Language & Grammar discussion

For me, The Secret Life of Bees was a The Heart is a Lonely Hunter wanna be . Mc Cullers book was far better, in my opinion.

I don't think I did! No, definitely, not! Video stores seem to be disappearing, has anyone else noticed that? In the summer off-season, we usually go to the video store and I meant to go to the only one in existance near us, but the heat made it too much of an effort. I would like to see the movie, as I have always liked the little actress and now she has grown up, will probably disappear!

Video stores are a thing of the past around here. Why go to a video store when you can use Netflix, etc, to DVD or stream?

I only have 12GB per month to play with and we don't have Netflix, would be the answer.
Telstra refused to put out a fast network unless they were paid a squillion.
Government finally got sick of the bloody minded lot and said "Fine! Don't do it, we will!" And they did! It's not finished yet and the current Gov't is trying to change its conditions.
Very possible they won't survive to do it, though!

You must have some kind of service like Netflix available, where you can rent DVDs that come by mail, don't you?

Not really Ruth. Out g'ment security is very strict on pirating laws. Although some libraries let you borrow DVDs for free, many of them are damaged. :-(

But renting from these services is not pirating!

I know - I think they have some renting services that deliver to you but when I have looked into them, the prices are almost the same as buying a DVD so I dont bother. I just have friends who bring back stacks from Bali ;)

There are still some video stores, but the main ones seem to have disappeared. I would rather not watch them on my computer and our TV might blow up if we approached it with a Video plug in. She's getting on a bit! The DVD Player works OK and the TV copes with that.

Picked up A Constellation of Vital Phenomena: A Novel on Ron Charles' rec. Ron and I don't agree on everything (see: The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.), but I think he's got THIS right for sure. So far, so great...

Newengland wrote: "Picked up A Constellation of Vital Phenomena: A Novel on Ron Charles' rec. Ron and I don't agree on everything (see: The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.), but I think h..."
My BIL in Vermont is reading A Constellation Of Vital Phenomena." Big in NE I guess.

Newengland wrote: "Picked up A Constellation of Vital Phenomena: A Novel on Ron Charles' rec. Ron and I don't agree on everything (see: The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.), but I think h..."

I'm going to give this a go.

I think the Chechnya setting, the bleak weather, the war backdrop, etc., fit New England's temperament in the winter. Bleak, bleak, bleak...

Now that I'm more than halfway through Constellation of Vital Phenomena, I can't help but reflect on why I'm enjoying it so much compared to other books set in the west, in the suburbs, in places remarkably like mine. The characters seem like real people with real issues.

I compare this to books like The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. where everything is pointless vanity and say to myself, "Wide is the gulf."

Or is it that I just crave the difference, the escape from the boredom that is my own life and the way so many contemporary books merely replicate it with characters in settings and situations much like mine?

Can't say which, but I can say what I like, and this is one of my favorites of the yet-young year....

Newengland wrote: "Now that I'm more than halfway through Constellation of Vital Phenomena, I can't help but reflect on why I'm enjoying it so much compared to other books set in the west, in the suburbs, in places r..."

I am always wary of books written by foreigners who might never have visited the country or at least lived there. I have read some weird reviews about books set in Finland. People have "learned" stuff when I know the book is not one bit "authentic". One couldn't get the sides of the Civil War correct (it's not that difficult), the other was just unbelievable in its setting.

Yes I know that Finland (and Lapland) is exotic and the Winter War was interesting but still... It wouldn't hurt to do some research and maybe ask a Finn to read the book first.

I can't think of Lapland without thinking of these lines, "An old age, serene and bright
Lovely as a Lapland night."

I have been in Lapland, but since it was June, there wasn't much of a night.

The author of Constellation admittedly is not a Russkie, though he did attend school in St. Petersburg where be became interested in Chechnya and the trove of related literature we associate with that perma-war area (Tolstoy, Lermontov, Pushkin, I think).

As for the argument that you have to live or visit somewhere in order to write convincingly about it, I see some merit, but then I wonder about entire genres like science fiction and fantasy. They'd be dismissed right out of the gate by such wariness.

As for Lapland, only my wife's, and only on Christmas Eve as a joke whose punchline is "Get!" and "Off!"

Newengland wrote: "As for the argument that you have to live or visit somewhere in order to write convincingly about it, I see some merit, but then I wonder about entire genres like science fiction and fantasy."

But in those genres the world exists only in the author's head. No one can tell whether some details are correct or not. Whereas I feel that some writers think that Finland (and other similar countries) are good places to place a book because their readers won't know them anyway and won't care either. And they will never be published here so they won't even get bad reviews. The books tell more about the writer then (and the audience) than the country in question. And then people believe in that!

Oh, no question. It can be done poorly. Kind of like the way Hollywood depicts the USA, making the world think that American movies accurately depict Americans.

No, no, and no.

Newengland wrote: "Oh, no question. It can be done poorly. Kind of like the way Hollywood depicts the USA, making the world think that American movies accurately depict Americans."

I think even worse is the way that American movies depict "foreigners". People who can speak English, speak it usually with a strong accent and they are often little simple and ignorant. Those who can't are made to look stupid. Germans and/or Soviets are always evil, depending the time, while Americans are always heroic which is annoying.

Sure, Finns can make fun of themselves (and sometimes of Swedes but that's good-natured and we do know each other) and I don't really care how Americans depict themselves. But I hate the way many American movies treat non-Americans, without any respect and usually with a condescending attitude. So no, I don't watch too many Hollywood movies these days.

Fair enough, but remember this and tell every Finn you see: Hollywood is its own Republic, having little to no connection with real Americans and our everyday lives.

It's embarrassing.

Newengland wrote: "Fair enough, but remember this and tell every Finn you see: Hollywood is its own Republic, having little to no connection with real Americans and our everyday lives."

Well we do watch news and read newspapers and I particularly like watching documentaries. I am not sure, though, that the picture they paint is that much better...

I've just started A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf - this was on my TBR and I just saw that its on the recommended reading for my OU course which starts Monday.

Perfect timing :)

I wish you luck. For me, Virginia is a sedative. That wouldn't be good for an OU course (OU = ?).

Open University.

Do we like sedatives? Or do they make us sleepy and confused...?

Just read Don't Quit Sugar: Why sugars are important for your health

I could eat the kind of food she promotes. Trev would have none of it, though. Wouldn't even ask him!

I think you might like it, NE! Most of the 'sugars' she advocates come from vegetables like carrots and sweet potato. Only some fruits are recommended, as is coconut oil for cooking!

Never happen! not in Trevor's kitchen!

Gabs -- It's hell's own challenge eliminating sugars from the diet. Some say all are bad, some say ones with fiber like fruit are just fine. Me, I avoid the processed food kind and the loaded in "health" food kind (read: flavored yogurt).

Angela, by "Virginia is a sedative" I mean she puts me to sleep ipso fasto. Much cheaper (and safer) than a pill! Don't take my word, though. Many readers love her stuff.

I, for one, find VW's diaries and letters more interesting than her creative writing.

Hmmm... Feeling slightly hesitant now. Shall keep you updated! :-) I did like Mrs. Dalloway so that's a good start.

I'm reading Dual Inheritance and The State of Wonder

Dual reads!

I finished Virginia - loved it. Have started Stardust - Neil Gaiman :)

Glad. Don't listen to the Literary Red Riding Hoods who talk about her teeth so much. I actually read that particular Gaiman once upon a time. Nice easy rebound for you...

I read Burial Rites by Hannah Kent and was enthralled by the book.

I am currently reading The Wings of the Dove, The Girl Who Fell From The Sky by Simon Mawer, and Complete Poems, 1904-1962 by E.E. Cummings.

Love ee cummings's stuff. Funny, but I recall a movie about a SAILOR who fell from the sky, but it wasn't a girl.

I am on the homeward stretch of At the Point of a Cutlass: The Pirate Capture, Bold Escape, and Lonely Exile of Philip Ashton, about a young 20-something New England lad grabbed by pirates in the 1720's.

There's something irresistible about pirate stories, even for old guys like me. Phillip Ashton, the young man who is seized, left an account of his long ordeal and the author based this book on that. I guess Ashton's account was published and read in both the colonies and England, where Dan'l Defoe read it. You know what that led to: Robinson Crusoe.

Ooooh! Books about pirates! Perfect for summer reading! I have Republic of Pirates on my to-read list; heard the author interviewed and was hooked (ha, ha). Now reading The Rise and Fall of Great Powers.

As a Mass girl, you'll be happy to hear that Ashton was a Marblehead boy (though he was nailed off the coast of Nova Scotia while fishing).

That was some fishing trip.

NE ! I just finished The Yellow Birds. It is a story about two young men going to the Iraqi war. I know war is horrible, but the author is so poetic with his words. All I can say it was beautifully written. If you haven't read it , you might like to.

Now I started The Burgess Boys, I will see how it compares with her other book.

I've heard a lot about The Yellow Birds and am definitely intrigued as I like war lit. (esp. poetic war lit, as it is oxymoronic).

That said, I'm now beginning to worry about the size of my TBR list. I just bought three nyrb books. Man, they're like candy, those things. They are as follows:

Rogue Male
On the Yard
Turtle Diary

Is "On the Yard" about this guy? LOL!

I think so. I mean, he looks like someone who did time in the cooler....

The Yellow Birds is wonderful. And I'm not a devotee of war books.

Sigh. I'll order it. Or I can do a mail swap with someone -- The Plover for Yellow Birds.

I'd do it, but you can't swap ebooks. Another reason not to like them.

I would but it is on my kindle. Sigh! I would have to put you on my account and then you could down load it on your kindle.

Sorry it is on my kindle, or I would.

Oh, you kindle people. Always tripping us paper dinosaurs up.

I don't have room in the house for more books. I have 7 bookshelves full, and no where to put another one. Ha!