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What We Read?


Aleksandra

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Aleksandra

* Reading is the cognitive process of deriving meaning from written or printed text.

 

It is a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information and ideas. Effective readers use decoding skills (to translate printed text into the sounds of language), use morpheme, semantics, syntax and context cues to identify the meaning of unknown words, activate prior knowledge (schemata theory), use comprehension, and demonstrate fluency during reading.

 

Although reading print text is now an important way for the general population to access information, this has not always been the case. With some exceptions, only a small percentage of the population in many countries were considered literate before the Industrial Revolution.

 

* passage form wikipedia

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_

 

_____________________

 

I love to read. Sometimes I read more and sometimes less. Now because of the conditions what I have with my computer, I read more on-line, and that is what I don't like. But also because of my education I need to read from some old books where the text is " deadly " but I love when I read these subjects. For now I read some stuffs from Phylosophy of the Low, but also I read poetry too. I have poetry book by James Wright sent by Tony ( Tony dear, thank you for the books ) and also the best 100 love sonnets by Neruda , - lovely books.

 

So it is good to read icon_biggrin.png I want here to share what we read and are we read icon_redface.gificon_biggrin.png . And sure we can share some good titles and suggestions for some good and worth book and our thoughts about book in common.

 

Thank you for reading and I hope we will have good start here again, and we all together can make again new good poetry site.

 

Aleksandra

The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth - Jean Cocteau

History of Macedonia

 

 

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I just read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. He also wrote The Kite Runner. The story takes place in Afghanistan and follows the lives of two very different women who become family. It is heartwrenching. Although it started more slowly, I think I liked it even better than The Kite Runner.

 

~~Tink

~~ © ~~ Poems by Judi Van Gorder ~~

For permission to use this work you can write to Tinker1111@icloud.com

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Aleksandra

Tink thats nice subjects to read. I don't know that book, but seems so nice for to read.

The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth - Jean Cocteau

History of Macedonia

 

 

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lkpmarshall

I am reading Ian McEwan now: Amsterdam last week and Enduring Love this week. Very interesting. Rather unusual. lkm

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I just read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. He also wrote The Kite Runner. The story takes place in Afghanistan and follows the lives of two very different women who become family. It is heartwrenching. Although it started more slowly, I think I liked it even better than The Kite Runner.

 

~~Tink

 

I have not read Khaled Hosseini but I remember you mentioning The Kite Runner before to me. The other day I was reading a review on the moive made on the novel. Seemed interesting and I said I gotta read the book. And now they are two icon_smile.gif

 

I am re-reading "History of God" by Karen Armstrong.... Amazing book!

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The movie of the Kite Runner was wonderful It was mostly in I believe Pashto with English subtitles. Using the language helped me get a better flavor for the setting and the pronunciation of the words that did appear in the book. But the most fascinating thing was the kite battles. I read about them in the book but to actually see the action was wonderful.

 

After the movie, in the lobby of the theater we were talking and a young woman waiting for her mother to return from the restroom overheard a comment one of us made and she joined in saying she was originally from Iran and she had brought her mother particularly to see the movie because of the language. They both said the language, the setting and the portrayal of the country was very authentic.

 

 

 

~~Tink

~~ © ~~ Poems by Judi Van Gorder ~~

For permission to use this work you can write to Tinker1111@icloud.com

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I've just read 'Wild Swans: Three daughters of China' by Jung Chang. Portrayed a society before the revolution and after. The oppression, especially for women, made me grateful I was not born at that time in that country.

 

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goldenlangur

I too have read the Wild Swans. Jung Chang's mother used to speak into a tape recorder during her long stays with her daughter in the UK and that is how Jung Chang was able to build the story of three generations of women. You're right - the oppression of women is particularly depressing. But I also found the way people snitched on each other former students betraying their teachers, neighbours telling on neighbours, parents on children and children on parents at the peak of the revolution, quite soul destroying. The fear and suspicion they lived in - suffocating and frightening.

 

 

I've just finished Iris Murdoch's The Nice and The Good. I've never read Murdoch before and found this book about the triumph of the "good" and the intricate changing of affections, relationships and the use of "black magic" as a private religious expression, quite fascinating.

 

goldenlangur

goldenlangur

 

 

Even a single enemy is too many and a thousand friends too few - Bhutanese saying.

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pawn shop

Currently reading a Lizzie Borden book ' a private disgrace'.......

and a Alfred Hitchcock biography " HITCH'. affraid.gif

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Just read this again : 'The Great Gatsby' by Fitzgerald

 

Full of great lines and insights -

 

Reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope.

 

...there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered 'Listen', a promise that she had done gay exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour.

 

Are there novels you re-read?

 

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Hi Badge,

 

I don't read much fiction, but The Great Gatsby is one I remember having been a favorite in school. (That was a long time ago!) If I was going to re-read some fiction, it would certainly be in the top five. Another memorable one I read around the same time was To Kill a Mockingbird.

 

Tony

Here is a link to an index of my works on this site: tonyv's Member Archive topic

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I don't read much fiction

 

I once had a problem shifting from poetry to novels, mainly because the focus button was so switched onto form.

 

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goldenlangur

I've not read The Great Gatsby but have seen the film icon_smile.gif But I do remember To Kill a Mockingbird.

 

One book, I'm reading again is Nabokov's Lolita - as an 18 year old I hated HH and felt sorry for the mother. But now the mother's role seems more ambiguous.

 

goldenlangur

goldenlangur

 

 

Even a single enemy is too many and a thousand friends too few - Bhutanese saying.

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I've not read The Great Gatsby but have seen the film icon_smile.gif But I do remember To Kill a Mockingbird.

 

One book, I'm reading again is Nabokov's Lolita - as an 18 year old I hated HH and felt sorry for the mother. But now the mother's role seems more ambiguous.

 

goldenlangur

 

 

 

I bought the "annotated" Lolita last summer, because it looked interesting. I haven't gotten around to reading it yet, icon_redface.gif but I did skim through and read parts of it. I think that would also be in my list of top 5 books to read.

 

Tony icon_smile.gif

Here is a link to an index of my works on this site: tonyv's Member Archive topic

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Oh, and I also bought Jonathan Livingston Seagull, because Alek recommended it, but I haven't read that either. icon_redface.gif I guess that would be in the top 5 to read, too. icon_lol.gif

 

OK, so far I have the following to read before I die:

 

1. Great Gatsby

2. Lolita

3. Jonathan Livingston Seagull

 

What else should I add to the list?

 

Tony icon_biggrin.png

Here is a link to an index of my works on this site: tonyv's Member Archive topic

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Jonathan Livingston Seagull

 

Would take about an afternoon to read (and a life time to appreciate).

 

'The Great Gatsby' would take a week-end to read and should inspire at least one poem!

 

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Aleksandra
Jonathan Livingston Seagull

 

Would take about an afternoon to read (and a life time to appreciate).

 

 

 

badge icon_biggrin.png

 

AH thank you Badge for helping here icon_biggrin.png I always say that to Tony, he doesn't believe me, that book is one of those who you can read in one breath.

Tony you see, I was telling to you the truth ? icon_biggrin.png

 

Bw I don't read nothing in this moment, I have started to read few but not done, icon_redface.gificon_biggrin.png

 

Alek

The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth - Jean Cocteau

History of Macedonia

 

 

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'The Sound and Fury' by William Faulkner (read again)

 

A difficult read, but the first seventy-five pages are for me more poetry than prose.

 

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Frank E Gibbard

William Golding wrote a weird book I find very difficult to absorb but have tried, no hurry as I own a copy. It's called Pincher Martin and is beautifully descriptive, some very poetic passages which is why I do so like it even as I struggle to comprehend it. Does anyone know this? Frank

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  • 4 weeks later...

Tony, Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a snap to read. When it originally came out EVERYONE had to read it, even nonreaders. I can't remember another book that was so talked about. Well maybe Peyton Place when I was in high school, the book that was passed around the school with all of the sexy pages dogearred. (Mild now but I grew up in more innocent times when sex wasn't in every ad or on TV for little kids to see.)

 

~~Tink

~~ © ~~ Poems by Judi Van Gorder ~~

For permission to use this work you can write to Tinker1111@icloud.com

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 8 months later...
goldenlangur

Color Purple by Alice Walker - initially difficult to get into but by the close of the book I was totally engrossed. Walker gets the reader by stealth and the impact is more powerful for it.

goldenlangur

 

 

Even a single enemy is too many and a thousand friends too few - Bhutanese saying.

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Color Purple by Alice Walker - initially difficult to get into but by the close of the book I was totally engrossed. Walker gets the reader by stealth and the impact is more powerful for it.

Interesting selection, Goldenlangur. I think I remember this was also made into a movie. I wonder if the stealth was by accident or by design ...

Here is a link to an index of my works on this site: tonyv's Member Archive topic

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I'm not one for reading many books cover to cover (mostly because I don't read fiction -- I did so when growing up, but not now), but I recently finished Stephen King's On Writing -- A Memoir of the Craft. The book is written in autobiographical snippets, and it also contains tips and examples. But mostly the book is encouraging (King calls it a "permission slip"), and it's also realistic: the author confirms that there is no formula and no central "warehouse of ideas" to which he himself has access and into which he taps.

 

King admits his own commercial success is a mix of hard work and luck. Yet despite his commercial success, King says he never wrote for that reason; he wrote for the love of writing. There's one part in which he talks about his desk. He says he wrote his first successful books in meager environments and how he always wanted a huge oak writing desk. He recounts how, when he finally got one, he spent most of his time behind the desk, writing, in a perpetual state of drunkenness. When he finally fixed his personal problems, the desk went. Using the example of the oak desk, King makes a very interesting point: life is not a support system for the art, rather it's the other way around.

 

As for Stephen King himself, I have never read any of his other books. I have seen plenty of his movies, but I always found them interesting only up until a certain point, and then I would become disappointed. For example, in "Children of the Corn," I was thrilled by the story of a rural town in which children were living in a bizarre community of their own, having killed all their parents and the other grownups ... until I found out why. I would have rather never found out the reason why than to have learned that it was actually a monster living underneath the cornfield which was influencing the children to act the way they did. The story's having taken a leap into the realm of fantasy/science fiction killed it for me. When a story starts out as plausible as "Children of the Corn," I would have rather not "suspended my disbelief" to that extent.

 

With few exceptions ("The Shining," "Misery," "Delores Claiborne," "Cujo"), I have found that many of King's stories make that leap from plausible to ridiculous. But even so, upon reading "On Writing" I have come to appreciate King himself more (as a writer and as a person) and to understand why his stories are like that: he was heavily influenced by similar stories (often from 1940's and 1950's movies from the same genre) ... and it's his style. I may not like it, but I can appreciate it, and obviously many people like it, too.

 

Overall, On Writing -- A Memoir of the Craft was worth the small expense of the paperback book I bought (though I'm sure one could borrow it from his local library), and it was worth taking the time to read. I read it, cover to cover, an unusual event for me.

Here is a link to an index of my works on this site: tonyv's Member Archive topic

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goldenlangur

Thanks for the summary Tony. I haven't read any of King's fictions but I have browsed this one you mention here.

goldenlangur

 

 

Even a single enemy is too many and a thousand friends too few - Bhutanese saying.

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goldenlangur

Just finished Doris Lessing's The Cleft. It's about a mythical society where the Clefts, who are female live. The discovery of Monsters, the male unleashes rivalry and the rupture of the close-knit society.

 

It is one of the most bizarre books of Lessing that I have read.

goldenlangur

 

 

Even a single enemy is too many and a thousand friends too few - Bhutanese saying.

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goldenlangur

Reading Claire Tomlin's biography of Thomas Hardy ;)

goldenlangur

 

 

Even a single enemy is too many and a thousand friends too few - Bhutanese saying.

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Coming in late as usual. The Color Purple was a page turner for me. I couldn't put it down and I actually read it before seeing the movie... It reads like a diary, the movie is narrated in the same manner. This was one instance when I thought the movie actually truly followed the book. It is one book, along with To Kill a Mockingbird, I would like my granddaughters to read when they are a little older. There are lessons to be learned here.

 

The only Stephen King book I have read is Cujo and I was totally sucked in until it took that wierd leap from the plausable to fantasy. I am not a big fan of "scary" any way. But the man has a gift and it might be interesting to read how he perceives it.

 

 

I am currently reading The Lace Reader, by Brunonia Barry, a New York Times, Best Seller. Definitely a woman's book, I am loving it. It is a suspense novel that takes place outside of modern day Salem. What makes it so fascinating so far (I am only 1/3 of the way through, I began reading it 2 days ago)are the characters, mostly women, especially the main character through whose eyes the story unfolds. I love the surprises that reveal a world I have never imagined and yet I know these women. The red hats with a purple plume, the pastels, the witches, the crazies.... women who live life on their terms, survivors. In this book magic is the natural way of things. It could also be called intuition, "there are no accidents".

~~ © ~~ Poems by Judi Van Gorder ~~

For permission to use this work you can write to Tinker1111@icloud.com

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goldenlangur

I think there's something to be said about Color Purple and To Kill A Mockingbird being seminal influences. I have never forgotten Harper Lee's work, which I read in my mid-teens.

 

Must admit I have not seen the films of either.

 

The Lace Reader, by Brunonia Barry sounds fascinating Tink. Re your remark about it being a woman's book I have wondered if certain writers attract women readers and others, men readers.

 

Atwood and Lessing are popular with my women-friends but colleagues and men-friends don't seem as entranced by these writers. Kundera is more popular among men in our little circle of friends.

 

Just thinking aloud ... perhaps this is not the case with many others who read these writers.

Edited by goldenlangur

goldenlangur

 

 

Even a single enemy is too many and a thousand friends too few - Bhutanese saying.

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Hi gl, I too read To Kill a Mockingbird as a teen and it influenced my thinking. The Color Purple came much later but if I had read it in my teens I think it might have had a similar effect on me.

 

I haven't read Atwood or Lessing but I will check them out. The Lace Reader is a woman's book because of the characters. I get them, I am not so sure most men would. Certainly I think there are writers who attract either men or women readers. My husband reads entirely different books than I. He also reads more than I do. Of course he is retired while I still go to an office everyday. And much of my reading is poetry and reference material about poetry, while he reads novels and nonfiction equally, but most all of the books involve adventure of some sort or politics. I only read a political book when everyone around me has read it and I have to read it in order to keep up with the conversation.

 

I go to dinner and the movies every Wednesday night with my husband and another couple. It is a standing date we have had for at least 20 years. If a movie is coming out that was originally a book, we all usually make it a point to read the book first.

 

~~Tink

~~ © ~~ Poems by Judi Van Gorder ~~

For permission to use this work you can write to Tinker1111@icloud.com

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goldenlangur

Hi Tink,

 

 

I too read To Kill a Mockingbird as a teen and it influenced my thinking. The Color Purple came much later but if I had read it in my teens I think it might have had a similar effect on me.

 

 

 

The Color Purple was a recent read for me. :) Your mention of the two works makes me appreciate how the books depict, if you like, the two sides of the coin. Color Purple is, the Black American story and perspective; To Kill A Mocking Bird, is a White child's account of a remarkable if horrifying event involving a Black man.

 

 

I haven't read Atwood or Lessing but I will check them out.

 

Do share your thoughts about these writers when you have perused their works.

 

 

The Lace Reader is a woman's book because of the characters. I get them, I am not so sure most men would.

 

You may well have a point here.

 

... My husband reads entirely different books than I. He also reads more than I do. Of course he is retired while I still go to an office everyday. And much of my reading is poetry and reference material about poetry, while he reads novels and nonfiction equally, but most all of the books involve adventure of some sort or politics. I only read a political book when everyone around me has read it and I have to read it in order to keep up with the conversation.

 

Reading is indeed a luxury for those who work. One can dip into non-fiction works over a period of time but it is different with fiction. Poetry references is seriously neglected in my reading.

 

I go to dinner and the movies every Wednesday night with my husband and another couple. It is a standing date we have had for at least 20 years. If a movie is coming out that was originally a book, we all usually make it a point to read the book first.

 

Sounds like a pretty good idea - the book before the film. :D

 

 

Thank you for returning with such interesting details. I enjoyed this and leave you in peace to enjoy your book ;)

goldenlangur

 

 

Even a single enemy is too many and a thousand friends too few - Bhutanese saying.

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  • 4 months later...

Sad and shameful, but I don't read anything in the moment. Lately I don't keep a book in my hands. Ok, I still read online but real reading I'm considering to take a book in hands and read :), which I haven't done lately.

Maybe a month ago, I was reading some new published books in poetry - Macedonian poetry by friends of mine, so I was checking their new books. That's all. After that, nothing :icon_redface:

 

Aleksandra

The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth - Jean Cocteau

History of Macedonia

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

Hi, An update on reading... The movie The Help is out now and it is excellent BUT, thankfully I read the book before seeing the movie. If I had seen the movie first I probably would have been more than satisfied and never picked up the book. But the book is so much richer than the movie. In the book the characters are more fully developed, they are people with flaws and strengths, not just villain or hero as in the movie. AND reading the book I cried more than I laughed, although I laughed out loud in places. The movie seems to favor the comic aspect of a very serious topic.

 

So this is a book I highly recommend although that is hardly necessary since it is a best seller and is now a movie. But do yourself a favor and read before you go to the movies.

 

~~Tink

 

Now reading a political book, The Fear, Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe by Peter Godwin. I became interested in Zimbabwe in the 90s when I did some research to write poem inspired by a news article. I have since supported a school for girls there and consequently follow the political atmosphere that has haunted this country. It isn't a fun book and will not be an easy read but it is on Oprah's recommended book list.

 

This year Robert Mugabe is running for reelection as president of Zimbabwe at the age of 87. He has been president since 1978. Since he came to power Zimbabwe has 80% unemployment, a life expectancy of 45 years, AIDS and starvation is rampant and the inflation rate since 1978 is 231 million %. (I can't even wrap my head around that. ) Zimbabwe was once called the Bread Basket of Africa... now the lands lie fallow. It boasted one of the best educational systems and health systems of the continent, now they are nonexistant. It is a country run by fear, boy soldiers still patrol the streets. After defeating president Robert Mugabe in 1998, Morgan Tzvangiria (pronounced chang ur rye) had to flee the country, his top supporters were murdered. But somehow under intense international pressure on Mugabe, Tzvangiria was allowed to return as Prime Minister in some kind of power sharing deal with Mugabe who remained president despite his defeat.

 

The book was written by an exiled white Zimbabwean journalist who returned to Zimbabwe in 1998 after Mugabe was defeated in the election by Morgan Tzvangiria. Godwin is writing about his experience on his return. Its reality is bizarre and frightening. I am only a quarter of the way into the book and it isn't an easy read but if you want a feel for what is going on in a country that has banned all but government run media, here is a peek behind closed doors.

 

~~Tink

~~ © ~~ Poems by Judi Van Gorder ~~

For permission to use this work you can write to Tinker1111@icloud.com

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Larsen M. Callirhoe

interesting choices everyone. so diversefiedon opinionzs aswell.

 

 

anne rice

 

i think anne rice is great writer in her seris about tatlos and vampires and also the witch family series. haven't read anything from her since mid 90's. her fiction is not scary but can seem gothic. the movies do not compare to her novels.

 

stephen king

 

the stand his book is very plausible. i know this from being in the military. we were asked to be guinea pigs for ET viruses. and the stand the book is how a virus wipes out most of the population. then in the united states responsible citizens flock to a city in the east somewhere and the wild youth flock to las vegas neveda. the character build up is so beutiful. it was easy to fall in love with each of the like 30 individuals in the book the stand that makes this a very worthwhile read to me imo. most people can only relate to one or two characters in a books so that is why people are drawn to or away from stephen king and anne rice. the story has like 66 percent of its characters die sadly. and at the end what makes it so sad is the nuclear explosion that happens at the end. las vegas and the wild youth are destroyed as several characters in both groups die. when the remaining like 15 only like 8 are more then contributors characters survive get together after doing stuff to the more and more survivors flocked to the town. it now has over 10,000 citizens and some are able to have babies. at first one of the two pregnant ladies was able to give birth the other died. two of the four characters that the story revolves around die in the explosion. they had set up leaders for different stuff in the city in the east. they had new leaders elected when one of the characters comes back because of a injury in the group that went to las vegas. now mind you last time i read the book the stand was in the mid 90's. he talked to the other main character and they were sad because for at least several months the 4 main characters 2 died was how the book revovled. the remaining 15 characters get together and talk about was it worthwhile to send the group out. then they go there seperate ways. the world does rebuild itself. i do believe a virus could wipe out like a billion of our population but we would survive it. and learn from it. but the stand is a possible story. i talk to deceased spirits, i talk to ET's, and i talk to angels. and talking to the ET's they could wipe out a certain race with just a virus on earth.

 

i will be purchasing books over again to read. i could have been a millionare with my book collection but i gave it away. i have like 500 books from afric that were smuggled to the usa. they werenot allowed to be here because of copyright infringements. i have rare greek books also printed into the english language. the copyright o0n the books was when abraham lincon was president. i don't have the books from africa anymore. i gave them to a library that gladly burned them. however the greek books a few might be priceless.

 

biographies and autobiographies are always fun to read or see movies about.

 

the book alas babylon was a book we read thoroughly in school. along with to kill a mockingbird and a tle of to cities. also we read emerson and i think it is waldo.

 

to lazy to look some of this up.

 

tony:

 

how can you not love some fictional stories. i know many are geared towards youth but now and then some of those stories are really good. i love science fiction when it relates to like space journies battles etc.. i do however blieve there is a big difference between science fiction and fantasy science fiction.

 

i will get back into this conversati9on soon. i ill correct errorsin this post and add more details.

 

 

 

victor

.

Larsen M. Callirhoe

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Larsen M. Callirhoe

i think i will get the book "the help" because of your outline of it. thank you tinker.

 

 

 

victor

Larsen M. Callirhoe

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At the beginning of summer I got a NOOK, Barnes and Nobles version of the Kindle. I love it! Since getting my NOOK, I find I read much more. This isn't an Ad.... I am just sharing what a great tool this is... My husband has had one for over a year, but I have resisted, I like the feel and look of a book. (He downloads several books at home onto his NOOK so when he goes to Mexico he has plenty to read while on the boat and he doesn't have to carry a bunch of books with him) Since getting my NOOK here is what I found...

 

1. On the NOOK books cost less, (and are paperless, environmentally friendly), lots of classics, poetry books and older books available through Barnes Noble free or only $.99. Also Free Friday, B&N offers 1 book of their choice Free every Friday. In the 5 weeks I have had it, I have downloaded 3 of the Free Friday books. Once I simply forgot to check on Friday, once the book was a financial book I wasn't interested in. The 3 I downloaded, 2 are novels, 1 is a kids novel I am reading with my granddaughters.

2. I can shop for my books from whereever I might be, I simply go to "shop" on my Nook find what book I want, click buy and download and the book is mine. (I can also go to B&N on my computer and if I see a book I want to buy, I just buy it Nook format and it downloads automatically onto my Nook.

3. I can change the font to whatever size I want (getting old and especially reading at night, small print is difficult for me to read),

4. It is small, lightweight can be carried anywhere, (I always have it with me), I can get about 36 hours of reading before it has to be charged, it plugs into my car charger and I can keep it charged while driving.

5. I can share books (I also got NOOKs for my 2 oldest grandchildren and have their NOOKs on my account. I can buy a book for them, download it onto my NOOK which also downloads the book onto their NOOKs and all 3 of us can read the same book from our own NOOK separate or together. They live 9 hour drive away but we read together on SKYPE.)

6. Holding a NOOK and turning pages can all be done with one hand by simply applying slight pressure on the side of the Nook and the page turns,

7. I never lose my page. (when I stop reading the NOOK turns off, when I turn it on again it goes to the last page I was reading in the book. I am currently reading 3 books,(a kid book with my granddaughters, a novel and a nonfiction book about Zimbabwe) it has saved the last page I read of each of those books, all I have to do is go to my "Library" index and choose which book I want to read and it opens up right where I left off.

8. The NOOK holds 1500 books. (I've read 10 books and 2 short stories since I got it.)

 

Did I say I love it! ~~ Tink

~~ © ~~ Poems by Judi Van Gorder ~~

For permission to use this work you can write to Tinker1111@icloud.com

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Larsen M. Callirhoe

tink i was thinking about getting the nook lol seriously. i will definitely loook into it. maybe my parents can get me one for christmas lol.

 

 

 

and 1500 books is a lot. i had around a thousand books when i was 25 and another 250 books i had not read yet. from my understanding most avid readers only read 10,000 book at most during a lifetime.

 

 

 

victor

Larsen M. Callirhoe

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tony:

 

how can you not love some fictional stories. i know many are geared towards youth but now and then some of those stories are really good. i love science fiction when it relates to like space journies battles etc.. i do however blieve there is a big difference between science fiction and fantasy science fiction.

Oh, no, Victor. It's not that I don't like fiction -- I love it! -- but I'm afraid if I were to start reading fiction it would consume all of my time. I like dramas, sci-fi, and horror, but I'll usually enjoy them as movies. That way I can absorb in a couple of hours what would normally take me a lot longer.

Here is a link to an index of my works on this site: tonyv's Member Archive topic

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Larsen M. Callirhoe

lol tony. i knew that already laughing out loud that you prefer watching the movie to reading the book. but i will use a example from anne rice character lestat in the vampire books. this character carries a aorua in the description of his personia that is not conveyed in the movies. in the novels lestat is well over six feet tall and has blond hair. he carried a swagger just waling in a room. she gives the affect that everyone turned there heads and noticed him. tom cruse had the looks swagger but was not demeanoring enough. i mean bleached blond hair and being shorter then most od the characters lol. now brad pitt was great in the movies lol. enough said!!!! but i hear you. there is some books that actually were much better watching as movies lol. the novels are gatbnage but someone notived these two books and wrote "the army of darness" and big trouble in little china" lmao

 

 

 

victor

Larsen M. Callirhoe

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  • 2 months later...

I've just finished My Uncle Napoleon by the Iranian writer, Iraj Pezeshkzad.

 

A wonderful satire or comedy of manners which challenges our perceptions of Iran as a dour, tyrannical fundamentalist society.

goldenlangur

 

 

Even a single enemy is too many and a thousand friends too few - Bhutanese saying.

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Ok, I finally finished "The Fear" Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe", I could only read so many pages describing graphic details of torture in any one sitting. i read 5 novels while reading this horrible book. I guess it is important that we be aware of what is happening in our world but this book was really hard to read because of its subject matter. It is written by Peter Godwina white Zimbawean journalist who was bannished from his country. It is his account of his return to his native Zimbabwe after the 1998 election when Mugabe was defeated but refused to step down as president. The book is full of interviews of people tortured by Mugabe's enforcers simply because they chose to vote for the opposition. Mugabe is still president today. Scary stuff.

 

I read a Free Friday nook book which was a page turner...First There Is a River by Kathryn Stockett. I would never have chosen to read this book if it hadn't been free. Steffen is apparently a new author and i enjoyed her book about an abused woman who took back her life, the story takes place in the late 1800s in the Mississippi valley so much that I bought another book by her and read it also Jasper Mountain which was OK but not as good as her first book. I also recently read 3 James Patterson mystery books 1st to Die / 2nd Chance / 3rd Degree. . . fast, fun, interesting easy to read novels. I love Patterson books.

 

I am currently reading 2 books, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson and REg Keeland... the movie is out soon and I have to get this one read. I am just getting started. Also reading A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard which i find hard to put down. This world has some really creepy people out there. This is the true account by Jaycee of her thoughts and experiences after she was kidnapped when just months older than my oldest granddaughter and held in captivity for 18 years. I can't imagine my 10 year old granddaughter having to experience what Jaycee lived for even a moment.

 

~~Tink

~~ © ~~ Poems by Judi Van Gorder ~~

For permission to use this work you can write to Tinker1111@icloud.com

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I enjoyed reading in high school Jonathan Livingston Seagull and The Little Prince. I also enjoyed Wuthering Heights,

 

But, nowadays, I made it a personal goal to read the Bible through and through. I am now in the book of Job. There is some Hebrew poetry there too.

 

When I have time, I read all my poetics books one by one again :-) I plan to purchase poetics written by poets themselves.

"Words are not things, and yet they are not non-things either." - Ann Lauterbach

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I just read Memoirs of a Midget by Walter de la Mare. It was a wonderful book about a female midgets life set in, i would guess, the late 19th early 20th century. The prose is so nearly poetry, in some parts, that it has a dreamy, lush flavour and that lyricism pulled me into the story and kept me captivated.

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Hi Joel, Reading the Bible cover to cover is a daunting task. Although I began reading it as a spiritual journey, I did it years ago and I am afraid it became an exercise in determination for me. I love the Book of Job, patience, faith and reward. I have read the Bible in a more selective manner through study recommendations before and since. What version are you reading? I own 7 different versions and I often compare scripture between them. For poetry I far prefer the King James. And most of the scripture I know by heart is King James. But I used the Living Bible to read cover to cover because it was the easiest to read but unfortunately missing the poetry. I also have a Jerusalem Bible, a Harper Collins Study Bible, a Good News Bible (very similar to the Living Bible), a New American Bible and a Catholic Youth Bible which i used to use when leading teen youth groups. I currently use the Harper Collins Bible because it has great footnotes with historical information included. That is where I found a deeper meaning for the acrostic form Abacadarius.

 

~~Tink

~~ © ~~ Poems by Judi Van Gorder ~~

For permission to use this work you can write to Tinker1111@icloud.com

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just read Memoirs of a Midget by Walter de la Mare. It was a wonderful book about a female midgets life set in, i would guess, the late 19th early 20th century. The prose is so nearly poetry, in some parts, that it has a dreamy, lush flavour and that lyricism pulled me into the story and kept me captivated.

 

Interesting, I need to explore the classics more. I would never have thought to look for a book by de la Mare. I only know him as a poet. Probably his best known work is The Listener

 

The Listener by Walter de la Mare

 

"Is there anybody there?" said the Traveller,

Knocking on the moonlit door;

And his horse in the silence champed the grass

Of the forest's ferny floor;

And a bird flew up out of the turret,

Above the Traveller's head:

And he smote upon the door again a second time;

"Is there anybody there?" he said.

But no one descended to the Traveller;

No head from the leaf-fringed sill

Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,

Where he stood perplexed and still.

But only a host of phantom listeners

That dwelt in the lone house then

Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight

To that voice from the world of men:

Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,

That goes down to the empty hall,

Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken

By the lonely Traveller's call.

And he felt in his heart their strangeness,

Their stillness answering his cry,

While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,

'Neath the starred and leafy sky;

For he suddenly smote on the door, even

Louder, and lifted his head:--

"Tell them I came, and no one answered,

That I kept my word," he said.

Never the least stir made the listeners,

Though every word he spake

Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house

From the one man left awake:

Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup,

And the sound of iron on stone,

And how the silence surged softly backward,

When the plunging hoofs were gone.

 

 

~~ © ~~ Poems by Judi Van Gorder ~~

For permission to use this work you can write to Tinker1111@icloud.com

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Well I have now finished The Girl Who Played with Fire, the 2nd book of the The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy by Stieg Larsson and have moved on to the last book, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. In reality for me these were not 3 individual books. They are one continuous story broken into 3 parts. You have to read all 3. It just gets better and better.

 

I think I was more hooked by the 2nd book (Played With Fire) than the 1st (Dragon Tattoo)which is the book that was made into a movie and will be out soon. By the 2nd book I was more familiar with the characters and the names of people and places which I struggled with in the first book. The whole thing takes place in Sweden and when you can't even pronounce the names it is hard to retain them for future reference further into the book. There were a lot of names that seemed very similar to me and I was confusing the characters at first.

 

This is a gripping mystery that was a best seller a couple of years ago and I am coming late to the table. But there is an advantage to that, the books are now in paperback and on Nook and Kindle at reduced prices plus there are probably a lot of used books out there for little cost. So if you haven't already read these, you get to read at bargain prices but you don't want to just buy 1 book, pick up all 3 because you will want to turn the page to the next book immediately after finishing each book. When I finished The Girl Who Played with Fire I didn't even put my Nook down, I just went to my Nook Library and opened up The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and continued to read.

 

~~Tink

~~ © ~~ Poems by Judi Van Gorder ~~

For permission to use this work you can write to Tinker1111@icloud.com

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  • 1 month later...

Finished In Custody by Anita Desai. Now reading Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami.

goldenlangur

 

 

Even a single enemy is too many and a thousand friends too few - Bhutanese saying.

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