Category: Books

Sunday Snapshots

So, what did I do this week – apart from editing PowerPoints, creating projects, and working on next school year in general? Well, I . . .

Attended the North Carolina Symphony:

 

Sadly, they skipped Sibelius’ Valse Triste, Op. 44.

Which made me sad.

My wife says angry.

I say sad.

Enjoyed reading in the hammock by the water at my in-laws:

 

Treated myself to a few inexpensive indulgences:

 

I got my donut on National Donut Day; did you?

Assuming, of course, that you live in a country where it’s observed.

I know the United States and Australia do,

does anyone else?

 

That calzone cost less than $5

The ingredients are bought fresh and the dough is made in-house.

Add a sweet tea, and there’s lunch for under $6

So much better than fast food!

Practiced my night photography:

 

Right after I photographed the spider, a small insect flew into the net. I tried taking a picture of the spider as it attacked its prey, but it didn’t turn out at all. If I hadn’t seen it happening, I wouldn’t know what I was looking at.

I actually took one more night shot, but I’m holding off on sharing it; it may show up for the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Vivid.

What did you do this week?

 

Don’t forget to follow me on:

 

Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.

 

Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?

 

Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.

The Worst Day of My Life

Meredith Broadside

via www.hmscavalier.org.uk
via http://www.hmscavalier.org.uk

My adopted grandfather, Mr. Tom (USN 1938-1957), remembers D-Day:

Mr Tom Enters the Navy 1938I was assigned to the Meredith*, an American destroyer out of Plymouth England. She was new – so new parts were still wet with paint. As at Pearl, my duty was the engine room. The Meredith wasn’t transport, she was a destroyer; we shelled the shore to soften it up for the landing. We stayed there in the [English] Channel for the entire day and the next, that’d make it June 7 when we were ordered to change position. I don’t recall where we were going; regardless, we struck a mine. That brand-new ship struck a mine and threatened to break in half. We ended up abandoning ship and I spent the night in the English Channel tied to my buddies so we wouldn’t drift. There was fuel all over, some of it ignited. One of my buddies [name redacted] was burned so badly he knew he was dying. He gave me some effects to pass on to his girl and some of the others started accusing me of robbing the dead. What was I supposed to do? What was I supposed to say? Well, we were picked up in the morning and I was shipped on to Scotland for recovery before being sent back to the States for a spell. I really can’t describe it. D-day was the worst day of my life. Worse than Pearl. Worse than the day my wife died. It was the absolute worst day of my life.

USS Meredith – navalwarfare.blogspot.com
USS Meredith – navsource.org
USS Meredith – wikimapia.org

*You can read the official Commander’s Narrative here.

 

Don’t forget to follow me on:

 

Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.

 

Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?

 

Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.

Thoughts Brought On by Reading Old Books

First, a shout out to Erik Kwakkel for opening my mind to the possibilities of marginalia.

Working through my summer reading list, I’ve encountered a few old books, namely

Old Books Summer Reading 2015

From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne, printed 1966

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré, printed 1975

A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie, printed 1953

                   Thoughts on Old Books
                          by Jay E. 

Books are like wines and cheeses: 
  they’re better aged.
    
    Like certain furniture styles, 
      not just aged, but distressed.

Well-worn covers, falling apart at the seams, 
  held together by hope and scraps 
    of binding tape or hardened bits 
      of glue.

Not-quite-blank first pages, left empty by the publisher,
  filled in by a succession of owners, 
    give glimpses - small hints and clues – 
      to the history of those pages.

With luck, exquisite ex libris plates 
  bearing the name of one long passed 
    whose legacy yet lives on; what better legacy 
      than the power of the written word?

Title pages with weight and meaning, 
  some fantastic works of art, 
    others equally fantastic for their simplicity – 
      the end result of dedicated typographers 
        and skilled typesetters.

The quirks of printing: 
  typefaces not seen in decades,
    pages printed at a slant,
      chapter headings and divisions 
        once the norm now oddities.

Above all, the smell: 
  that heady mix of dust and must 
    and decaying paper and 
      ageing ink. 
  
  It almost hurts to breathe it in, 
    yet like an addict we return 
      again and again, 
        imbibing in our drug of choice.

Consider these pages from my copy of A Pocket Full of Rye:

Pocket Full of Rye First Page

Pocket Full of Rye Page 54 Robert Willis
 
At one point, the book belonged to New Bern High.

I theorize this was its first home.

How long did it stay there?

Was it bought or stolen or did someone simply forget to return it?

 
How long did each owner keep it?

How many owners did it have?

 
Who, exactly, is . . .

B.B.

“me”

Sheila, and

is that her phone number, or someone else’s?

Did she own the book and give the number in case it was lost?

Did she write her number for an admirer on the only paper available?

Robert Willis, and

how does he fit in to all this?

To me, his name seems like a young lady’s doodling.

Especially since his name appears on multiple pages.

 

Sometimes the best questions are those to which there are no answers.

 

 

Don’t forget to follow me on:

 

Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.

 

Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?

 

Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.

Teaser Tuesday: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

School’s out for summer: long days complemented by sweet southern iced tea.

Dunkin Donuts Sweet Iced TeaAlthough next school year is just around the corner, the wheel of time has turned on its axis to

Teaser TuesdayJust in case you don’t know, Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! All you have to do is grab the book you’re currently reading, open to a random page and share two sentences from that page. But make sure you don’t share any spoilers!*

*I wish I could take credit for this introduction, but I shamelessly stole it from Heather over at bitsnbooks. To help me make amends, you should go check out her blog.

This week I’m reading Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré.

I picked a line from page 26, the page I’m currently on as I type this:

At a certain moment, after all, every man chooses: 
will he go forward, will he go back? There was 
nothing dishonorable in not being blown about by
every little modern wind. Better to have worth,
to entrench, to be an oak of one's own generation.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Cover

In Retrospect

I actually finished several books since the last Teaser Tuesday.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman scored 5/5 stars. It seems as if people either love it or hate it. I’m one of those who love it. Based on the Goodreads reviews, those who hated it “didn’t understand” it; I guess I can understand that – a working knowledge of mythology is supremely beneficial in understanding the allusions Gaiman makes throughout.

From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne scored 3/5 stars. I understand I’m reading an English translation of a French novel written over 100 years ago, but I found the language a bit stuffy for science fiction. I also felt the novel concluded unsatisfactorily.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote scored 4/5 stars for no other reason than I didn’t feel it deserved 5 stars. Having seen the movie (which I don’t particularly enjoy) I understand Capote’s disdain for the film adaptation. The book is always better.

 

Don’t forget to follow me on:

 

Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.

 

Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?

 

Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.

My Bookshelf A to Z

[Thanks to Heather over at bitsnbooks for this idea.]

top of books

Ais for author you’ve read the most books from.

Terry Pratchett is the clear winner with 44 books, including the one’s I’ve read that he co-authored: Good Omens and The Long Earth Trilogy.

 

 

Bis for best sequel ever.

An impossible question.

Moving on.

 

 

C

is for currently reading.

I’m currently reading three books (as usual):

From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré

Of course, this list is soon to be outdated.

Take a look at the bottom of the page to see what I’m reading when you read this!

Dis for drink of choice while reading.

Lemon Water or Coffee.

Mainly Coffee.

I gave up on blood and had a coffee transfusion.

 

Eis for e-reader or physical book?

Physical.

Here’s why.

 

 

Fis for fictional character you probably would have actually dated in high school.

I didn’t date in high school; I was interested in academics and not girls. Girls would have brought down my GPA. Never mind the fact I was probably related to 99% of them – no exaggeration.

I’m also much different now than I was then, so those factors must be taken into account. I’m going to have to say Wednesday Addams.

Gis for glad you gave this book a chance.

Ulysses by James Joyce.

Despite a rocky start, Ulysses has really grown on me.

 

 

His for hidden gem book.
The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

From Goodreads: A series of grisly murders is rocking the streets of nineteenth-century Boston. But these are no ordinary killings. Each is inspired by the hellish visions of Dante’s Inferno. To end the bizarre and bloody spree, no ordinary detective will suffice. Enter the unlikely sleuths of the Dante Club: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, and J. T. Fields — renowned scholars with the skills to decipher the devilish clues. But can this band of bookish gentlemen outwit a crafty killer? A terror-stricken city — and their own lives — depend on it.

Iis for important moment in your reading life.

The day I was first introduced to Dante and his Commedia.

Literally, a life-changing experience.

Also, a life-changing literary experience.

 

Jis for just finished.

I just finished reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

Based on Goodreads reviews, people either love it or hate it.

Personally, I loved it.

 

Kis for kinds of books you won’t read.

Erotica / Bodice Rippers and the like.

Some works have no merit.

Except as kindling.

A part of me died just writing that.

Lis for longest book you’ve read.

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

or Ulysses by James Joyce

or Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.

I’m not sure; page numbers vary by edition.

Mis for major book hangover.

Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer.

Please, go out and read it.

Now!

Hey, I said please . . .

Nis for number of bookcases you own.

Four:

Two are standard chain-store bookshelves sagging under the weight of the books they hold, one is a low school library bookcase, and the other is a 6ftx5ft custom job I built in high school.

Ois for one book you have read multiple times.

I’ve worn out 2 copies of Dante’s Commedia.

 

 

 

Pis for preferred place to read.

Either in my chair on on my sofa wrapped up in my comfy blanket with coffee close at hand and Smokey on my lap . . . though he does tend to sit on the book more often than not.

 

 

Qis for quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you’ve read.

“In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself within a dark woods where the straight way was lost.”
― Dante Alighieri, Inferno

 

 

Ris for reading regret.

Twilight

Need I say more?

 

 

Sis for series you started and need to finish (all books are out in series).

The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare – I still have to read City of Lost Souls and City of Heavenly Fire.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl – I need to read Beautiful Darkness, Beautiful Chaos, and Beautiful Redemption.

Tis for three of your all-time favorite books.

I’m going to cheat and use book series.

Dante’s Commedia

Terry Pratchett’s Discworld

C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia

Uis for unapologetic fanboy.

Dante Alighieri

Terry Pratchett

Neil Gaiman

 

Vis for very excited for this release more than all the others.

The Shepherd’s Crown by Terry Pratchett.

A Tiffany Aching book, it will be the last book set on Discworld written by Sir Terry.

 

Wis for worst bookish habit.

Not using a bookmark even though I have about a dozen of them.

 

 

Xis for X Marks The Spot.

Start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book:

Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf

 

 

Yis for your latest book purchase.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

 

 

 

Z is for ZZZ-snatcher book (last book that kept you up WAY late).

Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman

Teaser Tuesday: American Gods and Summer Reading 2015

I – and my students – survived another exam week; this means that school is officially over for the year!

However, as any teacher can tell you, we don’t really get breaks in the summer. Personally, I’ll be updating the curriculum for at least two classes to finish their alignment with state standards by the due date. Fun stuff. (Really!)

The wheel of time has turned in its course to

Teaser TuesdayJust in case you don’t know, Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! All you have to do is grab the book you’re currently reading, open to a random page and share two sentences from that page. But make sure you don’t share any spoilers!*

*I wish I could take credit for this introduction, but I shamelessly stole it from Heather over at bitsnbooks. To help me make amends, you should go check out her blog.

This week I’m reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

I picked a line from page 32, using the supreme logic that 32 is my favorite number:

He reached into his pocket, produced a folded newspaper, 
and handed it to Shadow. "Page seven," he said. "Come on 
back to the bar. You can read it at the table."

American Gods Cover

In Prospect

I haven’t yet solidified my Summer Reading List, but there are several titles sitting on my shelf that need reading. Help me decide what to read next!

Bookshelf Summer 2015
I have:

From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré

Atonement by Ian McEwan

1916: The Easter Rising by Tim Pat Coogan

A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

Boneman’s Daughters by Ted Dekker

Living History by Hillary Clinton

A special thanks to the Crone Chronicler for the suggestions of Room by Emma Donoghue and The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery!

Don’t forget to follow me on:

 

Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.

 

Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?

 

Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.

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