karenmarie's 2012 75 book challenge - No. 2

Welcome to my second thread.

Well, I surprise myself. I've read 13 out of 31 books so far that aren't mysteries or thrillers, so despite my best efforts I seem to be realizing my New Year's Resolution.

1. Strangers in Death by J.D. Robb 12/31/11 01/03/12 (Okay, okay, tried-and-true. But I'm in the middle of the series and can't just walk away from it!)
2. Salvation in Death by J.D. Robb 01/03/12 01/06/12 ***1/2
3. Promises in Death by J.D. Robb 01/06/12 01/09/12 ****
4. Kindred in Death by J.D. Robb 01/09/12 01/12/12 ****
6. Fantasy in Death by J.D. Robb 01/12/12 01/14/12 ****
6. Indulgence in Death by J.D. Robb 1/14/12 1/17/12 ***1/2
7. Mistress Shakespeare by Karen Harper 1/18/12 1/21/12 **1/2
8. Treachery in Death by J.D. Robb 1/21/12 01/24/12 ****
9. New York to Dallas by J.D. Robb 01/24/12 01/26/12 ****
10. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern 01/26/12 01/30/12 ****
11. the Confession by Charles Todd 01/30/12 01//31/12 ***1/2
12. V is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton 01/31/12 02/04/12 ****
13. Learning to Bow by Brude Feiler 02/04/12 02/07/12 ****
14. The Betrayal of Trust by Susan Hill 02/07/12 02/11/12 ***1/2
15. Orlando by Virginia Woolf 02/11/12 02/15/12 *
16. The Shape of Snakes by Minette Walters 02/15/12 02/17/12 ****
17. The Echo by Minette Walters 02/17/12 02/19/12 ***1/2
18. Flirt by Laurell K. Hamilton 02/19/12 02/19/12 ***
19. Skin Trade by Laurell K. Hamilton 02/19/12 02/22/12 ***
20. Bullet by Laurell K. Hamilton 02/25/12 02/28/12 ***
21. The Shakespeare Thefts by Eric Rasmussen 02/28/12 03/01/12 ***1/2
22. Celebrity in Death by J.D. Robb 03/02/12 03/05/12
23. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult 02/28/12 03/08/12 ****1/2 (audiobook)
24. Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson 03/07/12 03/11/12 **1/2
25. The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper 3/11/12 3/15/12 ***1/2
26. Insomnia by Stephen King 03/16/12 03/25/12 ****
27. Room by Emma Donoghue 03/09/12 03/21/12 ****1/2
28. Shelter by Harlen Coben 03/22/12 03/24/12 ***
29. The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill 03/25/12 03/31/12 ***
30. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts 03/22/12 05/09/12 ****1/2
31. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 03/31/12 04/01/12 ****
32. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich 04/02/12 04/04/12 ***1/2
33. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson 04/06/12 04/09/12 ****
34. Chocolat by Joanne Harris 04/10/12 04/13/12 ***1/2
35. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins 04/13/12 04/14/12 ***1/2
36. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins 04/14/12 4/16/12 ****
37. In the Wake of the Plague by Norman F. Cantor 04/17/12 04/21/12 **
38. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson 04/21/12 04/22/12 ****
39. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters 04/22/12 04/28/12 ***1/2
40. Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich 04/29/12 04/30/12 ***1/2
41. Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich 04/30/12 05/01/12 ***1/2
42. Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris 05/01/12 05/03/12 ***1/2
43. The Grave Tattoo by Val McDermid 05/03/12 05/05/12 ****
44. Stone's Fall by Iain Pears 05/05/12 05/12/12 ****
45. The Various Flavors of Coffee by Anthony Capella 05/12/12 05/15/12 ****
46. Eve in the City by Thomas Rayfiel 05/15/12 05/16/12 **
47. Double Whammy by Carl Hiassen 05/16/12 05/19/12 ***1/2
48. The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt 05/17/12 05/25/12 ****
49. Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen 05/15/12 05/24/12 ***1/2 audiobook
50. Native Tongue by Carl Hiaasen 05/24/12 05/28/12 **1/2
51. Hit List by Laurell K. Hamilton 05/28/12 5/29/12 ***
52. A Short History of the United States by Robert V. Remini 05/29/12
53. Wild Thing by Anne Stuart 6/03/12 06/03/12 ***
54. The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly 06/03/12 06/05/12 ****
55. Death Comes to Pemberley 06/01/12 06/06/12 **1/2 audiobook
56. The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly 06/05/12 06/07/12 ****
57. The Reversal by Michael Connelly 06/07/12 06/08/12 ****
58. The Black Echo by Michael Connelly 06/08/12 06/10/12 ****
59. Resilience by Elizabeth Edwards 06/06/12 06/07/12 ****1/2
60. The Black Ice by Michael Connelly 06/10/12 06/11/12 ****
61. The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly 06/11/12 06/13/12 ****
62. The Last Coyote by Michael Connelly 06/13/12 06/15/12 ****
63. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling 06/12/12 06/22/12 ****audiobook for the 4th time
64. Trunk Music by Michael Connelly 06/15/12 06/18/12 ****
65. Angels Flight by Michael Connelly 06/18/12 06/20/12 ****
66. A Darkness More Than Night by Michael Connelly 06/20/12 06/22/12 ****
67. City of Bones by Michael Connelly 06/22/12 06/23/12 ***1/2
68. Lost Light by Michael Connelly 06/23/12 06/24/12 ****
69. The Narrows by Michael Connelly 06/24/12 06/25/12 ****
70. The Closers by Michael Connelly 06/25/12 06/26/12 ****
71. Echo Park by Michael Connelly 06/27/12 6/28/12 ****
72. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling 06/22/12
73. The Overlook by Michael Connelly 06/29/12 06/30/12 ****
74. Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly 06/30/12 07/01/12 ****
75. The Drop by Michael Connelly 07/02/12 07/03/12 ****
76. Angle of Investigtion by Michael Connelly 07/04/12 07/04/12 ****
77. Irreparable Harm by Melissa F. Miller 07/04/12 07/05/12 ***1/2
78. Hot Six by Janet Evanovich 07/05/12 07/06/12 ***1/2
79. Seven Up by Janet Evanovich 07/06/12 07/08/12 ***1/2
80. Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich 07/08/12 07/08/12 ****
81. To the Nines by Janet Evanovich 07/08/12 07/09/12 ***1/2
82. Ten Big Ones by Janet EVanovich 07/09/12 07/10/12 ****
83. Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich 07/10/12 07/11/12 ****
84. Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich 07/11/12 07/12/12 ****
85. Suicide Run by Michael Connelly 07/10/12 07/12/12 ****
86. Total Eclipse by Liz Rigbey 07/13/12 07/17/12 ***
87. Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich 07/17/12 07/17/12 ***1/2
88. Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich 07/17/12 07/18/12 ****
89. Four to Score by Janet Evanovich ***1/2
90. High Five by Janet Evanovich ***1/2
91. Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich ****
92. Plum Lovin' by Janet Evanovich 07/18/12 07/19/12 ***
93. Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich 07/19/12 07/19/12 ***
94. Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich 07/19/20 07/20/12 ***1/2
95. Shadow Lover by Anne Stuart 07/20/12 7/21/12 ***1/2
96. State of Wonder by Anne Patchett 07/20/12 07/23/12 ****
97. Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich 07/23/12 07/24/12 ***1/2
98. Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich 07/24/12 07/25/12 ***
99. Lost in Translation by Nicole Mones 07/27/12 07/30/12 ****
100. American Gods by Neil Gaiman 07/31/12 08/11/12 ****

I'm in! Yumpin' Yimminy, that does sound like good eating. I can't do the Hunger Games because it's everywhere. But now I'm starved!

Turkey, the blandest thing which is legally describable as meat...use the snausage! That sounds yummers. The guests from Ghana have gone to get Italian food. The after that we're going to Cold Stone Creamery for sundaes.

Suddenly it all feels like 1965.

I enjoyed The book Thief and The Hunger games and the two that follow. It's bizarre, my library has them in the children's section rather than YA.

OK...how on earth do you get your book club to cook? I can just barely get ours to bring a brown bag lunch (we meet during the day since most of the elderly ladies don't drive at night). I've served popcorn, candy, cookies, sandwiches, tea and coffee, and they all smile and say "no thanks". So I just go right on and eat my sandwich or soup or whatever.

Ooh, call me, I love all the foods - what a bonus books and food, and dessert, do you have desserts?

...and now I'm craving an ice cream sundae...

I had the cheesecake ice cream sundae thing, with strawberries, blueberries, and graham cracker crust crumbles all mixed in. From which to die.

Things have been good hectic and I apologize for not replying sooner!

#2 Some Guy - we did have good food and a good conversation. Of course, I didn't read the book, but that's okay. :)

#3 and #7 The turkey is so neutral that you get the protein wrapped up in cream cheesy goodness with the salsa-ishness of the Ro-tel. Even without sausage, it's yummers. The sundae thing sounds good but not tempting, see what I replied to dk_phoenix. I absolutely do not crave ice cream at all. And, for however long, I have the will power to not eat any just for the heck of it.

#4 and #6 Hi beeg - I want to the 2nd and 3rd books of the Hunger Games series but have been too busy to guiltily order them from Amazon. We do desserts. Sometimes they're store bought, sometimes they're ice cream and boxed candy. I always bake something because that's what I love to do. I made my grandmother's applesauce cake with cream cheese frosting - she would have put regular white frosting on it, but the cream cheese makes it extra yummy.

#5 Tututhefirst - some don't cook, but certainly we all eat what's put in front of us, even if it's just snacks! Human vacuum cleaners.

#7 dk_phoenix - since trying to eliminate sugar, flour, potatoes, rice, and other high-glycemic index carbs from my diet I haven't craved ice cream even once. Strange.

I read the first Stephanie Plum book and liked it. I didn't like a Christmas story I read years ago and never wanted to read the series, but for $.50 at the thrift store, I figured why not try the first one? Now I want to continue reading them, but want to do it in order.

So I waffled around trying to find something to read. Nothing clicked until I opened Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson and it's a delight.

"With courting curmudgeons, wayward sons, religion, race, and real estate in a petty and picturesque English village..." how could I resist? (quote from back cover).

This weekend was expensive. New tires and one new headlamp for my car, new windshield for same (thank GOD for comprehensive - it only cost me $50!), and trading in daughter's Ranger for a Focus (she paid half the difference and we're paying half the difference). Blech.

Husband is at least temporarily back on third shift. It's exhaustive and thankless and he's stressed but carrying on. I admire him for that.

Daughter and I went to an Easter Luncheon with husband's friend's mother and lots of her gray-haired friends. Daughter was a trooper and actually said she had fun. 5 hours drive round trip, 3 hours visiting, and then daughter had to drive back to school. Give her an A for effort!

So I'm reading a bit at break and I came across this beautiful little paragraph:

"I will be entirely in your debt, Major." She stood up from her stool, came close and laid her hand on his arm. "I cannot express my gratitude." The Major felt warmth spreading up his arm. He kept still, as if a butterfly had alighted on his elbow. For a moment nothing existed but the feel of her breath and the sight of his own face in her dark eyes."

Sigh.

You must be reading Major Pettigrew's Last Stand???

Hey Tina - just finished it, as a matter of fact. What an absolute jewel of a book. I didn't want it to end. And it's her only novel so far. I hope she writes many more.

Now for the dangerous moment betwen books - leaving a good good read and leaping into the unknown, hoping to find another good read.

Gillespie and I. Marvelous.

Harumph. Another one to add to the wishlist, RichardDear. Things have gotten lopsided again, what with you now in the lead on book recommendations.

But in the short term, I must find something from my tbr stack.

Off I go......

How do you READ so much? Have you read The Other or Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon?

Amazing that I agree with Richard, but I'm really really enjoying Gillespie and I. It's not Maj. Pettigrew by any stretch of the imagination, but I wasn't over the moon for the good major like most of the rest of you. Good luck on finding your next wonderful one, Karen!

#15 Hi SGiV! I get up in the middle of the night with insomnia sometimes, I try to read for 15 minutes while I eat breakfast in the morning, and I try to read at night. Husband is now on third shift, temporarily probably, but last night I read for 2 1/2 hours before he got up. Then after he left for work I read for another half an hour. And I'm a pretty quick reader.

Have never read any Thomas Tryon. I'll check him out.

#16 Hi LizzieD! Interesting about not being over the moon about the Major - I don't think Helen Simonson was viewing him through rose-colored glasses. He came across as rigid, "veddy British", and very structured. Simonson let him say things that grated but they were overridden by his goodness and willingness to change. I think everybody ended up changing a lot in this book, all in plausible ways, actually, and that humanness made the book for me.

My next wonderful read is turning out to be Chocolat by Joanne Harris. I've loved Five Quarters of the Orange and Gentlemen and Players and an enjoying Chocolat so far.

Chocolat is delicious and so is the sequel The Girl with No Shadow

Oh.My.God. You have GOT to read those two books. I've had insomnia for the past few weeks, but am treating it with Prosom, an Rx sleeping pill. Ambian and Lunesta didn't even slow it down for me. Prosom works and I don't feel like I'm hungover next morning. Maybe give it a shot.

Hi beeg! Glad to hear that you like Chocolat. I've already got The Girl with No Shadow on its way.

Okay.Some.Guy.In.Virginia. I will acquire and (eventually, hopefully sooner than later) read.

I'm sorry about the insomnia. I hope that whatever is causing it will go away soon. For a long time mine was only related to stress, but a lot of stres has been removed from my life recently so most of it is now frequently related to late-in-the-day caffeine intake. What I do is get up for an hour or so and read, then go back to sleep. Of course getting up when the alarm goes off is then more difficult than had I slept the night through.

I've got my annual exam coming up soon and will ask the doctor about Prosom - I asked him for a sleeping aid last visit and he said to try to use Tylenol PM. It works sporadically at best and leaves me a bit groggy. Ambien also works sporadically at best for me.

Halcion is my drug of choice for sleep aids. Ambien or Lunesta didn't do a thing for me. Halcion had me sleeping through the night waking up rested and ready to go. Probably super addictive as well, dunno after a couple of nights I was back sleeping on my own.

Heavens, now I know where to come for help with my ghastly insomnia! I mean, I can lie here SLEEPLESS for as much as 10min--yes! TEN WHOLE MINUTES!--before falling asleep.

It's *awful*.

It just breaks my heart to hear stories like that. Be brave!

Halcion, Prosom. I don't need sleep aids often, but when I do, I'm really desperate.

RD you card.

SGIV I know. Bravery in the face of all odds.

Chocolat is continuing as a delightful book.

Got the 2nd and 3rd Hunger Games series books the other day. I really liked Hunger Games so am looking forward to reading the other books in the series.

Daughter is in town for half a day to trade in her Ford Ranger for a Ford Focus. Husband got a very good deal on the Ranger and they're giving it to us at (one of the) invoice costs plus a $500 discount for being a student. Daughter is paying half of the difference, which is pretty good for a "poor college student" as she puts it besides the fact that she's cheaper than one could possibly imagine.

Alas, I'm here at work. Just didn't seem worth it to take half a day vacation to go to the dealership, have breakfast with husband and daughter, then head off to work. Gotta save those precious vacation days.

I really enjoyed Major Pettigrew's Last Stand when I read it. It was delightful. I have not read any of Joanne Harris' books, but I have Five Quarters of the Orange in a box, and I've got it charted out to read later this year if nothing comes up.

Hi thornton37814 - I finished Chocolat the other day and thought it a very good book. So far I've really enjoyed everything I've read by Joanne Harris. If you're anything like me, other things always come up, but it's always nice to have something good in reserve.

3/4 of the way through the 2nd Hunger Games book Catching Fire. Devouring it, really. It's a good, entertaining read.

I'm looking out of the sunroom windows onto our pastures and free line. Lush greenery because of a lot of rain recently, and Carolina blue skies. Beautiful. Two days off with NO OBLIGATIONS.

Today's reading, doing laundry food shopping, and relaxing. Possibly going to see The Hunger Games, definitely watching Downton Abbey on Amazon Streaming Video on our TV. Husband, being technologically with it, has linked our Amazon Prime account to our TV so we can watch any Amazon streaming video on our 60" plasma TV. I mean, if you're going to watch TV, you might as well watch it on a big screen with surround sound, right?

We watched the first two episodes of season one last night and thought it was wonderful.

I enjoyed Downton Abbey, don't you love getting most anything you want at any time on Television, we are truly evolved . I hate going to the Theater as I'm so spoiled for watching movies in my own home and pausing it when I have to go pee - and I make stove top popcorn with real butter.

Hi beeg - yes, we have pee breaks too. And snack breaks. Instant gratification. We've just started figuring this whole thing out. Downton Abbey is the first serious effort at watching anything.

But we are going to see The Hunger Games either today or tomorrow - a different kind of instant gratification so we don't have to wait for DVD or Amazon Streaming Video.

Just cleaned the refrigerator and am finishing the laundry.

I also just finished Catching Fire, the second Hunger Games book. Very good too. And now to book 3...... Mockingjay ......

I finished Mockingjay this morning. All in all, I really enjoyed the trilogy.

We really liked the movie of The Hunger Games too. Different a bit from the book, but not in significant ways.

I'm going to try a book I got at one of the book sales I go to - The Last of the Amazons by Steven Pressfield.

I recently read a book about ancient Rome called Pompeii by Robert Harris and enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. So here's to another attempt at a historical period I'm somewhat unfamiliar with but interested in.

Good grief! Are you sleeping AT ALL?

Actually, Larry, I am sleeping pretty well the last week or so. Husband's back on third shift, which means that he leaves at 10:10 p.m. It's just me and the kitties, and they don't snore, thrash around, or have restless legs. I still wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, but instead of coming back to bed and hearing snoring and wake up for good, I slip back into sleep and sleep til the alarm goes off.

But I am reading a lot in the evenings, too since I get home about 6 and husband gets up between 9 and 9:30. 3 to 3 and a half hours of reading/relaxing/movie time to myself. Heaven.

Good, I'm glad you're sleeping.

*smooch* for my dear Horrible!

Have you ever read Michael Marshall's Straw Men series. Really creepy, need to be read in order.

*waving* at Richard's Horrible :)

Larry - Yes, I'm sleeping. In fact today, I overslept. Still got to work on time, but it was a rush. BUT, husband is back on first shift so his alarm jerked me out of sleep this morning at 4:30. Fortunately I immediately went back to sleep, but that caused me to not hear MY alarm at 6. However, I really liked the extra half hour!

I haven't even heard of Michael Marshall's Straw Men series. I'll check it out. Thanks.

Thank you, RD! *smooch* back.

Stasia! Waves enthusiastically back. Hope you're doing well. I've been a real poop in not visiting as many peoples' threads as I should. Off I go to visit.....

I'm in a phase of not having the right book to read. I couldn't hack the Rome book, couldn't get interested in Cutting for Stone for May's bookclub meeting (although I might give it 41 pages - the Pearl Rule - just to see if reading more than the first two excruciatingly boring first two paragraphs makes it worth reading.) Couldn't get into The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie because for some reason I don't want to read Miss Marple, but I grabbed The Mystery of the Blue Train by same - I think Hercule Poirot is just what I need.

Book-restlessness. Oh dear, it's an annoying malady.

PS the Verghese never gets any better, it just stays boring. I made it to p18. I deserve a medal and a pension.

Ah, RD. Book restlessness. Good way to describe it. It manifests in books all over the house abandoned willy-nilly after a page or two or ten. When I emerge with a winner I have to pick up all the wanna-bes and put them back on my shelves by location tag.

When's the next Louise Penny coming out? The next Susan Hill? The next Sookie Stackhouse by Charlaine Harris? Charles Todd? Jill Paton Walsh channeling Dorothy Sayers? J.K. Rowling's first adult novel? J.D. Salinger from beyond the grave? Thomas Mullen?

I need to dig through my LT catalog instead of just looking at the shelves in one set of bookcases and find a hidden treasure that's buried 2 or 3 deep.

Regarding your opinion of Cutting for Stone, sad news for scintillating conversation at bookclub in May. If you couldn't even apply the Pearl rule, vociferous proponent that you are, I'm doomed.

Doomed, I tell you.

The bad thing is this book was a replacement book for one of our members - I forget what her first book choice was, but I remember looking forward to that book and thinking "Oh, no, Abraham Verghese again! when she said she wanted to switch to this one. She usually picks shitty books and this one will be no exception. I did like her 2007 choice, Seven Types of Ambiguity but am one of the few who did and that's the last book of hers I liked. By far the worst was Pretty Mistakes. *shudders uncontrollably*

I'm done with Cutting for Stone. Here's the sentence that did me in:

Later, the retrospectoscope, that handy tool of the wags and pundits, the conveners of the face we call M&M - morbidity and mortality conference - will pronounce your decision right or wrong.

I can now, with clear conscience, take the book out of my LT catalog and put it in my other account to be given away or mooched. Blech.

*shudder*

So long farewell auf wiedersehen g'bye

Snort.

I, on the other hand, loved Cutting for Stone. That being said, every book is not for everybody!

Sorry to hear about the book restlessness. I completely understand!

I enjoyed Cutting for Stone a lot, but I listened to the audio and the reader was very good. I might not have made it through if I actually read it.

Hello RD, Larry, Stasia!

To each her/his own. Thank goodness there are so many books to choose from so that we're all satisfied.

SugarCreekRanch - I'm listening to Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts now and absolutely know that I couldn't read it. The reader is what makes it for me on this one as it seems did the reader for you on Cutting for Stone. I recently tried to read Room by Emma Donoghue and couldn't stand it but a month later listened to it on audiobook and thought it one of the best books I've read in a while.

Still book-restless but I am reading In the Wake of the Plague by Norman F. Cantor. Interesting but not nearly as interesting as The Black Death by Robert S. Gottfried. Cantor is much less disciplined in his approach and much more apt to bring in poorly documented or even pretty much refuted anecdotes. Still, his perspective is interesting.

I loved Cantor's In the Wake of the Plague but boy was it slammed in the reader reviews. Tell us what you think think.

I think I'm a slammer, Larry. I found the book to be irritatingly chaotic, leaping from Donald Johanson's Lucy (2.5 billion years ago) to the 1948 partition of Israel, from ancient Rome to the 16th century. Cantor promotes theories that most people discount - anthrax was part of the Black Death, cosmic dust caused it. Oh, really? No proof, no rigorous scientific evidence, just vague ideas and strange sources. He doesn't even get Donald Johanson's name right, calling him Grant Johanssen. He also proliferates the myth of Edward II of England's death by red-hot poker, which has been pretty much discounted and wasn't even cited in contemporary resources, only appearing over 100 years after Edward's death.

Here's a paragraph that made me crazy because it is so illogical and disjointed:

Since the Decameron is considered one of the launch-pads of the Renaissance, and since the Historian William Bowsky in the 1960s discovered in the archives of nerby Siena an affluent merchant whose five children died in the plague, the question has arisen: Did biomedical trauma then somehow trigger the Italian Renaissance?

And the final chapter ended up with a brief biography of Chaucer of all people and states that Chaucer ignores the plague. Then he proceeds to devote the last paragraph of the entire book to discussing the Canterbury Tales and how they are a statement of social healing by illustrating the struggles of middle-class people to resume the rhythm of daily life. Huh?

His critical bibliography says about The Black Death by Robert S. Gottlieb: "The text could have been much better."

Begone, irritating book, begone! Out of my library for good.

I got a few books a the Thrift Store and Habitat for Humanity store today including The Adoration of Jenna Fox, which I've started. It may work it may not.

Husband and I are devouring Downton Abbey. Seriously enjoyable series.

Yikes! That is a mess of a sentence. It's funny, I don't remember any of that, or the space dust. What I remember were the bits about the impact on estate laws, and the persecution and protection of the Jews. If I've still got my copy I should glace through it again. If the subject interests you, I can recommend The Black Death by Philip Ziegler. It's a very straightforward account based on solid research.

I went on a road trip and bought a bunch of books. Tried to make it to Charles Town and the new casino there but didn't know where I was going and got hopelessly lost. There are a bunch of BBQ dives in West Virginia so I did pick up a good sammich. The guy told me to take a left at highway 45 and it would take me there in about an hour, but I swear the road signs in WVA are no bigger than tea cup saucers.

Sorry you got lost, Larry. I hope the books are all good ones. I've been through WVA and can relate to the small road signs and windiness of everything.

One time when husband and I were just friends, we went to Boston to see Star Wars. On the way back to New London Connecticut we start arguing about religion and the next time we looked at the road signs we realized we were almost in Hartford. Sometimes getting lost is fun, sometimes not.

The Black Death has always interested me, although this is only the second non-fiction book I've ever read about it.

Cantor also disses Ziegler: "Highly readable and out of date."

Oh, and one more major thing: He says that the Laetoli footprints were of "earliest man leading a small horse" when they were really an early hominid leading a smaller hominid - probably a child. Cantor's discussions of estate law were interesting if strangely bitchy, and the chapter about Jews was interesting too. It's just that when there are such glaring errors, admittedly not in his area of expertise, but glaring nevertheless, it tends to make me discount everything else. I was irritated way before the page 185 archaeological mistakes with Johanson and Leakey, but they were the icing on the cake. I admit that I continued to read it because I wanted ammunition in my dislike.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox is extremely interesting. I'm glad I picked it up.

I didn't king getting lost, it was one of those kinds of days. But those damn road signs were ridonkulous; you'd have to be walking to be able to read them. WVA really is a different kind of bird altogether.

Cantor's off the mark with his criticism of Ziegler. Z based his work on solid research ground exceedingly small and deserves nothing but praise.

That's the point of Cantor to me - if he says things about Z that you don't trust and about Gottlieb that I don't trust, then how can I trust his book?

It's in the "get rid of pile" on the yellow table in the sunroom.

I finished The Adoration of Jenna Fox and found it to be compelling, involving, and full of things that could be discussed over coffee for hours and hours.

And, hurrah! I'm not book restless right now. I am reading The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, and it's a very good read so far. I've got The Girl with No Shadow by Joanne Harris, the sequel to Chocolat, along with the 2nd and 3rd Stephanie Plum mysteries by Janet Evanovich.

Book-wise things are good.

Well then, there can be no problem too great to solve! xo

Yes indeedy! Things always look up when there are enough books on board to keep one from feeling restless and cranky.

xo back, dear one.

And I really don't think aspidistras are THAT ugly.....

They look dank. Ugh.

The Little Stranger is a compelling read. It's one of those books that you feel regretful about having to put down to get some sleep but know you've still got ...ah... 191 pages to enjoy.

Have you read Donna Tartt's The Secret History or The Little Friend. You may like them. Tell, what put you off of Magic by William Goldman?

I've read The Little Friend. I remembered loving this book. I re-read my review just now. Here it is: The Little Friend and liked it a bit less than I thought but liked it nevertheless.

I have The Secret History on my shelves but haven't wanted to open it yet.

Hmmm. Magic just didn't capture my interest. I've been pretty restless the last ... oh 2 years or so..... and there are quite a few books that I've started and put down that deserve better. Magic is definitely one of them. I don't know when, or if, I can get out of my doldrums. I even bore myself with my emotional upheavals.

On a happier note, today is my 21st Wedding Anniversary. Husband did something he hasn't done in 15 or more years - he sent me flowers at work. Check out my profile picture.

I think you'll like it, give it a go. I liked it more than Little Friend. I'm reading Mrs. Hargreaves and a book on Complexity and complex systems which puts me to sleep after a couple of pages. Not sure why, but even bits that interest me are boring in the book.

My next major non-essential purchase is going to be a basic Kindle, one I can take on the subway and doesn't eat batteries. I do love my Kindle Fire, though. I also have almost no interest in cataloging the books I've downloaded, either. Again, not sure why. Maybe because they aren't really books?

I want a Kindle Fire. I may get one for my birthday in June. I've been hinting. I don't have to take a subway or other commute that I could read during, so a battery-eating Kindle Fire is probably okay for me. Plus, we've gotten very involved in Amazon Streaming Video since we're prime members and have linked our prime account to our TV so can watch tons of stuff free.

I don't consider e-books "really books" either, Larry. They're like TV in a way - instead of phosphor dots lasering into your eyes, they're 0s and 1s lasering their way into your eyes. At this time I can't imagine putting collections of 0s and 1s into my LT catalog. Same as the audiobooks I listen to but don't keep. I record them in my 75 book challenge, but don't put them on my LT catalog.

And to tell the truth, I haven't really figured out what books I'll want to read on the Kindle - freebies, or whatever.

I finished The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters last night. It's one of those books that leads you along the entire time then throws a whammy at you in the last paragraph and makes you re-evaluate everything you thought about the book.

I liked it immensely.

I've started Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich - the second Stephanie Plum mystery. Fluffy, light, fun.

Good for hubbins! Sending you a bouquet was really sweet.

Yes it was really sweet. I got a lot of mileage out of the flowers at work and they're sitting on the breakfast table at home still providing a lot of pleasure.

And on Saturday husband told me to reserve the morning - it was a surprise - so we drove west and ended up at a locals-type diner in Asheboro. Husband dithered around not being able to decide what to order, but that was only a pretense while he waited for our daughter to show up - they had this cooked up between them so we all three had breakfast together then went antique mall hopping for a couple of hours. Then she went back to campus and we came home. Lovely, lovely, surprise.

I finished Two for the Dough last night and started Three to Get Deadly. Fluff'nstuff - fun and light.

Daughter will get home on May 12th from college. She's already got 1 or two jobs lined up for the summer, plus mowing our neighbor's 2 1/2 acres on demand.

What a great day! Isn't it nice to be appreciated? *smooch* Makes up for people like me who can't stand you.

and me!

(richarddear, I finished The Child Thief, it's the best book this year)

So you both can't stand me? Or you both think I'm the cat's pajamas, the bee's knees, the caterpillar's eyebrows?

>64 OOO OOO OOO have you posted a review yet?

>65 The snake's garters, that's you, Horrible!

Starred!

>66 I posted a review, and thumbed yours as it was way better.

karen, I think you're a cabbage tart :)

Hi Piyush!

Hmmm, beeg. Cabbage tart. Together they are a food. Separate they are a food and a "A nubile young temptress, who dresses teasingly and provocatively."

If it's slang, I couldn't find it. Am I missing something here, beeg?

it's my best made up name for someone from Jr high - do you like it? after that came "sugar shoe". I was on a roll that day ;) so if I call you "my little cabbage tart" or "sugar shoe" it's all good

Now that I know it's totally good, I adore it and wear it proudly!

I finished the third Stephanie Plum novel Three to Get Deadly. Stephanie is a bit irritating in that she never remembers her gun or if she remembers it, it isn't loaded or she leaves her pocketbook at her parents house. But everything comes out right in the end. I love the characters - Grandma Mazur, Ranger, Morelli, Lula and the social network of the burg.

Amazon came through yesterday - Deadlocked the newest Sookie Stackhouse novel by Charlaine Harris. Serious disclaimer: I abhor the series True Blood based on the books, but adore the books.

I've been a reading fiend. I finished Deadlocked, another good addition to the Sookie Stackhouse series. The last 3 or books have left me a big disappointed after the first reading but this one didn't. Last year I re-read the entire series and several of the books improved upon a second reading.

Now, 4 days after the book's released, I can hardly wait for the NEXT one. Oh well, 2013 will come soon enough.

I surprised myself by picking up The Grave Tattoo by Val McDermid, a very interesting mystery that posits Fletcher Christian returning to England and dying in a bog. William Wordsworth was a friend of his and there's a search for an Epic Poem of Christian's experiences. Fires, murders, and an engaging teenager make this book fun and easy to read. It was very well written with good character development. I'm trying to track down more of her books.

Once again, I need something to read.

Gillespie and I. You cannot go wrong here.

*smooch*

I've got it on wishlist for Bookmooch, so it will come my way one of these days.

Mother-in-law is over and we had a wonderful dinner - roast chicken, baby red potatoes, gravy, fresh lightly cooked asparagus, and home made angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream. Yum yum.

We're now arguing about bodice rippers and other interesting reading subjects.

I saw you liked The Grave Tattoo. I'm totally into UK crime books now. I'd never heard of Val McDermid but I'll give her a shot.

I think I got this book at one of the Friends of the Library Sales - I loved it. I've got two more coming on Bookmooch.

True Blood, the TV series is truly despicable! I am amazed that it is still going strong while vampire series with better plots, Moonlight definitely comes to mind, had to close down.

Hi Piyush!

True Blood is truly despicable. I am really sorry that Charlaine Harris sold it to TV. I worry that she has already or will start to write the series to conform to what will work on TV. The series itself is quite entertaining. I really like Sookie Stackhouse. The series is actually more about Sookie than just vampires - yes, she dates Bill then Eric. I don't know how the series goes, but in the books Sookie works for a werewolf, is involved in fairy politics and wars, and knows all sorts of weres.

I just looked up Moonlight - had never seen it. Many good series get cancelled - Firefly is one of my favorite all time series and it only had 14 episodes and a movie after the fact. Sigh. Good TV loses out to bad most times, doesn't it?

I picked up Stone's Fall by Iain Pears and think it a fascinating read. Here's the blurb from the back of the book:

This is the story of John Stone, a financier and arms dealer so wealthy that he was able to manipulate markets, industries, and indeed entire countries. Stone's Fall is a quest to discover how and why Stone died in a fall from a window at his London home in 1909. Moving back in time and place to Paris in 1890 and Venice in 1867, this search for the truth plays out against the backdrop of the evolution of high-stakes international finance, Europe's first great age of espionage, and the start of the wentieth century's arms race.

I thought Serenity was not a good ending for Firefly.

*smooch*

Not too cheery today, I don't like being in a mood.

Nothing is a good ending for Firefly - it should still be airing new episodes. Of course, then, Joss Whedon wouldn't have done The Avengers....not that it's my cup of tea, but it is apparently very successful.

I'm so sorry you're not cheery today, dear one. Hugs and smooches are traveling over the ether to you!

I've been listening to Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts since March 22 and finally finished it this morning, all 35 CDs.

I've given it a rating of 4 1/2 stars because the best moments are worth that rating. The prose goes back and forth between lyrical and clumsy. Roberts is an idealistic person and it shines through every sentence, even the rough ones. He clearly loves India and clearly understands his own weaknesses and failings. He's occasionally a bit smug, but so genuinely in love with his story and the people he's met that I forgive him unreservedly. He's an author that I would like to meet. Can't say much better than that.

#78 In the TV Series (as much as I watched), she is just a stupid girl with big boobs who can hear other people's thoughts.

Avengers is an awesome movie, though Firefly shouldn't have been stopped either.

Hi Piyush! Well, she does have big boobs - in the series AND in the books. In the books she's a telepath who's thought to be crazy because she isn't normal. Most people don't really know she can hear their thoughts (although some of the know but choose to ignore it) because it makes them uncomfortable.

She's actually got lots of common sense and awareness of her strengths and weaknesses. The books allow you to genuinely like her even when you see her making dumb decisions. She is desperate for a "normal" life that she knows she'll never have. That's the attraction of vampires for her - she can't hear their thoughts and it's very restful for her. Her relationships with vampires (and weres too - she gets some thoughts but mostly just strong emotions) allow her to be just like people who can't hear other peoples' thoughts at all.

So I like the books, some more than others, but as a series it's quite well developed.

Charlaine Harris has another series, with Harper Connelly. Harper is a woman who was struck by lightning as a teenager and now has the "gift" of being able to find dead people. With most of them, she can also see how they died. People hire her and then things get "interesting".

I like Charlaine Harris because she writes about the American South with love and interest. The characters are uniquely Southern but not too over the top. Of course vampires, were, fairies, demons, elves, and other assorted paranormal creatures aren't "Southern" at all, but it's all in good fun.

My husband wants to see The Avengers - we might go out Friday night to see it. Or, depending on daughter's schedule after she gets home from her first year away at college, we might wait until next Friday night.

...so this isn't the place to discuss my preference for True Blood over the novels...

No, Richard Dear (she says gently), you won't win that battle on this thread.

:)

Oh oh oh! I want to see the Avengers too! But this Captain America totally looks like a dork.

Daughter wants to see it AND husband might have to work tomorrow night, so we'll see it all soon.

It's not exactly my type of movie and Captain America does look dorky. And the green thing is ridiculous..... but..... I love Joss Whedon.

Daughter got straight As this, her second semester, of college. Hoo-yah!

#83 There weren't any werewolves till the time I watched True Blood which needless to say I no longer do, but other people becoming uncomfortable was being more than touched upon, so was the fact that she gets attracted to the first vampire she meets BECAUSE she couldn't read his thoughts, there was a lot of exposure given to "V" and that is when I decided enough was enough!

I will probably give one of Harris's series a try one of these days, maybe once I am done or want to take a break from Dresden Files.

#84 You can always try :)

#86 & 87 Don't worry about Captain America. It is basically a Hulk and Iron Man movie with the Captain and Thor with major, but comparatively insignificant roles. And the green thing is not ridiculous, Hulk is Hulk and I like the fact that movie did justice to his character from the Graphic Novels, in which The Hulk is simply indestructible. You will love Hulk once you watch the movie too :)

And please pass my congratulations to your daughter on her performance.

Thank you, Piyush! Daughter is over the moon with her accomplishment and can't wait to come home tomorrow. She had a very good year and it boosted her confidence in herself and what she can accomplish.

I just finished an extremely moving book, Stone's Fall by Iain Pears. It is a mystery, a history lesson, and a study in irony all at once. I'm so glad I read it.

Gotta find another book.....

In my 20 years of marriage I have watched lots of movies that weren't my first choice of how to spend my time. And husband has done the same. So I'll watch The Avengers and enjoy the fact that husband and daughter are enjoying it. And I'll enjoy it a bit too, I guess. :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Thanks, Larry!

Nice day. Hanging out on the front porch, lunch out, afernoon watching Downton Abbey. Husband has gone off to bed (works 3rd shift and has to be at work at 11 tonight) and daughter leaves in 10 minutes for work. She had already lined up a job at Andy's - a hamburger joint - for the summer, and since she told them she could start after the 12th, they scheduled her for the 13th! I think she'd rather have had a day or two to chill before working, but she told them the 12th that's how it's fallen out.

So until about 9:30 it's just me and my book. :)

Enjoy your "piece of quiet" as my kids used to say!

Blissful day, well earned. *smooch*

Thanks guys! I read and read and read and read and READ. It was a piece of quiet and blissful.

I'm just about done with a very good book that I only found at the Thrift Store on Saturday morning - The Various Flavors of Coffee by Anthony Capella. Great historical fiction interestingly written. Takes place in the mid-1890s in England and Africa, revolving around a family that trades in coffee.

Ooo that sounds like a good one!

It is very good! I keep sneaking in a bit of a read here at work.....

.... and I finished it at lunch. I thought it a fascinating and well written book.

Here's my review: Various Flavors

Tonight I'll have to look for another book when I get home.

To head you off at the pass, RD, I still don't have a copy of Gillespie and I. :)

Oh sigh. When will there be good news?

I've got my liberry copy of Flavors held for when the person before me finishes it.

.... but you don't like Jackson Brodie!!!

I didn't like Case Histories, but the title is too good a quote not to use. I meant, "When will you break down and get a copy of the deliciousness that is Gillespie and I?" That will be good news.

A bit elliptical, I suppose.

I was teasing you back...

I've got G&I on bookmooch wishlist. Possibly more important, I ordered The Swerve from Amazon and anxiously await its arrival.

OOO OOO OOO The Swerve!!! Goody good good!!

Rats now I'll be pacing up and down waiting for BOTH reviews.

You really *are* Horrible, you know, teasy girl. *smooch*

Jeebus, I just picked The Swerve up from the lie-berry. Is it any good? It seems a little to pat to be real.

It is, in fact, the real and true story of how De rerum natura came back into circulation. Truth can be stranger than fiction, as we've all heard.

Today when I get home I should have my very own copy of The Swerve waiting on the porch, or perhaps already in the house if daughter goes out to her car via the sunroom. Frabjous day.

Hey Larry - let's hope we both like it!

8 more hours here at Marelli before I can spend 35 minutes driving home, 3 hours with daughter and husband THEN retire to my bedroom, book in hand, kitties in tow, to start The Swerve.

I just finished a seriously disturbing and ultimately disappointing book called Eve in the City by Thomas Rayfiel. A book should either be totally out there with unbelievable motives and actions or be reasonably believable. This book was in the middle and although I plowed through it, I am unhappy that I spent the time on it. I'm going to give it and Colony Girl by the same author away on Bookmooch. If my now 18- but very recently 17-year old daughter behaved as Eve did I'd feel as though I was an absolute and TOTAL fuck-up and failure as a parent.

So now I'm happily reading Double Whammy by Carl Hiassen about corruption on the pro bass fishing tournament circuit. Every once in a while I have to read a Hiassen. Palate cleansing, as it were.

I plan on reading Double Whammy and The Swerve concurrently - something I do rarely anymore. Used to keep a fiction and a non-fiction book going.

BTW, RD, I read the short story Covehithe by China Mieville after reading your review and LOVED it!!!!!

Just dropping out of lurk to speak, Karen! Belated Happy Anniversary! Belated congratulations to you A-class daughter!!

Hi Peggy! Thank you for de-lurking and for your good wishes.

Checked my Amazon account - The Swerve is out for delivery!!!!

Oh boy oh boy oh boy Horrible's gonna get The Swerve tonight oh boy

I'm glad you liked Covehithe, too. It's astonishing what this man can think of. I am gobsmacked by his fearlessness!

I'm not particularly fond of short stories. I love al of J.D. Salinger's Glass family and other short stories, a couple by O. Henry, and Roman Fever by Edith Wharton, but as a genre it typically leaves me feeling irritated.

I agree with your assessment of Covehithe, though - gobsmacked to the nth degree. Being a novel-ish sort of person, I'd love to see a novel that takes the short story as a starting point, possibly told from the daughter's viewpoint. Go Mieville!

Would that not be a book to read?! I doubt I'd sleep for a month. Already there are clanking oil rigs stumping around my dreams.

I think you have to worry more than I do because you live closer to the coast. But it is still nightmare-inspiring stuff.

Closer heh closer...I live 11mi from one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

*eep*

Yup, figured as much. I'm about 100 miles from the closest coast, but the rigs would definitely stay in the coastal plain. They wouldn't be able to drill in Chatham County Red Clay so I think I'd be safe. :)

Daughter and I watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and she really liked it. This was my second time watching it and I liked it better and understood more this time, even though I had read the book and two subsequent books. Good stuff.

The Swerve is sitting by my right elbow, waiting to get added to my library and taken into the bedroom for some serious reading.

All good stuff. And, tomorrow is Friday, the end of my work week. Saturday is the ballet in the afternoon with daughter and MiL, with the rest of the weekend to R&R.

Sigh of happiness.

Snort. The apartment complex I live in showed the US version of the Girl with the Dragon tattoo and I watched it with the couple who live next door. I kind of dug it and went home and ordered a spiked leather wrist band on eBay. They were appalled. I have to admit, it was a really dark choice for a community movie.

Am approaching The Swerve with fear and trepidation. Have you begun reading it? Thoughts?

*popcorn bowl* Yes, thoughts, you anti-Woolfian? I really hope this book's depths of delving into the course that ideas take to get to us will resonate with you.

It is a pretty intense movie for a community showing. When I told MiL that daughter and I watched it, she told me her sister was appalled at all the sex scenes. All the sex scenes? There were only two sex scenes and one woman-with-woman kissing scene and waking up in bed together scene that I recall - what I think she really meant was all the RAPE scenes. There were many of those, both in the historical past and in Lisabeth's present.

Good for you, Larry. Go spiked leather wrist bands!

I wanted to watch the subtitled Swedish version the other night on Amazon Streaming Video, but couldn't get the headphones to work - I am not an audio person at all and trying to combine and get in synch a TV, blue ray player, receiver, and 4 remotes was having difficulties. Husband sleeps afternoons and early evenings because he works 3rd shift so I have to keep things quiet. I'll probably be able to watch it Thursday night when daughter goes to the high school's Memorial Day Concert to hang with other visiting college students. I was going to go, but am having second thoughts.

So regarding The Swerve - I'm on page .... *looks over to open book on desk at work* ... 144. I am thoroughly enjoying this book and learning a lot. It does skip around a bit, I guess to hook you right away with what the book is ultimately about - the "re-"discovery in 1417 of the De Rerum Natura. The story slides in and out of monasteries, jumps around to Greek and Roman philosophies, then takes you into an intimate look at the life of a scribe in the Vatican. I'm hoping to get more into the impact of the book on the world. The pictures are interesting. I always look at pictures right awaywhen I get a book with them, never waiting until I reach the point in the book that surrounds them before indulging. I love the examples of Poggio's and Niccoli's writings. A meaty book, worthy of your recommendation, RichardDear.

Don't face it with fear and trepidation, Larry. It's a dense read, certainly, but well written. Greenblatt could almost be sitting in your living room discussing it with you. It's erudite without being stick dry.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy!! I am *over*the*moon* that you're enjoying the book! I wondered about the hopping about, but in the end, I figure that it's the hopping that keeps the book from being dry as a popcorn fart.

I could not be more pleased! Larry, jump in the water's fine!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is indeed a good movie, this role suits Daniel Craig a lot better than the ridiculous James Bond movies he has done!

Horse pucky! He's a great Bond.

RD - I'm happy that I have pleased you. I read another 15 or so pages at lunch. Just got home from dinner with daughter and a friend and HER daughter, so won't get to read until about 10 p.m. or so after husband goes off to work.

Hi Piyush - I have to agree with Larry mostly - I was just talking about Casino Royale tonight with the friend I had dinner with. She didn't like the movie because of the torture scene with Bond in the chair, but that movie is the best of ALL the Bonds because it's most accurate to the book and character. (just because they play Texas Hold'Em instead of Baccarrat..... minor detail!) Quantum of Solace is not so good, but Daniel Craig is hot hot hot. I'd watch him reading Hog Futures. And I think that except for Pierce Brosnan and, of course, Sean Connery, Daniel Craig is the only good Bond.

Thursday night I will watch the subtitled Swedish version of the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Hi Larry!

I don't know if it's because I watched the Swedish version first or something else, but I preferred it to the Daniel Craig version. I think it felt more intense and true to the book.

Hi Morphy!

I'm really anxious to watch it. Husband will be sleeping, daughter will be at the Memorial Day Concert at her high school (she's going to visit with a group of her college friends) so it will just be me, the TV, and my headphones (which are very very comfortable).

Hi again, Morphy! Well, I watched the Swedish The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and agree with you that it's much better than the Daniel Craig version. I also watched The Girl Who Played with Fire, and it was wonderful too, and can't wait until I can get some more alone time to watch The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

The Swedish version(s) have much more depth, bring in more of the peripheral plot elements, and don't rush through quite so much.

And now, RD, I present my review of The Swerve: The Swerve

Great book indeed. I gave it 4 stars, quite a good rating for me. 4 1/2 would have been stunning, 5 a masterpiece, and I felt that Mr. Greenblatt spent too much time on Poggio Bracciolini himself. As I said in the review, I would have liked more quotes from the poem and more discussion of other people it influenced. Irritatingly, the book stopped with Thomas Jefferson - I would love to know who, in the 1800s, 1900s, and second milennium CE have been directly influenced by this work.

But all in all, it's got a place of honor on my shelves.

I think daughter and I are going to watch Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas tonight. A friend loaned the movie to her. I read the book in my hippie days but don't have a copy. Gonzo journalism is just the ticket for a lazy stay-indoors-because-you'll-die-of-heat-prostration late afternoon.

>123 Very nice to read that, Karen! I liked the things you noted...the battle of perceived order vs actual chaos...and agree that time with Poggio coulda been sacrificed for the impact of the poem on the later thinkers.

Alas, they all failed to consult us, the sillies.

Upgethumbed!

I watched the Swedish version of the Girl/Tattoo, too! It was so much better than the US version, and just made more sense. Much better, much richer.

#124 Thank'ee kindly, RD! Yes indeed, they should have consulted us.

#125 Agreed Larry. This movie works well with subtitles, too - it's very spare with the language. I'm sure they cut some of the subtlety out but I didn't feel like they were taking a paragraph of talking and cutting it down to one sentence.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was totally loathsome. Pukey waste of time. And I really wanted to see Benicio Del Toro throw up and thrash around in the bathtub after taking too much acid? Guess I'm getting old. At first it was amusing - mostly to see Johnny Depp under the tonsure-like wig of baldness that was Hunter S. Thompson. The music and real news footage were cool, but ultimately the movie was a total waste. Daughter pretty much thought so too.

23 of my 52 books read so far this year are NOT mysteries! I'm doing much better on my New Year's Resolution than I thought I would.

Brava!

Thank you, RD! Early bragging I'm afraid - I am now in a Mickey Haller/Harry Bosch-a-thon. Just needed something very light yet complex, so a mystery it was. I had read The Lincoln Lawyer a long time ago, had 2 of the next 3 on my shelves, devoured them, then got The Reversal from the library. The first library book I've taken out in years and years. I get audiobooks all the time, but not a book in FOREVER.

So here I go re-reading the Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly, this time in order. We'll see if I get all the way through it, but starting off with The Black Echo is a good start and I'm enjoying it so far. This series takes place in my "home town" of LA, so every street, many restaurants and other landmarks, and the feel of LA all resonate with me.

I just listened to Resilience by Elizabeth Edwards. I got the audiobook at the Friends of the Library sale in March and just now wanted to listen to it.

Elizabeth Edwards published this book in June of 2009 and died in December of 2010. The audiobook is her reading of her book and hearing her voice and knowing what was coming for her made me so sad. She muses over her life and the tragedies of her life. I always had the feeling that she just kept plugging along, taking life's blows and persevering like we all do one way or another.

The tragedies of her life are many - son Wade dying at age 16, father dying in 2008, cancer in 2004, remission, back in 2009, and, of course, husband John Edwards and That Woman. I write That Woman as Elizabeth Edwards spoke about her. Everything else in her life was a tragedy and something that had to be coped with with her husband by her side and supportive, yet the betrayal of her with That Woman was, in my opinion, the blow that prevented her beating her cancer. I don't know this, of course, but she was such a strong woman, a Steel Magnolia. Soft spoken and articulate, her reading of her book grabbed me. She shifted between anger at her husband and That Woman and trying to explain his part in a sympathetic tone of wifely understanding and mostly succeeded. Makes me want to cut various portions of his anatomy off. Harrumph.

I just finished The Black Ice, the second Harry Bosch book. A lovely series to re-read. This time I'm reading them in order.

The next book has one of the most wonderful book titles ever - The Concrete Blonde. It appeals to me on many levels.

...thus spake the concrete blonde...

Oh oh oh! I read that one, or rather listened to it as an audio book. My first Bosch was The Poet, but I don't like to read about violence against kids or ami-nules so I put it aside. I liked the Concrete Blonde. I found a used copy of The Night of the Hunter at the lie-berry so I bought it. It was printed and bound in the UK and the spine glue melted at the pool.

I forget, did I already mention Mo Hayder and Jack Kerley? I like them both very much. Gillian Flynn is new but Dark Places and Sharp Objects where both sweeet.

I joined that twitter book club, @1book140 but I just don't think I can re-read The Name of the Rose.

I was a strawberry blonde when young, now my hair is light brown with red highlights.

Harry Bosch is not for those who don't like to read about violence to kids or animals - I was unhappy that in The Black Ice two Dobermans named Pedro and Pablo were killed as part of a police action. And there are lots of street kids in these books. But, I love them anyway.

I really like the Jack Kerley books and own and have read the first four. I just checked the series out and see that there are 4 that I don't have.... the hunt is on. I haven't ever read any Mo Hayder. Will have to check him (her?) out. Gillian Flynn too.

But right now I'm on book 3 of 17 of Harry Bosch. We'll see how far I get before burning out.

Book 3, The Concrete Blonde was excellent. I've now started The Last Coyote, book 4.

*smooch*

Book 4 done, on to Trunk Music, book 5.

Getting ready to leave on a jet plane tomorrow - visiting a college friend near Houston until Tuesday, thn flying to So California staying with my mom a day and a half, then staying with my sister 2 nights at her house and 2 nights with her at a 4* hotel in Long Beach California. Then zoom zoom back to NC.

Just me. Husband and daughter are staying in NC. I'll miss them, but boy! First solo vacation in 15 years and first one of more than 2 days. This is EIGHT days.

WHEEEEEEEEE

This will be fin for you! Or at least I hope it will. Have a marvelous time, and bring me back a surfer, about six feet, curly blond hair...age over 25. I don't mind if you use him first.

Nobody's using anybody I'm afraid. My flight was at 11:45 a.m. yesterday but about 7 a.m. I started having acute pains in my right side. Daughter was out, husband was coming home from work so I drove myself to the hospital.

It turns out that I have a kidney stone and it still hasn't passed. No trip, no friends, no familly, no fun. Pain, nausea, and throwing up.

At least I got trip insurance.

What a bummer!!! Good news on trip insurance, but the rest is wicked awful. Sure hope that nasty passes soon, and that you have a chance to reschedule at least part of the trip.

Oh good god how ghastly! And that kidney pain is memorably horrific. {{{Horrible}}}

Oh dammit that sucks. I hope you feel better, I'm sorry that's happened.

Thanks, guys. I'm feeling better, no more nausea! Although I don't have a lot of pain right now I think the little fucker's still in there - and when I press on various portions of my side and butt cheek I can feel LOTS of pain. (So I'm not doing that too often!) I'm not feeling terribly guilty about missing work - it's all sick days - and I'm pretty whupped still.

The vacation's kaplooie, but I might be able to reschedule for July. I just haven't felt up to dealing with it yet.

Back to couch potato-ing and reading and dozing.

*smooch* Relaxing is good!

Good god, reschedule your trip, you'll want one after this is over. I thought they had some kind of sonic gizmo that broke those up but I guess I dreamed it. That sucks, Karen, and I'm thinking about you.

Thanks, RD and Larry.

It passed in the night. Such a small thing to cause such huge amounts of pain.

I've called the doctor to see what they want me to do. I'm staying home today because I'm whupped, physically and emotionally.

The relief is *epic* when the pain stops, isn't it?

Thank goodness that's over. Now back to vacation planning and reading.

Epic relief has turned into major stress and sadness. Yes, how could this week get any worse?

My husband's mother passed away unexpectedly in the night.

Everything else is now on hold. Husband was working when I got the call. He came home and eventually came to bed at 5 a.m. He's still sleeping and then we'll start figuring out what's what.

God moves in mysterious and often hilarious ways. How else to keep me home for this except to give me an effing kidney stone? Otherwise I'd be in California figuring out how to get back.

It's all a crap shoot, isn't it?

Hugs for the past week and for the weeks to come. What a range of emotions you've been through!

I'm glad you are feeling better physically. I am so sorry about your mother-in-law.

Thanks, streamsong.

We went to Mooresville yesterday and met with the funeral home manager and MiL's minister to make arrangements for cremation, internment, and a memorial service at her church on Saturday the 30th. She had paid for EVERYTHING in 1998 and then renewed everything in 2004, so made things so easy for us.

Then we cleaned out her room at the Nursing Home and had dinner with 2 of her dearest friends. Got home about 9:45 last night and I'm beyond whupped.

Back to work today, alas.

Oh lord, do something that makes you happy. I'm so sorry.

Awful stressful stuff, dearest, but then again...could it have been easier for y'all? Preplanning pays off.

NOTHING makes loss any easier.

Safe journey home, mom.

Working on it, Larry. Since I was supposed to be out of town I have no plans for the weekend. So that does allow for some fun-ness to creep in.

Yes, RD, the preplanning that Mama did has benefited us greatly. Makes us want to start setting things up so that when the time comes our daughter doesn't have to deal with all the decision making and $$ and stress on top of everything else that will be happening. I'm very grateful to Mama for making all her arrangements.

Work is boring today. Blah.

Karen...a large virtual hug. I'm taking a deep breath for you and sending wishes for a quiet meal at your favorite restaurant with hubby to be able to sift through memories and celebrate the good times.

Then I'll work on the vacation fairy to come up with a restful trip for both of you to someplace snug, relaxing and guilt and pain free.

Or, I can give you a percocet. Either.

Valium! I've got valium!

xoxo

Better bored than stressed, may I suggest.

Stress is the devil, to be more feared than sickness.

On the other hand, I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bored. Don't tell me to use scotch tape on my face to make me look like the mummy because I already did that. Maybe as soon as I post this, HR will want to have a talk and that will liven things up!

Let's see. I've got 7 percocet left over from the kidney stone but no valium. I don't really want to take either as recreational drugs. Don't drink too much any more either. I know, I'm booooooorrrrrriiiinnnnggggg.

Thanks, tutu - I'll definitely take the hug. I need to just keep swimming, don't I?

YOu gave me a laugh, Larry - the tape thing reminded me of Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure when he puts tape all over his face. HR is always good for a laugh, too - ours are so incompetent and clueless that they've become a standing joke.

Off to dinner with husband.....

Well, yesterday was my birthday and it was a good day. My department took me out to lunch and my former boss and current boss were both there. Fortunately they get along great and all in all it was a fun and interesting lunch. Most of the people in my department make speed bumps look interesting, but the conversation flowed nicely.

Husband and daughter took me out to dinner last night - prime rib at the locals hangout in Pittsboro - then back at the house there were balloons, cards, a Beanie Ballz Turtle named Zoom, and, my new pride and joy, a Kindle 3G. Husband bought the Kindle, daughter bought the leather case with built in reading light and the AC adapter. I'm all registered and ready to go.

Now I just have to figure out how to use it. A nice problem to have.

Saturday is the internment and church service for husband's mother. A combination of dread and wanting it to be Saturday so this will be done are within me.

And on a book note, am continuing to plow through the Harry Bosch police procedural series by Michael Connelly. I'm up to Echo Park. I'm from LA and in addition to its just being a well-written series, it resonates with me because I know the streets and little towns and the feeling Michael Connelly evokes about LA. He clearly loves LA, and I love the LA of my childhood and 20s. Actually makes me want to cruise up to the Valley and down to San Pedro, to Santa Monica and Downtown.

Happy Birthday!

>159 What a *lovely* day that sounds like! All good things for my dear Horrible.

Saturday, well, endings are good too. Hers was amazingly good.

Thanks, Larry!

And, thanks, too, RD. To all good things and amazingly good endings.

Happy Birthday!

Wish you a belated Happy Birthday Karen, nice to see you had a good one :)

Thanks, beeg and Piyush!

Yes I had a great birthday. My kindle is registered and I've downloaded and read exactly one book.

A good start.

On a sadder but closure-ish note, we had the internment and church service for my husband's mother today in her hometown of Mooresville, NC. Saw lots of her friends and some of our cousins came too. Lots of short, red-headed and brown-eyed family members running around. It was good.

I'm weary, for sure.

Tomorrow we have nothing planned.

*smooch* for the end of a tough day.

Belated birthday greetings! Glad you managed to have a good day in the midst of all the unpleasantness that hit you recently. So sorry about the death of your MIL and your kidney stone. What a nasty double whammy! I hope you're able to get your vacation re-scheduled and relax soon in good health.

Thanks, RD!

And thanks, tymfos. It has been a rough couple of weeks, but I did have a wonderful birthday and am really enjoying my Kindle. It is really easy to read on, surprisingly so.

Today I am making church food. Church food is anything that has cream of anything soup, Lipton package anything soup, cream cheese, cool whip, or jello.

Today's particular church food is called Blueberry Yum Yum. Pecan/flour/butter crust, cream cheese/coolwhip middle, and blueberry/sugar/cornstarch/water topping. Chill. It's disgustingly good.

Watching tennis. Husband is on his computer, daughter is dozing on couch next to me. Kitty William, who has a hurt paw, is relaxing on the other side.

Totally lazy and lovin' it.

Sounds like the perfect fourth! You can ship the blueberry yum yum directly to me. FedEx is probably best. They have same-day service....

Alas, the Blueberry Yum Yum is all gone. Good stuff. Didn't help the diet, but it was good for me mentally.

I've been plowing through the Stephanie Plum novels - lightweight, fun, easy reads. Just the thing for the summer and my frame of mind.

I didn't read our July bookclub book - Lili by Annie Wong. I'm seriously uninterested in books about China under the communists. We read one several years ago called Waiting by Ha Jin. Actually read the whole thing, hating it the whole time. I got way past the Pearl Rule on this one - to page 72, and then said fugedaboudit.

Next month's is State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. We'll see.

Karen, my goodness. I've been awol and am just catching up with the missed trip, kidney stone (I live in the kidney belt too; also the sinus capital of the world), your MIL's death, and Birthday with Kindle! It's staggering to read...I can only imagine how it lived.
Hope you have a long, long, long spell where the only crises are happy ones.

I risk being stoned for typing this, but I do not see the fuss about this Patchett woman. I can barely Pearl Rule her books before wishing someone would find a way to silence her. Poimanently.

Being stoned? You're already stoned! Patchett is a genius. Genius!

(Who is she? Never heard of her.)

OK, I checked out State of Wonder and it sounds like a bust to me. Everyone knows that if someone takes a trip up the Amazon you have to have either cannibals or giant anacondas. Tough scientist with a tender side goes on voyage looking for fountain of youth, finds love. Puke.

I'm just not the book-club-joining type. I tried #1book140 on Twitter and hated everything about it- the selection process, the gawdamndest book suggestions, having to re-read The Name of the Rose, the stoopid things some people said. I got about 60 pages in and bailed.

Doesn't it just? And now check out her other female-orgasm-inducing work, Bel Canto, which I can't even bring myself to Pearl Rule.

I feel myself growing a uterus when I handle her books. I put them down quickly lest ovaries and breasts follow.

Hi Peggy - thanks for checking in and for the wishes for a happy-crisis-only future. One can only hope...

It gets worse, guys - we've got another Patchett book in October. Truth & Beauty and Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy. The Patchett book is about Lucy Grealy. Neither one is appealing. I really don't like angst-y books. I have enough angst in mine own life.

We also had Bel Canto several years back and I had a massive gaak attack over that one. Didn't finish it (didn't start it, as I recall).

So it's looking pretty bad for the Patchett books for me. Fortunately I already have the requisite body parts so won't transform with the presence of State of Wonder already in the house and possibly Truth & Beauty to follow if I can bookmooch or otherwise get it free or cheap. Then I'll probably start it, put it down, and then put it on Bookmooch for some other hapless reader to want.

Romping happily through the Stephanie Plum books - I've just started Eleven on Top. Mindless, fun, laugh-out-loud. I especially like Bob the dog who eats everything.

Bob the dog who eats everything...I think I've dated him....

then he horks it up - good dog!

.... Morelli and Bob were sitting on Morelli's tiny front porch. Usually Bob goes gonzo when he sees me, jumping around all smiley face. Today Bob was sitting there drooling, looking sad.

"What's with Bob?" I asked Morelli.

"I don't think he feels good. He was like this when I came home."

Bob stood and hunched. "Gak," Bob said. And he hacked up a sock and a lot of Bob slime. He looked down at the sock. And then he looked up at me. And then he got happy. He jumped around, doing his goofy dance. I gave him a hug and he wandered off, tail wagging, into the house.

"Gues we can go in now," Morelli said.

I just love Bob.

he gets even better and used as a weapon

Good to know, I love ol' Bob.

I'm stuck right now - I'm trying to read them in order and don't have Thirteen. So I've started a book I got at the thrift store for five cents - yes, five cents - called Total Eclipse by Liz Rigbey. Good enough to keep reading.

I got a free stinker on my Kindle that I'm going to have to remove because it makes my teeth hurt.

I'm finding that I love the Kindle but get antsy when I've bought something and don't have anything tangible to show for it - a good reading experience and a line on the Kindle but nothing I can touch, catalog, and hold - so am hesitating to buy books. I might have to break down and buy 13 and find it later at the thrift store.

I have yet to pay for a Kindle book. I have much the same oooo I don't like this there's nothing HERE feeling about a $10 or so purchase.

Schmoopie...read The Lifeboat.

I enjoy the mindless fun of the Plum books too, Karen. I am glad to hear that they are working for you!

Yeah, I have the same problem with ebooks; there's no there there. I've got almost 600 on my Kindle only paid for a few and a lot of those had serious formatting errors; anthologies with no table of contents, periods after every close quote, no header formatting. I do like the Amazon cloud reader for tech manuals because I can open them in part of the screen and access what I need, but manuals are the worst as far as being badly formatted.

But, but...how am I supposed to read it when it's $11.99 for my Kindle without paying for it?

Thanks, Stasia - they're so much fun and sooooo mindless. I love Ranger. He could eat crackers in my bed any day. So could Morelli, for that matter.....

600? Impressive, Larry. I've got about 5 or so free and I've paid for maybe 6 or 7.

I'm still trying to figure out how to get more free books that I actually want to read.

#185 Karen, have you tried Project Gutenberg?

I, too, have bought very little for my e-reader. It's OK to read from, but I miss holding and shelving a "real" book. Most of my e-books are from Project Gutenberg. I really mainly use the e-reader for downloaded loans from our public library's e-book service; and if I like the book, I've been known to go out and still buy the real book.

To me, it's really ridiculous that the e-books often cost more than a real, hard-copy, book that I can read and shelve and not worry about batteries or gadgets.

Ugh. I hate not having a physical copy, too. And the price is another pain- Tim was right when he said ereaders would eventually increase the cost of books.

I've just started looking around for more free books.

Of course, I also just got a bunch of books at the thrift store last week.....

Sigh.

Plowing through the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. Laugh out loud fun stuff.

More Bob the dog, Mooner, Zook, hotties Morelli and Ranger, and of course, Steph herself.

I found 3 of the "Between the Novel" Plum books and am at the point in the series where I can read them while waiting for Finger Lickin' Fifteen.

Mindless fun.

*smooch*

*smooch* back, RD!

I found Finger Lickin' Fifteen at the thrift store yesterday. I finished it this morning.

Of course, I had just ordered a $4 copy from Amazon..... so now I'll be able to put one up on Bookmooch.
Onward to Sizzling Sixteen.

And I've just bookmooched Seventeen and Eighteen, so will be caught up on the series by the time Nineteen comes out.

Now to find another new series.....

Jebus, I wish I read faster. I picked up a few cool books at the lie-berry; they have an on-going sale.

Well, Larry, you were part right regarding State of Wonder. OK, I checked out State of Wonder and it sounds like a bust to me. Everyone knows that if someone takes a trip up the Amazon you have to have either cannibals or giant anacondas. Tough scientist with a tender side goes on voyage looking for fountain of youth, finds love. Puke.

Cannibals - check. Giant Anacondas - check. Tough scientist with a tender side - check. No Fountain of Youth exactly - can't say with out it being a spoiler - and no finding of love. Didn't puke either.

Surprisingly, I liked it. Marina Singh, the protagonist/heroine, does go to the Amazon to bring back the effects and possibly the remains of a fellow scientist because his wife wants her to and her boss needs to find out how the research that his company is funding is going. I found the book intriguing and wanted to know what the secrets were and what had happened to Anders (the missing scientist). Vivid prose, well-described characters. Not being a scientist I had a bit of a rough time empathizing with the head of the project, Dr. Swensen, and therefore her motivations and some of the action were a bit puzzling. I liked the ending but would really like to know what happens to Marina and others AFTER the book ends. Sometimes I don't care what happens to the characters after a book ends because the book completes the story, but this one leaves quite a few questions in my mind. In a good way.

Back to Stephanie Plum. Smokin' Seventeen and Explosive Eighteen arrived via Bookmooch on Saturday. Hooray!

Next up for bookclub is Twelve by Twelve by William Powers. Doesn't sound terribly interesting to me, but then, neither did State of Wonder and I actually ended up liking it.

I picked up The Middle Mind but had to stop on page 3 of the intro when White wrote that the book wouldn't change anything because there weren't enough smart people in America to understand his work. That's a CYA either for a lousy argument or lousy writing. Swear to god, if the subway had roll down windows that book would be track litter right now.

I just linked to the info on The Middle Mind and it sounds like a trainwreck of a book. Thanks for the warning, Larry.

I just finished Explosive Eighteen after finishing Smokin' Seventeen. I am now in official End of Series mode, waiting for Notorious Nineteen. Wah.

I've been downloading freebies onto my Kindle so will open it up in a bit and see which one looks best. Got a couple of nonfiction and several lighweight thriller/mysteries. Ve vill see vat ve see.

Happy dance. My Dell Inspiron 1521 is five years old and we bought an excellent warranty then extended it. It runs out this month and is not renewable, but I called for service last week after it mysteriously died and rebooted a couple of times. it also had a heat problem, so they replaced the motherboard, the fan, and the heat sink for $0.00. Last use of the warranty, but I am definitely going out with a bang. I need for this computer to last a few more years. Husband is first in line for a new computer since his is 9 years old.

It was only about 110F today - hard to breathe when outdoors. I'm inside in the air conditioning in my jammies. Off to get a good book and hang out.

At least you used the warranty!!! I hope the repairs make it good for as long as you need it.
Yep, yesterday was murderous and today's supposed to be worse. AND I have to go to a bridge game. (I won't say that I actually play bridge, but I am a fourth body at the table. Since it's the only time I get to spend with 3 childhood friends at the same time, I'm willing to be there.)
Looking for a new mystery series? Do you know Dorothy Cannell's Ellie Haskins books that begin with The Thin Woman? They're old, and she finished before she stopped writing (or, I finished before she stopped writing) (or she may still be writing, but I'm no longer reading), but I thought they were funny back when.

The Thin Woman sounds fun. Thanks for the tip, Peggy.

I just finished an excellent book called Lost in Translation by Nicole Mones. I don't usually like books about China (see my comments about Lili above), but this is mostly written from an American woman's perspective and I found it interesting, informative, and just plain fun.

drop-in *smooch*

*smooch* back, RD!

I've started something very unusual for me but am loving it - American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

Work suckiness has ramped up. We're starting a SAP Manufacturing-Sales-Quality conversion and I think my life will be somewhat on hold for the next 6 or 7 months. Daughter goes back to college on the 19th, husband is facing 7-day workweeks, 3rd shift, on our Chrysler line. Life could be better.

But having a good book to read really does trump some of the shit. At least for when I get home from work and can sit down and read for a while.