Richardderus thread 16 for 2012

“Reading in bed can be heaven, assuming you can get just the right amount of light on the page and aren't prone to spilling your coffee or cognac on the sheets. ”
― Stephen King, On Writing


After three days without reading, talk becomes flavorless.--Chinese proverb


Life being very short, and the quiet hours of it few, we ought to waste none of them in reading useless books.--John Ruskin

Book porn!



Simply true:

My 2012 NEW books ticker:




Previous reviews:

Book 1...thread two.
Books 2 & 3...thread three.
Book 4...thread four.
Books 5 & 6...thread five.
Books 7-10...thread six.
Books 11-24...thread seven.
Books 25-31...thread eight.
Books 32-34...thread nine.
Books 35 & 36...thread ten.
Books 37-42...thread 11.
Books 43-53...thread 12.
Books 54 & 55...thread 13.
Books 56 & 57...thread 14.
Books 58-60...thread 15.

My 2012 ORPHANED books ticker:




Books are reviewed in post:

61. Predator Nation...#75.

62. Deathless...#131.

63. Honestly Dearest, You're Dead...#215.

64. The Real Macaw...#240.

*Waves*

You are one fast ape, Apeski!

Hi Richard:) *smooch* hope you are having a good day.

*smooch* back, dearie, and sadly...

I can load threads pretty fast when they don't have ohIdon'tknow lets say 302 messages on them. :P

That won't last all that long, you know. Enjoy it while. you can

I'll try.

So why aren't you having a good day?

Yeah, I guess I'm not good at trying to enjoy things.

Much much pain.

And $500 for new tires.

Ow everywhere.

Skipping right over the 302 messages and hoping there nothing derogatory about me in them.

Hello, Richardkins! *smooches* all around!

>12 Why hello there TLo! Of **course** there was nothing derogatory about you!

*rushes back to message #269 to fix it*

Save your energy, Richard. I do not have the gumption to go back & look! Luckily, I haven't seen any "Did you see what Richard said about you!" notes lately.

And even so, it's none of my business what you think about me....

No no, dear, you misunderstand! **I** never said an unkind word! It was

Boo for pain and unexpected expenses. :( Sending cool, comfortable thoughts your way, Padre.

Nevermind the book porn, I would love to have that apartment! Look at all that space ( i don't like cluttered rooms) and view! Droooool.

ow sux. RD vewy, vewy bwave to suck it up and start new thread. sorry, chiquitito.

Book Igloo! I wanna be a Bookskimo!

>16 Thank you, Crypto...the cool-down begins tomorrow night, per the weatherguesser.

>17 It does have a lovely, open, inviting quality, no?

>18 Thank you, Ellie dear. *smooch*

All she needs now is a little lamp, a beanbag and she'll be all set to weather a storm or muggy day.

>21 True dat!

Oh I want one! Please?

Hope you feel better with less pain and that the tires didn't break you...so danged expensive...

>23 Ain't that the coolest, Gail? I'd love to have one, with a recliner, a lamp, and a table in it. Made all out of copies of the Harry Potter books.

it's truly wondrous but i just know if i had one of those i'd no sooner get settled down in it than i'd see a book i wanted to read and it would be right at the bottom.

Heh! That's why I want mine made out of the Harry Potter books...I've read 'em!

I now know beyond any doubt that I'm a biblioholic. My first thought was, "GET THE BOOKS AWAY FROM THE WATER YOU FOOL PHOTOGRAPHER!"

Here! *putting hand up for attendance*

27 - yup, my first thought, too! And the igloo... can't use that. I'd need one of the centrally placed books sure as shinola

RD congrats on your latest thread (10% through already whilst I was knocked out the zzzzs). Please send me a couple of those little eskimo chappies to make me one of those book houses - I could hide for hours from SWMBO in there. Have a great weekend.

>28 Tui is here...*tick*

>29 That's why I'd do the Harry Potter thing!

>30 Hi Paul! How many posts in my threads to date? Where do I stand in the league tables?

Good night, Richard. All caught up on the new thread (you're at least the third copious threadster to start a new one today!) and so sorry about the continuing pain and the tires. Love the bookaholic pictures.

I would like to be surrounded by Harry Potter, and other books that I love. Spare copies, of each of course.

Good morning Richard!

That igloo is pretty neat. I think I want one of these 'book forts' Just maybe a little smaller so it could actually fit in a house.

I could go with an igloo like that. Especially if it were constructed of Harry Potter books, or any others which I have already read.

*looks around the living room for a good spot, but abandons it at the thought of buying all those Harry Potter books...*

>32 It really did all happen at once, didn't it?

>33 Spare copies a must!

>34 Oh WOW Katie what a cool fort!! I wish I could post it here, but I pinned it and shared on FB.

>35 Maybe old copies of The DaVinci Code instead. They can be found for free many places.

RD still in second place with 4292 posts.

Hola Richard! Please forgive me for not de-lurking sooner. :) Here's hoping you're feeling better shortly! *smooch* And good call on using DaVinci Codes for the book igloo - there were 7 copies at my latest library book sale!

Now, I'd not thought of using books like DaVinci. I think maybe the multiple shades of some color books might do, too?

>37 Coolio!

>38 Hiya Laura! I think any book that has 7 copies at a liberry sale probably floods into Goodwill/Salvation Army et alii. They could probably be convinced to put them aside for a guaranteed purchaser...hmmm...

>39 I'd assume so. In fact it might be more fun to challenge the builder like that!

i couldn't bear to be surrounded by DaVinci Codes. i'd scree fleaming.

>41 "scree fleaming" LOLOL I love that! So stealing it!

Spoonerisms! They rule!

I saw Richard's review, kinda, on the Shady Gray books, was hard to believe he actually tried them!

i'm honored. steal away. hey, they should write a song . . .

spoonerism. yet another word i never managed to look up. thanks, karen.

we just hit a hit a heat index of 104. frack!

limping in to see if it's any cooler down on your thread than it is up here in MA .... Hate.Muggy.

It got cloudy, but the humidity is up around 100%.

I hate summer.

Everyone have a lovely, I'm off to make brownies (urp) for our arriving chocoholic guest.

105 here in Knoxpatch. good luck with the brownies, RD. have a good eve.

The Divine Miss **loved** the brownies. The chocoholic nibbled to be polite.

Go know.

huh... Can't please some folks...
I don't make brownies very often... but when I do they are out of a box.
I usually make them with coffee for liquid and if I have them, choc chips.
If for some reason I have choc syrup I add that or top them with choc frosting.
Very rare. I am not a choc cake person, so that is usually more for company or
a weird craving day :)

I like "blonde" brownies ... and will make them with applesauce in them...

I will only make Stephen's recipe for fudge now when I need a chocolate something or other! Wow! Those pieces of fudge were yummy.

A special shopping was done for the dinner to please the guest in question. Well, I tried.

coruscate
Pronunciation: /ˈkôrəˌskāt/

Definition: (of light) flash or sparkle

This one's a lot of fun!

Love the picture that fits the description of coruscate so perfectly.

Hmm...first word I saw was 'happy'. ;-)

I'm surprised it wasn't "ankle"!

Me too - I saw Happy patient elegant peaceful. None of those really fit - unfortunately!

Dunno about that, Bekka. I suspect what one actually sees is in fact what others see first.

Ah but I spotted it first on facebook before here...

I'm not unhappy I guess - it's mostly elegant and peaceful that made me laugh :)

doverof, wrestless and fapgaig. yep. right on the button.

>60 Thus spoke the mother of two under-sixes. Amen sister woman!

>61 I frequently refer to you as the most fapgaig person I've ever met.

Caring, restless, thoughtful, outgoing. 3 out of 4 ain't bad. LOL.

RD- Your thread always is a joy to behold! Hope you having a good weekend. We are about to be pounded by a nasty storm.

1. over drama; 2. out spoken; 3. sentimental; 4. compassionate; and, 5. polite.

Well, I am happy to own the first 4, but, truth be told I doubt many of my face-to-face friends, relatives, and acquaintances would describe me as polite. Outspoken, passionate, rash, are more like me.

I, too, hope your weekend is good! And thank you for having an always entertaining thread.

A bedroom in the Maldives. What a place to read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea!!

>63 Yeah Mark, that whole "thoughtful" thing...just not you, is it?

:-P~~~

>64 You're welcome, as always, my dear Karen44.

Was it that obvious? Shuffles away...

i personify fapgaigkeit!

ellie wants Maldives bedroom NOW! gaw!

>68 That you do.

>69 Not. A. Chance. MINEMINEMINE aaaaaaaaaalllllllllll mine!!

ROFL

> 61 doverof, wrestless and fapgaig. yep. right on the button.

>65 .. OMG ....

Yuh huh.

ROFLMAO

36: Glad you liked!

55: eccentric, talented, patient. . . . hmmmm, that prolly fits. Of course, then I saw 'pica' and started thinking of teensy, tiny Pikachus. . . . pika pika! Clearly I need sleep after I watch Falling Skies, lol.

And let the nasty or hurt or angry PMs begin.

Review: 61 of seventy-five

Title: PREDATOR NATION: Corporate Criminals, Political Corruption, and the Hijacking of America

Author: CHARLES H. FERGUSON

Rating: 5* of five

The Book Report: The book description says:
“Charles H. Ferguson, who electrified the world with his Oscar-winning documentary Inside Job, now explains how a predator elite took over the country, step by step, and he exposes the networks of academic, financial, and political influence, in all recent administrations, that prepared the predators’ path to conquest.
Over the last several decades, the United States has undergone one of the most radical social and economic transformations in its history.
· Finance has become America’s dominant industry, while manufacturing, even for high technology industries, has nearly disappeared.
· The financial sector has become increasingly criminalized, with the widespread fraud that caused the housing bubble going completely unpunished.
· Federal tax collections as a share of GDP are at their lowest level in sixty years, with the wealthy and highly profitable corporations enjoying the greatest tax reductions.
· Most shockingly, the United States, so long the beacon of opportunity for the ambitious poor, has become one of the world’s most unequal and unfair societies.

If you’re smart and a hard worker, but your parents aren’t rich, you’re now better off being born in Munich, Germany or in Singapore than in Cleveland, Ohio or New York.
This radical shift did not happen by accident.”

My Review: I am second to none in my passionate love for and gratitude to the United States of America for the astoundingly amazingly wonderfully free-from-want life I lead.

And as that life is, day by day, taken from me piecemeal by the rich, the greedy, and the stupid, I am going to shout and point and wave my arms a lot to get the attention of the few, the many, the unwilling or willing, to see if I can't effect some small change to build on.

Count on it.

This liberry book was a fourteen-day loan, and I've had it seventeen days. I couldn't read much at a time because it made me furious, hysterically angry, livid to the point of stroke. I am disabled by a chronic, genetically transmitted condition that causes severe and painful acid buildup on my joints and near areas that have tendons. (Check the photos on my profile...that claw-lookin' thing is my left hand.) I have tried for several years to get disability benefits so as to have health care again. And now, with a real shot at getting these benefits (thanks to the advice and assistance of an old and dear friend), I might at last be able to get prescriptions for the medicines that ameliorate the condition, given under regular supervision, to avoid the problem of renal failure that comes with the medication (not to mention horrible gastric consequences, which I just have to put up with).

And in this rich nation, would you like to know what the princely payout will be (assuming I succeed in getting on the dole) to me, to enable me to survive? A little under $1000 a month. Food stamps, $150 a month at most. Medicaid, which here in New York State is more generous than most places (for now...more on that anon.) Were it not for the charity of friends, not please be assured my family members, oh nay nay nay, never dare even to ask them for help (well, now, one aunt handed over $4000 as I was losing my house, which put off the evil day for several months). I live rent-free with my former partner. Will that last forever? No, it can't, and shouldn't.

And then what? I don't know.

And I am not alone in my predicament. I am, in fact, a reasonably common-or-garden recipient of the fucking that corporations and CEOs and banks are doling out to each and every one of us not in their club. It's not new, this phenomenon. It was for millennia the norm. Then, one day in 1773, a group of rowdy, angry, sick-of-it colonists in Boston (of all places) said “oh fuck you” to king and church and country. Go Massachusetts!

Now, 240 years on, the rotten sleazy fucks we kicked out of power are back with a vengeance, thanks to 1) greedy politicians, 2) evil, evil, evil preachers, 3) stupid, complicit conservatives and “libertarians” (aka the Authoritarian's Best Friends League), and last but not least the laziest, most astoundingly selfish population of “future millionaires” (tip: if daddy wasn't a millionaire, you won't be either, sure as the sun rises in the east) ever fattened up for the slaughter on the American Dream (for whom?).

No. I don't mean the immigrants. I don't mean the union workers. I mean you. The person who doesn't know who his/her state senator is. Who the county tax assessor is. Who watches fucking idiot-box crap and not presidential debates because it's too hard, it's boring, it doesn't matter anyway.

Welcome to what happens when you're not paying attention.

And you deserve it.

I, on the other hand, who have voted and shouted and waved my arms about this shit since 1980, do not. But here I am in the same goddamned boat as the lazy, the stupid, the religious, the conservative or libertarian. Is that in any way fair? No. It sucks wookie balls. (Nobody likes hair in their teeth.)

But still, there it is. Hate is written into state constitutions because the Jesus Brigade for Tradishnull Fambly Valyews (aka Focus on the Family, et alii) doesn't like faggots. State senators, the same goddamned fucks in the GOP who authorize spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on casinos, want to cut funding for public health. (Told ya we'd get back there.)

And this book details how it got this way, why it stays this way, and, in one short ending chapter, what possible means there are to combat it. I am not, by nature, an optimistic person. I sincerely believe that humans love one thing more than hate, and that's group hate. Food, sex, money...all down the list. Hate is the killing ape's favorite pastime. What else is fandom, sports or TV or celebrity? What else is religion, politics? So I expect things will get worse, because the haters like that. Everyone should suffer!

And so we do. In our billions, we suffer. Unnecessarily, inexcusably, preventably. And so it goes.

>76 right on, RD.

i'm so enjoying spending more time here but must be away for a few days prior to, during and following a visit to the endoscopy store. i'll miss you, mon petite choufleur and all your mad, mad, mad followers.

exes and ohs

Ooo, endscopy! You know how to partay, there, Ellie! Be safe, see ya soon.

I'd stand up and applaud but I'm still trying to breathe. Wow, just wow. You knocked the stuffing out of me with that one, Richard.

Can't.

Keep.

Up.

>75 Wow. Big green thumb to you, sir.

What Ellen says, can't keep up either. But I'm trying!

The first word I saw was "prey". The second was "dependent". Should I keep looking?

I give up trying to keep up with everyone... I visit as many as I can
as often as I can and hope for the best. If I didn't, I would never get any books read!

>79 That was my aim! Glad I hit the target.

>81 Thanks, Darryl!

I'm sorry y'all can't keep up. I can't either. I'd like to be able to read all the threads of people I like and have fun with as I'm wandering around, but it just isn't possible.

We're all in the same boat.

If y'all're on Facebook and DON'T follow George Takei, you are missin' out on some great, funny, moving, and just plain weird images.

George Takei is my favorite celebrity to follow. Always something good that will make me smile :)

Me too, Katie!

Hat off, to you! Richard. Bless you for stepping up, putting the mighty pen to paper, and speaking your mind.

I hate using the term "bless" as it implies an outside authority which will, or will not, take mercy on us. Well, I think you know that is not my world view - so rather than Bless You, I want to say Thank You, and may all kinds of Good things flow your way, today, easily and in bounty; more love and hugs to you!

Thank you most kindly, Karen44. It's nice to know someone's reading it.

I read it but it is not up on the work page for thumbing:(

Wishing you a wonderful day.

I just got back from checking, and it's up on the work page. I had heart failure there for a minute!

calm, permaybehaps if you try again?

just popping in before starting to pump in the colyte and wanted to say thanks for the Takei kartoum. i shall have to seek him out . . . eventually.

off to partaaaaay. :D

*mwah* *mwah* see ya in a few.

(glug glug glug)

p.s. been meaning to say forevah that the guy at the top of the page is gawgeous. i could look at him for, well, minutes anyway. then i must turn my attention to the women of summer. but beauty is beauty.

gotta goooooooo . . .

It really wasn't there earlier(

So.. (IMO )

Bless is a good word. All words cary the weight of their intention..
If you say Thank you... but "feel" I hate you.. well, don't be fooled into
thinking that the person feels thanked. Unless they are very impaired, they feel what you send.

*Bless* may .. or may not invoke the deity. It my just be a good ( and pleasant sounding ) word
to bestow good feelings. *Pray*, can mean invoking a deity, when you say " I will pray for you" or simply the sending of good and loving energy to the person...just using a word that is more common and easier to use than a long explanation of positive energy etc..

It really is all about intention... ( my Reiki training leaking out ) ..

oh.. and Thumbed..

Book review is thumbed! And thoughts surrounding "blessings" are noted and made a part of my world view. Thanks.

>92 *mwah* Have fun!

>93 Oh I believe you, calm, that's why I hustled my bustle over there to look for it. SOSOSO relieved when it was there...glitches happen. No platform is perfect.

>94 I tend to agree about the intent mattering more than the vocabulary. I think back to "bless your heart" and am reminded that the mouth lies....

>94, 95 Thanks for the thumbs!

>96 And barely even that! An eternal verity, Tom.

I know it's a store, but it would make a great living room.

Overload .. visual and energetic overload. ( for me ) I could do the store, not the house.

To me it looks like a cocoon! All those wonderful books to read!! *hyperventilates*

**Sighs with pleasure** Richard-- I love your thread!!

>99: My dream home! Wherever did you find it?

As I look at pols, most of whom I hate, despise, can't stand...oops, sorry for the redundancy, can't find words that really express mah meanin'...I see lots of Dems in bed with those folks too; sickening. Just unbelievable what's happened, and will continue to happen.

On a cheerier note, Hooray for Anderson Cooper! I always loved that man.

Oh, btw, Rdear, I'm so very sorry about your physical problems. In line with your gov't. story, my brother is completely disabled, has no use of his left side at all, cannot stand alone---but the govt. said he didn't need an electric wheelchair. Of course, that would mean he would continuously go around in circles--oh, right! Just like the bureaucrats.

Time share on the maldives bedroom? I'm (back - sucks) at work right now and you've made me drool during my two minutes LT break :/

Well I can't keep up! I go away for a weekend and this thread throws a party! ;)

#55 peaceful, charming, elegant, passionate

Is that Maldives bedroom part of an underwater house? Looks amazing - think the fish would watch shananigans?

RD- Great review of PREDATOR NATION. Ferguson is an amazing guy. I have not read his books but I've seen his last 2 films and they were gut-wrenching but brilliant.

In today's edition of "cats are evil": A Parasite Carried By Cats Could Increase Suicide Risk

Love the store/living room, RD! Greetings from Oz. Crikey, it's a beaut down here. Hope all's going well for you.

>102 Hiya Berly boo!

>103 Yay Anderson Cooper!

Thanks, Gail. Bureaucrats aren't famous for compassion or common sense, whether govt or pvt.

>104 HA! on your time-share!! MINEMINEMINE!!!

>105 Hello deariemelass! Glad you're back from the horrors of a Nova Scotia vacation trek in the hot hot summer, which there means 20C, you rotten person you. (It's 20C now here.)

>106 I wonder what they'd make of it if they did? "What are those weird-looking creatures DOING? Nemo, Dory, come look at this!"

>107 Thanks, Mark. His films outrage me the way Michael Moore's don't.

>108 Yes indeed, Tom, it's called "being a cat." Makes me suicidal even thinking about it.

>109 Heya Joe! I am horrifyingly disgustingly jealous that you're in Australia! I hope you have dysentery and shingles! Come home to heat and misery soon!

Sorry to tell you that it's positively chilly here! 20 degrees (70) and windy cool. I am wearing a sweater but it's nice with the windows open
Hope your A/C is working well for you! Has your pain gone away while I was gone?

Xo

>112 I hate you inexpressibly and passionately, and hope that you have three sets of twins between the ages of fifty and sixty. All natural childbirth.

No, I wish it had, but pain's been rotten for a couple days. I'm avoiding human society.

>113 xoxo

via Roni, from Facebook:

Ohhhh! So that's my problem.

'Morning to you, RD!

I hope today brings good books to read, less pain (or none at all, but it doesn't sound like that's possible, so less is more), good food, and snuggles from Stella.

Delurking to say hello and I am finally caught up once again with your thread. Love the Bedroom, I want one now. Also, love the Book Porn room as you so call it.. Windows Stay it is perfect just the way it is.. :)

*Waves* I'm so not reading 94 posts and loading 20 images, so I'm just passing through and pretending the world stopped existing while I didn't have internet access, and that everything is running smoothly again now that I'm here. *Ahem*

>115 That's it in a nutshell, Berlyboo.

>116 Hiya Horrible! Stella and I don't snuggle much when it's 90...but we do fight over the spot where the a/c blows. (I usually win.) xoxo

>117 Hi Monica! Isn't that bedroom AMAZING?! I love the book porn room a lot, but I think I'd like the bedroom a little more...maybe not, books are a lasting pleasure...hey! The book porn room as the living room, and the underwater bedroom connected to it! Star Trek physics could do it, I bet.

>118 Makes sense to me, Stephen.

Yeup.

Nice one Richard:)

Thanks calm!

PAY. ATTENTION. This is how some vile people use their freedom. Is there any reason at all to allow these same people any authority in extending freedom to anyone anywhere for any reason?

Politics doesn't turn y'all on? What about THIS:

Good one! Breathing space... a few comfy chairs and a couple of small lamps... perfect

Consider me officially turned on.

We are so pleased....

Thanks, RD! So far we're avoiding dysentary and other awfuls. You'd love the temp here at the beginning of winter. Cool and sunny. We're wearing layers - tshirt, polo, jacket. Wanna join us?

Hi RD- You cracked me up, with your taking the dog out tale. Mine are the same way. It's like a Death March.
I love the Book Hangover poster! Perfect and so true. Where do you find these, if you don't mind me asking?

Review: 62 of seventy-five

Title: DEATHLESS

Author: CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE

Rating: 4.25* of five

The Book Report: The book description says:
“Koschei the Deathless is to Russian folklore what devils or wicked witches are to European culture: a menacing, evil figure; the villain of countless stories which have been passed on through story and text for generations. But Koschei has never before been seen through the eyes of Catherynne Valente, whose modernized and transformed take on the legend brings the action to modern times, spanning many of the great developments of Russian history in the twentieth century.

Deathless, however, is no dry, historical tome: it lights up like fire as the young Marya Morevna transforms from a clever child of the revolution, to Koschei’s beautiful bride, to his eventual undoing. Along the way there are Stalinist house elves, magical quests, secrecy and bureaucracy, and games of lust and power. All told, Deathless is a collision of magical history and actual history, of revolution and mythology, of love and death, which will bring Russian myth back to life in a stunning new incarnation.”

My Review: Remember how I said I didn't like books with majgickq and elves and stuff, and how very resistant I'd be so such stories?

Ha.

Magical to a fault, mystical and full of eyerollingly silly things like big black cars with chicken's feet instead of tires, and factories where soldiers are hand-loomed by the Tsar of Life's cast-off mistresses under the supervision of Baba Yaga.

And what can I say? Like every hard and fast rule, this rule went flooey in no time at all, thanks to some ecstatic carolings and appreciative lowings from some very talented reviewers. You terrible people know who you are. I don't love you for causing me to eat my words so publicly.

Russia is a strange, strange place to me. During some really vicious pogroms they tossed in the 19th century, a Polish Jewish ancestress of mine...great-grandmother...walked away from her shtetl, her family, and her identity, got to Bavaria and married an old Catholic man with no living children but who had a shop, and started again. He died, she sold up, she moved on to the USA via Paris, two kids and an American lover in tow. So thanks Russians for being murderously anti-Semitic or I wouldn't be alive today! But the culture that gave rise to the anti-Semitic stuff has always filled me with disgust and not a little horror at the christian hate and apostolic misery doled out on all the people. The myths of the peasantry seem so unforgiving and tricksy and just plain vicious. Then I contemplate the way the country was run (being polite, not well, not ever)...it makes sense...but it still always made me feel icky to read about it.

Then comes this melding of myth and materialsm, supernatural and Supreme Soviet...and I fell head first into love with the package.

Valente's use of language is exemplary. She never stints or holds back. Descriptions are abundant yet they are never obfuscatory; the idea is to create a 3-D experience in the reader's mind and by GUM (old Cold War humor, sorry) she does just exactly that. She never reaches beyond her grasp or talks down to her audience. If only a Russian word will do, there it is, and the nuances are not Spelled Out For You and neither must you resort to Google and Good Luck to find out what the hell this woman's on about.

This (revoltingly) young writer has the temerity and the confidence and the chops to pull off this melding of modernity and medievalism without breaking a (visible) sweat. That's one sweet achievement. This is a book that's as Russian as hot tea with sour cherry preserves and as American as serving it in a Starbucks cup.

And it's beautiful. And it's moving. And it's graceful and lovely and possessed of the most marvelous ability to switch from tango to waltz to jitterbug. Dance with her. This opportunity doesn't come every day.

Not sure if I can say I dodged a book bullet with your review of Deathless but I will say I did only because I already have everything Catherynne M. Valente has written on my To Read radar. Great review!

Okay, you win, the Valente goes onto the wishlist! I hope you are happy...

ETA fortunately the local branch of the library has it, as I had put a moratorium on library holds pending our departure on the 14th for Kansas--but this should be available with plenty of time to finish and return it before we leave.

Another beautiful review. From a beautiful man.

That book sounds interesting!

And, while I was reading the review, all your pictures loaded. The first word I found in the smiley was, oh this is hilarious, Charismatic!!! Hahahahahahahah!

I'd say something warm and loving about your review, but I'm still angry at you telling me I look pregnant.

So instead I'm going to sit here and pout and not put your wonderfully-reviewed book on my list.

>132 I'd say it's more akin to being armored against further damage, and BTW Hi Lori!

>133 Oh goody good good!! A Roni-ing will tell us if this is *actually* a good book, or just me having a squeeee moment.

>134 Garshk...I'm all blushsome...*toe in dirt*

>135 It truly, truly is. Even your little liberry has it, I am sure.

>136 Oh now Crypto, you know I was just funnin' with you! You don't look *that* pregnant. Only like, maybe, first trimester.

Y'know, I think I might need a bunker here soon.

ask and ye shall receive:
{picture of Archie Bunker removed--see Richard's comments below}

ETA: oh, you didn't mean that kind of bunker

eeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh

Blech blech ewewwewww

I stopped watching TV in 1973 because of that show!

>114 Ive still got a book hangover from The Bone People *sigh*

Nope, my library doesn't seem to have a copy. Just a Buffy the Vampire Slayer book by the same name...

hi Buddy

It is a long time since I visited here. I love the images, the cartoons and your witty comments. The reviews are great, as always.

I'm heading off to a site containing George Takei information.

Gentle Hugs.

Are you feeling better?

>140 I haven't read that yet, and it sounds like I should.

>141 Wow, I *am* surprised. I wish I owned the copy I read, I'd send it to you!

>142 Hello smoochikins! I'm glad you're looking into Herr Takei...he's really funny.

No, feeling worse again. Yech.

Happy Fourth of July. Here are some fireworks you can enjoy in front of the AC. : )

I'm behind.. I just don't have it in me to catch up..
Yahoo was hacked again.. and I had to deal with that..
Janice called me... again
and my sister was in tears because I am not going over for her cook out.
I just do not want to. Gah!

So, is TDM there ?
How are you .. feeling okay?

No, they're in NYC for all I know. Not important to me, this is a summer holiday which means I ain't wanna do nothin'.

Feeling worse. Really want this answer that should come next week about an appointment.

>144 Oooo, pretty fireworks, Berlyboo! Fireworks are amazing, aren't they? *smooch*

Stopping by for a Quickie!!

>146 Hope you get that "answer" regarding the "appointment"

I worry about you, Sweetie....not Joking....'nuff said

♥

Happy 4th of July, RD .... another scorcher .. you're not with the crazies watching the Nathan's hot dog eating contest, are you?

>148 Thank you, love, that's very kind.

*smooch*

>149 Ye Olde Dogge and I went out a little while ago...she accomplished her necessary tasks, squinted at some interesting bugs, and dragged me back inside for a cold bowl of milk and a lie-down in front of the a/c.

So no, Coney Island isn't on my list of places to be today.

Smart Ms Stella ... I'd be whimpering if I had to go outside right now. As it is, I'm waiting until the very last minute to leave for a cookout at a friend's.

A friend of mine lost his job while I still had one, and went to work at Wal-Mart full time. Unemployment paid him more.

It was 102 here today. Even I'm ready to say ENOUGH with this heat. Bring back my cool lovely 80s.

ETA: My parents have been pointing out that it is cooler where they live -- in South Florida.

64 and cloudy all day here. Not a good beach day.

96> Love it.

99> Where is that store? It looks like fun.

123> Too true and too sad. I saw a good t-shirt on the light rail today:

Marriage is
so gay.

The "feels like" temp in StL is to be 114.
WTF?

Love the walmart pic. Nate hates walmart and refuses to enter the building. He makes a fuss and pouts the whole time if I make him go. It's kind of funny actually

>153 EW. 80s sound positively polar when it's 102 (that's 39-ish to the centigrade set). I hate summer anyway, but temps like that...!

>154 I. HATE. YOU. 90 and humid today.

>155 HA! I love the t-shirt!

>156 It's the Weather Goddess. She is having a hot flash. I want her to have it all over the Southern Hemisphere where they're used to being miserable.

>157 Nate has the right idea.

#99 -- who snuck into my living room to take that picture??

#54 (I think) -- My words were lazy, honest, thoughtful and passionate.

Unsure.

Hot. Hot. Hot.

Even the resident felines want to be in the air conditioned rooms...

Mmm hmmm that's your living room mmm hmmm

It is ferociously hot and I want it to stop now.

It's really hot here too but as I'm surrounded by trees and live near a lake, I suspect it's a different kind of hot from a NYC buildings and concrete kind of hot...although you do have the ocean right there. I'm grateful beyond telling for central air.

yes. hot hot hot. blah

>161 Thank the Goddesses I'm not in Manhattan! Everyone I've talked to there today is wretched. I live on Long Island, about 10-15min from the beach.

It's still yeeeccchhhy.

>162 Bleurgh

yawp

>157 lol, love it that Nate hates Walmart, I feel the same way about McDs. I didnt go for 13 years, but then morning sickness made me do it! Now I scowl at myself and at McDs whenever I drive past one!

I have heard bad things about Walmart. We have the Warehouse here, which is an all in one big box retailer, sells cheap crap, souless organisation, ugly as sin buildings....but at least the owner puts some of the profit into the community. I guess.

Hi RD- Those horrifying Wal-Mart stats say it all! Where's the outcry on that?

P has never, ever set foot in a Wal-Mart store. I can't claim to that thorough of a boycott, but I haven't been in one in well over a decade.

Wal-Mart is the only store in my town that sells most of the stuff I need. Unless I want to drive an hour to Columbus to get aftershave, I don't have much of a choice. There are other stores here, of course, but they are all equally soulless national chain stores. Aren't most of use just choosing the lesser evil by shopping elsewhere?

I think the Apester nails it; Wal-Mart is cheap and convenient. Too many folks have no viable alternative -- and yes, that's because of Wal-mart's impact on the environment, but the reality is that it's a devil's dilemma. Would they be better off if WMT disappeared? Possibly not, given the "hollowing out" of retail in too many communities. I'm no advocate for WMT, and I would never choose to shop there (the only time I've dropped into a Wal-mart was in China!!) but...

I wonder what the comparison is between Walmart and stores like Target?

>164 And no end in sight.

>165 Morning sickness drove you *into* Mickey D's.

Oookaaay.

>166 I do not know. It makes me want to unswallow that the SIX heirs get ~$450MM EACH every YEAR in profits.

>167, 168, 169 I go to Wal-Mart all the time. I have no money. They have milk for 30 cents per gallon less than the grocery stores, dog food for half price, same brand, etc etc.

Morality is very comforting when you can afford it.

>170 I won't even go into Target any more. Their corporate support for anti-marriage equality and hate-inspired laws cost them what little patronage I have to give.

Wal-Mart... in the 90s ago they took over "Wertkauf" in Germany and improved their dark and grimy stores so much that I liked to shop there. Wasn't very cheap there, but suddenly the staff was friendly and actually greeted the customers and said things like 'please' and 'thank you' and 'have a nice day'! The floors were clean! And they offered all kinds of American food brands.
It was a very unsuccessful business however, maybe people stayed away because of the not-so-great reputation, and after 10 years they sold all stores and withdrew from the market.

I hate Walmart, too.. but like Suz says. Not much in the way of alternatives.
WE used to have two downtown shopping areas, and a shopping center/strip mall.
The towns were bustling and safe and in fact my back yard was only an ally way distant
from Merchant Street. It was great. Christmas lights.. Street fairs.. places to shop and
eat and see a movie. Then the steel mills went down in the eighties. Ambridge and Aliquippa
emptied out. People had no money.. Steel was almost the only employer in the area. I don't know
what happened. It was like a movie, where you woke up one morning and the lovely little town with the parks and happy people are suddenly filled with dirty, mean people.. dark holes and ...unhappiness like a dark cloud. In ambridge there are very few buildings in use even today. They filmed a big chunk of One For the Money there.. because it was such a dark and poor place. :( Both towns are crime filled, and awful now. Awful.

The strip mall/ shopping center is where I go to shop most of the time.. but only for food. there is little else there. . There is one grocery. Three dollar stores..a tiny drug store. One plus size clothing store that costs the earth and stars to shop there. There are about 10 active businesses in all. My PT place, a barber, a nail place. All tiny .. There used to be a JC Penney, but they moved to the mall( across the river, which is also where they put Walmart.. near to the mall) I haven't shopped at Penny's since. There used to be a Hills.. anyone remember Hills? The parking lot is broken and rutted.

So.. believe it or not that is the short version of why I do go to Walmart now and then. I hate them, but
I am not working, they are cheaper than other places, and literally the closest and cheapest place available.
Target is there now, too. Near the mall.

Word is that they will break ground for a Walmart at the shopping center here. There has been such talk for years, but they say it is going to happen. This will mean that there will be new life aded to the shopping center, because Walmart does draw other businesses. I know that they are evil. But most people can afford them, and I am hoping they breathe new life into this side of the river. I wish I had the income to be more choosy, but I don't.

Shopping has become such a political act. I won't walk into Walmart, but I have been going to Target quite often for stuff for Niece's kids. And I noticed the groceries they carry are cheaper, but Richard, dear, I am going to work on weaning myself off of Target. I hate it when corporations put their sticky fingers into the political processes. They and their money have no business commenting on whether or not marriage means this or that or nothing at all! Damn!

Looking at Retirement Homes and realizing how much it will cost for me to move into one, and how little space I will have has put me on the path of LESS STUFF and SPEND LESS MONEY! Interesting path, that I'll say.

I buy what I can in bulk from Costco and then use Target for certain things Costco doesn't have in bulk, like my favorite brands of detergent, dental floss and travel size shampoos and toothpaste.

I agree with Maggie and wish corporations would just concentrate on being greener corporations and contributing towards improving the communities in which they have their stores and the countries from which they source their products.

Maggie, truer words! Walmart took over the local Zellers store, a local AND Canadian institution where many locals shopped rather than at Walmart. So now we will have two Walmarts in town and no Canadian option. That said, I understand people having to go where their dollars will stretch the furthest. No quibble there in these hard times.

Apart from books, I am trying both to purge myself of years of accumulation of Things (inherited from Aunt's, grandparents' and parents' homes, as well as acquired myself) and to only buy what I really need. It's strangely liberating to drop a garbage bag of bumph off at the charity shops and goodness knows, someone else might benefit from it.

Richard, your salon always has such interesting conversations going on.

Oh yes indeed, must be my thread...people talkin' about serious stuff!

*smooch* to all...off to the station to fetch and carry.

I agree, corporations should keep out of politics.. all of them, in every way, and if they want to give money to someone.. I would rather they give it to charities or environmental projects than to politicians .. it would do more good. Corporations are not people.

Indeed they aren't and they shouldn't have the rights of people.

I guess the only reason that for so many Walmart is the only place near them to shop, is because when they opened the other shops went out of business. Because people stopped shopping there. People will go where it is cheapest, as the consequences of doing that are not immediate or even visible. I do it sometimes and feel guilty, but maybe I shouldnt.

I know, RD, morning sickness made me crave McDs! That is so wrong. But I only went through the drive through, so no one would see me there :)
What was funny was that I didnt know how it worked, so at the window where you pay, I just stayed there waiting for them to give me my food. The 8 year old guy just stared at me for ages, til I said, "oh, is this not where I get the food?", he shook his head in disbelief that I could be so stupid and waved me to the next window.

This completely timely post just came through my Facebook feed.

>181 Wow! That is innocent!

>182 *bwaaaahaaaaahaaaaaaaaa* Oh I love it!

Being the evil soul that I am, I foisted the meal prep and *shopping* for this evening off, so I could stay cool and comfies and (no one tell on me!) watch the fourth season DVDs of True Blood!

In my defense, the duopoly are going out for fancy drinks with a friend of theirs tonight and I ain't invited (not that I'd go, even if I was, too much pain today), so y'all go do y'all's shoppin'.

And I stay cool! Oh, I am a bad bad boy.

Enjoy your coolness and True Blood! Nate and I got to the second season and then got behind. I should remedy that some day

Sending your cool, pain free thoughts!

I have some cool and a sandwich and I am quite content.

Never saw TRUE BLOOD...DVD or otherwise...so can't say

You, a Bad Boy?? You Wish...

**smoochers**

The only thing Ive seen of True Blood is Anna Paquin, NZs own darling, and sister in Law of our Green Party co-leader.

RD: Innocent because I presumed there were shops before Walmart, or because I didnt know how to do drive-thru?

Anna Paquin. I remember her winning an Oscar when she was a fetus.

Innocent, petkins, because you didn't know how the drive-thru worked! *bwahaaahaaa*

Hi Kath, Hi Jude, Hi Chelle! Off to sleep now. Or very soon.

She was a wee-tot wasn't she. And so cute in her little beret outfit thingy. I wish Keisha Castle-Hughes had won her oscar for the Whale Rider, she was so good in that film, and so young too. Aw.

Laughing at me!? hmph, oh, no, thats OK, laughing with me. What a dunce....and to get that look from the mere babe working there too....if I could have manufactured a look that said "at least Im so cool that I dont even GO to McDonalds (usually)"- I would have. :)

I have mixed feelings about children winning oscars. I sort of think that there should be perhaps, a special category for them. A sort of junior Oscar? To reward them for a job well done. But for children to win over a veteran who really performed with skill, not just luck and cuteness. Not that I think kids can't have talent, I just think it's different.

Can't speak about Oscars because I don't have any grasp of acting as a craft, an art, or anything except a business.

It's the last day of horrorheat here, but it's set to be a beaut: 97 (36.5)! Tomorrow after the thunderstorms it should be nicer.

I HOPE.

We live in hope up here too, Richard: pelting down with rain this morning and supposed to rain on and off all day.

I don't know beans about acting as a craft either but I have seen some kids in kids' roles where their understanding/interpretation of the character has been stunning. Who better to play a kid than a kid. But then you see what a really good adult actor can do in front of a camera (Daniel Day-Lewis in "My Left Foot", for example) and I agree with Kath: how to compare them?

Megan, I loved The Whale Rider!

I have no insight into the matter of comparisons of acting jobs. I know that, some years, I wonder what it is I wasn't seeing in the winning performance, but I do not presume to judge fitness or rightness, only my own response.

WHERE ARE MY THUNDERSTORMS?!? It's suffocating outside. I went out to snip some fresh basil and came right back in.

The Lifeboat is *EXCELLENT*. Kath, safe for you, too.

Honestly Dearest, You're Dead is keeping me très très jollified. Smirks and snickers, not howls of laughter, though.

Storm clouds appear to be gathering ...putting paid to my beach plans today. Oh well... I guess I can just stay in and read.... and watch t he Red Sox/Yankees game starting in 15 mins. :-)

Ah yes...the AL wankfest deluxe! The Yank-mes against the Pink Sox always delivers the ratings. Who're the starting pitcherinas in today's exhibition?

See... I really like that. I do. I feel so .. cared about when someone keeps in mind
that there are books I just cannot read. Much appreciated and I will check it out pronto.

eta

And right you are.. it looks yummy..
I have wishlisted it.

>197 Good! *smooch*

Sorry Richard, it appears your thunderstorms have decided to visit me instead. It's rainymuggygross here and I don't much care for it.
Hopefully you get some cool weather asap

NOOO!! Canadian robber baroness! Give me my thunderstorms!! We need less heat badly!

Give. Us. Our. Thunderstorms. NOW.

And no, I'm not joking around here...

Suz, I detect possible good news! The wind has shifted from dead calm to northerly breeze...if could be the bleedin' cold front is headin' this way at last and that should spark the storms.

You're only ~10mi away, it IS coming!!

I am sending you thunderstormy thoughts!

Richard, where is it???

Just sheer bloody misery. Had to go out and get food. Thought I was going to G's this evening, but that ended up not happening, and I had nothing here that could be made edible and appetizing. Thank god cld take a taxi home.

Tks for the entertaining storm gods!!

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgh

It was only a tease!!! So far anyway! Chelle, stand outside and flap your arms southwestward!

RD- Glad you are enjoying The Lifeboat. I read/listened to it recently and liked it. Rogan's publishing story is interesting too, make sure you check it out.
It's FINALLY starting to cool off!! Yesssssssss!

>206 Helena, usually I would shout at you for coming on to my thread, a person completely unknown to me, and pitching your blog to me and the folks here.

It's too hot to do that today. Please learn about the expectations of those who use a site before advertising yourself on it.

>207 Cooler is still a dream here. I'm eagerly awaiting, though.

I saw this Helena person on another thread too! Get lost! This northerly breeze has really cooled things off. Just stepping outside is so refreshing. It sure beats a blast furnace in the face.

I am so stealing that storm cloud gif.

We had a spatter of rain, a spatter.. and the sun kept shining.
The air is a sponge.
wah

Richard, I so wish I could box up and send you a shipping container's worth of Seattle climate right now. It is cool, breezy, and sunny. Lovely! Summer has finally arrived, and I am very happy. Want to send some to you.....

Am still reading along in The Swerve and loving it.

right now
The Yank-mes 4
the Pink Sox 5
errors all over this game
Go Yank-mes!!! :P

oh, *quick smooch* since you're all sticky icky from the Hades heat :)

Wishing you coolness and good sleep. And a better morning in the morning.

I just heard thunder!!!

Review: 63 of seventy-five

Title: HONESTLY DEAREST, YOU'RE DEAD

Author: JACK FREDRICKSON

Rating: 3* of five

The Book Report: The book description says:
“A Safe Place for Dying, the first in Jack Fredrickson’s highly acclaimed Dek Elstrom mystery series, was nominated for the Shamus Award for Best First Novel. Now, Chicago P.I. Dek Elstrom is back in an electrifying new mystery.

A lawyer calls Dek with a fast, seven-hundred dollar proposition. A dead client named Dek to execute her will. No matter that Dek didn’t know the woman. No matter, too, that the woman’s estate was only worth a few hundred. Happens all the time, the lawyer said.

To Dek Elstrom, broke and huddling in a cold stone turret in the middle of February, the sound of seven hundred falling down his chimney is louder than his voice of reason. He agrees, heads up to a hamlet ten miles north of nowhere. But instead of finding an easy-to-close estate, he finds blood and the markers of a shattered life. And something worse: links to the darkest part of his own past. He races to chase down leads to the killer, and his own ghost…before the dead woman is killed again.”

My Review: I began with laughs, continued with chuckles, snickers, and smirks, then trailed off into arched eyebrows, muttered instructions, exasperated ejaculations, and ended in irked silence.

That is NOT the trajectory an author or a reader wants. This reader planned a vituperative dissection of the failings of the book as he went along his ever-less-merry way, honing a few choice witticisms to a rusty, blunt jaggedness.

Why? Why was I, the reader most tolerant and understanding, the beau ideal of sweet-temperedness and kindly generosity...stop making those horrible sounds, people will think you're choking...suddenly transformed into a whole nestful of hornets in a really bad mood? Because, dammit, I was HAD. Things were set up in the first pages of the mystery that weren't delivered on, and things ANY IDIOT not even a P.I., with more than a week's work experience anyway, would think to ask went unasked, and then, please dear goddesses let me type this without screaming in fury again, THEN I will have you know, the writer uses FLIPPIN' FLASHBACKS to tell us the sad sad tale of Longago, and holy maloley does that bring this shitwagon to a sloshing, urpsome halt in its mysterious progress.

Leave aside that I knew who the killer was around p5. I expect that. I been treadin' this footpath longer than mosta y'all been alive. A mysterian who can surprise or, even better, confound me gets five stars and whole freakin' operas of praise. So no, I don't expect to need to work too hard. I don't read mysteries for the puzzle-solving pleasure, but for the orderliness, the justice that is done, and the way the story is told.

But COME ON!!! This sleuth, Dek Elstrom, is given a build-up as a wildly successful investigator, and he fails to ask ANY BACKGROUND QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS CONTACTS?! Oh. Please. I don't care that he's given a fee up front (which, later, becomes another sticking point and a large logical lapse). Any, and I mean any, investigator would look at his sources pretty carefully.

In the normal course of events, then, this review would be a flame job out of literary, well, failure to launch shall we euphemize. It isn't, well not too much of one, for one reason and one reason only: Dek says, when served hot tea in a daisy-patterned cup, is asked, “How does your tea taste?” (There's a reason for that specific locution, but it's a little spoilery, so go with me here.) “Like a funeral home smells,” replies Dek.

Yes. Exactly. One entire star restored for putting your finger on the nub of something I've wanted to find words for for a long time.

Would I recommend the series, of which this is volume 2, with a third volume (Hunting Sweetie Rose)out this year? Not so much. The writing, apart from the genius moment above, is amusing, and consistently easy on the eyes; the plot is for poo; the net effect is ~meh~ minus, but some days that's okay. It's not a flee flee for your lives dear goddesses what are you still doing here run away kind of a book. It's not a sit here right here dammit and read this and love it kind of a book. It's just a barely adequate midlist means of wiling away a few hours. And as I've said, that can be enough for anyone some days.

I guess today was one of mine.

"Why was I, the reader most tolerant and understanding, the beau ideal of sweet-temperedness and kindly generosity...stop making those horrible sounds, people will think you're choking"

Quick, does anyone know how to perform the Heimlich?? I'm dyin.... *splutter, cough*

chortle chortle chortle

Well.. ditto Suzanne to begin..
I am disappointed, I saw that you were reading it and it looked funny.. I was looking
forward to your thoughts.. sorry? But at least it started out funny!

Good morning, sweet Richard. Your review, above, made me smile this morning. I hope something comes along in your day to do the same for you!

Oh pooh, I thought when you first started chortling that you had discovered another Cooking With Fernet Branca.

>216 *stony glare* Well, I *am* the beau ideal of sweet temperedness and kindly generosity. AREN'T I.

>217 Disappointed! Oh my heck. I was so so upset that I couldn't write a loud shouting "over here! over here!" for this book. *grumble*

>218 So glad to have raised a smile, Karen44!

>219 That's what I was hoping for as well! I wanted something to cause my sides to ache from merriment, I wanted something to bring raillery and badinage back to my colourless world.

This ain't it. So I picked up #5716975 in the Meg Langslow series, The Real Macaw. Much giggling.

Have to say, she doesn't look at all happy about this. Which part, I do not want to know.

>221 One happy lamb! Is there such a thing as Catnip for sheep?

>222 I'm not overly fond of blowjobs....and never had an abortion...maybe the poor gal is just "torn" on the issues....

;-}

>222 well now, that just sounds like a very sound argument to me, and the spork? Well, no wonder its confused about where to go. I think the presence of tines means it needs to go to the room on the right.....

I agree Megan. And sprok cracked me up... very amusing, jude :)

The spork is a riot!

Do we really need to belabor the point made in 222? Of all the ways to get a man's attention, declining to satisfy and gratify his vile and unnatural lusts is the shortest route to full and complete undivided focus.

Sadly it does not last.

Perfection.

What? Did somebody say blowjobs?

I agree with Megan about the spork. Just because you are voluptuous and have small tines doesn't mean you're any less of a fork. :(

Love the spork pic.

Hope you are having an icy day dear!

>229 That, laddies and gentlewomen, is all the proof ever needed that Stephen is a Y-carrying male.

>230 Icy! I love the fact that, once its filter is cleaned, my a/c's "Peary's Polar Expedition" setting is even COLDER! And the fact that it's only 26.5 right now, on the way to mmmaaayyybe 28, is *heaven*!!

#228,,,,,I'm in absolute LUST...where is this little piece of heaven?

>232 Tina, I wish I knew! I'd go straight (well, no not that) directly there!

It was on "I Love Books" this morning on Facebook. As was this:

JOB LISTING

PerkinElmer is looking for employee
https://perkinelmer.tms.hrdepartment.com/jobs/4152/Online-Content-Specialist-Corporate-MarketingWaltham-MA

Anyone? Anyone know anyone?

I. WANT. THAT. READING. NOOK.

Oh, and richard dearest ... the Yankees won AGAIN last night against the Red Sox. :-)

>228 Holy guacamole batman, I just found the plans for my new bedroom. It needn't be large, just enough room for a bed (with recessed book-nook) and the shelves.

>235 The Yank-mes can win all the games they want! I will still curse them!

>236 Oh yeah don't I know it!!

"It doesn't matter. I have books..."

I'm happy to stop right there. Hey, RD! Hope you had a good day sir!

Lurking with neither intelligence or wit.

Review: 64 of seventy-five

Title: THE REAL MACAW

Author: DONNA ANDREWS

Rating: 3.75* of five

The Book Report: The book description says:
“Meg juggles twins, murder, and a back-talking bird in the next side-splittingly funny installment in the award-winning, New York Times bestselling series.

During a 2am feeding for her four-month-old twins, Meg Langslow hears an odd noise and goes downstairs to find her living room filled with dozens of animals—cats, dogs, hamsters, gerbils, rabbits, guinea pigs, and a stunningly foul-mouthed macaw. She soon learns that financial woes have caused the local animal shelter to repeal its no-kill policy.

Her kindhearted father, her zoologist grandfather, and other like-minded citizens have stolen all the shelter’s animals, both as a gesture of protest and to protect them until the hated policy can be repealed. But the volunteer who was to transport the animals to new homes has been murdered. Was it the victim’s tangled love life that drove someone to murder? Or the dark secrets behind local politics? And will Meg ever succeed in finding homes for all the animals that have landed in her life?

Full of the hilarious shenanigans – avian as well as human – that have come to surround Meg and her eccentric band of friends and family, the latest from the one and only Donna Andrews will have you laughing until the very last page: it’s The Real Macaw!”

My Review: Oh dearie me. Such a description! So overripe.

I really don't think a review is called for when a series reaches the bajillionth volume. I'm not really reviewing the book, but the experience.

Fun. Uncomplicated, familiar fun with familiar friends. Sex with the ex.

But how many times can ya come to the well, drop the bucket, and fill 'er up with the same ol' same ol'? I'm a little bit past the sell-by on this series. Kinda done. Not that this wasn't fun! It was! But oh lawsy me...the little nods to the early parts of the series, some specific details that were important once are now used as window dressing and I found that a little annoying. It's increasingly obvious that the past entries of the series are tying the author's hands, and she gives the nods and winks to keep the people happy.

Letting it go comes as a relief. I think, in the end, for all of us.

I didn't immediately break into a sweat when I walked the dog this afternoon, so I call today a win. I hope you're getting some relief, too!

Pooped. Done for the day. Here's your goodnight kiss...mwaaaa!

>241 SAY HALLELUJAH!! Maybe we'll get back to a normal summer now.

>242 *smooch* right back, Berly boo!

ok... HALLELUJAH!!

That is a word that I often have trouble spelling.
So is Restaurant and Nuisance ... mental block.. particularly nuisance. Sometimes I
misspell it so badly that spellcheck is baffled.

THE REAL MACAW sounds good. I will put it on my wish list and see if my library has it sometime.
soon. I hope.

eta
thumbed

Good morning, RD!

I hope it's a bit cooler up there - we had amazing storms come through yesterday evening and it's supposed to be 20 degrees cooler today. Still expecting thunderstorms in the afternoon, but mid 80s is better than 105.

Have a good one.

>244 Thanks for the thumb!

>245 It's headed for 83-ish (about 28) but it's heeyoomid! I hate summer.

Funny funny email:

Church Ladies With Typewriters

They're Back! Those wonderful Church Bulletins! Thank God for church ladies with typewriters. These sentences (with all the BLOOPERS) actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced in church services:

The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.
--------------------------
The sermon this morning: ' Jesus Walks on the Water.' The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus .'
--------------------------
Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.
--------------------------
Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say 'Hell' to someone who doesn't care much about you.
--------------------------
Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.
--------------------------
Miss Charlene Mason sang 'I will not pass this way again,' giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.
--------------------------
For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
--------------------------
Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.
--------------------------
Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
--------------------------
A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow..
--------------------------
At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?' Come early and listen to our choir practice.
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Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
--------------------------
Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.
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Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.
--------------------------
The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.
--------------------------
Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.
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The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.
--------------------------
This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.
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Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM . All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B. S. Is done.
--------------------------
The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the Congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.
--------------------------
Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM . Please use the back door.
--------------------------
The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM . The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.
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Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church Please use large double door at the side entrance.
--------------------------
The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new campaign slogan last Sunday: 'I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours.'

(I bolded my favorites.)

(-:

LOVE those! Thanks all you church ladies with typewriters!! I love you bottom bold-faced ones and--"The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon. " LOL

Deathless sounds really great, I keep not reading The girl who circumnavigated fairyland so maybe I should begin with this one. Love all your statement gifs, just finding it hard to keep up on LT these days, what with having to read books and such like.
Love love your church ladies with typewriters - priceless. can't choose a favourite, too many good ones.

rofl :) good and funny! Thanks for sharing..

Picked up Deathless from the library!

((Hugs)) and xx smooches xx, RD

LOL .... gotta love those church ladies .... I especially liked the one about Jesus walking on water and then the evening sermon being looking for Jesus. *looks around to see if a lightning bolt's coming my way*

Ha! I love it.

adding my hugs and smooches to Stasia's. Consider yourself double smooched.

>250 Aren't they spectacular?

>251 Ooo, Deathless should convince you, Kerry!

>252 I loved them too, sweetness.

>253 Can't wait to hear your verdict, Roni...bated breath and all that.

>254, 257 *smoochings* back at'chall! Stasia, glad you're able to spend a little time here with your schedule. Linda my love, I'm glad you're able to *see* what with all the pain. So so so sorry.

>255 I've granted a stay from lightning bolting for you until you read the new Gamache. 20pp before the end, the Bolt shall come. You Will Never Know *mwaaahaaahaaa*

Say! I'm good at the gawd gig!

>256 Which "it"? I need an antecedent...so limited of me, I know.

I stole your church ladies away and emailed them to some friends..
I am out of here in a few..Hope it is a good one for you today.

More book porn!

Remember when the tongue tied bishop announced that the CYO was going to have a Peter Pull at St. Taffy's?

*snerk*

259 - The bulletins. ;)

Ah! Yeah, much hilarity. Proof positive that punctuation and sentence structure are always important.

So?

Please copy and paste this to your status if you're constantly being asked to copy and paste things to your status by friends who copy and paste things to their statuses. Many people won't copy and paste this, but my truly sarcastic friends will copy and paste it because they know this was copied and pasted from a dear friend in need of more stuff to copy and paste; and if you don't copy and paste it, then this means you hate bacon. If you hate bacon, the terrorists win.

RD- Love the tax break poster! Perfectly said. I heard Romney was addressing an African American contingent today, trying to convince them that he would be a better choice than Obama. I heard there was snickering.

And boos! There were boos!

I think the boos came when he mentioned dismantling Obamacare! He is so clueless and disconnected, it's unbelievable.

According to NPR "Romney was also booed when he told the audience that if they wanted the best president for African Americans, they were looking at him."

Well, you're such a Sweetie

I posted the Erection/Sandwich thingie on my thread....just couldn't help myself

;-)

This is the image referred to in 272 above:

You can be both at the same time though, right? Otherwise I might never be fed...

275 > The internet has pictures of sandwiched with meat in them, if you know what I mean. (not linking)

Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM . Please use the back door.
lol

Hey, I reckon I could make that book tower! I wonder how the rest of the family would feel having that in the lounge?

Megan, you can make it? srsly? Wow! I almost never see something and think..
hey, I can make that! Well, some food maybe?

Hi rd.. hope all is well ?

>275 I myownself am always both.

>276 *dreamily* yeeeeeesssss

>277 ooo ooo make it make it!

>278 Not notably well, nasty pain and running low on acetaminophen. Widgin testy as a result.

I've copied the Martin Luther King quote.

How true...How VERY true!

>281 Isn't it though? And now, on a lighter note:

Book porn!

Love the map, Love the library..
sigh.

Sorry about running out of pain meds.. soon it will be better, I am confident.

Beautiful picture in 282 - I want:)

Sorry to hear that you are running out of pain meds; hope the doctor visit next week will improve things for you.

{{{Gentle hugs}}}

>283, 284 Thanks y'all! I'm very hopeful all will end well but sooner is better than later.

A treat to catch up on everything going on here, Richard! I passed on to my pa the wonderful church lady postings.

Hope everything works out with the pain meds.

Book porn, humorous facts about the needs of men. Great thread! #285 AMEN!!!!!!

love the map, I want a poster of it NOW (please?)
Its super cool and reminds me that nearly all my fave authors are from the USA. (sorry my own fine country and the mother land, but you know, the facts speak for themselves)

I should be embarrassed (but I'm not) by how much this is making me laugh.

It's like a carnival on your thread, Richard! Love all the various attractions, sideshows and book porn, not to mention the always entertaining reviews. Cool map, too. You'll make a mint on the posters. Please add me to the sign-up list.

>286, 290 Thanks, Joe! It does have a festive atmosphere, doesn't it?

>287 *smooch* for Berly-boo

>288, 290 If I find out where posters can be had, I shall so inform the assembled company.

>289 LOL That's pretty darned funny, Tom!