Member: Starsong

Noticed your "astrology interest". You might want to check out http://www.matrixastrology.com/.

posted by Naren559 at 7:21 am (EST) on Nov 20, 2009

Hello Friend,
I now have 364 books listed and have barely touched my book shelves. And I haven't even touched my boxes of books. But my apartment is a mess. Stacks of books everywhere.

See you around.
Nancy

posted by classicars at 9:56 pm (EST) on Jun 13, 2009

Hi Charlotte,
I've been checking out your library and enjoying. You read some very interesting subjects.
Nancy

posted by classicars at 7:22 pm (EST) on Jun 10, 2009

WIND ON THE HILL
By A.A.Milne

No one can tell me,
Nobody knows,
Where the wind comes from,
Where the wind goes.

It's flying from somewhere
As fast as it can,
I couldn't keep up with it,
Not if I ran.

But if I stopped holding
The string of my kite,
It would blow with the wind
For a day and a night.

And then when I found it,
Wherever it blew,
I should know that the wind
Had been going there too.

So then I could tell them
Where the wind goes…
But where the wind comes from
Nobody knows.

posted by theoldman at 12:22 pm (EST) on May 25, 2009

Hey, Charlotte! Hugs right back at you! I'm so glad you're enjoying Time and Again. I feel I came very close to stepping into another time myself, once, long ago. I was a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania, and I was living in a very old dormitory. It was some kind of holiday, in the winter, and I had neither the money nor the inclination to go home for the holiday. So I stayed in the deserted dorm, cozied up with stacks of books and magazines for a thesis paper I was writing on women's literature of the Civil War period. I was surrounded by artifacts and documents from that period, and there were times when I felt that the veil between that time and mine was very thin indeed. Pure fantasy or wishful thinking, of course, but I still treasure the memory.

Schools up north don't go back until after Labor Day, around September 3 or 4. They also don't get out of school until the end of June, while we are done at the end of May.

Still, the whole school calendar is archaic, and certainly doesn't fit the educational needs of the 21st century. I think our schools should be year round -- with 6 weeks on and 2 weeks off all year. I would add a whole 4 weeks at Christmas time, and make sure that Easter got a full 2 weeks as well. But that would mean that teachers would get paid more -- which school boards wouldn't like, and also that teachers would work more hours -- which teacher's unions would not like. Sigh. . .

Got to run -- my classroom is a chaotic mess, and I really need to get it in shape by Friday. Wish me luck!
Rachel

posted by RachelfromSarasota at 4:33 pm (EST) on Aug 13, 2008

Believe it or not, I started back to work yesterday, August 11! In this country, at least down South, teachers go back to school a week BEFORE the kids -- which is actually a good idea! It lets us get our rooms ready, in theory. In practice, most school systems don't trust teachers to take advantage of this "free" time, so the schedule meetings every day from 8:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. It's usually ghastly -- a lot of bureaucrats preaching at us when what we really need is time to clear our heads, organize our rooms and materials, and prepare for a new year.

Thank goodness my school doesn't do that -- we have daily meetings from 8:00 until 11:30 or 12:00, and then we're free to do what we need to do. I never heard of Maisie Dobbs -- I'll have to look her up (and I have put off getting Kylie Fitzpatrick's books until September, when I'll have some time to concentrate on new reads -- same with Jasper Fforde -- I do plan on checking out these authors, but right now I'm doing more rereading for relaxation than taking on new books. Except, that is, for two Early Reviewers' books I still need to finish and write reviews for. I just started reading SLAVE by Mende Nazer -- the true account of a young African Sudanese girl who was kidnapped and sold into slavery by Arab slave traders. She only escaped her captivity a few years ago, in London. The book is a bit slow to get started, or maybe I'm just suffering from my usual beginning of the year jitters!

It was really good to hear from you. About the hug -- all's well that ended well.

I love certain children's books very much, and reread them regularly: The Wind in the Willows -- which is one of my favorite books of all time! All the Little House series, a few of the Miss Bianca books (I used to read these to my kids and they loved them -- the series is about an aristocratic lady mouse who heads the Mouse Prisoner's Aid Society -- they're engaging and charming), The Secret Garden and Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and Little Women. I used to love the Nancy Drew books -- but they are packed away in the bowels of my garage. I see in the above post on your page that you have added the Cherry Ames books -- were these about a student nurse? If so, I know I read a few of them.

You're right about the change in children's or young adult literature. During the mid-60s young adult literature was born -- a new genre that was intended to show real kids with real problems. Quite a few of these books not only include sex, violence, and substance abuse, but they don't always end happily. There are some terrific books in this genre out there -- but I'll generally just read them once. But my students love these books. And most of them are pretty good, and encapsulate a strong moral or ethical code -- it's just not as overt as the earlier children's literature. One particularly fine young adult author is Chris Crutcher. His books are terrific, and really show how kids struggle these days to become responsible adults and good people.

Hey, anything that hooks my students on reading is okay with me!

I have actually found two teachers at my school who actually read for pleasure! They are neither of them very fast readers, but both have recommended books to me this summer that I really enjoyed. That's a first for me!

So, what's up in your life lately?

posted by RachelfromSarasota at 6:24 pm (EST) on Aug 12, 2008

hi,just noticed you added some cherry ames books,I have never met any one else who has even heard of these,and yes my birthday is in july,people I know wont buy me books as presents as I work in a library,have you ever heard of anything so silly.

posted by cancer53 at 5:06 pm (EST) on Aug 3, 2008

Unfortunately, all too many of my colleagues not only don't read but actually boast about not reading. Particularly English teachers! I was often the subject of rather snide comments from my colleagues in the English department at another high school: "Rachel, I don't know where you find the time to read so much. I'm just too busy creating lesson plans and grading papers." The implication, of course, was that if I found time for so frivolous (or perhaps time-consuming?) an activity as reading for pleasure, then I couldn't possibly be doing as thorough a job in my classroom as they were. I soon learned to shut up about what I was reading, simply to spare myself from their scorn. And these were educators in the field of language arts! I must say that I have found this attitude all too prevalent among high school teachers in the USA -- I hear it over and over again at national conferences. And the same attitude was reflected in the two literacy/reading classes I just took this year. In the first, the facilitator admitted she "no longer has time to read for pleasure." This, in a class where the primary aim was to motivate our kids to read outside of school! And the twenty other participants in the course didn't seem to read, either. At least, my posts (it was a course conducted solely on-line) were the only ones that made any references to outside reading material. In the second class, which I just finished, out of the six participants, including the facilitator, only three of us read actively and for fun. I take comfort in that, though -- three out of six is a wonderful percentage, compared to my previous observations. And two of these three are language arts teachers -- which is marvelous.

So. . .maybe there's hope for my country yet!

I'll have to request some of Jasper Fforde's stuff from the library. Unfortunately, our library system, like most in the USA, is suffering from severe budget cuts -- and in my county they've changed the rules about the number of "requests" one can make. Up until a few months ago each patron could request ten books/CDs/DVDs at a time, but that has now been reduced to three! Sigh.

Well, I am going to sign off for a while. I love LT, but I can waste hours of time surfing various threads -- and I promised myself that I would spend time this week in creating an edu-blog for my students and in formalizing my lesson plans (to keep parents and administrators happy). Talk to you in a few days!

posted by RachelfromSarasota at 9:11 am (EST) on Aug 3, 2008

I'm right with you, Starsong, on alerting other readers to books that deserve a negative rating. And unfortunately, on LibraryThing, you can't post a review, either negative or positive, unless you place that title in your catalog. So I have listed books I absolutely loathe on LT, just so I could post my reviews.

I am also having the same problem you are with books that I've read many years ago, some of which I still own, but haven't gotten around to rereading recently. Sometimes I don't remember whether one of those books should have gotten 2, 3 or 4 stars. Five star books I remember, but books that fall into the category of "I didn't love it the first time, but for one reason or another I still want to keep it" or "I didn't even finish it but I think that's more because it was the wrong time of my life to read this" are a challenge when it comes to cataloging them on LT.

I am putting Chapel Noir on hold for a little while. I'll go back to it this weekend and see if I can get back into it then. If not, I'll return it to the library and go back to it when I'm more in the mood for a period piece. Are you enjoying Jasper Fforde? I haven't read any of his stuff yet, and none of his books are in our library system. I ask because my family is going to DragonCon at the end of August, and Mr. Fforde will be there, doing book signings, etc. DragonCon is a huge science fiction/fantasy fan convention held in Atlanta, Georgia every Labor Day weekend. We went for the first time as a family last year and loved it. It was so wonderful to be in the midst of thousands of other sci/fi fans! My daughter said it was like being in the mother ship.

I loved it because there are a number of different things you can do once you've bought your tickets. For die hard fans, there are the actors and writers and authors of various science fiction/fantasy TV shows and books and comics, as well as the opportunity to meet and party with other fans; there are also workshops on costuming, armor, and various other crafts and jewelry making. For me, there are the Space and Science tracks -- which allow me to meet other geeky intellectual-type nerds and listen to talks by NASA and JPL scientists and top writers and speakers in these fields. Last year there was so much to see and do that I didn't get to half of it -- by 9:00 p.m. each night I was so exhausted that I completely missed all the night-time entertainments -- the filk singing, the Green Dragon party, etc.

For folks like me and my adult kids, it is a wonderful chance to physically meet and mingle with kindred spirits and to realize we are not alone! This is the one thing we are going to try to do as a family every few years or so. Atlanta is about 7 to 8 hours away by car, so even though gas prices are sky-high, it's still cheaper than flying four people up there.

I have been taking a class all week on how to get high school students to read for fun. The funny thing is that out of the 6 people in the class, only three of us actually DO read for pleasure -- and one of those three is our instructor. The textbook we are using to learn various strategies for motivating students to read is very good and has a lot of usable suggestions in it -- but the one thing the author stresses over and over and over again is that if teachers themselves don't love to read and read often for pure pleasure, there's no way they'll be able to convince their students to read for fun. And I positively know that three of the class participants haven't read even one book all the way through in years! Sad, very sad. My colleagues think I'm a total freak because not only do I myself love reading and books, but I have personally spent hundreds of ill-spared dollars to buy books for my classroom that I think my students might be interested in reading.

Thank goodness for LT! I may not be able to meet you in the flesh, but at least I know that you and my other on-line friends share my love for the written word!

Talk to you in a few days!
Rachel

posted by RachelfromSarasota at 10:29 pm (EST) on Jul 29, 2008

Just wanted to drop you a line -- we've been out of touch for a few days. I'm finding it hard to get into the other Irene Adler book I got out, Chapel Noir. Don't know why -- I think it's because I have to go back to work soon, and my attention span is more focused on shorter reads right now.

How are things going with you? Hope all is well.

posted by RachelfromSarasota at 10:52 pm (EST) on Jul 27, 2008

Just had to drop you a note telling you how much I am enjoying GOOD NIGHT MR. HOLMES. What a joy it is to read a "historical" which displays not only the author's erudition, but her RESEARCH! I've panned a couple of recent historical novels because the authors did not bother to do this basic groundwork -- they had no idea what people wore or ate or believed in the time period they were dealing with. There's NO excuse for that kind of sloppiness. But by the time I'd finished chapter two of Ms. Douglas' book I was breathing great sighs of relief, and by the end of chapter four I was hooked. Thanks so much for the recommendation! I must say that I do find just a hint of Barbara Peters' Amelia Peabody in the narrative style -- just a hint, mind you. Maybe it's the very personal way Penelope tells Irene's story -- but I am truly enjoying the book and looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

posted by RachelfromSarasota at 11:21 am (EST) on Jul 18, 2008

hi,my name is lindsey(cancer 53) i have read all the helene hanff books and seen the film,its the sort of place i would like to have a look around.

posted by cancer53 at 7:42 pm (EST) on Jul 17, 2008

Good night to you too! I may be off-line for a few days -- I've really let the housework pile up -- and I do mean it's literally in piles! So I've promised myself two days "off" the computer, straightening up and putting away and organizing the piles. But I'll be back in touch by the end of the week. I'm enjoying our conversations.

posted by RachelfromSarasota at 8:18 pm (EST) on Jul 15, 2008

Now, don't get me wrong -- I am a dyed in the wool atheist, and a confirmed skeptic. However. . .though I believe the unknown or supernatural is just that which we have not yet been able to understand, one of my favorite and most hard-headed authors, the late Robert A. Heinlein ("the Dean of Science Fiction") wrote a few paragraphs about the famous Bridey Murphy case -- one of the earliest 20th century examinations of someone who claimed to have "past life" memories. Heinlein believed her. Or at least he believed there was something going on that science had, as yet, no explanation for. Hmmmm.

Another favorite author of mine, Barabara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Mertz, wrote a wonderful little tale called THE SEA KING'S DAUGHTER, in which the protagonist had memories of Troy she could not account for. It's happened not infrequently in human history. So who's to say that you and Sarah were not once. . .united? Not me, that's for sure.

And of course, I'm still very impressed that you can read and enjoy books in any language other than your own. That's more than I can do!

posted by RachelfromSarasota at 4:22 pm (EST) on Jul 15, 2008

Shades of Somewhere in Time! You adore Rupert Brooke! Didn't he write the beautiful poem THE SOLDIER? (Yes, he did. . .I just checked online). That's the one that goes:
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

I love this poem. I was an English literature teacher for about ten years, and I always made sure to teach this poem. Today, as a US history teacher, I have put together a packet of poems both pro- and anti-war. There's THE SOLDIER, above, and "To Lucasta, On Going to the War" and a number of others, ranging from e.e.cummings to Pete Seeger. I give the packet to my students and tell them to pick out one poem that really speaks to them; to figure out what it's message is, and then to perform it for the class in any way (without changing the words) that will enhance its message. I just started this last year and the kids really loved it. Anyway, I don't read much poetry for pleasure, but I do love the above piece.

I am asking my library to get Kylie Fitzpatrick's books -- it shouldn't be a major problem. But it is frustrating that you won't be able to read Cadell or Jack Finney! I think you'd love them.

So what's up with you and Sarah Churchill? None of the books I recommended is set in her time -- though I dimly remember reading a book about Queen Anne of England where Sarah figured prominently. What a character she must have been -- but a real termagant, from what I read. And she certainly dug her own grave politically, didn't she? The DEVIL IN VELVET is set during the reign of Charles II, England's Merry Monarch -- Anne was his niece, and inherited the throne after her own father, James II, was deposed for marrying a Catholic and having a Catholic heir. Charles II died without legitimate issue, his younger brother James II became king briefly, was deposed in The Glorious Revolution of 1680 (?), and James' eldest daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange were "invited" to England to reign; they died without issue and Mary's younger sister Anne and her husband then ruled. And I think that's where the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough come in.

CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE is set in Spain and Mexico during the time of Hernando Cortez's conquest of the Aztec Empire; LORD VANITY is set in the time, I think, of either Regency England or just prior -- but it is a serious historical, not a Regency comedy of manners; and PRINCE OF FOXES (my personal favorite) is set in Renaissance Italy under Alexader Borgia in the papacy and his son Cesare.

I picked up both GOOD NIGHT MR HOLMES and the other Irene Adler mystery by Carole Nelson, CHAPEL NOIR, today -- but I won't be able to dip into them until next week -- I have some books due back that I MUST read first. But I have both books for three weeks, so I have some time. I'll let you know what I think when I've finished them.

Happy Reading!
Rachel

posted by RachelfromSarasota at 8:10 pm (EST) on Jul 14, 2008

Darn, darn, darn! My library system doesn't have either of the Kylie Fitzpatrick books. I looked on her website and read a paragraph from one of her books -- so now I'll have to see if the library can order her books from another county.

However, they DO have GOOD NIGHT MR. HOLMES, and it's still on the shelf -- so I'm off to grab a copy!

One more thing: if you like books that really make you feel like you're back in time, you might want to try John Dickson Carr's THE DEVIL IN VELVET. Whenever I read it (once a year), I feel like I'm part of 17th century London. Ditto for THE PRINCE OF FOXES, CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE and LORD VANITY, all by Samuel Shellabarger.

And there's an early 20th century classic called TO HAVE AND TO HOLD by Mary Johnston about the early settlers in Jamestown, Virginia -- a lovely period love story.

posted by RachelfromSarasota at 9:58 am (EST) on Jul 14, 2008

Dear Starsong:
I was thrilled to get your reply. I will definitely check out the three books you recommended -- I hope my library system has them. They sound terrific.

I haven't yet added my Alistair MacLean books to my LT library. But I do love him, and the early Jack Higgins as well. My favorite Alistair MacLean book is Ice Station Zebra (and I have to confess that I also enjoyed the film of it, starring Patrick McGoohan). Other MacLean favorites are The Golden Rendezvous and Caravan to Vaccares. I enjoyed Puppet on a Chain too, but haven't read it in a few years. Right now I'm "off" MacLean and Higgins -- not because I no longer enjoy their books, but just because I'm not in the mood for real thrillers right now. That sometimes happens to me -- I'll develop a literary craving for a particular author or genre and sit down and read everything I can get my hands on by that author for a few weeks. And then sometimes I don't revisit that author or genre for a few months or years.

Citizen of the Galaxy is one of my favorite Heinlein books, along with Tunnel in the Sky (which I insist is the literary rebuttal to Golding's Lord of the Flies, which was well-written but whose message/theme I hate!). I also love Heinlein's Between Planets. I just acquired an old copy of Podkayne of Mars but haven't been quite in the mood to read it this summer.

I adore books that are written so well that I can close my eyes and feel that I am right there, in that time period. Have you read Time and Again by Jack Finney? Finney was a fantasy/soft s-f writer who wrote some beautiful and poignant short stories about time travel of sorts. Two of his short stories still bring tears to my eyes ("The Love Letter" which was made into a really hokey TV movie by Hallmark; and "Of Missing Persons" which had me looking for obscure travel bureaus in every city I passed through!). Time and Again has a terrific premise, which I swear almost happened to me a very, very long time ago.

Anyway, good luck with finding the Cadell books -- I would love to know what you think of them.

posted by RachelfromSarasota at 11:38 am (EST) on Jul 13, 2008

Dear Starsong: I just read your comment on kcasada's profile and wanted to draw your attention to the romances written by Elizabeth Cadell. I'm not interested in graphic sex scenes myself (I don't consider it a spectator sport, actually), but the real reason I love Cadell's books are their heroines, who may be career women but really want to be wives and mothers. I find it hard to describe Cadell's books without making them sound sappy -- but her very best ones, IMHO, are THE FRIENDLY AIR, THE TOY SWORD, THE GOLDEN COLLAR, and CANARY YELLOW. Happy reading!
RachelfromSarasota

posted by RachelfromSarasota at 11:26 am (EST) on Jun 18, 2008

I live closer to the mountains than Charlotte. It's about an hour and a half away.
Battle of the Books is a competition where you read books from a list of 27 and answer questions on them as a team (for instance, In which book does a character break his ankle? Singer of All Songs by Kate Constable). It's pretty much only in North Carolina, though I've heard of other states having it, too.

posted by SusieBookworm at 12:09 pm (EST) on Mar 1, 2008

Hi I just popped over from kscada's profile. I like romance too, but it is hard to find non graphic ones nowadays. If you like Regency setting though, Georgette Heyer is really good. She wrote in the 20's thru 70's so they don't really have a lot of graphic detail, and most of them are really sweet, plus her historical accuracy is pretty amazing. Harlequin reprinted a lot of them recently so you should be able to find them fairly easily too.

posted by sydaisy at 4:53 pm (EST) on Feb 7, 2008

Hej Charlotte!
Nej, jag är junte din Annika - Stocksund ligger milsvitt (usch, vilket konstigt ord det blev!) från Skepptuna. Nej, det stämmer förståss inte, några mil är det nog bara.Jag bor inte så långt från det vi kallar härute "fjärde landningsbanan" vid Arlanda (Gottröra-flygkraschen). Jag har, dessvärre, ingen Labrador längre (hade det utomlands) men istället rusar det omkring två galna Jack Russell Terriers, varav en fyllde 15 i tisdags.
Har du helt tappat kontakten med din Annika? Det är ju lite sorgligt, men har du provat med Stay-Friends? Jag gick de första tre åren i skola här i Sverige men sedan flyttade jag ju ut och har med hjälp av Classmates och Stay-Friends lyckats hitta lite folk från förr, både här i Svedala och ute i världen.
Ha det bra.
Ej din Annika

posted by Daffobint at 10:37 am (EST) on Dec 7, 2007

Hej Charlotte (Margareta)!
Nu får du specificera dig. Du har gjort mig jättenyfiken! Vem är du och vem är då jag? Hahaha, det låter filosofiskt så det förslår! Bor din barndomskamrat här i Skepptuna? Det är, som du ju då borde veta, ute på landet. Och jag har aldrig i mitt liv förr träffat på så många som heter Annika! Alla möjliga stavningar och kören jag sjunger i fanns det som mest 3(!) Annikor. Och min mamma som tyckte det var så exotiskt och ovanligt anno dazumal...!
Heter du Charlotte och varför står Margareta inom parenteser?
Med risk för att låta som en 70-tals brevvän från Kamratposten: Skriv svar snart!
Until then,
Annika

posted by Daffobint at 8:54 am (EST) on Nov 27, 2007

Ja, LibraryThing är minst sagt beroendeframkallande... Jag har en del av barnböckerna kvar att katalogisera, annars börjar jag nog bli klar. Har upptäckt en massa dubletter medan jag höll på, så det hela har även bidragit till en viss utrensning.

Ha det så gott!

posted by Planckskonstant at 3:27 am (EST) on Nov 21, 2007

Thanks for your wonderful note! it'll be a little bit before I can reply to it with the detail it deserves, though. Meanwhile, try my friend Cara Colter's older romances, "A Bride Worth Waiting For," "Baby in Blue," and "Husband in Red." Sorry if this appears twice; my computer is unhappy!

posted by kcasada at 8:29 am (EST) on Nov 19, 2007

Thanks for your wonderful note! it'll be a little bit before I can reply to it with the detail it deserves, though. Meanwhile, try my friend Cara Colter's older romances, "A Bride Worth Waiting For," "Baby in Blue," and "Husband in Red."

posted by kcasada at 8:27 am (EST) on Nov 19, 2007