Jacqui-S
Moderator
- Location
- Fife, Scotland
From where?
My Labrador Friends Book Club - Fiction Choice
- Thread starter Jacqui-S
- Start date
Lisa
Moderator
- Location
- Alberta, Canada
Online retailers - Amazon, Kobo, iTunes, etc
Candy
Biscuit Tin Guardian
- Location
- West Yorkshire, UK
I also loved that one Natalie.
Jacqui-S
Moderator
- Location
- Fife, Scotland
I just finished reading Tara Westover's Educated (a Biography)
What a powerful book.
I really did find it difficult to put down, although it was distressing in parts.
I know Sophie @Xena Dog Princess has read it as I just spotted her review.
It had parallels with someone I know on FB who experienced very severe abuse as a fostered/adopted? child.
I just found it so very sad, and hope that Tara has come to terms with her past now.
What a powerful book.
I really did find it difficult to put down, although it was distressing in parts.
I know Sophie @Xena Dog Princess has read it as I just spotted her review.
It had parallels with someone I know on FB who experienced very severe abuse as a fostered/adopted? child.
I just found it so very sad, and hope that Tara has come to terms with her past now.
- Location
- Cornwall , UK
I love my Kindle too ,but you`re right , one click ! I read when I go to bed ( Reuben snoring beside me ) and find that if I read anything too deep , I cant sleep for thinking about it , so I tend to read lightweight stuff , some of it is garbage but it send me to sleep ! x
- Location
- Wellington, NZ
If you can, I really recommend listening to some of her interviews @Jacqui-S - this is the one that introduced me to her, conducted by her MA adviser at Cambridge 81 | Educated
She doesn't outright say so, but I think she must have suffered some horrendous sexual abuse by her brother. There are way too many red flags in her stories of him. I actually think about her often, she's an amazing woman.
She doesn't outright say so, but I think she must have suffered some horrendous sexual abuse by her brother. There are way too many red flags in her stories of him. I actually think about her often, she's an amazing woman.
Lisa
Moderator
- Location
- Alberta, Canada
I’ve got Educated on my TBR pile for this year - I’ve heard lots of good things about it!
Jacqui-S
Moderator
- Location
- Fife, Scotland
Thanks Sophie - I will listen to those.
I agree with the red flags.
It made me think of a perennial topic - "What is normal?" Normal for me (regarding upbringing and life in general) is different to yours and to everyone elses'. Our "Normal filters" are developed as we grow up and develop ourselves. We accept so many varied things as normal.
What I see as "blue" may be the next person's "red" and the next's "pink".
- Location
- East Sussex
One of the books I read last week was 'The Colour of Bee Larkham's Murder' which I liked very much. It's in the same vein as 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the NIght-time', told in the first person by a character on the autistic spectrum who also has synaesthesia. This gives a new twist on the unreliable narrator.
Complete tangent on this thread (sorry!) but I think this is such a fascinating question @Jacqui-S . I caught the last part of a thought-provoking program on BBC R4 yonks ago on this topic, which made the point that “normal” is an entirely Victorian invention. Before that, people talked about ideals which individuals would aim to emulate but it was accepted one would never actually achieve the ideal, simply try to be more like them. With scientific concepts of norms and averages, there’s general acknowledgement it’s a theoretical concept rather than an actual real life occurrence- I.e. your “normal” human anatomy is an average across many different people, whereas individuals have kidneys, hearts, lungs etc in slightly different places and that’s (generally) fine. I think this applies to emotions, values and behaviours too - sometimes just the word ‘normal’ can mask a world of variety and it might be more helpful for it not so be used quite so much. Again, sorry for the tangent!
Jacqui-S
Moderator
- Location
- Fife, Scotland
Totally!
- Location
- Andorra and Spain
This isn’t fiction at all, sorry, but thought this was a good thread to post on. I have spent a lot of time in my car the last couple of days and listened to the audiobook of “My stroke of insight” by Jill Bolte Taylor.
I saw her TED talk a little while back, and thought, “Wow, cool!”. This is the story of a neuroscientist who has a stroke at the age of 37, and who was able to analyse what was happening in her brain as it happened. Who had an eight-year long recovery, and documented how she chose to recover.
Jill had a rare type of haemorrhage that flooded the left side of her brain with blood, damaging it so it couldn’t function. This book explains what that meant to Jill in the moment, and how she was affected. How she was unable to communicate, or even see and feel the way that the rest of us do, but how that expanded her ability to understand the magnificence of her brain and being.
There are moments where the book got a bit too fluffy for me to handle, but I can’t deny the experiences this woman had during her stroke, so I find myself unable to be as dismissive as I might otherwise be to some of the ideas she raised.
I found it a captivating narrative, and very thought provoking. I went from thinking “if my left hemisphere were damaged, I’d be screwed; I have no discernible features of a right hemisphere”, to thinking, “Wow! Everything I feel about world politics comes from my right hemisphere!”.
If you’re never going to read or listen to this, I’d say take 20 minutes to watch her TED talk
I kinda wish I hadn’t seen the talk before listening to the audiobook, but I don’t think I’d have bought the audiobook without having seen the TED talk.
In any event, I found it really interesting; from the parallels I drew with dog training when it came to learning behaviours, to the lessons that can be learned by any of us who might have to visit stroke patients at some point, to the very fundamentals of how we choose to perceive the world, and how we can choose to react to it.
A definite Top 100 for me
I saw her TED talk a little while back, and thought, “Wow, cool!”. This is the story of a neuroscientist who has a stroke at the age of 37, and who was able to analyse what was happening in her brain as it happened. Who had an eight-year long recovery, and documented how she chose to recover.
Jill had a rare type of haemorrhage that flooded the left side of her brain with blood, damaging it so it couldn’t function. This book explains what that meant to Jill in the moment, and how she was affected. How she was unable to communicate, or even see and feel the way that the rest of us do, but how that expanded her ability to understand the magnificence of her brain and being.
There are moments where the book got a bit too fluffy for me to handle, but I can’t deny the experiences this woman had during her stroke, so I find myself unable to be as dismissive as I might otherwise be to some of the ideas she raised.
I found it a captivating narrative, and very thought provoking. I went from thinking “if my left hemisphere were damaged, I’d be screwed; I have no discernible features of a right hemisphere”, to thinking, “Wow! Everything I feel about world politics comes from my right hemisphere!”.
If you’re never going to read or listen to this, I’d say take 20 minutes to watch her TED talk
I kinda wish I hadn’t seen the talk before listening to the audiobook, but I don’t think I’d have bought the audiobook without having seen the TED talk.
In any event, I found it really interesting; from the parallels I drew with dog training when it came to learning behaviours, to the lessons that can be learned by any of us who might have to visit stroke patients at some point, to the very fundamentals of how we choose to perceive the world, and how we can choose to react to it.
A definite Top 100 for me
- Location
- Cornwall , UK
This sounds interesting . Paul suffered a stroke three years ago and so I know too well the struggles to regain normality , to even understand normality , its not an easy journey x
Candy
Biscuit Tin Guardian
- Location
- West Yorkshire, UK
I really feel for you Kate, and for Paul, having worked as a nurse with people battling with recovery from stroke. Also their families. Deep respect is due to all of you. Hey, do consider Flyball for little Reuben though! Joy and I loved it and I'm sure our bond benefited.
xx
xxWell I’m going to benefit from your hindsight and listen to the audiobook before the TEDtalk - thank you, this sounds fascinating and right up my gangplank
- Location
- Malvern Worcestershire
Fascinating, though I feel her imagination was more to the fore than the reality. My Father had several strokes, one a major one when in his 40's and he was away from home for a year, he never mentioned having those feelings or thoughts. However, my daughter who hasn't had a stroke believes we are all energy and create our own reality. A very interesting talk.
- Location
- Andorra and Spain
She goes into it in a lot more depth from the neurological point of view in the book, explaining why she experienced what she did. And, as every brain is different, and every stroke is different, each experience of stroke will be different. For her, it was the blood flooding her left hemisphere that caused her “sense of self” brain to shut down as it did; the stroke would be entirely different if a different part was damaged.
- Location
- Malvern Worcestershire
I did realise that is was because the left hemisphere of her brain was affected, that she would have those results. However, MY brain failed to follow this logic through, hence wondering about my Father when his brain could have been affected in an entirely different area!
I will buy the book.
I will buy the book.
Jacqui-S
Moderator
- Location
- Fife, Scotland
Off on my hollibobs in a couple of weeks and looking for some light and frothy recommendations.
I have just wept through the last 1/4 of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. And thoroughly enjoyed the book club novel A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale.
What shall I load my kindle with guys?
I have just wept through the last 1/4 of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. And thoroughly enjoyed the book club novel A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale.
What shall I load my kindle with guys?
Atemas
UK Tour Guide
- Location
- North Cambridgeshire
Not light and frothy @Jacqui-S but has recently read Becoming by Michelle Obama. I know you have read this but currently reading Educated by Tara Westover. Goodness, all those horrendous accidents and mental and physical abuse - talk about wincing and forcing myself to read on. Will be interested in any recommendations you get as need to put more on my kindle for the summer