Frustrating when no one cares about what you're reading....

Parent Cafe
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<p>…and you think it’s some of the most thought-provoking stuff you’ve ever read!</p>

<p>Have you ever had that happen to you? You get interested in a subject that - to you - is fascinating - and no one wants to discuss it!! Maybe I need to get back to a college environment. Everybody I know has already made up their minds about everything. Right now, I’m in the middle of three books simultaneously, all about the earliest history of Christianity and the struggle for determining what would be “orthodoxy” and what would be “heresy.” There were many Christianities along the spectrum of Christianity as a form of Judaism and the necessity of keeping the Law all the way to the folks that thought that it was completely new and that Judaism was now irrelevant (Peter vs. Paul). It’s interesting to me how the church in Rome (seat of political power) won the day, and therefore got to decide (much, much later) the canon of the New Testament.</p>

<p>And no one I deal with (except my spouse) cares a whit. The Christians I know (and don’t forget that I’m near Colorado Springs, home to every conservative religious organization known to mankind) really don’t want to discuss it. One was very honest in telling me that they did not want to discuss anything that might bring their faith into question. And the non-Christians I know just don’t care about the history of Christianity – early or not!</p>

<p>Anyway, I’m ranting, and the purpose of this thread is NOT to discuss the above; this forum is not the place for that. But I’m interested to find out if there are other stories like this, where people become facinated with a topic - history or fish or classic literature or geneology - that people around you just are not the slightest bit interested in.</p>

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<p>I think a lot of people around me are a lot less interested in College Admissions than I am :slight_smile: </p>

<p>Seriously, the history of Christianity topic you discussed sounds very interesting to me. I always wondered why Christians did not follow all of the rituals, etc. of Judaism, since Christians believe in the Old Testament. I guess the answer to this question comes from the events you are reading about.</p>

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<p>My H is obsessed with Alternative Country music. Waits for magazines like Oxford and No Depression. Studies the history of the music and the influences on the musicians. He’s got the twang music going even as I type. I had to point out that 2000 Americana CDs maybe weren’t the best look for an architect’s office. He packed them into a case and put them in my office? </p>

<p>My interest is limited; as in I enjoyed the soundtrack to “O Brother Where Art Thou”.</p>

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<p>I know just how you feel! When I come to school with my biology and animal rights books, nobody is interested. I sit at the edge of my seat excitedly reading about parameciums and slaughterhouses (okay, I’m exaggerating), and other people just look at me strangely and go back to their trashy teenage novels! They don’t understand my :cool:ness…</p>

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<p>That gave me a real chuckle. It’s so true for ALL of us on CC…</p>

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<p>Suppose you could find some online groups. The problem there is, when you are dealing with folks outside the U.S., before you know it they start bringing currant U.S. world politics into the matter and then they are arguing with you. If you have a passion, best to take it to a university. People who have a passion can usually find an audience. One local university here has a young prof just bonkers about the Civil War and he frequently runs trips to Gettsburg and lectues on the bus.Seniors love him!
Concerning your particular passion, taking a class in religious studies at a good seminary can be fun. Ignosticism- wow, what a topic!</p>

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<p>I think the Christianity topic is fascinating. dig, would you believe I have not one but 2 friends who are experts in this area? One is a a prof who is a specialist on the life of Jesus and the other a writer knowledgable in early Christianity.</p>

<p>Funny how one of my D’s evangelical Christain friends did not know Jesus was a Jew!</p>

<p>My fascination right now is a book on Physics: “The Elegant Universe.” Sort of a ‘Superstring Theory for Dummies.’ Very interesting and hard to bend one’s mind around. Highly recommended!</p>

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<p>try the jesuits
I have heard them described as having every opinion under the sun including atheists</p>

<p>Ive read that sb- have you read the Holographic Universe?</p>

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<p>Nope, maybe that’s the next one for me. </p>

<p>I could not be less gifted in sciences, but at Theory oof Everything-- it is so fascinating!</p>

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<p>I definitely know what you mean…</p>

<p>years ago, while on separate business trips I read several Anne Rice novels, 1 after another…my husband listened to country music on his trip…when we regrouped, we were both a bit surprised with one another’s newest passion…vampires vs country music…tres bizarre…</p>

<p>additionally, a few years ago, the David McCullough book on John Adams took me completely away from novels, mysteries, science fiction deep into biography or biographic novels… I fell in love with Adams, his wife, their commitment to excellence, independence, family etc. I then read Mornings on Horseback, McCullough’s book on Teddy Roosevelt, then Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book No Ordinary Time (Franklin & Eleanor), then Joseph Ellis’s book The American Sphinx on Thomas Jefferson, also Founding Brothers, Gore Vidal’s Lincoln, Antonia Frasier’s book on Marie Antoinette, her book on Mary Queen of Scots and a book on Elizabeth I. Haunted by wanting to know more about George Washington, I was pleasently surprised when Joseph Ellis wrote his book, His Excellency which I felt he wrote to satisfy my curiosity…I read Killer Angels which is by Michael Shaara, on Gettysburg. I have McCullough’s book on Truman lined up for Feb school vacation…and I would like to read more about Joshua Chamberlain. </p>

<p>most recently, I received Anna Quinlan’s new book, Imagined London…which was a lark to read…very surprising to realize she was such an avid reader and had not been to London before she was 40…this is a book in National Geographic’s series on Great Cities written by various authors…I like Anna Quinlan’s style…and I enjoyed having her “take me around London” thru her imaginings of what things were like as a younger reader, …vs what she actually found as an adult on her first trip there. I also have read a few of the books in the Penguin Lives series, one by Jane Smiley on Charles Dickens, one on Winston Churchill (read right after the Franklin & Eleanor book)… </p>

<p>I guess the net of it is that I completely responded to your sense of frustration when your reading takes you to a new “land” but only YOU are on the trip. So there is no one to truly share the experience with…unless you happen to coincidently run into someone who is reading the same thing you are. It happens more often with “popular fiction” then it does with biography or in your case, Digmedia, the early days of Christianity… that is why I think Oprah’s book club took off so exponentially… a good read is hard to supress…we like to discuss, to share…</p>

<p>and to come full circle, some folks start threads, some of us just respond to threads that speak to us, like this one did to me! Thanks for sharing your frustration and listening to my variation on this theme!</p>

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<p>maineparent </p>

<p>My H is bio freak. Read all you mentioned, I believe…</p>

<p>He also loved the memoirs of the Duc de St Simon (many volumes worth.) He and I both loved Georgina, Duchess of Devonshire. I thought Killer Angels was superb too.</p>

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<p>I think you’re right about Oprah, and I think that’s why book clubs and reading groups are popular. Everyone has common ground for discussion. I’m not in a book club - maybe I should be, but a good friend of mine is, and tells me tales… Of course there’s a vote on what the next month’s book should be and that selection is always a clash of cultures and interests. Don’t know if I’d like others picking out my next book.</p>

<p>Sometimes too, I like to read a book very slowly - that’s why I usually have more than one going at a time. One that I’m reading now - “Lost Christianities” is not - to me - easy reading, so I’m definitely taking my time with it.</p>

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Been in and out of book club for just these reasons. Loved the ability to “share” a book and where it takes you. Loved discovering books/types of books would never have chosen for myself. But hated having to slog thru a book that just held nothing for me. Yet felt guilty “picking and choosing” and just going the months which appealed to me.</p>

<p>On another note: find this cc stuff cutting into my “quality reading time.” Is that happening to others, esp. you Sr.Member giga-posters?</p>

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<p>im in a book group and while I enjoy reading books that I wouldn’t normally read ( Uncle Toms cabin- Guns.Germs, & Steel, Kristen Lavransdatter) it has been frustrating cause when I slog through something I want to discuss it!
We often talk about the book for only 10 or so minutes then on to summer homes- biopsies and retirement plans!
I would love to have a book group that discussed ideas, not just character motivation.
At least our next book is short- a play by Carson Mccullers _ member of the wedding.never read it but I have read Heart is a Lonely Hunter a favorite.
Ive tried to get a diversity themed bookgroup going at Ds school, but I need to get to know more people to recruit. It has been tough going from a small school where I was the parent group chair, to a large school where I know barely a handful of people and most f them casually. I am grateful that I don’thave to direct things any more don’t get me wrong- but its nice to be known too ;)</p>

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<p>A few years ago I went on a science kick and started reading about stars, galaxies, planets, Pale Blue Dot -Carl Sagan’s books. For sure, no one else in my family shared my enthusasm! A very dry topic-rocks floating in space!( But great photos!) As a result, hus. did buy one of those refractor telescopes and we saw the comet impact crators on Jupiter. There is a local star gazing society, all members having telescopes and meet periodically at Valley Forge Nat. Park for meteor showers, etc.Viewing an eclipse through a FILTERED lensed telescope in a facinating thing. The sun is really something!</p>

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<p>Sure, it happens to me all of the time. That’s why I turn to on-line forums.</p>

<p>In your case, Digmedia, have you considered starting a book discussion group on the topics that you’re currently devouring? Perhaps your local library could be a place where you could recruit members.</p>

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<p>Hi, digmedia. I have a master’s in religion from an Ivy div school and I know all about that stuff! Needless to say I am not a fundamentalist, but I am a “believer,” and it doesn’t bother my faith at all to understand how humans (inspired by God, I believe, but others can leave that out!) put together the New Testament. You may know that is is much easier for Catholics to understand this, since the faith is based on “Scripture AND Tradition” - meaning people - NOT the Lutheran “Sola Scrittura” (scripture alone). It’s why fundamentalist protestants believe Catholics to be heretics - because they do not take the Bible literally and because they allow that human tradition and decision have a part to play… I often ask fundamentalists, “Whom do you think put the bible TOGETHER?”</p>

<p>Same with evolution. One of my friends is a Catholic priest AND a college professor of genetics. Catholics base some of their intellectual understanding on Aristotle, who allowed that there could be more than one cause or explanation to anything (material cause, efficient cause, formal, and final) and so the official Catholic position is to accept evolution as the material, efficient cause of human beings while retaining God as the final (i.e. purposive) cause. The great naturalist writer, Steven Jay Gould - an atheist - wrote some wonderful things about his relationship with Catholics on this issue.</p>

<p>I know you didn’t want to discuss this here…just couldn’t resist!</p>

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<p>I have been reading some science fiction books by Michael Swanwick. Three in total. The best of the lot was the Iron Dragon’s Daughter. They are very, very odd. He has a tendency to overwrite. Mostly distopia kind of stuff. I don’t think I like them.</p>

<p>One of the many great things about being on a college campus are all the libraries. More free books than I could read in multiple life times.</p>

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<p>So much fun to type about books…</p>

<p>I started a book group with a friend…it is a mother son book group…one set of twins, so 6 boys and 5 moms…boys in the 8th grade this year…we have done it now for about 20 mos…we read 1 book a month…some of the boys are voracious readers…1 or 2 are not…our first book was Lord of the Flies (I think the boys chose it cause it had flies in the title) anyway, it was actually helpful cause of the rule on the island that whoever had the conk shell had the floor for speaking…so we use that as a way to control the dialog when the boys or the moms get a bit off topic or compete for air time “who has the conk shell?” I agree that I don’t always love the book selected…right now the book for discussion over Feb vacation is Friday Nite Lights…I have been carrying it around for a few weeks and can’t bring myself to open it…but, the truth is that it has been a great experience for both moms and sons…the boys have talked on average for at least an hour on every book…we have done Agatha Christie, Harry Potter 5th book (a huge read), we did Killer Angels with the boys…we did Give a Boy a Gun, a great story with a gun factoid on every page in the margin, we have read Huckleberry Finn, and one of my favorites, The House of the Scorpion, a futuristic science fiction set in Mexico, quite intriguing…perhaps the best discussion with the boys yet…my son and I chose Casino Royale this past Sept thinking it would be an easy read as they restarted school…tried playing a little baccarat with them…got to talk about what makes a gal attractive to a guy (besides obvious physical attributes etc etc) we have to be careful that we don’t preach too much … surprising how there is a moral in every book, if us moms want to dominate the discussion</p>

<p>the thing with a great book is that it can take you places you will otherwise never have a chance to go…and that is why there are some journeys we must take solo…and see where it leads us…some reads are recommendations from others, some are follow-ons to subjects from other reads…</p>

<p>I was involved with our local library for several years…and gave out bags for volunteers at the annual mtg one year…the bags said " a book lover never goes to bed alone" and afterwards, one of the older gals (80+?) came up and whispered to me that she suspected that that was why she never got married…very content to go to sleep with a book…luckily I married someone who can sleep with my book light on!</p>

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<p>On line forums are wonderful for getting people together who have interests in esoteric (or at the very least, very specific) subjects. H loves the Patrick O’Brian books. I have no interest. Thank goodness there is a healthy on line forum for such people.</p>