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| Best t-shirt I have seen so far on this vacation. And given that it was the Kingdom of Hawaii before US sugar barons overthrew the monarchy I think the coronet is certainly very fitting. |
Currently I am spending my mornings walking the streets of Honolulu visiting old haunts while John is busy with a work conference. After these long walks (3+ hours) I come back to the hotel for a little beach or pool reading. Not a bad life.
Leaving books on benches
On my walk this morning I took a walk through the University of Hawaii Manoa campus where I got my first master’s degree. I took along three paperbacks to get rid of. I left them on various benches and hope someone will pick them up before they get thrown in the trash. I kept looking for nerdy book types hoping they would take the bait. With the ratty old copy of Under the Volcano that I chucked into the recycling yesterday my luggage is getting lighter and lighter.
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| Do you think one of these stock-photo kids at UH will pick up one of my books? |
The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer
Definitely my least favorite Wolitzer, but I am not sure I hated it as much as some of you. Still on my scale of 10 I would probably give it a 5, which means I am ambivalent.
Tossed another one aside
Started to read Keeping Bedlam at Bay at the Prague Cafe by M. Henderson Ellis and dispensed with after 30 pages. My experience with Under the Volcano has me way too impatient these days to make it to page 50 unless I am enjoying it. One of the blurbs referenced the kooky protagonist in A Confederacy of Dunces. But what it should have said that Ellis is trying to create a memorable character like that.
Casting for Mapp and Lucia
The Mapp and Lucia Facebook page has been a frenzy of speculation about the BBC’s decision to film the beloved Benson series. The latest has been dream casting for each of the characters. I think I am stumping for unknown actors to fill all the roles. How anyone could hope to top Geraldine McEwan at Lucia, Prunella Scales as Miss Mapp, or Nigel Hawthorne as Georgie is beyond me.
Isn’t this a lovely building?
If anything could entice me to become a Christian Scientist it would be this lovely church in Honolulu. The stone is lava rock.
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| Photo credit here. |
hogglestock 
I'm utterly baffled by the decision to remake Mapp and Lucia. The 1980s version was sublime, with perfect casting.
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Love that Christian Scientist church. Beautiful design and stonework. Glad you're releasing books into the wild. I have been fun here doing the Book Phantom thing. About to release A Tale For The Time Being in the next week.
travellinpenguin.blogspot.com
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I could get used to a vacation routine of walking and reading pretty easily!!
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I did not care for The Uncoupling but really loved The Interestings.
I have a hard time leaving books on benches. I almost always prefer putting them into the hands of friends because then I know they will be read and or appreciated.
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Just last night I finished Wolitzer's Friends for Life, published in 1994. Have you read that one?
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I'm actually a Christian Scientist. I did a double take. I've not been to Hawaii sadly, and my church here in Edinburgh is too 1960s modernist for my taste.
For a mind-blowing read, you should read the underlying book of Christian Science (apart from the Bible) – Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.
Also, leaving books out in the open?? It would never cross my mind to do that; it rains almost every day here.
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It really was perfect. So many other things could be adapted for TV. At least it isn't another Austen remake.
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I did Bookcrossing for a while, but it oddly made me anxious.
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Yesterday's routine broke down in favor of lunch with friends and beach time. Not a bad way to break down.
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I have very few friends in my real world that I can give books to.
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I don't think I have read that one. So far, The Wife, is my favorite.
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I have actually read bits of Science and Health… and I once attended a service at the mother church in Boston.
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I have a nice orange-spined Penguin copy of Mapp and Lucia, but can't decide if I should read it first or read the series in order. In that case I'd have to wait until the Triple-Dog Dare is over. I don't know if I can justify reading three books to get to the fourth. And should I watch the TV series or read the books first?
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Karen, you can totally start with Mapp and Lucia. You can also watch the series first. In fact it may be the best way to be introduced to the whole series–it's how I first came to Benson. I saw the series on TV when it first came out in the 1980s. Fell in love with it and then later sought out the books. The series is so fun. I can watch it repeatedly.
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When I was in college, I always, always had homework and studying. I never watched TV and never read a book for pleasure. I had too many textbooks to read.
However, I did read for pleasure the few days between semesters and over the summer when I didn't take a summer class. So, yes, I do think your books will ne picked up if only to save for later.
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As an undergraduate I still read fiction from time to time, of course during the summers but also during term. I remember two books in particular that kept me from doing homework. Atwood's The Edible Woman and Forster's Where Angels Fear to Tread.
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