It was straight down to business to share our thoughts on 'Her Fearful Symmetry' and I fear very much that whilst at the beginning, most people felt that the book had promise, it spiralled steadily downward with accusations of 'unbelievability' 'nonsense' and 'just stupid'. It seems no-one liked Elspeth or Julia for that matter, and Naomi in particular had a big problem with her killing off the kitten for her own purposes (and a bit of a sensitive subject for Valerie being the second book in a row talking about dead cats!). The consensus was that the bit about Martin's OCD was good.
Rating of the book out 5 seemed easy with the average being between 2 - 2 1/2 with June being quite cutthroat and giving it a 1!
We shared a couple of other books that had been read since the last meeting - Valerie 'raved' (this book broke my heart!) about 'The story of Edgar Sawtelle' by David Wroblewski, about a mute boy in northern Wisconsin, and Naomi was admirably staving off anxiety of work redundancy by reading Dale Carnegie's 'Stop Worrying and Start Living' and attests to the pearls of wisdom within including "Got Lemons? - Make Lemonade". More about these books on the 'We've been reading page'
Thoughts then turned to chosing the book for the next meeting and Valerie had referenced a blog called 'The Book Whisperer' and the top 12 recommendations. None seemed to hold any excitement for the group except 'The Book Thief' by Marcus Zusak which some have read before but is worth another go.
So the decision was made to talk about 'The Book Thief' and 'Cold Comfort Farm' by Stella Gibbons (a classic english comedy set in the 1930's). Next meeting is on the Thursday 19th July at Vanessa's.
Hi folks,
ReplyDeleteAs promised, some more tips and tricks from Dale Carnegie on conquering worry. :)
* Crowd worry out of your mind by keeping busy, plenty of action is one of the best therapies ever devised for curing 'wibber gibbers.'
* Don't fuss about trifles. Don't permit little things - the mere termites of life - to ruin your happiness.
* Use the law of averages to outlaw your worries. Ask yourself: 'What are the odds against this thing's happening at all?'
* Cooperate with the inevitable. If you know a circumstance is beyond your power to change or revise, say to yourself: 'It is so; it cannot be otherwise.'
* Put a 'stop-loss' order on your worries. Decide just how much anxiety a thing may be worth - and refuse to give it any more.
* Let the past bury its dead. Don't saw sawdust.
This little book is filled with helpful, down-home truths and good old "horse sense" (author's words) which certainly tickled my funny bone. One piece of advice that reveals the author's pragmatism and - dare I say it? - endearing humility is the following on page 17 of the preface:
"Please read parts One and Two of this book - and if by that time you don't feel that you have acquired a new power and a new inspiration to stop worry and enjoy life - then toss this book away. It is no good for you."