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« Reply #600 on: August 30, 2018, 05:41:05 PM »

Reading "Airport", 205th page. This book reads rapidly, good easy style, technical special terms aside. Add to it that sth. takes place everytime - disappearance, feuds, passengers angry at airport workers, smb. said sth., gossip, anxiety, impatience, people rush etc. It's cool & funny to read.
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« Reply #601 on: September 15, 2018, 06:14:11 AM »

Finished reading "Aiport". 4.5/5. In 10 scale 8.
Reading Turgenev's "Fathers & Children" or what's the English title since school. 1stly must say I really like the book's fragrance. There's 2 types of book fragrance I like - sweet vanilla/sugar/smidgen of salt mix & vintage typewriter office paper/ modern book fragrance mix (can't describe it better). "Fathers..." is 1st fragrance. About characters - dislike everybody. We'll see if it changes but 120+ pages didn't depict anybody in the least bit interesting. The book's premise could be to few what they say "food for thought". But just like at school, it doesn't impress.
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« Reply #602 on: September 15, 2018, 06:28:07 AM »



For the second time this year. With thanks to theSuperMetroid at PSF for pointing me in the direction of this beautiful book. Roll Eyes
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« Reply #603 on: September 22, 2018, 06:13:25 PM »

F. Rabelais "Gargantua & Pantagruel" - reading few pages. Eccentric. We'll see if it's good.
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« Reply #604 on: September 22, 2018, 08:41:07 PM »

Tolstoy’s Hadji Murat.
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« Reply #605 on: September 23, 2018, 03:53:32 AM »

F. Rabelais "Gargantua & Pantagruel" - reading few pages. Eccentric. We'll see if it's good.

I read that many moons ago. It's hilarious at times but there's rather a lot of it. Grin
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« Reply #606 on: September 26, 2018, 10:00:55 PM »

Joseph Conrad "The Secret Agent". "Sabotage" (1936), favorite "British phase" Hitch film, is loose adaptation.
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« Reply #607 on: September 27, 2018, 04:50:03 AM »

Nothing right now--just doing sudoku puzzles. Grin

The last thing I read was this simply stunning in-depth analysis of the Hitchcock film Vertigo:

http://petsoundsforum.com/thread/2639/depth-analysis-vertigo-1958
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« Reply #608 on: September 27, 2018, 05:41:27 AM »

I can't check the link due to slow Internet but if it's by Supermetroid, I did read it way back when. I'm interested in film reviews I'd seen. Many interesting points raised. Which shouldn't mean absolute agreement. Main view difference is I find the film boring. Kim Novak's beauty isn't my bag, either as blonde or worse, brunette. Frankly, I didn't see she showed distinction between the 2 ladies convincingly. Sth. crept in in the eyes maybe that stayed the same in 2 completely different personalities. But, like I said, interesting points & angles (f.ex. the names' analysis, Scottie's character weakness reasons, Madge's portrait etc.) in SM's review. What still puzzles me about "Vertigo", why when Madge painted herself a la Carlotta & showed Scottie, he didn't gladly accept or couldn't be fine with it? It's just painting. Such bizarre thing to get super-serious about it.
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« Reply #609 on: September 27, 2018, 06:13:04 AM »

"Murphy" by Beckett.  I think he wrote 3 short novels. "Murphy" is some good fun. Kinda crazy, full of characters.
Nice bits of humor. A bit thin if you are looking for psychological and narrative oomph.  But there are touches...

The great aspect...the language.  His vocabulary is thrilling.  Worth reading just for that. (And the
vocabulary is part of the humor.)

I had started one of the other short novels ("Molloy") years ago and lost interest early on. Maybe I'll go back
to it.
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« Reply #610 on: September 27, 2018, 12:18:13 PM »

I can't check the link due to slow Internet but if it's by Supermetroid, I did read it way back when. I'm interested in film reviews I'd seen. Many interesting points raised. Which shouldn't mean absolute agreement. Main view difference is I find the film boring. Kim Novak's beauty isn't my bag, either as blonde or worse, brunette. Frankly, I didn't see she showed distinction between the 2 ladies convincingly. Sth. crept in in the eyes maybe that stayed the same in 2 completely different personalities. But, like I said, interesting points & angles (f.ex. the names' analysis, Scottie's character weakness reasons, Madge's portrait etc.) in SM's review. What still puzzles me about "Vertigo", why when Madge painted herself a la Carlotta & showed Scottie, he didn't gladly accept or couldn't be fine with it? It's just painting. Such bizarre thing to get super-serious about it.

That's the one. If you like, I'll put your question to SM (off-forum). I'm sure she'll appreciate your interest--and the fact that you read her analysis. Smiley
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« Reply #611 on: September 27, 2018, 02:58:21 PM »

Ha, why "off-forum"? It isn't secret question. You can paste the question to the linked thread directly. That way you wouldn't have to pass her answer here - I could read it there. Wink Ta in advance.
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« Reply #612 on: September 27, 2018, 03:33:27 PM »

Ha, why "off-forum"? It isn't secret question. You can paste the question to the linked thread directly. That way you wouldn't have to pass her answer here - I could read it there. Wink Ta in advance.

RR, I'd say your answer lies in theSuperMetroid's description of Midge (not Madge) in the first post in her thread, in the paragraph that begins: "While Midge doesn't leave the film..." 

http://petsoundsforum.com/thread/2639/depth-analysis-vertigo-1958?page=1&scrollTo=67005
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« Reply #613 on: September 27, 2018, 03:42:31 PM »

So I see! Still doesn't make sense. Then again, Scottie in general didn't make sense.
Thanks. I'd seen "Vertigo" last time last yr & just rmbr the name starts with "m" & ends with "dge".
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« Reply #614 on: October 01, 2018, 01:46:20 AM »

Kole Omotoso "Memories Of Our Recent Boom". I didn't read any books by this Nigerian writer, picked this book in library when checking the freebies. The other books were usual suspects Theodor Dreiser, Lermontov, Romain Rolland. Wished to read sth. fresh, plus nice annotation. It's about boy Seven's childhood, school, adulthood, his fam struggles, survival, various social events during the main character's living. It's rather thin but reads long due to the many various Nigerian traditional food names, gods, hierarchy, clothes etc. There's commentary by translator to each Nigerian word in the text. Nobody in his village can speak English, including mother, sister, brother. They speak native yoruba language/ dialect. Seven would be exception as he managed to get high scores to be in city school. By now, it's interesting to read it. We'll see what next.
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« Reply #615 on: October 01, 2018, 04:48:10 AM »

That sounds like an interesting book, something I'd love to read!
Unfortunately it is looking like I won't be able to unless it's at a library somewhere. It's out of print and the prices I saw for used copies ranged from 285 to over 400 dollars! Can't afford that.
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« Reply #616 on: October 01, 2018, 11:30:44 AM »

I'm about halfway through Don DeLillo's Underworld. I tried to read it around the time it came out 20-some years ago, but had trouble with it. Now, it's going by pretty easily.
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« Reply #617 on: October 02, 2018, 09:08:13 AM »

I'm reading The Romanov Sisters. It's a very interesting book giving info about the four daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra. They are largely neglected, the focus on most books focused on the one son, Alexei. (In this book his name is spelled "Alexey." I think that's how Alexandra transliterated his name. )
When I was a kid, looking at photos of this royal family, I was drawn to Anastasia. The other sisters looked rather matronly, but she looked like a regular girl. So far she's being a little imp, playing practical jokes etc. Will see if she grows out of it. There were persistent rumors that she had somehow survived the slaughter in July 1918, but remains found fairly recently, accounting for all of the royal family, put that to rest.
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"No White Flags." - Team Gleason

"(Brian) got into this really touching music with songs like 'In My Room', and 'Good Vibrations' was amazing. The melodies are so beautiful, almost perfect. I began to realize he was one of the most gifted writers of our generation." - Paul Simon

 "The best thing you can be 'like' in music is yourself." Dr. John
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« Reply #618 on: October 02, 2018, 10:01:58 AM »

We'd been taught in English the classic transliteration to names ending with "-ей" is "-ey" (Sergey, Andrey, Alexey, Barmaley). But, in international passports these names get written differently - Russian version Сергей /English translit Sergey, Андрей/Andrei (btw, keyboards in Russia got each key assigned to type single Latin letter & single Cyrillic, respectively upper & lower halves of the key. Very easy to switch language).

My fave is Mariya. Disregarding faves, they're 5 pretty kids. Nobody survived, there's no question & shouldn't be. Idiotic rumors. Pity, they could continue the family tree, conceive children, see the future.
NB. Didn't like Kole Omotoso's book. Finished reading & this is general review. By the time Seven is businessman, rich, star-diseased, it went downhill. Predictable dialogs & finale. Due to describing traditions & such, it's 2/5.
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« Reply #619 on: October 02, 2018, 12:25:40 PM »

It's good to read about the other daughters. They are treated very favorably in the book.
The book mentioned how Mariya was lumped in with Anastasia as the "little girls" even though she probably had more in common with the two older girls. Also she was the middle child.
I find it interesting that none of them married.

Thanks for telling me about that Omotoso book. I had been interested since there is still very little literature available around here written by Black African writers. I confess that the only book of that kind I have read was Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, which a lot of people here read in College, or at least when I was in College back in the day.
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« Reply #620 on: October 02, 2018, 03:27:18 PM »

Which African is C. Achebe? It's varied place. Describe the book shortly.
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« Reply #621 on: October 02, 2018, 04:42:23 PM »

Achebe was Nigerian.
It's been a long time since I read it but it's about a man who is forced to leave his village in Nigeria. When he comes back Whites have moved in and are affecting the culture. The natives want to fight back as their native culture is being adversely affected.
I remember it being a good, but "sad" book.
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 "The best thing you can be 'like' in music is yourself." Dr. John
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« Reply #622 on: October 03, 2018, 05:16:04 PM »

Hello to RRA1 and NOLABBF! Just had to jump in here...I'm going crazy at my new teaching job and have almost no time to post here, although I visit to read on occasion. My students are loving our unit on Russian history and I can't wait until we get to NII, Alexandra, and the children. A really interesting website on this and other related topics is www.alexanderpalace.org.  I found much information on the girls there, their personalities, surviving relatives who became involved in the Anastasia question, how the extended Romanov family got along (and did not), etc. (Did we know that Prince Philip gave his DNA to verify the remains that were found? This was particularly valuable because as a great-great grandson of Queen Victoria, he was Alexandra's grand-nephew; he was also the great-grandson of Christian IX of Denmark, while NII' mother was the king's daughter. Finally, Philip is a direct descendant of Czar NI. It gets too weird to get into the ways that he is related to NII and Alicky and kids via their numerous German relatives!
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« Reply #623 on: October 03, 2018, 06:33:34 PM »

Thanks for the info.
Interesting about Prince Philip being direct descendent of Nicholas I. I've known about his German connections but not this.
And it's interesting that Alexandra made certain that her children could speak English, more so than German
So complicatingly fascinating.
Is there a textbook you are using?
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 "The best thing you can be 'like' in music is yourself." Dr. John
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« Reply #624 on: October 04, 2018, 03:25:10 PM »

Yes, the whole extended family is truly fascinating. Alexandra's mother was Alice, Victoria and Albert's third child. Her sister was Philip's grandmother. Alice married a somewhat minor German royal and raised her children emphasizing their British heritage, British nannies and all. When Alice died after contracting the diphtheria she was nursing her kids through, Victoria played a large role in raising the surviving children. Alexandra was duly influenced in this manner, I suppose. By the way, another of Alexandra's sisters married NII' s uncle. She was killed in the Revolution. Especially interesting is all of the Romanovs to be exiled for the crime of marrying the wrong person. For instance, two of Alice's children married two of her siblings' children. Alexandra's brother, Ernst married first cousin "Ducky," who then left Ernst and married her other first cousin, who was also NII's Russian first cousin (through her mother.) NII and Alexandra were livid and the new couple were banned from Russia. Like all of the others, they returned during WWI, forgiven. Regarding language, French was the patois of the Russian royals and nobles. I read of cousins of NII who, as teens, made it a mischievous point to converse with society ladies in Russian and were called to task for it!

No, I don't use textbooks unless forced. I think that many kids dislike history, in part, because textbooks tend to be rather dull. I like to use primary sources, create PowerPoints with visuals,  and write my own text targeting information I want to cover and the various reading levels of my kids (which can be quite low). Today we watched a Russian Baba Yaga cartoon from 1940s and discussed the centrality of the pech (multi-use wood stove) in Russian culture. Next week, we make porridge and explore the living conditions of serfs.  Some kids will just sleep, others will love it, the rest will complain loudly that "this ain't history" because they are so used to reading textbooks and answering questions before falling asleep to their i-pods. Gotta love 'em!     
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