Monday musings

Last week, I googled my own name and was surprised at what came up.  Today, I want to unpack my findings.  I printed out a single page, which had the first nine items on it.

1.  A random thing I posted on Facebook once ... ONCE ... on January 27, 2014.  That's almost three years ago!  "Unpackaged (even 'used up') 9-volt batteries can and do cause fires," I wrote, to introduce the article that was making the rounds among some of my Facebook friends.  Now that I stop to think about it, that was posted months before I moved to St. Louis from Chattanooga.  Google, is that the number one thing you connect to me?  I wondered if it was extra popular or something.  Nope.  My brother and a FB friend from New Jersey "liked" it, and a friend from California commented:  "Our 9 volts are now laid out on the garage floor, not touching each other."  That's the extent of interest in that one random item.

2.   Another Facebook item, when I bragged that my youngest granddaughter was Co-Valdictorian of her class and her big brother once again made the Dean's List at the university.  That was in May 2014, when 26 people "liked" the news and several left congratulatory comments to the two and their mother, who is my daughter.  This one was posted a month before I moved to St. Louis.  What's up with 2014, Google?

3.  A row of six photos.  This one, the only one of the six that actually showed ME, was taken in early 2013.  My broken shoulder was still healing, and I had to get someone to drive me to the District Office so I could be included in the Holston Conference 2013 Pictorial Directory.  I just pulled the directory off my bookshelf, realizing that I have never looked all the way through it.  The online photo was found on the Conference web site.

 

The other five photos, left to right, were three other women named "Bonnie Jacobs," my favorite photo of my mother (1987), and a black-and-white one of my father in uniform (1944).  These five are from my blog, though only that one (above) actually shows me.

4.  "Obit | Mildred Setliffe."  I thought it was my mother's 2004 obituary, until I read the date.  My sister, who died August 5th, was named for our mother, but went by her middle name:  Ann.  This photo (from my files, not the article) was taken seven hours before she died.

5.  "Setliffe, Mildred R."  Ah, this one is my mother's obituary from 2004.  Yes, I'm mentioned as one of her children, and so is Ann.

6.  Astrology?  This links to some site I've never visited that's angling for customers.  They want to tell me the "numerological analysis" of my name and do a "life path and astrological reading" for me.

7.  This links to the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church so people can search for a UMC pastor.  My address shows up on Google's page, so people don't even have to go to the site to search out information about me.

8.  A link to this blog, specifically to an important blog post.  Important to me, anyway.  "Will it be like homecoming ... or a funeral?"  At the end of June 2010, I was guest speaker when the church where I grew up held its final service and celebrated its 102-year history.

9.  A post by an author I met, when he put my review on his own web site.

You won't learn much about me from any of these links, except for the first photo and the seventh item.

Book review questions

My best short summary of what to include in a review:

Was it a good book?
Would you recommend it?
What did you like about it?
What did you dislike?
Tell us whatever you thought.

FICTION

1.  Title, author, copyright date, and genre?
2.  What made you want to read the book?
3.  Summarize the book without giving away the ending.
4.  What did you think of the main character?
5.  Which character could you relate to best?
6.  From whose point of view is the story told?
7.  How did the main character change during the novel?
8.  Were there any other especially interesting characters?
9.  Were the characters and their problems believable?
10.  What was the book's central question, and how was it answered?
11.  Was location important to the story?
12.  Was the time period important to the story?
13.  What alternative title would you choose for this book?
14.  Share a quote from the book.
15.  Share a favorite scene from the book.
16.  What did you like most about the book?
17.  What did you like least?
18.  Did you like the way the book ended?
19.  What do you think will be your lasting impression of this book?
20.  What did you think of the cover?
21.  For banned books:  Why was this book banned?
22.  How would you rate this book?

MEMOIR

1. Title, author, date of book, and genre?
2. What do you think motivated the author to share his or her life story?
3. Is the author trying to elicit a certain response, such as sympathy?
4. How has this book changed or enhanced your view of the author?
5. Were there any instances in which you felt the author was not being truthful?
6. What is the author's most admirable quality?
7. Is this someone you would want to know (or to have known)?
8. Share a quote from the book.
9. Share a favorite part of the book.
10. What did you like most about the book?
11. What did you like least?
12. What will be your lasting impression of the author?
13. What did you think of the cover?
14. How would you rate this book?

Feel free to use any or all of these questions for your own reviews.

Book review policy ~ updated 10-1-16

I am not accepting requests for review right now, since my life seems to be much too full this year.  If I ever get back to reviewing books other than ones I have chosen to buy or borrow, these are my rules:

1.  It's easier to flip back and forth through "real" books when I need to write about them or teach from them, so I prefer trade paperbacks or hardbacks.  Only rarely would I consider a book to read on my Kindle.

2.  I will not review books that require that I post something on a specific date, so don't bother asking me to do "book tours" or any other scheduled reviews.

3.  This is my blog with my content, so I will never post specified content.

4.  Any books accepted for review are subject to being tossed aside if they don't work for me.  If I choose to DNF (Did Not Finish) a book, I reserve the right to say nothing at all about it.

5.  When I review or write anything about a book, I may post a few lines or go off on a tangent about something in the book that sparks a thought in my philosophical word universe.  That means I may write a single paragraph or a few words.  It could mean I throw in a quote or two and go off in what may seem to you to be a strange direction.  So don't ask me to review a book at all if you're not willing to accept very brief thoughts or my discretion to write about whatever interests me.

6.  And finally, I reserve the right to change this policy at any time.  Click on this link to see my earlier review policy.

A much-read library copy

The Ladies Auxiliary ~ by Tova Mirvis, 1999, fiction (Tennessee), 8/10

When free-spirited Batsheva moves into the close-knit Orthodox community of Memphis, Tennessee, the already precarious relationship between the Ladies Auxiliary and their teenage daughters is shaken to the core.  Tova Mirvis takes us into the fascinating and insular world of the Memphis Orthodox Jews, one ripe with tradition and contradiction.  This novel illuminates the timeless struggle between mothers and daughters, family and self, religious freedom and personal revelation, honoring the past and facing the future.

I rated this book 8 out of ten (meaning it's "very good"), and I live in a retirement center provided by the Jewish community in St. Louis.  The Crown Center is overflowing with activities and has a lot of very lively and involved residents.  I mentioned this book to Gert as we passed each other in the hallway, so she read it after I did.  In the meantime, Alyssa said she wanted to read it, too.  When Gert gave it back to me, she said Edie wants to be on my list of readers.  Alyssa read it and returned it to me, so I'm on my way now to hang it on Edie's door and tell her that Randi wants it next, when she's finished reading it.

Judy, Donna, and Nancy shelving books (that's a very young volunteer on the floor)

Then it will end up in the Crown Center's small library, where others may decide to join our line of folks wanting to explore the Orthodox Jewish community of Memphis, Tennessee, in a novel written by someone who obviously knows her subject.

Are you in?

I love words, and I wrote about the word "in" several years ago on this blog.

Contronyms

Contronyms are words that are their own antonyms.  "Contronyms" is a new word for me, though I've encountered the problem before and wondered why we even had words like this.  I have also avoided using words like "sanction," not wanting to deliberately introduce confusion into what I was saying or writing:

Sanction can mean "give official permission or approval for (an action)" or conversely, "impose a penalty on."

And then there's the word "left."

She left, so who's left?

The first use means someone has gone away and is no longer there, but the second use asks who is still there.

Fix can mean to repair something that's broken, or it can mean to castrate.  This cat knows only the first meaning, apparently.

Words can be slippery sometimes.  To see more opposites in the same word, read 25 Words That Are Their Own Opposites and 75 Contronyms (Words with Contradictory Meanings).

Back to school ~ my life story

I was looking for a picture among my photos and happened upon this one, so out of curiosity I followed the instructions and grabbed the nearest book.  On page 81 of the book I'd just finished reading (reviewed below), I found "back to school."  How well do you know me?  Would this make a good title for a musical about my life, or what?  LOL.

When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple ~ edited by Sandra Haldeman Martz, 1987, women's studies, 9/10

This collection of writings and photographs challenges stereotypes of older women in America.

I like several poems in this book.  Here are a few snippets:

I now mother my mother
when I can no longer
mother my daughter
who is older than I
have ever felt myself to be.

That's from "Like Mother, Like Daughter" by Susan S. Jacobson (p. 21).  The next one is the last of ten poems under the umbrella title "A Place for Mother" by Joanne Seltzer (p. 65), about what to do with your aging mother as she becomes forgetful and incontinent.  And then your own hair turns white, your skin is parchment, and you have "bulldog's jowls."

Not wanting to be a burden
on your children
you sign yourself into
a nursing home.

You become active
in every group
and serve on every committee.

You are voted
resident-of-the-month,
a role model.

Mother would be proud of you.

That makes me think of the retirement center where I now live.  After you read this snippet, be sure to re-read its title:  "Maybe at Eighty?" by S. Minanel (p. 123).

They say wisdom comes as you age
Now I'm in a real jam
at sixty I should be a sage
look what a fool I am!

Yeah, maybe at 80 I'll be a sage.  The older I get, the more I realize how little I know.  I'm still learning, like a student still in school.  The school of hard knocks.