Bill's Still Weird_O, Second Third 2019
This is a continuation of the topic Bill's Still Weird_O, 1.
This topic was continued by Bill's Still Weird_O, Third Third 2019.
Talk75 Books Challenge for 2019
Join LibraryThing to post.
This topic is currently marked as "dormant"—the last message is more than 90 days old. You can revive it by posting a reply.
2weird_O
Current Reading 
Sporadic 
On Deck
Civic Homework 
# 78.
# 77. 
# 76.
# 75. 
# 74. 
# 73. 
# 72.
# 71. 
# 70. 
# 69. 
# 68.
# 67. 
# 66. 
# 65. 
# 64.
# 63. 
# 62 
# 61 
# 60
# 59 & # 58 
# 57 
# 56 
# 55
# 54 
# 53 
# 52 
# 51
# 50. 
# 49. 
# 48. 
# 47.
# 46. 
# 45. 
# 44. 
# 43.
# 42. 
# 41. 
# 40. 
Sporadic On Deck
Civic Homework # 78.
# 77. # 76.
# 75. # 74. # 73. # 72.
# 71. # 70. # 69. # 68.
# 67. # 66. # 65. # 64.
# 63. # 62 # 61 # 60
# 59 & # 58 # 57 # 56 # 55
# 54 # 53 # 52 # 51
# 50. # 49. # 48. # 47.
# 46. # 45. # 44. # 43.
# 42. # 41. # 40.
3weird_O
Books Read, Second Third, 2019
August (10 read)
78. Junky by William S. Burroughs (8/31/19)
77. Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco (8/30/19)
76. My Invented Country by Isabel Allende (8/27/19)
75. Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen (8/23/19)
74. A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest J. Gaines (8/22/19)
73. Montana 1948 by Larry Watson (8/16/19)
72. Tinkers by Paul Harding (8/14/19)
71. Hotel World by Ali Smith (8/9/19)
70. A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines (8/6/19)
69. The Making of THE AFRICAN QUEEN by Katharine Hepburn (8/1/19)
July (11 read)
68. Common Sense by Thomas Paine (7/31/19)
67. Eyewitness: 150 Years of Photojournalism by Time/Life (7/30/19)
66. The Ransom of Russian Art by John McPhee (7/30/19)
65. Mohawk by Richard Russo (7/26/19)
64. What the Dog Knows by Cat Warren (7/23/19)
63. The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Eddie Campbell (7/20/19)
62. Watergate: A Novel by Thomas Mallon (7/19/19)
61. Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon (7/13/19)
60. Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie (7/11/19)
59. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers (7/6/19)
58. Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers (7/4/19)
June (9 read)
57. Elvis Presley by Bobbie Ann Mason (6/30/19)
56. The North American Indians: A selection of Photographs by Edward S. Curtis (6/29/19)
55. In a Sacred Manner We live by Edward S. Curtis (6/28/19)
54. Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher by Timothy Egan (6/28/19)
53. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (6/23/19)
52. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (6/18/19)
51. Fer de Lance by Rex Stout (6/14/19)
50. These Truths by Jill Lepore (6/13/19)
49. All the Names by Jose Saramago (6/6/19)
May (9 read)
48. What Now? by Ann Patchett (5/31/19)
47. Elmet by Fiona Mozley (5/29/19)
46. Venus on the Half-Shell by Kilgore Trout (5/25/19)
45. One Matchless Time: A Life of William Faulkner by Jay Parini (5/24/19)
44. Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers (5/20/19)
43. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (5/19/19)
42. Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz (5/11/19)
41. Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer (5/7/19)
40. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare (5/3/19)
August (10 read)
78. Junky by William S. Burroughs (8/31/19)
77. Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco (8/30/19)
76. My Invented Country by Isabel Allende (8/27/19)
75. Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen (8/23/19)
74. A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest J. Gaines (8/22/19)
73. Montana 1948 by Larry Watson (8/16/19)
72. Tinkers by Paul Harding (8/14/19)
71. Hotel World by Ali Smith (8/9/19)
70. A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines (8/6/19)
69. The Making of THE AFRICAN QUEEN by Katharine Hepburn (8/1/19)
July (11 read)
68. Common Sense by Thomas Paine (7/31/19)
67. Eyewitness: 150 Years of Photojournalism by Time/Life (7/30/19)
66. The Ransom of Russian Art by John McPhee (7/30/19)
65. Mohawk by Richard Russo (7/26/19)
64. What the Dog Knows by Cat Warren (7/23/19)
63. The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Eddie Campbell (7/20/19)
62. Watergate: A Novel by Thomas Mallon (7/19/19)
61. Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon (7/13/19)
60. Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie (7/11/19)
59. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers (7/6/19)
58. Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers (7/4/19)
June (9 read)
57. Elvis Presley by Bobbie Ann Mason (6/30/19)
56. The North American Indians: A selection of Photographs by Edward S. Curtis (6/29/19)
55. In a Sacred Manner We live by Edward S. Curtis (6/28/19)
54. Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher by Timothy Egan (6/28/19)
53. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (6/23/19)
52. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (6/18/19)
51. Fer de Lance by Rex Stout (6/14/19)
50. These Truths by Jill Lepore (6/13/19)
49. All the Names by Jose Saramago (6/6/19)
May (9 read)
48. What Now? by Ann Patchett (5/31/19)
47. Elmet by Fiona Mozley (5/29/19)
46. Venus on the Half-Shell by Kilgore Trout (5/25/19)
45. One Matchless Time: A Life of William Faulkner by Jay Parini (5/24/19)
44. Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers (5/20/19)
43. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (5/19/19)
42. Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz (5/11/19)
41. Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer (5/7/19)
40. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare (5/3/19)
6weird_O
Books Read, First Third, 2019
April (9 read)
39. Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler (4/28/19)
38. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (4/25/19)
37. The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde (4/21/19)
36. The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith (4/14/19)
35. Very Good, Jeeves! by P. G. Wodehouse (4/10/19)
34. Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward (4/10/19)
33. When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson (4/8/19)
32. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (4/4/19)
31. The Arrival by Shaun Tan (4/1/19)
March (10 read)
30. God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian by Kurt Vonnegut (3/28/19)
29. The Little Sister by Raymond Chandler (3/27/19)
28. Slade House by David Mitchell (3/24/19)
27. Autumn by Ali Smith (3/23/19)
26. Grendel by John Gardner (3/21/19)
25. Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney (3/19/19)
24. Finn by Jon Clinch (3/17/19)
23. Washington Black by Esi Edugyan (3/13/19)
22. A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle (3/5/19)
21. The Golden Cockerel by Alexander Pushkin (3/3/19)
February (10 read)
20. Going into Town: A Love Letter to New York by Roz Chast (2/27/19)
19. The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields (2/26/19)
18. The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book by Bill Watterson (2/24/19)
Yukon Ho! by Bill Watterson (3/7/19)
17. Pigs Have Wings by P. G. Wodehouse (2/21/19)
16. Educated by Tara Westover (2/15/19)
15. Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe (2/12/19)
14. Diary by Chuck Palahniuk (2/12/19)
13. She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith and School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan (2/8/19)
12. The Autobiography of My Mother by Jamaica Kincaid (2/3/19)
11. Last Friends by Jane Garam (2/3/19)
January (10 read)
10. Flushed with Pride: The Story of Thomas Crapper by Wallace Reyburn (1/31/19)
9. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (1/30/19)
8. Testosterone Rex by Cordelia Fine (1/28/19)
7. The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam (1/26/19)
6. End in Tears by Ruth Rendell (1/20/19)
5. My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok (1/18/19)
4. Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers (1/13/19)
3. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas (1/12/19)
2. The Chosen by Chaim Potok (1/4/19)
1. Dali's Mustache by Salvador Dali & Philippe Halsman (1/1/19)
April (9 read)
39. Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler (4/28/19)
38. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (4/25/19)
37. The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde (4/21/19)
36. The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith (4/14/19)
35. Very Good, Jeeves! by P. G. Wodehouse (4/10/19)
34. Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward (4/10/19)
33. When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson (4/8/19)
32. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (4/4/19)
31. The Arrival by Shaun Tan (4/1/19)
March (10 read)
30. God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian by Kurt Vonnegut (3/28/19)
29. The Little Sister by Raymond Chandler (3/27/19)
28. Slade House by David Mitchell (3/24/19)
27. Autumn by Ali Smith (3/23/19)
26. Grendel by John Gardner (3/21/19)
25. Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney (3/19/19)
24. Finn by Jon Clinch (3/17/19)
23. Washington Black by Esi Edugyan (3/13/19)
22. A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle (3/5/19)
21. The Golden Cockerel by Alexander Pushkin (3/3/19)
February (10 read)
20. Going into Town: A Love Letter to New York by Roz Chast (2/27/19)
19. The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields (2/26/19)
18. The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book by Bill Watterson (2/24/19)
Yukon Ho! by Bill Watterson (3/7/19)
17. Pigs Have Wings by P. G. Wodehouse (2/21/19)
16. Educated by Tara Westover (2/15/19)
15. Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe (2/12/19)
14. Diary by Chuck Palahniuk (2/12/19)
13. She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith and School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan (2/8/19)
12. The Autobiography of My Mother by Jamaica Kincaid (2/3/19)
11. Last Friends by Jane Garam (2/3/19)
January (10 read)
10. Flushed with Pride: The Story of Thomas Crapper by Wallace Reyburn (1/31/19)
9. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (1/30/19)
8. Testosterone Rex by Cordelia Fine (1/28/19)
7. The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam (1/26/19)
6. End in Tears by Ruth Rendell (1/20/19)
5. My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok (1/18/19)
4. Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers (1/13/19)
3. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas (1/12/19)
2. The Chosen by Chaim Potok (1/4/19)
1. Dali's Mustache by Salvador Dali & Philippe Halsman (1/1/19)
7weird_O
2019 Reading Stats
First Third 2019
Books read: 39
Authors read: 38 (including co-authors of 2 books)
Single-read Authors: 34
Multi-read authors: 4
New-to-me authors: 26
Author gender
Male: 24
Female: 14
Author Birth Country
US: 14
UK: 11
Ireland: 3
Russia: 1
Scotland: 2
Spain: 1
Latvia: 1
Canada: 2
Antiqua: 1
France: 1
Australia: 1
Dead or alive
Currently breathing: 19 (afaik)
R.I.P.: 19
First published
Before 1700s: 2
1700s: 3
1800s: 2
1900—1925: 1
1926—1950: 3
1951—1975: 6
1976—2000: 5
2001—2010: 8
2011—2018: 10
Genre
Fiction: 31
Non-fiction: 4
Graphic/Photo/Art: 3
Drama: 2
Format
Hardcover: 20
Paperback: 16
Mass-market paperback: 3
Source
2019 acquisition: 13
ROOT: 26
Books Acquired
Total: 202
New: 2
Used: 200
First Third 2019
Books read: 39
Authors read: 38 (including co-authors of 2 books)
Single-read Authors: 34
Multi-read authors: 4
New-to-me authors: 26
Author gender
Male: 24
Female: 14
Author Birth Country
US: 14
UK: 11
Ireland: 3
Russia: 1
Scotland: 2
Spain: 1
Latvia: 1
Canada: 2
Antiqua: 1
France: 1
Australia: 1
Dead or alive
Currently breathing: 19 (afaik)
R.I.P.: 19
First published
Before 1700s: 2
1700s: 3
1800s: 2
1900—1925: 1
1926—1950: 3
1951—1975: 6
1976—2000: 5
2001—2010: 8
2011—2018: 10
Genre
Fiction: 31
Non-fiction: 4
Graphic/Photo/Art: 3
Drama: 2
Format
Hardcover: 20
Paperback: 16
Mass-market paperback: 3
Source
2019 acquisition: 13
ROOT: 26
Books Acquired
Total: 202
New: 2
Used: 200
9katiekrug
Hi Bill - happy new thread!
Skimming your books read so far, I spotted The Stone Diaries. Did you write something up on that? If not, what did you think of it?
Skimming your books read so far, I spotted The Stone Diaries. Did you write something up on that? If not, what did you think of it?
12FAMeulstee
Happy new thread, Bill!
>4 weird_O: >5 weird_O: I like the way you show what you have read this year.
>4 weird_O: >5 weird_O: I like the way you show what you have read this year.
13weird_O
>9 katiekrug: I didn't write anything about The Stone Diaries. Sloth. I liked the book and I think it is worthy of the honors it won. The opening chapter was startling. I enjoyed Shields's observations about the self-delusions and (mis)representations of various characters.
>10 drneutron: Thanks, Doctor.
>11 quondame: And you too, Susan
>12 FAMeulstee: Maybe it's hokey, but I like seeing the covers. I did the shelf o' books thing last year. Probably have about 8 feet of books 'til the year is out.
>10 drneutron: Thanks, Doctor.
>11 quondame: And you too, Susan
>12 FAMeulstee: Maybe it's hokey, but I like seeing the covers. I did the shelf o' books thing last year. Probably have about 8 feet of books 'til the year is out.
14figsfromthistle
Happy new thread!
15weird_O
>14 figsfromthistle: Thank you.
16msf59
Happy New Thread, Bill. Love those lovely toppers. I have been meaning to read The Stone Diaries for years. I have a copy on shelf too.
17jnwelch
Happy New Thread, Bill!
Annie looks like a fun gal - and what a hat in that third photo! Did someone in the family make that?
Annie looks like a fun gal - and what a hat in that third photo! Did someone in the family make that?
20charl08
Happy new one, Bill. Your photos of the shelves had me turning my head to try and read all the spines.
202 books acquired? Wow.
202 books acquired? Wow.
21weird_O
>16 msf59: Well, just read it then, Mark. It's subtle in how details of the characters are revealed. I enjoyed it.
>17 jnwelch: Annie is a fun girlie, but she's mommy's and daddy's girlie. Especially daddy. I don't know where the knit hat came from, Joe.
>18 kidzdoc: Thanks, Darryl.
>19 BLBera: All the same tootsie, Beth. The other five granddaughters are, of course, cute too. But Annie reins just now.
>20 charl08: The fronts of the books on the shelf are arrayed in the next post. I try to read what's on book spines in photos; it just isn't always easy.
Too many books, do ya think?
>17 jnwelch: Annie is a fun girlie, but she's mommy's and daddy's girlie. Especially daddy. I don't know where the knit hat came from, Joe.
>18 kidzdoc: Thanks, Darryl.
>19 BLBera: All the same tootsie, Beth. The other five granddaughters are, of course, cute too. But Annie reins just now.
>20 charl08: The fronts of the books on the shelf are arrayed in the next post. I try to read what's on book spines in photos; it just isn't always easy.
Too many books, do ya think?
22weird_O
April 27, 2019: Kutztown Public Library $5-a-bag sale
171. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (pbk)
172. An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison (pbk)
173. The History Boys: A Play by Alan Bennett (pbk)
174. Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty (pbk)
175. King Jesus by Robert Graves (pbk)
176. The Big Short by Michael Lewis (pbk)
177. Moneyball by Michael Lewis (pbk)
178. Prairie Nocturne by Ivan Doig (pbk)
179. One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson (pbk)
180. The Lyre of Orpheus (The Cornish Trilogy) by Robertson Davis (pbk)
181. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (pbk)
182. The Last King of Scotland by Giles Foden (pbk)
183. Old Friends by Tracy Kidder (pbk)
184. The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam (pbk)
185. The Forsythe Saga by John Galsworthy (hc)
186. A Modern Comedy by John Galsworthy (hc)
187. End of the Chapter by John Galsworthy (hc)
188. Flesh by Philip Jose Farmer (hc)
189. City Life: Urban Expectations in a New World by Witold Rybczynski (hc)
190. The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner (hc)
191. Picture This by Joseph Heller (hc)
192. Zero K by Don DeLillo (hc)
193. Guernica by Dave Boling (hc)
194. Home: A Memoir of my Early Years by Julie Andrews (hc)
195. Family Album by Penelope Lively (hc)
196. Another City, Not My Own: A Novel in the Form of a Memoir by Dominick Dunne (hc)
197. The Outhouse Revisited by Don Harron (hc, oversize)
198. The New England Colonial by Anne Elizabeth Powell (hc, oversize)
199. The Private Experience: Elliott Erwitt (Masters of Contemporary Photography) by Sean Callahan (hc, oversize)
200. The Photojournalist, Mary Ellen Mark & Annie Leibovitz (Masters of Contemporary Photography) by Adrianne Marcus (hc, oversize)
201. The Photo Illustration, Bert Stern (Masters of Contemporary Photography) by Jim Cornfield (hc, oversize)
23PaulCranswick
New threads, cute kids and great book hauls. I'm supposed to be the group's book magpie but you are leaving me well behind these days. :D
Have a wonderful weekend, Bill.
Have a wonderful weekend, Bill.
24weird_O
A read a book from Da Liberry. And I've begun reading a second one. This CANNOT continue.
Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz was a darn good book, a good yarn. It was a struggle to not underline or highlight sentences and passages that I would have liked to return to. I just have to remember them, somehow. (Next week, you can be sure, I'll find a copy at one of the library sales on my schedule.)
Trivia. Tony Horwitz won a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 1995. His wife, Geraldine Brooks, won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005. Are there other prize-winning couples? Perhaps, but I can't think of any right now.
Now beginning Jay Parini's One Matchless Time.
Slow going this month.
Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz was a darn good book, a good yarn. It was a struggle to not underline or highlight sentences and passages that I would have liked to return to. I just have to remember them, somehow. (Next week, you can be sure, I'll find a copy at one of the library sales on my schedule.)
Trivia. Tony Horwitz won a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 1995. His wife, Geraldine Brooks, won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005. Are there other prize-winning couples? Perhaps, but I can't think of any right now.
Now beginning Jay Parini's One Matchless Time.
Slow going this month.
25weird_O
Mothers and some daughters. Left to right: Helen, Judi, Tara, Gracie, Gig, and Claire. Tara is the mother of Helen, Gracie, and Claire. Gig is the mother of Tara. Judi is the mother of Jeremy, not pictured because he is not a mother, but he is the husband of Tara and the father of Helen, Gracie, and Claire.
Happy Mother's Day!
27benitastrnad
I hope you find that used copy of Confderates in the Attic. I think they are hard to come by. I purchased my copy back in the day and kept it - for just the reasons you said.
28laytonwoman3rd
"Are there other prize-winning couples? " Nicholas Kristof (NY Times journalist) and his wife Sheryl WuDunn won the Pulitzer together....does that count?
29weird_O
>28 laytonwoman3rd: I knew someone would know, Linda. And why wouldn't Sheryl WuDunn and her husband whatisname count.
BTB, I asked my daughter-in-law Tara yesterday if she'd heard of Jay Parini. She's been teaching at Lafayette for several years (women's studies). He was new to her, but I'm sure she'll investigate. I only in the third chapter of One Matchless Time, but it is impressive. Unless a miracle happens Wednesday or Saturday, I think I'll order a copy. I gotta have a copy I can mark up.
>27 benitastrnad: Confederates... is still in print in paperback. But I do see the hardcover is rare and pricey.
>26 jessibud2: Here's a generational photo from Mother's Day 1975.
My wife Judi, her mother Lucille, her mother's mother Abby, and our daughter Becky.
BTB, I asked my daughter-in-law Tara yesterday if she'd heard of Jay Parini. She's been teaching at Lafayette for several years (women's studies). He was new to her, but I'm sure she'll investigate. I only in the third chapter of One Matchless Time, but it is impressive. Unless a miracle happens Wednesday or Saturday, I think I'll order a copy. I gotta have a copy I can mark up.
>27 benitastrnad: Confederates... is still in print in paperback. But I do see the hardcover is rare and pricey.
>26 jessibud2: Here's a generational photo from Mother's Day 1975.
My wife Judi, her mother Lucille, her mother's mother Abby, and our daughter Becky.
30laytonwoman3rd
>29 weird_O: Well, I dunno...I thought maybe since they only won ONE prize between them, it wasn't what you were looking for. Glad you're liking the Faulkner bio, and if I've introduced your DIL to Parini, I'm happy. I guess he'd be hard to introduce to a women's studies curriculum, unfortunately.
31jessibud2
>29 weird_O: - I really love photos like these. This one is also a keeper! Just lovely.
32richardderus
>29 weird_O: Four generations! Wow.
Only 12 days late to the party...and jealous of the Philip Jose Farmer hardcover.
Only 12 days late to the party...and jealous of the Philip Jose Farmer hardcover.
33jnwelch
>24 weird_O: Wow, what a power couple, Bill. I had no idea Tony Horwitz and Geraldine Brooks were married. I've enjoyed reading books by both.
Lovely Mother's Day photos. I love Becky cracking up in >29 weird_O:.
>22 weird_O: Where do you put all your books? Wow.
Lovely Mother's Day photos. I love Becky cracking up in >29 weird_O:.
>22 weird_O: Where do you put all your books? Wow.
34msf59
>25 weird_O: >28 laytonwoman3rd: These are great photos, Bill. Thanks for sharing.
Sweet Thursday. I can't believe you are also reading One Matchless Time. I will start it tomorrow. How far are you in and what do you think?
I am enjoying Pachinko, but it is early days.
Sweet Thursday. I can't believe you are also reading One Matchless Time. I will start it tomorrow. How far are you in and what do you think?
I am enjoying Pachinko, but it is early days.
35weird_O
Ohh, The Horror!
I have been reading, I want you to know. I've got about a three or four books in play, plus a couple idling on the side. Not happy being...well...ignored.
• One Matchless Time, Jay Parini's excellent bio of William Faulkner: more than halfway.
• Mary Poppins: rummaging in a stack of family heirloom kids' books for something that wasn't there, I did discover a copy of this classic. I think I read it, though a few of the episodes do not ring bells of recognition. Trying to purge images of the Disney movie from my mind.
• Little Toot by Hardie Gramatky was another discovery amongst our kids' books. I just love Gramatky's illustrations, and it's a nice little story. First published in 1939.
• Mr. Popper's Penguins was another discovery, but I left it in place for now.
• The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett is a short book that snuck into my bag o' books yesterday whilst browsing at a library sale. So short is it that I thought, "Well, I can roar through this in no time." Half right. Smack on page 60 of 120. The British monarch happens upon the Westminster Library's bookmobile parked at the service entrance to Windsor Castle. She meets a young man, one of the dishwashers, checking out a book, and she actually signs out a book herself. It turns her into a reader and sets the bureaucracy minding her every breath on its head. Fun.
• These Truths is one of the sidelined books, kickin' at the dirt, y'know, over there.
I have been reading, I want you to know. I've got about a three or four books in play, plus a couple idling on the side. Not happy being...well...ignored.
• One Matchless Time, Jay Parini's excellent bio of William Faulkner: more than halfway.
• Mary Poppins: rummaging in a stack of family heirloom kids' books for something that wasn't there, I did discover a copy of this classic. I think I read it, though a few of the episodes do not ring bells of recognition. Trying to purge images of the Disney movie from my mind.
• Little Toot by Hardie Gramatky was another discovery amongst our kids' books. I just love Gramatky's illustrations, and it's a nice little story. First published in 1939.
• Mr. Popper's Penguins was another discovery, but I left it in place for now.
• The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett is a short book that snuck into my bag o' books yesterday whilst browsing at a library sale. So short is it that I thought, "Well, I can roar through this in no time." Half right. Smack on page 60 of 120. The British monarch happens upon the Westminster Library's bookmobile parked at the service entrance to Windsor Castle. She meets a young man, one of the dishwashers, checking out a book, and she actually signs out a book herself. It turns her into a reader and sets the bureaucracy minding her every breath on its head. Fun.
• These Truths is one of the sidelined books, kickin' at the dirt, y'know, over there.
36weird_O
>31 jessibud2: We love that four-generation photo too. We do have a somewhat similar photo of the male side, except that my son and I were joined with my wife's father and grandfather. Both of my grandfathers died well before I was born. My dad died when I was six.
>32 richardderus: Ahh, you aren't late, Richard. The party is very low key, but it's always on-going.
All I really know about Farmer is that he published a book called Venus on the Half-Shell under the name Kilgore Trout. Trout was a fictional writer invented by Kurt Vonnegut, and Vonnegut was NOT amused by Farmer's appropriation. I think I have a copy of Venus on the Half-Shell but haven't read it. Flesh appears to be a quick read (as does Venus...) so I must schedule them.
>33 jnwelch: Brooks talked about coming to an understanding of her husband's Civil War obsession in the March acknowledgements. From that, I figured out who "Tony" was.
Our house has a full basement, Joe, and it IS full. Mostly full of my stuff. I think I need a dumpster. Oh, and blinders...so I can't see what I'm tossing in the dumpster.
>34 msf59: I'm always glad to share photos of my family, Mark.
I am past the halfway point of One Matchless Time, a library copy that I'll have to return. I do think this is one I want to keep. I really like Faulkner's books and stories, even though I'm missing a lot, as in, it's going over my head. But Parini's commentaries are eye-opening. Very helpful to me. I read a Faulkner bio by Stephen Oates at couple of reads ago, which was good. But this is better.
How are you doing with it?
>32 richardderus: Ahh, you aren't late, Richard. The party is very low key, but it's always on-going.
All I really know about Farmer is that he published a book called Venus on the Half-Shell under the name Kilgore Trout. Trout was a fictional writer invented by Kurt Vonnegut, and Vonnegut was NOT amused by Farmer's appropriation. I think I have a copy of Venus on the Half-Shell but haven't read it. Flesh appears to be a quick read (as does Venus...) so I must schedule them.
>33 jnwelch: Brooks talked about coming to an understanding of her husband's Civil War obsession in the March acknowledgements. From that, I figured out who "Tony" was.
Our house has a full basement, Joe, and it IS full. Mostly full of my stuff. I think I need a dumpster. Oh, and blinders...so I can't see what I'm tossing in the dumpster.
>34 msf59: I'm always glad to share photos of my family, Mark.
I am past the halfway point of One Matchless Time, a library copy that I'll have to return. I do think this is one I want to keep. I really like Faulkner's books and stories, even though I'm missing a lot, as in, it's going over my head. But Parini's commentaries are eye-opening. Very helpful to me. I read a Faulkner bio by Stephen Oates at couple of reads ago, which was good. But this is better.
How are you doing with it?
37richardderus
Little Toot looks adorable! Have a very completiony week ahead.
38msf59
Howdy, Bill. I am also really enjoying the Faulkner bio. I may hit the halfway point tomorrow. I wish I was more familiar with his books. It has been awhile since I read The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying and can't remember details. Parini's writing is really good.
39weird_O
>37 richardderus: :-) I am going to try for completionyness.
>38 msf59: Parini gives voice to interpretations other than his own, and I think that's a big plus. What specific critics said of the individual books and how their regard for Faulkner morphed over the years. I do want to re-read Faulkner works I've read in the past, and try several unread books in The TBR ClosetTM. I just got a copy of The Reivers last week.
Are you reading a dead-tree edition or an audio?
Did I mention, on the Parini front, that I acquired his bio of John Steinbeck?
>38 msf59: Parini gives voice to interpretations other than his own, and I think that's a big plus. What specific critics said of the individual books and how their regard for Faulkner morphed over the years. I do want to re-read Faulkner works I've read in the past, and try several unread books in The TBR ClosetTM. I just got a copy of The Reivers last week.
Are you reading a dead-tree edition or an audio?
Did I mention, on the Parini front, that I acquired his bio of John Steinbeck?
40Whisper1
>22 weird_O: What an incredible book haul! Where in the world will you place these new additions? I managed to get some good buys at the Bethlehem Library sale.
As always, it was good to see you there!
As always, it was good to see you there!
41weird_O
Linda, this just the end-of-April acquisitions. (>22 weird_O:) I'm chary of revealing last week's finds. As for housing this stuff, I've got earlier obsessively accumulated collections to displace, and then all is good.
Finished Mary Poppins last night. Boo to Walt D. I prefer a snippy Mary Poppins.
Just reading about Faulkner's life. On break as he is about to become a Nobelist.
Finished Mary Poppins last night. Boo to Walt D. I prefer a snippy Mary Poppins.
Just reading about Faulkner's life. On break as he is about to become a Nobelist.
42karenmarie
Happy new thread, Bill!
>1 weird_O: What a dolly.
>7 weird_O: Impressive stats. 39 read, 202 acquired. *smile*
>24 weird_O: I knew but forgot that Tony Horwitz has a new book out – Spying on the South - and heard an interview with him today on NPR. Of course I had to order it…
>35 weird_O: I loved The Uncommon Reader.
>41 weird_O: I should really read Mary Poppins – it’s languishing on my shelves.
You’ll have to dish eventually – might as well let us see the May Acquistions. 202 and counting…
>1 weird_O: What a dolly.
>7 weird_O: Impressive stats. 39 read, 202 acquired. *smile*
>24 weird_O: I knew but forgot that Tony Horwitz has a new book out – Spying on the South - and heard an interview with him today on NPR. Of course I had to order it…
>35 weird_O: I loved The Uncommon Reader.
>41 weird_O: I should really read Mary Poppins – it’s languishing on my shelves.
You’ll have to dish eventually – might as well let us see the May Acquistions. 202 and counting…
43charl08
>41 weird_O: I want to see the new books too! Also intrigued by Faulkner. Sounds good.
44weird_O
My Wednesday Book Deals
Shopping at a library book-sale and at Goodwill, I got 24 interesting reads. Spent about $35 altogether. Hours and hours of enjoyment in the offing. Here's the list of titles:
The Reivers by William Faulkner (mmp) Pulitzer 1963
The Aspern Papers and Other Stories by Henry James (mmp)
Unless by Carol Shields (pbk)
In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway (pbk)
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (pbk) Drama Pulitzer 1595
The Power by Naomi Alderman (pbk)
Huck Out West by Robert Coover (hc)
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (hc)
Kingsblood Royal by Sinclair Lewis (hc)
True at First Light by Ernest Hemingway (hc)
Islands in the Stream by Ernest Hemingway (hc)
Short Stories by H. G. Wells (hc)
The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert (hc) GNF Pulitzer 2015
Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow (hc)
Little Green Men by Christopher Buckley (hc)
John Steinbeck by Jay Parini (hc)
The Stories of Eva Luna by Isabel Allende (pbk)
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman (pbk)
The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore (pbk)
David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell (pbk)
The Good Earth by Pearl Buck (pbk) Pulitzer 1932
Rin Tin Tin by Susan Olean (pbk)
The Trial by Franz Kafka (hc) upgrade
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande (hc)
The Man Who Knew Too Much by David Leavitt (hc)
Dry: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs (hc) upgrade
45weird_O
>42 karenmarie: I am glad (pleased) you like both my granddaughter and my acquisitive penchant.
Horwitz: I got an ARC (advance reading copy) of Blue Latitudes on Saturday. Probably won't see his new book in my shopping venues for some time. But you never know.
I loved The Uncommon Reader too. A real hoot. Read it straightaway.
...Poppins is okay. Not great, but better than Disney's version.
>43 charl08: Okay, okay. There's the first batch (>44 weird_O:). More will come.
Horwitz: I got an ARC (advance reading copy) of Blue Latitudes on Saturday. Probably won't see his new book in my shopping venues for some time. But you never know.
I loved The Uncommon Reader too. A real hoot. Read it straightaway.
...She was not a gentle reader and often wished authors were around so she could take them to task.
'Am I alone,' she wrote, 'in wanting to give Henry James a good talking-to?'...It was Henry James she was reading one teatime when she said out loud, 'Oh, do get on.'
...Poppins is okay. Not great, but better than Disney's version.
>43 charl08: Okay, okay. There's the first batch (>44 weird_O:). More will come.
47weird_O
>46 richardderus: *heeheehee*
48jnwelch
>44 weird_O: Great group of books, Bill. My faves in there are probably The Power and Being Mortal.
I liked Blue Latitudes a lot. I hope you have a good time with it.
P.S. Debbi told me that they're making a movie or tv series out of The Power. That could be special.
I liked Blue Latitudes a lot. I hope you have a good time with it.
P.S. Debbi told me that they're making a movie or tv series out of The Power. That could be special.
49charl08
>45 weird_O: Loved the Jill Lepore. And of course A Gentleman in Moscow. Thanks for posting!
50kidzdoc
>44 weird_O: Good night. My book haul from today looks minuscule by comparison.
Two of my all time favorite books are there, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, and Being Mortal.
Two of my all time favorite books are there, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, and Being Mortal.
51karenmarie
Wow, Bill, excellent acquisitions, especially A Gentleman in Moscow and - I agree with Darryl - The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, which haunts me to this day.
52msf59
Hey, Bill. I am reading the Faulkner bio, in print. Just over halfway. Like you, I also want to reread Faulkner and catch up on books I have not read. I am really interested in The Unvanguished. The story collection? Sounds like my cuppa.
Great book haul. I also to want to get my greedy mitts on that Steinbeck bio. I recently read and enjoyed Huck Out West.
Great book haul. I also to want to get my greedy mitts on that Steinbeck bio. I recently read and enjoyed Huck Out West.
53weird_O
>48 jnwelch: >50 kidzdoc: Being Mortal I read back when it was published. Borrowed from a library. Now my own copy of mark up.
Good to hear the love for The Power, Blue Latitudes, A Gentleman in Moscow, and The Spirit Catches You.... That last one had a kinda familiar sounding title, though I have no idea what it's about; glad now I tossed it in the bag. Also The Secret History of Wonder Woman; I read Lepore's excerpt in The New Yorker.
My reading of One Matchless Time continues. Ithink I'll pick up The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable next. The first chapter is about Umberto Ecco's substantial library (about 30,000 volumes, as I recall).
>52 msf59: The Unvanquished is a ripping good Faulkner, Mark. I've read that one a couple of times at least. Top of the list (>44 weird_O:) is a copy of The Reivers, Faulkner's last book, and one for which he won the Pulitzer in 1963 (posthumously).
Good to hear the love for The Power, Blue Latitudes, A Gentleman in Moscow, and The Spirit Catches You.... That last one had a kinda familiar sounding title, though I have no idea what it's about; glad now I tossed it in the bag. Also The Secret History of Wonder Woman; I read Lepore's excerpt in The New Yorker.
My reading of One Matchless Time continues. Ithink I'll pick up The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable next. The first chapter is about Umberto Ecco's substantial library (about 30,000 volumes, as I recall).
>52 msf59: The Unvanquished is a ripping good Faulkner, Mark. I've read that one a couple of times at least. Top of the list (>44 weird_O:) is a copy of The Reivers, Faulkner's last book, and one for which he won the Pulitzer in 1963 (posthumously).
54weird_O
Saturday’s Book Deals
Many good books, not much money invested. Just another library book sale.
Best Short Stories by Ring Lardner (pbk)
The Mind of the South by W. J. Cash (pbk)
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (pbk)
Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire (pbk)
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (pbk)
Hard Times by Charles Dickens (pbk)
All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays by George Orwell (pbk)
Baltasar and Blimunda by Jose Saramago (pbk)
The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma (pbk)
The Breaking of Eggs by Jim Powell (pbk)
A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler (pbk) Pulitzer 1993
Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld (pbk)
Encore Provence by Peter Mayle (pbk)
The Whites by Richard Price (pbk)
The Opposite of Fate by Amy Tan (pbk)
Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz (pbk)
Chaos by James Gleick (pbk)
The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam by Ann Marie Fleming (pbk, GN)
Not for Publication: Landscapes, Still Lifes, and Portraits by N. C. Wyeth (pbk, oversize)
Edward Hopper: The Art and the Artist by Gail Levin (pbk, oversize)
Life Laughs Last by Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr. (hc, oversize)
The Rescue: The Romance of the Shallows by Joseph Conrad (hc)
Ogden Nash's Zoo by Ogden Nash, illustrated by Etienne Delessert (hc)
Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss (hc)
My Century by Gunter Grass (hc)
The Inspiring Life of Eudora Welty by Richelle Putnam (hc)
The Third Reich by Roberto Bolano (hc)
American Lion by Jon Meacham (hc) Bio Pulitzer 2009
You Don't Have to Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie (hc)
Stalin's Ghost by Martin Cruz Smith (hc)
Wicked by Gregory Maguire (hc) upgrade
Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire (hc)
A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire (hc)
55kidzdoc
>54 weird_O: Well done again, Bill. The only books in your Saturday haul I own are Baltasar and Blimunda, which I haven't read yet but hope to get to in the next year or two, and Eats, Shoots and Leaves, which I liked well enough.
56benitastrnad
Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down was the subject of a lengthy discussion about a year ago over on Mark's or Joe's thread. Several of us read it and the title caught fire again on LT. The book was published in 1997 and it is surprising how relevant it is today. Sort of like Confederates in the Attic. Move Spirit to the top of your reading pile. It's a goodun.
57richardderus
>54 weird_O: The Lardner short story collection intrigues me because my memories of reading them are so fond. When you get around to reading it in 2033, I'll be interested to hear about it!
58weird_O
Finished Jay Parini's bio of William Faulkner, One Matchless Time. Notching another month completed in this year's American Author Challenge.
I still have These Truths and The Mueller Report to wrap up. But I remain unsure just what I'll pick up next. Several titles vying for my attention, naturally.
>55 kidzdoc: Darryl, I have several Saramago novels in The TBR ClosetTM, including All the Names and Blindness. I inherited the former title from my younger son, who read it for a lit course at Temple. I got part way through but was exasperated by the protagonist's, ah, diffidence, inaction.
>56 benitastrnad: Thanks for the recom, Benita. I'll look at it.
>57 richardderus: I feel the same way, Richard. I've had Lardner on my wish list for years, but my kids never spring for him. And I've been looking and looking at the sales I frequent. Finally scored! (I liked his son's memoir of being blacklisted and jailed: I'd Hate Myself in the Morning.)
I still have These Truths and The Mueller Report to wrap up. But I remain unsure just what I'll pick up next. Several titles vying for my attention, naturally.
>55 kidzdoc: Darryl, I have several Saramago novels in The TBR ClosetTM, including All the Names and Blindness. I inherited the former title from my younger son, who read it for a lit course at Temple. I got part way through but was exasperated by the protagonist's, ah, diffidence, inaction.
>56 benitastrnad: Thanks for the recom, Benita. I'll look at it.
>57 richardderus: I feel the same way, Richard. I've had Lardner on my wish list for years, but my kids never spring for him. And I've been looking and looking at the sales I frequent. Finally scored! (I liked his son's memoir of being blacklisted and jailed: I'd Hate Myself in the Morning.)
59weird_O
I gave away some books this week. My DiL, who works with a literary program at the Northampton County Prison, mentioned that the stock of books was low. For some reason, hardcover books are forbidden; only paperbacks are allowed. If you know of anybody who could donate some paperbacks...?
I have a carton into which dupes and the occasional discard (the very occasional discard) goes. The carton goes to a library to be recirculated via Book Sale!! I turned over the paperbacks from the box Tuesday evening. Mostly duplicates. I do wonder whether prisoners will be interested in some (any!) of these titles.
I have a carton into which dupes and the occasional discard (the very occasional discard) goes. The carton goes to a library to be recirculated via Book Sale!! I turned over the paperbacks from the box Tuesday evening. Mostly duplicates. I do wonder whether prisoners will be interested in some (any!) of these titles.
trade
Still Life by Louise Penny
Dry: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs
The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee (ARC)
Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder
When Will There Be Good News? By Kate Atkinson
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
Moses, Man of the Mountain by Zora Neale Hurston
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
Possession by A. S. Byatt (2 copies)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
Roscoe by William Kennedy
Slade House by David Mitchell
Postcards by E. Annie Proulx
The Beekeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman
The Trespasser by Tana French
Broken Harbor by Tana French
mass market
The Assistant by Bernard Malamud
Blue Highways: A Journey into America by William Least Heat-Moon
The Cardinal of the Kremlin by Tom Clancy
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy
Pigeon Feathers by John Updike
60richardderus
>59 weird_O: Heckuva clear-out, Bill! It's good they go to a worthy cause.
61charl08
>59 weird_O: Sounds like a good range of books to me.
63Berly
Bill--I freed about another 40 books today at Powell's and restrained myself--only picked up 3 new books. Hangs head after looking at your photos. I cannot compete with all your book purchases and the excellent price you pay for them! Enjoy.
And if it makes you feel any better, I had stalled out on These Truths, but I picked it up again yesterday. Just starting Part 4. And I know Ellen is in the same boat. : )
And if it makes you feel any better, I had stalled out on These Truths, but I picked it up again yesterday. Just starting Part 4. And I know Ellen is in the same boat. : )
64weird_O
>60 richardderus: >61 charl08: Prison-books trivia: Hardcover books are forbidden. Why? I don't know, and my DiL didn't know either. So okay. I sorted the books to be liberated, and the hardcovers will wait in the furnace room until an appropriate recipient agency comes to mind.
>62 jessibud2: See, that re-buying thing is a challenge for me, Shelley. I look at a book and wonder if I already have it, or if this is less shopworn than the copy I have, or do I want a hardcover to replace/upgrade what I have. :-) I often decide to spend a buck for it so I can check my shelves. If push comes to shove, it's a dollar-in-kind donation to a library.
>63 Berly: Good for you, Kim! So restrained. Don't allow it to drift into repression. Haha. Joke.
I will pick up These Truths just any day now.
I'm reading Elmet now. Shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize. A first novel by Fiona Mozley. Very good so far.
>62 jessibud2: See, that re-buying thing is a challenge for me, Shelley. I look at a book and wonder if I already have it, or if this is less shopworn than the copy I have, or do I want a hardcover to replace/upgrade what I have. :-) I often decide to spend a buck for it so I can check my shelves. If push comes to shove, it's a dollar-in-kind donation to a library.
>63 Berly: Good for you, Kim! So restrained. Don't allow it to drift into repression. Haha. Joke.
I will pick up These Truths just any day now.
I'm reading Elmet now. Shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize. A first novel by Fiona Mozley. Very good so far.
65richardderus
>64 weird_O: From my many years as a pen-pal to incarcerated gay guys, I can enlighten you on the hardcover ban: the boards are *perfect* as weapon-making materials. Hardcover boards have caused deaths in clandestine murders.
So kinda no for the inmate population.
So kinda no for the inmate population.
66weird_O
>65 richardderus: Ah. Thanks for that info. I'll have to tell Tara.
67weird_O
>24 weird_O: I sure hope this isn't my fault. Tony Horwitz, a favorite nonfiction writer of many of us here, died yesterday in Washington, DC. Apparent heart attack victim. Condolences to his widow, Geraldine Brooks.
Horwitz and Brooks in their Martha's Vineyard home. Photo Credit: Martha's Vineyard Magazine
His books include:
Here's the link to his obit in WaPo: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/tony-horwitz-pultizer-prize-winn...
Horwitz and Brooks in their Martha's Vineyard home. Photo Credit: Martha's Vineyard Magazine
His books include:
Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War
A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World
Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before
Baghdad without a Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia
One for the Road
Spying on the South: Travels with Frederick Law Olmsted in a Fractured Land
The Devil May Care: 50 Intrepid Americans and Their Quest for the Unknown
BOOM: Oil, Money, Cowboys, Strippers, and the Energy Rush That Could Change America Forever
Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War
Here's the link to his obit in WaPo: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/tony-horwitz-pultizer-prize-winn...
68karenmarie
Hi Bill!
Thanks for letting me know about Horwitz on my thread - I'm sad. He was only 60.
Thanks for letting me know about Horwitz on my thread - I'm sad. He was only 60.
69LovingLit
>22 weird_O: a 2-foot book pile? Or 3? Either way, impressive :)
and then I see >44 weird_O: *faints*
Love it!!!
and then I see >44 weird_O: *faints*
Love it!!!
70weird_O
>69 LovingLit: (>22 weird_O:) In between 2 and 3 feet. I measure 29 5/8 inches from floor to desktop, so that pile is 30 to 31 inches. (>44 weird_O:) Now that one is two feet even.
The only reason I do this is because Kim keeps liberating books from her collection, and for no reason at all. :-)
The only reason I do this is because Kim keeps liberating books from her collection, and for no reason at all. :-)
71msf59
>67 weird_O: Thanks for sharing this, Bill. He will be missed. I still have a couple of his to read and especially want to read Spying on the South.
Sweet Thursday! I wanted to tell you, I loved the Faulkner bio. Wow. I am also picking up The Unvanquished from the library and will get to it soon.
Sweet Thursday! I wanted to tell you, I loved the Faulkner bio. Wow. I am also picking up The Unvanquished from the library and will get to it soon.
72laytonwoman3rd
>71 msf59: "I am also picking up The Unvanquished from the library and will get to it soon." *Enthusiastic applause*
73jessibud2
>67 weird_O: - Very sad indeed. I have read enough about Tony Horwitz to feel like I have read him but in truth, I haven't read any. I will remedy that very soon. I have read most of his wife's works though. Such a lovely photo, that one.
60 is awfully young, and so sudden.
60 is awfully young, and so sudden.
74weird_O
>68 karenmarie:, >71 msf59:, >73 jessibud2: I don't know why, but Horwitz's passing really startled me and rattled me.
75richardderus
>74 weird_O: Because he was S I X T Y--a bleedin' stripling!--and just *bam* died while walking down a street from a successful book signing, maybe? Like getting struck by lightning on your best day!
76weird_O
May's shot. One more day, and I don't think I'm going to get much, if any, reading done.
The twins are graduating on Saturday evening. Holy Mackerel! Baccalaureate service Friday. Diplomas Saturday. Pool party Sunday.
I finished Elmet yesterday and was thinking about trying to jam a shorty in the Remains of the Month. (Hey, that kinda has a ring to it, doesn't it?) Get to 48 books read in the year so far, but no, I'm not that desperate. So I am returning to All the Names by Jose Saramago, which I inherited from Son the Younger at the end of his college career. I didn't get the sense that he thought much of it. I tried twice in the last, say, 12 years to read it and fizzled both times. So I picked up at the bookmark (page 72).
Then.
These Truths. The Good Earth. Pachinko.
Keep on keepin' on.
The twins are graduating on Saturday evening. Holy Mackerel! Baccalaureate service Friday. Diplomas Saturday. Pool party Sunday.
I finished Elmet yesterday and was thinking about trying to jam a shorty in the Remains of the Month. (Hey, that kinda has a ring to it, doesn't it?) Get to 48 books read in the year so far, but no, I'm not that desperate. So I am returning to All the Names by Jose Saramago, which I inherited from Son the Younger at the end of his college career. I didn't get the sense that he thought much of it. I tried twice in the last, say, 12 years to read it and fizzled both times. So I picked up at the bookmark (page 72).
Then.
These Truths. The Good Earth. Pachinko.
Keep on keepin' on.
77karenmarie
Hi Bill!
Congrats to the twins. Sounds like a fun time for everyone.
>74 weird_O: and >75 richardderus: It is startling and rattling and for the reason Richard says. He's 6 years younger than I am. I'm always startled when anybody younger than I am dies.
Somebody (maybe you, Bill?) should start a Tony Horwitz read thread, says the woman who started the David Copperfield thread March 1 and abandoned it.....
I just got Spying on the South from Amazon 4 days before he died.
Congrats to the twins. Sounds like a fun time for everyone.
>74 weird_O: and >75 richardderus: It is startling and rattling and for the reason Richard says. He's 6 years younger than I am. I'm always startled when anybody younger than I am dies.
Somebody (maybe you, Bill?) should start a Tony Horwitz read thread, says the woman who started the David Copperfield thread March 1 and abandoned it.....
I just got Spying on the South from Amazon 4 days before he died.
79benitastrnad
I read Confederates in the Attic and Voyage Long and Strange by Horwitz and enjoyed both of them. So sad he is gone.
80weird_O
Well. It's June, and I have finally finished a book. The 49th of the year, the first for the month.
All the Names by Portuguese author Jose Saramago. To me, it is a strange book.
I now has to start something else. I'll figure it out by morning.
All the Names by Portuguese author Jose Saramago. To me, it is a strange book.
I now has to start something else. I'll figure it out by morning.
81benitastrnad
I am hijacking your thread for a minute. Here is the link to the ALA Washington Meetup. Go there for answers to questions regarding the meetup and the conference.
http://www.librarything.com/topic/307549
Bill - maybe you can join us on Saturday?
http://www.librarything.com/topic/307549
Bill - maybe you can join us on Saturday?
82weird_O
New Moravian Academy graduates Helen (left) and Claire flank their sister Gracie, who is moving from the middle school to the upper school. Helen accepted Fordham at Lincoln Center, Claire Bryn Mawr.ETA: Both the twins wanted to go to colleges in a big city, but not one too far from home. They applied to colleges in NYC, Boston, Baltimore, and DC. Helen is smack dab in The Big Apple at a campus adjacent to Lincoln Center. Dorm rooms from the 20th floor up. Claire was torn because Bryn Mawr is on the Main Line west of Philly, not really in a Big City. Her dad took her on the commuter train into Philly and escorted her to the Reading Terminal Market and other social, historical, and cultural sites. That softened her misgivings. (And her "hovering aunts", who are really her mother's aunts, gave them Amtrak cards so they can visit each other from time to time.)
83weird_O
I'm back to part four of These Truths. Already I am drawn in. *fist pump*
84kidzdoc
Congratulations to Helen, Claire and Gracie! I had no idea that Fordham, whose main campus is in the Bronx, not far from where my maternal grandparents lived when I was small, had a campus in Lincoln Center. Hopefully Helen's student discount will allow her to see musical performances at Lincoln Center and nearby Carnegie Hall. There is frequent SEPTA Regional Rail service between Bryn Mawr and Center City Philadelphia, and I doubt that the ride takes more than half an hour.
85richardderus
>83 weird_O: Delightful! I know Helen will *love* being at Lincoln Center, the entirety of Manhattan is within easy reach. Suggest to her that The Cloisters, all the way up on the A train, is a great rest-and-recharge zone for the country-hunger when it hits. Central Park is amazing, too.
86BLBera
>67 weird_O: How sad. He was so young.
>82 weird_O: Good luck to your graduates. You have a bunch of beautiful girls.
>82 weird_O: Good luck to your graduates. You have a bunch of beautiful girls.
87msf59
>82 weird_O: Congrats to the graduates. What a lovely trio. Good luck to them all.
Happy Sunday, Bill. I thought I would have got a lot more reading in today, but chores around the house and other distractions, kept it at bay. No regrets, though.
How far are you from Pittsburg? I may be coming in for a Cubs game, in mid-August.
Happy Sunday, Bill. I thought I would have got a lot more reading in today, but chores around the house and other distractions, kept it at bay. No regrets, though.
How far are you from Pittsburg? I may be coming in for a Cubs game, in mid-August.
88weird_O
>84 kidzdoc: >85 richardderus: >86 BLBera: >87 msf59: Thank you all.
>84 kidzdoc: According to the Fordham College website, the college at Lincoln Center was established in 1968. Way longer ago than I imagined. On her second or third visit to the campus—before accepting admission—Helen sat in on a class, then rented a CitiBike and cycled around Central Park. She's up for The Big City. Thanks, Darryl, for the info on SEPTA; I wasn't sure how far west SEPTA reaches.
>85 richardderus: I'll pass along the tip about The Cloisters, RD. (To a boy from the Pennsylvania Dutch country, The Cloisters was a religious settlement at Ephrata, PA. Est. 1732.) I know of the Cloisters in Manhattan, of course, but I've never been there.
>86 BLBera: I've got three other granddaughters, children of Son the Younger, Beth. I'll brag on them, too.
>87 msf59: I got the entire place mowed, finishing up Sunday. First time this year the whole spread's been uniformly mowed. Naturally, today it is raining. So before the week's over, I'll be toodling around the place on my li'l John Deere. :-) And a finished a chapter in These Truths as well. (And you know how short Prof. Lepore's chapters are, heh heh.)
By the way, Google tells me that I can drive from my house to the Point Park in Pittsburgh in less than 4 1/2 hrs. (Well, unless I'd stop for gas and a rest.) Mid-August, you say? Hmmm.
>84 kidzdoc: According to the Fordham College website, the college at Lincoln Center was established in 1968. Way longer ago than I imagined. On her second or third visit to the campus—before accepting admission—Helen sat in on a class, then rented a CitiBike and cycled around Central Park. She's up for The Big City. Thanks, Darryl, for the info on SEPTA; I wasn't sure how far west SEPTA reaches.
>85 richardderus: I'll pass along the tip about The Cloisters, RD. (To a boy from the Pennsylvania Dutch country, The Cloisters was a religious settlement at Ephrata, PA. Est. 1732.) I know of the Cloisters in Manhattan, of course, but I've never been there.
>86 BLBera: I've got three other granddaughters, children of Son the Younger, Beth. I'll brag on them, too.
>87 msf59: I got the entire place mowed, finishing up Sunday. First time this year the whole spread's been uniformly mowed. Naturally, today it is raining. So before the week's over, I'll be toodling around the place on my li'l John Deere. :-) And a finished a chapter in These Truths as well. (And you know how short Prof. Lepore's chapters are, heh heh.)
By the way, Google tells me that I can drive from my house to the Point Park in Pittsburgh in less than 4 1/2 hrs. (Well, unless I'd stop for gas and a rest.) Mid-August, you say? Hmmm.
89benitastrnad
Message from Abby regarding the passes to the exhibit hall at ALA.
Okay - passes are here! These are good for exhibit-hall only access to ALA on Saturday, Sunday, & Monday.
https://www.compusystems.com/servlet/ar?evt_uid=291&oi=IQruTjvKoFzHoIiGjo9vo....
The "code" is V134 but you shouldn't need to enter that - the URL above populates it for you in the form.
Okay - passes are here! These are good for exhibit-hall only access to ALA on Saturday, Sunday, & Monday.
https://www.compusystems.com/servlet/ar?evt_uid=291&oi=IQruTjvKoFzHoIiGjo9vo....
The "code" is V134 but you shouldn't need to enter that - the URL above populates it for you in the form.
90Familyhistorian
Brag away, Bill. Love all the photos of the grand daughters, the generational photos and the graduates. I am also in awe of your book hauls!
91weird_O
>90 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg. Granddaughters and book hauls. That's pretty much what I've got. Best foots forward.
93charl08
>92 weird_O: Well done Bill. I need to get back to this, I'm stuck about a third of the way in.
94weird_O
Thanks, Charlotte. It's kind of overwhelming, isn't it. I read three parts, then avoided even starting the fourth. Every time I finished a book, I'd look at that fat volume...and pick up something else. Glad to have read it; I think I used up a highlighter before I was done.
My "brain candy" choice is Fer de Lance by Rex Stout. I've never read anything by him, but I have the impression that this book is among his best. I'll see.
My "brain candy" choice is Fer de Lance by Rex Stout. I've never read anything by him, but I have the impression that this book is among his best. I'll see.
95karenmarie
Lovely photo of the granddaughters, Bill, thanks for sharing.
Congrats on finishing These Truths. Sobering is a good word, unfortunately.
>94 weird_O: Fer de Lance is the first Nero Wolfe - congrats on a good choice. You'll love Wolfe, Archie, Fritz and the occasional appearance of Theodore Horstmann, orchid man extraordinaire.
Congrats on finishing These Truths. Sobering is a good word, unfortunately.
>94 weird_O: Fer de Lance is the first Nero Wolfe - congrats on a good choice. You'll love Wolfe, Archie, Fritz and the occasional appearance of Theodore Horstmann, orchid man extraordinaire.
96weird_O
OK, Karen. I've only just begun it; read a couple of chapters before turning out the light. At a library book-sale, I happened upon two volumes in the Franklin Mint's "best mystery stories in the universe," Fer de Lance and Trent's Last Case. Put 'em both in my tote, but only the Stout book made it hime with me. What happened to the second book? It's a mystery.
I'm flushed with pride about all of my granddaughters. Could you tell?
I'm flushed with pride about all of my granddaughters. Could you tell?
97richardderus
>94 weird_O: "The back-seat driving of the less charitable emotions often makes me wonder that the brain does not desert the wheel entirely, in righteous exasperation."
I do so love Rex Stout.
I do so love Rex Stout.
98weird_O
While I don't think that's from Fer de Lance, I've enjoyed quite a few of the sentences and passages. I can like Rex Stout.
Almost done with this one, the first Nero Wolfe for both Rex and for Bill.
Almost done with this one, the first Nero Wolfe for both Rex and for Bill.
99msf59
Happy Friday, Bill. I will be in Gettysburg the 24th & 25th. How far a way, are you? I read the first story in The Unvanquished and was quite impressed, at how accessible it was. Really looking forward to the rest of it.
I also think, you would have a good time with The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game. This might be just your cuppa.
I also think, you would have a good time with The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game. This might be just your cuppa.
100LovingLit
>92 weird_O: you are doing better than me then. I laster through part one, before it was due back at the library, and I have yet to revisit it.
>82 weird_O: I love the idea of "hovering aunts" :)
>82 weird_O: I love the idea of "hovering aunts" :)
101richardderus
Happy Father's Day, Bill!
102weird_O
>100 LovingLit: I bought a copy, Megan. So it was glaring at me from the bedside table. Had to stick with it and get 'er done.
I like "hovering aunts" too. Don't know if the label emerged from my son or his wife, the lady whose aunts they are.
>101 richardderus: Thanks, Richard. The weather was in the mode of "the new normal" but we visited the lake and shared a picnic and did some reading. 'Twas O.K. Did I read you journeyed to the Hamptons and put yourself at risk for flaring gout?
I like "hovering aunts" too. Don't know if the label emerged from my son or his wife, the lady whose aunts they are.
>101 richardderus: Thanks, Richard. The weather was in the mode of "the new normal" but we visited the lake and shared a picnic and did some reading. 'Twas O.K. Did I read you journeyed to the Hamptons and put yourself at risk for flaring gout?
103richardderus
>102 weird_O: I did indeed, on Saturday. My Young Gentleman Caller took me to eat a lobster roll (an annual indulgence at the very best, distance and advisability being major impediments). It was a perfect afternoon, and to my surprise, the gout flare that accompanies eating lobster was extremely mild, as well as on a miserable dank Sunday. The colchicine I loaded up on did its job, with the usual gastrointestinal downside. That versus a gout flare? No brainer!
104weird_O
>103 richardderus: Excellent!!!
105msf59
^I hope you had a wonderful Father's Day, Bill. I am so happy that I will be able to meet you next week. I really appreciate you making a long drive to see this, bookish, bird-loving weirdo.
BTW- I am nearly done with The Unvanquished. His short fiction is no where near as deep or challenging as his longer stuff, but I am really enjoying it.
106weird_O
Not only was Father's Day satisfying, but Monday provided a kicker in the form of an invite to do a father-daughter read of Tony Horwitz's last book. To make it easy, that daughter (dearest) sent me a copy of the book. I'm not sure I can wait until she's ready to read (heavy work schedule).
I liked The Unvanquished, Mark. I've not viewed it as a collection of short stories, probably because I thought it was a novel when I got it and read it for the first time. Then for the second time. And even the third. It just never entered my mind (such as it is).
Almost done with The Good Earth; about 50 pages to go. I've been reading that, with an occasional palette cleansing story by Ring Lardner. I have a short list of (currently) interesting "next" books. No predictions on what'll open before my eyes next.
I liked The Unvanquished, Mark. I've not viewed it as a collection of short stories, probably because I thought it was a novel when I got it and read it for the first time. Then for the second time. And even the third. It just never entered my mind (such as it is).
Almost done with The Good Earth; about 50 pages to go. I've been reading that, with an occasional palette cleansing story by Ring Lardner. I have a short list of (currently) interesting "next" books. No predictions on what'll open before my eyes next.
107weird_O
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson is what I am reading now. To me—having never read anything by Stephenson (and also bearing in mind what Joe said, just a day or two ago, about wishing Stephenson was less, ah, expansive)—this is good stuff. Reminds me of William Gibson and Ready Player One.
I was alternating between a novel and Ring Lardner short stories, and I was planning to read Pachinko upon finishing The Good Earth. But after a couple of chapters of that I thought I wanted some sort of fun reading. More than a short story's worth of fun. Pachinko is still in the lineup.
I was alternating between a novel and Ring Lardner short stories, and I was planning to read Pachinko upon finishing The Good Earth. But after a couple of chapters of that I thought I wanted some sort of fun reading. More than a short story's worth of fun. Pachinko is still in the lineup.
108weird_O
Curious thing about The Good Earth. The main character is named Wang Lung, and ever time I saw that name I thought of Wang Chung. Trivia clinging to some errant brain cell. Looked up Wang Chung. A pop group of Londoners; the group formed in the early 1980s; most popular song was "Everybody Have Fun Tonight", recorded in 1986, which included the line "Everybody wang chung tonight."
As if anyone else cared...
As if anyone else cared...
109richardderus
>107 weird_O: Amen on the fun! SOMEthing to lighten the mood.
>108 weird_O: I'd forgotten Wang Chung...er, LUNG...was the MC in The Good Earth! I read it before 1986 so would never have made the connection. Thanks for trivia-izing my Pearl Buck memories.
>108 weird_O: I'd forgotten Wang Chung...er, LUNG...was the MC in The Good Earth! I read it before 1986 so would never have made the connection. Thanks for trivia-izing my Pearl Buck memories.
110weird_O
Yes. It really happened. Mark, the famed postal warbler, met Weird_O. In Gettysburg. President Lincoln made a speech. Oh, wait. That was before. Never mind.
Yes, beer was consumed. Books were discussed, as was the American Civil War. Ah, duh.
Yes, beer was consumed. Books were discussed, as was the American Civil War. Ah, duh.
111kidzdoc
Excellent! Bill will forever be remembered as the first person who convinced me to eat scrapple, from an Amish restaurant in Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market. Actually, Laura may deserve at least equal credit for encouraging us to do so.
112karenmarie
Yay for beer and discussing books and the Civil War. Nice pic of two great guys.
113laytonwoman3rd
>110 weird_O: Gosh I wish someone had recorded that conversation!
>11 quondame: Hey! I may not have been physically present, but I seem to remember offering up some pretty strong encouragement for the scrapple experiment. (I still say if you ate it crispy out of my iron skillet, you'd ENJOY it!)
>11 quondame: Hey! I may not have been physically present, but I seem to remember offering up some pretty strong encouragement for the scrapple experiment. (I still say if you ate it crispy out of my iron skillet, you'd ENJOY it!)
114kidzdoc
>113 laytonwoman3rd: That's absolutely correct, Linda. Without threats arm twisting encouragement from you and Laura I would probably have never tried scrapple. I have absolutely no doubt that I would love your homemade version of it, or anything else that you make!
115richardderus
>110 weird_O: Cool photo, Bill! Yay for a good meetup.
116weird_O
>111 kidzdoc: As I recall, that scrapple was pretty meh, Darryl. Linda says (>113 laytonwoman3rd:) she fries it nice and crisp in an iron skillet. I agree it must be crisp. That fare at the Rdg Terminal Market was not sliced thin enough, not cooked to crispness, and awfully greasy. (Hmmm. Thinking of a trip to the butcher for a block of scrapple for breakfast tomorrow. Mmmmm.)
>112 karenmarie: >113 laytonwoman3rd: We had a great time, Karen and Linda. Youse shoulda bin there. As we left the pub after two or three hours, I noticed that both Mark and his pal Carl had red, almost crispy ears, so I was pretty close to talking them off. Heh heh.
>115 richardderus: Thanks, RD. I recall your name came up from time to time. I was a very good time, as far as I'm concerned.
>112 karenmarie: >113 laytonwoman3rd: We had a great time, Karen and Linda. Youse shoulda bin there. As we left the pub after two or three hours, I noticed that both Mark and his pal Carl had red, almost crispy ears, so I was pretty close to talking them off. Heh heh.
>115 richardderus: Thanks, RD. I recall your name came up from time to time. I was a very good time, as far as I'm concerned.
117weird_O
Bill and Weird_O's Excellent Adventure yesterday had an appropriate start, for me anyway. I went directly to the park visitors' center, taking the entrance directly into the book store and tchotchke emporium. I can't get over it. I paid retail for books!!? A weird sort of buyer's remorse, I must say. I accumulated quite an armload of volumes until I summed the prices. Then I returned Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight and Tony Horwitz's Confederates in the Attic to the shelves. Oy. Would have been close to $60 for two books; library sales (the ones I go to, anyway) yield as many as 30 or 40 books for $60.
Nevertheless, I did drop a ton of dough for Gettysburg by Stephen Sears, Midnight Rising by Tony Horwitz, and Civil War Woodworking by A. J. Hamler, a woodworker, reenactor, and writer that I kinda know (the way I know you people on LT).
The piece dee resistance: President Lincoln socks.
Nevertheless, I did drop a ton of dough for Gettysburg by Stephen Sears, Midnight Rising by Tony Horwitz, and Civil War Woodworking by A. J. Hamler, a woodworker, reenactor, and writer that I kinda know (the way I know you people on LT).
The piece dee resistance: President Lincoln socks.
118jnwelch
Ha! Those are most excellent Lincoln socks, Bill.
Karen said it well for me - Yay for beer and discussing books and the Civil War., and that's a nice pic of two great guys.
Karen said it well for me - Yay for beer and discussing books and the Civil War., and that's a nice pic of two great guys.
119weird_O
No, no, Joe. Those are both the same guy: Abe Lincoln. One for the right foot, one for the left. Or vicey versie. Of course, Lincoln was as great as two regular guys.
120richardderus
>117 weird_O: Those're some spiffing toe-jam jars.
$60 for two books!?! No WONDER civilians don't read much. NetGalley/Edelweiss/Library, I Heart U More!
$60 for two books!?! No WONDER civilians don't read much. NetGalley/Edelweiss/Library, I Heart U More!
121laytonwoman3rd
Those ARE nifty socks...and we seem to have the same taste in blankets or tablecloths, as the case may be. I just realized I have that weave in both items.
123jnwelch
>119 weird_O:. Ha! :-)
124kidzdoc
>116 weird_O: Mmm. That was my first time having scrapple, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I do remember it as being soft rather than crispy. I agree with you and Linda; I think it would be much tastier the way she makes it.
125thornton37814
>44 weird_O: >54 weird_O: Nice hauls!
126weird_O
>120 richardderus: To really shown them Lincolns, I've got to wear them with shorts and black shoes. But I definitely am not a shorts 'n' black socks kind of guy.
Retail for Frederick Douglass in hardcover is $37.95, for the paperback of Confederates in the Attic it's $17.95. Plus 6% for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pretty close to $60. Amazon would be cheaper, but I am more and more reluctant to cozy up to the Borg.
>121 laytonwoman3rd: That blanket is from L. L. Bean, my wife tells me. The table cloths and napkins—red, blue, or green mixed with white—used to be made in Emmaus, but I just can't remember the name of the business. Gmaps sez an auto parts store is in the building now. We had/have them, my mother did, my sister, my DiL's mother.
>122 Berly: Thanks, Kim. And too for coaxing me off the fence on it. Well worth the effort to read it.
>123 jnwelch: Jist a li'l fun, Joe.
>124 kidzdoc: Yuppers.
>125 thornton37814: I aims to please, Lori. Even if the only one pleased is me. Ah ha ha. :-)
Retail for Frederick Douglass in hardcover is $37.95, for the paperback of Confederates in the Attic it's $17.95. Plus 6% for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pretty close to $60. Amazon would be cheaper, but I am more and more reluctant to cozy up to the Borg.
>121 laytonwoman3rd: That blanket is from L. L. Bean, my wife tells me. The table cloths and napkins—red, blue, or green mixed with white—used to be made in Emmaus, but I just can't remember the name of the business. Gmaps sez an auto parts store is in the building now. We had/have them, my mother did, my sister, my DiL's mother.
>122 Berly: Thanks, Kim. And too for coaxing me off the fence on it. Well worth the effort to read it.
>123 jnwelch: Jist a li'l fun, Joe.
>124 kidzdoc: Yuppers.
>125 thornton37814: I aims to please, Lori. Even if the only one pleased is me. Ah ha ha. :-)
127msf59
>110 weird_O: Love this! It was great meeting up with you, Bill. Thanks for driving down and sharing a couple of beers with me. Good time, my friend.
I am back home and looking forward to having several more days off.
If, I can find the audio of the Frederick Douglass bio, I might join you on that one.
I am back home and looking forward to having several more days off.
If, I can find the audio of the Frederick Douglass bio, I might join you on that one.
128laytonwoman3rd
>126 weird_O: If not the same, very similar, tablecloths are made in Vermont, and available on-line from the Vermont Country Store, purveyor of all things retro. https://www.vermontcountrystore.com/mountain-weave-cotton-table-runner/product/8...
129weird_O
Before the day passes, I want to note that it is the birthday not only of Pearl Buck (who lived in Bucks County, 30 miles of so south of where I live now) and The Black Stallion author Walter Farley (who had a farm in Berks County, about 30 miles away from me), but also photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, who lived in Paris (nowhere near my house).
Henri Cartier-Bresson—a co-founder of Magnum Photos and founding father of “The Decisive Moment” —was born on this day 109 years ago. The gif uses photos taken in 1987 by John Loengard, of Cartier-Bresson taking pictures in his Paris apartment.
ETA: Bah! My source had it wrong about the birthday. Not until August 22. I got sucked in by the "born this day" notation on a post that's been tumbling on Tumblr for close to a year, apparently, maybe longer. It's dry now.
Henri Cartier-Bresson—a co-founder of Magnum Photos and founding father of “The Decisive Moment” —was born on this day 109 years ago. The gif uses photos taken in 1987 by John Loengard, of Cartier-Bresson taking pictures in his Paris apartment.
ETA: Bah! My source had it wrong about the birthday. Not until August 22. I got sucked in by the "born this day" notation on a post that's been tumbling on Tumblr for close to a year, apparently, maybe longer. It's dry now.
130benitastrnad
I enjoyed your preview of the Graphic Novel Moonbound 11. At last somebody is telling the story from the beginning. It really bugs me that in Huntsville, AL they have the Von Braun Conference Center and have his Redstone Arsenal office enshrined in the Space and Rocket Center Museum. THe guy was a war criminal and should have been prosecuted instead of protected.
131weird_O
Been largely absent from LT and especially my own thread here. Somethin's gotta give. Im still reading, of course, but I do want to pick up the pace.
My sister sent me a tee-shirt for my birthday (today). "I'm retired," it reads. "My job is to collect books." With that in mind, I am scheming to hit three library sales in the next fortnight: this weekend in Berks County to benefit the county's library system, next weekend in Bethlehem, and sometime in between at my hometown library.
Sharing my birthday today with a trio of dead writers—Samuel Eliot Morison, Barbara Cartland (one of my favs for sure...not), and Oliver Sacks—and couple of live ones—Dean Koontz and Tom Hanks (and also a gaggle of writers, living and dead, who aren't known to me).
I note too several who expired this day in various years: Edmund Burke, Whittaker Chambers, Loren Eiseley, Cornelia Otis Skinner, and Meyer Levin.
On the current reading front, I'm cycling through Tom Paine's Common Sense, stories by Ring Lardner, and Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories. The daughter tells me she's ready to begin our father-daughter reading of Spying on the South by Tony Horwitz.
>130 benitastrnad: I'm aware that some network to airing a history of Apollo 11, Benita. No indication that their history will explore our space program's roots in Nazi Germany and Operation Paperclip. In the same vein, I saw reference to Churchill's arguably gleeful responses to abuses of Asian Indians and African natives by the British.
My sister sent me a tee-shirt for my birthday (today). "I'm retired," it reads. "My job is to collect books." With that in mind, I am scheming to hit three library sales in the next fortnight: this weekend in Berks County to benefit the county's library system, next weekend in Bethlehem, and sometime in between at my hometown library.
Sharing my birthday today with a trio of dead writers—Samuel Eliot Morison, Barbara Cartland (one of my favs for sure...not), and Oliver Sacks—and couple of live ones—Dean Koontz and Tom Hanks (and also a gaggle of writers, living and dead, who aren't known to me).
I note too several who expired this day in various years: Edmund Burke, Whittaker Chambers, Loren Eiseley, Cornelia Otis Skinner, and Meyer Levin.
On the current reading front, I'm cycling through Tom Paine's Common Sense, stories by Ring Lardner, and Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories. The daughter tells me she's ready to begin our father-daughter reading of Spying on the South by Tony Horwitz.
>130 benitastrnad: I'm aware that some network to airing a history of Apollo 11, Benita. No indication that their history will explore our space program's roots in Nazi Germany and Operation Paperclip. In the same vein, I saw reference to Churchill's arguably gleeful responses to abuses of Asian Indians and African natives by the British.
133benitastrnad
>131 weird_O:
Well, Churchill was an imperialist.
Well, Churchill was an imperialist.
134richardderus
Loren Eisley died on your very birthday: 9 July 1977! Permaybehaps you're his reincarnation!
PS happy 42nd
PS happy 42nd
135PaulCranswick
>131 weird_O: & >133 benitastrnad:
Definitely a flawed hero, Churchill. Wartime leader whose radio broadcasts in 1940 arguably preserved western democracy as we know it in the face of the Nazi jackboot but also dropped chemical weapons on the reds in the civil war following the Russian revolution. His colonial record is at best mixed too. Expressed deep regret regarding the famine in India during the war but did very little actually about it.
Lovely to see you back, Bill.
Happy birthday.
You missed Melvyn Peake from the list of authors sharing your birthdate - his Titus Groan and Gormenghast are generally considered as classics of their kind. Of course your birthday is strangely the 10th here in furthest Asia which would also allow you to include a certain Marcel Proust to the number as well as the more readable John Wyndham.
Definitely a flawed hero, Churchill. Wartime leader whose radio broadcasts in 1940 arguably preserved western democracy as we know it in the face of the Nazi jackboot but also dropped chemical weapons on the reds in the civil war following the Russian revolution. His colonial record is at best mixed too. Expressed deep regret regarding the famine in India during the war but did very little actually about it.
Lovely to see you back, Bill.
Happy birthday.
You missed Melvyn Peake from the list of authors sharing your birthdate - his Titus Groan and Gormenghast are generally considered as classics of their kind. Of course your birthday is strangely the 10th here in furthest Asia which would also allow you to include a certain Marcel Proust to the number as well as the more readable John Wyndham.
136weird_O
>134 richardderus: Loren Eiseley died 9 July 1977, as you say, but that was my 33rd birthday, Richard. I'm just a day into the fourth quarter of my weird century.
>133 benitastrnad: >135 PaulCranswick: I first ran across Churchill's bad side in Nicholson Baker's Human Smoke, which the author assembled from a trove of old old newspapers that he bought to save from destruction. He quoted news articles from before The Great War to trace the origins of World War II. Inhumanity was common amongst the world powers, not just to the British. But I remember the Churchill quotes in general as reflecting a ruthless and cruel nature.
Melvyn Peake is, well was, a name unknown to me, Paul. Have to explore, obviously. But don't pull that International Date Line crap on me. I'm o.l.d now, certifiably OLD (ha, I need Roz Chast to hand letter that word). You aren't trying to confuse me, you ARE confusing me.
Now get off my lawn!!!!
Okay, okay. Just funning.
>133 benitastrnad: >135 PaulCranswick: I first ran across Churchill's bad side in Nicholson Baker's Human Smoke, which the author assembled from a trove of old old newspapers that he bought to save from destruction. He quoted news articles from before The Great War to trace the origins of World War II. Inhumanity was common amongst the world powers, not just to the British. But I remember the Churchill quotes in general as reflecting a ruthless and cruel nature.
Melvyn Peake is, well was, a name unknown to me, Paul. Have to explore, obviously. But don't pull that International Date Line crap on me. I'm o.l.d now, certifiably OLD (ha, I need Roz Chast to hand letter that word). You aren't trying to confuse me, you ARE confusing me.
Now get off my lawn!!!!
Okay, okay. Just funning.
137jessibud2
A day late and a dollar short, as they say (probably more, with the currency exchange!). Happy belated birthday, Bill!
138benitastrnad
>136 weird_O:
I was also not familiar with Mervyn Peake until I made a trip to Belfast back in 2009. On that trip my friends, a lecturer at Queens College, took me on a tour of that architecturally significant campus. He mentioned that the Quad we happened to be looking at was the set used for the BBC TV production of the Gormanghast novels. I hadn't a clue what he was talking about. He in turn was astonished that I didn't know about them or the TV production. It was a big hit in the UK when it was done, as were the novels. They were published about a year after the Tolkien's famous book Fellowship of the Ring and probably because of that fact the Gormanghast novels didn't get the world-wide attention that the Tolkien books did. Also Peake died early and I believe that the last novel is unfinished.
I have them on my TBR list and we have them in our library. I probably should read them sooner rather than later and I should do some binge watching of the series.
I was also not familiar with Mervyn Peake until I made a trip to Belfast back in 2009. On that trip my friends, a lecturer at Queens College, took me on a tour of that architecturally significant campus. He mentioned that the Quad we happened to be looking at was the set used for the BBC TV production of the Gormanghast novels. I hadn't a clue what he was talking about. He in turn was astonished that I didn't know about them or the TV production. It was a big hit in the UK when it was done, as were the novels. They were published about a year after the Tolkien's famous book Fellowship of the Ring and probably because of that fact the Gormanghast novels didn't get the world-wide attention that the Tolkien books did. Also Peake died early and I believe that the last novel is unfinished.
I have them on my TBR list and we have them in our library. I probably should read them sooner rather than later and I should do some binge watching of the series.
139laytonwoman3rd
>135 PaulCranswick:, >136 weird_O:, >138 benitastrnad: The man's name was actually Mervyn Peake. Our own tiffin introduced me to his work. The BBC TV production is as far as I've got, but I do intend to give him a read one of these days.
140weird_O
Haroun and the Sea of Stories, which Salman Rushdie wrote for his son Zafar at Zafar's request, is great! Rushdie wrote a bit about this book in his memoir Joseph Anton, which is one of the best books I read last year. I'm thinking Granddaughter Olivia might just like it. But first, Gram must read it; Gram (Judi) just finished The Lord of the Rings. "Now what am I going to read?" She's going to read Haroun.
The premise is that Rashid, Haroun's father, is a famous storyteller. When his wife (Haroun's mother) leaves him with other man, Rashid loses his gift. The Shah of Blah can't think of a single story to tell. The quest for a cure takes father and some, separately, to the Moon of Kahani, which is largely covered by the Sea of Stories, below the surface of which thousands and thousand colorful, ribbon-like story streams flicker past. Of course, evilness is poisoning this ocean to rid everyone of stories, With the aid of Iff the Water Genie, Mali the Water Gardener, Butt the Hoopoe, and a pair of Plentimaw Fish, Haroun confronts the problem.
The premise is that Rashid, Haroun's father, is a famous storyteller. When his wife (Haroun's mother) leaves him with other man, Rashid loses his gift. The Shah of Blah can't think of a single story to tell. The quest for a cure takes father and some, separately, to the Moon of Kahani, which is largely covered by the Sea of Stories, below the surface of which thousands and thousand colorful, ribbon-like story streams flicker past. Of course, evilness is poisoning this ocean to rid everyone of stories, With the aid of Iff the Water Genie, Mali the Water Gardener, Butt the Hoopoe, and a pair of Plentimaw Fish, Haroun confronts the problem.
141weird_O
>139 laytonwoman3rd: Ohhh. No wonder I couldn't find his books. Mervyn, Melvyn. Who knew? Why Linda did. And Benita did too, I see now. I should look for the Gormanghast books.
>137 jessibud2: Thanks for the birthday wishes, Shelley. I'm always running behind, so I didn't ntoice you missing the actual day. :-)
>137 jessibud2: Thanks for the birthday wishes, Shelley. I'm always running behind, so I didn't ntoice you missing the actual day. :-)
142karenmarie
Belated Happy Birthday, Bill! I like the t-shirt. And with three book sales coming up, you're definitely doing your job. I hope you find many wonderful books.
143richardderus
>140 weird_O: I loved that book, one of the few (to me, anyway) unalloyed pleasures in Rushdie's ouevre.
144msf59
Happy Friday, Bill. Sorry, I missed your birthday. The Rushdie collection sounds interesting. I am really enjoying Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. Franklin is my favorite Founding Father, and he gets bonus points for not being a slave-owner. He was a teetotaler but I sure would have loved having a couple of beers with him. Have you read this one? It is my first Isaacson.
145weird_O
Library sale yesterday. An event intended to benefit all the libraries in Berks County and held in an empty Gap store in a once thriving shopping mall. Considering the available space, the tables were awfully close together with little space for movement. But it was fairly okay. I'm happy with what I collected: 11 paperbacks and 23 hardcovers.
Collect books, even if you don't plan on reading them right away. Nothing is more important than an unread library.
~~~Austin Kleon, author of Steal Like an Artist
Collect books, even if you don't plan on reading them right away. Nothing is more important than an unread library.
~~~Austin Kleon, author of Steal Like an Artist
146jessibud2
>145 weird_O: - I bought that Austin Kleon book a few years ago and loved it! A real little gem! I think I even quoted that very suggestion in my review! :-)
147weird_O
>146 jessibud2: Just a goofy li'l thing, but with some good quotes in it. Haven't read the entire book yet. Focused now on Pachinko.
>144 msf59: I did read Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin years ago. Also Ben's autobiography and Edmund S. Morgan's shorter-than-Isaacson's bio. Coincidentally, yesterday I collected an upgrade (to hardcover) of the latter book.
>143 richardderus: You regularly confound me with the breadth as well as the depth of your reading, RD. You are one of my reading heroes. I'm glad you liked Haroun.... I sure did.
>142 karenmarie: I wore that birthday tee to the book sale yesterday and got a number of compliments on it. I also collected a couple or three books, including some upgrades. See next.
>144 msf59: I did read Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin years ago. Also Ben's autobiography and Edmund S. Morgan's shorter-than-Isaacson's bio. Coincidentally, yesterday I collected an upgrade (to hardcover) of the latter book.
>143 richardderus: You regularly confound me with the breadth as well as the depth of your reading, RD. You are one of my reading heroes. I'm glad you liked Haroun.... I sure did.
>142 karenmarie: I wore that birthday tee to the book sale yesterday and got a number of compliments on it. I also collected a couple or three books, including some upgrades. See next.
148weird_O
Book collectors gotta collect books.
I know most folks now abhor Updike, and yeah, I did pay 40¢ more than the cover price. But Updike signed it, and I acquired it in his home county. And it is short. Published in 1965, very early in his career.
Upgrades to shelved paperbacks (not all of them read) include American Gods, The Professor and the Madman, Babbitt, Edmund S. Morgan's Benjamin Franklin, and Operation Shylock. Also stocked up on bios of and memoirs by worthy writers like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Eudora Welty, Roddy Doyle, Russell Baker, Wallace Stegner, Graham Greene, and Jane Austen.
Full list to follow.
149weird_O
The List
Of the Farm by John Updike (mmp)
Eudora Welty: A Biography by Suzanne Marrs (pbk)
The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan (pbk)
At Home with the Marquis de Sade by Francine du Plessix Gray (pbk)
The Voyeur by Alberto Moravia (pbk)
The Map Thief by Michael Blanding (pbk)
The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer (pbk)
The Master by Colm Toibin (pbk)
Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie (pbk)
Parting the Waters by Taylor Branch (pbk)
The Civil War by Geoffrey C. Ward with Ric Burns and Ken Burns (pbk)
Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (hc)
Upstairs Downstairs by john Hawkesworth (hc)
Operation Shylock by Philip Roth (hc)
My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg (hc)
Rory & Ita by Roddy Doyle (hc)
American Gods by Neil Gaiman (hc) Upgrade
Atlantic by Simon Winchester (hc)
Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje (hc)
Growing Up by Russell Baker (hc)
When the Women Come Out to Dance by Elmore Leonard (hc)
Benjamin Franklin by Edmund S. Morgan (hc) Upgrade
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman (hc)
Jane Austen by Carol Shields (hc)
Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder (hc)
Nickel Mountain by John Gardner (hc)
The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester (hc) Upgrade
Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis (hc) Upgrade
Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis (hc)
Ways of Escape by Graham Greene (hc)
Roughing It by Mark Twain (hc)
The Web and the Rock by Thomas Wolfe (hc)
Wallace Stegner by Jackson J. Benson (hc)
Loon Lake by E. L. Doctorow (hc)
Of the Farm by John Updike (mmp)
Eudora Welty: A Biography by Suzanne Marrs (pbk)
The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan (pbk)
At Home with the Marquis de Sade by Francine du Plessix Gray (pbk)
The Voyeur by Alberto Moravia (pbk)
The Map Thief by Michael Blanding (pbk)
The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer (pbk)
The Master by Colm Toibin (pbk)
Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie (pbk)
Parting the Waters by Taylor Branch (pbk)
The Civil War by Geoffrey C. Ward with Ric Burns and Ken Burns (pbk)
Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (hc)
Upstairs Downstairs by john Hawkesworth (hc)
Operation Shylock by Philip Roth (hc)
My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg (hc)
Rory & Ita by Roddy Doyle (hc)
American Gods by Neil Gaiman (hc) Upgrade
Atlantic by Simon Winchester (hc)
Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje (hc)
Growing Up by Russell Baker (hc)
When the Women Come Out to Dance by Elmore Leonard (hc)
Benjamin Franklin by Edmund S. Morgan (hc) Upgrade
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman (hc)
Jane Austen by Carol Shields (hc)
Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder (hc)
Nickel Mountain by John Gardner (hc)
The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester (hc) Upgrade
Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis (hc) Upgrade
Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis (hc)
Ways of Escape by Graham Greene (hc)
Roughing It by Mark Twain (hc)
The Web and the Rock by Thomas Wolfe (hc)
Wallace Stegner by Jackson J. Benson (hc)
Loon Lake by E. L. Doctorow (hc)
150richardderus
>148 weird_O: Wonderful haul! Permaybehaps you'll be able to fund your retirement with that Updike. It's NO FUN to read. Another horny white upper-middle-class guy cruising for bucks and sex.
I covet the Stegner bio.
Yay for The Nonesuch!
I covet the Stegner bio.
Yay for The Nonesuch!
151Whisper1
You are collecting lots of very interesting books. Now, where will you put them? I am running out of space. I've ventured out to the local library where I gave away some books, only to come home with lots more from their sale table.
What an obsession this book collecting is.
What an obsession this book collecting is.
152jnwelch
I add a yay! for The Nonesuch, Bill.
>149 weird_O: So many good ones there, but I'm particularly pleased to see Strength in What Remains there. I feel like that's an under-read book; what a story.
>149 weird_O: So many good ones there, but I'm particularly pleased to see Strength in What Remains there. I feel like that's an under-read book; what a story.
153m.belljackson
>149 weird_O:
Simon Winchester's The Professor and the Madman is an all time favorite, notably for OED fans.
Hope you enjoy it.
The Master is the only one read that I wouldn't want to revisit. My review covers it.
Simon Winchester's The Professor and the Madman is an all time favorite, notably for OED fans.
Hope you enjoy it.
The Master is the only one read that I wouldn't want to revisit. My review covers it.
154jessibud2
Of your list, above, I have read and loved the Tracy Kidder book. Superb!. I listened to the RBG book on audio, read mostly by actress Linda Lavin with parts read by RBG herself. I own the book but am happy I listened to it as I think I might have found just the text a bit dry, not being fluent in legalese, myself. But Lavin was great and RBG is, well, RBG. Have you seen the documentary on her, called -- surprisingly -- RBG? I have seen it twice, as well as the Hollywood biopic, which was pretty good, but the doc was better.
I read and loved The Professor and the Madman. All his books that I have read so far have been outstanding (I have read Pacific but not Atlantic. Yet).
I know I read Arrowsmith in high school but that was too long ago for me to have retained a single thing about it. Plus, it was *high school*!
I read and loved The Professor and the Madman. All his books that I have read so far have been outstanding (I have read Pacific but not Atlantic. Yet).
I know I read Arrowsmith in high school but that was too long ago for me to have retained a single thing about it. Plus, it was *high school*!
155weird_O
>150 richardderus: I figured someone would bust my chops for that Updike, RD. Just as well that you're the one.
The Stegner bio is first-rate. I read a loaner when it first was published. Now I has my own.
>152 jnwelch: >150 richardderus: I was unsure about The Nonesuch; very glad it has a couple of fans. 'Twas the only Heyer I saw at the sale.
>154 jessibud2: >152 jnwelch: The Kidder book is a replacement for a copy I inadvertently donated to readers incarcerated in a nearby county jail. I had two copies of Mountains Beyond Mountains with covers similar to Strength in What Remains. After the donation was executed, I still had two copies of the former. Duh!
I'm going to read it.
>153 m.belljackson: >154 jessibud2: I've read several of Simon Winchester's books. Two more to read now.
I always like to scan photos and lists from book purchases. It's great fun to say "Oh, I read that. And that. Gosh, I wish I'd seen a copy of that."
The Stegner bio is first-rate. I read a loaner when it first was published. Now I has my own.
>152 jnwelch: >150 richardderus: I was unsure about The Nonesuch; very glad it has a couple of fans. 'Twas the only Heyer I saw at the sale.
>154 jessibud2: >152 jnwelch: The Kidder book is a replacement for a copy I inadvertently donated to readers incarcerated in a nearby county jail. I had two copies of Mountains Beyond Mountains with covers similar to Strength in What Remains. After the donation was executed, I still had two copies of the former. Duh!
I'm going to read it.
>153 m.belljackson: >154 jessibud2: I've read several of Simon Winchester's books. Two more to read now.
I always like to scan photos and lists from book purchases. It's great fun to say "Oh, I read that. And that. Gosh, I wish I'd seen a copy of that."
156weird_O
>151 Whisper1: I am blessed with house with full basement, a dry basement. Full of my stuff. What I have to do is apply some energy to updating my stacks, alphabetized by author last name. Space isn't a problem, but infrastructure (shelves) and organization (more) would improve things. I'm going to work on that come my very next free day.
157weird_O
Watergate: A Novel by Thomas Mallon is my current read. Started with a select number of reading recommendations from James Ellroy (L A Confidential) in the Sunday NYT Book Review, about a month ago, which I promptly added to my Amazon wish list. From the list, Son the Younger selected Watergate to be my birthday present.
So what to plow into?... Common Sense? Pachinko? Mueller Report? Ring Lardner stories? I'll go with the downfall of Tricky Dick.
I'm a quarter in, and oh what a picture Mallon presents.
So what to plow into?... Common Sense? Pachinko? Mueller Report? Ring Lardner stories? I'll go with the downfall of Tricky Dick.
I'm a quarter in, and oh what a picture Mallon presents.
158richardderus
>157 weird_O: People Today are stunned at the venality, the sheer vileness of 45...they shoulda saw Tricky Dick, the career pol whose personal attacks on that poor Douglas woman in 1948 were so vitriolic that she never again uttered a public word; and whose "anti-Communist" fervor put him forever in bed (!) with scum-of-the-earth J Edgar Homophobe.
159msf59
>148 weird_O: That is a fantastic haul, Bill. Many fine gems. I have had a copy of Parting the Waters on shelf, for at least 20 years. I have heard great things, but never pulled the trigger. I also own Pillar of Fire, the 2nd in the trilogy. Always great to see The Worst Hard Time on the stack. One of my favorites.
160weird_O
>158 richardderus: My wife's maternal grandmother reviled Nixon, remembering his attacks on Jerry Voorhis and Helen Gahagan Douglas. (Fun Fact: Helen was married to actor Melvyn Douglas.)
Interestingly, a squib on the book's cover opines that Mallon portrays Nixon "as a sort of Malvolio—comical, pitiable, tragic."
>159 msf59: I am pleased with the take, Mark. Two Gaimans, two Winchesters, RBG, a Heyer that both Joe and RD endorse, Graham Greene, Stegner and Austen bios. Of course, the Egan. What's not to like? Okay, maybe the Updike; he reviles a lot of readers, but I like a lot of his books; besides, he's a local boy.
I'll bet the reason you haven't jumped on Parting the Waters is its 922-page text. Good grief! And it's only the first of three volumes.
Interestingly, a squib on the book's cover opines that Mallon portrays Nixon "as a sort of Malvolio—comical, pitiable, tragic."
>159 msf59: I am pleased with the take, Mark. Two Gaimans, two Winchesters, RBG, a Heyer that both Joe and RD endorse, Graham Greene, Stegner and Austen bios. Of course, the Egan. What's not to like? Okay, maybe the Updike; he reviles a lot of readers, but I like a lot of his books; besides, he's a local boy.
I'll bet the reason you haven't jumped on Parting the Waters is its 922-page text. Good grief! And it's only the first of three volumes.
161msf59
Oh, yeah. Great to see the Gaiman titles. I also loved The Master. I also want to get to that RBG. I don't know enough about her.
162karenmarie
Hi Bill!
>145 weird_O: I like that quote. My friend Rhoda says that unread books are like money in the bank.
>149 weird_O: Wonderful haul. I’d love to wander through an old Gap store and collect as many good’uns as you did.
I’m from CA and have a particular revulsion for “Tricky Dick” Nixon and Ronny Raygun. Evil, and vile, both of them.
>145 weird_O: I like that quote. My friend Rhoda says that unread books are like money in the bank.
>149 weird_O: Wonderful haul. I’d love to wander through an old Gap store and collect as many good’uns as you did.
I’m from CA and have a particular revulsion for “Tricky Dick” Nixon and Ronny Raygun. Evil, and vile, both of them.
163benitastrnad
>162 karenmarie:
Add me to the list of people who hated Raygun. He was dangerous. This current dumbo is just that a bigoted dumbo. raygun was endorsed by the money people, I am not sure that the great orange asshat is endorsed by them. But in the end, all three of them brought on evil days for this country.
Add me to the list of people who hated Raygun. He was dangerous. This current dumbo is just that a bigoted dumbo. raygun was endorsed by the money people, I am not sure that the great orange asshat is endorsed by them. But in the end, all three of them brought on evil days for this country.
164weird_O
I finished my book. Watergate: A Novel by Thomas Mallon. I recommend it. Funny how it ended. Nixon resigned. Miscreants went to jail.
Started a dog book by a woman named Cat.
Started a dog book by a woman named Cat.
165karenmarie
Hi Bill! I hope you're staying cool in this heat madness.
>163 benitastrnad: Added. My husband was in the Navy 1976-1982 and although he is a Democrat and voted for Carter, loved Raygun for spending more money on the military. We don't discuss it anymore. *smile*
>163 benitastrnad: Added. My husband was in the Navy 1976-1982 and although he is a Democrat and voted for Carter, loved Raygun for spending more money on the military. We don't discuss it anymore. *smile*
166richardderus
>164 weird_O: If ever there was a story I don't want to relive, that one's it. Or so I thought. Events of November 2016 made it more appealing than ever before.
>165 karenmarie: Remind him that the money 40 spent on the Navy is the money Social Security handed over, and that we need now.
>165 karenmarie: Remind him that the money 40 spent on the Navy is the money Social Security handed over, and that we need now.
167weird_O
>162 karenmarie: >163 benitastrnad: >165 karenmarie: >166 richardderus: One lesson of Watergate is that minds are changed as investigation continues. Example: The U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY didn't charge Trump as a result of his office's investigation of the Stormy Daniels hush payments because the DOJ's official policy is that a sitting President can't be indicted. But the judge unsealed all the documents accumulated during the investigation, and the House could (hell, should) weigh impeachment on that offense alone.
Oh well.
ETA: That said, the best buy I made today at the Bethlehem book sale was this'n.
Four bucks. B. A. G.
Oh well.
ETA: That said, the best buy I made today at the Bethlehem book sale was this'n.
Four bucks. B. A. G.
168jnwelch
>167 weird_O: Nice! I've read a lot of good things about this one. What a great price!
169jessibud2
>167 weird_O: - Four bucks??! Wow!! Is that because of that little rip in the top of the cover? Sheesh! You hit the jackpot! I borrowed it from the library and really loved this. Souza has such a good eye and some of the pics (well, nearly all of them, really) are gems. His commentaries are also good.
170weird_O
>168 jnwelch: It's a swell book, Joe. Just one wonderful photo after another.
>169 jessibud2: That tear? Didn't hurt the price. There are a couple of tables with showy, colorful oversize books. I do believe this was the highest priced book. And I'm flabbergasted that it was still there for me, more than an hour after the sale opened.
I also bought two lovely photo books on Ireland, an illustrated Civil War tome, and a couple of photo/photojournalism books. Two or three at $2 each, two at $3 ea.
>169 jessibud2: That tear? Didn't hurt the price. There are a couple of tables with showy, colorful oversize books. I do believe this was the highest priced book. And I'm flabbergasted that it was still there for me, more than an hour after the sale opened.
I also bought two lovely photo books on Ireland, an illustrated Civil War tome, and a couple of photo/photojournalism books. Two or three at $2 each, two at $3 ea.
171jessibud2
>170 weird_O: - I want to go to your book sales! Well, maybe it's better that I don't. It could be dangerous for me!
172kidzdoc
>167 weird_O: Well done, Bill! I love Souza's photos of President Obama and his family, especially the ones in which he plays with children other than his own.
173msf59
Happy Sunday, Bill. I finished the Franklin bio. I liked it and admired the bouncy tone of it but it began to bog down for me, in the flood of detail. Fascinating life and more flawed than I had realized, especially toward his family and creepy obsession toward girls and young women.
I am tickled that you snagged a copy of Hum If You Don't Know the Words. We should read it together, at some point.
Were you still considering, Mohawk? I am a 100 pages in and enjoying it quite a bit. He does small town characters exceptionally well.
I am tickled that you snagged a copy of Hum If You Don't Know the Words. We should read it together, at some point.
Were you still considering, Mohawk? I am a 100 pages in and enjoying it quite a bit. He does small town characters exceptionally well.
174richardderus
Cool nabs at the book sale! Say hi to the President.
175Familyhistorian
The book sales you go to have such wonderful books! Great haul and I also endorse The Nonsuch.
176msf59
Thanks for letting me know you got the package, Bill. I hope you like the bonus one too. I really enjoyed Whiskey. Hurtling along with Mohawk, close to 300 pages all ready. Good stuff.
177weird_O
I'm quite surprised to see that U. S. Grant died on this date—July 23—in 1885. Only three years later, in 1888, Raymond Chandler was born. Each an icon of an era, very different times, yet so close.
178weird_O
Finished another book, this one non-fiction. What the Dog Knows. It is about working dogs—police K9s, tracking dogs like bloodhounds, search and rescue dogs, drug sniffers, bomb detectors, cadaver dogs—and their human handlers. The author, Cat Warren, wanted a German shepherd and she got one. For reasons explained in the narrative, she and the dog, named Solo, got training as cadaver dog and handler. In tells about Solo's nurture, training, and work, Warren reveals an awful lot about working dogs. Interesting, informative, a fun read as far as I'm concerned.
ETA: I'm into Mohawk. If only two or three chapters.
ETA: I'm into Mohawk. If only two or three chapters.
179PaulCranswick
>177 weird_O: I guess Grant's Presidency will always be controversial but he was in many ways the progenitor of civil rights. He created the Department of Justice and took on the Klux Klux Klan and paved the way for African Americans to vote. He appointed a Seneca Indian to the department of Indian affairs but was undone both by the gold discovered in the Black Hills as well as the incompetence of Custer. He promoted people of the Jewish faith into positions in government and made principled stands about their oppression overseas. Unfortunately the economic crash in his second terms as well as financial scandals surrounding his appointees cast a shadow over his tenure.
Certainly an American hero by any standards even though a less than perfect one.
Certainly an American hero by any standards even though a less than perfect one.
180Berly
>149 weird_O: Awesome book haul!! Good thing you won't fun out books for a month or two. Happy belated birthday, too!!
181m.belljackson
>179 PaulCranswick: >177 weird_O:
Well, U.S. Grant started off being and feeling like a total failure,
was revived by President Lincoln and went on to win an excruciating Civil War and show Americans how to be decent while in office
as President -
despite his wife owning slaves, betrayals by friends,
having to write a memoir while he was dying to attempt to recover from poverty,
and dealing with interminable lifelong accusations of alcoholism.
All this while facing an uphill struggle against American racism. Quite a man!
Well, U.S. Grant started off being and feeling like a total failure,
was revived by President Lincoln and went on to win an excruciating Civil War and show Americans how to be decent while in office
as President -
despite his wife owning slaves, betrayals by friends,
having to write a memoir while he was dying to attempt to recover from poverty,
and dealing with interminable lifelong accusations of alcoholism.
All this while facing an uphill struggle against American racism. Quite a man!
182weird_O
>179 PaulCranswick: In some ways Grant's conduct of the war was controversial. And not only for his alleged drinking. He knew the numbers were in his favor, in the Union's favor. All things being equal, the Confederacy was going to run out of manpower before the Union. Grant worked that advantage primarily by being relentless. After Gettysburg, Mead lit the smoking lamp and gave his troops a breather, allowing Lee and his troops to slink off to fight another day. Grant would have pursued.
>180 Berly: Thank you for the b-day wishes. Come back tomorrow and you can wish my bride and I a happy anniversary. Forty-nine years.
Sales are on hiatus until September. Awwwww. :-(
>180 Berly: Thank you for the b-day wishes. Come back tomorrow and you can wish my bride and I a happy anniversary. Forty-nine years.
Sales are on hiatus until September. Awwwww. :-(
183weird_O
>181 m.belljackson: Don't overlook the role played by Mark Twain in encouraging Grant to write his memoirs, insisting that subscription sales of the memoirs would provide financial support for the President's widow. Grant died within days of completing them, and sales were phenomenal.
185benitastrnad
In a recent New York Times Book Review podcast, one of the reviewers said that they were reading Grant's memoirs and they were surprised at the quality of the writing and how readable it was. Mark Twain published them, and would guess that he knew good quality when he read it.
186m.belljackson
So far, my three favorite Grant books have been:
THE MAN WHO SAVED THE UNION: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace by H.W. Brands
The Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant
and the lighter THE GENERAL WHO MARCHED TO HELL: Sherman and the Southern Campaign
THE MAN WHO SAVED THE UNION: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace by H.W. Brands
The Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant
and the lighter THE GENERAL WHO MARCHED TO HELL: Sherman and the Southern Campaign
187weird_O
Photos and lists with loads of books are always popular. So here's the take from last Saturday's book sale.
The List
Feel Free: Essays by Zadie Smith (pbk)
Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin (pbk)
Junkie by William S. Burroughs (pbk)
Saints and Sinners: Stories by Edna O'Brien (pbk)
Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout (pbk)
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore (pbk)
The Cruise of the Snark by Jack London (pbk)
Hum If You Don't Know the Words by Bianca Marais (pbk, ARC)
The Ransom of Russian Art by John McPhee (pbk)
Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells (hc, HP)
The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman, Illustrated by Eddie Campbell (hc)
Tom and Jack: The Intertwined Lives of Thomas Hart Benton and Jackson Pollock by Henry Adams (hc)
The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks (hc)
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee (hc)
An Illustrated History of the Civil War: Images of an American Tragedy by William J. Miller and Brian C. Pohanka (hc, oversize)
Eyewitness: 150 Years of Photojournalism by Richard Lacayo and George Russell (hc, oversize)
American Photography: A Century of Images by Vicki Goldberg (hc, oversize)
Ireland from the Air by Peter Somerville-Large, photography by Jason Hawkes (hc, oversize)
Spectacular Ireland, text by Peter Harbison (hc, oversize)
Obama: An Intimate Portrait by Pete Souza (hc, oversize)
The List
Feel Free: Essays by Zadie Smith (pbk)
Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin (pbk)
Junkie by William S. Burroughs (pbk)
Saints and Sinners: Stories by Edna O'Brien (pbk)
Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout (pbk)
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore (pbk)
The Cruise of the Snark by Jack London (pbk)
Hum If You Don't Know the Words by Bianca Marais (pbk, ARC)
The Ransom of Russian Art by John McPhee (pbk)
Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells (hc, HP)
The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman, Illustrated by Eddie Campbell (hc)
Tom and Jack: The Intertwined Lives of Thomas Hart Benton and Jackson Pollock by Henry Adams (hc)
The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks (hc)
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee (hc)
An Illustrated History of the Civil War: Images of an American Tragedy by William J. Miller and Brian C. Pohanka (hc, oversize)
Eyewitness: 150 Years of Photojournalism by Richard Lacayo and George Russell (hc, oversize)
American Photography: A Century of Images by Vicki Goldberg (hc, oversize)
Ireland from the Air by Peter Somerville-Large, photography by Jason Hawkes (hc, oversize)
Spectacular Ireland, text by Peter Harbison (hc, oversize)
Obama: An Intimate Portrait by Pete Souza (hc, oversize)
188weird_O
Library Sale Steals! Seven coffee-table tomes retailing for almost $290 total. At a library sale, they cost me (top to bottom) $2, $2, $3, $3, $1, $4, and $3. Total, $18.
And the piece de resistance.
189kidzdoc
Nice book haul, Bill! The one book that interests me the most is Feel Free by Zadie Smith, as I enjoy reading her essays. I'll look for it next week.
190charl08
Great haul, Bill. I really like Geraldine Brooks, I don't think she's written a bad book.
191msf59
>187 weird_O: >188 weird_O: Wowza! You can start your own Weirdo Bill Library! I would certainly visit. Another fantastic haul. I particularly loved the Strout! I would also like to read the Smith essay collection.
I really enjoyed Mohawk. Much darker, than other Russo's I have read. Onto, short fiction, which I adore.
I really enjoyed Mohawk. Much darker, than other Russo's I have read. Onto, short fiction, which I adore.
192richardderus
My biblioconcupiscence is getting noticeable. I'd best go.
193benitastrnad
I share your consternation at getting rid Climate Changed: A Personal Journey Through the Science by Philippe Squarzoni - it is a worthy read. If you find it again at one of your library sales it is very much worth $2.00. Even $3.00. ($3.00 is what my local public library charges for paperback books.) The knowledge you will gain from it is worth at least that much.
I confess that if I had found it at a library sale I would probably have overlooked it. I am not that keen on graphic novels. I picked this one out of our collection here at the library because Suzanne (Chatterbox) had pictures as the topic for the June Nonfiction Challenge. The idea of a nonfiction graphic novel tends to boggle my mind, but I read two of them for this challenge. This one and one that was a history of the Wobblies. Wobblies!: A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World by Paul Buhle. Both graphic novels were very well done. I do think that the graphics in the Wobblies book was more effective and certainly much more graphic (as in the advertising meaning of the word) than was the one on climate change.
I would have no trouble recommending either one.
I confess that if I had found it at a library sale I would probably have overlooked it. I am not that keen on graphic novels. I picked this one out of our collection here at the library because Suzanne (Chatterbox) had pictures as the topic for the June Nonfiction Challenge. The idea of a nonfiction graphic novel tends to boggle my mind, but I read two of them for this challenge. This one and one that was a history of the Wobblies. Wobblies!: A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World by Paul Buhle. Both graphic novels were very well done. I do think that the graphics in the Wobblies book was more effective and certainly much more graphic (as in the advertising meaning of the word) than was the one on climate change.
I would have no trouble recommending either one.
194laytonwoman3rd
Some very fine acquisitions there, Bill.
196weird_O
Power came back on about 90 minutes ago. 2 pm EDT. Shut down about 11 p.m. last night. So about 15 hours. No light, no water, no cooked food, no hot coffee, no CPAP, NO internet. Cranky Bill and Judi. Seems that at a place where the power lines cut through woods, where close access to the poles and wires by wheeled vehicles is virtually non-existent, a tree fell and yanked down the wires. The neighbor nearest the site told me the crews worked much of the night with chain saws and flashlights to clear the debris.
I was wondering if the Russkies had hacked the grid.
As the sun rose, I finished Mohawk by Richard Russo, and I now am reading The Ransom of Russian Art by John McPhee. (Yeah, I know. Russia!!?!). It's a McPhee I was unaware off until I saw it at a library book sale about two weeks ago. I'm also enjoying the occasional Ring Lardner short story, and a chapter at a time in Eyewitness: 150 Years of Photojournalism. Yes the latter book is mostly photographs, but there is some text, and I'm going to credit myself for methodically perusing each page.
Also. I pulled Climate Changed, a fat GN by Philippe Squarzoni, from the shelves. Benita cited it (>193 benitastrnad:). Maybe I'll read it. Nudge nudge. No winks.
And somehow, I must squeeze through Tom Paine's Common Sense before month's end. It ain't long. William, so get to it!
I was wondering if the Russkies had hacked the grid.
As the sun rose, I finished Mohawk by Richard Russo, and I now am reading The Ransom of Russian Art by John McPhee. (Yeah, I know. Russia!!?!). It's a McPhee I was unaware off until I saw it at a library book sale about two weeks ago. I'm also enjoying the occasional Ring Lardner short story, and a chapter at a time in Eyewitness: 150 Years of Photojournalism. Yes the latter book is mostly photographs, but there is some text, and I'm going to credit myself for methodically perusing each page.
Also. I pulled Climate Changed, a fat GN by Philippe Squarzoni, from the shelves. Benita cited it (>193 benitastrnad:). Maybe I'll read it. Nudge nudge. No winks.
And somehow, I must squeeze through Tom Paine's Common Sense before month's end. It ain't long. William, so get to it!
197richardderus
>196 weird_O: Common Sense isn't common at all, as we know, but also violates common sense by being very very droll.
Power outages make for grumpy anyones. Fifteen-hour ones even more so. I'm glad everything's back to, well, I guess "normal" is a bit ambitious....
Power outages make for grumpy anyones. Fifteen-hour ones even more so. I'm glad everything's back to, well, I guess "normal" is a bit ambitious....
198weird_O
>179 PaulCranswick: >181 m.belljackson: >184 m.belljackson: >185 benitastrnad: >186 m.belljackson: Interesting thoughts. I was given Ron Chernow's gargantuan bio Grant a year or two ago. Chernow's bio Alexander Hamilton challenged my stamina almost to its breaking point, so I tucked Grant away...way away. Perhaps I should launch a missing book search. (Haha. I know where it is, yes I do)
I read Grant's Memoirs several years ago, at the height of my Civil War reading binge.
I read Grant's Memoirs several years ago, at the height of my Civil War reading binge.
199weird_O
>197 richardderus: Droll. Good point. "Normal" is a moving target, and I'm not sure that normal is what I want to be. :-) Normal for me, sure.
As for the rest of you folks—Mark, Darryl, Meg, Charlotte, Kim, Linda, Karen. Thanks for stopping by. Just let me get a towel to mop up all the drool on the floor.
As for the rest of you folks—Mark, Darryl, Meg, Charlotte, Kim, Linda, Karen. Thanks for stopping by. Just let me get a towel to mop up all the drool on the floor.
200richardderus
A propos your mopping towel:
202msf59
>200 richardderus: I love this!
Glad to see you enjoyed Mohawk, Bill. I also have a copy of his forthcoming novel, Chances Are, which I can share with you, down the road. I also got bit the same BB and will pick up my copy of Climate Changed, from the library tomorrow.
Glad to see you enjoyed Mohawk, Bill. I also have a copy of his forthcoming novel, Chances Are, which I can share with you, down the road. I also got bit the same BB and will pick up my copy of Climate Changed, from the library tomorrow.
204weird_O
>203 msf59: Is that the GN that begins in the mines where slave laborers built Von Braun's V-2 missiles?
205weird_O
This guy died yesterday. His personal library of 70,000 books is going to Johns Hopkins University, where he studied and taught. His name was Richard Macksey (yes, pronounced Maxie). He was 87.
Here's a link to his obit in WaPo: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/richard-macksey-hopkins-professo...
ETA: He's my idol. :-)
Here's a link to his obit in WaPo: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/richard-macksey-hopkins-professo...
ETA: He's my idol. :-)
207msf59
>204 weird_O: Yes.
208richardderus
>205 weird_O: A shining example to us all.
>206 charl08: In this group, I expect almost all of us relate to that one!
>206 charl08: In this group, I expect almost all of us relate to that one!
209kidzdoc
>205 weird_O: Wow. That looks like a slightly less organized version of Shakespeare and Company in Paris:
210weird_O
>209 kidzdoc: Have you been to Shakespeare and Company? Is that really what it looks like?
I've seen that photo on-line several times. The first time, it was identified as the personal library of an American college professor; no name or location or college. Then I've seen it elsewhere, but again without any identification.
If you know that is Shakespeare and Company, I am at peace.
I've seen that photo on-line several times. The first time, it was identified as the personal library of an American college professor; no name or location or college. Then I've seen it elsewhere, but again without any identification.
If you know that is Shakespeare and Company, I am at peace.
211PaulCranswick
>201 weird_O: & >200 richardderus: Seen the graphic and I'm gonna have to appropriate it at some stage!
The company I am working for/advising at present built a few of those buildings in the graphic and I am busy working on the first one! At your present rate of book bingeing progress, Bill, your book-skyscraper will leave me stories behind (pun and misspelling intended).
Have a great Sunday.
The company I am working for/advising at present built a few of those buildings in the graphic and I am busy working on the first one! At your present rate of book bingeing progress, Bill, your book-skyscraper will leave me stories behind (pun and misspelling intended).
Have a great Sunday.
212richardderus
>209 kidzdoc: I believe, if I am not completely crazy, that this image is Dr. Macksey's library. This is Shakespeare and Company:
213m.belljackson
>205 weird_O:
Thank you for this photograph and the link to Baltimore - the second Great Writing to come from Baltimore in one day!
(If anyone missed it, see Sunday's Baltimore Sun Op-Ed.)
Thank you for this photograph and the link to Baltimore - the second Great Writing to come from Baltimore in one day!
(If anyone missed it, see Sunday's Baltimore Sun Op-Ed.)
214laytonwoman3rd
Link to the Baltimore Sun Op-Ed, which I believe anyone can read without subscribing. This line...particularly..."Fox News rang the bell, the president salivated and his thumbs moved across his cell phone into action."
215quondame
>196 weird_O: My husband and I, both CPAP users, have battery backup (OK, we camp out) He can recharge his directly from solar panels and if I needed to, I could leach from his battery to one of mine.
217laytonwoman3rd
>216 weird_O: I just drooled on myself a little...
218benitastrnad
I didn't mean to send that Book Bullet for Climate Changed your way (evil grin) but since you got it I hope you enjoy the book. It took me almost a month to read this book, so plan on spending some time with it, but it does a good job of simplifying some things. It does occasionally digress into memoir territory, but it is a personal journey, so that implies memoir. It is a heavy work and it is a journey through the science. ... and economics, and politics of global policies.
If it makes you feel any better - I sent a recommendation to a friend in Germany. He hadn't heard of the book, and he also took a book bullet.
If it makes you feel any better - I sent a recommendation to a friend in Germany. He hadn't heard of the book, and he also took a book bullet.
220jessibud2
>219 m.belljackson: - Ha! I bet he has a couple of duplicates in there.... ;-)
221richardderus
>216 weird_O: ...I have seen The Promised Land...
222quondame
>216 weird_O: The rug looks familiar, though somewhat more floral
, but my books are much less scholarly in appearance.
, but my books are much less scholarly in appearance.223weird_O
It has been an odd (to me) month. Read several excellent books and a couple of pretty slight tomes.
I read 11 books in July, the one-month high for 2019. What did I like?
The Ransom of Russian Art by John McPhee
Mohawk by Richard Russo
What the Dog Knows by Cat Warren
The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Eddie Campbell
Watergate: A Novel by Thomas Mallon
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers
Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers
I oughter craft reviews of at least these. We'll see. At any rate, it's been a July that feels odd, that leaves me with the sense I read a fair bit of filler. But I don't guess that's true, given that 8 of the 11 I consider good. Aaaah.
Six of the reads were books I acquired during the month; that's a departure for me. I'm usually reading stuff that's aged in my TBR ClosetTM. And now the first book for August will be something I got today: The Making of THE AFRICAN QUEEN by Katherine Hepburn.
Oh well...
I read 11 books in July, the one-month high for 2019. What did I like?
The Ransom of Russian Art by John McPhee
Mohawk by Richard Russo
What the Dog Knows by Cat Warren
The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Eddie Campbell
Watergate: A Novel by Thomas Mallon
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers
Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers
I oughter craft reviews of at least these. We'll see. At any rate, it's been a July that feels odd, that leaves me with the sense I read a fair bit of filler. But I don't guess that's true, given that 8 of the 11 I consider good. Aaaah.
Six of the reads were books I acquired during the month; that's a departure for me. I'm usually reading stuff that's aged in my TBR ClosetTM. And now the first book for August will be something I got today: The Making of THE AFRICAN QUEEN by Katherine Hepburn.
Oh well...
225msf59
>223 weird_O: It looks like you had a good reading month, Bill. I am going to end up having a stellar one. 12 books read, with one hitting 5 stars and another 3 just missing it. Hoping for more of the same in August.
226kidzdoc
>210 weird_O: I have been to Shakespeare and Company, which I visited during an unusually warm late September weekend in Paris three years ago. I can't vouch for the accuracy of the photo I posted, unfortunately, as I spent very little time there, didn't venture much beyond the front portion of the bookshop, and only took photos of its exterior:
227weird_O
>226 kidzdoc: Lovely photos, Darryl. Impressed by the "chalkboard" epistle. I gather it isn't written in chalk and isn't updated daily. I see it is dated 2004, and you said you were there three years ago.
It is legend, of course.
Me? I been to the Barnes & Noble. Ah ha ha ha ha...sniff, sniff.
It is legend, of course.
Me? I been to the Barnes & Noble. Ah ha ha ha ha...sniff, sniff.
228weird_O
>206 charl08: Why the neighbors probably loved it. More books than the public library, and closer to boot! The guess the JHU librarians have a monumental task ahead of them. A book list for the ages. Think it'll be on LT?
>206 charl08: >212 richardderus: Thanks for the Shakespeare & Company photo, RD.
>211 PaulCranswick: The graphic is calling to you, Paul. Softly but persistently. Pau..al oh Pau...al. Use me. Use me!
But to be realistic, my holdings don't number 4 grand, minuscule in comparison to Prof. Macksey's 70,000.
>206 charl08: >212 richardderus: Thanks for the Shakespeare & Company photo, RD.
>211 PaulCranswick: The graphic is calling to you, Paul. Softly but persistently. Pau..al oh Pau...al. Use me. Use me!
But to be realistic, my holdings don't number 4 grand, minuscule in comparison to Prof. Macksey's 70,000.
229weird_O
>213 m.belljackson: >214 laytonwoman3rd: I read that the Sun's new subscriptions shot up dramatically in the last few days. Due more to the editorial than to the Prof. Macksey obituary.
In related news, I read that McConnell has been really stung by the MoscowMitch moniker.
In related news, I read that McConnell has been really stung by the MoscowMitch moniker.
231laytonwoman3rd
>229 weird_O: Really...how is it possible to hurt the feelings of a man who has none?
232weird_O
Just ran across an article about Elizabeth Strout and how it is she's written another book about Olive Kitteridge.
Here's a link to the whole article: http://mainewomenmagazine.com/strout-again/
Then one day, when Strout was traveling solo in Norway, Olive appeared to her while she was checking her email in a cafe around the corner from her Oslo hotel. The often cranky retired schoolteacher from the fictional town of Crosby, Maine, who had uncanny insights and was capable of both deep kindness and petty judgments, was suddenly there.
“She honestly just showed up,” Strout says. “I could see her in her car, nosing it into the marina.” Olive had aged; she appeared to now be in her early 80s. “She was poking along with her cane. I just saw her so clearly that I thought, ‘OK, I guess I will have to write this down.’”
Here's a link to the whole article: http://mainewomenmagazine.com/strout-again/
234quondame
>233 weird_O: Cute t-shirt, but I wouldn't wear any image of a repulsican, for or against. I haven't even worn my purple 'Still, she persisted t-shirt.
235weird_O
Once again, an unexpected, unexplained absence by me. During that time, I completed Kate Hepburn's account of the filming of THE AFRICAN QUEEN. I was only reading it, but I sure could hear her narrating. Short. Fun. Someday I'll have to watch the film.
I also read my AAC book for August, A Lesson Before Dying. Very nicely done. It seemed that Gaines was defending his choice to continue living in Louisiana after time in California. It was certainly a demeaning place and culture for any person of color.
Now reading an Ali Smith novel from The TBR ClosetTM, a book titled Hotel World. The first section, in which the ghost of a young woman who died in an accident tells of her imminent fade from being, was quite a story. An excellent train of imagining...the ghost continuing to exist only for a limited period after the death, but slowing fading, losing memory, perception of color, sound, smell. Good stuff.
I do believe I'll go back to Mr. Gaines before the month is out. I have A Gathering of Old Men on the bedside table.
I also read my AAC book for August, A Lesson Before Dying. Very nicely done. It seemed that Gaines was defending his choice to continue living in Louisiana after time in California. It was certainly a demeaning place and culture for any person of color.
Now reading an Ali Smith novel from The TBR ClosetTM, a book titled Hotel World. The first section, in which the ghost of a young woman who died in an accident tells of her imminent fade from being, was quite a story. An excellent train of imagining...the ghost continuing to exist only for a limited period after the death, but slowing fading, losing memory, perception of color, sound, smell. Good stuff.
I do believe I'll go back to Mr. Gaines before the month is out. I have A Gathering of Old Men on the bedside table.
236weird_O
I'm always thinking I'll get energized and babble a bit more about what I'm reading. But it doesn't happen. Well, there's always more to be read. Eh?
I'm up to 72. Three short of the 75 target. Once I get 75 books read, I can quit until 2020.
I'm up to 72. Three short of the 75 target. Once I get 75 books read, I can quit until 2020.
237jnwelch
The positive reaction of you and others to A Lesson Before Dying has got it back on my WL, Bill. I'm going to try to get to it sooner rather than later.
239weird_O
>238 richardderus: I am gratified to see that I've brought a moment of pleasure into your humdrum existence, Richard.
>237 jnwelch: You should read it, Joe. I can't say I enjoyed it; it's not an enjoyable story. But Gaines tells it well. I'm probably going to read A Gathering of Old Men before the end of the month.
Now reading Montana 1948 by Larry Watson; hoping to finish it tomorrow. RD was warbling in praise of it just a week or so ago, so I was inspired to read it. Good so far.
>237 jnwelch: You should read it, Joe. I can't say I enjoyed it; it's not an enjoyable story. But Gaines tells it well. I'm probably going to read A Gathering of Old Men before the end of the month.
Now reading Montana 1948 by Larry Watson; hoping to finish it tomorrow. RD was warbling in praise of it just a week or so ago, so I was inspired to read it. Good so far.
240karenmarie
Hi Bill!
The Making of the African Queen is a great book. My daughter and I watched The African Queen last year, her first and my second time. You really should watch it.
Good luck on getting to 75 soon. What will your first book of the new year be? *smile*
The Making of the African Queen is a great book. My daughter and I watched The African Queen last year, her first and my second time. You really should watch it.
Good luck on getting to 75 soon. What will your first book of the new year be? *smile*
241msf59
Happy Friday, Bill. My AAC pick will be Miss Jane Pittman. This will be my first Gaines. I may try another of his, before the year is out. Hooray for approaching 75 and hooray for Montana 1948. I loved that book. Getting ready to leave for the airport.
242weird_O
>240 karenmarie: It is a fun book. Hepburn's voice is so distinctive. TCM aired the film last week. Both my wife and I read Hepburn's book, and neither of us had seen the film. So naturally, we got caught up in, well, somethin' and forgot to tune in.
James Agee did the screenplay, or "a" screenplay, for the film, and I believe he got the on-screen credit. But IMDb lists Huston as sharing the writing credit. Hepburn never mentioned Agee, but did worry about the absence of a script early on. I have the impression from something I read, somewhere, sometime, that Huston dismissed Agee's script and wrote his own and was content to let Agee get/share the credit. I mention this because Agee was one of my literary idols way back when.
>240 karenmarie: Not sure yet what my first read of 2020 will be. *very serious* I've got a lot of time to think about it. I expect I'll contrive a towering long-stack of candidates, then just grab something in a panic on New Year's Day.
>241 msf59: Montana 1948 was very good indeed. A compelling read. The first Watson book I've read, though I have a couple of others squirreled away in The TBR ClosetTM. I pat you on the back, Warbs, 'cause I never heard of him until I researched the author list for the first AAC.
James Agee did the screenplay, or "a" screenplay, for the film, and I believe he got the on-screen credit. But IMDb lists Huston as sharing the writing credit. Hepburn never mentioned Agee, but did worry about the absence of a script early on. I have the impression from something I read, somewhere, sometime, that Huston dismissed Agee's script and wrote his own and was content to let Agee get/share the credit. I mention this because Agee was one of my literary idols way back when.
>240 karenmarie: Not sure yet what my first read of 2020 will be. *very serious* I've got a lot of time to think about it. I expect I'll contrive a towering long-stack of candidates, then just grab something in a panic on New Year's Day.
>241 msf59: Montana 1948 was very good indeed. A compelling read. The first Watson book I've read, though I have a couple of others squirreled away in The TBR ClosetTM. I pat you on the back, Warbs, 'cause I never heard of him until I researched the author list for the first AAC.
243weird_O
Just wanna say, I finished Montana 1948 and am now reading Pachinko. Got to finish that so I can read A Gathering of Old Men before the month ends. That would be number 75.
In the last third of the year, I've got to get back to my scheme to read the several versions of the Faust legend.
I also have wanted to read the crime stories and novels my granddaughters read for the "Forensic Fiction" course they took in the last semester of their senior year. I sat in on one class on "Grandparents Day" and was so taken with the teacher and his style. Just too bad for me that I can't get his questions and suggestions as I read. The book list is short:
Detective Stories, edited by Peter Washington
Unnatural Causes by P. D. James
The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
Real Cool Killers by Chester Himes
I've already read the P. D. James, which was excellent, and the Auster, which was confounding. Has anyone read The New York Trilogy? Can you clue me in?
In the last third of the year, I've got to get back to my scheme to read the several versions of the Faust legend.
I also have wanted to read the crime stories and novels my granddaughters read for the "Forensic Fiction" course they took in the last semester of their senior year. I sat in on one class on "Grandparents Day" and was so taken with the teacher and his style. Just too bad for me that I can't get his questions and suggestions as I read. The book list is short:
Detective Stories, edited by Peter Washington
Unnatural Causes by P. D. James
The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
Real Cool Killers by Chester Himes
I've already read the P. D. James, which was excellent, and the Auster, which was confounding. Has anyone read The New York Trilogy? Can you clue me in?
244Familyhistorian
Forensic Fiction sounds like a very interesting course, Bill. Thanks for posting the book list. I will have to look into those.
245jnwelch
Liked both Montana 1948 and Pachinko a lot.
246richardderus
>243 weird_O: I'm glad Montana 1948 was a good read for you, Bill. Closing in on 75 with a comfortable time margin to spare!
247weird_O
Taking a break whilst Gracie's birthday cake bakes. She, like me, is a spice cake lover and she asked for one for her 14th birthday. I am honored to oblige. Cake's in the oven, bowl and utensils are scrubbed, ingredients for plain old buttercream icing are laid out. It's 2 o' the clock, a whole hour for it to bake, then cool, then be iced, then be transported to the pool-side party at 3 o' the clock.
Okay, if we're a little late, it don't matter. Do it?
Joe and Richard: I did like Montana 1948. Still topical, isn't it? Pachinko is alright so far.
>244 Familyhistorian: Sounded that way to me, Meg. I expected more books would be involved, but the four will be fine. The day I sat in, they started a new novel (the Himes). The teacher handed out the books, then had one student start reading it out loud. He'd interrupt with "why do you think" questions about character and setting descriptions, about word choices, and so on. Then he'd have someone else read it paragraph or so. All the while, one kid's zoned out the talk and focused on the reading. Must have gotten about a third of the book read in that hour. Haha.
Okay, if we're a little late, it don't matter. Do it?
Joe and Richard: I did like Montana 1948. Still topical, isn't it? Pachinko is alright so far.
>244 Familyhistorian: Sounded that way to me, Meg. I expected more books would be involved, but the four will be fine. The day I sat in, they started a new novel (the Himes). The teacher handed out the books, then had one student start reading it out loud. He'd interrupt with "why do you think" questions about character and setting descriptions, about word choices, and so on. Then he'd have someone else read it paragraph or so. All the while, one kid's zoned out the talk and focused on the reading. Must have gotten about a third of the book read in that hour. Haha.
248weird_O
>247 weird_O: Awright, awright. It didn't look like a cake, but it sure tasted like one. The Rubble Cake.
249weird_O
>243 weird_O: >244 Familyhistorian: >247 weird_O: The teacher of the Forensic Fiction class has left the school, I found out yesterday. Gracie was scheduled to have him for 9th grade lit, but the school listed a different person on the schedule, a person who isn't a teacher. No explanation for his apparently abrupt departure.
But I got more info on The New York Trilogy. Claire told me they spent so much time reading and discussing the first story, "City of Glass", that they moved on when they were only half-way through the second one, "Ghosts". She like what they read, but said others didn't. I scanned several reviews here on LT and got some clues I failed to see when I read the trilogy 5 years ago. I think I'll "get" more of it on a re-read.
But I got more info on The New York Trilogy. Claire told me they spent so much time reading and discussing the first story, "City of Glass", that they moved on when they were only half-way through the second one, "Ghosts". She like what they read, but said others didn't. I scanned several reviews here on LT and got some clues I failed to see when I read the trilogy 5 years ago. I think I'll "get" more of it on a re-read.
250karenmarie
>248 weird_O: The Rubble Cake. You definitely nailed it, Bill! I bet it was scrumptious.
251richardderus
>248 weird_O: A truly classic comestible. Kudos.
252laytonwoman3rd
>248 weird_O: Memorable, I'm sure! And kind of irresistible-looking, actually.
253charl08
>248 weird_O: Aw! How nice you made her a cake. Hope it tasted amazing.
254msf59
Howdy, Bill. Glad to hear A Gathering of Old Men is off to a good start. I just cracked Jane Pittman. I heard he has better titles but this is the one I grabbed. I will most likely try something else by him, later in the year.
255weird_O
>250 karenmarie: >251 richardderus: >252 laytonwoman3rd: >253 charl08: Thank ya, thank ya. I just wanna say that no one turned down any. And the birthday girl took home every bit that was left. It did taste good.
However, I will admit that my offer to make a cake for Gracie's other grandmother for her birthday (today) was politely turned down.
>254 msf59: Get after it, Mark.
I finished A Gathering of Old Men a short time ago, and it was great. It revolved around the murder of a mean, authoritarian, redneck Cajun whose father had led many a lynching party and now was chaffing to mount one more. But more than a dozen aged Black men who've lived in fear of white abuse and injury all their lives resolve to confront both the Sheriff and the lynch mob. Despite this, the book has a lot of humor.
However, I will admit that my offer to make a cake for Gracie's other grandmother for her birthday (today) was politely turned down.
>254 msf59: Get after it, Mark.
I finished A Gathering of Old Men a short time ago, and it was great. It revolved around the murder of a mean, authoritarian, redneck Cajun whose father had led many a lynching party and now was chaffing to mount one more. But more than a dozen aged Black men who've lived in fear of white abuse and injury all their lives resolve to confront both the Sheriff and the lynch mob. Despite this, the book has a lot of humor.
256sriningsih
This user has been removed as spam.
257weird_O
>256 sriningsih: Damn! I guess I don't get enough telephone spam calls, I have to get spam messages here too. Glad to have it taken care of without any involvement of me.
Last evening was a birthday party, but maybe more it was the sweet sorrows of partings for three sets of parents and their oldest children, as well as two sets of twins splitting as they head off to college. Two sets of grandparents present for the occasion too. I think all of them will do just fine—students, siblings left behind, parents, and grandparents.
I'm reading Girl, Interrupted. I don't know why. Because.
Last evening was a birthday party, but maybe more it was the sweet sorrows of partings for three sets of parents and their oldest children, as well as two sets of twins splitting as they head off to college. Two sets of grandparents present for the occasion too. I think all of them will do just fine—students, siblings left behind, parents, and grandparents.
I'm reading Girl, Interrupted. I don't know why. Because.
259quondame
>258 weird_O: Congratulations!
260FAMeulstee
Congratulations on reaching 75, Bill!
261weird_O
>259 quondame: >260 FAMeulstee: Thank ya, thank ya vury much. I don't know whether to plow ahead or knock off until January.
262FAMeulstee
>261 weird_O: Always plow ahead! :-)
263laytonwoman3rd
>261 weird_O: Ha! I'll put some money on the outcome of THAT question.
264karenmarie
Congrats on 75, Bill!
My guess is that you'll plow ahead. Can you imagine not reading until January 1? *shudder*
My guess is that you'll plow ahead. Can you imagine not reading until January 1? *shudder*
265msf59
Congrats on hitting 75, Bill. Reading another 25, should be a walk in the park or in the woods, if you will.
266richardderus
Brave-oh on your 75!
268weird_O
Aw shucks, guys. Twernt nothin'. Doc, Mark, Linda, Karen, Anita.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
I've been reading articles in The New York Times's 1619 Project, published on the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the very first African slaves in what is now the United States.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
I've been reading articles in The New York Times's 1619 Project, published on the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the very first African slaves in what is now the United States.
270figsfromthistle
Congrats on reaching 75 books read!
Have a great weekend!
Have a great weekend!
273weird_O
Granddaughter Helen is now in college. Moved into her dorm room today. Nice view of Lincoln Center and Manhattan from her 11th floor window.
274msf59
Go Helen! Good luck! Love the photo!
Didn't you say you had started a new thread? Hmmmmmmmmmm?
Didn't you say you had started a new thread? Hmmmmmmmmmm?
275katiekrug
>273 weird_O: - Exciting! (And I don't even want to imagine what dorm move-in in the middle of NYC is like...)
276weird_O
>274 msf59: I think I said, Mark, (where? on your thread?) I should be working up to starting a new thread to coincide with the start of the third third of the year, which will be September 1. (I've divvied the year into thirds. Quarters schmarters, I say.) Anyway, I DO have the first few posts ready in a Google Docs document and will put it up next Sunday.
Something to look forward to. Sing along with me, "Anticipation..."
>275 katiekrug: I'm glad to view it from a remove, Katie. I still have nightmares about some move-ins in Boston, where every college and every apartment lease begins on what we called International Moving Day. I've seen the photos (and a couple of videos) and the move-in was orderly.
Something to look forward to. Sing along with me, "Anticipation..."
>275 katiekrug: I'm glad to view it from a remove, Katie. I still have nightmares about some move-ins in Boston, where every college and every apartment lease begins on what we called International Moving Day. I've seen the photos (and a couple of videos) and the move-in was orderly.
277benitastrnad
International Move-In day is over. It was on August 17, 2019. International start of the school year day was August 21, 2019.
278weird_O
>277 benitastrnad: Is there really such a thing as "International Move-In Day", Benita? We were just funning amongst ourselves in calling the one-hellish-day-in-Boston that. It seemed to us that every college student in the Boston metro area was moving out of one apartment and into a different one, that traffic was stalled because narrow streets were closed by rental vans parked in the traffic lane while kids loaded or unloaded furniture and other household goods.
Based on my granddaughters' experiences, move-in days, at least for college freshpersons, are scattered over a couple of weeks. Helen moved in Sunday. Claire will move in tomorrow. Friends of theirs moved into a local college last Saturday, while others moved in midweek last. Other classmates don't move in until next week.
That's all.
Well, except that Helen posted a photo taken from her 11th floor dorm room:
Based on my granddaughters' experiences, move-in days, at least for college freshpersons, are scattered over a couple of weeks. Helen moved in Sunday. Claire will move in tomorrow. Friends of theirs moved into a local college last Saturday, while others moved in midweek last. Other classmates don't move in until next week.
That's all.
Well, except that Helen posted a photo taken from her 11th floor dorm room:
279richardderus
>278 weird_O: *pang* I miss Manhattan a lot.
280jnwelch
Congrats to Helen! Back when dinosaurs roamed Manhattan, I lived near there, on West 70th by Central Park (in a studio apartment with absurdly low rent). Methinks she’ll love it.
281benitastrnad
>278 weird_O:
You are absolutely correct about college students and their entourage on moving day. There is no such day - that I know of. However, every college has their own move-in day and the life of the universe revolves around that colleges move-in day. I live 4 blocks from a Target store and starting about a week before the first day of classes you can't move in that Target store because of all the students and parents in there. I avoid the place like the plague until after September 1. I think it is that way at any Target (or Walmart) that is close to a college campus.
In Tuscaloosa, International Move-Around day is July 31. That is the day that all the leases are up on the apartments for the collage kids who are already at college. The streets are full of pickups and trailers filled with mattresses and boxes that block streets because "it will only take an hour to unload this pickup." Then, the weekend before classes start is the move in day for all the Freshman and we have another International Move in day. It is a pain in the neck for the natives who actually live in the town. I
try to tell myself every year, that for these college students and their parents it is bright shiny and new and to let them have their moment in the sun, but when I am just trying to get chores done it is an aggravation and sometimes borderline harassment.
You are absolutely correct about college students and their entourage on moving day. There is no such day - that I know of. However, every college has their own move-in day and the life of the universe revolves around that colleges move-in day. I live 4 blocks from a Target store and starting about a week before the first day of classes you can't move in that Target store because of all the students and parents in there. I avoid the place like the plague until after September 1. I think it is that way at any Target (or Walmart) that is close to a college campus.
In Tuscaloosa, International Move-Around day is July 31. That is the day that all the leases are up on the apartments for the collage kids who are already at college. The streets are full of pickups and trailers filled with mattresses and boxes that block streets because "it will only take an hour to unload this pickup." Then, the weekend before classes start is the move in day for all the Freshman and we have another International Move in day. It is a pain in the neck for the natives who actually live in the town. I
try to tell myself every year, that for these college students and their parents it is bright shiny and new and to let them have their moment in the sun, but when I am just trying to get chores done it is an aggravation and sometimes borderline harassment.
282laytonwoman3rd
>278 weird_O: Oh. my. That would seriously interfere with my ability to concentrate on my studies.
283charl08
>278 weird_O: Wow. Just wow. I'd be distracted too!
285kidzdoc
Congratulations on finishing 75 books, Bill!
Whoa. Those photos of NYC almost make me wish I could be an undergraduate student again. (If you believe that I have some property in South Jersey I'd like to show to you.)
Whoa. Those photos of NYC almost make me wish I could be an undergraduate student again. (If you believe that I have some property in South Jersey I'd like to show to you.)
286weird_O
Granddaughter Claire's chosen college setting is quite a contrast to her twin sister's (>273 weird_O:). She checked in Wednesday. Greek (the language) and Roman history are among her first semester course. Yikes!
Gracie is now an only child.
287richardderus
>286 weird_O: Good heavens! How amazing the place is; the courses make me headachey, though. Thank goodness it isn't me doing the work.
288jessibud2
>286 weird_O: - WOW! Beautiful! This is much more my own personal style; I am not much for skyscraper cities (yes, I live in one but I live in the suburbs on purpose!). I find wood and stone much more inspiring than glass and concrete.
Quite the young scholar - all the best of luck to both of them. Beginnings are always such an adventure!
Quite the young scholar - all the best of luck to both of them. Beginnings are always such an adventure!
289weird_O
Thanks to one and all for your comments on Helen's and Claire's college choices and all that.
I'm poised to start a new thread tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm racing through Junkie by William Burroughs, hoping to notch one more book read in August. It is short, and it's got some drive, and I'm pretty free of obligations today, so I might make it.
Yesterday I finished Rhinoceros, an absurdist play by Eugene Ionesco. I was introduced to it back in high school French; we were supposed to read it in French. Though Ionesco was born in Romania, he lived in French and wrote in French. I ran across a copy of the play at a library sale this summer and thought I should really read it (this time in English). I doubt that I even finished it back in 1961 and certainly turned up my nose.
In my second try, I noted that it was just newly published (copyright 1960) at the time of my first try. The first production was in Paris in January 1960; the first London/English language performance was in April, produced by Orson Wells and featuring Laurence Olivier and Joan Plowright in the lead roles. The premise is that people suddenly turn into rhinoceroses. At first there are only a few of the huge animals charging around, and the majority of people are shocked, horrified, fearful. But with increasing speed more and more follow the herd.
I'm poised to start a new thread tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm racing through Junkie by William Burroughs, hoping to notch one more book read in August. It is short, and it's got some drive, and I'm pretty free of obligations today, so I might make it.
Yesterday I finished Rhinoceros, an absurdist play by Eugene Ionesco. I was introduced to it back in high school French; we were supposed to read it in French. Though Ionesco was born in Romania, he lived in French and wrote in French. I ran across a copy of the play at a library sale this summer and thought I should really read it (this time in English). I doubt that I even finished it back in 1961 and certainly turned up my nose.
In my second try, I noted that it was just newly published (copyright 1960) at the time of my first try. The first production was in Paris in January 1960; the first London/English language performance was in April, produced by Orson Wells and featuring Laurence Olivier and Joan Plowright in the lead roles. The premise is that people suddenly turn into rhinoceroses. At first there are only a few of the huge animals charging around, and the majority of people are shocked, horrified, fearful. But with increasing speed more and more follow the herd.
This topic was continued by Bill's Still Weird_O, Third Third 2019.
