Book Nook Cafe discussion

"All cruel people describe themselves as paragons of frankness."

~ Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983) born Thomas Lanier Williams, was an American playwright who received many of the top theatrical awards for his works of drama. He moved to New Orleans in 1939 and changed his name to "Tennessee", the Southeastern U.S. state, his father's birthplace.

He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948 and for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955. In addition, The Glass Menagerie (1945) and The Night of the Iguana (1961) received New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards. His 1952 play The Rose Tattoo received the Tony Award for best play. In 1980 he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennesse...

A Streetcar Named Desire

The Glass Menagerie

The Night of the Iguana

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."
— Marilyn Monroe

Sarah wrote: "Deborah - I'm so glad you're going to do this. My parents were both great story-tellers, but my sister and I struggle to remember and re-create those stories. A few years before my father died, w..."

Oh Sarah, I'm so jealous. How I wish I had done that! My parents, and the grandparents I knew, we all great storytellers, and I try my best to follow in their footsteps. But my memory is starting to falter, and my son is not interesting in listening to those stories now. That is why I want to start writing down what I can remember for Sofia. It's the saddest thing, but once the storyteller dies, unless someone has really paid attention, those stories die.

Deb, I'm so glad you've decided to start writing too! We'll have to encourage and remind each other! :o) What fun!

Donna in Southern Maryland.........who is wishing that GRs, like Facebook, had a "LIKE" button, when I read these quotes, and all I want to say is I LIKE THAT! :o)

Donna, if you are not up to writing, I think it was Deborah some time back, that suggested video taping.

I sort of like that idea. It lets you see the person and hear their voice. It provides a nice memory. It might be a nice idea at least for some of the history you want to tell.

"We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities."

— Oscar Wilde

Wow ! Somehow I didn't picture Wilde as the photo on Wiki has him. I guess I have the picture of Peter Finch, who played him in the 1960 movie in my mind.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054403/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish writer, poet, and prominent aesthete


The Picture of Dorian Gray

Importance of Being Earnest and Four

Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde

Bobbie57 wrote: ""I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually le..."
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Even though I like some of her movies, I always seem to think of Monroe as a sad and tragic figure.

I always seem to think of Monroe as a sad and tragic figure.

I agree with you Alias. But I came across this quote yesterday and I thought it was interesting. I think she didn't follow her own thought in this quote. If she had she might not have been so depressed.

Donna,

I think it would be a great idea if we reminded each other to write down (or tape) our family stories. I don't know about anybody else but it tends to be something else that I mean to do, but never get to do.
My oldest grandchild who was 11 years old yesterday is starting to be interested. But I think at this point he is interested in me and not thinking about what might have gone before.

I am going to be away from any TV or computer next week for a few days. Just thinking that would be a good opportunity to take a notebook and write when things are quiet.

Has anyone tried http://www.ancestry.com/
I see them advertised on TV all the time.
I know they charge, but I'm not sure what the fee is.

Alias,

I did try to use ancestry.com once a long time ago. They have free promotions from time to time. But the thing is that my grandmother's maiden names (both sides) are so common that it is just too difficult. I always think that maybe I will try to have more patience with it -- but the fees put me off.

My family is quite small so I haven't really given it much thought. And the few that I do know is quite enough, thank you very much ! LOL. Just kidding.

My uncle, on my mom's side did do a lot of work on a their family tree. My dad's side, I haven't a clue. Sad, there really isn't anyone left who knows anymore. Maybe my sisters, I'll have to ask. We should right down the info somewhere.

"If someone betrays you once, it’s their fault; if they betray you twice, it’s your fault."

— Eleanor Roosevelt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_...
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt - October 11, 1884 – November 7, 1962) was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an internationally prominent author, speaker, politician, and activist for the New Deal coalition. She worked to enhance the status of working women, although she opposed the Equal Rights Amendment because she believed it would adversely affect women.

Donna in Southern Maryland wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Deborah - I'm so glad you're going to do this. My parents were both great story-tellers, but my sister and I struggle to remember and re-create those stories. A few years before my ..."

I'm glad to see others are hoping to retain stories for their families. I am NOT one of life's natural storytellers but i've heard enough good ones over the years to recognize some elements which need to present. Which doesn't mean i do a good job. Initially all i want to do is get down the basics!

Re. video taping. It has been a real comfort to me that i have both our children being "interviewed" by me when they were 5 and 10 years old. It's fun to see what characteristics remain & which were temporary. I wish i'd followed up when they were teens but they might not have agreed.

Meanwhile, i have an audio recording of events with my paternal grandparents & an "interview" with my dad not long after he retired & my mom died. I treasure that. Recently we had our 8mm movies transferred with hopes of "seeing" my mom in them again. Sadly, we were such poor photographers that we only got a fleeting glimpse of her body as she past. This, several times. Bummer.

Bobbie, a note to you, re. your grandchild. Only one of my dad's 4 grandchildren lived nearby at the impressionable age of 11 or so. Fortunately he probed dad's memories about WWII & his experiences, so we have much material stored in this nephew. Lately i've noticed that my dad (turns 84 next Monday) is most lively when he is recounting stories from his youth, early marriage & back. It's fun to see, even if we have heard (& saved on paper) those memories. Often he throws in new material because we ask some question which leads him to remember more.

My point is that i think it's a great opportunity for you & your grandson to not only bond but for him to "save" memories of you to pass on to his own kinfolk. How neat is that? Have fun!

deborah

"I might as well try to will the sunset over there to my brother's children. We come and go, but the land is always here. And the people who love it and understand it are the people who own it--for a little while."

From O Pioneers! by Willa Cather.

Guess who is home & has access to her book of saved quotes? Sadly, just as earlier mentioned, many are smart-aleck quotes which are of use to no one but me. LOL!

deborah

I like that quote, Deb. Cather really captures the essence of things.

"Never let a win get to your head, or a loss to your heart.
"
— Public Enemy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_E...

Oh come on deb. I need to feel that somebody allows smart aleck!! And welcome home.

Barbara, here is another one from MM. I think it fits her well.

"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best."

— Marilyn Monroe

Good one Alias.

"The covers of this book are too far apart."

— Ambrose Bierce

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose_...
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – 1914?) was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist. Today, he is best known for his short story, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and his satirical lexicon, The Devil's Dictionary.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge~ Ambrose Bierce

The Devil's Dictionary~ Ambrose Bierce

Bobbie57 wrote: "Oh come on deb. I need to feel that somebody allows smart aleck!! And welcome home."

Thank you, Bobbie. Sadly, too many of my smart aleck quotes also contain questionable language. Many of those are from my youthful 20s, when i was still stunned to see such profanity in print. Now, forgetable! LOL!

I fear i put another quote somewhere else, but will add it here where it belongs.

"If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would astound ourselves."

--Thomas Alva Edison

"If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves."

~~ Howard Zinn

A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present ~ Howard Zinn

madrano wrote: "If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would astound ourselves."

--Thomas Alva Edison .."
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Sorry, Edison. It's too darn hot to do anything. I would be astounded if I got off the sofa.

"TV makes it so easy to postpone living for another half hour."

— Bill McKibben (The Age of Missing Information)


The Age of Missing Information ~ Bill McKibben


Wandering Home: A Long Walk Across America's Most Hopeful Landscape:Vermont's Champlain Valley and New York's Adirondacks

The Bill McKibben Reader: Pieces from an Active Life

Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

"The smallest bookstore still contains more ideas of worth than have been presented in the entire history of television. "

— Andrew Ross

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_R...

Andrew Ross (born 1956) is a professor in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University. A writer for Artforum, The Nation and The Village Voice, he is also the author and/or editor of numerous books. Much of his writing focuses on labor, the environment, and the work force, from the Western world of business and technology to sweatshop labor in the Global South. Making use of social theory as well as ethnography, his writing questions the human and environmental cost of economic growth, has an activist anti-globalisation approach, and emphasizes principles of sustainability.

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

— Jane Austen (Northanger Abbey)


Northanger Abbey~ Jane Austen

"We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn't, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares.

But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision, there was another - slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions". In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.

This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right."

~~ Neil Postman (Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business)

Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business~ Neil Postman

1984~ George Orwell

Brave New World~ Aldous Huxley

Alias Reader wrote: "TV makes it so easy to postpone living for another half hour."

— Bill McKibben (The Age of Missing Information)

Excellent quote! Thanks.

deb

Several years ago i read The Aquarian Conspiracy by Marilyn Ferguson. There were many quotes from California politicians & workers which i collected. Below are two which i liked.

From San Jose assemblyman John Vasanalios (if i interpret my handwriting correctly)--
"The real political revolutionary act is to enable someone to see something he has not been able to see before."

George Stratton in the old Century Magazine, "Men establish governments to give order to life, then end up coveting the functions of government more than life."

deb

Deb: (if i interpret my handwriting correctly)
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I can so relate to this ! Just yesterday I was trying to decipher a book title I wrote down. I could make out Hamlet and the first part of the next word black. Thank heaven, Amazon came up with Hamlets Blackberry.

"The real political revolutionary act is to enable someone to see something he has not been able to see before."

I like that. Though jaded me thinks it is almost impossible in todays climate.

"If you want to be miserable, think of yourself. If you want to be happy, think of others."

~ Shambhala Sun magazine Sept 2010 issue

http://www.shambhalasun.com/

Alias Reader wrote: ""If you want to be miserable, think of yourself. If you want to be happy, think of others."

~ Shambhala Sun magazine Sept 2010 issue

http://www.shambhalasun.com/"

So true! I try so hard to do that. It's not always easy.

Donna

Keep in mind, hurting people often hurt other people as a result of their own pain. If somebody is rude and inconsiderate, you can almost be certain that they have some unresolved issues inside. They have some major problems, anger, resentment, or some heartache they are trying to cope with or overcome. The last thing they need is for you to make matters worse by responding angrily."

~~ Joel Osteen (Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential)

Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential~ Joel Osteen

"We are no different from the Massai or the Tasaday, we want things better in the cave. If not better, sufficient. If not sufficient, passable. If not passable, painless."

"Letter to a Russian" by Larry Levinger in New Age magazine, August '85.

How are you coming with your home library? Do you need some good ammunition on why it's so important to read? The last time I checked the statistics...I think they indicated that only four percent of the adults in this country have bought a book within the past year. That's dangerous. It's extremely important that we keep ourselves in the top five or six percent.

In one of the Monthly Letters from the Royal Bank of Canada it was pointed out that reading good books is not something to be indulged in as a luxury. It is a necessity for anyone who intends to give his life and work a touch of quality. The most real wealth is not what we put into our piggy banks but what we develop in our heads. Books instruct us without anger, threats and harsh discipline. They do not sneer at our ignorance or grumble at our mistakes. They ask only that we spend some time in the company of greatness so that we may absorb some of its attributes.

You do not read a book for the book's sake, but for your own.

You may read because in your high-pressure life, studded with problems and emergencies, you need periods of relief and yet recognize that peace of mind does not mean numbness of mind.

You may read because you never had an opportunity to go to college, and books give you a chance to get something you missed. You may read because your job is routine, and books give you a feeling of depth in life.

You may read because you did go to college.

You may read because you see social, economic and philosophical problems which need solution, and you believe that the best thinking of all past ages may be useful in your age, too.

You may read because you are tired of the shallowness of contemporary life, bored by the current conversational commonplaces, and wearied of shop talk and gossip about people.

Whatever your dominant personal reason, you will find that reading gives knowledge, creative power, satisfaction and relaxation. It cultivates your mind by calling its faculties into exercise.

Books are a source of pleasure - the purest and the most lasting. They enhance your sensation of the interestingness of life. Reading them is not a violent pleasure like the gross enjoyment of an uncultivated mind, but a subtle delight.

Reading dispels prejudices which hem our minds within narrow spaces. One of the things that will surprise you as you read good books from all over the world and from all times of man is that human nature is much the same today as it has been ever since writing began to tell us about it.

Some people act as if it were demeaning to their manhood to wish to be well-read but you can no more be a healthy person mentally without reading substantial books than you can be a vigorous person physically without eating solid food. Books should be chosen, not for their freedom from evil, but for their possession of good. Dr. Johnson said: "Whilst you stand deliberating which book your son shall read first, another boy has read both."

~~Earl Nightingale

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Nig...

I was re-reading Pritikin Program for Diet and Exercise and came across this quote.

"The sovereign invigoration of the body is exercise, and of all exercise walking is the best."

~ Thomas Jefferson

"... sometimes people use thought to not participate in life."
The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I referred to this quote in another post with Bobbie57; I really like this one.

Great quote -- I agree.

I know i shared this years ago on AOL but it's still a beloved quote.

From an article in Mother Jones magazine, October '84, "Nicaragua Sandanista", quoting Nora Astorga, "The truth is, with a revolution and kids, you don't have much time for a husband."



deborah

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it."

— W.C. Fields


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W.C._Fields

William Claude Dukenfield (January 29, 1880 – December 25, 1946), better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler and writer. Fields created a comic persona: a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist who remained a sympathetic character despite his snarling contempt for dogs, children, and women.

The characterization he portrayed in films and on radio was so strong it became generally identified with Fields himself.

"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain--and most do."

— Dale Carnegie -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Car...

Dale Breckenridge Carnegie (originally Carnagey until 1922 and possibly somewhat later) (November 24, 1888 – November 1, 1955) was an American writer and lecturer and the developer of famous courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking and interpersonal skills. Born in poverty on a farm in Missouri, he was the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People, first published in 1936, a massive bestseller that remains popular today. He also wrote How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, a biography of Abraham Lincoln entitled Lincoln the Unknown, and several other books.

One of the core ideas in his books is that it is possible to change other people's behavior by changing one's reaction to them

How To Win Friends and Influence People~ Dale Carnegie

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living~ Dale Carnegie

"Always remember, your focus determines your reality."

— George Lucas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_L...

George Walton Lucas, Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American film producer, screenwriter, director and founder/chairman of Lucasfilm Ltd. He is best known for being the creator of the epic science fiction franchise Star Wars and joint creator of the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones. Today, Lucas is one of the American film industry's most financially successful independent directors/producers

Alias Reader wrote: "How are you coming with your home library? Do you need some good ammunition on why it's so important to read? The last time I checked the statistics...I think they indicated that only four percent ..."

This was a wonderfully written argument for spending time reading.

"You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive."

— James Baldwin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ba...

James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – November 30, 1987) was an American novelist, writer, playwright, poet, essayist and civil rights activist.

In 1953, Baldwin's first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, an autobiographical bildungsroman, was published

The bildungsroman- is a genre of the novel which focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood.

Go Tell It on the Mountain~ James Baldwin

You gardeners may appreciate this one, i know my DH does.

"Father said that it had never been blossoming time that had pleased him most in gardening, but the time of waiting, before the seed even sprouted. 'The time,' he said, 'when you share a secret with the earth.'"

from Second Daughter: Growing Up in China, 1930-1949Katherine Wei, which i read 5/30/87.

deborah

Silence is a true friend who never betrays.

~ Confucius

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius

Confucius - literally "Master Kong," (traditionally September 28, 551 BCE – 479 BCE) was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher.

His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. These values gained prominence in China over other doctrines, such as Legalism or Taoism during the Han Dynasty(206 BCE – 220 CE). Confucius' thoughts have been developed into a system of philosophy known as Confucianism. It was introduced to Europe by the Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci, who was the first to Latinise the name as "Confucius."

A favorite quote:

"Your a little weirded out, ain't ya?" from The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

It was the context in which it was spoken by one of the characters that made it so potent.

Mike wrote: "A favorite quote:

"Your a little weirded out, ain't ya?" from The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

It was the context in which it was spoken by one of the characters that made it so potent...."

Mike, i don't contribute nearly as often as i'd like because my favorite quotes are just that sort! I fear no one would "get it" because it was in perfect relation to the prose but must be ready in context. Frustrating!

deb

"Reality is just a collective hunch."

Lily Tomlin's character Tess (the bag woman)

deborah

It's so much easier to suggest solutions when you don't know too much about the problem."

~ Malcolm Forbes


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_...
Malcolm Stevenson Forbes (August 19, 1919 – February 24, 1990) was publisher of Forbes magazine, founded by his father B.C. Forbes and today run by his son Steve Forbes.