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1nobooksnolife
As of January 27th, this is "under construction"---hope to make progress soon.
In the meantime, I enjoy reading everyone else's great comments in their respective threads.
Happy New Year.
***********************************
Cumulative List of books read, 2011:
365 Thank Yous by John Kralik
Little Princes, One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan
Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton
To Live: A Novel by Yu Hua
Fireproof Moth by Milo L. Thornberry
In the meantime, I enjoy reading everyone else's great comments in their respective threads.
Happy New Year.
***********************************
Cumulative List of books read, 2011:
365 Thank Yous by John Kralik
Little Princes, One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan
Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton
To Live: A Novel by Yu Hua
Fireproof Moth by Milo L. Thornberry
3janemarieprice
Welcome back!
4nobooksnolife
@Daniel and Jane--what a pleasure to see your welcoming words!
Last year I ended up having to go back to work and I was robbed of my time to read. I'm still working (even more hours) but I still find recreation here in this group.
Looking forward to reading lots of great discussions!
I really enjoyed the "dchaikin" review of Brothers Karamazov--thank you for that.
Last year I ended up having to go back to work and I was robbed of my time to read. I'm still working (even more hours) but I still find recreation here in this group.
Looking forward to reading lots of great discussions!
I really enjoyed the "dchaikin" review of Brothers Karamazov--thank you for that.
6nobooksnolife
These days, most of my leisure reading is just before I fall asleep at night.
A few days ago, there began a series of spectacular eruptions of the volcano called Mount Shinmoedake in the Kirishima mountain range of Kagoshima prefecture on Japan's southern island of Kyushu. This awesome event caused me to pick up my unread copy of Krakatoa by Simon Winchester to read a few bits and look at the maps and illustrations before nodding off.
I don't know how long this link will stay viable, but I'll try to link to photos:
http://ibnlive.in.com/photogallery/3237-0.html
A few days ago, there began a series of spectacular eruptions of the volcano called Mount Shinmoedake in the Kirishima mountain range of Kagoshima prefecture on Japan's southern island of Kyushu. This awesome event caused me to pick up my unread copy of Krakatoa by Simon Winchester to read a few bits and look at the maps and illustrations before nodding off.
I don't know how long this link will stay viable, but I'll try to link to photos:
http://ibnlive.in.com/photogallery/3237-0.html
7nobooksnolife
Yesterday I received an advance reading copy of Radio Shangrila by Lisa Napoli. I enjoy this kind of "I hit my mid-life crisis and went off to a remote country" genre, which the publisher has tagged as "Travel"... Probably this reveals my own state of mind and irrational urge to escape.
Anyway, it's starting off nicely and caused me to dig through some National Geographics to find one on Bhutan, the "happiest country on earth." Coincidentally, in this morning's TV news discussion show, Bhutan came up, comparing Gross National Happiness with (Japan's/China's/USA) Gross National Product.
Anyway, it's starting off nicely and caused me to dig through some National Geographics to find one on Bhutan, the "happiest country on earth." Coincidentally, in this morning's TV news discussion show, Bhutan came up, comparing Gross National Happiness with (Japan's/China's/USA) Gross National Product.
8nobooksnolife
March 11, 2011, Friday, 2:46 PM, Magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck the subduction zone off the coast of northeast Honshu, triggering an almost immediate tsunami which wiped some coastal towns off the map and brought indescribable havoc to a vast area of this main island of Japan. I was home and experienced severe shaking (only one item broke), longer and stronger than anything I've felt in southern California (I was there for the Whittier Earthquake of 1987). There were many strong aftershocks and even unrelated earthquakes for the next 3-4 days. (Thousands of smaller aftershocks continue, most of which cannot be felt).
Confirmed dead 10 days later have risen to approx. 9000 and estimates of dead and missing exceed 20,000. The exact number will never be known because in some cases entire families have vanished and in some towns the registrations of individuals may have also been destroyed. Tens of thousands of people are without adequate water, food, and shelter, with temperatures ranging from -4 to 7 C and snow falling.
The unprecedented (in recent recorded history) intensity of quake and tsunami overwhelmed the design of the cooling system in one of Japan's 52 nuclear power facilities located approximately 270km from Tokyo. Heroic measures are still being taken to supply emergency water for cooling and electricity for pumping/cooling to save a bad situation from getting worse.
Meanwhile, largely due to distortions or outright fear-mongering by the foreign press, many expats have fled Tokyo and other regions. Japan's official reports of minuscule amounts of radiation in outlying areas has created further panic.
While trying to get back to normal life, aftershocks have kept my nerves on edge for most of this week. Planned electricity outages which never materialized for our area at least got everyone in a "preparedness" frame of mind, but also incited hoarding of foods and materials at the stores. Thankfully, we don't own a car and don't have to buy gas. There were long lines and rationing in some places.
So, most of my reading this week has been online, trying to follow the most sensible journalists and trying to make sense out of a variety of news sources, but most of all, telling folks back home that really, we are fine here in Tokyo. There is a lot of work to do to help those who need it.
That is all for now.
Confirmed dead 10 days later have risen to approx. 9000 and estimates of dead and missing exceed 20,000. The exact number will never be known because in some cases entire families have vanished and in some towns the registrations of individuals may have also been destroyed. Tens of thousands of people are without adequate water, food, and shelter, with temperatures ranging from -4 to 7 C and snow falling.
The unprecedented (in recent recorded history) intensity of quake and tsunami overwhelmed the design of the cooling system in one of Japan's 52 nuclear power facilities located approximately 270km from Tokyo. Heroic measures are still being taken to supply emergency water for cooling and electricity for pumping/cooling to save a bad situation from getting worse.
Meanwhile, largely due to distortions or outright fear-mongering by the foreign press, many expats have fled Tokyo and other regions. Japan's official reports of minuscule amounts of radiation in outlying areas has created further panic.
While trying to get back to normal life, aftershocks have kept my nerves on edge for most of this week. Planned electricity outages which never materialized for our area at least got everyone in a "preparedness" frame of mind, but also incited hoarding of foods and materials at the stores. Thankfully, we don't own a car and don't have to buy gas. There were long lines and rationing in some places.
So, most of my reading this week has been online, trying to follow the most sensible journalists and trying to make sense out of a variety of news sources, but most of all, telling folks back home that really, we are fine here in Tokyo. There is a lot of work to do to help those who need it.
That is all for now.
9janemarieprice
8 - Stay well Julia.
11TineOliver
8 - Julia, my thoughts are with you and others affected. Your post really does highlight the role that 'old fashioned' journalism still should play in the world, and the great diservice done to us all by treating news as 'entertainment'.
12lilisin
Glad to hear you are doing well! As TineOliver mentioned, this treating news as entertainment business is getting ridiculous. With the amount of friends I have in Japan, it is just terrible reading some of what's supposedly going on (according to the American news agencies). They really need to start taking responsibility for the (false) information they are putting out there.
I was supposed to be leaving tomorrow for Japan but ended up canceling my trip as I didn't want to be a burden to those who are trying to get back to living normal lives. Hope all continues to be well with you.
I was supposed to be leaving tomorrow for Japan but ended up canceling my trip as I didn't want to be a burden to those who are trying to get back to living normal lives. Hope all continues to be well with you.
