Yes, I loved the old dark library in my small hometown. It was a "Carnegie library" built with money from American millionaire and philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie, who funded libraries in many countries, including Canada. Really amazing!

When I was very young my father used to take me to the library near our house in Chicago. It was an old building, lots of dark wood and marble and echoes. Not to mention the lovely smell of books, books, and more books.

I spend a great deal of time in the university library, which is also connected to 2 other fairly local university libraries. What treasures I have found there for my research!

Barbara wrote: "As long as we're talking about sources for books, I'd like to brag about my local library, the Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin, Illinois:
Washington, DC—The Institute of Museum and Library S..."

That's great! Congratulations!

I also enjoy excellent library services, particularly in interlibrary loan -- our small library has a full time interlibrary loan librarian who can track down and ge almost anything. And I'm constantly amazed to look for books I want to read and find them in the library rather than having to request them from other libraries.

Excellent libraries are a critical resource for an educated population.

As long as we're talking about sources for books, I'd like to brag about my local library, the Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin, Illinois:
Washington, DC—The Institute of Museum and Library Service (IMLS) has selected five museums and five libraries to receive the 2009 National Medal for Museum and Library Service. The National Medal is the nation’s highest honor for museums and libraries that make extraordinary civic, educational, economic, environmental, and social contributions. Gail was one of the five. I'm very proud.

It's actually not a club but a mail order house, Everyman. Hampstead House Books at http://hhbooks.com/ I don't know if they ship outside of Canada. The November catalogue arrived today, coincidentally, so I will have to be quick to go through it to make sure I don't miss out on anything. The same info is online, but I still prefer to browse through the hardcopy.

Gabriele wrote: "I only bought the first of the Diaries, DJ. I missed out on the opportunity to get all three, offered at a great price by my remainders book club, because I wasn't fast enough in ordering. :( "

What is this remainders book club??

Boof wrote: "That's interesting because until about a month ago I never wanted to listen to books, but prefered to pick them up and read them. I started a new job last month and I have quite a lot of driving to..."

I used to do a lot of driving myself, and listened to a lot of books on tape -- also lecture series from the wonderful Teaching Company.

I don't know about England, but over here in the US we can rent audio books from several sources, or can get many from the library or on interlibrary loan. They can get expensive if you buy them all!

Please excuse typo,thanks

That would perfect for me.
Re other thing will respond from come as currently on Blackberry.
Until Later DJ.

I'm suggesting we start at the end of October, DJ.

DJ said: That sounds good.I couldn't start for about 4 weeks?Is that ok

OK by me. I won't get delivery for a week or more.

OK, I'll set up a thread on Between the Wars - http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1676...

That sounds good.I couldn't start for about 4 weeks?Is that ok

Gabriele & DJ: I just ordered the diaries from Amazon. I want in on the discussion, please.

DJ, we could start a group reads thread for Diary of a Provincial lady on the Between the Wars group, if you'd like.

Diaries is at the top of my to-read pile. Just have to get through my current book (meaning it's a bit of a struggle to stay engaged), so let me know when you're ready, DJ. I have lots of other books also clamouring to get to the top of the pile!

Oh no that's such a shame,its really horrible when something like
that happens.
Well anyway I've not read them yet so if you would like maybe we
could read them at a similar time and compare?
Hope you don't mind me saying....

I only bought the first of the Diaries, DJ. I missed out on the opportunity to get all three, offered at a great price by my remainders book club, because I wasn't fast enough in ordering. :(

Gabriele wrote: "The Long Week End: A Social History of Great Britain, 1918-1939 - by Robert Graves
Curious Case Of Benjamin Button And Other Jazz Age Stories - by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Diary Of A Provincial Lady..."

Hi,did you mean all three volumes or just the first?When refering to"The Diary of a Provincial Lady"

Boof wrote: "That's interesting because until about a month ago I never wanted to listen to books, but prefered to pick them up and read them. I started a new job last month and I have quite a lot of driving to..."

I second this sentiment (or is it fourth by now?) :)

I drive at least two hours each day for my work commute and don't know what I'd do without the audio CDs. I like doing this especially with books which I don't quite want to purchase. I have found I sometimes get more out of them, as I can't skip ahead and get wrapped up in the reader's narration. And Boof's right, in my opinion - the traffic jams aren't nearly as frustrating!

That's interesting because until about a month ago I never wanted to listen to books, but prefered to pick them up and read them. I started a new job last month and I have quite a lot of driving to do as I am up and down the UK for meetings and so I picked up an audio CD and ever since then I have been hooked. It means I don't get frustrated in traffic jams and it means I can get through a lot more books. Plus, I am really enjoying them! I had no idea how addictive audio CD's are; I'm a convert!

Everyman wrote: "Barbara wrote: "But we do have books on tape. I often get migraines and spend a ridiculous amount of time lying in a dark room listening to books. Not the same, but good in its way if the reader ..."

You know, there was a time when I thought that about myself too, but due to being so busy, plus having major neck and shoulder issues, I've started listening to a lot of my books and have come to enjoy that mode of imbibing a book not better, but very enjoyable in a different way. I have a book on my iPod for walks, books on tape from the library in my car, another set of books on tape for when I'm doing my exercises, and it enables me to get through a lot more books than in the days when I read them one at a time. Plus, some of the readers are absolutely fantastic. I don;t know if you ever read the Aubrey-Maturin series (they take place on shipboard during the Napoleonic wars) but the read versions were so fantastic I got so that i didn't want to "read" them any other way, and all my fellow addicts felt the same!

Paula, we read Summer in June as a little aside to the main group read. The dicussions are still open under the General thread (you will have to click on "view all"). Would love to hear what you think.

Was there a group read for "Summer" by Edith Wharton? I'd like to read through the books that are on this group's "read" bookshelf, and that one seemed appropriate for this past weekend. Now that I finished it I'd love to read what others thought of the book, if the discussion is still open somewhere?

Barbara wrote: "But we do have books on tape. I often get migraines and spend a ridiculous amount of time lying in a dark room listening to books. Not the same, but good in its way if the reader is good, and muc..."

I do use books (and lecture courses) on tape, but I'm not a very successful aural learner.

Barbara wrote: "But we do have books on tape. I often get migraines and spend a ridiculous amount of time lying in a dark room listening to books. Not the same, but good in its way if the reader is good, and muc..."

Me too, Barbara. I've actually gotten to the point of preferring to read with my ears.

But we do have books on tape. I often get migraines and spend a ridiculous amount of time lying in a dark room listening to books. Not the same, but good in its way if the reader is good, and much better than no books at all.

Barbara wrote: "And really, we have lots of time. It's not like there's a time limit, "

Well, particularly for some of us in the senior circuit, there's an implied time limit. In my case, in spite of (or in one instance because of) multiple surgeries, my eyes continue to deteriorate, and it's not clear how many more years I have to read books with any ease. Not that I'm complaining; thirty years earlier and I would be totally blind, but advances in medicine have slowed the deterioration considerably. Still, not all of us have lots of time.

Everyman said: There are so many great Victorian books doesn't it seem a shame to only spend half our time there?

I, for one, don't like to spend too much time in any one genre. I get "numb" to the magic. I much prefer to switch off, then my enjoyment is always at its peak. And really, we have lots of time. It's not like there's a time limit, unless the internet turns out to be a myth or something.

I like that model. Sounds good to me.

Oh absolutely there are so many great victorian books just begging to be read but the fact that they tend to be slower reads (beacuse of the language, thickness etc) means that one per month is probably abit much. I think for the actual Victorian read itself once every 2 (or even 3) months is fine as most of us have other group reads also, not to mention our own choices.

The neo-Victorian read can go in the month between the main read for those who want to join in. Let's think of it as extra-curricular.

Boof wrote: "Rebecca, I'm more than happy to go with the flow on this: I'm sure there will be some people who want to alternate every month and sometimes people will be too busy to join in etc. I supposed if there are enough people in each group read to make a good discussion then let's go for it. At the moment, with this being quite a new group (reads-wise) I'm happy to see how people feel on an month by month basis.

What do you think? "

There are so many great Victorian books doesn't it seem a shame to only spend half our time there?

Scott wrote: "There is probably alot of other good authors that could be selected for school reading that would more fun and interesting for highschool students. "

But is the point of high school teaching to be fun? If we turn the lives of our children into nothing but fun, how are they going to learn as adults how to be serious about the things it's necessary to be serious about, or to learn how to buckle down and dig their way through challenging problems and situations?

Yes, we should pique their interest, but should one do this by choosing what's already interesting to them, or should one use one's passion and enthusiasm to interest them in what the teacher thinks they should be learning?

Some of the best educational experiences I've had have been in courses which I didn't think would be interesting but had to take for one reason or another, but turned out to be fascinating because the teacher's passion made it fascinating.

But I suppose this isn't the place for this discussion. I'm just birdwalking, as my wife says.

Susanna wrote: "Not only Silas Marner, but an assignment to diagram sentences from Silas Marner.

Shudder."

I know I'm weird, but Iactually like diagramming sentences. I had a teacher in junior high who was an avid sentence diagrammer. It was fun, sort of like a logic puzzle in language. I used to do it a lot, both for teaching and for just plain fun. Less so recently, but it certainly helps you understand how sentences work (or don't work).

For a brief period, I even tried diagramming sentences in classical Greek, but that was indeed a shudder. [g:]

Barbara wrote: "I've never been able to like D. H. Lawrence, although I've tried a couple of times. "

You show good taste.

IMHO, of course.

Sounds like a great idea

I think it's a great idea.

Sounds great to me.

Rebecca, I'm more than happy to go with the flow on this: I'm sure there will be some people who want to alternate every month and sometimes people will be too busy to join in etc. I supposed if there are enough people in each group read to make a good discussion then let's go for it. At the moment, with this being quite a new group (reads-wise) I'm happy to see how people feel on an month by month basis.

What do you think?

Barbara wrote: "I guess I had good teachers. I liked Silas Marner in high school. Henry James was harder for me, and I've never been able to like D. H. Lawrence, although I've tried a couple of times. I went on..."

There is probably alot of other good authors that could be selected for school reading that would more fun and interesting for highschool students.

I know when i was in highschool, i was much more interested in reading HP Lovecraft.

Rebecca wrote: "Boof so are we rotating between Victorian and Neo each month to month?"

That sounds good to me!! I like the selection that was offered for the Neo victorian novels.

Susanna wrote: "Not only Silas Marner, but an assignment to diagram sentences from Silas Marner.

Shudder.

And in my opinion, D.H. Lawrence is the most over-rated author of the 20th Century."


Wow! I can understand why you were traumatized, Still I was a little afraid of Middlemarch too and now I can't put it down.

Boof so are we rotating between Victorian and Neo each month to month?

Everyman - I think they thought about that a bit when I was at school - I did 'Sense and Sensibility' as one of my 'classics', which made me love Austen and try out loads of the classics. - I agree though that some of them are too much for younger readers - I tried Portrait of a Lady when a teenager and couldn't manage it at all and I've never been a fan of Dickens after hating Great Expectations when I read it as a teen (...I'm sorry to all Dickens lovers! - I'm hoping my opinion will change after Dombey and Son!).

Ally

Not only Silas Marner, but an assignment to diagram sentences from Silas Marner.

Shudder.

And in my opinion, D.H. Lawrence is the most over-rated author of the 20th Century.

I guess I had good teachers. I liked Silas Marner in high school. Henry James was harder for me, and I've never been able to like D. H. Lawrence, although I've tried a couple of times. I went on to major in British & American lit. in college, but was told not to pursue my life's goal of a PhD in Shakespeare unless I was independently wealthy. So I went to law school and now I'm a public defender. Sort of Shakesperean if you look at it from the right angle.

I agree, Everyman. I ws scared off the classics by school until I was in my 30's - which for an avid reader is such a shame. If it took a book lover so long to come to the classics, what hope is there for the casual reader?

Susanna wrote: "I'm still deathly afraid of George Eliot (traumatic experience in high school), but I'll see if I can work myself up to starting it tonight."

Silas Marner, I presume? I agree totally. I hated, hated, hated it in high school.

About fifteen years later I picked it up for reasons I now don't recall and absolutely loved it.

I think Eliot is a reader who should only be read by adults. Austen, Bronte, Thackeray, Hardy, and some others are suitable for reading by younger readers, though they are much better when re-read as an adult, but Eliot, Milton, Dickens (except perhaps for David Copperfield), and some others are not only wasted on the young but turn people away from wonderful writers.

I got it out; it's sitting on top of Mt. TBR.

I'm still deathly afraid of George Eliot (traumatic experience in high school), but I'll see if I can work myself up to starting it tonight.