Canyon Sands
ALL ABOUT BOOKS
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
2 p.m., HOA Conference Room
• The focus of the October session of All About Books will be e-books. We will talk about our experiences—successes and frustrations—with reading on our computers, pads, and phones. Is the format more suited to some books than others? How do we access e-books from our local libraries? Richard Bass, coordinator of the Friends of the Palm Springs Library Book Club, will join us to share how he uses e-books and what resources aid the e-reader.
• Library monitor for September is Deb Hirsch. That duty will be assumed by Patti McCarron in October. Any Canyon Sands residents who wish to borrow or donate books may do so during the regular HOA office hours.
• Books discussed in the September meeting were mainly ones that had been borrowed from the Canyon Sands library shelves:
–Fatal Majesty by Reay Tannahill—This historical fiction thoroughly covers the life and death of Mary Queen of Scots. The endnotes are interesting, too.
–The Poet by Michael Connelly—Bestselling mystery writer Connelly knows how to build a story—“to keep your heart racing and your mind guessing.”
–To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee—The publicity surrounding the recent release of Lee’s Go Set a Watchman has resulted in many people reading and enjoying her classic To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time.
–The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez—In this book’s academic setting, a serial killer leaves clues with a mathematical theorist. Math and mystery mix well.
– The Tower, the Zoo and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart—This nonfiction account of the Beefeaters living in the Tower of London is an enjoyable read—a balance of odd and normal.
–Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself by David Lipsky—This account of a five-day road trip gives unusual insight into the minds of two modern writers: David Foster Wallace and David Lipsky.
--The Light Side of Little Texas by Uyless Black—Growing up in Southeastern New Mexico, aka “Little Texas,” is the subject of Black’s humorous and insightful memoir. The Light Side of Little Texas ends by refuting Thomas Wolfe—You can go home again. This book and four others by Black, a Canyon Sands resident, are on display in the HOA office and may be borrowed.
“That old September feeling, left over from school days, of summer passing, vacation nearly done, obligations gathering, books and football in the air ... Another fall, another turned page: there was something of jubilee in that annual autumnal beginning, as if last year's mistakes had been wiped clean by summer.”
--Wallace Stegner
