Hello Everyone and Merry Christmas!


Yes, I agree it's sometimes hard to log into this blog!  I have trouble too sometimes but here I am again - finally remembered my password!  It is amazing how e-quickly we become attuned to multiple password, email addresses, phone numbers, and accounts!  Since I am so 'from the old school' I have a tendency to forget which password I used where and it becomes a total frustration.  


Anyway, on to the Book of the Month!
How is reading A Christmas Carol coming along?  I have just passed the first spirit but haven't had time to read on. We have watched our favorite movie version with George C. Scott and thought it stayed quite accurate to what we had read so far.  The Alistair Sim version strayed quite a bit from Dickens.  I was quite disappointed that I couldn't fine Scrooged with Bill Murray anywhere on the TV stations this year.  We will have to get a DVD copy of that sometime and see how it flows with Dickens.  


Our construction is finally done and now it's moving time again.  All that 'stuff' must be packed up and moved into the new bedroom and bath.  At least our closets are now neat because they are empty!


Now it is time for over the river and through the woods to Pennsylvania we go!  And as Tiny Time says: God Bless Us Everyone!  (or does it really say that at the end??)


So, Merry Christmas to all and to all - Have a safe and happy holiday!


Best Wishes,
Barbara

Hello Readers,
I am thinking just a few more comments about Unbroken are necessary. 


I have had many people discuss this book with me and share their thoughts.  Most everyone hates 'the Bird'.  They just cannot attribute humanness to this character.  His evil treatment of the prisoners of war is beyond belief but is it really?  There is that famous saying by Lord Acton:  "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."  I am sure most of us have had many conversations with people about this and have argued on the side of compassion in humans vs, the evil.  My dear husband will usually take the side of the inherent good in people while I will argue that man is prideful and selfish.  The Bird was just a man gone awry?   Or The Bird was evil.  It's been fascinating hearing reader's comments about this horrible prison guard.


The intriguing part of this book for me is the descriptions of Louie as a youth.  What a strong willed child he was portrayed as being!  I can only think that his strong will was what got him through being lost at sea and his captivity.  My opinion is he would not have survived without that strong will.  


Maybe you want to know this about me:  I never read the fly leaf of a book.  In the past I have learned that I am constantly waiting for that event to happen in a book and can't quite settle into the book until the entire fly leaf has happened.  This may not be the best way to select books for a book club but it is the way I am.  I did know that Louie was a real person and survived the events in this book but had I known it was such an intensely captivating story ...I probably still would have selected it.  While I was reading  I picked it up and read a bit then put it down because I couldn't stand what was  happening but then couldn't not find out what was going to happen.


Did anyone read through any of the documentation of the book?  


Do you have a few minutes to check out the following video and see the real Louie:     www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9O5yVzc0vQ


Living in a modern world you can also find Louie on Facebook!  


Is anyone out there reading A Christmas Carol?  I just started it last night.  Hope you are enjoying it!


Til next time - keep reading!


Barbara

Enjoy whatever version you can get your hands on but no cheating by just watching the movie.  Do let us know which is your favorite movie version!

UNBROKEN - the beginning of the wrap up!

Hello Everyone,


It's the end of the month already and we all should have read the book of the month.  I hope you have enjoyed it in some way.  It was a very difficult book for me to read but I am glad I did.  Following are some questions you can respond to whenever you can.  BTW:  One of the member that I know of is still having difficulty posting comments so I have offered to post them for her in the future.  I will cut and paste and let you all know they come from her.  (BTW:  I posted this post before but it didn't show up so I am posting again - if you see it twice - sorry!)


The book for December is listed in Books of the Month column.  It is available to download free for IPAD, or other Free Book apps for computers.  Or you could be like me and have an illustrated copy somewhere in the Christmas decoration boxes.  Happy readying!

Unbroken – Book Club questions.

1. Critics alike have described Unbroken as gripping, almost impossible to put down. Was that your experience as well? How do you account for the page-turning quality given the grim subject material? Also, would your reading experience have been different if you didn't know that Zamperini survived?
2. Laura Hillenbrand gives us a moving story, one that brings to life the suffering and courage of not just one man but thousands, whose stories are untold. What is it about Hillenbrand's writing that keeps you going back to keep reading?
3. What do you admire most about Zamperini? What do you think enables him to survive all of his trials and tribulations? Does he possess special strengths—personal or physical?
4. What is your favorite part of the book?  What part is most horrifying for you?
5. I mentioned a few posts ago about ‘Mans inhumanity to man’.  Many would claim the Japanese were singular in this but it could be applied to the Nazis, or the Somalis, or the treatment of the American Indians in America.  Tell us one thing that allows us to reduce those persecuted to less than human. 
6. How is his family involved in Louie’s survival? How does his conversion under Billy Graham help him? What role does his wife, Cynthia, play?
7. We hear so much today about PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome).  In your mind is it ‘real’ or an excuse? 

Two weeks have flown by.... like an albatross

Hello everyone,


The poorest excuse in all the lot is I didn't know or I forgot, as a great man once said.  


There I was on the way to PA for Thanksgiving and I forgot to take my laptop. My I PAD doesn't allow me to go on and on while writing so I never took the opportunity to say:  Hello, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and Happy Birthday to my mother!  She would have gotten a kick out of me writing on this blog.  While typing up some of her memoirs, I discovered that she would have liked to write and book but realized that was never going to happen so she hoped her daughters would pick up the gauntlet. {would a blog count?} She really didn't appreciate reading many books but I think this biography would have struck a cord with her, having lived through WWII.  


I hope you all have been reading Unbroken and enjoying the true life story.  I just can't imagine the events and found the book ..... oops, next time.


I will announce the next book in two days and the questions and discussion for Unbroken will begin then.   


Until next time,
Barbara

Collapsed!

Hello Everyone,


I try to write on Sundays but yesterday was a busy day for me.  I am very excited!  I went to 'Stitch Camp' here in Stowe and Kathy from the Wooden Needle asked me to speak to the 30 ladies about Quilts of Valor.  I took a few quilts along, showed them pictures, newsletters, etc., and there are a few ladies who are interested in participating in a group.  WOO HOO!  I won't have to travel 1 1/4 hours to the closest group once a month anymore.  All to say, sorry I didn't write to you all yesterday.


I did stay up to finish Unbroken last night.  Whew!  That is all that will be said about it until the end of the month.  WHEW!!  I am so glad the last 100 pages were footnotes and references.  Now I will turn the book over to Jim and see how he likes it.  


If anyone who is signed up for the blog can write in a comment about how to write comments on the blog it will be helpful to those who are having problems going about how to do it.  Since it is my blog my computer automatically sends me to the correct spot and I don't have any problem.  There are people out there who want to comment but can't so if you can help, please do.   {step by step for the computer challenged}  


Next Sunday I will be 'on the road again' but I will try to blurb out something by the end of the week.  Remember the December "BOM" will be easy, short and available free on many computers and websites.  January's book is not in my mind yet so if anyone has suggestions, email me.  


Have a wonderful week and keep on reading.


Barbara

Winter Garden Revisited

Hello everyone and happy Sunday!


It's been about a week and I am enjoying your comments about Winter Garden.  I will now blather on about my thoughts on the book.


I found it easy to read but difficult in the way I have found Kristen Hannah's books.  The suspense of what is going to happens makes me hesitate to continue but then I can't put the book down for long.  I probably wouldn't read it again because I usually don't do that either.   I thought the story very believable until the end when they went to Alaska and met up with her daughter.  As a friend of mine used to say about such stories: it was pure manipulation.  (Does anyone know if there is a large population of Russian families in Alaska? ) But then again it did wrap up the story all nice and tidy.  That is the only problem I had with this book in relationship to real life - it's not always so tidy and usually not very neat.  


I know from reading Still Alice that there is proof that a person has Alzheimers but when Anya started losing her mind, all I could think about was whether she had the gene?  If not, how many people are diagnosed that are just 'going a little crazy' for the time being.  


Just a little about the siege of Leningrad - I am so blessed!  I can't fathom the depth of hurt something like that could do to me.  I remember encountering a woman who was in Auschwitz and had a tattooed number on her forearm.  I had no clue what that tattoo was.  Just thinking about the depth of hatred of one group of people against another is foreign to me.  In reading Unbroken and the short paragraphs about the 'Rape of Nanking' took me back to what we had read about Leningrad.  It just gives me the creeps and I feel blessed and empathy for those who live through such trauma.  As my dear husband would say - Man's inhumanity to Man.  


Although Anya is a very damaged woman, I don't really like her.  My thought is that she struggled so hard to hold all those emotions inside and away from her daughters that she was in the end, dishonest with them throughout their father's life. She allowed/required him to carry all the emotion while she remained bottled up.  Of course if she had relayed all the history to her daughters while they were children it would be a different book.  


My thoughts on the sisters:  Meredith was a Martha - running around trying to make sure everything was perfect for her family, obsessively.  Then missing out on things by not  being 'present' in the moment.  Nina was searching for female unity 'away from home' when she probably could have found feminine beauty in her own backyard.  


Do any of you have any additional comments about the book?  


I am enjoying Unbroken and hope you have located a copy to read.  


Til next time,
Barbara

Winter Garden Discussion - Happy Halloween!

Here we are at the end of October and hopefully all of you have read Winter Garden by Kristen Hannah.  Here are the general questions I would like everyone to answer:

1.      On a scale of 1-8, what would you rate this book overall?

2.       What genre would you select for this book? (i.e. Mystery, horror, etc.)

3.      On a scale of 1-6, what would you rate this book to difficulty with 6 being the most difficult to read.  (your reasons for the difficulty rating would be helpful)

4.      Yes/no:  Would you read this book again?  Would you recommend it to someone to read?

5.      How would you rate the quality of the story? Author’s writing? Reality of the characters?

My husband accused me of writing a term paper here but I am just trying to simulate a reading group.  I don’t know if there is another way to do it but ask lots of questions and hope people respond. 

Here are some other more in-depth questions for you to ponder and share answers to:

1. Meredith and Nina are both reluctant to let the men in their lives help them through a difficult time, yet both are suffering from the grief caused by the death of their father. Do you think this is something they’ve inherited from their mother? In what other ways are they similar to their mother? Do you think it’s impossible to avoid becoming like the people who raised you?
2. One of the themes in this book is female solidarity and strength during hard times. Nina witnesses women in Namibia, Africa holding hands and laughing, even though their country has been ravaged by famine and warfare, their bond impenetrable. Why do you think she’s so interested in this theme? How else does this theme play out throughout the novel
3. Meredith often regrets--when looking at old family photos taken without her--that she was often off organizing or obsessing over details, while everyone else was living in the moment, creating memories. How common is this for women and mothers? What memories keep your family together?  If you know the story of Martha & Mary from the Bible – can you relate them to Meredith and Nina?
4. As a child in Leningrad, Anya learned that it was dangerous to express emotions. By doing so she would be putting what was left of her family at risk with the secret police. But now, with Meredith and Nina, her inability to express emotion is driving them apart, destroying the family she has now. How has Anya passed down this legacy to her daughters? How has it harmed their relationship?
5. Anya is an unsympathetic character throughout much of the book. How did your perception of her change as the fairy tale unfolded? Did you end up sympathizing with her, or even liking her? Or do you feel that her treatment of her daughters was inexcusable, regardless of the hardships she had faced in her life? How do you think you would have fared in Leningrad under the siege? Was Anya heroic in Leningrad, or a failure?
6. How did you feel about the ending? Why do you think the author chose the surprising meeting in Sitka?

Finally a few weeks back I posted an excerpt from an article reducing great literary works down to one or two sentences.  What would your sentence be for Winter Garden?

OK- enough of my blathering about the book, what it meant and asking for your reflections.  I hope you will take some time to post some responses & comments.  I will also respond in a day or so.

I promise that I would announce the book for November.  It will be:  Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.  My library has 3 copies and they are all out on loan so I may be buying this on Amazon if one of the books doesn’t come back soon.  I hope we all enjoy it.  There is a much shorter book for December since we'll all be so busy with the holidays and you can download it free!

http://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-World-Survival-Resilience-Redemption/dp/0739319698

Hey, look how fancy I'm getting by putting pictures in!

Thanks

Thanks for the book suggestions Jen.  I will check those books out at the library on my next visit.

Still Reading Winter Garden by Kristen Hannah????????

Hello - 


Two weeks have passed since my last post and I hope all of you have been reading the book.  I have  had a few reports on it and can't wait to see all of the responses to the test .... not really!  I will be posting some questions, thoughts, and responses to the book in about 10 days.  
If you have questions you would like to  ask the group -- just hold them until the 30th!  


I will be announcing the next book on the 30th as well.  It is a new book, I haven't read it yet and I am hoping my library will have it available for me.  If not there is always Kindle!  


Now I am reading Still Alice by Lisa Genova.  It is very compelling  and her insights into Alzheimer's Disease is incredible.  If you haven't read anything by Lisa Genova I urge you to get either this book or the other one I read  Left Neglected.  


Last week I scanned  There Are Things I Want You to Know about Stieg Larsson and Me By Eva Gabrielsson on her life and trying times after Steig Larsen's death.  Scanning it was about all it deserved in my estimation.  Her situation is interesting but I think the book was more to get something out of his passing that Swedish law doesn't allow her.  (Steig Larsen wrote The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Eva & Stieg lived together for 32 years.


Well, I am looking forward to the 30th when I'll post some comments, questions, and thoughts on Winter Garden as well as posting the book of the Month for November.  


Have a very readable weekend!
Barbara

I waited!

I waited until October first to begin reading this month's book.  As I write this Murray Rider has it in his hands.  I couldn't put it down and completed it yesterday!  That is really quick for me but I found the story very compelling.  


Here are a few ideas to keep in mind while reading:
             The Biblical story of Martha & Mary
             Fairy Tales


How can and author can elicit laughter and tears at the same time?  


As a side note there was this article on a site called Flavorwire on September 26th.  It recounted how there was never enough time to read  and there is a cure.  Here is a sample of their rendition of some very famous books:


     Dante's Inferno: Some woman puts Dante Through Hell.
     
     Upton Sinclair's The Jungle:  Bad things happen, worse things happen, better things happen, awful things happen, Jurgis discovers socialism and gets all happy.
     
     Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn:  Goes rafting, goes home


     Thoreau's Walden:  A truly rich man doesn't have money but rather courage, truth, and an inner glory that transcends the passiveness of our physical beings.  That's why I'm going to live in the boonies.


All of those book i have not read but maybe there's more in those books than the author (Alison Nastasi) could grasp.  Any Comments?????


Think about the 15 second statement of Winter Garden but don't give it away since there are many who are still reading.  Don't forget, pass the site around to your friends and ask them to join the book blog.


Til next time,
Barbara
   

The first Book of the Month

I know, it is still September and not October yet.  I have received a request from someone stating that they participate in a variety of book clubs and need to get a head start.  So, I will give you all a head start.  The BOM  (for quilters that is Block of the Month but for us it is Book of the Month) is:


WINTER GARDEN BY KRISTIN HANNAH


It is available on Amazon for around $10, and at your library.  There is another book titled the same so make sure you get the one by Kristin Hannah.


Other books of hers that I have read are: Night Road and Firefly Lane.  Both of them I couldn't put down and I was told that is one is the same.  Please check into the blog and become a follower (I think you do that by inserting your email address into the top bar), read, follow along, help to create some conversation by commenting, post the other books you are reading, suggest books for 'down the road', etc.  


Please pass the blog site around so we can get more followers and comments.


In additional to Winter Garden I am reading the classic The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett- an old classic that I never read before.  It is a wonderful story about orphaned children in the moors who are overcoming adversities.   That is on my Ipad as a free e-book.  I assume you all know that you can download lots of classic old literature for FREE!

Oh, and by the way .......

When you join the blog, please write something like who you are and what you are reading now!

It's only the beginning...... a great Chicago song!

OK, here I am with the blog so many of you thought I should do.  There are many ideas splashing around in my head for what this blog should be but as yet the usage of blogspot is the current focus.  
This is what I did today:  Went to the library and it was closed until noon.  Went back to the library and they didn't have the book I wanted (the 5th book in the Frankenstein series by Dean Koontz) so the nice librarian offered to get if from another library but she would call -- so far, no call.  So, having a pile of books on my nightstand I decided to borrow something from the library that was suggested by a friend in Yardley.  Well, I decided to borrow it after applying for another library card since I couldn't find my other once since it was on my key ring and I can't find my key ring --- it's been months so I doubt they will show up.  If anyone sees an Acura key with a Stowe Library card on it - it mine!
Anyway, back to this blog.  
First rule of order:  There will be a  Book of the Month.  The book for October is ...........
It is not October yet you impatient people.  It is the book I checked out of the library so if you can hack into the Stowe Library you will know before anyone else.  Or you can figure out which friend in Yardley suggested which book!
Second Rule of Order:  We need some people to participate in this blog and the book discussion at the end of the month(s) so when you receive this blog pass it around to your friends and have them check into the blog. 
Third Rule of Order:  We will all expect comments about the current books you are reading and as I become more familiar with commandeering this blog I will include extras like polls, suggestions, and ratings of books.