It's that time. What books were in that big bundle you dragged into the house today?
the quicki A novel by James Patterson about a policewoman who's hubby cheats on her so she retaliates by having sex with a man & sees a crime committed.
>3: Cariola ... you temptress. It never occurred to me to search PBS for Viragos!
* scurries off to burn some book credits... *
#4 lindsacl, sorry, but you won't find many! I ordered about 18 over the Thanksgiving break. They were ribbing me about it over on the Virago thread. :)
>5: Cariola ... I snagged two, and wishlisted several!
I took the kids to Half Price Books and got a few for myself.
The Blood of Flowers was discussed here on LT and sounded interesting. I've had my eye on
Critical Encounters in High School English for a while but didn't want to pay full price (score!). I also got an old paperback copy of
The Graduate, just for curiosity's sake.
Message edited by its author, Dec 3, 2007, 9:23pm.
This message has been deleted by its author.
#12 Georgia_Dawn Those books sales are the best...especially when they are so unexpected. I'm just so excited about the books I have to read and yet I feel like I'm still missing some great ones. LOL
This is probably a stupid question, but does "PBS" stand for something - all I can think of is Public Broadcasting System, and I know that cannot be correct. A website would be appreciated! Thanks . . .
Paperback Swap. And NOT a stupid question -- you wouldn't believe how much time I spent on the Public B'cast System website looking for good book deals!! LOL.
#10 raggedtig you made out good! About the only thing I could buy in NZ for $1 is some gum lol!
#19 teelgee - Thank you for the help!
Dead and Unburied by Felix Bogarte. At last I have all of the Dead Detective books, and never paid more than £1 for any of them !
I received in the mail from Bookmooch:
A Burnt-out Case by Graham Greene (today,Dec.4)
and yesterday:
My Other Life by Paul Theroux
Jungle Lovers by Paul Theroux
Snow by Orhan Pamuk
The post office just delivered my early Christmas present order from Chapters-Indigo.ca:
- An annotated edition of
The Waves- The Virginia Woolf Writers' Workshop: Seven Lessons to Inspire Great Writing (hardback with a really pretty cover), by
Danell Jones, and
- The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to Virginia Woolf, by
Sarah M. HallDoes anyone see a trend? :-)
I didn't know what Virago was (see postings above)- but as I was posting my message above I looked at the copy of
Rebecca - it's a "Virago Modern Classic''!
Oh dihiba -- you just caused a whole bunch of LTers to go apoplectic.
Okay, I'm really revealing my idiocy here, but what makes Virago book so desirable? (Note this question is posed out of ignorance, not as a challenge of tastes!)
#30 - Why?
I don't want to make anyone apoplectic!!!!
I got four Viragos in today's mail:
Mr. Skeffington by Elizabeth von Armin
The Vet's Daughter by Barbara Comyns
The Men's Room by
Ann OakleyGone to Earth by
Mary Webb#31 Many of the Viragos are out of print and hard to come by. The press was established in the 1980s to publish affordable editions of works written for, about, and primarly by women in the 17th through 20th centuries (and now the 21st). Many of them could be described as "lost" or "underrated" classics. But they vary greatly in style, genre, and content.
cariola, you've restored my very heart!
Dear dihiba, no worry. Just jump on over to
Virago Modern Classics and join in the fun!
edited to fix link...
Message edited by its author, Dec 5, 2007, 6:38pm.
#28 dihiba - I just recently listened to a couple of Ngaio Marsh's books on audiotape and the narrator pronounced her name Ni (long i sound) - o (long o sound). Hope this helps.
Thanks! Certainly not what I would have guessed it to be : )
#33 Cariola: Thanks for the clarification - now I'm really resisting the urge to start another list of things I need to collect!
Received Charlotte Bronte's
Villette from a BookMoocher in Greece the other day, and Patricia McKillip's
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld from PBS. I also stopped at a thrift store and found Kostova's
The Historian and some other books I had been wanting.
*sighs happily*
Picked up a couple at the library today:
The Quiet American by Graham Greene and also
The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva.
I also received a package today from the Strand Bookstore with a copy of the final book in the WWI series by Anne Perry,
We Shall Not Sleep.
I didn't just buy books for myself today! Though I couldn't buy presents at the discount bookshop, where I got:
At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf and other plays by Ntozake Shange, cos my drama teacher stole my copy about 9 years ago...
The Periodic Table by
Primo LeviA replacement copy of
Heart of Darkness, cos I just appear to have lost that.
The Way We Live Now cos I've seen several people raving about Anthony Trollope so I quite fancy getting in on the fun!
Excitingly, I also bought myself two Christmas presents: the new
War and Peace translation in a lovely pretty nice edition. Nice books make me happy! And also
Wordsworth and Coleridge, which I think I may have been sold on by the fact that the two maps at the front of the book are the two parts of England I love the most. I was wavering before that, but afterwards I had to! I did also buy Christmas presents for other people, though I can't possibly comment on them here.... though the possibilities of either my Dad or hubby wandering around checking my posts on LT are pretty remote!
Message edited by its author, Dec 7, 2007, 12:33pm.
>46 Nickelini: Re: Shakespeare plays - If you can, read them out loud. You'll get the rhythm of the language much better than if you read silently.
#46 I teach Shakespeare. That's an unusual list. I'll be teaching
Twelfth Night and
The Winter's Tale next semester and just finished teaching
King Lear. Here are some tips I hand out on reading plays:
How to Read a Play
1. Always read the introduction. It may provide a plot synopsis, insights into characters and themes, or information about the playwright or his audience.
2. Be prepared to use your imagination--visualize and hear what you read. It may be helpful to create an imaginary cast of actors with whom you are familiar and ‘play the movie’ in your head as you read.
3. Pay attention to the list of characters and any information or description the playwright has provided.
4. Pay attention to gestures, movements, costumes, and props specified in stage directions which are usually bracketed and italicized, like this or implied in dialogue.
5. Keep in mind the kind of theater and the audience for which the play was written.
6. If the playwright describes the locale and furnishings, try to visualize the set.
7. Pay attention to notes on the lighting.
8. Pay attention to any sound effects specified in the dialogue or stage directions.
9. Be aware of silences, including pauses within speeches and between speeches.
10. Pay attention to dialogue, but remember that characters--like people in real life--can’t always be trusted. Sometimes they are deceitful; sometimes they say what they honestly think but are mistaken.
Some Additional Tips for Reading Shakespeare
Although Shakespeare wrote in modern English (NOT Old or Middle English), his language can be difficult for student readers. Have faith! Like any “foreign” language, the more Shakespeare you read, the easier it will become to understand. Here are a few tips for getting started.
Read a scene straight through, without stopping to look up unfamiliar words. Many of these words are defined in footnotes in our text, but you can figure out most of them on your own by reading them in context. Stopping to look them up disrupts your train of thought and slows down your reading process. Check the footnotes after you’ve finished reading the scene.
Don’t get hung up by the verse. Shakespeare’s most common meter is iambic pentameter--the most common meter in our own everyday speech. Instead of focusing on the fact that most of the words are set into poetic lines, let the rhythm and punctuation guide your reading. Don’t stop at the end of a line unless there is punctuation there. Pause briefly when you see a comma; pause a little longer when you see a colon or semicolon and longer still when you come to a period. Try reading out loud--your breath, the sounds of the words themselves, and the rhythm of the lines will help you.
While you should never use study guides (like Cliff’s Notes) as a substitute for the original text, they can be helpful accompanying tools. Some students prefer to read a scene summary before tackling it in Shakespeare’s language; others “check” their own reading afterwards. But be careful! At worst, these guides often contain substantial errors; at best, they limit possible interpretations and distort the power of the original language. Remember that teachers have access to them, too; most of us routinely check “suspicious” student work against Cliff’s Notes and web sites. Don’t rely solely on films and videotapes either. While they can help us understand what’s going on, they offer only one director’s interpretation of a play and often cut, add, rewrite, or rearrange lines and scenes.
Keep a pencil and paper beside you as you read. Jot down questions, notes on characters, things that interest or confuse you, ideas that might be explored further in class discussion or in a paper. If you don’t understand something, don’t hesitate to ask the instructor to explain.
#46 Reading aloud does help--better yet if you can get a group of people together to read the various parts.
#42 Borders got me today as well. I came home with
Nigella Express--another cookbook I really didn't need but couldn't resist.
After waiting a whole month, my Amazon package came:
Candide by
VoltaireThe Misanthrope by Moliere
Vertigo by W.G. Sebald
Top 10 Copenhagen (Guess where we're going for Christmas?).
And on top of this, we got two large Amazon parcels that have gifts from the family inside. The suspense is killing me!
#50- Cariola
Wow! Spectacular tips. Thanks a lot. I'm printing it out now. Very much appreciated.
I've ordered a few Virago Modern Classics from Paperbackswap, and the first arrived today:
The Ladies of Lyndon, by Margaret Kennedy (poor woman, no touchstone!)
#50 Cariola: Wow - That's a wonderful way to describe how to read drama, of any kind! Mind if I steal some of your tips for my Classical Lit. classes?
I got 28 books at a Library book sale this week..I even got some cutesy chit lit...(3) ha ha
#50 scaifea, be my guest!
#50- I teach Shakespeare. That's an unusual list. I'll be teaching Twelfth Night and The Winter's Tale next semester and just finished teaching King Lear.
------------------
Hi, again Cariola
The course is a third-year university class titled "Late Shakespeare". There is another class called "Early Shakespeare." The course description says that we're reading two tragedies, two comedies and two romances. My ten-year old daughter and I had a fun time trying to categorize the books based on the cover illustrations. The woman on the cover of
Measure for Measure was so extremely ugly, we couldn't see how the book could be either comedy or romance, and that it must really be a tragedy :-)
#64 Oh, I love Measure for Measure, but it has never been too popular with my students. It's a tough one to categorize--usually considered a comedy because there is a marriage at the end, but see how you feel about it . . . More often it's called a "problem play" because it doesn't fit neatly anywhere.
You listed five plays; what's the sixth one?
I love teaching the late plays. It's so obvious that Shakespeare is thinking about going home to Stratford to be with his daughters. You'll find that King Lear, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest are all about daughters who "redeem" their fathers in one way or another.
We just offer one Shakespeare course, so I try to span the years. They will start with Titus Andronicus and end this time with the Winter's Tale.
#65 Cariola: When I took a Shakespeare class in college, the Prof (one of the best I ever took a class from), on the day he lectured on A Winter's Tale, had his wife dress up in a bear suit and, about 15 minutes before the end of the class period, she ran in and chased him out of the classroom. He didn't come back (that day) and never explained it to the class - I only found out because I had an appointment with him in his office hours later that day and the bear suit was draped over a chair in his office. It was fantastic!
I took Shakespeare in college and still have my Riverside Shakespeare. I enjoy looking back at my marginalia, written in purple ink, and the dried rosebuds from my old college boyfriends that I tucked in between the pages of my favorite plays (including The Winter's Tale).
No professor's wives in bear suits, though. =)
#65- You listed five plays; what's the sixth one?
-------
Ooops! Hamlet, one of the biggies.
#58: Kaelirenee,
All Cats have Asperger syndrome
------------
That's an interesting title. It sounds like a humorous book. Is it?
#68 I was just curious. I will be teaching these plays next semester:
Titus Andronicus
Henry V
A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Merchant of Venice
Twelfth Night
Macbeth
The Winter's Tale
I change a few of them every semester and try to mix up the unfamiliar with the familiar (done more in depth than they probably had in high school). I just finidhed Pericles last week.
#66 Where can I find Rent-a-Bear?
Books that I obtained today (gift and book order from Daedalus):
Musicophilia : Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks
War and Peace - the new translation
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.
Need to do some weight training before I tackle the last two - they weigh a ton!
teelgee: I know what you mean - I'm getting the new War and Peace in hardback for Christmas and I feel like I'm going to have to engineer some cunning book supporting solution if I'm going to be able to read it in bed (reading place of choice)!
I have so far received Mooches
Russian Disco -
Wladimir Kaminer ; I requested this after visiting Berlin in October
and Oxygen- Andrew Miller; this was recommended to me by Amazon.
*bringing up the 'wrong' touchstone for Oxygen :P
Message edited by its author, Dec 10, 2007, 7:14am.
#70 Cariola: Well, I took the class as an undergrad at Indiana University, but I think the prof has since retired (ugh, I'm getting old!). If I had a bear costume and lived nearby, I'd love to help you out - it was such a great idea, since you could tell that some people hadn't read the play and were completely confused, but those of us who had completed the reading assignment (oh, I was *such* a good student :)) were taken aback at first, but then laughed for a good long while!
#75 wisewoman, be my guest--glad they were helpful!
Got in an audiobook today:
The Golden One by Elizabeth Peters. I am currently re-listening to the entire series, and did not have that one. Just an early Christmas present from me to me.
Apparently the book I bought off of Half.com has been here longer than a week, waiting in the office, only the postman never left me a notice!
Anyway,
The Constitution of Liberty by F.A. Hayek arrived, and I'm a bit disappointed because the seller listed it as a "brand new book," but it is actually yellowed with water stains on the cover. *sigh* unfortunately I can't wait long enough to send it back and get a replacement copy.
>76 lindsacl
Do you know last year I was buying 3-4-2 paperbacks as Xmas presents and allowed myself
We need to talk about Kevin as a treat- which I still haven't read !
so many books, so little time ...
#69-
All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome isn't really a funny book. It's a picture book written to explain the symptoms of Asperger Syndrome. Cats are the subject of every picture. I think I'm one of the few people who just keeps buying copies of it for everyone. Some of it is good for a chuckle and the pictures are really cute. I think the book is excellent for read-alouds in classrooms (especially inclusive classrooms) or to help children better communicate how they feel about their AS. I give it to family members to explain my son's autism (AS is a form of autism). We're very positive about his condition and I want them to read a book that's positive and upbeat rather than one that's all about overcoming something or how odd they are. I also gave one to a sister-in-law who teachest kids with AS.
#84-Have fun with the Jasper Fforde book! I always reread
The Eyre Affair when I want something fun to read, though I haven't read the rest of the series nearly as many times.
Went to Goodwill today and bought myself Dune and Lord of the Flies for a buck a piece. Goodwill has some great books every so often.
My first December purchase. I'm glad I was able to find this again, the last copy!
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 17, edited by
Stephen JonesMiriam, at first I was a bit skeptical about Warren Ellis's
Crooked Little Vein, but I laughed all the way through it, and have recommended it several times since.
I checked out a few library books today:
Kitchen Literacy-this is a great one for people who are interested in the whole food movement or who just wonder what in the heck goes into making our foods and how we got to this point.
Heavy Words, lightly thrownA Natural History of Families# 93 - Louis, oh good. I've read
Transmetropolitan (the first volume) and have been looking forward to reading this one.
#100 - teelgee - I bet
The Penelopiad would sound interesting on audio book - with the maids in a Greek-like chorus and the narrator so very sarcastic...
In the mail yesterday, I got
To Infinity and Beyond, which has nothing to do with the Pixar movie. It's a textbook for a class I'm sitting in on next semester called Surprises at Infinity - I'm a humanities prof, and math still scares me a bit, so I thought I'd try to broaden my knowledge just a bit. I'm really looking forward to it!
Message edited by its author, Dec 15, 2007, 11:54am.
I picked up
Do What Thou Wilt: a life of Aleister Crowley at Borders today. I also received a like new copy of
pride and prejudice in the mail from Amazon that I got for a penny plus shipping. =)
Now no more books until I read ten. I'm doing the 50 book challenge starting on the first and I vowed to only buy 1 book for every 10 I read. My TBR pile is getting somewhat large. haha.
From a book share:
Life Class by
Pat Barkerand another unexpected gift:
A Child's Christmas in WalesFrom Amazon:
Listening is an Act of Love : A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project by
Dave Isay and apparently another gift book in the Amazon box, which my partner grabbed out of my hands before I could open it!
I received a $25 Borders gift card from my employer and picked up
Atonement by Ian McEwan and
The Gathering by Anne Endwright today - I must have been in a Booker mood!
Lucky you, mrstreme, both of those are just sublime.
If downloaded audio books count for coming into my home today, I purchased Jim Dale's reading of
A Christmas Carol. It's divine.
#112 - LouisBranning - thank you! I am really looking forward to reading them both - they're burning holes on my bookshelf.
Yesterday Once on a winter's night a traveller popped through my door from Bookmooch, which I'm deeply excited about!
And today
Journey to the West, Volume 2 arrived. Yay for books :-D
I've been trying to keep a lid on aquisitions this month (short on money and shelving), but a few snuck in anyway:
Conservatives Without Conscience by John Dean ,was on sale for less than half price. Current events AND on sale, how could I resist.
Pyramids by Terry Pratchett, life without Pratchett is just not fun
Griffin's Daughter, autographed, a gift for my nephew
The Other Bible, a gift from a friend
wandering_star - I didn't realize Notes on a Scandal was what the movie was based on until I got home and looked it over. I saw the movie, look forward to the book.
I don't know Edmund Crispin at all - a new BritCrime read for me!
I was buying gifts for hubby & my sister, which just happened to be in a 3 for 2! And Paul Auster's
Travels in the Scriptorium just looked too tempting. So I gave in.
While buying something for Mum, I also picked up
The Adventures of Captain Alatriste for £1 cos I've been tempted by some other Arturo Perez-Reverte novels, and it seemed like it should be a fun read at least!
Author touchstones are on strike...
Just brought home from the library,
Run by Ann Patchett and
Into the Wild, which I want to read before I see the movie.
I hate seeing a movie knowing there is a book and I haven't read it yet. I always wonder, how they are messing with the real story.
I haven't read
Bernard Cornwellyet, supposedly very good historical fiction writer, if a bit heavy on the war/battle stuff. I have a couple on my TBR shelf, and got The Lords of the North at the Sally Ann today. It's the third in a series - hmm.....guess I'm on the hunt for the first two : )
Message edited by its author, Dec 20, 2007, 3:07pm.
#124 alcottacre I just finished
Christ the Lord a couple weeks ago and really enjoyed it. Tell me what you think.
I fought so hard today to not buy any books because my mom bought some for me for Christmas. Our local discount store had a shipment from a bookstore and so many were calling to me from the shelves, but I had to shut them out! Poor books. :0(
Library scores today:
The Muse Asylum by
David Czuchlewski - came highly recommended by some LT folks. And
The Portable Dorothy Parker.
Yesterday - an Early Reviewer book arrived - The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merrill Block which has gotten nothing but rave reviews so far. Good reading for the holiday week!! woo hoo!
Touchstones are taking a complete holiday.
Message edited by its author, Dec 21, 2007, 6:52pm.
I received a pleasant surprise, an ARC of a book that's not coming out until June. It's The Seven Sins by
Jon Land.
I'm a bit upset that my family didn't get me any books for xmas :(
Maybe they figured I have enough to be getting on with with all the Bookmooch packages I always seem to be receiving...
I gave my dad
Cloud Atlas as it was one I enjoyed this year.
I received
Logorrhea (edited by
John Klima) as a Christmas present, and finally found
White Jenna by Jane Yolen yesterday. There was only one copy in the bookstore, and I was so thrilled to get it because I've been looking for this for years! I already have
The One-Armed Queen, but couldn't start because I want to read White Jenna first. At last!
I had Murder of Angels by Caitlin R. Kiernan in the mail today. I ordered it quite a while ago and am excited to read it. I love her books.
(Sorry, touchstones aren't loading)
One in today's mail: Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris. I have read her Southern Mysteries series featuring Sookie as well as her Shakespeare series, but this will be the first for me in the newer Harper Connelly series.
Touchstones not working at all for some reason.
Message edited by its author, Dec 28, 2007, 1:46pm.
From my LT Secret Santa, I received On Agate Hill by Lee Smith and Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, and I also received my ER book - Atomic Lobster by Tim Dorsey.
No touchstones, unfortunately.
And the TBR pile gets higher and higher! =)
I knew I wasn't destined to receive books for Christmas so I ordered myself some manga from Amazon which came in yesterday:
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle Volume 12
Cardcaptor Sakura Volume 5
Sensual Phrase Volumes 10 and 11
I also went back over to my local indie store and picked up Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle Volume 14 since I was tickled they actually had it in stock and I knew I'd be chomping at the bit to read it after volume 13 which I already had at home.
Some on-line purchases arrived:
Art books:
Sister Wendy's American Collection
Ansel Adams 400 Photographs
Fiction and Non-Fiction:
Charlotte's Web
Do You Remember Me? A Father, a Daughter and a Search for the Self
Infidel
Half a Yellow Sun
Half Off sale at Barnes & Noble:
Slam by
Nick HornbyBones to Ashes: A Novel by Kathy Reichs
>158 lindsacl : I recently read
Quartet in Autumn and thought it a very good read. Enjoy your Pym-fest!
From the In-Laws for Christmas:
The Complete Idiot's Guide to The Ultimate Reading List (I'm pretty sure this isn't a comment on my intelligence, since they ordered it off my amazon wishlist!)
100 Knitting Projects - also from my wishlist.
I went to the CSI: The Experience exhibit at the Museum of Science today, and came home with
The Bone Lady by Mary H. Manheim, as well as
Written in Bones, a fascinating book about forensic archaeology.
I picked these up at the library today.Swan Dive by Jeremiah Healy,The Ever Running by Marcia Muller,Unhinged by Sarah Graves and Out Of The Deep I Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming. Snow tonight so I should be OK
Hitman by parnell Hall.A new author for me
165>
I know this is an old thread, and I am going off topic, but I have a question about Erasure by Percival Everett. Do you, or anyone reading this, know what the entry on page 186 means? It merely says, "Numbers 23, 24". I would appreciate any possible interpretations. Of course, my first thought was a Biblical reference, but I don't see how that fits. HELP!
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