Alias Reader's comments (member since Oct 29, 2008)

Alias Reader's comments from the Book Nook Cafe group.

madrano wrote: "Alias, did you read Up the Down Staircase?

I found it interesting for what i learned about teaching. There are others i've read but, again, my..."

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Deb, my local library was able to get this book for me from a library in Geneva, NY. I'm not sure where that is. Upstate no doubt.

Anyway, I will start it soon and let you know how it goes. I also requested the DVD of the book, but the only copy in my library system is a library that is closed for renovation. They are going to see if they can still get it for me. If not, I'll see if they can look outside the system. Though I'm not sure if they do that for DVD's or only books.

I am currently reading and enjoying, In Cheap We Trust. It's a history of frugality from the founding of our country to the present. I found this title from the NY Times Book Review.



I am also reading, per JoAnn's suggestion, The Ladies Auxiliary.

I've only read about 75 pages, so I don't have much of an opinion on it yet. I will note that Orthodox Judaism is very different from the Hasidic Judaism in the book I read, which was titled The Unchosen.

The Hasidic sect seem to have a stricter interpretation of the things. Of course a major difference with the two books is The Unchosen is a non fiction book, and this one is fiction. I am not well versed in the religion, so I am enjoying learning a little bit about the different sects and branches. I see from Wiki that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasidic_Jud... "Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, is a branch of Orthodox Judaism.... thus Hasidic Judaism is not one movement, but a collection of separate individual groups with some commonality. There are approximately 30 larger Hasidic groups, and several hundred minor Hasidic groups exist. Though there is no one version of Hasidism, individual Hasidic groups often share with each other fundamental philosophy, worship styles, dress, songs, etc."

I didn't know that. The Wiki link is quite informative.

If anyone is interested here is the link on Orthodox Judaism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthodox_je...
"Orthodoxy are not a single movement or school of thought. There is no single rabbinic body to which all its rabbis are expected to belong, or any one organization representing its member congregations. In the United States at the present moment, there are a number of Orthodox congregational organizations, such as Agudath Israel, the Orthodox Union, and the National Council of Young Israel; none of which can claim to represent even a majority of all Orthodox congregations."

I am also coming to the finish line with the 1200 page Les Miserables. Yahoo ! It's quite good. There are a few long tangents that the author goes on, for example , the Battle of Waterloo. But I just skim that part. The writing is very good and the story is multi layered. I can see why this novel is an enduring classic. I have about 300 pages until I reach the finish line.

Welcome, rytr !

I think you are right about a classic having a deeper meaning or maybe an issue that transcends an era.

Welcome, Anastaia ! I'm glad you found us.

C-SPAN2's Book TV: November 21 - 23


Insightful author interviews
Saturday 10 PM, Sunday 9 PM and
Monday 12 AM & 3 AM ET
Nomi Prins, It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bailouts, Bonuses and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street.

Steven Gillon, The Kennedy Assassination - 24 Hours After: Lyndon B. Johnson's Pivotal First Day as President. Sunday 9 AM and 8 PM & Monday 4 AM ET)

Sarah Palin, Going Rogue: An American Life.
(Sunday 5:45 & Monday 7:30 AM ET)

8am (ET) Saturday
Approx. 44 min.
Rehnquist: A Personal Portrait of the Distinguished Chief Justice of the United States
Herman Obermayer

1pm (ET) Saturday
Approx. 1 hr. 1 min.
Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits
Linda Gordon

4pm (ET) Saturday
Approx. 50 min.
The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness
Harlow Unger

6pm (ET) Saturday
Approx. 56 min.
Encore Booknotes: Norman Mailer, "Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery"
Norman Mailer

8pm (ET) Satuday
Approx. 1 hr. 30 min.
2009 National Book Awards
Multiple Authors

10pm (ET) Saturday
Approx. 1 hr. 11 min.
2009 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD NONFICTION WINNER - The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt
T.J. Stiles


BookTV.org - for full schedule

I loved the scene where the old professor reads the children's book to her. It was so touching.
To be honest, I cried so I gave myself a headache.

Deb, I don't recall if they say anything about her parents.

On the plus side, Vivian's more intellectual approach to life helped her through the "treatment". And her intellectual side made her want to help science. I enjoyed her sarcastic wit.

The original cast was classic. That was one of the complaints in the review I saw. They didn't like the cast. We shall see.

Hey, I loved Eat, Pray, Love !
:)

http://faculty.smu.edu/tmayo/witguide.ht...


It takes the power of his poetic imagination for Donne to defeat death, whom he addresses directly in this Holy Sonnet:

Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore Death, nor yet canst thou kill mee;
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleepe past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more, Death thou shalt die.
---------------------------------------------------

I liked the scene where they discuss the comma in the last line of this poem. It may seem too didactic to some, but I think it made a huge difference.

The poem also brought back to mind the classic book by John Gunter's titled Death Be Not Proud. I read that last year.

This is from the very good link that Sherry posted: http://faculty.smu.edu/tmayo/witguide.ht...

"Vivian has always lived a life of the mind. Trained to be a scholar and teacher, she values intellect and ideas. On being informed that she has advanced ovarian cancer and that the treatment will be difficult to endure, she replies cavalierly: "It appears to be a matter, as the saying goes, of life and death. I know all about life and death. I am, after all, a scholar of Donne's Holy Sonnets, which explore mortality. . "

Donne's Holy Sonnet entitled "This is my Playes Last Scene" describes the brief moment of death when the soul leaves the body:

This is my playes last scene; here heavens appoint
My pilgrimages last mile; and my race
Idly, yet quickly runne, hath this last pace,
My spans last inch, my minutes last point
And gluttonous death, will instantly unjoynt
My body, and soule, and I shall sleepe a space,
But my'ever-waking part shall see that face,
Whose feare already shakes my every joynt:
Then, as my soule, to'heaven her first seate, takes flight,
And earth-borne body, in the earth shall dwell,
So, fall my sinnes, that all may have their right,
To where they'are bred, and would presse me, to hell.
Impute me righteous, thus purg'd of evill,
For thus I leave the world, the flesh and devill.
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It is interesting that the poem is about the moment when the soul leaves the body. In the play, Jason Posner, forgets or does not know there is a DNR on the patient an attempts to resuscitate her. In my opinion, it is one last indignity she is made suffer.

This part I think wasn't too realistic. In my experience there usually is a sign above the patients bed that says DNR and sometimes even a bracelet on the patient. I've also never experienced a doctor who was treating a cancer patient in such a cold clinical manner. I guess there are some out there, but I think this is the exception to the rule.

Do you think Jason did not know or forgot? How could he not know?

Donna: Did you see John Stamos ask Whoopi if she was wearing a Hospital Gown today? Good thing I had nothing in my mouth at the time! I respect her right to wear what she wants, but she could do so much better!
==========================

I can't believe he did that ! It did look horrid. I know she has issues with her weight, but dressing as she does make things worse.

Speaking of Stamos, I get to see him in December in Bye Bye Birdie. I hope it is good. NY1, our local news station, hated it. :(

~alias

I didn't see her on Survivor, so I can't compare. Her voice at the convention did seem really shrill, more than usual. Maybe it was nerves. I know I would be nervous speaking in front of a huge convention crowd.

Deb: Do the women present commercials very often?

They usually just give a few lines and hold up a product. The one Eliz did today was not the norm. I don't know if I didn't hear correctly, as you note she was speed talking, but didn't she say everyone was going home with a contanier of Daisy sour cream? Is it me, or is that weird. Unless you live close by, a person is going to walk around with a dairy product?

:( Sorry to hear about the cold, Deb. Good health wishes headed your way.

Sherry: But better still, I added a handful of titles to Mt. TBR.
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I guess most book worms can't resist a book list. I know I can't ! I'm glad you found some to add to Mt. TBR, Sherry.

JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "I read, but did not like 11, 33, 82
..."

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I'm surprised you didn't like Into Thin Air, JoAnn.

I've read all of his books except his new one and liked them all. We had a terrific discussion here about Under The Banner of Heaven.

Has anyone read his latest, Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman?

I agree on Atonement. I thought I was the only one who didn't like it. I found it tedious in the extreme.

Did anyone catch The View today? I thought there was an odd exchange between Barbara Walters and Joy. Walter's claims she can't find the channel that Joy's show is on, so she has never watched it. Joy even said channel 58 in NYC.

I think Barbara isn't too pleased that Joy has a talk show. That's not very big of Barbara. Why should she begrudge Joy some limelight of her own? Barbara's had a long career, I don't see where the jealousy comes from. And Joy's show happens to be very entertaining, IMO.

RNocean, as for Eliz. the other day she was funny. They were showing a clip from her talk at the Pres. convention. Eliz. said about herself that her voice is so annoying. She got that right. :0

As for her coming back to work when she did, maybe it was in her contract. It's only a few hours a day and I am sure she has a nanny for the kids as well as household help. It's probably good for her to get away for a few hours.

Speaking of jobs and stay at home housewives and moms, this evening I was watching All In The Family. There was an argument about Gloria getting a part time job in a dept. store. The women's place was in the home. Archie even said he never allowed Edith to work after they married. It seemed so unbelievable that I wondered when the show aired. The guide said 1972. We've come a long way, baby.

According to Entertainment Weekly these are
The New Classics: Books
The 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008

I've read 27. Though any list that calls The Da Vinci Code a "classic" I have issues with. I would put The Da Vinci Code on a best selling book list, but that is a far different thing than a "classic" imo. However, one must consider the source; the list is by EW. :)

What do you think? How would you define a modern classic?
How many on EW list have you read?
Do you think the term Modern Classic is an oxymoron ?

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars' Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World's Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators' Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20207076...

Last night I finished reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog. I thoroughly enjoyed this unique novel. I won't soon forget Madame Renee Michel. I gave this moving, thoughtful and literary novel 4 GR stars.

As you note it is interesting that the son had no voice. It is also interesting that the characters were not given names. Usually not having a name I think denotes lack of power. Perhaps this symbolized her nearing death. And death is something she had no control over. Perhaps it could also be the lack of power she had to change her past. She was too old and sick now to make amends.

This first book is out in paperback, I can't imagine why it is so hard to find??
----------------------------

The book is still on the Bestseller list.
So for people you have to get the book from the library, the wait list is quite long.

Gosh, I just saw it a few weeks ago and don't know. Maybe in flashbacks it was someone else? My memory is so bad. Sherry just saw it maybe she will know.

I hope we can start to discuss this play soon. My memory is horrid.