Retro Reads discussion

Sounds very interesting, Carolien.

I can't find this one at my preferred price (free) but there are some reasonably priced kindles showing for me on Amazon>

Carolien wrote: "She's very funny on the pre-Raphaelite furniture which her grandfather and contemporaries designed. She's describes it as universally uncomfortable, beautiful pieces of furniture but comfort was ne..."

I'm old enough to remember people having 'parlours' that were only opened up for special guests with hideous uncomfortable chairs!

& we are in the middle of another weather event in Aotearoa (NZ) Not too bad in our area although we are hearing a lot of sirens.

Hope you got through it ok, Lesley (& any other Kiwis)

Carol She's So Novel ꧁꧂ wrote: "Carolien wrote: "She's very funny on the pre-Raphaelite furniture which her grandfather and contemporaries designed. She's describes it as universally uncomfortable, beautiful pieces of furniture b..."

Yes, I had friends in grade school that had rooms like that - only used once a year for opening Christmas presents perhaps!

Stay safe, Kiwis!

Carol She's So Novel ꧁꧂ wrote: "& we are in the middle of another weather event in Aotearoa (NZ) Not too bad in our area although we are hearing a lot of sirens.

Hope you got through it ok, Lesley (& any other Kiwis)"

The weather gurus keep promising us rain. Yesterday, as in the past weeks, I was out watering my garden! However overnight and today we've had intermittent showers but nothing too heavy so far. We could be left wondering where this weather event was, but it seems the west is getting it more.

Its still raining here - not to bad. The wind has gone.

Marty says Hi!

Carol She's So Novel ꧁꧂ wrote: "Its still raining here - not to bad. The wind has gone.

Marty says Hi!"

Just light drizzly rain here and surprisingly no wind. I've just been out harvesting two more cucumbers and a few green peppers. It is quite pleasantly warm too. Hope it stays that way.

Hi to Marty as well!

Wow that is late for cucumbers - especially where you live.

It is late for cucumbers so I’m making the most of the. Had a pretty poor showing of tomatoes and scarlet runners this year though.

And I s poke too early. We now have steady rain and the temperature has dropped from 22C to 12C in the past 45 minutes! So Ruby and I are wrapping up with a good book. 😉

Lesley wrote: "It is late for cucumbers so I’m making the most of the. Had a pretty poor showing of tomatoes and scarlet runners this year though.

And I s poke too early. We now have steady rain and the tempera..."
Woah! Amazing! & not in a good way!

My bags, are packed! For those that don't know, I'm going to Ak tomorrow, flying to Fiji 🌴 Friday NZ time. This is going to be the first holiday my sisters & I have ever had by ourselves & I have so being looking forward to it.

I will be out of touch for the whole week. The hotel I am staying at has internet - its just that I'm not intending to use it! I'm wanting a complete break from everything.

Carol Fiji Bound! wrote: "My bags, are packed! For those that don't know, I'm going to Ak tomorrow, flying to Fiji 🌴 Friday NZ time. This is going to be the first holiday my sisters & I have ever had by ourselves & I have s..."

Safe travels and ENJOY!

Carol Fiji Bound! wrote: "My bags, are packed! For those that don't know, I'm going to Ak tomorrow, flying to Fiji 🌴 Friday NZ time. This is going to be the first holiday my sisters & I have ever had by ourselves & I have s..."

Very sensible Carol; I hope you and your sisters have a lovely holiday.

Carol Fiji Bound! wrote: "My bags, are packed! For those that don't know, I'm going to Ak tomorrow, flying to Fiji 🌴 Friday NZ time. This is going to be the first holiday my sisters & I have ever had by ourselves & I have s..."

Oh, lucky you! Have fun and don't forget the sunscreen!

Have a wonderful trip, Carol, and so glad you are going to Fiji!

Carol Fiji Bound! wrote: "My bags, are packed! For those that don't know, I'm going to Ak tomorrow, flying to Fiji 🌴 Friday NZ time. This is going to be the first holiday my sisters & I have ever had by ourselves & I have s..."

Have a fabulous trip, so excited for you! A trip with just my sisters sounds too good to be true - enjoy!

Echoing Barb - remember the sunscreen, a sun hat, and a stack of fun, brainless books for lounging poolside. You know, the kind where you can drop off into a snooze, pick it up later, shake out the sand and pick up wherever, won’t matter to the “plot”! ;o)

Ha! I'm reading Tender Is the Night for our Book Pool, but I get the feeling I won't feel like it. (although it is a really good book)

I have a kindle freeby set in Fiji so I may switch to that.

Question - has anyone else noticed their reading speed has slowed down? I'm assuming it is my age.

Carol Fiji Bound! wrote: "Ha! I'm reading Tender Is the Night for our Book Pool, but I get the feeling I won't feel like it. (although it is a really good book)

I have a kindle freeby set in Fiji so I may swit..."

Studied Fitzgerald in high school, never was a fan, I’d definitely switch to something light-hearted!

Yes, I feel I’m slowing down in my reading speed - to accommodate I’m not bothering with anything I’m not enjoying! And if I get into a passage that feels superfluous, or isn’t adding to the plot, I skim to get through it.

The Great Gatsby is one of my favourite classics. I read at school, but didn't appreciate it until I read as an adult.

I know I tried another Fitzgerald but couldn't get into it. But TITN is good. I thought I would have finished it by now, but have been busier than usual. I did think I would have finished by now.

& because this is my first time overseas since COVID & while I'm bursting with excitement this is the first time ever felt anxious as well. One of my closest friends (a very confident personality) has gone to Alaska/BC & also described a feeling of anxiety.

Carol Fiji Bound! wrote: "The Great Gatsby is one of my favourite classics. I read at school, but didn't appreciate it until I read as an adult.

I know I tried another Fitzgerald but couldn't get into it. But TITN is good...."

Can’t blame you, Carol - A dear friend is coming for a visit at the end of May, and has been traveling a lot over last year since retiring-she always wears a mask in airplanes, just to be on the safe side! She and her husband have each had Covid over that period, so have become more cautious. No one wants a holiday ruined, or be sidelined for days/weeks feeling crummy!

Since she’s staying overnight with us, I’m grateful she’s been so cautious, my husband is currently in the middle of a busy patch with his business, really bad time to get sick.

& I'm back & overall I had a wonderful time, although I & one of my sisters were sick while we were over there. My head is bursting with a lot of different impressions!

Oh, sorry about being sick, but glad overall was good!

Susan in NC wrote: "Oh, sorry about being sick, but glad overall was good!"

Yes, great time! I would love to go back, but stay in a different part of the country. Not because the resort wasn't fabulous, but it is a bit isolated & there is a lot to see.

Carol
Welcome back! Sorry to read that you fell ill. That obviously didn't put much of a damper on your enjoyment. Glad you had a good time.

Barb in Maryland wrote: "Carol
Welcome back! Sorry to read that you fell ill. That obviously didn't put much of a damper on your enjoyment. Glad you had a good time."
The staff were so incredibly kind to me then.

& I'll mention that I woke up with extreme abdominal pain this morning. We can get RAT tests again & my husband picked one up for me & I tested negative. & I feel fine now.

& I am super busy with the museum atm, so apologies if I disappear on you all. 😊

I'm mentioning this because, no rush or anything, but I think I am going to need another mod at some point.

I'm so sorry, Carol, I hope you can get whatever it is fixed ASAP!

I have been remiss in my retro reading this year because there is just so much competition from new books, and other books recommended by friends, that I can’t keep up with my To-Read pile. I hope to return to some of these beauties very soon. I still love this group and everyone else’s posts, though!

Elinor wrote: "I have been remiss in my retro reading this year because there is just so much competition from new books, and other books recommended by friends, that I can’t keep up with my To-Read pile. I hope ..."

Hi there Elinor - & good to see you!

I have a physical 'to read' shelf that barely moves as I get distracted by group reads & friend's reviews. I keep a chart of my year's reading though & I know I read very little from this century - & not enough Kiwi books!

Elinor, I’m glad I’m not the only one. So many books, so little time. But I enjoy seeing what the group is up to.

Peggy wrote: "Elinor, I’m glad I’m not the only one. So many books, so little time. But I enjoy seeing what the group is up to."

Hi Peggy!

That's why I like the fluidity of this group's challenge. If we don't do this challenge next year, I'm thinking about a Bingo Challenge. I've only done one on Goodreads & it was a lot of fun!

How does that work?

Someone creates a Bingo Card. I would be thinking 12 squares.

People taking part can cross off the square when they have read a book which meets the criteria. For example "A book with a red cover" "A book with the word love in the title"

Here is an example of a card;
https://www.newtonvillebooks.com/summ...

Oh, how clever! Looks like fun!

Is this the best thread in which to post about books you are reading now that are relevant to the group’s theme? 🤔

I recently finished two novels with deeply frustrating / infuriatingly obtuse male protagonists, Edith Wharton’s Hudson River Bracketed and Olivia Manning’s The Great Fortune (the first in her Fortunes of War series, about World War II in the Balkans and the Levant).

Wharton’s Vance Weston is supposed to be a brilliant young novelist, but it is difficult to credit that based on his thoughts (and we basically spend 500 pages in his POV). As for his actions, well, he doesn’t make a single good decision in the entire book, not one.

I am pre-committed to continue Vance’s adventures in the sequel, The Gods Arrive, but the guy drives me crazy. The same for Manning’s Guy Pringle, one of those individuals who needs a sycophantic audience and collects people to that end.

I am as yet undecided whether Guy Pringle is simply obtuse, or something much worse than that. The Great Fortune is mainly told from his frustrated wife Harriet’s POV.

Both the Manning and Wharton novels are very expressive on the theme of “Marry in haste, repent at leisure.” Guy and Harriet Pringle barely knew each other; the same for Vance Weston and his insipid wife Laura Lou. The resulting pictures are not pretty.

Carol She's So Novel ꧁꧂ wrote: "The Great Gatsby is one of my favourite classics. I read at school, but didn't appreciate it until I read as an adult.

I know I tried another Fitzgerald but couldn't get into it. But TITN is good...."

I adore Tender Is the Night. Fitzgerald’s best work in my opinion, and one of the most moving novels of the 20C in any language.

I have always wanted to take a look at the 1980s mini-series version, because Peter Strauss and Mary Steenburgen strike me as dream casting for Dick and Nicole Diver.

This has sort of turned into a grab bag thread for everything! If there is enough demand I might create a separate thread for "What are we Reading."

I've only read the two Fitzgerald's, but I own more & may read another next year.

I preferred The Great Gatsby. I was too young for it the first time I read it (it was a school read) but every time I have read it (all before I joined GR) I have appreciated it more.

Anyone got any opinions of the screen adaptations of The GG?

I've seen both the Redford & di Caprio versions.

My kids are never going to forgive me for making them watch the Redford version. Neither of them had read the book & they found it tedious.

The first time I watched the Redford, I thought he was badly miscast. The second time I thought Mia Farrow was! She was really shrill.

But Redford unfortunately was too old.

Gatsby doesn’t work well on screen, and the part of Daisy in particular seems to defeat every actress who takes it on. The best that can be hoped for is a good performance or two in the other roles: Alan Ladd (the best Gatsby) in 1949, Sam Waterston in 1974, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke, and Elizabeth Debicki in 2013. Frankly I wish adapters would just give up on it. It is perfect on the page and gains nothing from cinematic bloat.

Patrick wrote: "Gatsby doesn’t work well on screen, and the part of Daisy in particular seems to defeat every actress who takes it on. The best that can be hoped for is a good performance or two in the other roles..."

I think one of the big problems in the two versions I've seen is that both actors were too old for Gadsby. Changing Gatsby's age in the di Caprio version just stopped the story making sense.

I though Carey Mullins was ok as Daisy. Both films had great supporting casts.

Maybe its the time it takes for movies to be made. Maybe if they cast Gadsby & Daisy when the actors are 18 it would work better & give 10 years to get the funding.

Patrick wrote: "Is this the best thread in which to post about books you are reading now that are relevant to the group’s theme? 🤔

I recently finished two novels with deeply frustrating / infuriatingly obtuse mal..."

I was leaving this in case another member wanted to comment, but since no one else has.

I have just reread my reviews of the two Guy Vance novels. It looks like I liked Hudson River Bracketed more than I remember liking it, so I think my memory is tainted by how very frustrating the characters became in The Gods Arrive. In my review I describe the book as 'unsatisfying.'

^ I have heard that about The Gods Arrive, so I will go into it not expecting too much. Since Hudson River Bracketed was already quite long, Wharton certainly devoted a LOT of pages to Vance Weston. It’s not that I feel she was in general decline - The Children, written around the same time, is one of my favorites.

Enthusiastically “getting into” American local color literature lately. Since I love Cape Cod, I took up Joseph C. Lincoln’s Cape Cod Stories (1907), a story cycle about two old coots and their misadventures, and am enjoying it immensely. I also recently finished Phoebe Atwood Taylor’s very entertaining The Cape Cod Mystery (1931), the first in her Asey Mayo series.

Fun story: I recently (June) adopted a pair of bonded kittens, boy and girl, from the local government animal agency here in Tlaxcala, Bienestar Animal. I became aware of the agency when they had their weekly Friday adoption fair in the parking lot at the local Wal-Mart, and I happened to be passing through. I didn’t take any animals that day, but I visited their facility the following week. They always have plenty of vaccinated and vet-reviewed animals available, and when they showed me this pair of two-month-old gray-and-white kittens which they didn’t want to separate, I was a goner. Subsequent sterilizations are free - indeed, any animal you bring in on a Monday morning, they will sterilize on the spot - so I returned for that in August, and they both came through it very well. 

I named them Tom and Sophie (Mexican versions Tomás and Sofía) after Tom Jones, in Henry Fielding’s 18th Century novel of the same name, and his sweetheart Sophia Western. Also thinking of Beatrix Potter’s Tom Kitten. I was tempting fate with the naming of Tom, and sure enough, he takes after both his namesakes and is a charming scamp and a rogue, with an ability to get into trouble that I haven’t experienced since my orange tabby Lucy was young. Tom will climb to the highest shelf and promptly knock everything down. He also has massive zoomie energy. Sophie joins in with him, but on her own she is much more demure - again, exactly like her namesake. 

So the count is now 12, four dogs and eight indoor cats, Lord help me. But actually the care is not difficult at all. What takes a bit more energy on my part is to be emotionally available to all of them. 

Sounds like a full house, Patrick.

When our last cat Juno died we decided we wouldn't have any more pets. We had been tied down to children/animals continuously for 35 years & decided that was long enough.

Plus a local walking track had a sign that indicated kiwi had been found. The sign has now gone, but our decision remained the same.

The museum I'm involved with had its big fundraiser yesterday which went very well. I was tired yesterday (the concrete floors just kill me) but I am ok today.

Carol She's So Novel ꧁꧂ wrote: "Sounds like a full house, Patrick.

When our last cat Juno died we decided we wouldn't have any more pets. We had been tied down to children/animals continuously for 35 years & decided that was lon..."

One reason among many that all my cats are indoor animals is that they can’t endanger local birds and other wildlife. And of course, they are safer and live much longer being indoors! I have a high-walled service patio that they have free access to, so they enjoy the sun there. My dogs like that area too, as well as the fenced front yard they can play in. So I have a good set-up.

It is perfectly true that I can’t travel, but I can’t afford to travel, because I spend it all on the pets! 🙂 Seriously, I am a confirmed cottagecore homebody at this point.

We are on a quiet, dead end street. Our last two cats lived to be 17, the first one died from cancer when only 6.

George the middle cat was taken from his mother too young & remained the most useless hunter ever & our property was over run by other people's cats. He was a lover not a fighter. Just the sweetest cat ever.

Unfortunately we had a big problem with other vermin during George's life. This changed with Juno who was a ruthless killing machine.

Even before Juno's death, our neighbour's semi feral cat Cookie had included us on his rounds. His owners have finally found a belled collar that Cookie can't get off. This is stopping his bird hunting but he is still catching rodents, so win.

I think NZ is heading towards legislation to stop roaming cats. We have a huge feral cat population now. Huge.

Carol She's So Novel ꧁꧂ wrote: "We are on a quiet, dead end street. Our last two cats lived to be 17, the first one died from cancer when only 6.

George the middle cat was taken from his mother too young & remained the most usel..."

Very interesting! Here in Mexico there are some street cats, but MANY more street dogs. Most of them have at least one gimpy leg, since they all get hit by cars eventually.

Hardly any mice or rats here. My neighborhood is semi-rural, although only 2 km from downtown Tlaxcala.

Where I live feral dogs aren't a problem,* but it is serious in Northland

Warning: The following article may upset sensitive readers.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/doc-off...

* there will be some ferals in the rural areas, but I live in a small town.