Somewhat Rhetorical Question of the Week

[Janelle]

Charly, we learnt how to make rafts when we read Werner's survival book.

[Werner]

Barb and I have never decorated the outside of our house for holidays. But I enjoy the lights, etc. on other people's houses (when our girls were still living at home, we used to have a Christmas Eve tradition of driving around to look at the lights in the community). I like both the white and the colored ones, but other things being equal I really prefer the latter.

[Janelle]

I like both, but I do have a preference for coloured.

[Reggia]

i could go either way but what i really like is when all one color is used... white for the Christmas tree indoors

[Janelle]

I completed my Goodreads reading challenge

[Werner]

I've accomplished certain things this year; but I can't really say that any of them are things that I consciously sat down at the beginning of the year and formulated for myself as goals. That kind of formal goal setting at the beginning of a year isn't something I normally do. My reading plans for the coming year are a different story --I tend to have definite plans to read certain books in the year, and even roughly when to read them, though it's all subject to circumstances that may arise-- but for other things, I tend to be more spontaneous or short-range in my planning.

[Janelle]

Me too, Werner.

[Werner]

Unless we're major political or socio-economic actors, I think its axiomatic that the small steps we take to better the world affect mainly our own little world, rather than the great world as a whole. But changes in the greater world come about, over time, as the amalgam of all the little changes many people affect in their own little social worlds.

[Janelle]

Well said, Werner!

[Werner]

Thank you, Janelle!

[Werner]

Thanks, Charly!

[Werner]

Charlie, I don't really have any deep thoughts on this one way or the other.

[Werner]

Once I get into a face-to-face conversation with someone, I can't say that I've ever really drawn a blank. Getting a conversation started in the first place, of course, is likely to be more of a challenge.

With faculty colleagues at the college where I work, "What are you teaching this term/planning to teach next term?" usually serves as my ice breaker, if I need one. In the earlier years of my married life, before I got to know them, the questions (depending on the time of year), "Are you looking forward to deer hunting this year?" or "How's deer hunting going?" or "How did you do this deer season?" served me well with my brothers-in-law, and a fair few of my sisters-in-law. Those questions can start most Reedys on a long monologue that doesn't need much response beyond interested attention. :-)

[Janelle]

Absolutely

[Janelle]

The reason I didn't initially elaborate, Charly, is I didn't think I would have the words to do so. To describe the curative effects that books have had on me would be like giving my life story. As a child books gave voice to feelings and experiences I couldn't understand or deal with. They have continued to do so throughout adulthood, and have helped me to heal and grow. There are books I consider to be comfort reads, those I turn to again and again when I'm feeling down. There are books that give me courage and hope. There are those that feed my faith and trust in God. There isn't space enough here to list the books that have had a curative power on me, and I don't think I have the inclination to do so anyway. Even narrowing it down to just a few would be challenging. However many of the books on my four and five star shelves would fall into this category.

[Janelle]

Yeah we did it in this group, Charly. It was a great idea.

[Werner]

Hmmm, Charly, that's a question that will take some thought.

[Janelle]

I'd get rid of sin and the wrongs we do to each other. We are our own worst enemies.

[Werner]

Charly, I agree with what you wrote. I don't think a person's life can be entirely shaped by one single incident; I think there are typically a lot of influencing and shaping events, though some can be more crucial than others.

[Janelle]

No it's all about the book for me.

[Werner]

I'm tone deaf; so no, that's not something that typically plays in my head when I'm reading! :-)

[Sasha]

If i listen to music whilst reading i tend to go for relaxing 'background music' without lyrics, as i think the lyrics can get in the way of concentrating on the words you're taking in. I just finished reading the concert pianists James Rhodes biography book 'Instrumental' and for the beginning of each new chapter he introduces a piece of classical music to listen to whilst you read, which corresponds with the feel of that chapter, the theme of the writing and music going together nicely. Which i think is a nice idea to fill that sometimes empty void in the background. Well for me anyway :)

[Janelle]

Yeah I've definitely experienced this. In particular it's motivated me to reread books from my childhood so I can understand the ways they influenced and changed me. But I've gone back and reread some later books for this reason too.

[Werner]

I've had a few moments when some important point that wasn't explicitly spelled out in a nonfiction book suddenly became clear to me, and my perception of some subject or issue was reshaped very dramatically.

[Janelle]

I don't think I am overly influenced by covers, although I'm unlikely to read a book with a cover I really hate. I can't recall being in the situation you describe in your question, Charly.

[Werner]

If I pick up a book based on its cover, I already have pleasant expectations, so I probably wouldn't be surprised if the read turned out pleasantly. (I might wind up being unpleasantly surprised by the opposite outcome!)

[Werner]

It's a saying that arises from a very cynical view of the world; and like all cynicism, it fails to take into account the whole picture. I know a great many instances of good deeds that have been well rewarded rather than punished; and so, no doubt, does every member of the group, if we all search our personal experiences.

That said, it's true that good deeds, or attempts at them, sometimes result in negative consequences for the doer. It's cases like that which give rise to the saying in the first place.

[Janelle]

It happens often enough for there to be a reason for the saying.

[Janelle]

Sounds like a great idea.
I've never been involved in a random act of kindness as a giver or receiver. But I consider myself a kind person and take the opportunity to be kind when I find it. I've just never done it under the banner of a random act of kindness.

[Werner]

My answer would be essentially like Janelle's. I try to treat other people kindly as a matter of principle, but I've never taken part in any Pay It Forward program, and to my knowledge have never been on the receiving end of one.

Hopefully, I'll never be the recipient of a Random Act of Coffee. :-) My mother was a heavy coffee drinker (and very addicted to the caffeine); but as a child I tried a sample of hers once, and detested the taste of it. As an adult, I've tasted it exactly twice (because I didn't want to hurt the feelings of those offering it), and I didn't like it any better on either occasion!

[Werner]

Charly wrote: "Any kindness makes our world better, and more than likely your own." Well said, Charly!

Your story is a perfect example of a chain of kindnesses! Thanks for sharing it.

[Werner]

Well done, Charly! (I can't give you a high five, but consider this a virtual one. :-) )

[Werner]

Charly wrote: "Thanks Werner. I guess each day presents us with little ways to make someone else's life better and so doing our own. It might only be a held door or a smile but it does work."

So very true!

[Werner]

They're two sides of the same coin, IMO; you can't have one without the other, and no learning takes place without both.

[Werner]

That makes sense, Charly!

[Sasha]

I think that depends on the person reading, if the book is engaging and how much enjoyment the reader gets from it. If you are more enthusiastic about something, time tends to seem to fly by. Of course this can work on the opposite end of things to. If you are not interested or enthusiastic, the time it takes to read will inevitably feel longer.

[Werner]

Usually, if I abandon a book after starting it, it's for a good reason; and I just chalk it up to experience, and don't bother to waste further time with it. Reading time is too limited, and the wealth of unread books out there too great, to bother with stuff that i don't enjoy.

Rarely, though, I'll conclude that I didn't give a book a fair chance the first time, and go back to try it again. That was the case, for instance, with A. Merritt's The Ship of Ishtar; when I gave it a second chance, it proved to be a four-star read!

[Reggia]

Yes, sometimes it is worth going to back to an unfinished read. It took me three attempts before I finally read Don Quixote, after which, I promptly added it to my top 5 books. I think I was just distracted by life (in general) as well as other books.

And to answer the previous question, it certainly read much faster in the second half. However, the book I'm reading now, Confederacy of Dunces read much faster in the first half. I thought it was really funny at first... and while many a turn of words is still amusing me, it's become old... one derogatory wisecrack after another. I will finish, not just because my neighborhood book group will be discussing it, but I still want to see how the author concludes the story.

[Reggia]

I had a longer comment but it seemed so egocentric that I erased before posting. I like what you said, "the sum of our experiences". :-) It may even have changed my opinion on the matter for the most part.

[Werner]

Maybe Night Creatures? :-) (But I'm tone deaf; so what do I know?)

I wasn't meaning to ignore the previous question; I've just never experienced that particular phenomenon.

[Werner]

Personally, I like to read any day of the year, so there's really no season of the year when I'd rather read than in the others. Where my personal reading to myself in print format is concerned, I allot as much time for it year around as I can, and usually make up time that I have to miss.

However, I read aloud to Barb, when we're traveling together in the car, much more during the summer than in other seasons. That's because any long road trips we take are always in the summer.

[Werner]

Hmmm! I've always enjoyed the Regency period as a setting for fiction; so perhaps a trip to early 1800s England for some tea and biscuits, and good conversation? (Maybe when the holonovel technology from Star Trek: The Next Generation gets perfected for commercial use.... :-) )

[Janelle]

Yes

[Werner]

There's nothing that stands out from the ordinary; but I think I can honestly say that I'm always conscious of being the recipient of a LOT of blessings, and that I make it a point to thank God for them daily.

[Reggia]

Mother's Day made me feel blessed. They gave me a gift this year: a necklace with a pendant that holds each child's birthstone. We all had such a wonderful meal together -- so happy that we can get together like that and enjoy each other's company.

[Werner]

I'm happy for you, Reggia! Thanks for sharing that.

[Reggia]

Thanks, guys! :-)

[Werner]

I'm in 17 Goodreads groups, which have literally thousands of members, but I don't interact with many of them; a crashing of the grid wouldn't really sever "contact" unless I had significant contact to sever. Therefore, I'd estimate the number in my case much more conservatively. My daughter and son-in-law in Australia mostly keep contact with us through Skype, and I have about 59 Internet friends I actually interact with in real ways, almost all of them on Goodreads. (I'm not on Facebook or Twitter; and a few Goodreads friends are also face-to-face friends.) So my rough estimate would be a bit over 60.

[Nina]

Charly wrote: "If you could travel to visit a time from a book that might be considered a "once upon a time" era what would it be?

This does not require a fairy tale time nor does it preclude one.

I think I mi..."I would like to have dinner with the father of the family in Pride and Prejudice.

[Nina]

I feel blessed to still have my husband of sixty eight years beside me today.