What are you reading?

[Kobi]

Originally Posted by justkim

This sounds like a fantastic book to read, considering we have been living in a 40 foot fifth wheel for the last year. Putting this on my must read list.

It was very good and also very sad. Didn't realize how many elderly people are doing this just to survive.

[Ascot]

I'm reading a series of adult short stories by Roald Dahl, he of James and the Giant Peach fame. Some odd stuff to be sure.

[Femmewench]

Originally Posted by Ascot

I'm reading a series of adult short stories by Roald Dahl, he of James and the Giant Peach fame. Some odd stuff to be sure.

He was married to Patricia Neal for 30 years. I always admired her especially post strokes.

[justkim]

Being smack dab in the middle of people who truly live a nomad lifestyle has definitely opened my eyes. A lot of families are doing it too so that they can "see" America. They've pulled their children out of brick and mortar schools so they can be home-schooled. It also makes it easier for one parent to stay home if you want to look at a financial angle. We also ran into woman and men in the traveling nurse field who love what they do and love that they can travel and it really only costs them fuel and fee for a spot to hook up at. The older people we ran into are semi retired and they also travel to where the work is. A friend of ours retired from OSHA as an inspector who now runs his own business while still enjoying the perks of retirement and travel all rolled into a rolling house. Right now for instance half of the people here in the park were in are line man, who here soon will be heading south for the winter. Another thing, not sure if it is mentioned in the book is that some parks are putting an age limit on the RV's they allow into their park. Anything over ten years old has to pass the how does it look test. Then there are the ones who only do motor coaches and won't even look at tow-able units no matter what their age is. Anyway just some random thoughts from someone living, although it is only for another month in our RV.

Originally Posted by Kobi

It was very good and also very sad. Didn't realize how many elderly people are doing this just to survive.

[Kätzchen]

Originally Posted by Kobi

Employers have discovered a new, low-cost labor pool, made up largely of transient older Americans. Finding that social security comes up short, often underwater on mortgages, these invisible casualties of the Great Recession have taken to the road by the tens of thousands in late-model RVs, travel trailers, and vans, forming a growing community of nomads: migrant laborers who call themselves "workampers." Bruder hits the road to get to know her subjects, accompanying them from job to job in the dark underbelly of the American economy, while celebrating their resilience and creativity.

------------------


Fascinating.

Sounds very interesting, Kobi....

Originally Posted by Kobi

It was very good and also very sad. Didn't realize how many elderly people are doing this just to survive.

Kobi? Does the author give an neutral scientific account for the background of the people who have particular financial resources to even afford to pay for gasoline or own an R. V. or 5th wheel trailer? Do they mention the class standing they once we're counted as members? Things of this nature?

I ask because my mother is elderly, she's still working an terrific (aka horrific ) schedule as an nurse in an penitentiary, plans to go out on medical leave soon, and sold her house to my sister, just to get that gorilla off her back because in Idaho (land of original fascist bigotry ), you can't get Healthcare unless it's through your employer, and employee sponsored health care is an massive joke --- employers get a huge tax break to give it's employees virtually non-existent coverage : my mother is footing the medical bills for three siblings who can't get medical coverage to save their lives. If not for my mother working herself to death, all four of them would be penniless, have no care, have no place to live, etc.

I'm guessing the author gives an look at "poverty" in terms of those who are trying to bridge the fucked up chasms between age and in terms of small sector employment that most others couldn't even participate in, unless their social mobility allows them to in particular terms that others could not even hurdle.

But I agree with you, the subject in the book seems fascinating.

[knight]

Helen Humphreys- Wild Dogs

Explores how humans are attracted to and fearful of the wildness they sense within themselves and those they love.

[homoe]

Originally Posted by Kobi

It was very good and also very sad. Didn't realize how many elderly people are doing this just to survive.

I would love to read that book but I know it would break my heart hearing of how older and less fortunate people are being taken advantage of!

[Kobi]

Originally Posted by homoe

I would love to read that book but I know it would break my heart hearing of how older and less fortunate people are being taken advantage of!

I hear ya. Reading about people in their 60's and older hoping for the chance to pick sugar beets for a few weeks was disturbing. Harvesting doesnt begin until after the first hard frost.

Others dont even get paid for their work. They are just thankful to have a place to park with free hook ups.

And these folks arent taking to the road by choice or to see America. They just cannot afford the costs of having non mobile places to live.

After reading what Amazon does to them in their only open during peak season warehouses, I'm shying away from using them.

Kind of wishing I never read it myself. LOL.

[Kobi]

For decades, we've been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "Fuck positivity," blogger Mark Manson says. "Let's be honest, shit is fucked and we have to live with it."

This book is his antidote to the coddling, let's-all-feel-good mindset that has infected modern society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up.

Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited: "Not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault."

Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek. There are only so many things we can care about, so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear.

While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with stories and profane, ruthless humor.

-------------------------------------


That is a pretty cleaned up synopsis of this book.

After about 2 chapters, my brain was just seeing this:




Will I finish reading it. Fuck no.

[Kobi]

iGen : why today's super-connected kids are growing up less rebellious, more tolerant, less happy--and completely unprepared for adulthood (and what that means for the rest of us) - Jean M. Twenge, PhD

Analyzes how the young people born in the mid-1990s and later significantly differ from those of previous generations, examining how social media and texting may be behind today's unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness.

-------



Just started this. Hoping it is a worthwhile read.

[homoe]

Sweet Bitter by Stephanie Danler


I ran across this at a used bookstore, and seeing how I'd always wanted to read it picked it up for a mere buck! I'm only on page 52 but I'm somewhat disappointed! Hopefully it'll pick up.

[bright_arrow]

The Secret of Spellshadow Manor by Bella Forest

[homoe]

Originally Posted by homoe

Sweet Bitter by Stephanie Danler


I ran across this at a used bookstore, and seeing how I'd always wanted to read it picked it up for a mere buck! I'm only on page 52 but I'm somewhat disappointed! Hopefully it'll pick up.

Never picked up.......

[homoe]

Originally Posted by homoe

Sweet Bitter by Stephanie Danler


I ran across this at a used bookstore, and seeing how I'd always wanted to read it picked it up for a mere buck! I'm only on page 52 but I'm somewhat disappointed! Hopefully it'll pick up.

This is being turned into a TV Series. I'm thinking it's Starz but not positive! The previews I've seen, look WAY better than the book!