Ladies I Love

I was frustrated early today trying to transfer some of my 2010 photos. Now that they are all found, and I am processing and culling them, I love looking at my life in 2010 when our house was full of lovely people like these ladies on my couch.

Snapfish versus Shutterfly

I dealt with both this week. So, while it is fresh in my mind, I am doing a comparison for ordering prints. Wish I could do it in table form, but I am simply not savvy enough or maybe I am just lazy.

Shutterfly

PROS

1) CUSTOM CROPS - I have gone all over the Internet looking for people who say this is an advantage. To me, that is huge if I have cropped a photo with an other than 4x6 size in my photo editing software and then I try to print them. BOTH Snapfish and Shutterfly print these photos with cut off heads and portions gone and both don't seem to have a mechanism for telling me that the whole image isn't going to be in the print. (Also, both tend to cut off heads and such for prints from my point and shoot too. I think it is because it is from a different aspect ratio). 

BOTH need to notify you to say that things are not going to fit in the frame, but Shutterfly gives you something to do about it with their custom crop tool! I also LOVE that you can make a custom border around it (since you will have all that space). My favorite is the black border. See my video above. 

2) FUJI CRYSTAL ARCHIVE PAPER - This outlasts the competitors by decades. The site gives you a link to the independent study documenting this. This is probably why they are more expensive. The paper just FEELS sturdier too. 

3) KEEPS ORIGINAL DATE AND TITLE ON BACK - They are also usually sent to me in date order if I have uploaded them this way. HUGE time saver. I realize that, in the past, I probably was not organizing them in date order once I exported them from the Creative Memories Memory Manager. When you export from that, they are all out of order. So, I need to make sure I organize them once they are in the Windows file (switch to "detail view" and press on the date button). 

(Sidenote: OH I wish that Memory Manager would just be organized in my computer system or I could just go into Memory Manager when I am uploading to a site. I am sure it is because they want you to print and make photo books through their site.)

If you do not organize them in date order and send them and order them, this is what you get: 

It made for a fun night of looking at 2009 again, but it was time consuming. 

4) BOXES and ENVELOPES - They are much sturdier; and if you order a large number of pictures, they come in a wonderful box for future photo storage. Snapfish just puts large orders in a regular box and has super flimsy envelopes. (See my video above)

5) COLOR QUALITY - Better, but I have heard that Snapfish does better Black and White printing.

CONS

1) SLOW UPLOAD - REALLY slow. I could not get their "Express Uploader" to work, but I have in the past. So, it may have just been a glitch with the new Adobe Air Upgrade. It took me all night to load 406 pictures. VERY TEDIOUS. I have timed them since that night, and it is about 140 photos an hour. My photos are big. Most point and shoots wouldn't take this long. 

2) SLOW CUSTOMER SERVICE - There is no "online chat" to answer questions like, "What is wrong with your Express Uploader?"  (Update: I found an online chat, but it took me many layers of pages to find it versus having the "Online chat" button right on the front page with Snapfish. Also, I was #3 in the queue and have been waiting about five minutes now. They say you can search while you are waiting, but then I am taken away from the chat box when it comes up. 

My waiting was rewarded however in that the person was VERY helpful even when I didn't follow his directions right the first time. 

(Sidenote: May I just say that I do my photobooks through Picaboo, and their online chat is AMAZING. I couldn't find a book I did two years ago online, and I wanted to show my friend. She found it in seconds and gave me the link. It sounded like a real person versus the "I'll be glad to assist you" preformated responses from Snapfish).


3) NO FLICKR CONNECTION - I organized my photos in Flickr before I got the Creative Memories Memory Manager. Now I organize in both places (Flickr for backup and for ease of looking at photos when I go to document them).

SNAPFISH 

PROS

1) COST - 9 cents versus 15 cents a print for Shutterfly. (I see no advantage of getting the "prepaid" photos for either because you have to pay for shipping, and that makes them cost MORE than using the sale + free shipping options that they have on occasion - how stupid do they think we are?) 

2) CUSTOMER SERVICE - Online chat, but the people do take a long time to get back to you, and I wonder if it is outsourced. I also wonder if it is computer generated at times. 

3) SITE NAVIGATION - All the things about their photo galleries that you work from are much simpler than Shutterfly

4) UPLOADING/TRANSFER  FASTER - minutes versus hours between the two, but if I can get the Express Uploader on Shutterfly to work I bet it will be better. Flickr to Snapfish is lightening quick though. I like that. 

5) FLICKR - Love that I can just press a button and all my pictures go to Snapfish, but I have learned that it is better to go to Snapfish first and then press on the transfer from Flickr than to press from Flickr and go to Snapfish. When you do that, they go directly to your shopping cart, and they get all mixed up that way. 

CONS

1) FLICKR TRANSFER PROBLEMS - As I mentioned above, they go all out of order than if you transfer them and put then in a gallery and then put them in the cart. You also don't have the original date stamped on the back. PAIN. 

Which leads to the second con since . . . 

2) DATE AND TITLE NOT ON BACK - I think this is because I usually transfer with a very quick button from Flickr, and it doesn't retain the properties of the original photo. I WISH some computer science genius would figure out how to keep that all. So, I do not think that it is Snapfish's fault that their stuff is all out of order without the date stamped on it.  

3) NO CUSTOM CROPS - If it is there, it is hidden. I cannot find it, and it should be there. Shutterfly's is right there when you go to crop a photo, "custom crop" option.  It is also really easy to use. 

4) PAPER QUALITY - Mine says they are on Kodak, but that was earlier this year, and I am not sure that they are still around. When you go to the website, they will not tell you the type of paper while Shutterfly states the paper type (Fuji Crystal Archive) and direction to the independent tests that document its superior quality. I am sure that is why the cost is more for SHUTTERFLY. I think Snapfish uses inferior paper. Why not be upfront? It makes me think they have something to hide. 

5) ENVELOPES AND NO BOXES - Very flimsy with no boxes for shipping them. Inferior shipping method overall. 

CONCLUSION

PRICE: 
Obviously, Snapfish is cheaper, but not if I wait for Shutterfly sales. I paid the exact price on Shutterfly as the regular price on Snapfish with a 40% off discount and free shipping for orders over $30.  I also have to wait to make sure I get to my $30 for free shipping. I do not like either service for their shipping prices which are OUTRAGEOUS in my humble opinion ($20 for three pounds once). They both come out EVEN ON PRICE. 

FLICKR TRANSFER VERSUS UPLOADING FROM COMPUTER:
I can organize my things in folders on my computer now (didn't have a good organizational structure in past years), it doesn't matter that I can transfer them from Flickr anymore, and the date is stamped on the Shutterfly and in ORDER versus the weird way Snapfish gives me back the pictures.

Flickr to Snapfish is fastest, but if I solve the EXPRESS UPLOADER problems as I wait for Customer Service, I should be golden. SHUTTERFLY WINS.

PRINTS:
I like the custom crops on Shutterfly and the upfront way they tell you about their paper. I also like the color quality of Shutterfly better (but I have heard Snapfish is better with Black and White) SHUTTERFLY WINS. 

FINALLY:
Snapfish is an HP subsidiary, and I don't like how they unceremoniously laid off my husband and hired non-Americans for another job he could have possibly had within the company.  SHUTTERFLY WINS

One thing I know for sure, that COSTCO and all the pharmacies get consistently BAD ratings all the way around. DO NOT DO YOUR PRINTS THERE!

My Life in Book Covers 2012

Friday Freewrite Fifteen

I have not done a "Well" Update in a very long time. So, I will do that for my F Cubed today. 

Well-Watered Soul 

Vacation did get me a little off kilter, but I was back on track very soon after I came home. Walking for the world has been hard to "restart" since vacation though, but I did have a nice walk and prayer time last week praying for many different people. I find that printing out the pages really helps.

Since I finished the Old Testament the second week of August, I am on a break from the BBC, but I am soaking in the first eight chapters of Acts. Hey, Acts in August sounds so very catchy!  Anyway, I have probably been processing Acts 1 more than anything. 

I feel really well-watered even though I am not spending as much time as I usually do. But I guess that life-long goal of 24/7/365 is feeling more real to me this way. I love our talks. Even as I type, I have a profound sense of His presence and communion. 

This fall will be that "slow" march through Acts with Christmas reading. I want to soak in the Messiah again. It made for the best Christmas EVER as the songs of Scripture were constantly playing through my head and focusing me on what is REALLY important!  I loved that. 

I also am waiting to hear what we are doing with our Kingdom Community. We have not heard a thing from any of them and wonder if they even want us to come back and advise after our summer break. I certainly hope so!

Well-Educated Mind

Here are the books I have left on the "100 Great Books" List:

1. All Quiet on the Western Front – Remarque (Book Dames reading for Oct 4)
2. All the King’s Men – Warren 
3. Catch22 – Heller 
4. A Farewell to Arms – Hemingway
5. Faust: Part 2 – Goethe 
6. House Made of Dawn – Momaday (reading) 
7. The Joy Luck Club – Tan (Listeing on playaway)
8. Light in August – Faulkner (Listening on my iPod)
9. The Plague – Camus
10. A Separate Peace – Knowles 
11. Sons and Lovers – Lawrence (Starting on Kindle)

I have to finish The Joy Luck Club soon. That is why I started it before I was done with Light in August (my second time checking out and still only about half way). 

It is a good exercise, but I told myself that after I am done with the Invitation to the Classics List I am swearing off lists for a while and just reading what ever is my fancy. 

Light in August and Joy Luck Club are both depressing. That is why I took a little break and got The World of Downton Abbey with many pictures and fun information. :)

Well-Adjusted Heart

Very good. I am a happy woman in many ways these days. The balance is very good. 

Well-Tuned Strength

I have been walking, but I sit far too much. When we were on the East Coast, I hardly sat and hardly had any back pain. I need to walk more and putter around the house more to balance with my many "sitting" projects (photos, BBC, and genealogy). It would be so great if I had interest that involved walking more. :)  

All that said, I just had one little back episode because my hamstring curl weight was WAY too much. Dumb. Other than that, I had not had any back episode for five weeks! So, I am making great progress in that area. I want to get back to where I didn't have a back episode once for THREE YEARS! That would be so sweet!

(Ok, the freewrite timer ended, but I am going to go on with what I did Wednesday because I plowed through procrastination!) 

BHAG Update

Maybe this should be under well-adjusted heart because I love to move forward in Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG).  I made huge strides with my photos being my only real household goal for 2012. I put it off all month even though every day said, "Photos" on my calendar. I chose to do genealogy instead (with very fruitful results).  I was waiting for a sale, but I could have had all the pictures uploaded, but I guess I didn't know which service had the better sale: Shutterfly or Snapfish.  Well, the sales were even with Shutterfly having 40% off with free shipping over $30, but it took a lot of pictures to upload to get to the $30. So, I spent a TON of time on Wednesday with ordering, but the end result is that I got 2008 and 2009 ordered for Michael, Paul, and Family pics with Snapfish, and I got 2011 ordered for Michael and Paul and 2012 365 to picture number 238 with Shutterfly! 

So this is what I have left to do:

1) Find, process, pick, and order photos for 2010 Family, Michael, and Paul (not 365 that year because of my back so there are a lot LESS pictures to pick through!)
2) Process, pick, and order photos for 2011 Family 

3) Order photos through June for 2012 Michael and Paul

4) Process, pick, and order photos June - August 2012 for Michael and Paul (with Michael and Paul doing the picking for themselves for those months)

5) Journal for Family and kids for 2007-2012

6) Scrapbook Christmas December 23-30 for 2007, all of 2008-2011

7) MAYBE make photo books for Las Olas and our East Coast Trip (more expensive and time consuming though and really that much more valuable than just looking at the pictures in a photo album?). Each book will probably be at least $30 verses about $6 in prints for each of those events. 

7) Back up all of the culled down printed pictures for easy reprinting of the "best of" those years for future projects that may come about. :)

I do like my Memory Manager. It is not the greatest photo processing tool, but I find Photoshop organizing software really lame and confusing. So, what is a girl to do. Again, I don't want to spend my life sitting!!!

In my next post, I will do a comparison of the two services I have narrowed my printing needs down to. STAY TUNED! 

Wednesday Well

Summer breeze
Makes me feel fine
Blue sky beyond leaves of Green
I look up as a cloud floats
Listening to slow Southern fiction
On the campus lawn
On my back — at Kidder Hall.

I wrote this yesterday and thought I would repost it here since I cannot search my pages on Facebook.

God is good all the time. I felt good then.

My friend and I walked over Glen Eden this morning and talked about the summer. Her two weeks of traditional camping and my epic trip to the East Coast. It was fun to catch up. 

I still feel a bit slow and lethargic because of my sickness, but I am going to purge my body today by fasting and drinking lots of water. There is a bug still inside of me me, and I think I need that purge. I felt fine until after I came back from the bike ride. Then, I crashed. Not 100%, but I cannot keep sitting! 

I think I am meeting with Rebekah this morning, but I have not heard back from her yet. I ended up getting sick last Friday. So, I am glad we postponed it.

I wish I had gotten myself some water when I came down here to hide in the guest room this morning while Valentina and Pieter clean. I forgot. Need to drink water and tea. 

I could easily go back to bed and feel fine!

Sunday Sickness

I have been denying for several days. I really thought I was better yesterday, but as I walked on flat ground, I could barely move forward. I wanted to turn around and go right back home, but I trudged on. That is when I know I am still sick: when there is no kick to my step on even the simplest of walks (flat was a strain).

I easily deny it when there are people for dinner. I so enjoyed last night with Micah and Christen, newly married and obviously insanely happy -- they are an excellent match, and I have no doubt they will continue to be insanely happy.  So, joy was followed by a crash of my body. 

It is time to stop denying reality and just lay in bed all day and drink plenty of liquids and watch Downton Abbey YouTube videos. :) I was pretty intense on Saturday with my genealogy research and didn't let up from 6:30 am until the family came back from Newberg in the evening. It was not physically taxing, but it was mentally so. I couldn't stop though. The compelling stories of my ancestors like Theresa Lorenzini who came from Italy as a child for new opportunities for her father in Cross Fork,PA. Eventually she married my grandmother's cousin, William. They suffered the loss of their ten room home to fire only to lose their tavern to fire two months later. On top of that, they eventually lost their farm to the Kinzua Dam project!  I also concentrated on the Quaker roots of George's Brown side of the family who were part of the radical Hicksite branch of the Quakers. They founded a "utopian" society of Friends in Ohio. 

These ancestors are crying from their graves with these truly American stories yet to be told. The light green and white pages of Ancestry.com call to me but  not today. I need to rest. I am sometimes to intense. I can easily go 15 hours doing research without even noticing. It kept my mind off how yucky I felt, but George's sickness ran four days, and I am now beginning the fourth. If I rest today, tomorrow will be the day for more research.

52 in 52 Week 35: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

I saw the movie in 1977 with my dear friends from our "Fearsome Foursome," Sandy, Bene, Betty, and me. Once we had a crazy late night when we started flickering lights saying, "It's medication time." You had to be there.

This is written by Ken Kesey, an Oregon native whose family owns the dairy that makes my favorite Nancy's Yogurt. Here is some background on Nancy:

Born and raised in California, Texas and Iowa, Nancy’s was the third generation in a lineage of health food enthusiasts. In 1966, Nancy moved to Haight Ashbury in San Francisco to attend college. It was 1969 when she met Ken Kesey, counterculture leader and author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and she was invited to take care of Ken’s Pleasant Hill, Oregon farm while he was in London recording stories with the Beatles. When Nancy heard Ken’s brother, Chuck, had a little creamery in Springfield, Ore., and was looking for a bookkeeper, she applied and soon found herself sharing her knowledge of making yogurt. (from:http://www.nancysyogurt.com/index.php/springfield-creamery/who-is-nancy)

Ken was a brilliant author. The book was hard to put down and hard to take. I sobbed at the end. It isn't pretty. It has bad language and crass references,  but just as the movie grabbed me in 1977, the book did the same.

What is wonderful about the book is that it is written from the perspective of the Native American, Chief Bromden. You don't know that when you watch the movie.

It is sad. It is about power and mental illness. Amazing book. Sorry that it has bad words though. 

Also, Jack Nicholson NAILS McMurphy. Just sayin.'

Friday Freewrite Fifteen

I have not been writing much lately. There was a time that I would write almost every morning. It hasn't been because I was burned out or that I didn't want to write. I just have not. I went on a vacation, and I am had pictures to process (1250 more or less) and genealogy to follow up on that has filled my cup to overflowing with gratitude for the great time we had as a family, as a descendant and relative of wonderful people in Pennsylvania, as an American, as an art lover, etc. The ball was hit out of the park and into the stratosphere on this trip. It is like those Master Charge commercials where I could add up all the costs of hotels and travel and admissions, but it would be concluded "Time as a family on a trip of a lifetime," and the tag after is would say:

PRICELESS

Just like the commercial. 

To say that we accomplished and exceeded our goals on our trip would be an understatement. The boys were so engaged, and their age and maturity level was perfect for travel from obscure Caldwell/Gurnsey/Wardrop graveyards in Cross Fork and Adrian to the Holocaust Memorial Museum.  

The pictures of the entire trip are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/52364318@N00/collections/72157631177874138/

But here is a slideshow of the highlights (from my Carol365):




Much of coming back from a trip is preserving the memories, and I have done that very well. It meant I put other things on hold. I had planned on hitting the photos from the past five years pretty hard, but these are part of those photos. So, I am good with that. 

Actually, I don't think I am that far off from all those photos. The heaviest load  of all the backlogged 365's was completed last December/January. Now, I just need to do the extras and the boys albums, and they already picked them out for two of the years. Now, I am waiting to order with a great deal from one of the photo sites. So, that will be my project this weekend.

I made space for all of this by almost completing YEAR TWO of the BBC before I left for our East Coast trip. I did Esther on our trip and came back and completed that. Then I only had Ezra, Nehemiah, and the two prophets associated with them: Haggai and Zechariah. So, I completed it in the first week back.

Now, I could take a break until April 2013, but I will slowly work my way through Acts and also do Romans as I study Romans 5-8 with Rachel and Kim from October to May. That will be very nice. 

Wow. I am really loving writing again. 

And this is where I might do something that I have always dreamed of doing. It may be my destiny to do it: Write an historical fiction novel based on the life of my great grandparents and the town that became a ghost town: Cross Fork. Actually, I want to write a series that chronicles the life and loves of my ancestors. I have uncovered SO much since I returned home from our trip to Pennsylvania, and it is almost as if my heart is still there in some strange way. I want to tell the story of my grandmother who was orphaned at 11. Oh, my head is stirring. A truly Americana novel. I see it in my head, but I think I see it more as a movie or mini-series TV script than anything else. 

First I want to finish the BBC project though. Lord give me the path for doing both!

George is up now, and he is going to the farm to check on some things. I was supposed to meet with Rebekah at 10:30 but asked to postpone so I could go with George. Now I am sick (headache and general yuckiness). I may have to stay home sick. I am not sure what I will do. 


But I will close. I have more to say, and I think that I am going to go back to writing daily again. I love this. 

(Reminder to anyone reading this that a Freewrite is where one writes unhindered by spelling and grammatical errors. The idea is to get everything out on the page and let it flow. Therefore, there will be typos and errors. It is part of the process. I do know the difference between there, their, and they're, but sometimes I freewrite, and it comes out wrong because I am not thinking. So, do not be alarmed!)

Battle Cry of Freedom Author McPherson

I read the definitive one volume classic Battle Cry of Freedom from The Well-Educated Mind List, and I just found this excellent interview for his newest book on Lincoln. Enjoy:

52 in 52 Week 34: The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

What a hauntingly beautiful play of family dysfunction. The whole time I was reading it I thought, "Sam Waterston would have been a perfect Tom in the movie version." Then, I get the movie, and he is Tom! I really and truly did not know it.


This is about a family that was abandoned by a father many years ago, and the long-term toll it takes on the ones left behind. I felt empathy for the mom and her desire to see her kids settled in life, but I do not agree with the methods she uses in trying to see it come about. 


Loved it even though it is sad. And Hepburn also nails Amanda. 


This book so reminded me of the dysfunction of Long Day's Journey into Night, and Katharine played the dysfunctional mother in that movie too!

52 in 52 Week 33: The Aeneid by Virgil (Robert Fagles Trans)

I was always told that this was a "rip-off" from Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. It is definitely in the style of Homer's poems, but it has a thrilling plot of its own.


I almost liked this better than The Iliad and The Odyssey! This narration really made it though. Simon Callow is amazing as a narrator. The Fagles translation also made it easier to comprehend, although the more scholarly translations make it rhyme which is nice since it is an epic poem!


This poem was written during the time of Augustus around the time of Christ.


It is about Aeneas who escaped after the sacking of Troy to found Rome because it was his destiny! He has many setbacks along the way with the gods always interfering.  It is a great story. 

I sing of warfare and a man at war.From the sea-coast of Troy in early daysHe came to Italy by destiny,To our Lavinian western shore,A fugitive, this captain, buffeted. . .Till he could found a city and bring homeHis gods to Laetium, land of the Latin race,The Alban lords, and the high walls of Rome.Tell me the causes now, O Muse, how galled. . .From her old wound, the queen of gods compelled him—. . . To undergo so many perilous daysAnd enter on so many trials. Can angerBlack as this prey on the minds of heaven?  (I.1–19)

One of the characters is Dido from Carthage. It was great that the "Art of the Day" today was this painting:

Dido building Carthage, or The Rise of the Carthaginian Empire (1815)

• J.M.W. Turner

Turner imitates his hero Claude in this ambitious painting. Inspired by Virgil’s epic poem the ‘Aeneid’, Dido appears on left sporting blue robes, bossing people around as she establishes Carthage. In his will, Turner asked for this painting to be shown alongside Claude’s 'Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba'. To his delight, it appears there in London’s National Gallery today. For more see http://www.artfinder.com/listing/uk/london/turner-inspired-in-the-light-of-claude/

• 
  

Post and Pictures of Our Vacation To Come

A trip of a lifetime. I cannot tell you how much this East Coast trip meant to us. I will sit and write a long post with pictures very soon, but I must get to some time in the word and reorient myself more to the daily bits of life first.

52 in 52 Week 32: Plato's Euthyphro, Apologia, Phaedo, and Crito

My "Great Books 100" list has all four of these titles under Plato, but once I started reading I wondered whether this was the book, The Last Days of Socrates, which Michael had read five years ago in classical literature, and it is! 

This is written by Plato with dialogues Socrates had with others related to his trial and execution. I will make a general comment that many times I felt like I was reading Paul the apostle. I believe Paul was educated in the classics and borrowed wording from the Greeks in order to relate to the Greeks!

Apologia is not his apology but his defense before the court. He was accused of  not recognizing the gods recognized by the state, inventing new deities, and corrupting the youth of Athens. It is clear and easy to understand. 


Euthyphro is about Socrates' encounter with Euthyphro outside the court of Athens. It is a discussion about holiness. This link is helpful in understanding:



http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/christian-ethics/divine-command-theory/the-euthyphro-dilemma/

Phaedo is a recounting of the final hours of Socrates by Phaedo. Socrates proposes that suicide is wrong if one is a true philosopher because a true one should look forward to death. He suggests that the soul is immortal. Since the philosopher spends his life trying to separate from his body that this is appropriate that he should look forward to death since this is the ultimate separation of soul and body. 


I read this article about how Plato's Phaedo and Symposium influenced one of my favorite dead Russian authors, Tolstoy: 

Tolstoy first read the philosophical dialogues of Plato, who lived from 427 B.C.E. to 347 B.C.E., in French translation as a young man. He returned to them when he learned to read Greek in the period just before writing Anna Karenina. Plato's dialogues showcase Plato's teacher, Socrates, often even presenting him in an almost beatific light. They usually also show Socrates in action—or rather in dialogue with his pupils. Using what has come to be known as the "Socratic method," Socrates does not come out and tell them the truth, but rather involves his pupils in the process. He asks a series of leading questions, designed to lead to the truth indirectly. Scholars have felt that Tolstoy engages in a similar process in his novels. 

The two works that Tolstoy singles out, the Symposium and the Phaedo, are about love and death, respectively. These are two topics at the heart of Anna Karenina. In the Symposium, friends discuss different forms of love at a gathering that features drink and food. The dialogue culminates with Socrates advancing the notion that there is, in addition to physical love, a love of the soul. (He does not necessarily exclude physical love but suggests that under the right circumstances lovers may move from physical love to something higher.) Tolstoy pays direct tribute to the Symposium in Anna Karenina. Chapters 10 and 11 of Part One (pp. 33-43) are a remake of Plato's Symposium featuring Oblonsky and Levin, eating and drinking while discussing love. Oblonsky argues that there's nothing he can do about his sexual appetites and what's wrong with indulging in pleasure anyway? Levin takes a different line, arguing that love can be clear and pure. He even cites the Symposium to back it up (p. 42). 

In the Phaedo, Plato meditates on death and the immortality of the soul. In this dialogue, Socrates and his friends gather together one last time in his prison cell. Socrates was tried and condemned to death by the Athenian state. (The parallels between what happened to him and what happened to Jesus were certainly not lost on Tolstoy.) The dialogue reenacts what takes place between him and his friends in his final hours as Socrates takes the poison hemlock that kills him. Socrates faces death with equanimity as he argues for the immortality of the soul. Facing death is a major concern of all of Tolstoy's writings and Anna Karenina is no exception. Part Eight shows Levin struggling to achieve a Socratic acceptance of his own mortality. Tolstoy pays tribute to Plato the philosopher by having a peasant with the same name—Platon is the Russian form of this name—serve as an example to Levin of what it means to love God and live for the soul. (p. 794)
Read more: http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/What-Was-on-Leo-Tolstoys-Bookshelf/8#ixzz1pooE8EGz

(Fun fact: I participated in Oprah's reading of Anna Karenina in 2004 and even was part of a video montage when the book was reviewed)


Crito recounts the last minutes in Socrates' prison cell as recounted by his old friend, Crito. Crito wants to help Socrates escape, and Socrates gives all the logical reasons why that would not be appropriate. 


I was surprised at how readable these were and easy to understand!

Thinking of My Brother As I Watch the Olympics. RIP Bill