Athena's Reading List 2013

[vodkafan]

I have several memories of around 3.5 -7 years  but very fragmented. I was also a very dreamy artistic kid (right-brain dominant) when growing up so I remember emotions and visual impressions much more than spoken memories, which means I have lots of pictures in my head that I can't connect now to their proper context.  But no, completely normal I am afraid. 

I was a very dreamy kid right through school but the cognitive left brain side gradually became more dominant, as it must I guess (and that is a product of the methods of education anyway).

One thing I do remember very clearly as a pre-teen is the definite sensation of my brain switching from one side to the other depending on the task . I thought every body could feel that so I never remarked about it but much later when I was grown up I told someone about it and they looked at me like I was a loony. They did not know what I was talking about.

[vodkafan]

I looked up the think about people remembering their own birth and there is very little hard evidence. Mostly it is from people in fringe medicine or hypnosis who have something to gain financially from pushing the idea.

I did find something that said the baby's brain is not fully formed so no memory would be possible; it just doesn't have the equipment.

[Little Pixie]

 

Athena

 

 Wow, you got a nice pile of books ,didn't you ?

 

The Shell Seekers is great. The beginning was dry, but stick with it, it is well worth reading . In fact, Read it twice, which is very rare for me .

 

Bryce Courtenay :

I'll be interested in hearing how you like his book. The only one of his I've read is The Power of One  ,and it is an all time favorite. Wonderful story-telling .

 

Ooh, I loved the film they made of The Power of One.   I do have the book, and shall eventually get round to it.

 

I noticed earlier that The Shell Seekers is on TV next week ; I may get to the TV version before the book.

 

Great book haul, Athena.

[Athena]

I have several memories of around 3.5 -7 years  but very fragmented. I was also a very dreamy artistic kid (right-brain dominant) when growing up so I remember emotions and visual impressions much more than spoken memories, which means I have lots of pictures in my head that I can't connect now to their proper context.  But no, completely normal I am afraid. 

I was a very dreamy kid right through school but the cognitive left brain side gradually became more dominant, as it must I guess (and that is a product of the methods of education anyway).

One thing I do remember very clearly as a pre-teen is the definite sensation of my brain switching from one side to the other depending on the task . I thought every body could feel that so I never remarked about it but much later when I was grown up I told someone about it and they looked at me like I was a loony. They did not know what I was talking about.

x

That's pretty remarkable, that you could feel your brain switch. It's very interesting to hear what kind of memories you have .

x 

I looked up the think about people remembering their own birth and there is very little hard evidence. Mostly it is from people in fringe medicine or hypnosis who have something to gain financially from pushing the idea.

I did find something that said the baby's brain is not fully formed so no memory would be possible; it just doesn't have the equipment.

x

Ah yes, that would make sense. 

x 

Great book haul, Athena.

x

Thanks !

[vodkafan]

x

That's pretty remarkable, that you could feel your brain switch. It's very interesting to hear what kind of memories you have .

  !

 

I would be very interested  to hear from anyone else who could feel that when they were younger. Sadly it is very rare for me to feel it anymore I lost the ability. If I am cycling  at the gym  or swimming for a very long time it might happen, but if I am counting lengths it definitely won't, as I am using the cognitive part of my brain. I am hoping that when I start painting and drawing again it will come back. I miss it.

I don't think it made any difference to my memories really, they are probably much like everyone elses.    

[julie]

James

  I haven't ever had the feeling in your brain like you are describing . As far as memories, I go back to about age 4 ,when we moved to the house I grew up in . Sometimes at night when I can't sleep, I'll try to make my brain remember things from when I was small, like the colors of rooms in our house, colors of the carpet, furniture , my Grandma's house and all the things she had .. It's a good exercise to keep my brain working I guess.

 The house I lived in from birth to 4 has always been lived in until last year . The old lady died who lived there ,so her family tried to sell it on their own . I called them one day to ask if I could look through it . They were very kind ,and met me there and let me walk through and spend time remembering . It was actually fascinating. I drive by the house all the time ,but could never remember specifics ,like where each room was, colors, etc .

 When I walked in I went into the living room and immediately asked where the tiny built in shelves were ? The man looked at the wife ,went over and said Look behind here : They had a "fake" fireplace on the wall. We moved it away from the wall and there were the tiny shelves I remembered my mom had knick-knacks sitting on . The shelf was built indented into the wall and was small, but I remembered it .

Then they had a tiny 2-shelf thing built on the corner wall. I said That's where the phone and phone book sat. The man said ,no there was never a phone there . Well, I Iooked down into the corner ,and it had been painted over, but you could see the old cut wires where out old black phone used to sit .

I didn't have any memories at all of the parent's room, bathroom or kitchen ,but when I walked into the back bedroom, I actually got cold chills . It was like my brain took a snapshot for me . I remembered it was my room, where my bed sat, my white chenille bedspread, my stuffed dog with the plastic ears that sat on my pillow ,and even my blue and white footie pj's . WEIRD how my brain just had a quick snapshot of those things . We left that house when I was 4,so I had memories from some time before that .

The basement was especially cool. I had no memories at all of it, but it actually had a "Bomb Shelter" built in it ( remember back in the 50's ,the threat of wars with Russia ? ) We had to do the drills at school, go into the hall, cover our heads with our hands and crouch down onto the floor ? Not sure if you guys did that over there or was it just here ?

 

Anyhow, lots of houses back then built Safe places in the basement. It was a small building with extra -enforced bricks, benches all along 2 walls ,and food shelves to store foods etc on ... pretty neat ! I never knew that house had one of those .

 

Just a little tidbit from my brain ,and a small journey back to the 50's .

 

I like trying to do that, make my brain remember things from long ago, people's houses, faces of people who are no longer alive ,voices, etc ... I like thinking about the past and sifting through it to pick out the good .

[vodkafan]

That was really interesting Julie. It was kind of those people to let you come in and look around.

[frankie]

Athena, I can't believe how many books you've been buying lately, both tree books and ereader books Way to go

 

And congratulations on reading 100 books this year, already! You can definitely buy many books, when you know you can read through just as many per year

 

I'm very happy to hear you liked Howards End is on the Landing! I wonder how many books you added to your wishlist, exactly, when reading the book

 

And I'm also happy you enjoyed the Bridget Jones book!

 

Helen Fielding - Bridget Jones 1: Bridget Jones's Diary

The style of writing is that sometimes, certain elements of the sentences are missing. What I mean is, as it's a diary, it's written in a "Can't go there tomorrow. Must do this" type of style, when she talks about things that involve her. So the "I" is missing. Overall this didn't make a big difference but every now and then I noticed it (particularly after I just started to read it, after reading it for a while I was so into the story I didn't really notice it much anymore). Most of the time, with the other sentences, they don't have any missing bits.

 

I read somewhere that originally Fielding was writing the story for a magazine. A Bridget Jones month per issue (or so, I think. Hm, maybe not, I don't know Anyhow, that is not important). And they had a certain amount of words they said she was supposed to write. When she was writing the pieces, she would always go above the word limit, so she started deleting all the unnecessary words, the words without which the reader would still get the point

 

Jennifer Weiner - In Her Shoes (this was on my wishlist since I saw the film)

 

I think you're in for a treat with this one, it's soooo much better than the film!

 

I agree with chesilbeach: although I think the movie is great, the book is so much better. And I thought it was quite deep for a chick-lit book. At least during a few particular parts in the book. Sister issues, that is. I hope you enjoy the book

 

Whenever I have a clearout, I keep coming across old magazine articles I`ve kept about decluttering....

 

:lol:

Edited October 19, 2013 by frankie

[poppyshake]

I agree with chesilbeach: although I think the movie is great, the book is so much better. And I thought it was quite deep for a chick-lit book. At least during a few particular parts in the book. Sister issues, that is. I hope you enjoy the book

I am disagreeing with the pair of you        I didn't get on with the book at all but LOVED the film. I hated the second film though but I didn't read the book so can't compare but that proves that I didn't base my decision solely on Colin  

 

I do hope you enjoy the third book frankie  I have heard .. well .. I won't say  but I hope it rewards you for your long and patient wait  

[frankie]

I am disagreeing with the pair of you        I didn't get on with the book at all but LOVED the film. I hated the second film though but I didn't read the book so can't compare but that proves that I didn't base my decision solely on Colin  

 

I do hope you enjoy the third book frankie  I have heard .. well .. I won't say  but I hope it rewards you for your long and patient wait  

 

I can't believe you didn't like Bridget Jones!

 

However, I was talking about In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner

 

Edit: Poppyshake, there is this really funny bit about Colin Firth in the second Bridget Jones (I initially wrote BJ but then thought better of it ) novel, I think you would appreciate it

Edited October 20, 2013 by frankie

[Athena]

I would be very interested  to hear from anyone else who could feel that when they were younger. Sadly it is very rare for me to feel it anymore I lost the ability. If I am cycling  at the gym  or swimming for a very long time it might happen, but if I am counting lengths it definitely won't, as I am using the cognitive part of my brain. I am hoping that when I start painting and drawing again it will come back. I miss it.

I don't think it made any difference to my memories really, they are probably much like everyone elses.

x

I hope for you it will come back then .

x 

James

  I haven't ever had the feeling in your brain like you are describing . As far as memories, I go back to about age 4 ,when we moved to the house I grew up in . Sometimes at night when I can't sleep, I'll try to make my brain remember things from when I was small, like the colors of rooms in our house, colors of the carpet, furniture , my Grandma's house and all the things she had .. It's a good exercise to keep my brain working I guess.

 The house I lived in from birth to 4 has always been lived in until last year . The old lady died who lived there ,so her family tried to sell it on their own . I called them one day to ask if I could look through it . They were very kind ,and met me there and let me walk through and spend time remembering . It was actually fascinating. I drive by the house all the time ,but could never remember specifics ,like where each room was, colors, etc .

 When I walked in I went into the living room and immediately asked where the tiny built in shelves were ? The man looked at the wife ,went over and said Look behind here : They had a "fake" fireplace on the wall. We moved it away from the wall and there were the tiny shelves I remembered my mom had knick-knacks sitting on . The shelf was built indented into the wall and was small, but I remembered it .

Then they had a tiny 2-shelf thing built on the corner wall. I said That's where the phone and phone book sat. The man said ,no there was never a phone there . Well, I Iooked down into the corner ,and it had been painted over, but you could see the old cut wires where out old black phone used to sit .

I didn't have any memories at all of the parent's room, bathroom or kitchen ,but when I walked into the back bedroom, I actually got cold chills . It was like my brain took a snapshot for me . I remembered it was my room, where my bed sat, my white chenille bedspread, my stuffed dog with the plastic ears that sat on my pillow ,and even my blue and white footie pj's . WEIRD how my brain just had a quick snapshot of those things . We left that house when I was 4,so I had memories from some time before that .

The basement was especially cool. I had no memories at all of it, but it actually had a "Bomb Shelter" built in it ( remember back in the 50's ,the threat of wars with Russia ? ) We had to do the drills at school, go into the hall, cover our heads with our hands and crouch down onto the floor ? Not sure if you guys did that over there or was it just here ?

 

Anyhow, lots of houses back then built Safe places in the basement. It was a small building with extra -enforced bricks, benches all along 2 walls ,and food shelves to store foods etc on ... pretty neat ! I never knew that house had one of those .

 

Just a little tidbit from my brain ,and a small journey back to the 50's .

 

I like trying to do that, make my brain remember things from long ago, people's houses, faces of people who are no longer alive ,voices, etc ... I like thinking about the past and sifting through it to pick out the good .

x

Julie, that was very interesting to read . 

x 

Athena, I can't believe how many books you've been buying lately, both tree books and ereader books Way to go

x

Thanks . Well I mainly bought tree books, most ereader books were free. But still, I got a lot of books. There should be more soon because I'll be getting some books for my birthday and I'll be going to the Dutch book fair.

x

And congratulations on reading 100 books this year, already! You can definitely buy many books, when you know you can read through just as many per year

x

Thanks ! I can, but I've been buying more than I read, the past two years. I just enjoy book buying a lot, it's very de-stressing. I am going to address this issue, by at the very least ordering less expensive books, the easiest place to save money is to not buy as many of the ones that cost more (unless I really, really want them). Then there's the space issue, too. Sometime next year I plan to go through my books and give some to charity, or the English ones to maybe someone here if anyone wants my double copies. There's also the plan of, once my boyfriend and I move into the bakery, to then buy more bookcases in my room so I'll have more space for my books, too. I also plan on reading a lot!

x

I'm very happy to hear you liked Howards End is on the Landing! I wonder how many books you added to your wishlist, exactly, when reading the book

x

Thanks . I'm not sure how many I added to the wishlist, though I can try to look it up if you want, I can either try to find my notepad where I wrote most of them on, or I can try to look at my GoodReads wishlist and see section I remember being from the book, I should be able to remember that roughly, I think (I think about 30? That's just a guess though. Maybe it's more ).

x

And I'm also happy you enjoyed the Bridget Jones book!

 

I read somewhere that originally Fielding was writing the story for a magazine. A Bridget Jones month per issue (or so, I think. Hm, maybe not, I don't know Anyhow, that is not important). And they had a certain amount of words they said she was supposed to write. When she was writing the pieces, she would always go above the word limit, so she started deleting all the unnecessary words, the words without which the reader would still get the point

x

Thanks, me too . Your explanation makes a lot of sense!

[poppyshake]

I can't believe you didn't like Bridget Jones!

 

However, I was talking about In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner

Lord!      .. keep up Poppyshake  so sorry frankie  

Edit: Poppyshake, there is this really funny bit about Colin Firth in the second Bridget Jones (I initially wrote BJ but then thought better of it ) novel, I think you would appreciate it

Yes I think I have heard something about that  .. one of these days I may well pick it up and find that I have the reverse opinion to the one I had about the first book vs film.

[Athena]

Edit: Poppyshake, there is this really funny bit about Colin Firth in the second Bridget Jones (I initially wrote BJ but then thought better of it ) novel, I think you would appreciate it

x

This sounds quite intruiging! I should find out in a while..

 

If/When you pick it up, I hope you like the book, Poppyshake!

[julie]

Hi Athena

Checking in with you . I didn't remember seeing you post today . Maybe you have and I missed your posts. I know you are a frequent poster ,so thought I'd give you a holler .

Disregard this if you've been in and I'm just too scatterbrained to remember .

[Athena]

That's so sweet of you, Julie! My boyfriend arrived here last night so I've been spending the day with him. He's quite tired, from travelling and from all the bad stuff that happened at his home, so I wanted to be there for him. I haven't had much time to check on the forums, we've been catching up. We haven't seen each other in a couple of weeks so it's really nice to spend some time together again. I probably won't have much time today to read all of the new posts here, I don't know about tomorrow. My birthday is coming up so I'll be busy with that too. I do miss going on here though! It's really sweet of you to think of me .

[pontalba]

Gaia, I know you are the best medicine for your BF, I'm happy to know that you are together now.  You can catch up here anytime, but he needs your attention right now.

Sending good vibes and hugs.  

 

Have a wonderful time!

[julie]

Hey Athena !

 So sorry. I think maybe you did mention your boyfriend coming to visit ,but I didn't remember when . I'm glad you are getting to spend some time together. Go right ahead, and enjoy each other's company. It sounds as if he needs someone to be there for him ,so you are the perfect person .

 

 We'll get to visit with you again later . 

[Athena]

It's okay . I didn't mention specifically which day he'd be coming.

[Athena]

The lovely Hayley (chaliepud) sent me her copy of The Witness by Nora Roberts !! Thank you so much, Hayley !!

[Athena]

Here's a photo of the books I got for my birthday and a list. One book isn't there, it's in the UK and I haven't seen it yet.

 

 

Marjon Kuipers and Gijs Horvers - Plan B: Een Vernieuwende Handreiking voor Autisme & Communicatie (quite excited about this, it's a newly released book about autism, sensory input and communication)

Helen Fielding - Bridget Jones 2: The Edge of Reason

Helen Fielding - Bridget Jones 3: Mad About The Boy (my boyfriend got this at the airport, it wasn't yet out in the shops in paperback, I look forward to read both book two and book three!)

Haruki Murakami - 1Q84

Iain M. Banks - Culture 10: The Hydrogen Sonata

Terry Pratchett - Dodger

Maria V. Snyder - Healer 2: Scent of Magic

Brandon Sanderson - Elantris 1: Elantris

Cornelia Funke - Inkworld 1: Inkheart

Cornelia Funke - Inkworld 3: Inkdeath (I already have book two, which I bought for my sister but it turned out she already had it)

Paul Gravett and Cassell Illustrated - 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die: The Ultimate Guide to Comic Books, Graphic Novels, Comic Strips and Manga

Steven Jay Schneider - 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Pentabe - My Girlfriend's a Geek Volume 1 (novel)

[Signor Finzione]

Nice book haul, Gaia! Glad you had a productive birthday.

[Devi]

Nice birthday haul!

 

I have Haruki Murakami - 1Q84 on my shelf, look forward to hearing what you think.

[julie]

Looks like a nice stack of books there ,and many days/weeks or months of reading time !

[Signor Finzione]

Looks like a nice stack of books there ,and many days/weeks or months of reading time !

 

Knowing Athena it's probably more a matter of minutes/hours.

[julie]

Knowing Athena it's probably more a matter of minutes/hours.

 

Yes, you are probably right there. I was going by my reading time ,but she can read  MUCH faster than I do !