the meantime last month I watched the entire series on the Medici and this book would have been set in that time - 1420 which makes it easier to picture in my head what those in the story look like, how they are dressed - then something urged me and so I looked up and wow - both Guarducci and Bisticci are real people who lived and worked in the book trade

"The best-known cartolaio, Vespasiano da Bisticci, was a binder. So was his teacher, Michele Guarducci."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespasiano_da_Bisticci

https://www.jstor.org/stable/24412318

Here on page 10 of this German book is a map of the streets where the shop was located
https://www.vanderveldeboeken.nl/BookInfo/GetSample?guid=87f7b322-c879-4359-85fa-b3b01015c679

found many sites including one where you have free 30 days to read the entire book in Dutch or German - however all these sites when you translate a few lines it turns out this is not a novel but a biography of someone the Europeans hold in great esteem.

[ginny]

He is SUCH A good writer. I was not aware of his Bookseller of Florence book, I will get it and read it next because I loved Brunelleschi's Dome, one of the best books I've ever read.  Thanks to both of you for mentioning this.

On Reggie Vanderbilt, I can't find the place now but it seemed to say he was a heavy gambler who lost something like $700,000 in one night (surely not). He had nothing to do but play so he did.

I think they all started with the Commodore as they called the first Vanderbilt  and the trains, but I'm now going back to the beginning and find out.

But the part on Gloria, Reggie's wife,  and Little Gloria (Anderson Cooper's mother) was unbelievable. I vaguely remember hearing about her, what  an awful life despite all the money. I may want to read his book on his mother's life as well, but Ross King next in line, he's SO good.

[ginny]

 Well I'm a bit disappointed in the Eightysomething's book. It started out well.  It appears to be the stories of different folks with different reactions to being 80 plus in different areas of life.

I am not sure what....er....And then at the end of each chapter there are topics to ask or start conversation like do you feel more alone? I seem to have missed something but ...gosh...we all know there are a million stories in the naked city, etc.

Kind of skimmed through the rest of it and skipped the last somewhat depressing chapter.

Then The Cruise by the author whose last name is Cooper was a disappointment as well. I was "up" for  a "cozy" mystery but can't stick this one. The chapters are VERY short. This works if you have a sort of breathless story line,  it can be quite effective. That's not what we have here.  What we DO have is characters who speak to each other,  but for some strange reason they all sound the same. I am not sure how to  put it.  The voice of the characters is the same. Character A says ### Character B answers YYY but it sounds like the same person talking to himself, and it's very simplistic. Ah well. Maybe not in the right mood today.

So... putting this one down, too, and going back to the Vanderbilts, at least it's well written.

Could just be me today.

[BarbStAubrey]

Agree on the Eightysomething - i spent more time arguing with the author than taking in the stories that I thought were either obvious or short sighted - nothing really new or grounding - all the stories I thought were trying to startle and doing a poor job of it...

Been enjoying the Bookseller of Florence but find I cannot stay with it very long - in fact I'm finding it's a struggle to stay with any book very long - the stories remind me of something and daydreaming those past memories take over -

Started This House of Sky Landscapes of a Western Mind by Ivan Doig and I immediately connected as I too, especially after my Daughter and I took that trip back east to places I temporarily lived as a child and to visit family members I had not seen in years and now, the news of this nation all make me feel I lived in a different time with different values with hands used for simple tasks no longer necessary or even on the collective work menu so that I too feel like relic-hood, as Ivan Doig defines for the reader, 'an object whose original cultural environment has disappeared.' -

Now, the life chosen by Tasha Tudor makes sense - she lived on her small acreage; growing, canning, sewing, dressing as someone from her childhood - I don't go that far but the benefit of not having to keep current in order to socially mix is allowing me much less stress - I can comment and learn but do not have to participate in anything I think is silly or that does not honor our skills but commits our skills that was our life to the dust bin including, how I see myself in this universe. Could be why I was bored once I got into the Eightysomething - could not pickup on what grounds those who contributed which I saw as a result of how the stories were edited to fit the author's values.

[Frybabe]

I like the word "relic-hood", Barb. I could have used that word yesterday while in a conversation along a very similar vein. The title doesn't sound familiar, but I see it is not a new publication. It was first published in 1978. The only book of his I read was The Last Bus to Wisdom which was published the year he died. His book of memoirs, Heart Earth (1995), may be considered a companion to This House of Sky.... Another trip to the online library is in order for both books.

I am in one of those reading slumps. What is nice about that is I manage to successfully weed out a few more books as I picked around at my huge backlog. Meanwhile, I have been concentrating on listening to On a Steel Breeze which is around 25 hours altogether. I have six more to go. That is a little bit of an accomplishment right now because just when my nasty cold subsided, my ears decided to plug up so that I don't hear so well. I attribute that to the smoke from the Canadian wildfires even though I spent most of my time indoors. Smoke has dissipated but my ears haven't registered that fact yet. I am half surprised my eyes didn't get all itchy-scratchy.

[Frybabe]

Almost finished listening to On a Steel Breeze, finally, finally. It would have been finished this morning, but I fell asleep on it. Still one hour to go.

What I have am reading now is The Paladin by George Shipway. It is an historical novel set in France after King Philip II annexed Normandy. It follows William Tirel who is sent to Prince William (William the Conqueror) in Rouen, FR to learn to become a knight. In the first chapters, the author introduces the main character to the training needed to become a knight. I am now to the part where he is off to find a position as squire/knight apprentice. Most of the characters are real. William Tirel is the knight suspected of killing William Rufus (William II) during a hunting accident in the New Forest. With the death of William Rufus, his brother Henry became King of England. The book seems a bit short for all that history between a twelve-year-old trainee to William Rufus' death, so I expect to be spending some time filling in interesting bits with other history sources.

[PatH]

Frybabe, there's another book for Barb.  Does the history seem believable?

[Frybabe]

Pat, on a macro level it appears accurate. but most of what I've read is on a more "personal" level. I cannot yet speak to the three-year training period that knight hopefuls go through without researching it. I doubt that Walter Tirel participated in this training alongside William Rufus and Henry or knew Robert Curthose (Duke of Normandy) at that time. There seems to be precious little that is known about Tirel. So, I think most of his life is speculation or fantasy. Regarding reposts that he killed William Rufus, the official report only said one of the knights accidently killed him during a hunt.  It wasn't until many years later that speculation began to circulate that William Tirel had shot the arrow. I wouldn't be surprised his name only began to pop up after people began to speculate that the murder (if it was one) had something to do with Henry and his ambitions to become king. BTW, there were entirely too many guys named Robert or William back then, and the knight's name is Walter Tirel, not William as I accidently noted in my last post.

I remember seeing a BBC program several years ago that covered Henry's rise to power, but don't remember what, if anything, it said about William Rufus's death. Last night I downloaded several books about that general period. Also, I bought The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I’s Dream by Charles Spencer. It is about the shipwreck (1120) that precipitated a succession crisis which encouraged a revewal of the conflict with Wales and affected plans and relationships in France. About the author - https://charles-spencer.com/about/

[PatH]

BTW, there were entirely too many guys named Robert or William back then

Frybabe, I had to laugh at that; it's so true.  And it gets even worse when we get to the War of the Roses, with the Lancaster and York factions.  When we read Richard III here, I ended up making an elaborate table, which only partly helped.

[Frybabe]

PatH, I had to give up on The Paladin. It starts out with Tirel being trained and praised for his excellency handling a bow. He becomes an ambitious young man, a knight who turns into something of a bumbler, if IMO. He seems to have quickly lost the ability to shoot well and seems to have gotten a bit slow to react. And, of course, with his ambitions to become a knight and own land, he becomes ruthless like his fellow competitive knights. Then there is a childhood love, married off to someone else, who leads him around (and every other guy in sight, apparently) by the nose. She also defies her place as a woman by wearing armor and participating in battle. Actually, almost all the other characters seem less than stellar people to my modern sensibilities.

As much as I dislike it, there is a rational for killing villagers, farmers, their livestock and destroying their crops other than that they were easy pickings. The owners of the fiefdoms were dependent on the serfs for the revenue they generated. Destroy them, you destroy the overlords the ability to generate revenue that could be used to buy military men, equipment and weapons. Somehow, I missed that connection most all of these years. I thought they were just destroying people and things out of sheer nastiness and in pursuit of booty.

I just looked up (should have done it earlier) Robert de Bellême. He was the or one of the main instigators in encouraging Robert Curthose to challenge his brother, Henry I for the throne.  Bellême had a reputation for being cruel. He appears to have gotten that from his mother, another real piece of work. I don't see mention of her being a reputed witch in Wikipedia, but perhaps the author came across that accusation from other sources. She was no stranger to using poison.

Curthose, BTW, means short britches or short legs. Robert was barrel-chested and was short-legged. Not the image of a knight or Duke I would have conjured. He must have been a spectacle in his armor and on a horse. I think I was spoiled by all those movies of tall, well-proportioned knights in shining armor when I was young.

I've added Lost Heirs of the Medieval Crown: The Kings and Queens Who Never Were By: J.F. Andrews to my wish list.

[Frybabe]

Barb hasn't posted here in a week. Hope she is just busy (reading books?) and doing fine.

[BarbStAubrey]

Shoot shoot shoot - a lovely long post and whatever I accidentally hit the whole thing is gone... golly - and no more of this maybe it was a sign that I should not have posted those thoughts - I'm tired of blaming mishaps on some unseeing intelligent being who has more awareness than I have. Like being a kid and misplacing something that I was sure St. Anthony had eyes from heaven that were better than mine and if I keep asking him over and over where to look he would direct me - haha maybe I do in my head still live in the 12th century I seem to react to loss with similar rational...

Well I am not going to try and resurrect the email - after some time things will come back and I will post - sheesh - in the meantime saw an delightful and yet interesting variety of emotions expressed over the same incidents that includes the death of a grandfather - The movie is light and fun yet full of wisdom - fabulous actors - Billy Connolly, David Tennant, Bill Miller, even Celia Imrie has a small part - here is a link to a series of youtube clips however, youtube is charging to watch the movie in its entirety where as I saw it either on prime or tube or some free app - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvDcscZXfl8&list=PLZbXA4lyCtqqSgEo96_bfm8vmiUnuxPVz&index=3

Oh yes the name of the movie - What We Did on Our Holiday

Fell in line with a quote from a book I've been reading that is blowing me away with all sorts of realizations...  that people are most afraid of things they don’t understand, and if something frightened you, you should get closer to it. That didn’t mean it wouldn’t still be an awful thing, but the awful you knew was easier to handle than the awful you imagined.

From This Tender Land: A Novel by William Kent Krueger

Another quote from this book that has me by the tail --- Even across the distance of time, I hurt for them and pray for them still. Our former selves are never dead. We speak to them, arguing against decisions we know will bring only unhappiness, offering consolation and hope, even though they cannot hear.

Have no idea how or why I started reading this - don't think it was a freebee but for some reason I downloaded and once I started it I cannot put it down - all other reads have been set aside - a big aha I'm getting from this is most adventure stories even as simply as Calvin Trillin's Tepper Isn't Going Out (storyline about a NY resident with a vehicle who has no paid for monthly parking spot in some nearby garage spends his time driving looking for not just a parking spot but how to outwit the laws pertaining to how long you can park in a spot - finding a spot that offers 2 days of parking is a boon - and then staying in your vehicle to outwit others who are also searching and think you are going to pull out is part of the game) anyhow it hit me reading This Tender Land that all these stories are versions of Ulysses' Odyssey, encountering various incidents that bring out depths he did not know he had on his travels back home which could also be life's journey finding ourselves that takes years dealing with fear, loss, regrets - all of our reactive feelings or something simple like a habit that in time no longer holds the feelings or intent that came originally with this habit.

I need to re-read that last part of Ulysses Odyssey- I'm wondering if when we finally reach understanding/home do we become more doubting of even our closest - as I'm remembering Ulysses doubts and even masks himself to prove his misgivings about his wife's behavior - do we project our own pain of loss and fears onto those we love who did not accompany us - because that is what I saw the adults were doing to the children after they provided their Grandfather the burial he spoke so highly of that did exclude the adults in the move - even the strangers were making the burial something it wasn't to satisfy their need to dramatize and twist everything for a better news story.  Hmmm my head is buzzing...

[Frybabe]

I've not seen the movie. The clip is precious. it reminds me of my childhood where I played the "why" game where Mom tried to explain something and with each answer, I would usually ask why, trying to drill down to more details, to the point she would get exasperated. Now you have me wondering if it was just a "game" to see how long it would take to get her irritated, or if it has anything to do with my need for more details. I was always one to want more information. The dictionary and the encyclopedia were my friends when I was young; still are. When I was a teen, I remember reading every word of Time Magazine, even the sports articles, lest I miss some obscure or important detail. Somewhere along the line as I grew older, I managed to learn to focus on what I needed to know and what things most interested me. Now this is an interesting thought. Was my reading obsessive or was it the unfocused curiosity of a child?

This Tender Land was an emotional and thought-provoking novel. I have occasionally thought about reading Krueger's Ordinary Grace but settled on his Cork O'Connor series for a while.

Regarding The Odyssey, when I first read it I was fascinated by the adventure. When I reread it years later, I was more interested in the drama surrounding Ulysess's homecoming. There is so much of Homer's works that resonate even today. While The Odyssey was much more interesting to me when I was younger, I came to appreciate The Illiad just as much, if not more.

[BarbStAubrey]

Oh my a quickie - time is mixed up now but I think it was Wednesday night the most raging storm hit Houston - out of no where - no prediction - never in my life had I ever seen such heavy rain and it was not straight down - it appeared to be horizontal - the lightening was like an emergency light blinking and blinking and blinking - lost power - at first it went in and out giving me enough time to get some candles out of the closet - of course when power goes so does my land line and the computer - then after the rain but still no power a neighbor I had not met came over and we visited a bit at the front door and then about an hour later Paul called - of course he had no power but he does have a portable generator so at least his refrigerator and some lights and his TV was on and he had purchased recently a portable AC that he hooked up - at that point we thought the power would be back on later than night.

Next early morning the damage could be seen - huge chunk probably 50 feet of my fence was down and some guys were next door that the fence separates me - they came over and piled the 6 foot sections of fence in one huge pile for me and I at least using my walking stick got the branches off the driveway and front walk but the yard both front and back was littered and a huge monster branch is down in the back corner of the yard - better than some who had huge trees down that the roots pulled up the lawn and some fell across the power line and one not only fell across the power line but toppled into their swimming pool so that no one could touch it till the firemen could come which they finally came this afternoon - the electric wire could reactivate they said so not to even touch the tree.

Early that afternoon the next day which was Thursday Paul came and got me - he had a subcontractor he often hires come and hook up the whole house AC to the generator so we were comfortable and they like most Texans grill their food out of doors so we had meals - no hot water - yesterday we came back here to start emptying the freezer and today after lunch we came back to finish the job and empty the refrigerator - well what do you know we came back and the power must have just come on - the house was not cool yet and you could tell nothing was really cold in the frig but we emptied it and got my computer up and running - then when Paul went back home he called and he too had power

We've already called my tree and grass man to build back the fence - met neighbors next door and across and down the street - put a grocery order in and it will be delivered 8:30 tonight and Paul and Sally came over a few minutes ago with my things I had at their house and cooked chicken Paul had cooked on the grill along with salad makings for I can have supper - all in all an adventure that we were able to handle - now getting back with people and letting them know I am back.

Oh yes, here on the west side of I45 going through Houston the wind was 80 to 90 miles and hour however even more damage on the east side of I45 with winds at 100 miles an hour - evidently the heat of the day built up over the coast (Houston is less than an hour in from the Gulf coast) and this storm emerged as a result - unbelievable.

Frybabe I don't believe I've read the Illiad - is there a translation you recommend...

[PatH]

Oh, Barb, what an ordeal! That mess you're left with doesn't seem like a happy ending, but it is in a way.  You're unhurt, and the house is still standing, but WOW!  Thank goodness you're unhurt.  I gather the awful heat you've been having caused the weather that brought the storm?  I'm glad you're on the gentler side of the wind dividing line?

[PatH]

Barb, we read The Iliad in SeniorNet back in 2004, one of the first discussions I was in, and a lot of different translations were used.  The one I liked best was Stanley Lombardo's, but it's not to everyone's liking.  He is very faithful to the original, but he's also slangy, and when the poem uses a standard trick of comparing what's going on to something else, his modern comparisons can be disconcerting.  But his translation has guts, and he hasn't forgotten that the poems were meant to be declaimed to an audience from memory, not read silently, and he keeps the rhythm so that you can do this.  In fact, when we had the discussion  I did read most of it aloud, much to the amusement of my daughter, who caught me one day walking up and down reading aloud to nobody.

I'll have to think to remember the other translations I liked.  There are lots of good ones.  Don't get Lattimore.  He's stodgy.  It's best to read bits of several translations to see which ones you like.  There were many different opinions among us.

Frybabe, which one do you like?

[Frybabe]

Oh, super! I am missing my copies of The Illiad and The Odyssey . Those were both Modern Library editions and where among my early book collection. I have no idea why I would have gotten rid of them, but I must have purged them at some point, possibly in prep for one of my moves. I am also missing the Plato too (didn't care for Plato).  I still have the two volumes of Aristotle and Thus Spake Zarathustra though, probably because I never finished reading them. Well, I guess I will have to hunt down some newer translations.

Of the two, I liked The Odyssey better when I was young. Probably, I expect, because it was an adventure. What stuck with me the most, though, was his homecoming. There was a period where I lost interest in mythology and the fantastical adventures of the likes of Odysseus and Jason.  Now, I have a greater appreciation of The Iliad through more exposure over the years to newer archeological findings and discussions, the movie, and lastly, a book (Achilles: A Novel)by Madilene Miller which followed the life of Achilles. The only things I've seen regarding The Odyssey have been a few adventurers who have tried to discover and follow the path Ulysses took to get home. The Iliad and, arguably, the ending of The Odyssey, bring a relatable focus to the triumphs and tragedies of war and its aftermath. Oh, yeah, and the idiots who get us into wars in the first place. So, all this is the difference between reading without much depth of understanding regarding the greater issues and now, being much older and having seen so much more of human nature, see how we manage to get ourselves into such pickles.

Myths and legends that turn out to have a basis in real people and events are always interesting. People are still searching for the real King Arthur, and I am interested in the research to discover the origins of the Welsh dragon. And didn't they find a few sites that seem to indicate that the Amazons, women warriors, did exist once upon a time?

[BarbStAubrey]

hmm if we read the Illiad here I would have read it - and the author sounds familiar but I cannot recollect the story as I can the Odyssey which we read here as well. Never did read thus Spake Zrzthustra - I should since it is supposed to be the basis for the Christian line of thinking.

I'm seeing Odyssey as a journey we take finding ourselves - we get caught or just plain live in sections with various conflicts or events holding us in that pattern till we move on to the next time in our life - at each stage we seem to come away having handled some kind of emotion that is our journey to our own wisdom till we are one with ourselves however using The Odyssey as a guide getting back home does not end it for us - I'm remembering how Ulysses tested his wife - I need to re-read and see if I can figure out what that was all about.

I'm not convinced we can compare wars then to wars today - then it seemed to be more about having control over either more land, the people, or some route on land or sea or about controlling the excavation/mining of some useful by product - today I see war as a means to create wealth off the war - no war is fought without funding - back in the day the lords, barons etc taxed and funded wars - the booty was a more prestige place in the king's elite supporters - this led to Bankers funding wars and we know that although Jews were banished from many parts of Europe in the fifteenth century the follow through did not include the Jewish Bankers or then called money lenders.

War is profit to bankers - the US was just about finished paying off the loans for WWI and we had to borrow for WWII - since, we have only added war debt and not paid off any war including WWII - national leaders can control the money flow easier when a nation is at war and now instead of lords, barons etc benefiting it is certain industrialists - very recently we are learning how easy it is to take money borrowed for war and use it as graft so that those in the top tier of leadership become very wealthy as we learned that the top tier of Ukraine leadership have all purchased mansions in Switzerland. A war today is one way to cover a weak economy by having a focus to get certain aspects of industry in high production and to get many unemployed into the armed services. Sure takes care of all the migrants who are being supported by the government with no return - with a war at least they would pay for themselves.

Just before the Pandemic I was looking at international banks and where they had infiltrated, what banks were lending to what nation and even trying to find what banks large Cities in this nation were using for their loans - did not complete my search but one thing stood out - the personal sitting on the boards of many of these banks are in direct connection to the nation's leaders but even more to see some board members from one nation on the board of banks from another so that you could start to pick out the alliances.

there has always been much talk about the Rothschild family banking but what I saw was there are two national banks in Spain that are far more influential. The one those not only on the board but who manage some of the banks located in cities outside of Spain were also in management of other banks - Spain had the manager of their Milan bank also one of the first and few lay managers of the Vatican bank and this same bank is huge in South American - so big they have all but kicked Citi Bank out of South American leaving no major US bank left in South America - and then they at first offered special banking in Spanish speaking communities along our southern boarder - for years most Mexican migrants sent their money home but it was stollen in the post office - in fact Ecuador just closed their postal system this summer to try and put a halt to the stealing that the cartels had infultrated the postal system - the next attempt to get the money home some years back, they tired hiding it on themselves when they in mass went home for Christmas but the cartels routinely robbed them and the bank of Spain BBVA saw a solution and set up one of the first wiring of money into Mexico so they could safely get the money to their family or community. BBVA still has the reputation of being the most tech savey bank in the world.

Well after they established themselves in mostly Spanish speaking communities they worked themselves into larger and still larger US cities and then changed their name in the US to Compass Bank which has special loans for migrants to start a business in the US and easier to be approved mortgages for Spanish speaking migrants that Real Estate agents knew all about - bottom line all profit goes to Spain and now in some cities in the US in order to be approved to obtain your Birth Certificate you must pay a company in Spain to first research and provide that approval and then pay to get the copy of your Birth certificate -

Looking back at the early days of the banks of Spain and their association with the Vatican Bank - if you ever notice during Midnight Mass from the Vatican that is usually televised the Royal Family of Spain ALWAYS sits directly behind the Cardinals and occupy the first pews in St. Peter's Basilica - today war is more about follow the money - who and how is the financial benefiting that includes how to increase the use of (wo)manpower who are only items of the economy that produce more wealth and if they are not then war is a means of creating all sorts of employment.  And so where the media has been reporting on wars as if the older instigators were the cause - the real cause is the flow of money and who profits from the flow...

Frybabe you reminded me how I left all that research with still so many connections to search and probably now it has become even more complex - my gut says industry is a large part of this and I need to check it out - when you consider the huge loans from any corporation to run and further develop their business I'm seeing banks wanting a piece of the action and so what sweetheart deals and what corporations have what members on the boards of these banks and how does the industry with all its corporations see profit in what war. 

[Frybabe]

The reasons or more likely the excuses for war are many and are eons old: greed, vengeance, power, the perceived need for more/better territory in which to continue to thrive as a group or nation, and of course, religion. The ones that truly terrify me are those who insist that everyone has be the same, think the same and kowtow to the whims of those in power without thought or resistance. There are always excuses, very few are truly legit. Wealthy interests always seem to have a vested interest in it somehow. After all, wars are expensive. Business interests (greed or perceived unfair treatment (excuse for greed?)) have started a lot of wars.

I don't think I was here for The Iliad reading and I barely remember The Odyssey.

I am finally getting around to reading Andy Weir's Hail Mary. It is not bad. It kind of reminds me of The Martian because the main character is stuck off by himself and he has to do science things (mostly math references so far) to figure out where he is and what he needs to do.

I've also started C. J. Cherryh's Alliance Space which includes two books. I am almost positive I read Merchanter's Luck before, but so far, I don't recall a thing that I thought I read. The other is Forty Thousand In Gehenna.

For my listening pleasure I am well into Poseidon's Wake, the last of the Poseidon's Children trilogy by Alastair Reynolds.   

[PatH]

The discussion of the Iliad is in the archives; I scrolled through some of it, and you're right, Barb and Frybabe, you weren't in it unless you joined halfway through.  Ginny led it, and the only other participants whose whereabouts I still know are JoanK and myself.
Odyssey doesn't seem to have made the transition to SeniorLearn.  I know Barb was in it; I remember some lengthy discussions we had with each other about Greek shipbuilding.  Probably everyone else was groaning at us, but we were having fun.

[ginny]

Good heavens, Barbara, you certainly have had a time in your new digs, sorry for all the damage but isn't  it wonderful to have Paul so close and to have met so many at this point of your new neighbors and they do seem to be nice people.   Glad the horrors of the Houston storms passed you by.  You're getting quite a new group of contacts there. So you've risen to the top again like Unsinkable Molly Brown.

What absolutely awful weather we're seeing in the US, just horrific.

The first thing I thought of when Prigozhin (who I think is a walking dead man at this point) made his advance on Rostov was that history was repeating itself,  from 58 B.C. when the German Warlord, Ariovistus, having been called in by a  Swiss Canton to help them as a mercenary fight against another Canton, found the  War Lord Ariovistus, once he assessed the situation,   marching instead on them, and in that case did take over them... The message being don't hire Mercenaries if you can't do it yourself, they will turn on you. And that's what happened.

 Prigozhin insists he had no quarrel with Putin but destroyed Putin's reputation anyway. Look how close it came. He was applauded in the streets and could have marched on.  He didn't and Putin has already backed out of saying they are pardoned, and no good will come of this to either of them.

And history repeated itself. It was also interesting to me that Brigadier General Kennedy, when asked if Putin really was going to pardon Prigozhin smiled and said he crossed the Rubicon like Caesar did 2000 years ago and I think he is going to end up the same way.

I thought he didn't know his history, Caesar ended up in charge  of Rome (before being assassinated later on.) Now I'm not sure what he meant, maybe that's why he had that little smile.

The irony is, that at that point, the Russians do not have a Caesar to straighten it all out.

Fascinating.

Also another Latin Lives Today moment IS  the word Odysseus, the name of the robot now exploring for clues of the Titan, another mythological reference.

[Frybabe]

Speaking of "digs", I just ran across this new article from Live Science about a rare find at Vindolanda. Check it out. https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/romans/silver-medal-featuring-winged-medusa-discovered-at-roman-fort-near-hadrians-wall

But this one may just take the cake. Found in Carlisle, which is also near Hadrian's Wall.  https://www.livescience.com/roman-bathhouse-gemstones-england

[ginny]

Wow!! Those are both great articles, Frybabe,  particularly the first one, the Live Science one. Thanks so much for mentioning them.

I am SO disappointed in my summer reading. Both the Lucy Foley book and The Cruise were ...uh....formulaic ...duds. And for the first time I threw both of them out. Word to self here, get the kindle version first and then if you like it, get the paperback. And I had READ the first pages previews, doggone it, online,  before ordering.

Maybe not in the mood for their style? Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't. Not for me this time.

Anybody reading the Bookseller of Florence one? I've got it here next. Along with Gaudy Night. Would you believe I've never read a Dorothy Sayers? I'm about to try. And I've got Ruth Ware's (The Woman in Cabin 10) Death of Mrs. Westaway, her first one,  also sitting here, surely one of them will provide a great reading experience. So far, nothing to sink into or lose yourself in.

[Frybabe]

Started it Ginny, I sent the library book back and bought the Kindle version. I am about one and a half chapters in but haven't gotten back to it in a few weeks. I've been trying to clear out some of my shorter reads from my overlong library wish list.

I am done with Hail Mary. I liked the ending, but overall, I liked The Martain a little better.

Now I have just started reading Nadia Owusu's Aftershocks. This is memoir, a genre I generally ignor. The Author's Note makes you wonder a bit. Subtitled "A note about truth and time", it leaves me wondering and. of course, compels me to read on. Two chapters in and I am not disappointed. https://www.npr.org/2021/01/18/955991719/aftershocks-is-a-powerful-memoir-of-a-life-upended-then-pieced-back-together

[PatH]

Frybabe, your reaction to Hail Mary is just like my daughter's: similar to The Martian, not as good, but good enough to be worth reading.  It's on my "get around to reading it" list.

Ginny, I'll be interested to see how you like Dorothy L Sayers. I like her books a lot.  They vary in quality, and Gaudy Night is one of the better ones.  There's a lot from previous books that's important to the events in this one, but I think she gives you enough info to figure it out.

[Frybabe]

Ginny, this just got posted on You Tube yesterday.  The Napoli Archaeological Museum has just reopened the Roma Campania section after 50 years. I assume you have been to the museum.

Everybody, enjoy the clip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okpXyhGBpJI

[PatH]

That is amazing--also frustrating as I keep wanting to pause it nd pore over each thing.  Thanks, Frybabe.

[BarbStAubrey]

so glad frybabe you shared the link because I would like to see it all again - like you Pat a lot to take in - the border designs on some of the paintings are as fascinating as they are lovely, and what must have been a clear glass bowl of fruit is another that caught my attention how it was done.

Technology is so wonderful - my daughter and her husband are hiking around Mont Blanc with friends - she sent me using facebook some video of where they stayed last night - I think they stay in this one guest house for two days and then move on - a delight to actually see and in real time - although thinking about it what is missing is looking forward to hearing the story as the experience was lived and remembered - remember my Mom telling us all about her various experiences and I shared mine with my children - I had photos but Mom didn't and yet we could see and experience it all through her eyes and story telling - that is now no longer how experiences will be shared - the video and IF the one shooting adds some reaction but most are too busy focusing and following to speak while shooting. Seeing the live video is like being there but the loss of hearing all about it makes me sad. 

Finally into a book that is holding my attention - everything I've started in the last few months I get about a third of the way in and loose interest and so I've all these books 32% to 41% read in my kindle library and several books on my coffee table with paper poking out where I left off - but this one has me by the tail - Attribution -

Student in Art department taking inventory of the art held and finds a small room that appears not to have been opened for decades and in among all sorts of chests and statues she finds a piece of art not on any list and not signed but all the earmarks of a painting from possibly the a Baroque period. Her assigned professor for this advanced degree has a huge ego and is actually having the students do tasks that will further his reputation and career - he is so negative about the possibility of finding a lost piece of art and even more negative about women artists, that the student thinks the piece she found could be painted by a women so that she decides impulsively not to share her find and do as much of the work to ID the artist and painting on her own - much more to come - from the write-up she goes to Spain on the trail of finding about this painting...

This is so well written each sentence is a joy to read and so few books I've tackled could I say that - author is Linda Moore and she owns a gallery in California - I'm betting she experienced the likes of this professor in her younger years when she studied - this is the arts and a sorta sleuth like story as well as the inner workings of the art and museum world. The book has received so many awards I've never seen the like...

https://www.amazon.com/Attribution-Novel-Linda-Moore-ebook/dp/B09NNF8XNG/ref=sr_1_1?crid=EC0GTF3K7VX7&keywords=attribution&qid=1688452825&sprefix=attr%2Caps%2C128&sr=8-1

[ginny]

That one really looks good, Barbara! You said, Finally into a book that is holding my attention - everything I've started in the last few months I get about a third of the way in and loose interest and so I've all these books 32% to 41% read in my kindle library and several books on my coffee table with paper poking out where I left off -


That's me, to a T. I wish you could see the stacks and markers. I'm doggedly finishing (I had several in the pile before the Sayers, Pat, but if this keeps up I'm going to ditch them all and try Gaudy Night ahead of the long list)...Am finishing up a  Simon Brett  The Hanging in the Hotel. It's not one of his best  Fethering Mysteries but it's enjoyable and I like the characters, and  at least it's one I'm 3/4ths through which is more than I have been able to do so far.

I also started and put down The Gran Tour: Travel With My Elders. This book seems very promising. It's a young man who goes on package tours in England like they do, little bus tours with Seniors for whom he has great respect. It's kind of a Bill Byrson with Seniors kind of book. Travel and philosophy and hearing from all kinds of characters.  Quite a good premise, but he's not Bryson, and he's not got that sharp edge of humor, and given the circumstances, he couldn't....I don't know. I DO know it's me. It was on the TBR list. At this rate I'm cleaning house of the stacks of waiting to be read books. 

I AM reading  a very scholarly book on Caesar's fragments of the  Apologia,  am about 3/4ths  through it..It's an impressive work, and the kind of  a book you read a page of, nod, yes, yes, underline, put down to absorb,  and 3 minutes later you say...what? And you read it again. And again. It's either me or it's extremely dense. The particular section I'm on now has helpful explanatory footnotes in Greek, Latin, and French in that order. I figure it's good for the brain, and everybody has waited a long time for it,  but it's more like algebra than English.  But what can you say when you can't even read a mystery?? 

THE  Book is somewhere out there, I'll hit on it, but it's a real slough at the moment.

Computer problems, here on a laptop I'm not familiar with, hate BING, just hate it but finally got rid of it and Edge.

I'm here with a warning. If you have any HP product and you need help (as in, for instance, their new 7255e Printer series, just trying to install it is a nightmare, when before a baby could install any HP Printer, they were plug and play)...Just be sure you have the REAL HP, call the Customer Service number included in  your new materials  because there are a lot of official looking bogus “HP websites “ which are listed first in the Search Engines and they can do a JOB on your computer, no joke. And I use two strong antivirus protectors.

You'd think people could get an honest job, wouldn't you, and not spend all their creativity trying to cheat people. The links seem very real. They have all the trappings of the real HP.  They are not. The real ones CAN assist in installing  your new printer, the fake ones have a lot of excuses why they can't, and want to first  "fix" your problems and error screen, which they generate and the "driver issues"  which are holding up the installation for a fee and then they will "turn you over to the other  department" to install the printer.

That's the signal to disconnect. Be careful. The REAL HP Customer Support people are marvelous.

[Tomereader1]

Ginny and whomever else is reading here:  I have only this weird thing to report, and it only applies to "Library" as it does to my Kindle Library.  Years ago, I had one of the first Kindles, loaded beaucoup books on it, then came fancier Kindle HDX, so I switched to that.  I thought (what I get for thinking) that all the books on the old Kindle would transfer over to the new one.  Well, I was researching on my old Kindle, after charging the battery (I'm surprised it would even take a charge) and wondered if I could switch some of those old books to the new. (I'm rambling here, it's getting late).  So hie me to the computer, click on Amazon Kindle, Manage Your Account or whatever, and lo and behold every single solitary book from the old K, was listed with the date, which Kindle it was assigned to, with squares to click if you wanted to send whichever book to the newer Kindle.  I spent probably 2 hours, switching from old to new, and only got about halfway thru the Old K's library.  There were several I could Delete, which I did.  Amazing that this all kind of "fell into place" without my having to contact Amazon and ask if it could be done (didn't want to appear to be a numpty...British TV word).  I'm always afraid to do something on my own, since this computer is so darn old, and not running a current operating system.   But, I think there's a saying apropos for this..."nothing ventured, nothing gained". Now I think I will go to bed with visions of new reading material dancing through my head!

[Tomereader1]

Just a quick update:  That first session only transferred 44 books to the New Kindle.  That covers several of "Series mysteries" and a couple "Author Series".   I don't know how many books I "deleted" as I wasn't keeping count.  I know that on the old Kindle, I was able to use "categories" when I'd download a book.  I'm ashamed to admit that I never learned where to find/how to use the Categories thingy on the new Kindle.  I know I'm boring you all to heck and back.  Sorry about that!  I'm just so thrilled to have been able to do that "transfer" thing.
Heaven knows how many more of those old selections I will be transferring over when I can get back to it.  My next worry is "How many books can a Kindle hold, in total?"  Maybe "the Cloud" holds the extras until I click on them to read?  Someone here probably knows the answer to that.
Hope you ladies aren't suffering too badly from the heat.  I know it's killing me.  I get out of the house for just a few minutes, and I feel like I need to go lie down.  They used to call that "having the vapors" didn't they? LOL.

Wish somebody would come in and post something. (Thanks Ginny for your July 6th post).

[BarbStAubrey]

with so few of us yes, it would be lovely if we all posted more often - you are getting me wound up about maybe I should break down and get a new kindle - mine is forever old and I use the online version on my computer rather than the small devise - with the sale next week I may brake down and get a new one - the only thing that stops me from getting new anything is the technology is ahead of me and it is such an effort to either learn or transfer - even updating my credit card was a pain...

Ok found this today and wow oh wow oh wow - magnificent book stores - not libraries but book stores - my mouth dropped at a couple of them and then there is one in Japan that i heard about but is not shown that is opened 24 hours day and night with booths for eating and snoozing while reading... but take a look at these again Book stores not libraries....

https://nicenews.com/culture/memorable-magical-bookstores-across-world/

[Frybabe]

I am almost done with the only book I am reading at the moment. It includes two titles, Merchanter's Luck and 40,000 to Gehanna which are both written by C. J. Cherryh. Both are set in the Alliance/Union universe. The first is about a young fella who is struggling to run a trading vessel on his own after the rest of his family and crew were killed by pirates. Nicely done, it really brings out the kid's fear, anxiety and desperation trying to run and make successful the cargo ship on his own.

The second novel is about a colony of clones and a small contingent of human born overseers tasked with getting the colony started on good footing. They were abandoned do to a long war. That is the backdrop. Most of the book is about the human born contingent that finally arrived some fifty years later who had expected to see a thriving community. Instead, they found the colonists had degenerated into almost stone age conditions (they had no means to make metal objects). The new people, upon discovering this, were tasked to do anthropological studies and try not to interfere with or introduce anything technologically advanced to the natives. Kind of reminds me of Margaret Mead, et.al. and some of the Star Trek episodes. It did not escape my notice that the female researcher's reports were consistently ignored, criticized, or undermined by her fellow male researcher and the project director. I don't care for this one very much, but it certainly is worth a read. I have to wonder if Cherryh intended to slam anthropological research and researchers and show the difficulty in not interfering with native populations, intentionally or unintentionally, especially where moral issues arise.

Edward Abbey's, The Monkey Wrench Gang, is supposed to be available in about two weeks. And, I've just started Tom Holland's Persian Fire (non-fiction). It is one of the first audio books I bought, so it is about time it got my attention.

Tome, if you haven't seen it yet,  I made comment over on Seniors and Friends about the Kindles.

[ginny]

Tome, I agree, it's lovely to see everybody here. I often don't post as I have nothing to "report" on that I'm reading at the moment (or stuck in the middle of,  which I could write my own book on). hahaha

I know zilch about Kindle. I have never understood it. Sometimes there appear a million books, sometimes they are gone.  I really am one of those people who want a physical book in their hand and lately I want one which is paperback which has print one can see. Not saying large print, but not saying so tiny on yellow paper that you feel like Indiana Jones (anybody see that new one?) discovering the whatever.

So on Kindle,  for me, I use it to test out if I like a book enough to spend the money for it, and get the full experience. Mostly lots of freebies, most of them dreck. (Sorry).  I had a grape customer once who wrote romance novels (true story). Nom de plume, seemed surprised I did not know of her "name" or "books." So I took the dreaded "formula" up with her which I had heard about in a writing class from the Poet Laureate of SC.

 Literally from the publisher she was issued an outline of what to cover. Kind of turned me off.  On the other hand I do love those types of mysteries, old house, snowed in, locked room, so that's a formula too, I guess.

You are  WAY above me in the Kindle experience. I am lucky to see anything come up. Seriously.

Barbara, good HEAVENS on the bookstores in Portugal and Argentina!! I wonder how those top shelves are accessed, the books facing the photographer don't seem to have a platform in front of them that the red staircase is near? WOW!


I think if we could feel a LITTLE more free in not having to feel we must "report" on what new thing we're reading we'd all post more. Barbara is  good at that.

For instance I spend (and the Ipad is happy to tell me exactly how much time) time every morning reading the electronic Guardian and BBC news articles.  My Ipad has this thing about Apple + and yesterday I read a super article on the Last Hours of the Titan submersible and it was fascinating. It was from the New York Times and had all kinds of new stuff in it,  including several previous "fails" not long before the actual descent including one where the ballast would not deploy and they literally had to rock back and forth in the thing to get the weights off (or they would not have lived to tell about it) and one where the communication failed early and Mr. Rush said that when that happens they can't steer the ship and it goes on.

Frybabe, you read more books than anybody I ever saw. Do you keep a count of them? Are they all on Kindle?

I was thinking of  Ella Gibbons (remember her?) yesterday and she got to the point that she said she only wanted non fiction, anybody remember that? So I think ANYTHING you read is good and I hope everybody feels free to talk about whatever they have seen in print anywhere (or anything else of interest) here. Because a reader is always going to read, it just may not be a particular kind of genre because tastes change.

I will try to login more but I'm not sure I can always be reporting on a "new" book.

I am also not sure why I am disappointed  more than engaged in most of the new books I have read.

[BarbStAubrey]

Yes agree with Ginny - frybabe you not only read but listen to books non-stop - and still have time to garden and shop etc. wow - talk about a full life...

OK if you haven't as I hadn't hit the links on the book shops - those two that seem like jewels have links that show multiple photos of these yes, magical, bookstores - the first mentioned stained glass ceiling and I thought the ceiling above the red carpeted stairs was the stained glass but shown at night - well was I ever wrong - the link opens to a a worth it several minute long almost video like series of stills that even includes old photos since this book store has been there since the nineteenth century but if you scroll down there are more photos that include a couple of the stained glass ceiling that is NOT the ceiling over the red carpeted staircase.

And then the other link to the magnificent book store in Argentina again more stills showing each level and the front entry and the history of how it was a theater and it shows a poetry night in session - on and on - I had not hit the links on these bookstores - and probably because what i saw took my breathe - going back and hitting the links has been a whole new experience seeing these retail book stores. hmm just thought need to go back and hit the link to Shakespeare in Paris - I didn't thinking I knew the store but hmm maybe there are shots of some nook or cranny that I overlooked...

[Frybabe]

What we have locally that, I know of, one independent bookstore, one Barnes and Noble, and quite a few used bookstores, including one about a mile from me and one a few miles away that specializes in mysteries. Then there are the books sold at a few charity shops like Goodwill (big selection so I hear), and of course the Friends of the Library bookstore at my local branch. Once when we headed up to Renovo, PA, George indulged me by stopping at used bookstores along the way. One was in a tiny old church. I had the bookstores all mapped out as to which were close to our route up. Oddly, I don't remember buying many though. But nothing compares to the stores in those pix, Barb. I wish I was as into books back when I was 16. Then I would have insisted on visiting the London bookstores in Cecil Court a few blocks from Piccadilly Circle. We were there at a theatre to see Man from La Mancha with Richard Kiley. Uh, oh, bringing back memories there.

No, I don't count how many books I read, but I'd say at least three or four a month that I finish, depending on size and subject.  And that doesn't include the short stories i sometimes grab for something short. The largest of my print collection are History and Science Fiction including Speculative (a nod to Robert A. Heinlein who coined the term and Margaret Atwood and Ursula K. Le Guin for introducing me to it). The rest include mysteries, the sciences, various non-fiction, and other miscellany. I have, over the last few years, parted with many of my cookbooks and craft books, and almost all of my old college, psychology, graphics/typography, gardening, and business-related books. The last two print books I bought were back in 2021, Shadowland: Wales 3000-1500 BC Wales 3000-1500 BC by Stephen Borrow and Alastair Reynold's Zima Blue and Other Stories.  My extensive Ebook collection and the Audible collection fluctuate as I read a lot of freebies and borrows. Right now, those all stand at around 900 between the two. And that doesn't include all the Project Gutenberg freebies I have on my Kobo. Suffice it to say, I spend a lot of time collecting books. None of this includes local library borrows which are practically nil since Covid, but I still maintain a list there and occasionally use their ILL for books I can't get otherwise.

Well, there you have it, the life of a book fanatic, complete, I might add, with cats!

[PatH]

Ginny;

I was thinking of  Ella Gibbons (remember her?) yesterday and she got to the point that she said she only wanted non fiction, anybody remember that?

I certainly remember Ella.  She held my hand the first time I co-led a discussion--Team of Rivals  She was always pretty history_oriented.  She also had the knack of seeing which books would work to make good book discussions.

I'm doing a lot of online newspaper reading too.  I don't like doing it that way; the ways you can flip through to find things that interest you don't work well for me, and they're getting fuller and fuller of annoying ads, but paper papers aren't easy to do from the other side of the country, and have their own disadvantages.  I read the same two I read before: The Washington Post and the New York Times.  Both give me general and world news, and the Post gives me local news about places and issues I still care about, and the Times gives me crossword puzzles and word puzzles, and a wider take on the cultural scene, especially classical music.  But I feel like I spend too much time on it and it drains me.

[BarbStAubrey]

Yes, Ella sure knew how to pick a book that engaged us didn't she - and I would never think I would forget but who was her friend who lived in the same town and a few years back I think moved to Arizona - I think but not sure she was suffering with some dementia - was her name a Pat something -

OK important does anyone know Mary Page's last name - I've been sending holiday ecards to those whose email address I had - some of those emails went back to when we had that gathering in Chicago although I do not remember Mary Page being among that group - anyhow I always, ALWAYS get a note back from Mary Page updating me on her huge family and some recent family event and even how the sun comes up but I had not heard from her after the Memorial Day card nor after the July 4th card - I wanted to look up and see what I could find - no answer using her email... does anyone know anything about Mary Page... 

[PatH]

Barb, what I don't know about Mary Page is her email or last name, but I check up on her on Seniors and Friends, though I don't post there, and I doubt if she remembers me.  She last posted just yesterday..  After one final  huge celebration with most of her huge family, she has isolated herself on the grounds that any of the current batch of covid, flus, strep, etc. would probably kill her, so she's only seeing her sons and daughter, who lead relatively exposure-free lives.  They are taking care of her and she expects to spend what time she has left staring out down the hill at the Annapolis harbor, which is indeed worth a lot of staring.  She's pretty upbeat about it.  I don't know why she wouldn't comment this time, especially about July 4th, but maybe she's not paying much attention to email.

[ginny]

 Cobb, her last name is Cobb and she's in Jane's Bosom Buddies group tehre on Seniors and Friends, under Medical issues I think it is.

I agree, Pat, I do like the NY Times, and I also do read the Post but not as much as the Times as they do like to have you pay for it. I think the Times has wonderful writing. I especially enjoyed the article on the last hours of the  Titan, and  it had things in it I did not know.

I get many of their newsletters, too, and as you say it WOULD be exhausting to try to read everything in the Times alone, so I have to admit to choosing here or there and letting the rest go. It adds up to a lot of voices and perspectives, though.

Barbara, and Pat, yes, Ella was a great leader because (I think) she was fearless and said what she thought.           

Her good friend was Ann Alden who, so far as I know, is still in Columbus Ohio.

Old times Week!

I came IN to say I am drawing nearer the Sayers and under it,  the Bookseller, stacked in the order of arrival here. But  I picked up Bryson's Little Dribbling last night in desperation, it was the only book by the bedside table, huge hardback, nice big print, and I tired of my  evening reads and games and got so hysterical laughing at the first two pages I thought I would never go to sleep, so finished two chapters smiling, what  HOOT he is, and  am rereading it AGAIN as I need the laughs and his quirky sense of humor.

Just the ticket and I look forward to more reading today.

Here's the opening sentence in the book: "One of the things that happens when you get older is that you discover lots of new ways to hurt yourself."

This is followed by an absolutely hilarious account of his being struck by a descending parking barrier bar because for some reason he chose to stand under it. He is SUCH a hoot. Anybody who has ever tried to whisk past one of those things in a car before it creams  you  can sympathize.