Welcome! Newcomers Please Read Number 1 First.

[Reggia]

Welcome to Litwit Lounge! This group was created for those literary folks who love the classics and appreciate more contemporary reads as well.

Please introduce yourself here. :)

[Werner]

Hi! I'm a 56-year-old librarian in a Southern Baptist college (I'm not a Baptist myself, though I am an evangelical Christian), born and raised in the Midwest but now (since 1992) living in Appalachia, and loving it here. My wife and I have three married daughters, three grandsons, and another grandchild on the way! Reading books and discussing books are my two favorite hobbies, with creative writing a close third. You can find a link to my vampire novel Lifeblood on my Goodreads homepage.

[Reggia]

Hi Werner! So glad to have you join the group. :) I've always imagined I'd love living near the Appalachians but find myself in the desert southwest after being on the east coast most of my life. Have two sons and two daughters, all still at home but that it is to change very soon as oldest son and oldest daughter will both be moving out within the month. My youngest still has a couple years of high school left.

I have loved reading all my life, and since being online books have been my favorite subject to discuss. I followed the link to your book, Lifeblood, and it looks like a very appealing read. Best of luck with it!

[Werner]

Thanks, Reggia! In a few years, you'll be an "empty nester" like my wife Barb and I are, but you'll find that has it's rewards, too. And hopefully your kids won't move far --our oldest moved to Australia! (The silver lining in that cloud is that we get to go over and visit. :-))

Right now, Lifeblood is out of print --my publisher went out of business last year. I'm hoping to find another publisher to reprint it.

[Reggia]

Our son is going 1,000 miles away to Texas, and I have already entertained the idea of going for a visit. ;) It won't be anytime soon although it's fun to tease him. :p

[Ruth]

Hey Y'all. I went to a small Methodist college in the North Georgia mountains years ago. I was a lazy baptist and my roommate was Catholic. But we all made nice and had fun! Read some classics there, but I've found re-reading some of them at a later point in time makes for a different reading. Wish I had time to re-read a lot of books I read in those days, but there's just so many books and so little time.

[Reggia]

Hi Ruth! Thanks for joining the group; it is good to have you here.

I feel the same way about re-reading. When Tess of the d'Urbervilles was on Masterpiece recently, I was very tempted to read it again. In my 20s, I really liked it but now I would probably appreciate the writing, character-building and other aspects a great deal more, but yes there are so many other books yet unread.

[Werner]

Alice, my wife and I actually have been to Australia; our daughter and son-in-law flew us over there for a month in the summer of 2007. They plan to bring us over for Christmas 2009 as well. It's a beautiful country, and well worth visiting if you get a chance!

Ruth and Reggia, I hear you about re-reading! I'm also more drawn to books I haven't read before; but since I joined Goodreads, I've decided to re-read a few books --simply because I don't remember them well enough to review them intelligently without a re-read. :-)

[Reggia]

LOL, after my proclamation on re-reading, I must confess I am now reading Their Eyes Were Watching God for the second time. It has been 5 years since my first read and I wanted also to be able to discuss it intelligently at a book discussion at a local library. I had voted for the library to have a classic group and this was my first opportunity to participate.

Werner, how wonderful for you and your wife to be able to visit Australia again! :) I guess that will be their summer, so hopefully you'll experience great weather.

Japan, now that does put a different perspective on distance. It will just be temporary though, right? Alice, where did you live in TX? We lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth area many years ago.

[Werner]

Alice, our Aussie daughter and son-in-law live in southern Queensland (Maryborough --birthplace of the author of Mary Poppins), so that's the area we visited. We saw the Australia Zoo, Fraser Island, etc.

Yes, Reggia, their seasons are reversed, so our first visit was during their winter (and the coldest one in memory, in Queensland!). Our Christmas visit will be in their summer, when they not infrequently have 100 degree heat (in Fahrenheit measurement). :-)

[Barbara]

Southern Queensland does have nice weather. So do we here in Adelaide, South Australia most of the time , but this is not one of those times. We are in a heatwave, temps up to 45C, or 113 F.........

[Reggia]

113 is hot! A good bit of our summer here in AZ is about that temp. Not as humid as San Antonio though... I've decided that once the temps are over 100 it, humid or arid, it's HOT! I used to love summer but now I spend the pleasant winters figuring out how I might escape the coming heat. :p

[Barbara]

Reggia wrote: that once the temps are over 100 it, humid or arid, it's HOT! >

Absolutely!

[Reggia]

Welcome, Charly! So very glad to have you join the group. Please be encouraged to join in any existing discussion as well as starting new ones. Look forward to getting to know you. :)

[[deleted user]]

Hi, my name is Theresa. I feel a little out of place. I've been hanging around a little since Alice invited me. I appreciate literature and yet, I find in my stage of life I'm reading a lot of self-help/how-to and light popular religious books, so I may not post much. I grew up Assemblies of God and converted to a sort of liberal Catholicism and have been going to a New Life Church with my parents (Protestant Pentecostal). My significant other is also Cathoic but more traditional than I am.

I look forward to figuring out how I can fit in the group discussions.

[Reggia]

Good to see you posting, Theresa! :0 Be assured that you fit right in. I read, and am interested in, way more than I actually post about so if you don't see a subject you like to discuss, please go ahead and start a new topic. :) I grew up Catholic, moved to nondenominationalism then reformed Presbyterian and not long ago (about the time I lost my mother), I took a much closer look at Catholicism.

Gotta go, my computer has crashed and I'm at the library with 3 minutes left on the timer...

[Werner]

Reggia and Alice, you have my sympathy --I'm so fond of Goodreads (my wife says, addicted :-)) that I'd be very upset if my home computer had serious problems, let alone crashed. Hang in there! Alice, am I right that your message function is one of the ones messed up on your computer?

[[deleted user]]

Goodreads email (inbox) is messed up due to advertising. When I type I cannot see what I am typing as the advertising to the right crosses over the email. I type but I cannot see to correct my errors. Other odd things happen too but that is the main thing. I get neverending quiz questions two times in a row. That isn't a biggie as I just click twice real fast.

Tonight I got pictures of a man who built a model of the temple at Jerusalem, have it you seen it? amazing! He has been working on it for 20 years if I remember right. His wife wishes she hadn't married him as he is so obsessed with this giant model. I had to laugh about that.

We went to see Knowing today. My husband thought it would be good from the advertisement. Its a Hollywood version of the End of the World and The Rapture. Its rather good but I had to get up to walk out as the suspense is very stressful and I had to take asthma meds but over all worth it. I am debating between 4 and 5 goodread stars for this movie. Of the previews we saw they were all garbage. Hollywood can hardly make a decent movie anymore, they seem to be bankrupt as far as their imaginations go but this one is worth it IMO.

The hardest thing was getting out of our driveway (deep snow) but we went down to no snow in the Springs and then came back up to winter. The snowplows are very busy here.

[Werner]

No, Alice, I haven't seen the pictures of the Temple model. It sounds spectacular --though from your report, the guy would probably be better off working on his marriage! :-) This is the first I've heard about the movie Knowing; it evidently hasn't been advertised much around here. I'll keep it in mind, on your recommendation --though, not being a dispensationalist myself, I tend to skip books and films (like the Left Behind series) that are based on dispensationalist eschatology.

Around here, we've been spared snow lately, and the last couple of days have seen temperatures in the 70s, making my wife's strawberry plants blossom profusely. But it's predicted to turn colder again this week, which I hope doesn't kill off the blooms. This erratic weather is hard on the plant life!

[[deleted user]]

I have never heard of dispensationalist?! I read two Left Behind books and bought 3 or 4 but they are too boring. The first one was OK. One of the authors lives in Colorado Springs area so they are fairly popular here. I think about the Rapture every 2 or 3 days as I was "raised on it" and many people I knew growing up believe in it and are waiting. My grandmother was one who was very anxious for the arrival of Jesus in the clouds. I do believe it will happen! I automatically watch for all the signs without even thinking much about it. My watching is nothing as compared with many friends I have had.

I tried to cut and paste the link for the Temple pictures to here but they wouldn't "travel". That may be why my email is messed up as I do too much cut and paste. MSN doesn't allow it at all but yahoo lets me constantly cut and paste. Some have told me viruses can travel that way but no idea.

Please remember that is my interpretation of Knowing, others may not get that at all from it. I hadn't seen any advertisements for it at all but hubby watches lots of TV and he had. A friend in San Antonio told me she had seen the advertisements and she may go see it based on what I wrote about it. She didn't get that at all from the advertisements so was not going to go until she read my "review". This movie reminded me some of Nicholas Cage movies: City of Angels and also Leaving Las Vegas which was too sad. Actually both of them are very sad movies.

[[deleted user]]

Werner wrote:
Around here, we've been spared snow lately, and the last couple of days have seen temperatures in the 70s, making my wife's strawberry plants blossom profusely. But it's predicted to turn colder again this week, which I hope doesn't kill off the blooms. This erratic weather is hard on the plant life!
~~~~~~~

Yes, my Red Riding Hood tulips are sure struggling and so are other bulbs. A poor Narcissist has only half bloomed as it was buried in snow. I read they were bought back from the Crusades long ago! The Red Riding tulips are too funny when they finally bloom as they look like the plant in Litte Shop of Horrors. Hope the strawberries make it OK. If I tried to grow them here the bears would probably come and eat them.

[Werner]

Alice, we shouldn't have that problem, at least --here in the city, we don't see too many bears. One or two black bears have been known to wander in at times, though! :-)

[[deleted user]]

Yes, wish we didn't see them here but Green Mountain Falls is noted for its 26 "tagged" bears. There are many more but those are just the ones they watch. They have been in our drive and the arroyo at least 7 times that we know of. They like to go down to Fountain creek and the pond (oops lake I mean) to get a drink and see if anyone has been careless with food. They are usually only out at night.

[Werner]

Yes, Alice, and some of your bears out there are grizzlies, too! I wouldn't want to be anywhere near one of those --black bears can be dangerous enough!

You noted above that I used a term you weren't familiar with. Dispensationalism is a system of Biblical interpretation that was developed in early 19th-century England by a man named John Nelson Darby, and takes its name from its doctrine of many different "dispensations," or modes of divine dealing with humanity, that supposedly operated at different times in history. Its basic idea is that the position of natural Israel as God's chosen people is permanent and irrevocable; that idea is then tied into a very literal and complex system of pre-millenial eschatology. The uniquely dispensationalist theory that the Rapture is to be a secret and invisible second coming of Christ to snatch away the predominately Gentile Church before the "Great Tribulation" is a cornerstone of the system. On the Christian Goodreaders group's "What Makes Fiction Christian?" thread, there's a longer discussion of this (around the middle of the thread --it's interrupted in places by other posts); and the book The Tribulation People by Arthur Katterjohn of Wheaton College, which focuses on that view of the Rapture, has a good discussion of the historical origins of dispensationalism.

[Rhonda]

Reformed Calvinists seem to have the greatest problem with Dispensationalism and there are some definite weaknesses to Darby's views. Fortunately, as with the case of most of us, we can be mistaken in one area and be completely correct in another. Even the prophets could only catch glimpses of the truth.
Still I have a problem wit the Calvinists replacing Israel as a real entity with the Church. However I think thatthis gives some insights into what has been referred to as the Reformations antisemitism.

[[deleted user]]

Werner wrote: "Yes, Alice, and some of your bears out there are grizzlies, too! I wouldn't want to be anywhere near one of those --black bears can be dangerous enough!

You noted above that I used a term you wer..."

Well, my husband has assured me that there are no grizzlies in this immediate area but I remember as a child reading that the mountain lion was extinct and thinking they were wrong. Sure enough they were. I am quite sure as a child I was followed by one in the woods. A woman at church was nervous about a cinnamon bear in this area and hubby actually came face to face with it but he assured me it was not a grizzly. He thinks about writing a book along these lines.

Rhonda and Werner, these ideas are beyond me. I have no idea what you mean here but I will try tomorrow to go to that group and try to read it so I can learn (maybe).

[Werner]

Yes, "extinct" animals have a way of not really being so extinct. Mountain lions are supposedly extinct in Appalachia, but as recently as the 1990s, one regularly came down at dusk to drink out of the trough on the horse farm owned by one of my fellow faculty at the college here.

Rhonda, just to clarify, I'm not a "Reformed Calvinist" (I belong to a Nazarene congregation, and as I once told a Calvinist minister friend of mine, I'm predestined to be an Arminian. :-)). Some modern Calvinist thinkers who are very attached to the historic docrinal positions of their tradition are critical of dispensationalism, but this applies to historically-oriented clergy and theologians from other traditions as well, pretty much across the board. (After all, prior to the turn of the 20th century, NO Protestant denomination except Darby's own Plymouth Brethren --which he founded himself-- accepted his views, and dispensationalists were generally dismissed as theological weirdos.) But on the other hand, some Reformed Calvinists today are among the theory's most vocal advocates.

"Anti-Semitism," of course, is a loaded, pejorative term, which I think is overused, and incorrectly used, in much of today's theological and political discussion. Several of the 16th-century Reformers expressed anti-Jewish views (Luther much more virulently than Calvin). But their belief that God does not show favoritism to human beings based on blood descent, but rather treats everyone equally, did not derive from their anti-Jewish cultural prejudices (and was in fact in tension with any kind of cultural or ethnic prejudice). Rather, in that respect they continued the traditional theology of the Catholic/Orthodox tradition, which in turn drew from both NT and OT texts. Those texts, and the theology based on them in its pristine form, didn't have denigration of the Jews as its thrust, but rather inclusion of Gentiles in God's family on the same terms as Jews. For both Jew and Gentile, as Paul says, the criteria for inclusion becomes the individual's response to Christ. That disallows a genetic "chosen race" theology; but it's also a far cry from anything resembling the race-based, genuine anti-Semitism that emerged in the late 1700s.

[Reggia]

Very interesting chat going on here... sad to say that I'm still responding from the library... and here you all are discussing dispensationalism and Calvinism. Werner, you gave me a good giggle about being a "predestined Armenian", lol. Is there a chance you could be a less than 5-point Calvinist? ;) Just teasing ya. On the way here, daughter and I passed a 'free will' Baptist church and so we somewhat skimmed the surface of that vs predestination.

[[deleted user]]

One set of my grandparents were "primitive" or "hard shell" Baptists and believed in Predestinaton which I understand better at age 60. Mom tells me that most of her brothers and sisters who are now Free Will Baptists are appalled by the old thinking on this. I have the 1847 church book that my grandfather kept and the belief's in the front are quite interesting.

I am just recovering from a brilliant migraine aura and have slight sinus headache. But the germanium seems to have cleared the aura. my balance was really off during the worst of the flashing. Does your balance go off too?

[Nicole]

Hello, Isabella! And hello to everyone else.

[Reggia]

Welcome, Isabella! So very glad to have you join us, and I look forward to getting to know you better.

A few crises, especially a computer crash has kept me from visiting ofen but son is working on it tonight. Anyway, please know you are welcome to jump right in...bring up old threads or start new ones. :)

[Nicole]

Some of you know me by my comments, but I'll properly introduce myself. By day, I work for a non-profit agency that helps the homeless (paper-pushing and phone-answering, mostly) and I am a struggling writer of 'soft' science fiction and mostly urban fantasy by night. Single, no children. I love reading (of course), writing, movies, a variety of music, and some TV. And I'm glad to be part of this group.

[[deleted user]]

I'm am 62 retired from event planning of mostly conferences for writers. Mostly dealing with health problems. Son is computer whiz and daughter is accountant. Husband retired engineer. Born in NY, moved to VA and now in NM. Good friend of Callista who keeps me on track when i get forgetful or wrong, bless her. I love this group and appreciate all comments and no hasselling.

[Reggia]

Thanks for reviving this thread! :)

I am a mother of four. Three of them have left home in the past year and a half, and since my 27 yr marriage ended a couple yrs ago, that leaves just the youngest (17 yod) and me. Last year I began college for the first time ever. Although not enrolled this semester, some other things that keep me busy are my job at a whole-foods type grocery in their vitamin/supplement department and as a new volunteer at the local library. I grab every opportunity to hike and kayak but settle for walks & swimming at other times. I miss the joy and contentment I once derived from gardening so now that we are having milder weather here in the Phoenix area, I am getting ready to try my hand at patio gardening.

I've loved reading ever since the 2nd grade when I won 3 books from Scholastic by guessing the winning number. In 3rd grade, I was reading under the covers with a flashlight. By 4th grade, I was faking sick so I could stay home from school and complete the Little House series. As a young mother, I developed a taste for nonfiction as well and read over my nursing children's heads. As they got older, I re-discovered fiction and sometimes stayed up late into the night when I should've been sleeping. Now, I fall asleep after about 3 pages and often wake up with the light on and the book on my chest.

[[deleted user]]

Yay for January birthdays. Mine is too.
I forgot to mention I play computer games (World of Warcraft, Wizard 101, Farmville, Cafe World, Frontierville) yes I have a lot of time on my hands and knit and crochet everything. My nephew loves orange so I made him some orange washclothes. My sister wants a cellphone case and 5 of them want afghans! But I love it.

[Margaret]

I guess I should introduce myself as well. I read your posts a lot more than I comment. I am a SAHM, homeschooler (one graduated and one in 10th grade), wanna be writer, reviewer and sometimes a jewelry maker as well. I LOVE books. I read everything from the classics, romances, non-fiction and a little bit of everything in between. I also spend an inordinate amount of time researching things online. I play games as well. I like board games but lately I spend more time on computer games. I play lots of different kinds but I don't like those facebook games where you build a farm or city and that kind of thing.

We recently moved so I haven't been as active as normal. I also have chronic health problems and injured my arm before the move and it looks like I'll need surgery to fix it. That has slowed me down.

Oh - and since everybody else has shared - my birthday is in September.

[Werner]

Lee, sorry to hear about your arm! I know that all of us join in wishing you a speedy recovery.

Though our girls are all grown now, Barb and I homeschooled them back in the late 90s and the early years of this decade. It's nice to meet a fellow homeschooler!

[[deleted user]]

Charly: Jan. 11 and I have a nephew born on the 12th.
About 5 people on my husband's side are Jan. also. And my newest grand nephew is due in Jan. I love it. Used to be July in our families for all BDs.

[Nicole]

The Order of the Garnet! Yeah!

[[deleted user]]

Great name and great month. I used to hate having my birthday so close after Christmas. Seemed like everyone was so let down that it was anticlimactic(?). But now I love being one of the first to have their BD in the new year.

[Erin E]

Hi everyone!

I am Erin, I live in British Columbia but was born and raised in Southern Ontario. I have lived a total of 13 months in Yellowknife. I love to read so much so it gets in the way of my intentions to hike and jog - especially on damp rainy days.

I work with children and enjoy instilling a love of books in them. At 31 I am finally working on a degree (Early Childhood Education and Care Practitioner) I figure if I can't have babies and I don't make enough to adopt, I can at least help other people take care of theirs while they work.

I look forward to reading with everyone here.

[[deleted user]]

Us New Mexicans can hardly believe living that far north. We lived in the Upper Peninsula of MI for 2 years while my husband went to MI Tech and I thought I'd go crazy. And we took a cruise to Alaska about 10 years ago in July and had to wear jackets! I must really be getting old.

[Nicole]

Welcome, Erin! I have relatives who live in Canada; although right now no farther West than Edmonton.

[Erin E]

Syra, would you beleive it that when I was 16 an moved from Ontario to BC I thought I was going to freeze to death in the middle of summer?! The humidex is so much less out here than in Ontario that I wore jeans for three Summers in a row until my body acclimatized to west coast weather!

[Erin E]

Edmonton is to beautiful Callista, it was my favourite part of my trip west from Ontario and the favourite part of my trip north to Yellowknife.

[Nicole]

I'm jealous...in the summertime. :)

[Reggia]

I'm a little late but hope you'll receive this as a warm welcome nevertheless...

[image error] Hello, Erin! Great to have join our little group here.

[Erin E]

Charly the weather is not that bad so long as you are dressed for it... and the year I spent in "the 'Knife" I did not wear a single pair of snowpants! Beleive it or not it is so dry that all I needed was a layer of tights, jeans and then sweats to walk to work in - and I did not suffer from colds though I did trade colds for nosebleeds. *shrug*

No worries Reggia, HI! :o)

[Erin E]

lol there are distinct seasons in the Northwest Territories... ... Some are just way shorter than others. I was impressed to watch strawberries flower and grow into large red berries in less than three weeks. It is an anomolie to me.

I understand what you mean, for me cold is anything low enough to dictate that I HAVE to wear socks and/or slippers inside.

[Nicole]

Nasal saline is a lifesaver. It's very dry here, and it helps a lot.
I know what you mean about the tights/pants layers. It's usually enough for me.