Richardderus thread 5 for 2012

I'm alive! Alive!



Though maybe not for long....

My 2012 NEW books ticker:




Previous reviews:

1. Under the Dome...thread two.
2. The Night Circus...thread three.
3. The God Engines...thread three.
4. A More Perfect Heaven...thread four.

My 2012 ORPHANED books ticker:




Books are reviewed in post:

5. Everybody Says Hello...#116.

6. 11/22/63...#226.

Close to three hundred posts seems a bit much, so I've started the new thread. Don't expect much yet, I'm still pretty rough and shaky.

Ah you can regenerate but you can't escape us :) X

*smooch* all the way to the *other* Jersey

Sending continuing-recovery vibes Richard-ward.

pleased to hear you are feeling better Richard, hope full recovery comes soon.

*Crushes Richard in a curative ape hug* There. Better. You're welcome.

*smooch*

Horrible

>6 scaifea: *aaah* Thank you, Amber!

>7 calm: From your mouth to gods' ears, calm! All signs point to restored good health.

>8 Ape: *whhheeeze* guh guh *hack*

>9 karenmarie: *smooch* back to ma petite rêveuse

Hi Richard, what is that picture up top? Its very intricate and interesting looking...glad you're on the mend

RD...you know my darling that you are the ONLY thread on which I drop smoochie lovey non-meaningful nothings to cheer you up. I won't even huff about trying to keep up with 5 threads in one month. GOOD GRIEF!

Put some honey on your cream of wheat, down the biggest glass of your most allowable libation, and bask in the glow of your admirers.

It is so good to read you are feeling a it better!
Yes, sleep and rest is the best cure... and of course lots of TLC!

*smooch*

>11 LovingLit: On American TV's show Battlestar Galactica, the evil machine intelligences called Cylons could never really be killed because they had these resurrection nexuses. One of them dies? Poof a new one, complete with all the memories, experiences, and skills of the dead one is created. That's a space-borne version, called a Resurrection Ship.

>12 tututhefirst: I know, Tina, and feel appropriately honored. *smooch*

>13 FAMeulstee: Much much much better! Thanks, Anita.

>14 richardderus: They would be handy, Im sure. Is that a metaphor for you and the illness that you wont let beat you?

>15 LovingLit: I'm thinking more of "make it so" magic...say something often enough, it comes true. I would not at ALL mind that species of immortality! Remembering all the books I've read, and having another lifetime to read more?!

*has fantods of ecstasy*

Ah, returned to life, I see. That's good. Hospitals aren't fun places. Don't overextend, sweetie - no relapses allowed.

>17 ffortsa: The only things I've done today is walk the dog twice, make myself some hot food, and read a book that I hated so much that I actually set fire to it. No, I won't tell you what book. It was a gift.

You actually set fire to a book?
It wasn't Fahrenheit 451 was it ;)

LOL

>19 LovingLit: Actually. As in, in the fireplace and everything. No, I **liked** Fahrenheit 451! I need to re-read it one day soon so I can make a less impassioned judgment of it.

Come to think of it, now that I'm a book-burner, perhaps that isn't going to happen....

The Fire Next Time ? Burnt Toast? Firestarter? Wings of Fire? (chicken wings, that is.....) etc.

With the numbers of lives you're going through Richard, someone might mistake you for a ....... cat!

(I will now commence running for my life)

Hope you are feeling better and getting lots of rest!!

Dear, dear Richard, sorry to hear you've been feeling poorly.

>22 sibylline: None of those. You would never guess in a squazillion years what it was because I **know** you haven't heard of the book. You still speak rationally.

>23 ty1997: Run, sure, go right on ahead...I am old. And patient.

>24 mckait: *smooch*

>25 ChelleBearss: Awww! Thanks, Chelle!

>26 AMQS: Thank you, Anne, I batten on sympathy when recovering from illness. During it, best to leave me alone.

27 > And mischievous http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lozO7vYAaBY

How weird is that...that cat and I have the same color eyes and hair!

Dear sparky

I hope you continue to feel better!

Hi sweetness...the good news is that I feel better now than I did this morning, even, so the trend is in the correct direction!

Ugh...tomorrow I ***must*** go to get groceries or I'll be eating hard-boiled eggs and cream of wheat the rest of my life.

Rdear, you know we've discussed not playing with fire...

Dang. A book so irritating that you burned it! Whew. Glad for you that it's over. And that you're on the mend.

*smooch*

I've never burned a book but I have thrown a few across the room until they smacked into a wall.

Glad you are feeling better.

>32 Matke: Oh my heck, Danny, it was such a horrific and offensive PoS that I couldn't even being myself to donate it to the Catholic charity.

>33 Whisper1: Hurling was too mild, would've injured the wall and scared the dog, but not destroyed the evil thing.

wow, it must have been a hideous hideous troll of a book!
Did you drag it out of the flames to trample it into ashes just to make sure? :)

Hope you're feeling better soon, Richard. I've been absent for a few days, but never fear - I'll always come back. :-)

Did you mention exactly which book you hated so much that you burned it? :-|

>35 LovingLit: No, it's just dead in the fireplace.

>36 EBT1002: Nope. Sure didn't. Ain't gonna, either.

LOL - I've never burnt a book but the last one I thought too offensive to give to charity I shredded and threw in the outside bin. Hell, I probably would have burnt it if my fire place worked... some things just should not be allowed to stay in the house.

((Hugs)) and xx smooches xx and hopes that you are feeling 100% today

I hated the ending of Cold Mountain so much that I threw it across my cubicle at work and swore. I really need to take the dratted thing off my shelves, book hoarder that I am. I've never actually considered burning a book. Ugh.

I can think of only one book that I would have considered burning... and I read it late last year ..
No sense looking, I didn't review it, didn't finish it.

There have been a few that I would have liked to toss!

Book burning just has such evil awful connotations that I'm sure I could never bring myself to do it---even though I DO Love to play with fire and have my very own (DON'T TOUCH MY STUFF) burning barrel. Shredding is my preference for a never-should-have-been written book...although I don't think I've ever done that either.

>38 BekkaJo:, 42 Shredding it might've clogged my poor, innocent shredder, though, plus it was more contact with the loathsome thing than I felt would be healthy for me.

>39 alcottacre: Thank you, my dear! Up to 90% and improving, so I call it great!!

>40 karenmarie: Me too. What a lousy cheat that was.

>41 mckait: I never even advocated *censoring* a book before this one. It hit every button I possess with a ball-peen hammer. Repeatedly. Forcefully.

#43 Oh not actual shredder involved - just torn apart with my bare hands fueled by rage. Very badly bound to be fair.

>44 BekkaJo: *backs slightly away, awed* Wonder Woman!

Very badly bound to be fair. Hmmm...that might have been a warning sign...

wow, how did I miss that post?? I don't know if I've ever hated a book enough to burn it. I have a few I need to find new homes for so that they aren't mocking me from my shelf, but not burn.
Must have been a baaaaaad one!

The dog's been avoiding me since I got sick, not, you know, rudely or anything, just discovering that there are things to sniff on the sunporch or invisible mail carriers to bark at should I come into a room.

I figured I smelled bad. Sick people more often than not do. Then, this afternoon, with an empty food dish and no refill in sight, she came and sat down next to me.

RIGHT next to me. Like, mostly on top of me.

And then began The Big Sniff. From hairline to toe hairs, she went over me. Every so often I'd say "no" and push her away, to absolutely no avail. *sniffsniffsniffsniff* Occasionally she'd pause, lick her lips as if to ponder, and then resume *sniffsniffsniff*

I got the message and tried to struggle up out of the horrible, hideous auntie-brought loveseat we call the Martin Crane because it's as ugly and out of place as Frasier's father's chair. No dice. *sniffsniffsniff*

My dog *threatened* me...effectively saying, "nothing good in my bowl, your bits will do nicely for kibble," like she was an Oxford don. Problem is, no food in the house for either of us, and I ain't up for shopping.

So I took her for her walk, loaded her in the car, and bought her some White Castles.

Craven? I suppose I am. But I feel safer.

Puppy love. Both ways.

Wow. Now EVERYONE will be sniffing...

Hi RD- I'm huffing and puffing, but I did get caught up. Wow, Thread 5, huh? On Feb 1? It has to be some kind of record. Even Stasia, in her heyday, didn't put up those kind of numbers. You go, my friend!

Hah re burning the book!
Yay re feeling better.
Off to google White castles.

Review: 5 of seventy-five

Title: CROOKED LITTLE VEIN

Author WARREN ELLIS

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Book Report: How bad can a day get? Mike McGill can tell you, and he'd be right. But he doesn't know *exactly* how bad a day can be until the White House Chief of Staff (bear in mind the book came out in 2007, adjust your mental compass, and go from there) walks into his office with a deal he can't refuse.

Hey, after waking up naked in your office chair with a rat pissing in your coffee mug, why would anyone refuse any deal?

So Mike gets a half million dollars in expense money, a "handheld computer" that hinges open (nothing ages worse than hi-tech), a phone number to call in case of emergency (555-555-5555, "we invented that, son, and gave it to Hollywood, but it really works for *us*"), and some new clothes, and starts following cold leads into seamy, icky, disgusting corners of the world that I choose to believe the sickfuckopath (© 2011 Stephen Sullivan, used by permission) who dreamt up this horrifying little odyssey invented whole and entire, in search of a magical copy of the United States Constitution that Ben Franklin had bound in the hide of an alien he killed during his embassy to Paris. A copy of the Constitution that Nixon, during his Vice Presidential stint, traded to a Chinese spy for sex.

It goes without saying that clearly we're not in 1+1=2 reality any more, and all expectations needs must be recalibrated accordingly.

I can't and won't reproduce the course of the hero through the obstacles and labors set in his path, the trickster god making paths smooth and then throwing turmoil into his journey, the monsters and the temptations and the Bright Shining Goal suddenly losing its luster...this is the Hero's Journey. Google it if need be. It's well done, and it's laugh-out-loud funny for 2/3 of its length and it's got the currently fashionable pseudolibertarian underpinnings that have such wide appeal.

But Crooked Little Vein winds its way through a very, very old forest on a well-watered course.

My Review: Wherein the ding in my rating from 4.5, to 4, to an ending of 3.5 stars of five. It's a lot of fun, and the narrator of this edition (it's not next to me and I'm too damn lazy to get up and see what his name is) does a really really good job with it. But I stopped laughing after the Baby Jesus Butt Plug incident came damn close to getting me hospitalized from lack of oxygen.

A Quest has a material purpose, where the Hero's Journey does not. When the Hero goes on a Journey, he's looking for wisdom, he's undergoing a rite of passage, he's serving a cause; and when he's on a Quest, he's looking for an object. Mike does both. That's sloppy storytelling. Yes, of course it's true that all Quests return wisdom as one of their take-aways, but the material object of the Quest remains valuable in and of itself. This book sets up a Quest. It delivers the Hero's Journey.

And it's a little too in love with its edgy, wacked-out sensibility. One character Mike meets on a flight from Las Vegas to LA is so extremely over-the-toply A Mouthpiece For A Message that I almost gave up and returned the CDs to the library. He gave away the most gratuitous seeming twist in the ending that I didn't like on aesthetic, moral, or practical grounds, buried in a mound of trash talk that I just didn't like at all because, well, damn.

Should I recommend a book I'm so conflicted about? Well...Mike's journey comes to an end with, amazingly, his bank account full, his heart open, and his ya-ya in use for the foreseeable future. Find me a man who doesn't like that ending.

I think I gave Crooked Little Vein a 5-star rating. Weird, that I remember it as a 4-ish caliber book... *Shrug* It was certainly entertaining, and I was horrified to find out that the 'saline inflation' was quite real, and pictures of it can be found on Google.

Even though I liked the book, I figured it was a bit too 'out there' for most people so I never thought to recommend it to anyone.

OMGOMGMG, White Castles! *love* them.

Ha! Martin Crane's chair! Tomm and I are working our way through a re-watch of the entire series. Love that show.

Oh do shower and get shopping.. you will feel better as soon as you are clean..
and if you starve, I will refuse to feel sorry for you. You are on the mend. Walk slowly.
You will be fine.

I had White Castles once.. good.. but as far as bad/decadent food goes I prefer KFC.
They closed the one closest to us.

> 48: Stella was just checking if you were feeling better. And yes dogs do that with their nose ;-)
Licking lips is a calming signal, she just wanted to let you know that there was no reason (in her eyes/nose) for you to feel uncomfortable.

Exactly what I thought, Anita!

White Castles!?!? *Drools* I love them even if they DO have onions. Yum.

I don't like KFC's buckets of chicken but their chicken strips with honey mustard is *Schlurp*

Bacon Jam

http://www.notquitenigella.com/2009/10/08/bacon-jam-your-wildest-dreams-come-tru...

I edited out the Pinterest for you :)

I'm a Krystal fan myself. I don't know that they qualify as food, but if we had them in Seattle, I could still snarf down two or three of them.

>49 karenmarie: Heh.

>50 tloeffler: LOL

>51 msf59: We run with a gabby group, no?

>52 tiffin: Poor Tui...no White Castles in Canada...::sadface::

>54 Ape: Never, ever, on pain of immediate death and dismemberment, say "saline you-know-what" in my presence again.

I still feel shaky thinkin' about it.

>55 scaifea: It was a really witty and fun show. I miss it sometimes, then I remember Roku.

>56 mckait: KFC is chicken. Chicken cannot, by definition, be called decadent. It is always healthful and life-giving. ALWAYS.

>57 FAMeulstee: ...if you say so...

I do not know what a White Castle is either, but since I am a vegetarian, I figure it does not matter. . .

((Hugs)) and xx smooches xx to get you up to 110%

>58 tiffin: I still say she was reminding me that her bowl was empty and I was enfeebled, but y'all got numbers on your side.

>59 Ape: I only got one. Poor me.

>60 mckait: ::Homerdrool::

>61 EBT1002: 1.3 miles from White Castle is Krystal! I buy the specials and feed the dog the burger while I eat the fries. We split the drink.

>64 alcottacre: Thank you my dear! I am feeling a good bit better. Each day ends a little stronger than it started. I can follow a simple plot now! I started The Yellow Room and am cruising merrily toward the end.

*smoochity smooch smooch*

63: Heh heh...so you don't want me to post the pictures, then? :P

Dan to work today.. I am skipping visiting Walter since Debbie is going and so is his family.
That is enough.. he is already worn out. I will go tomorrow.. so hopefully I too will be able to read.

>67 Ape: It is as much as your life is worth!

>68 mckait: ...do what now? "Read" a "book"? I am not understand your fancy English, lady sir.

So I took her for her walk, loaded her in the car, and bought her some White Castles.

Now that's what I call Love....and a pretty decent date!

I loved Crooked Little Vein...but, i tend to be "out there"

*Smooch*

glad your feeling better sir!
*smooch*
you finish that SK tomb yet?
did I miss it?

A chaste *smooch* and much love mixed with relief and, of course, laughter to you, Rdear. So glad you're on the mend.

Love from Danny

>70 jdthloue: Oh, I didn't dislike it! I just got tired of being on its level. I laughed out loud so much I almost came to grief! It just...wore me down, is all.

>71 curlysue: I am, I am, Kara. Stephen and I are over halfway through our journey, and I am really eagerly dreading the end.

>72 Matke: Danny me luv! Mending is le mot juste. I ate a bacon cheeseburger and jalapeno poppers today. When I crave stuff like that enough to spend actual cash money on it, you know I'm well into the mending.

Glad you are mending!

I do enjoy jalapeno poppers now and then!
yum.

Now you have me craving them.

I made it through the night, and sent a note off to Lou..thanking him. He wrote back ..
nice guy!

Well, welcome back to real life, Richard. Being sick is sort of like visiting a very unpleasant far land, and I am generally much happier with my Real Life.

*lifts the cafe au lait in a toast to Our Health*

#73 eagerly dreading the end.... just so.

Good morning, m' dear!

Look out world! A healthy Richard is a force to be reckoned with.

>74 ronincats: Me too! Thanks, Roni.

>75 mckait: Enjoy...hmmm...such a moderate term for such a slobber-inducingly delicious thing as jalapeno poppers.

Aronica has always been a really nice man. I'm glad he's also a good writer, it makes things so much more pleasant that way.

>76 maggie1944: Moi aussi, Karen44. RL seems like a plain, unvarnished joy after the country of illness.

>77 karenmarie: *smooch* for Horrible

>78 jnwelch: Heya Joe! Glad to see even a megathreader such as your own good self will deign to visit my little backwater of a thread. He said Uriah Heepishly.

Hah! Can't make a connection between you and Uriah Heep, Richard - and what in the world are you doing making a Charles Dickens reference? Or was this a musical allusion?

My little part of LT is so backwater compared to yours we're offering rube sandwiches. Plus I wouldn't miss yours for a pot of D.T., if they sold it in pots.

Yeah! Glad you're felling better. :)

>80 jnwelch: Rube sandwiches LOL yeah right mister four-threads.

>81 jadebird: Thanks, Ren! I haven't seen your thread in a month of Sundays. Link me, please?

Wow, I had to go to the “How To Do Cool Stuff In Your Thread” thread to learn how to do this.

My thread can be found here

I am glad you are on the mend Richard!

>83 jadebird: Thanks, Ren, got it now.

>84 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita!

Glad you're feeling better, Richard dear. xoxo

Hi RD- "little backwater of a thread". Yep, I nearly got stuck a few times with my 4WD, getting back in here. Is that banjo music I hear?

You jes' sit yourself on the porch with the rest of us and strum along.

All the talk of White Castle and chicken has me craving some chicken rings.

>86 EBT1002: Thank'ee kindly, Miss Ellen, Ma'am.

>87 msf59: Now Mark...we don't take kindly to strangers makin' jokes 'bout our sacred homeland...remember the "squeal like a pig" scene....

>88 jadebird: Corn squeezins all around!

>89 ty1997: What, please, are chicken Rings? Where does a chicken wear its rings? And why?

Popping in for a hello, and passing a few more treats to the pooch. I *would* like for my dear Padre to keep all of his bits.

Although, if it came to it, I believe a cat is more likely to feast upon the former provider of food.

(*mental note: "deal" with cats*)

Luxx: I passed out once in my bathroom for what couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes, tops, and when I came to, my cat was already biting my leg (!!!). Sheesh.

>91 London_StJ: *passes Crypto 20lb sledge to "deal" with cats*

>92 scaifea: Well, there you go!

But say...why were you passed out on the bathroom floor, and was this recently, he asked worriedly?

>93 richardderus: Oh, Richard! Love that face. lol

Classic - obviously back to full health then ......

>95 Storeetllr: I know, Mary! Isn't that a stitch?!

>96 roundballnz: I suspect it was the maple walnut layer cake that was dessert tonight. I adore it. Who can be ill when the world has such slobber-inducingly delicious baked goods in it?

who indeed ..... would take a very miserable soul to do that

>94 richardderus:: Nah, this was, maybe, 5 years ago? Have no idea what caused it, and nothing else happened, so I just ignored it. Excellently healthy attitude, dontcha think? Anyways, I'm still alive, so it couldn't be too bad. Still have the ungrateful cat, too, but she got hers - Charlie *loves* her, and to a cat, the love of a 3-year-old is a living hell. Ha!

*whispers*
nec poterat quisquam reperiri, quem neque morbus
nec mors nec luctus temptaret tempore tali

Yeah, you know you love it.

>98 roundballnz: Word.

>99 scaifea: Heh. Excellent cat-revenge. Bad news re: Charlie-love...how can one save him from a long life of horror and disappointment as a cat-"lover"?

::zombified::

yes master i hear and i obey

Chicken Rings. YUM.

Chicken rings .... interesting!

No White Castles in the backwater where I live though..

to a cat, the love of a 3-year-old is a living hell. Ha!

Hahahaha, yes! So true!

We have a cat who used to try to take Michael down like he was a gazelle by attacking his calves and Achilles.

I never look at White Castle's menu, I only go there for the trademark teenies. I suspect I'll be trying a chicken ring as soon as I get over being tired of chicken.

Morning RD! How you doing back in the holler? Are you guys still enjoying mild temps?

For February, it's pretty much March. About 40 already, up to maybe 45. We had next to no winter. I hope this means a cold summer.

Good morning RD! I agree about the summer mostly. Cold summer would be good except tomatoes love heat and I love my garden-fresh tomatoes.

I still fear a winter-slam here in central NC. I'd like some snow but just enough to be beautiful and keep me housebound for a weekend. Melty melty on Sunday, back to work on Monday.

Most tomatoes come from Florida anyway, so do without for a year in the interest of a cold, happy summer?

*sigh*

#93 I have never seen such a perfect illustration of skepticism, even without the text. All the stars for you, little man. (The baby, Richard...I"m not calling YOU a little man.)

Can't sacrifice the summer for icky-ptooie no-taste tomatoes from such an alien land.

I guess the cool in summer has to come from the air conditioning.

>109 laytonwoman3rd: Amen, Sister Linda3rd!

>110 karenmarie: Give up tomatoes for a year? Can't make an omelette without breakin' some eggs here, Horrible.

*snickers.....and runs away*

>93 richardderus: ROFL

>112 cameling: Oh my goodness! There is truly no shame in these losers' game.

>113 tloeffler: I know!

Review: 6 of seventy-five

Title: EVERYBODY SAYS HELLO

Author: MICHAEL KUN

Rating: 4* of five

The Book Report: Picking up where 2003's The Locklear Letters left off, Sid Straw is leaving Baltimore in his rear-view mirror for the sunny, balmy climes of 2005 California, home of go-go-go and way too much money. On his way to take a job at Velocity Computers, Sid sends letters and postcards home to his recently-ex girlfriend, his mom and dad, his adored little nephew, as well as ahead to his college friend Heather...Locklear, that is, blonde bombshell actress...and his future employer's various official departments on every conceivable subject. He's particularly concerned that he get his personalized letterhead. Since the whole novel is letters from Sid, all 306pp of it, one can easily see why.

Hotel managers hear about bad in-room television service (no details, no spoilers, too funny to ruin), the company HR prune-lipped tightass hears about the letterhead, along with apologies for calling one of the accounting clerks fat while on an online dating site; Sid learns that his enthusiasm for old television shows doesn't mean it's safe to use the handle "TVLover123" on that online dating site, resulting in a hilarious exchange of notes with someone called "TVGirl," Heather, his college friend talks him down off ledges and bails him out of jail, all thanked by courteous notes...but Sid goes so far as to write notes to the hero cop who arrested him for cat poisoning (not a joke) even though he's innocent and who is suspended from the police force after Sid accuses him of being a violent racist which he didn't and this leads the Los Angeles Times investigative reporter to start a series of false and misleading articles about SYD Straw a transient/vagrant cat-poisoning liar (with the same name as a famous folk singer) which leads to...

...spiraling insanity, lawsuits, and ultimately one of the most surprising, touching, delightful, feel-good happy endings I've read in this century.

My Review: Everyone knows Sid Straw. Annoying, well-meaning, just a little bit socially tone-deaf, a little too intense, but a nice guy who never means to cause the mayhem he's always causing around himself. He's not exactly one of the gang and not exactly not. But he's always busy with something, and usually it blows up in his face.

Boy howdy, does this new job blow up in his face! A couple megatons go off under his feet when he gets to the new job and deals with a go-go, rock-'em-sock-'em boss who wants to be called "Mav" because it was Tom Cruise's nickname in Top Gun. There's even a movie poster for it in the conference room. And Sid becomes "Goose." And there's another guy called "Iceman." Could it get any cheesier? And yet, through Sid's lens, he's workin' it hard to keep the job, when the whole fat-co-worker incident conflates with the whole bad-in-room-movie incident and, well, bye bye job.

A return visit to Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas to assuage his misery (and use the paid-fo, non-refundable room) causes one of the funniest incidents in the book, where his cranky response to the management's attempt at humor meets his unresolved love for the girl who dumped him, thus causing him no end of agony and getting the Las Vegas Health Department to quarantine him for almost a week as a suspected disease vector.

This book is a screwball comedy waiting to be filmed. It is quick, both in pace and in wit, and it is flawlessly self-centered as the best comedies are, and it keeps the pages flying, as the most enjoyable books do. Michael Kun, author of You Poor Monster and A Thousand Benjaminrs, has a deft hand, a keen eye, and a kind heart to go with his quick, acid-tipped tongue.

#111. Real Tomatoes are sacrosanct here in central NC in the summer, RD. If I have an overabundance and take some to work, they are handled as if made of gold. Usually I hear "BLTs for supper tonight!" or, blechy as it sounds to me since to me it isn't a sandwich if it doesn't have protein in it, "Tomato sandwiches for supper!" I frequently get thanked for weeks. Between making people happy and making myself happy, It'll just have to be hot summers.

Tomatoes gassed and imported from Florida, or strip-mined in the winter in Texas, are not worthy of the name. Ptui! New Jersey tomatoes, and close behind New York tomoatoes, are the only ones worth eating, preferably in August and September, picked ripe in the fields. Heaven every time.

Well if it makes you happy we are having a cool summer down under .... so it maybe heading your way

Homegrown 'maters we have (hurrah!), but I'm clueless about the whole White Castle thing. Must not be a westcoast chain.

Fat, happy drunk man reports NY Giants 21-NE Patriots 17.

*hic*

Thass goo' nooz so go on an' cheer

YAY. YAY. YAY. A bit scary at the end, wasn't it?

I about fainted when we got the TD and went to 4pts ahead. Looked like Brady had some great scoring opportunities those last 57sec. So glad we won!!

I am guessing there is some small football game on today ........

Where ever did you come up with such an outlandish notion, Alex?

Woo! GIANTS!

Congrats to your Giants, RD. I enjoyed the game very much although I was not rooting for either side.

((Hugs)) and xx smooches xx and glad to know you are on the upswing!

Yay for the Giants! The Patriots had Big Mo on their side for so much of the second half that I had about given up hope. Whew.
The party we attended was intentionally bad-food focused. Tater Tot casserole, mac 'n' cheese.... YUM. And beer home-brewed by my friend. I was able to drive home, though.
xo

Woohoo!

>126 ty1997: YEAH!!!

>127 alcottacre: Scarcely "mine," but thanks, Stasia! Now I'll go back to being a Jets fan. The Patriots must lose in order for my sportsiverse to be properly aligned, rather like the Yank-mes must.

>128 EBT1002: Ha! What my mother called "Omigod" food..."OMG dinner's in an hour and there aren't any vegetables oh whew here's some tater tots saved" Sounds like a fun party!!

>129 Ape: Indeed, young Stephen. Indeed.

I watched with the sound off..
( well.. not watched, but had it flickering and looked up now and then )
I know little about football..
I kept rooting for the red shirt guys thinking they were the NE guys.
oops.

I sat down a few minutes before half-time and watched until Madonna's spectacle was completed. Didn't watch carefully enough to see The Bird fly or hear some "inappropriate lyrics". I just need to be more dedicated I guess. Turned it off to go read during the beginning of the Third Quarter. I thought the Madonna half-time was very good and enjoyable. I liked that she included sports moves.

I'm glad Archie's son and Peyton's brother won! -- oh, and Deon Grant, too.

I made a pot of chili and husband and I watched the whole thing. We even watched the commercials to critique, and I watched the halftime show, which I don't usually do. It sucked, as all halftime shows apparently suck. Madonna almost looked arthritic out there. And Vogue? Geez, give me a break. I just looked it up, and that song came out in 1990.

But I wanted the Giants to win and they did. Too cliff-hangerish and am glad Brady didn't connect in the 57 seconds left that he had to score a TD. I just loved the safety on Brady's first possession...

I was invited to a Superbowl party at the last minute -guacamole and chips, vegetarian chili for the vegetarians who were invited, brown rice, wine of various kinds, coffee, berries and ice cream for desert. so half civilized, half party food.

The other attendees were not very sports-minded - I kept explaining what was happening. One even asked what 'first and 10' meant! And the hostess kept getting in front of the tv just when something important was happening (like Beckam's underwear ad - I mean REALLY!). And, I got there a few minutes late and missed the touchback. Can anyone tell me what happened?

hmmm 145> that doesn't sound like any of the footbal food I am used to finding at parties..
no buffalo wings or cheese dip?

#135. I forgot about Beckham's underwear ad. :)

>135 ffortsa: Judy, what happened: Brady was in the grasp of a Giant player and threw an incomplete pass from his endzone. The problem was that, although it was in the middle of the field, no one was near it. They called intentional grounding, which meant an automatic safety and 2 points for the Giants. Very unusual.

The halftime show was truly atrocious, as it has been for a couple years now. I like performers that, y'know, actually perform on stage...not lip synch. -.-

Holler for the GIANTS AGAIN!
poor patty pat pats :)

"This is not a book that should be cast aside lightly.
It should be thrown with great force".

(Thank you dear dear Dorothy)

Hey, after waking up naked in your office chair with a rat pissing in your coffee mug, why would anyone refuse any deal? I'm going to add this my list of questions I never thought I'd hear asked. Everybody Says Hello sounds intriguing - not released yet according to Amazon.

Please ignore entirely what I'm about to say. I did a report on bat guano in grade school on a dare, and found it to be fascinating stuff. It has had a lot of uses over the years, and control of guano sources was a big deal in the 19th century. I'll say no more.

>131 mckait: No Cory to insist on the sound? Or is he indifferent too?

>132 maggie1944: Opinions differ on Madge's show. I myownself was so bored I got up and made dinner.

>133 thornton37814: Word, sister woman!

>134 karenmarie: I loved the Audi vampire commercial!

>135 ffortsa: As Joe has answered the question below, I shall progress to: And you *ate* it?!

also >137Il Beckhammo in mostly just his tatts made an...impression, shall we say

>136 mckait: *ugh*shudders* Even wings sound better than vegetarian chili!

>138 jnwelch: TY, Joe. "Unusual" is le mot juste.

>139 Ape: Procrustes!

>140 curlysue: Yes, poor widdle wubby wubby woos. *snickers*

>141 magicians_nephew: That, and "Tonstant Weader fwowed up," are two of her all-time reviewing gems.

>142 jnwelch: April 15, Joe...mark your calendar!

Guano. Who knew. "The Great Bat Poop War" just doesn't, somehow, elicit...I dunno...respect for the combatants.

Hi, Richard, glad you're feeling better.

Happy about the Super Bowl, as it made my hubby the Giant fan very happy.

Didn't watch the halftime show, we always switch over to Animal Planet for their "halftime show."

What is a jalapeno popper? (from way up there somewhere)

6 Nations Rugby to your guys-on-steroids-wearing-too-much-equipment football. Pah!

Thanks for the touchback replay, Joe. That must have set everyone roaring right away!

Just adding my cheer for the Giants, an old favorite team...from before there was a Patriots team. A tight and interesting game, although I skipped the h.t. show, as always.

And a *smooch* to our man Rdear, for getting well and funny. Love to you again, dearie.

Danny

Jalapeno popper --- yummy.
You take a jalapeno pepper, fill it with cream cheese, dip it in batter or roll it in dough, then bake it or fry it..... there are, of course, variations.

Okay...huff...puff...I made it! All caught up! Sorry you was a'hurtin' (accent in deference to the little backwater thread you have here). Glad your team won and you satiated the dog with White Castle. Smooches!!

Thanks, EBT! Sounds wonderful in a high cholesterol acid reflux kind of way.

Having been swamped with work all day and only just finished my 2 conference call for the night, everything that happened before today has been wiped out from my mind. Amnesia is a beautiful thing!

Garlic tater tots and broccoli for dinner tonight... odd, yes? I didn't time to do anything else.

>146 tymfos: I surely am, and darn good and grateful to be so! I'm really under a lot less stress just now, because the publisher has faced reality in the form of a huge avalanche of MSS for his contest, and asked me pretty please if I won't hold off sending my MS until June. Okey-dokey! But the disappointment is, that means no book this calendar year. Oh well.

>147 tiffin: Since the popper question is answered below, I'll just say "rugby = YUM" and leave it at that. The first round was the 4th, and I snatched a little tube time to take it in. MUCH better uniforms. Oh my yes.

>148 ffortsa: You cannot imagine!

>149 Matke: I don't love the Giants, normally, but the Patriots *ptooptoo* are on my most-loathed-teams list with the Yank-mes and the Lakers.

>150 EBT1002: Mine were filled with cheddar, which I prefer, but I've never said no to a jalapeno popper! We called 'em armadillo eggs in Texas.

>151 Berly: Thankee kindly, there, Miss Berly! *smooch*

>152 tiffin: A seasoned veteran getteth no reflux. But even if I did, I'd eat 'em anyway because they're sooooooo tasty.

>153 cameling: Bizarrely, that sounds good to me...oh dear, I'm coming down with something again!

Ok....just holding my place in the queue--too far behind even to begin to try to catchup.

{{{Smooches}}}

147"6 Nations Rugby to your guys-on-steroids-wearing-too-much-equipment football. Pah!"

A tad outnumbered here methinks ....

I'll add a 6 nations cheer! Yay!

I got married on the final day of matches (6 years ago now - gulp) - didn't realise when I planned my wedding :) It involved pretty much everyone ditching the main bit of reception to pile into a tiny TV room and watch the England/Ireland match which was the decider. Including me in my wedding dress of course...

Hi RD- Just swinging through to say hi! Did I see somewhere, you are joining us on FF? If, so, Yah!

I do love jalapeno poppers.. I have been craving them for days.
Maybe I will make some tomorrow ? meatloaf and poppers .. lol

>156 tututhefirst: Return *smooches* for Miss Tina

>157 roundballnz: I appreciate rugby! All sports except cricket, which not only is not a sport but isn't an actual game, are possessed of some interest around here. I confess to finding basketball a trifle dull.

>158 BekkaJo: Ha! That must've been a sight!

>159 msf59: I'm re-reading A Wrinkle in Time for FF, Mark, and am in love with it all over again.

>160 mckait: Good morning, dearest. Meatloaf and poppers is, well, eeerrr, *interesting* as a combo. But it takes the curse off the meatloaf for you, o non-fancier.

I doubt that meatloaf is actually on the menu for tomorrow..
I found a recipe on Pinterest I may try..
I think actually.. jude found it..

and then I saw a cauliflower crust pizza that looks pretty good..

Yes Rugby is better than that American look-a-like!
And Richard dear, cricket IS a sport and not too bad to watch ;-)

*races over to pinterest to see what the hell cauliflower pizza is*

Cricket not a sport!! I accept that it is somewhat different from most other sports: it must be, because it's the only one I can conceive of wanting to watch. I tend to switch over or off whenever any sport appears on TV, and that would include cricket too probably, but I do love the idea of spending a leisurely summer day - or several in the case of a Test Match - with a picnic basket and a good bottle or two of wine, enjoying the slow unfolding of a game which is not all over in a flash but allows time for civilised conversation in between the moments of action.

looks yummy do it not?

I will be making it soon.. wed or thurs..

>165 gennyt: It's the dullest, least exciting thing I have ever done with my eyes, Genny. Those bottles of wine are necessary to make the boredom survivable, since in my experience, bringing a book to read is seen as somehow insulting...hey, nothing else is happening, why not let me get in some lovely outdoor reading time?

>166 mckait: Weeeiiird. I'm looking forward to your review.

> 163: I feel ignored :-(

>145 richardderus: "The Great Bat Poop War" just doesn't, somehow, elicit...I dunno...respect for the combatants. LOL! So true.

>169 FAMeulstee: HI THERE ANITA!!! How goes it today? Are Ari and Chimay well? How about Frank, is he in good spirits?

Never, ever let it be said I ignore my friends. *smooch*

>170 jnwelch: ...and you are...?

thank you Richard!

Frank is all better, sadly I am not, still sick :-(
Ari and Chimay are happy, still f**king cold and lots of snow!

Time to recover. No being sick, it disturbs the balance of the Universe. *wellness whammy*

Love the picture Richard. Nice one:)

Richard

You are loved...dearly

Huh. I stopped by thinking there's be a big celebration for Charles Dickens' 200th birthday today in your thread and...nothing. I thought for sure you'd have a comment or two in appreciation of him.
.
.
.
.
:D Yep. I'm eeeeevil.

I like eeeeevil! ; )

Hello Ricardo. I love A Wrinkle inTIme! I still have my copy from when I read it as a little girl. Also, A Wind in the Door and I just read A Swiftly Tilting Planet this winter for the first time. L'Engle is awesome!

Had to think of you, when I saw this photo. It was taken by a friend, her Dutch Shepherd is called Stella too.

>174 calm: I thought so too. It's such a crucial lesson to teach kids.

>175 Whisper1: *smooch* for my dear, sad friend.

>176 drneutron: I Loftily Ignore all the hoo and pla surrounding the Lesser Lights of Literature...I Do Not Notice Bret Easton Ellis's birthday, either.

Instigator! Oh, and did you see the Google Doodle today?

>177 Berly: Don't encourage him, Berly! Yeah, rediscovering this book is a pleasure.

>178 FAMeulstee: Oh how adorable! Stella (Artois) and Chimay! Thanks, Anita, that made me grin.

But Richard! It's the big 200! Surely that's reason enough to celebrate the wonderful Charles Dickens. I mean, just think, you won't be 200 for what? Like 110 years or something?

I love today's Google Doodle ...although, horrors, someone at the office thought Charles Dickens was the author of ... the Sherlock Holmes series!!! Aaaiiiiiiyyyyy.... I work with mental midgets!

Hi RD- Have you read Colm Tóibín? I just started one of his story collections, called The Empty Family: Stories, that might be up your alley. Some very nice writing.

Oooh, Chimay... I think I'm in a trance.

>180 Ape: I, you oaf, am a mere stripling of...lessee here, subtract the...thirty-four. And holding. Do not forget again on pain of being fed to the zombie sex kittens.

>181 cameling: I wish I thought you were joking.

>182 msf59: I haven't yet. I'm saving him for when I turn sixty-five...in thirty-one years.

So it's 76 years until you're 200?

I wish I had been joking too, Rdear..... alas ..... *sigh*

>184 Ape: ONE HUNDRED and seventy-six years. THIRTY-FOUR until further notice.

>185 cameling: You *have* made sure they can all, in fact, read, haven't you? I mean, beyond texts.

"For a moment, everything was clear, and when that happens you see that the world is barely there at all...It's a perfectly balanced mechanism of shouts and echoes pretending to be wheels and cogs, a dreamclock chiming beneath a mystery-glass we call life."
--Stephen King, 11/22/63

Hi Richard - I so need to catch up on my King reading. Nice quote!

"I appreciate rugby! All sports except cricket, which not only is not a sport but isn't an actual game, are possessed of some interest around here. I confess to finding basketball a trifle dull."

ahem! go wash you mouth out for uttering such complete nonsense .......

Poor (not) old Richard, getting ribbed about age and Dickens!
I wont mention either then.....
*whistling*
...still not mentioning either.....

Caro.. that is plain sad. Says a lot about the failure of our
educational system. At least.

I am giving up hope that I will ever get my hands on
11/22/63...sigh

#181 RE: Mental midgets Not as bad as confusing Dickens with Doyle, perhaps, but I was with a group of women last night, and one of them told a not-very-funny joke that included references to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Another of the women just gave us all a blank look and said "who are Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid? Did she work with us at Blah Blah Inc. a couple years ago?"

@ 192

.
.
.

I'll retire to Bedlam.

#193 Must. Not. Quote. Dickens. on Richard's thread. Still...my reaction exactly.

#192...sounds like some of the students here at Lehigh...clueless regarding world events

My mind just got snagged on the hook of Dickens writing Sherlock Holmes and finds itself unable to shake free.

>188 Copperskye: Hi Joanne! I loved it. Made me thrum with connectedness.

>189 roundballnz: What nonsense? An American watching rugby? Reminder: Gay men like looking at seminude men doing strenuous things. It's just a fact.

>190 LovingLit: Ribbed about age...? How can that be valid for a THIRTY-FOUR TEAR OLD?

As for Chuckles the Dick, well, 'tis the season.

*launches private-label ICBM to New Zealand*

>191 mckait: Nook that suckah, sweetness. It's totally worth it.

I am determined to wait for it..
and not spend when I don't have to.

Maybe someday he will finish..

>192 laytonwoman3rd: ...and she has the right to vote...oh dear...

>193 lycomayflower: Oh yeah.

>194 laytonwoman3rd: Knock yerse'f out, I have come to expect it. After all, Chuckles had a way of turning a phrase!

>195 Whisper1: Oh dear goddesses, that is CHILLING!

>196 tiffin: "It was the best of clues, it was the worst of clues..."

Poor Richard, getting picked on for his age. I can confirm to the doubting masses that Richard is 34. Celsius.

That would make him hot stuff, indeed!

#199 See, #193 WAS a quote from Dickens, and I was scolding the offspring in #194, not restraining myself....but you knew that.

RD, there's an article in this month's Atlantic that totally aligns with your prejudice against felines. I hesitate to mention it on other, more feline-friendly threads, but for you, it's a must-read. Cover article.

I love rugby! Played it in college. Scrum half. My nickname was Wheels; my speed saved me from a hospital visit or two I'm sure! That and the fact that I had a tooth on a retainer at that point in my life and I had to pop it out before games and you can bet I made sure to smile very widely at the opposing team before the game--several wide eyes on the other side so I am sure it helped with the psychological intimidation. Great memories. Drinking beer from shoes after the game...Tee hee!

>197 richardderus:: Rdear, for viewing scantily-clad men doing strenuous things, may I discreetly recommend ESPN Classic when the old college basketball games are on? Very, very nice viewing...oh, of the games, of course. Although it's come to my notice over the years that basketball players, taken overall, may be the least attractive of athletes, with few exceptions.

Love rugby. Tough, tough game.

192: I am unafraid to admit that I scarcely follow politics of any kind because I consider it a futile endeavor. I'm completely unashamed to admit that I don't bother with beating my head against a brick wall and that I'm able to live my life blissfully unaware of such depressing negativity.

Something you are not afraid of!! Yay!! And i am glad you are sparing the walls. Here's to Bliss. xoxo : )

Yes, there are SOME things that I'm not afraid of. Most of them are edible though. :P

LOL. Now I am the reverse. There are definitely some foods I AM afraid of!! Probably because I am allergic to them ; )

...cant believe I got ICBM'd for not mentioning Dickens....I wonder what would happen if i did mention him....
*not taking the chance*

#206 OK...but you DID know that politics was the ball park in which these people play, right?

Yes, but just barely. :P

>200 ty1997: I want a divorce!

>201 tiffin: Oh boo Tui! Don't encourage the boy. Who I'm one year younger than.

>202 laytonwoman3rd: *grin*

>203 ffortsa: Iiiiiiiiiiiinteresting! Thank you, Judy.

>204 Berly: You one scary mama, Rugby Girl!

>205 Matke: ESPN Classic...*eyes mist over* Oh for the days before these **hideous** bloomers!

>206 Ape: In that case, just promise me you'll vote as I tell you to, or else face zombie ninja underwear model home invasion.

>207 Berly: I fear that kind of bliss is all too common among the Murrikin populace.

>208 Ape:, 209 No comment required from me.

>210 LovingLit: Nothing you'd like, I promise you that. *contacts kidnapping cartel to remove adorable babies Wilbur and Lenny from deeply unsuitable pro-Dickens home environment*

>211 laytonwoman3rd:, 212 Another chat in which I feel no need to insert myself.

Camping happily in the corner with the other rugby fans. Wish it was played here .. I much prefer this sport to football. At least the players don't look like mini-transformers on the field and they play both offense and defense.

>215 cameling: Sorta like the difference between the sissified American League, aka the home of the Yank-mes and the Scum Sox, and the home of *real* baseball, the National League.

>214 richardderus: Ah Richard! You're killing me.
*mental note: do nothing to cross Richard- EVER*

>217 LovingLit: Wise, wise Megan, renouncing the Dickensian heresy. So wise. *Kidnapping Cartel? Cancel my Kiwi order. For now*

so many posts... I am getting the headache...

Amazing how fast a thread fills up, isn't it? I'm thinking of upping my limit to 300 posts.

In that case, just promise me you'll vote as I tell you to, or else face zombie ninja underwear model home invasion.

Oh, don't be silly, I don't vote. Can't think of anything more horrifying than an uninformed voter.

I'm thinking zombie ninja underwear models are sounding less and less unappealing the more you threaten me with them.

>221 Ape: They're men.

Oh...

LOL!

>221 Ape:, 222: if it's anything like Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, it could be a hoot

Review: 6 of seventy-five

Title: 11/22/63

Author: STEPHEN KING

Rating: 5* of five

The Book Report: Jake Epping is a modestly successful high-school English teacher with a bad, broken marriage to an alcoholic behind him, a future of great sameness before him, and a date with destiny that cannot be foreseen. He is, in short, you, or me, or any other Stephen King hero.

What happens to Jake is, he gets a chance to change the world. Seriously. No spoilers here, but Jake gets a chance to make 11/22/63 just another date on the calendar Pope Julius invented for us. How? Through a little rabbit-hole in time that a friend of Jake's finds, uses, and tries to accomplish the salvation of Kennedy through the use of: Living from September 9, 1958, until he can get rid of Lee Harvey Oswald before November 22, 1963. But the past, you see, doesn't want to be changed. So the guy gets terminal cancer, comes home to 2011, and zaps Jake with the job of changing the future by changing the past.

Jake does. Boy, does he ever. Way big does he change the future.

Nothing in life is free. Remember the first time you heard that? Was it your mom or your dad who laid it on you? How hard did you kick against knowing it, and for how long?

Jake takes a week. I aged a hundred years in the week Jake took. So will you,

And that's all I'll say.

My Review: Every life has its losses, mine included. They're not so interesting to other people, of course, because folks are mostly interested in their own miseries and haven't got a lot of energy to spare for the troubles of others. Okay, fine; what fiction does is, it gives us a chance to have a catharsis, in the ancient Greek sense, the reason they invented plays and melodrama and tragedy and comedy. It was therapy to go to a play and scream and cry and howl with laughter. The whole point was to get it all out. Catharsis.

I experienced many moments of catharsis in reading this book. I was wrung dry of tears on several happy and several sad occasions. I relived the might-have-beens of my own little life. I redrew the contours of history a couple times, inspired by King's redrawings.

I was swept up in a story that I so wanted to be told, and I was completely aghast when it was over because I didn't want it to be over, and I didn't want the finality of the ending to step on my gouty toes the way I thought it would.

But, like so many before me, I stubbed my toe on the stair of King's story and said ouch, before I realized it was a stair. Stairs go up, or they go down, but you'll never know which in the darkness until you feel for the next one.

But the deal is, once you know which way you're going, you're already there, committed to the movement. Exactly, in other words, like living life.

This is why Stephen King is our own Mr. Dickens. I hate Dickens' bloated, boring prose and his tedious, ridiculous plots, but he and King both write the book that offer catharsis to the audience of the age. (Just for gods' sweet sake, quit trying to pretend Chuckles is still speaking to you! And those gawdawful dull Shakespeare plays, stop it! You know you hate 'em like the rest of us do!)

The ending of the story was, for this reader, a catharsis of epic proportions. I hate and envy Jake, I bleed inside for him, I want to comfort him and slug him. I am undone by jealousy for his last harmony between past and present. I want one, too.

I got it, my last harmony, and you might too, if you'll read the 840pp of exciting and fast-paced life in 11/22/63. Please do.

Love your review Richard, that's the second Mr King book going on my tbr pile this year.

>227 avatiakh: I can't imagine you'll be sorry in any way, Kerry. At least I surely hope not!

Nice review there Richard!! Yes, it is now on my tbr mountain. I am a sucker for King anyhow, but with your added recommendation, well...! : )

You'll love it, Berly-boo, it's got so many wonderful teary-eyed moments!

Too bad I read this tonight AFTER I got back from the bookstore! Drats.

Don't you have a NooKindlEreader? This book is *perfect* for one of those. It's a major chunkster, and it's $35! Save your wrists.

Excellent suggestion my good man!

Your good crack merchant, you mean...seducing you into the expenditure of money for this massive, delight-filled tome.

Money? Who cares what with promises of pages and pages of delight and no need for a wrist brace!

Sadly, publishers have caught on to this and chunksters now command chunkster-sized e-prices... I realized this when I pondered buying Reamde; am now stuck renewing it ad nauseam because I can't carry it on the subway without it tearing the bottom out of whatever bag I'm carrying.

Do you hope you're healthy & I'll see you tomorrow eve!

(Gleefully imagining what Richard might have done/said had Dickens written about cats... ETA; better yet, had he written a play about cats...)

AGONY!!!!!!

Don't say it.
I am waiting.
Thumb

I cannot keep up with this thread, Richard!!

Excellent review of 11/22/63, which I must, must, must read soon!

PS -- you're right about National League baseball being the real deal, rather than those AL wimps with their designated hitters . . .

>235 Berly: Put it that way...

>236 Chatterbox: Stella and I will be there, though not with bells on as I find the *rinketyjinglerinketyjinglerinketyjingle* annoying in short order.

I'd best go lie down now...thinking about a play about cats by Dickens has caused v-fib...

>237 mckait: Nook Nook Nook Nook Nook Nook Nook Nook Nook

>238 tymfos: Thanks, Terri! And don't even get me started on that travesty. Although it makes for fun interleague and Series games to see the AL prissypants pitchers trying to figure out which end of the bat is which.

I come from an NL family. My maternal grandmother watched the Cubs win, in person, in 1908. My dad's a Giants fan from the 1930s. I was brought up right.

>226 richardderus: Sorry, RD. That dusty old master Billy RattleDagger does still move me. As for Chuck, I once picked up Nicholas Nickleby to skim the plot before seeing the plays, and couldn't put it down. Not true of all Dickens, but some of his stuff is pure gold.

I enjoyed reading your review, so I had to go give it a thumbs up. Moving along now....

Already on the nook because of the heft...a short trip coming up might be the time to get to it--but I'm still fantasizing this month...And I have to agree with ffortsa...but we know that's what makes the world go round.

Oh, a question: based on what you know of me (probably more than you care to), would you say G. of T. would be a good choice for me for dvds/books?

Thank you in advance for your answer, Rdear.

Danny

Nicholas Nickleby fan as well.

nope

>240 ffortsa: Uh-huh. Sure. Okay, whatever you say. Say, how bout them Giants!

>241 maggie1944: Hiya, Karen44! *smooch*

Another great review Richard - thumbed:)

Thumb from me, too, Richard. Could have sworn there were gratuitous swipes at Dickens and Shakespeare, but I must have been mistaken.

Ouch BB because of your review of 11/22/63... That sounds like a big one too.. LOL

I'm in the middle of 11/22/63 and appreciate the rave without spoilers. I think King is the master right now. I'm finding this warm and resonant while still engaging, funny and occasionally disturbing.

>245 calm: Thank you, calm!

>246 jnwelch: There are no "gratuitous" swipes at Chuckles the Dick, Joe. Just well-merited attacks on his boring, bloated prose and absurd plotting.

As for Herr von Shakingspears, it's a matter of mental health. Play-readers are 600 times more likely to need hospitalization than play-avoiders. It's statistics.

>247 MonicaLynn: It's a mammoth one! But I really hope you'll enjoy it as I have done.

>248 nancyewhite: Oh good Nancy! I hope it continues that way. And if you don't cry at the ending, I'll be very surprised.

Imagine if time travel did exist and we could bring Dickens to the future to re-write 11/22/63.

Haha, stop screaming Richard, I'm kidding! Wonderful review.

>250 ty1997: Thank you, Tom! *guck* on the mental image of Chuckles in the modern day.

I might as well make this post the announcement: Since thread traffic is my favorite thing because it means y'all're coming around and having fun, and since 5 threads in six weeks seems a teensy bit much, I'm trying out a 275-post limit now. Stephen, Jude, if y'all have trouble loading the thread, will you please let me know? I can cut back to 250 easily.

Just sent your recommendation of the King book to one of my lads. Sounds right up his alley for his e-reader. Good review, Ricardo!

>252 tiffin: Thank you, Tui! It's a genuinely moving book. I love the shift in King's writing away from thrills and chills, which he does well, into a more excitement-plus-involvement mode. I was so, so invested in the love story in this book that I was surprised by the level of sweaty-palmed thriller action there was to keep my boy side happy!

I just caved and got it for my e-reader... sigh... peer pressure!

>254 BekkaJo: *smoochings* for Bekka as she begins her trip to 1963 America!

Well...peer pressure can only go so far! Can I finish one of the other 10 or so I have one the go first? Then I can give it some attention :)

Oh and reciprocal other-Jersey smoochies to you too.

Wonderful review, Richard! Your reviews are more fun to read than the books, I think.

Your review of 11/22/63 has me interested in a King book for the first time ever, I think. I guess the thrills and chills stuff never attracted me, but this does sound very different, and worth trying.

>256 BekkaJo: Goodness, start any time, Bekka! Now would be good. Or now. How about now?

>257 ronincats: Oh, not in this case, Roni. No indeed.

>258 gennyt: *evil Muttley laugh* My work here is done.

Wonderful book, wonderful review.

*smooch*

#259 Yes, curses, curses! Another one for the wishlist!

I couldn't read all of your review of 11/22/63, Richard, because I'm in the middle of the novel now and don't want to read anything that might spoil it for myself, but I'm so pleased to see you gave it a 5*! So far, with Jake just back from his first longish foray into 1958, I am absolutely loving it.

nice review of 11/22/63 :)
have this one already so no BB for me!

hi georgeous!
I have never read anything by mr King, most are WAY to thrilling for my feeble heart ;-)

Almost got a thumb out of me, Richard, until you knocked my pals Shakespeare and Dickens. ;) But seriously, a good review.

I totally concur Richard. I was bereft when I read the last page of 11/22/63: at 849 pages it was far too short.

RD- Great review of 11/22/63! I received a spanking new copy for Christmas. My plate is over-flowing right now but I plan on book-horning this one in, early next month. I can't wait!

>260 karenmarie: Glad you liked the review, Horrible! I knew you liked the book.

>261 gennyt: Music to my evil ears!

>262 Storeetllr: I don't think I spoilered anything, Mary, but protect your eyes. It's too marvelous a ride to deny yourself the full experience.

>263 curlysue: Well hop to, Kara! Get busy 'n' read for review!!

>264 FAMeulstee: Hello loveycuddles, well, this isn't too much for your wimpish scaredy-cat heart. In fact, exciting as it is, it's just too good to pass up.

>265 MickyFine: Thanks, Micky! I didn't knock the no-talent bores, I just offered an informed dissent from the common or garden adulation they receive.

>266 NarratorLady: So true, so true!

>267 msf59: Bookhorn LOL I love it! So stealing that one.

I'm sure you didn't put any spoilers in, Richard. It's just that the less I know about it the better. (Some books I can know all about, even the ending, and still find them compelling (think Jane Eyre for example), but I have a feeling this isn't one of those.)

>226 richardderus: what a lovely review Richard.

>269 Storeetllr: I get it completely, Mary, and am lookin' forward to your review!

>270 LovingLit: Thanks, Megan...I aim to please.

fried day.. and I am

226: 11/22/63 has been floating around for awhile and my reaction has been meh. Your review is the first that got me to consider reading the book. The review itself is marvelous.

Fabulous review of 11/22/63, Richard! Duly thumbed and added to wish list.

Good morning, RD! Have a frabjous day.

Ditto from me, Richard. With a Callooh, Callay!

Sleeping in?

>272 mckait:, 277 I was up so damn early that I went back to sleep so I would be able to function in a normal way through some of today. Hope you're Valiumed to the hairline and, even as we speak, Nooking away on 11/22/63, which you need to order for yourself on your Nook instead of waiting for BiL to finish it up sometime in August.

>273 qebo: Katherine! Thank you very kindly! It's lovely to see that kind of praise as I am slithering back into consciousness.

>274 kidzdoc: Thank you, Darryl! You'll enjoy many aspects of the book, I suspect, since several times I wanted to go get the pistol, and I used waaay more than four hankies.

>275 karenmarie: *smooch* for Horrible, and back at'cha babay!

>276 jnwelch: Be careful of the Frumious Bandersnatch, my son, as you head back to the cafe.

Well....Ok, I'm only 122 posts behind, so if there's anything really really important, please let me know.....I just can't keep up and am really getting to where I'm hating coming to LT --isn't there a "Mark all as read" button someplace???

Did read your last post, and yes I did order 11/22/63 and it's on my Nook, but it's going to have to sit in the queue. If I could just stop getting involved with stupid books (see my latest abandoned) and find a way to ignore chats (so much fun tho aren't they?) I might find time to read this one before I die!

Smooches from afar because I have a code. Sniff. Sniff. Achoo!

Poor Berly! Hi Richard!

>279 tututhefirst: Go look at Facebook, Tina, I called out to you on an idea.

>280 Berly: Boo! Hissss! Cold-b-gone! *air smooch*

>281 jadebird: Hiya Ren-ski, how goes the world out there in Left Coast Land?

It's raining, and I want winter to be over. :(

We've barely had anything like a winter here. It snew briefly the other night, but the snow was gone in an hour after sunrise. *sigh* I like winter.

I really can't complain. We've had such a mild winter Mt. Shasta just has the thinnest coating of snow. But, I'm commuting this semester and I don't like driving on icy roads and I'm currently living in an incredible poorly insulated house. Whine, whine, whine... You can get the violins out now.

*there there, pat pat*

Richard ... I hear you....For many reasons...probably ain't gonna happen....but I love love love her.

::sad face:: She is terrific, though, ain't she?

Oh well...a good idea can't always find a home. I can't find anyone to buy a TV series I've loved forever...a kind of Charles-Osgood-esque show about books and authors.

xo

no

Some serious thread count violations going on here ... rdear ....*looking for the taser*

rd has upped the TC due to enthusiastic response

I waited 3 minutes to post this:

:_(

290, 291, 292
haha, you guys crack me up
Is it 300 now Officer Derus?

Yeah, I think 300 is the new max. Five threads in six weeks would only be 4.66, and that seems more reasonable. Esp. since thread six is imminent. And MAYBE I can get more than two reviews per thread this way!

>251 richardderus:

I've been on DSL for nearly a year...so "lag" time isn't a problem

I can't keep up with the "fan club", is all

Come on Richard get a move on - I've already added another column on my stats spreadsheet to take your sixth thread.

I'm 110 messages behind. Incredible.

You liked the new Stephen King. I might have to give this one a try.

As I type this, you're probably moving on to your next thread......

>295 jdthloue: Oh good! DSL...wow...it's been years.

>296 PaulCranswick: I don't know, should I be pleased or concerned that a) you made such a spreadsheet, and b) that I figure so prominently on it?

>297 EBT1002: Hi there, Ellen! Glad to see you now that your work schedule is over for the week. Chatty bunch 'round here, ain't it? And definitely get 11/22/63! A thriller, not a creepfest or goreshow, and a good one. Plus the first time-travel romance that doesn't make me roll my eyes and sigh gustily.

xo

Ha! I am never first on the thread, but I hit the magic 300 post, so I get to be last, right?

Yes. Almost.

: P