Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
What are U doing today?
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What are U doing today? (Ongoing thread)
Today I started a new topic about Members' Pets.See it at:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/6...
Pictures of your pets are welcome!
Yes, the hawk is definitely eating our sparrows. More power to it. I saw it again last night as I was leaving the shop & heading back into the house. Marg says she's been seeing it in the back during the day, too.
If you've ever seen a blue bird pecked to death in its nest or its eggs broken by a sparrow, you wouldn't feel so sorry for the aggressive little buggers. They're feathered rats.
E-ew! Didn't know that!
I'll be away from my computer until around 10/18/11. My sister and I are taking a trip to NYC. See you when I get back.
Enjoy!I'm going to see if I can make the new paddock tight enough to keep the goats in so Speedy has some company & we have another area to keep them in. Marg is going to a horse show today with Cutter.
Thank you, Jim. Is Cutter entered in the horse show?Are the goats hard to keep penned up?
I'll be leaving soon.
About our favorite pets; mine was an Irish setter who looked her loveliest at the time of year as she matched the brilliant leaves of fall and when she ran with her tail stretched out and ears flapping she blended right in. I still miss her. Her name was Scarlet O/Hara.
Joy, they say that if a fence will hold water, it will hold a goat - if it is tall enough.;-)
Yeah, they can be tough to keep in a pen. I added a few strands to the paddock's fence today thinking that Speedy would like the company of the goats & it would be handy to have another place to keep them. Buttercup was out in under 5 minutes. Luckily, she's easy to lead around. I just called her up to the gate & gently pulled her in by her collar. (Both she & Rosy have nylon dog collars on.)
I'll add 2 more tomorrow & that might keep them in. They're too fat to jump too high now. Back when we first got them, Rosy was jumping over a 4' fence. They still get on top of their 4' high house, but I have a couple of cinder blocks to help them up. I'll try to get some pictures of them tomorrow. They look pregnant.
Hi! I'm back from my trip but am still too tired to post pictures. Will do soon.Jim, I look forward to pics of chubby Rosy and Buttercup.
Nina, Irish setters are beautiful dogs. I like the name "Scarlet O/Hara". Perfect.
I couldn't figure out how to post Scarlet's picture so I will send it by email to you.
Thanks for the pic, Nina.Scarlet was a beautiful dog!
BTW, below is a link to pics of one of the places we went when we were in NYC last weekend: https://picasaweb.google.com/Sea1934/...#We had a great time.
Also, the Goodreads Constant Reader group had a small convention in NYC last weekend. I attended only one event. Below is a link to pics:
https://picasaweb.google.com/Sea1934/...
I loved seeing the Algonquin pics. I wish I had been there with you even if we aren't related. such fun to see someplace I have only heard about. Thanks for posting the pictures. Wow, nineteen dollar Bloody Mary. Was it worth it? Just kidding.
Nina wrote: "What is a constant reader?"Nina, I'm glad you enjoyed the photographs I took at the Algonquin. I'm still exhausted from the trip but will soon be back here in full form.
You can find the Goodreads Constant Reader group here:
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/8...
The Constant Reader group took its name from the name of Dorothy Parker's byline at the New Yorker magazine years ago. Wiki says:
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"Some of her most popular work was published in The New Yorker in the form of acerbic book reviews under the byline "Constant Reader" ... Her reviews appeared semi-regularly from 1927 to 1933, were widely read, and were later published in a collection under the name Constant Reader in 1970."
FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_...
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BTW, I was a member of the Constant Reader book group when it resided at the Prodigy Bulletin Boards in the latter part of the 1990's. I lost track of them when they moved to the Internet but found them again years later (around 2008) when I did a Google search for them. In fact, that's how I found Goodreads!
I just got taken out to dinner by my wife. Well, I drove, she paid. Yay! She's been wanting to go out, so I knew it was coming. We went to a place called Cattleman's. Excellent steaks & salad bar. I got one that was 3/4 pound, 1.5" thick & bloody rare inside. It was still as tender as could be. Yum! Even though I brought half of it home for lunch tomorrow, I'm too fat & full. I went out to the shop for a bit hooked up the new heater. I had the wire run & the mounting boards cut & bored. Just had to hang it & wire it up to the heater & circuit breaker box. It took about 1.5 hours to get it up & running. Seems to work good, too.
Hopefully this heater will save me some money this year. I've been heating the shop with a few little 1500w, 120v heaters. I put in a ceiling mounted, hardwired 5000w, 220v heater. It has an oil core, so no danger of sparks. It cost $270, but should save me that much over this winter - at least that's the thinking.
I don't really understand why 220v is cheaper than 120v when dealing with a heater. I'd think the wattage required would be a bit better, but all the research I did agreed that it would save a lot. I guess I'll find out. Wish me luck. I don't want 2 or 3 electric bills over $500 again this year.
We have an all electric house, with heaters for waterers & the tack room besides my shop, so we normally run just over $200 a month anyway. When the AC or the heat kicks in, it goes way up.
Jim, sounds like you'll be nice and warm this winter. I hear you when you talk about the cost of heat! But I hate to feel cold. I have a pic (from a magazine ad) tacked on my wall under our thermostat. It shows a white-haired woman with a stern expression saying: "When I say 74 degrees I mean 74 degrees." LOLIt was a York furnace ad in a 2008 Newsweek. Can't find the ad online now. Here's the York website: http://www.york.com/residential/produ...
You made my mouth water with that description of your steak. Now I won't be happy until I get some good steak!
I went to Crandall Library Book Sale. I had a great day. This is what I got:12 from my list:
Dragons of Winter Night, Dragons of Spring Dawing by Weis & Hickman
Hallowed Isles series: The Book of the Sword, ....the Spear, ....the Cauldron, ....the Stone by Paxson
Daughter of the Forest by Marillier
Rama 2, Rama Revealed by Clarke
Stand on Zanzibar by Brunner
The Belgariad series 2 to 5 by Eddings
10 not on the list:
Ware Hawk by Norton
Wicked by Maguire
The Unremembered by Orullian
The Looking Glass Wars by Beddor
The Witches of Eileanan by Forsyth
After Long Silence by Tepper
Brian Boru by Llywellyn
Breathless & What the Night Knows by Koontz
And a 1973 copy of The Haunted Earth also by Koontz
$16.00. Not bad, as it's a mix of hardcover and paperbacks.
Sadly I had to give up a lot books I've already read to make room for my new children. Those I got rid of were books I thought were good enough to read again sometime but the truth is the chances of me reading these particular books again are pretty slim. It was time to let them go.
I've wanted the Paxson series for a long time, I'm starting the first one tonight...if I can stay up long enough. It's an Arthurian series told from the POV of the Saxons. I've read many Arthurian series and it's always Yay Arthur, Boo Saxons. This is gonna be interesting. And if not, then at least it will be unique.
Jackie, that's an interesting list of books. A good deal for $16.00. Enjoy reading them.I've picked out one at random from your list to post here as a link: Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier. One of the GR member reviews (by Tatiana, who gave it 5 stars) says:
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"This book is a beautiful retelling of the Celtic "Swans" myth, which has been familiar to me since childhood through the Hans Christian Andersen's version - 'The Wild Swans'.
...
"The best part about this book is that Juliet Marillier stays pretty close to the source material, not transforming the original into an unrecognizable horror fest as some modern writers often do. Instead, she enhances the myth with a beautiful love story, realistic historical background, admirable characters, skillful infusion of ancient magic, stories of dedicated friendships and unyielding sibling devotion, and a couple of utterly despicable villains."
FROM THE REVIEW AT: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
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Sounds like a good choice. I see that the story has a Celtic aspect to it. Is that one of the reasons you chose it?
I found a sample of it at Google ebooks. The link is:
http://books.google.com/ebooks/reader...
I chose Daughter of the Forest because my long-time friend AC recommended it. We belonged to a book club on Yuwie years ago and found that we have near identical taste in books so any book she recommends I will read, knowing if she liked it, it's a 99% chance I will too.I wanted to link all the books but I was exhausted last night, I was lucky to write the list at all! Do you think I could link them, Joy? I'm well rested now, lol
Jim, I got Creatures of Light and Darkness also but didn't add it to the list above as I've already read it. It's worth a re-read at some point.
Jackie wrote: "... I wanted to link all the books but I was exhausted last night, I was lucky to write the list at all! Do you think I could link them, Joy? I'm well rested now, lol "Sure, Jackie, if you have the time and energy, go ahead and link them. For some reason I enjoy linking books. I guess I'm still amazed at the technology that allows me to do it. But it takes time and energy and not everyone has the time or the energy for these things, let alone the motivation!
I like doing it too; it makes it easier for someone who's interested to see what the book is about. And I like when a book is mentioned to be linked, it makes it easier for me. So here's the list:
Dragons of Winter Night
Dragonlance: Dragons of Spring Dawning
The Book of the Sword
The Book of the Spear
The Book of the Cauldron
The Book of the Stone
Daughter of the Forest
Rama II
Rama Revealed
Stand on Zanzibar
I already own Pawn of Prophecy and this will complete The Belgariad series:
Queen of Sorcery
Magician's Gambit
Castle of Wizardry
Enchanters' End Game
'Ware Hawk
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Unremembered
The Looking Glass Wars
The Witches of Eileanan
After Long Silence
Brian Boru: Emperor of the IrishBreathless
What the Night Knows
The Haunted Earth
And another copy of Beauty since I gave my copy to my niece.
As well as another copy of Creatures of Light and Darkness
A fruitful take, if I say so myself.
Jackie, thanks for all those links. They certainly do help us expand our knowledge of books.I can see you are deep into fantasy. The one entitled Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West looks interesting.
I see that your list included Beauty. That's the one book I did read because you told me about it. I had forgotten about that until I went back and read my own review. Sometimes when I read my own reviews, I can hardly remember ever writing them. (lol)
I forget too. And what I find really odd is that when I re-read a book, I can have a completely different feeling about a book. I bought Beauty again to re-read because a few people wrote reviews saying the beginning was boring. I didn't have that experience last time, I was too caught up in the story. A second read may prove to be a different experience. Yes, I love fantasy, it's my preferred genre and there's so much to choose from, so many sub-genres.
Jackie wrote: "I forget too. And what I find really odd is that when I re-read a book, I can have a completely different feeling about a book."This is so true. Years ago, when I read Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, I copied 10 pages of quotes which resonated with me. Years later when I read my notes over, many of the quotes seemed ordinary to me, nothing special. Every time we read a book we come to the book with different feelings because we ourselves change (in certain ways) over the years. We're at a different spot in our lives. It's amazing how our reactions can change. But still, I think that basically we keep the same tastes and characteristics. It's just that our situation in life has changed bringing us different needs and wants.
I just finished watching, "Snow Falling on Cedar," for the second time. It was just as good as I remembered and I know I enjoyed the book when I read it years ago. Do any of you remember reading it? Jim, I think you would like it; a mystery is involved.
I saw the movie but never read the book.
One of my friends lived on that island and remembers it fondly. She also remembers the Japanese returning from the camps.
I've never heard of it. At least I don't think so. My head is packed with goop & I'm not thinking well.
It was about the Japanese internment during WWII.
I read _Snow Falling on Cedars_ and saw the film too. My review is at:http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
We are temporarily disconnecting our computers to re-arrange things. I will post here when we're connnected again. Fingers crossed. TTYL
Good Luck I will keep my fingers crossed for you and add a wee prayer.
Thank you, Nina. We're back online, thank goodness. It's a good thing Eddie knows how to figure these things out. I'd be lost if I had to do it myself.
I understand; I tried putting pictures on my computer from the camera and got almost to the end of the proceedure and had to have my husband's help. Now, I hope I've got it down pat. Maybe, we'll see. Otherwise, he was busy rebuilding our fence that was blown down a couple of night ago.
Gald it didn't keep you offline for too long, Joy. What did you rearrange?
Nina, my husband transfers the pics from the camera to his computer. Then he puts them on our external drive. But I do the picture-taking. After Eddie does his job, I copy the pics off the external drive and organize them on my own computer. I'm way behind on my organizing. I'll catch up this winter. "Relish today; ketchup tomorrow." (Saw that in a Signals Catalog.)http://www.signals.com/cgi-bin/hazel....
Jackie, we rearranged ourselves. LOL The seasonal transfer.
Oh that's right! How did I forget that?
I'm curious, how do you rearrange yourself?
Very slowly, Nina! (lol)
Lady of the Forest sound like one I'd like. Maybe I'll Kindle it.
Nina wrote: "Lady of the Forest sound like one I'd like. Maybe I'll Kindle it."Nina, I guess you're referring to: Lady of the Forest (1992) by Jennifer Roberson
I see it's about Robin Hood and Maid Marian. It's interesting to see the different genres readers assign it to:
Fantasy
Historical Fiction
Romance
Science Fiction Fantasy
Romance > Historical Romance
Historical Fiction > Medieval
Fairy Tales > Fairy Tale Retellings
Fantasy > Fairy Tales
Fantasy > Mythology
BTW, similar titles are:
Our Lady of the Forest
The Lady Of The Forest: A Story For Girls
I am referring to "Lady of the Forest," by Philippa Gregory.
Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group
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Just found this post by Jim. I wonder if the hawk is waiting to eat the little birdies who come to the bird bath. We have a neighbor-cat who waits for our birdies. Nature is so cruel. But that's the food chain.