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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Racer on April 15, 2005, at 15:09:39
This board is too quiet, so I'll tell you about my recent forays into BookAcquisitionLand...
First, I got a box'o'books for my birthday, from my Auntie. She sent me three:
"Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape" by Dewaal. It's about -- surprise! -- bonoboes. (Bonobos?) If you're not familiar with them, they are also known as "pygmy chimpanzees" and are very much what scientists think the earliest hominids were like. Much more gracile than the familiar chimpanzees, although their actual size is about the same. Fascinating, and one of my favorite topics.
"The Sicilian Romance" by Ann Radcliffe. She is one of the Great Figures in English Literature -- author of books such as "The Mysteries of Udolpho", which is mentioned by writers from Jane Austen to William Makepeace Thackery, who all took it for granted that their readers would be familiar with her works. It's the only one of her books which is in print and which I didn't read in college -- and I would have read it then had it been in print. They're definitely dated and difficult to read, but worth it.
(If anyone is interested, my very favorite is "The Italian, or Confessional of the Black Penitents" which really is always relevant. It's about the usual stuff: personal feelings and desires causing one to set off events beyond one's control. And it even has a certain resonance for the Monty Python fans amongst us...)
And the final book in this box, "The Mistress of Udolpho" which is a biography of Mrs Radcliffe. I know very little about her, besides the Famous Story of "Monk" Lewis and "The Italian", or Why Mrs Radcliffe Stopped Writing Her Signature Gothics... I'm excited, although my tolerance for anything that requires sustained attention is low right now...
Then I went to the Used Book Store a couple of times, and came home with Large Bags...
Mostly -- Nikki would be so proud! -- Children's Books! Let's see, "Bedknobs and Broomsticks", two books by Edward Eager -- author of "Half Magic" and "Seven Day Magic" -- a couple of books about making stained glass (yeah, that's on my list of things to do..), and a very silly, very dated book called "The First Walkabout" which I am certain is no longer in print, since it looks quite -- um -- 'ethnocentric', if you get my drift... Got that last one for My Husband, since he says he left Oz because of the requirement that everyone wrestle crocodiles... I also got a stack of books about eating disorders, ranging from useful to "how funny, that people used to think those things..."
So, I gots new books. Anyone else wanna discuss books here?
Posted by partlycloudy on April 19, 2005, at 6:47:22
In reply to Gotta Box'o'Books..., posted by Racer on April 15, 2005, at 15:09:39
Wow! I want to get a card for your personal library!!! I still have my copy of Ann Radcliffe (the Italian, don't want to bother linking again...) waiting for me to get beyond the introduction. My powers of concentration are on a wobbly at the moment but I'm determined to get to it before my trip this fall!
I really enjoyed "The Number One Ladies Detective Agency", and plunged headlong into "Portugese Irregular Verbs" right afterwards. What a different sort of book! Pretty silly, IMO.
Which one are you enjoying at the moment, Racer?
Posted by NikkiT2 on April 19, 2005, at 14:12:01
In reply to Gotta Box'o'Books..., posted by Racer on April 15, 2005, at 15:09:39
OK, how easily can you get down South in the US later this year?? *l* How cool would a lunch with us 3 be?! Ah, in a book shop *L*
Oh to get a box of books like that *g* I spent the last of my cash on "In the company of cheerful ladies", the latest in the No 1 Ladies detective Agency series.. lovely, as always, with some extra enjoyable moments I thought.. So, I pleaded poverty in the bar at work last week (theres always money for my thursday evening vodka and tonic *L*) and a woman I work with bought me in "The Time Traveler's Wife".. I'm completely on love with this book now *l* I can barely put it down. It may be a passing infatuation, I'm not quite sure yet.. but I am in the middle of an immense affair *L* Not sure whether to gobble the book right up, or savour it slowly.. I'm gobbling at the moment *l* No will power, thats me!
What else have I read recently? Hmm...
I've been re-reading the Sin City comic books ahead of the film.. From the trailers it looks amazing *L* Been fun reading them.
Also read a book called "True Names".. well, its a novella in the second part, a collection of essays on the internet for the first part.. Really fascinating. The book is about a virtual "universe", where people strive to keep their real identities secret, with vandals (who are what we'd now call hackers).. It was written in 1981, so pretty damned ahead of its time.hang on, let me go check the bath room floor, as thats where all my finished books end up *L*..
Only other one that was there was "THe House of the spirits" by Isabel Allende.. was last months book in our book club at work.. One of my favourite all time books, and it was sooo nice going back to it.. I want to re-read all her books now *G*
Hopefully I'll remember all the books I've been reading soon and report back!!
nikki xx
Posted by partlycloudy on April 19, 2005, at 14:39:28
In reply to Re: Gotta Box'o'Books... » Racer, posted by NikkiT2 on April 19, 2005, at 14:12:01
> So, I pleaded poverty in the bar at work last week (theres always money for my thursday evening vodka and tonic *L*) and a woman I work with bought me in "The Time Traveler's Wife".. I'm completely on love with this book now *l* I can barely put it down. It may be a passing infatuation, I'm not quite sure yet.. but I am in the middle of an immense affair *L* Not sure whether to gobble the book right up, or savour it slowly.. I'm gobbling at the moment *l* No will power, thats me!
>
I absolutely fell in love with that book, too. The characters were so charming and so much in love!! I think it's the kind of book that can be easily gobbled but makes a good nibbler too.
Interesting that I automatically think of books as food.We have quite the bi-coastal and international book club going here!
pc
Posted by Racer on April 19, 2005, at 16:56:25
In reply to Re: Gotta Box'o'Books... » NikkiT2, posted by partlycloudy on April 19, 2005, at 14:39:28
I use food analogies, too! "Potato Chip" books are easy: no nutritional value, but you can't eat just one. "Cotton Candy" books: enjoyable, but they sort of dissolve on contact. "Meaty" books need to be chewed thoroughly. Et cetera.
Never really noticed it... I wonder how many other people do that?
Posted by Racer on April 19, 2005, at 17:00:31
In reply to Re: Gotta Box'o'Books... » NikkiT2, posted by partlycloudy on April 19, 2005, at 14:39:28
Oh, and I'm kinda grazing right now, book-wise. I have been reading through the bonobo book, because I couldn't resist, but mostly right now, if I'm reading at all, I'm reading things printed from the internet, like how to dye fabric using shaving cream, or information on various psychiatric issues that relate to me, or some other interesting but very short, bite-sized pieces.
Ugh. Guess reading and communicating go hand in hand for me -- I don't feel very communicative, and can't seem to settle into reading.
But, what I am kinda reading, is "At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances" which is book three of the "Portuguese Irregular Verbs" series.
This is the end of the thread.
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