Your Challenge April 2017

[Heather]

For all our newcomers, we had a poll where we challenged ourselves to read so many books this year. Everyone has their own challenge for themselves. It's not a competition. You are welcome to join us! Start from this month and you can count the books you've already read this year in your self-challenge!

Also, if you would like to post your challenge for us all to see, feel free to post it here. Let's encourage each other!

How are we all doing?

[Heather]

And for the rest of us...How's it going?

I admit, I'm a slacker. Enough said. Anyone else have positive news to share?

[Lobstergirl]

I've read 31 or 32 books this year (Goodreads doesn't seem able to tabulate it precisely/accurately...)

Of these, two were 5-star reads for me. I'll list them in case you want to read them.

The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell
Old Money: The Mythology of Wealth in America by Nelson W. Aldrich Jr.

Most were 3-star reads.

[Heather]

Lobstergirl wrote: "I've read 31 or 32 books this year (Goodreads doesn't seem able to tabulate it precisely/accurately...)

Of these, two were 5-star reads for me. I'll list them in case you want to read them.

[book..."

Thank you for sharing, Lobstergirl!

[Heather]

Luís wrote: "My last read-books:

Biografia - An Authentic Hymn to Poetry..
Educação e Liberdade de Escolha - One more essay just read.."

Great, Luis!

[Deb]

I have just started by Richard Flanagan

It was very well received and won an award or two. Non-Australian, Non-Zoologists may not have heard of it. William Gould was a convict who, serving his sentence, was given the task of painting pictures of all the fish caught in the penal colony. He put together a beautiful volume of water colours that appeals to both the marine biologist and the artist in my nature.

The book so far is.... startling.... I was not prepared for just how fictitious, florid or fantastical it was going to be. Reality, fantasy and creative writing leave me as a scientist/reader confused, the artist/reader in me is quite intrigued however.

[Heather]

Wonderful review so far, Deborah! I haven't heard of him, but I also haven't read a single book like that and just from your review, I looked it up and put it on my to-read list. I'm fascinated! Thank you!

[Deb]

Spreading stories of books Heather, isn't it fun?

[Heather]

Deborah wrote: "Spreading stories of books Heather, isn't it fun?"

It's great, Deborah!

[Heather]

I just started reading a book that's almost 750 pages long with very small print (especially in the footnotes, which I read also)

With my history of reading that of less than the majority of the group, I'm not sure when I'll finish it, but hopefully in the next couple months or less!

Jesus the Christ

One thing I love about this book, is it's not all religious doctrine, it has a plethora of ancient history about the Jews, Hebrews, Egyptians, Roman Empire, and customs of the diverse groups during the time of Christ in addition to before and after his birth and death.

Also, it explains some of the so called discrepancies in the Bible. As the first book of the Four Gospels, the book of Matthew gives the lineage of Joseph who was said by the Jews to be the father of Jesus, the book of Luke gives the lineage of Mary. In the prophetic history, the Christ was to be born of from the lineage of David. If the Jews weren't under the conduct of the Roman Empire at that time, Joseph the carpenter would have been the next heir to the throne of David and his first-born son would have been his heir to the throne. But in the Bible it says that Joseph was not the real biological father but Mary was the biological mother. Luke gives her geneology because she was also of the lineage of David as being the first cousin to Joseph, her espoused husband. So when Jesus died on the cross and the inscription read "King of the Jews", it was actually accurate.

[Lobstergirl]

I finished Pictures of Nothing: Abstract Art Since Pollock by Kirk Varnedoe which was excellent. These are the six lectures Varnedoe gave at the NGA in 2003 (the Mellon lectures given by distinguished art historians) just three months before he died of cancer.

Today I started Sculpture: Processes and Principles by Rudolf Wittkower, which coincidentally was a series of 12 lectures he gave as the Slade Professor of Art at Cambridge - or was it Oxford. He begins with Greek and goes all the way to the 1960s, with the heaviest emphasis on medieval and Renaissance.

[Heather]

Lobstergirl wrote: "I finished Pictures of Nothing: Abstract Art Since Pollock by Kirk Varnedoe which was excellent. These are the six lectures Varnedoe gave at the NGA in 2003 (the Mellon..."

Those sound fascinating! Thank you!

[Heather]

Luís wrote: "I've just finished a biography of one of the greatest presidents that U. S. ever had in all its political history. Theodore Roosevelt. What a book! Loved that."

He was good.

[Lobstergirl]

Lobstergirl wrote: "Today I started Sculpture: Processes and Principles by Rudolf Wittkower, "

Definitely worth reading. As with all good books it makes you want to delve further.

[Lobstergirl]

Getting close to the end of Nothing If Not Critical: Selected Essays on Art and Artists by Robert Hughes which is excellent.

[Deb]

Just finished a book that I completly loved. Fiction but such well researched, well writen fiction. I feel vastly more informed about restoration and the women painters of the Dutch Golden Age.

by Dominic Smith

And I reviewed it. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And I notice I never posted my end review for Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish did I? It ended up only being a two star for me, too much effort for too little returns. I reviewed it... https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Heather]

Luís wrote: "More than halfway through A Beautiful Mind: The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash... Loving it at the moment."

I read this several years ago. Quite long and in my opinion, full of uninteresting mathematical facts. Of course, I'm not an expert in math or anything of the sort but some of the details of his logic bored me. I absolutely loved the movie. In this case, I would say the movie was much better than the book.