Books?

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T

Tinuviel

Guest
#41
My mother was the same way (though not so much with God in mind). For both my little sister and me, she left The World Book Encyclopedia lying around on various tables and surfaces throughout the house, as well as exposing us to just about every socially elevating cultural venue she could think of.
Our poor set of World Books! We just replaced the dictionaries because they were falling to pieces. I remember browsing through the Encyclopedias, and later the dictionary in my leisure hours...we should really replace the "d" encyclopedia because the pages on dogs with all the beautiful pictures is worn to ribbons.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
55,886
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#42
Er, yeah. I mentioned I liked British authors? Yeah, take a look at the way I spelled "favorite" in the first post...The embarrassing thing is I had no idea I did that! :eek:
Actually, you spelled it both ways in your OP ;) The last time was the correct spelling, however :D As a Canadian, that is how I want to spell it, also, though my auto correct is always disagreeing. A couple of years ago I had an e-reader (still have it) and was reading about four books a week. You have probably read my all times faves having mentioned Jane Austen (I also remember reading many of the James Herriot, so quaint), so I will tell you those titles and authors I read recently that stood above the crowd :) I am not sure of their nationalities...

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
The Art of Racing In The Rain by Garth Stein
The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve
Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

Jane Austen is one of my top two authors. The other one is Ayn Rand. Have you read any of her fiction? We The Living, The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged are very good reads, though not what many would likely recommend here (she was an atheist). The other author I would like to mention here is M.J. Trow. He has written over 25 fiction books, in three main series, but it is the 'Inspector Lestrade' books, based on the character from the Sherlock Holmes stories, that I wish to recommend. They were hilarious, though the comedy was very much tied to modern (for my age group at least) cultural phenomena worked into historical times. Good luck! :)
 
T

Tinuviel

Guest
#43
Actually, you spelled it both ways in your OP ;) The last time was the correct spelling, however :D As a Canadian, that is how I want to spell it, also, though my auto correct is always disagreeing. A couple of years ago I had an e-reader (still have it) and was reading about four books a week. You have probably read my all times faves having mentioned Jane Austen (I also remember reading many of the James Herriot, so quaint), so I will tell you those titles and authors I read recently that stood above the crowd :) I am not sure of their nationalities...

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
The Art of Racing In The Rain by Garth Stein
The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve
Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

Jane Austen is one of my top two authors. The other one is Ayn Rand. Have you read any of her fiction? We The Living, The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged are very good reads, though not what many would likely recommend here (she was an atheist). The other author I would like to mention here is M.J. Trow. He has written over 25 fiction books, in three main series, but it is the 'Inspector Lestrade' books, based on the character from the Sherlock Holmes stories, that I wish to recommend. They were hilarious, though the comedy was very much tied to modern (for my age group at least) cultural phenomena worked into historical times. Good luck! :)
Aaagh! That I didn't notice. It all comes of too much reading. Anyway, thanks for sharing your favourite authors/books with me, looks like some good ones!
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
55,886
26,050
113
#44
Aaagh! That I didn't notice. It all comes of too much reading. Anyway, thanks for sharing your favourite authors/books with me, looks like some good ones!
You are very welcome! Most of the books I mentioned I read relatively recently, but for the Rand and Trow (although I just re-read all three Rand books again, I think the last two mentioned I have read five and six times now, respectively :eek:). There are others I would recommend also but may not be appropriate. Like Anne Rice (Lestst series) and Jean Aeul's Children of the Earth series. Hush! Did I say that out loud? I didn't hear a sound :)
 
Feb 7, 2015
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#45
You are very welcome! Most of the books I mentioned I read relatively recently, but for the Rand and Trow (although I just re-read all three Rand books again, I think the last two mentioned I have read five and six times now, respectively :eek:). There are others I would recommend also but may not be appropriate. Like Anne Rice (Lestst series) and Jean Aeul's Children of the Earth series. Hush! Did I say that out loud? I didn't hear a sound :)
My compliments. Not many people understand that any (good) book should be read no less than three times, and that many should be read five or six times.
 
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#46
Our poor set of World Books! We just replaced the dictionaries because they were falling to pieces. I remember browsing through the Encyclopedias, and later the dictionary in my leisure hours...we should really replace the "d" encyclopedia because the pages on dogs with all the beautiful pictures is worn to ribbons.
Isn't that just the neatest bunch of books? Especially for kids.
 
W

wwjd_kilden

Guest
#47
The Red tent
no no no no! Stay away from this book. It is terrible. (and I am rarely that cruel in my judgement of books). It is all about menstruation and how evil all men are and "nature religion".

The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
Hillarious book


 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
55,886
26,050
113
#48
My compliments. Not many people understand that any (good) book should be read no less than three times, and that many should be read five or six times.
Thank you! :) Jane Austen I have also read countless times, and watched the movies more than once also. I even watched The Fountainhead movie not too long ago. LOL. The books of course were so much better. I have also read the Lestat series multiple times, and The Earth Children series also. It is how I know what my favourites are: I keep coming back to them, time and time again :) Atlas Shrugged was the first book I read on my e-reader. I had started reading it in pdf form on my desktop when I bought the new device, so switched over... oh my goodness, the digital spelling errors! The great thing about the reader, though, was that you could put your finger on a word and options would open. I could access a dictionary, or go to wiki to read up on Haile Selassie, for instance. I really liked those features! :)
 
T

Tinuviel

Guest
#49
Isn't that just the neatest bunch of books? Especially for kids.
I fell in love with them before I could read. I think I was about 3 :). I'll still take one down and browse through it when I don't have anything to do.
 
T

Tinuviel

Guest
#50
The Red tent
no no no no! Stay away from this book. It is terrible. (and I am rarely that cruel in my judgement of books). It is all about menstruation and how evil all men are and "nature religion".

The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
Hillarious book
No worries :) when getting suggestions my motto is "don't believe everything you hear." all of these will be subject to scrunity before I think about reading them.
 
T

Tinuviel

Guest
#51
Thank you! :) Jane Austen I have also read countless times, and watched the movies more than once also.
Aww, I'm not the only one! I reread all my favorite books until they're basically unreadable lol. Have you seen the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudiced? Watching this film is *almost* as good as reading the book. Amazing talent and great storytelling!
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
55,886
26,050
113
#52
No worries :) when getting suggestions my motto is "don't believe everything you hear." all of these will be subject to scrunity before I think about reading them.
Heh, yeah, don't believe it is all about menstruation ;) A mini series was made from the book recently, but as usual it was not as good as the book. The book was a fictionalized account of Dinah's story from her own perspective. Dinah? The only daughter of Jacob (that we know of) through his wives, Rachel and Leah. :)
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
55,886
26,050
113
#53
Aww, I'm not the only one! I reread all my favorite books until they're basically unreadable lol. Have you seen the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudiced? Watching this film is *almost* as good as reading the book. Amazing talent and great storytelling!
I have seen them all! :D Oh but some of the older ones are now so dated they are too painful to watch any more. LOL. And you know what else I like? I like how I start to think the way they talk. I wish I could maintain that longer :D
 
Feb 7, 2015
22,418
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#54
Thank you! :) Jane Austen I have also read countless times, and watched the movies more than once also. I even watched The Fountainhead movie not too long ago. LOL. The books of course were so much better. I have also read the Lestat series multiple times, and The Earth Children series also. It is how I know what my favourites are: I keep coming back to them, time and time again :) Atlas Shrugged was the first book I read on my e-reader. I had started reading it in pdf form on my desktop when I bought the new device, so switched over... oh my goodness, the digital spelling errors! The great thing about the reader, though, was that you could put your finger on a word and options would open. I could access a dictionary, or go to wiki to read up on Haile Selassie, for instance. I really liked those features! :)
You wanna see digital spelling errors!?!? Try converting a PDF to WORD. It is rare that any book transfers correctly... and a lot of them end every line as a paragraph. But, correcting as I go slows down my reading (defeating the curse of speed reading) and I actually get more out of them that way.
 
T

Tinuviel

Guest
#55
I have seen them all! :D Oh but some of the older ones are now so dated they are too painful to watch any more. LOL. And you know what else I like? I like how I start to think the way they talk. I wish I could maintain that longer :D
LOL. My bro is interested in film making, and I once revised a scene from Mansfield Park into script form for him. Because I was doing only one scene somewhere in the middle I had to add some dialogue that wasn't written by Austen. Basically I blocked out what I needed to say in the way I would say it today, read a bunch of Austen and then made the necessary revisions with two of my sisters (also Austen lovers). For DAYS after I was done writing/acting this I would say "I would...no no, SHALL. I SHALL." :D and similar things.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
55,886
26,050
113
#56
You wanna see digital spelling errors!?!? Try converting a PDF to WORD. It is rare that any book transfers correctly... and a lot of them end every line as a paragraph. But, correcting as I go slows down my reading (defeating the curse of speed reading) and I actually get more out of them that way.
I think it is e pub that has a feature where you can correct the errors and then save the corrected version for further use, and even transfer it over to another device, but most times you can easily figure out what the error is, though in Atlas Shrugged there was one error every time an apostrophe was used in a certain context, it did something weird, every single time! And there was one sentence, where the error was so bad and so compounded that for the life of me I could not figure it out, and had to scan back through the pdf and find that same sentence there to get the meaning. And then of course there is the problem of everything being on "the same page" with an e-reader. So there is no remembering, oh, it was on the left side of the book, about a third of the way down, half way through the story. Nope! None of that to try to help you find something. E-readers have their advantages to be sure, but there is nothing quite like holding a real book in your hands. :)
 
Feb 7, 2015
22,418
413
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#57
I think it is e pub that has a feature where you can correct the errors and then save the corrected version for further use, and even transfer it over to another device, but most times you can easily figure out what the error is, though in Atlas Shrugged there was one error every time an apostrophe was used in a certain context, it did something weird, every single time! And there was one sentence, where the error was so bad and so compounded that for the life of me I could not figure it out, and had to scan back through the pdf and find that same sentence there to get the meaning. And then of course there is the problem of everything being on "the same page" with an e-reader. So there is no remembering, oh, it was on the left side of the book, about a third of the way down, half way through the story. Nope! None of that to try to help you find something. E-readers have their advantages to be sure, but there is nothing quite like holding a real book in your hands. :)
That is the main reason I got the program, "Calibre", so that I can change many of my books from e-reader, to WORD. MUCH easier to read that way.... and, you can copy/paste with no limitations. I do that a lot.
 
T

Tinuviel

Guest
#58
I'm lovin' this. Keep it comin' ya'all! We should have a forum for books!
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
55,886
26,050
113
#59
That is the main reason I got the program, "Calibre", so that I can change many of my books from e-reader, to WORD. MUCH easier to read that way.... and, you can copy/paste with no limitations. I do that a lot.
I might actually have Calibre, on my daughter's recommendation, but not having anyone to show me how to use it, I got bogged down in the technicalities that only seem to look so easy to use after you have figured them out :)