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Grex > Agora46 > #200: What to read when flat on your back in bed | |
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| 25 new of 119 responses total. |
dah
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response 75 of 119:
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Sep 9 11:44 UTC 2003 |
WHAT THE FUCK IS PRETENTIOUS WRITING? SOMEONE PLEASE PRETENTIOUSLY WRITE ME
A PARAGRAPH SO I MAY SEE SUCH.
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oval
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response 76 of 119:
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Sep 9 16:05 UTC 2003 |
^^^^
i'd recommend also reading any of the Sarai Reader editions. i am on the first
one and it's quite good. http://www.sarai.net/
you could ask the library to get these or maybe i could send you a copy when
i'm done...
www.autonomedia.org is a good source of things too.
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keesan
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response 77 of 119:
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Sep 9 16:19 UTC 2003 |
Are there any good classic Dutch books pre 1900 worth reading?
I have at least a weeks' reading before Jim goes back for more. Jim says to
print the authors very clearly this time spelled last name first (with van
etc.)
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remmers
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response 78 of 119:
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Sep 9 16:49 UTC 2003 |
Well, if you don't mind going back to the 15th century, there's
Erasmus of Rotterdam, author of "In Praise of Folly" and other
blasphemous writings. (Erasmus was a secular humanist type
guy.) It's not fiction, though.
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keesan
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response 79 of 119:
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Sep 9 22:08 UTC 2003 |
I am looking at Prince of Tides. I have learned to ignore the summaries on
the jackets which tend to be unrelated to the book itself. I wonder who
writes them. 'dark and violent past' 'dusty glitter' 'huge brash
thunderstorm of a novel' 'she is willing to sell her kids down the river to
achieve them' (is this English?) 'cruel patriarch' 'shocking fate'. Makes
it sound like a cheap thriller. The reviews are written much better.
I do a lot of my reading in the middle of the night when I cannot sleep. This
one is a bit heavy and does not stay propped open. Never thought I would
judge a book by its binding.
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jmsaul
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response 80 of 119:
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Sep 9 23:21 UTC 2003 |
I like Van de Wetering, but his books are certainly violent in places.
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other
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response 81 of 119:
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Sep 10 00:55 UTC 2003 |
Did you even consider my suggestions? All of them were enjoyable and
edifying reading.
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keesan
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response 82 of 119:
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Sep 10 13:55 UTC 2003 |
I only got a few books from the list suggested by the other translator so far.
The rest is printed out on two pages. My library website is no longer working
(they must have changed something) so Jim went to the librarians and got a
new URL which I will help him figure out how to use today, to see what is
actually available at the library. I condensed the suggestions (up through
a few days ago) to two pages of titles and authors and we will work on those
next. Lots of interesting looking books there. Maybe I can handle hardcovers
in a week or two.
I looked at Ursula LeGuin but cannot get interested in fantasy, sorry. It
was educational to see what she has been writing, which seems well done but
not for me.
Currently reading Gold Coast, 1990 but said to be a classic already, and quite
well written. It does of course have a fair amount of sex and violence but
I guess you are stuck with that if someone is trying to be a best selling
author. The intro was interesting -apparently books are now written by
authors working with agents and publishers and movie companies.
I read Northanger Abbey when I could not get back to sleep until 3 am. That
was skinny enough to hold in one hand.
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aruba
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response 83 of 119:
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Sep 10 20:31 UTC 2003 |
I just finished *Seabiscuit*, by Laura Hillenbrand. I know almost nothing
about horseracing, but the book is very entertaining and very carefully
researched. And it was written by a woman who rarely leaves her apartment,
because of illness. I recommend it.
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keesan
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response 84 of 119:
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Sep 10 23:13 UTC 2003 |
Time to print out a third page. The online catalog is not terribly convenient
compared to what is at the library (maybe with pictures it works better) but
if you type in the author you get a list of works. I tried typing in a title
(A Walk in the Woods, which is by Bill Bryson) and got not that title but
everything they have by the author. They don't have that book but they have
some other travel books and several on the history of English in America, for
instance.
Jim looked up Jared Diamond and found six copies (?) of Guns, Germs and Steel,
which he said he read (on tape) - how the natives here were killed by disease.
We will continue with the library catalog but I have reading matter for a week
here already (and ten videos including Dinner with Andre, which I can take
about 20 minutes of at a time).
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sj2
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response 85 of 119:
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Sep 11 09:15 UTC 2003 |
Q. What do read ...... back??
A. The tattoo on your girlfriend's (.)(.)
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other
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response 86 of 119:
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Sep 11 13:25 UTC 2003 |
Keesan doesn't have a girlfriend, of that sort anyway. (I'm assuming
here, but just call it a hunch.)
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keesan
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response 87 of 119:
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Sep 11 16:01 UTC 2003 |
Keesan has lots of girlfriends all over the world. None have tatoos.
I read Gold Coast which was well written but I could have done with less sex
and violence. I suppose he had to throw in enough to make it sell. That is
the problem with 20th c books, they are written usually to sell. Not that
Dickens did not have the same problem, I guess, plus the 19th c people had
to plan on serialization.
Reading Jude the Obscure. The sex object just threw a piece of dead pig at
the hero. This must be symbolic of her lack of intellectual background (her
father raises pigs). The hero is busy teaching himself dead languages.
Clearly not the ideal match but what is a novel without conflict?
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dah
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response 88 of 119:
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Sep 11 18:57 UTC 2003 |
Huh?
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keesan
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response 89 of 119:
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Sep 11 20:41 UTC 2003 |
Today after blood draw we talked to the nurse who explained what to expect
at the next chemotherapy which adds a new chemical Rituxin that takes 4 hours
by itself and may cause fever or chills in which case they slow it down. The
remaining sessions will only be about 5 hours total. I get a bed, or a chair,
and can walk a few feet from it if I get bored. Bring lunch (and maybe
supper). Eat first. Six days of prednisone pills in addition. On the way
back we stopped at the library. There is no need for me to wear a mask or
avoid people this week. Only bone marrow people wear masks. We did not have
the list this time. Bill Bryson is popular and everything is on loan. I got
some more paperbacks of authors I recognized and some videos. We are picking
up my armchair and some small cushions so I don't need to lie in bed all day.
Had to clear a path to it first.
Jim thought my fried vegetables in a bread crust looked good last week so he
got two this week. Sort of greasy but he liked his 1.5. From the hosp.
cafeteria for $4 each plus tax.
Time to go recover and watch videos. Jim wants to get me more ice cream.
I did not each too much of the last box of it ;)
Our friend who works at the hospital was walking in late to work just before
Jim came back for me with the car and has lots more pears. Which reminds me
we need to get the dryer. Maybe I have the energy (before Monday) to peel
and core pears.
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keesan
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response 90 of 119:
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Sep 11 20:42 UTC 2003 |
Got to the library, but without the list. See 167.
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klg
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response 91 of 119:
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Sep 12 00:55 UTC 2003 |
Used a reclining chair. Was able to walk about 30 ft. to the restroom,
which you need to do occasionally, especially since that red stuff goes
right through you.
4-5 hrs is about right. Other patients (breast ca?) came and left a lot
quicker.
RNs also gave me some meds (benadryl?) to start off the day. Didn't
appreciate the sleepiness, so asked that the dosage be cut down on
subseqent treatments.
Had Rituxan from the start, but was scheduled for only 6 cycles. Made
me warm/feverish the first time, so the rns slowed the drip to a
trickle. Didn't seem to have any immediate side effects thereafter.
Was explained that Rituxan had been tried on older ppl & seemed to be
beneficial, so they began to use it on younger folk, altho they didn't
know if it would work on us. Read an article about a person who was
treated with just Rituxan when he had a relapse.
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keesan
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response 92 of 119:
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Sep 12 17:26 UTC 2003 |
Jim's sister gave him a list of her favorite authors of detective novels set
in ancient Rome. She says there is minimal violence.
I got out Island by Aldous Huxley, 1962, the era of psychotherapy curing
everything, pre HIV. Some books could only have been written during certain
decades.
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clees
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response 93 of 119:
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Sep 15 06:27 UTC 2003 |
Sindy, Multatuli's Max Havelaar is pre 1900.
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gelinas
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response 94 of 119:
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Sep 15 07:35 UTC 2003 |
If you've not yet read it, _Musashi_ is interesting. The translation I read
is recent, but Musashi was a 17th century Samurai.
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happyboy
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response 95 of 119:
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Sep 15 16:44 UTC 2003 |
basho: narrow road to the far north
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keesan
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response 96 of 119:
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Sep 16 17:37 UTC 2003 |
I will make a complete list and see if I can get to the library again. I
don't need to go out again for ten days. I may try using the online catalog
and sending Jim for books when I come closer to running out. I am currently
reading Emma (left by slynne, thanks) and Tom Jones and watching a library
video made for british TV about how a family volunteered to live three months
in a house restored to 1900. They are having trouble with the coal stove and
doing laundry by hand. I bet they never went camping. It sounds pretty
luxurious to me compared to places I have lived in other countries. March
(England is warm enough not to need coats then), running hot and cold water
to the tub, a flush toilet outside and a pan to use at night, a stove instead
of a fireplace, paved floor, a special copper tub for laundry, a bathtub.
I lived one place with an outhouse at the far end of the garden, a cold-water
faucet and cement sink outdoors as the only plumbing, no heating, a wood stove
in the kitchen (the landlady slept there - she smoked so I cooked in my room
on an alcohol stove from Greece with two heats, on or off). I got one bucket
a week of hot water to wash me (in a screened unheated area) and my laundry
(outdoors at the faucet),. I left in November. Outside the city people got
their water from wells, often at a distance.
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slynne
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response 97 of 119:
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Sep 16 17:42 UTC 2003 |
I really liked that PBS show, 1900's House. I liked the other ones they
have done too, like Frontier House, 1940's House and Manor House.
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happyboy
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response 98 of 119:
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Sep 16 19:26 UTC 2003 |
poop on the floor house
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slynne
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response 99 of 119:
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Sep 16 19:34 UTC 2003 |
I have an elderly dog so they might be able to film that one in my
house soon.
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