Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Lena wrote: "My new little obsession, recommended to me by the Smithsonian email: https://www.powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle/"

I got hooked on this too. Today I wondered if there is an app for my phone and there is Wordle for android on the Play store. It must be very new since it says (Early Access) in the app description. But it works just the same.

I have played 12, scored 12, with majority of words with my fourth guess. No lucky guesses (first or second) yet.

I've done 9 and also the majority on my fourth guess.

19 played, 17 won, highest streak 10, current streak six. Six wins on the fourth try, the rest on the fifth. I always try to devote the first three guesses to two vowels a word and fifteen different letters between the three, so a word will have to be one of those for me to guess any earlier.

Aubrey wrote: "19 played, 17 won, highest streak 10, current streak six. Six wins on the fourth try, the rest on the fifth. I always try to devote the first three guesses to two vowels a word and fifteen differen..."

I follow a similar strategy

Woohoo! I will have to look for that app. Someone told me there was a seven and nine letter version!

I got Wordle in two tries today!! :)

Terris wrote: "I got Wordle in two tries today!! :)"

Great! I never managed that, but I got three today, as there weren´t many letters left. ;)

Michaela wrote: "Terris wrote: "I got Wordle in two tries today!! :)"

Great! I never managed that, but I got three today, as there weren´t many letters left. ;)"

This is my first "two try" day!

And I had my first "two try" day today. Complete luck on my first guess having 3 correct letters in the correct places. Made the second guess super easy.

Milena wrote: "And I had my first "two try" day today. Complete luck on my first guess having 3 correct letters in the correct places. Made the second guess super easy."

Yay! It feels good, doesn't it?! Luck or not! ;)

I enjoy Wordle also as well as NY Times Spelling Bee, crosswords , etc. But the idea of Wordle isn’t new. When I was in college, literally 50 years ago, we used to play it on paper, called Jotto. I think both players had a word and you would see who guessed correctly first. There was also the game Mastermind, a similar idea with colors.

A lot of people start Wordle with a word like STARE, then follow up on any letters that are right. I like to do it by elimination: I will use 3 words that have no overlap, such as SCARE, LIGHT, BOUND: . Then I have covered 15 letters and all the vowels and can often figure out what’s left.

Robin P wrote: "I enjoy Wordle also as well as NY Times Spelling Bee, crosswords , etc. But the idea of Wordle isn’t new. When I was in college, literally 50 years ago, we used to play it on paper, called Jotto. I..."

Interesting strategy. I definitely use the first strategy you mentioned.

I'll have to say that I usually start with the same word every day. It has worked for me pretty well so far!

So i recently read Its Not About the Burqa, and i found the format very good for me, i have issues reading non-fiction.

The format was non-fiction but short pieces written by multiple authors.

So if anyone has any other non-fiction recommendations that fit that format please let me know.

Wreade1872 wrote: "So i recently read Its Not About the Burqa, and i found the format very good for me, i have issues reading non-fiction.

The format was non-fiction but short pieces written by multiple authors.

So..."

I did read something in a similar format recently, Wreade: The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race edited by Jesmyn Ward. As you'd expect with a collection like this, some are better than others, but I thought it was excellent.

Other than the essay collections we read in school, I think this isn't a common format, and I'd also like to hear other recommendations.

@Kathleen thanks i'll add it to my list. London: City of Disappearances might be worth a look, that one is a mix of fiction and non-fiction.
That format with a mix of fiction and non-fiction would also be acceptable for me if people have any other suggestions.

ugh... i'm back from my roof. Storm loosened a couple of tiles several days ago but only now was there a break in the weather that allowed repairs.

Unfortunately my body thinks its afraid of heights... it was.. unpleasant to say the least. Shaking uncontrollably the entire time.

Even worse than last time, i've had to fix those tiles once before but didn't hav anything to fix them properly with, this time i stuck as much No More Nails on them as possible.

If they go again i don't think i can override my bodys aversion a third time, i'll have t hire someone to fix them properly.

Anyway it was horrific, but a weight off the mind for now :) .

That sounds awful, Wreade. I know just what you mean about your body taking over. I've had the same thing--totally not afraid of heights, but can't convince my legs to stop shaking. Frustrating! Glad you got through it okay.

On another topic, I dislike everything about the BETA version Goodreads is testing. Does anyone else HATE it as much as I do?

Its the second time i had to do the same tiles. Last time i didn't have anything to try to make a permanent fix, i tried No More Nails this time but no sure if it will hold. If not i'll definitely be calling someone :) .

@Katleen yes that beta is pretty annoying, they seem to have been trying it out for quite a while now.

Kathleen I strongly dislike Beta. I have left plenty of feedback about Beta. I even left a snarky message back about how I have given plenty of feedback without any response to me or any change in Beta. Still no response. And still requests for feedback. I give up.

Wreade good you recognize your limits. Nature will always win the battle of wills. Probably because she has better tools. . . . Glad you're safe.

Kathleen wrote: “On another topic, I dislike everything about the BETA version Goodreads is testing. Does anyone else HATE it as much as I do?”

An emphatic yes. Very much dislike it, and it doesn’t feel like they take opinions and suggestions to heart.

Heather L wrote: "Kathleen wrote: “On another topic, I dislike everything about the BETA version Goodreads is testing. Does anyone else HATE it as much as I do?”

An emphatic yes. Very much dislike it, and it doesn’..."

I also dislike it! I didn't know what it was, so I'm glad for your Beta explanation. I have just seen it come up off and of and hoped that it wasn't permanent!!

Has anyone checked out:

https://thestorygraph.com/

It's the "fully-featured Amazon-free alternative to Goodreads."

That looks interesting Marilyn, especially to someone on the GR terrorist list. I am no longer allowed to post pictures or change my profile. The best I can do is link to my blog to show the images I would have posted with my review. I had no wish to start a blog and did not enjoy the process.

I had a quick look at the storygraph site and the user interface looks ok, and it's possible to bring over reading projects from goodreads, which would enable changing platform. It also enable filtering on language, which I appreciate a lot.

I feel conflicted about how books are tagged. First, I'm warned that my next reading project "The Three Musketeers" contains a certain amount of misogyny, antisemitism, religious bigotry, infidelity and alcoholism. Second, the book is said to focus on flaws of characters and to lack a diverse "cast" of characters. On the other hand, the characters are "loveable".

Now, I don't choose books because they present a world view that I can agree with or describe the world as it should be rather than how it is (or was) or how it could be in a dystopian scenario. I also don't judge books depending on how much I like the characters.

It's not clear to what extent this affects the search algorithm but I see a danger here if we start judging the quality of books based on their political correctness.

Oh dear, pc booking. I did see they had a lot of tags based on feelings, or was it moods? Well, I’ve seen plenty of strange, funny, angry, and ridiculous tags made up by Goodreadians. One of mine is Everybody-Liked-It-But-Me. Put that in an algorithm.

Marilyn wrote: "Has anyone checked out:

https://thestorygraph.com/

It's the "fully-featured Amazon-free alternative to Goodreads.""

Can they import info from Goodreads? Like reviews and shelves?

They say they can and they are working on groups!

Lena wrote: "They say they can and they are working on groups!"

I have exported my data to storygraph. If there are further addons to the site, I'm thinking of paying for the perks, just to support the independence of the website. But, from what has been my experience, storygraph will sooner or later get bought by one of many big companies.

Any members that listen to audible audiobooks, I just found out that they are having a sale on their site audible.com. I got three books from my wish list that were up to 85% off without having to use any of my credits. Credits are worth $12.67.

The sale ends today and you have to go to the actual site not through Amazon.

Dave - I got some great books as well! A few that were only $3.74! Yay! 😄

Natalie wrote: "Dave - I got some great books as well! A few that were only $3.74! Yay! 😄"
Its a great sale. Apparently been going on all week, but I saw nothing about the sale until I called the help line to ask a tech question.

Thanks for the tip Dave!

I bought Doug Bradley's Spinechillers, Vol. 1!

In addition to being a full-time reader in retirement I was a professional planner in my career. It’s a good thing I have a reading plan in place and know what I want to read far out on the horizon. Today I picked up more than 20 books on sale on Audible.

1 “Sentinels on Fire“ by P T Deutermann
2. The Texasville trilogy by Larry McMurtry (“The Last Picture Show”, “Leaving Cheyenne”, and “Rhino Ranch”).
3. The Earthsea quartet by Ursula K. Le Guin (“A Wizard of Earthsea”, “The Tombs of Atuan”, “Tehanu”, and “The Farthest Shore”)
4. “Of Mice and Men” Steinbeck
5 Three of Patrick O’Brien’s John Aubrey novels about the British Navy in the Napoleonic Wars (“H.M.S. Surprise”, “Mauritius Command”, “The Fortune of War”)
6. “Brokeback Mountain” by Annie Proulx
7. “The Fellowship of the Ring” narrated by Andy Serkis
8. “Emma” by Austin
9. “A Bend in the River” by V.S. Naipaul
10. “Around the World in 80 Days” by Jules Verne
11. “American Colonies: The Settling of North America” by Alan Taylor (The first volume of the Penguin History of the United States.)
12. “The Red Badge of Courage” by Stephen Crane
13. “The Evil Genius” by Wilkie Collins
14. “Les Miserables” Hugo
15. “To the Lighthouse” Woolf
16. “Finnigan’s Wake” Joyce

Thanks for the notice, Dave. There is still a 70% off sale on Audible through the 8th. Not quite as good as you got but still not bad savings.

Laurie wrote: "Thanks for the notice, Dave. There is still a 70% off sale on Audible through the 8th. Not quite as good as you got but still not bad savings."

I have marked my calendar to go back monthly to check for sales. I did notice that on check out you have to make sure you are not using a credit. They apply credits before other payment unless you change from credits to credit card.

Book Banning

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...

I loved in Jackson, MS. My son was born there. So I remain interested in Jackson in general way. . . . .Maybe a librarian's perspective on the criteria a library--maybe not a librarian's own self--uses when deciding to ban a book. Just to add the perspective of the other camp.

Here’s a tip about group read nominations for new members. Since joining this group, I have found that nominations posted in the first few days of opening the process have greater chance of garnering support. If the posting happens a week later, many have already decided where their hopes lie.

Absolutely, Terry. If you nominate a book the day before closing, there is really no time for anyone to consider and second.

I am a new member and you make a very good point. Although members can change their second to a different book, but that feels a bit rude, even though I've done it.

Would it help to allow nominations to be posted for the first 5 days before seconds are allowed?

I hope our recent members are reading this. I wasn’t sure just where to post this advice. Maybe our posts opening nominations should have this suggestion?

I will rarely second something immediately unless I really want to read it already. Many of us do wait for several days to see what is nominated. Not that it has been discussed, but just from the behavior I see that. Also I used to update the list more often, but that seemed to rush the process too much. Now I update once quickly then wait several days.

Many books have been nominated numerous times before winning the poll. So that puts a different feel to the time frame. It could now be a book I have been thinking about for six months not just a day or two.

For Audible Premium Plus members, all the LOTR books narrated by Andy Serkis are on sale today for $3.95-$5.95. Just bought them all! 🧝🏻‍♂️🧙🏼‍♂️

I love this passage from Northanger Abbey where Austin defends the novel:

“….They called each other by their Christian name, were always arm in arm when they walked, pinned up each other’s train for the dance, and were not to be divided in the set; and if a rainy morning deprived them of other enjoyments, they were still resolute in meeting in defiance of wet and dirt, and shut themselves up, to read novels together. Yes, novels; for I will not adopt that ungenerous and impolitic custom so common with novel-writers, of degrading by their contemptuous censure the very performances, to the number of which they are themselves adding — joining with their greatest enemies in bestowing the harshest epithets on such works, and scarcely ever permitting them to be read by their own heroine, who, if she accidentally take up a novel, is sure to turn over its insipid pages with disgust. Alas! If the heroine of one novel be not patronized by the heroine of another, from whom can she expect protection and regard? I cannot approve of it. Let us leave it to the reviewers to abuse such effusions of fancy at their leisure, and over every new novel to talk in threadbare strains of the trash with which the press now groans. Let us not desert one another; we are an injured body. Although our productions have afforded more extensive and unaffected pleasure than those of any other literary corporation in the world, no species of composition has been so much decried. From pride, ignorance, or fashion, our foes are almost as many as our readers. And while the abilities of the nine-hundredth abridger of the History of England, or of the man who collects and publishes in a volume some dozen lines of Milton, Pope, and Prior, with a paper from the Spectator, and a chapter from Sterne, are eulogized by a thousand pens — there seems almost a general wish of decrying the capacity and undervaluing the labour of the novelist, and of slighting the performances which have only genius, wit, and taste to recommend them. “I am no novel-reader — I seldom look into novels — Do not imagine that I often read novels — It is really very well for a novel.” Such is the common cant. “And what are you reading, Miss —?” “Oh! It is only a novel!” replies the young lady, while she lays down her book with affected indifference, or momentary shame. “It is only Cecilia, or Camilla, or Belinda”; or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language. Now, had the same young lady been engaged with a volume of the Spectator, instead of such a work, how proudly would she have produced the book, and told its name; though the chances must be against her being occupied by any part of that voluminous publication, of which either the matter or manner would not disgust a young person of taste: the substance of its papers so often consisting in the statement of improbable circumstances, unnatural characters, and topics of conversation which no longer concern anyone living; and their language, too, frequently so coarse as to give no very favourable idea of the age that could endure it.“

One of my favorite quotes on reading comes from Northanger Abbey:

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”

Heather L wrote: "One of my favorite quotes on reading comes from Northanger Abbey:

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”"

An excellent quote.

Ranya wrote: "hey guys,
I hope you're all doing well!
what are your favorite books, the ones that you would wish to forget and read again and again?"

Hi Rayne, I don’t want to forget them because I find new things to appreciate each time. But I have read John Fowles’ The Magus, Larrence Durrell’s The Alexandria Quartet, and The Lord of the Rings three or four times over my life.