January Reading Notes

Hello, reader…

*Note to first time readers: the following is a summary of a discussion by friends who gather monthly in a virtual space called Second Life. Reading notes are lightly edited reflections shared in real time via text chat.

Black Hole: How an Idea Abandoned by Newtonians, Hated by Einstein, and Gambled on by Hawking Became Loved – by Marcia Bartusiak

Sierra shared that this is not a physics book per se…but more about the development of an idea. It isn’t just about the idea of what we call black holes now but really it is also about different cohorts of scientists over time.

This very interesting and enjoyable read got Sierra interested in more stuff about black holes and astrophysics kinds of topics.

West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

Veyot read this mostly true story about an East Coast zoo sending two giraffes in a truck to a California zoo in 1938. The author learned about the trip while sorting through newspaper clippings when writing a book about the history of the San Diego Zoo. The book is partly funny and partly serious because the two truck drivers discuss life as they go – and are tailed by a suspicious news reporter. Veyot liked the book!

Cowboy Poetry: A Gathering compiled by Hal Cannon

FireWoman read this book of cowboy poetry from 1985. It was compiled from cowboy poets at a gathering in Utah. It’s compared to the work of Lomax gathering folklore in the 1930s. The poems are presented from oldest to newest. Some are long narratives of riding crazy-wild bulls or broncos…and cold winters and hot summers on the range.

The Life of Herod the Great by Zora Neale Hurston

FireWoman also read this new book, published posthumously. It was rescued by a neighbor who saw people burning things from Zora Neale Hurston’s travel trunk after she died. Some pages were missing, scorched or water damaged from the 400-page handwritten manuscript but Deborah G. Plant successfully restored it and had it published. FireWoman highly recommends this book. Hurston’s research into Herod tells a totally different story than the one told now.

Cheerfulness Breaks In by Angela Thirkell

Petronella has been reading her way through Thirkell’s novels which are set in the fictional site of Barsetshire, England and written between the wars and also during WWII. They are gentle social satire with strong emphasis on the women characters. Petronella said that Thirkell is a wonderful and funny writer, good to read before bed.

Family Romance: John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers by Jean Strouse

Petronella is also reading this history book. The problem she is finding with it is that Strouse describes Sargent’s paintings but there are only a few reproductions which makes her want to look up ALL the paintings. The Wertheimers were a fabulously wealth family going back several generations. Personally, Petronella would have preferred less family history and more art history.

Human Acts by Han Kang

Connie came across this book by coincidence, though it felt serendipitous. Over the past year, she’s become deeply fascinated by South Korean culture and language, and iscurrently studying Korean. Additionally, the author recently gained international recognition, having won the Nobel Prize.

This is a fictional story that takes us through the real-life 1980 Gwangju Uprising in South Korea (and beyond), from the perspectives of different characters. By ‘from the perspectives,’ Connie means it literally—the narrative breaks conventional writing rules, switching between points of view and tenses. Yet, it works wonders.

Connie said that the author’s writing skills are terrific and that it goes well with Asian storytelling and folklore somehow.

The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen

This history of the notebook is sort of written like a memoir. In an author interview that Zoe listened to, the author said that he tried to choose a protagonist for each chapter, then told the story of the notebook through their experience of it. So one chapter might feature a mathematician, another a sea captain, another a nurse, etc. And lots of famous folks, too. Erasmus, Leonardo da Vince, etc. Zoe recommends this highly readable and informative book!

Our next gathering is January 9 at 1pm SLT.

SLurl to The Reading Room: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gundeulbawe/41/164/45

October/November Reading Notes

Hello, reader…

Here are the books that were shared at our October and November gatherings.

Beethoven: Biography of a Genius – by George R. Marek

This was FireWoman’s mother’s book. It’s a big one with small print – FireWoman said that she can read and read and read…and still have read only twenty pages. Beethoven is her favorite composer – and she discovered that he was her mother’s fave as well.

The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks

FireWoman heard about this book from her BFF. Goodreads recommends it for fans of The Midnight Library. It features a dangerous journey, magical landscape and the Trans-Siberian express. A young woman has lived on the train her whole life and new passengers are just getting on. FireWoman is looking forward to reading it.

Philosophy for Passengers by Michael Marder

Sierra shared that this is a book trying to tackle being a passenger as a philosophical thing…so it is kinda in the same set of books about philosophy of travel. She’s had a hard time getting engaged with it.

Why I Read: The Serious Pleasure of Books by Wendy Lesser

Sierra said that this is in another category of books about books & reading…and that she honestly hasn’t given it enough of a chance yet.

What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama

Rethinking Geopolitics by Jeremy Black

Sierra recently purchased these titles. Zoe read the Aoyama book and loved it!

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Fantasy Fiction/Occult Fiction. This is a book that is set in an alternate version of Earth where there are “muggle” humans and magical beings. A man named Linus is a caseworker who works for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He’s summoned by Extremely Upper Management to visit a unique orphanage.

So he visits this orphanage on a faraway island and discovers there are 6 children there who are far more magical than the orphans he’s used to seeing. One is a gnome, one is a sprite. There is a wyvern and a shapeshifter and some sort of blob. And – a six year old Lucifer, son of the Devil aka the antichrist.

So Linus is tasked with being there for a month, to see if the orphanage should remain open or be shut down. Zoe said it’s a cozy, heartwarming read.

Green Witchcraft: Folk Magic, Fairy Lore and Herb Craft by Ann Moura

FireWoman mentioned this title when Zoe shared about a recent National Geographic issue about witchcraft.

A set of books by Rudolfo Anaya: The Sonny Baca Novels: Zia Summer, Rio Grande Fall, Shaman Winter, and Jemez Spring

Magical realism. These are set in and around Alburquerque (the original way that it’s spelled). Includes shaman, dreams, shapeshifting – everything FireWoman likes to read. She said that storytelling is Anaya’s focus, and New Mexican history. The one thing that she initially found irritating in the style of writing is that Anaya repeats the same things several times. But then she remembered a Choctaw storyteller telling her that things to be remembered are repeated four times throughout the story.

FireWoman also recommends reading the books on a device so that the Spanish can be easily translated.

My Staggerford Journal and Days with Smoke: A Minnesota Boyhood – two books about Minnesota author Jon Hassler

Jon Hassler wrote My Staggerford Journal in 1975. It’s about his sabbatical year when he wrote his first book, Staggerford.

Days with Smoke is a collection of unpublished stories of Jon Hassler, edited by Will Weaver. Veyot commented that Weaver wrote Hassler’s stories in a way that was interesting to her. He repeated things and made the sentences shorter.

Sweet Land by Will Weaver

Inspired by her Hassler reads, Veyot read this collection of short stories. One of them was made into a movie. It’s about a Norwegian farmer who imported a German wife. His town didn’t accept her.

Another story was titled Sheet Rock. The wife in the story says that she knows all about sheet rock from watching This Old House with Bob Vila.

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan

Veyot mentioned this one too and asked if anyone had read it. Zoe said it’s on her list and that it features snippets from Tan’s nature journal.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Irisse has been listening to the audiobook version of this classic novel from old England. She can relate a lot to the main character. She said it’s about inner healing and the healing of others. And bits of magical realism as well. Many of us agreed that The Secret Garden is a special book.

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

Zoe is reading Klune’s unofficial “Kindness Trilogy”. It in includes House on the Cerulean Sea, Under the Whispering Door and The Lives of Puppets.

Under the Whispering Door is about a man named Wallace who is kind of a jerk. He dies in the first chapter. He attends his own funeral and is stunned to learn that others view him as a jerk – because that’s not how he saw himself. So Hugo, a tea shop owner and ferryman for the dead, tries to help Wallace with his transition. Wallace ends up finagling on week to reutrn to the living to try to live a different sort of life.

Zoe had only just started this novel so she’ll let everyone knows what she thinks at the next meeting.

Our next gathering is January 12 at 1pm SLT.

SLurl to The Reading Room: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gundeulbawe/41/164/45

September Reading Notes

Hello, reader…

*Note to first time readers: the following is a summary of a discussion by friends who gather monthly in a virtual space called Second Life. Book notes are lightly edited reflections shared in real time via text chat.

Based on a book that our friend Veyot read a few years ago, our Book Lovers Coffee Hour group started a roadside poetry project. We host a mailbox near the Reading Room where random passersby are invited to share an original poem.

In August, we received the following poem by Emm Evergarden.

 In the hush of a still room, books find me,
Their spine-tingling whispers call me home,
Through ink and paper, they draw my heart's plea,
Each page a pulse, a beat in this tome.

They find me when the world is loud,
In silent lines, I find my crowd,
Stories seek the depths of my mind,
Books find me, and in them, I’m defined.

Each cover a compass, each word a key,
Unlocking realms where I’m truly free,
They find me lost, they find me whole,
Books bind my wounds and heal my soul.

Books. Find. Me.

Here are the books that were shared at our September gathering.

Go Set a Watchman – by Harper Lee

FireWoman truly enjoyed this book. She could see how it could be/was written before To Kill a Mockingbird.

It’s about Scout/Jean Louise, who is in her early 20s. She’s going home for a visit and comes face-to-face with the segregation in her small hometown in Alabama. She’d been living in New York City and only visits Maycomb periodically. Her Dad, Atticus, is old and very arthritic.

That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America by Amanda Jones

FireWoman also read this eye-opening read about an elementary school librarian who spoke at her local public library in favor of not banning books. Four days later, she started receiving death threats. Her lifelong neighbors chimed in.

She hires and lawyer and has an ongoing suit against the baddies. It’s written with some fun parts. She has a chapter titled WWJD: What Would Judy (Blume) Do.

Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin

Set in WWII, a young librarian is recruited by the U.S. Military to work in Portugal, posed as a librarian, but walking the streets gathering magazines and newspapers that give clues to the German military strategy.

One day, she discovered some words that seem misplaced and realizes that it is a secret code, sent by a French resistance worker. Then the story switches to tell about the French resistance worker’s strategy.

The stories of the librarian in the safety of Portugal and dangers involving the young resistance worker who was the typesetter in Lyon France were a stark contrast. The end involves resettling lots of Jewish and French people to Portugal.

Veyot liked her writing.

The Library of Broken Worlds by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Cold Shiver mentioned this sci-fi that takes place in a library. Despite glowing praise, Cold personally wasn’t a fan of the writing style – but said that it’s a creative and original story with interesting takes on AI in the future. Worth a read.

Anarchist Cybernetics by Thomas Swann

Sam shared about an essay that explores how cybernetics, a system of feedback and self-regulation, can inform anarchist organizing. Swann argues that cybernetics can help anarchists develop more efficient, adaptive systems of collective decision-making, mutual aid, and resistance to authority.

It’s short in size but very technical.

LINK: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/thomas-swann-anarchist-cybernetics

No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister

Each chapter in this book is a new story with a new main character. The first chapter is about an author taking five years to write her first book. The next nine chapters are about the different people who read the book. One is the professor who encouraged her to write the book, and of course, one story involves the author meeting a reader. Veyot liked all the stories and the style of writing.

House Lessons: A Memoir in Essays by Erica Bauermeister

Veyot’s share reminded Zoe of a different Bauermeister title that someone recommended. It’s on Zoe’s TBR.

Secret Voices: A Year of Women’s Diaries edited by Sarah Gristwood

Zoe bought a copy of this book while on vacation. It’s a collection of excerpts from over a hundred diaries. Organized by month and date, each day offers a few entries from different people – sort of like snapshots into the lives of a spectrum of women through the ages. It’s pretty neat.

Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill

Fiction, set in the 1850s. Mary Elizabeth Frankenstein, grand niece of the famous scientist, is young and trying to make her own name in the world of science. She stumbles upon a cache of old documents and discovers the “shocking truth” of her great uncle’s past. Then sets out on a quest in the wilds of Scotland.

Zoe is only 25 pages in, so she doesn’t know what the quest is yet – but she’s enjoying it so far. She found it at her public library’s display of horror books. She typically doesn’t go for horror books but the cover is really pretty so she figured, why not?

Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell

Sam mentioned this book as an example of one that they chose based on the cover. It was a big book for them at the time so sometimes it works to judge by the cover!

Our next gathering is October 6 at 1pm SLT (Note that this is the 1st, not the 2nd, Sunday of the month). All are welcome – bring a friend!

SLurl to The Reading Room: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gundeulbawe/41/164/45

August Reading Notes

Hello, reader…

Here are the books mentioned by the readers who joined us at our August gathering:

Annie Leibovitz at Work – by Annie Leibovitz

Sierra shared that this is probably the most autobiographical of the three Leibovitz books that she read. It has chapters about different points in Leibovitz’s career that talk about how she got into photography and her experiences.

Sierra generally thinks of Lebovitz as a portrait photographer–which is how she usually chooses to position herself even though Sierra thinks Lebovitz doesn’t like photographic categories so much.

One of the things that is even surprising is that at one point, Lebovitz went to Sarajavo. She has some photos from that period…so you could say ‘war photographer’ fits in there, too.

Annie Leibovitz Portraits, 2005-2016 and Wonderland by Annie Lebovitz

Sierra also read these two fairly large epic tomes of Lebovitz’s work. Going through these in relation to the one above was interesting when reviewing her work as a photographer. This is where…a Kindle is simply not not not going to do the work justice. Sierra emphasized that print is needed for this.

Though someone like Leibovitz has a large assortment of assistants that most professionals wouldn’t have, her work is still amazing…lots of details. A great deal of thought goes into it.

Cemetery of Untold Stories by Isabel Allende

The main character is an author who has some story ideas that never developed. She decides to actually bury the notes for stories on land that she has inherited in a poor district in her hometown in the Dominican Republic. She has a small house built on the plot and then hires a person to make gravestones and decorate the graves. The ghosts from the graves speak to the author, and to the cemetery workers, and the cemetery becomes a popular public park.
It also has a little story about Trujillo and about a doctor who escapes from the island. Veyot said she enjoyed all of it.

Veyot also encouraged everyone to see Bryn Oh’s current exhibit, The Skyfisher.

Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen

CK recently started reading this book. She loves his songs, knows a bit of his poetry, and was warned that this was a difficult book. She agrees that it IS very difficult to follow.

This book reads a bit like a stream of consciousness, and there are so many different ‘thoughts’ in the main character’s mind. It reads like poetry, which is quite hard when it’s not actual poetry but page after page.

CK also shared a SLurl to the Loenard Cohen Club in SL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Beau%20Belle/226/28/22

Killer Weed by Manning Wolfe

FireWoman read this book that is available on Amazon for 99 cents. This book, as do all her other books, grabs the reader within the first couple of pages and is very hard to put down.

Medical marijuana is legal in Texas, Really. And this is a book about greed and murder (of course) for the top licenses to grow medical marijuana in Texas. FireWoman had to remind myself it was fiction.

Manning’s characters are very believable and very easy to NOT LIKE! The bad guys that is.

Horror Tales of Japan: 21 Japanese Folktales Not to Be Read to Children by Kyota Ko

FireWoman said that some of these are very scary. They are all short and shared with a lot of cultural background. The author did all of the art on his iPad. It is very good. FireWoman recommends all of Kyota-san’s books.

Words Without Music by Phillip Glass

Veyot was reminded of this memoir when Sierra shared about her Lebovitz reads. Glass was still driving a cab to make money while he was quite famous in music. He was a composer who wrote music that was too modern at first. Lots of piano compositions and string quartets. Now his music is in movies. It was only lately that Glass realized that he stole some phrases from country western songs – short tunes. He hears them now in his music.

Veyot thought this was easy to read and enjoyed it.

The One in a Million Boy by Monica Wood

Zoe read this book about a 104 year old woman and the friendship she forms with an 11 year old boy scout. He attempts to help her get into the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest living person with a valid driver’s license. But then he dies unexpectedly and his parents take over. Zoe is halfway through it and is enjoying it. It’s a warm-hearted read – though if you’re currently struggling with personal grief, you might save this one for later.

Our next gathering is September 8 at 1pm SLT. We’ll meet at our new location in Seogyeoshire. All are welcome – bring a friend!

Discover Silent Book Club: The Reading Room Meetup and More

Recently, Bay City Library Director Ayame (aka Stable Mum/Friendly Fairelander), introduced me to Silent Book Club in Second Life, an officially registered chapter of *Silent Book Club® (SBC).

As described on their website, SBC is “a global community of readers, with more than 1000 chapters in 50 countries.” SBC members gather in public – typically at a cafe, bar, bookstore, or library – to chat about books, then read alone, together.

On Sunday, I hosted the first of what will become a regularly monthly SBC meetup at our Reading Room. Bay City Library and Sonder Books will also host meetups; a current schedule can be found here.

Our gathering began with folks helping themselves to hot chocolate and cookies before nestling into comfy chairs. After a quick round of introductions, a few folks shared the titles of the books that they were dipping into:

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh

Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators by the U.S. Navy

From Bauhaus to Our House by Tom Wolfe

The One in a Million Boy by Monica Wood

Silent Book Club in Second Life is open to more meet ups at new locations. If you’re interested in hosting one, get in touch with Stable Mum (Friendly Fairelander).

The next Silent Book Club in Second Life gathering at The Reading Room will take place on September 22 at 6pm SLT.

* “Silent Book Club” is a registered trademark of Silent Book Club LLC.

July Reading Notes

Hello, reader…

We opened our July gathering by sharing 3 poems that we received through our poetry mailbox. They are reprinted here with permission from each poet.

 I'm a little bit late for book club today.

Drove over from Haman, got lost on the way.

The path is lovely, but I wore the wrong shoes

Twisted my ankle, its only a bruise.
 
The next time we meet, I might take the train.

~ Written by Veyot. Copyright 2024.

A Solitary Bee Landed On Me

A solitary bee,
landed on me,
with gentle hum and fragile wings.
Its tiny feet, a light caress,
paused on my arm, in nature's dress.

No rush, no swarm, just it and I,
beneath the broad and endless sky.
A fleeting guest, a moment's grace,
a whispered bond in this quiet place.

We shared a breath, a heartbeat’s span,
then off it flew, this little friend.
Leaving behind a trace of gold,
a story in the silence told.

Written by Emm Evergarden. Copyright 2024.

birds in the rain

Today i walked
in the rain—
have you ever wondered
where the birds hide
when it rains
and what they think about
while waiting
for the sun?

Written by Julian Heylinck. Copyright 2024.

Here are the books mentioned by the readers who joined us at our July gathering:

The Jungle – by Upton Sinclair

We comment about the abuse to the animals in the Chicago slaughter houses at the turn of the 20th century, but the abuse to the human workers was far beyond everything. The parts that were censored from the 1906 edition were very involved with socialism being on the rise all over the world. FireWoman found this book to be very enlightening.

The Jaipur Trilogy by Alka Joshi

FireWoman doesn’t remember how she came by this series but it is very good storytelling.

The first book is The Henna Artist. The second book is The Secret Keeper of Jaipur. They are set in 1950s India. FireWoman couldn’t put it down. She’s now on the third book, The Perfumist of Paris. She said the character portrayals are great, very believable.

The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith

The premise of the book is that there is a library in Hell — not necessarily part of Hell, but kinda leasing space there. Books that authors think of, but didn’t actually write, wind up there. The librarians have the job of taking care of the books, administering the Library, fixing book bindings (or re-binding, as needed). Sometimes… a book will get antsy and leave!

When a book leaves it takes the form of a character in the book — generally the protagonist. Then the librarian has to seek them out to return them.

Such is the start of the book, when Claire (our protagonist Librarian) has to retrieve a book that went walkabout (Sierra’s term) but on the way it turns into rather more of an adventure, with other sidekicks in tow.

Sierra said that this was a really fun read! So much so that she got a couple of follow up books, too. She liked the world building that went on with this… getting at how these ‘afterlife’ realms relate… besides Hell we get a glimpse of Heaven, of Valhalla, and an un-labeled realm that was sorta Greco-Egyptian kinda (?). Good writing, too… the dialogue worked well.

Irving Penn: Centennial

This is a photography collection that Sierra has been going through. It goes along with a MET gallery exhibit. Penn was mostly a photographer though he did some other drawings and paintings too. A lot of his work was in Vogue — so a lot of fashion photography, but he also did lots of portraits. He has a whole series that he is known for where a subject is positioned between two narrow panels forming a v-shape. Sort of a simple layout but Sierra thought it was interesting how much mileage he got out of that. She said that the book, Centennial, is quite the heavy tome and a pretty thorough compendium of his work.

The Executioners Song by Norman Mailer

This is Vivian’s favorite book. It won a Pulitzer Prize. It’s about Gary Gilmore, the first prisoner to have the firing squad. It’s very romantic in the most crazy way. It has short chapters, huge book but she devoured it. Gilmore felt by choosing to die there was dignity in his death instead of just rotting in jail. He had very different beliefs but Norman Mailer made her understand this man. Based on a true story.
A film based on the book is available to view here.

The Weatherman by Steve Thayer

FireWoman mentioned this in passing as a spine tingling read.

With the End in Mind by Kathryn Mannix

Tiordan shared this title. It helped him through a period of watching someone close to him pass away.

Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith

This is Tiordan’s favorite book. It’s a wonderfully weird book about a manhunt and a world divided into sectors, each with their own rules and ways of beings. There’s a zone of cats, a zone where the soul is believed to be a boomerang, a zone of “Actioneers” where everyone works and is measured by the size of their desks. The author has a stunning turn of phrase and a grasp of the absurd. It’s also insightful and haunting at times.There’s the spider that skedaddles, the trousers that receive congratulatory notices and a sea that differs depending on how its seen and from where. Much more to be discovered – it’s a fun, thoughtful read!

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey

Zoe mentioned this title in passing as something on her TBR, about a bedridden woman who shares the story of a snail that lives on her nightstand.

Extraterrestrial Languages by Daniel Oberhaus

Sierra mentioned this book that she recently added to her TBR pile. About basically the problem of… if we ever communicate with aliens…. how would that really work? It looks niche and eclectic, which often appeals to Sierra. 🙂

How to Read a Book by Monica Wood

Zoe recently started this book about an unlikely friendship between a retired English professor, the handyman who has a crush on her and a young woman who accidentally killed the handyman’s wife. It’s a rather cozy read – and well written. Zoe recommends it and is keen to read Wood’s other books.

Plant Spirit Medicine: The Healing Power of Plants by Eliot Cowan

Ananda mentioned this book in passing. She hasn’t started it yet but it sounds interesting!

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

Betzi is re-reading this series at the moment. She has an SL daughter and they’ve been listening to the audiobooks together.

Our next gathering is August 11 at 1pm SLT. We’ll meet at our new location in Seogyeoshire. All are welcome – bring a friend!

June Reading Notes

Hello, reader…

*Note to first time readers: the following is a summary of a discussion by friends and bookworms who gather monthly in a virtual space called Second Life. Book notes are lightly edited reflections shared in real time via text chat.

Our first gathering at the new reading room was lovely and cozy. We have just two book recommendations – but they’re really good ones!

Fourteen Days – edited by Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston

This unique book is a collaborative novel written by thirty-six American and Canadian authors. Many of the authors are considered eminent in their genres – Zoe immediately recognized names like Celeste Ng, R.L. Stine, Dave Eggers, Mira Jacob, John Grisham, Meg Wolitzer, and a few more. None of the authors are given a byline in the novel, though they are credited for their specific contributions in an appendix.

The book is set over fourteen days in 2020. Though it’s set during the pandemic, the focus isn’t on the pandemic per se. Rather, it’s about neighbors who make their way to the rooftop of their apartment building to get fresh air for a few hours – and end up swapping stories with one another about their lives. Zoe thought it felt hopeful and uplifting. She enjoyed reading about this gathering of New Yorkers – the novel is set in NYC – who ordinarily wouldn’t bother with each other but end up bonding because of their circumstances.

Half Life of a Secret by Emily Strasser

Veyot heard about this book in a Minnesota newspaper. The author interviews relatives and former neighbors trying to get a better understanding of her grandfather who was a chemist who worked in Tennessee at the Oakridge atomic laboratory in 1942. The employees and their families did not know know that the product they worked on would become the atom bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. The author’s grandfather suffers from depression all of his working career, because of it all.

It starts when the govt. buys the land to set the lab and continues until the govt. tries to reclaim the land from pollution. Veyot said that it’s an interesting story with politics, psychology, prejudice, and pollution. Although it’s non-fiction, it reads like a novel.

Our next gathering is July 14 at 1pm SLT. We’ll meet at our new location in Seogyeoshire. All are welcome – bring a friend!

May Reading Notes

Hello, reader…

We received a haiku in our poetry mailbox, entitled, hyperreal mystikal:

Philosophers speak,

Baudrillard and McLuhan,

Truth in jest’s mystique.

Author: Chemikal Tripp

The Jungle – Upton Sinclair

FireWoman read this censored classic that someone shared with her awhile back. The pages were like photocopies of a yellos-paged paperback, so she started looking into getting a copy. It turns out that there was a miraculous find about the book and how the missing pages were discovered. Sinclair censored his own writing so that the book would get published.

Sinclair’s novel starts out as a delightful read covering Lithuanians coming to America – then goes on to expose the horrid conditions of the meat industry in Chicago. The impact of this book helped change the laws on labor and health safety in slaughter houses.

Burn Book by Kara Swisher

Sierra has been reading this book that is mostly related to her reporting on the world of tech for the last couple of decades. It’s a fun read! Swisher is definitely opinionated in the book as she talks about her interactions with different founders over the years. Secondarily, it is somewhat autobiographical since it is very much written from her career perspective.

No Land in Sight and Scribbled in the Dark by Charles Simic

Sierra also picked up a couple of Charles Simic books. He’s a poet from the former Yugoslavia. She said that his poetry is often humorous, whimsical, but also having a certain edge to it…bit dark at times. She liked these collections but commented that her favorite collection of his poems is The World Doesn’t End. She thinks he does for poetry what Dali did for painting.

Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad – Austin Kleon

Veyot read this in two days, then read it backwards in one day. She enjoyed it in both directions. She called it a cheerful self-help book.

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult

Veyot advises potential readers of this book to not read reviews! It will spoil your fun.

A Sotheby’s art historian and her boyfriend (a New York doctor) are planning a trip to the Galapagos Islands when the Covid epidemic hits. There is a wonderful plot twist in the middle of the book. Also, a great art history story about the provenance of a Henri Toulouse-LauTrec artwork.

Remember – do not read reviews of this book before you read it because you get too much information and that would spoil your fun! Veyot said it was the best book she’s read this year so far.

Our next gathering is June 9 at 1pm SLT. All are welcome – bring a friend!

April Reading Notes

Hello, reader…

April’s gathering felt special for some reason – perhaps the coziness of the group encouraged each of us to share in ways that felt comfy and nourishing.

Some interesting reads emerged from our conversation as well…

Loving Eleanor – Susan Wittig Albert

Veyot decided to try another title by an author whose work she enjoyed last month. Loving Eleanor, told from the viewpoint of one of Eleanor Roosevelt’s young lady lovers, is well written and interesting to read – though Veyot asked herself, “Do I really want to know all this?”. It’s a question many of us have experienced with other titles and authors as well. Veyot shared that Wittig Albert writes stories well – from the angle of the lovers – and recommends them.

FireWoman mentioned that she’s read the China Bayless mysteries by this author and enjoyed them.

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

When FireWoman got this from her library, she couldn’t put it down. Set in 1908 Manchuria, murders and deaths are occuring and foxes are said to be the cause. Foxes who can change into human form.

The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo

FireWoman also read this novel by Choo, set in Malay 1893, about dreams and entering people’s dreams. She said it’s eerie but not scary-scary.

Excession – Iain M. Banks

Sierra read this book that is part of Banks’ ‘Culture’ series of novels. It’s about a kind of mystery…a star purportedly older than the universe itself…but then disappears for a few centuries before reappearing.

The Culture is a kind of interstellar civilization (among other civilizations).

In the Culture there are these kind of AI Minds (capital -M) running things … so the book is about all the things going on around investigating that .. .and at some point there will no doubt be some conflict. There is a heavy bit of space opera in it. One of the things she’s really liking about this book is that it is also giving more insight into the Culture itself.

Abandoned Places by Henk Van Rensbergen

Sierra also read this book of photography by an airplane pilot who explores abandoned places and old ruins during this free time. She said that the photographs are spectacular!

Signs: The Secret Language of the Universe by Laura Lynne Jackson

Veyot also mentioned this book by a famous clairvoyant. Jackson suggests that we all look for something unusual that might be a sign to us. Veyot happened upon this book serendipitously – it was just facing outward on a shelf so she picked it up. And finds herself looking for signs all the time now.

Our next gathering is May 12 19 at 1pm SLT. All are welcome – bring a friend!

March Reading Notes

Hello, reader…

Whoops. I was so caught up in our conversation, I plum forgot to take a photo.

Thank goodness for chat logs, right? Here are all of the intriguing reads shared by this month’s attendees:

Midlife: A Philosophical Guide by Kieran Setiya.

Written by an MIT philosophy professor, this book introduces some useful ways of thinking about a lot of pretty common ‘midlife’ sorts of quandaries — the kinds of things that might keep us up at night. Like lamenting the life you might have led if you made certain other choices. Sierra recommends this one. It’s probably the most practical philosophy book that she has read.

Someone Always Nearby – Susan Wittig Albert

Veyot recently read this book about Georgia O’Keeffe growing old. The title comes from O’Keeffe’s need to always have someone to be her slave. She always overworked her best friend or worker.

It’s a fictional account of the artist’s life in New Mexico but the main character is her long time friend, Marie Chabot. It’s a tale of friendships, hot tempers, and remodeling adobe houses. There’s lots of gossip but Veyot enjoyed the parts about remodeling the most. It’s based on letters from the collections of the Georgia O’Keeffe museum in Santa Fe and West Texas A&M University.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

A great story on friendship and helping Jewish people escape from the Netherlands during World War II. FireWoman commented that this juvenile fiction was suspenseful and that several of Lowry’s other books are banned.

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

FireWoman also read this novel about mothers and sisters. She hasn’t seen the movie that was based on this book. She found some of it a bit hard to relate to since she doesn’t have any sisters.

The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver

FireWoman found this book fascinating. It also looks like it will be turned into a movie someday; Kingsolver is co-writing the screenplay for it.

A Year in Nature: A Memoir of Solace by Clare Walker Leslie

Zoe read this collection of 100+ pages taken from Leslie’s personal nature journal, beginning on a winter solstice and continuing through the year. The author lives in Massachusetts though some of the journal was written during her travels within the U.S. Most of the pages are meant for the reader to experience her local nature through her eyes – via her original sketches and notes in her handwriting.

Our next gathering is April 14 at 1pm SLT. All are welcome – bring a friend!