Richardderus thread 9 for 2012

It's spring! Politics can take a back seat to daffodils.

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.
5. Everybody Says Hello...thread five.
6. 11/22/63...thread five.
7. Under Your Skin...thread six.
8. The Emperor of Lies...thread six,
9. The Coroner's Lunch...thread six.
10. A Wrinkle in Time...thread six.
11. Brother's Keeper, a novella...thread seven.
12. Thirty-Three Teeth...thread seven.
Lucky 13! Comet in Moominland...thread seven.
14. Masquerade (Kindle Single)...thread seven.
15. A Shot in the Bark...thread seven.
16. THIS IS YOUR HEART IN LOVEThis is Your Heart in Love...thread seven.
17. Burial to Follow...thread seven.
18. Disco for the Departed...thread seven.
19. STRONGBOX...thread seven.
20. Sending Rupert Home...thread seven.
21. Burritos and Gasoline...thread seven.
22. Palo Alto: Stories...thread seven.
23. Racing the Devil...thread seven.
24. Best Mets...thread seven.
25. Somebody Tell Aunt Tillie She's Dead...thread eight.
26. The Zona...thread eight.
27. The Song of Achilles...thread eight.
28. Accomplished in Detection...thread eight.
29. The Technologists...thread eight.
30. The DVD Murders...thread eight.
31. Miss Peregine's Home for Peculiar Children...thread eight.

My 2012 ORPHANED books ticker:




Books are reviewed in post:

32. A Tale of 3 Witches...#87.

33. M-G-M: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot...#210.

34. Anarchy and Old Dogs...#285.

Yowza! I'm the first non-Richard person here! I would re-post that first picture, but unfortunately I have some friends and acquaintances outside this elite, snobbish enclave who would miss the irony and take it fer serious.

RD congrats on thread #9. Like the understated graphic in #2 above.

Hi Linda3rd! Welcome!

Paul, are you pixilated? Wait...oh...I get it! Malaysian humour! ;-P Glad to see you.

Hey! great graphics.

Thanks, Karen44! Welcome, welcome.

Hi RD! Love the Republican credo at the top! I think you went a little easy on 'em though.
Didn't you read In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, many moons ago? I just started it and it has grabbed me immediately.

>9 msf59: I don't think so, Mark. I remember the title, but not having read it. It's a great title, though, isn't it? Look forward to your review soon!

>2 richardderus: I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry. I'll do both.

I'll just appreciate the daffodils (and sob a bit at the wry humor).

Hi Richard,
Now I dont know much about politics, but, Republicans are right wing right?;)
hehe

Hooray for daffodils!

Hi Richard - nice daffodils.

post 2 is scary though:(

hope your day goes well

Good morning, Richard! Thought-provoking new thread. (I think I missed a whole thread prior . . . )

Hey there Richard!

Guten Morgen!

Politics can take a back seat to daffodils.

Hear hear!!!

RD I knew something was up when I only saw 2 posts on your previous thread, I thought maybe you had a fever till I checked it out and saw that you made a new one.. Glad that wasn't the case.. Marking my spot for lurking some more.. :)

Lurking and borrowing a quote from Joe(jnwelch)on another thread someplace:

Just parachute in, say whatever you want, and take the next jet-pack back out again. referring to my complete inability to keep up with your thread!!

At this point Richard dear, I'm not even sure I have the right thread for you....you seem to change them as regularly as some people change scivies!

Fly by smooches...........

xo

Wanted to pop in & say "Hello" while you were still manageable!

Like the new thread, Mr. Derus.

Darryl
Terri
TLo
Kath
Joe
Megan
Monica
Tina
calm
Ellen
Katie
Stephen
Genny
Roni

Howdy do! Glad y'all stopped in before the madness begins. I read 11% of a Kindle freebie called Clouded Rainbow and will not be counting it towards my seventy-five because all I could find to say was, "I made it 11% into this Kindleing belch-inducing indigestibility before bulimia set in and I had to stop."

Really a shame, too, because I like the idea of a man and wife whose car accident gives them simultaneous amnesia and whose rescuers, being separated by time and distance (his damaged body remains in the car, hers is thrown free and reasonably unharmed), don't connect the two in their minds, leading to a search for each other with no idea of why they're separated.

In better edited hands, this would have been a fun thriller. As it was, adverbitis, adjectivitous hypertrophy, and severe, severe wrong-worditis coalesced to make this reader into a deleter.

Hallo RichardDear! Coming over to your threads is always a blast - where else can I read something like adverbitis, adjectivitous hypertrophy, and severe, severe wrong-worditis coalesced to make this reader into a deleter.?

51.56%

Just sayin'.

Hugs and smooches from Horrible

ooh, "reader into a deleter" I'm so stealing that

>26 karenmarie: Goody good good on 51.56%! You *go* Horrible! Thanks for liking my non-review.

>27 beeg: And thanks to you, too! I am pleased to have enriched your bag of phrases!

Politics can take a back seat to daffodils.

Crypto-approved, even if they are the dumb flowers from Alice in Wonderland. ;)

Smooches, Padre.

Dumb flowers as in you dont like them or as in not smart? Just checking :)
I liked your non review of the book you didnt read too, Richard.

#30 Or dumb flowers as in flowers that do not speak?

>29 London_StJ: Thank you, Crypto!

>30 LovingLit: ...I wondered that too, Megan, but was afraid to ask...

>31 laytonwoman3rd: Aren't most flowers dumb, The Language of Flowers be damned?

In the Disney film they are portrayed as very dopey, and so I've carried a prejudice against them since childhood. ;)

Oooh. I've never seen the Disney film, so it doesn't resonate with me. I just love the yellow WHOOOPPPEEEEEEE of them after the somber gray-browns of winter.

Evening, Rdear. You're in good form, sir.

Hi, Richard. Good to see you in fine fit fiddle. Carry on.

>35 Matke: How do! Am I? It feels a little like being underwater just now, what with the wind blowing so much pollen around.

>36 maggie1944: *smooch*

Hi Richard, drive by waves.

*air kiss* at where Bonnie used to be

*steps in at opportune time to receive air kiss intended for Bonnie*

Hi RD- Just swinging by to say hi and hope your week is going well!

#34 " A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company"

Hi/bye - your threads go by so fast I usually only get in once - love comment 2. So...... succinct.

We were just talking about how this beautiful early Spring has filled the air with pollen and other plant stuff, so that a lot of us are sneezing and coughing. Is this some kind of cruel joke? Looks great, and has you doubled over and reaching for kleenex?

>40 LovingLit: extra *smooch* for speedymegan

>41 msf59: Hiya Mark!

>42 laytonwoman3rd: Good quote!

>43 sibylline: Hi Lucy! Nice to see you any old time!

>44 jnwelch: I detest the early spring because it means the horrors and miseries and nastiness and HEAT of summer are slouching along behind, like the rough beast of poetical legend.

what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Love that poem. Never realized Yeats was writing about summer heat. "The cool weather cannot hold."

Global warming. Only he didn't know it. Mark of a true genius, that!

46 and 47> LOL! perfect

That's for true, Ellen!

I wish one of the PM people who send me nastygrams every so often was all riled up right now! This message is perfect:

That happens sometimes, can't control emotions... never thought of responding like this ;-)

PM people?

"Block" nasty people...and their stupid PMs

it works for me

>51 FAMeulstee: Public service done! *shines halo*

>52 ffortsa: It will not have escaped your attention, Judy, that I don't particularly care about pulling punches. This has caused some people Grievous Offense, and a certain subset of those Grievously Offended will send me private messages outlining the causes of their discontent with me, my politics, my parentage, my "ruining LT" etc etc blah blah blah on my profile. "PM people."

>53 jdthloue: What for? Unless they publicly attack me as a person, why should I care?

They could just ignore your thread instead of asking you to change it.....

>55 EBT1002: You're missing the POINT, Ellen! They LIKE feeling offended and annoyed! They WANT to make me think *I* am the problem, what with my loud mouth and my highly opinionated opinions. I grew up with a mother like this, so I positively *batten* on knowing that I'm bugging the hell out of this kind of person.

It never gets better than knowing you've offended a puritan. Preferably shocked them, too. But the warm, satisfied glow of knowing that somewhere, who knows where, there is a True Believer in Truth And Justice (pick a topic on which they are puritanical, no matter to me) gasping in horrified offense at something I've said, done, believe, or think is irreplaceable.

LOL!!! Yes, sad but true, I do think you've nailed it.
I, on the other hand, happily come visit your thread to see what wonderful leftist and/or humorous content you've recently added. You make me smile.

(and I know you don't care what people think --- thank goodness for that --- but I figured it couldn't hurt to get a little love)

*smooch* I don't care what mean people think! My friends, of course I care about.

*smashing a big ole juicy kiss on your cheek* There you go, honey. I love your straight talking and talented humor, and skill at writing and making up words, too!!!

And I like the idea of letting the offended thinking about whether they might be the problem.

50: I suspect the ones the graphic is referring to would be offended by the quote itself. Y'know, something like: "I'm offended! I CAN SO control my emotions!!"

58> LOL! and *smooch* right back at you!

Oh, how silly. I'm continually surprised of the sense of entitlement that the internet can foster.

Wouldn't it be nice....

> 50 LOVE IT !!!! stealing right now

Morning Richard, sorry you are still getting those nastygrams. And thanks from abroad for posting all those 'thingies' (how are they called? can't find the word). Back in Germany I used to be a conservative/ liberal voter, but our conservative is for the most part far more leftwing than the US democrates. I'm glad I can't vote in Italy yet, too confusing.

Can I say that I find the development in the US scary? Whatever values are ruling in your country have since WWII always found their way into Europe. For many years it used to be freedom, tolerance and justice, and also something like self-reliance, and this is obviously changing.

I feel that people here are getting more and more incapable to reason, to think and decide for themselves. Sure this has been quite a new accomplishment after the two WWs, but still I can't believe how willingly they seem to give this up again and instead believe whatever information is fed to them through TV (and then scream for new restrictive laws).

Especially when the TV is Faux. People are so aggressively concerned these days with confirming their opinions, which are fueled by their emotions, not their logic. There's been some writing on this recently - we employ logic after the fact most of the time, alas, to justify our reflexive opinions. Right and left. It's a very hard task to disengage your emotions until logic prevails.

I've had this problem myself, pragmatic liberal that I am, when facts are presented that seem to undercut my beliefs. And it can shut me up for a while (my friends will find this hard to believe). Ultimately, the reason we might feel decisions are hard is that we can't assemble the facts to match our preferences.

That is not to say that some decision are, even after logic is applied, open and shut. In fact, most of the topics in the policital news today feel like that to me. Some things that people include in a moral view are none of their business, for instance.

Oops. rant interrupted. Work!

Some things that people include in a moral view are none of their business Oh, if only we could just get that one point across in a big big way.

I fear, and I don't use this word metaphorically, for my country. I listen to asshole conservatives (no logic here, I just flat out emotionally despise conservatism) bloviate about nonsense that matters not a tiny whit in the GOVERNANCE of the country (gay marriage, f/ex) and, to use this one useful example, use the "ewwwww" response that most straight people are trained to have to gayness to quell dissent in their own ranks on topics of genuine governmental concern: Taxation; economic management; industrial regulation; etc etc ad nauseam, there are conservatives who don't like the lunatic right's positions on these things, and they're bludgeoned into silence by the cynical manipulations of the shouting classes on "social issues" aka the "...things that people include in a moral view are none of their business...".

>68 richardderus: Preach it, brother!

I'm a incorrigible optimist, so I'm hoping they're sowing the seeds of their own doom. The right wing is turning off more and more people, and their bludgeoning tactics make it impossible for a decent centrist candidate to come out of their process. As I mentioned before, my folks were centrist Republicans until they couldn't stay in that party any more (many years ago now). I believe the vast majority of Americans still adhere to the values Nathalie identifies, but it is a scary time.

Today's local paper reported that the fastest growing population here, Hispanics, are not registering to vote at a pace anywhere close to that growth. I hope that changes, as most of that population is not likely to support the nonsense being spouted.

*smooch* darling Richard.

The thing that makes me fear for 'Murrika most right now is the one-issue voter, whatever that issue is. They're mostly social issues (abortion, gun control,Obamacare to use the pejorative) and you can't get around their stances on those to discuss anything substantive about either party.

(wanders off to look at newly acquired books again)

Big hugs from t'other Jersey - our politics are nuts too...on a tiny scale but nuts nontheless.

>69 jnwelch: I appreciate the validation, Joe. I am not, surprisingly, an optimist of any stripe. I know! You could never tell from my public utterances, could you? So I look on, jaundiced and cynical, as things go from bad to worse to conservative, aka HELLISH.

>70 karenmarie: *grumble* Books, library sales, bah! *grumble*

>71 BekkaJo: *smooch* Tiny or not, they're politics, and that means they're insane!

xoxo

I find myself increasingly nervous about the future of the politics in this US of A, too. Perhaps the experiment in "representative democracy" is failing.

Sigh.
I agree.
I'm actually a pathological optimist, but when I pull my head out of the sand (aka, my current book) I can become very depressed and cynical.

>76 richardderus: ROTFL! I'm glad to have the company of all of you to counteract this hidden sentiment.

Hi RD- Looks like I missed the fun & games again! I love those classic RD tirades!

>Love #76!

>77 kidzdoc:, 78 Priceless, isn't it?

>76 richardderus: ha! Great, youve got all the funny placards :)

I find myself increasingly nervous about the future of the politics in this US of A, too

me too, Karen :(

xord

It makes me giggle in a very unseemly way, Megan. Not nice to laugh at the misfortunes of others.

I have a good friend who that placard could be based on. Two actually. I, of course, would never be so judgemental. (ahem, well, maybe)

Yeah, that image wouldn't apply to me either. Y'know, because I don't try to like people in the first place. :P

Skipping a number of threads to say cheers!

>85 trandism: Hi Nick! I'm glad to see you out and about. Do you have home internet yet?

>84 Ape: No! You don't MEAN it! *gasp*

>83 LovingLit: Thou? Nay nay! Perish forbid!

Review: 32 of seventy-five

Title: A TALE OF 3 WITCHES

Author: CHRISTIANA MILLER and BARBRA ANNINO

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Book Report: A Kindle original short story, in the Grundleshanks the Toad series. (Well, okay, the author doesn't call it that, but I do.) It's a crossover with another mystery series, the Stacy Justice mysteries, hence the collaborator listed, Barbra Annino. The story follows the action in Somebody Tell Aunt Tillie She's Dead, but I don't know where it falls in the Stacy Justice series as I've never read one of those.

Gus, Mara, and Aunt Tillie get a letter from Aunt Tillie's old buddies the Geraghty Girls, owners of a bed and breakfast-plus-coven house in Amethyst. The letter summons Tillie to a Grand Coven on Samhain, because portents of disaster are all pointing to Amethyst, and Stacy. Oh dear...what to do...Tillie's dead, and the Geraghty sisters don't know it. Tillie, unsurprisingly to anyone who read the first book, has some ideas on the subject, which boil down to Mara and Gus getting on the stick and pointing the Escape Hybrid to Amethyst.

So they do, putting Mara's infant daughter in the care of her terrified Papa for a long weekend's trip to save the world from the Soul Eater. Which, needless to say, they do, with the help of reluctant and unwilling (at first) Stacy, the great-niece of the Geraghty Girls. A trip into Tartarus, the demon dimension, and to the Halloween (Samhain) parade, and the basement coven gathering at the B&B all converge on the defeat of the evil power of the Soul Eater, and mark Stacy's acceptance of her full powers as a witch descended from witches. We're teased a little with hints at a deeper connection between Mara and Stacy, though I suspect the connection will play a role in the next installment of one or the other series.....

My Review: The problem here's that this really good little mystery story is a little mystery story! I wanted more! Not a story, a whole novel!

Oh well, that aside, this is a perfect mood-improvement tale, and a breezy attitude adjuster. I find the ghost of Lord Grundleshanks the poison toad a perfect counterpoint to the ghostly Mr. Henderson, aka the Soul Stealer. Both are barely seen, each is a comedic gift.

I don't think it's necessary to have read the novel before reading the story, and I think anyone in need of a grin, a giggle, and a light moment in their reading day could benefit from a little visit with Mara and Stacy and Gus.

thumb

I wanted more, too.

Thank goodness for books and for Richard.

They sure are keeping you busy!

Bah!

Hello and Happy Sunday to you!

Hello there! Not surprisingly I am only a mere 91 posts behind!
I love your recent rants as you provide amusing pictures to go with them! ;) #76 is pretty priceless!
xo

>89 EBT1002: Why Ellen! Such kind words, thank you!

>90 mckait: You ain't funnin' there, lady.

>91 Whisper1: Thank you Linda, and what a *beautiful* image that is.

>92 ChelleBearss: How do, Chelle! How are you settling in?

*** Waves**** as I am passing through Lurking again ;)

I love you for recommending The Song of Achilles!

'Nudda thumb. Hope you're enjoying your Sunday.

Weh!!!
I want to read The Song of Achilles, but it is not translated yet :-(

...can't...breathe...laughing...

it hurts oh ouch can't laugh any more

>94 MonicaLynn: Hi Monica! Wait...where's she gone?

>95 tloeffler: Oh, the dancing boys don't count? xo

>96 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe!

>97 FAMeulstee: That is just horrible, Anita, and I think you should file a case against the publishers of Holland in the World Court for violating your human right to good literature.

>56 richardderus:: aha so this is why I get such perverse satisfaction in hanging out a line of washing (preferably underwear) on Sunday?
>63 richardderus:: so far, Canadians can still dance like this but I'm getting a bit worried about the war one, with Harpoon as our PM
>99 richardderus:: is that one of those make your own church sign thingummies?

Yeup, Tui...that's why!

Wise to be afraid...and to vote...and to keep talking dissent.

Not that I'm aware of...what make your own church sign thingummies? This sounds like something I need to know about!

Richard,

Please forgive my high jacking of your thread. I'm posting here because I know yours is a well traveled, popular thread and I want to get the word out to our community of caring, loving folk regarding Angela's sadness. As many know, she and her husband Mike were in the process of adopting a baby girl. There is sad news, as her message below indicates

Hi Linda dear,
Our birth mother changed her mind after we already met and held the baby. We are devastated. Would you mind posting on my thread? I just can't face it at the moment...
Thanks,
Angela

Oh no no no. I am so sad for them. No apologies needed, Linda.

Go wild!

http://www.says-it.com/churchsigns/

#106 That's a brilliant site, Tui. Now having fun thinking up spoof signs for my own church...

Genny...you're...you're...a vicar!! YOU SHOULDN'T BE LAUGHING!! Like, ever, but especially not at CHURCH stuff!!!

Richard, if I didn't laugh at church stuff (including at myself) I wouldn't survive five minutes as a vicar!

My first thought for a sign for my own church reads:

"Always something to complain about". Because it's amazing what some folk can find to pick holes in... and clearly it's my job to provide them with more material for picking at.

Hi RD- Hope you enjoyed a nice weekend. I love the button and the Gandhi quote is perfection.

Oh my. That church sign is priceless, as is the husky in the back seat...and I love Gandhi. What a man. If only he were the example people pointed to when using that phrase.

*smooch* and a small hug (Rdear) to you.

Genny, you are a Vicar? ( Like of Dibley?)
hmm who knew :)

I didn't realize that either, Genny! We need more like you! :-)

Maybe Genny will have her own "Father Ted"-like show someday... *wistful pondering*

Wolf in the rear-view-mirror? Priceless.

>110 gennyt: Amazing is one word I can think of for that behavior. In deference to your vocation, I won't use the others. But seriously now...you need to purse your lips disapprovingly more, and remember always to sip plain white vinegar before going out in public. One must play the role, you know.

>111 msf59: Thank you, Mark! Isn't that quote amazing?

>112 Matke: Do you know, Gail, that dog in the mirror makes me laugh just as hard on fiftieth viewing as on the first one? Laugh riot!

>113 mckait:, 114, 115 I suspect she's actually a barmaid in a rowdy pub, Joe and Kath, who just pretends she's a vicar on LT. Either that or she goes where the sinners are...and what's a "Father Ted" show, Faith?

>116 LovingLit: Still laughing....

MUST...OWN...COFFEE...MUG!

113 Kath - yes, sort of like Dibley! Nearer that than Father Ted, anyway...
114 What, more beer-drinking vicars, Joe? There are quite a few of us, actually...
115 Faith, the world lost a great talent prematurely with the sad demise of Dermot Morgan (aka Father Ted Crilley); I don't think anyone could produce a show that came close to it somehow :(
117 Richard, seriously, you've not heard of Father Ted? . Brilliant Irish sitcom featuring three priests - Father Ted himself (relatively sane, though very vain and ambitious), vacant Father Dougal and obscene alcoholic Father Jack. Surreal irreverent satire of the Catholic church and clergy. One of my favourite scenes is when Fr Ted tries to lead to safety a whole posse of priests who have somehow found themselves in the women's lingerie section of a department store. It's on youtube here. There seem to be a number of entire episodes available on Youtube from Channel 4 On Demand - I don't know if those are viewable outside of the UK.

I just loved the Dibley shows .. I found tapes while with a good friend
lots of years ago.. they still make me laugh :) I am with rd..
( sort of ) you sure do not come across as one who is.. um..church stuffy.
:) (In case you wonder, that is meant as a compliment :)

rd how do you know so much about so many?

Your thread has the best funnies!!! The demonic cat, ouch!

#120 Thanks for the compliment, Kath! I wish I had £1 for every time someone called out in the street "Look, the Vicar of Dibley!", I'd be a rich woman these days and able to retire from vicaring early! I used to think it was because of my size - though taller, I am about as round as Dawn French - but apparently thin women vicars also get this said to them. Less so these days actually, since we are not quite such a novelty as when the sitcom first came out.

:) If I were you, I think I would play up the similarities, just for fun.
However the thought of me as a Vicar is so impossible, I can't really say !
Maybe we need a pic of you in in vicar duds? lol

Now you have made me want to see the Dibley shows again :)
Do you have a dotty assistant?

Some similarities do emerge, even without me trying. Several times on Christmas Day I have been in the position of juggling several different invitations to Christmas Dinner and wondering how many portions of turkey and all the trimmings I can eat in order not to offend anyone...

But I couldn't possibly comment on the sanity of my assistants.

LOL at the dinner comment..

LOL, that does sound promisingly pointed in the direction of YES!

>119 gennyt: I tend to avoid things catholic or xian. I was amused by The Vicar of Dibley though I think that has more to do with Dawn French than the themes of the show.

>120 mckait: ...so much about so many what? ::confused::

>121 sibylline: *sweeping bow* I live to amuse, ma'am.

>124 gennyt: Most sensible, Genny. Least said, soonest mended.

The Father Ted shows are available here in the US through Netflix. Very different from Vicar of Dibley, but just as funny (especially if you're RC, and can appreciate some of the irreverance.)

*smooch*

I have seen and enjoyed some of the The Vicar of Dibley episodes.
And there was an other, Bailly.....more don't recall the name right now, that was very funny at times too. I think it was set in Northern Ireland.

>129 FAMeulstee: - I think you're thinking of Ballykiss Angel???

> 130: YES!
Ballykissangel, that it was, thank you Tina.

Knuckle Duster coffee mug! Fantastic! Even if I dont condone violence ;}

knuckle duster? Like brass knuckles?
I have those in my sewing box..

I just saw a fancy mug :PPP

oh well ...

#124, Genny's no comment sounded suspiciously like that in another famous British sitcom, one featuring a murderous politician as he manipulates a journalist:
"You might very well think that. I, however, could not possibly comment..."
I actually got some confirmations on stories asking, "so was that no comment a real no comment or a Francis Urquhart no comment?"

>127 tututhefirst: Hi Tina! I suspect Father Ted and I will remain unacquainted. I'm highly allergic to priests.

>128 curlysue: *smooch* kara!

>129 FAMeulstee: Can't help you there, Anita, sorry.

>130 tututhefirst: OH! Cute show, Colin Farrell was on that one.

I love that we have our very own vicar!

>131 FAMeulstee: I love a solved mystery, don't you, Anita?

>132 LovingLit: *covetcovetcovet* It's just so funny! *smooch* to fellow mug-coveting Megan

>133 mckait: *snort* Good line!

>134 Chatterbox: Dear F. U. I loved that show. "To Play the King" was my favorite series.

>136 EBT1002: I suspect her parishioners aren't enthused about sharing Genny, Ellen. Too wicked and wild for her to be a cybervicar!

Too late.. I think she is already ours... she has been around a while after all....
And we are willing to share.

*ponders* Perhaps.

I'm late, I'm late, I'm very very late .... but better late than never making it back onto LT after a rather trying time with internet access in China last week.

*smooochies* Richard .... btw, no news from our Saskatoonie darling, Quant?

NO! NOT A WORD!! You can imagine my discontent. *ruffles feathers* That hussy of a Russell Quant best not be thinkin' of slippin' off the end of the leash.

Beijing sounded as though you'd slipped into Orwell-land. The skyline from your hotel window was...grim. Grim, and cheerless. So glad you're back in bizarroland!

A church repurposed to spread light and happiness, as a bookstore.

I want to live there.

Never underestimate the lift that color brings to one's spirits. Grim it was, although I think the smog and dust had a lot to do with it too. And especially coming from Hong Kong, the contrast could not have been more glaring.

I'm thinking an indignant note to Mr Bidulka is in order. Have you a pen, handy?

New Russell book announced!!!!

MONTHS late. Grump.

>144 London_StJ: Wouldn't that be fabOOO?!

Hmph! It's about TIME! I see on Amazon that it's slated to be released April 15 this year.

And last month it wasn't so much as whispered about. Poor planning, Insomniac Press. Still, here it comes!

Heh.

Ive been called a lotta things in my time, but never a mug-coveter...but I like the sound of it so Ill keep it.

Richard, I do think you would find Father Ted sidesplittingly funny .......

Darn it, now I have the Father Ted theme music in my head...

I was trying to see a little of Ballykiss Angel on YouTube...
too many distractions yesterday though.. I want to try again, it looked good ...

Deliberately and voluntarily watch something about priests? For entertainment, not outrage and loathing? Hmmm...I suspect I'm not that open-minded.

Back in the 90s, I was a big fan of Ballykissangel because it was such fun to watch the village deal with its little crises. Same sort of pleasure I got from Monarch of the Glen in the first few seasons.

Beautiful, sparkling spring day today, the redbuds across the street finally joining the chorus of blossoms...forsythia, quince, weeping sherry already out...and my (look away, Kath) gorgeous Japanese maple has its heart-hurtingly beautiful red butterfly-shaped leaves ready to go. The mock cherry is coming along, blooming more and more, and the dogwoods are in full bud. Next week they'll begin flowering.

If only this chorus of joy didn't mean the horrible, vile, revolting summer was on its inexorable, fun-killing way.

Ok dear fill me in ... what's the excitement of Russell Quant? I have not heard of these books so should I be running out to find the first one? Are they super?

CHELLE!!! You haven't met my future husband, Russell Quant, yet?!?!? *has fantods*

Russell is only the most wonderful Saskatoonian PI/ex-cop/romantic goof ever! *sigh*swoon*

First up is Amuse Bouche, then Flight of Aquavit...read my reviews on the book pages, and if they don't make you want to pick the books up, I doubt you'd enjoy the experience of reading them.

LOL.. I forgot the future husband thing. . .

> 155: Yes Monarch of the Glen had that same atmosphere, a view into a kind of living that is as good as extinguished by now I am afraid...

Of course my new library does not carry the first book *sigh
I see you and Caro both gave them good reviews so I have added the first to my ever growing wishlist. Perhaps I will buy it for my ereader when Nate gives me my book allowance ;)

Love that church/library!

>158 mckait: FORGOT?!? That's it! You're no longer Matron of Honor.

>159 FAMeulstee: I suspect that way of life was gone before the show premiered, Anita, though I hope I'm wrong.

>160 ChelleBearss: And the stupid publisher hasn't made ANY eReader editions available, either. *sigh* indeed. I'll sacrifice a...well, I'll think of something acceptable...that your liberry can and will buy them all!

drat

I know.

Amen

Actually the kobo website has a copy of Amuse Bouche for a mere $7 so I might splurge on it!

I bought The Coroner's Lunch already so I have to finish that before I will buy anymore eBooks. My book habit is a tad out of control! (But that seems to be the common tale on LT! :)

Also in the dog box for never having heard of 'Russell Quant' either ....... but then as I enjoy the pain of watching Father Ted perhaps .......

Made it through half the thread. Postmarked for later reading. Popping in at the end to say Hi!!

>166 mckait: Mmm hmm!

>167 ChelleBearss: Of course, naturally, the Canuckistani ereader has it. Oh suuure, just ignore 310 million people, that's okay, we can take it. No, really!

>168 roundballnz: No one blames you, Alex, you live in...in...well, somewhere that isn't North America. Good things take forEVer to filter out to...to...errrmmm, where was that dinky little place again?

>169 Berly: So glad you're safe and sound, dear Berly-boo!

late at night and having difficulty sleeping so I thought I'd pop over to your thread and say hello.

Good things take forEVer to filter out to...to...errrmmm, where was that dinky little place again?
*tapping chin*
Hmm, Ill take the phone a friend option please.

>170 richardderus: but we have heard of 'Captain courageous' - so I think we may be even ...... & not so deprived

Of course, naturally, the Canuckistani ereader has it. Oh suuure, just ignore 310 million people, that's okay, we can take it. No, really!

Yeah, but often the 36 million (or whatever it now is) up here don't get the lovely things you folks down south get. So, you know, it evens out :-D

*lurking her way through, waving "hi"*

Saskatoon is also a small reddish purple berry which makes excellent pies and jam. If you do get to Saskatoon, Richard, take home some of the jam!

*falls asleep in corner*

>171 Whisper1: Oh dear...so sorry about that, Linda!

>172 LovingLit: Oh! You mean dinkywinkyland has phones and everything? Wow! Sheep make phone calls, I guess, since they outnumber y'all still. *flees hurled knives and loud imprecations*

>173 roundballnz: uh huh okay sure

>174 archerygirl: What?! You mean the greedy-bastard Murrikin corporapists have left some products they can profit from off of y'all's shelves?!? Trust me, it's just an oversight. They'll be along any minute.

>175 maggie1944: Hi Karen44!

>176 tiffin: One of the Quant books is called Stain of the Berry...guess which one they mean!

>177 mckait: *pulls blanky over snoozing Kath*

Pearl Ruled Review

Ragnarok: The End of the Gods -- #17 in the Canongate Myths series, which has books in it that I *loved*

A.S. Byatt

Rating: 1* of five (p41)

"...Airmen were the Wild Hunt. They were dangerous. If any hunter dismounted, he crumbled to dust, the child read. It was a good story, a story with meaning, fear and danger were in it, and things out of control."

I have Byatted for the last time. I love the Norse myths, and this precious twitzy-twee retelling of them through "the child"'s horrible little beady eyes made me want to Dickens up all over the place.

I tried. I really tried. I read some of Possession. It was like having an estrogen drip placed directly into my testicles. I tried Angels and Insects and, horrified and repulsed, put it down (as in "down the crapper" down) even before I found out it was about brother/sister incest.

I think her writing is ghastly, I dislike the stories she tells, and I won't be coerced, shamed, convinced, asked, begged, guilt-instilled, or required to pick up any damn thing else this Woman-with-a-capital-W writes in this incarnation.

Well, no wonder I've had 'Possession' on the shelf for so long. Clearly I'm not meant to read it. On the other hand, I don't have those thingies of yours, so perhaps it wouldn't be so awful to me.

>182 ffortsa: Maybe not, but why run the risk?

>179 richardderus: - and dinky winky technology so we can arrange for you to hear Dickens being read out continually 24/7 wherever you are ...... payment and bribes to make it stop will be considered......

okay off to find Hot cross buns of the chocolate variety

Ghastly, huh?

>184 roundballnz: You. Are. An. EVIL. Kiwi.

>185 mckait: Very. The precise opposite of Dream Angus.

World's coolest staircase, esp. to a kid's room:

not good at all.....

The stairs.. now they are good..

181: There are numerous books in that series I've been wanting to read for some time. Sorry to hear you didn't like that one! :(

>186 richardderus: the stairs are very cool ............

>187 mckait:, 189 Ain't they?

>188 Ape: I won't give up on the series, inevitably there will be one or two that don't suit me personally. I think Canongate deserves huge credit for coming up with an sticking to this topic!

After an *EXTREMELY* annoying day, I saw this GIF on Facebook and felt very much as though my mind had been read:

Love the pics of the awesome stairs and the angry obscene man

I hope today is a better one rdear...

Wow, given a flight of stairs of my own, what books would I put there? I'm still somewhat paralysed by the image of an estrogen drip going into testicles.

Love the stairs..!!! I want a set of those :)

More love fro the stairs! I want them, too. All over the place.

>191 ChelleBearss: He's hilarious, isn't he, Chelle? I'd love to know what really was making him so darn mad!

>192 mckait: So far, not so much.

>193 tiffin: Paralyzed is a mild form of the epitheture I employed as I returned the offending tome to the library. I enjoined the circulation staff to refrain from allowing the young or impressionable from reading the volume in question. I think I could conceivably used stronger terminology, though.

>194 MonicaLynn: I've had so much fun dreaming of what books' spines I'd have on my own set....

>195 jnwelch: Permaybehaps the cafe could use some stairs?

>190 richardderus:: Alas, I seem to have trouble with people who appear to have attempted that maneuver and couldn't figure out how to finish.

>197 swynn: Ha! Glad to see you around, Steve.



A small community library in a phone booth. Way cool!

Good afternoon, RD! Too many posts to catch up with, starting fresh. I do love the phone booth library.

Have a swell day.

>199 karenmarie: Thanks, Horrible, but it's too late for that now. Crappy is the best I can hope for. Still, it's a step up from gawdawful.

>181 richardderus:

My god, Richard...you must be having a bad time, of late

Such bilious spew....left me believing that you hate Women...(and, for myself, i'm not fond of most of the gender, either)....and that was all

I like Ms Byatt's work...but then, I am a Woman

Hope you're feeling better, Sweetie

;-}

No, Jude, I don't hate women. I hate Women. The capital letter people. Don't like 'em. The man-bad-Woman-good crowd. The tut-tutters of all behaviors they don't like.

Taking exception to a behavior is not the problem I mean, and I don't blame anyone for feeling critical of bad behavior. I object to the "change who and what you are" people.

I don't ask anyone to change. If I don't like how you behave, the most I'll do is mock and ridicule you then go away.

Byatt is one of those "men-are-bad" writers. Women are led astray (I've always thought that piece of doublethink deserved calling out...so, women are feeble-minded and can't see what's in their best interest? hmmm misogynistic much?) by bad, bad boys.

This particular book continues this trend by referring to Byatt herself as "the child" with no name and no gender assigned. Then the myths in all their violence happen and it's all male all the time, including the war around her. I'm just Over It.

I soooo totally agree with your statement about "The man-bad-Woman-good" crowd!

Ditto!

Okay...i never read Ragnarok: The End of Gods..so, can't posit an opinion

I never saw Byatt as a Man Hater/ "men are bad" writer...

i loved Possession for the fact that she did the "novel-in-a-novel" so well

Most "Women's Lit" makes me sick...but I still love Byatt...because I like her language

;-}

No sexist is a good sexist, regardless of their gender. :(

Sexist? Who's a Sexist?

I dislike anyone, of either sex, who is stupid and clueless

(but, that is not the issue, here)

;-P

Oh! Sorry, I meant the ongoing discussion of man-haters. I, naturally, don't blame you, as I hate most people too! :P

I wasn't slagging you, Stephen...

I hate most people, too....

Review: 33 of seventy-five

Title: M-G-M: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot

Author: STEVEN BINGEN and MICHAEL TROYAN and STEPHEN X. SYLVESTER

Rating: 4* of five

The Book Report: A photo essay on the long-vanished Culver City, California, backlot of cinema giant Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. As much as 20% of the entire US film output from the medium's invention until the 1970s, a period of almost 70 years, was filmed all or in part at some portion of this astounding movie-making paradise. Think about that. Assume you've seen 100 movies made before 1970...20 of them, on average, will have some MGM content.

Wow.

My stepmother's father was a rank-and-file MGM sound man for his whole life. After they made him retire, he got a job as sound man for the 1960s TV show Bewitched. I grew up hearing the stories, and was completely snookered by the glamour-busting that he did. I came to this book excited and gleefully anticipatory. I looked at its lovely, oversized landscape trim and drooled with eagerness to see the oversized images of the many sets and streets and stills from films that would be within.

So very NOT disappointed. And I even read the captions!

My Review: What does one say about a photo book? I can't show you the pictures. I can tell you that, in a properly ordered universe, this book would be in the library of every movie buff, every MGMhead, and all public libraries nationwide.

I found the captions, which are really mini-essays putting the images into film history context, delightful as well as useful. I love knowing why some scenes look familiar. Some movie titles in these captions brought sudden *wham* old memories of seeing the film in question. Some of them I've made note of so I can go find them. And some of the photos made me a little bit wistful. All of this magical stuff is gone, now under yet another SoCal suburban development.

Sic transit gloria mundi. Ars may very well be longa, since we still have the movies made there, but this magical place's vita was too brevis for me.

Waiting for appearance in a thumbable spot..

Did anyone read the essay by Meg Wolitzer about 'women's lit' in the Times this Sunday? In the book review.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/books/review/on-the-rules-of-literary-fiction-...

>211 mckait: On the page now.

>212 ffortsa: Will have to go read sometime soon.

The M-G-M book looks like a gem, and a treasure box. I took my "Look Inside" from Amazon and can see where any one in love with the movies, and history, would love this book. Too bad I've blown a big hole in my book budget right now. Perhaps after I survive the Income Taxes coming right down the pike! We shall see....

Thanks for a nice review.

>203 FAMeulstee:, 204 Thanks, ladies! *grin*

Stephen/Jude--I think we all, in this LT haven, think it's okay not to like those (manymanymany) souls less intellectually gifted and less socially ept than we are. And we're right about that. I hate most people, too, and most days pretend I don't so I won't go back to Texas, pick up an AK-47 and a crate of loaded banana clips, and go on a cross-country gene-pool cleaning.

But sometimes that sounds like a public service waiting to happen. Mostly those are days when I disappear into a book, but today I couldn't bring myself to read anything more challenging than the photo book reviewed above.

>214 maggie1944: Glad you enjoyed it, Karen44!

love that staircase....

From Meg Wolitzer's analysis of Women's Fiction: "These covers might as well have a hex sign slapped on them, along with the words: 'Stay away, men! Go read Cormac ­McCarthy instead!'”

*bwaaahaaahaaahaaa* Exactly! And I, for one, appreciate that.

Very interesting article... I admit to silently bestowing kudos on the men here who read books
that I believe most other men would pass by, considering them not worthy of attention. Too bad
it has to be that way, because the opposite is not true.

Hi Richard - Just wanted to say thanks for the multiple funnies and truths above, esp. #76. I'm stealing #105. And that staircase is great! I'm off to read the Meg Wolitzer essay. Thanks for cheering up my Thursday and hope you are well!

Interesting take, Rdear. I loved Possession, which I didn't see as man-bashing at all, but a very clever, very well-done literary experiment. On the other hand, I couldn't stand The Children's Bookwhich managed to bash both all men and any women who seek careers. I tried to like it, but just couldn't. Haven't looked at her other stuff.

>219 Copperskye: Hi Joanne! Glad you enjoyed them!

>220 Matke: How do, Miz Gail, and well done on avoiding La Byatt.

Still chuckling over #215 "less socially ept"...could I steal that? Pretty please!!

Ah, there are times I feel 'less intellectually gifted' and certainly 'less socially ept'. But I do my best, so please leave the banana clips and the AK-47 hidden away and suffer us just a little longer.

Hi Richard - I have the Ragnorak book here and hope to read it this year, so will keep your review in mind. I loved Possession though I confess to having skipped over the poetry, wasn't the main character a man? I also liked her Little Black Book of Stories.

88 unread messages. Really.
In any case, hi, Richard. I'm still around, but little time these days.....
I hope you are well.
xoxo

#198 Actually tried to click like... oops...

>222 litasbooks: *thwap* license for use granted

>223 ffortsa: "Us"? Judy, you have an odd view of yourself. One to which I do not subscribe.

>224 avatiakh: He was given a male-sounding name and the pronoun "he" was used. A man he was not. Woolf's Orlando was more of a man. More people agree with you and your assessment of La Byatt than do with mine, but I can't think of anyone's work I've disliked more in the past few weeks.

>225 EBT1002: Hi Ellen! Come when you can. Links to reviews in post #2.

>226 BekkaJo: A "like" button would be corking! But we can't have one because it doesn't suit the prejudices of some of the PTB.

Hi rd... are you feeling better today, my friend?

Not really. You're a dear to ask.

Sorry :(

First thing that's made me laugh myself into a coughing fit today!

lol Labs are hilarious... I guess they ALL think that they are lap dogs.. My Dirk did :)

>198 richardderus:: Richard, I show up more often than I chime in. It's mostly a matter of keeping up with threads -- when I have a comment to make, I'm usually days behind the curve. Still, it's always lively, entertaining threads you keep.

And FWIW re: 210:
I can tell you that, in a properly ordered universe, this book would be in the library of every movie buff, every MGMhead, and all public libraries nationwide.
I've now done my small part to get M-G-M into libraries. Not a public library, but thanks for the recommendation!

>232 mckait: My thighs ache thinking about it!

>233 swynn: Glad you liked the idea enough to act on it!

> 232 - Tis very true ..... & Prone to being Wendy's

LOL ... Love that pic, Rdear. My mom's Golden Retriever seems to think he's pocket-sized because he loves to try and climb up onto my lap whenever I visit. And if I'm sitting on the floor watching tv, he'll come and sit ON me.

I always get a huge laugh out of my schnauzers who think when they sit next to me they need to turn their backs, and have their butt smashed right against my side. Guard dogs! for sure! No one's gonna get to our girl! No sir-ree! And I guess I've "got your back" for them.

dogs. love them.

grump ratio?

Yoo-Hoo! I'm home!

Beautiful day, except that I need to go shopping for tonight's dinner. Quel annoyance.

My poochie is also out of Milk Bones, and clearly the fall of Western Civilization is nigh, if one listens to her. She simply doesn't get the concept "empty box."

any dry cereal? I can fake my dog out with those.

I wish it worked! Poochie waits for milk. She only likes her cereal with milk. She accepts half-and-half in a pinch, but gives me a very haughty look of disapprobation.

Happy Saturday! Finally some blue sky here (as opposed to the rain, hail and funnel clouds of the last three days). Off to a surprise Bday party tonight for a friend's 50th. Seeing Ben Bailey better known as the Cash Cab taxi driver. Should be fun!

Have a ball! I'm making pork roast. I know how to par-tay down.

Mmmmm! I only have to prepare the veggies for tomorrow. Grocery store is on the to-do list today. Par-tay on!

Hm. Definitely not a Seder, then!

>244 Berly: Someone bringing a ham?

>245 ffortsa: Ha! No, we're not a religious bunch.

And what, pray tell, is wrong with "women being led astray by bad, bad boys?" That is something I dream about every night.

You wouldn't mind if MEN were being led astray by bad, bad boys, now would you?

Otherwise, love the staircase. I may have to rip out the carpet & remake my own stairs, which the front door opens directly on to. Can you imagine coming to my house, and opening the door to see all my favorite books leading upstairs? (no, really, I'm seriously thinking about it!)

And I definitely must get the M-G-M book. I love a great picture book, and this one sounds fab.

*Big Easter Smooch*

I suspect, TLo darling, that what Thee and Me mean by being led astray by bad, bad boys is, well, qualitatively different from what the pursey-mouthed vinegar-douching squinty-eyed bun-wearers mean by being Led Astray by Bad, Bad Boys.

One involves feathers, silk ropes, and a variety of cheerfully colored, often battery-powered and interestingly shaped insertables, and the other involves being torn away from bleaching toilets and scrubbing burners and hand-buffing kitchen floors.

Well, they both sound pretty darned appealing to me! Not that I can even remember if I've ever bleached a toilet, or scrubbed a burner, or hand-buffed a kitchen floor. But if I ever had, I'm sure I'd want to be torn away from it!

Not that I'd have to. I would just walk away from it. This is what house cleaners are for. Or Merry Maids. Or friends who like doing that sort of thing and will gladly take your money & do it so you don't have to...

A. MEN. SISTER. WOMAN.

I'm so sorry that The Song of Achilles wasn't the joyous read for you that it was for me. :-P

Very lazy writing reviews. Seven need doing. Don't wanna!

But I LOVED The Song of Achilles??!! Wait. Are you being sarcastic?

Well. Anyway. It's a "holiday weekend" so don't do anything you don't wanna. Tell 'em I said you didn't have to.

I am with TLo. No writing anything that you do not want to write...
or anything else that you don't want to do. Please do not allow my inability
to follow my own advice hinder you from doing so.

xo

*chuckle*

MIL bringing the ham and the pies. : ) Don't talk to me about reviews...horribly behind!

*smooch*

(time for a new thread?)

Another wonderful Eastre's Day GIF:

Hi RD- Just swinging through to say hi! And hope you are doing okay. Sorry to hear the reviews aren't coming. Something will kick-start you and you'll knock 'em out.
Have a nice Easter, my friend.

Love ya! (Where is Stephen...?)

ROFLMAO

Oh oh oh priceless oh the funny

*smooch*

*smooches back*

Oooohhh I like these eggs a lot!!!

Happy Easter and *smooches* to you, Richard dear.

>260 Berly:, 262 Awww thanks ladies!

>261 sibylline: Me too!

glitter-graphics.com

Oh yes! I believe someone has posted the zombie egg on my thread in the past, actually. It's obviously pure genius! :D

Yikes! zombie egg..

I suspect you will be having a busy day with cooking and guests..
hope you enjoy it :)

Love the zombie eggs!!

Hi Richard! Hope you have a great weekend! :)

256 - Padre, the Bunny brought my boys the original trilogy and the Legos Star Wars game, ha!

And unsuccessfully stuffed wooden trains into over-sized eggs. Silly Bunny...

Happy Spring!

RD...enjoy the ham....are you blow-torching it? We are having lamb shanks...they are slo cooking in the oven. Mr Tutu and I are sitting quietly with propped feet in our respective old people recliners, each with a cat, listening to some Beethoven, watching the snowflakes flutter down!!!! and just catching up with books and friends. What a wonderful way to celebrate life.

Enjoy your day...big smooch!

268: Ohhh! Those are star trooper eggs? I thought they were sun glasses and mustaches. Huh, now that I've looked up a picture of a star trooper I can see that now. D'oh.

I'm impressed by the Legos Star Wars game, obviously the Bunny gives way cooler gifts in your area!

HAPPY EASTER, RD! (even tho I know you don't like chocolate - those zombie eggs looked good!

>264 curlysue: Hi Kara, and thanks!

>265 Ape: It is genius.

>266 mckait: I totally skipped out on the whole thing! The Dynamic Duo are in Jersey at her family's, I'm here with Stella having a pagan debauch.

>267 ChelleBearss: Hi Chelle! It's just fine. Gets better as it goes on.

>268 London_StJ: Great Bunny gelt! I spread Lego from one end of my house to the other when I got my first set. Loved them!

>269 tututhefirst: Sounds DIVINE! I'm here in misery, a 70F day with bright sunshine and a breeze. Boo hoo hoo, poor widdle me.

>270 Ape: Glad you got with the program, there, Stephen.

>271 -Cee-: Claudia, that chick is adorable! *smooch*

Pagan debauch sounds like fun!

In my defense, I've never actually watched the Star Wars movies...

pagan debauch, of a sort, here, too. Pot of soup on the stove, settling to watch HBO's epic depiction of Martin's epic... will be eating chips, salsa, wasabi almonds, and hot rolls with butter with the soup (Smoked Turkey with Lentils). I think I will be a happy girl.

xoxo

Hope you've been having a flappy keister, Rishard. *Belch*

Have you been able to say *whew* and relax yet?
Or will that wait until after the train leaves?

Hey ever'body, hope y'all had a nice Eastre's Day. I love spring weather! Sunshine, wind, still cool enough to need a sweater or jacket...none of the horrors of summer, which slither inevitably and nauseatingly closer.

Colin Cotterill now, henceforth, and forever to be referred to as "Lousy Louise Junior." I've finished Anarchy and Old Dogs. I am angry with him.

I enjoyed my pagan debauch day. What, after all, is more delightful than a debauch?

xo

debauch huh ?

I was happy with my day with some delightful books :)

xo

We had a delightful Easter day. Not something we "celebrate," but it was 70 and sunny. Worked in the garden, sat in the sun and read, had all the windows open...... it was perfect! Apparently, 70F is a record high temperature for April 8 in Seattle (in the category of obscure statistics). It's a record we needed.

>280 mckait: Yeup! A really nice one.

>281 EBT1002: Sounds like perfection, Ellen, sheer perfection. The place where my heart was before Lousy Louise and Crummy Colin conspired to remove it so they could stomp it into bloody gobbets is all a-tingle!

Glad you had a good pagan debauch day, Richard. Have some Mamacado and get rid of the bad book taste!

Good point.

Review: 34 of seventy-five

Title: ANARCHY AND OLD DOGS

Author: COLIN COTTERILL

Rating: -14,975* of five

The Book Report: Fourth of the Dr. Siri Investigations series set in 1970s Laos, post-Vietnam War era. Dr. Siri and his best pal since jungle-fighting revolutionary youth, Comrade Civilai the Politburo senior cadre and all-around curmudgeon, uncover a major problem in the course of an investigation into the death of an old blind dentist whose habit of coming by bus to Vientiane, the capital, to pick up a letter written in invisible ink every week is interrupted by a runaway logging truck. The widow, far from grieving, is damn near slobbering to get the letter away from Siri. This makes him wonder....

So Siri, Civilai, Nurse Dtui, and Comrade Policeman Phosy (Mr. Geung, the Down-syndrome-having morgue assistant, is still recovering from dengue fever from last book) are set on a collision course with modern Laos's first attempted counter-coup by Royalists based across the Mekong River in Thailand. Siri also solves the murder of a small boy, a troublemaking 1970s version of Siri himself I suspect, is betrayed, finds a long-lost revolutionary-era gal-pal of his and his wife's, is betrayed again, and suffers the pangs of later-life love. In the end, of course, the murder of the dentist, the murder of the small boy, and the pair of betrayals are interconnected by Cotterill's undeniable panache in plotting. And, well, love is in the August, 1977, air....

My Review: ...but none of it is comin' from me. Anyone who has read my outraged screech of a review of The Brutal Telling by Lousy Louise Penny will remember how bitterly I responded to her ripping out my heart and shredding it into gobbets, then pouring boiling salted vinegar into the still-living cavity she left, with the character development that ends the book. I rated it -15,000*. I give Crummy Colin Cotterill 25 more stars because the ripping, shredding, and pouring were very slightly ameliorated by the in-book resolution to the main betrayal, and the sheer rightness of the second betrayal that ends so happily, and by the whimsical pleasure of the love affair for Dr. Siri.

Plus there's Auntie Bpoo, the transvestite shaman who works the riverside in front of the Aeroflot office, of whom I devoutly hope to see more.

*gets out voodoo dolly in Cotterill's likeness to inflict severe tooth pain on him for forseeable future*

>258 Berly: ouch, my brain hurts seeing that, or maybe its the chocolate withdrawal, its been at least 30 minutes since I had any.

Jeez, I'd hate for you to feel strongly about something!

>286 LovingLit: Chocolate withdrawal...oh dear...*preps IV of heroin* this will tide you over until more chocolate comes.

>287 Berly: Go read my review of A Real Basket Case. I've set forth my reasons for irritation in my thread...post #170.