I just finished Painter of Battles.Wow. What I love is the extraordinary skill and power of the writing.I love to read almost any topic..what I admire is good writing.This author has written about such diverse topics. This book is about a war photo journalist turned painter who is confronted by one of his subjects. But there is so much knowledge, for instance, in the book about war and paintings--good grief...an entire new subject to explore.
I thoroughly enjoyed the love story piece in the book..he has unusual insight into women..his characters are quite
believeable.
DO try it and let me know what you think....
Peggy in Denver CO

posted by mtnmamma at 7:57 am (EST) on Jul 25, 2008

I lied....I need another thing....
have you--or any of your pals....heard of
The Book of Counted Sorrows?
I don't know if it is real, a book, a book of poems,
it is quoted in a murder series I read---
fantastic quotes....but I've never been able to find out if it is an actual book.
Thanks

posted by mtnmamma at 9:15 am (EST) on Jul 19, 2008

One other thing.....what did you think of "No country for Old Men".?
I also love movies and I thought that was one of the strangest ones I have seen...........
Do tell....

posted by mtnmamma at 8:12 am (EST) on Jul 19, 2008

Hi There, I'm back........but I bet no one knew I was missing. How did it get to be July? I'll jump right in. It's distressing to read the teacher's comments. Both my Mother and sister were teachers and I remember their struggles. I worry about my Grandchildren. I have been reading Arturo Perez=Reverte-The Painter of Battles. He is an extraordinary writer. I read so much that I LOVE to find a new, GOOD writer. And he writes about such interesting, different topics. I started with The Flanders Panel. DO give this author a try. I am from N Florida but now have chosen the West.

posted by mtnmamma at 7:22 am (EST) on Jul 18, 2008

Beth: An important note. When I posted the comment on how to do it, the HTML for the Bolds went away. I just tried copying the link and posting it, and the bolds are gone. This is good, actually, so now you can ignore the part that doesn't make sense in paragraph 3. You still need to delete the four (spaceMMMspace), but that's all you need to do now.

Also, when you copy the link, the URL for the image location will start with http:// and end with three ellipses ... You will need to replace everything from http through the ellipses, leaving the quotation marks at the beginning and the end.

I hope this makes sense!

posted by Talbin at 12:19 pm (EST) on Jul 3, 2008

Beth: I'm no expert in HTML - I figured out how to post covers with links by following the directions from Noisy's profile. Looking at his page, he's chosen to do something different, which is too bad because his instructions were better than mine will be! You can also look here to learn more. The big difference is now there are editions, so there where GreyHead shows "work=123455", now you need "work=1234556&book=654321".

Okay - here goes. No promises, but hopefully between these instructions, Noisy and GreyHead, you'll get it figured out!

On your Profile page, open the Edit Profile link. Go to either About Me or About My Library and copy the almost-working-link below into a blank area. Once copied, delete the (spaceMMMspace) - that is, delete the three MMM's and the space directly in front and directly behind the M's (I added these so that the HTML shows up here as text). Then delete the two ()'s and the two ()'s (I added the bolds to show you what needs to be replaced). Unfortunately, LT now truncates links in comments, so the stuff that is blue bold doesn't show all the way here in the comment. However, I'm pretty sure that it will work when you copy in your full link (instructions below).

< MMM a href="/catalog.php?work=45161&book=20076527" MMM >< MMM img style="height:120px; border:1px solid black;" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/034546..."/ MMM >

Now, open another window or tab and go to the LT book page for the book you want. In the URL for the book you want, copy the the stuff after "work=" (in my comment it's bolded and says "45151&book=20076527") and replace my text with the text you copied into the profile edit page.

Next, go back to the book page and right-click on the book image. Choose Copy Image Location. Then go back to the edit profile page and replace my text with the link you just copied (blue bold link in the example - should be between quotation marks - starts with http:// and ends with .jpg).

Now try saving your profile page edits to see if if worked. Try clicking on your image and hopefully it takes you to the book page (fingers crossed!).

If it worked, you can add more. If you want your covers to show horizontally on your profile page, then go back into Edit Your Profile Page, copy your brand new link, go to the end of the link and hit Space once, then paste the link in. Replace the two things that need to be replaced, save the page, and see if it worked.

If you want your covers to show vertically, then after your new link hit Enter then copy the link and make the edits.

Good luck - please let me know if it worked!!

posted by Talbin at 12:13 pm (EST) on Jul 3, 2008

About our lack of shared books -- I am only S-L-O-W-L-Y adding all the books I own (much less those I've read) to my library catalog. I checked out your drama section and I wanted to let you know I've read most of Shakespeare's plays (though, granted, I read some of them last about 12 years ago -- besides, I prefer to see Shakespeare in performance), most of Tennessee Williams, and both my kids performed in Anouilh's Antigone a few years ago. Have you ever read or seen THE LION IN WINTER? Katherine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole (not to mention Anthony Hopkins) give some of the most terrific performances I've ever seen in the movie based on the play. And of course I've read Sophocles and Euripides (I was lucky enough to study these about 13 years ago with a master classics teacher -- great stuff), as well as some of Plautus' comedies. I've read and seen some good Arthur Miller, not just DEATH OF A SALESMAN, and Eugene O'Neill. However, those all those works are either on my classroom shelves or packed away in my storage unit (otherwise known as my garage), I will probably not get around to adding them to my library for quite a while yet -- I'm more anxious to add the books that I read and love, and reread often. Alas, I have so many books, and the library is just a few miles away -- I am just slothful enough to want to spend my off-hours reading, rather than cataloging.

Anyway, have a happy 4th! I'm volunteering at our city's fireworks display all day -- since two of my kids are grown and out of the house, and my 3rd adult daughter (who still lives with me) is working that night, I figured I might as well do something useful with my day. I just hope I can get back home in time to be with my dogs when the fireworks start -- they get frightened of fireworks and thunderstorms, both of which we have in abundance in this area.

posted by RachelfromSarasota at 7:54 pm (EST) on Jul 2, 2008

So far my summer's going very well. I am active in a community service group here in Florida: CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) and I've signed up to learn how to manage an emergency shelter and improve my emergency first aid skills with the Red Cross. Living in hurricane country (Charley missed my neighborhood by only a few miles), I want to be prepared to help my family and my neighbors. So I've been kept busy with that stuff since school let out in early June.

I'm also taking another class in helping kids to read. This one is not on-line, but, thank goodness, face-to-face. Of course, the real problem is NOT in the teachers nor even in the curricular materials, but in our a-literate society (as both political historian/philosopher Susan Jacoby and reading specialist Sharon Kane have noted). I'm reading Jacoby's latest book THE AGE OF AMERICAN UNREASON and it's making me as depressed as hell!

I'm glad you liked my remarks to geneg on education. Almost every caring teacher, as you've pointed out, knows WHAT the problem is -- but we are so strait-jacketed into a fairly rigid system that we are practically helpless to change it. I have absolutely decided that I'm going to work independent reading into my curriculum on a formal basis this year. But how I'll make kids truly accountable for their reading is a matter I haven't quite figured out. And of course, so much depends, not on a red wheelbarrow sitting in the rain, but on the kids themselves. I have had classes where even struggling readers were anxious to read; and classes where fairly fluent readers would do anything to get out of reading. I've been mulling things over in my mind -- but I have to hope that the class I'll be starting in 2 weeks can give me some practical advice.

We got our textbook for the course last week, and I've been skimming through it. So far, I'm not terribly impressed, b/c the author seems to feel that teachers should make sure they have accessible and attractive texts in their rooms, and she seems to place a heavy reliance on using fiction in the content-areas.

This is a problem for me. I have spent hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars over the past ten years in buying both young adult fiction and "grabby" and exciting nonfiction in the areas of history, English, and science. But I don't have ANY class sets of interesting books, which Sharon Kane (the author of the textbook on Reading in the Content Areas) seems to feel is vital. And down here, our schools have taken an enormous budget hit this year -- none of us are even getting step increases, in an effort to keep everyone working. There's no way, unless I get a grant, that I'll be able to acquire new (or even used) classroom materials. So I'm going to dig up the teaching material I was introduced to over the winter, in the last reading class I took, and see how I can actually use it this year in my classroom.

I have one great advantage going into this term. Every classroom in my school got six new computers last spring -- hooked up to the Internet. So I will be able to have kids break up into groups to do hands-on research right in the classroom. And I do have three class sets of history textbooks -- so I can work out something with those. I've found that my kids at SMA do well working on their own or in small study groups, and then presenting their findings to the rest of the class. This year I'm adding a wrinkle to these groups. Each group will have to make up a term list, a study sheet, and a test. I'll have the kids turn these into me a week BEFORE they do their class presentations, and I'll check them for accuracy. That way, the other students will have a grade incentive to pay attention to the other group's presentations -- which can otherwise be all too easy to slough off.

Have you checked out my own website yet? I'd love to hear your opinion on it. It's still a work in progress, though -- just keep that in mind!

What are you doing with your summer?

posted by RachelfromSarasota at 7:45 pm (EST) on Jul 2, 2008

i am absolutely loving the dorothy parker! it is [reventing me from doing my work actually. :) i sent you a friend request since we have 300 books in common. if you read anything else fantastic, feel free to share the love!

posted by amanaceerdh at 11:53 am (EST) on Jun 26, 2008

Thanks for the lengthier post! I love reading messages that are more than just a sentence or two in length (it reinforces my feeling of connectedness to a real person out there in cyberspace).

I'm still trying to figure out how I can lend out books to kids and not lose $$. I have kids & parents sign a borrower's agreement that they'll replace any lost or damaged book the student borrows; but neither of the schools I worked out has any way of enforcing this. One school, frankly, didn't even try to help me get back my books. And my current school, though wonderful in many ways, is not even legally allowed to withhold grades or new textbooks from kids even if they've lost every other book they were assigned (and some kids apparently owe over $100 just for lost textbooks).

Right now I have a policy that none of my books leave my classroom. But part of me feels I'm just being niggardly with my books -- and that's not a great feeling.

I'm having a problem accessing your web site. My computer is fairly new, but I'm having a dickens of a time installing the plug-ins I apparently need to read your stuff. Frustrating! My son might stop in tomorrow on his way home (he lives about 3 1/2 hours away from me) to see what he can do to help me with these downloads.

I get my best ideas from other teachers -- I've been known to prowl through the recycling bin in our copy room, just to see what ideas I can glean. And I'm just as open to letting other teachers use my stuff.

Speaking of which: my school's website is www.sarasotamilitaryacademy.com -- I'm sorry but I haven't figured out how to put the link right onto my posts. Anyway, once you get to the school's opening page, go to Departments (at the top of the Welcome page) and then Social Sciences, and then me -- Captain Wasserman (my title is purely honorary). I have a wealth of stuff on my pages (including a 3 year old pic of me which I'll have to update this year) -- feel free to take and tweak anything you like. I'd be interested in your comments on my pages.

Well, it's late, but I've missed my sleep window tonight. It's funny -- during the year I have to get up so darned early (up by 5:30 a.m. so I can feed the dogs & cat and make the l-o-n-g commute to SMA) and I stay at school usually until 4:00 -- so that I'm always ready for bed by 9 at the latest. But it's summer time, and the living is easy, so I've been doing very little this June (other than volunteering for CERT) and my schedule is really out of whack.

Oh, about the Tovani book -- if there's any way you can skim through it, I urge you to do so -- she has some really good ideas to help kids understand and remember what they read. I used her sticky note strategy a great deal with my struggling 9th graders. And if you are at all interested in other tips for helping low level (the new p.c. term is "emergent readers" -- bah!) readers with comprehension issues, I just took a 14 week class through the University of Central Florida on Foundations of Reading, and I did garner some really good ideas that high school and middle school teachers can use. Just let me know -- I actually have the tips on a Word document if you want me to send them to you. Just a thought.

Hope your summer is going well.
Rachel

posted by RachelfromSarasota at 12:32 am (EST) on Jun 25, 2008

Thanks for the suggestion about the book guide for teens. Do you allow your students to read magazines? Like many social studies teachers, I have a few boxes of National Geographics in my room, and I'm hoping to get a classroom subscription to THE WEEK going. I have also brought in lots of collections of short stories, mostly vampire/horror and I'm hoping to get kids who find the thought of a lengthy book daunting to dip into those.

What's your take on graphic novels? One of my best and brightest students loves them. Most of my students are more interested in nonfiction, which is fine with me -- as long as they're reading, I don't much care what they read. We need to build the addiction slowly. So I have some great books on war and weapons with terrific pictorials and shorter texts.

One more thing (you can tell how excited I am about chatting with another teacher, can't you?): do you allow kids to "borrow" your own books? I did that in when I taught 9th grade English, for a few years, and I really took a beating financially. While the school allowed me to send out a form for parents to sign requiring lost books to be replaced, the school refused to enforce the policy --and while I should be happy in assuming that my unreturned books were kept b/c kids love to read them, I'm afraid I'm not so sanguine.

So, unfortunately, I instituted a policy that Captain Wasserman's books remain in her room (which is open to kids, by the way, from 7:00 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon, including our lunch period).

posted by RachelfromSarasota at 7:01 pm (EST) on Jun 20, 2008

Ok. Found you again. I would like to converse with you. Do I go to MY page to look for other people's comments to me? And, can I post on my page to you?
Are there instructions anywhere that I didn't see?
Peggy

posted by mtnmamma at 8:03 am (EST) on May 13, 2008

I've noticed you on my "Members with your books" feature lately--you are quite high on my weighted list. Guess I should make it official--your library is interesting to me! :)

posted by Medellia12 at 9:48 pm (EST) on May 5, 2008

Thanks for you words of encouragement. I haven't given up on the Wind-up Bird and have only about 150 pages to go. It is becoming more compelling now and I am expecting it to finish with more oomph than it started. I really enjoy Murakami's writing style, and will attempt more of his in the future.

posted by judylou at 9:43 pm (EST) on Apr 17, 2008

Thanks for the comment. I have asked that same question about "failed" relationships.
I noticed you have almost 200 books tagged 1001. Some people are trying to add them all to their libraries. Are you doing the same? I know there are several that are next to impossible to find...

posted by perlle at 10:32 am (EST) on Apr 10, 2008

Nice sharing with me. 20 books. jamclash

posted by jamclash at 7:10 pm (EST) on Apr 5, 2008

Hi emaestra

Sure, no problem. You can find the music map on:

http://www.music-map.com/

Have fun! ^^

posted by Vonini at 3:21 pm (EST) on Apr 3, 2008

After looking at your list I think you would really enjoy [Bookseller in Kabul] very intersting read. My husband bought me [A thousand Splendid Suns] and [Kite Runner] so I am anxious to get reading both of them. I am currently reading [Three Cups of Tea] and enjoying it very much.

posted by investory at 9:35 am (EST) on Mar 30, 2008

Oh yes, Found Magazine is terribly dangerous. Great when you're at the dayjob, but terrible when you have real work to do! I love found objects. Some friends are doing a theatre piece using found materials, and I'm helping them to bring a version from San Francisco, where they live, to Chicago, where I live.

posted by margaretplays at 2:27 pm (EST) on Feb 28, 2008

Good Morning..Thank you for trying to help me. I just now found your note. Obviously, I'm having trouble navigating this site. As in, I now do not know where your comments to me are located...or if this is the place to answer YOU. SIGH.

I just want to go to my groups and talk(listen--read)about books. As usual, the web has too MUCH stuff...this site included.
It's too much to wade thru.
So if I can find you again, perhaps we can chat about books...
Thank you again.
AND it doesn't help that I have a new computer that I am learning.

posted by mtnmamma at 10:20 am (EST) on Jan 17, 2008

I haven't upgraded. I thought about it after I bought a laptop and thought I might use the synch feature. Instead, I just loaded the free version on my laptop and copied the database to an external hard drive. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

posted by jeanned at 1:46 am (EST) on Oct 26, 2007

I read Anna Karenina when I was in my forties. Now that I am nearing sixty perhaps I should do a re-read as you suggest and then go on to War and Peace. I recall that I did like "Anna" a great deal.
Have you read Saturday? This is my first read with this novelist and I am finding that while I love his prose and descriptive talents, I am unable to put it all together with the "storyline". I just cannot wrap my brain around it. I wonder if he writes poetry. I think it would be a good match for him. Everyone else out there seems to love this book. I am going back to Shreve, Radish, Quindlen, and Kidd with a classic thrown in now and then for kicks.
Thanx for the suggestion.

posted by nannybebette at 12:47 pm (EST) on Sep 15, 2007

I’d love to give you some other suggestions, but unfortunately the only other Amis book I’ve ever tried I couldn’t even bring myself to finish. London Fields was so slow and seemed so very pointless that I sold it within a few weeks of buying it. I have The Information and collection of his essays, but haven’t gotten around to reading either yet. I have a few of Martin’s father’s books which are supposed to be quite good, but I haven’t read any of those yet either…

I will say that if haven’t read anything by Nick Hornsby I highly recommend him. I say this because I have read critics who compare the two writers and I would say that there definitely are some close ties to the Rachel Papers and several of Hornsby’s books. (Hornsby’s humor is about a 100 times funnier. At least I think so.)

posted by inkdrinker at 10:24 am (EST) on Sep 15, 2007

Thanks - I will try Heaney. I've learned reading these to kids that an awful lot of epics really are better read out loud; there is drama to them, and the poetry really comes out, so reading them aloud really isn't just for the kids! But, as long as I have a captive audience...

It must be great fun to teach; somewhere, I came across a web site that had recordings of Beowulf in the original that were really interesting, and gave a great idea of the sounds of the original poetry. I'll try to find that if you haven't come across it - I think it would be great for students studying the book.

posted by A_musing at 9:31 pm (EST) on Sep 3, 2007

Thanks for your comment about Half of a Yellow Sun. I'll keep going for a bit yet, to give it a fair chance (I'm about 130 pages in), but if it doesn't pick up, I will be putting it down. I think my main problem is Adichie's style of writing - I didn't enjoy Purple Hibiscus and felt I had completely wasted my time persevering with that particular book (I must have missed the point, as I thought it was pretty pointless). I've got till Tuesday when the group will be discussing it, and if I haven't finished it by then, I know I never will...

posted by Kell_Smurthwaite at 5:25 pm (EST) on Aug 25, 2007

I'll fill you in on a secret: my life is pretty incredibly boring. I just have a knack for making it sound fascinating to others. It's a rare talent.

Honestly, I was mostly kidding when I went on that tirade. My friend suggested I 'engage' the readers. In retrospect, I think I came across as psychotic. I appreciate anyone reading my little ramblings!

posted by ellevee at 6:25 pm (EST) on Aug 14, 2007

Hi emaestra,
I'm not big on ratings, sorry. There are a very small number of books that I think are awful to the point of unreadability, and everything else is kind of down to taste. If you have specific likes/dislikes then I can give general recommendations, or if you want to ask about specific books I would be happy to tell you what I thought, but I want to avoid ratings for the time being.
Cheers,
Andy

posted by depressaholic at 6:40 pm (EST) on Aug 13, 2007

I see we have plenty of books in common - including some of Maugham's works, which is always nice to see. Plus, War and Peace! Go team!

posted by soylentgreen23 at 2:48 pm (EST) on Jul 29, 2007

In a post about organizing your books, you said that you separate classics and fiction? How do you define classic as opposed to fiction?

really, its pretty arbitrary, and based on my own feelings about a novel's literary value. the bookshelf in my bedroom is where i keep me "other fiction" stuff, and it's mostly comprised of science fiction and fantasy series, with a few other random books thrown in. because all my other bookshelves are out in the living room & dining room of my apartment, i guess the question i keep in mind is, "is it important to me that this book be one that is showcased in plain sight to guests?" of course, what i consider to be of "great literary value" and what others do is bound to vary, but it's my library, so my opinion matters most of all. *shrug*

posted by philosojerk at 10:28 am (EST) on Jul 26, 2007

I saw your comment that you finished Rant. After I finished it I kinda shook my head in puzzlement and thought, good grief Chuck, you can do better than this. If you haven't read Crash by J. G. Ballard, it's worth checking out. It shows what can be done with the car crash fetish and is one reason I wasn't impressed with Rant. Hope you find a really good read in the near future to make up for Rant.

posted by VisibleGhost at 4:45 pm (EST) on Jul 18, 2007