Book Nook Cafe discussion
2024- Book Prompt Challenge
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Deb's 2024 Book Challenge
I plan to add my own prompts--not sure how that's done--to include subjects similar to JulieLill's, listing blank spaces for plans, so to speak. Link to that--https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... For instance, having really enjoyed reading Vendela Vida work last year, i want to read at least two more by her. Having it as a prompt may well get me to do so. Ditto Sara Gran, whose Claire DeWitt books i have really relished for their offbeat nature. (Yet another "thank you" to John for leading me to her.)
I'm just not settled enough yet to figure those out.
I've added the prompts to the Master List for you, deb.You can either
1- copy a new Master List and delete the old one.
or
2- Just copy paste the 2 prompts to your own list.
Click on edit, paste or type the 2 prompts then click on Edit post (found under the box you are typing in.
53- Read 2 books by Vendela Vida
54- Read 2 books by Sara Gran.
***FYI
As moderator, I can only delete posts I can't go in and edit other members posts. I can only edit my own posts. Just like any member can go in and edit their own posts.
I completed my first book for the '24 Challenge. While i began this book late last year, i read almost all of it this year. 22- Debut novel was the prompt and my selection was Excavations--Kate Myers.I was disappointed in this book. The topic, four female workers at an archeological site in Greece, was fine but the style of the author initially baffled me. Even when characters/readers finally arrive at the dig, it's some time before it is truly part of the book. Even then, the archaeological angle seems less important. Before that we have 15-20 page long chapter to introduce each character--why she will be there, how she got there and what her recent life has been like. Frankly, i just didn't think we needed most of it.
I need to be totally fair here. The worst part of the book was my personal inability to get accustomed to the cadence/parlance of a couple of the characters. Whether the author was trying to make the characters 21st century, which seemed unnatural to me, or whether i just didn't "get" the references, i cannot say. Allow me once sentence to illustrate, "And Kara, of course, was the VitaMix to Z’s Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville margarita machine” What?
I'm still not sure what it meant, unless the author/character meant Kara had substance, while a margarita machine doesn't. What a way to share that. Honestly (and, i stress, it may have just been me), i reread that sentence to myself three times, only getting it on my fourth attempt, reading it aloud to my husband.
And then there is the fact that the most important ancient relic was given words/thought, shared through italicized paragraphs, usually inserted at the end of some chapters. For instance, she tells us she's been waiting for thousands of years to be dug up, that this is the right time and even describing the moment she competed.
The archeological work revolves around the Heraean Games (Wiki page--https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraean.... The dig leader, a man whose reputation has been enhanced by his poo-pooing the very idea of female athletes in ancient times, has bitterly fought this notion. This was a new angle for me, which was another reason i picked this book.
Again, i may have held a grudge due to the verbiage and my own disconnect. Still, i'm glad that my Challenge has begun. Don't count on me reading another book by this debut author, though.
Sorry to hear it wasn't a winner, deb. At least you can check off a prompt and know that this author isn't for you.As to, "And Kara, of course, was the VitaMix to Z’s Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville margarita machine” That looks like the author was trying a bit too hard to be cute.
My guess is a Vita Mix (wish I could afford one) are powerful top of the line, cool thing to own. Buffett, is old time, slower. Bottom line I am guessing is the two characters do not mesh. If I can use a car analogy, a Ferrari to a Volkswagen.
I don't think I'd like the story myself, as Alias said, author seems to be trying too hard to be clever. Your write-up was excellent!
Alias Reader wrote: "My guess is a Vita Mix (wish I could afford one) are powerful top of the line, cool thing to own. Buffett, is old time, slower. Bottom line I am guessing is the two characters do not mesh. If I can use a car analogy, a Ferrari to a Volkswagen...."Good analogy. Cost went right past me, although it should have made sense, as "Kara" was rather well to do. Thanks for that.
John wrote: "I don't think I'd like the story myself, as Alias said, author seems to be trying too hard to be clever. Your write-up was excellent!"Thank you, John. The odd thing is that her attempts at being clever were not as frequent as i expected, given the beginning. Honestly, i think the author was trying to reach an audience to which she doesn't belong & it showed.
madrano wrote: "I completed my first book for the '24 Challenge. While i began this book late last year, i read almost all of it this year. 22- Debut novel was the prompt and my selection was [book:Excavations|629..."madrano, thanks for the review, and congrats for the first tick on your challenge this year -- sorry it didn't satisfy.
Thanks, James. My second book of the year was enormously satisfying. And, it taught me that i am not off reading, as i feared.Dope--Sara Gran completed prompt #44- Book with one word title, as well as being the first of two books by the author that i hope to read this year (Prompt #54). In this novel Gran has recreated New York City in 1950, featuring a recovered dope addict, Josephine. For the last two years she's lived free of drugs but still earning a living by shoplifting.
When she is given $1000 to locate the college-age daughter of a wealthy couple, she dives in. But this leads her to the seamy neighborhoods of her past. Gran manages to inform readers about the constant struggles of a recovered addict, as well as portray the post WWII era of the city, as drug use booms.
In some ways it reminds me of the hard-boiled fiction of James M. Cain but from a female reformed addict POV. Gran continues to shine in her writing, even when the world she re-creates is on the edge and places most readers wouldn't want to visit in person.
As Josephine (Joey) searches for the co-ed, we learn of her own past, the people she knew and her very real struggles. This is subtly contrasted to the life of the student she's seeking, as well as her own sister's successful life. There is a pathos to several people Joey interviews, including dealers, prostitutes and those who have survived the same into old age. Good stuff.
I suspect that readers who know NYC better could better appreciate the parts of town she visits as she searches. Often she would give a general address and description, some of which i knew were going to change by the end of the 20th century. But mostly, i wondered. Still, good reading to learn what some parts were like in 1950.
Thanks to John for sharing his comments on this novel. Not only did he remind me how much i like Gran's writing but also that i hoped to read more from her, thus my list.
Glad it worked out so well for you! Tip-toe-ing around a spoiler, I choose to see the ending as more positive than it might imply.
Well done, deb. I see you also have the green check mark figured out !
Alias Reader wrote: "Well done, deb. I see you also have the green check mark figured out !"
Again, thanks to the board members here! Now that i have one, i just copy & paste. LaZy!
John wrote: "Glad it worked out so well for you! Tip-toe-ing around a spoiler, I choose to see the ending as more positive than it might imply."
Interesting John. (view spoiler)
I ached with some of her comments about life on drugs and how she could still be tempted after two years.
About the ending: (view spoiler)The drug use was depressing with her descriptions of how she saw the others' lives ruined from what they were when she met them.
I agree, she nailed the drug problem and the life. But that she so well depicted the temptations was all the better, due to her knowledge.Re. the ending: (view spoiler)
I completed prompt 50-- book written by a BIPOC author or character is BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color )) F/NF, by reading August Snow--Stephen Mack Jones. Snow is half-Mexican and Half-African American, fitting the prompt well.Former Marine and Detroit cop August Snow won $12 million in wrongful dismissal settlement from the city a couple of years ago. After spending some time overseas, he has returned to the house his late parents willed to him in Mexicantown. Without exactly meaning to do so, he has begun revitalizing the street he knew, while simultaneously helping some needful borderline-criminals find good work.
Meanwhile, a wealthy investment bank owner draws Snow into an international banking scheme, just by requesting he visit her. As she is found dead the next day, a declared suicide, he finds himself knee-deep in fraud, guns and protecting the daughter of the late woman.
I liked the characters introduced, the details about Detroit and surrounding areas, as well as the storyline. One Goodreads mentioned that food was mentioned far too much in this book but, frankly, i felt it helped us fill in his personal status, as a man of mixed heritage. And it gave me a couple of ideas for improving my TexMex offerings!
There is violence in the novel, as well as much information about how some small banks have been drawn into illegal activities. In all, a couple of murders are solved but there are a number of killings in self-defense. Can i see myself returning to this series? Maybe, but not any time soon.
Congrats on the prompt and great it worked out so well for you!
Well done on the prompt #50. That is one I don't have a book in mind. Thank you for the comprehensive review. That really helps others to know if the book is for them or not.
Moving right along to my second featured author, Vendela Vida. This week i read And Now You Can Go, the first of two Vida novels i hope to read this year, see Prompt 53.I fully appreciate how Vida shares a story about an individual who is facing something unusual in their life. In this case 21-year-old art history grad student Ellis has her life threatened. The book opens with this scene, which takes place along Riverside Drive in New York City. Her abductor tells her he doesn't want to die alone, so is going to take her with him. After showing her his gun, they sit on a park bench. Elllis decides to persuade him that life is worth living. At first she wants to share about art but moves to poetry instead.
The rest of the novel is about the repercussions of this event. There are observations Ellis makes, sometimes without seeming to see what underlies the comment, such as an odor she smells. As she has a sharp sense of smell, stating how different people smell, a reader is likely to miss the importance until later. Neat.
Then there are comments which strike me as true, although i never considered it previously. For instance, she declares "waiting" is not a verb. Think about it. Of course, we know it is a part of speech but is it a verb? Or is what we do the verb--twiddle thumbs, pace, talk?
In other novels i've read by her, i recall other aspects of language or idioms she's written about. I'm intrigued by them, even when they are amid the quagmires a character is experiencing. It's why i want to read more by Vida.
I liked the book, particularly as it mentions poetry near the beginning. As it turns out, this was her debut novel but her second book. The first was a nonfiction Girls on the Verge: Debutante Dips, Drive-bys, and Other Initiations, based on her grad work.
Well done on the prompt, Deb. It sounds like an unusual book. I'm glad it met your expectations.
Thank you both for your comments. I feel i'm gaining confidence in sharing about the books i've read, thanks to your encouragement.
Thanks for that review, nicely done!In writing, I think I have to go with "waiting" as a verb (it is an action and usually part of the predicate of a sentence).
In life, is "waiting" an action by virtue of inaction pending an outcome or event?
I am sure you are correct, James. Yet, i still have a delight in what Vida conjured in my mind. Verb, due to inaction. I like that, too. Waiting Room, waiting for action, maybe as a group? Waiters, waiting for orders, maybe? I would NEVER suggest to servers that "waiting" on tables was not a verb.
Well, i just realized i may be in error. I believed i was reading for prompt #19- book with a relationship in the title (father, mother, daughter, son, sister or brother). I didn't realize that it appears only the specific relationships in the parenthesis are meant. The book i read was The Murder of My Aunt. Oops. I'll probably just keep it, staring boldly into the Prompt Itself!The second error is Goodreads' problem. They've listed Richard Hill, as well as Richard Hall as the author. However, according to the book's cover & innards, the author is Richard Hull. This final GR link is in error, too, but at least mentions a few of his other mysteries.
The novel, published in 1934, is considered a classic from the "golden age of mystery writing" because its narrator is the one who is planning the murder, the "who" in whodunit. Edward Powell, living in Wales with his sole relative, his paternal aunt, who raised him since childhood, is planning to free himself of the woman. Edward makes it clear he finds Wales, almost every person the readers "meet" and even ordinary objects abhorrent. His tastes are not only beyond his allowance (from the aunt), but also out of the ordinary for most people in England, let alone Wales.
The conceit is that we read in his diary the efforts taken to kill his aunt in such a way that it will appear accidental, so that he may inherit her estate and live as he desires, rather than in prison. Back when it was written, this "mystery" must have seemed a clever device, and it still is today. However, the tediousness with which we learn about Edward's tastes, contrasted to that of his family & neighbors, become rather boring after awhile.
Readers know, of course, that things cannot go the way he intends. What we don't know is how he'll be foiled. And we wonder if he is as clever as he thinks he is. It's all a giggle and not too terribly long, so as to bore stiff. As i ran across the title while reading another mystery, i'm glad to have read it & know what reference to it might mean today.
madrano wrote:Post #29
"Well, i just realized i may be in error. I believed i was reading for prompt #19- book with a relationship in the title (father, mother, daughter, son, sister or brother). I didn't realize that it ..."
Deb, I think any relationship is fine. When I created the prompt I was just trying to expand it from 2023
48- Contains the word "Wife" or "Woman" in the title.
I will go back and add etc. to the prompt.
madrano wrote:Post #29
The second error is Goodreads' problem. They've listed Richard Hill, as well as Richard Hall as the author. However, according to the book's cover & innards, the author is Richard Hull. This final GR link is in error, too, but at least mentions a few of his other mysteries."
Deb, there is a GoodReads Librarian group that will fix that.
Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Librarians Group is the official group for requesting additions or updates to the catalog, including:
* Adding new books or editions
* Editing book information (including covers)
* Combining and merging book editions
* Edits to page counts, quotes or awards
* Correcting author profiles for authors not in the Goodreads Author Program
If you're a Goodreads member with a new request, click Join Group. Once you're added to the group, you can post your question following this link.
Simple requests (e.g. page count updates) typically take around 48 hours depending on the volume of requests, while more complex requests could take up to a couple of weeks (e.g. adding a new book).
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
Congrats on the prompt - the nephew sounds awful!I was planning to use an Uncle title here myself.
Thanks for the encouragement, Alias & John. I remember last year's prompt was limited but i wasn't sure this year's was to keep it a nuclear family. Although, in this book's case, they are the nuclear family. In several ways, i chuckle.Now that i've finished reading it, i realize it had to be somewhat tedious in order to give us the obnoxious character of the nephew, as well as insights we later realize about the aunt. It was Impatient Deb that wanted it finished.
Alias Reader wrote: "Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Librarians Group is the official group..."This is good to know. Thank you, Alias. I'm signing up right now.
madrano wrote: "Alias Reader wrote: "Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Librarians Group is the officia..."You're welcome, deb. The correction will help other GoodRead readers too. So you will have done a good deed. :)
My pleasure. I cannot imagine all thework these volunteers must do.
I completed reading for prompt #51, Author not a native of the country in which the book is set, The Motion Picture Teller, set in Thailand, written by [UK citizen] Colin Cotterill. It's a loving, funny book about two film addicts who live and work in Bangkok. Ali, owner of a video rental store, and Supot, letter carrier, spend almost all their free time watching and discussing movies. In their conversations, they reference movies and rent out videos to customers. They are rather content with their lives, not dating much but confident they will one day marry.
They purchase a video from a homeless pal they know, watching it almost immediately. Titled Bangkok 2010, they are fascinated with the story and the star, a beautiful woman, who is a sort of secret agent against wealthy men. Apparently in Thailand, rich men attain "minor wives", young women whose rent they pay, in exchange for sexual pleasures. Many men have several of these "spouses".
The dystopian film is about a group of women who want to expose the hypocrisy and change the future of such arrangements. As far as Ali & Supot can tell, the movie was never released. Because they find it such a good and powerful movie, they decide to find out its history.
Meanwhile, Supot has fallen in love & tries to locate the leading lady. The story of the film, how it was made and why it wasn't release take up the final quarter of the book. It's a telling story and i found it satisfying. Meanwhile, throughout the book, parts of the script are shared. And we read about what the two guys do for fun outside the world of cinema.
I'm not very familiar with Thailand or this idea of "minor wife". Here, i suppose we'd just call them mistresses. Curiously, though, a number of people are openly mentioned as being a child of a "minor wife", making them sort of second class students and given fewer opportunities. It is also made clear in the book that some young women are coerced into this arrangement, threatened with a loss of their jobs, if they don't agree.
The love of the cinema and how people of other nations view "Hollywood" films was an interesting aspect of the book. One character was working on a screenplay, while the other was trying to track down facts about the science fiction film they watched.
I liked the book and found the two friends touching in their outlook and care for one another. This is the second novel by Cotterill i've read and i'm much more impressed by it. The first, The Coroner's Lunch, was interesting and the premiere in his mystery series.
Thank you to Barbara, who reviewed the book for us at BNC. I wouldn't have run across this one on my own but i'm glad i found it.
Very nice review, Deb. And congratulations on checking off another prompt !Funny when you wrote "Ali, owner of a video rental store" it made me think of the stores you don't see anymore. There used to be video rental stores all over but no more. I think I read that Netflix is no longer doing the mailing of DVDs anymore.
Also there are no more film stores where you go to develop or buy film.
There are probably other stores that you don't see anymore but these two came to mind.
Alias Reader wrote: " "Ali, owner of a video rental store" it made me think of the stores you don't see anymore. There used to be video rental stores all over but no more..."The book mentioned the changes ahead, so the guys knew CDs were ahead.
We can still get our film developed through our local drug store, last time i checked, which was '22. But we had to search for that one.
I'm sure you are right about other stores that are no longer open/available. It's tough to find someone to repair small appliances and tools but we can usually find one. Nowadays, it's easier to just buy a new one, right?
Where I lived there used to be a Kodak store. It was mainly just for film purchase and development. Long gone now. I do miss seeing actual photos and photo albums. I know you can have digital photos printed and even made into albums now. However, it seems to me, most photos just stay on peoples phones.
:(
I'm with you on missing those, Alias. I used to have paper photos from my digital ones made up, so i could share with the older family members. Now, however, i have no use for them, either. Which doesn't mean i'm tossing what i have!I can see the convenience of phone photos, however. If, that is, you don't mind seeing the grandchildren of strangers while waiting for events, etc. :-)
This week i finished 100 Years of Negro Freedom, which i've been reading slowly, mostly chapter by chapter. It completes my need for prompt #4. Published in 1960, it was a backward glance at how far African Americans have progressed since their emancipation. Author Arna Bontemps was primarily known as a poet prior to this book and the prose reflects that. Not by their beauty but by the succinctness of the chapters.The book is a short account of leaders in the post-slavery years, as well as references to lesser leaders. Major biographies include Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, George W. Carver, Pinckney Pinchback (Louisiana politician, elected to the US Senate but never seated, due to white politicians.), Richard Theodore Greener (first black to graduate from Harvard and father of J P Morgan's librarian, Belle de la Costa (recently read bio of her--An Illuminated Life: Belle da Costa Greene's Journey from Prejudice to Privilege--Heidi Ardizzone]), even though she never acknowledged him, as she presented herself as a more or less white woman, W E B Du Bois, and A. Philip Randolph.
Bontemps chose to scatter the biographies across the book. For example, Douglass takes up the first but chapter 2 is about Booker T. Washington's youth. Chapter 3 introduces another man, Pinchback, followed by Green. Then 5 resumes with Washington. And on. The point, i believe, is to illustrate what was going on in the lives of others in the book during those same years. It worked fine but upon returning to the lives of lesser known (unfamiliar to me) leaders, it took a moment to recall who they were. It is not my favorite style.
One thing i appreciated about the book is that it directly addressed problems which occurred between Washington and Du Bois. If you have read The Souls of Black Folks, you may be familiar with the issue. Washington believed that educating African Americans to trades/physical labor and not higher classroom intellectual work, would be best for students. In this way, they could immediately earn money and begin to take their places in their communities. Du Bois believed that limiting their education was to deny intellectual growth to students and an understanding of how far they could climb. This difference ended up tearing the black communities two ways, many leaders (white & black) feeling they had to take sides.
Bontemps explained why this was a major point within the community, as well as detailing pros and cons on both sides. He also explains that slowly Du Bois's opinions overcame that of Washington's, mostly, however, after the death of the latter. This rift led to another, and so it went.
The second-to-the-last-chapter begins with a two-page recounting of leadership, then asks who will be the next leaders. This is followed by very short bios of Thurgood Marshall, Adam C Powell, Jr. and Martin Luther King Jr.. Readers today can see the hope, as well as know their endings and where their examples led.
The final chapter is titled "Accolades" and in it he mentions honors accrued by members of the race. Included in this list are sculptor Edwinia Lewis, protester Rosa Parks, diplomat Ralph Bunche, Pultizer prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks and others, women & whites.
As i owned this book, i am glad to have this account in my library. It could be considered a bit of a mess, as it roams from person to person but i believe the flow worked to tell the overall story. I'm sure there are better works today which cover the same ground. This, however, fits my bill.
Interesting history choice! I know of Edwina Lewis from using her postage stamp, as well as one featuring Bessie Coleman https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessi..., who was recently mentioned in a Jeopardy! question. I've read Cottrell's series featuring Jimm Jurree: Killed at the Whim of a Hat.
madrano wrote:As i owned this book, i am glad to have this account in my library. It could be considered a bit of a mess, as it roams from person to person but i believe the flow worked to tell the overall story. I'm sure there are better works today which cover the same ground. This, however, fits my bill.
"
Well done on the prompt, deb ! Your patience paid off with this book.
Have you read the excellent The Warmth of Other Suns: the Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson ?
John wrote: "Interesting history choice! I know of Edwina Lewis from using her postage stamp, as well as one featuring Bessie Coleman https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessi..., who was recently mentioned i..."John, that stamp was my introduction to Lewis, too. Since then, i've seen her mentioned in two books i've read. It's like that sometimes, they were present, just not in my mind. Then--they crop up often.
Oddly, Coleman was not mentioned in the book. I saw that Jeopardy question, too. I first heard about her when we visited Amelia Earhart's birthplace in Atchison, Kansas, in 2019. The place honored all the early female pilots, as well as Earhart. It was neat.
I didn't know much about this Cottrell series, John. It sounds like one i would like better than the Siri Paiboun series. Thanks for telling us about it.
Alias Reader wrote: "Have you read the excellent The Warmth of Other Suns: the Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson ..."Yes, i have. Now that you ask, her story seemed disjointed in the way Bontemps did. Again, i understand the intent is to address the story chronologically, it's just more challenging for my simple brain.
Btw, it was interesting to see the references he made to the migration. Once again (as i wrote in the above post), to see mention of something i didn't previously know but that was there all along is interesting. It leads one to wonder why we weren't taught that in school. Wilkerson has written a book about it which cannot be ignored, if high school teachers are only allowed to use it.
This week i finished The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book--Alice B. Toklas, which i've been reading slowly since January, although in December i looked at it for some recipes. This is the book i use to fulfill prompt #34--food mentioned in book, recipes or chef mentioned in book. In the introduction, written by Ruth Reichl, she asked how readers could trust a book that forgot to share some ingredients, such as sugar for cookies or peas for "Green Peas à la Français".
She also wondered about authorship, such as when introducing the recipe for Haschich Fudge (not the brownies i have been told she made), the description doesn't sound like any of her other writing throughout the book. One possible answer is that this was in a chapter titled "Recipes from Friends". Perhaps the words/descriptions were written by the donor, in this case, artist Brion Gysin (Wiki bio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brion_G... ). It began “This is the food of Paradise—of Baudelaire’s Artificial Paradises: it might provide an entertaining refreshment for a Ladies’ Bridge Club or a chapter meeting of the DAR."
MFK Fisher wrote the foreword for the book, while Reichl provided the introduction. Both women mention their relationship with Toklas, more from a distance than not. The latter writer informed me that there have long been questions about how Stein survived as well as she did during WWII, suggesting that working with the Vichy regime is the answer. I was unaware of this, as of other negative thoughts during those years. To contrast that, Toklas is pro-American and only writes of their interaction with the Resistance.
ANYway, as for the book itself. When writing out a column of ingredients, she placed a period at the end of each. For example--
1 cup flour.
bouquet of laurel leaves.
pound of butter.
I've never seen that previously and have looked at many cookbooks over the years. The other curiosity is that she only referred to her partner as "Gertrude Stein". Only. "Gertrude Stein changed the spark plugs", "Gertrude Stein ate the bread alone" and on. Never Gerty, Trudi, Stein, etc.
As mentioned above, the recipes can be iffy. Not only did she omit ingredients but also when to cook some items before adding to the dish. On the other hand, she was precise when discussing herbs, gardening and when to truss. Mixed bag.
I have tried only a few of the recipes and they were very simple. The couple must have gone through two dozen eggs a week, as they are added to far more dishes than necessary. She added eggs to a fondue, for pity's sake!
Oh, how i wander. Back to the basic book. There is plenty of personal history about their own travels, particularly during WWII. The mention of well known names, as well as what might be called lesser known writers, was a feast for me, as this is the only place i've seen them mentioned, outside their books. The first book i ever read about WWI was written by Mildred Aldrich whose On the Edge of the War Zone From the Battle of the Marne to the Entrance of the Stars and Stripes, i read years ago. She was one of the friends they visited during that war. Gertrude Atherton? She's in there! Ellen Glasgow, on & on.
Other topics follow: servants they employed; their visit to the US in the mid '30s; their automobiles, which they named; places where they lived and more. I imagine historians using this for much more than learning more about Stein.
While i highlighted over 50 recipes of interest, the truth is i will probably only try a few. It's just hard not to take note of a recipe for Dulce, which only states: "In a huge copper pan put quantities of granulated sugar, moisten with cream, turn constantly with a copper spoon until it is done. Then pour into glasses."
I've long been curious about this one, so thanks for convincing me to add it as a TBR item.
I am using Women Talking--Miriam Toews to fulfill prompt #15- philosophy, ethics, morality, even though the F/NF wasn't included in the prompt. This novel is full of all of that and more, meaning i could have included it with spiritual, as it's set in a religious community. But that just felt wrong.The narrator is August Epps, who has been asked to keep the minutes of the long discussion some women in the Mennonite community are holding, concerning recent news. According to Epps, "I’ve done some simple calculations. Between 2005 and 2009, more than three hundred girls and women of Molotschna were made unconscious and attacked in their own beds. On average, an attack occurred every three or four days.”
Initially, the victims believed it was Satan or evil spirits doing this. Most of the women awoke the next morning bleeding from their lower bodies. It turns out men in the community (brothers, fathers, uncles and others) were using an animal anesthetic, fumigating the entire house, to knock the victims & their families out. One child stayed awake, in fear, and saw her attacker spray into her room & identified him. In his confession, he named names.
There were originally three options for the women, the first of which was voted down, 1) stay in the community and continue as they have, 2) stay but insist upon new rules and order or 3) leave the community. A few women are selected to hold the discussion & others will do what they decide.
The discussions, spread over two days, are fascinating, as the women look at the problem from the vantage of their own pacifism. Without sharing their attacks, they share their emotions about forgiveness, particularly, if the criminal is told by the church leader to ask for forgiveness, is it genuine? If not, then how can their forgiveness (again, ordered by the leader) be real? Will they burn in hell if they do? If they don't?
On the second day they ask how much of the Bible teachings they can believe. They cannot read or write, so only know the book from what the men tell them of it. Would they be selective or share all of it? I'm surprised it took them that long to ask but i'm a skeptic, right?
I liked the film, which is why i got the book immediately after viewing it. I found the portrayal of the females to be accurate, as told by the book. However, there was a revelation at the end which readers didn't have which altered some parts for me. I won't share those here but i can understand why the film didn't include it, as it would have muddied the waters.
I haven't mentioned that this is based on a real Mennonite community in Bolivia. The ending is different to reality, however. I'm glad i read this book after the film.
madrano wrote: "I am using Women Talking--Miriam Toews to fulfill prompt #15- philosophy, ethics, morality, even though the F/NF wasn't included in the prompt. This novel is full of a..."Deb, all the prompts can be F/NF if it fits. It's totally up to each person.
Well done on the prompt. If I recall correctly, philosophy isn't a favorite genre for you.
That seems like quite an intense book. I think it would just make me very angry that this happened to those poor women.
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Books mentioned in this topic
X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft but Can Still Keep Everything from Sucking (other topics)X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft but Can Still Keep Everything from Sucking (other topics)
X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft but Can Still Keep Everything from Sucking (other topics)
Why Buddhism Is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment (other topics)
At Home in Mitford (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Arthur Rimbaud (other topics)Douglas Coupland (other topics)
Jeff Gordinier (other topics)
Jeff Gordinier (other topics)
Ryan Holiday (other topics)
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✅2- Business, economics, finance (personal, business or home) F or NF Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall--Alexandra Lange
✅ 3-Health, fitness or diet--Keep It Moving: Lessons for the Rest of Your Life--Twyla Tharp
✅- 4-History--100 Years of Negro Freedom--Arna Bontemps
✅-5- Historical fiction Wandering Stars--Tommy Orange
✅-6- Humorous story, or comedian wrote it, or light hearted fun read. The Lemon--S.E. Boyd
✅ 7- Legal or lawyer character F / NF Central Park West--James Comey
✅-8- LGBTQ+ character F/NF Fi: A Memoir of My Son--Alexandra Fuller
✅- 9-Medical or character related to topic F/NF A Fatal Inheritance: How a Family Misfortune Revealed a Deadly Medical Mystery--Lawrence Ingrassia
✅ 10- Mystery, Thriller, or suspense Hello, Transcriber--Hannah Morrissey
✅ 11- Political, social science or governments F/NF X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft but Can Still Keep Everything from Sucking--Jeff Gordinier
✅ 12-romance, relationships or love. F/NF Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers--Jesse Q. Sutanto.
✅ 13-science F/NF A Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters--Andrew H. Knoll
✅-14-travel F/NF The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia--Paul Theroux
✅ 15-philosophy, ethics, morality Women Talking--Miriam Toews
✅ 16-Young adult book F/NF The Education of Little Tree--Forrest Carter
✅ 17- Spiritual or inspirational F/NF The Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels--Janet Martin Soskice
✅18- book that takes place during a holiday. Any holiday. Holiday in Death--J.D. Robb
✅- 19- book with a relationship in the title (father, mother, daughter, son, sister or brother) The Murder of My Aunt--Richard Hull
✅-20 The Arts: Music, art, theater, acting, dance or poetry. Information Desk: An Epic--Robyn Schiff
✅-21- Banned book or Challenged book Me and Earl and the Dying Girl--Jesse Andrews
✅ 22-Debut novel--Excavations--Kate Myers
✅ 23- Award winning book or nominated for award Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon--Melissa L. Sevigny Winner of the (ready for this?) National Outdoor Book Award for History/Biography
✅-24- A play Phaedra--Jean Racine, translated by Richard Wilbur
✅-25- A book published before you were born The Luminous Face--Carolyn Wells
✅-26- Published in 2024 Dead in Long Beach, California--Venita Blackburn
✅27- Nature, environment or animals. F/NF The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring--Richard Preston
✅-28- book that takes place in WWI, WWII, or other war F/NF Lost in Shangri-la: Escape from a Hidden World, A True Story--Mitchell Zuckoff
✅29- cosmology, space, astronauts, outer space- F/NF Rocket Girl: The Story of Mary Sherman Morgan, America's First Female Rocket Scientist--George D. Morgan
✅-30- Sports F/NF The Joy of Winter Hiking: Inspiration and Guidance for Cold Weather Adventures--Derek Dellinger
✅31- Horror or scary King Nyx--Kirsten Bakis
✅-32- Self help or creative or How to The American Indian Craft Book--Marz Minor & Nono Minor
✅33- psychology Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You--Sam Gosling
✅-34- food mentioned in book, recipes or chef mentioned in book F/NF The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book--Alice B. Toklas
✅-35- about a disability or character has a disability F/NF Greek Lessons--Han Kang
✅36- a book about one of your 5 senses ( touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste) F/NF Hester--Laurie Lico Albanese
✅-37- color in title The Blacker the Berry...--Wallace Thurman
✅38- Weather related F/NF Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places--Bill Streever
✅-39- Myth, sci fi, magical realism, or fantasy-- The Ministry of Time--Kaliane Bradley.
✅40- Dystopian Make Room! Make Room!--Harry Harrison
✅-41- Author last name begins with B, N or C--The Body on the Beach--Simon Brett
✅-42- audio book Aednan: An Epic--Linnea Axelsson
✅ 43-Topic or a character has one of the 7 deadly sins or more! (pride, greed, envy, gluttony, sloth, wrath and lust) F/NFMy Year of Rest and Relaxation--Ottessa Moshfegh Sloth.
✅-44- Book with one word title. Ilium--Lea Carpenter
✅45- A book over 500 pages Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets--David Simon
✅-46- A book with either an Index, Map, photographs or Glossary Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks--Crystal Wilkinson
✅-47- Translated into English The Darkness--Ragnar Jónasson
✅-48- Book that takes place in or is about a country you don't live in. F/NF Days at the Morisaki Bookshop--Satoshi Yagisawa
✅ 49-Short story collection Or Essay collection--Why the Innocent Plead Guilty and the Guilty Go Free: And Other Paradoxes of Our Broken Legal System--Jed S. Rakoff
✅-50 book written by a BIPOC author or character is BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color )) F/NF August Snow--Stephen Mack Jones
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Extra prompts from participants in the challenge.
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✅-51-Author not a native of the country in which the book is set. The Motion Picture Teller, set in Thailand--[UK citizen] Colin Cotterill.
✅-52- Book written by an Indie author or Indie press. Blood of My Blood--Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
✅ 53- Read 2 books by Vendela Vida ✅And Now You Can Go--Vendela Vida
✅We Run the Tides--Vendela Vida
✅ 54- Read 2 books by Sara Gran: Dope--Sara Gran and The Book of the Most Precious Substance.