Fiction ~ Old ~ New ~ Best Sellers #2

[Steph]

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

I went to a farm comprehensive school.. It is amazing the percentage of my class who got pregnant at early ages and had to leave school. In the early and mid 50's, they did not let pregnant girls continue in class. Now I think they have special classes and teach them child care as well as regular classes.

[Judy Laird]

Ginny they used the flower bed for a fire pit. They hydranga and all flowers are gone.
Some mint and other flowers are tryiing for a come back.

No We probably won't sue as it won't do any good. They think they are getting their damage deposit back however and thats not going to happen.

I figure it will take 6 months to get the place back in shape, especially the out building and the yard.  Yes we are glad to be back home, Don seems to be calming down. He can't take upheavel  and caious it makes him very upset. 

Yesterday we went to Wal-Mart which is an hour drive from here and I spent 4 hours shopping. Going to Wal-Mart is like going to Disney Land for me.  I bought 173 items and it cost 597.00.
We now need nothing. I even bought 2 rakes and gardening stuff. It was so fun. Although unpacking the truck was not a lot of fun. Putting it away is not nearley so much fun as picking it off the shelves.

[Steph]

Judy, I have missed something?? YOu decided you did not like the senior community?? Hmm.. Tell me why.. I am considering going to one and I need input.

[Judy Laird]

Yes Steph we moved back to our home. My God what a great feeling. If you can possibly hang on to your own home by all means do it.
These places you see are never what they are made out to be. Ours was supposed to be a INDEPENDANT Senior living apts, with 4 star amenities. I have never seen so many rules.
I also took lots of them to the doctor and got way too involved. Mostly my fault. But when Isee some one in need or needs help I seem to jump right in. haha

[Judy Laird]

Some nerve I say!!!!    My husband just asked me if I realized I didn't hear as well as I used too?

I said no I hear fine you just need to learn to speak up!!

[roshanarose]

Haha Judy - Good response!

[rosemarykaye]

My children say thngs like that to me - apparently when they don't hear it's called selective deafness, but when I don't it's the first sign of dementia 

R

[Steph]

I love my hearing aids.. I do hear now and dont miss a thing.. Glad to hear you are happy JUdy. Did not know that you kept your house. Probably a good thing. I thought your husband was having some problems with memory..?

[MaryPage]

Steph, I am extremely interested in what type of hearing aids you obtained that you are happy with.  My darling husband paid three thousand dollars for a pair of Beltone hearing aids, wore them all of two times, hated them, threw them in a drawer and never touched them again.  He has been dead almost 5 years now, and when I was told last year that I now need them, I took these in with me to see if they could be fixed to fit me.  I was told two things:  (1) they could not;  they cannot be used by anyone else, ever, and (2) Beltone is not any good anyway and no wonder he was unhappy with them and I should let them fit me to the brand THEY sell for over four thousand dollars.

I took my husband's old aids home, put them back in the drawer, and have done nothing about it.  My reasoning is that to me $4,000 is an awful lot of money and what if I DON'T LIKE the hearing aids?

As for Senior living places, it is such an individual choice.  We are all so different, basically.  I have had quite a few friends who settled in happily and loved, or love in the case of the few still living, their Senior communities or Assisted Living apartments or what have you.  Me, I cannot stand institutions.  It is almost as though I am allergic.  So my choice has been to downsize.  I sold my home over 10 years ago and moved to a 2-bedroom, 2-bath condominium all on one floor with a fabulous view in a gated community close to my children and all of the amenities.  Could not be happier!

[Steph]

MaryPage,, I tend to agree about the communiities. This Kendal attracted me because it is attached to the quaker community.. I do love being near a college and libraries. I would be happiest if I could find a place where I could walk most of the time.
Now as to hearing aids. Alas if the hearing aids were in the ear or canal, they were being accurate. They were made from molds of your husbands ear and cannot fit anothers.
I have paid roughly 3000.00 for mine. My new ones are digital. The little mechanism hangs over your ear. Very small and unobtrusive. A small transparent tube is connected and goes to your ear. Depending on the hearing loss, you may simply put the tube in your ear ( mild loss) or have a small ear piece ( mine) that plugs into your ear. You simply do not even feel them and forget they are in . They are fun in that they signal each other in certain types of circumstances and adjust to the phone ( I have problems with my regular phone, but it is mostly that I am fidgety) Work perfectly with the cell. I love them.. They love batteries though, but so do most hearing aids.  Mine are Unitron Latitude BTE.

[MaryPage]

Thanks a bazillion, Steph.  That was really helpful.

[ursamajor]

I would like to join this discussion. 

[MaryPage]

We will be the richer with your presence.  (And we really do talk about books, too!)

[Judy Laird]

Welcome to the discussion Ursamajor we are happy to have you. Just join right in.

[rosemarykaye]

This discussion about hearing aids reminded me of the time when my son was about 9 and attended a very small village school.  he has a mild hearing loss and has a hearing aid in one ear.  The school was across the road from the village church.  The teacher was giving a lesson on how to make a Christmas tree out of green paper, card, etc - and the entire lesson was broadcast through the church's loop system.  Luckily at that time of day only the minister was over there.  The teacher was mortified - but I think it could probably have been a lot worse!

[Steph]

Oh Rosemary.. What a wonderful mental picture. Hopefully mine never broadcast to anyone..
Just finished Fire and Ice by Jance.. I like her and this was a particularly good one. Put five books up new for my paperback swap club on line and they were all snapped up in the first hour. The club is sooo active.

[FlaJean]

Steph, sometime when you have a moment, would you explain about the swap club.  It sounds interesting.

[maryz]

FlaJean, our  3X-a-week swim class goes to coffee after class, and we're always exchanging books or book recommendations.  Nothing formal, but we're all readers, so it was a natural thing.  We pass along magazines, too.

[Steph]

www.paperbackswap.com.   this is an online swap club. You enter books to trade.. At least 12 to begin with, but some people have many many books.. Then you get credits for each trade. When I joined several years ago, they gave you three credits to start.. You go through the literally thousands of books offered.. audio books,, hardback,paperback,large print, cassettes.. All are offered. You order books.. and people order from you. When you ship,, you pay the shipping.. But when you order they do.. Evens itself out over the long term. The most incredible amount of variety is available. They also have a wish list and you can enter any number of books that you want there. When they become available and it is your turn,, they will notify you. They also sell books under some sort of special pricing..All in all a lovely place to belong.

[FlaJean]

Thanks, Steph for that info.

[marjifay]

My 5 best fiction reads of 2010:

THE BLUE CASTLE by L. M. Montgomery
TO A GOD UNKNOWN by John Steinbeck
CONFESSIONS OF A PAGAN NUN by Kate Horsley
MUDBOUND by Hilary Jordan
DOOMSDAY BOOK by Connie Willis

Worst of 2010:
LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN by Colum McCann
BRIDGE AT SAN LUIS REY - Thornton Wilder
AGNES GREY by Anne Bronte

What your best/worst of 2010?

Marj

[Steph]

Confessions of a Pagan Nun.. Now that sounds interesting..Was it??

[marjifay]

Yes, Steph, I found CONFESSIONS OF A PAGAN NUN very interesting.  A really beautifully told short novel. It's set in the Ireland of 500 C.E. at a time when Patrick 's Christianity was beginning to drive out the old Druid ways.  A nun, formerly a pagan, has come to Saint Brigit's monastery and tells the story of her being reared in a pagan village and her longing for the ability to read and write.  I loved the questions she asks herself, after she has read and transcribed the writings of the scholars and philosophers for the monastary,  when she begins to see what is happening as her world changes. You really are taken back to that time in Ireland when the Druids lived there. Fascinating and thought provoking.  I would like to read more of her books.

[rosemarykaye]

These are my top fiction reads for 2010:

Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
Framed - Frank Cottrell Bryce
Staying On - Paul Scott
Love Lessons - Joan Wyndham
The Children Who Lived In A Barn - Eleanor Graham
Excellent Women - Barbara Pym (that was a re-read but I love it still)
Flowers for Mrs Harris - Paul Gallico
The Importance of Being Seven - Alexander McCall Smith
Ballet Shoes - Noel Streatfeild (another re-read)

And the worst:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society (I know this was much liked, but I absolutely loathed it and couldn't even finish it)
Loves Me, Loves Me Not - Katie Fforde (editor)
Paradise Fields - Katie Fforde (tried her twice because a colleague really likes her, but what a lot of badly written rubbish (IMHO  - she's very popular though, so it's probably just me)

Rosemary

[rosemarykaye]

Sorry, it's just dawned on me that Love Lessons (Joan Wyndham) was non-fiction - better make that my top non-fiction read then  - and my worst was "Howard's End Is On The Landing" - Susan Hill - of which I expected great things but found insufferable.

R

[Steph]

I can never do top or bottom ten.. Because I read so much that my memories are all of the latest things i read.. Hmm.. Maybe if I kept notes..

[rosemarykaye]

Steph, I have had to start writing them down in a notebook that one of my daughters gave to me, as otherwise I can't remember what happened last week, let alone what I read 6 months ago.  Daughter has actually got a proper "book review" book, and I think i might get one for myself for Christmas (nobody else will! - rest of family would think i was mad, and Madeleine (the only one who does read) has already got her presents organised).

R

[marjifay]

Steph, I could never remember the names of all the books I read unless I kept a list on my computer.  Along with the book title and author, I write a short summary and a rating for each.  This list also keeps me from buying duplicates.

Marj

[marjifay]

Rosemary, I also liked Brideshead Revisited very much.  (It was hard to pick just 5 favorites for the year.)  Have you seen the 1981 British TV mini-series of Brideshead with Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews (also Sr. Lawrence Oliver as Sebastian's father).  Just wonderful.  It's available from our Netflix.  Don't know if you have a similar service in Scotland.

Marj

[Babi]

I didn't care for any of the characters.

MARJ, I often find that to be the
reason I don't finish a book. I really don't care what happens to the characters
Why should I waste my time reading the book?
  Tch, tch. Don't you know "Bridge at San Luis Rey" is supposed to be a classic?! Actually, when I read it, I couldn't understand why. Never read Anne Bronte. I guess we can't expect all the sisters to write equally well.
  Keeping lists of all books read sounds very efficient....and far too much trouble. If I don't
remember the book when I pick it up, I've probably forgotten enough of it to enjoy it again.
 (sometimes..) 

[jane]

Steph, I could never remember the names of all the books I read unless I kept a list on my computer.  Along with the book title and author, I write a short summary and a rating for each.  This list also keeps me from buying duplicates.

Marj

Me, too, Marj...and I list if I own it or got it from a Library and which one.  This spreadsheet is working well for me and easy to sort and print those I already own when I'm off to book stores.

Babi...it's a big help when I recall a character or whatever and can't remember the book title or author. The ol' memory just isn't what it used to be.

If I don't like the characters or get involved within about 25 pages, the book goes back to the library.  I spent enough years of my life having to read literature I disliked, because of school (as a student or teacher).  I don't have to do that now that I'm retired.  My philosophy is that "Life's way too short to read books I don't like, wear ugly shoes or use paper napkins."


jane

[rosemarykaye]

Marjifay - yes, I eventually saw the Brideshead Revisited TV adaptation last year, when my son kindly bought it for me on DVD.  I am not quite sure why I didn't see it when it first came out - my mother and I were avid watchers of things like The Jewel In The Crown, and I do wonder if Brideshead was avoided in our house because of the undertones of homosexuality (although that doesn't make sense either when one thinks of characters like Ronald Merrick).

in any event, I watched it all last year and absolutely loved it.  There is so much good that it is hard to pick out a favourite scene, but I particularly love the time in Venice, when Charles throws open the shutters and sees the Grand Canal in all its glory.  Wonderful, wonderful film.

R

[maryz]

jane, AMEN!!!!
(Well, I guess I DO wear ugly shoes - but then I have ugly feet. )

[rosemarykaye]

Jane, I so agree about the books and napkins - not so sure about the shoes, I feel life is too short to have sore feet!

Rosemary

[Frybabe]

You all just reminded me to put another column in my newly started book inventory list - whether I read it or not. Since I had to buy the Microsoft Office Suite for classes, I may as well get some use out of the Access database program. Hurray! Done with this semester as of today.

[salan]

Jane, add that life is also
 too short to drink cheap wine to your list and I agree (except for the ugly shoes--I choose comfort over style, but do try to find shoes that aren't toooo ugly!)

Sally

[nlhome]

Yes, Jane, I agree with your list, and with Salan in adding bad wine, and add to the list weak coffee or tea.

Ugly shoes are in the eye of the wearer, I guess - I bought a pair of "Earth" shoes that have a backward tip, at the suggestion of my son's girlfriend. They are, I think, rather plain looking and klutsy, but so comfortable that I have a hard time leaving them in the closet when they don't match what I'm wearing. I was attending a book discussion and was asked where I got them because apparently other people think they look great.

I  am struggling to read Three Cups of Tea - want to read fiction instead and have a couple of mysteries at my bedside also.

[rosemarykaye]

Yes, definitely weak coffee and bad wine.  Also horrible cakes  - especially scones, about which I am inordinately fussy; my husband knows we may as well just walk out of a cafe if I have spied the scones and don't like the look of them 

R

[Steph]

Hmm. On the ugly shoes, now I go for comfort, but for many years, I loved very very high heels, very fashionable shoes.. But I agree on cheap wine..books.. on the cloth napkins.. I vary on that one. MDH and I always used our cloth napkins and napkin rings. Now I confess in this first year of alone.. sometimes I am sloppy, eat in the living room, or with a book and use a paper napkin.. Sigh.. I will improve I am sure.

[marjifay]

Yes, Babi, I know Thornton Wilder's book about that dam..d bridge (1927) is considered a classic.  Actually, his writing improved with practice, LOL, and I loved his play, Our Town.

As to Anne Bronte, I don't know whether hers improved.  I've wanted to read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, but after Agnes Grey, I don't know....

Her sister Charlotte wrote a couple of good ones, but don't try her Villette.  It takes her 3 pages to say what could be said in a couple of paragraphs.  Ugh! I couldn't finish this 500+ page bore.

Marj