richardderus's 2010 threads, #6

Over 250. Moving on. Much to review!

I'm in the Books Off the Shelf group, too, so I will review 25 books that've sat on my shelves since who-whipped-the-cat and also 75 new books...published no earlier than 2008...this year.

Reviews 1,2,3: first thread
Reviews 4-7: second thread
Reviews 8-12: : third thread
Reviews 13-20: ... fourth thread
Reviews 21-30: ... fifth thread

I now have a Homeless Reviews thread in Club Read 2010. I've set a completely arbitrary goal of 50 books to review that I don't own, and were published before 2008, so they don't fit anywhere else.

FOR THOSE JUST TUNING IN: I don't know the readers of my reviews personally, for the most part, so I don't have any way to gauge whether you'll agree or disagree with me. It's always perfectly fine with me either way, and I invite comments from all.










Books are reviewed in post number:

37. Aloha, Candy Hearts...#250

36. Chasing Goldman Sachs...#145

35. Mahu Fire...#83

34. The Museum of Innocence...#60

33. Zeitoun...#37

32. The Leisure Seeker... #31

31. Solar... #2

Review: 31 of seventy-five

Title: SOLAR

Author: IAN MCEWAN

Rating: 3.7 of 5

Not a four star read. Not great, not bad, not something I'd ever buy, but I am not at all sorry I read it.

Here is an intensely annoying, dislikable man thrust into the world's consciousness by his One Big Idea, who then goes on to fame and fortune but coasts, drifts, jellyfishes along in his so-called life. He never focuses more than a few inches outside his own skin. He's a repulsive, ridiculous man.

And it's scathingly funny what McEwan does to him. I fulminated and fumed and growled at the book (literally...the dog got up and left the room because she thought I was mad at her!), wanting worse and crueler treatment of Michael Beard--say, a plague of boils or a severe case of scrofula--yet the psychic cruelty inflicted by McEwan might be more effective. But it doesn't satisfy my atavistic desire to see physical pain come to mine enemies.

This is the most David Lodge-like of McEwan's books that I've read. I ***HATE*** David Lodge books, which is why this one's only 3.7 stars (decimal stars...what a concept). But Lodge fans take note...your boy's style translates well to other writers!

I'd say read it if you're fond of British writers, or if you're in the mood for black humor. I ain't a-pushin' you to, though.

You cannot get away from me that easily . . .

See? I am not so crazy after all... a very meh book

#2: I already have that one in the BlackHole. I have not read any David Lodge yet, although I do own one, but I have liked the McEwan books I have read thus far, so I will be giving it a try.

>3 alcottacre: LOLOL

>4 mckait: Damn! I forgot to rave rave rave the dratted thing just to prove you wrong. Well, I can't, because honestly I had to refrain from ending the review "not really recommended." It was *dull* and I didn't care for the first half of the book...but I really got my revenge appetite whetted.

Smooching you both, early birdies.

smooch back dearie :)

Eek. Solar was slightly better than a case of scrofula?



I might just wait on it awhile...

I have yet to find a McEwan book that I really like and I think I'm ready to admit he's just not for me. I have a friend who just raves about his books.

I do like McEwan (and British writers), and I enjoyed his last two novels, On Chesil Beach and Saturday, which is why I wasn't dissuaded by the mixed reviews on LT and elsewhere. I bought a signed copy of it at Strand last month, but I probably won't get to it until summer.

>8 kidzdoc: I certainly wished scrofula on the main character, Darryl, but I would compare the experience of reading Solar more to camping in Northern Maine in June without mosquito repellent. WAAAY better than scrofula!

>10 Copperskye: Joanne, I liked On Chesil Beach a lot, and Atonement was pretty good, but I don't think I'm ever going to be in the ranks of the yodelers of his genius. I think this may well be my last McEwan unless the next one really excites me.

>11 kidzdoc: No rush. Believe me, no rush.

I haven't read any McEwan but I love David Lodge! (except that I think his books are a bit all-the-same). I'm not rushing to pick Solar up though after your review...

I just wanted to say that Richard is the kindest and most generous person ever who is completely full of awesomeness and amazingment, and who deserves some kind of medal for being the coolest person on the planet. That's all. :)

(Note: You will have noticed some odd words like "awesomeness" in this post. This is an attempt to appeal to a wide demographic. If a 15 year old boy reads this, he needs to understand how great Richard is and "full of awesomeness" will best convey the intended message to this particular age group.)

uh-oh

>13 cushlareads: Cushla, you *like* David Lodge?! WHY?!? Is this one of those "you must be British or else it makes no sense" subjects, like grasshopper or whatever that dreary game is called?

>14 Ape: Good gravy! Such a fuss over a simple LT membership! I (selfishly) couldn't bear the idea that you weren't able to catalog and review all your books, Stephen; and besides, it was birthday and Christmas rolled into one cheap-at-twice-the-price package. Now go read something and review it. Quick sticks!

>15 mckait: I am not understand from emoticon?

David...Bingo...Just the way I feel about Richard...

Richard, you are a gem of the gems!

I do like Ian McEwan's work because , it seems to me, he tries to be so Unlikeable...at least some of his Characters (that wretched little girl in ATONEMENT, I wanted to strangle)....SOLAR....one more brick in the wall, eh?
Black Humor is my lifeblood...so maybe.?...DAVID LODGE? I own THINKS....as a skewering of Pundits (and morals/moralizing) it is rich! but wordy and flatulent? You bet. Maybe that's why it's so good, IMHO...

;-}

I was just sneaking away (with my emoticon) before your head got too big and took up the whole thread, crushing all of those within....

Stephen, I'm not a 15-year-old boy (although I act like one when I spend time with my baby brother), but I appreciate your use of "awesomeness". And I agree.

However, this last book doesn't exactly sound awesome to me. I think I'll pass, and focus on working towards Let the Great World Spin.

Got quite the threads goin' here, Richard old buddy old pal. I know I'm super late here, but, ahhh, I enjoyed your take on Cod. Always wanted to read Cod. Yep. Cod. I also appreciate a person who says awesomeness.

gtocha

Edited to try again:

gotcha!

#20 I agree that "awesomeness" is an awesome word!

I myownself plan to have "awesomeness and amazingment" carved on my cenotaph when the day dawns that I will not see.

Isn't the actual word "awesomehoodosity"? Or maybe "awesomnity".

Hey, "awesomnity" has a ring to it....

I'm reading On Chesil Beach right now actually. So far so good, but I think I'll skip Solar for the time being. Thanks for the heads up!

Awesome must be a top 10 most popular expression in the US:)

24 see what I mean? :)

I returned Solar to the library unread. Thanks for saving me the time and effort.

Mmmmm, I had immediately put Solar on my to buy list because I was so very impressed with Saturday, especially since it came out on the heals of that wretchedness (for me) called Atonement. Now, perhaps I'll just wait until the donations come in for the next booksale to purchase Solar.

Review: 32 of seventy-five

Title: THE LEISURE SEEKER

Author: MICHAEL ZADOORIAN

Rating: 4.1 of five

I really liked reading this book, and I never would have known it existed if not for Madeline/SqueakyChu and Bonnie/brenzi.

I have one thing to add to Bonnie's and Madeline's excellent reviews: Recommended.

Glad you had a winner. :)

If you can get it, Suse, it'd a great deal of fun to read!

Richard. I agree with you regarding The Leisure Seeker. I really liked it. The ending was not expected.

#31: I already have that one in the BlackHole. I just need to get my hands on it one of these days. It looks like one of the local colleges has it.

*saunters through, waving*

Review: 33 of seventy-five

Title: ZEITOUN

Author: DAVE EGGERS ugh ick ptui

Rating: 4.3* of five

Okay. I herewith open my piehole for the crow to be inserted. I have said nasty, judgmental things about Eggers's writings, and I meant each and every one of them. I still do.

But this book is excellent, and this book is Eggers's, so it is obvious that the old adage about a stopped clock being right twice a day applies to writers and writing as well.

It's a direct, elegantly simple telling of the nightmare side of the American Dream. It's powerfully focused, unlike every other one of Eggers's overpraised books that I've read, and it's superbly structured, with no room for improvement in pacing and character development that I can find.

I don't believe I'm typing these things, someone reassure me that this is *me*! Every criticism I've leveled at this guy's previous writing is out the window! Will they turn off the gravity next?

But truth is truth, and honesty compels me to say: I haven't enjoyed a book this much in ages. Well, enjoyed is a strange term to use for the true and factual, and awful, story of a decent, honorable man made the butt of scoiety's opprobrium for no reason other than his religion and origins. But the book is deeply enjoyable, because at every turn, Zeitoun's decency and honor and integrity shine through. That alone makes the book worth buying and reading. Add to that the fact that, rare in this world failed of kindness, Zeitoun summons the best and the most positive people to him in his desperate hours.

There are just under 700 copies of this book on LT at this moment. I am disappointed that Twilight and The Life of Pi, vastly inferior books to this one, and to name but two of the many, many books this applies to, have more then 10,000 copies on the site.

Please...do your part to change this, and go buy a copy. Then read it. It will, contrary to any expectation you might have, leave you uplifted and happier for having read a book about Hurricane Katrina and an Arab immigrant. Very strongly recommended.

And, thanks to tymfos for making me read this...even sending me a copy...one it will be extremely hard to release back into the bookosphere. That I will *have* to buy a replacement is a small economic price to pay.

I couldn't agree more with your assessment of Zeitoun; it was a fabulous book, and definitely Eggers' best one. I also enjoyed What Is the What, his lightly fictionalized account of a Sudanese refugee who was brought to suburban Atlanta. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius made me want to scream in anguish.

I've been wanting to read Zeitoun ever since I saw someone mention it here on LT. It sounds like a great book. I'll have to bump it higher on my library wishlist.

(Of course, I've bumped so many books to the top of my wishlist that the first books I bumped are about 20 books down again...D'OH!)

>38 kidzdoc: When I read that book I nicknamed it A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Ego.

I had Zeitoun on my list. Then I tried A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, but didn't get far before I threw the CDs out the window (not really, but I wanted to), and took Zeitoun off my list. I guess it has to go back on. Richard's word is usually gospel.

I want to read that one.. It is on my wish list... it did sound good!
Cory made off with my staggering genius book and I think he threw it out the window..
Guess I am just as glad he did it for me :)

Zeitoun has been on THE LIST...but I've been too lazy to buy a copy.....hmmmmppfff...better get off of my reading Duff, eh? The Staggering Genius/Ego book...never tried..the Hype killed my interest toot sweet (Kath, from what I have heard, your Cory had the right idea)....Richard's word isn't Gospel for me...but I can tell by the tone of his review that the book is worth more than a passing glance.

Thanks, Sweetie! And a dainty Thumb, as well.

As someone who tried both A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and What is the What and gave up on both, I have been reluctant to give Zeitoun a try. I guess your review finally bumps me over the edge on it, Richard.

Stasia

I've read many books regarding hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. Truly, Zeitoun is one of the best.

The Heartburning Work of Staggering Ego was the reason I formed a dislike for Eggers in the first place. Taken straight, it's awful. Taken on an ironic level, it's awful. Taken as an authorial joke, a self-published wheeze, it's awful.

And by the bye, how exactly is it that Eggers can self-publish his work (McSweeny's is his company) and not get relegated to the bin the way other, more worthy self-published authors do? (Islands of Instability springs forcefully to my mind, that's a book more of y'all should get and read.)

Then there's the hamfisted clattering yap-fest called What is the Deal or whatever...*shudders* Just bad.

Then this. Oh, my goodness! Do it some more, Dave, do it some more, I'm lovin' this! All you fellow Negate Eggers Club members, put down your hatchets and pitchforks and lighters. *This* is a good one.

Richard- Excellent review and it's great you are shouting this from the rooftops! No one else will inspire others to read it, better than you!
I read it back in October and it was a 5 star read. Amazing stuff! This was also my first Eggers. I'm a bit hesitant to try his others, due to negative murmurings but I will have to give them a shot, based on my love of this one!

:)

I'm so glad you liked Zeitoun, Richard! (And I thumbed your review.)

I found it to be one of those rare books which I'll be thinking about for a long, long time.

Well 49 posts in and I finally found this thread. Geesh! I'm very glad to see you enjoyed The Leisure Seeker too Richard. And Zeitoun was a five star read for me last year. I haven't read any other books by Eggers and there's certainly nothing here egging me on.

ETA: thumb!

Checking in at 50 messages! Blimey, I really have slipped in my LT-lingering, haven't I?

ETA: Well, Solar, The Leisure Seeker and Zeitoun are already on the radar (well, on Post-It Notes. Somewhere. I think.) if not actually physically metaphorically on the wishlist, so I've escaped there. Ish.

I'm so excited! My Hot Review of Zeitoun got flagged! That means to me that people who *aren't* my buds actually read these reviews!! Whee!

Oh, and thanks for all the thumbs-ups, y'all, it's very heartening to know I'm not shouting down a well.

>51 elliepotten: Ellie..."Solar" could profitably not make it to your TBR and the world would keep right on spinning. Just a word to the wise.

>50 brenzi: Bonnie...pun, bad; punishment, condign: Read my review of Mr. Golightly's Holiday, it's a book I think you especially will appreciate. Ha.

>49 tymfos: Terri, you too: Mr. Golightly's Holiday is specifically mentioned as a book you will probably like.

>48 suslyn: ;)

>47 msf59: Don't do it, Mark! There are no good reasons to hurt yourself like that! Danger, Will Robinson!

Why did your review get flagged??? Wow, 21 thumbs up so far, that has to be the #1 Hot Review.

Danger, Will Robinson!: A reference to the 1960s US TV show "Lost in Space", for you youngins out there.

54: I'm guessing someone flagged it because Richard failed to depersonalize his review. You see, reviews are supposed to be mechanical summaries of books with as little personality as possible. Richard has clearly used far too much emotion to convey his feelings about the book, and apparently that is not acceptable. Richard, how dare you be an individual! You're supposed to be an automaton like the rest of us! :(

Ok, or maybe that particular person just isn't very intelligent.

How can anyone say it's not a review? It's a wonderful review - all I can think of is the mention of the "T" word; a book that divides opinion and is, for some inexplicable reason, fiercely defended.

#56: I will fiercely defend Twilight too, although I do not personally like the book. I will fiercely defend anyone's right to their own opinion. Flagging Richard for mentioning Twilight in his review, however, is wrong, IMHO. He is as entitled to his opinion on Twilight as are the lovers of the book.

Interestingly enough, that flag is now gone. I wonder what happened there? Hmmm.

Wow, 22 thumbs so far! I think only that review I did for Hello Sunshine *ickyptooptoo* got more. Do the PTB collect thumb statistics, I wonder? As in, who gets thumbed, how many thumbs were given, that kind of slicing of data?

And, I have to admit, I'm glad to see a positive review getting thumbed like mad.

I bet somebody "flagged" by mistake when they meant to "thumb."

Review: 34 of seventy-five

Title: THE MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE

Author: ORHAN PAMUK

Rating: 3.2* of five

Five hundred pages of long-face about a pair of star-crossed lovers.

They're cousins. Only not really. And it's set in Istanbul in 1975, with excursions to the present.

I know more about Istanbul in 1835 than 1975, though the latter is within my own lifespan. (Okay, okay, WELL within my own lifespan.) I like Turkish history because it's so improbable and so full of moments when they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory! I like alternate history so I love those moments where things could have gone either way...rich fodder for imaginings.

I thought this book, about the life lived by a wealthy man who seduces his poor, estranged teenaged cousin in his mother's extra apartment would fill in a gap for me.

Ew.

The obsessiveness with which this poor schmoe turns his very real guilt over his cousin's blighted life into a passion for collecting the minutuae and ephemera of that life is, well, distasteful. It's just amazing to me to imagine that kind of passionate hold a person has over another, and for such a negative reason.

The cousin dies, of course, because no bad girl can live, right? And the man withers and wastes away, insisting to the author (who appears as himself, called "Orhan Bey," in what I can only describe as a grandstandy little bit of Maguffinry) that he's led a happy life, tell the story of the happy life, as he's about to die at, what, sixty? Codswallop! He's led a miserable half-life, and quite appropriate too, and frankly the only thing that keeps this from being a 50s Ann Bannon lesbian romance is the gender of the protagonist and the Nobel Prize for Literature that Orhan Bey has won.

Read at your own risk.

Ick. Maybe I won't read this one.

>61 kidzdoc: Don't. Too many fantabulously good books waiting to be ead, discovered, yodeled about.

>59 rocketjk: That never ONCE occurred to me! How negative I'm become. Have to look out for that, thanks Jerry!

Richard

What does it mean when a review gets "flagged?"

>63 Whisper1: A flag on a review is like a flag on a post. It means a user finds the review offensive, and believes that is violates the terms of service somehow.

Yikes! Nothing offensive about your 22 thumbs up review.

I suspect that Jerry was right...someone thought they hit the thumb and it was the flag.

#66 I believe Jerry is right too, I did that once myself, clicked before the images completely loaded and ended up Thumbing Up instead of flagging.

I find that I am quite disinterested in historical type novels at the minute, especially if they take place in places I have never been. That will pass...
and I will not be adding this one.

and yeah.. bet it should have been a thumb...for Z

#60 *Strikes Museum of Innocence firmly from the wishlist with a thick, black marker pen.*

Thanks for that review, Richard.

ETA space between words. D'oh.

I hit flag abuse on threads all the time, by mistake :) I'm sure it could have been that. That was my first thought too, but I didn't say anything. ('write anything'?)

:)

Orhan Pamuk?? My Name is Red I own, but it's currently "on loan"....from the bit i read, I figure old Orhan is an "acquired taste" so I won't praise or condemn either book..just gaze in "wide-eyed wonder"

*snort*

heeellooooooooo ... i'm baaacck to haunt your thread once more, rdear.

I've read My Name is Red and I agree with Jude ... Orhan Pamuk is definitely an 'acquired taste' ...one that I have not as yet managed to acquire. I find him rather pedantic. Then again, I've only read this one book but I haven't been compelled yet to give him another go.

Ladies, I must leap...well, hobble...to the Nobel Laureate's defense! Snow is a good read. I liked My Name is Red, but this latest of his, well, I can't defend it and I think it's aberrant in his ouevre.

Auntie report: Much improvement! She's recovering from her fall very nicely. We took Stella to the rehab facility she's in, and as always Little Miss Party Dog made a big hit. The facility director invited her back any time. Big surprise, she's such a lambikin.

#73: Great news about auntie! I am not at all surprised about Stella - look who she chose for her owner :)

Richard...Good news about auntie. But, does this mean your blessed quiet house will soon be busy again?

Happy to hear the good news about your aunt. Taking your dog to health facilities can be habit forming - in a good way!

Glad to hear it rd... I hope you have managed some serious down time?
I hope you have been able to enjoy the respite, although I do know that there has been plenty of coming and going for you....

eta

I picked up The Traveler today. I am liking it so far~ and thinking of you ...

Of course Ms Stella was a hit ... was there any doubt? :-) Glad aunt is ok

Can you flag someone by mistake on a review? It's only one step to accidentally thumb a review - and you can just click again to un-thumb it - but to flag you have to hit 'flag' and THEN pick from the options as to why. Maybe it's just some idiot who's flagged it and the Powers That Be have overruled it - they can do that, right? Either way, I think your 20-something happy readers speak for themselves...

Maybe it was someone like me whose cursor has a mind of its own . . . jumping all over the screen . . . leaping tall buildings in a single bound -- oops, that one's Superman.

Seriously, I can aim to click one thing and the cursor is already on another . . . and then aim to cancel, and it hits something else entirely. . . GRRR!

Though I did manage to hit the "thumb" on the review in question . . .

>80 tymfos: LOL glad you succeeded that time. :)

Dear RIchard -- so pleased to hear the news on your Aunt and glad Stella was able to spread joy beyond her customary bounds.

Heads Up, Y'all

Zeitoun will be published in paperback..mid-June...i pre-ordered my copy at Amazon(a)...cheaper than the HB

;-}

Review: 35 of seventy-five

Title: MAHU FIRE

Author: NEIL S. PLAKCY

Rating: *** of 5

I know that this is petty of me, but I was really hoping the exotic Hawaiian sleuth, newly outed as a gay cop, was going to be a little more *ahem* enthusiastic in his exploration and discovery of his newly unleashed sexuality.

One crummy scene. The rest I could read to my auntie without a blush. Bummer!

But more to the point, this book reads like a first novel despite the fact that it's the third in the series. People vanish "for the length of a Bible" to quote Ben Affleck's character in "Shakespeare in Love" and then somehow they're central to the solution of the not-very-mysterious mystery. I knew whodunit and more ickily why whodunit dunit early on, and was unsure if I wanted to be ill or simply to shut the book and return it to the shelf.

Kimo, our hunkalicious cop sleuth, goes after the mad arsonist who bids fair to decimate the Honolulu gay community's businesses. In the course of doing this, he meets hunkalicious closeted fireman Mike, his co-star in the aforementioned one crummy sex scene. They don't seem to spend a lot of time together, they're in love, they're both macho dudes and they're about the most hilariously stereotypical gay fantasies of hotness imaginable...cop? fireman? porn flick, anyone?...and somehow at the end of the book, which I did indeed finish, I found myself actually hoping they'd manage to make it.

Which is why this competently written, slapdashedly edited book merits three stars. I cared, and I wasn't inclined to. I don't think I'll recommend it to y'all, and I am sure I won't seek out the rest of the series, but it wasn't a complete waste of my time.

I think I will pass on that one, Richard. I hope you are enjoying your next read more that that one!

Richard- Just swinging by to say hey! Hope all is well with you!

Doncha hate that ? lol

Better luck next time..

*waves*

What's up next?

Yeah, I think I'll give that one a pass. Boo for not delivering on the hot and steamy!

>84 alcottacre: Oh my yes, Stasia, I think this would actually bore you to tears.

>85 msf59: Yo Mark-a-doodle-do!

>86 mckait: Uh-huh. Hate it hate it hate it!

>87 kidzdoc: Oh dear, Darryl, almost everything else I have to review now is for the Homeless Reviews thread in Club Read. I'm thinking The Basque History of the World there.

>88 London_StJ: Boo AND hiss, especially since the book is marketed to the GAY audience and so runs almost zero risk of offending the squeamishly straight. In fact, as it is it runs almost zero risk of offending the squeamishly straight. You'd have to be a dyed-in-the-wool homophobe to dislike this book for its gayness.

Hmm, that sounds interesting; I'll look for your review of it over there.

Richard, re: The Basque History of the World, I've never been able to figure out how to link to individual reviews, but anyway you'll find my review of that book, if you're interested, here: http://www.librarything.com/work/61033/reviews. Overall I recommend it, but with some reservations.

I don't blame you for being disappointed by the lack of "steamy" scenes. When you read a thriller you expect action, when you read science fiction you expect futuristic settings, when you read mysteries you expect...well...mystery, and when you read romance you expect STEAMY SCENES!

Unless the "romance" tag is just below "literature" but I'm guessing that wasn't the case with Mahu Fire. :)

I will be interested in seeing what you think of The Basque History of the World, Richard. That was the first of Kurlansky's books that I read and I enjoyed it for the most part.

Hallo Richard! Been a while since I stopped by (I was intimidated by all the posts), but I'm up to date now. Fascinating healthcare discussion. The NHS is by no means perfect (and seems to be permanently substantially in the red), but I'm very glad we have it. Great to hear your Auntie is doing so well.

#10 coppers, I'm in the same boat. I don't really "get" the Ian McEwan thing, but also have a mate who comes close to worshiping the ground he walks on - he convinced me to read Saturday. I could recognise good writing, but not for me I think. That said, the first of his books that I read was a collection of short stories (The Daydreamer) and that did catch my imagination in a way that none of the novels have.

#12 "I certainly wished scrofula on the main character, Darryl, but I would compare the experience of reading Solar more to camping in Northern Maine in June without mosquito repellent. WAAAY better than scrofula!" - speaking as a mosquito magnet, I'm not convinced by that argument! DEET is my friend.

#16 "Cushla, you *like* David Lodge?! WHY?!? Is this one of those "you must be British or else it makes no sense" subjects, like grasshopper or whatever that dreary game is called?" - I do too (OK, not love, but definitely enjoy). Maybe it is a British thing - certainly, a lot of his writing is very time-and-place (and yes, OK, samey)...

...oh and I'm with you on the cricket. As far as I can tell from my mates who actually like the thing, the important thing is either to sit in the sun with a floppy hat, picnic and large drink by your hand watching in the flesh, or to have all the curtains closed with a large drink by your hand watching on TV. Either way, the crucial detail seems to be the large drink by your hand. This is the only reason I can deduce to explain why anyone would want to spend all day watching such a mind-numbingly boring sport. ...that and I think the TV commentary can be quite bizarre/amusing as they attempt to fill the massive gaps in action...

#37 (Zeitoun) - already on the wishlist, or I'd add it again...

I'm going to risk derision and state that I seem to be one of the lonely few that actually enjoyed A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, (even if yes, there is a lot of ego and I probably shan't reread it) - but then I read it because I'd enjoyed You Shall Know Our Velocity (which I'd bought because it looked pretty. oh dear.) and had no idea about all the hype until long afterwards - it probably would have put me off. Sometimes it pays to have your head in the sand most of the time.

#60 Hmmm. I read the short story The White Castle, by Pamuk last year and the thing that struck me above anything was his loving descriptions of Istanbul. More than anything else, the book made me want to visit the place - the story ended up being almost incidental. I'll steer clear of The Museum of Innocence though I think - I've got My Name is Red and Istanbul all lined up to read first anyway...

Re the flagging of reviews, was it a blue flag or a red flag? The red flags are like the flags on posts (to say that it's an offensive comment), but the blue ones are to say "this is not a review". ...although why anyone would use either flag on your review Richard, I don't know. Must have been a mistake, as everyone has said...

#83 Not one to challenge my not-a-crime-novel-reader prejudices then, eh?

>94 flissp: Fliss darling, you're welcome as the Tax Man in April! I mean, I mean, the showers in April!

Re: centipede or whatever, no amount of alcohol makes that tedium anything less than eternal and soul-killing. It's named after an insect. I'm no more likely to want to watch it than I am to eat y'all's unappetizingly named dessert "spotted dick." Ew.

Review flags have colors? I never knowing this! Is coolness to learn!

Lodge and Eggers mentioned favorably in my very own thread...how does one smudge cyberspace...?

And lastly, not-reading-crime-novels challenges are best left to books that are, in and of themselves, good novels that happen to have crimes at the center of their plots. Like Louise Penny's Still Life, q.v.

edited/dratted touchstone!

Good Morning Richard

I'm stopping by to thank you for your recommendation of The Birds of East Africa..Oh, My! What a delight.

Just stopping by to say hello. I hope you're having a relaxing morning!

Hey, Richard! Since you dropped by my thread (probably not paying any attention whatsoever to any blue words that might be on it), I decided to reciprocate. Have a great day!

Hi Richard - I wanted to say thanks for the birds of East Africa too (the book review, not all the birds...). It was my impulse buy last week at Bider and Tanner and I'm really enjoying it!

>96 Whisper1: Hi Linda, thanks for stopping in! I liked your review and thumbs-upped it with a big smile. I'm so glad people are reading this book. It's lovely!

>97 London_StJ: Heydee-ho there, li'l Luxx...very relaxing, albeit almost Marylandian in humidity and oppressiveness. My high heels are kicked off, allowing feet to breathe. The feather boa's draped over the dog, who's snoozing on the wood of the floor, having pushed the carpet out of the way.

>98 alcottacre: Hi Stasia! C'mon, admit it, you came to check out the reviews....

>99 mckait: ROFL I need that GIF! Whence its lair in case of need?

>100 cushlareads: Cushla my dear! I am so pleased! And, if you haven't already, I'd like to point out that your life won't be complete until you read Chasing Goldman Sachs. I know you already know the how of the meltdown, but this investigation and explication of WHY is just excellent.

NO ONE TELL SUZANNE I SAID THAT! I'm going to post a horrible review to her PMs and say I wanted to give her a chance to rebut my accusations of incompetence in reporting and incapability in writing before I publish the real rave.

my photobucket :)

>103 mckait: You pulled it out of your @$$? Huh?

Don't worry, I've started it!

#102 -- Hah -- CAUGHT YOU! *chortle*

Seriously, glad you like it.

I have acquired a taste for Pamuk (especially Istanbul, which I loved), so I'll give his latest a try. I did read an excerpt in the New Yorker last year, that I liked. However, I will borrow, not buy.

>107 Chatterbox: DRAT! Who bleated?!

Well, it's true, I did like it, and I am especially glad to have read it considering how very lame the banking reforms being mooted are. I know what to expect now.

Borrow the Pamuk, indeed. I would say more about the ick factor, but you'll find out.

Nobody ratted you out, Richard; I merely decided to drop in for a visit and see what you were up to. Only then did I discover your dastardly plan to mess with my mind...

Am trying to write something about banking reform as the tip of the proverbial you-know-what right now. Due in an hour. La-la-la-la-la.

>109 Chatterbox: OOO, a whole hour! You can do *three* in-depth analyses of quantum physics and its relevance to banking by then!

Suzanne
Stasia mentioned your excellent book! All good wishes for a successful publication.

Richard = a mind messor? nah? Well, maybe....

111?

Kath
I'm referencing message #109 wherein Suzanne states Richard's plan to mess with her mind.

oh... I meant

"Suzanne
Stasia mentioned your excellent book! All good wishes for a successful publication."

:P

but thank you~

#110 -- Your faith in me is touching -- if more than a little deluded! :-)

>111 Whisper1: Linda...moi do such a cruel, cruel thing? I laugh derisively (hoping to distract your attention from my real cruel nature).

>114 mckait: Suzanne is the authoress of Chasing Goldman Sachs, dearest, which she quite foolishly kindly sent to me, doubtless hoping for a good review, the silly sheep the little lamb!

>115 Chatterbox: You can write that book in less than a year, you can do any damn thing.

Well, the column is done. Now I just have to write another story (about genealogy) to be published this weekend, and do 2 interviews. I started really reporting the book in September 2008; I finished the first full draft almost exactly a year later, although the final revisions weren't done until mid-April, thus proving that publishers can move at the speed of light when necessary! I inserted a three-page preface in the wake of the SEC suing Goldman in mid-April and just got my mitts on my first hardcover copy yesterday...

ETA: Mr Golightly's Holiday is probably the only novel by Salley Vickers that I have NOT read. What am I missing?

:)

Dropping by for a visit and now looking out for your review of The Basque History of the World as thats been on my shelves forever and a day.

>117 Chatterbox: Well, Suzanne, Mr. Golightly's Holiday takes an old cliche...what does God do for vacations?...for a spin. This *cannot* be a spoiler, since the game's given away in the first chapter, but it's an entertaining book, and I liked the characters.

>118 suslyn: :-* (it's a pucker)

>119 avatiakh: Kerry, I'm reading the book for a third time. It's got something...I can't quite put a finger on it...there's just something....

I've heard some good things about Mr Golightly's Holiday and managed to snag a copy for myself on Paperbackswap. Whooopeee!

I checked and my local library has a copy of Mr.Golightly's Holiday, so hopefully I can get to it soon.

#95 Showers in April? Showers in April?! hmph ;o)

Re spotted dick, I've never really seen the attraction, but believe me, it's nicer than Eton mess - ick.

Hmmm. Still Life sounds like it has potential (I like the opening sentence, definitely), I shall bear it in mind...

#107 Suzanne - good to know you loved Istanbul, I'm going to bump it up my to-read-next pile (which is currently about a year long, so I still may take a while to get there...)

#123: Only a year long, Fliss? We need to start recommending more to you obviously! The TBR pile should be at least a lifetime long :)

#124 Oh the TBR pile is much longer than a year Stasia, it's just the what-to-read-next pile that's only a year long ;o)

#125: Ah, OK! We are doing a good job then :)

#123 - no, no, I really have to put in a good word for Eton Mess. It has to be good, preferably homemade, of course. But's what not to like about strawberries and whipped cream with a bit of broken up meringue for some crunch? I suppose restaurants, college cafeterias, etc., probably "mess" it up - I have only ever had homemade. Like trifle, it's one of those English things I'm glad I got to find out about.

I hate to butt in here, but it's my nature...

Eton Mess? take a look in Nigella Express...page 46-47...if anyone has this lovely book...A grotty name for a yum-0-licious dessert!

(I'll try to find a link to a Pic)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/eton-mess-recipe/index.html

link

Drool. That covers my response to summer pudding, trifle, Eton mess, and most other English puddings.

agreed

My aunt used to make the most wonderful Eton mess every time I visited her ... so you may be sure I happily took the train over to Bath once a month to spend a weekend with her.

Meringue? Blech. No thonks. Strawberries macerated in some sugar and a splash of balsamic vinegar, real unsweetened whipped cream, and a freshly made shortcake. That's a strawberry dessert worth comin' home for.

I am with you on the meringue, Richard. I do not care for it (the fact that I am allergic to eggs does not help either.)

I just wrote down that Spotted Dick can be really good and that my hubby loves it...

Then I realised that that could sound so very wrong when not talking pudding.

Meringue...YUM!

I'm putting together a family cookbook for my soon-to-be sister in law, and I just came across my mom's recipe for Chocolate Eclair Cake. On my. I gained three pounds just typing it up.

mmmmmmmm chocolate!

I had to google Eton mess. I didn't dare google Spotted Dick while I was at work though...

>139 Copperskye: Good call Joanne. one time I was Christmas shopping online at work and I had a certain sports item I needed to buy and gingerly typed in dicks.com. Ah yes you know the result. Luckily it was after hours and I was petty much alone. Geesh. It's dickssportinggoods.com in case you were wondering.

>137 London_StJ: Just made Chocolate Eclair Cake last week Luxx and strangely had the same result ;-)

Thanks for the link, Kath...i got distracted and forgot about posting it
'-(

Why anyone would think to give awful names to perfectly delicious desserts is beyond me.

Hi Richard - just read your review of Life of Pi, love it - I'm one of the few who has yet to read the book as I've always been suspicious of its appeal. Definitely not going there now.
BTW, I'm enjoying American Gods!

>133 richardderus: you called it.

ETA Made an interesting, and somewhat tasty (LOL), dish out of our new A Taste of Transylvania cookbook. Steph wanted ratatouille. Thought, well if ratatouille is a peasant dish for eggplant in France and we're in Romania... why not try the Romanian version. He was happy. I don't really care for ratatouille either so 'somewhat tasty' is pretty good in this case.

Review: 36 of seventy-five

Title: CHASING GOLDMAN SACHS

Authoress: SUZANNE MCGEE

Rating: 4.4* of five

Not to put too fine a point on it, but does the world *really* need another book about The Meltdown That Ate Our Jobs? Do we *really* have anything left to learn about these greedy so-and-sos whose pursuit of their own profits gifted us with a huge expansion of the Federal debt?

In a word, yes.

Suzanne McGee (an LT member and close online acquaintance of mine)assumes that her readers are smart, savvy, and plugged in, so she hits only the highlights of the WHAT about the crisis. Her brief, as the subtitle of the book "How the Masters of the Universe Melted Down Wall Street...and Why They'll Take Us to the Brink Again" makes clear, is analyzing and explaining WHY.

She does this in as honest and non-judmental a way as anyone could. She's not pointing fingers at one person per chapter, she's pointing up the systemic and cultural failings that, quite naturally and seemingly inevitably, led to a culture of no-risk gambling that permeated late twentieth century business. It took until the end of the Aughties for the chickens to come home to roost, but as they always do, they did. And who pays? All of us peons, that's who, which is exactly how the system is set up and remains set up to this day.

Her style is spare, unfussy, and dryly witty. Her story provides its own plot, so I can't say whether she's good at plotting. She knows how to give a telling detail! "'When {the New York Stock} Exchange is public, when people are willing to own it, it's a sign of a stable financial system, argues {a Canadian investment-firm billionaire}, who also owns stakes in publicly traded stock exchanges worldwide, from Europe to Latin America...The kind of push that come from shareholder-investors to become more competitive and efficient is the best way to make sure an organization is as effective as possible, he adds." (p137, ARC edition) This comes in a book that traces "efficiency" as the principal author of the megadisaster of 2008...and does anyone remember May 2010, when the "efiicient" robo-trading powerslide of the Exchange caused systemic fantods?

McGee states, makes, and supports her points throughout this book with a lifetime's reportorial experience and a skeptic's "prove it" attitude. She's done the financially semi-literate a huge and signal service in writing this book. It's a good, involving, and deeply frightening read. Recommended to all who aren't mouth-breathing Fox News watchers.

#145: She's done the financially semi-literate a huge and signal service in writing this book. It's a good, involving, and deeply frightening read.

I consider myself financially illiterate and I have had no problems following Suzanne's book - which tells me that anyone can read and understand it.

Great review Richard. :)

>146 alcottacre: Stasia, no one is financially illiterate who has a debit card. But I take your point!

>147 Ape: Thanks, Stephen! I really really liked the book, so it was fun to write.

Added it to my list. Thanks!

that is a WOW review, and sounds like a WOW book!

>149 Berly: Berly! So good to see you! Are you off for the summer, free as a little tweety bird, and so gonna be around more?? Gee, I *hope* so! *smooch*

>150 mckait: Kath my dove, you'll really like this book. The antithesis of the dry, dull, economics-class kind of read one would expect from Suzanne.

Oh! Did I say that *out loud*? Oh dear....

Great review as usual Richard. Sounds like a great book too, though I fear it will add to my sense of hopelessness and helplessness regarding the financial system. (That sounds so pessimistic as I mis-read it. My words are fed by a feeling of lack-of-control, though, not pessimism.)

>152 ty1997: Thank you most kindly! I am always delighted to hear praise when I think I deserve it, and I really labored on that review. Had to cover up my *real* feelings, you know....

I put it on my wishlist, just before I ran amok and bought . Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves...

Great job on the review Richard. This is not a book I would normally read but you've got me interested.

Wonderful review Richard. I know where to go if I ever want to read a book about American finance and business.

I'm, gonna get Chasing Goldman Sachs. Sounds really good. Thank you as always for sharing your thoughts with us, your humble "public."

Woofie

Great review, and I'm really enjoying the book too.

Fabulous review, Richard! I'm looking forward to reading it, too (awaiting my pre-ordered copy from Amazon).

Hmm...how big is Suzanne's head going to get if we keep heaping praise on her book?

Great review, richilito ... and I've already got this pegged as gifts to a few people. I wonder though, will this book make me hate the Wall Streeters more than I already do?

>155 brenzi: Bonnie, you won't be sorry. There is a complete absence of graph-oid eyeglazers.

>156 calm: calm, I think it would behoove a Brit to read this one, as the City isn't far behind the Street...

>157 womansheart: Hey Woofie! The liberry should get the book soon, since it's actually already out in a few select venues.

>158 cushlareads: Yeah, it's surprising how easy it is to enjoy, eh Cushla?

>159 kidzdoc: Thanks, Darryl! I think you'll be appalled by the people...but Suzanne's a very level-headed person, one needn't fear for her emotional honesty. Yet.

>160 cameling: Hey, Caro! They'll thank you for it. But in answer to your question, I fear I must say "yes." For all that Suzanne never wails on any single one of the sleazeball scumbag slimewads, they damn themselves in their own words.

Ok ... forewarned is forearmed .... I shall make sure I have my trusty punching puffball with me when I read her book.

Richard- Good review! Actually, I just finished The Big Short by the talented Michael Lewis. He focuses on several individuals (outcasts mainly) who predicted the meltdown and bet on the collapse. They raked in hundreds of millions. I recommend that one as well!

The Big Short is a great yarn; actually better than expected. (The book by Roger Lowenstein, alas, was the reverse -- I had high hopes and it left me cold.) My only gripe about was that Lewis left out an index and footnotes!

Congratulations to Suzanne for writing such a great book and congratulations to you Richard for your excellent review.

Sorry Richard my darling, I'm way behind on posts--and I hope this does not cause an alienation of affection, but I remember when I read Heartbreaking work of staggering genius that I rather liked it. Now.....I cannot tell you one darn thing about it now many years later..

Please don't throw me over...

New subject....one of the women in my book group at the local library was waxing quite eloquent tonite on The Big Short --of course, we were supposed to be discussing la belle Emma - they were all quite enamored of that piece of fluff, but they sure didn't stay on task. What does that say?

I liked it too. But my child has just announced she'd like to get to school on time today, so I guess I can't say anything more.

Thank you all for the compliments! I hope all 16 of the thumbs the review of Chasing Goldman Sachs received translated into sales.

>166 tututhefirst: Tina, someone who is so *exactly* right about Jane Austen cannot be tossed aside lightly over mere Eggersophilia. It is a mild, uncontagious malady, that.

>167 sibylline: Hi Lucy! What did you like?

*Staggering* -- I found the tone annoying sometimes, but I felt underneath it was such intense desire to take care of his little brother properly which I related to. As an older child in a huge messy family, I took on that role, the protective older one, although we were never on our own like that, just sort of neglected (a bit Ice Stormish)?

Edited to remove too many 'intenses'

Oh! I couldn't abide the tone. I think the whole Eggers phenom would simply have whizzed past me in a foul-smelling rush had it not been for Zeitoun.

I was, by a decade, the youngest child in my family, so I had no relevant experience. Maybe I would've been more tolerant had I had that point of connection.

Lucy
Count me in on the messy family scenario and the oldest child who did the clean up. I was way too responsible at ten years of age when my father left and my mother put me in charge...

ditto....oldest child here - certainly makes a difference in life outlook.

Richard -how could I not have guessed you were the baby (or as my son-in-law refers to himself "the golden child"?)

>172 tututhefirst: Tina, I'm the "oops!" not the dreamed-of child...when I proved to be a boy, feeling ran more in my favor, but basically everyone was getting on with their own lives and I was left to do the same. Actually, it *was* golden in that sense! Emotionally bereft, since abuse was the only attention I got quite often, but solitude's a great gift to give a child. Constant fluttering and twittering over a kid does the kid no favors, in my observation.

I agree that (mostly) benign neglect is better than the wrong kind of attention, but there is a right kind of attention too -- always aware, always ready to help, but also generous and patient. Like a really good spotter in gymnastics or one of those page turners at a concert! One step ahead, but also completely in the background. Not everyone can manage it, and no one does it right all the time..... I think Eggers even struggles trying to learn that stuff -- the school meetings, those stand out vividly. He learns that you can 'parent' without being the actual parent, it is really a skill. I was very attentive to that piece in *Staggering.*

I would venture to say that many of us have stories... baggage..
stuff.. whatever. It is good to have friends who get it, but sad
to know that they have "stuff" they carry, too.

>174 sibylline: always aware, always ready to help, but also generous and patient

HAHAHA

SOOO not my mother, or my sisters. But I say in their favor that, if it came down to supporting me or supporting Authority, it was **always** me that got support. And I got a first-class education in social graces, etiquette, and the obligations of my class to those less fortunate. (Did I mention that the ladies were snobs?)

It lacked warmth, but it had its points, my childhood.

>175 mckait: Don't I know it, loveycuddles, it makes me so sad to know that all I can do is commisserate. If I find a time machine NOT on the fritz, there will be a spate of beatings taking place in the past....

Hey, what doesn't kill ya helps you to grow..
Maybe that explains my roundness :P
lolol

I am content my friend.. much more good than bad in my life..
How many people had a duck all their own :) as a child?
or... had the opportunity to learn as much as I have from interesting jobs...
And most of all, my kids, of course! (then the furkids, too )

Hey there Richerooni .....when you mentioned that I hadn't reviewed Aloha Candy Hearts I was rather puzzled .....and then realized that I hadn't yet read the book! I thought I did, but I had Sundowners Ubuntu in mind. So a thousand thank yous, my dear for that poke in the noggin.

I had to sit in on a really boring technical conference call this morning at 7am, and I put my phone on mute and cracked open my copy of Aloha Candy Hearts which had been patiently sitting in my TBR Tower waiting for you to remind me about it. Ahhh....back to my favorite Saskatooni PD.

>177 mckait: Furkids are so much esier to handle than furless...cats triaged into the microwave, dogs coddled and petted and wuuuved on.

>178 cameling: I am glad to have performed such a signal service! Can't be missin' out on Russell!

I'm taking back 999 of the thank yous I bestowed in my previous post after that triage remark, richard!

But...but...cats are *Satan*, Caro, and I'm only sending them *home* when I sizzle them!

*throws left wing of a demented cockroach into cauldron, a copy of Guernsey Literary, adds dollop of Miracle Whip and a scoop of BP's oil - jumps backwards 3 times muttering spell to turn Richard into a cat for a week*

You GO! Carowitch! Well done. Here is the whisker of a cat to finish it off

Yes, Caro!!! The resident felines are constant entertainment, and very self reliant.

We all have baggage. The only question is whether it's neatly packed in Louis Vuitton, or jumbled into a bunch of plastic bags and tied with string.

*gaaah*

Witched into catdom in my own thread! Nay, I cast it back from me, it shall not affect me, no way no chance nyet nyet!

I fear, my dears, that felinity and its concomitant evils shall find no purchase in my gentle, dogly soul. I remain bipedal and antifelidaceous.

Magic, almost 14, cream mackerel tabby, sends his sweet love
Merlin, almost 14 and littermate of Magic, brown mackerel tabby, sends her scaredy cat love
Coco Chanel, 12 years old, tortoiseshell with white, sends her Alpha female love
Kitty William, 10 years old, gray mackerel tabby, sends his macho love
Inara Starbuck, 3 years old and the baby of the group, dilute calico, sends her cute meow love

karenmarie, almost 57, looking more like her mother/grandmother every day (gulp), sends her I-love-you-despite-your-stand-against-cats love

:)

#186: You should have sent a picture along too, Karen!

>186 karenmarie: *choo*

Thagks.

*pointedly walks around cats to smooch Nana...errr, Karen*

Frankly, I like getting older. I like the ease of not caring a tinker's if someone thinks I'm hip or cool or trendy. I get to look like me, not some attempt at fancy.

>187 alcottacre: Evil inciter! Back! Back to the sink of iniquity from whence you came!

I seem to be doing a lot of inciting these days - first Stephen and now Karen :)

There is no way to avoid it rd.. you have to sleep sometime. When you wake with long whiskers and ...so on.. we will all enjoy it .

Karen, you have out catted me. We are the same age, however! And do I ever know what you mean about looking like mom!

I have Morgan who is 16
Emmie is 5
Rosie is 3
Angus just 1

I used to also have a Merlin whose Littermate was Fidge.. and they gave me 20 years , bless them both. I lost them in the same year a while back.. about 3 years ago, which is how Rosie came home.

* offers rdear a tissue*

Now there! You see? See?! A whole list of Satanic minions, Miss Kathleen Wagner, and not one single mention of your angelic beastie, Duncan!

Cats are the Devil.

he isn't a cat... we are talking cats, you see...

May I add Bruise (about 7) and
Lightening - 3
to the list - they are FIV+ rescue kitties from the pound and give as much love as any humans I've ever encountered.

Richard, I understand you--my mom is your soul-mate when it comes to cats. It's taken me a long time to come to grips with the sad fact that my mother will not visit me because there are cats in residence. She will not even pick up a magazine that has a cat on the cover. She was surprised by a cat jumping out at her when she was tres young, and never gave herself permission to get over it. So the rest of the family has had to learn to live with mom's 'eccentricity.'

Keep walking your dog....someone has to do it, and it ain't gonna be me.

I can't do justice to this but somewhere CS Lewis says that he liked to have dogs AND cats, because 'they are so good for each other.' (or something close to that).

My first dog and cat used to sleep in the same basket together. Awwwww.

Tina - That is so harsh!

>193 tututhefirst: Good HEAVENS, Tina! What a very odd reason not to like an animal species! In my own case, it's the dander issues. I can't breathe when there is too much of the stuff around, and it's a fairly low threshhold. I'm not *wild* about cat-personality, but were it not for their toxic spit and dander, I could co-exist with some cats.

>194 sibylline: I agree with Lewis, Lucy...cats provide so many essential nutrients for a dog's digestive health.

#194 Sorry --didn't mean to sound harsh. I actually like dogs, used to have one, but icy driveways and wicked Maine winters coupled with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis do not a dog walker make. And I haven't seen one trained to a litter box yet.

Tina I meant about your Mom! To judge all cats from one bad one! Allergies are different. I think I like animals so much I willed all of mine away. I do wash up after nuzzling a cat..... (are you shivering in horror RD?) I wonder how Tolkien felt about cats? You know Sauron started out as a very very bad bad cat? Tevildo. Now there's a name.

Oh yeah...mom is definitely harsh when it comes to cats. We've all offered over the years to get some professional help for her (it's that bad) but she's stated she doesn't like cats, doesn't want to like cats, and certainly isn't going to waste good money trying to change her mind. Just one of those things we've all learned to live with.

#187 alcottacre - Wouldn't you know - just when I have time AND the inclination to take new pictures of the kitties to share here on Richard's thread, husband and daughter have gone on a picture-taking mission and taken both cameras. But I'll get some soon, promise.

#188 richarddear - thank you for the go around the kitties hug. Have I returned to permanent Karen status or is this a temporary aberration until you read the next Charles Todd?

#190 mckait - great kittie names. 57 is better than the alternative. My mom's 78, my grandmother lived to age 93. Her mother lived to 96. I have hopes.

Now personally, I wouldn't mind having a dog EXCEPT for the fact that I'm not into animal cruelty - which it would be for our kitties if I got a dog at this stage of their lives. I'm not interested in any more stress in the house than we already have with Miss Alpha female Coco.

I had dobermans once upon another life and Jet and Ruby were wonderful dogs. Broke up with the boyfriend, and he got the dogs. Sniff. Daughter would like a dachsund but I told her she could get one when she gets her own apartment. Then she can have a dog and her albino leopard gecko Jeremy.

Purple Hibiscus review...roflmao

The resident felines here all send smooches, too...
Tigger-the-terror cat, aged about 7. (he broke into the house one morning and decided to stay, so he's also known as the cat burglar.)
Jasper, the sweet black-and-white tuxedo gentleman cat, with the ultra-soft fur, tufty ears and the longest whiskers in the world, found abandoned when he was only 3 weeks old, nearly 8 years ago. A big furry marshmallow
Molly, aged 8, a fraidy cat with a long elegant tail. A pastel tortie, with the world's loudest purr and most plaintive meow.
Cassie, aged nearly 6. "Adopted" from the local Yemeni-owned deli, whose owner threatened to kill her as a 8-week old kitten, because she was playing with the bags of potato chips instead of chasing mice. She is so terrified of humans that she doesn't come out of hiding when they are in the house, but bosses Jasper & Molly ruthlessly, and follows me around like a shadow.

Sending purrs to Richard... and looking forward to welcoming him to their ranks...

*choo*

*choo*

Basta on the catsa!

>200 mckait: Kath, did you mean *my* Purple Hibiscus review?

#199: I hope so! Bad husband and kids running off with your cameras.

OK, so, I swear you will like this Richard.

I keep certain tomes in the room of repose andI came across this gem last night in an Dave Barry essay (theme was focused around Owl Vomit Study) but expanded to included weird pet stuff:

"According to an Associated Press story... alertly sent in by numerous readers, investigators concluded that a house fire in Lima, New York was caused by 'a cat playing with matches' .....

Edited to add Owl Vomit Study

Suzanne.. I love you! You are a cat angel indeed...

I have adopted ( liberated) an animal or too over the years to better homes, although not my own.. And all of my pets have been rescues as well.. I love cat burglar.. lol!

rd... I do indeed..

I used to have 6 dogs and 5 cats growing up, and up until 13 years ago, I always had cats and or dogs living with me. They all got along, slept together, some would sleep on my bed with me (who needs a hot water bottle when you can snuggle up with a purring machine on my chest and a large furry blanket across your legs?).

But despite your continued vendetta against all that's feline, I'm pleased to inform you, richie-dear, that I've finished reading Aloha Candy Hearts. He reminds me so much of Lawrence Sander's Archy McNally, PD of Palm Beach. Same effervescent personality and quirky sense of humor. Vincent Longo tried valiantly but his version of Archy just fell flat in my opinion.

I agree caroline.. I also had bunnies and kitties... ( bunnies litter trained) and they played and cuddled . Animals are just plain nicer than most people. No bunnies these days.. but, Duncan loves my kitties and they ( mostly) love him back. In fact, Rosie is simply his cat. :)

I had bunnies, tortoises, ferrets and chickens as well as the dogs and cats, and of all of them, I didn't like the chickens much at all. I don't think they're very smart and weren't too interesting. All the others had great personalities ...even the tortoises, slow though they could be. ;-)

My kids had a box turtle.. MacDuff.. Loved him :) and my gram had chickens when I was a child.. and I really liked most of them. They would play with me :) and only intimidated me when I went to steal their eggs. It wasn' them though.. it is guilt on my part .. lol

I simply love ferrets, but have never had one. They are brilliant, aren't they?

Ferrets are the sweetest. Mooch and Pepi were absolutely wonderful. Completely domesticated, they came indoors to use the toilet and washed their front paws in the rain bucket outside before the ate. I wanted a pig but my mom put her foot down because of course despite all our promises, she really was the one who had to look after the menagerie.

Richard, darling, I have to agree with you - cats are horrible devilish beasts. And I have three.

My dog is cat-sized, but I like him a hell of a lot more. The boys love the cats, though, which is why I continue to feed them. ;)

Cats, bah.

I must register my extreme displeasure with the weather goddess: It is not quite 11a, and the temp is 82F; the humidity 77%; and it's not August, or Texas.

This Is Not Fair.

73 and breezy.. intermittent showers... very nice!

He doesn't do cats, and he whines about the weather!! Any wonder why I won't accept his proposal???

I refuse to enter the current CAT FLAP...my 18-year-old cat will drool on me, copiously, if I do...sorry Richard..you'll have to be on your own, still.

It's weird here, weather-wise (or stupid, one).....Rain..thunderstorms....humidity....it's growing chilly but it's humid/sticky....CRAAAZZZY Weather, mon..me need some consistency hence, oui...Wind is picking up...skies be blue...but it's too wet to walk in my damned yard...Oh Lord!

Texas was NEVER this bad/weird

;-}

Just catching up on threads . . . and catching up . . .

No comment on cats except to say that my hubby is dreadfully allergic, so we shan't have any here.

We supposedly had a Tornado Watch issued here this morning, and I didn't even know about it until it was over. Didn't see any tornados, but it rained buckets for a while during church, and the prevailing wind qualified this as a Very Bad Hair Day!

This has been the year for weird weather!

Cooling off now, thankfully, although yesterday & today were extraordinarily humid. Odd, in the depths of winter I yearn for summer... and then struggle through it. My fave months are May and September, no question. Especially when the cats decide to turn into furry blankets on a hot night. Still, at least I won't have to blast the A/C tonight.

As a New York native, I was amazed by the sudden weather changes living in Texas. How can the temperature drop 40 degrees in a matter of hours? It's baffling to me

I'm amused, though, that it's cooler here in Mexico City than in much of the Northeast right now.

At 10pm tonight when I came to work, it was still 86 degrees outside. Yep, summer is here in Texas.

It was about the same temperature here, but we're only about 4-5 degrees above normal.

#221: At the Rangers game Saturday, the temperature on the field was almost 120 degrees. Yikes! I cannot imagine playing in that heat (although I did when I was many moons younger.)

I am not sure how close we are to the normal temperatures around here. At 12:30am, the temperature is still reading over 80.

The weather goddess is back in my good books. It's currently 58F and dry as a dead dog's bone. The Divine Miss and I watched the ENTIRE "Sordid Lives: The Series" marathon in honor of Rue McClanahan on Logo...I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard, and The Divine Miss picked up several colorful additions to her vocabulary. Fun!

I suppose I should go to bed. It's what grown-up people do when it's 2a...unless they're new parents. Which I am, blessed be, NOT.

I am grown-up and I do not go to bed at 2AM!

It's 74 degrees in Atlanta just after 2 am. However, it tends to get cooler here at night than it does in other deep South cities. Atlanta sits at least 700 feet above sea level, and over 1000 feet in some spots, as it is in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. It gets considerably warmer in central and south Georgia cities such as Macon, Columbus, and Augusta.

Stasia and I are at work, so we don't have to go to bed. (I would like to go to bed, though.)

>224 alcottacre: Stasia dearest, I don't mean to touch upon tender spots, but to use you as one's yardstick of ordinary anything would be self-defeating. It simply don't fit youse, no matter where we put it.

>225 kidzdoc: Another reason to visit the South only in the winter! I was in Hotlanta last in the 90s, and I have felt no burning desire to return. If I'd thought a little harder, I could have turned that into a pun...minimal effort, into a joke...but it's 2:15a, so why?

Well, if I was at home, I still would not be in bed, so I guess it does not matter. I could not tell you the last time I was in bed at 2am.

Of course, it is not 2am here yet! I am an hour behind you East coasters.

#227: I try hard to fit in, does that count, Richard?

>226 kidzdoc: Ew. Work at this hour, in a hospital, either too boring or too exciting.

>229 alcottacre: Why ever? Us weirdo oddball strange-os make the world a more fun place to live.

#230: You have a point!

#230: Excitement at 2 am in a hospital is not good. Boredom = time to catch up on LT posts and read = bliss.

>231 alcottacre: Well, I'm not *just* decorative, despite what Kath says.

>232 kidzdoc: Now that, Doctor, is what I call making lemonade from the lemons!

#232: Boredom = time to catch up on LT posts and read = bliss.

Same here!

humph

Which one of us are you 'humphing' at, Kath? Or just everyone in general?

Humph, dearest! (I assume this is some trrrendy new greeting there in...where is it you are, again?...so I hope I haven't misused it....)

humph @ rd for saying I think he is only decorative. He knows better.
Although he is teddy bear decorative, I love him for his mind..

#238: Ah, OK. Thanks for clarifying.

not to mention his somewhat snooty curmudgeonliness..
**

#240: his somewhat snooty curmudgeonliness

One of his finest attributes I must say!

agreed.

I am *not* snooty!

*reflective pause*

Oh. Well, ummm it's a gorgeous day here! The dreadful altheas have finally received their sentence of death...The Divine Miss has agreed that we can move them to a fenceline, where their propensity to spred and colonize and generally render the neighborhood hideous is an advantage! W00t!

* yep*

Hey Richard- How's my favorite "snooty curmudgeon"? Nobody does it better! Had a Carly Simon flashback!

Good morning, Mark! What the hell are you doing on the site at this hour? Did the mail deliver itself in Chicagoland today? You're here, Kath's going to abandon us since she won't splash out the whole *ooo* $150 *ooo* for a netbook, the world is all flippied and damzeled about!

I'm on vacation for about 2 weeks! We are in Salem Oregon! The mail will have to tend for itself for awhile!

>247 msf59: The mail will have to tend for itself for awhile!

I thought that's what it always did

Oh hi Mark.

Oh, the weather is as utterly gorgeous this week as it was unbearably hot & muggy last week!! temps in the mid to high 70s all week, sez the forecaster. I just hope that turns out to be correct. It's bliss not to have to run the A/C full blast in order to sleep, and to feel energetic (well, sorta kinda) in the morning.

Review: 37 of seventy-five

Title: ALOHA, CANDY HEARTS

Author: ANTHONY BIDULKA

Rating: 3.9* of five

Your attention please, aspiring mystery novelists: If your killer isn't introduced to the reader of your mystery by p50 of a 224+pp book, you are not playing fair with your readers.

That is the one and only reason I took a tenth of a star from this fun, breezy, sweet mystery, number six in a seven-book (to date) series. I don't know exactly how this happened, but when I looked over my records (snort--when I went and looked at the reviews page for the book!), I was startled to see that I never wrote a review after gobbling this confection down last year. Well, the new book is out (Date with a Sheesha), so it was no effort to pull it out and read it again.

*contented sigh* The book begins with a beautiful man making a beautiful marriage proposal to Russell Quant (Our Hero), in the most gorgeously romantic setting imaginable, and ends with a chapter of the most wonderfully visual romantic wooing that I've ever run across, and in between Our Hero dashes around gay, metropolitan Saskatoon like Cary Grant in Arsenic and Old Lace, getting ready for his best friend's wedding, introducing his mother to smutty literature (accidentally and hilariously), losing his beloved Molly the Miata to a crazed maniac, getting drunk as a lord with his straight police nemesis, and oh yeah solving a murder that has ties to one of Canada's leading (fictional, of course) literary lights and political dynasties.

In series-mystery-talk, this is one with legs. It's always fun to see these characters, and there are some new faces for us to learn to love...Russell's much older sister shows up, lights a candle in the darkness of the Quant family history, and casts a newly nuanced light on Russell's delightfully clueless mom, Kay.

There is never any sex in these books, which is both an analysis and a complaint...but it makes the series very homophobe-friendly, because the challenge isn't to gloss over the ewww-ickness of gay sex, but to relate as best one can to the pains, pangs, and pleasures of falling in love, being in love, and loving with fury and strength the people in one's world. I think that's universal enough to pull in a few readers...I hope it is...and I recommend that a few brave-but-squeamish straight people try reading the Russell Quant series. Amuse Bouche will start you out right. I don't think most of you will be disappointed, who make the leap.

rd... find me a netbook for 150$ and I will buy it....

this hunkajunk barely moves .... I am sad

Here is one for $120; here is one for $150.

*pats foot awaiting confirmation of order*

...like Cary Grant in Arsenic and Old Lace...

I'm persuaded. Onto the wishlist the series goes.

>253 Eat_Read_Knit: Oh goody good! Caty, you are quite likely to enjoy Amuse Bouche, but please be patient if it's not your all-time most favoritest of books. The series picks up steam as it goes along, like so many do; only book #5 wasn't really to my personal liking, and six is my favorite so far.

ok

Seventh thread is up and running.

>247 msf59: Hi Mark, I forgot about your vacation. I'm sorry!

>248 brenzi: Bonnie, shame! Shame!

>249 Chatterbox: Suzanne, it's perfect...here's to hoping it lasts.

#254 I do solemnly swear that I will not give up on the series after one book.

Well, you've got me convinced. Not that I needed convincing re: homphobia (half of my family, it seems, is gay, and romance is romance, love is love, wherever found), but because I'm always on the lookout for new-to-me interesting, fun mysteries, and especially looking for quirky but fairly realistic characters.

>257 Eat_Read_Knit: You are duly deposed to that effect.

>258 Matke: Oh goody good, Gail!

I have already read the first book in the series, and the second book has been on my PBS wishlist since I finished that one. I am waiting (im)patiently!