The Read goes ever on and on...MrsLee 2020 chapter 1

For better or worse, here I am with a new reading thread for this year.

I haven't read at all yet today because I've been busy finishing up all my stats, comparing my reading journal to my reading list on the computer, and to my tagged r2019 reads here on LT. As usual, I found some variations.

This was a rough year for me, lots of stresses at work and at home and it showed in my reading. So, for 2020, my goals are minimum. Read the books in my house and on my Kindle, buy only a few, discard any books I'm not enjoying in one way or another.

I'm beginning with a couple of books which have been sitting on the table by my chair for a few months. There are more further under the pile, but hopefully I will get to those as well this year. I make no promises since 3 of them were in my "Biggest" books to get read last year.

Passage to Juneau by Jonathan Raban is one of them. Another is Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch. Touchstones don't seem to be functioning at the moment, I'll see what happens if I post this and then edit it.

I have found that it helps to have a fiction book for light reading on hand when I'm trying to read a doorstop nonfiction, so hopefully those two books will be good.

I am still reading books off of the bottom shelf of my paperback TBR case, trying to make some headway in all these books I've accumulated over the years.

Wishing you all the very best for 2020. May it bring you good friends, food and books.

I've got it starred, and am looking forward to some innnnerestin' books this year.

I keep a light fiction book by my bed, and read it before I get sleepy. The BIG tomes are in the living room by my recliner.

>1 MrsLee: I hope 2020 is a better year for you than 2019 was.

I will not add to your stress by mentioning your use of the word, "discard". At least you have stopped using the word, "cull".

:-)

Happy reading.

Welcome to 2020 my friend and Happy New Year. I will be tagging along with you as always.

>2 Sakerfalcon: Thank you!

>3 fuzzi: I follow yours and all the reading thread here, so I likewise will have fun reading about all your reads. :)

>4 pgmcc: Rats. I meant to change that word in my file here so as not to raise red flags. I've been watching Person of Interest for awhile now, I should know about words that trigger the watchers. ;)

>5 Bookmarque: Thank you, as always I enjoy reading your thread also.

Following! My sympathies on the difficult year--I think we're dealing with some of the same issues--and I hope your reading provides haven.

>7 Marissa_Doyle: For you as well. My thoughts are with you.

>6 MrsLee: I enjoyed Person of Interest. It is scary when you find things happening in the real world that make you realise technology is not that far removed from what they have in PoI, except the phone thing of course. That is just too convenient.

Happy New Year and happy reading!

>9 pgmcc: I've never seen that many pay phones on the streets. Even when I was in NYC I didn't notice them.

>10 Narilka: Thank you!

>11 MrsLee: I could not tell you where to find a payphone in Dublin. Everyone has their smart phone and many of them are walking blind with their eyes focused on their screen.

There are plenty of CCTVs.

In the early 2000s I was working in a retail group and one of the jobs I had was to in-source the loyalty card system. It had been out-sourced to get a card implemented quickly when a UK retail chain that had a loyalty card was coming here.

I did a lot of research on loyalty card systems. At that time I read Philip K. Dick's story, Minority Report, and the film came out around that time too. It was about a state that had three people with telepathic skills who were wired up to the legal system. They foresaw crimes and the authorities arrested and imprisoned people on the basis of the crimes they were going to commit.

After doing my research about loyalty cards and what was being done with the data that was collected, and how it was being married to other databases, e.g. library loan records, to identify potential security risks I was left thinking that the Minority Report world is already here but we do not need the telepaths. (I think they called them "pre-cogs" or something like that.)

Given my experiences and research I was quite receptive to the Person of Interest premise. It did not strike me as totally far-fetched.

>Happy New Year, Lee! Hope it's better than 2019.

Happy New Year. May 2020 bring you many good books to enjoy and may it be kinder to you than 2019. Best wishes.

Much happiness to you this year, my dear MrsLee. (Both in the real world and in your bookish universe as well.)

Person of Interest got too weird in the last season.

>12 pgmcc: Yep, not far-fetched at all, especially with the internet now. I looked up a few Alaskan cruises the other day on Google (my sister and I plan to take one this summer) and now my Facebook feed is full of ads for them. I've also had it happen that we were discussing something at work, I can't remember what now, and then my Facebook feed had ads for that. Ah well. I'm not going to unplug everything to avoid it.

>13 littlegeek:, >14 Peace2:, >15 clamairy: Thank you! And also for you.

>16 suitable1: I'm on season 4. I find that a lot of series lose it towards the end. Fringe being one of them. I never finished watching that one, too weird. Chuck being another. They sort of lose whatever the spark was they had in the beginning and over-compensate trying to keep people interested. Maybe it's a good thing there was only one season of Firefly.

>17 MrsLee: During the holidays we were discussing that very topic, i.e. conversations in the proximity of phones, Alexa or a Google Home leading to advertisements on the subject mentioned. Everyone present had an experience to contribute to the conversation.

Perhaps we will have to use sign language. That way we would safe until there is total camera coverage.

One of my relations commented that were now living in the 1984 world with the only difference being that we bought the technology ourselves.

Mark Zuckerberg tapes over his laptop's camera and microphone jack, and uses Thunderbird as his email client:

https://twitter.com/topherolson/status/745294977064828929?s=20

If Mr. Facebook is concerned, should we be?

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/22/mark-zuckerberg-tape-webcam-m...

>19 fuzzi: Perhaps the next new rage in home-crafted gifts will be TV and other device "cozies."

One of the episodes last night brought up how an AI can influence people based on the information it gives them on their inquiries, such as, a person asking it for the suicide hotline was fed articles on why life wasn't worth living and such. The goal being to shunt them towards buying depression meds the company sold advertising for, with the unhappy side effect of the person committing suicide instead.

Does anyone doubt that advertisers would do that stuff? Maybe the suicide example being an extreme example.

On the reading front, both books which I have started seem to be good, and so I shall continue, although I still find my days being filled with other activities than reading. This afternoon I am going to the movie "Knives Out" with a friend, and possibly to dinner. This morning I am doing such things as starting a ferment of lemons, and dehydrating some fuyu persimmons along with other chores.

On the nephew front, things look very bad. If nothing changes in the next 24 hours, I'm afraid some hard decisions will have to be made. My heart is aching for my sister.

>20 MrsLee: I'm so very sorry. I must have missed this sad news. Massive hugs, and strength to all of you.

>20 MrsLee:
Sorry to hear the news of your nephew is not better. Thinking of you and your family.

>20 MrsLee: Oh no :( I'm so sorry to hear about your nephew. Sending virtual hugs.

So sorry to hear about your nephew. Best wishes are with you all.

I am so sorry to hear that. Those are not decisions anyone should have to make about their child.

Words fail me. Strength to all your family.

As one of the family said when my second wife died, you do not expect to outlive your child. Hugs to you and your sister.

>20 MrsLee: I cannot imagine what the family is going through. They have my sincere sympathies.

Very sorry to hear that, wishing everyone strength and healing.

Thank you all. I do have a measure of hope today, at least, not bad news. My sister said that for 2 days now, he is not getting worse. Critical but stable.

Wishing you the best for 2020 and hoping things improve for your nephew.

>30 MrsLee: That's actually a better start than it may appear. Continued strength to all of you.

Sending my very best wishes to you and your family. I hope that things improve for your nephew.

They have finally found out what the organism is that attacked my nephew. Legionnaires, for crying out loud. No idea where he contracted it. Anyway, this will help them be specific with the medicine to counteract it, but it is not good news for his lungs (he is a heavy smoker). They tried to gently bring him out of his induced coma yesterday, but he became too violent/agitated, and so they put him back under. No telling about prognosis until they can wake him up safely.

On the reading front, I don't seem to be able to read much a day, but I am enjoying the two books I am reading.

OMG MrsL, that is wicked. I think in technical terms it's called ODTAA.

One damned thing after another.

I hope they can treat him successfully.

>34 MrsLee:
I am not surprised you cannot read much at the moment.

Thinking of you and wishing you and your family well.

Wow, haven't heard about Legionnaires in a long time. Here's to your nephew's recovery. Sounds like it might be a long road.

Sending you and your family hugs.

On the nephew front, they woke him out of the medically induced coma yesterday, and he was doing good. That is all I got from my niece, I'm not sure what "good" means, except that it means not worse, and hopefully better. :)

On the Letter of the Year front:

This year is the year of "D" and these are the activities my husband and I ended up choosing to focus on this year.

Day Trips
Dim Sum
Diet (for health more than weight control)
Distilleries
Delectable Dining
Date(s)
Drama (theatre)
Desert
Dominoes

Thank you all for helping with ideas, as you can see, several of yours made the final cut!

Day trips that are dates with delectable dining sound awesome.

Relieved to hear about your nephew.

Your list of activities sounds great! Good times await, I hope.

And I'm glad to hear that things seem to be looking more promising for your nephew. Fingers crossed for continued improvement.

That's a relief!
Alas, no dingoes? Not even these: https://www.thewesterncompany.com/collections/dingo

>38 MrsLee: Diet AND Delectable Dining? Together?!
Have an awesome time Doing the things on your list!

mmmm, dim sum! I love dim sum. The rest sounds good, too.

>41 clamairy: Oooo, those would fit right in where I work and live, but no. My feet would not tolerate them, sadly. :)

>42 hfglen: We didn't define "diet." Technically, it is whatever you eat, right? At the moment for breakfast I am eating a middle eastern rice dish with dried fruit and nuts in it. I also chopped a hard boiled egg into it and added my chili oil. To me, this is delectable, my husband would forgo the chili oil. :) I plan to follow that up with a small bowl of tapioca pudding.
Now why is it that I love tapioca pudding so, but loath jello? Texture, plus tapioca isn't as sweet I think. I love the fish-egg texture.

>42 hfglen: I'm trying to decide if dim sum means I need to learn to cook some of those delicious dumplings, or whether it means traveling at least 2 hours to find some in a restaurant.

Passage to Juneau is proving a rather wonderful read. He blends in history, nature, current events and his own experiences, switching back and forth with ease and humor. It is descriptive without being burdensome. My only regret is that in my current state of being, I can't read anything for more than half an hour without falling asleep.

>38 MrsLee: Glad to hear the news sounds more positive about your nephew.

By the way, you forgot an 's' in Dessert.

>38 MrsLee: >45 pgmcc: I would be happy to guide @MrsLee around the Kalahari and/or Namib deserts. If we were clever we'd also buy Dates in Bushmanland.

Glad to hear your nephew is doing better. Here’s to continued improvement.

Your D activities sound delightful!

I am glad to e that your nephew is improving. It may prove a long haul, but progress is still progress.

>45 pgmcc: No, I didn't. :D

>46 hfglen: Would that I could. However, we have some very respectable deserts in my own state of California, some high desert relatively nearby in Oregon and Nevada, and some lovely deserts in Arizona if we want to take that trip. Seeing as how my husband doesn't want to go further afield than that, we probably won't make it to the Kalahari.

Thank you all for your continued well wishes for my nephew.

I think I mentioned that I have been watching the TV show, Person of Interest, a show about an all-seeing AI and the possibilities both good and evil of such. I finally finished The series. The morning after I watched the last episode, I received an email from Google with a map, pinpointing everywhere I had been in 2019.

That.
Is.
Creepy.

>50 MrsLee: Eek! Big Brother is watching you. For real.

I use Firefox on a USB stick for browsing the web at work, and Firefox on my desktop at home, except for LibraryThing. I use Safari for LibraryThing (Mac user) for one reason only, and that is that in Safari I can have keystroke macros set up to allow me to insert the template for a web link or an image by typing #, then "lnk" or "img". Firefox doesn't allow this and apparently won't be getting it anytime soon. I don't use Chrome for anything, and gmail as little as possible.

>1 MrsLee: Happy new year, and much happy reading. The past year was full of shadows for so many of us, and I fear we have a very strange year ahead. All the more reason to keep an anchor in a secure place such as this.

I've been thinking about those lines in Hamlet that I recall thus: "Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, / Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel." In dark times, we need them more than ever, and they need us; recalling that we do have the power to bring brightness to one another. You're a bright light on LT, @MrsLee, and a star to follow.

>50 MrsLee: Every time Google offers me a chance to fill in the locations that are the blank spots in my day I decline. I guess that's one of the perks of having spotty cell service. LOL

>50 MrsLee: Be careful that no one clones your phone.

ETA: Are you the victim...or the perp?

>51 Bookmarque: My feelings exactly!

>52 hfglen: If only it were my big brother. I trust him!

>53 haydninvienna: I am bringing doom upon myself with the laziness I have towards internet usage, I know. I can't be bothered to learn all the tricks, so, I will probably be one of the first to go. Like lambs to the slaughter.

>54 Meredy: Bless you, that is a lovely sentiment that warms my heart.

>55 clamairy: But, but, we NEED to know where you are at all times! Are you reading in the bathroom? Reading on the beach? Reading while you walk your fur babies? Reading in the kitchen? Inquiring minds.

>56 pgmcc: Lol, if they did, they would be watching a lot of Animal Crossing. Well, on my old phone anyway. I don't play it on my new one. As to your second question, I've often wondered the same thing. It might depend on my mood, although victim has never appealed to me.

I finished reading Lies Sleeping last night. Enjoyable reading. Still savoring the book about Juneau.

I loaded some of the oldest purchased, never read books in my Amazon account onto my Kindle. Thought I would give some of those a go and start getting rid of ones I'm not interested in. There doesn't really seem to be a point in deleting Kindle books from my account, but it keeps me from having to look at books I don't want to see again.

>54 Meredy:

Consider yourself, and several other GDers, grappled to my soul with hoops of steel.

The oldest book purchased and unread on my Kindle is Theodore Roosevelt's autobiography. I'm not up for reading that at the same time as another nonfiction that I am really enjoying, so I chose The Unquiet Bones by Mel Starr. It is the first in his mystery series with Hugh Singleton as the surgeon/detective in the 1300s. I read a book further on in the series way back when I was participating in the Early Reviewer program and liked it, so purchased the ones before it but never got around to reading them.

This series isn't up to Cadfael standards of enjoyment for me, but it is certainly enjoyable, and I like reading books from that time period. Since Starr was a history teacher for 30 years (if I am recalling correctly), one hopes that the research and all is good. It feels good to me, who knows nothing. :)

Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles! My nephew was released from the hospital today! He has to use a walker, because he is very weak, but his recovery is amazing.

>60 MrsLee: so good to hear about your nephew!

>60 MrsLee: Great news indeed!

>60 MrsLee: I am delighted to hear that. You were overdue some good news.

>60 MrsLee: Excellent news! Hope his recovery is rapid and complete.

>60 MrsLee: I am so glad to see some good news here. That is wonderful.

>60 MrsLee: That is great news! I hope he continues to make a full recovery.

That is fantastic. I'm so happy for you and your family.

Hooray for your nephew and family!

>60 MrsLee: What a relief! So happy for all of you.

Yay! Good news!

>58 pgmcc: Beautiful thing to say, Peter. Thank you. I feel the same about a number of folks I've met here.

>60 MrsLee: So glad to see some happy news.

>60 MrsLee: So happy for your nephew and you & your family that he's recovering well.

Thank you all, it is nice to be able to share our triumphs and joys, as well as our sorrows.

Eating peanut butter on toast seems like a good plan for a quick breakfast, but in fact, is very difficult to eat quickly.

Happy birthday, my dear friend! Hope your year is fabulous.

Happy birthday! Do you have a tradition of peanut butter for breakfast on your birthday?

Another birthday? Happy jam day! (Russian childish birthday greeting seems somewhat appropriate considering your statements about breakfast...)

Hippo Birdie!

I hope you are having a lovely day.

Happy birthday!

Happy Birthday! And for no reason at all except that it's your birthday, here's a Merino lamb -

>80 Bookmarque: Is its name me-e-e-e-e-e-e-rino?

Ha! Possibly.

Happy birthday!

>74 clamairy: Thank you! I can't see the word Fabulous without the TV show, "Absolutely Fabulous" coming to mind. :D

>75 haydninvienna: Thank You, actually, the peanut butter was yesterday. Sourdough waffles was my birthday breakfast.

>76 -pilgrim-: Thank you, I like that greeting.

Better respond to the rest later, I'm at work still!

HBD, Lee!

>60 MrsLee: WONDERFUL NEWS!! I am so happy for you and your family.

I almost responded "God just made a wall fall down!"

Too obscure a reference? :)

>80 Bookmarque: Love the lamb! And I ate some particularly delicious lamb curry for lunch! Um, not that lamb. Sorry, my dark side is showing.

Thank you all for the birthday wishes. I woke up to surprises! On the table was a bottle of Heinz 57 Sweet pickle relish, only the label had been adulterated to say, "LeeLee You're sweet & I relish you even if you are now 57."

Also 2 dark chocolate hazelnut bars, and a box of dominoes which we plan to play tomorrow and at least once a month this year.

After work, I had an appointment with a travel agent, and I booked a cruise to Alaska for my sister and I. Then Mark and I had dinner with my brother and his wife at a Vietnamese seafood restaurant. All in all a very nice day.

>86 fuzzi: I get it, one of my favorites! Thank you.

Thank you all for my birthday wishes! 20 years ago I could never imagine having so many lovely people from around the world who cared about me. *hugs and kisses all around*

>87 MrsLee:
I am glad you have had such a lovely day. I am sure I am not the only one looking forward to pictures from the cruise.

Brownie points to the Heinz label creator. Nice touch.

I love the Heinz bottle story. That's so great and creative.

Alaska cruise!!! Wow. That's cool.

>87 MrsLee: You have a good one there, I think.

>87 MrsLee: (and #89). Alaska ... wouldn't "icy cold" be a better description than "cool". But the idea sounds brilliant. (Though for myself I would hate to be on any kind of organized cruise. The only one I could imagine going on voluntarily is to Portuguese Island (in Maputo Bay), which is otherwise unreachable. But I know exactly what trees to look for the moment I could escape from being bullied into nauseating "entertainment". Fortunately that cruise is only 3 days.)

>87 MrsLee: What a great day! Props to the clever bloke who did the label over.

Happy Belated Birthday! It sounds like you had a wonderful day. And that is great news about your nephew.

Oh Shirt! I had a very clever and long post typed here with answers to each of you and something screwed up. Now it's gone and I have not the heart to repeat it. Fork. I am that upset.

Finished The Unquiet Bones by Mel Starr. An enjoyable mystery set in the 1300s England. Serviceable, interesting and entertaining, if not stellar.

Am still reading/savoring Passage to Juneau.

Will be starting Monkey by Wu Ch'eng-en today. No idea where or when this book came into my house, but it was hiding on the bottom shelf which I have been reading from.

>94 MrsLee: hate it when that happens, oh well.

>94 MrsLee: That has happened me more than once and it is so disheartening.

Belated best wishes for your birthday and fantastic to hear about your nephew too.

>97 Peace2: Thank you.

I began Monkey, reading the first chapter, and while it is engaging, I can see that it isn't something I want to immerse myself in. A chapter here and there will be fun, but to try to push through this would be torture.

So, I looked at the oldest books in my Kindle and found a light fiction I had purchased for my mother way back when A Thousand Tomorrows by Karen Kingsbury. It is a light cowboy romance, with a heavy dose of emotion around inner rage, grief and loss, healing and forgiveness. Not my thing as a rule, and I did wonder at myself using precious reading time to read it. However, the author is not without skill, and I read it to the end.

>94 MrsLee: I had that happen to me a couple of days ago but I know exactly what happened—I was typing the post on the iPad and then went over to the computer to do something, and then started looking at Talk on the computer.

>98 MrsLee: I first met Monkey is the subtitled Japanese version down on UK TV in the seventies - and loved it (despite dodgy special effects and ham acting; they just fitted is mood)!

I then found that it was based on the Chinese classic, Journey to the West, which is based on folk tales accumulated around Buddhist religious history, combined with satire China at the time of its writing.

Most English language translations abridge it considerable, and the tone of these translations vary greatly, depending on which aspects of the story were of most interest to the translator.

If it was the irrepressible nature of Monkey that most soaked to you, I would recommend trying to get hold of a copy of the TV series (which has been released on DVD).

...and now I have the theme music stuck in my head, which, like the nature of Monkey, "is IRREPRESSIBLE!"

>100 -pilgrim-: This version is a translation by Arthur Waley. Rather than abridging the stories, he didn't include all of the stories (only 30 of the 100), but the ones he included are full translations with dialog and such. Quite fun. There is a nice introduction which gives the history of Wu Ch'eng-en and why he wrote these and published them anonymously. Also how they came to be attributed to him. Interesting stuff. The introduction is by Hu Shih. He has added a few notes where he and Mr. Waley disagreed on the translation, but so far it seems like minor stuff, and there are only about five places.

I fell in love with the Monkey King when I watched a rather cheesy movie, possibly of the same name some time ago. Irrepressible is a great tag for him. :)

Last night I read a short story/novella (50 pages?) called Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Black Bishop by Mark Coggins. It was almost pitch-perfect in style and tone. The subject matter was a bit risque for Doyle and wouldn't have been done, but even that was done in the manner that such subject might have been talked about in the 1880s, if they had been talked about in public at all. Enjoyable.

Seems I am the only one who has entered this, and the touchstone won't work, no time to force it.

>101 MrsLee: Arthur Waley seems to have been one of the great British characters. He went to work in the British Museum and found himself sorting modern (that is, in the early 20th century) German bookplates, a task for which he had little enthusiasm. He heard that a Chinese and Japanese print room was being set up, asked the curator (the poet Laurence Binyon) for a job as assistant, and got it. He knew nothing of either Chinese or Japanese, and set to work to learn both languages at once. He seems to have succeeded pretty well.

I have his One Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems; he tells the story of how he came to learn the languages in the introduction. Also, in the article on him in Wikipedia: "In his preface to The Secret History of the Mongols he writes that he was not a master of many languages, but claims to have known Chinese and Japanese fairly well, a good deal of Ainu and Mongolian, and some Hebrew and Syriac."

I don't have my copy of One Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems here, but it's available on Project Gutenberg—unfortunately with a different introduction. I first encountered these two in a high school poetry book, and have never forgotten them:

"THE HAT GIVEN TO THE POET BY LI CHIEN
Long ago to a white-haired gentleman
You made the present of a black gauze hat.
The gauze hat still sits on my head;
But you already are gone to the Nether Springs.
The thing is old, but still fit to wear;
The man is gone and will never be seen again.
Out on the hill the moon is shining to-night
And the trees on your tomb are swayed by the autumn wind."

and

"ON THE BIRTH OF HIS SON

By Su Tung-p’o (A.D. 1036-1101)
Families, when a child is born
Want it to be intelligent.
I, through intelligence,
Having wrecked my whole life,
Only hope the baby will prove
Ignorant and stupid.
Then he will crown a tranquil life
By becoming a Cabinet Minister."

>104 haydninvienna: The first one is lovely. The second is too true.

>105 pgmcc: Yes, the first one rather gets you between wind and water, doesn't it?

ETA Given that I've had it in the memory banks for something like 55 years now, I think it's fairly to be described as memorable.

EATA: And now back to your regularly scheduled piffle ...

>105 pgmcc:
Some things never change.

>106 haydninvienna: I think I have told you before that poems are not normally something I am drawn to, that there are only a few that grab me; those two have grabbed me.

I almost bought a book of Blake's poems when I was in Watkins Books in Cecil Court. I checked myself by saying I need to think about it for a while.

>107 suitable1: We are doomed.

>108 pgmcc: There I was feeling apologetic for hijacking @MrsLee's thread and here you are encouraging me! Next time you see a book of Blake's poetry, rather than thinking of "The Tyger", try this:

"A pretty sneaking knave I knew—
Why, Mr Cromek, how d'ye do?"

>103 haydninvienna: &>104 haydninvienna: Nice to know, he seemed like someone special from the introduction I read in my book, but I hadn't looked him up yet.

I love piffle by poetry.

Yesterday, while being held hostage at an eye exam, I began a book on my Kindle called Cotillion by Georgette Heyer. I did not love the first book I read by her, The Grand Sophy, but liked it well enough to read another. She is amusing if nothing else. *ducks knowing there are several rabid Heyer fans in the pub*

So far I have met no characters I particularly like, or can root for, in Cotillion, and I really get annoyed by the colloquialisms. Is that the right word? Is there a better one? The word usage of the class of people? There is some of that in Lord Peter Wimsey novels, but I don't remember it being as exaggerated there. Lord Peter does it when he is putting on his cover act, or trying to cover his real emotions or thoughts, and Freddie Arbuckle speaks it a lot, but somehow it doesn't bother me as much in the Sayer novels as it does here.

In spite of all that, I am still reading and not hating the story. I only read it during my breaks at work though, because I spend most of my home reading on Passage to Juneau which I love. Monkey I am limiting myself to one chapter a night, so as not to tire of it. Makes a great bedtime story.

>111 MrsLee: Could it be that 18th-century colloquial English was very different to ours? I do dimly recall suffering a slight language barrier when I treid long ago to read my grandmother's favourite author.

>111 MrsLee: Perhaps the language is feeling contrived as opposed to natural speech. She was a 20th century writer trying to write in an older dialect, wasn't she? Does it seem that different from novel actually written at that time? I know it usually takes me a few chapters to settle into the language of an Austen novel.

>111 MrsLee: I like Heyer novels well enough, but have a similar feeling about her use of what I consider to be slang terminology of the time - I just don't know what is meant by some of it, even within context. Most characters use it sparingly but there always seems to be one or two who are like the Valley Girls of the Regency period.

>111 MrsLee: I’ve read The Grand Sophy but no other Heyers, so looked Cotillion up on Wikipedia. It strikes me as a perfect plot for P G Wodehouse, and you would get lots of now-obscure slang with him too.

>113 clamairy: & >114 Darth-Heather: Yes, slang is a better word for it.
Some examples:
"Have all the bills sent to her, and she'll stand huff."
"I'm dashed if I see what your lay is!"

Those are one character, about2 sentences apart. Several characters were talking like that earlier. I understand what they are saying,it just annoys me that there is so much of it.

>116 MrsLee: That's the difference between social background. Jane Austen was a respectable provincial lady, and so are most of her characters.

Georgette Heuer is writing about a completely different social set: the "smart set", where either you were a "sharp" or a"flat". And if you were a sharp, you affected as much of the jargon of your clique as possible, least you be mistaken for a flat.
(It's the world that Wickham either belonged to, or more likely simply adopted to, but he wouldn't have brought those manner back to Pemberley.)

I don't think the fact that her characters don't sound like Jane Austen's is a measure of her being a modern writer "putting it on"; one thing Ben Aaronovitch gets perfectly right is Peter Grant's language (as a Londoner himself, I would expect no less), but that does not imply that I myself would use most of the slang that he does, or the police jargon (since I am neither a Londoner not in the police force).

So, I don't think the level of usage that you describe is over the top. I didn't have any trouble with it when I was reading Georgette Heyer in my early teens (historical novels being more readily available than fantasy in the local shop).

>117 -pilgrim-: I wasn't criticizing (or wasn't meaning to) the author. I know nothing about the way anyone in England at any time period was supposed to speak. I'm only saying that it is annoying to me, whether it is correct or not. I do not love Austen, nor do I seem to love books of "manners" or romances, so probably this isn't for me. I keep trying 1) because I bought quite a few of these for my mother on the Kindle, and 2) so many people whose taste in reading I trust love Heyer.

>118 MrsLee: I am not a fan of romances either, which is why I only read a few of Heyer's novels. But nowadays, I am struck how much better she was at capturing period and attitudes than many so-called historical novelists, who simply stuff characters with modern speech and attitudes into the clothing of a different era.

I am not sure what is meant by books of "manners" - to me the term refers to things like "The Handbook of Decorum for Young Ladies" (I made that particular title up!), of which I was one presented an authentic Victorian example, but I think you are referring to a type of novel?

If you mean the acute, and weekly wryly amused, observation of human nature and its foibles, then that is something that I can certainly enjoy (as long as the tone is sympathetic rather than superior).

Did your mother ever tell you what she liked about Heyer's novels?

>119 -pilgrim-: I like Austen and Heyer, Charlotte Bronte, and George Eliot...they wrote characters that were complicated, three-dimensional, deep, who talked about ideas.

Finished Passage to Juneau, by Jonathan Raban, last night. It was a book I was sorry to be finished with.

My little review:
"Loved this book. Sailing with Mr. Raban is an adventure in history, natural history, philosophy and it is amusing as well. Even though his adventure had a rather bitter ending, it was good to be along on the cruise. His humor is threaded throughout the story. Not obtrusive, but quiet and natural. He shared some very interesting perspectives on the native arts and ways of looking at the world around them. Whether he is right or not, I don't know, but the musings were eye-opening to me. I always enjoy when I am presented with a new perspective on the world."

Must say I'm warming up to Cotillion. However, if Kit decides to marry Jack instead of Freddy, I will have no sympathy with her. I didn't care for Freddy at first, but Meyer has made him quite loveable.

ETA: Finished now. Best thing about this book was watching Freddy develop as a character, not only in the eyes of Kitty, but in those of his family and his own as well. Satisfactory.

Will begin Morgue Drawer for Rent tomorrow.

Finished Natural History of Vacant Lots by Matthew F. Vessel. My thoughts:
"I enjoyed reading this. Much of it I was familiar with because I had incredible parents and grandparents who knew about the place we live in and discussed it frequently, thereby teaching me. It was interesting in the introduction to learn how recently textbooks were out of date/misinformed about the natural flora and fauna of the far west. When I come to think of it, school is not where I learned about these things, with the exception of a summer program I participated in when a teen. That program had us fixing National Park trails and learning about our environment while we were at it. Wish all teens everywhere could be in such a program at some time. I digress.

This would serve as a terrific text or guide for a classroom, or for a teacher who wanted the children to learn about their immediate environment. It teaches about the plants and critters that frequent waysides, empty lots and any other place they can get a foothold. It also gives instructions for ways and means to study an area over time looking for various growth patterns, species, habits, etc. Then it goes on to describe and identify the various plants and animals one might find there in California. Many of these species will be found elsewhere as well, since they are the tough ones that persist in living despite the poisons, plowing, cutting and other means humans try to get rid of them. Aint nature persistent?

I wish there were more color photos for the identification pages, but that is probably a sign of the times it was published in. The descriptions of the various plants, animals and insects range from basic and brief, to quaint and personal including personal anecdotes. I love that."

The book which I am beginning now is Memoirs of a Medieval Woman: The Life and Times of Margery Kempe by Louise Collis. I think I was hoping this was a simple translation of what the Medieval woman wrote, with some notes on the side, but at first glance that order seems reversed. Oh well. Hopefully it will be interesting.

Enjoying Morgue Drawer for Rent and Monkey, even though Monkey seems to be trapped under a mountain at the moment and the stories are about other folks in his world, they are still fun.

>123 MrsLee: Was your summer youth program by any chance the Youth Conservation Corps? I participated in that in my teens. I spent the summer at a camp on National Forest lands in Colorado doing reforestation and trail maintenance. It was a wonderful experience, but I don't think it's offered any more, which is a shame.

>122 MrsLee: Freddy is absolutely the best part of the story. Heyer started out presenting Freddy almost as the opposite of what a conventional romantic hero should be, and then gradually shows his development into--well, not a conventional romantic hero, but into a most love-worthy person.

Heyer's The Unknown Ajax (another of my favorites by her) takes speech patterns and vocabulary and uses them as part of the plot. It's also hilarious--one of her best.

If you're still interested in Margery Kempe when you're done with that book, you might have a look at The Book of the Maidservant by Rebecca Barnhouse--it's the story of Kempe's travels from her maid's point of view. ;)

>124 bjappleg8: Yes, that was the name of it! As a typical teen, I don't think I appreciated it as much when I was in it as I do now, looking back. I even appreciate the annoying leader who put up with all of our nonsense and know-it-all behavior, and hung in there trying to get some information in our heads. As a mother of teens, I often wished there was such a program. One that had them work hard until they were so tired all they could do was sit and listen. :)

>125 Marissa_Doyle: At first, I thought Freddy was meant to be a homosexual, with all the oblique references to "not being the marrying type" and such. :) I will try The Unknown Ajax one of these days, but I have to take those books few and far between.

Finished Morgue Drawer for Rent by Jutta Profijt yesterday. It was a very slow day at word due to the service area remodel going on, I feel a bit under the weather, so after doing the tasks that were required, I sat and read. So there.

I enjoy this series, about like I enjoy the series with Bernie and Chet, although the language and attitude towards women in the morgue drawer series could be offensive to some. This last one had a neat explanation of how this particular woman came to be writing these books. Clever use of the forth wall? Not sure it is the forth wall, but it brought the writer into to story. Anyway, these are mysteries I read more for the fun of them than the excellent writing or mystery puzzle.

What's up next for my Kindle book?
The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan. I've had this on my Kindle for years meaning to get to it. I think it is one of the books my mom told me she loved, but I'm not sure. If it gets too heavy, I may need to pick a light read off of my shelves for fun.

Stopped reading The Lemon Tree, or rather, I skimmed through it. Not what I expected it to be. I can't really get into why without raising the topic of religion and politics, so let me just say that there were several reasons I didn't want to read it right now, probably not any of which had to do with the author's writing. So, if you want a detailed low-down on the politics and history of Palestine over the last hundred years or so, this might please you very much. I didn't want that, plus every blasted time i opened my Kindle to read it, the reading time got longer by an hour. I started at four hours, reasonable, and after two or three times of setting it down, it went to nine hours. So I showed the Kindle who was boss, skimmed and read the bits I found more interesting and let the rest go. This isn't a book my mom loved, I was confused.

I am now reading An Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt which is so far charming. Written in 1913, I've only read through the first chapter on his ancestors.

Also began An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear. An enjoyable read.

Finished An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear. This was a good read. Not so much for the mystery as for the picture of a time, a place and a people. I enjoy riding along with Maisie Dobbs.

The author can be a bit repetitive, but not tediously so, and it is a good thing if one hasn't read all the books in order, or picked up a random book to read. You don't feel lost in the series.

Still enjoying Monkey, at the rate of one chapter a day more or less. Such fun.

Also enjoying An Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt. His idea of schooling and child rearing practically mirror my own. His humorous descriptions at his own learning and what he experienced raising his children, both failures and success, make for good entertainment. His childhood reminds me a lot of Gerald Durrell's, as far as the interest in animals and nature, except that Roosevelt's family was never in want of money.

Began Artemis by Andy Weir this weekend. I am not hating it.

>130 MrsLee: I hope you like it. I borrowed the kindle version from my library and did not make great progress. So I bailed when my time was up. I think I just tried it at the wrong time, plus it did not grab me like The Martian had.

>131 clamairy: I don't hate it yet. I don't love it, either. Not sure the author should have tried to write a female character as the protagonist; something about her doesn't ring true, but maybe it's just me and my old-fashioned spirit. It's a strange feeling to be hoping through-out the story that a character fails in their plan. Mostly I'm reading it to see what the author does with that. Curiosity killed the reader.

I liked and was amused by The Martian, but I didn't love it. It was too one-dimensional and emotionally backward. So I gave his follow up a miss and it looks like that was a good decision.

>132 MrsLee: I had seen similar comments about Artemis before I read it, so I think that helped me go in with lower expectations. It wasn’t a favorite, and I had some complaints, but I mostly found it readable and it held my interest. I did enjoy The Martian much more.

I blame that curiosity factor you mention as being one of the reasons I’m so bad at abandoning books! :)

I found The Martian too like the original MacGyver TV series to be loved. No matter what the problem was, he solved it with the bits and pieces he had available to him. Also, I found it slightly tiresome that every time he fixed something you knew it would not be long before the next big disaster would happen which he again would sort out with some duct tape and a paperclip. I did not hate it and stayed to the end, but it leaves me not wanting to read anything else by Andy Weir. His book, Artemis, will be a pleasure I shall not experience.

>134 YouKneeK: I blame that curiosity factor you mention as being one of the reasons I’m so bad at abandoning books! :)

I was cured of any inclination not to abandon books I was not fully enjoying by Stephen R. Donaldson. I read two whole trilogies of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant in the hope that it was going to get better. It never did and I was angry at myself wasting so much of my life reading those books. I resolved to feel free to throw a book across the room and not finish it if it had not grabbed me. On the few occasions I have tried abandoning that resolve, e.g. reading Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth where I decided after 25 pages it was too boring but I read on to give it a chance and eventually abandoned it after 250 pages, I have found that I should have gone with my initial instinct.

Apologies for ranting on but you reminded me of the raw nerve I have about books that I feel have wasted my time.

>133 Bookmarque:, >135 pgmcc: I agree wholeheartedly with both of your comments on The Martian. It made a better film than it was a book.

>135 pgmcc: Haha, although I’m very bad at abandoning an individual book once I’ve started it, I’ve never had trouble abandoning a series. This is probably because I usually read series books all at once, so if I don’t enjoy it, there’s no way I’m going to plow through book after book of it. Last year I even abandoned a series I was enjoying quite a lot after book 4 of 6 because it was clear the author had gone off the internal consistency rails.

>135 pgmcc: I don't recall ever throwing a book across the room, but I have snapped shut a couple in disgust.

I really enjoyed The Martian, Artemis not so much.

I have never thrown a book across the room, but I have thrown one in the trash can.

>138 fuzzi: & >139 catzteach:

My review of The Patriot Game by John De St. Jorre is presented below. It explains why I bounced it off the far wall.

"This book will stay with me all my life. It is the first book I physically threw across the room because I was so disgusted with its inaccuracies and total disregard for reality.

The author was giving detailed descriptions of his protagonist's car journey through Belfast. He had his hero driving along roads he would not have been able to access; stopping for a smoke at the side of the "Belfast to Dungannon road", which is a motorway; viewing the aftermath of a restaurant bombing that he couldn't have seen from where he was; coming up to a border crossing where the "border guards raised a barrier", something that at the time of the story was not the case. Even through the roughest times of the troubles the type of barrier he described was never used at the border crossings.

It appears this author wrote his descriptions from a map never having visited Northern Ireland."

The plot is basically the same as that of Tom Clancy's The Patriot Games which was the basis for the film with the same title and starring Harrison Ford.

The John De St. Jorre book was why I started using the half star rating; no star looked like a book was unrated. I wanted to use the half star to indicate that I detested the book and that it should never have seen the light of day. What I detested was the slovenly approach of the author. The smallest amount of research (e.g. talking to someone from where he is basing his story) would have highlighted all the errors he was making. If he was using a map it must have been a pretty old map as the motorway to Dungannon was constructed in the 1960s with most of it complete before the troubles started in 1968.

By the way, @catzteach, I did eventually consign this book to the bin. It deserved to be destroyed, and that is strong language from me, the person who campaigns against cruelty to books.

:-)

Golly Peter, better have a pint on me to calm the ruffled feathers of your memories! :)

What I am is an anti-Renaissance gal. I am not an expert in much of anything, and so a lot of that type of stuff doesn't bother me. I know very little about the laws of physics, chemistry, etc. The author can prattle on about most of that as much as he wants and I will skim right through it. Same goes for a lot of other subjects when I read. When I do find an author that offends my sense of something I know, I feel they must be pretty lame, because if I know more, then they are in way over their heads. :)

That being said, I am much more sensitive to the character's moral base. Jazz is pretty much the type of person I have no patience with at all. Self-absorbed, blaming her troubles on the fact that others around her don't let her behave/do whatever she wants, and not learning from her mistakes. The pain she is causing her father hurts me as well. Personally, I really wanted her to be crushed under a harvester. I don't want her to succeed. I want her to fail miserably. I suppose it will all end where we are supposed to just forgive this girl and assume she has learned her lessons, or not. I'm not sure, which is why I am still reading, although this may very well be a book I will throw across the room, in theory, when I am done. The book is a hardcover, so I will not actually do that. Nor will I throw it away, because if nothing else it is an imaginative look into what living on the moon might be like. I do like Andy Weir's writing because now and then I like a rollicking adventure. This book will most likely go back to our sharing shelves at work though.

I have extreme difficulty abandoning s book part of the way through, and a similar reaction to films. Even if they are bad, I still want to know how it ends.

Unfortunately, most reviews are carefully spoiler-free, and don't answer that question. I muse sometimes about the idea of an "Endings" website, where one could find s summary of the book, or film, including how it ends, to save frustrated readers and viewers from the need to continue.

>139 catzteach: "I have never thrown a book across the room, but I have thrown one in the trash can."

Gasp!

>141 MrsLee: In deferral to those not wanting to click into your spoiler tag, I can't say too much but... another 'Gasp!' for your wishes for Jazz. Okay, truth be told, it was more of a chuckle than a gasp... ;-)

I liked The Martian well enough. I agree with Peter that it is "McGyver on Mars", but I enjoyed it as a harmless bit of entertainment that, besides the one glaring bit of bad science at the start, and the far-fetched rescue attempt at the end, was pretty good at "sciencing the bleeep out" of the situation. But I also read enough disappointed reviews of Artemis that I have not felt compelled to seek it out. I'm not seeing any comments here that are changing my mind on that.

>142 -pilgrim-: That seems like such a good idea - but what a 2-edged sword! Even if one finds out the ending might be worth finishing the read/viewing, the slog may be even worse once the ending is known. So the conundrum remains... to seek the spoiler? Or continue in blind hope? Or simply commence with the throwing...?

>140 pgmcc: wow. Thanks for explaining your entirely justified actions.

RESEARCH, authors, do your RESEARCH.

One of the things I enjoy about Louis L'Amour books is they are accurate. People have reported that they have located where his stories took place by only using the descriptions in his books. L'Amour explored the locales he used.

>141 MrsLee: Sounds like I may be in the minority here, but I liked Artemis. It was a very different book from The Martian, though.

In reading The Memoirs of a Medieval Woman, I find myself both enjoying it and being annoyed. The author gives a great picture of what was happening in the world around Margery Kempe. I only wish that she didn't make her contempt of Margery so plain. She mocks her. She will give a snippet of a quote, then make snide remarks. Now granted, some of what Margery says may well be odd and outrageous to our modern minds, but I would rather make up my own mind about that. However funny people of history seem to us today, it is important to try to understand where they were coming from at that time. We can walk away shaking our heads and saying, "Wow, glad I live now and not then" but it behooves us to try to understand them.

Finished Artemis yesterday. On the whole, I enjoyed it. A fast-paced caper. I was thinking about Jazz and why I didn't care for her. I wonder if I would have felt differently if she was a man? Would I have been more forgiving of her faults? I'm trying to come up with comparison characters. As I predicted, in the last bit of the book we are supposed to see her in a different light, but I still felt no affection or admiration for her. So, other characters I like in spite of their flaws? Hans Solo? He was selfish, self-absorbed, a thief, and even a bit whiny. He comes across to me as more likable than Jazz. Why?

I began a mystery by Dick Francis, Forfeit. I enjoy his books every now and then, although they don't live on my shelves.

>146 MrsLee: I think my biggest problem with Jazz was that the plot was carried by her stupidity. For me, that annoys me with any gender. If she hadn’t made so many dumb mistakes, there wouldn’t have been a story, and yet we’re supposed to believe she’s this really intelligent person. I guess an otherwise-intelligent person can lack common sense and make bad decisions, but I remember also feeling like some of the stuff she overlooked that caused her plans to go wrong stretched credibility.

The story itself still held my attention well, though. I’m glad you enjoyed it pretty well too despite the issues with Jazz!

>139 catzteach: Same here, I really enjoyed The Martian and not Artemis. Sure, he fixes everything and survives everything, but since the alternative is to give up and just die, I prefer that alternative.

I learned long ago not to finish books that I really can't stand. In the case of Artemis, I was listening to an audiobook and I think that actually made it worse.

>147 YouKneeK: That's what bothered me too, why have a character that makes so many poor decisions, mostly from the start?

>147 YouKneeK: Perhaps that is what makes the difference between her and Hans Solo. I don't think he made dumb mistakes. Been too long since I watched Star Wars to remember well though.

>150 -pilgrim-: One has to allow that people under pressure make mistakes that they would not do otherwise. And I dislike characters that are perfect.

I suppose the crucial question is whether the mistakes are plausible or plot-convenient.

With Han, it depends on what you call dumb mistakes. HE would call helping out the rebels one! (I think that is actually the point. We forgive "stupid" mistakes that makes the selfish character more human, but not when they are simply being selfish. )

>150 -pilgrim-: It's also relevant that Han came back. He did call it dumb to help the rebels, but eventually did it anyway.

>151 haydninvienna: That's rather my point. An intelligent, but selfish, character doing something that intellectually they should see as a mistake, because of altruistic motives, is quite different from another making a similar mistake from selfish ones. (And, of course, when they do it and, against the odds, it works, no one remembers how illogical a decision it was in the first place.)

>152 -pilgrim-: Yes, exactly. Up till the point where the Millennium Falcon comes swooping back into the battle with Han yelling jubilantly, he isn't even portrayed as especially likeable. Leaving the rebels to the fate was the "smart" decision but we feel it is wrong, and then Han redeems himself by coming back. I haven't read Artemis, but I assume from what's gone before that Jazz is just a selfish person without the redeeming bit at the end.

I bailed on Artemis for precisely the reasons MrsLee so eloquently outlines. She seemed a waste of my time. It put me in mind of this wonderful piece which i recently read, sums up my feelings exactly.

Paywall.

Sounds like I may be in the minority here, but I liked Jazz, and felt she spent a lot of her time trying to fix an old mistake and that she (sort of) redeemed herself at the end.

>156 NorthernStar: Yes, she did try/sort of redeem herself, but I still didn't like her. What I particularly disliked was her tight grip on her grudges against others who had done her wrong in her eyes, without even considering that she had not been a particularly good friend to them, either. I suppose the little improvement she had was too little, too late for me. I still enjoyed the read though.

Finished Forfeit by Dick Francis last night. I enjoyed it as I usually do enjoy his books. A quick adventure, quickly forgotten. This one however, had some particularly insightful views into the life of a man whose wife had polio and now only survives due to a breathing apparatus called a Spiroshell. She is mostly paralyzed, except for the limited use of one arm and hand. The main character, Tyrone, loves her and cares for her at home. He is also unfaithful to her. I thought the emotional struggles of both characters were well outlined, until the end when it all seemed a bit pat. But hey, fiction. Oh yeah, there were bad guys out to get him for exposing them and their dastardly deeds through his journalism.

There's something just fun about Dick Francis even though all the plots are basically the same, and really quite dated now.

>158 reading_fox: Agreed!

I finished reading Monkey by Wu Ch'eng-en, translated by Arthur Waley, last night. Very enjoyable! Several of the stories go to prove that potty humor has been popular throughout the ages in all cultures. :D

I made a start on The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part Three: The War of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien. I made it through the Forward, on to page 8, before I was falling asleep. This is not due to the book, but to the fact that lately I have not been able to sleep much past 4:00am, and so am dead tired by 9:00pm. In fact, I started this book after dozing on my chair for an hour when I finished Monkey.

I had picked two other books at random to read from my TBR shelves, but then decided that this book had sat waiting by my chair for me to start for at least a year and I had better get on with it.

I am still very much enjoying the autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt which I am reading on my Kindle, but I try to read physical books when I am at home, so haven't made much progress on it. His insights into the way politics and government worked/works in America is quite interesting. The inside scoop so to speak. He had hopes that reforms would do away with corruption, but I suspect that those who lean that way only found new ways to corrupt.

>157 MrsLee:
I have only read one Dick Francis book and cannot remember which one it was. I do remember really enjoying it and thinking I be quite happy to read more of his novels. Of course I have not done so.
:-(

>160 pgmcc:

Wait! You remember the author, but not the book?

>161 suitable1:
Horses.

I remember Dick Francis wrote books about horses and horse racing.

>162 pgmcc: You are not alone... I will often remember an author name without remembering a book I have read by them. I'm not sure why one would stick in the grey matter and not the other? Perhaps because the author is frequently mentioned on reading sites by other readers while individual book plots slip away? Admittedly, I am not very good at retaining details - and it's getting worse as I age... o_O

Dick Francis is an example in point as I have read exactly one of his books but I can't recall the title. It was many years ago and I too mostly remember it had something to do with horsies.

Another such author is Clive Cussler. I remember I once read a Dirk Pitt novel but I have no recollection which one. I also watched the movie 'Sahara', which I thought featured a rather poor plot. Maybe some authors simply don't appeal enough to every reader to be memorable to them?

I read at least one book by Dick Francis but can't recall anything about the plot. I do remember liking it.

Been busy so I’m replying late, but ... >140 pgmcc: >143 ScoLgo: I do not like cruelty to books either, which is why throwing it away was such a statement. It was Michael Crichton, too. And shortly after I threw the book away, it was made into a movie. I believe the movie tanked as well.

For those of you who have read one Dick Francis book, enjoyed it, and never read another but know it had to do with horses; I can one up you. Most of them have to do with horse racing in one form or another. I'm not sure how many I've read over the years, five or six well spaced apart. I have zero interest in horse racing, yet he always manages to engage me in the story. Well, mostly always. The one I read before this one was not enjoyable. I can't remember the title. ;)

>163 ScoLgo: Don't judge poor Mr. Cussler by Sahara or any of his recent stuff! His early books, like Iceberg or Raise the Titanic were fun reads, though not high end fiction by any means. The movie was not only based on one of his later books, but was a bit of a mashup anyway.

>167 Karlstar: Sorry, I wasn't trying to diss the authors. I don't have enough experience with either one to have any type of informed opinion about them. I was simply responding to remembering an author name but not the book. Those are two authors that sprang to mind because I know I've read one book from each but, even after looking at their catalog listings here on LT, I still can't identify the titles. I know I did not read Sahara, only watched the movie.

Which Cussler book do you recommend should I decide to give him another try?

The only Dick Francis novel that I have read is Whip Hand, which I believe was his first (ETA: I was wrong, it wasn't.) I enjoyed it, so I am not entirely sure why I never read any more. It was my father's copy that I read.

I had the impression that all his books were about horse racing but I thought that some of his later books may has strayed from that path. I was being coy in my comments above.

My Tolkien book is going to take a long time. One chapter at most a day, before I'm nodding off. The Theodore Roosevelt autobiography is fascinating, but again, can't read too far before dozing.

So I've started a new book on the Kindle called A Study in Sherlock. Short stories which are a take on the Doyle canon by many mystery authors I know and love. I'm kind of excited about this one.

Monkey by Wu Ch'eng-en is a book I picked up a few months ago and am hoping to get to is soon. I remember the TV version being on but did not watch it.

Your comments have me looking forward to reading it.

>172 pgmcc: Yay! Another potential convert.

I note that the Japanese TV company filmed, but the BBC declined to show, some of the episodes involving the "potty humour" to which @MrsLee referred.

Just having a mini-catch up on threads - I'm a little unnerved by the not so great responses to Artemis as it's sitting on my shelf waiting... I should just give myself time for my expectations to drop a little further and then give it a go... or maybe I should try it sooner so that it can pass it to a new home and have space for something better!

>172 pgmcc: I think you would enjoy it. I wish I had known about it when my kids were younger and I read to them. Earthy enough to please the boys, but full of interesting details of culture and history As well. I may end up reading it to my husband, if we can ever start that habit again.

>174 Peace2: Don't despair. I really enjoyed the action and the setting. I don't regret the time I gave it, although it isn't a candidate for a re-read.

I've begun going through all the paperwork saved by my mom. This is going to take some time. The cards and photos which are pertinent to my siblings and their children I am putting in folders for them. The family history is going into appropriate folders. I am transcribing some of the older letters, and the journals my mom kept on her travels in the southwest with my dad. These are in cursive and I don't know how many of her grandchildren will want to read them. If they are typed, at least the information is accessible if anyone wants it. In the mean time, I am traveling with mom and dad and enjoying the company.

The problem is time. I am managing to steal a half hour in the mornings before work. Too tired in the evening. Some on the weekends, but I've been traveling the last couple of weekends and will be gone the next two.

>175 MrsLee:
I wish you well with your travelling with your parents and going through the old paperwork. It is only a few years ago that I found myself able to go through some of my parents documents and found a lot of interesting bits and pieces. One document was a receipt for their bedroom furniture bought in 1940 when they were married. It was the same bed, wardrobe, dressing-table and tallboy that they had throughout their lives.

Another was a letter from the government agreeing to compensation for my grandfather's pub that was destroyed during the WWII blitz.

>175 MrsLee:, >176 pgmcc: I am finding that process immensely saddening. So many things saved for me, the context of which is now list.

>175 MrsLee: after my mother died unexpectedly at 66 I became the executrix. There were about three boxes of her receipts, notes, newspaper clippings that I carried with me wherever we moved. It was years before I could bring myself to go through those boxes and make choices of what to keep, what to share, and what to discard. The papers smelled like my mom (she was a smoker) and it took a long time to get over the emotional roller-coaster of those sentimental items every time I opened the boxes.

>177 -pilgrim-: We have a large family who will love getting the stories from my mom. I think about the shelves full of photo albums I've put together over the years. They become a burden at some point. I have found old family photo albums in antique stores. I always find it sad that they aren't treasured by a family anymore.

>179 MrsLee: I do not have many photos from the past. My parents list their old photographs in a flood. And they switched to ciné film in the fifties, which does not keep as well. One set of grandparents' photos (dating from the late 19th century - my grandfather was definitely an "early adopter"!) were mostly destroyed by mildew through being stored in an Anderson shelter, and my other grandparents kept very few photos - my grandmother deliberately destroyed a lot, including all but half of one of their wedding photos , in the early forties I think (when the threat of invasion seemed very real).

When my parents died, a lot of my elderly relatives rallied found and have me duplicates of what they had - the first time that I had seen my grandmother as a young girl, or my father as a boy, or my other grandparents at all.

I envy you what you have to treasure. Keep them safe.

>159 MrsLee: I haven't read any of the The History of The Lord of the Rings books. I'm not sure if I could handle them at this point in my life. Have you read the first two? Refresh my memory.

>168 ScoLgo: Sorry to be so late, if I had to recommend any Cussler, I would say Iceberg or Raise the Titanic. The latter was written before the movie Titanic, so the two may conflict if you are a fan of the movie, a little.

>182 Karlstar: Thanks for the recommendation! I have actually never watched Cameron's Titanic so that might be the book to try.

I was sorry to hear that Cussler died the other day. I didn't know much about him before but having read up a bit in the ensuing days, he seems to have been an interesting guy.

>181 clamairy: This is the first I've attempted. It is interesting as an insight into the development of the story, but not compelling to pick up much. I do enjoy being in the world even out of order and repeating the same passage several times as it is refined, but one chapter a sitting is the most I can handle.

Letting it be known I aintn't dead yet. I'm just not reading much. Still working on and enjoying the autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt. I was reading several books at once, then I hit a wall. Working on sorting mom's papers and photos.

I have no problem with social distancing at all. You won't hear me complaining. We went to the store to stock up on veggies and coffee. Also picked up some helpful meds in case this virus comes our way. I can't work from home, and since there are no cases in our county, my boss isn't going to close as long as people want to come get their cars fixed or buy new ones. Mark has been told that the AARP tax program he was volunteering with is suspended, and apparently so is the deadline for filing taxes. We are living in interesting times.

>185 MrsLee: I thought you'd been a bit quiet, and was thinking about posting a query in my own thread about whether anyone had heard from you recently! Very glad you're not dead! I've just been sent a Directive from the Emir himself saying that anyone over 55 must be allowed to work from home, which I won't do unless I'm made to--I hate home working.

And in honour of your still not being dead, I offer this:

>186 haydninvienna: Do I recognize a certain identificatory lapel pin?

>187 hfglen: If you mean is that Granny Weatherwax's sign for when she was "borrowing", absolutely. I actually have one, but that image came from the web.

>188 haydninvienna: I know. You were wearing it when you arrived at Durban airport, thus providing unmistakable ID.

>189 hfglen: And you just reminded me than an airport worker at Livingstone Airport in Zambia was most interested in it.

>186 haydninvienna: Ah, thank you, I couldn't remember how she spelled that. :) My post in >185 MrsLee: had one other Discworld reference, did you see it?

I have been racking my brains for years trying to think of some work I could do from home that someone would pay me for, but to no avail. I love my house and would never leave it if I didn't have to. I think I will post a photo or two here to show why.

This is my dad, trying to read after a long day in the fields. He has a lap full of my siblings. I can't quite make out the book, but it looks like a profile of Alfred Hitchcock on the cover.

>192 MrsLee: That has got to be one of the most beautiful representations of fatherhood that I have seen. You are lucky to have a trove of such memories.

>191 MrsLee: >192 MrsLee: Yes indeed, a very warm picture. You are a blessed family.

I missed the other Discworld reference at the time, since I haven't read the book recently, but I take it the it's the last two words—Interesting Times.

>186 haydninvienna: I need that!

>192 MrsLee: What an awesome photo. If it's Hitchcock I imagine he wasn't reading out loud. LOL

>195 clamairy: I don't think so! Even though that is 6 years before I was conceived, I do remember that my dad always had time for us.

So my son lives in Reno NV, and they have closed non-essential businesses, which both his jobs are classified as. My daughter lives in one of the six counties in the Bay Area that are under the "Shelter in Place" mandate. She doesn't seem too worried, and he is leaving soon to visit his girlfriend in Tx.

We got notice today that our vehicle parts and repair service are considered essential businesses, so won't close even if this thing does spread north.

>192 MrsLee: I love that.

Checking in briefly. Have not been reading at all. Still working, and fearing that I will catch this damn bug and bring it home to my husband. I know I should be grateful that I still have a job. We have laid off 4 employees so far, we drastically reduced traffic at the garage, but honestly, sometimes I just feel afraid and resentful. Everyone complaining about having to stay home and that is the one place I want to be and the one place I cannot be.

When I am home on days off (was alternating with my coworker, but she is sick now. She thinks just a cold, no fever) I am working on my family history, sorting and scanning photos. I have been sharing them on Facebook (inundating might be another word for it). I didn't plan to post so many, but there have been many distant relatives thanking me and telling me that they had never seen them, or didn't have any photos like these, that I rather upped the amount of sharing. It really is great sharing memories with them of childhoods with the same grandparents. Some were a generation or two ahead of me, some a generation or two after.

My two boys decided to treat their mother to a Nintendo Switch and the New Horizons Animal Crossing game, "so I would have something to do when I'm stuck at home." I don't know how I will find the time for it, but I'm not telling them that. They are sweethearts for thinking of me. As a mother I want to say, "You shouldn't have spent that much!" But i'm not saying that, either. Love my boys, and this does make me feel special.

Someday I will have time to catch up in here I hope.

I’ve loved seeing your pictures! The history that is there is amazing. And how lucky you are to know the people in them!

Stay safe!

>198 MrsLee: Once again, you are a blessed family.

I took a lot of old photos out of the storage unit when I cleaned it out last year, and left them with my elder son. He and his girlfriend (now fiance, incidentally) are also using some of his enforced leisure to scan and post. (They were planning to marry at the end of June, but will probably have to postpone at least the party.)

>200 haydninvienna: Much happiness to Elder Son!

>201 hfglen: Thanks Hugh, I'll pass it on. They've been together for about 4 years now.

Your family photos are a real treasure trove, and it's wonderful that you can share them online with people to whom they mean so much.

>198 MrsLee:
Your boys are very good. Well done in producing thoughtful people.

Your pictures are amazing. They are excellent history, and for you they are family history which gives them an added significance. I must say, your comment on one of them about happy memories in a barn gave me pause for thought wondering what was going on in that barn. ;-)

Keep safe and keep well. I am one of those lucky people who is deemed non-essential and can work from home. I have great respect for all the people, like yourself, who are going to work places to maintain essential services. My hat is off to you.

By the way, you featured in a dream I had last night. That is the second time I had a vivid dream involving you. The last time you put me up for a few nights and I flooded your house.

In this one I was once again in the US and you were starting a new job. On your start day I thought it was awful that you had to go along by yourself so I accompanied you to your new place of work. You were in a big room with about fifteen people sitting round in various seats and desks, and the lady in charge was talking. You were sitting apart from the others and I sat on a chair at the back of the room. The lady in charge interrupted her talk to come to the back of the room to enquire what I was doing there. At that point things got confused and the dream ended.

>198 MrsLee: I love the photos you've been posting on Facebook.

>200 haydninvienna: Congratulations and best wishes for the couple. How nice that they take an interest in your family photos!

Thank you all for your kind comments about my photos, I do love the history behind them, and knowing many of the people that lived through that history is a blessing.

>204 pgmcc: The barn. Well, what didn't happen in it? I love that I am not the only one in my family who holds fond memories of it. Sadly, it burned down in 1983. It was a place of many cat litters, to be found tucked between bales of hay by curious children who were searching for chicken eggs. When it was full of hay in the summer, we had a big rope to swing out into the corral and drop off. If it was empty, we would swing off the loft and stay on the rope swinging back and forth. Cows were milked, the milker testing his aim into a cat's or sister's mouth. Scary stories were told. Pilfered powdered jello was eaten. My grandfather hid beer in it so he could have a beer now and then without my grandmother knowing. It hosted a huge haunted barn event for the community, about 70 people coming through and probably 30 filling the roles of haunts, goblins and horrors, security, tea ladies, etc. That in a community of 300. It had numerous passages, antiquated equipment and horse harnesses. Lots of specialized areas; one for pigs, one for milk cows, another for saddles, one to feed the horses, a huge middle section for hay, a chicken coops on one side, another large area for equipment and several more rooms which were workshops. Then there was the loft. The back board of the place where the ladder went up to the loft was rubbed so smooth that you could never get a splinter. The beams were hand-hewn, and many square nails could be seen. It was built before my family came there in the 1880s. There were corrals all around it for the horses and cattle and pigs. So much adventure for children!

Pgmcc, it obvious that you are watching over me from afar and concerned for my welfare. I appreciate it!

>206 MrsLee: truly special memories about the barn, thank you for sharing.

>206 MrsLee: it obvious that you are watching over me from afar and concerned for my welfare.

Always, Lee. Always.

Congrats to your son! And you, too. More family is (almost) always better! :o)

I'm looking for ideas and suggestions, possibly from those of you who have gone through this already.

I have about 5 boxes of letters from my parents, their parents and their parents. 3 generations of letter writers, some more prolific than others. By the way, this will be what I am reading for awhile. My question, what the double hockey-sticks do I do with all of them? They cannot live with me forever, because my husband and I do not own a home and who knows when we will have to move into smaller quarters. These are mostly interesting to me, because they are voices of people I have known and loved, but none are famous. None are world-changers. So do we keep old things just because they are old? I mean, letter writers are almost an extinct species in our modern world.

If I do keep or preserve them in some way, what is the best way? If I were to do it properly, I would have plastic (archival quality) sleeves to put them in, organized in a binder or box. I'm not going to do that for all of these, folks. None of my family became famous.

My thoughts. Organize them from the earliest to the most recent for each writer. Then, as I read through them, jot down any important family history notes. If one is of particular historical significance, type it into my computer, scan the pages to have with the typed version, and save that letter. Let the other ones go. As in, into the garbage, or to a sibling if they insist on saving them all.

My first organization was done by who the letters were sent to, but I'm thinking a better way would be by who they were from. At least for the ones that were prolific writers. Some of the earliest letters are not in such great quantities that I can't save all of them, but my grandmother, her son and my mother (who knew?! she never wrote many letters later in her life) each would have a box full of their own. Hmmm, now that I think about it, I haven't even found the letters between my mom and dad. She may have thrown them out. I also had a box full between her mother and father.

Any ideas, suggestions, encouragement would be appreciated! :)

>210 MrsLee: I dimly recall once being harangued on this topic by a lady from the State Archives at a meeting of the Genealogical Society in Johannesburg. She was MOST INSISTENT that a collection like that should be placed in your local Archive repository. I'd therefore sound out nearby (a) university history department/s, archive repositories or, oddly, the Mormons before doing anything irreversible. Your letter-writing forbears could just be purest gold to a social historian.

>210 MrsLee: I second @hfglen's comments most strongly.

What you suggest doing re extracting information is fine for the personal memories of you and your immediate family, but the documents themselves, in a collection like that, are invaluable for a social historian. And context is everything.

It is not that your family are particularly famous that makes a collection important, but that an evolving history can be followed through the collection. We have long since got past the stage when historians were only interested in the lives of "important people". If anything, the converse is true. Very few of us are "great men" (or women) ourselves, so knowing what life was like for people like ourselves in previous eras is often more interesting. And historians learn the answer to such questions from collections like yours.

I agree with giving the letters to a library or some sort of archive.

And I'd first scan them, if possible, because someone in the family probably would appreciate being able to access them. I wish I had more letters that my mother wrote, but alas! I only have a couple that somehow got saved. She speaks to me from the past when I reread them, and I can hear her voice.

What >211 hfglen:, >212 -pilgrim-: and >213 fuzzi: said.

I would think it an dreadful loss if such a treasure trove were to be lost. Like @fuzzi I would think you should scan them, but I know finding the time for that is not easy.

>210 MrsLee: Have you considered EverPresent or one of the services that will digitize them for you?

>210 MrsLee: >213 fuzzi: I have a friend who is a retired civil engineer living in Graaff Reinet. He normally spends his retirement digitizing images and magazines in the Transnet Heritage Collection in Johannesburg (not sure how that works, but it does, brilliantly). To date he and his colleague in Johannesburg have made some 23000 images and 40 years' worth of magazines available on the Web as a free resource. When I last saw him face-to-face, about 2 years ago, he told me that he had lately discovered that he gets better results faster by photographing each page with a smartphone and using an app he named (sorry pardon, I instantly forgot the name) to square up, adjust contrast etc., than by scanning. To see the results, go here, select any issue of the magazine, then any text page. Lee, he's almost as friendly and helpful as you are (i.e. one of the world's greatest), so if you PM me I'll send contact details and you can ask for the gory details.

>210 MrsLee: >216 hfglen: If you happen to have Microsoft Office Lens (free if you have Microsoft Office) on a smartphone, it works well for this. Inspired by Hugh's comment, I have just spent a happy hour or so scanning and uploading covers with it.

Wow. Ok, I will not dump them, but will certainly scan at least some of them. Our family has had experiences in the past of donating to museums and then never swing the items again because they were tucked away in "storage." I get that, but why did they accept them in the first place? Anyway, I will try to find out if anyone is interested in these. They certainly cover eras of history like the Depression and WWI and WWII, etc. Not to mention pandemics, quarantines and such. My grandmother and uncle in particular were interesting writers and observers.

Thank you all for your input.

>218 MrsLee: maybe you should write a book with the letters. I thoroughly enjoyed reading several books of letters by pioneers from the late 1800s. Why not you?

>218 MrsLee: Preserving treasures for future generations is also part of a museum's work. They are called "curators" for a reason. ;-)
(I believe that the British Museum has less than a tenth of its artifacts on display at any given time.)
And even if they cannot put everything that they have on display to the general public, those items are usually made available for researchers to access.

I hope that you are successful in finding your treasure trove s home. A series of domestic disasters means that I have far less to remember my family by. I envy you.

Typing the letters my grandparents sent each other before they married, 1925-1928ish. This is going to be a long job.

I am inserting notes for references to things current in their time, but not necessarily something current or future generations would get. For instance, my grandmother referenced Main Street by Sinclair Lewis in an off-hand way when speaking of the ugly gossip in the small town she was in. My grandfather referenced a body builder of the day when speaking of his brother. I believe, that they also were referring to an establishment that was a speakeasy or brothel, or both. These editorial inserts are in parenthesis and a different color.

That is so very cool that you're annotating them.

>221 MrsLee: That sounds fantastic.

This is going to take awhile. Apparently, my grandfather never used one word when ten would do. He mentioned in one of his letters that he was reading The Last Days of Pompeii by Edward Bulwer Lytton. He said he was enjoying it tremendously, which may explain where the inspiration for his verbosity came from.

OMG too funny!

So far, grandma asked grandpa to recommend some books to her. His recommendations: The Foolish Matrons by Donn Byrne, but first he wanted her to read Messer Marco Polo by the same author, an Irish author, which he described as "fanciful but lovely description of an historical devotion."
Also recommended was the author Stephen B. Leacock, a famous humorist of the day. Grandpa described him as, "very amusing. He is a satirist but kindly. Noteworthy is the fact that he is an erudite professor in a Canadian university."

I purchased a copy of The Foolish Matrons, and also a collection of the writings of Mr. Leacock for not too much on the Kindle. Not sure when I will get around to reading them. I don't much expect to enjoy Byrne because he is described in the vein as Bulwer Lytton, and unlike grandpa, I don't enjoy words for the sake of themselves. :)

Grandma told him she had just finished Men Like Gods by H. G. Wells. She enjoyed it a lot. Her comment, "He certainly has the most wonderful imagination of any author I have ever read."

She also mentioned that she was singing "La Paloma" in a program. She loved light opera and loved to sing.

I am managing little 10 minute snippits of reading, so perhaps will finish 2 books this month that I began in February or earlier.

This project is more important than reading.
I'm envying your ability to focus.

>227 clamairy:
I think your project is fascinating. Finding conversations between your grandparents is just wonderful.

Love that you have their letters, such an exciting view into the past.

>221 MrsLee: Very impressive that you've taken on the task of transcribing them yourself. Good for you!

Have you thought of publishing a book of these excerpts?

Thank you all for the encouragement. It is a slow-going project. I haven't counted the letters for the same reason I don't want to know how many books I have unread in my house. Daunting. It takes me anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour per letter, depending on how hard they are to read and how many pages, as well as how many rabbit trails I chase while reading them. Grandpa mentioned the name, Dr. Gordon in passing about saying something about how far the independence of women can be carried with impunity to the general welfare. In searching "Dr. Gordon" "women's independence" and "1926" I found a tantalizing reference to a lesbian novel whose main character was "Stephen Gordon." And I wondered just how liberal my grandfather's reading was, then I saw that that particular novel hadn't been published until 1928. Anyway, stuff like that takes time, but is fascinating.

>231 -pilgrim-: - Thoughts. Only. It is possible that I might put it into a format which I could have printed like the photo albums one can make online now. I doubt I have the gumption to do a proper book though.

Here is one example of why my grandfather's letters in particular, take so long to transcribe:

"My darling Charlotte-
I long for you with a longing that is transcendental to any emotion I thought possible in an ardent human being. It is a feeling so strong that it is difficult to perceive any reason to keep me from stretching out my arms to you wherever you are, grasp you and pull you to me. Again I find the limitations of flesh very annoying. Discipline is an odious thing but we must exercise it, at least upon ourselves so that the ninety odd million of us, (in America) may live amicably. If it was not for this stern cold necessity I would clad myself in gala raiment, go forth in my clattering, fiery-eyed steed far into this storming, adventuresome, nocturnal world at this hour of “midnight dreary” encountering dread experiences, foes untold to fall before a blade guided by one in quest of righteousness, until, spent and weary, my goal to reach, a blissful haven, spiritual comfort, a responsive chord, in the frenzied activity of the elements, something of solace, not peace, but noble grandeur, making me to scorn human companionship and glory in the magnificence of the omniscient powers of the whimsical elements. Can you not imagine yourself a thunder-bolt or a tornado? Ah, power! Who has not longed for power? Power to smash the bulwarks of the evil in mankind! Power to tear the dirty veil of selfishness, vulgar greed from the eyes of an ineffectual humanity!"

Honestly, grandpa.

>232 MrsLee: Oh, he sounds a wonderful man! Such hidden enthusiasm...

"I really miss you and wish we could be together"

>233 -pilgrim-: Yes. :)

>234 suitable1: Well, that is also said numerous times. Again, and again.

I have to dig out the letters my husband and I wrote to one another before we were married. Can't remember if they were lyrical, or vocabulary stretchers, but I remember my husband put a homemade Jumble in a lot of them. Never having come across that kind of puzzle before, they were mind-stretchers for me. I blame him for all my punny inclinations.

I'm extremely curious to know how "Charlotte" responded. Did she reply in kind? Easy to see why your project is not a short or easy one, but definitely one that needs to be done. As others have said, once you're done donate it all to a local history society. This is gold for a future historian.

>232 MrsLee: oh I love it.

I would have been smitten just by his letters.

>232 MrsLee: Holy smokes, what a writer! That's some letter. I am always impressed and humbled by how people back then took the time to write, but that is really, really impressive.

>236 haydninvienna: Well, she sent him her estimated budget for beginning a household, and the month to month expenses. She tells him about her frustrations at work, her joys in life, etc. She uses endearing terms, but she does not take off on flights of fancy. :)

Sadly, many of her letters are missing. Either grandpa wasn't as good at saving them, or, as I suspect, she went through them as some point and eliminated any she wasn't happy with. My grandmother never could accept the fact that she had a lot of intelligence to offer, and was always apologizing for her lack of it.

>237 fuzzi: My grandmother certainly was! She tells him how much she adores his letters.

>238 Karlstar: I was thinking about that. In the 1920s, in the very rural areas they were in, they do not seem to have had access to the telephone. He writes in letters that he will send her a telegram with details when they needed to know plans for meeting up. They each long for the other's letter to arrive each week as the high point, the very life of their existence and expression of their love.

My parents, in the 1950s in a very rural area, wrote letters to each other, because although they had access to phones, there was no such thing as privacy on the telephone.

My husband and I, in the early 1980s, in the city, wrote letters out of whimsy, but we spent hours into the night talking on the phone (landline, no cell phone), often falling asleep "together" on the phone!

My children now all have cell phones, texting, instant imaging, etc. No letters.

Here is a sample of a paragraph from my grandmother, Charlotte, after Goodson apologized profusely (and wordily) about not being able to come for a visit after all.

"My own dearest lover,
How can you think but that I will forgive you for not coming when we had planned? Dearest boy, don’t I know how hard it is to keep ahead of the old tyrant, Debt? I am rather in the same financial position as you, for I am “dead broke.” Beautiful phrase, I’ll admit!! As much as I am disappointed in not seeing you I can still be patient because I feel that it is my fault that you are financially embarrassed. You know what I mean. Have you any idea when you can come to see your expensive “friend” in Durham? I will be awfully patient and not urge you, because I have found that when I urge you to do some things, it is not always for your good! But, darlingest Goodson, it is a long time, isn’t it? What under the sun are we going to do? I just guess, I’ll have to keep on working & we’ll run sort of a “hit & miss” housekeeping establishment!! Maybe! Perhaps we won’t even do that! (Did you ever see anyone use exclamation marks as much as I do? I sprinkle them around like tourists do coins on the Nile.)"

>239 MrsLee: I am certainly not your parent's generation, but when the boyfriend of my university years and I went on to postgraduate study at different universities, he did not have access to a private telephone, so we wrote each other weekly letters of five pages or more, supplemented by short long-distance calls from a public phonebox (extremely expensive, and we were both on student budgets).

Letters you can save; phone calls exist only in the memory.

>240 MrsLee: I sprinkle them around like tourists do coins on the Nile.: what a lovely sentence. I sat here for a couple of minutes just letting that soak in. She was a good writer indeed.

Woo for me! I managed to finish a couple of books I had started back in February or so.

An Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt I very much enjoyed this book, although I will admit to skimming now and then. I have high admiration for him. His viewpoint and mine are in many aspects in alignment. He is the moderate independent I aspire to, willing to examine problems and issues from the practical, and not the political viewpoint. As to his writing, it is fun to read his stories of how things went down. I skimmed when he used a lot of words and space to justify his opinions or actions. It was careful skimming though, because frequently he would slip in another story of an incident as an example to the first.

Memoirs of a Medieval Woman: the Life and Times of Margery Kempe by Louise Collis. This book in turns fascinated me and disgusted me. The fascination was when the author was busy telling what was going on around Margery as she lived out her life. Historical events, people, and descriptions that Margery didn't include in her memoirs.

This is NOT Margery's memoirs, and now for the part that disgusted me. The author picked and chose to give the reader only snippets of the actual memoirs. Picked at her discretion, to highlight her own agenda which apparently was to show Margery up as a selfish, foolish and annoying woman and no saint at all, by God! I'm not sure whether the author was offended that Margery tried to be a saint, whether she was angry with Margery for not living up to the legend that had been built up around her, or whether she simply hates religion or Catholicism. Collis missed no chance to drip vitriol on Margery; interpreting her motives for us, judging her character for us. One wonders if she has a personal vendetta from one of her ancestors to "put that woman in her place."

I grant you that I probably would have avoided Margery in life, but I would have liked to judge for myself through more of Margery's words and less of the author leading me by the nose.

I have plunged optimistically into two more books. On the Kindle, The Foolish Matrons by Donn Byrne. It is quite readable, though I haven't got far. What I mean is, the words and story are fine. Sadly, the Kindle edition I bought is made up of images of the original book, which cannot therefore be adjusted for font size and are teeny tiny words. This makes it difficult for this aged reader.

The second book I started last night, The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. If I learn nothing else from this book, I may learn how to spell dilemma by the end. :) I'm only in the introduction, but am enjoying it muchly. I know enough about this author and his subject to know that this will be a good read for me.

I can't spell dilemma either. But the book is decent. He tries really hard not to grind any particular axe.

>243 MrsLee: The Omnivore's Dilemma is one of my favorite food related books ever. I love Pollan and his writing style. Enjoy!

I had to give up reading The Foolish Matrons, even though I was enjoying it. The print is so tiny, tiny that it gives me a headache after 3 pages. Oh well.

I've resumed reading A Study in Sherlock, a collection of short stories inspired by the Holmes Canon. It isn't bad for a short story collection. I believe I'm enjoying more than my usual percentage of the stories in a short story collection.

>246 MrsLee: Sorry about the print size. Looks like Amazon has a Kindle version, but it's not cheap.

>247 clamairy: This is the Amazon Kindle version. You can't adjust the font size because someone just photographed the pages of the book. I think I will see if I can return it. If not, my review will be a warning to others.

>248 MrsLee: That is awful. That can't be a mobi or azw file then. Is it a PDF? Are you reading it on a Paperwhite? You should return it, or find a larger screen to read it on.

>249 clamairy: it definitely isn't a proper Kindle book. No idea what format it is, but I knew something was up when I first opened it, turned past the title page, and it said I was done reading it! Then for curiosity, I kept turning pages and found pages of text, the whole page presents in about a 2" wide by 3" image.

>250 MrsLee: That sounds as if it has been processed as a single image; hence the book is one page long! Shoddy work.

>250 MrsLee: Yes, I noticed it's a huge file.

>251 -pilgrim-: Actually it wasn't, from what I can tell. They took the time to photograph each page in order to avoid losing the quality of artwork or photos. It explains on the book's page on Amazon that they didn't rely on OCR technology, which often results in a bunch of typos and syntax errors, etc. The problem with the process they used is that the files they ended up with must vary widely in how the photographed pages are displayed on different Kindle devices. I suspect this one would be better to read on a larger tablet and not a standard Kindle, and they should be alerting or screening potential shoppers for what devices they are using.

>252 clamairy: See, I saw all that gobbledygook terminology and it meant nothing to me, so my bad. I still wrote a warning for a review.

>253 MrsLee: Definitely not your bad. There should be warnings (or something) on those specific types of book files.

Catching up, Lee, I love your grandparents' letters! What amazing writers they both were. What a fun project.

>255 littlegeek: Thanks! I managed to get two typed this morning, each had me laughing, not at them, as my boss would say, but with them.

After our discussion here about how infuriating it is to be pressured into buying graphic novels by Ben Aaronovitch's habit of putting there points significant to the main story arc, I thought you might like the following link:
https://sixth-light.tumblr.com/post/112887917130/the-rivers-of-london-series-tim...
It contains synopses of the graphic novels.

So now we only have to buy them if we want a graphic novel.

>257 -pilgrim-:
But that does not deal with the plot lines developed in the animated features on the YouTube channel, or the canon developed on Social Media channels, and the back story hidden in the on-line games.

While Ben Aaronovitch's stories may not have used these particular ploys they were used in the Matrix trilogy, Dr Who, and Sherlock. I think it was an attempt to encompass the "multi-channel media". Create a technology, establish buzzwords, then force people to use all different streams of technology to tie them in a bind and extra money from them through various different charges.

>258 pgmcc: Multimedia output is not new. cf. the Star Trek novels which were canon (until Paramount bought the franchise).

But the difference then was that, although these were canon, and (since they had some pretty good SF writers attached at times) added depth to the Trek Universe, there was never (as far as I am aware) a situation where not having read a particular novel put you at a disadvantage regarding understanding a TV episode (that being the original medium, in this example).

@MrsLee and I were in agreement that, although it is mildly irritating when the creator switches to a medium that we don't enjoy (graphic novels in this case), this is acceptable, as long as the stories told there are NOT essential to properly following the story arc in the original medium.

I am aware that there are a multitude of novels, radio plays etc. etc filling out the terms of the earlier Doctors (particularly the Seventh and Eighth, who had willing actors, poorly untrusted on screen). But I am not aware of these subsidiary adventures ever being referred to in the TV programmes, still less their providing major plot points. Had this happened now?

Star Wars is the first franchise that I am aware of this happening in, although I think that this was less an organised plan, and more a case of giving the PC game manufacturers an unused not of the timeline to play around in, and then, having decided to write films to cover earlier periods, having to decide to l whether what had already been invented there (Darth Devan etc.) was canon or not.

>257 -pilgrim-: Thank you, I will check that out when I get home and can do so on my computer instead of my phone.

I have never spent so much time away from LT before. I'm trying to check in periodically, but can't seem to catch up with the reading threads. Immersed in the family documents I am trying to sort and preserve it feels a betrayal to do anything else. Not reading or gaming. When I'm too tired at night, but it's too early to go to bed, I've been watching Hotel Impossible. It hasn't made me want to get back into the hotel business. At. All.

I did read some yesterday though. My son gifted me The Noma Guide to Fermentation by René Redzepi for Mother's Day. I am thrilled! It is a huge hardcover, full of lovely photos and very exciting to the mad scientist in my heart. Can't wait to begin making my own Shoyu, miso and garum! My husband will probably kick me out of the house though, due to the smell...

Oh, I finished A Study in Sherlock, a collection of short stories giving homage to Sherlock Holmes, by Laurie R. King and others, which I had started in February. Enjoyed almost all the stories.

>261 MrsLee: That sounds like a wonderful Mother's Day present for you. Enjoy it!

>261 MrsLee: I so enjoy Laurie R. King's Holmes works that I may look for that book once the libraries reopen.

I mentioned this in the weekend thread, but of course that may not be the best place, so am repeating it here:

I am typing and adding photos to my grandparents letters written to one another in the year (1926) before they were married.

Does anyone have a suggestion for the best way to put these letters into book form for our family? I am not thinking of publishing for the world at large, only to have a convenient/fun way for the family members to read them. As of now, they are in Microsoft Word. I have used Shutterfly and Amazon Prime in the past to make photo albums, but these have a lot more words than photos, so I'm not sure that would work?

As I mentioned in the weekend thread, you can do all your typing and formatting in Word, then save as PDF. In Word you can actually do table of contents, indexes, and all kinds of things. I'm not sure if all the links from these will preserve in the PDF, but the file should look the same.

>265 NorthernStar: Perfect. Thank you.