Lordy, that sounds like a lot of work to me.........

I do it every single time I read a good book.

I did it with the Grisham book too, The Painted House and The Whistler .... and with Erik Larsson books, too. Nearly all books I do the same style of 'reading'..... notes first, then sail through it a second time for enjoyment.

I'm listening to an audiobook by David Sedaris. Theft by Finding. I absolutely love him but this has been my least favorite. There was one diary entry he read that actually made me throw up a little. :(

Reading a few at the moment, but two have really caught my attention and consumed my thoughts (and time):

* The Bitch is Back: Older, Wiser, and (Getting)Happier byCathi Hanauer

I first read the first book - The Bitch in the House back in 2004 and it really struck a chord and resonated for me. Most of the stories were raw, emotional, and poignant. Most were about things I'd thought or witnessed but never really discussed with friends (or anyone). I'm finding the same is true for the second book, and the return or updated stories from some of the essay writers feels like I'd never left off or the 15 years hasn't elapsed between readings.

* Think Like a Freak by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

I have not read their first book(s) Freakonomics, but that doesn't seem necessary. Their methods aren't really new or revolutionary, but in today's world where we often seem to put critical thinking on the back burner to be mindlessly entertained by social media (yes, I get the irony that I'm posting about this on a social platform) it's a refreshing reminder that we are or can be better equipped mentally. I'm enjoying the anecdotes even though I'm not seeing how some of the methods apply to my daily life. It makes me think bigger than myself and that is enough.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this book and if you've watched the movie (or if you'd watch it after reading). 😊

o O.... :balloon: .... SO good to see you here, Fancy!

I love it that you're reading Levitt & Dubnar! One of the guidelines to thinking like a freak is ...."Never, ever think that people will do something just because its the right thing...".(Levitt & Dubnar).

For anyone who isn't familiar with either author, here's a really good article from The Guardian about both of them, what they do, the ideas behind Freakonomics and other interesting ideas about their life work in helping others to fly their 'freak flag' !

LINK:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...-dubner-review

I finished up with Anna Karenina, a few days ago. I liked it for reasons more purely from an academic pov, usefulness for integrating communication and sociology perspectives. Not quite sure I want to see the movie, tho. :blush:


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But, I was gifted another book, which I received the other day.

The Help (Stockett, K., 2009).

I opened up the book to read last night and just finished reading it, moments ago, like I hadn't had any Apple Pie since last winter. I LOVED LOVED LOVED this novel!

Very gratifying.and satisfying.

I highly recommend reading it, if you haven't yet.

It's good.... so very very good. :)

I am anxious to hear how you enjoy the movie Miss Katz. IMHO it stayed pretty true to the book :popcorn:

The writing on the wall...

:tea:

I've just started Becoming Odyssa by Jennifer Pharr Davis.

It's the story of a girl who thru hikes the Appalachian Trail.

The author frequently does speaking engagements around Asheville, so she may live nearby.

My sweet darling Santa sent books to me, this week.

I read the novel Girl with the pearl earring, which was a very interesting fictitious account of Griët, the young girl who was lent out as a maid to the family of painter Vermeer....very interesting way the author presents the girl with the pearl earring.

Today, I received two books I have never read....although I did see the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, I've never read the book it's based upon..... Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Cafe! And I do love whistling... :balloon:

The third book is an recently authored lesbian romance novel, by AJ Adair, published by Desert Palm Press. Title is: Don't Forget (2017). This particular lesbian romance story takes place in the 1980s.... and the author wrote an especially poignant dedication to her partner and wife, before the story gets under way.

So excited to read both books! :stillheart:

a
 

WOW Santa is sending out gifts this early? You must be on the very good 'girl' list :smileyXmasTree:

I loves Christmas (which can be any day, really), so it's important to me to on my best behavior (as humanly possible) .... :bow:

<<<<<~~ Likes it that I'm on Santa's GQQD GIRL list! :rrose:

SO.......I guess the ONLY way to get on this Santa's list is to behave......I'll be finding coal then again this year in my stocking.......:|

Well that's just not right! I'll be sure to write to Santa soon because YOu deserve the BEST Christmas any butch Boi could dream of..... :fastdraq: ...... sometimes being "Bad" is nothing more than a sign of how GQQD you are. Thinks Santa ought to make sure you have the best Christmas E V E R. :rrose:

<<<<<<~~ and now, back to books! :hk28:

I seen Kobi's post about reading this book and thought it'd appeal to me too.



The End of Loyalty: The Rise and Fall of Good Jobs in America
Wartzman, Rick

I'm enjoying it :hangloose:

I would like to read that book, too. I have a feeling it would be a good reading companion for an organizational communication, sociology and business course in college (interdisciplinary).

The HBO special was outstanding as well :hangloose:

I realize this post was years ago but are you still doing this? It sounds so very interesting I must say.....

Wouldn't it be wonderful to join a book-club similar to The Jane Austen Book Club....... :glasses:

Oh, wow, yes -- that was several years ago, homoe! I'm surprised that I even revealed that private aspect about myself here on the boards in our community. I tend to turn inward and tinker with music like this, attempt my own score of music.....and no, I don't do it often, really. I rarely do it. In the past, I've done this when I am processing a particular hurt in my life..... :blush: That's amazing to me that you found my post from years ago :rrose:

It's like you are in my head, literally! Have I told you or expressed my profound gratitude for telling me about the movie The Jane Austen Book Club??? Homoe?? Is it a book, too?? That is one of many reasons I liked this movie SOOOO much! I liked how all the members of this book club were chosen to participate in the "book club" and how each person seemed inexplicably linked to another member by way of close friendship, except the guy (!) And how each person read particular books authored by Jane Austen and brought their own interpretation of each story to the monthly group get-together....the co-mingling of ideas based on their own interpretation and understanding, born out of their own life experience, was priceless! I can't thank you enough for practically reaching out to me and telling me about books or movies to read or watch! You're such a breath of fresh air and I feel so very lucky to know you! *Thank you, {{{{{homoe}}}}}* :balloon:

Yes Miss Katz......

The Jane Austen Book Club is a 2004 novel by American author Karen Joy Fowler. The story, which takes place near Sacramento, California, centers on a book club consisting of five women and one man who meet once a month to discuss Jane Austen's six novels. It was a critical success and became a national bestseller.

I read it years ago but I can't remember if the movie stays true to the book or not to be very honest.......

As much as I hated doing it, I dusted off my Fire, charged it up and am re-reading Grisham's “The Racketeer” IMHO his FINEST book!

Unlike many of his others, it has no soapbox to stand on and is not out to teach lessons about justice. This book is much more duplicitous than that. In its early stages it does follow the familiar Grisham template, in which a lawyer finds himself unexpectedly in legal trouble. But then it breaks out into the exhilarating tale of how Mal, a disbarred attorney, now a savvy, self-taught legal scholar, leads his pursuers on a long winding chase.

May I suggest this one if you have not read it yet........

Rereading Jane Shepard's Kickass Plays for Women - there's another theatre project in my future...

Nomadland : surviving America in the twenty-first century / Jessica Bruder.
 

Employers have discovered a new, low-cost labor pool, made up largely of transient older Americans. Finding that social security comes up short, often underwater on mortgages, these invisible casualties of the Great Recession have taken to the road by the tens of thousands in late-model RVs, travel trailers, and vans, forming a growing community of nomads: migrant laborers who call themselves "workampers." Bruder hits the road to get to know her subjects, accompanying them from job to job in the dark underbelly of the American economy, while celebrating their resilience and creativity.

------------------


Fascinating.

This sounds like a fantastic book to read, considering we have been living in a 40 foot fifth wheel for the last year. Putting this on my must read list.

I'm reading a series of adult short stories by Roald Dahl, he of James and the Giant Peach fame. Some odd stuff to be sure.

He was married to Patricia Neal for 30 years. I always admired her especially post strokes.

Being smack dab in the middle of people who truly live a nomad lifestyle has definitely opened my eyes. A lot of families are doing it too so that they can "see" America. They've pulled their children out of brick and mortar schools so they can be home-schooled. It also makes it easier for one parent to stay home if you want to look at a financial angle. We also ran into woman and men in the traveling nurse field who love what they do and love that they can travel and it really only costs them fuel and fee for a spot to hook up at. The older people we ran into are semi retired and they also travel to where the work is. A friend of ours retired from OSHA as an inspector who now runs his own business while still enjoying the perks of retirement and travel all rolled into a rolling house. Right now for instance half of the people here in the park were in are line man, who here soon will be heading south for the winter. Another thing, not sure if it is mentioned in the book is that some parks are putting an age limit on the RV's they allow into their park. Anything over ten years old has to pass the how does it look test. Then there are the ones who only do motor coaches and won't even look at tow-able units no matter what their age is. Anyway just some random thoughts from someone living, although it is only for another month in our RV.

Sounds very interesting, Kobi....

Kobi? Does the author give an neutral scientific account for the background of the people who have particular financial resources to even afford to pay for gasoline or own an R. V. or 5th wheel trailer? Do they mention the class standing they once we're counted as members? Things of this nature?

I ask because my mother is elderly, she's still working an terrific (aka horrific ) schedule as an nurse in an penitentiary, plans to go out on medical leave soon, and sold her house to my sister, just to get that gorilla off her back because in Idaho (land of original fascist bigotry :| ), you can't get Healthcare unless it's through your employer, and employee sponsored health care is an massive joke --- employers get a huge tax break to give it's employees virtually non-existent coverage : my mother is footing the medical bills for three siblings who can't get medical coverage to save their lives. If not for my mother working herself to death, all four of them would be penniless, have no care, have no place to live, etc.

I'm guessing the author gives an look at "poverty" in terms of those who are trying to bridge the fucked up chasms between age and in terms of small sector employment that most others couldn't even participate in, unless their social mobility allows them to in particular terms that others could not even hurdle.

But I agree with you, the subject in the book seems fascinating.

Wild Dogs
 

Helen Humphreys- Wild Dogs

Explores how humans are attracted to and fearful of the wildness they sense within themselves and those they love.

I would love to read that book but I know it would break my heart hearing of how older and less fortunate people are being taken advantage of!

The subtle art of not giving a fuck : a counterintuitive approach to living a good life / Mark Manson.
 

For decades, we've been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "Fuck positivity," blogger Mark Manson says. "Let's be honest, shit is fucked and we have to live with it."

This book is his antidote to the coddling, let's-all-feel-good mindset that has infected modern society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up.

Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited: "Not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault."

Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek. There are only so many things we can care about, so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear.

While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with stories and profane, ruthless humor.

-------------------------------------


That is a pretty cleaned up synopsis of this book.

After about 2 chapters, my brain was just seeing this:

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Will I finish reading it. Fuck no. :|

iGen
 

iGen : why today's super-connected kids are growing up less rebellious, more tolerant, less happy--and completely unprepared for adulthood (and what that means for the rest of us) - Jean M. Twenge, PhD

Analyzes how the young people born in the mid-1990s and later significantly differ from those of previous generations, examining how social media and texting may be behind today's unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness.

-------



Just started this. Hoping it is a worthwhile read.

Sweet Bitter by Stephanie Danler


I ran across this at a used bookstore, and seeing how I'd always wanted to read it picked it up for a mere buck! I'm only on page 52 but I'm somewhat disappointed! Hopefully it'll pick up.

The Secret of Spellshadow Manor by Bella Forest

I am currently reading The Jane Austen Book Club (by Karen Joy Fowler), but recently mY sweet Santa gifted two other books to me, which I can hardly wait to read!

I received Mildred Pierce (by James M. Cain) and The Rackateer (by John Grisham)! :balloon:

I actually saw the HBO miniseries called Mildred Pierce back in July, when I was house sitting for my BFF. MP was incredibly rich with memorable times of the past (The Depression era, etc).

I have read lots of books by John Grisham and I've yet to ever be disappointed by any crime novel or historical era novel that he's ever written, so I'm definitely going to enjoy reading The Rackateer! I just recently learned tho, that Grisham just had another story published and I can't recall the title of the book right now, but the story centers upon an lawyer prosecuting an case pertaining to For- Profit schools being held accountable for crimes again people and society.

In other reading news, Tom Hanks just wrote his first book ever. It's called Uncommon Type, which is an collection of an variety of stories and interwoven throughout the book is his life long hobby of collecting interesting typewriters! This book looks like an great book to read and keep in your private collection of books at home!

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