C. (Comment, never msg).’s Comments (group member since Jan 30, 2014)

C. (Comment, never msg).’s comments from the Gentle SPECTRUMS group.

This week is good enough. I finished "The Joy Luck Club" and am reading "The Night Circus". I thought perhaps you rented more than one book at once. I didn't find out when I asked previously: how long do library loans last?

Multiple conversations are my pleasure. Kerri & I are winding down "Stories I Only Tell My Friends" in e-mail. Out of the public eye so topics can be as personal as some books require. We are just starting to rave about "The Joy Luck Club" in this group. We will have volleyed it back & forth a nice bit, by the time I start "Anne Of Avonlea".

A great, fresh point came to mind about that one we shared together and when you have had a breather, I will add it. There is no limit to thoughts that occur to anyone. I don't know about you gals but I usually read at night, which is why I hope I don't sleep too soon and love to go, go go with books! :-)

Now about "A Journey To The Centre Of The Earth". I am glad you love buddy-reading, Leeanne and that you joined Kerri and I. I hope to hear you are caught up with "Anne Of Green Gables" soon. I want to have read book two this month, although conversations can be added to indefinitely. Not only is it fun to share impressions along the way but it is true that we pick-up on different things.

My translator was so inept, which perhaps got corrected for Kerri like the non-existant "September 31", that he or she shifted Gräuben's identity! She was clearly named the professor's Daughter, which made me go "ew", considering his nephew lived with them and was treated like a son, outside of being a science field colleague. After the men were home from the centre of the Earth, Gräuben was called a niece, I believe. Get it straight, man! That concludes criticisms.

It is worth saying again, that we three are lucky for this book to be new to us, after being a famous classic written two-hundred years ago. I am glad we recalled few film snippets and that our reading experience was fresh and not mired in comparison.

I have the Pierce Brosnan DVD "Around The World In 80 Days" but don't remember it and will refrain from re-watching it until I read that story. I am happy that "Ten Thousand Leagues Under The Sea" is completely unknown to me, except knowing that it entails a famous Captain Nemo. I would have thought he had sailed a boat, until seeing "Journey To The Centre Of The Earth II" but still know nothing more. I can't wait to procure an unabridged copy and will give the short version I have away. I also know to insist upon a named translator. I am also interested in "The Mysterious Island".

I have one new discussion addition to "A Journey To The Centre Of The Earth" that has occurred to me but will let you both catch-up on the above two threads first.

Ah yes: I must tease Leeanne with "what kind of Canadian feels cold"! I walk around in my nightgown checking the yard in the morning, in 0 C. You know how cold chambers got popular a few years ago? Apparently cooling yourself off, presumably muscles and joints generally, is very good for our health. Some sickness or trauma is aided by cooling the patient. Gloria Estefan attributes her complete recovery from a bad bus accident to the snow and cold that fell into it that day. Well: I figure that a stroll in cool weather for several minutes is the same as what health nuts pay for. I feel good after: it is nice and fresh! I'm not thinking about it anyway, when I am checking kitties and plants.

As for hot places, I reiterate my similarity to Leeanne in volcano-visiting. I would not live anywhere where there was a 1% chance of a volcano activating for thousands of miles. But I would visit one that had not erupted in a couple hundred years or more. I would have faith that it would not reoccur the day I took a hike in and out of it. Additionally, I believe tremors and other scientific readings forecast volcanic eruptions at a reasonable time frame in advance. A cautious part of me would limit a camping hike to a week but I would take a brief hike, climbing in and out, with confidence.

I am happy to get back to answering both of you in this wonderful conversation thread. They are all ecclectic and a pleasure. I'll jump in and encourage you, Leeanne, that Canadians know French better than we expect because we are always immersed in it. Not only did you take classes: snippets are around you in stores, on TV, and on the reverse of every product in or shipped to us. You likely read and understand it far better than finding the words to speak it, like most people in their secondary language and onward. And Ontario is a great place to learn and practice more any time!

When you are used to conjugating nouns with the idea of memorizeing them as arbitrarily female or male, Spanish becomes easy. I could speak it in school but really fine-tuned it in university. German is harder because it isn't a romance language, has a third neutral gender, an additional accent and array of alphabet pronunciation, and verb tenses to drive anyone up a wall.

Thankfully languages are my gift, at least for the basics and our family bloodline inspired me to learn it. So did Falco's music! I only took a few years and am not fluent but a Grandparent and a couple of relatives lived long enough for me to practice with them. This is enough about myself in public. I reiterate that for caution's sake, I hope you wrote down my e-mail address. Then will I know your e-mail address, Leeanne. It is cool that your inlaws had family gypsies. I thought they tended to be Spanish, Italian, and Roma but am no expert.

Now let's converse about "The Joy Luck Club". Do you have any observations? My openness to letting a book show me what it is, is serving me well in seeing that this is not a novel. They are memories that don't seem to connect with the others' stories but thiey imperceptibly acquaint us with the friends in Jong and Suyuan's orbit.

For example, I thought Waverly was a bitch but sympathized with her whenever she told her stories. I am unsure if her fiancé Rich is a sarcastic ass, or the caring lover she describes. Her Mother, Lindo was inappropriately pushy but has her good moments too.

I guess the modern parts are in 1989 San Francisco when this collection was published. Either way, the couples married in the 1940s and 1950s, therefore I love that the St. Clair's have an Irish Dad. I am sorry that gentleman died when his Daughter is about 40 but she is lucky to have a nosey Mom straighten out her husband, Harold. Sharing things down the middle when their incomes are injustly uneven, when his restaurant theme company was her brainchild, gets my gall. However they remain together.

I feel terrible for the Hsu's for losing a toddler. Accidents are never wanted but at the same time, am I furious because it was unnecessary and stupid. Amy Tan didn't convincingly convey to me that this accident and death could have happened the way she wrote it. I have radar for behaviour and incidents that don't ring true.

The Mom wasn't doing anything that justified asking her 14 year-old to stop a fight. She was right there and would have instantly done it. The girl could have spoken-up and pointed to the toddler on the ledge immediately and asked someone with more authority to bring him down, or said "Look over there. I have to go and get him".

When half the boys were old enough to take charge of the boy, I didn't see the 14 year-old being stuck doing it at all, instead of being with her sisters. Aslo, their Dad was closest on the ledge. He would have seen and called attention to the toddler before he was busy with a fish, or brought his son beside him.

Oh Kerri, it didn't occur to me that you would look for Corey Hart's video. Just like that, through today's internet, a new friend in New Zealand has watched a bit of my childhood favourite! As you know, I finally saw him again the night my Mom was sick on June 18, 2019. Yes, this is quite a power ballad with a gorgeous melody that is unforgettable and the brisk-paced horse video does it justice. "When the world is cold with no one to hold, I can only see Eurasian eyes"....

The Patrick Swayze work I am determined to see is a mini series: "King Soloman's Mines"! I don't believe he mentioned this or could reasonably everything in his autobiography. Angry dystopian like "Red Dawn" and American war like "North And South" aren't for me. However, when looking Patrick's acting up, treasuring hunting adventures for adults is exactly for me! It is clearly a famous mini series that other actors have done before but his evokes just the right adventure and mystery mood.

For book discussions, I like to chat about how we are feeling as reading goes along. I think that is our intention but in "A Journey To The Centre Of The Earth", it took so long to find out where each person was, a couple of us finished. I see additional posts were made in that thread, which I missed because there is a second page. I look forward to answering Leeane and anything new. I myself, have a new observation.

For "The Joy Luck Club", I'll paste a simple observation I made in my Goodreads update.

I got through a good portion of this book. I am uncertain it is a novel but a short story collection instead. It seems that we rejoin the apparent protagonist to seek twin sisters in China. However, the family history of each of the four "Joy Luck Club" Mahjongg players seems to be important. I enjoy the disjointed short stores and immersion in a great variety of Chinese culture but hope we finish the lead story.

Yes, I loved Patrick's book and getting to know him well. A part of me pictured his tough "Ghost" and "Dirty Dancing" characters, even though I love "City Of Joy". I learned he was much softer emotion-wise and compassionate than anyone would dream. He truly helped the sick in India before filming my second-favourite film there.

I estimate that our plants can be covered for about 4 days before needing time in the sun. Two days is normally the maximum to get through frost nights, until it is winter for real. In that case, I keep plants going until there are no more +0 days.

Your mention of Arabian horses brings one of my favourite Corey Hart songs and videos to mind. I don't know what kind they are but the video for "Eurasian Eyes" is all about horses and very fake-looking woodland; one thing I laughed about.

Plants are covered with quilts, blankets, sheets, towels.... anything that will fit over every leaf, of every sensitive row of plants. I will leave them covered until tomorrow morning. They have two days of warm nights, before being covering again two nights. It is a fine dance of ensuring their protection and that they see the sun in between. I will continue until nighttime temperatures are no longer above zero.

I look forward to following-up about Rob Lowe and ourselves personally in general. Patrick Swayze ascended today in 2009. I finished his book yesterday evening and loved every inch of it.

Speaking of important September dates, if your gift is slow at reaching you, at least you will know on your special day that it is coming. Xoxo, Carolyn.

I will look up Waitangi Day and love hearing about what friends of the world celebrate. I was glad you loved "The House With A Clock In Its Walls" as much as I do. I have more to talk about in our chat of "Stories I Only Tell My Friends", as my latest e-mail said. However, I am ready to read "The Joy Luck Club". Something nice and cultural like this is just the ticket for me today.

I am sad it is our first frost night, even if only by a little. I was wise to cover carefully last night. I flew out this morning, seeing our outdoor thermometre at -0.5 C, to cover a little more. May all of our plants do well and still grow and produce as much as they need to. There are a couple more frost nights in the week, with warm days & nights surrounding them. Keeping on giving plants a boost is worthwhile.

Thank you dearly, Kerri and Leeanne, for wishing our dear children a happy tenth birthday! I thank you on behalf of Angel, Petal, Conan wherever he has gotten so far, and in memory of our precious Love. As we wait for Conan, who received words of love telepathically, as well as our dear Love; Angel and Petal were pampered very much. Of course, so were their Mom and our senior boys, who are Dads to the kittens.

I walked around house and land for beautiful family pictures of the birthday girls and all of them. If anyone wondered how to celebrate a cat's birthday: it is well-wishes, songs, treats, and photography. :-) I need a photo of me with the birthday girls, which Ron will do today. We need some for ourselves for last month's anniversary. We aren't selfie people - I don't find that good quality. A self-timer on our digital camera is great.

I am glad you have "Artemis Fowl" loaded, just as I snatched the chance to re-purchase "The Joy Luck Club" and "Where Nests The Water Hen" (Manitoba's Gabrielle Roy for myself). When I find my invisible copies, I will compare the two, keep my favourites, and put the others in my gift / sell pile.

Leeanne, answering in bulk is swell. I am glad we remember what we talk about! Do you have the e-mail address I gave you awhile ago? Just like you with age, I too am cautious about divulging past a certain limit in public. Happy to tell you more about past job experiences if you drop me a line. So, does your Mom no longer have the book set?

Let me know when you have your "Anne Of Green Gables" and "Anne Of Avonlea" copies. I will get grooving as soon as you say so. I want to give my trio boxset to my niece, if my brother confirms he has waited for it directly from me. I like a break in between authors and need to read the third as well before Christmas mail time arrives.

Kerri, when you get a chance, please sift what you wrote about blue chicks out of the Anne conversation. I was fascinated and would love to find and follow it up in the wildlife thread we have. :) Leeanne, I am happy you went camping again. A different or new spot? Happy wilderness, outdoors days for us while it is warm! Yours truly, Carolyn.

My surprised pleasure to supply a guide for you too, Leeane! Wow, a few people discuss loving "Deep Space 9" but you are the first person I know to favour "Voyager" and any show further than that!

I reassure you that if not in order, "The Voyage Home" is the best place to begin because it is the most relatable ever made: the modern day 1980s on Earth! It is also more based on humour than any other show, with a poignant mission involving whales. What more could animals ans Star Trek lovers dream of!

After the 6 films about the first cast, I would go into "Star Trek, The Next Generation". You will know why it is beloved and get to know an eclectic cast who are deservedly iconic. The first cast shot with such old technology, it can't help looking and sounding cheesy; even though the stories and morals are profound, or it wouldn't have built the foundation its enduring foundation. Save those for when you feel like you are a fan.

Next, you might continue with "Deep Space 9", or jump right into "Voyager", because you have familiarity with it. "Enterprise" can fit in any time too, because its timeline precedes Kirk and Spok but release order is very nice. Aspects of lore and history that used to be small, referred to vaguely, was built over all the shows into cohesive, complete storylines. They are nice to follow even if they are subtle and contributed to the big mosaic Star Trek story we have today. I am thrilled that the shows are continuing and tying into the earlier ones, including "Voyager"!

As I said above, I cherish mail and our internet requires us to continue relying on it, for anything more than a few photos. You will love the treat coming your way, with that first season of "Corner Gas" episodes.

I didn't know you have a dog as well as cats and was sorry to read he had a scare. I had to look up the word, which I suppose means a cyst. I am glad the danger spot was removed. We worried about Spirit not eating as much but it is a dental issue, thank the Lord. I am busy too but have much more to say about "Stories I Only Tell My Friends". When I am into "The Joy Luck Club", I hope we read in tandem and add updates.

Today of our four kittens' big tenth birthday. I want so much for Conan to be back in time for us to stop worrying or missing anymore time with him. It would mean the world to have him here for this milestone. We always miss their brother, Love, who ascended young from heart failure. We will no matter what, pamper their sisters, Angel and Petal, tomorrow! I can't believe my babies are going to be ten! I saw each of them born and could say what time it was.

Leeanne, if you think you would notice "September 31", perhaps your copy did not have the chapter #44 error. That is my question. Your loans must last a month.

Ladies, I have a spare copy of "Artemis Fowl". If you believe you would like it enough to own it, I would gladly give it to either of you. It is a paperback in great condition.

Kerri, your birthday gift went out today! If interested, we could read "The Joy Luck Club" first. I am slow with the small print of Phyllis A. Whitney's "Skye Cameron".

I love mail and count on it, with dial-up internet unsuitable for transfering many files. In the future, you might have a book I need but trading is not necessary. :)

This book thankfully mentioned dates near the beginning of chapters, thus I easily skipped forward. In my Scholastic Books version, chapter 44 in the second paragraph references "September 31"! Does it for you, Kerri and Leeanne? And hoping you still have your library loan, Kerri's quote of chapter 27 is what I would like to see properly translated from you. It sounds off, doesn't it?

As for you, Kerri (once I understand what the heck "Mr. No Name", "free domain" was trying to write in chapter 27): the descriptions you praise are wonderful! "New wonders awaiting us at every step" really does sparkle. The whole place was certainly new to most of humankind and animalkind!

The professor's monologue of chapter 34 shows strength, bravery, and willpower that I enjoy. I will look at chapter 36 again to see the first few pages of writing that you loved.

Thank you: working in the translation department, as a cut & paste transposer of course material, was enjoyable and particularly memorable. I was a civilian contract employee at an air base! I returned there a few times and to the various buildings of an insurance company most of my years as a temp.

I liked almost all of my placements over 10 years: as a temp professionally for the agency, rather than a seeker of a job through them. Jennifer Lopez's job in "Monster In Law" reminds me of myself. :-) Most people couldn't stand getting called somewhere new nearly every day. My placements lasted weeks and months, often extended.

The agency took quite a cut, which is expected for wonderful placements. However, my jaw dropped the two times I saw my actual pay rate. It seemed too much. I would have been singing my way through the cost of living, if I had ever actually made more than $11.00\h ten years ago. Since we left the citiy, it wasn't worth the drive for low pay. I began writing (must get back to it) and keep house and land with our cats.

Where is the copy of "Artemis Fowl" you already read, Kerri? I imagine Leanne, you will borrow your Mom's book of "Avonlea"? Thank you for this pleasure at an important time for focus and peace for me, dear girls. If we have time, it would be great to converse about the books in the midst of reading them and not waiting for an overall summary. All input is enjoyed. Yours, Carolyn.

"It’s pronounced Aaa-vahn-lee, Carolyn."

Thank you, Leeanne! This is the benefit of you seeing shows and films. Do you still have "A Journey To The Centre Of The Earth"? I have been wondering how long your loans carry over. I want to find the "September 31" mistake and see if your chapter has the same. Also, the last paragraph Kerri quoted is beautiful but I can tell it did not benefit fully from a great translation. I would love knowing what it should say. I need time to catch-up and will shortly, for you can't borrow books indefinitely.

I would like to start "Anne Of Avonlea" next week, unless you need longer. I think Kerri owns it and was going to obtain "Artemis Fowl" too. No rush. I want to finally give myself over to the cultural phenomenon "The Joy Luck Club", after our Canadian one. :) I think it would read beautifully to segue two classics back to back. Then try Mr. Eion Colfer's science fiction adventure.

Soon, I would like to read "The Joy Luck Club", "Artemis Fowl", and the second Anne Of Green Gables story "Anne Of Avonlea", if you have them. I would like to know how to pronounce their town. Is it Aaa-vahn-lee or Aaa-vahn-lee-ah?

I haven't seen Kate in anything else and only know she is a theatre actress. It was in a documentary William Shatner did only a few years ago about the captains and what their lives are like.

I would love to have the conversation I propose in my last paragraph would people who know more than the first two series! Until "Picard" came along this year, "Voyager" was the most recent timeline and they did thinks with holographic technology, using the emergency doctor as a constant character of necessity. Similar to Amy Farah Fowler in "The Big Bang Theory", he was surly and became loveable and artistic, singing.

"Discovery", the second-most recent show is a great exception. Theirs is a ship in the traditionally referenced Klingon war, depicted for the first time. It is another pre-Kirk timeline, only a few years before he and Spok form a crew. However, Discovery is an advanced prototype, geting away from it needing to feel old-fashioned. We are with another captain, famous Asian actress Michelle Yeoh and her crew. In the new season Ron & I have been nuts to see, an emergency puts them far into the future. It is a whole new show again, except familiarity with the crew and fans don't know what to expect.

I am glad you are looking around because Netflix isn't the only place for films. If you were familiar with Torrents, you could download "The Motion Picture" free, then buy the blu-ray at Amzon or somewhere if you like it.

Chapter 19:
"No mineralogists had ever found themselves in such marvellous position to study nature in her real beauty. The sounding rod could not bring to the surface the objects of value, for the study of its internal structure, which we were about to see with our own eyes, to touch with our own hands. Across the streak of the rocks, coloured by beautiful green tints, wound metallic threads of copper, of manganese, platinum, and gold. These treasures, mighty and inexhaustible, were buried in the morning of Earth's history, at such awful depths that no crowbar or pickaxe will drag them!"

--> This is the profundity of appreciation people to have for the rare, secret place they were in. The natural, awestriking beauty, and one needn't be a scientist to recognize that the layers they descended through were tangible answers to questions that we have measured distantly with machines.

Chapter 27:
"I gazed at these marvels in profound silence. Words were utterly wanting to describe the sensations of wonder I experienced. It seemed, as I stood upon that mysterious shore, as if I were some wandering inhabitant of a distant planet, present for the first time at the spectacle of some terrestrial phenomena belonging to another existence. To give substance and reality to such new sensations would have required the coinage of new words. I looked on, I thought, I reflected, I admired in a state of stupefaction."

--> This is a beautifully impressive, original way of describing wonderment. An alien beholding a terrestrial phenomena, which known words could not express. You do not expect to find a great lake or ocean there! I will look for my other favourite quote, about beholding sea creatures who made it seem like Axel was looking at a dream.

"Substance" and "reality" are my replacements for nouns I believe the translator interpreted inadequately. He had written "body" and "existence"; the latter a repetition from the previous sentence proving that his vocabulary was limited. I recognized a frequent limitation of nouns and adjectives from which he drew.

I love each of your contributions to questions and reactions! I had only buddy-read a couple of times before this and find that I understand and fill in things so much better with partners. If you have your own conversation points to propose or questions, I would love to hear them. Please feel free to lead us.

Might there be safe spaces of crevasses for life, between the heated mantel and core? I am glad your loan was long and love what you imparted to us! I also am certain that readers were tempted to check Snæfellsjökull, haha. Many believe that some fiction conceals real events. "Treasure Island" is often theorized to represent numerous real events. I must read it if I have an unabbridged adult version and "Gulliver's Travels".

Your education about human history delineating live and extinct volcanoes scares me; even though eruptions are assuredly outside most of our lifetimes for wide spans of centuries. I think that may pertain to the premise of "Dante's Peak" (good old Pierce Brosnan). Would you girls risk a hike into a volcano crater that hadn't erupted since 1219? I would, only for a brief duration. I would not camp there long nor live near it. Unless a passage led out of it to the centre of the Earth or someplace.

I am fluent in both of those languages, especially French, if rusty. Even I would need to be much better versed in common phrases, than merely strengthening my vocabulary and correcting erroneous grammar. Unless we have indeed mastered other languages, our translating output should be our native language. Then we can interpret with all the eloquence and correctness. Internet and book dictionaries can only give us the right words. Fluency allows us to interpret the intent of an expression, message, or word. The job is of course to interpret more than translate, every context.

I worked in the translating department of the government several times as a temp and loved it. You had to be fluent in French, however rusty I was, in need of grammatical correcting. However the job was transposing existing translations into the right spaces, which only a reader of French would correctly recognized. We were required to cut & paste, never type, because typos are easy to make. Any short passages that we had to type by hand, were highlighted to bring to a team member for approval. I loved that whole experience for a lot of reasons and remember women and men there fondly.

Six years of French immersion school was my first valuable experience in switching between languages, with Spanish added in grades 9, 10, 12 I think and as my university major. In university, I double-minored in German and psychology. I barely know German, for 3 years in class aren't enough. I wasn't out in the real world like with French and Spanish. But it is something I am proud of, for all that I struggled in math.

The spot with a matching lake under the Meditterranean and a forest of plants nearby, was ample for foodstocking. Take time to build a cart they could wheel around or fashion some sort of awesome hemp or burlap storage cases they could sling. Retreat to the entrance, or carefully make a small blast to continue downward. I believe it was a lake and not saltwater, wasn't it? There was fresh water around too.

I could see taking a wrong turn but not for Alex to be lost long enough to be so far from his companions. They checked on each other and depended on each other, lonely and nervous in a strange place. Alex didn't veer off but stopped to look at something and his teammates kept walking. He took a wrong turn after trying to catch-up to them. Not watching each other for awhile on a straight road is natural but not to be lost by a turn that, when they deliberated and shared the decision of every crossroads. However, I enjoyed the sound phenomenon. We have such a thing in the centre of our Golden Boy parliament building in Winnipeg.

Did you find the error "September 31", or were dates different in the 1800s? Also, Greta was called the niece or "ward" at the end but "daughter" in the beginning. Not marrying your uncle's daughter would be way better but were either of these mistakes in the proper translation, Leeanne?

I wondered why there were miles of empty tunnels, when life abounded. I think the centre was space-limited compared to the Earth; however vast it was inside. Wouldn't you think animals if not large people, would trickle past the Mediterranean spot? I suppose Earth has numerous tunnels people don't know about but animals usually use them. However, the intention of discovering one wonder at a time, culminating in living creatures, was successful. I won't spoil that, when I catch-up my queue of 23 books.

We are blessed to not recall the first film, which I remember loving. We went into this classic story as new readers, prepared to be surprised. It also lets us discuss it purely, instead of a film comparison. I will look for passages I loved, for the next comment box, which the obviously non-English 1871 translator was careful to get right.

I found the science easy to understand, rereading a few times, basic adult science. It merely has vocabulary words and concepts for us to adjust to. That natural lantern coil they made is neat. Can you tell me what the "Ruhmkorf's coil" was made of?

The discovery of minerals on the walls was downplayed from the film but I see a beautiful quote that reminds me of it in the book; to go in another comment box. We might each add comment boxes of "quotes we enjoyed".