Beau Peep Notice Board
Beau Peep Notice Board => Outpourings => Topic started by: Roger Kettle on September 09, 2020, 08:44:34 PM
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For the last week or so, my wife and I have been suffering from colds. Common, run-of-the-mill colds. No persistent coughs, no fevers and no loss of smell or taste so no need to panic. Apparently, because of lockdown, the common cold took a break. Now that people are moving around again, it's back and we've been snuffling around, feeling sorry for ourselves. We're now well on the way to recovery. (I know this because we've started insulting each other again. Always a good sign).
One thing that has been a huge plus during these strange times is the number of books I have managed to read. Here's a brief summary...
I re-read all the Adrian Mole books plus a collection of magazine articles by Sue Townshend. She really was a very funny writer.
East of Eden. I finally got into John Steinbeck and I'm ashamed it took me so long. Wonderful book.
Comanche Moon. Just brilliant. Many of you will know that "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry is my favourite book of all time.(I keep banging on about it).This is a prequel and it's stunning. McMurtry is one of THE great American writers.
Empire of the Summer Moon. The biography of a Comanche chief called Quanah. Okay, I know I'm obsessed with all things Native American but this is a fabulous read. Really gripping.
Diary of a Nobody. This is another book that has taken me far too long to open. Written in 1892, it's a lovely satire about life in Victorian England. It stands the test of time and is a beautifully written, tongue-in-cheek account of the times. Great stuff.
Oh, and what else. Some Scandinavian thrillers and a couple of Jack Reacher books. (Don't knock Lee Child---the man writes gripping stories).
That's about it. I've probably missed out at least half-a-dozen other books that I got through in the last six months but those are part of the eclectic bunch I have enjoyed. Let me know if you share my love for any of them.
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I love audio books, it is so nice to have books read to you. I read a short story to my 21 year old daughter just today. I got a new gadget a few months ago (Kindle Fire) that works really well. I borrow books from two library sources - so free :-)
Been listening to the slow but charming tales from the #1 Ladies Detective agency and discovered the 150 year old writings of Anthony Trollope - I love how he understands human nature and takes a break from the story to talk directly to his reader - he is a hoot.
I will have to check out your titles and see if any are available on audio books :-)
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I don't read books. I can read them...obviously, and used to devour them when I was a kid, but I've only read a handful of books in my entire adult life. My attention span with books is the problem. I get stuck like a scratched record, and end up reading the same paragraph a dozen times before it actually sinks in and I can move on...until the next time. The problem is, unlike the books I loved as a kid, the ‘grown up’ books don’t have pictures.
I'm told, especially considering my own job, I should have the imagination to make up my own pictures. But that is actually the problem - I spend way too long doing just that, and my mind wanders far from where it should be in the book. It was actually a lot easier when you saw pictures of Mrs Pepperpot, or the Famous Five, and you then knew what they looked like. It's fixed…job done – you know what they look like, and there's less visualising work to do. I had a Kindle for a while, and enjoyed reading short stories on it, but anything more than about ten pages was a test of endurance I failed every time.
Of that handful of books that I have managed to finish, two of them I've actually read twice! 'To Kill A Mocking Bird' was one – saw the movie first (brilliant!), then read the book (even better!). And a book called 'Illusions - The Adventures Of A Reluctant Messiah' by Richard Bach (who also wrote Jonathan Livingstone Seagull...which I've not read). It was a book that convinced me I could fly when I first read it several decades ago as a young man (I never succeeded, oddly enough), but was a bit of a disappointment when I reread it a few years back. I think that obviously says more about my encroaching cynicism through advancing years than the author's inspirational skills.
I still hope to fly some day, though I’ll settle for a little levitation.
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I bought 2 Kindle books yesterday - read about six chapters of James Acaster's Classic Scrapes (only $0.99 for Kindle, $17.81 for paperback) and the first chapter about dogs of Graham Norton's The Life and Times of A He-Devil. Both of those are pick up and read a stand alone chapter.
Tarqs, that happens to me when I read too, I couldn't read until I was nine and I too have a hard time concentrating with the written word, I am better with screen reading than paper printed reading - audio books are a great way to keep you going for novels - like cruise control on a car.
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Diane, I haven't read any of the #1 Ladies Detective Agency books but I hear they're excellent. I DID read one of his other books (It may have been "44 Scotland Street" and I thoroughly enjoyed it).
Steve, I understand where you're coming from regarding books. There are times when I simply don't have the patience, energy or interest to commit myself to the entire story. On the other hand, there are times when I am completely captivated and can't wait to lose myself in the story-telling---the sign of great writing. For me, finding a wonderful book is one of the great joys in life.
I'm a Dundee United supporter. I need escapism.
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It was a book that convinced me I could fly when I first read it several decades ago as a young man (I never succeeded, oddly enough)
But wasn't there that misty morning . . .
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But wasn't there that misty morning . . .
Indeed there was, but I failed at that attempt also. What Mincey is referring to was a particularly vivid dream I had in my late teens, in which I was levitating several inches above the grass, propelling myself gently forward on the first fairway of my local golf course in the park just across the road from the house where I grew up (or didn't, as the case may be). It was an extraordinarily wonderful and peaceful dream, and I was deeply disappointed to wake up from it. I tried to fall back into it, but to no avail, so I got dressed in the early hours as dawn was breaking, sneaked out of the house, and made my way across the park to that first tee. It was misty, just like in the dream.
I concentrated with all my might, but my feet never left the ground, as I walked the full length of the fairway, hoping that at any second I'd be walking in the air...floating in the moonlit sky. Nada. Zilch!
I just didn't believe enough. Mincey has no soul. :\
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Deep down, I still believe I can fly. But it's not the sort of thing one goes around telling people.
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Now she tells me! ..0
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Steve, I've had that identical dream many times. It's almost as though I take off gently for a long jump and then just keep on going, a few inches above the ground. By raising my knees a little, I can prolong the flight indefinitely. It's a great dream---must be a cartoonist thing!
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Great to know I’m not alone, Roger. Your take-off sounds different to mine. I’ll have to give yours a try.
I bet you have that other dream too, don’t you? You know - the one where you’re proper flying, armed to the teeth with swords, knives, and other assorted metalwork, and battling against hordes of vicious winged, bearded Vikings high in the air between the Forth Road and Rail Bridges, just you against hundreds of them, until you’re the only one left standing...I mean flying. It’s a bit less peaceful than the other one, but still a cracker, eh? Wouldn’t you say?....Roger?
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There's only one Viking in my dream. And it's the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Apart from that...
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There's only one Viking in my dream. And it's the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
I didn't know the bridge was a Viking.
Also, the image of Roger pulling up his knees and performing a horizontal cannon ball is hilarious. Are there any other dreams you both want to make public? I have popcorn ready. ;D
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Well, there was one about four haddock, a knitting machine and Penny from The Big Bang Theory....
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I picked up a book last fall at our local second hand book shop that sells hardcovers for a flat rate of $2 just because it had a beautiful cover. Read it this weekend and thought, oh this was quite good, a family mystery spanning over 100 years. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
I have a new audio book on the go from the library. 10th anniversary of The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. About the first 2 hours addresses the updates in the 10 years since it first came out.
Over the past couple of weeks my daughter and I watched all 6 Terminator movies often with popcorn - the older I get the more I appreciate the humor of Arnold. (I do sometimes play word games on my phone during the truck chase scenes)
So many entertainments available at home these days! I still remember when it was a big thrill to rent a VCR and 2 or 3 movies for a weekend.
I am a Viking (or at least I have the hand disease) But it's not the sort of thing one goes around telling people.
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Diane, I'd never heard of "Viking hand disease" and had to google it. Sounds very unpleasant. I hope you're managing to cope with it.
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Thanks Roger, I have a mild case and it hasn't progressed much in three years. When I first got it I was in a panic thinking I had to get something done about it pronto and that is hard in Canada as there were only three specialists in the whole country listed.
But good old Facebook to the rescue once again - joined a FB group just for it and yes there are horror pictures of surgery before and after photos almost every day, but there are also people who have had mild cases for 25+ years whose conditions stay about the same and their stories are very hopeful.
Scotland has lots of cases.
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Diane, I think Margaret Thatcher had the same thing, she had an operation for it.
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Bill Nighy has it.
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As I said, Diane, I'd never heard of it so it's strange to hear that it's prevalent in Scotland. I hope the progression you mention continues slowly or, ideally, disappears entirely.
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As I said, Diane, I'd never heard of it so it's strange to hear that it's prevalent in Scotland. I hope the progression you mention continues slowly or, ideally, disappears entirely.
It is twice the national average in Scotland - I think it is one of those things people don't go around moaning about because by the age you get it you are falling apart in general by then anyway.
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Diane, I'd never heard of "Viking hand disease" and had to google it. Sounds very unpleasant. I hope you're managing to cope with it.
I know someone hear in Scotland who said they'd got "Viking hand disease". At least it sounded like "Viking".
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either works lol
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I am doing this thing this year were I am trying to finish books. I find books that I own don't always get finished even ones I have read 50 or 80% this is why i own a lot of bookmarks, thinking I will get back to them eventually.
To motivate myself I am doing mostly library books which have dates by which they stop working or disappear from you tablet, so the goal is to get them read and returned before that happens.
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I am doing this thing this year were I am trying to finish books. I find books that I own don't always get finished even ones I have read 50 or 80% this is why i own a lot of bookmarks, thinking I will get back to them eventually.
To motivate myself I am doing mostly library books which have dates by which they stop working or disappear from you tablet, so the goal is to get them read and returned before that happens.
You need better crayons. 👍