@Lcsmcat , this is the first of the Verlaque and Bonnet series I described at lunch. All engaging reads so far!
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@Lcsmcat , this is the first of the Verlaque and Bonnet series I described at lunch. All engaging reads so far!
Having just finished this lovely, quick read, I realize how meta-appropriate my choice of bookmark was.
Continuing my tour of the world — and of autographed first editions.
Next read. Alan Doyle tells a damned fine yarn.
Daisy Waugh is right: I‘d forgotten since my first reading how utterly brilliant Frank Muir was. Were he not such a distinctive writer on his own merit, I‘d draw comparisons to PG Wodehouse.
One of my favorite T.S. Eliot poems. Reading it is an annual tradition on the 11th day of Christmas.
Twelve pages in, and I‘m already hooked. Add to my bucket list “Visit St. John‘s, buy Alan Doyle a beer, and listen to his stories.” At least I can sort of do the third one now.
I‘ve seen the series: time to read the books. And I‘m sorry, Maureen Jennings: regardless of how you originally wrote Constable Crabtree, he‘s going to have a Newfoundland accent when I read him! Hello, winter break! Hello, leisure reading!
Littens, I‘ve found my new mantra!
Did I mention my current read?
This one caught my eye because my godson and his wife moved last autumn from San Diego to Veijle (he works for LEGO), because I‘m studying Danish, and because one of my current YouTube buddies is Anglo-Danish writer and actor Sandi Toksvig (check our her “Tox Vox” series there). IMHO, I think the Danes are on to something.
#7Days7Books Day 3
Seven books that left a deep impression on me and changed me.
@SpaceCowboyBooks , Want to play?
#7Days7Books Day 2 (catchup because I got busy yesterday)
Seven books that left a deep impression on me and changed me.
@PickwickPlockPlock , Want to play?
#7Days7Books Day 1
Seven books that left a deep impression on me and changed me.
@MrsWatsonReads Want to play?
“I‘m not afraid of storms, for I‘m learning how to sail my ship.”
1. Wine, yes; books, no. Unless there‘s a cat on the cover.
2. See above.
3. NPR, BBC, WaPo, Times (NY and London)
4. Generally don‘t need one, as my portly calico cat knows when breakfast time is!
5. @annamatopoetry , @SpaceCowboyBooks
One of my annual Lenten disciplines. The book, not the coffee. 😏
pickA good way to start off the reading year! Frustrating at first, as I was expecting a bit more depth about each language, but if that notion had come to fruition, the book would have to occupy multiple volumes! What “Lingo” ends up being is a sampler, much like a box of candy, with tasty examples of the quirks and appeals of each of Europe‘s 60 main languages. A fun overview with only a couple of conceits that don‘t quite hit their mark.
“Armenian is to the family of Indo-European languages what the platypus is to mammals.” p 268
Ooooooh, this‘un‘s gonna make my nerdy little heart very happy! 🥰
pickWhat a hoot! If you like your classics spiced up a bit but Sense and Sensibility and Zombies is a bit much, give Jasper Fforde a go. His tongue-in-cheek introduction of LiteraTec Thursday Next is full of winks, nods, and knowing smiles. And as Thursday says, this is just the beginning.
A #BookIHaveRead every Advent since it was published in 2001. Just started on my 19th journey. #GratefulReads
@Lcsmcat , by no small coincidence, it was just one week ago that I got to take this wonderful picture. #NCStateAtwoodLive #FavoriteAuthor
“It is possible to listen [to the New Orleans musical style] as Armstrong listened, to grant conviction and passion a place in the first line of valuation, with technical sophistication pushed slightly to the rear. One can value _willingness_ [original text italicized] and learn to hear it, even to think about it as carrying a glimpse of spiritual or artistic purity — at a certain point it does not seem to matter how this is phrased.” __p 48
From Chapter 1, set-up to Armstrong‘s time in the Tuxedo Brass Band: “Many musicians hated marching no matter what the weather. Emile Barnes refused to parade unless he owed someone a personal favor. Hypolite Charles thought that marching had removed a few years from his life. Aaron Clark thought that he had contracted what would be his final illness from marching; his dying request was that his son never become a musician.”
Ah, got it. A guaranteed no-bail. Tom was one of my professors at Duke, and took our class to New Orleans in April 2005 --yes, just before Hurricane Katrina — while he was researching this book.
bailedI think I‘d like to sit down over coffee with Mister Marianetti and listen to his story, because it‘s an important one, and his anecdotes seemed promising. This book really needed a more attentive editor, though. There was little cohesion in the narrative, and the mental energy of keeping track of the tangents was simply more than I can offer right now.
Two bails in a row. This doesn‘t bode well.
bailedGave up after a chapter and a half, largely because of infractions like this: “‘Not long after that year, the salt dome oil field known as Spindletop was producing more than over seventeen million barrels a year, while sparking a regional boom as other fields also yielded black gold.‘”
Walter Cronkite deserves better. Heck, he wrote better. Save yourself some time and money and go read one of his memoirs rather than this badly written piffle.
pickPart memoir, part homage to books, “The Year of Reading Dangerously“ isn't is a set of book reviews, or a definitive set of criteria that define Literary Greatness. Andy Miller, quoting another Miller -- Henry, notes that what defines greatness is that a book speaks to him. That criterion is going to play out differently for each of us, and that's the point: we all need get to define “great“ for ourselves. We just keep reading and refining.
“Somebody once described the Internet as a library where all the books have been taken off the shelves and dumped in the middle of the floor. Disorganization, however, is not the issue. The Internet is the greatest library in the universe; unfortunately someone has removed all the ‘no talking‘ signs.“ _pp 215 - 216.
Post a cover you love each day for 7 days, no explanation. Use the hashtags and tag someone else. (For my own accounting purposes, this is the seventh of seven.) #7days7covers #covercrush Join in, @megnews !
Post a cover you love each day for 7 days, no explanation. Use the hashtags and tag someone else. (For my own accounting purposes, this is the sixth of seven.) #7days7covers #covercrush Join in, @CoffeeNBooks !
Post a cover you love each day for 7 days, no explanation. Use the hashtags and tag someone else. (For my own accounting purposes, this is the fifth of seven.) #7days7covers #covercrush Join in, @belacat !
Post a cover you love each day for 7 days, no explanation. Use the hashtags and tag someone else. (For my own accounting purposes, this is the fourth of seven.) #7days7covers #covercrush Join in, @Ms.Story !
Post a cover you love each day for 7 days, no explanation. Use the hashtags and tag someone else. (For my own accounting purposes, this is the third of seven.) #7days7covers #covercrush Join in, @goodbyefrancie !
Post a cover you love each day for 7 days, no explanation. Use the hashtags and tag someone else. (For my own accounting purposes, this is the second of seven.) #7days7covers #covercrush Join in, @Lel2403 !
“On two occasions we crossed over to East Berlin, which I much preferred to the decadent West. Yes, it was dour and repressed — but I was too.” __p 56
Post a cover you love each day for 7 days, no explanation. Use the hashtags and tag someone else. (For my own accounting purposes, this is the first of seven.) #7days7covers #covercrush Join in, @mcctrish !
pickAmen to the LA Times quote on the cover of my 1994 Penguin paperback edition: “The authoritative masterpiece.” Unlike many Apollo-era memories and histories, Chaikin hasn‘t limited his research to the astronauts themselves. As the astronauts have always maintained, they were the most public face of a venture that was made possible by hundreds of thousands of like-minded souls. Chaikin gets it, and his narrative conveys it superbly.
Aaah, this is more like it! Palate cleanser after the train wreck of “Astronaut Wives‘ Club.”
