Richardderus thread #19

Found one I love at last!


The Green Man by Andre Durand

The painter was inspired by this poem:
Green Man

Your face is hewn from ivy and wolfsbane;
beneath it lies a skull of oak, not bone –
and chlorophyll, not blood, runs through each vein.

Your roots are tangled, earthy and arcane;
each limb from gnarled and ancient forests grown.
Your face is hewn from ivy and wolfsbane.

Do you recall that festival – Beltane –
when winter ends, sap rises, seeds are sown,
and chlorophyll, not blood, runs through each vein?

Although the woodland groves are your domain,
the old ways have been ousted, overthrown.
Your face is hewn from ivy and wolfsbane

and twisted vines sprout from your head, a chain
that reaches back into the past you own –
and chlorophyll, not blood, runs through each vein.

So is your spirit sacred, or profane?
Both young and old, your origins unknown…
Your face is hewn from ivy and wolfsbane,
and chlorophyll, not blood, runs through each vein.

Elizabeth Kay May 2010

http://www.elizabethkay.co.uk

THIS thread is for NEW books read, those published from 2009 to the present.




The Books off the Shelf thread for 2011 is up, though sort of nekkid. My goal there is now 30 books from my shelves read and donated, shared, or generally gotten out of the house.




This thread is for any book I review that was published in 2008 or before, whether I own the book or not, and for whatever reason isn't a book I will get off the shelves.




Review #1: ...thread 3
Review #2: thread 4
Review #3: thread 5
Reviews 4 & 5: thread 6
Reviews 6-8: thread 7
Reviews 9 & 10: thread 8
Reviews 11-13: thread 9
Reviews 14-17: thread 10
Reviews 18-20: thread 11
Reviews 21-24: thread 12
Review 25: thread 13
Reviews 26 & 27: thread 14
Reviews 28-32: thread 15
Reviews 34 & 35: thread 16
Reviews 36 & 37: thread 17
Reviews 38-42: thread #18.

Books are reviewed in post:

43. First Day On Earth...#200.

Tina, from last thread...oh dear...so sorry...I found it like an incantation. The spareness, the directness, the magical images, all made me feel I was on the magic carpet ride. I wish I hadn't steered you so wrong. :-(

It's ok...we don't all see things the same way. I think had I read it on another day, in another realm, I might have had a different reaction. I can see where it will definitely appeal to some, and others will think it drivel. I'm somewhere in between....it's just a bigg meah... but that doesn't mean I won't continue to seek out your most of the time excellent suggestions. You don't often steer me wrong.

Sleep tight.

Found and Starred :) I always enjoy lurking on your thread

Waving feebly and waiting to see what art you add to this thread.

Found you!

Found new thread before I've caught up with the old - holidays do set one so far behind....

Hello! I'm looking forward to what will appear in post #1 too!

Hi Richard - hope you are having a good day.

Hi Richard!

Bonjour Richard - bisous!

Found you!


glitter-graphics.com

>4 tututhefirst: Most of the time is better than average, so I go with it.

Thank you all for coming by to star me, Chelle the lurkeress, Suz the Stressed, Cushla the Lucky Wench Who Goes to Paris for Breakfast, Genny the Exhausted by Joy, MeganMom, calmstephenbekkakathterri*pantpantpant*

Whew. I don't know what I'll put in #1 yet. Nothing is speaking to me so far. I *do* know that this scaryscary nor'easter has me all a-tremble beneath my bed! It's raining steadily, and there's a brisk breeze. OOO!

When will I stop buying the hype? The one day I *should* buy the hype, I suppose.

>14 tymfos: I don't like that star. It looks like something that Tony Romo or Roger Staubach might wear.



I'm also waiting to see what work of art you choose to open your thread.

Look at this glamorous new thread!

I have my copy of Hurricane Story, and have yet to delve in...we shall see whether I join Team Richard or Team Tina. As an object, it is exquisite.

>16 kidzdoc: Perhaps something Jets-related....

>17 ty1997: Glamour? Moi? Check your prescription, loveycuddles.

>18 laytonwoman3rd: However we end up reviewing the book, Linda3rd, we all seem to come back to the beauty of the actual book. It's remarkable.

LOL even I thought the star was footbll-y

hang in there rd.. maybe you will get a real storm yet.

rd... did the book get there yet?? They actually said 10-14 days or some such rot at the PO.
( that was last tuesday) I sent out several packets that day. Crazy I say!

Regarding Hurricane Story....i've seen Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke...and Tia Lessin's TROUBLE THE WATERS....also the HBO series Treme...plus, i've spent time in New Orleans, myownself......I think Hurricane Story, as a book, is truly interactive...in that the reader has to bring as much to the table, as Ms Shaw did in the production of the book...a sense of "wonder" doesn't hurt....Imagination ....necessary...possibly, a suspension of disbelief...I think the book is a jewel...

*lecture over*

Roger Staubuck? Ah, Darryl, we do go back a ways, don't we? The quarterback I loved to hate. Although he was pretty clever. And yes, the star does look exactly like a Cowboys insignia.

>20 mckait: Hey, why don't you use the fact that you and the Weather Goddess went to kindergarten together to whammy me up a good'un?

>21 mckait: No book yet. What book, BTW? And thank you!

>22 jdthloue: One reason I love the 75ers is the wiiiide diversity of tastes and choices I find here, Jude. I am never, ever bored when I cruise the threads.

>23 ffortsa: Hi Judy!

Why do you think you have a pfffffT instead of a good'un?

Piddle-poof-plop

*snore*

>24 richardderus: & >22 jdthloue:

I jumped on me soapbox, because I was shelving books and found Hurricane Story...

I just wanted to send you my "star" pic...and got carried away

but...i think i spoke "truth"

Hey, nobody's started an argument...yet.....

***shhh...she shuffles off to Buffalo***

I think an empty first message has it's charm too!

>29 FAMeulstee: Hmmm...maybe I'll leave it!

Just a bit tardy getting to your new thread--but I've been cleaning out the utility room and not on the computer. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Well, we had biiig rain all day yesterday and flooding.
My son went to play in the "lake" in our back garden and came back in with no clothes on. And all the boxes and bits of wood that were mysteriously floating on the "lake" were "marker buoys" I was told. I have my suspicions on how they got there.

#32 LOL. Hell-OOOOOOO Richard! Smooch.

so you have a ptoential nudist in the family eh?
saves on laundry

>31 ronincats: No worries, Roni. Despite the fact you've been seen on so many other threads all day long, I bear no ill will. *sharpens flensing knife pointedly*

>32 LovingLit: Innocent on all counts by virtue of being male.

>33 Berly: BERLY-BOO! At last! *smooch* Are you feeling well?

>34 mckait: Amen!

A *smooch* and a STAR for you RDear! Hope you're snuggly and warm tonight with a dog at your feet and a book in your hand.

Richard, did it really take you a year to read Middlemarch? I sympathize - but I can't speed up because then I miss Eliot's ironic and snarky remarks about her own creations. Almost finished book 1 - gee, and I have a whole 12 days to get through the rest of it!

This storm didn't get so serious, except sometimes the wind did pick up, so the DM was probably wise to do her lumberjack imitation when she did. Hope you're warm and dry.

>36 LauraBrook: The dog's been agitating to go to bed since 10p, Laura. No question of her wanting to cuddle up, since she hates rain.

>37 ffortsa: All of 1978. Kep' me goin' it did it did.

Truth be told, I have never even attempted Middlemarch. I think I would need to read it in a class. You know...with daily page assignments!!

I have Middlemarch.. collecting dust, alas...

>39 Berly: I don't think I could be forced at gunpoint to reread the book now. I agree with Judy that it's sly and witty, but goddam it's long. I'll read chunksters, but only if I haven't read them before.

>40 mckait: It's a very worthwhile read, Kath. Blow the dust off and have at! Wave vaguely at Cory and Dan when/if they speak to you and hold the book higher to show them how long it'll be before you pay attention to them again.

The wind arrived. After the rain. *sigh* As a result, my lovely breezy rain has turned into sodden moldy earth with built-in spore agitation. The dog and I take allergy pills for eye-watering allergies to mold. We doubled up today, and her eyes are still streaming like mine. Ugh.

ugh sounds apt

Allergy empathy here. And also why I don't read Middlemarch. They are all old copies of the book filled with stuff that will make me sneeze.

Because the Xian god really does run the world *AND* she hates me, the lawn service came just now and stirred everything up even more! The dog, normally a sunporchdweller, came running upstairs eyes streaming and sneezing, begging for eye-scratches.

Thank goodness it's not hot, too!

So sorry to hear about the allergies. I don't know why mine aren't roaring as well - probably because I live in such a concrete jungle. But I'm off to Dayton Ohio tomorrow, where my cousins live on 11 acres of pollen-producting, mold-inhabiting country.

Aaaaaaah Choo!
Bless you.

> 44:
I have two of those here too, my DH and Chimay both have allergies and long for winter!
hugs for you Richard and for Stella!

* hands Stella a tissue*

I feel your pain, allergies are the bane of my existence! *shares allergy pills and passes the kleenex*

Back again, Rdear. Thank you for your sweet message on my thread. Maybe tomorrow or Saturday I can actually get back to...wait...what is it? Oh yeah, books.

Hi Richard- I was just going to say I hope you are having a good weekend and then quickly realized it's sometime during the week. My dayz are mixed up. Hope all is well.

>45 ffortsa: Oh boy oh joy! Allergies *and* Ohio! Have fun at the wedding, at least.

>46 LovingLit: Thanks *hoooooonnnnnnk*

>47 FAMeulstee: Winter! Ooo babay babay WINTER!

>48 mckait: STELLA! What about ME?!

>49 ChelleBearss: Thanks Chelle *hoooooonnnnnnk*hands tissue back*

>50 Matke: Hope that's what happens, dearie. Things need to even out in a good place!

>51 msf59: Back at'cha Mr Mark! Better days, better ways.

Ummmm ... You can keep that one ;)

Yeah, I suffer from allergies too...errr, assuming people count as allergens.

Richard have starred your entertaining thread - there are even very occasional references to book here!

Have fun at the wedding? Oh well, you know not whereof you speak. But I will soldier through, and next day see my cousins and come home to clutch my very own pillow once again.

>54 ChelleBearss: No! Really? My very own?! *smooch*

>55 Ape: They do. *choo* They do.

>56 PaulCranswick: ...books?...whyever would we talk about those?

>57 ffortsa: *there there, pat pat*

Still drippy and sneezy today?

Less so, thanks. Been a rotten day, but for other reasons. *sigh*

Rotten day?
Read a book, have a cuppa?
Chin up old chap.

>61 LovingLit: *smooch*

Hope tomorrow is less rotten! :(

Mine was rotten to. woe is me

Books? where?? I know my hearing is starting to go but maybe my eyesight is running a close 2nd.

Richard sorry to hear that you had a stinker yesterday (I'm more than 12 hours ahead of you remember) - sometimes the joker is often the saddest inside!
Mark seems to have followed me and declared your thread a book-free zone. btw what are you reading at the moment?

passes through ... like a ghost...........

The past two days have been full of "Chilly & Damp"...and I wish they'd pack up and go home, already

Alas, I know that Fall is falling...at least my sinuses do...can't even *snort*

Don't worry about those whinging ...regarding the lack of Bookishness, here.....i'll be lucky to reach 20 titles this year

Take care of yourself, Sweetie

**smooches**
J

Good morning RD! Is anyone heard from Caroline? She's been MIA for awhile. I miss her.

Caro is fine-ish. She was away, then at a conference and then ill.
Hopefully she is better today...you kknow our caro.....always at a run...........

Hi everyone, beautiful day and so I've decided to cheer up. So far having only moderate success following my own instructions. *smooch* to all and sundry, thanks for the well-wishes.

I found a painting I like for post #1. It's "The Green Man" -- the nature GOD, instead of goddess -- and the artist managed to get inspired to paint it by a very very very bad poem, reproduced with the painting for y'all's amusement and calumny.

two thumbs up on the green man........

xoxo

I like the art too. Very stylish headwear.

THE ART

DA Poem

Happy Saturday RD!

If you're allergic to pollens, have you considered taking local honey every day? I've heard that it can help, but it has to be local honey so that it can combat the local things that are giving you the sneezies.

We're empty nesters squared today - daughter's home for fall break, but has gone out to spend the day with other college friends at the high school band competition. We're glad she's out having a great day with friends. But she's going back tomorrow..... so will only get tomorrow through mid-afternoon with her until Thanksgiving. Off to clean a closet then read.....

>72 mckait: PLEASE reassure me that you're referring to the painting, not the poem!

>73 Ape: And chlorophyll runs through his veins!

>74 tututhefirst: Exactly!

>75 karenmarie: I don't at all like honey, but would take it medicinally if there was such a thing as local honey here. I suspect smog and dandelion honey would taste pretty rank, so they don't make a point of feeding the bees local stuff.

painting... yes..

Painting: I love the green man but I feel like the while outlined guy on the hill is too distracting, if it wasn't there I'd like the painting a whole lot more. The poem just plain perplexes me!

>77 mckait: *wipes brow*

>78 LovingLit: ...but...but...the Long Man of Wilmington is a way cool archaeological mystery! He's possibly an ancient Druidic deity, associated with the Green Man in some cosmogenies. Having one avatar of the Green Man facing and possibly contemplating the other is a nice, tidy little metaphor for religious sentiment in general. Eh what?

I feel like the while outlined guy on the hill is too distracting

Distracting from what, Megan? ;)

Sending cheery thoughts your way...

>79 richardderus: oh *looks off into middle distance and thinks academically* OK

>80 Ape: um, the NAKED guy! That's what, but I secretly think you knew that :)

>80 Ape: As if you couldn't figure that out. Straight or not, that one's a no-brainer.

>81 jadebird: I was *sure* you were sending cheeky thoughts, Ren!

>82 LovingLit: Yeah. See?

Hi Richard! I lost you for a while.
Nice painting.
The poem is a villanelle. Have you ever tried to write one of those? Damn difficult. I don't like when my professors force me to write classically structured poetry. Villanelles and sestinas are the worst :/

I once had to write a crown of sonnets. About mesquite trees. Fourteen sonnets about a damned weed, each one starting with the last line of the one before. I will *never ever again ever* take a poultry-writing class.

PS I hate sestinas too!

#85: That sounds horrible! I am knocking on wood with crossed fingers that no poetic torture of that degree befalls me.

>87 katelisim: Oh, me too me too! Gawdlemighty it was a freakin' NIGHTMARE to go to that class every day at 1p, full as a tick from drinking my lunch, knowing some hideous horror was about to be flensed from the rotting corpse of Calliope and stuffed into my screaming mouth with orders to chew chew chew until I could spit back a mangled, bloody gobbet in roughly the required shape.

I didn't like it much.

frost warning last night.. clearly the weather goddess has some anger issues..

Poking you in LT for a change, Rdear! Yes, I'm finally able to log into LT again after a couple of weeks away ... what a horrendous time I've had of things but I think my little boat has found calmer waters again .... fingers crossed.

Dang, I want a butt that firm.

Glad it's turning out to be a beautiful and cheery weekend, Richard!

>89 mckait: I should say! That's just plain weird. It was 80 two weeks ago. **shrug**

>90 cameling: So so glad to see you, me hearty! I hate loathe despise and detest the new FB interface so I spend next to no time there anymore. *smooch*

>91 ty1997: Oh yeah uh-huh ooo ooo ooo me too!

...wait...you mean your *own* butt...oh well then, you'd best get in the way-back machine, go back to being something-teen, and work out like a madman. For the rest of us not genetically gifted, that is but(t) a fantasy.

Prurient dirty-old-man-ness aside, I like that painting's symbolism, with the Green Man contemplating the Long Man of Wiltshire. I am one of the people in this world who is assaulted by stories every waking moment, unable not to see the dramatic potential in the simplest, the commonest things, events, actions. I get lost in the stories I see in this painting, there are so many of them....

Love the opening image Richard:)

> 92 "I hate loathe despise and detest the new FB interface so I spend next to no time there anymore" Me too.

The naked Green Man does have a nice ass!

Oh, have you read The Green Man by Kingsley Amis?? Wicked good little shop of satirical horror...yes sir...

*smooch*

FB keeps my mother-in-law in the UK happy when I post baby pics :) But yes they keep ruining it!

Aside from that, drive by hugs :) X

>93 calm: Very...uplifting, right calm?

>94 jadebird: Great minds think alike, eh what Ren?

>95 jdthloue: Suuure does, Jude...and I don't remember reading Amis's The Green Man, so I will hunt it up. I read Green henry a million years ago, and love love loved it.

>96 BekkaJo: *smoochings* to Bekka the Jersine!

92 > I'm not even picky who the firm buns are on: me or the other guy. Alas, genetics has played the same cruel trick on my bottom as it seems like it may have on yours.

I have actually adjusted to the new FB, I think. I don't know that I like it, but it is not causing me to avoid the site, like I thought it would.

>98 ty1997: I've never had a butt. Flat from shoulders to heels all my life. Both parents were built that way, so I am too. In a bar, I would SO not hit on me. Hips, I got. I'm a big-bruiser build, and before joint probelms set it, I was the big muscular type. Nowadays...well, let's just say that every twink who wants a daddy thinks I'm groovy, and god bless every single one of 'em! I tend to get woofed at by the otters in bear bars, what with the bushy gray beard and the moderate belly. Cubs aren't as into me, for some reason.

I've never had a butt, either...or hips, for that matter...usually had to buy jeans in the Mens Dept...all my weight went "up top"...so i have a big bust.....at 5'4", it's been comical!

**thank you for letting me Share**

;-}

I'm bootylicious.

Just saying.

I don't mean that in a good way.

I wiggle when I walk.

-.-

You're lucky, Stephen...the inability to "wiggle" is not good...for a "girl".....my booty don't even shift...

Well, for a girl, maybe. For a guy, it just looks funny. Fortunately I've wound up developing an awkward, self-conscious lurch/shamble of a walk that disguises the feminine wiggling a little. :P

Most of the guys, here, with that lurch/shamble, are either drunks or meth-addicts-coming-down-from-a-high

I'll take your "shake" any day

Haha, thanks, I guess I'm a step or two above drunks and meth addicts at least. :)

>104 jdthloue: LOLOLOLOL

Stephen, it's not only gay men who like it when Baby Got Back. There are plenty of women who find a man's booty more than just what he sits down on, and there are a fair few with a taste for the bounce'n'jiggle brigade. Quit worrying. She's out there.

But I'm so good at worrying!

So it's time to practice something you're NOT good at, then. Call a girl up and ask her for a date...iced tea at the Denny's or something.

106, it's true! My fiance has a J-Lo booty and it's great! He looks great in jeans ;)

Booty Call...anyone???

Richard: I don't know any girls, plus I'm pretty certain there are slimy little creatures that live in phones and lay eggs in your ear when you talk on those things...so I try to avoid that...

>109 ChelleBearss: *vibrates with envy*

>110 jdthloue: JUDE! You're a GIRL! Not supposed to think about such lasciviousness!

>111 Ape: That's just ear wax. Clean your phone.

>112 richardderus: Who says I can't be lascivious.....with boys and/ or girls?

Certainly not you, Sweetie

;-}

LOL

*faints*

good grief! Clearly the old man of the Thread is feeling better?

This is what happens when you put naked people in your first post. Degradation!

It isn't earwax. I'm a meticulous ear cleaner. I think they are evolutionary decendants or distant cousins of cats...and stink bugs.

After a dinner of chicken baked with olives, lemon, and wine served with creamy parmesan rice, and followed by an avocado/onion/tomato salad (no not guacamole, salad as in chunks in a nice, light dressing) and molasses cookies, we settled in to watch the second episode of "Case Histories" featuring Scottish sleuth Jackson Brodie.

Not. One. Damned. Word. Did I understand. Not. ONE.

They might as well be speaking Elvish. Followed the story just fine, thanks, but the dialogue? Please! This boss-lady detective has a horrorshow of a son whose accent is so horrible, as in ugly, that it made me cringe. Then again it could simply be a case of dad-itis, since I wanted to slap the little pisher stupid 489144 times for behaving so horribly disrespectfully.

Srsly. Subtitles please.

Only five days to notice you have a new thread, I'm really on to it.

#117 Are subtitles not available? For many broadcast programmes in the UK you can press a button and get subtitles. I do sympathise with the need for them: I always put the subtitles on when watching DVDs of American films or TV shows, because I absorb anything unfamiliar better in written form than aurally. Especially when dialogue is very fast moving or full of dialect or lots of names (invaluable for both West Wing and Firefly!).

I didn't have a problem with Case Histories myself, though there are plenty of English people who complain they can't understand heavy Scottish accents. Perhaps living nearer to the border - and working with two Glaswegian colleagues - has helped me adjust!

Didn't watch.. reading a surprisingly good book....

>118 avatiakh: Wow Kerry! No wonder the police training people called me for a reference, good lookin' out Search! ;-P~~~

>119 gennyt: In the US there is closed-captioning available at the punch of a button...but it is done in real-time by a Slavonic-speaking rhesus monkey who types with a lisp.

The only accent I have more trouble with than Scottish is Cockney. It's not only hard to get, but hideous to hear.

>120 mckait: Surprise me! What was it?

"done in real-time by a Slavonic-speaking rhesus monkey who types with a lisp." I can see how that might not enhance the viewing experience...

Just a quick hello, RichardDear. Sounds like things are going pertty well if the discussion is about tushs, food, and Jackson Brodie.

>122 gennyt: To put it mildly.

>123 karenmarie: *smooch* to my own dear Horrible*

>124 mckait: Oh! Is that your PGH-based mystery/thriller writer? Might you review it sometime soon?

RD---so glad others had trouble with the audio portion of Monsterpiece theater. And thirty-two DUHs for not thinking of the subtitle button....we have new TV so I'll have to play around and see.

They WERE good books....

might... you were in this one.

>126 tututhefirst: Good luck with that. I hope your rhesus monkey who closed-captions stuff doesn't speak English only phonetically, like our Slavonic-speaking one does.

>127 mckait: ...I was...? Uh-oh.

ETA And wouldn't you know...Lucidity is one the county system doesn't have! Just the "Angels of Mercy" series, and Lifelines. Boo hiss.

Lucidity is new I think?
I like her books.. not great but good medical suspense ..
I read it on nook :( sorry ..

I need an eReader, Nook or Kobo or Kindle or something. Wait...did *I* just say that?!

eReader, Nook or Kobo or Kindle

Now I need a translation.

you do... you do... I keep hoping that you will win one of the kindles...
:(

I need an eReader, Nook or Kobo or Kindle or something. Wait...did *I* just say that?!

Oh, dear... *Forcibly removes bottle of alcohol from Richard's clutches* I think it might be time to slow down a bit...

I've had a Kindle since they first came out (travel job necessity) but find myself reverting to good old dead tree tomes whenever humanly possible.

I'll be a Luddite on this one thing.

I don't know how to judge my rear looks, butt (ha, ha) it hurts like crazy. Had PT today and I was glad the therapist was a girl. Pulled hamstring looks like, right where it attaches at the top. Have to sit on the other cheek...

Berly, ouchie ... I've had that happen to me before and it's really annoying. Plus it gets tiring sitting on one butt cheek. Hope your hamstring unstrains itself soon.

Rdear, I am lasciviously salivating over the Kindle Touch .... but my current Kindle Keyboard is continuing to serve me well, so I can't justify turning the poor little guy in for a new model just yet.

Hi Richard!! Since I'm stuck working 3rd shift tonight, I'm getting caught up with everyone. I'm urging you to say no to the unnecessary electronic gadgets! Books are better!!!
And the darn house is swarming with stink bugs tonight. If you sent them this way you are in big trouble mister!!

... dead tree tomes.... good one, ty1997.

Good morning, RD!

Books are better indeed, but electronic allows one
to explore authors otherwise unavailable, and allows one
to have a whole TBR stack in their pocket.. so the readers
have their place, too. imo.

just my opinion .. :)

Richard- I watched and enjoyed the 1st "Case Histories". Without the captioning turned on, I would have been totally lost. Did they tone down the lead's hunkiness in the 2nd one? Did he find a few excuses to strip off his shirt?

Morning, Sweetie!

The sun is shining (for once) and I feel pretty good...hope you do, too

On the eReader front...I own a Kindle, Nook, and iPad....plus more physical books than I can count. I've got all the bases covered, no apologies.....each has its place...but I stll prefer the feel of a book in my hands

allows one to explore authors otherwise unavailable

I have too many books and authors to explore already without an ereader... :(

Jude, I am deeply impressed. So far we are living with one Kindle (Jim's) and I don't even have a smartphone. The iPad looks wonderful, but a little big to tote around. It's not that I'm a Luddite. I just get tired thinking of learning to use yet another electrical system. I guess that makes me OLD. Yikes.

I am trying to find a way to add an iPad to my electronic menagerie.. someday I will manage!
I don't think age has anything to do with it, interest and or curiosity maybe? I have no desire for
a smart phone.. my mobile phone is smart enough for me.. so I am not interested in a new one.
An iPad on otoh.. I long for one!

Jude.. talk about having the best of all worlds.. lol.
I love the way a book appears on an iPad.. much more fun than the
way they appear on a nook.. but I do love my nook. I never thought I would
say that, but a little gadget that gets me free books and allows me to tiptoe
around the internet when I like.. well, nothing to not like for me.

I would love to get an iPad and have the first downloaded book the
Steve Jobs bio ! ( *waits for rd to gag*)

I like the iPad's "turning pages" too...first time I saw it i laughed!

My Kindle and Nook have been great for pre-publication copies of books...I know Net Galley uses Adobe software, but that hasn't been a problem for me, so far. I too love the Freebies, available for both...have been able to "sample" some pretty good writers.

Smart phone? I don't think so. The smartest thing i got for my phone was an answering machine...now I don't have to "pick up" if I'm not in the mood...

;-}

Richard

Knowing you follow various episodes of shows, I highly recommend Doc Martin. If you have Netflix you can stream this BBC show. It is a hoot!

Hugs to you!

One day soon I'll have to review a book!

>146 Whisper1: Ooo, I love "Doc Martin"! My local (as in 3mi away) PBS station shows it three times a week. Love Martin Clunes as the dour Doc...when Clunes in actual factual is hilarious, loves to laugh, and is a cut-up!

>145 jdthloue:, 141 Every possible base covered, eh Jude? Good! Kindle has 67% of the ereader market, and they're going for 100%. Nook is second with ~19% and several others come in with ootsy-tiddly shares. *sigh* AND now Amazon has tree-book imprints galore. 47North for SF, Montlake for romances, Encore for normal fiction...when Amazon and Google merge, we'll have to change the national anthem to "Oh say can you see/by the monitor's flick'ring light..."

>144 mckait:, 139, 132 On the bus t'other day, I saw a college student watching TV on his smartphone. ..??..

I'll always have tree books, but I need to be able to keep up with the market, and the market is headed for ebooks as the first-line publication. I may not like it, but resistance is futile.

>143 ffortsa: Yeup. Old. And a girl. ;-P~~~

>142 Ape:, 133 One day soon, your floor will collapse. THEN you'll be sorry you didn't buy an ereader by prostituting yourself to fat, hairy Russian businessmen!

>140 msf59: *OF COURSE* he took off his shirt! Why else would I watch the darn thing? He's a real DILF.

>138 karenmarie: *smooch* Horrible! Don't encourage Tom...he gets tiddly when praised too much.

>137 tjblue: *evil Muttley laugh* Oh hey, Tammy, do me a favor...waft some out towards Kath's too, okay?

>136 cameling: Loyal to an electronic device. You truly are one-of-a-kind, Caro.

>135 Berly: Your butt looks just fine, Berly, and I have seen it so I know.

CLOTHED! SHE WAS CLOTHED! Good gracious, don't want to ruin my reputation around here....

>134 ty1997: I'll never give up my tree books! No no no! But the ereader has advantages, not least space-saving.

>131 LovingLit: Those are the big brands of American electronic readers. Amazon sells the Kindle. It's the 800-lb gorila in the room! xoxo

Hey! This girl is responsible for the humongous settlement system that makes the capitalist behemoth roar. If I don't want to learn a smartphone, it's because I'm busy saving the capitalist world.

and my phone bill. So there.

My smartphone came with a free book app. . . so I downloaded some free books which were mostly classic types. Apparently, the free versions of Goethe only come in German, so those may take me a few years to read. I've watched some Youtube on it, but haven't gotten to Hulu yet--don't really see the point, though, since I have my laptop available when I free time, much better screen size :)

>148 ffortsa: Do you ever, in your darker moments, have the urge to, just once, let it crash and see what happens?

>149 katelisim: Commuters on public transport, it seems, are using the smartphones to read and to Hulu stuff up. I saw eleven people doing something engrossing on the smartphone that didn't involve them speaking on a recent trip to Roosevelt Field on the bus. (I hate parking there.) In one thirty-minute trip.

The world changed, and I am left verschmeckeled by it.

I am just about the only person in the airport lounge who isn't reading / watching a movie / playing a game / surfing the web on a tablet (almost always an iPad).

I was tech-savvy once. Here I am with my almost outdated MacBook surrounded by iPads. I don't know when I fell off the train.

When you got comfortable, love. That's when we all fall off the train. "Oh, yes, this is nice, I like this" is a LETHAL thing to think. It heralds the lack of willingness and also desire to roll on down the tracks as new things are handed up to the passengers.

I can't ABIDE the changes made to Facebook. I liked, was comfy with, the old GUI. I cling to my netbook. I detest smartphones. I'm comfortable with the previous generation of tech, it works, so why bother with shit that answers questions I don't care enough to ask?

Because the world ain't slowin' down for my sorry, saggy, milk-train-lovin' ass, it's goin' mag-lev with me or without me. So I have to haul myself on at the next station, like it or don't. (Don't.)

You too, loveycuddles.

Smartphones are amazing. I can't afford one but my mom has one and it's ridiculously fun to play with when I'm supposed to be having a pleasant dinner with her and my sister.

Still hate ereaders though.

I must admit that I am addicted to my iPhone.
Seriously crazy on-it-all-the-time addicted --- and I hate talking on the phone!
All those apps and gadgets, love'em!

new facebook is, as far as I can tell, useless. None of my friends status updates seem to come up, nothing is happening there foe me lately. I like LT way better!

>153 Ape: Stephen, face it, you'd rather play with a jack-in-the-box than chat with your family, so you're no judge.

>154 ChelleBearss: Nuh-uh. No thonks. More for you!

>155 LovingLit: I liked LT way better even before! I just got useful information from FB. Now I just don't care.

No, Richard, I am not tempted to let it all crash. All that would happen would be that they would call me, my boss, my teammates, my CIO, my CEO, and for all I know the president, and we'd have it back working in no time. Thanks, but no thanks.

Besides, I've got my own gelt in the system.

I do love my iPhone. Being able to google anything, anywhere, anytime/ How did I live before that? When my phone dies, I feel disconnected from the world. I NEED POWER SO I CAN GET TO THE GOOGLES!

>157 ffortsa: Besides, I've got my own gelt in the system.
That is a powerful counterargument, I must admit.

>158 ty1997: I feel the same way, only not about a phone. No INTERNET?! *fantods*

*Reading this thread from my smartphone...
It's great to have access to LT e(en even when away from the computer. But it's a bit slow typing posts with one finger.

edited when back at normal keyboard to correct stray bracket from awkward touch screen keyboard - they are certainly not the easiest things to use for typing accurate messages! - as post #161 comments.

#160: And spelling errors. . . I'm so not used to a touch screen keyboard yet.

156: That's not necessarily true, my sister and I get a long great. Assuming she isn't distracting me from Angry Birds. :P

touch screen keyboards are challenging, I agree..

Good morning geeks! I'm recumbent, with my trusty-dusty netbook propped on a pillow at precisely the proper angle to give me comfortable typing range, slurping my coffee and savoring my molasses cookies (health food!). Typo? No worries! There's the backspace button, conveniently larger than the surrounding buttons, making it so much simpler to hit. *aaah* I like the comforts of home. And a gigabit router.

There's no place like home :)

But I have to weigh in and say I ADORE my Sony E-reader. It reads any format, nice and clear - and it's saving me space which I officially do not have in my shoe box sized house. I still love real books though too - honest!

RichardDear - well, just rub it in that some of us are sitting at desks slaving away whilst you slurp coffee and have fun on your netbook.

Do you hear the loud grumbling?

BUT - only 3 more hours then leave an hour early to visit the massage therapist and the chiropractor. My favorite hour and a half every other week. Then, off to dinner with a friend.

Hope the rest of your day goes well, in spite of your wishing another series off on me!

I'm with Kath (163)...the touch screen on my iPad can be bitchy, at times...don't poke her in just the right fashion...hell ensues..

Oh, Sweetie...what netbook hast thou? just being nosey...

.....and a *smooch* on you Richard..like it or not

;-}

did someone say molasses cookies?? I hope you plan on sharing! ;)

>165 BekkaJo: I'd probably adore an eReader, too.

>166 karenmarie: It went fine, thanks, and I've started the second Gianrico Carofiglio novel...probably another 5-star read. *evil Muttley laugh*

>167 jdthloue: *smooch* right back at'cha, snoogie!

>168 ChelleBearss: I did! I don't!

LTing from the comforts of bed? With health food cookies? (*coughs* yea right) Sounds cosy.

Hi, Richard! Just stopping by to say hello, behind by 100+ posts which I'll never catch up . . .

>170 LovingLit: Molasses is healthy. Sorta like treacle, only not disgusting. If white sugar = vodka, molasses = rum.

>171 tymfos: Howdy do Terri!

I finished and reviewed Involuntary Witness, an Italian legal thriller, and could not be more thrilled with it. Amble over to my thread, post #90.

You do write a persuasive review! I hope that is just a stand alone, not another series, as there are far too many of those already! I enjoyed the second in the Camilleri series recently while on holiday, and remembered with gratitude that it was you who first alerted me to that one...

Is this another nihilistic, all-the-world-is-corrupt Italian mystery series? The three I've tried, Dibdin's Naples, Leon's Venice, and the one based in Sicily are so depressing in their view of Italian corruption. Not at all like Three Pines.

I am reading Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending which won the Man Booker this year.... Not 50 pages in and I am immersed in the strange but all too familiar psychology of the main character, ridden with guilt, tormented by memory. I love how this novel is at once vivid in character development and philosophically rich - Barnes' musings on time, aging and death will stay with me long after I've finished it I'm sure....

Ex Lit Prof
www.the-reading-list.com

trudging trough...waving.. my day was okay until.. well half an hour ago.. hate when that happens.

>173 gennyt: Not a series...! *laughs heartily at Genny's innocence* Why would I trumpet the existence of a mere one-off, when I can rope the reading public into paying attention to a...wait for it...cue portentous music...SERIES!!!! I'm well-launched into book 2, and so far so good. I mean, from the writing standpoint. And Waterstones' bottom line. Your budget, OTOH, not so much.

>174 ffortsa: Corruption? No. Endemic racism, laziness, indifference? Yes. But this Barese-speaking Monk-like lawyer is a treat because he believes in his job, the holding of power to a higher standard than the powerless. I find that catnippy.

>175 Ex_Lit_Prof: Who are you, and why should I care about your web site?

>176 mckait: I hate it for you. *smooch*

RE: 175 Self-promoter.

You always have such a busy thread, you attract the spammy spamming spammers.
or something. Today has potential to go either way..

>177 richardderus: right on Richard (re the sneaky spam post)

too many 'spam' words .... I'm now craving grilled spam and onions.

ew! lol I can delete them caro?

>178 laytonwoman3rd: I might not even mind that, Linda3rd, but I have never so much as seen this troll before. Yuk.

>179 mckait: I hope it went well!

>180 LovingLit: Well now, really, don't you think that's a bit much, just coming into someone's thread without ever having said a word to the thread owner ever before? I don't have any idea how Kiwis do things, but here in Murrika we don't cotton to them there antics. xo :-P

>181 cameling: blurgh

>182 mckait: Amen!

How can I get help here for them to put my correct mailing address and State?

How can I get help here for them to put my correct mailing address and State?

wowza, you are getting spammed left, right, and centre today!

The price of popularity?

Blows through, stealing a bite of the cookie on her way.

*sniffing for the cookie crumbs Kim may have dropped along the way .....*

Hi RD- Just swinging by to say hi! Hope all is well!

Cookies? And what's to drink?

>186 ChelleBearss: Weird, isn't it, Chelle? Some days re just like that.

>187 jadebird: Oh HA! Ren, haven't you noticed? I'm one of the doorway droolers, nose pressed against the lunchroom door-glass, lookin' in at the cool kids.

>188 Berly: YOU may have an entire cookie. Molasses or oatmeal pecan scotchie?

>189 cameling: I think Stella left some on the martincrane's cushions.

>190 msf59: How do, Mark! *smooch*

>191 ronincats: It's 43 and rainy. Tonight we indulge: Peppermint patties. Baker's chocolate, peppermint schnapps, milk, and a tablespoon of dark Karo, warmed slowly while whisking.

We are awaiting the first fluffer-dusting of the season (snow is currently sitting about 10 miles inland) but given the spiciness of this evening's soppressata pesto pizza, a peppermint patty sounds like just the thing. Thanks for the suggestions and

THINK
S
N
O
W
!!!

Oh, yum! That sounds good even though it was shirtsleeve weather with balmy sun here today. I had a glass of Zin, but I think I'll write that down for chilly nights.

We had about 7 inches of the white stuff yesterday -- the drive was better than I expected, and it sure is pretty.

Richard, you recommended Angela Thirkell a long, long time ago, and it took me awhile, I finally got around to her (partway through The Brandons on audio). So much fun! Any other books of hers you particularly recommend? Thanks.

>193 tututhefirst: Snow! Already! Wow. This decade is *whipping* past me too fast.

>194 ronincats: They're deeeeelish! 1 square chocolate, 2C milk, 1/2C schnapps, 1T dark Karo; top with whipped cream, lots of, drizzled with hot fudge topping out of a bottle.

>195 AMQS: Hi Anne! Good to see you!'

Wild Strawberries
High RIsing
Summer Half

#192 Yum! I ate the WHOLE THING. Delicious.

So in addition to having to acquire all the books you read and recommend, now I have to get some Peppermint Schnapps, whipping cream, hot fudge, AND dark Karo. You are wicked, RichardDear.

>197 Berly: Have another...they're small.

>198 karenmarie: *preens* I am, amn't I?

Review: 43 of seventy-five

Title: FIRST DAY ON EARTH

Author: CECIL CASTELLUCCI

Rating: 2* of five

The Book Report: Seventeen-year-old narrator has teen angst over his alcoholic mother, his deserter dad, and his sense of life's futility, believes he's an alien abductee, and then meets an actual alien. Or just a wacko homeless dude. See, the alien/wacko joined the kid's alien contactee group. assuming this meant that the participants could get him a ride home as his ship was irreparably damaged on entry into Earth's atmosphere.

Where the ship is, no one asks. Why he has no help beacon, no one asks. But I anticipate.

Then one day, alien dude gets word that someone will pick him up if he'll meet them out in the California desert, not that far from where the action takes place. Narrator dude (if we're ever told his name, I've forgotten it) drives alien dude into the desert, wagging along a couple of misfit non-friends.

Alien dude *is* an alien, and will even take narrator dude away with him, but because the girl misfit showed narrator dude her tits he decides to stay on earth. The end.

My Review: I hated this book from p4 on. At that point in the narrative, the kid is in the shower room with a bunch of guys who don't like him, gets called gay, and muses that "being gay might be better" than being what he is: Unpopular and miserable.

You lost me, lady. You've used The Dreaded Gay as your point of reference for baseline badness. Now, the book is a YA book, so one doesn't necessarily expect narrative refinement from it, but this sloppy and cheap trick is an automatic fail.

Why no one wonders what happened to the ship that delivered alien dude to earth is beyond me. If it was totally destroyed, why wasn't he? Why, when narrator dude was wavering about the alien dude's truthfulness, didn't alien dude just take him to the ship's remains? Or show him the communications device he gets contacted on? By the time narrator dude decides to believe him, that's when he gets this ultrasupercool sounding star chart, which for some reason isn't mentioned but twice, and exactly never does it occur to narrator dude to take it to the SETI people and sell it for oodles of money, despite the fact that there are 27 intelligent species marked on the map. For that matter, what kind of BLITHERING IDIOT is the alien dude for giving such a thing to an Earthling?!

So from distasteful homophobia to disrespectful mishandling of SF's sacred tropes, this book gets a "boo hiss" from my green reptilian lips.

Richard does the book start at page 4 or were the first 3 pages rather good!?
Sounds a poor excuse for a book which has resulted in a well written review which has resulted in this threader definitely not reading the book. tq

Why did you finish it?

Really...why did you finish it? I just read three pages of Bite Me and put it down never to be looked at again. Well, except to write more mean things about it on my thread.

>201 PaulCranswick: pp1-3 were actually quite good. Damn it all.

>202 ffortsa:, 203 Because it was only 150pp, and I got the ARC on the promise of a review. No other reason, I swear to you. I'm not crazy! I'm not a masochist!

*bustles over to Berly-boo's thread to chortle over her mean review*

Definitely going to avoid that one, Richard!

Thanks for the warning, rdear .... NOT adding this to my obese wish list.

Oh dear..Texas Rangers are imploding in Game 7!

>205 ronincats: A wise decision, I promise you, Roni.

>206 cameling: Couldn't happen to a nicer team. NL rules, AL drools!

*nervously looks left then right for spammers*
Phew, the coast is clear....for now.
Hello, just to let you know I bought a Michael Chabon book at the A&P Show today, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, even though I didn't love*euphamism* Yiddish Policemen's Union, thought I'd give him a chance. Nice of me ay?

very nice megan :) lol

I don't think I have read any of his....

>208 LovingLit: They're such completely different books, I think your act of kindness is a safe one. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh wasn't at all bad. I wasn't sure the two books were written by the same person!

>209 mckait: I wouldn't urge them on you, duckling. I suspect they're too chi-chi fou-fou for you.

You never did tell me why you don't like the subject of bees or honey, rdear.

I don't like honey because it's bee puke. I object to eating animal vomit. Also it's just too sweet for me, that level of sugariness is beyond my capacity to enjoy.

Bees I love because they pollinate my favorite fruits, the apples and pears and plums of the world! Not wild about being up close and personal with them because I've been stung often enough to make them objects of suspicion.

Nothing too weird, I suppose, but thems is my feelins on da beez.

Isn't there an expression "The Bees Knees"? Where does that come from?

"The nonsense expression 'the bee's knees' was taken up by the socialites of Roaring 20s America and added to the list of 'excellent' phrases. A printed reference in that context appears in the Ohio newspaper The Newark Advocate, April 1922, in a piece on newly coined phrases entitles 'What Does It Mean?':

"That's what you wonder when you hear a flapper chatter in typical flapper language. 'Apple Knocker,' for instance. And 'Bees Knees.' That's flapper talk. This lingo will be explained in the woman's page under the head of Flapper Dictionary." an 'apple knocker' is a rustic

Clearly the phrase must have been new then for the paper to plan to take the trouble to define it. Disappointingly, they didn't follow up on their promise and 'the lingo' wasn't subsequently explained. Several U.S. newspapers did feature lists of phrases under 'Flapper Dictionary' headings. Although 'bee's knees' isn't featured, they do show the time as being a period of quirky linguistic coinage; for example, from one such Flapper Dictionary:

Kluck - dumb person.
Dumb kluck - worse than a kluck.
Pollywoppus - meaningless stuff.
Fly-paper - a guy who sticks around. "

Found at The Phrase Finder website, which is a hoot and a holler.

I would have thought 'kluck' (I'd spell it 'cluck') would have existed before that to describe a dumb person. Chickens are, in my experience (and yes, that's real experience), pretty dumb.

>212 richardderus: I object to eating animal vomit.
How come? Gosh Richard, you're soooo picky! ;)

Richard, thanks for looking all that up! My general take on "THe Bees Knees" is that it means something is favorable or good.

BTW Posted review on Bite Me.

Jeesh, i always thought it was "The Bee's Rollerskates"

Duh, for me

;-}

Oh, c'mon Richard. You eat undercooked (also known as RAW) meat. You do know the kind of things that make it into ground beef, don't you?

I won't even touch...well, maybe lightly....your Raw Meat comment, Stephen

ahem..I'll leave that to Richard...who seems to be incommunicado....as is his wont

***i can't talk like this any longer***

Richard...where art thou??

No worries, Jude, you don't have to touch my raw meat. I prefer it well-seasoned and thoroughly cooked, and slathered with lots of marrinated sauce. :P

Oh...Barbeque!!!

Love that, myself.....

Right, barbeque, that's totally what I was talking about...

impossible to catch up... so just xoxo

Hi, it's me. Mass posting again :)

I was reviewing a book and watching the world's most romantic movie: "Don Juan De Marco." *swoon* Johnny Depp was unbelievably gorgeous in 1995. Not that I'd kick him outta bed for eatin' crackers right now, either. But then...oh me oh my....

See, Sweetie...we do have similar taste..in men..

Hi Richard - just checking in.

Things seem pretty much as usual here:)

>227 jdthloue: That would be "GOOD" taste.

>228 calm: Hi calm! Yeah, things are pretty consistent around these parts.

hope you are having a fun day!

Just stopping by to say hello and to swoon over Johnny Depp! *YUM!*

Well, isn't that just the bee's knees! Did you get any snow, Richard?

Now what if Johnny Depp were eating crackers and honey in bed, huh, rdear? Would you kick him out of bed then? ;-)

Just to make room for me, I'll kick Richard out of bed!! Sorry sugar.

Just finished watching episode #3 of Jackson Brodie...much much better with closed captioning rather than sub-titiles....if your tv/cable has a CC on the remote, that's the button to use...the Slavic clown doesn't come on that one.

So did you have a good weekend?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH

Does that answer question 236?

Okay peoples...National Novel Writing Month starts tonight at midnight. In all likelihood, I'm going to be a sporadic presence around these parts. I have a species of blog over in the NaNo forum here, and I expect to spend more time there than in the 75er forum.

Smoochings and lovings and noogies are offered in advance for bribing y'all out of being mad at me for vanishing. I really want to get most of a first draft of this book done, since it seems as though it might be of interest to a publisher...cross crossable parts please?

xo

ETA link

Ooh - me too. Am a big mixture of excitement and panic about it though - finished last year, but then I only had the one scrag to run around after. Thinking it's unlikely I'll finish this year!

Good luck. XX

>231 ChelleBearss: *hands Chelle a drool-cloth*

>232 ronincats: Oh my yes! We got quite a tempest of snow, and then Sunday was warm and sunny (relatively speaking) so nothing stuck. Best of all possible snowstorms.

>233 cameling: I simply wouldn't kiss him until he'd brushed his teeth. Ain't nothin' gonna make me kick his smart, funny, beautiful self outta bed!

>234 Berly: That's okay, love, I totally get it! I would do the same. I warn you against your proposed course of action, though, because I *WILL* cut you. Nothing personal!

>235 tututhefirst: I'll get the third one tomorrow, since there was too much action around here for the TV to make sense last night.

>238 BekkaJo: Good luck, my dear! Add me as a writing buddy!

I popped in to see if you got snowed in - glad it was pretty then melted! And very cool that you are doing NaNoWriMo. Good luck. If you call the book Shash Dungeon at Dawn (erm I mean From Hell) though, I won't be buying it!!! (well ok - maybe I still will.)

RD- I meant to ask you about the NaNo, now I know! Good luck, sir. Do you have a pretty good idea, what it'll be? Probably a dumb question.

Best of luck! Don't let hand cramps, writer's block or anything else stand in your way!

>241 cushlareads:, 242, 243 It's historical fiction called (for the nonce) "Alexander in India: An Operatic Romance." Considering it's about an opera composer and an opera librettist falling in love while writing an opera called "Alexander in India," it seemed like a good title, though its pervious title "Two Italian Boys Boinking" was perhaps more evocative....

I knew there had to be boinking if it were yours.....just sayin'

Two Italian Boys Boinking. Hmmmm, sounds....well, evocative ;)

"Two Italian Boys Boinking"! I love that title!

Has bestseller written all over it.

#240 Ta hun - this year is straight up fantasy fun (I've been reading too much Game of Thrones not to!). Oh and if I could get the darn website to work I would add you - but I think they're still updating it.

Have fun with the Italian Boys - just realised it must have started already for you :)

I've had an itch to try my hand at writing for awhile not, but I'm so bad with words and I'm not the least bit motivated. Plus I'm ill-equipped, the only program I have for word documents is the over-simple WordPad....

>245 mckait: Thou knowest me well, good my lady.

>246 LovingLit: I had to have SOMEthing to put in the title slot, and that was (and is) a major part of the story.

>247 msf59: Even MY mind boggles at the audiobook version....

>248 jnwelch: If I get this one published, I'll suggest it to the publisher on your advice, Joe.

>249 BekkaJo: Problem solved, I see, Bekka. I was *gobsmacked* by the size of the Fantasy genre lounge! Almost as many posts in its threads as the other categories COMBINED! It's like the 75er group of NaNo!

>250 Ape: I really, honestly, sincerely wish you would do it, Stephen. It's a great experience.

#250 -- Stephen, your hand is itching to try writing because you have a rash on your palm. Duh!

Richard-- I vote for the original title. Just saying.

I know, I know...new thread.

Two Italian Boys Boinking...and a partridge in a pear tree.
Perfect! And just in time for the holidays.

Bonam Fortunam with the writing!