twister947
Mama Tried
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The Professor's House.
Willa Cather
Willa Cather
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Willa Cather was a crossword answer last week and I was once again reminded that I still haven’t read anything by her. Maybe one day. Did you enjoy The Professor’s House? Would you recommend it?The Professor's House.
Willa Cather
Willa Cather was a crossword answer last week and I was once again reminded that I still haven’t read anything by her. Maybe one day. Did you enjoy The Professor’s House? Would you recommend it?
Yes, that’s always interesting to me as well when reading books from decades and centuries ago. People are people with all their relatable happy and sad moments, some things never change. But it’s often poignant how the lack of experience or knowledge of certain cultural concepts, technological advances or major historical events shapes the characters and the choices the writer makes.It was written a hundred years ago...I enjoyed a pov that lacks the experience of the century past.
The Professor's House.
Willa Cather
Willa Cather was a crossword answer last week and I was once again reminded that I still haven’t read anything by her.
I’ve been reading chick lit in Swedish. Kärleksdans i obalans is up next. It’s by Anna Jansson, the same that writes the gruesome Nordic noir detective stories. This series is about a hair salon in Visby and there’s nary a corpse to be found.
Yes, that’s always interesting to me as well when reading books from decades and centuries ago. People are people with all their relatable happy and sad moments, some things never change
Isn’t it queer: there are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes over for thousands of years.
But it’s often poignant how the lack of experience or knowledge of certain cultural concepts, technological advances or major historical events shapes the characters and the choices the writer makes.
In Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon (great book btw) the writer imagines the future of humankind thousands, millions of years into the future, but somehow space travel seems so out of reach that it doesn’t occur in the book until centuries into the future. The book was written in 1930, and less than 40 years later man was in the moon.
I’ve always found this bit intriguing and a reminder of how difficult but important it is to imagine the future.
Brilliant. I had a front-row seat as the internet destroyed my industry. Bowie foresaw everything about it. And we're still just seeing the tip of the iceberg.I read O Pioneers a few years ago and liked it. I think I found it via my love for Laura Ingalls Wilders books - when I was looking for a book with her letters perhaps.
For some reason I didn’t get back to reading any more.
I find that this happens sometimes when I get a lot of books digitally at once by a writer. I don’t know if it gets overwhelming or what it is.
It’s funny, because since you talked about them, lots of others have mentioned Jansson’s non crime fiction and how much they like them.
I had a nagging feeling that something like that was actually in O Pioneers so I went looking and found it:
We were just talking about how much the internet has changed the way we think and interact and just generally structure our lives and our days.
Still, just decades ago when it all began (almost died writing decades there ) people in general were so naively unaware.
Just look at Bowie here:
Sounds like an interesting read.I’m always curious about how much people leave unquestioned in situations like that, and at least in some parts of the books I got answers to why and how that happens.
Yup, I’ve wondered about that too. I wrote a bachelor’s thesis about something that vaguely touched romance scams, and I ended up reading a lot about online scams. Romance scams, all sorts of money scams, etc. The psychology behind them is fascinating. One thing that the studies show is that people who are or consider themselves to be smarter than average end up losing more money and staying in the trap longer. It’s because first, they are convinced they they’d definitely notice if someone was trying to scam them; second, even after they start suspecting they’re being scammed, they try and often manage to find a logic that makes their doubts go away (because they’re convinced they can’t be scammed, they would have noticed); and third, they’re too ashamed to ask for help before the situation gets very hairy, because they can’t accept that their intellect hasn’t been enough to keep them from falling victim to the scam.Sounds like an interesting read.
I’ve often thought about how people manage that suspension of disbelief that must be necessary to end up with those kinds of organizations.
Honestly, if I had to take someone, I’d probably take you as well. I like your no-nonsense-ness and I think together we’d be pretty good at weeding out the weirdos.On the other hand, my religion teacher when I was 15, asked me to go with the class mates who went to interview the scientologists because he wanted
”someone hard headed enough to be safe” with them.
These sound interesting.Way back I read some books by Laurie R King - ”A monstrous regiment of women”and ”A darker place”, that are about cults and how and why they work.
King has a degree in comparative religion and I think she does a good job explaining the lure and why some are more vulnerable than others.
She writes well and about some interesting themes.
This as well!I read a book by Anna Jansson recently.
Dansa mn docka, is not one of the romance ones, but the themes about how people could end up in mental institutions for getting pregnant out of wedlock are and how the Social Insurance Agency treat sick people are interesting.
Yes, it’s the ”in for a penny, in for a pound” thing.One thing that the studies show is that people who are or consider themselves to be smarter than average end up losing more money and staying in the trap longer. It’s because first, they are convinced they they’d definitely notice if someone was trying to scam them; second, even after they start suspecting they’re being scammed, they try and often manage to find a logic that makes their doubts go away (because they’re convinced they can’t be scammed, they would have noticed); and third, they’re too ashamed to ask for help before the situation gets very hairy, because they can’t accept that their intellect hasn’t been enough to keep them from falling victim to the scam.
And there often are parts of the organization that are ”for real” - true believers that might well be doing good things.I think there’s lots of same in why people end up in cults. And on top of many other reasons like being seen, having a standing within the community, truly believing in a cause and that it’ll get better etc.
Honestly, if I had to take someone, I’d probably take you as well. I like your no-nonsense-ness and I think together we’d be pretty good at weeding out the weirdos.
This turned out to be a sleeper. I bought it because it was marked way down, thinking I was getting just another novel. How wrong I was. Let's just say it's a novel that includes lesbian porn. This may be just the ticket for those who long for literature that includes porn instead of the flip side of that coin.Milk Fed, by Melissa Broder
I just finished The Runnnig Grave by Robert Galbraith (JK Rawling) and it made me think about this conversation, because it is about infiltrating a cult.Yup, I’ve wondered about that too. I wrote a bachelor’s thesis about something that vaguely touched romance scams, and I ended up reading a lot about online scams. Romance scams, all sorts of money scams, etc. The psychology behind them is fascinating. One thing that the studies show is that people who are or consider themselves to be smarter than average end up losing more money and staying in the trap longer. It’s because first, they are convinced they they’d definitely notice if someone was trying to scam them; second, even after they start suspecting they’re being scammed, they try and often manage to find a logic that makes their doubts go away (because they’re convinced they can’t be scammed, they would have noticed); and third, they’re too ashamed to ask for help before the situation gets very hairy, because they can’t accept that their intellect hasn’t been enough to keep them from falling victim to the scam.
I think there’s lots of same in why people end up in cults. And on top of many other reasons like being seen, having a standing within the community, truly believing in a cause and that it’ll get better etc.
Honestly, if I had to take someone, I’d probably take you as well. I like your no-nonsense-ness and I think together we’d be pretty good at weeding out the weirdos.
These sound interesting.
This as well!
Read the Oregon Trail a few years ago. Fantastic! Buck lives not too far from me. Have you read "Blue Highways" by William Least Heat Moon?At the semi-local VA clinic I discovered "Life on the Mississippi" by Rinker Buck. I blasted through the 380 or so pages in a couple days. Then went down to the local library and picked up his books "The Oregon Trail" and "Flight of Passage".
I mainly read history and his writing is a combination of the right now and the history of the land he is passing through.
Flight of passage is the story of as teenagers he and his brother bought a Piper Cub, rebuilt it, then flew from the east coast to San Diego and back. No electronic gadgets or radios. The Oregon Trail is his trip with Mules pulling a wagon along of what is left of the trails the waggoners left on their move from the east to the west.
Best book is difficult but I really liked How far the light reaches: A life in ten sea creatures by Sabrina Imbler, Mirrorland by Carole Johnston and The running grave by Robert Galbraith.What were the best books you read last year and why did they stand out?
Do you have reading goals for this year?
Thanks! I put the sea creatures on my library list.Best book is difficult but I really liked How far the light reaches: A life in ten sea creatures by Sabrina Imbler, Mirrorland by Carole Johnston and The running grave by Robert Galbraith.
Not counting re-reading.
I’m boring when it comes to goals - I aim to read most days. Failed badly last year. Want to do better this year.
My bigger reading project at the moment is Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Incerto series.
I read the Black Swan and a lot of Antifragile back when they came out, but need to go back to them and read the other two.
When I don’t have the bandwidth (and that happens a lot), I read for fun without any plan or standards.
I found it through this article with a link to one of the short stories.Thanks! I put the sea creatures on my library list.
I don’t have any reading projects or goals this year. I’ve done a 50-book reading challenge set by my library a few times, but I haven’t participated since 2019. The library sets a movie challenge as well as the reading challenge and I do that instead. It’s more interactive, because I can the watch movies with J and talk about them. Reading is a more solitary activity.Do you have a bucker list or project?