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tapbirds

tapbirds

An avid reader, runner, biker, birder, backpacker, and swimmer; a sinner saved by grace.
"It's an odd thing, but anyone who disappears is said to be seen in San Francisco. It must be a delightful city and posses all the attractions of the next world." (Oscar Wilde)
"Excessive devotions to books is wearying to the body" (Ecclesiastes 12:12) more »
  • San Francisco, CA, USA
  • member since August 30 2007

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  • Chronological Read of American History Discussion Group

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tapbirds’s last login was 4 hours ago. show recent activity »

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Public Notes

  • She

    She says

    By the way, I'd love it if you'd drop in to our Alexandria Forum group - there are some very interesting discussions and I would be most interested in getting your learned opinions and thoughts on our ideas and threads...

    posted 2 days ago. ( send a note )
  • She

    She says

    I JUST connected with Laxness' "Independent People" at around page 70ish. I had read reviews and knew I needed to stick to it - and the cold setting didn't help. Thanks for the encouragement.

    posted 2 days ago. ( send a note )
  • She

    She says

    I borrowed a book from your shelf, "Wild Thorns" and was amazed to read a perspective that I am so unfamiliar with. I thought at first, oh, just a couple hundred pages, more like a novella. But, alas, when I had to go back and forth several times to see if I missed some detail that helped describe what this young man was feeling and thinking. It was similar in this fashion of Helen Mueller's two pieces that I've recently finished too. Life beneath such totalitarian rule smothers and twists reason and compassion - how can humanity survive?

    posted 5 days ago. ( send a note )
  • Don K.

    Don K. says

    I have also got a copy of The Land of Green Plums sitting on my shelf. I'll be curious to see what you think of it.

    posted 8 days ago. ( send a note )
  • Bibliophile!

    Bibliophile! says

    Yes. All is well. Thank You. Of late I have been reading lots of interesting books. So I am not unhappy!

    posted 13 days ago. ( send a note )
  • terrell67

    terrell67 says

    oh, read nickled and dimed in america

    posted 2 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • terrell67

    terrell67 says

    hi,tapbirds....how are you? im puzzled about California ,rejection of gay marriage but the place celebrated hedionism?

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

    Superrrmilla says

    Hoi Scott :)

    Nope, never been there, but I have heard of it. I think my coworkers know it and the ones who live in Woerden go there occassionally. I have to try it sometimes. Every once in a while there's a "restaurant week" here. You can pick a participating restaurant on the internet and have a three course menu for only 25 euro. All kinds of restaurants participate, but ofcourse the more expensive ones, like the Markies, are most interesting :). So next time it is, I'll check if I can get in there.

    posted 2 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • Bibliophile!

    Bibliophile! says

    I get the same pleasure from used bookstores that an alcoholic finds in bars. Both places, though public, make room for feverish solitude and both allow unhealthy cravings to be filled to excess - Art Spiegelman in his introduction to Joseph Moncure March's *The Wild Party*

    posted 3 weeks ago. ( send a note )
  • Dog Lover

    Dog Lover says

    No no. I wasn't trying to get you to change your vote! I'm voting the same way that you did.

    I was just remarking about my pleasant experience with Willis' writing style. I, too, was/am more than a little ambivalent about Ketcham's tome. It may be the best Madison biography there is but I don't want to experience the "pain" or drudgery of reading it over the holiday. We'll see, though. If the group votes for it, I will read it. Eventually. ~smile~

    DL

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Dog Lover

    Dog Lover says

    Yo Tapbird.

    Saw your comments on the CROAH Madison ballot. I concur.

    Have to admit, though, that I love Willis' writing style. Found several essays by him in the New York Review of Books and was very impressed. I do think that whole Schlesinger "Presidential History" line is history-lite. Still, might be just the kind of reference library that could help me gain an overview of things presidential.

    This is the first CROAH ballot so far that I've not anticipated with excitement. Just cannot understand why the fascinating and critically important Madison is not the subject of many biographies.

    DL

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Sagecoveredhills

    Sagecoveredhills says

    I have skipped around a lot in Partee's book, "The Theology of John Calvin" and haven't completed it. I think he's made a good contribution, but parts of it reads a lot like a dissertation--he explores a lot of various theories before getting around to his own ideas--it's not a dissertation, however. I'm pretty sure Partee's dissertation was the framework for his earlier book titled "Calvin and the Classical Philosophers". Like Francios Wendel's classic, "Calvin: The Origin and Development of his Religious Thought," he uses the 1559 Institues as a framework for Calvin's theology.

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • busman

    busman says

    I love Arvo Pärt, but my favorites would probably be Benjamin Britten and Olivier Messiaen.

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Superrrmilla

    Superrrmilla says

    You raise some interesting points as well, on which I would have to think. I do agree with you on the architects and the painters. The "Golden Age" art is not necessarily my favorite, but I can see it is good ( as, imho, there is a difference between something being not your taste and something being not good :) ). I will have to think some more about how and why, in my opinion, the writers differ from the more visual artists. Would be interesting to take the musicians into the perspective as well. And, yes, the design... Rietveld and such, they were remarkable. Thank you for bringing that to my attention :)

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Superrrmilla

    Superrrmilla says

    I'll put it on my reading list :) Looked it up in Wikipedia and the part about cathlic rituals and Japanese tea ceremonies interest me.

    I also came a bit closer to figuring out my exact problem with Dutch literature. It just seems to me the Dutch are not tellers of great stories or epic tales, as if somehow our national character reflects in our writing. We do not have rugged, inspiring nature, nor have rugged inspiring great minds, like the German or the French. We have two philosophers, one of which wasn't actually Dutch and the other one is hardly remembered by the "common people". We are a people of averages. Our national adagium would be "act normal, that's crazy enough", so for us no Joyce or Faulkner.

    Excuses the rant :), there's still plenty good things about the Netherlands, so I am not dissing my country. Just trying to formulate my likes and dislikes, is all.

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Superrrmilla

    Superrrmilla says

    *grins* many overrated authors to choose from, I see :)
    I haven't read Nooteboom at all, I am ashamed to say. I should, really, but somehow I manage to always have English-American-foreign authors attract my attention. What did you think of Nooteboom? He's on the possible NP winners list as well, I believe. But you know about the Dutch curse? Always to be named as winners (soccer, for one, European politics for another) but never actually winning the prize... :)

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Superrrmilla

    Superrrmilla says

    Hey Tap. About Mulisch... I have read some of his work, Discovery of Heaven being one of the books I read, but personally I am not too keen on him. Then again, I'm not too keen on Dutch literature as a whole ;)
    I wouldn't necessarily advice against Discovery of Heaven. It'd be nice to see what someone else who doesn't know Mulisch would make of it... :)
    So, any overrated American Nobel prize possiblities authors I should read? :)

    posted 1 month ago. ( send a note )
  • Marconi

    Marconi says

    Hi TB. Just found a comment of yours on Summerhill, to which I have belatedly responded.

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Dog Lover

    Dog Lover says

    Greetings CROAH member!


    We are now accepting nominations for the next group read to cover the fourth US President, James Madison.

    Please send your suggestions via one of 2 ways:

    a) a private note to either Regina or Dog Lover (this method reveals your email address to us), or

    b) use the "Questions About this Group" text box found on the member's tab. This sends an email to both administrators and masks your email address.

    Please do NOT post your nomination to the site's discussion tab.

    Please include the title, author, and brief description of the book. It would also be nice if you included the Shelfari book page URL.

    Nominations will be accepted through the 18th. Nominations will be posted and voting will take place through the 25th. We will post the selected book on the 26th.

    Because we are approaching the Holidays a revised schedule will be followed for the remainder of 2009 and beginning of 2010. We will vote for the Madison read in October, post discussion questions in November, skip December, vote on Monroe reads in January, and post discussion questions in February.

    A suggestion has been made to continue the extended reading schedule past the Holidays and provide 2 months between book selections. We would be interested in hearing anyone's thoughts on this. Would it help you? Would you lose momentum? Are you too busy to participate on the current schedule.

    Please post your comments on this proposed scheduling change to the nomination thread found at http://www.shelfari.com/groups/34700/discussions/146618/James-Madison-Nominations-are-Open

    The four books we've chosen since the group started have been fabulous. We look forward to seeing the nominations for the fifth.

    Thanks,

    Regina & DL

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )
  • books4life

    books4life says

    Thank you for accepting my request. Also thank you for your reviews and content on this website. As you may have seen on my profile I am on Shelfari to find the best reads for the future. I appreciate you and the others that are on here with good input. Have a great day and happy reading!

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )


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