What I'm reading right now

Well, the book I am reading at the moment is not new - it is a leather bound collection of all the Sherlock Holmes stories. I read them about 10 years ago, and try to refresh my memory... They are a good read, even when you know the plot... I especially like the narration of Victorian Era England. And the language is hilarious, I�d say...

Out of Control by Kevin Kelly. I just started it. I *think* it's about consciousness emerging from complex processes/structures. The first 65 pages are good. This morning I was reading about the intregral part wildfires play in balancing prairie ecological systems.

"Creating Cool Databases on the World Wide Web"

Actually I am searching for the 'austen read line'. But I can tell you that I am just finishing Smiley's A thousand acres. I came across the title through my interest in actor Colin Firth, who is/has just finished filming that story. Rather interesting story based on the old King Lear theme - A father giving his 'kingdome' away to his three daughters. And then it all starts to fall apart, families, properties,the love they thought they shared... Sad tale of our loneliness actually.

Ann2: glad to see you finally here. Are you also reading -- or have you already read -- the other originals that spawned new adaptations featuring Firth: Nostromo and The English Patient? Amy

Finished the Sherlocks, and read some Wodehouse. At the moment I am tackling (not counting Malleus Maleficarum and several scientific journals for my studies) LeGuin's "Tehanu", and then I'll attack the Gormenghast-trilogy... I guess it is my fantasy period once more...

No new reading until after final exams are given and graded, thank you. But I bought The English Patient for the plane ride to San Diego for the holidays. The cover pic is the advert w/ Kristin Scott Thomas & Ralph Fiennes. I also found some new books about Jane Austen that I shall dig into over semester break.

I am in the middle of the 1st book of Peake's Gormenghast, Titus Groan. I have to say I am very impressed. The Brits really know how to write (among with the Russians and some American eccentrics).

I'm just starting The English Patient. I'm having a hard time getting into the rhythm of it. Should I see the movie before or after I read the book?

Mich, I read the book before I saw the movie. I loved both. They share the rhythm, but use it in different ways. The movie is very faithful to the spirit and poetry of the book. The director has interpreted rather than mirrored the book and done it very well. I think you could either see the movie or read the book first and not lose. Enjoy.

I am presently reading a collection of short stories called "Revenge". All the stories are written by women and are all about revenge. It is really great and very creative. Gives me all sorts of ideas. I highly recommend it, but not suitable for those of you prone to nightmares. So far, none of the stories have been gruesome, just rather disquieting. The editor of this collection is Kate Saunders. My personal favorite at this time is "Why Herbert Killed His Mother". It is a comical tale rather than haunting.

I AM PRESENTLY READING THE BOOK BY M.R JAMES,IT IS A COLLECTIONS OF GHOST STORY MR. M.R.JAMES,HE LIVED IN THE LATER1800 AND THE EARLY 1900, WROTE BETTER THAN I EXPECTED.AND I DO HAVE A INTERST IN THE SUSPENSE FICTIONS.ANYBODY WHO HAVE READ THE THRILLER ON ECONOMIST 96/12/21? DO LET ME KNOW YR FAVOURITES I DO LIKE READING THE NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES YOU MAY E-MAIL ME AT CHENJIAXIN@HOTMAIL.COM BYEBYE MEET ME IN CYBER BY THE WAY I AM LOGGING FROM THE P.R.CHINA,PRECISELY SHANGHAI ,CHINA

I AM PRESENTLY READING THE BOOK BY M.R JAMES,IT IS A COLLECTIONS OF GHOST STORY MR. M.R.JAMES,HE LIVED IN THE LATER1800 AND THE EARLY 1900, WROTE BETTER THAN I EXPECTED.AND I DO HAVE A INTERST IN THE SUSPENSE FICTIONS.ANYBODY WHO HAVE READ THE THRILLER ON ECONOMIST 96/12/21? DO LET ME KNOW YR FAVOURITES I DO LIKE READING THE NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES YOU MAY E-MAIL ME AT CHENJIAXIN@HOTMAIL.COM BYEBYE MEET ME IN CYBER BY THE WAY I AM LOGGING FROM THE P.R.CHINA,PRECISELY SHANGHAI ,CHINA

This week I have read: Songs in Ordinary Time by Mary McGarry Morris and Symposium by Muriel Spark. I am beginning Kinds of Minds by Daniel Dennett.

All fiction? What are they about?

I read voraciously, constantly and with an eye toward help in my own writing. I did not, do not, can not understand nor apppreciate The English Patient. A friend says it is all about the state of the world--the burned man is the whole of humanity suffering, the nurse is the small fation of people trying to save mankind, the east Indian bomb defuser is the larger faction trying to prevent the demise of the world. Even this erudite friend of mine can't decide what the other guy was all about. And I can' help but wonder where the nurse got her eternal, unending supply of morphine. Symbolically--TV, drugs, alcohol, etc whidh keep us all sedated in this world. I think it is pretty far fetched but certainly better an anlysis than mine which is----well I just don't get it. Help!!

Pooy typing, sorry. I should proof read but these tri-focals of mine let me down and I can't read what I have just typed. Shocked to see it come up in big type.

If you check in to the austenarchive, you'll find a discussion of the English Patient with quite a few comments.

A completely "out of character" book for me, but the novel I'm presently reading is "The Horse Whisperer." Horses have never really done much for me, nevermind a story centered around one. But this is beautifully written, surprisingly exciting and has pulled me in completely.

who's the author?

Nicholas Evans, isn't it? I just finished a terrific book by Elizabeth Berg, "Pull of the Moon." Definitely a chick book, but she expresses so well the inner discord a woman can feel when she is so focused on others that she isn't really (dare I say it?) "in touch" with her own identity. I plan to re-read it when I'm menopausal (hopefully no time soon!!) Just started "Mrs. deWinter," the so-called sequel to Daphne DuMaurier's classic thriller/romance "Rebecca". It's slow going, a bit Dickensian in its descriptiveness, but I'm plodding through it.

Yes, Nicolas Evans.

I'm supposed to be reading Thoreau's "Walden" for my book group. It was my suggestion, but I'm not getting very far. I've read it a couple of times in high school and college, so I thought it would be familiar enough to be comfortable mid-winter reading, and a change from the women's voices that completely dominate our group, but I can't focus on it. I think I may have lost some brain cells in childbirth...and maybe there's a reason I don't read the famous dead guys anymore; I don't expect Thoreau to b a feminist, but it's hard for me to listen to someone who doesn't appear to know women exist! Anyway, it will give us something to talk about at book group besides "yeah, I liked it", and "yeah, me too."

thoreau's dealings with/attitude toward women does seem rather twisted, especially taken within the context of modern attitudes (though applying that standard would seem to negate the work of nearly every male writer of any antiquity at all, i should think)... perhaps he idealized them, in his way... it is probable that the 3 closest re- lationships of his life were with women (his mother, sister, and lydian emerson, wife of waldo, whom he probably loved)... seem to recall that he received a proposal of marriage from a concord schoolteacher, who was somewhat older than he, and his response to have been something along the lines of "i never expected to encounter such a foe, at this stage in my career"... regardless of his peculiarities (or maybe because of them, because they are certainly an aspect of what makes him such a compelling personality), perhaps one should attempt to approach his work from a "sexless" point of view... even read 150 years later, his words still have vigor, and many of his ideas still seem provocative, stirring, and i would think they apply to everyone... "The greater part of what my neighbors call good, i consider in my soul to be bad, and if i repent of anything, it is likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that i behaved so well? You may say the wisest thing you can, old man- you, who have lived seventy years, not without honor of it's kind- I hear an irresistable voice that calls me away from all that. One generation abandons the enterprises of another like so many stranded vessels..." that moves me still, and it will always be true (and sorta reads like abby hoffman, when you think about it... anybody read "steal this book"?)...

You're absolutely right, of course, about context. Nothing frustrates me more than when a conversation about a book gets stopped in its tracks by a stubborn readers' inability/unwillingness to consider the times the author was writing in and his/her world view. My beloved Virginia Woolf has been shot down twice as an elitist (and a bore, but that's another story) by book groups I otherwise loved and agreed with most of the time. I know I'll be defending Thoreau, too. I'm probably just mad because it's ge ting harder and harder for me to focus on a book that doesn't start with a dead body and/or have a foil cover. You're right--Thoreau was a revolutionary, and his views on living a simple life are probably more applicable to my life than anyone he knew in Concord. I'll try again.

Well, this has nothing to do with Thoreau, but i'm reading Kathleen Woodiwiss' new novel Petals on The River. so far so good. fell in love with her stuff as a teenager and still like it (even though I'm not a professed romance novelee). I like that her stuff is full of details of historical reference. Of course the story line is good IMO. My absolute fav is A Rose in Winter. (the masked character was such a....hmmmm, can't say it here, I don't think). Oh, and another of my favs is Amy Tan. She can really move me and I have learned much from her pieces. Can't wait until a new one comes out.

Tell us more about Amy Tan if you will.

I liked Amy Tan's "Joy Luck Club" but absolutely loved the movie. One of those rare instances where I preferred the film to the book (others include Forrest Gump and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter).

"the graduate" (better movie than book, i mean... extremely, excruciatingly rare occurence)

Amy Tan writes historical Chinese/American fiction. Her characters are so real and vivid. She just reaches out and grabs my attention and my heart. Have read all her stuff (save the children's books) and my favorite was "The Hundred Secret Senses." Watched the Joy Luck Club and I cried the whole thing through. Couldn't even get through the book. Forrest Gump was good, of course I bawled. (yeah, I'm a wimp, cry at everything). ET was a better book too.

Never read "The Graduate"--and now I won't bother! Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin Braddock is one of the few actors I "firth" (synonym for drool now!) over!

Essential Zen Men are from Mars-Women are from Venus Shaping a personal myth to live by Life 101 (concurrently although not simultaneously)

Wow, lighten up, wer! (just kidding! :) Maybe there should be a top 10 category in the Philosophy conference! No Celestine Prophecy? You can borrow mine if you like--I got it for xmas 2 years ago and haven't opened it yet, but it came highly recommended. You don't like any fiction?

I love fiction, go back and look at my top ten, or maybe I should go post a new one...1998 is turning into a very wierd year for me, and I felt that I needed some outside perspectives...

and it's early, yet, wer!

I know, Iknow! Everyone keep your fingers crossed, my mom is having her triple bypass on Friday...

I will keep a good thought for her, and you, wer.

yeah, me too, wer (she'll be in my prayers...)

Prayers for you mom, wer.

Gracias, mi amigos.

Well, wer, how did her surgery go? I'm eager to hear the good news...(thinking positively)

It went exceedingly well, and I thank everyone here for their good thoughts and wishes...Now, if you've got any left *wink* send a couple to my Dad, he might be in worse shape than her right now...Thanks again, my friends!

What a load off, I'm sure! However, worrying can bring on that urge to smoke...did you succumb? Or should I say how much?

Actually, due to the nature of the weekend, it's help curb the urge somewhat...Thanks for all the support, Autumn.

You're welcome--supportive people can be a blessing or a nuisance, I know...I live with one!

The book i just finished readingis Marcovaldo of the seasons in the city by Italo Calvino. a bit heavy for this romance addict. I felt like the girl in the movie The truth about cats and dogs who had to have a dictionary to understand the book? any way its a strange book and i sure had too deep of a sub meaning for me to gather. but it was fun reading it.

I am making a note of it & will check the library for it after I finish this 700 page monster I've been working on.

I'm almost afraid to mention it in this esteemed group of readers, but I just finished a collection of Shirley Jackson short stories that was wonderful (mostly unpublished, altho some were simply published long ago in long-defunct magazines). The collection is called An Ordinary Day (sorry, still don't know how to put that in italics). And in a similar vein, I bought a Dave Barry collection today. Any fans of the absurd out there? Or just short-story lovers?

Like this, <em>An Ordinary Day</em> or <i>An Ordinary Day</i>

Thanks, wer. May I call you wer? I've read so many of your posts, I feel like I know you. So, to experiment. Yesterday, after reading here, I went out and bought a second Shirley Jackson short story collection, The Lottery and Other Stories. So I guess the short fiction kick continues. So, now we'll see if I can post this and the italics come out right.

Wee! That's fun. I wonder what I was doing wrong, 'cause that looks like what I tried in the past that never worked and always brought up error messages. Thanks again!

What I'm reading right now... my grade book -- report cards go out tomorrow! Read The Story of Ruby Bridges to my kids today. We had an insightful and productive discussion on racism today (most specifically segregation). I'd love to get into some smut novels but I haven't had the time! *grin* Read a few essays by Ayn Rand the other day. On selfishness. A lesson we should all take -- how to truly be selfish!

read rand pretty extensively, long ago... her intelligence is captivating, and her ideas almost persuasive, by virtue of their clarity, alone... that, however, is because they are as old (and persuasively clear) as hell... it was the influence of rand (and scott fitzgerald, though for different reasons, obviously) that led me to become a marxist... objectively, what difference is there between the ideology of rand, and nietzsche (for example)? seems to me that beyond differing experience (and a little more intellectual honesty, on his part), there is none... one is an extension of the other... and really, don't you find the suggestion that human beings require any (further) justification for their selfishness a little disingenuous? akin to tigers "celebrating their claws", as nietzsche might say? bourne out by nature, and experience (and sort of redundant)? (sigh... i oughta stop here, but i'm not... nothing personal, but i'm really pissed off tonight, and ayn rand seems as hospitable a host for that as any) the thing that irritates me most about the rand crowd (of which the esteemed alan greenspan is a charter member/thug) is the attempted intellectualizing (even idealizing) of ideas with roots in the most primitive, most bestial aspect of human behavior... it is, i think (using the words marx used for a more benign transgressor, thomas malthus) a "libel on mankind"... or so it is my everlasting wish to believe...(and "objectivism", in my judgement, and within the context rand suggested, is as "libelous", and dishonest a conclusion regarding human potential as i know)... anyway... since i'm really pissed off (seething) at ken starr, maybe i oughta take this over to politics... and, to tell the truth- though i stand by every word i said- all in all, i think ayn rand was a great old broad... (even though i didn't buy a word she said, could always count on her to get the juices flowing... she did not shy from controversy)...

That settles it, Nick, definitely want you on my side in any conquest tour... Yes, Lorie, you may call me wer, in fact I've grown quite accustomed to it here. And, in reality when I've met Spring folks, wer sounds more natural than William when spoken by them. *wink-ta-you-know-who*

Nick, it's great to hear someone else who likes Rand's writing (she's interesting, after all, and sometimes that's so hard to find) but discounts her "philosophy." Have lately had her work foisted on me by some huge fans, and since I hadn't read it since high school (terribly long ago), I gave her another shot. In fact, I was looking at a collection of previously unpublished stuff just the other day, but I passed on it to buy some more fictional fiction. After all, there are days when you just don't wa t to think so much. At least, I have days like that.

me too, like today.

I had a heady-thinking weekend. And enjoyed every minute of it. Okay... maybe not EVERY minute!

So, what did ya think about?

(was reading "the making of the president 1960"...a third of the way through, skipped to near the end... the part describing kennedy's waterbury speech, near election day... made me so sad, i just said to hell with it... jack kennedy really is dead, and he's deader every day... and the american century is nearly over, and soon no one will care too awfully much about that, either (or even remember what the fuss was all about)... and aren't we closing it out in fine fashion? yeah... some days it's best to just not think at all...)

thought about happier days... past and future. Thought about how the only one that can make me happy is myself. Thought about how inconcievable it is that I could 'save the world' but how very possible it is for me to make a difference in the life of another. Thought about things that make me smile, thought about smiling... the way it is contagious toward the rest of my body... And then I just reflected on what a complex being means...

man, Stacey, you need to take a break (but what you said is soooo true) *smile*

Days of inward reflection are important,no? But they leave you feeling so raw afterwards.

this is often true. Colorado sunshine and warm weather helped! I feel pretty good now. Finally able to enjoy fresh outdoors instead of just the stuffy gym.

good, good, good...

Hi all. Good to see a book group here at the Spring. I just finished Funerals For Horses by Catherine Ryan Hyde. It was a random pick off the shelves at my local library. I couldn't put it down. It is a story of a family, centrally the youngest girl and her on-again-off-again fight against insanity... Findit. Read it.

Read "A Hundred Brothers" by I don't know who: thought provoking, idiotic, brownish feeling, scattered. (BTW that is read as in I "red" not as in you should read!) Also read "Rent Boy" by Gary Indiana: graphic depiction of the life of a 'rent boy' (homosexual male prostitute) through letters to an unnamed loved one. Very graphic! I enjoyed the perversity and honesty of this one. Am now reading "The Dark Rivers of the Heart" by Dean R. Koontz: been a Koontz fan for almost ten years and this is similar in style to all the rest of his novels. Chilling, well-researched, technical, complicated.

i've read 7 or 8 of koontz's books... along with sue grafton, prob. my favorite "mind candy" books (that i read just for the sheer enjoyment of it)...

Can't get into Koontz...don't know why, either... Enjoyed Whispers but the other two or three I read have kept me from reading any more... I likes Ellison for Mind Candy...

finished Dark Rivers last night and am beginning A Confederation of Dunces. Sadly enough (to some) this is my first reading of it.

Just finished John Grisham's THE PARTNER. Pretty interesting... remind me to call Grisham if I ever need a lawyer. His characters never lose. Am also reading Jackie Joyner-Kersee's autobiography. Have a visit to library in my near future.

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My tastes are pretty divergent right now. I just finished "Prince of Tides", which was a little too dysfunctional and poignant for me. So when in the library I picked up "Healing Foods", "1001 Pitfalls in English Grammar," and (of all things), "The Rules" (wanted to see if I did it right!) I guess after "Prince" I need a break from fiction for a while.

reading "She Loves Me" --- I'll let you all know...

i have just read "The Essence of the Thing" by Madeleine St. John. brilliant book. made me cry, which is the first time in ages.

*smile*

(scribbling the title on my reading list)

damn. i bought twenty-five pounds worth of books, and read all four in under a week. i've got too much time on my hands, obviously. now i'm stuck again, and have no money to buy anything new :-((

Don't you have a library???

only a college library, which isn't the most prolific fiction establishment, as you may imagine :)

In addition to all the faculties' boring doctoral theses, I bet they have a lot of the classics in their lit section, anyway...Come on, a little Jane Austen and you'll be drooling with the best of them!

ok, i read, in two sittings, The Horse Whisperer. It was well-done and not based on the movie (the other way around, actually). Some parts seemed rushed, but i was captured anyway. good read. glad i haven't seen the movie (yet)...

I read that one in the springtime, Wolf. I'm glad you enjoyed it, but I didn't like it. For one thing, I absolutely hated the arrogant, pushy heroine, which really violates my first rule for a good novel. As for the rest, the characters just didn't hold my interest. I realize I am the lone dissenting opinion on this book, because everyone I know liked it! I've been working on "Miserly Moms" and "Tightwad Gazette" these days for thrifty ideas--I need some fresh inspiration!

Ever read "Living Cheaply With Style"?

autumn: i didn't like her much either until i understood what her major malfunction was.

What was it? I forget already! Wer, thank you for the recommendation. I will check the library for it tomorrow. The one I just finished included recipes for for making your own Grape Nuts and baby wipes! Geez, I don't think I'm THAT frugal...

autumn: she was a control freak and when the bad stuff happened, it threw her out of whack and even though she knew she couldn't control it, she tried. the book focused more on her and the whisperer than the horse and the girl. the changes in their behavior (everyone's) was too abrupt. it was a good story and perhaps i'll read his next one (think it's The Loop) just to see. the frugal stuff is in Woman's Day or Family Circle. they're good ideas but i guess i'm too lazy to incorporate most of them. but look at her now! kinda like Martha Stewart. speaking of her, does she have any other job? (she's a perfectionist too, you know)....

Ha ha! I'm imagining Martha Stewart playing the role of Annie in the "Horse Whisperer!!" LOL! I consider myself a very frugal person (e.g. I made all my own baby food), but there's no way I'm saving cereal boxes and using them for storage containers!

cereal boxes do make cool postcards, though...

... and something to read if a newspaper isn't handy.

I use cereal boxes all the time in my classroom. Only problem is I have to bribe others to eat cereal quickly because I refuse to buy it at all. (Too much sugar, too many preservatives, too expensive... AND I prefer eggs and hash browns for breakfast (even if it means I have to get up WAY early!)

Same here, eggs, hash browns and toast are my breakfast, very rarely do I eat cereal. I used to be into Total, Shredded Wheat, Raisin Bran and Wheat Chex. Oh, and I forgot, Grape Nuts. My grandpa used to eat nothing but Grape Nuts around the clock.

s'mores poptarts and splash V-8 juice (at least of late)

ah, that explains it... the food conference moved to books!

ha ha, we have so much overlap here at the spring, don't we? None of us is ever able to remain on topic!

I don't know, as Stacey said, you can pretty much count on food or sex being representative of our discussions... maybe should just get rid of the all the conferences except those two...

If we restricted ourselves to those two, we'd probably start talking about music and films!

picked up a couple more Belva Plain books (the continuation of Evergreen, only i don't know which one starts first, so i bought both-good excuse, eh?) hi Autumn!

been reading a lot of safety manuals, guidance documents and OSHA regulations as of late... (newest second(third)job)

ooh, ooh... does that mean there's gonna be a Safety Stacey doll?

So, what's the new job? I am intrigued... Just finished Alice Walker's "Possessing the Secret of Joy", about female circumcision amongst African women. Heady stuff.

That happened to me once. But I just talked to the elders of my tribe, and they gave it back. OH!!! You said f e m a l e..... Anyway, even so, it was pretty heady stuff.

The Manor Road Coffee House, here in Austin had a benefit for African women who have suffered the fate (infection or death or ?) of female genital hacking (or whatever the word is that's used). That coffee house isn't there anymore, but the benefit raised $500. A good good thing.

This book made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

She's got a vast readership. The consciousness on the issue is rising. So the power structure of the culture wants to maintain its grip on the ways of its culture, but change can force its way through, even from outside the culture. But I wonder how world influence actually gets into the culture and evolves it, like with this whole scenario.

remembering that evolution can be a painstakingly slow process with many malformations of the eventual end result (stop time pic)... yes.

oops! you asked HOW. Geez. Lemme gather my typing strength... (much easier to discuss over coffee)

world influence arrives through either the free flow of information or the forced flow of information... either the culture becomes inquisitive because of incidental contact, or an unwanted intrusion disrupts it

what about the trickle of information that's not really free flowing but certainly not forced? kinda like a human rights pamphlet that blows across the boundary of a country to a young soul who never knew she had so much freedom of mind and body and emotion and... (oh yes, did I mention the pamphlet happened to be in a language she understood? Well, it was.)... anyway, how bout that trickle?

Let's hear it for trickles!!!

yea, incidental contact!

*kick* different idea all together WER! *smile*

I gots different ideas as well and, btw, that kick was not incidental contact... (did kinda turn me on, though...)

What is also thought-provoking is the author's assertion that the reverse can take place, in this case, that some Southern white women (American) had the same thing done to their daughters.

WHY, WHY, WHY???????? (and if someone says 'religious reasons' I shall just go off on my whole religious arguement-- UGLY scene!)

(she's telling the truth, too...) but chastity would be the number one reason, Stace (gonna get kicked again, aren't I?)

Not to mention stopping them from masturbating.

extreme chastity, then...

*frown* ... guess the old standby 'you're gonna go blind' just doesn't cut it anymore...

ohmygosh! this is terrible. don't they do something similar in india? oh, wait, where's the place where they actually make them smaller? didn't know that was practiced here in the states (and how southern are we talking?). not trying to say that the US hasn't done it's share of unthinkables but THAT? wasn't the syphyllus thing bad enough?

Um, the book made reference to Louisiana, Wolf...

where? plantation homes, i'll bet. good thing i didn't grow up here *whew*

you're *gasp* not a born-in-da-bayou babe?

sorry to burst your bubble, wer, nope, this gal is from everywhere. just been here the longest!

So where all you been, Wolfie?

Yeah, where, where?

uh-oh, i gotta go look and see what i had said *grin*

ok-how far back do you want me to go? germany (several times) france spain newfoundland desertland texas california pennsylvania delaware vermont connecticut louisiana kansas florida georgia alabama mississippi missouri ohio virginia w. virginia n & s carolina kentucky tennessee washington d.c. arizona rhode island massachusetts new york new jersey (some of the places are from my Army brat days, others are from personal travel, and still others are due to my current job for schools or temporary duty)

Now, wolf, can you give us a list of books you have read organized and sorted by place?

Wolf, if you ever feel the need to add Maryland to that list, you come stay with me, you hear?

Same here, for Texas. How did you manage to miss Texas?

she didn't...on her list it's between desertland and california...

terry: no autumn: thanks wer: yup

OK Tell us about Texas, wolfie.

like, what don't you already know about texas? places i've been to? ok, Dallas Houston Corpus Christie San Antonio Austin Laredo Brownsville Harlingen and all the little towns up and down the highway to all of those places!

Wait! McAllen Pharr Edington or Edmonton or something like that (it's where the Pan American University is)

Wow, you been to more places in Texas than me! Ever been to Bastrop?

probably!

Just finished "Gone South" by Robert McCammon, which takes place in the bayou of Louisiana with some pretty interesting swamp folks! It was OK.

Whta to you find interesting about these folks?

was it southern louisiana or northern? cuz the worlds are completely different..

What was your favorite alligator's breath like when she talked to you? What was her name? Was she the main character? Could she play football as good as Mark McGuire? Was she the ghostwriter of the book? Have you started reading it again back at the beginning? When did Squidboy come in? I heard it was towards the middle. Did his bike have cards flappin' the spokes? Were there alotta words on each page? Did any of the words give ya trouble? Did you meet any of the characters in real life yet? How soon will the sequel come out? Did the library not want you to read it? Did the librarians make faces at you when they saw what you were gonna check out, or did they treat you okay? Why oh why are you always asked so many questions, Autumn? Did you learn to read at an earlier age than your daughters did? Can your daughters read better'n me? I still read one word at a time and I look every word up in the dickshunairy. Some of the words look vaguely familiar because I remember them from long ago. Those are words that I like to keep under my pillow without ever taking them out to look at them, because they enter into my dreams better that way, and they continually improve my Sleepasaurusness. I hope the book you are reading now likes you as much as I do. If it doesn't, let me know and I'll see what I can do. I have alotta authors' phone numbers. If you ever want me to request your favorite writer to rewrite a book that you're reading that doesn't really seem to like you, no problem, just let me know, Autumn.

Ha-ha, there are quite a few that could stand to be rewritten, Jim!! Could you please just start with Edith Wharton and have her change "Age of Innocence" so Newland and Ellen get to spend at least one night with each other? Just like an hour. I'd really appreciate it. Just finished "A Drinking Life" by Pete Hamill. This is a memoir by a well-known (not by me!) newspaper columnist about the role alcohol played in his life and influenced him. I'm not big on biographies, but this was quite interesting from an historical perspective, especially growing up in the 30s and 40s.

I would call Edith, but she's busy, I know, lyin' around underground. Pete's 61, still kickin', just got a job as editor of the New York Daily News, so you want me to call the Mr. Hamill and ask him to rewrite the part where Ellen and Newland meet in Boston and have him have them consummate like crazy night after night until they get extraordinarily sick of each other? I dunno who yer favorite author is.....living favorite author. I bet whoever it is would do anything at all for you. Rewriting a passage you'd like rewritten would be a, well, a labor of love.....any passage in anybody else's book.....nuthin' to it. I could call Autumn Moore and ask her to rewrite it. She's a writer you should really get to know. She even lives where you live. In fact she lives in your body, so take care.

the book i am reading right now: How to Think Like Leonardo DaVinci this is a fantastic book, one that gives you tools for self-exploration. the whole premise of the book is that Leonardo (probably the greatest genius of all time) seemed to base his genius on seven general priniciples that can be understood and cultivated in all of us. these principles are: 1) Curiosita: an insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning 2) Dimostrazione: a commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence, and a willingness to learn from mistakes. 3) Sensazione: the continual refinement of the senses, esp sight, as the means to enliven experience 4) Sfumato: a willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, uncertainty 5) Arte/Scienza: the development of the balance between science and art, logic and imagination. "whole brain" thinking 6) Corporalita: the cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness, and poise. 7) Connessione: a recognition of and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things and phenomena. systems thinking. this philosophy of living meshes well with many other "good ways" of living, such as those espoused by two of my other favorite role model/heroes: Ben Franklin and Aristotle. i strongly recommend this bood to anyone who is wanting to expand their lives and experience of life!

Wow, what a great recommendation. I know a few Renaissance men who might like that book...

Hey Wolfie... Colorado was absent from your list... Come give it a visit sometime... we"ve PLENTY of room!

Ooops! Forgot. I am currently reading Travels With Charley (Steinbeck) Trying to curb some of my own wanderlust reading about others...

Hey Wolfie... Colorado was absent from your list... Come give it a visit sometime... we"ve PLENTY of room!

I am currently re-reading "Blue Mars" by Kim Stanley Robinson, and re-reading "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance" oh, and lots of very dry physics books :-/

How in the heck did that get posted twice?!?! Especially when I submitted something after it?!?!

something in your magic fingers?

huh-huh-huh huh huh.... ...magic fingers... ...huh huh huh-huh

Just finished "She's Come Undone" by Wally Lamb. It dealt with a lot of sad themes in a very humorous fashion. It's hard to believe it was written by a man.

nice Beavis n Butthead, Ray :-)

Just finished Deja Dead and All That Begins, Begins With Blood.

do tell...

Written by?

ack...so many questions...will look when I get home...

am still reading The Golden Cup by Belva Plain. the reason it's taking me sooooo long is that the only chance i get is one hour on wednesday nights while my daughter practices gymnastics. yeah, will have to visit colorado-never been there or driven through it.....hmmm how can i add that to my itinerary to S.A.???

Just finished "Boy's Life" by Robert MacCammon and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a little bit childhood innocence, folklore, mysticism and murder mystery rolled into one.

I'm reading his "Girl's Life". I'm 3 fourths thru it, but it's got me bug-eyed. It's got some stale beer, shopping after midnight, sphincters, and some dilapidated Vichy sidestreets all sloshed into one big grotesque crime thriller. I can't put it down, and am reading it as I write this.

ROTFLMAO!!!! (Love those vignettes in Vichy's slums!)

Lydia turned me on to that book. She mentioned it to me during "The Parent Trap". That night I bought it on the black market in the backstreets of Austin. Talk about a page-turner....didn't have to use my fingers---the pages seemed to turn by themselves....good thing, too, cuz I couldn't put that book down till I got thru it all. That Lydia has really good taste in books.

Brandon is out of town (STILL) and I bought some mind candy to occupy the evenings. I am reading Dragon Tears by Dean R Koontz. Typical reality fiction with some sci-fi thrillerness to it. The psychological thrillers are my favorites, the ones that intensify every tiny creak in your own house, while you're reading. I also bought an erotic thriller but forgot the title... let you know later.

Erotic thriller, cool!

let me guess...the title is "Little Stacey's Spice Cake" Kathy Reichs wrote Deja Dead Read Robin Cook's "Fatal Cure" and am currently reading Laura K. Hamilton's "Blue Moon"...

oh, did i mention i'm still reading Belva Plain's The Golden Cup? well, i am, but actually got a couple hours worth of reading done thanks to jury selection all week long!

since my last post above, I finished "Blue Moon" and have read these Laura K. Hamilton books as well "Guilty Pleasures" "The Laughing Corpse" "Circus of the Damned" (can anyone tell that my escapist drug of choice is reading?)

who's isn't???

I like to put on a horse costume and run around in the pasture in the rain. When a horse strides up to me in the mood to mate or whatever ya call it, I take off my horse costume and start mooing real real loud in its face. The horses don't like that. Good thing.

anyway....i finished The Golden Cup (thanks to being sick with a cold). and to any of you who may have been listening awhile back as i labored over which book to read next (after Evergreen), i chose correctly. so any of you belva plain readers who read evergreen and want to know the rest of the story begin with The Golden Cup then move to Tapestry. when i'm done with Tapestry, i'll find out if there are any more in the series. OK? and as to your horse thing, you were the guy on discovery stealing bull semen dressed as a cow, huh? always wondered who'd dress up as a cow in estrus and trick a full (and ready) bull into copulation. now i know. i can sleep better at night.

I'm rereading Illusions, by Richard Bach. It's one of my favorite books, but I always rush through it. This time I'm slowing down.

I'm reading "Inside Windows NT Infrastructures" by David Iseminger. Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-24276-4. About scaleup, cabling, performance tradeoffs, remote access, and nuts and bolts technical issues like choosing the best domain model, switches vs. hubs, backbones, etc.

that'll cure your insomnia, riette *grin*

reading tim pat coogan's bio of michael collins... (tremendous)

Finished Dragon Tears. Reread Microserfs (Douglas Coupland) Reading Hideaway (Koontz) I was all set to try the horse thing Leplep but the sky refuses to rain here. I kinda did a runthrough, dress rehersal with my kitties in the basement though. They were into it.

Rafikki has a regular horselaugh that gets me gigglin', but all she does is look at me with those eyes that say: "c'mon, Jim, hey! that's no horselaugh!!" when she took off her palomino costume, she gave it to me to put on, and then proceeded to show me some remarkably executed bronc bustin' ---she is really good at that ---I wouldn't let her try and swap that costume with any trick-or-treaters, come Halloween, or some kids are gonna....uh, you'll have some pretty scared ones on your hands ---she'll just bust 'em

(we had TONS of trick or treaters!) Finished The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

Reminds me, time to run Leightons Halloween party video as the spring.net slideshow.

finished Random Winds....what to read next??? have to go pick something out tonight!

If you like mysteries, " Bad Chemistry " by gary krist is a good one.

"The Bitch Factor" is also an excellent book. I forget who the author is. Have fun hanging on to the book though. My copy is making the rounds of my friends.

haha!!

the book is about a female PI turned bounty hunter who ends up stranded by a blizzard with a prisoner. It's very good.

The BITCH FACTOR? Ha-ha! If I'd written a book, I call it that too! Currently reading 'Hitler's Willing Executioners' (David Goldhagen), 'Blood, Tears and Folly' (Len Deighton) and 'Shetl' (Eva Hoffman). I feel the need to read the last two parallel to Goldhagen's book to keep perspective - he is the angriest man I've read in a long time (understandibly so). The most profound book I've ever read is one I finished a month ago - 'Holocaust', by Martin Gilbert.

The title comes from a saying that says something about a woman being 51% sweetheart and 49% bitch. And, something about not pushing your luck.

picked up Daydreams today (another Belva Plain)...am waiting for a new one by Amy Tan. absolutely love her work. she takes me into a world and culture of which i know nothing about. and her characters move me so....

another good book that I've recently read: Hardrock Stiff by THOMAS ZIGAL

*blush* i did it again--it should've read daybreak not daydreams!!!

update on daybreak. i'm a little over 3/4th's of the way through and i tell you, it has been tough. the book explores anti-semitism and bigotry through some of the characters. i'm not jewish nor am i african american, but this really ticked me off. not at any fault of belva plain, but just the characters she created. everything is working out now but there for awhile, boy, it was hard. hating people who are different is stupid. you'd have to hate everybody because we are all different. well, anyway, don't want to get on a soap box, but for those of you sensitive to this issue, i figured i'd warn you before you dive into this book. but it is good and the twist of fate works out wonderfully! (even though one of the characters pays dearly). does anyone participate in a reading group? i wondered how it works and who gets to pick out the reads.......

I think that a reading group is a wonderful idea.

I picked up a book yesterday at a little coffe shoppe in Indian Peaks called SMACK. Forgot the author but the first 30 pages have kept me rapt.

What's it about, someone on heroin?

a child that gets involved with that scene when he runs away from a bad home life...

I'm still reading "Timequake", by Kurt Vonnegut. I've nearly finished it but I still don't really know what's going on...I'm hoping there's a big revelation at the end :-)

'the essential lenny bruce' (last night) 'dear theo' (tonight)(if i feel like it)

"lenny bruce is not afraid.."

yup and it's the end of the world (as we know it) (though a few years cohabitation with leonid, leonard and lester may've tempered lenny's bravado just a little)

Red Phoenix

A Whisper of Blood

Just picked up _The Transparent Society_ by David Brin. Brin takes on the privacy issue with a fascinating twist: he proposes that what is needed is not ironclad privacy for everyone, but reciprocal transparency, especially as it relates to governments and corporations. The government already has huge databases on every American citizen - nothing Orwellian here, it just happens as part of a system of record-keeping. Despite all of this data, Americans are still among the most free people on the planet with only the Scandanavian Social Democracies above us on that list, and the Scandanavian governments have, in addition to the type of data our government has, socialized health care systems too! The problem is not that these records exist, but that we don't know who's looking at them. Brin recommends ensuring that there is a constantt bidirectional flow of information, that we have a right to know wht's going on in the corridors of power as much as, if not more than, they have a right to monitor us. Anyway, it's a pretty cool book.

I@m re-reading "The Essence of the Thing" (Madeleine St. John) and with every page I think it hurts me a little bit more. Such a sad, sad book...and so real-life, too. That's probably the worst thing about it.

and of course it's the best thing, too...confusing :-)

the idea of 'reciprocal transparency' is an interesting one... what is troubling, immediately upon consideration of it, though, is the evolution of the idea, the mutations likely to arise from it... once the notion of privacy is obsolete, all kinds of unpleasant scenarios come to mind, especially in the kind of moral climate existing now (and into the future forseeable, i'd guess)... privacy is the only protection available to the radically different, and as long as absolutists congest the thinking of the human race, is a commodity to be protected at all costs, i would think... there's also the potential for abuse, unequal inevitably, because of the power issues involved... the idea of 'i'll show you mine if you'll show me your's' isn't as compelling when one considers the institutional paronoia endemic to government (coupled, of course, with disproportionate measures of power)... sounds like a fascinating book, gonna look it up...

think it would make a great topic here on the Spring, as well... suggestions as to conference, anyone?

Sounds like an interesting conference topic. Brin does not gloss over the problems inherent in his proposal - he's very honest about both possible problems with Transparency, as well as the existence of unforseen problems also. I'm about halfway through the book now, but one example Brin gives is the use (already occuring) of CCTV cameras in public, high crime areas. It is a fact that the presence of these cameras acts as a deterrent to street crime. Thh problem any sane person has is, how do I know if I'm being spied upon for something other than legitimate law-enforcement reasons? Brin's solution? Not only are all citizens able to dial into the feed from any of these cameras, but they can also dial in to a camera placed in the Police Department's monitor room. Who watches the Watchmen? We all do. I'm not sure I'd like to live in a completely Transparent society - I'm still prone to scratch my butt and pick my nose when I think I'm not observed (like right now, for example), and the last thing I want to do is scare the children.... ;-)

just finished The Color of Water by James McBride. Typically I do not enjoy biographies but this one grabbed me and kept me rapt until I was done. Adam, Sounds like a fascinating read... I'll have to pick it up!

The COlor of Water - who's it about? THe last good bio I read was _Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton_ - really enjoyed it, but then, I'm a Burtonphile. _Edgar A. Poe: A Mournful and Never Ending Remembrance_ is very good too. In the mystery department, anyone else read the Tubby Dubonnet series by Tony Dunbar? They're pretty good - they're set in New Orleans, and the main character is a borderline seedy lawyer. They give a very good feel of the unique character of the City of N'awlins. There's also some really good descriptions of cajun cuisine, which just makes me want to go out and eat a ton or so of boiled crawfish.

The Color of Water is written by a black man for and about his white mother. the chapters alternate from his point of view and narration to her words when questioned by him as an adult. Lots of color/race/whoami issues. THe title comes from his mother's explanation to the question, "well if God's not white or black, what color is he>"

reading mind candy!!! John Saul's Brain Child. Gotta love a book you can finish in two sittings without trying and stretching your imagination with horrible visages of otherworldly evil!!!!

reading "My Legendary Girlfriend" by Mike Gayle.....it's pulp :(

i'm still reading belva plain's whispers. of course, i only have time to read it during my stationary bike ride 30 mins two times a week. right now one of the characters is really getting on my nerves. yeah, i know, it's just a book but it just goes to show how belva is able to draw you in.

just finished Violin by Anne Rice...

what's that about, wer?

girl meets guy guy is a ghost who plays a violin girl has always wanted to be able to play violin ghost is sadistic girl is strong and more "messed in the head" than the ghost anticipated (insert bunch of stuff here) everyone lives/dies happily ever after it's a good read if you like her super descriptive period type pieces...

reread 'all the president's men' last night... part of 'the final days', too... (saw ben bradlee on larry king, made me nostalgic)

flannery o'connor, complete stories this new edition i bought contains several stories i hadn't read previously (written in the forties, when she was a graduate student), and they are wonderful...a little different from those i've grown familiar with...more open-ended, for one thing... even a little less developed, but in some way i find them even more satisfying...she was such a tremendous, unique talent, and always worthwhile...

"Philby", Phillip Knightley. life and times of a russian spy.

just finished "Fault Lines" by Anna Salter and "The Street Lawyer" by John Grisham...still muddling through "Virtual Reality" by Howard Rheingold and rereading "UNIX in a Nutshell" as well...

I recently enjoyed Poisonwood Bible, Colony and Chocolat. However, I was disappointed in Midwives, which had come so highly recommended, and am ready to give up on Accordion Crimes after one more chapter.

don't you hate that!

working on belva blain's promises. yeah, i know, i have a whole library of her books. am still waiting for amy tan to publish another one (luv her work).

yeah, I'm waiting on the next Laura K. Hamilton one to come out...

I read the letter - especially the youthful love letters - of Franziska zu Reventlow. Born a countess in Husum (coast of the North Sea) around 1870, she was quite the bohemian, living from around 1893 to her untimely death 1911 in the famous bohemia of Schwabing, a part of Munich. In my early youth, I guess I was much in love with her. I read all that was just being put in print - republished novels and essays, but most of all her diaries, unpublished before. What an extraordinary person! I can't describe it all to you, I just thought she was the most adorable person I ever heard of, read about or met.

so how do we get a hold of her diaries?

Don't know if anything is available in English. Sorry. She was such a complex person, constantly in opposition with her own urges and needs. Very liberal for that time... A person with much love, but never sure for whom. All so difficult to express for me without making her seem an easy gal or cheap. Especially since she was not famous, but infamous, and had at times to resort to strange means to support herself, especially after she had a son (whose father was NEVER disclosed by her, not in letters nor diaries I've read). Hard to describe... Let's put it this way: patterns in live pretty much spread these days - not neccessarily all desirable - were lived by her over hundred years ago in the rigid society of Wilhelminian Germany, deep when it was an Imperial state, and state-service, military and order were the basis of the society. She was the prototypical nonconformist. Died for it, too, in the end.

Just checked Amazon... There are books on theology by a Henning Graf Reventlow, doubtless a relative, and one title that discusses several women of late-19th century Germany (book in German, sorry): �bergangsgesch�pfe: Gabriele Reuter, Hedwig Dohm, Helen B�hlau, und Franziska von Reventlow by Ludmila Slavova Our Price: $43.95 Hardcover (October 1998) Peter Lang Publishing; ISBN: 0820439622 Book Description Im Weiblichkeitsdiskurs um 1900 wurde die Frau weitgehend als Sinnbild der Sexualitt oder als sprachloses Objekt dargestellt. Man sprach den Frauen schpferische F�higkeiten ab. Dieses Buch befa�t sich mit der Problematik weiblicher Sprachlosigkeit und Kreativitt in ausgewhlten Frauenromanen der Jahrhundertwende. Es untersucht die ambivalente Haltung dieser Autorinnen zu ihrem Geschlecht sowie die Frage, inwieweit ihre Werke von den standartisierten Weiblichkeitsbildern der Zeit beeinflu�t wurden. BOOK SYNOPIS IN ENGLISH The discourses on femininity in nineteenth-century Germany considered women as speechless objects and as incarnation of sexuality. The discursive practices denied women creative capabilities. This book focuses on female speechlessness and creativity in selected novels by four turn-of-the century women writers. The study examines the ambivalent attitude of these authors towards their gender and the question of how their works were influenced by the prevalent images of femininity.

Wenesday, Thursday and Friday I read Jean M. Auel's The Clan of the Cave Bear and The Mammoth Hunters

reading another Koontz... "Sieze the Night"

my mother forbade me from reading that book (clan of the cave bear) while i lived in her house. and you know, i haven't read it since moving out on my own! saw the movie, though.

finished the fourth in the series, also, and read Almost Adam by Petru Popescu last week... My Mom never forbid me to read any book although she asked me to wait until I was older to read The Exorcist...

she was afraid the sexual scenes would frighten me....

in the first book? okay, I can see that...the rest have way more explicit scenes, though...

Finished HANNIBAL (follow-upto Silence of the Lambs) Fantastic! Reading "The Informers" now...

they do? golly, maybe i oughta...hmmmmmmm *grin*

Just finished "Where the Heart Is" loved the story and became quite fond of the characters... Started "Louisiana Fever" last night cross between "The Hot Zone" and a Nancy Drew novel.. gotta love mind candy!

I'm reading "The Queen's Bastard" by Robin Maxwell, and I can't put it down! It involves Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley having a secret child, and this child is switched at birth (on purpose, of course) with a stillborn child. The Queen's baby is given to commoners to raise, and he never knows until he's grown that he was the son of the Queen. The romantic scenes between Elizabeth and Robert are really beautiful--not tasteless at all, but speaking of two people who, if circumstances were different, woul have been married.

....when she should be reading Mary Stewart's Merlin Trology!

Come on now--I'm not supposed to be reading anything at all! I'm supposed to be grading these analyses of "Valmont" and writing a paper!

How bac can THAT be??? Make the little trolls give the actor a good report if nothing else =) I thought you got an extension on that papaper!

I did get an extension on that paper, but I was supposed to turn it in today, which isn't going to happen! I haven't gone to the library yet, either! I've fallen into full-scale slacker mode! And believe me, these "Valmont" essays are not that exciting to read...no one has said much of anything about Colin Firth!

Make them watch it again for your own enjoyment. Too bad you did not have a room full pf Droolians to teach. Can you imagine the essays we would have created for your enjoyment!

Nah, I couldn't do that--it took 3 class periods to get all the way through it, and we're running out of time in this semester! I can say that most all of them did like it, though.

I still think you should be teaching it to Droolians for a truly edifying experience *grin*

"Dear Boy", the biography of Keith Moon, one of the greatest drummers ever. When he died, the Who were history. superstar will review this very substantial book, published by Omnibus Press, UK.

Just finished Moo by Jane Smiley enjoyed it... enjoyed the characters... full of quaint little commentaries on life, real life and fantasy lives that we would all love to lead at times

The Keith Moon-thing was really heavy reading. John B. oughta take a look at this. Extremely good coverage of Sixties and early seventies music scene.

Current read: The Johnny Cash-autobiography in German.

I'm currently yawning my way through that guy Guralnick's 2-volume Elvis-bio. While obviously a labor of love with infinite detail fans will love, much of the detail is made up, as he admits to in the endnotes. Weeeeell.

Cannot believe anything Elvis could ever be a yawn for you, Alexander! I am plowing through the Hawaiian Creation Myth: "The Kumulipo" which is a translation done be Liliuokalani of Hawaii, the Queen. It is rough going since it was translated into Victorian English and is full of allusions to other things which must be looked up before continuing. The second book I am reading is "Legends and Myths of Hawaii" written in story form by Kalakaua of Hawaii, the King. (These two monarchs were not consorts; each ruled in his/her own right.)

See, Marcia, Guralnick goes like "Then then he and all the guys went there and there, ate this 'n' that. Elvis wore ....", all tremendously generic crap, and then he tell you in the end note, that Elvis was dressed like this AROUND that time, it's documented, yes, but IT IS NOT DOCUMENTED FOR THE DESCRIBED EVENT. He's discussing stuff IN DETAIL which he guesses at, generalizes things, and knows how people feel EXACTLY. That's making it all so very exciting. [yawn] The only Hawaii thing I eyer read were the tales by Jack London.

Michener is good on Hawaii, as is Robert Louis Stevenson. And, Mark Twain Sounds like a really worst-case read, at best. Soulda named it "Elvis: The Trivia Continues..."

I read Michener on Hawaii a long time back. Forgotten most of it! I've just finished the two books of the Stephen Lawhead Arthurian trilogy that I have. Must find the third sometime. I'm now well in to Bruce Chatwin's travelogue, The Songlines, about the ancient invisible pathways connecting up all over Australia, ancient tracks made of songs which tell of the creation of theland. It's another old favourite and I'm 'comfort reading'. What I'm supposed to be reading is a brand new book by Birgit Brock-Utne, Whose education for all?? The recolonization of the African mind. Since 1990 when the phrase 'education for all' was first coined at the World Bank conference in Jomtien, a battle has raged over the its meaning and impact on education in Africa. The argument goes that education for all really means western primary schooling for some and none for others, robbing Africans of their indigenous knowledge and language which then starves highereducation in Africa and perpetuates western dominance. OK, I'm off my hobby horse! It's a good read though if I can concenrate.

CHATWIN!!!!! Great author if there ever was one!!! Wot a shame he's dead. Positively LOVE that book, even if some stuff has since been shown to be not as factual as it appears in his writing... If you're deep in the book, you'll notice it's not about the Songlines at all, but about the "where I come from, where me go to"-thang. And then, looking at the species he actually explores himself.

Maggie, I expect a full report on Geomythology creation legends...*grin* Capital letters?! Must hunt up a copy... (Aloha, Alexander!)

Do find one Marcia. I got it originally from the library and it took me ages to find a second hand copy to own. Alexander - have you read in Patagonia? I have it on tape not paper. I love Chatwin's humanity and searching which shine through. I like the way he realtes to people as people not just objects of research.

Chatwin - got the whole load of them! Incl. the photo book which only has a introduction by him, his book with Theroux, the novels (Utz, made a movie with Armin M�ller-Stahl, and the other thing, filmed with Klaus Kinski, can't think of the name). Patagonia I read auf deutsch, but nearly all the rest I ordered in his tongue. Loved his "What am I doing here", which he compiled through all the in and out of hospitals, what was at the end what he was busy with: dying, and editing scraps, essays and articles for that MARVELOUS and WONDROUS tome.

Oh alexander i am jealous!! I still keep my out in the second hand shops, but as i said only found songlines recently.

Alexander have you read Chatwin: Anatomy of Restlessness:selected writings 1969-1989???

No, haven't heard of it. Must be a post-humous collection of stuff he did for mags and papers. I got most of my Chatwin stuff for Christmas or birthday from people who know my tastes.

....and from people who actually know when your birthday is...!

Talking of that ....... Has to be May or June Marcia (you I mean not Alexander) Yes the Anatomy of Restlessness book is post-h. There's a chapter in songlines which is journal jottings, and I keep looking at where to post some of them!

I was fishing for Alexander's, of course. We all know when the rest of ours is from Paraspring conference...

You may, but i don't More comfort reading Elizabeth Goudge, Herb of Grace

I need something comfort - maybe the book you sent will finally be opened and read - ahead of the others waiting for my attention...

Please do I think it will help. HUG!

Thanks, Maggie. I really need something other than crying.

Have another hug, and cuddle up with it.

* H U G S *

Oh Wow...*sniff* that is so special...thanks for the support. It means so much right now!

Wow, what book? Did you dig in to it?

Maggie had Amazon.com send me Hinds' Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard and I have not looked past the cover. I shall this evening. My soul is sore and needs the comfort, even though things are cool here again this evening. I'll be happy to report on it as soon as I can - even in parts!

Greetings all Reading some of the postings provoked me to pull a book from the back of the queue to open up: "Wireless Imagination - Sound, Radio, and the Avant-Garde" (Dada Radio -or- Radio Dada?) Also, currently on the reading list is: "The Legacy of Luna" (in progress...) Im suddenly finding fractions of free time here and there which is good since I can read more but then I start too many parallel reading projects. Mike aka _cosmo_

What'What's the Legacy of Luna about?

Mike, I can relate to multiple reading projects underway. I have three books going plus a stack of journals waiting for me. *sigh*

Which books and which journals?

Journals: *Archaeology *Biblical Archaeology Review *Archaeology Odyssey *Antiquity and other British Archaeology publications(online) *Various Geological tech journals forwarded by my son *Astronomy Books: *In Gardens of Hawaii - Marie C. Neal (THE reference book for green and growing) *Sarum - Rutherford (the only fiction) *Norma Lorre Goodrich books on Arthurian characters *The KUMULIPO - Queen Liliuokalini of Hawaii * Maggie's book All but the latter and Sarum are reaearching for Geo and other conferences on Spring. I Love doing research - it is like treasure hunting!

Greetings all "Legacy of Luna" is the story of Julia Butterfly Hill and her efforts to stop clear cutting of the old growth redwoods in Northern California. The Radio book is another facet of my inquiry into the fact that there were (and are) unique radio broadcasts out there aside from the rubbish that the media conglomerates are spewing out. Fight for Free Radio! Mike aka Cosmo

Believe it, Mike! I am am also a DX-er of some devotion and swl with great regularity logging in the new, the ephemeral and the truly weird. What can we do to help? My son lives in North-central California, and we are truly dedicated to outdoors and preserving it (he is a geologist).

I'm still into Elizabeth Goudge, and ploughing through the copies I borrowed from a friend. Have finished 'Herb of Grace' (it's on it's way marcie to join your pile when I get to the Post office!) Have just (last night) finished 'the White Whitch' (set in my area of the Chilterns) Am now starting a real old favourite 'City of bells' Also re-reading Paul Gallico's 'Jennie' Academically I have such a long list of books I'm working on which have to go back to Uni library next week that I'm ashamed to put them in here. Should have finished working on them ages ago! Journals: *journal of multilingual and multicultural development *prospects (UNESCO) *international journal of educational development