Library Bookshelf

MarsGal · April 04, 2024, 06:47:13 AM

Oops! I must have missed my goof. The whole series is about "a small community of retired spies who are living in a coastal town in Maine". They retirees gather together to enjoy a meal and talk, ostensibly, about books. They Call the gathering The Martini Club.

MarsGal · April 04, 2024, 07:40:45 AM

I just now ran across another retired spy themed book. The audiobook special for today is called Night Owl by Andrew Mayne. Listening to the audio sample, I discover that this retired spy uses a memory palace method to remember things. Previously, the only memory palace I've run across is a novel titled The Memory Palace which I have had sitting in my TBR pile for a few years. I had no clue, before just now looking it up, that the method has been around under various names tracing way back to Cicero. Imagine that! Never ran across it in my undergraduate psychology studies. I would not be surprised, if George was still here, that he was familiar with it in his graduate studies. Anyway, it certainly is a different way to start out a spy thriller novel.

Tomereader1 · April 04, 2024, 04:24:19 PM

Spy Coast is really good. Her other books are too.

MarsGal · April 16, 2024, 07:01:08 AM

I have begun adding to my online library wish list. This morning I got introduced to Hanan al-Shaykh (Beirut Blues and Women of Sand and Myrrh), Bolu Babalola, (Love in Color, short stories), Aoko Matsuda, (Where the Wild Ladies Are, short stories), and Sara Nisha Adams (The Reading List) . Several weeks ago I added Jack Kerouac (Dr. Sax), Tan Twan Eng (The House of Doors) and Neal Gaiman (American Gods).

Marilyne · April 17, 2024, 12:08:54 AM

Mars - I'm three-quarters of the way through The Spy Coast, and really enjoying it. Great story and wonderful characters. Fortunately I got the large print version from my library, that's helping me to enjoy I even more! I had such a hard time with the tiny print in Pandemic 1918, that I finally had to put it away for a awhile. I'll try again, but would like to find it in large print.

I might have read Jack Kerouac (Dr. Sax), at some time in the distant past, but can't remember for sure. I know I read a couple of books by him or about him, but I think that was in the 60's or 70's's.

MarsGal · April 21, 2024, 04:55:21 PM

I continue on with The Far Pavilions, now at a little over nine hours of listening left. The book is a bit too long if you ask me, but I do want to finish it. And now I discover that the Brits made a mini-TV series of it back in 1984 and HBO ran it in 1985. It is available on Amazon Prime for rent. Well, I guess I will have to miss out for now; I no longer have Amazon Prime. Anyway, there are some big names associated with it, like: Amy Irving, Christopher Lee, Omar Sharif, John Gielgud, Rossano Brassi. The lead was played by Ben Cross. As I suspected from listening to this book, I was not surprised to learn that M.M.Kaye was born in India. At ten she was sent to England for schooling, returning only briefly to India afterward. She wrote and illustrated many children's books, wrote a murder mystery series, each based in a different international city, and wrote, edited or introduced other books. Paul Scott (author of The Raj Quartet) was her literary agent, and it was he that encouraged her to write The Far Pavilions.

Marilyne · April 26, 2024, 11:06:52 AM

Mars - "The Far Pavilion's" sounded familiar to me, but I know I've never read it. Now I'm thinking I might have seen the mini-series, or some of the episodes, on HBO? We've had HBO since it was first available, and we still have it because we both like mini-series programming. Fortunately, they have all of their past series available to watch, so I'll look and see . . . although 1985 is a long time ago. Some great actors in the cast - I especially like Omar Shariff and John Gielgud.

Lots of good books out there written by British writers who were born in India or lived there for a long time. Another excellent author who comes to mind is Rumer Godden. Do you remember reading any of her books? My favorite of hers is The Greengage Summer, but there were many others as well.

MarsGal · April 26, 2024, 02:45:48 PM

Oh yes, I have read Two Under the Indian Sun which was a book of childhood memories. She wrote it with her sister, Winsome Ruth Key Godden who wrote under the name of Jon Godden. In fact, I still have the book, published in 1966 by Alfred A. Knoff/The Viking Press. I just checked ABE which has the book I have listed as a first edition. The book inspired me to search for more books written by Indian authors or about India. However, I never read any of her fiction, although The River sounds familiar, so I may has seen the film version of that.

Ah-hah. YouTube has it. Think I will watch it tonight. I rather doubt I saw this before. I must be thinking of another movie with a similar name.

Marilyne · April 27, 2024, 12:40:35 AM

Mars - I'm wondering if you watched The River last night, and if so, what you thought of it? The only movie I recall seeing that was adapted from a Rumer Godden book, is Black Narcissus. The story is about a group of nuns, who are sent to work in a convent in the Himalayas. Of course things don't go as expected. The Mother Superior, was played by Deborah Kerr, and I think it was her first movie? It plays on TCM a couple of times a year, so I'm sure it's available on other Channels as well?

I'm looking forward to going to the library this weekend to see what books they have by Rumer or her sister. I'll check out whatever they have, whether I recall reading it or not. I especially hope they have The Greengage Summer. I liked it so much back when I read it - maybe 50 years ago? I'm wondering what I'll think of it after so long?

MarsGal · April 27, 2024, 07:20:19 AM

I think she wrote one or two more books about the nuns. I've heard of Black Narcissus but have not read or seen the movie.

As for The River, I didn't get a chance to look for it last night. For some reason YouTube (and only YouTube) hangs up on me as I negotiate the channel. It was particularly bad last night so I game up and cruised around to see what was on several other channels, but didn't settle on anything. Aside from Peacock Premium and several Xumo (Xfinity's brand, I think) channels, Sling offers a free account. I may sign up for that one. Of course, lots of sports related channels. There are a ton of smaller or more specialized channels like you might see on Ruku, et.al. including crafts and foreign language channels, etc. I need to explore them more as I only just breezed partially through them when I first got the streaming So far, the documentary channels haven't impressed me.

I finished The Far Pavilions the other night. Now I will go back to finish up a book of short stores that Alastair Reynolds wrote. So far I am very unimpressed. After that, I think I will try The Tuscarora War: Indians, Settlers, and the Fight for the Carolina Colonies by David La Vere and read by Joe Barrett. It is one of the borrows, and has been sitting in my cue the longest.

Reading-wise, I got tired of the Mary Shelley bio and set it aside for now. Then I started Clifford D. Simak's Mastodonia, but is not really catching my imagination. Maybe in a few more pages? Mastodonia started out as a short-story in 1955. It was expanded into a novel and published in 1978. Basically, an alien crashes on Earth and creates a portal to what becomes known as Mastodonia. It becomes a business enterprise offering trips to big-game hunters and possibly colonization. It reminds me of elements of Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park, et.al. and John Scalzi's The Kaiju Preservation Society. There are several other earlier writers using similar themes who used time travel or portals to hunt, colonize or preserve cultures and animals in their works. Two current writers who feature travel back to pre-historic times include Michael Z. Williamson, where a military unit accidentally gets sent back to Paleolithic times, and Dennis E. Taylor who writes the Quantum Earth series. In this one a portal to another earthlike planet may save the human race from environmental disaster on this planet. I am fond of Andre Norton's Time Trader's series, although I have not yet read the last three which were written with other authors.

Oh, look what I found: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_time_travel_works_of_fiction
Notice the first one they list is dated 1733. All sorts of time travel here.

MarsGal · April 28, 2024, 07:43:45 AM

Marilyne, I did get to watch The River last evening. Instead of the B/W I was expecting, it was in color and prefaced that it was restored and enhanced. The guy that played the cousin from America looked familiar even though I didn't recognize the name. Interesting story, but somehow, I think I would have liked reading it better.

Marilyne · April 28, 2024, 11:57:57 PM

Mars - This afternoon I went to the library, expecting that there would be a few Rumer Godden books to choose from. Sad to say that there were none. I guess they're considered old and of no interest to today's readers. When I got home I looked on Amazon, and found some of the ones I wanted to read, but they were quite pricey.

Of course, they were all available on eBay, but I don't know if I want to get involved with eBay or not at this point? Also, Abe books had the ones I'm interested in reading, but pricey plus shipping. So I'll put that on hold for now, but will maybe check Barnes & Noble later this week. There's a really nice B&N store that's not too far from me. I do like to go there and browse.

I'm sure I read "The River", a long time ago, but don't remember much about it? I know I never saw the movie, but it doesn't sound worth pursuing.

I may completely change course, and look into the Wikipedia list of time travel books that you posted.

MarsGal · April 29, 2024, 06:31:50 AM

Libraries seem to change out their selections more frequently now. My local branch in Enola has a policy of purging books that had not been checked out in something short of two years (forget exactly how many months). They cited, correctly, that they needed the room for newer books that are in demand. What a shame, but I bought quite a few of those discards from the Friends of the Library bookstore for my own home library, now also sadly diminished due to reduced space and several bookshelves discarded (one fell apart) rather than trying to fit them in here. Never fear though. I have since bought, so far, one new shelf system a corner of the living room, a small nightstand with a shelf for the spare bedroom, and my sister has one that needs to be brought over sometime when I feel strong enough to manage it or can get someone to help put it in the car and/or bring it into the apartment. I like it because it is a mission style fold-up like several I already have except that is narrower and four shelves rather than three. Unfortunately Jim must have glued or nailed two of the shelves so that it no longer folds. That makes it more awkward for me to move. I am unable to balance it right in order to minimize the weight load.

I am trying to find something to read that will hold my attention. Mastodonia isn't doing that. I should probably read into it a little further, but I think I want to read something else just now. To that end, I have started something called The Last Librarian: Justar Journal Book One by Brandt Legg. At its start I find that the world has been devastated by a fast moving, fatal virus. A new world government has arisen in its aftermath and for some odd reason I have yet to figure out, all the libraries in the world except this one in Seattle are gone. Now this one is being shut down. So the question is, why? So far, the first chapter is pretty bland. Oh lordy, this looks like it is going to be a nanny state thing. I just got introduced to a new character who is regularly fined for being overweight.

Marilyne · April 30, 2024, 12:04:44 AM

Mars, you said you're trying to find something to read that will hold your attention? Funny you should ask! I was going through my computer bookmarks today, trying to weed out and delete some that I never visit. I came across this website, that I had long forgotten. Then I spent about an hour sitting here scrolling through the years.

https://lithub.com/here-are-the-biggest-fiction-bestsellers-of-the-last-100-years/10/?single=true

This article was written in 2018, so of course the list starts in 1918. I was surprised to see one of my all time favorite books was published that year. It wasn't in the top ten, but close!
My Antonia, by Willa Cather.

MarsGal · April 30, 2024, 07:25:45 AM

Gosh, it's hard to believe some of these books were published that long ago. I never read them, but The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and The Magnificent Ambersons come to mind. The first book I saw on the list that I have read is Curwood's The River's End which I found years ago on Project Gutenberg as well as his The Valley of Innocent Men which I did download, but can't remember if I read it or if it is still waiting all these years to be read. I am going to have to take that list over to Project Gutenberg and find some of these books. I do like reading these old books. More of the Zane Grey's books certainly. We read Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey in High School English class. All Quiet on the Western Front was my Dad's favorite silent movie which he let me stay up late to watch with him. I have the 1930 reprint edition of it. I remember the movie A High Wind in Jamaica and later read the book. My sister read As I Lay Dying in school and liked it. I could never, except for The Reivers get into Faulkner. Hilton's Lost Horizon was surprisingly short. I have a paperback edition of it dated from 1945 in surprisingly good shape. Okay, I'll stop my running comments now. It is heartwarming to know that many of these books are still read today, still loved, and often, still relevant.

MarsGal · April 30, 2024, 06:21:53 PM

After years and years and years of waiting for the movie of Alastair McClean's Ice Station Zebra to be rerun on TV and now streaming, it found me. Yay, kind of. The beginning credit scenes were not quite familiar. The shot that I just loved of the satellite dishes was not there, others were in it's place instead. I don't think I remembered wrong, no not possible. I loved that shot too much. Anyway, the sound was not right either. I saw the movie several times years ago, and I do not remember the sound being so "up and down" It was bad enough for me to have to keep raising the volume to hear the speech and back down again when the music became too loud. British made movies were often that way years ago. I certainly don't remember this one being like that before. Anyway, I was delighted to see Patrick McGoohan once again, along with Jim Brown, Ernest Borgnine, and Rock Hudson. Lloyd Nolan even had a few lines at the beginning.

RAMMEL · April 30, 2024, 07:01:28 PM

MarsGal - I believe that is available on "Prime Video" (Amazon). Might be different or maybe better for listening.

MarsGal · May 01, 2024, 07:33:41 AM

Thanks, Rammel, but I dropped my Prime account in October. The movie wasn't there last year. I have to wonder what took so long to release it. Has anyone read MacLean's books? I thought of picking this one up but hesitate since the movie is "loosely" based on the book. Interesting to note from Wikipedia's biography that MacLean never considered himself a writer, claimed he didn't like it, that he was "just" a storyteller and writing was just a way to make money.

My newest shelf is now full. All of my non-fiction books are out in the living area, cookbooks are in the kitchen. My remaining craft books (almost all are needlework) are now on a shelf in my bedroom along with my bibles, philosophy, poetry, and old classic books. All my science, anthropology, biology, etc. are in in the computer room as are my collections of economic and politically focused books, language, books about libraries, printing, and the few novels I have. What remains in boxes waiting for another shelf to appear and find a space are my science fiction books.

Marilyne · May 01, 2024, 11:50:02 PM

I remember seeing "Ice Station Zebra" in a movie theater about 50 years ago! I don't remember much about it at all, but I plan to take another look on Amazon Prime. (Providing it has closed captions?)

Mars - I'm impressed with your book collection . . . with each bookshelf dedicated to a different category of book. I would love to visit, and spend the day going through all of them. I don't know where I would linger the longest? Probably the poetry and philosophy shelf? Not to worry though . . . I won't be knocking on your door anytime soon.
I will be lucky to maybe make the 20 mile trip to the beach at Santa Cruz this Summer, to watch the waves, the fishing boats and all the sea birds.

MaryPage · May 06, 2024, 05:25:41 PM

I read that quite a long time ago, and my impression is that I liked it a lot. I am suffering from memory loss now.

Because of said memory loss, I now read only books I need not remember, but read just for enjoyment. Currently, I am going through the entire output of Peter Robinson, who mainly writes a series of British murder cozies. I would go nuts if I could not pick up a book and read it, even though now this includes also picking up a magnifying glass in order to actually see the words. Life goes on, and we all adjust as best as we can.

Whoops, I was responding to "The Clan of the Cave Bear" question, and obviously screwed up. Sorry!
Needs must!

MarsGal · May 09, 2024, 06:46:57 PM

Not hard to do, MaryPage. I find myself responding to things on the previous page because that is where the computer pointed me as the last time I was in. I neglect to see that the comments may have gone on to the next page.

I thought I would stop in and mention a book called The Last Librarian: A Booker Thriller (The Justar Journal Book 1) written by Brandt Legg. The story follows the head librarian and a novelist friend of his. In the novel, the librarian is head of the last physical library on earth which happens to be housed in what was once Powell's Book Store in Portland, OR. It is about to be shut down permanently and the books destroyed. The books can all be read online. Turns out that there is a problem with that. The nefarious powers that be are changing words here and there to change meanings, using the titles but putting in entirely different content, or just plain destroying some. Who is going to know if there is no physical book to check against? Think shades of 1984 or Brave New World(?) or Fahrenheit 451. Shades of today with news being manipulated, fake news, book being taken off of library shelves because they are not politically correct today. Think of all our classic (and not so classic) books being destroyed, watered down or reworded to change meanings. Think about all the history erased or changed so you know longer know why something happens, let alone that it did happen. There is more. Anything at all, including religion, that sets people apart or potentially apart from others is against the law in this novel. Differences can cause conflict and possibly War. This is a peace at all costs utopian (?) story. It is a good read.

Marilyne · Reply #3021 - Re: Library Bookshelf

Mars - Regarding The Last Librarian, you said,
"Shades of today with news being manipulated, fake news, books being taken off of library shelves because they are not politically correct today. Think of all our classic (and not so classic) books being destroyed, watered down or reworded to change meanings. Think about all the history erased or changed so you know longer know why something happens, let alone that it did happen. There is more."

I think about it a lot, and makes me glad that I'll soon be leaving this world. I don't want to be here to see it happen. Such a helpless/hopeless feeling- even now.

Interesting that the storyline includes Powell's Book Store in Portland, Oregon. I've never been there, but would love so much to see it! It's the largest new and used bookstore in the World, occupying an entire city block and housing approximately one million books. I looked at the Powell's website today, but unfortunately didn't copy the link. It's easy to find on Google or any search engine.
One thing caught my eye on the site that I thought was very interesting. I copied it and will paste here:

"At Powell's, we have decided to mark this year's Independent Bookstore Day by announcing that we will no longer sell our books on Amazon's marketplace. For too long, we have watched the detrimental impact of Amazon's business on our communities and the independent bookselling world."

MarsGal · Reply #3022 - Re: Library Bookshelf

I have to agree with that, Marilyne. I've been trying to ween myself off them. Unfortunately, it isn't just books though. They consistently undercut other sellers with the same products to offer. I recently tried Walmart, was happy with what I got and how fast. I suspect, however, that it is the source of all this spam I have been getting these last few weeks. I had that happen once before when I ordered something from Amazon that was from one of their "Marketplace" vendors. Very annoying when you find your spam folder (they do, at least end up in there) filled with as much as 40 spam emails a day.

The other thing is that now I have a Kobo eReader as well as Kindle, I can download my ebooks and audiobooks through them. These days I have been trying to only buy what books I can't get through the online library or ones I know I want to keep. I have a mind to start browsing the B&B bookstore just a few miles from me, but that could get much more expensive, let alone no longer having as much space here. I have yet to get more shelving for the books I did bring with me, most of which are Science Fiction.

MaryPage · Reply #3023 - Re: Library Bookshelf

Mars & Marilyne, once upon a time, the goal for each of us was to be as honest and true as could be and be a good girl scout in every possible way. Something dark and dangerous has crept in among us. My family still stand for the Good Side, and I hope we will experience a resurgence of Truth all over this land. In the meantime,

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

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