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Kate MacDonald

Kate MacDonald

I am the daughter of a librarian. I learned to read early and I still read often. My reading tastes are eclectic: history, politics, science, true crime, and fiction. Although I enjoy my "guilty pleasures" like Sue Grafton, Agatha Christie, and foodie porn, I appreciate the chance on Shelfari to talk about histories, biographies and serious...more »
  • Kailua-Kona, Ha
  • member since Thursday, December 6 2007

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Kate MacDonald’s last login was 5 days ago. show recent activity »

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Public Notes

  • jloucks

    jloucks says

    I posted my first title for the Fairy Tale tag this morning, but it's really a book retelling the myths of the Hopi Indian Tribe. It's not always easy to differentiate between myths and fairy tales I don't think. One major difference seems to be that fairy tales are more targeted to children and usually have a more singular moral, not necessarily representing a culture's ontology. Does that fit with your understanding? But myths are meant to pass along the belief system of a culture to its children and can also be very limited in scope and message.....

    How was the flight? And the unpacking? And the book(s) you read on the plane?

    I'll be interested to learn how you react to the Fairy Tale books that I see you have added to your "to read" list....

    posted 4 days ago. ( send a note )
  • jloucks

    jloucks says

    I sat down to finish "Let's Don't Go To The Dogs Tonight" and actually got "into it" for the first time. Changed my attitude markedly about the book. Just goes to show one should not rush to judgment, which I did in this case. It's no "Poisonwood Bible" for sure, and not what I was looking for or expecting after coming off Poisonwood; but it has its good points and is worth reading.

    There, my conscience is clear!

    Carlin was something, wasn't he? Did you read what he said he wanted for his epitaph?"He was just here a minute ago!" We listened to some of his best routines when he heard of his death, too....a really funny and intelligent man. He was the Lenny Bruce of our time.....

    posted 8 days ago. ( send a note )
  • Judy L

    judy l says

    Many of them do indeed seem to have felt entitled & had moral issues. I think the male dominated times & societies a lot of them lived in encouraged & even expected this type of behavior. The womanizing that many of them did may not have been condoned by church authorities but it was certainly accepted in society.

    posted 9 days ago. ( send a note )
  • jloucks

    jloucks says

    Kate, btw, I talked to my friend in Seattle last night. She will be here this weekend and is getting annoyed that I've made no definite plans to come see her this summer! Her flight is going to be so much more expensive than she has ever paid before though....I'm still on the fence about going for it....I need to go to S.C. to see my daughter and mother soon, and that will cost even more...Still thinking and wishing though.

    posted 9 days ago. ( send a note )
  • jloucks

    jloucks says

    You know, Kate, I was thinking about my mother's house when I wrote to you yesterday! She's 85 and lived in the same house for 40 years. She, too, rarely throws anything out. She even keeps her vacuums that quit working because she thinks she may still have them fixed! I think she has at least three extras -- nonworking, of course! I think our parents were impacted by the Great Depression and never were able to reconsider the value of keeping all those things "you just might need again" or that are "still worth something". Those ideas had an influence on us too. You have overcome. I have not. Ugh, I do hate to admit that. I'm not as bad as my mother though!

    I'm going to have trouble getting up about "fairy tale" if that's the tag for July. Think I'll need to find something about them rather than read Grimm's or Aesop again. We'll see...

    I think I've decided to read "A Room of One's Own" by Virginia Woolfe for the other tag(s) though. Fits women writers, writing, and, hopefully wwii since she may mention it in her memoirs. That would be excellent and one I've intended to read for a long time anyway.

    I don't read much King, but he can capture the attention and hold on! You'll probably enjoy the one you've chosen.

    How long is your flight? Is one book enough?

    posted 9 days ago. ( send a note )
  • Judy L

    judy l says

    Indeed I am in a Klimt phase. I probably shouldn't be as he appears to have been a m.c.pig & possibly even a pervert. Not politically correct of me to like him. But I do. My avatar is from a painting appropriately titled Judith I. Judith II is equally beautiful.

    posted 9 days ago. ( send a note )
  • jloucks

    jloucks says

    Well no matter what I may have wished for I have my assigned tag - women writers!
    Just an easy one! I have dozens of books on my tbr shelf that fit the category. The next tag following is writing, so I'll have to see where that one leads me...And if fairy tales is our July tag....Well, I don't have my strategy worked out yet. Have you chosen your KIng book?

    posted 10 days ago. ( send a note )
  • jloucks

    jloucks says

    Afternoon, Kate. So glad to see that "Remains of the Day" made your highest rating!
    The other books I've read by Ishiguro are very different from that one, but his characters are always complex, unusual and interesting.

    I'm not overjoyed with "Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight", my last one for the Africa tag. Maybe it will get better.... :)

    I read up on the sequential tag challenge you joined and signed up. Hope I don't regret it!

    Long nails? You're kidding me! At our age most women's nails are like paper! Mine are! They will never be long again -- especially with all my gardening without gardening gloves. (Can't seem to keep my hands out of the dirt!) More power to you though!

    I really empathize with your packing and weeding out process! I think that might kill me after living in the same place for almost 30 years! It's one of the reasons I can never decide I want to sell this place. I get tired just thinking about the process you go through twice every year! How did you ever learn to travel so light?????

    posted 11 days ago. ( send a note )
  • Emeraldeyes

    emeraldeyes says

    Hi Kate,

    You had asked about the Helen Mirren autobiography, and I've just finished it. I enjoyed it very much, and was surprised by her honesty and the chatty writing style. There are also many beautiful and intriguing photos. Most of the pages are laid out artistically, however there are some (and this is my only complaint about the entire book) that contain unbroken small-point text on and 8 x 11 page, which I found difficult to read. I'd definitely recommend moving this one UP on your TBR list.

    Tamsin

    posted 12 days ago. ( send a note )
  • jloucks

    jloucks says

    I'm a terrible typist, Kate! I trust you can translate my intent to communicate! :)

    posted 12 days ago. ( send a note )
  • jloucks

    jloucks says

    Kate:

    After I wrote my question about "The Time Traveler's Wife" I looked at your rating.
    Given for reason for your disfavor with it, I fear I would react the same way.

    Also wanted to add how much I loved "Remains of the Day" and the other books by Ishiguro that I have read. He's one of my favorite contemporary authors right now, and I only discovered his this year!

    Packing for your summer home yet?

    posted 12 days ago. ( send a note )
  • jloucks

    jloucks says

    Great idea about "House on the Strand"! I have that one on my shelf to read also.

    I'll have to catch up with the new tag for July...I don't know what it is yet! Stephen King?

    posted 12 days ago. ( send a note )
  • jloucks

    jloucks says

    Well, Kate, I did love "The Poisonwood Bible". It is one, if not the best I've read all year.

    I may go on to "The Time Traveler's Wife" next. Would you recommend it?

    posted 13 days ago. ( send a note )
  • Arnie

    arnie says

    "I have a question, however. Although I read more than my share of true crime (Jack the Ripper, Lizzie Borden, Ted Bundy), I had never heard of Holmes. Is he well known in the Chicago area but not elsewhere?"

    Depends who you ask! I knew about him from reading Chicago history, but other folks in the region didn't know about him until the Larson book came out. He was probably better known here though then elsewhere until Larson's book, as there were a couple of local history books that mentioned him.

    posted 2 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • Carolyn G

    carolyn g says

    Very delayed reply for which I apologize. I have "Food of Italy" as well and love it. Food in History is on my to read list. When I was a kid, I used to read cookbooks and I still read, collect, and use them avidly. There was a great restaurant in Manhattan in the Eighties (may still be there, not sure), called Arcadia. It was owned by a woman who began her life as an archaelologist, but found that she was always inevitably drawn to know about what the civilizations she studied ate. Eventually, she opened Arcadia.

    posted 2 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • jloucks

    jloucks says

    Your descriptions are indeed exotic! Changes your perspective to see what other cultures value and how they operate, doesn't it? And I know what you mean about Hawaii having a culture all its own as well. I see that in the culture of the south having left there right after college to live in the midwest and then the southwest.
    They just see and do things so differently there that it is almost foreign to me now. Still, my roots are there so I am always interested in great writer's perspective of southern people and their history.

    How long have you been married to Chuck?

    posted 2 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • jloucks

    jloucks says

    Such a great idea to live in a library! I've never thought of that, but I've always thought a converted church would be most interesting! I saw one turned into a dwelling on "This Old House" years ago...San Francisco, if I remember correctly.
    Small church, of course, but those ceilings and the open space....wonderful!

    posted 2 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • jloucks

    jloucks says

    Your list is most impressive, as I knew it would be! Can you tell me something about your visit to Morocco? And Scotland?

    My friend in Seattle, Carla, went to Thailand last year and had a wonderful trip!

    posted 2 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • jloucks

    jloucks says

    Only three? Let's see...

    1. Scotland
    2. Ireland
    3. Australia


    Others would include several South American and island countries. I would like to see Cuba also. Don't know which countries in Africa...probably Kenya; but I know so little about most of them...

    posted 2 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • jloucks

    jloucks says

    Which countries have you visited? Bet your list is longer than mine!

    Mine's way too short:
    Germany
    England
    Canada
    Mexico
    Puerto Rico (I know, I know, not a foreign country)
    Virgin Islands

    Your turn!

    posted 2 weeks ago. ( send a note )


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