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Pastimes : The Literary Sauna (or Tomes in Towels) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rambi who wrote (310)	7/29/2001 8:31:59 PM
From: The Philosopher	Respond to of 466

The library is part of the house, not separate. And we will also have bookshelves throughout the house, but as we retire into this house we'll probably get rid of most of P's teaching books in three years, probably give them to the girls when they start teaching, and I'll probably cull lots of my law books, especially the legal texts which are now ten years old and I'll probably never look at again. It's just that throwing away a book is only a wee bit less painful than sending a child off to college. And much more final. But the library will have 9 foot ceilings, with floor to ceiling bookshelves everywhere there isn't a window (except for a few feet of desk and computer desk space which will have bookshelves above but not below), (and, yes, a library ladder!) and the back balcony will be supported by floor to ceiling bookshelves which will create an alcove with shelves on all three sides, and I mentioned the upstairs balcony shelving, and adding in shelves lining the upstairs hall and floor-to-ceiling bookcases sunk into parts of the main hall and bookcases tucked into various other areas, not to mention just putting shelving along various walls, I'm hoping we'll have enough shelving.

To: Rambi who wrote (310)	7/29/2001 9:00:13 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 466

Okay. Deliverance is bagged. I couldn't find the post to the list you originally posted. Or did you ever post it, or just PM it?? That's a place to start. If we go beyond that, as to suggestions, there are lots of books I have always wanted to read but never gotten around to, so if we assigned them I would have a reason to get around to them. Most of them probably wouldn't do for discussion, but ones that might are Siddartha, any Faulkner, War and Peace, and Les Miserables. Then there are the zillion books I want to re-read, but haven't gotten to either. Are we up to Shakespeare, any of they plays at all? How about Trollope, a very under-rated author who is gradually getting the recognition I think he deserves -- probably The Warden and Barchester Towers are the best ones to start on. George Orwell's essays would be tons of fun to read again, particularly Shooting an Elephant and Politics and the English Language. Might be interesting to read Cry the Beloved Country after the major changes in South Africa. I could go on forever, but what I'll do is think a bit more about what might make good discussion books, and are easily available in paperback. But one book I'll bring up is one that was discussed at the conference as a very accessible, easy to read book on current brain research is John Ratey, A User's Guide to the Brain. Unfortunately it's not in paperback yet (none of the truly current stuff is) but it's under $20 on Amazon. It's a condensation, written with a science writer to make it more readable, of a much more extensive work he wrote to help social workers understand the brain development of the kids they were working with. It's been highly recommended by several people I respect. One book I would love to discuss, but am not sure we're up to it, is Eliot's Four Quartets. Anybody game for that? I could go on endlessly, but am being called to dinner! If we were up to the challenge, how about Paradise Lost? We could read and discuss in sections. Or the Inferno?

To: Rambi who wrote (310)	7/30/2001 11:18:40 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 466

Well, I see indeed you did post the list of books in message 1. In the Belly of the Beast would be next on your list after Deliverance, if we followed that syllabus. I don't know the book; never heard of it. Amazon has it, but it only has 3 stars overall, and the reviews didn't make me want to run out and read it. Actually, of all the books on the list, Ellison's Invisible Man is the only one I, personally, am much excited about reading (or mostly re-reading, though I did pretty much only skim it several decades ago), though some of the others that I don't know may be well worth reading. But the discussion is just as important as the book, so any book that gets us excited as a group will do fine. What shall it be, O Mighty Decider??