Author Topic: The Library (Read 2084678 times)

mrssherlock · « **Reply #480 on:** December 15, 2009, 02:01:03 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!

Everyone is welcome!

Suggestion Box for Future Discussions

So many Michener books I've liked; in addition to those already mentioned are: The Source, Caravans, Tales of the South Pacific and Centennial. What I'm reading now: Ariana Franklin's second in The Mistress of the Art of Death, about Adelia, trained in Salerno in the 12th century as a doctor who speciaizes in examining the dead is The Serpent's Tale; the story of Pythagorus' Revenge inspired me to read more about this fascinating man so I picked up Kitty Ferguson's The Music of Pythagorus: How an Ancient Brotherhood Cracked the Code of the Universe and Lit the Path from Antiquity to Outer Space which i thought was a science book but is another novel; Tournament of Shadows : the great game and the race for empire in Central Asia / Karl E. Meyer & Shareen Blair Brysac. which is in preparation for next month's Kim;The Cuckoo's Egg : tracking a spy through the maze of computer espionage / by Clifford Stoll; Death Perception, the next Psychic Eye mystery by Victoria Laurie. There's about ten more but it takes too long to type them in.

CallieOK · « **Reply #481 on:** December 15, 2009, 08:57:43 PM »

Mary, I enjoyed "Centennial" - until Michener moved a major Colorado land feature about 100 miles north of its actual location and, in the last chapter, had the main character drive from the town of Centennial to Durango over the most irrational route possible - all between breakfast and lunch (impossible in real life). I know - "author's license" but that was a bit much!

I also liked "Texas" - even though it would be impossible for an Indian tribe to make a one day hunting trip to the Palo Duro Canyon from the Wichita Falls area. In the last chapter, he seemed to work in all the Texas-Oklahoma jokes he had heard while living and writing in Austin - which had nothing to do with the story.

Hmm...maybe he was doing the same thing with all the places he worked into the Centennial-Durango story.

However - Michener is one of my favorite authors and I'm probably picky about these two novels because I'm so familiar with both areas.
I particularly liked "The Source" and "The Novel".

Pat · « **Reply #482 on:** December 15, 2009, 11:03:56 PM »

Mid-Month Book Bytes went out tonight. If you didn't get one look in your spam file.
And add SeniorLearnBooks@gmail.com to your address book.

serenesheila · « **Reply #483 on:** December 16, 2009, 05:53:59 AM »

My favorite Michener novels were Centennial, and Hawaii. I think it is time to go back and reread all of his books. I always loved the fact that they were both interesting, and longggg. If a book is good, I would like it to go on and on. All of his books were like that for me.

Sheila

Babi · « **Reply #484 on:** December 16, 2009, 09:07:16 AM »

Quote

When we drove to Alaska, we bought a copy of M's Alaska, and reread
it in sections as we went through the various parts of the state.

Mary, what a terrific idea. Especially if you have a traveling
companion so one can read while the other drives!

CallieOK · « **Reply #485 on:** December 16, 2009, 12:58:48 PM »

Pat, “It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily. "So it is." "And freezing." "Is it?" "Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately.”

A. A. Milne We have! There have been four 3+ strength quakes on the far eastern edge of Oklahoma City in the past few weeks! No damage - but seismologists are very busy!

I have just begun reading "The Lost Symbol". I'm glad a friend loaned it to me because it's going to be slower reading - 'specially with the holidays. So far, it's "typical" Dan Brown - but I find it intriguing.

kiwilady · « **Reply #486 on:** December 17, 2009, 01:02:55 AM »

Just dropping by to wish everyone Seasons Greetings. I have not forgotten all those from the old SN Bookie discussions.

The last few months have been busy. I sit two of my grands three afternoons a week and 3 full days in school holidays. I lost both my dogs this year. Penny in February and Zoe in September after a 7mth illness for Zoe. I was gifted a new furbaby as an early Christmas present by the kids on October 10. I got to pick her myself. She is another Bichon frise and I have named her ChiChi (She She) she is hypo and has been hard work which is now paying off. Totally different nature to my two previous dogs. Super confident and the dominant pup in a litter of 6.

Needless to say there has not been a great deal of time for reading! I did however want to touch base and wish you all a Joyous Christmas with family and or friends and a very Happy New Year.

Carolyn

Babi · « **Reply #487 on:** December 17, 2009, 08:35:59 AM »

Four quakes around Oklahoma City?! Isn't that fairly flat country, CALLIE? Obviously I don't understand what I thought I knew about quakes. Actually, I believe there is supposed to be a fault line in Texas, too, but if it ever produced a quake I don't know about it.

How great to hear from you, KIWI. And congratulations on still having
the strength and energy to babysit grandkids. I sorry to hear you lost
Penny and Zoe; I know what wonderful companions they were for you. Nothing like a new puppy to grab your heart and fill up the empty places.

Gumtree · « **Reply #488 on:** December 17, 2009, 10:33:07 AM »

Hi Kiwilady: Good to see you here - best wishes to you and yours for the festive season.

Gumtree · « **Reply #489 on:** December 17, 2009, 10:51:28 AM »

Have just finished reading Robert Harris' Pompeii and enjoyed it thoroughly. Its focus is the last few days before the 79 AD eruption - I know scholars and the purists would pick it apart but I found it such a good read. Harris very skilfully blended the stories of the historical figures and that of his fictional characters - and supported his story with historical facts about the Roman aquaducts and vulcanology.

Have just started Captain Cook's Last Voyage by Hammond Innes. As the world knows Cook discovered Australia but his last voyage was an attempt to find the north west passage. The book takes the form of a journal as it might have been written had Cook kept such a journal - full of north country common sense and comment upon those in power - the King, the parliamentarians of the time. I think I'll enjoy that too.

Also reading The Justification of Johann Gutenberg which tells Gutenberg's story and how he came to invent printing. It's written as a kind on memoire - very interesting. It might make a good discussion here as it touches upon so many issues of the time. Has anyone read it? It's written by Blake Morrison who also wrote And When Did You Last See Your Father

marcie · « **Reply #490 on:** December 17, 2009, 11:38:49 AM »

Hello, kiwilady. I'm glad that you checked in. It sounds like you are kept very busy with your grands and your new pup. Happy holidays to you.

winsummm · « **Reply #491 on:** December 17, 2009, 11:57:32 AM »

I have a batch of books started on the kindle. AMERICAN GODS is interesting in small doses,, THE SPIRE Olive kittridge in small doses a recent Rose conners is too expensive even on the kindle at 14 dollars all the others are much less and I
ve read them already

Now back to the financial world with fools gold again in doses and a rehash of house of cards to get oriented again. about diversities and their misuse. I understand that there will now be a market for them. Hedge fundes like them. anyway it covers a large field.

THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN is delightful Garth Stein is a good writer and has written two more novels. I do hop about a bit but none of it is about ancient or historical times. I read very small doses of those but Phillippa Gregory can attract me since she has a doctorate in her subject and expands on it without ocluding the story line.

claire

marcie · « **Reply #492 on:** December 17, 2009, 12:10:54 PM »

gumtree, I checked and my public library has a copy of The Justification of Johann Gutenberg. It sounds very interesting. I'll check it out when I've finished my current stack of books. Thanks for the recommendation. It does seem like an especially relevant book for this website.

mrssherlock · « **Reply #493 on:** December 17, 2009, 12:33:05 PM »

Carolyn: Hello! I've missed you. Keep in touch here even if you can't read much. This is the only place I have international contacts except with the family of my son's friend from San Salvador and my daughter's dear online friend in Yorkshire. I believe that we need to literally know others beyond our borders since we are all one community sharing one earth. And then there are my vicarious trips through reading.

evergreen · « **Reply #494 on:** December 17, 2009, 01:03:34 PM »

Finished The First Tycoon, a biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt, a man of little education, who seemed to have more vision than his competitors along with the ability to adapt to the rapidly changing commercial scene of 19th century America. I thought this was a fascinating book. So many negative things have been written about Vanderbilt, and this book clarified some of the "stories" that have been passed down about the man.

I've also just finished Night Train To Lisbon: A Novel by Pascal Mercier. translated from the German by Barbara Harshav. The author is a philosophy professor in Switzerland, and the story is about a professor of classical languages who tries to re-construct the life of a Portugese doctor who was also active in the resistance against the Salazar regime.

The book received very positive reviews in Europe, but terrible reviews in the U. S.
I'm not sure what the reason for this is, but I suspect it may be because this is not a plot-driven novel. Many interesting themes. A book I'll be thinking about for a while.

evergreen · « **Reply #495 on:** December 17, 2009, 01:14:32 PM »

Gumtree - The Justification of Johann Guntenberg sounds like something I'd like to read.
It occurs to me that I know next to nothing about a process that has affected my life so much.

JoanK · « **Reply #496 on:** December 17, 2009, 03:17:20 PM »

KIWI LADY: WELCOME BACK. I've missed you! Do check in, even if you aren't reading much.

FlaJean · « **Reply #497 on:** December 17, 2009, 03:19:17 PM »

CallieOK · « **Reply #498 on:** December 17, 2009, 04:47:33 PM »

Babi, it would take a book to explain Oklahoma's geography and geology!

Basically,from I-35 west is flat with few natural trees except along rivers and creek and east of I-35 is hilly-mountainous and timberedwith lots of underbrush.

I don't know much about the geology of the state but there are plates below much of the central area (called the Cross Timbers because it's where the land "crosses" from hilly/timbered to flat/treeless) that shift now and then. So - there are earthquakes. I've never felt one, though.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #499 on:** December 17, 2009, 06:03:50 PM »

Evergreen - it the title of the CV book referring to him as the first tycoon of the Untied States, or of the world? I guess my question is did he have more money than anyone else ever did? ................that doesn't seem likely to me considering the wealth that kings and tyrants had acquired at various times, but i'm curious................jean

mabel1015j · « **Reply #500 on:** December 17, 2009, 06:07:22 PM »

i've been having trouble reading some of the text on my computer, so i went into control panel and "accessibility" and changed some settings. It has helped. The background is very white and less cluttered, with blue text that is larger than it was. I have my text size on the computer screen set at "largest" but that doesn't seem very large to me. But the changes i made in "accessibility options" has made it easier for me to see the pages in SL, not sure why.......................jean

JoanR · « **Reply #501 on:** December 17, 2009, 06:38:42 PM »

Mabel - I hold down the control key and rotate the wheel on my mouse forward. That enlarges the text. Do the opposite and it grows small again. Shades of Alice in Wonderland!!

Octavia · « **Reply #502 on:** December 17, 2009, 07:07:57 PM »

Bellemere, not giving up on William Trevor, I've had to put him on hold as there were a couple of books due at the library. I'm hoping to find a novel of his somewhere.

I read Emily's blog and was amazed at how much it mirrored my son's experiences(given the difference sexes of course). I'll definitely read your other grand daughter's blog. My son was in Argentina too. In all, he spent 11 mths in S.America. Absolutely stunning scenery and such friendly people.

Hey, Carolyn, it's great to see you again

. I was sorry to hear you lost Zoe and Penny, I must have followed their lives for about 10 yrs. How do the cats feel about an energetic youngster around the place?

I miss those Southern Hemisphere forums, and the people who were in them.

Gumtree, I'll look out for Cook's Last Voyage too. I've always liked Hammond Innes. Have I already asked you if you've read Tim Winton's Breath?

Night Train To Lisbon. A Novel sounds really interesting. I mght read some reviews and see if it sounds like my kind of book

Frybabe · « **Reply #503 on:** December 17, 2009, 11:20:46 PM »

Thanks for the report on Night Train to Lisbon, Evergreen. I've had that one on the backburner to read. I been putting off buying it.

Gumtree · « **Reply #504 on:** December 18, 2009, 01:16:10 AM »

Octavia Have I read Tim Winton's Breath?

Well. of course I have. Tim is one of the locals in this part of the world - almost like one of the family

His novels are set in localities that are well known to me and it doesn't take long to fathom out where he's set each one though sometimes the setting is an amalgam of a few different places.
As with most of his work Breath had it's dark side and much of it was very true to life.

I've only just started Captain Cook's Last Voyage but am enjoying it immensely - haven't read a seafarer's story since we read about Captain Bligh on SNet.

I too miss the old Aussie folders and the folk who made them so interesting.

Babi · « **Reply #505 on:** December 18, 2009, 08:40:03 AM »

I've always thought Hammond Innes an excellent writer, GUM. I didn't
know he had written any non-fiction, tho',

I didn't know that about Phillippa Gregory, CLAIRE. I shall approach
her novels with a new respect.

EVERGREEN, reading your post about the Vanderbilt book made me pause to wonder. It occurs to me that not coming from a family of well-established traditions and viewpoints could be an advantage to an entrepreneur. Easier to think 'outside the box'; more adaptable, as you put it.

CALLIE, I suspect that is the same fault line that runs down through
Texas. Couldn't swear to it, tho'.

That's good information to have, JEAN. I'll try to remember control panel
and "accessibility" for future use.

bellemere · « **Reply #506 on:** December 18, 2009, 09:13:25 AM »

Octavia, my other granddaughter and her friend Jen have finished their contrcts on the organic farm in Colombia; she is visiting Emily in Cochabamba and having slightly edgier adventures on her way to Argentina. I really will breathe asigh of relief when she gets to Buenos Aires and her "family" from her student days.
People here in North american, and I guess Australia too, are alwys taking trips to Europe and never would think of South America as a vacation destination unless on a cruise to Rio or something. But it is a whole world of its own. I am proud of my granddaughers for taking such an interest in it.
How is everyone doing with Wolf Hall? There are 55 holds on it at my library! I guess I will have to break down and buy it for myself for Christmas.
Hello, Steph - are you there?

Gumtree · « **Reply #507 on:** December 18, 2009, 11:44:29 AM »

Bellemere: Aussies do visit South America for vacations and for work -but it is not the most wanted holiday destination but is rapidly growing in popularity. Saw a TV show recently about Aussies who went to visit their son who was working there and got caught up in some scam or other - they all got back safely though. At the other end of the age scale a friend of mine who was then in her mid seventies went on a major tour through several South American countries including trekking in Peru. She loved every minute and brought back some beautiful knitwear.

Octavia · « **Reply #508 on:** December 18, 2009, 07:35:56 PM »

Gumtree, don't forget the Enzedders and their Folder

.

I've been pushing my sons to read Breath, because they're keen surfers and would really relate to it. I know he copped some criticism about the dark parts, but you only have to listen to the news, to know that a lot goes on behind closed doors.

Slessor's poem Five Bells contains Cook poems, and the lovely poem about Cook's time pieces, Two Chronometers. It has that lovely onomatapoia( I'm pretty sure that spelling is wrong) with one lingering in the past and the other 'dragging Captain Cook to the Sandwich Isles'.

My head aches a bit here. There's so many books and so little time! I can't ever read all I want to, and new ones hitting the shelves every day.

My boys with one exception want to go to places that are very cheap, so they can stay much longer, and avoid the usual tourist places. They're prepared to rough it, which opens up a lot of opportunities. They usually come home with a new career path which fades gradually

. Chris helped an anthropologist near Tibet who was doing a survey on the weight of newborn babies in the mountains. When he came back he wanted to be an anthropologist too.

pedln · « **Reply #509 on:** December 18, 2009, 07:44:21 PM »

Carolyn, good to see y ou here. I’m sorry about your dogs.

Gum, I read Pompeii some time ago, and really enjoyed it. I think Books had read and discussed it earlier. Harris also wrote The Ghost ( I think that’s the title), a mystery involving a ghost writer for a politician.

Evergreen, it’s interesting, your mention of Night Train to Lisbon. A Latin student mentioned it in Books some time ago and when I saw it on the bargain table I picked it up. Haven’t read it yet. Like you, I’ve also seen that it received good reviews in Europe and bad ones here in the U.S.

Bellemere, it’s good to see the young people showing interest in South America. What wonderful adventures your granddaughters must be having. My 16 year-old Seattle granddaughter wrote recently that she will travel and do community service with the non-profit Amigos de las Americas for six to eight weeks this summer in either Central or South America. The young people have to raise the total cost of their participation, so she is now busy soliciting.

I stopped by here because of a news blurb just now on CNN. Can you imagine a city without a bookstore? Barnes and Noble is pulling out, which means Laredo, TX closest bookstore is in San Antonio, 150 miles awasy.

Frybabe · « **Reply #510 on:** December 18, 2009, 10:42:55 PM »

Looks like I get to stay home and read on Saturday. I'll be darn if I am going to drive into work in the middle of this snowstorm that is coming. They are calling for 6-10inches and later on, winds to 25mph. Oh Boy! Drifts!!

Gumtree · « **Reply #511 on:** December 19, 2009, 01:36:14 AM »

Octavia Oh no! I would never forget the Kiwis - wish they were all here on this site.

Thanks for reminding me of Kenneth Slessor's Cook poems. Haven't read them in a long long time. The Kendal clock he had on board was really a straight copy of Harrison's which was the first one that did the trick in keeping accurate time so as to gauge longitude. I guess you've read Dava Sobel's Longitude . Recently ABC put on a two part series Longitude focussed on Harrison's work on the chronometers. I thought it an excellent piece of work.

Gumtree · « **Reply #512 on:** December 19, 2009, 01:48:57 AM »

Pedln: Thanks for letting me know that Books had discussedPompeii. Dash it all - it was before I found the Books site. The good news is that it's in the Archives so I'll take a browse in the discussion when I've time.

Babi · « **Reply #513 on:** December 19, 2009, 09:39:06 AM »

That's true, BELLE. I think Europe simply seems safer than South America to most people. Perhaps an unfair perception, but it does exist, probably because of all the stories about the powerful drug cartels there. A pity, really, since S.A. is certainly gorgeous.

OCTAVIA, I think your boys have the right idea. Such travel is not only
cheaper, they must see a lot the average tourist never sees. And having
an opportunity to work with an anthropologist has got to be more exciting than just trudging through a museum to see what they dug up!

ginny · « **Reply #514 on:** December 19, 2009, 09:43:22 AM »

I'm interested in Aussie Lit. It's been a long time since we've read something from or about Australia. If you all had to list your personal best in that category, what would it be?

One of my favorite made for TV movies starred Lane Smith and Linda Lavin in a true story of a couple in the States who had the dream to be sheep farmers, moved to Australia, or at least SHE and the children did, started a sheep farm, went thru all the problems thereof, waited for him, waited for him, and when he came it was to say he was not coming. True story, woman became a nun after successfully raising I don't know how many children (9?) and successfully farming, it was called A Place to Call Home, not to be confused with the Cathy Bates movie) and I thought was impossibly heroic, how I sort of think of Australia. Would like to read others like it, if there are any.

OR is that like the romanticized Out of Africa type of books? The Flame Trees of Thika?

I've had some of my face to face students tell me that Harris's Imperium is better or that is they enjoyed it better than Pompeii, which is now being made into a movie. That should be interesting.

I recently got from Netflix the old Edward Bulwer-Lytton, The Last Days of Pompeii, I think it's a silent movie, should be very interesting. I have never read his original book, the Last Days of Pompeii I think it is.

I visited his ancestral home Knebworth as part of a course I took at Oxford one summer. He may have a contest named after him, (construct the first worst line to start a book), but he sure lived in a palace,

his...father? Grandfather? Don't recall, for some reason this morning Foxfire seems to feel all urls on the net are not valid and won't open them except for Wikipedia, perhaps hell has frozen over? hahaha Anyway, his ancestor was governor over India or something and there's an entire house on the estate filled with Indian things, very interesting.

I was there in 2003 when they were preparing for a concert for Robbie Williams (? who?) and it turned out 375,000 people attended. They lay down on the grass these metal sort of roads, and you're supposed to walk on them. I still don't know who Robbie Williams is.

But Bulwer-Lytton, was there when they first began excavating Pompeii, like a lot of other famous men: Dickens, Goethe, Stendhal, and Mark Twain among them, and he was able to see things which are not there any more. I've forgotten which house he used in his descriptions as I've not read the book, possibly the Tragic Poet.

All the "Best Books of the Year" are coming out, and so far one making all the lists is Zietoun (sp) which I have and have not, for some reason read. Have any of you read it, and if so, how is it? I have his and the new Tracy Kidder. I love the way Kidder writes, still think House is, along with Anne Rivers Siddons The House Next Door, two really good books: totally different subjects, one almost sci fi and one non fiction. Kidder's newest one is about an immigrant from Africa who is now a doctor in the US.

I am stunned to see Mary Karr's new one, Lit, mentioned as well on the non fiction lists. One would have thought after The Liar's Club which we did read when it came out here, to my total disgust, and Cherry, one would have had enough of Mrs. Karr's (a person otherwise unknown save for these revelatory and unsavory bits about her own body functions and inability to tel the truth) revelations of her personal parts and various moral failings told with "I got away with it" glee, but no, we need to understand her subsequent trip thru alcoholism in her new book.

That would be a good book for Kindle, no trees destroyed and when it's over, POOF, and she's gone, hopefully forever. Or at least until she pens her own progress into middle or old age, oh boy I can't WAIT, just can't wait, what WILL she take up next?

On Stephen King's best books list is Sarah Waters The Little Stranger, which is supposedly so haunting you can't put it down. She also wrote An Instance at the Fingerpost, another one in my stack of spooky stuff to read. I've also gotten Ghost Story by Sarah Rayne, and I had to get it from Amazon uk, she's British and it's about a spooky old theater which so far is just excellently written, literate, atmospheric and intelligent but I'm not that far into it.

Cook's Last Voyage sounds wonderful, Gumtree, I miss all the Bligh books, I must get that one, I just saw on a food channel here, believe it or not, the mystery ingredient was breadfruit which I searched for in vain on every trip to the islands after reading the Bligh books, that sounds like a winner. It looks nothing like what I thought.

I notice that the Best Books of 2009 seem to reflect individual tastes. So if you had to make your OWN list, of the "Best Books of 2009" which YOU read, which one tops YOUR list and why?

Babi · « **Reply #515 on:** December 19, 2009, 10:00:14 AM »

GINNY, my favorite books about Australia are Nevil Shute's books. I
thought he was Australian, but no, he's English. If you want a good
link to Australian authors, try this one:

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

CubFan · « **Reply #516 on:** December 19, 2009, 10:40:39 AM »

Greetings -

My two best reads of the year would have to be:

Fiction: The Help by Kathryn Stockett for her different approach to life in the South during the 1960's;

and Nonfiction: The Woman Behind the Deal, the life of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and his moral conscience by Kirsten Downey for a detailed but very readable portrayal of a women overlooked by many historians in the country's survival of the Depression and the impact the programs she managed still have on our lives today.

Hey Frybabe - you have the right idea. That's exactly what I did last week. Stay in and read.

Mary

bellemere · « **Reply #517 on:** December 19, 2009, 10:50:17 AM »

May I introduce a new author? I couldn't be a prouder grandmother ! From Bolivin
It Up

post. I feel like I should be finding some way to conclude this whole incredible semester, but I know it's absurd to think that I'd be able to do that, even with pages and pages of writing. I'm flying home on Tuesday and I really can't wrap my mind around what it will be like to leave this place.

We had our final presentations of our projects this past weekend. Most of the projects were thirty minute presentations about our topics, methodology, and findings, but for me and Laura (those who wrote children's books) and Nicole (who wrote a week-long curriculum for a fourth grade class), they consisted of a brief presentation to the group and then we got to read our books to a group of kids who came to the evaluations specifically for story time. It was without a doubt one of the most rewarding experiences of my entire life. This project felt more meaningful than any other work I've ever done, and to have the opportunity to present it to the people it was meant for was absolutely incredible. Afterwards, the kids asked me a bunch of questions about the book and gave me terrific feedback. I went back to my seat glowing after the presentation. It was one of the best feelings I've ever had.

rich7 · « **Reply #518 on:** December 19, 2009, 10:52:49 AM »

Hello all. Glad to be back where I can talk books with folks. How come "everyone" knew about this website but me? (Paranoid aren't I?) Smile.

Just finished a book titled "Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton" by Edward Rice. There is one incredible person. (Burton not Rice.)

This Richard Burton (not the one who married Liz Taylor) was a 19th century explorer, scholar, military officer, student of world religions, linguist, amateur anthropologist, and prolific writer.

Burton was one of the first "Europeans" to make the Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca). He did it by converting to Islam and posing as an Arab. Islam was a strong influence to him for the rest of his life. He was involved in discovering the source of the Nile river. And, in his spare time, he translated the "Kama Sutra" and "Arabian Nights" into English.

Burton's list of adventures go on and on, a couple more being fighting Indians in the American West, and having a private audience with Brigham Young.

He was a true Victorian era "Renaissance man"

Anyway, enjoyed the book. Has anyone else read about Burton?

Rich

bellemere · « **Reply #519 on:** December 19, 2009, 10:55:02 AM »

Sheesh, I forgot the title: Enfrentando El Gigante, written and illustrated by Emily Smizer, in Spanish and Quechua, the indigenous language of Bolivia. Her mom and Dad are meeting her at the Airport in Boston on Tuesday with parka and mittens!

News:

Author Topic: The Library (Read 2084678 times)