Watcha Doin' - 2017.1 edition Showing 4,051-4,100 of 5,020

[Kristie, Moderator]

I don't know any of my login info either, Peggy.

[Cherie]

Travis sivarT wrote: "That was pretty great Cherie. I now finally understand the great Gatsby. I listened to about 10 of them"

Glad to hear, Travis. I listened to quite a few of them. I liked many of his comments. I will have to go back and listen to the Gatsby one, now that I have finally read it. ;)

[Peggy]

Random question (for our UK members I think): I'm watching the latest episode of the Graham Norton Show and I notice that Graham and all of his guests are wearing some sort of pin/brooch/badge (don't know what to call it) in the shape of a fruit. I can't stand not knowing what it's for and can't find anything on google (also not sure what to google for exactly). Who knows?

[Peggy]

I just saw this advertisement of a Dutch online bookstore saying the fourth book in the Cemetary of Forgotten Books series is now available The Labyrinth of the Spirits. I thought that was weird as I hadn't seen anything on GR. So apparently it came out in Spanish a year ago, is now published in for example Dutch, German and Italian, but the English version isn't due for another year! I think that's so strange, I always thought English would be the first language for books to be translated to. Anyone know how that works, and why the English release will be a year later than other translations?

I'm full of questions tonight!

[Lisa]

Peggy wrote: "Random question (for our UK members I think): I'm watching the latest episode of the Graham Norton Show and I notice that Graham and all of his guests are wearing some sort of pin/brooch/badge (don..."

Is it the episode with Jason Mamoa and Hugh Grant? If so, they are all wearing poppies for Remembrance Day.

[Lisa]

Peggy wrote: "I just saw this advertisement of a Dutch online bookstore saying the fourth book in the Cemetary of Forgotten Books series is now available The Labyrinth of the Spirits. I thought t..."

Funnily enough, I was thinking about this the other day and wondering when the publication date was going to be. I have no idea why the English version is being published so much later than other versions. I can't believe we still have another year to wait! I'm so desperate to read this!

[Peggy]

Thanks Lisa! I didn't recognize a poppy in it at all.

[[deleted user]]

Social Media can be very informative but a complete time sap too. Not sure if you guys know but our honorary mod, Jenny, has a booktube channel:-

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJtj...

Unfortunately, she hasn't posted in a while.

I'm a lover of booktube and flosstube (cross stitching on youtube) but I can find myself in a black hole of watching more videos then what I had originally planned to! I also have my own flosstube channel but haven't posted a video in a very long time.

I'm on Instagram for cross stitch and slimming and I have a twitter account (which I don't really use).

Peggy, I'm not surprised that you didn't recognize the pins as poppies - the designs have changed so much over the years to make them more, in my opinion, a fashion accessory - to not wear a poppy in November when on TV is really frowned upon.

[Margo]

When I grew up in the UK - 40 years ago - poppies were worn for a single day. Now it is an entire month?!?
by
I think that now it is more an anti-war statement as well as a rememberence of the casualties of ww1. I hear that both the british and the german soccer teams plan to wear poppies for their next match which, I suppose, is good but I do wonder about the wisdom of introducing symbols into sport. It could take on an unpleasant direction.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Here poppies are used as remembrance for all war fallen. While 11/11 is originally Armistice Day, here in Aus we call it Remembrance Day to remember all those who have fought and fallen. Poppies are the symbol for that day.

I'm fine with symbols in sport. One, it's just sport. Two, when sport is viewed as a religion like in Aus, it highlights issues people may not be aware about otherwise. Poppies for fallen soldiers, or here we have Indigenous rounds where people wear jerseys with Indigenous designs to highlight the problems of Indigenous communities, reconciliation, etc.

[Lisa]

I'm fine with sportsmen and teams wearing poppies for Remembrance Day. I remember the Football Association here in the UK tried to fine the England and Scotland football teams last year because they wore poppies during their match which was played over Remembrance weekend. Their reasoning was it was a political symbol and they therefore wanted neither team to wear them. Neither team listened and went ahead and wore them during the match and the FA slapped them both with huge fines as punishment. The whole debarcle caused a huge public backlash and rightly so. Eventually the FA backed down and revoked the fines. I thought the whole thing was very sad and should never have happened. The poppy is not a political symbol and never will be. It's a symbol of respect and memory, nothing more, nothing less.

[Margo]

Lisa wrote: "I'm fine with sportsmen and teams wearing poppies for Remembrance Day. I remember the Football Association here in the UK tried to fine the England and Scotland football teams last year because the..."

Sure, poppies are offensive to anyone. We even have remembrance day services over here to honor all those who died during the war and I wear the poppy with pride.

What if a team wanted to wear a less palatable symbol though? Maybe a communist or fascist symbol? Where is the line drawn when it comes to freedom of expression versus offensiveness?

Symbols are very powerful and can so easily be abused. Example: As a part of the 12th of July celebrations some extreme unionists in NI burn the flag of the republic on their bonfires. Is this freedom of expression or abusive use of symbols?

I'm not claiming that anyone is offended by the Poppy, that is a beautiful thing, but symbols are a thorny issue.

[Lisa]

Margo wrote: "Lisa wrote: "I'm fine with sportsmen and teams wearing poppies for Remembrance Day. I remember the Football Association here in the UK tried to fine the England and Scotland football teams last yea..."

I think less palatable symbols, ones that have a shady link or represent something that could be offensive or abusive to people should not be allowed to be worn by teams. If individuals within a team want to wear just such a symbol in private then there isn't much that can be done but in public, no. As far as symbols which are worn to highlight a particular cause and raise awareness of it go, as long as they are not abusive or offensive, I personally think it is okay for teams to wear them. However, it is increasingly difficult in this day and age to know what is acceptable and what is not as there are some people out there in the world who seem to live to be offended by everything they see and hear.

[Kristie, Moderator]

I don’t think freedom of expression comes into play at all here. The players are part of a team. The team wears the symbol. It is part of your uniform for that period of time. Just like when they all wear pink socks for breast cancer awareness or something like that. It doesn’t really matter what one player thinks. They all do it.

[Margo]

Lisa wrote: "Margo wrote: "Lisa wrote: "I'm fine with sportsmen and teams wearing poppies for Remembrance Day. I remember the Football Association here in the UK tried to fine the England and Scotland football ..."

I agree Lisa - political correctness has gone crazy. It was just something I heard on the radio this morning that got me thinking.

How are you keeping these days?

[Lisa]

Margo wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Margo wrote: "Lisa wrote: "I'm fine with sportsmen and teams wearing poppies for Remembrance Day. I remember the Football Association here in the UK tried to fine the England and Scotl..."

I'm not too bad, Margo. I have got my next MRI scan on Thursday. How have you been doing? How is your uncle's recovery going?

[Margo]

He is brightning up a bit. The task now is to get him back on his feet. He is reluctant to leave the bed and the physio wants to a little walking - just out to the gate and back to start with. So I am playing the bad guy (niece?) at the moment.

I feel very mean as he is still in a lot of pain from the radiation burns to his face. It's not easy for him.

Best of luck thursday. When do you expect to get results?

[Travis]

Well I'm back to real life after a weekend in Chicago. My wife has been there once but this was my first time. My SIL lives there so we had a guide . Considering the crime statistics it wasn't what I expected. In fact the people were probably the nicest I've run across compared to the other cities I've been to. There is a couple blocks considered the bad part of town we had to walk through a couple times to get to her apartment but that was only a little sketchy the one time we had to do it after dark

[Lisa]

Margo wrote: "He is brightning up a bit. The task now is to get him back on his feet. He is reluctant to leave the bed and the physio wants to a little walking - just out to the gate and back to start with. So I..."

Glad to hear he is brightening up a bit. I can imagine it must be very hard for him so it's understandable he is reluctant to leave the bed. Do you think he has lost some self confidence too?

I'm not entirely sure when I will get my scan results. They are normally available within two weeks, but I'm due to be referred to a hospital in London so I don't know whether they will wait and tell me the results during my appointment there or whether they will contact me and tell me them beforehand. I still haven't received my London appointment, I think they are waiting until after I have my scan done (which is in a local hospital) and then they will send me an appointment.

[Peggy]

Glad to hear your uncle is starting to do better Margo.

Sounds like a good time in Chicago Travis. The most criminal city in the Netherlands is also surprisingly nice :)

Hope you don't have to wait for too long Lisa.

[Peggy]

I've been thinking about my 2018 reading and I've decided 2018 is the year to tackle my paper mega chunkster books (800-1200 pages). I have several that I have owned for ages but reading them takes forever and I never start them because it messes up (puts me behind with) other reading.

But, in 2018, I plan to read at least 4. One every 3 months sounds doable with other books on the side and becoming overwhelmed. I just hope the new year long challenge isn't too awesome (but I'm guessing it will be) so that I can stick to my plan.

[Cody]

Peggy wrote: "Glad to hear your uncle is starting to do better Margo.

Sounds like a good time in Chicago Travis. The most criminal city in the Netherlands is also surprisingly nice :)

Hope you don't have to w..."
which is yor most criminal city?

i also have the problem reading longer books, it is the reason i am considering dropping the challnge next year, in my inion, two malazan books should count for like 5 others :)

really getting off now, nn all

[Margo]

@peggy - My only problem with long books is that I'm too addicted to challenges to fit them in! It is a coincidence but I was saying to someone only days ago that I am going to make a point of doing more chunky ones next year. Off to a good start with Oathbringer. I have a few more 50+ hour ones in my library.

[Kristie, Moderator]

I've been thinking about my 2018 reading too, Peggy. I still have 4 books on my TBR from 2012. One of my goals for next year is to finally read those 4.

I'm too addicted to challenges too, Margo. I tend to sign up for too many every year.

[Peggy]

@Cody: that's Rotterdam

@Margo and Kristie: yes, challenges are too much fun! But 4 of those big ones sound doable, even in combination with challenges. And I really don't want Oathbringer unread on my shelf for years!

[Margo]

Peggy wrote: "@Cody: that's Rotterdam

@Margo and Kristie: yes, challenges are too much fun! But 4 of those big ones sound doable, even in combination with challenges. And I really don't want Oathbringer unread ..."

Now that's unthinkable ;-)

[Kristie, Moderator]

Definitely doable, Peggy! You might even be able to have them do double duty in the yearly challenge.

[Janice, Moderator]

I have a whack of chunksters looming up in my queue of reads:

A Feast for Crows
A Dance with Dragons

I plan on reading them concurrently. Some kind souls have fit the pieces together so that you can read the events chronologically instead of reading book 4, then starting at the beginning of book 5 and reading about a different set of POV's. This accounts for around 2200 pages.

Shōgun - 1100 + pages, 53 hours to listen
Wizard's First Rule - 830 pages, 34 hours
Drood - 750 pgs
The Mists of Avalon - 870 pages, 50 hours

I better go on some long road trips next summer.

[Cody]

I am going for oathbringer and then trying to finish

The Bonehunters

this is 1200 pages (I am 50% through already), the next book in this series is

Reaper's Gale

and is a baby in comparison at 930 pages.

I also have all the standalone MJS books, oathbringer and the last 3 of the malazan series.

I never thought I would be able to plan my reading a year ahead of schedule so I have GR to thank for that!

[Margo]

I have The Mists of Avalon
The Passage
Dawn of Wonder
Mississippi Blood

I actually thought I had more big ones. I have a lot around the 600 and 700 that I'm havig troubke getting to.

[Margo]

- oh, and Oathbringer of course!

[Sarah]

I have a tonne of large books so I want bother listed them here. But that's because I read mainly fantasy/sci-fi and those books are tomes. Not even thinking about 2018 yet. Let's not get ahead of ourselves ;-)

I had a great weekend down in Bournemouth other than my train was delayed by over an hour on the way down which meant I would have missed my connection. So my partner had to drive me down. I'm just attempting to see if I can get part of my fare refunded. Fingers crossed.

Really looking forward to this weekend. The last 2 I've been away but this one I will be at home. Whilst it may not be all that relaxing as we plan to make some furniture for the boat but at least I get to sleep in my own bed, not have to pay out ridiculous amounts of money on food which isn't all that great anyway and get to spend some time with my partner.

[Janice, Moderator]

The joys of being a home owner are that I now have to shovel snow. I have a little red kid's shovel that I bought for emergencies and kept it the trunk of my car. When I moved, I leaned it up against the side of the house. One of my clients said, "Janice, you're going to need a bigger shovel."

Yesterday, I went to the store and bought a real shovel. A big yellow one. Then I spent an hour cleaning my sidewalk and driveway. This morning, there's another 2 inches of snow covering all my hard work.

[Travis]

I hate shoveling

[Peggy]

Yikes, snow already!

[KimeyDiann]

Hello everyone! I've been busy lately and haven't checked in much so I had a lot of posts to catch up on. I'm not going to respond to most of the older messages, but I will say: cornbread is best when cooked in a black cast iron skillet. Crumble a slice up in a bowl of pinto bean or black eyed peas. Yum!

For social media, I have facebook, snapchat, and goodreads. I don't do twitter, instagram, or any of the others. I've never looked at booktube or bookstagram, I do occasionally read some book blogs, but not in a very long time.

The talk of poppies and political symbols in sports teams makes me think of the big controversy that's been going on in American Football. A lot of players are kneeling during the national anthem instead of facing the flag as is tradition. They are supposedly doing this to bring awareness to racial injustice and police brutality. I don't know how that is helping with those problems, but it has made a lot of people very angry. It is seen as being disrespectful of what the flag and national anthem represent and the men and women that fought and died throughout our history in defense of those things. While I support these players freedom of expression and what they are trying to do, I think there has to be a better way of bringing awareness to these matters than offending the people that willingly sacrifice their lives so we can have these rights. Instead of making things better, it seems it is yet another way our country is becoming more and more divided.

[KimeyDiann]

Janice wrote: "The joys of being a home owner are that I now have to shovel snow. I have a little red kid's shovel that I bought for emergencies and kept it the trunk of my car. When I moved, I leaned it up again..."

You need to hire a local kid to come do that for you. It would money well spent!

Temps have been flip flopping here between cold (for this area) and warm. Turn the heater on overnight, turn A/C on during the day; wear a sweater one day, shorts the next. As is usual for me during this time of year and the bi-polar weather, I'm getting a sinus infection. I'm using my essential oils to try to stay ahead of it turning into a full out cold. Fingers crossed that it works.

[KimeyDiann]

I'm leaving in a few hours to go to the state capital which is probably the largest crime area in my state. We have a pretty low crime rate overall, but it is still an area I don't look forward to going to. I have a room booked in an area that is supposed to be nice and I'll only be there overnight so I can attend a workshop tomorrow morning. Plus I won't be alone, one of my coworkers is going too.

[Travis]

I went to see the Packers play the bears in Chicago Sunday. At halftime and several time-outs they would award military soldiers or bring out a veteran and tell about an act of bravery or something. It was veterans day. As I looked around stadium where only half the crowd stood or clapped or showed any respect for our military I thought hmm are these the same people who have such an issue with players kneeling. Can't even stand for our own active and retired men and women who have been in active duty and are actual heroes.

[KimeyDiann]

That's sad, Travis. People just like to talk I think. they don't want to actually back up the things they say.

[Cody]

KimeyDiann wrote: "I'm leaving in a few hours to go to the state capital which is probably the largest crime area in my state. We have a pretty low crime rate overall, but it is still an area I don't look forward to ..."

if it helps,i live and work in one of the poorest areas of my country, lived here all my life and i have noticed that the news normally makes things seem worse than they are.

@Travis, i assume Veterans Day was originally to celebrate the end of WW1 and also now encompasses other people from your nation that have lost their lives defending the country? (i ask because i dont know)

We have something similar here and when i was at my football game on Saturday, there was a 2 minute silence at the start, with the exception of a trumpeteer playing the last post, this was observed immaculately and whn it ended i think the crowd must have cheered for five minutes. Just wanted to let you know a lot of people still care really :)

[Cody]

I have just got back from my football match and we won 3 -2 after being 2 - 0 down at half time!!

suffice it to say i am hoarse, cold and tired but what a game!

[Cherie]

Janice wrote: "The joys of being a home owner are that I now have to shovel snow. I have a little red kid's shovel that I bought for emergencies and kept it the trunk of my car. When I moved, I leaned it up again..."

No neighbor kids willing to earn a couple of bucks? Do kids do that anymore? Or do they think they need to get $20/hr?

[Janice, Moderator]

KimeyDiann wrote: "You need to hire a local kid to come do that for you. It would money well spent! ..."

This reply is to Cherie as well. Most of the kids in my neighborhood are quite young. My next door neighbor has shovelled my walks and driveway a couple of times. I would like to repay the favour, but by the time I'm done mine, the old joints are complaining loudly. Maybe I'll make her a quilt and give her a bottle of wine.

My furniture finally arrived today. I ordered it August 5th, and it was to have been an 8-10 week delivery. It was more like 15 weeks.

This was the location of my furniture in the order of my phone calls:

It's in Calgary.
It's on it's way to Calgary.
It's being shipping to Grande Prairie.
It just arrived in Calgary.
It's on the local delivery truck and will be delivered to you by noon.
(At 3:30....) It's in Calgary.
It's being picked up in Calgary on Monday.

I know - they were waiting for the heaviest snowfall to deliver it. Actually, I can't complain about the company that was contracted to do the delivery. They phoned me twice yesterday and once today to confirm the delivery. They took their shoes off outside, laid moving blankets down on the floor, and took the packaging away to be disposed.

[Kristie, Moderator]

That's awful, Janice. We had a delivery not show up once and when we called to find out why they told us they couldn't deliver because the roads were too bad in our area. It was a gorgeous day out, no snow, not even rain. The woman on the phone was arguing with me that there was a lot of snow in my area, as if I was lying and couldn't just look out my own window. All I can figure is that there was bad weather wherever it was being shipped from. I'm glad you finally received your furniture.

[Janice, Moderator]

Well, the wait is over now and I'm enjoying having a full living room. I won't be shopping there again, that's for sure.

[Anne (Booklady)]

That's awful Kristie and Janice. I think I'm through moving.

I don't blame you Janice. Night, night sweet ladies and Travis.

Have 8 more books to read to finish the big SRC challenge by the end of the month. I'm exhausted.

[Janice, Moderator]

Wow! You're really pushing to get them finished. You were in the double digits last time you mentioned how many books you needed to read.

[Cherie]

Janice - I think your next purchase must need be a snow blower machine.

I know what you mean about our old joints and shoveling snow though. I had to do it 3 or 4 times last year. We don't get that much snow typically, but I live on a corner, so I have two sidewalks and my driveway, when there is enough to shovel. All of the kids on my street are all grown up and gone except for one little guy three doors down. We only had four trick-or-treaters this year.

It was nice your furniture movers put pads down and took their shoes off.

[Sandra, Moderator]

Well, glad the furniture is at least there, Janice. Enjoy! And I agree, a snow blower is a good option. There are some small and light, easy to use.