qebo’s 2015 books (2)

Northwest Corridor Linear Park in Lancaster PA is a 2-block rail trail within city limits.

Currently Reading


The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal


Chi Running by Danny Dreyer

Read But Not Yet Reviewed


The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert - RL book group


Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman


Blood of the Tiger by J. A. Mills - ER


Being Mortal by Atul Gawande


Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne -- reread for RL discussion group


To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

January
#01: The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan -- (Jan 3) - new (e-book)
#02: Mendel in the Kitchen by Nina V. Fedoroff and Nancy Marie Brown -- (Jan 11) - ROOT
#03: March by Geraldine Brooks -- (Jan 14) - ROOT
#04: The Bird Market of Paris by Nikki Moustaki -- (Jan 18) - ER
#05: Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges -- (Jan 24) - ROOT
#06: Culture Shock! Korea by Sonja Vegdahl Hur and Ben Seunghwa Hur -- (Jan 26) new (used)
#07: January magazines -- (Jan 30)

February
#08: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke -- (Feb 7) - ROOT (e-book)
#09: Cycle of Fire by Hal Clement -- (Feb 14) - ROOT
#10: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston -- (Feb 18) - new (e-book)
#11: Food, Inc. by Peter Pringle -- (Feb 19) - ROOT
#12: Headstrong by Rachel Swaby -- (Feb 27) - ER
#13: February Magazines -- (Feb 28)

March
#14: The Dinosaur Feather by Sissel-Jo Gazan -- (Mar 3) - borrowed
#15: Soldier Girls by Helen Thorpe -- (Mar 10) - new (used)
#16: The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert -- (Mar 19) - ROOT
#17: Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman -- (Mar 24) - ROOT
#18: Blood of the Tiger by J. A. Mills -- (Mar 29) - ER

April

#19: Being Mortal by Atul Gawande -- (Apr 4) - new
#20: Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne -- (Apr 5) - ROOT reread
#21: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee -- (Apr 17) - new (e-book)

May

June

Alas, a fresh new month does not mean fresh new weather; my afternoon obligation was cancelled because of snow. So I'm using the time to set up a fresh new thread. Yeah, I should write some reviews too, but I'm not so sure that's gonna happen.

Spring is in sight, though. Yesterday I took my spiffy rental car around to garden centers, among other errands, and collected packets of seeds. This morning I organized the seeds and planned my community garden plots on graph paper. This year I'm going to try the classic American Three Sisters: Corn, Beans, Squash.

  

Hi Katherine, Happy New Thread! I think I have better chances of keeping up with this one!
Thought you'd like to know I've just posted the Pepys thread:

The Diary of Samuel Pepys - A Leisurely Daily Reading, Join as You Like

http://www.librarything.com/topic/188499

>6 Smiler69: Thanks. I starred it, intend to follow and participate if it doesn't get too active. I've downloaded the Project Gutenberg version.

Happy new thread!

I'm so fascinated by the feathered dinosaurs - and I keep thinking wondering if any of them ever began to evolve toward intelligence before whatever happened happened.

>9 sibylline: The book's not that great so far. It's a mystery of the Scandinavian noir ilk, which isn't my thing (IMO gratuitously icky), but... dinosaurs! And the author is a biologist. The setting is a Copenhagen university, with the requisite academic infighting, over the evolution of birds. It's making the rounds of the evolution discussion group I'm in, was handed to me last week so I need to read it pronto and pass it along.

Wow, that Evolution Roundtable group looks interesting, I hope you enjoy participating!

Re: last thread - my parents have a Prius, with the fobs that tell the car that you are a Person and should be allowed in (and to run the car, and the like). One of the fobs died, and we were told that it could be replaced for about $100 - Arrgh! But a second fob was a necessity, so they did it. I was given the dead fob - there's a physical key on it as well, so I could drive the car if necessary (I don't live with them, but nearby, and we often go do things together). I was fiddling around with it, got it open, and discovered it uses a perfectly standard coin battery; replaced it and we now have 3 fully functional fobs. So phooey on the dealer.

They just got a fully-electric car - an i-Miev - which is far less automatic than the Prius in that facet. You actually have to Push a Button to unlock/lock the car, and physically put in the key and turn it to start the car. They were having real trouble with this concept... After 4-5 months, it's finally sunk in (helped by the fact that they drive the Miev just about everywhere - the poor Prius languishes unless they're going a long distance, more than 60 miles in a single run).

And then there's the Tesla Model S, which doesn't even have door handles until a person with an identifying fob approaches...then they pop up. The things they come up with!

>12 jjmcgaffey: the car I mentioned on the previous thread is also a Prius. In fact, we have two. The oldest is a 2007 with 160K miles and the fob hasn't died yet!! Still, good to know a standard battery works.

Happy New Thread, Katherine!

>13 lauralkeet: My parents' is...2004 (one year older than my car). But the fob dying was a couple years ago, so maybe it's something you'll need to keep an eye out for.

>15 jjmcgaffey: good to know, thanks!

Happy new thread, Katherine!

A round of phone calls today to the local insurance agent, the office claims rep, the field claims rep... 3 weeks since I placed the claim, and really it’s getting to be about time for some information, IMO. The insurance agent returned my call to say according to their records the claim is complete. Uh, so, um, where’s my car? You don’t have your car? No, nor have I heard whether I’ll ever have it. Oh, I’ll check up on that for you... A while later, a guy from the repair shop called. Authorization for payment just came through on Monday, parts were ordered and arrived today, and I should have the car by Friday. If it passes the reality check; they think the engine is OK but won't know for sure until they test drive it.

Today on eagle cam (http://lancasteronline.com/eaglecam/):

>19 qebo: Is that an eagle in a snow covered nest? I can't quite tell what I'm looking at.

>19 qebo: Click the link... Yes, it's a bald eagle w/ 2 eggs.

>21 qebo: Ah. I did click on the link, and I still couldn't see much other than an eagle's head sticking out of the snow.

>22 kidzdoc: Yes, that's the point. :-)

>23 qebo: Ah! I get it now.

>24 kidzdoc: No need to worry, we are assured:
http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/don-t-worry-the-eagles-and-their-eggs-aren...

>25 qebo: “You could put an eagle in a chest freezer and open it the next morning and the eagle would be standing there looking at you," Hubley said.

You could do that. I think I'll pass, though.

>25 qebo: that's really interesting!
>26 kidzdoc: ha!

>19 qebo: Lots of baldies in this area, but I had no idea they did that. Fascinating!

>26 kidzdoc: Too funny!!

Happy new thread, Katherine!

>19 qebo: - That is so cool! I had no idea there was an eagle webcam! Of course, it is night now so nothing to see but I will t ry and visit the eaglecam when it is daylight.

>29 lkernagh: I expect it'll be more active when the eggs hatch in a couple of weeks.

Slightly belatedly wishing you Happy New Thread, Katherine.

Loving the eagle news.

The eagle cam is cool!

While I was watching today... The eagle took a break, stepped onto the edge of the nest, flew away. Less than a minute later, the other? eagle arrived and settled onto the eggs.

Of course the snow yesterday put the car repair shop behind schedule, so the new estimate is Monday. I don't really want the car today anyway; I'd have to dig out a parking space. For the stretch of days from tomorrow through all of next week, temperatures will rise to the double digits starting with 4s and 5s.

Spoze I should review some books sometime soon, get this thread back on track...

>34 qebo: ooh, a changing of the guard. Lucky you to be watching then.

Status check...

>34 qebo: & >37 qebo: - So cool!

>38 lkernagh: Mostly nothing happens. The eagle sits there. I keep wanting to give it a book to read, but I suppose it sees all sorts of things in the surrounding environment that I would miss.

>39 qebo: LOL

Love the eagle cam - thanks for posting pics!
I'll be glad to hear that you do get your car Monday. Whew!

>42 streamsong: Hah, perfect!

Wonderful eagle updates! I've been alternating reading & listening to H is for Hawk, (have you seen it?) so am developing a whole new fascination with all these raptors of various kinds. Astonishing that pic of the eagle with just its head sticking above the snow...

>5 qebo: I first read "planned my community garden plots on graph paper" as "planted my community garden" and was briefly very, very envious (and slightly bemused). Is it wrong of me to be glad that the garden thus far remains to graph paper? Misery loves company.... and this has been a bloody miserable winter on so many fronts. Am worrying about a friend who's finally out of hospital in NY but whose congestive heart failure is basically not treatable (in terms of a fix, as opposed to weekly visits to manage) and who is in denial. My mother's health is troubling; friends dealing with serious issues; deaths in the family. I'm hoping that it's winter that is partly to blame and that once spring arrives I will feel at least more able to deal with stuff. For now, at least, there are still books!

Looking forward to your thoughts on the Turing book. I haven't seen the film yet, given all that I've read about the historical inaccuracies, but it has piqued my curiosity about him as a person. So...

Belatedly checking in on the new thread, Catherine. Thanks for the eagle pictures and updates!

Have a great weekend!

>44 Chatterbox: H is for Hawk
I was vaguely aware of it and now I've clicked through for more info and plopped it onto the wishlist. Since my reading rate doesn't remotely approach yours (you read about 6 books to my 1), who knows when.
Misery loves company
This winter has been cold, but not nearly as snowy as last winter, or as this year in New England. The snow this week was the first (and hopefully the last) of significance, and with temperatures rising it will be gone by next weekend. I'm with you on spring being motivating and energizing; in winter, stuff that needs attention conflicts with the impulse to hibernate.
Turing ... historical inaccuracies
Yeah, the movie conflates and exaggerates in ways that make sense for dramatization, but also distorts in ways that I find less acceptable. Someday I'll suddenly blast through the backlog of reviews, but I have several more pressing tasks on the agenda this weekend. The gist is that the biography is thorough, respectful, compassionate, educational, and other good qualities, but looooong, and more sequential than thematic, so sometimes it's rather like watching a math professor solve a problem on blackboard: every step makes sense, but which ones are crucial?

You comments on the Turing bio make complete sense and the analogy is excellent! The snow here is going to take weeks and weeks to go, even if the temps do stay above freezing. We should get there sometime next week -- allegedly -- but I am willing to bet there will still be snow on the ground in April. Perhaps only patches, but still...

I'll be reading H is for Hawk rather soon (library request), and am really looking forward to it.

H is for Hawk is on the pile.

Thanks for posting all of the eagle pics! And your comments on the Turing bio are intriguing - will have to keep my eyes peeled for a used copy.

Hey K!

Nice eagle pics there! I like eagles (from a distance, would probably get scared if one came near me!), and they come sit outside my office windows (up on 25th floor).

Love the eagle pictures. Especially the one with just the head poking out! Hope your car comes through on Monday!

Phew, weekend obligations done, but now I am retiring with a book, another obligation that has to be done by Wednesday. Also I'm a bit vodka-impaired. So no thread catchup this evening.

No car today, but got a phone call that they've begun working on it, ETA tomorrow... Hope so, because I have a doctor appointment on Wednesday, only two miles away so technically walkable but not pedestrian friendly, especially with mounds of snow still lining the roads.

Today on eagle cam:

Wonderful shot! I love the blue skies I keep seeing in the webcam images whenever I pop over for a visit.

>55 lkernagh: The blue skies are a welcome change, not to mention the 50+ degrees.

Amen. I was out without a coat and the bright sunshine lifted my mood immeasurably.

>54 qebo: The eagles are famous! They made national news tonight on NBC Nightly News. They said people that watch the eagle cam regularly are "eagle-holics."

>58 Tara1Reads: Yeah, the eagle cam has popped up on various science blogs, and I gather the Today show. The snow day gets the credit. There's just something about a self-sacrificing predator.

Sharing a tasty squirrel(?) this morning.

Hallelujah. 27 days of bureaucracy + 1 day of repair, and I have my car back.

Congratulations on having your car back!

Congratulations on the car!

And loving the eagle pics...

Wow! almost a month to get your car! I wonder if you had gotten a loaner, if they would have been more motivated to finish quicker. Or maybe the loaner expense would have just made the insurance company raise your rates. ;-)

I, too, am loving the eagles. Just watching the breezes ruffle their feathers as they sit in the nest is very cool and makes it seem very immediate and real.

That is a long time to go carless! If those insurance people were smarter they'd give people a month's subscription to CarShare in your sort of situation. That would have helped you a lot!

Every time I come here I then go and spend half an hour reading about eagles! Dangerous!

Glad to hear you finally got your car back!

The insurance company paid for car rental, but it was mostly not worth the bother, simpler to walk to the grocery store. The return of the car was conveniently timed for spring. I traipsed around in the rain today collecting garden supplies, and have begun the annual garden thread. This was instead of writing book reviews.

The eagles are looking soggy.

Hooray for the car!
Many thanks for putting H is for Hawk firmly on my radar. I vaguely knew about it, but now I'm actively engaged in wishing for it.

>60 qebo: Love the eagle cam. Dangerously absorbing! H is for Hawk is on the reserve list at the library for me too, although I'd guess it'll be a while - I think the success of a book about falconry (amongst other things) has rather taken them by surprise as they've only got 6 copies (but now many more reservations...).

Just catching up. Glad you got your car back, love the eagle cam, and I read a fabulous review of H Is for Hawk in The New Yorker. I'll probably end up getting it eventually.

>68 LizzieD:, >69 charl08: Thank Suz/Chatterbox for bringing H is for Hawk to the thread.

>70 rebeccanyc: fabulous review of H Is for Hawk in The New Yorker
Ah, March 9 issue, the one I'm reading now.

#5: Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges -- (Jan 24)

why now: I bought it in anticipation of the movie, then read it after seeing the movie.

How much do you want to know about Alan Turing? This 675 page biography covers his personal and intellectual life in exhaustive detail. I read it because I’d seen The Imitation Game and was curious about accuracy (IMO, the movie sometimes plays fair with with necessary simplifications, dramatic exaggerations, conflations of characters and events, and sometimes distorts). Intentionally on principle, the personal and intellectual are entwined. This may be true to the spirit of Turing, but it can be tough going for the reader, never knowing when or where the path will wend through a history of societal attitudes toward homosexuality or a disquisition on cryptanalytic methods. If you set the book aside for a day and lose track of a mathematical buzzword, well, there’s an extensive index but good luck finding clear stepping stones. On a personal level, the biography is respectful and compassionate, appreciative of Turing’s integrity, quirks, humor, and unconventional brilliance. On an intellectual level, well, the author is a mathematician and perhaps too casually assuming of familiarity with, say, Hilbert and Gödel. The result is engaging here, educational there, and a slog in between. I admired the thorough research, but would’ve been happier with an abridged version.

#8: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke -- (Feb 7)

why now: I got the e-book in late 2013 out of curiosity, but whenever it came to choosing the next book to read, the 840 e-pages put me off. It’d been nagging at me though, and when I finished the 675 pages of Alan Turing in January without falling behind in the pace for 75, I figured I could cope.

In an alternate England of 1806, at a meeting of theoretical magicians, a visitor asks why the magic of the past is described and discussed but no longer actually done. This elicits ridicule and righteousness (it is entirely the wrong question, and we do not sully our reputations), but also prompts a trip to the remote estate of Mr. Norrell, whose library is rumored to include ancient books of practical magic. Mr. Norrell seizes the opportunity for revival, with the assistance of his servant Mr. Childermass. A legal maneuver to dismiss potential rivals, a strategic entry into elite circles of London smoothed by a social climber to mutual advantage, the resurrection of a politician’s fiancee in collusion with a double-dealing faerie, and he is established as magician to the government, applying his skills in the war against Napoleon. Then, surprisingly, he accepts a student, Jonathan Strange, a dilettante who is suddenly fixated on magic after an encounter with a street sorcerer proclaiming cryptic prophesy.

I was quite entertained initially, by the 19th century verbosity, by the pretension and pomposity and fussiness, by the sympathetic characters in fanciful but distressing predicaments. Several hundred pages in the charm was wearing off with repetition, but after a sluggish middle the pace picked up, and confusing storylines began to merge into coherence.

>73 qebo: Thanks for this review. Now I know I don't want to read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.

#10: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston -- (Feb 18)

why now: The February selection for a RL book group.

Janie Crawford is a teenager when her grandmother, a former slave, arranges her marriage to the stolid farmer Logan Killicks to secure her future. Janie has more romantic notions, and rebels after her grandmother dies, spontaneously taking off with the ambitious Joe Sparks, who is passing through on the way to Eatonville Florida. Joe is soon running the town as businessman and mayor, but treats Janie as a showpiece, blocking her participation in the social network that he deems beneath their status. Janie remains stoically submissive for twenty years, until Joe dies; then, courted by any number of respectable and established men, she instead chooses the charming drifter Vergible Woods - “Tea Cake”. As the novel begins, Janie has gone away with Tea Cake and returned without him; she passes through the cluster of porch gossips and tells the story privately to her friend Phoeby Walker. (How did Phoeby Walker become her friend? This is never quite clear.) This is a novel of a time and a place and a culture, depicted in anecdotes with Gullah dialect. I expected the dialect to be a problem, but its effect was to make me pay attention to details.

>74 Tara1Reads: That's definitely a good thing to know before you start an 800 page book!

>67 qebo: - Love the garden thread! Starred!

>73 qebo: - Well, like darn.... I own a copy of that one. I will probably still tackle it at some point but I feel relieved that my copy was a book sale purchase, so no great loss if I don't get around to reading it.

#11: Food, Inc. by Peter Pringle -- (Feb 19)

why now: Described on this list as a balanced pro-and-con of GM food, another perspective after the very pro Mendel in the Kitchen.

This book is less about the science of genetically modified food, and more about the politics, presenting incidents that entered mainstream news reports, and delving into behind-the-scenes actions and motivations of the various players: scientists, corporations, activists. Not wholly satisfying if one is seeking a definitive conclusion, but useful to get a sense of what’s fact and what’s spin.

Phew! After all this delay, the reviews are not as thorough as I'd aspired to write, but with spring approaching and RL events emerging from hibernation, circumstances will not improve so I'm just relieved to check them off the to-do list.

>78 qebo: Thanks for providing the link to the GM foods book list. GM foods is definitely a topic I need to read up on.

I like your short reviews!

Great that you got the car back.

>70 rebeccanyc: Just read the article, and now I _really_ want to read the book.

A short review is better than no review! I am heartened that you liked Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell well enough. I wasn't at all sure you would like it at all. I do think the magic and the alternate world she builds are unusually solid and consistent as well as weird and intriguing. I've read it and listened to it - and I even have the CD's in case I want to listen to it again ever.

Here's how desperate I am for spring. I started thinking yesterday about wild turkeys - like - how the heck do they winter over? So I had to sit around reading all about them. My conclusion is that there are probably quite a lot of turkey not far from the house as we have the perfect setting for them. Seeps and conifer corridors and cherry trees (the wild kind) and the lone oak tree on our property (we plan to plant more). I've already whined about today's weather - I'll have to take tylenol for aching joints (I can't use aspirin or the other anti-inflammatories) today. It's that bad. Usually I can last until after lunch, but I don't think so today.

>83 sibylline: I started thinking yesterday about wild turkeys
Doesn't everybody?

Seriously, last summer I had three separate sightings of a wild turkey early in the morning on my way to work, just a couple miles from home. We live in a somewhat rural area but this was the first time I'd seen any. I had to use Google to verify it was what I thought it was. Since she (?) was walking along the side of the road -- in fact, crossing the road like the proverbial chicken -- I often wonder what happened to her and whether I will see her again.

There are lots of wild turkeys in this area of Montana. I have a flock of 20-30 birds that visit regularly and have been here all winter. They are kind of like Canada Geese - fun to see, but a flock is quite messy.

A coworker had several that insisted on roosting in her garage whenever she was foolish enough to leave the garage door open.

>82 qebo: I really want to read it too, but I don't know if I can cope with the parts about her father.

>83 sibylline: I am heartened that you liked Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell well enough.
Well, I wouldn’t read it again. Though I can see rationale for doing so, to see the earlier confusions now that they’ve been explained.

>83 sibylline:, >84 lauralkeet:, >85 streamsong: I have never seen a wild turkey. :-( I am happy to lend my thread to discussion.

>86 rebeccanyc: Maybe wait awhile then. You surely have alternatives.

The founder of the new local book group announced today that she hasn’t read the book for the meeting on Saturday.

>88 qebo: Classic

In places on the Cape they are practically tame - the turkeys, that is. Almost a nuisance for some folks. Anyhow. To continue the wild turkey news, we're in the brief window of pre-spring where the snow some years is a foot and a half or so deep and compressed hard, like white plywood. So you can venture into places normally too wet to explore well. AND see tracks. So I decided I knew one place they had to hang out. Seeps and conifers for roosts and etc. And bingo, big turkey tracks EVERYWHERE! The LD and I also think we identified bobcat tracks.

>87 qebo: You surely have alternatives.

How true!

Sigh. Spring begins today. The eggs should be hatching any time now...
http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/eagle-cam-eggs-about-to-hatch-here-s-what-...

>88 qebo:, >89 karspeak: It was perhaps unwise to choose a 500 page book. The book is excellent: The Signature of All Things. I hope I'm not the only one who finished.

>88 qebo: *snort* oh dear, that doesn't bode well.

>93 qebo: I set an informal page limit of 400 pages on books chosen for my library book discussion. It's a little arbitrary because some books that are over 500 pages fly by while a really dense 200 pages takes a long time to read, but it helps me feel like not too much is being demanded of me and other participants.

>94 bell7: Yeah, looks like we're going to set a page limit. Also I think we should choose further in advance; if it's the month before, then subtract a week or so to acquire the book, and fitting a few hundred pages around other life obligations may be too demanding. Seems not everyone reads 75 books per year... Really, until I got involved on LT I didn't either; now I have a rhythm and a pace, and know when I need to start in order to comfortably finish by the deadline.

Trying to catch up, Katherine. I appreciate your reviews of whatever length. And I confess that I'm a bit heartened that you didn't love, love, love *JS&MN*. I liked the faery parts well enough, but overall, I was as disappointed as I've been in a book that I looked forward to and bought in hard cover. (The Quincunx was the other one that springs to mind; I'm pretty sure I never finished it.)
My only RL book club that acts like a book club is a theology-based one, and I've sort of let it dwindle away. I joined my mother's, which is an excuse for the 20 women to get together once a month for lunch and chat. Every month somebody puts a new book in and members bring back what they read the last month, but they never talk about them. Of course, since N. Sparks and others of his ilk loom large, there's not much to talk about. My other book club is really a study club, and that's what it's called. I've been in it long enough to have given 3 programs, and I read a couple of books for each of them. Most folks take their contributions seriously, so it's a real treat to attend that one.
I know that was fascinating.
I've never seen a wild turkey, and what's more, I don't think that my DH did either when he was in the swamps in his bee yards. He once saw a big wild cat though, so I offer that instead.

I tremendously enjoy your photos of the eage's next and the nesting process. You bring such joy to me. After these tough days, week, months, it is wonderful to see life anew. Thank you is all I can say, and that doesn't suffice.

Hugs and appreciation

>96 LizzieD: Well, I'll see how the book group meeting goes tomorrow. Seem to be a bunch of serious people involved, but others who want a nudge to read _something_ so aren't in the habit.

The Quincunx looks kinda intriguing, but I'll let it be.

I considered trekking out to a movie this evening, but with snow today and the temperature hovering around freezing, I don't want to penguin step along dark icy sidewalks. So now I'm looking for a book. Not in the mood for the ones already in progress, of course. The Hare with Amber Eyes is too high culture for my taste, though I'll probably gradually get through it. Blood of the Tiger is extremely distressing and I haven't even gotten to the tigers. I think I want a mystery and I don't have any on hand, and I'd rather resist the temptation to download an e-book... hmm... maybe I should check my Little Free Library stock.

>97 Whisper1: A Linda sighting, out and about in the threads! That's encouraging.

The Eagle Cam has been flaky lately; too popular? Annoying because the action is always brief and easily missed.

I'm reposting this photo of our cat Simon facing off with a wild turkey right near the house a couple of years ago.

I felt the same way about Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, it as great at first, but then it had a long middle. It was good enough, but I'd never read it again.

>100 sibylline: Did they get any closer?

I found a book that will do: Orange is the New Black. Not mindless but not too demanding.

>100 sibylline: excellent! What happened next?

No, Simon came to his senses and retreated. Very. very. carefully. The turkey just sort of ambled off into the long grasses. It was an unusual event to have a single turkey come so close. But they are all around our house, and we see them often, especially from mid-summer through fall. They have huge broods. I suspect they are like deer - amazingly canny for such large birds and therefore able to survive being ferociously hunted by predators, but basically, another 'larder' animal. We saw bobcat tracks around and I can see the bobcat or lynx relying on the occasional turkey to make it through winter. The predators get by eating little critters, but every now and then they really need to feast on something almost as big as themselves or they just won't make it.

>105 sibylline: retreated. Very. very. carefully.
I love it when cats have second thoughts.

>98 qebo: The book group meeting was fine. 7 people showed up, they'd all read the book, and the most negative comment was from one person who thought some of the middle could've been edited out, and even she was mostly positive. A decent conversation too, though I could've done without the half hour of chitchat before it got started. Next up is To Kill a Mockingbird, which I read in high school.

Hooray for a book group where people actually read the book!

>106 qebo: sounds like it went pretty well -- glad that most read the book. Will you re-read TKAM? I did so a few years ago and enjoyed it just as much as in high school.

>108 lauralkeet: I'll have to reread; though I remember the gist (or have retained it by cultural osmosis), details are long gone.

Yay! I'm glad your book club turned out so well. I know I really enjoy your comments on your reading and can easily imagine your book club doing the same.

Sissy Spacek does an absolutely incredible reading of TKAM if you want to do the audio instead.

Thursday I lead The Underground Girls of Kabul for my book club. Wish me luck.

An eagle hatched this morning. Which of course means the web cam is inaccessible.

ETA: Got it, with the third source I tried. Eagle is just sitting there... picture when I can but I'm supposed to be working, can't watch constantly.
http://hdontap.com/index.php/video/stream/bald-eagle-live-cam

Meanwhile for people w/ Facebook access, pictures and videos here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/515858675222793/ .

Here we go. Courtesy PA Game Commission.

>111 qebo: oh cool!

Just had a changing of the guard. The other eagle was blocking the view so I had to wait until it flew away. This is full screen if you click through. Courtesy PA Game Commission (required credit for public photos).

Yeah, I should stop... The face and wings are clearer on this one; click through to full screen. Courtesy PA Game Commission.

Amazing photos! Thanks for posting them.

Thanks for the eaglet photos, Katherine!

>114 qebo: I am glad to see one of them finally hatched. Thanks for posting the photos.

And here is the latest news on GM foods from the FDA:

http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm439121.htm

And now there are two eaglets, so they say, but chances of getting through to the live stream are slim.

>117 Tara1Reads: FDA, USDA, EPA are all involved, and as one might expect are not fully coordinated.

Hungry eaglets. Click through to full screen. Courtesy PA Game Commission.

Little fluffy eaglets! Awe!

Eaglets!

>121 lkernagh:, >122 sibylline: Don't be too taken in by cuteness. They are competitive little critters, apparently not uncommon for one to dominate the other.

Protecting the babies on a rainy evening. Click through to full screen. Courtesy PA Game Commission.

Babies! Ooh! Aaah!

Gah. The bosses again. I’m supposed to be reorganizing stuff for a potential new employee who will be sheltered from the secret recipe. I’m partway through, but need to coordinate with the IT guy. We had a conversation a few days ago that put the next step in his hands, and he hasn’t gotten back to me, which I thought was fine, no hurry and he has other things to do. Today I got an email from one of the bosses asking about a problem that the new hire has encountered. WTF?!? (1) He’s already started? (2) It’s now OK for him to see the secret recipe? (3) The problem is that you’ve given him two things that aren’t in sync, an old thing and a new thing, which I would’ve told you if you’d, say, mentioned that you were planning to do this.

Oh, even better. Turns out that one boss didn't know what the other boss was up to.

>73 qebo: This has been on the shelf for about 10 years now, a gift from son to mother (both son and mother are mine). My wife read it back when she got it, and I've been eyeing it more and more often lately. My beloved's recollection is not helpful, but your review is. I think I WILL read it (unlike dieKatze).

>126 qebo:, >127 qebo: Aggh. You've had that problem before...it's bad enough when bosses don't communicate with the workers, but not talking to each other...oh fun. Though at least this way it's not up to you to correct your boss - they can argue it out between them. And hopefully _tell_ you what they decide...

>129 jjmcgaffey: Oh, I have no qualms about correcting them to the extent of my ability. :-) It's not just a social nicety to be kept in the loop; the surprise insertion of an unknown person doing a mystery task that overlaps my scope of responsibilities has the potential to wreak havoc.

What a pain!

Well, work sounds like it has been anything but mundane for you, Katherine! I finally managed to bounce onto the eaglecam website and was surprised to see the dead fish in the nest... why I didn't think that they would eat fish, I just don't know. For some reason, I was expecting to see small rodents, or some such animal as dinner.

Huh. A Ken Burns documentary about cancer based on The Emperor of All Maladies airs on PBS Monday - Wednesday next week. I learned this from, of all things, an electronic billboard as I was running errands this afternoon.

>132 lkernagh: Sadly, it's all too typical.
Yes, the fish are piling up in the nest (which is near a lake). The babies are hungry, and the parents probably need extra calories too. I'd like to see a video of an eagle catching a fish.

ETA: From a BBC documentary, bald eagle catching salmon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hecXupPpE9o

Bloody fish for the babies. Click through to full screen. Courtesy PA Game Commission.



ETA: A couple hours later, the carnage continues, various FB comments (at https://www.facebook.com/groups/515858675222793/) identify remains as rabbit or duck.



On the FB page, someone posted a video of both parents feeding both babies.

Sorry to hear about the continued communication problems at work. Sic an eagle on 'em.

Earlier today they had a squirrel. Now they’ve caught a skunk. I can't watch often, haven't been there for a delivery.
Click through to full screen. Courtesy PA Game Commission.

>137 qebo: That must be one odoriferous nest by now...

>138 kidzdoc: Apparently eagles don't have much sense of smell. So maybe the skunk serves to keep other animals away.

Oh, I saw mention of the PBS documentary (see >133 qebo:) about cancer on your thread; I watched the first episode last night, most of it anyway, and as one would expect of a collaboration between Ken Burns and Siddhartha Mukherjee it is excellent, but also painful with an ample number of dying children.

Ooh, yay! I've won the ER The Theft of Memory by Jonathan Kozol. This was a risk; it was the only book I selected because I didn't want the algorithm to choose another, but it's outside my typical ER scope of science & nature so I was worried the algorithm would reject me altogether. I've been a fan of Jonathan Kozol since high school, but read most of his books before financial solvency so they aren't in my LT library (which consists of books I own, not books I've read).

>139 qebo: Good for the eagles, and especially the babies!

I'm glad, but not surprised, that the first episode of the Burns/Mukherjee documentary was excellent. I'll watch it online later this week.

Several of my professors during my residency urged me to pursue a critical care medicine fellowship, which would have allowed me to work in a PICU (pediatric ICU). I quickly dismissed the idea, as I saw too many kids die during the two months I rotated in the PICU in the children's hospital on Emory's campus and the times that I had to cover the much smaller PICU in the children's hospital affiliated with Grady, the large public hospital in downtown Atlanta. From talking with my critical care, oncology and emergency medicine colleagues, who see children die in person on a regular basis, and from my own experiences, the death of a child is always a tragedy that disturbs and haunts us for most if not all of our careers. I can vividly remember the first woman I saw die nearly 20 years ago, and it wouldn't take me long to recount the kids I've seen die as well.

>140 qebo: Congratulations on winning The Theft of Memory! I'll be receiving it as well.

I didn't quite get where I wanted to be in March; I'm one magazine short of finishing the March magazines, and that one magazine is Scientific American which I couldn't just zip through in a couple of weekday evenings. And I didn't review the ER book, not to mention a bunch of others.

Work has been... stressful... this week. The sudden new employee of >126 qebo: has become a CRISIS involving multiple conference calls and pressure to make expedient preparations that will have long term consequences. So I've pushed back, and have a bit of space to do things properly, but only a bit. This new employee’s responsibility will be *insert meaningless buzzphrase here*. I inquired about specifics, and... after the bosses snapped at me that it’s obvious... turns out that this new employee actually doesn’t need to coordinate with me, but does need to coordinate with someone else who also has been completely left out of the loop. You might wonder how communication can be so mangled in a company that consists of a half dozen people, but it’s because the bosses have been friends for 40 years. Boss #1 is non-technical, and believes that Boss #2 is the guru of all things technical. Boss #2 is an engineer, but he is more interested in abstract theory than in the nuts and bolts of how things actually work, and has remained oblivious to basics.

>141 kidzdoc: Yeah, I'd expect finding a balance so you remain emotionally engaged but aren't regularly devastated to be difficult for PICU doctors.

That sounds very very stressful. But at least you don't have to work in an eagle's nest.

>144 sibylline: LOL!

>144 sibylline:, >145 lauralkeet: I dunno; it's looking kind of appealing as I prepare for yet another conference call here... though the combination of the skunk and rotting fish, plus the 75 foot height, would probably get to me quickly.

Not a good week, Katherine, by the sounds of things. Here is hopeing that you get to enjoy a relaxing Easter weekend.

I have finally been on the computer at the right time to see the two eaglets! Such fluffy.downy white things! Both mom and dad are off so it looks a bit weird seeing a nest full of dead fish and two babies bobbling around.... Ooops, one of the parents just returned. Feeding time. I now understand how one can get hooked on watching an eaglecam!

Yuck on the work drama. I hope that it all settles down soon.

>147 lkernagh:, >148 banjo123: Work drama is settling. I seized control of asked nicely to be given access to a piece of the puzzle so I could troubleshoot without getting the IT guy involved (his work hours often don’t overlap mine, so we end up communicating by email w/ potential for misinterpretation, and then I have to wait several hours for action) and the problem issue, which was causing boss #2 to panic and declare that a setup 3/4 completed should be scrapped entirely and replaced by his whim du jour, has been resolved.

>149 qebo: - Well done! Nothing works better than taking the bull by its horns and fixing the matter, when you are in a position to do so.

>149 qebo: Way to go, Katherine!

>149 qebo: Catching up on the workplace situation... What a relief; now you can put off moving in with the eagles for awhile. :)

Oh, there will be more rounds of similar. We all have our personalities.
The eagle nest had a swarm of flies today with its piles of dead fish and temperature in the 60s.

Hey, good work there, Katherine! Hope this settles stuff down for a while.

I didn't expect Being Mortal to be such a page-turner.

#14: The Dinosaur Feather by Sissel-Jo Gazan -- (Mar 3)

why now: It was making the rounds in a RL book discussion group, and I had to read it promptly and return it for the next person.

A professor at the University of Copenhagen is murdered in a biologically gruesome manner. For some years he has been engaged in a vitriolic argument with an American professor over the question of whether birds evolved from dinosaurs. A student who loathes him has taken his side for a dissertation that is on the verge of completion, and the American professor is in Copenhagen for a conference. The dinosaurs are the main attraction. The characters are gratuitously weird, and the backstories of student and professor and investigating police officer are plodding, but I chalk this up to a first novel, the author not yet skilled enough to integrate the elements of a story. I’d definitely read another, and it happens that another, again of science and academia, is soon to be published.

#15: Soldier Girls by Helen Thorpe -- (Mar 10)

why now: The March selection for my RL non-fiction book group.

Three women who enlisted in the National Guard pre-9/11, and were deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. Nothing extraordinary about the women, their circumstances, their experiences; and this is the strength of the book, a meticulous recording of decisions made, lives disrupted, bonds formed.

Happy Easter, Katherine.

>158 PaulCranswick: Ah, you've reached Q. Well, you should be done before the day ends in the US.

Well this makes my day: In January, someone smashed the window of my Little Free Library. The weather was lousy and my car was out of commission, so I taped plastic over the cracks and let it be. The weather improved and my car was repaired, but I procrastinated. As I was returning home from a run this evening, I saw an elderly couple standing next to the Little Free Library with the door open. Nice, but unremarkable. Then I got closer, and realized the man had a toolbox and was replacing the window! Said they’d noticed it a few days ago, and he got a plastic scrap for free. An asset to the neighborhood, a roaming fixer-upper.

>160 qebo: Great community story!

Oh that's so nice. Gives me hope for humankind!

How nice!!

That's fantastic!

>160 qebo: - That story is so beautiful!

What a pleasing and reassuring story!

Yesterday evening a rather scroungy young man with tattoos knocked on the front door to ask about the LFL. He was concerned because sometimes he gives books to the LFL and the next day they’re gone. Do the orange dots mean that I accept only certain types of books? Am I rejecting his books, which are mostly science fiction? I assured him there is no censorship, the orange dots are just my way of telling which books I’ve put out and which books are new, and I don’t get much science fiction so it’s not well represented when I organize a variety to put out. He was relieved, said he’d been afraid his books were going into the trash. I’m so glad he asked!

And since his books are gone the next day, seems like there's someone in the neighborhood who likes his donations!

>168 jjmcgaffey: They're gone the next day because I bring all donations inside, and put out a variety as needed. Now that I know there's a science fiction customer, I'll look for some at the library book sale next month.

That is a cool story!

>167 qebo: I'm glad he asked too. There's nothing worse than thinking you've done something nice and then feeling that your efforts have been (quite literally here) trashed.

Because of your experience, I put a note on my Little Free Library's Facebook page telling visitors what happens to the books they donate. Like you, I bring the new books inside and dole them out slowly and in mixed variety. :)

When told this story on the LFL Stewards Facebook page, two people offered to send me boxes of science fiction books. :-)

Such nice LFL stories!

Not a lotta reading going on here. Not entirely sure where all the time is going; life inefficiency I suppose. Outside yard cleanup, but that ends before dark. Community garden bureaucracy has been occupying computer time at idle moments in the day and chunks of the evening that might otherwise include thread visits.

Two more LFLs have shown up on the route between my home and the pottery studio in the last few months.

There's a new LFL set up in the last couple of weeks, on the road just before I get to my (community) garden. Looks like mostly kids books - I haven't yet checked it out.

I could send you a small box SF and F too - a person donated a huge number of sf books to library -- paperbacks too old for putting in collection (not that anyone would read them) but many of them well-regarded. Anyway, they're on sale for 50 cents apiece now, but I doubt they'll go. It's off to Goodwill otherwise. I would pick out the best, of course!

>178 sibylline: Wish I was near you! I love old SF paperbacks...

I didn't expect to win an ER this month since I've fallen behind in ER reviews, but for better or worse I will be getting Among Chimpanzees.

Continuing the poor track record for April...

2011: 1 book
2012: 4 books (actually 2 books and 2 magazines)
2013: 2 books (actually 1 book and 1 magazine)
2014: 3 books
2015: 3 books

... but every year I’ve reached 75 by the end.

>180 qebo: I really think they just don't have enough reviewers for the ER books, because they treat ebooks just like paper books even though they're given out in much higher numbers. I also won another book this month (which I think makes three months in a row), even though I have a lot left to review.

>181 qebo:, I joined this group in 2008. There are years when I read many more than 75, and other years when (like this one) when I wasn't able to reach the goal. No one keeps track. Over the years, we have grown to know and respect each other.

Have a great day. And, thanks for your visits to my thread. It means a lot.

>183 Whisper1: I'm finicky about the number for myself, so I'll catch up, but the pace plummets in April with the arrival of decent weather and evening light and garden prep. I'm mostly on the garden thread these days.

I'm not reading...and not gardening. So, what's my excuse? I'm working on birdwatching, BookCrossing, Little Free Libraries and book festivals. They're all fun!

I seem to win a book a month from ER whether or not I finish my reviews. I guess I have so many books already reviewed that LT figures it has a good chance I might review any given book. Ha!

>185 SqueakyChu: I think I'm in the same boat. I don't win every month, but more often than not - and while I have a lot of reviews (closing in on 1500, on LT) not many of them are for my ER books. And I mostly get ebooks these days, which are much easier for the publishers to give out...

>186 jjmcgaffey:

I'm still hard core paper! :)

>187 SqueakyChu: I'm pretty split. Paper is more engrossing; e is so much more convenient, especially when I'm out and about (though it's also been used because I know I have the book, it's just in a box somewhere...and also on my phone). And I can dive into an ebook and disappear - it just happens less often than with a paper book.

I have to admit early on I decided not to bother with the ER books. If I wasn't so overwhelmed with what is already on my shelves it might be different!

April is turning out to be a massive reading month for me, can't quite understand the how or why of it, 3 audio books might, however. Lots and lots of knitting and listening even into April as winter would not go away! Some big books started in March and a long car ride.

I don't really bother with ER books so much anymore. Like Lucy, I own so many books - many well known to be great books. So why should I bother with books that might or might not be great. Yes, it's adventuresome, but so is reading any book. :) Why not read the ones I own?

>187 SqueakyChu: I've learned not to dislike e books. What I don't like about them most is that I can't recycle them through my Little Free Library when I finish reading them and thereby share my own already-read copy with others. That frustrates me no end! :D