Author Topic: Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2 (Read 774971 times)

Steph · « **Reply #4080 on:** December 11, 2012, 06:03:17 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

Actuallly I would love a geography course,, I know that in the US, I can do all the edges, but the middle makes me confused at times.. and Although Europe is pretty straight, the orient and africa are very very confusing.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4081 on:** December 11, 2012, 07:26:36 AM »

The December 2012 issue of Smithsonian magazine has an article starting on page 88 about a woman who is trying to bring Geography back. She is into Historical Geography or Geographical History, and her work is fascinating. Anne Kelly Knowles is her name.

Babi · « **Reply #4082 on:** December 11, 2012, 09:28:00 AM »

Alas, I find that gaining and keeping new information is no longer as easy as it
once was. And the old information, though still there, is as slow to respond as
my carcass! So aggravating to watch my favorite quiz shows on days when my brain is on a slow-down strike. (But so gratifying when it is alert and focused.

)

marjifay · « **Reply #4083 on:** December 11, 2012, 10:38:02 AM »

The only quiz shows I know of, Babi, are Jeopardy (my favorite) and Wheel of Fortune, both of which I watch fairly often. Are there others?

Marj

MaryPage · « **Reply #4084 on:** December 11, 2012, 11:42:36 AM »

Here is the Teacher Resource page for Saudi Arabia. You have to think like a six year old! There are 2 Geography books for each grade, and each book contains 18 countries: 1 poem, 1 flag, 1 map (both flag and map in color) and 1 Teacher Resource page for each country. That makes 4 pages per country. Only the teacher has a book. The books are self published by me and are spiral bound. I do them at Kinko's. Now, when new teachers come on board, I do not go to all of the expense of providing them with a book, but I email them all of the poems and resource pages and let them find their own maps and flags on line. They all have good printers and plenty of materials.

SAUDI ARABIA

Books: Saudi Arabia
A Ticket to Saudi Arabia

It almost never rains in this country; can you imagine that! All of their lakes have been dug out and filled with water by the Saudis. That is what the people of this nation are called: Saudis. The official name of their country is The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Everyone calls it Saudi Arabia, or just Arabia, but the Saudis always call their homeland The Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia takes up most of a peninsula we call the Arabian Peninsula. The Kingdom has beaches on both the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.
The largest sand desert on the planet is right here. You may have thought it was in the Sahara in Africa, but that does not have as much area covered in sand dunes as does the Rub’al Khali. Saudi Arabia is the largest nation in the Middle East and is 95% desert. The Rub’al Khali takes up most of the Eastern and Southern sections and is larger than the nation of France! This desert is often called “The Empty Quarter.” It is believed there is more oil under the Rub’ al Khali than in any other place on this planet!

The Saudi flag is all green and white; perhaps the Saudis love green because it is so rare in nature in their country. The flag has an Arabian motto on it and a sword below these words. Bet you did not know Arabic is written from right to left, just exactly the opposite of what we do! It is a very beautiful language, and we have adopted a lot of their words into English, we just spell them differently. Some Arabic words you might know are admiral, alcohol, algebra, apricot, coffee, cotton and giraffe! The United States has jobs open for people who can read, write and speak Arabic, so you might think about studying it.

The Saudis built plants to remove salt from sea water so they can drink it. This is called desalination; a big word! The Saudis produce more fresh water this way than does any other country on Earth.

The date palm is their national tree. Have you eaten dates? Do you like them?

The tribes of the desert here have long cleaned their teeth with roots of the Arak tree.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4085 on:** December 11, 2012, 11:54:27 AM »

http://www.destination360.com/middle-east/saudi-arabia/map

http://www.google.com/imgres?num=10&hl=en&tbo=d&biw=800&bih=403&tbm=isch&tbnid=pjSssK9AZeXBIM:&imgrefurl=http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/middle-east/saudi-arabia/&docid=5UuusNEUeDTj2M&imgurl=http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/middle-east/saudi-arabia/map_of_saudi-arabia.jpg&w=466&h=350&ei=02PHUOubIq2t0AGbtYHYBg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=2&vpy=90&dur=2547&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=133&ty=93&sig=101639311037506756825&page=1&tbnh=145&tbnw=194&start=0&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:153

http://www.google.com/imgres?num=10&hl=en&tbo=d&biw=800&bih=403&tbm=isch&tbnid=mSxMSlbO2XFb2M:&imgrefurl=http://www.theodora.com/flags/saudi_arabia_flags.html&docid=wdAzZeso_D_koM&imgurl=http://www.theodora.com/flags/new/sa.gif&w=360&h=252&ei=IWXHUPTzG4rD0QG71oG4DA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=120&vpy=13&dur=1578&hovh=188&hovw=268&tx=127&ty=92&sig=101639311037506756825&page=1&tbnh=136&tbnw=194&start=0&ndsp=8&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:156

JoanK · « **Reply #4086 on:** December 11, 2012, 04:03:49 PM »

I had geography in grade school, but they managed to make it deadly dull ("name the three largest exports of Brazil or I'll flunk you"). Anyway, half the countries have changed borders and/or names by now.

Mary, that's great!

MaryPage · « **Reply #4087 on:** December 11, 2012, 08:52:58 PM »

Thank you. I am so glad you enjoyed it. Six year olds think it is cool.

I am very careful to give them no religion, no politics, no controversy. I just want them to learn what the world looks like and that it is full of diverse and different countries.

For your age group, a bit older than six I would guess, I would explain that the term Saudi come from the ruling family, whose founder was Saud. I would also say this wealthy family shares the loot from the nations's oil, and there are over 5,000 members of this family now, with hundreds of princes and princesses.

I would explain the flag is green for the color of Islam. Note I said to the little ones that PERHAPS the flag is green because they have so little of that in their country. But I know better. I also know the slogan says: "There is no god but God and Muhammad is the messenger of God" But I am not going there with them. I could also tell them about the birth of Muhammad and the founding of one of this world's major religions and about Mecca and Medina. That is not my purpose with this Geography.

Becky has discovered, both from parents emailing or coming in to tell her or from her previous students dropping in, that a number of today's 5th graders in that school remember what they learned of Geography in First Grade. They made up her first class to study Geography. Some parents have told her their children developed a passion for knowing about the world. If you make something easy and fun and the children do not feel threatened, memory cells work better.

One little girl named Alex in that first class had been on a trip with her entire family to New Zealand at her grandfather's expense. She got up with all sorts of stuff to show and lectured the class about New Zealand. When she was in First Grade! She was so good that Becky asked her Second Grade teacher if she could leave class and come down and do it again. She did. And in the Third Grade, Alex came down. And in the Fourth Grade. She will come again this year. She wants to be a teacher when she grows up. And teach Geography!

Steph · « **Reply #4088 on:** December 12, 2012, 06:09:15 AM »

What a wonderful gift your daughter and you have brought to the students. Curiosity about the world is one of the wonderful things that bring people closer together. We need to know our neighbor and not fear them..
Ginny,, I think I will skip your book. I really do not like scary books.. or movies..or tv.. I am a chicken ever since the accident.

Babi · « **Reply #4089 on:** December 12, 2012, 09:46:09 AM »

I watch those two, MARJ, and also "Who Wants to be a Millionaire", hosted by
Meredith Viera(?). You can really get to 'pulling for' the contestants, and one
of the contestant 'lifelines' is to 'ask the audience'.

That's what I find most confusing, JOANK. I forgotten most of the old names,
and am wholly ignorant about which ones are now what. (If that makes sense.)

Who knows, MARYPAGE. Maybe green is the color of Islam simply because their idea of heaven is a green garden with abundant water. Congratulations on presenting material that captures the imagination of young children. It's all something to be proud of.

mabel1015j · « **Reply #4090 on:** December 12, 2012, 11:41:48 AM »

How exciting MaryPage, you must feel a great sense of accomplishment and pleasure from hearing that feedback.

Jean

marjifay · « **Reply #4091 on:** December 12, 2012, 01:34:14 PM »

I'm with you JoanK -- geography is difficult with so many countries having changed borders and names.

I think I heard somewhere that Myanmar is going to be changed back to Burma. That's how I remember it. BTW, a very good book is FROM THE LAND OF GREEN GHOSTS by Pascal Khoo Thwe, a true story about the author's growing up in the hill country of Burma among the Padsung people (whose women had the long giraffe-like necks), then fighting in the 1970s against the country's dictatorship, and how he ended up at Cambridge Univ. in England.

And the Congo will always be the Belgian Congo to me. Keep meaning to read Adam Hochschild's KING LEOPOLD'S GHOST.

Marj

JeanneP · « **Reply #4092 on:** December 12, 2012, 02:07:01 PM »

Parents these day should sit and teach a lot of different things to their children prior to them going into 1st grade. Lots of what my children and even some of the grandchildren not being taught anymore . History, Geog. handwriting, English, Just not all the 3 Rs as they called them. They get only certain amount.
Article in our paper today showing where the USA is on the Scale in Education. Not 1st place in any. 13Th in some 7Th in others. Going to show up from it one of these days.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #4093 on:** December 12, 2012, 06:11:43 PM »

a quickie - at my daughter's - first day I am always done in - but it isn't till this evening I even could figure out what hurt - I was just wasted - the plane came in last night at nearly midnight and then the drive and then of course couldn't settle down so my grandson and I were up til 2: catching up - but to the geography - please I never did get the countries in Africa straight or know where half of them are located - along with the area where there are nations like Turkestan so 4th or is it 5th grade geography please...

JeanneP · « **Reply #4094 on:** December 12, 2012, 08:27:56 PM »

So many countries have now changed their names over the past 70 years. Doubt I remember many of them now .

Steph · « **Reply #4095 on:** December 13, 2012, 06:09:41 AM »

I guess I understand that the countries dominated by a european country wanted to take on a name that meant something to them, but it is confusing at times to figure out where some of these places are.
I found the book I had ordered some time ago in my tbr pile.. The one with the Queen falling in love with reading and the palace disapproving. It is funny in that sly english way.

marjifay · « **Reply #4096 on:** December 13, 2012, 12:22:53 PM »

Steph, are you referring to Alan Bennett's The Uncommon Reader? I've been meaning to read it.
I liked reading his The History Boys (the movie of it was hard to understand because of the British English.)

Marj

JeanneP · « **Reply #4097 on:** December 13, 2012, 01:34:46 PM »

Marj. Read that book. Its very good. I don't think they were disapproving of her reading as she does read a lot of books and has for years. I think maybe it was the way in which she got the books. Did it like most of the seniors in town do it. From a Bookmobile. They think they should take care of her every needs. Tell them and they take care of everything. Elizabeth does a few things that Royals are not suppose to do in their eyes. Even her Corgi dogs roaming all around her homes drive them crazy. Have for years. She just laughs.
We really love her. Can't imagine her ever leaving.

Steph · « **Reply #4098 on:** December 14, 2012, 06:00:53 AM »

yes, The Uncommon Reader is a short book and I finished it yesterday afternoon..What a wonderful book and a wonderful love letter to the Queen.. Being a corgi nut, I know how she adores her dogs and will brook noone in the palace fussing about them.. They are very very ill mannered indeed, but she does not care. The book is a treasure and the ending makes you think about what is important in your life.

Babi · « **Reply #4099 on:** December 14, 2012, 09:07:49 AM »

I also read that charming little book, JEANNE. I thought what had the staff upset
was the fact that she was leaving her little routine, and not following the schedule
they had set up for her. Honestly, they seemed to have every minute of her days
planned ahead and she was supposed to dutifully do whatever they said was next. I
don't know how royalty stands such a life.
STEPH, do you suppose the ill-mannered corgis could be her revenge?

marjifay · « **Reply #4100 on:** December 14, 2012, 12:17:34 PM »

I just finished a fascinating book, CALEB'S CROSSING, by Geraldine Brooks. Very well written and hard to put down. She really took me back to 1660's early America. You feel for a woman's lot at that time when she had to kowtow to some male, i.e. her father or older brother, etc. The young Puritan woman, Berthia, tells hers and Caleb's story, and of their longing for an education, difficult because of her sex and his nationality. Based on a true story of the first Native American to graduate Harvard University.

Marj

JoanK · « **Reply #4101 on:** December 14, 2012, 05:13:40 PM »

If it's the same man i'm thinking of, I have his autobiography on Kindle. The part where he is a child is fascinating!

Steph · « **Reply #4102 on:** December 15, 2012, 06:04:30 AM »

I think that the corgi are the only thing that the queen has in life that is totally hers.. and yes, I do suspect their ill manners, she secretly enjoys..

JeanneP · « **Reply #4103 on:** December 15, 2012, 12:16:34 PM »

No! She has full control of her horses and stables. Always been into that since a girl. I think she does quite well also in having her Private times. She seems to have enjoyed her years as Queen from the Start. Always been able to hold her own when it comes to people telling her how to do things. I heard one time that she can put up some good arguments. Lot like Victoria could do years ago.

MaryPage · « **Reply #4104 on:** December 15, 2012, 01:06:06 PM »

Elizabeth's formidable grandmother, Queen Mary, took her in hand at an early age (and not a thing Mary's son, the King, could do about it even if he had wanted to.) Queen Mary took her about with her and had her with her a lot and made it her goal in life to teach Elizabeth how to be Queen. She succeeded very well indeed.

http://www.google.com/imgres?num=10&hl=en&tbo=d&biw=800&bih=403&tbm=isch&tbnid=cFssm3CBXLhx-M:&imgrefurl=http://www.art.com/products/p4174730189-sa-i4804292/queen-mary-and-princess-elizabeth-1926.htm&docid=48u1gyvWZGcY-M&imgurl=http://imgc.artprintimages.com/images/art-print/queen-mary-and-princess-elizabeth-1926_i-G-46-4623-UBTFG00Z.jpg&w=366&h=488&ei=e7rMULquMMi80QHTiYCQCQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=496&vpy=-11&dur=5344&hovh=259&hovw=194&tx=104&ty=145&sig=101639311037506756825&page=1&tbnh=133&tbnw=94&start=0&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0,i:115

I remember my greatgrandmother, who made her debut before the royals back when that was still done, telling me about a day when Queen Mary and the young Elizabeth went into a shop and Elizabeth made some reference to the shopkeeper about her being a princess and the Queen whisked her out of the shop in anger and told her she could not be haughty like that. Ever!

Actually, the things Queen Mary taught Elizabeth could not have been taught Elizabeth by her parents. Mary was born a princess, which Elizabeth's mother was not, and had been raised to be a queen and had been one for some time.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #4105 on:** December 16, 2012, 08:22:48 AM »

I loved The Uncommon Reader - but I know what you mean about the History Boys film. I am English and I still found it hard to follow - I think it was written primarily as a stage play, and its rather stylised form probably suited the stage better than the screen.

Having said that, Alan Bennett is to me a genius who can do no wrong!

Rosemary

Babi · « **Reply #4106 on:** December 16, 2012, 09:10:30 AM »

Interesting about Queen Mary and Elizabeth, MARYPAGE. I wasn't aware of the different
backgrounds of the two 'queens'. Elizabeth was fortunate to have her grandmother's
guidance in a very difficult role.

I'd like to know more about your beloved Alan Bennett, ROSEMARY. Can you tell me
a couple of your favorite books by him? And I think I'll put "The Madness of King
George" on my viewing list, if they have it. If I understand correctly, he both
wrote that and acted in it.

Steph · « **Reply #4107 on:** December 16, 2012, 09:57:01 AM »

Elizabeth got her passion for racing horses from her Mum, who was totally into horse racing.. Dick Francis was good friends with the Queen Mum.. I remember howmuch he admired her.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #4108 on:** December 16, 2012, 11:56:59 AM »

Babi - as well as The Uncommon Reader, I like 'Untold Stories' and 'Writing Home' - these are non-fiction, collections of diaries, letters and memoirs about his long and varied career and life. One of them includes 'the Lady in the Van', which is about an old lady who parked her ancient van outside his house in Islington and lived there for years - she drove him nuts but they actually developed a strange sort of friendship. He also wrote 'Talking Heads' - a series of monologues that were acted on the TV. He's also written many plays, acted himself (memorably in a stage version of The Wind in the Willows') and been the reader on many audiobooks.

The best bits of his memoirs are, in my opinion, those about his childhood and youth. His family were very ordinary, and he writes entertainingly, but also with great poignancy and insight about his parents and his aunties. Bennett went to Oxford and became famous, and his parents could never really cope with his new lifestyle. One quote that I remember is:

'All families have a secret, and their secret is that they are not like other families.' - so true.

Re Dick Francis, I heard a radio programme about him recently in which someone alleged that it was in fact his devoted wife Mary who actually wrote the books, and that he could hardly put a written sentence together. However, other people who knew them refuted this, and said that it was a real team effort - they churned the books out like a factory, and worked very happily together.

Rosemary

JeanneP · « **Reply #4109 on:** December 16, 2012, 06:04:33 PM »

I have the DVD "History Boys" Ready to watch tonight but I don't think I will. Saw what it is about. Doubt I would care for it.

JeanneP · « **Reply #4110 on:** December 16, 2012, 06:10:10 PM »

The Queen was very close to her Grandmother Mary but I think that Charles was just as close to his Grandmother right up until the day she died. I suppose that Grandmother have more time to spend with their grandchildren than what parents have.
That is whats nice about it. One can spoil their Grandchildren. Can also send them away when they have had enough. With my two grands. I could only manage one at a time. Boy and girl. 6 years apart.

Babi · « **Reply #4111 on:** December 17, 2012, 08:21:03 AM »

Apparently, my library did have a copy of "Writing Home". But it's listing in the
catalog for local availibility is '0' of '0'. I'm not sure what that means, except
that they no longer have it, and I'm puzzled as to why it was not dropped from the
catalog. Maybe a patron failed to return it, and they're still hoping it will
turn up.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #4112 on:** December 17, 2012, 11:42:20 AM »

Our catalogue in Aberdeen used to do that all the time - really annoying, as you'd think you'd found what you wanted, then when you went into the page for that item it would say 'no copies in system'. The staff said they hadn't got time to update it. Here in East Lothian it's much better, and the catalogue is up to date - although the software they use is still not great at working out what you want - for example, if an author has been listed as 'C Dickens' and you put in 'Charles Dickens' it can't find anything -whereas, of course, you'd only have to put 'C Di...' into Amazon for it to produce a whole list of possibilities.

Maybe there is a cheap copy on US Amazon?

Rosemary

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #4113 on:** December 17, 2012, 11:55:07 AM »

In defence of young parents today, I have to say that the ones I know sit down and help their children much more with school work than I ever did. (Only one of mine ever wanted to do any reading/studying with me, the others saw it as torture, which probably says a lot about me!!) My neighbours with primary school age children are all very concerned and involved in their children's lives and school studies.

Rosemary

Steph · « **Reply #4114 on:** December 18, 2012, 06:10:54 AM »

One of the main reasons Amazon does the business it does is because they make it sooo easy to find anything. I still have the new printer to install as well as well as figuring out where things got stored.

JeanneP · « **Reply #4115 on:** December 18, 2012, 03:45:01 PM »

Steph.
That is the reason I am still using my old WXP Pro. SIL should be coming to Illinois soon and he still has the new computer that he has put a lot of different things on and taken off what I don't want. I am lost anymore when it comes to settting them up. Even to where the plug ins go. Will let him do it. Back use to be colour coded like the plug ins but not that way anymore it seems. Either that or I am getting dummer on Electronics. I still have a phone and a Mobile one I can't figure out

Steph · « **Reply #4116 on:** December 19, 2012, 06:23:42 AM »

I do so wish I could find a guru.. After the holidays, I will make another search because things that used to do something one way now seem to do it another and I am seriously confused on some other things. This touch screen is not easy the way Apple is.. I should have gotten the Apple, its just it cost a lot more then the others.

jane · « **Reply #4117 on:** December 19, 2012, 09:26:26 AM »

Steph...is there a high school or community college near you that has a technology person who might do this on the side or would know someone dependable you could contact?

Babi · « **Reply #4118 on:** December 19, 2012, 09:46:26 AM »

That's a good idea, JANE. We have a community college right 'next door', so to speak.
I'll remember that next time we run into a 'brave new world' snag.

jane · « **Reply #4119 on:** December 19, 2012, 03:01:15 PM »

Those teachers are usually good references for someone good to call on...or they may know of students who are good and could use the $$.

jane

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Author Topic: Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2 (Read 774971 times)