Book Nook Cafe discussion

“Books are the most worthy companions to take with you on this bitter-sweet journey known as life.”

~~~ Cassandra King

Nice notion.

Very true; you can always count on books.

Books have been a constant companion to me through the good times and the sad times. When I was very young, I remember both my parents reading and I so wanted to know what was this mysterious thing they did. It made me a reader.

Rachel, that's a nice tribute to your parents. It illustrates how powerful daily influence can be. Thank you for sharing this, you lucky woman.

Thanks for saying that. They both loved reading. How did you become a reader? Did anyone influence you?

Thanks for asking, Rachel. My mother read magazines until i was a teenager, then it was strictly books. She was a great role model in that regard. My dad didn't read much beyond the newspaper but he read that thoroughly. Upon retirement he read westerns! I wish i knew what really set my reading world afire but i suspect it was my own curiosity, as i began by reading about ghosts, which led to history, which led to the rest of the world. :-)

I thought i'd add that the only book i ever recall any of my grandparents reading books. The sole (and surprising) exception was they kept and reread many times the The Warren Commission Report: The Official Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

madrano wrote: "I thought i'd add that the only book i ever recall any of my grandparents reading books. The sole (and surprising) exception was they kept and reread many times the The Warren Commission Report: The Official Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. .."

Deb, good to know that they enjoyed fiction! :-)

Rachel wrote: "Books have been a constant companion to me through the good times and the sad times. When I was very young, I remember both my parents reading and I so wanted to know what was this mysterious thing they did. It made me a reader...."

I think children often value more what they see their parents doing than what they hear their parents saying.

Actions speak louder than words. For example my parents both smoked and I did as well. Thankfully I gave that up back in the mists of time.

The Warren Commission, talk about dry reading! My parents read fiction.

As I became an adult my mother and I shared books. I still always have to have 4 or 5 books on my kindle. I get a bit panicky if I don't have reading material.

Larry wrote: "Deb, good to know that they enjoyed fiction! :-)..."

LOL! They were full of doubts, too. I suspect that was why they reread it & even kept it handy.

Rachel wrote: "Actions speak louder than words. For example my parents both smoked and I did as well. Thankfully I gave that up back in the mists of time..."

My parents smoked, too. Of their four children, i am the only one who never took it up. My younger sister quit around '02 or so but the other two tried but failed.

When my mother settled into her reading life, fiction was almost all she read. Rather, that's all she shared with me. Possibly she read others but thought i wouldn't be interested.

Rachel, it's wonderful that you and your mother shared books. I recall my mother throwing out titles to me but few titles stayed. I've asked my siblings and they each said she liked the novels of Kurt Vonnegut Jr.. She never mentioned it to me and i was a fan of his when i was younger. Bummer.

Yes, I loved Kurt Vonnegut back in the day. I wonder if they stand the test of time.

madrano wrote: "Larry wrote: "Deb, good to know that they enjoyed fiction! :-)..."

LOL! They were full of doubts, too. I suspect that was why they reread it & even kept it handy."

Deb,

I didn't mention it, but I still have my father's copy of the Warren Report also.

Larry

Poet May Sarton on the importance of rest:

"I always forget how important the empty days are, how important it may be sometimes not to expect to produce anything, even a few lines in a journal. A day when one has not pushed oneself to the limit seems a damaged, damaging day, a sinful day. Not so! The most valuable thing one can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of a room."

Source: Journal of a Solitude Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton

Rachel wrote: "Yes, I loved Kurt Vonnegut back in the day. I wonder if they stand the test of time."

For me, Rachel, they do not. He was a breakthrough writer, imo, but more an author of his times. Again, that's my opinion. I still think fondly of his work because they exposed me to the idea of contradicting what i'd learned. And some of his short stories are still rambling around my brain.

Larry wrote: "I didn't mention it, but I still have my father's copy of the Warren Report also. ..."

I wonder what happened to my grandparent's copy. As far as i know, none of their children were as consumed by it. Between that and Watergate, i wonder how they felt about their nation. I never asked, as i was more interested in family talk. My loss.

deb

Alias Reader wrote: "Poet May Sarton on the importance of rest:

"I always forget how important the empty days are, how important it may be sometimes not to expect to produce anything, even a few lines in a journal. A ..."

Alias, what a very nice idea to share. Many of us have those days and feel guilty about them. We really shouldn't, i guess.

madrano wrote:
Alias, what a very nice idea to share. Many of us have those days and feel guilty about them. We really shouldn't, i guess.
"

Since we are May Sarton fans, I had to share. :)

madrano wrote: "Larry wrote: "Deb, good to know that they enjoyed fiction! :-)..."

LOL! They were full of doubts, too. I suspect that was why they reread it & even kept it handy."

Deb, about seven years we went to see Thomas Crocker give a talk on his book about Gen. Braddock's defeat in the French and Indian War, Braddock's March: How the Man Sent to Seize a Continent Changed American History. We were sitting next to an older gentleman. At the end of the talk, I introduced myself and he did the same. I knew who he was immediately (he was the director of one the CIA's directorates) and we talked about how Braddock's fiasco was an intelligence failure.

And then we got on the subject of Vietnam and the Kennedy assassination. It surprised me when he told me--in general terms--who he thought was responsible for the Kennedy assassination. As for whether he was right, who knows? I have no idea who did it. I'll just say without going further that his ideas closely correspond to what's laid out in the great spy novel by Charles McCarry, The Tears of Autumn. It's well worth reading .. but just treat it as a work of fiction.

WIKI ON CHARLES MCCARRY: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles...

Larry wrote: "I'll just say without going further that his ideas closely correspond to what's laid out in the great spy novel by Charles McCarry, The Tears of Autumn. It's well worth reading .. but just treat it as a work of fiction...."

You know this one is going on my TBR list !

madrano wrote: "Alias Reader wrote: "Poet May Sarton on the importance of rest:

"I always forget how important the empty days are, how important it may be sometimes not to expect to produce anything, even a few l..."

Alias Reader wrote: "Poet May Sarton on the importance of rest:

"I always forget how important the empty days are, how important it may be sometimes not to expect to produce anything, even a few lines in a journal. A ..."

Empty can mean empty of I need too and I should. Sometimes a just let me see how the day turns out are important as well.

Very true, Rachel.

Larry, thanks for the tip on the McCarry novel. I am tracking it down.

When we lived in the D.C. area, we welcomed the availability of talks such as you described. For us, most were via our Smithsonian membership. We rarely left a talk without purchasing a book. Those are wonderful ways to get familiar with topics and authors. I miss them still. *sigh*

Again, thank you for McCarry but also Crocker's work.

Rachel, i agree. Some of my empty days turn out not to be that, exactly. Yet the sensation i have is of one. And that, too, is restful.

Reading is a great antidote for all the scurrying around. ;)

Some days it's like a reward for all i've accomplished in a dozen hours. Lovely reward.

"The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink."

George Orwell 1903–50 English novelist: Shooting an Elephant (1950) ‘Politics and the English Language’

Apt Orwell quote, even for today.

Perfectly clear where he stands, isn't it? This notion is what made his most famous novels work perfectly. Thanks, Larry.

“Myrna could spend happy hours browsing bookcases. She felt if she could just get a good look at a person's bookcase and their grocery cart, she'd pretty much know who they were.”
— Louise Penny

Still Life by Louise Penny

For all of my adult life, I've looked at other people's bookcases when it is not impolite to do so. I have a lot of highly intelligent, well-read friends, so what they read is often a revelation to me.

About 15 years ago, I started closely looking at what people put on the checkout belt in the supermarket ... checking the items for the person in front of me and as I am finishing the items for the person behind me. We have such minimal commonality in our market baskets. Oh, there are the obvious shared items ... butter, eggs, milk ... but even when you get into bread, there are so many different kinds of bread. I have thought on several occasions that it was not like this 50 years ago. None of this is good or bad ... just different.

Larry, I have to admit I am a horrible Miss Judgy McJudgerson when I check out others bookshelves (or lack thereof, though with eReaders this not always an option) and supermarket carts. That is why the quote caught my eye.

I often joke I could not be a supermarket cashier as I would sound like Joe Pesci in the movie, My Cousin Vinny and soon be fired. lol

"Excuse me. You guys down here hear about the ongoing cholesterol problem in the country?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWC0s...

:-)

Larry wrote: "For all of my adult life, I've looked at other people's bookcases when it is not impolite to do so. I have a lot of highly intelligent, well-read friends, so what they read is often a revelation to..."

Alias Reader wrote: "“Myrna could spend happy hours browsing bookcases. She felt if she could just get a good look at a person's bookcase and their grocery cart, she'd pretty much know who they were.”
— Louise Penny

..."


I used to love being in the subway and seeing what people read. I am so nosy. But now I live where everyone drives and actually I read on a Kindle so that is a pleasure lost to time. Goodreads is great. The fact that we can interact with each other and learn about what each other are reading is wonderful. I am so glad you all are here.

Rachel wrote:The fact that we can interact with each other and learn about what each other are reading is wonderful. I am so glad you all are here.."

Right back at ya ! 💙

I feel that way about bookshelves. Indeed, over the years, many a friendship has been sealed with a glimpse of what's there.

When my husband was in the military we were on food stamps (this is the way we treat our soldiers, then and now). From that experience, i decided to never look at the grocery carts of others. It's a bit humiliating to see someone look in and judge you. Since that time, i only check to carts to see how full they are, so i can (perhaps) get in the fastest lane.

That written, it can be informative to have the cashier comment on products. "Oh, that's good! We eat it with a batch of pinto beans." I learn.

The supermarket is one of the places that I relish interactions with people I do not know. Since I drive everywhere there are not so many places anymore.

madrano wrote: "When my husband was in the military we were on food stamps (this is the way we treat our soldiers, then and now). From that experience, i decided to never look at the grocery carts of others. It's a bit humiliating to see someone look in and judge you. Since that time, i only check to carts to see how full they are, so i can (perhaps) get in the fastest lane. ..."

Only in the Washington DC area! I have two friends. Actually my wife and I are friends with the other couples, and it's the husbands of the other couples whom I'll mention here. One is the Democratic senior staffer for health and personnel affairs for the Senate Armed Services Committee. The other man is the Republican senior staffer for health and personnel affairs for the same committee. (They actually carpool together from Northern Virginia into the District in what they call the Bipartisan Carpool ... although over a lot of the last two years, they have mainly worked from home.) I hear a lot stories from one of the two about how the military is treated ... sometimes very well and sometimes terribly. I'll leave it at that for now.

To tell you how strange life can be, the first man (the Democratic staffer) goes to our old church, a Lutheran Missouri Synod church, which is a very conservative denomination ... and probably 90 percent of the congregation are Republicans. The second man (the Republican staffer) goes to our current church (a PC-USA church, where I'm actually a Presbyterian elder and where I bet at least 90 percent are Democrats.) Life is complex ... almost to where it is unbelievable at times.

Rachel wrote: "The supermarket is one of the places that I relish interactions with people I do not know. Since I drive everywhere there are not so many places anymore."

I feel the same way!

Larry wrote: they call the Bipartisan Carpool ...."

:)

I think that is key. You can disagree and still be civil.

Alias Reader wrote: "Larry wrote: they call the Bipartisan Carpool ...."

:)

I think that is key. You can disagree and still be civil."

It helps a lot that Gary is a conservative Democrat and Al is a liberal Republican. :-) What rarities these days. And they also have a shared experience of serving and retiring as colonels (one an Army JAG lawyer and the other an Air Force dentist.)

I sometimes glance at people's grocery carts (REALLY just glance), not to be judgy but just out of curiosity. 🙂

Good story, Larry. As well as a reminder that we tend to forget such acquaintances can proceed with civility.

Barbara, i suspect i sounded fairly judgemental myself without admitting that there are times i also see what folks purchase as they roll past on the conveyor belt. Usually it's when they have bag after bag of greens or something else i rarely see.

"Don’t keep finishing your sentences, I’m not a bloody fool."

Frederick Lonsdale 1881-1954
To the author, in Frances Donaldson ‘Child of the Twenties’ (1959) p. 11

Love that!!

Alias Reader wrote: ""

Love that!

Alias Reader wrote: ""

I love the picture. Books offer me sweet serenity and even more. I cannot imagine a world where books aren't an essential part of it.

Ditto, Larry.