What are you reading now? Finished recently? 4/5 through 11/6/2009

[JoAnn/QuAppelle]

Meredith wrote:
"This was the first book in the knitting series. This is the second Macomber book I have read. With so many books out there, I think I will pass on this author's books going forward ."

Sounds like a plan. I can see how she would get real old, real fast.

[linreadsalot]

I finished Buffalo Valley by Debbie Macomber last night. A satisfying end to a delightful series.

I haven't decided yet what I will read next.

[linreadsalot]

Have decided to pick Visions Of Sugar Plums by Janet Evanovich to read next.

[Reeves]

JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "Last night I finished Acceptance: A Legendary Guidance Counselor Helps Seven Kids Find the Right Colleges-And Find Themselves by David Marcus. It was very quick reading because to me..."

As the Mother of 3 in college right now and most recently had a senior in high school I can say that getting this generation to actually stay and graduate from the schools that seems "right" for them is the hard part. This generation has had an entire life scheduled by parents from day one. Also,Mommy and Daddy are their "best friends" so jr. and Sissy find it hard going to actually organize themselves and they miss their best friends just way too much. This is a problem not just here in the Haddonfield,NJ area but all over the lower 48!
As of October one of my daughter's freshman friends from high school was planning to not return to his Virginia college and was planning on commuting to St. Jospeph's U. in Phila....just over the bridge from here.

[JoAnn/QuAppelle]

R. wrote: "As the Mother of 3 in college right now and most recently had a senior in high school I can say that getting this generation to actually stay and graduate from the schools that seems "right" for them is the hard part. This generation has had an entire life scheduled by parents from day one. Also,Mommy and Daddy are their "best friends" so jr. and Sissy find it hard going to actually organize themselves and they miss their best friends just way too much. This is a problem not just here in the Haddonfield,NJ area but all over the lower 48! ."

Good points!

Thank goodness I never had to deal with this. I think everyone in Laura's HS graduating class graduated from their original colleges, and very few went to the closest college. Of course, she only had 48 in her graduating class!

What cracks me up is that these kids today want to go to the same college (nearby, too) as their friends and then they end up with all new friends-- from all over.

[Judy]

JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "Judy, is this the book? "The Island"

It might be. I think I actually have The Island somewhere.

[Debbie]

My daughter was also from a small high school and wanted to go to a small college. She made and has kept up with more friends than she had in high school. All but my daughter is married, but they still try to get together every year or 2. This college was about 100 miles from home, close enuf, yet far enuf. It was a wonderful experience for her.

[Reeves]

JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "R. wrote: "As the Mother of 3 in college right now and most recently had a senior in high school I can say that getting this generation to actually stay and graduate from the schools that seems "ri..."

All of this seems to be happening to the group born between 1985 and 1991(up till now).

[Kim (Kimsrdnbks)]

I'm reading Last Night in Twisted River slow start but now I'm into it.

[Sandi]

Just started Nine Coaches Waiting on audio (narration by Davina Porter). This is my first by Mary Stewart.

Also, reading
The Machine A Hot Team, a Legendary Season, and a Heart-stopping World Series-The Story of the 1975 Cincinnati Reds (I can't believe Sparky Anderson was only 41 in 1975, he seemed ancient to me back then).

[Michael]

Is there any reason other than over-involved parenting that you think is at work here, R? Have we somehow stunted (emotionally) a generation of young people?

R. wrote: "As the Mother of 3 in college right now and most recently had a senior in high school I can say that getting this generation to actually stay and graduate from the schools that seems "right" for them is the hard part. This generation has had an entire life scheduled by parents from day one. Also,Mommy and Daddy are their "best friends" so jr. and Sissy find it hard going to actually organize themselves and they miss their best friends just way too much. This is a problem not just here in the Haddonfield,NJ area but all over the lower 48!"

[Reeves]

Is there any reason other than over-involved parenting that you think is at work here, R? Have we somehow stunted (emotionally) a generation of young people?
Not all kids or famlies are this way of course. However,I do think the cell phone has become the biggest umbilical cord in the world. My hubby and a friend were saying the other day that they got dropped off with their stuff at college and except for a once a week phone call that was it! Now even mine call at the drop of a hat and training them to mostly be proactive for themselves is a work in progress!

[Debbie]

I remember when I went away to college in the early 70's and my parents took me there and helped me move in, but that was that. We were not allowed cars on campus, so unless somebody from your town was going home, you stayed on campus. I might have gotten to call once a week, but mostly you waited for the mail delivery. When my daughter went to college, there were cell phones and cars, but we tried to discourage her from coming home every weekend, because the college experience can be so rewarding. She has made such good friends.

[linreadsalot]

I finished up Visions Of Sugar Plums by Janet Evanovich early this morning.

Picking A Time To Embrace by Karen Kingsbury next.

[JoAnn/QuAppelle]

I have been reading a lot in recent years about the damage done to kids by over-boosting their self-esteem by praising them about every little thing. Food for thought about emotional stunting, Michael.....Here are some articles:

Self Esteem - Can Kids Have Too Much?
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/featur...

Too Much of a Good Thing
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/art...

Has Generation Y Overdosed on Self-Esteem?
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0302/p0...

[Donna in Southern Maryland]

There was snow on the ground when my time came. I'd expected pain but, Reader! How could this be! I bellowed, I know I did.

"It's like shitting a pumpkin, it is," I cried.

"Shut up, if you can, girl," said Dinah, the midwife, "for you're hurting my ears and you'll be fine in the end. I'm feared your baby'll be deef with the noise you're making."

"I'll never be fine in my end again," I panted, which made her laugh herself, but then the pains started back up and so did my shrieks.

When it was all over, I cried for my mother, to think what the poor thing suffered for all of us. And then I did what I'd seen my mother do for my whole childhood, and that was to open my shift for the baby and let it nurse.

I found this new book on the shelves at the Library. The cover drew my eye, and I opened to the first page and read the above. Don't have any idea why, but I was hooked. It's 259 pages, and I read it in 2 days. Set in Victorian times, it tells the story of Susan Rose, who follows in her mother's footsteps as a wet nurse.

Hard to believe, but in Victorian times in England, it was the normal thing for women of a certain station in life to hire a wet nurse; doing it yourself was seen as a low class thing. Sprinkled throughout the story are different stories of why the women required a wet nurse.

I've just finished it, and I think I'll give it 4 stars; lovely, unexpected, humorous in places, an enjoyable book.

Donna in Southern Maryland