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What shall we read next? Help choose the next BooBook Selection!
Gosh, I’m sorry for you guys in the drinking time zones, but last night Boran2 stole all the booze! Walked right out of the cafe with complete boxes of bottles & even signed a confession, here: LINK! Boran2’s Confession!
Book ’em, Dano.
Book, did I say book? Well, isn’t that a coincidence!
Umm, does this mean that I can’t come and play today?
You’re alive?
In a manner of speaking.
Just put all the empty bottles in the glass recycle bin. And then don’t breathe on the plants. 🙂
Well, I didn’t drink it all last night, I saved some for tonight. < Hiccup >
Gonna share?
You look very handsome today, boran2, and I’ve always thought you were the smartest and funniest. And did I mention how much I love your paintings?
Only with you.
Oh, duh, finally read the rest of your kind comment. You can have all the booze. 😉
and tell him “nobody loves you but your mamma and she might be jiving you too” because our liquor supplier has restocked everything.
boran who?
Me and Damnit Janet will spank him for it later, when he least expects it. ;p
Now you’ve got my attention.
BooBooks, in case you don’t know, is the BooTrib book club. We pick and read a book once a month, or every six weeks, or whatever. Last month we read a novel, and this time it’s non-fiction’s turn, unless you raise a great cry for novels or poetry, in which case your moderator will, of course, cave.
Pretty please nominate books that. . .
l. Illuminate politics and/or current events
2. Are available in libraries
3. Are available in paperback (to keep costs down)
4. Are available at Powell’s
5. Tell us stuff we don’t already know
We seem to be kinda sorta agreed that we won’t pick books written by people on this site and that those sterling works may be discussed in separate diaries.
Can’t say I want to read politics/current events books when all I have to do is look at the righthand column and see a quality read, National Book Award winner, just dying to be perused.
Reading blogs gives me my fill of politics/current events. Let literature live and breathe among us.
I nominate Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Bloomsbury. $15.95.
I hate to tell you that I’m slogging my way through it now. I want to love it, but. . . It reminds me of the problem some of us had with the last novel we “did,” which was that the concept was brilliant but the execution was tedious at times. Of course, it all comes down to personal taste. You might love it.
Okay — you win. You and the string below are all telling me that life’s too short to read this novel.
My turn to begin slogging. Will let you know (sometime in 2006) if I get to the end or abandon “ship.”
You’ll have to tell me what you think when you get to the end of it. I gave up on page 119. I know of several other folks who didn’t get that far.
I’m on p. 125.
126 is not calling to me.
Kelly, I forgot to go back and see if you got a chance to answer my question on your Fantasy Convention report. Do you consider Neil Gaiman to be a fantasy writer, or fantasy/horror, or. . .?
is your friend. His answer is here.
(kansas, passive-aggressive research artiste)
Okay now, was that not a masterful piece of passive-aggressive non-action on my part? I am so impressed with myself. You wouldn’t want to also read his comment and then summarize it for me, would you?
shorter kmc: Yes. No. Maybe.
Now if only you could imbue me with some talent and get me to write your books for you.
Recommended for BooBooks:
Not One More Mother’s Child
by Cindy Sheehan
ISBN:0977333809
At Powells in Trade Paperback for $15
Here’s my suggestion.
The Wimp Factor: Gender Gaps, Holy Wars, and the Politics of Anxious Masculinity by Stephen J Ducat
(available in paperback for $16 from Powell’s)
Great suggestion. Great hosting yesterday, too, Ms.AF, though I expect no less of The Blue Dot and the Master of the Marmotdude.
Newcomers? Any time we start throwing around “inside” jargon that makes you go “huh” in the night, please demand that we explain ourselves. Believe me, we will be only TOO HAPPY to tell you everything.
go ‘aw shucks’ again and look all humble and modest — which is really hard for me because I’m neither.
And just because I want to, I’m pinning up that stocking again (probably just looking for another discussion of Marmotdude’s privates).
Hmm…marmotdude’s privates, Damnit Janet’s co*kie pictures and her little poem about marmotdude…what a combination that would make…
Just sayin’.
Are you trying to wrest my passive-aggressive title away from me?? You KNOW that Andi can’t resist it when we throw out such “innocent” ideas. . .ladida.
I was banking on that particular personality trait, actually… 🙂
was a sufficient motivator — it would be criminal to let that go to waste but I think I’ll have to hire bood if I want something worthy of it.
There can never be too much discussion of Marmotdude’s privates. As Spit noted yesterday, you just can’t say, “Hung like a marmot,” too often.
Nice try at humble and modest!
I was listening to Moxy Fruvous yesterday…the band that brought us such classics as My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors:
What funny lyrics! I loved spilling dressing on Doris Lessing the best-ing.
That’s one of my all time favorite tunes by one of my many favorite bands, and off their best album no less. WooHoo! I’m playing it now.
I wish I could give you a million 4s just for having such excellent musical taste!
Thanks! Moxy Fruvous is fantastic and they’re the folks who directed me to Bare Naked Ladies for which I owe them eternal gratitude.
For those not in the know, that album (Bargainville) is just pure joy. King of Spain is fantastic, and the Lazy Boy, and Laika has the line “They put a dog in space… and left her there–should of seen her face,” which is simultaneously poignant and funny the way they deliver it.
Just went and bought it for 99 cents from iTunes Music Store — using the new BooTrib link, naturally… 🙂
Here I am all ready for work and all I want to do is stretch out in bed and read all day.
Whoever said that a girl could do anything she really set her mind to was all wrong. I’ve been wanting to do that my whole life & it just about never happens.
Have you left yet?
You’re doomed, you know, because now even if you did that–stayed home to read all day–you wouldn’t be able to, because you’d spend the whole day here. Which is as it should be.
Having established such a high-toned atmosphere in the Cafe today, allow me now to utterly destroy my culture cred by asking. . .
Is anybody besides me watching the second season of “Runway,” the reality show about fashion designers? Oh, what a hoot we mortals weave, when first we practice to sew a sleeve!!
of principled cynics for Andi’s suggestion. Hah! I come with a built-in cadre of ballot-box stuffers. Who needs Diebold.
The Blue Dot relentlessly fights the uphill battle.
Great photo. Does it take you a long time to iron those pleats?
it takes several million years.
(Geologic pedantry: that is a fossilized sand dune.)
.
Ninox novaeseelandiaeCALL: Boobooks have a two-syllable hoot, with the second note pitched lower than the first, that sounds like “boobook” or “mopoke”. Because their call is similar to the European cuckoo, early settlers thought that Australian cuckoos called at night.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
There’s a real bird really named BooBooks?? That’s amazing! I had to go google it to believe it. Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have a mascot! Thank you, Oui, and what a, well, hoot.
we should send a thank you to keres, too. And then because all greatness is conferred by osmosis (and because I am neither humble nor modest) I should point out that keres put up the Boobook pic and info in response to one of my comments ::makes bow of false pride::
I was awakened by the neighborhood hoot owl just this morning. Very loud, right up the hill.
Then of course the loudmouthed neighbor running his car under my window for 40 minutes of door slamming and shouting at children beginning at 6 AM.
Both of these are enormously appealing to me and available in trade paperback from Powell’s
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
ISBN:006073132x
Powells.com Staff Pick
“What makes this book fascinating is the way that Levitt uses advanced economic techniques — the kind that would knock me unconscious quicker than chloroform if I had to read them in a textbook — and applies them to seemingly unexplainable phenomena to produce a new discipline: the answers to questions once thought unanswerable. The answers make for a highly addictive reading experience, free of the jargon and pie charts that would send most readers running for cover.” Gerry Donaghy, Powells.com
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
by Jared Diamond
ISBN:0143036556
Powells.com Staff Pick
Diamond crafts a careful and thorough account of the environmental and cultural fragility of civilizations, from present-day Montana to the toppled statues of Easter Island. Collapse is both a fascinating study of humanity’s ecological relationships and a cautionary tale of our increasingly overtaxed resources. Tessa, Powells.com
More great suggestions. I love this line: “the way that Levitt uses advanced economic techniques — the kind that would knock me unconscious quicker than chloroform if I had to read them in a textbook.”
I’ve read Collapse and recommend it highly, even though I confess I skimmed the bits about how to build an outrigger canoe. 🙂 It even inspired a short story that ended up published in EQMM, so thank you very much, Jared Diamond, lol.
Been a long coupla days here in Stepford. Actually, it no longer resembles Stepford so much as a cross between COPS and an old Afterschool Special from the 70’s. Or maybe a Lifetime original movie where Valerie Bertinelli plays a loving mother trying to save her crack-addicted daughter from the clutches of a controlling scumbag who happens to be the love of the daughter’s young life and father of her baby.
My life since Saturday has been a whirlwind of screaming profanity-laden outdoor fights, police visits, 911 calls, waiting for social service to show up, step-daughter and baby crashing here, waiting for social services to show up, boyfriend leaving threatening messages on our phone, pitbull growling in our garage, waiting for social services to show up, boyfriend showing up with stolen license plate, step-daughter throwing baby in car and leaving with him while police are being called, and finally, waiting for social services to show up.
Now boyfriend knows where we live and is very very pissed off at us for keeping his girlfriend away from him for 24 hours, so we’re kind of looking over our shoulders all the time and keeping the doors locked during the day. It’s a crappy way to live and I never thought we’d ever be in this situation. I hate that I have exposed my children to this.
End of whine/rant.
Hung like a marmot?
This leaves me breathless just reading about it, so I can only imagine what it has done to you. I’m so sorry. What a mess! You guys take care of yourselves. How are your kids taking it?
Any idea where baby and mother are now?
SS caught up with the young family at her workplace and arranged a home vist for today (I think) and they are staying with “friends” now and trying to make it look as if they are providing a stable home for the baby. However, we have supplied SS with enough information about their lifestyle and habits that hopefully they will not buy the happy act and will come today with an order to take the child into custody. Which also opens us up again to retaliatory violence.
My kids think they are jerks and are making jokes about it, but I’m sure it bothers them that the house no longer feels very safe. I’m sorry I let them in at all. I should have turned them away when she sought shelter here.
You did what you did with the best of intentions. As someone older and wiser used to tell me, “There is no downside to doing the right thing.”
I’m sorry you’re all having to deal with this craziness, and especially at this time of year.
Ime (and I have a ton of it; the police file on my family in my hometown had already spread into a second drawer by the time I got out of there) there’s no “good way” to handle this sort of thing. The best you can do is to pick the least insane and unpleasant option of all the completely insane and unpleasant options available. You know we’re all here for you, if you need anything.
Be strong, Second Nature, be strong. You will get through this period.
mr katiebird and I had a chant: “Call 911, Call 911” to remind us that we should always look outside the window before opening the door and Call 911 rather than answer it if a certain someone was out there.
She never came back after we developed that chant. So it might have also been a charm. I pass it along to you (although it sounds like you have it already)
It’s clear that you need to read this thread which will explain “hung like a marmot” and I hope give you a little comic relief.
And if that was a whine, it has to be the most justified one in the history of whining but then again I don’t think you are whining at all.
I’m really sorry for all your troubles and wish there was something I could do to help.
You already have.
A little I-am-not-a-nice-person wish for you: May you get a resolution like we to my stepsister’s psychopath husband who got sent up for 2-14 for burglary. And once he got out on parole, it was oh so easy to make him go away.
We are keeping our fingers crossed for an outcome like that.
Whatever you do, SN, do not beat up on YOURSELF for this! Please?
Do everything by the book, get a restraining order, amke sure your kids’ school(s) know that this person should not be around and, though I don’t know the whole story, try to understand your hub’s point of view on the whole thing…
How old is the baby? If he/she is under two, unless there has been horrible abuse, the child will be fine — kids are BIG TIME resiliant, and your kids have you, you KNOW they’ll be better than ok.
love you, lady!
Thanks, brinn. I’ve thought about a restraining order and will seek one if it seems needed. Hubby is with me on this now that he witnessed how out of control his daughter and boyfriend are.
Early dawn over a marina with the moon setting through a veil of mist.
Must. Find. Teacup.
This photo and the one from yesterday are just magnificent, Goose.
this one is past the limitations of the camera. I had to wedge it against a wall, and it seemed to spend 2-3 seconds or more in the shuttering portion of the cycle. I can’t imagine that it moved any, but the shot is pretty blurred at any reasonable magnification.
But there’s a time and place for such a scene and sometimes you have to go to the cafe with the camera you have, rather than the camera you might want or wish to have at some later time!
Thanks!
I guess that means it’s from the Camera Provisional Authority? Oh, and that freedom’s on the march.
And photography’s messy.
G’morn, Mnemo. What have you been up to lately?
Hey, Kansas.
Reading some, writing some. Figured out a major block yesterday, writing some more today.
But first, taking the dog out, who is looking quite anxious.
Good news about the block. I’ve got one in the same place in both a novel and a ss. There are big sections that seem to need a plot. Damn.
“Plot”? What is this word “plot” of which you speak?
Ha! I like to think we are above such lo-brow things as, pshaw, plot. It’s all about character with us. Or at least it is when we couldn’t find a plot if somebody put us in a cemetery and said, dig. This, however, was written AFTER I went to the library and came unstuck for a few pages. I smell a hint of plot in the air!
Whatever happened to pastordan?
Find him at Street Prophets (I think Markos set up this web site for him)
Ah, there we go. Thanks!
He seems to be quite busy here.
And while we’re wondering about people, has anybody seen Yaright around since the last contretemps?
I think of xander everytime I put up that froggy/coffee cup logo and hope she’s (?) doing well wherever she is. At least, I’m pretty sure that logo was xander’s work.
And anybody seen Abbott? Remember he used to host here on Wednesdays, but after he went back to school this year and had some internet connectivity probs, we lost him.
Who else are we missing?
kansas, I think you mean zander.
diane has been looking for her as well.
Zander, that’s the one. Thanks ask.
I think he plans to be back more frequently once school is done for the term — mentioned something about a month break…
Thought I saw Yaright in another diary, but that could’ve been my imagination.
I miss zander too… 🙁
shycat lately — maybe I’ve just been missing her — and ejmw (except for the wonderful Web Diary) doesn’t seem to be around as much as he used to either…
was in over the weekend, I believe — or maybe it was Monday/Tuesday; she responded to DJ’s report of the Great Northwest Migration. 🙂 (And was jealous of all the great bookstores in the Portland area.)
In a lot of companies, things are extra busy to get everything wound up; some places actually close down during the holidays. (I remember those days, before I was gainfully unemployed.)
How’re things going for you and the family, Bri? Been thinking about you with all your paperwork issues…
Thanks, Cali — I went and saw that she’s been about here and there….
Things with the family are going along much more smoothly, thanks for asking, and I’m not sure which paperwork issues you mean specifically, but just turned in two chapters of the dissertation yesterday, to many smiles and kudos from my chair (she rocks and gives great hugs as well!), we successfully “passed” the trustee meeting for the bankruptcy (i.e., he filed a “no assets declaration” on our behalf–now all we have to do is wait for the final discharge letter (which could be as long as until March…as long as I am officialy bankrupt before my birthday, I’ll be happy! lol) — all of your good thoughts are much appreciated!
(((hugs)))
and, of course, Parker and Shadowthief…but ahem, anyway.
I hope Recordkeeper comes back….and I miss catnip terribly.
seems he yoost disappeared too, could be some exotic work assignment though.
Oh yeah, Sven!! and SUSKIND — where the hell is he? I know he siad he was taking a break, but it seems like he’s been gone FOREVER!
I occasionally see Sven commenting over at ET – one as late as yesterday.
Dats goot, to know he’s still kickin’
zander seems to post very sporadically.
Morning everyone. Can’t stay but wanted to make sure you had cleaned up after the burglary last night. Glad you found Boran2’s confession. And I hope the liquor supplier can do an emergency delivery before happy hour. Does anyone but me want to petition Susanhu to move Viggo’s picture back up toward the top of the front page so we can look at it again today? Later.
What excellent instincts you have, maryb! Resupplying the liquor cabinet, reposting Viggo’s picture. . .I think we should put you in charge of Setting Priorities Around Here.
Have either of you seen “A Walk on the Moon”?
If you haven’t, not only is it a very good movie but it has a waterfall scene with Viggo and Diane Lane that — well, as one reviewer said what he does in that scene ought to be bottled.
Ah, a quick break before leaving for my lunch meeting. I HAVE seen “A Walk on the Moon”, a friend gave it to me for Christmas last year. Viggo as the Blouse Man under the waterfall. Oh yes. Although I’m glad that he’s now being cast in roles that give him the chance to show more than his body and his beautiful eyes (and jaw line) I will always be greatful for the Blouse Man.
I note that MSNBC’s ad today is Keith (not in neon). Does the site get money if we click through or does that just make it more likely that MSNBC will advertise again?
some of us go for the deeper, more meaningful things in life and some of us for just go for the lower depths.
(Actually, I’d argue the part did let him do a good bit more than just look good.)
Taking it slow thus far — will wait till the spouse leaves for work before beginning the cleaning frenzy. Do have to run out to Tar-zhay later to get non-Christmas wrapping paper; the spouse’s brother has a birthday on Saturday and we do have a small gift for him (picked up a calendar of Fender guitars — he’s a guitarist when his hands aren’t acting up). Also might stop by the store and pick up a few baking supplies; I’m thinking of making him some chocolate chip cookies for part of his Christmas gift, and some sort of good cookies for the in-laws. (Idea came from spotting a couple of empty Christmas tins I brought home from Mom’s.) And I’d like to take a batch of cookies over to the folks in the office here in the complex; they’re good people. 🙂 Or I could get the baking stuff over the weekend and do my baking frenzy next week.
Time to check the rest of the Net so I can get working around here…back in a bit…
Okay, memory mavens, what is the name of the book SusanHu was recommending the other day? It’s something like, Lies Your Teacher Taught You, but that’s not it. It’s about things we were taught that aren’t actually, oops, true. I thought it might be one to add to our book nominations.
Lies My Teacher Told Me : Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong (Paperback)
by James W. Loewen
????
Ha. I typed into the Powell’s search, “Lies My Teacher Taught Me.” Close, but not close enough.
Here’s the book’s table of contents, so you can see what you think.
Introduction: Something Has Gone Very Wrong
1 Handicapped by History: The Process of Hero-making
2 1493: The True Importance of Christopher Columbus
5 The Truth about the First Thanksgiving
4 Red Eyes
5 “Gone with the Wind”: The Invisibility of Racism in American History Textbooks
6 John Brown and Abraham Lincoln: The Invisibility of Antiracism in American History Textbooks
7 The Land of Opportunity
8 Watching Big Brother: What Textbooks Teach about the Federal Government
9 Down the Memory Hole: The Disappearance of the Recent Past
10 Progress Is Our Most Important Product
11 Why Is History Taught Like This?
12 What Is the Result of Teaching History Like This?
Afterword: The Future Lies Ahead — and What to Do about Them
Notes
I’d vote for this book in a big way..partly because I already have it and won’t have to worry about trying to find it at library here.
It is a very easy book to read although it will certainly piss you off and make you wonder just what the hell people are thinking who write the history books for schools and leave out practically everything, really.
Everyone should have this book on their bookshelves, really amazing…can you tell I’m a huge fan of this book..besides that will make me reread it.
I already have this book too, and it’s sitting in my “to be read” pile, so it’s got my vote.
Thank you, katiebird, for validating one of my life’s governing philosophies: procrastinate about a thing long enough and someone else will do it. 😉
Here’s what’s on my reading stand just now:
The Universe in a Single Atom: The convergence of science and spirituality, by the Dalai Lama. Buddhism and science, an exploration. Some wonderful vignettes about what HH was like as a little boy.
A Passage to Egypt: The Life of Lucie Duff Gordon, by Katherine Frank. Another of those incredible, upper-class English gentlewomen who found themselves in a far land.
American Hostage, by Micah Garen and Marie-Helene Carleton. Longest subtitle of the year: “A memoir of a journalist kidnapped in Iraq and the remarkable battle to win his release.” I’ve been in tears in parts of this thing. Garen is a filmmaker who was documenting the looting of archaeological sites (thank you, Donald Rumsfeld) when he was taken by guerrillas. His family and friends put together an incredible international team that worked contacts all around the world. Reporters were calling them and saying, “Here’s my entire Rolodex. Use it.” The FBI team was smart, responsive, fast-acting.
I, too, have a weakness for British Women in Far Land stories. Did you ever read the one about the woman who sneaked into closed Tibet many years ago? Although she may have been French. It was a fascinating book and fun to read. I’ll go googling soon and see if I can “remember” what it was.
It’s My Journey to Llasa by Alexandra David-Neel. To read about this woman’s amazing life, try this: LINK:
Is that a newly published book? I hadn’t heard of it or her. An enjoyable book that I happened upon by chance one time was by Vita Sackville-West and it was called (I think) “A Journey to Tehran.” It was a memoir about a trip she took to Persia right after the first world war. Her husband was a diplomat in Tehran and she went to visit him. She went south through the Suez Canal then up the Arabian peninsula. She came back north through Russia right after the Russian revolution. I found it at a book fair just by happenstance. Unfortunately I lent it to someone who moved to Denver and took it with her. I highly recommend it if you can find it.
Here’s a link to a site that describes the book. It’s a Passage to Tehran and it was in 1926 — details, details. Anyway, I really enjoyed it.
Okay, all this reminds me of Amelia Peabody? Anybody else find her a hoot?
A Passage to Egypt, Houghton Mifflin, 1994. ISBN: 0-395-54688-5. Katherine Frank is also author of A Voyager Out: The Life of Mary Kingsley. Yet another nice-lady Brit, only this one went to Ahhhhfrica (channeling Isak Dinesen, there). Frank is a good writer, and her subjects are fascinating.
Yawl come on over to the new cafe, y’hear?
LINK: Afternoon Cafe.