Beached Seals and Books

[bowtrunckle]

I'm back from The North!  It was great for the first week.  Then it snowed.  A lot.  For days.  After that working outside all day ceased being pleasant and enjoyable.

But we saw wildlife: rutting moose, cariboo, and a grizzly bear (from the safety of the helicopter ... recall I didn't have my bear banger *giggles immaturely at the name*).  We found

Comments

[sigune]

Illiteracy? Mwuahaha! As you can tell from my own list, I don't seem to be exactly "literate" either, and I'm a student of literature! But then I'm a Victorianist and so busy catching up with pre-1900 books that the twentieth and twenty-first centuries are very much - um - closed books to me *g*.

[bowtrunckle]

Ah, yes, so many books and too little time--I know the feeling well. Unfortunately, I can't balance my lack of well-readness (erm ... that's a word? *head desk*) of more contemporary literature with literature from another era OR genre unless you count scientific papers (believe me, scientists on the whole can't find their way to the end of a compound sentence).

I give you huge credit for studying Victorian literature. I read Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" recently. There were sentences that were half a page long. By the time I got to the end of the sentence I'd forgotten what the beginning said. *face palm* One of these days I'll catch on.

[sigune]

You want to watch out with that... You know, by my example, what reading Victorian literature does to you: it makes you believe that half a page is quite the normal length for a sentence, and before you know it, you start writing like that yourself! ;P

[bowtrunckle]

LOL! Oh no, what's my exuse, then? ;)

[hugemind]

Hee, beached seals!

Ugh, the classics like War and Peace make me go mostly 'meh'; scifi is more my genre. But at least I've read some books on the list: 1984, Angels&Demons, The Satanic Verses (for a freakin' school assignment) and The Catcher in the Rye, so I'm not completely illiterate. ;) Currently I'm reading American Gods and loving the heck out of it! Kripke mentioned Neil Gaiman as one of his inspirations, and the book really reminds me of SPN at times. (After I finish this, I'll start Nevermore.)

BTW, do you have a link to the original list?

[bowtrunckle]

I have to admit that I've not read a lot of scifi besides Ursula Le Guin when I was a teenager, but I read "The Dispossessed" a couple years ago. I dropped "1984" because I got busy, but I enjoyed what I read of it ("War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery" and another line I can't remember about ignorance" ... Oo). I'll have to give Dan Brown another try. My husband likes him, but I can't seem to get past any of his first chapters (even "The Da Vinci Code"). There's something about his protagonist that rubs me the wrong way.

Neil Gaiman! Stardust! "American Gods" sounds really interesting. Any book with a modern incarnation of Loki, the Norse God of Mischief, is worth picking up. On your recommendation I will add it to my to-read list.

After I finish this, I'll start Nevermore.You'll speed through it in probably 4 hours. It's quick, it's easy, it's light. There were some parts that seemed a bit dangly to me. The author made some mistakes and added some interesting insights/character interpretations. Let me know what you

[hugemind]

I'd love to read more, but there's never enough time. *sigh*

Hmm, Dan Brown. I've read the four books and enjoyed them in a way I usually enjoy an action movie. The plots are interesting enough to keep reading, although the basic element are pretty much the same in all of them. I don't even remember anything about the characters which should be telling enough. ;)

Heh, the reason I bought "American Gods" was because the blurb in the back cover said, "--a far bigger storm is coming.--" But I intend to read more Gaiman after this one.

What, you didn't geek out and search the list from the bottomless pit that is the internet?! Ah, Google to the rescue! ;) I'm too lazy to do the meme, but I was just wondering what the story behind the list was. *finds the site and wanders around aimlessly*

[bowtrunckle]

I don't even remember anything about the characters which should be telling enough.

Hee. What I remember from "Angels and Demons" was that he was a smart and successful college professor, "ruggedly handsome" with salt and pepper hair and a swimmer's body (he swam everyday). His voice "which was as smooth as dark chocolate" (or something like that) made most of his female students "melt". And the fact that he anticipated and dodged a mysterious bullet in the opening pages showed his keen skills of observation and his awesome athleticism.

At this point, I turned to my husband and said, "Is this the same character that Tom Hanks played in 'The Da Vinci Code' or is this a robot (or ... hehe ... a mandroid)?"

I was just wondering what the story behind the list was

Ah, you are such the scientist! *adores* I actually did google "LibraryThing 106 books" but found nothing. Then I gave up because I was hungry (it's a relevant excuse, ask Dean). ;)

[kjpzak]

Welcome Home! And phew! After reading your emails on Firefly I started wondering if you'd enjoyed them or just humored me. :) I'm glad to see you enjoyed them enough to torture your husband with them. They are mindless fun if nothing else

[bowtrunckle]

I started wondering if you'd enjoyed them or just humored me. They are mindless fun if nothing else.

No, it was entertaining. Thanks for lending the DVDs to me. They certainly helped at night when I was sick in bed, needing a distraction from the next day's impending snow storm. :)

Or maybe I'll just let you find it on your own because I know with your eye for detail, you will.

Oh, great. Pressure. *snort* Knowing me, it'll fly right under my radar because I'll be fixating on something else, paying attention to who knows what. Sometimes my mind is selectively obsessive. ;) It'll be good that a veteran like yourself will be around to point out those oh so important "awesome" moments.

I have an idea for group tomorrow that might get me kicked out since it's about as far below literary as Captain Underpants.That's GREAT!! Hey, I understand your frustration--any idea is a good idea, seriously. Enthusiam is the beacon to follow when stuck in the dark depths of "no idea" land (where I'm still wandering around and bumping

"Beached Seals, Books and ....er..... anal tendencies?"

[anonymous]

snow
106 books divided in categories of readership
and...
anal tendencies?

LOL. I knew you had a myriad of ideas, profound and/or... er...otherwise. To add to your many talents, you are also barking mad. Just the lady after my own heart.

Re: "Beached Seals, Books and ....er..... anal tendencies?"

[bowtrunckle]

Welcome to the club! Lourdes, you crack me up. But I do agree with you: snow is insane (or "barking mad" as you say).

snow is not insane!

[dianne_37]

I lurve snow! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snowwww!! Oh and *looks confused* I thought it was perfectly normal to have a sentence be a half a page long! That's so me! That's why I pity you when you get my work but you're so nice for editing for me. Seriously I would like nothing more than to be snowed in at home for a week with my family. Bring back 1977, one of our worst winters during my lifetime. I loved it!! But then again, I was ten and didn't have to drive.
I've read anything by Charles Dickens, the LOTR series, To Kill a Mocking Bird (my fav) and lots of others, but I had to admit that looking back, when I was young, the Hardy Boys ruled! Hee, but that only shows I have a good imagination because I could superimpose Shaun Cassidy into the geeky book boy instead of the silly drawings of the 1950's flat headed drawings in the books.
It's nice catching up up lj. Now back to laundry which I'm doing in between catching up.

Re: snow is not insane!

[bowtrunckle]

I've turned into a big of a wimp since moving to the west coast. Sub-zero temperatures have me wimpering and clutching my down comforter. But I'm not a huge winter sports person to begin with so I'm perfectly OK with staying inside and warm while A climbs moutains with his skiies.

I don't mind beta'ing for you! BTW, I've checked my hard drive and the only copy of your original is the very first draft with my comments. I'll have to search around in the disater that is my inbox because I think you might've sent it to me when your computer was dying a slow and painful death. I'll let you know what I find. I can send it onto Katy for you, too. :)

Whenever I think of Charles Dickens I think of you. And, heh, I read my fair share of junky teen books--I had the whole "Sweet Valley High" series to date. I would use all my allowance money to buy them (including the dimes, nickles, and pennies).

Good luck with laundry!