Henry James -- English Hours [Looking out across the River Avon in Warwickshire:] "Just across the river was a level meadow, which rivalled the lawn on which I stood, and this meadow seemed only the more essentially a part of the scene by reason of the voluminous sheep that were grazing on it. These sheep were by no means mere edible mutton; they were poetic, historic, romantic sheep; they were not there for their weight or their wool, they were there for their presence and their compositional value, and they visibly knew it. And yet, knowing as they were, I doubt whether the wisest old ram of the flock could have told me how to explain why it was that this happy mixture of lawn and river and mirrored spire and blooming garden seemed to me for a quarter of an hour the richest corner of England."
This one had words on the inside. Most of the small, especially when they were direct quotes. In all honesty, it felt way less condemning of the president than I expected. The early parts actually seem like Woodward thought he was okay and just surrounded himself with idiots. That feeling faded in the last 100 pages. While suggesting that Mueller had nothing on Trump, we see Trump's lead lawyer step down when he decided to testify, unwilling to stay the course with a client who wouldn't listen to him. The reason was intriguing, not because of any belief of guilt on Trump's part, but because of how he answered anything that put a target on him, "You're a f****** liar."
I had to read that in college. I don't like scary things, and I didn't know the basic story, so I had no idea what to expect. It was okay. The monster brought firewood to help a blind man. When the man's son came in, he attacked the monster, and the monster couldn't get treated at a hospital. Being scared based on appearance can relate to how some people are scared of African-Americans and other people with dark skin. I read that in Eighth Grade Honors English, that class gave tests on books before talking about them. I don't know if it was the teacher's decision or the school's honors requirement. The teacher did do things to make learning fun. Here are three examples: 1. "Teach me how to barbecue, Dad." means the speaker wants to be taught by his Dad. With no punctuation, you get: "Teach me how to barbecue Dad" meaning that the speaker wants to be taught how to barbecue Dad. 2. "It depends on what syllable you put the emphasis" with "syllable" and "emphasis" spoked with emphasis on the wrong syllable. 3. To test vocabulary: "Have you seen that poignant movie?" A. Yes, and I couldn't stop laughing. B. Yes, and I couldn't stop laughing." I don't remember all the choices, and those may not be exact quotes, but it was asked in a way to be less boring. I forgot the teacher's name, but I e-mailed another teacher who still works there who remembered the names of the two female eighth grade English teachers from 20 years ago. I still have some old report cards, but not from eighth grade. I found folders with work from seventh grade.
Not a reread for me, though it will be next time. The Aeneid by none other than Dante's future tour guide, Virgil, Translated by Robert Fitzgerald, no relation to the aforeposted F. Scott. What can I say: it's EPIC, bro.
I finished Joe Haldeman's Forever Peace, which is a pseudo-sequel to his more well known Forever War. I needed the more hopeful messaging in this one. One particular scene stood out whilst reading it with the backdrop of the protests going sideways in an instant.
The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto. It's a tale of Dutch Manhattan in the 17th century.
A Heart Afire: Storeis and Teachings of the Early Hasidic Masters, an interesting and somewhat liberty-taking reinterpretation of legendary rabbis in the Baal Shem Tov lineage, written for the most part by the unofficial Rabbi-In-Residence of the Allen Ginsberg-founded Naropa Institute, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Interesting. I can't think of anybody who's less orthodox than Ginsberg or more orthodox than the Hasids.
That's where the "liberty taking" comes in. And from what I've read, the contemporary Hasidim in NY and NJ seem to be a lot more conservative than the founders. Oh, and Zalman Schachter is from a way more liberal line than the ones around here (The Belzer hasid, wikipedia reminds me). He was ordained in the Lubavitch community shortly after WWII. He gave up his ordination (and here the Ginsberg connection becomes plausible) after exploring the religious potential of LSD in the early 60s.
My Ántonia – Willa Cather "Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again."
So... What was it like? I enjoyed the first of the Hunger Games and then it went downhill. Where does this offering take us?
Don't miss the footnotes. Great book if you have the time and patience. My Journey in Mystic China: Old Pu's Travel Diary the last book published by English sinofile and scholar of Buddhism and Taoism, John Blofeld, his only book written in Chinese and translated into English, covering the years 1936 to the Revolution. I read a few of his books in college, interesting tomread about how he got to China (and, from 1949 on Bangkok) in the first place.
During the fully home-bound portion of my past few months, I read the 12 novels in the Mercy Thompson series penned by Patricia Briggs. The twelfth came out after the local library closed to the public but in the week where they were still open, and they delivered the brand-spanking new volume to my home. As I've mentioned before, I subscribe to and voraciously read Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine in which a couple of book columns appear. One of those had highly recommended a couple of books in the series over the years, and eventually their praise prompted me to give it a try. I quite enjoyed all of the books, which are based in the Tri-Cities region of Washington which is about 150 miles from my home and so which was an added, fun bonus.
If you liked the trilogy, you'll like this one too. Personally, I didn't see much of a difference between the first book and the second two. This one's a bit odd insofar as the climax to the Games is halfway through the book. As a writer, Collins is far superior to JK Rowling, who tries too hard to tie the ending of every strand of the novel into the last 20 pages. Contrast that with Collins who ends every chapter on a cliffhanger.
Chalk me up as another who liked book one of Hunger Games and then pffft. But they got a non-reader daughter of mine reading when they came out, and for that I am grateful to Collins.
See, I think Rowling is a much better writer. A good story, to me, doesn't require a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter. Sometimes people just go to sleep. And I loved the last chapter of every Rowling book. All the action has happened -- Voldemort has been stymied -- in the penultimate chapter and you got a very satisfactory explanation of the crisis, Harry and his friends were all buds again. We all knew that Voldemort was still out there waiting, hungering to kill the Boy Who Lived. It didn't have to be spelled out. I know I will re-read the Harry Potter saga a couple more times in my lifetime. As for The Hunger Games, I think the first movie was quite nice so I will be much more likely to revisit the movie than I will the novel.