Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2

[rosemarykaye]

This is the place to talk about the works of fiction you are reading, whether they are new or old, and share your own opinions and reviews with interested readers. Every week the new bestseller lists come out brimming with enticing looking books and rave reviews. How to choose?

Discussion Leader:  Judy Laird

Jeanne - I know, it is all about insurance and risk these days, no-one is prepared to take responsibility for anything.  A retired lawyer friend told me that lawyers in practice are no longer able to advise clients as to what they should do - they are told instead to present the alternatives and tell the client to choose. They dress this up as 'empowerment' but in fact it is 'don't sue me, it was your decision'.  I really hate the way society is going sometimes - which makes me feel very old!  

[Steph]

Yesterday I went to look at an over 55 development in preparation for if and when I sell my big house. I found several models that appeal, so now feel better about my decision to size down..Funny how the little things are comforting.

[Babi]

 Amen! to that, ROSEMARY.  Now we can begin to understand why our elders were often so
disapproving.  We've enough experience now to see the patterns that have emerged...and deplore them, just as they did. 

  Me, too, STEPH.  I'm happy just to keep warm, to see family and friends, to enjoy my
books and crossword puzzles.  I can see the blossoms on my bougainvillea and stroke the
cat in my lap.  Life is still good.

[MaryPage]

Yes, yes!  I had the most delightful great grandmother anyone could possibly have, and she took a personal interest in me and we spent a lot of time together and she lectured me for hours and hours.

I can remember that when I was about ten, she quite literally told me the world was going to hell in a basket.  I remember vowing I would NEVER take that attitude with MY great grandchildren!

Well, truth to tell, I do not tell any of them that.  By December 1, if granddaughter Judith's little boy arrives when due, I will have 22 great grandchildren.  My great grandmother only had 8.

But I do believe the world is going to hell in a basket!  As an expression only.  The real manner and direction appear to be myriad.

And I am not talking politically here.  My view is of the whole planet and all of the terrible things taking place.

[maryz]

Glad you're finding places that suit you, Steph - and that you even have choices.  I'd love to move into a place like that.  There don't seem to be choices in our immediate neighborhood - and I'd like to stay here.  There are places "across town" - which is probably only 10 or so miles.   Anyhow, good luck with your decision-making.

[Steph]

MaryZ.. how is therapy coming. I think of you.. KNow that I keep the good thought that therapy goes well..
Clermont is not very big, so the 55+ is about 15 minutes from where I live now, not a long journey, but I will probably change groceries.. theire is a bank branch close to there.. I am considering if I want a golf cart when I move.. I can go to the bank, grocery store, dry cleaners and a mex restaurant on it.. Hmmm. Are they easy to drive?? I know they are electric?? So do you keep them plugged in all the time?? Lots of discover, but plenty of time, since I have to sell this one first.

[maryz]

Hi Steph - thanks for the concern.  Therapy is coming along.  The therapist says my range of motion is good and getting better.  She's working a lot on strength now - which is needed for the "good" hand/arm, too.  I'm achy a lot of the time, but still taking regular low-level pain meds and using an ice pack.  I do exercises at home (2X a day) and keep it out of the sling a lot at home - just to increase daily use and strength.

I'd think a golf cart would be a good second vehicle.  I've used one of the carts in the grocery store and it didn't take too long to learn how to use it.  You'd have to go with the instructions for the cart for plugging up, etc. 

[Babi]

My comfort, MARYPAGE, is that history also shows a pattern of drawing back from
the extremes that could destroy us, time and again. The time may come when we don't
'draw back' quickly enough. I can only hope that our efforts to prevent catastrophe
will bring us through again.

 STEPH, I've never been on a golf cart, but I would think a vehicle intended for use
on golfing greens would not do very well on a paved road. Not to mention get up to
the minimum speed for the streets. I do know that the electric carts used in large
department stores make a very bumpy ride outside the doors.

[maryz]

Babi, my aunt lived in a 55+ facility, and folks who lived in cottages frequently had golf carts for use on the property.  Also on Cedar Key, FL, which is a regular town on a small island, they were at one time considering an ordinance to limit in-town traffic to electric carts, just to cut down on congestion.  That was a number of years ago, so I don't know whatever happened with that.  Anyhow, it is possible to use them in limited areas where they are "street legal".

[ginny]

Stephanie, we  use golf carts here so I can speak to them, i guess. They are easy to drive, our 5  year old grandson drives one of ours, (with supervision of course).  They come in gas or electric models. The gas models are quite  loud. It is useful with an electric cart   to keep it charged, which does require it to be plugged in to a charger which is plugged into a socket.

They can come with little dump truck like things on the back, very useful for all sorts of things.  And they're fun.

 They can be dangerous so you'd want to be careful as with anything  moving. Are there places you can reach stores and run errands without going on the public highway, or  are some of the roads private to the particular community and/or  sandy and it's customary for people there use golf carts to get around on those roads?

We have paved driveways and they run fine on pavement, but I'm not thinking they are legal on a public road, and we've never actually taken one on a public road.

[JeanneP]

I don't believe you could use a Golf Cart on city or town streets. Parking them would also be a problem.  They can be used in Neighbourhoods where lots of seniors live. Condo complexes and such. That would be all

[Steph]

KIngs Ridge has private roads and they have a golf cart area on the side of all the roads. The shopping center with bank, grocery, etc is accessible through a gate, so you are never on public roads..That would scare me.. They have golf cart parking at the shopping center as well..
Oh well, that must wait until I sell this one..and heavens knows houses are not moving fast.

[Babi]

 I can't imagine any cart that would be able to reach a legal minimum speed limit
for the public streets. I can see where they would be useful in an enclosed community
situation, but not so much elsewhere.  I am letting my driver's license lapse, as it has
become more and more evident to me that I cannot drive as safely as I need to.  God
forbid I should harm someone because my response time is too slow.

[ginny]

They are wonderful on a farm, Babi, too.

Stephanie, King's Ridge looks fabulous!

[Steph]

I am looking forward to the adventure.. Lots of clubs and a travel club, which may help me again do sometraveling.
The Maidens are winding down.. Last night, she remarked on an older quaker man and how you could tell he was born into it as he had that deep content that came from knowing who and what you are. Since I know I feel like that about some of the elders when I was a younger woman, it touched my heart.

[bellemere]

broke my rule against buying best sellers and put Gone girl on my Nook.  It is full of suspense, clever plot twits, lot of public rellations jargon, procedural police work, , very wordy, needed a good editor, and i generally could not put it down, but ended up not liking it.  Injustice triumphs. Charters not likeable.  plot intricate but only partly believable, .  anyone else read it?

[MaryPage]

I have NOT yet read it, but it is on my wish list for Christmas, so I will most likely get it.  I am curious about what makes it such a best seller week after week after week.  Somehow I have formed the opinion that I may not like it, and here you are sort of confirming that.

[Winchesterlady]

I've read "Gone Girl" and I really liked it.  It's written by Gillian Flynn, and this was the first book of her's that I've read.  It's written from two different points of view -- Nick's view is told real-time and Amy's is from her diary.  It was a very unusual way to write a book, but if you enjoy psychological thrillers, you might like it.

[Steph]

My Christmas book list thus far is three of the Julia Child: Dearie, JUlias Cats and the Covert Affair, then Virginia Scharf.. Jefferson and the women he loved.. I generally only ask for books that I know I want to keep forever. and basically non fiction.
Finished The Maidens, did not like the ending,, but loved the book. Oh well.

[JeanneP]

I started "The Maidens" but just could not get into it and so I started on a book "Revenge of a Middle Age Women" Lizabeth Buchan So far staying with it.  The problem with "The Maidens" is the print is very small and light. No one has it in Large Print.

[mabel1015j]

I ended up deciding i did like A Woman's Place by Lynn Austin. It is about four women who go to work building liberty ships during WWII. The message was very feminist/women making their own decsions/learning how strong they could be. But Austin also writes a lot of evangilical religion into it, apparently her other books have been set in biblical times. I just glossed over that and ended up liking the story in general.

Jean

[Steph]

Decided I wanted light and funny, so just started Star Island by Carl Hiassen. Living in Florida, the books are funny, but way too close to the way the state is.

[Babi]

  I'm always alert for 'light and funny'.  Carl Hiassen goes on my list.

[Steph]

Babi, it is Florida funny, which is somewhat different from everyday funny.. Lots of alligator and politician jokes. I love him.

[Babi]

 Politician jokes are easy!  I would think alligators don't present much room for amusement,
tho'.  Definitely an 'approach with caution'.  I'm hoping to pick up a few books Monday at
the library.  I'm down to reading one of Val's Nora Roberts romances. It's interesting enough,
but it seems every other page has another fight/passion episode between our hero and heroine.

[Steph]

O ne of Hiaasens continuing characters is Skink.. who is a former Florida governor who  took to the swamps and ecology.. He is funny, very exaggerated, but Carl is making the point that in Florida the alligators are more benign than the alligators and if you live here, you know the truth in that.

[MaryPage]

Bob Schieffer of FACE THE NATION had 4 best selling authors on this morning, and one of them was Gillian Flynn who wrote GONE GIRL.

She seemed to be someone without ego and very, very nice.  Very pretty and down to earth.  I liked her a lot.  She admits her book is quite dark.

He also had Chris Pavone, writer of The Expats, and now I find I really want to read that.  And he had David Baldacci, who I like in person but do not care for his books, and Alex Stone, who wrote that book about magic, a subject I am just not interested in.

I found I liked all 4 authors as people, and that is quite surprising as I usually find so many of them to be full of themselves.  These four have, or at least seem to have, great personalities.

[Steph]

Hmm, I know I dont want to read Gone Girl, but possibly the Expats.. I know I dont like Baldacci.. Sigh.. I am reading light because I am busy and cannot just sit down  for a long time to read.. Lighter books make it easy to pick up an ddown... Oh.. on the IPAD, I am reading the second Dixie Divas.. A fun light read.. Very very southern..

[Babi]

in Florida the alligators are more benign than the alligators and if you live here, you know the truth in that

   I think there is something missing here, STEPH.  Please clarify. 

[Steph]

Sorry Babi..The alligators are much more benign than the politicians.. Hiassen has very strong feelings about the destruction of the natural world in Florida.. The everglades are disappearing because Big Sugar is high on the political gift world.. Disney in the center of the state controls what is happening through their lobbiest. If they dont want it, it doesnt get done.. and we have a governor who is totally big business,, not government, not schools and for heavens sake, never the poor.

[MaryPage]

I spent years and years in politics (now totally retired from all of that and glad to be out of it) and I started off right at age 21.  I saw idealistic, enthusiastic, bright young men (in those days, we women were strictly the worker ants) who later sold their souls for the flattering, ego-building invitations to play golf, to take the wife and little kiddies to a free weekend in a posh resort, to have their opinions sought and their love of lunch in the best restaurants with the finest old Scotch indulged.  With most of 'em, it does not take long to be seduced.  Only a very few, a pitiful few, can keep their souls.  One day these young men run for office and get large contributions from their oh so good "friends," and the next day they realize they have to vote the way these friends ask;  they have to face pay back time, or else.

Hey, I even got a crush myself on a lobbyist.  He was adorable when we were all young, but he sure got cruddy when he was old.  Oh well;  I'm no great shakes at my age, either!  Almost all of those populating my memories are dead and gone now;  but the play goes on, and except for the differences technology has added, and has it ever, the script is the same old, same old.

Pity.

Of all the sayings we have ever learned, the most important in politics is this:  FOLLOW THE MONEY.

[Babi]

I've learned a lot about Florida I never knew, thanks to your posts, STEPH. It
does help to explain why there always seem to be political problems there.

  MARYPAGE, I never had a head for politics. Even in office politics I was a
naive innocent. Reading your post I am rather comforted that I kept my distance
from the whole thing.  I do vote in the national elections, but it is for the
person, not the party. 

[JeanneP]

People get so shocked when they read of some man if Politics  have something on with women not his wife. I worked 40 years in couple small but other large businesses. Not one place did I not see it going on.
Even back when I worked in UK.

  The mayor of my city here is being sued at this time by some women he was having a affair with. She is saying that he still owes her money for work she did for him. (Use to be called prostitution but not these days). Now they call them mistresses.

Long as women and men are working close together this will always go on. More now than ever because the Women now can be the one getting it started. Find with most men it does not take much.

[MaryPage]

I agree with you, Jeanne, as that was my experience both in my work life and in volunteer work, such as the politics.  Forever.

That is why, in 1991 when Doctor Hill was asked to testify as to the behavior of her former boss, Clarence Thomas, I told EVERYone that she was telling the truth, and I made up a huge photo/scrap book that I still have.  When asked why I believed her so vehemently, I explained that I had the same sort of thing happen to me over and over, and, what is more, like Professor Hill I had continued to attempt to be on a professionally friendly basis with each person, including one who, just as Thomas had been with her, had been my boss at two different times and places.  

I just flat out felt a fiery fury that those sanctimonious senators proclaimed such righteous shock that she would describe such outrageous things about this saintly Supreme Court nominee!  How COULD she sit there and lie with a serene face and having taken the oath!

Well, all the literature out now on the subject completely exonerates Hill.  What is more, there were 3 other women he had worked with who were willing to come forward and tell the same sort of story.  The committee decided NOT to call them.  When I think of all this sort of stuff that has happened in my lifetime, I think of Diogenes going forth with his lamp looking for one honest man in this world!

[Steph]

I know they wanted a black man for the seat, but there were so many others who were better than he was or is.. Not a good justice..
Once when younger, I dated an up and coming politician, but in the end, decided I was not cut out to be that sort of wife.. Nice enough human, but very very sure that he knew all the answers.

[marjifay]

I'm with you, MaryP. Loved your "I think of Diogenes going forth with his lamp looking for one honest man in this world!"  I was so angry with that dopey group of all-male senators who believed Thomas.  They'd probably all done the same sort of thing.  Every time I look at Thomas I want to vomit! 

I bet we've all had that kind of stuff happen to us when we were young.  I quit a couple of jobs just for that reason.  But while you're working, you have to do the best you can to avoid the monster and hang on to your job till you can find another one!

Marj

[JeanneP]

I think that back then Mary, in the working field we knew when men were getting a little to friendly. Only thing was many women did use it to get  favours. My first job not many men around because of the priorWar. They took advantage. I use to see these women take the favours. He came to me and I remember picking up a heavy item and striking him. Then walked out. Happened over the years but I think I was more of a Asset to the companies that all I had to do was just Give one look and they knew they were wasting their time.
I have been single from a young age and found it amazing how many  ( Worlds best Husbands ) as their wives called them that one had to turn down.

[marjifay]

Good for you, Jeanne, for bonking the jerk!  Yes, I've known women who got ahead that way.  Those were the ones who were against the feminist movement, afraid to stand on their own two feet.

Marj

[MaryPage]

Well, exactly.  My income was essential to the feeding, clothing and housing of my family, and no way was I going to let them down by getting all huffy and making a complaint about sexual harrassment on the job.

First place, the worst attempts at seduction came right from my bosses.  They felt entitled in those long ago days.  Deed they did!

Secondly, this was back in a time when no one had ever heard of "sexual harrassment" and no one said "sex" out loud.  There were no laws in place that affected women in the workplace, other than union laws and the ones resulting from that dreadful Triangle Shirt Fire in the early 20th century that killed so many women and girls.  If a woman dared complain about a male coworker, for crying out loud, she would be labeled a troublemaker and dismissed without a recommendation.

Women today just do not know how bad we had it.  Women who have never worked are terribly naive about how their men behave with other women, and men;  MEN!  They belong to an old boys club that goes back thousands of years and stick together even though they know the other guy is guilty as sin.  I think they are motivated by two attitudes previous generations have taught them:  one, it could just as well have been them and they would want the guys to support them and, two, women who work are all asking for it and they should be home, barefoot and pregnant.

[JeanneP]

Yes, I never heard the Words Sexual Harrassment back then.  Fact it was Said more in two Words and you knew what they meant about a women. Remember.  (Herr Ass ).
Was always the higher up men that gave the trouble. Some women liked it and some didn't.  Have some real funny stories about the women who took the men serious