The Library

[PatH]

Barb, don't forget there were two of us.  That helps when things get hectic.   As for planning, I think we did a lot of copying of our favorite meals.

[BarbStAubrey]

Sounds like it was an opportunity to bond even closer - smart parents who knew being good friends happen when a big job is shared. A nice memory Pat - thanks for sharing... what part of the country did you live growing up - I'm thinking back east rather than the west coast where Joan and her family live now.

[PatH]

Washington, DC.  We were born in DC, and lived there until we married, when we moved to the suburbs, to be nearer work or schools.  We were always close, but I've never figured out whether it's closer than the many very close non-twin siblings.

[Frybabe]

This is interesting. I have not read any of these books and have had no desire to read them. However, since seeing this, I may just try Ulyesses. Has anyone read any of these? What did you think? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUh7iZ5NrHw

[ginny]

I think they read it here as a book club, Frybabe but that link and that young woman you put in here is absolutely spectacular and now I feel MUCH better about not wanting to read The Bee Sting which is on everybody's Must Read List for the holidays. I would encourage folks before buying it or giving it,  to actually read the bad reviews on  Amazon to see what it really contains first. Not to mention the style disintegrates into no punctuation, at all, apparently.

And what do you all think of the new Endgame, the  Tell All Royal Family  Book? It's all over the news?

I did see, however, in those lists of what to read a mention of, of all people, Edith Wharton and her book The Custom of the Country and  the reviewer said it cemented her in his pantheon of great American writers for all time. I've not read it, but  I did read excerpts from it and really liked it and her other short story Roman Fever which is free online. I  started that one and liked it, too.

Perhaps I'll try Edith Wharton for a holiday read this year.

What are you all giving as books or hoping to get/ buy? They say it's going to snow a lot here, might be good to have some good books on hand.

Or maybe that classic reread one more time, or the one you never got to and feel guilty about.  Maybe THIS is the year!

[Frybabe]

Pat, I just thought to let you know that I am more than half-way through Fair Trade which I thought would get me up to date on the goings on in the Liaden Universe. However, I see I have a newer one, which I bought, but forgot about. Hurray! Anyway, I remember we were questioning the direction Lee and Miller were going with their stories after Accepting the Lance and Trader's Leap. Well, I can say that I am thoroughly enjoying Fair Trade which is mostly about Jethri coming into his own as he works toward becoming a Master Trader. I am very much looking forward to reading the newest, Salvage Right afterwards.

I am all the way to Chapter 10 on Persian Fire, while the material is dense, I have decided that the writer (narrator) seems to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek when discussing (reading) some of these historical figures and their shenanigan's.

[PatH]

Ginny, that YouTube description is very entertaining, but somehow didn't convince me to read any of the books.

I did read a big chunk of Gravity's Rainbow once, but got hopelessly bogged down and fairly bewildered half way through.  I read and liked Pyncheon's The Crying of Lot 49 though.  It's a lot easier to understand, though pretty goofy. Both books would probably seem terribly dated now.

My college English lit book explained what James Joyce was up to in Ulysses, and gave one episode as example.   I didn't care for the style, and didn't read any more.  JoanK read the whole thing later on and liked it enough to keep going, but that didn't persuade me.

Edith Wharton is one of those authors I keep meaning to read but haven't.  I think I'll like her if I ever do get to her.

[BarbStAubrey]

Of James Joyce I remember reading here on Senior Learn and thoroughly enjoying A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man  - Also read of few of the stories in Dublin and especially enjoyed The Dead - Saw the movie version and thought Huston did a great job directing - as I recall his daughter played in the movie...

As to Ulysses I tried but the story line although an allegory was not my cup of tea and I just could not get into it. Even tried watching the movie with Richard Burton and again, was not enjoying it at all and I liked him as an actor - thank goodness it was only $3 out of pocket at the time because if I had paid for a theater ticked and walked out that would have made me angry 

James Joyce sure had his issues with the Ireland he knew growing up and some of the stories although, they are great to show his feeling angry and betrayed blaming Ireland rather than his circumstances growing up, the way he writes and the characters he chooses to express his anger and betrayal were too raunchy for me...

Finally started The Bear and the Nightingale - so much to learn before the story even starts - I'm only a couple of pages in... I think I'm going to be into Russian and Slavic folktales and myths for awhile - they appear to slip into Finnish and Norwegian folktales - they all use Runes in one way or another - I had always heard of Runes but did not know much about them other than you threw them much like Tarot card however, in order to understand I had to get a book downloaded on Runes - Had no idea they are the first letters and language of ancient civilizations and certain letters are assigned to one of two gods or in the case of Norway one god. Finding all this fascinating - As awful as I thought the way of life among ancient Slavic people was beyond anything I could imagine that movie peeked my interest. Learning just how old the Slavic culture is was an eye opener and also, finding out that Poland is considered part of the Slavic culture and that Genghis Khan is part of both the Russian and Slavic culture was another eye opener - lots to learn and that is the kind of reading that grabs me -   

[Frybabe]

Barb, you might be interested in The Caspian Report. I've been most interested, recently, in his podcasts regarding the geopolitical history and current issues in the almost constantly contested Eastern Europe and Central Asia regions. He has and does report on other areas as well. I haven't found any major criticisms of his podcasts. https://www.youtube.com/@CaspianReport

[Frybabe]

Wonder of wonders, my sister has been reading. She just finished up a The Burning Season: The Murder of Chico Mendes and the Fight for the Amazon Rain Forest by Andrew Revkin. She is also in the middle of reading a book about Earthquakes which is simply called Earthquake, I think. Both are fairly old books.

[BarbStAubrey]

Fabulous site The Caspian Report - thanks - current news that fills in the gaps from the news we hear - the explanation of what is happening in Israel and Palestine is an eye opener as Israel relates to Saudi Arabia and then Iran throwing their 'mossy branches' into the works.

Forgot which of the videos I watched where I learned that every supply ship crossing the ocean is accompanied by a Navel vessel and for years after WWII it was an American Navel vessel since few other nations were economically capable of establishing and maintaining a navy.

Interesting - learning that in Russian Folklore and some on Slovakian the hero is the fool who is lazy but wily - hmm I wonder the connection to the European courts who had a court Jester who was the fool that spoke truth and could get away with it but more the hero of many Native American myths is often the trickster - the difference is the trickster aims high - higher than the tribe had tried - sometimes it is the tricksters comeuppance and sometimes the story pushes the tribe where as what I get about the fool is he uses his wits which is suggesting using wits is superior to planning and organizing knowledge. 

[Frybabe]

One of the interesting things about folklore is that no matter the origins, so many around the world have very similar Loki-like characters regardless of his (is it always a he?) name or native origins.

I was just checking out some of the new Audible releases. They are now coming out with books narrated by "Virtual Voice" rather than a human narrator. I'll make no comment on that just now because I haven't listened to any of the sample.

Here is an interesting title that I plan to check into in a bit.  The Book at War: How Reading Shaped Conflict and Conflict Shaped Reading by Andrew Pettegree

[BarbStAubrey]

So many books that I would love to read but not enough time - this book on war being one of them - I remember a couple of years ago reading a book on war and it was all about the benefits - it seems there has been more improvements, technology, and communication development because of war than anytime when peace reigns over the land - back to how roads were built because of war and getting men and supplies to the places of battle and how the area of the world where camels are used the moving sands made roads impractical - cultures must understand each other and there is an exchange of language that helped make cohesive allies while introducing the language of the enemy - national boundaries are solidified and laws are created to address the cause that started the war including land acquisition laws - and think of the airoplanes at the start of WWII that were not much different than the planes used in WWI as compared to the end of WWII that for us was only a 4 year time span. It appears that out of all the chaos, death and destruction more innovation and inventions are created than during peacetime... Not how I ever looked at war but that bit of new learning brought a whole new dynamic to my thinking that I could even see on a personal level - not so much war but that chaos has benefits. 

Don't know the benefits of weather happenings... yesterday it actually hit 85 - today it is in the morning 78 that may hit 80 this afternoon and then tomorrow it plunges to the highest for the day 59 and still a bit lower than that for Monday - yesterday pulled weeds - today will pull more weeds and be thankful the temperature is not in the 40s or even the 30s although the prediction is for a wet winter but not a cold winter -

I've still boxes to unpack and I'm at the point now where some of the things I unpacked were simply put in the area I expected them to be and now it means organizing these areas to make room for what I'm now unpacking - I miss not having a half price book store 15 minutes away - unpacking the books I realize there are many I really do not need to keep and I just can't imagine trashing them.

I did find Arendt's book Crisis of the Republic that includes discussions on Lying in Politics - Civil Disobedience - On Violence - Thoughts on Politics and Revolution - I read Arendt at least 30 years ago and completely forgot her line of thinking - with so much of these issues causing turmoil today I sat on the nearest chair and started to reread - Her references was the war in Viet Nam but the similarities were stark. One of her explanations for Lying in Politics was based in image - seems she found that most departments that support any leadership in politics is filled with very well educated young start ups to a career and not only are they concerned for their own image but are most concerned for the image of the department and the image of the leader they are supporting - the leaders do very little of the research or creative thinking and depend upon their departments to supply them with the capsule version so the leader can take their place at the table. There too, at the table image is a huge part of the ultimate plan and again the image of the President is foremost on their agenda.

Thinking while reading I realized most people lie to make themselves look good or be liked and so Lying is tied to image and Washington is full of those trying to look good and be liked by the voting public which puts image making high on their list rather than developing what is best for the people of a nation and as a result because the voting public benefits they will have a favorable attitude towards the leader and even the supporting bureaucracy.

Thinking back the stories of governments regardless run by Kings and Queens or Presidents image was always important... hmmm need to read further but now I wonder if we ever thought through how image is a component of national leadership which lying can be a part of making an image. 

[Frybabe]

Barb, I was looking into Andrew Pettegree's pedigree and discovered he is a professor of history at St. Andrews in the UK. So far, he has written nine or ten works revolving around books and documents. His book,
The Invention of News: How the World Came to Know About Itself seems a promising read too.

Two more chapters finished in Persian Fire. Most of the chapters are around an hour long. I hate to start a chapter if I can't finish it. That is my excuse for it taking so long.

I just finished reading an old SciFi classic, The Colors of Space by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I thought I had read it before, but didn't remember a single thing about it. I did read, years ago, her The Door Through Space. While not part of her Darkover series, it does mention the world. I always thought it was a shame she never expanded the Door Through Space theme. I really liked it and read it twice (needs read again).

[BarbStAubrey]

Interesting frybabe - looked him up on Amazon to see what were his other books and one caught my eye The Bookshop of the World: Making and Trading Books in the Dutch Golden Age - reading the excerpt and learned there were more books per capita in the Netherlands than any other nation in Europe - it was the most literate nation and yes, lots of wrangling by the average citizen discussing politics - and then my mind was churning and I sorta remember a Vermeer where the women was reading - I thought a book but looking it up it was a letter - and then musing I do not remember any other artist who painted a women reading during the 16th century - her surroundings did not show she was royalty but not the working class either and then realizing how at that time in history few people knew how to read much less a woman - to me another example of not really catching either our reading or seeing art from the past to appreciate the full story - today we take it for granted that everyone knows how to read and can hardly imagine a society where only a percentage can read and the majority cannot.

Nearly all Andrew Pettegree's books are on a subject centered in the sixteenth century - must be his specialty and he is probably in the History department at St. Andrews - isn't that the school where no professor can be married? I believe that is the alma mater for Prince William where he and Kate Middleton met.

[Frybabe]

Barb, I wouldn't be surprised that teachers were not allowed to marry since St. Andrews was founded by Augustinian clergy. Most, if not all, of the clergy would have been monks or nuns. I ran across remarks before when I ran across movies and books that indicated women were not allowed to teach (at least in schools) if they were married. I vaguely remember when I was in elementary and/or jr. high, that a few of the older, stricter female teachers were targeted for some behind their backs nasty remarks, but I can't be sure if they were married or not. I just researched it a little bit and found that, right here in the US in many places, married women were forbidden to teach or were discriminated against right on up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I'll bet there s a book or two about the history of women in the teaching profession somewhere.

[BarbStAubrey]

interesting - I wonder how many other aspects of the Augustinians carried through - the Augustinians are a mendicant order which is saying they were only living on what they earn each day and their earnings used to be by begging so they only ate based on what was in their begging cup - That was the big 'todo' with St. Francis of Assisi and the Pope at the time who was not going to approve the Franciscans because they were planning to be a mendicant order and the Pope then wanted to know how they planned to own and hold the church and land they were building - the deal that was struck was the Pope would own and be able to assure the continuation of the order.

Not much written about mendicant or any of the poverty orders but until recent times they had no say in the government and could not vote - even a lay person unless you owned land could not vote - And so there was a separation between these mendicant orders and giving input voting for a Pope - the whole concept of a Bishop is to over-see everyone in a designated land mass, and a Cardinal first of all represents a land mass area as an advisor to the Pope almost like a Senator in our Government - either of these positions has no jurisdiction so to speak over a monastery - the elected Abbot runs the show - however, if the monastery was run by a mendicant order even the Abbot had to be confirmed by the Pope and is within the line of authority that includes Cardinals and Bishops.

All to say I am wondering if the pay scale for professors today at St. Andrews is on the low side in keeping with this history of it originally being an Augustinian monastery - hmm just realized that would have made the monastery that much easier for Henry VIII or his daughter Elizabeth to acquire the monastery since for all practical purposes it was legally owned by the Pope rather than having to go through either the pretense or whatever with other monasteries that were owned by the order that may have its head abbot living in a monastery in another nation.  That would be interesting to find out what and how Henry and Elizabeth did it - did they just set laws aside or change the law to take these monasteries that were owned by order priests or order nuns -

hmm puts the whole Irish conflict in another light - they were probably more interested in control over Ireland for having Catholic churches and Catholic owners of property then for subjugating a people that goes with any occupation after winning a war.  I remember years back reading something here during one of our book discussions where the slaughter of Irish Priests in Ireland after Cromwell's win was either part of the book we were reading or the additional information we were always adding to the reads. All I remember is the slaughter was horrific and in numbers far more then I ever imagined. Many thousands like 40 or it could have been as many as 60 thousand. 

[Tomereader1]

No one posting on The Library.  So sad.  Be that as it may, wishing all who previously were regular "posters" a Happy and Healthy Holiday Season. 

With love and hugs,
Tomereader1 (Joanne)

[ginny]

Hello, Tome, and the best of the season to you. What are you reading? I came in to see what everybody is reading.

I'm not posting because you all know what I'm reading and I doubt it will send a stampede to the book store but I'm in good company. The new  PBS series on Agatha Christie features a dig in Mesopotamia and two very enthusiastic archaeologists talking about her books. hahaaa

And so much has now come out on her. She had some kind of disgraphia, really? She had some kind of  Alzheimers, you can tell that by the words she uses in her books. REALLY? Her books are on the 7-9th grade reading level. Really? That's better than the newspaper then which was always considered to be on the 4th or 5th grade level. Or is it 3rd? hahaha   

I try to take an hour a day to sit in front of the fire (literally) and in the peace and quiet read...at the moment her Miss Marple short stories.  Again.  There's something about them, short, smart, clever, and always solved for the good, not the "cozy" angry housecleaner/ florist, self made businesswoman, etc., etc., no gratuitous violence, no thrills,  not trying to do a book review,  just smart and it's an old woman solving the puzzles.  I love it. Comforting. In this world we have now? Comforting.

But who wants to hear that?

Maybe we should all reveal our guilty pleasures in reading this holiday season? hahaha She is mine. Who else? Is there somebody you turn to for a really good read? Or are you somebody with a photographic memory and you remember too well the plot?

I used to reread A Christmas Carol every year and heaven knows I know the plot of that one, can do the Marley speech verbatim,  but it is the escape in the beautiful wording and atmosphere that I love.

A friend has given me The Hobbit, something I admitted once in a class I had never read. I am determined to read this in the coming weeks,  so I can FINALLY say I did read it, a big time hangover Guilt For Not Having Read This Book erased.

Any "Unread Books I Shroud Have Read"  or Guilty Pleasures you would admit to this holiday season? 



Happy Happy to you all!

[Frybabe]

Yes, it is sad Joanne. Barb and I seem to dominated this month.

 I haven't been reading much of substance lately except for my occasional foray into Persian Fire. Mostly, I have been catching up on some of  my series books and reading short stories.

Currently, I am reading Village in the Sky by Jack McDevitt, his seventh Alex Benedict novel. I can say it won't be my favorite of the series.

Ginny, I just saw your message. I'll have to come back later to read it as I have to get out the door soon.

My library read is Mick Herron's latest, The Secret Hours. Herron's book is set in the same arena, but with different characters, as his Slough House series. If possible, the characters seem even more dreary and hopeless as they are ground down by bad choices and dashed hopes while working among conniving bosses and division heads in government secrets divisions of government and the politicians that oversee or use them for their own gain. None of the characters are as interesting or worthy of much sympathy as some of those in the Slough House books. IMO.

The next library read will be Martha Wells latest "Murderbot" book, System Collapse.

Aside from the ongoing Persian Fire, I started listening to a book of short stories by Alastair Reynolds called Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Nights.
 

[Frybabe]

Ginny, I just received Adrian Goldsworthy's Rome and Persia in hardcover. I am disappointed in the quality of the book. The paper seems a cheaper kind, a bit rough feeling to the touch, one small section is cut a hair shorter than the other pages and is ragged at the top edge, and the glossy pages are cut a hair longer at the side which make the book look cheesy. I noticed that the bottom edge is perfect. On the good side, there are a number of maps and the 16 pages of glossy photos. Also, the list of kings and emperors and the chronology take up 21 pages. I like that because if I forget a sequence or who is who, I can easily check that rather than page back until I find a previous reference.

[Tomereader1]

I'm basically reading  (mysteries/police procedurals/spy-type stuff)on my Kindle.  Although, I have 6 hardcovers checked out from the library:

"The English Experience" by Julie Schumacher.  This is part of a trilogy, which began with "Dear Committee Members" which I have read, but so long ago, I forget.  The next one is "The Shakespeare Requirement" and I have it on my request list. Basically all about a "beleagured" Professor in a small liberal arts university.  Academic mishaps occur.

"The Ministry of Special Cases" by Nathan Englander.  Can't give you too much info about this obviously "literary novel".  More after I've read it.

"Salt to the Sea" by Ruta Sepetys. Historical Fiction which is oft billed as "young adult" novel.  This one is set during WWII.  I have read "I Must Betray You" and I enjoyed it. "Salt To The Sea" has been really hard to get hold of, I've been waiting for months as my library branch was supposed to have a copy, but I finally ended up reserving it, and it just now arrived.  The YA readers must have been checking it out like there's no tomorrow. (Well?)

"A Woman I Know" by Mary Haverstick".  A tale of female spies, double identities, and something touching on the JFK assassination, though I don't know what.

And lastly, "The First Cut" by Judy Melinek & T.J. Mitchell (husband & wife).  It is a mystery written by Melinek, who is a real life Medical Examiner.  It is rather gory, but we've seen a lot of it on "Silent Witness"; "Bones" and any of the CSI shows.  I started this one first, and I knew I could read it quickly knowing my penchant for mysteries.

I realize none of these would hold any interest for the rest of our "small group".   But, you asked "what are you reading".  So there!  My reading life is somewhat "eclectic", ay wot?

Enjoy the warmth of the fire, Ginny.  Someday I will get "into" reading Miss Marple stories, I've read several of the books.   

[Tomereader1]

I know the "count" is wrong, but I've already turned in one that I read for my f2f book group.  I had read it when it first came out, and actually remembered a lot of it.  Mis-counting is what happens to me when all my reserves begin coming in at the same time. Drats!

[Fran]

Hi, I wish all of you a Happy and Healthy Holiday Season!
I really enjoy reading all of your posts!    Fran

[PatH]

Thanks for telling us, Fran, and happy holiday season to you an to everyone here.

Ginny, I recently reread The Hobbit again.  It was written for his children, but is good reading for adults too.  Then I reread There and Back Again, by Pat Murphy.  This is a science fiction story, using the plot of The Hobbit, but taking place in a space-traveling future.  The tale stands on its own, but it's also amusing to see her clever correspondence of very different creatures with Tolkien's.
Like many people I know, I find the depression of current events somehow interfering with my desire to read anything new, and am mostly rereading.  It's interesting to see how my reaction to some books has changed, and for others hasn't.

[BarbStAubrey]

Look what I found - tra la... in Nice News - which by the way if you don't get it in your email here is a link... https://nicenews.com

"A recent study has uncovered a link between reading comprehension in children and the type of text they’re looking at: print or digital. Published in the Review of Educational Research, the study found a near-zero (0.05) relationship between the frequency of reading digital texts for leisure and comprehension of that text. For the printed word, that same relationship was much higher, between 0.30 and 0.40.

“This means, for example, that if a student spends 10 hours reading books on paper, their comprehension will probably be 6 to 8 times greater than if they read on digital devices for the same amount of time,” co-authors Cristina Vargas and Ladislao Salmerón said in a statement.

Salmerón told The Guardian that one reason for this may be the method in which many people read on a screen — scanning is more common, which can mean the reader “doesn’t fully get immersed in the narration, or doesn’t fully capture the complex relations in an informative text.”

Comprehension of digital text does improve with age, indicating that kids’ minds might not yet be able to filter out the distractions often present on a screen. The authors recommend that schools and parents emphasize print over digital for young readers. In other words, good ol’ physical books still reign supreme."

[BarbStAubrey]

Fun hearing all the various books y'all are tackling - the Julie Schumacher trilogy sounds like something I would like to read and another I would love to tackle Mick Herron's latest, The Secret Hours. Problem my want-to-read's are bigger than...  I've so many in my pile now -

I'm close to the end of unpacking, finally... and looking forward to spending Christmas just sitting back and reading - not just a page or so here and there but spending the entire day and maybe a couple of days just reading and reading - I've several started that I got the gist and read enough to know I need to keep going...

I'm pages into Arendt's Lying in Politics - love how with a slight change in perspective everything she says not only falls in place but makes so much sense... evidently creating and keeping 'Image' is behind most politicians lying... I'd like to get into her Life of the MInd and also an old publication but apropos for our current times Planned Chaos by Ludwig von Mises.

Another I'm into and just love reading - it has been years since I read a book that required a dictionary on my lap because every other page has a word I'm not familiar with - love that kind of reading... Pope Benedict's Values in a Time of Upheaval - the little I have read he refers to Hegel whom I have not read so this will be a long engagement so to speak between becoming acquainted with new words and now new to me ideas from folks like Hegel. So far most of his references are to the time of the VietNam experience but it is so applicable it is spooky.

Still reading The Bear and the Nightingale which I had to lay aside till I read a few of the tales and myths from the Baltic's 

And then a couple of favorites that I pull out every Christmas Eve - A Child's Christmas in Wales that with every read I have to laugh especially the scene when the firemen arrive. And then the other, Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory making with his Aunt, as they first scrape together their few financial resources, the annual fruit cake following up with wrapping and delivering their Christmas fruitcakes.

And finally, I started last Christmas and did not get very far since I had just moved in on the first of December and the three grands from Lubbock drove down for a week between Christmas and New Years - I had started on the Kindle Christmas in Fountain City by Daphne Simpkins - I read another of her Fountain City books and loved it so this will be a nice, feel good read.

[Frybabe]

Planned Chaos sounded interesting, Barb, so I looked it up and found Mises Institute, where you can read the book online or download it for free.  https://mises.org/library/planned-chaos-0

[BarbStAubrey]

Hmm interesting - you know how one bit of research leads to a thought that leads to another or something someone says starts the curiosity wheels turning - Somehow I went from My Father Left Me Ireland: An American Son's Search For Home  to We Were Rich and Didn't Know It by another Irish author that tells the story of growing up in rural Ireland in the 1930s to finally - would you believe a book about this premise and yet, the bit I read by this author sure fits... The Advantage of Being Born Poor - One advantage he points out is you learn early in life the difference between wants and needs -

So many books to read and I seem to be guided to those authors who have a positive outlook on capitalism including its worst outcomes versus a socialistic viewpoint - I also read an extensive review of The Great Leveler by Walter Scheidel whose research digs back to the hunter-gatherer period on through current history. His historical findings is the only way there is a leveling of income is through war and violent revolutions, that ultimately he, as an author and research historian, cannot recommend his conclusions - he evidently includes a chapter how the outcome of these wars is not beneficial to mankind or to the welfare and security of nations.

A quote from the review on the website The Anarchist Library

"Scheidel leaves us with the impression that while trying to reduce inequal-
ity may be a noble aim, it is likely to do more harm than good,
because surely we would rather have an unequal society than a
society characterised by mass violence. What this obscures is that
unequal societies are, by definition, societies characterised by mass
violence, just not the kind of concentrated and chaotic violence he
documents in this book.

Still, none of the great leveling events Scheidel examines are
ones that leftists today should wish to repeat. This means that we
need to be imaginative, careful and smart in how we think about
bringing down capitalism and breaking the power of the ruling
class. This cannot be done without a revolution, and revolutions
necessarily involve violence. The question is how we make sure
that most of the violence remains a threat, and not a reality"

Frybabe you having found the Mises Institute - thanks ever so much - I'm beginning to see based on topics included by the Mises Institute, many of especially the young, those in their 20s and 30s, are going over ground that was already explored back in the 1920s and 30s on into the 50s.

I may have bitten off more then I can chew but much of my reading is an attempt to figure out what is going on - not the daily news or the pranks each of the main political parties are currently engaged in but under it all -whatever is going on it is beyond the borders of the US - all the reality of good versus evil or one group violently attacking or infringing on assumed rights and traditional associations - it truly is like waking up in Alice's Wonderland - the barbaric nature of some of this is like the Queen yelling 'Off with their heads' only it is not an outrageous bit of writing that children did not have to fear - now it is for real... why - what is it in our nature as humans that would allow us to revert to behavior that most of us assumed was left behind at least 100 years ago... what is trying to be achieved by this chaos - not only am I trying to understand nations and cultures but also the very Church that offered me consistency and wisdom that is also now all catawampus. 

Whatever is going on reminds me of my trip back east in 2019 when my daughter and I took a road trip to places I lived growing up and to visit family, who are mostly all living on the east coast - I remember how I expected places I knew would look very different but that was not the case at all. Except for areas I knew during those early years being more built up the areas were essentially the same - what I never imagined was how different the culture and how different people lived and how different neighbors acted towards each other - the only places I felt grounded was visiting the cemeteries of my grandparents and my parents.

 I came home realizing the world of part of my childhood was no more - I knew the part of the country I lived during my earliest years had changed considerably as well - in total it was like being the Man Without a Country - everything I knew that helped form me no longer existed - and now I'm feeling that same disconnect every morning when I wake up - it all happened so fast - it may have been simmering but it exploded and the only way I know to ground myself is find out the best I can the cause or, the logical reaction of humans when faced with certain stimulation or, what is it about us that needs this kind of chaos and if we don't need it than how do we handle it... because one thing for sure we are never going back to the way we lived as recently as 5 years ago...   

[ginny]

What a lot of great comments here and some actually great looking reads, too.  I am the same, Pat,  on the interest in reading new things in our totally chaotic world right now,  but I have to say Tome's Dear Committee Women trilogy  looks good, especially the third one.

I finally unfortunately finished the Miss Marple Stories and now am in Christie's  Poirot Labors of Hercules. I love the audio tape of it with Hugh Fraser (Hastings in the TV program) playing all the parts but it's been a long time since I read it in print and it seems almost a new book. She's made 12 connected  short stories out of a continuing theme when  a clergyman reproved  Hercule Poirot's lack of knowledge of the Classics, and Poirot determined to correct that first with research and then putting it into action.  Hence the Twelve Labors of Hercules, in this case Hercule Poirot.  It can't have been easy to write. The Nemean Lion was a clever take on a Pekinese disappearance.

Frybabe, don't you hate that when they do that to a  book? The physical appearance of a book means a lot to me, especially since I seem to enjoy a larger print than I used to. I can't imagine why they would print Goldsworthy that way, he's quite well respected. Let us know if you like it? I am not sure there's a lot written on that subject, either. He's wonderful for annotation and maps.

Barbara, that's a really  interesting study on the difference in reading a screen and reading a book.

I believe it. I  see they cite distractions on a screen and that, of course, is certainly true.

Escapism wise, very true. I really enjoyed my time yesterday and I hope to do more of it daily, it does make a difference, a small oasis of calm. Centering, somehow.

[BarbStAubrey]

Ginny just saw an ad for Poirot's Christmas - the reviewer said it was the best Hercule Poirot of all the books - that Poirot was his sharpest. Don't know that I read it but think I may have seen it on TV - remember something where Poirot is sitting near a window eating his one chocolate bon and bon and reading for his Christmas but is interrupted being asked to help solve a murder.

Did anyone read Geraldine Brook's The People of the Book? What is the story about - is it worth a read - I've read a couple of reviews and cannot make heads or tails out of any of it and it may just be me - all of a sudden nothing is making sense - its like I gave up attempting to dope out any more confusion - however this title seems interesting - the reviews make it sound like a history analysis rather than a novel - I did enjoy reading Year of Wonders

[PatH]

Barb, I read People of the Book a long time ago when were reading Brooks' books, and enjoyed it.  It's a bunch of little vignettes, stories of people or events unconnected except as being parts of the history of the book, as it passes from one person's hands to another.  Little bits of debris in the book left over from the events of the stories are use as a device to tie the parts together.
I enjoyed the book--Brooks is a good storyteller--but one has to accept the disjointed quality of the book.  By now, I've forgotten most of the events, though I think they would come back somewhat if I looked at the book

[Frybabe]

Barb, I loved People of the Book. Brooks created a fictionalized history of its travels from its beginning sometime in the 14th century through bits of things, like a feather, a hair, etc. that were discovered during an examination and conservation process. As far as I know, the manuscript is still housed in the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina. You might like to see the real deal. Here is a presentation from Open Culture. https://www.openculture.com/2023/04/the-sarajevo-haggadah.html

 The last book I read by Brooks was Horse which was also a worthy read, IMO. It is a fictionalized history of the legendary race horse, Lexington and his groom.

Morning, PatH. I see you beat me to it. For me, the book was hard to put down.

[PatH]

Good morning, Frybabe.  It's 5:30 am here, and the sun won't appear for over two hours. I'm about to curl up in a ball and go back to sleep.  See you later.

[BarbStAubrey]

Thought this explanation of Bruegel's White Christmas was well done - I was not familiar with this painting by Bruegel and so I found this information interesting and not the usual kitsch we often see this time of year...

https://www.artinsociety.com/bruegelrsquos-white-christmas-the-census-at-bethlehem.html

The article explains among other things about the painting that it is the first time the Christmas story or season is depicted in snow - there is a link then that shows other art work with snow - e.g. lords and ladies frolicking in the snow in Italy

[Frybabe]

Merry Christmas to all!

[ginny]

Well, here we are on the 3rd Day of Christmas (Quick: can you sing the song without looking?), and I hope you all had a wonderful day no matter how you spent it.


Remember all those funny accidents we used to report here? The souffle which did not rise? The turkey which burned up? We've all got our own family legends...(except that's how my cooking always turned out, so I never had anything to add...well I do, now)....

I have one this year!  Christmas Eve, no less.

YES. I was sitting right here at the desk when I heard the faintest tinkle ...just a quiet tinkle. I THOUGHT it was in a cabinet where I had been getting out glassware and I THOUGHT I might have caused an imbalance, but no...no imbalance. Nothing wrong. So I sat back down.

Later...much later,  I went into the main room and was astonished to see the  Christmas tree flat on the ground. Broken balls everywhere. A total disaster.

We always cut one of our own trees. In fact my oldest son planted a row of Christmas trees to come, our own little tree farm, here on the farm, when his son was born. And so this was one of them, and of course reached the  ceiling, so it was a big tree but not as big as some in the past and so was not actually affixed to the ceiling beams as usual and down it came. No earthquake, no wind, no nothing, just wanted to lie down, I guess, and who can blame it? hahaha

I wanted to, too, when I saw it. But my youngest put it back up, CHAINED it to the beams, and we affixed the stuff to it and to fill in the gaps left by broken bulbs, we struck on streamers (better known as garland to normal people) as cascading down. I thought that was quite effective, actually and we had a pretty good time doing it,  I thought it looked good until my oldest came in and saw it. hahhahaa Apparently we can give up any hope of going into the Tree Decorating Business? ... Well its UP anyway and I think it looks better now than it did on the floor.

I win? hahaha If there's a contest for Christmas disasters, can I win? hahahaha

[Frybabe]

Good foggy, rainy morning! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

Sorry about your Christmas tree disaster, Ginny.

I am going to amend my comments on Mick Herron's The Silent Hours now that I have finished it. I does include several of the characters from the Slough House series, but they are not named for the most part. As I read on I slowly came to realize, through traits of personality and certain circumstances just who two of the main characters were. The story follows events that happened just after the fall of the Berlin wall and the unification of East and West Germany and became the focus of during an investigation into possible malfeasance by agents of "the Park". It is something of a backstory to how some of the characters became who and how they were.  So, all in all, it was more interesting than I indicated in the first post.

I also finished Village in the Sky by Jack McDevitt, who will be 89 in April. It is the latest of his Alex Benedict series and feels like the last of the series. The story was a bit uninteresting and disappointing to me, unfortunately.

Right now, I am reading the latest of a military sci-fi series by Rick Partlow. Partlow always seems to create likeable characters.

Next up will be Martha Wells latest MurderBot book, System Collapse. The MurderBot books are short novels about a soap opera loving cyborg. While many describe the main character as a robot, I disagree. While the character calls himself  MurderBot, he is actually more like a cyborg. In the first book, he was created from a human soldier who was so badly mangled in an military operation that they created a cyborg body for the body parts (mostly internal organs, including the brain) that remained viable. Now, he is part of a security force for hire. The stories are all simple, easy to read, and very much character driven.

Last night, I listened to another hour of Persian Fire, half of a two hour chapter.  Well, I am getting to some familiar territory here. Xerxes and Darius.

In case I haven't mentioned it, so far, I can't say that I care much for the short stories in Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Nights by Alastair Reynolds, but I am only into the second or third story (I think). The first one I listened to was what I would describe as sci-fi horror, probably my least favorite type of sci-fi. The stories in the audio book are listed as chapter numbers in the table of contents rather than story titles.

I find myself buying more short story collections. My latest is audiobook of short stories is The Complete Short Stories by Saki. Stanislaw Lem's Truth and Other Stories was the last one. I've already listened to that and may have mentioned it in an earlier post. Short stories are great for when I don't have or want to spend a lot of time listening.

Oh, almost forgot. I started listening to Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye. Not far into it, but it is holding my attention.

[BarbStAubrey]

OH Ginny hahaha - then to have rescued the tree and doing your best to take care of the disaster and someone is not seeing your effort as wonderful - oh dear but then all you can do is laugh regardless any sourpuss...

You've brought a smile to my face as I'm remembering years back when Paul and Sally were living in Bryan-College Station we too had a tree falling event only we watched it falling like a slow motion movie - the boys were in middle school and Paul and Sally put their tree up just before Thanksgiving dinner. While we are sitting eating dinner slowly the tree falls to the floor - we are watching with our mouths a gap each knowing we could not have run over and rescued it - and so smack dab in the middle of dinner we were all picking up the hodgepodge mess of ornaments, lights and tinsel and trying to re- decorate in minutes what took us a couple of hours earlier - Paul did not use a chain but did securely attach the tree to the wall and forever more every Christmas the tree was secured to the wall or crown molding or or or.

Did a nice roast chicken about 4 pounds in my new oven - turned out great - ended up skipping making dressing but soaked it over night in buttermilk and it was just lovely - instead of slipping butter patties under the skin I just layered some thick bacon slices on top - I'm finding I don't eat near as much as I did and so I was satisfied with a simple sweet potato - had fresh green beans but I'll cook them up another day

I made sandwiches yesterday that turned out great - sliced chicken with a slice of Swiss cheese and a piece of the cooked bacon between the folded over cheese slice - heated it in the microwave for 10 seconds so that is all melded together - oh oh was that ever so good.

Here I was going to do all this reading and instead got caught up in a 2 hour movie that has me scrambling to learn more - the movie is called The Moses Controversy - I had no idea that this was an issue nor the real meaning of the belief that Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Bible and those 5 Books are the Torah - well this Timothy Mahoney has collected all sorts of historical information and using archeology and various finds of early writing which makes writing the bible possible and how Hebrew was one of the earliest writing long before the Phoneticians who were always given credit for inventing writing - on and on with various viewpoints from professors in England and current Jerusalem - surprise how much disagreement about the past exists among professors that is all included in this documentary

With various concepts of when in history certain events took place leads to various beliefs as to who and when the first books of the Bible were written.  In fact I had no idea that there was even a question as to the validity of Moses writing the first Books of the Bible -  of course all this has me scrambling to learn more and more about the early parts of the Bible that frankly I never learned or studied except as short bible stories here and there - growing up Catholic we learned the bible from the time Christ was born or as they say the Gospels defined as the 'good news' of the Bible and so I was fascinated more so by the history - I never knew other than the Dead Sea Scrolls that there was early writing after hieroglyphics were scratched or carved into rock faces in caves

I was in awe just following the way hieroglyphics was used as a basis for these first words and they were gradually changed over time to the alphabet we use today and how so much would never have been possible without an alphabet - that these 26 letters have been the source for millions of books and the passing on of new ideas.

The film uses the letter E as an example - in hieroglyphics it was a man with his two hands raised in praise of an almighty - gradually they dropped the body and legs and kept the head with the arms out in right angles - the praising part - then they dropped the head and kept the nick and the two arms and turned it on its side which is the E we know today with that middle mark the neck and the two right angles on top and bottom the arms giving praise. No wonder one of the early expressions for 'God is with us' is  Emanuel   

I've included a link that I think that is an link to excerpts of the film - it is available on a free channel that I happened upon however, I could not watch it in one sitting and got fed up having to go through the hoops that was not made easy when each time I stopped watching the start up was from the beginning - tried to push it to where I left off - after a couple of frustrating times I ended up renting it for I think $4 or maybe $5 on Amazon but believe it not, for 7 days.

Oh yes, this Mahoney guy has done several other movies about this time in history tying history and anthropology together and I think the Bible but not sure - Found one that is in 7 parts but I have to join an app I think it is called Giah or something like that - at $12 a month after 7 free days - not sure I want to keep that up and not confident how easy it will be to get out of a commitment after they have your credit card. Anyhow here is the link to this time before the major cultures in Greece and Rome that is centered in finding proof so that the discovery of writing is center to this proof.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10027696/   

[PatH]

Goodness, Ginny, I certainly hope you won the Christmas disaster prize.  I don't want to think of anything worse.  It's certainly funny, though.

I had a simple but delightful Christmas, with 2 daughters, 2 sons-in-law, 3 grandchildren, one of them step-, and her mother. No disasters; not even sitting on LuLu, a 4 1/2 pond rescue dog who likes to hide under sofa cushions and blankets to keep warm. She gets sat on a lot.  We exchanged simple presents, and ate a meal prepared cooperatively by one S-I-L and the grandchildren.

My grandson gave me the first of the Murderbot series, so now I can see what it's like.