David: I almost missed this. Sorry for your loss. I do know how you feel , Believe me. Went thru this same thing a few years ago. My Daughters wanted to get me another pup but I didn't have the heart to do it. My 'Smokie " was a male German Shorthair Pointer. We tortured him and he loved it. If there is a Dog Heaven, they will be there, running around together. LOU

Sorry Frieda, I didn't mean to digress from the main topic! 'Love' was too strong a word. I really like the Victorian era, but I like a great many other time periods too. Anything not of my own time I like; I find escape in books from other places and times. The oversentimentality is what really estranges me from Dickens work. I am, unfortunantly, not one of those people who can 'look on the bright side' of things. I haven't read a great deal by him (only on my fourth now), but I do seem to prefer his later/darker work (said to be produced in his 'maturity'). Much of that dreadful optimisim seems to have cooked out of him by that time. That is why I liked Bleak House too; it was darker. Little Dorrit seems, so far, to have some of those same qualities about it, which I so like. ;-) It also bothers me how he keeps repeating themes and in his books. It's like he found a pattern that turned out to be popular so he kept repeating it, with just small changes made from book to book. And his characters are sometimes absurdly unrealistic. They seem to be more like personifications than real persons, if you get my meaning. re: 'Feeble and Vapid Females': I have to wonder if they (like most of his characters) were all based on a person Dickens knew? I don't think he meant to make all the women seem so empty. I think I read somewhere that these sort of characters were based on his sister-in-law, with whom he had a close relationship. I don't mind feeble and vapid females at all. Maybe because I know one and am close with her (at least she is not headless, lol!). "Actually, the more I know about Dickens the man, the less I want to reread his works -- sometimes ignorance is bliss." Why exactly? I think I know what you mean. I recently found out that he was paid by the section for his serialized stories. So he wasn't just long-winded? He wrote because of the money? It saddens and annoys me when I hear an author is only in it for the money and doesn't really want to contribute to literature or create any legacy/history for posterity. CMK

I tried a few Oprah picks, but they all seemed stuck on one theme: dysfunction -- usually of the family sort or women doing stupid things, then transcending their idiocy. Very noble in intention, I'm sure, but I always feel I've been thumped on the head repeatedly with a tablespoon when I read O's choices. My list would start with Mark Twain. He can get me out of a funk quicker than just about any American writer. I would like to include Harper Lee and Margaret Mitchell, but I'm with Carolyn that only one book each makes them hard to estimate. I really like Wallace Stegner's histories (e.g., about the American West, Mormons) and biographies (John Wesley Powell). I'm not fond of his fiction for a reason I find hard to define...maybe it's just because it's fiction after I have been so entranced by his skill with nonfiction. Styron has written some of the loveliest, most vivid descriptions I think I've ever read. But gosh! his fiction, to me, is depressing. I recognized that even before I knew that he was suffering depression himself. As for Faulkner, I still say that The Reivers is my favorite -- I find it hilarious. It's entirely accessible too. I know he's admired for his labyrinthine sentences and stream of consciousness, so the 'normalness' of The Reivers evidently makes it lesser somehow in some sniffy quarters. Let 'em sniff; I'll take pure entertainment when I can get it. I liked Steinbeck when I was younger, but trying to reread his fiction is like listening to stale sermons. I didn't realize how preachy some of his stuff is. I'll stick up for Hemingway any day, though I know that many women loathe his writing (and him, too, apparently). Of the two rivals, F. Scott Fitzgerald was certainly the more elegant writer, but Hemingway appeals in an entirely different way to me. I think it's really silly to compare them, but it seems inevitable for some reason. Poets: Edgar Allan Poe (and short stories) Elizabeth Bishop (I like her prose, too.) Emily Dickinson Sylvia Plath Anne Sexton (Why are so many fine poets depressives?) Mary Oliver (she's growing on me!) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (call him corny, I don't care, as I think his corn will outlast most of the synthetics of the 20th/21st centuries)

Faron - I start my Stihl on the floor by sliding my foot through the handle to help keep it steady. However I'm unable to start our generator - the pull cord is too high up and I can't get enough torque - I'd need a stepladder. My profession was dominated by women and I can readily say that I never faced discrimination at work. Of course like most women I've encountered my share of men making crude comments and insinuations and as a young woman was never taken seriously when I took my car in for repair. And there were a few alarming situations where I seriously worried about my safety. When DD was growing up I tried to set an example for her, I felt it was important for her to see me as a capable woman. I wanted her to be strong and independent . When she graduated from college we went to buy her first car. I had already locked in the price online and brought a copy of the sales agreement. However the salesman kept saying that certain items were omitted and he wanted to re-write the agreement and came back with a higher price. I walked out of the dealership. DD was crushed because she thought she wasn't going to get her car. The salesman came running after us and we did get the car - at the original price. It's a story she vividly remembers. However she is now working in a male dominated job and is facing discrimination, ridicule and even career sabotage. There is no HR department, she has to take these issues to her boss - who frequently says that she's whining and then later approaches her when she's alone and rubs her back and says he's sorry. The only other females at her work place are doing clerical or administrative work and are off premises. She's the only woman working on the job with 6 to 8 men. It has become a toxic work environment and she has consulted with an attorney as to how to proceed. I'm proud of her for taking the initiative to get legal advice but she's so disillusioned and stressed that she's also looking for another job.