tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post8450547229316815758..comments2023-10-25T05:30:54.507-04:00Comments on Oh Get A Grip!: Love of My LifeAshe Barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03390519279886657608noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-51739898286034689552015-08-04T23:53:52.176-04:002015-08-04T23:53:52.176-04:00Great post, Lisabet, and interesting thread. Yes, ...Great post, Lisabet, and interesting thread. Yes, I think we should do "What are you reading now" on a regular basis. I love having an excuse to read "classics" now that I think I should have read many years ago (e.g. Jules Verne sci-fi from the mid-19th century). Sometimes a call-for-submissions is the prompt.Jean Robertahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08805088081675965859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-64649307349513239732015-08-04T14:26:39.146-04:002015-08-04T14:26:39.146-04:00Try "Understood Betsy" by Dorothy Canfie...Try "Understood Betsy" by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. Then the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, by Patricia Wrede, with the first of the 4 books being "Dealing With Dragons." I tutor young kids, and some of the voracious readers are girls, and I've loaned my books out to them, and they loved them. Then the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer, which is much more interesting and funny than the Harry Potter books. Fiona McGierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13495707848048468428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-78765748634875047322015-08-04T14:22:38.664-04:002015-08-04T14:22:38.664-04:00Luckily for Mom, she had dementia, so she didn'...Luckily for Mom, she had dementia, so she didn't realize she couldn't read anymore. She still carried books around, since that was her habit, and she had a bookmark in them, as if she was reading. Broke my heart that she would never read my book, making my first published book a bittersweet memory.<br /><br />Funny you should quote that song. When I beat myself up over the paltry income I bring in even with my college degree, and I attribute it to having taken so many years out of the full-time work-force to raise my kids, they remind me that we're still very close friends, and that my friends who went back to work always complain that their kids never talk to them anymore. So I guess I traded off future earning potential, for very intelligent children who've grown up to be my best friends, after my husband. I hate putting all of that weight on him, to pay for everything, but since I can't go back for a re-do, I try to content myself with our close relationship. I was there for all of their firsts, ran their scout groups, was a school lunch-mom and classroom volunteer, and Dad got to have them to himself on the nights and weekend days when I was at my crappy retail jobs. Such is life.Fiona McGierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13495707848048468428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-46585126417521063082015-08-04T10:53:41.699-04:002015-08-04T10:53:41.699-04:00My granddaughter has been a voracious reader since...My granddaughter has been a voracious reader since she was not quite five, but I can't interest her in many of the books I loved as a kid. Of course she's reading masses of good stuff that I never had a chance at, and as a nine-year-old doesn't want it read to her by anyone--in fact she hasn't for several years--so I miss sharing books with her. (But she loves to have me watch her play Minecraft on the computer so she can explain everything to me.)<br /><br />Hmm, now I know what I'll write about for Monday.Sacchi Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10801164916418570059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-83344251891482427022015-08-04T00:11:02.761-04:002015-08-04T00:11:02.761-04:00Hi Fiona,
Your comments started a song playing in...Hi Fiona,<br /><br />Your comments started a song playing in my mind: Harry Chapin's "Cats in the Cradle". <br /><br />A child arrived just the other day.<br />He came to the world in the usual way.<br />But there were jobs to do and bills to pay.<br />He learned to walk while I was away...<br /><br />You have to make time for life, no matter how impossible that might seem. <br /><br />Love the story about your mom. But if I ever lose the ability to read...I'm not sure that I'd want to continue existing. Lisabet Saraihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05162514190572269660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-5262184599784937242015-08-04T00:08:40.222-04:002015-08-04T00:08:40.222-04:00Blush. I had the same reaction when I wrote those ...Blush. I had the same reaction when I wrote those words. <br /><br />I'm not sure that I find it harder to read now than then. Less time to read, yes, but that's not necessarily bad. I savor my reading time. <br /><br />I do read differently now, as an author. I can't help but notice issues of craft. And I'm sometimes writing reviews in my head even as I read. But a great story can still sweep me away.Lisabet Saraihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05162514190572269660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-68392610910124176422015-08-04T00:07:02.372-04:002015-08-04T00:07:02.372-04:00Yes, I was thinking about that while writing this ...Yes, I was thinking about that while writing this post. Lisabet Saraihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05162514190572269660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-36889066324602096522015-08-04T00:06:42.293-04:002015-08-04T00:06:42.293-04:00How did you break your leg? (Can I guess...?)
Isn...How did you break your leg? (Can I guess...?)<br /><br />Isn't it funny how disasters can turn out to have positive consequences?Lisabet Saraihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05162514190572269660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-31835166738912172212015-08-03T22:45:32.997-04:002015-08-03T22:45:32.997-04:00Time, Garce, time...we had a lot of it, and nothin...Time, Garce, time...we had a lot of it, and nothing to do when we were kids. Now we have jobs, bills to pay, people to interact with, etc. It all takes time. I try to read everyday, but find that when I put it off until late, I fall asleep after a few pages, even when I love the book!<br /><br />I read all of the time also. The first book I read and reread was a book of Greek mythology for kids, complete with drawings. I read Shakespeare for fun when I was in grade school. I read "The Godfather" when I was in 7th grade, thusly: started it over breakfast, read constantly, even taking the book into the bathroom with me...read through lunch, continued reading until dinner...right after dinner, picked the book up again, read until about 3 in the morning, until it was done. Longest book I'd read up to then, over 1,000 pages. And my first book with sex in it, even though it was brutish and violent, for the most part. But it was sex.<br /><br />BTW, even when she'd lost the ability to read, my mom continued carrying a book with her always, when she lived in the assisted living place. She fooled me, so much so that I gave her a copy of my first published book, waiting for her to praise me. She didn't understand that I'd written it, and even when I tried to read it to her, she couldn't follow the story at all. But I still write what Mom liked to read: romance, with naughty bits. Because I was only about 12 when she let me read "The Sheik" and "Sons of the Sheik," by E.M.Hull. She explained it had to be a woman author, because the sex, though all implied, was so hot. Thanks, Mom!Fiona McGierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13495707848048468428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-19607547990999982492015-08-03T21:00:27.628-04:002015-08-03T21:00:27.628-04:00"Oh beautiful pussy! Pussy my love!"
I..."Oh beautiful pussy! Pussy my love!"<br /><br />Isn't it wonderful how the meaning of words change over time even as we do? I haven't been reading much lately, but this makes me want to read more again. Above all we have to continuously feed our heads. Why was it so much easier to read when we were kids than now?<br /><br />GarceGarceushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11160407485298015371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-8197052582456609172015-08-03T10:54:24.427-04:002015-08-03T10:54:24.427-04:00Also like to say that I wouldn't mind doing th...Also like to say that I wouldn't mind doing the "What I'm Reading" topic again. If not quarterly like we did before, maybe twice a year? We received some good recommendations here.Daddy Xhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12927663248424944119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-63507002588541159992015-08-03T10:51:04.232-04:002015-08-03T10:51:04.232-04:00I didn't get my first library card until turni...I didn't get my first library card until turning seven. I remember a lady at the library telling me I wasn't old enough to read "Robin Hood". I thought *I can read. What is she talking about?* Several days later, I brought the book back, unable to comprehend it. A lesson. <br /><br />My father turned me on to several series of boys' books, some about pioneers, civil war stories, etc. It was a good transition to young boys books from the comics.<br /><br />When I broke my leg in second grade, my parents brought comic books to the hospital, where I spent five weeks in traction and only 27 days in school, so was left back to do the grade. When I got back the following year, I was a very good reader and wound up the smartest kid in class for the rest of primary school.Daddy Xhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12927663248424944119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-20738445763052888332015-08-03T07:57:49.988-04:002015-08-03T07:57:49.988-04:00Short but snarky! Thanks, Jeremy!
Short but snarky! Thanks, Jeremy!<br />Lisabet Saraihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05162514190572269660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156334464585894857.post-87997001179733604892015-08-03T07:49:28.256-04:002015-08-03T07:49:28.256-04:00Isaac Asimov. Yeah, I had the vague idea that he w...Isaac Asimov. Yeah, I had the vague idea that he was an arrogant schmuck. But I read a lot of him in middle school, and as an adult I remembered enough to write a brief parody:<br /><br />http://www.jonathancaws-elwitt.com/foudnation.htmlJeremy Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01980177431018869829noreply@blogger.com