You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

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Off Topic Chat > Watcha Doin' - 2017.1 edition

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message 2701: by Rusalka, Moderator (last edited Jul 16, 2017 05:09AM) (new)

Rusalka (rusalkii) | 19221 comments Sorry all. A bit AWOL.

So glad the surgery went well, Margo.
Sorry to hear about your uncle, Travis.
Glad the MRI went okay, Lisa, and you have some answers.
Feel better, Kristie!
All about mental health days, Jmom.

I'm frantic. We leave in 6 days. I have so much to do, both at work and here. We spent the whole weekend doing chores. Two of our chickens appear to be sick. It was -7C last night, and our heater literally blew up on Tuesday. I don't have a full length mirror so spent an hour parading summer wedding outfits with matching jewelry (or not) to Lexx for an hour when it was 1C in our house to work out what goes so I only pack what is needed.

And then there is the book issue.

This is my pile I made a month ago to whittle down. There has been no whittling. None. I need to. It's a paralysing bookworm issue. Any recs? Or should i take things I will dump? Or anything I should scrap as it's not good?

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message 2702: by Peggy (new)

Peggy (pebbles84) | 15868 comments Hope you feel better soon Kristie!

Take Burial Rites for sure Rusalka. I thought it was fantastic. No idea about the others though.


message 2703: by Roz (new)

Roz | 4551 comments Definitely Burial Rites. I didn't like The Magicians but that's just me. I'm not familiar with the rest but they sounded interesting. I'll have to check them out further.


message 2704: by Lisa (new)

Lisa (lisathebooklover) | 9244 comments My vote would also go to Burial Rites, Rusalka.


message 2705: by Margo (new)

Margo | 11668 comments LOL I would have said don't take Burial Rites - it's too depressing for a holiday read!


message 2706: by Janice, Moderator (new)

Janice (jamasc) | 60078 comments Rusalka, I'd say take Burial Rites, but plan on bringing it home. You could take The Magicians and dump. I'm in Roz's corner on both those books. I haven't read any of the others.

Margo, the swim sounds relaxing. I ended up parking on the couch all day yesterday reading instead of sewing. Sometimes, that's the ticket too when you're stressed.


message 2707: by Travis (new)

Travis (travistousant) | 6011 comments Last August my uncle said he pulled a chest muscle. I said weird he acts like his back hurts him. Wouldn't o to Dr. I gave him name of my chiropractor last October wouldn't go. Went to Dr in February. Dr said he needed x-rays. Nope it's getting better I'll wait 2 more months. Well now what. Cancer on 7 ribs, hip and spine. Doesn't sound promising at all. Just want to go up there and kick him. EVERYONE told him to go to the Dr


message 2708: by Travis (new)

Travis (travistousant) | 6011 comments I think I better use this as a lesson and go to the Dr myself when my wife says I should.


message 2709: by Janice, Moderator (new)

Janice (jamasc) | 60078 comments Travis sivarT wrote: "I think I better use this as a lesson and go to the Dr myself when my wife says I should."

Sounds reasonable to me. :)


message 2710: by Roz (new)

Roz | 4551 comments I know what you mean about misdirected chest pains and not going to doctors, Travis. My husband put off checking out pains in his chest. When he finally did go and had X-rays it turned out to be Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in a couple of ribs. He's good now (6 years later), but it scared him enough to be sure he keeps up with all check-ups. Sometimes we just hope the aches and pains are nothing and will go away. Just a normal part of living ( over exertion, sleeping wrong, stuff like that). We don't want to appear to be complainers, worriers, or worse, hypochondriacs. Everybody hates those. So we put off checking it out. Then when the pain doesn't go away, we get scared but still don't go because we're afraid to hear what the problem may really be. We all need a good kick once in a while to get us to do what needs doing.


message 2711: by Sarah (new)

Sarah | 18550 comments I agree with what's been said about Burial Rites and The Magicians. I cannot comment on the others unfortunately. How big is your suitcase? How many books do you want to reduce it down to?


message 2712: by Janice, Moderator (new)

Janice (jamasc) | 60078 comments I agree, Roz. A friend of mine had a heart attack a couple of weeks ago. She woke with pain in her chest and arm, and with nausea. She thought that the symptoms she had were those of a heart attack and in her words, "but it couldn't be that! How could it be?" She had her border take her up to the hospital, and it was, indeed a heart attack.


message 2713: by Kristie, Moderator (new)

Kristie | 19327 comments I haven't read any of those, so I don't have an opinion. I've had Burial Rites on my TBR for a while though and would love to see what you think of it.

It's so difficult to know when to go to the dr and when it's normal aches, pains, and illnesses, especially as you get older. My mom wanted me to go to urgent care for my stomach bug and I was certain they couldn't do anything for me. Fortunately, I'm feeling better today, but she was worried.


message 2714: by Travis (new)

Travis (travistousant) | 6011 comments Went to a Mexican restaurant today. Wasn't bad. Actually I expected it to be more Mexican decor. I mean it had some but pretty bare mostly just booths. Which I guess is all you need for some reason I was expecting like Mexican overload


message 2715: by Travis (new)

Travis (travistousant) | 6011 comments I think because the sign outside is for full of colors I expected the whole interior to be the same. Which bow I realize is rather silly


message 2716: by Cherie (new)

Cherie (crobins0) | 21536 comments 79 posts since I last checked this thread!

Just reading and relaxing today. I go back to work tomorrow, after being off for the last 10 weeks.


message 2717: by Saar The Book owl (new)

Saar The Book owl | 2655 comments I've worked the late shift yesterday and today the early shift. Sleep between was 5 hours. So tired! I work as a receptionist in a mental hospital.


message 2718: by Tejas Janet (new)

Tejas Janet (tejasjanet) | 3513 comments Though I follow the posts here regularly, I don't post much. But want to say that you guys are all in my thoughts, and I'm sending out my wishes for good health and good reading to all.

My spouse had a heart attack almost 7 years ago now, and recovered very well, knock wood. It was a very scary time.


message 2719: by Roz (last edited Jul 17, 2017 01:55AM) (new)

Roz | 4551 comments Cherie wrote: "79 posts since I last checked this thread!

Just reading and relaxing today. I go back to work tomorrow, after being off for the last 10 weeks."


Did I read that right? Off for the last 10 weeks? That's some vacation.


message 2720: by Rusalka, Moderator (new)

Rusalka (rusalkii) | 19221 comments Thanks all. Burial Rites is going in. My cousin, who is a murder thriller crime queen told me to dump Acid Row. Which means it may go to the book shop unread. I'm away for 4 weeks, and I have 6 full days travelling, so 5? Two in the carry on, and the rest in the pack. We are taking packs as they are much more useful when jumping on and off trains and walking to hotels/airbnbs.

So sorry to hear that about your Uncle, Travis. I'm terrible with doctors too, and I should know better with my family history. I just don't want to put them out or inconvenience them. I woke myself up from a dream this morning thinking "major heart failure!", as my arm and chest felt weird. I think (okay didn't go to a doctor, so not 100% sure) I slept on my arm in a weird, crunchy position, so my arm and chest were all sore. As soon as I was up and moving, and distracted, it went away and I'm still here. But funny what goes on in your head. But agree. Maybe listen to when your wife says goes to the doctor a little more, and I will do it too :D

Glad you enjoyed the Mexican. I love good Mexican,

Glad you're feeling better, Kristie!


message 2721: by Rusalka, Moderator (new)

Rusalka (rusalkii) | 19221 comments Saar wrote: "I work as a receptionist in a mental hospital."

Oh nice, Saar. My partner's Dad was a mental health nurse for years at a hospital, and he has some great stories. Takes amazing people to work in those environments. Hope you get some good sleep. Is that not illegal? Here is Aus you legally have to have 8 hours (from memory, it's an amount of hours) between shifts.


message 2722: by Rusalka, Moderator (new)

Rusalka (rusalkii) | 19221 comments Cherie wrote: "I go back to work tomorrow, after being off for the last 10 weeks."

Enjoy! Hope the back to work transition is good. At least you know at least day 1 will be emails.


message 2723: by Rusalka, Moderator (last edited Jul 17, 2017 05:37AM) (new)

Rusalka (rusalkii) | 19221 comments Oh Peggy! I meant to say about the car troubles (as well as I hope they worked out) I was so confused.

Here I am thinking, how dare the car hire company give her a lemon! Why aren't they fixing the car? Surely they have a deal with a repairer? 3 hours is ridiculous, they better not be charging for this!

...

I then realised you do not live in Australia. And you probably drove your own car to Norway, and also around Norway, and then back home. And this also blew my mind and I haven't been able to articulate this for several days.

ROFL and then I read this post to Lexx (stating at the beginning you live in the Netherlands and went to Norway), and he was all "Yeah! Jerks! What are they doing? Complain!" He's now a little confused you could drive your own car there... We literally cannot experience this ever in another country, and it is mind boggling from our lived experience.


message 2724: by Peggy (new)

Peggy (pebbles84) | 15868 comments LOL Rusalka!

I remember from when we were in Australia we also had a lot of those experiences that would have never been possible here. Like driving 800 km and only coming across a few curves in the road and other cars. Or passing 50m road trains.


message 2725: by Kristie, Moderator (new)

Kristie | 19327 comments Saar, I used to work in a similar environment in mental health and it's always difficult when you get those shifts without much time between. I hope you get to rest after this shift.

Rusalka - Our employment laws here in the US aren't very good. (And I don't see them getting better any time soon.) At my other position, we could be scheduled up to 19 hours straight awake time. If you had a position with a 4 hour sleep shift, you could be scheduled up to 24 hours straight. Plus, if they were low staffed you could choose to pick up an additional shift and work even longer. I worked many times over 24 hours straight at that job. Also, you may get 8 hours off between shifts, but you need to travel home & back, shower, eat, etc so it doesn't always leave much time for sleep, especially if you also have kids to care for.


message 2726: by Rusalka, Moderator (new)

Rusalka (rusalkii) | 19221 comments I know, it's so odd how different it is. I've been looking at what we'll be driving in the UK and Ireland, and I'm like "3 hours! That's nothing, and we have a whole day to do it!" I frequently do the 8 hours from here to Melbourne. 3 hours is a doddle!

Oh you went to the NT? I haven't even dealt with road trains. I'm such a East Coast girl.


message 2727: by Margo (new)

Margo | 11668 comments Travis sivarT wrote: "Last August my uncle said he pulled a chest muscle. I said weird he acts like his back hurts him. Wouldn't o to Dr. I gave him name of my chiropractor last October wouldn't go. Went to Dr in Februa..."

Travis it doesn't sound good. There's a fine line between going to the doctor with every ache and pain and not going when you should.


message 2728: by Margo (new)

Margo | 11668 comments Sarah wrote: "I agree with what's been said about Burial Rites and The Magicians. I cannot comment on the others unfortunately. How big is your suitcase? How many books do you want to reduce it down to?"

Seems I'm in a minority of 1 on the merrits of Burial Rites as a holiday read lol


message 2729: by Rusalka, Moderator (new)

Rusalka (rusalkii) | 19221 comments Kristie wrote: "Our employment laws here in the US aren't very good. (And I don't see them getting better any time soon.) At my other position, we could be scheduled up to 19 hours straight awake time...."

That is just ridiculous and dangerous, for both you and the people you are working with (staff and in this case, patients). I'm guessing you don't have good workers compensation laws either, it relies on you suing employers, which costs money not everyone has.

I think Saar said she was in Europe, so hopefully she has a better system for her at the moment. I just went back in the comments, and can't believe I missed you live in Brugge, Saar. I visited Brugge and loved it. Beautiful city.


message 2730: by Rusalka, Moderator (new)

Rusalka (rusalkii) | 19221 comments Margo wrote: "Seems I'm in a minority of 1 on the merrits of Burial Rites as a holiday read lol "

Lol I don't think anyone said it would be a fun or relaxing read, Margo!


message 2731: by Travis (new)

Travis (travistousant) | 6011 comments I've not read Burial Rites but from the comments I see I'm thinking you read a book like this to enhance the vacation. Maybe your read is a little depressing I guess it makes you put it down to go have fun. Idk


message 2732: by Peggy (new)

Peggy (pebbles84) | 15868 comments Haha, that might work for Burial Rites ;-)

Rusalka, a 3 hour drive is considered very long here. When we do a road trip holiday we always try to limit a driving day to 4 hours and not to drive much the day after.
Oh, and we were in all states (though only a little in WA. We want to come back for that some day)

Those working hours are insane Kristie. And also dangerous for both patients and staff I can imagine.


message 2733: by Laura (Lclwags) (new)

Laura (Lclwags) (lclwags) | 698 comments Margo, I'm glad the surgery is done and your uncle is on the road to recovery.

Travis, Sorry to hear about your uncle and cousin.

Lisa, I'm glad you have answers now and hope you can have some relief through treatments.

Kristie, I'm glad you're feeling better.

Peggy, glad you made it home safely even though you were delayed. I love your positive attitude!

Sarah, does hypnotism really help with phobias? I've heard that, but never known anyone who has done it. I would love to be able to get over my claustrophobia! It seems to be worse now than it was when I was younger.

Rusalka, I've never read any of those books, so I can't help. :( Picking books for travel is always hard. I never know what kind of book I'll be in the mood to read.


message 2734: by Peggy (new)

Peggy (pebbles84) | 15868 comments I got two huge mosquito bites on my forehead. Looks very charming, like I bumped my head very hard, twice. I've never been bitten on my forehead before! Probably because the rest of me was covered, and still they don't bite my bf who had half his limbs uncovered.


message 2735: by KimeyDiann (new)

KimeyDiann | 2174 comments Y'all have been quite busy while I was gone these last few days. Over 70 new posts!

I'm glad everyone seems to be doing okay after being sick, having surgeries, having medical tests, being stranded post-vacation, etc.

@Rusalka, your book dilemma is one reason why I love my kindle so much. One little device, practically unlimited reading material.

My mini-vacation with two of my nieces to visit my husband in South Carolina went really well. The girls and I went to the beach one day and lazed in the sand and played in the waves. We also fit in going to a peach orchard, a boat ride to & tour of Fort Sumter (where the American Civil War started), doing an escape room, and eating some yummy foods. My husband's roommate also took the girls out for ice cream one night so we could have a little alone time. lol. All in all, it was a very fun weekend!


message 2736: by Kristie, Moderator (new)

Kristie | 19327 comments Kimey, That sounds like a wonderful weekend. I'm glad you had such a nice time.


message 2737: by Cherie (new)

Cherie (crobins0) | 21536 comments Roz wrote: "Did I read that right? Off for the last 10 weeks? That's some vacation..."

I was on an 8 week sabbatical plus 2 weeks of vacation.


message 2738: by Cherie (new)

Cherie (crobins0) | 21536 comments Kristie wrote: "My daughter called me yesterday to see if I can drive her to the airport in a couple of weeks. I said, "Sure. What time?" I need to remember to ask what time first! Her flight is at 6am. We will ne..."

My daughters have done the same thing to me, Kristie. I always say yes before they hit me with the details too.


message 2739: by Cherie (new)

Cherie (crobins0) | 21536 comments Rusalka - not having read any of your books except Burial Rites, that would have been my vote too.

Yes, my first day back was all about deleting all of the email that jumped into my in-box. (1716 unread messages). Most of them are notices for meetings, minutes, item and bom promotions, etc.


message 2740: by Kristie, Moderator (new)

Kristie | 19327 comments My grandson and I just listened to the audiobook of Matilda together, so tonight we watched the movie. He loved it. :) It is really a fabulous book and movie.


message 2741: by Travis (new)

Travis (travistousant) | 6011 comments I went to the theater with my grandma and saw it oh 22 yrs ago maybe.

The BFG audio is great and Georges Marvelous Medicine


message 2742: by Mariab (last edited Jul 17, 2017 07:02PM) (new)

Mariab | 3059 comments Peggy wrote: "I got two huge mosquito bites on my forehead. Looks very charming, like I bumped my head very hard, twice. I've never been bitten on my forehead before! Probably because the rest of me was covered,..."

Mosquitoes love people who don't get bite very often. These develop a certain antidote in blood, which they (mosquitoes) don't like


message 2743: by Kristie, Moderator (new)

Kristie | 19327 comments Travis sivarT wrote: "I went to the theater with my grandma and saw it oh 22 yrs ago maybe.

The BFG audio is great and Georges Marvelous Medicine"


Thanks! I'll add those to my list. :)

Funny story. I told him we had to order the movie online because it would be hard to find it in stores because it is an older movie. He looks at me, dead serious, and asks, "Wait...is it in color?" Thanks, kid...lol


message 2744: by Sandra, Moderator (new)

Sandra (sanlema) | 11301 comments That is so cute, Kristie. :)


message 2745: by Peggy (new)

Peggy (pebbles84) | 15868 comments Lol Kristie! I always loved the book and the movie too.


message 2746: by Saar The Book owl (new)

Saar The Book owl | 2655 comments Kristie wrote: "Saar, I used to work in a similar environment in mental health and it's always difficult when you get those shifts without much time between. I hope you get to rest after this shift.

Rusalka - Ou..."


Rusalka wrote: "Saar wrote: "I work as a receptionist in a mental hospital."

Oh nice, Saar. My partner's Dad was a mental health nurse for years at a hospital, and he has some great stories. Takes amazing people ..."


@Kristie: I don't get many shifts with short sleep, but it's because of the summer holidays here. We're now short staffed. Also every week we have other days that we need to work, but it's a great job. Is that legal to work 24 hours? We can't do that here and it isn't healthy, I think.

@Rusalka: Bruges is indeed a very beautiful city. It's a really great job. The second best actually. My best job was to work as a librarian for a couple of years.


message 2747: by Margo (new)

Margo | 11668 comments Children are so funny Kristie :-)

Peggy, hope you have something to take the itch out of those bites. When we go anywhere with my son, all the bugs go fir him! Most times noone else is bitten. He has developed a bit of a phobia as a result.


message 2748: by Travis (new)

Travis (travistousant) | 6011 comments Is it in color. I'm feeling a bit old now. Lol


message 2749: by Travis (new)

Travis (travistousant) | 6011 comments About to head out to see Korn, which I saw last year.
Skillet who I've heard is amazing live
Stone Sour. A bucket list band for me. Can't wait


message 2750: by Sandra, Moderator (new)

Sandra (sanlema) | 11301 comments Enjoy, Travis!


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