Better Than Starbucks discussion

Karin
There's an English movie on her, too, I might watch instead. I love the story of that other woman who saved all those babies and young children, but can't think of her name right now. The one who put all their names in a jar. And the man who saved all those people and then they surprised him; they were doing something, recognized him and most of the audience was comprised of Jewish people he'd saved. In the midst of horror there are honourable people.
posted 2 months ago.
tapbirds
Are you referring to Irena Sendler? She was the Polish Catholic nurse who systematically saved thousands of Jewish children from certain death in Nazi concentration camps.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXP5Gvx...
posted 2 months ago.
Karin
Yes, but I couldn't think of her name when I was posting.
posted 2 months ago.
Beginnings (edited)
Hello again BTS,
O.k. I've added one more book to the reading repertoire for Dec. "Girl in Glass" Authored by: Deanna Fei I couldn't resist checking the book out-and it is an Express (Leased) book-which means no renewals.
http://ourdistressedbabies.org/our-st...
http://www.shelfari.com/books/3895933...
An article I discovered by happenstance about parents of distressed babies-http://www.today.com/parents/hidden-h...
posted 2 months ago.
Sally S
Reading Crime and Punishment. Great book!
posted 2 months ago.
tapbirds
This on my "must read" list. Someday soon, hopefully.
posted 2 months ago.
mita
I have tried reading this several times but somehow could not continue after few pages. I know it is a great book and is on my TBR list for many years.
posted 2 months ago.
Riddley
I read this the summer before starting college and still remember the thrill it gave me. I have been meaning to read it again for a long time.
posted 2 months ago.
Sally S
Mita, it starts slow so you have to just push through the beginning, then it picks up.,
posted 2 months ago.
mef
Someday... I think I'm overdure for another round of "Books *Everybody* has read but that I somehow missed"
posted 2 months ago.
Beginnings
Hi Sally,
Agreed.
posted 2 months ago.
Beginnings (edited)
Greetings Library Lovers,
My list changed a bit-Couldn't resist checking out the express book/no renewals "Girl in Glass" Ourdistressedbabies.org
Finished Reading:
Smoking cigarettes, eating glass : a psychologist's memoir / Annita Perez Sawyer, PhD. Won-Prize for the Santa Fe Writers Project Literary Awards Program
Girl in Glass: How My "Distressed Baby" Defied the Odds, Shamed a CEO, and Taught Me the Essence of Love, Heartbreak, and Miracles
by Deanna Fei
Currently Reading:
A cat, a man, and two women : [stories] / Jun'ichiro Tanizaki ; translated by Paul McCarthy / Winner of the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese
Literature
Today:
Bought a book at Friends of the Library bookstore titled "The Goldfinch" authored by: Donna Tart Cost: $1.00 The book is a hardcover in pristine condition and the dollar is doubled by
the city and goes to the support of the library. Picked up readied library request: The Housekeeper and the Professor
by Yōko Ogawa
posted 2 months ago.
uplandpoet
Let us know what you think of the goldfinch
posted 2 months ago.
Beginnings
Hi Up,
I will let BTS know. My daughter also had a look and wants to read "The Goldfinch" I was reading about the definition of literary fiction the other day-once in awhile I will look up definitions for fun. Looks as if literary fiction is one of my loves, so I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt I keep leaving the double t off her last name-darn if those double consonants get me every time!
posted 2 months ago.
mef
We've had differences of opinion in the group. I loved The Goldfinch!
posted 2 months ago.
uplandpoet
and i so wanted to
posted 2 months ago.
Karin
I wanted to like it, but couldn't get that far in it because I just didn't. I tried and tried, but to no avail. Yet some love it. She can write well, I think, but not the sort of book I enjoy.
posted 2 months ago.
uplandpoet
I finished the story, the long and overblown and somewhat ridiculous story. I believe I could have loved it and forgiven everything else accept the painful "tangent discriptive" way of writing.
posted 2 months ago.
tapbirds
Karin: - "I thought I could. I thought I could. I thought I could. I now know I couldn't"
(The Little Engine That Couldn't)
Happy New Year and good reads to you in 2016!
posted 2 months ago.
mef
Would truly love to know exactly what you mean by tangent description--I wonder if I do something like that and don't realize it, maybe, or anyway, I'd like to know what you mean. Would you maybe be willing to use Amazon Look-Inside or something (assuming you didn't keep the book) and find a passage?
As for me, I think the Russian friend is a character unlike any I've encountered in literature, I liked the writing, I see the whole keeping-of-the-painting as the beautiful, artistic part of the character--precious, personal, rarely seen even by the Theo himself--and feel she did a fabulous job of making me understand and cheer for this flawed, addicted, criminal character.
posted 2 months ago.
uplandpoet
its a long box and nearly full. i will unpack at a future date yet to be determined:)
posted 2 months ago.
Karin
@tap--funny!
posted 2 months ago.
uplandpoet
While I was still in Amsterdam, I dreamed about my mother for the first time in years. I’d been shut up in my hotel for more than a week, afraid to telephone anybody or go out; and my heart scrambled and fluttered at even the most innocent noises: elevator bell, rattle of minibar cart, even the church clocks tolling the hour, de Westertoren, Krijtberg, a dark edge to the clangor, an inwrought fairy-tale sense of doom.
a perfect example. and if was once per chapter, I would love it, but is seems like it is was per paragraph. I wanted to scream
posted 1 month ago.
Karin
I am liking Seveneves even if it is another end of the planet sort of book. As one of my kids pointed out (and I cannot believe I didn't see it first since I usually do) the title is a palindrome. How geeky can you get ;)?
posted 2 months ago.
mef
Was just saying in Another Place (as the different houses of Parliament refer to each other) that I hate scenes in books and TV in which poor people throw away something of value out of sentiment. I'm thinking of a scene in which somebody throws a ring into a lake--nobody I knew when I was growing up would have done that! Okay, hate the guy/girl, but if you have the ring, and you don't have to give it back, sell that sucker!
I give poor people more credit. I think they have more sense than that. I sure did when I was poor.
posted 2 months ago.
tapbirds
I am currently reading the second novel, "River of Smoke" in Amitav Ghosh's Ibis trilogy. It has been a couple of years since I read the first work, "Sea of Poppies," and I was worried I might not be able to regain context or momentum. No problem. Ghosh skillfully brings the reader up to speed in this fascinating tale which weaves together the 19th century Chinese opium trade with Parsi culture and botany.
posted 2 months ago.
Karin
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
4 stars
The moon blows up in the first sentence, or, more accurately, breaks into seven pieces at first. It's not long before scientists realize that the continual banging together of these pieces, which make more, are going to end up destroying earth with a hard rain that will literally burn up the air and everything at all flammable, and there are only a couple of years to do anything about it, since it will be at least 5,000 years until the earth wil be able to be inhabited again. Thus, in order to ameliorate global panic, a plan is put into act to attach pods to the International Space Station (aka "Izzy") in order to save the human race. In the meantime, at least one group of miners attempts, on the sly, to set up an underground place to live and possibly one other plan is hatched, but no spoilers here, only what you can know at the outset.
As the title predicts, the space plan will end up coming down to seven women to procreate and keep humankind alive. In a tale rife with colourful characters, escapades and various human interactions, risk takers and powermongers, the first part of the book ends with eight space survivors. The last part of the book is about their descendants, five thousand years later, who have managed to reseed the earth.
This book was four stars for me because it gripped me to the point of losing sleep at night, got me to care about at least some of the main characters, and kept me riveted even at some of the poor choices made by the Seven Eves, among others. The imagined future was fresh, fun, and while certainly not particularly believable, quite well drawn out. I'm glad I read this and have one more book to add to my best books of 2015. However, it wasn't so great that I'd give it more than a solid four stars.
Thanks to whomever it was that has recommended this book this year