Carol’s Booklist continued – May 3 through July 14

34.  Even Silence Has An End - Ingrid Betancourt .   Oh gosh, this is a really good book, the true story of  Ingrid Betancourt, who was running for the Colombian presidency in 2002, and was kidnapped and held in captivity in the Columbian jungle for six and a half years by the FARC, a brutal terrorist guerrilla organization.  She tells her own story, which is deeply moving and horrifying at the same time. 

35.  Shades of Milk and Honey – Mary Robinette Kowal.  Loved this, is very much like a Jane Austen novel, but with magic thrown in.  I really liked it.  See entry below.

36.  Glamour in Glass – Mary Robinette Kowal.  Sequel to Shades of Milk and Honey.  I enjoyed both of these books very much.  Set in the Regency era, these books pay homage to Jane Austen, who is one of my all time favorite authors.  I was caught up in the story immediately, as I love the details of daily life for women during this period, the food, dress, and social customs.  What makes these novels different is that along with the necessary skills a woman practiced during this period, such as needlepoint, art, and music, they were also schooled in “glamour” a type of magic! 

37.  Sh*t My Dad Says – Justin Halpern.   Simply hilarious, laughed out loud while reading this book.  The author temporarily moved back home with his parents at age 28.  He started posting funny quotes his dad said on his website, and it just grew from there, got a huge following, and a book deal.  This is some seriously funny stuff.

38.  The Wind through the Keyhole – Stephen King.  Latest volume in the Gunslinger series, loved it, was drawn instantly back into the story.  Actually it is a story within a story within a story.  Very clever and I really enjoyed it, makes me want to re-read the whole series.

39.  Rose:  My Life in Service to Lady Astor – Rosina Harrison

40.  Below Stairs – Margaret Powell

41.  Polly’s Story – Jennie Walters

42.  Isobel’s Story – Jennie Walters

43.  Grace’s Story – Jennie Walters

Entries 39 – 43 are all similar stories that I read after watching and falling in love with the PBS series Downton Abbey.  I have become fascinated with the stories of servants and the families they worked for.  Probably not everyone’s cup of tea, but I love this kind of stuff!

44.  Redshirts:  A Novel with Three Codas – John Scalzi.  Fun story that plays off of every science fiction movie or TV show ever written.  A quick and easy read, but you have to be a little bit of a geek to get a lot of the references.  I liked it. 

I’ve also been re-reading book 4 and 5 of the George R.R. Martin series, A Song of Ice and Fire, as well as re-reading The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss.   But most of my time lately has been spent on CokeandPopcorn site and Netflix, watching great TV series!  I watched both seasons of Game of Thrones, All the seasons of Nurse Jackie and Shameless, the first season of Downton Abbey, and am currently working through the second season of Breaking Bad.  Lots of good stuff!

I also admit to reading my favorite blogs on a daily basis.  I will try to post a list of those in my next post, and would love for the rest of you to share your favorite blogs and websites as well

Chris' fave book passage

Okay, last post.  Mom has inspired me with her passage from the Kingkiller Chronicles.  This is one of my favorite all-time paragraphs in any book ever.  It is from Thomas Harris' classic The Silence of the Lambs.  This passage sums up Harris' writing completely, that is to say, pulp bordering on high literature.  For all you who love crime drama/procedurals ala Patterson and Cornwell,  I urge you to read all of Thomas Harris' stuff.  They are all magnificent and what other crime writers aspire to.  This passage may not be 100% as I am quoting it by memory but it is very, very close:

***********************************************************************************
     Far beneath the rusty Baltimore dawn, stirrings in the maximum security ward.  Down where it is never dark the the tormented sense beginning day as oysters in a barrel open to their lost tide.  God's creatures who cried themselves to sleep stirred to cry again, and the ravers cleared their throats.

"and the ravers cleared their throats", god i love that, it slays me

Chris' word of the week

Hello Harrelson Family Blog, greetings from Cleveland.  (sigh)  I know you all must just simply be DYING for me to post my word of the week.  I can imagine you all anxiously peering at your monitors, a constant litany running circles around your brain..."is he logged in yet?, where is the post?, how come he hasn't posted yet?, why is it taking so long?"..... Definitely don't want to cause any undo anxiety so without further delay here is my long anticipated word of the week!  Cheers!!

Styg·i·an

   /ˈstɪdʒiən/ Show Spelled[stij-ee-uhn] Show IPA

adjective

1.

of or pertaining to the river Styx or to Hades.

2.

dark or gloomy.

3.

infernal; hellish.

 

As in........"Laptop in hand, caffeine coursing through his veins, focus in his brain and determination in his heart, Chris once again entered the stygian darkness that is the CatCenter."

Carol’s Favorite Quote of the Week (actually  an entire passage from a chapter of one of my favorite books)

                                                                                                                   

“Perhaps the greatest faculty our minds possess is the ability to cope with pain. Classic thinking teaches us of the four doors of the mind, which everyone moves through according to their need.

First is the door of sleep. Sleep offers us a retreat from the world and all its pain. Sleep marks passing time, giving us distance from the things that have hurt us. When a person is wounded they will often fall unconscious. Similarly, someone who hears traumatic news will often swoon or faint. This is the mind's way of protecting itself from pain by stepping through the first door.

Second is the door of forgetting. Some wounds are too deep to heal, or too deep to heal quickly. In addition, many memories are simply painful, and there is no healing to be done. The saying 'time heals all wounds' is false. Time heals most wounds. The rest are hidden behind this door.

Third is the door of madness. There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.

Last is the door of death. The final resort. Nothing can hurt us after we are dead, or so we have been told.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

Sandy's Favorite Word of the Week

I blame my being lax about blogging on the coke and popcorn website!  Lauren just let me know that in between studying and work she is watching Dexter and loving it.  I have watched Dexter religiously since the first season and love it.  The Dexter books bore me but the series doesn't stick to the premise of the books at all.  I guess I am going to have to start on the Games of Thrones now since Chris loves it so much.Don't forget about Shameless and Nurse Jackie. I have watched Breaking Bad religiously since the first season and love it.  Great writing. It is so nice to watch this show without commercials and on my own time. 
I have been reading a little and will post my new list soon.  Here is my word of the week, people. Anxious to see every one's favorite word of the week

copasetic  (cope' a set ic) agreeable

I am hoping that everything is copasetic for Chris in Ohio and that he will be revenate very soon. (?)

Get your word of the week on this blog Harrelson family!

On another note, I went to see my girl, Susan, yesterday and  we got to talking about books from childhood.  She said it was shocking to her that Brandon had never been read to much- not even WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE.  She said her friend Lindsay didn't know about THE GIVING TREE or any of the books that you kids cut your teeth on. It is unthinkable to me that children don't get introduced to books at a very young age.  I started buying classic children's books for Josh right after I found out I was pregnant and tucking them away in a drawer of my dresser for the future.  GOODNIGHT MOON, THE RUNAWAY BUNNY, THE VELVETEEN RABBIT,THE LITTLE RED HEN, ETC.   Josh and Susan also got read a great deal of books that Carol had bought for Chris and Kevin.  We never, ever got rid of a book.   I still have many of our favorites boxed up at my house.  I took a huge box of books to David when Bradley was about three years old and I hope they are all in David's attic now awaiting our next GreatGrandBaby. When Chris was little his favorite book was an old little book with the cover torn off.  I don't remember the title but  it was about a little man who drove a dump truck and at the end of his workday he would pick up different animals at different places and let them go for a ride.  When he brought them home he would" tip the dumper"and dump the animals out.  We read it of course, with lots of feeling and Chris would get so tickled every time you said "tip the dumper" and he could see the pictures of  the animals being dumped out! He loved it just as much when he heard it read the 600th time as the very first time.  No matter how many newer books we had Chris always found this little forlorn, well loved book with the cover torn off and presented it to you with a smile. I have great memories of reading to you kids.

One hot summer day when Kevin was about three and a half I went down to see him and Chris.  Chris had fallen asleep on the floor playing with his favorite little green army men and Kevin was in his Mama's lap being read to.  Piled up on the right side of her chair were the books they'd already read and discarded.  I'll bet there were 30 books in that pile! They'd been reading for quite a long time! I think all the reading we all did is what made all of you kids so, so smart. Books were always an important part of our lives and that came from PopPop.
He was very well read, an avid reader with many interests. Our love of reading is his legacy to us all.



What does this picture make you think of?

Chris' favorite word of the week.

Hello Harrelson family blog.  This blog needs a little action, and I am bored in a Cleveland hotel room on the fourth of July.  I plan to update my own book list soon.  It will be short.  This spring and early summer I have been living with the Starks of Winterfell and the Lannisters of Casterly Rock,  non-stop on the Game of Thrones series.  There are five out already and they all approach a thousand pages so my updated list will be fairly short.  And if you haven't caught any of the HBO series based on these novels, do yourself a favor.  Like most HBO shows these are simply can't miss.  The Lannisters especially are extraordinarily cast and showcase some of the best acting I have seen in a long while (though I'm starting to realize this Breaking Bad thing on AMC is legit).  Anyway, I ramble, back to the point.  I check this blog a few times a week and am tired of not seeing much on it.  I know we can't read a book a week and update every time so I've decided to start posting my 'word of the week', specifically just a word I've come across while reading that sort of won't shake loose of the brain filter.  So, without further ado, my first favorite word of the week:

rev·e·nant

   /ˈrɛvənənt/ Show Spelled[rev-uh-nuhnt] Show IPA

noun

1. a person who returns.

2. a person who returns as a spirit after death; ghost.

 

 

As in .....    "Though he secretly loathed the city of Cleveland, Chris' company compelled him to return again and again, a revenant stalking the halls of the CatCenter."

FUN FUN FUN

Here's a wonderful tidbit for all of those in the family who love to read and to play games.  The novel, READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Kline, just came out in paperback and to celebrate it, the author has revealed his creativity and imagination again by announcing  a hidden game within the book!  Only hard copies not ereaders.  Read or reread the book.  Find the clues ,play the game, win his Delorean! What fun and what a genius Kline is.  Now all of us who read the book on our kindles or ipads have to go out and buy the hard copy to experience his genius of a game within the book.

First go to blog.patrickrothfuss.com  Click on his link to find out more about the game.  I am going to reread it and so is Aunt Carol.  Lauren and Meghan are about to buy their copy and read it for the first time.  I'm thinking in the very near future someone in our brilliant family will win the Delorean.  Good luck to all!