If your care giving duties allow you time to read.....................I'm interested in what book you are in the middle of or just finished or have waiting on your bedside table.
I'm reading "Total Control" by David Baldacci
It's a crime/thriller drama. Quite compelling.
If you can't find the time to read, you should try. It helps to escape from it all in a good book.
Man, what a pill she sounds like. If she's got that much time on her hands to spend dissecting a book like that maybe she should consider trying to write one herself. Maybe she has. Based on her trivial comments I doubt that her writing skills would come up to par either.
I like to make my own mind up about things. So don't follow reviewers choices about books, movies or anything media related.
I loved the book.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21853621-the-nightingale
I don't think that the book is my style but I did enjoy reading the incredibly detailed one star review posted by Read Cute.
(PS, most people loved it)
I tried to find your previous post on The Nightingale but was unsuccessful. I read a book with I believe a similar title a few decades ago. It was about a woman who was one of the first medical doctors in a field of almost all men. What was your book about?
EmmaQuinn,
I don't think I've read any of the anti-utopian novels since college, and only then b/c of course requirements. I found them unsettling. Given some of the things that are happening today, I'm afraid I might find them even more unsettling.
I've seen a few of the Divergent/Insurgent series, which I guess would be considered more dystopian than anti-utopian (lots of "ians" in this type of literature!). They were difficult to watch, and frightening to consider.
TNTechie, I noted that you read The Roman Republic, and that it's not referred to as The Roman Empire. It's been decades since I've read any history on that period, but as I recall the issue of whether or not it really qualified as an Empire was one that was debated among scholars.
Did the book you read address this?
That reminds me of all the books I bought during college, with the intent of spending retirement winters reading them while sipping hot chocolate and wrapped up in a quilt. I'm still waiting for that time to arrive.
But more relevant are the changes in international relations, reconfiguration of countries, the wars that have been fought, and the advance and change in literally all aspects of life by technology. Those books truly will be "historical" now.
If you get the chance, you should definitely read it. Expect to bawl at the end.
Don't get the audiobook, however. Bryson reads it himself, and as he's lived in England for 40+ years now, tales of an Iowa upbringing told in a British accent sounds really, really odd.
You can stream it if you want...
wrbh.org
When it comes to land line phones, there has been a big push in my area to upgrade to fiber optic service and guess what, that means the phone lines do not carry current the way copper does. And of course most modern landline phones are cordless, so they always need electricity.
Also, they are providing cell phones to homeless people now so they can keep current, stay in touch with family members and call police for assistance if they need it and other reasons
All the time I read old novels and wonder how different a plot would be with today’s technology and instant access to a phone.
charlotte
I had heard rumors that cursive writing wasn't being taught in schools. I didn't believe it at first, but thinking about it, I can believe it now, although I think it's beyond horrible and ridiculous.
I do understand that many people don't write or print any more and only use tech devices, which in my opinion is counter intuitive to addressing climate change through reduction of energy demands. I only need pencils, pens and paper to write. There are energy costs to create them, but at least paper an be recycled. Devices need batteries and SIM cards, the former needing to be charged, replaced and eventually recycled....more electronic junk piling up, and not as easy to recycle as paper.
Malaysia and China no longer take plastic. I don't know who still takes electronic junk. So now we have people relying solely on something that increases energy use. I'm actually surprised that phones are stlll used, especially land lines.
And what really frosts me about that is that it cuts seniors out of potentially vital communication links. None of the companies pushing to eliminate land lines has offered any serious alternative to being w/o power for days, such as during storms, blizzards or other disasters. The only charging method other than having generators which are very costly, would be a solar charger. But in the winter, how often does the sun appear?
How does a senior who only has a chargeable phone and not a land line call for help when the phone battery runs down?
In addition, more tech use creates the need for more permanent storage, and cloud hacking has already occurred. Someone who scribbles would be safer than someone storing information in the "cloud"!
I think that learning through tablets, especially if children don't have glasses with blue light protection, is a harder, less safe and different way to learn. I can't imagine taking geometry or econ courses and having to draw graphs and geometric problems on a tablet. It's so much easier on paper.
Thinking back also on math courses, writing and working problems on paper is so much easier than using a tablet.
It wouldn't surprise me if this method of learning, which I don't think is intuitive, could result in children being misdiagnosed with learning disabilities. I don't think I could learn that way. And I like old fashioned classes with interaction between students and teachers. There are too many people, IMHO, who don't know how to interact with other human beings.
And from what I've read, there are more issues of adjustment with younger people than there have been in the past. Perhaps that's b/c they interact with battery operated devices instead of real human beings.
I still truly believe that the new method of learning is harder, and less helpful.
It's good that you have confidence in your grandson; children (and adults) still need that human interaction and support.
Did you know they don’t teach cursive in school anymore? At least not here in California. They issue tablets to kids from 7th grade on to do their homework. When I try to help my grandson with homework, I can’t find an example of math problems. Just a video tutorial.
If I try to research the problem on my own and come back to him, his work is leaps and bounds from where I left off.
This poor kid, I used to punish him at home when teacher said he had a bad day and didn’t do anything. I thought he was screwing around in class but he was literally DOING NOTHING! ADHD was diagnosed.
He left that school in second grade. The principal had a “zero retention” rule or he would’ve been held back. They didn’t know he was left handed until he changed schools. Oh my gosh.
It would be sad except he just doesn’t care, which is sad in itself. Not even grandma has been able to spark any interest in learning.
But there is hope ahead! He has had a you Tube channel since he was 8. He learns all the video skills just by breathing it in. He is 15 now and I think he will find a place for himself in this world just fine. I’m crossing my fingers.
He doesn’t like reading anything or having to write at all. So very different from me. I don’t think he even watches movies anymore. The world comes in games or ten minute videos to him. Brave new world.
charlotte
Your posts always make me smile 😊.
Okay, that settles it. I wasn’t as smart. You were so wise to keep your letters. I am envious. I wish I had. Oh well...
I have not read that but it sounds fantastic. Do you have a favorite style of gardening? I don’t. I like formal and informal gardens. Some people feel that formal gardens are too ‘stuffy.’ I personally disagree and feel they can be quite relaxing. I also happen to feel that a beautiful field of wildflowers are just as beautiful.
I absolutely agree about the psychological benefits of nature. For me, it’s a garden or water, any body of water. Maybe I was a mermaid in a past life, hahaha. I love plant life in water as well.
Also music, music can also transport us into a different realm.
I too remember the thrill of getting the mail and seeing an air mail letter with a stamp from another country. I've saved all my Japanese correspondence as well as that with others from other countries. I know that in my father's attic is a box of correspondence with my German friend, and others who I've probably forgotten.
These are really, truly, such treasures. My German friend made little gifts, including ones from wheat straw. I cherished them and kept them (until the wheat straw cross was stolen when my house was burglarized). I have an assortment of Japanese items upstairs in my studio; it'll be like exploring when some day I go through and sort things out.
I too am captured by the beauty of Japanese gardens. The serenity they create is so soothing, and so beautiful. I'd recommend a Japanese garden trip or book before I'd recommend any mood altering medication!
And on that subject and off thread, have you, or anyone else here, ever read the English Garden magazine?
https://www.theenglishgarden.co.uk/about-us/
It's not a DIY kind of magazine, such as Country Gardens, or Better Homes & Gardens, but rather one of splendor and tradition, featuring well known English historic sites and massive (and often professionally designed) masterpieces.
The English take gardening to a new level. And of course I'm captivated by David Austin's extensive rose hybridizations.
Interesting observation that writing to strangers may be dangerous today. I hadn't thought of that, but it's certainly true. The Internet and especially social media have opened new avenues for unstable, malcontent and just downright dangerous people to expand their reach.
With e-mail correspondence, one can always close out an account if someone dangerous tries to initiate a relationship. But from what I've read, there are far too many young people resorting to social media for companionship, and becoming subject to predators with nefarious intentions.
You mentioned writing to servicemen. One of the attic treasures also discovered were my parents' correspondence during WWII, and just after I was born. They were sooo emotional. It was strange to think how the my birth and that of my siblings changed their lives; it's not really something most people think about in terms of being the little one who changed their parents' lives.
During the Gulf War, some folks I knew and I wrote to military, some in country. That was quite an experience; through mail I met some interesting people.
I'm glad you had a good school experience, but it's sad to learn of the intolerance for students of different levels of ability. At all levels of society, here and abroad, tolerance for people with differences is an aspect that needs to be pursued and cultivated (except amoral people).
We too explored our area, with never a though as to encountering people with malicious intent. We were sooo free, something not even adults can always feel these days.
You made my day! I haven’t met anyone else who had a pen pal like me. I absolutely loved having a pen pal. Yes, the gifts! He sent me silk bookmarks and photos of beautiful Japanese gardens which are lovely!
Just seeing the stamps made me smile. I wish I had kept those letters to show my kids. One day while decluttering I threw them out.
I tried to get my daughter to write to a pen pal. She selected a girl in Australia. They didn’t correspond long. I wrote faithfully for three years to my pen pal. We just clicked. My younger daughter didn’t even consider a pen pal. I think it would be seen as very old fashioned today. Maybe even dangerous in our modern society.
My gosh, my whole world was so different. I could walk or ride my bike, even take a city bus or streetcar and be safe. A child could never do that in New Orleans today!
He invited me to go ice skating in Japan. Like a foolish young girl I asked my mom if I could go. Of course she said no but I really wanted to go. I kind of had a crush on him.
Look at the women who wrote to the servicemen in WW11 and they fell in love and later married them. Sort of romantic really. Ahhhh, those days are gone and replaced with texting!
Oh, my pen pal, he had incredible writing skills with beautiful handwriting. Better than some of the American kids at my Catholic school! Hahaha 😂. and we had strict nuns as our teachers! They were actually good teachers but American kids don’t learn foreign languages as much as other children in far away countries.
My kids took French in junior high and high school. Their teacher was terrific! She was French Canadian. She was lovely. My daughters learned a lot in her class. They were only allowed to speak French. They couldn’t even ask to use the restroom or borrow a pencil in English. At the end of the year she held a French Cafe’ where parents were invited and we had to order in French. Hahaha 😂.
Some of the things in my school I loved. Other things were really hard for certain kids. We were two years ahead of the public school. If a child couldn’t keep up they were thrown out instead of helped. I think that is sad. I graduated from that school. My brothers were asked to leave and had to attend public school.
One of the girls in my class was a twin. She remained in our class. Her twin had to go to the public school. She said that her twin cried about it.
No one wants encyclopedias though!
The rehab/PC/hospice facility where Dad spent his last days has a fairly decent library. It wasn't unusual to see a guest relaxing in a comfortable chair while reading a magazine or book in the large lounges located throughout the building.
I've only seen libraries at one other rehab facility, an actual room full of books. A real library, quiet and peaceful.
Unfortunately, I think reading may become a lost art as people gravitate to texting and using letters to represent words. I wonder if those people work, and if so whether their jobs require any written communication. I would think there still are standards of communication in business.
NHWM, I loved pen pal mail! I don't remember when I started, but I know that when I took French I corresponded (en francais) with some French students, and later with a German woman who spoke 3 languages, including French and English. That was a very rewarding relationship, and I had a chance to practice writing in both French and German, and in turn, she had a chance to perfect her English (which was better than some native English speakers).
I also remember corresponding with Japanese students; that was sooo interesting and so rewarding. We exchanged small gifts; I know that somewhere I still have some lovely Japanese gifts. I do remember receiving a pair of the small Japanese clogs.
Unfortunately, I think abbreviated interaction through the written word is lessening, if not fading out. So many people think there are so many things to do in a day, and the relaxed environment of enjoying correspondence and preparing little gifts to exchange seems to be taking a back seat to sending texts, posting on social media, taking selfies, and less enlightening or educational activities.
Not to be maudlin, but I sometimes wonder if epitaphs in the future won't be so much of what someone accomplished, but of how many thousands if not millions of times people shared their selfies or texted. The focus is more on me, me, and me for so many people.
I often wonder if future generations will be able to write at all.
Fortunately though, there are still people who reach out to others and recognize that interaction is still a major facet and reward of the human life.
I was 12. I picked a 15 year old boy from Japan because I felt it would be interesting and it certainly was. We corresponded for three years.
He was a very traditional Japanese boy whose parents arranged a marriage for him when he turned 18.
So, when he turned 18 we had to stop writing each other. I learned so much about Japan. I spoke to him about America. It was a great experience for me.
Nowadays, kids would laugh at choosing a pen pal. Back then, the Sunday newspaper was loaded with children’s names and addresses to write to.
I read to my daughter’s classrooms every week. I loved it as much as they dad. The teacher really loved it because she could grade papers as I was reading to the kids.
2nd and Charles is a fantastic used book store. We stopped at this store in Birmingham, Al when we were in Alabama for a hurricane evacuation.
Books do get out of hand. We end up with a ton of books.
Our local libraries have annual book sales to raise money for new books. As some books age and are not as popular anymore, they reduce the number of copies on the shelves but they also accept outside donations. So it's one good way to provide your books with a good home and support the library at the same time. Between book sales, some of the libraries have started having a cart of used books for sale near the check out. Before the library, I used to donate to a used bookstore I liked too - there aren't too many of those around anymore.
Our main homeless shelter runs a thrift center for everything from clothes and toys to furniture and appliances that now accepts books; they particularly like to receive children's and young reader's books so I find myself picking up books in yard sales and dropping them off.
I’m enjoying getting to know that “Flowers” character especially because he always has his two burly sidekicks helping out.
Now with the new baby coming along, it should be good.
Did you know that he wrote and illustrated some children’s books?
charlotte
I shop at yard sales and thrift stores and get home and I’ve bought books I’ve already read! I try to keep a list on my phone of favorite authors and the names of books I haven’t read but I’m too lazy to look.
Sadly, the books did not sell well at all. I always planned to do a BOOK SALE and advertise so I could get readers only. I have enough for a small store, at least a good start.
So now I’m looking to donate them if I can find time. At least I have a car now. That will help a lot!
charlotte