Author Topic: The Library (Read 2090290 times)

maryz · « **Reply #6280 on:** September 09, 2011, 04:54:25 PM »

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!

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East Tennessee would've shared, too, PatH.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #6281 on:** September 09, 2011, 05:48:10 PM »

Latest - just in the one fire in Bastrop over 1400 houses burned to the ground - the Bastrop schools will re-open next week and they expect a third to a half of the students to be homeless with over 34,000 acres gone. 100 degree temps are back the end of this weekend.

The fire they thought was under control in Montgomery County near my son is completely out of control with 200 houses gone and 22,000 acres burned. They have been filling the super tanker airplane from California all day and it goes out tomorrow with this Montgomery County fire first on its list to dump 94,000 liters of water and fire retardant material, almost 20 times more than an average fire truck. The story goes on and on and on - we are weary -

I have a fine gray powder covering everything in the house including the car in the garage. All the air purifiers are on and I have not used the AC but rather using window units because they do not bring in as much outside air. I have drunk so much coffee to keep my dry throat from closing that I feel like if you shook me coffee would pop out of my eye sockets.

At least I have a home intact - a job to do to clean it up - reason to find ways I can be of help - and I will not have to face the nightmare of these homeowners whose homes were destroyed that will be their life for the next couple of years - plus the trauma of losing everything and then the children - they are confused and have difficulty finding words to express what they are feeling.

ANNIE · « **Reply #6282 on:** September 09, 2011, 06:05:08 PM »

(((((((((HUGS)))))))))For you, Barbara and for all your friends and neighbors who are going through such an ugly event. Will keep you in my prayers!

Frybabe · « **Reply #6283 on:** September 09, 2011, 07:18:31 PM »

What a heartbreak for those who lost everything. I saw a news clip last night where they briefly interviewed a boy who's home was destroyed. He seemed to shrug off the loss of his home, but started to break up when he told the reporter that his dog ran under something (can't remember what), and they couldn't get him out before they had to leave. I think he may have been in that shock and daze people get just after a disaster. Except for his beloved pet, it all hasn't sunk in yet.

marcie · « **Reply #6284 on:** September 10, 2011, 01:31:22 AM »

Barbara, I'm sorry that you're in the fire area. That smoke and ashes can't be good for your lungs.

Frybabe, I've enjoyed all of Carol Goodman's books. I think that The Ghost Orchid is the most different from her other books. It's my least favorite of hers but still good.

I'm glad you mentioned her. I see that she has two new books out under the name Lee Carroll. I've not read those. Lee Carroll is a collaboration between Hammett Award winning mystery novelist Carol Goodman and her poet and hedge fund manager husband, Lee Slonimsky.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #6285 on:** September 10, 2011, 01:54:16 AM »

Barb - thank you for keeping us posted; I am so sorry to hear about the terrible things that are happening out there -all those poor people losing everything, and as you say their children so traumatised. It does put all of our little trials and tribulations into perspective. I do hope that the fires are soon brought under control. Please do keep safe - does coffee have some special effect on your throat that cold drinks wouldn't?

Very best wishes,

Rosemary

kiwilady · « **Reply #6286 on:** September 10, 2011, 02:43:09 AM »

Just to point out that a house fire has a terrible effect on kids. I know it wasnt a natural disaster but our old Kauri villa in the central city burnt down when I was a child. I was the one who raised the alarm. I was coming home from school and saw flames coming out the parlour window. Mum was right up the other end of the house with my two preschool siblings. I will never forget the panic, will never forget losing everything I owned. We went to our grandparents with only the clothes we stood up in. I had nightmares for years and still have paranoia about fire.

I really feel for those who have lost everything in the forest fires.

Carolyn

PatH · « **Reply #6287 on:** September 10, 2011, 09:17:50 AM »

Poet and hedge fund manager. That's an interesting combination.

Babi · « **Reply #6288 on:** September 10, 2011, 09:33:09 AM »

Yeah. I wonder what his poems are like. That should be hard to find; there can't be that many
poets named Slonimsky around. Hold on a sec. I'll go check. Ah, yes, here he is:
http://carolgoodman.com/Content/Poems_from_Pythagoras_in_Love.asp

There were also two well-known Russian composers/musicians of that name. It simply means,
'from the town of Slonim".

I'm hoping/praying that huge tanker will turn the tide in this battle against the wildfires. A pity
it takes so long to fill it up.

pedln · « **Reply #6289 on:** September 10, 2011, 10:58:19 AM »

So CG's husband wrote the Pythagoras poem? That's interesting, Babi, because wasn't it in her The Night Villa that we discussed, that had so much about Pythagoras and about a group called the Pythagoreans?

PatH · « **Reply #6290 on:** September 10, 2011, 11:23:10 AM »

I like those Slonimsky poems a lot.

However,

Quote from: Babi on September 10, 2011, 09:33:09 AM

There were also two well-known Russian composers/musicians of that name. It simply means,
'from the town of Slonim".

Maybe well-known to you, Babi, but I never heard of either of them.

Gumtree · « **Reply #6291 on:** September 10, 2011, 12:27:15 PM »

Didn't Carol Goodman acknowledge the poem in "Night Villa'? I seem to remember my copy (wherever it is) has an interview in the back in which she talks about their working relationship and how he will write poetry that she includes in her books.

{{{{{Barbara}}}}} Thinking of you all the while you're going through such horror. The reports are sounding more and more like Australia's fire disaster of 2007 - hundreds of thousands of acres burned out and houses lost as well as almost 200 lives. I pray it won't come to that where you are. Stay strong. more {{{{{HUGS}}}}} for you.

Frybabe · « **Reply #6292 on:** September 10, 2011, 01:56:04 PM »

Uh, oh! I don't remember a poem in The Night Villa. In the acknowledgements, CG did say that LS did the research on Pythagoras. Here is something about his poetry, including some more poems/sonnets. Amazon has two of his Pythagoras books left. Think I'll splurge and get one.

Babi · « **Reply #6293 on:** September 11, 2011, 08:08:35 AM »

I assure you, PatH, I was simply quoting the article. I'd never heard the name
before, much less knew the composers. And PEDLN & GUM, we did indeed discuss Goodman's
"Night Villa". She has a couple of other books out that I had planned to read, but I still
haven't gotten around to it.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #6294 on:** September 11, 2011, 11:38:32 AM »

Rosemary most cold drinks have an ingredient or chemical that gives me a migraine and most juices use a base of lemon juice or they hide it by using the chemical name citric acid - again for me the citrus of any kind and I am down for a couple of days with a migraine unless I resort to my med which contain barbiturates that at this stage in my life tears into my stomach -

sounds like the old kindergarten song and the foot bone connected to the ankle bone, and the ankle bone connected to the leg bone on and on...

And so I am down to tea coffee with no sugar and no milk product and water - since I make a fairly decent size pot of coffee each morning it is easy to stay with coffee while in the house and a bottle of water when I leave the house - if I stop to eat while I am out I usually order ice tea.

Not sure I want to stir up the memory of 9/11 - I still have not figured out how to bridge the gap in mankind now that we had folks not only using themselves as human bombs but taking our very citizens on those planes and using them as human bombs - to me it opened up a mentality that made the day all the more filled with horror - we certainly have had tragedies with great loss of life but now we not only had no respect for life using it as ammunition but then we had folks who had to choose their death - burn or jump - the whole day brought us to a new view of humanity - a new kind of hell -

I see that since the average American wanted to be close to family and friends - we went through a stage that the magazines labeled cocooning in our homes - I think that was the natural success of Facebook and twitter - we had the cell phone but the smart phone came in the last 10 years that is the connector to especially the young who where in school 10 years ago.

I can't help but feel the sting of a couple of authors who were expressing how the US was supporting the Middle Eastern dictators that they finally got rid of - sounded too much like blame that stung since they did not acknowledge nor does the realization seem to be there that the Arab Spring took place because of American invented tools of communication - not only Twitter, Facebook and Google but the equipment staring with the cell phone developed back in the 1990s

While Iraq and parsing the Geneva convention to justify torture was not our best contribution to society - all the time there was another group developing and grabbing new forms of communication that have widened the concept of 'friends' so that even here we talk regularly with like minded folks from all over the world. That to me is what I would prefer to celebrate today rather than the memory of human ammunition that brought others to only two choices - the freedom to breath while making the choice how to die.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #6295 on:** September 11, 2011, 12:01:30 PM »

I have been watching the 9-11 coverage on various networks all morning. I have cried as many tears as I did on the actual date. I was at work in a multi-storied building when the first plane hit the WTC. By the time the second one was hit, our home office in Boston advised us to shut down operations and vacate the building. Many hundreds of miles between us and NYC, but no one could be sure of how encompassing this attack might be. By the time I reached home, the Pentagon had been hit, and the Shanksville plane was down. I, for one, will never forget that awful, awful day. I did not personally know anyone lost in the attacks, but still feel the loss of all those unsuspecting souls. God Bless their families and God Bless America!

Frybabe · « **Reply #6296 on:** September 11, 2011, 01:20:25 PM »

I finally got around to ordering Slonimsky's Pythagoras in Love. By the time I got back to my order, the stock was down to one.

My sister and her husband will be attending the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra performance this evening. A local jazz artist and friend of my BIL, Steve Rudolph, composed a piece commemorating 9/11. He will open the performance with his composition. I hope at some point Steve records the piece. I would like to hear it.

salan · « **Reply #6297 on:** September 11, 2011, 01:27:27 PM »

911 brought a whole new era to our lives. No longer could we feel safe in our own country; and the threat of terrorism became all too real. I, too, sat in my home watching and crying. Not only was it excruciating to watch the WTC come down, and the people jumping to their deaths; it was also unreal to watch the ordinary Afhanis cheering in their streets. That was the first time that it was brought home to me how hated we are by certain factions. We now live in a different world. Travelling by plane used to be a pleasure; now it is a nightmare with all the security checks and long lines.

It also brought us together as a country. NYC's loss was a loss to all of us. I mourned and wept with the rest of the country. We all are truly Americans. God bless America and God bless us all!
Sally

JoanP · « **Reply #6298 on:** September 12, 2011, 08:18:51 AM »

September 11 - changed us all, didn't it? Those "credible" threats to Washington and New York never materialized yesterday - but will never be taken lightly. Each anniversary, I pray for healing... and understanding.

I came in this morning to let you know that the vote for an in-depth book discussion in November ended in a three-way tie:
The Elephant's Journey, Ship of Fools and two novellas by Eudora Welty: The Optimist's Daughter and The Ponder Heart.
We'll need to do a run-off vote to determine what it will be. Thank you for your help with this - November really isn't that far away. The vote is open through September 19[/b]

REMEMBER, once in, you must vote in order for your vote to be counted. If you need more information about these titles, there is a link to a review of each one in the heading of the Suggestion Box.

VOTE HERE

Babi · « **Reply #6299 on:** September 12, 2011, 08:52:40 AM »

The latest 'Smithsonian' includes an excellent article on how this disaster affected
the Muslim world, too. For the mass of Islam, these fanatics have seriously harmed
their lives and future as well. They have distorted some 1400 years of Islamic
teaching, and cast Muslims into the role of violent, backward, people. Their lives
were disrupted as surely as ours were, with suspicion surrounding them everywhere
they went outside their own countries. Their own progress into the modern worldwide
community was harshly disrupted. Fanaticism and terrorism victimize everyone.

MaryPage · « **Reply #6300 on:** September 12, 2011, 04:43:53 PM »

For all those U.S.A. citizens who doubt these radical Islamists have seriously distorted that beautiful (yes, beautiful) religion and added their very own radical views to it, I would ask two things before they pass final judgment:

(1) Read the history of Islam. You need not attempt one written by an Arab. Any good American or British scholar's book will do. Once upon a time, back in its beginnings, this religion embraced all other religions and practiced tolerance and love and EDUCATION. They invented Algebra and lots of Science. Check it out!

The Oxford History of Islam contains the work of a number of authors.

(2) Stop and think about the fact that Christianity has had many different interpretations and many splits. Rome and Constantinople split. Luther and the Pope split. Henry VIII split from Rome and began The Church of England, known here as the Episcopalian Church. Baptists have split innumerable times. I could go on and on. I am 82 years old, and the religion I knew as a child and young adult is not AT ALL what I am hearing as "Christianity" today! I swear! Now mind, this is just my own opinion of things, but what I am trying to do is underline a parallel and a like history with Islam. Not all Muslims, by any means, are terrorists! MOST are not! We can no more paint them all guilty than we can ourselves. It was Christianity that burned witches and called believers of different Christian sects heretics and burned them, too! Rome gave us the Great Inquisition. The Crusades! Remember the dread night France turned on its Protestants? The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre.

And finally I give you our very own, home-grown Christian cult of killers known as the Ku Klux Clan. They LYNCHED and then prayed about it! Thousands of victims in their heyday.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #6301 on:** September 12, 2011, 06:01:18 PM »

Amaen, Babi!

I didn't know if that was just a Christian term so i checked it out - it's not! interesting history

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amen

kiwilady · « **Reply #6302 on:** September 12, 2011, 07:21:08 PM »

Exactly Babi! I have a kind and gentle Muslim SIL who allows my daughter her own religion and also takes his full share if not more of household tasks. Certainly not the stereotype that is so much bandered around these days.

Carolyn

Babi · « **Reply #6303 on:** September 13, 2011, 08:39:48 AM »

True, MARYPAGE, every word of it. I knew what 'amen' meant, JEAN, but I didn't know it had
a counterpart in so many other languages.

Frybabe · « **Reply #6304 on:** September 13, 2011, 09:11:23 AM »

I ran across this obit link in one of Kim Kamando's e-newsletters. Michael Hart created the first e-book and founded Project Gutenberg.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/08/michael-hart-inventor-ebook-dies/print

FlaJean · « **Reply #6305 on:** September 13, 2011, 09:45:47 AM »

That was really interesting, Frybabe. Thanks for the link.

marcie · « **Reply #6306 on:** September 13, 2011, 10:24:44 AM »

That was a very thought-provoking article, Frybabe. Thanks. I hadn't heard of Michael Hart, though I have used Project Gutenberg alot.

From the article:
"A more correct understanding is that ebooks are an efficient and effective way of unlimited free distribution of literature. Access to ebooks can thus provide opportunity for increased literacy. Literacy, and the ideas contained in literature, creates opportunity."

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #6307 on:** September 13, 2011, 06:36:40 PM »

Nice link for all PBS British - http://blog.acornonline.com/

Babi · « **Reply #6308 on:** September 14, 2011, 08:18:07 AM »

Alas, my memory! Most of you post on the same topics I do. Where, oh where, did I post
about stories my grandmother told me? I cannot find a single post.

Gumtree · « **Reply #6309 on:** September 14, 2011, 10:46:34 AM »

Babi - we had that conversation in Mystery Corner - end of page 71 and start of page 72 Good luck!

Babi · « **Reply #6310 on:** September 15, 2011, 08:44:08 AM »

Thanks, GUM.

Steph · « **Reply #6311 on:** September 17, 2011, 06:12:34 AM »

Home... gloriouus home.. Jet lagged but home. Went and retrieved the dogs, so we are all home.. I make absolutely no sense just yet, but did enjoy the trip.. But oh me.. rain... wind....and cold.. The north part of Scotland is into severe weather.. Orkney was beautiful. My favorite of the whole trip. Edinburgh is where the wind was awful.. Almost got blown away at the castle.. Whew.. mobs of people and tons of wind.. Oh well.

Frybabe · « **Reply #6312 on:** September 17, 2011, 09:03:29 AM »

Steph,

Glad you are home safe and had a nice trip (despite the weather). i'M looking forward to hearing more when you are rested. I adored Edinburgh when I was there just after the Edinburgh Festival closed. There were still lots of people around then, too. However, we had the good luck to have lovely sunny weather while we were in Scotland. I do remember the wind in Edinburgh though. London was the city with the drizzle and fog when we visited. In fact, I think that was pretty much the only time we encountered inclement weather.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #6313 on:** September 17, 2011, 09:45:55 AM »

Welcome home Steph - sounds like instead of a culture shock it was weather shock - now that you are back home are you planning a flu shot for your dog - big news here as all the TV stations are pushing folks to get their dogs immunized - something about a flu that jumped from horses to dogs and they suspect it could be the flu that jumped to humans that we will be contending with this year.

But back to Scotland - I too would love to hear more about your trip and your impressions of what you saw. Been to Britain, Wales and Ireland but never Scotland and so it would be interesting to hear more about what you saw.

Have any of you been following Billy Collins as he crosses the outposts of Northern Canada - he brings his charm and wonderful laughter with him so that I am finding the PBS special on our alternate local channel to be a treat to watch.

Frybabe · « **Reply #6314 on:** September 17, 2011, 11:13:44 AM »

I haven't noticed that one listed on our PBS channel. What is the program title?

maryz · « **Reply #6315 on:** September 17, 2011, 11:18:47 AM »

Welcome home, Steph. It'll take you a while to get over the jet lag, I'm sure. We LOVED the Orkneys. Would love to get back there soon. I follow a blog from a woman who lives in Graemsey - a small island (30+ residents) in the Orkneys, and would love to visit her sometime. I'll e-mail you a couple of blog addresses.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #6316 on:** September 17, 2011, 01:42:24 PM »

whoops Connolly not Collins - the show is named - BILLY CONNOLLY: JOURNEY TO THE EDGE OF THE WORLD -

Can't find it on the PBS site but found this -
http://www.itv.com/Lifestyle/BillyConnolly/default.html

oh and look some of it is on YouTube - ha while researching I see he did a tour of Scotland that is on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrSqgQimlNo

Frybabe · « **Reply #6317 on:** September 17, 2011, 02:07:35 PM »

Thanks, Barb. I'll keep an eye out for it.

Steph · « **Reply #6318 on:** September 18, 2011, 05:56:41 AM »

Northern Scotland is beautiful in a stark sort of way. The cities are like cities everywhere. I adored Edinburgh, but did not particularly like Glasgow.. A bit dour actually. We went to Skye.. lovely with small towns and rugged scenery.. Orkney was my favorite of all.. Went to a Ring of Brodgar(?) and Scarra Brae. The last is a whole town unearthed originally in the mid 50's. It was abandoned a very very long time ago and had been covered with earth. A farmer found it by falling through a spot.. I loved Scarra Brae and could have spent more time there.
Saw a lot of castles..Some nice, some not so.. A lovely Ruin.. I believe it was Urquahart Castle by Loch Ness. Nessie did not visit us, but oh my, the town closest has turned itself into an amusement park all by itself. Went to the northernmost part of the mainland..That town has again made itself into a ugly little souvenier village, so I would guess the US is not the only place that takes a lovely spot and ruins it..
Bus tours.. Hmm. I did remember the third day in, why my husband and I did not take them.. Just too many hours on a bus and too many stops in not that nice a place because it is lunch time and souvenier time.. Still Scotland was beautiful in a strange isolated way.. Not a place to return, but am glad I went.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #6319 on:** September 18, 2011, 01:56:31 PM »

Thanks for sharing Steph - sounds like all and all it was a nice trip that gave your memory bank some new pictures. We forget how homogenized most cities in the western world have become so to find anything that sets one apart is really nice isn't it. Did you see or hear any Scottish traditional music while you were there? And did you spend any time in a pub for lunch or supper and if so was there any small group playing music?

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Author Topic: The Library (Read 2090290 times)