I started this blog in October but it took until now to overcome my resistance to something techie and figure out how to get online.
Life brought an unwelcome surprise to everyone this year. No more meeting inside or at restaurants. We had to learn to Zoom. Luckily there were people still working, or grandchildren, who could help with that. As summer came, we three readers ventured outside for picnics with our bookbags, and finally an outdoor restaurant. What a treat!
Our last outdoor meeting required a coat at lunch time as we sat around a picnic table in front of the taco shop discussing The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak. We enjoyed her take on differing views of history. For the Armenians, it was important and part of their lives; for the Turks, not so much. Her writing, tho, is the classic definition of “overwrite” – way too much rambling for me.
10/23 “The owl of Minerva flies only at dusk”. What a wonderful saying for old age. I came upon it today when reading David Brooks’ article in the Atlantic, “Bruce Springsteen and the Art of Aging Well.”
10/31 Halloween. No masks; No coats. Rainy weather so our group stayed inside and zoomed. Our discussion today was the second half of Safek’s book. One of us liked the warm family feelings evoked by the “aunties.” The other enjoyed the exploration of memories on our current lives. I found a murder/suicide scene set in the middle of all this unrealistic.
But in a book I didn’t care for, this great nugget: The overwhelming majority of people never think and those who think never become the overwhelming majority.
An escape to Vancouver and a restaurant along the river with both an overhang and heater. Fun to see on the wall a quote from Virginia Woolf. “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” A woman after my own heart.
11/3/20 Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying is today’s book. We read only the first 60 pages and it took that long to get the characters straight. I had a routine hospital procedure but couldn’t bring myself to take that book into the waiting room and let someone see the title.
Your Blogis off to a delightful start. I look forward to your next one.
Thanks!
Wonderful to have a blog aimed at older readers. And its fun to read varied opinions about her selected books
Thank you.
You write just like you talk which is my favorite style!!! Excellent flow and the pictures add a lot.
Thanks Jane
👏🏻👏🏻
Haven’t read much Faulkner.
Don’t think I’ll start.
I had an Aunt Willa. I loved her.
So maybe Libby can find some W. Cather. Where should I start.
🧞♀️
By all means you should read Willa Cather. She is from your neck of the woods – at least close by. She grew up in Red Cloud, Nebraska, and wrote about the early settlers in that area in O Pioneers and My Antonia. Both are great stories.
Such a treat to read your Blog. You do write as you speak and
it makes me very comfortable to read your Blog.