Book Snails Book Group discussion
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Snail Chat Room - Conversation Potpourri
Vickie wrote: "Keli wrote: "I like Be Well and Read. Jekyll and Hyde is one of my all time favourites, so I would totally be up for that. Can I just throw out another favourite, [book:Around the World in Eighty D..."I haven't thought of Around the World in Eighty Days since high school ! I looked up reviews and was amazed to see all the titles under Jules Verne's name ! Lots of interesting titles . I would like to put that on the list. Also, I looked up some of those butterfly plants you are growing and they are listed under"meadows. Do you grow your plants in pots or do you have a spot in your yard for wild flowers? In our younger days, we always took a bird book, a tree book, and a wildflower book with us...and binoculars.
Pien wrote: "Whether it will be a buddy read or otherwise, for Jeckyll and Hide, I’m in!And Fred, the Gutenberg project is a site that offers classic ebooks for free. So you don’t need that anymore! (But it pr..."
Thanks Pien , I've tried reading on my notebook and it's not bad, I'm trying to get through "Economics, Society, and Public Policy". Sounds pretty exciting huh?Maybe there"s an app for my notebook I'll look into that later. Vickie wants to do Around the World in Eighty Days after Dr. Jekyll, maybe I'll try to do that on my notebook.
Fred wrote: "Vickie wrote: "Keli wrote: "I like Be Well and Read. Jekyll and Hyde is one of my all time favourites, so I would totally be up for that. Can I just throw out another favourite, [book:Around the Wo..."I have lots of different flower beds throughout my yard. 😊 If you go to my page, you can see some of my favorite photos from my garden.
Hello everybody; does anyone grow dandelions to eat? I've been spending a fair amount of time lately weeding my yard . It was suggested that the dandelions could be used in salads and were very nutritious or very poisonous depending on how carefull you are . I haven't seen any dandelions in my yard that speak "salad" to me . Today I found some salad dandelions while I was out walking . I have a list with descriptions of poisonous plants in my area with pictures . These dandelions spoke "salad" to me so I dug some up and planted them . If they thrive on neglect they'll do well .
I have never known dandelions to be poisonous. I've read that some people can be allergic, but that's it. Growing up, I always helped my mommom (grandmother) dig them up. She frequently made a salad with warm bacon dressing with them. I make her recipe a lot, but I use endive. She would make the salad with one or the other, but I just prefer the endive. Plus, I'm too lazy to go dig up dandelions, lol.😆😉😊
Vickie wrote: "I have never known dandelions to be poisonous. I've read that some people can be allergic, but that's it. Growing up, I always helped my mommom (grandmother) dig them up. She frequently made a sala..."Thanks Vickie, I like your idea of using them like endive . I think I'm going to start adding them to the regular green salads I already make. :-)
StarMan wrote: ""
Star Man, you're so photogenic! ;)
StarMan wrote: ""
A fine looking snail you got there, Starman! Could that be a dandelion he's dining on ? :-)
Anyone else having a hard time reading? Or focusing? I swear the most I can read these days is in 5 minute increments. Any longer and I lose focus and completely forget what I'm reading. I'm getting better though! I actually read for half an hour before I lost focus! 😆
Dayna wrote: "Anyone else having a hard time reading? Or focusing? I swear the most I can read these days is in 5 minute increments. Any longer and I lose focus and completely forget what I'm reading. I'm gettin..."Hi Dayna, do you mean focusing on the written letters, or mentally focusing on the content? I know we're all under stress these days, and perhaps that's the problem. I know when I can't get enough good, restful sleep (because of stress) then it's hard for me to focus the next day.
Hope you find what the problem is and can get it corrected! We snails need to read, however slowly we may be reading... :)
Candace wrote: "Dayna wrote: "Anyone else having a hard time reading? Or focusing? I swear the most I can read these days is in 5 minute increments. Any longer and I lose focus and completely forget what I'm readi..."More like the latter. The term snail has never more applied to me this year than ever before. Reading, doing puzzles, writing, all those things require focus and attention, which I did not have. The fact that I actually read almost a hundred pages in one setting has helped me get over the hump, as well as writing a couple of chapters to some stories I've been working on.
I do reading, writing, and working puzzles, too. :) Could it be that you're burnt out?
It's been quite the opposite for me. I've been taking advantage of all my extra time and getting a ton of reading done, but for me, that's my downtime and the way for me to relax.😊
Vickie wrote: "It's been quite the opposite for me. I've been taking advantage of all my extra time and getting a ton of reading done, but for me, that's my downtime and the way for me to relax.😊"I've been reading a ton of books lately to keep my mind off things.
Hi everybody, I have been pretty distracted and distressed lately also . Has anybody heard of the Bulwer-Lytton fiction contest ?It's a contest in which the entrants are asked to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels, as in "It was a dark and stormy night". Candace made me think of it. Like Candace I like to read but I'm having difficulty concentrating lately. I also like to do crossword puzzles and sudokus, and sometimes I try to write, but I have no talent, so instead of writing good prose, I write bad prose . Surely I not the only one !!! Would anyone care to share ? Here's one of mine; " He split the bagel and set the toaster to high, he was in El Paso and wanted that bagel to resemble a cow pie, long baked in the West Texas desert".
Candace wrote: "Vickie wrote: "It's been quite the opposite for me. I've been taking advantage of all my extra time and getting a ton of reading done, but for me, that's my downtime and the way for me to relax.😊"..."
Yep, it's a fabulous escape!❤
Fred wrote: "Hi everybody, I have been pretty distracted and distressed lately also . Has anybody heard of the Bulwer-Lytton fiction contest ?It's a contest in which the entrants are asked to compose the openi..."
Love it, lol!😆
Does anyone else find the older they get, the fussier they get about books? When I was younger I loved most books I read but now I find I'm increasingly intolerant of novels that are not well written or with plot lines that are ridiculous or non-existent. Sorry to be negative but which books have you hated lately? Are you growing fussier? Here are mine that I either gave up on or finished reluctantly: The Time Traveler's Wife
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
Catch-22
The Keeper of Lost Things
The Old Devils
The Line of Beauty
The End of Mr Y
Fred wrote: "Hi everybody, I have been pretty distracted and distressed lately also . Has anybody heard of the Bulwer-Lytton fiction contest ?It's a contest in which the entrants are asked to compose the openi..."
I don't have a Bulwer-Lytton for ya, but how about an original Tom Swift:
I nearly worked my butt off, said Tom, half-assedly. :)
Jane wrote: "Does anyone else find the older they get, the fussier they get about books? When I was younger I loved most books I read but now I find I'm increasingly intolerant of novels that are not well writt..."Yes, I feel I've gotten fussier too. And, absolutely agree, I cannot tolerate a poorly written novel. Probably the worst I've come across is Fifty Shades of Grey. Read it to see what the hype was all about and was SO thoroughly disgusted with her writing style, it was so, so bad. Can't believe it was published, to be honest.
Vickie wrote: "Jane wrote: "Does anyone else find the older they get, the fussier they get about books? When I was younger I loved most books I read but now I find I'm increasingly intolerant of novels that are n..."Holy cow, Vickie, you mean you didn't like Fifty Shades?! LOL
I'm much more appreciative of good writing now than I was. I don't think that's necessarily being fussy. It's being kind to one's brain! :)
Vickie wrote: "Jane wrote: "Does anyone else find the older they get, the fussier they get about books? When I was younger I loved most books I read but now I find I'm increasingly intolerant of novels that are n..."I'm glad in that case that I steered clear of reading it, Vickie. It's galling when novels get published just because of the subject matter, regardless of how badly they are written.
Candace wrote: "Vickie wrote: "Jane wrote: "Does anyone else find the older they get, the fussier they get about books? When I was younger I loved most books I read but now I find I'm increasingly intolerant of no...""Kind to one's brain" - a lovely idea.
Jane wrote: "Vickie wrote: "Jane wrote: "Does anyone else find the older they get, the fussier they get about books? When I was younger I loved most books I read but now I find I'm increasingly intolerant of no..."Yes, Jane, totally agree!
Jane wrote: "Does anyone else find the older they get, the fussier they get about books? When I was younger I loved most books I read but now I find I'm increasingly intolerant of novels that are not well writt..."You nailed it, Jane :)
I think it's like dating... after years of experience, you know your "musts" and "must nots" in a potential dating partner (or book)!
Of course, one should keep an open mind, but we all have things we absolutely don't want to bother with any more.
PS: we have a POLL for this! 'What ONE thing annoys you the most in fiction books":
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...
StarMan wrote: "Jane wrote: "Does anyone else find the older they get, the fussier they get about books? When I was younger I loved most books I read but now I find I'm increasingly intolerant of novels that are n..."Definitely, StarMan - ha ha. I voted for ridiculous plots.
This has nothing to do with books, but by gosh I want one:Couple builds mini-pub in their garden:
https://www.boredpanda.com/the-drunke...
An awesome COVID-19 lockdown project?
The inside is even more awesome!
StarMan wrote: "This has nothing to do with books, but by gosh I want one:Couple builds mini-pub in their garden:
https://www.boredpanda.com/the-drunke...
An awesome COVID-19 lockdo..."
I want one, too!
StarMan wrote: "This has nothing to do with books, but by gosh I want one:Couple builds mini-pub in their garden:
https://www.boredpanda.com/the-drunke...
An awesome COVID-19 lockdo..."
That's the cutest pub ever!
A less ambitious but still nice version:
Mod
Wow. People are building their own pubs while I'm struggling with updating a chapter on a couple of stories I'm working on. Also, I'm a little ticked off that apparently I can actually focus on a book and slam almost 300 pages in one sitting but then I struggle with reading one damn chapter the next day. 😂
The struggle is real, Dayna!😆😉 It always works that way, doesn't it?
Here's an article about Johannes Kepler's novel(!) that is considered by some to be the very first of the sci-fi genre, even before Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: http://www.openculture.com/2020/07/wh...
Candace wrote: "Here's an article about Johannes Kepler's novel(!) that is considered by some to be the very first of the sci-fi genre, even before Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: http://www.openculture.com/2020/07/w..."Candace, thank you for the interesting link to Johannes Kepler and some of the other early science fiction writers . I had no idea! I have never considered myself an educated person. Now that I have some time on my hands, I'm finding out just how uneducated I am .
Fred wrote: "Candace wrote: "Here's an article about Johannes Kepler's novel(!) that is considered by some to be the very first of the sci-fi genre, even before Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: http://www.opencultu..."I know what you mean! I sure never thought of Kepler as a novelist. (I think the more educated you are, the more you realize how little you know.)
Candace wrote: "Fred wrote: "Candace wrote: "Here's an article about Johannes Kepler's novel(!) that is considered by some to be the very first of the sci-fi genre, even before Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: http://..."I searched for Somnium on the Guttenberg Project a few minutes ago but couldn' find it . I did find Paul Clifford by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (of "It was a dark and stormy night" fame ) there and I may try reading that to see if I enjoy it. I have the 5 book set of compilations from the Bulwer-Lytton writing contest you are familiar with . The books are small 5x7, 150 pgs no plot but there are themes. I like to read them at bed time, no characters to remember, a chuckle on every page.
I very much agree with you about education. I used to think about what it would take for me to consider myself educated . I don't have an answer yet.
Fred wrote: "Candace wrote: "Fred wrote: "Candace wrote: "Here's an article about Johannes Kepler's novel(!) that is considered by some to be the very first of the sci-fi genre, even before Mary Shelley's Frank..."They say that Bulwer-Lytton's novel isn't half bad. It would be interesting to read it. I love that you have a set of the contest entries. Some of those are brilliantly hilarious! What a great thing to have on hand for a bit of nighttime reading!
Well, there's education and there's education, know what I mean? Experience, I think, is key. Of course, we'll never learn it all, but that doesn't mean we should despair. I think you actually have your answer, in that you don't think you do. If you thought you were "educated" you would be terribly conceited and, in fact, would probably know very little. :)
Cheers.
Vickie wrote: "The struggle is real, Dayna!😆😉 It always works that way, doesn't it?"God, I know, right? I did it again. I just slammed over 400 pages in one night so I can return it to the library, and I got, like, 20 pages into The Starless Sea before my attention drifted and I ended up watching a couple episodes of Santa Clarita Diet 😆
Dayna wrote: "Vickie wrote: "The struggle is real, Dayna!😆😉 It always works that way, doesn't it?"God, I know, right? I did it again. I just slammed over 400 pages in one night so I can return it to the librar..."
Yep, happens to me all the time!😂🤣😂
Good news for you power tool challenged Snails:
Inflatable PUBS/TAVERNS/TIKI BARS for sale/rent at
https://inflatable.pub/
https://www.aspartyrental.com/product...
and other places
This has nothing to do with anything, but here's a super easy recipe for 
For the instant pudding, use vanilla--or chocolate, if you dare.
I usually use half cane syrup and half dark karo (corn) syrup, since Southerners like it extra-sweet. And I put some whole pecans on top as well.
If you don't have cane syrup available, try Roddenberry's "Cane Patch" syrup, which is 35% cane syrup, available at most W-Marts.
Book Snails Book Group
Books mentioned in this topic
When We Were Vikings (other topics)The Death of Bees (other topics)
Old Man's War (other topics)
Good Girl, Bad Girl (other topics)
The Girl with All the Gifts (other topics)
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And Fred, the Gutenberg project is a site that offers classic ebooks for free. So you don’t need that anymore! (But it probably is nice to check out one day, if you’re okay with ebooks)