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One reader's thoughts as she steps from book to book.
Books I've Finished
- "A Christmas Memory"
- by Truman Capote 12/8/12
- "Child's Christmas in Wales"
- by Dylan Thomas 12/7/12
- "One Christmas"
- by Truman Capote 11/29/12
- "The Thanksgiving Visitor"
- by Truman Capote 11/29/12
- Inside Mrs. B's Classroom
- by Leslie Baldacci 11/28/12
- The Bee Eater
- by Richard Whitmire 11/15/12
- There Are No Shortcuts
- by Rafe Esquith 10/28/12
- I'd Like to Apologize to
- Every Teacher I Ever Had
- by Tony Danza 10/21/12
- Corked
- by Kathryn Borel 10/15/12
- Year of Learning Dangerously
- by Quinn Cummings 9/30/12
- A Hologram for the King
- by Dave Eggers 8/23/12
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- by Harper Lee 7/18/12
About Me
- Christine
- I often have a few books with bookmarks in them at once. I enjoy classics more than contemporary works of fiction, often read historical fiction, and love to get glimpses into other people's lives by reading memoirs and biographies.
10 comments:
Found two interesting books while checking out Christine's original recommendation: World Without Bees (Benjamin & McCallum)and Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper (Marchese).
My dad kept honeybees for a long time. He and I always assumed I would inherit the hives someday, but my son Nate is highly allergic (we're talking epipen level!).
Nevertheless, I've always had a fascination with the little critters.
World Without Bees is a detailed analysis of the very recent problem of colony collapse disorder (CCD) that has already wiped out over a third of the world's honeybees and is continuing. CCD is a very real threat to the world's agriculture.
Honeybee is more of a personal memoir, and reminded me in many ways of watching my dad with his bees. The author, who is the founder of Red Bee Honey, talks about her early days of learning beekeeping. She narrates the step-by-step entry into this hobby. I could relate the small successes & failures that are inherent in any new hobby. But what really struck me was her describing the spiritual aspect of beekeeping, like the overwhelming sense of peace that a busy colony brings to a beekeeper. I saw this time & again with my dad.
I hadn't thought about bees or my dad's beekeeping in a long time (he gave up the hives when my mom was diagnosed with cancer). I probably wouldn't have, except for seeing these books while looking up Christine's original recommendation. This turned out to be one of the best trips to the library in a long time.
(Sorry for the long, rambling post. Nostalgia and old age gang together like thieves & whiskey.)
It was on the news that cel phones might be a reason for the decline. Do you know the reasons that are given?
I am reading "The Far Traveler - Voyages of a Viking Woman" about a bonny lass named Gudrid who may have braved the seas. It's fun - I know more about the construction of a viking boat than I ever thought I would. You don't want the prow to dip in to the face of a cresting wave or - bloop! Down ya go.
Sophia, will she have a dramatic viking funeral, or are those only for male warriors?
I'm reading back issues of The Week, doing Sudoku, and trying to read an Eric request by Terry Pratchett called Small Gods.
The whole mysterious honeybee disappearance thing is totally creepy to me...it has vaguely apocalyptic undertones or something. Wow, cell phones, huh Soph? I hadn't heard anything about that. Edit: I found an article here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/are-mobile-phones-wiping-out-our-bees-444768.html
(Something about the radiation the phones give off causing bees to lose their way and fail to find their hives; thus the hives become abandoned.)
Oops, back on topic. I'm reading Sarah Palin's Going Rogue. I don't agree with all of her politics, and I also understand that she didn't actually write the book herself, but I still think perhaps she's been unnecessarily vilified in the press (after reading the stories behind some of the "scandals," told from her point of view of course). I'm looking forward to finishing the book though, and moving on to other things.
It's not what I'm reading this week, but rather what I am reading on...
It's not like you have your nook YET! And with this snowstorm, I don't know if your mailman will make it through tomorrow. . .
SHUT UP! Just shut up!
What book are you going to read first when you get it, Don?
Having finally finished my last paper of the semester, I decided to do some fun reading, and now have to kill the kid who recommended the book I picked up to me. The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I'm about halfway through. Wow. So sad. So incredible.
As I've said to you in person, DRD, I did not love "Perks." Is it this generation's "Catcher?"
Mary, thanks for your thoughtful post about the bee books. Beekeeping sounds like a very peaceful hobby. Makes me wish I looked out to a hill with a few white boxes on it in my own distant yard. What are the bees doing now? Are all the winged ones dead, and do the larvae winter over?
C--most species of bee and wasp are solitary, not hive-dwellers. They all lay their brood and die. Hive dwellers winter over.
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