Ellen reads in 2017 - Chapter 1

Welcome friends, new and old! I serve as a university administrator and I live in Seattle with my partner, P, and my tuxedo cat, Abby. This will be my seventh year in the 75ers group, a place I happily call my primary on-line home. My goals for 2017 are to focus less on numbers and more on the reading experience, as in Be. Here. Now. I want to read at least 75 books but I don't want that goal to circumscribe the meaning of my reading: to learn and to enjoy. I want to read more globally and I want to read more nonfiction, especially works that may help me wrap my head around our current national and global status (quo). I want to read the works of marginalized and displaced people, voices that have historically been silenced or minimized.

I will participate in a few challenges, including the Unregulated REREAD Challenge that I myself am hosting, but I reserve the right to whimsically change my mind and read that which presents itself in the moment.

Top Reads in 2016

My Rating Scale:

= Breathtaking. This book touched me in a way that only a perfect book can do.
= A wonderful read, among my favorites of the year.
= A great read; truly enjoyable.
= Not quite great but I'm truly glad I read this.
= A solid read, with a few things done particularly well.
= Average, and life is too short to read average works.
= A bit below average. A waste of time.
= Nearly no redeeming qualities. Really rather bad.
= Among the worst books I've ever read.

Honestly, I'm rarely going to complete any book earning fewer than two stars but I reserve the right to rate them based on my experience.

TENTATIVE plans for 2017

Rachel's Group Read: The Rise of Populism and Related Current Affairs

January/February: THE UNWINDING: An Inner History of the New America by George Packer
April: STRANGERS IN THEIR OWN LAND: Anger and Mourning on the American Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild
June: HILLBILLY ELEGY: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance
August: LISTEN, LIBERAL: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People? by Thomas Frank
October: THE POPULIST EXPLOSION: How the Great Recession Transformed American and European Politics by John B. Judis
December: WHITE TRASH: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg

I'm also thinking I'll finally read The New Jim Crow which has been on my radar for a while.
And I have Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis to read.

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I will host the 2017 Unregulated REREAD Challenge, for which I will reread at least four works.
Some ideas for rereads:
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
The Color Purple by Alice Walker - currently reading
My Name is Asher Lev by Chiam Potok
Indian Killer by Sherman Alexie

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Mark has created his American Author Challenge IV list; here are some initial thoughts:

January- Octavia Butler -- Lilith's Brood -- COMPLETED
February- Stewart O' Nan -- I've had Snow Angels on the TBR shelves for eons.
March- William Styron -- The Confessions of Nat Turner
April- Poetry Month - undecided
May- Zora Neale Hurston
June- Sherman Alexie -- I've read a lot of his work and this may be another candidate for my reread challenge, maybe Indian Killer.
July- James McBride
August- Patricia Highsmith -- The Talented Mr. Ripley and maybe Strangers on a Train and/or The Cry of the Owl
September- Short Story Month
October- Ann Patchett -- Maybe Bel Canto, which is on the TBR shelves.
November- Russell Banks -- I LOVED Cloudsplitter so maybe that will be a reread for me. Or I have Lost Memory of Skin on my shelves.
December- Ernest Hemingway -- Maybe A Moveable Feast

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I have also said that I want to read, more intentionally, books by/about marginalized or oppressed peoples, diaspora, global regions that tend not to get represented in "mainstream" publishing circles. I don't have a clear picture of this yet but it is an intention that will guide my reading selections in 2017. I'm anxious to read A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz.

Three more books that I believe fit into my 2017 plans to read toward greater understanding of the political landscape:

The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: How White People Profit from Identity Politics by George Lipsitz
An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

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In April, I'm hosting the CultureCAT Challenge (gulp). My topic is Religious Diversity & Freedom.
I'm tentatively planning to read Islam: A Very Short Introduction and Judaism: A Very Short Introduction, both editions from the Oxford Very Short Introductions Series.
And maybe A History of God or The Battle for God by Karen Armstrong.

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There are also a handful of authors by whom I have read one or two (or three) works and collected several others. I would like to dig into them in 2017, as well. They include:

Haruki Murakami -- I've read After the Quake.
William Trevor -- I've read The Story of Lucy Gault, The Hill Bachelors, and Felicia's Journey.
Mario Vargas Llosa -- I've read The War at the End of the World.
Penelope Fitzgerald -- I own several but haven't yet read even one.

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Recommendations from an excellent NPR article about fiction works that might help us better understand current events:

Jennifer Haigh's Book Recommendations:

Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock
American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell
Burning Bright by Ron Rash
Preparation for the Next Life by Atticus Lish
World and Town by Gish Jen

Nickolas Butler's Book Recommendations:

Sweetgirl by Travis Mulhauser
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
The Secret Wisdom of the Earth by Christopher Scotton
Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell

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Book Riot Around the Globe in 80 Books which I may use to guide some of my reading

COMPLETED IN JANUARY

1. The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan
2. Nutshell by Ian McEwan
3. Lilith's Brood by Octavia Butler
4. A Serpent's tooth by Craig Johnson audio
5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
6. The Mortifications by Derek Palacio
7. I Will Have Vengeance by Maurizio De Giovanni
8. News of the World by Paulette Jiles
9. Blackballed: The Black & White Politics of Race on America's Campuses by Lawrence Ross

COMPLETED IN FEBRUARY

10. The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain

Personal Reading Challenge: Every winner of the Booker Prize since its inception in 1969
(For some reason, the touchstones won't work for this post.)

1969: P. H. Newby, Something to Answer For
1970: Bernice Rubens, The Elected Member
1970: J. G. Farrell, Troubles (awarded in 2010 as the Lost Man Booker Prize)
1971: V. S. Naipaul, In a Free State
1972: John Berger, G.
1973: J. G. Farrell, The Siege of Krishnapur
1974: Nadine Gordimer, The Conservationist and Stanley Middleton, Holiday
1975: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Heat and Dust
1976: David Storey, Saville
1977: Paul Scott, Staying On
1978: Iris Murdoch, The Sea, The Sea
1979: Penelope Fitzgerald, Offshore
1980: William Golding, Rites of Passage
1981: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children
1982: Thomas Keneally, Schindler's Ark
1983: J. M. Coetzee, Life & Times of Michael K
1984: Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac
1985: Keri Hulme, The Bone People
1986: Kingsley Amis, The Old Devils
1987: Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger
1988: Peter Carey, Oscar and Lucinda
1989: Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day
1990: A. S. Byatt, Possession: A Romance
1991: Ben Okri, The Famished Road
1992: Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient ... and Barry Unsworth, Sacred Hunger
1993: Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
1994: James Kelman, How late it was, how late
1995: Pat Barker, The Ghost Road
1996: Graham Swift, Last Orders
1997: Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things
1998: Ian McEwan, Amsterdam
1999: J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace
2000: Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
2001: Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang
2002: Yann Martel, Life of Pi
2003: DBC Pierre, Vernon God Little
2004: Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty
2005: John Banville, The Sea
2006: Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss
2007: Anne Enright, The Gathering
2008: Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger
2009: Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall
2010: Howard Jacobson, The Finkler Question
2011: Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending
2012: Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies
2013: Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries
2014: Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North
2015: Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings
2016: Paul Beatty, The Sellout

Currently reading:

. .

Currently listening:

Lunar Eclipse

Mt. Rainier National Park

"We are standing on the access road to Paradise.
Seven miles from the gates. We are standing
on the centerline, the moon on our faces, the mountain
at our backs. Were it less than full, we might see,
in its northwest sector, the Land of Snow
and the Ocean of Storms. Because it is full, we can see,
just over our shoulders, how the Ramparts climb up
toward the glaciers. We might see near the Sea
of Showers, the dark-floored crater of Plato.
How the glaciers, just over our shoulders—
Pyramid, Kautz, Nisqually—shine. How the spreading
bedrock shines. As if we are starting again,
we have placed—there—on the moon’s widening shadow
Kepler, Copernicus, Archimedes, Aristoteles.
And opened a Sea of Fertility. A Sea of Nectar.
As if we imagine a harvest.
No sound it seems, on the slopes, in the firs.
Nothing hoots. Nothing calves. Although
through Nisqually’s steep moraine, rocks
must be shifting, grasses cinching their eternal grip.
Look, in the blackness, how the moon’s rim glows,
like a ring from an ancient astrolabe.
We are standing in the roadway. There is nothing
on our faces but the glow of refracted dust.
At our backs, the mountain is shifting, aligning itself
with the passing hours. First ice. Then stone.
Then the ice-green grasses. We are standing
on the centerline aligning ourselves with the earth.
We are standing on the access road as if we imagine
an eternal grip. Look—they are rotating on, now.
Already a pale crescent spreads
past the Known Sea and the Muir Snowfields—
as if we are starting… —past
the Trail of Shadows, the ice-green grasses,
the seas of nectar, the craters of rest,
the gardens of nothing but passing hours."

-Linda Bierds

Posted for me by Mark

Happy reading in 2017, Ellen!

Happy reading 2017, Ellen. I'm looking forward to seeing your readings.

Found you and

Dropping my star, Ellen! A very nice intro.

>11 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita (and Frank!)!

>12 Ameise1: Thanks, Barbara. I'm getting excited about the new year of reading!

>13 Crazymamie: Thanks, Mamie. I don't usually do "intros" but this year I thought I would try something different.

Starred you Ellen!

A new year comin' up, new challenges and opportunities. You've triggered some thoughts already, for which I thank you. Now I've gotta cogitate.

Touched the star.

Happy New Year Thread, Ellen! Looking forward to following your bookish hijinks, in '17! You are one of my favorite bookish people!

>2 EBT1002: LOVE that Best of List! So many great titles! Crazy about those poetry selections.

Happy new year and happy new thread, Ellen!!

Starred!

Hi Ellen--Looking forward to following your reading this year. I lurked on your thread most of last year, and this year I will try to comment occasionally.

I see one of your favorites of last year was Sacred Hunger, and it was one of my favorites when I read it several years ago. There is a sequel that I hope to get to sometime. Also, you are in for a treat when you read The Unwinding. It was one of my favorite books when I read it last year.

Are you also looking forward to snow in Seattle New Year's Eve? Best wishes for the New Year to you and P.

You will have me for company as always, Ellen.

>6 EBT1002: It sometimes does that when the list gets too big!

20 of the Booker winners read is pretty good going. I have managed 24 so far and have all of them on the shelves except the first winner.

I bet Darryl can beat us both?!

Happy New Year, Ellen!

I am part of the group.
I love being part of the group.
I love the friendships bestowed upon my by dint of my membership of this wonderful fellowship.
I love that race and creed and gender and age and sexuality and nationality make absolutely no difference to our being a valued member of the group.

Thank you for also being part of the group.

Welcome back!

I wish you from my heart health, happiness, satisfaction and much exciting read in 2017. May all your wishes come true.


from my hometown Zürich, Switzerland

Happy New Year! (dropping a star)

Dropping my star! I'm not participating in a lot of the challenges this year unless they fit some of the books I've been wanting to get around to reading. I just needed a little more freedom this year. Looking forward to seeing what you select.

I get so many book bullets from you, Ellen. I like your plan to read more intentionally this year. I am a Free Spirit this year but I'm pretty sure I'll be doing some shared reads here and there.

Happy New Reading Year!

Happy New Year almost. :-)

nice to have you starred already.

i may have to say things about your choice of Hillbilly elegy. hillbillies are shredding it and i will try to persuade you to read NBA short list winner STRANGERS IN THEIR OWN LAND: Anger and Mourning on the American Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild as well as or instead of Vance's book. would you mind?

Happy New Year Ellen!!!

Hello Ellen - Happy New Year and new thread. Your 2017 plans look good, and I've just reserved the George Packer book.

Hi Ellen,
Looks like you have some great reading planned, and I am looking forward to seeing how you go on.
Best wishes for 2017

Looking forward to spending another book-filled year, with a special friend. I hope we can Meet-Up at some point too. We are due!

Hope you have a wonderful 2017!

Happy New Year, Ellen. I hope your year is filled with peace, laughter and lots of good books.

Happy New Year, Ellen! I'm looking forward to learning more about your reading plans in 2017.

Happy New Year Ellen!

Happy New Year, Ellen! (Starring your thread)

Hi, Ellen! Happy new year!

Hello Ellen, hope you have a great time reading your challenges this year, in your new chair.

Happy New Year to you and P!

Scattering stardust and pulling up a chair.

Love that poem! My women's hiking group has campground reservations at a lake in southern Idaho for the full lunar eclipse in September solar eclipse in August 2017.

Edited for stupidity. :-)

Your reading plans look really interesting!

Oops, came here ages ago to announce my arrival to 2017 group, and got distracted by your reread challenge thread. :) Occupational hazard!

Happy new year!

Hi Ellen! Happy New Year to you and P. Dropping off a star. Beautiful poem at >8 EBT1002:. One of these days We are going to get back there with the kids.

I dropped a star here without stopping to say hello. How rude of me. Hello and Happy New Year to you and P. I love following your reading and pondering your thoughtful comments, Ellen. I also plan to do a bit of rereading this year as the mood strikes me. I don't recall being disappointed with any book I've gone back to. I hope that trend continues.

1. The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan




I binge-read this novel on New Year's Day, sitting in my new reading chair and enjoying the dusting of snow outside.

Set primarily in Delhi, it starts with the terrorist bombing of a market that results in the deaths of, among others, two young brothers and the injury of their friend. The novel follows that surviving boy as he navigates the aftermath of the event as well as both sets of parents. Interweaving narratives of grief, confused identity, and the human need to belong to something that matters, the novel is both a compassionate examination of individuals trying to cope and an unflinching illustration of the dehumanizing impact of political systems.

Sounds like a good start into the new reading year. Unfortunately there is no copy available for me.

Better late than never! Dropping a star for the new year! It should be fun. Go Hawks!

Sorry about the Huskies. They put a good fight!

Happy New Year Ellen!!

Got you starred

Great first read, Ellen. I also liked The Association of Small Bombs. And I got your package today. THANK YOU - what riches. I'm going to go and play with my new books now.

I hope your new year is starting strong.

Sorry for taking so long to get to your thread, Ellen. Eventually I hope to get to The Association of Small Bombs. I got it out of the library before Christmas, but did not get a chance to read it. Brr - it is really icy here! Happy New Year to you!

Great new thread Ellen!

Happy New Year, Ellen! Sorry for the late greeting, but I've finally finished with my Christmas and New Year's Day work stretch and now have time to make the rounds.

Nice review of The Association of Small Bombs. I bought it when I visited Shakespeare & Company in Paris in September, and hopefully I'll get to it later this year.

I look forward to reading several books alongside you this year. Sorry that I wasn't able to get to A Strangeness in My Mind last month, though.

I just read your review of Strangeness in My Mind on your previous thread. I agree with your assessment of Pamuk. I think it is clear from the two books of his that I have read that he loves Istanbul. A Turkish friend of mine told me ten years ago and Pamuk is just a cranky old man. I think that in recent interviews he is fearful that Turkey is turning a more conservative corner. He is becoming more and more outspoken in his political views as a result. I have My Name is Red on my shelves and I should take the time to read it, but somehow it keeps getting pushed back in the pile.

So how is the new reading chair? I love the idea of your "binge" reading in it. How wonderful!

>47 EBT1002: yum, binge reading in a comfy chair on new years day. Sounds perfect. And the book sounds pretty good too, your review paints a marvellous picture.

Finally found you! EBT1002 didn't work, but Ellen did! And I starred your re-read thread, too. Happy 2017!

Good morning, Ellen.

Before I start responding to individual posts, I thought I'd catch everyone up. Life has been hectic but good. After binge-reading on New Year's Day in my new chair (which I LOVE), I returned to a very busy winter quarter at work. Given some of my responsibilities, I expect it to be an intense several weeks/months. But later in January I go to Tampa for a training institute, so I'm looking forward to that travel (and reading time on the plane!).

I've been reading a fair amount: have completed the first two books in Lilith's Brood, which I am also loving, and I'm now reading Nutshell by Ian McEwan which is brilliant.

It has been freezing-ass cold here in Seattle but I have gone for some lovely early morning runs in low 20s (F) temps. And of course, we're going to home games of the Huskies women's basketball team and watching on tv when they are on the road.

I passed my one-year anniversary of my stroke and I'm feeling good.

I really appreciate all the visits to my new thread!

Oh, and Go Seahawks!

>15 SandDune: Hi Rhian! Thanks for your visit and your star; I'm looking forward to another wonderful reading year!

>16 weird_O: Hey Bill! I'm glad my early plans for the year triggered some cogitating for you. :-)
Happy New Year!

>17 msf59: Hi Mark and Happy New Year to you, as well! I'm also looking forward to bookish hijinks in the coming year. We'll need them, I think.

I have you to thank for nudging me to explore poetry, something I had simply not done before you dedicated a month to it in the 2015 AAC. Now I have two books of poetry in my amazon shopping cart and I'm trying to decide which American poet to read in April (I'm going on memory here rather than hopping threads to check -- methinks April is poetry month in your AAC).

>18 Carmenere: Thanks, Lynda! Happy New Year to you, as well!

>19 katiekrug: Hi Katie and thanks for starring my thread!

Hi Ellen, I'm dropping my star and look forward to lots of great book talk here and bring on the bookish hijinks!

>20 arubabookwoman: Hi Deborah! So nice to see you. Truly, you are welcome to lurk (I know my thread can get busy sometimes) but I also look forward to any comments you may decide to post. I value your perspective on reading. I don't think I realized that there was a sequel to Sacred Hunger; that is something to which I would dedicate some reading time. And I expect to start reading The Unwinding in the next week or so. I need to finish both Nutshell and Lilith's Brood and I need to read Ancillary Justice for my F2F book group, but then I think I can turn my attention to Packer's work. Of course, it is something I expect to read in bursts, intermingling it with some fiction.

>21 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! I'm so glad you plan to continue to hang out with me. You know I will do my best to keep up with your threads.

I am confident that Darryl has read more of the Booker winners than either of us have but I do hope to make a dent in that list this year. I don't own all of them, not nearly so, but it would be a good start for me to read the ones I do own. I know that Possession and Offshore and Disgrace are on my shelves. There are probably a few others, as well.

>22 DianaNL: and >23 The_Hibernator: Thank you for the New Year's wishes, Diana and Rachel!

>24 PaulCranswick: Paul, your sentiments exactly mirror my own. This group is incalculably valuable to me and it is our care, curiosity, and respect for one another (in addition to our passion for books, of course!) that make this group such a cherished home.

>25 drneutron: Thank you, Jim ~~ and THANK YOU for setting up the 75ers group every year!

>26 Ameise1: Thank you, Barbara. I extend the same New Year's wishes to you and yours.

>27 ronincats: Thank you, Roni!

>28 thornton37814: Lori, you're doing what I always say I'm going to do, which is participate in fewer challenges so I am free to read more as my current desire directs me. We'll see how I balance the enticement of the challenges with my goal of Being. Here. Now. more in the coming year. :-)

>29 Donna828: Hi Donna! Free spirit or not, I'm always pleased when you visit and I, too, find your thread to be book bullet territory. Happy New Year to you!

>30 mirrordrum: AAARRRGHHH! I just wrote a really long response to your post, and then I decided to cut it and repost it as a solo post and I lost it! I'll try to recreate it but I know it won't be as good as my original work.

Damn.

~~stay tuned for more on this post~~

>30 mirrordrum: Ellie, you may always encourage me to read something! I value your perspective and I am honestly hoping that my 2017 reading will expand my understanding broadly. I do plan to read Strangers in Their Own Land (in fact, it's on the agenda for April, after which I will read Hillbilly Elegy in June). I can well imagine that those who identify as hillbillies might have a reaction to the title of the book and possible perceived condescension. My family has roots in Appalachia so, while I myself have never lived in the region, I have a warm soft spot for it in my heart.

My reading in 2017 is planned to expand my understanding in both directions, if you will. That is, I do want to read works that will help me understand the experience and worldview of those who feel so disenfranchised that they would want someone like Trump in the White House (where he won't actually be, but you know what I mean). I also want to read more to understand the experience and worldview of people who have been disenfranchised and feel disconnected with the academy and other institutions of our society.

As I was writing the post that I lost (grr), I realized that I feel like I sit in an odd place. I hold privilege in many ways, based in my race, education, access to financial resources, and physical and mental abilities. But, as a woman and a queer-identified individual, I also understand the experience of being oppressed, harassed, or marginalized. So, I feel like I'm in the middle (in the center?) and I want to understand those who are in more polarized positions. (As I write that, I suspect that my opinions, values, and beliefs are not "in the middle" but my position in society feels very much that way).

So, challenge me, question me, nudge me ~~ as long as it's grounded in respect and kindness (and your posts always are!), I welcome the discussion.

Sure enough, this post is not nearly as fabulous as the one I lost. But it's the best I can do for now.
Rats.

>31 thearlybirdy: Thanks earlybirdy! Happy New Year to you, as well.

>32 susanj67: Thanks, Susan. I think the Packer work will be thought-provoking.

>33 Eyejaybee: Thanks, James! Best wishes to you for the coming year, as well!

>34 msf59: Hi Mark and Happy New Year to you, as well, my friend. I definitely hope that 2017 brings a meet up for us. We are overdue and I would so enjoy sharing a couple of brews and some good book chat with you!

>35 ChelleBearss: Thank you, Chelle! Wonderful 2017 to you, as well!

>36 BLBera: Thank you so much, Beth. I extend the very same wishes to you for the coming year: peace, laughter, and lots of good books. :-)

>37 rosalita: Thank you, Julia. I look forward to connecting more in 2017.
By the way, I'm reminded that you're in West Branch, IA. I lived in Iowa City for one year back in the early 90s.....

>38 luvamystery65: Thanks, Ro! Happy New Year to you, as well!

>39 tymfos: Thanks, Terri!

>40 scaifea: Thanks, Amber!

>41 charl08: Thanks, Charlotte. So far the new chair is SO wonderful! I think I'll spend a lot of time there this year.

>42 streamsong: Janet, your trip in Idaho for the lunar eclipse sounds wonderful! I didn't even realize there was a lunar eclipse coming up in 2017. Maybe I'll look at that date and see if we can do something to be somewhere fun to see it.

Okay, I'm not quite all caught up but the Seahawks are about to start and our friend just arrived. I need to go be a gracious host. More later!

Good evening, Ellen. Hope you had a good Saturday.

>21 PaulCranswick:, >63 EBT1002: By my count I've read 23 Booker Prize winners, so I'm alongside the two of you.

>72 kidzdoc: That surprised me Darryl as I didn't honestly think I would be leading you on that particular count.

Have a great weekend dear Ellen.

>42 streamsong: >69 EBT1002: Uh oh - face red - It's actually a total solar eclipse in August that the hiking group is working on camping reservations. Good thing I'm not in charge of the reservations, huh!

Somehow that lovely poem bewitched my mind! (Not that I'm getting old or anything)

Video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IniJ6zgUXZ4

Like you, Ellen, I have a few unread Booker Prize winners on my shelf. If my tags are up-to-date, it looks like I have read 20 winners.

Congratulations on whizzing past the anniversary of your stroke in good health. I think it's awesome how you have promoted stroke awareness on your thread.

Hope your having a good Sunday, Ellen.

Whoohooo! I finally found your thread, Ellen. Starred you so I don't lose you again.

Happy Sunday!

I'm glad to hear your 2017 is off to a good start, Ellen. And most importantly that your health continues to be good. I hope all your sportsy teams won this weekend!

I did some binge reading this weekend as well. Also in my Stressless Recliner. I love that chair. I am reading the fantasy series Queen of the Tearling and loving it. Now on book 2 Invasion of the Tearling. Next up will be Fate of the Tearling. Pure escapist reading for this cold snowy weekend before the beginning of the semester.

Good morning, Ellen.

Hi there, Ellen! So glad you rated Association of Small Bombs so highly. For a small book it certainly packs a lot of punch.

Ellen--Just trying to stay current here. Congrats on your one-year post-stroke anniversary and the amazing new reading chair!

>43 carlym: Thanks, carlym ~~ and I checked out your profile. I see you're a cat lover. Welcome!

>44 LovingLit: Occupational hazard, indeed, Megan, but you're welcome whenever you get here. The reread challenge has distracted me a bit, too. I think keeping up with it as well as this, my home thread will be a challenge for me this year!

>45 nittnut: Hi Jenn and welcome! I love that poem that Mark posted for me. It makes me want to go back to Rainier, too. Of course, I can get there in about two hours... *feels lucky*

>46 Donna828: Hi Donna! Thanks for dropping off your star and I look forward to seeing you over on the reread thread. Happy New Year to you, as well!

>48 Ameise1: That's too bad that you can't get a copy of The Association of Small Bombs, Barbara. Hopefully it will be available in your part of the world before too long. It's a good read.

>49 brodiew2: Hi Brodie! Trust me, I haven't even gotten off the starting blocks with regards to everyone's new threads for the new year. So, your visit is welcome anytime! I didn't expect the Huskies to knock off the Crimson Tide, so I'm not too disappointed. Honestly, I'd rather lose with Chris Peterson than win with Nick Saban any day of the week. And, my Huskies women's basketball team is having an awesome year, so most of my sports attention is focused on them. They/we have the nation's leading scorer in Kelsey Plum AND the nation's leading rebounder in Chantel Osahor. It's fun team to be following. And, of course, I'll cheer for the Seahawks as long as they stay in it. :-)

>50 SuziQoregon: Thanks, Juli, and Happy New Year to you, as well! I hope we can muster a Portland meetup in 2017.

>51 BLBera: Hi Beth. It was your warbling that motivated me to put The Association of Small Bombs on hold, and to prioritize reading it when it came my way! I'm glad the package arrived safely. Enjoy!

>52 vancouverdeb: Hi Deb and no worries about being "late" to my thread. I am off to a very slow start this new year, both in keeping up with my own thread and in getting around to others'. I haven't even yet done my annual New Year's posts and it's already the second week of 2017!

And yes, we are coming off a very cold spell in our part of the world! It felt like our furnace was working a lot in the past couple of weeks and poor little Abby was just sitting in front of the heat vent. Her old bones get cold easily.....

>53 mdoris: Thanks Mary and thanks for stopping by!

>54 kidzdoc: Hi Darryl and thank you for the New Year's rooster! I still haven't made the rounds to others' threads so there is no need for apology here. I look forward to your visits whenever they occur and I absolutely look forward to some good shared reads and book conversation this year. I'll be interested in how you like A Strangeness in My Mind whenever you get to that, too. I think you would find it to be a worthwhile read.

>55 benitastrnad: Hello Benita! I have Snow on the shelves and would like to read that sometime in 2017. I think Turkey is an interesting, and perhaps an alarming region of the world right now. But almost all regions feel alarming right now..... I do love it when an author's love of a place comes through so palpably in their work.

>56 mdoris: Mary, I LOVE my new reading chair! I need to spend some time in it with my laptop, rather than a book, so I can catch up around here. But I am already spending a lot of time in it reading and it's incredibly comfortable. A photo of me sitting in it will be posted eventually....

>57 LovingLit: It was one of the best New Years' Days I've had in a long time, Megan. Binge-reading in my new chair was just the thing for it!

>58 Berly: I'm glad you found me, Kim! And thank you. Happy 2017 to you, as well!

>59 thearlybirdy: Good morning to you, as well, earlybird. Of course, it's a few mornings later that I'm finally getting around to returning your greeting.... but it's no less heartfelt. :-)

>62 DeltaQueen50: Hi Judy and thanks for visiting my thread! I, too, am looking forward to some delightful bookish hijinks in the coming year!

>71 thearlybirdy: Now I'm late responding to your good evening greetings! Well, consider them returned nonetheless.

>72 kidzdoc: and >73 PaulCranswick: Yep, we are all in the same ballpark. I would like to make some headway in my total Booker winner reads. Perhaps I'll take one with me to Tampa later this month.

>74 streamsong: LOL -- thanks for the clarification and correction, Janet. Depending on when P has her hip replacement surgery, we may get out into the wilds in August to see that eclipse.

>75 Donna828: Hi Donna. If you've read 20 Booker winners, you're right along pace with Darryl, Paul, and myself. I am hesitant to even hint at another challenge or goal for myself for this year, but I'd like to read at least three or four more in 2017.

>76 thearlybirdy: Thanks, earlybirdy! My Sunday was quite good ~~ I got my haircut and then went for a 40-minute run in 38F and rain. Did some reading, went to the women's basketball game, came home and did some more reading.....

>77 cameling: Caro!!! It's so great to see you!! Welcome, welcome, welcome! Once I get myself together, I will come find your thread, as well.

>78 rosalita: Thanks Julia. Both the Seahawks and the Huskies women's basketball teams won, so I had a good weekend in the sports realm. Also, I read Nutshell (more about that later) and it was my first five-star read for the year. I have promised myself that I'm going to be more stingy with high ratings ~~ I think I should be giving out more threes than fours ~~ but this novel by Ian McEwan is a masterpiece.

>79 benitastrnad: Benita, our F2F book group read Queen of the Tearling last year, I think. It's one that I didn't actually get around to reading but it seems loved by those who have done so.
Isn't the Stressless chair the BEST!!??

>80 thearlybirdy: good morning, earlybirdy. Thanks for all your little visits to my thread!

>81 Carmenere: Hi Lynda. Yes, I thought The Association of Small Bombs was a poignant and courageous book. Well worth reading and quite quick, too!

>82 Berly: Hi Kim. I'm already hopelessly behind on threads.... Still, thank you for stopping by!

OK, you convinced me. I'm going to reserve Nutshell to add to my already embarrassing number of holds.

I'm glad I'm not the only one far behind with my new year wishes. Either I am getting slow, or the threads are insanely active this year.

>91 BLBera: Excellent decision, Beth. It's a quick read, if that brings any comfort.... (probably not, I know)

I know for me it's that I've spent less time trying to get on-boarded for the new year. I've spent a lot of time reading in my new chair, and I've been making sure I get my runs in, and I've been to a couple of movies. We saw and loved Moonlight. We also saw Rogue One and the 3D effects were fun, the story was entertaining (the Imperialists were Trump and his ilk, in my view), but the formula has perhaps lost some of its shine.

I hope your semester is off to a good start.

Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal bt Jeanette Winterson is also one of my top 2016 reads.

Happy New Year of great reading Ellen!

Hi Ellen,

Just found this thread and am dropping a star. I was off to a rather late start myself, due to technical difficulties. Another small hiccup today but I think it's resolved now, once and for all so I expect to settle in.

I have been contemplating about a new chair lately. Many years ago, I bought one of those lovely round Papasan chairs from Pier I Imports, with a matching footstool. But I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've actually sat in it because my 2 cats staked their claim early... well, you know how that goes. But it's a new year, now, so who knows. A little *me* space may be in order....

Ellen, I'm so happy to hear that The Chair lives up to its expectations - so full of fabulous, that! I bet you can't help but grin every time you sit in it.

And Nutshell was a five star read for you!! I have that one out from the library - it was a Katie's Dirty Dozen pick, so I am excited to get to it.

Wishing for you a week full of fabulous and a year full of happy.

Hi Ellen,
I see you are quite a busy lady this year with lots of great reading goals/plans. Noticed (above) you are wanting to read "... the works of marginalized and displaced people..." and I have a suggestion for you, if you haven't already read it. Our book club just read Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. She is a beautiful writer and this book impressed all of us. It's about Bengali immigrants in the US and the difficulties of being uprooted from one culture and making a new life on what to them is a piece of "unaccustomed earth". I imagine the issues and hardships are not very unlike other immigrant situations. Lahiri has written this is a short story format, but they are all related and tends to read like a novel. It's fiction, but has autobiographical tones.

I'll peek in from time to time. Love to see what you are reading and thinking :-)

Hi, Ellen! Glad to see you pop back in and get caught up. We have missed you. Glad to see you have been enjoying the books.

I NEED to get to Nutshell.

Looking forward to seeing what you think of Blackballed, which I read when it first came out. I found it compelling and depressing (simultaneously) but also a bit repetitive and sometimes too polemical to really work. Also awaiting your verdict on the anthology edited by Jesmyn Ward, which I have sitting here.

I do recommend The Round House, though I'd question how much it explains the election results. It's a beautiful, poignant story about marginalized people, certainly, but not really about the Trump phenomenon or that part of Middle America. But DO read it; it's wonderful.

I'm going to read Evicted this month (hopefully; I just started it) and will read Sacred Hunger later this year, so am glad to see both on your best of 2016 list.

So many books; so little time. Plus, my now-recuperating friend keeps wanting me to watch football. I escaped home to leave him to watch Clemson v. Alabama, while I finished off a novel and read some more of my bio of Jonathan Swift!!

hi Ellen! I am late to your thread, but happy New Year! it sounds like you are getting good use of your new chair.

>96 -Cee-: seconding anything and everything by Jhumpa Lahiri!

Good morning, Ellen.

Hi Ellen, tracked you down. Will be peeking round the door from time to time.

I starred you but didn't visit because the threads just took off. Amazing and hard to even attempt to get caught up. Interesting reading plans you have outlined. Good to hear that you passed your one year stroke anniversary with flying colours and are enjoying your stressless chair.

Hello Ellen!

Managed to stop in to visit before you moved on to a second thread! Wishing you good reading, and lots of time in that new chair.

Aaarrgghhh - just popped across for a quick look and got hit by the BB! the association of small bombs goes straight onto the WL. It sounds really interesting.

>66 EBT1002: I'm also interested in books about those that have been marginalized, especially ones like Evicted and Hillbilly Elegy. But I'm not in a place right now to read them. They would be too heartbreaking and I wouldn't be able to finish them. Perhaps later in the year. My challenge for myself, since I did so much comfort re-reading last year, is that I must read one new book for every re-read.

Off to the library to pick up some books, Nutshell among them.

Finally stopping by to drop my star. Loving reading about your new comfy chair - does it get any better than that? The only thing that beats that is a healthy 1 year anniversary since your stroke. Brava!

Also excited about your reading plans for the year. Will happily check back here for your insight.

..." Honestly, I'd rather lose with Chris Peterson than win with Nick Saban any day of the week. Amen, Sister! I was happy to see Clemson take him down a peg.

Joining with Suzanne's comments about The Round house. Read it this year for my RL book group. Liked it, but not sure how it fits with the rest of your reading scheme.

Wishing you lots of great reading in 2017!

Good morning, Ellen.

2. Nutshell by Ian McEwan




"I've heard it argued that long ago pain begat consciousness. To avoid serious damage a simple creature needs to evolve the whips and goads of a subjective loop, of a felt experience. Not just a red warning light in the head -- who's there to see it? -- but a sting, an ache, a throb that hurts. Adversity forced awareness on us, and it works, it bites us when we go too near the fire, when we love too hard. Those felt sensations are the beginning of the invention of the self. And if that works, why not feel disgust for shit, fearing the cliff edge and strangers, remembering insults and favours, liking sex and food? God said, Let there be pain. And there was poetry. Eventually."

Our unnamed narrator is a miraculously articulate and knowledgeable fetus, very near term, who hears his mother and her boyfriend plotting the murder of the fetus' father who is also his mother's husband, her boyfriend's brother. It's a short novel and it ends just in time to avoid going too far. Lyrical, humorous, ironic, delightful. Perfect.

3. Lilith's Brood by Octavia Butler




"The Human Contradiction again. The Contradiction, it was more often called among the Oankali. Intelligence and hierarchical behavior. It was fascinating, seductive, and lethal. It had brought humans to their final war."

Three short novels combine to create one long one. In the final war, the Americans and the Russians nearly destroyed the earth and brought humans to near extinction. A few surviving humans are rescued by the Oankali, an extraterrestrial race of beings who acquire other species through reproductive combination, salvaging the best of the species and blending it with their own life-loving curiosity. Lilith is the human chosen by the Oankali to regain her fertility and begin the process of creating a new race of beings.

Originally published in the 1980s, this trilogy is timely in the current era. Butler exposes human foibles but also our strengths. She messes with gender in ways that were radical at the time and still interesting today. She describes other worlds and fantastic creatures vividly, and she creates just enough suspense to keep the pages turning. The characters, human and Oankali, are compassionately developed and the speculative aspects are intriguing. I'm not a huge reader of science fiction and I loved this trilogy. Definitely recommended.

>93 Whisper1: I think Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? is one of my all-time favorite memoirs, Linda. Happy New Year to you, as well!

>94 jessibud2: Hi Shelley! I'm glad your technical difficulties are getting resolved. I have been WAY busier in the first part of this new year than I expected. Working on a college campus, I should have anticipated this. There is a lot going on right now.

I love the story about your cats taking over the new chair. Abby doesn't seem to have taken to my new chair at all. She doesn't even seem to like my lap when I'm in it. She will sit there but the angle seems to be less than, um, perfect. On the other hand, we've been spoiling her with a heating pad on another chair. Her old bones are always hungry for warmth! Anyway, it is a splurge and may require saving up for it, but I absolutely recommend the Stressless line for reading chairs. It's a true luxury.

>95 Crazymamie: I just posted my review of Nutshell and while I was there I saw your review, Mamie. I'm glad you loved it as much as I did. I know Darryl thought the cute-ish comments went a bit too far but I thoroughly enjoyed them.

And thank you for the Peanuts picture! I still love Peanuts.

Go Seahawks! I have the game on, my friend.

I am also well into the audio of Nutshell. My LT friends know their stuff: this is terrific!

>96 -Cee-: Cee! It's so good to see you. I must go in search of your thread (although honestly I have been terrible about making time to visit others' threads so far this new year).

Thanks for the recommendation of Unaccustomed Earth. I happen to have it on my TBR shelves and now I will add it to my read-soon plans. I also appreciate you giving me a sense of the meaning of the title; it adds to my interest. I read The Namesake eons ago and I remember loving it.

>97 msf59: Hi Mark! I do hope these first 11 days of 2017 are not predictive of what the year will be like in terms of my time management. I've been reading, that's for sure (and I'm so glad your AAC nudged me to finally read Lilith's Brood!), but have had very little time for LT. I'm flying to Tampa next Wednesday for what I expect to be a very busy conference, but I do hope to have some LT time in the evenings back in my hotel room.

>98 Chatterbox: Hi Suzanne! My reading of Blackballed is almost done; I've been reading it at work which means during lunch breaks (ha) and sometimes in the morning when I'm eating my yogurt and muesli. My reaction is similar to yours: it's interesting and I'm learning from it, but it's a bit repetitive and sometimes too polemical. I need to get back to the anthology by Ward. The first two essays, especially the second one, were excellent.

I'll definitely read The Round House if only because I generally love Erdrich's work. It will go toward my goal of reading more disenfranchised voices rather than understanding the Trump phenomenon, per se. (I do want to understand the dynamics that led to his election but I have to say, the way things are unfolding, I DO NOT and WILL NOT ever understand how anyone could be happy with him as our leader.)

My sports distraction right now is college women's basketball. Right now I'm "watching" the Seahawks getting outplayed by the Falcons, but I can "do LT' while watching football; I can't divide my attention that way when my Huskies women are on. :-)

>99 banjo123: Hi Rhonda and Happy New Year to you, as well. Yes. I love my new chair. It feels like my favorite thing right now.

>100 lauralkeet: :-) Maybe I'll take Unaccustomed Earth with me to Tampa next week.

>101 thearlybirdy: Good morning Birdy!

>102 Caroline_McElwee: Hi Caroline and welcome! Peeking round the door is a great way to manage the social aspect of LT. :-)

>103 Familyhistorian: Hi Meg. Thanks for stopping by. Honestly, I don't feel like my thread has taken off because I, myself, have not been able to visit very often. But I know it's all relative. I may not be on my second or third thread of the year like some of our most prolific friends, but I also know that my thread can be a busy corner of LT. Mostly I hope I can find time to visit some other folks' threads!

>104 brodiew2: Hi Brodie! I expect you are currently watching the Seahawks. The Falcons just scored their field goal, are up 12-10. That penalty on our runback really hurt.

>105 laytonwoman3rd: Hi Linda! I'm nowhere near starting my second thread yet, but I appreciate you stopping by in any case. I need to get a photo of myself in my new chair to post here.

>106 PrueGallagher: Sorry about the book bullet, Prue. (not) But I think you'll be glad you acquired and read the association of small bombs.

>107 Morphidae: Morphy, I totally understand the need to titrate one's reading, especially when the reading is emotionally challenging. We all do what we can at the pace we can. Reading is, for so many of us, the ultimate comfort and escape; certainly for me, reading was my refuge as a child. So, I need to sustain and protect that function while also using it to help me understand the world beyond my boundaries. It is a balance. Always.

Sorry not sorry, huh? ;)
BBs are like that.
The Round House I wanna read, also Nutshell, and Evicted.....Sigh. One day!

>108 BLBera: Enjoy Nutshell, Beth! I hope you like it!

>109 michigantrumpet: Hi Marianne. It's great to see you here. Thanks for the kind words about my chair and my stroke anniversary. I'm trying hard to take good care of myself. Managing stress continues to be the difficult facet of my self-care dynamic.

I've added The Round House to my wish list. I think it does fit into my reading scheme as her voice would certainly qualify as representing a disenfranchised community. That, and my scheme is flexible. As I said to Morphy above, I want to read to challenge my world view but I also want to maintain reading as a comfort and a joy.

>110 thearlybirdy: Good morning, Birdy! Have I mentioned how much I love your brief little visits?

>114 msf59: Hi Mark! I'm sort of watching the game but I fear that the Atlanta offense is just too powerful. Sigh. But I'm glad you're enjoying Nutshell. I'm curious about how the narration of a fetus' voice is mastered. I may have to check out the sample on Audible.

>118 LovingLit: Exactly, Megan. I can't imagine any of us sincerely apologizing for hitting someone with a book bullet. We love books and we love sharing books. :-)

I started read The Color Purple the other day and I'm enjoying it. This is a reread; I read it when it was first published.

I brought home my copy of The Unwinding and will begin reading it next.

On Wednesday, I fly to Tampa for a training institute. I'm pretty excited about the institute itself, although I'm sorry to be away from my campus during the events surrounding the inauguration. I expect there to be a lot of activity and I wish I could be around to support the staff and students, depending on what the activity actually is. It's not just the inauguration (although that is loaded enough, from all angles) but the College Republicans invited Milo Yiannopoulis to speak on inauguration day ~~ the invitation was issued over the summer when they, along with most of us, expected a different dynamic to be in play. But you can imagine the emotional tenor on campus right now. It's been intense and difficult with lots of bidirectional finger-pointing.

Anyway, I'm excited about the institute and, as always, excited about the reading time such travel will afford me. I will take The Unwinding with me, along with a book about leadership from the Assistant/Associate Vice President role. And I'll take a couple of fiction works but I'm not sure which ones yet. I'm thinking about Unaccustomed Earth.

The Round House would definitely fit into your reading goals for the year, Ellen. The novel addresses the problem of rape on reservations and how difficult it is to prosecute. The novel is one of her better recent ones, I think. I've been using it in class recently, so I've read it several times, and it holds up to rereading really well.

Hi Beth. We cross-posted. I was just over on your thread whining about the book bullets. :-)

>121 EBT1002: Have a great trip. Glad to see I'm not the only one to take multiple books with me on my travels. Some books should get their own frequent travel miles!

I hope I can find a bookstore within walking distance of my hotel in Tampa.

I'm sort of watching the Seahawks game. The injuries have really hurt Seattle.

>124 michigantrumpet: Thanks Marianne! Wouldn't it be great if we could get additional travel miles for our books!

Tonight we're going to see "Hidden Figures." Tomorrow we're planning to drive up to the Skagit Valley to see the bald eagles and stop at the Bread Farm (can you say Cherry-Lemon Bread?).

I'm hoping to see Hidden Figures soon. Hope you like it!

>125 EBT1002: That is the sentiment of a true LTer. I think we see cities different that most, judging them by their bookstores.

>111 EBT1002: I am surprised that Nutshell was overlooked by the Bookers. Reactions to it in the group have been generally very positive.

>129 Familyhistorian: The world mapped out in terms of its bookstores would be worth seeing.

>127 EBT1002: Cherry-Lemon Bread sounds amazing. *skitters off to do the google-foo for a recipe*

Oh, we went to see Hidden Figures yesterday afternoon and it is EXCELLENT. Enjoy!!

Oh, I want to see Hidden Figures, too. Great idea for tomorrow.

>123 EBT1002: Heh heh. It's only fair. I've been eying the books you sent me, as well as the 12 library books teetering.

Too bad about your Seahawks.

The Round House is a book I got for Christmas and think I could handle. Perhaps a group read in February?

>128 drneutron: It was excellent, Jim! More about it in a moment.

>129 Familyhistorian: I agree, Meg. Any time I visit a new city, I want to see if I can find at least one indie bookstore.

>130 PaulCranswick: Good point, Paul, about Nutshell: A Novel and the Booker prize.

I have this image of a map of the world with all the bookstores noted with a gold star or a green dot or something. What fun!

>131 laytonwoman3rd: Linda, the cherry-lemon bread from the Bread Farm in Edison, WA, is a five-star treat. It is not a sweet bread as its name might suggest. But it is absolutely delicious. I wonder if you can find a close approximation recipe on the internet....

>132 ronincats: I agree, Roni. I give Hidden Figures the movie five stars!

>133 BLBera: As you can already see, Beth, I'm enthusiastic about Hidden Figures the movie. It was excellent. More about it in a moment (that is actually why I got on my laptop just now -- I wanted to post some comments about the film).

I was disappointed about the Seahawks but not terribly. They have had a very up-and-down season and, regardless, I'm trying to keep all things sports in their appropriate proportional level of importance. Ha.

>134 Morphidae: I don't yet have a copy of The Round House, Morphy, but I'd be very interested in a group read. I'm sure I can get my hands on a copy.... heh. I can purchase it as one of my Thingaversary seven! :-)
So that's a yes.

As I've mentioned, P and I went to see Hidden Figures at the cinema this evening. It was a packed theater (they sold out last night) and well deserving of the audience it's attracting. It was five stars EXCELLENT!! It had lots of feel-good moments, funny scenes and sweet scenes, and just the right amount of suspense. And it illustrated very effectively the daily humiliations that the three brilliant and courageous African-American women faced, the interpersonal dismissals and diminishments, the minimizations and jealousies of their contributions to the space program, the real impact of Jim Crow segregation. I wept at the end, partially because it was a moving film and partly because it tapped into my sadness at the direction our country is heading. Still, it wasn't a downer at all. It was just real. Go see it. You'll be glad you did.

Enjoy Florida, if possible , Ellen. I know even here in Canada causes problems . An Alberta University was going to host Kelly Anne Conway for some sort of speech, but the protest against it caused it to be cancelled. Just fine by me! :)

>137 EBT1002: it comes here mid-Feb Ellen, and is on the list to see. You are the third person who has rated it highly on LT threads I read.

>137 EBT1002: - I agree 100% about the film Hidden Figures. My movie-going seems to go in fits and starts. Sometimes there seems to be nothing in the theatres that interests me at all, for months, while at other times, there are many. I saw 4 films in the past 2 weeks and this one was the best, easily. I would actually like to read the book, for more depth and detail into the lives and times of these remarkable women. I hope this film gets a lot of attention at the Oscars. It is certainly deserving

>112 EBT1002: Wonderful review of Lilith's Brood, Ellen. That's going to be my next Butler.

have a good and productive trip to Tampa. I hope you find that bookstore!

Morning, Ellen. I'm glad you liked Hidden Figures.

>138 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deb. I will enjoy Florida and trust my colleagues to support the campus here regardless of what happens. Milo is a divisive character who admittedly thrives on attention. His "show" is fed by hecklers and protesters; without them he is just boring. Unfortunately, he is hard to ignore which would be the best approach to his toxic presentation.

I attended a really excellent panel of attorneys on our campus last week -- about speech and counter-speech. During Q&A there was question about the Millennial generation, noting that they have statistically grown up in a more diverse milieu than any US generation before them (diverse classrooms, after-school activities, etc.) but they are also quick to assert the desire for censorship of words or ideas. This is apparently paradoxical. The lawyers' response was that the Millennial generation is not being taught about the first amendment. They know it exists but due to the elimination of Civics classes, for example, they are not being taught about the nuances of free expression, the pros and cons, the history, the risks associated with it, the fact that free speech is an experiment. It doesn't just exist. It exists because we decided at some point that it would be a critical underpinning of our democracy. And it comes with responsibilities and risks. The panel was fascinating and I plan to email the moderator and ask for some recommended readings for a non-lawyer to more deeply engage with the dynamics of free expression.

>139 Caroline_McElwee: I'm glad you're planning to see it, Caroline!

>140 jessibud2: I'm the same way, Shelley, and honestly my life is so busy that I miss a lot of movies I'd like to see. We've seen three movies in the past couple of weeks and that is a LOT for us. Moonlight was very good, Rogue One was fine, and Hidden Figures was THE BEST. We still plan to see Fences.

>141 rosalita: Thanks Julia. I hope you enjoy Lilith's Brood. As a retired English professor friend of mine said, Butler had our number ("our" being humans). I agree.

>142 thearlybirdy: Morning Birdy! I encourage you to see Hidden Figures if you have not yet done so! I'm sure it's playing in Atlanta. :-)

>143 EBT1002: The panel was fascinating and I plan to email the moderator and ask for some recommended readings for a non-lawyer to more deeply engage with the dynamics of free expression.

Please share Ellen. TIA ;-)

Free speech. Such a thorny subject. The neo-nasty group in Whitefish applied for a parade permit for a James Earl Ray parade on MLK day. That turns my stomach. The permit was denied as being 'incomplete' and the parade has been delayed, probably because they have other plans for inauguration week.

I loved your review of Hidden Figures. I'll definitely plan on seeing it. We've come a long way since a few years ago when Spielberg's move Red Tails came out and flopped since theater owners didn't believe a movie about blacks could uh (excuse me) take off and fly. It was a great movie, if you haven't seen it.

>144 EBT1002: - I also saw Loving, which was good, Collateral Beauty, which was so-so, and another I am blanking on, at the moment. Another I really want to see, hopefully this week, is Lion. I read the book (A Long Way Home) by Saroo Brierley and the book was excellent. The film is getting a lot of buzz, too, so I am hopeful

>143 EBT1002: Ellen, I would be interested in any recommendations for reading. That is a gap I can work to fill in my English classes. We did talk about the First Amendment last semester, and most students were surprised to find that about 60 percent of Americans are willing to give up some of their First Amendment rights to be safe.

We had some good discussions.

>134 Morphidae: Do we need to start a thread to get on drneutron's list?

>148 BLBera: "...most students were surprised to find that about 60 percent of Americans are willing to give up some of their First Amendment rights to be safe..."

I'm stunned. If you give up your rights, you do NOT become "safe," no matter what they tell you.

>137 EBT1002: Excellent movie review, Ellen. I'm currently listening to Hidden Figures and plan to see the movie when I finish the book. Enjoy the warmer weather in Tampa. We are going to be in Clearwater Beach mid-February visiting friends. Can't wait.

Oh, I have been wanting to see Hidden Figures.

4. A Serpent's tooth by Craig Johnson
Audiobook




Another enjoyable installment in the Walt Longmire series. George Guidall's narration is as stellar as ever. The boy Cord is a fun character and the continuing relationship between Walt and Vic is a welcome plot addition to the mystery.

>145 luvamystery65: Roberta, I will absolutely share any recommendations I get regarding good non-lawyer reading about free speech!

>146 streamsong: Hi Janet. One thing the lawyers (one who was the first woman president of the ACLU and one who is the current president of same group) kept saying is that asking the government, or any institution to silence someone else's offensive speech is to open the door for progressive censorship. They said the best antidote to speech is counter-speech. After all, do we want any state agency to decide what any of us gets to say? Who gets to decide? I don't want our current (incoming) administration to silence anybody.

They were giving out wonderful bumper stickers: "Nobody trumps the constitution!"

I will see about getting my hands on the movie Red Tails. Thanks for the suggestion!

>147 jessibud2: Oh Shelley, I forgot about Loving! I really want to see that. It may be too late for the big screen but I'll get it through streaming (once I teach myself how to do that).

I knew you'd love the movie, Ellen. So good!

>148 BLBera: I'll definitely share any recommendations I get, Beth.

"...most students were surprised to find that about 60 percent of Americans are willing to give up some of their First Amendment rights to be safe." That is, to me, actually rather scary. It resonates with our current cultural leanings but I think it's a slippery slope and I think the freedom to express oneself without physically harming or directly threatening another should be absolutely sacred.

>149 Morphidae: I'll start a thread, Morphy, and we'll see who joins us. I don't know exactly when in February I'll read it, but creating the thread will help "ping" me.

I, too, am stunned and I wholeheartedly agree that giving up our voice in no way makes us safer. If anything, it leaves us vulnerable to governmental power and oppression.

>150 Donna828: Hi Donna. Seeing the movie made me want to read Hidden Figures. I'll be interested in how it's landing on you as an audiobook.

Thanks for the good wishes for Tampa. Honestly, I expect to have very little free time but I'll enjoy it anyway. :-)

>151 banjo123: Rhonda. Go see it! It made me laugh and cry and everything in between!

>154 ronincats: You were spot on, Roni!

Our day in the Skagit Valley was delightful. A cold day with blue skies and sunshine. We walked along Padilla Bay for a couple of miles and saw lots of Trumpeter Swans and Snow Geese. And we saw dozens of Bald Eagles!!
There is one tree where they congregate; at one moment I counted 14 eagles sitting in this single tree. Several of them were juveniles. We also saw a mature eagle steal dinner catch from a juvenile and take it to another (presumably her or his) juvenile in the tree. It was amazing!

Yes, those are all Bald Eagles!

And we brought home a loaf of the sour cherry lemon bread from the Bread Farm in Edison. I found this recipe on the internet apparently inspired by the Bread Farm's loaf.

>160 EBT1002: Sounds interesting. I haven't bothered trying to keep a starter on hand for years. I keep thinking I'll start back, but I haven't done it yet.

Oh, that bread recipe sounds wonderful. I've got it bookmarked. And I've been thinking about trying to maintain sourdough starter again recently--l love sourdough bread.

The bread sounds great, Ellen. And the eagles, wonderful. It sounds like a lovely day.

>155 EBT1002: When people talk about willingness to support suppression of the first amendment, it's usually other people's words they are willing to suppress.

>161 thornton37814: I've only baked bread once in my life, Lori, but P is an occasional baker. I posted the link in case anyone wanted to explore. I do recall that the one time I baked bread it seemed like a miracle (the bread, not the fact that I baked it!).

>162 ronincats: I adore sourdough bread, too, Roni. You know, I don't know that I would have said the sour cherry lemon bread from the Bread Farm was made with a sourdough base but perhaps it is. It's certainly yummy!

>163 BLBera: It was indeed a lovely day, Beth. Today we went to a park near our house where I ran while P walked. Then we went out to lunch and to a new-to-us cinema to see "Loving." Another excellent film! We've been on a mini-film binge and it's been fun!

>164 ffortsa: Just so, Judy. Just so.

Wow! what awesome pics from your walk! What a beautiful piece of the world you have so close to you! Glad Nutshell was a 5 star read for you. I just loved that little fetus too!

>160 EBT1002: Thanks for the link, Ellen. That bread sounds phenomenal. All the recipes I found were for quick breads, and I'm not equipped for the sour dough regime anyway. I went to three stores before I found the dried cherries, but now I am going to try one of the quick bread recipes.

Beautiful photos of the eagles.

Like other comments above, I think some history teaching might help the freedom of speech debate - compulsory case study about 'reds under the bed' paranoia and blacklisting maybe? But then I would be pro history!

Love the photos of the eagles.

I need to get to Hidden Figures soon.

Have a good trip to Florida

>166 Carmenere: I feel incredibly lucky to have such things as eagles-by-the-dozen with a couple hours' drive of home, Lynda. Of course, today is much more typical of January in Seattle: very gray, very rainy, mid-40s. Did I mention very gray? The sky is LOW. But I had the day off. I went for a refreshing run this morning, saw my shrink, got a manicure, ran some errands, made a batch of spaghetti sauce, vacuumed the house.... It has been a good Ellen day!

>167 laytonwoman3rd: You're welcome, Linda. I will be interested to hear how the quick bread recipe you're trying comes out. I am, myself, much more of a quick bread baker than sourdough or other yeast-requiring efforts. But I'm a very appreciative consumer when someone else makes bread for me!

>168 charl08: I'm with you, Charlotte. I think we have got to teach history in order to protect our future!

I had an interesting (to me) thought on my run this morning. I don't think any American is hankering to give up freedom. But we clearly have different views about which constitutional rights most ardently protect that freedom. For me, freedom of expression is primary, with freedom of the press and freedom of assembly in a close second and third. For others, the right to bear arms is paramount to ensure a sense of security from a potentially repressive government. Perhaps this goes in the "duh" category, but, as a proponent of gun safety laws, I just gained a wee bit of empathy for the "from my cold dead hands" contingent. My stance has always been that we are not planning to take away your right to bear arms, just put some protections around it ~~ and I'm confident our founders did not have assault rifles in mind when they crafted the second amendment to our constitution. But I suppose someone else might say that they are not intending to gut my right to free speech, but just build some protections around it. If one feels that this right, this single right is the most fundamental thing ensuring freedom in a world full of tyrants, well, that reassurance might not bring the comfort intended.

>169 SuziQoregon: I'm glad you like the eagles, Juli! And YES to going to see Hidden Figures. And, if you haven't yet seen Loving, I recommend that as well. Very powerful.

Hi Ellen! *waves* I somehow keep missing you around here.

5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker




I read this for my Unregulated Reread Challenge and I'm so glad I did! I had read it when I was in graduate school, probably around 1985 (it was first published in 1982), just as I was both coming out and coming to a greater awareness of issues of race and gender in our country. Honestly, three decades later I did not remember the story at all but I did remember it having a powerful emotional impact on me. The same occurred this time albeit somewhat tempered by age and temper (both mine).

Celie is a young girl growing up in the American South during the first half of the 20th century (I think); she is raped by her father and quickly married off to an older man whom she neither loves nor trusts. Her beloved sister Nettie, who refuses to become an additional sexual plaything for Celie's husband, leaves home and disappears into the decades. Told through Celie's letters to God and later to Nettie, as well as Nettie's letters to Celie - none of which are delivered in either direction - the story steadily collects interesting characters, most notably Shug Avery. An old girlfriend of Celie's husband, Shug comes to stay and becomes the longed for love object not only of Mr. ____ (as Celie's husband is known, although Shug calls him Albert) but of Celie herself. Shug is her own woman and she unapologetically follows her heart and speaks her mind. She teaches Celie about love and sex and the world. Odd alliances develop in her wake and healing occurs even within some of the most heartless relationships. That this occurs without sacrificing Celie's dignity speaks to Ms. Walker's talent and craft as a writer.

Meanwhile, Nettie has traveled to Africa with two missionaries and their two children. Her narrative of the Olinka tribe's clash with destructive British colonists provides an unblinking illustration of the contradictions and confusions when a people who have sold their own to the white men as slaves are later run over, literally, by the white man's empire-building machine.

The voices are pitch-perfect and resonant and the narrative unfolds at a pace that mirrors the emotional weight of the story. The denouement as these two sisters' journeys begin to converge is poignant and surprisingly satisfying. Highly recommended.

Up Next:



I started listening to this today for our face-to-face book group. It is a chunkster with over 30 hours of narration and 45 chapters. If I average one chapter per day I can finish in about a month and half!

>171 EBT1002: It always seems that it's the other guy's rights to their free speech, or the practice of their religion, etc. that are acceptable to proscribe. It's whatever threatens YOU that should be curtailed, and very few people think of how that might affect them in the future. When it's suddenly your speech or religion or sexuality or even your right to bear arms that is targeted, the bill of rights takes on a whole different aspect. Fear of the unknown or different is the grease on that slippery slope to an over-controlled society.

(Enough preaching, Judy. You're among friends.)

Up next in traditional format:



I started reading this with my coffee this morning and plan to take it on the plane with me tomorrow along with...



I'll allow myself one additional fiction work to take with me but I don't expect to have a lot of reading time other than on the two travel days.

>176 ffortsa: I wholeheartedly agree, Judy (with both your sentiments and your reminder to yourself that you are among friends, because indeed you are!).

We had a few overt Nazi flyers posted on our campus over the three-day weekend. It is chilling to see the content of these posters (and, of course, they are anonymously posted). But I don't believe censorship is the antidote.

>173 brodiew2: Hi Brodie! Probably you're just missing me because you don't recognize me since I took down the huge 12 flag out front. :-)

Okay, apropos of nothing but in keeping with the theme of freedom, Martina McBride's song "Independence Day" just came on my random playlist. I haven't heard this in a while and it makes me want to grab a microphonehairbrush and dance around the house singing.

Yes, I am alone. P will be home in a while.

Good review of The Colour Purple! I read that quite a few years ago and remember it being quite powerful

>157 EBT1002: >158 EBT1002: LOVE the eagles, Ellen! We are starting to see more bald eagles, in the Chicago area. Yah!

Good review of The Color Purple. I am due a reread too. It has been 30-plus years. Loved the film too.

Hooray for News of the World. I just lent a friend/ co-worker the book and he LOVED it.

>165 EBT1002: Your bread may not have been sourdough, Ellen. The page you referenced had the recipe both for regular and sourdough versions, as well as information about sourdough starter. It has been decades since I had any starter! Glad you are having a lovely day off!

>181 ChelleBearss: Thanks, Chelle. I had been thinking about rereading it for a while. I'm glad my reread challenge nudged me off the cliff.

>182 msf59: The eagles are amazing, Mark. I'm so glad we humans didn't manage to send them over the brink into extinction. They seem to be making a decent comeback and their territory appears to be expanding. Yay!

I've only read the first chapter of News of the World but I'll read more this evening and a lot more on the plane tomorrow. I am glad I read Empire of the Summer Moon recently as I think it provides some context for the underlying premise.

>183 ronincats: Ah, that makes sense, Roni.
I am usually pretty good at picking up that sourdough, um, sourness. :-)
Which I love, by the way.

How is P doing?

Safe travels, Ellen. I can't wait to hear what you think of News of the World.

>185 Morphidae: Thanks for asking, Morphy. She is well, although almost desperate to retire. She has never been enthusiastic about her work (I think she is better at it than she thinks she is). Both of us are discouraged about the current affairs but keeping our heads up. It's hard for her when I'm gone for several days as is about to happen; she has to be only-mom for Abby and Abby is a bit of an attention hog.

>186 BLBera: Thanks, Beth, on both counts.

Just a reminder, Ellen. The Australian Open just started.

Great review, Ellen; it may be time to revisit The Color Purple for me too. It's a wonderful book.

I had thought I'd read the six books to understand the election, but I started one and just couldn't do it. I might be able to handle Hillbilly Elegy later this year, but I'm not reading politics right now.

I'm looking forward to some re-reads, perhaps starting in March. I've always been a re-reader, although much less so since joining LT.

Like you, too, I want to read more deeply and be less concerned about the numbers this year.

Have a safe and happy trip.

Ellen, thank you so much for posting about The Bread Farm Bakery in Edison. My brother and sister-in-law live in Mount Vernon and when we go down there to visit we often take drives and explore the area. Edison sounds like a perfect place for the four of us to explore and I will be sure to drop into that bakery!

I am glad that you enjoyed your re-read of The Color Purple.

Hi Ellen--Just catching up here. Sorry about the Seahawks. : (

I am on the waitlist for Nutshell. Totally jealous of the great movies you've been seeing.

>174 EBT1002: It is years since I read The Color Purple Ellen, but I've read it a couple of times. It will have to go on the reread pile sometime. Such wonderful characters, if a heartbreaking story. Happy travels.

>171 EBT1002: I have been thinking along similair paterns, Ellen.
I think some of the Obama protesters 8 years ago were just as afraid for a black man in charge as many others (me included) are afraid of Trump now...

Hi Ellen! I'm a little ahead of you in the Walt Longmire series. All I have left to read is the most recent release, An Obvious Fact, and the short story collection Wait for Signs. Maybe now I can get back to my Agatha Christie publication order reading project!

The Color Purple is one of those books I've been meaning to read for decades. Thanks for the review - clearly I must get to it sooner rather than later.

I read The Color Purple for the first time last year (I know, I know ... how did I miss it?) It's as good as everyone says it is.
Have a good trip, Ellen.

>111 EBT1002: Will listen to that one later this year. I'm really looking forward to it.

Beautiful photos.

Wishing you a safe journey.

Due to Mark's warbling, I went and dug my copy of News of the World out of the box it was in. I won't get to it this month, but it will be close at hand so when it calls to me I can grab it.

>188 BLBera: I keep meaning to post on your thread to ask if you're watching, Beth! The Kerber match last night was quite exciting!

>189 Matke: Hi Gail! I'm glad you enjoyed my review and I'll be interested in how The Color Purple works for you if you do decide to reread it later this year.

I brought The Unwinding with me but I dedicated my whole plane ride to an ER fiction read. I do plan to read some of the politics but I totally understand the need to titrate one's exposure. I was flipping through channels here in my hotel room and I just skipped right on past anything that was about the inauguration prep. Ugh.

>190 DeltaQueen50: Oh Judy, I'm so glad I posted. Edison is a tiny little town but the Bread Farm is absolutely worth a stop! It is beautiful territory.

>191 Berly: Hey Kim! You know, I'm not all that heartbroken about the Seahawks. I would have loved for them to win but I am definitely keeping it all in perspective. It's been a fun movie binge for us! I still want to see Manchester By the Sea....

>192 Caroline_McElwee: The Color Purple is a heartbreaking story, Caroline, I agree. But with some optimism and redemption, too ~~ at least more than I expected!

>193 FAMeulstee: I think you're right, Anita. And I was thinking earlier today about that fear after some social media postings in response to some overt Nazi propaganda that was posted on our campus over the MLK weekend -- someone said "Left safespaces are no more," and I just don't get the hostility. I get that we disagree but we're not actually trying to deport anyone or deprive them of their civil rights.... but it seems to be felt the same. Sigh.

>194 cbl_tn: Hi Carrie. Your Agatha Christie publication order project sounds wonderful! Reading all of them in the order in which they were published..... what a great personal challenge.

>195 SuziQoregon: Oh yes, Juli, if you've not read The Color Purple, I do recommend shoehorning it in. Keep in mind its publication date as you read and I predict that you'll be impressed and appreciative.

>196 lauralkeet: I'm glad you read and enjoyed The Color Purple (no matter when that finally occurred), Laura. And I'm glad my comments are generating a bit of interest in this LT neighborhood. :-)

>197 Ameise1: Listening to Nutshell on audio would be very interesting, Barbara. I hope you enjoy it when you get to it.

>198 benitastrnad: I decided to leave News of the World at home as it is a library book, Benita. But it was hard to do -- the first two chapters are already engrossing. But I wanted to bring along a book I could leave behind.

SO ~~~ on that note, here is my book (plus) update:

I read a good bit of The Mortifications by Derek Palacio today. I received this as an ER edition a few months ago and I'm just now getting around to reading it. So far, it's quite interesting.

Some of you may know that I was born and raised in central Florida so the taxi ride from airport to hotel was rather fun. The terrain is just so viscerally familiar and there was a lovely Florida sunset. My next two days are very tightly packed with this institute but I'll try to check in a wee bit. And I plan to keep reading The Mortifications so I can leave it here when I depart on Sunday.

>199 EBT1002: - Just be prepared. Manchester by the Sea is a very sad film. Gorgeous cinematography but grim-sad (there are moments of humour in it, though)

>203 jessibud2: Thanks for the tip, Shelley. The person who recommended it to me also said it was very hard to watch but absolutely worth it. I don't think P wants to see it so I might even go by myself after this institute is done on Saturday (I don't fly home until Sunday).

I'll be interested to hear your comments about The Mortifications, Ellen. I've seen mixed reviews here.

I hope you have some free time at your conference.

I've watched a little. I watched Andy Murray give a clinic today, and I saw some of Rafa's first match. The problem is that I have to make myself go to bed, or I can't get up and teach in the morning. Sigh.

Yeah, it's kind of nice being on the west coast during the Aussie Open. The matches are just a bit earlier in the evening and I can usually make myself go to bed after I've watched a couple of women's matches (which are usually scheduled first).

Happy conferencing, Ellen! I liked your thoughts on your reread of The Color Purple - I just read that one for the first time back in 2011 or so, and it made an impact on me, too. I knew the story, as I had seen the film when it came out, but the writing in the book is so much bigger than the movie, even though the movie is very well done. I remember I read the library copy, and then had to go out and get my own keeper copy when I had finished it.

I also like your thoughts up there in >171 EBT1002:

Butler is great - I haven't read the Lilith books but another set, Parable of the Talents. Parable of the Sower images from which have lingered in my mind a long time. Sadly too, the ideas and images don't seem as far-fetched as once did. -- Say - that if you haven't paid your police and fire subscription they will just let your house burn down. That sort of thing.

Hiya, Ellen!

So glad to hear your positive reaction to the Hidden Figures movie. It's in my future. I loved the book, and can recommend it, especially since you loved the movie.

Daughter Becca is reading the Chernow Hamilton book, too, and really liking it. We all are loving tha Chernow and his book are getting all this recognition after Miranda's adaptation. Becca also is very proud that Miranda went to her school (Wesleyan in Connecticut). Apparently "In the Heights", his first, was originally a student project there. (He graduated before she got there, so she didn't get a chance to know him).

So, how late did you stay up watching tennis? I actually got to see the last two sets of Nadal's match when I got up this morning.

What a shocker that Istomin beat Djokovic -- although I thought he was playing really well. I just wasn't sure he would be able to keep it up over five sets.

HI Ellen,
Did you see this cartoon in the Nyer? I thought of you and your wonderful new reading chair. This made me laugh!

Good morning, Ellen. I hope you've been having a good week.

Ellen, The Color Purple sounds like a very successful reread for you. I have some good memories of both the book and the movie. I think News of the World will make your flight to Tampa a good one.

I am still listening to Hidden Figures. While I enjoy it, I almost wish I was reading the print version. I think some of the mathematical and aerodynamics subject matter is going right over my head. I tend to absorb difficult material better when I read it...

>207 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie and thanks! Te conference has been super intense and super intensive -- today was an 11-hour day -- but worth it. I've learned a lot and I have a new enthusiasm for my particular role at the university. I haven't gotten much reading done but I sort of expected that. Tomorrow (Saturday) the conference ends around noon and I plan to trek on foot to two bookstores within a couple of miles of my hotel.

I'm glad you appreciated my thoughts in >171 EBT1002:. I had feared that they got a bit lost in the thread madness.

>208 sibylline: I just might read more Butler, Lucy. I think she was a great speculative writer although perhaps not science fiction, per se.

>209 jnwelch: Hey Joe! I am thinking I might listen to Hidden Figures (once I work my way through the massive Hamilton). I think you'll enjoy the movie. It will take you through the ups and downs of emotions but is not as intense as, say, Loving. I love that Becca has a connection to Miranda! The small arts world....

>210 BLBera: I stayed up WAY too late last night, Beth, but I admit that I stopped watching and tried to just read. FB has been sucking me in and it is a huge waste of time. But it helps me feel a bit less alone in my current despair, I suppose. But I have to remind myself that I really don't want to lose hours of time.

Also, I have not been paying as much attention to the men's singles as I sometimes do. Right now I'm watching to see if Cibulkova can pull this out. It's the third set and she is down 3-2 (on serve). It might be that Makarova's breaks have motivated her.

>211 mdoris: Mary, that is hilarious! And I'm a psychologist, too! :-D

>212 thearlybirdy: Hey Birdy! My week has been intense but good. As long as I stay away from television coverage of today's events....

>213 Donna828: Hi Donna. Yes, I am very happy to have reread The Color Purple. I decided not to bring News of the World with me and I look forward to picking it up again when I return. I am almost through reading The Mortifications for Early Reviewers and am trying to decide how I feel/what I think about it.

Hmm, that is a good point about listening to Hidden Figures rather than reading it. It may depend on whether I can just let the mathematical and aerodynamics subject matter just go over my head and focus on the heart of the story. But I, too, comprehend and absorb complex material much better when I can read it.

Hi Ellen - We are watching together right now, I imagine. I didn't turn on the TV today. My daughter is participating in a woman's march tomorrow. I have to force myself not to dwell on it, but it is hard. It's nice to know I'm not alone.

Good to see that you are happy being busy, Ellen.

Keeping busy will probably enable you not to think too much about politics. xx

Morning, Ellen! I'm happy to hear that the conference is a good one for you, and I'm completely jealous of your bookstore trek today...

Happy Weekend, Ellen!

Hope you have a good one, my friend. I'm glad you're getting some time after the intense conference to do some book-trekking.

On my weekend rounds of the various threads. So heartened by your >143 EBT1002: discussion over the First Amendment. I would so love to have seen that presentation. You don't think it was taped at all, do you?

I heartily agree with the particular concern over the lack of civics training. I am constantly amazed by the lack of knowledge about very basic concepts about governance. An educated populace is one of the safeguards of our democracy.

I have a dear friend -- a lawyer who has opposed me in court innumerable times, with grace, ardor, brilliance and humor. But nothing could have made me love or respect him more than at his actions at the 2005 funeral for his Green Beret son who was killed in action in Afghanistan.

The hateful Westboro Church appeared to protest ("Thank God for IEDS", "God Hates F*gs") claiming this was God's alleged retribution for the USA's tolerant acceptance of LGBTQ. Utterly sickening. Sentiments which horrified my friend.

A large group of Hell's Angels arrived from New Hampshire, intending to rough up the Westboro Church protestors. Ernie, all the while grieving his son, went over to speak with them all. He thanked them profusely for their support. But, he said, his son loved the USA, democracy and it's Constitution. First and foremost, he died so that the Westboro Church could indeed make their protest. That they could do so was what made America Great. He begged the Hell's Angels to honor his son by standing for what his son stood for.

What an awesome man.

I liked what was said about the best antidote for speech is counter speech. See this about what happened in MArblehead that day:

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jun/28/nation/na-funeral28

Wishing you a great weekend, Ellen!

>220 michigantrumpet: Amen, Marianne. Great link.

I hope you have a great weekend, Ellen.

>220 michigantrumpet: I'm very impressed with your friend, Marianne.

De-lurking to say Happy Weekend. I hope you're doing something relaxing and renewing.

>216 BLBera: I watched a bit last night but turned out the light early-ish. I had just fallen asleep when my phone rang -- there was a shooting on our campus last night. One man transported to hospital, still in critical condition. Suspect in custody. I don't believe either are students but it was associated with the protests around the inauguration and, of course, Milo Yiannopoulos' scheduled talk. I was up pretty much all night monitoring the news, providing support and reassurance to staff, etc., from a distance. It is going to be an ugly few weeks. Needless to say, I'm wiped out today. I wish I could participate in one of the marches. I watched some of the coverage and the mobilization is pretty amazing.

I saw something about one of Trump's people (it was on the bottom line on CNN and I didn't catch who it is) tweeted that women already have equal rights and equal pay (be damned the data), and "what do you want, free mani/pedis?" How is it that they don't get that this is EXACTLY the kind of condescension and minimization that Will. Not. Help. We are not simpering little girls worried about our nails. First, start treating us like adults. Then we'll see if we can get somewhere.

Whew. Sorry. I didn't quite know how pissed off I was about that.

>217 PaulCranswick: I wish being busy would distract me from politics, Paul! You can tell from my post to Beth, above, how angry I am. I didn't even tell you all about the NOT HELPFUL tweet from our new US President when he heard that someone had been shot at my campus. Prayers for the injured? Nah. Concern for the healing of the community? Nope. Divisive baloney about anarchists causing trouble "out there"? Yep. Thanks, Mr. President. Very helpful.

>224 EBT1002: Ellen, very sorry to hear about the incident at UW. How difficult it must be to deal with that from a distance, too.

Fortunately this is a safe place to be angry. Hugs to you.

>218 scaifea: My bookstore trek was really great, Amber. Just what I needed. It was warmer out than I am used to but it was also lovely. The bookstore had a rather meager selection but I managed to purchase a couple of gems:
Milk and Honey by rupi kaur (poems)
I Will Have Vengeance by Maurizio De Giovanni.

Of course, it turns out I already have a copy of the latter. Oh well. I'm not walking back. I'll leave it in the room and hope that one of the hotel staff enjoy it!

>219 jnwelch: Thanks Joe. The conference was indeed intense but across the board fabulous! I have made some new professional connections, learned A LOT, and become clearer that I love my job and don't want to pursue any kind of next-step opportunity. At least not for now. That clarity feels really good although I suspect that P will be a bit disappointed as she keeps hoping I'll get that next-step job (along with that next-step paycheck) and she'll be able to retire.

>220 michigantrumpet: Marianne, your friend Ernie sounds amazing!!! Thank you for sharing that story. It is the kind of modeling and reminding that I think we all need right now. And thank you for the link. We must hold onto hope - while voicing our dissent with the current administration's actions and policies (for those of us who disagree; I know not everyone does).

Also, I just want to say to people -- all people -- "stop calling one another names. Just stop it." Sigh.

I do believe they recorded the panel discussion, as luck would have it. I don't have the link yet but when I do, I will post it. I believe they turned off the recording when the Q&A started but the panel part will be a worthwhile watch.

>221 BLBera: I agree. It's a great link.

>222 thearlybirdy: Hi Birdy. I'm impressed with Marianne's friend, too!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Does anyone else have the loose association to that old sit com whenever they type "222" to respond to the two hundred twenty-second post on their thread? Or is that just me? I think it was called "Room 222."

>223 nittnut: Thanks, Jenn. I don't know that I'd call this weekend relaxing, exactly, but it has been rewarding and now I'm ensconced in my hotel room with a glass of wine and my laptop. I may not go out again until 6am (ugh) when I have to head to the airport.

>226 lauralkeet: Thanks, Laura. It is hard to be so far away. I felt badly "abandoning" the campus when so much was going on but my boss, who is awesome, really encouraged me to come - and to Be Here. I have gotten so much out of this institute, but I wish I were there to help with post-trauma response planning. I am participating via email to the degree that I can.

And thanks for the reminder that this is safe space for anger. That tweet by the Trump staffer just sent me over the edge. It's SO classically what we are talking about and he appears to have no freaking idea.

Hi Ellen - So sorry to hear about the shooting on your campus. Ugh. The comment disregarding any data is par for the course so far. I hope that changes.

I have lots of friends and my daughter marching today. It sounds fabulous.

>224 EBT1002:, 225 - Yikes, that sounds awful, what happened on your campus. I hope the victim survives.
It is mind-boggling that trump could respond in such a crass manner. Not surprising, I suppose, given what we already know of him and his personality, but still, I just can't think of another word to describe him, but crass. Well, that's not exactly true, I can think of plenty of words, but will honour your request not to call names.
It's very troubling.

>230 BLBera: Actually, Beth, the comment regarding data was my own editorial addition. He just said we have equal rights and equal pay, what do we want, free mani/pedis.

Estimated 130K marched in Seattle today. I would have loved to have been there!

>231 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley. Yes, we are still very much hoping for the victim's full recovery. The shooter reportedly turned himself in to police a few hours after the incident. So at least that is good.

Ellen, I am so sorry about the shooting on your campus. This whole business of Trump being President is so surreal! I just cannot believe he is the president of the USA! I know you've had bad presidents in the past, but I think Trump takes it to a entirely new level. I was reading on CTV here in Canada that Trump accuses the media of lying about crowd sizes at his inauguration http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/trump-accuses-media-of-lying-about-crowd-size-1.3250... . It beggars belief. My biggest comfort yesterday is that while walking the dog, I ran into a fellow who also walks his two dogs and is well educated and anti - Trump. We had a wonderful 45 minute conversation about our HUGE * misgivings* about Trump. Many of my family and friends are not that political - my husband is - but he is working his 11 hour days so I have hardly seen him this weekend.

It's such a comfort to talk to like minded people about Trump. One scary dude, to say the least.

Sorry to hear about the shooting at your school and the stress you are under. Hope you got to enjoy your trip some!

Have you thought about unplugging from news and news sources just for a day or even a weekend? To take care of yourself?

6. The Mortifications by Derek Palacio






I received an advance reader's edition of this novel in exchange for an honest review. And honestly, I have mixed reactions to it. It's the story of Ulises and Isabel, son and daughter of Uxbal and Soledad. Soledad flees Cuba with the two children via the 1980s Mariel boat-lift; Uxbal refuses to accompany her, choosing to stay and resist the repressive government. Soledad, Ulises, and Isabel end up in Connecticut where Ulises improbably becomes a tobacco farmer, Isabel pursues religious orders, and Soledad finds another love. In her pursuit of the monastery, Isabel disappears entirely from the others' lives and when Soledad develops cancer, the family is gradually and irresistibly drawn back toward Cuba and the aging Uxbal.

Certainly this is a story of emigration and exile, family and religious fervor. But themes having to do with the corporal body and its relation to the soul emerge as well, along with those of isolation and community. Palacio provides some insight into Cuban history and culture but the characters unfold somewhat awkwardly and I never fully appreciated the shifts between realism and the vaguely mystical tone the narrative sometimes adopts. At one point Ulises, who is described but only briefly depicted as a voracious reader, is studying The Oresteia and I suspect that Aeschylus' tale holds some symbolic connection. My curiosity about the variety of possible allusions imbedded within the novel led me to Tennyson's beautiful poem, "Ulysses," the final stanza of which moved me deeply:

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Therein I do see Palacio's themes. I suspect I don't appreciate the nuances of this novel as much as some might, but I do still recommend it as a thoughtful and interesting read. Rated R, in case that matters.

>233 vancouverdeb: Hi Deb! It has been an intense few days, that is for sure. I also saw the press secretary's diatribe about the "inaccurate" estimates of attendees at the inauguration and the various marches today. I had several reactions, including a renewed conviction that freedom of the press is right up there with freedom of speech and freedom to assemble peaceably. I also thought it was a rather trivial thing, in the grand scheme of things, for our new leader of the (still) free world to worry about on his first day in office. Stop trying to convince us of how popular you are and get to work. Not that I want him doing much, when I think about it.... I also liked it when the guy said that no one had any numbers and then begun to provide some estimated numbers. Whatever.

Anyway, yes to finding like-minded folks. Today was a good day when you think about the global solidarity the marches illustrated. I know he has his fans but there is a huge groundswell of activism (I hope).

>234 ChelleBearss: Thanks Chelle. Today's walk about the town was fun and refreshing!
And I did get to a bookstore! :-)

>235 Morphidae: Hey Morphy. Your suggestion is an excellent one. I did need to stay tuned in to the news to track what was happening back in Seattle and today I spent a big chunk of time watching various bits of news coverage of the marches around the country. Honestly, that was cathartic and uplifting for me. AND tomorrow is a travel day (I have to get up at 5am to get to the airport) so I will be unplugged. This will be a good thing for me. :-)

Hi Ellen--I heard about the shooting on the news. I am sorry that you have to deal with it so directly. And, no, I cannot believe the level of idiocy that the equal pay remark indicates. Grrrr. But I am heartened by the amazing participation today in the Women's March. My daughter went and so many of my friends went. It was huge!!!

As predicted, this institute has been very intensive -- so little free time! -- but it has also been truly excellent. I feel reenergized about my work, even though I know I'm going home to a tense campus with emotions running high. But I'm really glad I came to this and I now feel confident that I will get involved in this organization (since my promotion last spring I haven't been able to stay involved in what has long been my professional development home). So that is a good thing.

I also greatly enjoyed my walk, as I mentioned up there in >227 EBT1002: (fairly well lost among all my angst and anger). Here is something I posted on FB:

I went for a walk in Tampa today, just across the state from where I grew up. Saw many things that resonated from childhood: Scrub Jays, palm trees and Palmettos, Spanish-influenced architecture, Brown Pelicans, Live Oaks dripping with Spanish Moss, those little striped lizards that dart across the sidewalk and startle the daylights out of you....

Okay, time for bed. I don't know how this week will go so I may not get around to others' threads until next weekend, even, but know that I appreciate your visits to my thread and I really am interested in what you're all reading, too!

Oh, and they had March, Book One as well as the other two at that bookstore today. I kind of wish I had purchased the first.

>238 Berly: I am also heartened by today's marches, Kim! I think this was my favorite video (with fun music accompaniment, even!). The Seattle rally and march started really near my house!

Hi Ellen! sounds like we had similar feelings about The Mortifications.

We went to the march in Portland today, and it left us with very positive feelings.

Great comments on The Mortifications, Ellen. I think, perhaps, I'll wait for Palacio's future work.

Sorry to hear about the shooting, but the marches today were awesome. Safe travels tomorrow. We will be having weather; will you be flying into rain?

I'm so sorry to hear about the shooting at your campus and about the new President's comment. Also we are far away from the USA we are afraid what will happen during the next four years. Next to your President we have the Turkish President on the East of us. He is also a dangerous tsar. I ask myself very often where the world will be goiing and what does it mean for all people.

>239 EBT1002: Wow, that certainly does remind me of home (SE FL.) Great job!

Ellen, I am thinking of you - so much to take in while you were away in Florida. Hoping you have safe travels back home, my friend.

Friday was almost surreal - very very subdued up here in Vermont. I can't believe how profoundly freaked out I am. And ashamed. We've had some lame presidents, but never one who is . . . well, nuts. Is there any provision for removing a president who is out of his head? It seems to me he is a person who has long managed to skim the narrow boundary between being completely out of touch with reality and at least, managing to observe some of the norms. Probably not as everyone assumes that no electorate is going to elect a president who is mad.

This is the most openly political thing I've said here on LT in several years. Hope that you are ok with it.

Wishing you a safe trip home, and a very good day.

I'm sorry about the shooting at your campus, Ellen.

As for the rest of it, I alternate between being sickened by the levels of vituperation (sadly visible on the left, too), fury at the extended lie that it appears this administration will be, and total exhaustion from the whole sorry mess.

On a cheerier note, I loved your remarks about Florida. I lived about 50 miles south of Tampa for many years, and still visit often. It has its drawbacks, but Florida can be a beautiful and dream-inducing place to live. I miss it every day.

May your week be successful and peaceful.

<228 Yes Ellen, very, very good idea....

Also, I just want to say to people -- all people -- "stop calling one another names. Just stop it." Sigh.

Morning, Ellen. I hope you have a wonderful week.

Happy Monday, Ellen! I hope the trip is going well and you were able to soak up a little sunshine.

I purposely haven't followed the news for the last few days, so I am very sorry to hear about the shooting on your campus.

Take care of yourself! That will be the most important to get through the time ahead. I'm so happy you love your job and that the time at the conference was invigorating.

Ay, shootings all over, it seems. Your campus, two incidents in San Antonio where my sister lives. People are going a little mad, aren't they?

I hope you get home safely and without much annoyance. Glad the institute was worth going to.

>224 EBT1002: I'm sure it was tough for you to be away during the aftermath of the shooting on campus, Ellen. But I'm glad you could let off some steam here.

"First, start treating us like adults. Then we'll see if we can get somewhere." Well, first they'd have to understand what it means to BE an adult. *sigh* *hums* Unidos en la huelga...

>240 EBT1002: I saw that video! Love it. : ) Hope you have a wonderful week.

Good morning, Ellen. Hope you have a good Tuesday.

Hiya, Ellen. I hope things are settling down on campus. Shootings are a national plague.

Hi Ellen, just wanted to say I would be thinking of you and the team dealing with the aftermath of the shooting on your campus.

Morning, Ellen.

Good morning, Ellen! I hope all is well with you.

Hi Ellen, I hope that you are heading into a relaxing weekend. It sounds like you would need to recoup after going back to another situation on campus.

Wishing you a good weekend, Ellen.

Stopping by.

Me, too, Ellen. Hope all is going well for you.

Happy Sunday, Ellen! Thinking of you.

7. I Will Have Vengeance by Maurizio De Giovanni




I read this delightful mystery novel published by Europa in one day - my travel day back from Tampa. Set in Naples in the early days of Mussolini's rule, our hero is Commissario Luigi Alfredo Ricciardi. The commissario is young, unmarried, and much the isolated soul. He sees the dead. No, really, he sees and hears and feels the emotions of dead people's last moments on earth. This gift, or curse, depending on your point of view, provides an obvious advantage in the solving of crimes although the information he gleans from these usually tormented and tormenting glimpses into a murdered soul's last moments can hardly be used as evidence. The premise is, of course, a bit far-fetched but the novel is a gem. Not only is the mystery intriguing and the settlement satisfying in this first installment of what I understand is a series of four; I also appreciated the subtle insight into the dynamics of law enforcement under a repressive and self-aggrandizing regime.

I'm not usually drawn to books that incorporate supernatural aspects but this was a wonderful read, an excellent police procedural with a twist that works. I will definitely be reading the next in the series.

8. News of the World by Paulette Jiles




"You can put her in any clothing and she remains as strange as she was before because she has been through two creations.... To go through our first creation is a turning of the soul we hope toward the light, out of the animal world. God be with us. To go through another tears all the making of the first creation ands sometimes it falls to bits. We fall into pieces. She is asking, Where is that rock of my creation?"

"Maybe life is just carrying the news. Surviving to carry the news. Maybe we have just one message, and it is delivered to us when we are born and we are never sure what it says; it may have nothing to do with us personally but it must be carried by hand through a life, all the way, and at the end handed over, sealed."

We are in north Texas shortly after the Civil War, and Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd is asked to deliver 10-year-old Johanna Leonberger to her aunt and uncle in San Antonio. Johanna was captured by Kiowa natives four years ago and recently rescued. Her parents were killed at the same time as her capture and her next of kin have offered a fifty dollar silver coin in exchange for her delivery. Captain Kidd is long retired from his military career and now makes his life and his living traveling from town to town, reading excerpts from newspapers from around the world. He is hardly equipped to deliver a young girl, especially one as terrified, wild, and unpredictable as Johanna, through the lawless landscape of Texas. Still, he purchases a wagon, loads it up, and begins the trek from Wichita Falls to San Antonio.

Perhaps predictably, the captain and the child develop a bond that is sweet and strong. His willingness to give her broad range to be herself, while working to reeducate her in European-based social graces and mores, enables her to gradually trust and rely on him. They face dangers together and she learns to help him with his occasional readings. I won't go any further, leaving most of the plot and the resolution to those of you who choose to read it. The true gift here is Jiles' beautiful writing. In spare and exquisite prose, she evokes character, setting, and mood, transporting the reader to this arid landscape and the towns along the way. Definitely recommended.

Hey everyone, thanks for the visits to my thread. The past week has been the most intense work week I believe I have ever experienced, not only in terms of volume but in terms of stress and emotion. It took me all week to read News of the World and it should be a quick read. But my concentration has been lousy. Still, I'm hanging in there and hoping for some breathing room soon.

Up next:



The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain

I started this last night and I can already tell I'm going to love it.

Hope you managed to enjoy a relaxing weekend! Crossing my fingers that your coming weeks are less stress filled!

>270 EBT1002: I've just downloaded this myself Ellen. I generally like Tremain.

I hope that you have a bit of downtime soon, and that the campus is dealing with what happened.

>268 EBT1002: You had me at "spare and exquisite prose."

I have a whole host of books I have been intending to read, especially with the current events in our nation and the world. The Unwinding traveled to Tampa (and back) with me and it has been sitting on my bedside table all week. And... my concentration is blurry right now, work is overwhelming, and tracking the news is occupying so much of my brain space. I'm really trying to make time for self-care. I went for a run Thursday morning and again today; it has been hard finding time for those as I have had early morning meetings almost every day as the university tries to respond to events that have already occurred and plan for the future. Anxiety and tension on campus are extremely high right now, regardless of which side of the political spectrum one is coming from. A colleague said it this way: in terms of visibility and voice, it feels like the middle of the bell curve has disappeared. We are hearing from the extremes and we are hearing from them loudly, uncivilly, and with little regard for the humanity of others. Frankly, it is disheartening and just kind of crazy.

So I keep breathing.

More soon, I hope.

>268 EBT1002: Hmm, no quotation marks? How hard was that to deal with?

Yes, keep breathing and take good care of yourself.

Hi, Ellen.

Right foot, left foot, as my esteemed bride would say. Tough times.

Nice review of I Will Have Vengeance; I added it to the WL. Good review of News of the World, too. I had that one on there, I think thanks to Mr. Mark.

Best of luck with the weeks ahead, Ellen. Making time for yourself should be a priority. It sounds like quite a juggling act.

Hang in there, Ellen. Take care of yourself, too. Great reviews. I also loved News of the World and will look for I Will Have Vengeance.

I also loved The Gustav Sonata - my first Tremaine.

>270 EBT1002: is that a new Rose Tremain? I like her books.

I'm sorry you have your hands full at work. But I also know how important your job is for the students who are struggling with what's happening to the world they will inherit. My 21-yo shared thoughts with us today, and if she is in any way representative, a large campus teeming with those emotions would be very challenging to manage.

>274 EBT1002: - Self-care is the priority and it's good to hear that you are keeping that in mind, Ellen. It's easy to let the world and life swamp you but sometimes, the only thing you have control over is yourself, not those other things, so going for a run, or hunkering down under the covers with a book, is the only sane thing to do.

{{hugs}}

>277 jnwelch: right foot, left foot.....
I love it!

I'm going to use that too.

Straw foot, hay foot...

Ellen, it sounds like the underlying factor of your business is the political situation in this country, and dealing with those demonstrating against Trump's actions and those supporting them (as opposed to the shooting, which sounds as though the location was fairly incidental to the incident). To provide some context, I was 19 in the spring of '69 when the University of Kansas, Berkley and Brandeis were the primary universities coordinating protests (which shut down campuses all over the country) against the Vietnam War (plus those by the Black Student Union protestors); we were camped out in Dean Emily Taylor's office writing articles for the alumni magazine trying to explain to them what we were doing. Those were heady times but I'm sure they were difficult for the adults trying to channel us into peaceful and productive expressions. Hugs and support sent your way!!

>267 EBT1002: I started this series with the third book. Didn't know when I picked it from the library but I liked it very much. I bought the first one later and have planed to read it in February.

>270 EBT1002: My library has got a copy of it. I'll put it on the list.

Wishing you a great start into the new week, Ellen.

Ellen--Glad to hear you are taking care of yourself through these tough times. Sending you lots of good mojo. Hang in there. Hugs.

Good morning, Ellen. Hope this week is easier than the last one.

>282 LovingLit: Our family lives by right foot, left foot, Megan. :-) It's a good reminder to just keep going.

Thinking of you, Ellen. Sounds very stressful.

WL'ed the Neapolitan mystery!

People at our university are definitely uneasy today, with the POTUS Executive Order regarding travel. We don't have many students from the countries listed, but we do have faculty from them. These people have family there and they are uneasy. Questions about the validity of Green Cards and Visa's abound. I just don't care for the atmosphere this order has created and its ripple effects.

I'm sorry you're having such a rough time of late, Ellen. I hope the coming weeks are better for you.

Morning, Ellen. Sorry to hear about how crazy and stressful work has been. Strange times, these. Sending you good thoughts and all of my love. Hang in there - I know you are making a difference.

>267 EBT1002: A direct hit!

>268 EBT1002: Luckily, Mark already hit me with that one, or your review would have done it.

>270 EBT1002: Looking forward to your thoughts on this one, I have only read one other by her, but I loved it - The Road Home.

Ellen, I'm back because I thought you'd get a laugh out of this - I already have I Will Have Vengeance in the stacks! According to Amazon, I purchased it in May of 2014!!

>274 EBT1002: Hello Ellen. I am also sorry to hear that things have been so rough for you work wise and personally. We are living in interesting times and though I be on the other side of the isle, there is no doubt the college campuses are one of the places that political disapproval can be tangibly felt, especially if it is the majority.

I hear a phrase today that struck a cord with me: ideological rigidity. I know that I have been guilty of it and I have experienced it from those with whom I disagree. Are we, you and me, generally, so entrenched in our ideas that we are unwilling to hear two sides of a single argument. Do we have nothing better so say, nothing more well thought out, than shouting down the other side, calling them vile names simply because we disagree. Simply because we go about things in a different way. Does not diversity include ideas and not just minorities and sexual identity issues. Why is there no more room for debate? When did the construction good arguments degenerate into shouting matches? Can we no longer stop, look, and listen? Or, are we doomed to permanent division?

Each side, Republican, Democrat, Trump supporter, Trump denier, all talk about kindness. Does kindness mean something different to each side? If not, why is not kindness the word of the day. Why are not people actually trying to spread acts of kindness. There is such a lack of kindness in the air that I have no choice but to believe that all talk of kindness is purely lip service; a meme to make us feel better.

As much as you are saddened by policies being enacted by this president, I am saddened by the degeneration of human interaction, common sense, common courtesy, and the interest in seeking the truth.

>268 EBT1002: What a wonderful review!
And, I am so sorry to learn of the shooting on campus. Most recently, we received a notice telling us what to do if our space is invaded by someone wishing us harm. It would not pertain to me. I am the first office at the top of the steps. And, there is no way out of my office located on the second floor of a very high stone building. But, how very sad that these events happen and that they are now in our consciousness.

Be well Ellen.

>284 ronincats: I was 18 years old, on a small liberal arts college campus in 1970, when the shootings at Kent State occurred. I keep trying to tell myself I've lived through a lot of frightening times, and generally we have come out of them better than we went in. It's hard to put the current hard times in perspective, but I've thought that before.

>293 brodiew2: - Such an interesting post, Brodie. Here's my take on it. Like you, I think rigidity is never a good idea, and talking to one another openly about the issues we all believe in, regardless of political stripe, is always a better and clearer way to understanding. Probably since the beginning of time, politics has engendered its share (or more) of animosity between differing views. But this most recent incarnation of it seems to be nastier than most and indeed, kindness was nowhere to be seen, probably on either side. The old adage, actions speak louder than words, has never seemed more true, at least to me. For the most part, politicians are adults and as such, make their own decisions in life. True personality often comes through in actions or behaviour. Sadly, trump has displayed an appalling lack of understanding of *kindness*. I have never heard him talk about kindness. I have seen him call people names and willfully hurt and insult all sorts of people that most *adults* would at least have the social skills to keep to themselves even if they were thinking these thoughts. That is a big part of what worries me, the lack of social filters and common courtesy.

I was just involved in a rather heated discussion on another site, with someone who said that you can hate the behaviour but should love the person. I disagreed, and explained that I could not respect someone who displayed zero respect for anyone. I felt respect had to be earned and in this case, it hasn't been. I try to always approach everyone I meet with respect and will adjust my views accordingly, as per how I feel I am treated or how that person treats others. I was told that basically, unless I respected the person, even while hating the behaviour, I was stooping to his level and had *one foot on the road to Auschwitz*, myself. I took great offense to that statement and said so, but backed away from further comment as this person is the sort that constantly needs to have the last word and I know him well enough to know that he will get it, regardless. But his attitude does not, in my mind, promote good will.

All that to say that while I have zero respect for trump and all he stands for and is currently doing, I am as disturbed as you are at the lack of tact and kindness that he seems to be promoting by example. His actions and behaviours seem to have unleashed a deep well of unkindness that may very well have been under the surface all along but now seem *legitimized* and THAT, maybe as much as anything else, is frightening. It is very difficult to have honest, genuine human interactions and treat one another with kindness under such conditions.

>296 jessibud2: Thank you for that well reasoned and thoughtful response, jessibud2. First, I want to say that none of my comments were direct at Mr. trump specifically, but those who either follow him or don't.

I will agree that there has not been a President like Trump in ages, if ever. I can also agree that the way he treats people can use some refinement. However, we will disagree on his policies even if we agree that he has a brash personality. I'm sure brash is understatement for some. I do not condone bad behavior, but I will say that is refreshing to have someone in the White House who does not speaks so vaguely as to have their meaning lost. I'm not just referring to Obama. I'm talking about politicians in general. I would love it if more of our elected leaders would talk straight. So many are worried about political correctness and obfuscation and reelection.

Regarding the argument you had with your acquaintance, I think I know that core of what he was trying to say, but it sounds like it was taken in the wrong direction. As I understand it. As a Christian, I am commanded to love my neighbor, even my enemies, and pray for them. In this way, it possible to love a person, even it I don't like their behavior. Is this easy? No. Do I even get close? Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. Would I rather love a friend mired in drug addiction, even though I disapprove of the drug use? Yes. It more fruitful to show love and meet a person where they are at rather than condemning them and making the chasm bigger. This is just one example. God knows none of use are perfect, but He still commands us to love.

As for Trump legitimizing hateful behavior, I'm reserving judgement. I'm reading more, interacting more, and trying to be better informed. I get what you are saying, jessibud2, but what do you do? Quit trying to be kind? Abandon civility? Simply ignore people? It is a struggle to put ourselves out there. I struggle. Just as you struggle with the President and his character and policies, I struggle with a more vitriolic speech coming from insulated celebrities at the public marches and protests. We have to try to understand each other.

Brodie, I am in 100% agreement with you on politicians and saying what they mean. I wish ALL politicians would be more straightforward and genuine and honest. We sometimes joke here that when someone can't answer a question directly, but talks in circles, that they are talking *like a politician*! I think it goes with the territory, no matter which party they are affiliated with. Almost as if it's a job requirement, heaven help us! lol

And yes, I can agree to disagree on policies. That's fair, and indeed, fair fodder for social discourse. It's what makes the world go round, I guess. But it's the manner of discussion, the manner of conducting oneself that I am referring to in my arguments. I am not Christian and not religious at all, in fact, but I think it's fair to say that most, or even, many religions have at their core, some version of the Golden Rule. Basically, to treat others as you would want to be treated, with kindness, fairness and respect. To just be a good person. As a teacher of young children I always tried to help my students understand that you don't have to like someone to be respectful toward them. Simple to say but as you said, not always easy to live by. I remember my own mother telling me that, more than once, when I was a child, and fought with my friends.

Like you, I also am trying to read more and educate myself more. I also cringe at speeches I hear from famous people that, to my ears, only perpetuate the problem, not try to repair it. It's a huge chasm that has been opened up recently and it won't be easy to close it. I think that discussions such as these, that are respectful, even when disagreeing, are a step in the right direction. But we LTers are a good lot, anyhow, don't you think?

PS - Sorry about the thread hijack, Ellen!

Nice review of The Mortifications, Ellen. I received two advance review copies from LT, but most of the reviews of it have been lukewarm, like yours, and with so many other books that I'm eager to read waiting for me I don't think I'll get to it anytime soon.

I received an email from my alma matter advising all current students who might have trouble with re-entry to stay in the US until further notice. : (

Okay. Let's start of on a lighter note.

Hi Ellen! BLBera (Beth) is coming out in March to Portland. I have revitalized our old meeting thread with the info and I hope you (and anyone else who is interested) can make it. : )

http://www.librarything.com/topic/170100

9. Blackballed: The Black & White of Racial Politics on America's Campuses by Lawrence Ross




Honestly, completing this book during what feels like a breakneck radical shift in campus politics was a bit odd. Ross summarizes the history of race and racism on American campuses, especially as it is cemented and supported by the white fraternity and sorority systems and their interconnectedness with business and alumni communities. He highlights the ineffectiveness of most college administrations' approaches to addressing, truly addressing racism on their campuses, to draw a bright line between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. The frequent statements of apology, abhorrence of the sentiments expressed through (for example) yet another racist-themed fraternity party, and expressions of zero-tolerance for racism ring false when one considers the underlying tone of "well, they just didn't realize that it was offensive to our African American students."

Ross also provides context for the persistent isolation felt by so many Black students on college campuses. For example, campus administrations offer excuses for retaining buildings' names after slave-holding or Jim Crow-advocating historical figures, acknowledging that they were flawed human beings and asking that our African American students understand that "we must judge them within the context of their time." Then they quickly deny petitions for naming of new buildings after modern heroes of emancipation, advancement, and (yes) revolution, refusing to overlook the flaws of these role models.

He calls for proactive change by colleges and universities, makes recommendations to parents and community leaders, and challenges Black students themselves to lead the charge to truly equitable and inclusive educational environments. As a white ally, and a college administrator currently involved in my institution's bias incident responses, I read the first part of this book hoping for ideas and inspiration for leading change on my own campus. I believe I found some of both but in the past two weeks the world has changed so radically and our students of color, queer students, immigrant students, Muslim and Jewish students.... all are feeling so much fear and uncertainty that the terrain for leadership has shifted. Basic safety has risen to the forefront, making almost immaterial such recommendations as advocacy for hard affirmative action, audits of building names, and expansion of resources for students from underrepresented groups. Still, I learned from the book and do recommend it to administrators in higher education. It provides a layer of understanding of the experience of being an African American college student and debunks the myth that we have created equitable and post-racial educational institutions.

Methinks there is no way for me to go through and respond to each and every post although I did read them, all of them!, so I'm going to do this:
Rhonda, Beth, Roni, Barbara, Morphy, Mamie, Lucy (totally okay with your uncharacteristically political post, btw), Birdy, Gail, Mary, Mark, Janet, Judy, Linda (laytonwoman3rd), Kim, Joe, Charlotte, Brodie, Meg, Chelle, Caroline, Laura, Shelley, Megan, Benita, Linda (Whisper1), Darryl ~~~
Thank you all for visiting, for your well wishes and warm support, for appreciating my book comments and letting me know when I hit you with a blue book bullet (yay!).

I will respond to the brief discussion about kindness, etc., in a moment, but I first want to give a bit of an update.

Things are less intense than they were last week but I would not say that the dust has settled. As a colleague of mine said over the weekend, "we need breathing room but we're probably not going to get it." So, we're trying to be as responsive as possible, supporting students within the limits that we have, and communicating, communicating, communicating.

It is so much the case that college and university campuses have a long tradition of being centers of change. Our young adults can be visionaries; they challenge assumptions (which we want them to do) and demand change. We can't always meet their demands, but hopefully we can guide them into a conversation about the pace of change and the validity of the values underlying their demands. We are certainly talking on our campus about how to translate all the tension and activity into learning. We are educators. Our mission is education. What is difficult is that learning does not happen when one is paralyzed by fear. And, while I have spent my whole career in student support work, it is also the case that we cannot keep the world away from the campus. The world is changing at what feels like breakneck speed; that has been the case for a while but this past two weeks has felt dizzying. Helping students cope with that, helping them make decisions and choices that are based in current reality while also engendering courage and promoting dialogue and the sharing of ideas --- that is what we're about. And that is what I'm trying to stay focused on. And I will go for another run tomorrow morning. :-)

>284 ronincats: and >295 laytonwoman3rd: Roni and Linda, thank you for sharing memories your experiences being on college campuses during prior tumultuous times ~~ along with reminders of our resilience. I am finding myself even more interested in doing some reading about campuses, per se, in the 1960s and 70s. And I want to read W.E.B. DuBois!!

>293 brodiew2: and >296 jessibud2: and >297 brodiew2: and >298 jessibud2:
Brodie and Shelley, thanks for the civil(!) discussion on my thread. It's too late at night for me to engage wisely but I'll say these few things:

I am a fan of kindness. It is, to me, one of the most fundamental good things on earth and nothing befuddles me more than meanness. I just don't get it. I don't think it's any surprise around here that I fear our current president, not only for his policies (although I disagree with him almost across the board) but for his approach to the office. I believe leaders hold a high responsibility for taking the high road and modeling good behavior. I find his brashness distasteful but it's his disregard for the feelings of others and his apparent disinterest in human compassion that truly terrifies me.

I also value collaboration and consultation (and I think they are related to kindness). I sit in meetings a lot and I truly believe that the best plans and decisions are made when the environment allows for dissent, and dissent is expressed straightforwardly (yes to that!) and with respect for the other person. I rely on the folks who work with me to challenge me, to offer alternative perspectives and ideas, to make suggestions for how else I might approach a problem or situation -- and yes, I expect them to support the decisions I make once they are made. I'm not confident that such dissent is being encouraged or even allowed in the current administration. And, in my experience, that does not result in effective leadership or good decision making.

And -- the incivility we are seeing in our society did not start with him. We have been having conversations on our campuses for years about how to help students rise above the internet effect, the permission that the internet seems to have given for increasing levels of unkindness to other human beings. And while it did not start with him, I am sorry to see it escalate in the way that it has in the past three months, and especially the past 11 days. I do believe that his role modeling has had a permissive effect on people who feel empowered to express overtly hateful ideologies. You may shrug about posters with swastikas that encourage the "extermination of degenerates, queers, and Jews," or internet posts suggesting that undocumented immigrants should be "put in concentration camps" -- but the proliferation of such anonymous images and threats are brutally mean. And it may be true that we need to help our college students develop greater resilience and learn to ignore such blatant attempts to rile them up and incite them to bad behavior. But it's also true that fear is a real human emotion, and fear impedes learning. And while the current climate may not be our current president's fault, he is not helping!

I think there are individuals on both sides of the political chasm who could learn to moderate their rhetoric. Honestly, on our campus we are seeing escalated and escalating interactions being driven by both "camps" of students (and too many from off campus who just come here to stir things up). I think liberals (of which I am one) do need to look in the mirror and consider the possibility that they we have become complacent and contemptuous, that academic elitism is a real thing, and that we have failed to effectively create educational milieus that can support honest discourse and dissent. That is our responsibility as educators.

And this backlash is harsh. This backlash is dangerous. I have been told to give our current president a chance. I have also been told that I should respect him because he is our president (by someone who simultaneously said that she doesn't respect protesters because "respect is earned"). I actually think we should start with respect and treat it not as something to be earned but something to be lost. It should also be something that can be regained. For that I would give anyone a chance. I do not respect our current president, not because he hasn't earned it but because he lost it and has not done anything to regain it. And Brodie, you're right, "brash" is for me an understatement. I see him as arrogant and rude and dangerous. It's not just that I disagree with the policies that he is implementing (although that is, of course, part of it). It's that I disagree vehemently with his approach to leadership. I have seen nothing of inclusiveness, collaboration, or openness to alternative information. If I do, I will reconsider. But I see him doing exactly what I see too many of our students doing -- insulating himself and exposing himself only to ideas and information that support his world view. That, in any of us, is a dangerous approach to making a difference.

And yes, Shelley, we LTers are a good lot! Would that the world was more like LT. :-)

I will start a new thread soon. This one has gotten long.

Good night for now, my friends.

On a much lighter note, The Gustav Sonata, which is indeed Rose Tremain's new novel, is excellent!

Good morning, Ellen!

Excellent discussion between Brodie, Shelley and you. As Brodie knows, I'm not a Trump fan, and it's hard to keep my emotions down about it. To me, what's happening is the opposite of what I believe in, and contrary to my feelings about the country I love. Anyway, you all express the current situation well. This is the about the most severe test of a democracy that I can imagine.

Morning, Ellen. I see you finished another one. Good work.

>306 jnwelch: agreeing with Joe about the debate above.

>305 EBT1002: oh good Ellen. That will be my next fiction read.

Hi Ellen - Great, thoughtful comments on DJT. I have been struggling with the idea of respect as well. I think your comments nailed it; he lost mine with bombast and lies.

Take care of yourself. I sit on a civility committee here; we'll be meeting soon to decide on a campaign.

Great that you have some good reading. I loved The Gustav Sonata.

>304 EBT1002: I think you engaged quite well for a late night response, Ellen. I really appreciate your transparency. I'll respond more soon.

I should be doing some heavy duty reading about the current social climate and trying to figure out what the heck happened - but instead I have chosen to immerse myself in completing two fantasy series and am now reading the final book in a Sci/Fi series. I started Strangers in Their Own Land but can't get myself to read more in it. I just am having trouble facing the real world right now. The fantasy worlds are more appealing.

>302 EBT1002: you are doing a great job by the sounds of it :)
I feel whoompa-ed by what is happening, and feel that I could barely cope if I was a US citizen. It is crazy what is happening....I can scarcely comprehend how this situation has come about. Carry on, and carry on looking out for you too.

>304 EBT1002: I concur.

>304 EBT1002: - All of this, but especially the first paragraph about kindness and the lack of compassion and empathy.

I can disagree with Presidents from here until next Sunday, but I have never seen one hold so little regard for the office of the Presidency and the responsibilities it places upon one. I worked for George W. Bush for his entire first term. I know he is not popular here on LT (and in a lot of other places!), and I left my job, in part, because I became disillusioned and my politics began to change. But I have always maintained that he was a decent human being, and he cared deeply and felt things acutely. I get no such sense from the current President. As noted, "brash" is an understatement. And when we laud someone for speaking directly or saying what's on their mind, to me it is code for delighting in having the ground rules of polite discourse stripped away. It is disgusting and abhorrent to me, and as someone who devoted a good part of my professional life to serving the office of the President, it makes me so, so sad to see.

One need only look at some of the people he has surrounded himself with to get a sense of who he is and what he cares about. So he either buys into the disgusting ideology of his chief strategist or is so venal and lacking in any sense of decency to not care what that man is about. Either way, it's a disgrace. It reflects badly on him and it's a disgrace to the office and to the country.

I could go on, but I try to save my best rants for other social media outlets :)

Thank you for what you are doing, Ellen. I know it's hard, but I also know your colleagues and students are lucky to have you. Stay strong.

Inevitably, as I thought it might, it has come back to Trump the man. This was never my intent. My point was to question what am I doing, what you are doing to make daily life better for everyone.

>306 jnwelch: "This is the about the most severe test of a democracy that I can imagine."
I agree, Joe.
Honestly, it is hard for me to keep my emotions down, too. I am angry every day and it's affecting my sleep, my self-care, and my concentration (reading!). I have taken a bit of a break from the news and FB this week and that has helped with my stress level but I have my representatives' phone numbers written down and available for regular calls.

>307 thearlybirdy: Evening, Birdy! Yes, I got that ninth book in just under the wire. :-)

>308 Caroline_McElwee: Oh good, Caroline. I hope you enjoy The Gustav Sonata. I read a bit more last night while I had insomnia (I must not engage in political discussion after about 8pm! It gets me activated and I can't sleep!) and it's a wonderful novel.

>309 BLBera: Hi Beth! I put The Gustav Sonata on hold based on your enthusiasm; I'm so glad that I did. It's a special read. I want to read more Tremain as this is my second by her and both have been 4+ star reads.

I'll be interested to hear what your civility committee develops as an initiative. It's something we are also talking about a lot on our campus (did I already say this?) -- how to transform the current dialogue (or lack thereof) into a learning opportunity for our students. How do we help our students learn to debate and discuss respectfully (which I do believe is what Brodie was trying to get at). I think we have to model it; holding one's emotions in check while trying to listen, understand, and offer alternative perspectives.

I once heard someone say that those of us trying to change others' minds should not waste energy on the fringes. Those in the tiny, extreme ends of the bell curve are not likely to change their minds anyway. Rather, engage with those who are closer to the middle but still in a different place than you. Find common ground and go from there. It's hard to do when I feel so urgently that our democracy, its very foundations are at risk.

>310 brodiew2: Thanks, Brodie. I have a new rule: no political discussion after 8pm. I'm a lifelong insomniac and sleep is so dear. So, I'm glad I was coherent but I will try to avoid writing that late again. :-)

>311 benitastrnad: Well, Benita, I think a balance may be the real key. I can't spend as much time reading news as I was doing last week, but I can't bear to tune out altogether, either. Partly, for me, I feel responsible for staying engaged. Legislators need to hear from their constituents. And we'll see what happens in two years (she said with blind desperation). I have watched a handful of Vera episodes on PBS, all of which I've seen at least once before. Great mystery series!

>312 LovingLit: Thanks, Megan. I am trying to keep my focus on the values that brought me to public higher education in the first place. I'm hoping against hope that the senate is able to stop the appointment of DeVos (but probably Pence will just break the tie). I care so much about access to a good educational experience and her track record in Michigan is disgraceful.

>313 katiekrug: Katie, thank you for that post. Regarding George W. Bush, I can fully concur with the statement "I have always maintained that he was a decent human being, and he cared deeply and felt things acutely." I thought that about his father, too. I disagreed with them vehemently on some policy issues but I never got the sense that they simply did not care what wrath they wrought or who was hurt along the way. They cared about the country and they cared about the office, and they respected their colleagues who were also dedicating their work to public service.

In my view, our current president has not one bit of "Servant Leader" in him. His actions are invariably self-serving. I think one can argue that our current president is doing what he thinks is best for the country (I'm not sure I buy it, but it's an argument to be made), but it is so egregiously entwined in his own narcism and his conviction that what he believes is without question true, just because he believes it.... It's a leadership style for which I have zero respect and in which I have zero faith.

And --- thank you for the kind words about my work. I try hard to be a positive presence in the lives of the students and staff with whom I work. I am far from perfect and sometimes I feel like I'm in totally over my head, but I give what I have to give.

About a month ago, I got an email from a client, a woman with whom I had worked for about 5-6 counseling sessions in the mid 1990s. She found me on line and reached out to thank me for the positive impact I had on her when she was a struggling undergraduate. Two decades later, she was saying that my work with her has had a lasting effect and that she tells her students (she is now an instructor at a community college) every semester about the counseling center and the other services available on campus. She tells them about her experience with me and how it helped when she was experiencing anxiety and uncertainty. It was, hands down, the best email I have ever received. I don't do counseling any longer, but I try to Lead With Care in all that I do (I've even thought about getting a tattoo with the words "Lead With Care"). So thank you for the expression of appreciation. I think we should all be passing along feelings of appreciation and gratitude whenever we can, now more than ever!

>314 brodiew2: Thanks for the redirect, Brodie. It's an important question! Regardless of what is happening in DC and around the world, we do each have the authority to be agents of good in the world, to be making our own attempts to bridge gaps of understanding or compassion.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We have a friend who is between apartments staying with us tonight and I hear her coming up the steps. So, on this note, I will leave you all for another evening.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"When words are both true and kind, they can change our world." ~Buddha

"My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness." - Dalai Lama

>318 EBT1002: how thoughtful of that woman to connect with you, Ellen. I hope you have either framed her message (!!) or filed it in the "look at this when I need a pick-me-up" folder!

>318 EBT1002: - What a beautiful and generous thing that woman did, writing you that letter. And the timing, whether deliberate or not, seems to have been perfect. And important. Sometimes, it's a single moment like that, that validates an entire career. I have had a few, myself, a note or word from a parent of a student I've taught, that has helped make all the rest of it worthwhile. Well done, you!

{{hugs}}

>313 katiekrug: Yes, Katie, yesyesyes.

Good morning, Ellen!

Good morning, Ellen. I'm glad you got that nice e-mail. Happy Groundhog's Day!!!

Hiya, Ellen. Just thinking of you and sending my support. The students are lucky to have you.

>318 EBT1002: That sort of feedback is like gold, Ellen, and I have no doubt it was well-deserved. I hope you can take strength from it for your current struggles.

Good morning, Ellen! I hope all is well with you.

I said I would take more time to respond your your first response to my exchange with Shelly above.

>304 EBT1002: As I said above, I am thankful and encouraged by your transparency. Your response was excellent in expressing the reasons behind your feelings as well as the areas where individual liberals as well as academia in general can improve.

I believe leaders hold a high responsibility for taking the high road and modeling good behavior. I find his brashness distasteful but it's his disregard for the feelings of others and his apparent disinterest in human compassion that truly terrifies me.

This is absolutely true and I hope/believe that Trump will temper his approach as he settles in. Will he stop being Donald Trump? I don't think so. Every person that has ever been POTUS has brought their unique personality to the office.

I think liberals (of which I am one) do need to look in the mirror and consider the possibility that they we have become complacent and contemptuous, that academic elitism is a real thing, and that we have failed to effectively create educational milieus that can support honest discourse and dissent. That is our responsibility as educators.

I am glad to hear you say this. Because my political beliefs had not been fully formed when I was in college, I was not as aware of ideological rigidity in the classroom. Politics just wasn't bag at the time. However, I have heard that college campuses can be a hard place to be a conservative, having to battle faculty as well as other students. Being able to share ideas enables us to grow. If it becomes a one way street of indoctrination, growth suffers and they kind of fear of which you speak can become realized on from the other side.

Thanks, again, Ellen, for such a reasoned and candid response.

I am greatly interested in the discussions on your thread. To all......thank you for sharing thoughts and feelings.

I was very interested in your reference to "Servant-Leader in #318. I have heard about this and would like to know more about it. Is this a Quaker reference?

I am in full agreement Ellen, I am a big fan of kindness too!

Hi, Ellen! I have missed seeing you around, my friend. Glad to see you are alive and well.

Hooray for News of the world. It was my favorite read of Jan. And Just Mercy will most likely be my best read of Feb and possibly a strong contender, for one of the best of the year. If it is not on your radar, you might want to put it on there. Just sayin'...

I've been enjoying the discussion on your thread, Ellen. I've been very glued to the news too and found the whole Trump thing very stressful. Hugs.

Such a great discussion going on here.
I am highly resistant to being labeled, but my leanings are much more, hmmm, Constitutionalist/Originialist than most people here. I think the federal government has too much power - no matter which party is holding it. So that's me. I don't like the labels we are currently using. They are inaccurate. Our own American revolutionaries were considered liberal back in the day, while the loyalists were conservative. Now it's flipped, sort of. I don't like to be called a conservative now, because to me, the word implies resistance to change. I would venture to say that many of us are a mix of beliefs and ideas that defy labels. Only civil discussion and the same give and take that has been characteristic of the best in US politics can really get us where we need to go. And to get there, I expect we all need to change.

A friend of mine posted a poem - We Were Made for These Times by Clarissa Pinkola Estes today, and this line really struck me:

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good.

So, I'm going to do my best to mend my part of the world. To not engage in the rhetoric or the shouting. To acknowledge my inability to understand everything that is out there, but to keep trying and learning and caring. The pain and anger that we see on the news, it's heartbreaking. I'm so grateful that we have created a relatively calm place here on LT. I'm going to remain hopeful that the ripples of kindness spread. I've got miles to go to get good at this so I hope this doesn't sound like anything but my personal goals and my appreciation for this place where we can discuss things with civility.

I think you expressed yourself very well, nittnut. The poem you quoted goes right to the point. Thank you dor sharing.

10. The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain




Gustav and Anton meet on the first day of kindergarten. It's 1948 in a small town in Switzerland and Gustav responds to Anton's fearful crying by playing with him and distracting him. Gustav's mother, a depressed widow who works in a cheese factory, is not thrilled about her young son's friendship with a boy from a wealthy Jewish family, but Anton and Gustav become best friends nonetheless. Not only are their stations in life vastly different but their apparent prospects are, too. Anton is a gifted pianist, a prodigy. All expectations are that he will become a famous concert pianist, a dream that Gustav struggles to support although it evokes a bewildering sense of betrayal and abandonment in him.

We follow the boys' relationship, but the narration also takes us back in time, to 1939 when Gustav's parents met, fell in love, and married, and had their happy life brutally disrupted by the specter of WWII and the fear of a German invasion. Gustav is told by his mother that his father was a hero in those early days of the war and that he sacrificed his life to save the Jews. Ah, but there is so much more to that story.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Tremain develops her flawed characters with compassion and a bit of cynicism. At times I felt the story veered too far into implausibility but it was compelling and satisfying nonetheless. Tremain continues to be an author worth the allocation of my precious reading time.

I love LT. I just love LT.

I had a very long day ending with a 45-minute(!) interview with a journalist. I came home and said "well, I hope I still have a job after that article is published." It's not that I thought I said anything terrible but, honestly, one never knows how any particular quote is going to be presented. I expected a 10-minute conversation and she just kept asking questions.

Now I have had dinner, finished The Gustav Sonata, and read the 13 new comments on my thread here. You all are just so awesome.

Thank you, Morphy, for the great quote by the Dali Lama.

Thank you, Laura, Shelley, Birdy, and Julia, for recognizing the wonderfulness of the email I received -- and yes, the timing was excellent. I do try to "do good" in my corner of the world and it was so lovely to hear that I had made a positive difference in one woman's life.

Thank you, Amber and Joe and Deb, for the quick pats on the back.

Thank you, Mark, for stopping by, for saying hi, for reminding me that I want to read Just Mercy. I bought it in January and will get to it soon, I hope.

And thank you, Brodie and Jenn, for your candid and caring and transparent expressions of your experience. I agree with Brodie that the quote is excellent, Jenn. Thank you for posting it here. I also got reminded today in one of my looooong meetings, that we need to resist binary thinking. There are not two positions, two world views, two poles of a political continuum. There are multiple viewpoints from which our students (that was the focus, of course) experience the world and we need keep that complexity in mind as we work to support and challenge them. Creating an optimal environment for learning is, as you say, Brodie, about creating space where learners can express their views, hear alternatives, consider them all, and hopefully develop complex understandings of the issues. This is easier said than done, of course, but it is our mission. And it doesn't preclude calling out name-calling and belittling and mean-spirited language. Cultivate kindness.

Okay, once again this woman is going to bed having neither visited anyone else's thread nor having started a my own new one! I do hope you are all enjoying some terrific reading and this weekend I will come see what you're up to in your own neighborhoods.

Goodnight!

Up next: The Unwinding or Snow Angels.

Or both.

Hi Ellen. The email you received was truly touching. And I am so glad you feel supported here, too. It's the least we can do after you continually brighten our days and open your thread to honest discussions. I am so glad to know you.

PS--The Gustav Sonata sounds awesome. : )

>331 nittnut: - Jenn, that snippet of poem was lovely and I love your response to it. I may adopt it as my own! There is a phrase, a concept, really, in the Jewish religion/tradition, called *Tikun Olam*, which literally translates as *repairing the world*. The poem and your response, above, illuminate that perfectly.

Ellen, it was late, and I didn't say what I intended to before I got off on the other thing, which was that for that one student who emailed and shared her appreciation, there are at least 100 more who haven't thought to, but their lives are better for your efforts. What you do is tough. Particularly as you strive to hear them and help them and not impose your beliefs, which is a struggle for all of us. I fear for our young adults, worry that they are afraid to confront, accept, hear ideas that are not their own. Humans are complex and we change, and we need space to do that, and we need to experience conflict and disagreement as well, it's how we learn. Sigh. Painful, isn't it? Lol

>337 jessibud2: Tikun Olam. That is beautiful. I am putting that in my journal. Thanks!

This whole thread deserves to be published as a pamphlet illustrating that there are still people who can engage in civil discourse, agree to disagree, and pledge to do what they can to improve their world. I feel better this morning for having read all these posts than I have in some time. (Which is not to say that I "feel good about things" exactly...just that there is more ground for hope that we can work through all of this than I sometimes see.)

>339 laytonwoman3rd: ^What she said.

I'm glad you find this as heartening as I do, Ellen. Tikun Olam is a big deal in our house, and as Jenn says, we try to help what's within reach. I'm very much appreciating the exchanges here.

And how's this for karma, or coincidence or whatever you want to call it? As often seems to happen in my day-to-day life, I meander. I start out with a plan or goal and by the end of the day, sometimes I get there and sometimes not. So, this morning, I went out in search of a floor lamp for my living room. I am in no rush, have been looking for awhile. I was driving past the store Home Sense (I think it's in the USA as well). I decided to stop and see if they had any. For the record, they had exactly 2 and I didn't like either one. But, because I love Home Sense, I roamed around, and inevitably, found my way to the book aisle. I know you are not surprised... I ended up buying 2 books, one of which was a bio of Jon Stewart (Angry Optimist) and the other, I bought solely because of its title. I may have not even noticed or looked at it any other day but today, largely because this thread is still resonating in my mind, I did. It may turn out to be drivel, but I don't think so. It's called The Kindness Diaries by Leon Logothetis, published in 2015. I have never heard of it but the blurb on the jacket cover sounded interesting and it felt like it was waiting for me.

>339 laytonwoman3rd: - Agreed!

I have started a Group Read thread for The Round House by Louise Erdrich. Morphy and I are reading it together in February. Join us!!

>336 Berly: Thanks, Kim. I know I'm a bit of a fly-by-night participant right now so I appreciate that folks are willing to hang in there with me. I'm also hoping work will just, you know, ease up. I do love and feel supported by the LT community.
And I am glad to know you, too! I know it's crazy but I'm kind of excited about the Portland meet-up in March. I'd better make my hotel reservation.

>337 jessibud2: Shelley, I love that: *Tikun Olam*. Repairing the world. Nice.

>338 nittnut: Jenn, thanks so much for that. "Humans are complex and we change, and we need space to do that, and we need to experience conflict and disagreement as well, it's how we learn." Yes, exactly.

>339 laytonwoman3rd: Wow, Linda, just wow. Thank you for that post!!

>340 Morphidae: I agree, Morphy!

>341 jnwelch: Yes, Joe, I'm in that same camp. And I'm trying to memorize the phrase Tikun Olam. I'm glad the discourse here is civil and supportive and peaceful. It's what I care most about.

>342 jessibud2: Shelley! That is a wonderful story! Of course none of us is surprised that you ended up in the book aisle (not even a little bit) but "...largely because this thread is still resonating in my mind..." ~~~ Well, that just makes my heart rejoice. If we can create a little corner of the world where we disagree and respect one another, care for one another, and respect one another.... that is not nothing.

Thank you all for making my thread a safe space for multiple points of view.

>343 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley.