Compromise is Not a Dirty Word

Outsiders – http://www.lemodesittjr.com/2015/10/13/outsiders/

A good quote from Modesitt’s post (click link above):

“… without all the social and physical ‘infrastructure’ provided by American society and government, few if any of those successes would have been possible. Just having clean water and decent sanitation provides a great advantage. Almost half the world doesn’t have one or the other.”

Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon

Local Book Club Begins With Banned Book

Last month, my local library, the Lansing Community Library, sponsored a new adult book club.  About half a dozen people met initially to get to know each other, make book recommendations, decide on when to meet and what book to read first.  Since “Banned Book Week” occurs annually at the end of September, at our request, Director, Teri Wojtalewicz, recited a list published by the ALA of the top 100 banned books.  We determined that Sophie’s Choice by William Styron was a book that most of us had not read yet and thus became our first “Book of the Month” read.

On the second Thursday of October, we met again and gathered in a few new readers.  We had a lively discussion, as can be expected from a book that is challenged frequently for some of its content.  Those who had read it in their 20s and re-read it for the group felt like they were reading a different book from what they remembered.  I’ve had that same experience many times when returning to books I read from much earlier in my life.

Other readers mentioned and appreciated the use of music for the emotional apexes and nadirs Sophie experienced.  Another recurring comment involved the writing style of the author (or Stingo, whose life seemed to somewhat mirror the author’s protagonist), which involved the use of large unfamiliar words and incredibly long sentences.  Since I was/am reading the ebook edition, I took occasional advantage of the built-in dictionary available at the touch of a finger.

Continue reading “Local Book Club Begins With Banned Book”

Year 51 Day 1

Yep. It’ my birthday.

I have a busy weekend planned and took Monday off to recover.

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Today (Friday) I’m off over lunch to my First Friday book club at the Westport Branch of the Kansas City Public Library.  This past month Between the Lines read The 100 Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson.  I’m listening to it (still) and probably won’t finish it until later next week.  But it has been a funny read thus far.  I’m looking forward to hearing what the other members of the book group thought of this interesting centenarian’s adventure.

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Saturday night is my final night of the year as a member of the ASKC Team Two volunteers who help visitors during our Powell Observatory public night.  Come on down for some fantastic star gazing after sunset Saturday night.

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Sunday afternoon my hubby’s taking me to see the movie The Martian.  I read that book over a year ago a and thought it very good read.  I’m looking forward to the movie.