Tag: books

Books I Loved 2017 Edition

At the end of September I reached that point in the year when I could shake off all my various book club obligatory reading and get down to the serious business of reading the books I bought for myself all year long.  Not every year gives me a break where I can read what I want.  I often have to squeeze in my ‘must read’ books between the two to three other books I read per month for various discussion groups and book clubs.  Don’t get me wrong.  I very much enjoy reading outside my comfort zone and would not give up the wonderful discussions and cherished friendships I’ve nurtured through a shared love of reading.

Moss "Loved-It" Shelf YTD 2017

Most years, I read between 75 and 100 books; last year I read 88 and as of today I’ve read 99 thus far in 2017.  And only about ten percent make it onto my ‘loved-it’ shelf (the equivalent of a five-star rating).  This year had a few more than normal and will probably end with two to three more on the shelf before year’s end (because I’m now reading what I’ve had on hold for most of the year).

Continue reading “Books I Loved 2017 Edition”

How an independent bookstore took on anti-feminist trolls and won | Books | The Guardian

https://amp.theguardian.com/books/2017/jun/27/how-an-independent-bookstore-took-on-anti-feminist-trolls-and-won

Great article to read first thing in the morning.  Solidarity in the feminist trenches with wit and humor. 

 It this statement by the author under attack which rang especially true for me:

Speaking of the difficulties feminists face when trying to get their message across, Ford said: “It’s tedious and exhausting to deal with a daily onslaught of abuse and paranoia from angry men and their terrified cohorts. It’s impossible to have logical conversations with them because they don’t care about facts, only about how they feel about those facts.”

Summer Reading for the Young at Heart

Summer reading programs at all my local libraries are in full swing this first week of June.  Nearly all the libraries have great programs, activities and prizes for both kids and adults and this year’s theme is “Build a Better World” (see links below for libraries shown here).

Kansas City Area Summer Reading Programs

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Beginning My Deep Dive Into Tolkien

ppp_400x400A dear friend of mine sent me off on a wonderful Tolkien tangent last week when she replied to my Podcast Pickup post and directed me to the Prancing Pony Podcast.  I quickly scanned the last half dozen posted episodes and settled on #038, also entitled “I Will Choose Free Will” – which immediately gave me a Rush earworm.  Not one to be daunted by a nearly two hour podcast (we are dealing with ‘epic’ fantasy here), I gave a listen to the ongoing discussion of The Silmarillion, specifically Chapter 21 and Túrin Turambar.  I pulled out my ebook edition and quickly skimmed Chapter 21 to remind myself of the story.  I really enjoyed the insights and the banter of the hosts.  It took me several days to completely listen to the episode, but by the end I was hooked and a plan began to form in my mind.

I have read The Silmarillion at least three times, possibly four.  My first attempt occurred in high school, followed by a reread during college.  I probably pulled it out for a third reread in the 90s, but with two young kids, I doubt I succeeded a complete journey.  The most recent rereading took a different tack wherein I switched to an audiobook edition, the one read by Martin Shaw.  I adore English voice actors so I had no trouble listening to the entire book twice, in 2010 and again in early 2013.

Having been impressed with the podcast above, my plan now is to begin at the beginning, to rewind back to episode #001, “In Defense of Fantasy” originally released in February 2016.  I’ve requested the recommended reading from my local library (the biography by Carpenter and Tree and Leaf by Tolkien).  I already own the ebook editions of Tolkien’s letters.

I am not going to rush this journey.  The road goes ever on, as any Tolkien fan knows.  I will indulge myself as the fancy takes me, betwixt and between my other reading and listening projects.  I will consider this an ongoing and long running blog posting series and please remember that “Not all those who wander are lost.”

Zen for the Ages

My uncle recently read and reviewed the late Robert Pirsig’s seminal Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.  I’ve added this book to my ever growing list of philosophy-related to-be-read pile.  For more of Ron’s insightful review, please proceed to his blog via the link below:

Book Review: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert M. Pirsig Five Stars “We are all of us very arrogant and conceited about running down other people’s ghosts but just as ignorant and barbaric and superstitious about our own.” I wish I read this book forty years ago. Instead […]

via Book Review: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert M. Pirsig (Five Stars) — As a Matter of Fancy

You Bet Your Life

Cover Image of Making Sense of it all: Pascal and the Meaning of LifeGoodreads Synopsis:  An instructive and entertaining book that addresses basic life questions. Relating numerous personal anecdotes, incorporating, intriguing material from the films of Woody Allen and the journals of Leo Tolstoy, and using the writings of the seventeenth-century genius Blaise Pascal as a central guide, Morris explores the nature of faith, reason, and the meaning of life. His lucid reflections provide fresh, fertile insights and perspectives for any thoughtful person journeying through life.

Read the week of May 7, 2017 by the grace of one of the wonders of the modern world: Interlibrary Loan

My Thoughts

Morris did an excellent job of pulling together Pascal’s Thoughts and presenting powerful arguments in support of his famous Wager.  For me, it ended up being a reaffirmation of my personal faith, a honing of my reasoning and renewed focus on my life’s purpose and direction.  This is the first of many tangential reads I’ll be undertaking as a direct result of my Brain Upgrade Project, the first phase of which wrapped up last week when I took my final in Philosophy.

Tweeted excerpts gleaned while reading:

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Let’s TALK About ‘A Little Princess’

This week the Lansing Community Library Adult book discussion group meets for the second in a three-part series on reading “Children’s Classics,” a Talk About Literature in Kansas (TALK) program sponsored by the Kansas Humanities Council (KHC).  KHC furnishes the books and discussion leaders for the Lansing TALK series. For more information about KHC, please visit www.kansashumanities.org.

When: 5:30 p.m. Thursday, January 12, 2017

Where:  Lansing Community Library, 703 1st Terrace, Lansing, Kansas 66043 – 913.727.2929

Who: Sister Rosemary  (Rosie) Kolich is an assistant professor of English at the University of Saint Mary.  She teaches at both the main campus in Leavenworth and at the Overland Park campus.  She earned her PhD from Saint Louis University. One of the courses she team teaches is called Good Books, which pairs works from theology and literature with similar themes.  Sister Rosie joined the Kansas Humanities Council TALK program as a discussion leader in 2008.

What:  A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924)

Burnett’s turn-of-the-century Cinderella story tells of a little girl who goes from riches to rags to riches again, all along maintaining her compassion and love for those around her.  After wealthy Sara Crewe moves into a strict girls’ boarding school, she learns that her father is dead, leaving her both penniless and an orphan.  Her faith in her father and her sense of justice enable her to overcome poverty, hardship, and abuse, and to create her own family and community.  Burnett, a playwright and novelist for adults before she wrote children’s books, never over-simplifies the complexities of a dangerous world; at the same time, she never forgets what it’s like to view that world as a hopeful child.

From Wikipedia:  A Little Princess is a children’s novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, first published as a book in 1905. It is an expanded version of the short story Sara Crewe: or, What Happened at Miss Minchin’s, which was serialized in St. Nicholas Magazine from December 1887. According to Burnett, after she composed the 1902 play A Little Un-fairy Princess based on that story, her publisher asked that she expand the story as a novel with “the things and people that had been left out before”.[4] The novel was published by Charles Scribner’s Sons (also publisher of St. Nicholas) with illustrations by Ethel Franklin Betts and the full title A Little Princess: Being the Whole Story of Sara Crewe Now Being Told for the First Time.[1]

Based on a 2007 online poll, the U.S. National Education Association named the book one of its “Teachers’ Top 100 Books for Children”. In 2012 it was ranked number 56 among all-time children’s novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily U.S. audience. It was the second of two Burnett novels among the Top 100, with The Secret Garden number 15.

♥ ♥ ♥

Please join us Thursday evening as we TALK about A Little Princess in the warm indoors forgetting momentarily the bleak midwinter outside.

First Book Club Gathering of 2017 Results in Book Recommendations

Between the Lines Noon on First Fridays at Westport Library

Every First Friday of the month I venture a few blocks north over lunch to the Westport Branch of the Kansas City Public Library to discuss books and other tangential topics with the women (and an occasional man) of the Between the Lines book discussion group.  When last we left off in December, we did not have a designated book to read for January, so we were supposed to come ready to give recommendations.

That got sidetracked by the good intentions of our library liaison, Seth, who provided our facilitator, Rose, a last-minute selection for us to read.  I received the email a few days ago and happened to run into Seth at the Plaza Branch (which just happens to be on the first floor of the building I spend every week day at) and asked him for a copy of Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal.  We both went searching for a copy, Seth to the New & Notable display section and me to the Fiction section.  Neither one of us found it at first but I returned to the New & Notable display and found it on the top shelf (neither Seth or I are what you’d call tall).  I checked it out and planned to read it over the weekend since it appeared to be a short book (short to me is anything less than 500 pages).  I did finish it quickly, over a couple of days.

Due to the late notice, only one other member of Between the Lines actually read Kitchens of the Great Midwest and she and I agreed that it was an interesting read for the relationships portrayed but not that interesting as a ‘foodie’ type book.  I found the book oddly compelling to read up until the last couple of chapters and then it just fell flat for me.

My Top 5 Books from 2016

In conjunction with my previous blog post about my reading statistics from 2016, I referenced my ‘loved-it’ shelf at GoodReads but didn’t give specifics.  Faced with a blank page provided by Rose to be passed around the table asking for Recommended Books, I quickly reviewed Continue reading “First Book Club Gathering of 2017 Results in Book Recommendations”

Double Infinity Sideways

I said farewell and good riddance to 2016 three days ago.  I set a reading challenge goal of seventy-five (75) books at the start of last year.

2016gr_readingchallengecompleted

I participated in three real-world book discussion groups in order to diversify my reading horizons.  I nominated, voted and attended the Hugo Awards during 2016.  I joined two reading programs at my local library (summer and winter).  I also set other personal goals that I didn’t statistically track but achieved despite real-world hurdles.

I began the year by reading my first ever graphic novel – Persopolis by Satrapi – one of three graphic novels I would read in 2016, two of which were for different book clubs.  I wrapped up the year with my second ever Hemingway book in paperback edition – his memoir A Moveable Feast – for a total of eighty-eight (88) books read.  Click here for a complete list of books I read in 2016.

88 looks like double infinity sideways to me (hence the odd title to this blog post).

Continue reading “Double Infinity Sideways”

Personal Reading Challenge Met Early

lastsixreadingchallengesOn the ides of November, with forty-six days left in 2016, I achieved my self-inflicted reading goal.  I have read seventy-five books so far this year.  I will read more before 2017 arrives.  I am currently reading four books simultaneously in various formats: an audiobook (classic mystery by Christie); an ebook (one of next year’s most likely to succeed Hugo Nominees); a hard cover (non-fiction Kansas Notable); and another ebook (bible study ongoing).

For the most part, I avoided reading duds this year.  I only abandoned two books, both of them book club reads that I just couldn’t get into.  I read a lot of books for discussion groups.  That leaves me little room to squeeze in the must-read new releases that I buy to support my favorite authors.  Of the seventy-five books read since January 1st, I added fourteen to my ‘loved-it’ shelf and forty-eight to my ‘liked-it’ one.  The remaining thirteen books wallow on my ‘meh’ shelf, which is just slightly elevated above my ‘disliked’ and ‘abandoned’ shelves.

Since 2011, I’ve averaged eight-nine books per year, with peak reading occurring in 2013 (102 books read) and 2014 (136 books read).  My lowest reading year occurred last year, where I only read a measly sixty-two books.  I can’t remember why I didn’t get as much reading done last year.  Still, that means I’m reading  between seven and eight books per month.  Makes sense when you consider that I’m involved in 3-4 real world book clubs and a couple of virtual ones plus tackling my huge to-be-read pile not associated with any discussion groups.

I should be able to finish another half-dozen books by year’s end.  In fact, I’ll probably read another ten or so.  I have several novellas I need to read, and those usually only take an hour or so to finish.  Perfect for lunch time reading.

But what to challenge myself with next year?  Should I play it safe, again, and set the bar back at seventy-five?  That might be a wise decision as I’m returning to college after a decades long hiatus to complete my degree.  I see the mist of my spare time for leisure reading evaporating before me.  Perhaps fifty might be an even safer bet?

Only time and my capacity to absorb the written word will tell.