Author Topic: Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2 (Read 774970 times)

Frybabe · « **Reply #4040 on:** December 05, 2012, 07:33:17 AM »

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

Ah yes, the Senior Center. I joined but haven't gone but once. There is a fitness room with treadmill, etc., but they only have it open a few hours two days and one evening. Every time I had gone by the door when it was open before I joined, it seemed empty. The one time I went up to use the equipment, the room was full with a waiting line to use the equipment. There are, of course, group exercises along with the ubiquitous cards and bingo. Last year they added two pool tables. I may try that. It's been a very long time since I played. Mostly, the problem is getting into a routine of actually going.

George, on the other hand, goes regularly up to the Senior Center when he is in Mansfield. He taught computer classes up there for several years, so he got used to going and he made friends. The food, he says, sucks.

Babi · « **Reply #4041 on:** December 05, 2012, 02:22:36 PM »

My family enjoys games, too, PEDLN. ESpecially my son. What kind of game is
Settlers of Catan? I would enjoy adding a new game to our collection.

I had the same problem this morning, STEPH. Finally gave it up and came back this
afternoon. Working fine now. Maybe it just needs to warm up on these cool mornings.
I can empathize.

Steph · « **Reply #4042 on:** December 06, 2012, 08:46:19 AM »

;Dah babi,, the picture of the computer warming up made me laugh. I think mostly it is 9 years old and perhaps could stand to be a new one. I just so hate the changeover and figuring out who does what to who..
Still after the first of the year, I will go searching.. I like those new all in ones. Not so many wires, etc.

Frybabe · « **Reply #4043 on:** December 06, 2012, 04:38:33 PM »

I am finally getting around to reading Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist thanks to several dentist appointments this week. I don't have any strong feelings about it so far. It appears to be another quest to find ones true self.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #4044 on:** December 06, 2012, 07:59:42 PM »

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

I got Sinclair Lewis' Free Air, an ebook, for free, from Amazon a week or so ago. If the whole book is as good as the first chapter, i'm in for a treat. Lewis writes great women protagonists. I was amazed when i read Main Street how he got into the head of the woman character in the 1920s. Both books have very strong and independent women.

In this book, a well-heeled, well brought up young woman is driving her father ( the book was published in 1919 so i assume it was supposed to be contemporary) on muddy, sometimes totally missing roads, from Minnesota to Seattle Washington. Getting to drive a car gave women, at the time, a sense of power and strength and it's clear that Clara is proud of herself even though she sometimes needs to be literally pulled out of the ruts.

I put up the Wiki statement about the book at the beginning of the post.

Is there any benefit to Seniorlearn if we go to Amazon thru this site even for free books?

Jean

Just checked, it's now $ .99 for the ebook

Steph · « **Reply #4045 on:** December 07, 2012, 05:56:49 AM »

Whew,, thought I had read all of Lewis many many years ago.. but that is a new title.. I have way too many books stashed on the IPAD, but will look for that.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4046 on:** December 07, 2012, 10:14:53 AM »

"Let's REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR
As we go to meet the foe.
Let's REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR
As we did the Alamo.
We will always remember how they died to set men free.
Let's REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR
And go on to victory."

marjifay · « **Reply #4047 on:** December 07, 2012, 10:58:19 AM »

One of the sadest sites I ever visited was to the Arizona in Hawaii. The other sad visit was to the Vietnam memorial wall in Washington, D.C. Both very emotional experiences.

An interesting book I read about Pearl Harbor was PEARL HARBOR; A NOVEL OF DECEMBER 8 by Newt Gingrich. It is told from the Japanese point of view. December 8 is Pearl Harbor date in Japan.
Don't care much for Gingrich's politics, but he's written some interesting history books.

Marj

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4048 on:** December 07, 2012, 11:58:26 AM »

Problem between the attitude over the Alamo and Pearl Harbor is you do not have a lot of folks debating if we brought the Alamo on ourselves and the Texas Curriculum includes a half year semester of Texas History in 6th grade another half year in High School [not an elective - can't graduate from a Texas HS without it] and a 3 hour class in College - again mandatory attending a State College rather than a private college. The study of every outrage during the early years of this nation - yes, Texas was a nation - is studied as compared to the one page blip that is given in History Books these days to what happened at Pearl Harbor.

Frybabe · « **Reply #4049 on:** December 07, 2012, 01:49:47 PM »

I am happy to hear that your state history is still required in Texas, Barb.

When I went to school, Pennsylvania Civics was a requirement to graduate high school. In Jr. High I had American History and in high school I also had World History. I have no idea whether these last to were required at the time. The civics requirement got dropped sometime after I graduated. I always thought that was a mistake.

I just checked the new proposed requirements for 2017 and beyond in PA. PA Civics is back in, kind of. A class called Civics and Government (includes both PA and Federal Gov.) is to be required starting in 2020 - BUT - only if there is funding to properly measure academic outcomes. There is some kind of alternative for those who can't pass the Keystone exam twice in which, in addition to certain conditions being met, the student has a choice to test out on at least one subject. US History will be on the list in 2018 and World History is included in 2020. Sounds confusing. Nothing is straight forward any more.

Steph · « **Reply #4050 on:** December 08, 2012, 05:50:54 AM »

I know that History is required in Florida, but I dont honestly know if it is state or federal.. In Delaware we learned both..History and Civics.
The war memorials that touched me.. Lincolns statue.. I honestly think his spirit is there. It is the most soothing place to be..
overseas. Normandy.. they are so young wandering the stones, you weep at all the 18 year olds.
German concentration camp.. Dachau..Oh the evil and blood and hate there and the town directly across the railroad tracks.. and the oh.. we never knew. impossible not to..

maryz · « **Reply #4051 on:** December 08, 2012, 09:35:50 AM »

We've been to Normandy and Pearl Harbor; Gettysburg, Shiloh, Chickamauga, Harper's Ferry; and others. One of the two that have stayed with us longest is a small Canadian cemetery on a side road in Normandy - immaculately tended, with rows of colorful flowerbeds alongside the markers, with the maple trees planted all around. The other is Antietam - where there were more American deaths than in any other battle. It is lovely, rolling farmland, but we could hear the awful sounds and smell the smoke. It's a haunted place - and the last Civil War battlefield we visited.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #4052 on:** December 08, 2012, 11:05:24 AM »

I toured the Vicksburg Battlefield many years ago with my brother and SIL. I can still remember the awful, but holy quiet, as if all the souls still lingered there, and in their silence wanted us to form our own memories and feelings. I was barely 19 at the time, in 1958, and today, 54years later, I can still feel that silence when I speak of it.
Hallowed ground indeed, as are all the cemeteries, battlefields. And just this moment, the words to a song filled my head, and my eyes fill with tears: "Where have all the young men gone, long time passing. Gone for soldiers every one... When will it ever end"?

MaryPage · « **Reply #4053 on:** December 08, 2012, 01:18:20 PM »

When I was in the 5th grade in Jacksonville, Florida I can remember we studied FLORIDA HISTORY from a bright red, slim textbook. I believe it said Duval County or something like that inside it.

Anyway, as it turned out, it was a WONDERFUL grounding in the history of our country, because of De Soto and the search for the Fountain of Youth and the Seminole Indians and the oldest town in the States and all the rest of it. Perfect background for me to begin my passion for History, that's for sure. I have thanked Florida ever since. I began 6th grade in Kentucky (Fort Knox) and ended it in Virginia. Virginia had a most excellent 6th grade Civics course, which was also a great introduction to how our government works. It gave me a huge jump on understanding the studies ahead of me.

One thing I will always remember vividly about that Civics course (do they even have anything called "civics" anymore? I took "logic" in High School; do they have that anymore?) was that along about the middle of the book, on a page on the left, they showed black & white photographs of FDR's Cabinet. And I was looking without much interest while reading the text, but all of a sudden my eye caught and stopped on Secretary of Commerce and I screamed silently to myself: Oh, that's Granddaddy Roper!

And so it was. My Dad's best friend since childhood and fellow Army officer had a son born the same year as I, and we were best friends, too. And sometimes my little friend's grandparents babysat me. In Alexandria, Virginia. So I called him granddaddy, too. And there he was in my Civics book! I had not a clue what he "did" until that moment. At the time I was embarrassed and abashed at my ignorance, but now it is lovely fun for me to remember it that way.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4054 on:** December 08, 2012, 01:58:16 PM »

Painful reality is among all those National Civil War cemeteries nary a Confederate Soldier is buried there. Congress would not release any help or money to help find and bury Confederate Soldiers only Union Soldiers.

JoanK · « **Reply #4055 on:** December 08, 2012, 02:23:11 PM »

And when you're looking at Lincoln's statue, read the inscription on the wall. it will bring tears to your eyes.

I remember my visit to gettysburg decades ago, when there weren't many tourists. It was so quiet and peaceful. And each inch of peace was bought with blood. The blood on both sides was the same color.

JoanK · « **Reply #4056 on:** December 08, 2012, 02:25:02 PM »

"Painful reality is among all those National Civil War cemeteries nary a Confederate Soldier is buried there."

There is a small Confederate cemetary near Washington. very small.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4057 on:** December 08, 2012, 02:31:22 PM »

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

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4058 on:** December 08, 2012, 02:37:24 PM »

The establishment of this Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania cemetery is explained and typical for Cemeteries for the Confederate soldier.

http://www.nps.gov/frsp/rebcem.htm

MaryPage · « **Reply #4059 on:** December 08, 2012, 02:43:41 PM »

My great grandfather is buried in this cemetery:

http://cemetery.communitypoint.org/

He did not DIE in the war, but for some reason he was entitled to be buried there. I have stood before his gravestone several times.

I agree about the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. I have been in and out of D.C. all of my life, and know it so very well, but no memorial brings tears to my eyes like that one. One of my fondest memories is of going there in the middle of the night after dining and night clubbing out, and going up those steps by myself while the 3 people with me turned towards the Reflecting Pool, and in I went, so quietly and alone I could hear my shoes on the floor (high heels), and I spoke out loud to Mr. Lincoln and FELT he was up there in that chair in spirit just as surely as though he really were. It was a mystical moment, and I treasure it still.

JeanneP · « **Reply #4060 on:** December 08, 2012, 04:53:06 PM »

Yes, We Illinois people are proud of President Lincoln. Wonder if the school children being taught today are learning much about any of them going back that far. Seems like most history has now been dropped from their learning. Geography also. Why yesterday I was on the phone talking to a phone Rep. Told her I wanted to call International to England and she wanted to know what country it was in.

marjifay · « **Reply #4061 on:** December 08, 2012, 07:05:24 PM »

That was funny, Jeanne! Can you imagine someone not knowing England was a country?
I like to watch Jay Leno ask questions like that to young people on the street and hear the astounding wrong answers they give.

The annual geography quiz is fun to watch -- the one that's kind of like the spelling bee. I'm always amazed that those kids know so much.

Marj

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #4062 on:** December 09, 2012, 05:04:43 AM »

I have had the same problem with Kuala Lumpur not being recognised as a place by a post office clerk (I know it's in Malaysia, but really, they work for the post office!) and with Eire not being recognised as Ireland. Drives me nuts. I still always put Eire on letters t my friend in County Waterford, just to make the GPO think (if possible...

)

Rosemary

Steph · « **Reply #4063 on:** December 09, 2012, 05:53:57 AM »

Ah yes,, I still cause confusion when people ask me where I grew up..The answer is Wyoming, Delaware.. It is a teeny little town in central Delaware where the railroad went through. It was built for the workers on the railroad originally. Now it is still mostly farms and very quiet and rural. But the Wyoming threw people and still seems to. They seem to think I was a mid westerner.. Ah well.
I am glad that others feel like I do about Lincoln. I have visited many places where he lived or worked and some parks as well, but the statue in DC has a special feel to it.. The Japanese love him to death. They get very excited when they visit the statue and want picture picture picture..Sigh.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #4064 on:** December 09, 2012, 03:33:45 PM »

Is that true abiut no Confederate soldiers in national cemetaries? My remembering is that they must have buried Confederates at Gettysburg, there were so many of them. Were they just buried in another cemetary, not considered a "National" one? Was it in Ken Burns "Civil War" that they did an episode about the civilians of G-burg and how they buried bodies for days, and dead horses also. Also, one of the things i remember most from a Clara Barton bio, "Woman of Valor", was her identifying where bodies of both Northerners and Southerners were buried and notifying their families by writing letters to them. Can you imagine?

When i taught in Harrisburg, Pa in the mid-sixties we were required to teach Pa history for one semester and Civics one semester in ninth grade, World History/World Cultures in sophomore year, American History in junior year and a semester of Sociology and a semester of Economics in senior year. When i was in high school in Pa, we had Problems of Democracy (government) in 12th grade. When i taught college, US History 101, i taught a segment that was basically the "govt" course from my high school, so few college students knew anything about the way our govt works. I also made them identify the states on a map.......even tho it sounds like elementary school, how can they understand US history if they didn't understand where the states were? Some knew them already, some didn't. Some had a good sense of govt, others didn't. The saddest part was that when i had "foreign" students, many of them knew more about our history and govt then students educated in US schools.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4065 on:** December 09, 2012, 03:46:25 PM »

http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/national_cemeteries/Development.html

Quote

Confederate soldiers could not be buried in national cemeteries, nor were they afforded any benefits from the United States Government for many decades after the end of the Civil War. When the reburial corps in the late 1860s found the remains of Confederate soldiers lying near those of Union soldiers, they removed the Union soldiers but left the Confederates’ bodies. Because identification of remains was difficult at best, many Confederate soldiers were reburied in national cemeteries, unintentionally as Union soldiers. Confederate prisoners of war were often interred in “Confederate sections” within the national cemeteries. Generally, within national cemeteries and at other cemeteries under the care of the Federal Government, Confederate graves were marked first with wooden headboards (as had been Union graves) and later with marble markers with just the name of the soldier engraved on the stone, so that they were indistinguishable from civilians buried in the national cemeteries. Private organizations, especially women’s organizations established in former Confederate states after the war, assumed responsibility for Confederate reburials. One of the more prominent groups was the Hollywood Memorial Association, which raised funds to move the bodies of Confederate soldiers from the battlefields of Gettysburg and Drewry’s Bluff to Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. The appearance of grave markers varied in these Confederate cemeteries depending on the preferences of the supervising organization.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4066 on:** December 09, 2012, 03:55:56 PM »

http://www.cem.va.gov/cem/docs/factsheets/history.pdf History of National Cemetery note it was for Union dead soldiers - I am trying to find an ariticle that explains how Congress would not allow funds for the burial of Confederate soldiers and why throughout the South you have woman's groups with widows as young as 16 burying the Confederate soldiers found as the Union soldiers in temporary graves under trees and bunched together behind a hill - there is an untidy story of how some of the cities that were burned to the ground left nothing and some of those left behind sold the bones of Confederate Soldiers for pennies to live on.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4067 on:** December 09, 2012, 04:07:37 PM »

1958 when the final act giving Confederates legal equality with Union veterans was passed.

It was not till after the Spanish American war that Congress started to mend fences with the Southern Soldiers some of who fought in the Spanish American war - Congress after the Civil War would not release any funds to bury the Confederate Soldiers.

There is much in this article but not yet have I found the decree by Congress after the Civil War.

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/04/14/confederate-soldiers-are-american-veterans-by-act-of-congress/

Quote

Congressional Appropriations Act, FY 1901, signed 6 June 1900

Congress passed an act of appropriations for $2,500 that enabled the “Secretary of War to have reburied in some suitable spot in the national cemetery at Arlington, Virginia, and to place proper headstones at their graves, the bodies of about 128 Confederate soldiers now buried in the National Soldiers Home near Washington, D.C., and the bodies of about 136 Confederate soldiers now buried in the national cemetery at Arlington, Virginia.”

JoanK · « **Reply #4068 on:** December 09, 2012, 04:13:17 PM »

"Can you imagine someone not knowing England was a country?"

I've met several such people.

When I got my California ID, I had to show my birth certificate. It showed I was born in the District of Columbia. "Where is that" asked the clerk, "in Alabama?"

That's not as disturbing as the fact that children aren't taught how our government works. How can we preserve important principles such as the balance of powers and the separation of Church and State if no one understands them?

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4069 on:** December 09, 2012, 04:25:04 PM »

OK last one - from http://civilwarhandbook.nfshost.com/cms/index.php?page=confederate-cemeteries-volume-1 This attitude of women's groups is strong in the South and probably explains the Bush concept of Compassionate Conservatism that included volunteer and church groups taking on the work of social programs rather than government programs.

Quote

While the Federal Government spent over $4,000,000 burring the Union Soldiers that died during the Civil War, there was no Federal money spent burying Confederates. The ladies of the South had to provide decent resting places for the Confederate Dead. The ladies organized Confederate Memorial Associations to bury the dead in their area. That the ladies managed to memorialize as many Confederates as they did is remarkable considering the economic woes of the South after the war.

Unfortunately because the memorial associations worked independently a master list of Confederate cemeteries much less a list of the Confederate dead was never complied. The Confederate Cemeteries series will rectify those omissions. The first two books in the series list the burials in over 50 cemeteries in Virginia. The third volume in the series is currently being compiled.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4070 on:** December 09, 2012, 04:57:12 PM »

When my children were little, I had a lot of those wooden puzzles that came in their own wooden board. One of these was a map of these United States, with just the state and its capital (with a star) on it. My kids all knew all of their states and capitals by Kindergarten!

Little kids adore knowing about "stuff," more than loving to be able to read and write and do maths. That is why my First Grade teacher daughter and I cooked up the idea that she would begin to teach Geography and I would write the book. So she did, and I did. Now there are half a dozen teachers teaching it and this is Becky's FIFTH YEAR of teaching it. It has been wildly successful, her kids excel in vocabulary and reading, the parents and grandparents are hugely enthusiastic, and best of all, because it is not a required subject, Becky does not test them in it. Just once she did, for two reasons. It was in the spring of her first year of teaching it, and she wanted to know how they were doing. So she arranged to test just her First Graders against all 4 of the Fifth Grade classes. Her First Graders beat the Fifth Graders all to bits! She used the results in putting in for a grant, which she won. I am working on a Second Grade and Third Grade Geography curriculum, as well.

Those little kids are really amazing in what they are interested in and what they retain. Most of all, especially the boys, they love learning the flags. They do 36 countries in each year. That is, 36 each for First, Second and Third Grade. They study one country per week, and always have a Show & Tell about what they have researched. Lots of parents and grandparents come in to tell of their travels; for some it may even be a native country. They bring in lots of stuff to show and, best of all, to eat.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4071 on:** December 09, 2012, 05:06:14 PM »

One thing that grabs the First Graders is that I chose countries they were most likely to hear about right off the bat. This has proved to be invaluable. For instance, several years ago they had done India only 3 weeks before that dreadful weekend when that hotel in Mumbai was attacked and so many killed by a Pakistani terrorist group. The kids caught the sound of "India" when their parents were watching the news, and became all attentive. They came in on the Monday morning just full of stories about it. And they had just done Chile when the miners were caught underground. Over and over now, they are alert to news of places they know about. It is beyond wonderful to us and to their families!

They get a poem about the country at the beginning of each week. Mind you, this is not written to be great poetry, but I have learned children learn well from the rhythm of rhyming. Then they do their own thing all week at home, and come in at the end of the week ready to discuss. There is, in the book, a Teacher Resource page full of information and a list of books for their age group, plus a full page flag of the country and a full page simple map. Not a road map, but a Geography map. Only the teacher has a book.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4072 on:** December 09, 2012, 05:10:26 PM »

Here, for instance, is Saudi Arabia:

SAUDI ARABIA

Gasoline from oil runs trucks and cars.
A whole bunch of this world’s oil is ours.
Arabia mostly rock and sand,
We have no rivers in this dry land.
Men in The Kingdom all wear a thawb¹,
A long garment you would call a robe.
Made of white cotton, it helps a lot
To keep our guys from getting too hot.
All up and down a blue sea called Red,
The keffiyeh² around each man’s head,
A rope encircles, it’s very chic;
That’s French remember, and sounds like sheik,
Which is what we call a chief or boss.
We use the root of a tree to floss!
Not hello, but if you come this way,
“Marhaba³” is what you should say.

1.”th-whoob”
2.”keh-fee-yah”
3.”mah-rah-hah-bah”

JoanK · « **Reply #4073 on:** December 09, 2012, 05:30:45 PM »

That is so neat!

Steph · « **Reply #4074 on:** December 10, 2012, 06:08:27 AM »

Oh Mary Page, I would have loved geography like that. I did not have any geography classes until College and then as Freshmen, we had to learn where all of the countries at that time were and place them on a map.. You had to pass,,or you had to keep taking the test until you did.
I have a wooden US map and you put the states in yourself.. I used it in the RV.. We kept track of where we had gone and glued in each state as we went..I now have it in my office and since I am no longer in the rv, I updated it since my husband and I went to every single state during our marriage. Some more than others, but every single one.. It is common in the rv world for them to have US maps on the side of their rvs with the places they have been glued on.

Babi · « **Reply #4075 on:** December 10, 2012, 09:15:06 AM »

MARY PAGE, that is terrific! Young minds are so absorbent, aren't they. And being
able to learn for the joy of it, without the worry of being tested, is a great idea.
And the family participation...what fun! You and Becky are to be heartily congratulated.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #4076 on:** December 10, 2012, 01:26:52 PM »

Thanks for all that explanation, Barb, that was helpful.

My son loved those wooden puzzles. My dgt wasn't at all interested. That was unfortunate bcs she was 4 yrs ahead of our son in school, she got almost no geography, he got a lot. It was the 70s and 80s when our school district seemed to be constantly changing curricula.

How exciting, MaryPage, to be able to be involved in such a creative, productive activity as textbook/curriculum creating. That must be great fun. I always loved the creating of material and lesson plans almost as much as i loved the actual teaching.

serenesheila · « **Reply #4077 on:** December 10, 2012, 05:18:45 PM »

Mary Page, that is wonderful! CONGRATULATIONS! What a blessing you, and your daughter are to those children, and their families.

It seems to me that adding your courses as another discussion to SeniorLearn, would be both interesting, and informative. I know that I would love to participate. I do not remember ever having a geography class in either high school, or college.

Sheila

MaryPage · « **Reply #4078 on:** December 10, 2012, 08:30:10 PM »

BUT MY GEOGRAPHY IS AIMED AT 6 and 7 YEAR OLDS!

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4079 on:** December 10, 2012, 09:08:52 PM »

And soooo - are you suggest we are too old to play children's games - or that we will be embarrassed to learn something new that YOU think we should know - or that we will know the information so quickly that you will have to work harder than you want to in order to feed the game - or drat it all you just cannot remember where you put all those poems from past game days with your family...

$:-\$

News:

Author Topic: Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2 (Read 774970 times)