The Library

[Frybabe]

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 

FRYBABE
Well, that got my attention Barb. The setting is among booksellers. Okay, another book to ferret out to read. Thanks! I like books about or are set around books, booksellers and libraries. The author, who I am unfamiliar with, also wrote several other interesting sounding books.

[JoanP]

A fascinating question on the 3 (4) Musketeers, Barb.

We've looking for titles for November's Book Club Online discussion - gathering them in the heading of the Suggestion Box.  Scheduled to vote soon.  I have to be honest - there are a dozen titles suggested, but none of them seem to have captured group atttention.  Sound familiar?  This has happened the last two months and we have a bear of a time trying to narrow the list of scattered suggestions.  We're looking for a book most of us can get excited about.
Maybe it is hidden in the Nobel Prize list!  The Third Man? Or?

Would you mind taking a few minutes to look  over the Nobel list for titles you would consider reading in November?  We would really appreciate it! Nobel Prize Winners over the Years

[BarbStAubrey]

Frybabe if you choose to Read The Club Dumas post from time to time your experiences and I will do the same - yes, it sounds like a story we can get our teeth into and not just a simply who done it - I love the idea there will be allusions to other books for us to ferret out the clues.

Ha ha JoanP the suggesting of a monthly read sounds like Congress who cannot get their act together - I do like the idea of an adventure although, the more successful group reads were books set in the nineteenth century from Dickens to Austen and several others. Current biographies and histories get so political these days and on top I think many of us are tired of it so that we no longer have the energy to be shocked by some exposé.

I was really surprised to find so many poets on the Noble list - and the more recent winners I had not even heard of - But to pull something together for November from our list, which is huge and all over the place - why not start by grouping them in like genre and decide to alternate a literary winner one month with a history or bio another month and a nineteenth century classic the next with a current best seller the fourth month so that with a genre chosen the books recommended would at least fit into a pattern that could make voting more possible -

The genre headings do not have to be set in stone but why not try it for the next 4 months - I would even start with the November  selection process and ask for fresh book candidates based on whatever genre you choose - but I would list the genre's for the next few months so folks see that if their recommendation does not fit this month it may next or the following month.

Then if the genre for this month is prize winning novels it could be more than the Noble winners and include the Booker Mann etc. and limit it to a book written in say the last 10 years or choose a couple of years like any prize winning novel written between 1992 and 1996 - I think we have to make the possibilities wide enough but within a structure or else we do have this shotgun scatter of suggestions.

I even think looking at the entire Noble list of over 100 years is too much - the authors are winners of the Noble rather than one book so the field really gets wide and deep - we are already in deep - we need some traction on a road. OK my two cents.

[Tomereader1]

N O B E L

[BarbStAubrey]

         Yes...thanks!

[bellamarie]

I just went to see the movie Gone Girl, this past week end.  My granddaughter who is a Sophomore in college, and I always are sharing our books, and love discussing books and movies.  I bought the book by Gillian Flynn, and thought I would first read the book, then go see the movie.  My granddaughter convinced me to see the movie, before reading the book, since it will be more suspenseful watching the movie without knowing what to expect.  She was so right!  Now I will finish the book, since I really enjoyed the psychological plot. 
 
I would like to see our book club switch up and leave history, and the Eighteenth Century, and try a few more recent books in different genres. 

[PatH]

Athos, Porthos, and Aramis were in the Kings Musketeers, but Dartagnan started out in the Guards.

[PatH]

The useful way to use a list like the Nobel Prize winners is to run down it looking for books you've read that you think would make good discussions, or books you've always wanted to read that would work.  Unfortunately, when I did this, I found we'd already discussed a book by most of my picks.  We really get around.  The one remaining was Sigrid Undset.  Kristin Lavransdattir would make a good discussion, but we voted on it once before.  Also, it's pretty substantial, and I doubt we could finish it before the holiday season is upon us.

[JoanP]

We"re working on a new method to select book, starting the new year.  Some good ideas here.
 I noticed in today's paper that Karen Joy Fowler's latest book, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize edged out by Tasmanian writer, Michael Flanagan yesterday.  Still an honor for Aamerican KJ Fowler.  We'll leave her on our list for November.

Pat H...yes'. I loved the Sigrid Unset years ago.  Would love to add it to our list to see how Kristin Lavransdattir withstands the best est of  time!  Just the first book of the trilogy though?
Although I remember it was addictive!
We're going to get the vote out later today - with a few changes.

We"re working on a new method to select books for discussion, starting the new year.  Some good ideas here and in the Library. recently..

Pat H...yes'. I loved the Sigrid Unset years ago.  Would love to add it to our list to see how Kristin Lavransdatter   The Bridal Wreath withstands the test of  time!  Just the first Volume One of the trilogy though?
Although I remember it was addictive!

 I noticed in today's paper that Karen Joy Fowler's latest book, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize edged out by Tasmanian writer, Michael Flanagan yesterday.  Still an honor for American KJ Fowler.  We'll leave her on our list for November.

[Steph]

Possibly Dumas could not count??? , Rain this morning and 95% humidity.ugh.

[BarbStAubrey]

this  Ebola thing in the US is getting worrisome - planes are never really cleaned - how come this nurse contracted the disease and no one in his family are showing any signs - I would think he was as close with his family as any nurse. The news is full of who and what but not any real information about how.

[MaryPage]

Actually, I never thought of D'Artagnan as being one of the Three Musketeers.  He had not been with the Musketeers at all at the time that he joined them, and the three were already a trio.  I think of him as being the tag along who recounted their stories.  As I recall, Dumas borrowed from some other writer who wrote up a true story about some members of the Musketeers at the time.  No, D'Artagnan was not one of the famous Threesome, but was one of their pals and shared in some of their adventures.

[Steph]

Yes,more and more nurses, who I trust,, are beginning to speak out that training was not complete and the man was not isolated quickly..And then to have a nurse, knowing she was exposed fly commercial in the period is dreadful.. Scary stuff. I still find it not very nice that the original man knew he was exposed and came anyway..

[Frybabe]

The reports say that this last nurse was allowed to travel WITH a fever, abet not as high as their minimum criteria. So now there is a slight chance that it has been spread again.

[Steph]

Hopefully exposed people will be quaranteened.. and not use public transportation. This is getting serious.

[Tomereader1]

Just saw on the news that another health care worker is on a Cruise Ship (with over 4,000 people on board).  Don't know where this one is from, but I'm sure they will lay it at the door of our Dallas hospital.   Did you know that Visas are still being issued for travel from West African countries?
And the so-called "powers that be" say that closing travel into the US won't do any good,  BS

[JoanP]

Minutes ago, a tour bus was directed to the Pentagon in DC with 12 tourists and a driver.  It seems a woman threw up and on questioning, told police that she had recently been to Africa.  Her condition is being evaluated, while the 12 tourists are being detained on the bus until the woman's condition is clearer>

[maryz]

Tome, I don't want to downplay the situation, but they'd have to close ALL entry into the US, not just from Africa.  Passengers come into the US from all over the world - into all cities.  They'd have to cut off any international flights. 

[BarbStAubrey]

I only read that there are no direct routes from these west African nations to the US and so there would be places that passengers disembark to ether change planes or use the stopover airport for a layover.

I wish there was more information about how to reduce the possibility of contact - and if there is a way to detect anything before you have a high fever - does the germ linger in the air or on fabric like clothing - is it wise to have a set of traveling clothes that get immediatly cleaned or does the germ not attach itself to 'things' - How exactly does the disease manifest itself.

What is still curious to me is how the nurses are getting sick and yet, no family member is sick - you would think they would have had as much if not more contact with him than the nurses.

[jane]

Barb..I think it seems to come down to the "bodily fluids" thing they keep saying...his blood, and all other fluids a nurse might come into contact with.  I guess that's why the whole airplane scare, etc. seems unlikely....unless the nurse sneezed, vomited,  bled on every person on the plane.

Either it's only body fluids or it's not.  They keep saying body fluids, but I think people just aren't hearing that?  It's sure confusing.

Mary...my thought too.  Most flights I've heard of from Africa stop elsewhere...London, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, etc.  It'd be hard to know unless one could be sure every passport was stamped at each spot, and I know personally that doesn't always happen. 

jane

[MaryPage]

Since we talk about books in here, I would strongly recommend you read THE HOT ZONE by Richard Preston.  It tells of the FIRST TIME Ebola showed up here in the U.S.  I read it back when it came out, 20 years ago, because it happened in the very county in Virginia that I was living in at the time.

The nurses were dealing directly with his BODILY FLUIDS, which it would seem the family members were not.
It could possibly bring about another world wide depression if we cut off all contact with Africa, and also worsen the Ebola outbreak.
Lots and lots of people right here in these Senior forums would be affected.  I have, for instance, a son who just came back from there this summer.  He and many thousands of others go there to see the animals and the country.  Thousands more go back and forth to visit relatives, go to school, be in the Peace Corps, help out with various medical groups and so on and on.  My hairdresser has family in South Africa, and she has gone there for a visit.
This will be contained.  But we, and all the other countries, must send money, resources, and expertly trained medical people to make sure it is.  It would help if the Center for Communicable Diseases and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention here had not had their budgets severely cut by Congress, and if we had not been without a Surgeon General to lead our nation's medical defenses for several years now while the same congress refuses to vote upon the president's nominee for that job.

[ursamajor]

Salan, I read " The Art of Racing in the Rain" - my book club read it but I did not get to the discussion.  I thought it was very interesting and not at all what I expected.  Using the dog's voice takes a little getting used to.  It has a nice ending, which is probably what got it put on the list of boooks requested to be removed from school libraries.

[MaryPage]

Here is the official site to read up on the latest:

http://www.cdc.gov/

And this site is interesting, as well:

http://ccdd.hsph.harvard.edu/Research/Mathematical-Models-and-Decision-Making

I just now checked, and both Amazon and Barnes & Noble have brand new copies of THE HOT ZONE, while Thriftbooks has good used copies at about half the price of a new one.

[PatH]

This will be contained.  But we, and all the other countries, must send money, resources, and expertly trained medical people to make sure it is.  It would help if the Center for Communicable Diseases and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention here had not had their budgets severely cut by Congress, and if we had not been without a Surgeon General to lead our nation's medical defenses for several years now while the same congress refuses to vote upon the president's nominee for that job.

Amen, MaryPage

[ginny]

I don't know if this is relevant to the discussion or not but CNN had/ has? a piece on Ebola on its news APP and in the middle of reading it (it's called the ugly truth about Ebola or something) it points out that should a bodily fluid (like sweat) be on a surface and that surface be warm in temp that the virus or whatever it is can live on it, I assume until? it evaporates  for at least a couple of days. Should a person not affected then touch it with  a cut of some kind  or put his hands afterwards in his eyes, nose or mouth, it's possible  that he might  conract the disease. I had not seen this anywhere else, and I don't know if it's true, either, but I thought I'd add it to the discussion because to ME it was news whereas before it was all oh you have to be in close proximity of the person and so forth. Apparently not, if they are correct.

[PatH]

That contradicts what I've heard, but I can't say it's not so.

[Frybabe]

Super! I wondered about whether or not Ebola had already showed up here at sometime in the past. It seems impossible that it didn't. I never read The Hot Zone and didn't know it was about Ebola here.

[MaryPage]

Frybabe, it was a form of EBOLA brought here to Reston, Virginia in monkeys used for research.  The day by day, hour by hour tale of the ultra-secret effort made to contain the contamination and the news (they were afraid of a public panic), is what the book is all about.  It also goes into the story of the hunt for the possible source or sources of these pandemic threatening viruses, how viruses evolve and become threats to mankind, and so on.  This book made me go on to read many other books about viruses.  There are a whole lot more of them than there are of us, and the more our population explodes, the more vulnerable we are to being wiped out by them.  Reading all you can get your hands on about viruses will give you an amazing education.  If everyone did, we would become aghast at the fact that this planet's human population is now ten times what it was when I was born, and we would spend a lot more resources on discovering ways to win the battle against viruses and their mutations and against our own species that puts its head in the sand and prefers to be ignorant and thereby condemn itself to extinction rather than stand up and fight for our own kind to live on through future generations.  Viruses may inherit this planet and thrive in the putrid refuse we leave behind.

[BarbStAubrey]

Well according to what I heard on the NewsHour it is only bodily fluid and blood that will transfer the disease - sounds to me an awful lot like how AIDS was spread with this appearing like a similar panic only not relegated to a questionable minority.

If it takes this kind of scare to finally clean up those planes God be the Glory - the little pitter and patter they do with 'nice' smelling disinfectant is lucky to get a quarter of the germs in the toilets and then they do nothing but pick up the magazines and such on the seats regardless who was coughing or dribbling- before all the shake down at the airport I used to carry a can of Lysol spray -

I think I will risk a couple of small bottle of peroxide to clean up the arm rest, table and the seat in the toilet. Every time I fly to my daughter's I end up wasting 2 or 3 days of my visit sick in bed - on the way home I could care less - I've learned to stock up on juices and soups in the freezer so that when I come back I am all set if I repeat a bout with some strange something or other.

I hear they shut down all the schools in one of the counties to scrub them down - again, it will probably prolong the kids passing their fall and winter colds onto each other.

Did you see that special on PBS telling how cleaning products that started with Clorox only came into being because of building sewers and finally piping water into homes in the late nineteenth century - Forgot all the details but something about Clorox being stronger and used commercially without a great success and the wife decided to dilute it to a lessor amount and bottle it in these brown bottles to use cleaning homes. For the first few months she gave it away till it caught on. They said how many free bottles and I forget hundreds of thousands.    

[Frybabe]

Another Ebola website to peruse. I found this when I was trying to find Ginny's CNN article. It has all kinds of info, latest news, maps and diagrams.
http://www.ebola.org.za/how-long-does-ebola-survive-outside-the-body/

[Steph]

I think with the exception of sexual contact, that the original persons relatives are not at risk.They go out of quarantine tomorrow night. But if you have been exposed or worked with the disease going onpublic transportation is risky at best.. Think of others. I think that the Texas hospital from all I read had problems with taking off the safety stuff and not realizing that it was very risky indeed to touch it. I know three nurses very well and they are all not happy with what is happening.

[MaryPage]

Today, I pulled from my bookshelves three books about viruses I bought years ago and began rereading them.  I expect they are still available, especially in used bookstores, so I pass on their names to you here:
"Microterrors" by Professor Tony Hart.  Published in 2004, this looks just like one of those wonderful guides to trees or birds or wildflowers, also on my shelves and well used over the years.  This, however, is "the complete guide to bacterial, viral and fungal infections that threaten our health."  Amazing color photographs and detailed descriptions.  Of course, it includes Ebola.
"The Coming Plague" by Laurie Garrett.  Published in 1994, she suffered a lot of flack for being an alarmist (oh, heaven forbid the messenger to bear bad tidings), but she also won the Pulitzer Prize.
"Virus Hunter" by C.J. Peters.  Published in 1997, Peters is a doctor and writes of 30 years of battling hot viruses around this planet.  He, too, predicted a pandemic.  He was Chief of Special Pathogens at the Centers For Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia.
Good books, if you want to know what is going on.  Most people, I have found since I first read these books and other similar ones, do not want to know.

[Frybabe]

Friday's BBC News reported this "poor" fellow accidentally locked in a bookstore.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-29656674

[Steph]

I had a used book store and a separate room in the store for science fiction. I always had to check the room carefully on closing since my older male teen customers would curl up on the floor and read all day long..

[mabel1015j]

That's a nice story Steph, to think of teenage boys reading warms my heart.

Jean

[PatH]

Just so you don't trip over them when you go in the room.

[mabel1015j]

 

[JoanP]

Testing One Two Three...

How many of you would be interested in reading Richard Preston's Hot Zone - with a group - provided of course we can get copies of it?
WE could read it comparing it to advances made today.  I think the BBC has provided a list of ten things  learned from Preston's book.   Could you check your library's availability?  Some say it is too frightening to read.  It's non-Fiction - or course it's scarey.  If Fiction we could dismiss it as too wild to be believed.

[MaryPage]

Stephen King said THE HOT ZONE was the scariest book he'd ever read in his life.

[PatH]

Does that mean you would or wouldn't want to read it?