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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Jan 8 2013, 2:57pm
Post #1 of 38
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It's the New Year's Resolution Reading Thread!
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First, a bit of business: I need a volunteer to post the reading thread next Tuesday, January 15, pretty please. I'll be away from my computer. As much as I'd like a psychic connection to TORn, I still need an electronic one in order to participate. So---are any of us still holding to our new year's resolutions? Maybe we should all have resolved to read more I managed to read the December Smithsonian only a week after the January issue came in---Notta Sackville maintains that they come out more frequently than once a month, and I think he's right---and several other magazines. I also read a book scheduled to be published this April because I was asked to proved a cover quote. It's titled Animal, Vegetable, Murder, and is a light mystery set in Seattle. I'll remind you of it once it's available. I see that now I have a Kindle app on our new Surface tablet, I'm going to have a huge virtual To-Be-Read pile as well as a paper one. Ah well.
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NottaSackville
Valinor
Jan 8 2013, 4:28pm
Post #2 of 38
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Well, not MY pants, but the latest book I read was: That Bear Ate My Pants! Adventures of a real Idiot Abroad, by Tony Slater. Another cheap pickup off of Pixel of Ink (I think it cost me $1 at the time), I bought it mainly for the title. The book tells of the time the author volunteered at an animal rescue shelter down in Ecuador - where manual labor & blood is in decent supply but tools and technology are not.. I think I liked it less than the people on Amazon did, though I liked it enough that I'll consider buying his follow-up for $3. Not sure yet. I found the author only moderately likable, and likability is important in a book like this. It was moderately funny, and moderately heartwarming. Prior to that, but since my last post in this forum, I did finish Cold Days, by Jim Butcher. Absolutely fantastic, as usual by Mr. Butcher. Now I'm just getting started with Unbroken, at the urging of my wife, my father and several brothers. It's the tale of a WWII survivor, and I don't know much more than that, though I'm guessing lots of bad things happen to him and he emerges changed but unbroken. :) Notta
Happiness: money matters, but less than we think and not in the way that we think. Family is important and so are friends, while envy is toxic -- and so is excessive thinking. Beaches are optional. Trust is not. Neither is gratitude. - The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner as summarized by Lily Fairbairn. And a bit of the Hobbit reading thrown in never hurts. - NottaSackville
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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Jan 8 2013, 4:59pm
Post #3 of 38
(237 views)
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There's an attention-grabbing subject line!
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Especially since the naturalist on our Alaska cruise last summer had some tales of bears that, well, grabbed your attention I know what you mean about likeability. There's a novel that's made several top-ten lists on a mystery discussion group, and yet the same one has made several bottom-ten lists, all because the characters are unlikeable (I know nothing about the author, mind you). This alone is enough to keep me from reading the book. I don't mind some unpleasant characters---which is realistic, after all---but I also like to hang my hat on someone!
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Annael
Immortal
Jan 8 2013, 5:22pm
Post #4 of 38
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although since I'm on the left coast of the USA, it will start a bit late . . . I picked up "Everyone Was So Young" from my mother's collection of books about the 1920s ex-pat Americans in France. This one is about Gerald & Sara Murphy, a wealthy & stable couple who formed the center around which many other more famous lights circled, like Hemingway, John Dos Passos, Picasso, Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald - the list goes on. They were the basis for many literary characters in books by their friends, and Picasso painted Sara several times. Gerald produced a few very striking pictures in his own painting career, but after tragedy struck at their sons, he never painted again - a loss, in my estimation, for he was one of the leaders of the Modernist school before it had gained that name. The book is well-researched and well-written, but I have one quibble with it. Gerald often said that in his teens he became aware of a "deficit" in his personality that prevented him from entering into friendships or his marriage relationship as fully as others would. He was also what we might call a metrosexual these days, very well-groomed all the time and tuned into fashion and decor in a way few men are. The author concludes from this that he was a closeted homosexual (or bisexual, since he clearly loved his wife). But when I read the actual quotes from him on this subject, it seemed to me that he might well be diagnosed with Asperger's today, and that the "deficit" and the inability to be a true friend was how he recognized that he didn't have the same sense of empathy with others that his wife, for one, had in abundance.
The way we imagine our lives is the way we are going to go on living our lives. - James Hillman, Healing Fiction * * * * * * * * * * NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
(This post was edited by Annael on Jan 8 2013, 5:23pm)
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Tintallė
Gondor
Jan 8 2013, 5:53pm
Post #5 of 38
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I'm picking up Unbroken at my library today!
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It has come so highly recommended by so many people that I got in the queue at my local library, which has about a gazillion copies and made one available to me the very next day! We're starting a book club at work and have decided to make this our kickoff book so I'm hoping it will spark some excellent discussion.
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acheron
Gondor
Jan 8 2013, 6:16pm
Post #6 of 38
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this year I resolve to 127.0.0.1
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*crickets* Anyway, just received the final(!) Wheel of Time book, A Memory of Light, in the mail. So time to start on that. It's big, and my wife and I are awfully busy these days, but we'll get through it eventually.
For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, wars, and so on -- while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man, for precisely the same reasons. -- Douglas Adams
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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Jan 8 2013, 6:35pm
Post #7 of 38
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I'm sure whenever you get around to posting would be great. Everyone here is very polite. *Casts a wary glance toward The Hobbit board*. Have you seen "Midnight in Paris", Woody Allen's fantasy about the ex-pats in the 20s? It's quite a festival of spot-the-famous-person. Amazing what happens if you rake back through history with a handful of modern-day psychological conditions, isn't it? There was a discussion on a writers' thread recently about Narcissistic Personality Disorder, for example. (Which is another reason for lack of empathy, but I assume that wasn't Murphy's problem.) OTOH, I find modern-day writers a bit too eager to attribute homosexuality to all and sundry.
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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Jan 8 2013, 6:36pm
Post #8 of 38
(211 views)
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It's always good to have a big, absorbing book...
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...set aside for those moments of calm between storms. Enjoy! (And I'm afraid I'm cricketing with the others when it comes to your subject. )
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Patty
Immortal
Jan 8 2013, 6:40pm
Post #9 of 38
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I listened to the audiobook of My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier...
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it was excellent. She is a much better writer than I thought, although Rebecca is well done, too. Has anybody read The House on the Strand?
Permanent address: Into the West
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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Jan 8 2013, 6:54pm
Post #10 of 38
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It's actually a fantasy/science fiction tale. I well remember staying up most of the night to read it in one sitting, I was so enthralled. Oddly enough, I was wondering just the other day whether it would stand up to a re-read, since that first enthrallment was when it was first published and times---and I---have changed. I first read Rebecca almost in one sitting, too. There's a book so beautifully plotted it should be used in writing classes.
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NottaSackville
Valinor
Jan 8 2013, 6:55pm
Post #11 of 38
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I actually gave it to my father for Christmas last year
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Based on the recommendations of others. He said "Well, the bad news is that I've read this already, the good news is that you chose well - it's a great book!". Ahh, well. Notta
Happiness: money matters, but less than we think and not in the way that we think. Family is important and so are friends, while envy is toxic -- and so is excessive thinking. Beaches are optional. Trust is not. Neither is gratitude. - The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner as summarized by Lily Fairbairn. And a bit of the Hobbit reading thrown in never hurts. - NottaSackville
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NottaSackville
Valinor
Jan 8 2013, 6:57pm
Post #12 of 38
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Though the crickets may be well-deserved. Notta
Happiness: money matters, but less than we think and not in the way that we think. Family is important and so are friends, while envy is toxic -- and so is excessive thinking. Beaches are optional. Trust is not. Neither is gratitude. - The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner as summarized by Lily Fairbairn. And a bit of the Hobbit reading thrown in never hurts. - NottaSackville
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NottaSackville
Valinor
Jan 8 2013, 6:58pm
Post #13 of 38
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The funny thing is, the bear was one of the NICE ones!
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Enjoy your time off, hope you are going to be having fun! I'll be traveling so unable to post, but I see you have a volunteer anyway. NOtta
Happiness: money matters, but less than we think and not in the way that we think. Family is important and so are friends, while envy is toxic -- and so is excessive thinking. Beaches are optional. Trust is not. Neither is gratitude. - The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner as summarized by Lily Fairbairn. And a bit of the Hobbit reading thrown in never hurts. - NottaSackville
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Patty
Immortal
Jan 8 2013, 7:05pm
Post #14 of 38
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Ah, thanks for the recommendation.
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I'm eager to find another of her stories. I have listened to The King's General, and have seen a dramatization of Frenchman's Creek. I'll pick this one up soon, then.
Permanent address: Into the West
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One Ringer
Tol Eressea
Jan 8 2013, 7:06pm
Post #15 of 38
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With both my birthday and Christmas these past couple months, I've got a lot on my plate for reading (as I think I expressed a while back). I recently read through both Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. I had read Through the Looking-Glass in one of my classes last year, so this was my first time reading the first book. Really enjoyed it! It's such an enlightening read full of a plethora of metaphors and wit. It was also fun to read them both back-to-back over the course of a few days. They'll be two to read again alongside Peter Pan, I think. In the meanwhile, I'm still reading Three Musketeers. Haven't gotten as far as I'd like to on account of classes starting back up and other necessities, but one of the recent chapters I read, The Thesis of Aramis, if you've read the book, is definitely one of the most hilarious I've read in a while.
FOTR 10th Anniversary Music Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33xJU3AIwsg "You do not let your eyes see nor your ears hear, and that which is outside your daily life is not of account to you. Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain."
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Jan 8 2013, 7:48pm
Post #16 of 38
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I'd been curious about it for some time, knowing that it was a true story and that the author had self-published it and it had gone viral. So when I saw a copy on a thrift store shelf I picked it up. It's a lovely little book, a quick read of 87 pages, under an hour. The writing is a little unpolished, but quite readable, if you can get past some of the passive voice. It was also, for me, un-put-down-able, so it was good that it was so short. It's the story of a young family who move in with an elderly widow in her mansion. She's advertised for a family to do some cooking and chores for her, but it becomes clear that what she really wants (and gets) is a family. There's a little bit of mystery, and a fair amount of heartache, and a lot of heart-warming. I suppose it might be too sappy for some people, but eat up that kind of stuff.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories leleni at hotmail dot com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Jan 8 2013, 8:23pm
Post #17 of 38
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There's nothing wrong with sap!
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It's life blood for trees, after all, so (I hear Treebeard saying) we humans could use a dose every now and then
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Annael
Immortal
Jan 8 2013, 8:53pm
Post #18 of 38
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OTOH, I find modern-day writers a bit too eager to attribute homosexuality to all and sundry. I have arguments about this with some of my gay friends; I think it's wishful thinking most of the time (although not always). I'd be more inclined to suspect Hemingway and Fitzgerald, both of whom were obsessed with identifying who was homoseuxal, over Murphy who didn't care. Apparently he and Sara do show up in "Midnight in Paris" - will have to see it again.
The way we imagine our lives is the way we are going to go on living our lives. - James Hillman, Healing Fiction * * * * * * * * * * NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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Inferno
Superuser
/ Moderator
Jan 9 2013, 1:15am
Post #19 of 38
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I totally get it, but then, I work with computers all day. =) It's really fascinating to hear Sanderson talk about being asked to finish up the Wheel of Time series. If you ever get the chance of hearing him speak (he goes to a lot of conventions), I recommend it! He lives locally to me, so I get to see him at most of the local conventions, and a number of book signings. Inferno.
====================== Good night, tOR.Nados. Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely delete you in the morning. ====================== Elcenia
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acheron
Gondor
Jan 9 2013, 1:45am
Post #20 of 38
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that I should get with the times: "This year, I resolve to ::1" I'll keep an eye out for a Sanderson book tour. I've considered picking up some of his other work but have not really had the opportunity.
For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, wars, and so on -- while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man, for precisely the same reasons. -- Douglas Adams
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NottaSackville
Valinor
Jan 9 2013, 2:01am
Post #21 of 38
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I really liked the Mistborn series by him //
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Happiness: money matters, but less than we think and not in the way that we think. Family is important and so are friends, while envy is toxic -- and so is excessive thinking. Beaches are optional. Trust is not. Neither is gratitude. - The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner as summarized by Lily Fairbairn. And a bit of the Hobbit reading thrown in never hurts. - NottaSackville
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Inferno
Superuser
/ Moderator
Jan 9 2013, 2:49am
Post #22 of 38
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This is from his latest email newsletter. A MEMORY OF LIGHT BOOK TOUR The book signing tour has now been announced. Brandon will be at the cities below, and Harriet will be joining him at the beginning and end of the tour. For more details on each signing, please see http://brandonsanderson.com/events Note that the two Canadian signings are not yet totally confirmed, but seem to be pretty solid right now. We'll put the location details on Brandon's events page as soon as we have them. 1/8/2013: Provo, UT The BYU Bookstore @Midnight (With Harriet McDougal) 1/8/2013: Minneapolis (Roseville), MN Barnes & Noble @ 7:00 p.m. (With Harriet McDougal) 1/9/2013: Chicago (Skokie), IL Barnes & Noble @ 7:00 p.m. (With Harriet McDougal) 1/10/2013: Dayton, OH Books & Co @ 7:00 p.m. (With Harriet McDougal) 1/11/2013: Lexington, KY Joseph-Beth Booksellers @ 7:00 p.m. (With Harriet McDougal) 1/12/2013: Charleston, SC Barnes & Noble @ 2:00 p.m.. Signing located off-site at Addlestone Library / College of Charleston (With Harriet McDougal) 2/1/2013: Salt Lake City, UT Weller Book Works @ 7:00 p.m. 2/6/2013: San Diego, CA Mysterious Galaxy @ 7:00 p.m. 2/7/2013: Los Angeles (Huntington Beach), CA Barnes & Noble @ 7:00 p.m. 2/8/2013: Sacramento (Citrus Heights), CA Barnes & Noble @ 7:00 p.m. 2/9/2013: San Francisco, CA Borderlands @ 3:00 p.m. 2/11/2013: Portland, OR Powell's (Beaverton store) @ 7:00 p.m. 2/12/2013: Seattle, WA University Books @ 7:00 p.m. (off-site; University Temple United Methodist Church) 2/14/2013: Vancouver, BC ***NOT COMPLETELY CONFIRMED YET*** Watch Brandon's events page for details. 2/15/2013: Toronto, ON ***NOT COMPLETELY CONFIRMED YET*** Watch Brandon's events page for details. 2/16/2013: Milford, NH The Toadstool Bookshop @ 2:00 p.m. (off-site; The Amato Center for the Performing Arts) 2/18/2013: Baltimore (Hanover), MD Books-A-Million @ 7:00 p.m. (With Harriet McDougal) 2/19/2013: Philadelphia, PA Free Library @ 7:30 p.m. (With Harriet McDougal) 2/20/2013: Raleigh, NC Quail Ridge Books @ 7:30 p.m. (With Harriet McDougal) 2/21/2013: Atlanta, (Norcross), GA Eagle Eye Books @ 7:15 p.m. (off-site; Norcross Cultural Arts Center in conjunction with the Gwinnett County Library system) (With Harriet McDougal) 2/22/2013: Birmingham, AL Books-A-Million @ 7:00 p.m. (With Harriet McDougal) OTHER EVENTS See Brandon's events page for details on the following: 4/19-21/2013: Atlanta, GA JordanCon 5/23-26/2013: Phoenix, AZ Phoenix Comicon 8/9-11/2013: Spokane, WA SpoCon Elantris is my favorite Sanderson book, although the Mistborn series is what my friends mostly like best. Inferno.
====================== Good night, tOR.Nados. Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely delete you in the morning. ====================== Elcenia
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Radhruin
Rohan
Jan 9 2013, 7:33am
Post #23 of 38
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Like Lily F, I too wonder about writers and commentators today attaching homosexuality to everything "out of the mainstream" in days past. I think that view limits the complexity of our reading. A friend gave me 'A Moveable Feast' several months ago, as she is a big fan of Hemingway and Fitzgerald and I have not read any of their writing. To be honest all of the characters in his memoirs seemed so self absorbed and, to be blunt, "whiny" I certainly didn't run to the bookstore to buy their works. They all remind me far too much of many teens and young adults: "What I am doing at the moment is the end." Not a "change the world" attitude, just "me, me, me." (I am guilty of this myself, but I am not read by the masses, nor do I feel that Facebook or Twitter validate my daily desires.) The book really left a bad taste in my mouth. Perhaps I am wrong, but I think there was a strong, narcissistic vibe in that group. I know that I personally struggle with an inflated sense of self importance, with a large side of insecurity, but boy do I find it unpleasant and tiresome to read about those weaknesses in others. What do you think of the works of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, et al?
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Annael
Immortal
Jan 9 2013, 5:06pm
Post #24 of 38
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I would call it an adolescent phase
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and what are adolescents about but rejecting the world of their elders? Or as I put it, they "trace the negative" - they have to say what they are not first, and build up a picture of what they are not. Once they are clear on that, they are free to explore the "negative space" which is where they can find out who they are. One of the things that came up in my grad school program over and over was that in any "school" of thought - art, philosophy, science, doesn't matter - each generation critiques the work that has gone before as a preliminary to finding new ground, new breakthroughs. It may look like rejection but really what they are doing is "deconstructing" prior work & prior thinking and then building it back up again. Like the painters of the time who reject realism and instead worked with some of the basic building blocks of art: cubes (Picasso), circles (Kandinsky), lines (Mondrian). They were trying to find the essence of art. So I think the 1920s was a time of tremendous change and people were doing very exciting work, work that they thought was meaningful and was. Gerald Murphy wanted to paint one painting that was "hitched to the universe," he said - that would express some deep, essential point for others. But they were very young and they found France not only cheap to live in but exempt from the Puritan attitudes of the US and their own families, and it all went to their heads a bit - like their new freedom can go to kids' heads when they get to college. Addiction and infidelity took its toll on their lives. The party was over in about 5 years. But they were talented and they did leave their mark. I enjoy Hemingway despite his obvious biases (what writer doesn't have those?). In fact, I sometimes tell writing clients who have a tendency toward convoluted sentences to spend the weekend reading him.
The way we imagine our lives is the way we are going to go on living our lives. - James Hillman, Healing Fiction * * * * * * * * * * NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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Elberbeth
Tol Eressea
Jan 9 2013, 5:43pm
Post #25 of 38
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During and after World War II some 47,000 wives (and 20,000 dependents) emigrated to Canada after having married Canadian servicemen. mostly from the UK but also from other European countries.) This is a collection of stories in their own words about how they met them, the journey, the homesickness and the vast changes they had to adapt to. While most of the marriages were relatively happy (see homesickness!) there were a few who could not cut it and returned to their home countries, and some poignant stories about wives who were repudiated on arrival or ended up in sad situations.
"There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark."
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