Let's Talk About It has yet to begin this year. The first book was Pilgrim on Tinker Creek or at Tinker Creek scheduled for Jan. 12. The presenter called saying he was sick & it was rescheduled for February. So, I stopped trying to read Tinker Creek & started on Who Owns the West. Much better book, but I got started on Touching Stars by Emilie Richards & never did get back to Who Owns the West. So, Wednesday, Jan. 26, I got a call from Larsen-Sant Library that the presenter had fallen on the ice & Let's Talk About It has been rescheduled. Ok, the next one is Wednesday, Feb. 2. I can't remember what the name of the book is, but I need to finish Touching Stars & the new book for February for the Whitney 2nd Ward book club is The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.
Then I have There's No Place Like Home by Fern Michaels on interlibrary loan from LANDER, WYOMING. Yes, Wyoming. I didn't know they were part of our consortium of libraries. I have to finish Touching Stars, The Forgotten Garden & No Place Like Home & return them to the library. I can't renew them.
I am 80% of the way finished with Touching Stars & I'm getting bored. Bored, I tell you. I seldom get bored with a book, but … this seems to be one of them. Did you know that John Wilkes Boothe supposedly was NOT killed when & where they thought he was? I sure didn't. I thought he was killed in a warehouse, not some barn in Virginia. Well, this book brings up the theory he wasn't killed, but lived to a ripe old age in Texas. But must have stopped in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia on his way.
Mother had the book No Place Like Home on a digital book from Talking Books. Don-Mike heard parts of it while Mother was listening to it & wanted to read the book. Luana heard parts of the book & Mother told her about it & she wants to read it. So do I. I let Don-Mike have it first. He read it in one sitting. He said he kept trying to find a stopping place & couldn't, so he sat up until 2 a.m. reading it. I offered to let Luana have it next, but she has a daughter & her family here visiting & knows she won't have time to read it. I don't know if I will or not.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Madame Librarian
One of my favorite stage production is "The Music Man." I love the music. I love the Marian the Librarian character & the song Harold sings to her, "Madame Librarian."
So, where am I going with this? There are good librarians & not so good librarians. Dare I say, "bad" librarians?
Because Mother has macular degeneration & is legally blind, she receives books & magazines from Talking Books. She can have 6 books at a time from Talking Books, 2 cassettes (green boxes) & 4 digital (blue boxes). Well, the books come in fits & starts. She gets books she has absolutely no interest in. I started keeping track of her books on a separate account on Goodreads. So, I know when things are in series & by reading the synopsis I have a pretty good idea as to whether she'll like the book or not. The reader can make or break a book though & I can't predict that.
She got 6 books before the holiday weekend. I sent 2 books back before even taking them over to her. Then, I didn't take one book over because it was #4 in a series & she hadn't read #3, so I held on to it so I could call the state library today, since yesterday was a holiday. I took 3 books over to her house. One was a book I was pretty sure she wouldn't like, but it was iffy & I thought I'd let her decide. One was book 8 in a series & she hadn't read the other 7 books. It looked like it could probably be read out of order. And one was a book she wanted & I had ordered it. One out of 6 ain't bad.
Today, I called the state library. I got a librarian named Loretta. I mention her name so I have it documented. I told her I was calling for my mother, & gave her Mother's name. She wanted me to spell it. So I spelled Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N. Monson. What's so hard about Monson? Maybe she thought I said Johnson. Or maybe she wanted me to spell Odetta, but then again, how many Odettas are there? Much less Odetta Monson? I figured if she got Monson, she could figure out Odetta. Then she snippily said, "She's not my patron." I didn't say, but thought, "Well, then transfer me." She asked if she could help me. I started telling her my problem & she interrupted me & told me Mother could only have 6 books out at a time & she was at her limit. I said I knew that, but I was calling about books in series. She had 2 books from 2 different series that were out of order. I wanted to order the series. I do this all the time & have never had a rude librarian yet. She kept interrupting me. I told her I had sent 2 books back before the weekend, they had probably sat in the mailbox all weekend but were on their way.
I finally got my questions out, but at last I lost it & said, "Look, Sweetheart, you are not listening. I sent 2 books back before the weekend. Once I get off the phone, I will drop these 3 books in the mailbox. But she is out of books." I thanked her for her help & snapped the phone shut. Ok, 2 books plus 3 books makes 6 books, right?
My husband had been listening to me & he said, "She wasn't listening at all was she?" I still don't know if Mother is going to get Opal, book 3 from the Dakotah Treasures series by Lauraine Snelling or not. But I sent Amethyst, book 4, back. Nor do I know if she's going to start getting Sisterchicks in order. I guess we'll just have to wait & see, but if I ever get Loretta again, I will either hang up or ask for another librarian.
Don & I dropped the books off at the post office, did a few errands & came home. I needed to take some meds over to Mother's, so I went over to her house. When I got there, she was obsessing over BOOKS!! Grrr. She had book 5 of The Work & The Glory series on cassettes. I had told her it was book 5 on Sunday & she needed the other books first. I also told her the Larsen-Sant Library has that series on cassette. But did she listen to me? No. Her sister told her she couldn't listen to that set of tapes because it was book 5 & she needed the first ones. Then Mother told me she had the other books. I said, yes, she did have the other books, but they weren't on tape. How was she going to see to read them? I spied a blue box & groaned. Oh, crud, I thought all the Talking Books were back. I had been so frustrated over the librarian at Talking Books I hadn't been doing the math right.
So, I snatched up the book & asked Mother about it. Had she read it, was she reading it? Oh, that, where did you just get that, she wanted to know. I said I had picked it up off the digital player. "Oh, I didn't like it, there was killing." Well, ya, that's the book I didn't think she'd like.
So, I told her if I hurried I could run to the library & get The Work & The Glory, Book 1 on cassette. "Oh," she says, "do they have that series?" I told her yes, I was pretty sure they did. At least, I didn't say, "Mother! I told you on Sunday they have this series on cassette."
So, I came running home, got my library card, the 2 books that were due back & ran to the library. Hallelujah, 3 of my favorite librarians all working at once!! How did I luck out? I put my books on the Check In cart & happily went off to the audio book section. I found Book 1 on cassette of The Work & the Glory, then thought I'd look to see if there were some books in paperback of Emilie Richards' Shenandoah Valley series. One of the librarians was shelving books on the aisle I thought the paperbacks were on, so we talked & visited for a few minutes. I couldn't see the paperbacks so I went an aisle over. There she was again, so I told her I was looking for the paperbacks. She said she'd been hiding them while we were talking. I found a book & went to check out. I was told I still had a book out. I said no I'd returned it. I told her where I had set the books. Then all 3 librarians started talking. I had returned The Twelfth Angel by Og Mandino. They thought it was another book with angel in the title. Then Peggy said, "I think I shelved The Twelfth Angel." Laura said, "No, it's right here." & held up whatever angel book she thought it was. Peggy took off to the stacks & came back with the book I had just returned. Theresa had taken off for the audio stacks & came back with The Christmas List by Richard Paul Evans and said, "Did you return this?" I said, "Yes. I put the books right there on the shelf. Shouldn't I have done that?" Peggy laughed & said, "Yes. You can put the books there, just bonk us over the head & let us know when you do." So, my books were checked in & a hold was slapped on The Twelfth Angel.
The fiasco at the local library was funny. We laughed over it & there were no hard feelings. We got it straightened out. But … there are some librarians that work there that remind me of Loretta & it could have been a bad scene.
I took the set of cassettes to Mother & she's overwhelmed. There are 12 cassettes. How is she going to see "what is what?" I had thought of that. There are no Braille bumps on them either. But she NEEDS to have books to listen to. I got a permanent marker out, numbered each tape & put A & B on the ones that didn't have A & B. Then she asked me to mark her set of books. She was worried because there were tapes missing, what was she going to do? I told her she wouldn't be reading Book 5 for a while. I looked to see how many tapes were supposed to be in the box, 16. There were 20 slots. I explained there were 20 slots, but only 16 tapes. She wasn't missing any. The same thing for book 1. There are 20 slots, but only 12 tapes. I marked her books.
I can't wait to see what challenges she will face trying to "read" this series. Or, maybe I can.
To be continued …
So, where am I going with this? There are good librarians & not so good librarians. Dare I say, "bad" librarians?
Because Mother has macular degeneration & is legally blind, she receives books & magazines from Talking Books. She can have 6 books at a time from Talking Books, 2 cassettes (green boxes) & 4 digital (blue boxes). Well, the books come in fits & starts. She gets books she has absolutely no interest in. I started keeping track of her books on a separate account on Goodreads. So, I know when things are in series & by reading the synopsis I have a pretty good idea as to whether she'll like the book or not. The reader can make or break a book though & I can't predict that.
She got 6 books before the holiday weekend. I sent 2 books back before even taking them over to her. Then, I didn't take one book over because it was #4 in a series & she hadn't read #3, so I held on to it so I could call the state library today, since yesterday was a holiday. I took 3 books over to her house. One was a book I was pretty sure she wouldn't like, but it was iffy & I thought I'd let her decide. One was book 8 in a series & she hadn't read the other 7 books. It looked like it could probably be read out of order. And one was a book she wanted & I had ordered it. One out of 6 ain't bad.
Today, I called the state library. I got a librarian named Loretta. I mention her name so I have it documented. I told her I was calling for my mother, & gave her Mother's name. She wanted me to spell it. So I spelled Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N. Monson. What's so hard about Monson? Maybe she thought I said Johnson. Or maybe she wanted me to spell Odetta, but then again, how many Odettas are there? Much less Odetta Monson? I figured if she got Monson, she could figure out Odetta. Then she snippily said, "She's not my patron." I didn't say, but thought, "Well, then transfer me." She asked if she could help me. I started telling her my problem & she interrupted me & told me Mother could only have 6 books out at a time & she was at her limit. I said I knew that, but I was calling about books in series. She had 2 books from 2 different series that were out of order. I wanted to order the series. I do this all the time & have never had a rude librarian yet. She kept interrupting me. I told her I had sent 2 books back before the weekend, they had probably sat in the mailbox all weekend but were on their way.
I finally got my questions out, but at last I lost it & said, "Look, Sweetheart, you are not listening. I sent 2 books back before the weekend. Once I get off the phone, I will drop these 3 books in the mailbox. But she is out of books." I thanked her for her help & snapped the phone shut. Ok, 2 books plus 3 books makes 6 books, right?
My husband had been listening to me & he said, "She wasn't listening at all was she?" I still don't know if Mother is going to get Opal, book 3 from the Dakotah Treasures series by Lauraine Snelling or not. But I sent Amethyst, book 4, back. Nor do I know if she's going to start getting Sisterchicks in order. I guess we'll just have to wait & see, but if I ever get Loretta again, I will either hang up or ask for another librarian.
Don & I dropped the books off at the post office, did a few errands & came home. I needed to take some meds over to Mother's, so I went over to her house. When I got there, she was obsessing over BOOKS!! Grrr. She had book 5 of The Work & The Glory series on cassettes. I had told her it was book 5 on Sunday & she needed the other books first. I also told her the Larsen-Sant Library has that series on cassette. But did she listen to me? No. Her sister told her she couldn't listen to that set of tapes because it was book 5 & she needed the first ones. Then Mother told me she had the other books. I said, yes, she did have the other books, but they weren't on tape. How was she going to see to read them? I spied a blue box & groaned. Oh, crud, I thought all the Talking Books were back. I had been so frustrated over the librarian at Talking Books I hadn't been doing the math right.
So, I snatched up the book & asked Mother about it. Had she read it, was she reading it? Oh, that, where did you just get that, she wanted to know. I said I had picked it up off the digital player. "Oh, I didn't like it, there was killing." Well, ya, that's the book I didn't think she'd like.
So, I told her if I hurried I could run to the library & get The Work & The Glory, Book 1 on cassette. "Oh," she says, "do they have that series?" I told her yes, I was pretty sure they did. At least, I didn't say, "Mother! I told you on Sunday they have this series on cassette."
So, I came running home, got my library card, the 2 books that were due back & ran to the library. Hallelujah, 3 of my favorite librarians all working at once!! How did I luck out? I put my books on the Check In cart & happily went off to the audio book section. I found Book 1 on cassette of The Work & the Glory, then thought I'd look to see if there were some books in paperback of Emilie Richards' Shenandoah Valley series. One of the librarians was shelving books on the aisle I thought the paperbacks were on, so we talked & visited for a few minutes. I couldn't see the paperbacks so I went an aisle over. There she was again, so I told her I was looking for the paperbacks. She said she'd been hiding them while we were talking. I found a book & went to check out. I was told I still had a book out. I said no I'd returned it. I told her where I had set the books. Then all 3 librarians started talking. I had returned The Twelfth Angel by Og Mandino. They thought it was another book with angel in the title. Then Peggy said, "I think I shelved The Twelfth Angel." Laura said, "No, it's right here." & held up whatever angel book she thought it was. Peggy took off to the stacks & came back with the book I had just returned. Theresa had taken off for the audio stacks & came back with The Christmas List by Richard Paul Evans and said, "Did you return this?" I said, "Yes. I put the books right there on the shelf. Shouldn't I have done that?" Peggy laughed & said, "Yes. You can put the books there, just bonk us over the head & let us know when you do." So, my books were checked in & a hold was slapped on The Twelfth Angel.
The fiasco at the local library was funny. We laughed over it & there were no hard feelings. We got it straightened out. But … there are some librarians that work there that remind me of Loretta & it could have been a bad scene.
I took the set of cassettes to Mother & she's overwhelmed. There are 12 cassettes. How is she going to see "what is what?" I had thought of that. There are no Braille bumps on them either. But she NEEDS to have books to listen to. I got a permanent marker out, numbered each tape & put A & B on the ones that didn't have A & B. Then she asked me to mark her set of books. She was worried because there were tapes missing, what was she going to do? I told her she wouldn't be reading Book 5 for a while. I looked to see how many tapes were supposed to be in the box, 16. There were 20 slots. I explained there were 20 slots, but only 16 tapes. She wasn't missing any. The same thing for book 1. There are 20 slots, but only 12 tapes. I marked her books.
I can't wait to see what challenges she will face trying to "read" this series. Or, maybe I can.
To be continued …
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
A reprieve
I just received a reprieve. When I received a phone call just a few minutes ago from Laura at the Larsen-Sant Library telling me the discussion for Let's Talk About It tomorrow night was canceled, I said, "Yes!" That's the good news. I had not read the book to be discussed, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. The bad news is it has been rescheduled for Feb. 23. We also put it in the paper as beginning tomorrow night.
So, why is Feb. 23 bad news? Because the book discussions that were supposed to be scheduled every other week, has now become weekly, beginning Feb. 9!! Argh!!
So, why is Feb. 23 bad news? Because the book discussions that were supposed to be scheduled every other week, has now become weekly, beginning Feb. 9!! Argh!!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
2011 word
I just finished reading Debbie Macomber's book Thursdays at Eight. A group of 4 women met during a journal writing class & when the class ended they kept meeting every Thursday morning at 8. Each woman chose a word for the year. I thought that was a great idea. In one of my cousin's daughter's blog entry, she said her word for this year will be "Joy." I'd never heard of a word for a year, then I picked up Thursdays at Eight & there was that idea again.
I threw it out in the Thursdays at Eight thread in the Goodreads Debbie Macomber's Novels group. Three of us have decided on words for the year. Mine is resolution as in a solution, settling of a problem, coming to terms with my life.
There are several things in my life I need to resolve, so I think resolution is a good choice.
I threw it out in the Thursdays at Eight thread in the Goodreads Debbie Macomber's Novels group. Three of us have decided on words for the year. Mine is resolution as in a solution, settling of a problem, coming to terms with my life.
There are several things in my life I need to resolve, so I think resolution is a good choice.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
New Year's traditions
We don't really have any New Year's traditions. This year I fed them bean & sausage soup. I used a can of black-eyed peas as part of the beans. Black-eyed peas & pork are supposed to be "lucky."
According to epicurious dot com
I read The New Year's Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini & there were some interesting traditions.
According to epicurious dot com
The six major categories of auspicious foods are grapes, greens, fish, pork, legumes, and cakes.It looks like I could have fed them clam chowder instead. We had black-eyed peas on New Year's for 2010 too, & I don't see 2010 was particularly lucky.
I read The New Year's Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini & there were some interesting traditions.
"I remember we had to clean the house thoroughly before we could give any thought to a celebration. Before midnight on New Year's Eve, the fireplaces had to be swept clean and the ashes carried outside. ... The purpose was to prepare yourselves and your home to begin the New Year with a fresh, clean slate, ..." ( p. 81 )Now, that would be a good resolution — have a spotless house to start the new year with. Sylvia shares some insight her mother-in-law gave her about resolutions. "A resolution is the settlement of a dispute," Sylvia said. ( p. 221 )
Monday, January 3, 2011
2010 summarized
I have been closing out my 2010 posts & spreadsheets. My 2011 spreadsheets are ready to go - nice & clean.
I read 48 books in 2010. Of those I read 3 books each by Jennifer Chiaverini, Patricia Wiles & Mary Higgins Clark. I read 2 books each by Anne Perry, Louisa May Alcott, Jillian Hart, Joanne Harris & Luanne Rice.
The genre with the most books read was mystery with 9. Memoirs & LDS fiction came in second with 6. Historical fiction came in with 5. I don't usually read memoirs. If I had read all the memoirs I started, it would have come in first. The Let's Talk About It reading program is heavy on memoirs. I only read 1 of the 4 I started there. I am still reading one from the Whitney 2nd Ward book club. I borrowed it from Luana. I need to finish it so I can return it.
Best book of 2010? That's a hard one. Most of the books I read in 2010 were given 4 or 5 stars. The best book is a toss up between Chocolat by Joanne Harris or The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows.
Worst book? The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. I did not finish it. I have a copy of the book. I've debated about what to do with it. I've almost decided to throw it away. As far as the ones I finished, I did not care for Blessings by Anna Quindlin. Last Kiss by Luanne Rice was another one. I read these books about half way & then skipped through the rest of the book. Is that called reading? I plowed through A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton.
I read 48 books in 2010. Of those I read 3 books each by Jennifer Chiaverini, Patricia Wiles & Mary Higgins Clark. I read 2 books each by Anne Perry, Louisa May Alcott, Jillian Hart, Joanne Harris & Luanne Rice.
The genre with the most books read was mystery with 9. Memoirs & LDS fiction came in second with 6. Historical fiction came in with 5. I don't usually read memoirs. If I had read all the memoirs I started, it would have come in first. The Let's Talk About It reading program is heavy on memoirs. I only read 1 of the 4 I started there. I am still reading one from the Whitney 2nd Ward book club. I borrowed it from Luana. I need to finish it so I can return it.
Best book of 2010? That's a hard one. Most of the books I read in 2010 were given 4 or 5 stars. The best book is a toss up between Chocolat by Joanne Harris or The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows.
Worst book? The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. I did not finish it. I have a copy of the book. I've debated about what to do with it. I've almost decided to throw it away. As far as the ones I finished, I did not care for Blessings by Anna Quindlin. Last Kiss by Luanne Rice was another one. I read these books about half way & then skipped through the rest of the book. Is that called reading? I plowed through A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Historical Fiction Challenge
I am such a sucker for challenges. I found one on BookDrunkard about historical fiction. I can't believe I signed up for it, but ... I do like historical fiction & the rules say you can ready any kind of historical fiction. I only signed up for 10 in 2011, that's less than 1 book a month. I should be able to manage that. I only read 5 in 2010, but this should make me push a little harder. I swapped out Favorite Author for Historical Fiction in my personal reading challenges.
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