The Library

[mabel1015j]

The Library Our library cafe is open 24/7, the welcome mat is always out. Do come in from daily chores and spend some time with us. We look forward to hearing from you, about you and the books you are enjoying (or not). Let the book talk begin here!

*Suggestion Box for Future Discussions
*SeniorLearn's Archives 
 

I'm in the middle of so many books, it's ridiculous! I'm reading Elizabeth C. Stanton' s autobio on the ipad. It's free from Kindle. It's title is Eighty Years and More. It really is delightful reading, not at all typical of the looooonnnnggg sentences and paragraphs of nineteenth centuries writers. I've only gotten thru her childhood and young adulthood to her marriage. Have not gotten into her activism years.

I have two books borrowed from friends which i must read w/in a reasonable period of time and return them. One is The Feminist Promise by Christine Stansell, which is a history of feminism in the U.S. I'm facilitating the course on Womrn's History in Apr and May at the Medford Leas senior community, so i want to have it read before i begin the course. It's quite interesting. The other borrowed book is First Family about the Adams by Joe Ellis. His books are always easily read.

I've got Thomas Fleming's The Intimate Lives of Our Founding Fathers on the nightstand. His books are also easy reading and well researched. Also on the nightstand is Boone by Robert Morgan. Just started but it also is a good read.

THEN, i've got fiction books! Just finished Wrong Beach Island, a mystery set on Long Beach Island here in Jersey. Started out a little too quirky, the author felt compelled to put a witticism in every paragraph, but tured out to be an o.k. mystery. Is it since Evanovich has been so successful w/ humor and her quirky characters, that young women mystery writers have decided that "nutsy" women are the way to go? Finished another light NJ book last night, Love, Life and Linguini, by Melissa Jacobs, about a women who works in the restaurant trade. Her treatment of family relationships reminds me of M.A. Monroe, but not as good. And just started a Nora Roberts book abt an artist who lives on the Chesapeake on the Eastern shore, i thonk it's title is Chesapeake Blue.


Like i said, this is ridiculous, but i just can't resist them!

[BarbStAubrey]

Tsunami waves about 1m high flooded several beaches on Hawaii - minor waves also reached the Philippines, the Kuril Islands and Taiwan - BBC is saying no real danger except a few fishing  boats that were caught but are still afloat.

[Octavia]

What a horrible sight so soon after Christchurch. It only seems like yesterday we were watching the Japanese Search and Rescue Team landing in Christchurch to help out the Kiwis. Little did they know.
I wonder how all those Pacific Islands fared, did they have time to get to high ground? I imagine quite a few wouldn't have anywhere to go, we've all seen footage of the water rises caused by Global Warming and land being reclaimed by the sea.
I was a bit concerned for my two sons living in Malaysia, because they live on one son's boat, but I'm sure they're okay. I just worried that any water backlash might cause a bit of damage to his boat. Especially if he didn't expect it.
When he came home for a week, he was on my computer twice a day checking the weather back in his mooring place.

[rosemarykaye]

I hope they are OK Octavia - what an exciting life they must lead living on a boat in Malaysia.  How did that come about?

Rosemary

[Steph]

Yes Octavia, that does sound like an interesting life choice.. To live on a boat in Malaysia.
The pictures and tv of Japan are just terrifying. It is so flat there and the water just kept coming and coming bringing all sort of horrors with it..
Utube.. Hmm. not something I mess with, but I am quite desperate for stained glass stuff. Google brings up dvd's, but they are how to.. I am after Tiffany type, not how to make it.
Th e lecture sounds neat.. Were you just in NYC or did you go up on purpose for it??
I am reading five different books, but did finish the Robert Crais, The First Rule last night. I loved it.. Harsh,but good. I am almost done with my bed book, but not thrilled with it.. Just a bit too girly girl for me. My IPAD book is currently the Laura Bush memoir which I am enjoyed. Also have The Songcatcher and Alma Mater , both hardbacks that I dip iinto and retreat from ..

[Babi]

 Haiti, Australia, New Zealand, Japan...     I hope this is the last of nature's tantrums, but I've
got a suspicion there is more to come.  Definitely a pattern here.

[pedln]

Lots of heartbreak there, Babi, and some of the individual stories are so unexpected.  A woman in the States, her husband on temporary work assignment at the nuclear plant in Fukishama(?) -- hasn't heard from him since last night.  All she knows is that he and his collegues are trying to evacuate from the island.

Tragedies like this always make me think of Stephen Crane's The Open Boat, and how quickly you can become a "diminished thing."  Powerless.

[Octavia]

Re earthquake, I was stunned just now watching TV to see a plane wedged between two building.
Rosemarykaye and Steph, son no.2 sailed his boat over to Malaysia, to get work done on it. He wanted a refit, and couldn't afford Australian prices. Son no. 4 had just left a very gruelling job in WA's isolated, rugged mining community, and decided a real change would be joining his brother for awhile. He's currently working in a Chinese boatyard over there.
The big worry I have is that the boys swap countries and continents, and tell me afterwards.
When Craig was home, he said "I was in Japan once, did I tell you?" No son, you didn't!
Another time I thought he was in London, but he'd nipped over to India because London had a big freeze.
What happens is that I agonise over every disaster/terrorist attack, because I'm never sure if they're away from it .

[rosemarykaye]

Octavia - what a worry for you.  Have you established that they are both OK?  I'm sure they will be.  I have a friend in Kuala Lumpur and she seems to be fine, but I appreciate that Malaysia is a big place.

My son does things like that - I called him recently thinking he was in England and discovered he was in Switzerland.  I also worry all the time about him travelling who knows where in who knows whose car.  My daughters haven't quite got to that stage yet, although elder daughter in particular tends to let me know after the event - eg (recently) "we were in town, then we missed the 10pm bus, then we walked about a bit (this is three 15/16 year olds in the city centre on a Saturday night) but we got back to boarding OK in the end".  I suppose it's sometimes better  not to know!

I had a very sheltered childhood, and even when I was living at home in my twenties my mother would have eaten me for breakfast if I had not been home on time, given her a constant update, etc.  I don't feel that this did me any good, so I am at pains to be much less controlling with my own children - also my husband is very laid back and always expects everything to be OK.  When I first met his family I had never come across what seemed to me to be such relaxed attitudes, but over the years I have come to realise that this is much more normal - and healthier.

Still snow lying here this morning but I think I saw it dripping, so I am hoping for a thaw before tomorrow morning.

R

[Steph]

I hate Daylight Saving.. Boo.. My body is not overwhelmed by time change at all.
When I went to bed last night. their was great fear for the nuclear plant.. Two units were overheating and the  third was starting. Sounds like a disaster recipe..Poor Japan.
Our world does seem disaster prone this year. We have been having floods in the northeast as well, although nothing like some of the other countries.

[Octavia]

Rosemarykaye, I'd be terrified if I had a daughter, boys are bigger and stronger and much better able to look after themselves, especially if they're alone. I've never heard of a boy's drink being spiked.
My sons usually travel with a girl in foreign countries, because they have company and the girl has protection. The youngest did a lot of escort duty in S.America, Girls felt safer accompanied by a six foot male .
Did you mean boarding as in school, or just boarding somewhere? It would have been easier for us to break out of Pentridge jail than get out of school, but times have changed....dramatically.

[rosemarykaye]

Octavia - Anna boards at the music school in Aberdeen, but they are allowed out in groups if they say where they are going and when they will be back.  I did not board myself, but our school was like Fort Knox in the day. These days there are teenagers all over the town every lunchtime - our school was miles from town anyway, but we weren't allowed past the front door till 4pm.  I have drawn the line at her travelling in older students' cars (you have to give express permission for this so I didn't) - this was more relevant when they were at the previous boarding house, which was quite isolated, whereas the new one is in a suburb and on a bus and train route.

How times change!

Rosemary

[Babi]

 I am one of a 'laid-back' family, ROSEMARY, and it definitely has it's advantages. Easier
on everybody, and IMO respectful of one another's rights and individuality. My ex-husband
came from a large family that quarreled a lot. I'm so happy to be able to say that my three
kids all get along great and enjoy one another's company.

  It's worrisome to hear that units in the nuclear plant are overheating. The earliest
reports claimed that the facility had been shut down to prevent that happening. So, why
haven't they shut it down, I wonder?

  OCTAVIA, my son is 6'4".  He's a gentle soul, kids love him, but not many people try to
give him a hard time. My Dad (6'2") told me a story of getting into a fender-bender once.
He pulled off into an alley, and the other driver came storming up ranting and making
threats. Then my Dad climbed out of the car, emerging up..and up..and up. The other guy
slowed down, eyes big, grew quieter, and finally greeted him with, "Friend, you ought to
be more careful." 

[jeriron]

Steph

I'm glad I'm not the only one that hates daylight savings. To me it feels like the day never ends.

[maryz]

Different strokes, etc.  I love daylight savings time.  I love having that extra hour of daylight in the evening.  Of course, we live on the very western edge of our time zone (eastern), so it really makes a difference.  We're probably 30-45 minutes difference in sunrise and sunset time from you gals in FL.

[mabel1015j]

Maryz - even tho i'm even further east, i also love daylight savings time. I love the sunshine and can't wait for it to get warm enough for me to sit on the patio and get some vitamin D.

The Tuscon book festival on booktv has had some interesting authors on CSPAN this weekend. Ohhhhh, more books i want to read, aarrrggghhh!

[rosemarykaye]

Steph & Jeriron - I am with you.  I hate it when the clocks go forward.  I like cosy winter evenings, not ones that go on for ever (and they almost do just that this far north) and I hate it even more when it starts to get light at 4am - May is just about my worst month for sleep.  We used to live right opposite a field with sheep, and in the summer they started their bleating as soon as the sun came up.  Don't get that in the town of course, but the light is enough to wake me up.  A friend of mine just gets out her laptop and starts work then, which is probably a much better idea than my lying there seething 

Rosemary

[FlaJean]

 I like daylight savings time.  But it does take me a few days to adjust.

[pedln]

MaryZ and Mabel, I'm with you on Daylilght Saving Time.  Wish it was all year long, except that in winter it means kids waiting for the school bus in the dark.

I don't like driving at night, especially backing out of my long driveway.  So much easier before the sun goes down.

I'm reading a truly delightful book  by D.G. Fulford and her mother Phyllis Greene,  Designated Daughter: the Bonus Years with Mom.  Phyllis Greene is also the mother of author and journalist Bob Greene (Duty) and another son Tim. 

Fulford left her Nevada home and moved back to Columbus, OH when her father became terminally ill to be a support to her mother -- in other words, a "designated daughter," whose numbers are legion.  The book speaks much about the strengths and joys of being there for each other.  Phyllis Greene died last month at the age of 91.  But up until this past November she had her own blog, while in Hospice!    Fantastic!

[maryz]

I'm re-reading an old book, "The Cowboy and the Cossack" by Clair Huffaker.  Just a delightful story.

[bellemere]

Back from 2 1/2 weeks in Isla Mujeres, off the coast of Cancun.  Still thinking of eating cebiche with my feet in the sand, a bottle of Dos Equis, the fishing boats bobbing around me and the harbor lights coming on in the evening. I can even stand another guitar rendition of Cielito Lindo! 
Perfect sunny warm weather and soft breezes for 17 straight days.
Can not believe there are so many piles of dirty snow left in Massachusetts!  I thought they would be gone.
The Ides of March have come, and so has the Madness of March, and as I write, the pundits are selecting the college basketball teams that will compete over the next few weeks.  I am ,married to the back of a head in the TV room for the duration.
This Thursday I have to lead my Book Club discussion of The Immortal History of Henrietta Lacks. I saw one ot the members today; she didn't like it and didn't fininsh it. "Too technical, not enough story."
Any opinions here?  I think it was a marvel of investigation and also a human interest story of this dirt poor family whose mother's cells are still growing and being used in cancer research. One doctor said that by now,probably all of us have had treatment or medication  based on He La cells. So many issues raised in the book: racism, medical research ethics, patient privacy, a never-ending struggle against poverty by a family. I hardly know where to begin.

[maryz]

Sorry bellemere, the Ides of March is not until Tuesday (15 March).    Sorry you had to come back to snow.

I'm one of those who LOVED Henrietta Lacks!  I was utterly fascinated by the story, and couldn't put it down.

[JoanK]

I have a sample in my Kindle, but haven't read it yet.

[Octavia]

I'm starting a book called Martha Peake by Patrick McGrath, whose name must mean something, because it's above the title of the book and in much bigger letters. It doesn't ring a bell with me though.
"the pleasure of the journey is immense,and so is the pathos...". I don't think I've read anything by a "gothic novelist" before. My favourite authors were taken.

"Designated daughter" what an apt phrase. My sister and I share the title.

I was tickled by "bed book" What constitutes a bed book?

Bellemere, what is "cebiche"?

Thank God my state doesn't have daylight saving. It's too hot here and children can't sleep when the sun is so bright and hot.

[Gumtree]

Octavia:  We don't have daylight saving either and for much the same reasons as Qld. My body clock is in enough trouble without having to deal with DST.

I was a "designated daughter" too - to both my own mother and my MIL - after that I became "designated sister" to one of my brothers who had never married. Now I'm getting to be "designated wife" to DH - though I think I've always been that  

[Steph]

Bed Book.. is the book besides my bed. I always read for anywhere from 15-45 minutes each evening before turning off the light. Since I live in a three story house, I have books that I am reading on each floor..Hence.. bedbook..
It  is amazing how times change.. When I went to college back in the late 50's, girls had curfews.. limited weekends off campus and no boys anywhere other than the living room of the dorms..We could not wear Shorts or jeans except under very particular rules.. We all kept a raincoat by our doors, so that if we were buzzed from upstairs, we could slip into the coat and run down or up to see who wanted us.. My sons and grands get hysterical when I describe this.. Oh well..

[roshanarose]

Ah Steph.  Now I know where the American term for being square comes from.  Being Wet!

[pedln]

Well Steph, it was an improvement over the State Teachers' College attended by my mother and aunts, in earlier days of the 20th century.  The house mother, Miss Prissy, told them never to say "prunes" or "prisms" when they were with boys.  And of course, not to wear patent leather shoes.   

By the way, I forget the author, but there actually is a book entitled Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?  The same man also wrote The Last Catholic in America.  As I remember, both focus on his experiences in parochial schools.  In one of them he states how whenever he sees people lined up for something he thinks that he should be in a line somewhere too.

[LarryHanna]

Steph, I keep my ebook reader beside my bed where I have the charger.  If I have read very much I also plug it in for the night so it will be ready the next time I use it.  A few times I have read through an evening and the battery has been depleted so that gives me a good excuse to get into bed for the night and continue reading.

I am one of those basketball fans and the games have interfered with my reading the last few days, although can read and watch a game at the same time as can occasionally glance up and see what is happening with the game.  

My wife told me this morning she is joining in a book club that several ladies at our church have formed and has ordered the book they are starting.  It meets twice a week for 90 minutes.  I hope she enjoys it.  It meets from 5 to 6:30 pm and she said she will then stop by and pick me up and we can go out to eat, as if we didn't do enough of that already.  

[rosemarykaye]

Larry, to me that sounds like a very nice arrangement (actually both - the going out for dinner and the reading the Kindle in bed!).  Your wife's book group sounds great - I have suggested this before at our church but no takers, so now I am just going to see what there is in Edinburgh.  I think book groups are always a bit tricky until you find the right one - I have been to the first meeting of quite a few that I have abandoned!  So I hope your wife's one goes well - what is their first book?

Rosemary

[Frybabe]

I like reading my Kindle in bed too. It is also very nice when the cat decides to sit on my chest. I can hold it up out of the way to read much better than a book, especially if it is a big book, when he is so close to my face.

[rosemarykaye]

Frybabe - I see I am not the only one who has that problem - one of my cats delights in inserting herself between my face and my book, even if it means standing on my chest or even my neck - of course I am too soft to shove her off 

Rosemary

[Frybabe]

  

[maryz]

Octavia, you asked about "cebiche".  I think maybe the writer meant ceviche.  Click here for a variety of recipes.  It's basically seafood that is "cooked" in lime juice and served cold.  Yum!

[JoanP]

More about "ceviche...MaryZ posted just before I found this link with this recipe -  

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/ceviche/

"The first time I made ceviche, I was amazed. I could actually see the lemon and lime juice turning the color of the fish from translucent pink to opaque white. The acid from the limes and lemons change the structure of the proteins in the fish, essentially "cooking" the fish without using heat. I love ceviche rolled up in a freshly cooked, still warm corn tortilla with lettuce and salsa."

 

[PatH]

The thing to remember about ceviche is that it isn't heat-cooked, so it can spoil easily.  Keep it cold and don't store leftovers very long.  It's very good, though.

[mabel1015j]

I am pretty sure that my "trigger-thumb" is the result of laying on my left side in bed w/ my head propped up fairly high on a scruched pillow, with my elbow propped on the bed holding the book, level w/ my head,  with my thumb holding the book open. I think that has caused the inflamation in the sheath the ligament runs thru, so the ligament isn't moving smoothly, but in a "clicking" motion, like a trigger.

I always have 4 or 5 books on my nightstand and i may read a bit of 2 or 3 a night, thru the night. I read mostly library books, so reading on my ipad wouldn't work, altho that could have been a perfect answer to the trigger thumb. I'm looking for a small reading pillow. I have a large one i use diwnstairs when i'm sitting up, but it wouldn't work well in bed. I may have to be innovative...... Jean 

[maryz]

jean, having pain in my hands from holding a book is why I decided to get a Kindle.  You might consider that or another e-reader for your "bed reading".

[BarbStAubrey]

 Please - please - please - if any of y'all are living in a town or know of a nearby town that has an ordinance about Deer - either for or against feeding, hunting or whatever -  please let me have the web site link or email me about it - and if any of y'all live near a ranch that is raising deer either for hunting or to improve the strain or whatever - again, please send me a link or email to me the information. Thanks...

[marcie]

Barbara, I searched and found an ordinance at http://www.townofshelby.com/downloads/Ordinance%203.09%20Feeding%20Deer.pdf