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Books to Buy

I've been reading Perry Mason books.

Also read some novelizations of the Monk and Murder She Wrote books. Really made me appreciate how important charm is when it comes to acting. Because I don't know if professional male writers have trouble writing female characters but both Natalie Teeger from the Monk show and Jessica Fletcher from Murder She Wrote come across much harsher and annoying than they do on television.
 
I read 20 books last year. 18 fiction, 2 non-fiction. 10 by women, 10 by men.
2015, 26 books. 24 fiction, 2 non-fiction. 6 by women, 20 by men.
2014, 16 books. 16 fiction, 0 non-fiction. 5 by women, 11 by men.
2013, 16 books. 15 fiction, 1 non-fiction. 4 by women, 12 by men.

Average 19 books. 18 fiction, 1 non-fiction. 6 by women, 13 by men.

Based on kxk's article, I think I relate to books in a more female than male way.

Okay didn’t make my target this year. I ended up working more than expected, but still quite a few years since I’ve read so much.

2017, 36 books. 26 fiction, 10 non-fiction. 16 by women, 20 by men.

I think Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders was probably my favourite. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett I also really liked. A lot more non-fiction this year, mostly biographical.
 
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I just read a really interesting memoir called Gorilla and the Bird : a Memoir of a Mother's Love by Zack McDermott. It's about a man who suffers from bipolar disorder and psychosis, his relationship with his family and his determined, courageous mother who cares for him. He has a good sense of humour so despite the subject matter it's not too dark, and it's very insightful about trauma, psychosis and the treatment for it, which is not always ideal and can be traumatic in itself. I've been reading a lot about this recently because someone close to me is going through this. I've just started another one called Madness - A Memoir by Kate Richards. This one is a lot more dark, but I'm only a few chapters in so far. I hope it has a happy and hopeful ending like the first book does.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33784294-gorilla-and-the-bird

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20127513-madness
 
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Bipolar has a strong fraternal genetic line across my family, I have cousins,uncle/aunts, sisters, probably my Dad - but he had PTSD so who knows, and one sister was diagnosed bipolar then they changed to personality disorder.....all I know is it was a crowded house of loopiness growing up.....since nobody was diagnosed or treated until years later...crazy seemed normal.

Came to books thread to post for @Mr Stickyfingers ....about street libraries and books in the wild....

Books in the wild .....is book crossing website, you pick a book, register it online, print label, paste in book and leave the book somewhere...on PT, bus stops, train stations and airports are popular....it can be fascinating as your book could travel the world.
I found one in St Kilda, it was so thrilling, shame the book sucked,
Here is the website...
https://www.bookcrossing.com/

What is BookCrossing?
BookCrossing is the act of releasing your books "into the wild" for a stranger to find, or via "controlled release" to another BookCrossing member, and tracking where they go via journal entries from around the world. Our community of passionate, generous book-lovers is changing the world and touching lives, one traveling book at a time. We hope you join us!
1. Label
2. Share
3. Follow


And Street libraries

22366643_490540457989789_5395978056978113292_n.png


https://www.facebook.com/pg/streetlibraryau/events/?ref=page_internal

https://streetlibrary.org.au/what-is-a-street-library/

Street Libraries are a beautiful home for books, planted in your front yard. They are accessible from the street, and are an invitation to share the joys of reading with your neighbours.
Street Libraries are a window into the mind of a community; books come and go; no-one needs to check them in or out. People can simply reach in and take what interests them; when they are done, they can return them to the Street Library network, or pass them on to friends.
If anyone has a book or two that they think others would enjoy, they can just pop it into any Street Library they happen to be walking past.
They are a symbol of trust and hope – a tiny vestibule of literary happiness.


And of course.....Doctor fans are involved....

The Longueville Reading Time Machine
IMG_2236-e1491778307757.jpg



Some place in NSW, is it near you????

The website has little libraries you can buy, build etc, but also a DIY plan on how to build one.
Love the TARDIS that is an old wardrobe...
 
...oh wow kxk!... I find this to be totally fascinating... what a great concept... I have given away all of my 'gathering dust' books (I think about around 45- 50 in the end from memory) just recently to an old people's home and have only kept my favourite books that I regularly read at times... apparently they love them from reports that my sister-in-law's daughter has told me... she works there caring for them... reading books does expand minds regardless of age it seems... but if I decide to cull more books this is a great option for sure... thanks for posting the website links... as I've said before... such a great concept... cheers.
 
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Okay didn’t make my target this year. I ended up working more than expected, but still quite a few years since I’ve read so much.

2017, 36 books. 26 fiction, 10 non-fiction. 16 by women, 20 by men.

I think Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders was probably my favourite. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett I also really liked. A lot more non-fiction this year, mostly biographical.

2018, 42 books. 37 fiction, 5 non-fiction. 14 by women, 28 by men.

This years favourites were A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles and Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout.
 
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Was cleaning my messy abode and found a dog-eared copy of "One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich" by
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
Powerful, Short. Resonating.
 
I'm reading Ghosts of the Tsunami by Richard Lloyd Parry, which is about the 2011 earthquake and Tsunami that hit Japan, and it's aftermath. It mostly focuses on the tragedy at Okawa Elementary School, where so many children were failed by the adults who were meant to take care of them. He interviews the parents and other people who survived. There's also an eerie chapter about ghosts and the supernatural after the tsunami. I'm not a superstitious person, but it made me wonder ...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30335545-ghosts-of-the-tsunami
 
I haven't needed to actually BUY a book in a long, long time

I just swap with mates, use the library, and I am an active street library member......donate and pick up something, latest I got is Maggie Smith's biography - I was about to buy that for a sister for Christmas, and it popped up in my street library saving me over $40

We have the most lovely street library, about a block away, a gorgeous elegant lady runs social book get togethers and gives away eggs from the chickens she keeps in the front garden.
 
Hi @Affable........
no I don't read books written by ghost writers.......especially this kind that are glorified fantasy advertisements
Have you read it?

All of Trumps fictions are written by others, fantasy fictions
The actual author of 'The of the Deal'..........is utterly pissed off that he made Trump look good

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all
Donald Trump’s Ghostwriter Tells All
“The Art of the Deal” made America see Trump as a charmer with an unfailing knack for business. Tony Schwartz helped create that myth—and regrets it.

By Jane Mayer

Very interesting article.......and another

https://www.theguardian.com/global/...ear-donald-trump-us-president-art-of-the-deal

I wrote The Art of the Deal with Trump. He's still a scared child
Tony Schwartz
Trump is angrier and more self-absorbed than when I first knew him. We must not let his culture of fear stop us speaking out

• Tony Schwartz wrote The Art of the Deal with Donald Trump in 1987


Interesting quote:

There are two Trumps. The one he presents to the world is all bluster, bullying and certainty. The other, which I have long felt haunts his inner world, is the frightened child of a relentlessly critical and bullying father and a distant and disengaged mother who couldn’t or wouldn’t protect him.

“That’s why I’m so screwed up, because I had a father who pushed me so hard,” Trump acknowledged in 2007, in a brief and rare moment of self-awareness.

Trump’s temperament and his habits have hardened with age. He was always cartoonish, but compared with the man for whom I wrote The Art of the Deal30 years ago, he is significantly angrier today: more reactive, deceitful, distracted, vindictive, impulsive and, above all, self-absorbed – assuming the last is possible.
 
I forgot, I came here to post about my lovely local community,,,,,,,,,,Street Libraries are popping all around the place, have you found your local one yet?
I just got a great hardback book about the history of the novel, and different genres yesterday walking by to my local fruit shop
Delivering a box of donations today
 
Hi @Affable........
no I don't read books written by ghost writers.......especially this kind that are glorified fantasy advertisements
Have you read it?

All of Trumps fictions are written by others, fantasy fictions
The actual author of 'The of the Deal'..........is utterly pissed off that he made Trump look good

Fair enough kxk.

I haven't read it but I have seen good reviews about it online. Some Democrat supporters even enjoyed the book so I was wanting to see your view of it if you have read it.
 
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any books about trump are boring because he as a character doesn't change at all. he's too self-deluded and arrogant to have any kind of growth. which makes any books about him sound repetitive and stagnant.

that's why i like books about richard nixon, though i don't like his presidency, a self-inflicted tragedy about a man who had it all but threw it away thanks to his growing paranoia.
 
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