Happy New Year!! Tell us all about what you are reading!

River of the God's by Candace Millard.. story of exploration to find the source of the Nile, husband is enjoying.

Currently reading The Rough Guide to Paris (12th edition, 2010), by Ruth Blackmore and James McConnachie. I'll probably never have the time or the money to visit, but it's fun to read and imagine. To see everything that I find interesting I would either have to visit every year for a decade, or perhaps live there for a year. The problem would be getting out of the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay.

I've been reading Roots of American Order, which I really enjoy, and then fictional wise…probably going to be Portrait of a Lady as well as my brothers' books.

Hi Yall!

Happy to find the 2023 reading forum!

The lead in photo makes me imagine
all the facts and fiction (imagination) in the books.

Too bad, so sad, I have not opened any books recently.
I did love reading. Now I don't take the time, and,
I don't admit to myself I need glasses!

A hospital patient listened to audiobooks on "audible".

Sally, thanks for the links to the animated audio kids books.
I need DD permission to use a youtube link with the kids.
(so DD may be a bit old fashioned, too)
though I'm sure your link is safe,
and I appreciate you sharing it.
Especially since grandson has stomach bug,
I'm sure he will love seeing Trashy Town, and other books,
on small kid friendly Ipad his parents bought him!

For kids gifts, DD "suggested" we get them Yoto players.
She probably wanted the audio players,
though this grandma had other ideas!

She bought bright lights for bikes!

I guess I'm an old fashioned grandma.

I looked at links to the audio players,
that can also link to Bluetooth.

With yoto audio players,
you can also purchase books on cards,
like size and shape of credit cards.
Or you can make your own cards, etc.

The older boy seems to be beginning reading,
so I thought it better for him to hold and read books,
rather than getting book credit by listening while playing.

I think DD wanted them for the car,
and so boys wouldn't fight for her bluetooth connection!

I'm just not into buying all the accessories,
for the yoto, and also not for my phone.

I looked up links to yoto players to include here,
though I didn't want to send ads, or "cookies"!

Hope all enjoy a lucky Friday the 13th!

So much technology.. I had not heard of Yoto.
Interesting, maybe, is a webinar I did recently stressing the importance of back and forth conversation for little kids literacy. Is more important/higher quality than just making sure they hear words and sounds all day as is also a component of reading prep that is, have to hear lots of sounds before learning to associate sounds with letters and letter groups.
I'm rereading The Indifferent Stars Above, a westward expansion nonfiction, specifically the Donner party.

Sally, interesting info.
I probably didn't connect conversation with reading readiness. I see, and hear, the connection now.
Then I remember seeing parents talking on phone, even while driving, instead of talking with kids.
When I walked home from school with grands, a mom, walking with her son, had her ear plugs on for a work call.
So there are pros and cons.

I'm not making judgements.

I worked nights so I was often asleep during day.

I am not making judgements either. I am also NO small talker. There must be many pathways and keys to learning as my kids were good readers and I never pushed them or made any special effort. But conversation helps kids confirm their guesses about word use, and everything in the world.

Tech use is important for kids- look at alll the jokes about the little ones being more savvy than us big ones with any tech. A good development might be a verbal chatbot for kids, an app they can talk to and responds. maybe Alexa already does this in some way

I also read a book by a premier climber about his various experiences on Everest. I think I've had about enough Everest for the time being.

The Donner party group had a number of delays and mishaps along their joureny and just might have made it thru the pass, they were so close if not for an 8 day snow that stopped them and after that there was no way. How those California and Oregon trail travelers lived on the trail, the wrenching choices and horrrible accidents, sickness, how they prepared to try and survive the winter... talk about endurance.

sallyg said: Interesting, maybe, is a webinar I did recently stressing the importance of back and forth conversation for little kids literacy. Is more important/higher quality than just making sure they hear words and sounds all day ...

That kind of makes sense. How much time do mothers spend babbling back to their little ones? We learn language by conversation with others, so it's not surprising that literacy has a similar component.

Sally and David.

I was in a store that was not busy. I saw a mother who was out with her baby in cart.
You can see how the baby starts learning with the cheerful chatting and social smiles. It's amazing how they learn, and so smart so soon.

In present day, my DD spends time with grandsons. Though in preschool they have computer use figured out.
The younger one got kids camera. The K class brother took a look at back of camera and found games included
He sat down and started Pong.

He is hooked on Pokemon.

Yesterday, It was fun playing cars, especially after he put together Lego motor bike and rider in just a few minutes.

Yes, I am a proud grandma.

I heard a speaker on TV saying today's young generation will need to safely use social media to be successful, probably at school, jobs, social skills, etc.

You see how they learn from previous generations, then kick it up a notch, or two.

Thanks for all you are teaching me here

David, I enjoyed what you shared about Kansas history.

Sally I knew I heard about Donner party. When you said you are reading about them, I thought you are reading politics.
It's amazing what people did in the past with no technology
It's amazing what people will do in the future with it.

Just like us and computer chat

All interesting, isn't it TT!

I'll take a sharp stick in the eye before reading about politics in any more than giving tangential context to events. I hate politics.
I'd like to visit somewhere that I can see wheels ruts still left from those wagons over a hundred years ago. Some are in Kansas, David, I imagine you know.

Hi Sally, about preserving past,
Near Pigeon Forge in the Smokies, they have saved cabins, and ways of life like the grist mill and irrigation in Cades Cove.
It's beautiful and fun to see.
Visited by many tourists.

As a kid, I enjoyed Laura Ingalls Wilder 📚 📖 books.

On TV, when they showed rain and snow on west coast , I thought I saw a sign for the Donner pass.

Now you have me interested

HI again!

On CBS Sunday Morning, I saw this video "story"
about a slave couple and their escape to freedom!

The disguise to escape, learn literacy in Europe,
now a great great granddaughter writes poetry!

It's an amazing story!

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/...

Continuing my re-read of Stephen King books by finishing Skeleton Crew and now going to start Four Past Midnight. Some of the stories I like the most are not horror but the ones about the small tight knit communities living on the Maine islands like one called The Reach. His next book Holly is supposed to be released this Sept.

Really enjoyed Skeleton Crew!

I just watched In the Heart of the Sea, based on Nathaniel Philbrick's book, about a real whale ship disaster that inspired Moby Dick. The author has a couple nonfictions related to George Washington. I remarked to husband, I've never been that interested in GW or Revolutionary War period, to which he snarkily replied, Don't think the 'father of our country ' could be an interesting guy, eh? haha

He is reading about James Garfield in a book by Candice Millard. Garfield was a remarkable and brilliant man, assasinated by a lunatic. Have to wonder about how history could have changed had that not happened.

Reading The Vagabonds by Jeff Quinn, story about the trips that Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, John Burroughs and Harvey Firestone used to take during the years 1914-1924. Very interesting learning what it used to be like from their prospective, the thoughts on politics, human nature, work. Very enjoyable and informative read.

Philbrick has great reads, I've read Valiant Ambition, Mayflower, Bunker Hill, and the Last Stand, all of them very good!

Hm, from some things I've read about Ford and Edison I don't want to read more. Westinghouse and Edison were at odds over AC versus DC. George Westinghoise was said to be a much nicer man yet kids only see biographies about Edison and nothing about Westinghouse.

Tt we visited Cades Cove 2 years ago. We took a picnic lunch into the meadow , enjoyed the scene and quietly thought about the history and people who had lived there and how they lived.

Finished Vagabonds by Jeff Guinn, good read, lots of interesting facts along the way about Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone.
Ford used a lighter steel on the Model T which allowed the cars to move along the roads without getting beat up like the heavier cars, they were painted black, because it dried the fastest, speeding up the line. At one point he was considering running for President and distinct possibility he would have won. Anti-semite and pushed his thoughts via his newspaper the Dearborn Independent.
Edison had over 1000 patents, unfortunately not a great businessman, Ford came to his rescue a few times. Ford idolized Edison and initially worked in one of his labs.
Firestone was the one that arranged the travels between the 3 of them, developer of the "balloon" tires, which made the rides much smoother. Firestone, Edison and Ford all were working on developing a domestic rubber operation, Edison thought that Goldenrod was the best plant, but was working on how to best extract the latex.
Interesting book.

Crawgarden, you might like to read about George Westinghouse now. From something I saw or read, he was a much nicer person than Edison his rival.

Thanks for the recommendation! Just started The Revolutionary Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff, great starting quote, "Happy is he who is cautious"