I know that there are huge numbers of books like that and I read some of them.
But I tend not to choose books that are in the suspense category on BARD. Each
week, I go through the new fiction listed in the New York Times Book Review
which I can easily find on Newsline, on my computer. I add any books that sound
interesting to me, to a list that I keep of books that I'd like to read. Then
if one of them turns up on BARD, I download it. And I go through the new books
that are available each day, although I notice a decrease in good new books
having taken place over the past year on BARD. I sent an email to BARD Support
and asked if there had been changes in funding or policy, but they never
answered. Anyway, what I like is good contemporary fiction. There are a lot of
good books that they categorize as historical novels which, to me, aren't
historical, because the action takes place during my lifetime. But I guess from
the point of view of the NLS staff, much of my lifetime is historical. I like
books about relationships between people and books that include interesting
events, sometimes, books that take place in other countries. But I don't enjoy
reading about physical violence or war, and I never read murder mysteries,
unless I end up in the middle of one by accident.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Saturday, July 4, 2020 5:43 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: reading fiction is supposed to be entertaining
We read a great many suspense/mystery novels. So many of these novels center
upon beautiful young women being hunted or murdered. It offends me, but I
don't know what I can do about it. It's like the vivid descriptions of sex.
If I refuse to read books with such descriptions or with story lines based on
violent treatment of women, I'd be quite limited in my leisure time reading.
Besides, some of the story lines are quite clever, and the dialogue is also
delightful.
Carl jarvis
On 7/4/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Well, at some point in the book, the term, "white slavery" is used and
we've both heard of that before. I've read books about girls being
trafficked from Russia and Eastern Europe in our time. I just didn't
know about these Russian Jewish peasant girls. They were often from
religious families. Men came to the families, representing themselves
as wealthy Jewish men from America who wanted to marry a young girl
from their country of origin. The Russian Jews were poverty stricken
and mistreated and the idea of one of their daughters escaping their misery,
was very appealing.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Saturday, July 4, 2020 5:15 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: reading fiction is supposed to be
entertaining
I never heard that particular abusive treatment of women/girls, but
tragically it is an ugly part of human history, occurring in every
known civilization.
We humans are so messed up and so flawed, I sometimes lose hope. But
if we don't continue to resist, then we truly are lost.
Carl Jarvis
On 7/2/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
And it is, most of the time. But when you read fiction, sometimes you
learn unpleasant historical facts. I began reading a book called, The
Third Daughter. It's about a Russian Jewish girl whose family was
left homeless after a pogrom in the late eighteen hundreds. And what
I'm learning from this book is that there were Jewish gangsters who
used various methods to lure girls from their families in Russia, and
then trafficked them to Argentina where they were used as prostitutes.
This is a piece of Jewish history that I've never heard before.
Miriam
