Book Nook Cafe discussion

Great way to begin the New Year, Alias. That first one shouts out to Jeopardy! viewers. As a teenager, watching the program, i ran to the dictionary to figure out what "potables" were. lol

Jeopardy ! was my inspiration, deb. :)

The word of the day is....

"The most valuable thing one can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest."
—May Sarton


Artist- Kazuo Kasai

All the quotes are good but the last one is a delight to consider. MY Elizabeth Bennett or Hercule Poirot look different, as do their homes. More so with those who have had no tv or movie facsimiles.

Thanks for each of these, Alias.

I'm glad you enjoyed them, deb.

Now I would have guessed the May Sarton one would have captured you. The watercolor by Kazuo Kasai I really liked. I wish I had that talent.

Alias Reader wrote: "I'm glad you enjoyed them, deb.

Now I would have guessed the May Sarton one would have captured you. The watercolor by Kazuo Kasai I really liked. I wish I had that talent."

I liked the art, certainly. Usually i'm not a fan of watercolors but that one struck me. And fitting for the quote.

I was tickled, though, with "vellichor". Isn't it delightful that there is a word just for that sensation?! Of course some used bookstores evoke such wistfulness easier than others. And the smell of mildew can ruin it all. lol

Umberto Eco



Umberto Eco, who owned 50,000 books, had this to say about home libraries:

"It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones.

"There are things in life that we need to always have plenty of supplies, even if we will only use a small portion.

"If, for example, we consider books as medicine, we understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the 'medicine closet' and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That's why you should always have a nutrition choice!
"Those who buy only one book, read only that one and then get rid of it. They simply apply the consumer mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer product, a good. Those who love books know that a book is anything but a commodity."

Source: Dark Academia Aesthetic = Facebook

I cannot decide which of the three quotes i like best! They all hit home. I practice Eco's quote quite a bit, as i imagine many of us do. Three good quotes, Alias. Thank you.

Glad you like them, deb. I try to post ones that I see that also resonate with me.

You do an excellent job with that, m'friend!

When choosing a new habit many people seem to ask themselves, “What can I do on my best days?”

The trick is to ask, “What can I stick to even on my worst days?”

Start small. Master the art of showing up. Scale up when you have the time, energy, and interest.

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones b James Clear

Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl on freedom:

"Everything can be taken from a person but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

Source:James Clear Newsletter

Man's Search For Meaning
Man’s Search for Meaning--Viktor E. Frankl

Brilliant.

Anne Lamott

I agree with sanctuary!

LOL--i wish i'd thought of that.

A key to steady progress is prioritizing goals over moods.

Whether you aim to get in shape, learn the guitar, or write a book, the question is not whether you feel like it today. It's who you want to become tomorrow.

Enthusiasm fluctuates. Consistent action accumulates.

~~~ Adam Grant

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success

Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things

Adam M. Grant

Alias Reader wrote: "A key to steady progress is prioritizing goals over moods.

Whether you aim to get in shape, learn the guitar, or write a book, the question is not whether you feel like it today. It's who you want..."

True. My daughter added an app for learning Spanish to our phone, at my request. I like that it reminds me to keep up my "run" of "wins", even when it's only two days!

I really like the "savings" quote. It is so very true. In the late '90s a friend asked my husband to look over her finances and there was little to cut. ALTHOUGH, by eliminating one of her TWO daily Starbucks coffees per day, he saved her over $25 a week, $100 a month, which is what she wanted to begin a college fund for her 7 year old. She just hadn't added those purchases over a month. It stunner her. Not enough to totally give it up, of course. 😊

madrano wrote: "True. My daughter added an app for learning Spanish to our phone, at my request. I like that it reminds me to keep up my "run" of "wins", even when it's only two days!
.."

Don't break the streak is a powerful habit incentive. It's what keeps me doing 10,000 plus steps every day thanks to my Fitbit.

What app do you have, deb? Duolingo ?

Yes, Alias, Duolingo. At this point i like it. My daughter is learning Spanish for the first time, thanks to her months in South America this time last year. In high school i took the required 2 years but, as we lived north, east & west of here over the years, i've forgotten much. In some ways this is "refresher" course at the simplest level. However, i have learned a couple of things i do not recall learning in high school.

All around, it's a plus.

The library and the free audio books they offer with Libby also have Learn a language.

I used to use my library's web site to take Greek classes. It turns out we both learned exactly one word, the word for "excuse me", when you bump into people. LOL!

We tried a number of library audios for learning French, as well as a class at the Senior Citizen Center. Guess where we learned the best? The in-person class, where we learned we have no talent for French. We couldn't even come up with suitable accents! Still, it gave me what i wanted, a base for understanding the signs i took photos of in museums and other places we visited. What more can one ask?

madrano wrote: "I used to use my library's web site to take Greek classes. It turns out we both learned exactly one word, the word for "excuse me", when you bump into people. LOL!

We tried a number of library aud..."

Some people just have a knack for languages and others don't. I'm in the second camp. I have enough trouble with English. 🙃

I thought maybe you could listen to as you fall asleep.

Alias Reader wrote: "I thought maybe you could listen to as you fall asleep..."

Nope. I've tried that a time or two for other projects, to seemingly no avail. Have you tried it?

madrano wrote: "Alias Reader wrote: "I thought maybe you could listen to as you fall asleep..."

Nope. I've tried that a time or two for other projects, to seemingly no avail. Have you tried it?"

I usually fall asleep listening to something. Not to learn. Just various podcasts or even just the news.

I usually fall asleep almost immediately. Back when i tried listening to a tape, i didn't fall to sleep easily. Not because of the tape, just not really tired but had a busy day ahead (darned kids!). Nowadays, i'm out right away...which isn't to say i sleep through the night, you understand. :-)

James Baldwin

Good quote. Thank you for sharing it here, Alias.

I'm glad it resonated with you deb. I wish that people who want to ban/challenge books felt the same.

Painter and visual artist Chuck Close on inspiration:

"The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who'll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to do an awful lot of work.

All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you're sitting around trying to dream up a great idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that's almost never the case."

Source: Interview (March 2007)

Cited in James Clear newsletter

Encouraging quote from Chuck Close. I've been intrigued with his art since i first saw it years ago. Here's a sampling.

I asked a friend if she knew of his art and she did. She mentioned he was paralyzed.

I found this online.

Chuck Close is not the sort of guy to let a neurologic disorder—or three—keep him down. The artist's portraits have been seen from the tops of New York City taxicabs to the walls of America's most esteemed museums for the past 40 years. What many people don't know is that Close has produced these iconic works of art while coping with serious impairments of body and brain. Since childhood, Close has lived with muscle weakness that remains undiagnosed, dyslexia (a reading disability that occurs when the brain does not properly recognize and process certain symbols), and prosopagnosia (or "face blindness," an impairment in the ability to recognize or differentiate between human faces). Since 1988, he has also been confined to a wheelchair due to partial paralysis resulting from a spinal stroke
https://www.brainandlife.org/articles...

I see he passed away in 2021
Charles Thomas Close (July 5, 1940 – August 19, 2021)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_C...

My friend shared this Sunday Morning video with me when I mentioned Close.

From 2007: Painter Chuck Close, up close

CBS Sunday Morning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXsuo...

I cross posted these last few posts into the Art Thread.

Ok, i was wondering what was up. Thanks, Alias.

Indeed!