August 2021 Book Club Question

Carool

Hi! What are you reading now and/or what books do you recommend?

meyati

I finished "The Mist" by Ragnar Jonasson. Some of you commented on an American author-Stephan King?. This- "The Mist" alludes to the mind-some form of dementia-that the killer has. The second story in this is of incest in a police family. That is well written. It gives clues of the father spending more time with his 13 year old daughter. When the mother goes to try to talk to the girl, the father rushes up and hugs his wife, and says-Your mother is checking on you. She knows everything that's happened here-or something like that. So sad--but that is one way pediphiles do that. Meanwhile, a high school grad is hitchhiking around IceLand and disappears. One hint-the mother of the teenage girl is the police detective that is investigating the teenager's disappearance and a double homicide. Jonasson always starts slow, and then I can't put it down. The double murder and the reason for the murder did surprise me.

meyati

Then I read "RoseAnna" by Maj (pronounced May) Sjowall and her husband, Per Wahloo. They were married-to each other-imagine that? They were newspaper reporters. An American woman was murdered in Sweden. It is an interesting story of a detective in Nebraska and the Swedish national police collaborating to solve the murder. This was published in English in 1967. I find it interesting how effective the police departments worked in that time. I find myself thinking, and then I realize that this was pre-computer-no Email, and a dredger pulled her nude body up in a bucket of canal mud, so the early investigation would still be done in 2003-except Email would be used, instead of solely snail mail. Sjowall and Wahloo are considered to be some of the finest mystery writers in England and Scandinavia.

meyati

Oh, do any of you use ThriftBook dot com? I love it. I found it this Spring. They seem to have books about everything. History, fictional history, Politics, romances and so on. I get most books for less than $5, and free shipping for a $10 order. Every book I've bought has been in really good condition.

Right now Michael Wolff is one of my favorite American authors, and I enjoy his writings about Trump and his family. What I don't understand is why Trump and crew allow Wolff to be in their offices, grant interviews and whatever, when Wolff makes Trump and crew to be less than nice and less than having any intelligence. This is a current genre.

MarcieB

meyati, I cannot thank you enough for the information about ThriftBook dot com!! Amazon is going to think I dropped off the face of the earth! ;-)

We may have different taste in books - I am not so much a thriller fan, although I did just read The Dark Side by Gillian Flynn, which was more of a mystery than a thriller, but VERY dark. And I don't usually go for dark. But, it was very well written and that gets me every time.

What I really want to know is; how did you find this question? And what are the chances anyone else will, since this site is so upside down right now?

Carool

Thank you, both, Meyati and MarcieB. Marcie, I got WN notices of these reposes — but my question was the reason you replied, so maybe that’s why I got notices.

Meyati, I don’t like Stephan King’s books (thought I like him). And thrillers aren’t my thing, even though true crime is.

I just finished a wonderful novel that my “other” book club read: “Abigail,” by Magda Szabo. It was written in 1970. Here’s a review link: https://www.nyrb.com/products/abigail

It’s called a young adult book, but I think it’s good for any age.

Carool

Meyati, yes, I just learned about www.thriftbooks.com, a month ago. I was searching for a autobiography I couldn’t get in the library. Found Thriftbooks and got it! Thanks for the info!

meyati

Thriftbooks are pretty good. Buy so many books and you get a discount-they call it a free book. I should go to dropped on head-etc, and click on each persons avatar and tell to start checking on Carool's wall. I'
ve got to go to bed-- this has been an itchy weekend for me. I've been buying from Thriftbooks about a year or so--I found them by trying to find Nordic Noir. Nothing- then I reached deep into my twisted mind and put a search for Martin Beck, Stockholm police- and thriftbooks popped up with freezing Nordic Noir. They finally wrote the history of the last great Airborne drop in Europe in WW2. It was in Nazi Germany. One of my uncles was in the infantry- and his squad just entered Germany. He told me about it. Then forever-there was a pic of 2 young German women showing several paratroopers where they were on a map. I've seen it in magazines, all types of history books. So I bought that brand new for $6 from thrift. Then I bought a French historian's book about Austria turning itself over to Hitler. That was very good. Does anybody remember Col Vindman that raised the issue of Trump's call and his personal attorney Guiliani? He wrote his memoir, and I'm awaiting that. It's through VoteVets, and it's signed. I hope it's half as good as Judge Sirica's memoir. I couldn't put that down.

Carool

Meyati, don’t bother (but thank you!). This site is losing relevance with cancer survivors and caretakers, because we lost Greg and we have no mod.

I almost never buy books these days. I read them free online through the NY Public Library. Have no room for print books.

legaljen1969

Carool, I agree the site has lost relevance with survivors, patients and caretakers. It has also lost its credibility. I have tried to bring up some topics to get people talking. I just give up.

meyati

I hear you about needing a diagnosis to post a question. That hit me hard late May and early June. Then the fact that many questions aren't being posted.

I was on the surgery ward for almost a week back then. I found out that my body hates my pancreas and my body is trying to kill my pancreas. It left me with many questions. I tried to post a pancreatic question, but was unable to. I've been diagnosed with autoimmune pancreatitis Igg4 by ultra sound, several CT scans, and a whole lot of lab work--blood and fecal samples.

I think that Greg was about the only Head/Throat patient that talked to me. Greg liked bread and gravy, but he didn't want to say that, because of kale and stupid modern ideas of diets-a bread/gravy person gets all sorts of lectures-and it's Southern. He put one out on something good to swallow. I said bread and gravy-there's something comforting about it and it makes your stomach feel full, unlike broth and gelatin.

I was hoping to find out if many of the pancreatic cancer patients had an autoimmune disease before the cancer diagnosis? I wonder if anyone at all ever took Creon for their pancreas? I wonder if other pancreas patients itch and how bad? I wonder if others had-have Igg4? Has anybody found any foods that help you from losing weight?

What I know about Igg4- the body doesn't absorb nutrients and calories, and then the patient dies from weight loss. I was born with this, and I know when it flared up for some reasons. The pancreas makes insulin and digestive fluids. That part of my pancreas is calcified, which means Igg4 has been active off and on. It makes you itch. It makes you nauseous to the point of vomiting. It won't let you absorb fat, and fat vitamins-A-E-and zinc-potassium-D2-B12-. I think B6, because I had that shortage 2X, and B12 once. I felt like I was a space cadet floating through things. Doctors thought I had a stroke, mini strokes, brain cancer or tumor, parkinson's the onset of Lou Gehrig disease and lots of other things. Someone finally tested my vitamin Bs. I bought 2 bottles of vitamins. My doctors now say that was my pancreas having a tantrum

So, I'm very interested in what we can do.

meyati

Well, the tests for cancer and tumor markers are negative. I'm still holding my weight at 129 to 130 lbs. The only secondary problem is Alkaline Phosphatase . it is super high- and there doesn't seem to be anything much that can be done. I'm not sure what this does. I don't think that I've been tested for this before. My GI is hoping that it's the result of the hospitalization and resulting stress, besides I was trying to eat healthy for awhile and had diet changes. It's pretty much that my body absorbs about 10% of nutrients in food-part of this is that Igg4 reduces fat being absorbed into the body. I've dealt with this all of my life by eating French fries, and other greasy foods and taking vitamins- I am 79-and take care of 2 large coonhounds. I've craved and wanted greasy food all of my life- now I know why.

MarcieB

Meyati, I am very happy to know your cancer results are negative. I don't know the significance of Alkaline Phosphatase either, but it sounds better than cancer! I don't think I would mind having a good excuse to eat french fries...and throw in a milkshake now and then...;-)

meyati

Thanks, Marcie. I think everybody can understand how distracted I have been. Alex Trebek had pancreatic cancer, and it seemed really bad, besides the fact he died. He certainly had the money to get some of the best care in the world. I think he was stage IV when diagnosed.

Carool

legaljen, thank you. I’m going to write to WN on Facebook and see if that helps. I am pessimistic about that helping, but will let everyone know. Will also write on Instagram.

Carool

Meyati, what you wrote about autoimmune diseases and pancreatic cancers interests me, in that my mother was very allergic to strawberries, nylon, and maybe other substances I don’t remember. In her late middle age she started taking allergy shots. She developed pancreatic cancer when she was 66 and died a year later. I’d read years ago that few people with allergies get pancreatic cancer, so I’ve womdered about any possible connection there. Of course, what I’ve said now is very simplistic, so it’s kind of a silly thing to say.

Most people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer are at stage 4 when dx. It’s similar to ovarian cancer in not being easily detected at a much earlier, more treatable stage.

Carool

One other comment re pancreatic cancer: One of the women I met at an MSKCC post-treatment group has stayed friends (actually, three of them and I are still friends, after 22 years). This woman has the BRCA2 gene mutation, which predisposes people to cancers of the breast, ovaries and fallopian tubes in women and prostate in men, pancreas, and peritoneal cancers. She gets tested annually for pancreas and ovarian cancers.

Being an Ashkenazi Jew (as is this friend), I, too, got tested for the BRCA1 and -2 mutations (I was in a study given at MSKCC when I was dx. with bc). I don’t have either mutation.

meyati

I'm hoping that the Pancreatic cancer diagnosis rate changes. Fri, 2 of the lab tests were for Pancreatic cancers and tumors- one checked for cancer markers for a bile duct that is enlarged in places-which usually means cancer. If this is happening in NM, why isn't it being done elsewhere by other gastroenterologists? The answer is probably they don't talk about symptoms, and few consider them symptoms-which includes many doctors. Also medicare and insurance doesn't want to pay for these tests.

Carool

Meyati, you’re having proven problems with your pancreas, so they’re doing more tests. They’d have to test everyone, same as with mammograms and women, and, yes, it’d cost too much money and probably too few good results.

meyati

There are specific symptoms for pancreatitis that should make doctors curious.

# unintentional weight loss-I've been complaining about that a lot-my primary and her nurse have been snickering, saying-Good for you. You're looking good. # A thyroid screen is pretty simple and cheap. That should be done-thyroid conditions are often diagnosed as mental illness, besides raising blood pressure and doing heart damage.

# lots of nausea and vomiting, especially if a person fasts--a pregnancy test could be useful for those younger than I am and haven't had hysterectomies. Next, I have a bottle of nausea pills from this primary doctor. Then fights with techs over fasting for head scans. My Onc radiologist said-- She doesn't need to .fast for a head scan. My primary suggested that I see a shrink.

#-itching- see a dermatologist and shrink. Try this lotion, try that in your bath, wear cotton--

Dr. Mng said that I should have been told to talk to a GI about these and other symptoms. It never dawned on me to complain about some of these things, and I reminded him that bleeding and being hospitalized is the only reason anybody knows about my pancreas-which is also what you are saying.

All together they show signs of a very troubled pancreas. When a person has some of these things for more than a decade, someone should get curious. Oh, one thing I don't have is pain just below my rib cage above the belly button. It's not there-it hasn't been there for some reason.

meyati

I know that I've been greatly participating in the site problems, but I'd like to get back to books and reading.

If anybody is interested in Nordic Noir, I do not recommend "the cruel stars of the night" by Kjell Eriksson. Eriksson is a Swedish Crime Academy Award-winning Author. This book is like reading about how paint dries on walls-giving the paints' drying time by the size of the room, temperature, humidity, and ventilation. Then factor in the thickness of the paint, brand, type of brush-roller, wall preparation, oil or latex paint.

One of the fails of this book for me is that I'm interested in the investigation procedures, and it's interesting to see how police departments operate and their laws. This book is mostly about the psych of the murderess, and she seems much like a 13 year old girl, but we don't expect her to be normally mature. I'm not sure that I'm normally mature. Unlike Laura, I don't get out of my truck, and beat in windshields of people behind me when they honk. I thought here we go- the book is finally starting. That didn't happen, pages and pages then went on with her obsession about her deceased mother.

I do know that Laura probably is connected to the murder of an older Swedish man found hanging in his barn. That murder investigation and the hunt for Laura's disappeared father is sort of on the back burner, because the lead detective is deciding if she should break police social status by dating a new hire crime scene investigator-and yes this is set in this century-and the lead detective likes his buns. Right now, they are drinking lots of beer-remember this is Nordic-lots of beer in Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, and Finland. Most Nordic Noir is sort of slow starting, but I find this painfully slow.

Then the layout is artsy. The first 4 or so first words of each chapter are printed in a very light grey. I almost missed the start in chapter one. Most of the Nordic Noir has a new chapter each time the character or scene changes. A chapter might be half of a page or over a dozen pages, as we follow a police inspector catching a boat to Denmark, or the inspector changing to another case because of a new lead. This book isn't true to either style. It doesn't follow through on part of the narrative like American and English books, It doesn't follow the NN format of having a new chapter when another police officer gets a lead on the main case.

It's also interesting to see how they view Americans.

So, I have a question, would you try to read 3 more pages to see if this finally comes alive? or move on to almost anything else?

MarcieB

meyati, I have a hard and fast rule - when I no longer care what happens to the main character, I cut my losses and try a new book. That doesn't happen often to me, but it happens and I am aware it is not always the book's fault - I may just not be in the mood for that particular story. I hold onto the book unless I am downright certain I will never pick it up again. I once put down Spring Moon, a novel set in pre-communist China because I was plain ole not interested. Then something made me pick it up again and I could not put it down.

meyati

That's good advice. That happened to me decades ago with a Scott Turow novel. A few months after I put it up, I pulled it back out, and I couldn't put it down. Then I wondered why I ever put it down.

I know Nordic Noir usually has a slow start, then the booster kicks in. For me, this is just too slow and introspective. I'm not even sure who the main character is, and I'm not sure if the author knows who the main character is. If it's the police inspector, she's in a Stockholm bar, swilling beer on an empty stomach, glad that she's wearing a new thong because her CSI is telling her she's beautiful, and he has good looking buns. Good night all.

Carool

I do the same, MarcieB, unless it’s a book club book that I feel I must read. meyati, I may try The Cruel Stars of the Night, if it’s av online through the library. I’ll let you all know if I like it. Thanks for the lead.