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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Mordor: twinned with Slough
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Jack the Lass
Ship's airhead
# 3415
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Posted
Over Christmas I read a couple of books, firstly Rebecca Skloot's "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" which I'd bought to read when the Ship book group discussed it several months ago but never quite got round to ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif) I thought it was excellent - disturbing, but a very compelling read, and I really liked how she wove her story of trying to gain the family's trust alongside both Henrietta's story and those of her family and the HeLa cells and the various scientists and doctors involved (for those unfamiliar with the book, it is the true story both of the cells behind the most successful cell culture line in medical research, and of the woman who had them taken from her). Racism, research ethics, technological progress, medicine - all intertwined so personally, it was really uncomfortable reading, but at the same time I couldn't put it down.
The other book I read, which was just *beautiful*, was Judith Schalansky's "Atlas of Remote Islands". Schalansky was born in East Germany in 1980, and talks in the introduction of how she used to trace her fingers over atlas maps and imagine visiting places. This book takes some of the remotest islands throughout the world, two pages per island, the left hand page being a story from the place (history, myth, factoid) and the right hand page being a scale drawing of the island. It's really hard to describe, but it I thought it was beautiful.
Now I'm reading "The Innocent Anthropologist" by Nigel Barley. It's basically his field notes from his first fieldwork in a remote village in Cameroon in (I think) the late 70s/early 80s, and I'm loving the healthy realism about the realities of fieldwork. It's not disrespectful or condescending the way that lots of early anthropology was, and it's as much about his disasters as it is anything else. As someone who has done ethnographic fieldwork abroad (although I'm not an anthropologist) I'm finding lots I recognise. A very enjoyable read.
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"My body is a temple - it's big and doesn't move." (Jo Brand)
wiblog blipfoto blog
Posts: 5767 | From: the land of the deep-fried Mars Bar | Registered: Oct 2002
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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
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Posted
I have a kindle ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
I've gone a bit wild downloading free stuff... Almost all of Jane Austen (for some reason Sense and Sensibility isn't free, and I didn't bother with Mansfield Park because I think it's crap), Great Expectations, Dostoyevsky's Notes from the Underground and The Possessed, some random bits of Frances Hodgson Burnett and Grimm's Fairy Tales. I decided to start with something a bit on the short side so read Pride and Prejudice at my parents' over the holidays and I'm now working on The Princess and the Goblin (George Macdonald)(which is awesome and I can't believe I'd been missing it all this time).
After that I am going to start ploughing through Les Misérables (in French). Which may take me slightly longer...
Woohoo free stuff!
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Rent my holiday home in the South of France
Posts: 3696 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Percy B
Shipmate
# 17238
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jack the Lass:
Over Christmas I read a couple of books, firstly Rebecca Skloot's "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" which I'd bought to read when the Ship book group discussed it several months ago but never quite got round to I thought it was excellent - disturbing, but a very compelling read, and I really liked how she wove her story of trying to gain the family's trust alongside both Henrietta's story and those of her family and the HeLa cells and the various scientists and doctors involved (for those unfamiliar with the book, it is the true story both of the cells behind the most successful cell culture line in medical research, and of the woman who had them taken from her). Racism, research ethics, technological progress, medicine - all intertwined so personally, it was really uncomfortable reading, but at the same time I couldn't put it down.
The other book I read, which was just *beautiful*, was Judith Schalansky's "Atlas of Remote Islands". Schalansky was born in East Germany in 1980, and talks in the introduction of how she used to trace her fingers over atlas maps and imagine visiting places. This book takes some of the remotest islands throughout the world, two pages per island, the left hand page being a story from the place (history, myth, factoid) and the right hand page being a scale drawing of the island. It's really hard to describe, but it I thought it was beautiful.
Now I'm reading "The Innocent Anthropologist" by Nigel Barley. It's basically his field notes from his first fieldwork in a remote village in Cameroon in (I think) the late 70s/early 80s, and I'm loving the healthy realism about the realities of fieldwork. It's not disrespectful or condescending the way that lots of early anthropology was, and it's as much about his disasters as it is anything else. As someone who has done ethnographic fieldwork abroad (although I'm not an anthropologist) I'm finding lots I recognise. A very enjoyable read.
Just a quick post to say what wonderful suggestions. I have always had an interest in remote islands and after posting here am going to look up that atlas on amazon!
Trouble is I got an e mail yesterday saying avoid amazon because they are big tax evaders in the UK ! Hmmm not sure I have the courage to take that step ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Mary, a priest??
Posts: 582 | From: Nudrug | Registered: Jul 2012
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deano
princess
# 12063
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Posted
Currently reading “Jeremy Clarkson – The Top Gear Years”.
Be advised that the book is a collection of pre-published articles from the Top Gear magazine from 1994-2012, so if you read that magazine you may well have read some of the pieces in the book.
Having said that, if you haven’t read the material before and you “get” JC, it’s a very good read. I like him and have always enjoyed his polemic, exaggerated-for-effect, left-baiting, shock-jock style.
I would advise any Ship-mates who don’t like their port-sidedness to be mocked to avoid this book like the plague, but to be frank, you were never going to go within a country mile of this book anyway, were you?
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"The moral high ground is slowly being bombed to oblivion. " - Supermatelot
Posts: 2118 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: Nov 2006
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moonfruit
Shipmate
# 15818
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Posted
A few things I've been reading recently -
A friend lent me State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett, which after a slightly slow start, grabbed hold of me totally. It's about a scientist, researching a fertility drug deep in the Amazon - no-one's really heard from her in years, until her drug company send another scientist to find her, who then dies. Upon his death, another person is sent after her, and their story takes up most of the book. I was slightly frustrated at the end, as I wanted to know more about what happened to a couple of the characters, but ultimately a compelling read.
Equally compelling was Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. It's hard to say too much about it without giving it all away, but if you're looking for an emotional rollercoaster of a book, this is it. When a man's wife goes missing, let's just say all is not what it seems.
Anyone read either of these?
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All I know is that you came and made beauty from my mess.
Posts: 180 | From: Just outside the M25 | Registered: Aug 2010
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
I spent a lot of my holiday reading the Memoirs of Ulysses S Grant. Some compelling reading.
Today I've just gotten "Uncle Scrooge -- Only a poor old man" by Carl Barks due to the evil influence of various people on here.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Cara
Shipmate
# 16966
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Dormouse:
I've just been given a Kindle touch for my birthday. I don't quite know how I feel about it, yet...I've not downloaded anything - I think Mr D who gave it to me is a bit frustrated by this, but I can't explain why not. I almost feel like I'm betraying "my" books!!!
Now I can really relate to this! Mr C gave me a Kindle Touch for Christmas, a total surprise. He may have heard me (a devoted bibliophile who dreads the death of the "physical book" and feels e-readers are hastening its demise) murmur that perhaps, at last, I might consider a Kindle because we're living in a non-Anglophone country and it's hard to get books in English.....
What he didn't realise is that the only reason I would even have considered it for a second is the existence of the new Kindle Paperwhite. I completely concur with Nicholson Baker who described the ordinary Kindle as looking out of a dirty window onto a grey day, or something like that.
So, poor Mr C, I didn't welcome the gift much, refuse to use it, and am thinking of having him kindly exchange--well, upgrade!-- it for a Paperwhite. Which I have looked at in Waterstones (while buying several "physical books"!!) and it is an easier and more pleasant read than the basic Kindle. But. I still feel the same resistance-cum-betrayal thing that Dormouse describes. It's just not like reading a book.
How much would I use it, really??
Have you been using yours after your initial hesitation, Dormouse?
On the reading front, I have recently read The Land of Spices by a wonderful author I discovered not long ago, Kate O'Brien. The first book I read of hers, and loved, is Without my Cloak. It was her first novel, and was widely acclaimed, though I'd never heard of her or of the book until I picked up a second-hand edition from Virago. In case you don't know of her, she was Irish and lived from 1897-1974, wrote novels and plays.
Land of Spices (the reference to the lovely Herbert poem "Prayer" is important in the story) is set in a convent in 1912, and focuses on a Reverend Mother and a young schoolgirl and their spiritual and earthly paths and difficulties.....quote from Virago blurb, "this complex and moving work offers both a luminous evocation of convent life and a remarkable exploration of the nature of human love and spirituality."
It came out in 1941 and was censored for its "immorality" by the Irish Censorship Board--not because of any shenanigans in the convent itself, but for another reason.
It's moving and subtle and beautifully written.
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Pondering.
Posts: 898 | Registered: Feb 2012
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Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
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Posted
Cara, the advantages of the Kindle are many and glorious. I have a Kindle 3, from before the heady days of Touch or Paperwhite. I've never had a problem with the screen contrast - if anything I find the Paperwhite a little too white. And with that satisfying little click as you turn a page, I won't be rushing out to buy a Touch either.
I like reading in bed, for which the Kindle is excellent. It's light and easy to hold - I've never found a comfortable position for reading a heavy, thick book in bed. I also like reading on holiday, and when my friends take a treebook novel or two, I take my Kindle, packed with unread goodies. Also, a lot of out-of-copyright stuff is free (derived from websites such as Project Gutenberg), and the Kindle editions of free stuff are improving all the time. I read a lovely, clear, navigable edition of A Tale of Two Cities last year.
Finally, I'm of an age where print size matters, and this was actually one of the main reasons I first bought the Kindle. The tipping point was when I looked into Oliver Sacks' Musicophilia, which had a font size I would normally associate with a dodgy insurance policy. This isn't a problem with the Kindle. In fact, if you're having problems with the contrast, or reading in a dim light, just turn up the font size and it's fine.
I tend to keep a stock of "to-read" stuff on my Kindle from whatever happens to be free or on offer at the time, which means I only rarely pay full price for a Kindle book.
Having said that, my last three books have been treebooks - Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair (utterly brilliant, but I'm having to ration my Ffordes - he doesn't write them as quickly as I want to read them); David Sedaris's Me Talk Pretty One Day, which annoyed the friends I was staying with because of my frequent giggle-quakes; and I'm currently about a third of the way through Stephen King's Salem's Lot, just because.
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"What is broken, repair with gold."
Posts: 9779 | From: Manchester | Registered: Sep 2003
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Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917
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Posted
Cara - I read Without My Cloak when I was at school, and I thought it was marvellous! I only picked it up because I was going through a phase of reading books that other people were not looking at - it had a plain green cover and hadn't been taken out of the school library for a long time (goodness knows what it was doing in the school library in the first place!).
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Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
Posts: 3710 | From: Hay-on-Wye, town of books | Registered: Aug 2003
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Cara
Shipmate
# 16966
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Posted
Adeodatus, thank you! I too often wish for a larger font in printed books, and this, plus the ability to get past-copyright things and such, may tip me kindlewards!
I also love reading in bed and know what you mean about difficulties of so doing with a heavy book.
Also love reading in the bath, though! A bit dangerous with a Kindle...anyway this is all very useful, thank you. Can you also download onto Kindle those old, weird, obscure books that have been scanned into Google? (I think).
Eigon, glad to hear from another o'Brien fan!
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Pondering.
Posts: 898 | Registered: Feb 2012
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Dormouse
Glis glis – Ship's rodent
# 5954
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Posted
Actually, once I started downloading (mostly) free stuff, I haven't read a "real" book since! I did buy some in the uk, as I'm collecting some series of books. I'm a bit miffed that the most expensive book I downloaded (Ken Follett) has been the most tedious!!
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What are you doing for Lent?
40 days, 40 reflections, 40 acts of generosity. Join the #40acts challenge for #Lent and let's start a movement. www.40acts.org.uk
Posts: 3042 | From: 'twixt les Bois Noirs & Les Monts de la Madeleine | Registered: May 2004
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
Adeodatus-- David Sedaris is like Prozac to me. I highly encourage you to go on a bookstore / Kindle binge and track down everything he wrote. Well worth it.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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moonfruit
Shipmate
# 15818
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Posted
Adeodatus - if you're enjoying Jasper Fforde, be sure to check out Shades of Grey as well. It's not a Thursday Next book, but it is very interesting, the basic premise being that society is structured based on what colours people can see, with those who don't see enough colour relegated to an underclass called 'the greys'. Well worth a read.
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All I know is that you came and made beauty from my mess.
Posts: 180 | From: Just outside the M25 | Registered: Aug 2010
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
I'm a lover of tree books. I've made my living in the past writing typographic and font software and there's nothing like a lovely well printed book. However I'm an omnivore and the Kindle is a great way to increase the mix.
The paperwhite is a big improvment on the original, the extra resolution and the back illumination really help. The internal illumination makes it now my preferred reading in bed option
It's also great just to tuck in your pocket and be able to carry a spare half dozen books for when you get stuck in a waiting pattern. The fonts are legible without the eyestrain of a lcd screen but they still haven't gotten the page layout done right. I may have to go do that myself...
I just read the Memoirs of Ulysess S Grant which i wouldn't have done if I had to carry around a big book. It's comforting to have an extra Wodehouse for emergencies. ;-) It hasn't stopped the purchase of print books though. ;-)
The main problem is I haven't figured out how to select from the new books that are only available on Kindle. A lot of them look like trash and I don't want to wade through a slush pile to find the gems.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917
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Posted
I've just been dipping my toes into new waters, first by buying an ebook (which I'm reading on the computer screen - I don't possess any hand held devices, even a mobile phone), and secondly by choosing Gay Fantasy Fiction. I haven't read anything with gay characters since I got all the Mary Renault's I could find out of the school library! I found out about this one by browsing through a blog called LGBT Fantasy Fans and Writers.
I'm enjoying it very much indeed. It's called Bomber's Moon: Under the Hill by Alex Beecroft, and concerns a Lancaster bomber pilot displaced to the present, elves/fairies attacking a house, and the bomber pilot's lover and navigator who is trapped in Elfland and trying to escape. There's a second book, Dogfighters, which includes a fight between a Mosquito fighter/bomber and a dragon! And Mosquitos were wooden aircraft....
Alex Beecroft has also written some historical gay fiction, set around Nelson's navy period, which I may have a look at too (I used to love Alexander Kent).
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Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
Posts: 3710 | From: Hay-on-Wye, town of books | Registered: Aug 2003
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Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by moonfruit:
Adeodatus - if you're enjoying Jasper Fforde, be sure to check out Shades of Grey as well. It's not a Thursday Next book, but it is very interesting, the basic premise being that society is structured based on what colours people can see, with those who don't see enough colour relegated to an underclass called 'the greys'. Well worth a read.
It's on my Kindle, waiting to be read. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif) (It was on offer at a ridiculously low price a few months ago.)
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"What is broken, repair with gold."
Posts: 9779 | From: Manchester | Registered: Sep 2003
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Twilight
Puddleglum's sister
# 2832
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Posted
TurquoiseTastic just asked about Susan Howatch on the question thread. It appears she's retired at age 72 after a mere 20 or so gigantic novels. Don't you just hate that?! Thank goodness Ruth Rendell hasn't taken that attitude; she's 82, and I thought her latest was one of her best.
I get seriously sad when we lose any of our great writers. I grieved for Norah Lofts. I could never begin to thank them enough for all the hours of pleasure they've given me.
Posts: 6817 | Registered: May 2002
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Cara
Shipmate
# 16966
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Palimpsest:
I'm a lover of tree books. I've made my living in the past writing typographic and font software and there's nothing like a lovely well printed book. However I'm an omnivore and the Kindle is a great way to increase the mix.
The paperwhite is a big improvment on the original, the extra resolution and the back illumination really help. The internal illumination makes it now my preferred reading in bed option
It's also great just to tuck in your pocket and be able to carry a spare half dozen books for when you get stuck in a waiting pattern. The fonts are legible without the eyestrain of a lcd screen but they still haven't gotten the page layout done right. I may have to go do that myself...
I just read the Memoirs of Ulysess S Grant which i wouldn't have done if I had to carry around a big book. It's comforting to have an extra Wodehouse for emergencies. ;-) It hasn't stopped the purchase of print books though. ;-)
The main problem is I haven't figured out how to select from the new books that are only available on Kindle. A lot of them look like trash and I don't want to wade through a slush pile to find the gems.
Thanks, Palimpsest, for more Kindle info--yes, if I did get the Paperwhite I too would still be an omnivore and buy print books as well.
Please do do something about the page layout, it just doesn't look right!
To have an extra Wodehouse around for emergencies....now you're talking ! I'm beginning to see the light.
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Pondering.
Posts: 898 | Registered: Feb 2012
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leo
Shipmate
# 1458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Twilight:
TurquoiseTastic just asked about Susan Howatch on the question thread. It appears she's retired at age 72 after a mere 20 or so gigantic novels. Don't you just hate that?!
Not sure - when she got on to her churchy novels, they all seemed to portray the same stereotyped people, albeit with different names in different books.
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My Jewish-positive lectionary blog is at http://recognisingjewishrootsinthelectionary.wordpress.com/
My reviews at http://layreadersbookreviews.wordpress.com
Posts: 23198 | From: Bristol | Registered: Oct 2001
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Angloid
Shipmate
# 159
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Posted
The only Howatch book I have read (and it was one of the churchy ones) was when I was suffering from the flu. And I felt much iller afterwards.
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Brian: You're all individuals!
Crowd: We're all individuals!
Lone voice: I'm not!
Posts: 12927 | From: The Pool of Life | Registered: May 2001
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leo
Shipmate
# 1458
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Posted
Yes - and the 'spiritual director' is always an autocratic anglo-catholic priest who tells people what to do and, eventually, has a massive mental breakdown which exposes his great flaws.
This is the sort of priest Howatch admires - she was interviewed about what sort of Archbishop of Canterbury she waned after Carey and that is what she came up with.
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My Jewish-positive lectionary blog is at http://recognisingjewishrootsinthelectionary.wordpress.com/
My reviews at http://layreadersbookreviews.wordpress.com
Posts: 23198 | From: Bristol | Registered: Oct 2001
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Mr Curly
Off to Curly Flat
# 5518
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Palimpsest:
The main problem is I haven't figured out how to select from the new books that are only available on Kindle. A lot of them look like trash and I don't want to wade through a slush pile to find the gems.
There are lots of review sites that concentrate on this type of stuff, but not all are OK. Big Al's Books and Pals is pretty good, but there are heaps of genre specific ones depending on what you're into.
The 10% free sample you can download on kindle is enough to judge if something is worth continuing with. There are amazon lists of top sellers/free books by genre as well.
In the end, nothing beats word of mouth.
mr curly
who has a few kindle only books of his own.
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My Blog - Writing, Film, Other Stuff
Posts: 2645 | From: Curly Flat | Registered: Feb 2004
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Paul.
Shipmate
# 37
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Posted
Kindle owners in the UK may want to check out Amazon's "12 days of Kindle" sale. It ends tomorrow at midnight. They've been adding 60+ books a day and many are at 99p.
Some well-known books and authors in there, including a few I bought full price and haven't read yet (*sigh*).
In terms of what I've been reading lately, I read Paul Cornell's excellent London Falling and the first two 'PC Grant' novels of Ben Aaronovitch: Rivers of London and Moon Over Soho. If you like fantasy in a modern setting, if you liked the idea of 'urban fantasy' but were disappointed to find most of the books in that genre were romance novels with were-wolves or vampires[*], then these books may well appeal to you. I enjoyed them so much that I'm saving the third one so as not to have to wait too long for number 4.
[*]nothing wrong with that if that's what you were expecting.
Posts: 3689 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2004
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Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
Adeodatus-- David Sedaris is like Prozac to me. I highly encourage you to go on a bookstore / Kindle binge and track down everything he wrote. Well worth it.
I tried reading Naked a couple of years ago, and just didn't "get" him at all. I think I remember finding him a bit too waspish. But Me Talk Pretty was hilarious. I found this gorgeous video of him recounting some of his experiences learning French - "Jesus Shaves".
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"What is broken, repair with gold."
Posts: 9779 | From: Manchester | Registered: Sep 2003
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nickel
Shipmate
# 8363
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Posted
I love David Sedaris too. Sometimes I get him mixed up with "This American Life" -- hope neither party minds too much.
After several diligent years of taping each library receipt in a notebook and highlighting the good ones as I read them, my system went to heck and 2012 slips ended up in a basket. Finally caught them up in my notebook the other day. Here are the highlights:
“The Journal of Best Practices: a Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man’s Quest to be a Better Husband” – David Finch. How funny this was! Apparently David and his wife took one of those silly magazine quizzes – but where she answered ‘yes’ 3 or 4 times (a normal score), he answered ‘yes’ to like 95 questions – so yeah, maybe his quirks really were indicative of something more. Loved his explanation of his approach to work. He had no concept of being part of a team or having any particular goal to reach – he just pretended to be an outstanding employee. And it worked! And his 'logical' suggestions to his tired and dispirited wife: now that she’s staying at home with the baby maybe she can use her spare time to finally keep the kitchen cleaned as it should be. David must be a loveable guy, because she didn’t kill him.
“God’s Hotel: a Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine” – Victoria Sweet. One of those books that makes you shake your head and wonder why we do such stupid things, when a simpler, kinder approach would be more effective and more efficient. Must read more by this author (And, sweaters for everybody!)
“Zoobiqity: what animals can teach us about Health and the Science of Healing” – what, you mean doctors and veterinarians didn’t always realize this? Yikes!
“At Home on the Range: a Cookbook” – Margaret Yardley Potter, originally published in 1947, recently re-released. Fascinating account of home cooking as it evolved from the 1920’s to WWII era. In some ways so modern – she started cooking before ‘convenience’ foods swamped the markets, so of course she sought out the freshest stuff straight from the farmer, etc. However, she was not convinced of the worth of the new electric refrigerators because when you had an ice box you were assured of a supply of ice as well! Breezy style, very friendly, some good recipes, and a still relevant approach to providing food for your family and for your guests.
Posts: 547 | From: Virginia USA | Registered: Aug 2004
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by nickel:
“God’s Hotel: a Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine” – Victoria Sweet. One of those books that makes you shake your head and wonder why we do such stupid things, when a simpler, kinder approach would be more effective and more efficient. Must read more by this author (And, sweaters for everybody!)
I read that while I was recovering from surgery. She got many of her ideas from Hildegarde of Bingen. One thing Hildegarde said was that after medicine has done what it can, the patient needs "Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, and Mr. Merryman". I realized that this is what I instinctively sought--wholesome food, as much rest as I felt like, and things to cheer me up. This is what every patient needs.
Moo
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Kerygmania host
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See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
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nickel
Shipmate
# 8363
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Moo: // "Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, and Mr. Merryman". //
thanks Moo, that was the very phrase I was trying to remember. Not to throw out the value of modern medicines and hospitals, but to remember a balanced approach to life, especially during recovery from illness. I thought my library had one more book by Dr Sweet, but I was wrong. I must have seen it on Amazon: "Rooted in the Earth, Rooted in the Sky: Hildegard of Bingen and Premodern Medicine (Studies in Medieval History and Culture)" -- looks good, but it's almost $50 -- not sure I want to pay that much without looking for a cheaper copy first. On the other hand, she is a very good writer...
Posts: 547 | From: Virginia USA | Registered: Aug 2004
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by nickel:
I thought my library had one more book by Dr Sweet, but I was wrong. I must have seen it on Amazon: "Rooted in the Earth, Rooted in the Sky: Hildegard of Bingen and Premodern Medicine (Studies in Medieval History and Culture)" -- looks good, but it's almost $50 -- not sure I want to pay that much without looking for a cheaper copy first. On the other hand, she is a very good writer...
You can find a slightly cheaper copy at Abe Books.
Moo
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Kerygmania host
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See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Gosh but I'm predictable!
A couple of days ago I finished my umpteenth reread of Kipling's Kim, a superb little book, and now I have started Peter Hopkirk's In Search of Kim where he tries to follow the trail of Kim's journeyings.
I have also been reading a lot online, as I always do.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
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What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
DUH!!
Sorry it is Quest for Kim by Peter Hopkirk.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
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What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Cara
Shipmate
# 16966
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Posted
I remember when I was young and adored The Jungle Book and Just So Stories and I tried Kim, but I couldn't get into it. I think I was too young--should give it another go perhaps.
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Pondering.
Posts: 898 | Registered: Feb 2012
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Kim is one of my favourites. Every line of it vividly expresses the rich, colourful diversity of India: to read it is to be immersed in it. It can be read on more than one level, and it's a cracking adventure yarn.
In a way, it's also a love story: the deep unspoken love that develops between the lama and his disciple Kim, a young street urchin who at first is only in it for the larks, and thinks the lama's a gullible fool, but matures spiritually as the book progresses; and also, less explicitly, it's about Kipling's own love for India. The way the book is written is so evocative: this was an author who knew and loved the country, was completely at home in it - and was irrevocably thousands of miles away in England, and probably homesick when he wrote Kim.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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QLib
Bad Example
# 43
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Posted
I've just finished Beloved which I had to get through for my Real Life book group - and, being both pessimistic and lackadaisical*, it took me ages to get around sorting out a copy from the library, so I had to read it in less than a week at the start of term. But I'm just so glad I finally got around to it. It's been hovering on my horizons for years, having been recommended by endless numbers of people, though with nobody mentioning - this is not a spoiler - the fact that it was about slavery, though a lot of people said about the dead child. It's an amazing book - how can anything so appalling and so grim be so uplifting and also,for me, as a (broadly speaking) "White"** reader, humbling?
It was also a great one for the book group because, although we all liked it, it also stimulated a discussion that kept going (more-or-less) on topic for the full ninety minutes and then some. I wonder how many others on board have read it, and whether it's worth nominating for the Ship book group.
*They fit together quite well in my case:- Everyone else will have got there first
- I won't get through it in time anyway
- I can't be bothered because there is no point.
- There is no point, and therefore I can't be bothered
**I resist putting "White" on the tick box lists - one day I'll start a Purg thread.
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Tradition is the handing down of the flame, not the worship of the ashes Gustav Mahler.
Posts: 8913 | From: Page 28 | Registered: May 2001
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
The last thing I read was an exhaustive biography of JFK by US broadcast journalist Chris Matthews. It was on my wife's Nook e-book.
My brother-in-law, Patrick J. Larkin is a published author has several e-books out which are suspense thrillers (ala Tom Clancy who he is acquainted with). He's on the west coast and his east coast writing partner at the time was Larry Bond; he is now writing books under his own name.
I am slowly writing a book about fictionalized characters I have met in real life and their adventures. I hope to finish it in time for NaNoWriMo.
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917
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Posted
I remember giving Kim to my ex-husband to read, because he'd never come across it. His comment was "But it's like a good fantasy novel!"
Quest for Kim is fascinating, seeing how the world has changed.
(I even like the film with Errol Flynn and Dean Stockwell!)
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Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
Posts: 3710 | From: Hay-on-Wye, town of books | Registered: Aug 2003
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Kim is one of those books that the more I read it, the more I get out of it - if I had ten books to take to my desert island that would be one of them.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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deano
princess
# 12063
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sir Kevin:
The last thing I read was an exhaustive biography of JFK by US broadcast journalist Chris Matthews. It was on my wife's Nook e-book.
My brother-in-law, Patrick J. Larkin is a published author has several e-books out which are suspense thrillers (ala Tom Clancy who he is acquainted with). He's on the west coast and his east coast writing partner at the time was Larry Bond; he is now writing books under his own name.
I am slowly writing a book about fictionalized characters I have met in real life and their adventures. I hope to finish it in time for NaNoWriMo.
Cool, I've read a couple of Larry Bond thrillers such as Red Phoenix and loved them. I'll look out for your BiL's name and check them out.
How cool is it around here, that I can have a conversation with someone who is related to someone who works with one of my favourite authors? Forget Kevin Bacon, we have 3 degree's of Larry Bond!!
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"The moral high ground is slowly being bombed to oblivion. " - Supermatelot
Posts: 2118 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: Nov 2006
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
My Kindle is the keyboard version from a couple of years ago - I can't abide touchscreens and since I read before bed, I don't like backlit versions since it feels like a computer. I've been gradually working through all the Agatha Christies and since I've been low on funds, free ebooks on various mythologies from around the world. I tend to read non-fiction, even non-fiction about other people's fictions ![[Biased]](wink.gif) Ebooks are also brilliant for short story collections, and I've been devouring the Sherlock Holmes and HP Lovecraft ones.
Having been reading about the Society of the Holy Cross and also the book of Call The Midwife and its philanthropic High Anglicanism, does anyone have any recommendations for books on 19th Century Anglican priesthood and opposition to High Church movements/the Public Worship Regulation Act? It sounds rather specific but I figure that if anyone knows, a Shipmate will!
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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
Posts: 5319 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2012
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Thurible
Shipmate
# 3206
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Posted
C J Sansom's Winter in Madrid is currently 20p on Kindle. It's excellent.
Thurible
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"I've been baptised not lobotomised."
Posts: 8049 | Registered: Aug 2002
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Thurible
Shipmate
# 3206
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jade Constable:
Having been reading about the Society of the Holy Cross and also the book of Call The Midwife and its philanthropic High Anglicanism, does anyone have any recommendations for books on 19th Century Anglican priesthood and opposition to High Church movements/the Public Worship Regulation Act? It sounds rather specific but I figure that if anyone knows, a Shipmate will!
Have a nose round Project Canterbury. You could start in a worse place than reading more about Fr Tooth.
Thurible
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"I've been baptised not lobotomised."
Posts: 8049 | Registered: Aug 2002
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Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
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Posted
IIRC (it's about 15 years since I read it) Goeffrey Rowell's The Vision Glorious had some good material on philanthropic Anglo-Catholicism - Fr Prynne and the Plymouth cholera epidemic, that sort of thing. I'm not sure about opposition to the Movement, though. You might be better off looking at an older (and delightfully biased!) source such as Sidney Ollard's A Short History of the Oxford Movement.
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"What is broken, repair with gold."
Posts: 9779 | From: Manchester | Registered: Sep 2003
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Thurible
Shipmate
# 3206
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Posted
The Vision Glorious was one of the most boringly written things I've ever read. Which, given that the content is something I found terribly interesting, was quite an odd mix.
Thurible
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"I've been baptised not lobotomised."
Posts: 8049 | Registered: Aug 2002
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Margaret
Shipmate
# 283
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Posted
No one could accuse The Secret History of the Oxford Movement of being boring, though. I haven't read it for years, but I've still got a copy in my study: exciting revelations about the wickedness of the confessional, and the penances handed out - I seem to remember something about "Englishwomen being beaten on their bare backs" ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
Posts: 2456 | From: West Midlands UK | Registered: May 2001
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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
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Posted
I am very much enjoying Mark Forsyth's Horologicon which is all about obscure English words. For instance, if your boss is talking conciliatory nonsense at a meeting, (s)he is a mugwump. Instead of leaving the house with an umbrella in the morning, say you are taking your bumbershoot. The most delightful word in the English language is wamblecropt and I think he might have a point about that (you'll have to read the book to find out what it means) .
He has another one, the Etymologicon, a tour de force of the origins of English words, which I liked as well but I think the Horologicon is even better.
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Rent my holiday home in the South of France
Posts: 3696 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Twilight
Puddleglum's sister
# 2832
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by QLib:
I've just finished Beloved
It was also a great one for the book group because, although we all liked it, it also stimulated a discussion that kept going (more-or-less) on topic for the full ninety minutes and then some. I wonder how many others on board have read it, and whether it's worth nominating for the Ship book group.
I've read it with two different real life book clubs and both times the discussion triggered the biggest near-screaming fights the groups had ever had. I never would have believed that retired literature teachers could get so angry.
Posts: 6817 | Registered: May 2002
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Cara
Shipmate
# 16966
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Posted
I've just finished Mark Forsyth's Etymologicon and enjoyed it very much--it's the sort of book with which you--well, I-- drive everyone mad in the vicinity by readings bits out. I look forward to the Horologicon.
I read Beloved years ago and thought it very good--horrifying, of course.
I have recently discovered Javier Marias and read A Heart So White (in English translation). I thought it was wonderful--I love W.G. Sebald and the two have many affinities, indeed Sebald called Marais a "twin writer." Similar sort of melancholy, thoughtful, meandering meditations--but in Marias there is also an involving story that you want to follow to the end. Like the books of Sebald, this one by Marias (the only one by him I've so far read) has a special atmosphere but one that's hard to describe or define.
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Pondering.
Posts: 898 | Registered: Feb 2012
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geroff
Shipmate
# 3882
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Posted
Having mis-read the thread title as a town in Berkshire, England wondering how it can be a ticket to anywhere, I have now read the thread!
Having not enjoyed the film/musical version of Les Miserables at the cinema last week I have now embarked on the novel (in English, but not sung). This may take some time because I am a slow reader when I have Other Things To Do, but I didn't think I fancied it as a holiday read.
Posts: 1172 | From: Montgomeryshire, Wales | Registered: Jan 2003
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venbede
Shipmate
# 16669
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jade Constable:
does anyone have any recommendations for books on 19th Century Anglican priesthood and opposition to High Church movements/the Public Worship Regulation Act? It sounds rather specific but I figure that if anyone knows, a Shipmate will!
I can't lay hands on my copy of Judgement on Hatcham so I can't say who was the author (Joyce Coombs?) but it gives a blow by blow of Father Tooth SSC's improvements and the machinations of his opponents (including attending a said Holy Communion, just in order to stand in front of the altar rail to prevent the sole communicant receiving - because the BCP says there must be three communicants.)
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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Posts: 3201 | From: An historic market town nestling in the folds of Surrey's rolling North Downs, | Registered: Sep 2011
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