Monthly Archives: September 2011

A Deutschland wedding

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As I wrote here, Sara and I went to Germany for my son’s wedding. It was a wonderful trip but far too short. We left on a Wed. morning and got back home on Mon. eve.

We spent the first couple of days with my daughter-in-law’s parents in Fürth in the Odenwald. It was quite lovely and relaxing. My daughter, her husband, Sara and I took a 4-hour hike through a UNESCO GeoPark to the Lindenfels castle while there. On Saturday we (previously mentioned 4) moved to the Hotel Perkeo in the Altstadt of Heidelberg. My sister and brother-in-law were also staying in Heidelberg but at a different hotel.

The wedding was late Saturday afternoon in the Kappelle of the Heidelberg Schloss with pictures before that on the castle grounds. The reception was held at a Schützenhaus in the hills behind the castle.

Kaja and Jeremy

Sara and I were up fairly early on Sun. morning and went out wandering in a practically deserted Altstadt before almost anyone else was up, which was quite pleasant. We went back to the hotel for a short rest and second breakfast and then went wandering again. Sitting in the Marktplatz which was now full of tables, chairs, and people, dogs, bicycles and so on we relaxed and had coffee. I even had third breakfast!

More wandering, sightseeing and shopping followed after spending a bit of time checking out the Alte Brücke with my sister, brother-in-law, daughter, son-in-law and my ex-wife. Sara and I even climbed all the way to the top of the Heiliggeistkirche. We met back up with the family for lunch.

Sara and Mark on top of the Heiliggeistkirche

Later in the day, while Sara went shopping, the rest of us walked across the Alte Brücke, and climbed the hill to walk the Philosophenweg, then down the hill, back across the Neckar on the newer bridge and back into the Altstadt.

Later in the evening we all met back up with the newlyweds, Jeremy and Kaja, and had dinner in the restaurant in the Hotel Perkeo.

Late in the evening Sara and I packed up most of our stuff and at 6:45 AM a shuttle bus came to take us the the Frankfurt Flughafen.

It was amazing trip but far too short. Besides all of the tasty food and beautiful scenery we also picked up a lovely daughter-in-law and generous, bright and highly interesting (in the good way) in-laws.

Congratulations Kaja and Jeremy!

12 Books, 12 Months Challenge Follow Up

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A year ago a friend of mine suggested a new kind of ‘book club.’ See my post here for the background. Many of us joined her, and her write-ups of, and links to, everyone’s reading can be found at her blog here.

My reviews and my initial post can all be found here.

Here’s my list (minus my selection commentary):

  • Ronald Gross, Peak Learning
  • Catherine C. Marshall, Reading and Writing the Electronic Book
  • Carol Collier Kuhlthau, Seeking Meaning: A Process Approach to Library and Information Services
  • Stephen Batchelor, Buddhism without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening
  • Michel Meyer, Of Problematology: Philosophy, Science, and Language
  • George Lakoff and Mark Turner, More than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor Metaphor and Poetry
  • Anthony Grafton, The Footnote: A Curious History
  • John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, The Social Life of Information
  • Anne Carson, Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse
  • Jorge Luis Borges, Seven Nights
  • Jorge Luis Borges, Collected Fictions
  • George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss
  • S. R. Ranganathan, Classification and Communication

Being me, I selected a baker’s dozen instead of twelve. I managed to read 10 of my selected 13 books. I began another but got interrupted by the start of my spring semester and have never gotten back to it (Of Problematology).  One could, in essence, say I began another (Borges’ Collected Fictions) as I read Borges’ A Universal History of Iniquity, which ends up being the 1st section of the Collected Fictions. Ranganathan never got started.

By the most direct reckoning one could say that I failed as I did not finish my 13 (nor even 12) books. But I do NOT consider it a failure; mostly due to giving myself this leeway in my original post:

Thus, I am going to reserve the right to substitute any book for one on this list.  As I see it I will probably read more than 12 books in the next year anyway so maybe they’ll only be additions. One can hope.

In fact, I consider it a rip-roaring success! Over the last year, I was able to read 10 books identified in advance—some of which have been on my To Be Read list for several years. I would definitely participate in a similar book club again.

As to the out I gave myself above regarding “probably read[ing] more than 12 books in the next year” that was easily accomplished. From 1 September 2010 when the challenge started to the end of the calendar year I finished 33 books (7 were Challenge books) and began 1 which is not yet finished. So far in 2011 (with the Challenge ending tomorrow, 5 Sep) I have finished 75 books (3 were Challenge books), began 2 (1 Challenge), gave up on 2, reread 2, and am currently actively reading 4.

Thus, since the Challenge started I have finished 108 books, 10 of which were Challenge books. I don’t think anyone can complain about the amount of my reading. I certainly am not going to.

My reviews can all be found here.

Many other reviews can be found by browsing the Books category on my blog. Reviews of the following books read during the Challenge period appear on my blog:

  • Abbas, Structures for Organizing Knowledge
  • Martignette and Meisel, The Great American Pin-Up
  • Bauer, jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams At Home
  • Peterson, Understanding Exposure 3rd ed.
  • Jacobs, The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction
  • Sontag, On Photography
  • Armstrong, Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life
  • Nardi and O’Day, Information Ecologies
  • Maines, The Technology of Orgasm
  • Plath, Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams
  • Armstrong, A Short History of Myth
  • Jewel, A Night Without Armor: Poems
  • Hey, How It Seems to Me

Of course, all of my Challenge book reviews can be found via that Books category link, as can older reviews and other posts related to books.

More, usually shorter, reviews of even more books can be found at my goodreads account. I do not post them all on my blog.

I am posting this ~30 hours before the end of the Challenge as there is no way I can finish Meyer’s Of Problematology, nor can I read Borges or Ranganathan before then. I won’t even consider trying to do so. I am reading other things currently, much of which is homework and must take precedence. All 3 of those are still on my TBR ‘shelf’ and I hope to get to them in some version of soon, as I hope to get to many others.