Greg’s Comments (group member since Jul 02, 2014)

Greg’s comments from the All About Books group.

LauraT wrote: "This month the Municipality of Perugia for which I work has started again some days in smart working that, considering the atmosphere in my office, is a real breath of fresh air!!!"

Great Laura! Hopefully you will have some less stressful days! :)

Ruth wrote: "Sorry to hear that. Sending best wishes to your Uncle and also to your brother Greg. Cancer sucks."

Thanks Ruth!

Christine wrote: "I want everyone to keep my uncle in your thoughts and prayers because he has cancer"

So sorry to hear that Christine!

My brother has just been diagnosed with prostrate cancer as well, but luckily the prognosis for him looks promising. Life is so short, and people are precious!

Kim wrote: "Here is my review of an American classic novel:
A Death in the Family by James Agee

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show......"

That one has been on my to-read list forever Kim. Great review!

Thanks for giving us a great second week of the Monday poem Cleo! And I'm looking forward to what Laura picks next week!

Don't forget everyone that June signups are open as well. We still have a couple weeks free.

Steve wrote: "For me, the “narrow” hands are what we actually hold, the members by which we actually gather, but “dwelling in possibility” our “hands” are wide and there is no limit to what we can gather. Walt W..."

I love that Whitman quote Steve!

Tamara wrote: "I'm wondering why she refers to her hands as "narrow"? Is this an attempt at self-deprecation? Is she suggesting her "narrow" hands are inadequate for the task so she has to compensate by spreading them wide to gather paradise? Or am I reading too much into it?"

Or maybe it's a way to further dramatize the wonder of what poetry can accomplish, as in: even with the smallest hands, you can gather paradise. It doesn't require anything physically imposing or imposing by the world's standards. Narrow hands are more than enough for her to accomplish it.

Cleo wrote: "Out of curiosity, how many people read the poem aloud? And how many people read it more than twice?"

Not aloud, but I read it several times. I got the gist on the first reading . . . but there's a lot to figure out in that central metaphor of the construction, and I didn't feel like I had a good handle on it the first time through.

I like when she shifts from metaphorical buildings and apertures into the vastness of outdoors, which she likens to a vaster building roofed by the sky.

Tamara wrote: "I think it is the word "Prose.""

Ah yes! This sounds right to me. Is Tamara right Cleo?

Taking the whole poem as an expression of the boundless possibilities and the character of poetry (as opposed to prose), that makes sense.

Kathleen wrote: "I really liked all of these!

The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

..."

That's a great batch of books!

Jess wrote: "This didn't quite give me what I wanted from it. I was hoping from the blurb and the opening for a sort of female grand tour with lots of locations and atmosphere of 19th Century Europe. However, t..."

I read it too long ago to comment much on the details, but I'm glad you found at least something in the book to enjoy with Stackpole!

I also get your comparison with some of Hardy's books in terms of the women being in one awful predicament after another. But as you say, they do have a very different manner.

I hope you enjoy your next book better!

PattyMacDotComma wrote: "Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann"

I will second this one.

For sure, thanks Cleo! You can never go wrong with Emily Dickinson, and this one is particulary gorgeous! :)

Maybe I've read this one before, but if so, I don't recall it.

For me, this poem is her vision of the power of her chosen vehicle of poetry as well as some little hints of her purposes in writing it. I love the extended metaphor of architecture that she uses. It could also be about the way she chooses to approach life.

Like Nidhi, I especially love that ending image, the power of her intimate shaping by hand in the final lines, with her narrow hands capable of miracles even to the point of gathering paradise!

Jade wrote: "The Shadow of the Crescent Moon by Fatima Bhutto"

I second The Shadow of the Crescent Moon

It's an old one, but I nominate Hiroshima by John Hersey.

spoko wrote: "I don’t know if any of the mods here are in the Moderator Support Group, but there’s an ongoing thread there about a similar issue with new threads. It’s actually an old thread, but has been revive..."

Hi spoko, a moderator in another short story group that I'm part of just created a thread for his group, and I can't get into that one either. Looks like at the moment, we can add posts to existing threads, but any new threads we create end up in limbo.

ok, well I was at least able to delete the dead thread I just created, but I'm still unable to create one that anyone can get into. :(

spoko and Alannah, I tried creating one just now to help out, and it went into limbo too. I can't delete it or get into it.

Very frustrating!

We'll get a nomination thread up that works after Goodreads stops acting up. Thanks for letting us know spoko!

LauraT wrote: "To start with:
Winston Graham Demelza to finish
Emily St. John Mandel Sea of Tranquility
Valeria Corciolani Non è tutto oro
Valeria Corciolani [book..."

Glad to see you're going to try to fit in [book:Ruth|338807] Laura. My copy just arrived today! I had to order another one because the first one I got had ridiculously small type.

Laurel wrote: "It's May! It/s May! The Lusty Month of May...
and I am definitely feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the book choices I'm trying to manage at one time. I seem to suddenly have a staggering number o..."

Lots of interesting choices Laurel, particularly The Prophets. It was a very unusual book, but I liked it very much.