THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES. by Sue Monk Kidd.

I recieved this book as a gift. I NEVER would have bought it myself but read it in one sitting. It was great!

Dee

Just finished "A Hard Day's Write" which is about the stories behind the Beatles' tunes, and their inspirations for writing them. Just started "Rich Dad, Poor Dad: what rich parents teach their kids that poor and middle class parents don't" or something to that extent. Very interesting book.

I've started reading a collection of Clifford D. Simak stories rather than O.S. Card's ENDER'S GAME. Not because of Translator's review of ENDER'S GAME, but because I'd rather not read anything militaristic right now. These images coming out of Iraq have floored me emotionally. I don't watch the news, but they show these pictures on the AOL homepage. Apparently there's a way to "customize" my AOL, so maybe I can get the headlines off the homepage.

Back to Simak. Just what the doctor ordered. Three stories into it and not a shred of violence or negativity, just hope and wonder.

You're right! Clifford Simak is wonderful...a fine writer who fills you with a sense of wonder and hope, not despair. My personal favorite among his many books is his novel, WAY STATION. Highly recommended!

And I hope you never end up reading that book. It's plain silly. War pictures shaking you up a bit? Thank the warmongers.
Cheers, Translator

Ah, Translator, I can always count on you for a contrary point of view. You may be aware that WAY STATION won the coveted Hugo award for best science fiction novel of 1964, although I am the first to agree you are entitled to your opinion. However, of the many people with whom I have discussed this book, you are the very first who did not like it. For folks who have never read the book, here is a link to an on-line review:
http://www.sfsite.com/02a/ws97.htm

And for those who don't want to read the entire review, here's the last paragraph, which I submit is far more perceptive than the opinion of Translator. I suggest people read WAY STATION for themselves and see who is more on target:

"The story is well-told and interesting in itself, but the value of the novel lies more in Simak's portrayal of his central character, Enoch Wallace, and especially in Simak's advocacy of unity between all races, human and alien, based on common "humanity." In the first case, Simak portrays Wallace's honesty, decency, and above all, his loneliness -- very effective and very moving. In the second case, Simak manages to show decency and "humanity" in all his characters, aliens and humans, and to pull off a mystical conclusion emphasizing the value of cooperation. It's a very quiet book (quietness seems a Simakian virtue), but it's still involving and fast-moving, with plenty of SF heft to its ideas, and plenty of emotional punch as well. It's not one of the better known Hugo winners: and on encountering it I think it should become better known. Highly recommended.


Copyright � 2001 Rich Horton"


[This message has been edited by Richard (edited 05-12-2004).]

Richard- That "quiet" quality of Simak's is something hard for me to describe. It's like taking a liesurely stroll through a park, or floating on a raft down a lazy ol' river with the only sounds being that of the water lapping at the sides. It's not to be confused with "slow" and definately not boring. Bradbury has this same quality at times, and most of his fans are probably familiar with it.

I've been looking for both CITY and WAYSTATION for years with no luck. I could always get them at amazon.com, but that would take away the thrill of the hunt. I like looking in used bookstores and especially thrift stores.

BTW- So, you are THE Rich Horton. We both frequent another site.

[This message has been edited by grasstains (edited 05-12-2004).]

grassstains, while I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Horton's opinions about Mr. Simak and WAY STATION, I am not him.

For what it's worth, I thought Translator was saying not to bother with Ender's Game.

RE: OS Card--I liked the "Alvin Maker" series a lot.

I was indeed referring to Ender's Game. I happaned to (gasp!) not read the other book. If it's a good novel, I'm sure I will get to it one day.

I haven't bothered reading any more of Card - when i found out his "famed" book was so banal and shallow, I assumed the rest of his stuff (can I call them works?) will be just as bad.

Cheers, Translator

Translator- May we all thank the Warmongers come November. Show them the door and make them take their war with them. And Translator, I do cherish your opinion and have so since your first posts. You've been a breath of fresh air around here. More like a shot of Tabasco sauce to liven up the borscht.

Translator, my apologies for not understanding which novel you were referring to!

It has been awhile since I read Ender's Game, but remember that I enjoyed it.

As to the "warmongers", I assume you're speaking of those who destroyed the Twin Towers in an unprovoked attack, killing 3,000 innocent persons; and the persons who beheaded an innocent civilian on video the other day while praising Allah over his screams as they sawed his head off?


[This message has been edited by Mr. Dark (edited 05-13-2004).]

I had assumed that the term warmongers was, in this case, being used to refer to the Bush Admin. Not that that's my sentiment, but knowing Translator as I do...

Personally I think it's sad that the only americans that most of the world ever gets to meet are ugly tourists and military personnel (esp. Marines). No wonder the world hates americans!

Thank you all for the kind words; I do try to liven things up a bit with an opinion that, I guarantee it, is shared by the vast majority of people here in Canada, Poland, and France (I keep most contact with those three countries).
I figured you made an honest mistake, Richard, about my critisism of the book; thanks for the apology.
Mr Dark: Please refrain from conflating two very different things together. Sept 11 had nothing to do with the Iraq war. There was not a shred of proof that tied Bin Laden and Hussain together; had you known anything about islam and the middle east you would have surely realized that Bin Laden hated Hussain and considered him little better than an american (on account of the secularism of Iraq under his rule), which meant that the possibility of sept 11 being their joint effort was as likely as that of bin Laden and Paul Martin (the Canadian PM) .
No Mr Dark, the warmongers are not the Iraqis. They were attacked by the forces of America, Britain, Spain, and Poland (I always cringe when I say that. My own country, a nation that went through partition, survived two world wars (while losing nearly half its population), and was little more than a barganing chip handed over to Russians at the conclusion of the second one (which didn't work out all that bad in the end)); a nation that sent Pulaski to america to help with its war of independence - became a nation which launched an unprovoked and brutal war on people I don't think many in Poland have ever seen. But I digress), and these forces are the occupiers. The pretences for war ranged from the false ties to 9/11 (which, once again, were conclusively proved to be bogus), to the assertion that Iraq can and is about to launch war on America and the western world with its Weapons of Mass Destruction (who rememebers Colin Powel and his "mobile germ labs" at the UN meeting? Who rememebers the 15 minutes it was supposed to take Hussain to launch his nuclear warheads he bought from Nigeria (for those who haven't followed up on this, the documents were counterfited by the FBI (or CIA, I forget who)), to Saving Iraquis from a brutal dictator who tortured the citizens and was a tyrant (which I don't disagree he didn't, and don;t disagree that he wasn't) and instituting democracy in an area where there are few democracies (a question pertaining to this has to be asked - is the killing of thousands of people one wants to "save", as will ineviatbly happen in a war, really that smart (not to mention the tortures that the iraquis are subjected to along the way - both during the war, and after (the recent photos were more brutal than any tortures Hussain could have come up with))? A secondary question one has to ask is what sort of democracy will be instituted in Iraq if the power is to be given to clerics (a la the June 30 handover)? The warmongers are the people who, in those nations, lobbied for the war; those people who, to "show the Iraqis that the UN is not to be toyed around with" (referring to the UN resolution to disarm Iraq) went expressely against one of the most fundamental UN resolutions themselves, and attacked a harmless, embargoed (and hence poor), defenseless nation. The method of attack was brutal (don't tell me, Mr Dark, that dropping thousands upon thousands of tons of Uranium-enriched bombs is humane), and the message to other, more reasonable nations (Germany, Russia, China, France, etc) was a big "Get Lost" (freedom fries, anyone?). Decision had to be made in each of the "Coaltiton of the willing" nations. These decisions were made by people. These people were the warmongers.

The iraqis who cut off Berg's head were surely criminals of the worst sort. But A) a bad streak comes out even in me, a rather pacifistic and people loving man when I see the tortures Iraqis are going through in prisons and elsewhere, and B) The presence of America in Iraq draws there (to Iraq) all sorts of people who have a bone to pick with America. America should have thought of that.

Anyway, sorry for the long post, but I just kind of get rather ticked off by uneducated, illogical, foolish, jingoistic and wholly erroneus convictions of people who know nothing about certain issues, yet try to speak out about them (and shield themselves by the frankly annoying "I'm entitled to my opinion" mantra when they can't argue any longer). An opinion can be expressed about a book or a movie; not about hard, cold facts, as is the case in this case.

Saying this, you're entitled to your opinion, Mr Dark, but only about Ender's Game. About Iraq you are wrong, for there is only one way to see things once you are privy to enough information. And don't take this personally - I'm just against your erroneus views; you may be the coolest guy in the world otherwise. The above (especially the negative adjectives) is not an attack on you, but on your perception of the world.

Cheers, Translator

[This message has been edited by Translator (edited 05-13-2004).]